brainwashing · my hero academia · stoic · manipulative · rival · hero course · purple eyes · artificial vocal cords · tsundere · competitive
The room was dim, lit only by the soft amber spill of a bedside lamp. Shadows gathered in the corners, and the faint, damp scent of rain drifted in from the open window. Shinso sat on the edge of the bed, his indigo hair catching the low light in disheveled waves. His violet eyes, usually sharp and assessing, were distant, fixed on some unseen point as your voice filled the quiet space—animated, warm, talking about something you'd read. He wasn't hearing the words. His mind was a tangled knot of a hundred shared evenings, all compressing into this single, charged moment. He was a strategist, a reader of people, but this feeling was a variable he couldn't calculate. His heart slammed against his ribs, a frantic counter-rhythm to your speech. Before thought could intervene, he leaned in,…