Chapter Text
Koga is running on around 3 hours of sleep, and he's not happy about it.
It had stormed all of last night, and he had been more than prepared to put up with Leon being fussy and trying to burrow deeper under his duvet with each clap of thunder, but he's more than feeling the toll of such a restless night the next morning. Leon is sprawled on his back halfway on Koga's chest when he stirs for the fifth time in the last few hours. The sunlight is harsh where it peeks through his blinds that he had neglected to fully close yesterday, and he squints in the light for a few moments before his heart thumps wildly in his chest.
He's going to be late.
Leon groans when Koga carefully pushes him off of his chest so he can fly out of bed and rush towards his closet, tripping several times as he shoves his pants on and he nearly strangles himself with his shirt and tie in the process. He’s stumbling to get socks on his feet when his phone starts blaring its alarm, and Koga isn’t sure if he wants to howl with relief or rage. He isn’t late at all, and he’d been rushing for the past ten minutes when he could have been getting some much needed sleep before his first morning alarm was going to go off.
Koga tilts his head back and groans as loudly as he can at the ceiling, and Leon doesn't even flinch. Instead, his corgi rolls onto his back and stretches his stubby legs into the air with a whiny groan. But even Leon's morning routine of sleepily blinking at Koga with one of his ears flipped inside out does nothing for his sour mood, and Koga scrubs his hands down his face with a sigh.
This is going to suck.
-
On this day, despite his good deeds the night before- and all throughout his life thank you very much- the world is out to get Koga. He's convinced.
He had burned his hand on his breakfast- whole wheat shitty toaster waffles instead of something normal like a blueberry waffle, damn you Mom, trying to put healthy things in the care packages she sends him- and there hadn't been any honey left for him to make the hellish meal even remotely edible. Syrup was out of the question, with a smell that would stick somewhere on Koga and give him a headache throughout the day without a doubt. He was in desperate need of a trip to the grocery store and he adds that to his mental list while cursing the waffles in his toaster.
Then, as he was powering through the cardboard flavored waffle while taking Leon out to use the bathroom, he had been so absorbed in trying to force the final bite down his throat he hadn't realized how close to Leon he had been standing until he could feel something warm and wet soaking into the bottom of his uniform pants. There wasn't even any way he could be mad at Leon, because his stupid ass had been the one to stand too close and not realize he was in Leon's line of fire while he relieved himself, and Koga had to give him his usual good boy, good boy because he'd rather deal with digging through his dresser for his backup pants instead of potentially telling his dog not to pee outside.
However, Leon does not receive his morning belly rub in retaliation... well, that's a lie, Koga could never deny Leon's pitiful face, but his goodbyes were lackluster compared to usual. He only feels a little guilty about not giving his customary farewell high-five and kiss to the nose. The universe seems to be more than willing to let his slights go unforgiven, though, and his subway pass takes seven swipes before it lets him through and he nearly misses it, then ends up crammed between two very smelly old people, and the young children across from him are wailing about not wanting to go to class.
After a painfully long ride and an even more painful headache induced by the overly floral scent of two old ladies, Koga trudges into school and up the stairs to class. 2B is slightly less chatty than usual when Koga finally enters the classroom. Mao is looking like he’s on his last legs of trying to get Ritsu to sit upright in his seat, but Ritsu seems to be slightly more alert than he usually is in the mornings, he even offers Koga a twiddle of his fingers before returning to his conversation with Mao. Koga only offers him a slightly less powerful glare in return, and Mao raises an eyebrow at him but brushes it off when Ritsu starts tugging on his arm to let him use it as a pillow.
Mika is out of his assigned seat, in the desk behind Koga’s, hunched over some kind of sewing project. It looks like some kind of furry monstrosity, but the more refined parts of the piece look like something from Akatsuki. Or maybe it's another rescue mission from the trash, Koga isn't sure. Whatever it is, he's deeply engrossed in it, only moving his hand to stitch and occasionally shaking his head when his bangs fall in his face too much.
Arashi and Yuzuru are huddled around Arashi’s desk discussing their answers on the homework that Koga suddenly realizes he only has half finished, and there’s maybe ten minutes left before class starts. Not enough time to actually get anything done. He grits his teeth and throws his bag down next to his chair before he flops down sideways into it with a huff.
“Mm?” Mika lifts his head, looking slightly startled at the sound but he smiles around the pins in his mouth when he realizes who it is. “G’mornif Kog-un.”
“Horseshit.”
Mika pulls the pins from where he’s holding them in his mouth. “Not a good mornin’ then, I guess.” Mika pats around on the fabric of the shirt, then pulls out a small pair of scissors to snip the thread connected to the spot he’d been attaching little embellishments to. “S’matter, Koga-kun?”
“The storm kept Leon up all night.” Koga leans his elbow on the desk Mika sits in, careful not to push on the canned coffee sitting on the corner of it. “N’then I couldn’t sleep when the rain finally stopped, and Hakaze keeps ignoring my fuckin’ texts.”
“Ah.” Yuzuru leans to the side, raising his hand slightly. “Language, Oogami-sama. Sensei has a few strikes on you already, I wouldn’t want you to miss class.”
The way Yuzuru barely reacts to Koga sneering at him only makes Koga more angry. “Eat shit,” he growls, and Yuzuru just sighs and goes back to rewriting an answer on his homework.
“Ohoho~” Arashi is even more infuriating, holding his hand over his mouth like he’s cute or something. “So fiesty today, Koga-chan. Maybe give him a treat to calm him down, Mika-chan?” He laughs genuinely this time when Koga simply gives him the finger before he turns back to Mika to ignore everyone else.
Mika is bent at the waist, though, digging through his bag. “Actually,” he sits up straight, holding out a can of coffee to Koga. “Ya can have this, if you want. The machine gave me two when I got mine earlier. I can’t drink both, s’real bad for my anxiety. If you’re tired some coffee won’t hurt.”
Koga glares at the can, but Mika is still offering it to him. “Yeah, whatever.” He takes it, and it’s still warm from the machine. “Thanks.” Mika’s smile grows wider, but he startles when he catches sight of the clock and hurries to pack up his projects before class officially starts and he can be called out by the teacher for breaking the seating arrangements.
The coffee is even warmer when Koga takes his first drink, and it’s thankfully not black- he’s tired of trying to drink his coffee black to keep up appearances around Rei and Kaoru. It’s just sweet enough, and he almost feels a little better about his terrible morning.
Everyone falls silent quickly when their teacher walks in, shuffling their homework together when he calls for it to be passed up to the front even though he had just gotten through the damn door. Koga’s caffeine induced relief slips right out of his grasp, and he digs around in his bag for his half completed assignment after taking the paper Mika hands over Koga's shoulder- better to hand in something than nothing, probably.
“Assigned seating, Kagehira.” Their teacher doesn’t even look away from where he's unloading his supplies onto the desk and Mika doesn't even grab his bag from where it's sitting underneath the desk next to him as his quickly jumps into his assigned desk. The teacher takes the homework up from Mao once they're all passed in, thumbing back the corners to take the count before he sets them in the small tray on the corner of his desk.
Mao starts to drone on with the morning announcements not even a full minute later, and Koga easily tunes him out and pulls his phone from his pocket. He's far enough in the back that no one really cares, and it's not like he's the first one to pull out his phone and use it during class. The announcements aren't even important, just reminders for upcoming Lives, reminders for pay being due soon for units, what the cafeteria is serving today- typical nonsense. Koga opens up his inbox and glares at the texts he had sent to Kaoru that are still unanswered. His thumbs fly over the screen as he types out another round of messages.
To: Hakaze
Subject: ????????
jfc where are you
ive been trying to get a hold of you for 45 min?????
youre still online on Line asshole I know ur there
Koga sets his phone on his desk, watching the screen as he waits for the little bubble that shows him that Kaoru is actually going to reply to him, but the messaging app stays annoyingly silent no matter how hard Koga glares at it. He crosses his arms over his chest and tries to pay attention to the lecture he's already missed the introduction of, and the notes that are currently being scrawled up on the board don't make any sense to him. Koga decides he might as well pretend to be a good student to keep the teacher off his ass for turning in unfinished work, and digs around in his bag for his notebook. He plops it onto his desk and flips it open to a blank page when he notices that the pencil he's been keeping since the start of the semester isn't in the spiral anymore, and must have fallen into his bag.
With some very necessary grumbling, Koga pats around the inside of his bag for the escapee, and curses loudly enough that Yuzuru throws him another look over his shoulder before he goes back to dutifully taking notes. The only thing Koga can find in his bag is a rather impressive collection of lint and a few scrapped scores that Rei had given him as practice material to keep him on his toes. Koga sighs heavily through his nose, slouching in his chair. Arashi snorts, and Koga flicks the bit of lint that he had collected instead of his pencil onto his desk. Arashi, the bastard, doesn't even notice, and goes back to taking a few notes in between rapid fire text messages.
“'ey, Ritchii.” Ritsu blinks slowly, chin resting heavily in his hand as he turns his attention toward Koga. “You got a spare pencil or anything?”
Ritsu hums, looking down at his bag where it lays at his feet. “Backpack is too far away,” he says. “Sorry, Corgi, you should have come to class prepared.”
Seriously? Koga clicks his tongue, but Ritsu just closes his eyes and is probably fast asleep already. Mao's shoulders stiffen and he whips around to glare at Koga, his expression telling him to shut his mouth and that he also doesn't have something for Koga to write with. At least Mao looks somewhat apologetic about it. Koga drums his fingers on his desk, and he turns to Mika to ask him the same question, but Mika's already thumbing through the tattered pencil bag he had finished in the middle of class sometime last week. He slumps a bit, offering Koga a sheepish smile and a mouthed apology when he also seems to be down to his last pencil.
Fuck this earth, Koga thinks, resigning to his life of being without a writing utensil in a class where the teacher likes to hound on his students for not taking notes. Maybe if he tells him about his dog peeing on his leg this morning he'll get some slack.
The lecture continues to drone on, and Koga is getting more and more pissed off as it goes. The clock is ticking by much too slowly, and any notifications that light up his phone are not from Kaoru. He keeps getting looks from the teacher, even though Arashi has abandoned the facade of taking notes and is just on his phone completely and Ritsu doesn't even have anything on his desk besides his head. Koga tries his hardest to fake that he's paying attention, raising his eyebrows at random intervals in the hopes that maybe he looks surprised by new information on... whatever this lecture is about. He isn't sure, honestly.
His phone buzzes quietly against his desk, and Koga nearly ignores it until he sees Kaoru's contact information next to the inbox pop-up. He quickly taps in his code to unlock the phone and read the message. Against his better judgment Koga hopes to read something where Kaoru is groveling, apologizing for being an asshole and skipping practice and acting like it's no big deal.
From: Hakaze
Subject: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
nah man im hiding in the marine bio room
im tiiiiiired the ladies love me too much, wan-chan~
and kanata-kun is covering for me www
You've got to be fucking kidding. Koga's phone brightens up again, and Kaoru even has the nerve to send a picture of himself. He's laying on the floor in the Marine Biology clubroom, his blazer pillowing his head while he grins at the camera, flashing a peace sign. Koga can see directly up Kanata's nose where he's leaning over Kaoru to look at the phone, or maybe to tell Kaoru to get off his ass and do something; Koga hopes it's the latter.
To: Hakaze
Subject: fuck you
im gonna kick your shit in
Uncaring for the lecture going on, Koga growls and slams his phone down on the desk, nearly knocking over the half empty can of coffee with the impact. He stands upright quickly, clenching his fists and delivering the most powerful kick he can muster to his chair when it doesn't scoot all the way back for him just from him standing upright. The chair skids loudly across the floor for maybe half a second before it topples over, and the only thing that cuts through Koga's righteous fury towards Kaoru and his stupid goddamn why is Mika bleeding all over the floor.
The sound of the chair scraping on the floor and the yelp from Mika has everyone's attention, and Koga is too shocked to do anything but just... stare at Mika while he holds a hand over his nose that's currently dripping an impressive amount of blood all over the white floors.
“A-ah.” Mika winces, and Koga continues to stare in horror as Mika slowly takes his hand away from his face and Koga can see a bruise already starting to blossom right across the bridge of Mika's nose, the deep looking cut trickling blood at a steady pace..
“Mika-chan..!” Arashi stands up from his seat, eyes wide in horror. Mika stares at the spot on the floor where his blood is starting to pool, and then at the blood dribbling down his hand. Slowly, his gaze turns up towards Koga, and he claps his hand over his face again.
“I g-gotta, uhm. 'Scuse me.” Mika squeezes his eyes shut, scrambling to his feet and bolting out the door. Koga turns to watch him run out, too shocked to try and call out to him that it was an accident, that he absolutely had not meant to do this on purpose.
Arashi hip checks him hard when he walks past him to grab Mika's bag from the desk behind him, the look he gives Koga is enough to make Koga's breath catch in his throat for a moment. “Dick.” Arashi growls under his breath, then he jogs out the still open door as the teacher tells him to “go, go, I'll write you a pass later.” Yuzuru also springs up, looking a little panicked as he nearly runs to one of the cabinets at the back of the class to grab some cleaning supplies.
The teacher turns his gaze to Koga, level and frighteningly stoic. “See me after class, Oogami.” Koga swallows, but dips his head after a slow nod. He thinks about maybe offering to help Yuzuru clean or something, but he's already gotten most of the blood and is currently scrubbing the floor back to its pristine white color with some disinfectant wipes. It feels even worse when Koga bends to pick up his chair and Yuzuru very quickly backs away from him, and he can tell by the look on his face that it doesn't have anything to do with the bloody paper towels and wipes he's holding in his gloved hands.
Despite the commotion, their teacher continues the lecture after reassurance that he'll be going to the infirmary after class and making sure that Mika is alright and that he'll report back as quickly as possible. Koga doesn't even try to pay attention anymore, putting his face in his hands with his elbows on his desk to marinate in his shame with some illusion of not being in the middle of the classroom where he can feel everyone staring at him.
This blows.
-
Jin lets out a low whistle, his fingers gentle where they rest under Mika's chin, guiding him to turn his head from side to side slowly. “That's definitely broken.” He takes his hand away, shaking his head. “What happened? You're not one to get in fights, Kagehira.”
“A chair was thrown in his face.” Arashi glowers, arms crossed tight over his chest and his foot wagging slowly in the air as he sits with one leg crossed over the other beside Mika. “Koga-chan lost it in class and decided Mika-chan was a good target.”
Mika sniffs and folds his hands in his lap, pulling the sleeves of his sweater entirely over his hands. He wants to disagree, he's sure that Koga didn't entirely know that Mika had been leaning across the aisle to grab his bag from underneath the other desk at just the right time for the chair to slam into his face, and Koga had been in such a bad mood... but he had never been this angry toward Mika before.
Jin pulls a few more tissues from the box on the bedside table, handing them to Mika so he can wipe the last bits of blood just under his nose. “Well, it's not too bad, I've seen worse. But I have to set it back so it doesn't go crooked.” He holds out a trash can for Mika to toss the tissues in once he's done cleaning his face, and he plucks some gloves from the box he had brought over after getting Mika settled. “This won't feel good, you can ice it and take some painkillers once I get it right. You should go back home, Kagehira, you won't catch any flack for taking a few days off.”
“... 'kay.” Mika mumbles, lifting his head when he hears the snap of the gloves being pulled onto Jin's hands. His nose throbs faintly when Jin braces his fingers on either side, and he blindly flails one hand for Arashi's as Jin counts down from three slowly. Arashi squeezes his hand tightly, wincing at the soft crack and the much louder yelp from Mika when Jin presses his fingers to set the slight crook straight again.
Jin takes his hands away quickly. “Done, done, all done.” He surveys his work, tilting his head and humming before he gently pats Mika on the shoulder. “There. It's gonna be swollen for a while, and you're gonna bruise, but just don't touch it or anything.” Mika hiccups in response, nodding and quickly wiping at his cheeks with his free hand to catch the few tears that are falling from his eyes. Jin sighs, pulling his gloves off and tossing them into the trash. “I'll get you an ice pack and some painkillers.” Jin pauses with his hands poised to grab another tissue from the box on the table, but he decides it would be more sensible to just hand the entire thing over, and he sets it next to Mika’s thigh. “I know it hurts, but try not to cry too much, Kagehira. The pressure is going to make it worse.”
He pulls the curtain divider partially closed before walking away, and Arashi strokes his thumb over the back of Mika's hand with a frown. “Mika-chan...” Arashi gives his hand one more squeeze before he unlaces their fingers. Arashi uncrosses his legs so he can bend one up onto the bed, scooting closer to Mika. “I’ll walk you home whenever you want, but I'll stay here until you're ready to go.” He plucks one of the tissues from the box Jin had put on the bed, handing it over. Mika continues to sniff, wiping carefully under his nose. Arashi sighs, tilting his head to try and get a better look at Mika’s face.
“Dunno what I did,” Mika says quietly, dabbing at the blood on his sleeve but he gives up when nothing comes off on the tissue. “I don’t want anyone to be mad at me… ‘specially Koga-kun.” He tugs the sleeves of his sweater farther over his hands, hiding them almost completely. “I know he was in a bad mood, but I didn’t think it was so bad he woulda gotten up like that.” Mika waivers, the pain still thrumming through his face and the anxiety brewing over the situation bringing up a fresh wave of tears. “What if he’s real mad at me Naru-chan?”
Arashi purses his lips, not used to watching Mika cry at all. “Do you want me to rub your back?” He offers, and shushes Mika quietly when he nods and leans into Arashi's side. “It'll be okay, Mika-chan,” he says. “I'll talk to him, and he's going to apologize to you, and he's going to mean it.”
“Don't be mean t'him, Naru-chan, I don't think he really did it on purpose, even if he’s mad at me.” Arashi starts curling his fingers gently through the longer hair at the back of Mika’s neck, and he snuggles deeper into Arashi’s side as he relinquishes to the petting. “He didn’t even throw the chair, he just-”
The sound of brisk footsteps and the curtain being thrown open cuts Mika off, and he squawks at the sudden intrusion when Shu makes his appearance. His cheeks are just slightly flushed, and Mika wouldn’t be surprised if he had ran all the way here from his class. Shu doesn’t even have Mademoiselle tucked into the crook of his arm, and he doesn’t acknowledge Arashi either as he places a hand over his chest, jaw hanging slack.
“Oh good heavens -- ! ” He shrieks, balking for a few seconds before he steps closer to where Mika is still huddled into Arashi. “Let me see, good lord what has been done to your beautiful face?! ”
“Koga-chan happened.” Arashi huffs, keeping his arm protectively around Mika even as Shu grabs gently for Mika’s chin and tilts his head this way and that to inspect the damage. “He broke his nose.”
Shu looks even more distraught than before, eyes wide as he looks at the heavy bruising that’s spreading around the inner corners of Mika’s eyes. “Oh I am going to eviscerate that mutt, mark my words.” Shu swears under his breath. “Assaulting my doll, he needs to be hung this instant.”
“Nnn, Oshi-san, that’s a lil-”
“Hush, boy. You have broken bones, for christ's sake.”
“Aye-- okay, Oshi-san.” Mika corrects himself, letting Shu poke and prod while Arashi keeps petting him. Softer footsteps come from behind Shu, and Jin surveys the scene with a raised eyebrow, carrying an ice pack and a small bottle of pills in his hands.
“I guess I gotta write you a pass too, huh, Itsuki.” He shrugs, handing over the ice pack before he twists the cap off of the bottle. “I’ll get into trouble if all of you ditch class, someone just take Kagehira home without causing me any grief, please.”
Mika takes the ice pack with a grimace, fingertips already feeling numb from the cold. Shu finally leans out of his face, crossing his arms over his chest. “Is he going to scar? How long before he’s back in commission? His face is vital to his career, I simply will not stand for that mutt ruining my hard work.”
“It’s not like you made him, Itsuki.” Arashi huffs, but settles for his most potent stink-eye when Mika gives him a nudge with his foot.
“The cut isn’t bad, so I don’t think it’ll scar.” Jin hands Mika two small pills after shaking them out from the bottle, and he turns to take one of the small paper cups from the water cooler so he can fill it. “Just let him rest, don’t touch it or make it worse or anything. It’ll heal on its own, the swelling is going to be the worst part.”
Shu looks like he might faint, but he calms the shaking in his knees with a deep breath. “Fine. He’s going to be out of class until it’s healed, I trust that even you could retrieve the homework for him, Narukami.”
Arashi’s petting picks up speed, but at least the friction gives Mika some kind of warmth to fight off the chill of the ice on his face. “Gee, thanks, Itsuki. I can tell you have some real faith in me.”
“Don’t fiiiiiight.” Mika groans, looking up at the two woefully before taking a sip of the water and slipping the painkillers into his mouth. “I’m beggin’ y’all.” Shu and Arashi glare at each other for a few moments, and they both give up with a huff.
“Fine. Take him home, I left in the middle of a test and I’ll die if Tenshouin is finished before I return.” Shu turns on his heel without another word, not even pausing when Jin tries to stop him so he can write him a hall pass.
“Does he actually think he can finish a test before someone if he left in the middle of it?” Arashi shakes his head, but gives up the goat for Mika’s sake. “Are you gonna be okay if I go back to get your bag? I don’t want to leave you here by yourself.”
Mika nods, waving Arashi off with his free hand while the other holds the icepack. “I’ll be fine, Naru-chan, y’can just go back to class.” Mika kicks his shoes off, sweeping them a little under the bed with his foot so they aren’t laying out in the middle of the room. “‘M just gonna take a nap or somethin’, wake m’up at lunch so I can go home.”
He hands over the ice pack when Arashi holds his hand out for it, rubbing his sleeve-covered hands together to try and get some warmth back into his chilly fingers. “Are you sure? I can stay as long as you want me to, Mika-chan.” Arashi offers, but Mika just shakes his head. “Do you want extra pillows? Hmm, I can steal the blankets from the other beds, Sagami-sensei probably has extras if anyone else comes in.” He gives Mika a squeeze before getting up to strip the other two beds of their top blankets, wadding them up in his arms while Mika makes himself comfortable.
Mika allows himself to be tucked in, indulging in Arashi’s fussing and the warmth of the extra blankets tucked around him. “I’ll bring you lunch, too, okay? Get some sleep, Mika-chan.” Arashi leans down to press a smacker of a kiss to the top of Mika’s head, and then a few more when Mika wiggles and tries to escape the extra affection. The onslaught stops when Mika turns his head further to hide his face completely in the pillow. “Your nose! Don’t stuff your face in the pillow!” Arashi yelps, pulling at Mika’s shoulder. “Sorry, sorry! Sorry for blessing you with my kisses!”
“I won’t, I woooooonn’t,” Mika swats blindly at Arashi’s hands as he rolls onto his side, giggling despite the dull sting that blooms through his nose. “Just go to class already, I promise I won’t break it more.”
Seeing Mika smile puts Arashi at just a little more ease, and he pats at a lump that’s probably Mika’s shoulder under the blankets. “I will, I will, don’t worry about anything, okay? Onee-chan has your back.” Arashi blows one more kiss before pulling the curtain all the way closed, and Mika settles into his nest of blankets with a sigh.
He really hopes that Arashi won’t try to fight Koga-- he really hopes that Shu doesn’t try to do anything, Shu has very different limits than Arashi. How did he even know that Mika had gotten hurt? Arashi had been in a group message with the rest of his unit in class, Mika had seen the onslaught of texts and memes over Arashi’s shoulder when he had been looking up at the board to make sure he was really understanding what the teacher had been going on about. Did he tell all of them..? Mika groans, rolling onto his back and pulling the blankets up to his nose. Ah, maybe he shouldn’t, would blankets really hurt more? Regardless, he tucks the hems of the blankets under his chin instead, staring up at the ceiling tiles.
Even if Koga somehow did mean to hit him on purpose, Mika really doesn’t want anyone to fight him, especially if it’s on his behalf. There’s no way that he really did it on purpose, right? Mika had just been reaching down for his bag after he remembered that he had a few extra pencils in there when Koga needed one, and then Koga… kicked the chair back. But Koga didn’t even see him..? Or maybe he did, maybe he could smell Mika. Does he smell bad? Koga always gripes about things that smell too strongly of anything. Maybe Mika’s deodorant is too much and Koga got so overwhelmed by the smell when Mika had reached for his bag and then he just had to kick the chair and… and….
Mika whines, his mind unhelpfully swimming with reasons why Koga would, in fact, kick a chair into his face. Broken nose be damned, Mika pulls the blankets completely over his face, giving up on his nap in favor of laying down to think too hard about the situation.
This sucks.
-
Everyone shuffles out of class quickly once class ends, eager to leave Koga to get chewed out by the teacher. Arashi had come back for Mika’s bag about halfway through, glaring daggers at Koga during his short trip. He keeps up the look even when he comes back to class completely, settling in his desk with a huff and an icy look over at Koga every few minutes. Koga says nothing, staring down at his desk until they’re dismissed for PE. He’s on his feet the second Yuzuru slides the door shut behind him, not even waiting for his teacher to take a breath before he starts fumbling his words.
“Look, I swear it was an accident. I-I would never hit anyone that bad on purpose,” Koga pauses, then shoves his hands in his pockets. “Unless they deserved it, y’know? But- but Mika-kun didn’t do anything, and I was mad at Hakaze for skipping on this photoshoot we have comin’ up and shit- stuff , stuff- and not answerin’ me and Mika-kun was just. He was right there, man, and I-”
Koga stutters to a stop when his teacher raises a hand to silence him, looking a little less furious than he had when he initially told Koga to stay after class. “Look, I don’t think you did that on purpose. I’ve heard the stories of people who you’ve actually gotten into fights with, and I know you wouldn’t have stopped there.” Koga winces, but doesn’t disagree, mainly because he’s sure that if he interrupts his punishment will be much worse. “But you obviously did some damage, and to Kagehira’s face no less. Even you know how vital appearances are to an idol’s career.”
Shit. Shit. “Yeah,” Koga says, looking down at his feet. “Yeah, I know.” He stands there under the weight of a disapproving look, almost squirming by the time the teacher sighs and starts to pack away his things.
“Feeling sorry for yourself seems to be punishment enough, but I fully expect you to apologize to Kagehira.” He jogs a small stack of paper on the desk. “And you will be cleaning the classroom on your own after school for this week and the next, and you’ll be late to whatever you have planned.”
And after all the hell he’s given Kaoru for being late to practice… “Yeah, yeah.” Koga rakes a hand through his hair, going back to his desk for his bag once he’s waved off. The floor is completely clean where Mika had fallen over and dripped blood all over the place, but the slightly more shiny spot on the floor makes Koga’s stomach lurch with guilt. He really needs to go hard in PE today, maybe burn off this bad mood so he doesn’t break anything else. Maybe he’ll get lucky and they’ll just run laps all period and everyone will leave Koga alone.
Koga gets two steps out the door when someone hooks an arm through his, squeezing painfully tight. He yelps at the pressure, and looks to see Arashi grinning eerily at him. “Ko~ga-chan~,” He singsongs. “Walk with me, hm? We don’t want to be late for class, right?”
“Uh.” Was Arashi just listening out in the hall..? Waiting for Koga to come out of the room..?!
Arashi hauls him down the hall, uncaring for how Koga stumbles to keep up with his stride. “I mean, if Mika-chan were here, he wouldn’t want any of us to be late. He’s in the infirmary, by the way.” Uh. As if Koga isn’t aware of this.
Koga trips a little, and then almost falls when Arashi just keeps walking. “Jesus slow down,” he gripes, and then immediately softens when Arashi turns that chilling smile towards him again. “U-uhm. Is… is Mikarin okay?”
Arashi throws his head back to laugh, a hollow, fake sound. “Oh, where do you get off calling him Mikarin ? You’re so funny, Koga-chan.” He flexes the arm hooked around Koga’s harder, somehow. “Y’know, in all the time I’ve known Mika-chan, he’s gotten hurt a lot.”
“Uh..?”
Arashi just keeps going, letting go of Koga’s arm once they reach the door to the gymnasium. Koga is about to hightail it out of there before Arashi grabs his wrist with enough strength that Koga is sure he just heard something pop in one of their hands. “He likes those cheap sour candies the best, and he’s messed his tongue up soooo bad eating them, and he tells me he can’t even feel it! Just this morning he poked himself with his needle hard enough to bleed and he didn’t even notice. Have you ever poked yourself with a needle? It hurts, you know?”
What the hell is Arashi even on right now? “Uhhhhh.” Koga says again, feeling more afraid as Arashi keeps going.
“Last week, he was working on this thing, and he snipped his hand with sewing shears. Sewing shears! And he was only upset because he thought he bled on the costume or whatever it was. I don’t really remember. He told me last month he broke two of his toes and didn’t even notice until Itsuki pointed it out!”
“Is he okay ?” Koga asks, completely exasperated. Arashi just stares at him, the fake smile dropping off his face in an instant. The two stand in silence, save for the hollers and the sounds of sneakers squeaking against the gym floor. Arashi tightens his grip, yanking Koga closer.
“In all the time I’ve known Mika-chan, I have never-- ever -- seen him cry because something hurt so bad.” Perfectly manicured nails dig into Koga’s wrist. “You made him cry. You. Broke. His. Nose.” He digs his fingers in harder with each word, emphasizing with the painful pressure. “You are soooo damn lucky I have an image to uphold here, or I would be kicking you across campus in a heartbeat.” He lets go of Koga’s wrist, and Koga yanks it back and rubs at his wrist. Arashi slips that scary smile back on seamlessly, and he opens the door to the gym. “Good thing you won’t be on my team in PE, huh?”
He leaves Koga standing there like an idiot in the doorway, and the rest of the second years pause in their stretches to stare at him. The PE teacher is having none of it, however, clapping his hands and shouting for Koga to get changed and get on his team for volleyball.
Arashi may not be able to physically fight Koga, but he sure as hell makes up for it during PE.
Of course he’s athletic, but Arashi usually tends to feign an injury to sit on the sidelines, or takes a more cheerleader type of approach when they separate off into teams. Today, however, he’s a force to be reckoned with. Any time he serves the ball, he slams it overhand directly at Koga, and Koga only manages to bump it wildly out of bounds if he isn’t hopping out of the way of a death missile. Despite the obvious way Arashi is targeting Koga, the PE teacher is raving on the sidelines, and Koga’s teammates bemoan how badly he’s sucking today.
He’s directly across the net from Arashi near the end of the game, arms half-heartedly raised while he plays setter. Hokuto serves the ball over from Koga’s side, and Arashi barely waits for Souma to set it up for him before he jumps into the air and spikes it down directly into Koga’s face.
Everyone winces as Koga falls flat on his ass, he can hear Subaru laughing until Mao hisses at him to shut up , but Arashi feigns concern. “Oh, Koga-chan, are you okay?” He squats down under the net, tilting his head. “I hit you in the face kinda hard, oopsie.” The corners of Arashi’s mouth quirk up into that same frightening grimace of a smile. “Did I break your nose or something?”
Even with Koga sitting on the floor, the teacher is nearly in tears. His ugly bowlcut swishing around his forehead, thick eyebrows furrowed as he applauds furiously, congratulating Arashi on “such a beautiful display of the power of youth!” while he hops from foot to foot in his terrible green jumpsuit. He doesn’t even care when his orange leg warmers start to pool around his ankles with the exuberance of his tapping feet.
“I’m fine, thanks .” Koga gets to his feet, rubbing at the tip of his nose where the ball had smacked him dead on. “Suck my dick, Narukami.”
“Language, Oogami-sama!” Yuzuru calls from across the court, and then he easily catches the ball when Koga sneers and picks the ball up from the floor and rockets it at Yuzuru’s chest. “Also, excellent throw. Please be on my team for dodgeball next week.” He asks with a bow, and Koga wants to rip his own hair out.
“As long as he’s not on my team~” Arashi gives Koga another one of those hollow smiles, rising out of his squat. “I want to keep this competitive streak up, y’know? It feels good to get my blood pumping sometimes.”
PE ends with a somehow more enthused speech from their teacher than usual, and a weirdly tense locker room. Everyone is talking quietly amongst themselves, pointedly leaving out Koga or sneaking looks at him. Even Adonis and Subaru are keeping their distance, but that probably has more to do with Koga’s even more potent resting bitch face today. Koga gets changed in record time, even beating Natsume who somehow manages to get into that stupid turtleneck at an inhuman pace every gym period, out of the locker room.
He’s slightly sticky with sweat, and a quick whiff of his underarm on his way to the cafeteria for lunch makes Koga snarl at the floor. To top it all off, he had forgotten to put on deodorant this morning too. Awesome, now he smells as foul as his mood. Koga keeps his arms plastered to his sides to prevent anyone from being subjected to the perfume of sweaty teenage boy while they wait in line for food.
Going to lunch is weird. Everyone seems to be staring at Koga, whether they’re being obvious about it or not. Two of Ryuseitai’s first years keep glancing over their shoulders at him while Koga stands in line, and they do this weird dance where they keep going back and forth between who stands between the other as the line creeps forward. Even fine’s little brat raises his eyebrows at him before trotting off behind Eichi with his food. He doesn’t try to engage any of them, but the feeling of several eyes boring into him in rotation leaves Koga even more uncomfortable as the line shuffles forward.
Koga is just a few steps from some very much needed lunch when he feels a heavy hand come down onto his shoulder. He jumps at the contact, barely suppressing a pathetic shout before he whips around. Adonis is staring at him, letting his hand hover when Koga turns to face him. “God, dude,” Koga exhales loudly, hunching his shoulders up. “What the hell, Adonis? You scared the shit outta me.”
“Ah, sorry, Oogami.” Adonis lets his hand fall back to his side. “Narukami told me what happened this morning,” he starts, and Koga turns away from his friend with a huff. “It sounded serious.”
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Koga says. “Just drop it, Adonis.”
“But did you actually hit him? I heard from Akehoshi that you kicked him, there’s blood on your shoe.”
Koga stiffens, and looks down at his shoes. Sure enough, there’s a smatter of red on the toe of his right shoe, where Mika’s blood had probably dripped on when he stood up to run to the infirmary. “I didn’t kick him, what the hell?” Koga says, trying to scuff the dried blood off with his other foot. “My chair hit him in the face.”
Adonis’s eyes go wide. “A chair? Oogami… Kagehira is so small though, why would you hit him with your chair?”
“It was an accident .” Koga hisses, and the Ryuseitai first years both startle and shuffle forward quickly. Tetora slings his arm around Shinobu’s shoulders just as Shinobu does the same, but neither of them try to disentangle themselves even when they get several weird looks from Trickstar where they stand in a huddle in front of them in the line. “Drop it, Adonis. I don’t wanna fucking talk about it.”
“I… understand,” Adonis sighs, but settles with Koga when he knows there’s no point in trying to pursue it, especially in public like this. “We have a short meeting today,” Koga visibly relaxes when Adonis changes the subject. “Sakuma-senpai wants us to talk about the photoshoot coming up, and we need to come early tomorrow to be measured for the new uniforms.”
The line finally moves up enough that Koga can get his food, and he digs around in his pockets for his meal ticket. “I gotta clean the classroom after school’s out, I don’t know if I’m gonna make it.” He carefully straightens out the crumpled corner of the ticket before he hands it over. “Just make sure Hakaze is there, I’ll catch up tomorrow.” Koga takes the bento that’s given to him and looks up at Adonis. “Just… don’t believe anything you hear that isn’t from me, okay? This shit is getting out of hand way too fast.”
Koga doesn’t wait for Adonis to reply before he walks toward the exit of the cafeteria, planning on finding somewhere he can eat and wallow alone. He weaves his way through the end of the line, and he’s surprised when the entirety of Rab*its is giving him the same look everyone seems to be giving him, the unit of pipsqueaks frowning at him. Nazuna looks the most venomous out of them all, and he turns his nose up at him and widens his stance a touch when his first years huddle behind him to watch Koga leave.
-
Slap.
Koga starts when a binder slams down on his desk, and Arashi stands with his arms crossed before him. “You’re going to take this to Mika-chan.”
Carefully, Koga opens the binder, looking down at the curly handwriting covering the notebook paper inside. Arashi had slipped his notes inside-- Koga doubts that he had actually taken two sets-- and the papers outlining today and tomorrow’s assignments are tucked into the pocket on the other side.
“It’s not like I know where he lives.” Koga says, fixing Arashi with a look. “I gotta clean the room today, too, you should just give it to him.”
Arashi doesn’t budge. “ You are going to give it to him.” He says again. “And you’re going to apologize and mean it .” Arashi flips open his bag where it’s hanging from his shoulder, fumbling a bit to open a notebook enough to tear a piece from a blank page. “This is Itsuki’s address, go there after you’re done and tell Mika-chan how sorry you are for hurting him.” He takes the pencil Koga had found on the ground during lunch to write down the address, and Koga doesn’t even protest when Arashi pockets the pencil before holding out the slip of paper.
Koga takes it, glancing it over a few times before he pockets it. “Narukami…” Koga sighs, standing from his seat. “Look, it was an accident, I didn’t mean to-”
“I don’t give a shit.” Arashi crosses his arms again, straightening up even more to make the slight height difference between him and Koga more apparent. “I don’t care if your chair or whatever is haunted and it hurt him without you having anything to do with it.” He jabs his finger at Koga’s chest. “He’s hurt, and you’re the one who did it. Take some responsibility for once.” WIth that he turns and leaves Koga to the empty classroom, closing the door much harder than necessary.
Koga deflates the second the door closes, and he looks down at the binder still sitting on his desk. He really wishes that Mika didn’t have to live with Shu, he already has to deal with him tomorrow for their costume fitting, but there’s no telling what Shu will plan to do when he’s not being watched at school. Koga reaches into his pocket for his phone, frowning at his inbox when he opens it.
Several people have texted him. Subaru has sent him a barrage of messages asking what had happened, and that everyone in 2A has definitely heard. That’s not surprising, Koga isn’t even sure how Shu had found out since he isn’t even on the same floor as Koga’s class, much less his year. Arashi had definitely blabbed to someone, and any information passed around a high school of terrible boys is going to get blown horrifically out of proportion. Koga taps on Mika’s contact in his inbox, but there are no new messages from him. Mika doesn’t even had read receipts on, so Koga has no idea if he had even looked at the messages Koga had sent him after PE.
He scrolls back through their conversations, the latest being one that had gone well past midnight until Koga had fallen asleep after sending Mika several pictures of Leon looking ridiculous with his ears flipped inside out and his teeth showing as he slept against Koga’s side.
From: Mikarin
OHHHHHHH HES SO CUUTE ( ᵒ̴̶̷̥́ _ᵒ̴̶̷̣̥̀ )♡♡♡
I want a pet so bad hes so cute!!!!!
To: Mikarin
lolol he’d like you, come see him
we can take him for a walk or smthn?
whenever ur free
From: Mikarin
Subject: ▒▒▓█▇▅▂∩( ✧Д✧)∩▂▅▇█▓▒▒
omg really?
please i want to play with leon with u (´pq｀*)
can i bring him treats??? pls lets take him to the park
Koga bites his lip and thinks about how Mika… probably never wants to talk to him or meet Leon ever now. He scrolls back down so he can send a new message, and it probably looks pathetic, but it seems like Mika won’t even read them anyway. He stares at his phone after the messages go through, waiting for some kind of answer, but the only messages he receives are more from Subaru that Koga can’t bring himself to read.
Koga sets his phone down, defeated as he slowly works through cleaning the classroom. His phone pings just as he’s nearly done almost half an hour later, and he nearly drops the erasers he’s clapping clean out of the window in his haste to go check it. It isn’t from Mika, or even Subaru, but his father, a single text that simply reads “need 2 talk when u get home”. And well, Koga was dead anyway, a phone call from his parents couldn’t possibly make anything worse.