Three Orchids

by HerHeartMadeFullmetal

A Winter Formal is announced for Class 3A. Yaoyorozu, Bakugo, Kirishima, and Shinso find themselves realizing, with only months left at UA and the prospect of their class being scattered all over the country after graduation, that time is short. With mid-terms looming and interference from their peers, can they gather up their resolve to let their true hearts be known?

20. Part 3 - Chapters 82 - 83

Chapter 82: Love Will Come To You

Greetings! I apologize for the long hiatus. I had two major life events happen in 2022 (good ones, but still very stressful and time-consuming) that really stymied my ability to write or want to write. Things have calmed down now, and I am glad I am back to writing. I hope you enjoy this 24K word update spread over two chapters 😊

Marise Yaoyorozu

Marise finally had a break between meetings to close his eyes for a minute and rest. He only went into Tokyo twice a week during the months when he and Hiroko went to their "Winter" Estate. He was able to work most days remotely at home during this time of year, but the times he did go into his office, his day would basically be filled with back-to-back meetings.

The Yaoyorozu Family ran one of the first businesses that began to manufacture support items for people with quirks that affected their everyday living so they could improve their quality of life. What started out as one small store with very limited items built by his great-grandfather had grown into an empire. They had stores all through Japan and in other parts of Asia and they exported items globally. Their brand was always on the cutting edge as far as high-tech merchandise. Even their family's quirks were related to creating objects. His grandfather could create simple, small objects made of metal, from his body, emerging from his hands. He mainly created tools for their business. Marise could create any object he knew the molecular makeup of, Momo had inherited his quirk, but on a much larger scale. Marise could only make objects the size of his hand.

His parents had pushed him into marrying his wife, Hiroko, when he was eighteen. She came from a wealthy, established family, but she also had an invaluable quirk in Marise's parents' eyes. She could create vaporous clouds of immense size. This quirk wasn't useful on its own when it came to the family business, but paired with Marise's quirk his parents could see the possibilities. That one of their children could possibly have a creation quirk like Marise's but without any sort of limit on size if Hiroko's quirk came into play.

So they dated while Marise earned his business degree. By nineteen, he married Hiroko, who was 18 at the time. By the time Hiroko was twenty-one, Momo was born. Four years later, Momo's quirk awakened and it had been the perfect combination of both their quirks that the Yaoyorozus had hoped for.

As Marise closed his eyes and let his mind wander, he thought about this history of his family and then his mind went to Momo, Katsuki Bakugou, and the disastrous dinner at the hands of his wife that had played out the week before. Bakugou had pleasantly surprised him. The conversation they had had before Bakugou had become drunk was general enough and had made Marise feel neutral toward him. He knew from his hero accomplishments Bakugou would end up one of the top heroes, probably right out of high school. At dinner, he learned that he also was knowledgeable of the business end of hero agency work and that Best Jeanists' Agency had seen better numbers since taking Bakugou on. Marise knew through the conversation that even though Bakugou was an introverted, intense, and uncouth young man, he would be successful in the years ahead. He was also hard-working and serious he assumed because of how far he had come and Marise knew he was intelligent due to coming out on the top spot in the exams mere months before, finally besting his daughter.

Bakugou had a commanding presence upon finally meeting him in person, much like Endeavor, and seemed more pleasant in real life versus on-screen through the news, although pleasant may have been too enthusiastic a word. His face was still harsh, his countenance distracted and rude, and he wasn't handsome like so many other young men his age at UA, specifically Shouto Todoroki and Tenya Iida. Two young men who seemingly had it all (hailing from wealthy and prestigious families, strong quirk stock, intelligence, good natured-ness, strong Pro-heroes in training, good looking, and knew how to carry themselves in high society) and that had purposefully been forced friends to Momo for obvious reasons.

But what had stood out to Marise was Bakugou the next morning. The subtle glances he had given to Momo. Bakugou had been watching her intently. He had been trying to read her. He had not said more than a few words during the breakfast, but his attention was taken up fully by Momo. He had refilled her beverage twice with the carafe between them before the valet could get to it. Momo had not touched her food much, but the two items she had eaten, plain rice and seared tuna, Bakugou had dished additional amounts of those to her when the valet had come around with the serving dishes. She had eaten what he had dished out absentmindedly. He thought Bakugou would be loud, brazen, obnoxious, and self-centered from his impressions of him over the last three years via news coverage and that Momo was interested in him due to some rebelliousness against him and his wife perhaps. But upon meeting him he realized the young man had much in common with his daughter: serious, hard-working, and focused on being the best hero he could be. And that there was something going on beyond just a superficial relationship. And Marise wasn't ready for that. Not with his little girl. As much as Bakugou's actions had surprised him, he had also been moved by his daughter's behavior toward the young man. The way Momo had stood up for him. The way Momo had tended to him when he was ill. The way she had worried to be away from him during the night when he was sick. The way she looked at him. Marise felt nauseous.

He was suddenly pulled out of his own thoughts by yelling that could be heard outside his office. He could hear the bellowing of a belligerent man but also his secretary's voice shrill and loud. The bickering was becoming louder and louder as they neared his office door.

Suddenly the door to his office burst open causing Marise to stand up at his desk in surprise. In marched Katsuki Bakugou.

"I only need a few minutes!" he yelled behind him at Marise's secretary, Takagi, who was shrieking at the young hero, running in after him.

"I told you, you have to make an appointment!" Her face was red and puffed up with anger and her hair which was normally in a pristinely coifed bun was disheveled as she glared at Bakugou. Marise's eyes alighted on Bakugou; he was wearing his hero costume and his clothing looked a bit worse for the wear, dirty and torn in places as if he had decided to drop in after a battle on the streets.

"I only need a few minutes," Bakugou replied again, staring at Marise, his voice more calm although his volume and tone were irritated. He was addressing Marise this time so his countenance had shifted slightly.

Marise looked at his secretary. "Takagi. Please give us a few minutes."

Takagi, whose expression had been smug when Marise had called her name, now morphed into one of shock, her jaw dropping. "Sir, you are to meet with the Morita Firm in a few minutes, they actually just arrived-"

"A few minutes, Takagi," Marise repeated sternly, interrupting her. She glared at Bakugou and the young man snickered as he watched her leave, his upper lip curled in a sneer. She slammed the door behind her. Marise sighed. His secretary was a hard worker and was very defensive when it came to Marise's time. But she had a temper and was a bit of a control freak. Traits that also made her a great secretary no doubt.

Marise had no idea what Bakugou wanted, but since they had talked about hero agency numbers the week before, perhaps it had something to do with that. Marise had a lot of information most hero agencies didn't have. Statistics for pretty much all the hero agencies in Japan since he supplied supplemental equipment to almost all of them. He could only discuss the unclassified stats of course.

They both bowed to each other and then Marise motioned at the chair in front of his desk as he took a seat.

Bakugou shook his head. "I'm…. filthy. I don't want to ruin your furniture. I'm guessing it's not cheap."

"You would be guessing correctly. But I can have it cleaned." Marise smiled at him. Bakugou's expression was stern and serious. Was Bakugou being considerate, not sitting so he wouldn't sully his luxurious armchair? Marise thought. That was strange. Or maybe he was just trying to impress Marise with manners but that inclination fit the young man even less. He didn't seem like he cared about false pretenses or putting on airs.

"I'll stand, it's fine."

Marise nodded at him. "What can I help you with Dynamight?" He called him by his hero name since he was in uniform, adhering to common manners and propriety.

Bakugou took several seconds before he answered, his serious expression never changing. "I need to ask for your blessing."

Marise felt the blood drain from his face and held his breath. His heart knew exactly what Bakugou meant yet somehow his brain needed clarification. "Bakugou…" Marise couldn't form the words but he had to ask. Japan's most shrewd and cunning businessmen, CEOs of some of the biggest, most successful companies in the country, some in the world, regularly sat before him and he was prepared for whatever they had to volley at him. Marise rarely was thrown off his game. And never by "field employees" which was what they labeled Pro-Heroes. It was an improvement from "guinea pigs" which was what his father called them seeing as many of them wore the newest Yaoyorozu products out in the streets. This always disgusted Marise, and honestly "field employee" wasn't much better. But here was Marise, shaken to his core and made speechless by a Pro-hero. Correction. Pro-hero in training.

Bakugou's eye twitched. Before Marise's mouth caught up to his brain, the young man spoke again.

"Momo doesn't need your blessing of course. She is someone who will do what she wants and won't be bullied into any situation she doesn't want to pursue herself. I'm sure you know that though." His voice was even, but his tone was still serious. There was a definitive edge to it that Marise thought was inappropriate for one so young. Arrogant. But he wasn't wrong.

"Then if that is the case, why do you ask for my blessing for her hand?" Marise's logical side caught up with his sentimental side, the flush of intense emotion he felt moments before replaced with cold intellect. He was Marise Yaoyorozu once more, CEO and head innovator of Yaoyorozu Tech, not Momo's blind-sighted father.

"Because as much as she is her own person, she is traditional. So I ask you only so I can honor her."

Several moments passed and Marise even surprised himself by his first reaction to the statement. He began to laugh. Bakugou's expression never changed, but Marise couldn't help himself with what he thought was such an inappropriate response. He had always imagined Shouto Todoroki or Tenya Iida asking this very question in the near future. A beautiful dream because of the union of powerful families and even more powerful businesses would also be formed. Although after last week's revelations, he knew that was no longer a possibility. He laughed even louder, yet Bakugou's stern face never faltered. It was absurd to him, but he realized at that moment that this young man was who Momo wanted. Who she was in love with. He had never even considered that. For himself, for his own child. How absolutely wretched. "Forgive an old man…" Marise wheezed out. Bakugou's face, like a mask, was unchanged. "I just have to laugh because if I didn't, I think I would weep. Weep for all this ridiculous quirk marriage business. Old families. Old money. Perhaps it needs to stay old." His laughing began to die down and he sighed. "I want more for my daughter. I want her happiness above all."

Bakugou's lips became a thin line and he nodded as if to agree or approve. The young man suddenly moved around the armchairs in front of Marise's desk and stood in the empty space next to Marise on his side of the desk. Bakugou then dropped to his knees, bringing his arms and head down to the floor, assuming the dogeza posture. Marise's jovial attitude was suddenly forgotten by the gesture. He froze in shock, again by the actions of Bakugou. He thought back to his wife the week before. She had done the same pose when asking for Bakugou's forgiveness. It was the highest form of giving someone respect.

This was the most traditional way to ask a man for his daughter's hand in marriage. It had gone out of vogue with the younger generations, but he remembered asking for Hiroko's hand in the same fashion. "May I marry your daughter?" Bakugou's words were muffled and low but shook with emotion. Marise swallowed and leaned back in his chair. His eyes moved across his desk and fell on pictures of Momo. Two pictures in black matching frames. One was her first day of kindergarten. The other was taken at the hero gala last summer. Marise remembered she and Bakugou had danced the first dance together as UA's top students. He now wondered if the two were in love, even then. It was a type of love Marise had never experienced because his marriage was not one of love, but convenience. But he could at least recognize love due to the paternal love he felt for his daughter. Since the day she was born. Momo was in love with the walking explosive enigma that was Katsuki Bakugou, who reverently bowed before him. Completely out of character for the young man, but because of that, actually meant so much more.

"If she will have you, you have my blessing." Marise felt the words escape his lips before he knew he was speaking. Bakugou slowly stood up, his face still absent of any humor. He bowed to Marise and walked out the door. Marise grinned again, shaking his head in disbelief, but also he could not deny the mental picture that popped into his head of his wife's reaction when the engagement would be announced. She would be furious. Marise let out another bellowing laugh. He couldn't wait to see it.

A Wild Sero Appears!

Sero

Three weeks left of school. Three weeks until they would graduate and be Pros in the "real world." Sero and a couple of the guys in 3A decided after last hour they would head to Gym Gamma for some additional training. Bakugou cleared it with Cementoss during gym, so Bakugo, Kaminari, Mineta, and Sero headed towards homeroom when the bell rang to grab their hero digs. Their practical exam was next week and so far they had not heard anything about what would be happening so their class was a bit on edge and desperate to continue to train and blow off some steam to calm their nerves.

"Has anyone checked with past alumni to see what the last practicals for third years have been?" Kaminari asked as they walked down the main school building hallway.

"Kirishima talked to Amajiki at work study a couple of days ago. Last year they had a mock disaster at the USJ, similar to what we had our first year," Bakugou replied.

"Ah great. Yeah, that's not gonna cause serious PTSD for half our class…." Mineta exclaimed.

"Dude, with that mindset every place we go we should be having PTSD if you consider our whole first year and pretty much most of second," Sero laughed.

"You guys quit being babies about it, shit…." Bakugou grumbled under his breath.

"You're in a mood. Thought you'd be excited to do some training, Bakugou," Sero said in a taunting tone.

"He's just pissy because Momo's been in Esuha City since Wednesday. Can't let off steam with her so guess this is the second best thing," Mineta said. Bakugou snapped his head towards Mineta, growled, and reached a hand out to grab Mineta's backpack. Mineta was too quick and ran ahead of their group laughing.

"Yeah, you better run you little shit," Bakugou said under his breath as he continued to walk at a steady pace.

"I'm surprised you didn't kill him saying shit like that about Momo," Sero said more seriously than he intended.

"Yeah, you've mellowed quite a bit Bakugou. Better watch it, you don't want to get TOO soft," Kaminari remarked with a grin.

"Hey, fuck you Pikachu," Bakugou said. Sero noticed he had seemed very distracted the last couple of weeks, even when Momo was around. It was weird. "And fuck you Post It Note," Bakugou replied in an unusually even tone like he was talking about the weather, almost like an afterthought. He was looking down the hall but wasn't focused on anything.

Sero glanced over at Kaminari and Kaminari shrugged at a loss. As the three of them caught up to Mineta, they caught him slamming the homeroom door behind him, his eyes wide and bewildered, like he had seen a ghost. Or maybe a high-end Nomu, much more likely.

"What's up, Mineta?" Kaminari asked.

"Oh my gawd, my eyes!" Mineta cried melodramatically.

"Let me guess, you walked in on Shinsou and Kirishima making out?" Sero laughed. "I'm still traumatized, I mean I can't even go into the gaming closet now, talk about PTSD."

"What the hell, man?" Kirishima's voice sounded behind them.

"Oh, hey Kirishima, didn't know you were gonna train with us," Kaminari said.

"That was months ago and it only happened once," Kirishima said to Sero. He turned towards Kaminari and added, still highly annoyed. "I got Bakugou's text about meeting up, I just got back from Esuha City."

Mineta didn't make eye contact with any of them and immediately walked down the hall toward the exit as fast as his short legs could carry him.

"Well, whoever was doing whatever in Homeroom's gonna be coming out soon due to Mineta catching them probably. I say we walk down the hall a bit so it looks like we weren't right behind Mineta and didn't see him freaking out," Sero said.

"I don't have time for this shit, I don't care who's in there, I want to get my stuff and hit the damn gym." Bakugou stepped to the door but before he grabbed the handle to open it, the door swung outward. Ahane-sensei stepped out of the room, followed by Aizawa-sensei. All four of the boys froze.

"Oh, hey guys!" Ahane-sensei said. She looked a bit flustered and Sero couldn't help but notice the buttons on her blouse were mismatched, having skipped a button. He didn't dare make eye contact with Aizawa-sensei. He valued his life. "N-Need anything from homeroom?" she asked.

Kirishima was the only one brave enough to look her in the eye. "Yeah, we um just needed our hero costumes. We're gonna squeeze in some training in Gym Gamma before dinner, sensei."

"Of course, well. You guys go right ahead. We were just um, doing some grading, yeah. Eraser and I. But I left the papers in the classroom. You know me… I'll just drop them all anyway on the way to um…"

"Ahane. We should go." Aizawa's voice was low and unaffected. As always.

"Yes! Of course!" Aizawa started to walk down the hall, hands in his pockets. "Well, you guys be careful!" Ahane said as she walked away behind Aizawa-sensei.

They listened to the two teacher's footsteps recede down the hallway and heard the doors shut as they exited the building.

"Go Aizawa," Kaminari said quietly with a laugh.

"No way. I don't believe that for a second. Like how?" Sero said as serious as a heart attack.

"I think it's kinda nice. I mean, even old people deserve love you know," Kirishima said.

A voice came from behind them and Sero and Kaminari jumped in surprise. "That's been going on for months," sounded the deep voice of Shinsou who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh, hey babe!" Kirishima said as Shinsou wrapped his arms around him to give him a hug.

"PDA, come on guys," Sero whined.

"That's been going on for a while? Why didn't you tell me?" Kirishima asked.

"Because you can't keep secrets worth a damn," Bakugou blurted out.

"Exactly," Shinsou said with a wry smile.

Kirishima shot them both dirty looks.

"Well the only ones worse than Kirishima are Mina, then Kaminari about blabbing so I'm pretty sure everyone on campus will know by the end of the day," Sero offered up as the group entered homeroom to grab their hero costumes.

"Hey!" Kaminari called out.

/

Bakugou, Shinsou, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero all had a great training session in Gym Gamma. Every time Sero thought he had made some great strides in his hero repertoire, all it would take is a session with his fellow 3A classmates to take his pride down a notch. He had to remind himself they were going to also improve over time.

The guys hit the showers at the gym and then returned to the dorm just in time for dinner. It was a typical Monday evening, it was Asui and Shouji's turn to cook dinner, and rich smells of teriyaki and grilled tuna filled the air as Sero piled his plate with food and a lot of rice. Mina's eyes went wide when she saw his plate.

He grinned at her. "Carb loading, me and a couple of the guys hit the gym earlier for some training." Mina nodded at him approvingly. After dinner, many of the students settled in the living room to start on schoolwork. Sero realized finals were in two weeks as he pulled his Calculus book out of his backpack. The last semester had gone by too fast. Before he could let any feelings begin to grow about the fact he would be living somewhere else completely different in three short weeks, away from the class he had grown close to the last three years, he cleared his throat and pushed those thoughts away.

Sero had sat on the opposite end of the couch from Bakugou. As he settled back in the comfy sofa cushions with his textbook and notebook, he couldn't help to look over at Bakugou as a loud "thump" sounded from his direction. Bakugou was deeply engrossed in his English textbook, resting the book on his knee and holding it with his left hand, but his right hand was tossing one of his hand grenades at the rounded edge of the coffee table and catching it with his right hand as it ricocheted back to him. Without taking his eyes off his book. It was an almost absentminded gesture like someone tapping their foot or flicking a pencil against a tabletop. But Sero knew what those grenades were capable of and he felt an impending sense of doom settle in his stomach as Bakugou repeated the careless action. Again. And again. He glanced over and noticed Kaminari and Kyoka on the other couch, Kyoka was reading a book, but Kaminari met Sero's gaze and he looked as uneasy as Sero felt. Mina was laying on the floor atop some floor pillows near Kaminari, but she seemed too caught up in studying with Toru, who sat next to her, to notice Bakugou.

Kaminari gave Sero a wide-eyed look and nodded toward Bakugou like he wanted Sero to stop Bakugou. "You do it," Sero mouthed soundlessly to Kaminari.

Kaminari shook his head and mouthed back, "No way."

Sero sighed. Sure, Bakugou had mellowed a lot over the last two years and even more so when he and Momo started to date. But Bakugou had been pretty irritable as of late and the last thing Sero wanted to do was poke a stick at a humming hornet's nest. He closed his eyes and winced trying to decide what to do. Thump. Thump. Thump. The fucker's gonna blow us all up! Sero thought, his anger overtaking his trepidation.

He opened his eyes and glared at Bakugou. "Hey, maybe you shouldn't be doing that in the dorm," Sero stated plainly but there was an edge of annoyance to it.

It took Bakugou a couple of seconds to realize Sero was addressing him. He looked over. "What?"

"Quit playing around with the grenade, man. You want to blow us all up?"

Bakugou's red eyes focused back on his book. "Mind your own fuckin' business," he mumbled.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Sero shot a length of tape over at the grenade, catching it in mid-flight, and retracted it back towards him, grabbing it with his left hand. Bakugou growled and launched himself towards Sero, his books flying off his lap and dropping to the floor. Sero was a step ahead of Bakugou, his tape already adhering to the opposite wall and his body whisking by Bakugou before he could grab him. Sero repeated the actions back and forth between the walls of the dorm living area but he knew Bakugou would catch him eventually so he decided to see if he could recruit some help. Tsu and Tokoyami had just walked into the area.

"Tsu! A little help!" Tsu's eyes flicked around the room in a millisecond taking everything in and she shook her head but stood there as if waiting to see how things unfolded. Tsu was the least biased person in the class and wouldn't get involved with something as mindless as roughhousing, but would interfere if things went south fast. Dammit, Sero thought. Kaminari watched the happenings from the couch with a huge grin on his face. Kyoka however looked highly annoyed. Sero finally felt Bakugou grab him by the back of his shirt and he knew the game of cat and mouse was over. Bakugou slammed him against the wall and grabbed him by the front of the shirt to hold him in place. He glanced at Sero's hands which were empty and then he glared at Sero with such fiery hatred Sero had no idea what he would do next. He had not seen that look on Bakugou's face in the last year.

"Where is it!?" he raged in Sero's face.

"Let go of me and I'll give it back!" Sero yelled back.

"Tell me where it is or I'll kill you!" Spittle flew from Bakugou's mouth as he bellowed the words. He brought his other hand back and it began to spark.

"Shit…" Sero breathed out a bit in shock that Bakugou was going to take it this far, he didn't think he would.

He watched the sparks begin to ignite but before they could explode out, a glob of slime was thrown on Bakugou's hand, squelching the imminent explosion. Well, at least Mina didn't mind getting involved. "Boys, stop it!" he heard her admonish out of sight.

Bakugo's lips turned into an ugly sneer and Sero couldn't help to notice the feeling of heat on his chest coming from Bakugou's hand that held him in place.

"Someone do something!" Kaminari bellowed from behind Bakugou.

Sero's jaw dropped. He's gonna kill me over a stupid grenade.

"Bakugou, STOP!" a voice sounded near them. Sero didn't recognize it, but he instinctively moved his hand over Bakugou's wrist to try and wrench his heated hand away.

Bakugou turned toward the voice, his expression not changing, but he let go of Sero's shirt. His hand was smoking and Sero's shirt was charred.

"What the fuck man…." Sero said in exasperation as he looked down at himself. He removed the shirt over his head quickly throwing it off of him onto the tiled floor and glared at Bakugou.

Shinsou was standing beside them both, his eyes boring into Bakugou like he was challenging him. Sero had never seen the expression on Shinsou's normally passive face. Sero realized it had been Shinsou that had yelled at Bakugou to stop. He thought it was strange because Shinsou rarely got involved with things happening between classmates.

A long pink tongue appeared suddenly by Shinsou's head dangling the grenade. Sero sighed; during his bounding from wall to wall he had shot it up to the ceiling and taped it in place unbeknownst to Bakugou at that split second since his back was turned. It seemed Tsu had seen him do it and she decided she finally wanted to diffuse the situation.

Bakugou grabbed the grenade and turned towards Shinsou, getting right up in his face.

"Let me guess, next step was to Brainwash me if I didn't stop," he growled, looking up into Shinsou's face.

Shinsou tilted his head and grinned. If you could call it a grin, it was more of a taunting challenge if anything. Sero was hoping things would settle a bit because he was under the impression Shinsou and Bakugou were simpatico the last couple of weeks. He thought maybe they had bonded over being Aizawa's dogs or maybe it was because they were both close to Kirishima, but this exchange was pretty caustic.

"Are you done?" Shinsou said in a low, bored drawl that didn't match the determination in his eyes.

Several seconds passed and Sero couldn't keep his eyes from going back and forth between the two. He was pretty sure he heard Kaminari whine.

"This wasn't your shit to deal with. Don't interfere in my business again. That's a warning."

"Oooo I'm shaking in my nylon composite neoprene boots," Shinsou said in a monotone deadpan. His eyes had softened though and now he just looked a lot like how Aizawa-sensei looked after assigning a ridiculously difficult practical drill that usually had someone end up in Recovery Girl's office.

"And you," Bakugou's eyes shot over at Sero. "Don't touch my fucking stuff." Sero gave Bakugou an exasperated expression but didn't feel like saying anything back because he was DONE with Bakugou and didn't want to deal with his bullshit anymore. With that, Bakugou left the living area, grenade in hand, taking the stairway door out. He had left all of his books and his backpack behind.

Everyone was stone still in the living room, eyes on the stairway door. "Okay, that was crazy. What's wrong with you Sero? Why were you jacking with him?" Mina asked.

"You're saying this was my fault? He was throwing around one of his grenades! Like I want us all to get blown up!" Sero retorted.

"Bakugou's always been really careful with his equipment. Most likely it was empty," Tsu said. Always the voice of reason Sero couldn't help to think, annoyed.

"Well, Bakugou has also been a bit of a loose cannon lately with how he's been acting. And without Momo or Kirishima here, well no leashes for him, you know, so I told him to stop and he didn't. He was being a total dick," Sero said.

During the conversation after Bakugou's departure, Shinsou had left the room and out the dorm front door without saying anything to anyone. "Have to admit, I thought it was weird Shinsou got involved and that somehow Bakugou actually listened to him. What's up with that?" Kyoka said as she settled back down into the couch after picking her book off of the floor. Kaminari plopped down next to her and started to laugh.

"Yeah! I thought Momo had Bakugou's balls in her purse the last couple of months but apparently Shinsou's had them this whole time," Kaminari said.

Kyoka raised an eyebrow at Kaminari. "You made sure Bakugou was out of earshot before you said that. You're so brave."

"Of course, I wouldn't say that to his face, I value my life," Kaminari said as he looked back down at his book.

Kyoka turned, looking behind her. "Oh, hey Bakugou, did you forget something? Your books?" Kyoka asked. Kaminari turned around, a distraught look on his face and then when he saw no one was standing behind them, his face turned into an irritated scowl as he looked back at Kyoka. One end of her mouth turned up slightly before she resumed reading her book.

"Hey… um… you okay Sero?" Mina asked as she walked towards him. Her eyes shot to his chest which was somehow luckily unscathed.

"Yeah. But that asshole owes me a shirt," Sero grumbled.

Kirishima

Eijirou decided to head to the gym after the training session with the guys and had hoped when he got back to the dorm there was some dinner left. However as he entered the living area he was accosted by Sero, Mina, and Kaminari who all had told him about Bakugou's huge outburst over his grenade several minutes before. It explained Hitoshi's absence too since he was supposed to have a late dinner with Eijirou in A dorm, and he was MIA.

"Okay, okay! I'll talk to him," Eijirou told them, trying to calm them down.

He went up the stairs and knocked on Bakugou's door. No answer. Eijirou knocked again. "Come on, I know you're in there." Eijirou turned the doorknob and felt the resistance of it being locked. "Bakugou, open up! I'm not leaving until you open the door." He could hear Bakugou growl through the door and walls and heard his heavy footsteps bound towards him. Bakugou unlocked the door but didn't open it so Eijirou let himself in.

Bakugou walked over to his rug where it appeared he was working on his gauntlet. There were tools and parts strewn across the floor. Bakugou immediately picked up a part of the gauntlet that housed the lever and began tweaking where the lever joined the base with a flathead screwdriver. Eijirou walked over to Bakugou's desk and deposited Bakugou's backpack he had left downstairs. Bakugou didn't look up at him as he worked on the gauntlet.

"So you want to talk?" Eijirou said although he knew what the answer would be. Bakugou glanced at him with a look of 'what do you think?' and he turned back to his project.

Eijirou was a natural-born peacemaker and because of this, he was always pushed by others to intervene and smooth things over whether it be calming down a Bakugou acting out, Class 3A disagreeing over something, or even when students outside of his class couldn't see eye to eye.

"I know what this is all about," Eijirou said. Bakugou still didn't look over at him. "3 weeks left. I mean, we're all feeling it. Stressed out but also sad about the last three years coming to a close." Bakugou put down the screwdriver and reached for some lubricant and began to oil the hinges of the lever. "You've been more quiet and irritable. You're almost being as big of an asshole as you were first year." Eijirou leaned against the lip of the desk, watching Bakugou. "I heard about what happened downstairs, man. That's pretty unhinged, even for you."

Eijirou saw the grenade sitting on the desk and reached over and picked it up. Bakugou now glanced over at him and bristled. It had to have been the same grenade he had fought with Sero over. Eijirou knew it wasn't live. Probably didn't even have any of his fuel reserves which he knew he sometimes would keep in them. Bakugou was extremely anal about securing the live grenades either on his hero costume or in his hero case or at Best Jeanist's Agency, never out where someone could inadvertently hurt themselves with it. Eijirou had noticed him carrying this specific grenade around the last couple of days.

Eijirou having spent too much time with Bakugou knew how to open it. As he flipped the clasp and the top flapped open he knew one of three things could happen. Either it would explode due to the pressure being released if it was live (not as strong as a charge when detonating it, but enough to probably disfigure his face) or fuel would spill out making a huge mess OR Bakugou was hiding something in there. He had activated his quirk as he did it although he thought the explosion was the least likely, but he wanted to protect himself just in case. No spill and no explosion. As he peered at the grenade's contents, Bakugou had reached him, having leapt up from the rug. His hand was gripped around Eijirou's wrist but it was too late. He had seen it.

"Wow. I mean I figured you were hiding something, but didn't think…" Bakugou's face went bright red and he looked like he was about to explode a barrage of expletives at him so he had to think fast. He quickly closed the grenade up and pushed it into Bakugou's hand. "I think it's great." Eijirou smiled at him, just a simple smile but he meant what he said.

Bakugou snatched the grenade up and became an even brighter shade of red and turned away from Eijirou. "Come on, talk to me. I promise you'll feel better if you let it out. Maybe then they'll be no casualties this year. Sero would like to graduate along with the whole class."

Bakugou placed the grenade on his desk, then walked over and sat on his bed. He put his head in his hands, and then scrubbed his fingertips vigorously at his scalp, tearing through his hair like he was trying to rid himself of having to think. Eijirou felt Bakugou's extreme tenseness like static in the air. He would have to tread carefully. He walked over and slowly and quietly and carefully sat next to his friend as if he was approaching a wild animal he didn't want to spook.

Eijirou let out a shallow breath and placed his hands on his knees as he watched his friend. His head was still lowered, his face hidden from view, but at least his fingers had stilled as he clutched at his head. "So… what's the plan then? With the 'grenade'," Eijirou said in a low tone, almost in a whisper.

His head still lowered Bakugou answered, "I don't know. I…. have no idea…" He sounded absolutely defeated. This was uncharted territory and Eijirou was surprised Bakugou was going there. It showed how much this meant to him and how hard he had been struggling with trying to figure it out.

"Well… when is y'all's next anniversary?" Eijirou asked.

Bakugou now looked up at him confused. "What?"

"You know your anniversary. The day y'all started going out?" Bakugou looked at him still confused. Eijirou couldn't help but grin. "You know, like Hitoshi and I started going out November 28th. Or that's the day he asked me to the formal so… the 28th of every month is like an anniversary. I mean it's not a huge deal to me or even Hitoshi but sometimes people like to do something to celebrate it, like a gift or something." Bakugou looked at Eijirou like he had sprouted a second head. Eijirou chuckled. "Okay, well maybe that's not the –"

"November 24th," Bakugou blurted out his expression changing to absolute seriousness suddenly.

"Oh," Eijirou said surprised. So Bakugou did have that day engrained in his mind. The day he and Momo started going out. He just didn't know about any of the anniversary stuff. Eijirou grinned. "Dude. The 24th's tomorrow!"

Bakugou's expression changed to a slightly baffled one. "What the hell do I do then?" Eijirou was witnessing another new expression of Bakugou's he had yet to see in the 3 years he had known him. Bewilderment. His brows actually can go in the opposite direction like that, Eijirou thought. His jaw had dropped slightly, and his lips were in a slight frown. Not a sneer or a smirk or a ridiculously over-the-top grin. His bestie needed him. He was gonna help his best bro out. They were going to come up with something special. Something amazing.

"When does Momo get back from her work-study?"

"Late tonight," Bakugou replied.

Eijirou grinned. "We're gonna plan something amazing for tomorrow night then!" he shouted as he punched Bakugou in the shoulder enthusiastically. Bakugou's expression shifted into a pained scowl, almost looking like he was going to be sick.

/

"Guess I wasn't the best one to ask

Me, myself, with my face pressed

Up against love's glass

To see the shiny toy I've been hoping for

The one I never can afford"

/

Momo

Momo couldn't sleep. She had gotten back from work-study a little before midnight and had found Katsuki in her room waiting for her. They had only talked briefly before settling down to sleep. She glanced at the digital clock on her nightstand and the red numbers even set at their minimal brightness still glared at her stark and deliberate. 2:03. She lay on her side, just a sheet covering her body but she felt Katsuki's body heat radiating behind her even though he wasn't pressed up against her. At some point in the night, he had pulled away from her. So now her backside was warm, but the front of her body was freezing. She rolled onto her back and still did not reach him. She turned her head and saw he was facing away from her on his side. He was laying under just the top sheet, the sheet only covered him up to his waist and his bare back barely moved with each of his shallow breaths. He was in a deep sleep. Momo shivered and couldn't help the urge to move toward his warm body, she shifted over carefully so she didn't wake him.

She got close enough to where she could feel his warmth but not touch him. He had to wake up early for work-study and she didn't want to wake him. As she wrapped the sheet carefully around her shoulders not wanting to disturb him she inhaled deeply. Sweet embers burning. She barely noticed Katsuki's scent now unless she consciously thought about it. It had permeated her room, her bed, and even her own clothing. If anything it was more familiar to her than her own scent that constantly changed from day to day. She stared at the back of Katsuki's head for a few seconds, yawned, then laid her cheek gently against the top of his back as she positioned herself behind him, trying not to disturb him.

He had been growing distant from everyone the last couple of weeks. Even she and Kirishima. She made herself promise to not let it worry her. Katsuki was still present with her, still spent time with her, and did little things here and there to show he cared. But he seemed very distracted and irritable. Of course, most of the class was stressed and irritable. Graduation was three weeks away. Finals (practical and written) were just two weeks away. Momo would be patient. She closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

/

The phone alarm blared. Momo sat up quickly and leaned over to grab her phone off the end table. It was hard for her to move because of the sheet and thick comforter tucked around her. As she silenced the alarm she realized Katsuki must have tucked her in tightly before he left. The room was barely illuminated by the early morning sun. Normally she would immediately start her morning routine. Change into her uniform clothes and then grab her toiletries bag and go downstairs to brush her teeth and hair in the bathroom. But instead, she sat in her bed and thought of Katsuki.

It was difficult not to do that as her eyes fell on her desk. His dented-up insulated aluminum water bottle sat next to her textbooks. His book from their novels class. A few mechanical pencils of his favorite brand. One of his hoodies, a plain black one, was draped over the chair at her desk. A pair of his orange slippers were neatly placed by her door.

She couldn't shake the feeling of missing him deeply as if he had been gone for weeks and not just an hour. She realized as much as she loved UA and all she had learned and all the people whose lives had touched hers, she had outgrown UA. She was ready for the next part of her life to begin. And it would be with Katsuki. He would return that night and he had told her he had something planned for her. The thought of seeing him that evening for a special occasion made herauseaous. Was it finally time for him to ask her? His grandmother's ring. She shook her head as if to shake off the thought. It was ridiculous to think about. They were both still so young, but even so, she would talk to him tonight about how she had changed her mind about working at Endeavor's Agency. He had agreed to certain requests she had and had sent her a new contract. All she had to do now was sign it. At Endeavor's Agency, she would be able to see Katsuki much more frequently and they could continue their relationship past graduation. It's what she wanted and she hoped that was what he wanted as well.

She reluctantly climbed off of her bed and started her day. It would stretch out very long before her since Katsuki would not return until close to 7.

/

"The wide world spins and spits turmoil

And the nations toil for peace

The paws of fear upon your chest

Only love can soothe that beast"

/

At lunch, Momo's phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out to see she had received a text from Katsuki.

Katsuki: Reminding you to not eat dinner tonight with the class. I'll be getting in around 7 and have something planned.

Momo smiled. Like she could forget.

/

Momo sat on the dorm living room couch and kept checking her phone every few minutes. 6:15. 6:20. 6:24. 6:33. She had to stop. She couldn't help to feel the excitement build. It somehow made her think back to the night of the Formal. And then to that night in her dorm room when she made the orchid card and wrote, "Yes," to Katsuki's invitation to the dance. She had noticed Kirishima was absent from the dorm living areas as were Iida and Sato which was odd. Momo had changed into a simple yellow a-line dress before coming down for dinner. The fabric was knit so it made the outfit a bit more casual so she hoped it would not draw any suspicions. She tried to read the book in her hands but kept skimming through the words and not reading them. She glanced at the phone on her lap. 6:45. 6:53.

Shinsou walked in through the front doors and sauntered straight towards her. He sat next to her and sunk into the couch. He looked over at her, his face its usual passive calm. "Bakugou is waiting for you outside," he said in his usual low and dull tone.

"Oh." She smiled at Shinsou. "Thank you." She looked around as she left the couch making sure no one besides Shinsou was giving her any attention, and headed towards the front doors. Her heart rate increased as she pushed the door open and walked outside. It was already dark, although she could see gray clouds low in the sky and hear thunder off in the distance.

Katsuki was standing at the bottom of the entrance steps, his hands in his pockets. He wore baggy, black cargo pants, his shiny black leather boots, and a magenta button-down shirt with a black floral pattern. An untied black tie was looped around the neck of the shirt as if he had either forgotten to tie it or had tied it and then undone it. The top button of the shirt was unbuttoned so Momo thought the latter. Maybe he was getting overheated so he had undone it for some relief. Somehow he looked more pleasing to her than he had on first seeing him dressed for the formal. His mouth was relaxed, but his eyes were wide and alert. He offered her his hand as she approached him. She took it and they held hands as they walked along the sidewalk.

Momo wanted to ask him where they were going but thought she would wait for him to speak. He usually was a man of few words, but he was even more so as of late.

"How was class today?" he asked, looking over at her finally after a couple of minutes of walking in silence.

She met his gaze. "Most were mainly reviews actually. Due to all the work-study absences. I took notes for you."

"Your notes are crap," he said with a small smile.

Momo couldn't remember the last time he had actually smiled and she tried to not let that make her sad. "I put forth a lot of effort to make them detailed, but if you don't want the advantage…" she teased, being egged on by his smile. He felt so close all of a sudden which made her realize how truly distant he had been the last few weeks.

"Fine. I'll take them. Unless I have to worry you may be trying to sabotage me." Before Momo could reply, Iida ran up to them.

"Bakugou! Kodai and I were able to move the um…." Iida looked over at Momo for a second and then back to Bakugou. "Special Occasion to another venue due to the inclement weather. It is all set up and ready for you both."

"Um. Yeah, thanks, Iida. I owe you one," Katsuki replied.

"Oh, never mind that! Glad Kodai and I could help last minute! Have an enchanting evening, the both of you!" Iida nodded his head at Momo and sped off. Momo's curiosity was at an all-time high. Thunder sounded much closer now and Momo could see the flashes of lightning. Seconds later she felt a large rain droplet on her cheek.

"Dammit… we better run so we don't get drenched…" Katsuki said gruffly. They ran down the sidewalks and luckily made it to their destination before the torrential downpour started. They were at the faculty dorm which Momo found odd. As they stepped into the building into the foyer, Katsuki turned towards Momo and scooped up both her hands in his. "This was supposed to be… I had planned it to…" he took a deep breath and looked intently at her. "We were supposed to be on the roof of the observational tower at Ground Omega…. But the rain…" his cheeks flushed a light pink but he didn't look away.

It hit Momo now, he had planned something to take place at the spot where they first kissed. Where they had both revealed, without a doubt, that they were leaving behind the notion of friendship for something so much more. It was hard to believe it had been about four months ago. Everything had been so intense and their romance fast paced it was hard to believe it had not been years. Momo nodded at him, but before she could say anything, to get all the feelings rushing through her into coherent thoughts, he led her by the hand up the stairs to the third floor.

As they walked the suspended walkway flanked by windows on all sides, Momo shivered at the darkness that surrounded them with the incoming storm. The lights around them seemed unable to cut through it and the rain that rattled the roof, outdoor walls, and windows seemed to make her feel trapped where they stood. As they neared their destination, Momo realized where they were going. Aizawa's dorm suite. She had been there in the past to babysit Eri.

As they arrived at the door, Katsuki turned towards Momo and let go of her hand. He exhaled a large breath and then wiped his hands on his pant legs. If his hands had been sweaty, Momo had not noticed it. He closed his eyes for a few seconds as if he was trying to calm himself. Momo found it odd because she couldn't imagine what he could have planned for the evening that would set him on edge. Unless…

As he opened his eyes, he spoke. "I just want to warn you, if this whole thing is cringey, if it's terribly….. corny…. And you want to go back to the dorm, it's fine with me."

Momo couldn't help but grin widely back at him. Her curiosity was considerably peaked now. "We're hero course students. Corny is good. I think we can all use a giant dose of corny in our lives." Katsuki's face turned into a slightly pained expression as he took her hand again and opened the door.

The dorm suite looked very different than how Momo had remembered it. The kitchen area was cordoned off with a tall, many sectioned, panel so they could not see in, but they could hear "kitchen" noises. Momo was hit by delicious smells of food signaling they would have dinner there.

Eri stood in front of the paneled screen, a big smile on her face. She was wearing a black dress with shiny black ballet flats and her hair was in a single French braid. "Good evening! Do you have a reservation?" Katsuki stared at her, his face bright red. Several seconds passed. Momo had scanned the rest of the living room dorm space and noticed furniture had been moved out of the living area of Aizawa's dorm suite and a small table now sat there with a red tablecloth, a large lighted candle, two formal place settings, and a simple crystal vase with a single flower: Phalaenopsis Aphrodite.

Momo couldn't help but squeeze Katsuki's hand tightly and then leaned her shoulder into his as if to prod him to answer.

"Yes. 2 for 7:00. Under the name Bakugou," Katsuki said, sounding absolutely mortified.

Eri gave him a huge smile. "Your table is ready! Right this way!" The trio walked to the table and Katsuki pulled out Momo's chair for her. Eri giggled. Katsuki grumbled something under his breath Momo didn't catch. As Katsuki sat, Eri placed two menus on top of the place settings. Katsuki grabbed the menu, not making eye contact with Momo. As Momo looked over her menu, she noticed Eri had been the one to create them. Even though she was young she had written the items with a careful hand. There were drawn illustrations next to the five courses that would be served. Eri had become quite the gifted artist Momo thought to herself. Gone were the stick figures of a couple of years ago. Momo now wondered if Katsuki had taught her any drawing techniques. After Momo perused the menu smiling at the thoughtfully picked-out dishes that were all favorites of hers, she looked up and saw Katsuki was watching her, his expression now much more serious.

"Kirishima! Oven Mitts!" Momo heard a voice yell from the kitchen area. It took her a couple of seconds to recognize it was Sato's voice.

"It's cool, man. My quirk… I don't need mitts, I won't get burned…" she heard Kirishima answer back. She couldn't help but grin. Katsuki met her gaze and rolled his eyes. Of course, Kirishima would be involved with the whole ordeal somehow. She began to wonder how much of this whole event was Kirishima's idea.

Eri had disappeared behind the panel and then reemerged with a tray of tea things along with two small confectionaries. From the menu Momo knew they were red plum blossom sweets and the tea was gyokuro. It was her favorite tea of late. Momo loved tea and had many that she really enjoyed but lately she had started making gyokuro tea for her friends in the dorm on Friday afternoon. Katsuki had been paying attention. Katsuki prepared and served the tea as soon as Eri had placed the tray down.

"I can't believe you had time to plan all this –" A loud thunderclap sounded, interrupting Momo. It seemed dangerously close, it had made Momo jump and Katsuki had almost spilled the teacup he had placed before Momo. Eri suddenly bolted from the kitchen and ran towards the table. She stopped abruptly as she reached Momo and Katsuki and her eyes darted back and forth between them, her chest heaving in heavy breaths. Before Momo could reach her arms out to Eri to comfort her, Eri took a huge step towards Katsuki and his arms went out in time to scoop her up as she barrelled into him.

Another thunderclap rang out and Eri cried out this time, burying her head into Katsuki's shoulder. A second later Momo heard the fortified storm windows drop into place a few feet from where she sat, covering from the outside the two windows in the exterior wall of Aizawa's suite. The school's inclement weather protocol had been initiated. The storm raging outside had to be very dangerous for that to happen Momo thought to herself. Either a tornado, very high winds, or very heavy lightning.

"We should take cover in a more secure space in the apartment," Momo said as she stood up.

"There's a closet through that door, no exterior walls," Katsuki said still holding Eri in his arms, but nodding towards a door off the living room. The lights suddenly flickered and then went out. Eri screamed out in the darkness and then seconds later the emergency lights, fueled by the generators, kicked in barely illuminating the apartment in an eerie red glow.

"You're safe with us, Eri," Katsuki said as the three of them walked toward the closet.

"Sato, Kirishima! You guys need to take cover!" Momo called out.

She heard a loud clatter, something dropping, and then heard Kirishima curse under his breath.

"Come on, not like we can do anything much anyway with no power and everything's so dark," Momo heard Sato say.

/

A minute later the 5 of them were huddled together in the laundry room/closet. Even in the more protected space, Momo could hear wind racing around the storm windows in the next room. There were no emergency lights in the closet so four cell phone flashlights glared out to give them light.

It had continued to thunder outside and Eri had grown quiet. Momo noticed she at some point had wrapped an arm around Katsuki's upper arm and was holding his hand with her two small hands. Her head leaned against his chest and with each thunderclap, she jerked reflexively. Her face was pained with worry.

Momo checked the weather radar app on her phone. "Looks like we're to take cover for a few hours. They are calling for severe thunderstorms, high winds, and flash flooding." Momo looked at Eri and added, "We should be secure here Eri."

Eri looked over a Momo. "So no… cyclones. Or… tsunamis?"

"No. Nothing to warrant us having to go any higher than a second story. And we are protected from the high winds and lightning in this closet." Momo's eyes shot up to meet Katsuki's and he smiled at her. He looked very odd, holding a small child in his lap. The fierce hero Lord Explosion Murder God Dynamight, comforting a scared child. He looked non-fazed and the small smile on his face showed he wasn't uncomfortable in the situation. Of course, he, like all of Class A was very familiar with Eri who had spent a lot of time with them all. Her reflex wasn't to run to Creati, Red Riot, or Sugar Man first, though.

"A few hours Momo?" Kirishima asked.

Momo nodded at him.

"Well in that case…" Kirishima quickly bolted out of the small space closing the door behind him.

"Where the hell are you going, dumbass!?" Katsuki yelled. Eri didn't even flinch in his lap and his bellowing was definitely louder than any of the inclement weather outside. Momo couldn't decide if Eri's non-reaction to Katsuki's yelling was a good thing or a bad thing.

20 seconds later, Kirishima joined them again carrying several trays of food. "If we have to hang out here, no sense in starving. None of us had dinner. You don't mind Bakugou? Momo?" Kirishima asked with a sheepish expression on his face.

Bakugou shook his head. Momo smiled as she spoke. "Would hate for it to go to waste."

Thirty minutes later, Sato and Kirishima had fallen asleep, both leaning on the other. Full bellies and the drone of the heavy rainfall outside had lulled them to sleep. Momo tidied up the trays and food as much as she could in the tight space and then stood up and decided to squeeze next to Katsuki and sit by him. Kirishima had not left a lot of space. She lowered herself to sit and then leaned into Kirishima to push him over slightly to give herself a bit more room. It was like trying to move a mountain.

"Yeah, he's even heavier than he looks," Katsuki said. Momo leaned into Katsuki and rested her head on his shoulder finally feeling sleepy. It had been a long day.

"Is Eri asleep?" she asked.

Katsuki looked at Eri, the light from the four cell phones that were placed on the floor in the center of their haphazard circle was enough for Momo to see Eri's torso moving slightly with her even breaths. "I think so. She's been really still."

"I'm surprised Aizawa-sensei didn't come to check on her. I'm guessing he is tending to things on campus due to the storm."

"He knows she's with 3A. Can't imagine a safer place." They both looked at Sato and Kirishima completely out, Kirishima beginning to snore in his sleep. Katsuki snickered. "Well, excluding those two."

A crack of thunder rent through the dorm suite and Eri immediately woke and screamed. She began to shake and then cried out. "Are we safe? Should we go somewhere else? What happens if the winds get to us?" The words tumbled out of her in quick succession.

"It's okay, Eri. Just thunder. We're safe here," Katsuki said trying to calm her down.

"What if the wind bursts through the windows? Or it floods?" Eri said, her lower lip trembling.

"Katsuki will get you to higher ground. You'll be safe with him; he'll use his explosions and you'll both fly through the air until he finds a safe spot," Momo said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Really? Doesn't the rain put out your explosions, Kacchan?" Eri asked.

Katsuki shook his head. "Not even a typhoon can put me out of commission," he said with a grin.

"You were out in a typhoon?" Eri asked in awe.

"Ask Momo, she was with me," Katsuki said, looking at Momo and grinning ear to ear. "You remember that Ponytail? Our first year?"

"Of course. I was completely soaking wet, not to mention freezing as well. I had to hold on to him for dear life." Momo looked at Eri. "I swore I would never fly with Katsuki again. And I didn't until a few months ago."

Eri now finally smiled. "A few months ago on your first date?" Momo looked at Eri, surprised. "Kirishima told me all about it earlier today."

"Really?" Momo looked at Katsuki and could have sworn he was blushing in the dimly lit space. "You told Kirishima about that night?"

Katsuki cleared his throat. "Just enough so he could help me plan stuff for tonight. Of course, it was all a waste of time anyway the way things ended up."

Eri looked quite sad as she spoke now. "I'm sorry your special anniversary night was ruined."

"Anniversary?" Momo asked, confused. Katsuki snickered. "Wait… it's the 24th…. Today is our 4-month anniversary." She had been so preoccupied with thinking about Katsuki and his grandmother's ring she didn't think about a more simple event that made a lot more sense. "Well, we're still getting to spend time together so I wouldn't say it's completely a wash. Thank you for helping out tonight, Eri." She grinned at Momo.

"Just two more sets…" Kirishima mumbled in his sleep. The three of them looked over at Kirishima and Sato, both of them still in a deep state of sleep.

"Oh, Kirishima's dreaming," Eri giggled.

"Idiot. Only Kirishima would exercise in his fucking sleep," Katsuki said.

Eri's jaw dropped. "Kacchan… you can't say that word, remember?" she whispered.

"Well Aizawa-sensei isn't around to hear me say it, is he?" Momo poked Katsuki in the side and he turned towards her and winked. Even though the bad weather had made a mess of the evening, Katsuki seemed to be in a much better mood now. More talkative and relaxed. Well, as relaxed as Katsuki was capable of being.

The three of them continued to talk for the next half hour since it seemed to help take Eri's mind off of the storm. The lights came on finally and Momo heard the storm windows retreating outside. The warning period to take cover had been lifted. Katsuki yelled at Kirishima and Sato to wake up and help tidy Aizawa's suite.

By the time they got things cleaned up and furniture replaced to its usual positions, it was close to 10. Shinsou showed up and he and Kirishima would watch Eri until Aizawa returned. "There was some damage to the campus he is tending to. He texted me he won't be too much longer," Shinsou said.

Before Momo and Katsuki left, Eri ran up to Momo and hugged her. She then turned to Katsuki and pulled down on his hand. A confused look alighted on Katsuki's face. "What the…." He then knelt down raising an eyebrow at Eri. Eri leaned close to Katsuki's ear, her small hands cupped around her mouth, and whispered something to Katsuki that Momo couldn't hear. He smiled. Eri then hugged his neck and Katsuki sighed, rolled his eyes, and hugged Eri back.

Momo and Katsuki walked back to the dorm hand-in-hand. The rain had finally stopped and it was quite chilly outside. "So what was that all about? What did Eri tell you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Katsuki said, his face donning a smug expression.

"I'm shocked you didn't tell me to 'mind my own damn business'."

"I did. You just got the nicer version."

"Thanks," Momo said back smiling. She was in such a good mood and it was strange considering how the evening had been spent. Katsuki seemed to be in a talkative/interactive mood and Momo was enjoying it a little too much. "I'm surprised Aizawa-sensei let you guys use his dorm suite for something as frivolous as a dinner date."

"Wow, Ponytail. Frivolous, huh? See if I ever do anything nice for you again." His voice was hoarse and his tone irritated but he had a wide (dare she think good-natured?) grin on his face so she knew he was teasing.

"No! That's not what I meant!" She leaned into him for a moment as they walked.

"Sure it was."

"What I mean was Aizawa-sensei would see it as frivolous."

"Uh-huh." Katsuki stared at her for a moment still grinning. He then pulled her in and draped an arm around her, his body heat warming her in the cold night. "Shinsou asked Aizawa if we could use his apartment for training tonight." Momo knew Katsuki and Shinsou were doing some training together but neither of them would say what kind of training they were doing. Apparently, Aizawa was in the know.

"That makes a lot more sense. Well, I still had a good time, even if things didn't go as planned." Katsuki hummed a hum of contentment.

As they entered the dorm, most of the class was still in the living area talking about the storm and some of the damage that had occurred on campus. "Maybe we won't have class tomorrow!" Kaminari said hopefully.

Iida was trying his best to calm people down and get them to go to bed. "As the class rep, I received a message from Aizawa-sensei that the damage was minimal, and classes will resume their normal schedule tomorrow. Now to bed 3A! Tardies have increased in homeroom in the last two weeks! No staying up late which will only cause sleeping in and being tardy in the morning! Ahane-sensei and Aizawa-sensei will be checking on everyone tonight to make sure rooms are undamaged and everyone is okay."

Katsuki grumbled. "Guess we'll be sleeping in our own rooms tonight…"

Katsuki still insisted on walking Momo to her door. As she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss she decided to tell him the news about her change of plans after graduation. "I was going to tell you over dinner tonight so I didn't get the chance, but I don't want to wait, so I'll tell you now." They were face to face, her arms still around his neck, her hands absentmindedly playing with a piece of his hair.

Katsuki's brows furrowed with worry. "Everything okay?"

Momo smiled to reassure him. "Yes. It's just… I decided to sign on with Endeavor's Agency."

Katsuki's mouth dropped open and his expression became tense. She wondered if his mind was now being bombarded with several thoughts all at once about what that statement entailed. "What changed? What about Fat Gum? Endeavor's contract? He's a bastard and works his heroes too many hours, I-"

"Katsuki," she said quietly and was surprised it was enough to interrupt him and his stream of very loud questions and comments.

"Are you sure?" he said quietly now. Momo suddenly began to not feel quite so sure about Katsuki's future intentions with her. The night before in her dorm she felt like she knew without a doubt he loved her deeply enough to want to link his life to hers after graduation. To continue their relationship. But what if that deep love wasn't enough? What if he felt his feelings for her would interfere with being the number one hero in Japan? What if he didn't want to continue their relationship despite his heart? She searched his face and it was concerned and worried. Was he worried for her or worried for himself?

"I had some requests for him and he agreed and sent over a new contract. Fat Gum said he would relinquish my contract if I wanted to bow out. He has a waiting list, Sero is actually on it, so he said he would much rather I take a position that worked better for me, that he was covered. And I thought being two hours away from you instead of almost six would make a long-distance relationship easier for the both of us…." Momo swallowed nervously. Maybe she had read everything wrong. "I haven't signed it yet." Katsuki's expression now became serious. Hard. He had reverted back to the distant Katsuki of the last couple of weeks. Momo lowered her hands from Katsuki's head and placed them on his chest. She somehow managed to keep eye contact even though she felt the urge to look away.

"Will you be doing what you want at Endeavor's? He'll want to stick you in the office more to lead and do press releases. You won't be doing daily patrols…And he won't be giving you many days off. I remember. I work-studied for him for a year and Burnin', one of his sidekicks, practically lived at the agency." His expression didn't change.

Momo let out a breath feeling like he seemed more worried about her at Endeavor's than her cramping his style. "No, the contract says I have at least half of my time in the field. And I will have at least 5 days off a month, and I can lump them together any way I want. So I could spend a few days a month in Tokyo with you…" his face had not changed. "I mean… if that sounds okay to you." Momo felt an empty pit in her stomach suddenly. She was terrified now to see how he would react.

A few seconds passed and Katsuki finally grinned. His eyes crinkled at the edges. "I think that's very okay. I mean, I wasn't sure how we would… if you were in Esuha City… it'd be tough for us to… but now we can see each other a lot more. I…" Momo lurched toward Katsuki and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. He laughed. It was such an unusual sound coming from him. A low, drawn-out laugh that seemed relaxed and full of joy. "You okay?" He squeezed her gently in their embrace.

"Yes." She felt her eyes begin to fill with tears, but she blinked quickly to try and stop them. She felt excitement begin to swell inside her completely erasing the emptiness that had been creeping up on her before.

Momo heard the sound of someone clearing their throat near them. They both let go of each other and saw Aizawa-sensei standing a few feet away holding onto a clipboard and staring daggers at them. "Yaoyorozu, Ahane is probably waiting for you downstairs to check on your status and the condition of your dorm."

"Yes, sensei," she replied. Katsuki looked at Momo and mouthed "'Night." Momo quickly gave Katsuki's hand a squeeze and walked to the stairway door feeling like she was floating. Soon there would no longer be curfews and dorm checks and chaperones. She couldn't wait.

/

Momo returned to her dorm and although she was tired, the excitement she felt made it hard for her to fall asleep. The future was finally taking definite form and Katsuki would be an integral part of that. Momo thought back to the ring in Katsuki's care and the proposal he was possibly still mulling over. That was a very real possibility now that her doubts had been erased about Katsuki's after-graduation plans. Even so, she realized she could wait for him. And if she had to wait 20 years until he asked for her hand, she would patiently do it. Because she knew in the interim he loved her enough to make space in his life for her. She began to feel a bit embarrassed she had even doubted him in the hallway. She should have recognized how he cared for her because she saw that selfless devotion to Katsuki in herself. It had been such a great night. Such a great year at UA. She figured Katsuki would most likely be joining her for the night in her dorm soon when he felt Aizawa was done with his inspections and left the building. But if for whatever reason he didn't join her, maybe he was exhausted and wanted to sleep in his own bed, she wouldn't draw negative feelings about Katsuki's intentions over it. It didn't matter because she knew he loved her passionately and more importantly he loved her practically. She would not insult him by doubting him again.

Bakugou

Katsuki had not been in his room since the storm so he let Aizawa in to check it to see if it had been damaged. It looked fine so Aizawa checked off a space on his clipboard, asked Katsuki how he was, and then checked off another space and left. Katsuki closed the door behind him. He took the grenade out of the deep pockets of his cargo pants and placed it on his desk. He then took off his cargo pants and his nice shirt that was as uncomfortable as hell and changed into a faded black sleeveless t-shirt and scrub bottoms. He was going to text Momo if she wanted him to come over for the night but before he could pick up his phone, Kirishima came bursting into his room. "So?" he asked excitedly.

"What?" Katsuki asked him annoyed. "I thought you were helping watch Eri?"

"I wanted to check on you so left early. Anyway, did you do it? Did you ask Momo?"

"No. I mean… everything got crazy with the storm." Katsuki had been so excited about Momo deciding to sign with Endeavor's Agency, about her being so much closer to him distance-wise after graduation, but now his anxiety had returned in full strength pushing that high away. "Fuck," he said under his breath. He sat on his bed and put his head in his hands. Why was he having such a hard time with this? Was he worried she could say 'No?' Would she? And there was the thought that kept stilling him every time he thought about it, which was all the damn time:

How could anyone ever truly love me?

Sure Momo wanted to continue dating and she loved him. He definitely saw that now after what she had done. But. What about more than that? Could she tie her life to his forever? Someone like him? Someone so deeply flawed. His eyes flicked over to the grenade on his desk. What was inside that stupid grenade had consumed his thoughts. "Maybe I'll just wait. Until after graduation."

"Bro." Kirishima plopped down next to Katsuki. "You can do this. You need to just give yourself a deadline now. Like, you have to do it before finals. I mean if you don't, things will be different after graduation. As far as cohabitation and stuff."

"What?" Katsuki looked over at Kirishima and had no idea what Kirishima was talking about.

"You know…. If you guys are really serious, then you'll be kinda living together right? That's different than dating. And if you guys aren't living in the same city, well the just dating thing could be more strained if you aren't committed."

"What the hell!? Why are you making this so complicated!?" Katsuki bellowed.

"Chill, man!" Kirishima put his hands up in front of him, his face open, his tone trying to placate. "I'm just trying to light a fire, just a small one. I know how much you want to do this. Just giving you a nudge." Katsuki closed his eyes and started to count to ten under his breath, taking deep breaths in between numbers. Kirishima was right. He wouldn't feel his anxiety lessen until he asked her and she answered. It had to be soon. He only hoped she would feel the same way he did.

"You know she's crazy about you. You guys are meant to be together." Katsuki looked at Kirishima and his friend's expression was so earnest. "You're… you're so worth it, Kat. Remember that." If anyone could read right down to the heart of him at times through all his bullshit, it was Kirishima. He thought back to Aizawa's dorm suite and what Eri had whispered to him. Thank you for making me feel better. You are one of the best heroes. And one of my favorite friends. Katsuki never thought 3 years ago he would have anyone that cared for him so much to consider him a friend. His experience at UA had changed his life in so many ways. He had made friends that he fiercely cared about and that cared about him, too. He still had so many things he had to work on, like his temper and his patience. And his mouth. But maybe Kirishima was right. Maybe he was worth the wait.

/

"I say love will come to you

Hoping just because I spoke the words that they're true

As if I offered up a crystal ball to look through

And where there's now one,

There will be two."

Chapter 83: Trouble

"Oh, here comes trouble

Put your helmet on, we'll be headed for a fall

Yeah, the whole thing's gonna blow

And the devil's got my number

S'long overdue, he'll come looking soon

Yeah, the whole thing's gonna blow"

Eijirou

It was Saturday early afternoon, and Eijirou found himself in Hitoshi's dorm, but not in his dorm room. Eijirou was in Gen C's living area on the couch with Chiba and Fujioka talking about Hitoshi. They only had a half day of classes due to a teacher development seminar so all of UA were enjoying the early start to their weekend. Hitoshi had work study Friday and Saturday and had gotten back to UA about thirty minutes before. He was exhausted and dirty (he had the night shift and had gotten on a bullet train back to UA right after his shift ended Saturday morning) Eijirou had gone over to Gen C to greet him as he arrived back on campus. Hitoshi had decided to shower, get changed, and meet Eijirou and his friends downstairs. Then, they would head over to the market for lunch.

Eijirou thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Hitoshi's classmates, especially Chiba and Fujioka since they were closest to him. He enjoyed hearing about the things Hitoshi did when Eijirou wasn't around and just talking about Hitoshi in general.

"He has been a lot more social since you two started dating. We all worried he would be less so because his social meter would be filled by you and you dragging him around places," Chiba said.

"Hitoshi's not really introverted though," Eijirou grinned.

"Soshi's not introverted? Are we talking about the same person?" Fujioka laughed.

Eijirou smiled good-naturedly at Fujioka. "Well, not a typical introvert. An extroverted introvert." Fujioka rolled her eyes at this but she was smiling so it didn't come off as antagonistic. Eijirou had gotten used to her, she was a bit pretentious and could be grating at times but Eijirou knew she meant well. She cared for Hitoshi, being his best friend when they were younger, so they had that in common. "I don't think he minds crowds of people or even talking in groups, he can be a bit of a show-off if given the opportunity."

"Well, that's the truth," Chiba added.

"He definitely was a bit of a show off last weekend. There was a party when we went home Saturday evening and he was the center of attention. A pro-hero in Nakatsugawa caused quite a stir. I have some pictures you guys have got to see! Pics of the party, but I also brought some childhood ones of Soshi!"

"You have physical pictures? Who does that nowadays?" Chiba laughed.

"Call me old fashioned but I like having actual pics instead of just going through them on my phone and posting them on socials." She walked over and grabbed a pristinely decorated pink box about the size of a shoe box from the kitchen counter and sat between Chiba and Eijirou.

"Scrapbooking and crafting, Kimi?" Chiba teased her as he took in the box.

She rolled her eyes at them and then opened the box and started to hand stacks of pics to both boys. "Very funny. I don't scrapbook and I didn't make this box, I bought it. I mainly keep my pics in boxes like this one or put some in albums," she said dryly. "I took photography as my elective last year so I sometimes use my camera instead of my cellphone and if so, I develop my own pics. It's become a bit of a hobby."

"A bit of an obsession looking at this box," Chiba said.

"Well, maybe. Most of them are digital ones I had printed up though," Fujioka replied.

"Party last weekend?" Eijirou asked a bit late in the conversation, but he was curious. Last weekend Hitoshi had gone home overnight on Saturday because his parents had pestered him too much about never visiting. He had returned to UA early the next morning and Eijirou and Hitoshi had spent the rest of the day together, mostly in Hitoshi's dorm room. Hitoshi had told Eijirou he loved him that afternoon. He smiled now thinking about it. Every day since he couldn't help but view Hitoshi in a different way. In a way that made him think of the future, which admittedly wasn't something Eijirou often thought about, living too much in the present at every moment.

"Yeah, a lot of families in our neighborhood got together at my house to celebrate Soshi coming home since he barely does it. He would rather be up at UA most of the time, even on holidays, even before you," Fujioka said, her green eyes falling on Eijirou. She was smiling, but something was off with her. Eijirou figured it was the fact she and Hitoshi had had a falling out months previous. Eijirou didn't know the specifics of why but knew they hadn't spoken for weeks but then had made up and were friends again recently.

"Oh! Look how cute!" Eijirou said as he started to go through the stack of pictures in his hand. There was a tiny Hitoshi, probably 4 or 5 years old. His face was impassive, (not surprising Eijirou thought) which didn't look quite right on someone so young. He was wearing blue shorts and a blue shirt that had a decal of All Might on the front. His hands were cupped around something small, but you couldn't see it. His hair was a mess of purple waves and his eyes were large and doe-like. There were no dark circles under them, but his face had a sleepiness to it. Maybe it was just the serious expression.

"I remember that day. We were in my backyard looking for grasshoppers. That's what he's holding in his hands." Eijirou flipped the picture to the bottom of the stack and then the next pic on top showed Hitoshi again, but this time a small blonde girl with pigtails was with him. Fujioka. They were about the same age as Hitoshi in the pic before. She was giving him a hug, a big smile on her face. Hitoshi was standing rigidly, looking uncomfortable, his face in a slight scowl.

"He sure hasn't changed much has he!" Chiba laughed.

"He's nothing if not consistent," Fujioka said. Chiba and Eijirou went through stacks of pics, oohing over cute baby pics, laughing at awkward middle school ones (Eijirou still thought Hitoshi had an air of coolness to him even with the harsh undercut hairstyle and braces) As Chiba and Fujioka talked more about middle school, Fujioka glanced over at a stack of pics Eijirou had started going through. "Those are from last weekend, from the party at my house," Fujioka said to Eijirou before returning to her conversation with Chiba.

Eijirou grinned as he went through the pics. He thought the party would be more of a whole neighborhood thing but most of the people in the pics looked like teenagers or young adults. He didn't recognize anyone in the pics except Fujioka and Hitoshi, but there were group shots with Hitoshi and he looked like he belonged there. These were the people he had grown up with. His childhood friends. It was nice to know he had that back home, much like Eijirou. People who remembered you when you were a small child when you were an annoying middle schooler. As he got through more pics, he saw some of the teens and young adults had flushed cheeks and/or glassy-eyed expressions. Seems like they were having a LOT of fun thought Eijirou with a chuckle.

One of the last pics in the deck made Eijirou stop and hold his breath when he flipped to it. There were four people on a couch. A girl and a guy cuddled up next to each other on one end of the couch smiling lazily at the camera/phone. On the other end of the couch was a guy with long blond hair pulled back in a low ponytail, a snake bite piercing, his face was sun-kissed and his skin tanned, and clothing that gave him a "uni student" air. He was mid lip lock with Hitoshi. Both the blond guy's hands were wrapped around Hitoshi's lower jaw and neck, his mouth open, and Hitoshi's tongue exposed in the shot. It was intense and deliberate and made Eijirou see red. There was no denying the two were making out. Eijirou felt his face grow hot. He flipped through the last three pics and none of them had Hitoshi in them. But there was another pic of the blond. A big grin on his face, tan-skinned, muscled, and gorgeous. Well, Hitoshi is nothing if not consistent thought Eijirou bitterly.

"You okay Kirishima?" Chiba's voice brought Eijirou out of his own head.

"Yeah. I'm…" Eijirou placed the stack of pics back in the box. He stood up, his knees felt weak and he felt like he was going to be sick. "I'm gonna check on Hitoshi. See what's taking him so long to get ready." Eijirou started to walk towards the stairway.

"If you go upstairs, the two of you will never come back down!" Chiba said with a laugh. "And this time we'll know you two aren't going out for a "bike ride!"

"Yeah… like they were ever going out on bike rides…" Fujioka said with a sour expression.

Fujioka

"Great, I guess it will be just you and I for lunch at the market now," Chiba said as the door shut behind Eijirou.

"Not necessarily…" Fujioka picked up the stack of pictures Eijirou had put down before he went upstairs. She flipped through them and saw the two rogue pics. The pic of Hitoshi making out with Kin Hidaka and the pic of Hidaka. Both were taken last summer. She had purposefully placed them in the pics from last weekend's party to start shit. She thought Kirishima wouldn't take the bait. Hitoshi had been wearing a different shirt in the summer pic and his hair was shorter. But he had fallen for it. Of course he would, he's an idiot.

She had told herself Kirishima wasn't good enough for Hitoshi. That this was for the best, the two of them breaking up. They were too different. Hitoshi would grow bored of the one-dimensional Kirishima anyway so she was just saving him some time. But she couldn't help the one thought she tried to suppress that was the true catalyst. If I can't have him, no one else can.

While Chiba was distracted looking at pics from her Class C pile, she took the two rogue pictures and placed them in the correct summer pics pile and then placed that pile underneath the last weekend pics. That way if Kirishima and Hitoshi talked it out and figured he had seen mixed-up pictures, the two piles were on top of each other and she could play it off as a misunderstood mishap if they wanted to see the box of pics. The piles were on top of each other right? Easy to mix up. But she hoped they would fight about it and there would be enough miscommunication to cause them to break up.

She waited, trying to abate her excitement. Hitoshi would be single now and would be spending more time with her and Chiba if things worked out. Maybe the three of them would be heading to lunch in a few minutes. He would be upset about Kirishima's wild accusations and he would need someone to talk to. And she would be there. And then he would finally see. She was the one that had always been there for him. When he was sick as a child, she would help take care of him, and sit with him and watch movies with him or play board games when he couldn't play outside. All through middle school she was there for him when friends were fickle and times were hard because everyone at that age is so self-centered. Maybe she could finally make him see that she had been in love with him all these years. Only her. Always her. Since they were small children. It was meant to be. He would realize it in time.

Hitoshi

There was a loud knock on the door which Hitoshi found odd. He had told Eijirou, Chiba, and Fujioka he was going to meet them down in the common area after he showered and changed. He was dressed except for his socks, so he stepped over to see who was bothering him. He opened the door and was met with a surprise.

Eijirou quickly walked past him into the room, his mouth set in a deep frown and his brows furrowed.

"Well, you're impatient," Hitoshi said, amusement ringing in the statement as he turned towards Eijirou. "I told you I was going to head downstairs as soon as I was ready so we could go to lunch -"

"I know what happened last weekend, okay!" Eijirou blurted out. Hitoshi saw Eijirou's chest heaving heavy breaths, his face flushed, his expression hard. Hitoshi stared at him, shame spreading throughout his whole body, he felt numb by how quickly it overtook him. He didn't know what to say, how to answer. They stood there in the room staring at one another. Eijirou's face that before was irritable and angry now morphed into a blank expression, devoid of any emotions. It didn't look right on his face, which was always easily readable with whatever emotions were running through him. The silence now became something palpable, like a separate creature hiding in wait and ready to strike. Hitoshi tried to think of the things he could say to change the outcome of where the conversation had to go. But he knew no matter what he said there was probably no other direction where it could lead.

The deafening silence had spread throughout the whole room, it filled his ears as if it was white noise; he could barely hear his own reply. "I'm sorry," Hitoshi whispered.

"That's all you have to say?" Eijirou's voice came out raspy and low, almost lost in the sea of space between them that seemed impossible to close now.

"It won't happen again. I promise." Hitoshi heard the pleading in his statement. The sharpness of the tone, it made him sound like a child that had gotten caught stealing a piece of candy. But his crime was so much worse.

"You betrayed me. I thought you loved me… we… " Eijirou broke eye contact finally and turned away. He wiped his eyes with the fingers and thumb of his left hand. Not looking into those eyes made things easier now for Hitoshi to try and explain himself. Even though he knew it was pointless.

"I couldn't help it… I…" Hitoshi wanted to tell Eijirou he had told him he could do whatever he wanted with Brainwash when he asked him to use his quirk on him, but that seemed like a shallow justification. And was gas lighting at its finest right? 'You said I could do it. You said I could violate you' Something an abusive manipulator would say. Because deep down he knew what he did was a violation. But he was too hungry. Too eager to test out this new, ridiculously overpowered part of his quirk. He couldn't help to think at the time about how invaluable he would be to any agency if he could fully control it. But now all he felt was stark regret that made his stomach turn and made him feel sick.

Eijirou's eyes were back on Hitoshi's and he looked so hurt now. He stared at him, his expression weighed down heavily by his own sadness. Hitoshi wished he would yell at him or cry angry tears. This defeated, yet resolute Eijirou was too much. How could Hitoshi make him see? Make him realize he loved him and he had made a mistake. He would vow to never impede into his mind again.

"We're done," Eijirou said. Hitoshi was frozen in place, unable to move or speak. He watched Eijirou leave his room, slamming the door closed behind him. The interminable silence filled the room now that Eijirou was gone. Hitoshi was lost in that silence. It filled his now empty self, leaving him cold and hopeless.

Eijirou

"'Everything's gonna be okay'

Oh, I keep telling myself

'Don't worry, be happy'

Oh, you keep telling yourself

'Everything's gonna be okay'"

Eijirou ran down the stairs until he hit the bottom floor and slammed the exit door open. He strode out into the cool afternoon air, his head racing with too many complex thoughts pulling his mind in every direction, his heart feeling heavy and broken. He jammed his hands into his jeans pockets and walked quickly towards his dorm trying to not burst into tears. He dropped his eyes to the sidewalk in front of him not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. The last thing he wanted to do was have to engage in conversation. The sadness was overwhelming but the acute anger he felt about what he had discovered mere minutes before was overtaking his broken heart, at the moment he was seething. He had never felt this way towards anyone. Being upset and having one's anger stirred by criminals and villains was something he understood. But this level of betrayal at the hands of someone who he was so close to and trusted was a new experience and he didn't know quite how to process it. He knew at some point this anger would dissipate and he'd be left alone with the stark sadness and realization it was over with Hitoshi and he didn't want to think about it.

With his eyes downcast Eijirou ran right into Hanta Sero, almost knocking him over.

"Oh, sorry Sero," he said as he grabbed Sero by his shoulders, steadying him.

"Damn, Kirishima, where are you off to in such a hurry?" Sero said as he secured his footing.

"No place in particular, just out for a walk." Sero eyed Eijirou suspiciously. "What about you?" Eijirou asked, deflecting and trying to steer the conversation someplace else. He didn't want to answer any more questions.

Sero chuckled nervously. "Well… " he dropped his voice and got closer to Eijirou. "To the Market Party," Sero whispered, and then he grinned. The Market Party… Eijirou thought to himself. Of course, it's Saturday.

"Can I tag along?" Eijirou quickly replied, trying to keep his face from scowling, trying his best to give one of his usual easy grins. But it wasn't easy at the moment.

"Seriously? You of all people? Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes finally wants to break the rules, huh?"

"Sure. Why not? Better late than never," Eijirou tried to talk in his usual casualness, but he heard the hardness in his tone. He only hoped Sero didn't catch it.

Sero nodded at him and nodded toward the gate in the direction he had been heading in.

They walked quickly towards the main gate leading into UA. Almost every day at 6 PM the gate was closed and locked. Only certain personnel could unlock the gate and anyone wanting in or out had to use a button at the gate to call into the night security's office. Every night except Saturday night. This was due to the large number of students that used this night to leave and go visit family overnight. Some school clubs and activities lasted until 6 or later so it made sense they would extend the time until closing up for the day so students could leave for a night away back at home when they were done with school activities. They would return the following day since Sunday was their one day off a week aside from holidays. So on Saturdays, the gate closed at 10 PM.

Because of this, some students decided to take advantage. 6 PM was also the curfew every night to be back on campus if students went to the market next door. This was the only place students could usually go to off-campus unless they had permission. So even though technically students had to be back from the market at 6 pm, the gates didn't close on Saturday like they did the other nights. So if any local teens from the area high school (and even teens that attended UA but lived locally) threw parties at the market due to knowing shop owners or even living there themselves, it was secretly passed along throughout the school. As long as they were back before the gate was closed at 10 pm, they most likely wouldn't get in trouble even though they were technically breaking curfew.

The duo left UA through its main and only gate and headed towards the market a block away.

"So where's the party? Kinda early, too. it's not even 2." Eijirou asked, wanting to talk now that the silence was starting to let his mind wander to Hitoshi.

"Sweetbank Bakery. Maru Iwai from Class D's family owns it. They live in a huge apartment above it. Her parents are out of town until tomorrow morning. So it's just her and her older brother. There will be some local uni kids. So…. college girls." Sero grinned. "As far as getting there early, it's less suspicious the earlier we can get off campus. Most of the UA kids will be there before 3 due to the shorter day of classes. Kids from the local high school and Uni won't be there until closer to dark though."

"So what do you guys do to kill time before dark?" Eijirou asked.

Sero grinned at him. "Oh, there's stuff to do. You'll see."

Eijirou nodded feeling completely out of his element and a bit naïve'. He had heard of these parties but had never gone since he saw them as breaking the rules. But now he didn't care. He didn't care if he got in trouble. He didn't care about anything at all at the moment.

"You okay, Kirishima?" Eijirou realized his face was probably in a grimace and he couldn't change it at the moment to save his life.

"Yeah," Eijirou offered half-heartedly.

"You don't seem okay. How's Shinsou?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Eijirou felt his face flush red with embarrassment and anger. He saw Sero's eyes go wide and then Sero looked away up in front of him.

"Well, it's on the far side of the market, so we have about a twenty-minute walk." Eijirou nodded, he felt his face still rigid with a scowl but he couldn't soften it. Normally he and Sero were quite chatty when together but they walked in silence. Sero was smart enough to tell Eijirou wasn't in the mood for chit-chat.

They arrived at the bakery and saw several students inside, although the open sign wasn't lit. The hours posted were 6 am to 1 pm on Saturdays and Sundays which made sense since the market was much slower on the weekends without its usual traffic from the area businesses that were only open Monday through Friday. Sero tried the door but it was locked. He lightly tapped on the glass door with his knuckle and Eijirou saw the head of Maru Iwai whip towards them. She was wiping down a counter. She grinned at Sero and walked over to let them in.

"Hey, guys! Glad you both came early, do you guys mind helping clean up? My parents left an hour ago so I closed up on my own and want to get things cleaned up before everyone gets here."

"Sure!" Eijirou said. He was eager to do anything to keep his mind off of what had happened earlier. There were baking sheets in the kitchen that needed to be washed. Eijirou along with a couple of support student third-years finished up with kitchen chores. Sero and Maru pulled the trash and took it out and wiped down surfaces in the bakery front room. After several minutes it looked like things were ready.

"Let's close the blinds. I'll have to keep an ear out for the door until it gets dark. Then I can leave it unlocked. It's dead on this end of the market after 5:00 PM. Most of the shops are daytime ones. You guys can head upstairs. My brother will be here soon with drinks," Maru said.

"Drink drinks?" Sero asked with a wry smile.

"Drink drinks and drinks," Maru replied with a grin. "Nikko turned 20 last week, so he can buy whatever he wants now."

Normally any instance of underage drinking would make Eijirou leave immediately. He would never risk getting into that kind of trouble. But it didn't matter at the moment. He wanted to have a good time. He needed to have a good time.

There was a light rap on the door. Maru opened it and in walked Mina, Setsuna Tokage, and Kosei Tsuburaba from Class 3B. "Kiri! What are you doing here? You've never come to any of these," Mina said in surprise almost dropping the large bag she was holding. Sero took two huge steps and helped steady the bag in her arms.

"I… uh…-"

"What the hell are you haulin' around Mina? This bag is heavy," Sero said interrupting Eijirou. He was thankful for the deflection, he didn't even know how he was going to tell people that he and Hitoshi broke up. It made him sick to think about having to say it out loud. Sero had to know something was up.

"Oh, just some snacks and stuff for some games," Mina said.

"I'll take it," Sero said as he took the bag from Mina.

"Thanks," Mina said, a surprised lilt to her voice.

"You didn't have to bring snacks, Mina! We have a lot of baked goods that I put aside for us. You always do too much for the parties," Maru said.

"I don't mind. You can never have too many snacks."

"Games, huh?" Sero asked.

Mina smiled wickedly at him. "Of course."

They headed to the back of the bakery, Sero ahead of them seeming like he knew where he was going. They must have had a "Market Party," at this location before. Sero opened a door where there was a hallway leading out to the back of the building and a stairway leading up to the apartment. Upstairs there were a couple of other students Eijirou recognized as third years from UA in the kitchen eating snacks. Sero put Mina's bag on the counter and started to unload it. Mina now grabbed Eijirou by the arm and pulled him into the room next door.

"What the hell, Mina!" he said, irritated. She kept pulling him to the other side of a large open living room until they were at the far end by a bay of windows.

"What's going on? Why are you here? You and Shinsou?" she said in hushed tones. Her black eyes glistened. She looked hurt. She had to know by the way he was acting and his presence at a place he would normally never go. They were childhood friends and when they both started at UA and ended up in the same class they had become a lot closer. She really was like a sister to him. He opened his mouth to say it, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he let out a shaky breath and felt a couple of tears stream down his face.

"Oh, Kiri!" she said as she wrapped her arms around him. He felt her small frame shaking, she was crying, too.

"Mina, please… if you start… I'll become a wreck… please…" Eijirou croaked out. After several seconds, she let go of him, put her hands on his shoulders, and looked him earnestly in the face. She had black makeup smudges under her eyes.

"You're right… I'll stop," she whispered as she searched his face. She took a deep breath. "But we're going to talk about this tonight. After the party in my room okay?" Eijirou nodded at her. "And Shinsou better fucking run the next time I see him." Her face was serious, her mouth a hard line. She meant it.

Eijirou couldn't help but weakly chuckle. Mina stood on her tippy toes and kissed him on the cheek. "Wait…." Eijirou brought his broad hands to her face and gingerly and as carefully as he could with his thumbs he wiped her smeared makeup away. Then he cupped her face gently with his hands. "Thanks, Mina."

She smiled at him now. "We're gonna have so much fun tonight! I got some games planned. It will take your mind off of things!" She grabbed his hand and walked him back to the kitchen.

30 minutes later, Nikko Iwai arrived with the drinks. "About time Iwai!" A support student yelled. As it neared five o'clock, cups were filled with beer, snacks were out, music was playing, a group was playing video games in a bedroom, and a couple was making out in another bedroom. The party was in full swing. There were about 20 students in the apartment and that number would only go up as the evening grew late. Eijirou had parked himself on the couch next to Mina who had not let his hand go since they had talked by the windows earlier. Sero had ditched them both early on to game in the other room. Eijirou held a cup of beer in his other hand, but he had yet to take a drink of it. He and Mina had been chit-chatting with Maru's brother and some of his friends.

"How long have you and Kirishima been going out, Mina?" Iwai asked.

"Oh, no, Kiri and I are just friends! We go way back. We grew up together." Iwai smiled at her.

"So…. do you have a boyfriend?" Iwai asked.

"Kinda. It's complicated," Mina replied. Eijirou squeezed Mina's hand and she briefly turned her head towards him winking at him. Something had happened between her and Inasa. Well "kinda" happened apparently, whatever that meant. Guess they would talk about that later when they talked about Hitoshi. Not Hitoshi, now. Shinsou. Just Shinsou now. It would be a hard habit to break.

"So, you're "kinda" available?" Iwai asked.

"Yeah." Mina coyly smiled and took a sip of her beer.

A few minutes later Mina let go of Eijirou's hand and stood up. "Who's ready for a game?" Mina said loudly with a lot of gusto. Some heads turned her way and a couple of people cheered. She walked over to a long island counter that separated the living area from the kitchen. She grabbed a box of unopened pocky from the bag Sero had carried into the room. She shook the box in her hand and a couple of students started chanting "Pocky Game."

"Maru, where should we play?" Mina yelled to get her attention.

"You can go downstairs. I unlocked the bakery door, only party people should be coming in this late, no one should bother you guys." Mina grinned, grabbed Eijirou by the wrist, and pulled him along toward the stairs.

A few minutes later 8 of them were gathered in a circle on the floor. They had moved tables to make room so they could all sit comfortably. "Okay, I wrote everyone's name on pieces of paper and put them in this cup. I'll draw names to decide our four pairs. The two people in each pair take a bite at each end of the pocky stick and nibble their way toward each other. The first person to back down and turn away before you kiss loses and has to drink."

"What if they both kiss each other and neither turns away?" Iwai asked, grinning.

"Well, then they both 'win' and neither has to take a drink," Mina said coyly. Eijirou's stomach lurched. What if he got teamed up with a guy? Wait, what if he got teamed up with a girl? His palms began to sweat. "Kiri?" Mina's voice rang out. He locked eyes with her and she gave him a knowing smile. She could read his sudden apprehension. Mina crawled over to him and sat next to him while the other people in the circle chit-chatted.

"I need you to take a big swig of your beer," Mina said.

"What?"

She leaned towards him so she could whisper and only he could hear. "Take a big gulp of your drink. Now. You need to loosen up, love. It's gonna be okay. It will be fun. I promise." Eijirou nodded quickly a few times. As Mina returned to her spot, Kiri took a big gulp of his neglected beer. It tasted horrible. He tried his best to not make a face. How could anyone drink this stuff willingly? he thought to himself. He caught Mina's eyes and she was laughing at him.

"It gets better, I promise," she said. The look on her face made him think she wasn't just talking about the beer. "Okay! So the first pair is…" Mina fished two pieces of paper out of the cup and read them out loud. "Setsuna and Me!" Eijirou exhaled with relief. At least he wasn't going first. Mina opened the box of pocky and both the girls moved towards the middle. They both sat on their heels, the ends of their knees touching the other's knees. Mina placed the pocky stick in her mouth and Setsuna leaned towards her and took the other end of the pocky stick in her mouth. They both began to nibble on the stick, inching closer to each other. Setsuna seemed to be going through her side faster and that made sense to Eijirou. She had pointy, shark-like teeth just like he did.

He heard a throaty, deep chuckle coming from Setsuna as she was gaining on Mina. Mina hummed a squeal but kept nibbling. A second later, Setsuna locked lips with Mina and a few people in the circle cheered and clapped. Setsuna pulled away, a smug look on her face. She was very competitive so Eijirou wasn't surprised. Mina's face blushed a dark red and she laughed as she brushed crumbs away from her cheek.

"Okay, so the next pair!" Mina sang as she drew the next names. "Kirishima and Iwai!" Eijirou's eyes shot over to Iwai having no idea what his reaction would be. He was grinning at Eijirou and Eijirou didn't quite know how to process that. Mina handed the pocky stick to Iwai. He crisscrossed his legs, put the tip of the pocky stick in his mouth, and wiggled it around which elicited a snort from Setsuna and a laugh from Mina. Eijirou crawled on all fours over to Iwai, feeling terribly awkward. He sat on his heels right in front of Iwai and leaned in and bit the end of the stick, being very careful because his pointy teeth were not very forgiving. It would be easy to snap the stick, and he wasn't sure what the rules were if that happened. Probably having to finish a cup of beer knowing his luck. "Careful Kiri! If you snap the stick and it breaks, you have to finish your whole cup of beer!" Of course.

"My luck…" Eijirou somehow managed to mumble around the pocky stick. Eijirou and Iwai began to make their way towards each other, Eijirou could feel Iwai's hot breath on his face. He could smell beer on his breath along with his cologne or aftershave. He smelled nice, although Eijirou could do without the beer breath. Eijirou was mere inches away from Iwai's lips now. His eyes drifted away from Iwai briefly and fell on Togeike (A general studies third year). Their eyes locked for a moment. She was watching them, her face a deep blush and very serious, her eyes wide in amazement. Eijirou felt terribly self-conscious now. His eyes shot back to Iwai and he was so close, their noses were about to touch. Eijirou turned away at the last second. Iwai closed his mouth over the now freed stick and threw his hands up in the air as he finished chewing the stick. Everybody clapped and Eijirou couldn't help but grin. So Iwai, who Eijirou assumed was straight, would have kissed him. Interesting.

"Gotta drink Kiri!" Mina said in a sing-songy tone. Eijirou crawled back to his spot, grabbed his beer, and took a huge gulp. This time, it didn't taste as bad. Before Mina could read the next pair out of the cup, the bakery door opened, and in walked Togaru Kamakiri and Neito Monoma from Class 3B.

"What took you guys so long?" Tsuburaba asked.

"We had to be fashionably late apparently," Kamakiri said as he side-eyed Monoma.

Kamakiri nodded at Mina, "Sorry to interrupt, I'm gonna head upstairs."

"No worries!" Mina said.

"You comin', Monoma?" Kamakiri said as he walked to the stairway door.

Monoma locked eyes with Eijirou briefly and then looked back at Kamakiri. "Actually, I'm gonna stay down here." Kamakiri shrugged and continued out of the room.

"You never play any of Mina's games," Tsuburaba said to Monoma as he sat next to his fellow classmate.

"I just want to watch." Monoma's crystal clear blue eyes locked on Eijirou's again. Eijirou eyes shot over to Mina's and she gave him a peculiar look. She cleared her throat and turned her attention to the cup. She called out the next pair, Togeike & Tsuburaba.

Togeike chickened out and turned away last minute. Tsuburaba grinned as he returned to his spot by Monoma. The last pair was Agoyamato, a general studies student, and Tanaka, a business class student. Neither of them lost their resolve and when they kissed everyone in the circle cheered, even Eijirou. Well, everyone except Monoma. Eijirou glanced at him and saw he was staring at him intently. Again. Every time he looked Monoma's way, those blue eyes would bore into him.

Monoma had been an enigma to Eijirou and a lot of class 3A the last 3 years. The first year, he had been cocky and arrogant, bad-mouthing class A as much as he could. Then second year, he seemed to chill considerably as Class A and Class B started to do more activities together to build a better rapport. Monoma no longer heckled them. Instead, he had become very quiet and reserved around their class. He still had an air of arrogance and superiority, but he didn't engage maniacally like he did before. Out of Class 3B, Monoma was probably the person Eijirou knew the least. He even knew Reiko Yanagi, who was terribly shy, much better than Monoma. Monoma just didn't engage with their class.

But now he couldn't take his eyes off Eijirou. And Eijirou wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Sero came downstairs and through the door. "Mina?! Why didn't you tell me you guys were playing?"

"Oh, sorry Sero! You only missed the Pocky Game. Since I was so rude to not pull you away from whatever game you were playing," she said sarcastically, "I'll make it up to you by letting you pick the next game."

Sero grinned. "Truth or Dare."

Mina squealed, went to her bag, and pulled out a deck of index cards.

"Pffft. Are you guys in middle school? Truth or Dare? Seriously?" Monoma said in a languid drawl.

"I promise you won't be disappointed," Mina said brightly, not letting him deter her in the slightest. "It's actually a combination of Truth or Dare and King's Game." Monoma raised an eyebrow at her. Mina grabbed a handful of chopsticks and a Sharpie and handed them to Sero. "Write 'King' on one of the chopsticks and then number the rest 1 through…." Mina turned towards the group. "Who's playing this one?" Eijirou thought he would sit this one out and watch. He still felt a bit shaken up about the Pocky Game. Everyone else in the circle raised their hands except Monoma. "1,2,3…..8… Kiri, Monoma… you guys playing?"

Eijirou grinned and shook his head. He felt eyes on him and he knew it was Monoma before he looked at him.

"Monoma?" Mina asked, eyeing Monoma suspiciously.

Monoma was leaning back, both arms stretched behind him supporting his weight. He looked relaxed. "I'll play if Kirishima plays." Monoma tilted his head back and to the side and stared at him.

Eijirou couldn't back down from a challenge to save his life and he couldn't help but see Monoma's ( was it a taunt? ) request as such.

"I'm in then," Eijirou said without missing a beat. Monoma donned a predatory grin that looked too natural on his face.

Sero labeled the individual chopsticks, one with the word 'King" and the other 9 with the numbers 1 through 9. Mina grabbed a velvet cinch sack, placed the chopsticks in the bag, and shook it. "Remember, only the King reveals themselves, the rest of you have to keep the number covered with your hand." She then stood up and let everyone take a chopstick. Agoyamato pulled a chopstick, then Togeike, and Setsuna who got the 'King' chopstick.

"Bow to your King," she said with a cackle. She brandished the chopstick wildly in the air like a wizard with a wand and Tsuburaba laughed. Tsuburaba pulled a chopstick, then Iwai, Eijirou, Tanaka, Monoma, Sero, and finally Mina took the last one left in the bag.

Mina handed the deck of index cards to the 'King.'

Setsuna grinned a toothy grin as she shuffled the cards several times and then flipped over the card on the top.

"The numbers go one through 9, remember," Mina told her. Setsuna nodded.

"Truth or Dare number….4," Setsuna said, picking a number randomly. Sero raised his chopstick in the air and Mina clapped excitedly.

"Dare," Sero said.

Setsuna grinned ear to ear. "Remove one article of clothing every time you get a notification on your phone. Dare lasts the whole night." Iwai and Mina started to laugh and Sero looked dumbfounded.

"That's so unfair!" Sero wailed even though he was grinning.

"Lemme see it!" Mina crawled over with her palm out in front of Sero. Sero sighed, took his cell phone out of his pocket, and handed it to Mina.

"I'm turning notifications off mute so you can't cheat!"

Sero grumbled but still had a slight smile on his face. Eijirou was a bit envious. He had zero qualms about being nude, he would have been thrilled to get a dare like that. He worried about what the other dares were going to be like.

Mina gathered all the chopsticks, shook them in the bag again, and the bag was passed around. This time Iwai was the King who chose the number 6 which was Togeike. She chose truth and had to answer who her first crush was when she started at UA. No one was surprised when she said Todoroki. "You and half the school!" Mina laughed, but Togeike still turned bright red anyhow. The next round consisted of Agoyamato having to switch his shirt with Setsuna, which was hilarious because he was a pretty tall and built guy and she was lucky he didn't rip her shirt when he pulled it on over his head. This was followed up with Sero's phone giving a notification and Sero's shirt coming off. Now it was Tanaka's turn to be 'King'. They chose the number 8 which was Eijirou's number. Eijirou raised his hand.

"Truth or Dare?" Tanaka asked, their voice a quiet rumble. They were known to be very quiet and serious at school, but in this environment, they seemed to be enjoying the games which surprised Eijirou.

"Dare." Eijirou couldn't resist.

Tanaka read the card silently before they read it out loud, a small smile on their face. "Pick a number from the remaining players and go inside a dark closet with them for 7 minutes."

And now Eijirou greatly regretted choosing dare. He had hoped it would be something typical like when they played truth or dare sometimes back at the dorm. Like 'read the last text you sent out loud or send a flame emoji to the last posted pic of your first 5 contacts on your Instagram.' But the closet thing…

"Spent 18 years in the closet, finally came out, and now we're asking you to get back inside it, man," Sero snickered.

"Dad joke!" Tsuburaba booed at Sero but was laughing.

"Pick a number, Kiri," Mina asked. He met her eyes and she smiled at him reassuringly. Right. He was supposed to be having fun, getting his mind off of things.

As Eijirou decided on a number and said, "4," the only thing he could think suddenly was please don't let it be Monoma, please don't let it be Monoma, please don't let it be Monoma.

No one said anything or moved for several seconds. Then Monoma stood up, took a couple of steps toward Eijirou, and offered Eijirou his hand to help him up off the floor, a smug smile on his face. Iwai laughed loudly and clapped his hands, a few of the others joining him. Shit. Eijirou downed the rest of his beer in three large gulps, smashed the plastic cup with his right hand, and then grabbed Monoma's hand with his left hand and stood up. Eijirou didn't make eye contact with him, and Monoma didn't let go of his hand.

"So…. no closets down here. The 'closet' will be the kitchen." Mina walked a few steps over and opened the door to the kitchen. She peered inside the empty, dark room. "Yeah, this will work." Monoma walked past her pulling Eijirou behind him. Mina met eyes with Eijirou and nodded at him with encouragement before shutting the door behind her.

Monoma walked over to a stainless steel island in the center of the large kitchen. Moonlight spilled in through the blinds so Eijirou could see him well enough in the dark. As he was being led by Monoma, Eijirou was surprised at how small Monoma looked to him. His personality made him seem so much bigger than he actually was. He was a couple of inches shorter than Eijirou and was smaller framed for his height. He was slight, but still lean-muscled due to the hero courses' rigorous training. He was wearing khaki slacks and a white linen, short-sleeved button-down shirt. As he approached the island he let go of Eijirou's hand and nimbly launched himself on top of the counter and sat. He patted the space next to him, the stainless steel counter rumbled a tinny sound. Eijirou dared to look him in the face now. In the moonlight, he did look very pretty. His light eyes seemed to glow and his face was relaxed and inviting. He was very attractive when he wasn't being intensely maniacal. Yet his face still had a bit of a hungriness to it that alarmed Eijirou. It was strange to him that Monoma was being so open and obvious about it. But Monoma seldom hid his intentions about anything thought Eijirou.

"You look nervous. I won't bite un-"

"'Unless you want me to.' That's my line," Eijirou interrupted him as he sat on the counter next to Monoma, the stainless steel making a much louder rumble than Monoma had made when he had climbed up. He surprised himself with his own brazenness.

"Your catchphrase?"

"Well, I'm the one with the crazy teeth so it makes more sense I would say it." Eijirou was nervous. He didn't know if he should make the first move. He was staring at a floor tile in front of him trying to settle his nerves. Monoma obviously wanted to mess around with him the way he had been staring at him.

"When I walked in earlier and saw you sitting there…. I almost didn't come tonight… now I'm glad I did."

"You aren't very subtle about it," Eijirou said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"You don't like the staring. I thought you'd be used to it by now the way a lot of the student body behaves around you." Eijirou shrugged.

"You've never given me an ounce of attention before," Eijirou said, an edge to his voice that surprised him.

"Well, you were never 'out' and available and at a Market Party before."

"6 minutes!" Eijirou could hear Mina yell from the other room. Eijirou wondered where the anger was coming from. He was supposed to be having a good time. And then he remembered.

"Yeah. I'm 'available,'" Eijirou said bitterly.

"It sucks, doesn't it? I know how you feel."

Eijirou turned toward Monoma now. "Really? I find that hard to believe."

Monoma gave Eijirou an easy, lazy smile that didn't fit the sentiment as he spoke. "Hitoshi Shinsou broke my heart second year. I've tried to move on and it's impossible. I won't get peace until I graduate and I don't have to see his stupid face anymore. I'm beyond thrilled that's less than a month away. So you and I can do one of two things now. We can spend the next 5 minutes getting each other off or we can talk about how much we hate Shinsou because we're the two bastards stupid enough to fall for him. Honestly, I'm equally enthused about either at the moment."

"Shit. You really get to the point," Eijirou breathed out in shock. Now it was Monoma's turn to shrug. Eijirou swallowed and dared to ask him. "What happened second year?"

Monoma sighed and smiled at Eijirou. "So you have chosen…. Talking. Over making out. I'm that appealing, huh?"

Eijirou grinned sheepishly. "Um…. I …." Eijirou had no idea how to answer the question. Monoma was definitely easy on the eyes but at the moment Eijirou was heartbroken and maybe talking it out would help him feel better. Maybe Monoma did understand how he felt.

"Fair enough, I did give you the choice." Monoma leaned back now, arms stretched behind him, taking a relaxed posture. "Shinsou and I were both instrumental in the war against All For One and Shigaraki due to our quirks as I know you're aware of. After the final battle, once Shinsou got his hero license, we interned at the same agency under Edgeshot second year due to the clout we earned during the war. We were both naturals at covert, undercover missions. Makes sense considering our quirks. We spent a lot of time alone, working together, it became so natural, to the point we could guess what the other was thinking. Perfect partners. I fell for him hard."

"5 minutes!" Mina's voice sounded from the next room. Monoma stopped talking with the interruption.

"Did you tell him how you felt?" Eijirou asked hoping he could keep Monoma going.

"Yes, in a way. We were both staking out this apartment one night. Just the two of us on this ledge in the cold huddled together trying to keep warm. I was shivering and he put his arm around me. I looked at his face then and leaned in to kiss him… he turned away…" Monoma shook his head. "I was mortified. He said he was sorry he gave me the wrong idea. That he only saw me as a friend."

Eijirou couldn't help but scrunch up his face in a grimace. "That must have been awful."

"As if that wasn't bad enough, a week later back at school I see him and Kendo holding hands in the dorm. MY dorm. How shitty is that? Not only was I rejected but now I get to see him and Kendo be this oh so cute couple in MY space. 3 months they went out. I hid in my room most of the time."

"You kinda checked out from hanging out with Class A second year. It was because of Shinsou being in our class." Monoma nodded at Eijirou.

"So that's my sad sob story. Keep it private, not that I really care at this point. I'm not going to keep up with anyone from UA after graduation. Good riddance." Eijirou felt very sorry for Monoma. Eijirou had made so many friendships at UA and he really hoped he would keep those ties going. But Monoma had let a bad situation make him bitter. No. He wasn't going to let that happen to him.

"That sucks, Monoma, but why wallow in it all this time? You have a lot to offer. You're an amazing hero and hard worker. You've always been so supportive of Class B. And you HAVE made friends in Class B. I always see you with Kamakiri and Kuroiro."

"Those guys…. Well, misery loves company I guess. Yeah, I have gotten close to them, it's true." Monoma sat up and brought a hand up to Eijirou's face. Eijirou swallowed not used to another guy being so touchy-feely, well except for…. he didn't want to think about it. Monoma's thumb lightly rubbed Eijirou's cheekbone. "Damn, you're just a ray of sunshine. So unbelievably hot, too. I can get why Shinsou was into you." Monoma moved closer and his hand shifted to the back of Eijirou's neck. Monoma leaned in, like he was going to kiss him, but didn't. "The way he looks at you. He fucking adores you. Or adored you." Eijirou felt his breath on his face, the smell of a woodsy cologne wafting around him. "Now I have to know. What happened? Why are you here and not with Shinsou?"

Eijirou couldn't help but let out a shaky breath. "He… got bored with me." There. There was the truth. Cold and hard and right in Eijirou's face. It was so difficult to see one's flaws and insecurities thrown back at them.

"4 minutes!" Mina's voice traveled into their space again, but it was easy to ignore this time.

"Well, he's a fool," Monoma whispered as he leaned into Eijirou, wrapped an arm around his neck, and kissed him.

Hitoshi

He stood in his room unable to move for a few minutes. His mind raced, wondering how he could reverse the damage he had done. Maybe if he told Eijirou everything, how he discovered Brainwash: Mindreading with Bakugou, how he feared for his life due to the nature of this aspect of his quirk, and Edgeshot and the offer to work undercover for the CIHA. It was time to come clean with everything. Eijirou probably still wouldn't take him back, but at least he was finally being honest about things. And if talking about the CIHA with Eijirou made the offer null, well then so be it.

Hitoshi pulled his shoes on and hurried out of his dorm, down the stairs, and out of the building. He went straight to 3A dorm. There were a few students hanging out on the couches, two of them were Bakugou and Momo, both sitting next to each other studying. He went straight to the stairway leading up to the bedrooms, ignoring the greetings he had received from his fellow classmates. That wasn't too much out of the ordinary for him; he could be a dick at times. He ran up the stairs to the 4th floor and opened up Eijirou's door. His room was empty. Out of breath but determined, Hitoshi turned away and went back downstairs. He went straight to the only person most likely to know where Eijirou was.

"Bakugou, have you seen Red?" Hitoshi kept his voice as even as possible.

Bakugou glanced at him looking slightly alarmed. Maybe his voice wasn't as calm as he thought it had been. "I thought he was with you. Haven't seen him since he left an hour ago to meet up with you." Momo glanced at Hitoshi and nodded at him in greeting, but her brow turned up as if she was worried.

Hitoshi nodded at her. "Guess we keep missing each other. Gonna head back." As he headed to the stairway he felt Bakugou's eyes on him. He knew something was up. Hitoshi increased his speed with the hope if Bakugou decided to follow, he could lose him. He didn't feel like talking to anyone or trying to explain, or lie, about what was going on. Yeah, Hitoshi, just keep the lies going he thought bitterly to himself.

Over the next hour, he checked the gym, the courtyard with the fountain, Lunch Rush, part of the Market that was closest to the school, including the ramen shop Bakugou and Eijirou frequented, and then repeated the search again. No sign of Eijirou. Hitoshi decided to text him.

Hitoshi: Red. Please. I need to talk to you.

He waited for a minute and didn't receive a reply. Of course, he didn't expect Eijirou would. Hitoshi sighed and thought he'd go back to 3A dorm. Eijirou had to return there eventually.

As he arrived back on campus he was intercepted by Aizawa-sensei who looked as if he was heading to the faculty dorms by the direction he was walking. "Where you headed?" his mentor asked him in his usual monotone.

"Um, just to 3A dorm," Hitoshi replied.

"You okay?" They both walked in silence for about ten seconds, Hitoshi realizing he was so far from okay that he wanted to scream. And there was no way he could answer that question with a seemingly nonchalant "Yeah," and then not get grilled by Aizawa afterward. He could see right through Hitoshi. Aizawa stopped walking, Hitoshi taking a few long strides before he stopped himself. He paused briefly and then turned towards his mentor but didn't make eye contact and didn't say anything.

Aizawa sighed. "Come with me back to my place. Eri is with Ahane for the evening. We can talk in private." Hitoshi nodded silently and the two walked to the faculty dorm in absolute silence.

/

"And I've been looking for him the last couple of hours and then I ran into you," Hitoshi had been pacing the small space in front of Aizawa's couch. Aizawa had not said anything the last half hour as Hitoshi had unloaded every single tormenting thought he had had over the last month: The offer from the CIHA, their conditions to hire him, Brainwash: Mindreading, and his ugly break up with Eijirou. Walking past the threshold into Aizawa's suite had been like breaking a dam that had been bursting at the seams.

Aizawa's almost-black beetle eyes stared at him, his expression blank, his posture relaxed. It made Hitoshi want to scream. After several seconds, Aizawa finally spoke. "Sit down," he said in a calm, low tone.

"I don't want to sit down!" Hitoshi yelled back. Even though he had been upset earlier with his info dump on Aizawa, he had mostly kept his cool except for his voice being a bit more animated than normal. Of course, for Hitoshi, that was a lot. But now, with Aizawa's lack of everything he had finally lost it. His chest was heaving, he felt his face in a hard grimace. Aizawa's expression didn't change. Hitoshi felt tears begin to sting the edges of his eyes and he turned away from his mentor, his fists gripped tightly.

"You don't have to sit down, I thought it would make things easier. Very well." Hitoshi kept his back to his mentor trying his best not to yell at him. How could he remain so calm when Hitoshi's world was unraveling? Did he not care for him at all?

"If you really want to talk to Kirishima about the job offer, go ahead. Your gig with the CIHA is not off the table if you do. Don't think for a second they will only take you if you bend to everything they ask. They want you, Hitoshi. They won't deny you if you have a significant other or even talk to the people closest to you about your employment with them. I would keep it between me and Kirishima though. It's just easier for them if you're a lone wolf. Trust me though, you have more of a position to ask for things you want. Remember that."

Hitoshi felt an immense weight lift off of him as he turned towards Aizawa, he felt his grimace unfurl and knew he made a pained expression when he spoke, but he didn't care to show it. "Really? How do you know?"

Aizawa gave one of his rare smiles. "I just do, Hitoshi." It took Hitoshi a few seconds to realize Aizawa had addressed him by his first name. He had never done that before. Hitoshi now moved to sit across from Aizawa on the ottoman.

"But you are right to worry about your quirk awakening. I wouldn't tell anyone else at the moment. Keep it between just Bakugou and me. And don't discuss it anywhere outside my dorm, do you understand?" Hitoshi nodded at him. "My place is secure."

"Well then, how do I use it if I can't let anyone know about it? If I suddenly have intel on someone, won't I have to explain it?" Hitoshi asked.

"Intel is intel. Just say you have your sources and you can't divulge them. But I wouldn't be in such a hurry to use it on just anyone until you understand it better. Before you graduate, I will set up times for you and Bakugou to practice it here." Hitoshi made a face. "I will talk to Bakugou. You need to practice and he will let you." Aizawa smirked. "He has no choice. He owes me. You can also practice on me. I think those should be your short-term goals for it. Do not tell anyone else. You would be seen as a threat to the country." Hitoshi tried to keep the alarm out of his eyes but failed. "It will be okay." Hitoshi now sighed and ran his hand down his face feeling exhausted.

After several seconds, Aizawa spoke. "You good now?" Hitoshi's mind drifted to Kirishima.

"Well… what about Kirishima?"

Aizawa stood up and walked over to the refrigerator and began to raid it. Leftovers for dinner. "That's not so cut and dry, unfortunately."

"Yeah," Hitoshi said.

Aizawa began to dish food for himself to microwave. "Hungry?" Hitoshi shook his head. As the microwave whirred, Aizawa leaned against the countertop and stared at him.

Hitoshi stood up and then plopped himself on the couch. "Guess it's time for me to reap what I sow or pay the piper or whatever."

"You can start by stopping the pity party and feeling sorry for yourself about what you did to him. It was wrong to impede into his mind without his permission. Own what you did instead of trying to make excuses. Quit feeling bad for yourself. Feel bad for the person you hurt."

"You're right. I'm just a giant pile of shit, why even try to reconcile?"

Aizawa sighed. "Because you're not a giant pile of shit. You're just human. You're still a kid, Hitoshi. You're still learning. Don't let the tragedy be that you're still making the same mistakes 5 years from now. 10 years from now. Then, yeah. You'll be a giant pile of shit."

"Kirishima would never betray someone the way I did to him."

"You're right. But Kirishima has his own flaws, other areas he's working on. You guys could learn things from each other. If you can fix this that is."

"Do you really think I can fix it?"

"Do you think Kirishima is capable of staying away from you and not hearing you out?" The edge of Aizawa's mouth twitched.

"Wow, you make it sound like he has no backbone." Hitoshi's voice had finally returned to his normal, dull drawl. He was feeling better. Aizawa always managed to make him feel better, even at the worst of times. "He doesn't look kindly on those who hurt others."

"But you didn't hurt others. You hurt him. He's a lot more forgiving when he's the one that's wronged. It's a huge flaw of his in a way, but it's a by-product of his kindness. Just talk to him." Hitoshi groaned and buried his head in his hands. Aizawa chuckled. Actually chuckled, the sadist. Hitoshi tried to remember a time he had ever heard his mentor chuckle, laugh, or chortle and realized this was the first time he had heard that noise from him. Aizawa a second later was back to his usual placidness, however. "Yeah, talking isn't easy for you, but you'll do it if you want it bad enough." The microwave dinged.

Hitoshi sat up abruptly. "Shit, I gotta find him and talk to him." He sat up quickly and bounded for the door. He put his hand on the handle but stopped himself and looked over at Aizawa. Aizawa was watching him, his face passive but his eyes much more alert than they usually were.

"Sensei… I …. I'm sorry I got mad at you earlier…" Hitoshi thought about how he had assumed Aizawa didn't care. He did care immensely, he just didn't show it like normal people. Hitoshi thought that was pretty hypocritical of him to think that way since he was pretty similar to his sensei in his demonstrativeness.

"Go. Find Kirishima," Aizawa said with a slight smile on his face.

"Yeah… thank you sensei. For everything." Hitoshi ran out the door.

After he took several steps into the hall, Aizawa called out to him. "Wait Hitoshi, how did Kirishima find out about your quirk awakening? If Bakugou was the only one who knew about it, he would never tell anyone under any circumstances. Something doesn't add up."

He was right Hitoshi thought. Bakugou was a lot of things, but he would never break his word. Even as close as he was to Eijirou, he would have never told him about it. Hitoshi locked eyes with Aizawa and nodded in agreement. He had to find Eijirou immediately and get to the bottom of this.

Author Note:

Sorry for the KiriShin cliffhanger! This update just got too long! I am a sucker for misunderstandings please don't hate me. But I like resolved misunderstandings (with happy endings!) so don't you worry 😉 There will be one more update for this story (1 to 2 chapters and an epilogue), we're almost there!

Originally Three Orchids was going to have Four Parts, and Part Three would focus on Ahane and Aizawa. I decided I wanted to keep Three Orchids about just the students though as I finished up Part 2, so I dropped Part 3 which was titled "Slow up" and decided to make it its own story. If you are interested in reading about Ahane, Aizawa, and sweet Eri, check out my other story called Slow Up. This is originally where the "Three Orchids" title came into play. Each couple of the long fic would have a scene with a different kind of orchid which would be symbolic of their relationship. But I ended up dropping the scene with Kiri & Shin and since Aizawa and Ahane's ended up in a completely different fic I had to think of how I was going to tie my title in because I didn't want to change the title halfway through the fic. I will reveal it in the epilogue next update!