𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 | 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗶 𝘅 𝗼𝗰

¹⁷the rare silence

"Uno!" Kaminari cheered, throwing the rest of his cards onto the pile of Uno Cards.

"Go fish!" Uraraka shouted, making Kirishima groan loudly.

"Bullshit!" Midoriya screeched, Uraraka reproducing the same rabid scream as she collapsed onto the cards, shovelling them towards her.

"What are we fucking playing?" Bakugou said in bouts of tears, Rin laughing on the side where she laid on her stomach.

Class 1A was crammed into the boys' shared dorm room, all freshly showered from the hot springs after they finished swimming at the beach and dressed in their pyjamas. Rin was having so much fun that she didn't even notice how late it was.

It was an ungodly hour of the night, the odd time of the day where one couldn't quite decide if it was late into the night or extremely early into the morning. It was an eclipse between two days, where it didn't feel like the day before had just passed.

Rin wasn't sure if they were all planning on sleeping in the same room together, all she knew was that a few of her classmates had already thoroughly passed out and Mineta had been forced to sleep in the Class 1B boys' dormitory instead.

Uraraka, Midoriya, Kaminari, Sero, Kirishima, Ashido and Bakugou were playing some insanely senseless card game in the centre of the futons, screaming and shouting loudly despite how late it was. Meanwhile, Rin, Asui and Yaoyorozu were wearing face masks together – Aoyoma also wearing one but was passed out besides Asui, laying on his back with his arms by his side like a psychopath.They were mostly doing silly quizzes on their phones, comparing their answers as the majority of their classmates played their nonsensical card game.

There were a few stragglers like Shoto, Iida and Jirou who seemed to be having an existential crisis inducing conversation about birthdays and ageing, Tokoyami having been involved earlier before he fell asleep.

"Is Ocha winning or losing?" Jirou questioned, rolling over to Rin and laying on her back.

Rin peered over at Uraraka who tiredly sorted through her large stack of cards.

"I think she's losing." Rin responded, turning off her phone. "They need to write an instruction manual for that card game, I swear."

Iida chuckled at her comment, him and Shoto joining their little group to Rin's. The girls had quickly grown tired of doing quizzes, opting to watch the crazy card game.

"This has been nice," Rin mumbled, Jirou suddenly groaning loudly.

"Don't you dare start that," Jirou half-heartedly joked.

"Start what?" Shoto asked.

Yaoyorozu let out a light laugh, hanging an arm around Rin's upper back lazily.

"Every time she's hanging out with us, Rin will – without fail – say 'this has been nice' before starting a whole spiel about how she loves and appreciates us." Yaoyorozu explained, Rin's face turning cherry red.

Iida smiled gently down at Rin, "she's just a sentimental person, I guess."

Rin grinned up at the birthday boy, basking in his rare state of serenity.

Shoto laid on his crossed arms, unknowingly staring at the birthday girl who was getting noogied by Jirou and Yaoyorozu. He hadn't noticed that small habit of hers despite the copious amount of times they'd hung out all together. But looking back, she did seem to say that often.

It may have not seemed like it from first glance, but Rin held her friends close to her heart. She really cherished their classmates, mainly because she was used to being so isolated as a child. Strangely enough, Shoto found himself upholding that same level of sentimentality.

He often wondered if Rin thought of him as one of her precious friends too.

Because, he definitely did.

"Oh, Rin, your dad's calling." Jirou commented, passing her phone to her.

Rin's face slightly tensed as she took the phone from her, Jirou rolling onto Yaoyorozu's back instead so Rin could sneak out of the room to answer the call.

She stood outside in the cool summer atmosphere, the dark, clear sky looming over her head. Back leaned against the wall of the dormitory, she answered the phone call, bringing the phone to her ear.

"Hey Dad, is everything okay?" Rin whispered, not wanting to accidentally wake up the teachers in the next dorm over.

"Yes, everything's great. I just wanted to check on my little star."

Her father's voice thrusted her out of the uplifted mood she'd been in for the past two days. She'd almost forgotten that the league was supposed to be attacking their camp anytime soon – but given it was their last night and they were leaving for Musutafu early morning, she assumed the League would've made a move by now.

"Yes, I'm having a lot of fun." Rin responded in a peppy tone, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

"That's good to hear," her father's voice sounded strained.

Rin gazed at her slippers, digging her heel into the wooden floors of the engawa.

"Why are you calling so late?" Rin subtly questioned.

Her father sighed through the phone, their kitchen kettle whistling in the background of the call. She could just imagine Ryu pouring himself a cup of coffee, the sound of his spoon clanking in his mug only reinforcing her hunch.

Ryu was definitely having a rough night if he was making coffee at this hour.

"I'm catching up with paperwork now that I don't have a troublemaker like you around to distract me." He joked. "Is the beach at your camp nice?"

"It is – nice and cold." Rin tiredly responded before glancing into the dormitory. "I should probably head back inside before Mr Aizawa finds me awake at this hour. Make sure you rest, Dad."

"Sure, Kid." Rin's jaw tightened. "Goodnight, love you, Starlight."

"Love you too, Dad."

Rin lowered her phone from her ear as he hung up, closing her eyes as a soft sigh escaped her lips.

The reality of her life settled into the crevices of her body, her head aching as she was reminded of what was awaiting her back at home. She hadn't realised how heavy the truth about her father was until she had been relieved of the weight momentarily, only for it to be shoved back onto her shoulders.

She let out a soft, sad laugh.

He hadn't even wished her a happy birthday.

✩࿐
  

Aizawa peered up from his phone, finding the dead silence in the bus peculiar for his rowdy students. He turned around in his seat, gazing over the occupants of the bus only to find the majority of his students dead asleep.

It would've been safe to assume that his class was just exhausted from their two days of intense training, in preparation for their Hero Licence Exams next semester, but Aizawa knew that they'd been up all night celebrating Rin, Jirou and Iida's birthdays in the boy's dormitory.

Before he turned back around, he spotted Shoto, Rin, Bakugou and Kaminari who were sitting in the last two rows of the bus. Unsurprisingly, Bakugou had a phallic drawing in bold, black marker that Aizawa could guess was in permanent marker. Kaminari seemed to have eyes drawn on his eyelids while Rin had 'Shoto was here' written neatly on her left cheek. Shoto was the only one left untouched, the boy peacefully laying his head on top of Rin's.

Aizawa had to hold back an amused chuckle at the sight.

He basked in the rare silence, knowing fully well that the moment anyone woke up, hell would break loose over either the cute state of the class couple, or the silly little drawing on Bakugou's face.

✩࿐