Everything and Nothing

New message "Star" 3:46 AM

Ay tired boy, you up? (3:46 AM)

-> Unfortunately (3:54 AM)

Wow fancy that, so am I! (3:54 AM)

-> Have you ever considered the fact that you're the reason I sleep less? (3:56 AM)

Hmmmm.... Nope! (3:57 AM)

-> Worth a shot (4:00 AM)

I'm coming over (4:02 AM)

-> No you're not, it's 4 am and cold out (4:04 AM)

Hitoshi Shinso didn't think much about the conversation.

But as the minutes ticked by without her response, he sweat a little. Just a little.

After checking his phone for the 10th time in the past 8 minutes, he realized that coming over in the middle of the night was definitely something Olivia would do, even if they were at UA. He hurriedly put on his robe and slippers as he snuck out of his dorm room. The time and weather never stopped her from banging on the door of his apartment at midnight every other night after the incident, why would it now?

Oh how unlucky Hitoshi was, why couldn't his trauma mate have been a cute shy quiet girl who sleeps a lot and makes heart latte art for the coffee that would sit in his favorite mug? Instead, he gets a fiery ball of chaos and sensitivity who invades his life and personal space without even a hint of shame.

He started down the stairs, hands in his robe pockets, as he considered waiting for her at the door. It was barely the second week, it's not like she knew the code. He wondered if she even paused to consider this before possibly endangering herself to the elements, and shook his head to himself as he walked out of the stairwell. Probably not.

As Hitoshi stepped out into the common room, he should've been surprised to see Olivia in the General Education's kitchen, stealing some poor soul's hot cocoa mix. Yet, his face remained the same and he sighed. He should've expected as much.

He cleared his throat and she looked over her shoulder, obviously not surprised by his presence. She grinned at him, holding out his mug as an offering. Of course she knew which mug was his.

"How did you even get in?"

"I heard you debating if you were going to text me the key code." Olivia shrugged, settling down with her own stolen mug as she sank into the couch like she lived there.

Hitoshi looked down at the mini marshmallows in his mug and would've maybe considered smiling, if he didn't hear the air pass through her lips as she tried not to giggle.

"It's not latte art like you requested, but I thought it'd do." She cheekily teased him. All the appreciation of her efforts suddenly vanished from Hitoshi as he openly glared at her.

"It's 4 am Olivia, I'd appreciate some privacy."

"No can do boss, I'm sober at night, you know that." She smiled, but it faltered a little and he noticed her eyes fall down to her hot cocoa, as her fingers twitched along the mug's edges. This peaked his interest, or if he was really being honest with himself, -which he wasn't- his concern.

He turned around and looked longingly at the stairs, knowing he should be asleep right now in his oh so heavenly bed. He sighed at this thought, though. Even if he did sleep, he knew it wouldn't exactly be considered sleeping "well" by anyone. Even though the soundproofing kept his unconscious screams quiet to everyone else, they couldn't sound proof his own ears from the products of his nightmares, making sleeping a feat that bordered on impossible. With his mind unfortunately made up, he sat a distance from the girl who seemed lost in thought. Well, lost in other's thoughts.

She immediately reached out and looped his pinky in hers, much to his annoyance, and she sighed in relief. He assumed it was from the sudden loss of hopes and dreams and thoughts and feelings invading her mind that weren't her own.

When she first calmed down after waking up in the hospital, she had hugged him in relief that they were safe, crying. He didn't usually feel much, but he felt her in that moment.

When she first knocked on his door, she admitted that his mind was like an expanse of calm and tiredness. For the woman who heard and felt everything, she was drained and emotionless when she asked if she could just stay a while in his presence. And for the man who felt nothing and erased other people's everything, he acknowledged that maybe he didn't want to be alone anymore either, and he let her in.

"You're obviously here at 4 AM terrorizing our kitchen for a reason," He sighed, done waltzing down memory lane. "Spit it out."

Olivia could probably hear his underlying questions that were too quiet in his mind for even himself to hear. It was a checklist at this point in their odd friendship, a routine.

Why is she here?

Did she have a nightmare?

Is she sober?

Why didn't she wake Mashiro?

Olivia hummmmmed and closed her eyes, probably listening to his guesses and assumptions as he went through each item on the list. Letting the single voice wash over her and drown out everything else around her, she had once admitted to him.

Catching onto what she was doing, he switched instead to thinking about other things. Irrelevant things that would put even him to sleep. What they learned in General Ed... How no one had a thirst to be a hero there like he did... What martial art he was learning from Mashirao... How... being here at UA has made him feel... more okay than he has in a long time…

As Hitoshi approached that train of thought, he glanced down to see Star -oops, Olivia- out like a light, the hot cocoa in her hand tilting dangerously towards the ground. Hitoshi reached his unoccupied hand over and took it out of hers, noticing it had gone cold, and wondered just how long they had been sitting there.

He sighed, longing to go to his own bed. He was unable to leave her here alone, unable to take her back without knowing their code, and unwilling to bring her to his room because, well, it's the only Star -mm... Olivia- free part of his life left, and yeah right, like he's giving up that luxury…

He considers calling Mashirao... considers using her phone to text the Class 1-A group chat he knows they must have, requesting a Star retrieval team be sent... request..... mmm....

As the light broke through the windows and a student groggily stumbled towards the outside door, they ignored the two people asleep on- wait WHAT?!

The student rushed back and rubbed their eyes a few times before smirking and pulling out their phone. The picture was taken, and the text was sent.

There was no going back, something that everyone would soon come to regret.

For the text that started a war between General Education and Class 1-A was simple, and read '@class1-A, come pick up your trash.'