"i'm iwaizumi hajime." the man nods, an ineffable expression pasted onto that perfect face. tadashi nods shyly. all their encounters have been way too embarrassing to embark on a conversation about. his fingers fiddle with the earbuds implanted in his hands. befuddle thoughts string about in his mind. 

"i'm tadashi yamaguchi." his voice trembles slightly, like he's somehow scared of iwaizumi with his same sweater that tadashi has face checked walking down the hallways of doom. (fuck hallways) he's kind of aware that iwaizumi has no welcoming smile to wipe the muddy feet of tadashi's imperfections.

"so," tadashi struggles to talk, "what topic do you wanna do?" 

"hmm." the jock scoots over to tadashi's side, desultory eyes haze the paper. tadashi twirls the pencil. 

he does have a knack for acting out what he feels. his lips feel cracked as he opens his mouth to talk. metallic implodes in his tongue as he feels blood run over his bottom lip. he hides the sore with the sleeve of his long sleeved shirt. hot breath tickles the top of his head. 

"y'know, you never seem like you can take care of yourself." iwaizumi rolls his eyes, flicking a chapstick at his direction. tadashi gingerly takes the stick, uncaps it and places it on his lip. dulcet invades his mouth. he frowns. 

"what flavor?" 

"cherry." 

"its really sweet." tadashi frowns once more before capping it. a practiced smile gracefully touches his lips as he passes it back to iwaizumi. 

"let's do some type of movie." 

tadashi shakes his head, eliciting an arching of a grand eyebrow from the mr. iwaizumi. 

"it's a science class." 

"it says anything we want, so let's make it fun." iwaizumi shrugs as he speaks. tadashi runs a frustrated hand over his chocolate hair. his nose scrunches with uncertainty. 

so far, this is not going too well. 

"how about a person? maybe?" tadashi bites his bottom lip, they're going nowhere. apprehension flashes in iwaizumi's eyes. 

"er how about uh albert einstein?." tadashi murmurs. 

"sure." 

tadashi shakes his head in disbelief. they finally have come to a decision. 

"i've been reading an anti-gravity book, and i can't seem to put it down." iwaizumi-san clicks his tongue at the end of the sentence and tilts his left eye in a slight wink. tadashi's cheeks would flush if he wasn't so confused. 

"uhh." 

"it's a joke.." iwaizumi trails off as tadashi stares blankly at him with dark eyes. "goodness, it's because you can't put down a book without gravity. "

"get it?" 

tadashi does not get it. 

"do you mean sir isaac new-"

"nevermind nevermind." iwaizumi takes the chapstick and hands it back to tadashi. their fingers brush. 

"you're bleeding again."