01 | CRUSH.
The lecture hall was alive with the sounds of seats creaking, the din of voices chattering mindlessly about whatever topic had come to their head, and in the back corner of the large room sat an ominously silent figure observing it all.
Eyes contrastingly pretty for his intimidating demeanor swept over the room repeatedly as though searching for something, before he seemed not to find it and instead glanced down at his hands, idly twisting and turning the few rings that adorned his long fingers.
He let out a quiet sigh, sinking further into his seat and adjusting the hood over his head. Completely unbeknownst to him was the fact that his attempts to make himself as invisible as possible only drew more attention to him.
After all, this was the Shouto Todoroki. The alpha that everyone knew of but hardly anyone actually knew. He was said to kind of just... appear in classes and then disappear outside of them. He sat wordlessly in the back of classes, always, a looming presence that was made all the more unnerving by his persistent silence.
Most people didn’t know what his voice sounded like. Hell, a good number of people didn’t even know what he looked like.
Hence, there was an impressive number of rumors and assumptions that followed the student. The general consensus was that Shouto was not someone to be messed with, that he was scary and no good would come out of trying to pry any information from his perpetually sealed lips.
Beyond that, though, the colorful imaginations of university students had filled in their own images of who Shouto was. There were rumors that seemed completely ridiculous, rumors that scared people off ever even thinking about interacting with him, and rumors that made him sound downright mean.
Hence, there was almost a barrier around the alpha, one that prevented people from sitting anywhere near him in the class aside from the very small number of people that actually knew him.
That left him to pore over the book he held in his large hands, silent and seemingly brooding as locks of hair spilled from his hoodie and around the edges of his book.
He was so immersed in his reading that it was easy for one of the two brave souls that had made him her acquaintance to approach him, having skipped up to where the alpha sat all the way in the back of the lecture hall.
The baby-faced brunette was tailed by a kind-eyed, tall alpha with a curly green undercut and a seemingly permanent sheepish expression on his face. No, they didn’t seem at all to be the type that would associate with shady people, so that should have at least lessened the idea that Shouto was some scary-ass guy.
Nope. It only created rumors that Ochako and Izuku were not as innocent as they seemed, because UA students loved drama more than anything else.
Ochako padded up the final row of seats leading up to the quiet male engaged in his book, a small mischievous smirk quirking her lips as she did, turning to look and Izuku and pressing a finger over her lips to quiet him. The alpha only rolled his eyes at Ochako’s childish playfulness, shoving his hands into the pockets of his joggers.
“Hey, Sho!” She abruptly whisper-yelled, voice cheery as she simultaneously slapped her hand down on the desktop right next in front of the alpha.
Shouto, of course, nearly startled out of his skin as he jerked up with wide eyes, the book slipping from his hands as he lost his page. He looked up at Ochako with a startled expression that soon turned into a quiet pout, slouching back into his seat and giving the pair a vaguely displeased look.
“You’re mean,” he complained, though it went unheeded as Ochako cackled and crawled over him unabashedly to sit to the right of him, Izuku simply nudging him aside to sit on his left.
“I’m not; you love me,” Ochako corrected confidently, hardly paying any mind to Shouto’s mildly perturbed expression.
“Wow, so confident,” Izuku chuckled lowly, only to receive a playful glare and the sweater Ochako had been taking off tossed at his face, Shouto barely managing to duck out of the way.
“Hush, I didn’t do you the honor of being your friend with you for you to sass me.” Ochako huffed, turning up her nose with a dignified huff that only made the two alphas give her blank expressions.
“If I remember correctly, wasn’t it you that asked me to be your friend because you thought the other omegas were too scary—”
"Anyway, Sho, whatcha reading?” Ochako asked curiously, leaning over to see the book Shoto was now trying to hide—a paperback with flowery cover art that was almost comically small and contrasting to Shouto’s masculine hand, which held it with ease.
“It’s nothing,” he huffed, moving to tuck the book away into his bag, and Ochako gave him a bemused look.
“Let me see,” Izuku mumbled absently, and Shouto blanched as the green-haired male caught him by surprise and easily plucked the book from his fingers.
Both watched him—Ochako in curiosity and Shouto in mild embarrassment, as he read the cover of the book, one green eyebrow steadily raising in slight amusement.
“The Midnight Bride,” Izuku read blankly, giving Shouto a look of unimpressed incredulity as the other alpha huffed and took the book from him.
“It’s not that bad.”
Ochako snorted, leaning over to see the cover. Of course, the cover didn’t do much to back Shouto’s claim, being the same as every old romance novel cover with roses adorning the page, accenting a dramatic picture of the sort of man that would never exist in real life and a woman with flowing hair and a dreamy expression, in a dress she’d never wear in the actual book.
“Sho, you have got to stop reading these crappy romance novels. They’re gonna turn your brain to mush,” Ochako lectured, though she seemed more amused by it than anything else.
Even after being friends with Shouto for years, the novelty of their university’s resident mysterious, brooding alphaᵀᴹ secretly being an old romance novel junkie who was nothing like the rumors never wore off.
“They won’t,” Shouto insisted, tucking the book away. A faint pink hue stubbornly clung to his cheeks even as he tried to defend the honor of his novel choice, flustered at Ochako’s teasing.
Ochako opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by the door abruptly swinging open and a flurry of their professor—disheveled as though he’d literally fallen out of bed and physically rolled all the way to the lecture hall—bustled in toward his desk, slamming down a messy stack of papers.
“Alright, I graded your shitty papers,” the professor announced, and Shouto faintly heard a snort to his right at this as the black-haired man grumbled under his breath about something or another.
Again the door opened, and Professor Aizawa’s tired eyes averted over to the door where in walked a student that was just barely on time. Shouto, at first uninterested, perked up at the familiar sight of spiky blond hair, unable to hide his sudden intrigue.
Naturally, this only made Ochako and Izuku snicker on either side of him.
“Oh, Katsuki. Perfect timing. Hand these out for me.” From all the way in the back of the room, it was unclear what Katsuki’s response was, but from his body language and a general knowledge of the omega’s personality, one could only assume that he gave an annoyed grunt before snatching up the papers to comply with the professor’s request anyway.
“Perfect. Anyway, today’s lesson... Where the hell did the file go?” The man muttered under his breath, tired-looking eyes scanning over his laptop screen in confused irritation. Shouto averted his eyes from their professor, instead cutting his gaze over to the blond omega currently handing out essays.
His pale hair was slightly messier than usual and his lips downturned into a frown that seemed to be permanently etched into his soft features. A black oversized hoodie swallowed his lithe frame and his gray sweats clung loosely to his shapely legs.
“Would you stop staring?” Ochako hissed quietly, pulling Shouto out of his reverie when her sharp elbow jabbed him in the side. He frowned at her in annoyance, rubbing at the sore spot left behind.
“Quit pouting at me.” Ochako rolled her eyes, clearly unbothered as she casually rested her chin on her palm.
The trio was distracted by an irritated voice—their current topic of focus’ voice, in fact—addressing one of their classmates.
“Hah?” Katsuki was stopped in front of the seat of none other than Eijirou Kirishima, an excessively upbeat alpha with blindingly red hair that was at the moment pushed away from his face with a black headband. “No, I’m busy.”
Shouto watched with perhaps too much investment as Eijirou laughed in response to Katsuki’s deadpan refusal of whatever he’d requested, his eyes following the broad hand that went and touched Katsuki’s arm as though to placate him.
“I know you’re not, Kat. Just think about it, okay?” Katsuki’s only response to Eijirou’s pleading words and eyes was a quiet tch, glancing at the hand placed on his arm but seeming only mildly perturbed by it, not enough to push his hand away.
“’M not thinking about shit,” he refused gruffly before shoving Eijirou’s paper at him. The redhead only laughed again.
“They’re awfully close, aren’t they?” Ochako mumbled under her breath, her tone holding slight mirth and mischief at the idea of stirring up drama, which Izuku seemed to sense.
“Cut that out. You’re perfectly aware that they’re just friends; you just like to start problems on purpose.” Shouto remained silent, at first glance uninterested as he returned to idly messing with the rings on his fingers, but he listened intently to every word and felt mild relief at what Izuku said.
“Yeah, for now. Sho, I think you should—”
“Eh? Kat, we’ve gone to school with the same people for years now and you mean to tell me you still don’t know all the people in our year?” Again, the three glanced up to find an exasperated yellow-haired male staring at Katsuki, who looked at a paper as though it was written in a foreign language.
“Bitch, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. Didn’t realize I needed you to paraphrase it for me,” he replied pridefully, clearly unbothered by what Denki found to be a grave issue.
The other omega only sighed, pulling the stack of papers in Katsuki’s arms so it was closer to himself. “Let me help you, then. Let’s see—”
“Anyway,” Ochako chirped, clasping her hands together. “Like I was saying—”
“Oh, Shouto? He’s the one in the back of the class, I think. Doesn’t he hang out with Izuku?”
“You’re asking me? If you don’t know, why the hell would I?” As Shouto stood to simply go retrieve the paper himself despite the nerves bubbling in his chest, Denki’s head tilted in confusion at Katsuki’s words.
“Eh? I thought Izu was your friend though?” Katsuki’s face scrunched in disapproval.
“You throw that word around too lightly. Anyway—” The omega caught Shouto off-guard when he turned around, nearly managing to run into him if not for the way he abruptly stopped short at the tall male that had suddenly materialized before him.
“Shit!” he hissed quietly, not unlike a frightened kitten as he narrowed his red eyes, a delicate hand pressed to his chest as though he was worried his heart would beat away. “Don’t just sneak up on me all silently! Fucking warn a guy, wouldya?!” He huffed, steam practically puffing out of his ears as he shoved the papers to Shouto’s chest. Maybe Shouto was just too observant, but he noticed that Katsuki’s face was tinted pink, likely flustered from having been startled.
He’s so cute.
In lieu of voicing those thoughts, he instead muttered a quiet apology, immediately returning to his seat before Katsuki could reply. He silently slid into his seat, ignoring the high grade at the top of the paper he’d just received in favor of sinking into his seat. He pressed his hands to his face, cheeks practically burning as a small, barely-there smile twitched onto his lips.
He talked to me...
Izuku and Ochako looked at each other, then at Shouto who was effectively swooning over the split-second encounter, and then back at each other, in amused disbelief, the same thought on their minds.
He’s hopeless...
Despite all the rumors that surrounded Shouto, none of them entailed the alpha having a hopeless crush on Katsuki Bakugou.
