Work Text:
Shoji was a straight man.
He had been that way all through elementary school. He hadn't… actually dated anyone, but! He was sure.
Even though he never really liked talking with the other boys his age about his crushes… that he never had. Even though… no one got close to him because of his quirk, and he had very little physical interaction up until he came to UA.
He was straight, and that was that.
Shoji hadn't put much thought into exploring his sexuality, especially not after he got into UA because, wow, he could become a hero! He was at a school for heroes and that alone was enough to take up his whole focus.
That was until , strangely enough, you showed up.
A student from the states with really terrible Japanese and an even more terrible sense of direction.
You were almost always getting lost. In the dorms, on campus, wherever. Didn't matter. Shoji’s classmates would joke with you about it and you'd just kind of bashfully laugh it off.
It wasn't until he'd accidentally walked in on you changing in the locker room that things changed. It was after hero training, he was tired, and he really wanted some of that good bread that they had back in the dormitory’s kitchen. Shoji slid a hand along the door to the locker room, pushing it open and slinging his towel over his shoulder. There was a yelp, and his eyes flicked up, only to meet yours .
“Ah! I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to walk in on you.” Shoji apologized, bending at the waist.
You flushed, your whole face going beat red. “I-It's okay!” You squeaked.
Shoji took notice of just how well the color helped your freckles peak out along your skin, and then immediately wondered why he was thinking that.
No shame in admiring someone else's beauty, right?
Wait… beauty?
Shoji himself flushed, averting his eyes and instead shuffling over to his own locker to grab his duffle bag.
When he turned around, you were shoving yourself into… a binder?
Shoji’s eyes lit up in both recognition and surprise.
He hadn't ever met anyone who was transgender, but he had been exposed to the idea at a rather early age. Surprise flit through him, you passed so well! He was kind of excited to help his classmate feel welcome and offer whatever support he could!
“Ah…” You stopped your fumbling for a moment, embarrassed and feeling a pair of eyes on you. “Mm.. S-shoji? Was it?”
The multi-armed man straightened a little at hearing his name. “Yes.”
You seemed embarrassed, and he noticed your ears going a little red. Something warm flooded his chest, nearly making him jolt in surprise.
“Could you… help me out? I'm stuck.”
“Oh, uh.” Your voice shocked him out of his stupor, and he stepped a little closer. “What do I do..?”
“Can you just pull the back down for me? Please? It's starting to chafe.”
“Ah!” With a goal in mind, and the urgency of not wanting you to wait any longer alas he inadvertently caused more pain to you, Shoji used his two lowest hands to unroll the lip of your binder that was up around your shoulder blades. This of course, meant that his knuckles and fingers brushed against the skin of your back.
Shoji flushed a little, but drew his arms back and you shuffled the hefty material down over your back and front, adjusting your chest and the straps before slipping your shirt on.
“That feels so much better.” You sighed, rolling your shoulders a little. Shoji stepped back slightly, realizing just how close he was to you. “Thank you, Shoji!”
The smile you gave him made his breath hitch, heart stuttering in his chest. “Ah, a-anything for a fellow classmate.”
The encounter stuck with him.
After that he began to see you everywhere . On the off chance you spotted him back, you would always offer him a warm smile and a wave. When Shoji managed to get his brain moving again, he'd offer a little wave back, which always seemed to make your smile that much brighter.
He found himself doing things he had never done before, like going out of his way to see you during the day or make you smile.
You seemed to catch on (to Shoji’s minor terror) and approached him one day. “Would you want to eat lunch together?”
Shoji paused, and it was almost like you could see the gears in his head turning. “That sounds wonderful.” He stuttered over your name, cursing himself at his lack of social skills. You simply smiled, taking one of his hands (!!) and gently pulling him along behind you.
It continued that way for a while. The two of you would meet up after class, then go to lunch together, sometimes studying for an upcoming test or comparing homework answers as you ate.
One day, you popped the question he had been fearing. “So Shoji,” he dimly took notice at how well your pronunciation had improved over the few months the two of you had been hanging out, “forgive me if I'm overstepping, but why the mask?”
Shoji lowered his head a little. You weren't talking loudly (thank gods ), but he couldn't help but feel shame (and a little self loathing if he's being honest) creep up on him. “I…”
You waited, patient. “You don't have to answer if you don't want to! There's no pressure.” Then you flashed him a warm smile, and with that he made his decision.
Keeping his head low, he glanced around the room. Everyone was minding their own business, eating food and chattering away. Feeling reassured, Shoji hooked a finger beneath the strap of his mask and tugged it off, keeping his eyes averted.
He saw your eyes widen, wandering over the long line that was his mouth that stretched nearly ear to ear. “I… Others would always call me a monster. Mock me or say that I was a villain, and I could never be a hero because heroes weren't supposed to look so scary.” He watched from his peripherals as your eyes only got wider, no doubt surprised by the sharp teeth he had revealed while talking.
“Shoji you're…” He winced, waiting for the insult, or the insult masked as a joke that he never found funny, even though he laughed.
He waited for you to leave.
What he wasn't waiting for was the brush of your hand along his cheek. He jolted, then stilled, frozen beneath the touch of your soft fingertips trailing along the tan line that followed the bridge of his nose from always wearing his mask. “You're not… scared?”
Your eyes moved from where they were gazing at his mouth moving to his eyes, and he was shocked by the amount of warmth that was in them. He felt his face flush, and averted his eyes.
“Shoji…” Your voice only brought his eyes back to your face. You smiled, warm and soft and kind . “How could I ever be scared of you?”
He didn't know how to respond. So he didn't.
“Let me tell you something.” You settled back down on the other side of the table and Shoji slipped his mask back on, feeling self-conscious. “When I finally figured out who I was, and that I was trans, I was excited. There was finally a... a term for what I felt inside. There was a reason .” You fiddled with your hands beneath the table, Shoji watching you with rapt attention, oblivious to the noise of the lunchroom around him. It was like the two of you were in a bubble. “When I came out to my mother she… Mm I think she might've tried to understand at first, but.”
Your eyebrows furrowed, looking down at your hands instead of at him. One of his hands twitched, longing to hold yours, to comfort you, but he shoved it under the table instead.
“She said I would always be her daughter. That nothing would change that. And that was when I realized that… not everyone's opinions matter.” You looked back up at him, smiling softly. “It was tough, not having her support, but it wasn't like she really supported me in anything else, either.” Your voice was bitter, and Shoji wanted nothing more than to listen to you all day long. To support you through whatever terrible thing had happened in your past that made your eyes darken so suddenly.
“The point is, not everyone's opinion matters. Of course, being a hero that may be different, but opinions on your appearance and how you identify, your sexuality, whatever it may be, doesn't matter . The only thing that matters is how you feel and what makes you happy. Of course,” Shoji’s eyes widened as one of your hands reached across the table, hesitantly taking one of his own. That familiar warmth spreaded through his chest as your touch sent small shocks of electricity through his fingertips and up into his arm. “it's not that easy. Not really. It hurts, but. If it makes you feel any better, you've got me on your side.”
Your smile turns bashful, and Shoji feels his heart thump in his chest. “And I think you look pretty damn cute.” You flushed, looking away, surprised at your own boldness. Shoji sat up straighter, eyes widening, before he accidentally squeezed your hand. You giggle a little, squeezing back.
The warmth in his chest is overpowering, itfeels like your hand in his is the only thing grounding him, otherwise he might float up and away from here. “I. I, uh.” He flounders for words for a moment, flushing harder. “T-thank you for sharing that with me, I. I-I think you're pretty cute as well.”
Now it was your turn to jump, looking at him in surprise. He smiles beneath his mask, you can see the twinkle in his eye that only makes the butterflies in your stomach that more powerful.
It was that moment Shoji realized that maybe he wasn't as straight as he thought he was.