#middleschool!au

@ycmagucci

They were the inseparable gloomy duo, as everyone started calling them. Yamaguchi and Tsuji were rarely seen without each other -- and all started in spring when Akihisa became a second year at middle school. The first day of April when the new first years changed schools and had to somehow get along with the older ones, their senpais and such, it was a wild thing. Akihisa never had gotten friends with anyone, that was until he met that shy freckle-face by the name Noriyuki. 

The boy practically looked like he needed someone to look after him, and Tsuji was more than willing to stick up to him. He had his fair share of bullies and he knew that it was -- most of the times -- not even a laughing matter for those at the receiving end. And the more he hung out with the boy, the less the bullying had gotten, which he was thankful for. Tsuji felt responsible for the other, he meant to protect him no matter what. 

As it was with friends (or best friends in their case), eventually they’d visit each other at home. Akihisa was really defensive about taking the other home, knowing that it was not necessarily a common thing to have a single mother; most women avoided divorces in order to keep a pristine appearance to the outside world. Not to mention Satoshi had been more and more of a brat... someone as coy as Yamaguchi would easily feel overwhelmed by someone gluing on him and asking him about this and that, without the ability to press a ‘PAUSE’ button on the boy.

grossbiker

      This was a normal day for a more or less average boy at middle school. Along with the usual bullying and the constant anxiety of talking to people or the fact that he much rather wanted to be at home with his dear mother, nothing spectacular happened.

                                          Until the bell rang for school to be over.

                  Tsuji packed his bag slowly, getting shoved here and there by classmates, so he left the room as the last pupil, wishing his teacher a nice day due to being such a polite boy and heading towards the exit as he walked down the hallway.

            One of the main reasons he was bullied was because of his prominent cheekbones, but also the fact that he was one of the tallest of his age, almost towering over all the other children. It wasn’t as if he felt good about it. He much rather wanted to be smaller, in a way that he wouldn’t be seen, maybe insect size would be perfect -- he wouldn’t mind if someone stomped on him and broke all his innards and the exoskeleton (at least that’s what insects had, right?), as long as he wasn’t standing out like a freak.

      Walking out of the building, he took note of a group of people, familiar faces among them. They certainly weren’t good news, all of these kids who thought they were better just because they were so... normal. It sickened him. And all Akihisa wanted was to rush past them unnoticed and run home before they’d get him. But it looked like they were too busy seeing him -- so he was getting curious and approached the boys quietly, slowly.

            Eventually, he got the puzzle pieces together when he saw a boy much smaller then those guys, almost fragile looking with his thing arms and legs, just standing there and taking the treatment. This was upsetting. Not only because he hated bullies, but this was more an act of cowards than anything else: at least they had the nerve to approach Tsuji who was -- without exaggeration -- at least one head taller than those guys! Gritting his teeth, he grabbed both straps of his school bag, inhaled and exhaled deeply merely to gain the bravery to step forward and do something about it.

                  “H-Hey! Get lost, cowards!!! Are you starting to pick on smaller kids now? Instead of those taller than you?! You’re pathetic. I’m going to rip your arms out like they do to bugs!” Akihisa then called out as he moved closer, glaring at the guys but merely receiving laughter. “You don’t take me seriously? How about I cut up your bellies and wear your innards as a new scarf?” With that statement, he gained a little more respect -- or fear -- from those idiots. “Let’s just go and leave the freaks alone.” One of the boys then muttered as he pulled on his friends and they were moving faster than Tsuji had anticipated.

            Now -- all alone with that other boy -- he wasn’t all too sure what to say. He wasn’t good with conversations -- as might’ve been obvious due to his... choice of words to scare them away. But the truth is, he could tell that this boy was just as lonely as he was, probably had no friends as well, just by his awkward body language. Making friends wasn’t a bad thing, right? Though... perhaps he was just too disgusting to even be able and make friends?!

ishiyxn

      Tsuji doesn’t recollect for how long he had been on the cold ground of the storage room -- he could only tell by the smell of basketballs, the thick air and the sound of another team already using the gym for their club activities, though they weren’t the last today so they wouldn’t need to enter said room to find the boy. He gave up wiggling out of the net his other team mates wrapped him up with, the soccer goal net, and due to them being the last soccer team to train for the day, the item wouldn’t be missed for today. Something told him that maybe the first person to even find him would be one of the cleaners of the school, but even so he would be more than fine with that ---- anyone, but his own team!

            Too much did Akihisa fear that they’re going to return eventually only to kick and punch him. He wasn’t even sure why they hated him so much: perhaps being so lanky and unathletic... or maybe just the fact that he was introverted and not really good at making friends, let alone to stand up for himself. The perfect victim, so to say. It was his own fault and he couldn’t blame anyone else ---- but he also knew that his parents would scold him for coming home late and that all of this made him hate his club activities more and more, even though he really didn’t want to disappoint his father.