My second contribution to Genrai week aye

Summary: The beginning of a beautiful friendship forged through Raidou's pickiness about his friends, shady looking kids with jackets that are too big and kittens. High school AU

It was loud and Raidou wanted nothing to do with this. Nothing.

Festivals caused him nothing but pain.

And he didn't have any friends he could hang out with.

Asuma and Kurenai had disappeared and he did not want to know where they were or what they were doing in fear of scarring himself for life. He loved his friends but he was third wheeling. He'd been third wheeling since he'd met them. No more.

Kakashi was very busy avoiding all human contact and failing by the looks of things. The new kid — Tenzou — seemed to have managed to get into Kakashi's friendship circle which was limited to the kid and sometimes Gai.

Gai was yelling about something - martial arts? To a kid who looked like he needed to sleep for a year and wearing a suspiciously large coat. His hands were tucked into the body of the jacket letting the arms hang loose.

Gai was a good guy. A great guy even. But being around him for longer than 0.3 seconds made Raidou want to lay down. Preferably forever. He didn't know how the kid, Genma he was pretty sure his name was, coped with Gai every day. He deserved a medal really.

Raidou glanced around the festival and the stalls trying to spot someone he knew and wanted to hang out with.

Shisui, who was manning the pancake stall was a no go purely because the guy scared the shit out of him. Shisui Uchiha was a bubbly and a happy guy but Raidou was unfortunately present when some older kids were bullying Obito and Shisui had knocked the guy's teeth out effortlessly and threw the other guy over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Itachi had cheered softly from the sidelines.

No way was Raidou getting in the way of that. Didn't help Shisui was extremely pretty either. It would probably be safer for everyone if he stayed away…

The Genma kid was alone now, his arms still inside his jacket. The guy just looked so shady. Aoba had come to him last week with an elaborate rumour he'd heard that Genma was the school dealer and the reason his jacket was so big was so he could hide the drugs. Aoba and Ebisu had collapsed against each other, tears in their eyes barely able to stand as they laughed.

They sat with Genma all the time but Raidou had been more of a passing acquaintance. Genma was quiet and had a little crooked smile that was strangely endearing was the only things Raidou had gotten out of the exchange.

So, there was something about the kid that Raidou was clearly missing. Despite Aoba and Ebisu's… uniqueness… they had strong morals and wouldn't be hanging out with someone who wasn't worth their time. And Gai wouldn't. It wouldn't be 'youthful'.

He shot another glance around spotting Anko coming a way off and decided Genma was his best shot. Really, anyone but Anko was a good shot.

Raidou wandered over to the kid who was standing by the dango store and looking so boneless he may crumble to the ground.

"Hey, Genma right?" he said coming up to stand next to him. Their spot was out-of-the-way tucked in-between stalls. Out-of-the-way enough to avoid most people but not out-of-the-way enough to be doing a Kakashi.

"Yo." Genma replied looking up at him "you're Raidou?"

Raidou hummed in agreement and the two fell into comfortable silence. They watched Itachi try to 'People' as he'd heard Shisui dub it and fail. Shisui didn't even try to hide his snickering.

Something inside Genma's jacket moved and he seemed to re-arrange his arms. He peered down, whispering something to the inside of his jacket.

Well… not that Raidou had any particular experience but he doubted that drugs could move

"Did… did your jacket just move?" he asked straightening up from the wall slightly raising one eyebrow.

Genma looked at him and smiled thoughtfully for a moment. "Ah well I guess it's okay to show you."

Raidou's eyebrow joined the other one up his forehead. Genma snickered at his expression and pushed himself off the wall and walked through the gap between the two stalls.

They walked over to the tree line a few metres away and Genma moved behind one of the larger trees beckoning Raidou closer with a head motion.

The two of them huddled down and Genma carefully moved an arm into his sleeve and unzipped his jacket slowly.

Raidou wasn't sure what he expected. But he definitely didn't expect the smallest and most adorable cat he'd ever seen to poke its head out and peer curiously at Raidou.

"I haven't thought of a name yet, but mum said I was all good to keep her. She's a stray but not anymore." Genma stroked the kitten's fur and it purred contently.

"Holy shit" Raidou's brain supplied. He reached out and hesitated looking at Genma questioningly. The cat seemed content to sit in Genma's hand for the rest of eternity. The kitten was just about the cutest thing he'd ever seen but so was the expression on Genma's face as he held her. Was holding the kitten really worth it if it meant the look — wholly content and calm as a tiny kitten sat in his hand — was taken away?

Genma smiled that crooked smile, one side turned up slightly more than the other and his eyes bright. He held the kitten out carefully placing it in his lap. The cat purred and settled down in his lap, licking its paws.

"Yeah, she's pretty cute" Genma said. He pulled his other hand into his sleeve watching Raidou and the kitten with a fond look.

"Hey, Aoba talks about you sometimes and you sound pretty cool. Do you wanna sit together more often?" The kitten Pawed at Raidou's face as Genma spoke and he looked over at the other boy.

"Yeah, I think that'd be nice"

Maybe festivals weren't so bad after all.

Pls comment. I am just a smol and need motivation. Thank.