A Wallflower's Thorns

11

Shouto is in a state of shock. His father is on the floor in front of him, nursing a broken nose and cursing. He can only focus on two things: the blood on the tile, and the place where Midoriya Izuku vanished from sight.

 

He doesn’t know how Midoriya did it, he just...materialized out of nowhere, his leg extended, and then Endeavor was on the floor. Midoriya is shy on a good day, so the look of pure, vindictive satisfaction on his face in that moment creates some cognitive dissonance in Shouto’s head. Then Midoriya looks up, makes direct eye contact — something Shouto has only seen him do a handful of times, all to people that aren’t him — and presses his finger against his lips. The absurdity of the moment slams into Shouto, making his lips quirk up on their own. He almost forgot what laughter felt like, but now it tickles the back of his throat, requiring every bit of self control to be contained.

 

Shouto walks away from Endeavor, heading to the field. Sitting around in the break room won’t do him any good, he doesn’t think he’ll be able to keep a straight face if he looks at Midoriya right now. He pauses at the entrance, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. Only when he’s sure no one is around does he dare to smile.

 

Midoriya just made away like a bandit with Endeavor’s pride. Shouto feels the laughter bubbling up again, this time he doesn’t stop it. His chest stutters and his shoulders shake as he tries to keep as quiet as he can. It’s just so ridiculous. One of the shyest people Shouto has ever met just tripped the number two hero in Japan. He feels like he’s in an alternate reality.

 

He does eventually calm down, but by the time the last laugh dies, he’s due to the arena. Shouto finds himself looking forwards to seeing Midoriya fight. If it’s anything like what he did with Endeavor, it’ll certainly be worth watching.

 

——

 

If running away from the League of Villain’s base had Izuku saying “holy shit” on repeat in his head, running away from a pro hero whom he just tripped has him screaming “fuck” in an infinite loop. He loses five years of his life in the distance between where he left Endeavor on the floor and the break room. He loses an additional one when he rounds the corner and almost bumps into someone. “Sorry! Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was—“

 

“Jeez, brat.” A familiar old voice grumbles, “Yer not even channeling one for all right now, what’s got you running like that?” Gran Torino crosses his arms in front of Izuku, looking past him for some sort of hellbeast on his tail.

 

“Uh…” Gran raises an eyebrow, Izuku gulps, “I...may or may not have tripped someone.”

 

Gran blinks, “Who?”

 

Izuku’s voice is small, barely heard over the humming of the AC vent above their heads. “…Endeavor.”