Deep Red

52

After a few scorching days the weather was finally changing and there were dark clouds in the sky, just before it got dark. I usually loved thunderstorms, but today was my first day staying in the teachers' dorm and something about the new surroundings and the thunderstorm at the same time made me nervous. There were a whole bunch of new noises and sounds that I just wasn't used to yet.

I had been trying to get to sleep for hours at this point, but it was so hot and humid, there was no chance for me to ever fall in a deep, comfortable sleep. All I got was dozing off, just to wake up drenched in sweat and with the distant memories of some nightmare or something that happened in my past.

I lay awake, staring at my ceiling, as there was another lightning bolt lighting up the small room. Chou was hiding in her favourite box. She always hated thunder and it seemed like the thunder followed almost right after. I startled a little, not expecting it to be just this close yet.

I had been dreaming of that one time when my father had beaten me black and blue over the weekend when I was back home and I had to go back to school on the Monday after and of course everyone saw the bruises. They were asking me about it and joking around. Of course they never knew.

It was a secret I guarded well. I kept saying how I walked into a car and everyone believed me. Everyone except Shouta. Not that he had been asking me or that I had told him, but he had overheard it, while my friends were joking about it in the cafeteria. I was kind of fed up with hearing about it at this point and I looked around the place and our eyes met and all I could see was a sad look and him shaking his head. It was like he knew. Like he could stare straight into my soul.

Back then it just felt somehow humiliating. The entire day I had been keeping up a facade for everyone, laughing and joking and trying not to panic as I remembered my father's fists raining down on me. And then Shouta fucking Aizawa had just looked at me and it was like he instantly knew. The whole day had been shit and then someone had just seen it all. Back then it sucked.

But right now, I just wanted to go back to that day and walk up to him and pull him into a tight hug. I definitely had needed it that day. But of course I'd never have done it then. No one was just friends with Shouta Aizawa back then. Or either of his two friends. Being seen with them was like a blemish that would make anyone an outcast.

I tossed and turned in my bed again. This just wouldn't do. It was way too weird, sleeping alone in a room now. I had gotten so used to living with Shouta that the dorms just felt like a terrible step back. We were still keeping things quiet, so we couldn't really hang out much during school. Which was now pretty much all the time. And I just really fucking missed him. I missed him so much.

But the whole dorm situation just made everything kind of weird. We hadn't even talked about how this whole relationship thing was going to work, now that we both lived on campus. All I knew was that it sucked, because no one was supposed to know, but we suddenly had much less privacy.

With a sigh I grabbed my phone from the night table beside me. Maybe Shouta was still up. I wouldn't be surprised if he was. After all, his sleep schedule was just as weird as mine. And maybe, just maybe, he missed me just as much as I missed him. With another sigh, I decided to send him a text.

>> Hey, are you still up by any chance? <<

It didn't take long until I got an answer. Apparently, Shouta was still up and on his phone, as well.

>> Yes. What's up? <<

>> Can't sleep. And I miss you. It's weird to be alone in a room after I got used to you. <<

>> Do you want to come down and stay with me? <<

I grinned like a little child when I got this message from him. Shouta just knew exactly what I needed at each moment in time.

>> Yes, please. <<

I got up out of bed and grabbed a few things I'd need - my phone charger, some clothes for the morning, tooth brush, deodorant and a hair tie. My eyes fell on the condom that was lying on my desk. I wasn't really sure whether to bring it or not... I mean, we hadn't actually had sex... yet.

>> Be quiet and make sure no one sees you. ESPECIALLY not Hizashi. <<

>> Okay, I'll be there in a minute. <<

I grabbed the condom and put on a pair of slippers, before heading out of the room and locking the door quietly behind me. From one of the doors opposite my room I could hear some music. It had to be extremely loud if I could hear it from here, because the walls were pretty thick. That had to be Hizashi's room. I'd be surprised if he wasn't deaf by now with that quirk of his.

I smiled to myself and tip-toed towards the stairs. I figured that it would be less suspicious if I just walked down the stairs instead of using the elevator. I mean, if anyone decided to stick their head out of their room they'd see me standing there, holding my toothbrush, clothes and a condom. I'd never be able to talk my way out of that. And it seemed the one person that was still awake was Hizashi. Him seeing me with that was the absolute worst case scenario.

I had to go down three flights of stairs to get to the floor that Shouta was on. Then it was all the way to the end of the corridor until I'd arrive at his room. I took a deep breath and started tip-toeing through the hallway.

It was all going pretty well, until I dropped my toothbrush. And then, while I was picking it up, I dropped my deodorant. And my phone. I was swearing under my breath, hoping that no one was hearing this, but there was no such luck. One of the doors opened and a short, skinny figure poked his head out, while I was still picking up stuff from the floor. I looked up like a deer in headlights.

"Miss Takahashi? I thought you were on the fifth floor? What are you doing down here and at that time of the night, too?" he asked. Allmight. Of all the people that could have heard her, it just had to be Allmight.

"Uhm..." I started as I realized I had dropped the condom and the silver packaging was sticking out from against the dark floor like a sore thumb. My eyes widened hoping he hadn't seen that and quickly grabbed it from the floor. Thankfully, I didn't lose more stuff this time and could get up.

And that was when another door opened. This time it was Shouta's. Uh oh. This was really really bad. I had no idea how to get out of this. I saw him muster me from across the hallway and heard him sigh.

"Takahashi! Thank God, took you long enough." he said quietly, just loud enough for me and Allmight to hear. Allmight seemed even more confused.

"Aizawa? What... you and... what is going on?" he asked. Shouta rolled his eyes and leaned against his door frame.

"Takahashi had borrowed some clothes, because most of hers were in the laundry and she got caught in the rain earlier, so she had nothing dry to wear. But I hadn't been taking a lot of stuff with me from my apartment yet, so I asked her to give them back as soon as her laundry was done. That's all." he explained. I looked at him with an open mouth. This was the dumbest excuse I had heard in my entire life, but maybe it would actually work. I saw Allmight look at me and the clothes I was holding. Thankfully it was too dark to see that there was no way that these were Shouta's.

"Yeah, that's... that's why I'm here." I agreed. Allmight looked a little embarrassed and nodded quickly.

"Oh right. I'll leave you to it then. I just thought the noise was weird and wanted to check it out. Goodnight." he said and quickly closed his door and locked it from the inside. I had to do my best not to burst out in laughter. How the hell did Shouta even come up with that? It was so far-fetched.

I quickly walked over to him and saw him shaking his head with a slight smile on his face. At least he wasn't mad at me. I gave him an apologetic grin and quickly slipped inside the room, as Shouta closed the door behind me.

"I can't believe he bought that." he then said and shook his head. Now that it was finally safe, I did burst out into laughter. This was just too good. Allmight had literally seen me head to Shouta's room in the middle of the night with a condom and he hadn't been suspicious. Incredible.