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It’s hard to say for sure, but maybe it starts that Monday, the first day back after the winter holiday. Shinsou is still adjusting to waking up early after basking in the luxury of late mornings over break. So when he’s situated himself in his desk at the back of the room, the first thing he does is bury his face in his arms and try to catch a five minute nap before homeroom starts.
This proves futile, though, because there’s an argument happening at the desk diagonal to his. He looks up. Not to glare, because he’s still not quite comfortable enough with anyone in the class to do that, but because he knows whose desk that is and he’s a little curious.
Just in front of him, Kendou and Monoma are deep in some kind of debate. Monoma keeps trying to put his bag down on his desk, and Kendou keeps picking it up and thrusting it back into his arms.
“Kendou,” Monoma says, or rather whines. “Just let me sit down. I’m so tired.”
“I can’t believe you.” She’s shaking her head. “Don’t you remember what happened last year?”
“Honestly? Not especially well,” he says. He makes an effort at one of his repertoire of smiles Shinsou thinks will probably get him punched one day, but it seems half-hearted.
Most of the class is ignoring them, probably because it’s not exactly unheard of for Monoma to be arguing with someone, particularly Kendou. Shinsou would be ignoring it too, if it wasn’t happening in his immediate vicinity.
Monoma does seem more manic than usual, though. His eyes are shining, and his face is sort of pink. He’s even sweating a little. Almost like he’s developed a crush on Kendou. Maybe they went on a date over the holiday? Suddenly bored, Shinsou’s just started tuning them out when Kendou involves him, likely because he’s the only unwitting bystander in close distance.
“Shinsou-kun!” she says, turning with her hands on her hips. “Would you please tell this idiot–”
She cuts off, taking a quick step back as Monoma stumbles forward, making a strange sound reminiscent of a squeaking hamster wheel. He takes another faltering half-step, and then goes completely limp and collapses.
He’s saved from severe head injury by catching himself on Shinsou’s desk long enough for Kendou to lunge forward and grab the sleeve of his uniform jacket. When he slides off the desk she’s pulled down a bit too, but she manages to stabilize her weight and avoid a fall herself. It’s an impressive show of strength, or maybe Monoma just doesn’t weigh all that much.
Either way, all Shinsou does for a few seconds is stare. It’s not until Kendou leans down and starts shaking Monoma that a voice in his head whispers good heroes react quickly to crisis situations and he pushes out of his chair.
Monoma’s out cold, but he’s definitely breathing, a little too quickly. Kendou looks more exasperated than anything.
“I told him,” she mutters.
"What’s going on?” Shinsou asks, feeling his adrenaline start to fade at her lack of panic. Besides, everyone must have heard the commotion, so the teacher will probably be on the scene before long.
“He got sick over break, again!” She gives up on reviving him and stands, crossing her arms. “His fever was 39 degrees this morning! I told him to go to the nurse, but he never learns. He got sick last year too, you know. And guess what happened?”
“Uh, this?”
“This.” She nods grimly. “Oh, there’s Vlad-sensei.”
And then she’s running to the teacher, leaving Shinsou hovering over his unconscious classmate. He crouches down to make things a little less awkward, but that only puts him in closer proximity to Monoma. He’s never been good with sick people. Just for something to do, he puts the back of his hand against Monoma’s forehead, like he’s seen people do on TV. It really is alarmingly warm.
“Ah, Shinsou-kun,” Kendou says, reappearing over him.
“Yeah?” he says, and snatches his hand back from Monoma’s forehead so quickly his wrist cracks.
"Will you help me take him to the nurse? I have the teacher’s permission.”
"Yeah, sure.” It beats sitting in class.
He soon finds out Monoma is, in fact, very light, but Shinsou is still impressed by the way Kendou is able to yank him upright by his collar one-handed, even if it is a slightly enlarged hand. She could probably drag him down the halls alone, but Shinsou goes along anyway.
It does beat sitting in class, even though Monoma is kind of disgustingly sweaty, and the silence as they walk is pretty awkward. Shinsou’s still mostly a stranger to class B, and he wasn’t exactly a social butterfly even in the general course.
Kendou is nice enough, but truthfully, the one Shinsou finds easiest to talk to in the class is currently sagging between them, still completely unconscious. Monoma quickly got the idea in his head that he and Shinsou were a lot alike, and he wasn’t shy about sharing that opinion. As a result, they’ve had many “conversations” that mostly involve Monoma talking at him, and him participating by maybe nodding when it seems appropriate. But still, in a weird way, it makes him feel a lot more included than he might have otherwise. From day one, Monoma’s treated him like he’s always been in class B. It’s probably encouraged his other classmates to do the same, even if they largely don’t share Monoma’s proclivity for disregarding social niceties.
Recovery Girl tsks when she sees them come in, and helps get Monoma into one of the sickbeds. He looks even redder against the pristine white sheets, but Kendou doesn’t seem concerned. She just wipes her hands on her skirt, and smiles when she glances back at Shinsou.
“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine,” she says.
Shinsou blinks, unaware he’d looked worried at all.
"Right, dear,” Recovery Girl says. “I’ll keep him overnight, just like last time.”
She gives Kendou a bottle of pills for later, and a printed sheet of instructions for them. Shinsou isn’t paying much attention until Recovery Girl starts congratulating him on his promotion to class B. Kendou’s smiling again. It’s more than a little embarrassing.
On the way back to class, Kendou nudges him.
“I’m sure you really wanted to get into class A,” she says. “But we’re glad to have you here, you know. Monoma-kun especially. On your first day, he told me you’ll be our secret weapon to beat class A.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Secret weapon, eh?”
Kendou laughs. “You know how he is. But I think he means, you have a lot to offer to our class. And that’s something we can all agree on.”
Shinsou isn’t sure what to say. He’s never liked conversations like this, but it’s…not bad, to hear the things she’s saying.
“Thanks,” he settles for. “And I’m not…disappointed to be here.”
Maybe he was at first, just a little. But right now, he thinks this result is for the better.
When Shinsou heads back to the dorms after class the next day, Monoma is already there, sprawled across the couch in the shared living area. He has an arm thrown across his forehead like a heartbroken maiden in a period drama.
“Monoma-kun!” Kendou is already stomping over to him. “What are you doing out here? You’re going to infect everyone!”
“I can’t make it to my room,” he says, rolling over into the couch. “Don’t yell, I’m in a fragile state.”
“If I get sick, you’re going to be in some kind of state,” Kendou warns, which is apparently enough motivation to get Monoma off the couch, though he drags his feet all the way to his room.
“Kendou-san, didn’t you have a student council meeting to attend today?” Yanagi asks, from where she’s started spraying the couch with some kind of disinfectant.
“Oh!” she starts. “Yes, I just came to grab a printout. I can’t believe he distracted me like that!”
A moment later, Shinsou nearly runs right into her on the way to his room.
“I’m glad I caught you,” she says, thrusting a pill bottle at him. “I’m running late, can you give these to Monoma-kun? He just needs to take one right now. I’ll be by after the meeting with the full list of instructions. Thanks!”
She doesn’t wait for his response before she’s dashing out the hallway. He has to go back out and ask which room is Monoma’s, and then he spends more time standing outside the door and wondering why it feels so awkward. He finally gets himself to knock after a quick internal debate over if Monoma really needs to take the pill at that exact moment.
"Come in,” Monoma says, sounding plaintive.
He’s curled up on his side in bed, wrapped so tightly in the comforter that only his eyes and a swathe of blond are visible, but he practically jumps into a sitting position when he sees Shinsou. He must move a little too quickly, because he clutches at his head right after.
“I thought you were Kendou,” he says, while Shinsou shuts the door behind himself.
He looks awful – his hair is mussed completely out of place, and the dark circles under his eyes stand out against his pallid skin – but he’s clearly more stable than yesterday morning.
“She had a meeting,” Shinsou says, and offers the pill bottle in lieu of further explanation.
Monoma takes it wordlessly. It’s pretty weird, seeing him like this. He’s too quiet, and it’s not just his voice. Even his body language seems muted, like he can’t muster the strength for the wide, attention-grabbing gestures he’s so fond of.
“Typical of her to leave me while I’m on my deathbed,” he says, falling back against the pillows and shutting his eyes with a sigh. He has more pillows than Shinsou does, meaning he must have brought some of his own from home.
“What, I’m not good enough to babysit you?” Shinsou asks. To punctuate his point, he grabs the glass of water on the nightstand and holds it out.
Monoma cracks open one eye, and it darts from Shinsou’s face to the water.
“I don’t need a sitter,” he says, and shakes two pills into his palm.
Shinsou reaches down with his free hand to grab one and put it back in the bottle. It seems a bit forward of him, after he does it, but Monoma doesn’t comment.
“You’d be better than her, actually,” he says after swallowing the single pill. “Her bedside manner is just awful.”
"And mine isn’t?”
Monoma side-eyes him again, one corner of his mouth quirking upward.
“Why, not at all, Shinsou-kun,” he says.
Shinsou grins in response, although he’s not really sure why.
So maybe that’s the start of it. The first time he actually sees Monoma, when he’s not posturing for the benefit of their peers. The moment that makes him become just a little too aware of Monoma’s presence, whenever he’s nearby.
Although, it’s hard not to be aware of Monoma’s presence, really. When he fully recovers from his illness he comes back twice as loud and three times as animated, like he’s making up for lost time. He also seems to have taken Shinsou’s pill delivery as further encouragement to spend every free minute in class talking Shinsou’s ear off.
Not that he minds, really. If he’s going to have a weird heightened awareness of someone, it’s better to be talking to them outright. And some of the things he says are almost funny.
Sometimes he even walks with Shinsou back to the dorm after class, and he’s doing that one afternoon when he stops mid-sentence and stares out across the courtyard they’re crossing. It’s not unusual, actually, for him to catch sight of something and lose his train of thought. Sometimes Shinsou thinks he pays more attention to what Monoma says than Monoma himself does.
This time, though, Shinsou can’t see what’s distracted the other boy. The courtyard looks nice – the snow that started falling during their last period has already made a peaceful, uniform white blanket over the grassy areas – but it’s nothing they haven’t seen before.
“I’ve got an idea,” Monoma says, turning his head so Shinsou can’t see his expression. He’s soon distracted from this, because Monoma grabs his hand and starts pulling him towards the snowy grass.
Monoma isn’t exactly a hands-on person, although he’s been known to clap a shoulder or back to punctuate a point. Still, the sudden presence of his cold fingers in Shinsou’s hand is startling. He’s still thinking about it even when his hand is dropped, so he doesn’t pay much attention to what Monoma is doing. Which turns out to be a mistake, because Monoma is bending over, and then he’s turning around, and then he’s pelting Shinsou directly in the face with a snowball.
Shinsou can only wipe the snow from his eyes and gape. With that obstruction gone, he can see the shit-eating grin Monoma was hiding earlier. Then he’s under attack again, although he manages to dodge this time and only his hair ends up snowy.
He takes a deep breath, and then lunges for a handful of snow himself. Monoma cackles, sounding remarkably like a cartoon witch, and darts behind a bench, launching another projectile behind him as he goes.
They’re both probably taking things too seriously, but Shinsou’s not surprised. A competitive streak is the one thing he’ll freely admit he does have in common with Monoma. And Monoma’s good at this – he’s fast, utilizes the environment well, and his aim isn’t bad either. It’s obvious his hero training is showing results. The main problem he’s having, really, is that he’s laughing hard enough to slow himself down and give away any potential hiding spots. Eventually, after he hits Shinsou square in the face again, he collapses breathlessly in the snow.
“You’re dead,” Shinsou calls, emerging from his ineffectual cover behind a light post and ready to seek ruthless vengeance. He thinks quite a lot of people might be staring at them as they pass, but he’s a bit too focused on the battle to give it more than a moment’s thought.
"Oh, really?” Monoma says, rolling over on his back. His face is still completely red from laughing.
Shinsou can see clearly enough that Monoma has nothing more to protect himself with.
“Really,” he says, and then freezes.
Except it’s not him, exactly, that freezes. It’s something inside him. Something other, whose orders he absolutely cannot ignore. It’s a familiar sensation, even though he knows for a fact he’s never experienced it himself.
It’s his quirk.
Monoma gets to his feet, looking insufferably smug. Shinsou can’t blame him. He fell right into that one.
“This is fun, isn’t it?” He’s practically chirping. And really, people call Shinsou villain-like?
Monoma puts a finger to his chin in an exaggerated gesture of thought.
"Hm, what shall we do?” he says, even though it’s apparent he’s already decided. “Oh! I’ve got it.”
He leans down and takes a moment to pack a perfectly round ball of snow. Then he places it in Shinsou’s hand.
“Dump that on your head,” he says. He’s struggling to maintain a serious expression, but his lips are twitching.
Shinsou fights against his quirk for a moment, but it’s futile. He upends the snowball exactly on the top of his head. The slush drips into his eyes, and he can only blink rapidly against it. Monoma’s dropped his faux-serious look and is laughing openly, and somehow, Shinsou doesn’t feel all that annoyed. It was his fault for falling into the trap, after all. And he’s almost impressed at how long Monoma can manipulate a copied quirk now.
Monoma takes a few steps back, and Shinsou feels a sudden rush of liberation as his quirk is deactivated. He makes a reflexive grab for the back of Monoma’s uniform jacket – although he’s not really sure what he’d do if he caught him – but the other boy is already skipping out of his reach. He takes off in the direction of their dorm, stopping only to grab his previously discarded book bag. The sound of smug laughter follows him like a procession.
Shinsou doesn’t give chase. It’s pointless anyway – Monoma really is quite fast when he wants to be. He just stands in place for a while, thinking almost absently about the brightness of Monoma’s smile up close, and the trill of his laughter, and the cold weight of his fingers when he’d grabbed Shinsou’s hand to copy his quirk. Then the feeling of being covered nearly head to toe in snow catches up with him, and he follows Monoma’s footprints, already disappearing under a fresh snowfall, back to the dorm.
He finds Monoma there, wrapped in a blanket across from Kendou and Tokage, with his homework already spread out on the table between them.
“Oh, hello,” he says innocently, as if he hasn’t seen Shinsou all day. “Glad you could join us.”
Tokage stares at him. “Did you fall in the snow, or what?”
“Shinsou-kun,” Kendou gasps. “What happened to you?”
“Ask him,” he says, nodding to Monoma, who hastily scribbles an equation onto his graph paper.
“Monoma-kun,” she says, scandalized. “What did you do to him?”
“I’m sure I have no idea,” Monoma says, eyes wide with mock astonishment.
“Oh, sure.” Kendou turns back to Shinsou. “I’m sorry, Shinsou-kun. He’s a menace.”
Shinsou shrugs. “It was fun.”
And it had been fun. It wasn’t as if he had no friends in the general course, but he’s certainly never done anything like that with them. Even if they were friendly, he thinks deep down they were all too scared of him to do things like completely defeat him in a snowball fight. The fact that Monoma clearly is not shouldn’t have been surprising, but it was, a little.
Kendou pauses at his comment, then smiles.
“Oh, was it? That’s good, Shinsou-kun. That’s really good.”
He doesn’t quite understand her enthusiasm. At the table, Monoma scowls.
“Don’t be weird, Kendou,” he says.
She gives him an extremely unimpressed look. “Go make Shinsou-kun some hot chocolate. It’s the least you could do.”
Monoma’s scowl deepens, but he glances briefly at Shinsou and gets up without further argument.
Shinsou leaves to change out of his cold, wet uniform, and when he comes back, Monoma offers him both hot chocolate and a blanket. The warmth is enough to drive away the last of the chill completely.
When Shinsou returns to the dorms a week later, he finds nearly the entire class milling around the shared living space. The tables are littered with bowls of fresh popcorn, and the smell permeates the room. Behind him, Monoma makes a distressed noise.
“Shinsou-kun!” Honenuki calls. “You showed up just in time. And you brought Monoma-kun, good!”
“Just in time for what?” he asks.
“For nothing!” Monoma says quickly. “Come on, let’s go do homework in your room.”
He grabs Shinsou’s sleeve and starts pulling him away from the assembled group.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Tetsutetsu, emerging from the kitchen with another bowl of popcorn, stops Monoma by slinging an arm around his shoulders and effectively anchoring him in place. “Don’t tell me you’re trying to skip out on movie night, Monoma?”
“You guys do movie nights?” Shinsou directs this question to Ibara, since Monoma looks preoccupied.
“It’s on the calendar,” she says, pointing across the room. There is indeed a calendar on the wall there, with everyone’s birthdays marked, and important dates for exams. Shinsou hasn’t found much reason to look at it since his transfer.
“Every month someone new gets to pick the theme,” Tokage says, reclining back on the couch and smirking. “And this month, it’s Yanagi’s turn.”
“Indeed,” Yanagi says. “So it’s horror movies this time.”
“Well, we all saw that coming,” Komori says, giggling. “Monoma-kun especially.”
“I can’t say I know what you mean,” says Monoma, still trapped under Tetsutetsu’s immovable bicep. “But consider this, Yanagi-san. It’s January! That’s hardly the time for horror movies, right? Right! It’s unseasonal. Inappropriate. You should really rethink it, don’t you agree?”
“No,” she says, dispassionate. “We’re beginning with The Ring. Sit down.”
“Ah. I see.” Monoma deflates, and allows Tetsutetsu to steer him towards the remaining unoccupied couch, where he’s deposited with the popcorn bowl in his lap.
“Dibs,” Shishida says cheerfully, taking the seat on his right and reaching for a generous handful of popcorn.
Kendou comes in from the kitchen then, holding a tray of sodas that are quickly distributed and set upon by their classmates.
“Why don’t you take a seat as well, Shinsou-kun?” Kendou says, taking her own seat beside Ibara. She gestures to the spot on Monoma’s left. Even with all the chairs and couches pushed around the TV, there aren’t really any other free spots anyway. He sits.
Monoma is rigid as a corpse beside him, clutching the popcorn bowl tightly.
"So…you don’t like horror movies, or something?” Shinsou asks.
“Ack!” Monoma re-animates. “What does that mean? I love them, Shinsou-kun, there’s nothing better! In October, of course. That was my only point, because it’s January–”
“He hates them,” Tokage says from the other couch. “A while back Kuroiro wanted horror movies too, and he was scared shitless.”
Monoma splutters like a broken pipe.
“Absolutely not!” he manages to get out around his indignation. “I absolutely was not. I’m hurt you would make false assumptions like that, Tokage-san. I had a better opinion of you than someone who would stoop to petty gossip!”
She scoffs. “Don’t come crying to me if you can’t go to the bathroom by yourself in the dark again.”
“Movie night is commencing now, so quiet down,” Yanagi calls from her spot by the TV. She has a sizable stack of classic horror films beside her.
Monoma slouches into the couch, muttering under his breath. He’s still got a death grip on the bowl, the contents of which are rapidly emptying into Shishida’s mouth.
Shinsou hums thoughtfully, and grabs a handful of popcorn before it all disappears.
Monoma is definitely afraid of horror movies.
Not that Shinsou doubted their classmates, because he didn’t, not for a second. But Monoma manages to keep a lid on his reactions for most of the movie, so Shinsou assumes they were exaggerating. There are a few flinches and yelps muffled behind his hand, but it’s no worse than Tsuburaba or Komori.
But he becomes twitchier as the movie goes on, and at the climax, he screams and flings the popcorn bowl in the air.
Shinsou thinks everyone in the room, himself included, were more shocked by that than anything that happened in the movie so far. The bowl was mostly empty, but he, Monoma, and Shishida are still showered by a rain of unpopped kernels. The bowl hits Shishida in the head on its way to the floor behind them.
"Dude,” Shishida says, rubbing at the impact site. “That’s gonna bruise for sure.”
Monoma has a hand over his chest, panting like he’s run a mile. “I got startled,” he wheezes. “That’s all.”
Shinsou picks a kernel out of his hair and says nothing.
After that, when fresh bowls of popcorn are distributed, Shishida holds their bowl. Shinsou gives up attempting to reach across and grab handfuls pretty early into the second movie, even though Monoma is too busy nervously gulping down a new can of soda to notice.
Shinsou feels safer with the bowl in Shishida’s lap, anyway. However, with nothing to clutch at during the scary parts in this movie, Monoma starts instinctively grasping Shinsou’s arm whenever the ghost drags a new person to hell, or whatever’s going on. He’s a little distracted at this point. Monoma’s grabbing him hard, and even inside with the heat on, his hands are still ice cold. Each time it happens, Monoma releases him quickly and mutters sorry. Shinsou’s given up on replying whatever. He doesn’t think the other boy is even listening, at this point. He seems oddly hypnotized by the movies, and keeps his eyes glued to the screen with horrified fascination.
The marathon goes on until nearly midnight, when Awase falls asleep and Kendou declares it’s way past everyone’s bedtime. Yanagi looks disappointed – there were still three unwatched movies in her stack.
Slowly, everyone is getting up and stretching, and the sound of soft, sleepy chatter fills the room. Kendou calls Tetsutetsu to help her clean up, and he gives Monoma a friendly slap on the back as he passes. That seems to jolt him back to life, and he springs to his feet.
"Well,” he says, casting sharp, nervous glances around himself. “That was certainly...well! I’ll be off to bed, then.”
He leaves the room like he thinks there’s a chance he might be forced to watch another movie if he’s not quick enough.
Shinsou is slow to get up. He’s not particularly tired, even after all that, so he goes to help Kendou sweep popcorn kernels from around the couch.
The feeling persists as everyone drifts off to their rooms. He spends a while lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling in the dark. His problems with insomnia have improved recently, but there are still nights like this, where he can’t sleep no matter what.
In the end, he decides to do some homework, so there’s less left over tomorrow. He’s at his desk unpacking his bag when he remembers some advice from Aizawa-sensei – lavender tea can help induce sleep. Ibara likes tea, so there’s a sizable collection in the kitchen, and she probably has lavender in there somewhere.
He’s partway down the pitch black hall by the time he realizes he forgot his phone – with its flashlight feature – on the desk. He’s debating going back for it when he collides with something soft.
The memory of the movies he’s just watched drift to the forefront of his mind, and he feels a flash of cool, instinctive fear for a split second. And then the thing in front of him emits a very familiar, and very loud, shriek.
Shinsou’s got his hand over Monoma’s mouth immediately, conscious of the fact that it’s 1 a.m., and he can think of a few of his classmates he doesn’t want to see angry and sleep-deprived.
“It’s me,” he whispers, and waits until Monoma slumps with relief before moving his hand.
“Fucking shit,” Monoma says. He’s got his icy hands in a vice-grip on Shinsou’s forearms, and he’s radiating tension. “What the hell are you doing out here?”
“Getting tea,” Shinsou says. “Why are you out here? You’re obviously scared.”
“No-o-o,” he says, releasing Shinsou’s arms. “I’m not – well, see – I just came back from the bathroom and…you startled me.”
“Right. You got startled a lot tonight,” Shinsou says. He rolls his eyes, even though Monoma can’t see it.
“Yeah, well…” There’s a loud sigh. “You really don’t think it’s freaky? Kuroiro’s slasher films were bad enough, but ghosts? Why did it have to be ghosts? You really aren’t scared of ghosts?”
“I don’t believe in ghosts,” Shinsou says. “There’s scarier stuff in this world, forget the next one.”
“Ugh, you would say that. This is so uncool, really.”
Shinsou hums. “Is it?”
“Of course it is. Someone like me, who wants to be a hero, scared of a couple movies?” He scoffs. “I mean, if it was someone in class A, I’d think they were pathetic.”
“I don’t know,” Shinsou says. “Everyone has things they’re afraid of, right? Like heights, or dogs, or whatever. Yours isn’t that bad. At least a villain can’t use it against you.”
Monoma laughs quietly. Shinsou sort of wishes he could see it happen – having a conversation in the dark is off-putting.
“That’s true,” he says. “It’s still embarrassing, though. Especially getting scared in front of everyone.”
“It doesn’t matter that much. They still respect you.” He’s not sure if ‘respect’ is the right word, exactly, but he thinks saying the class ‘appreciates’ Monoma would be kind of weird, if more accurate.
“Is that so?” He sounds significantly more cheerful. “Well, it’s only natural. Someone like me has that effect on people.”
“Uh, yeah,” Shinsou says. “Sure.”
“We should get back to our rooms,” he says, but he doesn’t move.
“Okay?” Shinsou attempts to side-step his shadowy figure, but Monoma stops him with a hand on his arm. It’s much gentler this time, at least.
“Thanks, Shinsou,” he says.
Shinsou notices the lack of honorifics, but doesn’t mention it.
“Yeah, of course,” he says.
Monoma drops his hand, but Shinsou stays in place for a moment. Ultimately, though, he can’t think of anything else to say.
“’Night,” he settles for, and starts down the hall. He still wants that tea.
“Goodnight,” Monoma calls, softly. It doesn’t seem like he’s moving though.
Shinsou half wonders if he’ll still be there when he’s done in the kitchen. But by the time he comes back, lavender tea in hand, the hall is empty.
Shinsou’s often had the thought that one day, Monoma was sure to get himself punched over the things he says. He knows now, in the wake of their strange sort-of-friendship, that the way Monoma is around other people…well, it’s not an act, exactly, but it’s only one facet of who he really is. It just happens to be the facet he chooses to present to the world at large, for whatever reason. Shinsou has his theories on why that might be, but he also thinks it might be kind of weird to have theories about someone, even if they are (maybe) your friend.
Still, he’s aware that his own developed immunity to the spiels of taunts and provocation that seem easy as breathing to Monoma is by no means a universal experience. If Kendou is around, she’s typically pretty good at dissolving the situation. People tend to be mollified by the sight of her dragging Monoma off like a misbehaving kitten. But she has her own life outside of corralling class B’s resident problem child, so she won’t always be around to put a stop to troublesome situations. So Shinsou considers telling Monoma off himself, sometimes, but he thinks that would also be pretty weird.
He doesn’t really expect that it’ll be him that ends up in a fight.
To be fair, Monoma is still a key factor in the entire situation. Shinsou’s on his way back to the dorms after a quick round of post-class weight training when Monoma catches up to him, sipping a drink from the cafeteria. As they walk, Monoma composes a verbal essay on everything he thought was wrong with the latest plot twist in the daytime drama their class is obsessed with lately, and Shinsou is partially listening and partially sneaking glances at him when he’s not looking. That’s why he ends up running into someone, probably.
He recognizes the guy immediately, and some part of him is already bracing for trouble. It’s one of his old classmates from the general course, a stocky kid with spiky orange hair. Shinsou thinks his name might be Hajime, but he’s not positive. Whatever his name is, he’s never been fond of Shinsou. The feeling was very much mutual. During Shinsou’s last days before the transfer, he’d stopped just short of open hostility. And based on the way he was glaring at Shinsou now, he didn’t seem to have reevaluated his opinions.
“Oh, it’s you,” he says, sneering. “Guess you think you’re the shit now. Bet you want us general course folks to just make way for you hero class hotshots.”
“Hm?” Shinsou says, tipping his head to one side lazily like he’s not following the conversation. Internally, he’s tensing up, wondering if he should activate his quirk, wondering if that’ll only make things worse in the long run.
“Are you stupid?” Maybe-Hajime asks, scowling. “Seems like they’ll let any freak in the hero course these days.”
“Any freak but you.” Monoma cuts into the conversation as smoothly as if he’s been invited.
“The fuck?” Hajime says, registering Monoma’s presence for the first time.
Monoma smiles broadly.
“You said you’re from general studies, right?” He pauses to look Hajime up and down, adopting an expression of consummate distaste. “I guess that does make sense.”
Shinsou thinks he should really take a page from Kendou’s book and drag both himself and Monoma away from what’s shaping up to be a full-blown confrontation, but he doesn’t. He just watches with sick fascination, like gawkers passing a traffic accident, as Monoma lifts a hand to his mouth and chortles in a way that is both obviously fake and oozing judgement. Hajime’s hands curl into fists.
“So you need your little boyfriend to defend you?” he spits. “Guess it’s not surprising there’s that kind of guy in class B too.”
If Monoma has any reaction to these comments, he doesn’t show it. His sardonic smile is firmly in place. Shinsou can’t say the same, though. If he stopped to think things through, he could probably calm himself down, but he’s not sure he wants to at this point. So he advances instead, winding up for a punch, and it’s only the feeling of cold fingers wrapping around his arm that stops him. It’s Monoma, insistently pulling him back, and he’s surprised enough to drop his combative stance.
“That’s a bad idea,” he says, still smiling lightly. “For all of us.”
He glances pointedly at Hajime. The guy actually looks a little scared, even though Shinsou’s fairly certain he’d be beat in an outright punch-up with no time to get fancy with his quirk. For once, he’s almost glad to see that look on the face of one of his peers.
“We’ve got places to be,” Monoma says, taking advantage of the moment of indecision. “Important hero course things, and such.”
And then he’s guiding Shinsou in a wide arc around Hajime, pulling them both down the hallway and into the parts of the school that are still populated with other students. Neither of them speak, and Monoma’s unfriendly smile has morphed into a small frown. Shinsou has no idea what kind of expression he might be making himself.
They come to a halt just outside the dorm. The few students still around seem preoccupied with their own things, so Shinsou thinks it’ll be easier to talk out here than inside, surrounded by their classmates.
“Why’d you stop me?” he asks. He’s not mad about it, really. But he is wondering why one of the most combative people he knows took steps to intervene in that particular fight.
Monoma looks exasperated. Shinsou thinks this might be the first time he’s looked at someone else that way, instead of vice versa.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he says. “I guess I thought it was probably a bad idea for the guy who just got into the hero course to go around punching out general studies kids. Or am I wrong?”
Shinsou purses his lips. “No, but…didn’t what he said make you mad?”
Monoma shrugs.
“It’s a waste of time to go after everyone who says that stuff to me. I am gay. Most people can tell, and there’s nothing I can do about that.”
It’s far from a revelation. Shinsou could tell, although that was due far more to the things other people said than any particular action on Monoma’s part.
"Right,” he says. “But that’s exactly why he shouldn’t be saying it. To you, or anyone else.”
Monoma smiles. It’s not like the one from earlier, designed specifically to infuriate, but it’s also not anything like a genuine expression of joy. Shinsou’s not entirely sure what it means.
“Strong sense of justice, eh? Well, as a future pro-hero, that’s admirable.”
And then he’s stepping closer. They were already standing pretty close, so the motion puts him directly in Shinsou’s personal space. One hand comes up to rest on Shinsou’s shoulder. In response, his pulse picks up like it’s running a marathon and Monoma just fired the starting gun.
“I am grateful,” he says, quietly. “Thanks for sticking up for me, Shinsou-kun.”
Shinsou thinks he should say something in response, preferably something cool or witty, but his thoughts have started spinning so fast he can’t catch onto any of them. He’s aware that Monoma is leaning even closer, leaning in towards him, but he seems to be observing this fact from very far away.
In the distance, someone coughs a few times as they walk away. Monoma jumps, turning his head whip-quick in the direction of the sound. They’re so close the tips of his hair hit Shinsou’s nose as he turns.
Whoever it is – it’s hard to make anything out in the winter twilight – they’re walking in the opposite direction. They probably haven’t even seen the two of them, but Monoma seems to suddenly remember they’re very much in a public location at the moment.
He takes a huge step back, and he looks…flustered. Shinsou’s not sure he’s ever seen him flustered like this. Even when he is, he probably takes great pains to cover it up. Shinsou knows, because he does that, too.
“Aha,” he says, some approximation of laughter that’s more a nervous exclamation than anything.
And then he’s utilizing his impressive speed to fling open the door beside them and flee into the building.
It only takes Shinsou another second to decide to pursue him, and any advantage that small head start might have earned Monoma is sure to prove futile in light of the simple fact that there’s not really anywhere for him to go. So Shinsou takes his time, already planning to ask whoever he sees first where Monoma has run off to.
This turns out to be unnecessary, as Monoma’s attempted to hide himself in plain sight. When Shinsou enters the main living area, he finds him situated at a table where Kendou, Pony, and Komori are playing a complicated-looking board game. They all seem a bit annoyed at his sudden appearance, and Kendou looks relieved when Shinsou approaches their table.
“Go bug him instead,” she suggests. Monoma ignores her.
"Yeah, let’s talk,” Shinsou says. Monoma ignores him too, but Kendou seizes the opportunity his words present.
“Your friend wants to talk, Monoma-kun,” she says, and glares daggers. When that proves ineffective, she gives him a hard shove. Given recent events, Shinsou doesn’t think it’s all that weird for him to intervene and catch Monoma before he tumbles out of the chair.
“Alright, alright,” Monoma whines, still not looking at Shinsou despite being partially on top of him. “I’m going.”
They end up in Monoma’s room. Shinsou hadn’t really looked around much the last time he was here, so he takes the opportunity now. It’s significantly messier than his own room. The floor is littered with a generous confetti of shoes, discarded clothing, assorted loose papers, and empty water bottles.
Monoma dodges these obstacles with practiced ease as he paces a nervous circuit around the room. He ends up standing awkwardly by his desk. Shinsou sits on the edge of the bed for lack of a better option, watching as Monoma grabs a pencil and starts twirling it deftly between his fingers.
“What did you want to discuss?” he asks, addressing the pencil.
Shinsou hums, leaning back and supporting his weight on his hands.
“You know,” he says simply.
He does know, of course, because he’s far from stupid. But he’s clearly intent on making this as difficult as possible. He wouldn’t be Monoma otherwise.
“I’m afraid I don’t.” His left foot is tapping a frantic beat on the carpet.
“Right,” Shinsou says. He glances around the room again. “You know, we always hang out in my room. I haven’t been in here since that one time. When you got sick, remember?”
Monoma nods absently, chewing on his lip.
“So, did you like me even back then?”
The pencil skitters out from his hand and lands noisily on the desk. Monoma finally turns to face Shinsou, bright pink spots blooming on his cheeks.
“What was that?” His voice is hitting a much higher register than usual.
“Well, you were definitely trying to kiss me out there.” Shinsou’s smirking a little, he can’t help it. “It was obvious.”
“Ah, right,” Monoma says, eyes darting rapidly around the room. “Right, right. That, well, that – I was thanking you!” He seizes that thought like a lifeline. “It’s as I said, yes? You were even going to risk your status at school, just to stand up for me, so…”
He trails off, going even redder in the face. It is embarrassing, to hear it put like that. Shinsou coughs.
“Uh-huh. I guess I was. And you didn’t even finish thanking me properly. That’s pretty rude, right?”
Monoma looks bewildered. “It is?”
Shinsou shrugs. “Unless you don’t want to anymore.”
“Of course I want to,” he says, sounding almost offended.
And then he seems to realize what he’s just said, what Shinsou’s saying, and his hands curl into fists. He stomps across the room, determined, and Shinsou has no idea what to do as the distance closes between them. He’s bluffed his way to this point, really.
Monoma quickly renders any decision on Shinsou’s part unnecessary. He’s leaning down as soon as they’re close enough, and Shinsou only has time to open his eyes wide before Monoma – misses his target and kisses somewhere near the corner of his mouth.
His face is glowing red when he pulls back.
“Damn, that was terrible.”
“I wouldn’t call it terrible,” Shinsou says, and the thundering of his pulse in his ears agrees. “Maybe a little anticlimactic.”
“Hey!” Monoma definitely looks offended, now. “Don’t be ungrateful.”
He grabs Shinsou’s face, perhaps in an effort to improve his aim, and kisses him again. This time it’s right on the mark, and Shinsou inhales sharply against the unexpected rush of saccharine emotion bursting in his chest. He barely has time to curl his fingers into silky blond hair before Monoma pulls away, grinning widely.
“How was that?”
Shinsou blinks. “…Not at all disappointing,” he says. His mouth feels clumsy around the shape of the words.
“Hah, of course!” Monoma looks smug for a moment, and then seems to remember the situation. He brings one hand up to brush against his lips, almost absent-mindedly.
“Shit, shit, shit,” he mutters. “Did that really happen? I think it did, but maybe I’m dreaming. Should I pinch myself? No, that’s just a myth…”
Shinsou grabs his hand in an attempt to stop whatever tirade he’s working himself into. It’s surprisingly effective.
“I like you too, Monoma,” he says. He always figured he’d be a lot more nervous confessing to someone, when he bothered to think about it, but Monoma seems nervous enough for the both of them.
“Yeah?” he asks, like it’s all he can get out. He squeezes Shinsou’s hand hard.
Instead of answering, Shinsou pulls him down for another kiss.
Kendou’s pouring over a rulebook when they emerge a few minutes later, so it’s Komori that sees their joined hands first.
“Look at you!” she calls, giggling.
Kendou glances up, then yelps.
“You were having that kind of talk?” she says, tossing the rulebook down.
Shinsou sits heavily on the couch, hoping Monoma will be the one to handle this particular interrogation. Instead of taking the spot beside him, Monoma chooses to drape himself across Shinsou’s lap.
Ah, he thinks. So that’s how things are going to be now. He can’t quite find it in himself to protest, though.
“Don’t be jealous that I was the one to land the best catch in the hero course,” Monoma sing-songs at the girls’ table. Shinsou scoffs. That might be a little much.
“Really, it’s about time!” Kendou says. “Shinsou-kun, you have no idea what I’ve been going through. This guy’s been driving me crazy, constantly begging for advice on how to confess and then totally ignoring all my suggestions! It’s so typical, I swear.”
She rolls her eyes. Monoma looks outraged.
“That was all said in confidence, Kendou!”
Kendou shrugs, entirely unbothered. Shinsou grins.
“You’ll have to tell me all about it,” he says, bringing his arm up to hold Monoma more securely in place.
"Not happening,” Monoma deadpans.
Shinsou leans down, feeling compelled to chase his disgruntled expression away with a quick kiss. Kendou groans loudly behind them.
“Really?” she says. “You’re going to be the gross PDA couple? I expected better from you, Shinsou-kun.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Shinsou says, shrugging.
Monoma’s laughing softly, eyes bright, smiling like they’re sharing a private joke. Shinsou has the feeling he’s going to be apologizing to Kendou a lot from now on.