"There you are!" Nanami's voice sounded above Veronica, making her bury her head deeper into the pillow. "Hey now, no hiding!" She ripped the blanket off of Veronica, then attempted to wrestle the pillow from her arms.
"Go away Nana," Veronica grumbled weakly at her, face still hidden in the pillow.
"Veronica!" She whined. "This couch is for when you have students in here to study, not for you to sleep on."
Sleeping? I wish! She'd managed to hide away in the Homework Hero's club room, her task of finding Mr. Aizawa forgotten. How the hell am I going to face Shoto after what happened with Bakugo? Guilt ate away at her stomach, making her feel nauseous. Did I really want him to kiss me?
"Come on!" Nanami tugged on Veronica's blazer. "I wanted to let you know that you can't help with the first years today. They've switched up our training course, so you can't miss today's class."
Veronica sat up abruptly, staring at her in surprise. "Are you serious?" There's no way I'm that lucky. Not being able to help out would mean not having to face Shoto right away, and more importantly, not seeing Katsuki.
"Obviously," she sighed. "I already let the first year teachers know since I couldn't find you at the start of lunch. You would have known sooner if you'd answered your god damn phone!" She glared at Veronica accusingly.
If only she knew... "Sorry Nana," she smiled sheepishly at her. At least I have time to organize my thoughts now.
"They still want you to watch the training afterward though. Something about wanting input on the first set of simulated battles I think?" She waved her hand, then sat down on the couch beside Veronica. "You'll have to go grab the recordings from their homeroom at the end of the day. Now," she turned to look at her best friend, concern lining her soft features. "What's up? Why have you been hiding out in here? I thought you'd be eating with your boyfriend."
"Oh, um," Veronica sighed in defeat. "I kind of got into this huge argument with one of the first years about some stupid stuff. It made a huge scene and I just kind of wanted to get away after that," she fibbed, hoping half of the truth would be enough to satisfy Nana's curiosity.
Nanami frowned. "I'm sorry that happened. I know you aren't really one for being in the spotlight, so I guess I can see why you'd hide after something like that." She patted Veronica on the shoulder reassuringly. "Try not to let it bother you too much."
"Yeah, I'll try," she smiled weakly at her. Hopefully I'll be able to just forget about the whole Bakugo thing by the end of training.
"Come on, we should head to class now," Nanami stood up, giving Veronica her signature megawatt smile. "We wouldn't want to miss beating the crap outta the guys today!"
Veronica slowly made her way down the hall to classroom 1-A, fidgeting nervously with the hem of her school blazer. What the hell am I going to do if Bakugo says something to me? He'll probably get really pissed and make a scene if I try to ignore him.
She heard the excited chatter of the first years as she neared the open classroom door. She took a deep breath before stepping into the doorway, plastering a smile on her face as she knocked lightly, drawing everyone's attention. A quick scan of the classroom told Veronica that Katsuki was no longer there, a wave of relief washing over her.
"Ms. Unmei," Mr. Aizawa looked towards her lazily. "We just recently finished class. I take it you're here for this?" He held up a disk, no doubt filled with the recordings of their earlier battle training.
"Yes, thank you," Veronica nodded, walking towards his desk and taking the disk from him, throwing it into her school bag.
"I'll be headed out then," he grumbled before walking past her and leaving the class.
Veronica turned to see Shoto making his way towards her from his desk, school bag in hand. "Are you ready to go?" She asked him quietly once he'd stopped in front of her.
He nodded, grabbing her hand and quickly leading her out of the classroom. She heard a few words of gossip about their status as a couple from his classmates as they walked out the door.
"Sorry that I wasn't able to help out in your class today," Veronica smiled weakly at Shoto as they made their way out of the school. "They switched around our training schedule so I couldn't miss my class today."
"It's okay," he shrugged. "Did you get what you needed to get done at lunch today?"
Veronica's heart sank into her stomach, her throat becoming dry. You just had to ask about that... "No," she finally got out, shaking her head slowly as Shoto watched her curiously. "Something else came up."
"Something else?" He raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior. "What happened?"
I don't want to lie to him, but I can't tell him about Bakugo. Not only would it upset him, but I'd have to talk about why he approached me in the first place... "My aunt called me. We kind of got into a fight over the phone..." she lied, hoping he'd buy it. While he didn't know about her abuse, he did know that Veronica didn't get along well with her aunt. "I just didn't want to deal with anyone after that." That wasn't a lie, she really had been avoiding people.
Shoto sighed and rubbed her knuckles in an attempt to comfort her. "Let me know next time, okay? I could have stayed with you and made you feel a bit better at least."
The corners of Veronica's mouth perked up with the hint of a smile, tears starting to form in her eyes. "Thank you. I'll remember that next time." He's so good to me, how could I even begin to think about being with someone else?
"Do you want me to come and watch the training videos with you? That way you don't have to be alone for a while tonight." Genuine concern filled his deep voice, making her heart hurt. He so rarely showed any real emotion, not since he was younger, so it was always a nice change to his usually stoic state.
"Sure, I'd really like that," Veronica smiled up at him, getting lost in his soft grey and turquoise eyes.
He smiled faintly. "We haven't had a movie night since we were younger, so let's grab some snacks and order pizza for dinner, okay?"
Her smile grew. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea."
Veronica sat down on the couch next to Shoto, a large bowl of air-popped popcorn in her hands. They'd stopped by his place earlier so that he could change out of his school uniform and into some dark lose fitted jeans and a navy blue t-shirt. Veronica had opted for a simple pair of black workout leggings and a light purple tank top, your golden blond hair now thrown up in a messy ponytail.
Shoto wrapped his arms around Veronica's waist as she sat down, surprising her as he quickly pulled her into his lap. "Um, Shoto?" She twisted around in his arms to look back at him questioningly.
"It's fine," his arms tightened around her slightly, voice low and gentle. "I just want to hold you."
Veronica nodded slowly, turning back to face the T.V. as she hit play on the remote, snuggling back into his chest. He wasn't quite as muscular as Katsuki, but he was still relatively well toned from his training, and it felt nice to relax into his familiar pine scent. He leaned forward slightly, resting his chin on her shoulder, his warm breath fanning the side of her face as he watched the screen with her. It felt so right, just to be snuggled in Shoto's lap. It almost felt like they were made for each other. The perfect couple, just like they want. Veronica shook away the bitter thought. No, this feels right, this feels like... home.
She watched as Midoriya and Uraraka snuck into the building on screen, jumping slightly when Katsuki suddenly appeared and attacked. Shoto chuckled slightly at her reaction, the sound vibrating down her spin. Good counter. Veronica nodded to herself as she watched Midoriya throw Katsuki to the ground.
She leaned forward in Shoto's lap, becoming engrossed in the fight between the two boys on screen as she tried to decipher their words and actions. Damn it! Why didn't they record any sound?
Shoto leaned back against the couch, keeping his hold on Veronica as she watched the screen intently, making sure that she wasn't going to fall face first onto the ground accidentally. He smiled to himself, happy to be able to witness another side of her as she made mental notes on the match. I can't wait to learn even more about her in the coming years.
Shoto couldn't remember exactly when he'd fallen in love with Veronica. He recalled being very upset when she left for school and had always spent the time during the week anxiously waiting for her return on the weekends. He remembered how he'd love snuggling up to her in bed, the way she'd wrap her arms around him and read him all kinds of stories before going to sleep. He'd often thought of Veronica as a princess who'd been stolen away by her evil aunt, one who was waiting for him to come and save her and take her away with him.
It hadn't been until that day when he was 8 though, that he realized he'd loved her. He frowned at the memory of the older boy trying to get Veronica to go off and play with him instead. He remembered getting mad and trying to use his quirk to make the boy go away, and he remembered how angry she'd been at him.
"Shoto! You can't hurt people just because they make you mad," a 10-year-old Veronica scolded him.
"But, he's trying to take you away!" He'd cried, hugging onto her body.
"Shoto... No one's going to take me away from you, okay? We're best friends, remember?" She'd smiled down at him, hugging him back and trying to wipe away his tears.
"Are we still going to get married?"
"Yes, Shoto, when we're older, okay? I promise."
Even though they were both technically being forced to be together, Veronica had never resented him for it. She treated him like he was no different from anyone else, and it had only made him love her more.
"Smart move," Veronica whispered to herself, noting Iida's preparation for Uraraka. He'd had the foresight to move anything she could use as a weapon with her quirk away from them.
"What is he- Oh my god!" She gasped as Katsuki unleashed a massive blast at Midoriya using his gauntlet. "What the hell! He can't do that in a building!"
Shoto carefully pulled Veronica back further into his lap, moving his arms from around her and placing them on her hips. He rubbed his thumbs against her sides gently in an attempt to calm her down. "He won't do it again. All Might told him he'd lose if he did."
She nodded, eyes still glued to the screen. Veronica watched as Uraraka launched herself at the weapon, Iida quickly moving to grab it away from her reach.
"Oh wow," she gasped in surprise as Katsuki maneuvered himself in the air around Midoriya using a carefully calculated blast. "He's smarter than he looks."
Shoto nodded at her comment. "I was surprised too."
"Wait, this is getting out of hand!" Shoto tightened his grip on her hips as she jumped forward, nearly falling from his lap as she scowled at the screen. "What the hell is All Might doing?! He needs to step in!"
Veronica's hands gripped onto the edges of the popcorn bowl in her lap painfully as Katsuki and Midoriya launched themselves at each other. She watched the rest of the battle in pure awestruck horror as Uraraka finally managed to grab the weapon.
"I should have been there!" Veronica screamed in frustration and anger, throwing the popcorn bowl to the floor, making a mess. "FUCK! I could have stopped that! I could have-"
"Hey! Shhh... shhh... shhh..." Shoto pulled her back into his chest, trying to calm her down. I've never seen her so worked up before. "It's over now. There's nothing you could have done, you would have just gotten hurt."
"Don't you dare underestimate me!" She yelled, twisting in his hold. "I've been training for this! I carry things like tranquilizers in my utility belt just to knock people out when shit like this happens! I could have prevented this!"
"Okay! Okay!" Shoto replied frantically, trying to correct his mistake as he hugged Veronica tightly, preventing her from escaping his hold. "I'm sorry! It's over now, okay? Midoriya's okay! Recovery Girl made sure he was."
She twisted in his grasp for a few more seconds before giving up, slumping back into his chest, anger dissipating. "God damn it, All Might... you should have stepped in..."
"Shhh," Shoto continued to sooth, pressing his lips to the top of her head. "Next time. You'll be there to step in and stop it next time if need be, okay?"
Veronica pulled in a shaky breath, finally allowing herself to relax in his arms once more, breathing in his pine scent and allowing his warmth to calm her. "Okay."
