Aoyama Yuga, former hero name 'Can't Stop Twinkling', was a classmate and friend of ours during our first year in U.A. He was always a unique character – outlandishly flashy and a try-hard in impressing others… even though his vain tendencies and gaudy appearance repelled more than attracted his classmates' attentions. Underneath all that unnecessary glam, however, was a selfless and appealing human being that cherished the camaraderie of his friends. And underneath all that 'perfect' bravado, was also a frail and worrisome coward. Despite being accepted into the Hero Course with a notably destructive Quirk, the laser-navel'd hero always shrunk into a timid creature whenever he was faced with danger.
If someone told us during our first year in U.A. that, in the future, Aoyama would give up his chance in becoming a Pro Hero – we wouldn't have been surprised at all. If that same someone told us that instead he would be running his own Hero Agency – we would have been a little confused, but believed the idea anyways. If, however, they told us that we'd become Pro Heroes that worked under his disco-ball-roofed Agency – we would have thought that this 'someone' was just an insane and terrible comedian.
And yet, four years into the future, here we are – Pro Heroes that are employed under the world-famous Sparkling Agency – managed by the infamous Aoyama Yuga of our former class 1-A.

Truth be told, this Agency is only 'world-famous' because Deku, Uravity, and I are its MVPs. Our reputations alone would be enough to put any small Agency on the world map. That's not bragging – that's a fact. And that statement isn't a jab at the other heroes who work with us in this Agency – of course not. They're all talented heroes with amazing potentials! It's just that…
Well… Frankly put, the other heroes are very-literally here 'just for looks'.
Costumes, Quirks, hero names, personality, even the décor of the Agency's lobby and few facilities, all inwardly-emphasized and outwardly-advertised their inherent or obtained 'sparklabilities' more than anything else. That's not to say that the heroes of this Agency, or its things, didn't serve a function beyond 'standing out' – they just placed the trait of 'standing out' on an equal pedestal as their functional purposes.
Only by our own stand-out reputations within Quirk magazines and online popularity polls, did Deku, Uravity, and I fit in with the rest of this place. In all else, especially in looks… we stood out like muddy rocks in a polished marble collection.
Had Aoyama forced us to don similarly blinding costumes and names as his other heroes, I'm not sure we would have stayed. Out of respect for the friendship and camaraderie we had as former classmates, he allowed us to keep our single-word names and dull-colored costumes. He even custom-ordered unornamented support items for us. No random shining studs or reflective glitters graced our 'dimming' features. It did hurt the oddly-specific, target demographic of his Agency, but he put up with it.
And the only thing he required in return for this fashion-travesty – was for us to continue being his friend.
If we hadn't joined this Agency for our own, personal reasons, that simple and sweet requirement would have won us over. I mean, we would have remained Aoyama's friend either way, but the condition he gave had more depth to it than that. Rather than simply requiring us to be his friends, I think what Aoyama sought most out of us was a familiar friend. Running your own Agency can be stressful and isolating… so knowing that a familiar face will always be there to greet you every working day – it must be a great comfort.
The employer, director, manager, and supervisor of our first Agency outside of graduation, hired us simply because he didn't want to be left alone.
Our own reason for joining the Sparkling Agency, however, is far more personal – and not-so-simple to summarize. And that reason revolved around a decision Deku and I made for the sake of our dear friend, Uravity.

As normal, everyday civilians, Midoriya Izuku and Midoriya Tsuyu are a young, loving, married couple. While Uraraka Ochaco is a friendly, respectful, single woman. Similar labels are attached to them even when they're members of a hero trio – with Deku and Hoplight as the inseparable husband and wife duo, and Uravity standing beside them as their cheerful ally.
From all possible viewpoints of this team of three, there was always a painfully obvious standout among them. Uraraka/Uravity was seen as the tag-along or drag-along friend of a recently-married couple. And in a non-gossip-mongering interpretation of this awkward relationship, most people assumed that the trio only stuck together out of respect for their old friendships. Otherwise, one of them would have left out of embarrassment – or would have been kicked out for intimacy's sake.
But… this analysis isn't quite correct.
Even the scandalous rumor-mill version, where Uravity is a secret mistress of Deku's, though closer to the reality of the situation – fails to grasp the real truth between them.
No, those ideas would be easier to express around others… The real truth is much stranger, and much more awkward than fiction.

The actual truth behind this strange and awkward arrangement is that…
Uraraka Ochaco is in love with my husband, Midoriya Izuku. But she's no one's lover.
And I, Midoriya Tsuyu, am undeniably aware of this fact. I had even supported it.

Those facts alone would cause tabloid magazines to explode in sales, if the reporters ever caught wind. And the fact that the world-famous Deku and his wife Hoplight have done nothing in response to this knowledge – would destroy the respects that anyone held for either of them. Worse yet, Uravity would be treated as a pariah by her peers, and even by those she rescues.
However, no one in the public knows about her attraction to my husband. And if things went as they should: no one would ever have to know.
But for Uraraka, who had kept these feelings bottled up for three years and still hadn't let them go… Someone had to know. And she had to be able to express it, openly, eventually. For the sake of her emotional stability – she had to be honest with others. For the sake of her sanity – she had to be honest with herself.

Over a year ago, while Izuku and I were still engaged as fiancé and fiancée, Ochaco confessed these feelings to me in private… Out of respect for being her crush's soon-to-be wife, and for being her best and closest friend – I had to be the first one she told this to. And if I wouldn't accept it: then I would have been the last to know.
Spending those three years with her, talking and chatting with her about Izuku whenever he wasn't around, having her confide in me about 'this friend of hers liking someone who was already taken' multiple times – the 'surprising' news really wasn't much of a surprise for me. The only astonishing thing about the confession, was that she made it perfectly clear to me that she had no intention of getting between us, before, during, or after the wedding – she had no plans at all to try to win him over, nor any plans to abandon these emotions. All she wanted, was for her to be able to be completely honest with me.
Though it would have been terribly abnormal for anyone to accept this situation: I respected and accepted her confession, and held nothing against her for it. If her intentions and promises were true – then there was no harm in her attraction towards my soon-to-be husband. And at the very least: these feelings would finally be out in the open, and not held quietly behind my back. As my best friend and confidant, I completely empathized with Ochaco in her feelings, and trusted her to keep her word.

With my strong encouragement, Izuku became the second person she confessed this to. I didn't want any secrets held from my fiancé – and I wanted my best girl-friend to be able to say whatever she wanted to say, whenever she wanted to say it, around either of us. So whether or not this made him uncomfortable: I needed him to hear out her years-long-protected confession.
He didn't take it so well. Flip-flopping between his attempts to either reject or run away from her, Izuku had tried his best to show his loyalty towards me as my husband-to-be – blocking out all possible distractions and temptations from other women, even if it came from a dear friend of his. But this earnestness only made things worse for him, as Ochaco stated, on several occasions, that her feelings 'would remain the same even if she was rejected, even if he ran away from her', and that she 'loved him for his unwavering loyalty' towards me.
After about ten cycles of this futile run-and-chase, Izuku finally gave in and accepted her feelings for what they were. It was an awkward and uneasy acceptance, but it still counted as an acceptance. Ochaco genuinely loved Izuku, and he quickly learned that he couldn't change that – he could only make it stronger, more obsessive, by turning it away. Because he still cared for her greatly as a friend, and he couldn't stand breaking her heart nearly every day, he surrendered his walled-off hesitations, and let her love him.

The third to find out about all this… was Aoyama Yuga.
During one of her chasing confessions, Ochaco had blurted out her feelings in full force towards Deku. And it took both her and Deku a full minute to notice that Aoyama had been standing beside them in the recently locked room. By the time they had noticed, it was already too late for them to 'clear the misunderstanding'.
As odd as it was for a sparkling-costumed boy to remain hidden in a dark-colored room, nothing could be odder than when the same attention-loving boy admitted that he would tell no one of what he'd heard in there. Now and again after the incident, he'd give each of us knowing glances – whether this was done in jest or encouragement, none of us knew. Yet outside of that, he was true to his word and he never told a soul.
And so, without any one of us intending this turn of events, Aoyama Yuga had become a part of this confusing, hard-to-explain secret.

After these confessions, Uraraka became much more cheerful and spunky in her attitude, on and off-duty. She was always a lovable heroine in the public's eyes, but the new change vastly boosted her rank in the heroine popularity polls. In private, in front of only me and Deku, she had become far more fun-loving and teasing. It made her even easier to talk with – which I didn't know was possible – and turned her into a serial joker. Seeing her that way, grinning and laughing without any reservation around us, made me see just how much of a burden those locked-up feelings were for her. It was as if the old Uraraka was suffering from malnourishment in comparison to how she flourished that day. Any feelings of uncertainty I held against her and my husband getting closer with each talk, seemed to vanish in the instants I heard her joking with us and cheering us on.
I really liked this new Uraraka… No, when I thought over it seriously: I loved her.
She had been my best, and closest female friend for years – but after the confession, she was more akin to a very close blood relative. I could no longer see a perfect, happy family life with Deku, without having Uraraka beside us. And though it was uncomfortable knowing that she was only like this because she loved my husband as much as I did… I didn't want her to change that. The fact that she loved him made her closer to me than any best, female friend I've ever had. In a way, in my desire to keep her as she was – I wanted her to love my husband, always.
And out of that want, and for reasons my husband held himself, the two of us requested to join Aoyama's Hero Agency, and invited Ochaco to join us. We were welcomed in without hesitation. And it was here, within the walls of the only place in the world that knew about our taboo relationship, Ochaco could continue being herself without holding back – and Deku and I wouldn't find ourselves worried over what other people thought about her, the two of us, or the three of us.
In many ways, the three of us owed Aoyama for his friendship. Without him and his Agency accepting us in, we would have felt utterly burdened during our debut as heroes. Out there in the world of Hero Agencies, Associations, and freelancing, there's always a constant pressure to conform to the public's views of you. If we were to struggle against those expectations on a daily work basis, just to protect, and keep pure, the bond that was shared between us – then there's a strong chance that one of us would have buckled under the pressure, and the Uraraka Ochaco I knew and loved would have disappeared entirely.
I didn't want that.
Deku didn't want that.
And of course Ochaco didn't want that.

"Deku-Deku! What did you write in A-3?"

"A-3? Oh, whoops! I totally missed that one. AAH! I have to start all over again!"

"You gotta' pay attention, silly Deku-Deku."

"What's with the 'Deku-Deku' now?"

"You don't like it, Deku-Deku?"

"Until today, you've been calling me 'honey'. It took me forever to get used to that…"

"You wanna' always be known as 'honey', Deku-Deku?"

"GAH! Stop calling him 'Deku-Deku'! You're going to make me start saying it!" I yell with annoyed frustration, "You already got me calling him 'Deku' all the time now!"

"It's his hero name, yanno. Childhood name, too."

"Well, he's not a hero or a child right now. He's off-the-clock Izuku, who needs to fill out his big-boy forms before tomorrow." I grumble as I close a window on my laptop's screen and open another. I finished my online forms hours ago. "And you shouldn't be copying his notes, Choco. Just type down the villains you remember fighting."

Ochaco pouts at me from behind the couch. "How come I can't call him 'Deku-Deku', but you can call me 'Choco'?"

"Because you keep eating all the chocolates in the fridge."

"One time! And I said I was sorry!"

"Actually it was two times." Dek– I mean, Izuku says, "It was two times this month, and two times last month."

"You're a two-times!" Choco exclaims as she tosses a book at him. She misses completely. "Er… Two-timer. Two-timeser? Ah whatever, you get what I mean." she misses with the joke as well.

Before he could retaliate with a tease, Izuku looks over at the empty seat next to me. "Oh! Ochacolate, your phone is ringing."

"Don't call me that, Deku-Deku!" she huffs as she pretends to throw another book at him. Dissatisfied at his non-reaction, she stands up to peek over the couch. Her eyes quickly spot the vibrating phone… then her throat lets out a long, hoarse groan. She sinks back to the floor.

I look by my lap and find out the reason for her groaning. "You better answer it." I tell her as I dangle the phone over her head.

"I don't wanna'!" Choco whines cutely.

"I promised him that I'd make you."

"You shouldn't promise him anything. I don't wanna' talk to 'im."

"Would you rather he stalk you on our next mission?"

Ochaco growls and snatches the phone from my hand. "Fine! But don't be gettin' upset if you hear me yelling." She shoves herself into one of the private reading nooks and closes the door behind her.

I doubt I'd be upset if I heard her yelling – I expect her to yell. If anything, I'd be surprised if I heard her at all. The door has a large glass window and a flimsy lock, but it's still designed for complete sound-proofing. And considering that it was advertised to 'have full-protection against eavesdropping Quirks', I'd imagine she'd have to be as loud as Present Mic for me to hear anything.
Watching her plunge into an XL-sized foam cushion, surrounded by three medium-height, filled-to-the-brim bookshelves, and bathing herself in the bright moonlight provided by a large, angular window – I'm visually reminded just how luxurious this lounge area is. The fancy reading nooks, with their bookshelves and foam cushions, alongside their convenient soundproof doors – aren't ours. The white and silver lounge room that they were attached to, and where we've made ourselves comfortable in – also isn't ours. All of these are a set labeled as the 'Reading Room', and it's one of three rec rooms located inside the Sparkling Agency.
After mission days are done, and sometimes before they begin, the three of us spend our recreation time in the Reading Room, goofing off and chatting within one of its many snug corners. In the Agency, with its lobby, three rec rooms, and two facilities, there's plenty of room for us to roam around, plenty of things for us to do, and plenty of people to speak with, compared to our medium-sized apartment just down the street. Considering that we can be just as honest about our relationship in here as we are in the privacy of our apartment – we'd rather camp ourselves in this place during our breaks times and break days, and only go back to the apartment when we've exhausted ourselves.
The only thing our apartment excels in, compared to this place, is in its complete privacy. This is an Agency-owned rec room, after all – so any of the heroes that are employed under Aoyama are free to roam and relax in it as much as we do. Not that having someone walk in on us is a threat, since everyone in this Agency is familiar with our odd arrangement – we just don't want to disturb others with our chronic rowdiness. And it's not as if we've ever been walked in on by anyone in this Agency, heroes or otherwise… because literally no one else uses this room but us.
Most of the other heroes here like to spend their time relaxing in the fashion studio, spa room, or exercise room. Some even prefer to sip tea all day in the tea room. Reading in, and lounging around, a small, secluded library isn't as appealing to people who love to stand out, I guess.
I wonder why Aoyama decided to facilitate this room then.

Whatever the case is, Ochaco, Izuku, and I love to spend our time in the Reading Room. We call it our 'base of non-operations', and it's our home away from home.
I lean back into 'my' leather couch and feel its smooth surface cool my skin. Across from me, seated in a loveseat by himself, is the love of my life and husband – his narrowed eyes showing complete concentration over his work. To my left, kicking her feet in annoyance as she sinks deeper into her cushion, is my best friend – speaking to someone she'd really rather avoid, but speaking with them anyways for my sake. All around me is the soft-volumed melody of a classical song, a calming feature meant to encourage an intellectual atmosphere for its few listeners.
Taking this all in and recognizing that this was now my life, I let out a long, quiet, contented sigh.

This is nice.