For Now, Let Me Enjoy This

2

Sitting on top of the school rooftop, empty disposable bento boxes at their sides, and an unnamed kitten walking around, Hizashi thought that maybe the earlier feeling was just an upset stomach. He felt much better now after eating, and so there shouldn't have been another reason for his feelings. But still, he avoided looking at them being all cute for too long.

The three of them had been talking about Shoutas quirk. Mostly, Shouta had just been staring down at his food while blushing.

"Ya know, maybe you should go the battler route!" Shouta looked over and frowned at Hizashi.

"How so?"

"Well, I mean, if you do that you can fight villains on even terms. It'll be fair!"

"Quirk matchups can make or break a fight–" Oboro started.

"–And I'm not much of a fighter in the first place. What would I do against a brawler..." Shouta's voice trailed off before reaching towards Oboros hands. "Hey! Stop it!" Hizashi looked over to them before laughing.

On his right, Oboro had held out some sushi towards the small kitten for him to eat, chopsticks and all. Shouta was gripping onto his wrists and trying to pull away his hands as though it would kill the kitten.

"Don't give him human food, Oboro. That's bad." He reached behind him and grabbed his unopened carton of school milk. Under his breath he was mumbling curses as though he were disciplining a toddler for drawing on the wall. He held the milk out to the kitten, not letting go of Oboro's wrists the whole time as though he might still do something.

Hizashi watched the scene contently, at least until small pangs hit his chest, neck, stomach. It felt almost burning and straining, like the feeling right before a cough. He cleared his throat, but nothing happened. Drinking some of his milk, he looked away and pretended to ignore the painful feeling.

Eventually, he couldn't help it anymore. His lungs felt like they were crippling in like plastic bags and his heart felt like it would explode. His throat felt so strained that he was scared that if he were to so much as open his mouth he would fall into a coughing fit. Small coughs into his elbow at first, before forcing himself to stop despite the pain. He didn't want to bother anyone, so he just kept it short like that as though nothing happened.

When he pulled away, nothing seemed wrong. He felt slightly better, but he knew something was wrong. He wasn't stupid, afterall. Shouta and Oboro had been bickering the whole time and paying him no mind, so he figured that it'd be fine if he just left. He turned to them, and instantly another pang attacked his throat. He cleared it again—this time to get their attention—and said that he wasn't feeling well and was going to go home. Picking up his stuff, he waved to them with a small smile.

He made it maybe 10 steps down the stairs when he heard someone call for him from across the hall. His head turned in the direction, and he grinned when he saw a familiar third year.

"Kayama!" He walked over to her, then immediately covered his eyes with his free hand. "Are you–?!"

He heard the girl laugh. "Sorry, Yamada. Were you coming down from the roof?"

"No– Well, yes, but– What are you wearing?!"

"My hero costume?"

"You're naked!"

"Ooh, yeah, that."

"How could you forget that?! You– You should put on proper clothes." He took a few steps foward before seemingly realizing that it would be rude to just leave—no matter how little clothing she was wearing, she was still his upperclassman. "I– I'll be going now. You have fun doing... whatever."

As he was walking away—much quicker now—he heard her say that she was "proud of the youth for breaking rules." Whatever that meant. He just felt bad for Shouta and Oboro. And—yep. The pain that had temporarily left while talking to Kayama came back full force as soon as he thought of the pair, and it was taking nearly all of his willpower (and dignity) not to die from coughing right there. Hurrying his pace, he rushed down another set of stairs and to the front entrance.

——————————————

As soon as he opened the front door, he realized two things. One, nobody was home. He had the whole house to himself, since not even his little sister had come home from dance practice yet. Two, the strain and the burn had increased to feelings of pure nausea. He was scared that, if he didn't make it to some sort of bucket quickly, he would turn his stomach inside out right in the middle of the doorway.

Was it something he ate? Is that why his stomach felt so greasy, was it food poisoning? His insides churned. But that wouldn't make any sense, since he felt sick even before he had eaten. He had passed that up to being hungry, but that wouldn't make any sense as to why he felt sick now. He had just eaten!

Nothing seemed to make any sense as to why he felt so sick, until he had leaned back and stared at the ceiling, eyes watery and hands clamped above his head in an attempt to open up his lungs. The burning feeling was still there, but much less severe. He hadn't quite thrown up as much as he had dry heaved and coughed, and he didn't quite feel like he was suffocating any more. It was definitely still strong, though. He cleared his throat before standing up, one hand falling to his stomach and the other reaching to flush the toilet. He froze in his spot as his eyes refocused and he actually saw what had fallen in the bowl.

Inside of the ceramic, the water was bloody and almost chunky. His mind flashed back to when he was in junior high and the teacher was explaining anatomy, how there was this man who literally coughed up part of his lung before dying. Was that what this is? Was he dying? Or was his mind hazed in panic and was he hallucinating?

He cupped his hands over his eyes, scooting back into the wall and attempting to steady his breathing. Right. He's not dying, he'll be fine. He might've been hallucinating the whole thing, since there's no way he'd actually cough up his lung from a minor fit.

"Hii-zaa-shii. Are you okay in there?" His sister's voice echoed into the room from the door. He must've not heard them coming home. He stood up, bringing down his hands and flushing the toilet.

"Yeah. Sorry. Just tired after training." Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard the tremble of his voice and legs. He washed his hands, still trembling. "Why?"
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soo, this is probably gonna be a bit different from different hanahaki aus. personally, i dont really like the idea that they suffocate from the flowers since flowers are surprisingly breathable, especially the flowers im gonna be using. I think flowers would also affect the breath, so youll see what i do instead in the next chapter~