This chapter is post Amaurosis Fugax, for anyone reading both fics! There is a timeline for all these fics (that I will post… eventually… dontholdmetothat) I like writing the dynamics of the poly through Shinsou's POV! It's fun! I've been chipping away at this and another fic for a while now, that's why I'm only at chapter 3, like maybe two or so years? Yeah. Anyway!
Enjoy!
Chapter III: Sleepovers
The shopping trip should have been easy. "Should have been" was quite the phrase to use, honestly. It had started out just fine, but of course, he was with Class A. Their track record when it came to "casual outings" was horrendous at best. Shopping for groceries or for general clothing and otherwise for fun shopping was just fine. He hardly heard anything about those trips because they were mundane. It was when the whole class stepped out of the gates of UA that shit seemed to hit the fan. As if the universe just loved to fuck with their days off and see what they did with it.
Their track record was almost a joke amongst the classes of UA. Even Class B joined in on the school-wide memes—despite being the subject of half of them after The Summer Camp. Shinsou was proud to know he was far from the only one who liked to rile up Monoma when the situation called for it. Riling up Bakugou was reserved for Class A and Monoma, though. No one else was brave enough to really test if he was serious or not in his death threats, much less his threats of bodily harm. Or one's personal property.
What hero made death threats so frequently that it in itself almost became a school meme?
Bakugou Katsuki.
The same kid who thought Lord Explosion Murder was an appropriate Hero Name and was lucky enough to be in Nemuri's class when he pitched it. Kami knew whatever agency he started at was making him change it, but for now Shinsou supposed he could enjoy it. Personally, he thought he could do better. But that wasn't the point. The point was that Shinsou had gone to the shopping center with the expectation he'd do some light shopping and spend the day with the class. And with Aizawa in a setting that wasn't training or school—which would be cool in and of itself, he will forever agree—if his plans hadn't been thrown right out the window almost immediately. Honestly, Aizawa being blinded by a Quirk not long prior should have been some cosmic omen, but Shinsou had blissfully ignored it along with everyone else, so he wasn't going to take any blame for going ahead with the trip.
Once a gang decided to surprise attack the shopping center, right onto the stage if what he heard was correct, it was all over. The whole stage thing was a claim by Midoriya, so he was pretty well convinced that was the case, even if he didn't get the chance to check that fact himself. A part of him wanted to have seen that. A part was happy he was in a shop when it had happened, and he hadn't gotten beamed in the head by a stray piece of debris. He'd just wanted to join Aizawa and Ojiro in a music shop. That was all he'd wanted.
Granted, seeing his mentor bodily chuck an entire, full, display stand across a man's body was a feat in and of itself and a new goal he mentally vowed to reach. To almost immediately follow up with a cane to the man's head was downright inspiring.
Granted, Aizawa had shattered the actual body of the cane when he did that, but they were trapped, and Ojiro was already preoccupied in his own fight. The most Shinsou could do, or felt he could do, was brainwash the leading lady to their—his—bidding and get her to get them out. He wondered if he could have done more in the actual fight, but he still counted it as somewhat of a win. Midoriya would no doubt argue he'd been an important factor in bringing them all to safety. He just wished he could have done more.
But he always felt that way.
Presently, Shinsou sat at the dorms, the night Aizawa wasn't there, of course, because Kan-sensei had whisked him away. Ever since Aizawa had been Quirk-blinded (he would die asserting that was a better term than "being blinded by a Quirk Incident"—that was just too wordy) he'd been trying to come over to the dorm more, but he'd been unsuccessful until that Saturday. He'd planned on checking in on Aizawa one on one for the first time in a while. And of course, when it came to this class his plans were always defenestrated out the nearest window.
And yet, he kept coming back. They just had that effect on people.
God damn insane, all of them. He fit right in.
Either way, Aizawa was currently staying the night at the Class B dorm and Midoriya was kind enough to invite him to stay for dinner. Shinsou had packed his backpack with a spare change of his uniform, already knowing full well he was probably going to be staying over, and some homework he might get to. He'd been doing that a lot recently—Aizawa's temporary blindness definitely playing a part in that—and he already had a bag of toiletries stowed away in the cabinets of the community bathroom at the dorm. At this point he might just ask Midoriya if he could have half a drawer in his dresser, or if he could somehow sneak a dresser and bedroll into the spare room on the boys' side.
He'd entered the dorm already knowing that the whole class was going to be at least slightly on edge without their sensei present. He could at least try to help take their minds off it. That's what a friend did, right? He was pretty sure that's what friends did, if TV and movies were even half accurate.
He entered and immediately was found sitting in the living room, inducted to a Mario Kart tournament against his will or even coherence, until it was too late. He'd been snatched, quite literally, by Kaminari. Shinsou had opened the door after a quick knock, more out of courtesy than anything, and Midoriya had been the first to see him, waiting by the door.
"Hey, Shins—"
"Hey, Shinsou, we need a player!" a voice had shouted at rapid speed, and he was quickly snatched by his arm away from Midoriya faster than even Iida could have managed.
The poor boy looked stunned speechless. Shinsou soon found himself being flung onto the couch and a control shoved into his hand. He'd already been set as Boo for his character, cart already picked (at least it was a halfway decent one), track already loading. Jirou giggled on his right. He looked to his left to stare Kaminari down flatly.
"Dude."
"We need a player!"
"I hadn't even taken two steps into the room. And you grabbed me like The Flash. My neck has a crick in it," Shinsou says. Ashido snorted, rolling over in her perch on the loveseat. Kaminari pouted at him. "Don't."
"Please?" he asks, his eyes growing wide.
"Oh my god," Shinsou laughed. "No, stop."
"Pleeeease?"
Enter full puppy-dog eyes. Yep, he was a goner. "Okay, fine…" Shinsou sighed.
"YES!"
"You're still going to lose," Bakugou says, readjusting to be more comfortable where he sat in one of the chairs.
Shinsou felt his stomach drop a little. He turned to the right to see that he was up against Bakugou and Kirishima. Kirishima leaned around Bakugou to wave, wide-grinned, at him. Oh, he was not going to do well. The first map was easy, as they always were, until the final lap when Bakugou finally addressed him personally. Shinsou hadn't even gotten that far into the lead, still in second place, when Bakugou popped the question out of thin air and beamed him in the head with it.
"So, you and Deku?" Bakugou asks. That was so much one could imply with that short sentence. Too much, to Shinsou's anxiety-riddled brain. Enough that he short circuited, his character veering off the track until he could get back on. Jirou was snorting at his feeble attempt the entire time.
"Me and Midoriya, what?" Shinsou shot back, a little bitter, but not malicious. Bakugou didn't seem to care at all about his own tone (he'd thank the universe later for that), easily gliding around the corner where Shinsou just wiped out and gaining on Kirishima's character.
"You've been coming around for him specifically for a while."
Oh, great, was this the friend interrogation thing he'd watched on TV? Was he going to be set up with a lie detector next?
Shinsou shifted uncomfortably, gaining ground and coming into third, knocking Kaminari out of the top three with a whining cry from the boy in question. "You almost sound jealous," Shinsou teased.
And… yep, Bakugou's character wobbled a little on the track, almost losing his second place rank to Shinsou. That was probably going to get at least a punch to the arm, later, but Shinsou would take it with pride. There was a weird kind of satisfaction to getting under Bakugou's skin in a way that resulted in an embarrassed or shocked response rather than an angry one.
"I think it's fun!" Kirishima says.
"You have fun with him, right?" Kaminari asks.
Innocent enough of a question, Shinsou would have thought, if he wasn't sandwiched between two blondes who could feasibly hospitalize him if he said the wrong thing. Not nerve wracking at all. God, he wished Kirishima would've taken up the seat beside him, instead. He'd have a buffer from Bakugou's hands at least.
"I always do," Shinsou confirmed with a confidence he definitely did not truly have. Fake it 'til you make it, that's what he always did, and that's what he'd do until he died. Even if that death had a potential to be far more imminent—and palm shaped—than usual.
"You should try just stealing him for an hour or two, instead of getting roped into shit," Bakugou said curtly. He won first, glancing over to Shinsou, with a look in his eyes Shinsou wouldn't be able to decipher even if he looked at him. "Like right now. Thank Pikachu for that. I wanted him to grab Ashido."
"She sucks at Mario Kart," Kaminari said. A weak defense if Shinsou ever heard one, especially once Ashido threw a pillow at Kaminari's head in retaliation.
"You suck at it," Bakugou spat.
"Hey, I know how to suck in all the right ways," Kaminari clipped back.
It took a moment, and Bakugou launching himself over Shinsou from behind to tackle Kaminari to the floor, for the comment to really click in Shinsou's head. His face flushed bright red and he scooted further down the couch towards Kirishima as Kaminari wailed about his placement, his character abandoned on the track as he fought Bakugou off. Kirishima had finished second, Shinsou coasting through to third, and they were thus stuck waiting for the countdown to begin as the two blondes duked it out on the rug. Or, rather, Bakugou had Kaminari in a headlock in about two seconds and was waiting for Kaminari to tap out.
"I think you two get along really well," Kirishima says nonchalantly. Shinsou turned to him. "You and Deku. I think you get along really well."
"Oh. Thanks?"
Kirishima only gave him another smile when the round finally ended, and the maps came back on screen. Shinsou fared far better the following maps. He was meeting Bakugou pound for pound at every little jab or question sent his way. Almost as if he really was being interrogated. The final round came slower than he'd have liked, fun and teasing aside, and he flung forward into first at the last second, surpassing both Bakugou and Kirishima.
Shinsou's rank flashed onto the screen, second overall, and he jumped up. "Yeah!"
"Woo, go, Shinsou!" Kaminari cheered. He turned to Kirishima. "Finally!"
"You still lost," Bakugou says flatly.
"I finally got third!" Kaminari says.
Ashido was giggling, sneakily snatching Kirishima's controller from him as he cheered alongside Kaminari. Shinsou handed his off to Jirou silently. She readily took it up, getting a look of determination on her face as she started to pick a new map alongside Bakugou. Shinsou slipped away, grabbing his bag as he did so, and slid into a seat at the table with Midoriya. Midoriya looked up from his notebook with a smile.
"Did you win?" he asks.
"Almost. He's really good at the game."
"He wins almost every time," Midoriya says with a shrug. "Are you hungry?"
"A little. Did you all already eat?"
"No, we're all on our own tonight. No one wanted to cook and Bakugou needed a break," Midoriya says. Shinsou paused and looked at him curiously. "Oh, he's been making the dinners—"
"Are there leftovers?"
"Th—I mean, yeah."
Shinsou bolted from the table, rushing into the kitchen with a gleeful smile. Midoriya snorted, watching him make up two plates for them. Shinsou threw one plate in the microwave and set it to start. As he waited, he felt someone coming up to him. He turned, spotting Todoroki entering the kitchen.
"I can heat the other plate for you," he offers, pointing to what was supposed to be Midoriya's plate. Shinsou shoved it over to him, spying Midoriya watching from his peripheral.
"Go ahead."
Todoroki held it in his hand, activating his Quirk just enough to start heating the plate. Shinsou picked up one of the forks he'd grabbed and started flipping the food to cook on both sides. He could hear Midoriya's flabbergasted mumbling behind him. He smirked, gingerly taking the plate from Todoroki when he'd deemed the food satisfactorily hot. The microwave beeped at the same time. As he grabbed that plate as well, he nodded to Todoroki.
"Thanks."
"Anytime."
"Did I just witness what I think I did?" Uraraka asks from the entryway. Shinsou smirked wider.
"Not my plate," he says.
"Shinsou!" Midoriya cried. Shinsou snickered, setting the microwaved plate in front of him instead.
"Don't worry, I won't let you commit a taboo against your class," Shinsou joked. He kind of got what they all were getting at. But not enough to just turn down a dual microwave situation. "It all still tastes the same."
Midoriya stared at him a moment as he started to eat, looking kind of perturbed. Shinsou couldn't help but snicker at him. Once he'd finished, waiting on Midoriya, he pushed his plate away to wait.
"How you two doing?" Snipe asked, leaning on the wall.
"We're doing alright, sensei," Midoriya says, flashing his signature smile. That thing could melt hearts, Shinsou would bet money on it. Snipe just nodded and left them to it.
Shinsou got halfway through the material they were reviewing, noting that Midoriya got a little closer as time went on, before he realized the rest of the dorm had hardly come into their area, even just to pass through. He paused in the sentence he was writing and turned to Midoriya. He looked exceptionally cheery, even bouncing a little in his seat.
Was this…? No. Right? Noooo. No way.
Shinsou pushed the thought out of his head before it could even really form. A date? No. A date wasn't what this was, they were just studying, right? But, if that was it to everyone else then someone would've at least walked through their area to get to the kitchen by now, right? Now that he thought of it, they used the longer way to go around the common room so as not to disturb them. Shinsou had gone to the library to study with the class enough times to know that they didn't take that kind of consideration into account usually.
Oh. This was like a date. He'd even gotten him and Midoriya dinner, in a way. It was just the two of them, sat very closely, having had dinner, and enjoying the silence when there was some. He'd been interrogated by some of Midoriya's friends practically when he arrived, almost as if to ensure it happened before he and Midoriya could get some one-on-one time.
He knew it wasn't like they'd gone to dinner and a movie, but he was getting subtle "introvert date" vibes. It didn't help that he would normally consider this close to a date already. He wasn't one to make assumptions, though, when he felt it unwarranted. But… wait, how did Midoriya act on dates?
Shinsou tried to think back to interactions he'd seen between Midoriya and the others, notably the Saturday trip for shopping. He feigned re-reading a section of the textbook as he rewound the interactions in his head. With Uraraka and Iida it was more obvious. The little touches, the extra compliments, the higher attention to needs and wants and likes… he'd noticed it with others, though more loosely, like Asui and Ashido, Aoyama, Kirishima, Kouda…. He wasn't going to even try understanding the relationship between Midoriya and Bakugou, that wasn't something he had the mental spoons to try and unravel without a freaking chart in front of him. But Midoriya was just more… relaxed around those of the class in particular. He was more open, in a sense, more… touchy.
Was he teetering on denial about something? Maybe. He wasn't that worried about that right now, he was more concerned about the
He recalled, suddenly, Midoriya whispering something to Uraraka one day at lunch that had her blushing madly and he'd stared at her with a certain fondness afterward. The same fondness he used when he was looking at Asui or Iida or Ashido or any of the others Shinsou could think of off the top of his head. Hell, he gave Bakugou that "look" sometimes. Shinsou had seen that "look" between Nemuri and Yamada and Aizawa when he was there for dinners. He had a laughably low amount of solid evidence to be making these assumptions, but that "look" was unmistakable.
Shinsou chanced a glance at Midoriya, and—WAIT WHY IS HE LOOKING AT HIM LIKE THAT?!
Shinsou blinked at him. Midoriya froze, his eyes getting wide as his smile went rigid, like he'd been caught sneaking a snack at 1 am. "Is this a date?" Shinsou spat out. Rather unceremoniously and blunt, in his personal opinion.
"H-huh?! I-is that what—"
"Yes, Mido, that is exactly what this looks like. That's what it feels like, and I got the friend interrogation before you could even think to start the date early—"
"UH—"
"Like they planned that," Shinsou finished.
"AND FINALLY THE DUNCES GET IT!" Bakugou roared from the couch.
"KACCHAN!"
"GROW A PAIR AND I WON'T CALL YOU BOTH THAT!"
"It's fine that it is," Shinsou says, a little too easily. Midoriya turns to him sharply.
"Wait, what."
"Did I stutter?" Shinsou asks.
He smirked in the way he knew made him look like a pompous and overconfident little shit, but it was a charming overconfidence. It seemed to work as Midoriya started to blush. God, he was cute when he blushed. He ignored the scattered hoots and hollers from the common room, focused instead on Midoriya as he tried to hide his face in his arms. Shinsou laughed, patting Midoriya on the back.
"You're fine," he says. He'd have figured it out eventually if he hadn't tonight, anyway. Midoriya had been inviting him to hang out a lot lately, and that would have only made his pining more and more obvious. He glanced around the room, making sure Snipe wasn't in sight before he dropped his voice to a murmur. "Hey, can I stay here tonight, by the way? You guys have a spare dorm room, right?"
"Wh… ugh, y-yeah…"
"Calm down, Pine Tree," Shinsou teased. "I'll take that room."
"I can give you a tour of it!" Kaminari offered readily. He almost fell over the back of the couch in his haste to get Shinsou's attention.
"Sure."
Shinsou finished the small study-session-turned-date with Midoriya before he actually followed Kaminari up the stairs. The dorm in question was unlocked, given its lack of use, and Shinsou stepped inside and stopped almost instantly. Stored by the wall was a board covered in paper, photos, and string. Shinsou pointed to it.
"What. Is. That?"
Kaminari glanced over and guffawed. He doubled over, wheezing in his laughter. Shinsou just remained watching the board. Kaminari eventually was able to get enough air in his lungs to gasp out something of an explanation.
"That's—it's Shou's Theory Board."
"His what?"
"C-conspiracy theories!" Kaminari shouted.
Shinsou walked up to it, taking in the myriad of theories. Kaminari was talking rapidly, either making excuses or trying to explain half of the theories that Shinsou could see. Kan as a Vampire? He wished. Nemuri was a succubus? Actually, he would say that one was kind of likely. But a few of the theories were just too out there. Not all of them were as outlandish as 'the teachers were secretly monsters masquerading as humans in society', some were just plain mundane, but they were all hilarious. His eye lingered on what looked like a handful of prospective family trees.
"Hey, can Momo make me a small dresser? Two drawers would work fine. So long as this room isn't being used, shouldn't be that hard to hide, right?" Shinsou asks, turning away from the board. Kaminari nodded, prancing down the hall to get Momo.
He'd get a proper bed put in some other time, when he knew no teachers would be able to catch him trying to sneak it in. He was content for now to turn the theory board around to face the wall so he wouldn't be tempted to read it until the early hours of morning and get the room ready for when he turned in. It hadn't taken long, and he feigned just spending the night in an unspecified boy's room when Snipe inquired about it. He wasn't sure what the protocol or policy was for "guest rooms" in the dorms, if there was one, but he wasn't gonna ask just yet. He was more curious to see if he could get away with it.
Shinsou was awake and he was not happy about it. He'd gone to bed a little later, even, because he hadn't wanted to stop watching stupid videos with Midoriya. And yet here he was. Despite turning what would have been a massive temptation away from him, Shinsou still woke up in the middle of the night. It wasn't because of his regular insomnia, surprisingly, but because he was hungry. And, of course, his body just didn't want to let him sleep for once, no, it had to have food and it had to be now, apparently.
Probably three am and he was wide awake and refusing to open his eyes because if he never opened them, he didn't have to acknowledge that he was awake.
Because that always worked.
Shinsou grumbled as he rolled off the bedroll, burrito-ing himself in the blankets. He shimmed out of them, thankful he had opted for this rather than risk waking Midoriya at… 3:14 am… he really hoped he could get back to sleep later. But for now, he wanted to get a snack.
He crept out of his room, knowing that Aizawa wasn't one to be a hypocrite and admonish anyone for being up at this hour, but Snipe was another matter. He'd never had him as a substitute dorm head, so he wasn't risking getting caught and getting some kind of demerit for it. That'd probably put him lower on the totem pole for joining the Hero's Course. He trudged down the stairs to the kitchen.
He would just snag some yogurt, or crackers, or something. Nothing too complicated, nothing that required prep, nothing he had to cook. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs. The kitchen light was on. Shinsou peered around the corner. Was someone from that No Sleep club awake?
He wasn't sure what their status of membership was, but both Uraraka and Bakugou were in the kitchen. He stayed to the wall of the staircase, stepping carefully with the balls of his feet and his heels to even out the weight, making as little noise as possible. Both were at the counter, staring each other down, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust enough to focus in on what was happening. Their respective snack cabinets were open, and there was a pile of food on the counter between them.
And Uraraka was staring Bakugou in the eyes, with his specific cookie of choice—because Shinsou would be damned if he didn't learn at least one person's favorite snack in this dorm and it wasn't the most volatile ones' cookie of choice—slowly inching towards her mouth. Shinsou stared blankly as she blatantly ignored Bakugou clenching the sides of the counter tighter and tighter.
The lack was fear was both awe-inspiring and deeply concerning.
He turned tail and ran back up the stairs when Uraraka took a bite. He didn't need to be there for that. Whatever weird, masochistic ideation Uraraka might've been having on a whim right then and there was not his problem. Nor the explosions behind him. He could wait until breakfast.
Shinsou spent the remainder of the time Aizawa was out of action training with Yamada and Nemuri, getting most of his updates through them. It wasn't until Aizawa was cleared for duty, and Shinsou was barred from coming to the celebratory dinner Yamada was already planning before he'd even come into the building that day just so the adults could get wasted, that he was called into Nedzu's office.
Being called into the principal's office was never fun, even if you knew you did nothing wrong, because there was always that little lingering feeling that you had and just forgot somehow. Or you were framed. Or any number of scenarios that your brain could fabricate. Currently, Shinsou sat at the opposing end of a desk to Nedzu, with the ever-full tea kettle set between them next to the two glasses. Shinsou didn't sip the tea. He wasn't sure it was truly tea, it never ended, after all. Nedzu took the lack of engagement from Shinsou as an opportunity to take a long, satisfied sip from his own cup.
"I called you in here to give you some special news," Nedzu began.
"Oh?"
"Yes. I made a final decision on who is taking the extra seat in Class 1-A's roster, and I decided after much deliberation, that it be you."
Shinsou was silent. He stared at Nedzu in shock. If he'd actually grabbed the teacup to be polite, he would have dropped it.
"Wh… really?"
"Yes! You have the most potential, and the one most likely to thrive in the environment. I hear you've already gotten accustomed to being at the dorms recently?"
"Um… kinda?"
"Excellent! Moving in should be no issue, then!"
"Moving in?"
"Well, of course! It's not that different than normal dorm life, don't worry." Nedzu assured him. Shinsou appreciated the sentiment, but he was more concerned about how casually they all used their Quirks indoors. He was going to lose his shoes to Kaminari heating up the rubber mats at the table, wasn't he?
"Get packed! You're going to the official dorm of UA class of 1A!"
Shinsou could've cried.
END
