Chapter Text
Shinsou was all too familiar with the phrase, “Stranger Danger.” The vital points of the concept were drilled into his head the very second he showed the slightest sign of cognizance, and were often referenced by school teachers. With villains running amuck, children lacking proper control of their quirks were little nuggets of gold, perfect to be molded.
Despite it being incredibly annoying to hear, “Don’t talk to strangers!” by his mom every time he went out the house his entire life, Shinsou understood the reason for it. His parent were a tad overprotective and paranoid of their only son, who was blessed with one of the most unfortunate combinations of a persuasion and a mind reading quirk, getting kidnapped.
But Shinsou figured if he were to get kidnapped, he could simply order said kidnapper to stop kidnapping him. Or something. Shinsou didn’t really care for the specifics as long as he got the point across.
His quirk was kept under wraps, and his classmates created their own theories on what it could possibly be. Bags under eyes? Dream invasion quirk. Jagged teeth? Strength enhanced teeth quirk. Liked by animals? Critter attraction quirk.
Shinsou neither confirmed nor denied their suspicions.
The point was, when you see a complete stranger doing their own thing, you ignore them and carry on. Even if it was mugging another person, beating a dog, or whatever fucked up bullshit a complete jackass would do. It was simply something you didn’t react to unless it involved you. Or, if you were an actually decent person.
Shinsou was not a decent person.
Maybe that was why no one ever helps him during his times of need.
3 am, way past to curfew he was never given because his parents never expected for him to actually have friends and socialize , Shinsou’s walking home completely drenched from the rain. He doesn’t bother trying to shield himself with his backpack. He was already beyond the point of no return.
The inevitable yelling from his parents crosses through Shinsou’s mind for a brief moment, as well as the confiscation of his beloved laptop. Sure, he missed 17 calls and over 40 text messages because his phone was on silent- but cats near his school had finally accepted him as one of their own. Who was he to refuse the generous hospitality of a feline?
Ideas of how to tell his parents in a completely non-idiotic way that he fell asleep in the park with some cats, and that just woke up flits through his mind.
Well, there was no point on dwelling on it. Shinsou rubs his eyes and yawns. It was the best night of sleep he’s had in ages, dammit.
Shinsou takes a sharp left, towards the local shrine. It was a shortcut. All he has to do is hop over the fence and walk straight through instead of taking a completely new route. Disrespectful, but easier, simpler, and quicker..
He throws his backpack over, and walks back a couple feet before running to get a jump start. His hands easily hook over the very top, and his feet find grip on the rough wooden planks. Shinsou pulls himself over. He hops down, and someone grabs his wrist and pulls him back up.
“So.” The person looked down at Shinsou from atop the fence. A male, Shinsou realizes from the deep baritone. “I heard you had a brainwashing quirk.”
“No, I don’t.” The distinct feeling of nausea wells up inside Shinsou. His heartbeat quickens and intensifies. Shinsou could feel the blood circulating throughout his body slamming against the walls of his blood vessels. “My quirk is critter attraction.”
“Not everyone is as stupid as you like to think, you know?” The grip tightens. “Shinsou Hitoshi. Attends UA High School. Ag-”
“Drop me.”
The effect is immediate. Shinsou falls to the ground and scrambles back up, mud smearing all over his hands and knees. He breaks into a sprint, and runs faster than he ever had in his entire life. His chest begins to feel light.
The exit is nowhere in sight. The rain distorts Shinsou’s vision and gets in his eyes, but he keeps running. Panic swells in his chest, and the approaching squelching footsteps failed to make things better.
Shinsou’s foot slips on the mud. He swears loudly. His hands grab the closest structure, being the wall of the well, and he tries to pull himself back up. The footsteps get get louder and louder, and earth beneath his feet grew softer and more slippery. Shinsou falls to his knees and bangs his head against the wall of the well.
The person grabs a fistful of Shinsou’s hair and pulls him up, before slamming his head back into the edge of the wooden wall. He does it again. Again. And again.
Pain explodes throughout Shinsou’s head, and he can hear the crunch of his nose breaking. It’ll never look the way it did before, but it doesn’t make a difference. He’s already ugly. Blood spills into his eyes and mouth, and leaks down his throat. Shinsou coughs.
The grip on his hair relaxed, and Shinsou takes that chance. He springs up, headbutting the person.
The person falls to the muddy ground. Shinsou kicks their abdomen and quickly decides his next plan of action.
Running away is futile. The mud is too slippery and Shinsou was never too good at sprinting or long distance. Hell, he can’t even see the exit in this weather!
He hesitates too long. The person grabs his ankle and pulls Shinsou down with him. He forces Shinsou flat on his back and wrapped his fingers around his neck. He squeezes and presses down hard.
Shinsou can’t tell whether it's an air choke or a blood choke, but he’s not risking it. He has only a couple seconds left until he’s unconscious.
He claws at the person’s face with curved fingers. Shinsou manages to hook his fingers in the person’s nostrils and brings them down, slamming their foreheads together. The person releases his grip.
Shinsou brings his knees up to his chest and shoots them forward, propelling the person away from him. He shakily stands up, leaning against the well, and gasping for breath. He watches the person get back up on their feet.
This could easily be solved. This could easily be fixed. This could easily end.
Shinsou is a complete idiot.
They’re both grappling now. Shinsou is pushed against the well. His body leans over the edge more and more with each passing second, and there’s no question that he’s not going to survive using only his brute stre-
“Fall into the well and die.”
The person does, but not without taking Shinsou with them.
For what it matters, falling into a well hurts significantly less when you have a cushion. Even if said cushion is another human being.
Shinsou realizes that the ordering death part doesn’t exactly mean an instant death. The well is too small and the person doesn’t break their neck like he thought they would. Instead, the person lays on their stomach, face completely submerged into the murky water.
Shinsou clumsily steps back and falls against the wall of the well, sinking down to the ground. Adrenaline floods out of his body. The cold penetrates his bones.
Watching someone drown is, needless to say, a disturbing experience. A sense of urgency settles in your limbs, but the necessary contractions of the muscles for movement are missing. Guilt for the inexcusable uselessness swells in his heart, intensified by the unfortunate fascination and curiosity.
Shinsou vomits. He shivers.
He blacks out.
When Shinsou comes to, he’s lying beside the well, with a teen squatting down beside him. Looking down at him.
He’s got green-ish black hair and freckles smattered just about everywhere on his face. His green eyes are enormous, to the point where it’s somewhat unsettling. Shinsou recognizes the uniform he wears- an outdated UA one. Shinsou doesn’t know exactly how many years it was ago, but the changes were minuscule.
The most noticeable feature, however, was that he was semi-transparent.
“If you have a brainwashing quirk,” The teen slowly says, pressing their foreheads together. Shinsou’s wrists are held captive by the teen’s freezing and barely tangible hands. “Why didn’t you just order them to go away?”
Shisou shudders. Touching a ghost, or at least Shinsou’s worn out mind assumes it’s a ghost, feels disgusting. Dirty.
Violated.
The ghost draws back and looks to the left. “Well anyway, there’s a shovel. Go put some dirt in the well, will you? A lot of dirt.” An amused smile stretches onto his face. “We don’t need you tarnishing the reputation of UA with murder, so be sure to do a good job.”
Nodding numbly, Shinsou stands up and walks sluggishly to the shovel.
He begins his work.