Chapter Thirty-Two: Sweetly

The trip to I-Island was officially over. The class had been exhausted due to their trip, and it took everyone a few days to recuperate on their own from everything that transpired that night at the I-Expo.

Izuku during this time often talked to David Shield over the phone, conversing and planning any new modifications he could and should have for his new suit. It was a new experience for Izuku to learn all of the new functions and to figure out all the new kinds of tech that David worked with. To be perfectly honest, it was incredible!

Kyouka on the other hand spent most of her time hanging out with her parents. She would have been trying to contact Izuku, but ever since their little "moment" on the island she has understandably felt a little awkward and afraid to talk to him. But that was about to change as classes were starting up once again!

"Kyouka! I'm really sorry, I fell asleep while working on something with and had to rush!" The greenette's voice shouted from behind her as his footsteps grew closer and closer.

As he reached her, Kyouka couldn't help but feel a blush rise to her face as the memories from I-Island began to fill her mind once more. 'No! Stop thinking about it!'

"I've been learning little by little how to tinker with stuff, b-but I was able to make you something!" The greenette continued, revealing a small box that he had pulled out of the front pocket of his summer uniform. Holding the box out to the purplette, he noticed her flushed face and tilted his head curiously. "Kyouka? Are you okay?"

"Huh!?" She exclaimed suddenly, snapping out her thoughts before taking the box from the greenette. "S-Sorry, I just kinda spaced out for a second there. So, what's in here?"

Smiling, the greenette gestured to the station before the two began making their way to their train, "Open it. I-I think it might help you out in the long run."

Opening the mysterious box, Kyouka was met with… Well, she wasn't quite sure what these were. "You've lost me. What are these supposed to be?"

"May I?" Izuku questioned, holding out his hand for her to hand him the box again as the couple boarded their rather crowded train. Nodding, Kyouka handed him the box and blushed as the greenette gently grabbed onto her jacks, placing the odd object over each metal end.

"What? What are these-" She started, cutting herself off as she looked around at her surroundings… It was quiet. Like, quieter than she had ever experienced while riding the train to school. "Woah…"

"Right? I figured out a way to help with the loud noises that bother you during the day, th-though really it was more because of Melissa and 's help…" He admitted, blushing softly as he smiled at her warmly. Kyouka couldn't help but feel her heartbeat spike at his smile, but she couldn't help but be so grateful for his gift. It wasn't everyday that she could go five minutes with some semblance of peace.

"You… You made me sound dampeners? 'Zuku, I don't even know what to say… Thank you." She mumbled gratefully, rubbing the covering on her jack with her thumb. "Th-This is so weird… The world's never really been this quiet before."

"I'm just glad you like them, you don't need to thank me. Since we were going back to school I thought I could whip something up to help with Present Mic's… Outbursts." Izuku revealed, patting the girl on the head gently as he held onto the overhead railing for support as he subconsciously moved to guard her from bumping into anyone.

"Too bad, accept my gratitude." She countered playfully, placing a quick kiss onto the greenette's cheek before hugging him. It was mainly for thanks, but it was also to make sure that the swaying of the train didn't almost knock her over. "Oh, right… Sorry for not really texting you at all after- Well, you know…"

"N-No, don't apologize, i-it's fine. I was also working on my costume upgrades a lot, y-y'know on top of the awkwardness after what happened." The greenette replied, blushing softly at the memory of that heated night on I-Island. After everything that had happened they had gone and got a bit physical together while alone, and while he didn't regret it at all, he was still an angsty teen and couldn't help but grow a bit anxious over everything. "D-Did… D-Do you regret it?"

There was a pause as Kyouka hid her red face in the greenette's chest, "...I regret the time and the place. Not the act."

"Y-Yeah, we probably shouldn't have tried to do it after that fight… Though, and don't call me weird, but it's pretty cute to see you post-fight getting so embarrassed…" He mumbled, clearly remembering the scuffs on her face and tears on her dress as she had stared at him with such a fragility to her expression. He couldn't get it out of his mind even if he wanted to.

A punch suddenly landed right in Izuku's abdomen, nearly knocking the wind out of him.

The couple found themselves opening the door to their classroom quite a while later. The day seemed to go as normal as possible, with the added bonus of not going deaf thanks to a certain green haired boy with a heart of gold.

Entering the room, the couple was met with the rather depressed expressions of four of their classmates. What the hell was going on now, and why was Kyouka already feeling annoyed by it?

Izuku and Kyouka made their way past the depressed bunch, making a quick pit stop at a concerned Momo Yaoyorozu and an annoyed Katsuki Bakugou as they watched Mina, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Satou wallow in their self-loathing. The ones who failed their final exams.

"What's going on with them?" Kyouka questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion as the four of them continued to stand like statues with nothing but their own failure and depression emanating off of them.

"Well, they're the ones who failed the physical portion of the final exam, they're unfortunately not going to be coming with us to the training camp." Momo answered, staring at her classmates with a sympathetic expression.

"Way to rub it in!" Kaminari shouted, reeling back in fear as Bakugou's piercing glare nearly burned a hole into his forehead.

"Yell at her again and that's your life, dunceface." He threatened before leaning back into his desk angrily. Izuku stared at the blond with a mixture of confusion and fear. Was Bakugou seriously being overprotective?

"Waaaahhh! You guys better have some good stories when you get back!" Mina whined, beginning to ball her eyes out. She had really wanted to go on this trip, and now she was doomed to stay back and deal with summer classes to make up for it.

"N-Now hold on, there might be some kind of twist to this, I-I mean it's Aizawa, right? He could just be trying to mess with us again!" Izuku urged, attempting to make his classmates have at least an ounce of hope for their fate.

"Bad move, Midoriya." Sero suddenly chimed in before watching as Kaminari shot forward and poked Izuku in both of his eyes rather harshly, forcing the greenette to wince in pain as he held his hands over his eyes.

"AGH!" The greenette shouted in pain. "Sonuva-"

"That's easy for you to say, ! Failing our exams means we're guaranteed to have to suffer through summer classes!" The blond shouted, ready to strike again before being halted by a pair of jacks pointing at him threateningly.

"Do that again and you won't be the only one getting their eyes poked." Kyouka threatened, glaring daggers at the moronic blond before turning to attend to her writhing boyfriend.

"You do need to calm down, man. I'm in the same boat as you guys, I got put to sleep during my exam and only passed cause of Mineta. Mineta of all people!" Sero added, stepping in between Kyouka and Kaminari before she tried to kill him. "We don't know how they're grading this thing anyways, Midoriya could be right-"

"I DON'T WANT YOUR PITY, I WANT YOUR POINTS!" Kaminari shouted once more, beginning to annoy the hell out of more and more people. Seriously, why won't he just take the L and move on?

Suddenly the door to the classroom slammed open and in stepped Shouta Aizawa, their homeroom teacher. He had a bundle of papers tucked in his arm, meaning that they were in for it now. As the man stepped into the room, the students suddenly appeared to have found themselves in their seats within a moment's notice. Call that Aizawa's drill sergeant personality putting them in their place.

"Morning class, I'm sure you're well aware that I'm gonna talk about your exams, so I'm not gonna sugarcoat this. Some of you failed, that being said…" The man started, smirking fiendishly as once again it was time for one of Aizawa's trademark rational deceptions! "You're all going to the training camp!"

"WHAAAAAAAT!?"

'I freaking told you morons…' Izuku thought, rubbing his still sore eyes as he glared at a certain dumb blonde.

"Everyone cleared the written tests, but as for the practical…" Aizawa continued, looking down at his list of names. "Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, Sato, and Sero. You all failed. You're still going to be coming to the training camp because you five desperately need it. That, and we'll be having supplementary classes for you lot. Trust me, they're way worse than summer classes."

"But sir! You lied to your students!" Iida suddenly chimed in, rising from his chair abruptly as he raised a robotic hand into the air.

"Maybe so, but it wasn't exactly a lie. Failure is failure, this is your only chance to make up for it. You all need to keep up with your training because we don't know what might happen next." The man explained, a dark aura beginning to wash over the room as many of the students present began to think about their own personal encounters with villains. "Anyways, I'm gonna hand out the camp manuals. Take one and pass it back."

'They're really pushing us to better ourselves now…' Kyouka thought, taking one of the manuals as it was handed to her and handing it back to her boyfriend who seemed to be deep in thought about something. 'And of course, he's already taking that to heart..'

The day would come to a close shortly after and the students began to congregate to chat idly before heading home for the evening. Kyouka had wanted to leave, but Izuku, being the class representative, had to discuss the travel plans for the trip.

"Well, it was like I said," Izuku started, turning and glaring daggers at a cowering Denki Kaminari. "At the very least I'm just glad everyone gets to go. We started this road together and I'd hate to see anyone not be able to participate."

"An entire week of training camp and they want us to bring all this!?" Kyouka questioned, staring at the packing list concerned on how she was going to get all these items. She didn't even have half the stuff on there! "Seriously, I doubt I even have any of this lying around at home…"

"Yeah, same here. I guess UA really likes to make sure their students are best prepared for any kind of scenario, even on school trips like this." Tsuyu chimed in, putting her index finger on her chin thoughtfully as she peered over Kyouka's shoulder.

"I wouldn't expect any less from UA. Still, I may have to go out and get a few things myself…" Momo mumbled, exhaling through her nose as Bakugou stood beside her, not even bothering to pay attention to whatever was happening.

"Oh, I know! Why don't we all just go shopping together as a class!" The invisible girl of the class chimed in cheerfully.

"Ah, that's a great idea, Hagakure-san! Good thinking!" Izuku complimented, smiling brightly as he plopped his fist into his open palm like he had an idea. "I think that's a good way for some of us to not be so… Unfamiliar with one another. It's a good way for some of the quieter members of the class to go out with us, and on top of that we can all just hangout and get away from the pressure of heroism. I'm all for it!"

"No way in hell." Bakugou chimed in, rolling his eyes before Momo gave him a pleading expression to tag along with her. She's never been to a mall with friends before and this was a great opportunity! "Don't you give me that look, Ponytail. I said no."

"Don't be like that! Come with me, I promise it'll be fun." She plead, grabbing onto Bakugou's hand as she continued to give him the dreaded puppy eyes. "Please?"

The ash blonde blushed and turned away with a huff, "...Fine. Don't say I don't do nothin' for you, y'hear me!?"

"Well, that's one way to convince him…" Izuku mumbled, turning to Kyouka with a smile. "How about it? We could split off and have a bit of time to ourselves if you want?"

Kyouka blushed and shrugged, "That sounds nice. But I think I have a bit of a more amusing idea."

Izuku raised a brow, "Oh? And what's that?"

"I can't believe you invited them on a double date." Izuku groaned, hiding his face in his hands as dread began to set in. How was he going to sit with Bakugou around him for that long!?

"Well, the idea kinda popped into my head, and watching you be uncomfortable is pretty funny. Plus, Momo had kinda put the idea in my head a while ago." She revealed, smirking smugly as her boyfriend continued to silently panic on their train ride home.

"I hope this'll be worth it. Don't blame me if he causes a scene in public…" Izuku mumbled in response, sighing as he began to envision all that could go wrong with her little idea. "Seriously, I thought you hated him even more than me."

"I do, but Momo has kinda made him a whole lot more… Tame. Hell, after your exam he's just been kinda quiet- Wait, you didn't do anything to him, did you?"

Izuku looked away guiltily and a short pause washed over them.

"Oi."

"...I kinda knocked him onto the ground and beat the crap out of him."

"YOU DID WHAT!?"

"I-I-It wasn't my fault, he was being difficult a-and I just kind of snapped!" Izuku tried to defend his actions, but he knew all too well that it wasn't right. He knew that he had stepped over a line that he shouldn't have crossed, but after years of torment was he really at fault? Maybe a little.

"Izuku, I'm not mad that you did it, I'm mad you did it where I couldn't see it! Dude, I've been waiting for you to knock his teeth in for MONTHS!" Kyouka exclaimed, shaking her boyfriend by his collar aggressively, causing the greenette to grow dizzy. "So how did it feel?"

"W-What? I-It felt…" He trailed off, attempting to think of the right words as he sighed and looked down. The guilt rose within him as he thought about that day, and he soon had his answer. "...Wrong. It felt wrong. I… I didn't like being controlled by my emotions like that. It wasn't right."

"Yeah, but he kinda deserves that. I'd say it was a long time coming, but you being you I can understand why you'd feel so bad about it." Kyouka said, placing a hand to the greenette's chest, right over his heart. "You're too kind hearted to thoroughly seek out revenge in a blind rage. Though you'd still do it to be petty."

"Th-That was one time… Besides, I'm still afraid of…" Izuku trailed off, remembering how he had accidentally let it slip that he had All Might's quirk to Bakugou. "Actually, nevermind. I just hope he doesn't hate me even more now…"

"Well, he hasn't snapped at you lately, right? That's gotta be a good sign." Kyouka attempted to ease the boy's mind, but he was already spiraling down the rabbit hole.

"I don't know… He had asked how we're doing to his mother while she was on the phone with mine. That's not normal Bakugou behavior." He informed, beginning to mumble nervously about why the hell Bakugou could have anything to say to him or his mother.

Kyouka stood in awe, pausing before fear set in to her expression, matching Izuku's own. "...He did what?"

"That's what I'm saying! He's plotting murder or something, surely."

"He has to be at this point! What the hell did you do to him!?"

"I'm so dead…" Izuku whined, slapping a hand over his face as he groaned in frustration. Why did he have to go and lose control like that!? "Guess this is what I deserve…"

"Okay, now you're just being stupid. If he does try anything, you'll have me and Momo to back you up when he goes feral." Kyouka informed, finding it odd that when she got on her toes to give a quick kiss to the greenette's cheek he was a bit harder to reach than normal. "Wait, have you gotten taller?"

"Huh? Have I?" Izuku questioned, snapping out of his fearful state suddenly due to her destructive question. He looked himself once over, turning towards the glass of the train and staring at his faint reflection in comparison to Kyoukas. He seemed to be a bit taller than before. "Well, what do you know… I guess I did, I didn't even notice."

"Dude you're like... " She paused, looking the greenette up and down and squinting her eyes suspiciously as she gave an estimate. "172 cm? Something like that, you grew quite a bit… And I'm still short."

Izuku failed to hide a smug snicker and was promptly gripped by his collar aggressively. "It was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing. What are you laughing at?"

"I didn't laugh."

"Don't lie to me, I'll kill you one hundred times over."

"I didn't laugh."

Kyouka glared at the greenette as he tried his hardest to avoid her gaze and not laugh. She then released her hold on him when she noticed another feature changing on the greenette.

"Dude, your hair's even getting longer! Stop growing, and get a haircut!" She huffed angrily, scowling at the fact that even her boyfriend was beginning to grow more than her. (Not that she wanted longer hair).

"You say that like your hair hasn't been getting longer too." Izuku mumbled, ruffling his hair self-consciously and sure enough his hair had gotten a bit longer. "I'll think about getting it cut, but don't count on it. It's hard to find someone that can actually cut my hair."

"Wh- My hair hasn't gotten that long has it?" She questioned, grabbing a strand of her hair, realizing that it was now beginning to grow closer to her shoulders. "Holy crap, when the hell…"

"Y'know maybe shoulder length hair wouldn't be too bad on you. It's kinda cute like it is now." Izuku complimented, grabbing a strand of her hair loosely while smiling vibrantly.

Rolling her eyes, Kyouka gently pushed the greenette back. "Oh, shut up. Longer hair is hard to deal with, I'm cutting it as soon as I can. Now c'mon, we're here."

"You really won't even give it a chance? What if I got an undercut like you wanted me to?" Izuku inquired, smirking as Kyouka flinched and her face reddened.

"...I'll think about it."