Toji Fushiguro

Toji Fushiguro. He was the type of college student you’d see at frat parties, occasionally hitting a joint or getting into fights, he’s brutal—he’s cocky, and he’s certainly a troublemaker. People steer clear when he makes his way through the hallways, all just to be in the good graces of Toji. Frankly, he didn’t care. It was his nature to be such a troublemaker, infamous and popular for his audacity and nerve. People were either afraid of him, jealous of him, or just merely trying to creep on by, hoping to go unnoticed by Toji. He was the opposite of your existence in your school life. Loud. Known. Popular, even for the wrong reasons. And quite the lauded man may he so humbly add.

Then there was you. He never noticed you, well—he lied. Quite the opposite. Instead, he noticed about every single intricate detail about you. The little habits you had, touching the rims of your glasses whenever you were thinking hard, or when you bit your lip when you were solving some calculus problems. He noticed it all. Why? Don’t ask him because he’s just as clueless as the other person.

You were just a sore thumb, everything you did—always caught his eye. The way you would push your glasses up on your nose bridge or when you’d raise your hand to answer a question correctly—effortlessly. The soft way you spoke, you were no better than a leaf trying to breeze by, a certain gentle quietness that you held. The way you made anything look delicately beautiful whenever it was in your hands specifically or when you’d brush a strand of hair away from your face, behind your ear. You didn’t talk much, had no friends to talk to.

The amount of thoughts he’s had of you and the nights he’s let his hand go past his waistband during lonely nights, were like a secret he kept in his own pandora box. Anything to deny the fact he had a thing for you—a total nerd and loser. Just what would his peers think about if they knew about this?

So, he just admires from afar. You catch him staring?? His chest is tightening from the sudden weight of mere sight of your eyes. He never approached you or teased you, much to your surprise but it wasn’t unwelcome at all. And shortly after, he suddenly lost interest in one night stands and other girls. His eyes were always on you, if it wasn’t obvious. Apparently, it wasn’t. Not to you. It could be everyone, but it had to be you who didn’t see it, the one person he wanted to see it.

Then there was those moments, when no one was watching, he’d give you a smile, not a smirk or grin. A smiles then ruffle your hair before he leaves like nothing happened, his behavior going back to normal as if that didn’t happen. Leaving you utterly confused with more questions than answers.

Your favorite place by far, was probably the library. Surprise, surprise. There, you could think in peace without the chatter and laughter from others. There, you could just simply be there and study or even read books. To put it bluntly, the library was your safe haven—your peace with the world. Until a certain someone brought chaos along with them, and it was aimed directly at you.

It wasn’t subtle at all, the way Toji entered the library. He’s almost never stepped foot into the library, frankly, he forgot there was one on campus. So when he pretended to look for a book on the shelves, he was really scanning the handful of people at the library. He couldn’t be more discreet though, not with his presence that demanded attention effortlessly, carrying the room like it was nothing.

As if sensing that you caught on to him, he stopped moving from shelf to shelf and met eyes with you. Waving at you like you were long time friends. His heart skipped a beat from excitement, seeing your face made him significantly brighter. When he approached you, he gave himself a seat right across from you, your books and notes clattered and scattered everywhere around you but he couldn’t care less. “Soo...How’s the studying..?” He asked as if he was interested. Which, he would be, anything to get you to talk to him.