apathy

feelings are fatal

Hitoshi taps his pen on his notebook, staring down at the words written under it, but not taking any of them in. The study hall period right before lunch has been a godsend, what with him having to play catch up with hero coursework and keep up with what they do in class every day. Unfortunately, the period of time doesn't help in the least if Hitoshi can't fucking focus.

With a frustrated little sigh, he drops his pen and leans back in his chair. Aizawa is asleep at the front of the classroom, and the other students are either actually studying or having whispered conversations. Hitoshi can practically feel the emptiness of the desk behind him, and it's not helping with his whole 'focus' thing.

Izuku and Iida are still in the hospital, though as far as he knows, Iida will be getting out soon. Sooner than Izuku, at least. Getting stabbed by the vampire's shittier cousin apparently doesn't cause near as much damage as being turned into a pinata by a Nomu. They're not sure if Izuku will ever be able to use his arm completely normally again.

Hitoshi pushes his chair back on two legs, hooking his feet around the desk legs to keep his balance. His mind wanders to how surreal his life has been lately. He's been aiming to get into the hero course for years and years, and he actually made it. Not only that, but he actually has friends for once. Mei, Tsuyu, Monoma even. They all enjoy being around Hitoshi, which is a feeling he is all but unfamiliar in a school setting. 

And Izuku... Well he's the catalyst for the change, isn't he? Everything has happened because of Izuku. 

Before Hitoshi knows it, the bell is ringing and lunch comes. Hitoshi sits with Mei as always, and Todoroki sits with them today too. They talk about Mei's inventions to avoid the topic of Izuku's injuries. She nearly has a bout of hysteria when Hitoshi mentions that he doesn't really have a hero outfit designed and makes him promise to let her do it. He agrees, of course, because she's a good friend and he knows she'll do well with it.

The rest of the day is dedicated to hero studies. All Might pairs them off for quirkless sparring, with some interesting match-ups. Bakugo is paired with Tsuyu, and gets absolutely wrecked because he doesn't watch his temper. Todoroki gets paired with Kaminari, which ends just as disastrous, since Todoroki has way more training than him.

Hitoshi gets paired with Kirishima. The match involves a lot of the ball of sunshine yelling about how "manly" his fighting style is. It's a little weird, but it somehow kicks his dysphoria's ass at the same time, so Hitoshi doesn't say anything. He wins the match by default when Kirishima instinctively hardens his skin in response to a devastating kick from Hitoshi.

"Nice match!! Very manly!" Kirishima congratulates afterwards. Hitoshi gives him a small smile and actually returns his fist bump. The surreal feeling is back in full force. He would never have been caught dead near anyone so peppy-popular as Kirishima before Yuuei—most of them are too assholish for Hitoshi's tastes. Too ready to put down the kid with the villanous quirk. He's kinda glad the 1-A kids are proving their stereotypes wrong.

At the end of the day, Hitoshi only waits at the door for Mei for fifteen minutes. He knows enough by now that if she isn't out by then, she isn't coming out for a very long while, so he leaves without her. The train ride is quiet and boring, and soon enough Hitoshi is signing in at the front desk of the hospital and heading up to the fourth floor, where Iida and Izuku are sharing a room. Izuku has informed Hitoshi that Iida is a terrible roommate, due to all the seriousness and acts of gratitude, so he isn't all that surprised when he walks in to see Izuku trying to blunt force trauma his own head against the wall behind his bed.

"Ah, Shinsou-kun!" Iida greets, looking a bit uncomfortably stressed out. This is the proper reaction to Izuku, so Hitoshi pays it no mind. "Please convince Midoriya-kun to quit slamming his head against the wall!"

"I'll see what I can do, Vice Prez." Hitoshi agrees, already crossing to Izuku's bed. "Outta the way, Waluigi, I'm sitting down. I brought so much homework from Aizawa for you."

Izuku stops banging his head to move over so Hitoshi can sit down, then gives him a disgusted look and goes right back to head-banging. Hitoshi ignores Iida's distressed noise and crawls up to sit, pulling his bag off to retrieve said homework. 

"Where's Meimei." Izuku asks in between bangs. Hitoshi hums, dropping the packet of work and notes into his lap. He figures that Izuku is desperate enough for any sort of distraction from the pain and Iida that he'll stop giving himself a concussion to grab the papers. Izuku immediately proves him right, though he bangs his head once more for impact, and snatches the packet. He starts scanning over the first page.

"She wasn't out of her lair by the time I left." Hitoshi says, reaching back into his bag for Iida's homework. He waves it at Iida until he comes to retrieve it with a thank you, retreating when Izuku looks up to squint venomously at him. "Down boy. Leave the poor vice president alone."

"Woof." Izuku dryly replies, looking back down. "Lay down already, will you? Help me with this."

Hitoshi drops his bag off the side of the bed and follows Izuku's orders, despite knowing that he doesn't need Hitoshi's help in the slightest. Izuku is practically a genius. But All Might be damned if he wasn't going to take a chance to basically cuddle Izuku any chance he got. Even if it was only happening because Izuku was on a shit ton of medication and a rather strong healing quirk. Even then.

"What are we dealing with here, Waluigi?" He asks, squinting at the page. Izuku points at a term and has Hitoshi recite the definition from memory, then frowns and points at another. When Hitoshi has defined to his standards, Izuku grabs a pen from somewhere in the blankets and gets to scribbling down his answers. Hitoshi watches his pen move, leaning against his shoulder, and listens to the barely-audible sounds of Izuku muttering about the work under his breath.

Izuku falls asleep on the second to last page, head dropping down onto Hitoshi's shoulder. Hitoshi snaps a very careful picture, despite the curious look Iida gives him. 

If he sets it as his background, that's his business and his alone.