It was about 10:00 pm, and Ashido and Hagakure were holed up in the former's room, trying to stay away from any other people as they plotted their attempt to get Midoriya and Asui together. They had spit-balled ideas back and forth, but nothing stuck well. That was until Ashido was struck with genius.

"Wait, I've got it!" she shouted, "We write them fake love letters! Like, like secret admirer kinda letters! Then they meet up together and think that the other is their secret admirer!"

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" Hagakure agreed. They both got to work immediately. Ashido wrote one for Midoriya and Hagakure wrote one for Asui. Once they were finalized, Hagakure undressed (yeah it's weird) and snuck around the dorms. She stopped by Asui's dorm first, as it was on the floor right above them. She delivered the note without any trouble.

She walked down the stairs to the second floor and approached Midoriya's room. She noticed that the door was cracked open, and she could hear him mumbling about something. She could vaguely make out specific words, and the moment she heard him mutter the word "love", she took a deep breath and squeezed through the doorway without trying to move the door too much. She felt tense, stepping into a boy's room without his knowing, but calmed down a bit when he didn't notice the door jostle.

She crouched next to his bed and listened to his entire tirade about how he felt about Asui, not knowing that it was both out loud, and being heard. Hagakure felt her face heat up as she covered it (though it didn't make much of a difference). Once he finished, she waited for him to fall asleep. She had sat down on the floor, right next to his head. Once she heard him snoring quietly, she stood up and looked at his face. His eyes were closed, and he was grinning slightly. She smiled, he looked so peaceful.

"Okay, okay," Hagakure realigned herself with her mission, "I'm not supposed to be spying on cute boys right now, I'm supposed to give him this letter." She started to leave when she heard his bed creaking and rustling. She returned her gaze at him to see his previous smile was gone, and he wore a fearful expression on his face. He began tossing back and forth.

"Don't… go," he kept repeating in his sleep. Hagakure felt sympathetic for the boy. She assumed he was having a nightmare, and wrapped her arms around her to comfort him. She not only acted on instinct, but forgot that she was completely naked. She silently panicked as Midoriya pulled her into an embrace, nearly pulling her into his bed. His expression softened until he was smiling again, his quiet thrashing calmed by Hagakure's restraint on him. She tried pulling away, but his grip on her was too tight.

"Shit, he's stronger than he looks!" Hagakure's panic was becoming increasingly more physical. "I'm supposed to be uniting this guy with his crush, not getting bear hugged by him!" As her face continued to burn, he nuzzled into her cheek, enjoying the warmth of her face. She stopped struggling and took a deep breath. She looked for something she could slip in her place, and saw an extra pillow by his head. She reached across his face for the pillow, and eventually grabbed it. She began sliding downwards onto the floor, sneaking out of his embrace and slipping the pillow into her place. She then ran out of his room, shut his door, and slid the note underneath it. She ran back upstairs hurriedly.

Ashido darted her head towards her opening door as Hagakure walked in.

"What took you so long?" she scowled jokingly.

"H-heh, there were some… some c-complications," Hagakure mumbled out as she put her clothes back on.

"Complications? Like what?" Ashido asked the very question Hagakure hoped to avoid.

"N-nothing to worry about," she responded just a bit too quickly.

"Hmm? Is that so?" Ashido said coyly. "Then why are you so bothered by it? C'mon girl, spill it!" she sat up eagerly, knowing that Hagakure had some spicy drama to tell.

Hagakure eventually gave up the protest, telling Ashido all about Midoriya's secret rant about his love for Asui, to which she squealed upon hearing about it. She then told about how she waited, but skimmed the rest of the story.

"He had such a nice smile on his face when he was sleeping, but then he started freaking out!" Hagakure was doing crazy hand gestures, but the only indication of such was her shifting shirt sleeves. "I g-guess I lingered too long, 'cuz he pulled me into a hug! He had a tight grip too, I couldn't get out without waking him up. So I slipped out and left him hugging his pillow."

"Wow!" Ashido took in the whole story. "So that means he really did catch feelings! You think Tsu feels the same?"

Hagakure fumbled for a moment, "I have no idea! I can't get a read on her."

"I know, right? Maybe she'll open up soon? We did only just met them today."

They continued chattering about Midoriya and Asui, as well as other cute couples they wanted to see from the class. Eventually, Hagakure left for her room to sleep.

… … …

Asui woke up from a well-rested sleep. She felt cold, missing her home a little. She changed out of her pajamas and got ready for the day. There was still a week until class started, so she and Midoriya agreed to mingle with the class during this period. In the meantime, however, they planned to go out today and check out the local mall to see what they can do there on their weekends.

Once she got dressed, she noticed a letter on her floor in front of her door. It read:

"To Tsuyu Asui,

Hello, I've been watching you and I was wondering if you would like to go on a date today? Please meet me in front of the dorm building at noon. 3

-Your secret admirer"

Hagakure's letter was not all that imaginative. Asui cocked her head and stared at the letter. "Well, I've already made plans with Midoriya… w-what if it was Midoriya? No, that doesn't make sense. Why would he wait until now to ask me out? He probably doesn't like me the way I like him. And… I think I can live with that. I'm happy just being around him… though I do like it when he hugs me. He's warm… what am I saying?

I think I'll write a 'No thank you' letter and post it on the door when I leave with Midoriya… Midoriya and I alone at the mall like a couple on a date… well I better get breakfast!" she wiped her thoughts away before they got too involved and left her room.

… … …

Midoriya fell out of bed. He had another Asui dream, much to his embarrassment. They were becoming more and more frequent. With his self-declaration of his love towards his best friend the night before, he attributed that to his dream.

He slapped on his "T-shirt" t-shirt and some shorts, put on some deodorant and made his way to his door. He almost walked over the letter on his floor. He grabbed it in his half-awake stupor and began reading it.

"Dearest Izuku Midoriya,

I still think of my first sight of you. A treasured moment in my life. But not as treasured as you are to me. I wish to see you more, to be a part of your life. If you would like to meet me and go out on a date? Meet me in front of the dorms at 12:00 if you'd like to join me for some coffee. I'll be waiting~! 3

-Your secret admirer"

Ashido had watched enough romcoms to know what to write. Midoriya snapped awake and his brain went into overdrive as he started mumbling. "W-w-what? S-secret admirer?! Someone already confessed to me? Well, not really 'confessed', but still! Someone asked me out?! I can't believe this! Someone actually wants to spend time with me? Well, other than Tsuyu of course… what if she sent this letter?! Aaaaaaaahhh! …wait. It's not her handwriting. I… don't know what to do…! Wait, I'm going out with Tsuyu today, right? Yeah, so I'll just have to let them down easily. They said to meet in front of the dorms, right? I'll just leave a response letter explaining that I had other plans and that we could follow up another time… but do I want to go on a date with someone when I have feelings for Tsuyu? Hmm. Maybe we could go as friends? They'd understand, right? R-right? …probably not. People aren't as understanding as I want to believe they are. Except Tsuyu, but she's perfect, so that's different. Ugh, I ought to write that letter after breakfast, I'm hungry."

With his mumbling storm grinding to a complete halt, he swung open his door and ran towards the dining room.

He met up with Asui in the kitchen, where Satou was baking waffles for breakfast. They both smiled at his passion for cooking. They looked around and saw that they were the first to show up. They both were used to waking up early—Midoriya woke up early to train with All Might, and Asui woke up early to get her siblings ready for school. They sat down at the table and began talking with each other as they waited for their breakfast.

Next to arrive was Iida and Yaoyorozu not long after him, then Kirishima and Bakugou, who had just come back from the gym (they didn't go together, but when Kirishima saw Bakugou there, he followed him around). A couple more people showed up before Ashido and Hagakure, who promptly sat down across from Midoriya and Asui. Ashido spoke up first.

"Hey~! How are you two?" she waved energetically. She wasn't normally a morning person, but she was far too curious about the relationship between her two green-haired classmates to worry about sleep.

"I'm doing well, ribbit," Asui responded, "how about you, Izuku?"

"I'm doing fine," he looked at Asui passively, before looking away, trying not to think about his dreams about her.

Hagakure was about to bring up the letters and probe their reactions on them, but Ashido picked up on this and stopped her. Instead, she opened her mouth with, "So I wanted to ask, how did you two meet?" She wanted to look for info about their prior relationship.

Midoriya's eyes went wide as he froze. He could feel the tears welling in his eyes and the guilt that tore into his heart and festered within him. "The circumstances at which I met Tsuyu… that's when I hurt her. When I caused her pain that didn't need to happen. When I was selfish. I'm unbelievable. Even if I didn't know her… I'm such a jerk! Why does she even hang out with me…?"

Asui was also a bit troubled, unsure of what to say. She couldn't tell them about Midoriya's attempted suicide, but then what could she say instead? "W-well…" she began. Right as she opened her mouth, Midoriya's tears began flowing freely as his hand strangled his necklace and he ran away.

"Wha— Izuku!" Asui called as she got up and ran after him. Ashido and Hagakure were left in shock.

"They obviously did not have a great time meeting," Hagakure murmured, "I wonder what happened…"

"I don't know…" Ashido pondered. "Did you see that thing he did with his necklace though? That was weird."

"Yeah, and they have matching necklaces!" Hagakure seemed astounded. Nobody could really tell.

"Yeah, bracelets too," Ashido pointed out. "Maybe we shouldn't look into their past too much. They're obviously close, but there's something there. Midoriya seemed especially volatile about it, I don't think we should unearth whatever they wanna keep buried."

Hagakure nodded, "We should focus on them in the present…"

… … …

Asui followed Midoriya out into the courtyard and saw him lying on his back in the grass, arms and legs outstretched. She sat down next to him.

"What are you doing, ribbit?"

"I'm letting the earth reclaim me…" he spoke in a low, quiet voice.

"C'mon, it's ok," she grabbed his hand. "You can tell me."

"I…" his tears started pouring again, "I'm just so selfish! I put you through so much pain that day! Just because I couldn't deal with my own life. I'm just the worst…"

"You're not the worst," Asui told him sternly. "You should know that by now."

"B-but think about what would've happened if I had done it sooner! You would've tried to save me, and you would've blamed yourself for it because you're so nice, and, and I would miss out on meeting you! That almost happened! I almost—" he heard her sniffling next to him. He lifted his head to see her crying as well.

"I don't wanna think about what almost happened!" she cried. "I almost didn't save you! I can't imagine a life without you, and I don't want to! Don't say things like that!" she began lightly beating her fists against his chest, like a child, before she dropped herself onto him. "Don't go…"

Midoriya wrapped his arms around her, "I'm sorry. That's in the past. I would never want to leave you. I'm not going anywhere," he smiled at her and sat up, bringing her up with him. She smiled back, and they hugged again, bathing in the warmth of feeling each other so close. Midoriya squeezed extra tight.

They broke off after a bit, wiped their eyes, and re-entered the dorms. When they returned, it seemed that breakfast was well underway.

"There you two are!" Iida shouted, waving his arms at them. "This is the second time in a row that you are late to the dining room! I do hope that you don't make a habit of this!"

"Hey, give them a break!" Ashido cut in, knowing the circumstances of their tardiness.

Breakfast continued without any disturbances, and afterwards, everyone broke off. Kaminari heard that Sero was gonna play Mario Kart with Kirishima, so he followed them, Uraraka and Iida talked with each other a bit, Jirou finally worked up the courage to talk to Yaoyorozu, and most everyone else went to their rooms. Except Ashido and Hagakure, who approached Midoriya and Asui again.

"Hey," Hagakure began, "I saw some people sneaking around the dorms last night in front of your rooms, did something happen?" She feigned ignorance regarding the matter.

"I got a love letter," Asui stated.

"Really?" Midoriya felt a little worried. "The first day after I figure out my feelings and someone else is interested in her? She… she would pick me over them, right? I… I don't know. We're just friends, and it might be like that forever. But if someone new shows up, what then? What if she stops talking with me because they're more interesting and she doesn't have any time for me anymore?" He left his thoughts to return to the conversation. "I got one too. That's pretty weird."

Asui side-eyed him for a moment. "He got one too? That's not surprising. It seems like most of the class likes him. Hmm… these two seem very adamant to talk to us. What if they're here just to talk to Izuku? I bet one of them sent him the letter! They're totally trying to get him. Well Midoriya wouldn't skip out on me to go with one of them, right? I'm his best friend. He wouldn't ditch me… right?"

"Love letters?!" Ashido exclaimed. "Wow, you two are popular already!"

"So, are you gonna go? Are you?" Hagakure was jumping up and down in anticipation.

"No," Asui said without hesitation.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna pass, I already have plans for today," Midoriya smiled.

"Really?!" Ashido wore a hint of defeat on her face, "what are you doing?"

Asui spoke up quickly, "We're going to the mall." She had an intense expression on, more intense than her usual poker face. She had allowed her suspicions that the two girls in front of her were trying to take Midoriya away from her take over momentarily. She soon realized that she shouldn't jump to such conclusions and relaxed. That didn't change however, that both Hagakure and Ashido picked up on her glare and put the pieces together in their heads.

"Oh!" Ashido perked up, not so defeated after all, "well I hope you two have fun… together~."

The two girls waved goodbye and made their way upstairs. Asui turned to Midoriya.

"That was weird, right?"

"Yeah, a little," he watched Asui's face. He could see the slight distress in her eyes. "Hey, wanna play Mario Kart in the common area?" he tried to change her focus. "I think they're all set up in there."

"Ribbit," she nodded, "but I'm not too good." They made their way to where they others were playing.

… … …

Asui won every game.

They then realized the time, and Midoriya and Asui waved goodbye to Kaminari, Sero, and Kirishima as they went upstairs to get ready to go to the mall.

Midoriya grabbed his backpack and filled it with anything he deemed a necessity. He then went to the bathroom to make sure he didn't look awful. Asui picked up her phone, which she left in her room to charge, and sat down at her desk to write her response to the love letter.

"To secret admirer,

I am not interested. I have plans anyway.

Sorry.

-Tsuyu"

"That was easier than I thought," Asui smirked as she left her room to post the letter on the door. She looked to see that it was 11:40am, meaning that she had 20 minutes to put up the letter and leave with Midoriya so she didn't have to come face to face with her "secret admirer".

She saw Midoriya holding a letter in his hands walking towards the door as well. She came up behind him.

"So you had the same idea, ribbit?" she flashed the paper in her hand.

"A-ah, yeah," he stuttered. They both taped their letters to the door on the inside. Midoriya was confused initially, wanting to leave them outside, until Asui explained that whoever wanted to meet them outside would have to leave through that door first, so they would see the notes anyway. They joked that maybe their two secret lovers would meet each other and they'd go on a date instead as they left the doors. They, of course, did not know that nobody would be showing up at noon to see either of them.

… … …

"Who the fuck wrote that damn nerd a love letter?" Bakugou fumed when he saw the note attached to the door.

"Huh, Asui too," Kirishima noted. Kaminari had approached the pair standing by the door after getting destroyed by Sero in every game they played.

"Hey, what's happening over here?" he called with a smirk on his face.

"Asui and Midoriya got love letters," Kirishima pointed to the letters that Bakugou had torn off the door. "But they both denied them."

"What?!" Kaminari took a step back, "Day one and people are already getting love letters? And it's the scrawny kid and the frog girl?!"

"That's exactly what I'm saying!" Bakugou roared. "Why's that loser getting stupid love letters?! Who's responsible for this shit?!" he started frantically looking around.

"What if…" Kirishima's brain was hard at work. The other two could hear the cogs turning. "What if they both wrote a letter to each other? I mean, we've all seen them together."

"Hey, yeah!" Kaminari agreed, "They're totally head-over-heels for each other! …where are they anyway? I haven't seen them in a while…" Just as he had asked, Ashido and Hagakure were walking by.

"Oh!" Ashido jumped into the conversation immediately, "They went out together to the mall."

"Oh, then that settles it!" Kaminari decided.

"Settles what?" Hagakure piped in.

"These," Kirishima swiped the rejection notes right out of Bakugou's hands without a second though. Bakugou normally would've gone ballistic and Kirishima would've been gone, but he stayed relatively calm. He respected Kirishima's audacity, the fact that he wasn't a spineless shit like everyone else he had met put a smile on his face. Not like he would tell anyone though.

Kirishima passed off the rejection letters to Ashido and Hagakure, who both read them thoroughly.

"Look at how much Midoriya wrote!" Hagakure chirped, finding the many apologies laced within the unassuming boy's writing to be cute.

"Look at how little Asui wrote," Ashido flashed the one line she had written on her paper. "Girl, that's cold. Colder than Todoroki, and yes, I did try talking to him. Man won't talk to anyone."

They shared a laugh and Ashido took the letters to her room and threw them away, hoping to keep her plans secret to the rest of the class. She and Hagakure reconvened in her room to come up with a new plan.

… … …

Luckily for Midoriya and Asui, the nearby mall was in fact so nearby that they could walk from the UA campus to it without having to take a bus or train. They both made note of that for future… dates.

That's what this was, right? A date? Ever since everyone in class asked if they were dating, the concept of their relationship bared heavily on both their minds. Asui had frequently thought of her outings with Midoriya as dates, but recognized that he didn't, and continued to hide her feelings behind her blank facade. That didn't stop her from enjoying his presence and trying to send him subtle signals (emphasis on the "trying" and "subtle", as Midoriya was notorious for being dense as a brick). Midoriya, however, never explored that idea of them dating and thus never had a second thought about his perspective on their dates. Now that the seed was planted in his mind, he couldn't stop thinking about it. His brain almost blew a fuse just walking to the mall. He couldn't stop thinking about her. Every time he looked down at her by his side, his heart took a dive and his legs went weak, struggling to hold him up. He could feel his face light up and his breathing grow heavy and labored, but he would always drag his eyes off of her and focus his attention forward, taking specific precautions to make sure he wasn't found out.

Unlike Asui, however, Midoriya was not subtle, and she could see everything.

After spending almost a year with him, she understood him pretty well. Just as he could read her emotionless face, she picked up on his idiosyncrasies and figured out what he meant with his inadvertent, nonverbal communication. Besides, it was hard not to notice the change in atmosphere. Normally, if they walked in silence, it was comforting, a lack of noise and just the reassurance of the person next to them. Now, an awkward, almost oppressive feeling filled the air between them. It wasn't as if they didn't enjoy being with each other, but there was an underlying anxiety that permeated their minds as they walked together.

She noticed his jumpy, nervous demeanor and caught him staring at her on not just one occasion. She took a deep breath, feeling her heart struggle within her chest as her mind went off. "Why does he keep looking at me? Is there something on my face? … it can't be that he…? Does he…? Aah, it can't be! He's showing all the signs, especially his face, he's bright red… was it all the people talking about us? Was that all it took to get him wound up like this? … did he really just never think of the prospect o-of… liking me? All it took was someone mentioning it? Could we have been dating earlier if I had just said it? Dammit…

I-I might even be overthinking this. What if he doesn't reciprocate my feelings and I'm just reading too far into this? I don't understand, I would definitely think that he has feelings for me when he's acting like this, but… what if he's just clueless and acting awkward because now people think we're dating? W-what if he's acting like this because he doesn't want people to think we're together and he's looking for reasons to get away from me? … I'm being ridiculous. Izuku wouldn't want to leave me. Yeah! He didn't even want to go on that date, he came with me instead! I shouldn't get so wrapped up in such stupid ideas. But then, i-if he doesn't like me, then why is he acting like this? Th-that's gotta be it, right? God, Izuku, I wish you would send me a sign…!"

"Hey Tsuyu, are you ok?" she glanced up to see Midoriya looking at her, a worried expression finding its way to his face. "You seem… concerned about something. You aren't acting like yourself, I guess."

"I could say the same thing to you," she silenced her thoughts and looked at him, "Yeah, I'm ok. Just a bit wrapped up in something."

"Ah, I see," he returned his gaze to the sidewalk in front of him. "Do you wanna talk about it? You know you can always talk to me," he turned back with a smile.

"Thanks, but this isn't too important. We're almost there, let's just focus on getting to our destination, ribbit," she spoke with perfect clarity, but Midoriya figured something else was working behind the scenes.

They arrived at the mall and immediately gravitated for the food court. After buying some food to eat as they walked around, they picked out some of their favorite stores that they recognized, as well as others that interested them. They didn't intend on going in any of them, instead opting for this to be a quicker excursion. With them lingering at the arcade in the mall a bit longer than they intended, they had finally seen everything there was to see, and decided to head back, already having ideas for what to do on their next trip.

They stopped at a convenience store they passed on the way there and Midoriya picked up some chocolate to share with Asui, just as he did on their first trip together. She took the chocolate in her hand as they left the store and, just before she ate it, her heart jumped and she stared down the candy in her hand. It was the same brand as the chocolate all those months ago. Her eyes went wide.

"This, th-this is the sign! He remembers the chocolate from our first time out… he remembers… he wouldn't remember if he didn't care…" her breathing was heavy as she ate the chocolate. "I'm definitely reading too far into this. I'm specifically looking for a sign that isn't necessarily there. Anything he does could be called a sign, but it doesn't mean anything. I'm just trying too hard, trying to force the idea that he feels for me the way I feel for him. Let's be realistic." She looked at him as she chewed on her chocolate and he looked back. His cheeks were tinted pink and the smile that he flashed was a genuine, pure smile that radiated its own light. It was his smile. Asui could feel her knees begin to give out as she was overwhelmed by his presence, letting her blank facade and hidden emotions come up as they boiled over.

"Tsuyu!" he saw that she almost fell over and ran towards her, catching her. She flopped limply into his arms, nuzzling her head against his chest. He pretended not to notice that as he hugged her warmly and brought her back to her feet. When they separated, Asui slid her hand down his arm and laced her fingers with his. He didn't protest at all and instead squeezed her hand in his as they continued their walk back home.


This one, this one right here is my favorite. I think this is some of my best writing. Like, I just feel accomplished when I read it. Is it arrogant and conceited to be popping off for my own writing? Hell yeah. Am I gonna stop? Yeah I pretty much got it out of my system by now. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did!