"Hey, have you guys seen Jiro?"

Kaminari sat leisurely in the Heights Alliance common area, charging his phone in his hand with a small current of electricity. Nearby sat Kirishima, who had been chatting with Bakugo, and Mina, who had likewise been browsing social media on her phone.

"Hm?" she said, her attention briefly split between her feed and the question before understanding dawned. "Oh. You know, now that you mention it...nah. Not since this morning, at least."

"Huh," Kaminari responded. "Weird. She's usually down to hang out, but it seems like she's gotten less and less available these last few weeks."

"Yeah. I wonder what she's been doing?"

"Well, I happen to know that-"

A third voice abruptly piped up from behind the couch, causing everyone to jump a little in surprise.

"AGH! What the-?" Kaminari began before calming down. "Oh. Hey, Hagakure. Jeez, quit scaring people like that, huh? I almost short circuited my phone!"

"Sorry! I was just practicing my stealthing," the girl replied, popping up from where she had been sitting and leaning over the end of the couch, the top worn over her invisible body now clearly visible to the others.

"What were you gonna say, Toru?" Mina asked.

"Well, as I said, I've been practicing my stealthing, and while I was over by the cafeteria yesterday, I couldn't help but notice that Kyoka was sitting at one of the tables set up outside-with Midoriya."

Bakugo's ears perked up ever so slightly at the mention of Izuku's name, and he and Kirishima turned around to listen in on the conversation. Mina, meanwhile, leaned in a bit, immensely interested. Kaminari simply shrugged.

"Oh. Okay, so, she's been studying with Midoriya. That explains it."

"See, that was my first thought, but the only thing either of them had on them was her laptop. Didn't look like they were hitting the books."

"Maybe he's been helping her out with that English essay Present Mic assigned us," Kirishima suggested.

"Could be...but doesn't Momo usually help her out with stuff like that?" Mina asked.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm not knocking Midoriya, but I'm pretty sure she has better marks than him in, like, everything," Kaminari added.

"Which, considering how insanely good his marks are, is saying a lot," Mina added. Bakugo scoffed loudly.

"Maybe she's busy?" Kirishima pondered. "Or she already looked at it and Jiro wanted a second opinion."

Kaminari murmured in response. "Well, she helped me out with math just the other day, so she's definitely got time. You might be right on the other thing, though."

"I dunno, guys. I think there's something else going on here," Toru piped up. "Something way more interesting than just them studying."

Mina's eyes widened a bit. "Whoa. You think?" she asked, with a slight hint of anticipation in her voice.

Kaminari, however, was more puzzled than anything. "I think you're reading into this a bit, Hagakure. I mean, they're, like, the complete opposite of each other's types!"

"How do you know what either of their types are, Kaminari?" Mina asked pointedly.

"Yeah, you and Grape Boy thought Deku was shacking up with that psycho girl," Toru added. "In the middle of a test!"

"I didn't know about what her Quirk did, okay?! Give it a rest!" Kaminari snapped.

"He has a point, though," Kirishima interjected. "I mean, Jiro and Midoriya...seems pretty unlikely, don't you think?"

"Eh, I dunno," Toru interjected. "They're both pretty passionate about their interests, and their personalities aren't completely different."

"They barely talk, though," Kaminari pointed out. "Like, at all."

"That we know of," Mina countered. "We don't see either of them every second of every day."

"And come to think of it...where is Midoriya, anyway?" Toru asked, causing the others to pause. Mina grinned while Kaminari and Kirishima were left thinking it over. Bakugo remained completely indifferent, and seemed to be growing irritated.

"There's one way to find out," Mina replied, a bit of giddiness creeping into her tone while Toru giggled in response. Kirishima was the first to raise an objection.

"Whoa, hang on, you're actually going to go out and spy on them or something? Doesn't seem very manly of you," he said, his disapproval evident.

"We're not spying!" Mina protested. "We're just gonna go say hi, that's all."

"And if we happen to notice something interesting while engaging in pleasant conversation, well, that can't really be helped, now can it?" Toru added.

"Exactly!"

Kirishima and Kaminari looked at the two girls, unsure how exactly to respond. Bakugo, however, knew exactly what he wanted to say.

"Here's a thought: who cares?" he asked bluntly. "So Jiro and Deku are hanging out now. Who gives a shit? Are you two seriously so invested in this hypothetical romance crap that you have nothing better to do than go out to the cafeteria and snoop around under the assumption that they're secretly dating?"

Mina and Toru paused before turning to look at each other, engaging in silent deliberation. After a couple seconds of this, they both turned back towards Bakugo at the same time.

"Yes," they said in unison.

Bakugo stared at the two of them for a couple seconds, his face perfectly representing his feelings of complete and utter bewilderment at the two girls' behavior. Eventually, however, he blinked a couple times and turned away from the girls, leaning back against the couch.

"Yeah, okay, fuck it. Have fun."

"Thanks!" they both said in an incredibly cheery tone before Mina got up from the couch and eagerly followed Toru out the door. Kaminari and Kirishima watched them go for a second before shrugging to themselves.

After all, those two weren't their problem.

"So, uh, you said you needed me for something?"

Izuku sat across from Jiro at an outdoor table within the cafeteria. The green haired boy looked carefully at her, having grown significantly more comfortable around her, yet still hanging on to some residual trepidation which was par for the course as far as any of his social interaction went. Jiro had pulled out her laptop a couple minutes ago, yet hadn't done anything with it after logging in. She twirled her ear jacks around her finger, which Izuku had noticed was something she tended to do when she was nervous. The simple fact that she was nervous about this impromptu meeting made him all the more nervous, and he was left unsure as to how to proceed.

"Um, if it's about the essay, I-I thought it was great after the edits you made yesterday. I can't really think of-"

"It's not about the essay," Jiro interrupted, in a tone of voice which betrayed her anxiety about whatever she had asked him there for.

"O-oh. Okay. So, uh, what's up?" Izuku asked before leaning back in the chair ever so slightly. He put his hands together as his elbows rested upon the table, intent upon letting Jiro get to it in her own time. After another minute of jack-twirling deliberation, she took a deep breath and answered his question.

"I need your advice," she said, looking him directly in the eyes for a brief second before her gaze shifted downward, unable to maintain it out of embarrassment. Izuku nodded slowly.

"What about?" he asked, in order to prompt a fairly quick response. Jiro took another deep breath and turned around her laptop for Izuku's inspection. On it was what appeared to be a document field, with some rudimentary editing options and a menu of various other options in the corner. Izuku didn't recognize the site she was using, but he could easily gather its intent from the name: Fandom Library. Moreover, he recognized what she had put into the document field from the brief portion of it he could see: the first chapter of what she called "J + M."

"I'm thinking about publishing it," she said, sounding relieved to have gotten the words out. Izuku took a second to process what she had said before smiling a little.

"Ah, I get it now. Sure, go for it!" he said enthusiastically, causing Jiro to pause slightly.

"W-what?" she asked, slightly confused.

"You wanted to know if I thought you should publish it, right?"

"I-I mean, yeah, but-"

"Well, then the answer's yes! It's a great story, and I think a lot of people who like that book are going to love your writing!"

Jiro couldn't help but blush as Izuku looked at her with genuine excitement. Although his eyes didn't come anywhere close to the intensity they got whenever something hero-related came up, he was clearly enthusiastic, and the wide smile playing out across his features easily demonstrated this. Jiro quickly turned herself away and held up a hand in front of her face, as if the light shining off Izuku's face would render her blind.

"Too bright!" she thought, in a mild panic. "I can't look directly at it!" "Y-you really think so?" she asked, in an unusually timid voice. Izuku's bright smile seemed to fade as he looked at her for a moment.

"Jiro, I've been saying it's good since I first started reading it. I've told you I liked it every day for the last couple of weeks!" He seemed so genuinely confused by Jiro's continued hesitation that she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. "Don't...don't you think it's good?" he asked, his tone of voice killing her a little.

"Y-yeah! Yeah, I guess. I mean, I think so? I'm...ugh."

Jiro leaned back against her chair, turning her computer back around and looking at the screen for a few seconds.

"I think it's good, I just...I'm a little worried, you know? I mean, I've spent countless hours writing it, and if people don't at least read it, and it just sits there gathering dust...it'll feel like a bit of a waste, you know?" Izuku nodded, prompting her to continue. "Plus, it's...I dunno, something about it is..."

"You put a piece of your heart into it," Izuku said, surprising Jiro for a bit. She thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's...that's exactly right," she said, before she began thinking something in the corner of her mind.

"Honestly, I kinda figured that this story meant that much to you. There's just something about it that made it easy to tell."

"Uh huh, yeah, it, uh, it definitely does," she said, a little more nervously. "Oh, God, wait, does he actually know?"

"...Say. Do you mind if I tell you a secret?" Jiro paused, wondering what exactly Izuku was going to tell her. "It, uh...it's a bit heavy."

"Uh, okay? Sure," she said, not quite sure what to expect. Izuku took a deep breath.

"You're the first person who's read all my hero notebooks," he said simply.

Jiro was left a little confused, and couldn't help blushing slightly. "W-what?" she asked, while Izuku gave her a short nod to confirm that he was telling her the truth. "Y-you haven't shown them all to anyone? Todoroki, Iida? Uraraka? Not even your parents?"

Izuku shook his head. "My mom read the first few, but it became...difficult to show them to her. For a number of reasons." He paused for a moment, lost in thought, before continuing. "When I was younger, I'd show them to my classmates. Best case scenario, they'd think I was some weird hero otaku and leave me alone. Worst case scenario...well. I'm sure you noticed when you read them."

And she had. The slight tearing on some of the pages. The other pages folded over themselves in weird ways. The weird water marks which had evidently been rubbed out as best they could. Juvenile doodling on some of the drawings, with different pens than what Midoriya had used. The more...inappropriate doodles scribbled near other drawings. Truthfully, she had mulled over all of it whenever she had read one of the notebooks, but didn't want to bring any of it up to Midoriya for fear of upsetting him. Now, he was bringing it up of his own volition.

"Yeah..." Jiro said slowly, turning all of it over in her head. "Just...fuck, man. I'm so sorry."

Izuku held up a hand. "It's fine. It's...it's in the past now. Mostly," he said after a second. "The point is, I thought for a long time that my hero notebooks weren't something that anyone really wanted to see. I kept them to myself and hoped nobody noticed or cared enough about them to do anything bad to me. It...didn't always work." He shuffled a bit in his seat, evidently grappling with some bad memories. "But now...now it feels easier. I didn't feel apprehensive when I gave you those notebooks." Jiro couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he said this, causing him to chuckle nervously. "Okay, not that apprehensive. And I know that it couldn't have been easy to share your work with somebody else either."

Jiro nodded slowly, blushing slightly as she did so. "It wasn't," she said. "But...it did feel easier than I thought it would be. It didn't feel like you'd make fun of it, or trash it mercilessly."

Izuku snapped his fingers. "And even though it felt easier, you still were left uncertain, right? You still had to take that plunge not knowing how I'd respond to it."

"...Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly it."

"So, how is this situation much different?" he asked, wrapping up his point. "You don't know how people will react when you post it. You think they'll like it, but you can't be sure. Put simply...it's a gamble." Izuku smiled brightly once more as he looked into her eyes. "But it's a gamble you've made before, and it's worked out pretty well. Why not try your luck a second time?"

Jiro smiled a bit. "...You know what? You're right. Why don't I try my luck?" Reinvigorated, she promptly turned back to her computer, and typed away on it furiously. Izuku sat across from her, watching her work, before she eventually paused. "Come on," she said, gesturing for him to come closer.

"Huh?"

"Come on over here, dude!" she said with a smile. Izuku chuckled a bit and got out of his seat, moving to look over Jiro's left shoulder as she continued typing away. At last, it was time for the moment of truth, and she stood ready to click the final button that would send her work out into the world. At this moment, she hesitated, slight drops of sweat forming along her brow as she began to show residual traces of doubt. A thousand different scenarios, each one more horrible than the last, ran through her head, and for a moment she wondered why she had ever considered this in the first place. Suddenly, however, she felt, by degrees, a hand resting on her shoulder.

"Hey," Izuku said calmly, causing Jiro to turn around to look up at him. "You're okay." He smiled at her, and suddenly Jiro felt her doubts subside, at least for the moment. She smiled back at him with renewed confidence. He lifted his hand, and she turned back around, staring intently at her computer screen. At last, after one last round of internal debate, she took a deep breath, and clicked the button. The screen updated, indicating that the die had been cast. She leaned back into her seat as far as she could, letting all of her nervous tension slip away with a relieved sigh.

"I did it..." she muttered to herself, while Izuku nodded.

"How do you feel?" he asked, smiling. She smiled back at him, looking a bit tired.

"In a word...free." The two were left in silence for a moment, Jiro lost in thought while Izuku became slightly nervous, not quite sure what to say. As he looked around, unsure of himself, Jiro found herself smiling still, and got his attention. "Hey, Midoriya?" she began, causing him to turn around.

"Yeah, Jiro?"

"...Thanks," she said, smiling warmly at him and causing him to blush a fair bit.

"Oh, uh, i-it was nothing, really, uh, I just-"

"Nah, man, seriously, thanks. I finally feel like-"

"Hey, Kyoka!"

Izuku had never seen anyone close a laptop as fast as Jiro just did.

Izuku found himself taking a step back in apprehension, and he and Jiro turned around almost as one to spot Toru popping out from underneath a table ahead of theirs, her top angled in such a way that it was clear that she was looking at the pair of them. Nearby, Mina could be seen running over as fast as she could, skidding to a stop just ahead of the pair and resting her hands on the table.

"Um, h-hello, Hagakure-san. Ashido-san," Izuku said, somewhat rattled by the two girls' sudden appearance. Jiro, however, was significantly more unnerved.

"Toru, what the FUCK?!" she snapped, her mind caught in a state of turmoil. Toru was left slightly taken aback by Jiro's anger.

"S-sorry! I was just practicing my stealthing!" she said, and the earnestness in her tone caused Jiro to calm down somewhat, breathing a heavy sigh out of frustration.

"Soooo, whatcha doing?" Mina asked the two giddily. Suddenly, Jiro's anxiety returned, and she found herself blushing profusely as she attempted to answer.

"Um, uh, I-uh, I mean, we were just, uh-"

"Working on her essay!" Izuku chimed in quickly.

"Thanks for the save," Jiro thought to herself. Meanwhile, Toru raised an eyebrow, while Mina simply continued.

"Really?"

"Y-yeah," Jiro said, adding on. "T-there were still a few bits I wasn't quite sure on."

"Hm," Mina said simply, before smirking a bit. "It's a good thing Midoriya was free to help you out, huh?" Izuku started sweating a bit, not quite sure where Mina was going with this. He attempted to speak up to clear the air.

"Y-yup! I'm usually free to help people out if they need something, but not many people ask, so, you know, I end up just kind of...hanging out."

"Hm," Mina said again, leaving both Izuku and Jiro slightly uneasy. "Do you usually work out here, Midoriya?"

"Uh, n-not really. I usually stay in my room or go out to the grounds to train. But I figured, it's a nice spot, and Jiro likes it, so..."

"Ah," Mina said, grinning a bit more. "I gotcha."

"Say, Jiro, you mind if we read your essay?" Toru piped up, sending a shiver down her spine.

"H-huh?" she asked, before Mina caught on to Toru's plan.

"Yeah, maybe we can add our own input! Couldn't hurt, you know?"

"Uh, I dunno about that, guys..."

"Aw, come on, it'll be...okay, maybe not 'fun,' exactly, but...interesting?" Toru attempted.

"Ehhhh..." Jiro said, growing increasingly uncomfortable. Izuku unconsciously placed his hand on her shoulder and took a step forward. Mina and Toru both took pause, noting this development.

"Look, if she doesn't want to share it, you shouldn't pressure her," he said. Mina and Toru took a step back.

"You're right," Mina said. "Sorry, Jiro."

"I-it's fine," Jiro replied. "Just, I, uh...I better start on that math homework Ectoplasm assigned. I just know it's gonna take forever." She hurriedly got up from her chair, stowing away her laptop into her backpack and walking off.

"Yeah, same here," Izuku said, following after her. "See you guys later!" he called over his shoulder as the two walked off together. Mina and Toru watched them go, Toru a little confused, while Mina smirked slightly.

"Oh yeah. There's something happening here."

Meanwhile, as Izuku and Jiro walked back towards the dorms together, Izuku was left puzzling over that strange interaction.

"What was all that about?" he asked, to which Jiro sighed and slumped her shoulders in exasperation.

"I'm not sure, but if I had to guess...I'd say they think we're dating."

Izuku's entire face was beet red in an instant, and beads of sweat began lining his brow in abundance.

"H-huh?! What?! W-why would they think-I-I mean, we just started hanging out, what would possibly give them that impression anyway I don't think either of us-"

"Midoriya," Jiro interrupted, her tone completely deadpan, stopping him in his tracks. "It's okay."

"...Huh?"

"I'm well aware that I am irresistibly attractive," she began in an over-exaggerated, sultry tone, which only served to make Izuku more nervous. "But alas, you are not the subject of my affections! So sorry to disappoint you!"

"What?! J-Jiro, I don't-!" Izuku was interrupted again as Jiro erupted into laughter, a high pitched sound that, oddly enough, sounded almost musical.

"Kidding!" she said, still laughing a little as she playfully nudged him in the shoulder. "Come on, dude, I'm just messing with you!" Izuku slowly calmed down as he realized that Jiro was simply playing a joke on him, but he was still left somewhat annoyed as his skin returned to its normal coloration.

"You shouldn't joke about things like that," he said in a small voice. Jiro chuckled a bit.

"Sorry," she said, and the two walked in strained silence for a few moments before Jiro piped up again. "Say, what were you about to say back there anyway?"

"That I don't like you that way?" he replied, kind of confused by the question.

"Figured," she said, thinking for a few seconds. "Is there...anyone you like that way?" she asked, causing the boy to pause as if suddenly frozen in place. He blushed profusely once more before setting off again, quicker this time. Jiro laughed a little.

"I see. So...that's how it is," she said before taking off after him, trying to catch up.

Hours later, when most of the student body had turned in for the night, Toru sat at her computer, deciding to do one last quick check of all the sites she'd usually frequent before heading off to sleep. Her mind was still puzzled by the events of her and Mina's earlier excursion. Mina believed now more than ever that there was something going on between Jiro and Midoriya, and under ordinary circumstances, Toru would be inclined to agree. However...there was something else. Something she couldn't quite place. Something which told her that things weren't adding up in quite the way Mina suspected. With these thoughts on her mind, Toru browsed through the last site that she tended to check every day:

Fandom Library.

As she browsed through the new fics uploaded that day from her favorite series, she stumbled upon a new one by a writer she didn't recognize. Looking through the synopsis, the story appeared to be right up her alley, even featuring her second favorite ship from that particular series. Intrigued by this new writer, she decided to click on their profile, and was met with very little in the way of information. The author appeared to go by a fairly simple username: DopeFangirl. Other than that, all she could gather was that the writer was based in Japan, yet appeared to have written the synopsis and the entire fic in English.

"Ah, geez...my English isn't all that great, and Translatr sucks when it comes to translating more than maybe a sentence. Maybe I should-"

Suddenly, however, Toru thought of something.

'Maybe he's been helping her out with that English essay Present Mic assigned us.'

"English...the whole thing's written in English," she thought. Suddenly on a curious train of thought, Toru focused on another detail she had only partially registered: the username of the fic's author. "DopeFangirl...Dope..." Another memory flashed through her head: her and the others walking around in Jiro's room, during their "Room King" competition. Written on the wall with what appeared to be white spray paint was the logo of a popular band which Jiro was a fan of.

"Deep Dope! That band Jiro likes!" Toru thought, before a question entered her head. She looked around the story page until she found information on the time it was published: a little after noon. "Right when we-" Toru thought before she remembered how Jiro had reacted upon hearing her greeting. Before even turning around to see where the voice was coming from, she had slammed her laptop shut. And then…

'Say, Jiro, you mind if we read your essay?'

'H-huh?'

'Yeah, maybe we can add our own input! Couldn't hurt, you know?'

'Uh, I dunno about that, guys...'

Toru's invisible eyes widened as she began to get a clearer picture of what was going on here. "She was hiding something-I was right! She had just published this, and didn't want us to see it! And Midoriya must have been helping her write it, since he's always gotten great marks in English! That's what they've been doing these last few weeks!" However, there was still one piece missing, one nagging detail Toru couldn't quite place. She was already beginning to doubt that there was anything romantic going on between Jiro and Midoriya, but now...now she was starting to wonder if there was an answer within the story itself. She took a deep breath and looked over the synopsis very carefully.

"Julia and Mary have been friends for almost three years-they're inseparable. Until infamous high school heartthrob Justin Matthews came along, and suddenly Julia is left to watch as Mary seems to fall harder and harder for him. This might not be so terrible, were it not for one startling new development, one even she hadn't quite begun to notice: she's falling harder and harder for Mary. Julia finds herself grappling with these new feelings for her best friend, all while doing her best to support her budding romance with Justin, knowing full well that she would never feel the same way about her."

Toru pored over the synopsis for a second, not quite picking up on what it might indicate, until she thought of something.

"If she wanted Midoriya to help her because of his marks in English, then..."

In an instant, another memory came to Toru's mind, one which seemed to fill the missing piece of the puzzle instantly.

'...doesn't Momo usually help her out with stuff like that?'

"Oh my God."

Toru stared at the screen in utter disbelief. That was it, she realized. That was why she had gotten Midoriya, a guy she'd only occasionally spoken to before, to help her, rather than her best friend. Because that same friend was the last person she'd want to see it.

She found herself looking up at the screen once more, and for a moment, she was tempted to see if her assumption was correct. To see what kind of story Jiro had written. Her invisible hand rested upon her mouse, which soon moved to highlight the name of the story. She took a deep breath...and moved her cursor to the corner, closing the window.

She had stepped too far into a place she clearly wasn't supposed to be already. The only thing left to do was find a way to apologize...and to make sure that nobody else stumbled upon it who wasn't supposed to.

Phew! This ended up taking a lot longer than I thought it would.

I figured I'd just write a quick thing to give this story an additional chapter and then focus on Ultimate Matchmaker, but instead, this thing took almost a week on its own. I admittedly had a lot of stuff to do getting ready to move for college, but even so, I still procrastinated a lot, and for that I apologize. Hopefully I'll be able to finish Chapter 5 of Ultimate Matchmaker before my classes start, but I'm suddenly not quite as optimistic.

Anyway, it was a little tough to figure out where I wanted this story to go from here. I knew that I wanted Jiro to ultimately publish it and for somebody to connect the dots, which is ultimately where the sideplot with Mina and Toru ends up. I think I kept everybody more or less consistent, with Jiro and Izuku getting a little more comfortable with each other due to the friendship they've built over these last few weeks, and Toru ultimately realizing where the line was when it came to her and Mina investigating Jiro's supposed secret romance. Of course, it's going to be a long, long time before I have time for the next chapter, and for that I apologize. Still, I hope getting this additional bit of content is worth it for those of you who enjoyed this story.

As always, thank you all for reading, have yourselves a fantastic day, and take care.