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Sometimes, it was annoying having a sentient Quirk.
Sometimes it was nice, he always had someone to talk to, but there were times when Dark Shadow got on his nerves.
Dark Shadow was loyal and normally did as he asked, but not always. Unlike himself, Dark Shadow was a much more sociable creature, a bit playful. Most of the time Tokoyami could keep his quirk at bay, resting inside of him.
But sometimes, he couldn’t.
It rarely happened during class, and never was too much trouble when it did happen due to the room being well lit, but he couldn’t concentrate on lessons and keep an eye on Dark Shadow at the same time to keep the creature from distracting others.
And sometimes when it did happen, Tokoyami would hardly notice if he was too focused on class, leaving Dark Shadow free to extend over to any of the classmates surrounding them. Koda being a favorite as the quiet classmate would sometimes well, stay quiet, and just pet Dark Shadow instead of getting Tokoyami’s attention.
They did have an agreement, one Tokoyami thought Dark Shadow would abide by at all times, which the sentient quirk did for a long while. The agreement being that Yaoyorozu wouldn’t be bothered whenever Dark Shadow did get out during class. The bird headed teen wanted the tall girl to not to be distrubed for multiple reasons, first of all Dark Shadow shouldn’t be bothering anyone during class for one, that and Tokoyami didn’t trust the shadowy creature not to either accidentally or purposefully inform Yaoyorozu of the fact that Tokoyami had a… romantic interest in the creation girl.
A romantic interest of which he had no plans to act upon, with looks as beautiful as Yaoyorozu’s, smart too, Tokoyami didn’t care about her wealth but he was sure others were interested in her for that reason too. Yaoyorozu was just amazing in all fields of life it seemed. There was no way a creature of the dark such as himself could ever hope for a chance to pursue a relationship with such a bright beautiful person. That was something Dark Shadow didn’t seem to understand, though Dark Shadow just seemed to want to go after all the ‘bright flashy shiny’ people in class it seemed.
Tokoyami thought when Dark Shadow had agreed to leave Yaoyorozu alone, that meant Dark Shadow would stick to their word. One day during class Tokoyami found that wouldn’t be that case after all.
It started when the avian headed teen heard a small quiet giggle behind him, one he recognized as being Yaoyorozu’s, he wasn’t sure why she was laughing during class but he was trying to quickly write down some notes so he didn’t take the time to look to see if he could find the reason for laughter.
Another giggle came from the girl a few minutes later, Tokoyami found it a bit odd but it wasn’t too out there, while Yaoyorozu did present herself as a bit dignified at times, but she could also be quite the bubbly person as well. Especially when she was excited about something, the smile she would have on her face when she was full of cheer could brighten the entire dark side of the moon. But what could she be giggling about during class?
It wasn’t until another minute or two later that he felt someone poke at his back, presumably Todoroki, causing Tokoyami to look back behind himself.
Only to see and realize , Dark Shadow was out, and was over with Yaoyorozu. Now Tokoyami was becoming increasingly concerned about what could be funny. With Dark Shadow it could be anything that Yaoyorozu had been laughing about, and that’s what he was worried about.
Normally he wouldn’t be so nervous, he was a hero in training he had faced villains and life or death situations. But this was different, Yaoyorozu was a classmate, someone he would have to see every day, which would be quite awkward if things didn’t go over well if she were to find out that Tokoyami was romantically interested in her.
Tokoyami thought he could save both Yaoyorozu and himself the trouble by just keeping quiet about it. Someone else might be better for her in the end anyways, maybe even someone more normal looking who doesn’t have a bird head.
But it would be nice to even have a chance to be with her.
And little did Tokoyami know, that he did in fact have a chance.
On Yaoyorozu’s side of things, it had been a while since she had the shadowy creature sneak it’s way over to her, originally she had attempted to tell Dark Shadow to return to Tokoyami, but the pleading look that Dark Shadow had given her caused her to give in and allow the manifested being to join her over at her desk.
She had a bit of a soft spot for the bird boy’s quirk, it was quite interesting how it was a manifested being that was sentient and capable of speech. Sometimes she wondered if Dark Shadow would like to have a life of their own if they were able to. Yaoyorozu was sure Tokoyami was great company, but being literally stuck to one person your whole life without being able to have your own social life? She was sure even with someone like Tokoyami, the sentient Quirk being might crave the ability to make their own friends.
So, she allowed Dark Shadow to join her for class, normally she would see Dark Shadow over by Koda or sometimes munching on some snacks Sato would have on him. It was extremely rare that she would be the person Dark Shadow would choose to go to.
The teacher didn’t seem to notice anything going on in the back, and if they did they didn’t seem to mind at the moment. Reaching over and grabbing another pencil and paper, she wondered if Dark Shadow could read and write as well.
Setting the pencil and paper down by the side of the desk where Dark Shadow was, she grabbed her own pencil and wrote on the paper.
I’ll let you stay Dark Shadow, but it is class so we do have to be quiet so others can pay attention to class, can you read and write?
Yaoyorozu wasn’t too concerned about her own learning, she had plenty of notes already and plenty of classmates who would be willing to help her with anything she did happen to miss, as long as it didn’t become a regular thing, one class entertaining Dark Shadow couldn’t hurt could it?
The raven haired girl smiled when Dark Shadow picked up the pencil and began to write.
Of course I know! I gotta watch Fumikage do it all the time! So boring! School does too much writing! I will want attention from Fumi but he will be busy doing homework or some other boring school thing! I wanna leave the room and come talk to shiny pretty people like you!
Dark Shadow quickly scribbled down on the paper, their handwriting looking comparable to a toddler’s, but Yaoyorozu supposed that was to be expected, while Dark Shadow knew how to write, they probably didn’t actually have much experience doing so. Yaoyorozu let out a giggle when she read what looked to be excitable words from Dark Shadow with all the exclamation marks scattered among the page. It was rather cute how excited they seemed to be.
Oh? You think I’m shiny and pretty? Why thank you Dark Shadow! Does it get lonely only hanging with Tokoyami?
She set her pencil down to signal she was done writing to Dark Shadow, who quickly and excitedly got to reading what Yaoyorozu wrote, before scribbling down their next response.
You are very pretty! Even Fumi thinks so! Yes it does get lonely! Sometimes I can get out on the balcony and talk to shiny cheese boy! His room is very shiny and sparkly! I like it!
Yaoyorozu read over the next message, finding herself blushing a bit at being told she was pretty and that the sentient Quirk’s host also thought she was pretty. She also found herself letting out another giggle at Dark Shadow’s excitement over Aoyama’s room and what Dark Shadow referred to him as.
The first part of the message did intrigue her though, Tokoyami was among the group of boys she thought well of in the class, he was quiet, polite most of the time, and certainly did not express perverted behavior like certain other members of the class. Tokoyami was also just, interesting. Yaoyorozu was not very familiar with many of the dark, fantastical, arcane subjects the bird boy was into, but she was always eager to learn about her friend’s interests.
Sometimes some of the things Tokoyami said were...a little on the creepy side, but it was far better than listening to Mineta’s perverted speeches, at least Tokoyami said interesting things.
In the beginning of the year the two didn’t interact too much, they did from time to time, but they really started interacting after the school festival where they had played in the band together. It was during and after practices that Yaoyorozu felt she really got to know Tokoyami better, he was more of an acquaintance before but now she felt she could call him a good friend.
Yes… a good friend.
Maybe there was something more to it than that but Yaoyorozu wasn’t quite sure herself yet. Sure she had spent some free time thinking about a potential love life, she may be busy with education and hero training, but it never hurt to think about love from time to time. And sure Tokoyami may be very high on her small list of people she found to be… very pleasing to hang out with.
But with everything going on, she wasn’t sure if she had time for a relationship, she was worried whomever she would get into a relationship with she wouldn’t be able to give them enough time and attention. Though, she was curious about what it would be like, she had never been in a relationship before. The thought of being in one was exciting.
Most of the other girls were pretty sure that she and Todoroki had a thing for each other, as they compared how the two both got in through recommendations, both came from successful families, both were on the intelligent side.
Though, despite how well the two could work together in training, Yaoyorozu just didn’t feel the click like she did with Tokoyami.
While she thought possibly Dark Shadow had just overheard Tokoyami agree with others that she was pretty, or that he only briefly mentioned it once maybe, she was curious to know more. Though would it really be right to ask Dark Shadow about what Tokoyami thought of her? On one hand she could see it as a similar thing to asking the sibling or mutual friend of someone one was interested in. But on the other hand, she wasn’t exactly sure if the exact same logic could be applied to Dark Shadow, she wasn’t sure how much of their own person Dark Shadow was, and she didn’t want to take advantage of Dark Shadow.
Maybe just a little bit of probing wouldn’t hurt, just a question or two, then she’ll send Dark Shadow back off to Tokoyami.
Tokoyami thinks I’m pretty?
Yaoyorozu kept the question simple and quick, showing she was interested in what Tokoyami thought of her, she wasn’t even sure if Dark Shadow would elaborate any further on the subject.
Dark Shadow had read the question and had started to write down a response, but then the two were interrupted by a hushed voice which they recognized as Tokoyami’s.
“Dark Shadow!” the bird teen simply said, giving the sentient Quirk a look which caused Dark Shadow to set down their writing utensil.
“Sorry I gotta go now, thank you!” Dark Shadow said before returning to Tokoyami, who Yaoyorozu noticed looked nervous, she wondered why.
Then she looked down at the paper, they had to use a new page at the end as Dark Shadow wrote so big, and while Dark Shadow hadn’t been able to finish what they were writing before getting caught by Tokoyami, the raven haired girl noticed that the shadowy creature had managed to start a response to her question.
Fumi likes you a lot! Thinks you’re very
Yaoyorozu wasn’t sure what else Dark Shadow had been going to write, but she had some ideas. She still couldn’t confirm for absolute sure whether Tokoyami was interested in her or not, as she was unsure of how reliable Dark Shadow’s words were.
But if they were right and Tokoyami did have some sort of crush on her, would it be right of her to continue on with her life as normal after receiving information about the crush, information which she had sought out after herself? Something Tokoyami might have been keeping to himself and didn’t want anyone to know, now that she had this information she couldn’t just pretend it didn’t exist now could she?
She put herself into this situation, she couldn’t just ignore it or forget about it. Yaoyorozu decided she would confront Tokoyami later that day, or as soon as possible after classes, she would mention what she did with Dark Shadow to make sure nothing was kept hidden, she would be honest.
Meanwhile, after Dark Shadow had retreated back inside Tokoyami, he quickly looked back forwards. Tokoyami had never felt this nervous during class before, this was certainly out of the ordinary for him, he was normally so calm and collected. Now he felt like there might be butterflies in his stomach, it felt like the room was warmer than normal, he couldn’t focus on the work right in front of him. Is this what love did to a person? Or at least crushes?
Thankfully, he had the ability to communicate telepathically with Dark Shadow, so he wouldn’t have to try and be quiet or wait until later to find out what the Quirk had been doing with Yaoyorozu.
“Dark Shadow what were you doing? I thought we had an agreement.”
“I said I wouldn’t bother her, and she wasn’t being bothered, she told me I could hang with her! We had good time!” Dark Shadow excitedly responded, not seeming bothered by the situation.
Tokoyami sighed, he hadn’t thought he needed to be more specific at the time of the agreement with Dark Shadow, but apparently he had.
“I meant, talking to her at all during class time, when she should be working and undisturbed.” Tokoyami clarified, before then continuing, “What were you two even doing?”
“Pretty girl had me writing so we could be quiet and still talk! She asked me a few questions and I answered them! I don’t think she believes she’s pretty, she kept asking about it every time I mentioned it! I even told her you thought so too!”
That was not what Tokoyami wanted to hear, that was something he didn’t want Dark Shadow to mention to Yaoyorozu. Now he could only hope Yaoyorozu didn’t think much of it, or did he want her to? Tokoyami wasn’t sure what to think at the moment.
“I’m sorry Fumi… Did I do something bad?”
Tokoyami let out a sigh, keeping his eyes to the work on his desk.
“It’s fine, it’ll be fine. We can talk about it later Dark Shadow, I don’t want to discuss it during class.”
Dark Shadow didn’t say much more, but Tokoyami swore he could see the look on Dark Shadow’s face, the one the Quirk had when it did something it wasn’t supposed to. While Dark Shadow was capable of social interaction, the sentient Quirk didn’t quite seem to understand everything that was and wasn’t socially acceptable. It was only now after some time at U.A. he was really letting Dark Shadow out more for non training reasons around other people, before he was always overly cautious to protect people around him.
Dark Shadow seemed much happier now a days though, and Tokoyami was glad for it, even though Dark Shadow was only a Quirk, they still deserved to be happy, it would be wrong of him to deny that just because the nature of how Dark Shadow’s life came to be.
Perhaps he could talk things over with Yaoyorozu after class, he valued her friendship and did not want his little crush on her to get in the way of it.
The rest of the school day was rather uneventful, just a regular school day,everything was cleaned up and it was time to head back to the dorms.
Tokoyami wasn’t sure when he should approach Yaoyorozu, he didn’t want to do it around others, and the tall girl usually walked back to the dorms with either a group or just Jiro. He could just ask to talk to her later in private, but he was sure the girls would gossip and think something was going on between them. The bird headed teen knew Ashido had a tendency to try and find out about everything going on between people in class, and he was not looking to get interrogated by the pink acidic girl.
Though, to his luck, it looked as if he would have the chance to talk to Yaoyorozu sooner rather than later after all. The creation girl waved off Jiro and some others telling them that she would catch up with them after she finished something up first. Tokoyami had slowed down in gathering his stuff when he overheard, thinking he could use this as an opportunity to talk to Yaoyorozu.
Instead, after the last few had left the classroom, Tokoyami found himself approaching Yaoyorozu at the same time she appeared to be coming towards him. Was she going to talk to him about what Dark Shadow told her?
“Yaoyorozu I needed to talk to you about what Dark Shadow may have said when they were with you earlier.” Tokoyami spoke first when the two stopped in front of each other.
“I...I needed to speak with you on the same matter myself.” Yaoyorozu said in return.
She had thought about the possibility that Tokoyami would find out about the nature of her and Dark Shadow’s conversation, and through her thinking she thought that Tokoyami might try to talk to her and convince her that he had no romantic interest in her even if he did. If Yaoyorozu was right and that was what he was about to do, she didn’t want him to go on being nervous around her thinking that she knew or thought he had a crush on the girl.
“And, I would like to go first, I don’t know if Dark Shadow told you the exact things that they told me but, first I would like to admit that I was the one that wanted the information Dark Shadow told me, I let the curiosity get the better of me.”
If she was wrong and Tokoyami didn’t have any interest in her as more than a friend, well at least she would be the one feeling like a fool and not her classmate.
“And, Dark Shadow only told me that, you like me a lot. Now I can’t automatically assume that it meant in a more than friends way, but with Dark Shadow also insisting that you thought I was very pretty I can’t help but hope it might be true.” Yaoyorozu continued, watching Tokoyami’s face for any hints of whether she might be right or not.
“I just said I hope it might be true, didn’t I,” she had just let the word slip out, she meant to say that she thought it might be true, but there was no taking it back now.
“I’ll just continue, because I do mean that, now I understand I might be wrong, and I might be making a fool of myself right now, but I have to admit I’ve felt something towards you for awhile. We’ve spent a lot of time together since practicing for the school festival…” she paused for a moment, as if thinking over her next words.
“...and I’m not entirely sure, but I think I’ve come to desire you as more than just a friend.” Yaoyorozu finished, letting out a breath after all the speaking she had just done.
Tokoyami was surprised, very surprised. This was not how he expected the conversation to go at all, he barely even said anything yet, and now Yaoyorozu was confessing to him? He wasn’t sure what to do or say, he wasn’t prepared for this, he had been prepared for an awkward talk about how Dark Shadow ‘definitely’ over exaggerated how he felt about the girl. Had he fallen asleep during class, is that what was going on? This was all a dream and he’d wake up any moment to Iida scolding him for sleeping during class.
“I-I uh…” What did Dark Shadow get him into? He wasn’t sure whether he was thankful or not yet.
“I’ll admit I was going to try to convince you that Dark Shadow’s words were exaggerated, as I was nervous over it straining out friendship if you didn’t feel the same. But… if you do feel the same… There is no need for that then.” Tokoyami responded, finally able to get his words out.
Yaoyorozu smiled, she knew she had been taking a chance when she decided to do this, a chance she was now very glad to have taken. She had been quite nervous the whole day from when she had decided she was going to confess to Tokoyami, and now it felt like a huge weight she didn’t even realize was there had been lifted off her chest, and now she found herself unable to stop smiling.
“And I uh, suppose it wouldn’t be wrong of me to officially ask if you would like to… try and pursue a more romantic relationship with each other?” Tokoyami asked, looking away slightly while rubbing the back of his neck nervously, he could hear Dark Shadow cheering him on, he almost wondered if this was Dark Shadow’s plan all along.
He thought Yaoyorozu was smiling a lot before, but now he swore he was going to go blind.
“Y-yes! Yes yes of course! I would...I would like that very much!” Yaoyorozu exclaimed, before realizing her outburst. “I-I’m sorry I got a bit excited there for a moment. But yes, I would indeed like to do that with you.”
It wasn’t often that she saw Tokoyami smile, but it always was a joy to see. It was wonderful to see him happy when he spent a lot of time looking like he was frowning or no expression at all.
“I.. Thank you… Now I’ll have to further admit I’m... Not sure what we should be doing next? Do we let the others know? Do we keep this to ourselves? I’m not sure about you but I myself am not very familiar with...relationships.” Tokoyami admitted, looking to find what Yaoyorozu thought they should do.
Yaoyorozu looked to be in thought for a moment, not being sure herself. “W-well… I don’t see a reason to hide it, we don’t have to tell people right away, but if they ask, there’s no reason to deny it.” she answered, still looking to be thinking.
Tokoyami glanced around the room, they both had their bags and were ready to go. Tokoyami wondered about doing something he had been thinking about, and now seemed as good a time as any to try.
“What if we start by…” Tokoyami started to say, moving forwards closer to Yaoyorozu, taking her hand. “Walking back to the dorms together?”
A light blush came to Yaoyorozu’s face, still smiling and returning the hold on Tokoyami’s hand she nodded, “That sounds nice to me, let’s go.”
And so, the two walked out of the classroom, making their way back to the dorms where their classmates quickly caught on to what was going on once they saw them.
Thankfully they had Iida and Jiro to help them calm the crowd.