A/N:
Alright Mask it's your turn, I put all my sob stories on Army too much. Also Army wouldn't go to a regular highschool cuz his parents are loaded.

Also this isn't really a ship thing...? But it is...? Idk lol

____

Mask shook his head to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Did he hear the teacher, right? He turned to Aloha as the pink squid giggled with joy.

"Yay! A project on self-portraits! This is going to be so fun!"

Mask wasn't dreaming.

Mask felt his throat tighten up as he gripped the sleeve on his forearm. He couldn't do this. He couldn't take a picture of himself. Mask's breathing became jagged, and he failed to notice everyone getting up to go outside with the cameras.

'I should've taken a free period. I wish Aloha didn't convince me to join photography with him. I only did it for him and now look at what happened. No one wants to see a picture of you. You're disgusting. You're ugly. You're-'

"Masky...? It's time to go...are you okay?"

Mask looked up at Aloha, who had a canon camera around his neck. Aloha looked hard through the lens of the gas mask and was about to say something, but Mask stood up quickly.

"Let's just gooo..."

Before Aloha could start again, Mask walked out of the classroom. He even threw a glare at the teacher, though it went unnoticed.

"Masky! Hold up!"

Even the fastest cephalopod at the school had a hard time keeping up with the cynical squid's pace. Mask had jumped off when there were five steps left and did the same for the other two flights of stairs. His ankles hurt, but the pain was a distraction. The cyan inkling shoved his hands in his pockets and used his body to push open the door to the outside campus.

"Mask!"

Aloha grabbed onto the other's shoulders and turned him around.

"What is wrong with you?"

Mask bit his lip. He didn't want Aloha to worry, or worse, tell Skull and Army. So he did the only thing he could.

He lied.

He made up a bull shit reason, saying he's just stressed since he didn't know what to do. It wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

And what made things worse was that Aloha believed him.

Aloha believed him the entire week the teacher gave them to take self-portraits. Aloha didn't mention anything to Skull and Army on their walks to Mako Mart. He didn't say anything the other times Mask had struggled to not have a panic attack before photography class. Aloha trusted Mask, and Mask almost got away scot-free, but then... it was presentation day.

____

"Mask, it's your turn."

Mask's heart dropped, but he was confident everything would be okay. He high-fived Aloha, as the party squid had finished his own presentation, and opened his email to the teacher on the computer. Hesitantly, Mask clicked present on google slides and began.

Everything was going according to plan. The introduction was smooth. But then came the time to talk about his photo. He started by saying how he never really liked taking photos of himself because of his insecurities. But "it" wouldn't let him finish.

A wave of anxiety and self-hatred kicked down the door and engulfed Mask. The cyan inkling chuckled awkwardly as he tried to explain his reasons. Key word tried. Mask couldn't get through his words without a fit of nervous giggles taking over. He couldn't look at his classmates either. He made that mistake and immediately regretted it. In their faces, he can see their disgust.

He could hear what they were saying.

"Who does this squid think he is?"

"Does he think that picture is good?"

"Does he actually think he looks handsome or something?"

"Sis is canceled."

"Talk about wanting attention and sympathy."

Mask didn't notice the tears escaping his gas mask, rolling down his face and onto the carpet. He struggled to form words.

"Haha, s-so basically, b-basically, haha. I just haaaate myself! And thaaaat's why I doooon't like taking phooootos of myself! B-because I haaate myself!"

The class froze, the teacher froze, Mask froze. The class didn't say anything. They hadn't said anything the entire time. Mask glanced at Aloha, who was in a state of significant shock as well. Mask giggled awkwardly.

"I...can't dooo this."

He walked out of the classroom. He couldn't handle the embarrassment. Mask moved his gas mask to the side and wiped the tears away as he went down the stairs. Quickly, he exited the building and hopped the fence. He didn't care if someone walked out of the office and saw him.

"M-Mask!"

Of course, Aloha would follow him.

Mask had one hand gripped on the fence, his back to the pink inkling. He felt the other grasp his hand from the other side.

"Mask...please don't leave."

"I've made it this far."

"It's not very far..."

"To me, it is..."

"Mask...why didn't you tell me? We could've told Mr-"

"No. He wouldn't care."

Mask turned to Aloha before pulling his hand away.

"Nobody cares."

Mask took off, Aloha calling behind him. He just wanted to be alone.

...

Aloha stood at the gate, calling for Mask to come back. He panicked and scaled the fence. He could climb it, but he knew he couldn't talk to Mask on his own. He sprinted to the field to the PE kids.

"Skull! Skull!"

The purple-toned inkling tossed back the basketball to Aviator and caught the frantic inkling in his arms.

"Woah, Aloha, aren't you supposed to be in class?"

Aloha nodded.

"Y-yeah, but Mask just...took off!"

Skull's eyes widened in shock.

"What?"

"Yeah! We were giving presentations in class, and he just lost it! I didn't know he had self-esteem issues! I thought he didn't care about stuff like that! But I guess I was wrong!"

Skull put his hand on Aloha's cheek and rubbed in with his thumb to calm the squid down.

"Aloha. Where'd he go? Did you call Army?"

Aloha took a breath.

"I... I'm not sure... I think he went to the park or the river bed, and no, I didn't call Army...Skull, I'm sorry I didn't...I'm sorry I couldn't-."

Skull hummed and shushed the inkling.

"It's not your fault. You didn't know. I don't think any of us did. Let's call Army and get our Mask back. Alright?"

Aloha nodded and brushed away the newly formed tears.

"Alright."

_..._

Mask hugged his knees close to him as he hid behind one of the pillars in the riverbed. The bridge that rested above-made shade for him. He sniffled as he brushed the tears away. He was glad he took his medicine for once, his hay fever was at bay for now while his mask was off.

"...coooood what is wrooooong with me...? I can't stop haaaaating myself for oooooone moment, can I?"

His ears perked up slightly at the sound of footsteps running towards him. He put on his gas mask. He didn't want the two to see his face like this.

"Mask..."

Ah, so Army was here as well.

"Heh...brought baaack up 'loha...?"

The three froze. Mask never shortened Aloha's name.

"Mask...I'm sorry."

Mask looked at the three.

"What fooooor?"

Aloha squeezed Skull's hand for comfort and took a step forward.

"For not helping you. For not seeing how uncomfortable you were for a whole week!"

Aloha had let go of Skull's hand at this point and dropped to his knees to match Mask's height. He scraped his knees on the concrete, but did that really matter? Aloha moved the gas mask, revealing Mask's tear-stained face and his puffy eyes.

"I'm so sorry..."

The pink inkling hugged the cyan one, and Mask's walls began to break down. Skull and Army both went over to the two crying inklings and made it into a group hug.

"I-I'm sorrrry I never s-said anything..."

"It's perfectly fine, Mask. It's your choice. You wanted to tell us when you were ready. We respect that."

"Though, we would rather you tell us sooner in the future. To avoid more of these incidents."

Mask nodded, feeling reassured by Army and Skull's words. Then he remembered where they were supposed to be.

"Waaaait. Aren't you guuuys supposed to be at schoooool...?"

The three let out a chuckle.

"You're more important, Masky, besides I think the class is too shaken up to ask."

"You know Mr. K, he lets us be...teenagers, so when he saw us starting to climb the fence, and our answer to his question was you, he let us go through the gym to escape the cameras."

Skull and Aloha both laughed and shook their heads. Army was horrified.

"Your gym teacher let you do what?! I almost got caught by the security to get over here!"

The three looked at Army, deadpanned.

"Welcome to low funded high school."

Army cracked a smile and kissed each of their heads.

"Idiots..."

The four stayed in an embrace, enjoying each other's company in silence. Mask decided to speak up.

"I love you guys..."

"We love you too."

____
A/N:
I wrote this in a span of an hour. R e e e e e-
Also my teachers are like this haha, they are more like family than teachers. My gym teacher is basically everyone's dad lol.

Word Count: 1,493 Words