The Honey Pot (An OHSHC fanfic)

Chapter 26: The New Masa

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I posted a chapter for this hasn't it? Well, now it hasn't!

I also want to let you guys know that I changed a few paragraphs in Chapter 18! I originally wrote that chapter a different way and while I scraped the original idea, I kept it and found a few lines that I liked better than what ended up getting the final cut, so I switched it! It's where Tamaki is telling Miko that he got to see the different sides to her (Just in case you wanted to go back and read them).

Anyway, I'll see you guys at the end of this chapter!

Crying _Happiness💛

Masa

I woke in a bed that was too soft to be my own and a dark pink canopy hanging over my head. Someone undid the ponytail that was tied to the back of my head and my gi had been loosened around my chest.

It took me a minute to remember that I fainted at the tournament. How heavy the bow and arrow felt as I stood in front of the target. I can still feel the stares bearing into my skin. But then, everything fell into darkness.

I sat up and looked around the room some more. I was in one of the many infirmaries the Academy had. At the end of my bed, I was surprised to find Miko sitting in a high-backed chair. She had fallen asleep and her cheek was pressing into the knuckles of her hand; the book she was reading was dropped onto her lap and threatening to fall.

Miko was a cute person, however, she wasn't right now. Her mouth was hanging open and drool was dripping out of her mouth and down her arm, a few strands of her hair clinging to the opposite corner. A snore escaped her gaping lips.

I shook my head at the sight. My cousin was always good at reading herself to sleep and was always doing so in places she probably shouldn't be. If only she could see herself right now...

A soft laughter bubbled out of my mouth before I could stop it. It was a delayed reaction to my fainting rather than it rising because of Miko. I should have known better than to try to tempt fate.

Somewhere, deep down, I knew I wasn't meant to be anything. I wasn't the shining silver or gold my brothers were. I was just some lack luster bronze- if that.

I tightened my gi as I went to the window. Whoever brought me here had put me in the bed closest to it. It was raining, and I watched droplets of water make their own paths on the glass, making little pinging noises as they hit. On any other day, it would be a beautiful sight, but today it felt like an omen of what's to come.

I knew when I got home, Father would call me to his office and ask me how the tournament went. I knew he would want me to hand him a trophy or a medal that he could proudly put on display.

Instead, I was going to have to tell him that I fainted before even competing. Before I could even release my first arrow.

"I'm such a failure" I said breathlessly, pressing my fingers against the cool window, my forehead following close behind. Tears slipped from my eyes under the pressure of this truth.

"Now I wouldn't say that," Tamaki Suoh's reflection said as he pulled the privacy curtain of his way. There was a soft expression on his face as he looked at me, a smile that was warm and comforting.

"Did you come watch me sleep?" I asked when I turned to face him, crossing my arms against my chest.

"Mori-Senpai asked me to check on you" Suoh said as he picked up the blanket from the infirmary bed and draped it over Miko. He gently pulled the book from her sleeping hand, almost closing it.