Nuisance No. 1 || PLATONIC Reader x Saiki Kusuo || i have a levels 🧍‍♀️

Ranting

"It means," I continue on, my previous regret basically dissolving when he responds in anger. "You're so self-absorbed that the second you find someone who can actually help you, instead of trying to befriend them you act like they're some fucking villain and you just can't understand why they wouldn't be as obsessed with you as everyone else seems to be!"

Standing up, I scoff in frustration. I can't get my damn words out properly. "You've fucking complained to me that the 'one person you tolerate'—" I refer to his statement using air-quotes. "Finds you irritating. Have you ever thought that maybe it's because where everyone else is trying to be your friend, I'm not because I don't feel like entertaining the sulkiest little shit in class? You call them 'Nuisances', but they actively try to invite you out to places, check on you, get you gifts, and be your goddamn friends. Maybe they're not obsessed with you, maybe they're just nice fucking people who care about their classmate — who happens to always have the face of someone whose parents just died — and want to see happy for ONCE IN THEIR LIFE!" I feel heat rising in my face, and I'm not paying attention to how meek he starts to look, how he stares down at his lap and how he seems like he's trying to make himself smaller. I just feel pissed.

"So yeah, you're like Teruhashi. Because she's a self-centred little shit who thinks anyone who isn't obsessed with her is insane, and you think anyone who isn't obsessed with you is out to get you." Feeling like I've said enough, I sit back down.

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A/N: Hey I think Teruhashi's pretty cool, her development into someone who's not as self-obsessed as when she's introduced is inspiring too, but Sekayi hasn't seen that side of her just yet.

Also, she's kinda funny lol

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He's still not speaking. "For the record, I don't want anything from you. I'm not planning on using you. But I had this thing called 'empathy' for your situation, and I like to help people. Not for my own benefit, not to feel like a good person — hell, I think I'm kind of a shitty person, and no, I don't see this as redemption for that."
I look back at Saiki, noticing he's turned his head away from me with his chin in his palm.
"I just think some people deserve better lives than I do. So go about that logic however you want, but don't start acting like the one person you said you think you can trust is the one person you trust the least."

Shit, I can feel it in my chest. Like a weight's right in the middle of it. I know he probably needs to hear it — well, maybe a bit more nicely — but people do care about him, they're not just obsessed. And he needs to be more grateful of that. But I feel so bad about... shouting. And insulting him again. I mean, from what I've seen so far, yeah, he's a dick, but he's more reserved and closed-off than spiteful, and maybe in his own way he's just trying to understand me better but doesn't get why, so he explains it away with "using" me — 'cause he's not exactly the type to care so much, so openly.

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Saiki P.O.V:

As she sits back down and silence falls between us again, I try to breathe more evenly. My face is hot, and I can feel my eyes stinging. I've heard about brutal honesty before, damn it, but I usually find out in advance. All of this coming down at me at once is... a lot. The way she's talking about my "situation" really does make me seem like a bad person from everybody else's perspectives, and if I'm honest, all I ever really do figure out from my classmates' thoughts is what they're planning to say to me or approach me with. I can't exactly dive deeper into their intentions behind those thoughts. Not that I've ever tried to.

So maybe they are trying to cheer me up every day, and every day I act like it's a chore to interact with them. And yes, I stand by the fact that I shouldn't have to "hang out" with or interact with people I don't feel like interacting with, but there are definitely better ways I could've gone about it without... doing what I do.  And I have become fond of most of them, admittedly, yet I've remained the same in my approaches towards each of them whenever we cross paths — which is every school day.

Maybe the way I see Teruhashi really is similar to how Oppu sees me.

I use cryokinesis to cool my face down, and I evaporate the water from my eyes, cheeks and nose, still sniffing involuntarily.

"Saiki, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Her voice sounds a lot more soft — like all the malice just melted off, and I still look away, but I feel a weight on the sofa cushion next to me, making me glance at her as a reflex.

"I'm fine." I reply flatly. "But..." I hesitate, but I feel like it's probably necessary to ask. "If I start to get on your nerves again, could you just tell me instead of being so short with me again? It's not exactly the nicest feeling when I annoy you slightly and you reply with something insulting."

She nods, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and rubbing my arm. "Yeah, sorry. Guess I am a bit 'unpleasant' sometimes. It's not like this is all your fault — I've got a bad habit of escalating things, huh?"

I snort, chuckling and shrugging. "Yeah, you're right about that."

"I'm sorry I assumed you were hiding something. I understand you want privacy, I'm just so used to communicating telepathically to quite literally everybody else on the planet, so sometimes the habit slips through." A smirk tugs at my mouth. "Sometimes on purpose." The remark gets a shove from Oppu, and I shrug. "I never claimed to be a Saint."

"Yeah, well, it's not like you act like one, is it?" She grins.

I shake my head, and she sighs, leaning back and taking her arm back. I rest my elbows on my knees, thinking for a while, and silence settles again — a lot less uncomfortably, though.

"Does this mean you'll unblock me?"
"Oh, right, I forgot about that."