At first, Hitoshi thought, mistook Midoriya's completely unguarded state around him as simply a Midoriya thing the other boy does around people. And he knows Midoriya is unguarded, knows it because he knows the halting words that have dogged him most of his life; speech just a second too late, as if the speakers (neighboursclassmatesrelativesteachers) were waiting for a blow that would never fall because Hitoshi, even at a tender seven and crying in his mother's arms, was already a fledgling hero.
.

So yes, ever since that fateful fight, Midoriya talks like his brain never registers how there could be hooks in Hitoshi, waiting to pounce on his next syllable.

.

But then he saw his behaviour around Todoroki. Heard the awkward politeness, just a shade too intense to be comfortable. Saw how Midoriya acted around Bakugou, body forever unconsciously poised to turn fast enough away and shoulders slightly risen out of habit.

.

(And doesn't that anger Hitoshi, that something about fuck damn Bakugou is capable of making Midoriya so small?)

.

Hitoshi, Hitoshi does not know what to do with this information. Does not know what to do with Midoriya's offer of friendship and trust, which are all the heavier for their quiet lack of presumption. He wants it all to go away, and take with it his spooked nerves. He wants it desperately to stay. He wants, wants something so deeply that he, for all his clever verbal tricks to fish out other people's words, has no name for it. It feels like a belly bubbling full of warmth. It feels like trying to be the person Midoriya sees when he sees him. It tastes like the possibilities behind a thunderstorm. It tastes like electric hope.

.

Hitoshi carved his current path out of his heart, and it shows. He still carries the emotional furrows. He's not ready for someone to walk right beside him yet, not really, but there is a natural ease to be found in treading in Midoriya Izuku's shadow. There is a comfort to all the time he could take, because Midoriya, too, acts like there is no better place to be, walking ahead to show him the way out of being alone. And maybe one day when human company and eyes without fear become as familiar as the one-two of his heartbeat, maybe then he will understand.

.

(And what a heartwarming, heartaching revelation that will be.)

…..

But the orchids bloomed differently this time:

And changed the ways of spring.

Even your smile feels more alive

In this world of strange new things.