ZERO / GRAVITY

“It’s a date then,” A teasing tone tints his voice as he lifts up from his spot. The phone slips its way back into his back pocket. He literally can’t exist without it, it’s beyond him how Uraraka could lose hers and be calm about it for longer than 5 minutes. Then again, he also relies pretty heavily on his phone charger for when he’s low on energy, the device is pretty quick to follow if he has that.

“The old lady who runs the place is really nice, I’m sure she can tell us whatever we need to know.”

He twists around for a moment, realizing he’s completely ready to go–bag and all–while she probably isn’t at all. He did just dump the idea on her after all… Whoops.

“I’ll wait outside for you to get your stuff.”

“ a date ? ” she asks, a little shocked, but that soon is replaced by a laugh and a light scoff, “ more like a field trip. ” she retorts back at the teasing, jovial and happy to joke along as they right themselves up into standing. 

“ oh perfect ! ” she responds before watching the boy grab his bag, she’s reminded that she’s very much unprepared for this impromptu trip out. but before she can raise that suggestion -- she finds that denki’s probably had the same idea, and has in fact beaten her to the punch. 

ah. that was the wrong thing to say, wasn’t it? he’s been trying to get better about not accidentally being an asshole, but sometimes it just — sort of happens. he says things that he thinks are polite (or, at the very least, not actively rude) and ends up saying things that hurt people. he doesn’t want to do that; hurting people is, in fact, the last thing he wants to do. so he shakes his head to answer her question and points at the list in her hand. 

“ do you want me to help you go over them again? “

she’s almost worried her own words were a little -- curt in response to todoroki’s words; and sometimes she just can’t help that attitude -- and normally she wasn’t one to apologise for it, nor feel bad, but she needs to remind herself at times that not all of the people around her are super used to it -- so she reminds herself to soften, glancing back over as she hears his words -- blinking a little at the offer.

previously | @gravitist

The sunny smile might have been enough to fool Shoto, even with the stumbling of Uraraka’s words, but her voice is markedly less cheery than he usually hears it. On top of his observations throughout the day — how Uraraka would try to concentrate in class but sometimes zone out, how she would look like she was ruminating on something while the rest of them chatted during lunch and their breaks in class (just MIdoriya and Iida actually, he didn’t talk much, but the point still stands) — he can tell something is off with her.

Usually he doesn’t choose to pry; usually he prefers to allow people to come to him about their troubles; but Shoto realizes that many of the kids in his class are rather reluctant to voice their concerns, all of the mind that it’s better to keep to themselves so they don’t bring each other down. But it’s not good to bottle things up, he has personal experience backing that life lesson, and being a hero is sometimes about offering help even when it’s not asked for.

Not to say he thinks he’s a hero saving Uraraka… but all the same: he’d like to help if he can.

“…You seem quiet today,” he remarks, voice lowered so Midoriya and Iida nearby don’t hear. He’s not sure if they have noticed Uraraka’s change in mood, but if she’s trying to hide it then it’s better to keep the space as comfortable as possible and avoid bringing extra attention to them. “I’m not very good at talking, but I can listen. If you want.” Belatedly he realizes he hasn’t conversed much with Uraraka at all, despite being part of their friend group. If possible, he’d like to remedy that.

  she’s paused in surprise, a falter as her hand was reaching up to eat. she almost lost her grip on it before she managed to rescue it, taking a big bite to try and save face. perhaps it was also to stall a little bit, because she was honestly a little...panicked? not quite the right word (a little extreme ) -- but still, she didn’t think anyone would really notice -- iida and deku certainly hadn’t, and out of their little lunch group they were the ones she was probably closest to.

so when todoroki picked up on it, she was honestly a little surprised. she supposed, maybe, that was because he was quieter than the others ; took more notice. she’s not sure, but she finds herself stuttering a little, trying to force out a quiet laugh to dismiss his worries, try to save face and seem a little more like herself. 

“ a-ah, am i ? i never noticed. ” she spoke, but she kept her voice low -- not wanting to pull iida and deku’s attention to them, because then it would be even harder. but she feels a little bad, after that -- her eyes dropping to the lunchbox sitting in her lap. because he sounds genuinely worried, and seems like he wants to help, and it hurts to think she’s lying to a friend who’s reaching out -- even when she’s only holding it back for the sake of them; she doesn’t want her stress and worries to be one more thing on their backs -- when she’s sure they already have so many. 

but she finds herself biting her lip, and holding her tongue, as she goes to thank him, but decline. finds something in herself that’s pushing her to talk to someone -- because maybe that’s what she needs, someone to listen and take a little weight off her shoulders. she’s been on the other side of that so many times ; perhaps it was her turn to take the invitation she’s usually giving.

He leans over the back of the couch in the common rooms in order to be on speaking level with the girl,“Don’t worry ‘bout it. I figured it floated away or something, so it’s no biggie.”

With a quick flip of the wrist, Denki pulls his phone from his back pocket and rests it before him, scrolling through his notes app to look at their selection of books to report on.

“I think it’s due next week, but don’t quote me on that– Oh, this one looks interesting…” A hum. He quickly clicks through google searches and summaries before finishing his detour form the conversation.

“Yeah, yeah, though! Better to go shopping with friends than alone, I always say. There’s a bookstore within walking distance from here that I like. We can go there.”

“ thanks.” she responds, relief flooding her voice as she looks over towards the electric boy. she perches her chin on the edge of the couch as she watches denki text and navigate his phone with quick little taps, glimpsing at the screen and the list of books they’d been given to choose from. “ next week seems about right -- though i can probably check with someone later just to make sure.” she thinks, maybe iida or momo would know for sure, maybe she’d ask one of them later.

i just gotta let my dyslexia tell me that that 3 am is actually a 3 pm… all of my time problems are solved!