Mina smiled as she stepped through UA's entrance gate and flashed her ID to Hound Dog, who was stuck on entrance duty that morning. He nodded to her, but didn't say anything, which was a little disappointing. Mina liked to start off her day with a friendly greeting, if not a little bit of banter. Midnight was good for that, always giving the girl a warm hello and then sharing the latest romantic gossip that had made its way to the teacher's lounge. As a teacher, Midnight got gossip from all of the courses at UA so she always had something juicy to spill, which Mina greatly appreciated.

To Mina's delight, though, she had only made it a few steps past the gate when a familiar voice called out to her.

"M-m-morning, Ashido!" Midoriya called, pushing his way through the crowd of oncoming students as best he could. It was made harder by the fact that he seemed to be compelled to stop and apologize to everyone he bumped into. He wasn't quite as enthusiastic with it as Iida might have been, since he didn't actually bow to everyone, but it did make for a bit of a scene.

Chuckling at the sight, Mina made her way over to the edge of the walkway, out of the way of most of the crowd of arriving students. A few seconds later, Midoriya joined her, a little flushed from exertion and embarrassment.

"Morning Midori! Having a good day so far?"

He nodded enthusiastically at that and launched into a story about how he had run into Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady on his way to school. According to him they were out on patrol, but to Mina it sounded a lot more like the two of them had been out on a date and had been embarrassed to be caught out. It explained how Midoriya had managed to wring an autograph each out of the two of them, as well as some tips on naming super moves.

In the past Mina might have been worried about the conversation with Midoriya making them late to class, giving Aizawa yet another reason to lecture her. At this point, however, she'd learned to budget her time in the mornings, giving her plenty of time to chat with Midoriya and still make it to class with time to spare.

Chats with him had become a regular fixture of her morning routine, and one that she had grown to look forward to. He might be awkward and a bit overly obsessed with heroes and heroism, but he was also a surprisingly fun guy to hang around with. That dedication to heroes came in handy when you were training to be one, and he was always happy to offer some suggestions for new ways to use or train her Quirk.

They didn't just talk about heroism, though. One of their favorite topics to chat about was old movies. It turned out Midoriya had barely seen any of the classic movies, much to Mina's surprise. She wouldn't exactly consider herself a movie buff, but her father was, and he had instilled a love of old cinema into her. As such, she had decided to take Midoriya under her wing and give him a new recommendation every week.

It actually proved way more amusing than she would have thought. Midoriya watched each recommendation within a day or so and reported back on exactly which parts he enjoyed, as well as what he thought of the movie as a whole. It was really refreshing to hear his takes on things, and his reactions to decades old surprise twists were absolutely hilarious. Honestly, Mina was half tempted to have a movie night over a video call, just to see his reactions in real time. She'd need to find a good movie for that, though…

Suddenly, Mina noticed that Midoriya had gone strangely quiet. Normally, once he got going on heroes he continued right up until the first bell rang. Now, however, he was acting like he had the first day that he had called out to her in the morning. His gaze was firmly fixed on the ground, and he was shuffling from foot to foot with a nervous energy.

"Everything okay, Midori?" Mina asked.

If it had been someone else, she might have put a comforting hand on their shoulder, but Midoriya didn't seem to like being touched. The last time she had touched him had been a pat on the back after a successful training exercise. He'd skipped back from it like she'd stabbed him with a hot poker, his face flushing red from surprise and fear.

She'd felt awful about it, and had done her best to keep the touches to a minimum since. It was hard, though. She and her family were very hands on with each other, quick with a hug or just a comforting hand on someone's shoulder while they walked by. Even Mina's older brother, the absolute bane of her existence, would always ruffle her hair affectionately when she got home from school. Having someone that she was close to who she couldn't touch like that was difficult. But she'd manage. Having Midoriya as a friend was worth it, she was sure.

"I-I'm fine," Midorya finally said, sounding anything but, "It's just, um… y-you know how you recommended I watch that movie, Casablanca, the other day? W-well I was looking it up, and I saw that there's a theater near here doing a showing this weekend. So… I was just wondering if… maybe you—"

He was cut off as a body slammed into his back, knocking the both of them to the ground. It wasn't an intentional attack, which was a small comfort. Out of the corner of her eye, Mina had seen the pair of guys dressed like Gen Ed students standing behind Midoriya take their friendly roughhousing a little bit too far, sending the taller of the two staggering backwards into Midoriya.

"Sorry bro!" the friend pusher said, helping his buddy to his feet.

Mina quickly did the same for Midoriya, letting go as soon as he was upright. His uniform was scuffed in several places and his palms looked a little red from falling on them, but he didn't seem to have been hurt by the collision.

"It's fine," Midoriya said, brushing his uniform off as best he could.

The collision seemed to have knocked the nerves out of him, at least temporarily. He was back to his usual stance, arms at his sides and head held high. He looked much better like that, Mina thought. Happier, and more confident. Like a hero-in-training should, especially one who was in the top five of their class.

"Hero class, huh?" the guy who had crashed into Midoriya said, eyeing their uniforms, "Guess I'm lucky you didn't pull some badass moves and send me flying!"

"Wait…" the first one said, before Midoriya could reply, "Aren't you the guy who fought the ice dude during the sports festival?"

"Oh uh, yeah, that was me," Midoriya said basfully.

"Dude, that was awesome! That other dude made a glacier, but you almost kicked his ass anyway! You looked pretty messed up, though. That kinda shit happen every day in hero training? Because I thought about becoming a hero, but I don't think I could handle that."

Midoriya shook his head quickly. "No, definitely not. We do combat training, but it's not nearly that intense. The sports festival was a special thing."

"That's fair bro," the second guy said. Then, he turned to address Mina. "You're hero class too, right? Were you in the sports festival too?"

Mina was a little offended that he didn't remember her. Sure, she hadn't shown off as much as some of the other students in her class, but she had made it to the semi-finals! Plus Tokoyami was super strong, and she'd still put up a good fight!

"Nah, bro, she totally was at the sports festival!" the first guy said, giving Mina a momentary sense of pride. However, it was shattered a moment later by his follow up statement. "She was a cheerleader, remember? Wore a sexy outfit and everything. How did you forget that?"

Mina wanted to punch the guy, and Mineta by extension. Of course that was what she was remembered for. Not how hard she worked, or how well she did. Just how she looked in a short skirt and pom poms.

She didn't dislike how she looked. In fact, she was pretty confident about it. She knew she was pretty, and had a great figure thanks to all the training she did. She just wished people remembered her for something else once in a while. She was tired of being Mina The Pink Girl, Mina With The Horns, Mina the Cheerleader. Was it too much to ask to be remembered as Mina the Hero? Or even just Mina?

Before she could say anything, Midoriya stepped between her and the Gen Ed guys. Mina recognized the way he was standing, too. His feet were firmly planted, his shoulders squared, and his jaw was set. It was the stance he wore during hero training, when he was dead set on winning the fight. Everyone in the class knew it by heart at this point. If you were on his side, you loved to see it. If you had the misfortune of being set against him when you saw it, well, that was the point when you started calculating how much losing the battle would affect your grade.

"Ashido worked really hard in the festival," Midoriya said, his voice sharper than Mina had ever heard it, "She finished in the top eight for the sports festival, and she probably would have placed even higher if the brackets had been different. Honestly, I don't know if I could have beaten her if we had fought. She's strong, and she's smart, and she never gives up. So, you should remember her, because she's going to be an excellent hero one day."

Mina was absolutely speechless. Midoriya always spoke from the heart, and she'd heard him give a passionate speech or two before. She'd never been on the receiving end of one, though. He made her sound awesome, like a full fledged hero already. It was flattering, and a little bit embarrassing. She could feel a bit of color creeping into her cheeks, and for once she was thankful not to be the center of attention.

"Whoa, sorry dude," the first guy said, holding his hands up in surrender. "Didn't mean any insult."

"Yeah, he wasn't trying to muscle in," the second guy added. "We didn't even know she was your girl. Wouldn't break the bro code like that!"

Midoriya spluttered in surprise, while Mina felt the heat in her cheeks increase. She loved romance, figuring out who would make for a good couple then wishing them on as they slowly figured out what she already knew. But it was different when she was the one being shipped.

She didn't… actually, she didn't mind it as much as she thought she would have. Sure, it was embarrassing, but she didn't outright reject the idea. Maybe that was because it was Midoriya being mistaken for her boyfriend. If it had been one of the other guys in the class, one she didn't know nearly as well as Midoriya, she probably would have been a lot more embarrassed. Or worried about them reading too much into some random guy's words and hounding after her for months, despite her constantly telling them no. She could totally picture Mineta doing that, and being insufferable the whole time.

No, Midoriya would never do something like that. He was way too kind and polite, not to mention awkward. He was probably feeling more embarrassed by this whole thing than she was. Besides, with how much time he spent hanging out with Uraraka, those two had to be crushing on each other!

"T-t-that's not! We're not… I mean, I haven't…" Midoriya said, his nervous sutter working overdrive as his cheeks glowed a bright, cherry red.

Whatever protests he was going to make were cut off by the school bell ringing,which triggered a mass stampede of students rushing to class. The two guys that they had been talking to were swept away with the crowd, calling back a quick apology for assuming things before Mina lost sight of them.

She grabbed Midoriya and pulled him well out of the way of the stampede. There was still plenty of time to get to class, Mina knew that from experience, but the rest of the student body seemed to be treating the bell like it was calling them to their last meal. People were flat out running, shoving past each other, and creating a massive sea of bodies at the entrance to the building.

Mina knew she and Izuku would have to shove their way through it eventually, but for now all they could do was watch and wait for the crowd to dissipate a bit. Hopefully it would leave them with enough time to make it to class before Aizawa got there. Mina really didn't want to be on the receiving end of another one of his lectures about how punctuality was the sign of a logical person.

It was at that point that Mina realized her hand felt oddly warm and comfortable. She quickly glanced down at it, and almost gasped in surprise. In her haste to tug him out of the way, Mina had grabbed onto Midoriya's hand, and had been holding onto it ever since.

Their fingers weren't knit together, or anything of the sort, but the hold was rather pleasant. His fingers were rough and calloused, but his palm was still soft. The way his hand had tightened reflexively around hers was interesting as well. The grip was tight enough that her hand wouldn't slip out accidentally, but gentle enough that it didn't feel uncomfortable.

Almost unconsciously, her thumb began to rub against his. The scars there were quite prominent, reminders of the frankly insane amount of power that he could bring to bear, so much that it damaged even his own body if he wasn't careful. And yet, it had never gone to his head, or made him think he was better than everyone else. In fact, he was one of the humblest people that she knew.

A strange, high pitched whine reached her ears, and Mina looked up to see Midoriya staring down at their clasped hands, and the thumb that was currently massaging his own. His entire body was red, and Mina could feel the heat pouring off of him in waves.

She quickly snatched her hand away, pulling the offending appendage close to her chest. All of a sudden, she felt terrible about what she'd done. She knew Midoriya didn't like being touched, and yet she'd grabbed him without hesitation, and proceeded to manhandle him even after she noticed.

She was so engrossed with berating herself that she missed the way Midoriya's hand trailed after hers when she snatched it away, chasing after the warmth that it had just been engulfed in.

"Sorry Midori!" Mina said quickly, doing her best to hide her embarrassment, "Didn't mean to grab you like that."

"I-It's f-fine," he replied, equally quickly.

An awkward silence descended over the two after that. Neither of them quite knew what today about what had just happened. Meanwhile, Mina was doing her absolute best to stay out of Midoriya's personal space, while he was back to shuffling from foot to foot.

That observation reminded her of earlier, and she was quick to jump onto the topic to fill the space between them.

"Hey, Midori, what were you trying to ask earlier, before we got interrupted?"

He stiffened, turning to look at her with wide, almost liquid eyes. He swallowed hard, probably still feeling the nerves from her grabbing him.

"I… I was just about to ask if… if you maybe wanted to—"

"Yo, Midoriya, Ashido!" a new voice called, startling the pair. "Better get moving if you want to make it to class!"

Mina turned to find Kirishima waving at them, a bright smile on his face. Normally, she would have been happy to see him walking by. She probably would have even jogged over so they could head to class together, complaining about how harsh Aizawa could be the whole way. Now, however, she was just annoyed at having been interrupted a second time.

She gave Kirishima a quick thumbs up, then turned back to Midoriya so that he could finish what he was saying. Unfortunately, it seemed like the second interruption was the straw that broke the camel's back. He'd pulled fully away from her, and was glancing towards the entryway to the main building with an expression that told her he would rather be anywhere but standing with her at the moment.

"It, umm, it's not important," he said, once he noticed her staring at him, "I-I'll see you in class, Ashido!"

With that, he took off, braving the still crowded entrance with none of the hesitation he had shown when pushing through the crowd earlier.

Mina, for her part, simply watched him go. A part of her was tempted to follow after him, to try and try and make him feel a little bit better about the whole exchange. He probably hadn't been expecting to get slammed by so much embarrassment and anxiety this morning, and he really didn't deserve to feel all of that.

The only problem was that she was probably the last person he wanted comforting him right now. Hopefully Uraraka had already made it to the classroom, and would help him out a little bit. Iida and Todoroki would probably try to help him out as well, those four were thick as thieves these days, but they weren't exactly the most emotionally realized people and Mina wasn't sure exactly how much they would be able to do.

Mina probably needed someone to talk to as well. She was feeling more than a little flustered from the exchange, though she wasn't quite sure why. It wasn't like those guys had been intentionally teasing her, and nothing they had said was really that ridiculous.

Well, aside from the line about her and Midoriya being together. That was just odd to think about. Not a bad odd, but just… odd. He was a great guy, but she couldn't really see anything coming out of their friendship. Heck, she couldn't even picture him working up the courage to ask a girl out in the first place. He'd probably have to wait for the object of his hypothetical affections to walk up and ask him out.

And besides, Mina was pretty sure he had feelings for Uraraka. The two of them were super cute together, and would make for a great couple, in her humble opinion.

Now, if only she could figure out why that thought sent a twinge through her stomach when it popped into her head.

Author's Note: I had originally intended this to just be a short oneshot, but it quickly started growing longer than I anticipated, just like everything I write. I'm probably going to post this in 2-3 parts, depending on how long the next bits end up running. Look forward to those over the next couple of weeks.

Thank you for reading! Your enjoyment means the world to me, and I hope you have an excellent day!