Chapter Text
The sounds of Todoroki’s flames rip Hitoshi out of his thoughts, plagued by images of you as he reminisced your fleeting moments together.
P.E definitely had to be one of his most hated subjects, especially when Class 1-A was in the mix. Due to his quirk he couldn’t really fully participate in activities, even if the teacher had made it easier to cater to students with mental quirks. He was just happy Aizawa-sensei understood his situation to an extent and didn’t get on his nerves when he decided to sit out for a bit.
“Exhausting, huh?”
You suddenly voice cheerily as you leaned against the metal fence behind the two of you. Shinsou can only hum as he crosses his arms while watching Midoriya kick up dust, missing Tenya by a millisecond as he zoomed past his attack.
“It’s really cool to see everyone else’s quirks though. It makes me want to work even harder.”
He can hear the smile in your voice as you speak and he hums again, this time a little longer once he feels a little pang of jealousy nag at him in his mind. He didn’t have a flashy quirk. He couldn’t show off cool kicks, create fire with the flick of his hand or dash at an extraordinary speed. Maybe you liked more showy quirks? Suddenly he felt extremely small on the training grounds in comparison to everyone else.
If anything he wouldn’t be surprised if you secretly thought he was a poor loser who couldn’t achieve his dream. He had already experienced the scenario in middle school. Maybe your kindness towards him was just pity?
All this thinking made him want to punch a hole in a wall.
Ochako calls your name from across the yard, causing Shinsou to focus his attention on her voice.
“C’mon, you’re not tired already, are you?” She teased, dribbling a basketball in her right hand, the other rested on her hip as she grinned smugly in your direction.
“Against you? Never!” You shout back with a giggle, placing your water bottle back on the bench before making your way towards Ochako.
Hitoshi watches you silently as you take a step forward, and he’s almost relieved. Not because he wanted you gone, but because you were the cause of his sudden nervousness. He watches you so intently, he almost doesn’t notice you stepping in front of Bakugou’s arm which was stretched out only an arms length away from you, energy igniting in the palm of his fist, ready to burst at any moment.
You’re oblivious. He can tell just by the way you’re walking like this was a goddamn theme park.
Shinsou reacts on instinct, placing his foot forward to grab your wrist in a swift moment, pulling you towards him as he turned so his back could face the oncoming explosion. The outburst was heard seconds later with an almost ear deafening boom, and the ground beneath him vibrated with a slight intensity. All he could see was smoke and it smelled like ashes and flames.
The soot evaporated into the air quick enough that Hitoshi was finally able to see your frame. All he could see was your hair but that didn’t stop him from frantically looking you up and down, searching for any scratches you might’ve had from the explosion.
You turn around, mouth agape in shock and eyes wide as you gaze upwards like a deer in headlights to meet his lilac stare and Shinsou is abruptly overcome with the smell of your classic vanilla scent, this time mixed with tints of sugar. You smelled like a goddamn candy shop and he didn’t know why but he loved it.
“Why’d you walk in front of me like that, you brainless idiot? I could’ve blasted you to pieces!” Bakugou screams, fists clenched by his side. You stutter and open your lips to say something, but nothing comes out of it.
Hitoshi doesn’t know what to say because you honestly had been pretty brainless for a moment; walking in front of one of Bakugou’s explosions, or any explosion for that matter, was pretty much suicide.
“I think she realizes the magnitude of her mistake, Bakugou.” Shinsou retorts back for you, taking a step back once he realizes how close you were as he didn’t want to overwhelm you. Mister King Explosion Murder growls a short ‘whatever’ before turning his back on the two of you and trotting away towards Kirishima, yelling out something just as Shinsou began to focus on you again.
He faces you as you pat down your tracksuit with a worried expression, “Jeez, that was really dumb of me, wasn’t it? You’re not hurt are you, Shinsou?”
He realizes that you were kind of ditzy. It was definitely not the best of traits but somehow he found it lovable. He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, looking off to the side as he tried to play off how cool he actually felt by saving you.
“I’m fine.” Is all he can muster as you nod in response to his short answer. Your eyes begin to twinkle and your smile returns back to your features as you look up at him.
“Thanks for saving me, hero.”
Shinsou feels his heartbeat speed up abnormally and he felt butterflies erupt in his stomach and suddenly he was on cloud nine with you as the world stopped.
Hero.
He’s filled with a feeling or uncontrollable delirium and want, and it feels like he discovered a mountain of emotions that he had never experienced fully before. All he sees is your smile, star like eyes watching him and he feels actual affection towards everything having to do with you and he genuinely smiles despite his inner panic beginning to take form.
He nods in response to you as it was all he could manage in his bizarre state. You begin to walk away from him, finally making your way to Ochako and every step you take feels like you were leaving him behind in obscurity.
Shinsou looks down to his palms and they’re sweaty and gross. He hated every feeling he felt inside him currently and he hated you for causing this.
He hated you so much.
He despised you with every bone in his body for causing him to be not be able to take his eyes off you everytime you walked into the room, for making him feel nervous and lost, for making him feel things he didn’t want to feel.
Shinsou clenches his fists as he begins to walk away from the training yards towards the large metal gate, stealing one last glance of you laughing joyfully with your friends. You beamed brighter than the sun, and voice sounded like angels singing in perfect unison.
Hitoshi promises himself that one day, he would make you laugh like that.
One day you would be his, no matter how much he hated the telltale symptoms of pure puppy dog love.