Chapter 20!

Clearly I was in a mood when making this. Here's a moment in Rumi and Izumi's hero lives at age 22.

Disclaimer: I don't own BNHA

Enjoy, more notes at the end!

Melt

*Rumi POV*

Rumi felt groggy and stiff as she woke up in what must have been a hospital bed.

"Tengu?" the rabbit woman groaned, blinking away her tiredness, as familiar black wings came into her view.

"Usagiyama," the greenette replied curtly, the presence of her voice making the bedridden hero ease minutely, as Rumi observed the woman at her bedside.

"I thought you were requested overseas?" the white haired heroine questioned.

Since all the winged heroine had to do was wave her fan to mess with the weather, Midoriya had been requested to help deal with a storm outside of japan and Rumi didn't think she was supposed to be back by now. In fact, she hadn't heard from the tengu woman in days but the rabbit hero eventually was wrapped up in her own hero work. She doubted that it had been long so the winged greenette was definitely back earlier than she was supposed to be. Whatever happened, the greenette was here and she tapped a finger impatiently.

"Please," Midoriya brushed aside. "I can fly and I'm the fastest hero on the planet," she boasted and the words made Rumi chuckle a bit.

"You're not even the fastest in Japan," the rabbit heroine retorted with smirk and a laugh which only made her fellow hero eye her.

"Faster than you," Midoriya quipped back but Rumi could only grin at the display of pettiness.

"Cocky bird," the rabbit woman poked back, fully expecting to get into it as usual, but the green haired tengu frowned instead.

"Have you dulled in my absence?" Midoriya questioned.

However, the words felt stiff and there wasn't any bite in her tone like when they went back and forth so Rumi was mildly put off by the winged woman's question. Honestly, the tengu was acting slightly off in general but the rabbit hero pushed the thought into the back of her mind while she snorted in response at the barb.

"I'll have you know that I won it for us heroes here," Rumi complained back at her.

"Yet you're in a miserable state," the winged greenette pointed out.

"I don't want to hear that from you," Rumi retorted. "You look like a mess right now," she realized, finally taking in Midoriya's slightly disheveled state which was odd for her. "You didn't skip out on your job did you?" the rabbit woman prodded more which gave her a scoff in response.

"I only finished sooner than was expected," the greenette informed with a wave of her hand and a narrowed gaze. "Had I been here I surely would have saved you with my abilities," she assured and Rumi rolled her eyes.

"You're the last person I want to swoop in to help me," the white haired woman commented back semi-seriously.

"Well I clearly would have been the only one," Midoriya noted with a click of her tongue and an audible hint of displeasure but Rumi just ignored it.

"I'm the fastest so I was first up," she reminded the greenette but the winged woman didn't seem to be in the mood.

"How reckless," Midoriya somewhat chastised, "do you find yourself invincible?"

"If I die then that was just my limit and my time was up," Rumi brushed off in irritation but she nearly jumped at an explosive shout.

"SAY THAT AGAIN AND I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU USAGIYAMA!"

Midoriya's sudden yell had startled the rabbit woman for more reasons than one. The tengu was absolutely livid and her ever present composure was abandoned as her fists clenched so hard that they were shaking. The two of them may have gotten on each others' nerves and purposefully pissed the other off but neither of them had ever been furious like this. As quick as Midoriya's anger flared, it had soon burned away and the tengu woman was also left stunned for a moment before gathering herself and standing up. The greenette unsteadily made her way to the door and glanced over her shoulder at the speechless rabbit woman.

"I'll destroy you myself if you ever mentioning dying to me again," the tengu woman mumbled before exiting and it took a good few moments for Rumi to shake off the shock.

"W-wait a second tengu!" she called, stumbling out of bed and hobbling out of the room only to find find that the greenette had disappeared.

Slumping down into a nearby seat, Rumi sighed to herself tiredly. The background buzz filled her ears but a sudden set of footsteps came through clearly and the injured rabbit woman looked off to her side.

"What's up Orca?" Rumi noted, leaning back to rest her head against the wall, as the whale hero took a seat beside her.

"I passed her on the way here," the orca man informed and the white haired woman just groaned. "Want to talk about it?"

"I thought she wasn't supposed to be back yet," Rumi tried but the senior hero shook his head.

"She was really scared you know," he relayed truthfully. "I heard she immediately flew herself back the second she got the news," the whale man explained which made Rumi give a stubborn grunt.

"She knows I'm tough," the rabbit woman complained, her voice lowering a tad, "wasn't worth getting in a fit over," she trailed off but Gang Orca didn't look convinced.

Despite her words, Rumi knew exactly what was going through Midoriya's head and why it worked her up so badly. If she had gotten the news that the tengu woman was in bad shape, especially when she wasn't around and was potentially unable to reach her in time, then the rabbit hero would have been terrified and lost it too.

Their unique relationship and way of communicating had finally come back around to bite them. For as honest as they were with one another, the two danced around the unsaid and their lack of admission out of their own stubborn pride and competitive natures had left room for them to be inconsiderate of the other's feelings. They both knew what they fully felt about each other but never acknowledging that other half to the other meant that it could be ignored. Both she and the tengu were just being stubborn at this point and it was one of the few things they shouldn't have been so competitive about. Had one of them just gone and said it then they could have playfully argued about it afterwards as much as they wanted but instead it came to this. Rumi scowled momentarily before turning her gaze over to the whale man.

"Do me a favor would you?"

She had some things she needed to say.

-break-

"Oh fuck," Rumi hissed as her nose was assaulted by the stench of alcohol.

The apartment was dark and the rabbit woman turned on a light to find bottles strewn across the floor. The white haired hero was still exhausted from getting mostly healed and she was lucky that Orca had been available to drop her off at Midoriya's afterwards but now she stumbled right into more trouble.

"What the hell was she thinking?" Rumi grumbled to herself, knowing that the idiotic bird could barely finish a can of beer without getting drunk.

It didn't take long for her to get to the door to Midoriya's room but she braced herself since she could already hear the greenette. There the tengu woman was, huddled up against the side of the bed, with her wings covering her while her choked sobs filled the room.

This was the first time Rumi felt like a piece of shit.

Approaching carefully but with steps that let the winged greenette know she was there, the rabbit hero crouched down so she was kneeling before the emotional tengu. Rumi gingerly shifted the wings aside and gently tried to get the other woman's attention but Midoriya's arms were crossed in front of her face in an attempt to hide away from the rabbit woman. Her shoulders shook with each strangled cry and Rumi attempted to softly coax her out. The heavy sobs just barely eased at her touch and the rabbit woman switched over to her words.

"I'm sorry Midoriya," Rumi apologized sincerely. "I said something stupid," she acknowledged while waiting patiently for the winged woman's response.

"I'm sorry too," the greenette managed to slur out through her tears and intoxication. "I didn't even ask if you were okay," Midoriya sloppily explained while Rumi did her best to understand her drunken words, "all I did was get mad at you."

"Tengu..." Rumi began but the greenette revealed her face and stared into her eyes.

"Please don't hate me..." the winged woman pleaded miserably and the rabbit woman placed her hands on her shoulders.

"How the hell could I hate you?" Rumi questioned. "We both know I love you," she admitted, finally putting it into words, "I'm really sorry I've never said it for you to hear before now."

Midoriya wasn't really in any shape to reply back, her drunken sobbing only returned anew, so the rabbit woman just held her as tightly as the winged woman was clinging to her.

Rumi never wanted to make her feel this way again.

-break-

Midoriya was surprisingly docile in the morning.

It had already been late when Rumi got to Midoriya's apartment and they had both been left exhausted by the day's events so they had fallen asleep soon after. The duo had slept in and the white haired woman took in every action of her partner's as they held each other. Midoriya's relief was evident in the way she spoke, her affectionate gestures, and the softness in her expressions, and Rumi savored this moment between them. The rabbit woman knew that later in the day they would revert back to their usual relationship but Rumi was sure that both of them understood that things had changed between them. There was a moment of calming quiet between the pair and warmth tickled Rumi's skin as the greenette snuggled into her chest.

"Usagiyama," the tengu woman called with a soft tone.

"Hmm?" Rumi hummed, pressing her lips to the top of the greenette's head.

"I love you," Midoriya finally admitted, putting her feelings into words as well and the rabbit woman smiled.

"Thank you for finally letting me hear that."

Notes and Stuff

I at least ended on a happy note cause I upset myself while coming up with and writing this. I adore Tengu Izumi x Rumi if you couldn't tell by this collection being comprised of nearly 50% of them.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and look forward to more updates from me!