I Know You Better Than Most
Ashido Mina x Male!Reader Word count: 2,151 Summary: You decide to join Mina at the yearly anime convention in your city for the very first time Genre: Quirkless!AU, fluff, very light angst, ASD reader Warnings: Food/eating, kissing, pet names (Mina calls the reader ‘honey’) Note: This is a birthday gift to @knuckles8864. I hope you have a lovely birthday 💖
You surveyed the crowd, back pressed against the wall so hard you felt that you might phase through it. Not that it would bother you too much if it meant that you could get some space to yourself. You couldn’t remember when you had last seen a crowd this big.
Wiping your clammy hands on your thighs, you looked over the crowd again, trying to find a head of bubblegum-pink hair. You spotted a few throughout the throng of people, but none of them was the right one.
Where is she? you thought, watching people join the crowd ahead of you.
Finally, you spotted Mina as she pushed towards you. When she saw you looking, she raised a gloved hand and waved, a wide smile spreading on her face.
You returned the wave with one of your own, feeling your lips twitch into a grin. The world felt calmer already.
“Sorry!” Mina cried as she got closer, trying to be heard over the constant hum of voices. “I had a wardrobe malfunction last minute and I missed my train.”
You shook your head. “It’s fine, you’re here now. And you look amazing!”
Giggling, Mina spun in front of you. “I do, don’t I! It was worth all the effort it took to make!”
Nodding, you looked at her costume again. The pink and purple top which she wore underneath her armor was one she’d owned already. But the armor itself - covering her abdomen and one side of her chest - was something she had made on her own. You had often spent an evening next to her while she worked on it, so you knew well how much time she had devoted to making it. Same with the short tan skirt which she had sewn from multiple pieces of fabric, making it look as ragged and worn as it was supposed to. Her outfit was finished off with thigh high boots with foam greaves strapped to the front, and leather gloves with a fluffy fur trim at the wrists.
You had to admit that she was the spitting image of the character she was cosplaying. You’d never gotten around to watching the anime she was from - a fantasy story full of fighting and adventure - but Mina had talked about it often enough that you felt like you already knew the character pretty well.
Mina grabbed your hand, tearing you out of your thoughts.
“So?” she said, beaming up at you. “Are you ready for your first anime convention?”
You nodded, squeezing her hand. “Now that you’re here, I’m ready for anything!”
Breathe, you told yourself, trying your best not to panic.
Mina squeezed your arm tighter. “Just a little bit longer. The check-in line always creates a bottleneck, there’s plenty of space inside, I promise! And once we get our badges, we can enter through the side doors, we won’t have to join this line again.”
You just nodded, forcing another stuttering breath into your lungs.
A space opened up and you moved forward, the crowd following close behind. Just a little bit longer.
“Where do you want to go first?” Mina asked as she led you through the convention center.
You could feel her almost vibrating with excitement and it killed you to dampen her. But you knew she understood you better than most people did.
“Can we find a place to sit for a few minutes?” you asked.
Mina smiled at you. “I meant after you’ve had a moment to gather yourself.” Stopping, she pointed at a little group of cafe tables overlooking the main escalators. “Sit. I’ll get us something to drink.”
She returned a moment later with two sodas.
“You gotta be conscious about drinking enough,” she said. “We’re gonna be on our feet a lot. There are water coolers and cups all throughout the venue so don’t worry about bringing a bottle. Just don’t forget to drink.”
You nodded.
Pulling her phone out, Mina checked the schedule. “The opening ceremony is in an hour, it’s usually pretty funny but we can skip it if you want to. And there’s a panel I want to go to at seven, a bunch of voice actors being goofy, those are always a riot. But we gotta line up for that one early if we want decent seats, it’s always really popular…”
You swallowed hard. You knew that it would be busy, Mina had been very clear about that. But you hadn’t realized just how much time you’d be spending in line.
As if she could read your thoughts, Mina reached out to grab your hand. “The check-in line is the worst by far, I promise you. The other lines are a lot more chill, people don’t push as much, at least while we’re just waiting. But we can go somewhere less crowded to start with.” Thinking for a second, she added, “The artists’ alley should be decent at this time, they should’ve just finished setting up. And you can skip the voice actors’ panel if you want to, find someplace quiet to rest while I go.”
You nodded again, a small smile playing on your lips. Mina really did know you better than most people.
Your head swiveled from side to side, trying to take in all the merchandise around you. The sheer amount of it was overwhelming.
Mina once again managed to ground you. She pulled you over to a table in the corner. “We start here and work our way up this row. Try to focus on the franchises you might want to buy something from and ignore the rest. And don’t worry about looking at every single booth, we can always come back.”
You squeezed her hand to thank her, then started browsing.
The second booth you looked at had some interesting Nintendo pins. You had trouble deciding between buying Kirby or Link and Zelda.
Mina, who had been leafing through a binder of drawings at the other end of the table, moved over to you, looking at the pins.
“Oh, those are really cute!”
“They are,” you agreed. “But I can’t decide which one to buy. I kinda want both this one -” You pointed to Kirby in the middle of inhaling a cake. “- and this one with Link and Zelda together.”
Mina grinned at you. “I have a pretty easy solution for that.”
You raised your eyebrows questioningly. “And that is?”
“I buy Kirby as a gift for you, then you buy Link and Zelda. That way you don’t have to choose.”
Your face broke into a smile. “I appreciate it, Mina, but you don’t have to. I can--”
Mina held a finger to your lips. “I’ve decided already, I’m buying the pink dude with the cake. You can call it a memento of your first convention. Or…” She gently nudged you in the ribs while winking at you. “You can do the same for me when I’m waffling between two things. As long as they are of a similar value, I don’t want you to go broke.”
“Alright then,” you said, your smile widening, “I accept your deal!”
Next to the artists’ alley was a room with a few arcade machines. And - you noticed to your pleasant surprise - a Dance Dance Revolution rig for two players.
You pulled Mina towards the rig.
“Wanna give it a try?” you asked. “See if I can beat you today?”
Mina’s face lit up. Then a cloud of uncertainty passed over her features. “You don’t think it’s gonna be too much for you?”
You shook your head. “I’d like to get rid of some of my nervous energy. And I think it’s better to do it now, before the place gets more crowded.”
“Well, if you’re sure…” The smile returned to her face. “Don’t think I’m gonna go easy on ya!”
Grinning back at her, you said, “Wouldn’t want you to.”
You knew well that you were still far off from beating Mina at any dancing game. She had danced for years while you were still new at it. But it didn’t make the game any less fun, especially not when you had Mina shout encouragement at you throughout it.
The two of you had to stop after a couple of rounds. You could probably have gone for one more - and you knew that Mina could’ve gone for longer still - but a crowd had gathered, cheering the two of you on. It made your ears burn, especially since they cheered nearly exclusively for Mina. She was amazing, there was no denying it, but it sometimes made you wonder why she had picked you, someone who didn’t even compare to her.
Mina bounded up to you - completely unaware of your thoughts - and threw her arms around you.
“That was so much fun!” she squealed. Then she looked up at you, noticing your gloomy expression. Her brows furrowed. “What’s wrong, honey?”
You shook your head. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” she insisted, “something’s wrong. Is it the crowd?”
“Something like that.”
Mina pressed her lips into a thin line. Then she grabbed your hand, pulling you along with her.
She led you outside the convention building to a bench under a secluded tree. Sitting next to you, she turned to face you.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
You stayed quiet. The last thing you wanted to do was ruin the day for her.
Mina squeezed your hand. “Tell me, honey, I promise I’ll listen.”
“It’s just…” Heaving a deep sigh, your gaze glued to the ground between your feet, you finally let the words you had tried to hold back fall out of your mouth. “Why are you with me? You could find someone better, someone who shines as bright as you. I just weigh you down.”
She squeezed your hand again. “Stop. You know none of that is true.”
You kept looking at your shoes. “Isn’t it though? You saw the crowd cheering for you, not me.”
Mina’s words grew imploring. “No, it isn’t true. Well the part about the crowd might be, but the rest isn’t.”
Reaching out, she laid her hand on your cheek, pushing your face towards her. “You want to know why I love you? Why I’ve spent three years with you?”
Finally meeting her eyes, you nodded.
“It’s because you’re you,” she said. “You’re sweet and kind and gentle. You make me feel safe. You’re respectful of my boundaries, you never judge me. You may sometimes get your words mixed up and say the wrong things, but I know you don’t mean to. You listen to me. I always have a great time with you. Is that enough reason?”
You let out another sad sigh. “But I don’t shine like you.”
“Of course you do,” Mina replied. “You hide it pretty well, but I saw it when you were dancing.”
You furrowed your brows. “Really?”
“Yeah! It might not be very bright yet, but it’s definitely there! And it’s growing every day.”
Leaning in, she gently pressed her lips to yours. “Don’t be too hard on yourself just because the crowd only see that I’m more skilled at dancing - you’re being unfair to yourself when you do that. The crowd doesn’t matter. All that does matter is that we both have fun, right?”
Flinging your arms around her, you pulled her close against you, burying your face in her hair. “You’re right,” you mumbled. “Thank you.”
The two of you spent the time before the voice actors’ panel just wandering around, admiring the amazing cosplays you came across, and trying out random snacks that you found on sale. Still feeling a little bit downcast, you decided to brave the crowds to attend the panel with Mina rather than finding a quiet spot by yourself.
Sinking into your seat, you let out a sigh of relief. While Mina had been right about the line to the panel being a lot more relaxed, there had still been some pushing to get into the room. You had spent nearly all of your energy for the day.
Mina wrapped her arm around yours, leaning against your shoulder. “How are you doing, honey?
“I’m getting close to being people’d out,” you answered earnestly.
She nodded. “We can go home after this, there’s nothing interesting for the rest of the night.” Twisting in her seat, she looked up at you. “Are you so done with people that you want to be alone tonight?”
You shook your head. “You know that you don’t count as ‘people’. I don’t mind you staying over if you want to.”
“Then I’ll stay over,” Mina replied, resting against you again, “get my cuddle quota in.”
You just nodded, leaning your cheek against the top of her head, looking forward to a little bit of respite at the end of a busy day.
Next to you, Mina let out a gasp of glee. “Oh, look, it’s starting!”
