Our New Roommate

by 3PeopleInACoat

U.A. plans to change up the dorm system to boarding houses for their students, but an altercation with two older students destroys Izuku Midoriya's room, leaving him to room with the girls of Class 1B for the next few weeks until his room is repaired. During that time, the girls realize that Izuku is a bit underappreciated ...

25. For the Man Who Has Everything

"Holy shit , Parsley! What is all this?!"

The girls had taken a single step into the house on Friday, closed the door behind them, and immediately felt their jaws hit the floor in shock. Izuku, meanwhile, let out a weak chuckle as he nervously scratched his cheek, glancing at his work on the table. On the kitchen table was a lot - and, as the girl's eyes blew wider and wider, that meant a lot - of food waiting for them. From sushi to unagi to tempura to yakitori to onigiri to sashimi, it looked like Izuku had made food for twenty people instead of eight, and from the sound of the ticker on the oven, there might still be more on the way. From the practically heavenly smell wafting over to them, almost making Ibara drop her backpack due to how hungry she was, this was pretty much one of the most beautiful things any of the girls had ever seen.

Izuku himself was standing near the table, wearing a flowery apron that usually belonged to Ibara overtop his kanji t-shirt and a pair of shorts. He wiped off a bit of sweat from his forehead after cooking their dinner in a hot kitchen all afternoon, and was sure to give them a smile, albeit an unsure one as though not sure what to make of their reactions. Speaking of the girls' reactions, Itsuka was staring wide eyed and jaw dropped at the table's contents; Pony felt her backpack slip from her fingers and land on the floor with a thud; and Yui, the hungriest and most exhausted of the girls gathered, looked like she was about ten seconds from kissing him on the spot.

The girls had just gotten back from their exam, feeling exhausted but ecstatic that they'd all passed with flying colors and made their way back to the house in high spirits. The test had combined a long, written exam that made Setsuna want to throw herself out the window, and a long physical that had taken up the better part of the afternoon, going from lunchtime to dinner. The girls were so exhausted they hadn't even showered yet, or changed out of their hero costumes. So, to Izuku, it was a little humorous to see seven heroines in their pro hero costumes covered in dried mud looking at him like he had just produced this food from under a white sheet like a magician. Of course, now that Izuku had gotten a good look at their shocked faces that hadn't changed at all in the last twenty seconds, he felt a little nervousness overcome him - he wasn't sure if they would actually appreciate this after all, since it was - well, a lot of food.

"Er - well -" He let out a small cough, "I was ... well, I got ... pretty bored today since I didn't have school, and I thought - well, I knew how tired you guys would be after the exam, since I was the one who took it yesterday, and - and I thought I'd pay you guys back for - y'know, having my own dinner party yesterday -"

"Midori, we bought you a large pizza!" Kinoko finally gasped out, still staring in surprise at the table. "This - this is like you're expecting the prime minister over for dinner!"

"You didn't make this by yourself, did you?" Ibara asked in worry, glancing at the kitchen and seeing a little bit of a mess on the counter. "It's a lot of food to make on your own, Midoriya."

"N-no, Uraraka and Hadou-senpai helped me, they left around ten minutes ago," Izuku could feel a lot of his confidence start to slip, glancing unsurely at the girls. "It's ... not too much, is it?"

"No, no, this isn't too much! Not at all!" Ibara quickly turned back to assure him, trying to smile. "It's ... just a surprise, is all! Thank you, Midoriya."

" Yeah !" Pony nodded, smiling up at him as well and balling her fists. "You really went plus ultra for us! Thanks!"

"Indeed," Reiko nodded, stepping forward and giving the table an approving nod, "this is exactly what we needed after the exhaustion from today. Thank you, Midoriya."

"Don't take this the wrong way," Yui said bluntly, "but I'm so happy to see this food, I'm three seconds from shoving you onto the couch and making out with you."

Naturally, that made Izuku sputter with a blush, flailing his arms around while the girls giggled at his reaction. After he had calmed down a little bit, he was more than happy to set the table for them and get the rest of their dinner out of the oven while they went and took a quick shower, the girls running up to their rooms, grabbing their gym clothes, and coming back down to shower as quickly as they could so they could eat while the food was still warm. Once they were out and refreshed after pretty much rolling around in dirt and mud all day, fighting robots and saving the volunteers from the Help Us Company all by themselves (a task that was almost impossible to do flawlessly due to the HUC's very watchful and experienced eye), they got to sit down and enjoy the dinner that Izuku, Ochako and Nejire prepared for them, practically groaning with delight as they thanked Izuku for the meal and dug in.

"So Uraraka was here today? And Hadou-senpai?" Pony asked while stuffing some teriyaki in her mouth, savoring the taste. "Strange, I thought they would be like - totally going on a date today. I think this is the first time they actually came over, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I - well, I'm not used to days off," Izuku admitted sheepishly, grinning while the other girls gave him a look that expressed that they weren't surprised by that - he was an energetic guy, after all, "so I had the idea that - well, since you guys bought me pizza last night, and celebrated when I passed the exam, I thought that I would make something for you guys, to show my appreciation. That's, er, why we had so much on the list when we went shopping - I wanted to have a big night with you guys. They, uh, swung by when I was making some of the stuff, and they volunteered to help out!"

"Oh good, I thought you cooked all of the food in the house for us, I was going to say," Kinoko hummed, enjoying her mushroom soup he made (not as good as hers, but still delicious) while everyone laughed a bit, and tried not to glance at each other while thinking that they had that same fear briefly. "So, those two are close to you, huh? I mean, I know Uraraka is, obviously, but Hadou-senpai's surprising!"

"Well ..." Izuku smiled softly, "Hadou-senpai knows that Uraraka and I are close, so whenever we see each other, she always dotes on me. She's like - a very energetic, happy older sister."

"Oh? 'Dotes', huh?" Setsuna grinned. "Are you sure she's not jealous at all? Like 'How dare my beloved girlfriend hang out with this dude, I need to keep an extra close eye on him!'" As she said that, though, she then suddenly remembered something that she had forgotten to do yesterday, and went to pull out her phone.

"No," Izuku was surprisingly confident with that answer while shaking his head, his smile not leaving his face, "Hadou-senpai told me herself, she just ... doesn't feel jealous around me, for some reason. Like - there's other times she's been jealous if Uraraka gets a little too close to other people, but strangely, not with me."

"Hm," Ibara raised an eyebrow, curious about that and wanting to ask - she didn't know Nejire enough to gauge how Nejire would not be jealous of Izuku at all, seeing as he was Ochako's closest friend - but before she could ask, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She glanced down, and pulled out her phone to see the group chat update, not really listening as everyone continued to chat around her.

IZUKU'S BDAY

Dinosmashhas added Nejire Hadou

NEJIRE HADOU

ooooooh! new group chat!

izuku's birthday?

izuku midoriya?

i didn't know it was his birthday!

or is it coming up

or did it just happen

did i miss it

i should've wished him a happy birthday when i saw him today

GRAVITY QUEEN

no babe you didn't miss it lol

it's coming up in two days

the fifteenth

NEJIRE HADOU

oooooooooh!

i got the fifteenth off!

i can come wish him a happy birthday!

DINOSMASH

ye we were just talking about you hadou-senpai, and we forgot that you and parsley hang out so i thought to add you to the chat

welcome btw

this is the planning parsley birthday group chat

NEJIRE HADOU

yay!

also parsley (¬‿¬)

is that your nickname for him

like how ochako calls him deku

DINOSMASH

ye

Nejire Hadou has changed her nickname to ?Senpai?

SPEEDY GONZALES

Ah, yes, welcome Hadou-senpai! It's very nice to have you in this group. Just to clarify, this will be the group chat that we use exclusively to plan Midoriya's surprise birthday party. We all have our designated roles, so I hope that we can fit you in!

?SENPAI?

oooh

ochako

i think i know what to give midoriya for his birthday

GRAVITY QUEEN

(ﾟヮﾟ ) go for it

?SENPAI?

threesome

YOU

NO

DINOSMASH

NO

SHROOMS

NO

SPEEDY GONZALES

Hadou-senpai! That's not appropriate!

SHOUTO

...

GRAVITY QUEEN

BABE NO? ﾟﾘﾱ?ￂﾠ

?SENPAI?

i'm kidding, i'm kidding!

i know that midoriya wouldn't want that

at least

not with us

GRAVITY QUEEN

BABE

SHUSH THE HELL UP

PLS I LOVE YOU BUT SHUSH

?SENPAI?

why tho?

i'm pretty sure we've talked about them, right?

GRAVITY QUEEN

NOT IN THIS GROUP CHAT!

in our group chat yes but not this one!

DINOSMASH

ooh?

what are you two discussing in your group chat

GRAVITY QUEEN

nothing!

SHOUTO

is it about midoriya?

?SENPAI?

yes!

GRAVITY QUEEN

NO!

SHOUTO

hm

is it about midoriya and the 1b girls?

?SENPAI?

oooh!

you're smart, todoroki!

GRAVITY QUEEN

BABE

PLS

TODOROKI

HUSH

YOU

hm

why are you discussing us and midoriya in the other group chat uraraka?

SHROOMS

?

DINOSMASH

i'm curious too (¬‿¬)

you guys talking about us

GRAVITY QUEEN

guys

pls

i will explain when i eventually see you

but not

in

this

GROUP CHAT

SHOUTO

hm

GRAVITY QUEEN

todoroki if you say anything else i will tell them about what you did at the resort

i was in the room next door i know

SHOUTO

shutting up now

"Ahem."

Ibara, Setsuna and Kinoko jumped a little, looking up from their phones to see the rest of the table looking at them in amusement.

"Sorry," Itsuka said in a sweetly sarcastic voice, "but no phones at the table while we're eating, please."

"Sorry about that, Mom, got distracted by something on my phone." Setsuna chuckled, putting her phone away, and then said in a low voice, glaring to the side, "Bringing Hadou-senpai into this was a mistake."

"... yes." Ibara muttered, still pouting, "Yes, it was."

"A-anyway," Izuku said weakly, trying to get back on topic while not hearing what the two other green haired roommates were muttering, "I - I guess since everyone has their licenses, that means that we're all good to work on our own, now! Since we passed the exam and everything."

"Yeah, no pro supervision necessary ," Itsuka nodded, staring at her plate when she addressed him and yet still noticing out of the corner of her eye that he went a bit stiff when she addressed him, "so just remember what we said would happen if you use this as an excuse to overwork yourself."

"Getting thrown across the campus," Izuku nodded, not looking at her at all while going mildly red, "I know."

"Good," Itsuka nodded, still staring at her plate and also going a bit red.

This lack of eye contact between them, of course, was immediately picked up on by all the other girls, raising their eyebrows while glancing back and forth between the two. It was pretty obvious albeit unsaid by everyone that something had to have gone down between those two, seeing as neither of them had been able to look each other in the eye at all yesterday and this morning when they had left for school, but Itsuka was being surprisingly tight-lipped, even more so than usual - so whatever it was, it must've been very embarrassing. Which only made the girls want to know more, but alas, they didn't want to risk accidentally incurring Itsuka's wrath, and also wanted to keep their heads firmly attached to their bodies, so they were content with letting Itsuka stew for a bit and then come to them in due time.

Or she did something else embarrassing, in which case they would drop the pleasantries and interrogate her thoroughly.

After about ten minutes of telling Izuku how they think they did for their exams and criticizing the unfair marks they got, referring to them as needless nitpicking, the dinner passed by with a lot of talking and laughing, the girls relaxing now that the stress of the day was behind them and they had an entire week off to look forward to. Once the plates were empty and the girls leaned back in relaxation, Itsuka and Ibara volunteered to do the dishes, standing up and getting to work on the many plates as Izuku sighed and stretched his arms above his head, lowering one hand to wipe some of the sweat off his forehead.

"Whew," he chuckled, "I kinda stink after being in the kitchen all day. I need a shower."

He moved to get up, stretching his back out while grunting softly - unaware that the girls suddenly sat up at attention when he said those four magical words. Itsuka was quick to look at Setsuna, gesturing with her head subtly, and the green-haired girl nodded, suddenly professional. As Izuku moved to start climbing the stairs towards his room, Setsuna detached her hand, and quickly flew it over to pinch its fingers on his shirt - subtly and carefully enough that he didn't notice as he went up the stairs to get his stuff for the shower. She also was sure to dethatch her eye, sending it up with them to make sure she knew where her hand was going.

As they heard his footsteps gradually fade away, Itsuka glanced at the other girls, nodding.

"Okay," she spoke in a low voice, turning on the sink just to be safe in case Izuku was somehow able to overhear them as she gave the instructions, "this is our only chance. Wait until he gets in the shower, and we'll move."

The other girls nodded, and, acting as though they had trained weeks for this rather than discussing it between each other yesterday, pulled out their phones and scrolled through their group chats and social media, pretending to be busy when Izuku came down. They glanced at the group chat, and narrowed their eyes at the word 'threesome', ignoring feelings of jealousy and annoyance, and planned to interrogate Ochako on just what she and Nejire talked about in the two girls' own private group chat (the fact that Ochako was discussing them and Izuku made them all suspicious). Meanwhile, Setsuna's eye upstairs saw Izuku enter his room, about to close the door behind him, and quickly sent her hand flying underneath his bed, tiptoeing silently until it was in the clear, and moved her eye back downstairs to be reunited with the rest of her.

About two minutes later, when Izuku finally came back downstairs, he glanced over at the girls, seeing Itsuka and Ibara washing the last of the dishes, and the other girls playing on their phones, chatting lightly. He was, of course, unaware that Setsuna was hiding her stump from him by putting her 'hand' in her pocket, humming as she read through their group chat while leaning on the counter beside Itsuka. Whistling a tune to himself, Izuku moved around the corner to get in the showers, walking down the hall to the bathroom.

He was, of course, unaware of seven pairs of eyes carefully watching his back as he disappeared around the corner, listening hard as he entered the showers and closed the door behind him.

"Now?" Pony whispered.

"No," Itsuka quickly shook her head, staring after Izuku as though he were listening around the corner. "Just ... wait for it ..."

For a few seconds, they waited in tense silence - until they heard the sound of the shower turning on.

"Go!" Itsuka immediately and quietly commanded, and the five girls jumped up from their positions, Ibara turning off the sink, and as fast and silently as they could, made their way up the stairs. Setsuna sent her ear soaring down the hallway to press against the door, intending to listen in to Izuku in case he cut his shower early. Pony, knowing that her hooves would clop against the hardwood floor and make it obvious she was moving quickly upstairs, allowed Ibara to wrap her vines around her waist and lift her up, who had agreed earlier to carry her upstairs as they headed for the top floor.

"See, I knew Parsley would lock his door again!" Setsuna shook her head, using her hand upstairs to feel around for the door handle. "The boy probably has porno mags up there that he wants to protect!"

"Or he just likes his privacy," Yui shrugged, "but the second one is also fun to think about."

"Guys, we're not after porno mags!" Itsuka lightly reprimanded them, nodding at Ibara to put Pony down now that she was sure they were far enough away that Izuku couldn't hear them, and quickly rounded the other corner to head up the stairs. "We're going to go in, get the pictures, and get out. No looking for porn."

"Damn," Yui muttered in disappointment.

"Don't worry," Reiko shook her head, "you wouldn't find anything anyway. Porn's mostly online now, so you'd need to search his history."

"Unless he goes incognito when he needs to jack off?"

"... I mean, I could check his browser history, I don't think he would lock his laptop …"

"Guys!" Itsuka snapped. "Concentrate!"

"Yes, please, let's not get distracted by that debauchery." Ibara shook her head.

Finally, they reached the upstairs room on the fifth floor, and Setsuna let out a satisfied "Ha!" when she felt her hand on the doorknob, and twisted the slide to unlock it. She then opened the door and reattached her arm, and as quickly as they could, the girls went into Izuku's room, pulling out their phones.

"Pony, take the closet!" Itsuka quickly commanded. "Yui, the desk! Set, the laptop! We'll take pictures of the rest of his stuff. Izuku's showers only take about five minutes now, we'll need to be quick!""

The other girls nodded quickly, and began snapping pictures of Izuku's All Might collection, making sure that they took pictures of each and every piece of merchandise. Pony went into the closet, lifting up his sweaters one by one and snapping some pics, while Ibara took pictures of the posters on the wall. Itsuka, Kinoko and Reiko took pictures of the All Might bobble-heads and pop figures. Setsuna went to his computer and snapped a few pictures of the screen, thankful that he forgot to lock it so that she could look at his wish lists to make sure he wasn't purchasing anything or had anything on the way, while Yui closed some of his notebooks subtly to look at the covers, snapping pictures.

Downstairs, Setsuna felt her eyes widen when she heard the shower turn off.

"Shit! He's done early!"

"Good enough! We got what we need! Let's go to my room!" Itsuka commanded, and the girls immediately and subtly tried to make their tracks unknown - Pony shut the closet door carefully, Yui remade the desk, and Setsuna brought her ear back upstairs while closing out the tabs she had been looking at and deleted the search history of the last five minutes, just to be safe. She detached her eye and hand again, and the girls quickly made themselves scarce, running down to the nearest floor. Setsuna's disembodied parts closed the door, shut off the light, and floated right over to the window, sliding it open, moving outside, and then closing it carefully, trying not to leave obvious handprints reflected in the setting sun, and floated down to be let in Itsuka's room by Pony.

Downstairs, Izuku blinked as he stepped back into the common room, seeing absolutely no one there. He glanced around, and saw no one sitting on the couch or in the chair, or on the porch or outside. He also glanced into the sink, not really knowing why, and saw that all the plates from dinner had been cleaned and were still wet from the wash.

"Huh," he shrugged, shutting off the lights left on and moving to the stairs, "everyone must've wanted to go to bed early."

On the fourth floor, everyone let out tired gasps of air as they settled down, Yui laying on Itsuka's bed, Ibara sitting on the chair, Setsuna and Reiko sitting on the bed, and Itsuka, Pony and Kinoko sitting on the couch. Just to be safe, they had left the light off until they heard Izuku's footsteps pass them, still feeling a little tense for some reason, and listened as he moved up to his room, hearing his door unlock with his key, and then open and close. Once they were sure he was upstairs in his room, they all let out sighs of relief and felt themselves slack, the tension from the last two minutes leaving them.

"Can you tell me ..." Ibara gasped for air, rubbing her chest, "why did we have to run to do this?"

"This was the only opportunity we had," Itsuka shook her head, checking her phone and nodding, "how else were we going to get in there unless it was right under his nose?"

"Still," Pony bounced in her seat slightly, grinning widely, "that was awesome! Like super spy mode !"

The reason they had done such a strange thing, of course, was due to the fact that they were now two days away from Izuku's birthday, and they had no idea what they were going to get him. The first thought that went through their minds was 'All Might' until they realized it was very possible that anything they might buy him All Might-related, he might already own. So they had quickly made the plan yesterday that, at the first sign of Izuku off by himself, they'd go into his room, photograph everything that he had, and when they headed to the mall tomorrow, they would shop for his gifts. It was very lucky that Itsuka had gotten Vlad King to approve their visit to the mall at a very short notice, the teacher still wondering how she got pictures of him doting on his bulldog and why she was threatening to post them to the internet and ruin his reputation as a tough as nails hero.

After she got that approval, they would've gone into Izuku's room yesterday while he was at his exam, but Setsuna had discovered he locked his door for some reason ("Damn it, Parsley!" Setsuna had cursed, "Why would you lock your door?! We had no reason to go into your room until now!") so they had to quickly make a plan and wait. And now here they were, relaxing in Itsuka's room while she pulled out her laptop and brought up several hero stores at the mall they planned to visit tomorrow, to compare the images she had on her phone to the merchandise they had in store.

Twenty minutes later though, they weren't feeling very encouraged by the look on Itsuka's face as she clicked on another store, sighing as she continued comparing the various posters and toys they had while glancing at her phone, the pictures from the other girls being sent to her, and then let out a defeated grunt as she closed the laptop sharply.

"So ...?" Ibara asked, already knowing the answer.

"It's like I thought," Itsuka grumbled, tucking her laptop underneath the couch and slumping back, "if it's All Might-themed, he already has it, or they're out of stock."

All the girls let out groans, pouting and crossing their arms while Itsuka rubbed a hand against her face, obviously frustrated that their Plan A didn't work out at all.

"Crap," Setsuna leaned back, glaring at the ceiling, "so if we can't get him an All Might thing, that means we have to start over from scratch again."

"It was a foolish plan anyway," Reiko shook her head, pouting, "just buying him some merchandise wasn't going to be a sincere gift anyway."

"But we are two days away," Yui reminded her, "and as nice as it is to get him something sentimental, we don't exactly have a lot of time. We can't order anything online either, since it'll probably come too late. We don't exactly have a lot of time left until the big day."

"Well, we don't have a choice now," Itsuka shook her head, tapping her fingers against her face, "unless anyone else has a bright idea." Yui looked around, interested, until she clarified, "Nothing sex related - we can't exactly offer ourselves up with the girls from 1A and Iida and Todoroki and Eri in the room."

"Damn."

"Darn," Reiko pouted, folding her arms, "if that had been an option to start with, I would have offered."

"Should I be jealous?" Kinoko joked, smirking at her girlfriend. "It sounds like you wanna have sex with Midori. Are you threatening to break my little heart?"

"Are you saying you wouldn't do the exact same thing?"

"... touché."

After a few chuckles from Reiko and Kinoko's banter, and a bit of relief that they could joke around about that topic now instead of getting angry, the girls leaned back against their seats, trying to think about what to get Izuku for his birthday, getting lost in their thoughts. Eventually, as about a minute went by, and everyone continued to try to brainstorm what would be an acceptable gift to the boy they were all crushing on, Reiko blinked to herself, suddenly having a thought come to her.

"A sword."

"Huh?" Kinoko turned to her girlfriend. "What about a sw-? Oh."

"Yes," Reiko nodded, feeling more certain about it as she leaned forward, "there's a store in the mall that sells katanas and other similar blades as souvenirs. I've bought a few from them before. I think I can purchase a sword for him for his birthday."

"A sword?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Izuku doesn't really ... come across as a sword guy."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Kinoko grumbled, shaking her head, "they have their nerd talks about swords all the time. He thinks they're cool."

"You two can talk about various types of mushrooms," Reiko snarked, "and we can talk about various types of swords. And yes, that's what I think I'm going to do."

"Hmmm ..." Ibara thought to herself briefly, and then nodded. "I believe I understand. And I have a suggestion."

"Oh?"

"Indeed. So what I'm thinking is ... we don't want to just give Izuku something meaningless, like a piece of merchandise. Like we just went into some random store, thought 'oh, he'd think this was cool', and gave it to him for his birthday. We all want to give Izuku something sentimental, something that emphasizes that our time together was meaningful. So what if we all got him gifts that reflect in the activities we did together? For example, he and I garden. I think I'll choose something that is garden or botanical themed."

"Huh ... so in that line of thought," Itsuka thought to herself, "something motorcycle related - or sparring? Something along those lines."

The other girls leaned forward slightly, thinking to themselves about what they've done with Izuku, and something relating to that to get him for his birthday, and one by one, they nodded, smiles coming to their faces as they knew what they wanted to give him.

"Alright," Setsuna nodded, standing up and stretching. "So we got our game plan! We'll go to the mall tomorrow with Vlad King's pass, shop for Parsley, and be back here to wrap them up tonight. Then, once the big day comes, we'll have someone distract him for the day, and the 1A girls will come over to help decorate. Todoroki and Iida texted earlier, by the way, and they said that they ordered the cake for pick up the morning of, and Iida will also get Eri. All we need to do now is give Parsley the excuse about where we're going - wait a sec," she blinked suddenly, realizing something, "what are we telling Parsley we're doing tomorrow?"

"Huh?" Pony wrinkled her brow. "What do you mean?"

"Like - what are we telling Parsley we're doing? We can't tell him we're going to go shopping for him, he'll realize we're shopping for his birthday. So what are we telling him?"

The other girls stared at Setsuna for a moment, and then at each other.

"I, er ..." Ibara cleared her throat, "I hadn't actually thought about it - I was more frightened of getting into his room to really consider what we were telling him we were doing."

"Well ..." Setsuna bit her lip, "I guess we could - but wait, then he'd wonder why we're not bringing him with us. But if we tell him we're going to the mall, or watching a movie - wait, no, then he'd definitely feel excluded. I ... shit."

Kinoko and Reiko blinked, looking around to Setsuna as she stared blankly at the wall, a frown on her face.

"Er ... what is it?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow.

"I just realized," Setsuna sighed, leaning forward with a pout, "there's nothing we can tell Parsley that he won't see through. And we can't tell him that we're just randomly going to the mall to go on a shopping trip, because he'll get suspicious anyway. And Parsley told us yesterday that he didn't want us to celebrate his birthday."

"Yeah ...?" Pony still looked a bit confused.

"So Parsley says he doesn't want us to celebrate his birthday, and literally two days later we're going on some surprise shopping trip without him?" Setsuna sighed again, leaning back on the bed while shaking her head, "Parsley's a little dense, but he's not stupid. He'll realize what we're doing."

"... shit!" Itsuka cursed, realizing that Setsuna was right. "If he sees us go off shopping a day before his birthday, he'll catch on. He'll tell us it's not a big deal again, and I swear to god if he tells us that one more time, I'm going to throw him across the campus."

"Then - what do we do?" Kinoko wondered, looking around in worry. "We can't just go off and leave him alone, he'll connect the dots! Do - do we bring him with us?"

"No," Reiko shook her head, "he'll definitely realize what we're doing then - and it's not like we can just abandon him when we're there, he'll follow one of us and see what we're doing."

The girls also nodded, and looked down to think to themselves. They knew that if they wanted this to be a surprise, they wouldn't be able to give anything away, but Izuku was a smart guy. If he saw them go off by themselves without him, a day before his birthday, he'd put the pieces together, and not only would the surprise be ruined, he might not even want to celebrate with them. Itsuka sighed as she leaned back on her couch, grumping - and then felt something behind her back.

Blinking in confusion, Itsuka reached behind her and grabbed the lump, and brought it around. She stared blankly down at the t-shirt in her hands, wondering how it got there and not in hamper - until she unfolded it, and stared at the kanji for 'bed sheets' printed on the front.

It was ... Izuku's shirt. How did it get in her room - and then she remembered what they had done last night. Why his shirt would have been off. And why he left it here. She felt heat begin to rise to her cheeks -

- until she blinked again, realizing something.

"T-shirts."

"Huh?" Ibara turned to her, looking confused at the t-shirt in Itsuka's hands. "What is -?"

"Guys," Itsuka felt her grin return to her face, putting the t-shirt on her lap, "Izuku's stupid t-shirts."

---

"I didn't think you guys were really serious about getting me new t-shirts," Izuku pouted as they walked down the sidewalk away from the bus, the boy walking slumped over and following the girls across the parking lot to the open mall. He was dressed in one of his pun t-shirts, which the girls thought he did purposefully today to spite them when Reiko informed him that they'd be going to the mall to give him a 'makeover', along with a pair of black shorts and a white stripe, with his regular red shoes. "They're not that bad, right?"

"No, but you do need to ... well ... I guess for a lack of better terms, spice things up a little," Ibara weakly said, not looking at him in fear that her awful poker face would accidentally give away why they were really at the mall.

The girls had planned this in elaborate detail once Itsuka brought up Izuku's bad pun t-shirts - Setsuna had playfully poked fun at him a few weeks ago by saying that she would drag him to the mall to buy some more fashionable t-shirts, so this was a very lucky opportunity for them. Some of the girls would distract Izuku with clothes shopping, taking him to the other side of the mall to have him play dress up (and shop for themselves while they were at it, just so he didn't get suspicious) while the other girls would go off on their own and start shopping for his birthday, having the official 'Izuku distractors' tell them the gifts that they wanted to buy so that the other girls could grab the items for them and get paid back later.

Once they were sure last night that the coast was clear, they sent Reiko up to his room to invite him, and were very pleased to hear of the success (other than Izuku pouting at them the entire bus trip down to the mall, but he was too cute to really take seriously). Now, all they had to go was go inside, split apart from Izuku without making it too obvious, and leave the official Izuku distractors to do their job and distract them. Itsuka just cursed about how she was volunteered by everyone, and glared at the other girls - they so did that on purpose!

"Alrighty!" Setsuna threw the doors to the mall open, and stood back to let everyone step through, giving them salutes as they walked past her into the mall, "here we are! Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall!"

Izuku glanced around, smiling as they observed the large open roofed mall, seeing several people running around to get their shopping done in time for the weekend. It had been a long time since he'd been here - the last time, he frowned, was when Shigaraki snuck up on him and threatened him, but that was well in the past now. Now he could look forward to a long day of shopping with the girls - as much as he pouted at them and was only slightly insulted by their horrible taste in fashion, the prospect of going shopping with everyone and having fun did appeal to him.

Besides, maybe they could visit a hero store and find some All Might merchandise he didn't have yet. He was certain he had everything, either in his room or back at his mother's apartment, but it was important to make sure nothing new came out.

As they walked properly into the mall, taking some time to look around, the girls shared a silent look and gave brief nods to each other, knowing that now was the time to split. If they wanted to get the shopping for his birthday done as soon as they could so they could disguise their gifts in their other shopping bags, to make sure Izuku didn't notice anything off, they would need to hurry. They quickly made their way to the side as to not get swept up in the crowds, Kinoko and Reiko holding hands while Setsuna quickly moved her and Pony by wrapping her arm around the horse girl's shoulders (and unknowing making Pony blush a bit from the sudden unexpected closeness), and soon, they were standing along the wall on the first floor, Izuku finding himself standing in between Itsuka and Yui, trying hard not to look at the orange-haired girl to his left.

As he looked around, wanting to ask where the girls wanted to go first, Pony suddenly let out a small gasp.

"Oooh!" She pointed, making Izuku jump slightly and the other girls cringe slightly at the obviously stiff way she spoke, "An anime store! I bet they got some merchandise I want!"

"Oh. Yes, indeed." Ibara coughed, and nodded. "Let's - go over there. Now."

"God, you two are awful at acting," Setsuna muttered, shaking her head, but still wrapped her arms around both of their shoulders, and the trio immediately marched off, Setsuna giving the girls a coy grin as she waved at them (Itsuka didn't know if she was just acting it up or being cheeky at voting for her to distract Izuku, both options making her glare at her friend). Izuku blinked, seeing them head away without them, and was about to follow them until Reiko pointed suddenly, making him jump slightly about being almost hit in the face with her hand shooting out.

"Oh, look," she nodded. "A dress shop. I know that I wanted to go shopping for new materials for the new dress I'm working on. Kinoko, want to go take a look?"

"Hell, yeah! We'll see you guys in a bit!" Kinoko threw her hand in the air immediately, and the two girlfriends disappeared into the crowd, eventually fading away from Izuku's sight.

Now he was more than a little confused, staring off at where the five girls disappeared to with a concerned eyebrow raised. So ... they brought him here to shop for new shirts, but then disappeared immediately? Weren't they supposed to take him to some clothes' store and dress him up? What -

"Looks like it's just us now, Izuku," Yui said beside him, and Izuku was jolted out of his brief confusion before it could properly get started, turning to look at the dark haired girl as she stood at attention, nodding. "Let's go upstairs - I know there's a few stores with guy's clothes, I bet we can find you something nice to wear."

"Er - okay," Izuku was still feeling a bit unsure - he felt like there was something going on here that was off, and couldn't really put his finger on it - but he was suddenly distracted when Yui grabbed his hand tightly, her hand warm in his, and began pulling him towards the escalators, Izuku quickly moving with her to avoid being dragged by the stoic girl. Behind him, Itsuka blinked as Yui moved, still not sure how she was supposed to spend an entire day distracting Izuku from everything when she couldn't even look him in the eye. Still, she let out a defeated little sigh, realizing she had no choice since she lost the vote, and quickly moved to follow her two friends and not get swept up in the chaos of the mall.

As they left, they didn't notice five pairs of eyes carefully watching as Yui dragged Izuku onto the escalator, followed by Itsuka, and watched as they went to the second floor, Yui making some casual conversation while Izuku and Itsuka couldn't look each other in the eye as they nodded to whatever she said, and eventually disappeared to the second floor.

"Alright," Reiko nodded, turning to her girlfriend and wrapping her arm around her waist, "sword store first, then your plushy store. I won the rock paper scissors game, after all."

"You did," Kinoko shook her head, still wrapping her arm around her girlfriend's shoulders, "so we mush get over there post haste!"

"One day," Reiko snarked as they started walking off, "you'll come up with a good pun. I'll still hate it, but I believe in you. One day."

As they headed off to the other side of the mall, Pony, Setsuna and Ibara also began moving away, heading towards the anime store. Unlike Kinoko and Reiko's fib about the dress shop, Pony did want to go into the anime store - but not for the reason she said before. She had wanted to grab Izuku something in here, and after that, they would visit the herbal store for Ibara's gift, and then to wherever Setsuna wanted to go. The green haired girl had been tight-lipped about what she wanted to pick up for Izuku, becoming surprisingly flustered when asked, so they had decided to leave it alone so that they could focus on their own shopping, planning to interrogate her later when she picked up her gift from wherever she needed to.

The girls had all last night to think up and be certain about what they wanted to give Izuku for his birthday, wanting to gift him something sentimental that reflected on the time they spent together, and Pony knew exactly what to get Izuku - something a bit funny, but reflective enough that he would appreciate it.

"Got it!" She nodded excitedly as she lifted the object she had been looking at on the internet beforehand in her hands, smiling at it. Ibara also glanced at it, and shrugged.

"Well … I suppose Izuku would like that," She tried to say cheerfully, thinking it would be a good gift - only for Pony to blink at the exact wording, and felt her eyes widen, looking around at her best friend with uncertainty and insecurity.

" It's - it's stupid, isn't it?" She asked, and Ibara paled at her little pout, realizing her mistake. "Like - I thought it'd be nice - but if it's stupid …"

"No, no, it's not stupid!" Ibara quickly waved her hands in the air, trying to assure her best friend and correct her mistake, "it's - I said that wrong, I - I think your gift is awesome!"

"... really?"

"Really!"

Pony pouted at the object in her hands again, obviously thinking, before shaking her head and trying to smile. "R-right. Sorry, Ibara, I - I'm just - I - I think I'm just - well - I think I'm just nervous."

"Nervous?" Ibara blinked, confused as they walked to the front counter, confused, "But whatever for?"

" W -well," Pony glanced away, "it's just - I don't wanna mess this up. This is the - well, the first birthday party I've been to where I really want the gift to be great, and it's - it's for him , so - I was just -"

"... wanted to make sure it's perfect?" Ibara guessed, and smiled softly when Pony gave a timid nod. "I do understand that. And Pony, I do sincerely think that your gift is very nice. Izuku will love it."

Pony glanced at her gift one more time, obviously still thinking, and then let out a small giggle. "Yeah. Yeah! He'll love it! And if he doesn't, I'll kick him with my hooves!"

"W-well, perhaps we shouldn't go that far …"

"I know, I was just joshing ," Pony smiled up at her, and nuzzled her head on Ibara's shoulder. The vine girl let out a little giggle, and used her own head to rub Pony's hair.

"Ahem," Setsuna suddenly cleared her throat behind them, making them jump, and whirl around. "Not to interrupt your cuteness - and by the way, Pony, your gift is awesome - but I think we have a couple of stalkers on us."

Ibara and Pony blinked in confusion, and followed Setsuna's pointing finger - and felt their eyes widen.

"Eek!"

"Oops!"

"Kero!"

Hunched over and looking at them from behind the various anime t-shirts were Ochako, Tsuyu and Momo, looking like they'd been caught stealing from the cookie jar, and very red in the face. They were hunched over very suspiciously too - Momo peeking over from the 'sale' sign, Tsuyu leaning slightly out, her hand on Ochako's head while the brunette hunched over. Ibara and Pony blinked at them, wondering why on earth they were hiding from them, until Ochako glanced around again, as though double checking something, before bringing her hand to her face to whisper-yell.

"Is Deku in here?"

"Deku? Oh!" Ibara suddenly understood. "No, no, he's with Itsuka and Yui, they just went upstairs."

The 1A girls breathed sighs of relief, and quickly moved away from their hiding spot to join the three 1B girls.

"My apologies for startling you," Momo made sure to apologize formally, bowing slightly, "but we wanted to make sure Midoriya didn't catch us all in here - I imagine he'd be more than a little suspicious about why we are here as well."

"So you guys are here for the same thing?" Setsuna asked, leaning against a shelf while smiling at them. "Shopping for Parsley, I mean."

"Er - yeah," Ochako shrugged, smiling slightly, "but we're also here to grab some decoration stuff too, Jirou, Mina and Tooru went to grab something down the hall. Tsuyu wanted to grab a gift for Deku from in here, but then we saw you guys in here, so we weren't sure if he was with you."

"No, no, Yui and Itsuka agreed to be the ones to distract Izuku all day," Ibara assured her, smiling. "And we were just in here to grab Pony's gift, before we moved on to grab the other gifts. Would you like to accompany us? We do have a lot of shopping to do - we're also trying to make sure it doesn't look too suspicious, so we'll be doing some clothes shopping as well."

"That sounds delightful!" Momo clapped her hands together, looking very happy. "I'll text Kyouka and ask to meet up!"

The six girls smiled at each other, looking forward to a little shopping for themselves while getting ready for Izuku's birthday (while Ochako looked sadly at her wallet), and quickly moved to get into line. As they fell in, Setsuna stood beside Ochako, watching as Pony and Tsuyu went to the counter to purchase their items chatting, and gave her a coy grin.

"So."

"Hm?"

"Threesomes?"

Ochako froze for a brief moment, seeing Setsuna's raised eyebrow, before she sagged in defeat. "I'm … really sorry about that. Nejire has no filter. P-plus, she was only joking. We wouldn't actually I mean - we wouldn't - I - oh, man -"

"Chill, girl, I know," Setsuna chuckled, patting her shoulder, before she smirked. "Although, I am curious now what you and your girlfriend chat about concerning us. And Parsley."

"Gerk."

"Weeeell? C'mon!"

"Er - we - uh -"

"Oooh," Setsuna teased, poking Ochako's cheek, and enjoying the little squish, "someone's nervous . C'mon, what is it?"

"... we, er -" Ochako glanced to the side, going a bit red.

"Yeeees?"

"... we were theorizing on how to get some of you guys and Deku together."

At that, a small silence fell between the two girls, Ochako studying her feet, and Setsuna's grin freezing on her face, staring at Ochako in shock.

"... oh."

---

Something was definitely up here.

Izuku frowned as he buttoned up the shirt in the changing room, glancing at the mirror on the side. Yui and Itsuka had taken him upstairs into a men's clothing store, with the stoic girl picking out a few pieces of clothing, raising them to Izuku's chest to make sure it would look nice or wouldn't contrast with his hair, double checked his size, and then dragged him to the changing area to have him try on the clothes she picked out to see if they were comfortable. During that time, Itsuka would also awkwardly chime in with comments or pointers, which he would agree to while looking at a mannequin. Yui had watched with slightly narrowed eyes as Izuku and Itsuka made light conversation while staring in the completely opposite direction of each other. He had been so nervous about looking at Itsuka, he continued to stare out the window of the store, and could have sworn that he had seen Mina walking along at one point, but before he got a closer look she seemingly disappeared, and he shook his head, thinking that he was just seeing things, and went back to being led around by Yui. Completely unaware of the pink girl hiding behind the nearest pillar, sweating up a storm about almost being caught, while Kyouka and Tooru rolled their eyes while being thankfully out of sight.

But in any case, Izuku pouted as he pulled the jeans up his legs, he was starting to get weirdly suspicious. The girls had joked before about wanting to buy him new clothes that didn't have his puns on them (he still planned to wear them just to spite them), and he should just be surprised that they turned out to be serious about it and took him on a shopping trip, but now, as he was up here alone with Itsuka and Yui, he felt like something was off. The girls had come here to buy him clothes, but then immediately disappeared. It was only Yui and Itsuka with him now. Was ... he missing something? Did they say earlier that they'd be doing their own thing while he was with Yui and he didn't notice? Or ... wait, were they hiding something from him? But what could it be?

Izuku let out a small sigh as he checked his reflection again, making sure that everything was on straight before he headed out. It wasn't like he was unhappy shopping with Yui and Itsuka - he enjoyed the stoic girl's presence immensely, and he did like Itsuka tagging along (even if neither of them could look each other in the eye the entire time) - it was just that he felt like he was missing something, and the suspicion wouldn't go away no matter how many times he tried to dismiss it.

"Okay," he called, "I'm coming out now."

With that, he opened the door, and stepped awkwardly out of the changing room. Itsuka and Yui were sitting on a bench chatting idly, but Yui quickly looked over at him when he announced his entrance to take a look at him in the clothes she picked out while Itsuka turned to study a very fascinating part of the wall near the changing room. Yui let out a small 'ooh' as he raised his arms slightly, blushing as her eyes scanned the black dress shirt, jeans, and belt.

"Very nice," She nodded, and then glanced at Itsuka staring off, narrowing her eyes somewhat. "Don't you agree, Itsuka?"

"U-uh, y-yeah. You - you look great, Izuku."

"O-oh." Izuku nodded quickly, glancing away as well. "T-thank you."

Yui looked between both Izuku and Itsuka, feeling more than a little peeved that neither of them could look at each other. Which would not do - they had a lot of stores to get to, and she did see Mina awkwardly poke her head out from behind the pillar earlier, meaning that the rest of the 1A girls could still be here, and Izuku seeing them because he was too busy avoiding looking at Itsuka might allow him to put the dots together about what was really going on. He surely must've thought something was up by now, and she was very thankful that he was still dense enough he didn't connect 'shopping' with 'my birthday' yet, but she still needed his attention entirely on the two of them. Which, again, wouldn't do if he was too busy glancing away every time Itsuka addressed him.

So ...

"You know," Yui said innocently, "you would definitely know that Izuku looks nice if you actually looked at him."

Itsuka blinked, and then her eyes widened in betrayal, looking at her best friend as though Yui had just casually addressed her awkwardness in front of a live studio audience. Izuku, meanwhile, let out a small squeak, and turned his gaze to the ground, going slightly redder.

"Er - I - yeah." Itsuka let out a small breath, and then robotically, as moving so stiffly Yui was surprised it wasn't making creaking noises, turned her head in Izuku's direction. The boy glanced awkwardly up, and felt himself tense when he and Itsuka finally made direct eye contact, going steadily redder. Meanwhile, Yui, on the side, raised an eyebrow as the two blushed even deeper - which did demand proper investigation by Yui, being a bit tired of Itsuka's awkwardness and just wanting to know what was going on.

"Y-yeah. You - you look great," Itsuka managed to squeak out, going redder and redder. Yui nodded, and stood up, picking up a white t-shirt, sweater and pants from her pile on the side, and walked them over to Izuku.

"These next," she requested, "and then we'll make a decision about which of these two outfits you should buy."

"Er - right." Izuku nodded stiffly, still trying hard not to look at Itsuka, and quickly went back into the changing room, shutting the door a bit harder than he probably meant to. Yui rolled her eyes, and walked back to the bench they were sitting at while Itsuka gave her a small pout, which looked very cute and made Yui almost smile at the adorableness of her anger.

"That was uncalled for," she grumbled, and Yui shook her head.

"Since you were being immature, I had to be the mature one. You're the one who's supposed to be mature here, this sucks." she shrugged, and then glanced at her best friend. "What's going on, by the way?"

"H-huh?"

"You and Izuku," She gestured with her head towards the changing room, "you two can barely look each other in the eye. That's how it's been for the last two days. I know Izuku was ... busy Wednesday night, and Ibara had some trouble sleeping -"

"I still have to apologize to her for that," Itsuka muttered, going redder.

"-so what's going on? Did you and Izuku -" At this, Yui felt herself go a bit redder this time, thinking of her two crushes getting up to something and shifting a bit, "- did you do something?"

"N-no!" Itsuka immediately protested, going very red and waving her arms. "We - we just - I - we -" She tried to spit something out for another few seconds, seeing Yui continue to look skeptically at her, until her best friend finally slumped over, defeated. "Kind of."

"Kind of?" Yui raised an eyebrow, leaning forward slightly. "Define 'kind of'."

"Er - well."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Yui shrugged, trying to make her best friend feel a bit calmer about opening up. "You and Izuku, you're pretty in control around each other, right? I'm guessing it was just a kiss?" She immediately jumped onto that one, thinking it was the most innocent thing she and Izuku could do, and it wouldn't be that surprising - the two had so much tension with each other it wouldn't be a shock if they broke and just finally kissed.

"... I slobbered all over his stomach and neck." Itsuka finally muttered. "And then I almost kissed him."

A silence fell then, Itsuka staring at her feet while Yui felt herself freeze up. Oh. Oh, that's not innocent. That's - that's the opposite of innocent. That's - that's a lot more than what she was expecting. That was - oh, fuck, now the image was in her head. Yui suddenly imagined Itsuka slowly licking up Izuku's stomach, reaching his neck and biting him, and - oh, god damn it, now she was - wait, wait, stop, Yui, stop fantasizing and respond.

"... oh."

"And if we didn't bonk heads together, I probably would've dragged him into my bed and - you know."

"... ah."

"And once he left, I got way too turned on."

"... huh."

"... I didn't go to sleep until three."

Yui turned to look at the changing room Izuku had disappeared into, pretending to be taking this revelation that Itsuka fingered herself thinking about Izuku pretty well, but now the mental image of what those two got up to was in her mind, and god, damn it, right now she really needed a cold shower. She stole a subtle glance at her best friend, seeing her glancing glumly at her feet, and then felt her eyes unintentionally go a bit lower, seeing her low cut t-shirt with her cleavage and the hint of her black bra. Gulping, Yui glanced away again, feeling herself shudder a bit. Refocus, Yui, and talk to Itsuka. Do not imagine her naked and Izuku naked and climbing on top of her and ... whew, boy.

Note to self, she thought, porn tonight is f/f/m threesomes.

"Okay," Yui finally said, still looking at the door. "So ... you two almost had sex."

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, still staring at the ground glumly, "and now I can't look him in the eye. We, er - we had a big emotional talk before, so it only makes this - this stupider."

"Oh? How so?"

"Like - I - oh, god," Itsuka shook her head, rubbing her face, "I was - I just pointed out that he never really - well, he never really gave me that much physical affection, like - not like you guys, with the kissing and everything, so he - well -"

"... asked if you wanted to do something?" Yui guessed, trying to come across as calm while also trying to stop herself from shaking a little. Oh, please, please don't get turned on from this, she was wearing a dress, if something went down her leg it would be obvious.

"Yeah. And - and he suggested, I - um - repay the favor , by - well - kissing his stomach," Itsuka continued to explain, "and we - I got carried away."

"... I see."

"It's - god, it's so stupid," Itsuka leaned forward, leaning on her arm as she pouted. "He and I go through everything, thinking we're pretty much immune from being awkward around each other, and now I mess it up because I couldn't control my goddamn horniness."

"I mean - you didn't - necessarily mess everything up," Yui shrugged, making Itsuka look over at her. "I mean - you two did just - well - make out."

"I ... guess we could call it that."

"But are you saying that Izuku might think you're weird? Or that he'll be awkward around you for now on?"

"Er - no, but ... well ..." Itsuka frowned again, but Yui raised an eyebrow.

"Itsuka, you know Izuku. There's no chance in hell he'd think you're weird, or that - well, he's definitely feeling awkward about it like you are, I can't deny that, but there's no way that he would just think everything's messed up. All you've got to do when he comes out is look at him, give him a big smile, talk to him like you always do, and then it'll be back to normal."

"I ..." Itsuka glanced away, obviously still unsure, but Yui moved to take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze, surprising the orange-haired girl.

"Trust me," Yui nodded, "just … stop feeling awkward about it, and everything will be fine."

Itsuka blinked, staring into those lovely blue eyes for a few seconds and feeling … weirdly nervous, feeling her heart thumping in her chest for some reason, but it was interrupted when they heard the sound of the changing door being opened again. They both straightened up as Izuku came back out, wearing the white sweater, t-shirt, and jeans as requested. Itsuka felt herself redden again as she glanced at him trying not to look at her - but then let out a small sigh, remembering what Yui told her, and squared her shoulders, forcing herself to sit up, and gave him a wobbly smile while staring straight at him, every fiber of her being begging her to look away but forcing herself to ignore it.

"Very nice, Izuku," Yui nodded, "this is what happens when you actually wear nice clothes, you look much more appealing."

"I wear nice clothes," Izuku grumbled, pouting at her teasing, "you guys just have no taste."

Itsuka took a small breath, and then, with that same wobbly smile, teased, "We have plenty of taste. Your shirts are just a crime."

Izuku glanced at her, seeing her sitting there and smiling at him, and he felt his breath catch in his throat. He glanced at Yui one more time, and then back at Itsuka, before smiling slightly, rubbing the side of his head sheepishly. "I ... disagree with that, but - okay."

"Now then," Yui stood again, reaching over and picking up a pink dress up shirt from her little pile along with a pair of cargo shorts, "put these on."

"Wh - I, um - I don't think pink's my thing."

"Sure it is. Today's about experimenting, Izuku. You can experiment with new colors, I think you would look quite handsome in pink."

"I - but I thought -"

"No buts. Go." Yui shoved the clothes into his arms, and then gave him a gentle push towards the door. Itsuka watched as Yui pushed Izuku through the changing room door, ignoring his protests, and couldn't help but giggle a little bit as Izuku was shoved unceremoniously into the changing room, and Yui pulled it closed behind her. She then turned to see Itsuka smiling softly to herself, folding her hands together gently, and felt a small pang in her heart. Okay, enough emotional talk stuff, back to teasing.

"By the way," she said offhandedly as she began walking back to the bench, sitting down and looking at her best friend, "grow out your hand until I tell you to stop."

Itsuka blinked, unsure where this came from or where it was going, but still did as she was told, growing her hand until Yui told her to stop, settling on a one. Inspecting her index finger, Yui nodded, pointing at the finger.

"That's the size of Izuku's penis," she informed her, making Itsuka squeak and go very red as she glanced at her own finger in shock, "just for future reference."

Itsuka was about to reprimand her best friend for the inappropriateness of that, until she glanced back at her finger. It was ... well, not weirdly gigantic, but ... still ...

"... I'll keep that in mind."

---

"So," Setsuna put her hands behind her head, grinning at the two girls, "wanna tell me why you two are avoiding Todoroki all the time?"

It was strangely beautiful, seeing both Momo and Kyouka spit out their drinks in shock at the same time.

They were currently sitting in the food court of the mall, having already grabbed their food from the various restaurants around them, and had sat down to have a moment to relax after an hour of shopping. They had met up with Mina, Kyouka and Tooru during their shopping spree, Mina still sweating bullets from almost being caught by Izuku and only being saved by him trying to double check and narrowly missing her, which Kyouka and Tooru had been lambasting her for. Luckily, a quick text from Itsuka confirmed that they dragged him to a woman's clothing store, intending for him to 'pay them back for sitting through his dress up stuff' by modeling off some clothes for him, so they had some time to relax and eat before continuing to shop. Setsuna had already grabbed Yui's gift for her, while Ibara had Itsuka's. Now, they were sitting around a table, waiting for Mina, Tsuyu and Tooru to return with their food while they chatted.

While Momo and Kyouka tried hard not to die of embarrassment from one table, Setsuna grinning smugly at them, Ibara, Pony and Ochako had taken another table, although their topic of conversation was not as lighthearted.

"So ... you and Hadou-senpai were talking about putting some of us together with ...?" Ibara wondered aloud, while Ochako cringed.

"Not ... exactly like that, but ..." she sighed, swirling a French fry in her ketchup cup, "... I'm sorry, guys, I just ..."

"You can explain," Pony said kindly, sitting back while eating, "we know you aren't a jerk, Uraraka, we're just confused."

"I know," Ochako shook her head, and glanced up at them. "It's ... not like ... okay. Maybe I should start from the beginning. I just - I noticed how close you guys are to Deku. And I know that he feels really close to you guys too. So I had ... thought about scenarios where I could help some of you guys get together. I ended up talking with Nejire about some of the ideas I had, but - I wasn't - well, I wasn't actually going to try and pair up you guys, I know the situation's more - well - gosh, I'm sorry, guys," she stared in shame at the table, "this must make thing so much more awkward."

"No, no, not awkward," Ibara assured her, reaching out and gently taking Ochako's hand, "we know that you don't mean anything bad by it."

"I ... well, I'm still embarrassed," Ochako admitted, giving them a weak smile, "but thanks."

Both of them nodding in understanding, the three of them decided to dig into their lunches, feeling pretty hungry from shopping for an hour, and ate quietly while Momo and Kyouka denied any relations with Shouto the next table over. Still, Pony glanced up at the brunette girl, and cleared her throat.

"Er - just - out of curiosity," she muttered, "... what were your plans to put us together?"

"H-huh?"

"I'm a bit curious as well," Ibara confessed, smiling at Ochako as she whirled around, "you know Midoriya better than any of us - and we know him quite well. How would you have put us together?"

Ochako blinked, glancing between the two of them, before letting out a small sigh and smiling slightly. "Well ... keep in mind, this is what I would've told Deku to do, not necessarily you guys."

"Okay ..." Pony leaned in, more than a little curious, "so according to you, how should Izuku romance us?"

"Well ..." Ochako put a finger to her mouth, trying to remember, "for you, Tsunotori ... I would've told Deku to take you out for dinner first, then ... take you out for a movie. It's a bit normal for date stuff, but ... but I thought you'd enjoy that."

"Hmm ..." Pony thought about it, then shrugged. "I guess you're right. It's normal stuff, but I like normal stuff. He could probably charm my pants off. Plus ," she muttered, " makin' out in a movie theatre's pretty hot too ."

"And for me?" Ibara inquired, "How do you think Midoriya should romance me?"

"Well ... I was thinking of a date in a park."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, sunny afternoon, picnic basket, you two sitting in a corner while talking the afternoon away ..." Ochako sighed dreamily, smiling to herself, "One my first dates with Nejire, she took me out to a park to relax under a tree, and it was so romantic I still get a little blush when I think about it. Trust me, it's ... it's a classic date thing, but it's sooo good."

"You know, I never took you for a romanticist, Uraraka," Ibara giggled, and the brunette girl shrugged sheepishly.

"I'm not allowed to be?"

" Girl, you don't hear me complainin' !"

Ochako giggled a bit more, and then looked off to the side. Although, her smile fell somewhat.

"Only ..."

"Hm?"

"What's up?"

Ochako stared off a bit more, before sighing. "I'm - no, forget it, I'm sorry. It'll just bring the mood down."

"No, no, go ahead," Ibara said kindly, smiling at her, and gesturing for her to continue.

"I ... well ... I just ..." Ochako sighed again, and gave them an apologetic look before continuing. "I was just ... wondering ... you're - all seven of you like him, right?"

Pony and Ibara glanced at each other, and then nodded slowly, not sure where she was going with this. Setsuna heard that as well, and felt her attention move away from teasing Momo and Kyouka, and onto Ochako as she fidgeted in her chair.

"So ..." Ochako shook her head, and asked, in a quiet voice, "... so what happens when one of you asks him out? What happens to the other six?"

Both Ibara and Pony felt themselves blink in surprise, taken aback by what Ochako just said, before they felt their own smiles fall. Beside them on the other table, Setsuna wasn't looking at them, but the way she went quiet indicated that she was also listening. Momo and Kyouka shared a glance between each other, their own problems on their minds fading away when they heard Ochako say taht, as they looked to Ibara and Pony for an answer.

Ibara had paused somewhat, obviously thinking, before she let out a small sigh.

"... you were right, Uraraka, that was a mood killer."

Ochako winced, and was about to apologize again before Ibara reached out to touch her hand again, smiling.

"I'm not angry at the question," she clarified, "just ... well, I should say that I've also had those thoughts before. Of what would happen should Midoriya choose between us."

"... yeah." Pony muttered, frowning somewhat. "Me too."

Setsuna also kept silent.

"I ... am in love with Midoriya," Ibara told the group, not really that embarrassed to admit it. "I've liked him since he entered the house, took my first kiss, and then grew closer to me. Our time that we spent tending to my garden ... I admit, those moments are precious to me. When we made love at the hotel," (both Momo and Kyouka glanced at each other at that) "it was one of the most special moments of my life. I may be speaking too soon, or perhaps foolishly, but I would be more than happy to spend the rest of my life with him."

The girls paused at that, before Ibara let out another small sigh.

"With that said," she reluctantly said, "if Midoriya chooses to be with someone else, I will understand."

"Wh - really?" Pony gasped, looking to her best friend as she slowly nodded.

"Yes," Ibara bit her lip, "if Midoriya chooses to romance Itsuka, or Yui, or Kinoko and Reiko or Set or you, I will understand. I'll ... obviously, I'll be heartbroken, but I will understand. And I won't regret falling in love with him either. If Midoriya chooses to love someone else, I will be content to just ... be in his life."

The girls stared at Ibara in shock for a few moments, almost taken aback, until Pony let out a small, nervous giggle.

"You're so cool, Ibara," she praised her, pumping her fists, "I wanna be just like you when I grow up!"

"Pony, you're older than me," Ibara giggled a bit, and the other girls laughed as well.

"A-anyway, I ... never really thought about it like that, but I think I'm in the same boat as you," Pony shook her head lightly, still smiling a bit, "I'll be more than happy if Izuku looks my way, but ... I guess I can live with it if he doesn't."

"Mm," Ibara smiled at her, and reached over to wrap her arm around her and give her a brief little squeeze, Pony giggling a bit while Ochako let out a small exhale.

"Er - I'm glad to hear you guys are being so mature about this," she admitted, although her gaze was still downcast, "but I'm still sorry for bringing it up."

"Don't be," Ibara sighed, releasing Pony and looking back at her. "I think that each girl in the house knows that this is a conversation we'll have to eventually have at some point - it's just a matter of when."

Ochako nodded slowly, understanding, and then sighed.

"But still - I'm sorry, again," she kept apologizing, rubbing her face, "but - anyway. Er - Momo."

"O-oh! Yes, Ochako?" Momo stuttered, having been pretty content with listening for a while there but managing to come out of her observation, raising her cup to sip at her drink.

"You guys should really talk to Todoroki soon. He's getting kind of sad about you guys avoiding him."

"Pfffffff-"

"Ew!"

"Oh, goodness, I'm so sorry, Tokage! I didn't mean to spit that on you!"

---

"This ..." Izuku sighed, his arms full of bags, "this is unfair."

"What do you mean?" Yui raised an eyebrow, her own arms full, "We're carrying bags too."

"Two of these are mine. The rest are yours!"

They were walking down the hall towards another store, Izuku carrying around fifteen bags in total, the two that were actually his being hung on his pinkie finger, and grumbling to himself. Itsuka and Yui, walking a bit in front of him, had their own bags swinging back and forth, although they weren't holding as many as he was. Izuku's grumbling came from the fact that his shopping had wrapped up surprisingly quickly, and now the girls were taking advantage of the fact he had less bags than them to use him as a pack mule.

"Look, if you're complaining, use your black whip thingy," Itsuka giggled a bit, smirking back at him, "that'll take off the load."

" You use your black whip thingy," he grumbled immaturely, and Itsuka giggled again - really, it was nice to not be so awkward around him anymore, Yui's advice really helped - so she hung back a little, and took a few of the bags from his hand, surprising him.

"Tell you what," she offered, "carry these a little while longer, and I'll buy you some ice cream. Sounds good?"

Izuku pouted. "You think you can get me to do whatever you want with ice cream?"

"Two ice creams," Yui said from in front of them, which made Itsuka laugh and Izuku shake his head.

"Fine, I guess." He couldn't help but smile, though, grinning at Itsuka. "As long as it's a big ice cream."

"Define 'big'."

"Er - two scoops?"

"Hmmm ..." Itsuka glanced off to the side, jokingly conflicted. "I don't know ... two scoops might be too much."

Izuku chuckled, and tapped his shoulder against hers, making her giggle. Yui couldn't help but feel warm at the sight of them - it felt strangely relieving, not to feel jealous of her best friend and her crush getting along and flirting somewhat (even if neither of them realized they were), and seeing the two not being awkward around each other anymore, just enjoying their afternoon shopping.

Although ... she had a sudden fantasy of Izuku holding one of her hands and Itsuka holding the other, walking down the strip, and she blinked at the sudden nice mental image. She ... kinda wanted that. A lot. She was already kind of wondering how she could manipulate things to where her two best friends had absolutely no choice but to hold her hands.

Her half-baked schemes, however, were interrupted when she turned around, about to ask if they wanted to go up another floor to another store, and suddenly saw Kinoko and Reiko stroll out of the store in front of them, giggling and laughing amongst themselves - and holding an obvious All Might bag. Yui felt herself pale as the girls turned to them, saw Izuku's back right in front of them as he had turned to talk to Itsuka, and froze, staring in shock and horror as Izuku was about to turn back around and see them - with the obvious gift bag in their hands.

Yui saw Izuku about to turn, and felt flight or fight overcome her. Oh, god, if he turned his head even a fraction, he'd see the All Might gift bag, and then he would connect the dots - because why would Kinoko be holding an All Might gift bag for reasons other than him - and then he'd realize that they were planning something for his birthday. Shit! If she wanted to make sure that his attention wasn't on what they were holding in their hands, she'd have to do something very distracting. But what could she -

- wait, she knew.

Well, all she could pray for was that the other girls didn't get too jealous of what she was about to do.

Izuku's eyes had begun flickering to Reiko and Kinoko, seeing them standing there, but before his eyes could go lower to what Kinoko was holding, Yui took two brave steps towards Izuku, put down the bags, grabbed both of his cheeks, and leaned up on her tippy toes to plant a kiss straight to Izuku's lips.

"Mmmth?!" Izuku's eyes bulged open as Yui tried to give him the most passionate kiss she could, praying that his eyes were open wide straight at her instead of the girls behind him as she shoved her tongue into his mouth. Speaking of those girls, Reiko quickly caught on to what Yui was doing, despite her sudden shock at seeing Yui kiss Izuku out of nowhere, and quickly grabbed the All Might bag from her girlfriend's slacked grip, and hid it inside one of her other bags, praying that Izuku didn't notice. Itsuka, meanwhile, let out a sound that sounded like someone stepped on her foot as her best friend kissed her crush out of nowhere, and disconnected, leaving a small spit trail that snapped as Yui slid her tongue back into her mouth, having explored a bit to keep Izuku completely distracted.

"Sorry," she apologized stoically, "you were being very cute, so I could not resist."

"Abaab - ugh - mumab -"

"She broke him," Kinoko observed lightly, still a bit taken aback by that kiss - while also mentally acknowledging that the kiss was strangely hot.

"Ah. Reiko. Kinoko." Yui turned to them, pretending to have just noticed them there while sounding more deadpan than they had ever heard her, ignoring Izuku slowly melting into a pile of embarrassment behind her while Itsuka slowly blinked at both of them, a blush on her cheeks. "Nice to see you guys. Done shopping?"

"Er - yes," Reiko nodded, quickly catching on. "We were just leaving the ..." she was about to turn to point at the shop - only to see it was a pro hero themed store, which would obviously give away what they were doing!

"... we were just leaving the ..." she turned her head to the store right next to it, and cringed slightly as she realized that she didn't have much choice in saying this, "... we were just ... leaving ... the ... lingerie store."

Of course, that just made Izuku squeak again and go even redder, staring at the ground and hunching over slightly (the girls also ignored his little All Might action figure downstairs), but luckily the crisis had been averted for Izuku figuring out their real reason for being here - although he nearly collapsed on the bench when Itsuka, with a small blush on her face, decided to go into the lingerie store with Yui, leaving a comatose Izuku with Kinoko and Reiko while they tried not to laugh too much.

After that, they finally stopped for something to eat, letting Izuku feel relieved to put down the multiple bags filled with clothes and make up and bath bombs and whatever else Yui and Itsuka had picked up for themselves. At that time, Ibara, Pony and Setsuna rejoined them, Ibara confirming via text that the 1A girls had left already (although Momo and Kyouka were off muttering to each other about something they had discussed at lunch), and since shopping for Izuku was done, the girls had a fun time hanging out in the mall, talking and laughing amongst each other while Izuku was forced to hold more and more bags, although Ibara took pity on him and used her vines to help him, and the girls eventually conceded and took their own bags back (thankful that Izuku wasn't questioning why they insisted to hold specific bags that were containing his gifts).

All in all, it was a fun time at the mall, Izuku actually having a little fun when the girls had him visit another clothing store and try on some clothes, dressing in a few more snappy outfits while Kinoko, Setsuna and Pony acted as his cheerleaders, Kinoko calling him gorgeous no matter what he was wearing, Setsuna catcalling him, and Pony wolf whistling. He tried on multiple outfits, from a long coat ("Badass!" Kinoko cheered), to a denim jacket with no sleeves ("Oh, goodness, please, no!" Ibara cried out, shielding her eyes), to a rainbow colored t-shirt ("Taste the rainbow, motherf-" was all Setsuna could get out before Itsuka smacked her) to a coat with four extra arms ("we could fit three people in there! Kinoko, Pony, get in there!").

It was, however, when Izuku came out in a leather jacket, coughing self-consciously as he stood awkwardly before them and glancing at the floor, that the girls didn't make any comments. Feeling a bit confused about where the teasing was, Izuku glanced up, and was surprised to see the girls either avoiding looking at him or staring transfixed, small blushes on their faces, and Setsuna was nodding slowly with a smirk on her face.

"Er ..." Izuku cleared his throat, and held out his arms, "do - do I look awkward?"

"N-no!" Ibara managed to squeak out, still blushing. "Not - not awkward, just -"

"Hot," Kinoko muttered, low enough that he didn't hear her and biting her lip, "really freaking hot."

"U-um," Izuku glanced down at the jacket again, feeling self-conscious, "so, uh ..."

"Y-you still have a few things to try on," Itsuka finally managed to squeak out, suddenly standing up and helping an awkward Izuku out of the coat, surprising him as she shoved another shirt into his hands. "Here, try - try this on, okay?"

"Uh - right," Izuku nodded, and quickly hurried back into the changing room. Itsuka glanced down at the jacket again, blushing slightly, before she sighed and nodded, and then turned to walk over the counter with the jacket in her hands. The girls watched her put the jacket over the counter and pull out her wallet, and let out weak chuckles.

"I'd make fun of prez for giving in to the 'horny'," Setsuna laughed, "but goddamn, he looked too hot in that jacket, so I'm not going to complain."

Soon enough, though, they knew their time at the mall would have to come to an end, needing to get back to the campus before Vlad King came after them, so they bought Izuku a polo shirt from the store and made their way back out of the mall, Itsuka hiding the package with the leather jacket from Izuku while they left. Soon, they jumped onto the bus heading back to UA, and were more than happy to chat and laugh with each other while Izuku felt a bit tired from the long day of shopping and trying on clothes, and ended up dozing off on Pony's shoulder. The horse girl tried really hard not to be too happy about that, raising her phone to take a selfie of Izuku snoozing on her shoulder, and made it her wallpaper.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, they arrived back at UA, and Pony roused Izuku from his sleep so they could get off. At least now, as they walked back to the house, Ibara held most of the bags with her vines, Itsuka teasing Izuku for carrying their stuff all day while Izuku gave her a light shoulder check, which made the other girls roll their eyes. At last, they all made it into the house, sighing in relief as they were able to put the bags down at long last and rub their sore hands. Izuku managed to take the clothes that were bought from him from the pile (the girls were all incredibly nervous in case he picked up the wrong bag, and sagged in relief when he successfully collected all of his things) and went up to his room, wanting to put them away and then take a nap.

Itsuka, meanwhile, managed to get to her own room with her own stuff, and shut the door behind her. Letting out a small sigh of relief, she put the bags onto her bed, and then began sorting through them, putting some dresses in one pile while putting her shampoo and bath bombs in another, and then folding up her pants and new lingerie to put away for later. Eventually, she came across what she was looking for - her two gifts for Izuku. One she was going to wrap up and give to him tomorrow with everyone else. The other ...

She felt herself smile slightly as she lifted the leather jacket up, glancing into her closet to see her own leather jacket on the hanger. She wanted to give this to him privately tomorrow - not just to make it a bit more special in her eyes, but to make sure they had something to bond over. She knew that the girls were going to need a volunteer to distract Izuku tomorrow while they set up for his birthday, needing something for Izuku to do all day as they got ready.

And thankfully, she thought as she glanced out the window at the motorcycle in the driveway, she knew just how to do it.

---

Kinoko let out an excited giggle as she was thrown onto the bed by her girlfriend. After a long day of shopping for Izuku and themselves, Kinoko was more than ready for some quality time with her girlfriend, kicking off her shoes as Reiko pulled her dress off, tossing it into the hamper as she climbed into the bed with her, squeezing her arms around her chest to show off her breasts.

"That kiss with Yui and Izuku," Kinoko confessed as Reiko climbed atop of her, straddling her and beginning grinding slightly through their underwear, "that was weirdly hot, wasn't it?"

"A bit," Reiko nodded, bending over to kiss her while cooing, Kinoko's hands crawling up her legs towards her ass, "that was a close one, though, wasn't it? If Midoriya was a bit quicker, he'd have seen."

"Oh, but he didn't," Kinoko sighed as Reiko kissed her neck, "so it's all good."

"Indeed," Reiko smiled, biting her neck lightly, and then rolled them over, letting Kinoko lay on top of her and begin to hump her. Both girls let out small cries as Kinoko's thrusting went faster, Reiko lowering her hands to smack Kinoko's ass and encourage her movements. It'd been a while since they properly had sex, having spent the night of their reunion with Izuku and needing to concentrate on the exam for the rest of the week, so they were more than happy to finally get a night to themselves.

After another few thrusts, both Kinoko and Reiko felt a bit thirsty, so Reiko gave her a lustful grin as she rolled them back around, and sat up so that she could rearrange herself, moving one of her legs over Kinoko's head, and sat down on her face. Kinoko let out a muffled giggle as Reiko felt her panties be moved to the side by her mouth, letting out an excited breath as Kinoko's tongue began sliding up her -

KNOCK, KNOCK

Both Kinoko and Reiko froze, whipping around to look at the door - Kinoko's head trapped between Reiko's thighs making her have to awkwardly move her head up, and Reiko sitting awkwardly on her girlfriend's face. Both of them grumbling in disappointment, Reiko quickly got off of Kinoko and got to her feet, both girls moving to put back on their dresses to look presentable, and soon, Reiko walked to her door, clearing her throat, and opened the door.

Standing there was Yui, having changed out of her dress from today and raising an eyebrow as she glanced into the room, seeing the girls blushing, and pursed her lips slightly.

"Hey."

"Er - hey, Yui," Kinoko raised an eyebrow, glancing at Reiko and then back to the stoic girl. "What's up?"

Yui stared vacantly off for a few seconds, as though thinking to herself, and then shook her head and sighed, "Nothing much. I just … I had a question. About ... about how you guys were romancing Izuku."