𝙵𝚕𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 - 𝙷. 𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚘𝚞 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

Chapter Four

Shinsou returned to Hosu Thrift a few minutes before close and walked towards Kazumi who's eyes flickered up to meet his as she counted the till. "Hey, Nakamura." He greeted with a nod of his head as he leaned against the other side of the counter. She held up one finger as she finished recording the amount of change she had just inventoried before she looked up at him with a small smile, a light blush rose to her cheeks as her thoughts immediately veered towards how attractive she thought him to be. "Hey. Just need a few more minutes and then I'm good to go."

Shinsou sighed dramatically, "Ugh, fine. Do your job or whatever." Kazumi giggled as she rolled her eyes and started her paperwork. "I didn't realize you were such a drama queen." She mused as she tapped her pen on the counter, biting her lip lightly as she calculated something in her head.

"I picked a few things up from Eri, I guess." He shrugged with a slight smile as he watched her nibble her lip, reminding him of their earlier kiss and wishing he could repeat the action again. She hummed in response, "Your sister's pretty cute, you know. You guys seem to have a good relationship."

Shinsou rubbed the back of his neck as he turned to look at a rack of 80's style clothing to the left of him. "She's my mentor's daughter, but she's the closest thing I have to family. I love that idiot like I would a sister anyway."

Kazumi watched as Shinsou stared off into space, seemingly deep in thought. "Well, that sounds great. Family is who's in your life or whatever, right?" He breathed out of his nose and lazily let his head fall back toward her, "Yeah, or whatever."

She shook her head as she walked to the back and turned off the lights, but what she didn't notice was that Shinsou had hidden behind the rack of clothing he was staring at earlier. When she returned back down the path to the front of the store, Shinsou jumped out at her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She yelped and quickly elbowed him in the gut, Shinsou just chuckled as he held her closer to his chest and let his head dip down slightly to speak softly into her ear, "Don't worry so much, it's just me."

The feel of his hot breath against her skin for the second time today had her body going into meltdown mode as she let herself relax against him with an unintentional sigh. He smirked and kissed the sensitive skin just underneath her ear before murmuring, "Coffee, right?"

She nodded and shook her head slightly to regain her wits as she turned her face slightly towards his, meaning his lips were that much closer to hers and causing her heart rate to increase. "I know just the place. My car or yours?"

-

Since Kazumi had chosen where she wanted to go, they decided she would drive. When they pulled up to an establishment named Catmosphere, Shinsou glanced over at the brunette who was already grinning from ear to ear. He was growing more curious about this woman who seemed to somehow pick a place he actually would've wanted to go, despite the fact that he probably wouldn't have admitted it. It was a bold choice on her part but so far, he knew her to be a bold woman and it certainly had him intrigued.

After a moment when he hadn't said anything, her smile faltered and her eyebrows furrowed, leaving him confused and already missing the light that shone from it. "You're not allergic to cats, are you? God, I'm so stupid I should've asked that first, I'm so-"

Shinsou turned to face her fully and holds back any and all emotion and tone from his voice as he deadpans, "I'm deathly allergic to cats."

Kazumi's face bloomed instantly with a blush and Shinsou found it amusing how she's so easily embarrassed by inconsequential things. He wondered if she was more predisposed to feel embarrassment because of her quirk.

"I-I'm so sorry. We'll go somewhere else!" She said too loudly as she pulled her seat belt across her chest once again. As she went to buckle it in, Shinsou reached out and placed his hand on top of hers, finally cracking a small smirk. "I'm messing with you, Nakamura."

Kazumi's thoughts were now completely and utterly occupied by the feeling of warmth radiating from his skin on hers. She glanced down and stared at his large hand encasing her delicate one before looking up at him through her impossibly long eyelashes. Shinsou cocked an eyebrow at her as his smirk grew into a small smile and he squeezed her hand before releasing it. "Let's go, I need coffee." The brunette nodded hurriedly as she let the belt slip out of her grip and got out of her truck.

After grabbing their drinks and choosing a table, it became obvious to Kazumi that Shinsou loved cats and cats loved Shinsou. He had a fluffy snow white kitten curled up in his lap and a calico weaving in between his legs as he petted a third cat walking across their table. While he didn't have a huge grin on his face, Kazumi could tell by his softened features, gentle smile, and bright eyes that he was enjoying himself.

She was right, he very much enjoyed visiting cat cafes. In fact, he would've had a cat if his mother wasn't allergic, but he just settled for cafes and visiting with Aizawa's black cat, Shadow. Kazumi leaned back in her seat and admired how engaged Shinsou was, animals always flock to people they know to be good.

"I had a feeling you were a cat person." She murmured as she watched the black cat on the table come towards her and rub up against her hand. Shinsou, who almost forgot why he was there, rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Hah, yeah. My mom is...was allergic, so I wasn't able to have one of my own."

Kazumi hummed in response, piecing together parts of his current situation. "So that's why you've been bringing stuff by the store then?"

He took a sip of his caffeinated fuel as he met Kazumi's thoughtful gaze and deemed her to be asking honestly, rather than to be polite. With a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah, she passed two weeks ago. I swear she had enough place settings for a family of twelve, but before my dad passed it was just the three of us anyway. Wishful thinking maybe."

Kazumi could empathize with his situation and shifted her gaze to the coffee in her hands as she wondered if she should mention that her mom is sick. Of course, she decided against it, they didn't seem to be at that point and she didn't really want to talk about it anyway. "I'm an only child too. Although you have Eri, so really you aren't part of the Lonely Kids Club."

A breathy laugh left his lips and charmed her, "The Lonely Kids Club? Did you guys have a secret clubhouse or something?"

She laughed, "No, emphasis on the word Lonely. We all just sulked at our individual homes alone, wishing we had siblings to fight with."

The table cat started to try and bat at Kazumi's cup while she was distracted, leaving Shinsou's fast reflexes the only thing that kept her from being mildly burned by her drink. Her eyes widened as she looked at the cup Shinsou was now holding out to her above the cat's furry head and twitching ears. Her bangs fell into her face as she reached to take her cup from the man and he wouldn't let it go.

"Thanks, Shinsou." She smiled lightly as she thought that's what he was waiting for. It wasn't. Kazumi tilted her head to the side as she held eye contact with him, noticing the smirk that was crawling across his lips. "Why the smirk, hmm?"

He shrugged, as he let his finger brush against her hand before pulling it away and letting her take the cup. "Just wanted to make sure the cat didn't have another opportunity to knock your drink over."

Kazumi's eyebrow raised at him suspiciously, "Oh, really?"

Shinsou reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear, an impulsive action that he just couldn't help himself to make once again. "No, not really."

Shades of pink as blooming cherry blossoms rose to her cheeks as she pursed her lips with a smile and looked down at the table. "Oh."

The truth of the matter was that she wasn't embarrassed, she was flattered that perhaps he also felt the same attraction that she had towards him. Her stomach swirled at how impure her thoughts became at that moment as she thought maybe a distraction was exactly what she needed.

Shinsou worried during her silent moment that he'd made the wrong choice but when her eyes fluttered back up to meet his and she rested her chin in her palm with a smile, he knew his worry was unfounded. "Well, that's an interesting development."

He laughed with a playful tone that had Kazumi swoon further, "Yes, I suppose it is."