Chapter Text
A light pink hand was visible in the bathroom mirror, with Mina Ashido seen in front of it adjusting her unruly curls. After staring at herself for a while longer in the mirror, she sighed and walked out of the dimly lighted area to where her friends were sitting. Denki’s laughter echoed in her ears and she looked around, spotting her friends sitting on the giant stairs while eating lunch.
She slid into the spot next to the guy she liked, Ejiro Kirishima. The red in his hair popping out made him stand out compared to the rest of her friends, though their group was just the sort of group that naturally stood out. Ejiro stopped talking to the rest of the group and brought his face next to Mina’s ear.
“Hey, we need to talk,” he whispered.
Her stomach twisted at the demand, while head shyly nodded in confirmation.
“Let’s just talk right now,” she demanded, too curious to wait.
Ejiro made a gesture towards an isolated area with his eyes, indirectly telling Mina to follow him there. They both excused themselves from the group and headed to the area so they could speak in private.
After making themselves comfortable, Mina chose to sit against the brick wall for support. Meanwhile, Ejirou stood leaning against the wall with a tense posture.
“I’ve heard some rumors going around lately. About you specifically. I was hoping that you could tell me what actually went down before I made the wrong assumptions.” Ejirou started off by saying.
Mina knew what he was referring to, everything that happened yesterday with Deku. Ejirou was MIA yesterday for an appointment, but it seemed that someone filled him in on the scene that took place. It made her heart race to talk about it, and not in a good way. She wished that everyone could just magically move on or pretend that it never really happened.
“Well… I don’t really wanna talk about that right now.”
“I’m sorry for saying this Mina, but I don’t know if I’d like to stay friends with someone who would make comments like that. From what I heard, you exploded at Izuku while he didn’t even do anything. That isn't the kind of person I want to be around."
What? This was so unfair. Why was everyone attacking her instead of trying to see where she was coming from, when she was obviously in the right?
“I didn’t really mean to say all those things to him. I don't hate gay people, okay? That's not what this was. But he was making a move on Katsuki! You know what she'd been saying. She told me they were basically about to get together, and I thought I was helping. I was just trying to be a supportive friend to her since she told me about how they were going to get together any day.” Mina explained to defend herself.
Looking at Ejirou’s face, it looked pretty indecipherable. Like this truly meant something to him.
“You gotta apologize to him. That was still uncalled for, and very cringe. Did you even think about what Katsuki felt about it? Please don’t jump to conclusions about people, it can really hurt them. We should have a break for a while until these feelings cool down. It's hard for me to look at you right now.”
The window in the corner let some natural lighting in. It softened the entire scene, making them both look like little kids stuck in grown up bodies instead.
Why was everyone acting like she'd done something unforgivable? She'd only wanted to protect her friend... hadn't she?
For a moment, they both looked at each other. Deeply. Seeing all the stuff that people usually cover up and hide from others. But this wasn’t about that.
“RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGG,” the schoolbell went.
Ejirou looked to the ground, and mumbled half a parting to her before leaving. She knew right there and then that something went wrong, but didn’t know exactly what. He was actually hurt by what she did. But she was only trying to be a good friend, could no one understand?
The sight of students scrambling to their next classes reminded Mina of her own class, homeroom, which she shared with Deku. Maybe if she apologized to him, then Ejirou would forgive her.