Perhaps a Better Place [A Dadzawa Story]

Recreational: Chapter 44

     I carefully walk up the stairs to the apartment and I hear laughing from a room somewhere inside.

     Nervously, I walk through the (carpeted) kitchen after slipping off my shoes, resting a hand over my aching stomach. I follow the sound of laughter down a hallway and to a door that's cracked open, which I knock on softly.

     "Come in," Kirishima says and I walk in to the sight of both boys with red faces and puffy eyes, both giggling uncontrollably. Kirishima holds his stomach as Sero tries to frantically wipe away tears.

    "Do I even wanna know?" I ask, smiling softly as I raise an eyebrow. Kirishima shakes his head as Sero nods.

     I shake my head as I put my bag down, looking around Kirishima's room. It's a bit more plain than I expected, though has a lot of red, black and gray to match his various posters.

     Kirishima sits in a rolling desk chair, spinning slightly back and forth as he writes on what I recognize as the homework that Yamada assigned today.

     Sero sits on Kirishima's bed, long legs stretched out as he sits against the wall, pillow in his lap, elbows resting on the pillow with his phone in one hand and a flat-ish stick-like object in the other. I'm not sure what it is until he lifts it to his mouth, closes one end between his lips, and then blows out a cloud of vapor that smells like oranges.

     He meets my eyes, then looks at the vape, then back at me. "Oh, shit. Sorry, I should've asked if it was okay. It doesn't have any nicotine or anything, just CBD."

     I wave my hand dismissively. "Nah, it doesn't bother me. I just wasn't sure what it was."

     He looks relieved. "Alrighty."

     I sit on the floor by Sero's legs, pulling my bag over and digging around for my phone.

     "You don't have to sit on the floor, you know," Kirishima says without looking up. "Plenty of places."

     I groan. "It's too late. I'm already down here and I'm not getting up anytime soon, and not without any kind of incentive."

     "Coffee?" Kirishima asks, looking over.

     "Sounds amazing, but I'm banned."

     "By who?" Sero asks.

     "Tokoyami and Aizawa," I groan quietly, rolling my eyes. "And it's not even like I can be sneaky about it. The mood shift is fucking staggering, dude."

     Sero grins, all straight and perfectly white teeth. "Now that's something I wanna see. Let us know when the restrictions are lifted."

"Seriously. I'm having, like, withdrawals."

The three of us laugh quietly, and Kirishima puts his pencil down.

     After a few seconds, Kirishima gets up and plops down on the floor next to me.

     "Hey, you're good at English, right?"

     I tilt my head to one side, then the other, then shrug. "I guess you could say that. Need me to check your homework?"

     "Please? I'm not feeling very confident in my answers."

     I pat his shoulder as I take the worksheet, reading it over.

"Everything looks good, but double-check your conjugation rules with number six and eleven. English is a disaster, so you may have to do a quick Google search just to make sure."