Hello, Goodbye [BHNA Chatfic]

chapter twenty-seven

Seven am should be banned. Nothing should happen at seven am because it's a disgusting time. Eight am is fine. Six am is great for those early birds. But seven am is a time hated by anyone and everyone. 

This claim was only supported by the campus or UA. Alarms in the 1-C dorms don't start until 7:30 at the earliest. My six am alarm shot through the dorm's silence, thankfully not waking anyone up. Except for me… I wish it hadn't woken me up. The showers took five minutes to warm up and the toaster took ten. Most of my morning routine was spent waiting for the rest of the dorm building to wake up with me.

The main building's doors we open when I arrived even though the hallways were empty. Walking to the 1-A classroom, I searched for a light from underneath a door or the sound of a coffee machine to prove I wasn't totally alone in hell. But even as I stood outside of the classroom I'd been ordered to find, I saw no signs of life. 

Why the actual fuck am I here this early anyway? No one's going to be here until 8:25. 

Maybe Aizawa is a secret morning person? 

Pushing open the door, another empty room greeted me. A regular classroom with the lights off before the sun rose and morning moonlight still casting shadows of chairs and desks. Scrawled across the chalkboard, which is extremely old fashioned for a giant training school, was the info for the day including the class schedule and lunch options. Totally normal and casual things a person would see in a classroom- wait, is that a dead body? 

A large, yellow lump lay below the chalkboard. After watching it- would 'it' even be the correct term?- for many seconds, no part of the lump moved. So if breathing was supposed to be happening, it apparently is not. 

Is this a test or some shit? Do I have to deal with this?

Yet another reason why this whole school is a cult. I tried to tell you. 

And I didn't listen because it's dumb. 

My head popped out into the hallway, glancing left and right to scan for a person. Not even a tumbleweed comically blew down the hall. 

"Well, shit." I muttered, pulling myself back into the room and zoning in on the hazmat colored lump. Taking careful steps, I moved towards the body, praying to every deity imaginable that it wasn't a body. My hand reached out to casually poke at the end, as you do with a mysterious lump found in a dark classroom. But before I could make contact, this bitch STOOD UP. 

The lump shot to its feet and before I could even process what happened, I found myself staring up at the greasy rat of a hero. 

Damn, he's tall. 

"Just knock on the door like a normal person. Or sneak in properly."

And kind of a dick but whatever. 

I stood up too, trying to shoot to my feet like he had. Sadly, it was still seven am so the blood rushing through my brain left me stumbling against the chalkboard. I waited a moment for my mind to stop shaking like a rock tumbler before straightening back up and turning to Eraserhead.

We both decided to ignore the now smudged chalk writing. Well, I decided to and Aizawa chose to stare at me in disappointment. Whatever slight approval he gave me yesterday in Principal Nezu's office was gone. Absolutely destroyed. 

"So…" I trailed off, caught between a sarcastic comment and an icebreaker about 'Mornings, am I right?'. 

Placing my hands on the wooden podium, I looked out at the classroom that might be my own one day. And at this point it seems like it'll happen whether I want it to or not. I pushed that possibility to the back of my mind, turning back to Aizawa.

"Do I have to call you sensei now? Or can I pull a low level nickname out?" I asked, Though I'd only formally met Aizawa a week or so ago, both of my parents had been working with him for years. Usually through tips shared over text but occasionally in person to take down a villain. 

A look from Aizawa gave me the answer I needed. 

"Alright, Aizawa-Sensei it is." I gave the podium two firm slaps then turned to my new part time teacher with my hands held behind my back. "Where's this infamous gym uniform then?" 

With a sigh way more exasperated than needed, an arm literally slithered out from the sleeping bag and pulled down the zipper. I held a breath for fear of sleeping-bag-stench™. Not that I'm accusing him of not having hygiene but, well, uh oh… 

Stop mentally bullying your teacher to make yourself feel better. 

Hey, stop that. You know I'm joking, you're literally in my brain. 

Aizawa walked to one of the cabinets along the side wall and pulled open the door, grabbed a small bundle, and proceeded to toss the bundle at me without a glance for where it was going. 

The plastic wrapped clothes flew through the air, towards my awaiting arms. It spun once, twice, three times in the air. I followed the arc with my eyes, watching in awe as it grew closer, then hit the ground a foot to the left from where I stood. 

I stared at the package. Aizawa stared at the package. 

I walked around the podium and grabbed the package. I threw it lightly into the air then caught it in both hands as though it hadn't hit the ground in the first place.

"Um...Kobe?" I said with a smile. Aizawa kept eye contact with me for ten seconds of silence. I know this because I counted it after the awkwardness set in. This effect was immediate of course considering Aizawa could intimidate an orange by staring at it.

Aizawa broke the stare-down to glance at his watch.

"It's 7:45 right now and Hero Course has an early training today. I suggest you change and get out to the training fields now." He then walked towards the exit of the classroom, pausing in the door, "This is going to be difficult. You'll be expected to work at the level of the hero course without any prior training with them or alone." 

The plastic crinkled beneath my tightening grip. A sharp breath left my nose. 

"I know it won't be a piece of cake, Aizawa-Sensei. I made a good seven pages of pros and cons about this whole situation. Why are you telling me this?" 

He didn't answer instantly. Another silence covered the room but this time I didn't count. Instead I focused on the slow light growing in the room from the rising sun. The curse of seven am was nearing its close, bringing with it the peaceful awakening of eight am. 

Aizawa shifted in the doorway, glancing over his shoulder just long enough to say something to me. 

"Just don't give up too easily." 

And off he went. Leaving me with a plastic wrapped gym uniform and now ten minutes to change and prepare to get my ass kicked by a bunch of hot teenagers