AN: Holy crap, I'm sorry everyone. Between having a hefty writer's block on where I wanted to take the chapter, being unsure of how to handle some of the dialogue, and school giving me much more pressure than usual, it's been rough. I'm also pretty mad because I didn't want to leave this chapter on a cliffhanger, but I already essentially have the next much smaller chapter finished, it's just a question of if I want to add much more and if not getting to proofreading it. As always I appreciate all reviews positive or negative, so feel free to leave your thoughts and I'll answer them all by the next chapter!
"Alright class," a perpetually tired Aizawa began. "today we will be practicing rescue training in the USJ."
Most of the class cheered, anything to hone their hero skills and avoid class work was welcomed.
Aizawa quickly interrupted the already excited class. "Quiet down. There will be a few stipulations for today's training. The first is that while your quirks will always be encouraged, there will be times when they can cause greater issues during a catastrophe. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses will be always be important, and today's training will hopefully teach you some discipline as when best to use them."
The class murmured quietly amongst themselves. Eraser Head allowed it for a moment. He knew they would be surprised having to hold back the quirks they've spent so long developing. He also knew that it was important to keep them always guessing and, on their toes, to avoid getting complacent. Speaking over them, he continued, "The second is that you will be assigned a partner and area at random. This will help simulate a common situation, where you and a hero who may not even be part of the same agency will arrive on the same scene, maybe even one you've never been to, as first responders."
Iida already had his hand raised. "Aizawa-sensei, do you mean this exercise will be similar to the provisional license exam?"
"There will be some differences, such as the number of people working together, but yes. Be sure to take this just as seriously."
While the class was always ready to handle any problem that came their way, it had been ages since they last used the USJ. There was, despite the cheering, a bit of hesitancy. It had not been so long ago when they were here, fighting for their lives. Eraser Head paused for a moment to look over his students, he could see some of that emotion. Not the fear of being attacked again, but the pain from remembering. Trying his best to ease their thoughts by keeping their minds on the present, he spoke.
"Rescuing citizens is just as important as fighting the villains causing the havoc. Again, the situation will dictate whether your quirk will be useful. Take this exercise seriously and focus on what is in front of you."
As he watched their worried looks vanish, replaced with the faces of determination he was used to seeing, he paused. Every day they were improving, building on the strong foundation instilled by both the school and their experiences. It was almost enough to make him smile. Almost.
With no other interruptions, Aizawa started naming off student pairs, handing each a slip of paper. Midoriya was matched with Momo, Uraraka with Mina, Bakugo was paired with Mineta and so on.
"Hey Izuku," the unmistakable voice of the shortest student in class called out. "I think there was a mix up. You wouldn't mind trading, right?"
The cold voice of their teacher halted that plan in its tracks. "There was no mix up, and there will be absolutely no trades, Mineta. Accomplish the given mission."
"R-right!" So much for getting some alone time with Momo, Mineta cursed.
"Sorry, Mineta," Midoriya said, "but with Bakugo's quirk you won't have anything to worry about!"
"Yeah..." Mineta trailed off as the blonde in question scowled at the two staring at him. "I guess I could figure something out. But hey, enjoy yourself buddy."
Ochaco heard Mineta's words and froze in place. While Izuku also took the joke a bit too seriously, trying to over-explain his embarrassment away, she watched the pair like a hawk. Momo, who at this point had her fill of jokes for the day and noticing Ochaco staring a bit too hard, caught the attention of the two boys with a quick cough.
"Sorry to interrupt, but I wouldn't mind talking to you about our possible plans as we make our way there, Midoriya. I'm sure your speed would make for great reconnaissance."
Izuku in most cases would be thrown off by a beautiful girl like Momo standing so close, but anything quirk or hero related was usually enough to ease that issue.
"Good idea, Yaoyorozu! I had a few possible suggestions for using your quirk if you don't mind hearing about them. They would be pretty helpful in the flood zone we were assigned to! Do you have any problems with maybe creating binoculars with thermal vision?"
As Midoriya rambled on, Momo glanced to a disappointed Mineta and caught his gaze for a moment, smiled quickly, and walked off, listening close to Midoriya's quickened speech.
"Hey balls for brains, hurry up or get left behind." The powerful shove from Bakugo as he walked by knocked Mineta off balance for a moment.
Mineta was annoyed with Bakugo's attitude, but at least the comment wasn't as venom laced as he used to be towards Midoriya. It was hard to tell if Bakugo was still sore about all the questions from the other day or not, but getting assigned to the fire zone with him, angry or otherwise, meant Mineta had his work cut out for him.
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say," Mineta replied. "By the way, do you mind if I hitch a ride?"
It wouldn't be as good a time as when he latched onto Momo, but they would go through this training quicker that way.
"In your damn dreams!"
Bakugo didn't even give him the decency of looking in his general direction before walking off. Sighing as he felt the afternoon getting longer by the second, Mineta heard a voice call out from behind him.
"Yeah bro, you definitely got the short end of the stick this time."
Seeing a grinning Kaminari followed by Kirishima close behind him put Mineta at ease.
Kirishima added on to Denki's comment as he walked up. "Don't worry, Mineta. He might still seem a bit rough, but he's a good guy deep down. You're in good hands."
Mineta wasn't sure how Kirishima cracked Bakugo's shell, but he had to give credit where credit was due.
"Honestly, I don't know how you did it, Kirishima, I'd have given up a long time ago. You guys assigned to the fire zone too?"
Kirishima nodded. "Not sure how we might be able to use our quirks, but it shouldn't be a problem. But you should probably hurry up, Bakugo is not a fan of being late."
Sighing again at who he got stuck with, Mineta jogged after the blonde.
A short distance away, Ochaco stared as Midoriya and Momo got along as they walked. She was hoping Momo would keep it professional, but it wasn't something she could dwell on with work to do. I just hope Momo doesn't try anything on Deku.
Mina saw where Ochaco was looking but chose to not say anything for the time being. She knew her crush on Deku was an awkward topic, and she knew what it felt like to be kept at arms distance. Hoping to keep her mind off things and avoid an awkward question, Mina called out to her love-sick friend.
"Earth to Uravity!"
The shout caused the girl in question to jump in surprise. "Sorry Mina, just spacing out." Knowing she couldn't dwell on the negative now, she turned to Mina. "Ready to go?"
"Of course. Lead the way!"
Landing with a soft step, Mina couldn't help but be impressed. On the one hand, she remembered the boat looked a lot worse for wear after Midoriya fought off those villains, but UA managed to refloat the boat with little issue. On the other hand, Uraraka had clearly trained. She didn't even look a little queasy taking the two of them across the water. Mina wasn't sure what the casualties would look like but was relieved that there were lifeboats onboard to move them. The less stress Ochaco goes through the better.
Stepping gently over the hastily patched together hull of metal and wood, Mina was the first to break the silence. "Wow, can't believe Midoriya and the others managed to beat whoever caused this. Didn't even think you could patch this thing back together."
"Yeah, he was pretty powerful even back then," Uraraka replied. She looked over the railing for a moment to really take in the boat's damage. "It's crazy we all made it out alive."
Thinking back to all the injuries both the pro heroes and their classmates sustained had them silent for a moment. The cards were stacked against them. Had it not been for the other pros showing up just in time, their deaths were guaranteed. It was hard thinking back to that for them both, but they had to focus on this mission, even if it was only training.
Renewed in their motivation to begin, they searched the main deck. It didn't take long before they found their first "casualty". Lying slumped against one of the outer railings, a large sandbag with a sailor uniform on stuck out like a sore thumb. As she reached the casualty, Mina couldn't help but giggle as she turned it over.
"Well, at least we know what they look like," Mina said, admiring the quality of the uniform.
"Careful Mina, we should have at least checked for any wounds before moving him," Ochaco replied. She had a hunch Aizawa-sensei was the type to make sure first-aid was a priority at some point, and what better time than the first one a student would find?
"That's true. I'm sorry Mr. Sailor," Mina performed a mock bow, "but I'll have to undress you a bit."
Although she was joking around, Mina took a thorough look over the fabric body, trying to find some sign of damage. It didn't take long to spot a note tacked onto the front.
"Knocked out, minor bleeding? Well at least we don't have to guess what's wrong." Mina said as she pulled out a small first aid kit.
As she began wrapping the dummy's arms, Ochaco instead chose to explored the rest of the upper deck. Floating along as she searched, she couldn't help but think back to how well Izuku and Momo were getting along as they talked. Her mood dropping a bit, she did her best to remind herself that it was probably Deku getting over-excited and Momo being herself. Try as she might, however, she couldn't get Mineta's parting words out of her head. Have fun? Really? You can't even have one class without Yaoyorozu being bothered?
She told herself that Midoriya wasn't the type to go chasing after women unless they needed saving, even if she only half believed it. Her real worry, however, was Momo and Mineta. Mineta because he always had some sort of plot on his mind and the cunning to pull it off. Momo excelled in everything from looks to brains with no shortage of wealth (that last one stinging more than it should have) which meant few men would be able to turn her down if she showed any interest. Maybe Momo doesn't have any interest in Midoriya now, she said to herself, but if she spends enough time with him, she might develop something for him.
Ochaco knew it wasn't doing her any good to dwell on the situation, all she could do was hope. Releasing her quirk, she landed next to Mina with a gentle thud. While she searched, Mina managed to easily carry the sandbag back to the lifeboats, setting out an area for the wounded with a nearby tarp.
"See anyone else out there?" Mina asked as she stood back up.
Nothing outside," Ochaco replied, sounding a little more down than she wanted.
Ashido heard it as well but wanted to keep her friend focused.
"If you didn't see anything, it's safe to say everyone else is below deck. Let's go."
Mina performed a quick stretch as they moved over to the door leading to the lower decks. Testing the door and seeing it was sealed up tight, Mina used her quirk to melt the hinges and the portion of the wall the latch was attached to. Pulling with all their strength the door came loose with little trouble.
"Wow Mina, you've gotten a lot better with using your quirk!"
Mina couldn't help but blush a bit at the compliment. "You think so? I would have probably just tried melting the whole door in the past, but this way we don't have to worry about damaging the ship more than we have to. "
Looking back to the impressed girl, Mina couldn't help herself. "Have you managed to get that confession going yet?"
Uraraka couldn't help but groan. "Seriously Mina?" Not able to hide it anymore, she admitted that she hadn't made her move yet.
"I'm only kidding, but still, do you realize how cute you two would be? I'm pretty sure everyone in the class has been waiting for you to ask."
As they descended into the lower deck, Ochaco kept the conversation going. "I'm pretty sure not everyone was waiting. I couldn't imagine Tokoyami or Bakugo caring too much, personally."
Mina laughed at the thought of Tokoyami having a soft spot for romance but relented. "Okay, sure, maybe a couple of them don't care, but come on! We're all rooting for you."
Ochaco seemed thankful for the kind words, but she still looked worried. Mina, seeing her downcast look, wanted to give her some more encouragement. "Don't worry, guys can be a little dense sometimes, but showing them you're interested can go a long way."
"You really think so?" Uraraka had a hard time hiding her hope that Deku might show enough interest to make a move on his own.
"Of course!" Despite the cheerfulness of the conversation, Mina's smile dropped for a moment. "If only Kirishima could take a hint."
As Ochaco looked into Ashido's eyes, she couldn't help but notice a bit of sadness to them. Before she could open her mouth to return at least some of the concern, Mina picked right back up.
"It's no problem, he's moving at his own pace. I'm just stuck playing the waiting game." Still seeing the concern on her friend's face, Mina waved off any other questions, "I really appreciate it, but he'll come around sometime."
Mina looked like her old self, but still seemed distant. As Uraraka started to reach out Mina quickly grabs a sandbag dummy slumped against the wall and gets to work checking to see if the poor thing is wounded.
Though she hesitates at first, Ochaco lets the subject drop and eases into the exercise. As they gently push this one along with Ochacos's quirk, Mina thinks back to the start of the exercise.
"Oh, and I wouldn't worry about Momo. She's got a guy on her mind, it's just not yours."
Ochaco wanted to believe her, but she couldn't trust those words with Mineta's remarks in the back of her mind. Suddenly it hit her. Realizing she might need more than Tsu for her plan, she waited until they had the dummy safely laid on the tarp and are heading for the lower deck again.
"Hey Mina, what's your weekend looking like?"
Mina stopped just outside the cabin door and pondered the question. "Depends, do you have anything in mind?"
Smiling as they head back into the ship, Uraraka only says, "Only if you're still curious about who Momo has on her mind."
"Save me! Save me! My baby brother and mother are still out there somewhere! Save them too!"
Mineta couldn't help but sigh. It had already been about half an hour, but the combination of high temperature, Bakugo's commands, and the cardboard cutouts repeated voice lines made it feel more like 4 or 5 hours. It didn't help that many of them sounded suspiciously like the former number one hero trying different voices.
The only good thing was that the cardboard person outside told them he had a family of 5 inside the zone and provided respirators. All it meant to him was smoke wasn't as big an issue and they at least had a goal to work towards. Bakugo managed to grab 2 of the family members before the ten-minute mark and this was one took more time to dig out than actually search for.
Placing the cutout outside the fire zone, Mineta hated to admit it, but Bakugo did well leading this thing. If he kept moving, Bakugo kept the threats and insults to a minimum. He managed to only be told to hurry the hell up twice, and Mineta wasn't sure if that was a new record for anyone working with the blonde. Still, the less complaining the better.
Mineta stopped for a moment before it dawned on him. This is my chance to get a straight answer out of Bakugo about why he helped me, Mineta thought. There's no peer pressure and we aren't too busy; he might open up easier now.
Trying to get back to Bakugo, however, was proving to be more difficult than Minoru preferred. The amount of debris was probably the roughest part of the exercise. From what he could tell, UA didn't do much repairing after the incident. I guess the debris is good for practicing moving safely, he thought, but this is more for guys who aren't barred from most of the rides at a theme park.
The fires nearby weren't much help either. The respirator was great for keeping lot of the smoke out of his lungs, but that didn't make the heat which ranged from uncomfortable in some places to unbearable inside some of the buildings any better. His height at least kept some of the smoke out of his eyes, but right about now he was wondering if a helmet like Sero or Uraraka's costumes might be a good idea for an upgrade. I wonder if you could get it air conditioned too? I bet the support class would get a kick out of trying to make it.
Finally climbing over a collapsed pillar, Mineta spotted Bakugo already moving debris from a large building's entrance. Not even bothering to look up, the only bit of concern Bakugo had was on the task at hand.
"Hear anything on the way back?" he calmly asked while pushing a large piece of rebar to the side, clearing a way into the building.
"Not a thing." Mineta knew he didn't need any long-winded report, short and crisp did the job. Well, he didn't really know if that was the case. He only knew that he saw veins bulging out of Bakugo's forehead anytime Izuku began to describe something at length.
"The rest are probably further on then. Help keep the doorway stable."
"You bet." Throwing a few grapes at the various cracks lining the wall of the large doorway, he felt pretty proud of himself. Sure, he thought, I know my quirk is good for catching villains, but being able to use it like this for rescuing people is great. He couldn't help but wonder if Momo felt this way, but knew he couldn't daydream for long. Bakugo tended to move from yelling to other methods pretty quickly, and Mineta wasn't in the mood for anything more than getting chewed out if he could help it.
Working through the buildings on the first floor, Mineta tried to find a good time to say something to Bakugo, but he was being fed commands one after another. Try as he might, Mineta couldn't find an opening.
"Hey, Baku-"
"Check under the debris", came the sharp call further down a ruined hallway.
"On it." After a quick search lead to nothing, Mineta called again. "Oh, there's something I need t-"
"Help lift this thing," was all Bakugo said as he moved on.
Grunting as he moved the heavy cabinet that fell over, Mineta tried again. "Okay, it's moved, so why di-"
A small explosion interrupted him. Looking over, Mineta saw his partner cracked open a locked door, but the inside looked empty.
"Check in the cupboards in case Aizawa sensei hid one on us."
It continued like this until they at last found a cardboard cutout of a crying baby, in a crib, no less. Picking it up and turning off the speaker on the back, Bakugo unceremoniously tossed it over to Mineta.
"That just leaves the mother. We've cleared this place, so if the baby is here, she is probably in a nearby building. It would at least be the logical move." Bakugo looked out of one of the broken windows to see if he could spot her, but fire and smoke obscured most of the area.
Finally finding the right moment, Mineta went for it. "Bakugo", he started, "I have to know man. What made you help me out last weekend?"
Bakugo barley managed to contain his groan but was unable to hide his annoyance as he walked down the stairs, "This crap again? Didn't I already tell you?"
"There has to be more to it than, 'Oh I just felt like helping you'," the shorter classmate fired back, trailing close behind. Who's he kidding? We barely know each other. He's not exactly cupid over here, so what's his angle?
Although they moved in silence through the building, once they made it outside Bakugo finally opened his mouth. "Look..."
"Mineta."
"Sure, whatever. Listen. The reason I helped you out was because I saw the results that romance garbage brings."
Trying to recover the jaw of lead Bakugo left him, Mineta found his voice soon enough. "Come again?"
"Look at Pikachu and Earlobes. Before they started going out, they were slow as hell. Barely a blip on my radar. But now, Stun-Gun is putting forth some actual effort and not making a complete fool of himself when his girlfriend is watching. And Earlobes has been much better during sparring matches and on tactics. "
Ducking under a half-destroyed wall, he continued.
"Winning is great and all, and you better believe I'll be number one, but it's hollow if the only ones really competing are Kirishima, half-and-half, and the nerd. The fiercer the competition, the better the victory."
"Wait, you mean to tell me you only wanted Momo and me to work things out so you could have more people to beat?"
"That's pretty much the size of it."
Who the hell thinks like that!? Mineta couldn't even wrap his mind on how Bakugo's thought process worked. He figured it wasn't because he suddenly wanted friendship with someone as weak as him, but this is insane. Maybe a bit too out there, even for him.
"Bakugo, come on. You mean to tell me there is nothing else as a reason besides that?"
Not acknowledging the question at first as he tested a doorknob on a building, Bakugo kept his mouth closed for a bit. Almost on reflex, he pulled his hand away, shaking off the pain. Finally, he spoke, "Look, don't worry about what others think. Focus on Ponytail and keep trying to not screw things up."
Well, Mineta thought, at least I was right. "What about Deku and his friends though? What am I supposed to do about them breathing down my neck?"
"That's on you, dumbass. It was your screw up. Learn from your mistakes and make up for them. At least that's what Kirishima says."
Thankful for the half-decent second-hand advice, Mineta was glad the redhead was at least being a good influence on the most violent kid in their school. Still, he couldn't help but wonder what Bakugo's real angle was. As far as Mineta was concerned, his worst case scenario was that Bakugo liked Momo too, and wants an actual victory, rivalry and all. Damn it, I really hope the hot jerk isn't Momo's type. Suddenly an absolutely insane thought popped into Mineta's head. It was an option that scared even him to think about, but considering the blonde's excuse was, "Get together so I have some better stepping stones," he was willing to see all the angles. Bracing himself for the possibly earth shaking revelation, he asked his final question.
"Hey, you're not doing all of this because you secretly like me, right?"
The heat that radiated from the blast that he barely managed to dive from was frightening. Above him, the fire inside the burning building from earlier swelled, and then quickly lost most of its size as the oxygen, along with most of the building's first floor walls were blown away by Bakugo's explosion. Mineta was still awestruck by the sheer power of what he witnessed. How did Midoriya tank multiple hits like that!? Looking up from his prone position, he saw a gaping hole in the building they were just in front of. The upper half of a sandbag in a dress, with a speaker messily attached still managed a final, garbled cry for help before the power gave out.
"Any other stupid questions?"
Well, at least he had the earth-shaking part right.
Kirishima and Kaminari both were also wandering the fire zone, slowly dragging a group of cardboard kids away from a burning bus. The explosion shook the large room that housed the makeshift town.
"Holy crap! What do you think, Kirishima, did Mineta start that or Kacchan? "
Holding onto a section of the rope tied around the kids, Kirishima looked toward the origin of the reverberating sound.
"Hard to say. Personally, I would put money on Bakugo starting it and Mineta saying something wrong."
Denki chuckled at the guess, "Yeah, their chemistry might be a bit lacking for this sort of mission. Hopefully they didn't level a building."
Smiling at the joke, Kirishima went back to trying to maneuver the cutouts. He didn't know why, but it would have felt wrong to stack them on top of each other. Denki agreed, saying he didn't mind the rope idea. Honestly, Kirishima enjoyed hanging out with Denki. A bit flashy at times, but it probably comes with having such an awesome quirk. Besides, nothing wrong with a man being flashy as long as his heart was in the right place.
After making it a few blocks in relative silence, Eijiro finally decided to break the ice and ask some questions he had mulled over since lunch.
"Kaminari, sorry if I'm overstepping a bit, but has Mineta talked about any girls?"
Denki didn't quite catch what he meant. "What? I mean, we talk about girls often enough. A lot less since Jiro and me started seeing each other, but a pretty girl is a pretty girl, and as men we can appreciate that."
Kirishima knew he should have saw that coming, but started again, "I mean, recently, like maybe a girl he's seeing or something?"
Denki was in front of Kirishima, so the latter couldn't see his face, but the sinking feeling almost caused Denki to freeze in place. Snapping out of it and without missing a step, he answered back, "No, not recently. Why, did you see him with a girl or something?" He wanted to see if Kirishima knew something he didn't, so he tried to bait a response, "I hope he ain't holding out on me man. He's been teasing me ever since my first date with Kyoka, and if I can't get him back a little bit it wouldn't be fair."
Kirishima knew he had made things awkward asking like this. To be honest, he felt unmanly talking about someone behind their backs like this. He at least had to clarify things, "It wasn't really anything like that. It's just… I don't know, I think I'm listening to Mina too much. I can't even tell when she's just joking."
Denki scratched the side of his face, "Well she does like joking around. What happened anyway?"
Eijiro tells Denki about the lunch visit Mina paid Momo, and how Momo seemed bothered by all the teasing. He finished it with, "I think Mina was just having her idea of fun, but I can't tell why she's so fixed on it. I don't think I've ever seen Mineta and Momo together. Well except for the Sports Festival."
"Don't think that one counts, but I hear ya. I'd say don't worry about it though, Mina loves getting people riled up. She did it to Jiro and me and she probably won't stop until she's distracted by a guy herself."
Kirishima laughed at that. "Yeah, she's definitely going to be a handful for someone someday."
Kaminari felt the rope stop for a second. As he turned around, he saw Eijiro looking down to the ground. But as soon as he realized Denki was staring, he picked right back up with his train of thought.
"I know it's not really my business, but just tell Mineta to not take anything Mina says to heart. She might give him plenty of grief, but she doesn't really mean anything she says."
As he heard the last part, Denki took a long, hard look at Kirishima. He heard the pain in Kirishima's voice. He wanted to help somehow. They had been through a lot, and Denki wasn't the type to stand by while a friend was in trouble.
"Hey, if you want to talk about anything, I'm here."
Kirishima's eyes widened with surprise for a moment, but he closed them and only shook his head. "It's okay. I have to figure out this whole thing on my own. All of this hesitation, I guess I can't really say I'm a man just yet."
Kaminari could see how hurt he was about it, though it was more because the guy wore his heart on his sleeve than anything else. Still, Denki wanted to show him that he didn't have to face anything alone. " I have to say I'm not completely on board with you saying you're not a man, but if you do need to talk to someone, I might make a better choice over Bakugo."
Hearing he had a comrade in arms, Eijiro couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, and I know he's rough around the edges, but Bakugo can give out solid advice too. Still, I'm glad I have friends looking out for me."
As the two began to get the cardboard kids to a green safety circle near a fire zone's entrance, the two continued with more casual small talk. Mulling over the redhead's words, however, Kaminari decided that he would choose tonight to get answers from Mineta himself. He wasn't sure what to believe, but he wanted to hear his good friend out more than anything. He knew Mineta had some trouble when it came to the opposite sex, but unless he flat out admitted to any wrongdoing or saw evidence, he would believe in his friend. Seeing how much Kirishima was dealing with only strengthened that resolve. If Kirishima is having trouble, I know Mineta is probably in a tight spot too. Denki knew Mineta would be more than willing to stick up for him if the roles were reversed, and that was enough for Denki. Sure, it looks bad, he thought, sure the others think something awful went down, but it could just be a bad coincidence. It was all he could hope for at least.
Denki was ready to find out the truth, but he did his best not to think too much about what he was going to do if the others were right.
"Good work everyone," Aizawa's monotone reached the now visibly tired class. "Most of you did well and found creative uses for your quirks but almost everyone avoided using them incorrectly. Some of you performed better than others, so those who were unable to find their casualties in the allotted time, keep today in mind and reflect on what you could do better next time. "
Many of the students were happy with the effort they gave. Mina and Uraraka were given quite a bit of praise for the job they did, not only finding all casualties but also giving proper medical treatment before getting them to safety. Deku and Momo also were singled out for finding a few extra sandbags that a couple of other teams in the flood zone missed, thanks to Momo's creations and Midoriya's speed.
As the students talked amongst one another, Aizawa spoke again, "Mineta. Bakugo. Both of you were the only ones who had lost a casualty because of your own failures. I expect a two-page paper on when and where to use your quirks in a disaster area on my desk first thing tomorrow."
"Damn it! This is all your fault, balls for brains!" Bakugo shouted almost immediately.
Mineta recoiled and looked for someone tall to hide behind as Midoriya tried to calm his childhood rival down.
"Not a word out of you, nerd! He knows what he did!"
Mineta half shrieked as he stood behind Shoji, standing as stoic as ever, "I'm not the one with TNT for sweat!"
"Enough, both you," came the now annoyed voice behind them. Aizawa had his special binds already poised for any continued trouble.
Seeing no possible victory, the two boys settled down with the rest of the class and listened to the rest of their debrief.
After all that, Mineta was glad to finally be in his room again. It wasn't anything like home, but a warm bed and internet can go a long way. Luckily for him, once class was over Bakugo seemed more ready to start his paper than complain about having to do it or get back at the person who had caused the problem. Mineta couldn't tell if Kirishima had a hand in that but he was thankful either way for the peace and quiet on the way to his room. Momo was curious about what had happened, but he wasn't sure what to leave out, especially what Bakugo knows and why he helped. She probably wouldn't be happy to hear about romance any time soon, he thought, as he read her newest message. I guess I could at least tell her that he was the one who pushed me to apologize and say I don't know why he did it. It's way better than that crap excuse Bakugo gave.
Thinking about what he should say, Mineta tossed aside the phone for a moment. Without even really thinking, he let his fingers lazily move across the keyboard, finishing yet another paragraph of his paper. It had only been an hour or two since class ended and to his relief the paper was almost done. I guess it's a good thing I can talk about Bakugo's quirk too, he thought, just better be sure it doesn't sound like I'm blaming him for what happened.
Leaning back in his chair and as he took a drink of soda, Minoru heard his phone buzz again. He reached over to reply to Momo but paused when he read the name texting him. It was Denki. The message simply read:
Hey bro, you busy?
Mineta didn't really know what was going on, so he wrote back.
Just typing that paper because I can't keep my mouth shut. What's up?
It took a minute or two but as Mineta finished the last of his soda he finally got his reply.
Can we talk real quick?
AN: It's kind of tough juggling characters like this, but I hopefully did everyone's personal favorites some justice in writing them. I'm still pretty steamed about having to leave it on a cliffhanger rather than include what happens after. I was hoping to have it all ready before the semester started, but homework permitting I should be done with it soon enough. With that out of the way, however, let's get to the reviews!
Guest 1: I think the pairing works because it works in my heart. Well that and another fanfic that pretty much cemented the thought into my head. I'm all for character development and the motivations that cause it to occur. I feel that people can change for the better if the right conditions are there for it, and maybe that's what draws me to this. Or maybe I just need a creative outlet that's a challenge.
allthecoolusernamesaretaken: Thanks mate. I personally love how Horikoshi makes his characters have their own motivations that aren't just surface level, and I want to reflect that in how I write them, even if it isn't fully canon. I feel like if I don't that I am not really giving his work the respect it deserves, even if the others are side characters for the story. Hope you have been well even after as long as it took me to respond.
Guest 3 (and probably 4): You never know, Momo is pretty tall, she probably would look more at their personality and how well they get along if she was looking for someone.
Guest 5: Sometimes it feels like the whole world is against you.
Mr. Enlightment: That's what I'm trying to do at least. I think the struggle is what makes or breaks a man, and hopefully Mineta will get some peace by the end of it. Thanks for the encouragement!
SirSmurgger: Thank you for the kind words. I think all of the kids are capable of being heroes even if they have a heavy weakness in one way or another, and Mineta is no exception to it. Hopefully I can find time between schoolwork to write more. Take care and have a good day as well.
Nuuo: I dig the Tsuyu and Mineta pairing as well, but thank you for the encouraging words.
Thanks again. As always, whether they're positive or negative reviews, feel free to leave them.