Zanka Nijiku - Normal! AU!

Zanka wasn’t a fan of fights, then again, he wasn’t really a fan of anything unless it was proving himself better than everyone thought he was.

Getting curb stomped by one of your shitty ass colleagues wasn’t on his bucket list for the year.

—-----

The morning had been hard already. You had woken up in a bad mood after a nightmare and the argument from the night before; neither of you remembered what it was even about. All you two knew was, you were angry at each other, and neither of you seemed to be letting up.

Words were barely spoken, hickeys were still stuck on skin before the argument, and mumbles were barely heard.

You escaped his house as you usually did and he felt much more fatigued than he had been when you were here. Maybe you were his anchor even if he was mad at you.

When he finally slipped out of his house. His uniform had been more rumpled than it should’ve been, the teachers would scold him, but who was he to care? He was tired, he missed you at the most simultaneous moment he was pissed at you.

He let out a loud yawn as he walked to the train station and leaned against one of the bars while scrolling through his phone.

He checked for any messages from you, but with none being seen he frowned.

He pocketed his phone and the walk to school was a blur, but he eventually made it to his pretty ass private school. Days like today made him question why the hell he even joined this place in the first place.

When he sat down he saw Eishia taking some notes and Riyo talking to Amo nearby.

Safe. He thought, the tenseness in his muscles gradually going down. Safe.

Over the course of the day, his fatigue gradually went away when he hung out with his friends, like talking to them made his day a little better.

But there was still a nagging feeling that you wouldn’t sneak into his house after school.

What if you didn’t want to see him anymore?

Was he not good enough?

He shook his head when he was at lunch with the trio and poked at his food. He didn’t feel hungry right now, in fact he didn’t feel hungry at all.

“Zanka?”

He snapped his head up when he looked at Eishia next to him and stared at her. She looked concerned, but there was a small gentle smile on his face.

Was he obvious?

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

Riyo and Amo stopped talking and they all stared at him, he felt his throat go dry. He was good at vice-valedictorian speeches, so why couldn’t he speak to them?

“. . .I’m fine, I just didn’t get much sleep last night.”

All of them glanced at each other and accepted the answer before continuing their chatter, albeit a bit quieter now.

He stared down at his food.

Maybe you two were both mad for no reason.

Why couldn’t he tell his friends about you? They wouldn’t judge, but would they tell? Just the idea of it made him nauseous.

He stood up abruptly before throwing his food away without a word and leaving the cafeteria.

He texted you on his phone when he left campus and fixed his hair.

—--- Hey. Can we meet up in the back of your school? —---

There wasn’t really an answer for no, but he wanted to be courteous, despite the feeling of wanting to ball his eyes out.

He waited behind your run down school which was right next to his.

He didn’t know why the schools hated each other so much, but it scared him if anyone found out he was dating the rival school that somehow held competition to theirs.

He heard a door open before his eyes brightened in the slightest.

It wasn’t you.

It was some random delinquent from your school.

“. . . Whoa. The Valedictorian.” There was something in the guy’s voice that made the hairs on his arms stand up.

He froze and tensed before backing away.

The guy grabbed him without a word.

He was stronger than this, right?

Apparently not.

It was a blur of pain with the ground along the sky.

What did this dude want? There were words he couldn’t comprehend.

His bones felt bruised, he couldn’t make any noise, he couldn’t yell, he couldn't let out a breath.

He felt something dig into his ribs before warm blood spilled out onto the ground.

You’re always acting stronger than you are.

Ah. Right, that’s why you two started arguing.

He felt inferior. He didn’t want you to call out how weak he felt. But you had always felt the need to protect him. So he snapped.

You two argued because of his damn insecurities.

And now here he was, bleeding out on the ground.

What was inside him anyways?

No it wasn’t inside him, but it hurt like hell.

He coughed out something red before he felt the weights of heaven and earth escaped him.

His eyes felt bleary, he couldn’t hear what was happening but he heard yelling and screaming. Was that for him?

He felt someone drag him up and something wet fell on his cheeks.

Was the sky ever so blue?

A figure appeared right in front of him.

No, above him.

It was familiar, eerily familiar. He felt their heartbeat, it felt frantic and fast, like fear, maybe.

How would he explain this to anyone?

—----

The sound of beeping maybe?

Something steady and low, like a metronome.

He slowly opened his eyes to see familiar red hair.

Riyo? No, who would have told her. . . unless-

“Zanka!”

He winced before she covered her mouth, her eyes wet and red, she rarely ever cried.

“Zanka. . .”

Eishia sounded much more broken than she meant to, she was actively blinking back tears as she grabbed his hand and squeezed gently, “You’re awake.”

He stared at them before sitting up immediately and letting out a cough, “Shit-!”

“Slow down.”

Zanka glanced at Riyo who grabbed his shoulder and brought him back down onto the pillow.

“What. . . happened??”

Riyo and Eishia glanced at each other before Eishia leaned back and Riyo leaned forward, “Someone found you in the back of the public school and dragged you to the nurse before they sent you here. The hospital.”

“ . . . Right.”

Riyo and Eishia glanced at each other once more before it went quiet.

“. . . So, you know then.”

Both of them nodded and Zanka felt his whole world crashing down before he curled up in the hospital bed quietly, begging for you to be here next to him.

He wanted to be in bed with you, he wanted to feel your kisses on his neck and make him laugh even if he pretended to hate it.

He let out a shaky exhale.

He hoped to any god there was that you were here and healthy.