#so cheap yet so effective to reel me in instantly nice nice

[shannie-writes]

It’s a Date

Happy Holidays! This is my Secret Santa gift to @kiku-ohonhonda for Notice Me Senpai. I hope you enjoy it!

You can also find this on my AO3 here.

“Class is dismissed. Don’t forget your homework over the weekend. Katsuo, that means you. Pages 147 through 151. Due Monday.”

Kyouya’s students filed out in a chattering rush, pairing up as they picked up their bags and discussed where they wanted to visit now that classes were through for the day. The café seemed to be a popular spot these days. Kyouya knew he would be down there as well, getting something extra-caffeinated to keep him alive through the night of grading ahead of him, but another electric throb of pain behind his right eye had him changing his mind.

“Meds, meds,” he chanted to himself, throwing the desk drawers open and rifling through the odd papers and handful of pens, his mood growing darker as his search came up empty.  A knock on the door had him wincing and looking up to see Hideki stepping into the room.

“Kyouya-sensei, can you help me fill out some of this paperwork for when Viktor-sensei…” Hideki eyed Kyouya over and grimaced. “You look like death warmed over, is something wrong?”

“Migraine,” he said, pressing a couple fingers to his brow in a poor attempt to ease the pain.

“I think the infirmary is open, they usually have something for headaches there. I go and get some for myself on occasion.” Hideki gestured his thumb behind him. “You want me to get some for you?”

Kyouya stood and made his way towards Hideki, patting him on the shoulder as he passed. “I’ll get it myself, thank you.” He didn’t want to shock Hideki with how much he would likely need before it would take effect, his body not taking the medication as well as it used to after near daily use from the years of stress through college and teaching. “I’ll help you with that paperwork when I get back.”

“It can wait until Monday. No rush.”

Kyouya waited for Hideki to follow him out of the room before he closed the door behind them both, splitting off in the other direction towards the infirmary. He counted his blessings that the small office wasn’t too far away, counting each step closer to his relief.

Testing the handle, he released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, happy the door hadn’t been locked once the students had vacated the building for the weekend. The slight creak of the hinges had him wincing again, beelining for the cabinets above the small sink. Trying to keep his search as quiet as possible, he lifted bottle after bottle, reading the labels and putting them back in place, becoming more agitated with each incorrect medication.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

The soft voice behind him was nearly inaudible, but the shock of being found by someone unfamiliar had Kyouya spinning around, knocking a few bottles out of the cabinet and into the sink in his speed to move his hands to his sides to appear as though he wasn’t doing anything suspicious, his heart beating in his chest in time to the headache throbbing against his skull. The clattering behind him stopped after a moment as the bottles settled in the sink, a silence building between Kyouya and the man in front of him.

The man was slightly shorter than Kyouya, but stood properly with his shoulders back. His hair was slightly pink in color, leading Kyouya to wonder if it was dyed, but knew that this was against school rules for staff, which this man had to have been with his long white coat and stethoscope laying around his neck. Kyouya cleared his throat and decided to be as polite as he could manage, looking the man in the eyes. They seemed to smile at him through his glasses, the frame a nearly identical color of soft brown. Kyouya had opened his mouth to apologize and explain the situation, only to find that his throat had dried out, leaving him breathless as though he had been punched in the gut, a familiar sensation from his youth, yet the situation was vastly different.

A small smile touched the man’s face as he witnessed Kyouya’s struggle. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Kyouya. I apologize I hadn’t had a chance to introduce myself to you since I started working this week. I’ve been trying to get this place organized and have been watching over a rather high number of students escaping classes to sleep.” His laugh was light, washing over Kyouya and instantly putting him in a better mood. He held his hand out between them, offering to shake. “Please, call me Haruka.”

Kyouya raised a hand to meet Haruka’s, willing his trembling fingers to not give away how flustered he was. “Nice to meet you as well, Haruka. I would introduce myself in return, but you seem to already know who I am.”

“Mm, I’ve seen you here and there before.” Haruka dropped Kyouya’s grip and took a step closer.

Kyouya closed his eyes, the closeness of their bodies throwing images in his head that he had never entertained for...anyone, really. He caught a whiff of sandalwood--Haruka’s aftershave? Cologne?--before the sound of the cabinet closing behind him brought him back to his senses. Slowly opening his eyes, he found the doctor holding a bottle in front of him so he could read the label. The migraine medication.

“Is this what you were looking for? I saw you touching your forehead.”

“You certainly seem to know me well.” Kyouya took the bottle, being careful not to brush his fingers against Haruka’s.

“You flatter me. I have several years of practice under my belt, I only see the signs presented to me. Please feel free to take the whole bottle if you would like, I was planning on making an order on Monday. Adding another bottle to the list is no issue.”

Kyouya sighed in relief. “Thank you, Haruka. Seriously, this is a lifesaver.”

“Of course. Now, I need to lock up for the weekend, if you don’t mind. I’ll be here on any of the school days if you need me for anything further.”

Kyouya nodded stiffly and slid sideways until he was no longer trapped between the counter and the doctor, giving the man a final glance behind him before stepping into the hallway. He twisted the cap off the bottle and swallowed several of the pills dry as he walked back to his classroom to gather up his things.

There was something about Haruka that left him reeling. Something about him was oddly familiar to Kyouya, though he was sure this was the first time they had met. He had heard stories like this before, of reincarnation and soulmates. People who knew each other through time or were destined to meet. In fact, he would swear that he had witnessed such things with some of his own students...

He clipped his briefcase shut with a sense of finality, standing at the desk and taking a solid breath to get his thoughts back in line. It was nonsense. Maybe he had seen Haruka in passing, through school or around town. He didn’t go out much, but it was more likely that he had seen him in a crowd than it would be destiny they would meet. Haruka had even said he had seen him before today. He was a rational man. Such things didn’t exist.

Adjusting his tie around his neck, he scoffed at himself and picked up his briefcase, beginning the trek out to his car.

Nonsense.

---

The bottle of medication he had been given lasted a concerningly short time and the raised eyebrow from Haruka when he asked for more was enough to shame Kyouya into confessing how much he took at a time. After explaining why he needed it so often, Haruka smiled and told him if he felt the aura coming on around his free period to come by the infirmary instead of brooding at his desk. He told Kyouya that he could always have a cot in the corner available to him, so he could curtain himself in where it would have less light to bother his eyes.

Kyouya had thanked him but didn’t want to bother Haruka if he was busy, so he didn’t take him up on the offer until a few weeks later. It was the best experience he had had and was quickly able to push the migraine back in time for his next class with minimal medication and no sound but Haruka writing on paperwork and occasional footsteps around the room.

The next time he went, Haruka welcomed him with a smile, gesturing towards the corner of the room. This time, there was a sleeping mask waiting for him as well, which Kyouya pulled over his eyes with a sigh of relief.

A knock on the door a short while later brought Kyouya out of his calming thoughts and the whispers of Haruka and an unfamiliar student made him curious. Slipping the mask off his head and peeking around the curtain he saw Haruka talking to the barista from the café, who set a carrying case on his desk, giving the doctor a shy smile as she took her payment and pulled a pair of to-go cups from the case. With a nod to Haruka in response to his whispers, she left the room with the empty case and shut the door quietly behind her.

Haruka turned to the cot Kyouya was in and grinned as he met his peeping gaze, gesturing the second cup towards him. Kyouya could tell that he was pink in the cheeks at being caught so easily. He swung his legs over the side and shoved the curtain to the side as soon as he composed himself, joining Haruka at his desk.

“I hope black is fine?” Haruka said, setting the cup in front of him and taking a sip of his own.

“Yes,” Kyouya picked up the cup and took a deep breath of the steam escaping the lid. “I don’t like my coffee sweet. Thank you.”

“Not a problem. The café girl has really picked up on her technique since last month, it’s really quite good.”

“I haven’t made it down there lately, I usually pop over to the pot in the teacher’s lounge if I’m desperate enough.”

“How about you tell me next time so I can get you something other than the cheap swill they have in there? The café has decent prices, less than going to some coffee shop every day.”

“Coffee is coffee.”

“Tell me that in five minutes when you’re finished,” Haruka said with a laugh, the sound shooting adrenaline through Kyouya’s veins in a pleasant way. He wanted to be the one to make Haruka laugh like that every day.

Tipping back the cup to hide the renewed blush on his face, Kyouya gulped down half his coffee, wiping the remaining moisture from his lips with the pad of his thumb. Haruka watched the movement closely before shaking himself off, looking up and giving Kyouya a smile that took him off guard.

“Well?”

“I’m no gourmet, but it was definitely better than the coffee from the lounge.”

“That’s good. I’ll get some for us tomorrow as well then.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes, I would like to get to know you better.” Haruka smirked and added, “Gossip about the other faculty and students among other things.”

Kyouya felt a small smile touch his lips in return. “I have some pretty juicy gossip, I suppose.”

Haruka laughed again. “Same time tomorrow then. You need to go before your free period ends.”

Kyouya stood and clutched the cup of coffee to his chest. His heart was racing and he wasn’t sure if it was due to the happiness Haruka was exuding or the caffeine kicking in. Perhaps both.

“Thank you again for the coffee. I will see you then.”

“It’s a date.”

---

“I had no idea that you came to Ikemen as well,” Kyouya exclaimed, setting his mug on the café table. “You would have been one or two years ahead of me? That would explain why you looked somewhat familiar to me when we first met.”

Haruka swallowed the bite of cake he had been savoring, catching the barista’s eye and giving her a thumbs up. “A year older, yes. That’s also how I knew you before. You had quite the reputation back then.”

Kyouya nearly choked on his own spit, holding back the coughing by will alone. “Yes, well. Things were very different then.”

“They really were, weren’t they?”

“Why is it that I had never met you though? I ended up knowing the majority of the other students in the school through one way or another.”

“I was very quiet through school, I don’t think many people would remember me, to be honest. I assisted the librarian when I wasn’t in class. I think she would have died if you had ever stepped foot among the bookshelves,” he chuckled.

“Yes, I did tend to study more on how to throw a punch than anything actually productive.”

“What made you decide to become a teacher? I was definitely surprised to see how much of a change you’ve made in the last ten years.”

“Long story short, there was a third year teacher here who made it his goal to get me to care about myself. He succeeded, somehow. It helped that my good friend Viktor--he’s also a teacher here, actually--he sided with him as well, pushing me away from the negative influences that would have killed me eventually. It also made me realize that there are hundreds of other students out there like me that deserve to have someone look out for them and help them get back on their feet. I don’t know if teaching is necessarily the best way to go about it, math was the only thing I was ever really good at. He was no longer teaching by the time I received tenure here, but I will always look up to him as my idol.”

Haruka looked Kyouya over, as though reading something between the lines. Eventually he said, “That’s really amazing, Kyouya. Thank you for sharing with me.”

Kyouya cleared his throat and took a sip of his coffee. “You’re the one who asked, of course I would tell you.”

Haruka grinned and looked at his watch. “Ah, it’s about that time.” He gestured to the barista and handed her a bill when she beelined over, taking the offered cash to the register to get Haruka his change.

Kyouya stood and pushed the chair up to the table, glad that Haruka didn’t react any differently to his emotional answer. “This time tomorrow?”

“It’s a date.”

---

“Viktor, I have a question for you.”

“If this is about the paperwork Hideki brought up to me today, I will make sure to get that done by the end of tomorrow.”

“Do it by the end of the school day today, or I swear I will--that wasn’t my question, don’t you walk away from me yet.”

“Oh? Is it school related?”

“No.”

“Oooh, do tell. Do you finally have a crush? Is it that pretty little café girl?”

“For the love of--Viktor, don’t flutter your eyes like that, it’s absolutely disgusting. And creepy.”

“So it is the café girl.”

“No. Viktor just listen--okay, you know what? Never mind.”

“Wait, Kyou-chan, I was just teasing. What’s your question?”

“Have you ever...Have you ever met somebody for the first time and felt instantly that you had known them for a very long time?”

“I can’t say that I have myself, but I have met plenty of people that have expressed their relationships along those lines before.”

“How did they describe it?”

“Hmm. A lot of them called each other their soulmates, someone who they had been destined to end up with and be together.”

“How did it end up for them?”

“I don’t think there was a single pair that seemed to be unhappy with each other, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I’ve been thinking of telling...this person...how I feel.”

“Who--I mean, what are you going to tell them?”

“That they calm me. They are the first thing on my mind when I wake and the last thing I think of before I fall asleep. Their smile is all I need to energize myself for the day. I want to spend the rest of my life with them. I can’t think straight when we’re together. I want to take care of them like they take care of me. I...I think I love them.”

“You know, I’m sure that Haruka would love that.”

“Eh! What? H-How did you know?”

“It would take an idiot to not see how you two look at each other.”

“You mean, he thinks the same for me too?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Not in as many words as you so eloquently put, but yes.”

“Do you think the students know?”

“I think they have their minds on plenty of other things. And what does it matter? You two were made for each other, really.”

“Viktor, I think this is the most honest you have been with me since I’ve met you.”

“There’s a first for everything. Don’t expect it to last. Now, go find your doctor and I’ll go find Hideki or something.”

“Thank you, Viktor.”

“It’s what best friends do.”

---

Kyouya, Haruka, and Viktor were making their way back to school after taking Haruka out to lunch to the bistro down the street. It was close enough that they didn’t feel the need to take a car, but Kyouya was starting to regret it as the winter air chilled his lungs. Wrapping his scarf tighter around his neck, he caught the last part of the conversation Viktor was holding with Haruka as they made their way across school grounds to the main building.

“Bali is especially wonderful this time of year. I’ve already reached out to my uncle about it and he says it should be fine but will get back to me.”

Temper boiling, Kyouya said, “Are you serious? You’ve already had a fifth leave this year alone, I may have to stake you  if you leave Hideki in a lurch again. You do realize that when he has issues they become my issues.”

“My goodness, don’t get your panties in a bunch. Hideki is a good kid, he knows how to take care of things on his own much better than he did at the beginning of the year.”

They entered the building and began their walk to the infirmary, intending on walking Haruka back to his room.

“That’s due to the fact that he’s had to survive on his own for the majority of the school year and has had me helping him. I swear, if you don’t give the boy at least a month to catch up with his college classwork--”

Haruka placed his hand on the doorknob, looking back at the bickering pair with a smile as he opened the door. “Now now, Kyouya. I’m sure Viktor had a good reason for taking his fifth leave of absence this year.”

“Surprise!” A chorus of voices from inside the room startled Haruka and he froze in the doorframe, a small exclamation of excitement as the students inside began to sing Happy Birthday for him. Viktor placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him inside so he and Kyouya were no longer standing in the hallway, gesturing him towards the café girl as she held up a lit cake for him to make his birthday wish.

After Haruka blowed the candles out, Viktor started the congratulations. “Haruka! Happy birthday! Thanks for always letting me use the infirmary supply whenever I have emergency situations regarding my...um…” his voice fell to a whisper that only the other two could hear. “Medical condition. Yep, yep. That’s it.” Bringing himself back to a normal volume, he continued, “You’ve been a great help to me. I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t around to pry a certain someone off of me whenever he goes berserk.” He laughed nervously as Kyouya gave him a sharp look. “You’re a real lifesaver, doctor!”

Still upset about their previous conversation, Kyouya jabbed Viktor in the ribs with his elbow as discreetly as possible. Clearing his throat to cover Viktor’s moan, Kyouya took over. “Happy Birthday, Haru. Thank you for always welcoming me here and taking care of me. I--” He cleared his throat again, feeling the blush rise up on his face. “I can’t believe I’m saying this in front of all these students, but--You’ve truly become an important part of my life here in the school. I don’t know what I would do without your care and your company. Your presence keeps me quite calm and sane. My only regret is that I didn’t try to get to know you sooner. If only I had tried to be friends with you in high school, I would have known you a bit better.” His voice dropped as he finished, “But then again, we have all the time in the world for that now, don’t we?”

Haruka grinned and brushed his hand against Kyouya’s, a second of contact that shot electric shocks up Kyouya’s arm and down his spine, warming his whole body under his coat.

“Yes, we do.”

It’s a date.

[lifeaselisa-blog1]

Get Yourself a Lawn Tractor for Home Use

I've been using my lawn mower for a very long time now. The mower continues to be doing a significantly decent job and has remained constant in its cut through its life. I harbored no grievances in the beginning, but with time, the entire process became tedious, tiresome and time intensive. 

Yes, I got fed up mowing my lawn!

Results Are All That Matter...Right?!

The lawn would look decent, but decent isn't what I was searching for. I needed the order and uniformity I seen from professionally cut lawn care specialists. But I didn;t want to spend the time to do it myself nor did I want to spend the money getting a professional to do it for me (yes I know I’m cheap).

My primary objective was to achieve perfection with efficiency at a cost-effective price. 

My busy time schedule wouldn't allow me to delicately mow my lawn with a reel mower or to purchase one of those fancy-pantsy stripe creating push mowers.

So, like I always do when I’m dissatisfied with what I have I looked for something new.

I needed a machine that would munch up the grass in seconds and spit out fine cuttings that were so small they would be unseen (and act as mulch) or that would suck off the grass into a nice convenient bag for easy disposal.

I looked at the Swisher Predator (above) but this looked like too much hard work. 

I wanted a device that will render my lawn uniform with little hustle and stress. 

Something that I could sit in, riding mowers, or stand on while it moved, stand on mowers.

Available Options

The commercial mowers I looked at supplied some of the specifications I desired. 

Riding mowers had improved hydraulic systems and steel frames, as did the stand on mowers.

This seemed to have solved my conundrum. 

But on the other hand, the price sort of put me off. with prices ranging from a few thousand bucks up to a whopping 10K, I almost had a heart attack when the salesman tried to get me to sign an agreement to be in debt for the rest of my life just so I could mow my lawn!

Screw that!

Money, Money, Money

Then, the more I thought about it the more I came to realized that without such a machine I would merely end up hiring others to do the job for me. 

Mowing might not be such an enjoyable activity, but paying someone else to do something I can do myself for free is like poison to my pocket book. :P

So, I bit the bullet and bought myself a commercial mower.

Happy Mow Man

In the beginning buying a commercial mower was not a direction I was prepared to take. 

But with thought, and the fear of having to give my hard earned money to someone else, I changed my mind.

My Lawn Tractor

The great thing about having a riding mower is that it can also act as a tractor for other garden use.

Even although it can take up a lot of space within my garage, the 16-horsepower lawn tractor is a magnificent tool to have in your selection.

It is also super easy to use. Even my wife can drive it and she hasn’t crashed it once - unlike the mercedes!

The one you decide to get depends on what you want it for.

It may operate on just one or a twin cylinder motor with hydrostatic something-or-other. 

My machine has a quiet yet quite an efficient engine. The engine has the ability to take off and can go faster than some cars I had in my youth.

It is more fuel efficient than my car (at least when my wife drives it)!

My lawn tractor can do everything I want it to do. All I need to do is turn the knob and the blade will instantly start work. 

The lawn tractor is deck controlled and I may electronically adjust its peak and blade speed. I now actually enjoy lawn mowing especially on a warm day when I can place a beer in the cup holder. 

The smallest problem is mowing on steep slopes which seem too dangerous for me so I’ve talked my son into doing those jobs. :)

My OpinionI 

I would never have chosen to buy such an expensive machine had it not been for the extortionate prices lawn care specialists are charging in my county these days.

However, since I bought my own lawn tractor I've found it to have great maneuverability and speed and it makes mowing the lawn actually enjoyable.

Next stop is to take a look at the new stand on mowers to see if owning one of them would be even more fun.