a/n: this is actually my first fic for this fandom. i really like Shinsou's character, I feel that he has a lot of potential. Enjoy!
"Shinsou, what's your quirk?" she asks one day during a break from lessons.
Though the two have been classmates since the start of their first year, they did not have the luxury to show-off and improve their own quirks like those in the Heroics Department. This was not to say that they never practiced, but those in Class 1-C focused more on actual lecturing and the history behind quirks and heroes.
"Well?" she pushes forward for an answer.
Shinsou merely shrugs, and this emits a groan from his classmate. "Are you shrugging because you don't know, or are you shrugging because you don't want to tell me?"
"I don't want to tell you," he responds coolly, turning his head so that he was looking out the window instead of at her. "You should have paid more attention when everyone was showing off their skills," he adds as an afterthought.
Her lips purse together for a second, then relaxes when she says, "If I remember correctly, you weren't paying much attention either."
With this he hums in agreement. He does doze off quite a bit during lecture, and she would be lying if she said that she never sees him nodding to sleep almost every day.
His eyes are still fixated at the window, probably looking at the clouds. "I think it's better to show my quirk than to tell."
Her curiosity is piqued once again, the smile she is giving off is one of determination. She scoots her chair back so that it hits the front of his desk. "Can I see it right now?"
Still, he refuses. "Now's not a good time," he tells her while shaking his head.
She groans and swings her legs so that she is sitting straight with her body facing the window. This time, she stretches her body slightly to the left so that she can place her arms on his desk. "Is after class a good time?" she pursues.
"Nah."
"Don't tell her what my quirk is," he says to Ojiro during their lunch period.
Shinsou wasn't planning to sit anywhere near him, but word around the school is that his fellow 1-C classmate had friends, or acquaintances, in many other classes. If she is that set on finding out what he can do, then he has to get the word around that no one is to tell her. And he suspects that Ojiro, the tail boy who ruined his sports event strategy against Midoriya, would be more than willing to tell anyone about his own quirk.
Though his mouth is somewhat full, Ojiro still speaks. "Why not?"
Shinsou places his elbow on the table and rests his chin on the palm of his hand. "She's been asking me for a while, and it's fun seeing how irritated she gets every time I say no," he replies, his mouth turning upwards into a sly smile across his features.
Ojiro wipes away any crumbs on his face with the back of his hand. "Don't you think that's a little bit, uh, mean?"
Shinsou lifts his chin up from his open palm so that he can stroke his chin in thought. Is it really that mean? He's thought about it, but to him it seems that not telling her would benefit him in the long run if they ever had to practice their quirks with other classmates. His thoughts even go back to when she didn't bother to pay attention to quirks other people had. So really, he doesn't feel like he should be in the wrong. Maybe it serves her right to find out the hard way.
"Not really," he muses, hand still stroking his chin, "she's gonna find out sooner or later."
"She didn't see you use it at the festival?"
"She told me she was caught up in the festival too much to notice what I was doing."
He goes back into his original position, chin on open palm, and begins to scoop food into his mouth with his free hand.
She's on her way to toss the remains of what used to be her lunch when she spots the one person she wanted to see. "Ojiro! I've been looking all over for you!"
Ojiros tail quirks up in response, then he turns around rather slowly. "H-hey, what's up?"
"Oh, you know. Same old same old," she replies while closing the distance between them. She doesn't waste a beat of her time, either. "You know Shinsou's quirk right?" Her eyes look up at him hopeful and sparkling.
This caught Ojiro by surprise. So straight to the point. "Well yeah… he used it during the sports festival," he responds while scratching the back of his head. His tail is moving side to side, a nervous habit of his when he's put on the spot. "Didn't you see him during his fight with Midoriya?"
She sighs and puts a hand over her forehead in faux exasperation. "I mean, sorta. But the crowd was so loud and everyone was piled up against each other; I couldn't really see anything!" she answers, both hands above her head this time, exaggerating how blocked her vision was. "Ugh, people were complimenting him on how cool his quirk is! It's been bothering me ever since!"
He gives her a light laugh in response to her slight overreacting. "His quirk is kinda scary, but it's pretty… cool?"
"So you'll tell me?" she says, edging him on and pressing her elbow to his forearm in a light nudge.
He brings his hands up defensively and takes a few steps back, his face giving off a nervous smile, "Sorry, but Shinsou told me not to tell you!"
"What! Why?!"
"W-well he, uh," how was Ojiro supposed to say this? He scratches his head again, either out of habit or out of being nervous he doesn't know, and continues, "He just told me not to tell you… and that you would find out sooner or later."
Her arms cross over her chest and she puffs. What did sooner or later mean? Next week? Next year? "You know, he's being really selfish keeping his quirk to himself. Literally everyone else knows what it is but me!"
"Maybe you should have paid more attention," he tells her, and the conversation she had with Shinsou beforehand creeps into her mind.
She grunts and begins fidgeting. Maybe she should start paying more attention.
Something clicks in Ojiro's mind. He's seen similar behavior like this in Uraraka, when she wanted to find out more about Izuku. What if it was the same situation?
"Hey, do you, er," how does he ask the question without prying?
She stops fidgeting and looks up at Ojiro. Her face relaxes from frustration to attentiveness and expectancy. "Do I what?" she asks.
"I just think I've seen this sort of thing before, with classmates of mine," he begins saying, but he starts to trail off, wanting to back out of his question.
"What thing?" she asks, not catching on in the slightest. "Are there people in your class like Shinsou?"
His tail droops down as his nerves go up. "Not exactly," he's scratching his temple with his finger, "but there are people I know that asks the person they, uh, like," he emphasis the last word to get his point across, "questions about them."
She's looking at him with a blank stare, then a confused expression. "I mean, yeah, I like Shinsou. I don-"
"No, I'm asking if you /like/ him," he cuts in during her sentence.
Her mouth is still forming an "O" shape when he cuts her off. Now, after hearing what he asked, her mouth is left wide open in a look of disbelief.
"Do I… me? Shinsou? Ha!" she laughs nervously, face growing different shades of blush. "T-that's- Ojiro you're really f-funny," she manages to stumble out. Her fist reaches out to lightly punch Ojiro's arm, while her free hand plays with the hem of her shirt.
Ojiro shares a laugh similar to hers and takes a few steps back in preparation to end the current conversation topic. "It was only a thought I had! Relax," he tells her, trying to reassure her that he wasn't reading into anything on purpose, "I'm sure that even if you did like him, he wouldn't notice."
Her eyes fall to the floor in embarrassment. "I'm just really curious," she admits, her face now just a tad bit pink. She's trying to avoid eye contact with Ojiro, but she could feel his own pair looking at her in confusion.
His hand pats the top of her head, "S-sorry for making things awkward. I'm sure you'll find out; it's only a matter of time. He can't hide it from you forever. You're classmates after all."
She makes an attempt to regain her composure, straightening herself and forcing the pink on her cheeks to go away, or at least subside slowly. "Yeah!" she says a little too loudly for her taste. "I'll find out eventually! Thanks, Ojiro. See you later!" Her parting words are spoken too quickly, and she about faces from Ojiro to dash for the exit.
She feels Shinsous' finger tap her right shoulder. Usually she would look back right away, but she finds herself unusually irked by him. Instead, she ignores his advances at socializing with her. If he can deny her his quirk, then she can attempt to deny him any attention from her.
Key word: attempt.
His fingers tap on her left shoulder this time, and she shrugs him off lightly. She crosses her arms together in defiance as if he could see the act, and then she slouches her shoulders over just a little bit. Maybe this time he would be out of his reach. But she forgets how long his arms are, because she feels him tapping either of her shoulders at the same time. She uncrosses her arms and swats away his hands.
A few minutes pass, and she sighs in relief. No shoulder tapping. No attempt at contact. She can ignore him without difficulty.
She slouches back on her chair, right elbow resting on the side of her desk. She presses her cheek on her right fist for support, and with her left hand she lazily twirls her pencil.
"Are you gonna ignore me forever now?" his voice, low and hushed, whispers into her ear in that same boring tone he always has.
This emits a small yelp from her throat. She immediately straightens her seated position, dropping the pencil that was in her left hand, making it roll behind her.
She turns around to look at him, her own face red and twisted in embarrassment. She opens her mouth, closes it, opens it, and closes it once again. She's at a loss for words. Since when did he get so close and up in her space?
Shinsou responds with a sly grin before dipping down to reach for his classmates' pencil. He points the eraser end at her, and when she grabs hold of it and tries taking it away he holds on to the other end. His grin gets just a little wider.
She finally manages to pull her pencil back and mutters a 'thank you' before turning around again to face the front.
She's on semi-high alert now, because she can hear the faint squeaks of Shinsou's desk behind her. She braces herself for another surprise.
"Hey," there he goes again, right in her ear, "we're on cleaning duty after school."
Her face is still warm, and the fact that he keeps whispering into her ear is not helping. "S-so?" she stutters, trying to keep her voice level.
"I'll show you my quirk then if you still want to see it," he suggests. Before she has the chance to respond she hears the familiar squeaks of his desk indicating that he has fallen back into his chair.
The chalk dust from the eraser she is cleaning gets everywhere; her arms, face, hair, shirt, and skirt. It's a mess. She doesn't stop to dust herself off, she decides to wait until the eraser is chalk-free.
Behind her she hears chairs being scooted away from their desk and seated at the top of them. The dragging noises of the chairs' legs are bothering her, so without turning around, she says, "Can't you pick them up instead of dragging them that way?"
"No," Shinsou replies nonchalantly.
"The slight screeching noises don't hurt your ears?"
"Not really."
"Wouldn't it be easier to lift them up?"
She hears him sigh. "That may be too much effort to do alone."
She beats the last of the chalk dust out of the erase and sets it down, bristle side up. "I'm sure you'll manage," she teases, a playful tone in her voice.
She's finally dusting herself off when he asks, "Do you mind helping me?"
She raises one hand to cup her chin in mock thought. Of course she would say yes, but banter with Shinsou is always fun. "Hmm, no."
In an instant her brain feels foggy. She feels the weight of her hand, unusually heavy, fall lopsided against her thigh. What?
"About face for me," he says as if he's commanding, which, technically, he is.
And she turns around, facing him instead of the chalk board. Is this his…?
"This is it," he answers as if he read her mind. "This is my quirk."
He's smirking, eyes looking right at her. His hands are gripping either edge of the desk he was supposed to be wiping down, and his body is leaning forward, against the desk.
Brain control?
"Brainwashing," he announces. She knows he can't read her mind, but she also knows he's a good guesser. "Now take three big steps towards me."
She takes the steps, slightly wobbling from the lack of her own control.
You have got to be kidding me.
"Now take one step back," he orders, and she could feel that jive in his tone from every word he says.
"Take two more giant steps towards me." His growing smirk is now a prominent grin.
Her body hits the desk between the with a light thud. He leans in further now, elbows bent so that he could be eye-level to her.
She feels warm, and she is almost positive that he could see her blush growing and growing. Her conversation with Ojiro replays in her mind and that only exacerbates her color.
He leans in closer to her, his lips maybe just a few inches away from hers. But instead of closing the gap between them, not as if she /wanted/ him to close it or anything, his head moves a different direction, his cheek just barely brushing her own, and he whispers in her ear, "I stopped using my quirk after you hit the desk. You could've moved at any time after that."
He's snickering again as he pulls away from her.
She brings her hands up to her face to hide the blush, though it's too late for that since he's seen it already. "That was so mean, Shinsou," she murmurs in her hands. "I really thought you were gonna-"
"Kiss you?" he says, a hint of tease in his voice. He's too confident right now for her liking.
"Don't say that out loud!" she hisses, taking her hands away from her face to look up at him. He's still grinning.
She can't help herself from grinning either when she says, "Your quirk is really cool."
He rubs the back of his neck and looks down at the ground, mouth still forming that same grin. "It's whatever you think it is."
Regaining sureness she once had when she first asked Shinsou what his quirk was, she places one of her feet under the desk. "But I think mine is way cooler."
He raises an eyebrow, amused by the turn of her character. "How so?"
She points down to the desk. "You see this desk? You're stepping on its shadow," he nods, then she taps the foot that she had placed under the desk, "I am also stepping on its shadow."
His eyebrows furrow together in thought. What was her quirk again?
"Try walking, Shinsou," she suggests, biting her lip to keep her grin small.
His foot won't budge. "Shadow manipulation," she beams, now displaying a toothy smile on her features. "You can't move, can you?"
"Ha ha. Very funny, but we really gotta get moving now-"
"Nuh uh," she cuts in, wagging a finger. "Not until you make good on your previous actions and come closer," she coos. And she almost regrets saying it as the pink color makes its way to her face once again, but she still smiles.
And he does make good on those previous actions.