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12

Knocking on his room door, you waited silently and patiently for his okay to come in. Rocking back and forth on your feet, you were too nervous to think about what to say, so when he said "come in," you froze.

"Hello?" Aoi called.

"Yeah," you pushed through the door, "it's me."

You forced yourself to make eye contact, the room was bright, the sun blinding you a bit.

"So it is." He smiled when you appeared. "How's it been?"

He was sitting upright, under his sheets, a book in hand, his head wasn't bandaged anymore and he looked almost healthy if it wasn't for where you were, and the big IV contacted to his arm, it might have looked as if it always was: fine. You wondered if he was putting on an act, like when he was at school before any of you found out about his illness. "Lymphoma", your mom had said, "it's just terrible," and she was right, it was terrible.

You walked closer to the bed, sitting in the chair that still sat beside his bed, only now on the other side, near the window. "It's been... you know..." You tried but failed.

He tilted his head to the side–another pretty boy move, you noted, because Todoroki did this as well–and smiled, "Yeah, I know."

It had never been like this, awkward. Like, unable to speak, cringe silence, awkward. Like your hanging out with Todoroki and Katsuki–awkward.

"Uhaha," but you had to do it, you had to apologize, for everything. For not seeing him all this time, it had been at least three months since you'd found out and you hadn't visited him once. Thinking about this, you questioned why you had a sudden change in attitude toward doing so.

"It hasn't been the same," you start. Taking in a deep breath, you open your mouth to explain, but you hesitate, for just a second, because his eyes are on yours and it's just too much. You set your jaw and open your mouth again, "I'm sorry," his mouth curves down and his eyes drift to his chest. He places his right hand on his middle torso.

He looked like he was somewhere else, but then he turned back to you, eyes finding yours, "you had your reasons, I don't hold that against you."

"Yeah, but–"

"Don't apologize." You stared at him, his smile now fully gone, "if anything, I'm the one who should apologize," he let out a breath you didn't know he was holding, finding your eyes once more, "so I'm sorry...Y/n?" He chuckled a little, watching you hunched over on your knees, wiping at the small tears that formed every few seconds. "Why are you crying?"

You calmed yourself down before syaing anything else, "there's something else I have to apologize for."

"What?" He looked at you, black hair falling in front of his eyes.

"I've been doing something I shouldn't have," you looked away, at the floor, "I've been lying...to my family..." you bit your lip, it was now or never, but you were losing the courage to admit what you had bee doing.

"Y/n? If this is about the tests–"

"It's not, it's...", you sighed, "it's, they don't know I haven't come to see you." You forced the words through your lips, for fear of not being able to do it if you stopped, "I've been telling them I'm going to see you when I've been meeting up with someone else."

Your shame hit you as soon as you finished, but Aoi just laughed more, "Is that what you were worried about?"

Your pout increased, thinking he was making fun of you, "piss off."

He stopped laughing and exhaled, "good, I thought it was serious."

An irk mark appeared above your head, "SHUT UP!"