A/N: HAVE MORE CUTE!

(Throws Hizashi at you)

Greener Grass

Chapter Five

Communication is Key

The movie they picked was an older one, a story about a pair of Assassins from different Guilds who unknowingly married their arch-rival, and their eventual exposure to one another as said Rivals when their Guilds join up to kill them for attracting too much Hero Attention and being flight risks. It was a good movie, but it had come out four or five years ago, so they were some of the only ones in the dark theatre. They picked seats right up front, so the speakers covered their voices as they leaned their heads against one another.

"My parents kicked me out when we found out I was pregnant, you know," Inko murmured as they watched the opening scenes. "And the boy I'd slept with didn't even remember my name, or, at least, acted like he didn't, and that was before I found out about the baby. I was homeless for months, the entirety of my first trimester, and I... Well, I needed to eat and I needed to stay in school, and I needed for no one to know about the homelessness. So I... I started stealing, just small things, loose change or wallets from people I knew were well-off." She didn't look at him, resolutely keeping her eyes on the screen as the unrealistically-beautiful main characters met in their civilian personas for the first time.

"My Quirk was weaker, back then," she murmured. "I could lift a wallet or two, and I could only Pull things towards me, never Push them. And people are so, so careless with things I was desperate for. Like soap, and clean water, and warm blankets, and it just, it was so frustrating and, to make it worse? No one noticed, not for a long time... No one questioned me about anything," she murmured. "Not about my parents, or who I was staying with or why. I told my teachers about being kicked out, lied and said I was staying with a family friend, and none of them double-checked. After all, I was pregnant and keeping my grades up, no need to push me to more reckless behavior, I guess," she huffed, bitter and hurt and Hizashi's arm was around her shoulder, pulling her close. Inko leaned against him silently for a few minutes, closing her eyes and tucking her face into his neck, letting his cheek block out the light of the film.

"...I moved to the Shadow Zone as soon as school let out for the summer. And, suddenly, life was looking up, you know? I got a job, I got an apartment, no one looked twice at me after a few days." She sighed softly, slumping her weight fully into his side. "I didn't have to steal nearly as much, and it was just... Safer, in a way. Sure, there were more criminals and some Villains, but the police and Heroes didn't patrol there so often, so us Shadows had our own rules..." She fell silent again, turning her head to watch the movie for a few minutes.

"...The first time I did something that counted as Vigilantism was an accident," she whispered softly. "I was travelling the Roof Road, and there was a fight in an alley. One of the other Shadows was being attacked by some goon that was obviously not from around the area. The Goon was trying to inject him with something, which I later found out was a dose of Docile." Hizashi made a sound, for the first time. A tight hiss, almost a muttered curse, and Inko grimaced in agreement. Docile was a drug that was similar to hypnotism, or a compulsion. It made its users immensely open to suggestion, and was often used as either a Date-Rape Drug or a Trafficking Drug. If your victims were too blank and distant to struggle, after all, you didn't have to work as hard, after all. Hence the name, 'Docile'.

"I knocked the goon out and saved the Shadow," she murmured, "and, after that, it seemed like, like around every corner someone needed help, help I could give, you know? A mugging stopped here, a rape there, a rescue that way, and, suddenly, the media was making noise. And then, police and Heroes were actually paying attention. They hadn't cared as much before, when it was just drug addicts and dregs stumbling about and only bothering one another, but, with the attention on Feather Touch? The sudden attention on someone who was doing their job and being praised for it, while they were being assessed and found wanting?" Inko snorted quietly, tiredly, absently accepting the offered popcorn the Hizashi was holding. It had gone untouched so far, and she needed something to distract herself from the bitterness souring in her throat.

"It used to take almost twenty minutes for police to respond to the Shadow Zone, you know," she informed him quietly, chest aching and blinking away tears as she watched the two Assassins struggle with not letting the other know, or their ridiculously bland neighbors. "Now, it takes maybe ten, and Heroes pop out even faster than that, sometimes. Villains are enforcing the Shadow Rules, making sure that their minions stay in line and not draw attention. All because I stumbled on an attempted kidnapping on accident." She snorted in amusement, blinking away her tears as she did so and stuffing a palmful of over-cooked, over-salted popcorn into her mouth.

"Not much of an Origin Story," she muttered; Hizashi hummed quietly, squeezing her close gently, arm a heavy, comforting weight across her shoulders. They watched the movie in silence for a few minutes, eating their popcorn and drinking their sodas.

"...Before my Quirk came in, my Uncle used to tell my parents that they should drop me off at an orphanage," Hizashi spoke suddenly, voice quiet and calm; Inko stilled, her eyes going wide. "He told them that a Quirkless son would be an embarrassment to the family name, that they should distance themselves from me as quickly as possible. And, before it came in, my parents were actually considering it. I could tell, even back then," he murmured, voice choked and aching, and Inko lifted her hand to her mouth, eyes huge and tears slipping down her cheek in horror and sympathy for the Trainee Hero.

She tasted salt, either from her tears or from her hand, she didn't know, but the sharp tang of it made her throat close up and made her breathing difficult.

"Then, my Uncle tried to throw away my Hero merch," he told her, his voice shifting to something wryly amused, reluctantly pleased. "I remember my chest burning, a spreading ache as I screamed at him, and I gout of flames as long as a couch and hot enough to turn my door to charcoal shot out, just barely missing him. It was so sudden and so strong that I put myself in a minor coma from Quirk exhaustion. Gave myself a fever so high I nearly cooked my brain," he murmured. And Inko could picture it, a tiny, adorable Hizashi red-faced and tear and screaming like upset children did, only a stream of fire shooting, star-bright, from his mouth, like an elemental expression of his distress...

It would be cute if the situation that caused it didn't leave her torn between aggressively cuddling the sweet baby Hero or hunting down his douchebag of an Uncle and destroy him...

"...My parents did a one-eighty," he murmured. "Suddenly, I was all they could talk about. A late-bloomer, with a Quirk so strong and bright and something that could make the Todoroki name proud. It was all I could do to get any breathing space after that. Remedial lessons here, training there, just push, push, pushing until I wanted to scream," he whispered, voice choked and aching and fierce. "It got to the point where throwing myself into self-training, into study and science and biology was the only way to get them to back off. They thought I wanted to be a doctor, to become kinda surgeon and bring prestige back with me, so they encouraged my study of Quirk Biology. I, ah," Inko blinked, a small smile curling her lips as she felt the bright red blush that started heating his ears and neck. "I lied about what school exam I was going to, when I went to U.A... I had them drop me off almost three hours early, walked through a strange school and slipped out the back and just booked it. Three train rides and a sprint later, and I barely made it to U.A. in time to take the exam. And, and I passed." He whispered it with a sort of awed glee, a proud joy that had Inko shifting her body and reaching over to curl her fingers into his free hand holding the popcorn.

"You're going to be an amazing Hero, Hizashi-Kun," she murmured to him quietly, earnestly; Hizashi turned his head and pressed his mouth to her forehead.

"And you're going to be an amazing mother, Inko-Chan," he whispered against her skin, and Inko flushed, ducking her head and hiding her face in his neck.

The rest of the movie was spent curled against one another, slowly eating popcorn and holding hands. It was... Frankly the first actual date Inko had ever been on, but it was so comfortable. The conversations they'd had, the secrets shared, feelings usually locked up so simply expressed... It left the air strangely free, took a weight off her chest and shoulders that she hadn't felt clearly before, and made what they were experiencing together feel so real...

"Hey, Hizashi-Kun?" She murmured as the end of the movie approached; he hummed quietly.

"Yes, Inko-Chan?" She sighed softly, happily into his neck as he squeezed her gently to him.

"I think Hellcat would be a good Hero name for you," she murmured to him softly. "It's playful and strong and will make others underestimate you... And you make a cute neko," she teased softly, leaning up and pressing a kiss to his cheek, grinning brightly as he immediately blushed, just in time for the theatre lights to come back on exposing his bright red face to her giggling amusement.

"Inko-Chaaaaan," he whined, free hand lifting to try and cover his face, but Inko, still laughing, used her own free hand to try and stop him, making the boy squawk indignantly as they wrestled gently back and forth, laughter rising as Inko ended up sprawled over him, his legs automatically cradling her to keep her stomach from bumping into anything as she boldly pressed butterfly kisses to his bright red cheeks, making him squeak and laugh, trying to push her away (for a certain view of 'trying'. Really, he was just flailing dramatically as he grinned brightly at her).

All in all, when they were finally hustled out under the tired-but-amused eyes of the theatre employees, the two of them were pink-cheeks and grinning like idiots, cuddled against one another as they left.

It was, as first dates go, a rousing success, and they were already planning for more.

A/N: Here you go, some cuteness and some minor angst and a reminder that adorable boys exist and need to be cherished, and that, as the title states, communication is key to a healthy relationship.

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