Mondo Oowada was seriously considering severely altering the way he did things just so that he could avoid Mikan Tsumiki.
They weren't in the same class, so, really, it shouldn't have been that hard. He should've just been able to… look the other way when they passed each other or something. But, no, every fucking time he ended up tripping over his own feet and landing face-first on the floor, causing Leon to burst out laughing and Ishimaru to proclaim his worry every single time.
Every. Single. Time.
Problem was, he wasn't exactly sure how he could do that, with everything so ingrained in him already, he'd end up screwing everything up and be late to basically everything, so instead he just complained to Chihiro.
"And it's like, I don't even know this chick, it's just that whenever she looks at me I trip over something or run into a doorframe or something stupid like that," he said. Chihiro, who was typing at furious speeds on his laptop, glanced up.
"Do you like her?"
"Likeher? I just said, I don't know her! I ain't got no feelings for the chick, one way or the other! If anything, it pisses me off that I can't walk normally around her!" his voice was starting to rise. He glanced at Chihiro, who was starting to quiver a little and forced himself to stay at least somewhat quiet. "Sorry, kid."
"It's fine," Chihiro said, staring back at the computer. "But I think… I think maybe…"
Mondo exhaled deeply, staring at the wall and wondering if he did have a crush on the Tsumiki chick. "Alright," he said. "I'll try an' talk to her. But if I just scare her off, it's your fault."
Chihiro managed an awkward, slightly terrified-looking smile, and Mondo set off to find Mikan Tsumiki.
She wasn't hard to find. She was in the infirmary, tending to Souda, who had what looked like a badly bloodied nose.
Souda took one look at Mondo, saw the concentration on his face, and stood up to leave. "I was workin' on your bike!" he said cheerfully on his way out. "Problem is, I sorta slipped and smashed my face into it. But blood washes off if you get it soon enough, and if not, hey, pretty badass, right? Right? I'm gone."
He hurried out, wiping the last of the blood from his nose, and Mondo was alone in the room with Tsumiki.
Tsumiki was tidying up, throwing away a few bloody tissues. Mondo swallowed, took one step forward, tripped over a wrench that Souda must have accidentally left behind, and fell flat on his face.
"O-oh! Oowada-san!"
Then there was a pair of small, feminine hands on his bicep, pulling him up gently. He was a little dazed from the fall, but recovered quickly, yanking his arm away and managing to bark out an "I'm okay!"
She flinched and he mentally cursed himself.
"Sorry! I- uh-" he realized that he was still on the floor and stood up, offering his hand to help her stand up fully. She looked at it doubtfully. She still looked scared. Damn it, he'd scared off another one. He didn't even know if he likedher and he'd managed to be nervous enough to scare her off. "Sorry! Let me help you up!"
She still wasn't doing anything and Mondo, panicking a little, grabbed her hand and yanked her up with probably more force than was entirely necessary. She shrieked a little.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" she said. "I'm so loud and clumsy, oh no, punish me as you see fit!"
"What as I what?" Mondo asked. Tsumiki paused. Mondo, a bit shocked that he'd managed to say something without royally fucking everything up, was silent as well.
They both stood there, and then Mondo realized that he was still holding onto her hand. He let go, rubbing the back of his neck and glaring off at the wall. She was quivering a little, sort of like Chihiro did when he started getting too loud.
"S-so," she said. "Is there a particular reason you came? Oh, I'm so stupid, I spoke out of turn and of course there's a reason, you must need to use me for something!"
"No, no, it's okay! You're okay! Go out with me!"
Wait shit.
He stood with his mouth open, one hand raised, and she looked as shocked as he felt. "Do you really want to spend time with me?" she asked. Mondo swallowed. He didn't quite trust himself to say something without screaming it. Already he was sweating furiously, his shirt sticking to his body uncomfortably. The room seemed far too hot. "Oh no, I'm so sorry! You'll need to punish me even more no-"
"No! No, I don't! I mean, I want to go out with you, but- ah, fuck!" he said, turning away and scowling. She started to say something else about how sorry she was or something like that, and he whirled back to her and repeated his original request. "Go out with me!"
Eventually, she agreed, and Mondo walked back to his room to either take a shower or just collapse and wonder how in the hell he was going to get through a date without one of them bursting into tears.
This was a request by an anon on Tumblr, who wanted a Mondo/Mikan with Mondo being clumsy around her! This ship… is a little weird, I have to say, but it was fairly entertaining to write!