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“He can’t mind read, Ojirou, staring at him isn’t going to let him know you like him,”
Ojirou jerks backwards at the sound of Hagakure’s voice, nearly dropping his chopsticks into his noodles at the shrill exclamation. Black eyes move upwards to meet with Hagakure’s (or at least where he assumes Hagakure’s eyes were), and a red blush rises to his cheeks.
She lets out a laugh at the embarrassed blush and dances her way around the table to sit across Ojirou with her tray of food. “So, how long are you going to keep staring at him?” She asks, stabbing her fork into her own food. “Honestly, it’s getting awkward,”
“Don’t you have your own friends to sit with?” Ojirou accuses under his breath, seemingly exasperated.
Hagakure laughs again, “I saw you sitting alone and wanted to check up on my best friend,” she teases, popping the fork into her mouth, “Aren’t you always with Tokoyami and them, what happened?”
“I just wanted to be alone,” Ojirou states, glancing back over his shoulder.
At this, Hagakure shrieks out a ‘ah ha!’ causing him to jump again.
“You wanted to stare at Shinsou in peace! I get it!” she cheers, and immediately gets shushed by Ojirou as the blush on his cheeks grows redder.
“Can you say that any louder,” Ojirou hisses, and Hagakure laughs. “But yeah,” he admits, softly, and almost under his breath, “You’re not wrong,”
He turns around again, instantly finding Shinsou purple hair in the sea of people. Shinsou was watching, amused, at Kaminari and Sero’s antics, and seemingly unbothered by Mina’s arms that were lazily wrapped around him. A small smirk appears on his face as he says something to Kirishima, and Ojirou can physically feel his heart beat faster at the sight.
“Wow,” Hagakure, once again, breaks him away from his ogling. “You’ve got it bad,” then, as an afterthought, she says, “I assume you’ve gotten over that whole sports festival incident,”
Ojirou sneers, because of course she had to bring up the whole sports festival incident. Something he doesn’t think he could truly recover from. Yet, he responds honestly.
“No, but I trust him,” he admits, smiling, and returning to look back towards Shinsou. “He’s different since he entered the hero course. He’s happier, and honestly, I think he’s insecure of his quirk,”
Hagakure huhs behind him, but he doesn’t respond. It’s the truth, he thinks. At first, being introduced to Shinsou was awkward and uncomfortable. The obvious tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife. And then, Shinsou had found him before he left home and apologized, he promised to change, promised he wouldn’t do anything ever again without explicit permission.
And he kept every promise he made.
Not even a month later, Ojirou fell for him.
He fell for that sarcastic, sassy, tired, purple boy who makes his heart soar every time he looks into his eyes.
Ojirou smiles to himself, refocusing his eyes onto Shinsou only to jerk when he finds purple eyes boring right into his. He hears Hagakure giggle again, but Ojirou’s too focused on Shinsou’s eyes staring into his, and the warmth of a blush spreading across his cheeks from being caught.
Slowly, Shinsou raises a hand to wave towards Ojirou and smirks.
Ojirou responds with his own wave, before snapping around to face the table and slamming his head into his arms. “Oh my, God,” he whispers to himself, “Hagakure it’s been fun, I’m leaving Japan,”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Ojirou,” Hagakure says, and by the way her voice sounds she was probably rolling her eyes.
He simply grunts something inaudible in response.
“Hey,” she taps his head a few times with her fork to get his attention, and he flicks his tail to let her know he’s listening. “Why don’t we just go ask someone who he likes, it’ll save you the embarrassment,” she teases.
Ojirou doesn’t raise his head when he replies, “And who’re we going to ask?” Ojirou mumbles into his arms, “I highly doubt they know,” he states, using his thumb to point back at Shinsou’s group of friends.
“Not them,” she chides.
“Then who?”
Hagakure snickers, “Todoroki,”
At this, Ojirou snaps up. “Do you really think Todoroki would know?” he asks.
She just shrugs - or he assumes she shrugs, by the way the shoulders of her uniform lifts and drops - “He should, they’re really close,” Hagakure then twists around in her seat to look at Todoroki and his group of friends. “Let’s ask him before the next class starts,” she offers, and leaves no room for complaint.
Ojirou hardly thinks the plan is any good.
Shouto finds himself in a lot of odd situations. His classmates were an odd bunch and could hardly be considered normal. Thus, he’s learned to expect a lot when it comes from them.
But what he doesn’t expect is a pair of hands to slam onto his desk.
He tries not to show his surprise, but he does because he has gotten terribly bad at hiding his emotions as of late and looks with wide eyes at Hagakure and then at Ojirou, before snapping back to Hagakure. Shouto isn’t even able to get a word in edgewise before Hagakure practically shouts,
“Who does Shinsou have a crush on?”
Shouto short-circuits.
Ojirou short-circuits also, because he shouts, “Hagakure! Go in with some tact at least!”
“Screw tact!” is Hagakure immediate response, “Who does Shinsou have a crush on?”
Tilting his head innocently, Shouto just shrugs and places his book down onto the desk. “Who wants to know?”
“Me, duh,” Hagakure says, moving to sit on top of Shouto’s desk. “Ojirou has a huge crush on Shinsou and wants to date him,”
Ojirou’s tail fluffs and he exclaims, “You can’t just tell him that!”
“Who’s he gonna tell?”
“I don’t know? maybe Shinsou!”
“I won’t tell him,” Shouto says, cutting off Hagakure before she could retort back to Ojirou. He causally relaxes back into the chair, looks up at the two of them and he shrugs. “It’s not my place to say who Hitoshi likes,”
“So, you know who he likes?” Hagakure leans forward, pressing.
Shouto shrugs again, “Of course,”
“Is it Ojirou?”
Ojirou makes a noise of complaint of the unabashed question.
“I can’t say,” Shouto states simply again, “It’s not my place,”
Hagakure grunts in frustration, “I can’t believe we had to pick the most righteous person in the class,”
“I’m not involved with this,” Ojirou hisses, but Hagakure continues ranting to herself.
“We could try Bakugou,” Hagakure suggests. “Or, Ashido, Ashido would probably know,”
Shouto laughs, and the sound instantly pulls both from their thoughts. “She won’t know, your best bet is me,” and then he flashes a wicked smirk that neither of them has seen before. Shouto opens his mouth to say something more, but the door slides open and he falls silent.
“You’re here early,”
The three students shift their gaze towards the deep, tired voice. Each immediately realizing it was Aizawa before they even saw him.
“Hagakure and Ojirou just came to ask me a question,” Shouto smiles, and the teasing behind the smile doesn’t go unnoticed by either Ojirou or Hagakure. “We’re done now but hey-”
He shoves the chair away from his desk, standing up abruptly and nearly causing Hagakure to topple. Shouto winks at Ojirou as he passes, and completely ignores the bewildered look that’s plastered on his face. With a slight skip in his step, he makes it to Aizawa’s desk just as he sits.
Shouto lowers his voice, leaving Ojirou and Hagakure in the dark of what they are discussing.
“What’re they saying?” Hagakure whispers, jumping off the desk and taking a few more steps closer towards Ojirou.
He gently smacks her with his tail, “Eavesdropping is bad, ‘Kure,” but even then, he doesn’t take his eyes off Shouto and Aizawa. He watches as Shouto rapidly explains something under his breath, and he watches as Aizawa nods and his lips upturn into a small smirk.
Ojirou really hates this plan.
“We’re working in pairs,” Aizawa states once the bell signaling the end of lunch rings. He stands at the podium while addressing the class, yet the smirk Ojirou saw on his face earlier has yet to leave. “And I will be picking your partners”
The outburst that comes from the class is expected, each voicing their complaints about not being able to pick their own partner.
And the class instantly quiets down when Aizawa’s hair flies up and his eyes turn red.
“I have already chosen your partners,” he states, not even reacting as his hair falls back into place, “Please listen for your name,”
Ojirou tail flicks nervously as he awaits his name, praying to whatever deity that he likes his partner.
Don’t get him wrong, he loves his classmates to death, but he hardly thinks he’ll be able to handle someone like Bakugou or Ashido to partner with him.
And god forbid he gets Hagakure because she’d just eat all his food and nap on his bed while he does everything like last time.
“Bakugou and Todoroki,”
Ojirou releases a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.
“Hagakure and Ashido,”
He relaxes.
“Shinsou and Ojirou,”
Whatever nervousness that left his body returns at full force, and he nearly chokes on his own spit. In the corner of his eye, he can see Hagakure shaking with laughter in her seat, and he knows she is absolutely delighted about the current events.
Ojirou then glances over his shoulder to eye Todoroki in the back row, and he simply gives him that same wicked smirk and mouths, “thank me later,”
He really hates this plan.
After they’re dismissed to begin working with their partners, Hagakure makes a direct beeline towards Ojirou.
“Hagakure, help me,” Ojirou hisses out, red scattering across his cheeks and his hands wringing together nervously. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Well,” She sings, stressing the ‘l’ teasingly. “Maybe ask him out?”
“Don’t say things like that!”
“It’s just a suggestion, Ojirou,”
“That’s it, I’m leaving Japan. I heard Canada is great this time of year,”
A new voice, deeper voice interrupts, “Don’t do that, then I’d have to do this project alone,” it’s a lazy drawl that sends shivers down Ojirou’s spine.
“That’s my cue to leave!” Hagakure sings, pivoting around on her feet to find Ashido. “Good luck boys~”
Shinsou takes the time to seamlessly take a chair from a nearby desk and pull it up towards Ojirou, plopping into the seat and sleepily smiling in Ojirou’s direction.
“Hey,”
Ojirou flicks his tail, “Hi,”
“What were you thinking about today?” Shinsou asks, jarring Ojirou.
“What?”
“In the cafeteria,” Shinsou explains with a wave, “When you were staring at me, what were you thinking about?”
Ojirou can feel the blood rush to his cheeks in a blush, his eyes adverting. “Nothing, I was just spacing out, sorry,” he mumbles and Shinsou chuckles.
And the chuckle is low and deep is causes Ojirou’s blush to turn even redder. Good naturedly, Shinsou doesn’t point out the obvious red coating his cheeks, but he knows that Shinsou knows.
“Alright,” is all Shinsou says, although Ojirou knows he wants to say more.
Desperate to change the conversation off him, he asks, “Do you want to work on this after the last class? In the dorms?”
Ojirou watches as Shinsou calculates the time, before shaking his head abruptly. “Sorry, I can’t right after. I go out with my family, but I should be back at the dorms around seven? Is that good?”
“You go with your family?” Ojirou asks, before immediately smacking his tail over his mouth because that’s way to prying. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,”
Shinsou just chuckles, “Don’t worry about it. Yeah, I go out with family,” that’s all he says, but doesn’t clarify on anything. “So, seven?”
“Yeah, seven.”
And Ojirou thinks that maybe this plan isn’t as bad as it could’ve been.
“Shouto stop laughing,” Hitoshi hisses through clenched teeth, burying his head in his hands.
Shouto, of course, does not stop laughing - the outburst only spurring him on further.
“Shouto,” Hitoshi snaps, looking about ready to fling the food that was in his bowl at his howling brother.
The rest of the family - Aizawa, Hizashi and Eri - look on amused, enjoying their meal and free entertainment that came in the form of Shouto terrorizing Hitoshi.
Shouto takes a deep intake of breath, willing himself to stop laughing, he barks out, “You have to talk to him now, no more whining,”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Eri shouts, waving her arms wildly above her head. “What happened?”
Hitoshi opens his mouth to explain, but Shouto jumps in to answer, “Hitoshi has to work on a project with his crush and he’s shy,”
“I am not shy,”
“Yes, you are, you’re more antisocial than I am,”
“You’re an ass,”
“Language,” Hizashi reprimands, but neither pay much attention.
“You should thank me,” Shouto states smugly, leaning back in his chair, “I’m suffering with Bakugou as my partner just, so you can be with Ojirou,” he then pauses, bringing a glass of water to his lips and smirks in Aizawa’s direction, “That’s the deal I made with the homeroom teacher, at least,”
Aizawa matches the smirk easily.
It takes Hitoshi a couple of seconds to process the statement, and when he does he lets out a gasp and nearly slams his hands on the table.
“You talked Aizawa into pairing me with Ojirou?!”
Shouto shrugs, “You wouldn’t have talked to him if I didn’t,”
“He’s not wrong,” Aizawa states blandly, and Hitoshi gasps again.
“You’re supposed to be on my side!”
This time, Aizawa shrugs.
Hitoshi huffs, “Eri, you’re on my side, right?” he turns towards his little sister, who stares into his eyes for a moment before her lips split into a far too innocent smile.
“Absolutely not!” she says happily, “You need a boyfriend, so you and Shouto can go on double dates and take me with!”
Defeated by Eri’s words, he turns to Hizashi. “Please tell me you’re on my side,”
The smirk and the shrug from Hizashi are all Hitoshi needed to see, and he slams his head on the table with a grunt.
“I hate this fucking family,”
“Language,”
It’s 7:20 pm when a knock resonates from his dorm door.
Ojirou jerks upwards, the sudden sound jolting hm from his thoughts as he stared at the wooden door. Pushing up, he walks towards the door and opens it.
In hindsight, he should have been expecting Shinsou’s arrival, but he still found himself getting flustered at the sight of him. Shinsou moves to rub the back of his neck with his hand, and he averts his eyes down to the floor.
“Sorry, I’m late,” he mumbles sheepishly, a shy smile on his face, “Got caught up at home, ready to start?”
Ojirou nods wordlessly, opening the door further to allow Shinsou to enter his dorm. The two of them move to sit on the bed, and Ojirou hands what he has finished to Shinsou.
Shinsou reads through quietly, and Ojirou takes this time to watch him.
He notes how his eyes narrow closely at the text, and when he does so his eyebrows knit together and leave small creases in between them. And his fingers tap his thighs in a steady rhythm - Ojirou has noticed this tic in class before.
“You’re staring again,”
Ojirou jerks from his staring, the blush coming back.
“Sorry,” he mumbles, and Shinsou chuckles.
“I never said it was a bad thing,” Shinsou doesn’t allow Ojirou to respond to his comment though, because he continues, “What you have so far is good, I think we could…”
Ojirou finds himself nodding and uh huh-ing every so often to something Shinsou says, but he doesn’t care to say anything more. He just goes back staring, despite being caught last time.
Perhaps Hagakure is right, maybe this is the perfect chance to ask him out. If he rejects him, there’s no witnesses, and he doubts Shinsou is the person to completely avoid a person for having a simple crush on him. Then, Ojirou sneers at himself, because he’s actually considering doing what Hagakure of all people told him to do.
Yet, Todoroki also helped, and he wouldn’t put so much effort if he didn’t think Ojirou had a chance.
The words tumble from his lips before he can even stop himself.
“Want to go out with me?”
Shinsou fumbles in his explanation, choking on his own words.
Ojirou himself chokes at what he said, his cheeks burning red and his tail flicking. “Wait no, sorry, forget I said anything,”
“Yes,” Shinsou manages to choke out.
“What?”
“I’ll go out with you,” Shinsou says with a smile, not a smirk but a smile, “This weekend? I’ll take you out for dinner, hmm?”
“I asked you out, so I’m taking you out,”
Shinsou waves his hand in a playful shoo, “This weekend?” he repeats.
Ojirou nods, “This weekend,”
They smile at each other for a while more, before Shinsou goes back to talking about their project with a slight tint of pink on his cheeks.
As soon as Shinsou leaves, Ojirou flings himself onto his bed and reaches for his phone. Pressing Hagakure’s contact, he texts her a quick,
‘I’m going on a date’
She doesn’t need to ask who to know exactly who he’s going out on a date with, and her excitement shows in her text as word garble.
Ojirou smiles giddily as he responds to her text, just as he hits send he receives another text from a certain snarky Todoroki.
‘You’re welcome,’
Is all the text reads.
It’s then he realizes he doesn’t hate this plan as much as he thought.