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Sometimes it feels like there isn’t anyone else in the world besides Aoyama. Having grown up in a series of hospitals and being told that his Quirk was something unusable and unappealing - he was used to spending so much time by himself. It wasn’t pleasant, but that’s something that he’s been able to get used to. It’s one of the reasons that he’s learned self-love, because sometimes there isn’t going to be anyone else there and he has to be prepared.
Today is one of those times that he feels unprepared but in a new way. Sitting here with Midoriya, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. The two of them are just sitting on the couch, aren’t they, but this isn’t something that he normally does.
“Aoyama? Are you alright?” Midoriya asks after a moment.
“Hm? Oui, thank you~”
“Alright…. Just making sure. Do you have any sixes?”
The two of them are playing a western card game, something that he’s never even heard of before called -
“Go fish, mon amie.”
He’s never played a card game before, other than solitaire on his computer at home. Even when his parents came to visit him in the hospital when he was younger, they never seemed to want to do nothing but talk about him, about their own lives and problems. No card games, half the time his mother forgot to pick him up clothes from home.
He got used to trying to bring his favorite stuffed bear on the way to the hospital, because someone was bound to forget it. On the rare occasion he still does have to go, he makes sure he grabs it before walking out. It doesn’t even have a name, but he prefers it being there over his parents sometimes. At least the bear knows how to listen.
It’s a silly thing, but anything’s a comfort when you feel like you’re dying.
Midoriya takes another card.
Normally, both of them would be up in their own rooms right now in the middle of a Thursday evening, probably each doing their own homework. With classes cancelled and an air of tension in the dorms with no one knowing why they were given this sudden day off, they aren’t the only ones here. There’s a few of the girls watching something on Jirou’s phone (Mina keeps having her pause every few minutes to share some story that takes twenty minutes to get out), and Satou’s dealing with Bakugou in the kitchen.
It if weren’t for that one connecting link between all of them feeling anxious, it would almost be nice. No one knows why all of the classes were cancelled, nor why no one is allowed off campus. Iida had told them all to relax, but when that didn’t work he offered a study group up in his room - which a few people did end up taking him up on.
“You know, for not having played this before you’re pretty good at this,” Midoriya tells him.
“Thank you~”
He isn’t going to turn down a compliment, even if he really has no idea what he’s doing. Getting nice words from Midoriya isn’t difficult in the slightest, but it’s still nice. There’s something about praise from him that means something, because he always sounds so sincere about it.
That and their shared Quirk trauma are the best parts about being friends with Midoriya. Aoyama would like to think that in another life they would have run into each other when they were younger, at the same hospital. Broken bones and hurting stomachs, he could see them being friends.
He could see Midoriya being his only childhood friend, and something about that is almost sad.
“Aoyama? It’s your turn.”
“Oh, sorry~” He looks down at his cards and calls out a number, only to pick up a card when Midoriya doesn’t have a two.
“Thanks for coming out here and playing with me.”
“Thank you for asking me to play, and teaching me.”
“Yeah! My dad likes card games, so I grew up playing a lot of them before he went overseas.”
“You too~?”
“You too, what?”
“Your father works overseas. My father still works in France. My mom was from there, but she moved here with me when I was younger because he thought that he would be home soon. Still waiting.”
“Oh,” Midoriya says, handling with as much grace as Aoyama expected. “Uh, my dad works in America. He went out there awhile ago. I think he talks to mom sometimes, but I haven’t seen him in years.”
“It isn’t easy,” Aoyama tells him knowingly.
There’s something about the two of them talking about their absentee fathers that almost calms Aoyama down. This is something he knows, something he’s familiar with. Something about him that he can also share with Midoriya.
He’s glad that he decided to make friends with him, glad that Midoriya had almost no control over his power at the beginning of the year otherwise he might not have ever gotten up the courage to talk to him. There aren’t a lot of people here that he actually likes, Midoriya is one of them. One of the few people that he would willingly share the spotlight with. He’s wondered before if his friend can sing.
“It isn’t,” Midoriya agrees after a moment. “But hey, guess it doesn’t make a difference here, right? At the dorms?”
“I suppose not… Any eights~?”
Midoriya passes him a card and Aoyama puts down his pair. He doesn’t have many cards left.
“Sometimes I wish that I could call him. But it’s always too late or too early by the time I have a chance to call. I imagine it’s worse for you though.”
He doesn’t mean for the words to come out, it just happens. Every once in a while the sparkling facade fades away and he doesn’t know what’s underneath. Something sadder, someone smaller.
“Yeah…”
There aren’t many things Midoriya can say, he knows that. He feels stupid for bringing it up.
“Hey.”
Aoyama looks up at Midoriya, even though he doesn’t really want to now.
“It’s okay to be honest, even if it doesn’t feel great.”
“Thank you, Midoriya.”
He smiles a little bit, just to make sure the point gets across that he does take to heart what’s been said to him.
“Yeah… Have any Queens?”
“Go fish~”