fear. || { bnha }

twenty seven.

a/n: bad, short, and late chapter, ehe. i blame the bts comeback
but still, thank you all for reading and voting <3

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The wheels of the train skidded to a stop, the sound filling the interior of the train and sending small waves of pain into Valui's ears. Anything she had been about to say was gone, just as the moment now was.

Hitoshi's expression returned back to normal; neutral, with a hint of happiness that always seemed to show up when he looked at Valui. "Come on." He smiled lightly at her and stood up, lacing his fingers between hers to pull her up with him.

Valui let him lead her out of the train; at some point, she moved closer to him and let go of his hand to instead hug one of his arms. They stopped walking once they were outside of the crowd, now standing on the sidewalk in front of a currently closed store. Her arms slid off his and fell back down to her sides, eyes gazing around her in awe. Prior to this, Valui hadn't left her neighborhood that much except to go to school; but even then, she always came straight home. Having no friends contributed it, but the majority of it was how suffocating her parents were — or, rather, had been.

Knowing she didn't have to put up with that anymore made quite a huge chunk of her sadness dissipate immediately.

Does that make me a bad person...? 

A hand grabbing hers made Valui snap out of her trance, head tilting up to look at Hitoshi. He was already looking at her, a soft smile on his face. "Anywhere you want to go in particular?"

She laughed a little; awkward, embarrassed. "I've, uh...never actually been here, so..."

Hitoshi's head tilted to one side, but his expression never faltered — if anything, it softened more to the point where it made Valui just want to hug him for hours and tell him how much she loved him. "Alright, then we can just look around."

And that was enough to make Valui happy; to make her smile and feel excited. Like a child, she was bouncing lightly on her toes. "Alright!"

Hitoshi laughed softly at her, something flashing through his eyes before disappearing. He led her down the sidewalk, their hands lightly swinging as they walked. Valui looked around, taking in the sights around her. In hindsight, it wasn't anything that amazing — it was just a large shopping center; it was really no different from a mall, per say — but Valui had never seen something like this before.

She lost track of how long they were walking, but they eventually came to a stop in front of a store. Valui looked into it through the windows, glancing upward at Hitoshi again.

"Wanna look in there?"

"Oh." The question caught her off guard. She blinked, then nodded with a smile. "Sure."

He smiled back, and the two walked inside the store. The inside was split in two: the half they had walked into was a jewelry shop, while the other half was clothes. Valui found herself gravitating toward the latter half; she tugged on Hitoshi's hand to get his attention.

"Hm?"

"I'm gonna look over here," she said, getting a nod in response as their hands separated from each other.

"Alright. I'll be here."

With a small smile to him, Valui spun on her heel and made a beeline toward the clothes section of the store. There were racks of clothes throughout the middle of store as well as having the walls double as shelves. She went over to one of the shelves, looking through the various different shirts — some were plain, some had bands on them, and some had heroes on them.

The third kind were the ones Valui was looking at.

It didn't take long for her to find one of All Might — he was the number one hero, after all — but it did take her a minute to find one she didn't already have. When she did, she pulled the size she wanted — one size too big for her, just how she liked it — off the shelf and smiled to herself.

Valui made her way back to where Hitoshi had stayed, hugging the shirt close to her chest. When she got back into the jewelry section, Hitoshi was standing at the cash register, leaning slightly on it. He glanced over his shoulder, eyes lighting up when he saw Valui return to his side.

"Did you find something you wanted?" he asked, looking down at the shirt in her arms.

Valui nodded, holding it out to him. When he took it and set it on the counter alongside a small box, she blinked. "W-wait, you don't have to buy it for me, I have my own money."

Hitoshi looked down at her and smiled lightly, almost in an amused way. A kiss was pressed to her forehead. "It's fine. I want to."

Her face turned red, but she didn't protest any further.

Valui gazed around the store as Hitoshi paid for her shirt and whatever he had picked out. It wasn't until they were outside on the sidewalk again that her curiosity ended up getting the better of her.

"Hey, Hitoshi," she started, getting his attention and absentmindedly tapping her fingers against the back of his hand. He tilted his head, prompting her to ask her question. "What did you buy?"

The second the question left her lips, Hitoshi's eyes left hers and his face turned a faint shade of pink. "I, uh..." He trailed off, only looking back at her when Valui squeezed his hand. "W-well, I guess since it is for you..."

H-huh? 

Hitoshi let go of Valui's hand and pulled the small box out of the bag, which he then held out to her. "Here."

Valui took it and cradled it in her hands, staring down at the box in confusion and surprise. When she managed to tear her eyes away, she met Hitoshi's; which were having a hard time keeping contact with hers. "Y-you didn't have to buy me anything..."

"I told you I wanted to." His explanation was quick, as if it embarrassed him to say so. "J-just open it."

Valui bit the inside of her cheek, then slowly took the lid off the box. Inside was a silver necklace with a heart pendant on the end of it. A small smile threatened to creep up on her face as heat flooded it.

"I-I didn't really know what you would've liked, b-but I wanted to get you something, s-so—"

"Hitoshi~" Valui said softly, smiling up at him as she took the necklace from the box and dropped the latter back into the bag. "I love it."

To solidify her words, she hooked it around her neck and let it rest against her chest.

Without any sort of warning, Valui was pulled into a hug, her head falling lightly against his chest and her arms habitually moving to hug back. Hitoshi rested his head on the top of hers; behind her, she could feel his fingers curling around her shirt.

"And I love you."