Chapter Text
The harsh rays of the afternoon sun had softened considerably by the time the sound of flesh biting into flesh finally faded away. Looking up from your little corner of the basketball court as tranquility once more fell upon your usually serene neighborhood, the fight you had accidentally stumbled upon on your way home seemed to have ended in a stalemate, leaving both sides equally bruised and battered.
It was a cool evening, the light breeze that rustled your finished homework and open pages of your textbooks laid neatly across the ground lifting away the oppressive heat that had scorched your skin just a few hours earlier, though the gentle wind didn’t seem enough to stop the sweat that poured off the two fighters - one with blond hair and the other with black - after such an extended fight. You furrowed your eyebrows when neither made to back down, both boys still stubbornly on their feet and facing down each other. Weren’t they already injured?
Taking a deep breath, you gathered every last inch of courage you had in your gut. “Would you like me to patch you up?”
Your voice, no matter how soft from disuse, was enough to break the momentary peace, two pairs of sharpened eyes instantly swinging round to land squarely on you. And the sudden attention had you instantly backtracking - gaze instantly dropping back down to the ground and your books as it always did. “I- I mean. N-not really patch up, but I have some bandages. If you want me to.” You trailed off.
Silence was the only response you received. What were you thinking? Anyone with two functioning brain cells would have shouted at them to stop, or better still, turn tail and left if they had stumbled across two obviously vicious boys tearing into each other. But you had promised yourself that today was the day; today was the day you would take a chance and try to reach out instead of scampering away. To try and make friends you could call your own. And so you settled instead, resolved to waiting for them to be done beating each other to a pulp.
Of all the people in the world, why them? Why did you pick them? Kicking yourself mentally, all you could hope now was that you weren’t their next target. A shuffle, and you winced, bracing yourself for the hit. Yet the next sound was a huff as the blond-haired boy plopped down in front of you, settling himself comfortably on top of your papers before stretching out his arm to show you a cut. Your eyes jumped up to meet his, widening in surprise.
That- worked?
Shifting closer, the other waved his arm under your nose, and you snapped back to reality. “Fix it.” He told you boredly.
“U-um. Of course! Let me just…” Hurriedly closing your books and collecting your materials to set aside, you tried your best to ignore the papers crumpling under the weight of the still-nameless boy, opting to instead focus on pulling several plasters and bandages from the depths of your bag. A fortunate coincidence you were glad for - it hadn’t been long since you had just restocked the limited first aid kit you carried around for your clumsy self.
Twisting open your bottle to carefully guide a small stream of water over the wound, you couldn’t bring yourself to look down: the sound of water dripping onto paper made your gut sink. Your teacher definitely wasn’t going to be too happy about that tomorrow. Yet it seemed you failed to conceal your troubles from your expression, the second boy quickly making his way over to where the two of you were seated.
“Stop being such an ass, Mikey.” Mikey, you scratched into your brain, barely looked bothered at being shoved to the side as the black-haired boy yanked your precious homework from underneath him, offering it back to you. “Baji.”
A small smile quirked your lips as you accepted the papers from Baji, quickly tucking them into a random page of the nearest book. Were they already friends? But why would friends fight? “Thank you, Baji-kun.”
The now-named Baji rolled his eyes, dropping to sit on the floor. “Just Baji is fine.”
“Hurry up.” Mikey poked one finger into your cheek. “You can call me Mikey.”
“Uh-h! Right away!”
The dark that came with the dawn of night reigned the sky by the time you were down patching up the two boys to the best of your ability - luckily there was nothing that was beyond your limited knowledge and resources. Stashing away the rest of your remaining equipment, the grumble of empty stomachs sounded out as if right on queue, knowing that you wouldn’t be able to leave them hanging. “There’s a place nearby,” You offered, picking up your neatly packed school bag, pointing down the streetlight-lined road, the yellow glow barely illuminating the otherwise empty street. “It’s pretty good. One of my favorites.”
Leading them into the familiar quiet eatery that sat at the corner of a junction, the low cheerful tune playing from the speakers was like an old friend to your weary ears - you made yourself at home quickly, picking up the menu despite already knowing what you were ordering - a meaningless gesture so that you didn’t have to look at the two boys that you knew were staring at you. Bringing the menu further up in an attempt to hide, the butterflies tumbling around in your stomach did little to help your appetite despite running on empty yourself. “Don’t worry about the money. It’s on me, order whatever you want.”
You were a strange one, Baji mused. Watching you fiddle nervously with the hem of your school shirt, looking everywhere but at them - he saw little reason why someone as obviously and painfully shy as you would have ever considered approaching delinquents - as him and Mikey obviously were - and offering assistance a good idea, let alone treating them to dinner. Yet here they were. Who were you? Why did you stop to watch two random strangers brawl? Did you even realize that they were delinquents? So many questions, so little answers, and with the way you were, there was no chance of getting anything out of you without you fleeing in terror. Baji dug into his bowl of steaming ramen with gusto.
Dinner passed in bearable silence, save for the clattering for cutlery, your mind wandering, in an attempt to save you from the awkward situation you somehow found yourself in, to the uncompleted pile of homework awaiting your return home. And it was the same train of thought that you make to stand after settling the bill, bag in hand and ready for the comforts of home.
But you found yourself unable to stand, instead turning confused eyes towards a hand clutching onto the sleeve of your school shirt - Baji’s hand. The black-haired boy said nothing, though his face flushed a bright red and his gaze dropped to avoid yours.
“Hey.” You startled, only to find an unimpressed Mikey. “You planning to just leave us like that?”
Oh. Was there something else he wanted from you? Grabbing your hand, Mikey pressed his phone into your grip, contact page already open to a blank one. “At least let us walk you home. Where do you stay?”
“Just down the street from here.” Came your absentminded response as nimble fingers flew open the small keypad, handing back a filled page to the blond-haired boy who skimmed the information before sliding the phone in one pocket.
Baji seemed to have shook himself out of his stupor in the minute you took to key in your details. “That sounds near where I live.”
“Same here.” Mikey drawled, tucking both hands into his pants pockets. “Come on.”
Even as you waved off the two boys from the porch of your home, watching them disappear into the distance, you still dared not believe the events of the day. Did you really just make new friends? Could you call Baji and Mikey friends? Not yet perhaps, your mind warned, as you settled into your chair, pulling crumpled homework papers from your bag, but you would try your darn best to make this work. So when you found the duo waiting for you the next morning on the street outside your house, you didn’t question it.
After that fateful day, wherever Mikey and Baji popped up in the neighborhood, fists raised and ready to once more pummel each other in their daily skirmish, you were sure to be spotted nearby in one tucked away corner, nose buried in your books and papers. The stalemate you had witnessed was the exception rather than the norm, with Baji losing every fight he picked with Mikey since, though that never deterred the black-haired boy from coming back the day after with yet another challenge. But even though you didn’t quite understand their need to throw hands and beat the loving shit out of each other given that they were friends, this wasn’t an issue you could bring yourself to judge them for, happy to treat their wounds after every fight, a hum under your breath as you gently disinfected their cuts while they laughed like nothing ever happened.
It was strange, having someone willing to hang out with you - you wanting to hang out with someone, people that you actually looked forward to sitting with and listening to. You had always been on the quieter side, often finding it hard to look others in the eyes, let alone speak to them, which made it impossible for you to make friends in school. Home life was equally uneventful and dull, and while you had taken up a side job running errands for your friendly neighbours alongside school in the hopes of improving your social skills, there was no noticeable improvement on that front, and your life remained dull and lifeless. But now, out of the blue, you had two new acquaintances (you still dared not call Mikey and Baji friends) to at least have a chance.
Mikey was an interesting character to say the least and a challenging start to your social life, you mused over an open textbook, your teacher droning on about math equations up at the front of the classroom. Though far from timid and mild like you were, Mikey wasn’t one to speak with words, preferring to let his actions do the talking. And for someone that shied away from both and everything in between, it wasn’t easy for you, try as you might, to find common ground with the blond-haired boy. With a bit of persistence, it was a relief when you finally found a breakthrough topic of food, your light back and forth going from favorite to most hated food, before Mikey poked fun at your preferences and crowned taiyaki the king of food. From time to time when you did find the spare time and energy to make the blond-haired boy his very own boxed lunch, you always made sure to include at least one of his favorites, and receiving back an empty box made your week. The two of you spent most of your time together sitting in comfortable silence, and you were okay with that - Mikey’s company alone was deeply appreciated.
Your teacher calling out a name did have you start a little out of your thoughts, though you did quickly slip back when another of your classmates reluctantly stood to shuffle to the blackboard, your wandering mind turning to your other… acquaintance.
Baji, as he insisted you call him; he was easier - much, much easier - to get along with compared to Mikey, you found out quickly. A loud, scary and highly impulsive individual that you were initially afraid of, you instead found a fun-loving, sweet and gentle boy underneath, always ready to bring the fun and high to your quiet life. Banging on your door at all hours of the day to drag you out for yet another adventure, you found that life was never boring with Baji, even if your late nights ended up with you patching up more wounds on a chuckling black-haired boy more often than not. And you were always more than happy to go along with his impromptu journeys if you didn’t have important assignments due the next day, making sure to always have a stockpile of ingredients for your friend’s favourite snack for your impromptu journeys. Your days (and nights) were always a bit brighter whenever Baji’s around.
Even though your role in the group, which up till now had been one of a supporting character, had never bothered you, you did sometimes wish to be able to get through to the two boys. Someone that could tell them to take a break from beating each other, to tone it down, or someone more approachable that you could talk to. But still, you were happy to be a listening ear, used as a wall to bounce their ideas off, or an unjudging shoulder should their emotions get the better for them - support that didn’t require you to dig any deeper into your non-existent social skills.
So it was with relief when Mikey came back one clear day with Draken, or Ken-chin as he insisted you call him later on, in tow, though you did suppose you could have managed a smoother introduction to the new addition to your small band.
“Tsk. Who’s this nerd?”
You tumbled backwards, letting out an eep as you instantly shielded your head, tucking yourself into a ball, your homework flying up in a flutter. Displeasure towards you never ended well as you learnt from personal experience, but when the expected punch never came, your eyes instead fluttered open up to the sight of yet another blond-haired boy, this one drastically more scary looking than the laidback Mikey you came to be familiar with, complete with a dragon tattoo on the side of his head. “I’m sorry?” You weakly offered, before the boy was lazily shoved aside by Baji.
“This is Ken-chin.” Mikey popped the finished lollipop stick out of his mouth, tossing it into a nearby bin, instantly reaching over to stick one hand into your pocket, helping himself to the treat he knew you had on you. “I like him.”
“You’re that friend Mikey keeps gibbering about?” Came the incredulous question, Draken looking you up and down with fierce black eyes, and you shook your head in a no. Friend was already a bit of a bold claim, but one that Mikey talked about?
Baji rolled his eyes, palm coming down to gently smack the back of your head, your crumpled homework clutched in his hand. “The answer is yes, egghead.”
In a blink, the other’s demeanor shifted, a giant smile now plastered on his face as he offered a hand to help you up. “Draken, but Ken-chin is fine like the other egghead over there.”
The indignant ‘hey!’ made you laugh.
Despite the rocky introduction, you were glad for Draken’s presence - it was obvious from the start that him and Mikey clicked at a level you never managed to, with the added benefit of having someone capable and trusted to have his back like you never could. At the same time, you found that Draken had your back in ways that the other two boys couldn’t. A caring, understanding and easy going boy, he drew out your once suppressed need to chatter, somehow always managing to catch your meaning even if your hoarse and soft voice fumbled up what you were trying to say, a far cry from the confused look Mikey and Baji shot you before moving on. You greatly enjoyed your chats with Ken, the invaluable self-improvement and confidence-boosting advice he littered your conversations with happily repaid with handmade gifts of chocolates.
As time marched on, the four of you somehow became the seven of you. As school inevitably picked up and became more hectic, countless assignments and tests flying past you fast enough to spin your head, you couldn’t quite keep track of where or when Mikey (or was it Baji?) picked up his new friends. Nonetheless, you welcomed them with open arms and a warm smile, always excited to meet new people even if they weren’t as enthusiastic to return the excitement.
Not that that was a problem with your growing group, the boys generally more curious about your gentle, quiet existence alongside delinquents like Mikey. It was also maybe about then that you started referring to them as friends, all the while doing your best to suppress the taunting voices in your head that said otherwise - Baji didn’t even blink when you did so, which did seem like he didn’t quite mind the title.
First came Mitsuya with his levelheadedness and optimistic outlook on life, an addition to your group that you couldn’t be more thankful for - it was tough trying to reason with your stubborn friends alone. Another easy-going guy that could easily understand your twisting thoughts and words and translate them as needed, you thoroughly enjoyed your time spent hanging out with Mitsuya, legs swinging and discussing softly about the latest trends in food and fashion, and what the two of you thought would fit the others.
Pah-chin followed soon with his aggressive tendencies and owned stupidity, whose brutishness in life melted away a little more every time you softly rebutted his insecurities. The boy seemed to almost tiptoe around you, fighting his own instincts to make sure never to raise his voice or shove his face in yours after you cowled away from him the first time round.
And finally, Kazutora. It was clear that the boy immediately gravitated towards you for reasons beyond you despite his initial declarations of wanting to be alone - you would see his signature duo-colored hair sneaking around and popping up from time to time before accepting Mikey’s invitation. You let slip a giggle when Kazutora almost lost his balance when you quietly asked if you could touch his hair, instantly curling into your touch and demanding that you continue if you dared stop. Far from being a one-off and much to the jealousy of the other five, this became a regular thing quickly, your new friend gaining the courage to lie and cuddle in your lap as you ran your fingers through his hair and along his scalp.
With the total number of people you guiltily assumed you could call friends rising to a grand total of six, it was with certainty that you could now conclude you could see why your fellow schoolmates liked having friends. Gone were the constant dull and lonely moments that you so dreaded before your fateful meeting of Baji and Mikey, replaced with people you could look forward to hanging out with during your downtimes between school and the growing workload of your little side job - actual people who always seemed to be down to hang out with you be it for a meal or snack, or simply to sit quietly with. The compromised sleep coupled with blacker eyebags were, in your opinion, a small price to pay for such a good life.
“You’re strange, you know.”
Your flinch was obvious even if your eyes were overcast by the afternoon sun. “Sorry.” You whispered, the hand you had running through his hair stuttering slightly.
“No, I mean - like in a good way,” Baji hastily added upon seeing the droop in your eyebrows, but that wasn’t the magic bullet either, the glow of your quiet smile retreating. And it wasn’t a lie that you really were a strange one - not that Baji had a problem with that of course, given it was only because of your unexplainable desire to seek out the scariest, most unapproachable boys you could find to make friends with that you ended up with them. Just that he would never attempt to know how your mind ticked.
“How is being strange good?” Yet it was your unspoken question that was loud and clear, the one fear they knew you never could quite shake despite their constant reassurances - did they really see you as a friend like you did them?
Sighing, the black-haired boy reached up, flicking your forehead and breaking your obviously spiraling thoughts - he knew you well enough by now to read your feelings from just your face. “I said it’s good, so it’s good alright?”
And you did trust him to a certain extent at least, his lack of an explanation still enough to turn your mood around once more, a small smile breaking out onto your lips as the anxiety melted away from your eyes.
But right before you could reply him, the unexpected sound of the roof door slamming open broke the happy atmosphere Baji had just managed to get going, and you nearly leapt from your seat. The roar of indignation that followed, seemingly upon realizing that you were here with him as opposed to being alone in class, easily identified its owner as Mikey marched over, the stomp of boots across concrete echoing around the otherwise empty area, his enormous shadow growing ever longer over him and you. “BAJI! What are you doing here?”
But those narrowed black eyes had already swiveled onto you before Baji could even retort. “And you are supposed to be in class.”
You audibly gulped, eyes sliding off his face to the ground, those trembling pupils fixed on an unknown point past his head. Unacceptable. How dare his private time with you be interrupted - he was here first. Pushing off from your lap, he tumbled onto his feet, shooting up to face the grumpy blond hair boy tugging at your arm. “HUH? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE THEN SHITHEAD?”
Mikey’s hand shot out, too fast for him to dodge the fingers that clamped painfully onto his cheek. “I asked first!”
Baji struck back, hands grabbing locks of blond hair. “And I was here first!”
But you knew both those statements were golden, even as you tried to muffle your giggles watching your two friends fight like elementary school girls - neither of them should be here. And neither of them usually were, but as the days passed serenely one at a time, you found the six boys had strangely started popping up more and more in places they never cared to be. Sure you had various members of the group (mostly your neighbours Mikey and Baji to be honest) crashing your house at any hour of the day looking for you and you were always happy to welcomed them, yet the boys, they had never seemed interested in your boring errands or routines, let alone your classes or school-related activities.
Everything seemed to have changed with your friends without you ever realizing, a spark of sorts. One fine day, and you couldn’t seem to go an hour without catching a glimpse of those outstanding mobs of hair not far away, be it while you were in school or on route on your side hustle’s errands.
“Come on, this is boring. Let’s go already.” Baji whined, tugging at the sleeve of your school uniform, the logo on his own different crumpled uniform glowing slightly in the afternoon sunlight reflecting off windows.
“You know I can’t, Baji.” You hummed, running your hair through the now familiar long black hair huddled up against you.
Standing in the corridor outside your classroom, it was the voice of your teacher drifting out from the classroom that broke the silence, but not for the lack of other people present - the trail of beaten-up delinquents was no longer a new sight to you, given the same song and dance happened every time one of your friends suddenly felt the need to pop by and try and lure you out of class. You never did mind their presence; happy to have company walking down empty roads in the darkening hours of the day, or see an eager face and a wave of hand through your classroom window, though the boys did seem more intent on trying (unsuccessfully) to convince you to drop whatever you had going on and come hang out with them instead.
Take it easy, they always insisted. You look tired.
Brushing it off as just concern - you did after all notice the bags under your eyes getting darker by the week - what was harder for you was turning down their hopeful faces when they came looking for you, having to gently let them down that no, you really couldn’t skip class, and that you were paid to finish this errand and couldn’t quite stop right that instant. And when a pout inevitably found its way onto their faces, complete with that kicked puppy look that struck you right in your chest, you had to admit that they always managed to extract a promise from you to spend more time with them in the near future. But you were happy to extend that oath; the six boys you could now confidently called friends did go to such efforts to stick with someone as socially inept as you, going the extra mile to even accompany you whenever you went no matter the time of day. The least you could do was return the favour.
You were special, the boys confessed. Perhaps it was the warm affection that you showered on them freely and the tender care that soothed and melted their hardened hearts that drew them in, yet none of them could say for sure they knew how or why. You simply had to be special. And it was clear out of the six, no one, not the well-feared Mikey or stubborn Pah, could resist the unexplainable urge to be around you as much as possible, to cuddle up against you and feel your hand running through their hair in that way only you could. Because far from what you thought was going on, the six friends never organized any of this among themselves.
Carving out time to be alone with you was a need that each of the boys came to find themselves wanting for individually - a secret, personal act of selfishness the rest were never supposed to find out about. A never-ending feeling that they couldn’t get enough of your company, your time, your love, despite every second of your life outside of school and work already monopolized by them. But you always hung out with all of them, never just one of the boys. Your attention never felt enough.
Rounding the corner into the corner convenient shop where Mistuya knew you would be, the last thing he expected was to find a head of blond hair already standing beside you, plastic bags of various items hanging off both his arms as you dropped the last of your coins into the little cash tray on the cashier’s counter. “What the- Pah-chin?!”
Said boy turned at the call of his name, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “Mitsu-ya? What’re you doing here?”
“I could be asking you that.” Running one hand through his lilac hair, Mitsuya let out a sigh before returning your chirped greeting of his name with a lazy smile and a ruffle of your hair. He already knew what was going on. “Don’t you have something on with Peh-ya today?”
“Cancelled.” Pah grunted, looking over the counter one more time before gently nudging you towards the exit, eyes softening as you gently took his hand in your own delicate one. Eager to get you away from him, was it?
Rolling his eyes behind your back, it was short work to steal a bag from the blond-haired boy with barely a rustle, Mitsuya scooping up your free hand and lifting the bag to your confused look. “Two is better than one isn’t it?”
And the run-ins didn’t stop there: Baji regularly running into Mikey hanging off you during school time, or Draken finding you already having a companion in Mitsuya or Pah for one of your multiple daily errands - way too often to be a coincidence, which quickly tipped the whole operation off. There was only so many times one could use and rehash the same excuses of “happening to be in your general vicinity” before it got old after all, and a meeting was called for everyone to sort things out - at least an agreement was reached with regards to you and your time, even if did take a bit of shouting and (minimal, really) punching.
But all this went on behind the scenes, and life just went on for you as usual.
Though from your eyes, and far from the eyes of the boys (your boys, really, you thought to yourself affectionately), it seemed your efforts learning to be sociable and to fit in better seemed to be finally paying off. Although you never expected results, knowing your own capabilities, getting that first friendly response from classmates you had sat next to for most of the school year still took you aback. This was…nice. You liked it. Engaging in small talk about their upcoming holiday plans, their anxiety about finals - it was a short conversation, and after class had ended for the day, but you found yourself looking forward to speaking with them again. Maybe this time, this would work out, you hoped.
The days slipped by - and your confidence grew with the time, yet not everyone found themselves happy for you as you were.
It was his turn with you today - Kazutora knew that very well, having marked it very clearly on his calendar, but you were late. He knew that it wasn’t your class going over time, seeing classmates flowing out and joining the flood of students carefully picking their way around him on their journey to the exit. You were never late without good reason - you wouldn’t do that to him after all, seeing that he made the effort not to crash your classes.
Yet when your familiar figure finally emerged from the door, the sight of you laughing alongside trash instantly sank his gut. Competition.
“- ahhh, I see Aki-kun!” Your kind smile, your bright laughter - shared with people that were not him even though Kazutora was standing right here. Someone had the gall to steal your attention from him, had the balls to stop you from realizing that he was waiting for you, right in his face. Loose hands curled into tight fists, his glare did cause your classmate to stutter in his step. This bug. This scum.
But before his negative thoughts could well up any further, before the urge to break their legs took their hands, to make them pay, everything popped and faded in the sudden breeze that blew ever so gently down the normally stuffy school corridors when you looped one fragile arm through his. “Kazutora! You came!”
“Of course I did.” He mumbled back, though both his sandy brown eyes were still fixed on a now uncomfortable, jittery boy. At least right up till you shifted to block his line of sight, pecking a kiss to the top of his head, and his mind blanked completely. You - kissed him?
You had to know what you were doing; taking advantage of his momentary stun to wave a final goodbye to your classmates even as you gently tugged your delinquent friend away from those disgusting, thieving bastards.
“So where’re we heading to?” Your sleepy voice broke through the low hum of the remaining students loitering along the corridor - and the trance-like state he was in, the boy blinking before turning to look at you.
“We?” He asked uncertainly, and you let out a light laugh, leaning to rest your head on his shoulder.
“You did say that a new cafe had just opened in town.”
Yet even long after you had waved Kazutora off from your porch, disappearing back into the dark of your house, your main door locking shut behind you, it was the sight of you laughing with someone else hours earlier that still lingered on. People - scum - that weren’t them, that must be trying to steal you away from them. And having bathed in your affection and attention, the mere idea of you leaving them - leaving him - had his stomach churning with worry, with anger.
How dare they?
It taunted him, clawing itself into his brain when he tried to sleep, the voices taunting Kazutora that you didn’t need them anymore like they needed you, and that you would move on.
Waking up in cold sweat, his sheets long tossed aside in a vain attempt to cool his panting skin, your goodbyes and waves had been burned into the back of his eyelids everytime he tried to go back to sleep. For the first time in many years, the dark of the night frightened Kazutora more than it comforted him - you weren’t there. Maybe you wouldn’t be when he woke up.
His hand fumbled to his phone.
The next night couldn’t come fast enough, Kazutora anxious to relay the previous day’s happenings, though his warnings were initially met with sceptism.
You - had friends? Friends that weren’t them?
“No way.” Draken drawled, crossing his arms as he slumped backwards against the shrine, the wood letting out a groan at the sudden weight.
“No way.” Mitsuya agreed - it was clear that you didn’t have a social bone in your body.
“It’s true,” Kazutora insisted, the grip he had on his phone only tightening. “I saw it myself.”
The other five were reluctant to even consider it - they did after all know you well enough to know that you couldn’t start, let alone carry a conversation. But what if? What if it was true that you had learned? That your classmates had finally noticed you and saw what they see?
Life would be nothing short of unbearable without you. You were one of those few rare souls that weren’t put off by their intimidating looks and presence, or their strange and violent moods. For all your lack of friends, it was you who easily saw past their brutal punches and kicks and truly see them for who they were, not just brushing them off as another delinquent like everyone else did. Never finding the need to cowl before them even in the face of their anger, you instead opted for understanding, for acceptance, for love instead of fear.
Even with the diverse range of backgrounds the six came from, the one thing they could all easily agree on was that they really liked being cared for and fussed over, but what they didn’t like was you giving others the same treatment. You were their friend first and foremost; and it was clear that them and only them deserved your smile, your laugh and your tender, loving care.
No one else cared for you like they did - everyone else would just take advantage of your kindness and throw you away. You didn’t need any others. It was for your own good.
“Fine.” Mikey popped the lollipop out from his mouth, the sound of his slippers slapping the stone floor as he hopped down from his perch echoing with a certain finality in the otherwise still night sky. “We’ll take care of it.”
They would allow you to continue mingling with your classroom scum as far as their patience could stretch, holding out just until the weekend. Patience - they reminded each other - all the while fighting to keep acting as normal as possible in front of you. A few clenched fists and glares behind your back must suffice until they could move. Despite their best intentions, the six shuddered to think of your reaction should you ever find out - losing you would be the least of their problems.
You simply couldn’t find out what they were planning on doing, and so, hour by painful hour, the boys waited. Waited and waited. And it was a breath of fresh air when the weekends finally, finally rolled around.
Now, to work.