Chapter 1

"Kyoka-chan, over here!" Uraraka was standing over the table waving as Jiro made her entrance into the restaurant. Class 1-A had decided to organize a reunion at one of the restaurant/bars in the city in order for them to 'catch up,' as Ashido had enthusiastically explained to Jiro over email. The five years since graduation hadn't really torn the class apart, so Jiro figured this was just a way for all of them to drag out the more anti-social ones out of the shadows for a public drink.

Jiro waved to the table, ready to make her way over when a heavy hand landed on her shoulder. "What happened to 'we don't have time for these silly gatherings right now,' eh, Kyoka?" Kaminari said with a wide grin. Five years had done him well, much to Jiro's dismay. The hero Chargebolt had grown considerably during their high school years, now standing at 175 cm tall and packing quite a bit more muscle on in the process. The thing that threw the entire class off, though, was Kaminari's sudden charm and charisma he had developed after graduation. Dorky Denki had made headlines for being quite the ladies' man in the past few years, and of course Jiro heard the brunt of those woes from Kaminari himself as he dealt with the backlash coming at him from his agency. Sometimes Jiro couldn't help but wonder what these women saw in him, as much as he whined to her over the phone.

"Pfft," Jiro shrugged off his hand and playfully shot him a smirk, "I was threatened, I swear. Otherwise-"

"You'd be sitting at home all alone playing some god-forbidden depressing song you're working on." Jiro frowned as Kaminari's grin grew. "Am I right?" Instead of humoring him with a verbal response, Jiro just shoved him away by the arm and moved towards the table with their old classmates. Kaminari's obnoxious cackle followed close behind.

Taking a seat near the end of the table next to Asui and Hagakure, Jiro couldn't help but be glad she agreed to Ashido's pleas. She had missed her little crew of girl friends. The women of 1-A definitely saw each other more often than anyone else in their class (sans significant others, of course), but due to the increase of several crazy cases back-to-back their bi-weekly meetups had recently fallen by the wayside. "How is the missing person's case going, Kyoka-chan?" Asui asked as she nursed her juice. "I remember you were stressing about it a couple weeks ago."

Jiro groaned loudly, resting her chin in her hand and leaning her elbow on the table while twirling one of her earphone jacks with her free hand. "A string of dead ends! I've been working with the police to find this guy for months! And it just seems like the missing people list just keeps growing.."

Kaminari sat in the empty seat next to her, placing a beer in front of Jiro. "Isn't that the case you've been getting hounded about?" He inquired before taking a swig of his own beer. "Kyoka's been taking her frustration out on poor bystanders the entire time." Jiro shot him a glare, but that didn't deter Kaminari from continuing. "Dude, her boyfriend even got fed up with her nagging-"

Everyone jumped at the sound of a hand slapping onto the table. All eyes turned to Jiro as she looked at Kaminari, ready to kill. The poor guy at least had the audacity to look sheepish. Yaoyorozu, who had been sitting on Kaminari's other side, realized Jiro wasn't calming down and tried to divert the conversation away from the tension. Iida awkwardly joined in, changing the topic to something recent that happened at his family's agency. Jiro just stood up, beer in hand, and stormed her way down to the other end of the table near Uraraka, Midoriya, and Todoroki.

Kaminari sighed in defeat, taking a larger swig of his beer to hide his discomfort. After all these years, he still seemed to flawlessly push Jiro's buttons without intention. He would have to apologize later to her once she was able to catch up with their friends and calm down. "Still as tactless as ever, Kaminari-kun," Hagakure shrugged good-naturedly. "Some things just never change!"

Shaking off his guilt, Kaminari leaned his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand with a grin. "Oh come on, I'd like to think I've changed a little bit since high school. Surely I've at least become a little cooler in your eyes? Or at least more dependable?"

"Well," Asui chimed in, "We can always depend on you to make Kyoka-chan mad." The three of them laughed at the situation, happily reminiscing about old times. Jiro, though, couldn't help but sigh in exasperation as she watched Asui and Hagakure fall prey to Kaminari's newly acquired charm. It was his way to make people warm up to him, overlooking any of his usual crass, that Jiro absolutely refused to introduce him to any of her female co-workers. The last time she did, the poor woman had ended up on page 9 of the local paper and Kaminari had been scolded for fraternizing with a newly hired sidekick from a rival agency. Nope, Jiro knew better than to leave Kaminari alone with a female for any undetermined length of time.

It was around eleven when the laughter and banter began to die down. Most of the old members of 1-A still had patrol shifts that night or had to report to work in a few hours. Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida, and Sero were some of the first to leave. Bakugo dragged a wasted Kirishima home not long after. In small groups they filtered out, and Jiro stood up along with Todoroki and Mineta ready to leave. Kaminari must have spotted her in his peripheral because he bolted up from his seat and rushed over to her.

"Hey Kyoka...I'm sorry about earlier. I just-"

"It's fine," Jiro choked out, "you didn't mean to be hurtful, I know. Besides, you were right anyway…" Kaminari frowned at her confession. It always hurt him to see Jiro so hard on herself.

"Hey, I told you that guy was too chill for you anyway," He snorted, "you need someone a bit more thick-headed to deal with your crap."

"Oh, for the love of-"

"I'm serious!" Kaminari grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around to face away from him, "I saw the way you and Todoroki were hitting it off tonight. He's definitely thick-headed, that's for sure."

Jiro huffed, "That's no good measure. All the guys we know are like that. Including your dumb ass!"

"Which is why you need my help! Takes an idiot's help to snag an idiot!"

"Don't compare Todoroki to-"

"Nope, you started it!" Kaminari laughed and shoved Jiro forward towards where Todoroki, Mineta, and Ashido were waiting at the entrance. "Now go mingle! It's no fun if I'm the only one getting laid tonight."

Jiro blanched at the insinuation, "You're disgusting!"

Kaminari turned away from her and back towards where Hagakure was waiting near the side entrance. "You love me and you know it!" He laughed, "Go get a drink! I expect a report on my desk first thing tomorrow, young lady!" Jiro groaned as she ignored his quips and headed out the restaurant with the little group that had waited.

"Everything ok between you and Kaminari now?" Todoroki asked as Jiro approached. She just shrugged and walked on ahead, wordlessly letting Ashido link their arms as the acid user requested karaoke be their next stop. Maybe, in some small bizarro alternate dimension, Kaminari was right. It had been a few months since her break up, maybe it was time to start looking again? As Ashido dragged her along down the road, Jiro couldn't help but think she let that damn electric user influence her too much. For crying out loud, he was going home with Hagakure Toru! Jiro didn't even realize that Hagakure even had Kaminari on her radar.

Not to mention his weird fascination with her love life! For years he would act as her weirdo cheerleader, even going so far as playing the unwanted wingman. Jiro couldn't stop the blush of embarrassment at the memory of Kaminari using his charms to get the phone number of the girl who worked at a alternative clothing store Jiro shopped at...and the humiliation when the girl was shocked to find out it was Jiro who liked her and not the dorky yet charismatic blond. 'But Mie and I did last for a good year...that wouldn't have happened if Kaminari didn't stick his nose in.' Thinking back on it, Kaminari had helped her hook up with 3 of her 5 last relationships. God, that boy was nosy.

Ashido pulled them all to a private karaoke booth, claiming how she needed victims to her singing since Kirishima and Sero were MIA. "You know who has a surprisingly good singing voice? Sato!" Ashido proclaimed as she and Mineta searched through the available songs. "Sero and I got him to come with us once after work...I swear he bewitched all the staff that walked past our booth! It's not fair!"

Mineta gave up on looking for a song with a groan, "No, what isn't fair is Kaminari's betrayal! He's been getting more action than me lately!" Torodoki, Jiro, and Ashido all rolled their eyes at their short friend. "I'm serious! He was my ride or die! Now I'm left all high and dry for every pair of D-cups that he so much as hears about! Doesn't even pass me a number!"

"That's because you'll scare off any woman who comes within ten feet of you," Jiro sneered. "At least Denki pretends to be a decent human being." Mineta gasped in insult. "There's a reason all of us have had relationships since high school, Mineta."

Ashido loaded a few songs into the queue before sliding next to Todoroki. "Speaking of...any luck with you-know-who, Sho-kun?" He just sighed and shook his head, letting himself be consoled by the acid user. "Aww baby boy, I told you how hard it would be to fall for a straight man."

Todoroki snorted and picked up the remote to order a few drinks from the staff. If he was going receive this pity party again, he needed more alcohol in his system. "Please, Mina, tell me again how horrible I am for wanting him. I haven't heard it nearly enough, yet." Ashido huffed and waved him off. If he was going to be snarky, then there was no use digging for progress. Todoroki's love life was transparent, but he definitely wasn't the venting type. The only reason Ashido even knew of his plights was because he had shown up at her door one morning on the verge of tears and looking all too ready to jump from the nearest rooftop. Apparently, Todoroki didn't know anyone else at the time who was out-and-proud gay in their friend group and ran to Ashido immediately, needing the support of a friend who could understand. Ashido never hid her sexuality, even in high school, so she understood why he sought her out. If nothing else, it brought the two of them closer after graduation and Ashido wouldn't trade their current friendship for the world.

"You're way too hard on yourself, Sho-kun!" Ashido patted his leg, "I just worry, that's all. Especially since you haven't even told him how you feel-"

"Oh my god, enough of this teen drama!" Jiro groaned, "We get it, our love lives suck!"

"Hey," Ashido interrupted, "I got a steady bed warmer!"

Jiro rolled her eyes, "Ok, so all of us except Mina aren't getting laid on the regular! Can we just drink and embarrass ourselves while singing already?" The four of them all laughed, forgetting their woes for a bit longer as they immersed themselves in each other's presence and bad pop music.

Daaaadddy shark doo do doo doo…

Jiro groaned as she reached for her phone, her body loudly protesting the movement. Damn Kaminari and his stupid sense of humor! How many times had she changed her ringtone only for him to sneakily change it to whatever made him laugh that day? Putting the receiver to her ear, she croaked out a grumpy, "...What?"

"Morning my Queen of Darkness!" Kaminari's far too cheerful tone blasted into her ear.

"...I'm going to kill you."

"It's eleven A.M. and I have yet to hear about your exploits from last night!" He screeched, ignoring the all too common threat, "Midoriya and I are having lunch with Todoroki in thirty minutes and I need to know if I should high five him or punch him! Give me details!"

"...Ho."

"I prefer the term 'male giglio,' but I'll let that slide." Completely undeterred by Jiro's sleep addled brain, Kaminari continued, "I'm serious, Kyoka! Todoroki is cool but I gotta know if he did you dirty, or did you dirty~!"

"...You are absolutely disgusting." Jiro huffed, resigned to dealing with the waking world. "And he didn't do me dirty, you freak. No one slept with anyone."

"What!?" The mock offense in Kaminari's tone was easy for Jiro to pick up on as she roamed her room looking for her sweatpants. "Jiro Kyoka, did you seriously not even try!? Why? Torodoki was into you last night!"

Finding a pair of clean sweatpants amongst the sheets on her bed, Jiro snorted. "I'm one hundred percent certain he was not."

"Bullshit! As much as you were chatting up? What makes you think he wouldn't-"

"I don't have a dick, Denki."

A beat of silence. "...Really?"

"Yes! Now back off!"

"Wait," Kaminari's rustling over the phone could be heard as he shifted in his seat, "REALLY!?"

"..."

"...I should have fucking known! He's too damn pretty!"

"What are you? My Gay BFF™?"

"Best one you'll ever have!"

"...Ok, Captain Hetero," Jiro stifled a laugh. Kaminari always did this: annoy her, anger her, then make her laugh all within the span of minutes. The power he had over her emotions majority of the time was amazing. "But seriously, back off. Todoroki has his own issues, don't try and add our incompatible love lives into the mix."

Jiro heard Kaminari's huff of defeat. "Fiiiiine, but we have go to a bar soon, then. Just us. We need to find you someone to let off a bit of steam."

"Or we could just go and hang like friends do?" Jiro quipped, "Because not everything is about getting laid, Denki."

"Ah, my naïve, Kyoka. Believe what you want. Anyway, I have to hop off...gotta get lunch and all that. Talk to you later, ok?" Jiro agreed and the two promised to make plans for the bar at a later date before she hung up.

After placing her phone back by her bed, she walked out to the kitchen to prepare coffee and begrudgingly start her day. Thankfully, she had the day off so Jiro could enjoy being lazy. Jiro floated around the kitchen, humming to herself as she waited for the smell of coffee to fill the room. She thrown out of her reverie, though, when the doorbell rang. Making her way over to the door, Jiro couldn't help but wonder who it could be. Maybe Ashido, since she had the day off as well. All thought processes halted when she opened the door to reveal the last person she wanted to see, though.

"...Hi Kyoka-san."

"Ojiro…?"