Word Count: 8,589
Monday, 1:07 p.m.
t₂ = —4 days
"Oh, Yaomomo, you got a new necklace over break?"
Kyouka quickly pulled her head through her shirt, curious about this unheard-of new necklace of Momo's Ochako had just mentioned. She got her head through just in time to catch a subtle flash of emotion cross her best friend's face, betraying a rare moment of panic, followed by a sort of disappointed reluctance.
"Yeah. It was a gift," answered Momo, quickly masking her hesitancy.
Ochako furiously rubbed the back of her head, suddenly embarrassed for asking. "Rich people sure are something else," she said, likely a thought she'd accidentally voiced. Luckily, all the girls were used to this sort of thing (they'd all done it by this point), and the conversation moved on.
Momo put a hand around the necklace's pendant, but it didn't seem as if she were intentionally trying to hide it; rather, she appeared to receive some sentimentality from it.
"You should take it off for Heroics class, Yaomomo," Kyouka advised, desperately hoping no one else would think to question it further before she herself could personally get the scoop from Momo. (Especially since resident shipper Mina hadn't yet arrived in the locker rooms…) "Remember how hard Aizawa-sensei frowned at Kaminari when he tried adding a lanyard of rechargeable batteries to his hero costume?"
Ochako and Tsuyu burst into a fit of giggles at the memory, but Momo just unclasped the necklace and deposited it in her locker for safekeeping.
Just in time, too: Tooru burst into the room and sang a cheerful fanfare. "Now entering the girls' locker room iiiiiis… Hagakure Tooru and Ashido Mina!"
Mina jumped in too and did a little dance in the doorway. "Guess who 'surpassed expectations' on the summer homework!"
"Judging by your cheerfulness, I'm guessing you did?" Tsuyu said.
"Ding-ding-ding, thaaaat's right!" Mina crowed.
Tooru bounced excitedly around Tsuyu. "Yay! Yay! You got it right!" she cheered.
Meanwhile, Mina jumped onto the nearest bench and whooped. "WHOOOO let's talk some ROMANCE in here!"
Out of the corner of her eye, Kyouka noticed Momo slip out of the locker room by herself. Not wanting to let her get away, Kyo laced up her boots as quickly as she could, but unfortunately, Mina planted herself in front of Kyouka.
"You!" she said, excitedly grinning. "How was your first school break as a not-single lady? Did you go on any dates? What were they like? Tell us, girl!"
Kyouka sighed, trying very hard to ignore the stinging heat rising in her cheeks and neck. Well, if it would tide the resident shipper over for the day, then she'd just have to make that sacrifice in exchange for the rights to first knowledge on that ring of Yaomomo's.
Tuesday, 7:41 p.m.
t₂ = — 3 days
Todoroki-kun was acting strange. He had been ever since school started again. Izuku and the gang didn't have to have PhDs in Todoroki Moodology to figure that out. The question now was simple: why?
"Are all members of the colloquially-known 'Dekusquad' (aside from Todoroki-kun) present and hearing today?" Iida announced as three teenagers settled on the floor of Izuku's room.
"No, sir!" Izuku and Ochako replied in unison.
"Tsuyu-chan has declined attendance due to overlap with her extended bath time," Ochako explained.
"And Aoyama-kun has declined attendance because he is having a, quote, 'self-admiration day'," added Izuku.
"These are acceptable and valid excuses!" declared Iida. "Squad meeting commence!"
Ochako's hand shot up. "The time is 7:42!"
"Noted!" said Izuku, scribbling furiously in one of his many spare notebooks for half a second before looking up. "All right, so as we all know, Todoroki-kun has been acting more aloof than usual for the past two days. Are there any hypotheses?"
"Perhaps he simply caught a summer cold?" suggested Iida. "He has been covering his mouth very frequently as of late. Perhaps he forgot to stock up on face masks and is trying to be considerate. Of course, I do not condone such habits, as they increase germ spread, but we must applaud him for at least trying!"
"No, that can't be it," said Izuku, writing down every word the second it left someone's mouth, all without even looking at the page. "We would have heard him coughing if that were the case."
"Seconded," said Ochako, who sat closest to Todoroki in class. "Also, everyone knows that Todoroki-kun catching a cold is just an urban legend."
The three teenagers put their hands to their chins and rested their elbows on the table in their best thinking poses.
"Hmm," mumbled Izuku. "Maybe this is the result of a gradual personality shift due to the character development he's had over the past year, and we're only noticing now because the change has compounded so slowly that it's crept up on us like frogs in boiling pots—"
He stopped himself for a moment, then nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry, I should have chosen my words more carefully."
"It's an expression, so it is fine, Midoriya-kun," Iida said, doing his robot arm thing to emphasize his point.
"I think he's onto something though," Ochako said, shifting so that her cheek rested on her palm now. "Maybe it wasn't that we didn't notice, but that something big happened to him over the summer, and that caused the slight personality shift by the time we returned."
"Yes, but what could that have been?"
The three of them put their heads together again. If Aizawa-sensei had been watching them, he would have dryly commented that, despite the trio's marked book smarts, there was but a single brain cell bouncing between their three skulls at that moment.
Izuku abruptly shot up.
"Gah!" said Ochako, while Iida just flinched backwards.
Izuku turned to them, an All Might figurine in his hand. He smiled sheepishly at them and said, "Sorry. I just noticed it starting to fall and my body moved before my mind even realized it."
"You do not need to apologize, Midoriya-kun! That is the mark of an admirable hero!" Iida said as Izuku reverently replaced the All Might figure to its spot on the shelf.
"You scared me there, Deku!" Ochako cried, but instead of getting fake-mad for witty banter purposes, she stopped; at the same time, the boys stopped too. The trio had reached the same conclusion.
Ochako was the first to break the silence.
"Horror movie night!" she exclaimed.
"Todoroki-kun hadn't been able to make it because—" Izuku added.
All three of them exchanged bewildered and excited glances.
"He was—"
Tuesday, 8:23 p.m.
t₂ = —3 days
So, the ring had been a gift from the mystery boy Toki himself, huh? Well that made sense. Not the part where she didn't tell her best friend about it (of all the things to leave out, why the ring?), but Kyouka didn't mind so long as she knew in the end.
"Dude, what's wrong?" asked Denki. The two of them were chilling in her room, listening to shitty 70s disco to simulate living on Mars as described by The Martian. Which they were reading for English class, for some strange reason. (Whatever, it was a good book.)
"The fact that Mark Watney thinks that ABBA is shitty 70s disco," answered Kyouka, keeping a perfect poker face despite the joke. "I mean, he never specifies that ABBA is present on the data stick, but the narrative implies—"
"My dude," Denki said. "I love you and all, but I'm only on page 69."
"And you've stayed there for the last half hour," Kyouka snipped. "Point is that Watney has no taste. ABBA literally has a song for every occasion. Just look at Mamma Mia!"
"Okay, but seriously, Kyo. What's on your mind?" Denki asked, more seriously this time.
Kyouka sighed and shoved a scrap of composition paper to save her place in the book and sat up. "I dunno if I can tell you."
Denki sat up too and stared at her with concerned, puppy-dog eyes. "You can't tell me?"
"Girl code."
Denki instantly chilled out again, sank back to the floor, and returned to staring at The Martian, page 69. "Oh, well then don't sweat it."
Kyouka peered over at him. "You're being awfully lax about all this."
"Yeah. I'll just pry the information out of Mina later."
Kyouka sat up and launched herself off the bed so fast she would have gotten whiplash if hitting the floor hadn't hurt her enough. "No, no, no, oh please do not go asking Mina," she begged, the memory of the locker room talk replaying in the back of her mind.
Denki grunted at the sudden force of Kyouka crashing into his back, but otherwise not minding that particular stunt at all. He twisted his head around to look at her and quirk an eyebrow. "What? Why not?"
Kyouka averted her eyes and poked her earphone jacks together, knowing she wouldn't (and shouldn't!) be able to worm her way around the question, but still highly reluctant to answer anyway. "Heh, well, you see," she said, hating the way she waffled around with her words (but not knowing any other way to speak), "in order to keep the secret I'm currently trying to keep from you, I had to distract Mina long enough for the girl I'm covering for to get away, and the only way I could do that without looking suspicious was to answer all of her questions about our summer dates."
Denki's jaw dropped, and he scooted backwards a bit so that he could fully turn around and place his hands on Kyouka's shoulders (for maximum effect). "WHAT."
Kyouka chewed her lip and kept looking away, the back of her neck growing uncomfortably hot. "Yeah, so not only does she not know anything about what you want to know, she knows everything about what you don't want her to know."
She snuck a glance back at her boyfriend, only to feel her heart sink with guilt at the look of betrayal on his face.
"Even the bit about how I put two french fries up my nostrils to pretend I was a walrus but then sneeze-coughed super hard because of the salt?" he asked.
Kyouka put a hand over one of his (still on her shoulders). "No, because three minutes in the locker room isn't enough to go into that much detail," she said, and Denki breathed a sigh of relief.
"But," she continued, just as he was starting to retract his hands, and he stiffened up again. "I did kinda… tell her about…" The rate at which she poked her jacks together increased, and she tightened her grip on his hand. "I did kinda tell her about…" (She began mumbling very quickly at this point.) "Ididkindatellherabouthowwekissed."
There was a silence.
After a minute of this, Kyouka peeked at her boyfriend again. To her surprise, he seemed entirely unbothered by her confession, perhaps even a little relieved.
"Oh, is that all?" he asked.
Kyouka's face contorted into one of confusion. "Well… yeah," she said, unsure of anything else she could have said instead. His lack of betrayal left her feeling unsettled, as much as she knew admitting that to herself made her feel like a terrible person. "You seem really… I don't know, chill about all this."
Denki grinned slyly, unsettling Kyouka even further.
"Of course," he said, leaning in. (Kyouka's heartbeat skyrocketed, thudding in her ears.) "What reason would I have to be embarrassed of showing my love to my girlfriend?"
Kyouka forced herself to keep a straight face as his entered her personal space (though honestly, with those pretty eyes of his, she was unable to guarantee that it was not flushed to hell and back). "I dunno, man," she said. "Maybe if you held a boombox outside my window and played cheesy 80s pop tunes because you thought I was mad at you and it was what you'd seen in the movies, we'd have a go-to answer for that."
Denki fell back on his butt and became indignant. "That was one time!"
"One time less than two weeks ago," she reminded him, cracking a smile. "And it was funny."
Denki sobered up. "Still, you should have told me Mina was asking about us and that you told her."
Kyouka's smile vanished as quickly as it came. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry."
"Thank you," said Denki, and they both moved on. "Anyway, you're suuuuure I can't know anything about what's on your mind?" His face and tone made him seem like he was joking, but the fact that this was his third time asking betrayed his true feelings of concern.
Kyouka inwardly sighed, mentally apologizing to Yaomomo. "All right, all right; I'll tell you," she said. "But I'm letting you know now I don't really know a lot."
Denki stole a pillow that had fallen from her bed, cuddled up with it, and gave her his full attention. "That's okay," he said.
The sight of Denki paying that much attention to her warmed Kyouka's little heart, knowing this was an honor not even his favorite subjects received all the time. "So over the summer, Yaomomo's parents threw a masquerade ball…"
Tuesday, 8:45 p.m.
t₂ = —3 days
There was a knock at the door, and Izuku, Ochako, and Iida all paused their little forum to stare at it.
"Yo, Midoriya!" called Kaminari from the other side. "Kyouka and I have some questions to ask you. Mind if we come in?"
Quick as a wink, Izuku was up and opening the door. "Of course, Kaminari-kun!" he said. Meanwhile, Ochako and Iida scooted around so that there was enough room at the little table for two more.
Kaminari surveyed the room for a second. "Were you guys in the middle of something? We didn't mean to interrupt."
"Nonsense, Kaminari-kun!" said Iida, his volume just shy of the line between indoor and outdoor voices. "We are always here for friends in need!"
"We were just talking about something that happened to Todoroki-kun over the summer," explained Ochako.
Jirou straightened up at this. "What happened to him over the summer?"
"Well, you see, he went to a big party over the summer, and he hasn't been the same since," said Ochako.
"We've been spending the last hour trying to confirm without a shadow of a doubt if that night was indeed the turning point for Todoroki's personality," added Izuku. "So far, the evidence seems to be in our favor."
"But we automatically table our own discussions when outside parties enter the forum with their own problems," said Iida. "So do tell us, what brings you—"
Jirou held up a hand to silence the class president, her face a mix of disbelief, excitement, and hopes raised higher than the sky. "No, I think our topics might be connected," she said. "Tell us more. Like, for example, was the party Todoroki attended perhaps a masquerade?"
The Dekusquad exchanged looks that acknowledged that this was their point of no return.
"It was," confirmed Izuku.
Before anyone else had the chance to get a word in, Jirou turned to Ochako and asked her, "You saw that new necklace Yaomomo got over the summer, right?"
Ochako sent her a quizzical look, not entirely following where this was going. "The one with the ring as its pendant, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, she got it at a masquerade ball her parents threw over the summer." Kyouka leaned back and crossed her arms, satisfied with the bombshell she'd just dropped.
Izuku and Iida gasped, whereas Ochako became so excited she immediately began vibrating at a speed just barely visible to the human eye.
"You're not saying that Todoroki was the one to give it to her?" she asked.
"Let's not jump to conclusions, Uraraka-kun!" chided Iida.
"Iida-kun is right," said Izuku, pulling out his phone. "We need to get some evidence before we can call this a lead."
Five teenagers crowded themselves around Midoriya's tiny phone screen.
[20:49]
[Hero Deku]: hey, Todoroki-kun
[Hero Deku]: remember that party you went to over the summer?
[Shoto]: Yeah
[Hero Deku]: it was a masquerade, right?
[Shoto]: Yeah
[Hero Deku]: did you meet anyone new there?
[Shoto]: If i did, i wouldn't have been able to tell
[Hero Deku]: well then what happens at a masquerade ball?
[Shoto]: I just hung out with a girl named Yoru
[Hero Deku]: Yoru?
Whatever explanation Todoroki had for them never mattered in the end, for as soon as he mentioned the name "Yoru," Jirou was already losing her mind, but in a good way.
"Guys. Guys, guys, guys," she half-shouted, desperately patting down her pockets in search of her temporarily misplaced cell phone. "Guys. Guys, guys, guys, like, GUYS!"
"We're listening, Jirou-kun," Iida patiently said.
"Guys," Jirou repeated yet again, only this time she managed to yank her phone out of her pocket and open it to her own text conversation with Momo. "Check this out," she said as she showed them all her phone screen.
[A month ago]
[Kyoukanut]: so what's his name?
[Yaomomo (✿◡‿◡)]: Toki
[Kyoukanut]: TOKI?
[Yaomomo (✿◡‿◡)]: Not his real name
[Yaomomo (✿◡‿◡)]: I told him to call me Yoru
"Don't scroll down," Jirou snapped when Izuku tried to read more. "Or up for that matter. You can just ask Toki here if you want to know more."
"This could just be a coincidence," Iida said, but it was finally Kaminari's turn to speak up.
"Pfft, what are the chances of that happening?" he asked.
No one said anything. A minute passed, and suddenly the reality of what they had just figured out and confirmed hit them.
"Oh my god," Ochako said. "We need to tell them."
Wednesday, 4:31 p.m.
t₂ = —2 days
Eijirou was awoken by the gradual realization that there was no more warm body next to him. He didn't actually remember falling asleep (though really, who did?), but upon checking the clock, at least it wasn't another one of those three-hour naps. Today's classes had been intense, but not that intense.
"And what the fuck do you dumb bitch bastards want?" Katsuki snapped, and suddenly, there were five more people in the room than Eijirou was prepared for.
"Baku, my dude, my guy, my man! We're in desperate need of your manly homemaking skills!" said Denki, who also happened to glance over to where Eijirou was chilling. He flashed his classic million-watt smile and said, "'Sup, Ei."
Eijirou returned the Bro Nod of Greeting and said, "'Sup, Denki."
Katsuki loudly ground his teeth. "And which, my guy, manly homemaking skills might you be referring to?" he growled, taking special care to mock Denki's dialogue mannerisms.
"Bakugou-kun! If you continue to grind your teeth like that, you will strain your jaw and ruin your enamel!" Iida said, fearless as ever when it came to taking care of his classmates.
"Shutthefuckup."
"Well, you see, there's this thing that's been going on involving Yaomomo and Todoroki—" Denki began.
"Like I care about what Nerd One and Nerd Two get up to."
"Well you see, that's the problem, Bakugou," Jirou said, bravely stepping between the two parties. "They're not getting up to anything. There's this complicated situation happening, but the point is that they definitely like each other, but they don't know that they like each other, so now we need to set them up."
"Like I give a shit. Just tell them and be done with it."
Eijirou decided that this was a good time to jump in, so he hopped on over to the group meeting and slung an arm over Katsuki's shoulder. "Come on, man. Let's have some fun with this! It's part of that youthful high school experience!"
(Five pairs of eyes gave him a funny look for that.)
Denki snatched a roll of paper out of Midoriya's hands and unfurled it with great energy. "Here's the epic plan," he said.
Eijirou tried his best to read it over Katsuki's shoulder, but no sooner had he gotten a good angle than did Katsuki burn it up with just a few drops of his own sweat.
"Absolutely not," he said. "That's never going to work; you need to think realistically."
"But—" Denki began.
It was right then that Mina shot through the door and into the room herself, her timing as impeccable as ever. "SORRY I COULDN'T BE HERE EARLIER I HAD TO TAKE THE ELEVATOR DOWN AND THEN ALL THE WAY BACK UP AGAIN TO GET TO THE BOYS' WING BUT ANYWAY MY ROMANCE-Y SENSES ARE A-TINGLING!" she shouted, skidding along the floor in a desperate attempt to decelerate.
Jirou and Uraraka immediately turned to each other and over the course of exactly one half-second, seemingly held an entire conversation in a language Eijirou could never even hope to understand: girl telepathy.
Whatever their points of contention had been, they both let out little sighs and turned to the pink puff ball of excitement bouncing around the room.
"We're trying to figure out how to get Yaomomo and Todoroki together," said Jirou, sounding so tired she might as well have been dead inside.
Mina, of course, more than made up for it. She had so much energy burst out of her in the seconds after Jirou's reveal that had it been any form of energy other than a shipper's heart going doki-doki, the dorms probably would have been flattened in a heartbeat.
"The main thing going on here is that Yaomomo's hiding an important ring from the world, and it's keeping them apart," Ochako added.
Mina cleared her throat and gripped her arms to calm down. "I have the perfect solution!"
"Here we fucking go," Katsuki mumbled under his breath, so Eijirou patted his head to express his sympathies.
"We'll have them play a game of strip poker," announced Mina, and there wasn't even a shred of shame in her voice, not a moment of hesitancy. Nope, none of that. She was entirely serious.
There wasn't even time for a beat of dumbfounded silence; everyone just started shouting from even the second the s sound slipped out of her mouth.
"I fucking called it. That is the most awful idea that's ever popped out of Raccoon Eyes's mouth."
"Ashido-kun, I do not even know where to begin the list of all the things wrong with your proposal!"
"Mina, we are minors!"
"I would prefer not to. I'm not even going to sarcastically say thank you; I would literally just prefer not to."
"F-f-f-first of all, Todoroki-k-kun would never ag-agree to that."
"Yay, yay, whey!"
Everyone turned to see that Kaminari had fried his own brain, probably to refrain from thinking about the idea and/or remembering it afterwards.
"Look at what you did now!" cried Jirou. "You killed my boyfriend!"
Mina visibly deflated. "All right, fine. Tell me what part you guys didn't like and we'll just take that out."
Everyone said, "Everything." (Except for Kaminari, who continued playing the idiot in the background.)
Mina sighed and mussed up her carefully crafted mop of hair. "Okay, fine, fine, fine. We'll all put our heads together and work something out like that."
"Not in here, you won't," snapped Katsuki. He wriggled his way out from under Eijirou's arm, and like a well-trained sheepdog, herded everyone but himself and his boyfriend out of the room. "Some of us have better things to do with our fucking lives."
The door shut. The two sat back down again.
Katsuki looked at Eijirou straight in the eye and said, "I'm only gonna say this one more time today. Are you listening?"
"Yup!"
"Inverse sine is not the same as cosecant."
Thursday, 6:07 p.m.
t₂ = —1 day
Just to make sure, everyone involved in what Kyouka had dubbed, "The Peach Delivery Project" (as some convoluted pun literally no one would figure out without explanation) spent the day after the induction of Mina making sure they have all their cards right: that it was, without a shadow of a doubt, Todoroki and Momo who had been the long-lost friends-turned-maybe-lovers; that the two of them hadn't yet figured out each other's identities; that they were even hoping to meet again. (And so on and so forth.) And even after that, Ochako and Midoriya had gone beyond (plus ultra) and gotten some more backstory out of Todoroki!
No matter how it would all go down in the end, no matter how anyone reacted, this was going to be insane.
Kyouka took a deep breath as she addressed the team. "All right. Everyone knows their roles for tomorrow night, right?"
There were assorted sounds of agreement.
She pointed at Iida. "What's your explanation for it only being a select few of Class 2-A?"
"The activities planned for this week's class game night are not appropriate for large-scale numbers of players, and so I have made the executive decision as Class Rep to divide us into three groups of six, with Bakugou-kun going to bed early and Shinsou-kun absent for extra lessons!" answered Iida, his hand gestures emphasizing his words with a sharp precision.
"Exactly. Denki, what's your excuse for not joining our group?"
"I'm gonna be recharging in my room half an hour before, get curious, stick a fork I stole from Lunch Rush into the wall socket, and whatever happens, happens," her boyfriend answered. "And whatever happens will probably incapacitate me."
"Perfect. I am so sorry you don't get to witness the greatness that goes down."
"Don't sweat it. I was prepared to make this sacrifice the second Iida said this works best with fewer people."
"I know this, and I love you."
"This is disgusting; get a fucking room," snapped Bakugou.
"Your choice of expletives gives that sentence inappropriate connotations, Bakugou-kun," scolded Iida. "Take that back."
"No."
Kyouka facepalmed. "Bakugou, what even is your role again?"
"I don't have one. I'm just here because Raccoon Eyes' incessant fangirling has made me disproportionally invested in all this."
"What the— If you're not going to do anything, then why are you here? You even renounced the idea of this yesterday!"
"I fucking told you! I've become disproportionally invested in this whole shitty idea because of Raccoon Eyes' incessant fucking fangirling!" Bakugou let off a small but aggressive explosion.
Kyouka buried her face in her hands. "Fine," she said. "You and Kiri can keep watch or something. You can figure out what that entails."
"Yeah!" cheered Kirishima. He held out a hand to Bakugou, who reluctantly high-fived it.
"I give up," sighed Kyouka. "Everyone, I have some final words for you before t equals zero tomorrow night."
Everyone tightened the circle and leaned in. Kyouka made eye contact with every single one of them and said:
"Don't fuck this up."
Friday, 6:41 p.m.
t₂ = —2 hours
"Small groups for game night?" Momo asked, staring at Iida with disbelief. She'd heard his entire explanation, but some terrified and suspicious part of her kept her from fully believing it.
"Yes. My deepest apologies for not informing you in advance," replied the class rep. "You will be playing in Ashido-kun's room, should you choose to participate."
Mina's room? Okay, now she had a real reason to be suspicious of the whole setup. Ever since she told the rest of the girls a basic overview of her ring's origin yesterday, she was under the impression that they were trying to set her up with Todoroki-kun.
Momo wasn't stupid. She figured out within the first few days of returning to class that Todoroki-kun had been her childhood friend. It all fit perfectly together when she thought about it. He was from another upper class family, so they would have attended the family parties long ago. The half mask was to hide the scar. He wore colored contacts he wasn't used to for the sake of disguising his identity, and probably a wig as well. There were other reasons she would never admit to anyone, not even herself, but the fact that she hadn't realized until they returned to school filled her with so much mortification that she'd simply become unable to address Todoroki and talk about it with him.
"Yaoyorozu-kun?" asked Iida, frowning at her out of concern. "Are you all right? You were zoning out."
Momo pursed her lips. As terrifying as the prospect sounded, it would be strange if the vice-representative and co-host of Friday game nights did not attend the class bonding event. Besides, it would be good to get all this cleared up as soon as possible. (Even if she didn't exactly have an answer to, "What are we?" yet.)
"Yes, I'm fine," she assured Iida. "I'll be there for sure!"
Friday, 7:14 p.m.
t₂ = —53 minutes
Truth or dare blackjack, huh? Shoto had never played blackjack before, but he was not one to turn down hanging out with his classmates for something as minor as rules he didn't yet know.
"All right," said Ashido, shuffling a pack of Pokémon-themed playing cards. "The person who scores the closest but not over twenty-one gets to pick a loser to do truth or dare. You lose a round if you go over twenty-one or total less than me. If all your cards in a round are black, I'm making up this cool new rule where that's called a 'Jack Black' where if you're a loser, you're granted immunity, and if you're a winner, you can pick two people for truth or dare."
"Wouldn't that name make a lot more sense if it actually involved the jacks?" Midoriya pointed out.
Ashido did that cool bridge card shuffling trick. "Perhaps," she said. "But that would basically be the same as not having the rule at all. Besides, I'll show you how uncommon it is already."
She began to deal, starting with her left with Jirou and going around the circle to Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, Midoriya, himself, then back to Jirou again so that they all had two cards, except for Ashido's none.
"Six and eight," Ashido said to Jirou.
Jirou looked around the circle, a drop of sweat already beading on her forehead. "Hit," she said.
Ashido put down a Jack of Clubs, Jirou swore, and the former moved on to Yaoyorozu. "Queen and two," she said. "So, twelve."
"Hit." Three of spades. Yaoyorozu bit her lip and thought for a minute. Mina continued shuffling repeatedly.
"Stay," she decided, and Ashido moved on to Uraraka.
"Stay," Uraraka said before Ashido could even announce her cards. "Also, this is a Jack Black."
Ashido stared at the cards— a nine and a king, both of clubs— and said, "I swear, this has never happened before when I'm dealing."
Shoto checked his own cards, a queen of spades and eight of clubs. "Uhhh, Ashido?"
"What?" she snapped. Then she saw his cards and sighed. "God damn it, Todoroki. Midoriya, nine and seven."
Midoriya flinched. "Oh! Stay."
Ashido continued to sigh as she finally dealt to herself.
"Uhhh, Mina, weren't you supposed to deal one card to yourself earlier?" Jirou asked.
"Probably, if we were playing like normal people," answered Ashido. "Two, seven, ten, total nineteen; Ochako, you win."
"Wait, what about me?" Shoto said, but Ashido sent him a dirty look.
"Oh, did you want to hit?" she asked, still shuffling. She handed him a six of spades from the top of the deck. "Whabam. Twenty-four, you lose."
"The fact that it's black still grants him immunity though," Midoriya pointed out.
Ashido's face went on a journey from annoyance to regret to so much annoyance she might have been in actual physical pain to more regret to a slightly dead inside acceptance. "Ochako-chan," she flatly said. "You win. Go, do the thing."
Uraraka scanned the group before settling.
"Kyouka, truth or dare?"
Friday, 7:46 p.m.
t₂ = —21 minutes
The game was playing out pretty normally, in Shoto's opinion. (Which probably shouldn't count for anything since this was his first time playing blackjack of any variation.) He'd won twice, after spending the first few rounds getting an idea of what the good gambles were, though he was abysmal as ever at trying to think up questions or dares.
In terms of what had already happened, though, well, he still couldn't say if that was normal or not. Yaoyorozu won most often, unsurprisingly. Jirou had a terrible losing streak due to her wild risk-taking and bad luck. Uraraka's wild risk-taking actually benefitted her maybe half the time. Midoriya had never once gone over twenty-one.
Shoto had lost track of how many rounds had passed; the game was a lot more fun than he'd anticipated. Although, after Uraraka had dared Yaoyorozu to create a false flower, he was now starting to suspect his friends had an ulterior motive.
"Momo," said Ashido as Jirou groaned at her terrible luck yet again. "King and five."
"Hit," Yaoyorozu answered. Three of spades. "Stay."
"Ochako, queen and seven."
"Stay."
"Midoriya, three and six."
"Hit." Three of hearts. "Hit." Five of diamonds. "Stay."
"Todoroki, eight and eight."
Shoto thought about it for a moment. They were both black cards, so even if he lost, he wouldn't have to do anything. Still, if the breadcrumbs were leading to where he thought they were leading, he might want to gamble anyway. (There just had to be a reason Yaoyorozu was blatantly ignoring him every time she won.) "Hit," he said.
Ashido tossed him a five of clubs and said, "Aw, shit. That's twenty-one."
Friday, 7:47 p.m.
t₂ = —20 minutes
Mina flipped over her cards and dealt until she was over seventeen, groaning when she died at twenty-six. The whole Jack Black idea probably hadn't been her finest (but then again, what idea of hers was?). Iida had told them earlier to wait a few rounds before maybe starting to push TodoMomo into each others' directions.
BUUUUT, Todoroki-kun just had to go and get four straight rounds of only black cards (and, by extension, truth-or-dare immunity), and THEEEEN, Yaomomo also just had to get her own two rounds of immunity, and seriously, why was it that whenever someone other than those two won, they had immunity?
Truly, not her finest work.
Mina began to scrape together the cards so she could reshuffle them. It wasn't that it was getting late, but she felt there was only so long they could keep playing this game before people either ran out of dares or the cards got boring, and that "so long" was probably little more than enough to say "thanks for all the fish."
It was just too bad that it should end like this.
At least, that's what ran through her head over the span of the two seconds it took for Todoroki to pick a victim.
"Yaoyorozu," he said, and suddenly, Mina was very interested in the game.
"Yes?" Momo coyly replied (and ohhhh dammit c'mon, Yaomomo, you know what's up, you KNOW what's up just EMBRACE IT!).
"Truth or dare?"
(Mina was practically bursting with excitement. The intensity! The drama! The organicness of it all! She was on the edge of her seat here!)
Yaomomo looked uncomfortably around the circle (she was always so, so easy to read), and Mina didn't even care that she'd stopped shuffling to stare wide-eyed at the theatrics playing out before her.
"...I need to go to the bathroom," Momo suddenly said, immediately standing up and heading towards the door.
"OH, COME ON!" shouted Mina. She would have liked to say that happened against her better judgement, but she actually didn't judge that choice until after it had been made, so, uh, whoops.
It was too late anyway; Yaomomo was gone.
Mina took stock of the rest of the group. Kyouka had hopped onto her phone, texting someone. IzuOcha was repeatedly looking back and forth between the door and each other. Tokidoki himself looked simultaneously as if he was at a loss and proven entirely right about something.
Kyouka shut off her phone. "Todoroki, you should just pick someone else then," she said, flashing Mina a look.
"Right!" said Mina, trying her best to hit the ground running. "Girls always take forever in the restroom. Let's just keep going without her until she comes back!"
Friday, 7:48 p.m.
t₂ = —19 minutes
Playing cards really was a great way to have fun on a Friday evening Like, now that Denki thought about it, it was the first time since getting with Kyouka that he'd been able to chill with just Katsuki, Eijirou, and Hanta as bros. Of course, Iida's presence meant that gambling was strictly forbidden, which sucked a bit of fun out of poker with the boys, but that did not erase the sheer volume of chill that occupied the room in that moment.
Denki felt his phone buzz in his pocket.
[19:49]
[Doki-Doki Music Club 33]: ymm just went to the bathroom
[Doki-Doki Music Club 33]: someone go catch her now
He looked up at the others and said, "It's go time, boys."
As if on cue, his phone vibrated again.
[Doki-Doki Music Club 33]: she was kinda emotional send kiri
Denki looked up again and said, "Okay, nevermind, not all of us. Kyo said just Kiri."
"On it!" Eijirou said, leaping up with enough energy to power the entire campus and dashing out the door.
There was a beat of silence.
"What was that all about?" Hanta asked, looking at everyone weirdly.
In that moment, Denki realized two things. One, Sero Hanta was now the token single person in the Bakusquad. (Mina didn't count because she was basically married to the concept of shipping at the moment.) Two, a fact that, for the past twenty-four hours, he felt like everyone knew (that Todoroki and Yaomomo had some stuff going on) was not, in fact, a universal truth as proven by Hanta having no god damn idea what was going on.
"You will find out soon enough! Patience is a virtue, Sero-kun!" exclaimed Iida.
Katsuki snorted. "Yeah, and virtues are a grace."
"And Grace was a little girl who wouldn't wash her face," joked Denki.
He and Hanta cracked up. Iida sighed. They all let the sleeping dogs lie.
Friday, 7:51 p.m.
t₂ = —16 minutes
What was she so scared of? It was just Todoroki-san. She was probably wrong about him being Toki anyway. It was just a game of truth or dare. He probably just picked her because he hadn't before.
What was going on in her head? What was with these swirling, whirling thoughts occupying space in her mind? They did her no good; she wished they would leave.
She stood in front of the girls' bathroom door on the first floor, head still spinning. Really, she was better than this! She was more than just a static character that lived life as a status quo; she changed with her experiences and let herself grow!
So why was she so afraid to speak to Todoroki-san? Everything had been perfectly fine before tonight.
The memory of the summer night at the masquerade pushed its way to the front of her mind, and she could feel the pressure of the kiss(es!) on her lips once more. Face burning, Momo buried her face in her hands and leaned against the wall. She'd done that; it was real; and she could not kid herself at this point, she wished it had been with Todoroki.
How had this happened? They'd been friends before summer! And, because she had clearly been merely projecting since then, by all measures, they should still be friends now! After summer!
After the ball.
(It had been so romantic, so magical at the time. So why was the memory of it so mortifying now?)
"Oi, Yaoyorozu!"
It wasn't Todoroki, thank goodness. Momo popped out a couple matryoshkas to soothe herself and turned to face Kirishima.
"What happened to you, dude?" he asked.
As Momo weighed her options in her mind, she opened up a random matryoshka. They were so effortless to make that sometimes, she'd absently stick a random item into one.
A false rose, just the size for a subtle boutonniere, smiled back at her.
"So over the summer my parents threw a masquerade ball and while I was there I met this friend I made a really long time ago at another one of the parties my parents threw and we danced and it was nice and then stuff happened and we made out and it was wonderful and magical and everything I could have ever hoped for and more and you know I suddenly don't know why I'm telling you all this but—" she took a deeeeep breath, her first since starting to speak, actually— "you know what it's fine it's fine it's really fine anyway I'm pretty sure that my mystery boy was actually Todoroki and also he gave me a ring that to find him again by and anyway now because of tonight's game night I feel like the whole world is telling me to let him know but I am so embarrassed and afraid."
Kirishima took a minute to digest all that.
Within those sixty seconds, hot, salty tears of god knew what emotions began streaking down Momo's cheeks.
"Woah, woah, woah there," Kirishima said, a little tinge of panic making its way into his voice. "It's okay. Everything's going to work out. It's gonna be okay, man. I'm not gonna tell you to stop crying, 'cause, uh, crying is good for you. Even though now that I think about it you probably already know that."
Momo couldn't help but to laugh a little. "That sounds kind of like something Todoroki-san would say."
Kirishima relaxed a little. "Okay, so what are you afraid of right now?"
Momo bit her lip and stared at her shoes, digging her toe into the ground. That's what she wanted to know.
"I guess I'm afraid I'll regret what happens once he knows this is what I think, and that would… that would be embarrassing."
"Would you regret it if you never said anything at all?"
Would she? Probably in the future, when they parted ways. Or maybe if she saw him again at another party and he would have the sudden realization that she had the power to tell him the whole time but she chose not to.
"Probably."
"So which would you rather regret? The outcome or the inaction?"
Friday, 8:02 p.m.
t₂ = —5 minutes
Yaomomo reentered the room just as Mina flipped over her second card to reveal a perfect total of twenty-one. The latter grinned (lady luck was on her side tonight after all, it seemed) and said, "Oh, Yaomomo, just in time! Truth or dare?"
Momo swallowed, probably trying to be subtle with how nervous she was, but Mina could read all the girls like books. "Dare," said Momo. Excellent, she didn't even object to the fact that she hadn't even played in the round.
If there was ever a time to push a ship together, it was now. "I dare you to show everyone your necklace."
Several feelings flashed across the other girl's face, one after another with the emotions blending around the edges. Hurt. Betrayal. Resignation. Fear. Acceptance.
Determination was written on her face as she then unhooked the clasp. Fear came back as soon as the chain was in her hand. Regret mixed itself in as she finally revealed its pendant, the ring.
She let go of the chain, letting the ring fall into Todoroki's hands as his eyes widened.
With her mission complete, her bravery reserves were depleted, and Yaomomo fled once more.
Everyone stared bug-eyed at Todoroki.
Kyouka was the first to stand. "Well, what are you waiting for, you useless god damn kitchen appliance?" she demanded. "Come on! Let's go! You need to follow her, Toki."
"Oh. Right. Let's go," he said, setting down his cards and jogging out the door.
Honestly, Mina was not sure how to react to all that. He did not react as dramatically as she'd hoped and/or dreamed of. If anything, he seemed largely unconcerned, albeit a little surprised.
Directly in front of her, Midoriya and Ochako let out a sigh of relief.
"We're not done in here," said Mina, dealing out the cards again, and somehow, in some way, miraculously dealing herself another perfect twenty-one. She smirked at the pair. "So, Ochako. Truth or dare?"
Ochako turned off to the side. "Oh, for fuck's sake," she mumbled, her face already a bright, tomato red.
Midoriya reached out in concern. "Um, Uraraka-kun?"
Ochako turned around, took his hand, and pulled him into a kiss. His eyes grew wider than the full moon at night because obviously, this was a surprising action, but as quickly as she had initiated it, Gravity Girl pulled away.
"Sorry," she said (not realizing that Midoriya was now floating towards the ceiling).
"N-no, it's okay," he replied (not noticing that he was now floating towards the ceiling). "It was just really sudden and un-foreshadowed, you know?"
"WOOHOOOOOOOO!" Mina cheered (not caring that Midoriya was now floating towards the ceiling). "Two for one deal today!"
Friday, 8:04 p.m.
t₂ = —3 minutes
Kyouka met her boyfriend back in the hall after ditching Todoroki to figure the rest out on his own (and provide her BFF some privacy). "'Sup," she said. They high-fived, though really that was just an excuse for Denki to pull her into a hug.
"Your hair smells nice," he said.
"Thanks," said Kyouka, though she was obviously being muffled. "You smell like burnt ozone."
"I'm offended," Denki replied, though really, he wasn't. "Mission accomplished?"
"Mission accomplished."
"Fuck yeah."
Friday, 8:05 p.m.
t₂ = —2 minutes
Meanwhile, back on Bakugou's balcony, Iida was desperately trying to drag Sero and Kirishima away from the railing, where they were trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was happening down below with equal desperation.
"No, come on, pleaaase, Iida?" Sero begged. "This is better than the soap operas Mina brings to the squad sleepovers!"
"That is actually saying something," Kirishima added, wriggling to try and see around.
"Yeah, man! The couple's actually getting together here instead of waffling around for twenty-five thousand words or so!"
"Considering how little all of you listen to my reprimands when it comes to proper conduct between couples, it physically pains me to inform you that there will probably be other chances to witness similar in the future," Iida said. "However, this does not mean you should go around and use their private lives for your own personal entertainment!"
Finally, Bakugou himself entered the scene. "Oi, dunderfucks. Just leave them alone."
Sero sighed and turned around. "Ooookay," he said.
However, Kirishima started excitedly yelling at the exact same time, which made Sero and Iida also look back over the railing and start yelling too, albeit for different reasons.
Curious now, Bakugou himself trudged begrudgingly over to the rail to witness what everyone was making out to be a hugely momentous event.
He snorted, but still grinned. "God fucking damn. That took them for-fucking-ever." He leaned over the rail to better shout.
"GET A ROOM, DIPSHITS!"
Friday, 8:06 p.m.
t₂ = —1 minute
Somehow, the two of them ended up outside, alone together on the back porch of the dorm.
"The memory of kissing you back then at the masquerade is so embarrassing now," Momo said, sniffling a bit at the end. Autumn was coming quickly; it was easy to feel in the chilly night air.
"Oh. Sorry," Shoto said, unsure of what else he could say or do.
"Here, take it back," she said.
He'd grown since their first year, although she remained the same. All it meant was that she now had to go on her tippy toes to meet him for a kiss standing up.
This kiss was different from the heavy, emotional make out on the piano bench. It was quick, just two people's lips meeting for the briefest of seconds. A quick feeling of warmth and pressure, and it was done.
t₂ = 0
Shoto stared at her, careful to pay attention to her features now that he could actually see them. "Hey," he said. "What are we?"
Momo's eyes shifted off to the side, and she blinked a couple times. "I don't know. Ask me in a different way."
Her hands were at his collar still, which made it hard for him to think properly. "Uhh. Do you want to be in a relationship?"
"Yes," she answered. Miraculously, she was calm all through this, despite her show and lament over how embarrassing it had all been last time. "Now ask the question."
Question? What question? What more was there to ask? "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."
"The ring, Toki," she said.
"Oh," he said, fidgeting around a bit so that he could hand it to her properly despite their insanely close proximity. "Here you go."
Momo finally released his collar, took a step back, and accepted the ring a second time. As she looped the chain around her neck, it finally clicked in his mind.
"OH," he said.
"Yes?"
And then suddenly, he had to turn away, flustered.
"I like you," he mumbled, thinking about the way his mother had explained his transformed feelings with the patience of an amused, loving mother, and hoping she was correct because he had no idea what he was doing here. "Please be my girlfriend."
Momo placed a hand on his cheek and gently turned his head to face her.
"Of course," she said, and she lifted herself onto her tiptoes again.
Author's Note iv. aaaand that's the end! you know, i thought this was gonna be the SHORT chapter. i haven't actually written this much this fast literally since i did the soul eater resbang in 2017. god that is actually an eternity ago.
anyway wow so many references in here! from so long and thanks for all the fish to grace is a little girl who wouldn't wash her face (which is a quote from a book whose plot and title i don't even remember at this point lol). fun fact in my original plans for this fic they were actually going to play strip blackjack bc the hidden necklace thing was smth that was inspired by a pokespe fic called a miscellaneous tale of night and day, and what happened in that fic is that one character roped a bunch of of other characters into playing strip blackjack so that the hidden necklace would be revealed. in the end, i decided i didn't like the idea of stripping (and also it would be kind of a stretch to keep everyone in character for that kind of thing), but the reason i specify the playing cards they use are pokemon-themed was as a nod to the source inspiration. (fun fact number two i played out several rounds of blackjack by myself to both get a feel for the game and have a realistic reference for writing)
anyway yeah. catch me on tumblr at a-piece-of-shipping-trash, or maybe check out some of my other works. (i recommend reading orchid in bloom that's my current peak tbh) whether you do either of those things or not, thanks as always for reading, please review, and have a greaaaaaat daaaaayyyy~~~