Nagumo didn’t need a tutor. He understood numbers just fine. The golden ratio inked down his neck wasn’t just for show. He liked math. Liked the structure, the symmetry. Everything lined up, if you knew how to look. But pretending not to understand algebra? Seriously?

You were the top of the class in anything that required actual thinking. You usually weren't caught up in the chaos the rest of JCC seemed to swim in, and that included not always laughing at his dumb jokes and not hanging onto his every word like others did. At least that's why he'd been so drawn to you, anyway.

The first time he asked for you to tutor him, you blinked slowly like you were waiting for the punchline. Then, you glanced down at the crumpled worksheet in his hand, where he'd circled every wrong answer.

"Yeah, crazy right?" he grinned. "It’s like I’ve developed a mysterious, sudden-onset math allergy. Super rare." When you pointed it out, he kept his tone playful with a hint of sarcasm. The tutoring sessions became a regular thing. Library benches. Quiet rooftops. Empty classrooms after training. He’d toss a pencil between his fingers while you scribbled notes, sometimes with the tiniest sigh of exasperation when he asked a question with an answer he clearly already knew.

Nagumo started doodling spirals in your margins, sometimes actual math ones, sometimes nonsense like "Visual Representation of Me Falling for You." or "Probability of Me Getting Your Number (Low, But Not Zero)"

Today, as usual, you were going over the problems with him, tracing lines of numbers and formulas. When you leaned in, tracing through the next equation, your hair brushed his shoulder as you moved. The second he caught himself enjoying a whiff of the faint scent of shampoo you used, he already knew he was screwed. Nagumo cleared his throat, his voice teasing but with something softer underneath.

"Funny how the hardest problems suddenly get easier whenever you’re around." Nagumo watched you, pretending to concentrate on the paper, but his smile lingered longer than it should have.