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Recently, Mirio’s picked up a bit of a bad habit. He hadn’t meant to, but every time his phone buzzed he would check it in case it was a text from someone important. It wasn’t that bad at first, but it quickly become a major distraction. Every time he would check his phone he’d become engrossed in the device. It was starting to become concerning. His grades were slipping, but he could never find the motivation to try and fix it. He’d always struggled with stuff like this, but it was never this bad.
The first person to confront him about it was his improv teacher, Sir Nighteye. That wasn’t his actual name, obviously, but it was what he insisted his students call him.
Mirio had always liked being in Sir’s class. He took improv freshman year, since he wanted to be a comedian someday, and he’s managed to get in Sir’s class every year. It was one of the few classes Mirio enjoyed being in, and it was the only one he wasn’t horribly failing in, though recent events did cause his grade to slip a little.
“I hope you don’t find my lesson boring, Mirio.” The blond in question was brought out of his daydream session by his teacher’s stern, monotone voice. He looked towards the front of the room, face flushed slightly red.
“Sorry, Sir! It won’t happen again!” Mirio stated, his voice reaching an octave higher than intended. There were a few quiet snickers from some of his classmates, but a harsh glare from Sir shut them up. Normally Mirio was completely shameless, he never felt embarrassed by anything, but right now he just wanted to hide. Now he knew how Tamaki felt.
“It’s alright, just please try to pay attention.” Mirio didn’t miss the concern in Sir’s voice. He didn’t know whether to feel grateful that his teacher cared or guilty over worrying his teacher.
The rest of class passed without a problem. As Mirio was gathering his stuff to leave, Sir asked him to stay behind. One of his friends offered to wait for him, but Mirio assured them it’d be fine. He walked over to Sir’s desk and pulled up a chair, waiting for the rest of the class to leave.
“Is everything alright? I’ve heard from other teachers that your grades are slipping.” Sir had never been one to dance around what he wanted to stay.
“I don’t know, I just haven’t been motivated lately. It’s been hard for me to focus on school stuff,” he explained simply. Sir nodded slowly, taking Mirio’s explanation into consideration.
“This is something that you should probably talk to the counselor or your parents about, but have you considered the possibility that you have ADHD?” Mirio thought about it. He’d definitely considered it before, but he disregarded it since he thought it would be weird that he only started displaying symptoms now. When he told Sir this, the man’s face became unreadable as he thought of a response.
“I’m not very well versed in these matters, but someone I’m close to has been diagnosed with ADHD for a while at this point, and they only started noticing the symptoms after high school, so it’s not impossible. I suggest you talk to the counselor, she’ll know more about this kind of thing.” Mirio was surprised at his teacher’s words. It was a well known fact that Sir was very private with his students, none of them really knowing anything that wasn’t already public knowledge. He knew he was one of Sir’s favorite students, though the man would never admit it, but he hadn’t expected Sir to open up to him.
“You’re probably right,” the blond replied, still shocked over what Sir told him. His teacher nodded, then filled out a small slip of paper, a hall pass, and gave it to Mirio.
“I know you just have study hall next, and that you usually leave early anyways, so just go down to her office now. I’ll make sure she knows you’re coming,” his teacher explained. Mirio took the pass from him and got up to leave. “Oh, and Mirio?” He turned back towards Sir. The man had an unfamiliar expression on his face. “I know this may sound odd, but I care about you. You’re one of my better students, and I know that you’re a good student in general. I don’t want this to end up negatively impacting your future.” Mirio was shocked by Nighteye’s uncharacteristic behavior. He quickly regained his composure, though, and gave Sir a genuine smile.
“Thank you, Sir.” His teacher returned the smile before turning to his computer. Mirio took that as his cue to leave.
As he headed towards the counselor’s office, he sent Tamaki a quick text telling him that he probably won’t be able to leave early and not to wait up. When he reached the office, he took a deep breath before knocking on the counselor’s door and entering.