I hope everyone had a good holiday! Now... take a deep breath, let it out... And read.

The timing had been off. That feeling that often arose when it came to Bakugo came out to play again as she cursed him in her mind. He hadn't been clear as she assumed they both would have sailed over, but of course that would have messed up the plan. It would have to be just her, as he bided his time and waited. Without consulting her so she could have calculated the distance and the appropriate landing zone, he just let her go. She was flailing over the area, just above where Shoto was standing. She winced and reminded to splay her arms, holding them at an angle to lessen the blow – that would still break her arms, but it's not like they were relying on her for physical combat.

It wasn't the ground she hit, however. Mineta scurried out of the way as she came flying through, and Shoto jumped back. Just as she began to surrender and brace for the pain of snapping bones through her arms, she watched a shot of ice pour out from Shoto's extended hand. The ice formed a sheet that expanded and formed, curving upwards and creating a perfectly designed slope. Almost like a tall quarter pipe, composed of ice crystals rapidly multiplying and congregating to build her rescue. The cool waft blasted onto her face as its spout caught her and she speed down its curve, rolling in the most ungraceful way possible. The slickness of the ice caused her to move faster, and shot her off the edge as she reached its end. Kairi held out her arms to stop herself, but the force with which she was being launched informed her with certainty she was not going to stop before she slammed into Shoto. Which she did. Before he could get a chance to drop his arm from the saving move he performed, Kairi flew towards him and barreled into his chest.

Instinctively, Shoto's arms flew to catch her, but the impact caused them both to roll, skidding against the dirt covered rocky terrain that surrounded them. Skin scuffed as they tousled together; they finally slowed and Kairi raised her head. She shook off the impact, and then her glowing warm eyes processed the scene before her. She was sitting up, staring down at a pair of widened mismatched eyes and a face so red it almost matched the scar around his left eye. Each observance grew her horror, noticing how she was sitting not just over Shoto, but on top. Laying on top of him, pressed against his warm chest and feeling the heavy trip in his frantic heartbeat. His legs were still, positioned just under her own.

Then there was that feeling, the one that had been haunting her since school started a couple of weeks ago. That rush through her, the wild excitement in her stomach as it jumped. Her skin heated as her mind fogged with imbalance. Breath escaped her, and a festive drum band decided to hold a concert in her chest. Even horrified, and shocked, the red on his face was endearing. The artificial lights captivated his eyes, turning the grey into the most luminous silver. The blue became the deepest gem she had ever beheld. His hair was shimmering and glowing, each side displaying its own brilliance.

She smiled, lightly, impressed and humbled by how quickly he had run to her rescue. In this exercise, he was her opponent. In this training, he was meant to fight against her and had no reason to rush to her. But he saved her, kept her from falling. Her skin sang, feeling his heat as she didn't move from her position, captivated by his presence and his forgetting of everything else to rush in and save her. Then, her body tensed as the deepest blush fell on her, matching his own. Piece by piece, she connected her feelings, her body's responses. Her admiration for his skills, his kindness, his traits, his personality, his... appearance. A best friend. Why had it sounded like such an insult? Why had it sounded so vile to her ears? Kairi clicked into place all her strange behavior the last few weeks, how everything this summer seemed to build her up, how overjoyed she felt around him. How she only felt "sick" when he was around.

She wasn't sick. She never was. And she felt like a goddamn idiot for not realizing it before. The most obvious thing to anyone else on else on earth. The strongest and most complicated emotion she had never once felt and prayed she never would because of its implications for her. One that so many songs and movies had been written about. The most obvious thing in the world, and she felt mortified by everything it was about to open up.

"Shit..." she whispered, scrambling off him as fast as she could and staring at him as if he were an infectious disease. "SHIT!"

Shoto dusted off his blue outfit and pulled his leg in to rise up, he raised a brow. "I get that I helped you out, but it's not as if it's surprising I would rush to keep you from breaking your legs. I can't believe Bakugo did that. Was that your plan?"

Plan... Kairi looked back over to the top of the cliff wall, where Bakugo looked confidently down on them. She scowled, disgusted. It was as he had said. He knew that Shoto would avoid letting her get hurt. He knew he would catch her. That was why he let go. He knew Shoto would not let her smack against the ground. "The little shit..."

"Whatever. What do you plan to do now?" he asked, challenging her with his eyes. Kairi snapped her head back to stare at him, sickened by how easily soothed she was by his standing before her and how she marveled the glint in his eyes, even if he was trying to be menacing in his gaze towards her. Her legs buzzed apprehensively before they melted and threatened to pull out from under her. She wrung her hands together, picking at her fingers.

What an absolute mess of an idiot she had been. Of course, she had never felt this way towards anyone who wasn't a real person standing in front of her, and all her attractions to characters or celebrities had been instantaneous. Not this. This had been so gradual, so unexpected, and she had never felt it with someone she knew. Someone who was a friend. Now, all in this moment, it had been the most obvious thing ever and she wasn't going to stop beating herself up for it. Why here?! Why now?! Why this way?! She had never once denied that Shoto was a good-looking person, objectively. Hell, the whole class knew it at least from an objective level. But this was completely different, new. Surely he could feel this. He must know something was off. He said before he didn't feel anything in Nezu's office, but he must have been lying to avoid revealing anything to her. There was no way he couldn't tell how she was feeling.

Kairi Hoshino had developed a massive crush on Shoto Todoroki and thanks to the lovely workings of her quirk, there was no way he didn't know it.

Fuck. My. Fucking. Life!

"Uhh, is this your plan, Kairi? Stand there and stare at me like a traumatized owl until... something happens?" he asked. She squeaked. That was exactly what she was doing. Staring, frozen. Halted by a brand new emotion that was far more powerful than she had ever felt. How was it not crippling him? How was he not also mortified and also a complete mess of embarrassment?!

She ran. Mineta's awful face was the perfect emotional soap. Her irritation for him was far more favorable and could easily replace this, making her forget in the moment. Do the assignment. Finish the fight. Deal with the feeling at home. She would need to talk to someone about it. Momo, maybe. Or Tsu. Maybe one of the girls would get it. Wiping away frustrated tears, Kairi bolted, heading in the direction of Mineta who was...

Oh. SHIT. NO.

She was heading towards Mineta, the man who operated on feelings of lust, while she was exploding with her own feelings of attraction. Shoto may have had the decency to not show how he was feeling, but Mineta had no qualms. He acted on his attraction, and there he was at the end of it all as she ran his direction. Dopey eyes staring up at her as a pleasant smile extended across his face. He was pleased with something.

"Sooo... any chance you'll fall on top of me too?" he asked with a wink. That did it. Pleased with such a revolting comment in order to ignite the flames of her wrath, Kairi's body reacted. Almost as if she had no control over them, her hip jostled and flung her leg towards him. Mineta cried out, just as her boot caught his side and flung him towards the edge of the mock canyon.

She welcomed the wrath, and let it simmer, stomping out the affection she was experiencing. Yes, anger was best now. She needed things to make her angry. She needed it to fuel her, to clear her mind instead of being thrown in a tizzy because of Shoto. At least anger, she knew. A crush was some unknown and terrifying feeling that she could not rely on to win this fight. She breathed, relieved. Thankfully, she had plenty of negative emotions at her arsenal she could employ.

But if her affection was that strong, it would win out against every emotion, and be the most prominent one. If that were the case, she couldn't get close to Shoto – which was the whole plan! This pesky emotion was going to uproot the whole plan they had! Gloved hands tangled in her hair and she screamed in anguish.

"Come on, Hoshino!" growled Bakugo, waiting atop the cliff. She gasped and gulped. From the corner of her eye, she saw Shoto step forward, face full of concern. He probably thought she was having another panic attack, based on the tidal wave of emotions she was tousling through herself.

Her idea flushed it away. A tidal wave of emotions. Like in the survival exercise, when she went through emotion after the other. Emotional sickness. Bakugo had said to choose one emotion that would weaken them, but what if she chose all of them? Emotional whiplash. That would not only distract her and divert her from what she was feeling. Without taking the time to untangle her thoughts, Kairi removed seven vials from around her waist, and inhaled deeply. Each memory attached to them blipped across her mind, recalling a couple times when she felt content with life. The rest were some of the most excruciating and painful moments. Memories swiped across her internal vision. Her first Christmas she remembered with her parents. When her dad had been shot. When her mother disciplined her. When her parents argued about her. A warm day at the park with her parents. The day her mother left. The day she had the meeting with her teacher in 2-C that the class just wasn't working... Her stressed mind zipped around, pausing on each vision for just a moment to gut through Kairi. Feeling her insides splayed out for all the world, she turned to see Mineta struggling to stand from the powered kick she had flung at him. He stumbled, drunk from the explosion of pained memories she was enduring. Unable to handle the constant shifting inside her, Kairi collapsed to the ground and hacked out her tears, coughing on the salted grief that flowed into her mouth.

"Fuck this quirk..." she moaned, keeling over on her knees, watching with a sick pride as Mineta wailed and a heavy flow poured from his eyes. She looked up at Bakugo, casting him a look that told him she was growing impatient. With him incapacitated, she pulled herself into the fetal position and stewed in the miserable images. Fingers clutched at the scent tubes, suspended close to her nose. She took another hit of the concoction, groaning under the sense memory it flowed back into her body.

Bakugo's yell echoed before she saw him leap off the cliff and tumble towards them. He landed perfect on the ice slide that still remained on base. Shoto didn't hesitate and immediately shot up another tall wall of ice, cracking through the terrain and shielding between him and Bakugo. Mineta shouted, somewhere between anguish and terror. Trembling hands reached up to grasp the purple clumps on his head. He plucked two of them expertly, just at the moment Kairi caught him doing so. She pocketed the tubes and leapt back to her feet, trying hard not to grimace too much through her tears. Kairi's arms flung back against Bakugo, swiping him away from the path of the ball. They just missed, and instead suctioned themselves to the ice wall that erected before them.

"What are you-?" Bakugo began angrily.

"Forget everything! New plan! You just deal with Shoto, I can't be near him right now!"

"Are you bailing out on me right now, Hoshino?!" he snarled.

"Look, I'll get you Mineta!"

"You're supposed to stay near Icy Hot, you idiot! He needs to overuse his ice side!"

"We're playing it by ear now! I can't be near him right now! My emotions, they're... a mess and I'll... look, you need to trust me this one time, okay?!" Bakugo furrowed his brow, displeased.

"Fine!" he snarled. "Deal with that perv and then... come back and restart the plan!" Kairi nodded and leapt away. Bakugo reloaded his grenade thruster and pulled at the pin. In seconds, a growl followed roaring scream. The impact of the explosion busted through the wall that separated them, shattering its integrity. Kairi stood as a shield while the kid in front of her ripped several balls from the top of his head, light catching the sheen of the marks left by his recent unknown grief. With her as the target, he aimed towards her. She ducked and shrugged, running with a dangerous grace his direction. Her eyes connected the distance before each bulb struck her and she chucked herself to avoid the next oncoming one.

This was a mess. Her feelings for Shoto were deep, and she couldn't quite figure out when they started. It was just as thrilling as it was devastating. She couldn't act on them. Whatever yearning she experienced, he would feel. Whatever longing she had, he would have. Maybe it wouldn't necessarily be for her if he had no real feelings for her, but it would always give her pause. He had to know her feelings, and therefore, their friendship was ruined. One of her first friends, and her best friends. And she had to damage anything they had by catching feelings. And what if he truly did feel the same? She would still always question if anything they did was just a reflection of her own feelings. She would always wonder if he ever really wanted to do go out on a date, if he ever really wanted to kiss her... They couldn't. She couldn't. It was a mess. Her quirk could never fully change people's opinions or morals if they were truly grounded in them, which she took comfort in. On that logic, if a person really wasn't into her and had no desire whatsoever, then it should have operated the same way. However, her quirk could tempt and manipulate. That was the scariest part about it. And the temptation and the manipulation is what scared her.

This newfound rush of emotions as her mind processed everything ran over her. Mineta rapidly flinging purple orbs every direction in the hopes of sticking to her. She swept under every one as they met with the sides of the cliff, the ground, and the remnants of the ice slide and wall. He wailed again, experiencing the mess within her just as a trickle of blood seeped over his forehead.

"You're out, aren't you?" she asked calmly, fires blazing inside her. He whimpered as he ripped another one from his head and half heartedly flung it. She merely stepped over it. Mineta removed his hand from his head, startled by the amount of scarlet that glistened over it. His bulging eyes looking over her with terror before he cowered before her.

"Yes..." he croaked. Defeatedly, he dropped his arms at his side. Kairi lunged forward, ripping the flag from where it hung off his... well, armored underwear, essentially. Kairi attached it to her side and jutted her chin away from the field.. A brief flicker of compassion glowed in her, watching more blood trickle down from his scalp.

"You should... probably step out and have that... looked at," she struggled to say, before pivoting and leaping back towards the giant hole in the ice wall.

Just beyond the ice were Bakugo's shouted and shaking growls from sets of explosions, snapping and combusting. A riptide of cold shot upwards, followed by an engulfing blast, charring the dummy they had failed to protect. Kairi ran, hurrying. Her pulse sang loudly in her brain as her mind scattered through everything she was going to ruin. She couldn't be near him, she didn't want to be near him. But the plan had been riding on her to weaken him. Shorted breaths hummed from her as she sprang towards the heat of the battle. Sliding under the arch formed in the wall, she leapt between them just at the moment Shoto pulled back his fire wave. Drawn to her presence, he leapt backwards, as if making more space between them would help the situation.

Bakugo and Shoto circled each other. Shoto splayed his right hand, a burst of stabbing crystals intensifying and locking the blonde kid's legs into place. He smirked and pointed one of his arms just off to the side. Another blast fractured the ground, quaking under them and stumbling Kairi against the thundering ground. Clumsy hands reached at her belt and she mixed heavy disappointment with the heartache that continued to throttle her. This was as close as she dared to get to him, and he was twitching under its discomfort. He held out his right arm again, over the expanse of blackened and disoriented ground. Thanks to Bakugo changing the terrain, it was almost another canyon quadrant itself, darkened by the blasts.

He fired off another shot. Instinctively, Shoto blasted his right side again, and the fire explosion shattered the pillar of ice that shot up in front of him. Kairi held the scents to her nose strongly, looking between them as she thought about what to do next. Ten feet away from Shoto. Ten feet. Maybe, she could close that without her heart exploding with embarrassment. Maybe she could close it to five feet. She blinked, swallowed the awkward stiffness that beat against her to stay away from Shoto. Fingers grasped around the vial of the scent that reminded her the night Shoto almost drowned. Kairi breathed in the dank smell of dirt, of humid air, of saltwater and fish rushing past, a slight hint of menthol to remind her how cool it was. How traumatized her heart was, how it pushed her into overdrive. For a minute, the light seemed gone from him. For a moment, dread had sunk in her.

It hit harder than it had when she first brought it to support. The grief was sharper, more intense, and elicited a hiss from Shoto. He genuinely looked unwell and miserable. Kairi kept determined fingers wrapped around the scent, inhaling deeper to further grind the memory in her. Images were conjured again. She shuddered once more. Tears were pouring into the scorched earth. Her eyes went to Bakugo, then Shoto, waiting for one of them to make a move. Bakugo looked at them smugly again. Sweat dripped from him onto the ground. He took a step back. Her eyes fell, seeing the trail of sweat he had slowing been forming – leading right to Shoto. Bakugo shot an explosive stream of fire from his arm, its embers hitting the perspiring glycerin.

BOOM.

The sound cracked through them and Kairi moved. She flung herself into Shoto, pushing him out of the way of the explosion. He already began to form his defensive moved, but Kairi's intercedence had broken his concentrated projection. The ice spiraled in front of them and formed in a wonky curve, cutting through the ground. The two of them slid against the ground, rolling together again. The two of them clamored and banged against the ground. Kairi hissed at the slam into her back as she finally hit against a stop. It took a moment before she gathered that Shoto was still clutched against her and resting on top of her. Of all things. The worst of all things. His body pinned against hers, where she was growing the shade of beets and her skin was hotter than the fire that stained the ground. She chirped, seeing his concern gaze assess the damage over her.

"Kairi..." he whispered, sounding almost sensual and of course it was completely involuntarily. Silent, just for a moment between them. The rhythm of her heart found his own, mingling with the pulsing force that echoed strongly. Her skin prickled at the touch of his hand, stroking through the blackened ash that colored her arm. Kairi shivered, terrified by how gentle and warm his touch was. Breaths quickened. Prickles rose on her skin. Her mind was screaming to get away, her heart was begging to remain. Her body was silent on either side and she remained still.

For a moment, her heart won, and she closed her eyes at the touch of his hand grazing against her arm. Slowly, his hand crept lower, sliding just over her hand. She hoped he would grab it, fingers tangle together. Then, horrifyingly, he moved closer. His fingers hovered just over her hip. Kairi's eyes clapped open and she rose with a sharp breath to question why his hand was so close to her thigh, grazing her like that...!

And then he held her flag up in the air.

So I need to know, who out there is going "Oh my god, Kairi, FINALLY!"?
Thanks once again for your devoted readership, it means a lot! 3