Actions

Work Header

It Started With a Bang

Summary:

It all happens in slow motion.

The elevator ding sounds like a tiny blip in the distance. Shinsou looks up from his phone and turns toward the warning just as the elevator doors finally slide open, eyes going wide and mouth going slack as a pink, horned girl comes hurdling in his direction, laughing and sliding along the tiles like she’s skating at an insane speed.

“What the fuck!”

“Aaaaaaah!”

He never stood a fucking chance. His life might have flashed before his eyes, but Shinsou isn’t even sure it had the time to do that.

Notes:

A/N: FInally got around to working on a Shinsou/Mina! This pairing is super cute and I hope more people jump on board! Thanks to @keiidakamya on twitter for making this pairing a thing!!!

Also!!! I've mostly written villain stuff up until this point so writing class 1-a is a huge change of pace lol and despite the fact that they are being seen from shinsou's perspective, hopefully they don't read too OOC or anything but if they do feel free to lmk i guess :D

also also i totally think that shinsou is a snippy snarky moody boy when cornered and in general so get ready for that

blease enjoy

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: slip, slide, and bust some ass. also hello.

Chapter Text

On the outside, the dormitory for class 1-A is perfectly identical to his old dorm.

For being such a short-notice operation, Shinsou thinks, Cementoss-sensei did a hell of an impressive job single-handedly erecting what is basically an entire community of luxe (as fuck) dormitories for the students of U.A. They make his parent’s apartment look like a shanty in the woods.

He grips the strap of his duffel bag tighter, takes a deep breath and lets it back out. Does it once more. It’s exactly the same. Same architecture, same layout, same color scheme. Everything is perfectly identical to the general studies dorm. He knows this because Aizawa-sensei had given him a quick tour the day before, just to catch him up, and Shinsou knows his luggage and what meager belongings he cared to bring along are already up in his assigned room waiting for him.

In his bag he has the rest of his clothes, and he still has one more trip to make after this, to pick up the only thing that really matters to him. But that’s for tomorrow, when he can sneak her in.

“Just open the door, Hitoshi,” he mutters to himself, hand jittery and hovering over the door handle. Funny, he doesn’t recall being this nervous when Aizawa-sensei was with him yesterday.

Shinsou supposes that maybe it hasn’t quite sunk in yet.

He’s here. In the Hero Course. Class 1-A.

I made it.

Yesterday… yesterday, he felt like an outsider looking in. Yesterday, he was getting a tiny glimpse of greener pastures. A brief peek into a life that wasn’t yet his, and then he was home again. But today, he’s taking that step onto that greener pasture, his new home. His new life.

It’s a little overwhelming.

Actually, massive understatement. It’s more than a little. Way, way more. Shinsou gently pushes down on the handle, swallowing the lump of emotion in his throat. He pinches his eyes shut for a moment, determined to fight back the tears of pure happiness that are threatening to fall.

Keep it together, man. You’re not even in the door yet.

Slowly, he pushes the door open and steps inside, closing the door quietly behind him. If possible, he’d rather not alert anyone to his presence just yet. It’s not like he can avoid them the whole day, but it’d be nice to get settled into his new space and take some time to truly process this before being bombarded with probing personal questions and probably some insults (he assumes) and the inevitable game of 21 questions about his quirk.

It’s nothing he’s not used to, but still. He’s just not quite ready for that ordeal yet. A nap would be nice first, at least.

After a brief moment of panic when he forgets where the elevators are, Shinsou finally finds them near the back of the common room, and with a sigh of annoyance at himself for not paying more attention yesterday, he jabs the button. There’s laughter and yelling from one of the rooms behind him, and it sounds like it’s getting closer. Shinsou pushes the button again impatiently, willing it to go faster.

As if to spite him, the elevator only seems to slow even more, until it stops on the second floor. Shinsou sucks his teeth, staring up at the digital floor display with disbelief.

Really?

It lingers there for what seems like an eternity. With a loud sigh and an eye roll, Shinsou pulls his phone out of his pocket and idly checks his messages. He smiles fondly at a few ‘good luck!’ messages from his friends and classmates in general studies. This is his dream, and has been for as long as he can remember. But he really is going to miss all of them.

So engrossed he is in the messages, he almost misses the loud bang of pottery and the even louder peal of bubbly laughter behind him.

“Yo! Look out my dude!”

It all happens in slow motion.

The elevator ding sounds like a tiny blip in the distance. Shinsou looks up from his phone and turns toward the warning just as the elevator doors finally slide open, eyes going wide and mouth going slack as a pink, horned girl comes hurdling in his direction, laughing and sliding along the tiles like she’s skating at an insane speed.

“What the fuck!”

“Aaaaaaah!”

He never stood a fucking chance. His life might have flashed before his eyes, but Shinsou isn’t even sure it had the time to do that.

They collide at mach speed. The impact is so hard that it knocks the wind out of him for a moment as he goes barreling towards the ground. Instinctively, his arms curl around the girl’s waist to not only break her fall, but to keep her from injuring him as well. Not that that really matters much, in the end. Shinsou is certain they roll head over heels at least twice before crashing ass-first into the back wall of the elevator.

Actually, it is only Shinsou that crashes ass-first into the back wall of the elevator.

The girl, seemingly unharmed and still beaming like she didn’t nearly break the sound barrier skating along with that weird slime on her shoes, is perched directly on top of him, furiously smacking the button for the fourth floor and apparently not really caring that she’s sort of crushing him.

“Get off of m—”

There’s suddenly a lot noise just outside the elevator, alternating between uproarious laughter and angry yelling. Said angry yelling, Shinsou thinks for a second, sounds a lot like that cranky kid with the explosions. His voice is very specific, in that Shinsou finds him absolutely obnoxious. But that’s well beside the point.

“Give me those fucking cookies back!” Is the last thing Shinsou hears before the elevator doors close and they start to ascend. Now out of harm’s way, or so it seemed, the girl settles back, letting out a little ‘phew!’ as she rests back against the elevator wall and stretches her legs out.

“Hey, are you okay?” She asks, smiling down at him. Shinsou stares back up at her, speechless.

I very clearly am not okay! He yells in his mind. He’s certain he’s going to have a giant bruise on his butt by tonight, but more immediately, she’s literally sitting right on top of his ribs. It kind of hurts... a lot.

“Pl-please... get off my body...” Shinsou wheezes, tapping her leg like he’s down for the count. Which he is, really.

She doesn’t get up. In fact, she does the exact opposite. She leans forward to get a better look at his face, hands resting on his chest, “I did say look out. Guess you weren’t fast enough, huh?”

“You think?”

But his annoyed quip goes unacknowledged as she somehow leans in even closer, studying him curiously, chewing her bottom lip with a lopsided smile.

Her eyes are interesting…never seen black scleras before...

“Say, aren’t you the guy that Midoriya fought in the first round of the school festival?” She asks, resting her forearms on his chest. “You’re in our class now, right?”

With a pained grunt, Shinsou reaches for her waist, trying to raise her up off of him, since she clearly has no intention of doing it herself. “Yeah, I am,” he hisses, “Now get off. You’re sitting right on my goddamn chest.”

She looks down at their respective positions for the first time since their collision, and after a brief second of mortification, she immediately scrambles to stand up. “Oh, man! I’m so sorry!”

But her realization at the… suggestive, position they’d landed in comes just a little too late. The elevator stops on the fourth floor and the doors slide open, revealing the familiar face of the green-haired kid, Midoriya, smiling that damned amiable smile of his as he casually talks with a couple of classmates who Shinsou does not yet recognize.

“Sure Mineta-kun, I’d be happy to tutor y...you...” Midoriya trails off, smile slowly sliding off his face, confusion and a nice shade of pink quickly replacing it. “Uh, I… Shinsou-san?!”

Shinsou does a mental once-over. He's lying on his back, legs splayed up against the back of the elevator. This girl is sitting on top of him, wearing a very short skirt, legs stretched out and resting on either side of his head and she's bent over so that their faces are in a rather intimate proximity to one another. The first thing that comes to mind is the weird sex yoga he once caught his parents doing when they thought he wasn't home. Actually, this is exactly one of the positions they were in. 

Mental once-over done.

Day one and he's already basically doing sex yoga in an elevator. Shinsou concludes that this scene probably looks way worse from the outside looking in. 

“Hi Tsu-chan!” The pink girl chirps, sitting up straight and waving at the green-clad girl standing to Midoriya’s left.

“Se-se-se-sex-” A new voice stutters from somewhere below them. Shinsou cranes his head back to see, finding another kid with purple balls on his head, pointing with a trembling finger and puffs of steam erupting from his bleeding nose.

“Se-se… elevator se-oof!”

Like clockwork, the kid goes flying down the hall, the imprint of a hand stinging red on his cheek. The girl next to Midoriya doesn’t even blink as she shakes out her hand. “Mineta-chan, don’t be gross.”

Shinsou’s eyes widen a fraction. Damn.

“Hey! There she is!” Another voice yells from down the hall. A few more of his prospective classmates, having bolted up the stairs after them, Shinsou assumes, enter his periphery and screech to a halt. It’s not hard, he realizes, deadpanned and suddenly really exhausted, to deduce that they are the source of the laughter he had heard before, as they immediately take to pointing and laughing at the pink girl.

“Oh man, Ashido, at least buy the dude dinner first!” A blond kid with a black streak in his fringe says, guffawing as he elbows another guy with spiky red hair and sharp teeth in the side. The two are practically collapsing onto each other from how hard they’re laughing.  

The girl, now known as Ashido, just scratches her head and laughs with them, though her cheeks do look a little pinker than before. “Oh come on, you guys.”

Midoriya crouches down, brows furrowed with concern. “Shinsou-san, are you alright?”

Expression blank, Shinsou gives him a weak thumbs up. “...As alright as I can be, I guess.”

The frown disappears as quickly as it came, and Midoriya beams down at him, relieved. His smile is so bright. Shinsou squints a little.

God, he is so nice.

“Oi! Pinky! Where the fuck are you!” Explosion kid hollers from somewhere, presumably the stairs, but it sounds like he’s moving a lot faster. There is also the distinct sound of little explosions going off, which leads Shinsou to believe he’s propelling himself up the stairs like he did back in the obstacle course during the sports festival.

“Oops, shit, gotta go!” Ashido says, (finally) scurrying off him as she quickly snatches up a plate of cookies that had somehow miraculously survived the impact and had been sitting to their right this entire time.

“Sorry again, dude!” She says with a wave before booking it down the hall towards the girl’s side of the floor. And it’s not a moment too soon either, as the explosion kid flies by in a maniacal flurry of fire and expletives a few seconds later.

Shinsou quickly pieces the events leading up to this moment together in his head. He soon concludes that explosion kid was robbed of his cookies, and Ashido is the culprit.

Shinsou never would’ve taken him for a person with a sweet tooth; and yet, there he goes, chasing Ashido down like a lion taking down a wounded zebra on the Serengeti, screaming about his cookies while freely peppering in a few ‘fucks’ and ‘goddamns’ here and there.

Welp, that is… unfortunate. It’s also none of his fucking business. Shinsou just wants to get to his stupid room.

In any case, with the two of them gone, everyone left behind on the immediate scene looks back down at Shinsou. For a moment no one says anything before, finally, the elevator grants him the technological equivalent of a mercy killing and slides back shut. It descends after a second, back down to the common floor.

The fluorescent tube lights of the elevator beat down on him. “So, that happened,” he says out loud into the silence of the elevator, rubbing his sore ribs. He’s probably going to have a bruise there, too.

Upstairs, there is the faint but distinct thump of an explosion and Shinsou groans.

He’s already off to a good start.

 

Chapter 2: The (Over)Welcoming Committee

Summary:

Welp, I definitely regret this decision.

But his words quickly fade into white noise as Shinsou’s eyes instead start to follow Iida’s hands, which he waves around at sharp angles as he talks.

Up, down, left, right. Out, in, up, left.

Shinsou can feel himself getting dizzy but it’s hard to look away. Iida has very expressive hands.

Point, up, down, chop, banzai!, left, down, right, fuck.

It’s like watching the arrows when someone’s playing DDR in the arcade. Shinsou can practically hear fucking arcade music in his head, playing at the wrong rpm. He blinks the intrusive thought away, tuning back into the present to see if Iida’s done talking.

He isn’t.

Notes:

A/N: Hey all! Sorry for the delay, it's been a hectic couple of weeks, but here's chapter 2! And good news, chapter 3 is already in the works!

I'm officially in love with hitomina and i will go down with this ship; expect more content from me for them in the near future!!

only warning for this chapter: mineta being a gross little creep as usual

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“How’s she doing? Hopefully she hasn’t shredded up the couch by now.”

Shinsou’s question is met with an exasperated sigh, followed by what he is sure is the sound of the tall lamp in the living room crashing to the ground. His father curses somewhere in the distance, he hears it loud and clear before his mother clamps her hand over the receiver to shut him up.

Well, if that isn’t enough of an answer to his question.

“Um, she’s doing alright, Hitoshi,” his mom says into the receiver, sounding out of breath, “But after being home for the week between classes, I think she was getting used to you being home again. She’s definitely not happy that you’ve left her here. She’s already bitten your father twice.”

In the background, he hears his father shout “No, it was three times! The little asshole bit me three times!”

“...well, did he touch her tail? You know she hates that.”

He is met with silence. Yup.

Shinsou smirks, picking at some dirt under his nail. “Your guilty silence tells me he did, didn’t he? I don’t feel bad. He brought it on himself.”

His mother laughs. “Yeah, he did. Babe,” she calls to Hitoshi’s father, “Hitoshi said it was your fault for messing with her. He’s right, you know.”

There’s a loud, huffy, “Whatever!” in the background and it makes Shinsou smile, however briefly.

Shinsou’s head thunks against the glass of his window, listening to the hard pelting of the rain against the glass. In the distance, a streak of lightning whitens the sky for a split second; enough for Shinsou to see the heavy black clouds in the distance, along with the last glimmer of hope that he’d be able to go home and get his cat tonight.

And after he’d spent the better part of his afternoon cat-proofing his room, too. He even rigged the door for her to be able use her litter box outside on the veranda. 

“Fuck,” he mutters to himself.

His mother tuts at him disapprovingly. “Oi, language.”

Shinsou rolls his eyes. “Sorry, I’m just annoyed. They didn’t say anything about rain on the news today.”

He walks outside and stands out on the veranda, studying his handiwork. “In retrospect, maybe I should’ve just let dad come with me and put this screening up, after all. I probably would’ve had a chance to bring her, then.” He glances down at his hand, which is littered with nicks and cuts and a couple of band-aids.“The YouTube tutorial made it look so easy.”

“Told you so.”

“Yeah, you did.”

“Well, at the very least, your new teacher is actually okay with her being there, unlike the general studies professor, right?”

“Yeah, Aizawa-sensei likes cats. And there’s other students in the class that have their pets in their rooms too anyway, so it’s all above board.”

There is a sudden knock on his door. Shinsou barely contains the annoyed groan that threatens to escape him, but his mom doesn’t need to know that he doesn’t care for most of his new classmates. She’s already dealing with his nightmare of a cat (his father’s words), she doesn’t need to go to bed with the thought of her son not having any friends on her mind as well.

“Oh, um, somebody’s at my door. I gotta go,” he says.

“Alright then, just wanted to give you an update. ‘Night, sweetheart,” his mother replies. “Oh, and Hitoshi?”

“Hm?”

“I just want you to know that your father and I are so proud of you.”

Shinsou’s face softens. “I know, you’ve told me.”

He can practically hear the smile in his mother’s voice. “I know, but I don’t feel like we’ve really said it enough. You’re so bad-ass, Hitoshi.”

Shinsou chuckles at that. “Thanks, mom.”

They exchange goodbyes and I love yous and Shinsou sets his phone down on his desk. He debates on whether or not to answer the door and just pretend to be asleep, but another knock, a little more insistent this time around, kind of boots that plan out the metaphorical window. Plus it's only like six o'clock and his light is on, so they know he’s up.

Damn.

Reluctantly, Shinsou unlocks the door and pulls it open at a snail’s pace. Midoriya (and his blindingly friendly smile) are both there to greet him, plus another guy, the one with the pipes or whatever in his legs. He’s all glasses and right angles. Shinsou can’t remember the guy’s name, but given that he’s here with Midoriya, that will probably change soon. Maybe.

“Shinsou-kun, hello,” Midoriya begins politely.

Shinsou leans against the door frame. “Hey,” he replies, folding his arms across his chest.

“Shinsou Hitoshi-kun!” The other guy belts out without preamble, startling both Shinsou and Midoriya. “My name is Iida Tenya!"

"Okay?" Shinsou responds disinterestedly. But his lack of enthusiasm dose not deter Iida in the slightest. Shinsou jolts and nearly falls backwards into his room when Iida leans forward, the light in the hall shining off of his glasses and obscuring his eyes from view, like some kind of anime villain. 

"I am the class 1-A representative, and as such, it is my duty to make sure any and all students are properly—”

As he launches into his whole spiel and obviously taking his job as class rep entirely too seriously, Shinsou stares at him, deadpanned, already regretting opening the door.

Welp, I definitely regret this decision.

But his words quickly fade into white noise as Shinsou’s eyes instead start to follow Iida’s hands, which he waves around at sharp angles as he talks.

Up, down, left, right. Out, in, up, left.

Shinsou can feel himself getting dizzy but it’s hard to look away. Iida has very expressive hands.

Point, up, down, chop, banzai!, left, down, right, fuck.

It’s like watching the arrows when someone’s playing DDR in the arcade. Shinsou can practically hear fucking arcade music in his head, playing at the wrong rpm. He blinks the intrusive thought away, tuning back into the present to see if Iida’s done talking.

He isn’t.

“—it is thanks to our noble and selfless teachers, after all, that we have been given thi—”

Shinsou fights down the overwhelming urge to slam the door in their faces.

Okay, whatever, changing frequencies.

As Iida continues his endless rambling, Shinsou’s eyes flit to Midoriya, who is smiling awkwardly back at him as he, too, waits for his friend to end his impromptu speech. Shinsou could laugh. Midoriya’s expression is nothing if not hilarious; the look of someone who has been through this exact scenario more than once. The sheer number of thoughts and emotions being portrayed in that single look is amazing enough on its own, but then,

“Iida-kun,” he chides softly, placing a hand on Iida’s arm, “We’re just here to ask, remember?”

Iida verbally skids to a halt. “Ah, yes,” he says, looking apologetic, “That’s right.”

He turns back to Shinsou, who is eyeing them curiously. “Shinsou-kun!”

Why is he screaming?

“You don’t have to yell. I’m literally standing a foot away from you.”

“Would you like to join us for class 1-A’s weekly movie night later?”

Shinsou can’t keep his face from falling. No. “...what?”

Midoriya quickly jumps in. “Ah, well, what he means is, uh—”

It is somewhat painful watching Midoriya try to string his words together, Shinsou thinks, trying to figure out what the other boy is trying to ask. 

“Midoriya.”

“Uh! Yes?!”

“You need to breathe.”

Shinsou watches, amused, as Midoriya takes his advice literally, and, after an inhale and an exhale, stares back at him with renewed determination. “Shinsou-kun, we were wondering if you wanted to come downstairs later and hang out, um, with us? It’s become a sort of tradition for us to watch movies together on Saturday nights and stuff, we order pizza, and you know, since this is your first night living in the 1-A dorm, I thought you’d like to…watch...with us...”

Midoriya trails off, realizing he’s on the verge of rambling. They both look at Shinsou expectantly.

Shinsou rubs his neck, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. As pleased as he is about finally being admitted into the hero course, that didn’t necessarily mean he intended to be chummy with anyone in his class. And it certainly didn’t mean he planned on spending any time with anyone outside of school hours. This is the one downside to living in dorms, he supposes; the constant proximity to people you'd rather not be close to. 

But Midoriya is so close to giving him puppy dog eyes that Shinsou just can’t find it in himself to say what is in his heart, which is a hard ‘fuck no’. So instead, he opts for a soft, “maybe, I’m a little tired,” which isn’t really untrue anyway, and will hopefully prevent any further discussion.  

As Shinsou had hoped, that seems to assuage his new classmates. Midoriya’s face brightens.

“Alright, great!” He says with a smile. The entire hallway somehow feels brighter; Shinsou squints a bit, suddenly feeling like he might need sunglasses soon if he has to continually deal with Midoriya smiling at him from point blank range.  

“Hopefully you’ll join us, Shinsou-kun! We gather at nine o’clock sharp!” Iida says over his shoulder as the pair (finally) leave down the hall.

Shinsou waves them off.

“Like hell,” he mutters under his breath before closing the door.

 

*****

 

As it turns out, avoiding his new classmates wasn’t as impossible a task as Shinsou had expected it to be. Of course, ideally, it would’ve been nice to have a full bathroom in his room, one with a shower; but when Shinsou thinks it over, they’ve probably been spoiled plenty by having a basic sink and toilet set up in their rooms already. Fortunately, the dormitory is huge enough that he makes it downstairs to the baths and enjoys an hour of peace, first in the shower and then resting in the sitting bath, without encountering anyone else.

Thank god for small favors. He’s not sure what he would’ve done if he had to endure awkward small talk and camaraderie while naked. Shinsou doesn’t even want to deal with any of his peers fully clothed, let alone in the nude. It's not like it's something he can avoid forever, but he avoided it tonight, and that's what matters. One day at a time.

After slipping into his night pants and a simple black tank, Shinsou quickly leaves the baths area, toweling off his hair as he heads for the elevators.

And that is when the one thing he’d been hoping to avoid happening, happens.

“Hey! You’re the new guy!” Someone calls to him from the common area, freezing him in his tracks.

Well, so much for that.

Okay, calm down, Shinsou thinks to himself in a steadily growing panic, I could just keep walking and pretend I didn’t hear them. Oh, wait no. I already stopped walking, so obviously I heard them. I mean...I could just keep walking anyway, that wouldn’t really be out of character for me, but-

“Yo! Come chill with us! Don’t be shy!”

“We don’t bite!”

Goddammit.

Against his better judgement and against every instinct in his body telling him to keep walking, Shinsou decides to backtrack to where the couches and the TV are, to where a small gathering of guys, three of whom he recognizes from earlier and one he doesn’t, are sitting watching some sitcom.

The guy he doesn’t recognize gives him a friendly wave. “Hey, uh, Shinchou, right?”

“It’s Shinsou,” Shinsou replies quietly.

“Ah, sorry. I’m Sero Hanta. Welcome to our class.” The guy says with a warm smile. One of the guys he does recognize from this afternoon, the spiky red head, quickly leaps up to pat him on the back and guide him (more like drag him, if Shinsou is honest with himself) further into the room.

“I’m Kirishima Eijirou,” he says, jabbing his thumb into his chest as he introduces himself. Shinsou stares back at him. A giant, chipper, toothy smile on legs is what he is. A giant, chipper, toothy smile on legs that is clamped onto his wrist like a pit-bull. Why is everyone in this class out to hurt him?

“I’m Kaminari Denki,” the blond guy says from his spot on the corner, “Nice to meet ya!”

From a small nook of pillows, the last person introduces himself. It’s the little short kid that got slapped earlier, Shinsou recalls. “I’m Mineta!”

“Hi, I guess.” Shinsou gives them all a weak half-smile. “So, um, I’m gonna head u—”

“You’re the talk of the hero course, dude!” Kirishima continues, either not noticing Shinsou slowly inching back out of the room or not caring. Not that it matters, he’s still holding onto Shinsou’s arm, so it’s not like he can get away. “It’s not everyday someone actually transfers into the hero course. I think that’s so bad-ass!”

“Yeah, I heard that’s happened like maybe one other time in U.A.’s history.” Sero picks up from Kirishima. “How’d you get them to switch you from general studies?”

With them all staring at him so expectantly, Shinsou realizes with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that escape is now effectively impossible. So with a soft sigh, he resigns himself to the inevitable.

“Uh,” he starts awkwardly, rubbing his neck as he takes a seat next to Kirishima (who finally lets go of him), “Well, it was mostly thanks to Aizawa-sensei. He said the entrance exams aren’t rational and it was a waste to leave me in general studies… so…”

He looks up from his lap. They’re all still staring at him, awe-stricken.

“So you’re, like, secretly training with Aizawa-sensei?” Kaminari asks, wide-eyed.

Shinsou blinks. “It’s not really a secret, I don’t think, but he’s been sort of mentoring me and stuff, plus I’ve been following a training regiment he laid out for me.”

“Yeah that makes sense. You definitely weren’t that jacked back during the sports festival,” Kirishima says.

Shinsou looks at him strangely. “Was that supposed to be a compliment?”

Kirishima sputters. “Ah, oh—no, I didn’t mean that like—sorry, I didn’t mean for that to come off like a backhanded compliment or anything, just—”

Kaminari lays a hand on the fumfering boy’s shoulder, shaking his head with pity. “Dude, just let it go.”

Kirishima hangs his head with another low, “sorry.”

Shinsou watches the exchange, unsure whether to laugh or not. It wasn’t really a big deal, but the redhead looks like he’s on the verge of tears.

Instead,

“It’s fine,” he finds himself saying out of nowhere, sort of feeling bad for some reason he can’t quite place. “It’s not like it’s inaccurate. Aizawa-sensei’s training has been tough, but effective.”

That seems to be enough to perk Kirishima back up. He smiles at him, looking relieved that he didn’t hurt Shinsou’s feelings. Shinsou wonders when would be a good time to let them know he’s got a pretty thick skin, what with him having the quirk that he has, and all of the negativity he’s dealt with throughout his life because of it.  

“Yeah, I mean, if you caught Ashido coming at you at full speed this afternoon and managed to not get super hurt, that’s gotta mean something’s working, right?” Sero says.

Ashido… Ashido...

Right, the elevator. Pinky. Little Miss Slip n' Slide n' almost snuff out the light of Shinsou's young life.

“It wasn't really me catching her so much as it was me actively preventing her from potentially killing me and also herself as she flew into me so fast we almost fused into a single person. And ‘catching her’ sort of implies that the whole ordeal ended right there,” Shinsou says with a frown. “It did not.”

Hell, the mere thought of their collision makes the spot on his back and butt from where he hit the wall of the elevator start to ache all over again. But still...

“Speaking of,” Shinsou wonders aloud, picking at a loose thread in his pants, “Is she, like, alive? Or did the cranky guy kill her?”

“Who, Bakugou? Nah, he didn’t kill her,” Sero says with a laugh, “Though I’m pretty sure she’s looking a little toasted at the moment.”

The others nod in tacit agreement.

“Hey,” Mineta suddenly says, crawling over to sit next to Shinsou. There’s a glint in his eyes that makes Shinsou feel uneasy. And a little queasy, too, if he's honest. “So, what was it like?”

Shinsou leans away, not appreciating the invasion of his personal space. “What was what like?”

Mineta doesn’t take the hint. He creeps closer, starting to drool a little. “Being so close to Ashido’s...you know…”

“I don’t know.”

“Her, her...hmm-hmm…” Mineta says, pointedly gesturing to his crotch.

Shinsou stares back down at him, dumbfounded. “Uh...” That had literally been the last thing on his mind in the moment. He only really noticed the position they were in after the fact; he was more concerned with the gigantic bruises he was going to have and getting Ashido to get off of him.

“What color were her panties?” Mineta presses, clenching his fists.

Shinsou, never one to remain speechless for too long, finally finds his words. “What the hell? I don’t know, I wasn’t looking.”

“Oh come on,” Mineta says, looking skeptical. “Her skirt was so short. You didn’t even get a little peak?”

“No.”

Shinsou suddenly feels cornered. All three of them are looking at him with different degrees of the same expression. One that says they are not completely convinced.

“She was sitting on top of you, man! How could you not look?”

Shinsou nods slowly. “Exactly, she was sitting on top of me. As in, she was sort of crushing my ribs. Her underwear were hardly my biggest concern at the time. And I’m not like that to begin with.”

Mineta stares up at him. “Straight?”

Oh, my fucking god.

“A hornball creep.”

It’s taking an extraordinary amount of self-control to get through this conversation. Shinsou can say with certainty that he’s generally not a violent guy... but holy damn he’s never wanted to punch someone so badly in his entire life.  

Shinsou now truly regrets not listening to his gut earlier. Twice today he’s ignored his instincts, and twice today he’s paid the price for it. And sure, all of his dreams are coming true. Sure, all of his ambitions are being realized, slowly but surely. But right now he just can’t help but ask himself.

...God, at what cost?

If this is a precursor to the rest of class 1-A…

“Aaaahh, lucky bastard!” Mineta grunts, salivating, “You got to touch Ashido’s tiny, sexy waist!” Mineta bites one of the couch cushions, kicking his feet, “I’m so jealous!”

A noise escapes Shinsou before he can even think to quell it; a noise that, when he thinks about it, is a lot like the irritated rumble of displeasure his cat makes when he forces her to take her hairball medicine.

Well, Mineta is basically the human embodiment of a hairball, that much he can see very clearly. But, more importantly, the little gremlin has some goddamn nerve, trying to put him on the same, subhuman level that he’s on. Like hell.

Shinsou abruptly stands to leave, interrupting Mineta’s libido-fueled rambling.

“Enough,” he begins curtly, sliding his house slippers back on. “I think you’re gross. I’d prefer it if you didn’t speak to me again.”

All of a sudden, the room is alive with raucous laughter and fountains of coca-cola and juice spewing forth from the mouths of Kaminari and Sero respectively, while Mineta simply stares up at him, bug-eyed and shocked.

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?!” Mineta all but shrieks.

Shinsou returns the stare evenly, if not a little heatedly. “You heard me. It wasn’t like that at all. Don’t make it into something perverted. It was just an accident.”

An arm suddenly falls over his shoulders. Kaminari gives him a thumbs up and a lopsided grin. “Yeah, but you know,” he says quietly, leaning in closer, “it didn’t look like Ashido really minded all that much, either. She wasn’t exactly in any hurry to move.”

Shinsou shrugs him off, sighing in annoyance. They just aren’t going to let this go, are they?

But then, the brilliant dusting of pink heat spreading across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose isn’t really helping his case, either.

Shinsou just wants to go back to his room and be left alone, for god’s sake. He’s never had such a difficult time gathering his bearings, but these guys, these people in this class…

they’re bloody impossible.

Kirishima, thankfully, throws him a lifeline. “So, anyway, we’re about to order the pizzas for later. Anything in particular that you like, Shinsou?”

Shinsou shakes his head. “Oh, um, that’s alright. I wasn’t really planning on coming down.”

Kirishima frowns. “Aw, really? Iida said you were.”

“I said maybe. But I’m kinda tired, now. I’ve been setting up my room most of the day, so...”

“Oh.”

Kaminari gives him a cheeky grin. “You sure? Your girlfriend’s gonna be down.”

Shinsou bites his tongue. These guys are really making him rethink his stance on using his quirk on people when they piss him off.

“No,” he says with an impressive amount of restraint. “I’m going to go to bed. Maybe another time.”

Kaminari dims a bit at that, but finally releases him. “Alright, suit yourself,” he says with a shrug.

Shinsou turns to depart without another word. Or at least, that’s what he intended to do. And he could have, were it not for a very familiar, very happy, very pink face blocking his path. And true to fact, she is now looking a little more… burnt, than he recalled her being earlier. Her face, the ends of her hair, even the tips of her horns are singed black.

Man, explosion kid really doesn’t know how to hold back, does he?

“Oh, hey! It’s you!”

Notes:

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 3 will be up soon!

Notes:

comments and kudos fuel me~!

HMU TO YELL IF YOU ENJOYED THE FIC @sushib0mb on twitter and dabiapologist on tumblr

updates will come weekly probably