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Izuku knew he had a bad habit of not taking care of himself whenever things were going too well. He just got nervous okay?! If everything was looking too far up for too long it would make the inevitable crash back down that much harder. It was easier on his nerves if he took matters into his own hands.
Pushing himself further and further during his training could only help him in the long run anyway. Heroes didn’t always have the chance to rest or grab a drink of water during a mission, so this was just good training for later. Developing important resistance skills before it mattered, he wouldn’t be going into the field untested.
So, yeah. Maybe it wasn’t “healthy” or whatever, but he was so far behind everyone else in his class who had gotten to train their quirks for a decade longer than him. He had to work this hard if he had any chance of catching up with them. He had to.
But he did also have a lot to thank his middle school years for also! He was great at sensing when other people were nearby or looking at him. Looking at him angrily. Like Shinsou was doing right that moment.
Izuku didn’t need his super honed hehe-I’m-in-danger senses to see the other boy start stomping up to him. He could have been deafened and blindfolded and the purple aura of menace would still have had him on alert. And while he could have gotten away using more of his hard earned… skills… he was a hero student now. If Shinsou had a problem with him – and it certainly looked like he did – Izuku could square his shoulders and face him.
Maybe they’d get the chance to overcome whatever the other boy had against him! Maybe they could even become friends!
The violet-haired boy came to a stop in front of him. Had he not grown up with Kachan being the way he was all his life, it would have seemed overly dramatic. Instead, it was intimidating, even when Shinsou bent down and grabbed Izuku’s waterbottle and held it out to him.
“Drink.” His voice was flat, none of the hypnotizing notes that tended to come with his quirk. Izuku blinked, taken aback by the sentiment that seemed almost like care.
“Oh! Um! I’ll be fine, really!” He took a step back, wanting to wave his hands about to try and brush the concern off but he was still holding the loaded barbell. He didn’t need water right now. He needed to train for when he didn’t have access to water mid-fight anyway.
“Drink,” Shinsou stepped closer, crowding against him with all of his height and steel gaze that somehow wasn’t lessened by the chibi All Might waterbottle he was holding. It was impressive really.
“Once I finish this set-” Midoriya cut off speaking, looking up at the expression on Shinsou’s face as he realized just how close the other boy had moved, abdominals pushing against the metal bar between them. It was beginning to shake in his hands, whether from exhaustion or nerves he couldn’t tell. He looked his gym partner up and down nervously, what had he done wrong?
Shinsou popped the lid of Midoriya’s water bottle without breaking eye contact.
“Bakugou isn’t your only rival,” a slender hand reached out to push down on the bar. Izuku didn’t let go. He still had reps left. He would never live up to All Might if he stopped now.
Shinsou seemed to see the panic he was feeling on his face, not that it was surprising, he knew he was an open book emotionally. He did stop pushing on the bar but didn’t move back. Izuku’s forearms were straining from keeping the barbell steady between them, biceps trembling heavily as his lungs heaved.
“You may have to be in top form to beat Blasty right now, but you have to be in even better form to beat me later.” Shinsou let his hand leave the bar to ghost up over Midoriya’s neck before curling them gently, too gently for the expression on his face, up into green curls. “I may have joined the hero course late. I may not be blessed with a flashy or destructive quirk. But I am going to be a hero. And I’m going to do it having overcome more than that entitled asshole ever could have known.”
Blunt nails scratched lightly at the back of Izuku’s head, softening the blows from his words, underlining his speech with a current of care.
“So take care of yourself,” those fingers tightened suddenly in his hair, yanking his head back while his mouth opened in a gasp, “or I will.”
Shinsou hovered the open water bottle over Izuku’s open mouth for a blink before finally letting a stream of water trickle out. It began to pool in his mouth and he frantically snapped his eyes back and forth between the water and Shinsou, question evident in his eyes.
“Drink.” The fingers in his hair clenched tighter, Izuku’s mouth opening wider in response.
He swallowed but Shinsou didn’t let up in his pour or his grip. Instead, he increased the angle he was holding the neon yellow design atrocity to quicken the pace. Izuku had to gulp, throat constricting harshly from the angle and intrusion. Shinsou’s violet gaze blurred and he realized he was tearing up.
“Don’t stop, you’re almost there.” He upended the bottle, the last few drops splashed on freckled cheeks as Izuku finally got the chance to cough in air.
Shinsou released his grip on green curls gently, letting Izuku go with slow and careful movements before setting the bottle back down.
“Good,” he turned to begin walking away but paused to throw a loaded glance over his shoulder, “and stop hurting yourself and letting Blasty bully you. If you want to hurt, find me. I’ll do it right.”
Izuku could do nothing but stand and stare.
“What the fuck?” Kaminari popped out from behind the nearest weight rack.
Izuku screamed and finally dropped the barbell.