Insecurities [Shota Aizawa x Hizashi Yamada]

Chapter 7

Boo and Shota talking to himself would have been the only noise in the house for a long time that morning if it weren't for the calls.

Shota was groaning and mumbling to himself about how his peaceful life was constantly interrupted by past people who wouldn't leave him alone despite knowing he wanted to be alone. He really should change his number.

It was only a single person, really. He expected the call to be Nemuri, as she had called him last night and non-stopped texted him. However, it was Toshinori who called early that morning, disturbing Shota's beauty sleep.

"Hey," Toshinori's voice came through. "How's the story going?"

"To an end." Shota yawned, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"It's done?"

"No, not really. But it might as well be considering I don't have much time or motivation." Shota sat laid back down in his bed, shooing Boo away from his bed hair, not that it was any different from any other time. "What'd you want?"

"I talked to Hizashi," Toshinori said, continuing before Shota could say anything protests of how he didn't want to hear about it, "and he wanted to patch up the friendship between you two."

"What is he? A kid?" Shota grumbled.

"I thought that maybe we could help you with the story. I'd didn't tell him about it, of course."

"I don't need help."

"I'm sure you do. I saw your fingers twitching for your phone last night."

"So?"

"You always write down ideas you have at the moment. Did our conversations spark some ideas for you?"

Shota paused, thinking. Toshinori continued, a little desperation in his voice.

"And talking with us should be good for you. Talking with a cat all the time gets a bit boring, don't you think?"

"Shut up," Shota hissed, glancing at Boo. She's a great listener. "How do you plan to help?"

"Let him read the story. We can give you feedback and ideas." Toshinori was a hard man to refuse an offer from. "That's what your previous book lacked—feedback and opinions."

"I had plenty of those."

"Only after it was published!"

"And that's fine with me." Shota couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt as he said that. His lie was mainly to soothe himself.

"You can tell him your published book."

"I don't want anyone else knowing about it. You know that. Plus, if you were to come over, it would be awkward for all three of us."

"Direct talking is best. You know that as a teacher."

Shota sighed. "I'll think about it."

Shota hung up before Toshinori could reply. He sighed, thinking through that conversation. Honestly, he spent way too much time dwelling on not just past conversations, but just the past in general as well.

Especially Hizashi.

He lied there in be for a least another few minutes before Boo started meowing. He reluctantly got up, then did his morning chores lazily, all while Boo was rubbing against his legs trying to knock him over. Shota gave her her food right before his own breakfast.

He sat down in front of his computer with a bowl of cereal and a nutrient pouch in front of him.

"Story time," Shota muttered under his breath. He stared at the word docs, his mind drifting away to yesterday with his friends, remembering the conversations and actions.

Toshinori was right; he had been thinking about the events that happened. He had a habit of memorizing conversations and event and transferring it into his story for plot.

He tried identifying some of his friends' traits with the characters in his story, which wasn't that hard because his characters weren't very consistent. He had trouble keeping them having a set personality, but he blamed it on character development.

He ponders on ideas, and a specific one out of many stood out to him in his head, if that was even possible.

He snapped his eyes open, then took out his notebook. Sometimes switching between typing the story and writing it helped boost his motivation to write, weird as it was.

But he wasn't writing his story, he was making notes and bullet points to make everything clear to himself.

He'd have to change things up. A lot. Shota sighed, biting on the end of his pen. It was fine. He didn't have much done anyway.

—<•>—

For once in his life, Shota was at least a little satisfied with what he had. It was impressive, considering he was a man who was hard to please, especially with himself.

He was going to rewrite the whole story. It would be easier that way, having a set plan.

He had a whole five pages dedicated to his characters. Name, personality, favorites, background, noteworthy facts, and other random notes.

They were based on real people he knew. Shota cringed as he remembered how he wrote characters that already had set personalities and backstories. Fan fiction was a lot easier to write, even though it wasn't professional.

He glanced back at his phone and considered texting back and accepting the offer.

Boo was lying next to it, silently waiting. When she saw him looking at her, she meowed and booped her nose of the phone.

It would be knowledgeable, if not nice, to have Hizashi and Toshinori over. However, Shota really didn't need Hizashi knowing where he lived. He didn't want to set up at meeting at a cafe or somewhere out of his home, either.

Shota sighed, making up his mind to invite Hizashi and Toshinori over.