Supernova

Chapter Three - Learn to Control Yourself

"It won't hurt my feelings if you don't want to," I said, raising my palms up again, and placing a smile on my face, hoping that it would make him want to. "I just thought I'd offer. My regular training routine might benefit you, seeing as our quirks are so similar. I bet you're a great sparring partner."

"Similar?" He asked me, his eyes flaring even more confusion. "You think so?"

I stepped up onto the coffee table that sat in the middle of the sofa and two armchairs that Kirishima and his friends were seated around. I then stepped off it on the other side and took a seat on it right in front of him, our knees nearly touching, leaning forward a little, to watch his eyes better.

"You don't?" I asked him. He didn't want to maintain eye contact with me for very long, making his eyes hard to read. Was this strategy too? Or was he genuinely insecure?

"A little, maybe," he admitted, bringing one of his hands to the back of his neck. "But not really. I mean, Indestructibility is like, a way cooler version of my Hardening."

"What?" I said, unable to stop my head from shaking or a laugh from escaping my throat. "Don't be stupid. They're nearly identical. The only difference between you and I is stamina and experience."

"Huh?" His eyes met mine now, and they were extremely uncertain. It wasn't strategy at all. His red irises were honest. What the fuck?

"Everything I can do, you're perfectly capable of," I told him, squinting a little. He was flattered, but skeptical. "You know that, right?"

"I can't manipulate my weight or anything."

I squinted harder, feeling as my own annoyance and rage started to seep into me as a direct result of how this conversation was going. I was mindful of my hands as they curled around the edge of the coffee table, careful not to crack it under my grip.

"Yeah," I said, forcing my tone to remain calm and patient. "But you can see how that's helpful for me, and wouldn't be for you though, right?"

"Uh," he said uncertainly. Oh brother. This wasn't good.

"Well, I've got to get going," I told him, lifting to my feet and stepping back over the coffee table. "But the offer is open. Just let me know."

"Sure," he said, his eyes still blazing with confusion. I was growing ever more furious looking at them. "I'll think about it."

To avoid saying anything else, I simply gave them a nod, then raised a hand, smiling and waving at the rest of the group, intentionally ignoring Bakugo Katsuki.

"Bye, Stronghold!" Kaminari called after me as I walked off.

"Dude, she's totally into you," the black-haired boy said after I'd rounded the corner that led to the front door.

"Lucky," Kaminari whined. "I want a private training session."

"You're not seriously fucking thinking about it, are you?" Bakugo asked him harshly.

"I don't know," Kirishima answered. "She doesn't seem that bad."

I had reached the door, which was fine, because I had heard more than enough. Whether or not he'd agree was unclear, but the seed had been planted, and it sounded like his friends were egging him on more than they were discouraging him. If nothing else, the conversation had definitely annoyed Bakugo Katsuki, so it was successful regardless of the outcome.

I didn't know for sure that I'd be late to tutoring until I was about halfway there. I took the liberty to get some training in by running there, but once I'd entered the specified building, there were an awful lot of corners and stairways. The room I was looking for happened to be on the very bottom floor, in the underground basement of the school. If someone had told me that the hallway it was located in hadn't been used in decades, I wouldn't have questioned it. It seemed he was taking the privacy aspect seriously, at least.