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Mashirao Ojirou was a fairly perceptive person. He cared deeply for his friends and classmates, although considering all they’d been through, the distinction between the two was starting to get a little fuzzy. So considering how perceptive Ojirou was, it seemed ridiculous to assume he wasn’t aware of what Kaminari was doing. Because as he sat in class, he found himself able to focus on one thing and only one thing. Kaminari was touching his tail. Again. Now, this wasn’t out of the ordinary. It seemed like every time Ojirou turned around, there was Kaminari, mesmerized by the flicking of his tail, batting at it as if he was a cat. This time however, there was a bit of a problem. Because this time, Kaminari just happened to be playing with Ojiro’s tail in such a way that it tickled. A lot. Now, Ojirou wasn’t afraid to show his emotions to his classmates. He had blushed like mad in front of the other more times than he could count. No, the problem was the fact that this was Aizawa’s class. So if Aizawa caught him laughing? Well Ojirou didn’t want to think about what would happen then. So he pursed his lips and focused every ounce of his training and self-discipline into keeping a straight face. While his expression remained stoic, Ojirou blushed profusely. He couldn’t hear what Aizawa was saying, couldn’t understand the paper in front of him. There was only one thought in his mind.
“Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh, Don’t-"
It became a mantra, repeated over and over until,
“Hey! Ojirou!”
With a slam- on Ojirou’s desk, he looked up to meet Kirshima’s concerned face.
“You good dude? You’ve been staring off into space for a while, and your face is all red.”
“Oh!” Ojirou only blushed harder. “I’m fine.”
“You sure bro?”
Ojirou nodded, averting his gaze in a poor attempt to conceal his blush.
“Ok…” Kirishima didn’t seem convinced, but he knew when to drop the subject and this was one of those times.
“Hey! Kami! Bell rang!”
“Oh! Thanks bro!”
“Is class over all ready?” Ojirou mused. It seemed as though it had just started. He assumed his concentration had distracted him. Kaminari released his tail, and for a moment Ojirou felt... disappointed? No, that couldn’t be right. He was just relieved that Kaminari let go of his tail. That made much more sense, right? Reluctantly, Ojirou grabbed his bag, pushed in his chair and left.
Kaminari sat in class as he tried to work out a problem. It was much more difficult than the previous ones on the sheet, and it was stressing Kaminari out.
His right leg began to bounce rapidly, followed by his left. Kaminari paid no mind to it, still trying to work on the problem.
Up and down and up and down and upanddownandupand-
“For fucks sake, would you cut that out!?”
Kaminari froze for a moment, started by Bakugou’s sudden yelling.
“Sorry?”
Bakugou scoffed, sitting back in his seat.
“Just quit bouncing your fucking leg! You’re so annoying.”
Kaminari sighed, placing a hand on his legs to still them.
“Yeah, I know.”
Kaminari placed his head down on the desk. He couldn’t focus on the problem anymore, so why even try?
When Ojirou thought about it, Kaminari was always moving. Bouncing his leg, tapping his pencil, throwing sparks across his fingers, he never stopped. And the more Ojirou thought about it, the more he realized that his other classmates weren’t exactly happy about it. Ojirou wanted to help, but how? He racked his brain until he finally came up with an idea.
He just hoped that Kaminari would like it.
Kaminari walked into class, greeting his fellow classmates.
“Good morning!”
Most people wouldn’t cast Kaminari as the type to get to class early, but clearly most people didn’t know Kaminari very well. Being early meant he knew he wouldn’t be late, which helped ease the stress school brought him. Plus, it gave him a chance to talk to his friends and double check that he’d remembered everything he needed to bring to class. Kaminari glanced around the classroom, double checking who else was there. Kirishima was sitting next to him as Bakugou sat on the desk in front of him. Todoroki and Midoriya sat on the left side of the classroom, talking quietly to themselves. Momo and Jirou sat together at Jirou’s desk, watching something on Jirou’s phone. Sitting in front of him, as always, was Ojirou. What caught Kaminari’s eyes however, was a small gift bag that sat upon his desk.
Just as he was about to ask if anyone knew who it belonged to, his eyes fell upon a folded piece of paper addressed “for Kaminari”
“Whoa.”
Kirishima turned his attention to Kaminari. “What’s up bro?”
His eyes fell upon the bag. “Who’s that for?”
Kaminari shrugged. “Me, apparently.”
Kirishima grinned.
“Hell yeah dude! Looks like you got a secret admirer!”
Rolling his eyes, Kaminari pulled the bag towards him and looked inside.
The bag was filled to the brim with fidget toys in various styles, shapes, and colours. Kaminari rifled through the bag pulling out a fidget cube, a squishy ball, a soft plush cat, on and on, the bag seemed endless.
After pulling out a dozen odd items, Kaminari finally reached the bottom and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Kaminari looked at the paper in confusion, then unfolded it. In cramped, rushed handwriting, the note read:
Got you some stuff, hope it’s all interesting and stuff.
- Ojirou
Kaminari looked over the note a few times trying to discern the meaning.
Kirishima glanced at the paper over Kaminari’s shoulder.
“Who’s it from?” Kirishima asked.
“Ojirou.”
“Ojirou? Why’s he giving you all this?”
Kaminari squinted at the paper as if that would magically make the answer clear.
“I don’t know.”
His mind began to scatter.
“Why would he get me all that stuff? There was no reason for him to do so…. I don’t really talk to Ojirou that much… Because I’m too awkward and stupid. The only thing I ever really do with Ojirou is… I’m so stupid. Oh my god,”
Kaminari looked up with despairing eyes.
“He got me a gift just to get me to leave him alone.”
Ojirou was just too polite to tell Kaminari to cut it out, so he gave him something else to do. Part of Kaminari wanted to grin, smile and blush about how cute Ojirou was. But the other part of him wanted to hide away, never show his face again. He should’ve known how annoying he was being! Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Even if Kaminari had screwed everything up, at least he knew what to do now. Stay as far away from Ojirou as possible.
Ojirou never really noticed how often Kaminari played with his tail until he stopped. It was… weird. Because somehow, he missed it. It was such an odd thought. No one had ever touched his tail before Kaminari, but now that Kaminari had stopped, he missed it. He almost wanted to ask him to continue, but he couldn’t do that. Still, he felt sad, and that confused him. He’d gone all those years without any sort of affection like this before, but now that it was gone he felt sad.
He wrapped his tail in front of him, toying with the end of it. It wasn’t the same. He just wanted a hug. Sounded pretty pathetic huh? He was 15, in training to be a pro hero and yet here he was, wrapping himself in blankets and feeling sorry for himself.
“Ojirou? How are you doing?” Tokoyami asked, walking into the common room.
“I’m fine.”
Tokoyami sighed. “Of course you say that.”
“Really, I am!” Ojirou protested.
“You say that like you aren’t wrapped in 3 blankets, with a face that looks like someone just killed your dog.”
“That’s ridiculous. I don’t even have a dog.”
“Well then, what’s up?”
Ojirou sighed. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”
Tokoyami sat in the chair opposed to Ojirou. “Is this cause Kami’s been ignoring you?”
“N-no!” Ojirou spluttered, “Maybe! Yes…”
He hung his head.
“I just don’t get it! What did I do wrong? He was so affectionate with me, and then he just kind of… stopped.”
“Did you do anything different before it happened?”
Ojirou sat in thought for a moment. “I don’t… think so? The only thing I can think of is-“
Ojirou cut off suddenly.
“What?” Tokoyami asked. “What did you do?”
“I- I got him a gift.” Ojirou replied softly.
Tokoyami snickered.
“Really? Why?”
Ojirou stopped for a second. He had told himself he was getting the things for Kaminari as a gift between friends. Because Kaminari was his classmate. But…
That really just wasn’t true now, was it?
“Because I like him.”
“Hey Kaminari?”
“Oh, uh-“
“Can I… talk with you?”
Kaminari hesitated, withdrawing and tightening his grip on the tangle in his lap.
“I-“
“Please”
Kaminari nodded reluctantly.
“I-“ Kaminari began, just as Ojirou said, “So-“
The two quieted, sitting in silence.
“I’m sorry! I should’ve known I was bothering you, and I didn’t mean to upset you, and I should’ve asked and I didn’t and I’m so so sorry please don’t hate me!”
Kaminari spoke quickly and out of breath, desperately trying to get every word out without tripping over them.
“You went to all that trouble to get all those things for me just to tell me to stop, you’re way too nice, and I’m just annoying you, and-“
“Kaminari. Just… stop.”
Kaminari looked up, tears picking at his eyes.
Oh god, he’d really screwed up now hadn’t he? Ruined one of the only friends he’d had. Why couldn’t he just sit still! Why couldn’t he just be normal! He was so stupid! He-
Kaminari’s thoughts slowed to a stop as Ojirou reached over, wrapping him in a hug.
“Kaminari, I’m sorry. I should’ve just talked to you sooner.”
He pulled back, resting his hands on Kaminari’s shoulders.
“Kaminari, I don’t hate you, I never have hated you, and I never will.”
He blinked in confusion. Ojirou couldn’t be telling the truth, could he?
Ojirou continued.
“I got you that stuff as a gift because… Well because I like you.”
Nope. Kaminari had to be dreaming. Better yet, he had died, because there was no way this could be real.
He spoke up softly.
“Then… why were you ignoring me?”
Ojirou blushed, pulling his hands into his laps to fidget with them. “I- I missed you playing with my tail. And I didn’t want to ask you to continue, so I just kind of… avoided you. I’m sorry.”
To Ojirou’s surprise, Kaminari started to laugh. He was actually quite cute when he laughed, Ojirou realized. He started blushing deeper.
“Sorry sorry, it’s just,” Kaminari met Ojirou’s eyes with a smile, “We’re really bad at this huh?”
“This?” Ojirou asked.
“This. You know, communicating and talking and stuff.” Kaminari explained. “It’d be a lot easier if we were just upfront with each other.”
Ojirou laughed.
“Yeah… Speaking of upfront.”
He turned to meet Kaminari’s gaze once more.
“I like you. Like, really like you. So…”
Ojirou trailed off, getting flustered once more.
Kaminari leaned forward, pressing a small kiss on Ojirou’s cheek. “Wanna date me?”
Ojirou nodded, certain his face had turned a shade of red previously unknown to mankind.
He leaned forward, scooping Kaminari up in a hug.
“Hey Kaminari?” He whispered.
“Mhm?”
“I love you.”