Ice Cold

Life and Death

It was well into the night and many had already gone to sleep.

You, however, sat outside and stared up at the sky.

"You okay, kid?"

Hawks' voice echoed in your ear and you sighed. "I think so."

"That's the most genuine answer I've gotten."

You hummed, wondering what you looked like from another perspective. One that couldn't hear the voice of the dead.

"Coffee?"

You turned to the voice and saw Aizawa standing in the entrance of the dormitory building with two mugs in his hand.

He sat down on the steps beside you and handed you the mug in his left hand as he sipped from the one in his right.

For a while, neither of you spoke, just staring up at the sky with a pensive expression.

"Nice hair, by the way," he suddenly said. "Short hair suits you."

You stroked the ends of your hair. "Thanks."

Aizawa glanced at you and you took it as a signal to look back, learning that it meant that you would be starting a conversation.

"I'm glad you had dinner with everyone else, for once," he started. "Did you like it?"

"Yeah."

He cleared his throat and shifted in his position. "Justin just contacted me. He's headed back to France in about a week when Aster gets his energy back up. What's the verdict?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going back or staying here?"

You looked back at the entrance of the dormitory building, where there was still dim lights leaking through the curtains, shadows moving across windows, and some lights turned off.

"...I'm not going back. I'm staying here."

"Is that so?" Aizawa scoffed with a smile. "And to think that just a year ago, you were itching to leave."

"Don't talk about me from so long ago," you groaned.

"I think I will." His voice went solemn, less of a tease and more reminiscing. "You've grown a lot since then. I remember when I first saw you. You didn't even look like a kid, more like a doll or some creepy puppet. Didn't talk, didn't smile. You didn't want to spend time with anyone, not even on a bus or in class. But now, you don't want to leave. You're cooking with them, playing with them... smiling with them."

He put his hand on your shoulder. "I'm proud of you. Not for the power you have or the people you've saved, not even you're reputation. Just the person you've managed to grow into. Someone that decides for themselves."

You smiled. It was a lovely feeling, smiling. You didn't quite control when it happened but when it did, it was invited.

Aizawa cleared his throat once more and stood up, the seriousness in the air fading away. The pride in his eyes faded away and was replaced with fatigue. "Don't be out past midnight."

"Yeah, yeah."

He walked off and you heard the entrance to the dormitory building open then shut, leaving you with silence, save for the sound of crickets.

You took a sip of your coffee and stared off into the distance, where cars were zooming past, bustling to get to wherever they needed to go.

Perhaps it was a parent trying to get home to their family from work, or someone rushing to their friend's house for a sleepover.