♡Anime: MHA♡

"Hey Y/N where's your creepy purple-haired boyfriend?" Y/N hears someone yell in her direction just as she is about to leave the agency for the day. Y/N slowly turns around to scowl at whoever had the audacity to insult Shinso and is unsurprised to find that it's one of the cocky new recruits who started not even a month ago.

A lot of the people at the agency still have a negative preconceived notion about Shinso due to the nature of his quirk despite how many times that same quirk saved many of their asses previously. That's been the narrative for most of his life, ever since Y/N and Shinso became besties at UA she's been protective over him in this sense. That hasn't changed even after graduation and becoming pro-heroes.

Even though Shinso refrains from using his quirk on allies and innocents, his introverted and standoffish energy paired with the visible effects of his insomnia still results in people avoiding him. Y/N's normally a lot more patient and understanding, however, when someone unjustly insults Shinso (hell even if they do it justly) she doesn't hesitate to defend him whether he's present or not.

"Excuse me?" is all Y/N manages to calmly get out as she turns around despite being less than a handful of steps from leaving the office without getting into a fight. The day was already unbearable enough considering Shinso had the day off, but just as she was feeling a bit lighter knowing they'd be reunited soon, someone has to go and push her buttons.

"I mean sure the guy's quirk may be useful sometimes, but he still can't do hand-to-hand combat for shit if the villain isn't under his control. When we go out patrolling he's always the weakest link despite working here longer than me. Not to mention his creepy raccoon eyes, it always feels as if he's trying to stare into my soul," the rookie continues as Y/N cracks her knuckles while still smiling brightly. Out of the corner of her sharp e/c eyes, Y/N notices Deku swiftly analyzing the situation before a flash of green lightning lights up the office and he appears in front of her.

"Come on Y/N, just let it go. It's not worth getting into a fight over, you know Shinso wouldn't want you to raise a fuss over a comment like that," Deku says softly, vocalizing Y/N's deep internal thoughts back to her, but just like her own sensible thoughts, she disregards reason when it comes to Shinso.

"Midoriya, with all due respect, get out of the way before I kick your ass as well as his. There's no way you can possibly expect me to let him get away with calling Shinso creepy and weak. Though if they really want to see creepy I'll happily give them sweet nightmares using my quirk," Y/N threatens with a forced smile on her face to give off the illusion that she's a lot calmer than she actually is.

"Y/N the last time you used your quirk everyone in the office that day had nightmares for weeks because you expanded the range too much..."

"...And I'd do it again for Hitoshi's sake! He's working just as hard if not more than any other hand-to-hand combat heroes. He's always been working to prove himself not only to others but to himself as well and he never settles for anything less than he knows he can accomplish. You wouldn't understand that though would you Mr. one-for-all. Your quirk has always been perfect for hero work," Y/N says turning her frustrations to Deku who's become the poster child for what a hero should be after All Might retired.

Y/N glares at Deku who sighs heavily at her comment but evidently nods unable to deny the truth of her statement. Shinso is always painted as the potential bad guy just because his quirk could be easily used for villainous purposes instead of heroic ones. Arguably the same can be said of her dream quirk. At times like this, she silently wonders whether they're truly on the right side for them. Constantly having to prove that you're a good person despite your quirk is exhausting enough to give you the same eye bags as Shinso.

Y/N turns her gaze away from Deku and locks eyes with the rookie instead. Instantly the young boy falls to the ground with a loud thud that makes Y/N hide a mischievous smirk. Despite his disapproval, Deku simply sighs heavily once more before lifting him up and throwing him over his shoulder.

"When will he wake up?" Deku asks as Y/N shrugs and swirls the dripping ice coffee in her hand before taking a sip from it and spinning around on her heels.

"Who knows, depends on how long it takes him to get over his fear of clowns. Right about now he's being chased by a clown and won't wake up until he faces that fear. Since he seems so proud of his physical abilities I'm sure he'll appreciate the mind cardio," Y/N says smugly before pressing the elevator button and stepping inside as soon as the doors open.

"Oh, and have a great weekend!" Y/N says feigning politeness as the elevator doors begin to close. However, a single foot stops the elevator from shutting causing Y/N to let out an audible groan.

"Y/N?" Deku says in an inquisitive tone after the elevator doors slide apart once more and he places himself in the doorway.

"What?" Y/N asks a bit more hostile than intended. She never had an issue with Deku back at UA, but a part of her envied him just as Shinso does.

"When are the two of you going to get married?" Deku asks suddenly making Y/N choke on her watered-down iced coffee.

"Excuse me?!" Y/N blurts out as Deku smiles warmly at her making her feel even more trash-like for being rude to him.

"You and Shinso have been close ever since high school and since you started working here you defend him without question. Are the two of you really not dating? Even Kacchan thinks you two are," Deku clarifies as Y/N's cheeks begin to burn.

"Shut up we aren't dating! He's just my best friend so of course, I'll stand up for him whenever I have to," Y/N responds as if an old tape recorder just saying what the prerecorded message tells her to say. Meanwhile, Deku flashes her an unconvinced smile.

"Alright, if you say so. Just to be clear, if Kacchan can be a pro-hero with his attitude, then you and Shinso can be heroes with your quirks. You two are some of the strongest we have at this agency, so on Monday, I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive this guy and prove to him just how strong the two of you are," Deku says motioning to the guy on his shoulder before stepping out of the doorway and leaving you with a lasting blindingly bright smile.

The doors finally shut and Y/N feels herself descending to the main floor, however, she can't help but curse loudly at her annoyance.

"Damn that Deku for always being so nice and guilt-tripping me to play nice!" Y/N lets out as she tries to push the thought behind her on her way to Shinso's place. However, she can't help but wonder if there are any feelings between her and Shinso that are stronger than friendship...

***

Shinso bites the tip of his thumb as he stares intensely at the screen in front of him. As of late, he'd gotten the urge to find new and creative ways to train his hero abilities. Normally he'd be able to effortlessly control anyone he desired just by having them answer him while his quirk was activated.

However, He'd grown more intrigued with how to manipulate people while not under the influence of his quirk.

The old fashion but proven effective technique of reading one's body language for interpersonal cues and building a hypothesis based on something as subtle as where they point their eyes is what drew Shinso to spending hours watching Youtube videos related to body language of any sort.

How does one act when they're feeling happy, sad, irritable, or even in love? Further than that, how do villains behave before committing a crime? Are they calm and collected or twitchy and nervous? Of course, those reactions all depend on each individual, but Shinso wants to know as many of these informative silent clues as possible to increase his abilities as a hero.

"He's rethinking his plan, his steps are hesitant and his stride uneven," Shinso mumbles to himself as he watches an old video of a lower-level villain attempting a bank robbery. Shinso keeps his eyes glued to the screen, despite being severely sleep-deprived his eyes somehow remain unswerving. The criminal pauses for a moment, his eyes widening with a flash of fear and realization.

"His ear twitched! He's being instructed by someone to do this via an unseen Bluetooth device or quirk," Shinso exclaims before quickly scanning the internet for confirmation of his theory. Sure enough, the same criminal was nothing but a puppet for a bigger underground boss. Shinso smiles proudly at his correct deduction before yawning and turning off the monitor. The unexpected feeling of the ground shaking underneath his feet draws Shinso's attention away from his computer screen to the clock next to the monitor.

"8:21 pm? Must be Y/N, guess she didn't have a good day," Shinso silently infers as he patiently awaits the arrival of his short-tempered friend. As he does so Shinso becomes acutely aware of the weather outside. When he began studying it had been a bright and sunny day, incidentally it was now the sky was a dark indigo colour and droplets of rain had started falling at some point.

"Hitoshi!" Shinso hears the familiar sound of his best friend's voice ridden with anger and fatigue. Not a second later his bedroom door swings open with a slam and a pissed-off looking Y/N enters.

"Y/N I told you not to take your anger out on my doors. I had to replace them twice already..."

"Can you believe that idiot Kyle from the office had the audacity to call you the weakest link today! All that guy knows how to do is jump around with his stupid springy quirk yet he thinks he's hot shit as if he's not just a stupid human pogo stick!" Y/N goes on complaining as Shinso's lips morph into a tiny frown.

There she goes again getting pissed at someone for talking shit about him, back in UA instead of getting into fights he'd have to hold Y/N back from fighting his battles. That and of course her hot-headed tendencies didn't match with Bakugou's equally as temperamental behaviour, the two almost destroyed the class more than once. In actuality, it's surprising that she and Bakugou never ended up together, at work they get along well now that they're a bit older.

"Did you get into another fight at work on my behalf? I told you that it's alright, it's best to let my actions speak louder than my words can reach," Shinso says as Y/N rolls her eyes and drops down onto his bed as if it were her own. She pulls her hair out of its ponytail and shakes it out before dropping back onto the mattress with a thud.

"You've saved his ass before though! No matter how many good deeds you commit those idiots still just see you and your quirk as a threat. You can't expect me not to get pissed when that happens," Y/N says while keeping her gaze locked on the ceiling. Shinso gets up out of his computer chair and walks over to his bed before sitting next to Y/N and leaning back to stare at the ceiling as well.

"It's alright Y/N, I'm used to it by now..."

"That doesn't make it alright though! It's not fair that you're constantly being doubted, sometimes it makes me feel that we might as well become villains anyway since people categorize us that way regardless," Y/N mutters as Shinso hastily sits up before towering over Y/N and pinning her wrists down to the bed.

"Don't say that!" Shinso yells down at Y/N whose eyes widen at his sudden seriousness.

"No matter how much people doubt us there'd be no sense of accomplishment by just proving them right by becoming villains! Sure we have to deal with more bullshit than the rest, but we're strong! We're in this together, it's not like we have to tackle everything by ourselves," Shinso continues as Y/N silently stares up at him.

The two remain in this position for an uncertain amount of time before Shinso notices that Y/N's breathing had picked up. She doesn't look as if she's scared that he'd potentially hurt her, however, her e/c eyes look up at him bewildered at his uncharacteristic outburst. Though there's another emotion that hides behind her soft eyes.

Wait why? Why is she looking up at him with such submissive eyes all of a sudden? At first, he could feel her lightly fighting against his grip, but now it's as if she's given up control to him and just allowed him to pin her. Despite knowing that he should pull away and release her wrists, Shinso can't help but admire Y/N's adorable expression.

Y/N's always been beautiful to him. Her outer appearance is enough to turn heads, but it's her personality that really makes her stand out. She's loyal and doesn't back down from a fight, more so for others than herself. She's not afraid to say what's on her mind and her outspokenness and extroverted tendencies complement his occasional desire to not spend the day coupled up inside. However, even on days when he just wants to stay inside and read a book, just having Y/N in the same room is comforting.

Shinso's eyes widen as Y/N bites her lip ever so slightly, he's not even sure if she's aware that she's doing it. His training from earlier seems to kick in all at once, as he observes their current position. The pace of her breathing, the look in her eyes, even the way she slightly tilts her head upwards as if expecting him to...no!

There's no way that that's what Y/N is thinking right now! They've been friends for years and neither of them has tried to advance their relationship beyond that. That doesn't mean that Shinso's never contemplated what it'd be like if there was more between them, but there's no way he'd risk messing up their friendship by misunderstanding and leaning in.

***

"Hitoshi...you're too damn soft! On Monday we're gonna show that jerk who's really the strongest at the agency. OMG, we should have a competition like back at UA! That was I can kick his ass," Y/N blurts out abruptly making Shinso flinch at her louder volume, especially considering the silence that just filled the room. Shinso sighs heavily before releasing Y/N's wrists and running a hand through his messy hair.

"Why do you always want to solve disputes with violence? What kind of hero are you?"

"The type that isn't afraid to put a bitch in their place," Y/N responds with no hesitation as Shinso rolls his eyes but chuckles as he slides off the bed. Though Y/N swiftly notes that he avoids meeting her eyes, did he feel as awkward about things as she just did?

"I'm gonna go to the washroom. Wanna watch a movie when I get back?" Shinso offers as Y/N nods while looking down at the bed and biting her lip again. Internally she doesn't know what came over her, but she feels oddly observant of the slight change in Shinso's tone of voice. The depth of his voice sent ice down her spine and a part of her wished that she didn't kill the mood. But, what mood was there to begin with?

"Yeah, sure! Upstairs or downstairs?" Y/N responds in an upbeat voice to hide her inner turmoil and brighten up the mood again. There's no way that Shinso thinks about her that way, he probably just moved sporadically and then clammed up because he realized how awkward it was after.

"Upstairs if that's alright. I spent a lot of time doing training so I'd prefer to already be in bed in case I fall asleep," Shinso responds as Y/N nods and makes herself comfy on the bed.

"Works for me! Have fun in the washroom!" Y/N exclaims while waving to her purple-haired friend who smirks at her comment before exiting the room. As soon as he's out of sight Y/N sits on the edge of the bed before slapping her hands onto her face.

"Get a grip Y/N! What's up with you right now? What Deku said earlier is probably just messing with your mind. Yeah, that has to be it!" Y/N tries to give herself a pep talk but finds herself unconvinced by her own words. She lets out a low groan before thrashing her body around on the bed.

"No, no, no! This can't happen again, I don't want to ruin our friendship like this," Y/N mutters to herself before sliding off the bed and walking over to Shinso's closet for something to change into. She's always loved the way Shinso smells, it reminds her of nature with an emphasis on oak and a hint of vanilla. Y/N shakes her head rapidly again and curses under her breath.

Get a fucking grip Y/N, he's your best friend. That's it.

Y/N settles on a plain black T-shirt and a pair of baggy basketball shorts before making her way over to the computer and opening up Netflix to start browsing through movies they haven't already watched yet. However, she notes that Shinso's been taking a while.

"Hey spiky hair! Did you fall into the toilet or something?!" Y/N yells without turning around only to hear someone laugh behind her. Y/N quickly spins around in the chair and clutches her chest as Shinso suddenly materializes behind her.

"What the fuck dude! How long were you standing there?!"

"Not long, why'd you change?" Shinso asks while looking her new outfit up and down with curious eyes. Y/N quickly turns back around to hide the fact that her cheeks had decided to burn upon being looked at.

"What do you mean, you never mind when I wear your clothes. If we're gonna watch a movie and potentially fall asleep I don't want to do that in my work clothes," Y/N explains as casually as she can muster as Shinso nods before placing a hand on the desk next to her and leaning his face down so that he can get a better look at the movie options as well.

"Hmm, we've watched almost all of these, haven't we? Let's see," Shinso says while casually taking the mouse out of Y/N's grasp and scrolling through movies himself while still keeping his face close. Y/N peaks over at Shinso whose face is so close to her that she almost wants to hold in a breath.

Shinso's never been unattractive to her even though he's what the other UA girls called "an acquired taste". Initially, Shinso's introverted nature makes him appear rude and distant, but after getting to know him he's a lot softer and more sensitive than he likes to lead on. His pretty purple eyes and deep normally uninterested tone of voice may not give away much emotion, but his body language and actions definitely do.

She doesn't exactly hate having Shinso towering over her like this, she didn't mind earlier either. It's both comforting and a bit intimate. Y/N would often pride herself on her being a switch, but earlier when Shinso pined her she couldn't help but want to feel submissive. Shinso remains passive about many things, but seeing his flash of aggression hasn't left Y/N's mind.

If she keeps this up, things might turn awkward here very soon.

***

"Ahh, we've never seen this one right?" Shinso asks while turning his head to see that Y/N's staring at him instead of the screen. Her eyes appear to hold adoration, but that could just be his mind seeing what it wants to see. He tried to keep it together by leaving for the washroom and coming back, but it seems as if his own feelings just got stronger.

Not to mention seeing her changed into his clothes makes her look more adorable than usual. Drenched in his scent with a comfortable and playful aura around her...no! He can't let his mind wander and allow himself to make this movie night awkward. He doesn't know what he'd do if he made a move on Y/N and was rejected.

"Hmm? Is there something on my face?" Shinso asks as Y/N quickly shakes her head and smiles, her gaze oddly doesn't leave his eyes as she answers.