Her muscles ached as she climbed, but she had to admit that it was kind of a weirdly good ache. The sort of ache that came from doing something fun, and Mina was having fun. The sun was beating down on her, she was climbing up a mountainside and her boyfriend was almost right behind her. Izuku was scaling up the cliff face, using the handholds that she had burned into the stone ahead of him. They had made sure to pick a location that allowed quirk use for climbing. He was avoiding using his as far as she knew, but that was probably for the best. A slower climb gave them time to chat, and also a chance for her to tease him.
"Come on Izu, I know you're enjoying the view but you need to speed up. You can ogle me when we're a the summit." She was quickly rewarded with some rather amusing sounds of stammering below her. First claiming he wasn't looking, then that it wasn't that he didn't want to look since he was sure that she was very good looking. His sentences began to become something close to an ouroboros before she looked down at him with a sly little smile. "Just teasing Izu"
She knew that it was probably a bit mean to do that to him, but he was so cute when he got flustered. Also she was sure he knew she didn't mean anything malicious from it. She did actually pause a moment though, not to rest but more to look back to Izuku and make sure he wasn't actually angry or hurt by the comment. He seemed more contemplative than anything but when he caught her eye he gave that same adorable smile. The smile that made flowers bloom and the sun shine down bright and warm, the smile that made her want to keep that adorable green haired boy all to herself. A smile that she wanted to show to the world but also be just for her.
She returned the smile down at him and watched him blush a bit, if anything looking happier. "Izu..thanks for agreeing to this." She noticed him blush again, his hands almost leaving their holds to perform his usual nervous neckrub but his own instincts made sure he grabbed again before there was a problem.
"It's nothing to thank me for Mina, it was a great idea and it is a lot of fun. Plus the view is really nice..wait I mean…" He started stammering again and Mina could only giggle, Izuku tripping over his own tongue when they talked. To be honest she didn't mind the idea of him checking her out during the climb but she was afraid if she told him that right now he would probably blush bright enough to be usable for air traffic control.
Just going out on dates had been getting harder and harder for them. It wasn't about wanting to spend time together it was about trying to find a way both to make time for it and to be able to justify it. For Mina the latter wasn't difficult but for Izuku… Well it had almost been the source of a big fight between them. She couldn't exactly argue the basic issue, he'd had so little control with his quirk when the year had started he needed every moment to refine it to make sure he could use it properly. Not to mention that he was someone for who being a hero kind of seemed to swallow everything else up. It wasn't bad exactly and she knew she shouldn't feel jealous about it but sometimes it was a bit frustrating.
Mostly it was just that it was hard for them to have any private time together. They could work out together and while she definitely enjoyed the view she wanted to be able to just spend time with her boyfriend and not worry about someone else wandering in during an intimate moment or turning something that was supposed to be both of them into something with friends. They did go out a few times but a lot of those times were to hero exhibits at museums which Mina didn't exactly mind seeing but they weren't really the sort of thing she enjoyed. And while she knew Izuku would gladly go through a horror movie marathon for her she also knew that he'd probably be freaked out by it and didn't want to subject him to it.
She wanted to come up with something fun that they could both enjoy and that's when the idea of a climb came up. It was actually pretty perfect, the two of them got to spend the say together and when Izuku wasn't sure she pointed out how great the exercise would be. Also she hadn't realized it at first but it did end up being a good way for her to practice with her quirk as well as show off a little. They had picked a place that allowed for quirk use during the climb and she admitted that it was probably giving her a bit of an unfair advantage.
She wasn't going to avoid using that edge though, for one thing she had told Izuku that one of the reasons to do this was to train and she wasn't going to go back on that. The other reason was that with how humid it had been she wanted to avoid her hands slipping from sweat not to mention that it made it easier to climb. Plus it meant that she could leave handholds for Izuku, he could probably use his quirk to leap over her but he seemed to be doing a general climb as well as following her trail more or less.
As they had climbed the heat and humidity had made things a bit rougher but it had also made the workout a bit more fun in some ways too. The strain wasn't too bad and Mina would be lying if it wasn't fun to watch Izuku make himself all sweaty. Also as they had climbed the wind had been picking up a bit and it had seemed to be cooling off which had felt incredible after the initial oppressive heat. The winds had started picking up a bit too as they had climbed, nothing too obvious though now there was a bit of a howl in the winds and they seemed to be moving a bit quicker.
A rumble above drew their attention and caused both to have a sharp intake of breath. The clouds had been growing steadily larger and darker. Not to mention the sign of flashes of lightning in the sky with roaring thunder beginning now. "Mina we need to get to the summit fast, I don't think we're going to want to be climbing if the storm gets any worse"
Mina looked up, the actual top was still a decent climb but if they hustled it wouldn't be that difficult to do it. They both felt the wind picking up, both fiercer and stronger, the wind seemed to be getting colder too but that might have had to do with the height. They were too far up to turn back but the summit wasn't exactly close. She also noticed that the stone was getting slowly wetter. She hadn't thought of it much but it seemed like condensation was forming on the rock as they went up, it wasn't too bad now but she started to worry about her or Izuku slipping. She tries to use more of her acid to try to burn proper handholds more focused now.
The sky was starting to grow darker they both noticed that the light seemed to be fading fast despite the hour. The wind was getting stronger too and it started to feel like it was moving through them instead of over them. Shivers were suppressed as they kept climbing. Then they both froze when thunder echoed, looking up they saw a massive wave of lightning race through the skies, almost looking like it was splitting the clouds asunder. The crack of thunder form that was even more severe their bones rattling a bit. With a single look at each other they pushed themselves harder on the climb. They had maybe 200 feet left. Desperation made it feel a little more anxious or tense but they had to make it.
As the storm picked up both of them tried to climb faster to reach the summit. It was still a ways to go but it couldn't be that hard make it up before the storm got worse. Wind started to batter them both, it wasn't enough to knock them around yet but the pressure of it could be felt. There was a bit of anxiety at this point but it wasn't insurmountable. The temperature began to drop suddenly as the rain began to fall. It was minor at first, it was falling fast but the drops didn't have much force to them. However it was starting to make streams of water run down the cliff face making the climb a bit trickier and making the situation feel more ominous.
Mina pushed herself to move faster, the increased water making it harder for her to burn a handhold, the acid being pushed away as she worked, having to blast it. She shouted down to Izuku, "Izu, Move! My acid is getting washed down a bit and I don't want you burned!" She saw the telltale crackle of electricity around him as he suddenly dodged left. He wasn't using it to climb much higher though, probably didn't want to overtake her in case she slipped.
The rain was coming down harder and water running down faster on the side they climbed. Their clothes were getting wet and heavy. Izuku was using the enhancement from One for All to climb but he didn't leap, the stone was getting a bit slick and he also was afraid of moving ahead of Mina or next to her, if she slipped he wanted to be able to catch her. He didn't doubt her ability to climb but the water was coming faster and it seemed to be interfering with her quirk.
Mina got more frustrated as she climbed, she focused on raising adhesion a bit, hoping she could make the acid stick some, keep it from getting washed down, or maybe if it did it would clump and be noticeable and easier to dodge for Izuku. She let out a roar of frustration as she pushed, and that aggression did help move it forward, however it managed to get into a small stress fracture on stone, with both acid and driving water pushing in the sound of cracking stone began to fill the air alongside howling win the splatter of rain and the roar of thunder. Mina stared almost dumbfounded for a few moments as the stone split and cracked, starting to tumble towards her. She panicked a moment but tried to think quickly, trying to climb to the side, discarding the idea of trying to melt the stone given both its size and the fact that she didn't want to make a set of stones tumble down onto her green haired boyfriend.
For his part Izuku leapt up as the stone began to fall, he spun hard kicking with his right leg to push it away from Mina. When his foot connected he felt a bit of pain in his leg and another crack formed in the rock, a few shards of stone shooting out, he felt a spark of pain as some of the stone embedded itself in him. He also hadn't realized how strong the winds were, when he wasn't pressed to the stone his body was slammed with a hard blast of wind, causing him to flail and fumble. Mina saw him and grabbed his wrist, using her quirk to try to stick him to the somewhat dry area of the cliff face that the offending stone had broken from.
"Izu! I had that handled, you could have gotten yourself hurt or worse!" Worry warred with anger in her expression and the flash of lightning only amplified the impact of her words. Izuku looked away, seeming a bit embarrassed.
"I..I'm sorry. I saw the rock and I was worried you'd get hurt and…" suddenly his voice trailed off "Mina I see a cave!" She turned her head to look where he was, it was on a different facing but she saw it too, it was closer than the summit which at this point was looking nearly impossible to reach. Their gazes met and they both nodded, this was going to have to be their target, especially since the storm was getting worse. Izuku freed himself from the adhesion Mina had used and they began their climb again. Trying to balance between speed and caution, both of them eager to be out of the weather and even more eager to be able to end the climb safely.
They stayed closer together now, almost leapfrogging each other to make sure that the other stayed in reach, Mina had to bite back a few choice comments as she had to press against him or hm against her during the climb but they finally made it to the cave, getting inside they looked around it was a small cave but it would fit them both comfortably and it was dry. However between the winds and the elevation it was cold, and getting colder with their wet clothes. Izuku started looking around and gathering up dried roots, putting them in the middle of a circle of stones, using waterproof matches he brought with to start a small fire to attempt to warm them a little, as well as putting a signal flare near the mouth of the cave.
Mina watched him go to work, it was actually kind of impressive how prepared he was, then again that seemed like a very Izu thing to do. While he was getting ready Mina sighed and shivered, she knew how Izuku was going to react but this wasn't to shock or titillate him, she just wanted to be out of the wet shirt, setting it on a flat stone near the fire. When Izuku turned back she could hear his stammer and practically hear him blushing too. "Right now our clothes are soaked, if we don't dry off and let the clothes dry we could get hypothermia or at least get pretty sick." Izuku stammered a moment but couldn't deny her logic, and took off his shirt, placing it near hers which in turn caused Mina to have a few moments of quiet flustered blushing as she admired his chiseled form up close, glistening from sweat and water.
Izuku turned back to her and she could see that he was making sure that his eyes stayed on hers, which was sweet though she wouldn't mind if he looked her over. However her eyes were drawn to something different she saw blood on his arm probably from where the stone had hit. "Izu hold still you're bleeding." She went into action at that point, in her pack she had brought some gauze, bandages and medical tape in case of injury.
She looked at the injury it wasn't too deep but she remembered what Izuku had told her about arm injuries. He looked a bit anxious too but a little bit of testing showed that the cute was mostly a bleeder, nothing severe. Mina put a bit of acid on her hand, very low concentration, "This is going to sting a bit Izuku just try to bear it out." She used a weak concentration of her acid to sterilize and clean the wound, wrapping it the bandage and tape soon after.
"When did you learn to do that trick Mina?" Izuku seemed to have forgotten the pain in his arm and was more impressed at what Mina had done. "That's so cool! I didn't even think about the fac that you could use your quirk medically. You have so many different options and abilities and you're coming up with a lot of other cool useful ones. This is just so.." She silenced him with a kiss and a small smile.
"Breathe you dork." She giggled and gave him a hug, "Uraraka and I took some first aid courses, she's still aiming for rescue hero and I figured it could be handy to know plus as your girlfriend I need to be able to share intel with your best friend to insure you have no embarrassing secrets left unknown." She grinned a bit more at Izukus blush. "Anyway part of the training was also in ways you could use your quirk for rescue to treating injuries, I hadn't thought of it until they mentioned it but it is pretty hands. I can clean wounds with it if I'm careful and you're my first test for it so…let me know if anything goes wrong." She tried to sound less nervous than she was as she said it, but Izuku just gave her that same smile that said he knew all would be well.
As they stood near the fire Izuku looked at her, "I trust you Mina and..I'm sorry. I was reckless trying to knock the stone away. Especially since you probably already had it handled. I just…I got worried about you and my body moved faster than I could think. Then you ended up having to save me.." Mina just held his hand and held his gaze.
"I forgive you Izu, just please…next time be a bit more careful…" Mina felt a little bad at this point not about this in particular but just at the fact that their date had gone from a fun climb to them having to shiver in a cave and wait for a massive storm to break. She wasn't sure what to say, right now just wanting to be close to Izuku both because of contact and because he was nice and warm.
Izuku suddenly looked up with a smile and went for his bag, Mina watcher curiously as he dug out a few other things, multi-tool, some rope, emergency blanket, first aid kit, flashlights…and some kind of big thermal case. He then opened it and Mina realized that he had apparently packed a lunch for them. She had heard there was a little café at the top which had been her plan for a meal but this was really sweet. Izuku seemed to blush a little again as he handed her a container.
"I…I hope you like this I know you might think it's a little silly but I really do hope you enjoy it. I found a place that does specialty Bento to order and I wanted to do something really special for you. I..well I just hope you don't think it's dumb." Mina raised an eyebrow and opened up the box, what she saw inside actually made her squeal a bit. He had gotten her a bento box and the sushi roll inside was actually set up to look like the head of a xenomorph. It used eel, rice paper and even some black rice with squid ink to make it look that way and it looked delicious. She also saw shrimp sashimi set up to look like chestbursters. Finally he had even gone to the trouble of getting her some natto and fried Okra.
She wrapped him up in a hug, "Thank you so much this is really cute and thoughtful! I really love it Izu and I kind of hate destroying the art of these things.." she paused and almost considered taking a picture of it just so she could remember but then decided she wasn't likely to forget today she started eating. Izuku opening his own and eating quietly but looking very glad that Mina had enjoyed what he had gotten for her.
As they ate the thunder kept rolling and roaring. Izuku paused and looked over his shoulder out of the cave. "Hey…do you want to watch the storm? I bet it probably looks kind of cool when we aren't being attacked by it." He looked surprisingly eager about it, then again the storm was pretty powerful, at this point it did have an almost hypnotic call to it.
"Ok, stormwatching sounds like it might be ok, the sort of thing a normal couple would do..but only if you hold me I'm still cold and if we're going to sit and watch I need cuddles." Izuku actually smiled a little more at that and nodded, though he did feel a little troubled by what she had said, when they got situated she sat in his lap, wrapping her arms around him as they cuddled, most of their clothing still drying as the looked out watching the lines of ivory and blue lightning piece the black louds spiraling and spreading outward.
The roar of thunder mixing with the winds of make a kind of primal symphony. As Mina leaned against Izuku he paused, "W..what did you mean when you said things that a normal couple would do?" He tried to hide anxiety he hadn't ever really heard her talk that way before and was a little concerned about what it might mean. For her part Mina seemed to hesitate for a few minutes before finally speaking.
"I just mean…we don't really get to do proper couple stuff very often. A lot of it is basically more us training together or hanging out in the dorms. I don't mind that, I like being around you. It's just…this was supposed to be a fun thing couples do in general and we ended up getting almost thrown off the side of the cliff by the damn storm." She sighed and looked a little sad. "And I feel bad because this was my idea and I know you don't blame me for it but…well it's just kind of frustrating."
Izuku smiled and actually cuddled her a bit closer, "Yeah…but then again maybe we're not exactly a normal couple. We're both heroes in training and things can go wrong a lot, and right now…right now I think I'm very happy where I am with you. In a cave watching a storm with the woman I love in my arms and keeping her warm."
Mina flushed a slight purple and cuddled against his chest, looking up she said quietly, "Hey Izu…I can hear your heart beat." She thought about what he had said again as the storm called out. "This was a pretty good date huh?"
He held her, "Yeah it was, after all we're together." As soon as he said it she tickeld him and called him a dork. Yeah, it was a pretty good date.