Chapter Text
One day, right before the start of my 2nd year in middle school, I woke up to a filthy, disgusting world.
At this point in history, I doubt anyone could call our world ‘perfect’ or ‘a paradise’. We do tend to gloss it over as ‘unfortunate’ and ‘an inevitability’ and go on with our lives, though, never aiming for a change.
That was what I believed in and did too, for better or for worst.
But that day… That day, the world before my eyes changed. It was such a radical change that the once ‘unfortunate’, ‘inevitable’ world became colourful and bright.
So colourful, it made me sick to my stomach.
So bright, I could now see all the shadows hiding underneath.
The real world was so disgusting and terrifying that I wished, from the bottom of my heart, I could rip out my previously blinded eyes.
-.-
“Hey, hey. He’s at it again.”
“Man, doesn’t he ever get tired of it?”
“Nah, he’s been admonished by the teachers enough times to drop it by now. He’s totally into that kind of stuff, if you know what I mean.”
“Pffft! Stop it~ He’s gonna hear us, ahaha!”
Yeah, you’re a bit too late for that, scoffed Takao Kazunari with a roll of his eyes as he took a seat at his desk. There were only a couple more minutes to go before 1st period started so the classroom was already filled with his classmates, save for some empty tables here and there - some due to a lack of students to fill a full classroom, others because the students were playing hooky and skipping classes already. Takao was starting to think he should have been one of those truant students today too.
With a small sigh, he dropped his head on top of his desk, his arms gently tucked underneath to dub as a makeshift pillow. As he did so, his fingers lightly touched the black blindfold covering his eyes.
That had been the reason for those mean laughs and taunts by some of his classmates.
Sorry to betray your expectations but no, I’m not into that kind of stuff, if you know what I mean, inwardly snorted Takao, softly tracing the sewing lines on the borders of the blindfold. He wasn’t wearing a blindfold because he liked it or wanted to wear one. He simply needed to wear one, due to his own misfortune.
Takao Kazunari was a 2nd-year student in middle school. He had been transferred to Teikou Academy close to three months ago, just like most of his classmates. One would think that three months was more than enough to get used to a new school environment but when you’re surrounded by people equally as freaky and troubled as you, the adaptation might drag on for unnecessarily long or maybe never happen. Unfortunately, Takao was beginning to think he was leaning more and more towards the latter.
If I could… I wouldn’t be wearing this at all…, inwardly sighed Takao, his fingers soundlessly plopping to the desk after sliding across his black blindfold one last time. Usually, one wouldn’t have been able to see such a movement but Takao could observe as his fingers lazily fell on the hard wood with frightening precision and detail. All because…
Takao was a ‘User’. He had awoken - or whatever it was called - to this strange ability without any warning just a couple of weeks before starting his 2nd year in middle school. It might sound really cool in the realms of fantasy and the imagination to suddenly wake up one day with superpowers but, unfortunately, real life wasn’t a kind mistress. Not to mention, Takao’s ability wasn’t even something that outwardly looked cool or astonishing. He couldn’t use it to put on a show on the street and make some money out of amazed spectators.
All Takao could do with his ability was see the true colours of the world. He saw it exactly as it was without any filters, all secrets and mysteries exposed through millions, no, billions of different colours and shades, all of which Takao suddenly could correctly interpret as if second nature to him. Not that badass of a superpower, was it?
Awakening to this ability allowed Takao to restore his previously lost vision but it came with the hefty price of seeing the world in a completely different light. What he once thought to be the truth was in reality a lie. What he once thought to be love was in reality deception. The new colourful world before him turned into a nightmare he could not escape, even when he covered his eyes, for his ability didn’t come with an on/off button attached to it.
Takao could see but he was now cursed to see everything , whether he wanted to or not.
With one last sigh, he lifted his head from the desk and somewhat straightened his sitting position. Not even a second later, the classroom’s door slid open and a teacher came in right in time for the school bell to chime. Takao had already known he was coming. He had seen his teacher’s colours waltzing in the corridor. Not even a blindfold and walls could stop his ability.
“Good morning, guys,” greeted the teacher as he leisurely stopped behind the teacher’s desk and flipped a book open. “We’ve got a lot to go through today so we need to- Hey, Takao! How many times have I told you to take off that thing during my classes? Having an ability is not an excuse for such improper conduct!”
“What would you know?” groaned Takao with a roll of his eyes - not that the teacher had seen that last part. Takao could have taken off the blindfold and endured the entirety of the class. He could have also continued arguing with the teacher until he gave up, so that the class wouldn’t be disrupted any further. But he was tired. Today, he was extremely tired of it all.
Without thinking twice, Takao got up from his seat, picked up his school bag and left the classroom. The teacher called out to him a handful of times but he tuned out the sound of his voice by focusing solemnly on the loud noise of his stomping footsteps.
As was to be expected, the corridor was devoid of people. That somewhat set Takao at ease and allowed him to release an unconscious deep sigh. Only for him to be kindly reminded of all the colourful groups of blobs he could discern inside the classrooms in use.
I really can never catch a break, can I!?, angrily barked Takao in the back of his mind, outwardly releasing an annoyed click of his tongue. He picked up his pace and went from walking to dashing through the corridor. The faster he went, the faster his heart raced. Perhaps at the end of the corridor, he’d find total seclusion. Perhaps if he turned this corner, he could free himself from all these colours for just a little while.
When he took a sharp turn to his right, however, he found a nasty tumble down the stairs and a painful crash against the wall, which momentarily left him breathless.
“Crap… I forgot there are stairs here…” breathed out Takao with a couple of pained coughs here and there. He tried to get himself up from the floor with his arms but he noticed fairly quickly that he couldn’t put any proper strength in one of them. That didn’t sound like good news.
After forcing himself to a sitting position against the wall, Takao removed the blindfold with his thumb and took a peek at the immobile arm. A deformed lump was sticking out of his school uniform right on his shoulder. Correction, his dislocated shoulder.
“That’s just great…” groaned Takao, his head softly bumping against the cold wall behind him a couple of times. He sighed with a tinge of sarcasm, “Now I know why running in the corridors is against the rules.”
-.-
“Hmm… I think the infirmary is somewhere around here…” Takao mumbled as he walked through the main school building, carefully cradling his wounded limb against his chest. So far, he had only been to his classroom, the gym and the cafeteria so the remainder of the main school building was fully unexplored. To orient himself, he read all the signs and tags on each and every door until he finally found what he was looking for. “Oh! There it is!”
He awkwardly waddled to the infirmary, first with some confident steps but the readiness dwindled to hesitation as the huge colourful blob right behind the door sort of intimidated him and made him think twice about approaching that room. Whatever was inside the infirmary right now was… one hell of a beast. ‘Users’ had a different kind of brightness to their colours compared to regular humans. But the one in the infirmary had a shine to them like no other, clearly a step or hundred above all other ‘Users’.
There was no mistaking it, one of the ‘Miracles’ was inside the infirmary.
This was the first time Takao was so close to one of them. He had seen them from a distance on the school campus and during general assemblies at the gym, and he had heard quite a lot of good and bad things about them, but he had never been in the same division as one of them. Especially not alone, as the lack of any other colours in the infirmary forewarned him about.
Well, this is one more of those unavoidable tense situations, I’ve got a dislocated shoulder on me and there’s hardly anything I can do about it on my own, really, so allow me to breathe the same air as you while waiting for the nurse to return, oh almighty one, inwardly goofed Takao as a way to calm down his nerves. It might have just been his heightened senses but the door sounded unusually loud as he slid it open and stepped inside the room. Takao didn’t even need to look around the infirmary, he already knew the ‘Miracle’ was standing right next to the nurse’s desk. If my memory isn’t failing me, that’s…
“Do you need something from the infirmary?” asked Midorima Shintarou, briefly glancing at the student standing by the door before he went back to organising some flasks and plastic containers in the shelving unit next to the desk.
“Ah… I kinda… fell and dislocated my shoulder,” explained Takao with a certain hesitation, his eyes averting fully looking in the other student’s direction. Midorima Shintarou being the one inside the infirmary explained quite a bit. His colour blob was a perfect match for that neatly combed green hair and his sharp dark green eyes half-hidden behind black-rimmed glasses. To put it bluntly, his colour was as astonishing as it was off-putting - not in a bad way but Takao also couldn’t bring himself to think it was 100% good.
Then again, there wasn’t a single person in this world that was 100% good so that in itself wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It simply told Takao that Midorima, despite being a ‘Miracle’, was just like any other human being and not some sort of powerful alien creature.
“Um… I’ll just stay over there until the nurse arrives…” announced Takao, his own version of the white flag raising to a peaceful temporary coexistence. It was common knowledge among the students that the ‘Miracles’ didn’t really enjoy being surrounded by other ‘Users’, save for some exceptions. He better keep his distance from Midorima or he might get him in a bad mood and then who knows what would really happen.
After closing the infirmary door, Takao silently walked towards one of the beds and took a seat on its soft mattress. It was pretty comfortable and he could imagine himself skipping classes right there whenever his teachers or classmates got on his nerves. Well, for as long as a certain someone wasn’t also there at the same time as him, that is.
A couple of minutes passed by in total silence, only interrupted by a rubbery snapping sound.
“Take off your school jacket,” instructed Midorima out of the blue.
“Huh?” blurted out Takao, his head turning towards the approaching student at the speed of light. Midorima was walking in his direction while putting on blue nitrile gloves, even over the fingers already covered by white bandages. “What are you…?”
“The nurse won’t be coming today. That’s why I’m here subbing for her,” explained Midorima after an annoyed sigh. “Now hurry up and take your school jacket off so I can examine your shoulder. If it’s something that can’t be fixed here, we’ll need to call an ambulance to take you to the hospital.”
“A student subbing a nurse? That’s a new one…” scoffed Takao under his breath. Unaware of his reservations and doubts about that whole thing, Midorima stopped right in front of him and stared him down, seemingly waiting for him to do what he told him to. There was little Takao could do aside from conceding. “Okay, okay, I get it. Hold on a bit.”
After a small annoyed sigh, Takao awkwardly removed his school jacket with one hand only. Just to play safe, he also unbuttoned the upper buttons of his shirt. Once that was all done, Midorima began moving his hands closer to his shoulder but he was forced to a halt when Takao pulled himself further away.
“I told you to hold on a bit,” grumbled Takao with a small voice, returning his upper body to the same position at the same time he inserted his hand in the jacket’s pocket. From there he grabbed his trusty (albeit useless) black blindfold. Only after he had neatly covered his eyes with it did Takao give his okay. “You ahead now.”
“Wha- Wha- Wha-!?” sputtered Midorima, his green eyes open wide as he stared flabbergasted at that… that… blasphemy! Those aspiring to work in the medical field needed to be able to treat every patient the same, regardless of gender, race, religion or sexual orientation but this… This was a bit hard to stomach as a middle school student. Midorima’s hands faltered up in the air, reticent about whether they should approach that unknown student or not.
“If you’re not going to do anything, just call that ambulance already,” sighed Takao with a roll of his eyes. Why did everyone have to react like this every single time? One would think people were more open and accommodating to eccentricities in the 21st century but nope, that was but a myth. Everyone was just as judgemental now as throughout all of history.
“E-Excuse me…” awkwardly mumbled Midorima after clearing his throat. He finally breached the invisible barrier between the two of them and carefully pulled the fabric covering the dislocated shoulder away so he could have an unobstructed view of the problem. The unnatural shape of the student’s shoulder was all he needed to see to confirm that sure enough, the humerus had popped out of the glenoid cavity - in layman's terms, he had a dislocated shoulder. “How did this happen?”
“I fell down the stairs,” shortly explained Takao, as cool as a cucumber.
“...Were you wearing… that at that time?” ended up inquiring Midoriya after a while, in an attempt to keep the conversation going. He needed his patient to be distracted and unaware of the upcoming procedure if he hoped to solve this as quickly and painlessly as possible.
“Yup,” confirmed Takao, not a single drop of hesitation on his voice or demeanour.
“.........” Yes, keeping a conversation going with this student sure was turning out to be more challenging for Midorima than it was to put that joint back in its place. However, he wasn’t an avid, experienced conversationalist. He wouldn’t be able to produce a smooth topic change even if he wanted to. However, he ended up not needing to be the one to do it.
“Well, this is another new one,” chuckled Takao, an amused grin gently tugging at the corner of his lips. “This is usually when people start asking if this is my kink or something along those lines. I never had anyone staring me down silently while touching me all ove- AAAH…!!”
“Your shoulder is back in place,” said Midorima with a hmph at the end. He probably had applied a bit too much strength than was needed, by the student’s pained cry, but he felt it was well deserved. Why the heck would this boy think it was a good idea to say something like that to the person who was trying to heal him? That comment had been beyond unnecessary and improper! Midorima turned his back to the student and started walking back to the nurse’s desk while removing his gloves. “Try not to use that arm too much for the next few days, especially to carry heavy things. You can either apply some ice to your shoulder or take some over-the-counter painkillers for the pain. If the soreness doesn’t go away by next week, come back here so we can send you to one of our affiliated hospitals to have an x-ray or an ultrasound made. Any further questions or problems that need medical attention?”
“Yeah! Why the heck did you not warn me before you popped it back in place…!?” yelped Takao, his eyes slightly moist from the sharp pain he was subjected to without any warning.
“It works best when the patient doesn’t see it coming. If they know it’s going to happen, humans tend to tense their bodies in preparation for the incoming pain, which makes it even more painful and might bring further complications,” methodically explained Midorima, all thanks to all of the medical knowledge he had gained throughout his life. He threw the used gloves into the trash can with perfect accuracy and then finally looked over to the other student, who was seemingly pulling the blindfold away from his face to wipe his possibly tear-stained eyes. Seeing this, Midorima couldn’t help but blurt out, “Why do you wear that blindfold?”
“Why do you wear those bandages around your fingers?” asked back Takao, leisurely jumping out of bed. He slowly rotated his shoulders around, testing how well he could move his injured arm already and how much pain those movements inflicted on him. He probably should listen to the medical advice he was provided with because his shoulder sure felt sore and painfully uncomfortable with the smallest of movements. Once he was done with that, he looked up to the ‘Miracle’ - sure enough, he wasn’t answering his comeback question. Takao gently shrugged his shoulders. “Well, it seems we both have our reasons for it. But if it makes you feel better, you can think of this blindfold as my kink and I’ll think of your bandages as yours~”
“W-What…!?” yelped Midorima in utter shock, his cheekbones turning bright red and hot to the touch. “I-I do not have such a k-kink…!”
“Sure, sure. I’ll pretend I believe you,” sarcastically acknowledged Takao with a mischievous smirk on his lips. He felt tempted to wink at the other student but it was pretty silly to do it while his eyes remained blindfolded. With his school jacket under his arm, he happily waved goodbye at Midorima with his good arm while he leisurely walked towards the door. “Thanks for the help. Bye the- Urk!”
Rather than the door, what awaited right in front of Takao was the corner of a shelving unit, which he avidly greeted with his whole face. He had obviously seen it there but the ongoing conversation had successfully distracted his spacial awareness, hence resulting in a second accident indirectly related to his blindfold usage.
Midorima simply sighed and went to grab a second pair of gloves, this time to treat the tiny gash on Takao’s forehead dirtying his face and blindfold with a trickle of blood.