⋆˚࿔ Maroon Stains : Part One Here

⋆˚࿔ maroon stains : part one here

authors note: if you spot the lady bird reference i love you

word count: 2.5k

the weekend had rolled over as quickly as the breeze on that winter morning. it was tuesday, which meant most classes would be focused on one-to-one hand combat and critical thinking strategies. memories of the impulsive bet made days ago had almost faded from your mind. 

almost.

you were adjusting the zipper on your hero costume when mina’s chin suddenly found itself comfortably resting upon your shoulder. “guess what!” she shouted, her voice echoing throughout the fighting ground walls.

you looked up and over your other shoulder to see denki struggling to stand still behind you. 

immediately, you became suspicious. 

you nodded towards denki, signaling him to spit out whatever it is he had to say. 

“class b is joining us today!” denki’s face lit up as the words rushed out of his mouth. he wiggled his eyebrows while you took a couple of seconds to process his words.

“class b..?” you quoted. your eyebrows were quick to furrow when you looked over to the entrance door to see class b’s students filing into the room. “oh no, please.” you groaned. maybe you managed to (at least try to) tuck away the bet deep in your mind but you knew for sure your two friends didn’t. 

“class a, class b, listen up!” mr. aizawas' voice echoed in a similar way to minas, just groggier. both classes gathered around him, everyone standing with their friends. you glanced over at shinsou who was standing next to monoma with his arm crossed. 

you turned away, not wanting to risk catching his gaze.

“so!” mr. kan stood tall next to mr. aizawa, putting his hands together. “today we will be…” 

class b’s homeroom teacher went on to explain the sparring activity. you tried to listen but it was hard when mina and denki hovered over your shoulder like a tiny little angel and devil— though in this scenario they are both the devils.

you could practically feel their eyes drinking in the view of the shinsou and you had no doubt that shinsou could feel it too.

still, you joined them, really taking a moment to look at the boy. 

you had first interacted with shinsou all the way back at the sports festival when he was still a general studies student. when he joined the hero class, when you were in your second year, you two became more acquainted. of course you knew his quirk, his basic fighting styles: what he’s good at and what he can improve on. and thanks to a couple of smoking sessions— never one on one —you knew he had a love for cats and badly made indie films. 

you found yourself wondering if you’d know more things about him after this. like his morning routine or how he decorated his room.

observing him now you can really see how tousled his lavender hair is and how his eyes lay low and firm. his fingers played along the hem of his binding scarf. he let his eyes flicker from the scarf's hem, to his teacher, and then to mr. aizawa. his expression fell into a more serious one, and you found yourself having to forcibly pry your eyes off of him. geez.

you brought your focus back to mr. aizawa, just in time to hear him say, “you can pick your sparring partner. but if i see one person fooling around, the whole class will be writing a paper instead.” 

“ou ou! mr. aizawa! i have a question!” denki jumped, holding onto your shoulder and waving his hands dramatically. “can we work with someone from the other class?” he serenaded, nudging his shoulder with yours.

mr. aizawa’s face fell for a moment before he took a deep sigh, “yes you may. but you must behave or it’s three more papers to write.” his tone was stern. denki pumped his fist in the air, declaring victory. “now go find a partner.”

mina shook you aggressively from your shoulders, temporally swirling your vision. you couldn’t get a chance to focus out of your dizziness before she yelped, “here's your chance!”. she grinned as she pushed you forward and in shinsou’s direction. “help me!” she ushered denki to her side and they both began pushing you towards shinsou, giggling as they did. 

“are we really sure this is a good— oh, hi shinsou!” you exclaimed. after being grabbed and practically dragged you suddenly found yourself in front of the mysterious boy. you attempted to grounding yourself as denki and mina crept backwards. you and shinsou both silencely waited for them.

when they were a safe distance away shinsou spoke, “l/n,” he voice was deep, deeper than you remember. it scratched your brain in a way you didn’t want to think about.

“shinsou,” you stupidly repeat, the word just slipping out of your mouth. “let’s partner up.” you rushed, trying to cover up the way his name tasted in your mouth. “if you want to.” you added. you wanted to be assertive, not pushy. 

his eyes soften when you speak but they don’t have trouble finding their way back into a moderate scold. he glanced back at monoma before looking at you again, “sure.” he says, and you swear his voice is not as uninterested as it usually is. 

you decide it wouldn’t hurt to let yourself think that he isn’t totally put off by the idea. 

you hear a faint cheer in the distance and already know it came from denki because of the way mina started loudly shushing him.

you glance back, “ah sorry, my friends are dorks.” you say through a sucked in breath. you could feel the tip of your ears burn.

“just talk to him, be your normal self. and i bet he’ll fall for you!” you sighed as mina’s words looped in your mind. just act natural.

shinsou examined your face before replying, something in his demeanor changing. “i don’t mind.” he hung his head, shaking it slightly. you could see a small smile appearing on his face, like he was grinning out of pure disbelief. 

“once you’ve found your partner, please reserve a training station!” mr. van shouted.

you and shinsou made your way over to the station located at the every corner of the training grounds. the ground familiarly crunched underneath your boot as you entered the rocky terrain. you placed a firm foot on the ground, searching for a comfortable stance. a couple feet across from you shinsou did the same.

once you find your balance you look up, “are you ready?” 

shinsou shook his shoulders a couple of times, loosing up. “yeah, i’m ready.” he announced. he had a shining glint in his eyes, the reflection boasting in confidence. he’s definitely ready.

“alright. three, two—“ before the last number was able to leave your mouth there was a loud noise.

the— surprisingly —old speaker sputtered as it announced, “may mei hatsume please make her way down to the principal's office.” a disappointed voice spoke from the speakers. 

hatsume.. it’s probably another law violation.

you brought your attention back to shinsou and your pending match, only to see that shinsou's confident stance had become a hunched over one. 

“shit, what happened?” you hurried over to him, immediately getting down on his level. you placed a hand on his back and another on shoulder and tried to see if he had any physical injuries. 

u.a. had always taught its students to be wary of other’s quirks and how the outside world may affect quirks in ways you wouldn’t expect. so maybe that maybe the speakers had an effect on shinsou’s mind quirk, it wouldn’t be totally out of line. 

your eyes ran across shinsou’s body, landing on his face which was in an awful grimace. “was it the speakers?” you murmured, making sure not to speak too loudly.

shinsou nodded, bringing and hand up to rub his forehead. “i’m fine.” he muttered. your grip on his tighten as you encouraged him to stand up. shinsou’s straightened his posture with a groan. eventually, he lifted his head up, his cloudy eyes finding yours.

his cheeks were slightly flushed. his pupils were just barely, but noticeably, dilated. his expression was still slightly scrunched up but when he caught your eye, his face went soft again. and for the second time you found yourself having to pull your eyes away from his. 

when you did, you noticed blood seeping from his nose.

“your nose—“

shinsou’s eyes widen, “oh shit—“ he reacted swiftly and threw his head back, his hand cupping over his nose. 

you understood the headache, but the nosebleed? right when you made eye contact. what did he think when your eyes locked? was it crazy enough to get such a reaction out of him?

the fantasy bubble inflating inside your head was sudden to pop.

“i get nosebleeds.” shinsou stifled out, digging into his pocket and pulling out a tissue. “sorry if it scared you.” he said as wiped the blood off of his upper lip.

“oh no! it didn’t scare me at all!” you waved your hands defensively. 

obviously, he gets frequent nosebleeds. you couldn’t believe you really were letting your mind grow foggy with all the stuff mina and denki were talking about the other day. 

“i was just worried.” you finished after a couple of seconds, your words steadily dwindling into a mutter.

shinsou raised a brow, taking an obvious observation in your strange behavior. he glanced over his shoulder where the emergency doors were located. he turned back to you, “i should really go to the infirmary. recovery girl says i should report to her immediately everytime something like this happens because of my quirk.”

“even a nosebleed?” you question, “i mean those are pretty minor—“

“yes.” he insisted, “even a nosebleed, now come on.” shinsou didn’t wait for an answer. instead, he grabbed your arm and pulled you towards the exit of the grounds.

once you were on the other side of the emergency doors you furrowed your brows, “if you needed to go to recovery girl then why'd we leave from the emergency exit and not the main one?” you are hesitant, something wasn’t adding up. but still, you followed close beside him.

shinsou stifled a laugh, “so you’re not stupid?”

“what?” you stopped in your tracks, feeling offended. not only was shinsou not romantically interested in you but he also seemed to not like you at all. stupid bet, stupid results.

shinsou laughed out loud this time, “i mean, mina, and denki. they couldn’t be any louder.” shinsou crossed his arms, “so they made you partner with me? really?” his tone was mostly teasing, a cheesy grin colored his face.

“i —“ you found yourself at a loss for words. shinsous attitude had changed into one you’d never seen before, but it made sense. every part of your body seemed to burn under his gaze. 

“you heard that.” you said weakly. 

shinsou nodded his head. 

“well technically..” you attempted to stall for an excuse but none came. “they didn’t make me… it— it was a bet.” you finally confessed.

shinsou raised his brows like he was being greatly amused. he bit his inner cheek as he nodded his head, “that’s not even original.” he commented.

“i’m sorry, this is so stupid—” 

“chill out. i didn’t come out here to like, interrogate you,” he said. he leaned against the wall, arms still crossed. “honestly i think it’s pretty cute that you thought i got a nosebleed because of you.”

your entire body immediately flushed hot.

“i didn’t!” you shouted, but the quiver in your voice unmasked your true feelings. “in my defense, i always thought you’re actually pretty cool!” 

“oh yeah?” shinsou pushed.

letting your emotions control over your logic you took the bait, “yeah! this was just me making an effort for us to actually become friends!” though you were repeating hanta’s excuse from the day before, you found that the words felt true now. 

the echo you left in the empty hall snapped you out of your emotional daze. your face darken as you shriveled down into yourself. “this whole thing was stupid.. just forget it. sorry if i hurt your feelings.” you turned away slightly, not wanting shinsou to see how humiliated you felt. this whole scenario had gotten out of hand and you recognized the fact that you may have slightly overreacted.

it was shinsou fault for having a stupidly alluring presence. 

it’s your fault for needing a bet to have enough courage to talk to him. 

when shinsou didn’t reply right away you glanced back at him. his eyes had softened, the same way they did when you first went up to him. the same way they did when you ushered to his aid a couple minutes ago.

“hey,” he said, his voice soft. his body seemed less tense as he took a step towards you. “i’m not mad,” he scoffed, “it’s really not that serious.” 

“was that supposed to reassure me?” your tone was light. you didn’t want to bite back too much, after all this was your fault. but you were still reasonable angry.

shinsou let out an airy laugh, “yeah, i know i’m not the best at that stuff.” he stuffed his hand inside his pockets as he finally stood by your side. “but i didn’t call you out here to just laugh at you.” he spoke as if you were fragile and would break if he uttered a word too loud. “did you really think my outfit was nice?” 

you knew exactly what he was referencing. the end of the year party all classes had thrown a couple of months ago. 

you had to bite back a smile recalling the memory. he had worn baggy dark wash jeans and a graphic tee from the band, ‘pearl jam’. you stumbled over to him, drink in hand. the cheap mix of various convenience store alcohol gave you the courage to comment on your matching t-shirts. that night he laughed, and you considered it a victory.

“just be yourself.”

“that was a while ago.” you settled on saying, glancing at his face.

he looked at the window ahead, “feels like yesterday the way i keep thinking about it.” 

you took a deep breath, knowing what he was hinting at. 

“i know you just said you thought i was cool,” he said, finally locking his eyes on you again. “could you let me confirm that?” his head tilted slightly as he asked, his tone careful.

you turned to fully face him and considered your options. cool guy, awesome quirk, and surprisingly a pretty cheesy. he couldn’t be more of your type. you searched his deep velvet eyes for a sign of regret, untruthfulness, anything that would force you to walk away. 

but you felt the corners of your lips curl up into a smile as more red peek out from his nose. you pointed at his dripping nose, “you sure it was the speakers?” your tone was playfully cocky. you had made your decision.

“fuck—“