Silver Lining

Oddity

Midorima sighed as he looked out of the window, watching the raindrops race down the glass window pane. Her reflection on the glass caught his attention, and he watched her smiling as some classmate tried to tell her something.

She's the girl always with the great big smile whenever their eyes landed on one another. It irked him seeing her—or anybody, for that matter—smile ridiculously that way. When passing by each other in the hallways, his head would automatically turn to her direction and he'd be greeted by a set of flashing teeth that probably amused anyone but him. He'd scowl and she'd would laugh, and though her big wide grin annoyed the hell out of him, he really couldn't say that he didn't like being at the receiving end of it.

He knew she did that on purpose to annoy him. Everybody else knew better than to smile at him like that. Everybody else but her, and it irritated him that he's not doing anything about it. She always had a smile for everyone, a sweet, caring one perhaps the other boys in class even loved. He had to admit, he's peeked at her face a lot of times in the past out of boredom to watch her lips curl effortlessly into a serene smile. Only when she caught his eyes would that serenity go away in an instant as she bares her teeth into a wide, annoying grin for all the world to see. He'd twitch and look away haughtily.

Maybe one of these days he'd do something about it. Maybe he should tell her she looked like an idiot. Though, he had to admit, she looked far from it. She looked more like a . . . he paused to think. With her light blonde hair and bright face, perhaps she looked more like a sunflower. He knew it sounded ridiculous and silly, but he strangely found it simply . . . amusing. Imagining her with a green stalk and bright yellow petals around her face . . . In spite of himself, he cracked a little smile, amused.

A slight movement from his right briefly caught his attention and he looked up to see her leaning on the desk on his right, a smile on her face. He was slightly startled and he raised an eyebrow, staring at her smiling face for a moment, transfixed. Her eyes closed as she tried smiling even wider, but not like the big creepy one that he had always hated. Finally, he adjusted his glasses at the bridge of his nose and glared up at her from his seat. "What are you staring at?"

She chuckled lightly. "I never knew you could smile like that."

He frowned and looked away. He tried not to, but he couldn't help the light shade of pink that warmed his cheeks. "I never knew you could smile like that," he murmured, pertaining to the sweet one that she was giving him now.

He heard her laugh. A brief, melodious one that seemed to echo in his mind even long after it had finished. "Well," she paused, "isn't it a tiny bit better than this," she flashed him her bare teeth and laughed harder at the reaction that she got from him.

Midorima grew quiet and looked back at the window. He didn't really want to admit it, but after a few moments, he finally said: "I suppose so."

"It's a good thing I won't be smiling for both of us today," she smiled sweetly for one last time and walked away, leaving a confused Midorima.

Perhaps that was the first time he started admitting to himself that he actually looked forward to her smiling face.