The Story Of Forever (Todobaku)

Totally Not A Crush

Shouto combed through his hair with shaky fingers. Loose strands fell in opposite directions, his appearance shifting from too polished to too sloppy. Achieving the perfectly imperfect look wasn't easy.

The acoustics in the boys' bathroom on the third floor were torturous. Every time Shouto sighed, grunted, paced the porcelain tiled floor, slapped himself as a way to drop the nerves (it didn't work), the sound pierced his ears. But when he was completely still, the silence was deafening.

This was counterproductive. He arrived at school an hour early to prevent intense panic from invading his body. If he had adequate time to prepare, he'd have no reason to be nervous, or so he believed.

Shouto spent his weekend daydreaming about this. In his head, things went much smoother. He was outgoing, quick witted, and left the best impression. Could that still happen? Maybe. Would it? Unlikely.

After accepting his pin straight hair was destined to be forever bland and boring, Shouto departed the bathroom and hauled to the fourth floor where his locker was. The class bell wouldn't ring for another ten minutes, but his window of opportunity could occur at any moment.

The coast was clear, a minor victory. Now for the awkward part: putz around and pretend to appear busy until a certain someone arrives.

He stuck his head in his locker, a large enough space to encase him in case everything went terribly wrong. He fiddled with his notebooks, emergency deodorant, as well as the decorations on the inside of the door. Shouto traced his thumb over the photo of him and Touya on Halloween, ages three and eleven. Touya rocked his Mario costume, while Shouto sported a Toad costume that ran a size too big, but that didn't stop the younger boy from flashing the biggest smile at the camera as his brother held him on his hip, Shouto's pudgy arms wrapped around Touya's neck.

Shouto nearly choked on his breath mint as somebody knocked on his locker door from the opposite side, startling him. He regulated his breathing while he was still hidden, just in case he was about to come face to face with the one he was waiting for.

Though when he closed his locker door enough to reveal himself, he exhaled upon realizing who his visitor was.

"Oh," he said. "Hey."

"Morning," Katsuki replied. "Did you get everything sorted out?"

"Mostly, yeah."

Shouto felt bad lying to Katsuki, but there was zero chance of him disclosing the truth. Especially because Shouto was unsure as to what the truth even was.

Since Katsuki got his driver's license, he'd been Shouto's ride to school. To avoid suspicion, Shouto told Katsuki he left his chemistry textbook in his locker overnight and needed to come to school early to get his homework completed. Because Katsuki had no reason to doubt him, it worked like a charm.

"Well, let's get going," Katsuki said. "Don't need Keigo yelling at me for being late."

Shouto timidly peered down the end of the hallway. "I'm gonna stay here."

"Huh?" Katsuki raised a brow. "Why?"

"I, uh...still need to get some things out of my locker."

"So just grab them."

Shouto's face went pale as he glanced back at Katsuki. "I need time to warm up. They're...heavy."

Still perplexed, Katsuki slid a hand under Shouto's fringe, pressing his warm palm to Shouto's forehead. "You feeling okay?"

No, Shouto wanted to say. I'm a complete mess and I'm scared of what's happening to me.

Instead, he attempted a smile. "I'm fine," he said, lowering Katsuki's arm. "I'll meet you in class, okay?"