STUTTER | KIRISHIMA EIJIROU.

chapter nine.

     On the day of the announcement of the dormitories, you had gotten a sudden call from none other than your best friend. When you picked up, you could practically hear his grin through the phone.

     "[Name], [Name]!" he chirped cheerfully, despite it being early in the morning. It seemed like the news about the new living spaces woke him up completely. "Are you excited about the dormitories?" he asked, which made your assumption correct.

     You nodded, waiting for a reply, before realizing that he couldn't see you. Embarrassed and feeling idiotic, you laughed. "Yeah, I am. We'll be stuck with each other even more now."

     "You say that like it's a bad thing!" he whined.

     "It isn't, I swear, Ei." you waved off, signing your name on the various papers related to the dormitory announcement from U.A. and the company in charge of constructing it. You absentmindedly plagiarized your parents' signature, knowing that they'd simply ignore them if you handed it to them, regardless of the awkward and lackluster home visit that took place minutes ago.

     "Anyways," his tone of voice sounded a bit brighter than before. "The papers say that we can bring a pet if no one is allergic to it!" the written date on the paper got messed up as you felt yourself stiffen. "You remember that cat that I've brought up a few times? The one with the quirk?"

     "Yeah, definitely," you replied back, scribbling out the numbers that you had unintentionally scrawled. You rewrote them underneath the given line as neat as possible. "Do you plan to bring that cat into the dorms then?" you inquired casually, pleading to yourself that he was not going to—

     His response was the exact opposite. "Yeah! If she lets me, I'm going to take care of her in my dorm. I don't think that anyone in our class has cat allergies, so I'm sure it'll be fine with Mr. Aizawa. Doesn't he adore them, anyways?"

     Your mind scrambled with a reply to dissuade him, so you ended up stuttering out, "I-I have cat allergies! Yeah— um— I think I recently got them because I ran into one the other day and nearly sneezed my brains out."

     "Is that so?" he questioned dejectedly, totally buying your lie. "That's a bummer. I was looking forward to taking care of her, too..." he mumbled into the phone. "Sorry to bother you then, [Name]. I'll see you at school!" Eijirou feigned his optimistic tone, and if you weren't his best friend, you would have fallen for his act.

     You cursed to yourself; you absolutely hated the redhead holding any kind of negativity within him. It was even worse when you were practically at fault with it. "Actually, wait!" you exclaimed, hopefully stopping Eijirou from disconnecting from the call. When you didn't hear the noise, you continued, "You can still take care of her. If I'm not in the same room as her, I'll be fine!" you offered him, mentally banging your head against a wall at your stupidity and on the spot brilliance. "It isn't written down in my files either, so none of the staff know about it."

     "Seriously!?" he cried out. You closed your eyes at his excruciatingly joyful voice, letting out a silent sigh. "Are you sure though? I don't know how bad your allergies can get, and they sound pretty bad..."

     "Yeah, I'm sure, Ei," you reassured him, tapping the pen in your hand against the letters on your wooden desk. "Just make sure that the cat wants to." you chuckled in spite of yourself.

     "Of course!" he agreed instantly. "It'd be unmanly of me to do it without her consent!" you let out another laugh at his unmasked enthusiasm. "I'm going to head out now to try to find her. The earlier I ask her, the more time I have to prepare for my dormitory."