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“Shinsou, look!” Ochako grinned from ear to ear, holding up a stick of purple cotton candy. “It’s the same as your hair!” she teased, poking her tongue out between her lips.
Her soft, gleeful giggles made the young man’s chest tight with adoration for his classmate.
His date.
It still hadn’t sunk in that she had actually accepted to go out with him only a week ago. This was their first date and Denki had convinced him that an amusement park was the perfect, low pressure place to take the girl he had been crushing on for the better half of a year.
Especially for Ochako, who was all bright eyes and glowing cheeks as they hopped from vendor to vendor. They sampled fresh dango, kakigori, and takoyaki. He had to politely decline taking a bite of her chocolate banana when she offered, after rolling her eyes and moaning; it took all his will power to keep his imagination from spiraling.
To his surprise, she was perfectly fine with avoiding the high speed roller coasters, which he had pocketed a handful of anti-nausea medication for as a precaution. Instead, she was content playing the ground games.
She had a competitive streak, which came as no surprise to him considering who her ex was. It was fun to watch her gasp when she lost. Her cheeks always swelled with color, her nubby brows pinching in the middle as she snapped her fingers and promised to beat him next time.
While playing a water gun game to compete for a teddy bear that he would have forfeited to her regardless of victory, he pivoted his machine when she was in the lead, her balloon seconds from popping when the stream of water hit her in the face.
“Ahhh!!” She screamed, pivoting toward him. “You jerk!” But the insult was drowned out by her full belly laughter that had him giving a toothy smirk as he shielded himself from the spray of water.
It was a fun day.
And what day at the amusement park wouldn’t be complete without a fireworks display?
Shinsou had planned to bring Ochako to the central fountain, which had a great view and wasn’t too far from the main entrance so that they could make an escape back to the dorms afterwards, but his date had other thoughts.
It seemed they weren’t going to escape all the rides today.
To wrap up the night, Shinsou found himself seated beside Ochako in an open metal death trap with only a single loosely fitted metal bar to keep them from falling to their doom.
He didn’t know where to put his eyes. Up to the rapidly dimming sky? That only seemed to remind him of how high up they were. Down definitely wasn’t an option and if he looked at Ochako, she was sure to catch the anxiousness in his eyes.
Shit.
The ride lurched as the death wheel craned them higher and higher. His stomach was in knots, clammy fists clenched tightly in his lap.
Just a couple more minutes. He was a hero trainee. He could handle this!
“Hey,” Ochako chimed in beside him. “Are you okay?”
Her fingers were gentle as she reached for his forearm in a delicate touch, bringing him out of his head.
Shinsou twisted his lips into a grimacing smile. “Yeah, just peachy. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Ochako saw right through him. “You certainly don’t look very relaxed, like you’re having a good time,” she observed. The smile didn’t quite disappear from her face, but it morphed into a concerned look. “What’s wrong?”
Shinsou couldn’t find it in him to exhale; his chest was constricted too tightly with anxiety.
“It’s nothing, Kitten—“
“Don’t you kitten me!” Ochako scolded. She didn’t raise her voice, but her tone was firm. “Please, Shin. Tell me.”
His violet eyes flickered toward her, reading the care etched into the golden flecks of her eyes. “I…” he chewed his cheek, averting his gaze to the heavens. “Don’t laugh…!” He grouched, stalling.
Ochako wasn’t deterred. “I won’t,” she promised.
Fine.
“I’m afraid of heights,” he spat out quickly only to be met with silence.
When he chanced a glance at the brunette beside him, he found her looking up at him with her lips pursed tightly. His cheeks darkened, his neck and ears reddening.
She sucked in a breath through her teeth. “But,” she began, “don’t you…aren’t you really good at using that capture scarf like Aizawa? I’ve literally seen you hanging from trees and buildings!”
She was right. It didn’t make sense. Fear seldom did.
“That’s different,” Shinsou grumbled. “Trees are much closer to the ground, and when I’m using my scarf in close quarters I’m in control. It took me a lot of training to even get close to a point where I was comfortable enough to do that.”
Her lips rounded into a small ‘o’.
“I see,” she sympathized. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize — you could have told me, we didn’t have to —“
Shinsou reached out, pressing his palm over her mouth. “Shh,” he hushed her. “Enough of that. I don’t want your apologies. I just wanted you to enjoy yourself.”
A soft giggle met his ears and he turned a pointed glare at her. “I told you not to laugh—“
“I’m not!” Ochako defended. “Not at you. At the fact that you think I’m not enjoying myself.” She shook her head, lids drooping as her gaze softened on him. “I am enjoying myself very much today. Thank you. But I would enjoy it more knowing that you’re also comfortable with what we’re doing.”
Oh.
Shinsou cleared his throat, shifting his eyes to the metal of the cart before snapping them closed. “Yeah. Well, I guess we’re already here. It’s fine.”
“What if…” He felt her palm press against his knee, “I gave you a distraction, from the height?”
He wasn’t sure how she planned to do that. “I’m not sure there’s much you can do about this,” he said honestly.
“Can I try?”
Her breath hit his cheek and when he opened his eyes to look, he found her closer than he remembered, inches from his face.
Oh.
It turned out, she was probably the best thing for his eyes to focus on right now.
“Yeah,” he whispered.
Her lips met his. His lids fluttered closed, free falling into the blissful sensation of their first kiss. Their lips moved in slow tandem, bringing him out of his head and coaxing his grasp on his slacks to relax.
Her arm wrapped around his shoulders, helping to ground him while he wiped the moisture off his palm before reaching up to push her hair behind her ear and cup the back of her neck. Her lips parted and he grooved his jaw to fit their mouths together.
The taste of her strawberry chapstick would be on his mind for the rest of the night.
A cacophony of pops and bangs was drowned out by the rush of blood in his own ears.
The ferris wheel nearly touched the ground to release them when she broke the kiss. Shinsou blinked his eyes open in a daze.
He took in the flush of her cheeks and the way her wind tousled hair curled around her ears.
“We…missed the fireworks…,” he noted, eyes searching her glistening, kiss swollen lips.
She smiled, leaning in close. “That’s okay.” Her fingers found the collar of his shirt, tugging him to her. His stomach flipped for entirely new reasons. “I like these ones better,” she purred.
His grip tightened in her hair. “Fuck, Kitten…,” he panted against her lips. “Me too.”
Heights weren’t so bad, so long as he had his Kitten to help him land.