NO, THAT'S WRONG! ~~Naegami~~

Chapter 12: Anything but Extraordinary

Days passed. Then weeks, then months. Time seemed to fly by, yet move slow as a fly through amber at the same time. An hour could take two years, and week could take a minute. And Makoto was loving every second of it: he finally had friends in the truest sense of the word in Hina, Chihiro, and- to a lesser extent- Junko and Celeste. He had also learned how to deal with the workload, and actually found himself enjoying the challenge that Hope's Peak offered. He found himself with lots of free time, that he gladly spent with his friends, or going to more parties.
There was only one area in which Makoto was still struggling: Maths. But even that had become more than bearable. In fact, rather than dread, Makoto found himself with excitement and nerves stirring in his chest whenever he entered the classroom. And that was due in no small part to the reclusive, cold boy who sat next to him.
Togami and him were on talking terms again, and Makoto liked to think that they were finally headed towards friendship once more. Was that just wishful thinking? Or was the Ultimate Affluent Progeny finally warming to him? Whatever the truth of the matter was, Makoto was excited for how their relationship would develop. Wait, that sounded weird. Not develop in that way. Makoto wasn't interested in Togami like that. Was he?
He had, on occasion, found himself daydreaming about his blue eyes, his blonde hair, his small smile. He did, in addition, try and come up with any excuse to spend time with him (except homework, he was not anxious to repeat that experience), but that was just because he wanted to be Togami's friend, right? And even if he was interested- which he decidedly wasn't- there was no way anything could ever happen. Togami himself had said: the head of the Togami family travels the world and couples with extraordinary women to bear as many children as possible. Key word being "women". And Makoto was anything but "extraordinary". So it was hopeless, regardless of whether he actually had feeling or not. So he'd better resign himself to that fact sooner rather than later. So he just needed to ignore the swelling in his chest whenever he caught sight of those thin, wire-rimmed glasses. It was for the best.

***

Life at Hope's Peak had never been so interesting. Having friends was a new experience to Byakuya, and one he wasn't entirely sure he completely enjoyed. There were certain aspects he could do without: the social get-togethers, the DespairCord group chats, the constant teasing and DEAR LORD HINA.
That girl was far too interested in Byakuya's relationship with Naegi. Every single time they spoke, he spotted in his peripheral a red jacket, and he knew that she was quietly watching. It was kind of creepy, but Byakuya knew that she wasn't doing it maliciously.
That being said, it was beginning to get on his nerves. He could barely even have a conversation with the kid anymore without being distracted, which led to him not having as many conversations with Naegi as he'd have liked. Which meant that Makoto probably thought Byakuya was avoiding him. Which, now that he thought about it, maybe he was?
Not out of spite, of course not. Byakuya undoubtedly valued Naegi above all of his other friends. But perhaps it was that exact reason that he had been avoiding him. He was growing too attached, and he was worried he'd slip up and say something stupid. And then Makoto would hate him, which would be the one thing he couldn't deal with. Byakuya wasn't in the habit of deluding himself, he knew how he felt, but he also knew nothing could come of it. And not just due to the sheer impossibility of Naegi returning his feelings. A Togami couldn't be seen in public with that boy, for a plethora of reasons. His family only associated with extraordinary people, and Makoto was anything but- at least, to the outside world. So, really, it was best to forget about it entirely.
Which was easier said than done, it seemed crucial to add. Everywhere he turned, Naegi seemed to be there, as if to taunt him specifically. This in itself would be fine, nay, it would be good, if it weren't for the short boy's penchant for being the cutest goddamn person ever to walk the earth.
Byakuya found himself turning red almost every single time they talked, and he definitely wasn't good at covering that up. He could tell Naegi was getting suspicious of him, who wouldn't be when he kept making excuses not to speak to him? He wasn't sure whether Makoto thought he was avoiding because he hated him, or liked him. He wasn't sure which was worse.
   This couldn't keep happening. Byakuya knew this way of existing wasn't sustainable, and that eventually he'd have to either come clean or decide to let whatever this was, whatever it could be, go. The thought of doing either terrified him to his very core, so- even though he knew it couldn't continue long- Byakuya lived in this same torturous rut for months, constantly haunted by cruel fantasies and the damnable question: What if?

~~~

Byakuya tossed and turned in bed, fighting a losing battle against wakefulness. He checked his watch. It was 3:07 in the morning. Quite literally the middle of the night, and he was lying here toiling with sleep to no avail. Not an ideal situation by any stretch. And it was all because of that boy. Every single time he reminded himself of what had happened he wanted to erase his own existence.
   "Hey, Togami!" Makoto said cheerily. Shit, he had hoped to run past him without attracting attention.
   "Oh, hi there, Naegi." His response was clipped and curt, to make Makoto think that he was in a rush.
   "Where are you rushing to? You ran out of class like a bat out of hell, you know."
   "I- uh... English?" Byakuya stuttered, desperately trying to grasp at any semblance of an excuse.
   "It's the end of the day, Togami. Why're you lying, huh?" Makoto teased.
   "N-no, I meant English homework, it's due tomorrow." It was so incredibly obvious he was bullshitting his way through this conversation, but he hoped that somehow, Makoto wouldn't notice.
   "Ok, so two things. One, since when have you been in any hurry to do homework? And, more important, it's Saturday tomorrow. You really are hiding something, aren't you?" Shit shit shit shit shit. This could not be going any worse. Makoto continued,
   " Are you doing something illegal? Ooh, is there a special someone you're meeting up with~" Where the hell had that come from?
   "Naegi, I- That's so inappropriate. For your information, it's neither of those things." Because telling part of the truth was better than lying.
   "So you're trying to avoid me specifically, then?" Makoto's smile had disappeared. "Did you think I hadn't noticed that? I may be stupid, but I'm not that oblivious. You keep making excuses not to spend time with me, and I don't know why. Care to explain yourself, Togami?" This wasn't how this was supposed to go.
   "I really want to, but I can't." Lie.
   "Can't or won't?"
   "Look, Naegi, I really have to go." Lie.
   "You're not getting out of this that easy, Togami. Tomorrow, you need to explain what's happening."
   "Fine. I'll do it tomorrow."

Lie.

Word count without A/N: 1252

A/N: heyyyy it's been a hot seccc hasn't it? Not because I didn't have motivationnnn (definitely not....) but actually because ive been on holiday for about a weekkk. It's really fun, and also I have to share a room with my brotherrrrr, so I can't write at night (which is when I get my bursts of inspiration), so I haven't really had any time to write anythinggg. As such, this is comparatively short for the timeframe it was completed innnn. Oh and also, I probably won't update for 4 days- a week. Annnyyywwwaaayyyy this has taken a bunch of time, so I won't waste any more of itttttt. Alr peace
—Winter