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WHILE MOST PEOPLE WOULD DETOUR AWAY FROM THE IDEA OF SETTING YOUR FRIENDS OFF WITH ANNOYING AND SOMETIMES EVEN SADISTIC OFFERS, Hitoshi would jump onto the idea without another moment of hesitation. Maybe it was because of the refreshing face they'd make that would always send him into an endless pit of laughter, or perhaps a closeted kink that he'd yet figured out, but either way, annoying his best and only friend has become an addicting hobby.

A few weeks prior, as he was swiping up repeatedly on the home screen in hopes of a good recommendation, one video's absurdity finally caught Hitoshi's attention.

"Nokia Arabian Ringtone (1 hour)"

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at the odd name and shifted his weight onto his side, tilting his chin up at the digital alarm clock sitting idly on his nightstand.

3:22 am

Not bad for a school night. If he were to put his phone down and sleep in the next eight minutes, he'd still have a solid two and a half hours to snooze and replenish his energy. Allow his brain to go through the process of storing test-worthy information, memories he'd randomly pick out later in his next five years of his life, and what have you, neatly into its designated file cabinets.

Too bad his brain wouldn't allow him to do that.

One would think someone with insomnia would take the extra few hours most people would occupy to snore and put it into something productive. Artists were well-known for staying up all night, finishing a masterpiece that would be due the next morning. Writers too would be typing up on their keyboard for the following few chapters, to keep up with their updating schedule and allow their readers to have something to entertain themselves for the week. Doctors might even be stitching up a wound right as we speak, working to keep the victim's heartbeat steady, all while cutting another section of the body open to remove any penetrating bones from the organs.

Now, what is he going to do? Open the youtube video up of course. Being productive is the least of his worries when the night falls; entertainment first, life goals second.

To say that he was delighted at his new find would be a tremendous understatement. He played the whole video out the entire night by his lonesome and even took a few seconds coming up with a silly choreography along with it. It lit up his typically stagnant nights into a peak he wouldn't have ever thought he'd be able to reach again, something that he had quickly learned to love.

The happiness stayed with him to the mornings; the alarm that shook him away from his thirty-minute nap didn't shake away his happy bubble either as it typically would. With a small genuine, wholesome smile, he got up from the comfort of his bed, hit loop on his phone, and continued to get ready for school with an extra head bob here and there.

The annoying chirps from the flying poop dispensers sounded more welcoming than they should, and the streams of light basking into the dusted mess of his room gave him an extra dose of serotonin he never knew he needed.

The smallest little thing, from the soft gurgles of his coffee maker to the baby spider hanging in the corner of his room, made his smile grow wider and wider by each passing second.

'This is gross,' he thought, 'really gross. Since when do I smile at eight-legged aliens that had infiltrated into my room?'

The unfamiliar but comforting warmth that radiated from the core of his body he couldn't quite precisely pin out, frightened him quite a bit. The heavy, wet blanket of despair wasn't necessarily something he enjoyed, but it was something he's used to, something he had grown accustomed to, something he's become so familiar to where it became more of a lifestyle than anything.

When the familiar soggy blanket was stripped away so effortlessly by something as minuscule as a mockingbird, leaving him nakedly vulnerable to the blinding, almost hostile light; it's only natural for him to want to crawl back into the shadows. But maybe, maybe, just this one time. He'd stop overthinking about his past traumas and move on with his life, even if it was only motivated by a stupid tune he heard on the internet.

Therapy who???

Who needs that anyway when you got catchy instrumental playlists for free?

Twenty-four-hour service too may he add.

The walk to school was more or less the same as usual. There were the typical stares here and there, though this time, it was a lot easier to brush off. He was too busy humming along with the tune in his head anyway, even to bother to notice. He was up there in cloud nine; each stretch of his legs was given with an extra bounce into his steps. His head was so up high in the heavens; at one point, he even imagined having tea with Jesus himself. In fact, he was so driven in with the tune, it wasn't until he'd bump into his particular crush did he regain his thoughts.

A few spurts of mumbles escaped uncontrollably from y/n's mouth as she twirled her head around hastily, picking her poor breakfast toast that flung out of her mouth from the ground with a sad sigh. Hitoshi stood on the sideline amused at the comical scene portrayed in front of him, watching as she straightens her back and rubs her head reassuringly like a hamster out of its burrow. As Y/N lifted her head from the ground, however, his heart couldn't help at that moment but skip a few beats upon meeting her gaze.

"Owoiefh- I'm so sorry I wasn't looking where I was going, are you alright?" Y/N asked, offering a tempting hand for Hitoshi to hold before realizing that the impact had led only her to fumble off her feet alone. She awkwardly retrieved her hand behind her back and finally peered upwards to meet the eyes of whomever she crashed into.

The worried filled eyes almost instantaneously melted away as soon as she realized it was her fellow friend. "Ah, hey Hitoshi!" Y/N gave a subtle wave before naturally making her way beside Hitoshi. "The weather seems awfully nice today, doesn't it? Did you have breakfast?"

Hitoshi replied with a curt nod, dusting off invisible dirt from his shoulders as he did so. "I had a cup of coffee, as well as a bowl of cereal this morning."

"Mmm, sounds like you had a lot of time this morning to get ready."

"Unlike you," Hitoshi raised an eyebrow as he noticed a few loose hairs poking out from her usual hair-do. "Your hair looks like a crow's nest, and school doesn't start for another twenty minutes or so, why the rush?"

Y/N cares a lot for her appearance, Hitoshi knows that for sure. Living up to the world's expectations isn't an easy feat, and Hitoshi admires her a lot for actually meeting most of them thus far. She composes herself so incredibly well, knowing how lazy she is inside her home's comfort, so seeing her rather unorganized self set off a few alarms in Hitoshi's head.

Is something going on at home? Is it her mother? Has his depressing ass finally dabbed onto her?

Or is he just perhaps looking into things a bit too much?

"Eh?" Y/N, much to Hitoshi's dismay, broke off eye contact with Hitoshi as soon as she heard his concerning questions.

He thought that he could take this chance to stare at her eyes a little bit more, but alas, he can't ask for anything, can he? Returning his attention at Y/N, he watched as she nervously fidgets with some loose strands of her hair between her fingers, a habit she'd picked up only recently. His suspicion only rose higher.

A few drops of sweat slid down Y/N's cheeks, obviously uncomfortable. "Well, apparently, the school counselor wanted to meet me a few minutes before class started. I wanted to be an hour early just for safe measures, but I ended up oversleeping."

Oversleeping? Now that is something she would do for a personal outing with him, but for a seemingly important meeting? That's odd.

Despite there being thousands of questions forming in Hitoshi's mouth just waiting to be spat out, he decided to swallow them back in and dismiss his suspicions. For now, that is. "Of course."

With that, the air between the two got radio silent.

Thankfully, Y/N didn't seem to be satisfied to leave the conversation there, however, and therefore opened up another series of topics effortlessly.  Hitoshi guessed that it must've been something she had to learn being continuously thrown into social gatherings with people she doesn't know. Whether it be out of awkwardness or discomfort, he's just glad that whatever atmosphere enveloped them both just now dissipated.

Y/N's rants were messy and disorganized; it was challenging for Hitoshi to follow along with whatever she decided to spout out from her head. Unlike those scripted speeches, she was able to freely add anything last minute, even if it has been minutes after since the topic had ended. This sometimes leads her stories in a jumble of detailed and uncoordinated events that he'd have to somewhat piece together by himself much later after the conversation ended. It was like completing fourteen different sets of jigsaw puzzles that had all been mixed and thrown together in a giant heap.

Despite the fact, he listened as she rambles on and on, from the new succulent plant she bought impulsively after seeing a nice kind lady selling it out on the street, to her painful struggle in picking out something to eat in the morning that had ultimately lead to her almost arriving late to school.

Adding on to the messy timelines, her thoughts would be disrupted every so often with little things she would spot from the corner of her eye. "Hey Hitoshi! Look at that flower!" She pipped. pointing towards the wildflower growing beneath the cracks of the sidewalk. "It's so pretty, the purple matches your hair perfectly!"

"My hair? Why do I feel like you're oddly obsessed with my hair?" Hitoshi chuckled, pointing his finger towards his head. "Come to think of it, wasn't that also one of the many first few conversations we had about? My hair?"

"Are you passively accusing me of being a weirdo?" she huffed. "All I did was compare your hair to a pretty plant and occasionally compliment on it. Such accusations are a slander to my name and dignity, ya know?"

"It's like calling someone out for having a hand fetish when all they did was compliment how pretty their hands are." she continued. "And just to make things clear, as concerned as you might be, and as much as I seem to dote on your hair more than your actual personality-"

"Ouch."

"-I do not get turned on by your hair, wait."

Y/N paused and stood where she was, making the distance between the two of them grow further and further apart. Confused, Hitoshi peered back and turned his shoulder around. "What are you doing? Don't you have a meeting to go t-"

"Do hair fetishes exist?"

"..."

"Hah?" With an embarrassed face, Y/N ran back beside him, slightly hunching her shoulders after moving her hair to cover her face. "Sorry sorry, let's pretend I never said that."

"Hair fet-"

"I SAID-"

"OKAY OKAY." Hitoshi sweatdropped, putting his hands up in a defensive position. "Do you want to continue your story then?"

"No." Y/N denied.

"Pain."

"I want you to tell me something interesting that had happened to you."

"Something interesting that had happened to me?" Hitoshi hummed. "Are you taunting me? You know my life isn't even half as interesting as yours."

Y/N giggled. "Please, you can fool everyone else but not me. Tell me why you've been extra chirpy this morning then."

"It's stupid."

"Knowing you, it probably is." Y/N shrugged. "I still want to know why though."

"Fine." Hitoshi reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, quickly scrolling through his youtube history to find the tune he had repeatedly been listening to since last night. "If you laugh, I'll kill you."

"Hot." Y/N gave a thumbs up and watched curiously as Hitoshi pulled his airpod from his other pocket and handed out a pair to her.

"Take it, I'm not blasting this on the street for everyone else to hear." 

"Why not?" Y/N asked, her face quickly morphing into a disgusted one. "Actually, I think I'm good."

"That wasn't a question. I said, take it." Hitoshi grumbled, forcing the earbud into her palms. "I didn't take my phone out for nothing. Now put it in your ear before I make you."

"NOOO, TAKE IT BACK." Y/N wailed.

Hitoshi easily dodged Y/N's half-assed attempts, ignoring her while he connects the device on Bluetooth. "I don't want to know anymoreeeee," Y/N sulks. "Pleaseeeeeee? HITOSHI????."

"I swear, what the fuck is wrong with you? Just put it in your ear. " Hitoshi sighed.

"....If it's Belle Delphine's Christmas p-." Y/N's eyes blanked out, her limbs laying loosely and relaxed by her side.

Hitoshi doesn't like to brainwash his friend often, but in this instance, he'd rather have to listen to her complaint rather than hear whatever she started. "I hate you so much. Put the earbuds in your ear."

Y/N robotically did as he demanded, and with a quick release of Hitoshi's quirk, her eyes slowly regained the liveliness she originally had. "Rude?? You didn't even let me finish?"

"That was exactly my point, now shut up and listen to this masterpiece."

『• • • ✎ • • •』

2318 words
unedited

PLEASE THIS CHAPTER IS SO SO SOS SOS SOSOSOSOOS BAD
ive been trying to fix if for the longest time but i jusT CANT 😀
ESPECIALLY THE END IM NSJDKDKDOD!DODLd

when i first read it i freaked, i literally went

i ended up convincing myself its not as bad as I thought but HHHhhHHh,,,,,

anyways, im sorry just,,, bear with me for the next few chapters,
i swear it'll get better (at least i hope it does) 😭

as always, drink water, eat your food, and stay safe 🥱
kisses <3