"Kaminari!" Kyoka Jirou panted as she pushed her way through the group of student heroes. Majestic had landed them in a large meadow, and the teenagers were spread out, administering first-aid to their friends and rest. "K-Kaminari, where are you?!"
She paused to catch her breath, hunched over with her palms on her thighs. She heard footsteps behind her, and she swiveled around to be greeted by her best friend.
"Kyoka, you can't just go running off like that! You are likely… lacking in oxygen... due to the fires back there," Momo Yaoyorozu reprimanded breathily, also gasping for air. Her gaze softened as she met Kyoka's worried gaze. "I'm sure he's fine, Kyoka. You need to take care of yourself first."
Kyoka looked at the ground, crossing her arms. She fought back impatient tears, and she angrily swiped at them as Momo hovered, lightly wiping at the dried blood in Kyoka's ears with an antiseptic wipe from her pouch.
"It's okay. We're okay," Momo murmured, and Kyoka wasn't sure if the reassurance was for her or not. Still, Kyoka gratefully gave Momo's hand a squeeze and began cleaning her friend's scratches with another wipe. Neither of the girls had severe injuries; however, they knew better than to risk infection when their fight might not be over yet.
Momo stopped cleaning Kyoka's face, her hand trembling. Kyoka studied her worriedly.
"I… I don't know what to do next. Everyone's counting on me to come up with a plan, and I just… don't know if we even did the right thing," Momo dipped her head guiltily, and Kyoka rubbed her arm gently.
"You don't have to know everything, Momo," Kyoka smiled shyly. Momo leaned her head on Kyoka's shoulder, and the shorter girl reached up to stroke her ponytail. "We did our best. Without your leadership, we wouldn't have even had a chance at stopping Machia." Momo sighed, and Kyoka's lips twitched up wryly. "I'm frustrated, too; I really wanted to kick the League's ass. Even though we didn't succeed, we still helped the pro heroes; I'm sure of it. You've already done so much… It's okay to not know the next step right away. "
"...thanks Kyoka. That means a lot." Momo gave a shaky smile, before turning to look at their classmates. "I better help the others. Perhaps I can make bandages, if I can find some power bars…" She gave a more confident look to Kyoka over her shoulder. "You go find Kaminari. We can meet up back here after to discuss our next course of action."
Kyoka nodded, comforted by her friend's assured grin, and started weaving again through the throng of young heroes.
"Has anyone seen Kaminari?" she called, and Sero and Mineta pointed her towards the back of the meadow, where some trees provided shade. When she reached the alcove, she stopped short at the sight in front of her, her stomach dropping to her feet.
Denki was laying with his head on Class 1-B's Reiko's lap, half-conscious and seemingly muttering gibberish. Reiko was hunched over him, applying a cold compress to his head.
Kyoka ran forward and fell to her knees next to her friend. "Kaminari? Are you okay?!" She looked at Reiko with wide eyes. "What happened to him?"
"He got hit in the head by a boulder, courtesy of Mr. Compress. I caught him before he hit the ground," Reiko explained, the telekinetic girl wringing her long fingers in an unusual display of worry. Kyoka quickly took over holding the ice pack to his head.
After a moment, she noticed Reiko scanning the crowd and biting her lip. Kyoka placed a hand on the quiet girl's arm.
"You can go. I've got this."
"Thank you!" Reiko clambered up and dashed into the crowd, and Kyoka scooted over so Kaminari's head was in her own lap. Kyoka pushed some of his hair away from his forehead gently, noticing the bruises already forming.
"Ugh…" Denki muttered, shifting on her legs. He opened his eyes slightly, blinking wearily.
Kyoka felt a small smile lift her lips. "Hey, doofus. Took quite a tumble back there, huh?"
"Mmm... soft… lap…" he murmured, and Kyoka flushed. She wasn't sure if it was anger or embarrassment that made her recoil, but she jerked and he fell off her lap. His head landed on the grass with a thump!
"Ugh! Same old Kaminari!"
"Ouchhhhhh," Denki groaned, his eyes fluttering. "...Jirou? What are you doing here? Where's Yanagi?"
"Majestic moved us to a safe meadow away from the action. Reiko went to find some members of her class, I guess," Kyoka answered stiffly, ignoring the first half of his question. She just felt so… foolish . Of course she would waste time and effort worrying over this goofball, and all he cared about was being in a girl's lap! Tears stung her eyes.
"Aw, hey, don't cry. I'm alright," Denki cooed, misunderstanding the reason for her emotions. He tried to sit up and moaned in pain, flopping back to the ground. "Okay, maybe I'm not doing so hot, but I'm still alive."
"Don't hurt yourself more!" Kyoka reprimanded, even angrier now that she felt hot tears trailing down her cheeks. "Just… here." She shifted them again so she was hunched over him, his head on her lap once more. Her legs were tucked under her, and her arms hugged her middle tightly.
"Just rest," she commanded, feeling vulnerable. She could feel his bright, yet tired, gaze on her, and she stubbornly looked away. Finally, he closed his eyes, and she glanced back at his face guiltily.
He looked so… serious when he wasn't smiling. She frowned, already regretting having snapped at him.
"Hey, Jirou?" His eyes were still closed, and he looked pained.
"Yeah, Thunderdolt?" As much as she didn't feel like talking, she felt she must keep him awake. He most likely had a wicked concussion.
"Did you hear... what Midnight-sensei was telling me… right before we reached the compound?"
Kyoka tried to think back. Everything was pretty much a blur from earlier.
"Yeah, she said something like thinking about what's most important to you?" she recalled hesitantly, wondering where he was going with this. Her stomach curdled at the thought of their missing teacher.
"Yeah… well, I… I thought of you." He opened his eyes and met hers, electric blue to dark brown.
"I-uh…." Kyoka stuttered, looking away and feeling terribly flustered.
"Jirou…" he started, and he lifted a trembling arm to weakly move her chin so she was facing him again.
"I was really worried about you, you know," Kyoka spit out, embarrassed. She normally wouldn't have ever admitted something like that to him, even under duress, but something within her told her that he needed to know just then.
"Really?" he laughed airily, closing his eyes again and dropping his hand to his chest, and Kyoka frowned. Does this dolt really not know how much I care?
He started speaking again before she could elaborate. "I just thought of you, and I felt in that moment... that I could do anything," he admitted quietly.
Kyoka was stunned. She had never thought that she would be the type of person to inspire others, especially without her music. That was more of the job of Midoriya or Bakugo. She was just quiet Kyoka, great with a guitar but not so much with people. She felt more tears gather, and she wiped at them quickly before they could drip onto his face.
"I thought of you, too, Kaminari. I knew you could do it." She brushed back his hair again and readjusted the previously-forgotten ice pack. He sighed, reaching up and covering her hand with his shaky one. She froze at the sincere touch but didn't pull away.
"Jirou…" his eyes now searched her face as if looking for something important. "I've been… wanting to do something... for a while now. Can I… try something?"
Kyoka nodded mutely, her gaze locked with his. No matter how much she joked and denied, he was one of the few people she truly knew and trusted, and she had an inkling to what he wanted. Her stomach felt tingly.
He placed his other quivering hand on her cheek, his face now one of concentration. Slowly and gently, he tugged her down. She just let him lead her, electricity flowing from where he made contact with her skin straight to her core. Her heart thundered in her chest, and her short hair created a small, dark curtain around their faces. He tried to lift himself up the rest of the way to meet her, but he groaned with pain and fell back to her lap, a disappointed look on his dirty face.
Her heart leapt at the earnestness in his expression. She took the plunge and dove her head, trying to peck him lightly on the lips but slightly missing and hitting most of his chin. She started to pull away, feeling embarrassed beyond belief, but his hand gripped her cheek and drew her back to him. Their lips met fully this time, and it was soft and careful. She gingerly touched his face, her eyes slipping closed. The closeness, the warmth, the sweet way his thumb rubbed her cheek... all of it was immensely satisfying after a heart-wrenching battle. He hummed into the kiss, and she had to stop herself from giggling from the tickle.
Finally, she pulled away, although she remained close, her hair still hiding them from the outside world. "I've been wanting that for a while, too," she shyly admitted, her face hot.
Denki suddenly chuckled, and although there was no malice in it, Jiro still felt apprehension creep up. He's going to say something stupid and ruin the moment, isn't he?
"I knew I'd get ya to fall for me one of these days!" he crowed happily, his expression bright.
"Ugh! I'm not some prize to be won!" Kyoka muttered, pushing him off her again (albeit gently this time, aware of his head injury) and crossing her arms. She couldn't stop the grin from crossing her face though, and she tried to hide it from the boy on the ground.
"You know I didn't mean it like that!" Denki wailed, flailing around dramatically, and Kyoka snorted. He seemed to be feeling better. Still…
"I'm glad you're okay," she whispered, hesitantly reaching for his hand. He immediately stopped flapping around and smiled determinedly, entwining their fingers.
"Takes more than a boulder to bring this guy down!"
The two teenagers grinned at each other, and Denki laid his head back down on Kyoka's lap. She combed her free hand through his hair absentmindedly, and he sighed happily, closing his eyes once more. She knew she'd have to get back to Momo, and the ongoing fight, eventually. It wouldn't hurt to sit here and just… be, for a while, right? To just exist in a bubble with him for a little while longer. She looked back down at the boy on her thighs, studying his features for a moment. A smile split her face, and she blushed at the thought of their kiss again. Yeah… No matter where today takes us, I think we're going to be okay.