This chapter is a bit of a mess, I'm sorry <3

Y/n dropped her body on the soft mattress on the floor, a sigh escaping her lips as she looked up at the ceiling, the darkness of the night making it impossible to see any of the details on the walls.
The other three girls, with which she shared the room, had already fallen in to a deep sleep, the adrenaline from the first day at the beach wearing out and tiredness consuming them.
Y/n was now alone with her thoughts, her mind drifting over to the boy with the violet hair.

Why am I so interested in figuring him out anyway?

That question had surfaced to the top of her thoughts throughout the day. Until now she had never really questioned why she was so interested in his actions and why she was so keen on trying to understand him.
She had always easily handled people with odd or unapproachable personalities, not bothering with changing her ways for them. After all, if Bakugo was able to stand her, then anyone else could find a way to be around her.
Yet here she was, trying to figure out Shinso ever since she met him. And now they had just spent a whole afternoon together, in close proximity, the boy opening up to her just a little more than she had expected.
Was that why he had helped her today?
Y/n regretted not asking him if what he had said was true, wanting to have an answer for his behaviour around her.

Did he even enjoy being with me? Or was he just pitying me?

So many questions rolled relentlessly around her head, no answers being found for any of them, making Y/n feel all the more frustrated.
She let out a light groan, pulling a pillow over her face.
She was always so sure about everything, always giving herself answers and deciding her own thing, but now she was feeling things that seemed like a complete mystery to her.

A buzz from her phone brought Y/n out of her own thoughts. She removed the pillow from her face, her eyes squinting as they came in to contact with the bright light coming from the device.

2 am

🐈Shinso🐈

Shinso: you still up?

Y/n: no

Shinso: ok, bye

Y/n: no wait

Y/n: what's up?

Shinso: the fireflies
are awake

Y/n's brows furrowed at the last message, wondering why Shinso was outside, possibly alone, looking at the fireflies.
Also, why was he suddenly messaging her at 2 in the morning? Why had her day been all about him?

Y/n: why are you
outside?

Y/n: it's cold

Y/n: do you have a
sweater on?

Shinso: hey mum,
didn't know you
tagged along
on our holiday

Y/n: i'll bring
you something

Y/n sighed as she got up, making sure she didn't make too much noise, not wanting to wake up the other girls. She grabbed her biggest hoodie and left the room, on a mission to save the boy from a cold night.

⚇

Shinso couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned for half an hour in his bed until Bakugo pretty much kicked him out of the room for making too much noise.
For dealing with explosions on a daily, he got surprisingly bothered with even the lightest sounds when he slept. Or maybe he was still salty about him spending the whole afternoon with his best friend.
Either way, Shinso was now locked out of his own room, making no effort to convince Bakugo to let him back inside.

Shinso checked the time on his phone, which he had luckily managed to grab before getting thrown out.

1.30 am

The boy let out a sigh, making his way over to the glass back door leading on to the patio. His hand hovered over the handle for a second as his gaze followed the little, bright lights dancing around the sky outside.
For a moment, he thought about Y/n.
He made his way outside, the t-shirt he wore barely protecting him from the cool, night air. He could feel the goosebumps cover every inch of his skin, but this was the price he had to pay if he wanted to get a good look at the fireflies.

He sat on the floor of the patio, his back resting on the beach house's wall. He rubbed his arms with his hands, as he enjoyed the quiet sound of the crickets, happily playing their sound at night with no one to disturb them.
Today had felt strange. He had barely spoken to anyone apart from Y/n, the girl he barely knew, the girl he had accused of manipulating him. Well, not to her face at least.

The back of Shinso's head hit the wall behind him as he let out a breath, his half-lidded eyes lazily studying the few things he could see through the dark. They had turned the patio lights off, so those couldn't help either.
He felt his mind cloud with thoughts, the feeling of it not being new to him and, by now, neither was the subject of those thoughts.

Why did his mind constantly revolve around Y/n?

He wanted to blame his friends for bringing her up so often or blame her for being so weird. She seemed very direct with her words, barely having any filter over what she said, yet her actions always felt disconnected with what she would say. It made him doubt of the honesty behind her words.

Though Shinso knew that wasn't why he thought about her so much. He knew it was something else, possibly the fact that he had never met someone as interesting as her. Also, he had recently noticed, she was someone that had a surprising amount of similarities to him.

His mind was once again filled with thoughts of her, like they had been so often in the past few weeks, but every time it happened, he would hate it less and less.
Now, all he wanted to do was talk to Y/n, possibly get a clearer idea as to what was so enticing about her.
He took out his phone, remembering that after all, they were temporarily living under the same roof, so if she was awake she could come outside too.

⚇

The light squeak of the back door was accompanied by Y/n's shuffling as she made her way outside. She looked around the patio before noticing the boy sitting on the wooden planks of the floor just by her feet, to her right.

"There you are" she whispered, closing the door behind her and making her way to his other side before sitting down.

"When you said you'd bring me something to wear, I didn't expect it to be one of your hoodies" Shinso let out an amused scoff as she handed him the item of clothing.

"Just say thank you and put it on" Y/n huffed, looking away from him as she pulled her knees to her chest.
Shinso watched her as she kept her gaze away from him, a small smile staying on his face. She was nice, nicer than he had anticipated.
He felt his face heat up as he pulled the hoodie on, the thing barely rolling past his shoulders. The size was just big enough to fit in. The scent and sudden warmth coming from the hoodie relaxed Shinso, the feeling of the two together oddly comforting.

"Thank you" he whispered.

Silence fell between them, both teenagers loosing temselves in their own thoughts once again, as if they weren't sitting next to the person with the answers to all of their frustrating questions.

"Is it true?"

Y/n turned to face Shinso, her question escaping her before she had time to think. The boy furrowed his eyebrows before letting out a light chuckle, looking back up towards the fireflies.

"You might want to be a little more specific than that, L/n"

Y/n followed in on the laugh, her eyes quickly trailing his body underneath her hoodie, the sight quite amusing to her.

"That you know what it's like- to feel left out"

Her words softened at the end of the sentence, knowing she was stepping on dangerous territory. She was scared that he would close back up if she pointed out the small intimate things he had spoken about with her. So her voice was gentle, as if it the tone could mask the urgency behind the question.
Y/n wouldn't admit it, but she had never met anyone that could really understand what she felt and sometimes she wished she could just talk to someone that did.

"Yes. I can also tell you how" Shinso's head dropped, his gaze cast to the wooden planks forming the patio floor. Y/n was about to smile back when he looked at her through the corner of his eye.

"I'll tell you how if you tell me what happened to you"

"What happened to me?"

"Why did you leave UA? Why didn't you follow your dream of becoming a hero"

The question hit her hard. Y/n glanced away, wondering if answering Shinso's question was worth finding out more about him.
Her situation wasn't something she liked to talk about, hence why no one apart from Bakugo really knew what had happened. Everyone else in her class, two years ago, had been easily shut up by Aizawa, who threatened to expell whoever bothered her with further questions. Y/n couldn't thank him enough.
But then again, Shinso, the one boy she couldn't quite figure out, was giving her an opportunity to have some insight in his life. Which he probably didn't give everyone.

"Fine. As long as you go first" Y/n smiled.

"You drive a hard bargain L/n Y/n" he replied, letting out, once again, another laugh. Y/n really enjoyed the sound of it.

"However, if I'm going to be giving you this privilege of understanding me, at least call me Y/n" the girl replied, the heat creeping up to her face. All of a sudden she felt hot to the touch, the temperature of her skin contrasting with the cold air surrounding them.

"Alright, alright" he cocked his head towards her, a never-seen-before smirk plastered on his face "Y/n".
Her first name rolled off his tongue so easily Y/n could have easily dropped dead. She never expected this boy to act so carefree and so playfully.

"It's because of my quirk" Shinso confessed.

"Brainwashing. Basically, I can control people's actions. That's only if they answer me during a conversation"

Y/n nodded her head in thought. She vaguely recalled Shinso from the Sports Festival back then, however she hadn't really payed much attention to it since she was dead in the centre of her crisis back then.

"People were- are scared of me. They think I'll use my quirk to get everything I want by controlling all the people around me"

His eyes trailed up and down Y/n's face in an attempt to try and read what she was thinking. Was she also going to be afraid of him now? Probably. He was ready to risk it. She was going to discover it anyway, sooner or later.
However, he was met with a blank expression, her glossy eyes just staring back at him, expecting more from him.

You are one strange girl, Y/n L/n

"That's why I get what it's like to feel left out. Kaminari was the one to approach me and since then, it's been easier"

Y/n smiled at the mention of Kaminari's name. She couldn't hide the happiness she felt knowing that her classmates had managed to make Shinso come out of his shell like this. Another reason to appreciate them for how amazing they truly were.

"It's your turn"

Shinso waited. He waited for the girl to speak what was whirling through her head. He had just opened up to her about one of the most intimate parts of his life before even telling her when his birthday was. He found that weirdly amusing.

"I hadn't been in UA for very long. I was in class 1-A"

Y/n took in a breath. This felt weird, talking about it with someone that wasn't Bakugo.

"After the whole USJ incident, I believe not long before the Sports Festival, I got a call when I was at school"

This picked at Shinso's interest. He had never really considered the fact that this girl had actually gone through the whole USJ incident.

"My mother, she collapsed. She's been in a coma for the past two years. I had to drop out and find a job because the money that the State sends in isn't enough to keep me going"

Y/n felt her lungs heave in deep breaths, using the calming technique to keep her nerves under control. She didn't want to go in to detail and felt like it was deeply unnecessary.
It felt good to talk about it though, or better, it felt good to tell Shinso.

Shinso's smile fell. He was happy about the girl opening up, but he didn't expect this to be the reason. All the times he had mentally cursed at her for not following her dreams and for dropping out of the best hero course, and now he felt so much regret it was hard to keep under control. She had to give up her dream to be a hero because the State wouldn't give her enough money to live? He could feel the frustration build inside of him.

"Do you have another dream?"

Y/n looked up at the boy, who's gaze was projected in the opposite direction, avoiding her face, yet the dark blush on his pale cheeks was prominent.

"Huh?"

"You heard me. Do you have any other dream, apart from becoming a hero?"

Y/n pondered for a second. She had processed the fact that she was never going to become a hero over a year ago and since then, her main objective was the one to open up her own business. Possibly an even more beautiful cat café than the one she worked in so she could house as many cats as she could.
Y/n hesitantly nodded her head.

"I want to open up my own place, my own cat café" she said.
She felt a little stupid. It wasn't comparable to the amazing aspirations that all of her friends had for themselves. She expected Shinso to laugh or to scoff, but he never did.
In fact, he turned towards her, his hands clasping both of hers together, his purple irises boring in to her eyes. Their faces were mere centimetres apart as he opened his mouth to speak one more time.

"When I become a hero, I'll earn as much money as I can. I'll make sure to make your dream come true"