"Um, not to interrupt your thinking but um..." Satori huffed out an airy chuckle. "We've been walking for a couple minutes and you're still not talking to me," she arched a brow. "Should I start getting worried?"

The girl in front of her made no move to turn or acknowledge her words. Her shoes tapped against the floor as she continued walking with no particular direction in mind. If Satori had said something, she heard little and cared less.

Satori's smile faded and she scowled at the back of (Y/n)'s head. "So you really aren't speaking to me. Wow."

No response.

She let out a frustrated groan. "You know, I at least deserve to know why I'm not being talked to if that's okay with you."

(Y/n) immediately stopped and turned around, causing Satori to stop too before she collided with her. The girl stepped forward and got into Satori's face, surprising the latter.

"What the hell were you thinking back there?!" (Y/n) spat while pointing back to the direction they had come from, causing the girl to flinch.

The grey-eyed female's face twisted in confusion.

"What do you mean what was I thinking? What-I think I already explained. I was trying to help you but apparently, it seems that you don't need my help anymore," she rested her hands on her hips. "And since when did you start stepping in between arguments? Finally grew a spine?"

Irritation sparked like hot iron in her blood and (Y/n) loudly groaned.

"Will you stop?! I'm not talking about that!" (Y/n) run a frustrated hand through her hair. "Why on earth would you even think about mentioning that incident to him?!"

"What?" Satori blinked repeatedly. "I'm sorry...are you..." she held up a finger. "Are you defending him?"

"No, I'm not defending him! I'm stressing on the need for basic human decency, Satori! You can't just bring it up to his face like that!" she threw a hand in the air. "He was kidnapped for fuck's sake! You don't know what he went through!"

Satori stared at (Y/n), mouth agape, while she tried to register what the fuck was happening. Since when did she start defending him and caring about what he felt? For all she knew, (Y/n) had never said anything or even lifted a finger when Satori messed with him after he rejected her. And now she was defending him. Just what the fuck did she miss?!

"Oh and you do?" she rasped, confusion still lying dominant in her jumbled thoughts.

(Y/n) scoffed while rolling her eyes. "He's my classmate. I have eyes. I could tell he wasn't the same after that."

Satori thinned her lips as she took in (Y/n)'s defensive stance. If this is what I think it is, it better not fucking be.

"Why do you even care whether I speak about what happened or not?" she eyed the girl with narrowed eyes. "If I clearly recall, you didn't even bother to help rescue him, let alone care to."

"Weren't you the-you-" (Y/n) sputtered, eyes wild and fierce. "You convinced me not to go!"

"So?" she shrugged. "You had no right to go."

"And you had no right to cross boundaries."

Satori paused to register what (Y/n) had just said. She raised a hand and briefly closed her eyes for a second or two. Okay, seriously, what the fuck was going on.

"I'm crossing boundaries," she parroted in a bland tone.

"Yeah," (Y/n) breathed out with a nod.

"Me," Satori placed a hand on her chest in incredulity. "Crossing boundaries," she scoffed a mirthless laugh before narrowing her eyes at (Y/n). "You're a fine to talk, aren't you, brave girl. You know what, since we're here talking about that," she gestured towards the direction they had come from, "why don't you take this wonderful opportunity to go tell that to the guy who overstepped ten motherfricking boundaries when he was busy fondling you during a class activity?"

A hot, scorching blush crept up (Y/n) from her neck to nose in minor seconds as a strangled sound came from her throat.

Noting this, Satori tilted her head with a baiting smirk. "Or are you also gonna defend him on that? Huh? Or did you let him do that because it was physiotherapy for his "he wasn't the same after that"?" she made a quote unquote gesture.

(Y/n) clenched her shaky fingers into fists as her eyes guiltily trailed away from Satori to the side.

The dark-haired girl scoffed. "That's what I thought. At least I'm not the one parading around like nothing happened. You on the other hand-"

"You promised to never bring that up!!" (Y/n) flung out a finger to point at her, her face still hot. "And don't turn this one around and pin it on me when you are the one in the wrong!"

"I'm the one in the wrong?!"

"All you do is just open your mouth without caring what comes out of it and how it would affect the person they're directed to!"

"Me?!" Satori screeched defensively.

"Yes, you!" (Y/n) yelled, her voice rising with her distress and frustration. "Who do you think I'm talking to?! The walls?! Or you know what?! Maybe they will listen to me for once instead of giving me their opinion every two seconds!"

"Ahh, so this is what this is about, huh..." Satori slowly nodded, her mouth shaped into an 'o' as realization dawning on her face. Her vision narrowed to a pinprick. "How quick you are to forget who was there for you when you got hurt by the same guy you dare defend and listened to you snivel like a child every, how did you put it," she mockingly cocked her head to the side, "two seconds?!"

"I said, stop making this about me," the (h/c)-haired female hissed through gritted teeth.

"How can I not?!" Satori splayed her arms wide. "Everything is about you, (Y/n)! You're the reason all this started! You started this conversation right here! Might as well deal with the blows till the end. Or are you too afraid to do it?"

The girl then breathed out a harsh laughter and smacked a palm on her forehead. "Oh yeah, how could I forget? You're too fucking chicken to finish what you start and when things start taking a turn for the worse in your case, you start to cry and then you run away like the fucking baby you are! Isn't that what you do every time?" she got into (Y/n)'s face. "Isn't it?"

All air got sucked out of (Y/n)'s chest and her composure broke, leaving her bare and unprotected against Satori's harsh criticism.

"I'm sorry," Satori tilted her head as she shot the girl a sadistic smirk. "Is this argument not going how you expected it to go? Well, spoiler alert honey boo," her smirk fell with her words spitting out like venom. "Not everything will go how you want it to and you just have to deal with it that fact."

(Y/n)'s fingernails dug painfully into her palms. An involuntary whimper escaped her lips as her vision began to become blinded with tears. "Stop..."

"Oh my God. Look at yourself. You're a mess..." Satori slowly looked her up and down then shook her head in disappointment. "Why are you letting him to this do you? Does he even love you for real?"

(Y/n) blanched. A sudden coldness hit her core, freezing her on the spot.

"Well, considering the fact that you're out here defending him like that," Satori continued, not noticing (Y/n)'s still state. "I mean, he could be doing this just because he's jealous of Midoriya...think about it, (Y/n). How many times has he gotten into something he wouldn't think about in the first place, just to one up Midoriya?"

No...

"The chess club in first year? Drama club in second? He even took up sculpting that one time just because a teacher congratulated Midoriya for that swan he made. To do what, you ask? To sculpt an even better swan than Midoriya's."

No.

"Who knows? Maybe this time, you're the something he's getting into. Ask yourself this. Has he even told you up front that he likes you? Or did you just read between the lines? He never said anything when you asked him a month ago, didn't he? For all we know, he could've been playing along. This could all be an act to make you think that he does have feelings for you, so that you can forget about Midoriya and become another one of Bakugou's many victories against him."

NO.

"That's..." (Y/n) said, voice cracking and parched. She felt her throat begin to close up. "That's not true... that's not-"

Satori cocked her head to the side. "It's not? Tell me, name one positive thing he's done for you," she held up a finger. "Just one and I swear, I'll drop it."

(Y/n)'s glassy eyes trailed down to the empty space between them in a daze. She sucked in a shaky breath, her heart raced in her chest and more tears stung her eyes. That was the same question she had asked herself a while ago. But hearing it come from Satori, made the reality much bitterer to digest.

"Nothing. He's done nothing for you," Satori scoffed, her hand dropping back to her side as she regarded (Y/n) in disdain. "So much for someone who's in love with you, huh...Only an idiot would let someone like that screw with their head.

Letting out an exasperated mix between a sigh and a groan, (Y/n) finally snapped.

"STOP!"

"NO!" Satori snapped back, causing the girl to jolt. "YOU STOP IT! Wake up and face reality, (Y/n)! He's just trying to confuse you! Can't you see that?! He wants to mess you up! It's all he does! He destroys things! He doesn't fix them!" her upper lip curled up in disgust. "And somehow...it seems like you didn't learn your lesson after he was through with you the first time."

A hiccup escaped (Y/n) as a flood of tears gushed down her ashen cheeks. She grinded her teeth together and her heart twisted painfully in her chest. She just wanted to tear it off and leave it behind so that she wouldn't have to feel the pain any more.

It was like the truth had been wrapped around her throat, like a chain, squeezing, squeezing with no signs of stopping.

"Stop..." she weakly pleaded, her voice cracking at the end. "Please..."

Satori backed off, her face softened as she surveyed the lines of (Y/n)'s face. She was in pain, that she could see. She still couldn't let go of the reason as to why she was hurting and it greatly worried Satori. It's what she feared the most and she had tried her best to prevent it from happening. Her attachment to Katsuki was still apparent, despite the many heartbreaks he had made her go through.

She didn't want to be the one to tell her the truth. But if she didn't...if she let her act like a clown...wouldn't she be failing her as her best friend?

She was doing the right thing, wasn't she?

Satori took a tentative step closer to the girl. "Hey," she said, almost quietly as she gently took her hand in hers. "Can't you see that I'm only trying to help you?"

Clicking her tongue, (Y/n) snatched her hand out her grasp and wiped the back of it across her eyes.

Satori's grey eyes widened, a chorus of wailing sirens tensing her body, tight and painful as she watched (Y/n) try to wipe her tears. She swallowed the lump in her throat and gazed to the side. It hurt to see her best friend cry because of her but she had to remind herself that it was for (Y/n)'s good.

She turned back to (Y/n) and heaved out a heavy sigh.

"Look. You may see me as the bad guy right now...but I'm not. I just don't want to see you hurt...because that's the only thing he's going to do if you don't let him go," she said, voice brittle, eyes boring into (Y/n). "Why can't you see that?"

Not having anything else to say to her, (Y/n) sniffed and turned her head away from Satori, out of both shame and anger. She really didn't want to face her at the moment but she didn't have the words to tell her that. She just wanted to be left alone.

A shadow passed over Satori's eyes. She raised a hand to place it on (Y/n)'s shoulder but stopped midway. Her fingers brushed against her palm as her eyes flickered to the floor. She dropped it back to her side with a sigh.

"Listen, I won't blame you for hating me..." she began, her eyes narrowing bitterly. "I hate myself too."

A beat passed and (Y/n) remained unresponsive. Ignoring the heavy weight in her chest, Satori let out another resigned sigh as she passed (Y/n) to make her way back to class, leaving her behind in the hall. All alone.

***

"-and not only that, but we also have several clubs," Shouto's buddy droned on as the two boys leisurely walked down the hallway from the cafeteria while heading back to class. Since lunch started, he has been telling Shouto stories about his school, with most of them blatantly meant to praise the school.

"Our school takes pride in honing other skills other than heroics and as a result, we have won a lot of tournaments. How many tournaments have we won, you ask?" the boy let out a low chuckle as he pushed his glasses up his nose, making them glint. "Enough to be a math problem, if I do say so myself."

Shouto nonchalantly nodded before a familiar figure caught his eye from a distance. He whipped his head towards the figure seated on a top stair of a staircase.

Eyebrows furrowing together, he immediately halted in his tracks with a million questions running through his mind as he stared at the lone girl's back.

Detecting that no one was walking beside him anymore, Shouto's buddy stopped too and looked back over his shoulder at the boy lagging behind.

"Is something wrong?" he asked. He followed Shouto's line of vision and his eyes lit up in recognition upon discerning the different uniform. "Ah, she's from your school, isn't she?"

"I'll catch up," Shouto turned to the boy. "Is that okay?"

The boy quickly nodded. "Of course. You remember the way back?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. Don't take too long," the boy waved as he continued on his way. "I still have more stories to tell you about our great school."

Shouto gave him a terse nod before turning back to the girl. He made his way towards her, stopping directly behind her. Looking down over her shoulder, he could see her playing a game on her phone still unaware of his presence behind her.

"(Y/n)."

On receiving no response, Shouto went around her and down a few steps to stand in front of her in hopes of gaining her awareness.

(Y/n), whose undivided attention had been on her game, noted a pair of legs suddenly obstruct her line of vision. Her eyes momentarily strayed away from her game to shoo the person away when she did a double take after recognizing that particular school uniform. Her head popped up to meet Shouto's questioning stare.

"Hey," he repeated, tone deep and composed.

A loud crash came from her phone and she looked down at the device. From where he was standing, Shouto could faintly make out the words "YOU LOST" in blood red, plastered across the screen. (Y/n) let out a disgruntled sound and tapped on the screen to restart the game.

"Hey..." she finally replied as the game reloaded. Her eyes remained glued onto the phone's screen however. "Aren't you supposed to be in class right now?"

"I could ask you the same," he said as his eyes flitted back and forth between her and the phone as she began to play afresh. "Isn't it a little too early for a mid-life crisis?"

(Y/n) shot him a glare from over her phone. "I'm keeping track of time."

Shouto did not respond and shoved his hands in his pocket. He checked both sides of the hall before looking back down at (Y/n).

"Where's your buddy?" he asked.

She hesitated for a bit before replying. "She went ahead."

The same dry responses, Shouto noted to himself. Inwardly sighing, he moved to sit beside her. (Y/n) didn't comment on it as she normally would've, further prompting his prognosis that indeed there was something wrong with her. That and her eyes were looking red and a bit swollen.

"You've been crying," he pointed out.

"Is it that obvious?" she bit back, her eyes narrowing in annoyance at the screen.

Ah yes, she was scowling too. Quite bitterly.

"Did something happen?" Shouto pushed on. Persistence, albeit found incredibly irritating by the receiving side, has been proven to bore fruit. As demonstrated by Midoriya during the school festival.

"More or less."

But no one said it was easy.

Shouto considered his next words with care. He then spoke. "With Bakugou again?"

(Y/n) didn't respond.

Maybe not much care was put into it.

Although, he had hit the jackpot by receiving silence.

(Y/n) sighed when she was defeated yet again in the game. She grimaced at the words "YOU LOST", daubed across the screen like some kind of mockery to remind her that she indeed, is also a loser in real life. A pawn in the game of life. A stepping stone to someone's victory.

Her fingers tightened around the device and she felt her throat close up. Wet hot tears began to fill up her eyes and she quickly wiped them away with her fingers. She bit her trembling bottom lip and gave the boy next to her a side-long glance out of the corner of her eyes, reminding herself of his presence.

Whether Shouto was pretending not to have noticed that, he was doing a pretty good job at it by focusing on something else that wasn't her.

She sniffled and swiped her nose before paying him another conflicted glance. He still wasn't looking at her.

Drawing in a long breath, she tapped the edges of her phone in contemplation before releasing it a hefty sigh and dropping her hands to her lap.

"Hey," her raspy voice echoed sharply around the empty staircase, sounding overly loud in her own ears and making her slightly wince. She lowered her voice and kept her gaze on her lap. "Can I ask you something?"

Shouto turned to her, his features unusually soft. "Sure."

(Y/n) licked her lips and tapped her feet against the linoleum floor. She contemplated dismissing it for a moment there but decided to go through with it.

"Do you...think I'm delusional?" she asked without looking at him. She was afraid of the answer, but was more afraid of being given the answer straight to her face. She knew in her gut that it wasn't a good idea to ask Shouto, especially a question of that magnitude. Because when it came to brutal honesty, he pulled none of his punches. And she wasn't sure if she could handle the truth anymore.

But then again, it wouldn't be so bad to have confirmation from a third party. She's gone through so much hurt, a little more might not even impact her anymore.

"Why do you ask?"

(Y/n) shrugged as she mindlessly double tapped on the screen of her phone, lighting it up then double tapped it again to let it sleep.

"Maybe because people have been having a field day pointing that out a lot lately," she admitted quietly.

Shouto regarded her words for a beat before answering, "No. I don't."

(Y/n) turned to him, surprise in her eyes despite the dull expression. That was unexpected.

"Maybe to the concerned parties, you are," he paused for a bit before adding. He glanced up to the ceiling. "What I know is, you're painfully average. You're practically the embodiment of the word. You're neither interesting nor uninteresting. Just another face in the crowd."

(Y/n) set her lips in a sour line. That was expected.

"Wow," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Thanks a bunch."

Shouto gave her obstinate look. "You're also imperfect."

"Okay, I get it. I'm an extra," she rolled her eyes, instantly regretting why she even asked him in the first place. Dropping her phone on her lap, she sighed and wrapped her arms around herself as she looked down to the side with a sullen expression. "You don't have to rub it in."

"You expect a lot but give little," he unapologetically continued, making (Y/n) clench her jaw. "You prefer to avoid your problems instead of addressing them head on, you don't stand up for yourself much often than you should, you choose to go with flow instead of taking charge of your life and frankly, you have a terrible sense of humor," (Y/n)'s eye twitched and she dug her nails into her arms. She had half a mind to punch him. "But when I add all that to your positive attributes, it makes you perfectly imperfect. And frankly, I wouldn't have you any other way."

The girl froze. She slowly turned to him with a perplexed look on her face. Shouto met her gaze with unwavering conviction. The girl's skeptical eyes roamed all over his face, trying to sense even the tiniest hint of a lie.

On sensing none, she scoffed. She still wasn't able to read him but didn't make a point of letting him know that. "You certainly have a way with words, don't you?"

Shouto blinked. "Did I say something wrong?"

The corner of her lips tugged up and she looked down at her lap. She unwrapped her arms from around herself and scooped up her phone in her hands. She brushed her thumb across the smudgy screen and shook her head, the smile still on her lips.

"Surprisingly, no."

A few seconds of silence followed after. Then:

"There, there."

(Y/n) momentarily tensed, her eyes snapping up when a sudden weight was placed on her head. She pinched her eyebrows in confusion. It didn't take her long to realize that Shouto was patting her head.

She turned to shoot him a weird look. "What are you doing?"

The boy stopped patting her head but didn't retract his hand. "Don't girls like that? I thought pats meant assurance and comfort."

(Y/n)'s nose crinkled and she leaned away from his touch, causing him to pull his hand back. She straightened up and arched an inquisitive brow at him. "What have you been reading lately? Understanding Girls 101?"

Shouto tilted his head to the side. "Why?"

"First, the ice cream," she said, counting the points down with her fingers. "Then the nice words. Now the head pats. Why are being so nice to me all of a sudden?" she gave him a once over. "A week ago, you wouldn't even give me the time of day unless we were hanging out with Izuku."

The boy went silent, his eyes trailing off to a place somewhere over her shoulder. His face was set in a contemplative expression. His sudden silence almost made (Y/n) want to dismiss her question, but he turned back at her before she could.

"Does it make you uncomfortable?" he asked as he stared brazenly into her eyes, his voice dripping with edge.

"Uh...no," she said, her voice wavering a bit from the intensity behind his stare. She cleared her throat and broke off the eye contact. "Weirded out? A little. Uncomfortable? Not really."

Shouto nodded to himself and looked away from her. (Y/n) drummed her fingers on her lap as she looked around the staircase. She suddenly had no idea what to say to him.

The bell sound loudly tolled and a chill crept down (Y/n)'s back. To the other students, the bell signified the end of lunch and the start of class. To (Y/n) however, it meant going back to class and facing Satori.

"Ah shit," throwing her head back, she let out a mix of a whine and a groan and squeezed her eyes shut. "I thought fifteen minutes would be longer than that..."

The (h/c)-haired female lowered her head and let out a harsh breath. She stared at the empty distance in front of her with gloomy eyes. She wished that she wouldn't have to go back to class and face Satori again.

If only there was an escape route...

Wait a minute. She suddenly paused before her eyebrows snapped together, a vertical wrinkle forming between them. Her lips pursed slightly.

Oh damn, her mouth pulled down into a frown and her eyes narrowed. Todoroki was right...I do prefer to avoid my problems instead of facing them...damn...how much has this boy got me figured out?

"Don't brood."

Shouto's rich voice pulled (Y/n) out of her thoughts and she turned to the boy beside her.

"I don't brood," she said defensively, her tone rising.

"Yes, you do," he countered while placing a firm hand on her head. "That's the face you make when you're brooding."

(Y/n) pointedly stared him down before ridding her face completely of expressions.

The corner of Shouto's mouth lifted at her poor effort of copying his signature look. "Cute pout."

"Ugh," (Y/n)'s momentary demeanor shattered and a chuckle slipped past her lips as she playfully shoved him to the side. "Stop it."

Shouto huffed out a quiet laugh, his small smile never fading away. His mismatched eyes remained focused on her, studying her with concern. She looked alright at that moment. She was smiling at that moment. But that was only a fool would assume that she was completely okay.

"So," he carefully began. Their eyes briefly met. "Are you okay now?"

(Y/n) shrugged and she returned her attention to her phone as she twirled it around in her hands. Her smile slowly faded as she recalled the previous happenings. She took in a long breath and loudly exhaled. She then shook her head.

"Not really..."

"Hmm..."

A beat of silence passed between them as both teenagers retreated to their respective thoughts. The distant sound of rushing footsteps and quiet laughter echoing through the hall interrupted the silence. The giggles and footsteps got louder as they drew closer to them. Once they were close enough, (Y/n) peeked over her shoulder to see a girl and a boy run past them, hand in hand, while they tried to shush each other to no avail.

Nostalgia and sadness clouded (Y/n)'s features and her heart nearly fell to her gut. She still couldn't believe there was a time she was once imagined both her and Katsuki like that...

Oh (Y/n)...she turned away with a scoff. You dumb horse.

Remembering her companion sitting beside her, she stopped twirling her phone around and pursed her lips. She glanced at the side of Shouto's head. He was still silent while staring into the distance, his usual aloof expression on his face. Her eyes narrowed slightly. Yeap. She still couldn't tell what he was thinking.

The girl pressed her lips together, her eyes flickering to the side then back to him. She couldn't deny the fact that she felt a little better after talking to him, even though he hadn't done anything to help with the dilemma she was facing. It was the second time he had attempted to do so, albeit having no good reason to do so. It was a really nice gesture if you took his character into account.

"Todoroki."

Said male turned his head to look at, curiosity gleaming in his eyes. "What is it?"

"Thanks..." she muttered without looking at him. "For cheering me up..."

"No problem."

A ghost of a smile appeared on (Y/n)'s face as she stared at her phone's screen, her eyes unseeing and her thoughts in a far off place.

She felt the male beside her shift and she raised her head to see him stand up. He turned around and extended his hand out to her. (Y/n) stared at the open palm with her eyebrows drawn together.

"Are you ready to go?" Shouto asked, making her look up to him. His eyes were filled with a soft emotion, one (Y/n) could not decipher but somehow made her feel assured that things will be okay someday.

(Y/n)'s eyes fell back on his hand. She hesitated for a bit before blowing out her cheeks, shoving all the pessimistic thoughts to the back of her mind for the time being. She then let out a tiny chuckle.

"No," she took his hand. "But that doesn't count as a valid answer, does it?"

"No," Shouto said with a small smile as he lifted her up to her feet. "It doesn't."

***

Bonus:

As they walked back to class in comfortable shared silence, something popped into (Y/n)'s mind. Her eyes widened slightly and she quickly fished out her phone from her pocket. She tapped on the screen twice.

Noticing this, Shouto spared a curious glance at her.

"Something wrong?"

"Huh?" (Y/n) looked up from her phone to him before shaking her head and focusing back on her phone. "Nothing's wrong."

The boy simply hummed in compliance and paid no more mind to what she was doing. When (Y/n) was finally done, a satisfied smile played on her lips as she returned her phone back into her pocket.

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