SOULMATES [My Hero Academia]

Greyscale and Technicolor - Hitoshi Shinso

-

I woke up with a smile on my face, sun cutting across my sheets.

It was Wednesday. My favorite day of the week.

Because he was stopping by.

I sped through my routine, throwing on semi-professional clothes and making my hair do something relatively normal, and took a second to toast a bagel and make some coffee as I shoved my shoes on. My cat, Clementine, meowed at me like I'd disturbed her by existing, and I meowed back in a mocking tone. She stretched in her window spot, her speckly fur catching the sun and bleaching bright white for an instant, before hopping down and padding away toward my room to commandeer the bed now that I was up.

Chuckling and racing out the door - stopping only once to check that I had my keys, wallet, and phone - I tore down the stairs and checked my watch as my shoes squeaked on the shiny tile of my apartment building's entryway. I had plenty of time. There was no way I'd miss him.

Charcoal leaves swept the pale sidewalk, reminding me that I probably should have grabbed a jacket on my way out the door. Shivering in the autumnal breeze, I picked up my pace and lowered my head, heading toward work. I sipped my coffee, which helped warm me from the inside out, ignoring the bagel crumbs on my shirt.

Monochromatic shoes loomed up around me, and I raised my eyes, stuck at an intersection with a crowd of other people likely heading to work. We all wore shades of gray, white, or black, and I played my usual game of guessing what color the nearest person was actually wearing, what color their hair was, their eyes, their shoes.

I couldn't wait to meet my soulmate and find out if I was right.

-

Wednesday.

Hitoshi Shinso's favorite day of the week.

He consistently had Wednesdays off of hero work, leaving him free to run errands, sleep in, volunteer at the cat shelter, take care of himself...

And stop at the library.

Frowning at his closet, Shinso pulled on a dark sweatshirt and jeans with some dark sneakers. They all looked black, so he hoped that they matched... He didn't really care, though. It was considered rude, anyway, for Technicolors (people that could see color, who'd met their soulmates) to correct Greyscales (those who hadn't). So they'd have to deal with his heinous outfit.

Hood up over his messy hair, he fixed himself a quick breakfast burrito and eyed his pile of library books. He'd only managed to finish two of the books he'd checked out last week, but that was pretty good considering how busy he'd been with work. Shinso decided to renew the other two books he hadn't finished while he made himself some coffee and finished his breakfast.

His work phone vibrated across the granite counter top, screen bright white with a notification. Shinso grunted at it and ignored it, crossing to his window with his Deku coffee cup cradled in his palms. Clouds pressed down over the city, swollen with rain and threatening to burst. Wind ruffled the trees down his lane, tossing leaves skyward and pressing them to his windows.

Hope they grabbed an umbrella.

He rolled his eyes at himself, sipping his black coffee and scowling at his reflection in the glass. The thrumming of his heart in his chest was unwelcome and unfamiliar, but he knew what caused it. His stupid crush. Shinso fleetingly wondered if he should skip the library, avoid them altogether for the sake of his poor hormones.

But he couldn't rationalize accruing late fees to avoid stirring up his feelings.

Shinso would just have to pluck up his courage and pretend everything was fine.