😅

So.. how do I say this. How do I.. tell her this?

I looked up at (y/n), who had followed me into the closet without question despite the tightness of the space, and who was now waiting patiently for me to speak with large, expectant, (e/c) eyes.

What pretty eyes.

I had been thinking a lot lately, and so far had yet to share this thinking with anyone. The exception to that being Yaomomo, of course. We'd spoken on the matter last night when I went to get some water and found her in the common room reading, and she'd given me some decent advice.

"Oh, hello Jirou." I recognized Yaomomo's voice call out from the shadows of the common room. I walked forward until her form came into light, sitting perfectly straight on one of the couches with a book placed in the center of her lap.

"Hey." I responded tiredly.

She looked at me pensively for a moment while I stood there , shifting in place awkwardly, and then she patted the spot next to her.

"Would you like to sit?"

I gave up on my quest for water immediately upon hearing the invitation, because if there was anyone you didn't want to appear rude to, it was Yoayorozu. The queen of the polite.

I shrugged and nodded, then made my way to the couch to sit next to her. I folded my legs under myself and leaned back against the cushions.

Yaomomo looked back at her book for a moment, silent. I was about to ask if there was something she'd wanted to talk about. Then her eyes lit up.

"Tea?" She offered.

"Uhh. No thanks."

"Hmm." Silence filled the common room for a moment more and I could faintly hear crickets outside. I fiddled with my ear jacks before her voice sounded once again, making me flinch at it's suddenness. "You know who really likes tea?" She asked.

I figured that she was just trying to make conversation, so I indulged her indifferently,

"Who?"

"(y/n)."

This caught my attention and I looked over to Yaomomo, who's gaze had lifted from her book and was now trained on me, a small smile playing across her face.

"She- uh- she does?" I asked, attempting to sound uninterested and looking back down.

"Yes," Yaomomo looked off through one of the windows. "Sometimes we meet down here at night to drink tea together and talk."

I frowned and an uneasy feeling churned in my stomach.

"I apologize," Yaomomo interrupted my thoughts and turned my face towards hers in an attempt to make eye contact. "That was a lie."

"Heh?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yes. Normally I wouldn't try to deceive you, but I wanted to see your reaction in hopes to solidify my analysis," She stated matter-of-factly.

"Your analy-?"

"And It seems that I am correct, because based on your expression I'd assume that you are.. jealous." She concluded, interrupting me.

"U-uhm. I-"

"Jirou."

"..Yes?" I met her eyes reluctantly to notice that somehow she appeared even more serious than usual.

"I-I'm not good with love and stuff like that. I especially have no experience with it in terms of um.. other girls. However, it seems pretty clear to me that you have feelings for (y/n). Of what degree, I'm not sure."

"Huh?!" I turned beat red, not at all expecting those words to come from her mouth. Then, I couldn't help but think to myself and reflect on what she'd said.

Feelings.. for (y/n). But..

I know so little about her.

And she's a little odd to say the least.

She knows much less about the modern world and the average teenager.

So she probably knows even less about love.

Wait..

"LOVE?!" I accidently exclaimed out loud, mortified that that word was the first that had come to mind. "Is that.. really how I feel about her?!"

I mean, I knew that there was something going on there, but love?

Yaomomo looked at me surprised at first, startled by my loudness at such an hour, and then smiled.

"So I assume that I guessed correctly?" She wondered aloud. I turned to her in horror with my hands hovering over the radiating warmth of my red cheeks.

"You! I blame you! I could have lived in denial forever and been perfectly fine!" I yelled, my face growing hotter by the second.

"Well I'm not sure that would have been the best course of action if you want a relationshi-"

"A relationship? I can't even imagine (y/n) in one! I love the girl, but she's clearly got some problems... not that that doesn't intrigue me a little bit..."

"'I love the girl'. Well that was sure a casual first way to admit your love." Yaomomo stated with wide eyes. I deadpanned.

"What. ISHAPPENING. YOU GAVE ME FEELINGS! I HATE IT."

"I think you had feelings long before tonight." Yaomomo tried to defend herself with her hands in front of her as I shot up from the couch. "Also, if you don't quiet down you could wake the others."

Uh- oops.

I sat back down with a huff.

We sat in silence for a moment more until I sighed in resignation and looked to Yaomomo for a solution.

"So," I looked over to her, exhausted. "What.. do I do?"

"Hmm," She hummed in thought. "Well, as I told you, I don't really have much experience. And normally you'd have to consider the fact that she's not even into girls at all."

"Normally?" I questioned.

"Well, you see.. the blushing, the complimenting, the openness and the closeness. All of the reasons that I hypothesized that you might at the very least have a crush on (y/n).. she just happens to exhibit them too. If not more-so sometimes. In fact, in my opinion, it is very likely that she likes you back, but as you said, she seems to lack experience in everything, not just in love like me. So I suppose the question is more.. whether she is capable of growing to understand her feelings, or of a relationship."

"You.. think she likes me too?"

"Is that all you took from what I just said?" Yaomomo glared my way slightly. "But yes, essentially. I think she has some sort of feelings for you. So if you asked for my advice, I would say that before you can really go about telling her your feelings, maybe try and understand hers first. Or at least help her to understand them herself."

I nodded and thanked Yaomomo. She went back up to her room once we'd concluded our conversation, almost as if the only reason she had been down there in the first place had been in hopes to intercept me and drag me into this awful realization. Sneaky, very sneaky.

After that I sat there for a while. Thinking.

"So before I can tell her how I feel, I'll have to get to know (y/n) and her feelings just a little more," I spoke aloud to the empty room. "How do I go about doing that?"

"You wanted to ask me something?" (y/n) cocked her head to the side.

I was shaken from my daze and overcome with a feeling of embarrassment. How long had I just been standing there in silence?

"Right."

I guess I just.. go for it?

"Well it's a bit of an awkward question, but.. have you ever been in a relationship?" I figured that was the best question to start with, even though I was pretty sure that I already knew the answer.

"Like, as in a romantic relationship?" She asked. I nodded in affirmation. "Well no, not really. There was a girl I used to know who would often treat me as if we were involved in that sense, but we were not actually together, and she was the only person my age that I knew before coming to UA, so that is about it in terms of.. romance."

A.. girl? I thought, almost hopefully.

"Did you ever have feelings for that girl?" I asked, trying to decipher whether or not it was as one sided as she made it sound.

"Well she often talked about cutting me while I slept, so I'd say no."

"Oh, haha," I laughed nervously, hoping it was a joke. When her expression didn't falter I decided, to my horror, that it was in fact not a joke. "Oh."

We stood in horrific silence for a moment after that before I decided to move on instead of inquiring more on that fascinating subject and ask my next question.

"So, is it safe to say that you've never had romantic feelings towards anyone? Or a crush, as I guess most people call it?" I asked.

She paused with a thoughtful frown before responding.

"I don't know. I don't know what that feels like, so I couldn't really tell. I don't know." Her frown deepened.

So it's just as Yaomomo had said. Even if she does have feelings for me she'd probably take a while to identify them. Or maybe on her own she would never be able to.

Though it's not like I believe that she does like me at all.

"Why are you asking me all this, Kyouka?"

"Hmm?" I met her eyes. "Oh, no reason."

She blinked at me, an unsure look on her face. A strand of choppy hair fell before her eyes. Hair that I had helped her to cut, on the first day that we had officially met. I fought the urge to push it back behind her ear.

"Well, then I should get back to help out at the pediatric ward. It's probably chaos by now."

"Yeah, okay, I should go too. I might have some more questions for you later though." I said, ready to leave as well as I was getting more and more flustered by the second, being in such close quarters with her.

"Alright."

As we left the supply closet my mind drifted back to something that she had said. Specifically, 'and she was the only person my age that I knew before coming to UA'.

Before I had just figured that (y/n) had been some kind of isolated orphan or something, but now, with that statement, her overall mannerisms, and her closeness with Aizawa and some of the other Pros, I'm beginning to wonder if her childhood was a little darker than I'd originally thought. And that maybe she had some kind of association with villains and was saved by the pro heroes? And if so, perhaps that it happened on the more recent side?

I looked over to her.

Even if she had been associated with villains in her past, there's no way that she could have been one. Not truly, at least.

I recalled the night that she had slept in my room. She looked so at peace there. So calm and almost giddy at times. And in the morning she had looked so serene, as if not completely awake yet. That face I had seen that morning was definitely not one of a villainous nature.

I wondered if she would ever like to spend the night in my dorm again. Today was Friday, so we'd all be going home for the weekend, meaning I guess we wouldn't be able to tonight. But then again I could always invite her over to my place for a sleepover. I could show her some more music as well, I think that she would like that.

Wait, is it creepy to invite a girl over for a sleepover if you know that you like her? It's not like I have ill intent in any way, but is it..

Yep, you absolute idiot, it's creepy. I thought to myself, and shook the little fantasy from my head.

I decided that the best way to quell my strange thoughts was to engage (y/n) in a more normal conversation as we walked down the hospital halls, so I spoke up.

"Any plans for the weekend? You'll be staying at Aizawa's, right?" I asked innocently, as if I had not just been daydreaming of her sleeping face.

Her eyes lit up unexpectedly at the question and she smiled widely.

"Yep! I'll be spending tomorrow and Saturday with Eri!" She grinned.

I sighed to myself. So I guess I wouldn't be able to ask her to hang out anyways.

This fact didn't really bother me, or at least not for long, as I couldn't help but notice just how happy she looked to get to spend time with that little girl. It was quite cute, actually.

The mall, the forest, her entrance exam, moving her in, that night together. I guess I have been feeling this way for a while. I guess what Yaomomo made me realize last night has been a long time coming.

I like her.

I may.. love her.

😂