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Shinsou Hitoshi was dying. Not for real and only on the inside, but he was dying. That was the only explanation for the tight feeling in his chest and the burning in his eyes that he would never admit to. This wasn’t a normal occurrence, especially in the presence of the boy in his room talking a mile a minute, but life had a funny way of ruining things for him.
xXx
It hadn’t begun with held back tears and heartache. In fact, Hitoshi had started the day feeling pretty good. It was February fourteenth, a day of love and confessions and he was ready to do just that. He had even slept a decent amount of hours and woke up before noon on a Saturday. He was ready!
A soft chime from his phone alerted the teen to a message, yanking him from his mental pep-talk. He switched on the device to read, and respond to, the text.
🌳Bush Bunny🐰
Toshi 👋
Are you awake? 😴
???
The phone vibrated twice more while the boy in question felt a soft smile form.
☕Coffee Cat🐈
I’m awake
What’s up?
🌳Bush Bunny🐰
Great!! 😁
Could you come here?
To my dorm room, i mean
I need help!
🙏
☕Coffee Cat🐈
Sure
omw
Hitoshi closed the messaging app, sliding his phone into his pocket, and left his room. He briefly wondered what the green-haired teen needed help with. He probably would’ve been more curious, but since the boy’s room was right next to his, he didn’t have the time. It hardly even took a minute to go from his dorm to Midoriya’s. He knocked twice on the door and got unceremoniously yanked in.
“Hitoshi, thank goodness!” Midoriya seemed a little out of breath and his hair was even more unruly than usual. Looking around the All Might shrine bedroom, it was in complete disarray. The entire contents of his closet and dresser seemed to be everywhere except where they should be.
“Woah,” slipped past his lips without thinking. “What happened here? A tornado!”
“Nope, just me.” Midoriya laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
“What exactly warranted you becoming a natural disaster?”
“Oh! I don’t know what to wear and you dress nice so I thought I’d ask you since you seem to know what you are doing. Or maybe you don’t, but you do have a nice fashion sense or at least I think you do and I was hoping that you would maybe help me find something to wear because I am kind of freaking out and I know I don’t always dress nice and I really want to today so if you . . .”
“Midoriya,” Hitoshi interrupted with a wave. “Deep breath, then continue.”
“Can you help me find something to wear so I look nice?” The teen shifted from one foot to the other, dragging his lower lip between his teeth.
“Sure. What’s this for, though?”
“Oh, I have a date tonight!” Midoriya exclaimed, bright green eyes glistening with excitement.
With those words, and he’s not being dramatic, Hitoshi swears he felt his heart break.
xXx
Hitoshi liked to think he was a good friend. He didn’t have much for reference, but he was pretty sure, and good friends help in situations like this. Regardless of whether or not they have a crush on said friend, they help. So the purple-haired teen blinked the burning feeling away and walked over to the mountain of clothes. He was a good friend and Izuku was his best friend; he could do this.
“Alright, let me see what we’ve got here.” Shinsou started sorting through the clothes, searching for date appropriate things.
“Thank you so much, Toshi!” Midoriya exclaimed, rushing to hug the other boy from behind. He lingered there, pressing his face between Shinsou’s shoulder blades.
“No problem, Zu,” the teen whispered, face flushing.
“Still, thanks! Okay, I’m going to hop in the shower because at this point I need water to fix my hair. I shouldn’t be too long, I promise. I just need to wrangle this mess and I’ll be back. Mmm, you’re cozy. Okay going now!” Izuku gave his friend a squeeze before running off to his attached bathroom and slamming the door.
With the sound of running water in the background, Hitoshi began folding anything that wouldn’t be worn on a date. Cleaning the mess while also finding a suitable outfit, multitasking at its finest. Also, a way to keep himself busy because he knew if he lingered for even a second his mind would go places he’d rather not deal with at the moment.
The purple-haired student set aside a short sleeve dark green dress shirt that still had the tag on it. A pair of white jeans were placed gingerly on top, figuring the two would be a nice combo. He searched through the closet pile in an attempt to find a jacket that would finish the look. It would be fine on its own, but he felt it needed a little something extra. He found shoes first; a simple pair of black converses with what he’s pretty sure are glow-in-the-dark shoelaces.
The shower shut off just as Hitoshi found a cream-coloured cardigan, the perfect finishing touch. He’s pretty sure the article of clothing belonged to Todoroki once. In fact, he’s pretty sure most of the clothes he rooted through belonged to somebody else, but that was neither here nor there. Midoriya was a notorious clothing thief. Not even their teachers were spared if the overly large, long-sleeve, plain black shirt was any indication.
“Are you cleaning? You don’t have to do that.” A voice came from behind, startling Hitoshi from his thoughts. He flinched, dropping the pair of shorts he’d been folding and whipped around. As soon as he did, he regretted it.
Fresh from the shower, in only a tight pair of underwear, still slightly wet, stood Midoriya. Hitoshi felt his breath become shaky as the boy, clueless to what he was doing to his friend, towelled his curls. This had to be some sort of punishment, but the purple-haired teen couldn't think of what he could've done to deserve it. He swallowed a few times, a hard task with how dry his throat had gotten all of a sudden. Turning back around, he lifted the pile of clothes he set aside. He rotated his body to face Midoriya and held them out to his friend who looked up at him from under the towel. Those bright green eyes widened.
"Oh wow, you're done already!" The teen sounded pleasantly surprised and gave the other boy one of those smiles that rivals the sun.
"Yep," Hitoshi whispered almost breathlessly. The pile was taken from his hands and Izuku walked right back into the bathroom.
This time, Midoriya was in and out of the bathroom in just a few minutes, not taking nearly as long to get dressed. He walked back into his room and did a little spin to show off his outfit. It looked even better on him than it did in Shinsou’s head. The contrast between the dark shirt and shoes and the light pants and jacket really pulled the look together. For a moment, the purple-haired teen fantasized the outfit being worn for him and not someone else.
“You look amazing,” he admitted softly.
“Thank you, Toshi, but this is all your doing. I would’ve never picked this out by myself.”
The two fell silent, almost unsure of what to say. Hitoshi decided to continue cleaning up the clothing tornado, sorting, folding, and putting things away. Izuku joined in after managing to somewhat tame his curls. The pair worked together without words, moving around each other like it was natural. Time passed and before either knew it, the room was once again clutter-free.
“So, what time do you have to leave?” Hitoshi broke the silence, hopping on the All Might clad bed as if it were his.
“They should be here soon,” Midoriya replied, picking up his phone and turning it on. He sent a quick text to his date and shut it off.
The digital clock on the teen’s bedside table showed the passage of time. Minutes passed by and with each number increase, the boy got more restless. Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Forty minutes. An hour.
“I’m just gonna. . .” The green-haired student mumbled, pulling out his phone and dialling a number. It rang out with no answer.
Another ten minutes passed.
“I don’t think they’re coming,” Izuku whispered, slumping forward in his desk chair. He buried his face in his hands and his shoulders started to shake.
“Hey now." Hitoshi rolled off the bed and knelt in front of his friend. He gently grabbed the boy's hands and pried them from his face. Green eyes stared into his own purple. He really had no right looking that pretty while crying. "Screw them!" The exclamation earned a little giggle and hiccup.
"No, seriously, screw them. How dare they stand you up?" He was angry, so very angry. Some idiot got a date with the most amazing person in the world and stood him up? He's furious. He wants to find this moron and punch them in the face. He wants to. . .
Lurching up, Hitoshi wraps his arms around the smaller teen and holds him close. Izuku accepts the hug, throwing his arms over the other boy's shoulders and clinging to him.
"What did I do wrong?" He whispered the question into his friend's shoulder and the hug tightens.
"Absolutely nothing, Zu," the teen answered. He paused and pulled back, arms still around each other. "Go out with me."
Izuku was silent. He looked into tired, purple eyes and saw nervousness and a glint of determination. "What?" fell from his lips.
"Go out with me," Hitoshi repeated. "I'm crazy about you Izuku." The boy's face flushed red at his friend's words.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
"Are you sure? I don't want you to just say yes." Shinsou backtracked, not wanting a pity acceptance.
"Hitoshi, I'm pretty crazy about you too. I just didn't think you felt the same way." Midoriya admitted shyly.
"Oh." The purple-haired teen stared at his crush, eyes wide with astonishment. "Can. . . can I kiss you?"
Izuku didn't answer with a word, he just leaned forward, pressing their lips together.
"Happy Valentine's day, Toshi."