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"May I join you?"
The other boy jumped when he heard Fumikage's voice.
The Texas sun beat down on the two of them in the middle of True Valor High's unused baseball diamond. Fumikage had really just been looking for a quiet place to eat when he noticed someone with their shirt folded neatly next to the pitcher's mound where they were meditating and burning what smelled like pine and sage. Said someone considered Fumikage a moment with his caramel colored eyes before tucking his fluffy brown hair behind his ear.
"Sure."
Fumikage nodded to him and sat down behind the other boy with his back to him and breathed deeply. The air in San Antonio normally tasted like street vendors, exhaust, and leaves, but that was all trapped behind the veil of incense the other boy was burning. It was a heavy scent that submerged Fumikage's mind in a sort of relaxed fog while the sun seared his exposed skin and made his iridescent black feathers hot. He usually meditated in the shade for this exact reason, but he'd figured a change of pace would be fine until the end of lunch. Hopefully he wouldn't get heat stroke or something.
The slow moving arid wind rolled through the outfield like an alumni on an idle stroll through memory lane and for a good while, everything was calm as Fumikage focused on his breath and the sensation of just existing in his own body.
This is boring. It wasn't a meditation session until Dark Shadow started complaining.
You say that every time I meditate.
Because every time it's boring.
Lots of necessary things are boring.
Like what?
School, organization, doing dishes...
Well then why's it necessary?
So I can center my mind.
Why does your mind need to be centered?
Because you're an agent of darkness and chaos and it's my job to make sure you don't destroy entire prefectures.
"Hey! I wouldn't do that!"
"Dark Shadow, please." Fumikage opened his eyes and gave Dark Shadow a reprimanding look. "I'm not the only one trying to meditate."
"That is a scary powerful familiar."
Fumikage and Dark Shadow both turned to the boy who was looking at the two of them with interest.
"I don't usually refer to him that way."
"What's a familiar?"
"It's..." he furrowed his brows, looking confused. "It's a sort of helper spirit. It helps with healing and channeling energies and- shouldn't you know this? He's your familiar."
"I don't. Dark Shadow's just my quirk."
"Fumi!" Dark Shadow sounded hurt.
"Okay, manifesting and harboring him is my quirk." Fumikage corrected himself. "Dark Shadow is my partner." Said partner gave Fumikage an appreciative nuzzle and settled into his lap.
"... We're a little similar." The boy smiled softly.
"What do you mean?"
"I..." he hesitated and trailed off. "Never mind, I... I just..."
He stopped when a butterfly landed square on his nose and fanned it's practically neon yellow wings. They made an interesting contrast against his acorn toned skin.
"... I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but it doesn't feel like a bad omen." He muttered to himself.
"Tokoyamiii!" A familiar voice called from across the field. Koda must have sent the butterfly out to look for for him.
He went looking for me.
"Koko is here!" Dark Shadow bounced excitedly and tugged on Fumikage's shirt sleeve. "C'mon!"
"Shadow, it's rude to leave in the middle of a conversation." Fumikage placed a hand on top of Dark Shadow's head and the little shadow sulked. Fumikage wasn't about to admit he didn't want to get up to meet his own boyfriend (wow, that was scary to think about, could he really use the word when they'd only been together two weeks?) because the dizzy heart hammering nervousness mixed with the weird soft warm feeling Koda gave him wade him want to crawl under a rock and wait until he could be better at the whole relationship thing.
"Over here." He called over his shoulder to Koda. He turned back to the boy he'd been meditating with who looked a little lost in thought as he concentrated on the highlighter butterfly making itself comfy on his nose. Fumikage took a second to feel good that Koda was slowly getting over his fear of bugs before speaking. "I should probably apologize for all of this."
"Huh?" The butterfly fluttered away and the boy processed what Fumikage had said. "Oh. It's okay, it's not like the world is going to end if I don't meditate during lunch or something."
Koda came up on them and gravitated towards Fumikage, mostly looking at the ground and casting the occasional apprehensive look towards...
"I never got your name."
"Oh! It's uh, Boston. Boston Marsh." He held out his hand to Fumikage and he shook it.
"Tokoyami Fumikage."
"Nice to meet you Tokoyami."
"I wanna introduce myself!"
Sometimes it felt more like he was taking care of a rambunctious child than harboring a semi-demonic force. "Then introduce yourself."
"Hi! They call meeeee..." Dark Shadow twisted behind Boston and spoke right next to his ear, whispering far too ominously to be taken seriously. "Dark Shadow."
"Pleased to meetcha." Boston gave him a little semi-apprehensive smile and held his hand out to take Dark Shadow's talons in a sort of handshake. Dark Shadow returned to Fumikage's lap for a grand total of two seconds before Koda settled down a little lower on the pitcher's mound, whereupon he moved to him. Fumikage assumed it was because 'Koko gives the best pets' like it always was.
"You guys are wearing the same uniform as the UA students that have popped up in some of my classes; are you from there?" Boston asked.
"Yes, we're part of the exchange program. We'll be out of your hair by next week though."
"I have a friend from here who's participating. She seems to really like your school if the amount of pictures she's sent me is any indication. Although she could just be feilding photos for the school newspaper."
"Your friend has good taste." Dark Shadow chirped. Boston chuckled.
"I'm sure she'd appreciate that." Boston took a moment to look between Fumikage and Dark Shadow for a few seconds before blurting out, "Okay but what did you mean when you said your quirk was manifesting and harboring Dark Shadow? Is your quirk harboring spirits and he's the one you've been harboring the longest? How do you channel energy between you? What do you use his powers for? Do the two of you speak to each other whenever you want or is it only under special circumstances? How does..." Boston waved his arms frantically in their general direction, "All this work?"
Fumikage took in the long stream of questions Boston had just thrown at him for a moment.
"What's 'channelling energy' supposed to mean?"
Boston blinked at Dark Shadow for a few seconds, his eyebrows scrunched together.
"You know. Moving and forming the basic energies within and between your bodies."
"You keep talking like we're supposed to know this stuff." Fumikage said.
"You don't?"
"No."
Boston sort of drooped. "Oh. Well uh... how would you explain it?"
"We have a camaraderie of darkness."
"It's like that Antivenom guy, where he's got the alien attached to him and they punch bad guys together!"
"... Sure." Fumikage confirmed.
"Oh. Oh, that... makes sense."
"My quirk is essentially being a host to Dark Shadow and he's an extension of myself. He gets harder to keep under control at night, but you don't have anything to worry about from him."
"Can we go inside now? There's no shade out here!"
"You wouldn't have had to worry about that if you hadn't come out in the middle of my meditation."
Dark Shadow gave him a pouty warble and leaned against Koda's chest. Koda did his best to shield him from the sun and Fumikage wanted really badly to tell him not to baby Dark Shadow, but that felt like a weirdly domestic thing to say and he was barely comfortable being domestic when it was just the two of them, let alone when someone they'd just met was sitting a foot away.
"Well now I can't go back to you because Koko is giving me pets."
"You can ask him to pet you at any time, you know he won't say no."
"Yeah, but he's petting me right now."
Fumikage tried to form a rebuttal, but eventually gave in.
"Okay fine, stay out in the sun. Just don't blame me when you're too weak for whatever is going to happen in the battle training block."
"... You kinda remind me of her." Boston said out of seemingly nowhere.
"What?"
"Uhm..." Boston glanced away and nervously tapped at the little creaselike scar on his left upper lip trailing up to the left side of his nose. "Well... it's... most people don't believe me when I tell them about my quirk, and I'm officially registered as quirkless since there's no real outward sign of it. I call it Superstition, since... well it's like... whenever I sleep or enter some other form of altered consciousness, it lets me talk to the person who last had my soul. My past life to be exact. Her name's something in Vietnamese I have been trying for years to properly pronounce, so I mostly call her Al, and to finally answer your question, you kinda talk like her. She's kind of why I was out here meditating. We figured if I can manage to stretch my quirk further and further, I can find a way to be able to prove it... actually... exists." Boston looked to the ground and rubbed the back of his neck. Fumikage wasn't really sure what to do with that information, but he could tell it was the truth.
"But that means I interrupted something actually important." Dark Shadow sulked.
"It's not that big of a deal, really," Boston scrambled to comfort the little silhouette. "I'll just have to do it later."
Dark Shadow continued to sulk. Koda gave Fumikage a sympathetic look that made his chest feel like it had one of those big confounding scribbly balls inside it drawn in multicolor pen. Koda really shouldn't make him feel so jumpy and knotted. Or maybe he should?
"You're all buzzy fuzzy again." Dark Shadow put voice to the feelings swishing around Fumikage's insides and Fumikage really wished he hadn't.
"Such a sophisticated description." Fumikage muttered, trying to wrangle the 'buzzy fuzzy' feeling to get it under control. It wasn't working, and Koda's proximity was not happening.
He had about one and a half seconds to wrestle with the big unwieldy ball of feelings before Boston's phone started buzzing.
"Wha-" Boston dug around in his pocket and looked at the phone. "Wh..." His expression quickly morphed into a deeply confused and mildly afraid expression. "Paisley, what are you doing?"
"Who's Paisley?"
"Ah- She uh..." Boston fumbled around with his phone and started typing rapidly. "She says... That she's trapped in the dorms??? I didn't even know UA had dorms." He switched to muttering what he was messaging under his breath. "supposed... to... be... there."
Boston awaited his friend's response with anxious attention.
"She's the one who likes the school?"
"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah." Boston didn't really seem to be listening. "Wait a minute, isn't it like, 2 AM in Japan?!???"
"The jet lag would agree with you." Fumikage confirmed.
"Pixie, what are you doiinnngggg?" He seemed rather stressed by whatever his friend had revealed to him. He started typing furiously and Fumikage looked between Koda and Dark Shadow, exchanging confused expressions. Boston jabbed the send button and heaved a massive exasperated groan. "One of these days this girl is going to give me a heart attack."
That is a mood.
"You said she was in the hero course, right?" Fumikage asked, trying to find something to shift the conversation to.
"Yeah. She's got a really powerful quirk too." Boston seemed relieved for the distraction. "I get a little jealous sometimes." His expression fell just a bit. "She can move things with her mind, and... all I can really do is dream." He glanced down at his phone, read through something, and his eyes promptly turned the size of saucers. "Paisley Annmarie Strix, I swear to all that runs the universe, you better not be doing what I think you're doing."
"What do you think she's doing?"
"Breaking and entering." Boston said it almost absentmindedly as he typed something out. "I know you have no sense of privacy, but sneaking into a strangers' rooms is too much even for you."
"Wait, she snuck into our rooms?" Fumikage balked. He'd figured she was just wandering around the common room or something.
"Only one so far. She says it has a punching bag??? Why do you have punching bags in your rooms?" Boston looked up at Fumikage and Koda.
"Only one of our classmates has a punching bag in his room."
"Manly!" Dark Shadow chimed in.
"Okay then. Well she got in through the window, but now she's hiding under the bed hoping that whoever Aizawa is doesn't check for her. Aauuuuugh! I told Casey to keep an eye on her! But, I guess it is 2 A- Paisley noooo, what are you thinking?!"
Boston read through Paisley's latest message and let out a huge sigh. Not a relieved sigh. Just a sigh. "Well, I suppose all I can do is wait and see what happens." He returned his phone to his pocket and ran a hand through his hair. "Do y'all have this problem with any of your friends or is this a Paisley-specific thing?"
"There was the time Midoriya sent everyone in the class his location and nothing else during a villain attack." Fumikage said.
"And when he and Gogo destroyed half of one of the training grounds in the middle of the night when they were fighting."
"There was also the time Kirishima got Iida, Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, and Todoroki in on a scheme that wasn't technically breaking the law because he was worried about his boyfriend."
"Is your class okay?" Boston asked.
"Probably." Fumikage smirked.
"You two really do have similar personas." Boston smiled a bit and it took Fumikage a second to realize he was talking about Al.
"Is that a compliment?"
"It's a statement. I know Al too well to compare anyone to her and have it solely be a compliment."
"I see."
Boston's phone buzzed again and he quickly took it back out. While he was reading over his newest message, Fumikage felt a much larger hand close around his. He turned to Koda who was having a hard time looking Fumikage in the face as he gripped his hand almost protectively. This was definitely new. Then again, most things about their relationship were new. But this was very new. Whatever Koda was trying to do, Fumikage was more concerned with the fact that he never wanted to let go and wow, that was absolutely terrifying.
Koji felt bad for the bubbly, slowly growing bit of jealousy he felt watching Tokoyami conversing with Boston. It wasn't like Tokoyami making a new friend was going to throw a wrench into their relationship or anything. It was probably mostly the fact that Boston wasn't even wearing a shirt??? Like, wasn't that against dress code or something? They were still technically on school property and it was definitely during school hours. Tokoyami didn't seem very bothered by it, but Koda was very much against his new boyfriend (wow, that was scary to think about, could he really use the word when they weren't even open about their relationship yet?) being chatty with a cute shirtless stranger. Well, by now he probably didn't qualify as a stranger, but still.
"Paisley, please, I do not need to be there vicariously, I need you to get back to bed and not be in trouble." Boston's forlorn voice brought both boys' attention back to him.
"I get the feeling this sort of thing happens often." If Tokoyami had an eyebrow to raise, he would probably be raising it.
"You have no idea." Boston finished up his latest text and sent it off. "Sometimes I wonder if being a hero would be good or bad for her. She has a knack for sniffing out trouble."
"She has you looking out for her~" Dark Shadow chirped. Boston blinked at him a moment and smiled softly. Koji felt the bubbly sphere of jealousy in his chest flare up and he tried to get a handle on it. He really only succeeded in tightening his grip on Tokoyami's hand.
"Thanks." Boston glanced back down at his phone, not noticing the way Tokoyami's eyes trailed over to Koji silently asking what all this was about. "Lunch is over in like fifteen minutes, have either of you eaten?"
"I left my lunch by home plate." Tokoyami pointed over to the plate in question and Koji blinked at him, mildly appalled.
"You must eat something Tokoyami!" He hissed urgently. He knew he was probably being overly jumpy, but he didn't want his boyfriend to go hungry (Okay. Still terrifying. Good to know.).
"Okay, you're right, you're right." Tokoyami made no move to get up and Koji realized he was still gripping his hand. He let go all at once and occupied himself with petting Dark Shadow and giving him as much shade as he could manage. Boston watched the tether between Dark Shadow and Tokoyami stretch from the pitcher's mound to home plate with a quiet sort of curiosity. If Koji began to hold onto Dark Shadow a little more possessively than necessary, he avoided thinking about it. Why was he getting so flustered over this??? Of course Boston was curious about Tokoyami's quirk, it was very unique and flashy. Well, maybe not flashy, but noticeable. Why shouldn't he be asking questions and observing? Midoriya did that kind of stuff all the time... but he did that with everyone's quirks. It was probably unfair of Koda to be thinking all this, but it just happened and he couldn't not have it happen. Sometimes he really just wanted to crawl under a rock and hide until he was better at this whole relationship thing.
"You alright?" Koji snapped out of his internal monologue and shrunk a little when he saw the mild concern on Boston's face. How was he supposed to talk to the person who was stirring up all these stupid jealous insecure emotions? Especially when for all intents and purposes he was just being nice?
"Fine..." He mumbled. It was barely audible even to him.
"I know that kinda response. There's something bugging you." He spoke softly and if Koji didn't know what to do when he'd answered, he was desperately clueless on what to do now.
"Uhm..." Koji hid his face in Dark Shadow's not-exactly-feathers and... huh. Apparently Dark Shadow could block out external sound. Like being in one of those rooms with stuff on the walls to absorb noise. How did Tokoyami fight using Black Ankh if he couldn't hear?
Fumikage wasn't sure what had happened in the ten seconds he'd been getting his lunch, but he was rather sure he didn't like seeing Koda curled up into an anxious ball.
"What happened?" He tried to keep his voice level, but it was hard when that scribbly feeling was itching at his throat and adding a slight edge to his words.
"I uh..." Boston started to get nervous and tugged on the same little scar he'd been tapping at earlier.. "I asked him if something was wrong 'cause he was just sort of staring off with this sorta look on his face and- and I wasn't trying to- I just-"
"He said something was bothering Koko, but Koko didn't wanna talk, so I'm keeping it quiet." Dark Shadow said everything so matter-of-factly.
"You're doing the thing then?"
"I do lotsa things."
"Yes but the thing where you block out outside noise."
"Oh. Yes~" Dark Shadow seemed very proud of himself as Fumikage settled down in his previous spot and opened up his lunch.
"... So are you two already boyfriends or..." Boston looked between the two of them and Fumikage was glad his face was covered in feathers because he didn't want anyone seeing the bright red blush he knew was taking over his cheeks. He was also glad he hadn't been swallowing any food or else he would've choked.
"Well.. um... we uh..."
"It's a secret~"
"The relationship or the answer?" Boston prodded.
"Secret."
"Alright then." Boston's phone went off once again and he quickly picked it up to resume his fretful conversation with his friend. Fumikage began to eat his lunch and Koda slowly poked his head out from behind Dark Shadow.
"Have you eaten?" Fumikage asked him. Koda nodded and resumed petting Dark Shadow once again. The two of them sat in silence as Boston made the occasional distressed noise.
"Question: Whose room looks like it hasn't been moved into?"
"She's in Shouji's room now?"
"Mhm. Or at least, I'm assuming she is. I kind of know nothing about whose room is whose."
"Well there's exactly nothing for her to investigate in there if that's what she's looking for."
"Alright then."
"You aren't relaying this information to her are you?"
Boston sputtered. "No, I- I'm just- I guess 13-ish years straight of practically being attached at the hip to her has kind of made her curiosity rub off on me."
"Hm." Fumikage continued to eat his lunch and took note of the incense still hanging in the air. It really was quite calming.
A comfortable (or at least non-awkward) silence fell over the group as Dark Shadow enjoyed his pets, Boston held a completely different conversation, Fumikage actually ate his lunch like he'd been supposed to the entire period, and Koda sat silently next to him.
"This is nice." Sometimes Fumikage forgot Dark Shadow had a tendency to say things he was thinking out loud without warning. He didn't know why having that said aloud made him suddenly skittish, but it most certainly did. He looked to Koda who held his gaze a few moments before blushing and looking away. Okay that... that was... cute. How dare? He had no right?? To do that??? Who gave this boy permission to be cute????
"Fumi thinks Koko is cuuuute~"
"Dark Shadow!" Fumikage prickled. He didn't know why that made him feel so defensive, but he knew it was 100% Dark Shadow's fault. Or at least 90%.
"What? It's true."
"Just because it's true doesn't mean you have to say it." He hissed.
"You should always compliment people, they won't know you like the things you like about them otherwise." Boston seemed to say it without really thinking, like he'd only been half listening. That didn't make it hit any softer.
"Well... uhm..." Fumikage shoved a bigger bite into his mouth and chewed instead of talking.
Koji felt like his face was on fire. Tokoyami had just called him cute! Or well, technically it was Dark Shadow who'd come out and said it, but it was kind of the same difference. Dark Shadow's whole deal was acting like a weird shadowy extension of Tokoyami himself, and he definitely knew what he was thinking. Tokoyami had thought he was cute!! What was he supposed to do with that??? His heart felt like a bouncy ball ricocheting around in his chest at the speed of sound.
"Sorry, was that out of line?" Boston broke the jittery silence and darted his eyes between the two of them looking unsure.
"No, it's fine." Tokoyami said after swallowing down his food. He returned to eating silently and Koji started to maybe fret a little. He jolted when someone laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Sorry." Boston said quietly he leaned in close and kept his voice at a whisper. "I get how you feel. But he cares about you a lot; I can tell."
Koji squeaked and made some space between himself and the strange mystic boy. The boy in question simply smiled and returned to his previous position.
"Fumi is-"
"Don't you dare." Tokoyami glared at Dark Shadow who kept his mouth shut but glared right back. Boston gave Koji a look that almost seemed to say 'Boyfriends, am I right?' which he couldn't possibly be saying, he didn't even know they were in a relationship... right? Aaaaaaa why did everything have to be so confusing right now?
"Well, in other news, Paisley has made her way down the stairs and says there's a room with a lot of stuffed animals that smells like rabbits?"
Koda let out a squeak and hid his face in Dark Shadow's not-exactly-plumage again.
"That's Koda's room."
"Okay, I should probably distract her."
The rest of lunch continued like that with Boston giving the two of them updates on his friend's shenanigans and Tokoyami providing commentary. When the bell rang, Boston put on his shirt (which Koji felt a bit guilty about being relieved over), Dark Shadow finally agreed to return to Fumikage, and the three of them made their way towards the main campus. Boston directed the two of them toward the building they needed to head towards and split off to go to whatever 'barbershop' was supposed to be? The word felt familiar to Fumikage, but he couldn't 100% place it. As they kept walking He kept glancing down at Koda's hand. As scary as it had been when Koda had held his hand in the first place, Fumikage wanted really badly for it to happen again.
'You should always compliment people, they won't know you like the things you like about them otherwise.'
It probably worked the same with holding hands. If he wanted to hold Koda's hand he should just ask. Right?
"Koda?" Fumikage focused on keeping his voice from cracking as he glanced nervously over at Koda.
"Mm?"
"May I... Would it be alright... if I asked... to hold your hand?" Fumikage had not expected that to be so hard to get out.
"Ah..." Koji could feel the blush rising to his face. He felt his stomach to backflips and before he knew it, he was nodding and reaching out for Tokoyami's hand. He felt like his heart might leap out of his chest when Tokoyami grabbed hold of his hand and held it secure in his own.
They walked like that, counting the numbers on the classroom doors until they came upon the room number where Koji was supposed to go. Koji didn't want to let go.
"... We have Algebra 3 together." Tokoyami said, squeezing Koji's hand reassuringly. "So... I'll see you then."
Koji took a moment to look at their hands clasped together. Tokoyami's fingers were almost lost in Koji's palm, but it felt nice. He let go and kept his eye on Tokoyami's hand as it slipped out of his grasp.
"Bye." Tokoyami waved as he slowly started down the hallway. Koji waved back and kept waving until his boyfriend slipped around the corner.
Huh. It was a lot less scary to think about now.