Freeze Frame

Chapter 19

Third person pov

"It's always so crowded in here." Ochaco said as they stepped away from the food line. Lillian clutched a bowl of seasoned fried rice and a drink, glancing around nervously in search of Shinso.

"That's because students in the support, management, and hero courses all share the same cafeteria." Iida revealed. Lillian had walked down with him, Ochaco, and Midoriya. She'd gotten acquainted with the green-haired boy, but their conversations were odd. Spiels of apologies would escape them, and they were both far too nervous to initiate eye contact. Ochaco seemed to think it the funniest thing on the planet, and didn't hesitate to practically keel over laughing.

"She's like a girl version of you, sorta!" Ochaco had hooted on their way down. "She even has freckles!"

"Lillian." A cool voice said. The girl turned, brightening when she saw Shinso. He looked a bit nervous, as though calling her out was wrong. With a quiet goodbye to a distracted Ochaco, she'd slipped away from her small group classmates and bounced right over to him with new-found vigor. Shinso was calming in a way she couldn't place, and she liked that about him.

"S-Shinso!" She greeted cheerfully, eyes shining. He was so nonchalant, she felt she could really ask about his quirk without annoying him. He was just that kind of guy. The go-with-the-flow type that really didn't judge. Not that she thought her classmates were judgmental! No, not at all! They were all very kind people who would surely never thing in such a way about her.

"Are you alright?" Shinso raised an eyebrow. "You can go eat with your friends, if you want."

"N-No, I want to eat with you!" She assured. "I-If you still want to. I-If you don't, that's fine! I wouldn't want to p-pressure you into it by accident. N-Not that I would ever try and d-do that on purpose. And th-that's not to say that you'd e-ever let yourself get pressured, of course!" She panicked. He snorted lightly at her.

"Calm down." He smiled a little. "It's nice to have some company when I eat."

Lillian calmed down a little, offering an embarrassed smile when she realized she'd rambled again. Shinso returned it with a small twitch of the lips, though Lillian didn't take offense to it. She was quickly beginning to see that Shinso was a man of few words and of even fewer smiles. Not unlike Aizawa-sensei, she noted to herself. They actually appeared quite similar. Between the bags under their eyes, and the messy hair. Not that Shinso's hair looked bad in the messy fashion, of course! She actually thought it suited him quite well!

"You're zoning out again." Shinso mused as he sat down. She blinked, a bit of panic shooting down her spine and dancing along her ribs.

"Y-You have nice hair!" Lillian sputtered out, quickly looking horrified with herself. She nearly dropped her bowl of rice, and Shinso couldn't hide his surprised look, his hands twitching. With a small smile, he shook his head a little in an exasperated manner.

"Thanks." He said, clearly amused. Lillian ducked her head, her cheeks burning with embarrassment as she set down her food.

"S-Sorry." She stuttered out quietly. "That was rather rude of me."

"It was rude of you to compliment my hair?" Shinso asked dryly, though the mirth Lillian saw when she glanced up and met his eyes told her he wasn't annoyed with her, but rather that he was finding hilarity in her actions. Lillian took a deep breath. Now that she thought about it, Bakugo seemed to be the only one enraged by her stuttering. Which really wasn't saying much if you looked at how often Bakugo happened to get angry... not that her stuttering isn't annoying, of course!

"N-No! Just, ah..." She trailed off sheepishly. "Sorry. I-I'm... not that great at talking."

"You're doing fine." His tone was simple but assuring. He glanced at his classmates, some of which were glancing over. "So, I was wondering more about your quirk. Freeze Frame."