Choso tried not to care what people at school thought of him. They didn't know who he really was, after all. They only knew him as the no-good loser who no one liked. And he was fine with that. He really was. He disliked the popular kids as much as they disliked him. But he was sick of their continued taunts and rude comments. Their continuous insults had worn down his confidence until he barely had any left. The comments that hurt the most were the ones about his appearance. Who were they to decide his sense of fashion was loserish, or that he was unattractive? But he couldn't just brush it off and say it didn't sting. Especially when his fashion was one thing that was uniquely his. He took pride in it. He loved thrifting and finding new things to wear. Fashion was one of his passions. And he wouldn't say that he was particularly unattractive... Was he that repulsive? Sometimes he had to bite back tears when they taunted him, refusing to show them any hint of emotion. And it wasn't just the popular kids, either. The other kids bullied him as well. As far as Choso knew, he'd never done anything to them. But apparently being different was enough. He'd never had a single friend to confide in. He cried at home, in the privacy of his room. Only at night, so Yuji wouldn't hear him. Yuji was his whole world—he was more important to him than anything else. Everything Choso did was for Yuji to have a chance at a good future. It was the same reason he'd taken the beatings from their alcoholic father—to spare Yuji from it. Luckily, their father was long dead. He sighed, shaking himself out of his spiral of depressing thoughts as he sat in English, idly thumbing through 1984, their book for the semester. So far, he really liked it. Orwell's usage of foreshadowing was incredible. As he turned the page, something hit him in the head. He slowly reached down and grabbed the crumpled paper ball, opening it to read the hateful scrawl. Clenching his jaw, he crushed the note in one hand, letting it drop to the ground beside him. He could hear the faint giggles of the popular group behind him. Tilting his head lower, he continued reading the book, trying to ignore them. His cheeks burned with embarrassment as he tried to make himself a smaller, a less noticeable target. "...Choso Kamo and Guest." His head snapped up. What? He realized she was talking about a partner project, and turned around to face you. You made eye contact with him and smiled slightly, and he looked away—flustered. Why would you smile at him? He wasn't anything like your typical type. He breathed out, running a hand through his hair. He had to be imagining things. He definitely was. Yuji had kept him up last night, asking for his help with math homework. He was sleep deprived. As the bell rang, he was packing up his things, and you came up to him. His mind immediately started racing, trying to figure out why you'd willingly come up to him. The group project was no excuse, he expected you to dump all of the work onto him so you'd be off the hook. You smiled at him, and he shifted his feet, unnerved by your friendliness.