you clearly spoke internally too soon. because you watched as sae's once blank expression soured into one of distaste, his nose scrunching up slightly.

great. he definitely hates me...

"i'm the uh, club president here!" you blurted to try and change the course of whatever he was thinking, "are you.. hear to play chess?", you smiled a little giddy at the thought of new members, especially one as attractive as itoshi sae.

though the longer you looked at his face, the more your hopefulness faded.

who am i kidding? of course he's not here to play chess.

...

unless..?

"i'm looking for someone. they said they go to this club" he said in a monotonous voice, crushing any hopes you had going on in your head. you didn't even attempt to mask the disappointment on your face.

"looking for someone?" you repeated still sulking, raising a brow, "who are you looking for-"

you tensed immediately cutting yourself off. remembering the texts you had with him. the way you had annoyed him, the information you had stupidly dropped...

wait a second.. he's ACTUALLY hunting me down??

your mouth nearly dropped in shock but you covered it up with a few coughs. you didn't even have time to think, panicking once you saw his sharp eyes scanning upon the pitiful number of people in the room and then straight at you.

i need to say something! quick!

"they might not be here yet!" you said quickly, "there are usually more people here, it's just.. no one really decided to show up today.." you lied. on a good day maybe five or six people showed up.

he didn't say anything.

"do you know anything about this particular person..?" you said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"they're a second year." he said plainly

i told him i was a second year? oh lord-

"oh a second year? haha.. we have A LOT of those round here..." you said playing it cool.

"we do?" you heard a quiet voice whisper in the background.

NOW'S NOT THE TIME ITADORI.

you cleared your throat awkwardly, "a-anyway, you might as well wait here. there's a chance they might turn up late.. most people do that."

"do they..?" you heard yet another voice mutter.

MIDORIYA!

you shot a quick sharp look over your shoulder as itadori and midoriya burst unto a quiet fit of giggles. turning back to face the man of your dreams, you put on an awkward smile.

"you can play chess while you wait?" you said, gesturing to the table you were about to play yourself on from where the two of you still stood by the door.

"it's um.. really fun.." you added on trailing off, wincing at how pathetic and sad you sounded.

you honestly felt a tad bit bad lying to him. being the person he was looking for, it meant that realistically he wasn't really waiting for the person he was looking for to walk through.

then you dwelled on the fact that the question you were asking him. was actually quite pathetic, or at least it made you feel so. especially with the deafening silencing, making you want to shrink back and hide under one of the tables.

heck rin, yoichi and meguru won't even play chess with me... what makes me think itoshi sae will??

you were expecting him to walk out the door any second, maybe with a cold glare as he left the room (giving you a reason to cry yourself to sleep tonight). what you WEREN'T expecting was him to speak up-

"fine."

——————————

and that's how you ended up sitting across from the itoshi sae with a chess board between you two.

don't stress out y/n... you're only playing chess with your husband-to-be. no biggie, no biggie at all...

izuku and itadori had clearly read the room, opting for quiet whispers rather than their usual chattiness whilst they played each other.

meanwhile you shifted awkwardly in your seat, suddenly interested in the material of your skirt as the man sat across you stared down the pieces on the board on the table.

he was white and you were black, meaning he would be making the first move. but judging from the lack of movement on his part, you quickly realised he probably didn't know how to play.

so you looked up.

"um.. do you know how to play-"

he moved one of his centre pawns forward.

"oh." you said. looking down at the board. you were definitely not expecting that.

he knows how to play chess? i think i just fell in love all over again

you had to clear your throat.

"i didn't think football players would know how to play chess if i'm being honest, haha..." you said, moving on of your own pawns forward.

the game started to flow and you could tell with the moves he was playing that he wasn't exactly a beginner. your eyebrows furrowed slightly.

do i go easy on him then..?

you wondered. you'd probably be able to win. despite not having anyone to play for a couple of weeks due to the lack of attendance, you still tried your best to play random strangers online on chess.com. though...

if i beat him.. that'll give him another reason to hate me probably..

you then chuckle to yourself.

but if i beat him, i can assert dominance... hehehe..

as the game carried on silently. a few pieces were exchanged but your mind couldn't help but be distracted, trying to think of things to say, the silence was killing you.

i might never get a chance to speak with him like this, yolo i guess..

after a short while of mental conflict, you eventually spoke up nervously.

"my name's l/n, by the way. y/n l/n."

for the first time since he sat down, his eyes locked with yours. a bored expression on his face, unnerving. you gulped, but held eye contact nonetheless.

he didn't reply, and instead moved his next piece.

ok. i just got aired.

you were entering the midgame, it was around some point during that time that you could hear the defeated noises of itadori losing again. you didn't have to look to know that they were about to play each other for the fifth time.

it was actually a bit frustrating that you weren't winning by as much as you thought you would be in your game against sae, and you showed it with the frown on your features. perhaps you had actually gotten a bit rusty.

in actual fact, it was hard to pay attention to chess in front of you when you had a drop dead gorgeous man in front of you as well. one that seemed to dislike making conversation with you.

which was fine, you'd keep trying.

"how bout we make a bet? you know, to keep things interesting," you said trying to play it cool, your bishop taking his knight.

he looked up at you again. and you really couldn't tell what he was thinking, but you assumed he was intrigued. so you continued.

"if i win, i get your number." you grinned, a new found boldness to win emerging inside of you. sae looked as if ,not that you could see since you were smiling with your eyes closed. well you were until a split second later when you froze and realisation washed over you

wait a second... i already HAVE his number. if i win, WAIT-

"ACTUALLY... i don't want your number, now that i think about it.." you laughed awkwardly, moving one of your pieces without much thought behind it.

"good. i wasn't going to give it to you anyway." he said bluntly, glaring at you ever so slightly. you sighed quietly in relief.

right. that was way too close.. me and my stupid mouth.

"fine. if i win then.. can i get your autograph?" you asked. after all, according to yoichi, sae was quite popular in the football world. you could already picture the autograph pinned on your wall back home in your room.

he said nothing.

well. he didn't say no.

a few more moves were taken.

"and if you lose?" he said, you were mildly surprised he held up the conversation. a small smile made its way to your face at the thought.

'hahaha... me? lose to you?'

is what you wanted to say, but you decided after some thought that that wouldn't end up well for you. besides-

"check." he said, moving his queen forward, finding an opening that you were unaware of.

you frowned, you were hoping to get the first check yourself. having no choice but to move your king along a square, you did just that.

"um.. well if i lose. i guess i can help you find that person you're looking for." you offered, "i'm also a second year."

and then i'd get to spend more time with him.. without him knowing i'm the person he's looking for! it's a win win for me!

wait.

your mouth then formed a tight straight line as you realised you had just dropped the fact that you were a second year. you slowly looked down to avoid eye contact.

you'd like to think that sae didn't take note of the way you suddenly went quiet. but with your eyes glued down at the chess board, you failed to notice the way his eyes, narrowed, lingered on you for a second longer before too looking down at the table.

——————————

it wasn't until around fifteen minutes later when the endgame arrived. the two of you were down to your last pieces.

at that point you weren't really focused on the game, not anymore at least.

you found yourself prolonging the quick glances you were giving sae earlier, longing stares instead were sent his way.

clearly you were too busy checking him out, because before you knew it...

"checkmate."

you blinked. his deep voice breaking you out of your trance as you casted your eyes away from his and down at the board in front of you.

"eh?"

surely enough, he had used his rook and queen and cornered you in checkmate.

you were completely stunned, looking down in disbelief and widened eyes.

two overdramatic gasps could be heard in the background, accompanied with some not so discreet whispers.

"no way..."

"he beat l/n..?"

"but l/n never loses!"

you ignored them, of course. when you finally found your voice-

"I LOST!?"

prev | masterlist | next

SUMMARY: in which 2nd-year y/n l/n one day turns up at their high school and falls heads over heels with a certain 3rd-year, one who has a strict ‘no-dating’ policy.

the two in question were first year boys, and they attended club more or less every day. so you weren't only familiar with them, but also grateful.

most other people were on and off, deciding to show up whether or not they felt like it (which ended up being rarely).

your lonely thoughts were abruptly cut off as your head turned to the middle of the room at the sound of a chair screeching from being pushed back.

"checkmate already?! argh!!" itadori shouted as he stood up all of a sudden, his hands on his head. the green haired boy sat across him let out a small laugh.

"you got more moves in this time at least," said midoriya with a smile, not at all condescending.

“let’s go again!” itadori exclaimed, scrambling to get the pieces back to their original positions, midoriya soon helping him.

another inevitable sigh escaped your lips as you looked down at your own board, your pieces still motionless.

at least they're having fun...

"are you alright, (l/n)?" midoriya spoke up, breaking you out of your trance.

you whipped your head to face him blinked, "hm? oh yeah, i'm fine."

"you seem a bit lonely," itadori frowned, "you can play with us if you'd like!"

three people playing chess..?

you chuckled at his words, just as you were about to politely decline he carried on.

"hm.. maybe if we advertised the club, more people would come!" he said, his hand on his chin in thought.

midoriya soon joined in, his eyes lighting up, "yeah! we could make a poster or something?"

you watched with mildly taken aback as two gushed on and on about different ways for the chess club to gain popularity. you had to admit, your heart melted a little at the sight.

these first years are such angels... rin could learn a thing or two from them!

smiling nonetheless, you go waved your hand dismissively at the two of them.

"nah, don't worry about it, kids. i'll sort it out." you said, your habit of babying the younger years seeping into your words.

they both paused in their ideas before giving you a smile that looked a tad too sympathetic for your liking. they didn't say anything else, quietly setting their pieces back to their original positions.

looking back at your pieces, you soon realised that playing yourself couldn't hurt (this wouldn't be the first time).

you got up from your chair to go round and start the game with yourself. you were sitting on the side with the black pieces, and the player with white pieces always starts first in chess.

however just as you were pulling the chair back to take a seat-

GRUMBLE

pausing in your movements, your head turned to face the pair who were both already starting they're next game. you wondered who's tummy had business rumbling so loudly, and judging from the guilty expression...

"was that from you, itadori?" you asked, turning to fully face him with a teasing grin.

he merely scratched the back of his neck and laughed sheepishly, midoriya let out a small giggle.

you joined in on the laughter, pushing the chair back in, "i've got a few snacks in my locker," you said, "i'll go get them."

"r-really?! thank you (l/n)!" itadori exclaimed, watching as you made your way to the door of the classroom, your hand over the handle.

"yeah, no problem. you guys stay in charge while I'm gone, though i won't be long, my locker is just down the corrido- oof!"

from walking forward you had collided into someone's chest, someone who had clearly been standing outside the door. the impact shook you slightly, sending you stumbling back a step or two.

but before you even looked up to acknowledge who it was, you looked down with a hand held to your head.

if i've bumped into someone in front of this room, that means...

"a new member! finally! welcome-" you eyes lit up at the thought as you looked up to greet the newcomer. only... your excited expression dropped immediately once your eyes trailed upwards and you saw just who you were facing.

the same features you had silently admired only yesterday stood in front of you. the one's that only now you had realised had an uncanny resemblance to rin's, the person who's existence alone had your heart leaping out of your chest.

your mouth was open, but no words were able to form.

because just why the hell was itoshi sae of all people here!?

prev | masterlist | next

SUMMARY: in which 2nd-year y/n l/n one day turns up at their high school and falls heads over heels with a certain 3rd-year, one who has a strict ‘no-dating’ policy.