"Ouch!" Hizashi winced as a wadded up piece of music paper struck his head. "Okay, who threw this? At least yell or something, don't just assault me."
"We <i>were</i> yelling, Mr. Yamada," a perky teen in the front row piped up. She had short, pink hair that flew about as she shook her head rapidly. "You're not listening!"
"Oh." He glanced over at the rest of the class and found them staring at him, wide-eyed. A few were snickering. "Yeahhhh. Sorry about that. I'm a little, uh, distracted today, ya dig?"
He smiled faintly at the eye rolls this phrase caused - no matter how many times, the kids gave him hell for the way he spoke.
"You got a hot date or something?" A spiky-haired young man in the back sneered as he propped his feet up on a music stand.
"None of your business, Bakugo," he answered tartly. "And watch your drums. If you put a foot through one again I'll make you play on pieces of paper for as long as it takes to order a new set."
"Shoulda known that was a 'no'."
"Give the guy a break," someone whispered loudly.
"There's somethin', yo. Who can tell me what a <i>break</i> is?" Hizashi raised his eyebrows. "Anybody? Anybody who <i>isn't</i> Midoriya..? Okay, kid. Go."
The green-haired student enthusiastically recited the answer as if reading direct from a textbook. "In disco, hip hop and electronic dance music, a break is where all the elements of a song except for percussion, disappear."
"Yep. DJ terms, all the vocals an' shit are gone, so you're left with the beat." He held up his phone with a track ready to play to show them what he meant. The rest of that class went much more smoothly after that.
But word - gossip, unfortunately -- got around, and the rest of the day he had to fend off nosy students and colleagues alike. Lunch was especially bad as he'd promised to go with a friend. Nemuri Kayama ran the theater classes and they'd collaborated quite a few times. She was nearly vicious in her insistence he try her dating "techniques", sure that if the man would just do things her way he'd find a partner. He knew she meant well, but she could be very tiring.
"<i>No</i>, Nem, I told ya, I'm not seeing anyone." He groaned as the dark-haired woman across from him waved her phone in his face.
"If you're not, why won't you try this new app I told you about? Plus you've been googly-eyed all <i>day</i>. I know the signs, I work with young adults, remember?"
"So do I!" He sipped his drink, glaring at her over the rim.
"So who is she? Or he? Or they? Spill it!"
Hizashi choked on his lemonade and placed the glass back down. "You know I date women."
"Are you implying to do otherwise would be bad?"
"Quit teasing, please," he groaned. "I'm not. You <i>know</i> I'm not. I don't need <i>more</i> trouble with people speculating about my 'prefs. It's none of their business anyway, it doesn't matter, and I swear I'm not seeing anyone!"
"Sure, sure." Nemuri ate her salad in silence for awhile, biding her time. She waited until he was immersed in some paperwork and his sandwich before slyly asking, "what color are her eyes?"
"Purple," he answered without thinking.
"Aha!"
"<i>Cut that out</i>!"
He really needed his time on the beach tonight.
After work he didn't even bother to eat, just rushed through a change of clothing and picked up his basket of supplies as he headed out the back doors off the porch. He made a fire and sat the basket far enough away so it wouldn't be a hazard.
At last he sighed and fell down onto the sand, his long legs splaying out in front of him.
<i>What a day</i>. Hizashi dipped his head back, rolling his neck to try and relieve the tension there. <i>I hallucinate one night, and everyone thinks I'm dating</i>.
"Only way I get a date lately, though," he murmured. And then, as he sat, he remembered a dream he'd frequently had as a child where a mermaid would come up out of the ocean to be his friend. Smiling, he raised his head and sang out in homage to that fantasy, a sea shanty featuring a sailor in love with a pretty, fish-tailed lady.
<i>If only it were that easy.</i>
Halfway through the song a lone female voice joined him and, though startled, he kept singing.
It was definitely coming from the water.
Confused, his mind jumbled and full of too many thoughts, he managed to carry on and his performance became better than usual due to anxiety. The resulting duet was at once beautiful and somewhat terrifying, as he couldn't see his ghostly counterpart.
When it ended Hizashi immediately called out. "Please, whoever you are... stay with me?" He knew how feeble this sounded and tried to strengthen his plea. "I think I saw you the other night, and I can't stop thinking about you."
Verbal silence with only his rough breathing prevailed for a few minutes. He normally loved the crash and roar of the waves, but now the sounds filled him with abject misery, mocking him with no answer.
"<i>Fuck</i>, even my fantasy doesn't want to be with me." The ocean breeze whipped the stray hairs loose from the bun he'd fixed his hair into around his neck and he slapped at it absently. "Damn it. I'm going crazy, aren't I? And if I am, why can't I just see what I want?!"
"No... no, I'm here." The voice was faint, hesitant. But it was <i>there</i>, and what she said next baffled him so much that he knew he couldn't be making this up. "You're not going to hate me, are you?"
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