Time Before Tragedy

Chapter 6

Once again, sunlight woke Ojiro. He tried to stand and once again found his tail trapped by Shinsou. A small smile blossomed on his face and he adjusts his position to be more comfortable, laying down.

"Hnng. H-heh?" Hitoshi mumbled, waking up to fur in his face. "Lemon get, I have school." He closed his eyes again.

"Is Lemon your cat?" Ojiro asked, making Shinsou open his eyes quickly and sit up, still holding his tail.

"Oh, it's you. Yes, Lemon is my cat. She's got the same fur your tail does. She's super pretty." He said. "Even though she tries to suffocate me with her fur."

He chuckled. "She sounds adorable," Ojiro said, smiling and gently taking his tail out of Shinsou's grip. "Maybe I can meet her someday, yeah?" He asked, stretching.

"Yeah, maybe. Hey, my shirt is definitely dirty after wearing it for two days straight. Got anything I can borrow until I get to my dorm?" He asked.

"Well, seeing as class starts in an hour, I have a spare uniform that might fit you." He said. "If you want, or you can run around like a headless chicken for half an hour trying to shower and dress and run halfway across campus to class."

"I'll take the spare. If it doesn't fit well, your not that much shorter than me, I just won't raise my hand." He said. "Mind if I use your shower?"

"Go for it. We're training today, I'll shower then. I'll find that spare uniform for ya." Ojiro smiled and opened his closet, searching for the uniform.

Shinsou nodded gratefully, a hint of a smile on his face. He walked into the bathroom and locked the door. After running water, he looked through everything for a towel he could use. Once he found one, he undressed and got in.

Ojiro continued to do small tasks around his dorm. When Shinsou was finished, Ojiro handed him the uniform from the door and waited for him, also getting changed. After both of them were finished changing, they both went out to walk to class.

They spoke as they walked and when they reached the training ground, they said goodbye and parted ways. Ojiro seemed distracted all day. He was slower, more distracted. After training, he was the last one to get out of the shower and redress. He had a smile on his face and nearly ran face-first into someone. Looking up, it was Katsuki.

"Ah, sorry Bakugo. I didn't mean to-" He yelped when Bakugo grabbed his shirt. "Wh-what are you- ow!" His hand went up to hold his stinging cheek, shoving Bakugo away. He glared but saw Bakugo move as if to speak.

"You think it's funny, don't you? Do you think this is a game?! Huh?! Answer me you pint-size extra!" Bakugo snapped. His expression was one of pure aggression and anger. What got him so angry?

Ojiro's tail thrashed angrily but he turned his gaze downward. "I don't see anything funny about being physically assaulted, no." He said, unable to hide the bitterness of his voice. "Why did you slap me?" Ojiro demanded.

"You didn't even try out there! If this training had been a real battle my entire squad would be dead! It was your job to disarm the bomb! If it weren't for Kaminari's good judgment and the fact that the fucking teacher is within earshot of my explosions you'd be a smear on the fucking wall! If you want to be a hero, I'd suggest getting your head out of the fucking clouds, idiot." He raised his hand quickly, just to make Ojiro flinch, and stormed away.

Ojiro bit back tears and excused himself, brushing off the vein attempts of Hagakure and Shoji to comfort him. He noticed Dark Shadow was agitated and felt bad for him. He never meant to hurt people. He didn't realize just how spaced out he'd been all day.

~~~~

Once in his dorm, he sat on his bed and cried. He'd messed up, training and now Bakugo was mad at him. He'd been too busy daydreaming about spending more time with Shinsou that he completely forgot about the task at hand. Maybe Bakugo was right. He was living in the clouds, and he needed to come down. He texted Shinsou and arranged a meeting.

After texting the purple-haired male, he changed out of his uniform and grabbed Shinsou's clothes from yesterday. A soft sigh passed his lip and he felt tears in his eyes again as he picked up the clothes. Shinsou wasn't even in his class and he was the only one he felt truly safe around.

Why? Why didn't his classmates seem to care? Was he not good enough? Did they think he wasn't worth there time? Or was it simply because he wasn't interesting? Questions filled his head and he had to lean on the wall to calm down before he started crying again. Hopefully, this meeting would help.

~~~~

Ojiro showed up to the meeting point a few minutes late. Silently, he gave Shinsou the bag with his clothes in it and leaned on a tree, staring at the sky. He was startled to feel arms wrap around him. He took his eyes off of the sky and saw that Shinsou had hugged him, his bag on the floor.

"I don't know the details, but your entire being is screaming 'bad day' and I want to help. If I overstepped my boundaries I'm sorry, but it looked like you needed a hug." Shinsou said softly, his tone akin to the time one used to speak to a frightened animal as if he was afraid speaking too loudly would scare Ojiro away.

Ojiro's eyes filled with tears and he hugged back, burying his face in the boy's shoulder and trying not to cry. He felt Shinsou's hand run his back to comfort him and his tail curled around his waist. "Go ahead and cry if you need to. I'm here for you." Shinsou's soft voice filled Ojiro's ears again and he let loose, sobbing into his shoulder.

Shinsou tried his best to comfort the blonde, rubbing his back and letting him cry. When Ojiro calmed down enough, the two boys sat down with Ojiro in Shinsou's lap, curled up like a cat. The two sat in silence for a minute, merely enjoying the other's presence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Shinsou asked, still keeping his voice barely above a whisper. Ojiro nodded and took a few deep breaths, then proceeded to spill everything about his day and how he'd felt throughout it, his voice matching the emotion he'd felt throughout.