𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐘.
(n.) a moment when you suddenly feel that you understand, or suddenly become conscious of something that is important to you.
𝐈𝐍 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇 - sydney suzuki learns that home can be a person, too.
✧.* i. midoriya / original chara...
content warnings: descriptions of injury, briefly mentioned self-harm.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
— "EVER SINCE I was a kid, i heard the same thing on repeat, 'there's no way you can be a superhero with a quirk like that.'"
there wasn't much damage done the previous round, but just enough that the teachers changed where our battlefield would be once again. we were now gathered on the eastern side of ground beta, where the buildings were much less dense. some structures looked as if they were under construction, with concrete floors and tall metal pipes connecting each one to look like the shell of a building.
around it were the same columns, the ones that look like water storage tanks, except much taller and filled entirely with concrete. they reached the height of the building, with metal bridges connecting between each of the columns, and to some concrete floors.
monoma and shinso strode along one of those bridges.
there was just over three feet of distance between them, monoma walking just a few strides ahead of the other. they weren't good enough friends to walk side-by-side; not yet, anyway.
shinso's gaze shifted from the terrain of columns and pipes to the blond, who seemed to have calmed down considerably. "what're you talking about?"
"the two of us are both very aware of our weaknesses, sometimes we have to embrace our darker sides to survive." monoma replied, holding his hands out and shrugging, before glancing back at the general studies student and flashing a grin. "i really like you, shinso. honestly. we're so similar."
shinso scoffed. "disagree."
"ha! you can say that, but it's true." monoma said, replying to the comment without missing a beat as if he'd already expected shinso's immediate denial.
the blond didn't seem affected though, as he continued walking ahead and keeping his gaze high in case of any surprise attacks from the opposing team. after a few moments of calculated silence, he spoke up again, turning around on his heel and walking backward to face shinso.
"when you brainwashed midoriya at the sports festival, how did you get him to talk to you?"
shinso shot him a look, eyebrows furrowing at the way that monoma was walking. he looked stupid, of course, but shinso didn't have it in him to make a snarky comment— so he just replied to the question, instead.
"i didn't know what would provoke him... so i insulted his classmate."
monoma's chin tilted up as he hummed in response, swiftly turning back around and walking normally once again.
"for us to become heroes one day, we must sometimes act in less-than-heroic ways. if we don't, we can't stand alongside those with more power." monoma said, glancing back at shinso from over his shoulder. "it's not enough to try to copy our idols, don't you feel that way?"
