Work Text:
Its two pm on a Tuesday and he was in the library 2 minutes away from banging his head into the table then giving up to go get iced coffee. Shinso looks up trying to refocus to continue the mountain of work he still had. He instantly recognizes Skate the Infinity on the laptop of the blonde at the table directly in front of him. He continues to work while occasionally getting distracted as he watches the screen for the outcome of Langa and Miya’s beef despite having seen it before.
Shinso goes back to the library everyday at the same time and sits in the same spot for the next week. The blonde haired boy does the same, watching skate the infinity everyday with books open in front of him ignored. It's finally Friday and Shinso has a shift later he is dreading. He didn't hate work but his long string of all nighters was starting to stab him in the back. The boy in front of him was watching Saiki K and despite the mountain of work he still had to do, he allowed himself to get distracted by it. So distracted that he laughs, loudly. The whole library turns to look at him, including the boy in front of him. As everyone turns their heads back to their own work, the blonde boy begins to pack up. He walks the short distance to his table, confusing Shinso as he gets closer. He sits down next to Shinso, hands him an ear bud and opens his laptop. Shinso, only growing more confused, gingerly takes the wire and puts it in his ear. They sit in silence, the boy watching anime and Shinso trying studying while occasionally looking up.
Silently beginning to pack up he wonders what the boy will do now. He is more pleased than he would like to admit when the boy begins to pack up and follow him out. They walk out of the library still never having said a word. As they walk outside the building Shinso turns to the boy.
His hand slides to the back of his neck, “Hey so, I just realized we never introduced ourselves, I'm Shinso.”
The boy smiles so bright it's blinding, “Im Denki Kaminari!”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure!”
“How come you didn't study? You had your books out but I didn't see you look at them once.”
Kaminari looks at the ground, “I kinda gave up on studying, Im kinda stupid and kinda a lost cause.”
They begin to aimlessly wander around campus as they talk. Kaminari explains that he was never very good at school and only got into the university on a sports scholarship. He goes to the library everyday to trick his teammates and friends into thinking he's actually studying.
“So what about you,” Kaminari turns to him as they walk, “What's your story?”
“I don't really have a story.”
“Oh come on everyone has a story, at least that's what they tell me in my journalism classes.”
Shinso finds himself explaining his difficult return to school. He had always been good enough at school. But having taken a gap year to save money, he lost the momentum that had been pushing him through school since 6th grade. He has no motivation to do anything now and his grades show that better than anything. He almost regretted sharing until he realized that half the kids in the school are probably having similar problems. Soon his phone began to buzz, an alarm that told him he needed to leave for work. They say their goodbyes and despite feeling like he overshared to a practical stranger, Shinso heads to work feeling pretty good.
The next day, Kaminari isn't sitting at his usual table when shinso walks in. Instead he is at Shinso’s table in the same chair as yesterday. As Shinso sits down, Kaminari presses play on Skate the Infinity.
“I love this show,” Shinso whispers.
“Oh good, if you didn't I'm afraid I would be able to be your friend.” Kaminaris giggles which earns them a few looks.
It's been about a month since the pair started sitting together. It was nice having someone around. It kept him from getting too lost in his thoughts and forgetting to study. Shinso was trying to figure out how he had become so at ease around Kaminari even though they had only known each other for a month. Normally it took Shinso a while to warm up to people but this boy was like the sun. It took no time for him to become at ease.
He reaches the coffee shop and sighs in relief when he sees only one table with four people at it. With the shop so close to campus it was almost always packed. Shinso walked behind the counter and to the back to put his apron on. As he came from the back room to behind the counter he saw one of his high schooler coworkers scrolling on her phone.
“Hey Eri, has it been busy today?”
“No not really,” she said looking up from her phone, “but that group of boys has been here for a while.”
Shinso looked over to the group and saw familiar blonde hair. “Oh that looks like Kaminari.”
“Ooo the boy you've been talking about?”
“Yea him, but don't get the wrong idea we're just friends.”
Eri and the other 3 people who worked at the cafe were the only ones he told about Kaminari. Mostly because they were the only friends he had. The result of moving away from home for college and keeping to himself. Although he didn't like to admit it since half of them were high schoolers.
“We have been here for 2 hours already, how have you not learned anything?” The boy sitting across come kaminari yells as he slams his fist on the table.
“Come on man that's not nice, you know he's trying his best.” The red hair boy next to him says.
“Yea dude you know he's not very good at this kind of stuff that's why we are here to help him, not verbally abuse him.”
Kaminari has been staring down at his hands the whole conversation and Shinso realizes they are talking about him.
“You have been going to the library everyday!” The other blonde yells, “Have you actually been studying or have you just been fucking around?”
“I get distracted sometimes but I'm trying,” Kaminari says, still not looking up.
“Obviously you're not trying hard enough!”
“Bakugo, stop man.” The red haired boy tries to calm him down.
“No! If he fails he can’t play and if he can’t play we can't win, we don't have enough time to replace him, he needs to try harder!”
Shinso cant take it anymore. Kaminari obviously feels bad yet these people, his teammates, are doing nothing but insulting him as if he isnt even there. Shinso walks up to the table and puts on his best customer service face.
“Is everything ok over here?” He asks the table.
Kaminari looks up, “Shinso hey-”
“We are fucking fine,” Bakugo says.
Shinso ignores him and turns to kaminari, “Hey Kaminari, what are you guys doing?”
“They are trying to help me study, I'm not doing too well in math right now.” He fidgets with his fingers.
“It looks more like they are just being assholes-”
Bakugo stands up, “What we are doing is none of your business and don't call me an asshole,”
Kaminari starts to look panicked, “Oh it's nothing like that, they are just trying to help”
Shinso continues to ignore Bakugo and gives Kaminari a short nod “Ok I'm just making sure, I'll see you later Kaminari.”
Shinso walks back behind the counter and stands next to Eri. She offers to take care of the table when necessary after that. Shinso almost wishes that Bakugo would say something to Eri so he would have an excuse to kick the guy out. But he doesn't say anything to her, letting the others respond to her questions or ask for more drinks.
“So, what was going on at the cafe yesterday with those guys?” Shinso asks after they had settled into their usual library seats.
“Oh they were just trying to help me with my homework, their my teammates,” He looked down at his hands.
Shinso can tell the conversion is a sore spot but cant help himself, “They didn't look like they were trying to do anything other than assholes,”
“That's just how Bakugou is, there is only so much Kirishima can do and he doesn't listen to Sero at all.”
“How about I help you? I'm pretty good at math and we meet everyday in the library anyway.”
“Oh no I wouldn't want to take up your time, you come here to study for your own classes.”
“It actually would help me, I'm trying to become a teacher and this would be great practice.”
“You're trying to be a teacher? You never told me that.”
After more explaining about his plans to be a high school teacher and slightly more convincing, Kaminari finally agrees to let him help. They spend the rest of the day working on the assignment Kaminari has due the next day.
Soon Kaminari stops setting up netflix at all and goes straight to his homework. Helping him isn’t hard, he wants to learn and is trying his best. He just needs more time and explanation and that's what Shinso was for.
Somedays are harder than others like today when Kaminari just couldn't seem to get it.
“I hate this, why is this so hard?” Kaminari says as he bangs his head don't on the table.
“You’ll get it just keep trying,”
“You're just saying that because you're my friend,” He looks up at him, his head still on the table. Shinso thinks that's kinda cute but quickly shoves that thought away.
“No I'm serious. I wouldn't help you if you were a lost cause. If you can’t trust yourself at least trust me.”
Kaminari just stares at him, he can feel himself start to blush. They both quickly turn back to their papers and he continues like nothing happened. Although Shinso can't help but wonder why he couldn't stop thinking about the way Kaminari was staring at him.
Of course Kaminari thought shinso was cute, that's why he sat next to him that first day. But he had gotten over it as they got to know each other and became friends. Which is why it is really bad how patient Shinso is while tutoring him. Of course that's not the only reason he suddenly has a crush on the boy. It's like the final crack in the dam, a dam that can not crack. He can not have a crush on shinso, he can have a crush on anyone. He forgets how to act, literally.
Normally he can strike up a conversation with anyone easily, he could always speak with an air of confidence. One of the reasons he chose journalism as a major in the first place. But when he has a crush he can't speak to them, well he can but it comes out as embarrassing nonsense. Interacting with the person becomes impossible. This is why he can not have a crush on Shinso. If he has a crush on Shinso so he wouldn't be able to go to the library everyday out of fear and embarrassment. Shinso also just told him he would be going to their football game that night. The football game Kaminari is playing in. The football game he can not mess up because Bakugo is already pissed after he almost couldn't play due to his grades. The game he would most definitely mess up if he knew Shinso was in the stands watching.
“Hey, Kaminari,” Shinso says.
He almost jumps out of his chair in surprise, “Sorry for spacing out, what were you saying?”
“I was talking about how my friend Izuku got tickets to your guys game on Friday and he invited me,”
“Cool, I've actually been meaning to invite you to one of our games, I guess you will finally get to see how amazing of a player I am.” He had been planning to invite Shinso to a game but that was before he realized his crush. Now he would rather the shell of a crab than have him come to a game.
Kaminari is practically running away as soon as they leave the library making up some bullshit excuse as he leaves. He doesn't stop running until he reaches the tables outside one of the dorm buildings, Mina and Jirou’s favorite spot to study.
“Hey Kaminari!” Mina waves from the table she is sitting on, “Why are you running?”
Jirou looks up from the chair next to Mina, “Did you accidentally flirt with someone who was taken again?”
“I'm running because I need help,” he says out of breath, “no one is chasing me.”
He explains his situation to the girls. Although there isn't much to explain just that he realized he has a crush on Shinso and that he will not be able to play well with him at their next game.
“Shinso’s that purple haired guy that works at the coffee shop right?” Mina asks.
“Yea, him”
“Oh he's friends with one of the girls on our floor, Uraraka. And…”
He's worried now, “what is it?”
“I heard her say earlier that they weren't going to the game tonight,” she hesitates, “apparently they got tickets last minute to a band they have been dying to see.”
“But I literally just talked to him, why would he tell me he was coming if he wasn't.”
“We talked to her literally 5 minutes before you came so maybe she just hasn't told him yet?” Jiro jumps in. He's so distracted he doesn't notice her waiting for his reaction as she speaks.
“Yea” Mina jumps in, “she's probably telling him right now.”
Kaminari can't say he's not relieved, at least he won't have to be worried about playing now. But he can't help but feel disappointed that Shinso won't be there. It was his chance to show Shinso what he looked like when he was doing something he was good at. He kinda liked the idea of showing off, and Shinso praising him. Why is he feeling like this? He can't have a crush on Shinso anyways so why does it matter so much to him?
Izuku and Uraraka weren't even trying to be subtle at this point. It was no coincidence that they suggested they all go to Kaminari’s game a few days after Shinso mentioned he might think Kaminari is a bit cute. But he did want to see Kaminari play, so he didn't say anything. Although after watching Kaminari practically run away from him this afternoon he wasn't too sure about going.
“Come one shinso,” Uraraka said as they began their walk across campus, “I'm sure he just has a lot to do today with the game.”
“Yea Uraraka is right he's probably just busy, it's not that he didn't want you there.” Izuku says turning to him as they walk.
“Maybe he just had to go to the bathroom.” Todoroki offers from behind them. The conversation dissolves into Uraraka trying to explain football to him.
Luckily the walk across campus to the football stadium was too short to allow Shinso to over think, and soon they were in the stands.
Truth be told Shinso had no idea what was going on in the game or weather or not Kaminari was doing well. He was just watching the others and standing to cheer when they did. Uraraka tried to explain the game but it went over his head. Though he was having fun screaming and watching Uraraka get worked up over the referees calls.
“Oh my fucking god!” Uraraka shouts from Shinso’s left, “Is this ref fucking blind?!”
Soon the game was over, they joined the crowd filling out of the stands.
“Hey! Shinso!” He looks over to see a girl waving frantically as she fights against the crowd to reach him.
They end up reaching her. Pulling away from the crowd they stop to talk to her. “Hey you should wait with me here, Denki and the others are going to find us as soon as they can,” the girl says, still out of breath from yelling.
Shinso turns to look at Uraraka and Izuku for their opinion but the two are already gone. “Um ok but who are you?”
“I'm Denki's friend Mina and I wanted to make sure you got to see him. '' She had a look on her face that he couldn't place but definitely didn't have a good feeling about. “Oh! There they are!”
Kaminari stopped in the middle of his conversation with Sero as his eyes fell on Mina waving and an uncomfortable looking Shinso. Shoving him forward Sero laughed and continued talking. Kamnirari could do nothing but stare in shock. A sneaking suspicion that he had been lied to crept into his head as well as a gratefulness he hadn't known Shinso had been watching the whole time.
“Hey you guys did great!” Mina exclaimed as they stood around her.
Bakugo snorted “Of course we did,”
“He just means that everyone worked hard to prepare so it's no surprise they all did great,” Kirirshima chuckled, covering for his boyfriends callousness the same way he always did.
“I don't know much about football but from what I could tell you guys did good,” Shinso's voice was quiet, so only he heard.
Kamrinari found himself blushing, “Thank you, I appreciate you coming even if I didn't know until now.”
“What?”
Mina turned to the two boys, “Well we are going to head out just meet us at the restaurant when you're done talking.”
Before he could question why they couldn't just go with them now, the four were already walking away. Having the others around allowed him to feel enough at ease to choke out sentences to his crush. With them gone he wasn't sure he could even do that.
The other boy cleared his throat, “So I was thinking we could go somewhere to talk before we caught up with the others?”
He froze, Shinso wanted to talk? Racking his brain he tried to think of what Shinso could possibly want to talk to him about. They hardly ever had conversations outside of school work since their tutoring sessions began.
“I mean if you don't want to that's ok, I was just thinking we haven't talked about anything other than school work like ever so…”
A jolt went through his spine, “Yes!” Kaminari shouted, “I mean I would like that alot.” His voice was quiet as he realized how he responded.
“Cool,” Shinso’s smile made his face heat up as he waited for him to continue, “I know the perfect place.”