Izuku stumbled through tired eyes towards the bathroom of the hotel room. Finding the door closed, he backed away and rubbed as much sleep from his eyes as he could without the help of coffee. At least two cups might do the trick.

Before he could completely turn around and head back to bed, the door had opened. Katsuki was fast enough that they were both facing the beds when he grazed Izuku's shoulder.

Izuku quickly turned back around and headed on in, ready to start his day. As he looked around, he began to remember just how clean hotel bathrooms were compared to public or even private ones. His eyes darted across the counter, finding the mess he'd been searching for. A mess of his and Katsuki's stuff.

But before he could start his day, Izuku tried picturing Katsuki starting his. A shadow of him stepping in, brushing his teeth, shaving, whatever it may be that he does… does he stare at himself in the mirror? What questions does he ask himself?

And how was this morning any different from all the others?

Then the dam broke again. There were… a few things about yesterday that Katsuki might regret. Izuku certainly did. Ideally, those regrets stayed there, in yesterday. But Katsuki took them to bed and refused to share them.

Today would be different.

10:49 AM.

"Kacchan?" Izuku couldn't move himself to shudder at the thought of ticking him off…

"What?"

It was the door at the end of the hallway that got more intimidating with every step. Katsuki stayed level and smooth.

Through the glass of the door, Izuku could see people at play in the recreational area. No one they knew.

"I've… been meaning to ask you," Izuku rubbed his neck, "about… Ochako. You—"

"I WHAT?"

Getting a shout in the face by Bakugou was as normal as breathing so the I WHAT? wasn't quite what was bothering Izuku at the moment…

"I-it's okay if you do like her, it's just—"

"Who said I do?! In what way?!"

Izuku immediately felt the tall grass scratching at his eyes and arms as he jumped down over that fence, trespassing into the unfamiliar field of dating and romance.

"Uh," Izuku climbed back over the fence, certainly cutting his hands on the barbed wire, "l-let's talk about something else!"

Katsuki seemed fine to drop it, along with his fireball gaze, and picked up the slack in his walk.

Izuku could jot down a whole mental list of things to talk about, all pertaining to Katsuki's behavior last night. But the last thing Izuku wanted to do right now was go to an imaginary school in order to get an imaginary doctorate in order to act all imaginary psychiatrist; Dr. Midoriya at your service.

Besides, all that baggage belonged to those who had their names on it. As hard as it might be for Izuku to accept, Katsuki was on his own on this one.

But that didn't mean he couldn't at least… budge him.

"How about… talking to Mina?"

"If you stop asking me about it."

They eventually found the others down by the beach. Ochako was the first to see them and offered a timid wave that Katsuki shrugged off. Izuku looked behind Ochako and saw Tsu sitting under the umbrella, eyes fixated on the sea once again.

Katsuki plopped down next to Tsu and sighed as if half the air in his body had escaped him. Then he found what she was looking at: Eijirou, Denki, and Hanta surfing. Or at least trying to surf.

"Are you going to tell them that they're doing it wrong?" she asked.

"Later," his groans fell silent under the crashing of the waves and the screeching of seagulls.

"Talk with Mina?" Ochako asked.

"Was that a question?" Katsuki seemed to threaten her with a predator-to-prey glare.

And then his face changed. Prey-to-predator. A deer in the headlights. The headlights a pair of glowing eyes.

Without another word, he got up and marched to his death across the sand to the eyes.

Whenever he sat down next to Mina Ashido, Katsuki Bakugou felt both weak and strong. For one year, three months, and twenty days, he couldn't understand why exactly that was or what it meant. Some understanding for anything would eventually come out of the blue and this blue was the sea staring him in the face.

Whenever he sat down next to Mina Ashido, Katsuki Bakugou felt like Katsuki Bakugou.

"I'm sorry," was all he felt he needed to say. But he didn't get back up.

Every second Mina said nothing, he felt ten years of his life leave him. Katsuki expected to live to about 80, give or take, so it would take about 6.3 seconds for Mina to kill him.

She made it to five seconds before facing him with a smile. A smile meant something. A smile could never kill.

6.3 seconds came and went and Katsuki Bakugou was still alive.

Her smile aside, she moved on. At least as much as she could move on from—

"But," she said, "I wanna know why you said that."

Katsuki could imagine she already knew half the answer, just as much as he knew all of it. There was another reason they got along.

"Fine… I… I wanted a better chance of… fuck, why am I telling you this?"

He buried his face his his lap, almost tempted to bury it in the sand. Normally he'd flinch and fly at the approach of a hand on his shoulder. But a pink hand he'd make an exception for. For now.

"You seriously wanted to be alone with Ochako?" Mina huffed quietly, "I oughta take back my forgiveness."

"It's that obvious, isn't it?" Katsuki groaned under his arms.

"You're a real dumbass, Kacchan, but that's why we love you. But… what I've learned, what Eijirou's had to learn, is that… boundaries are important."

Katsuki peeked over his arm to see Mina pointing her finger in the sky like she was… well, she was making a point.

"The hell are you saying, Pinky?"

Mina sighed and moved her hands to her hips.

"Look, I know he's made a lot of progress but Mineta's still Mineta. You ought to be less like Mineta and more like Bakugou."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Katsuki tried to say without yelling, "I've never done this shit before. It's… embarrassing."

"Well what the heck were you planning to do up on that Ferris wheel, huh? Were you expecting a romantic first kiss?"

Mina held her hands together, leaned to her side, and flashed her eyelashes like a lovesick loony. But no pink haze or red rose petals fell from the heavens…

"Fine, I screwed up. Big time. Now tell me how to fix this."

"Ugh, as flattered as I am to have the Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight grovelling at my feet for my help… I'm afraid we're far past the point of 'fixing' anything."

…

"Wait, you actually memorized my… whatever," he said, getting up, "if you're not gonna help me, I'll go ask Eijirou instead."

"Ochako appreciates compliments," Mina said as she pushed him back down by the shoulder, "but not about her appearance, necessarily. I'm sure she would appreciate that, just not mentioning her weight… but more about her skills or… what makes her a good, no, a great hero. You have to be measured though. She's not a dummy like you so she'll know if you're up to something. Just…"

Katsuki suddenly stumbled upon a sliver of self-awareness lodged in a relatively new, more mature area of his brain: he couldn't stand Izuku running his mouth, but he could take Mina's mouth-running just fine. Odd.

"Just what?" Katsuki looked up to see what might've distracted her but she was just stuck in some mode of thinking.

"Just be her friend, please? And try being friends with her friends. That's what's most important to her… besides a sky full of stars. She lives for stuff like that."

Odd thing to bring up. A hint for the future?

Feeling another growl coming on, Katsuki clenched his teeth and sucked it back down his chest.

"I am her friend. I call her by her name. I'm friends with her friends. Even Izuku, who, if you haven't noticed, I've stopped calling 'Deku' a long time ago."

"Well… if that's all that matters, you're probably not ready. But I won't stop you if you think that's enough. Except I totally will."

"What? You think I'd hurt her or—?"

When he looked Mina in the eye again, his mind jumped back to last night. He could've sworn she was making the exact same face she was when she left the table.

"Oh," he muttered, "yeah, I get it. You'll at least tell her yourself that I apologized?"

"You're gonna have to try harder than that."

Try…

'But I'm tired of trying, like I don't know what the fuck 'moving on' is anymore. I'm just so fucking tired. I know I'm bad at feelings, I have to hear it every damn day. But…'

"I know."

…

Katsuki put his arm around Mina. She never flinched or made any comment about it. The two of them just stared straight ahead…

"Thank you," Katsuki said.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her pick up a smile.

As these two friends stared out at the horizon between sea and sky, Katsuki wondered if Ochako was looking at them.

And for a moment, he didn't care if she wasn't.