"What about this one?" Izuku's fingertips brushed over a small scar on her shoulder.

True to her word – because Rumi wasn't a goddamn liar, so her word actually meant something – they'd talked. After they'd torn each other's clothes off and gotten the reunion out of their systems, that is. After that matter was settled, they talked about her. About Hawks, the Commission, the League, everything. She spilled every last dirty secret, and it felt so goddamn good to do it. The sun had been setting when she got to his apartment, and it was well past midnight now.

He sat, and he held her, and he listened. He was amused at times, concerned at others, but he let her talk at her own pace. His heart thumped away, slow and strong. Far more consistent than the last time she'd heard it. He'd progressed leaps and bounds with his physical fitness in such a short time.

Absently, she tapped out the rhythm of his heartbeat against the back of his hand. Rumi craned her neck, glancing at the scar. "Hmm, I'm pretty sure I just landed weird on something. Or… was there something sticking out of a wall? I don't really know. Must not have been a big deal at the time." She sat nestled between his legs, back to his chest, warm and drowsy. They honestly should have been asleep hours ago, but the conversation flowed so easily they lost track of time. Well, Izuku did. Rumi knew exactly what time it was. He was going to be upset when he finally looked at the clock.

"And…" he hesitated before ghosting his fingers across her sternum. There sat a hair thin white scar. A Y-incision, which started at her shoulders, traveled under her collarbones to meet at the top of her breastbone, and then went straight down to her solar plexus. "This?"

"Broken rib. Guess Kurogiri had to crack me open to get at it."

He blanched, then squeezed her, almost protective. "Did Kacchan- "

She cut him off, "Nah, wasn't him. Some big bastard threw me into a concrete wall that morning. I think I landed on a fire extinguisher or something. Anyway, it was already broken before I ran into you. Finally gave out when I did the scissor attack thing to Nomu."

He sighed, relieved. "And that's why you did the big dramatic letting-go-of-the-portal thing when I was trying to grab you?" He deadpanned.

She snickered. "Well, partly. I also didn't really want to be holding your hand after it closed."

He frowned in a way that screamed 'I'm not sure if I want to know, but also, I want to know.' "Uh… why?"

"Because you'd be left standing in the USJ with one less hand. Though, I suppose I could have given the severed one to Shigaraki as a peace offering. Fuckin' creep that he is."

Izuku blinked, processing that little fact. "Oh."

Rumi smacked him on the forearm. "Yeah, 'Oh'. Use that big brain of yours and don't go sticking your limbs in weird portals, ya fuckin' dork."

He hummed and nodded. "Noted. Why's it white?" He asked, referring to the scar.

"No idea, but it's goddamn irritating." She groused, raising her leg so they could admire the shiny white burn scars on her shin. "I guess it's just part of it. Whatever Kurogiri does, I mean. Can't really complain because it's fast as fuck, but I don't super enjoy looking like patchwork." She shrugged, more bothered than she let on.

His hands roamed once more, nomadic, never staying in one place for too long. "Here?" This one was a thin, shiny crescent, smooth to the touch, at the very top of her left breast.

"Pfft, I walked in on some asshole robbing a mini-mart. Was a total coincidence. He freaked the fuck out and ended up flinging a pot of coffee at me. Luckily, I dodged all the molten coffee, but the pot nailed me right in the tit. And of course, I was wearing a low-cut shirt." She pressed her chest together between her forearms and pouted up at Izuku. "Look, they don't match anymore. It's a goddam travesty."

"It, uh," he cleared his throat, "it is."

She loved the way he bit his lip while checking her out. It made her feel outrageously hot. Rumi twisted herself around and snagged a kiss before resettling, wriggling around until she was comfortable again.

His hands were warm and his palms rough. He squeezed gently, as though he still weren't sure he had permission.

Totally content, Rumi hummed lightly. She ran her hands over the backs of his, encouraging him.

Eventually, Izuku wandered further south, slowly tracing the details of her abs.

They'd come a hell of a long way since she first noticed them developing, years ago. "Ya like that?" She grinned crookedly, exceedingly proud of all the effort she put into her body.

"It's incredible. You're incredible. Beautiful." He murmured, with his lips pressed against her hair.

With her face a thousand degrees hotter, Rumi grinned wider. "Damn straight, and don't you ever forget it." Hearing that felt so good that she wanted to him to say it a dozen more times. It was perfect.

He chuckled. His fingers found another scar, on her side, just under the edge of her ribs. It was a narrow line, maybe a centimeter or two in length, raised, and just a shade darker than her skin.

"Oh god, that one." Rumi groaned. "What a fuckin' pain."

"I'm sensing a story." He gave her a little nudge.

She squinted, playful. "Don't get cute or I'll kick your ass." She sucked in a breath, "SO! I'm beating the fear of rabbits into this group of morons, right? Yakuza something or others, they're hiding out in a construction site in Kamino. Whatever, point being, they were running Trigger and I was already having a shit day. Naturally, things escalated. So I do my thing: knock 'em down and stack 'em up." She was gesturing with her hands as she talked.

"It's pretty boring actually, right? But I find this guy that looks like he went six rounds with Endeavor locked up in a back room. He was conscious, so I asked him what was up. He said they were beating a gambling debt out of him, so I shrugged and let him out. Fuckin' dumbass Rumi, right?"

"Oh no, did he stab you?" Fingers carefully traced over the scar again.

His quiet concern gave her heart a little stutter. She shushed him. "I'm getting there, goddamn. So, the guy's cagy as fuck but I don't think anything of it because he clearly got the shit kicked out of him recently, right? Well, I pretty much ignore him and go back to searching the place, but the dude sticks to me like a scared kid. Again, my dumb ass didn't really think anything of it. Shit, I'm even making small talk to try to make things a bit less awkward."

Izuku absently stroked his hands over her belly, listening intently.

She shivered. "Uh… where was… Oh! So, I get to the exit, and by this time I've got like… a fuckin' kilo of Trigger and some cash in a grocery sack, when the guy gets my attention," She sat up straight and stuck her arm out, pointing, "'Look out! More gangsters!'"

He laughed beautifully. "No way, you did not fall for that."

"Totally did." She leered, as if she wasn't telling a story where she was the punchline.

He hooked his arms around her waist and pulled her in tight. "Some random guy pulled a fast one on the human polygraph? Citation needed."

With a laugh she leaned her head back and smushed her cheek against his. "You are such a goddamn nerd, oh my god! But yeah, the guy got me. He pulled a fuckin' knife and stuck me right in the ribs. I was so floored I just watched him grab the drugs and scurry off. Didn't get far though."

"Oh?"

Rumi snorted. "Yeah, not at all. That knife he stabbed me with? It was a cute little swiss army knife. I still have it," she gestured vaguely with her hand, "somewhere. To make things better, the idiot tripped on literally nothing and ate shit, like, less than ten meters away. I was so pissed that- ah!"

Izuku nipped the edge of her ear. Her sensitive, sensitive, ear.

"H-hey, no distracting the storyteller!" She scooched down and laid her ears flat, pinning them between her shoulders and his chest. "Rude ass." Before tonight, she never really thought of Izuku as the teasing type, but apparently, he'd found his confidence and just decided to run with it. She was thrilled.

He rumbled with laughter. "What more is there to tell? Seems like it's pretty well wrapped up: You get stabbed, he gets his teeth kicked in, right?"

Rumi rolled her eyes. "Well if you'd let me finish." She slapped him on the thigh. "Anyway, I was pissed and there was a tower crane set up like a block down the street. I ended up dragging him over, chaining his ankles together, and hanging him off the lifting hook. Left him to chill fifty meters up in the air until someone else wanted to get him down."

"You're terrible." The 'stern' look that Izuku gave her was totally ineffective. Both because he was trying not to smile – and failing – and because his fingers were kneading at the ridges of her hips.

"Oh, I know. Just the absolute worst." She reached up to play with his hair. She'd made a royal mess of it already, and only wanted to make it worse. Her own hair was impressively tangled. The thought of brushing it to some semblance of order was dreadful.

"How'd your 'friend' ever trick you in the first place? I thought the lie detection was a passive thing for you."

She puffed out her cheeks for a second. "Ehh, it is and isn't. Depends on lots of stuff: how many people are around, how calm everyone is, what I'm doing. Things like that. But I did figure it out as I was stringing him up. Turns out the fucker had arrhythmia, and his buddies kicked his ass for cheating them in a card game. He wasn't some rando at all." She threw her arms up. "Can you believe that shit? It's a good thing he didn't have a real knife, or I'd be toast."

"He…" Izuku blinked, "he tricked you… by having a heart defect?"

"Yup," She popped the 'p', "pulse was all over the place from the time I met him to the time I left. Just… fuckin' unbelievable." With her finger stuck in his face, she said "Hawks must never hear of this, got it?"

He scoffed. "Yeah, sure. I won't tell your twenty-three-year-old best friend slash hero mentor slash espionage handler that you let some guy with arrhythmia stab you."

"I distinctly remember telling you not to get cute with me- Ahh."

Izuku gently raked his fingers through the triangle of soft, white curls on her mons. He searched around idly, taking his time. Exploring. Enjoying the way she sighed when he slipped lower.

Rumi cooed, dragging her nails up his arm and lifting her hips. With her other hand she guided him. "A little left- no- yes. Right there." She turned partly, leaving line of small angry marks on the soft skin of his throat. "Ohh, stay right there."

He carefully grasped her by the jaw and turned her away.

The protest died on Rumi's tongue when he started nibbling at the shell of her ear. A curse rushed out instead, soft, and hoarse. "Oh fuck." Her head was already spinning. She thrust her hand between them, pawing around blindly, until she found what she was after. The angle was awkward, and she wasn't able to do much, but it was something. Rumi clung to him. "Don't stop, fuck, whatever you do, don't stop." She groaned and gasped, straining against his arms.

Izuku did exactly as he was told. He moved his other hand across her body. Up the veins on her inner forearm, over the swell of her bicep, and along the fine detail of her collarbone. His hand closed on her neck briefly, then moved over her chest, down to her belly. He grasped at the top of her thigh, kneading the taut muscles there.

It was electrifying. As she got closer to the edge, she grew quieter, and quieter still. Her legs stiffened, her back arched, and her eyes widened. She made a little 'o' with her mouth but remained utterly silent through her orgasm. As it passed, Rumi went limp.

Izuku cradled her, murmuring sweet things in her ear.

After a moment she remembered where she was and what she was doing. She forced a groan out of him with a light squeeze. "Hah, I thought I wore you out earlier." She rolled over clumsily, straddling his hips, kissing him needily.

"Guess not." He murmured, taking in every little detail of Rumi in the moonlight.

"Fuck me, where'd you get all this confidence?" Before he could respond, her ears twitched and swiveled, pointing at something.

The soft thump of the front door closing felt thunderously loud to both of them.

Izuku, eyes wide, hissed. "What was that?"

The intensity with which she listened to Inko shuffling around was belied by her lazy shrug. "Your mother, apparently."

"What? Wait, what time is it?!" He went for his phone. "Five- five forty? How the hell is it almost six am?!"

Rumi caught him by the shoulder and pinned him. She sat down hard.

Izuku moaned.

She clapped her hand over his mouth, muffling him.

He pried it off with an urgent and desperate gleam in his eyes. "What're you doing? You'll get caught!"

"Yeah, if you don't shut the fuck up." She laughed softly. She didn't miss the way he said it. 'You'll get caught'. Not 'we'. He wasn't worried about getting caught in bed by Inko, his mother. No, the lovable idiot was worried about her getting caught by Inspire, a hero. Her heart hammered away, happy, fuzzy, and warm. A slow roll of her hips had him muttering curses under his breath. Slowly, so painfully slowly, she raised herself up, about as far as she could go. She dropped herself for the second time. The bed creaked.

His hands shot to her hips and forced her to stop moving. "Rumi, please! I- We- I can't, oh my god."

The way he hissed her name, like he was invoking a higher power, fanned the flames. A wild thrill took her as she watched him writhe. Rumi's legs easily overpowered the strength of his arms. She rose once more, just as slow.

Izuku trembled, so, so close. His fingers, white knuckled, dug into the soft flesh of her hips.

With one deliberate twitch of powerful thighs, Rumi came down hard.

Razor thin arcs of green electricity cut through the room as One for All activated. Izuku bucked sharply, lifting Rumi's entire weight while dragging her down by the hips.

She toppled forward with a yelp.

Izuku sank his teeth into her collarbone, biting down hard, swearing as tremors rocked his body.

Rumi snarled into his pillow when he bit but wrapped her arms around him. She stroked at his hair as he came down.

After a moment's recovery, he froze, listening. About thirty seconds passed before he glared at her. "What the fuck, Rumi?"

She reached down, combing his sweat slicked hair out of his eyes. He'd need a haircut soon. "You are so fucking hot, my god." She settled comfortably atop him, resting her chin on her arms so she could watch his face. "Also, chill. She started snoring the second her ass hit the couch. We're good." She didn't bother to muffle the laughter bubbling in her chest.

Red in the face, he started spluttering "I, you, well you could have said something!"

"Hmm… Nah, this was way more fun."

"Rumi!"

After giving Inko a good half hour to get into a deeper sleep, Rumi dragged Izuku to the bathroom where they grabbed a quick, quiet shower. They were dressed and headed for the door by six thirty.

Inko sprawled on the couch, one boot off, and the other half unlaced. She drooled on one of the throw pillows.

Rumi raised a finger to her lips and padded back down the hall. She returned with a blanket from Inko's room, which she passed off to Izuku.

He gave her an odd look before smiling and tucking his mother in.

On the street, where the sky was tinged with just a hint of sunrise, Izuku yawned titanically. "God, I'm going to fall asleep and Mr. Aizawa is going to literally murder me. I am so screwed." He rubbed at his eyes tiredly.

"Oh whatever," Rumi rolled her eyes and rummaged in her bag, "you'll be fine. How much do you weigh?"

He stared at her dumbly until she roused him with a hip-check. "Fifty… six?" He nodded, more certain. "Fifty six and a half."

Rumi looked skyward, bobbing her head from side to side as she ran through the mental math. "Alright, that should be fine." She shoved a water bottle into his hand. "Here, eat this. Don't chew." A tiny white pill dropped into his palm.

He stopped walking. "Uh… what?"

"It'll help you stay awake. Just take it." She smiled over her shoulder but didn't stop walking.

"Oh." Izuku considered it for a moment, but only yawned again. After that, he shrugged, popped the pill, and took a pull from the bottle. He jogged to catch up. "So… Uh… was that a vitamin or something?"

"Nah, methamphetamine hydrochloride. Extended release, five milligrams. Should keep you going for about twelve hours, so after it kicks in that puts you at… seven pm? Something like that anyway."

Izuku wheezed. "Meth- metham- Rumi what the fuck? Why do you have that?! Why did I take it!?" He grabbed his head, alarmed. "Oh god, what if someone finds out? What if UA drug tests me? What if my mom finds out? I'll- mmph!"

Rumi carefully smoothed Izuku's necktie – which she used to drag him down to her level – after she broke the kiss. "Oi, look at me. You're going to be fine."

"But-"

"Sh-sh-shush!" She settled her hands on her hips. "Five mils is a therapeutic dose, not a recreational one. Plus its pharmaceutical grade. It's not like you just pounded a baggie of horse crank from your friendly neighborhood dealer." She squeezed his hand gently. "You'll be okay, I promise." He melted when she grinned up at him.

Izuku took a moment, but he nodded. "If you're sure."

"Bitch, it's me. I'm always sure. Now c'mon." She grabbed his hand and tugged him towards the train station. They were about halfway there.

"So, why do you just…" he gestured helplessly, "have meth?"

"Prescription. S'called desoxyn actually. Way less stigma than 'meth'," she said easily. "It's legit, commission physician cleared me for it and everything. Woah, that's weird to say."

"Oh, that makes sense… For, uh, 'work'?" He made air quotes with his free hand.

Rumi snickered and smacked his hand down. "You are so bad at being covert that it hurts. But yeah. Helps me stay awake if I need to."

Izuku frowned. "If you need to?"

She turned her head to the side, brushing her fingers through still damp hair with a grimace. "Sometimes, yeah. Kinda hard to observe a suspect in shifts when you're only one person. Or case a place when you've been up for two days already." She hummed for a moment, squeezing at his hand. "Sometimes you only get the once chance to get your job done. Hawks calls it your 'window of opportunity'. If you miss your window, there's no guarantee that you'll get another. People could die. So…" she sighed, "sometimes it's better to just… sacrifice a bit of sleep. I dunno… make sense?"

He mulled it over for a moment. "I guess so, but… wouldn't it be better to have more support, so you don't have to do that in the first place?"

The corner of her mouth twitched. "It'd be a hell of a lot better, yeah. But unfortunately that's not always possible when you're embedded like me." She leaned against a vending machine just outside the covered seating area at the train stop. "Normally I wouldn't have literally no support, but with Hawks, well…" She didn't finish.

"We'll figure it out." That little fire in Izuku's eyes exploded. "Everything will be okay, I promise." He grinned.

Rumi's stomach did a little flip.

He frowned again. "Wait… how much sleep have you been getting lately?"

She snorted. Way to kill the moment. Dork. "I dunno. I net like… four hours a night? Or something like that. I don't really keep track. You know," she drawled lazily, "you're going to catch flies if you let your mouth hang open like that all the time."

"Rumi!"

They were interrupted before he could say anything more.

"Oh, Deku! Ohayo!"

Izuku's head snapped around.

Using her phone as a mirror Rumi peeked around the edge of the vending machine.

A round faced brunette in a UA uniform walked over. The girl waved sluggishly, still a ways off.

Rumi knew she was going to part with Izuku here, but she wasn't just ready. Not yet. Oh well. She twirled smoothly around the corner of the building, hopped down an embankment, over a fence, and darted into an alley on the other side of the railway tracks. Once out of sight, she sagged against the brick wall, completely drained.

Okay…

Okay, so maybe she hadn't been entirely truthful. Maybe she'd lied. Just… just a bit. She did usually get about four hours of sleep. Or she had been recently. That wasn't great by any stretch of the imagination, but she was managing. Today though…

This morning was day four without sleep, and she didn't count the sedation from Kurogiri doctoring her up, since she woke feeling like death. She was running on fumes at about ninety or so hours. Everything was fuzzy. Honestly though, how the hell could anyone be expected to sleep while all this… this shit was going down. This absolute fucking bullshit.

She could have slept with Izuku – literally slept – but once she started talking there was this… this raw need to keep talking. To tell him everything. It overrode everything else at the time.

By the time she'd wrapped up her story, despite the warmth, despite the way he held her, there was no way she was going to be able to sleep. So they kept talking, they fooled around, and suddenly, magically, the sun was in the sky again.

Now she was here.

The plastic snap-click of an autoinjector brought her kicking and screaming back to wakefulness. There was no time to sleep when your entire life had been thrown in the incinerator. Rumi staggered, like she'd been kicked in the chest. "Fucking… shit!" The fog was ripped away and everything was too bright, too detailed, and too loud in its vacuum. It took five or so minutes for everything to normalize. When she could manage it, she shot Izuku a quick message, apologizing for vanishing on him.

She did feel kind of bitchy for just leaving without a word, but the last thing she wanted to do was drag Izuku's reputation through the mud by association. With her message sent, Rumi started loping across town. She needed to make a house call.

"You okay dude?" Kaminari raised an eyebrow.

Minoru, who had trailed off mid-sentence, squinted. "I… sense something." He cast his gaze about the room, considering each and every student in the room. "Something I've not felt since… Hmm…" It was there, just a whisper, but what was it? What? What?! The answer was so tantalizingly close that he could taste it, almost like Momo's Momos if he turned around in his desk.

At that moment Midoriya slid open the door to 1-A and quietly took his seat.

Minoru zeroed in on him from across the room.

"Err… Earth to Mineta. Something up?"

Something was definitely up all right. Something was up with Midoriya. "There has been… an awakening." Minoru was going to get to the bottom of this or die trying. That much was certain.

Toshinori's thin lips stretched tightly against his teeth. He wanted to shout 'Victory!' from the peak of Mt. Fuji. All because Katsuki Bakugo was precisely, if disdainfully, picking at one of Lunch Rush's bento boxes with a pair of chopsticks. It was only the young man's second day of lunchtime detention, but Toshinori wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Bakugo, if I may?"

"What?" He said flatly.

He smiled genially. "If you don't mind, I would like to ask again: what exactly happened at the USJ?"

The teen sneered. "If you don't mind, I'd like to say: Fuck. Off."

Toshinori sighed. One step at a time, he supposed. Still, Young Bakugo remained seated across from him. That he hadn't stormed off already was a victory in and of itself. He hoped they would make more progress soon, because he very much wanted to invite Young Midoriya to lunch, but he wasn't about to cast aside Young Bakugo at such a critical juncture in his life. They would keep working on this, together, even if the young man didn't realize it. "Well then, may I interest you in some tea?" He grinned brightly. He was getting closer, day by day.

Lunch was the standard affair, or it had been, until Hagakure ran up with the latest tea. She wedged herself in between Jiro and Ashido at their table in the cafeteria. Literally. Momo watched, torn between chastising the girl and laughing at her antics as she frantically got their attention.

"Guys, guys, guys! I just heard something super messed up!" The invisible girl hissed.

Jiro squawked indignantly as half her drink spilled on the remains of her lunch. "Hey, what gives!" She rounded on Hagakure, then connected the dots pretty quickly. "I… Hagakure? Wait, what the shit, are you naked!?"

Momo laughed, politely of course, and decided that she definitely wasn't going to stop Hagakure. Watching Jiro's face get palmed and pushed away buy an invisible hand was far too amusing.

"Of course I am, but that's not important right now! Guys I just heard Mr. Aizawa talking to Principal Nezu."

She couldn't see the girl, but Momo imagined she was leaning in and glancing around conspiratorially.

Annoyed, Jiro snarked back. "Oh wow, two people talking at work. Alert the media!"

"Oh c'moooon Jiro, this is really important!" Hagakure whined.

Ashido swooped in. "Don't worry, I gotcha. Wanna split it?" She winked at Jiro and slid her lunch tray halfway down the table.

Jiro grumbled her thanks and snagged a bite. "What was so important that you had to ruin my lunch with like… five minutes before we have to get back to class?"

Hagakure drummed her hands on the table, excited. "You can't see it but I'm gesturing for you guys to lean in." After everyone did so, Hagakure whispered, "Mr. Aizawa and Principal Nezu were talking about the USJ in the faculty offices." She paused carefully, before continuing. "The principal thinks there could be… a traitor in UA. Someone that's leaking info to the villains."

That was not what Momo had been expecting. She frowned. "Are you absolutely certain that you heard them correctly?" That kind of rumor could be very dangerous if it spread wildly. Especially if it weren't true.

"A hundred percent, cross my heart and hope to die." Hagakure said. "I was suuuuuper close to them. So close that Mr. Aizawa nearly stepped on me! They said something like 'no one, student or faculty is above scrutiny.'"

Oh. Well that sounded particularly awful. Momo found that she'd lost her appetite with that news. She should find Midoriya and inform him of this, if only to keep him in the loop.

"Er… Hagakure?" Ashido asked, "Not that I don't love you or anything, but uh… what exactly were you doing on the other side of the building… in the faculty offices… while completely naked?"

"Oh. Well, that's for me to know and you to never, ever, ever find out." Hagakure said with finality. "Ever."

High above the UA grounds floated Nejire Hado, engrossed in a little center stitched notebook. Every so often she made a note with very nice mechanical pencil. It had been a gift, given by Ryuko, to congratulate her for becoming the highest scoring student in all academic affairs at the end of her first year.

Naturally, given the super-duper-secret nature of Nejire's work, she encoded her notes with a simple alphanumeric cypher. Then she wrote the words upside down, backwards, and mirrored. It was all very complicated, and absolutely unnecessary, but she enjoyed puzzling it out. It was a pleasant distraction from the usual mishmash of thoughts rattling in her skull at all waking hours.

The subject of her observations, one Izuku Midoriya, was fascinating. Purely for his unknown relation to the almost-vigilante-and-now-villain Mirko, who had been on her mind frequently these past few days. Midoriya was painfully boring at first blush, but after looking closer he seemed rather erratic. He came across as normal, if bland, at the USJ, but that impression was naturally skewed with the whole big-bad-villain-invasion-thing going on in the background. He had a useful quirk, but it seemed hazardous to himself.

He was definitely concerned with Mirko's wellbeing, suggesting a prior relationship before the USJ attack. The altercation between Midoriya and Bakugo suggested that Midoriya's relation to Mirko was deeper than a simple acquaintanceship, but not so deep that she would assume them to be lovers. However, that wasn't something that she could rule out either.

The day after the USJ incident went down, Midoriya had slunk through the halls, seeming rather morose. That didn't stand out much since the entirety of 1-A seemed to be down in the dumps that day. The next day – today – however, 1-A's collective spirit seemed greatly improved, but Midoriya shuffled around like a zombie. Nejire easily recognized the signs of sleep deprivation, having pulled a few all-nighters herself while on internship. Under the sluggish exhaustion, he seemed elated. Almost manic in his happiness.

Were she recording numerical data points on the mood of each 1-A student, she'd guess that today Midoriya would be far, far above the class trend. A statistical outlier if you will. Had there been an exciting development in his life? Interesting. Very interesting.

Nejire's quirk sputtered and failed, sending her shrieking downwards. It came roaring back to life about ten meters above the ground, where she practically exploded with sparkly gold energy.

Mr. Aizawa glared up at her from an open window. "Stop using the other students as lab rats and get your butt in your seat right now, Hado. Class started five minutes ago."

"Eep! Sorry, Mr. Aizawa!"

Rumi had sent him a text instructing him not to sleep until at least eight o'clock unless he wanted to 'turbo fuck' his sleep schedule. Once he finally did get to sleep, he swore he actually died until his alarm went off the next morning. But his outlook was positive. So much so that the next school day blitzed in what felt like minutes.

He shivered in excitement, not really paying attention to Iida and Uraraka as the three of them made their way to the station just down the street from the UA gates. They were going to meet today, somewhere in the industrial area of Musutafu, apparently at a facility that Hawks had used to train Rumi. She said to bring something loose and comfortable, so he grabbed his gym bag on the way out at the end of the day.

"- wouldn't you agree, Midoriya?"

"Eh, eh? O-oh, sorry Iida, I was kinda distracted." Izuku rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Geez, are you okay Deku? You've been all spacy ever since the USJ." Uraraka peered at him, plainly concerned.

"Yeah, yeah of course. I just… have a lot on my mind right now. I'm okay, really!"

Uraraka didn't look wholly convinced. "I-if you say so. We're just worried. Right, Iida?"

Iida coolly adjusted his glasses. "Naturally so. As our leader, your wellbeing is our responsibility. Just as we are entrusted to your care, so too are you entrusted to ours."

She laughed awkwardly, waving her hand in front of her face. "Err… I dunno if I'd put it that way, but yeah something like that!"

Izuku blushed lightly. He'd made some really great friends in such a short time.

"Ah! Wait, no, are you crying, Deku? Did we say something wrong?!"

He turned away sharply. "N-no! It's all just… so… n-nice!"

After much reassuring, and some more sniffling, Izuku hopped onto his train. He barely made it in before the doors closed, distracted as he was with his friends.

On the platform, Uraraka blinked, confused.

"Is something wrong, Uraraka?"

"Hmm? Oh, I guess not. Only… Deku and I ride the same train, and that wasn't it." After a moment she shrugged. "It's probably nothing."

Across town, Izuku found his destination with little trouble. It was a new looking warehouse, one in a row of several just like it, in a surprisingly busy part of town. He'd been expecting something more… derelict, given how it was supposed to be a secret training facility. As he considered it though, it would be more conspicuous for Hawks and Rumi to frequent a place that was supposed to be deserted.

The warehouse was surrounded with run of the mill chain-link fence, about three meters tall. The gate was firmly padlocked shut. He texted her, saying he was here.

come in :)

Uh the gate's locked.

yup!

He blinked. So… was she coming out? Probably not. About a minute passed.

do you have a quirk or not?

He smacked himself in the forehead. She couldn't be serious, right? Here? In broad daylight? He'd get nailed for sure. He glanced around, somewhat nervous at the mere idea of using One For All illegally. Although… as he looked, no one seemed to be paying him any attention. He gulped.

"Okay, alright, this is fine. All Might won't have to know about this. Right? Yeah, he won't have to. Okay." He shook out his hands and took a deep breath. "This is fine. It's just a little jump." He carefully let a little bit of One for All bleed into his body. Just a touch. He crouched, and popped into the air, clearing the fence easily. Only to land flat on his face on the other side. His bag landed on him, adding insult to injury. God, I hope she didn't see that. His phone buzzed.

LMAO WHAT WAS THAT?

Izuku groaned. He scurried over to the front door, thoroughly embarrassed. At least this one was unlocked. He immediately forgot his shame when he saw the inside. Large, clean, and well lit. Half the floorplan was brimming with training equipment, the other half was barren concrete.

"Impressed?" Rumi called down from high in the rafters. She lounged on a thick I-beam, basking in a shaft of afternoon sunlight.

Izuku was reminded of a jaguar sleeping off a fresh kill in a tree. "Yeah, it's great! This is where Hawks trained you?"

"Yup." She yawned, pushing herself up. After stretching languidly she rolled right off the edge of the beam. Far below, she her neat landing turned into a somersault which became a handspring, placing her nose to nose with Izuku.

It all looked so easy for her. She really was incredible.

Rumi flashed him a razor-sharp grin. "Wanna fight?"

Author's Note:

An important note on stimulants:

Methamphetamine, when taken at therapeutic doses, behaves much differently than when taken recreationally. When prescribed appropriately for treatment of ADD/ADHD, narcolepsy, or weight loss, methamphetamine does not cause feelings of euphoria or chemical dependence in the user. In simple terms, responsible use does not result in a high or addiction. As the recreational dosage threshold is significantly higher, felt side effects are typically much stronger and risk of addiction is higher. The stereotypical behaviors associated with those suffering from addiction are often side effects of the methamphetamine itself, or are caused by chemical impurities in the drug.

The scene in question is not meant to portray any character as suffering from addiction, but rather is intended to further the point that to the Commission, even sleep is worth sacrificing for the greater good. Furthermore, this is in no way a political commentary on anything that exists in the real world.

Its just a bunny girl helping out her gawkward new boyfriend.

Also, smut is hard to write when you want it to mean something. Goddamn.