DORM ROOM 2

[ Dorm Room 2 is farthest from the door, on the right hand side. The dorm belongs to Shinobu and Hinata. ]

Shinobu was pumped off of another victory but perhaps more in upon returning to class finding out that Hinata was going to be his roommate. Whatever had happened he was still going to hang out with his friend. But the fact they'd be sharing a room made the endless onslaught of challenges all the easier. With the rest of the day free to him the cat boy rushed off with his friend to go check out their home away from home. They were room two as it happened. The feline thought it ironic they didn't realize one of them was going to be the next number one hero and thus should have been in room one. But really they probably didn't have much rhyme or reason to how they assigned the rooms. He'd have to let it slide he supposed.

"Alright, what do we have here?" Shinobu asked aloud as he opened the door for the two of them. Before any sight registered, a wave of humid air rushed out and past the two. The familiar hum of a humidifier was providing a nice white noise background. The boy's eyes caught his side of the room first. Largely because there was a large post stretching from the floor to the ceiling wrapped in what looked like rope that he knew had to be for him. He always had a scratching post on hand but this was by far the tallest he'd ever seen. The bed right by it had silk sheets which combined with the humidifier would allow the charged cat to sleep without his covers sticking to him. Bags containing his clothes and such were placed neatly beside the bed. He'd get to unpacking eventually but probably not today.

"Just like home." he said with a relieved sigh. Excitement took over quickly after and the boy rushed in and tossed off every article of clothing on his body into a pile on his bed. "Damn that uniform's stuffy" he commented while beginning to stretch his legs now that he was finally unrestricted. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to running in the uniform. The hero costume was alright but that get up was just too much. He'd put up with it for classes but not a moment longer than he had to. The cat boy's next inclination was to jump face first into his bed and enjoy some comfort after all the running about in the stadiums. He moved about attempting to find a comfortable position before flipping onto his back and spreading his arms and legs out.

"This is gonna be good. Alright, how we celebrating this?" he asked of Hinata across the room. This of course referred to their victory in the stadium. This required a challenge or something similarly exciting. They wouldn't have this much free time every day so they had to make the most of it.

Victory was indeed what they sought and what they achieved. Yet despite the efforts put into their examination, Hinata couldn't help but feel befuddled by the entire experience. Perhaps it was because he expected more out of his opponents, or maybe his partner pulled such significant weight that whatever challenge Hinata expected was left undiscovered. What little bit of pride of victory Hinata could claim, he clung to for dear life as his excitable comrade, now roommate, dashed off toward their newly decided dorm room. How he could still have as much energy as he did after such a harrying experience was beyond Hinata's comprehension.

After a short jog across the campus to the available dorms for students, Hinata could feel himself physically winded as he was in tow to Shinobu who paraded confidently into their room. As the door was flung open, waves of mugginess hit the young lad like a tidal surge. Breathing in he found the air thick and moist. He couldn't tell if the perspiration forming at the edge of his hairline was from the harrowing experience that is physical activity, or because the humidifier in their room was cranked to a metaphorical eleven. Truthfully, Hinata wouldn't have been surprised if the model was custom-made.

As he followed behind, he gave his own side of the room a once-over. It was... bland. Not necessarily empty, by any means. Simply lacking any vibrancy. Hinata could feel the rhetorical jabs at his own personality being made in silent self-deprecation pricking at his confidence again. He scratched his head a bit in frustration, getting closer to examine what the exact contents around there were. Similar to his own roommate's belongings, was a neatly folded hamper containing his clothes and spare uniforms. Other necessities like toiletries were fashioned in a small cube-shaped carrier for easy access to the showers. A pair of slippers, sneakers, and leather loafers also lay tucked underneath his bed. On the wall juxtaposed to his bed hung a singular poster on display, featuring several heroes of the last decade or so standing arms linked together, with a vague inspirational quote written below it in bold text.

"We're all heroes now..." Hinata silently whispered as slumped onto the beige sheets of his bed. Unlike his roommates silken duds, Hinata was blessed with a thick cotton comforter paired with a quilt made in patches of brown, beige, tan and various tones of white. The boy couldn't help but tell if this was teasing, or an unintentional coincidence. Though, he had to admit, it bore a striking similarity to his room at home. The nightstand next to his bed had a tablet, plugged in and charging, as well as several other electronic accessories. A case for his hero costume visor was given to him as well, appearing much like a glasses case. The boy pinched the bridge of his nose as he finally turned to see his roommate enjoying the space...

... In the nude.

Taken aback, Hinata flailed back onto his own bed, hitting the back of his cranium against the hard wall of the dorm room with a booming thud. He couldn't tell where to put his hands, so he ended up just falling over to his side, awkwardly cradling the back of his head from the pain and tucking his knees into his eyes to block out the horror that was his friend being so casually naked.

A serious of clicks and seething breaths between clenched teeth came out as well as many gasped "ow's" and "oh's." After the moment subsided, Hinata withdrew his hands from the sore bump on the back of his head and put them over his eyes much like a visor, rather than a blindfold, only that he may still traverse the room freely. He spoke with vague indignation in his otherwise monotonous and reticent intonation, "You couldn't have at least waited until we were going to sleep to do that underneath the covers, or something? Don't you have more comfortable clothes to wear until then to casually lounge around in?" Hinata was admittedly fumbling over his words, despite his best efforts to come across as stern.

Shinobu sat up upon hearing his roommate's head collide with something. He reached a hand out briefly but set it back down as he saw what followed. Hinata seemed to almost fold in on himself for a while then eventually he covered most of his eyes with his hands. The cat boy didn't follow much of it until he spoke. And what followed wasn't suggestions of how they could celebrate like he was expecting. Instead, Hinata's word's were slowly making the impression in the feline's mind that he wasn't exactly comfortable with nudity but as of yet that conclusion seemed to elude him. As evidence of this fact he got off his bed and stood upright facing his roommate to answer the questions posed to him.

"I mean, yeah I got casual stuff but that's for hanging out outside and stuff you know? This is our home now and a man's gotta be comfortable in his own home." came the boy's usual energetic talk when it came to the subject of what made a man a man or a hero a hero. This was natural to him and he was still himself so it seemed odd that Hinata would be bothered. But then it clicked. Not the sensible it that Hinata just wasn't comfortable with the situation. No this it had a much more sinister explanation, nay, an injustice done to his poor friend. It was clear to him what was going on.

"Oh I get it. It's your sisters huh? Yeah that'd be tough to do with so many girls in the house I bet. I only have brothers so I guess I got lucky there. And we're like bros man! Your sisters aren't here so this is your chance to just relax and stuff!" Shinobu said with some vigor. He understood it all. Hinata had been made to be uncomfortable for his sisters' sake. This was now an invitation to the boy showing him it was okay to do what Shinobu could only assume he had always wanted to. "I'm cool with it. Don't gotta hide nothing for my sake 'cuz I sure won't be hiding nothing from you." he said with a laugh. This was all well and good except for the fact it was all founded on a false conclusion. His home life had been anything but typical yet it was what he thought of as normal. His and Hinata's experiences and desires couldn't be all that different right? They both wanted to be the best hero so surely they'd agree on a lot more.

Unfortunately for the two, Hinata was more uncomfortable for other reasons than his sisters. Granted, they no doubt had a large hand in Hinata's rather anti-social upbringing, but at least anxiety was a topic breached by his family and one unlucky therapist who had to deal with the bundled balls of stress that brewed in the young lad. Rather, things that were not actively talked about, likely because they were never relevant, were issues defining boundaries for sexuality and nudity. Not that Hinata had never seen somebody in the nude before. His older sisters would tease him and show him nudie magazines or something occasionally to rile him up, but only in good fun.

He'd never been in the face of a person who could casually walk around naked without so much as a care for another person's opinion. Hinata shuddered at the thought of seeing his own naked body in a mirror when he goes to shower, often choosing to close his eyes until he'd made it cleanly into the bathing room. His tan complexion was burnt red at the cheeks and across his nose, even the tips of his ears showing more color than usual as he stumbled fervently over his words. "I-I am relaxed! In fact, I am m-more relaxed when I am fully clothed! The more the better! I don't want people seeing me like..." He peeked from underneath his hand visor, seeing only his roommates mid-riff, but enough to make him visibly back up another foot or two as he put a splayed hand out to stop him from getting any closer. "... It just isn't up my alley, okay! Erm."

He stepped back again, feeling the sore spot on his head budge against the door of their bedroom. Hinata let out a small wince as he shook his head. "L-look, no offense, it isn't that looking at you like that is weird, w-well I mean it is weird, but you aren't weird or anything. I'm just out of my element is all, alright? I won't ask you to change or anything if it makes you really uncomfortable, but we n-need to compromise on some things!" Hinata spoke more in the span of the past five or so minutes than he usually did throughout the course of a day. The impassioned speech was born wholly out of embarrassment and desperation to reach a better conclusion than having to take in the peripheral view of his friend postured nude on his bed every day they both decided to be at home.

"First part of this compromise: I will not be taking of any clothing in this room! A-at least, none that I don't have to. Save changing into and out of uniform into more comfortable attire, but I would prefer to stay aptly covered. Secondly, this room is extremely... muggy. Why is that? Do all rooms have to be humidified for some reason?" Hinata lost track of his request and simply started stating theory and conjecture as his brain sporadically tried to collect answers for questions he hadn't asked yet.

Seeing how actually shaken Hinata was about everything Shinobu finally realized he'd come to the wrong conclusion. This was really bothering his friend. He couldn't let things go on like this but was he really about to sacrifice his own comfort for someone else's? Some part of his brain told him the number one hero ought to be willing to do such a thing but that wasn't helping anything. He'd just get caught up in hero fantasies if he let that train of thought roll along. No there had to be something he could do. A compromise just like his roommate had said. Some way for the both of them to be comfortable or at least mostly.

"Hey hey, it's fine Hinata. You don't have to do anything around me you're not comfortable with." he started with a concerned tone. "And for the record I am weird." he continued with a smile while running a hand through his fur covered sides. "As for the humidifier, if I had to guess that's just our room. Or rather it's only here 'cuz of me. The more moisture in the air the harder it is for a bunch of static to build up at one time. Silk doesn't build up near any static in moist air so it's about the only way I can go to sleep without waking up partway into the night suffocating on my pillow case and tied in a couple knots with the sheets." the feline spoke while sitting on the edge of his bed again. It seemed weird to be talking about the difficulties surrounding his quirk. He'd gotten so used to them but if Hinata was to ever understand him it seemed like important information to share. "That said, it does kinda feel like they went a little overboard. I really only need it at night so if you ever wanna turn it off that's fine." he offered as a beginning to his side of their little deal they were coming to.

"I shoulda warned ya about the whole clothes thing. I just can't stand wearing most stuff. Everything just clings to me! And it doesn't help I bring my own fur coat to every outfit. Makes for a real sweaty mess ya know? And my family couldn't really afford to drop the kinda cash it'd take to deck me out in a hundred percent silk all the time. And then there's the whole running thing. All that stuff just gets in the way and tears if i go too fast. I don't know how any of you can run around with all that wrapped around your thighs." Shinobu continued. While he talked an idea came to mind. It probably wouldn't be a total solution but maybe Hinata would accept it as part of their compromise. His tail was pretty long and had a decent diameter especially with the fur on it. And while he didn't normally consciously move his tail about he'd gotten used to ensuring it didn't accidentally brush up against anyone. So he wrapped the appendage once around his waist as a mediocre censor of sorts. Enough to make him somewhat decent from most angles anyway.

"So since we're making a deal and all here's what I got. I'm gonna keep not wearing anything when I'm chilling here. But 'cuz I don't want you seeing stuff that bothers you I'll keep my tail in place like this when you're around too. I'm gonna forget a lot so you'll probably need a lot of patience but I don't wanna be what's distracting you from gunning for that number one spot. Sound good?" This would be the part where a handshake ought to be offered he thought but that would only serve to literally shock his already mentally shocked friend. The whole idea seemed counterproductive. Maybe a challenge could cement the agreement.

Hinata kept his gaze mostly covered until prompted by Shinobu of his 'proposition'. By keeping his tail aptly wrapped in place to keep any unwanted views out of sight, thus out mind, Hinata conceded to this plan with a short sigh of relief. "Sure. We can keep the humidifier low until the night. I'll figure out my own way to deal with it after hours I guess." The boy already seemed to have the gears in his head turning as to how he'd deal with the issue of sweaty mornings. The thoughts drifted back and forth idly for a moment until he remembered he was still in a dialogue with his roommate, to which his vacant gaze into the distance returned to focus as he looked at Shinobu.

"Sorry, I got lost in thought for a second." He spoke frankly as he turned his head back toward his bed frame, slinking around the corner of it and sitting on its edge once more. The thick cotton sheets, for one, would have to go. Another brief sigh escaped his lips as he reached over to the tablet sitting idly on the nightstand. Unplugging it and setting it upon his lap, with a tap of a button on its side and the machine hummed to life as the distinctly bright screen flashed a familiar logo; the academy's insignia showed in bright gold creased on a black screen, then faded as a white boot-up screen took over. "Looks like it wasn't just issued by the school, but manufactured especially for us. I wonder if every room has one of these, or if it was a special case again..."

Hinata set it down, looking back to his roommate again. Gaze averted. Then back to him. Then averted again. He gulped, tapping the tops of his knees for a moment in the silence. He'd never really had to share his living space with another person, and the silence of the room made him only more uncomfortable as time passed. He spoke up. "Sorry for the outburst. I realize we both have our own things to take care of, it just surprised me is all. You appear to be a very carefree individual..." Hinata scratched his chin as he slid further back onto the bed, using his hands to prop him up. "... It's fascinating." His final statement appeared to be dry. Whatever he had originally intended to say came and went without a spoken phrase, being substituted for something equally as apparent but kinder in tone.

The cat boy was relieved to see Hinata actually start looking at him. It was going to be really awkward if Hinata always had his hands over his face to avoid seeing anything. He agreed about the humidifier too which Shinobu was relieved about. Already he figured he could put up with a few nights of sticking to his bed for Hinata's sake but he kept that to himself for the moment. Hinata meanwhile seemed to get easily lost in thought as he looked away and then back to Shinobu. The comments on the tablet drew his attention. It did seem curious indeed that a UA made electronic like that would be here. He'd understand Hinata bringing one from home but getting gifted so unique a model was interesting. Some silence set in as the feline sat back down on his bed, still sure to keep his tail in place given his roommate was occasionally glancing his way. Before he could break it though Hinata chimed in apologizing and commenting on Shinobu's carefree nature. That got a smile out of him.

"Carefree huh? Yeah I guess you could say that. Though forgetful might be the better word for it. There were a bunch of days in middle I didn't realize I'd stepped out naked until I sat down in class if you can believe that!" the cat boy said with a hearty laugh. "Good times... You know I think you lucked out on that. My mom was on top of reminding me the times we met up before school started." he continued while putting a hand to the side of his face to think. With some of the tension settled his earlier thought came back with a vengeance.

"Oh right!" he called as he shot up straight to his feet. "We got distracted. We gotta celebrate our win man!" he shouted while jumping up to stand on his bed. "It's gotta be something good. Not like a challenge between us. This has gotta be a cooperative thing. To seal our deal too!" came the triumphant declaration. Shaking hands would hurt so this seemed like the only natural option. Now he had to think. But thinking while standing was hard. He couldn't really run here but he could shift his weight side to side. That'd have to do.

"That's it!" Shinobu shouted at his epiphany. In reflex his tail returned from around his waist to its natural position, putting the boy on full display for his roommate again this time at about eye level. He looked down and caught his tail in his periphery and realized what he'd done and in a panic grabbed at his tail and wrapped it around himself again. "Dammit I can't be messing up that fast!" he shouted as a self reprimand. "Anyway like I was saying: We've gotta prank the others!" This was it. The way they would seal their roommate deal and celebrate their first victory at UA. But how would be their targets? What would they do? Such thoughts had no place in the overexcited feline's mind at the moment and in truth he was counting on Hinata to supply something on that end. This was going to be a great end to the day.

Hinata furrowed his brow during Shinobu's exclamation of a celebratory round. In this case, a prank on one of their classmates. It had less to do with the nefariousness involved with their activity, as it was little more than a jovial encounter with another who they might bring into their fold anyhow. The issue he took with it amounted to little more than anxiety. What if they had to talk to that person? What if they had to apologize for ruining that person's favorite shirt or shoes or something? What if they had to pay for the damages for getting gum stuck in a poor girl's hair? These thoughts heavily weighed on Hinata for a moment as he blinked, finger to chin, contemplating the proposal. He was so lost in thought he hardly noticed Shinobu's flickering tail for a moment before it returned to its proper location during their room meetings.

As if on cue, Hinata opened his mouth to speak of his hesitations as a voice rang from the UA-issued electronic tablet. His eyes darted to his peripheral side to look at the UA logo spinning as a series of language options appeared at the bottom. A few taps of the screen later and an information folder was displayed in front of him, spanning several documents as well as a letter. Hinata spoke to Shinobu absent-minded as he tried to read the letter at the same time. "What would happen if we hurt somebody though? We could not afford to be careless this early into the semester, you know? We are new students, I would hate to get in serious trouble this early if somebody didn't take well to our idea of 'fun'." He scrolled through the letter with his vulpine stare, almost creepily wide-eyed despite them always appearing that way whenever he was actually being attentive.

Something... something... emotional distress... something... therapy.

Therapy?

Hinata blinked a few times as if he had read it wrong, now running a finger over the letter again to find out he had been issued an on-campus therapist in order to help deal with emotional faculties. He read further to see if anything regarding his parents was stated in the letter but for all intents and purposes he could see, it appeared this was a done deal by the school and that was all. The information logs in the folder appeared to be data of his Quirk and how it functioned in conjunction to his quirk, its limitations and flexibility. Diagrams of the quirk in action even appeared to be present, though much of this was already knowledge acquired just through use of it. The fact they knew more about it than he himself did was a little bit jarring, even obnoxious.

An adjusted sigh escaped his lips as he clicked the lock on the top of the tablet, letting the light dim to black on the screen as he anxiously set it to his side and turned back to Shinobu. "We should do one though. A prank." Despite his earlier hesitations, Hinata seemingly loosened up and was agreeable to the idea after that short episode he had.

Shinobu hopped back down to the floor, realizing his quick mistake had gone unnoticed. So basically it was like he'd never messed up. He could have a perfect record yet. Before Hinata could respond to the cat's proposal the tablet began getting some notifications which took his mind away for a moment. When he spoke it was of hesitations. Worrying about hurting someone or getting into big trouble early on. It made the feline wonder what sort of pranks his pensive friend might have had in mind. In fact it was only getting his own ideas to race into just how far they could take things. Still he took a moment to think about how to best answer. But solely thinking wasn't his strong suit. He needed to be doing something to get his brain in gear. So he meandered over to his scratching post and began clawing at it with his hands, not entirely unlike a normal cat in posture in the process. Whatever they were gonna get up to he wanted sharp claws for it. Eventually Hinata finished reading whatever had appeared on his device and his tune had changed.

"Huh? But what all that other stuff you were on about? Hurting people, getting in trouble? Well whatever, I'm taking the yes now. No take backs!" Shinobu shouted joyfully at his friend's cooperation. His clawing occupied him for another moment or two before he looked over his fresh claws and lightly tapped them to the palm of each hand to ensure they were sharp. Seeming content he hopped over his bed to get closer to his roommate's bed. Not too close of course, didn't need to go shocking him.

"Alright so how we gonna tackle this? Depending on big we go we might need to enlist some help. Wonder if Vivi's around?" the feline began spit balling. Right in line with his wondering he went straight to the door and opened it up. This was no subtle attempt to look for their other friend no. Shinobu did little with any amount of subtlety. The boy threw the door wide open and stepped just outside into the dorm hall with only his tail in place around his waist to shield the eyes of anyone he might have run into. Looking around he didn't see anything and so he went back inside and closed the door behind him. "No sign of her yet. Could just be in her room I guess. But looks we gotta count her out for now." the boy concluded as he threw his hands behind his head and looked about the room semi-blankly.

"Wonder if we should like sabotage the classroom or something. That'd make for a fun second day huh?" came the cat's first real thought on the matter.

Hinata scratched the underside of his chin cautiously. In truth, he only really agreed to the proposal so blatantly because he needed a distraction and this was one provided without cost. Granted, the matters of preparation were under way and the boy had naught clues for how to proceed. Gathering members? Hinata could remember the names of other students before the arena matches, but from what rumors he was able to gather through idle eavesdropping, the initial exams seemed to be more violent than the years past, meaning injured students were abound.

He opened his mouth to speak, paused, then spoke, "Well, there is..." Yet, before Hinata could list any candidates, Shinobu was quick to check for their one 'friend', Vivi. Hinata remembered the girl well because she was perhaps more a bumbling mess in social encounters than he himself was, and that was a feat no mere mortal could possess on their own. No, she had some sort of trauma. Perhaps something frustrating her til it shakes her core. Hinata raised an eyebrow in response to his own thoughts, startled by the nearing footsteps of his roommate alerting him that neither of the girls across the hall were in fact present.

"I guess she must have had a rough time. Do you think she's alright? We could stop by the infirmary and check up on her." Hinata suggested the thing he knew that his mother would have told him to do. If someone you care about is in a hospital, visiting with gifts is the penultimate way to express good will. That said, he only ever did that for his mother when the accident happened. The very thoughts had him averting his eyes briefly as a mere reflex.

"That said, if we're still doing this, I'm not really sure whose around. If it's something small and we just need extra hands, I can deal with that myself. But recruiting people on the first night sounds like it'd be impossible. Apparently a lot of the new students are really vicious and a bunch of them got hurt or something. Or, so the rumors say. I have not gotten around to asking anybody quite yet." Hinata stood from his bed, neatly pressing the sheets flat where he sat, removing the initial print of his rear on the bed. Then, with a swift dusting of his pants, he walked over to Shinobu and passed for a moment, peering out into the empty hall. With just the overhead lights on, it seemed sort of like a haunted place for a bit.

"We could do something in the school building, maybe?" In reality, Hinata wanted to get away from the tablet and sort of escape the haunting atmosphere of the quiet dorm hall for now.

"Oh hey yeah that's a good idea!" Shinobu replied energetically at Hinata's suggestion concerning Vivi. "I guess I shoulda figured she'd get a bit more roughed up than us. We can totally stop by and see what went down there." the cat's thoughts continued. There had to be some hospital related challenge he could think up for her too. If she needed cheering up anyway. He couldn't recall who all had won the other stadiums or if he'd even been told. His own win was all that particularly mattered. Well that and this prank they ultimately had to pull. Hinata continued and suggested that his quirk could cover the need for more people to help in whatever they did. Yet another thing the cat boy hadn't thought about.

"Hmm... the school building huh? Yeah... yeah that might be it!" he nearly shouted as his thoughts were coming together. "We can like make up a team logo or something and spray paint it all over the halls! We'll claim the school right from the start. Let 'em all know we're gonna be at the top!" Shinobu continued, now clearly riled up. His feet couldn't really stay in place with the excitement building. He needed to go do something. Another run probably. At the least around the whole of the school if not the city block. But that could wait until after their master plan had been put into place.

"I can go run and get us whatever we need. Won't take much time at all!" he offered as he opened the door to the dorm once more. His mind was racing ahead of his feet and had him already in the hallway leaving their mark on every bulletin board and conspicuously blank wall. No one would know who had done it but after a continued streak of dominance in exams and events he and Hinata could reveal it was them the whole time. And what could anyone do at that point? Punish the two best in the class? Ridiculous!

"Though maybe it's a little simple huh... like I'm all over the idea but it feels like it needs more oomph ya know? Maybe I just need to get to a store and I'll get hit by inspiration there." Shinobu continued as images of the ideas enveloped his mind. He was standing in the doorway now, his front still facing in to his roommate. He seemed ready to take off at a moment's notice. All he needed was some agreement or else suggested improvements from his partner in crime and off he'd fly.