Please grace us (me) with some P5R Maruki fluff. Please I'm begging on my hands and knees. I just want to give him little smooches. Maybe one where he's back in college? Meeting him in a Psychology class? Honestly go wild, your writing is amazing and I just want to see my man happy.
Not that Bad (Takuto Maruki x Reader)
𝗔/𝗡: 𝗼𝗺𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘂𝗸𝗶 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲. 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝘂𝗱𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺 𝗵𝗲𝗳𝗯𝘄𝗵𝗳𝘂𝗲𝘄𝗯𝗳𝘂𝘂𝗾𝘄 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁
𝙒𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚? ⇒ 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩
If someone were to tell you eight weeks ago that you’d still be a psychology major after almost dropping Aoki-sensei’s physiology and psychology 101 combined course, you swear you’d laugh in their face. You struggled so hard on the preliminary knowledge test during syllabus week of school, so you were more than convinced that this class and this major weren’t worth your time by the end of the third class. So convinced.
Yet here you are, sitting in a reserved library private room. Old pieces of homework, revised tests and quizzes, notebooks full of scribbled notes, and two of the required textbooks sprawled across the table. Just because there’s a pretty boy brunette with a pleasant laugh and friendly smile sitting with you- like he does twice a week- teaching you the material of a class he went through over a year ago. And somehow…he’s real. But how do you know this? Simple.
“That’s correct! Nice job!”
Your fingers just brushed against his as he handed you a piece of candy to reward you for all your hard work.
There’s a light smile on Takuto’s face. A warm look being reflected from his glasses. And a soft chuckle passing through his lips. It mirrors your own expression. Just a little bit. While his gaze is sweet, encouraging, and kind…yours hold an untapped amount of excitement. Growing and growing and growing with every single answer you’ve gotten right. But what can you say?
Pretty boys make the work worth your time.
“You’ve been doing really well this time,” He praises you once more. You can sense the small amount of relief dancing behind his words, but you don’t blame him or his worries. Not one bit. “All this time, you were so nervous about passing this exam. But I think you’ll be just fine with a little more studying, okay?”
You nod your head animatedly, trying to fight the smile that threatens to overtake your face. You have to remind yourself that there’s already a piece of candy in your mouth. His candy. Just a little piece from one of the many bags he likes to bring to his tutoring sessions with you. His excuse is that rewards work! Especially when you’re being rewarded with a favorite flavor or two. But your excuse for working so hard? Your excuse for putting in the hours of trying to pass your university’s biggest psychology weed-out class?
Well…let’s just say it has a lot to do with the good-natured senpai sitting right in front of you.
“Let’s keep practicing. I know you have a lot of this stuff down, but a little more review couldn’t help, right?” He prompts you with a choice- something he does often. Something that gives you no doubt in your mind that this is the right field for him. He’s always been good at doing little things like that for you. Sure, he’s told you that he’s not interested in being a teacher but it’s all those little psychology tips and tricks you know that he has spinning around in his brain that makes him such a good tutor. “You still have some more candy left~”
Including rewarding you with all your favorite sweets.
You chew the last bit of the snack in your mouth and swallow the rest down easily. He watches you in amusement as your eyes slip from his face to the notecards in his hands, to the bag of candy sitting in between the two of you. It’s almost finished- a sure sign of his and your combined success this session. But the thought of finishing the bag fills you with even more excitement. Because it shows him just how hard you’ve been working for him. Because it shows to you just how hard he’s been working to help you too.
“Ready, Takuto-san!” You say once your mouth is free from the delicious treat. “Ask away!”
It prompts him to give a short nod in acknowledgment as he shifts around his notecards for you to find a question that will really challenge you. In the meantime, you take the chance to look around and soak in these couple of seconds of downtime. A quick glance at a nearby clock tells you that it’s much later than you thought it would be. Another glance at the same clock tells you that he’s been tutoring you much longer than you asked him to. It’s too common of an occurrence at this point for it to surprise you. Though part of you still couldn’t help but feel bad that you’re taking up so much of his time. Maybe you should ask him to join you for dinner after this. He did say he knew a place nearby that sold one of your favorites…
“Found one!” He calls out, capturing your attention once more. You turn your head back to face him, and you brace yourself knowing that the only reason he took so long carefully searching for the right question was to ensure that he was really testing you on something you needed help with. And as much as you appreciate the help, you were hoping to be cut a little slack after having such a good session. But once you saw the expression on his face and the subtle way he had now maneuvered his arms to cover a large chunk of one of your last homework assignments, you knew you were in for a doozy. But then… “Ready?”
He gives you a kind smile.
The same smile he gave you when he first introduced himself to you as a friend of Aoki-sensei’s teaching assistant. The same smile as he worked around your defeatist attitude after you were still struggling to understand your own notes. And it’s the very same smile he gave you the first time you cried in front of him because you pulled an all-nighter a week after he started tutoring you just to end up failing your exam big time. But now, that smile is more than just something you see in your worst moments.
“Yep!” You tell him with the bravest look you can muster. “Ready.”
It’s a smile that you see in your best moments too…
“Explain what Glutamate, GABA, Dopamine, Serotonin, Acetylcholine, and Endorphins.”
…and this doesn’t seem like it's going to be one of them.
You toss up an eyebrow at the ridiculous question, knowing that he knows how often you mix up your neurotransmitters. But he just shakes his head and lets that easygoing smile of his grow a bit wider. And you want to frown at him. You do, you do, you do. You want to let the pout on your face grow and at that little sliver of annoyance at such a difficult question show because he’s literally just about to break your winning streak. But then you stop for a moment. And you sigh. And you close your eyes, and you try to remember a rhyme that the two of you came up with when you first started working on this topic.
It’s hard work. But you put all your effort into trying to remember and remember and remember while trying not to listen to the soft chuckles coming from his mouth at the sight of your focused expression. And yes, it’s hard. And yes, you’d rather be answering any other question right now. At least one that you didn’t have to put so much effort into recalling the answer. But deep down, you don’t think you truly would have it any other way. You know why? It’s simple.
It’s because pretty boys make the work worth your time.
“Well…I know Dopamine is related to pleasure…”
Always have. Always will.
