KIRISHIMA

A crowd gathered at the heart of the cafeteria. On one half of the table, Izuku Midoriya sat perfectly still, staring forward with unblinking eyes. On the other, Kirishima grinned, his whole face, even his eyeballs hardened, as he met Izuku's gaze.

Aoyama said, "Mon ami, what a brilliant display of machismo!"

"All thirty-five of my eyeballs are watering just watching them," Shoji added with a shudder.

"How deeply they stare into the abyss," Tokoyami muttered darkly, "I can only wonder how they haven't gone mad."

"Go Shitty-Hair!" Bakugo howled. "For freedom! For humanity! Strike a blow against the machine!"

Kirishima's grin slipped. He slowly rolled his head, never breaking eye contact with Izuku, and his eyelids twitched.

"Water me," Kirishima said, holding out one hand.

"You have had three water bottles already," Iida chastised, "While Midoriya hasn't had any. I believe it is a violation of the unspoken rules of the game you are playing with your opponent, and as such-"

Bakugo shoved Iida aside and slapped a water bottle in Kirishima's hand. Kirishima spurted the water all over his face, letting it run over his eyes.

Money changed hands quickly as Kaminari and Mineta set up a betting ring on the next table. "Step up, we've got five to one odds favoring the Green Gazer, place your bets, we've only got five minutes before the bell!"

Yaoyorozu drove up with a dump truck full of yen. "I'd like to bid all of it on Midoriya!"

Kaminari and Mineta went pale. "Maximum bet's a thousand-" Kaminari started shouting, but Mineta slammed a hand over his mouth. "Dude, think of how much we'd win."

"Are you insane? Just look at Izuku, there's no way he'll-"

"We'll take that bet!" Mineta shouted for him.

Kirishima dug his nails into the table as his eyeballs yet again burned. His vision blurred and his head swam, but he ground his teeth and gave a thunderous war cry. "I don't care if my eyeballs bleed. I don't care if they fall out of my head! I. Will. Not. Blink!"

Izuku cocked his head. "You will not? Why? Is there something wrong with your eyeballs?"

"Uh, no? There is not, and I definitely do not need to blink."

"Oh, okay then. So why aren't you blinking?"

Kirishima nearly blinked at that. "Because we're having a staring contest?"

"A staring contest?" Izuku's eyes went unfocused for a moment. "Ah, I understand now. The objective is to keep my eyes open for as long as possible, correct?"

"Wait, so, you weren't trying to keep your eyes open before?"

"Was I supposed to blink them? I have a subroutine written that makes me blink at periodic intervals, but I deleted it because the random digits it generated were plugging into my ICBM launch coordinates."

Kirishima's eyelids snapped shut with the force of a speeding train, and the resounding clink of hardened skin on hardened skin boomed across the cafeteria.

"Dammit!" Bakugo, Mineta, and Kaminari all shouted at once.

500

Weeping angels tried to get Izuku once. Inko uses them for front porch decorations.