pet shop ✰ kagehina

he never expected

to see the bullying follow him here. it hasn't happened again since yesterday but now shōyō walked the campus crawling with fear, his head down and his steps fumbled and his hands clumsy.
tobio hated it. he wanted to fix it.

you're no match for them, idiot, he'd tell himself.

but then he'd see his boy's broken smile, he'd see the shielding cloud preventing shōyō's eyes from shining like they used to, he'd see a different shōyō, one who's afraid to be himself...
and he didn't care whether he couldn't match them or not. he only cared about shōyō.

so, he did the one thing he couldn't help but do.

"hey,"

the leader of that cursed posse turned around, scoffing at the sight of tobio. he was the one at the vending machine now, being that lunch just began.

"what do you want?"

"leave hinata alone."

"what, is he your boyfriend?" the boy sneered.

"that's not even a necessary piece of the conversation. is that what justifies you attacking him? because you think he likes boys? are you really so dense and insecure that you need to bully hinata to make yourself feel loved?" tobio spat.

"hey, you better watch your mo-"

"i am not done, asshole. does your mommy not give you hugs at home? do your friends not really like you so you need to assert your power to get their attention? are you scared that you might be like the hinata you see? do you like hinata?"

the boy's face caught fire, and he attempted to swing from the left of tobio, but it was sloppy. predictable, even. tobio dodged the blow and jabbed the jerk in the noise, knocking his freshly-bought milk from his hand.

"i don't care why you do what you do. that's not my concern. but you better get yourself together and leave hinata alone, or else you'll be facing much bigger issues, you dick."

"who the hell are you?"

"doesn't matter." tobio smirked, stepping on the milk carton and chuckling as it spread across the sidewalk in a split second, strawberry soaking through the bully's shoes.

"hey, what the f-"

"screw off, or else."

tobio turned his back and began the journey to the classroom where shōyō awaited his return, but before he rounded the corner, he looked over his shoulder and got his last jab of words in.

"i hope you feel comfortable being yourself one day. i pity you, really."

a purple wave of air, of anger, of intimidation followed in tobio's wake as he left the terror of shōyō's yesterday behind, struggling to soothe the bleeding in his nose.