Just a few more seconds, she told herself. Attempting to remain still was getting harder as the panic tried to ensue within her. Calm was not a state of mind she found easily, and of course now it was paramount to achieve that state. Panic spiked of course, as it was destined to occur, and the threatening darkness pulled at her. Thrashing inside, she reached desperately for the hand beside her, pleading for rescue. Instantly, Kairi burst from the water. Needy breaths drank air, her lungs relaxing as she took them in. The air cooled her wet back as she observed her surroundings. Shoto's hand padded her against while she reached for a nearby water bottle, taking a heavy drink.

"2:12," he said as she set the water down. "Three seconds longer than the last one. And there were many others who surfaced before you did."

"I know, but..." Kairi turned her head, seeing Momo pop her head back up, and then Midoriya. Iida and Uraraka shouted out the times for their partners before they cheered happily. It wasn't a competition and she was not a jealous person by nature. It still was not hard to feel the coiling greed of envy rise in her as she considered how she rated next to everyone else.

"Holding your breath for over two minutes is exceptional," Shoto said. "Especially when you consider when we started this, you were only holding your breath for a 1:37."

"Yeah, I started as next to last place." Shoto shook his head, a hand placed on her shoulder.

"It isn't a competition, Kairi. As much as Bakugo and Kirishima may be making it one. Some people may take a little longer, but the hope is by the time we graduate next year, you'll be able to hold your breath for five minutes. That's why we're taking our time to practice holding our breath. Some people are going to take longer to do so than others, especially since practicing this is really scary." She nodded with understanding, but the sinking weight of insecurity still plummeted. They had already been working at this for an hour. Having a partner did help, not just for counting, but also security in belief if something did go wrong, they would be there to help you through it. And of course, professionals were on standby as well, heaven forbid the rare chance they were needed. Thirteen had instructed they pair up with the person they trusted the most in the class and that was clearly no brainer for them. It didn't change how she felt. Panic was a common feeling for her; but this particular event awoke memories of what happened in the summer. Having to sit by when Shoto held himself under water, watching tiny bubbles float around his face... She was expected to just sit there and let it happen, holding onto to his hand as a sense of comfort to remind him she was right there. Then she was expected to go under and it had taken the entire hour to calm her mind enough to push past two minutes.

"For fuck's sake, Shoto..." She pushed aside her saturated hair from her face. She imagined the feeling of eyes bearing into her, daggers shooting through her. "I feel like I'm being judged. Like I have some sort of reputation to uphold." She watched him take in a heavy breath. He waved in the direction of Thirteen and All Might cautiously keeping a watch. Thirteen nodded, recognizing his signal for them to take a short break. Once given the okay, he pulled her along to the edge of the school pool, clinging to the overhang of the wall. Kairi swam after him, bobbing beside him.

"Why do you feel that way?"

"The thing that got me recognized by the students here, by the media, the thing that got me attention in this class was the fact that I saved you. I feel like there should be some expectation I need to be the best at this."

"Kairi, we have a student with a frog quirk. You are not going to be the best here." The look she gave him was crippling. "Sorry."

"You know what I mean."

"Riri I know it's hard for you to believe that people aren't judging you. You're going to feel that no matter what. But I promise you, no one is. People are too focused on making sure they can go just a few more seconds to even care about how you're doing. This is a riskier operation than doing chest compressions so we're simply fixated on ourselves. In addition to that..." He reached forward and gripped her hand affectionately, keeping the attention just under the water's surface so no one could really notice. The touch summoned a flowering in her chest. A grateful smile found her lips, a blush of glow across her face. The warmth of her hand, even under the water's cool kiss rose tenderness to Shoto's visage. "In the last hour, you have added thirty-five seconds onto your time. Everyone else here may have started holding their breath longer than you, but you've made some of the strongest progress."

"How do you know that?" she asked, now clinging against the side of the pool.

"Just observance. Most people haven't stayed under much longer than when they first started. But you have greatly exceeded the amount of time you've been able to stay under. You always struggled the most in the beginning. I felt the intensity of your feelings just before you flailed from the water. The anxiety around this is stronger for you than it seems most people here, and you still pushed through it. Not only pushed through it, but you have stretched farther than what the average progress of the class it."

"What's the average progress?"

"My guess? I would say it's probably around twenty seconds." Her heart tightened with shock. Was it truly that much of a difference?

"Only... twenty seconds?" she repeated. Her nodded casually.

"Which is somewhat surprising. I mean it obvious to me that you have a remarkable mental strength, despite what you think." Another grin broke in her as she turned her blushing face away. It was impossible to stop his own smile from forming as the blush sweetened her lovely face. The pace in him quickened once more, warming his soul. "You can sometimes take a little... longer to find that strength. It can take you a bit of time to understand you have the will to take on something difficult, especially when you're terrified of it. And your actions told me you were scared of doing this, even if your words didn't."

"Yeah, well, what's the point in telling when it's all laid out on a silver platter for you?" she said with annoyance, scoffing at herself.

"Somehow, you still pushed on. You kept wanting to continue. Even refusing to take breaks when Thirteen kept saying to take a rest. You insisted on it, even though I could feel that you didn't want to, and you're hating this. So why? Why are you pushing yourself so hard to do this?" The bluntness of the question dove into her, digging around for the right answer. Kairi held herself silent, tracing nonsensical patterns along the bricks of the wall. Her mind churned with the simple of answer of "it's important." Of course it was, so was everything else they were learning. They were training to be heroes, everything they learned was vital. So what made this so different, so much that it was pushing against her. She closed her eyes, recalling the day when for a few moments, Shoto was still and hadn't taken a breath. She swallowed the hiccup in her chest. The memory snapped a flicker of fear again. She curled her hands against each other, fidgeting once more.

"What if I have to dive further than a simple river to save someone? What if I have to run into the ocean and quickly retrieve a victim that's harder to get to than you were? What if five more seconds could have made the difference? If I held my breath for five seconds less, I couldn't have saved you. Five more seconds, they said. You might have been dead. I couldn't... I can't let that happen to anyone else, Shoto. I need to push myself as far as I possibly can. I need to jump in and save as many as I can."

The urgency in her words had gripped a hold of him, pulling forward a burst of adoration. The way her eyes expanded as she spoke, determined need reflecting in the brightness of her pupils. Her words and her expression held a boldness not often seen in her. Whatever this was in her, it was ferocious in its desire. She wanted to save people. Of course she did, she was a hero, that was a part of the description. But there had been nothing, not even in her moments of reacting to her favorite shows or how strongly invested she got in video games, that had burned so strongly in her before. Looking to destroy bad guys, wanting to prevent a villain from harming another. Of course those things mattered to her and she wanted to know them. But it was making sure the victim was safe, doing everything in her power to assure that the victim would be all right; those were the things she was excelling at. Need pulled at his arm to place a cradling hand against her cheek. Embarrassed, Kairi quickly turned away from the touch. Pink flourished in her face just as he remembered them being in clear view of the rest of the class.

"Later," she whispered. He nodded.

"Right, sorry..." His own whisper cracking, he cleared his throat. "You are simply... amazing. The need to pull people out of a dangerous situation and attend to them; it's driven you further than anything else we've learned in class as. That drive is fueled by your strong emotions, I have no doubt of that. It's a real gift, your quirk. I want you to understand that. The more you progress in class, the more it's evident to me that your emotions are much more of a blessing than anything else. Sure, they can be inconvenient but it's you have improved so much since you've begun class with us. And you're learning how to use them and what you're best as. Riri I am... so, so proud of the person you've become. These rescue and safety classes we're taking have really drawn you in. You're doing well, so much better than some of even the best in our class."

Warmth flowed through her, dancing in tandem with the part of her that was drifting on the melody of Shoto's voice. A gentle giggle escaped her as her mind fogged, giving her the inability to think of a proper response. Perhaps water had gotten into her eyes, but they seemed to mist as a humble pride spilled out of her. Guilt tried to push it down, but its cry to stop being so proud was soft. As his mismatched eyes beheld her, keeping his attention, it felt impossible to leave his gaze. In doing so, it forced the words to sink and imbed themselves. It had been true. The last couple of days, these classes that Thirteen led had filled her with an insistent passion none of the other lessons had given her. She wanted to know what to do. Imagining how she would best apply the methods learned, and committing each step to memory had ignited a purpose in her. Something about them echoed through her so clearly, and she wanted to know more.

Kairi nodded, adding nothing more. She pushed herself off the wall back towards the water and dipped her head back. She held out her hand again for Shoto to take. Still wearing his pride for her, he floated back to her. He placed a hand to her, reminding her he was right by her side should she need it. Kairi closed her eyes. She slowly drew in a breath through her nostrils and allowed his pride to fill her with encouragement. Clearing her mind til it was blank, Kairi dropped below the surface. Shoto did not release his hold on her once.

School had been strange that day. Their breathing exercises felt so personal and intimate, she had once again thought about the dangers of dating Shoto. Thankfully, she was able to discuss the issues with her counselor that day. While part of what she had told had caused her heart to smile with confidence, in five minutes that had all disappeared. She seemed to agree with Kairi's assessment – that if she built trust with Shoto, they could pursue some kind of relationship, but it may take some time. A connection with him, being together, that was something that could really happen if they played it slow. The minute she returned to the dorm, those feelings had vanished and she was back to stressing again.

There was no time to focus on that. With dinner nearing, she only had so little time to get to work with her project. Noting the gathering area was mostly empty with the exception of Ashido scrolling on her phone, she marched into the kitchen. Needing to crawl atop the counters a bit to reach a few of the cupboards, Kairi gathered several baking ingredients. The assortments of containers, measuring utensils, bags and bowls wound up her insides with frustration. Slighted anger pulled at her as she considered this – she hated baking. Cooking was fun but baking had to be so precise and exact. It allowed for too much room for error. But she was convinced to do this. Doubt told her to ask Sato for help, but her pride stopped it. This was for Shoto, and she wanted to do it all herself. Kairi rolled her sleeves and fished out the old apron tucked away in one of the drawers. She tied back her hair and pulled up the recipe she had pinned two days ago.

"Just follow the recipe exact and you'll be fine. It doesn't have to be gourmet, it just has to be good," she muttered to herself. Daunted by some of the more complicated flavors, she settled on a simple vanilla cake earlier and began to work. Thankfully, Shoto had wanted to see his mother that day, so she had time to work. Moving at a pace she was certain was much slower than an experienced baker would, she made sure to keep her stirring consistent as she mixed all the wet ingredients. As the batter finally came together, she checked the recipe four times before filling its pan and leaving it to bake. The twenty-five minutes of waiting were torturous as she tried to engage with Ashido over funny memes and making faces in the Instagram filters.

The timer pulled her out of her seat and she rushed to retrieve it. Annoyed with having to wait yet again for it to cool, she was forced to run to her room. She chose Seawall as her distraction over homework, her fingers desperate to kill ogres and goblins. It was the moment when the cake was finally distant from her mind when Momo knocked at her door to tell her dinner was ready. With a jumpy flourish, she closed her laptops and followed her. Shoto's appearance at their table stole half her attention, while she spent the other half staring at the fridge that held that damn cake. Briefly, she caught conversation as Yuga read a news update about those who had gotten quirks through QuirKey were beginning to see them lessen in power, the earliest losing her powers completely. Whatever they had done had only been temporary anyway, it seemed. She withdrew her attention for a moment to look over the article, then went right back to glaring at the fridge. She needed to frost that cake before Shoto saw it!

While he seemed to take his sweet time trying to ask her questions and eating his dinner slowly, Kairi could not stop her twitching. It was when she finally said she needed to do some homework (not a lie) and that she would stop by later that night to see him that he left the table. Her friends looked at her strangely, sensing the stress she was spilling over. Kairi left for her dorm for fifteen minutes. By the time she returned to the gathering area, the staff was cleaning the last of dinner away and the only people in the gathering area were Kaminari and Jiro, who had both waved to her.

Breathing out the intensity that had formed within her, she sought to work. After fighting for several minutes, it finally started to look like a cake. While the frosting wasn't glamorous by any mean and definitely appeared as if an amateur had frosted it, a bubble of joy still filled her. Adding a few raspberries on top, she balanced the tray carefully. She picked up a small bag she had prepped earlier and slowly began to carry the lot up the steps. These were the moments she wished he hadn't lived on the top floor.

Hands full, Kairi was forced to use her shoe to knock at the door. Fumbling around could be heard inside just before the door opened. Seeing her standing before him, Shoto popped his earbud pieces out. Wide eyes and a gaping mouth looked at the tray of cake she held in front of him, a pencil dropping from his hand. Kairi smiled shyly, swallowing. The imperfection of the cake became glaringly obvious to her at that point. Still, her eyes begged with hope, waiting for some other response besides being flabbergasted.

"Happy birthday," she replied quietly.

"Kairi..."

"I wasn't sure what you would like and honestly, I'm not the best baker so I just went with a simply vanilla cake. And yes, I know the frosting job is terrible! I should have had Sato help but I got too arrogant and was insistent on doing it myself which was stupid really..." Her heart sped with the tumbling of her words. "I was hoping the raspberries would add something to it but I mean if I'm honest that was really a ridiculous notion, they're not even spaced and the frosting is uneven too so why-"

"Kairi," he interrupted again. Shoto shot his wrist forward, gently leading her into the room. Her mouth shut as every doubt fell around her. He closed the door once she was inside, eyes falling right back to her. Then, he looked at the cake. Drawn in as if it were magical and luminescent, be beheld it with welling eyes. "I... haven't had a cake since... well, it's been awhile."

"Oh."

"I don't know what you're talking about it, it's... lovely, if I'm honest."

"It is?"

"Yeah. I like the raspberries, actually..."

"Oh..." Relieved, she placed the cake on the desk and began to pull out plates and a knife from the bag she had carried. In moments, they were sitting on his floor and enjoying the dessert together. "How did it go with your mom today?"

"It was good. She bought me a comic book."

"A comic book?" Kairi nearly spat.

"You've been a bad influence on me, I guess. Can you imagine if my father knew I was reading comics, playing video games? He would rant about how I'm doing something useless with my time and I should be training. God, if I had met you earlier in life maybe I would have actually done more interesting things than train all the time."

"Yeah and maybe I would have gotten control of my quirk more," Kairi said wistfully, scraping at the remnants of her plate.

"Hey, don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Your progress has nothing to do with me."

"Yes it does, I mean... you've helped me find some control. You've given me confidence, you've shown me how to gauge my emotions and balance them." Shoto shook his head.

"That wasn't just me. That was me and our friends. And all we did was give you some encouragement and support. All the control, finding the confidence, figuring out how to channel things and balance it all... that was completely you. We gave you some guidance to help you find what was already there. Besides that..." Shoto swiped a ribbon of frosting from the cake, dropping it on the tip of her nose. "Do not invalidate the progress you'd made or think that by conquering it later than the rest of us that makes you less of a hero. Everyone moves at their own pace. There are heroes today who didn't even attend hero school. It makes it easier of course, but it's not impossible. You are exactly who you need to be, where you need to be, and we are all so proud of everything you do." Everything in her soul melted, seeping out and warming her nerves.

"Come on!" she scolded, reaching to touch the tears clinging to her eyes. The warmth spilled over, illuminating the aura around them and drawing forth a tender gaze from the boy beside her. He pressed a hand into her back as she was unable hold back the fluffy feelings. "This is about making you feel good, not me!"

"What do you think making you happy makes me?" he chuckled, reaching to wipe away the tears. His other hand slid back into hers, gripping it tight. "Do you really have homework?"

"Yes..." she sniffled, just before she pointed to the skewed papers on her desk. "You look like you still do too." His sigh was large as his shoulders dropped.

"Yes..." He dropped his head onto her shoulder, just to cast her a plead in his mismatched eyes. "Can you spare an hour?" It was impossible to keep the giggle from sliding out of her. Kairi nodded, her cheeks heating again. Brightening, he tilted her chin with gentle grace. "Good."

He leaned in to kiss her, leaving a drop of frosting on her cheek.