Viridity

12

The next day, you went to the abandoned building while continuously trying to convince yourself that you were just going so you could train better. But even you found yourself frequently checking your messages to see if Kirishima messaged you. You already gave him a message when you arrived home to let him know that you reached safely.

And he replied with a smiley face along with reminding you to rest. But you just wanted to know if he would actually be there today as well. You weren't going to lie that you were as excited to see him as you were for training, well, more like talk with him.

You never had a lot of male friends. There was Todoroki, but he was more acquaintance than a friend, and even then he was too aloof for you to actually hold a proper conversation. Conversation with him usually ended with you feeling too awkward and him looking confused out of his mind.

Meanwhile, Midoriya was a really sweet guy. But most of the time (almost always) the subject of your conversations was All Might or some other hero. Now, you actually reciprocated his enthusiasm but deep down, a small part of you also wanted to just have a male friend who would joke about other things and have a rather normal conversation with you, like asking you about recipes on how to cook something or talking about how much each other's teachers sucked.

Also, it helped that you got to have company while waiting to get your eyesight back.

So, as you finished your training for today, which by the way, you managed to make the second floor invisible too. While you were hoping to make it to the third floor, you figured that progress was always slow and steady, at first.

You used the walls for support to guide you out the building. Just like yesterday, you walked up to the alleyway entrance and sat down near the wall of the entrance. Now that you were practically blinded, maybe you should try to focus on your other senses like hearing or sensing. Maybe it'll help in a battle in the future. You tried listening in on the traffic, trying to count how many cars went by and how fast they were.

Not their actual speeds, just a quick estimate. Admittedly, when Kirishima didn't show up after a whole ten minutes, you did feel a bit sad. You did message him before you left your house, that you were going to train here today, so maybe he was just busy.

Or maybe he had said it as a passing joke. Whatever it was, it's not like you can leave. You still have to wait for your eyesight to return to walk back home. Just then, you heard panting coming from your side, at a distance. The sound of someone's footsteps hammering the ground like they were running also alerted you.

You turned your head in the direction of the running person and were shocked when the said person stopped in front of you, heaving for life, "I-I-I'm... so sorry!! [Last Name]-san!" You immediately recognised his voice.

"Kirishima-san?" He grinned to himself. He was somewhat glad you couldn't see him right now, because his face was quite flushed from how your voice had a hint of slight hopefulness. Were you really that happy to see him-well, hear him?

"Yup! I made you wait too much, right? I'm so sorry, that's so unmanly of me! I swear I'll never do it again!" He started explaining as he took a seat next to you, "-I just didn't have much to do today, so I decided to take an early shower and I totally forgot to check my phone! So when I came out of the bathroom, I was shocked to see your message! I swear I rushed over here as soon as I could! I put on the first clothes I found so I could see you!"

You admit, your heart fluttered from just hearing how earnest he was.

"It's fine, Kirishima-san! As much as I appreciate you rushing over to see me, you don't have to go out of your way. I just told you about coming here because I figured you would want to know, I didn't want you to feel obligated to meet up-" He cut you off with a dramatic gasp.

"Oh, no, no!! It's not that you made me feel like that, I genuinely wanted to see you, [Last Name]-san! You're just too manly, I really feel drawn and inspired by you!!" He beamed at you even though you couldn't see it. But you could feel that he was probably smiling widely.

However, you could feel a blush crawling up your face, "O-Oh... Is that so? That's nice to hear!" You cursed the crack in your voice, but thankfully Kirishima either didn't notice it, or was too kind to point it.

Whatever it was, you were ejust glad to be saved from the embarrassment. And so, you both began chatting away about what happened after you both returned home yesterday.

He told you about his family and how his mom was a really good cook and you told him about how you took care of most of the cooking in your house because your sister was too busy to cook and the men in your family cannot cook for the life of them.

What really made you feel warm was yhe fact that Kirishima was learning a few recipes from his mom so that if he ever gets a significant other, he can cook different dishes for them. That's so sweet!! What a gentleman!!

At some point, your eyesight returned and you had to bid him farewell. Althought not before thanking him for his company and promising him that you would definitely be here tomorrow as well. You figured you might as well start training here. Not only did you get to talk with your new friend but you also could train properly to your limits.

————

A few weeks in and you found yourself sitting next to Todoroki during yet another biology class. Today, you both had to dissect a frog. And while he offered to do the dissecting part at first, but after seeing the look of unease on his face, you decided to take over.

He seemed quite grateful yet a bit (extremely unnoticeably) embarrassed to let you have done it, but you really didn't mind. It was a partnered activity anyways so you should do your part. Fumiko scoffed when she saw you dissecting the frog instead of Mr. Oh-I'm-so-lonely-look-at-me-[Name]. God, he really let you do all the dirty work and sat watching like a princess?! What, does he think you're his slave?!

If he does, your sage green haired friend would so gladly give him a piece of her mind...

Once you guys were done with identifying most of the organs visible, you were done for the day. Mikoto walked up to you as you washed your hands and hugged you tightly, "[Name]!! You're not spending time with us these days!! What is it? Are you bored of us?" She stopped whining playfully and dramatically gasped.

"Wait... Are you cheating on us and seeing someone behind our backs?! How could you?! After I raised you and gave you my everything-" She was cut off by your chuckles, "Geez, you sure are dramatic, Mikoto!!"

She could only grin in return, "Heh, it's what I do best!" But what you didn't notice, was Shoto's seemingly apathetic gaze on you.

Seeing someone? Didn't he hear that phrase in one of Fuyumi's TV dramas? If he remembered correctly, that meant being involved in a romantic relationship.

A frown made way to his lips.

For some reason he couldn't explain, the thought of you being involved in a romantic relationship with someone else really made him feel uneasy.

It was worse than what he felt while dissecting the frog. No, this feeling was knawing at the back of his mind, and making his heart feel like it was being squeezed. His throat was also feeling somewhat raw, like he had just finished screaming or crying fervently.

The last time he felt something similar to this sickening feeling was when his mother was sent away to the mental hospital.

But to an outsider, he looked completely normal. Just like he normally did, apathetic.

Yet you could feel someone staring at you. When you turned your head around, you were surprised to see Todoroki staring holes into the back of your head as you were leaving the classroom with your friends.

Despite not knowing what that was all about, you decided to smile softly at him and wave at him goodbye as you got dragged by Mikoto and Shiho because you were, and I quote, "Not spending enough time with us, so you need to come with us to karaoke!!"

His eyes widened.

Hmm... Now he really feels uneasy thinking about you being in a romantic relationship.