Hitoshi was excited.

It was still such a weird feeling, though one that seemed to be becoming more and more common for him as of late. It started off with reconnecting with Mei, and now with meeting everyone in 1-A. He hadn't realized how happy other people could make him. It was nice.

He still didn't really understand the students in 1-A, if he was honest. They seemed genuinely interested in him despite his less than stellar first impression and his quite frankly abysmal social skills. It was better than them hating him, at least, like he was sure they would.

After the day Kaminari had dragged him to lunch, he took it upon himself to add Hitoshi to 1-A's class group chat. Hitoshi admittedly had not known what a group chat was, so seeing so many texts from so many people was a surprise. They were strangely okay with his presence there. Welcoming, even.

He'd never thought his phone would have so many contacts.

The group chat allowed him to see what Kaminari meant about his usual friend group being too much for Hitoshi. Ashido and Kirishima were just as enthusiastic and energetic as Kaminari. They'd definitely be an overwhelming trio in person, though he had to admit that he almost looked forward to it.

Of course, he still couldn't text very well. His reading still wasn't very good and writing was even harder. He normally had to get Yamada or Aizawa to help him out - usually Yamada, since he seemed to have a better grasp on the slang that they'd use. He was grateful for it. He didn't think he could figure any of it out on his own. Like, why did some of them use the kanji for grass to indicate that they were laughing? What the hell did grass have to do with anything?

His peers didn't really make sense to him, but that was okay. So long as he had Yamada to help him out, he'd be just fine.

Regardless of his difficulties, Hitoshi was excited. He felt a little like he was part of their class now, even if he technically wasn't. And some of them even liked him enough to invite him out to lunch! He'd never thought anyone but Mei would want to spend time with him before. The thought was a bit surreal, if he was honest.

Even with how happy he was about it, he was pretty sure no one was more thrilled than his foster parents. Especially Yamada. He was pretty sure the man was going to explode in his excitement, bouncing on his heels as he demanded every detail. Even Aizawa seemed ecstatic, in his own way - the wide smile he'd given him at the news was more than enough to tell Hitoshi that. They seemed just as happy as they dropped him off when Saturday finally came.

Nerves joined Hitoshi's excitement as he stood in front of the restaurant. Doubts flooded his mind. Was coming here a mistake? Did they even actually want him here? Should he just go back home?

"Shinsou! Hey, you're here!" a voice called from behind him. He jumped slightly, the sudden noise surprising him.

"Uh…" Hitoshi said eloquently. How was he supposed to respond? Did he even have to say anything at all? God, this was too stressful already.

Kaminari either didn't notice or didn't care about his awkwardness. "I'm sure you probably already saw the rest of their texts, but everyone else is inside already! Let's go before they decide to start without us!"

Would they do that? Hitoshi wasn't sure. They seemed nice, so they'd probably want to be polite. Waiting for everyone was polite, right? Etiquette was not something Hitoshi had much memory of.

Kaminari did not give him a chance to contemplate any further. He grabbed Hitoshi by the hand and began dragging him inside the restaurant. He seemed to do that a lot. Did people normally drag each other around or was that just Kaminari?

Kaminari paused as he stepped in, glancing around, before making a small noise of recognition and pulling Hitoshi along. Ah. There they were, at a table. They had in fact waited. Kaminari had just been exaggerating, then. He probably should have expected that.

"Hey, we're finally here!" Kaminari exclaimed, taking a seat. Hitoshi sat down next to him, in the one free seat left. A chorus of enthusiastic greetings met them. Well, enthusiastic except for Todoroki - he seemed to prefer speaking calm and fairly monotone rather than the loud, energetic voices everyone else seemed to speak in. He was the only one who made any sense to Hitoshi.

Before he'd realized it happened, Midoriya had called a waitress over. Menus were suddenly plopped down in front of them as she asked for drink orders. Hitoshi, panicking a little as she got to him, quickly got out a, "Water, please." Everywhere had water, right? Even he couldn't fuck his drink order up.

He, in fact, fucked it up. The waitress cocked her head slightly. "Ah, could you say that again please? It was a little too quiet." He repeated his request a little louder, his cheeks heating red. It was still not loud enough. He was really panicking now, feeling his words beginning to leave him. God, why did I think I could do this?

Kaminari, fortunately, was close enough to hear him. "Oh, he'll have water!" The waitress wrote it down and left, and Hitoshi let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. He swore right then and there he'd never think of Kaminari as loud or annoying again. Not after he saved him like that.

…On second thought, maybe he couldn't do that. Hero or not, he wouldn't be Kaminari if he wasn't loud and annoying. Hitoshi didn't need to know him very long to know that for certain.

"Oh, there are so many choices! How am I supposed to pick just one?" Uraraka lamented. Right. Hitoshi was supposed to be looking at that. Not spacing out.

"…Uh, are you not even gonna open the menu, Todoroki?" Midoriya asked, eyebrows knitting in confusion.

He shook his head in response. "I already know what I want."

"…Oh?"

Todoroki nodded solemnly. "Soba."

"But you get that every time we eat, kero." Tsu interjected.

"I like soba," he said simply, voice monotone and face completely deadpan.

"What if they don't serve it? You didn't even check!" Iida chastised.

Todoroki blinked slowly, reminding Hitoshi a little of Bastard and Pumpkin. "Oh. I looked it up online beforehand."

Online menus were a thing? Hitoshi really hadn't remembered anything about restaurants. He shook his head slightly. Focus. You gotta actually pick something out! Don't repeat what you did with the water! He opened the menu, scanning over it.

Fuck.

Hitoshi had been excited for this outing. So excited he managed to forget one small little detail. If he wanted to order, he'd have to read the menu. It wasn't something any of the others even thought twice about, he was sure. But it was all he could think about.

Hitoshi couldn't read.

Well, not well, at least. Certainly not well enough to read the menu. The stress of that realization seemed to make the characters blur even more. Reading was much different outside of a textbook. Oh, god, what was he supposed to do?

He really wished he knew about the online menu thing beforehand. Then, at least, his foster parents could've helped him read it ahead of time so he wouldn't have to worry like he was now.

They continued chatting amicably around him about the food options, oblivious to Hitoshi's distress. He wished he could crawl into a hole and die right then and there.

They'd find out he couldn't read and then they wouldn't want anything to do with him. What fifteen year old couldn't read? They'd think he was an idiot. And maybe they'd be right. They wouldn't want to associate with someone so stupid. Especially not after he'd proven himself to be crazy and violent. God, he really wanted home right now.

He kept staring down at the menu, hoping he might suddenly be able to read it if he looked long enough.

"Katsudon for me, please!" he distantly heard Midoriya request. Oh, god. When did the waitress get back? He stared at the menu with increasing intensity, panic rising by the second. Maybe he'd recognize one of the words before she got to him. He had to be able to read at least one of them, right?

He startled as an elbow suddenly met his side. "Shinsou, dude, it's your turn!" Kaminari informed him. Fuck. He was all out of time.

He sat silently for a moment, eyes scanning around him as if he'd find a solution somewhere else in the restaurant. Shit, what was something someone else ordered? Midoriya got katsudon, right? That worked. He could go with that. It was the only thing he could remember, anyway.

"Katsudon, please!" Hitoshi got out, a little too loud this time. He winced slightly at his volume. God, he really was fucking everything up today, wasn't he? No one made any indication they noticed, at least, though he was certain they had. He was grateful they were at least trying to pretend he wasn't the most awkward person they've ever met - and he had no doubt that he was.

He was very tempted to hide under the table right about now. He would not, because he knew it would lead to even more embarrassment, but the thought was definitely there. He settled for sinking down in his chair slightly.

"Oh my god, oh my god, I almost forgot. There was this really funny meme I wanted to show you all but I forgot to send it to the group chat! Hold on, lemme find it," Kaminari said, speaking a mile a minute as he pulled out his phone. Hitoshi wasn't sure what a meme was. Should he be concerned? Kaminari tended to do concerning things.

"Found it!" He began showing whatever it was he was looking for to everyone at the table, starting with Tsu, who sat directly across from him. Whatever it was prompted laughter from everyone else. Well, at least that meant it wasn't something for Hitoshi to be concerned about. Probably.

Kaminari practically shoved the phone in his face when he got to Hitoshi. On the screen was a cat with crying eyes edited onto its face, text on the top and bottom of the picture. It was something Kaminari enjoyed posting a lot to the group chat. Hitoshi could never read the text without help from Yamada, but the cat pictures were always appreciated.

He could not read the text. Well, he could read some of it, but he didn't understand the little he could. It was probably slang again. Hitoshi hated slang. It never made any sense to him.

He wasn't sure what was supposed to be funny, but something had to be, right? Everyone else laughed, so he probably should, too. He did so, though it sounded forced to his ears. He hoped it sounded genuine to Kaminari, at least. He seemed to accept the laughter without complaint, so Hitoshi would just assume it did.

He was grateful when the food arrived just a moment later. That was good. He'd have more of an excuse not to talk. As nice as they were, Hitoshi didn't have the slightest clue how to interact with them.

It was good. Not as good as Yamada's cooking - Hitoshi didn't think anything could ever beat that - but still pretty good. At least there was a bright side to all this.

He focused on his food as much as possible, deciding that doing anything else would lead to disaster. He let the others' conversation wash over him, half-listening as he ate. He'd answer when spoken to, not wanting to drive them away any more than he was sure he already had, but kept his mouth shut otherwise.

The rest of the meal passed without incident, something Hitoshi was immensely grateful for. Before he realized it, everyone finished and was ready to leave. They all paid - Hitoshi's foster parents had given him money to pay for his food beforehand - and exited the building.

They ended up dispersing rather quickly, either heading to their respective cars or heading toward a nearby train station. Hitoshi was about to leave, as well, having spotted Yamada and Aizawa's car, before a voice behind him stopped him.

"Shinsou! Hey, can we talk for a minute?" It was Midoriya. Hitoshi had managed to relax toward the end of their outing, but he quickly felt his stress levels rising once more. What could Midoriya possibly want? He reluctantly nodded, turning to face the boy.

It would be okay. He could see Yamada in his car not too far from where they were standing. Nothing bad would happen with Yamada there.

Midoriya scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, looking about as awkward as Hitoshi currently felt. "Uh, I'm not entirely sure how to say this, but, uh, you seemed like you were having a lot of trouble back there. Especially with the menu. I was just wondering…Shinsou, can…can you read?"

Shit. He hadn't kept it as secret as he'd hoped. Either that, or Midoriya was more observant than the others. Hitoshi felt a cold sweat drip down his neck. He was frozen in place, unable to move a muscle.

What would Midoriya do with that information? Would he tell everyone? Maybe they'd all make fun of how stupid he was and wonder why they ever tried befriending him. No one would want anything to do with him after this. Oh, god, everything was falling apart. Fuck. What do I-

"Shinsou? Are you okay?" Midoriya's voice interjected, startling Hitoshi out of his thoughts. He jumped slightly at the unexpected noise.

Midoriya cringed slightly. "Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you! It's just, you seemed like you were thinking some bad things. I get it. It happens to me too…" he trailed off, growing quieter toward the end. Midoriya shook his head slightly as if to rid himself of whatever he was thinking about, a smile replacing itself on his face.

"I don't think any less of you, if that's what you're worried about," the green-haired boy continued. "None of the others would either, though I won't tell them without permission."

Okay. That seemed a bit too good to be true, but his stress levels were gradually lowering. "…So what exactly did you keep me here for?" Hitoshi questioned, growing a bit more confident. Surely it had to be for more than just telling him he knew Hitoshi was illiterate. What would the point of that be?

"I was just wondering…well, I'm sure you're getting help already, but if you'd like, maybe I could help you with reading? Or at least, maybe if we ever do something like this again, I could help you read the menu or something. I can be discreet about it. No one would have to know if you don't want them to."

…Was Hitoshi dreaming? Not only was Midoriya not making fun of him, he was offering to help him? It didn't seem real. He felt a small smile slowly growing on his face.

"Yeah. I think I'd like that. Thank you."

Midoriya jolted slightly, as if he hadn't expected that response. "Ah! Of course! It's no problem!" Midoriya's smile grew impossibly wide as he turned around. "I guess I'll see you later, then. Bye, Shinsou!" he called with a small wave before he began walking.

"See you," Hitoshi returned with a wave of his own. He turned to walk to his own car, where Yamada was waiting for him.

"Hey, Little Listener!" Yamada greeted as Hitoshi stepped into the car. "Stayed behind to talk a little more with Midoriya, I see. Did you make a new friend?"

Hitoshi pondered this. Did he? Could he call Midoriya a friend? Hitoshi still wasn't entirely sure what made someone a friend just yet.

But Midoriya was nice. He wasn't telling anyone Hitoshi's secret and he even offered to help him out with reading. He seemed like he wanted to spend more time with Hitoshi in the future, and Hitoshi found himself wanting the same despite the embarrassment this first time brought. If that wasn't friendship, Hitoshi wasn't sure what was.

"…Yeah. I think I did."