A/n: I made the mistake of reading angst this morning about Benny weir and Ethan Morgan's (my babysitter's a vampire; great show byw) friendship... and then I went to think about my own friendship and then thus... this idea was born. ... i apologize in advance.
ALSO. THIS IS AN AU. KINDA. THIS PROBABLY WON'T EVER HAPPEN IN THE ACTUAL STORY DON'T WORRY. Also everyone is probably WAY ooc oopsies
In Y/n's POV
For about the past month or so, Shou and Emi, otherwise known as the Smile Hero: Ms. Joke, have begun to date... Whoopee... I knew I should've confessed to Shou on that last day during our 3rd year...
~
About 13 years ago...
'Okay, (Y/n). You can do this. You can totally tell Shou about how you feel about him.' I thought to myself, closing my locker door as I changed out of my hero costume. Leaving the locker room, I walk towards my shoe locker and slipped on my normal tennis shoes. When I turned to the front doors, I saw a tired-looking Shou waiting for me.
"Hey, Shou... Thanks for waiting for me..." I said as I jogged up to the slightly taller boy.
"I wait for you here everyday... I don't know why I wouldn't do it today...?" replied Shou, regaining his stance as he took his weight off of the door.
"Fair enough... I can't believe we're done with high school...!"
"Not yet entirely... We still need to get our diplomas later..." sighed Shou, his hands still in his pockets as usual.
"I mean, yeah... But, we're technically done with the actual learning stuff..." I chuckled, looking up above us to see cherry blossoms floating everywhere.
"I guess..." mumbled Shou.
'C'mon (Y/n)... Just tell him...'
"Hey Shou-"
"The cherry blossoms look really pretty when the sun's going down, don't you think, (Y/n)?" he asked me, cutting me off.
"Huh?" I looked up from the ground and saw the swirling cherry blossom petals all around us. "Uh, yeah... But, there's something I wanna tell you..."
I stopped walking and as soon Shou heard no more footsteps, he stopped as well. There was probably a good four or five inches of space between us.
"What is it, (Y/n)? Did you leave your notebook or something back in the classroom?" asked Shou, looking at my anxious figure.
"Uh... Well... Uhm..."
"Well? Spit it out, (L/n). We don't have all day."
"Shouta I-" I couldn't do it. I was too scared. The words- they wouldn't come out of my mouth. I could say it so easily in my room and in my head when I was practicing... why couldn't I say it NOW?!
Shou walked up to me, and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Are you having cramps again?"
. . .
What?
"Pardon me?" I asked, dumbfounded.
"You keep clutching onto your stomach and you're playing with your thumbs. I know you only do that when something's eating you up from the inside..." explained Shou, his usually intense and stoic gaze was now more calming and filled with concern. "You okay?"
"Shouta, I..." I breathed in and out deeply. When I opened my eyes... they locked with his. Staring into his midnight black eyes... I... I couldn't do it. I might scare him away. I don't want to lose the friendship I have with him. All just because I wanted something more.
"I just hope that you still remember me when you're a big hero." I smiled, hoping he couldn't see the tears that dared to prick my eyes.
"I don't plan on becoming a huge hero like All Might or anything... So you don't need to worry about me forgetting you." reassured Shou as he wiped my tears away. "And stop crying... you're becoming a mess,"
"I... didn't plan... on crying..." I said in-between hiccups. It was over. I was full-on crying like a 5-year old.
"No one ever plans on crying... C'mon, (Y/n), here, gimme your face. You're gonna get your uniform wet." said Shou as he grabbed a tissue out of his pocket. He used it to dry my tears and then stuffed it back into his jacket pocket. "Feeling better...?"
I sniffled as I said, "Y-yeah..."
~
Staring at Emi and Shou from across the room... it made me sick to the stomach. I should be happy for him since he finally found someone he wants to be with... but... I just couldn't help and be jealous. Even coming off as rude sometimes... ugh...
"Yo, (Y/n)! You wanna come watch this film with us? It's a documentary about quirks!" asked Emi as she waved her arms around from the couch.
"Huh? Oh, no thanks... I've seen this hundreds of times with Shou already..." I said, no enthusiasm present in my voice.
"Okay... Where are you going?"
"My room... I'm gonna try and sleep. Have fun guys. But not too much fun." I yawned, leaving the kitchen and into my room.
"Night, (Y/n)." I heard Shou say.
"Don't let the bedbugs bite!" I heard Emi say.
"Yep...!" was all I yelled back before slamming my door quietly.
~
After a couple hours of just staring at the ceiling, I decided to go back outside for some fresh air. Before leaving my room, I looked at my phone to see the time. It was currently 23:38. The documentary should be over by now... and I didn't hear anything from the other room. When I turned to walk into the living room, I saw Shou sleeping on the couch. No sign of Emi. Turning off the TV and lights, I opened up the balcony door, and took a step outside. The fresh, cold night air went right through me, and I was practically relishing the moment. In the distance, you could see miniscule dots of lights representing buildings and cars and hear the distant squeaks of car horns. None of the students were probably up at this hour so it was mostly quiet aside from the chirping crickets.
I let out a sigh before I heard footsteps coming up behind me. I turned around and saw a drowsy Shou walk up to me.
"Why are you up this late? I thought you went to bed hours ago..." asked Shou as he rubbed his eye.
"I couldn't sleep so I thought I would get some fresh air instead." I explained, leaning my arms against the railing.
"Ah."
"Where's Emi?"
"She went home a little bit after you turned in. Don't worry, nothing risqué happened while you were gone." chuckled Shou as he covered up his mouth a bit.
God, he looked so happy... I wish I was the one who made him happy...
"Hey, I have a question... A hypothetical one, of course."
"Shoot."
"If Emi was hanging off a cliff... and if I was hanging off that same cliff... Who would you save?" I asked, turning to look at Shou.
He had wide eyes.
"Are you seriously asking me to choose between you and my girlfriend?" he retorted, a small hint of sass present in his voice.
"I said it was a hypothetical question."
"Well... then hypothetically, I would save Emi." answered Shou, his hands back into his pockets.
A piece of my heart broke from hearing that.
"W-why?"
I could feel tears threatening to prick my eyes again. Just like that day.
"Well, your quirk would allow you to get you back up from the cliff, while Emi... her quirk is making people laugh. I don't think that would help her in that situation." explained Shou nonchalantly.
He is right. I could just pull myself back up if I wanted to.
"Well, let's say in this situation that All For One stole all of our quirks. What would you do then?"
"Then I would try and save both of you with my capture gear... I can still use that to the best of my abilities with or without my quirk most likely..."
Just say you want to save her and only her already.
"(Y/n), do you have some ulterior motive behind this?"
"I told you, it was just a hypothetic-"
"Cut the bullshit. Tell me what's eating you up again."
"Wha-"
"You're playing with your thumbs again."
I looked down at my hands. I didn't even realize I was doing that...
"How did you...?"
"God (Y/n), you think knowing you since we drank from sippy cups mean that I don't pick up in your habits?!" he exclaimed as he pinched his glabella. "What's wrong?"
I stayed silent.
"You think I haven't noticed how weird you've been acting all month?"
I looked at the ground.
"I know you're not on your period... so what's the matter?"
I didn't say anything... I couldn't say anything.
"Well?"
I felt the first tear roll down my cheek. It left a burning sensation against my cold skin.
I felt Shou grab me as he said, "(Y/n). I know you hate it when people yell at you... so I'm not going to do that. I want to refrain from ever doing that to you because I know you hate it. So please, tell me what's wrong. I want to help you. I want to see you smile again. I want the old, goofy, childish, dramatic (Y/n) back. The best version of you. The one I grew up with." pleaded Shou. His grip on my arms tightened a bit. I could tell by how drained he sounded that he was trying his hardest not to cry.
"The 'me' you grew up with went away a long time ago."
Shou looked up at me. His black eyes were filled with a thin line of tears.
"Once you started dating Emi..." I couldn't speak without wanting to cry even more than before. "You... you looked so.. h-happy-" I coughed out, my tears starting to stain the cement underneath us. "I didn't want to- to take that away f-from y-you..." Each sentence was harder and harder to get out. I was starting to get out a bunch of word vomit.
I didn't dare to look at Shou. Looking at his face would just make me wanna break down even more than I already had.
"(Y/n)..." the way he called out my name was nothing more than a whisper at this point.
"S-Shouta..."
I felt it. The word vomit. I was going to regret this moment for the rest of my life.
"I l-love you."
I had said it. I felt like everything I ever had with Shou was crumbling now. My face was red hot, while everything else felt ice cold. I could hear my heart beating so loudly... like it was the only sound I knew.
It had been about half a minute after I had confessed my feelings for him. He never moved a muscle since.
"S-Shou...?" I asked hesitantly.
He took his grip off off my arms and looked me straight in the eyes. Both our faces had been stained with dry tears. His eyes looked more puffy and tired than usual.
He then swiftly grabbed me by the waist with one hand and took my chin with the other, resulting in him crashing his lips onto mine. We were kissing. It took a moment to realize this before I started to kiss back gently.
His lips weren't trying to attack me or anything. There was no hunger or lust that was present in the kiss. I wasn't sure if it was because he was in the heat of the moment, but he just decided to kiss me right then and there. They were so soft, and his beard and mustache hairs were tickling my chin. After only releasing for air, we stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like ages.
"(Y/n)... I think I might just love you too..." whispered Shou.
"What about Emi-"
"I can talk to her about it... I don't want either of you be the 'side chick' or anything."
"... I bet you and her kissed all the time..."
"Nope. Not even once. We've hugged and cuddled like once. We've only been together for like a month." explained Shou, trying to reassure me.
"I see... Wait, when you said you love me... did you really mean it or was it from the heat of the moment? 'Cause if you don't feel the same way-"
"(Y/n), if I didn't mean it, I wouldn't have just said that I would break up with Emi."
"...I guess... but, how will she feel?"
"Hopefully she'll understand. Besides... with this, she'll have something to tease me about even more..." chuckled Shou, mumbling mostly the last part to himself.
I started to sniffle a bit again.
"Hey, it's cold, let's go back inside." suggested Shou, letting out his hand for me to grab it.
I only nodded and took this hand, following him back inside.