Chapter Text
Aoba let out a relaxing breath as the car pulled into the school parking lot. He looked at the intimidating looking building and shrunk back into his seat a little. “I hate this…”
“It’ll be fine, Aoba. We’ve talked about this. Koujaku or I will be here in a second if anything happens.” A man with maroon hair sat at the wheel of the car, his green eyes looking at his boyfriend with a sympathetic gaze.
“I know but…” Golden eyes moved down to his lap, looking at his hands. It was bad enough that he was already incredibly shy and had a hard time talking to new people, but to be transferred to an entirely new high school in his Senior year was just too overwhelming. “I’ll be all alone. And what if people don’t understand?”
“Aoba…” A tanned hand moved to grasp one of Aoba’s smaller hands, bringing it up to his mouth to kiss the knuckles. “I know it’s scary, but maybe this is a good thing. I mean, no one here knows about who you used to be.”
“But Mizuki…” Aoba pulled his hand back almost harshly and immediately regretted it. “Sorry… I’m just really anxious about this. Yeah no one knows but I haven’t even gone through any kind of treatment yet…”
Mizuki sighed, resting his hands on the steering wheel. Being with Aoba for the last two years had opened Mizuki’s mind a lot about his best friend. He’d known Aoba for a long time and had been there for every moment of his adolescent years. He was there when Aoba had confessed that he may be transgender, and again when he told MIzuki that he was gay. He was even there for those few dark years where Aoba was just lost and confused. Mainly lashing out with fighting, drugs, and promiscuous sex. He had been through it all. Even when he had been forced to leave his last high school due to death threats relating to him being trans. Death threats mainly from ‘concerned’ parents.
But despite everything he had been through with Aoba, Mizuki knew he would always love him.
Reaching a hand out to tuck a few strands of bright blue hair behind Aoba’s ear, he leaned in to press a soft kiss to Aoba’s cheek. “I know you can do it baby… you’ve gone through much worse and you’re still here.”
Aoba wiped an errant tear from his cheek and leaned over the handbrake to press a proper kiss to Mizuki’s lips, Their fingers intertwining. “Sorry for being so neurotic.”
Mizuki just smiled and pressed one final kiss to Aoba’s mouth. “I’m not complaining. But you should probably go, I think your first class is starting in like fifteen minutes.”
Aoba nodded, even though he was still nervous as hell. “And you promise you’ll come if i need you?”
“I promise… I have someone at Black Needle if I need to leave.”
Aoba nodded again and grabbed his messenger bag containing his laptop and a few notebooks. “Okay… thanks for driving.”
“Of course… now go.”
A hint of a smile graced Aoba’s face as he opened the door, the cool morning air hitting him immediately.
“I love you….” he said quietly as he make his way out of the car.
“I love you too, Aoba.” Mizuki could feel his heart clench and couldn’t help but smile as well. It never failed to get to him every time Aoba told him he loved him.
Closing the car door, Aoba turned to look at the building again, a whole new wave of fear hitting him now that he was out of the car. Taking a deep breath, he made his way to the entrance of the school, trying not to make himself too noticeable. Although with his hair, that was proving to be pretty impossible.
Waiting until Aoba was inside, Mizuki pulled out his phone and sent a text to Koujaku letting him know that Aoba had been dropped off and he was on his way back to Black Needle.
{Koujaku} How did it go?
{Mizuki} As expected, he freaked out
{Koujaku} I don’t blame him though
{Mizuki} Yeah… but I think starting at a new school is really going to help him.
{Koujaku} Yeah. I’ll come over when he’s out of school and hang out with you guys.
{Mizuki} I think he’ll like that.
Mizuki started up the car and pulled away from the building, taking one last look at the doors and Aoba’s retreating back before turning the corner and pulling out into traffic.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Feeling the stares already on him, Aoba moved through the hallways and pulled his jacket tighter around him. His chest was pretty small already and it was easy to wear a binder that made his chest flat as a board. But even still… with everyone seeming to be staring at him, he always tended to feel self conscious about that aspect.
Luckily no one approached him or tried to talk to him on his way to his first class. He already had his schedule so he didn’t have to worry about not knowing where he was going. Although now that he was looking at his first class, he realized with a sinking feeling that he didn’t really know his way around the school.
The hallways seemed never ending, and no matter where he seemed to go, he couldn’t find the right room number anywhere. He was terrified of the prospect that he may have to ask someone for help; but after another five minutes of fruitless searching he knew it was inevitable.
Spotting someone who didn’t seem to be engaged in conversation with anyone else, Aoba approached quietly and cleared his throat. “Um… excuse me…?”
A boy with white hair turned around and Aoba couldn’t help but be surprised at the male’s eye color… he’d never seen anyone with pink eyes before. He must be wearing contacts...
“Sorry to bother you… I just started at this school and I don’t know where my first class is… I know you’re probably busy getting to your own class but I was wondering if you knew where this room was?” Aoba held out his schedule to the other boy, his hand shaking slightly as his nervousness rose.
The boy merely smiled brightly and took the paper from Aoba. “Of course! I know how confusing this school can be, it really doesn’t make any sense the way they lay out the classrooms…”
He looked at the paper and his eyes widened slightly. “Oh! You have the same class as me! You can just follow me if you want. My name’s Clear by the way.”
Aoba was a bit surprised at the overly cheerful attitude but wasn’t about to question it. At least he seemed nice. “Oh.. thanks that would be great… Um, my name’s Aoba…”
“Wow that’s a really cool name! And you’re hair is really pretty too.” Clear’s smile didn’t waver as he began to walk , grabbing Aoba’s sleeve and pulling him along. “Come on, class starts in five minutes.”
Aoba cringed slightly at his hair being called ‘pretty’. He knew that it didn’t mean that Clear thought he was a girl… but people usually didn’t say things like that to guys. He felt his confidence deflate a little more as he followed Clear, feeling even more self conscious.
They made it to class just as the bell rang and Aoba thanked Clear before taking a seat next to him. He really hoped that the teacher didn’t make him stand up in front of everyone to introduce himself. In Japan he had to do that every time he started in a new class but ever since moving to America with his grandmother and brother, that hasn’t really been a thing.
He remembered very clearly when they had moved. He was only eight years old but it was still vivid in his mind as if it were yesterday. He honestly hadn’t minded moving; not having very many friends to miss made it a lot easier to leave. Not only that, but the reason they moved was for his twin brother Sei who had been very sick at the time. Aoba hadn’t known exactly what was wrong with his brother but when he heard that there was a hospital in America that could take care of him, he didn’t even question it. He loved his brother more than anything and would do whatever it took to see him get better.
It wasn’t long after they had arrived in the new country that he had been told exactly why Sei needed to be there. Sei had been born with an incredibly weak heart, and since infancy, doctors had been trying to find a match for a transplant. Sei had been in and out of hospitals for what seemed like his entire childhood. Aoba remembered never being able to play with his brother outside or go to school with him. But when he finally had been approved for a new heart that matched, there was no question that they would go anywhere for Sei.
It had been almost ten years since the surgery and his brother was as healthy as anyone else with a proper working heart. Although Aoba did miss being in school with him. It was incredibly painful when he learned he’d be changing schools last year. His brother was the only one he had there, and now he had no one.
He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard the door open and what he presumed to be their Literature teacher stepped in. Aoba immediately went wide eyed at the look of the guy, he was huge…
“Good morning… I hope you’re all awake because despite what you may have done in previous years, we’ll be getting to work right away.” The tall man scanned the room with a critical eye, long dreadlocks fell down his back and a few decorative beads and feathers adorned them. As nice as that was, it was offset by the man’s sheer size in muscle, he practically looked like a bodybuilder.
Aoba was a bit confused. How the hell could a guy like that be a teacher? He looked so mean… He was a bit worried of what the man would do if he ever got an answer wrong or received a bad grade…
“I see some of you I recognize but for those who don’t know me, you can call me Mink. I’m sure others who’ve taken my classes before will tell you that I don’t take any form of bullshit. It’s up to you if you want to enjoy my class or not. If you choose not to, then that’s your problem. I’m not here as a babysitter.”
Everyone in the classroom was silent and Aoba found himself looking over at Clear for a second to see his reaction. To his surprise, Clear looked excited…?
Leaning over slightly, Clear’s voice was almost a whisper as he spoke. “He’s the best Literature teacher at this school… I’ve been in his class every year since starting here-”
“Clear… do we really have to have this struggle every year?” Mink’s face was set in a hard, stern look but his eyes seemed to contradict his harsh words.
Cleared visibly flushed and looked down at his desk in embarrassment at being caught. “Sorry, Sir. I’ll try not to talk as much this year…”
“We’ll see…” Mink then moved on to the aim of the class and what they would be focusing on for the rest of the school year. He passed out the reading list and Aoba was a bit intimidated by the books that were on there. They seemed pretty advanced but nothing he couldn’t handle. Although he had a feeling he had pretty much made friends with Clear already so he was pretty confident he could ask the other for help if he needed it.
He couldn’t help but notice something though… Clear seemed to be awfully attentive whenever Mink spoke. He wasn’t really sure if he was always like that in every class or maybe it was something else. He had said that Mink was an amazing teacher, despite the large man’s initial impression; which was more or less intimidating as hell.
Class ended an hour later, Mink giving them their first reading assignment as they left the classroom. He noticed Clear was among the first to get up and made a beeline to the teacher’s desk. Well… looks like he was forgotten already…
Looking at his schedule, Aoba luckily recognized his next classroom number, having passed it a few times when he had been trying to find his first class. He turned though when he heard Clear call his name.
“Aoba! I’ll meet you at your locker so we can eat lunch together okay?” Clear gave a bright smile before turning back to talk to their teacher.
Aoba smiled back, a bit nervously as he exited the classroom and made his way to his second class.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
By the time lunch came around, Aoba was feeling a little better about things. No one seemed to notice anything unusual about him, except his hair… Everyone had questions about his hair. And as always, he went along with the story of it being dyed and that one of his good friends had done it for him. It seemed that MIzuki had been right after all. Starting at a school where no one knew him as female was turning out to be much better, even if he didn’t have his brother with him.
While Aoba was thinking of Sei, he pulled out his phone as he waited for Clear to show up and sent his brother a text.
{Aoba} How’s your day going so far without me?
{Sei} Shitty… I miss having you to hang out with.
{Aoba} Whatever, I know you have friends there…
{Sei} That’s not the point… How has it been there?
{Aoba} Actually, not as bad as I thought. I think I’ve already made a friend… he’s kind of weird but he’s nice at least.
{Sei} I told you that you could make friends easily… are you at lunch now?
{Aoba} Yeah… Clear offered to eat lunch with me.
{Sei} I’m assuming that’s the new friend’s name?
{Aoba} Yeah… I think I see him. I’ll see you after school?
{Sei} Yeah, Mizuki’s picking me up before you.
{Aoba} Kay. Love you <3
{Sei} Love you too <3
Aoba put his phone away just as Clear approached, a smile still plastered on his face. “Hey Aoba! Sorry I took so long, I was talking to Mink.”
“Again? Didn’t you talk to him after class?” Aoba put his books in his locker and closed it before following Clear to the cafeteria.
“Yeah, but I had a question about the reading list…” A subtle blush appeared on the boy’s pale skin once more and Aoba couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow again.
Once they got their lunch, Clear had Aoba follow him outside to a courtyard. They were heading to a patch of grass where a giant tree shaded the area. Aoba noticed someone else already sitting there and became a bit nervous again. This kid looked a bit scary. He looked like he was angry about something and it didn’t help that he had an unknown number of piercings all over his face. How did he even get away with all of them at school? And yet, they continued to walk toward him.
“Hey Noiz! This is Aoba, he’s new…”
Aoba didn’t really pay much attention to what Clear said after that. All he focused on was that Clear called him ‘he’. He felt his chest tighten a bit in happiness as he stepped forward feeling more confident.
“Nice to meet your Noiz…” He held out his hand and was a bit surprised as the blond boy actually took it.
He flushed a bit under the intense gaze Noiz gave him, piercing green eyes seeming to be calculating everything about him. Shit… did he see through his attempts to pass as male? He really hoped he didn’t say anything if that were the case… He wasn’t ready for Clear to find out yet.
“You have really small hands….”
“Eh…? Aoba raised an eyebrow as his hand was dropped. “Thanks… I guess?”
“Sorry about him… Noiz can be a bit weird sometimes.” Clear sat down cross legged in the grass and set his tray down in front of him before looking over at Noiz. “Where’s your lunch Noiz?”
Said boy shrugged and lay back on the grass. “Ate it already… I was hungry and tired of waiting for you…”
Aoba sat down next to Clear, beginning to eat his food. He had decided to forgo the cafeteria food and instead bought a few things from the student store just off to the side of the cafeteria. Opening a bag of chips, he popped one into his mouth before observing Noiz for a moment.
It was a bit hard to tell how old he was, the way h dressed and all the piercings he had, it made him look a lot older than someone in high school. He had to admit that he was pretty cute though… So was Clear now that he thought about it. Obviously they were very different in the ways in which they were attractive, but there was something about Noiz that just seemed to draw Aoba in more.
He was brought out of his thoughts as he realized a hand was reaching into his chip bag and he looked down a bit confused to see a bandaged hand retreating with a handful of chips.
“Noiz! That’s so rude, don’t take his food like that!”
“It’s not like he was eating them…”
“Still!”
Aoba couldn’t help but laugh a little passing the chips over to Noiz. “It’s fine, you can have them if you want, I’m not that hungry.”
Clear huffed and took a sip of his water. “You know you shouldn’t encourage him like that, he’ll steal all your food if you’re not careful.”
“What… he gave them to me willingly…” Noiz took the bag with a cute smirk and popped one into his mouth.
Aoba couldn’t help but smile, Noiz was definitely a cutie. He wasn’t as intimidating once he was engaged in conversation. “So Noiz, where are you from? I notice you kind of have an accent…”
“Germany… my parents’ moved here when I was twelve for business. You’re from Japan right?”
Aoba raised an eyebrow. “Yeah… how did you know?”
Noiz smirked again. “My grandmother is Japanese… so I know the accent pretty well.”
Clear just looked back and forth between the two as they talked. He smiled slightly though, loving the fact that he was able to help Aoba gain another friend.
Aoba noticed throughout lunch that while Noiz was using male pronouns with him, he was also looking at him a bit strangely. He wasn’t sure if it was because Noiz could tell and didn’t care, or he just liked to stare… He didn’t want to ask though, it would make it obvious that he was trans if he confronted Noiz about it.
After lunch Aoba felt a lot better about being at the new school. He didn’t have anymore classes with Clear, but he was pleasantly surprised when he had two with Noiz; chemistry and gym. Luckily they didn’t have to change or do anything physical on their first day so Aoba was able to avoid the inevitable locker room anxiety.
One thing Aoba had found out about Noiz over the course of the day, was that he was 15 but in the same grade as him. Apparently he was some kind of genius or something like that. Aoba hadn’t really gotten much of the details but either way, he had been moved up several grades when he moved there from Germany.
When the final bell rang, Clear met him once more at his locker and offered an invitation to hang out at his house with Noiz for a bit. Aoba politely declined though, saying his boyfriend would be picking him up soon and he probably should get started on Mink’s homework.
“Oh! You have a boyfriend? That’s so awesome! Does he go to a different school?”
“No… he graduated already, he’s a tattoo artist and owns his own shop.”
“That’s so cool! I’d love to meet him sometime. Maybe I can come over to your house soon and we can study together!.” Clear didn’t wait for Aoba to respond before waving his goodbye and heading off with Noiz.
Amused, Aoba waved back and made his way to the side of the school where the designated ‘pickup’ area was for students. He looked at his phone and realized it was a bit later than Mizuki had said he’d be picking him up. Pulling up a text box, he messaged him.
{Aoba} Where are you?
Mizuki cursed as he heard his phone beep. He was already late picking Sei up from school and he had a feeling it was Aoba. He glared at the cars in front of him and sighed as they moved forward just a bit more. He always forgot how crowded pick up areas of schools were.
Pulling out his phone, he sent a text back.
{Mizuki} I’ll be another few minutes… still trying to pick up Sei, the traffic around the school is a fucking pain in the ass. Sorry baby.
Aoba sighed as he read the message and put his phone back in his pocket. He sat down at the curb to wait and practically jumped out of his skin when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
Turning his head he saw Noiz standing behind him and he raised an eyebrow at the younger boy. “I thought you went with Clear…”
“I wanted to ask you something…” Noiz sat down next to Aoba, pulling out a soda from his bag and popped it open. “Want some?”
Aoba shook his head . “What did you want to ask me?”
Noiz took a sip of his drink before responding. “Are you a girl?”
Aoba felt his stomach drop as his entire body heated up with fear. Shit… he fucking knew… Aoba had a feeling he knew. What the fuck was he supposed to say?
“Um… No…”
“It’s just that you kind of have a feminine body shape… And your face kind of looks more feminine too…”
Aoba felt on the verge of tears at that point. He had just made friends with this guy and now he was probably going to reject him like everyone else.
He looked away, his confidence plummeting. “Trust me, I don’t like looking like this…”
Luckily Aoba saw Mizuki’s car before Noiz could respond and he quickly got up with a quick apology and power walked over to his boyfriend’s car, getting in the back since Sei was already in the passenger’s seat.
Mizuki could already tell by Aoba’s body language that something had happened, and he frowned as he looked at him through the rearview mirror. “How was school baby?”
“Fine… I don’t want to talk about it… I just want to go.” He fought back tears as he caught a glimpse of his brother’s expression in the mirror as well. He hated being weak in front of Sei,, especially after they had talked earlier that day.
Despite his efforts though, he could feel the tears begin to fall and saw Sei open the door to get out of the car and got in once more in the backseat next to him. He felt his brother’s arms wrap around him and that was all it took to release everything as he cried on his twin’s shoulder. He had been fine before Noiz had to go and ruin everything.
Of course Aoba knew it wasn’t actually Noiz’s fault. It wasn’t even confirmed that Noiz suspected he was trans. But in Aoba’s mind, the blond had already figured it out and was ready to ridicule and ditch him like everyone else.
Mizuki waited a bit before speaking, knowing the two needed their time together. Sei never failed to be the one to help calm Aoba down the most.
Once the tears had stopped, he turned in his seat and reached back to take Aoba’s hand in his. “Hey… you want to stay with me tonight?”
Aoba just nodded as he sniffled a bit, taking a tissue that his brother handed him. “I’ll have to tell Granny first…”
“I’ll tell her.” Sei offered as he finally released Aoba to put on his seatbelt.
Aoba nodded as he put on his own seatbelt and watched as Mizuki turned back toward the steering wheel to begin navigating his way out of the parking lot.
He had been feeling so much better up until that point. He had made two new friends on his first day and hadn’t really had any issues with anyone. Now he felt like he was back at square one. Not to mention he practically ditched Noiz before he could even figure out what the younger male was implying.
He sighed as he lay his head against the headrest behind him. How the fuck was he going to even face Noiz tomorrow?
He turned his head to look out the window as he scenery passed by. It was official, he couldn’t even go one day without sabotaging himself. He turned his head when he felt a hand grab his and smiled reassuringly at his brother. Even though the smile was fake he hoped Sei would appreciate his efforts anyway.
At least he’d be able to forget about everything for a little while once he got to Mizuki’s. Because he knew tomorrow was going to be even worse.