You Can't Lose Me || Shinso x Reader

Chapter 2: Your Quirk Is A Gift

Warnings: none, 

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(y/n)'s POV

As I wander aimlessly through the small town, I somehow find myself on the street Shinso lives on. As if on cue, I hear a bell ring behind me and I turn to find that very purple-haired boy riding down the pavement.

"So, (l/n). Why are you at my house before I am?" he asks putting his feet on the ground.

"I, um, forgot to ask you before you left if you wanted to hang out at the park," I answer plastering a smile on my face. "I just got that new polaroid camera and I wanted to test it out with you." 

He deadpans not believing the crap I just spewed at him, yet he maneuvers his bike in the opposite direction.

"Hop on back, let's go." 

I smile at him gratefully and sit myself behind him on the passenger seat accessory he added months ago. We ride off with my hands gripping his shoulders, like I usually do, but eventually I succumb to my pained heart's wishes. I move my arms to wrap around his stomach and I rest my head on his back; he tenses up for a moment but quickly relaxes into my embrace. A genuine smile grows upon my face.

When we arrive at the park, Shinso locks his bike onto the bike rack, and we wander around the wooded area in a comfortable silence. I pull the camera out of my backpack on a few occasions to take pictures of the cool nature things I find. Then, after putting it away for the fourth time, Shinso grabs ahold my hand, which startles me for a moment. I squeeze back avoiding his eyes. Though, he might be avoiding my eyes as well; I can't tell.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Shinso asks after another few minutes of quiet. "The reason you were going to my house, I mean." 

I'm reluctant to ruin our good vibes, but I concede.

"I saw and talked to Sir Nighteye on my way home."

"That's a good thing though, right? Isn't he your favorite hero?"

"Yeah, but stuff happened." I look up to see him giving me that unsatisfied look again. "I asked him if I could be a hero like him."

"What did he say?" Shinso hesitantly asks. 

I look down and grip his hand tighter when I feel tears start to well up in my eyes again.

"He said that I couldn't become a hero if I tried, that I would become a villain instead," I stutter. 

For the first time since I heard it, I finally let everything sink in. Nighteye had used his quirk, which is always 100% accurate, so it's not as if I can deny it. It just means that I'm no better than the monster everyone sees me as. My world starts to crumble into dust. Can the future truly not be changed?

Then, I feel a pair of arms wrap around my form holding me tight – they're Shinso's arms, and he doesn't need to say anything for his presence to comfort me. I wrap my arms around him as well and finally allow myself to sob into his shoulder. We stand there for several minutes until I physically cannot cry anymore. When I regain control over my breath, Shinso pulls back enough for him to look me in the face and wipe away the remains of my tears with his jacket sleeve.

"Look me in the eyes, (y/n). Your quirk is a gift. One look into the future does not define who you are in the present. It does not reflect anything that might happen beforehand, nor afterward. And regardless of what you become, I will still lo- ... still be your friend. I will still care about you, I promise. You can't lose me."

Shinso looks at me as if I were the world, and it melts my heart. My lip trembles as it widens into a smile. Eventually, I lose the nerve to keep looking directly at him, so I return my gaze to the ground and fiddle with my backpack's shoulder straps. He brushes a hand through my hair, which makes my face grow hotter.

"The sun is filtering so beautifully through the trees. Would you like to take another photo – one of you and me?" He suggests rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. 

I nod excitedly at the idea and grab the polaroid camera from my backpack, which I let slip from my shoulders and onto the ground.

I turn around so that my back faces him and raise the camera in the air positioning it as well as I can. My shoulder senses the weight of his chin while his arm rests over the other. With his opposite hand, he grips onto my bicep rubbing it gently with his thumb. I smile brightly toward the lens and snap a photo; we remain still until the first finishes printing before I take a second photo. Now there's one for both of us.

From here, we walk around for another while, chatting every so often, until Shinso reluctantly says that he needs to actually do homework tonight. Neither of us want to leave, we both know that, but he decided to be the responsible one and initialize the process. When we reach the entrance again, I wave goodbye to him for the second time today as he rides off. The moment I lose sight of him, I pull the photo of us back out and admire it. The image developed so nicely.

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A/N: See! I can write the cute middle school crush thing. I can write a variety of themes in my content. (This is less of a 'HA!' to you and more of one to the voice in my head that tries to convince me otherwise.)

There isn't much of anything to explain here – other than my deep appreciation for polaroid photos and cameras – but I will suggest that you remember the existence of those photos. *wink wink*

Word Count: 1005