#1: thx for reading/reviews, appreciate it
#2: imagine these characters as feasibly mature
#3: i don't own my hero academia, do not sue
Tsuyu and Izuku stand some paces from the door of their homeroom, dawdling, nervous to enter. The class inside had not yet begun, in wait for its straggling students, and they could hear chattering. Tsuyu, her usual posture returned, looks up to Izuku, still in his torn uniform, arms exposed and singed. Though her big eyes reveal nothing, she looks away and breaks the silence.
"What do we do?"
Izuku scratches the back of his head. His bicep flexes as he bends his arm to Tsuyu's lingering appeal.
"I'm not sure. Sensei's gonna be mad at us no matter what."
"Well, we can either play apologetic or indignant. Like Bakugo."
"I don't think I can pull off indignant." He says so with a shy smile.
"We should just apologize then."
"I agree." He nears the door and puts his hand to its handle. "Ready?"
Tsuyu nods and stands beside him. He slides the door open and reveals them to the expectant class. They bow deeply, saying together:
"Sensei! Pardon our lateness."
They straighten themselves. Aizawa-sensei looks them over with bored eyes.
"Midoriya, you look like you got hit by a truck."
Izuku's jaw drops.
"S-sensei! That was a very good guess! How – "
He holds up a sheet of paper, POLICE REPORT.
"The office got this faxed in a few minutes ago. Technically, you both should have gone to the precinct station to give statements on the incident, but they let it slide."
Tsuyu gives Izuku a big thumbs-up.
"I however will not be so lenient. Both of you utilized your Quirks in public without permission. And you were late to class. Please stay after school so we might discuss your punishment. Take your seats."
The pair walk to their respective desks, deflated. Kaminari puts his hands to the sides of his mouth, "Oooooh."
An earphone jack sticks him in the neck; he flinches.
"Shut up," Kyoka says bluntly.
"Now that that's squared away. Iida, if you would."
Iida rockets out of his seat.
"Yes sir! Class! Rise with me!"
The students grumble and stir out of their desks, class begins.
The school's final bell chimes. Tsuyu and Izuku stand at Aizawa-sensei's desk, the classroom behind them empty, chairs kicked away from their desks. The tired man speaks:
"You'll be cleaning the classroom as your punishment. I've already told the custodial staff to leave you two alone."
Sensei doesn't register what he says but Izuku squirms at his phrasing. You two alone.
"Please wipe down the desks and the blackboard. Sort the recycling and take out the trash. Sweep the floor. There are your supplies."
He points to a back corner of the room: a bucket, a stack of rags, a broom and dustpan.
"Return them to that same corner when you're finished and don't be late tomorrow."
He shuffles away, leaving the pair in stillness and silence. They remain motionless, their arms stiff to their sides but their thoughts far away; the clock on the wall counts, tick, tock, tick. Izuku scratches the back of his head stiffly and turns to Tsuyu, eyes broad and unfocused, as if she were caught in a daydream.
"W-we should get started huh?"
Tsuyu stirs from her trance with a shudder and pulls her phone from her skirt pocket.
"Kero, I'll be back in a second, I need to call home."
Izuku watches her exit the room, the bow of her hair bobs with her steps. He sighs relieved as she closes the door, pent tension spilling from his shoulders.
I can't handle this right now. Ever since this morning I've been stealing glances at Asui-san. Peeking at her chest, watching where her skirt hugs. I feel so guilty looking at her body like that, but I can't help it. Something's changed in me. When I near her, my heart starts to jump and quiver. I feel so...tempted.
He shakes his head and walks to where the supplies are. He picks up the bucket and heads out to fetch water, passing Tsuyu busy on the phone, keeping his eyes resolutely ahead.
"No, you're not allowed to use the stove unless I'm around… You can go to the corner store and get some instant ramen...Not the kettle, I just told you no stove…There's some money in my desk…Yes… Not that drawer… On your left… Don't buy any candy… Because it's my money."
Izuku walks out of earshot and into the bathroom. He sets the bucket in a sink and begins to fill it with water.
It's not fair of me to be thinking of Tsuyu the way I have. We're friends and she deserves my respect. She saved me once, we're comrades! Heroes in arms! What would All Might think knowing I was lusting...lusting? Am I lusting? For Tsuyu? It's not unfeasible. She is cute, really, and she's got pretty, big eyes, the sort you could stare into all day, and nice b-
The bucket runs over. Izuku shakes from his thoughts, yanks it from under the faucet and holds it against his chest, being careful not to spill. He walks into the hallway, passing Tsuyu again - eyes mindfully aside.
"Don't put Satsuki on, I have things to do right n- Hi Satsuki… It's been good. How has your day been…You what... You're not supposed to eat bugs, we're not actually frogs, we eat real food… Yes like ramen. Now you and Samidare go buy some for dinner… Don't get me anything spicy…"
As Izuku re-enters the room, his toe catches on the threshold and he pitches forward. The water in the bucket poises to leap over the brim and onto the floor, but Izuku steadies himself and tilts the bucket back onto himself, spilling water all over his torso. He sets the bucket down briskly.
'My uniform! It's soaked!' His head swivels between the voice outside and the growing splotch running down the front of his shirt. The fabric clings translucent to his abdomen. His pupils shrink in panic.
I gotta do something before she comes back in.
He loops the tie off over his head and shucks it, reaching his hands to his collar and unbuttoning his shirt, peeling it from his body. He gets to his knees and begins to squeeze the water away as Tsuyu steps through the door.
"Sorry about that, I'll get start-"
Halting, Tsuyu glances at Izuku kneeling, wringing his shirt into the bucket, tie cast aside on the floor. He looks up at Tsuyu distressed, his cheeks coloring. Dropping his shirt, he puts up his hands in demurral.
"I-I spilled s-some water on myself! My shirt got all wet."
She glances down at his bare torso: his chest ample and solid, the grooves of his abs gleaming, slick with water. Her eyes widen, steeping in the sight of Izuku's lean, sturdy physique. She coughs lightly into a fist.
"Please excuse me for a moment."
Izuku can only observe, confused, as Tsuyu turns around and leaves the room silently, sliding the door neatly behind her. Outside, the hallway glows in the turning daylight, soft orange glazing the surface of everything in sight. Tsuyu walks towards the restrooms with calm even paces and enters the girls' bathroom, swinging into an empty stall and sitting on the toilet lid. She exhales sharply and pounds her right fist into the stall wall; it shakes upon impact.
Damn you Midoriya! You push my buttons with such nonchalance, you don't even realize what you're doing to me! I just wanted to take my punishment and go home. But you've got me hiding in the bathroom, forcing something out of me I've never felt before.
Her left hand clasps at the fabric of her skirt.
I can't get that picture of him out of my head, grappling the truck, a look of absolute instinct in his grimace… unshakable, strong. And yet, so bashful, so… cute. And now, seeing his body, his abs, it makes me… Kero. I don't know what to call it. It feels like steam piping through me, hot mugginess clouding my vision. I can't think, I can only imagine… my hands on Izuku's midriff, his arms clutched around my waist, the heat of his body pressed to mine, my tongue-
Tsuyu stands up, she puts her hands over her ears. 'That's enough. I am a strong capable Heroine. Pain no longer fazes me, why should this feeling?' She unfastens the top button of her shirt and loosens her tie, still feeling the heat swirl beneath her skin. She kicks the stall door open and rushes to the sink, turning on the faucet. In her hands, she cups cool water and brings it to her face. 'It's fine. You're fine.'
Her reflection in the bathroom mirror not fine, flushed; rosiness dyes her throat and face, deep blushes circle beneath her eyes.
Damn it.
Eventually, Tsuyu coaxes the color from her face and returns to the classroom, beelining for the broom and pan in the corner. Izuku has his shirt back on and is focused deeply on the rag in his hands, wiping the blackboard, back and forth, up and down. Where he moves, Tsuyu avoids, the two dancing around one another, remaining very much away and apart, antipodal even. Izuku washes each desk; Tsuyu sweeps every corner and nook of the room; without a word, they finish and return the supplies to the back of the room.
Their punishment mostly over, they turn out the light and slide the door shut. Izuku holds a bag of trash, Tsuyu the recycling, and they walk along the hallway, down the stairs, out the front door to the dumpsters, where they toss their bags away, soundlessly, before leaving school grounds.
The metal barrier shuts behind them, leaving them out in the street. The sun now deeply setting, more red than orange, shines weakly on the two. Izuku and Tsuyu stand stiff, unsure of what to do, unwilling to acknowledge the other but aware that somebody has to say something. The sounds of passing traffic murmur about them. Birdsong and crickets.
Izuku forces himself to act and turns to Tsuyu with rickety, jagged strain. He shouts, in her face,
"OkayIdon'twannamissmytrainsoI'llseeyoutomorrowbyeTsu!"
And runs off in a plume of dust. Tsuyu senses a slight smile rise to her face.
"See you tomorrow Izuku."