Another Stalker?!

"It wasn't your fault," Kotone suddenly spoke up, causing Fanzer to pause the fight between Izuku and Todoroki.

"Huh?"

"Those girls who clearly didn't have their priorities straight, the fact that they never told you what went wrong, it wasn't your fault," Kotone explained, running a soothing hand through Fanzer's hair.

"...I know," Fanzer admitted. "I know it isn't my fault, it just gets to me sometimes. I don't like throwing around blame, so I normally just take it in the end."

"Don't do that with me anymore, okay? It's okay to tell me about your problems," Kotone reassured Fanzer causing him to sit up with a smile on his face.

"Okay! I'm tired of being all sad and gloomy! For now, the past is in the past! Let's enjoy ourselves!" Fanzer stood up and pumped his fist into the air before holding his hand out to Kotone.

She took it with a small giggle and Fanzer helped her up.

They stood in front of one another for a moment, her taller than he was.

"Let's try this... again," Fanzer spoke lowly, but just loud enough where Kotone could clearly hear him.

He leaned in for a kiss.

-----

The date didn't end as they expected it, but neither Kotone nor Fanzer had a problem with how it ended.

There were snacks, anime, kissing, games, kissing, laughing, and even more kissing. They talked for hours and enjoyed each other's presences like never before.

Fanzer forgot about his problems for a while, just enjoying the time he was given with Kotone.

Unfortunately, school didn't just disappear because he was happy.

They walked to school together, Fanzer trying to hide how proud he was to get jealous looks, and they went their separate ways with a light kiss.

"You seem... really happy. Last time I say you this happy was when your story passed the checks to get published eventually," Jumin hummed, noticing the pep in his friend's step.

"Yeah, Kotone and I had fun last night," Fanzer replied, causing his friend to snicker. It took Fanzer a moment to realize what the model was laughing about.

"Not like that, we just watched anime and play some games. We tried to have a traditional date but it kinda... went up in flames. In the end we settled on some snacks and just relaxing with one another. It was pretty cool," Fanzer told his friend, who gave him a low hum of understanding.

"Must've been," Jumin gave him a small comment, causing him to nod before the teacher walked in.

The day flew by, mainly because Fanzer was thinking about Kotone every single moment of it. He was so in his own mind he didn't notice how Jumin clearly wasn't in the best mood.

"Hey Ju—" Fanzer called to his friend but was interrupted.

"I've gotta go," The model quickly grabbed his bag and left Fanzer behind, not even letting him say anything else before completely disappearing.

"...Weird," Fanzer noted his friend's odd behavior.

Jumin got home and sat his bag down before laying down on his bed.

"Anime and games, huh? I thought that was our thing. Just the two amigos..." He told himself, sighing.

"Maybe... maybe I'm not a good enough friend. I'm gonna lose my only true friend..."

-----

For the next few days, the same thing happened. Jumin left quickly after class was over, always claiming he had different modeling gigs or photo shoots to do, or sometimes, he'd just leave without any explanation at all.

At first Fanzer thought it was just a busy week. When a busy week turned into two busy weeks, then into three Fanzer knew something had to be wrong.

He and Jumin hadn't hung out in ages. They weren't even talking that much, and Fanzer couldn't hide how he was worrying anymore.

"What changed..." Fanzer questioned as he walked home with Kotone, holding her hand within his.

Out of nowhere, a huge amount of sound suddenly erupted from a few blocks away.

Kotone and Fanzer silently looked at one another, curiosity brimming from Fanzer's eyes, while confusion filled Kotone's.

Without a word, Fanzer dragged Kotone to the location, noticing the fuss happening.

It was a photoshoot for sure, with a few different men and women scurrying around for something.

Fanzer approached slowly, making sure they had nothing wrong with him being there, and when he could tell they didn't he asked one of the men a question.

"Hey, what's happening?" He asked, gaining a sigh from the man.

"I don't have a single reason to tell you... and yet you've got a vibe that makes me want to tell you anyways. Okay fine. Do you know the supermodel Jumin?" He asked, gaining a nod from Fanzer.

"Well, he's been snappy for the last few weeks, but today was insane. He just stormed off all the sudden!" The man groaned.

"I would love to just drop him and find a substitute but he's the whole reason I'm getting paid! People love to see him. Today's the last day to do this shoot so... I'm totally screwed!" He yelled, and his coworkers joined him in desperation.

"Unless..." One of the female photographers had a glint in her eye as she looked at Kotone, sensing an opportunity in the black-haired third year.

She noticed the woman and moved behind Fanzer, even though she stood much taller than he did. She was completely silent, almost startlingly so.

"Did you need something with her?" Fanzer asked, knowing why Kotone was so mysteriously quiet.

"Well, I wanted to see if this absolute beauty wanted to become the newest upcoming model!" The woman chuckled, causing a few hums to go through her coworkers.

"I can absolutely see it... the silent beauty emerges from the night! She won't be able to replace Jumin instantly... but it'll at least take some of the heat we'll get!" One of the men envisioned.

"No no, I think you're missing a clear opportunity, this won't just take the heat off us. Look at her, she'd clearly be a fan favorite in no time!"

Fanzer silently looked for a moment, causing the workers to slowly realize they were talking directly in front of them.

"...You guys aren't even trying to hide, are you?" Fanzer questioned, and the workers quickly scrambled to cover themselves.

"Well... You must understand, this is what keeps us fed! Of course, if this lovely lady takes our proposal she'll be paid lavishly! No worries for the rest of your days as long as you work with us!" The woman laughed, trying to convince the silent Kotone.

"I'm Jumin's friend. Where'd he head off to?" Fanzer asked, gaining many looks of disbelief.

"You're Jumin's friend?" One of the men questioned, but Fanzer didn't entertain him.

"I don't care what you guys think, I just need to know a general direction," Fanzer sighed, disinterested in the disbelief he was gaining.

Before anyone else made any other ruckus, a woman held her hand up, stopping Fanzer from doing anything.

"Listen, he's still pretty famous and if you were a fanboy and we let you go talk to him well... we can kiss our paychecks goodbye. But I'll let you know if you leave her with me," She bargained, gesturing towards Kotone with a confident grin.

"No way, you must be outta your damn mi—" He was stopped by Kotone softly putting her hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay. You should go after him," Kotone recommended, surprising Fanzer.

"This is... far from normal," He noted, bringing a small smile to his girlfriend's face.

"Maybe I don't think you need anyone else except for me but... you'd be sad if he was gone. So, go after him. Your happiness means a little bit more than my obsession," She explained, whispering into Fanzer's ear.

"I... love you," He gave her a quick kiss before giving the bargaining woman his attention again.

"Okay. Kotone, my beautiful one of a kind girlfriend, has decided to bless you with her presence! Now, tell me where Jumin went," Fanzer complimented Kotone, causing her face to become extremely red.

"Okay Lover boy, he went that way," She gestured to her right, and Fanzer didn't waste another moment before running after Jumin.

-----

"If there was anything I'd learned since I met Jumin, it's that he avoids densely populated places so he'd be somewhere like... this," Fanzer entered a family diner that he and Jumin enjoyed eating at.

"Hey there, how can I help you?" A kind-looking woman asked Fanzer.

"Well, I've got a friend waiting for me over there, do you mind if I joined him?" Fanzer lied, and gladly the woman didn't read too much into it.

"Oh, go right on over, there's no problem at all, honey," The woman waved Fanzer towards Jumin, allowing him to walk over to his silently seated friend.

Fanzer sat down without a word, his eyes meeting Jumin's.

They just sat in silence for a few minutes, neither party doing anything accept looking around and absentmindedly tapping the table.

"So, what's up?" Fanzer questioned as Jumin took a sip of his sweet tea.

"Nothin, nothin at all. What's up with you?" Jumin asked Fanzer, looking at the table as he did.

"Nothing, y'know, just chilling," And the silence returned.

This time the silence was broken by the model.

"How's uh, Kotone? Is she doin' well?" Jay asked, gaining a small nod from Fanzer.

"Yeah, she's doing well," They both skated around the point, just sitting with one another for a while.

Eventually Fanzer brought it up. "I need you to be 100% with me. What's going on bro? I've been wondering what's up for a while but just storming off? That's not like you at all,"

Jumin let out a low chuckle, sighing as it came to an end.

"I could never just laugh off my problems like you can. Honestly my problem is stupid, it's nothing worth talking bout," He shrugged.

"Nah. I'm not gonna accept that from you. It's Kotone, isn't it?" Fanzer asked, causing Jumin to give him a dry chuckle.

There was silence for a second before Jumin began.

"I've never cared about being popular. Like every kid I wanted to be recognized in some way, and modeling came naturally to me."

"I'm not here for a long sob story, but I will say this: doing something that puts your face as one of your main values mean that people will only want you for that value."

"And damn it man, that means I didn't have friends. Except for you."

"People don't know about my infatuation with anime and games, or what I want to do or be except for you."

"I hate to admit it but I didn't know how to feel when I found out that you watched anime and played games with Kotone. I felt like I was being replaced, y'know?" Jumin admitted, gaining a small hum from Fanzer.

"Yo, let me tell you the truth. You can't be replaced. Just like everyone else, you're special."

"Listen, it's me and you til the end, that's what it's gonna always be. Kotone is important to me too, but this isn't one of those 'choose this or that' sorta decisions. You're my best friend. She's my girlfriend, and she'll probably be my best friend as well. Okay?"

"...Yeah, I got it," Jumin smiled, shaking his head from side to side.

"It's not the two amigos anymore. It's the three musketeers, aight?"

"Yeah, aight. I can get behind that."

-----

"So... I actually left Kotone with your photographers...." Fanzer mentioned, causing Jumin to suddenly stop in the middle of chewing a fry.

"Uh..." Jumin looked at Fanzer with wide eyes. "We should go, like now."

Fanzer very quickly agreed and after paying they both dipped, heading back to where Fanzer left Kotone.

When they got there, they couldn't help but look in silence for a moment.

"I can't believe they put your girlfriend in a swimsuit," Jumin looked at the scene with wide eyes. "Not to be weird or anything but... did she always look like... that?"

"Nope, she did not," Fanzer looked at his girlfriend, noticing her hair in a completely different style than he'd ever seen on her.

"She looks good though," Fanzer complimented, gaining a small nod from Jumin.

"Okay, it looks like I have to join her. Are you gonna stick around?" The supermodel asked, gaining a nod from Fanzer.

"Ah, Jumin, you decided to come back? Good, it seems you have a new partner to work with," The woman cockily gestured towards the silent Kotone, who brushed some hair out of her eye absentmindedly.

She seemed very disinterested in what was happening, until her face lit up with joy when she saw Fanzer.

"Are you done with your hissy—"

"Shut the hell up," Jumin interrupted, but instead of the woman becoming angry a smile came onto her face.

"It's good to have you back Jumin. Let's get further than ever, you absolute money sucker!" She held out her hand, and with a sigh Jumin took her hand into hiis own, matching her smile with one of his own.

"Yeah yeah, sure thing Keiko," Jumin shrugged off, and the team cheered before getting to work.

An hour of taking photos later, Keiko, Jumin and Kotone's manager and main photographer, noticed something.

"Hey Lover boy, let me talk to you for a moment," Keiko curled her finger, gesturing for Fanzer to follow her, but before she walked away Kotone grabbed her wrist and leaned into her ear.

Fanzer could see the color drain out of Keiko's face as Kotone whispered to her. Jumin looked over to Fanzer and mouthed something to his friend.

"Is this what having a girlfriend's like?" He mouthed, and Fanzer shrugged before mouthing something back.

"I don't know, she's kinda an oddball," He silently told his friend, gaining a nod of understanding from him.

Kotone let Keiko go, allowing for her to continue to walk away, once again gesturing for Fanzer to follow her.

"Your girlfriend is...." Keiko began, and Fanzer gave her a nod.

"Yeah, she's like that sometimes," Fanzer let out a small laugh, scratching the back of his head.

"But like really, she's very descriptive. I wouldn't call myself someone who gets nervous easy, but she's certainly got a way of using her words. Anyways, I'm not here to talk about her. I'm here to talk to you," Keiko grinned, unsettling Fanzer a little bit.

"Yeah, about what though?" He questioned.

"Well, at first I wasn't sure about it but now I am. You and she are a joint deal. If you're not around she's beautiful but seems disinterested. But whenever she sees you her vibe changes. She becomes more interested, more focused, and even more beautiful!" Keiko complimented, gaining a shallow nod from Fanzer.

"So, in order to get the max amount of cash from your shoots you need me to... amplify her beauty?" Fanzer asked, gaining a large grin from Keiko.

"Good job Lover boy, you're smarter than I thought you'd be!" Keiko gave Fanzer a back-handed compliment, smiling as she did.

"Geez, this lady really has no chill," Fanzer noted, sighing.

"Was that all? I was planning on going home eventually," Fanzer asked, gaining a quick nod from the manager.

"Yup, I'll be in contact soon!" She told him, allowing him, Jumin, and Kotone to finally leave.

"Hey, you guys wanna come inside? I can get you guys some drinks before you guys head to Fanzer's place?" Jumin recommended as they closed in on his house.

"Sure, some drinks could be good," Fanzer nodded, feeling a slight nod of agreement from his girlfriend.

"Hey, Fanzer, doesn't that get... uncomfortable?" Jumin asked, gesturing to Kotone.

He was asking because during the entire walk, she was right behind him, resting her chest on top of his head as they walked.

"Actually no. It's kinda like always having a little bit of shade. And of course, the other benefit is self-explanatory," Fanzer grinned, silently laughing. Kotone looked down to him with a somewhat confused expression before her face became extremely red.

"Anyways, come in. I'll grab some drinks for you guys," Jumin invited the couple into his home, leading them to his couch before he went into the kitchen.

"Jumin, your place is really clean, did you clean it earlier today?" Fanzer asked his friend, who was silent for a moment before he walked back into the room with a few sodas and waters in his hands.

"What are you talking about, this place looks like a mess. You're.... trippin...." Jumin took a moment to look around, noticing the small things he didn't when he was just leading Kotone and Fanzer into the room.

Things were dusted off, the floor was swept, and generally things were cleaner than when he had left it.

"I... didn't clean up earlier. I was in a rush, so I didn't even eat breakfast," Jumin spoke slowly, and Fanzer understood what his friend was implying.

"Ah... Well, Kotone and I will be heading out now," Fanzer quickly took the drinks out of Jumin's hands and pulled Kotone out of the house, as they started walking away Jumini yelled out the front door.

"C'mon man, you can't just dip like that!" Jumin yelled, causing Fanzer to turn around with a somewhat understanding expression.

"Maybe to you I can't but uh... I wasn't planning on dealing with your new stalker! I'll text you later!" Fanzer then grabbed Kotone's wrist, who was silent through it all, and dashed off, leaving the supermodel alone in his suddenly very ominous home.

"Kekeke.... Don't worry my love, soon you won't even be worrying about them... You'll worry about me... and me alone!"