Rumi could not believe what she was hearing from her partner.

"Wait, so you are homeless?" She asked in disbelief.

A bedraggled Izuku rolled his eyes as he sighed loudly. "No, I am not homeless. My apartment is simply not in any state to live in. Thanks to some plumbers that took shortcuts I have a waterfall in my bedroom and mold in the walls. Landlord said it would take around two or three weeks for everything to get fixed. So for now I am sleeping in my office."

It had started off as a normal morning for Rumi. Izuku had shown up at his normal time and had organized the schedule as she did her morning workout. She had noticed that the normally well-groomed man was sporting a thin layer of stubble on his jaw and bags under his eyes. After a little bit of light-hearted teasing, Rumi had asked her partner why he looked so worn out. Now that she had her answer, Rumi's brain was practically screaming at her to capitalize on the situation.

The question was, how could she convince her straight-laced partner to (temporarily) move in with her?

Doing her best to talk in a casual voice, Rumi stopped pounding on the punching bag in front of her and glanced at her partner who was sagging against a wall.

"So...your best option is to sleep in your office?" She asked. "Is that against the rules or somethin?"

Izuku shrugged as he yawned. "Technically it is not against the rules. However, my boss was not exactly pleased with my decision. He said it did not look good if the department's best field agent was living out of his office like some kind of bum. At this rate I will just have to bite the bullet and stay in a hotel."

Taking a steadying breath, Rumi tried her best to casually wander over towards Izuku.

"Well...I think I might have a solution for ya." She said hesitantly. "Why don't you sleep here?"

Freezing like a deer caught in the headlights, Izuku seemed to take a few seconds to process what Rumi had just said.

"Sleep...here?" He said slowly, as if he did not hear Rumi right the first time.

Taking the fact that Izuku had not immediately shot the idea down as a good sign, Rumi forged ahead and nodded emphatically.

"Yeah, why not?" She said with a small spark of hope flaring in her chest. "You won't have to pay for a hotel room, and you can also stop camping out in your office. I mean you already come here on a daily basis, you might as well just kill two birds with one stone and crash here for a few weeks."

"Well...you make a good point…" Izuku said as he furrowed his brow in thought. "Where would I sleep?"

Her heart beating faster, Rumi did her best to hide the happy smile threatening to appear on her face. "Oh you can just crash in the living room. I mean it's not like I ever have guests coming through. I am also pretty sure I have a futon tucked away somewhere that you can use."

"Or you could just sleep in my bed...with me…" Rumi mentally added.

Nodding in understanding, Izuku said a series of words that almost made Rumi jump for joy.

"I wouldn't be a bother?" He asked carefully.

Waving away Izuku's concern, Rumi grinned as she spoke. "Oh you would be fine Izuku. Just think of it as a way of me paying you back for putting up with my stubborn ass."

Pausing for a few seconds, Izuku finally let out a defeated sigh. "Well...I guess I am in no position to turn down a good offer like that."

Giving Rumi a smile that made her heart skip a beat, Izuku straightened up and adjusted his tie.

"Thanks Rumi, I owe you one."

Resisting the urge to cheer in celebration, Rumi nodded happily. "No problem Izuku. After all, what is the point of having a partner if you can't rely on them from time to time?"

The rest of the day passed quickly. While Izuku went to retrieve his personal items from his office, Rumi raced to the nearest store that sold futons and bought the best looking one. Less than a minute after she had set up the new futon on the living room floor, Izuku returned with a standard military duffel full of his clothes and belongings. After getting his sleeping area in order, Izuku had immediately reverted back to work mode and spent the rest of the afternoon working on his laptop and filling Rumi in on various pieces of information.

Now the sun was beginning to set, and Rumi was loitering around in the kitchen pretending to read some files while keeping an eye on her unfairly handsome partner.

Finally closing his laptop and standing up, Izuku stretched his arms up briefly before turning to look at Rumi.

"Alright, finished the paperwork for today." He said in a satisfied manner. "I'm gonna go change, you have anything in mind for dinner?"

Broken out of her daze, Rumi floundered as she tried to pretend like she actually knew how to cook. "Oh! Right, food. Umm...I was actually meaning to go to the grocery store. Damn, looks like I will just have to heat up some microwave food. Sorry. We could also order out if you want?"

"Yeah sure, the grocery store." Izuku said teasingly with a knowing grin on his face. "You and I both know that you basically live off prepared meals and takeout."

Trying to look offended, Rumi crossed her arms defiantly. "Oh yeah? Well I bet you are the same way! I mean when you have jobs like ours it is a pain in the ass to come home and cook something after a long day at work."

Chuckling, Izuku nodded in agreement. "You do have a point. Okay, let's just order some food for delivery. However, tomorrow I am going to teach you how to cook a few basic meals."

As Izuku walked away to change, Rumi silently pumped her fist in excitement. A cooking lesson taught by Izuku? Sign her right up!

"God, I am really crushing on him hard aren't I?" Rumi thought to herself.

Quickly ordering some pizza from the food delivery app on her phone, Rumi nearly squealed in delight when Izuku returned.

Wearing gray sweatpants and a faded JSDF shirt, Izuku somehow managed to make even dull clothes look good. Combine that with his short but curly green hair and handsome face, you had a recipe to make one hell of a tasty visual treat.

Realizing she was staring, Rumi fought to keep her cheeks from blushing as she used her bionic hand to discreetly fix her long white hair.

"Pizza will be here in ten minutes." She said. "Sooo...what do ya wanna do?"

Sitting down on the couch, Izuku shrugged as he gazed out the nearby window at the bustling city below. "Honestly, I have no clue. Most of my free time is either spent training or reading books. Should we try watching a movie?"

Unsure if Izuku was cognizant that he was suggesting a classic date idea, Rumi eagerly nodded in agreement before he could change his mind.

"Yeah that sounds like fun. Lemme change real fast then we can pick a movie!"

Racing back to her room, Rumi changed out of her hero outfit and examined her selection of clothes. If she was going to try to move their relationship forward she needed to go on the offensive.

Putting on a sky blue shirt that loosely hung off one shoulder and a black leggings that clung to her like a second skin, Rumi dug through her drawers in search of something specific. A while back some beauty company had tried bribing her with a variety of gifts in an effort to get her to promote their products. Needless to say, Rumi was more concerned with kicking criminal ass at the time and had dumped all the feminine beauty products into the back of one of her drawers and promptly forgot about them.

Her hand closing around a triangular bottle, Rumi eagerly pulled the bottle of perfume out and examined the label. It was pink with some fancy french name that Rumi had no idea how to pronounce, but it smelled nice (like oranges) and that was all that mattered. Spraying a few gentle puffs on her neck, Rumi put the perfume back in the drawer and went over to her mirror. Quickly making sure that her hair was in order, Rumi took a steadying breath and exited her room.

Walking back to the living room, Rumi grinned as she saw Izuku with two boxes of pizza in hand.

"I will say, these pizzas must be high-quality based on how good they smell." Izuku said hungrily as he put the pizzas down on the table.

Nodding in agreement, Rumi grabbed some paper plates from a kitchen drawer and handed one to Izuku.

"Of course they are." She stated bluntly. "Did you think I just ate shitty pizza from convenience stores or something? I mean, I may not know how to cook, but I do know the difference between good and bad food."

Holding up his hands in mock surrender, Izuku grinned as he opened one of the pizza boxes and took a slice of still hot pizza. "Either way, I am starving. What kind of movie do you want to watch?"

Shrugging uncaringly, Rumi watched as Izuku took a seat on the lone couch and picked up the TV remote.

"I dunno, have any good action movies come out recently?" She asked curiously.

Izuku scrolled through the various on-demand movies as he spoke. "I think I heard one of my co-workers talking about some kind of action sci-fi movie. Lots of fighting with lasers and stuff."

Taking three pizza slices for herself, Rumi slowly walked over to the couch and planned her next move. "That sounds fine, I have not watched a sci-fi movie in a long time."

Izuku eventually found the movie in question, and as Rumi sat down on the other end of the couch he pressed the play button.

The premise of the movie was interesting at least. A teenager is granted otherworldly powers when he stumbles upon an alien temple and travels around the galaxy with a rag-tag group of underdogs. There was even a sub-plot involving a childhood friend who acted like a total dick to the protagonist, but by the end of the movie it was revealed that the childhood friend had been in love with the protagonist the entire time.

When the movie had first started, Rumi had kept to her end of the couch and quickly ate her fill of pizza. But as the movie went on, she slowly inched closer to the seemingly oblivious Izuku, and by the time the movie was half over she was right next to her handsome partner. At first Rumi was worried that her movement would be noticed, but Izuku had become thoroughly engrossed in the movie and was completely unaware of his partner's actions.

As the movie reached its climax, Rumi made her move.

With explosions and lasers flying across the screen, Rumi slowly leaned her bare shoulder against Izuku and hoped that he would not pull away.

Thankfully it seemed Izuku had become enraptured by the movie, and by the time the movie ended Rumi had pressed herself against her partner and rested her head against his muscular shoulder.

As the credits began to roll across the screen Rumi felt Izuku flinch slightly as he finally realized how close she had gotten.

Speaking in a strained voice, Izuku remained frozen in place as Rumi grinned happily.

"So w-what did y-you think of the m-movie?" He stuttered slowly.

"It was actually not that bad." Rumi said truthfully. "I liked the part where the kid reunited with his childhood friend, it was pretty cute."

Nodding silently, Izuku flinched again as Rumi yawned and slightly nuzzled his shoulder.

"Umm...d-did you want t-to watch another movie?" Izuku asked in a quiet and nervous voice.

Deciding to take mercy on the flustered man, Rumi sat up and stretched in such a way that showed off her curves to Izuku.

"I think I am gonna go to bed." She said with a sly smirk on her face. "We got work tomorrow after all."

As Izuku nodded stiffly, Rumi stood up and picked up her empty plate.

"But we should do this again, it was fun." Rumi said honestly. "G'night Izuku."

As she walked past her partner, Rumi gave in to temptation and playfully ran a hand through his hair.

God damn that was satisfying!

Forcing herself not to look back, Rumi threw away her plate and sauntered off to her room. Closing her door, Rumi slumped against the wall with a giddy smile on her face.

"Holy shit! Is this what a date feels like?! I could get addicted to this." She thought to herself. "Now the ball is in his court. Hopefully he gets the hint, but if he keeps on being dense then I guess I will just have to be even more aggressive."

With a warm smile never leaving her face, Rumi jumped into bed and buried herself under the blankets. As she drifted off to sleep, Rumi's head was filled with scenarios where she finally managed to muster up the courage to confess to Izuku.

An unknown amount of time later, Rumi was woken by her enhanced hearing picking up strange noises. Listening intently, Rumi frowned when all that met her ears was silence. Convinced that it was simply noise from the people living below her, Rumi closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, Rumi heard the strange noises again. Sitting up in her bed, Rumi closed her eyes as she focused solely on trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. Opening her eyes, Rumi slowly got out of bed and crept over to the door.

The noise was coming from somewhere else in the apartment.

Carefully cracking open the door to her room, Rumi looked around the darkened hallway. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, Rumi crept out of her room and was about to investigate the training room when she heard the noise again.

Someone was talking, and it sounded like it was coming from the living room.

Equal parts curious and cautious, Rumi slowly inched down the hallway until she could see out into the living room. In the darkness, Rumi could see the shadowy form of Izuku sleeping on the futon tossing and turning as he muttered to himself.

Slowly walking over, Rumi listened intently as Izuku continued to mutter softly. Most of it was undecipherable gibberish, but there were a few snippets that Rumi could understand.

"Please mom...I'm sorry.." Izuku slurred sleepily. "No...evac now...dont...dont.."

Unsure of what to do, Rumi frowned worriedly as she watched her partner toss and turn. As his hands reflexively clenched and droplets of sweat ran down Izuku's grimacing face, he continued to twitch and flinch like someone was beating him.

It was clear that whatever Izuku was dreaming about, it was not good. Wanting to help the haunted man, Rumi knelt down and reached out to gently touch his shoulder.

"Izuku...wake u-"

Rumi was cut off as Izuku suddenly burst into motion and tackled her to the floor. Before Rumi could even get a single word out, Izuku's hands were wrapped tightly around her neck in a vicious stranglehold. Trying to choke out words, Rumi looked up to see Izuku's eyes open in a blind panic, his eyes fully dilated in terror as he growled like a man possessed.

Even as her vision began to fade, Rumi could not bring herself to hurt the man she loved.

Just as she was about to pass out, Rumi felt the iron grip around her neck loosen. Sucking in a desperate breath of air, Rumi looked up to see a bewildered and terrified Izuku looking down at her in shock.

"R-rumi?"

Finally realizing what he was doing, Izuku flinched backwards like he had been poked with a burning hot iron. "Oh g-god! Im sorry! I-I-I…"

Clearly still disoriented, Izuku sat down heavily and looked at his hands like they were covered in an innocent child's blood.

Bursting into tears, Izuku buried his face in his hands as he sobbed in agony.

Immediately getting to her feet, Rumi ignored the painful bruises around her neck and rushed to kneel next to her partner.

"Izuku, it's okay!" She said worriedly. "It was just a bad dream! Please calm down!"

Either unable to respond or simply ashamed of what he had done, Izuku stayed silent as he hyperventilated in between bouts of tears.

Determined to help in any way she could, Rumi wrapped her arms around the pain-filled man and hugged him tightly. "It's okay Izuku." She whispered comfortingly. "I am not mad, I promise. Everything is okay."

Sagging like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on his shoulders, Izuku suddenly hugged Rumi like she was a piece of driftwood in a storm tossed sea. Burying his head into Rumi's shoulder, Izuku sobbed in pure emotional suffering as he unsuccessfully tried to form coherent words.

Gently stroking her partner's hair, Rumi held Izuku close and wondered just what exactly he had been dreaming about.

- A/N -

- Happy New Year, may your future be full of good fortune and happiness. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting my story.