Darkest Shade of Blue- Tamaki X OC

Chapter Six

Ume sighed, dragging a hand down her face after closing her front door behind her. She really needed to stop staying up so late, but texting Tamaki was fun. He was unexpectedly witty, which was a welcome distraction when her father's wet, gurgling coughs could be heard from down the hall in the late hours of the night.

When her father had first fallen ill, it had been a dry cough that persisted for a couple of weeks at a time, and then disappeared as suddenly as it came. It had taken months for her mother to convince him to see a doctor, and by then it had been too late. He was diagnosed with late stage metastatic lung cancer and started systemic treatments immediately. Despite the oncologist's aggressive treatment, the tumors had continued to spread to her father's liver and brain. After a year of radiation and chemotherapy, as well as countless surgeries, her father had decided he wanted to spend what time he had left with his family rather than in a hospital. Then, two weeks ago, they learned that the cancer was now metastasizing in his bones as well.

That morning, Ume was awoken by the sound of uncontrollable coughing rather than her alarm. After listening to this for half an hour and failing to go back to sleep, she decided she couldn't stay home another minute. She quickly prepared for school and made her way to the train station. Today, she was taking her normal train—the one she used to catch every day before she started walking to school with Tamaki. The train was peaceful this early in the morning, with only a few other quiet passengers nearby, so she took that as an opportunity to cram in some last minute studying for the upcoming test.

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Tamaki exited the train station and looked around expectantly, but didn't see the iridescent flash of silver he was looking for. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. He could wait a few minutes and still get to school on time. He propped himself up against a nearby storefront with a good view of the train station before sending a text to Ume.

T: Are you on your way?

After ten minutes with no reply and no sign of his rosey-eyed classmate, he headed off in the direction of UA. He threw one last glance over his hunched shoulders, but she wasn't there. He sent one more message before stowing his phone back into his pocket, gripping his hand around it, ready to pull it out in an instant if she replied.

T: Are you ok?

She probably decided I'm not worth her time. I can't blame her. Why would someone amazing like Ume want to waste their time with someone pathetic like me?

A dark, uncomfortable weight settled in his chest—it wasn't a foreign feeling by any means, but it was always unwelcome. By the time Tamaki had reached the school gates, his bottom lip was sore from anxiously chewing on it. When Mirio appeared next to him while he changed his shoes, Tamaki merely grunted in response to his friend's greeting. Thankfully, Mirio took it in stride and simply settled for walking to the classroom with him in silence.

Ume was at her desk when they walked in, silver hair falling in waves over one shoulder as she traced lines of text in her notebook with a finger, her mouth set in a small frown. Tamaki could see the deep furrow between her brows, the shadows under her eyes, and desperately wanted to ask if she was ok.

No...she obviously doesn't want to talk to me. I should just leave her alone.

With a soft groan, Tamaki sank into his desk chair and dropped his head on the shiny white surface, arms wrapping around himself like a shield. He was so confused. Just last night, Ume had been texting him, and talking about how excited she was to hear about his first day with Fat Gum at the end of the week.

He raised his head to peek over at her desk. She had moved her hair to the other shoulder, hiding her face from view. Tamaki let his head fall back into the dark cage of his arms, feeling that heavy weight in his chest expanding until he felt like he couldn't take a full breath.