BET

12

【Ａ　ｌｉｔｔｌｅ　ｔｉｍｅ　ａｎｄ　ｓｏｍｅ　ｔｅｎｄｅｒｎｅｓｓ
Ｙｏｕ＇ｌｌ　ｎｅｖｅｒ　ｂｕｙ　ｍｙ　ｌｏｖｅ】

The rest of the class went by way too fast. Y/N would have liked some more time to prepare herself for the conversation that was about to follow, but unfortunately she had no such luxury. All she had were a few measly minutes. And she had to spend those minutes with her classmates giggling and chuckling and whispering behind her back. Honestly, even though Y/N was just messing around and even though she wasn't really part of this school and she was only doing it all for a bet, it still felt pretty embarrassing. She wanted to die of shame. She really did.

Unfortunately she didn't just fall over dead in the middle of class and so the bell rang and she slowly packed up her things, fully aware that she was being watched curiously by every student that was passing her as they made their way to the next class. Y/N could feel their eyes on her and it was the worst feeling in the world. She could almost hear them gossipping as soon as they were out of the room, talking about whether she had some sort of affair with Aizawa or whether she was just crushing on him and trying way too hard and how awkward she was being. Maybe they were even wondering whether Aizawa had some sort of weird crush on her.

Y/N didn't know and she didn't really want to know if she was honest. She was already disgusted enough with herself, she didn't need to hear what everyone else was thinking of her. She hadn't even really thought about that much before now, but suddenly it had become very clear to her that everyone in her class was probably talking some sort of bullshit about her. She was the new kid after all. No one knew her, no one knew where she was from and what she was doing here and why she joined so suddenly. Y/N had only now really realised her situation. And she only now realised just how much she hated being in the position she was in.

She was watching the last few people leave, feeling more and more miserable over time. Shizuka next to her was the last person to leave and he looked at her with an expression that was a mix of pity and morbid curiosity. Y/N wasn't sure whether he was having sympathy for her or whether he was trying to tell her that it was her own fault for being in this situation. His eyes could have been saying either of those things right now. And it just made Y/N want to die a little more inside. But there was nothing she could do about it right now. She just had to pull through.

"Well, good luck I guess." Shizuka muttered as he passed her desk. She watched him leaving and closing the door behind him. When the door closed it almost felt like Y/N had just been buried alive. She didn't want to have this conversation with Aizawa. She was terrified of what was going to happen. Even getting expelled didn't seem as welcome as usual right now, because it meant that she wasn't going to see Aizawa for a good while, at least. If she was going to see him again at all. Y/N wasn't sure anymore whether that was worse than losing the bet or not.

"Y/N. Can you focus for a few minutes?" she heard him asking. Y/N turned back to him and was immediately met with his eyes. His eyes really were amazing... sure, they looked tired all the time, but once she looked past that, they were dark and strangely warm. Y/N couldn't get enough of them. It was so easy to lose herself in his eyes when he was looking at her like that. And he wanted her to focus when his eyes looked like that? Y/N had never heard such bullshit.

"I can try." she mumbled. She honestly felt absolutely miserable and she wanted this to be over as soon as possible, but she also didn't want this to ever happen. Why couldn't he just ignore her and let her do her thing until she managed to forget about her stupid, stupid crush on him? Y/N wondered if things would have been better if he had just expelled her straight away. She surely wouldn't have fallen for him this hard, if he had expelled her earlier. During her first week, preferably.

"Good. Y/N, you have to stop this." he said to her. Y/N raised her eyebrows. She knew exactly what he meant, but she wanted him to spell it out for her. If she could suffer, then he could suffer, too.

"I have to stop what exactly?" she wanted to know. Aizawa rolled his eyes and leaned forward on his desk. Y/N really wanted to get up and kiss him, but that would have been a stupid move. Maybe if the end of the semester was coming and he still hadn't expelled her or something. Maybe if she was desperate enough.

"You know exactly what I mean." he replied. Y/N nodded and she grinned. It seemed like he didn't want to have this conversation either, but now it was too late. He had started it, he had to go through with it.

"I know what you mean, but I'd like you to say it to me." she told him. Aizawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He really looked like he was at his wits end, but Y/N wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily. He looked up again and gave her that stern look that made her knees feel weak.

"You're always flirting with me. After class, when you see me around school and now even in class, in front of other people. Y/N, you can't do this. You need to stop." Aizawa told her. Y/N could feel her cheeks heating up once more. Maybe she shouldn't have insisted on it being called out. This was more embarrassing than she had thought. But now she had to live with it.

"I... But, Sir... I..." she stammered. She had no idea how to even react to this. She thought she'd handle it better, but this was kind of brutal. She looked back up at Aizawa, who was giving her a warm and sympathetic look now, which just made things worse. Much, much worse.

"Look, Y/N, I know this sounds harsh. I don't know why you're doing this, but if this is some sort of crush... well, it's better if you forget about it. We can both get in a lot of trouble if people get the wrong impression, okay? So it's better for both of us, if you stop saying things like that in school." he said to her. Y/N nodded slowly. She felt like she was getting rejected and it hurt more than she would have thought. She had no idea what she was thinking, but... well, this wasn't what she had imagined.

"I suppose it's better, yes... but... I just... well, I like you, I really do." Y/N replied, her cheeks heating up even more. She couldn't believe that she was admitting it to him. Surprisingly he didn't get angry. He actually smiled at her and nodded slowly. Why was he smiling? Did he... did he maybe actually like her, too? If he did... well, Y/N had no idea how to proceed with this whole thing. She wanted him. She wanted him badly and she was willing to lose the damn bet for him.

"Y/N, I like you, too. But we can't be doing this, okay? Just... just forget about it and move on with your life, okay?" he told her. Y/N narrowed her eyes at him. He liked her, too? In the same way?

"What way do you like me, though? The... the same way I like you, or...?" she asked. Aizawa sighed and shook his head. His eyes seemed to go through every emotion before they looked sad.

"It's better if we don't talk about this anymore. Seriously. But can you do that? Not say anything like that in school or in front of others anymore? I don't want to get into trouble. I don't want to get you in trouble. Please, Y/N." he answered. Y/N took a deep breath. This didn't answer a damn thing. But she just had to accept it. She really didn't want him to get into trouble of any sort. And this was serious trouble, he was talking about, not just some random bullshit. Career destroying, not like a parking ticket or something. She got that. It still sucked.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do any of that. I just... I don't know. I wasn't thinking. I'll stop."