Benign Malovelence

Chapter 4: When it First began

Uraraka didn't say anything at first, taking a glance at his face once or twice before he caught her gaze. The total darkness that they shone was unsettling.

That's not fair for me to say... she thought. They're just eyes; I'm sure he's a nice person...

'Heh,' he chuckled. 'Do you need any more counselling in there—' he gestured to her head, '— or are you going to ask me those questions?'

She blushed, now getting an idea of what his quirk was.

'That's right,' he said. 'I can look in your head. At least, that's the gist of it....'

Silence settled over them; he stared at the apple in front of him while she looked at her food, ashamed.

'It's fine,' he said. 'Being around me is enough to make someone feel bad or uncomfortable.'

'No, that's not—' she began.

'It's one of the catches of my quirk...' he said. 'People tend to think that it's only got stuff to do with, ya know, minds, but it's mainly based on... emotions...'

She looked at him quizically.

'How so?'

'People think in such binary; this or that, yes or no, black or white, one or zero...' his voice trailed off. 'Thought and feeling... They're not that dissimilar as you'd think... same goes for memory... That being said, emotions have been my forte/strength, specifically negative ones... Thoughts stem from opinions and feelings made on personal reflections... Mind is not so binary... Dreams are not so binary...'

He blinked before looking back at her.

'Sorry, did I confuse you?'

'No, I understood perfectly.' she reassured.

'I don't think you did.' he said. 'My bad, looking inside people's heads is something that happens naturally and frequently for me... It's not really something that I can stop... Emotions and dreams are the worst... I can feel them without even having to take a glance at someone's mind...'

'Woah...' she mumbled. 'That's cool.'

'You think so?'

'Yeah!' she said excitedly. 'You'd be so effective against villains; looking into their heads and then knowing their next move, it'd be a game-changer!'

His thin smile seemed to become a little more genuine.

'What's your quirk then?' he asked.

'Don't you already know what it is?' she asked. 'I get it now, how you were able to do what you did; making the zero-pointer float before dropping it, it—'

'The way your retelling your story sounds like your quirk is mine.' he prompted. 'Your quirk is amazing as it is and has done something I've never seen in all of the years of my life...'

'Oh, it's nothing...' she said, putting a hand on the back of her head.

He chuckled; 'So you say... Doesn't change the fact that it was you that broke that bot... I didn't do anything.

Uraraka started eating her food and continued chatting with him, Midoriya's last statement making her feel slightly off. She asked some of her questions about his quirk and he answered reservedly. He explained that he wasn't the most popular amongst people who knew of his quirk and wasn't the most comfortable with sharing things about himself. Many people hadn't treated him that well in the past.

'So...' Uraraka said just as she finished her lunch. 'What's your connection with Bakugou then?'

Midoriya smiled, ever so more unnerving and sad.