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Class 1A did not know that Shouto had a boyfriend. Shouto had not confided in them, not even when he and his partner had first begun spending time together.
This was not because he was ashamed or embarrassed, the subject just hadn't really come up.
It all started right after the sports festival, once Bakugo's victory had been secured.
Shouto had retreated into a quiet corner of the school building to think, and to escape from the prying eyes of his father who surely had some opinions about him losing the final round.
A lot had happened during the matches, and Shouto did not feel ready to talk about all of it at the moment.
It seemed as though another student had the same idea, because only five minutes after Shouto had settled on a spot, he was joined by someone else who had recently been defeated.
Hitoshi Shinso did not notice the hero student at first. He was deep in his own thoughts, dwelling on the match he had lost against Midoriya and pondering what he could've done differently.
When they eventually did talk, the exchange was relatively brief, but somehow impactful.
"I didn't expect to find anyone else here," Shinso had said, once he finally noticed Shouto.
"Me neither," Shouto had replied. "I was under the impression that I would be the only one."
"What brings you here?" Shinso had asked.
"I just needed a place to think," Shouto explained. "That tournament... a lot's just been on my mind."
"Mine too," Shinso admitted quietly. "I was so sure I had it during my last match."
"I guess we think alike," Shouto had agreed, and they left it at that.
Soon after that conversation, they started meeting up on purpose. Shouto soon learnt more about what had been bothering Shinso that first day, and Shinso, with some effort managed to learn the things that had been bothering Shouto.
The unlikely pair began spending time together outside of school hours, occasionally at first, but increasingly more frequent as the months went on.
These meet ups did not interrupt any of Shouto's other activities, and it wasn't as if Shinso was brought up often among his classmates after the sports festival. So the former had felt no reason to bring him up himself despite how often they saw each other.
Their mutual desires to prove themselves to the world, while feeling as though they had to fight prior expectations placed upon them, had enabled them to bond deeply in a way that they could not seem to with other people. They both understood what it was like to want to carve their own paths forward, despite what their parents, peers or anyone else said they should become.
By the time October arrived, it became clear that their connection was growing deeper than mere friendship. Shouto had never considered having a partner, and Shinso had never felt loved enough by his peers to even think he could have one.
But there they were, in each other's comforting presence one October afternoon, and they just could not help but decide to give it a try.
Now, a whole month had passed since that fateful day, and they were once again in each other's company a little after their one month anniversary.
They sat facing each other in a quiet spot on the U.A. school campus, where several benches and tables had been laid out for students to study or hang out.
Most of their schoolmates had either gone home or back to their dorms by this hour, so they were granted a reasonable amount of privacy.
Shinso had a book open in front of him, and he was writing down answers for a homework assignment he had been given.
Shouto, who had only recently gotten out of physical hero training for that day, allowed himself to lean forward slightly so that he entrusted a bit of his weight to the table. He folded his arms in front of him and looked over at his partner.
"A lot of homework today?" Shouto asked.
Shinso shook his head.
"I was going through these slowly to pass the time while I waited for you to be done with afternoon classes," he explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry to keep you waiting," Shouto replied apologetically.
Shinso clicked his pen shut and laid it down next to his book.
"You shouldn't apologise," he told his boyfriend. "You're lucky."
"I'm lucky to have kept you waiting?" Shouto asked, confused.
"No, I meant you're lucky that you have a reason to keep me waiting in the first place," Shinso clarified.
"Oh, right, hero training..." Shouto realised. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Shinso sighed. "It's a good thing that you can be a hero. Fate just favours some people more than others I guess"
he gazed up from his book, a look of steady determination growing behind his normally tired eyes.
"I haven't given up yet though," he continued. "I'll try again at next year's sports festival. I've been training my quirk, I can do more now than I used to be able to do."
His fingers subconsciously curled into a fist, as an involuntary small smile tugged at Shouto's lips.
"You're determined to make this work no matter what, aren't you?" The latter asked.
"Yes, it's been like that for years," Shinso expressed. "Even when everyone said that my quirk made me seem more like a villain, I just wanted to be a hero. The more they said it, the more determined I became."
He bookmark the page he was on and slowly closed his textbook. There would be time to complete the assignment later, for now, he had to spend quality time with Shouto.
"You know, despite everything, sometimes I can't help but think that you were lucky that you were able to be a hero because of your quirk," he confessed. "You were born with abilities that look enticing to the public eye, and that people don't think would pose as a significant threat to civilians. I have to work super hard just to show people that I'm harmless, even though in both our cases, a quirk is just a quirk and we can control what we do with them."
"I wish I wasn't born with my quirk, especially not on my left side. Maybe then I could've had a somewhat normal life," Shouto said quietly. "My whole purpose of being born was to be a hero, one that could surpass Endeavour's abilities. I was supposed to be a better version of my Father, something which I will always despise him for. I didn't really get to choose my own path in life, especially not that young."
He unfolded his arms and let them rest stretched out before him on the table, a sign of open vulnerability. His smile had been replaced with a more serious expression, though not anything that looked unhappy.
"Of course, I eventually found a hero I did look up to, All Might, and got inspired by him," Shouto continued. "But originally, being a hero was not my choice. I'm almost jealous of you: you get to choose to want to be a hero without any influence from anyone. I wish I had had that freedom growing up, even though yours came with a lot of hardships of your own."
"I guess you have a point," Shinso acknowledged. "No one asked me to be a hero, in fact, most people think I shouldn't be one. I suppose in that sense I do have more freedom than you, though like you said, it still wasn't easy on my part. I'm sorry if I brought up a sensitive topic,"I didn't mean to imply that your past was good for you in any way."
"It's alright, I know you didn't mean it that way," Shouto assured him.
"Sometimes, I forget that even those who had the liberty to be heroes from birth don't necessarily want to, Shinso admitted. "It's always been the holy grail for me. I want to be like you and your classmates so bad that sometimes, it slips my mind that becoming a hero isn't something everyone wants."
"I understand," Shouto replied.
"I've always been made to feel guilty about admitting my dreams," Shinso continued. "Every time I tried to express it, they would tell me that it was impossible, or that I'm better suited to be some sort of criminal."
"Hitoshi..." Shouto reached a hand across the table to gently brush his fingers against Shinso's. "You should never, ever have to be told that you can't become the person you want to be."
Shinso took Shouto's hand and squeezed it, taking in the warmth of the hold.
His boyfriend squeezed back, lacing his fingers in Shinso's so that their hands were intertwined.
"Do you know what I like about this relationship?" Shinso asked after a thoughtful silence.
"What?
"That you just answered my question like that, without hesitation... that you just talk to me without fear," Shinso replied. "Other people... Like I said before, they make me feel like a villain. But from the first moment we spoke after the sports festival, you didn't treat me like a threat, and you took my dreams of becoming a hero seriously. You're the first one to listen."
Shouto's soft smile returned, and he met the latter's gaze.
"you were never a threat to me," he replied. "I've seen actual threats in the world... Even heroes who act like villains behind closed doors. But you're not one of them. A person's quirk doesn't define who they are, their actions do."
Shinso felt as though his heart could melt from that statement. It was so rare that he was told something like that, to be believed in so fully.
"I promise, that as long as I live, I will never hurt you," he vowed. "I know you've seen your own fair share of evil, and you don't deserve that. That's one of the many reasons I want to be a hero, to help ease the world From pain like this. No one should be made to suffer, or to feel like they can't choose their own paths just because of how they were born."
"I believe you, and that's one of the many things I like about you," Shouto told him.
He then Brighton slightly, remembering something that he had been meaning to tell his partner.
"You know, if you really want to join the hero course, I have been thinking about a possible solution for a while."
"What is it?" Shinso asked, curiosity taking hold of him.
"You can talk to Mr Aizawa," Shouto suggested. "Perhaps he could arrange some way for you to prove yourself. You don't have to wait for next years sports festival."
"Do you think he would listen to me?" Shinso pondered uncertainly. "I mean, I heard he has a stricked reputation."
"He does," Shouto confirmed. "But he also recognises when someone is serious about their goals. On our first day, he set us all up for a test to proof what we could do in order to assess where we stood. He did it so that we wouldn't have any false expectations going forward, so he's good at noticing potential when it's there. I'm sure he'll recognise yours if you give it a try. Maybe he already has, back when he saw you at the sports festival."
Shinso considered this for a moment. He had thought of approaching the faculty about his goals more than once, and he had already talked to his own homeroom teacher about it before. This would be going a step further.
But if Shouto was sure that this could work, then he trusted his partner. He had never led him wrong before, and it was true that directly approaching a homeroom teacher from the hero course could open the door to more opportunities if he was taken seriously.
"Are you sure?" he doublechecked.
Shouto shrugged.
"I can't promise, but it might speed things up a bit," he replied.
"In that case, I could try approaching him tomorrow afternoon once regular classes are over," Shinso contemplated.
"Sounds good to me," Shouto agreed.
Shinso could feel his heart rate quicken slightly. He couldn't believe that he was really going to do this
"I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of nervous," he confessed. "Do you think you could come with me?"
"I was already planning to," Shouto assured him. "I'll vouch for you."
"Thanks," Shinso replied gratefully. "That makes me feel better about it."
"It's the least I can do," Shouto said, giving Shinso's hand another squeeze. "I'll do whatever I can to support your dream."
"I can't tell you what that means to me," Shinso whispered, squeezing back. "I promise, I'll do the same for you too, no matter what."