Barnaby walked through the halls of Hero Academy, his white uniform crisp and clean, his shoes polished. He had his hair tied back in a ponytail, he was headed for the gym change rooms. He caught a glimpse of Jeremy when he walked in, he was changing back into his uniform from his gym clothes, getting ready to head back to class. Barnaby always tried to get to the gym change room as quickly as possible between classes, the off chance he would catch sight of Jeremy was well worth his effort. The few seconds of skin had been enough for Barnaby; he had seen the pert ass, the lithe arms and legs, and best of all the taught back and chest. With a slight blush, he smiled at Jeremy before heading over to his locker.

He was sitting in Physics; the teacher had given them a project to design a new bullet train model using magnetic fields. While the technology already existed, it was fun to play with magnets, and do equations to figure out the limits of the technology. He had been partnered up with a sweet girl named Inola, her jet black hair in its neat braid and her almond eyes were the envy of many classmates. While Barnaby felt no attraction to her, he could appreciate her beauty. He had heard many people whispering about them in the halls, that they would make the most beautiful babies. He tried to put the conversations out of his mind, tried to focus on the work in front of him, but he could feel the eyes of his peers on him. He hated that no one knew, but also dreaded anyone finding out his orientation, it was an awful feeling, it made his stomach hurt. Inola said something but he missed it.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" he had asked, trying not to sound like he had been completely daydreaming.

"I said, isn't Jeremy cute? In the year ahead of us, you like him right?" She had whispered it, making sure no one was listening as she did so. Her smile was kind and gentle.

Barnaby felt his face go crimson, even his ears felt hot. "I-I'm sorry what do you mean… what gave you that idea?" he stuttered out, also making sure no one was listening.

"You watch him, like everyone else watches me. You never watch me, not like them. It's fine you know, liking him, he's a really nice guy, he helped me with my homework last week." she shifted looking across the room, pretending to do an equation on her sheet. Barnaby had never noticed before, but she was very good at being subtle.

"W-well… it doesn't matter, he's straight," the words came out of his mouth with a hoarse voice, like he hated even speaking the idea.

"I wouldn't be so sure, you should ask him out. Worst case he turns you down, he wouldn't be mean to you about it, I'm sure." she was smiling at him again, and he felt so vulnerable. How had she noticed? She was very observant of her classmates, even now, perhaps that's all it was. He hoped no one else knew.

"Have you told anyone else?" he asked his voice low as he slid his pencil across his paper, scrawling nonsense.

"No, rumours are stupid, I doubt anyone else has noticed, too love-struck to ever believe you couldn't be straight," she chuckled a bit. "I'm Bi if that makes you feel any better; it's probably why I noticed you."

Barnaby did feel better, there was someone else at this school he could confide in/ that understood what it was like to not be "normal." "Thank you, that actually does feel nice to know."

The teacher was walking towards them; they both went back to work.

"Hey! Why aren't you talking to me anymore? What did I do?" Jeremy asked looking upset. Barnaby simply stared at him, a look of complete annoyance on his face.

"Why would I have ever talked to you? Who are you even?" Barnaby had asked with a sneer.

Jeremy looked taken aback, then a deep frown marred his face, "Fine if you want to play that childish game, go ahead, but I was under the impression we were supposed to meet at the mall on Friday and you never showed. I guess you thought it would be fun to just string me along. Well, whatever man, don't talk to me again," Jeremy turned and walked away after that, storming off to his next class, leaving a dumbfounded Barnaby behind. What was he even talking about, why would they meet at the mall? Wasn't he in a different year, had they ever even spoken before today?

Barnaby was sitting at home, Maverick sitting across from him, "Mr Maverick… there's something I was hoping to talk to you about… is it ok?"

"Of course my boy, you can talk to me about anything," Maverick replied with his usual soft gentle voice, reserved only for Barnaby.

"Well, it's about this boy at school, I like him," Barnaby thought the blunt approach might work best, to just get it over with.

"That's wonderful Barnaby, making friends is always a good idea, I'm so proud of you," the older man said, though the smile he gave didn't reach his eyes.

"No, I mean… I really like him, like… in the dating kind of way. I asked him out…" Barnaby hung his head, his face red, his ears burned.

"A date? With another boy? Barnaby, listen, I think you are just… confused. What is this boy's name?" the smile was gone from Mavericks face, the glint in his eye had changed.

"J-Jeremy, but I promise it isn't a mistake, I've known for a long time that I don't like girls that way, please Mr Maverick, I would really like to meet with him this Friday," Barnaby could feel tears in his eyes, he had worked up the courage to ask Jeremy out, Inola had helped him bolster his nerves, he had a friend, he had a possible boyfriend now too. Maybe he didn't have to be all alone anymore, maybe they could help fill the hole in his heart.

Maverick stood and brushed his hand through Barnaby's hair, his eyes glowing blue as he did so, "I'm sorry my boy, but that just cannot be."

Barnaby stood on the school roof, Inola hiding in the stairwell having just wished him luck. Jeremy stood by the edge, looking out at the setting sun over the soccer field.

"Hey, thanks for meeting me," Barnaby said with a blush "I um, had something I wanted to ask you?" He said, his voice rising at the end, his nervousness apparent as he twisted his fingers together.

"Sure, you know you can ask me anything, what are friends for," Jeremy replied with his cool smile and brought his hand down on Barnaby's shoulder, giving it a little squeeze of reassurance.

"Um… I was wondering if… you would want to go out with me?" Barnaby could feel his heart pounding in his chest, could feel his palms sweating as he continued to twist his fingers together. His eyes were downcast in embarrassment, unable to look up at Jeremy to see his reaction.

"Like, on a date?" Jeremy asked, his hand was still on Barnaby's shoulder, was still rubbing his thumb back and forth in an almost calming motion.

"Ya — a date, if it is ok with you," Barnaby felt sick to his stomach, why had he let Inola talk him into this, why had he thought it would go ok —

"Sure, sounds great!" Jeremy said his voice loud, a smile plastered on his face, his hand tightened on Barnaby's shoulder.

Barnaby's head shot up looking Jeremy in the face, his eyes wide and his mouth in a little "o" of shock. "R-really? You want to go on a date with me?" he felt faint.

Jeremy's hand on his shoulder shifted and slid down to Barnaby's hands, pulling them apart and taking one in his own. "Of course, I've had my eye on you since you first started here, I felt kind of awful, but I used to wait till the last moment to get changed after using the gym in hopes of seeing you in there…" Jeremy blushed crimson now, admitting you had stalked someone wasn't easy.

Barnaby felt like laughing and crying at once. "I use to rush to the gym hoping to catch sight of you before you finished changing," he admitted with a bit of a laugh, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.

"Well, then I guess we feel the same. Where should we go?" Jeremy said as he rubbed his thumb back and forth across Barnaby's hand, Barnaby returned the gesture, loving the feeling of the other's skin against his.

"How about the mall on Friday?" Barnaby said with a shy smile looking up at Jeremy.

Barnaby was sitting in the food court, Inola sitting next to him, the two laughing as they picked at their lunches. Inola put her hand on top of Barnaby's while she laughed. So many eyes were on them, the rumours had started almost immediately after starting to hang out outside of class that they were dating.

"You know, I have never had a friend, not really… I can't think of a single person who has ever wanted to be my friend for any reason other than to use me. Isn't that weird?" Barnaby said once the laughter stopped, it had popped into his head, that he couldn't remember ever laughing with someone like he was right now.

"Really? That can't be right, you are so popular, everyone likes you.' she said with a frown now.

"No really, I can't think of anyone, everyone who has ever gotten close to me was for their own gain. They either wanted to know me to be popular or to try and date me or simply use me to do their school work for them. You aren't like that, you actually care… it's really nice," Barnaby blushed, which probably didn't help deny the rumours they were dating.

"You are going to have tons of friends from now on, I won't let you be used by anyone and I definitely won't use you either," she picked up his hand and kissed the back of it, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Barnaby knew she didn't like him, not in that way, she had told him outright. But, she thought it was hilarious that everyone else thought they were dating.

Barnaby woke with a start, the TV in his living room playing some cheesy infomercial about cleaning supplies. He groaned and rubbed his face, trying to reconcile the discrepancy between his old memories and the dreams he just had. Who was Inola? He didn't recognise her, didn't remember her at all, not until now. His stomach flipped. What had Maverick done to her, why didn't he even remember going to school with her? He remembered asking Jeremy out as well, been scolded for not showing up. He felt sick, sick in the head, heart, and soul. Maverick, that son-of-a-bitch, he had ruined everything; his whole life was one big joke.

He stumbled out of his chair, moving into the kitchen to get something to drink. He grabbed a glass and was going to get water, but decided against it. He opened his liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of whiskey — he hated the stuff, had bought it for when Kotetsu came over. But he needed something hard, something to numb him quick. He dumped a few fingers full of the amber liquid into his glass, tipped it up to his mouth, took a breath and downed as much as he could in two gulps. When he took another breath it burned, it tasted horrid; he thought he might throw up. Leaning over the kitchen sink, hanging his head low into the basin, he gripped the counter on either side, letting out a soft groan of agony as his head swam with thoughts, his stomach lurching, his mouth burning, and fat tears dripping down his face.

He wished Kotetsu was here, wished someone would hold him, that anyone would listen to him. He felt so alone, more alone than he thought possible. With a heave of breath, he pulled himself away from the sink, slinking back towards his bedroom, hitting the power button on his wall TV as he walked past. He didn't care anymore, let the dreams take him. The more they came, the more he would know just how fucked up his life truly was.

A.N.

There aren't many flashback moments like this beyond this chapter (I also don't really love OCs). These flashbacks are to show some of the issues Barnaby is having and to give the reader an idea of what is going on for him.

I also wanted to show that Barnaby had a life outside of Maverick and Oroboros - he just didn't know it.

If you don't like OCs (like me) skip italicised sections like this - they aren't "necessary" to the plot - but they are here none the less ¯\_(ツ)_/¯