Aesthete

Chapter 4.

"Izuku." I nodded while saying the name, testing to see how it sounded being spoken aloud. This is the third person who really wanted me to know that they accepted me. The thought made my heart swell, and I found myself biting my cheek to stop from beaming.

His pupils dilated slightly, but he only grinned and gestured for me to walk with him to lunch. When arriving to the table, he chattered on about how he adored All Might and was jotting down bullet points beside me as to why I should as well.

I hummed before speaking, "Well, my favorite pro has always been Eraserhead," dropping my tone, I added, "but don't tell him I ever said that." He found this amusing and giggled, promising he wouldn't say a thing. I hadn't been lying though, I knew of Eraserhead because of his discreet underground work. In second grade, I tried to stray from liking mainstream heroes. Thus, I found Aizawa as an "underrated" hero, developing admiration for him since then. It faded in middle school, the way all my interests did, but I felt a remnant of it living with him now.

Speaking of heroes led to Iida explaining how close he was to his brother. I listened intently, also recalling my close bond with my sisters. The negative thing about the way I loved my sisters was that I mimicked most things they did. As a child, I rarely felt alone and found myself only adapting to their passions, I hadn't realized that in clinging to them this way, I never thought for myself or chose what I really wanted. My occasional moments of independence were torn when I was nine, but I didn't feel like recalling why.

While giving Iida my orange juice, I leaned near him and said, "I think it's cool that you admire your brother so much." Leaning back to a relaxed position, he scrutinized my expression.

"Say, Reyna, do you miss your family?" Iida questioned, with confusion.

I frowned, Of course I miss them, I called them all yesterday but they explained that they were too busy to talk thoroughly.

"Yes, I do. It's just best I don't nag them, though." With that, Iida continued eating and I could only stare blankly at my half-eaten plate while acting as if Izuku's burning gaze went unnoticed.

"Florence-" Izuku began, but I interrupted him, whispering, "Don't worry about it."

The bell rang before he could reply, and with that, Izuku, Iida, and I walked back to class in silence.

-

"Everybody, get in line! We need to be smart about this, this will only work if we organize ourselves in an orderly fashion!" Iida yelled with his custom chop-knife gesture. We really are going for another training session, huh. I recalled the current ache of my bones from yesterday's battles and kept my head hung low. Mr. Aizawa said we were meeting pro-heroes Thirteen and All Might at a center for rescue training. Rubbing my upper arm gingerly, I felt a tug on my hero costume.

"Sit with me!" I glanced at my right to see golden eyes only inches apart from my dirty-brown ones. I leaned back and contemplated Kaminari's offer. Why does he want to sit with me, though? He's got an abundance of friends that wouldn't mind being near him.

It's not that I wanted to say no, but he was sure to get me to talk a lot and I was too exhausted to hold up to that. Afraid of hurting his feelings, I gave a brief nod.

He cheered and urged me to go to the bus immediately; as we began lining up to enter the bus, I was surprised to see the odd layout with benches in the beginning and rows towards the back. I walked to the first bus row seat, motioning for Kaminari to follow me, but I felt a hand shove my waist as a figure flew to the window seat, yanking me to sit beside them.

Startled, I roughly collapsed on the soft material, turning to death-stare the culprit. His ruby hues met mine and I only frowned, glancing briefly at the light blonde hair covering some of his forehead. "Why'd you yank me here?" I asked, getting to the point.