A Spy Among Them (ShinsoxBakugoxDabixAizawaxReader and more..)

Ch. 21 If you want strength, I have it

The fog lifted from my brain and I could finally move my arms again.

I promptly used them to punch Shinso in the chest as hard as I could.

"What the hell! Why did you do that?"

"Sorry. It was the quickest way to get you to stop walking."

My punch hadn't phased him. He didn't look hurt and he definitely didn't look very apologetic. In fact, he looked smug.

Was this payback?

Whatever, I thought, turning and walking away from him. I'm not playing this game. He had no right to use his quirk on me without my permission.

"Don't be upset. I'm sorry. I am," he said, running after me.

When he caught up with me, he slipped an arm around my waist, keeping me next to him as we walked. The feeling of his hands on my hip made slightly less irritated. But only slightly.

"Are you following me home?"

"You're the one who asked me to come over."

"Then why haven't you answered any of my texts?"

"Why were you about to kiss Bakugo in the courtyard?"

Damn.

I sighed.

"We are just friends."

He took his hand off my waist and put it in his pocket. "Didn't look like it."

This felt like the moment where we should talk about us, whether or not we were dating, or just hanging out, or what.

But I didn't feel like I should have to apologize since nothing really happened.

But I wanted things to be different with Shinso.

For Endeavor I was an asset. An investment.

For Aizawa I was a toy.

For Bakugo I was someone to protect.

But with Shinso I felt like I could be... more.

We walked along in silence.

"It's okay," he finally said. "At least now I know my competition."

Oh, Shinso...

The earnestness in his voice made me smile. I linked my hand with his, intertwining our fingers as we walked.

"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Comedy, romance, or horror?"

"Romance."

"All right. I'm pretty sure I have some snacks."

"Good. Couldn't watch a movie without them."

Once inside my apartment, I turned my phone off and locked the deadbolt on my door. I was not going to let anyone mess this up. Myself included.

"My tv's in the bedroom," I said, heading toward my bathroom. "I'm going to change and then I'll be back out – feel free to look for a movie or whatever."

He followed me into my bedroom and started taking off his tie and unbuttoning his shirt.

"Um... what are you doing?" I asked, eyes wide.

"I'm taking off my uniform shirt. Is that okay? This thing is scratchy."

"Yeah.. I... sure?" He had on a white t-shirt under his school shirt. I wasn't complaining, but the idea of him undressing in my bedroom...

I hurried into the bathroom and closed the door.

His arms had looked damn good without the shirt on, too.

Pull it together.

If I wanted this to be different, I had to act differently. I can't just jump in bed with him. Well, I can get in the bed because my tv's in there, but I can't have sex with him yet. I needed to behave.

I tried to steady my breathing. Focus, focus, focus.

I changed out of my uniform into a tank top and sweatpants. No bra. I mean, saying I wanted to take things slower didn't mean I couldn't tease him a little.

After I made some popcorn in the kitchen, I brought it back into the bedroom where he was stretched out on my bed flipping through movies on the tv.

I climbed onto the bed next to him, putting the popcorn between us.

This popcorn will help me keep my hands to myself, I decided.

As long as it's between us, he's too far away to touch.

This was my plan.

He sat up when he saw me getting in the bed, and I knew he was noticing my outfit. It made me chuckle to see him struggling a bit to look at me in the eyes.

"So this makes me wonder," I began. "Is your quirk kind of like that remote where you can just turn my brain on and off? Whenever?"

"Not exactly but kind of."

I smirked. "You know... I can think of moments when that could be interesting."

"Oh I definitely can too," he said laughing and moving the popcorn out of the way to scoot me closer to him.

So that plan lasted all of two minutes, I thought, as I leaned against his side.

I am not going to kiss him, I told myself. I am going to take this slowly. I am not going to jump on him and rip off his clothes, no matter how much I want to right now.

And I really wanted to.

I willed myself to actually watch the movie. It was not easy, especially once his hand was softly resting on my leg, or when he put his arm around my shoulders.

For his part, it seemed like he was struggling too. I could see him glancing down at me every so often.

When the movie ended, we both just sat there.

"I'm going to go," he said finally.

I let out a little whimper.

"Unless you don't want me to?"

"I..."

He chuckled. "I should probably go."

We got out of the bed and I walked with him to my door.

Once at the door, he turned around to face me. "Y/n..."

"Yeah?"

I closed my eyes as he ran his hand through my hair.

He leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"If you want strength, I have it. Sure, it's not the showy kind, but my strength is just as powerful. If you want determination, I have that too. If you want someone who is going to treat you gently when you need it," he said, his hand moving down to touch my cheek, "but also knows how and when to take control..." His hand was now on my neck, fingers firm at the base of my head. "That's me too."

I hadn't realized that I had been holding my breath.

When I opened my eyes, he was already walking away.

My brain felt foggy again, but I was fairly sure that it wasn't his quirk this time.