"honesty and grace" (Mezo Shoji X Reader)

[After Story - 3]

On The Way

You anxiously pad up and down the hallway of your apartment, your arms crossed with your chest rising and falling in a heavy melody. Mina, Sero, Ojiro, and Hagakure sit in the living room, watching you pacing throughout the room with worried eyes.

“You gotta sit down, babes.” Mina says, running a hand through her hair. She had grown it out to fall just below her shoulders, making her look more like a woman than a teenager. “Walking around isn’t going to make time go by any faster.” Hey eyes seem just a little dimmer than normal, as if age is something that is affecting her more than she’d like to admit.

Ojiro nods his head and laughs, stretching his arms up a bit and allowing both of his elbows to straighten with two satisfying cracks. “She has a point. We have a timer set for ten minutes. They’ll both be done by then, so come sit with us.” He pats a spot next to him on the couch.

After a few moments of thinking, you nod your head and find yourself inching towards the couch. “You’re right, sorry.” You quietly take a seat next to him, looking about the room at your friends. At first, you had called Mina to see if she could come over. When she didn’t answer her phone, you left a message and immediately called Ojiro. He responded almost instantly and came as quickly as he could with Hagakure. When Mina finally got the message, she dragged Sero with her to come see you. You didn’t mind at all; in fact, being around so many of your friends actually eased your nerves. Of course, you weren’t terribly close with Hanta and Toru, but they were still friends of yours, nonetheless, that supported you through everything.

“No need to apologize.” The black-haired man says. His voice hasn’t changed much since high school. In fact, it sounded almost identical to when you had heard it months ago. “I mean, I have no idea what’s going through your head, but you must be nervous. We all understand.”

Hagakure hums in agreement. “Yeah, and whatever the results are, we’re here for you!”

You look to her as Mina chimes in. “I know that you’d be here for either of us if we were in your situation.” She gestures to Toru with a smile on her face. When you look over to see the look on Mina’s face, you could tell that your invisible friend had a similar expression.

The five of you continue to make casual conversation as the timer counts down to zero at an agonizingly slow pace. In that remaining time, you had learned that Mina and Sero had recently started dating. The rosy skinned girl didn’t get along with who she was dating before, and finally decided to flirt with Sero, who had liked her back in school. Ojiro had popped the question to Hagakure a month after Shoji had proposed to you, though neither of you had your weddings yet. You figured that Ojiro’s would be discreet and secretive, given that barely any media covered his proposal.

Sero had also informed the group of Kaminari and Jirou’s relationship. They hadn’t been married, but he said that Denki had been wanting to ask her for a few months now, but just never got the courage to ask. With the upbringing of that couple, Ojiro brought up how a few of their classmates had still been single, and how some of them were dating former class B students. Like Satou, who had begun dating a boy named Shoda.

Suddenly, a buzzing noise cut Sero off in the middle of a story he had been telling. You looked at him apologetically before quickly running to the bathroom, a hand instinctively on your stomach. On the bathroom counter sit two pink tests, both of them sitting face down and closed. A wave of nervousness washed over you as you flipped over one of the pastel pink strips.

Two red lines.

Tears pricked your eyes as you brought your free hand to your face, trying not to get your hopes up as you covered your smile. Placing the test down, you reach for the other one. Your hands had been shaking, your heart pounding as you quickly flipped the second one over. Before you could even get a good look at it, you close your eyes. Shapes cascade in the darkness of your vision as you contemplate calling in Mina or Ojiro to look at the test results. However, you finally gain enough courage to slowly crack your eyes open to get a look at what was in the small square space.