Mina had believed, and rightfully so, that she'd seen every mood that Izuku could muster up.

She'd seen his sorrow when All Might was officially laid to rest. The tears that stubbornly pooled in his eyes, but never fell, were a testament to the suffocating sorrow he was feeling. He bit his lip, he squeezed his fists, he clenched his jaw, but he never let the tears fall until he was away from everyone. He didn't break down until it was just him and her, shielded from the prying, judging eyes of the world, where he would bury his head in her breast and cry until he passed out from emotional overload.

She'd seen the joy that emitted from his very presence, comparable to a nearly blinding light every time he smiled. The first time Eri had successfully smiled, and enjoyed herself openly, he was a transmitter for infectious positivity, and for nearly a week, he was found with a smile that threatened to freeze onto his face. The way his smile made her heart flutter... convinced her to talk to him more.

She'd seen his determination; the burning desire that had captured the hearts of his classmates as he stared down anything in front of him with the crackling power that surrounded his very being. The timid, sensitive Midoriya that everyone saw in the classroom would vanish, taking a backseat to the fearless, noble and borderline maniacal side, the same side that would wield his quirk with dangerous haphazardness. The same side that would vault himself directly into the drooling maw of danger, only stopping once the adrenaline drained from his veins, leaving behind the broken body it was previously fueling.

But she'd also felt his love. His compassion. His desire.

The nights where he'd tiredly wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her tightly against his firm chest, where she could snuggle into his side, drink in his calming scent and think to herself: everything was okay. She'd felt his patience, when he sat with her and reassured her that, despite what she felt deep, deep down, she was still beautiful, and he'd never think of her otherwise. She'd felt his compassion, his endless pool of love, which he'd shower her with daily, doing small acts of kindness that, eventually, added up in ways that made her feel like the most special person on the planet.

Quirks be damned, she was different when she was with him.

Honestly, she really had thought she'd seen every single mood he had to offer. She'd even seen his stern anger toward Bakugou when he'd spoken down toward her - an honest attempt to throw her off her game, but nothing that was meant to actually imply explicit insult. But he hadn't seen it that way. Midoriya had, to everyone's shock, told Bakugou to cut it, otherwise there would be imminent problems.

The only mood she hadn't seen (and didn't believe existed, up until this point) was his rage. The blind, instinct-driven, primal rage that every person had locked deep, deep down, out of sight and, hopefully, out of mind. It was always rumored that the quietest, nicest people had the deepest pools of rage, but most of the time, it was never proven to be right or wrong.

And, to Mina, it didn't seem conceivable that Izuku was even capable of such an intense feeling.

But, she should've known better. She should've taken a look at the intensity of which he felt his elation, his misery, his love... and known better.

It hadn't been an accident when Eri - under her and Midoriya's custody until further notice - had been taken from school as she was walking home. The abduction had been planned, and after only two hours, Deku was contacted by an anonymous voice to meet him at the central shopping district in order to discuss the return of the young girl.

For as much as she warned him, he was very tight-lipped about what he was thinking. The glint in his green eyes had been replaced with a dangerous look, the darkness leaking off his glare sending shivers down her spine. He wasn't going to hurt her - he'd never hurt her - but that didn't mean she didn't feel very, very afraid. And as much as she wanted to punish and demolish the creep who took Eri from her...

She was almost afraid of his fate once Midoriya got hold of him.

So she went with him. She wouldn't let him go alone. It was dangerous; for both himself and the villain. Their job was to protect, not dole out judgement, and for the entirety of their heroic training, Izuku had never once displayed an ounce of bloodlust or untamed desire to hurt someone. Some might argue the person he hurt the most was himself; even with his immense strength, he never left anyone more broken than he'd left himself.

Looking back, she knew she should've been more careful.

If not for herself, than to keep Izuku from losing his mind. He was already one step over the line - he was enraged - and anything more was only going to drive him further past his limit. The electricity that crackled around his body was even more intense than normal, dancing up and down his body, snapping at the empty air like a rabid animal.

"Give back the girl." It hadn't been a question. Hell, it hadn't even been a statement. It was a command. "Now."

The man - extremely large and grimy-looking - simply laughed and crossed his arms, leveling an arrogant look onto the two heroes, as if he were amused by the anger that was boiling in front of him. "Did you bring the money?"

Deku's eyes narrowed. This was getting nowhere fast, and would continue to go nowhere until someone made the first move. The villain, whose name was still unknown, was standing on top of a small dome that held an unconscious white-haired girl. People had gathered around, watching from a safe distance, phones out and recording as they watched the standoff between the rising star Deku, the social heroine Alien Queen, and an unknown villain, who simply had a young girl as a hostage.

"Why her?" Alien Queen asked, shattering the staring contest that had been going on between the two men. It was a valid question; why Eri? Did he only do it because of her connection to her and Izuku? Or was it simply a lucky catch?

The man's smirk grew. "Simple; I'm the Hunter. I hunt. I hunt for what will reward me with the best price. And this girl..." He tapped his foot on the dome, looking down at her with wide, hungry eyes. "This girl will fetch me a handsome price." He looked back up at Deku with taunting eyes. "Isn't that right?"

But Deku was gone.

The man blinked, began to speak, but was met with a fist between the shoulder blades, sending him sprawling forward, rolling along the concrete like a ragdoll. The crowd erupted in cheers, but Deku didn't pay them any heed - his focus was entirely on the man in front of him. Ashido, also, began to stroll forward, acid gathered in her hand in case the man decided to do anything.

From his position, he chuckled between coughs. "You should've known better than to just walk up to someone playing opossum."

It happened all in a matter of seconds. The man launched two prong-like devices from each of his hands, which latched onto both her shoulder and Midoriya's chest, breaking the skin with its sharp ends, sending a sharp pain through Ashido's body. But it was the electrical shock that followed that drove her to her knees in agony.

She'd endured shocks from Kaminari, but this was a different level. It hurt. Her muscles felt like they were on fire. She opened her mouth to scream, but her voice completely failed her, and all that came out was a muted hiss. Her vision blurred and she lost control of her body, falling forward and being forced into a fetal position as the shocks kept coming.

"ASHIDO!"

She heard her voice, but she couldn't respond. It hurt, too much.

The shocks suddenly stopped.

Maybe fate had spared her; she didn't know. All she knew was that she needed to breathe. She took desperately gulps of oxygen, trying to shake off the lingering pain, but her muscles were drained. She faintly registered her shoulder was dripping blood much faster than before, and she numbly took a piece of cloth from a small pocket on her hip and pressed it against the wound - the prong was gone.

"How... dare you..."

She looked up and gasped.

Izuku was - somehow - in front of her, holding the wire that had connected to the taser-like device that had previously been in her arm. Electricity - not his own - crackled around his body, lighting him up like a tree in the midst of Christmas, but he stood nonetheless, refusing to cave into the burning pain that surely was coursing throughout his body. His gaze, however...

The darkness that had previously been on his face had doubled. His eyes were practically capable of disintegrating anything they rested on, and Mina faintly wondered how anyone could stand against that look. With a single motion, Midoriya tore the taser from his chest, and threw the two cords aside, his teeth grinding against one another, his own static rebuilding around his body.

Mina, whether from the delirium secondary to the pain or maybe it was just the last time she'd seen anyone look so angry, found herself connecting Midoriya with All Might's intense gaze during their first year at U.A.

"You kidnap my little one." The ground began to crack and shudder under Midoriya's growing power, wind pooling around his body as the pressure destabilized. "You hurt my loved one." He took a step forward and the concrete actually shattered under the step, sending debris swirling around his figure. The man recoiled, fear dusting his previously arrogant look. "And you demand compensation?"

It must have clicked that he was in trouble, because the man - who hadn't even stood up since being knocked down - began to frantically scramble backward, trying to protect himself from the killing intent that coated the hero in front of him. "I-I-I... I d-didn't..." He shot a desperate look toward the dome that held the still unconscious girl, and made a last resort lunge toward her.

But he never made it.

In the blink of an eye, Deku was grabbing him by the vest he wore and savagely picked up him before piledriving him back into the concrete, shattering the pavement like ice, and effectively knocking out the villain. But Deku picked him back up, his eyes unnaturally dark, and stared directly at his face, as if debating whether or not to erase the man's existence.

"I-Izu... don't...!" Mina shouted, finally finding her voice.

He froze solid, like Todoroki had enveloped him in a glacier.

"I know... he hurt us. But... you... this isn't you!"

"I... I w-wasn't..." Izuku stammered, the veil of power fading as he dropped the unconscious man to the ground, falling to his knees as well. "I wasn't..."

He looked at her, tears prickling his eyes.

"I wasn't."

The clean-up was fast, effective, and controlled.

It was everything that Japan's police force prided themselves on. With their titles, they no longer patrolled the streets like they had a long time ago, but they were still important to the post-fight efforts in maintaining an orderly and effectively managed Japan. The investigations, the medical assistance, the arrest, and the inevitable press containment all played significant parts in the effort, even if the public was blissfully unaware. Once upon a time, Izuku would even admit that he was slightly ignorant toward their hard work. But now that he was a full-fledged hero, he saw all of the individual actions that made up a crime-scene, and how much they worked to contain the chaos that would arise afterward.

There was damage that spanned widely across the street, with some collateral damage to nearby buildings and even a vehicle, which needed police attention for insurance purposes. There was a bustling of people who had arrived late and were angry to discover their daily transmute was interrupted by some random fight, and the police had to divert attention and traffic equally, whilst enduring the screaming of the angered drivers.

Usually, Izuku did all that he could to assist - which had befuddled the officers upon his debut, since rarely did heroes pay them much heed, unless they needed something - but this time, he sat out, away from the prying eye of the civilians, huddled in Mina's grip, with Eri resting on his lap.

They'd been effectively patched up; their wounds hardly serious, although one paramedic was rather insistent at the couple visiting the local ER in order to have a more thorough assessment performed. Ultimately, Deku had shut down the idea, and the paramedic only conceded once Midoriya promised to go to the emergency department if he developed any cardiac-related issues.

Now, they were resting. Together.

"Mina...?" The girl hummed lowly, showing she recognized Izuku's tender voice. He paused, trying to think of what he wanted to say. What, exactly, did he want to say? He had been engulfed in a maelstrom of emotions - mostly negative ones - when he had seen her writhe in pain, screaming as volts of electricity coursed through her body. Sure, he'd been exposed as well... but his own pain tolerance was heightened as a result of his quirk. He was used to that sort of thing - Mina wasn't.

And he had lost it when it suddenly occurred to him that she might... die...

He'd considered it, of course. Everyone could die in their line of work. It was the number one risk associated with being a professional hero. To go into the field and remain ignorant of that glaring fact...

But it hadn't been an actual reality, despite their tenure thus far. The worst injury Mina had sustained was a concussion; and even then, they rarely operated together due to the difference in their quirk and public ranking. While the numerics system was fading out, the fact remained that heroes needed to be ranked based on combat, as to prevent an under-accomplished hero from accidentally biting off something more than they could chew. Izuku was one of the top combat-based heroes, along with Bakugou and Todoroki upon graduation, while Mina hadn't ranked as high simply due to the lethality of her quirk. She had improved immensely, and could give anyone in their class a run for their money - including him - but that didn't mean she was properly suited for just any situation.

She had become a rescue-and-retrieval hero; someone who could use her quirk to break apart debris and remove someone from a dangerous situation, while also being able to provide cover in the event that a villain was still reigning rampant. She was, for the most part, removed from overwhelming dangerous situations, such as unknown villains that might be a hard counter to her.

Her standing as a hero hadn't been diminished; if anything, she was one of the best at what she did, because she could fight and maneuver so well. She was the jack-of-all, master of none. But Izuku... hadn't seen her hurt. Not like that. Not in a way that might prove fatal if he hadn't been able to act.

And, truthfully, he knew she probably wouldn't have died in that fight. Electricity like that, as dangerous as it was, hardly had enough power to cause an arrhythmia or any cardiac-related symptoms to arise immediately... but he had to be sure. In the moment, he had to act.

So, he let the anger - fueled by seeing Eri caged like a beast - take over, and evolve in the rage that had swamped the street.

Only now did he regret it.

"I... I wouldn't... have killed him..." It hurt saying it out loud, because he couldn't accept that his girlfriend - his lover - believed he'd kill anyone in cold blood like that. As enraged as he was... he wouldn't have killed him. Not unless he needed to.

Mina squeezed Izuku's firm body against her, burying her nose into the space between his clavicle and neck, deeply inhaling his scent, before she sighed. "I... I know." She didn't want to admit she had been scared. Out of fear, she had thought he was going to do the unspeakable. She had, momentarily, lost faith in him. And that hurt her as much as it hurt him. "I'm sorry."

A silence befell them.

"Really. I... I di-"

"It's okay," Izuku mumbled, craning his head so that he could better see her. His eyes, emerald, shining and a symbol of her peace, were light and bright, and she felt the familiar warmth bubble in her chest as she lost herself within their depths. "I can't really blame you."

While it didn't feel okay, she knew that Izuku didn't just forgive out of pity. He'd forgiven Bakugou for years of torment, because that was the right thing to do. Because he didn't hold grudges. Because... he was a good person. She hated that side of him sometimes (only when it came to Bakugou, honestly), but right now, she couldn't help but love it. She believed him, even if she felt bad, because... he loved her. And she loved him.

She pressed a tender kiss to his cheek, hoping he could feel her love.

"I won't doubt you again."

Gently, he leaned his head back to press his own lips against her cheek. He smiled against her skin. "Really? So you won't doubt that I'm the better cook?"

She snorted. "Listen here..."

A laugh tumbled from their mouths, and the genuine warmth they felt being in each other's presence returned, like any other day, filling their hearts with a sense of love. Izuku stood up and shifted Eri into a bridal carry, as she slumbered on, having woken up briefly earlier, before falling asleep from the hectic day she'd already had.

"Lets get home..." He offered her his elbow, and she laughed. "Shall we?"

She smiled. "Sure; I think the bed is calling out to us, anyways."

"It's kind of early, don't you think?" Izuku asked. His face turned red as he saw her mischievous smirk. "W-what if we have patrol?"

"C'mon hero," she teased. "I gotta get outta this costume."

"You shouldn't say that stuff in front of Eri!"

"She isn't even awake!"

"She could be, you don't know!"

"She totally isn't!"

"Didn't you just say you weren't going to doubt me?"

"I'm not doubting you; I'm calling you out on your bullsh-"

"MINA!"

Despite his frown, he couldn't help the smile that broke across his face as she laughed and tugged him forward, toward their little apartment they had together. Because, really, he'd always dreamt of being a hero. But he'd never thought he'd dream of being with her... and now, he was glad, because no dream could do it justice.

And for her, she'd thought she'd seen all of her lover's emotions.

But really, she had never really found the true depth of his love, because whenever she thought it was near the bottom, it went a little bit deeper. And she wouldn't have it any other way.

Hi friends! So, if you haven't noticed, this is a trend. As in, this is part of MinaDeku week! It's all up on Tumblr if you haven't heard of it yet, and the prompts are there, too. So far, QuirkQuartz and Darkfire1220 have started the prompts, and that's on this website. I don't know if other sites have more people or not, though I think Maggieboneso has an entry on Archive of our own. But yeah, if you were curious, that's what this is about.

So I'll be back tomorrow with a chapter on Childhood Friends!

Otherwise, stay tuned!