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It started off with a very poor choice of words. Really, Shinsou only had himself to blame. He was tired from school and his internship, stressed out about an upcoming test in Ectoplasm’s class, and irritated by Kaminari’s prying – but it was still the wrong thing to say. Literally.
What he’d meant to say was, “I’m not her type,” or something along those lines. He wasn’t. She was filled with sunshine and joy, and he was never going to be like that. Sure, he was a lot better in their third year than their first, but people still said he was too dry or standoffish. He was working on it, especially with so many friends now and people that believed in him, but when that had been his default personality as a defense mechanism for so long, he couldn’t help himself.
He did not say, “I don’t think I’m her type.”
Kaminari asked for the hundredth time, “Seriously, dude, what do you think about Uraraka?”
And Shinsou, in his stupidity, accidentally said, “She’s not my type.”
It would’ve been fine if only Kaminari was around. The guy was a chatterbox, but he was a good friend. He wouldn’t go running to Uraraka to tell her that Shinsou wasn’t interested in her – mostly because he knew that was a lie despite constantly asking him – and he wouldn’t try to start anything. Kaminari liked tea as much as the next person, but he wasn’t an absolute dick. He’d grown up in the past two years. No, he could be trusted to keep his mouth shut on matters, especially so no one’s feelings got hurt.
However, Kaminari wasn’t the only one around. Out of all the people in the Class 3-A dorms, it was Uraraka who was walking around the corner in that exact moment and overheard them.
When Shinsou rounded the corner and met eyes with her, his heart dropped into the pit of his stomach. His tired words hadn’t even registered in his brain until he saw the hurt look on her face. Beneath that sweet veneer and behind those cute pink cheeks, Uraraka was as tough as they came, but she was human. She might be on her way to becoming one of the best heroes out there and already noted for her villain takedowns, but she was still a seventeen year old.
And he was a total dumbass.
“Uraraka–”
“Oh, sorry, I can’t chat!” Uraraka cut in. She hugged her textbooks tighter against her chest. “I’ve gotta study for Ectoplasm’s class if I’m gonna pass that test.”
Yeah, the test – the one they were supposed to study for together. They’d become study buddies somehow in their second year. He was good at math, and she was better at English. Plus, physical training with her was fun. Even with his extra training by Aizawa, he still had to catch up with the other hero students. Uraraka was perfect for that. She needed a sparring partner and, in her words, teaching someone was the best way to brush up on the basics. Those two became regular things, and before he knew it…
He was a goner. Not that it mattered or anything since she was currently brushing past them and striding in the direction of the elevator instead of the common area. Shinsou watched her go, slightly dumbfounded with his mouth agape, until finally she was out of sight.
In the silence, Kaminari coughed. “Dude, that was…”
“Horrific,” Shinsou concluded.
“I was gonna say stupid,” Kaminari said sheepishly. “Maybe we’ve been hanging out too much. That sounded like something I would do.”
Shinsou dug his fingers in his messy hair and groaned. The urge to crawl into a corner and slam his head against a wall was so strong that he nearly did it right there, but no doubt that would earn him some strange looks. He didn’t have the best way with words, which was something he was desperately working on since words were kind of a staple of his quirk and all, but that was a whole new level of awful.
Seriously? She wasn’t his type? Well, he supposed she wasn’t. It wasn’t like he’d expected to develop a crush on someone so bubbly and fierce. Plus, she’d had that huge crush on Midoriya in their first year and then that sort of thing with Bakugou in their second. He was pretty sure that Bakugou still liked her, but he’d made such an ass out of himself in his nervousness that they were stuck trying to repair their friendship. The last thing he should do was get in the way of that. Bakugou didn’t scare him, but he didn’t want to get blasted either.
But even if she wasn’t his type, that wasn’t what he’d meant. There was no way she liked him. He didn’t fit the same pattern as the other boys she’d crushed on. She and Todoroki were close friends. What if there was something brewing between them? He was incredibly strong, which was something she must’ve liked. And it was no wonder why strong guys like them liked her. She was powerful and, even better, she was kind and thoughtful.
“Is there any way you can fry my brain so I forget this ever happened?” Shinsou asked blandly.
“Not without seriously hurting you,” Kaminari chirped. Shinsou shot him a flat glare, and he shrugged. “You could always just go talk to her.”
“After I insulted her?” Shinsou shook his head. “I doubt she wants to talk with me.”
“You didn’t mean to insult her,” Kaminari pointed out, “so just go tell her the truth.”
Huh. The truth. That was a novel concept. He was pretty sure taking this crush to the grave with him was an easier option. Shinsou wasn’t a liar by nature. He used lies and deception in tandem with his quirk, but he didn’t like to lie in his day-to-day life. He just...didn’t always talk about things either, especially his feelings. It was easier to keep to himself. He couldn’t be brave like Midoriya, who was so open with his emotions, or genuine like Kaminari, who was who he was, or straightforward like Kirishima, who didn’t seem to understand the concept of lying.
It was safer not to talk about how he felt – definitely since the moment he spoke about his feelings, he said the totally wrong thing and hurt Uraraka’s feelings.
“Unless you don’t actually have a huge stinking obvious crush on her,” Kaminari added.
Shinsou rubbed his face. “You’re not gonna let this go, are you?”
“Nope,” Kaminari replied, “mostly because you’re gonna mope for like a month.”
Why couldn’t his friends let him suffer in peace? If Kaminari knew that, then Midoriya would figure it out too. It was impossible to hide things from Monoma. No doubt Iida would realize something was wrong and probably question him about it. Even worse, Asui might find out through Uraraka and would ask him pointblank what was going on. If any of the other girls found out about his insensitive comment, he wouldn’t survive the week, much less a month.
“Fine, I’ll go talk to her.” Shinsou pointed at Kaminari when a grin lit up his face. “But do not be smug about it.”
Kaminari’s grin didn’t falter. “I’m gonna be so smug.”
Shaking his head, Shinsou turned around and headed in the same direction that Uraraka went. He went to the fifth floor where her room was located, familiar with every turn he needed to make to get there. After all, they usually studied in each other’s rooms where they couldn’t get bothered by everyone. As soon as he made it to her door, he stopped, took a deep breath, and knocked. If he allowed himself even a minute to think, he’d convince himself it wasn’t worth the try and that he’d ruined everything.
He didn’t want to ruin this over some stupid miscommunication.
“Uraraka?”
“I’m busy!” her muffled voice called back.
Shinsou clenched his hands into fists and then forced himself to say, “I didn’t mean it.” He paused, waiting for a response from her, but nothing came. Okay. Right. He needed to explain himself further. “About you not being my type – I got my words twisted and said the wrong thing. I meant to say it the other way around. I don’t…” Deep breath. He could do this without dying of embarrassment. “I don’t think I’m your type. I’m not strong like Midoriya or powerful like Bakugou or–”
The door was ripped open, revealing a puffy-eyed Uraraka, but instead of the hurt in her eyes that he saw earlier, there was confusion in them. “What are you talking about?”
“You know.” Shinsou rubbed his arm at his side. “You deserve someone who is on your level, and I’m not… I’m nothing major, ya know? I’m not gonna break the top ten, maybe not even the top hundred. And that’s fine. Not everyone is meant for that, and I’ll probably be underground anyways, but you’re– you’re you and you’re amazing, so I’m happy to just be friends and–”
Uraraka could’ve done or said a lot of things to get him to shut up and stop making a fool out of himself, but standing on her tiptoes and pressing her lips against his was definitely the most effective. It also conveyed her feelings perfectly without words. He was so shocked that he almost didn’t respond, but before she could pull away, he cupped her soft cheeks in his calloused hands and kissed her back.
When they finally pulled away from each other, both their faces were flushed red. Uraraka smiled and asked, “Does that make things clear for you?”
“Uh, I don’t know,” Shinsou said slowly. “Maybe a second try would help me understand better.”
Uraraka blew a raspberry as a grin crawled its way onto Shinsou’s face. A few more tries were definitely in order for her feelings to get through this thick, stubborn head of his, but she seemed completely okay with that. So much for studying for that test right now. They could do it later tonight.