"I trust you to abide by these rules from now on." Aizawa said. "I'd tell you to get to bed to rest up for your exams. However I remembered that I excused you so that's not going to work. Good night."

The two of them sat near a small fire Bakugo had conjured up just a few minutes ago. Erity was hugging her knees to her chest while staring at the flames. While Bakugo was roasting marshmallows on a stick.

"How bad is it?" He asked as he saw the bandages when she rubbed above the sleeve of her shirt.

"Recovery Girl says that I may have to live with the damage for the rest of my life, certain things cannot be healed if not provided immediate attention."

"You idiot." Bakugo said. Erity noticed it wasn't his usual angry tone whenever he spoke to everyone else.

"Oh yeah? Who's the real idiot here? Me for passing out or you for not getting me there in time?" She said jokingly

"You said you didn't want to go back just yet. I did as you requested and it backfired. Now you're paying the price for my mistake." Erity heard the hidden sorrow in his voice.

"No Katsuki." Erity scooted over and placed a hand on his arm. "Don't even go there. Don't you dare think for one minute that any of it was your fault." She took her other hand and placed it on her chest. "Asking you to show me your Howitzer was a pretty foolish move on my part when I clearly wasn't ready for it. I'm the one to blame, not you."

"Usually I get all pumped up when I beat the other person to a pulp in a battle." His smile vanished. "But, right now I just feel like there's a knot in my stomach and I-" Bakugo stopped as he felt the warmth of her body suddenly beside him. Erity rested her head against his shoulder while placing her hand on his other shoulder.

"I'm fine Katsuki, really." She said. "If anything this scar will remind me what I went up against, and what I still need to do to improve my skills." At least this time he did not recoil at her touch or swat her away.

"By the way, later I'll show you a few more ideas to help with maximizing the area of your attack. Just don't go using it against me when we start our next battle."

"I'm not making any promises."

"Okay, then maybe I won't show you."

"Then i'll just force it out of you."

"How're you gonna manage that?"

"Like this." Erity took her hand down to his rib cage.

"What the heck are you trying to do?"

"Tickle you."

"I'm not ticklish."

"I just haven't found the right spot yet."

"You're wasting time." She continued to try. "Okay, now you're just being annoying." Bakugo got fed and grabbed both her wrists, in one swift motion he used brute strength to stand up and pin her body against the dirt wall. He put her arms criss cross her chest. "That's enough."

Erity didn't want to be pinned. The only thing she could think of to do was to uncross her arms and stretch them out. Which is exactly what Erity did. Only problem was Bakugo went from standing a few feet away to being mere inches apart as he had been holding a firm grip on her arms. In fact their noses were touching. They could feel each other's breath upon their face. Eyes wide in surprise at the closeness as the two of them realized if either one of them moved forward a few inches their lips would meet.

Neither one of them moved away.

"Erity…"

"...Yeah?"

"We should…" He gently touched her shoulder and closed his eyes, taking in a shallow breath. He pushed himself away from the wall and turned around. "We should…" He said again. "Go back to the dorms."

"You think so?" Erity felt her heart was giving her somersaults.

"I wouldn't have said so otherwise."

"So dramatic."

"So what? It's been a long day and I'm finally starting to get tired."

"We never really got to talk about what happened with Emiko."

"I thought I already explained that."

"You did."

"Don't tell me my answer wasn't good enough for you."

"I suppose I'm just still a bit rattled by what I saw."

"She told me she liked me more than you did."

"Riiiiight."

"She made the first move so obviously it must be true."

"So you're saying I should have shown you how I felt instead of speaking it out loud?"

"That's not what I meant. There's no need for you to change anything, you were true to yourself and that's what matters. So don't be getting all butthurt just because of what I said. It doesn't suit you."

"I'd rather he make the first move. That way I would know he was interested and I wouldn't be setting myself up for heartbreak. Though, with you I made an exception. My heart was so full I thought it would burst. I couldn't keep it in me anymore."

"All this sappy love crap seems complicated." He said.

"Very."

"What does it feel like?"

"Oh Katsuki." She sighed. "Love isn't something that can ever be explained or understood with words."

"Just humor me." When she stopped moving he looked back and noticed she had her eyes closed with her hand across her chest. Then he saw the half lidded gaze.

"Your heart beats faster, it pounds wildly and there's this ache in your chest that almost feels like it's a second heartbeat. It releases emotions you never thought possible. Making it seem as if the small vacancy you had within you now has the walls torn down and now is doubled in size. You find yourself smiling so widely your cheeks burn in agony but it doesn't even matter because of how this person has made you feel. You'd do anything for them. Stupid things, things you would never do for anyone else. And when all this comes to realization, you drop to the ground as all these feelings are hammering away inside. And the very first time it happens to you, you won't be ready. But you'll know."

"You just made me more confused." All she did was shrug her shoulders and use her hands in an 'I don't know what else to say' gesture.

"Why do you ask? I thought you weren't going down that road." She saw his expression as he gazed up at the sky.

"I wasn't planning on it."

"But?" He looked at her then. His eyes were strangely hesitant, and sorrowful, Erity gasped as she realized what was happening.

"I get what her power is, but how can she get me to feel like this when she ain't even here?"

"I don't know Katsuki."

"I'm not sure what I should do next."

"Yes you do. You already know what you want. Trust your gut." She gazed at him sadly. "I don't like where this is going, but I get the strangest feeling that this is all real. You're not acting like everyone else that's been under her spell." She sighed defeatedly.

"Still." He beheld her with his fierce gaze. "Perhaps you misjudged her quirk, or we're dealing with something else behind the scenes no one else knows about."

"So…what are you going to do?"

"Tell her how I feel."

"I'll be cheering you on." 'Dammit'

"Stop lying, you only wish is for us not to work out. You don't want us to be happy."

"Maybe I do feel that way, but that doesn't mean I wish for you to be miserable. I'll be there to support you, no matter what happens." He gazed at her strangely. "Just another side effect of the contemplated emotion we call love." They began walking again.

"Meet me here after lunch tomorrow, so we can work on the issues I talked about earlier."

"You still want to spar?"

"What did you seriously think we'd stop sparring just because of this? Not gonna happen."

"Well…"

"What?"

"School for us will end eventually. After our third year here. What will we do then?" She saw his eyes go from stunning realization, sadness and then back to determined.

"Let's just focus on the here and now and worry about the future when it comes." He said.

Erity slid down her door with tears in her eyes, Katsuki just said nothing would happen and then out of nowhere changed his mind a mere hour or so later.

She wanted to fight for him, wanted to show how much of a mistake that was. She wanted so many things to happen where all of it ended with Emiko disappearing forever.

Right now Erity felt totally snubbed.

Flip the coin of love where jealousy sits on the other side.

"No." She whispered. "Jealousy nearly tore me apart last time. I can't go through that. Not again." She swore that this time would be different. She wouldn't interfere. Even if she tried, what would have been the point? Katsuki had already made it clear where things stood between them. Trying to tear the two of them apart would only make Katsuki more distant.

Love was painful sometimes.

—--

Bakugo stood staring across at Erity with his feet apart and hands criss crossed over his body. She mirrored his movements exactly.

"Double edged spears in your hands." Erity created them as he asked. "Now in one swift movement bring them out to the sides like so."

"What exactly does this do?" She asked

"Let me see those." He took the first position. "Now imagine you have enemies coming at you from all sides. You wait for them to come to you and then." He brought his hands out till he was in a T pose. "You slice both enemies in front of you while gutting the ones from behind." He gave them back.

"That's dangerous."

"Exactly."

"What was wrong with the way I was doing it?"

"You were bringing it towards you, which looks cool, but doesn't hit anyone. Why don't you try it out?"

"I thought you didn't want me to do that."

"I want to see how good you are."

'He sure is changing his mind a lot.' Erity thought to herself. "Alright."

"Also, if you can. Give me 10% of my powers." She did so, but all he was doing was creating smoke. "20%" He was able to use his stun grenade. "30%" Instinctively Erity put up a shield.

"Nice try Katsuki." She said when he had used the stun grenade as a decoy to try and catch her off guard and seconds after asked for the next percentage. "But I was prepared for that."

As he kept on repeating percentages Erity waited for the right time to use her new move. When she did use it she saw Katsuki duck under her arms so she brought her arm back, slicing his side. He cursed and gazed down at the injury. She smirked at his fierce gaze.

"Perfect. Now then-"

"Katsuki." They heard Emiko's voice before seeing her appear at their side "You've been here all afternoon, why don't you take a break?"

"Our plans weren't till later. You can wait. In the meantime, get out of here."

"Surely you aren't going to fight her the entire time?"

Erity stood there in a fighting stance annoyed, but she wasn't going to tell Emiko off. That was Katsuki's department now.

"Maybe I am. Don't tell me you have a problem with that?"

"I just feel like she's trying to steal you away from me."

Erity decided she had heard enough. "Your girlfriend is jealous, I'll let you two take care of things." She said.

"Erity wait."

"Just let her go." Emiko was yet again ignored when Katsuki blasted over to her.

"Erity."

"Look, I'm not interested in being a third wheel here, clearly she wants you all to herself."

"Just because she's here doesn't mean we have to stop."

"She'll just be a distraction."

"Come on Katsuki. We can get started much sooner and have more time to spend with each other."

"I said we can do that later, damnit." Katsuki was peeved. "This is my space away from everyone else, the only place where I'm allowed to let my quirk loose. You may not like it but I come here every day for hours, just so I can maximize my potential. You just have to deal with Erity being here. As she's the only one whose quirk is at a higher level than my own. So if you would kindly leave and not come back here, that would be great."

"I guess I'll see you later then." Emiko walked away. "Just don't expect me to be very cheerful."

"Oh good we can brood together in silence for once." He waited until he didn't see her anymore and then his focus went back towards Erity. "What?"

"You just blew off Emiko to fight with me…"

"Yeah, you like that?" He noticed the fire in her eyes.

"I love that." They gave each other matching grins before proceeding back to the battle.