(A/N: Just like with Ojirou's birthday chapter, this has no relation with the plot of the fic.)
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Private messages between MummyI'mAZombie and TheseEyebagsAreGucci

MummyI'mAZombie: Hey kiddo, I know you don't like your birthday, but I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Your pops and I love you very much and we want you to remember that. And please try not to think about... back then.

TheseEyebagsAreGucci: Thanks dad, I'll try not to. And I love you too.

...

Shinsou's POV

After the brief smile that dawned my face from reading my dad's message, I turned off my phone and rolled over to the opposite side of my bed, facing the wall. I avoided everyone today, even Ojirou, I just... can't stand today. I can't stand my birthday.

Before I was adopted by my dads, my household... wasn't the greatest. Most of the time I was just,, locked in my room. My parents barely fed me, it was usually just scraps of food from the fancy dinner they just had themselves. If I ever complained my "father" would give me a nice whack across the head with his vodka bottle, and once I developed my quirk and couldn't control when I would brainwash someone, every time I would accidentally brainwash them the beatings would be twice as bad...

School was even worse. From primary school to the beginning of Middle school, I was bullied constantly because everyone was either jealous of my quirk, or hated me for it. I was called a villain non stop, despite not even knowing any of the people in my school. I never knew anyone because the bullies were somewhat more popular and always bad mouthed me to our peers, so no one even wanted to look in my direction. They would always beat me up after school, some days the beatings were not as bad, some days they were like literal torture. That was the part thing about it, they constantly kept me on my toes because the severity was always so inconsistent. Even then, the weaker beatings would litter me in bruises, occasionally fracturing something.

But, the absolute worst beatings came to me on my birthday, because that was when both my bullies and my parents would completely beat the shit out of me. My parents did it as a way to always remind me that I wasn't meant to be born, I wasn't meant to be the villain that I am, I wasn't meant to live. They made it clear from day one that they wanted me dead, and to keep it hidden from everyone that I was alive, they never told me that I had other family, they never told my other family that I existed. Their beatings would include starving me, no scraps of food, dehydrating me, breaking as many bones as they could but only keeping enough unharmed so I could still move around. All the beatings happened on my body so no one was able to see what my parents did. The bullies basically did the same thing. They threw away my lunch tray and anytime I tried to get it back from them, they pushed me down. It never escalated any further so they would get caught, but the more I would fight back, the worse their beatings were afterwards. They aimed straight for the face, and didn't care about rendering me immobile. It was even worse because a lot would still be bruised and broken from my parents, so it hurt 10000000x worse when they'd hit me. One time a kid pulled out a knife and almost stabbed me. It barely nicked me, it slit through my skin a good inch on the side but never actually went inside. I managed to escape that. Soon after, I was taken by CPS, and put in an orphanage. The kids there were all basically the same... still blinded by the stigma of heroic and villainous quirks. But this time, the vast majority didn't beat me. I was just... neglected. No one paid attention to me, they starved me of touch and affection, and after a while, I believed I deserved it. They barely ever even looked my way, it wasn't just that they were deliberately ignoring me, it was literally like I was invisible and no one could physically see me. It drove me insane, along with the months of bottling up the way I felt. Never expressing any sort of emotion, no sorrow or dread, I just... existed. I knew nothing would get better, and while it turns out that I was wrong, I can't help but dig myself back in the deep, dark, disquieted hole of depression every birthday. This was just how the cycle went, and it wouldn't change. I look and feel like I'm barely hanging on.

While my body was completely numb, I suddenly felt hot tears streaming down my face. It barely even felt like I was crying. I was laying down on my bed, and all of a sudden there was a present feeling of stinging warmth both in my eyes and on my cheeks. Then, as I slowly became less numb, I broke down in body wracking sobs. I tried my best to muffle my cries with my pillow, but even then I could still hear them fairly clearly. I take a sharp intake of breath and stand up from my bed. It's fairly late at night now, so no one's going to see me as I leave.

I slip on a pair of shoes, and put on a simple black jacket over my purple sweater since it's kinda cold outside. I then take quick and quiet steps out of my room and through the hall to the staircase, being extra careful to not take loud steps so it doesn't bounce off the echoey walls. Right as I get to the ground floor, I basically run out the front door and close it quickly behind me. As soon as it was closed and locked, I speed over to a large tree with dangling leaves and branches that could cover my figure, it was also out of sight from any of the windows in the dorm building.

Then, after sitting under the tree and pulling myself together into a tiny ball, my knees stretched up to my chest, and my face resting into them, I sob loudly into them, the sounds barely being insulated. I can't help it, no matter how often I look back on the memories, how much I should be getting used to them, it always has the same, painful impact on me. I cry so hard I almost feel the moisture strip itself from my cells, the vacuoles run dry, shriveling up and letting me cry until I empty everything in my system. My eyes sting, and I continue crying, but no tears leave my eyes anymore, I've completely lysed them, and I've also lysed myself.

But as I frantically and shakily take in my breaths, I hear the door of the dorms creak open. My breath hitches in my throat and I slap my hand over my mouth, trying to calm down my breathing. My eyes peak over my arm, and I just barely see a golden hint of sunshine, and a tail attached to a body.

Maybe if I stay quiet he won't notice me...

...okay he's coming this way, maybe he'll turn..

..he's not turning

..
...
Fuck.

Ojirou catches me under the green umbrella tree.

"Shinsou? What are you doing out here?"

"How did you find me out here?"

"I was hiding in the common room when I heard you come down. You didn't answer my question."

Staying silent, my eyes drift back beneath my arm and my face is out of sight, digging back into my knees as I hold back another cry that feels like coming along. He found me.

"...May I have a seat?"

I just grunt with a cracking voice, and he slides under the tree next to me. The anxiety crawls up my back, and I feel a lump form in my throat. I'm not going to break down since I got probably way too much out of my system already, but still... the anxiety just continues to pile on top of one another, and it's like a weight that's sinking me down to the deep depths of whatever my mind has in store for me.

"So... why are you out here?" He says softly and some of my stress is alleviated. Something about him has always made me so much more calm... no matter how awful my day has been.

"...to think." Is all I respond with. The way he looks at me perfectly conveys how much he doesn't believe me. Despite this, he still keeps his soft smile, and I feel myself basking in his radiated warmth even more. He always was warm.

"About what?"

"...well... today's my birthday.." I manage to sigh out, my voice was still a little broken, and I feel myself tense. Hopefully it wasn't too visible to him, but by the way he's attentively gazing over my figure, I doubt it.

"Really? Why didn't you ever tel-"

"-I don't like my birthday!" I snap at him quickly, wrapping my arms around my legs and tightening, trying not to let a couple more stray tears fall. I can't see, but I can tell by how the air around us has changed that he's regretting his decision and growing tense. I hear the grass next to me crunch under him as he shifts his position, and he gets closer. Knowing that he got closer makes my skin itch with the need to be touched. Just a hug, or a pat, or hell, even accidentally bumping my shoulder. Any sort of touch will make me feel more comfortable.

"I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to snap like that.."

"It's okay, I shouldn't have pried. You don't have to tell me why you don't like your birthday." I look up again and see him smile sympathetically at me. More of my stress leaves my body and I sit up straight, letting my legs fall out in front of me and I look at him, tear streaks still fresh on my face and my eyes incredibly puffy and stinging still. The look he gives me gives off a scared and worried vibe, but overall, he just seemed sorry. And empathetic.

He raised his hand to my face and cupped my cheek, turning me to look at him. My face heats up completely as he stares me in the eyes, making me get lost in his own. He wipes the tear streak away with one hand, and wipes the other on the opposite side with his other hand. His hand remains on my cheek and I subconsciously lean more into his touch, the warmth from that single spot spreading through my whole body. Our faces lean in slightly closer to eachother and I feel Ojirou's tail curl around me, encasing me and basically giving me a nice hug. My body has now completely turned to face him and my hand wanders off to place itself on top of his knee. We lean in closer and closer, I see his eyes close, and mine flutter to shut. Finally, our lips touc-

"BEEP BEEP MOTHERFUCKER!" I'm startled awake by someone pelting me in the face with a pillow. I fall of the bed from jumping awake, and I hear their booming laughter. I look tiredly down at the floor and sigh disappointedly. It was a dream...

"I'll mcfucking kILL YOU!" I shout and throw the pillow back at whoever threw it at me, successfully assaulting their face with it. I laugh and sit up on the floor, rubbing my eyes and looking up at the person to see it was Bakugou.

"You purple fucking bastard." He glares at me after removing the pillow from his face and tossing it back on my bed. I smile and stick my tongue out at him as he holds a hand out to me and I take it to stand up.

"Um... why did you wake me up?"

"You're gonna be late for class, dumbass." Bakugou scolds me and points to my alarm clock,, hOLY HELL I AM GOING TO BE LATE!

I immediately unlatch my hand from his and jump to my dresser, pulling out my uniform.

"THANKS SO MUCH BAKUGOU JESUS CHRIST!"

"Yeah yeah... I'll wait outside for you. Kirishima already left earlier this morning to spar with your goddamn boyfriend so he hasn't been here."

"He's not my boyfriend but still thanks!" I say and I can just feel Bakugou roll his eyes. He then quickly walks out and shuts the door behind him. I quickly get dressed, not wanting to take too long and then feel the Bakurage afterwards. After I slick my hair back and it stands on it's own, and I grab my bag and sling it around my shoulder, I almost run out of my room and shut the door behind me, looking at Bakugou who was waiting outside with an almost nasty glare on his face.

"Fuckin took you long enough. Let's go." He motioned down the stairs and we walked down together, quickly seeing that we were the last ones to leave.

"...maybe we should start running."

"You read my mind." He answered and immediately we begin full on sprinting out of the dorms and onto the schoolyard. Other students give us confused looks as we nyoom past them and basically start racing eachother.

With each step I feel myself get more and more out of breath, racing up the stairs was no easy feat either with the constant threat of tripping over a step and smashing my face into the ground. But regardless, we raced all the way up onto our floor, and we saw class 1-B waiting outside their door. Oh right, Vlad King holds the keys to his room. He must be running late.

"Oh! Happy birthday Shinsou!" Rin shouts as he says me walk up.

"Yeah happy birthday dude!" Awase and Tsuburaba shout at the same time. It continues on to where everyone else wishes me a happy birthday and Bakugou begins to glare at me once again.

"Well shit, look at mr. popular over here." He says with an immense amount of annoyance in his voice.

"Alright, alright. I'll see you guys later, I need to get to class." We all wave each other off and I walk into my class. Despite what I experienced before being a dream, it felt all too real. Mostly because I really do hate my birthday... for the same reasons. Dammit, Hitoshi, don't cry now of all times. I shake off the feelings of dread and sit in my seat behind Midoriya, trying my best to disregard the almost kiss with... him.
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The more I thought about my birthday and my.. past, the more distant I felt with everyone. It came to a point where I disassociated so badly, it took a good few minutes of convincing myself to confirm that I was in reality and this wasn't some other crazy dream. But, needless to say, I avoided everyone the best I could all day. I mostly went unnoticed since I'm normally not that talkative in class or during school hours even, but a couple people noticed. Normally I'd utter a small conversation to Midoriya and Bakugou, even joke around with Todoroki, sometimes talk with Tokyo, Shouji or Dark Shadow and especially hold an ongoing conversation with Ojirou. But... I spoke to absolutely none of them, only giving short, quick answers to whoever said something to me.

After the long day of classes was over, I immediately shoot up out of my seat and speedwalk out of the room, not looking back at anyone and not stopping for anything. Honestly I wasn't feeling all that sad at going back on my traumatizing memories... I think I somehow let out all my sadness for the day through my dream, and now I just felt..empty.

Either way, once I stepped foot into the common rooms, dashed my way up the stairs, and change into less confining clothes, I flopped onto my bed and curled up, having an odd urge to cry even though I still didn't feel all that sad. Either way, just to rid myself of the unsettling feeling, I stare up at the ceiling and force myself to. Feeling the droplets run down my face and soak into the pillow. Honestly it made me feel better, and the feeling was gone as quick as it came.

Soon though, I was interrupted by a knock on the door. I panickedly wiped my eyes free from any trace of tears, and said a quick and slightly weak "come in."

The door opens slowly and quietly, the light shining through the hallway an seeping through to light up my dark room. While facing the wall, I see the silhouette of the person, and see a large second figure behind them; a tail.

Whoop whoop there he is, boys. The (literal) man of my dreams.

"Hey Shinsou." He says quietly and closes the door. "Mind if I turn on the light?"

"Knock yourself out." I answer boredly and hear the little flick as light fills the room completely. I hear Ojirou's footsteps draw closer and eventually feel the weight of him sitting to the side of me on the bed.

"I just wanted to check up on you. You seemed kinda... distant today."

"Yeah... I know.. I'm sorry it's just," I pause for a second and take a deep breath in, feeling as if I might choke on my words. "It's just that it's my birthday today, and I don't have really... pleasant memories with it." I manage to speak out and hear Ojirou say a barely legible "ah."

"Well... does anyone else know?"

"In our class? Bakugou, But it was on accident. Everyone in class B knows and accidentally said it in front of him." I say and laugh a little at the idiocy of class B.

"Oh well, I'm guessing you don't celebrate it anymore?"

"...not really, no."

"Hm." He hums simply, and I can feel the faint taps of his tail at the side of my bed.

"Well, what if I celebrated it with you?"

"What if you did?"

"Yeah! I mean, it could be a step in the right direction to help you get over whatever's bothering you!" I feel more metronomic thumps from his tail get faster and faster; it's wagging. He's hopeful. I smile to myself and then flip over to look at him. He had an expectedly bright and faithful look on his face, it made my stomach fill with butterflies and my body warm up.

"You know what? Sure." I say and sit up slowly, leaning back just slightly and facing him. He lights up even brighter somehow. He's like the sun. My sun.

"What would you like to do then???"

"...well... I've never been on a picnic before. Sounds fun and cute."

"A picnic?? That was unexpected... but ok!" He says excitedly, then he apparently gets another idea because he basically jumps up in surprise.

"You're a lot more surprised for this than I am." I smile simply at him.

"Well... I don't know but this feels.. special!" He turns to me in the blink of an eye, grin bright, eyes wide and everything cute.

"I'll go down and pack us some food." He shoots up and walks quickly out of my room. I stand up and almost take a step forward before he sticks his head back in through the doorway.

"And grab some swim trunks!" He says and pretty much vanishes. I laugh to myself and do as he says, despite it being a pretty weird suggestion... I mean, it's a picnic. Unless it's a picnic on the beach? No, then the food would get all sandy and gross. Then I wonder...

Either way, since we're probably going to leave as soon as he finishes packing, I pull out some clothes from my drawers and get dressed into some pretty casual wear. A light blue jean jacket with a pastel pink shirt underneath, and some ripped black jeans with pink and white checkered shoes to match the shade of the shirt. As soon as I finish getting dressed, I speed down to the common room and stop by the kitchen. I look in quickly and see the counter has a few sandwiches on a plate on it, as well as about a quarter of a cheesecake and a couple of cups, also a large lunch bag sitting beside everything. Looking over at the cabinets, I see Ojirou carrying a set of Tupperware.

"Oh hi, you got down here quicker than I thought." He says and places the plastic set down on the counter.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing at all." He turns to smile at me and then turns back to set the sandwiches and cheesecake into the plastic tins. He then set them neatly inside the bag as well as the cups.

"You've got your swim trunks, yeah?"

"Yep."

"Cool." He says and grabs them from me, setting them in a completely desperate bag he seemed to pull from literally nowhere. Honestly, this was hella disorienting.

"...it's like you planned for all of this."

"Whaaat? Not at all." He laughs and waves me off, taking the bag with the food in one hand and handing me the one he put my swim trunks in with his other.

"Now let's go!" He says immediately and intertwines my free hand with his own, leading me out of the commons and the dorms.

"This all happened... really fast... I think I have whiplash."

"Ah you'll be fine."

"Yeah, yeah. And what did I need the swim trunks for if we're just having a picnic?"

"...I'm taking you somewhere special."

"Okay, well I still don't see why I'd need to bring swim trunks for sex."

"nOT THAT KIND OF SPECIAL!"

"Hah." I sarcastically laugh at him and he swats my back with his tail, making the two of us break into a fit of giggles. Along the whole way to wherever we were going, we cracked friendly jokes with eachother the whole time, continuously laughing and teasing each other like (boy)friends do. But, eventually we made it to the mystery spot Ojirou was taking me and... it was a beautiful sight. It was a wide, open field of flowers that was surrounded by a circular barrier of healthy and shiny looking trees. The open area had a clear view of the sky, and since it was the evening, there were gorgeous hues of pink, purple and orange all across the sky as the sun began to set. And now I see why he wanted me to bring swim trunks, there was a large waterfall over to the side of the field, and the water in it was crystal clear and shiny. Just looking at it makes me want to jump in.

"This is... wow. How did you even find this place?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He winks mischiveously at me and leads me over to the center of the whole field. He sets down the basket in his hand and pulls a yellow and purple checkered blanket out of it, letting go of my hand to spread it out in the sky and then let it fall down. He set the basket over to the side of the blanket and I set my bag next to it. There was still enough room on the whole blanket for the two of us to lay down and stare at the sky. I sat down a little more to the left side and Ojirou sat to my right, pulling out the food and cups from before to set them in front of us as well as plates he packed before.

"...again, this is really well planned."

"Absolute nonsense." He says to me as he grabs a sandwich and starts to eat. I roll my eyes at him and also grab one. This human sunshine is a lot more mysterious than I thought, apparently.
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We finished our food a little while ago, and now, I immediately just want to jump in that crystal clear pool. I stretch over and grab my swim trunks from the bag. But, I've come to a problem.

"Uh... where do I change?" I look to Ojirou and ask as he also grabs his swim trunks and lays out two towels on the picnic blanket.

"Through the trees. Trust me, they're so shadowy and dense I won't even be able to see you." He smiles comfortingly to me as he stands and walk over to the opposite side of the trees than what he motioned me to. I nod to him as we walks off and get up to walk over to the trees. As soon as I get between two of the tree's gaps, I strip down and fold my clothes as I remove them. I eventually walk out with my folded clothes in one arm, and in nothing but my dark purple and black swim trunks. Maybe I should've brought a shirt to swim in...

..oKAY WELL I KNOW SOMEBODY SHOULD'VE BROUGHT A SHIRT 'CAUSE WHEW B O Y- IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL??? TO BE SO HOT??? SO TONED??

God what did I ever do to you to make me suffer like this? I just have to stare at this... masterpiece?? Ojirou literally has the most defined and sleek body I've ever seen... it's a body that you can tell how hard he must've worked to achieve something so great. His abs, his pecs, his legs, his biceps, those bulging quads. I think I'm going to die I-

"You ready to jump in?" He smiles innocently over to me. I nod stiffly, still in complete awe of this man but trying to not make it so obvious that I'm staring directly at him... though it's not that hard to tell from how red and hot my face is... hopefully he just thinks it's from the hot weather.

"Good!" He says quickly and immediately sprints to the pool and waterfall, jumping high up in the air by slamming his tail onto the ground and then spinning mid-air, only to land a perfect cannonball into the water. I jog over to the side of the body of water and give him a quick round of applause.

"10/10! Perfect form! Absolutely beautiful!"

"Shut up and get in the water you smartass." He sticks his tongue out at me and splashes a wave of water at me with his tail, completely soaking me from the waist down.

"Oh you bitch- you asked for it." I say while backing up, then doing a quick sprint towards the pool and jumping in, causing a huge wave all around me that splashes him hard in the face.

"Pleheplehef- pplbt- I hate you so much!" He yells at me with a smile on his face after wiping off all of the water. He splashes me with both of his hands.

"Don't start a war you can't win!" I say after coming back up and I begin to splash back at him, trying to attack and defend at the same time. All was going well, until he spun around and unleashed a goddamn barrage of water at my face with just his tail.

"PLEHPLEHPLBBT- NO FAIR YOU HAVE AN EXTRA LIMB!" I push him backwards into the waterfall. He shakes his head from under it and I start to smile maliciously at him until he takes in a deep breath and dives underwater. The color drains from my face and I look around down at the water with wide eyes. All the splashing around created a ton of foam, so now it's difficult to see him.

Then, I'm suddenly grabbed by the waist and hoisted high above the water. I let out a totally manly shriek as he laughs triumphantly beneath me.

"I win!"

"You sure about that?"

"Y-" lmao bitch you thought.

"Splash yourself in the face with your tail as hard as you can. See how you like it." I say and I see his tail circle around and raise above the water right in front of him, then creating a huge wave of water and almost drowning himself with it until he's broken out of the brainwashing and he takes in a deep breath, spitting the water out.

"Pbbllltplehpluh- you suck... truce?" He holds out a hand to me and I take it, shaking it quickly and soon we both begin to just wade in the warm water.

"...you know you look really pretty with your hair all wet and down like that." Ojirou blurts out at me and immediately slaps his hand over his mouth, his face visibly turning bright pink. I smile at him, swimming slowly over to him and stopping right next to him.

"You don't look half bad yourself~" I say and slide my arm over his shoulders. He blushes hard and looks away from me with an annoyed face, but by the vicious water currents coming from his tail wagging behind him, I'd say the tail never lies.

"Yeah sure... just shut up already."

"Make me." I challenge look down at him. He soon looks back up at me. Then he forcefully grabbed both of my shoulders and yanked me down/pulled himself up so that we were face to face... and he got so close his lips touched mine. They were touching, just lightly grazed, but we weren't kissing. My eyes shot wide open and my face went hotter than it's ever been before. Ojirou just smirked and let go of me, slinking his tail around my waist as he crossed his arms and leaned into my chest to watch the sun set.

"Well that shut you up, didn't it?"

"Hnnnnnnn-"
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We were back to laying on the blanket, one towel draped over the two of us as we laid together and just looked up at the starry night sky. It's one thing to see fake stars light up your room... but it's a whole other thing to see them in person, and especially in this amount. Normally when I see stars, they're all covered up by the clouds and only appear with a few in a group at a time. That wasn't the case for this, there were tons upon tons of stars that lit up the sky and radiated it's light down on us. I look over to Ojirou, and he looked gorgeous as the starlight highlighted all of his features and reflected his eyes brightly. He looked... ethereal.

"The stars really make you look beautiful." I said without a care in the world, no regrets or anything attached to my words. He looked back to me, his cheeks glowing a pastel pink.

"They make you look amazing, too. Like... the moon."

"The moon? How so?"

"Well... you're dark, and mysterious... but still breathtaking."

"...well then, I guess you're the sun."

"The sun?"

"Yeah, well...you're my sun because you light up my world."

"...then you're my moon because even when things are getting dark, you shine brighter than anything else to me."

I guess my birthday isn't so bad after all.
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(A/N: I just wanted to say I love all of you, every single one of you that read this story. You're all beautiful, hilarious people and you deserve the world. I have so much fun talking to each of you and you're all honestly the only reason this book is still updating. Love you all <3)