You had met Nishinoya on your first day at Karasuno High School. Since you had never visited the school before, the location of your classes was a mystery at first, but you were confident in yourself, having had the insight to print out a map the night before and study it very thoroughly. You even had the audacity to brag to your parents that your first day of school would go off without a cinch! Naturally, karma, upon hearing about that, decided to make other plans for you. That morning, your alarm clock didn't sound and you had accidentally slept in until your parents had to shake you awake. Then, in your rush to leave the house on time, you had forgotten your map and your cell phone. As a result, you couldn't go online to find another map. Finally, you were too shy to ask anyone how to get to your first class. So, five minutes before your first class of the day was set to begin, you were panicking as all the halls seemed to merge together into an endless maze. Trying to recall the details of the school's layout from memory, you made a few random turns every now and then.

"Um... I should turn here... I think..." you mumbled to yourself, glancing around at the bare walls hopefully. "And then make a left up ahead... It should be right here!" You rounded the corner with look of triumph, certain you had found the right place, but it quickly crumbled when you realized that you were, once again, back at the building's main entrance. With a frustrated groan, you lightly thumped your head against the nearest wall. "Stupid alarm, stupid karma, stupid school, stupid halls, stupid, stupid, stupid..." you growled harshly, jerking to make a beeline to the nearest classroom, intending to storm in and demand some directions (embarrassment and pride be damned) when you collided with something and was thrown back to land squarely on your behind. Luckily, you hadn't been thrown back hard enough to bang you head against the wall behind you, but your tailbone was throbbing angrily and - in turn - you were rather irate as well. Today is not a good day, you observed and tilted your head upwards to get a good look at what you had bumped into. Or, rather, it was safer to say who. Much to your surprise, you had, somehow, ran straight into a boy. Normally, your first reaction would've been to get up and ask for forgiveness as society had deemed the polite choice, but something about him made you do the exact opposite. Sitting on the floor in a surprised stupor, you scanned him over, taking in every detail. He wore the school's uniform and had his hair gelled upwards in a messy, but suitable, style with a few blond locks in the center. Stuttering apologies at a intelligible pace, his hands flew around wildly as though he wasn't sure where to put them, and his face was dyed a deep, strawberry hue. But, ultimately, the first thing you noticed about him was his height, or, therefore, lack of. "H-he's so short!"

Immediately, the boy paled, wilting at your feet. "A girl... called me short..." Falling dramatically on his hands and knees, he stared at the ground blankly, as though he was crying inside.

Leaping to your feet, you could feel your ears burn. The hot pain in your tailbone seemed to fade with the rush of heat to your face while you began to apologize, "Sorry! I didn't mean to say that out loud!" Bowing deeply, you resolutely repeated yourself, "Sorry!"

Chancing a glimpse at his facial expression, you jumped as your (e/c) eyes met his. Strangely, holding his gaze only increased your fluster but, at the same time, you wanted to continue. In the end, you had to force yourself to look away, but not before noticing that (for one reason or another) his blush had increased tenfold as he jerked up from his demoting stance. "I-it's fine! I'll forgive you this once..." he then whispered something under his breath that sounded vaguely similar to "because you're cute" and scratched at the nape of his neck awkwardly. You could feel the heavy atmosphere too, and twisted your fingers nervously. The silence was overwhelming, but you couldn't find the right way to break it. How could you talk to a stranger you had insulted the moment you saw him? I hope he actually forgives me. What if he doesn't? What if he hates me? Your teeth dug into your lower lip with that realization. It was only the first day of school! You didn't want a bad reputation right from the start! What if he tells all the other students about me? What if no one wants to be my friend afterwards? What if... What if...

"A-are you alright?" the boy asked, staring intently at the ground as he scuffed his shoes on the milky-white linoleum flooring. "I noticed y-you were banging your head on the wall earlier..."

Instantly, a fresh bloom of warmth erupted from your cheeks. H-he saw me... "Y-yeah, I'm fine. I, uh, I couldn't find my classroom and I've looked everywhere and I got frustrated because I couldn't find it and class is about to start and I still don't know where it is and I even printed out a map last night but I overslept this morning so I forgot it at home along with my cellphone so I couldn't go online to see it again and I... I..." You cut yourself off before you could ramble on and mortify yourself any further. Oh gosh, does he think I'm stupid? "S-sorry! I just-"

"I-I could help you find it!" the boy interrupted, still refusing to meet your eyes. "I-I mean if you want me to! You're probably able to find it yourself, but i-if you need the help..."

Swallowing thickly, you tried to be discreet as you wiped your sweaty palms on the durable fabric of your skirt. "Y-Yeah, t-thanks. My first class is in room E4..."

The boy hesitated - pausing to cast you a fleeting, doubtful peek - before pointing to the right door, which was a mere fifteen feet or so away. ""T-That's right over there... You can even see the painted letters from here."

"O-oh, right..." your flush expanding its territory down into your (s/c) neck and deepening in color. Now he definitely thinks I'm stupid! "T-thanks." Afterwards, you could've just walked away. Heck! You wanted to get away from the stiff situation! You knew how to get to your classroom and there really was no more reason for you to stick around, especially since the metaphorical clock was still ticking, but some unseen force kept you anchored to the ground and neither you nor the boy moved an inch. You weren't having a life-changing moment of realization while staring into each other's eyes, but, at the same time, you thought you could feel a shifting in your world as you stood there on the tiles, fiddling with the hem of your shirt and searching, desperately, for something to continue the conversation. Yet, no matter the effort you placed into it, no proper sentence without a stammer or a lousy topic floated into your mind and the silence continued. With the tension came a peculiar gripping in your gut, and your heart rate picked up from it's already unsteady beating, starting a full on drum solo in your chest. The boy was, somehow, persuading your body to disobey you, and it was both enlightening and fearsome at the same time. The blood rushed through your veins, firing you up to feverish temperatures, and you felt about ready to explode with the twisting of your stomach and weakness in your joints. The fact that the warning bell had just rang bypassed your senses and the shutting of several classroom doors never echoed through your eardrums. Instead, you were completely focused on one thing: how the boy was doing it. You wanted to know how he could bring you to ruination by simply just standing there, how he possessed such a threatening ability that not only brought unforeseen physical reactions but also attacked you mentally. Despite your curiosity, however, the instinct for flight, passed down by your ancient ancestors, rang true through your veins in the form of pure adrenaline, and you found yourself split right down the middle between the two choices, as if your left arm fought to stay and your right arm insisted on leaving while your mouth (the most important part of your body as of right then) remained undecided and abstained from the vote. Never in your life have you ever been more contradictory than you were in that moment. The situation scared you, but you didn't wanted it to end. The boy could utilize some horrible form of mind control, but you couldn't imagine never seeing him again. Somehow, his presence shook you to the core, and you were completely at his mercy. If not for a faint ringing that brought the both of you back into reality, you were sure that you would've stood there forever, lost in the dark recesses and caverns of your indecision. But, you jolted in action as you came to terms with a terrifying fact.

    "I'm late!" you yelped, spinning with all the klutziness of a toddler, trembling legs still present, as you took a step to rush to class.

"W-wait!" the boy bellowed from behind you, effectively freezing you in your tracks. Looking back over your shoulder, you locked gazes with him, staring straight into his coffee-coloured eyes. "D-do you want to eat lunch together? I-If you d-don't mind, of course!"

"I..." you paused in an attempt to regain control over your tongue (which had suddenly left work due to feeling too thick and slow to form proper syllables), sure that your face was hot enough to fry an egg, multiple scenarios running through your mind. Could you really accept his offer? He was probably an upperclassman, and a male at that. Surely, if you said yes, people would start to talk! Also, what about making friends from your own grade? Would choosing to sit with an upperclassman be considered antisocial? What if... What if... Twisting the end of your shirt around your fingers tightly enough to nearly rip it, you summoned all the courage you had in your timid soul, for that day and the next, and threw caution to the wind, nodding decisively and replying, "Okay."

Then, just like that, all your bravery evaporated. Squeezing your eyes shut and forcing a weak farewell, you bolted into your classroom, face still red enough to make a lobster jealous. Luckily, the teacher didn't scold you (choosing to ask if you were sick) and for the rest of the class, you were oblivious to your teacher's lecture and your classmates' chatter. Instead, possible scenarios that could happen at lunch ran through your head, and, without realizing it, you ended up smiling bashfully with each one.

It wasn't until the boy had found you at noon that you learned that his name was Nishinoya Yuu and that he was a year older than you. It wasn't until later that year that you learned that he liked you back. And it wasn't until the day of your marriage that you learned his vows of love were truer than anything you had ever known. But, for all your years together, you never knew that he had felt the exact same way you had the moment you two met in that fateful hallway, that the only sentence capable of accurately describe the gut-wrenching emotion that plagued him ever since that instant contained four powerful words that he believed in for the rest of his life:

Love at first sight.