NO, THAT'S WRONG! ~~Naegami~~

Chapter 6: Now I Understand

   "Whatever you want, Your Majesty." Now it was Togami's turn to blush. He cleared his throat and looked away.

   "R-right then, let's get on with the homework now, shall we?"

***

Watching Naegi work was as strangely hypnotic as it had been in the morning. Byakuya had explained the basics to him, so now they sat mostly in silence, broken only once in a while when Makoto had a question, or there was something he didn't understand. Byakuya had to admit, the kid wasn't stupid, he just hadn't had enough support growing up. Obviously he still had a ways to go, but Byakuya could see a future in which Naegi could be top of his class in Maths. Well, maybe second to the top; Byakuya was in his class after all. The only sound for a good few minutes was the scratching of pen on paper and Makoto occasionally mumbling things under his breath. Byakuya found it mesmerising. One time, Naegi looked round and caught Byakuya staring at him.

   "What are you looking at?" he laughed. God, why'd he have to be so adorable. What? The hell was that? 

   "Aren't you supposed to be working?" Byakuya retorted, though he could feel his cheeks colouring.

   "Right!" Makoto yelped and went back to staring at his textbook. It had been a close call, one that Byakuya had hopefully salvaged. To avoid that happening again, he determined to stop looking at Makoto. To his surprise, he found that he couldn't; his eyes were just drawn to the small boy sitting cross-legged on his floor, with part of his tongue stuck out in concentration.

~~~

Makoto stretched and groaned as he finally sat up straight. Byakuya had been watching him work for two hours. His eyes were red from staring at his book for so long. His hair was going every which way, with strands sticking out from when he'd run his hands through his hair. In other words, he had never been cuter.

   "So," Naegi began, "What do you wanna do now?"

   "Now?" Byakuya asked, tilting his head slightly, "I was under the impression that you were just here for homework. Was there some kind of ulterior motive to you asking me for help?" Makoto turned bright red, and Byakuya had to stop himself from smiling.

   "R-right! Sorry! I'll... I'll go now." Naegi said apologetically, packed up his equipment, and made his way to the door. He reached his hand towards the doorknob, and Byakuya's gut twisted. He didn't want Makoto to leave.

   "Wait!" he blurted, his mouth moving before his brain could tell him to stop. Makoto turned around slowly, a small smile on his face. "Do you... do you have any other homework you need help with?" God, Byakuya sounded so pathetic

   "I mean... I have some Art I have to do, but I don't really need help with it." Makoto said.

   "That's fine. I haven't done it yet either. We could do it together?" Makoto tilted his head, slowly walked towards Byakuya and whispered in his ear,

   "Only if you get on your knees and beg." 

***

Byakuya stumbled backwards, his face red. Makoto smiled, but on the inside he was screaming at himself. Why the hell did I said that? God, I'm so embarrassed. What had possessed him to say something so stupid? He felt his own cheeks start to heat up and he backed away.

   "S-sorry. I'll go." But he was interrupted by Byakuya.

   "Stay. Please." he said. It was phrased like a request, but his tone made it clear there was no room for argument. Not that Makoto would have argued in the first place.

   "I'll... go grab the work then." he squeaked, and dashed off to his room.

    A while later, Makoto and Togami were sitting at his desk doing their Art homework. Even though he was average at most things, Makoto had always loved art, and his friends and family all said he was pretty good at it. So he sat there sketching. They were told to draw a still life, but there was nothing in their immediate vicinity to draw, so Makoto began to sketch out the outline of Byakuya, leaning over his work, brow furrowed in concentration. Even like this, Byakuya cut a striking figure. You could easily stare at him for hours. Makoto wanted to, anyway. 

   After about half an hour, Togami turned to him and asked to see what Makoto had been drawing. Shit. 

   "Uhh... it's nothing really. It probably wouldn't live up to your standards." he tried desperately to come up with an excuse not to show Byakuya his drawing. There was no mistaking who it was: Makoto had drawn it in great detail.

   "Obviously it won't, but you're going to show me anyway. That's an order." And Byakuya commanded so much authority that Makoto's arms moved before his brain could tell them to stop, and he handed Byakuya the drawing. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit. Byakuya looked at the painting for a while. Makoto grew more and more uncomfortable, more and more sure that Togami would hate him. When Togami finally looked up, his eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly open.

   "This... this is... really good, Naegi." Whatever Makoto had been expecting, it certainly wasn't praise.

   "R-really?" he asked, incredulous.

   "Don't make me repeat myself, Makoto. I don't give praise lightly, you know. But yes, this is... surprisingly adequate." There was something different in his tone now. Something more reserved. Something more like how he spoke to Makoto on the first day. Had Makoto ruined the friendship that had been growing between them? He should have just drawn the damn clocks. But... maybe this was for the best. Then Togami said something that Makoto would never have, not in his wildest dreams, ever expected someone like Byakuya to say to anyone, let alone him.

   "Teach me."

Word count without A/N: 1603

A/N: Sooooooooooooooo I might be addicted to writing this thing. It's good that I had a day off school todayyyyyyyyy, so I could write this. So fun story, this chapter originally included the next chapter, but in writing this I realised that it would be 100 million words long, so I split it up. AND THIS IS STILL THE LONGEST CHAPTER YET. I was worried that both of the chapters together wouldn't be enough for a chapter, but ig i've gotten good at waffling or something. sooooooooooo i kinda might not be updating tomorrow... sorry. I just kinda want a break because I've been updating this once a day for almost a week, and it's been really fun, but also I wanna do things in my free time other than write about danganronpa. like play it. or read fanfics about it. or listen to the soundtrack (which fun fact i'm listening to right now). ok sooo i might be slightly obsessed with this franchissssseee but yeah. Bye for now. Alr peace

--Winter