Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

36. Clover Rising: Part Three

His name was Yuga Aoyama.

It turned out that Tsukauchi had done his research thoroughly - All Might knew everything he already needed to know as he stepped into the hospital room, placing the folder on the table where his friend was already seated, looking troubled. Gran Torino, meanwhile, stared out the window, although he turned to give the bed in the center of the room a frown as he tapped his cane against the floor. All Might, for his part, was dead quiet as he approached the bed in his smaller form, staring down at the young man unresponsive to the world.

According to the records his friend had found, Yuga Aoyama was a Japanese citizen who had moved to France as a baby due to business that his mother and father, two wealthy socialites, had been involved in, and eventually moved back to Japan when Yuga was six. What was curious, however, was that Yuga was noted in his official medical record from France to be quirkless - but when he returned to Japan, he was noted to have spontaneously manifested a quirk, right before he joined middle school.

Navel Laser. A quirk that … neither of his parents had any record of having similar quirks for that to come from.

From what Tsukauchi had gathered, the doctors who had examined Yuga had passed it off as a birth defect, and the parents soon supplied him with a support item when it became clear that the young man couldn't control his quirk well. The doctors had simply excused it as his quirk coming in late, noting that it wasn't something out of the ordinary. And had All Might not known better, he would've thought the fact that Yuga's quirk was different than his parents' was a coincidence as well - he already knew that Izuku didn't have the same kind of quirk as his parents, so it was rare, but not out of the ordinary enough to investigate.

But now … staring down at the young man … he couldn't do that.

Feeling his face fall, All Might's frown deepened. The young man in the hospital bed was utterly catatonic to the world, staring blankly up at the ceiling while having tubes connected to his nose and mouth. He wasn't moving at all, but the way his eyes bulged in their sockets, looking manic yet blank at the same time, caused All Might to clench his fist tightly as he inspected Yuga.

Even with the tall, skeletal man leaning over him, Yuga showed utterly no sign of even acknowledging his presence, staring blankly up at the ceiling with his face slack.

"… and they found all three of them like this?" All Might asked Tskuauchi in a blank voice.

"Yes," The police detective nodded, looking to Gran Torino in the corner as the older hero walked over to look at the notes again, "the police found them two days after the results of the entrance exam were sent out. The neighbors heard the sound of cats screeching in their home, and went in to investigate - they figured that the Aoyamas must have left on some kind of unexpected vacation since their cars weren't in the driveway, and forgot to feed their pets. They found all three members of the family in the living room, just like this."

"The father's still catatonic," Gran read from the police notes, "just like this young man, he's in a room further down the hall. The mother is apparently awake, but she's at Fujitani Hospital."

"The mental hospital?"

"She's … unresponsive," Tsukauchi's expression darkened, "prone to violent outbursts if distressed, especially if they mention her son. We won't be able to question either of them."

The three men turned to stare down at the young man in his coma, All Might clenching his fists tightly.

"We've seen cases like this before," Gran said in a rough voice, moving towards the bed and stepping onto the seat to stare down at the comatose boy, "Nana and I, and Toshinori as well. When we first began investigating All For One, trying to track him down to figure out how he moved around, we looked for cases like this - the results of people with clear signs of being forced to bear more quirks than they can handle. If this boy had failed the entrance exam … and then two days later all three members of the family ended up like this … the timing's too close to pass this off as a coincidence."

"He was trying to slip in a spy," All Might said in a quiet voice, but his teeth gritted, "and if we know All For One, this boy might not have been the only one."

"Is that even possible?" Tsukauchi shook his head, standing up from his seat. "I wouldn't put it past him to try manipulating a student into acting as his spy, but … if this boy failed, a week before class began, then All For One would've had to have either had another student along with Aoyama apply for the entrance exam, or …"

"Or this student who might be a spy," Gran narrowed his eyes, "would've had to have been coerced. Someone who had no choice but to help the Villain Consortium arrange the break in at the USJ."

"Hm …" Tsukauchi felt himself frown as he thought, "… if that were the case … we never did find any video evidence of Slice entering the school, on the day of the break in. All the camera feeds we reviewed didn't show her anywhere - from what was in the files, everything was shut down for maintenance that day. Could it be that … I doubt the Consortium had control over the crowd, but …"

"You mean," Gran raised his eyebrow, "this Slice woman deliberately waited until a time she knew the cameras would be down so she could slip in and out?"

"It's far-fetched," Tsukauchi gave him, "but like you said, Torino, at this point, there are too many loose ends piling up for it to be a coincidence. "

"The cameras were shut down …" All Might furrowed his brow, frowning seriously as he crossed his scrawny arms, "… and the Consortium just happened to choose that day to slip in to find our schedule. But another thing is … how would Slice have known where to go to find the schedule? As far as I'm aware, the timing of the crowd breaking in and them being escorted out was too close to have Slice slip in, find the staff room, find and steal what she needed, and leave before the police arrived."

"Could a student have done it?" Tsukauchi mused. "They were outside where the reporters were leaving, and I know that there were a few stragglers that the police had to escort out. Could it have been that a student took the files, Slice created the diversion, and then in the chaos, they met, and she took them from the student?"

"That's if it's even a student," Gran said grimly, "I trust Nezu, but I don't know most of his staff."

"No," All Might shook his head, "I've worked with them for about a month now, sensei - while some of them can be a bit rough around the edges, they're all good people invested in the success of their students. Not to mention that Tenko's worked there for years, and we know that he's more observant than either of us. If there is a traitor … it won't be a teacher."

The three of them were quiet for a while, clearly pondering amongst themselves over what might have happened. All Might's eyes never wandered away from Yuga, seeing him staring blankly up at the ceiling as though shell shocked, and unresponsive to the world - something that was just making All Might scowl even fiercer in anger, the possibilities of what happened to this poor boy only serving to fill him with fury.

It was only until Gran let out a sigh that the other two men looked around at him, seeing him turn away from the bed as he tapped his cane against the seat.

"I suppose that this will have to be a conversation for another time," He said in a grim voice, "we can't exactly grow paranoid over a theory that doesn't have any evidence yet. If we inform the UA staff about us suspecting a traitor in their midst - whether it be a teacher or a student - they might do something drastic, or start to investigate each other or their students - and all that would do is make a possible traitor nervous, and that would let All For One know that we're on to him."

"That's if he really is alive," Tsukauchi pointed out in a tired voice, "right now, Torino, it's just a theory. For all we know, Nine is masterminding this. All For One's survival should be our worst case scenario."

"Yeah, well," Gran huffed, "back in my day, the worst case scenario tended to be the only scenario we prepared for. Anything less than that is what we considered luck."

"Anyway," The police detective shook his head, "for now, I propose we act as though nothing's wrong. I'll bring Principal Nezu up to speed on our suspicions during our meeting Monday - he'll decide then how we proceed, and whether or not we bring in the other teachers in on this."

Gran Torino merely let out a sigh at that, but still nodded, deciding to let it go for now. Coming down from the chair, he turned to look back at All Might as his old student continued to stare down at the young man, not moving towards the door at all as Tsukauchi turned to open it. With a sigh, the old man reached up to tug on the pro hero's sleeve, causing his eyes to break from Yuga for the first time and look over at his old teacher.

"There's nothing we can do for him now, Toshinori," He said in a gruff, but not unkind voice, "all we can make sure to do now is find out whatever happened to that monster. And then we'll take down Nine and his Villain Consortium - if he got knocked on his ass by Midoriya when the kid could barely fire a lightning bolt, then he'll be simple for us to bring in."

All Might still frowned down at the student, clearly conflicted - but he knew that his teacher had a point. Simply staring down at this young man in rage wasn't going to bring him any justice. So, with a sigh, he nodded, and turned to walk out the door with Tsukauchi and Gran Torino, bowing to the nurses waiting outside in thanks for letting them visit so late, and watched as they moved back in to check on their patient, letting the door slide shut.

Once they were all standing out in the hall, the large windows of Central Hospital showing off the city skyline, Tsukauchi sighed as he began walking over towards the elevator on the far end of the hall.

"Now then," Tsukauchi gave them both a tired smile, "I should probably think of heading home soon - Makoto is going to be visiting over the weekend from America for the next month or so, so I should probably get as much rest as I can before she arrives - don't wanna have to spend the weekend of her trying to rearrange my furniture on no sleep. Can I give you a ride home, Torino?"

"Sure," Gran nodded, cracking his neck, "I skipped dinner to come here, after all, so I need to get home soon so I can eat some taiyaki before I pass out. Besides, I've got to visit the Shimura brats this weekend, so I better get to bed soon."

"Of course," Tsukauchi laughed a bit before looking up at All Might, "how about you, All Might?"

"Thank you for the offer," All Might nodded at him with a soft smile, "but I don't want to impose. I'll get a taxi home."

Both men nodded and bid All Might goodnight, with the pro hero watching as his two old friends walked together towards the elevator. He wasn't worried about his own ride home, of course - he could easily afford a taxi, seeing as he had used up enough of his energy today showboating around the sports festival. He knew that he was going to be regretting his cheerleading exercise in the morning - he hadn't stretched those kinds of muscles in years, he winced - but it was worth it to see the horrified looks on Ochako and Itsuka's faces, something that made him chuckle even now as he began walking down the hall towards the stairs.

That … and he did need some time to decompress from what he had seen, All Might felt his smile fade. Seeing that poor boy laying there, without any hope of waking back up … and thinking …

He knew that Tsukauchi was right, despite his and Gran Torino's paranoia - they had no confirmation that All For One really was alive, and it was very possible that it was simply Nine acting behind the scenes. But that didn't mean that he could just … rest easily, he frowned - after the last match of the day, when he could've sworn that he had seen …

…

… no, All Might shook his head, frowning deeply as he opened the door to the stairs, he was just letting the paranoia get to him. His conversation with Gran Torino earlier today had just shaken him - making him see ghosts everywhere. Right now, he should try and look on the bright side of things - knowing that, from what he had seen today, that Itsuka had managed to utilize One for All without hurting herself filled him with pride, which was what he should focus on.

He shouldn't try focusing on things that would stress him out - he should -

Before he could continue that line of thought, however, All Might became aware of the feeling of his phone beginning to vibrate in his suit pocket. Blinking, and glancing down briefly in surprise, he fished the phone out of his pocket and turned it to see who was calling him. He had the thought it would be either Melissa or David, giving him an update on when Melissa would arrive in Japan, which was something he was practically bouncing in excitement for -

- but then, as his eyes landed on the name, he felt himself pause his step in the stairs, blinking.

"Mrs. Midoriya …?" He said out loud, feeling a weird sense of déjà vu as he glanced around the stairwell, and then back down to the phone. Glancing over at a clock on the wall, he felt his eyebrows raise at the time of one o'clock in the morning - why was she calling him so late? Was everything alright?

Wait, did something happen?

Feeling his brow furrow as a shot of worry passed through him, he was quick to answer the phone call, and raised it to his ear.

"Hello? Mrs. Midoriya?"

"Oh! Mr. Yagi!" Inko's voice sounded surprised, maybe a little embarrassed, and … definitely a bit anxious. All Might felt himself gulp nervously as he walked over towards the window, staring out into the city as he kept the phone to his ear. "I'm - I'm very sorry, I just … I thought to give you a call, and - and I didn't even pay attention to the time. I'm so sorry, were you asleep?"

"Er, no, I'm - not yet," All Might quickly assured her, glancing around the stairwell for a moment in embarrassment, "I was just … getting done with something. I'm actually about to head home soon."

"Oh! Oh, well, that's - that's good."

"Well, is everything alright?" He asked.

"Y-yes, everything's fine!" Inko was very quick to assure him, still sounding incredibly nervous - something that made All Might straighten his back in concern. "It's just, er … I was … wondering if you were busy tomorrow?"

"Er … tomorrow?" All Might repeated, trying to remember if he had anything going on the next day - but seeing as he had the day off tomorrow, Nezu wanting him to take a break from the second year sports festival to allow them to have some of the attention, he shook his head. "I don't believe so. Why? Is there something going on?"

"Well …" Inko hesitated for a moment, "… there was, er … something I wanted to talk to you about. Something that I … well … anyway. I know Izuku will be going to that little party of his in the afternoon, so … so would you like to come over for lunch?"

"Lunch …" All Might slowly nodded, and then felt a small smile appear on his face despite himself, "… that sounds lovely, Mres. Midoriya. I … yes, I'll be able to make it. Will Mr. Midoriya be joining us?"

"Er - well, no," Inko cleared her throat awkwardly, "he's actually going to go to work for the day - he got a message that they'll be transferring him back to Japan from America, so he's wanting to get his work things all transferred over. He's … actually not back yet," She sounded a bit confused by that, "he texted me a few hours ago that he was going out for drinks, but … oh, well, you probably don't care about that. S-so tomorrow, at noon? At my place?'

"Yes, that sounds lovely."

"G-great! Well, I'll - I'll make sure you're well fed. And … and we'll have … lots to talk about." Inko's voice fell slightly at that, making All Might raise his eyebrow - but then she sighed. "Anyway, I should probably keep waiting up for Hisashi - make sure that he isn't in trouble. Thank you, and - and goodnight, Mr. Yagi. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Er - right, Mrs. Midoriya," All Might nodded, "I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, they both hung up, with All Might putting his phone back in his pocket. He couldn't help but feel his eyebrow raise slightly - while lunch with Inko wasn't something to be disappointed about, he was a bit confused about the timing. It was almost as though … as though she were …

… asking him … for a …

All Might paused for a long moment - and then he shook his head at once, dispelling the thought from his mind. No, he reprimanded himself, don't be an idiot. Inko was not asking him for a date, or anything like that. She didn't know he was All Might, after all, and … he was pretty repulsive in his current form, so - no. No, there was no way. It was just a … a friendly lunch get together.

Alone.

Just the two of them.

Without … the Urarakas, or the Kendous, or the kids.

Just … them.

…

… okay, All Might blushed a bit as he began hurrying down the stairs, he just … oh, good lord, he was the Number One Hero! He fought All For One! Why was he nervous about going on a maybe-date with a charming, beautiful woman?!

…

… oh, god, All Might held a hand over his eyes, he was so screwed.

---

… shadows.

Darkness.

That was all Itsuka could see.

She wasn't able to move at all. She couldn't move her feet, her hands, her legs, her arms, her head, anything. She wasn't able to call out to anyone, to shout, or scream. All she could do was feel her eyes move back and forth, both of them widening as she tried to understand where exactly she was.

It was … it was somewhere she had never seen before. And her mind felt like it was screaming in pain as she tried to take in her surroundings.

It was a realm made entirely of what looked to be moving shadows. As though the wind itself was somehow blowing the darkness around her, making her unable to even see if there was anything out there. And yet … despite the pain her head felt, she felt weirdly calm.

At peace. Like she was at home, with no one there to hurt her and no one there to make any trouble for her.

And then, in the distance, she heard them. Voices.

"... can you -"

"She can't -"

"This is -"

"- can't we just -"

"- all Gearshift's fault -"

"- I'm trying to -"

"- he was right there -"

"- grave danger!"

"- she has to -"

"- please -"

"- stop him -"

Wrinkling her brow, Itsuka tried, as hard as she could, to look around for where the voices were. It was almost as though they were echoing all around her, making sure that she was unable to see anything as she squinted her eyes. She wanted to call out, to ask if there were anyone there, if they could see -

"… I screwed up, I screwed up, I screwed up, I screwed up so much, oh, god, is she never going to want to talk to me again after this?! She probably won't, will she?! Oh, I couldn't keep control of myself for five freaking seconds, and now look what I've done! I've screwed everything up! I had, what, ten years of friendship with her and that wasn't enough for me?! I just go ahead and do whatever I want?!"

- huh?

Itsuka felt herself blink. Wait, she … she recognized that voice. What was … who was …?

"Okay, okay, okay, I just - there has to be a way I can fix this. There has to be! I just have to go over and apologize - for - for - k-kissing - oh, god, what is the matter with me?! I took advantage of her trusting me, and - and just decided to plant one on her without any warning, and now our friendship is ruined forever, I just - okay, I need to figure out other hero programs in other countries so that I can move away forever and she'll never have to deal with me again. I know that Peru has a few good programs, so maybe I -"

"Mmmm …" She managed to hum out, and one sense returned to her. A pleasant smell filled her nostrils, making her close her eyes and concentrate on it, the other voices fading into the background in favor of this one voice that was making her heart skip happily.

"_ agh, how do I convince my mom to let me move to Nepal?! Wait, do I even have the money to move to Nepal? Those tickets are expensive, I should do a bit more research on it before I make a -"

"Izuuuu," Itsuka groaned, finally getting her voice back, "I'm tryin' to sleeeeeep."

The familiar voice suddenly went quiet, allowing Itsuka to sigh a bit as she kept her eyes closed and frowned - the moving shadows around her faded, making her grunt slightly as they faded from view, and pouted into the pillow that she was currently rubbing her cheek against as her eyes finally cracked open.

She then became aware that she was laying down on a comfortable mattress, wincing a bit when the lamp on the desk shone its bright light in her eyes and made her squeeze them shut again. Once she opened them again, she stared over at the various memoria of All Might surrounding her, the room illuminated by a dim orange light, and she slowly moved to sit up on the bed.

Taking a moment to yawn as the weird dream she had slipped away from her memory at once, Itsuka stretched her arms above her head, grunting as she heard something crack, and then lowered a hand to rub some gunk out of her eye. Finally, she slowly turned to look over at Izuku -

- and saw him standing above her near the bed and staring at her in horror, as though she were some feral beast that suddenly emerged out of nowhere and was two seconds from attacking him. Her eyes drifted behind him, and she wrinkled her brow at the open window showing the pitch black sky, meaning that … it was probably still the middle of the night.

… and … she was on his bed, she finally realized. She had been … sleeping … on his bed.

At once, her still slightly sluggish thoughts grinded to a halt, and she turned back to stare up at him blankly for a moment. And then her face turned red.

"… I'm … in your bed." She stated the obvious, feeling herself shake as Izuku started a bit at her quiet voice.

"O-o-oh, no, it's - it's fine, Kendou!" He quickly assured her, beginning to wave his hands frantically while he blushed as well. "I - I really don't mind, I - actually, uh - I didn't - I didn't really n-notice you were - you were still here. H-ha. Ha ha."

"Ha ha …" Itsuka repeated after him, looking around at the alarm clock off to the side on the table, and winced when she saw that it was about twenty after four in the morning. Meaning that she had probably been passed out for hours, and was hogging Izuku's bed all to herself, seeing as her legs were still spread. Clearing her throat, Itsuka quickly moved to get off of the bed, looking around to Izuku in order to apologize and confirm that she'd try to sneak over to Ochako's room to try going back to sleep there -

- and then she finally took an actual look at his face. And she felt her attempts to escape from her fluster falter.

Izuku looked … it was strange to say, but he looked far too panicked at the moment. She'd normally think he'd be flustered if he found her asleep on his bed, but … but she saw that he was shaking, his forehead glistening with sweat, face red, and fingers fidgeting. He was a bit hunched over as well, glancing off to the side almost as though he were on the verge of a panic attack and was waiting for her to leave so that he could completely melt down.

So … he looked nervous, of course, but … perhaps … too nervous for this situation.

"Er … hey, Izuku?" She said in an uncertain voice, raising an eyebrow briefly when he noticeably flinched at her calling him. "Are … you okay?"

"O-oh, yeah, I'm - I'm fine!" He said a bit too quickly, continuing to slightly twitch and glance away from her.

Her eyebrow continuing to rise, Itsuka stopped her attempts to get out of his bed, and didn't think much of it as she moved to crawl over to him. As soon as she was in front of him, she moved to sit up on her knees, and raised her finger to poke his cheek.

Jumping a bit as she briefly and playfully rubbed her finger in, Izuku quickly glanced over at Itsuka as she continued to give him a somewhat amused look, sitting there on her knees and looking up at him.

"Alright," She smiled at him, "so what happened?"

"H-huh?!" Izuku squeaked again, his face burning somehow redder. "N-nothing! I - I mean - n-nothing happened, Kendou, I - I don't - I'm - I'm good!"

There was a good long pause there, with Itsuka's eyebrow raising and Izuku's shoulders sinking as he forced himself to stare into her skeptical eyes - and then she said, in a deadpan voice, "Do you wanna try that again and try to make it sound more convincing, or …?"

"N-no," He sighed, slumping over, and Itsuka smiled again at the way he looked like he had just got caught with his hand in a cookie jar, "I - okay, something … something may have happened."

"I figured," She slowly nodded, and sighed as she moved off of her knees, wanting to sit down properly. Once she was sitting on the edge of his bed, she moved to pat the spot beside her, giving him a warm and inviting smile.

After a moment, Izuku nodded again, and moved to sit down beside her, although Itsuka couldn't help but notice that he was consciously keeping a bit of distance between them. She felt herself frown, but fought down the urge to scoot a bit closer.

"So," She brushed her ponytail behind her shoulder, glancing down and wincing when she realized she was still in her school button-up shirt and skirt, but deciding to ignore it for now, "what's … been going on since I passed out?"

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, his face twisting into one of humiliated shame that made her blink - and then he slumped forward. "… I ruined my friendship with Occhan. Forever."

Itsuka found herself sitting up, her stomach tensing slightly as she looked at one of her best friends in surprise. He … ruined his friendship with Ochako? Forever?

… okay, well, besides that sounding a bit overdramatic, Itsuka couldn't really see how he could do such a thing with Ochako of all people. Those two were pretty much inseparable, as shown by today being the nonstop Izu-Ocha show, so she couldn't help but wonder how Izuku could have possibly messed something up between them.

"Okay …" She shrugged a bit, deciding to go along with him for the moment, "… and … sorry, but what exactly did you do? I mean, I don't really think that -"

"I kissed her."

And … of course, that was where Itsuka's thoughts screeched to a halt.

For a long moment, she stared blankly at Izuku as he moved to hold his face with both hands, his blush evident even with it completely covered. Itsuka's good-natured smile slipped off her face, and she found her jaw dropping slightly, her thoughts flying away like a balloon with its air let out. She felt like her heart had suddenly stopped beating, and her stomach, which had been feeling slightly squeamish, suddenly twisted hard enough that she felt like she was suddenly in pain.

Izuku and Ochako … kissed.

Her best friends … kissed.

The two people she definitely wanted to kiss each other, who she had been wanting to get together for weeks now … did just that.

"… oh." She managed to get out.

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, still hiding his face from her, "oh."

"You …" Itsuka felt her mouth suddenly turn dry, "… kissed … Ochako?"

"I … I did," He slowly nodded again, horror in his voice as he slowly moved to stand up from the bed. Itsuka watched as he lowered his hands, showing to her the utter terror and guilt in his eyes. "I kissed her. I - I kissed Occhan. I kissed my best friend, and - and - and now, I ruined everything!"

"I - o-okay, hold - hold on," She tried to push down her own conflicted feelings as she reached out to take his arm, only to furrow her brow and wince slightly as he noticeably flinched at her touch, "just - just tell me what happened, okay? I'm - I'm sure that it's not that bad, Izuku, you're just - you're panicking. Just tell me what happened, and - and we can go from there, okay?"

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then he quickly smacked his own cheeks, as though trying to force his panic down, and he nodded. "… r-right. Yeah, I - okay, Kendou. You're right, I just - I'll - I'll explain."

She nodded again, patting the spot next to her again, and Izuku took that as his cue to sit back down again, Itsuka keeping her distance but still close enough that if she saw him panic, she could calm him down.

"So …" She gestured to him, "… tell me what happened."

"Okay," Izuku sighed, moving to lean forward and rest his elbows on his knees, "So, uh … it - it happened when your mom and dad left with Eri. We - we saw Kacchan down at the park, and we - we went down to see what he wanted. I - I eventually got him to go away, and then we - we started talking. Er - me and Occhan. We just - we sat down and just started talking about - about everything."

"Uh-huh …" Itsuka slowly nodded, trying to get the twisting in her stomach to calm down.

"Eventually, we, uh - we started hugging," Izuku raised one of his hands to his eyes as he blushed redder and redder, "and the - you know the - the weird feelings I've been having all day? That I - I told you guys about?"

"Mm-hm."

"I - I started feeling them again, when we were - we were hugging. And - and I actually thought about what they meant, and I eventually realized that - that those 'weird feelings', they - they were -"

He hesitated for a moment, before he shook his head.

"- they were - they were feelings of - of love." He sounded humiliated by that. "I - I realized that I'm - I'm in love with Occhan."

Itsuka tried hard not to show how much her heart hurt from that statement on her face.

"O-okay …"

"And then I just … I just started talking," He groaned in a weak, embarrassed voice, "telling her about - about how much she meant to me, and - and how much she's inspired me. I told her that - that I'd been having those - those weird feelings for her whenever we touched, or - or hugged, and then I just … I just … I went ahead and did it," He then buried his face in his hands, leaning down, "I kissed her."

"Okay …" Itsuka swallowed a bit, feeling her hands shake, "… and … did she … kiss you … back?"

There was a long pause. And then Izuku whispered, "Y-yeah. She did."

"Oh …"

"We - we actually - we made out."

"O-oh."

"I - oh, god, I - I made out with her," Izuku whispered, horror filling him once again, "I - I didn't just - I didn't just kiss her, Kendou! I made out with her! I pinned her to a street post!"

Itsuka felt herself blink at that. Suddenly, a mental image of Izuku came to her mind - Izuku, someone she knew to be a complete sweetheart, someone who wouldn't hurt a fly unless that fly did something horrible to someone he cared about, pinning Ochako to a street post, passionately kissing the life out of her and grabbing her leg to hoist up around his waist. Clinging to each other, hands exploring parts of each other that she could only dream of.

Suddenly, Itsuka didn't know who she felt more envious of, Izuku or Ochako, even as she tried to fan her red face and dispel the nice image from her mind.

"We were -" Izuku continued to ramble on, unaware of Itsuka getting a little … 'distracted', "- we were - tongue kissing! My - my tongue was in her mouth! She - she grabbed my butt!"

"Lucky bitch," Itsuka muttered under her breath without thinking.

"H-huh?" He blinked. "Did you say something?"

"Nope," Itsuka shook her head while blushing brighter, "not at all."

"I'm …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then he let out another defeated groan as he flopped back down on the bed beside her. Itsuka watched as he curled up and grabbed the pillow to bury his face in it. The same pillow that she had been using earlier, she realized with a faint blush.

But now wasn't the time to continue getting distracted - it was clear that Izuku was going through a massive panic attack right now, overthinking everything, and believing that Ochako would never want to talk to him again after this. And … well, it was up to her to snap him out of it.

So, with a small sigh, she moved to adjust herself closer to where he was flopped down, and gently shook his shoulder to get his attention.

"Listen, Izuku," She said in a soft, comforting voice, "I'm … I'm sure that everything's gonna be fine. You don't have anything to worry about - I'm sure that Ochako won't ever want to see you again. Honestly, I - I bet she's probably awake right now too, agonizing over the same thing you are."

"… do you think so?" Izuku's voice came out muffled and pouty from the pillow, which made her smile despite herself.

"I'm sure," She giggled a bit, "but you know what? I bet you're both panicking over nothing. I bet you two will - you'll see each other tomorrow, first thing, and this whole thing will seem like - it's - it'll seem like a smaller deal then than it does now."

"A smaller deal?" Izuku groaned a bit more. "I - I realized I"m in love with her -"

She tried not to wince again.

"- and - and I'm supposed to just pretend that everything's fine?" He shook his head, and finally moved to sit up so that she could see the tired, anxious look in his eyes. "I realized that my best friend is perfect, and beautiful, and - and that I've probably been head over heels for her since we were kids, and - and the moment I realized it, I messed everything up. How am I supposed to - we - we eat dinner together every night! How am I supposed to look her in the eye knowing that I have feelings for her? And - and how do I know that she just - she just doesn't want to forget about it? Just … pretend what happened … didn't?"

"I … I don't think she would," She shook her head, biting her lip - she, of course, knew that Ochako probably wouldn't want to try forgetting this, but she knew Izuku didn't know that.

So … so she would have to proceed carefully here.

"I - I mean - c'mon, Izuku," Itsuka tried to lightly say, "do you think that Ochako would just - what - try and pretend your kiss didn't happen?"

That's what she did when you kissed her, A mean part of her pointed out, but she tried to ignore it. She knew the circumstances were different, and she wasn't exactly right when she thought that, but … well, it still somewhat hurt.

"I - I don't know," He shook his head, his eyes turning sadder as he looked away, "I just … I have no idea what I'm doing, Kendou."

She gave him another sympathetic look, and, after a moment of hesitation, reached out to pat his shoulder again. She could tell that Izuku probably wasn't going to be able to recover from the stress of this tonight - he was clearly scared of the implications of what he did with Ochako, and he was afraid that he had ruined everything.

Of course he wasn't just gonna hop back up and be positive again after a few nice words. So maybe …

… maybe he just needed some sleep. A few hours … of …

… wait a second.

Suddenly, Itsuka stopped her line of thought. Blinking a bit, she turned to look over at the alarm clock on the bedside table, next to his phone. She stared at it for a few long seconds before her eyebrows raised, wondering why it was she felt so off while staring at the time - and then suddenly, the dots connected.

"Izuku," She suddenly said in a quiet voice, but one full of suspicion, "when … exactly did you kiss Ochako? Like … at what time?"

"H-huh?" Izuku hummed, still looking desolate as he stared down at his knees. "Oh, uh … like … nine o'clock? A-around that time."

There was a long pause. After a moment, Izuku's gaze flickered over to Itsuka, and he blinked a bit at the look of incredulity on her face.

"Er …" He said unsurely, "… Kendou?"

"Nine o'clock," Itsuka repeated in a blank voice.

"Y-yeah?"

She then turned back towards the clock. For the first time, he followed her gaze, and they both stared at the red letters showing the time of four thirty in the morning.

"Have …" Itsuka tilted her head a bit, "… you've been panicking about this … all night?"

"…"

"…"

"… er -"

"Nope," She shook her head, looking back around at Izuku with a pout that made him gulp nervously at once, "nope. No more of that. It's time for you to go to bed."

"B-but -" Izuku stammered a bit, glancing around at her stern expression and feeling himself sweat nervously, "- well - isn't it - isn't it too late to -"

"Izuku Midoriya," She stood up from the bed, putting her hands on her hips and glaring down at him as he shrank into himself, "you texted the group chat yesterday that you got up from bed at five o'clock yesterday. That means that you've literally been going for almost twenty four hours straight. And that's not taking into account that yesterday was exhausting, and we're going to a party later today. You are going to bed for at least a few hours, and then once you've gotten at least a little rest, we can - I don't know -"

She paused for a moment, and then she nodded.

"- you and I can go for a walk," She decided to offer, "and we can talk more about what you're gonna do with Ochako. Once you - you know - actually have a chance to rest."

Izuku, of course, was clearly conflicted as to what he could do here - but it was the look of Itsuka's face melting back into cold certainty as she stood above him with her hands on her hips that told him that he couldn't really argue with her. With a small sigh, Izuku glanced down at his school uniform, and nodded, awkwardly clearing his throat as he moved to get up.

"Er … okay," He finally gave in, while Itsuka smiled in satisfaction, "I - I guess you're right, Kendou."

"Yeah, I know."

"So - uh -" He glanced back over at her as his cheeks went a bit red, "- i-in that case, I should - I should probably grab some blankets - I'll stay on the floor, and you can - uh - you can go back to sleep on - on my bed."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked a bit, her gaze automatically trailing down to the bed, and she felt her cheeks heat up. "Oh, uh, n-no, I'm - I'm not gonna kick you out of your bed, Izuku. You - you just go to sleep, I'll just - I don't know, I'll sleep on the floor. It's only fair."

At once, both of them knew that Izuku wasn't going to like that thought. Indeed, as Izuku turned towards her with a frown, and opened his mouth to begin arguing, Itsuka decided to quickly appease him by raising her hand in surrender.

"Okay, fine," She rolled her eyes slightly, "I guess in that case, I'll just … you know, head over to Ochako's, and sleep on the futon. I just … I don't know, I'll try to be quiet."

"I -" Izuku felt himself falter, hesitating as Itsuka turned towards the door and began to quietly walk over. They both knew that Itsuka sneaking around in Ochako's apartment, especially so early in the morning, might be more trouble than it was worth. Even if Ochako was a heavy sleeper most times, both knew it was possible that she was just as awake as Izuku was, and Itsuka trying to sneak in might make her think that her home was being invaded.

Thankfully (or not), that potential scenario wouldn't be answered, however. As Itsuka slowly began to open the door, she blinked at the lights of the hallway being on - and then she let out a tiny squeak at the sound of hushed voices just in the hallway.

Quickly stopping herself from pushing the door open all the way, she gulped nervously as she stared at the shadows of both Hisashi and Inko in the hallway, and looked around at Izuku as he gave her a confused look, moving up from the bed.

"It's your mom and dad," She whispered, "they're out in the hall."

"Huh?" He blinked, surprised, and quickly walked over. "Why? It's - it's so early."

She shrugged a bit, moving slightly to the side so Izuku could stand behind her (and having him so close behind caused her cheeks to remain red for the time being) as she slowly opened the door a smidge again, allowing them to listen in to what was going on.

"… I … I'm sorry, Hisashi, I can't - I can't believe that," They heard Inko say - and while she didn't sound angry, she sounded … a strange mixture of blank and shocked, "I - I can't believe you actually did that."

"I did," Hisashi answered, his own voice blank but also sounding completely shell shocked, "we … we went out for drinks … we had a good time … and then she - she started getting handsy, and - and -"

"I … no, I can't believe it. I'm sorry. She's too out of your league."

"It happened. We went to her apartment and - and - and now I have her number," His voice turned suddenly terrified, "and she wants me to call her again this weekend when I have the time."

"I … I can't …"

Itsuka furrowed her brow - the talk of people getting handsy and going to people's apartments already made her realize this was a conversation that was not meant to be listened in on by her and the boy behind her. That, and Izuku was looking both confused and not liking where this conversation was going, so, as quietly as she could, Itsuka pushed him back slightly so that she could close the door as quietly as she could.

Once they were back inside, Itsuka sighed, and looked back to Izuku.

"So, uh …" She shrugged, "… I guess … never mind. Unless you, uh - you wanna explain to your parents why I'm sneaking out of your room so early in the morning."

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, his own face turning red, and then he shook his head, "… don't think I have the energy for that."

"Me neither," She shook her head as well, "so, uh … I guess …"

There was a pause - and then they both said, at the same time, "I'll take the floor."

They both paused at that, turning to look at each other as Izuku backed up, and both of them began to pout. There was a long moment of both of them glaring slightly at each other in challenge, as though the heat of each other's adorable pouts was going to cause the other to break, but unfortunately for them, Itsuka's determination was matched by Izuku's 'too tired to be polite'-ness, so that meant that they were at a standstill.

Until, at least, Itsuka glanced down at the bed. And then a thought occurred to her, and the lateness of the evening and being up much earlier than she was used to caused her to say it out loud.

"The bed's big enough for both of us."

That, of course, made Itsuka freeze up, blinking, as what she had just said registered. Izuku, of course, also froze briefly, before his gaze flickered to the bed as well. They were both standing there for a long moment, staring down at the bed blankly as though it had suddenly turned into a beeping time bomb -

- and then Izuku, in a blank voice, said, "Yeah. It is."

Itsuka slowly nodded, her face turning redder. "And it's … not the first time we would share a bed."

"N-no, it - it isn't."

"And … it would only be for like … three hours. Four, tops," Itsuka began sweating nervously, "and it's big enough that we can just … roll on our sides and keep our backs to each other. Just until we get enough rest to - to wake up."

"Y-you're right."

"…"

"…"

"… okay," Itsuka nodded slowly, "then let's … go to bed."

"R-right," Izuku nodded, sweat beginning to streak down his forehead, "let's - yeah."

---

Somewhere in the Akita prefecture, bending over her desk after suppressing a yawn after pulling a full all-nighter trying to get her plans for the beach together, Nejire sneezed, a foreboding feeling going up her spine. She, of course, chose to ignore it as she went back to planning how to get Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka their alone time later that day.

---

… aaaaaaand naturally, the only pajama pants she would have in Izuku's room right now would be short shorts.

Itsuka felt herself flush bright red as she lifted up the small black pants that she used as pajama bottoms. Judging from their length, they would barely cover her thighs, and would most definitely give Izuku a heart attack if he saw her in them, seeing as she hadn't worn anything as revealing as this around him before - hell, even her swimsuit when she, Izuku and Ochako had done a bit of swimming during their training last year had been in a school swimsuit, nothing as … well … provocative as this.

But … well … she didn't exactly have another option, she blushed. They were getting changed into pajamas, not wanting to mess up their school uniforms anymore than they already were, seeing as they didn't have much time to do laundry this weekend to get everything clean. She could hear the sound of fabric being moved behind her, meaning that Izuku was probably getting changed as fast as he could, so that meant that Itsuka didn't have much time to just stare blankly down at her clothes.

So, with a sigh and a blush, she got to work quickly, unzipping her skirt and letting it fall to the floor. She could hear Izuku squeak a bit behind her at the sound of her skirt hitting the hardwood floor, but she trusted him to keep his eyes on the wall he was facing as she quickly brought the shorts up her legs, and quickly got to work unbuttoning her shirt and getting it off. She knew, at once, that she would be keeping her bra on, she blushed - it felt like a step too far, and she didn't want to risk anything in the morning if they woke up entangled again.

So once the shirt was off and her gray tank top was on, Itsuka sighed as she let her orange hair out of her ponytail, and said, without turning to look at him, "Uh … I'm good. How - how about you?"

"I - uh -" Izuku stammered briefly, sounding incredibly nervous, "- y-yeah, I'm - I'm decent. Just gotta … uh … yeah, you're - you're good to look around."

Trying not to roll her eyes at the dorky way he said that - but also finding it cute - Itsuka let out a small sigh, and glanced over her shoulder. Izuku, of course, was still facing away from her, having gotten changed into one of his comfy t-shirts (that, of course, showed his arms wrapped tightly in bandages) and gym shorts for pajamas, and she had to suppress a giggle over how red his ears were starting to get as he glanced over his shoulder at her. She tried to ignore how his eyes flickered down to her legs, and then briefly up to her chest (okay, she couldn't fault him for that one, she blushed, the tank top did have a bit of cleavage showing) and then back around - and she, of course, tried to ignore how nice his butt looked in those shorts.

"So, uh …" Itsuka gestured with her head towards the bed, feeling her heart hammering in her chest as Izuku glanced down at himself.

"Er … yeah, of - of course," He nodded stiffly, and then gestured to his arm, "although, I … I should probably …"

She furrowed her brow briefly at that, not entirely sure what he meant - until Izuku glanced down at his arms again, what with the wrappings there, and she suddenly got it.

"Oh," She said simply, "you, uh - you wanna -"

"Yeah," He nodded, some of his fluster fading, "just … make sure that everything looks … w-well, not okay, but - but fine."

Itsuka slowly nodded at that, her face falling. Seeing Izuku look suddenly uncomfortable, staring down at his arms as though fearing what was going to be hidden under those bandages, made her forget about the fluster of sharing a bed for a moment as she quietly approached him, until they were both relatively face to face near the side of the bed.

And then, without really thinking about it, Itsuka reached out, taking Izuku's left wrist gently, and lifted it up.

"Uh -" Izuku blinked, looking at Itsuka in surprise, "- Kendou?"

"I'm …" Itsuka paused for a moment, her own cheeks turning red again - not really sure why she had taken his arm, and why she was still holding it - and then she sighed and said, in a quiet voice, "… here. Let - let me do it."

"I - huh?"

"It's just …" She shook her head, not entirely sure how to explain herself - or why Izuku couldn't unwrap his own bindings - but thankfully for her, Izuku's surprise died down relatively quickly, and while he still looked slightly flustered with her so up in his space, he still nodded, relaxing his arm. Taking her cue, Itsuka reached up with her other hand and began undoing the top of the bandages, careful not to scratch him with her fingernails as she worked the bandages off.

Finally, she unknotted the top, causing the bandages to loosen their tight hold, and she let the bandages fall, revealing his arm.

While the green cracks of light were still there, Itsuka winced, they definitely weren't as bright and menacing as they had been earlier today. They now were much smaller, no longer connecting or glowing - they were just there, slowly fading away. Nodding absently, Itsuka reached down for the other bandaged arm, undoing the knot there, and as the bandages fell away onto the floor beneath their bare feet, they both stared at the disappearing light underneath his skin.

"Looks like they're fading," She said softly, while Izuku merely frowned and stared down at them, "you'll probably be back to normal when we wake up later."

"Hopefully," He sighed, shaking his head and glancing over to his alarm clock, "uh … anyway, so … you want me to set the alarm for eight thirty, right? Or - or do you wanna wake up earlier than that?"

"Er - no, eight thirty's good," Itsuka shook her head, turning towards the bed and grabbing the blankets to spread them open for them to crawl under. She tried to fight down the sudden bolt of nervousness that crawled up her spine as she realized - yep, she was going to totally go to sleep with her crush. And since she remembered how the last time she went to bed with him, they woke up with her cuddling him to death. She knew that she had to … well … okay, she had to just stay calm.

Stay calm, and keep her arms and legs tightly wrapped around herself so she doesn't roll over in the middle of their rest and start clinging to him.

"Okay, so …" Izuku moved to set the time, nodding slowly to himself as he put the phone down and leaned over to click off the light on the desk, casting them into darkness, and began approaching the bed, "… I guess … uh … I'll stay on one side, and you'll stay on the other?"

"I - well, I guess," Itsuka shrugged, pouting slightly as she looked back around to Izuku as he approached, "I'll get in first, and then -

And that, of course, was when everything changed. Everything.

And, of course, it was because Izuku accidentally stepped on the bandages left on the floor, causing him to slip.

"W-whoa -!" Izuku gasped as he suddenly lost his footing completely, unable to brace himself in time as he lurched forward. Itsuka let out a small squeak as well as he came at her unexpectedly, caught off guard as she automatically raised her hands up to try catching him - but Izuku landing on her, as well as the fact she likewise stepped on the abandoned bandages on the floor, caused her to slip on her feet as well, causing them both to grunt as they toppled forwards onto the bed.

"Oof!"

"Agh!"

As the bed squeaked loudly at both their weight landing on it at the same time, they both paused for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened. Itsuka let out a small grunt of confusion as she felt something in between her legs - what the hell was that? - and opened her eyes, trying to see what felt both warm and heavy on top of her -

- and then Izuku moved up as well, grunting as he put both his hands on the bed beside her head. And then both their eyes met.

Both of them froze at once, as the situation they were in suddenly became apparent. Itsuka felt herself go still, her eyes widening and her blush deepening, as she realized two things. The first thing was that the warm comfortable weight on top of her was Izuku's body, pressing her into the bed. His face was close enough that she could probably lean up and brush her nose against his, which of course made her shake a bit.

And the second thing was that, that thing between her legs was his leg - and it was also … kind of …

… pressing against … her. Hard enough that she inhaled sharply when his leg accidentally pressed a bit harder against her.

It seemed, of course, that Izuku became suddenly aware of where his knee was, seeing as his face suddenly went as red as hers, as the moon shined through the open window and showed them both their frozen, flustered faces. And yet, he made no movements to get off of her - and she made no movements to get him off of her. They both let out small breaths at the same time, Izuku's shaking and Itsuka's in a quiet gasp as Izuku accidentally shifted, just a bit, and it caused her to let out another small squeak.

However, before either of them could begin freaking out, or Izuku could roll off her and have his panic attack, they both heard it.

The familiar sound of slippers approaching the door.

"Izuku?" They both heard Inko call softly from behind the door, making them both pale in horror. "What was that? Are you okay?"

Izuku quickly whipped his gaze up to the door, hearing the knob begin to twist - and realizing that his mom was about to poke her head in and see him pinning Itsuka to his bed in a very compromising position - but luckily for him, Itsuka was faster. Before he could blink, Itsuka's arms wrapped around him, and she pushed.

Her feet came off the floor as they twisted around, Itsuka moving both their bodies so that the back of her head landed on the pillow, and her feet quickly gripped the comforter and pulled it up, her hands coming down to grab it and pull it right over the boy on top of her, covering his entire body save the top of his head. And then her arms came up to wrap around his waist and dragged him down, laying him properly down on top of her.

As he squeaked, being forced to collapse right on top of her, Itsuka quickly rolled him over with his back to the door, and she ducked her head below his, trying to make herself as small as possible as she used his body to block hers. They both then heard the door open, and Izuku quickly and thankfully closed his mouth with a snap, keeping quiet.

"Izuku …?" They both heard Inko inquire quietly, but neither of them answered - not with Itsuka gripping Izuku tightly, as though warning him to keep quiet. Izuku, thankfully, got the message, subtly ducking his head down - and causing both of them to erupt into flames as his lower face rested on top of her head. But it was a better alternative to being faced with his mom seeing him in bed with a girl.

In bed with a girl in a very … very compromising position, seeing as his leg was still in between Itsuka's, and the way it moved in between hers was causing her to bite her lip to try suppressing her shudders.

It only took a moment, but they then heard her let out a soft sigh, and then the door quietly closed behind them. They both breathed out a small sigh of relief, Itsuka collapsing her face into the pillow, and Izuku flopping his head onto it beside her.

"Oh, my god," He wheezed out quietly, while Itsuka began to slowly but surely giggle, "that was … oh, my god."

"I know," She squeaked out, continuing to shake as she squeezed him a bit tighter.

They both stayed like that for a long while, quietly laughing from the stress, and Itsuka giggled as she suddenly felt a bit more comfortable, angling herself so her head so that it pressed against his chest, and she felt his chin rest against the top of her head, as his own arms came up to wrap around her, one around her shoulders and the other on her hip, and she let out a small sigh of pleasure as she nuzzled against him.

It was only then, however, that Itsuka realized what she was doing, feeling the sleepy smile on her face melt at once as her eyes snapped open. Feeling the pleasant sensation of his heart beating quickly against her ear, Itsuka stiffened, her arms tightening slightly as Izuku likewise went a bit stiff in her embrace.

However, instead of quickly scooting away, Itsuka stayed frozen there for a long moment as Izuku awkwardly shuffled against her.

"Uh …" He cleared his throat, sounding flustered, "… Kendou?"

Itsuka stayed there for a long moment - and then, after a second of hesitation, she decided to keep her head pressed against his chest.

"Not … yet," She requested quietly, surprising herself, "just … can we … stay like this for a bit? Please?"

They were both quiet for a long moment, internally panicking - Itsuka, at least, was fully aware of what was going on, her cheeks glowing redder and redder and her body refusing her brain's frantic attempts to get out of this - but then, she heard him let out a small sigh, and his hand on her hip tensed a bit as he hugged her a bit tighter, holding her against him as she let out a soft gasp.

"I, uh …" She heard him swallow loudly, "… I … guess for … for a few minutes."

She gently nodded at that, not moving at all for a moment - and then she let out a soft sigh, and began adjusting herself so she was a bit more comfortable. Izuku went still as she moved herself so that she was no longer pressing and hiding in his chest, and as soon as they were both face to face again - both of them noting how red the other looked - Itsuka moved to hug him again, burying her face in his shoulder this time. She felt relieved as Izuku's leg quickly moved away from between hers, giving her a bit of relief, and they both breathed as they both softly embraced, although she could tell that Izuku was being careful and keeping his hands where he could easily move them away as he gingerly hugged her.

They continued to embrace for a while under the covers, Izuku's face in her orange hair as it hung over her shoulder, and Itsuka closing her eyes gently as she leaned against him.

"Uh …" Izuku spoke for the first time in a minute, his hand gently thumbing at her hip and sending a tingling sensation through her, "… are … are you okay, Kendou?"

"I …" She hesitated for a moment, before sighing, "… I think so."

"Y-you think so?"

"Yeah," She nodded - and then she said, in a small voice, "yesterday was … really tough."

"Uh … y-yeah, it - it was," He nodded uncertainly against her as they continued hugging, "you - you were great, Kendou."

"So were you," She smiled a bit as she pressed her mouth into his shoulder, "you were amazing."

"N-not as amazing as you."

Itsuka let out a small giggle at that, unintentionally nuzzling a bit into his shoulder before she moved her head back to rest on the pillow beside him. Izuku, for his part, still looked nervous, but there was a small, bashful smile on his face that made her smile in turn.

"Are we really gonna argue about who was more amazing today?" She asked in a small, teasing voice. "You'd win, by the way, so let's not pretend otherwise."

"N-no way," He chuckled back awkwardly, "I mean … you beat Todoroki, you beat Monoma, you beat - you beat everyone today. You were the amazing one."

"You beat Bakugou," She pointed out, a satisfied look coming onto her face, "I was too terrified out of my mind to notice it initially, but the look on his face when he lost … mwah." She moved her hand to kiss her fingers as though she just tasted something delicious, and Izuku let out a laugh at that, turning to duck his face against the pillow to hide his red cheeks.

As he busied himself trying to get out of his fluster, Itsuka smiled at him - and then her mind unintentionally wandered back to Ochako. She felt her smile falter, and her heart hurt, as she suddenly realized what she was doing - lying in a bed and cuddling with Izuku, after he had just kissed their best friend, and …

… and …

"I, uh …" She swallowed a bit, "… you know, I … I bet that - that Ochako would agree with me. That you were - you were amazing yesterday."

Izuku blinked a bit, his face emerging from the pillow as she stared him in the eyes, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

"And …" She let out a soft sigh, "… and I know that you're worried Izuku, about - about what happened. But like I said earlier, I - I don't think you have anything to worry about. She cares about you, and you care about her. You two can - you can figure this out, and - and I bet you'll be really - you'll be really happy together.

"I-is that right …?" Izuku swallowed loudly, suddenly nervous. "So do - do you think that - that she -?"

"Likes you?" Itsuka guessed, smiling at his embarrassed look and nodding. "I … yeah. I do."

"A-and you're sure?"

"I am."

"I - I just -" Izuku sighed, feeling himself frown, and she felt his hand clench slightly on her tank top, causing her to gulp a bit, "- this is - this is something I'm completely out of my depth with, Kendou. I - I don't know if - if you know this, but I - I sometimes get a bit flustered by Hadou -"

"I know," She nodded, unable to stop herself from grinning when Izuku whipped around to stare at her in embarrassed shock, "it's, uh - it's kinda obvious."

"Erk," He winced.

"Don't worry," She patted where she was hugging his back, going a bit red as well, "I … I'm not judging, it's easy to get flustered by her. Uh … anyway, what were you saying?"

"I - yeah," He nodded quickly, getting back on track as his eyes moved down to the pillow, frowning sadly, "I just - I'm worried that I'm going to mess this up. I - I don't have any experience with this kind of thing - girls, and - and kissing, and all that - you know - stuff."

He paused then, and then glanced at her again.

"Have, uh …" He looked uncertain for a moment, "… have you ever done this kind of thing?"

"Huh?" She blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean … romance," He blushed again, glancing back at the pillow again as though unable to look her in the eye when he spoke of stuff like this, "have you ever … you know … had something like this happen? W-with anyone?"

Itsuka found herself going still at that, blinking. Izuku stole a small glance at her, looking so open, so vulnerable, so worried, that she couldn't help but feel herself grow quiet as she realized what he was asking.

'Have you ever had a crush?' he seemed to be asking. Well … yes, she had. She did have a crush.

The problem was … well … her crush was kind of cuddling with her right now.

And then … a thought came to her.

This is my chance to walk away.

She felt her mouth slowly close as she stared at Izuku, who patiently waited for her to respond. This was … this was the part where she could take a step back, she realized. This was her - this was her out. She knew they were supposed to talk later today, but - but she didn't have to do it. She could just … she could just join Nejire on the beach today and try to get Izuku and Ochako some alone time to talk out what happened, and get together.

Izuku had just realized he was in love with Ochako … and she knew that Ochako was in love with him too. She could - she could do this. Step out of their stupid triangle thing and help Izuku get together with her. And all she had to do … was tell him 'no, I don't have a crush on anyone.'

It was what a real friend would do. She could do it.

And yet … and yet, her heart wouldn't stop hurting at the thought. It felt horrible, to think of Izuku and Ochako together, and leaving her behind. The loneliness that would come with it. Seeing them grow close, fall in love together … and know that they couldn't share what they had with her.

It was selfish. She knew it was. It was just … she just … she just remembered what Nejire had said when they had talked today.

"You're allowed to have your secrets, Kendou, but it's like - it's like you're holding back about this too! And it's not good to keep something like this in - I would know, y'know. Emotions are supposed to be let out and felt, not kept in!"

Emotions … are supposed to be let out. Felt. Not kept in.

And that meant …

"I …" She suddenly felt like her mouth had gone bone dry, her heart beginning to hammer, "I'm … I … I think I know how you feel, Izuku."

"Y-you do?" He asked quietly.

"Y-yeah, I do. I .. I've been …" She took a deep breath, trying to summon her bravery, "… I've been waiting for someone to - to notice that I - I have a crush on them, too."

"O-oh," Izuku blinked, his voice sounding … kinda weird. Nervous, she knew, but also … maybe a bit disappointed? Itsuka couldn't help but feel a bit of hope enter her chest. "I - I see."

"Yeah."

"They, uh …" He glanced back into the pillow again, as though suddenly unable to look at her, "… they must be pretty cool, if - if you like them.

"Yeah," She said again, taking a deep breath as she mustered up her courage, "he - he is."

"H-he?" Izuku blinked a bit, glancing back at her in shock. "It's - it's a guy?"

"Yeah, it is," She confirmed, slowly moving back a bit as she saw the wheels turn in his mind - as though trying to figure out who, in their small circle of guys, she could possibly like, which did make her smile a bit, "and he's … someone who's very special to me."

Izuku glanced back at her as she slowly leaned back, keeping her hands on him but giving them enough distance so that they could look properly at each other. Itsuka, meanwhile, felt her heart continue to hammer as she slowly realized that, yes, this was fucking happening. It was only when she gently touched his shoulder that the expression on Izuku's face changed - as though only now catching on to the fact that the mood in the room was starting to shift.

Itsuka continued to force herself to stare him in the eye as she took a deep breath, hearing her heartbeat quickening but trying to keep a brave face on.

"He's … amazing," She said in a soft voice, staring him straight in the eye, "he's probably one of the most amazing people I've ever met."

"O-oh …?"

"Yeah," She nodded, "I met him when I had been pretty much beaten to the curb by some asshole, but then this guy … this amazing guy … he came up to me and lifted me back up. Then we spent a bit of time together, and I found out he was … he was the kind of guy that needed my help, and I needed his. He needed to know that there was someone out there who cared for him, who loved him, and … and I didn't know at the time, but I wanted to be that person."

Izuku was quiet - but for once, he didn't duck his face in the pillow. Instead, he was staring at her, his face becoming blank but his cheeks becoming a bit redder. It was clear, she knew, that he had caught on to what she was saying - that he knew who she was talking about.

But the small doubt in his eyes made it clear that he was trying to figure out a possible way that she wasn't talking about him. So she kept going.

"Then … then he got into a fight," She felt tears begin to pool in her eyes, but she refused to break their eyelock, "a really bad fight, with a monster. And I … I realized that I came way too close to losing him. And from then on, I promised myself that I never would. These are … these are feelings that I've had a really hard time coming to terms with. Because I know … I know that this amazing guy was in love with his best friend, and his best friend was in love with him. And I … I love them both enough that I didn't want to get in the way of that. I didn't want to … to force myself in between them, because I - I didn't think I deserved it."

She took a moment to breathe again, lest her fluster overcome her and force her to shut up and roll away from him. They were both still pretty much in each other's arms, with Itsuka's wrapped around his waist, and Izuku's hand on her shoulder and hip, but she didn't pay attention to that, keeping her eyes on his.

Slowly, they both began sitting up on the bed, staring at each other. Izuku, for his part, had his mouth hanging open slightly - but the way his eyes were growing wider told her that it was becoming harder and harder for him to deny what he was hearing.

"And then," She said in a quiet voice, so quiet that she was almost inaudible, "when I was trying my hardest not to let my feelings get the better of me … that same asshole from before? He swung by again to try picking on me a little more. And this amazing guy … he didn't even know I was listening in, but he stood up for me."

Izuku let out a small, shuddering breath, his face turning redder.

"I heard," She told him, making sure to enunciate her words, "everything. About how he believed in me. That he saw … all the work I put in to earn One for All. That I earned it. He even - he even called me by my first name for the first time, and - and the fact that he went back to my last name afterwards kind of stung, but it made him calling me by my first name all the more important to me."

"K-Ken -" Izuku barely managed to get out for the first time in a while, but then he stopped himself.

She became aware of the fact that their faces were a bit closer than usual, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

"And that," Itsuka whispered, "was … the day I realized I was in love with him. And even though I tried to suppress those feelings again, I just … I couldn't. Not after today. Not after I saw him … I saw him be the bravest person I've ever met, fighting a stupid asshole who wanted to hurt him for no reason. He's a guy who I'm … I'm really worried about …"

She slowly slid her hand up, hesitantly, and soon it rested above his heart. She could feel how hard it was beating, but she kept her eyes on his as Izuku slowly closed his mouth.

"… that I care about … almost more than anything …"

She took a deep breath.

"… and …" She whispered, "… who I'm … currently … sharing a bed with."

At long last, silence filled the room. The moonlight from the window shined inside, giving her a good look at his face as he slowly realized, yes, she was talking about him. Izuku stared at her blankly for a long moment, his heartbeat under her fingers feeling like it was going a mile a minute, and yet he made no move to get away from her, or get out of the comfortable lack of space between them. His hand on her hip, where her shirt had ridden up slightly, tensed, making her inhale sharply.

And then, finally, she moved her hand up from where it had rested on his chest, and she gently cupped his cheek.

Izuku flinched slightly at the touch, but he didn't move away at all as he stared at her, his mouth dropping open slightly but no words escaping. She used her thumb to gently rub in a circle, unable to stop herself from smiling gently as she rubbed those diamond freckles she found so cute, and she felt her face heat up.

"I love you," She blurted out at long last, "Izuku, I - I love you. I love you so much."

Izuku continued to stare at her in stunned silence as she finally let out those three tiny words that had been plaguing her for weeks. Itsuka quickly closed her mouth, wanting to stay quiet for a bit to let Izuku have some time to fully digest what she was saying. She felt his cheek burn a bit hotter under her palm as she kept her hand there, but he still made no movement to get away from her, or say anything.

And then, finally, he let out a shuddering sigh.

"I …" He managed to get out, his voice coming out a bit of a squeak. Itsuka continued to remain quiet, feeling her own heart start to pound as she nervously waited for his answer.

The answer of whether or not he reciprocated her feelings, or was about to shove her right out of the bed and chase her out of the apartment. She couldn't help but feel herself flinch a bit at the very thought, causing her to slightly edge away from him and out of the embrace - but Izuku quickly picked up that she was moving away.

It seemed that at the sight of her putting some distance between them, Izuku quickly snapped out of whatever his broken mind was trying to get through, as a small look of panic quickly crossed his face. Without warning, Izuku quickly pulled on both her shoulder and hip, and Itsuka gasped as she was enveloped in another hug, Izuku squeezing her to him as he tucked his face into her shoulder, and she felt herself blush as she was half dragged into his lap.

"I - s-sorry," He muttered, "I - I didn't know what to say."

"You …" Itsuka swallowed loudly, feeling her blush burn even brighter, "… you could say … that you want some space. Or - or you want me to leave."

There was a pause.

"N-no," Izuku shook his head against her, "I - I don't want you to leave."

She slowly nodded against him, feeling relief that he wasn't going to push her away. Her own hands snaked around his sides to begin returning the hug, and both of them sat there, embracing. It didn't even matter that Itsuka was somewhat resting in his lap, something that made her blush as she awkwardly hugged him with her feet sticking out from under the comforter, as the two continued to embrace.

Honestly, the fact that Izuku wasn't pushing her away was what was filling her with lightness - after the stress of confessing her feelings for him, feeling Izuku's warm body against hers caused her to sigh in bliss as she buried her face where his neck met his shoulder.

"K-Ken-" Izuku audibly hesitated again, as though reluctant to call her by her first name - was he starting to feel guilty after her small comment about that? Before she could ask him about it, however, he let out his own sigh as he tucked his face against her shoulder, "- I - t-thank you."

"… thank me …" She felt herself blink a bit, "… for … uh … sorry, thank me for what, exactly?"

"I - I don't really know," He admitted, unable to stop himself from chuckling along with her small giggle, "I just … everything is really confusing right now. I - I kissed Occhan, and - and now you - you told me that y-you - uh - l-l-like me -"

"Love you," She corrected him, going a bit red again, "sorry, I - 'like you' doesn't seem - it doesn't seem really strong enough."

"R-right," Izuku nodded stiffly, "l-l-love. I just … thank you."

Itsuka giggled again, moving her head up from his shoulder - and she was unable to resist as she brought her face up to kiss his cheek. She felt Izuku stiffen up against her again, but she continued to press her lips there, and used her other hand to hold his other cheek. Finally, she moved back a bit, smiling at him.

"Sorry," She sighed, "just … needed to give you another … 'friend smooch'. You earned it."

"…"

"…"

"… 'friend smooch'," He repeated with a small snort, and she pouted at him.

"Yes," She giggled despite herself, "'friend smooch', you dick."

Izuku merely laughed again, and Itsuka smiled before she acted without thinking, and went in for another kiss to the cheek, which caused him to quickly shut up, to her satisfaction. She then moved back.

And then she went in for another short kiss.

And then another.

And another.

Another.

As her lips continued to lightly press against the same spot on his cheek over and over, causing her to softly inhale, she felt Izuku go still against her. And yet, she couldn't find it in herself to really stop, feeling her heart continue to hammer in her chest as she continued to lightly smooch his cheek, letting out a small hum as she planted light kisses across the side of his face. Her hands moved to grab the back of his shirt, and then her kisses began to go lower. She had no idea what she was doing, and felt like panicking as she continued to kiss his face, but her stomach tensed excitedly as she continued softly kissing the side of his face.

And then, as she kissed along his jaw, she felt it.

His own hands tightening around her, one on her shoulder and one on her waist.

And Itsuka let out a shuddering breath, and she pressed another kiss against his jaw. This time, however, she opened her mouth so that her tongue could lightly press against his skin, and she heard him let out a quiet gasp.

"K-Kendou …?" Izuku muttered, his breath escaping in a slight shake as Itsuka leaned up and pressed another kiss near his ear.

"Izuku," She breathed out, feeling unexpected tears sting her eyes, "just … call me by my first name. Please."

"I …" Izuku squirmed a bit against her, but did nothing to stop her as she lightly kissed his ear, the sound of her shuddering breath causing him to tense - and then, suddenly, she was pushed back.

Itsuka let out a small gasp as Izuku pushed against her, and she briefly feared that she had gone too far as she lost her balance on him and tumbled down on the bed. But Izuku moved with her, holding her to him as they both landed on the bed, the mattress squeaking as both their weights dropped onto it. Itsuka quickly moved her head back against the pillow to stare up at Izuku in shock, watching as he hovered above her with one of his hands - the one that had been on her shoulder - moving to rest on the pillow beside her head.

Their eyes locked on each other, they both panted for a moment, moonlight outside illuminating the scene as they realized their positions. Izuku barely managed to stop himself from laying on top of her again by using his other hand to lift up his body. His legs were spread out so that her own legs could stick out between them, and her hands were still clinging to his shirt. Itsuka, for her part, stared up at him with her breath escaping in nervous gasps, realizing at once what she had been doing as Izuku stared down at her in both conflict and another expression she had never seen before.

They were both quiet for a moment, breathing in and out in pants as Izuku's gaze flickered - and then he moved down. And before Itsuka could blink, she felt a pair of lips press against hers.

Both of them inhaled sharply through their noses as Izuku kissed the utter hell out of her, Itsuka's squeak being muffled a bit as he kept both of their mouths closed to enjoy the first kiss between them. Her eyes widened and her face burned bright as Izuku kept his own eyes closed for a moment, and then they parted with a gasp, both of them taking a second to pant loudly as they stared in shock at each other.

"I'm … I'm sorry … I-Itsuka," He managed to get out, causing Itsuka's breath to leave her for a moment, "I just … I couldn't -"

He didn't have time to finish whatever it was he was going to apologize for. Itsuka reached up to grab the neck of his shirt, and without warning, yanked him back down, both of them grunting as their lips slammed against each other again. Izuku let out a muffled noise of surprise and shock as their mouths automatically opened, and Itsuka's tongue moved up to run against his own for a moment.

It only took a second, but Izuku's eyes then slowly closed, and he let out a hungry groan as they both enjoyed their kiss, Izuku slowly lowering himself down on top of her as their tongues awkwardly moved against each other's, and Itsuka's legs tensed beneath his. She let out a happy grunt as they both moved to deepen the kiss, her hand moving under his shirt and clawing at his stomach.

"I …" Izuku managed to get out, letting out an embarrassing moan as he felt her fingernails scratch his stomach, "… Itsuka …"

"Mmph," She merely grunted back, swallowing his moan and responding back with her own as her other arm wrapped around his neck. They finally disengaged from the kiss with gasps, a bridge of spit connecting them before it snapped, and then Itsuka grabbed the back of his head to bring him back down for another. As they both let out hungry grunts into each other's mouths, her hand clenching at his hard stomach, Izuku let out a small moan, and then disconnected from the kiss to sit up.

She watched, her eyes lazily opening and then positively snapping open, as Izuku worked his shirt off over his head. Tossing it away, Izuku stared down at her in a mixture of arousal and caution, looking embarrassed and extremely sexy in Itsuka's eyes as her gaze trailed down to his hard stomach, his strong chest, his broad shoulders, his muscular arms. And had she been staring in a mirror, she would've sworn that hearts would have appeared in her eyes

"Is, uh …" He cleared his throat, "… is this okay? I just thought … you know, with your hand in my shirt …"

Itsuka merely stared for a moment - and then she reached up and grabbed his shoulders, and pulled him. Izuku let out a small yelp as he was pulled down and rolled onto the bed, laying flat as Itsuka's leg swung over his waist, and before he could blink, she was straddling him. As the shocked blush burned on Izuku's cheeks, however, Itsuka offered him no chance to express his embarrassment, instead moving down to inhale his lips again, her fingernails scratching at his scalp while her other hand palmed at his stomach.

Quickly getting back into the mood, Izuku kissed back without even thinking, his eyes squeezing shut as he enjoyed the taste of Itsuka's tongue poking into his mouth. He sat up suddenly, keeping her in his lap as she pinned his tongue to the roof of his mouth, dominating the kiss, and Izuku didn't even take a second to consider his next action as his hand zipped down, and Itsuka let out a gasp as his hand squeezed on her butt, gripping it tightly as she moved out of the kiss to stare at him in lust and love.

"Fuck …" She breathed out, her forehead pressing against his as Izuku opened his eyes lazily to stare into hers, "… Izuku …"

"I-Itsuka …" He breathed back, both of them staring at each other intensely while her hips ground against his, and he shivered as his hand came up to run through her hair - it was a bit harder than with Ochako's naturally smooth hair, seeing as Itsuka had it dyed all day long, but it still felt good as her hands came up to cup his cheeks.

"I …" She smiled beautifully at him, tears in her eyes, "… I love you."

"I …" He swallowed loudly, feeling his heartbeat rising as he kept one hand squeezing her butt, and his other hand moved to the back of her head to bring her back to him, as their eyes shut and their mouths opened to resume their make out, "… I lo-"

"THE MORNING IS HERE! THE MORNING IS HERE! THE MORNING IS HERE!"

The loud, familiar voice of All Might filled the room from the phone on the side, causing Izuku and Itsuka to freeze, their lips an inch from each other. Their eyes stayed open, staring blankly at each other as the voice of their mentor continued to come from the table right beside the bed. Slowly, they both looked over to see the light of Izuku's phone continuing to lighten up the room as it continued to vibrate, All Might's obnoxious calls of 'THE MORNING IS HERE!' completely and utterly killing the mood.

"I …" Izuku said in a blank voice, "… forgot to turn off my usual alarm."

Automatically, he moved his hand out of her hair, keeping his other one firmly on her butt and still absently squeezing, to reach over and poke the 'sleep' option on the phone, and the room was silent once again. With that, after staring down at the phone for a moment, they both turned to look at each other again, as though finally realizing the position they were in - Itsuka sitting in Izuku's lap with her legs wrapped around his waist, her hand grabbing a handful of his hair while the other one was groping his abs, and Izuku's own hand still squeezing her ass as he sat there in nothing but his shorts.

They both froze for a moment as Izuku's face lit up like a Christmas tree, and Itsuka's mouth dropped open as her own face went red -

- and then she let out a snort.

"I - oh, my god -" She began giggling uncontrollably, shaking her head as she lifted her hand up from his stomach, and before Izuku could explode into a blushing mess, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, unable to control her nervous laughter. Izuku, for his part, let out a few nervous chuckles as well, still very red in the face as he realized he was still holding onto her butt and hastily removed it, unsure if he even had that right anymore.

However, he was quickly distracted from those thoughts by Itsuka moving her head back to kiss his cheek again, making him squeak while she giggled.

"I'm not gonna lie," She chortled, "I, uh - I didn't exactly think this was going to be how my confession went."

"N-no?" He let out a nervous laugh.

"Nope," She shook her head, "it was, uh - it was probably gonna be at the beach, and Ochako was gonna be there. Never really envisioned - y'know - getting to make out with you. And, uh - having my butt grabbed."

"I'm … really sorry about that."

"Why?" She moved her head to smirk down at him, making Izuku blush brighter. "It felt nice. And it's not like you're not …" She gestured down to his current shirtlessness, which made him clear his throat self-consciously, "… giving me a bit of a show either."

Izuku slowly nodded, chuckling nervously - honestly, the fact that Itsuka was flirting with him right now was something he needed time to properly digest before he could come to terms with it. With a sigh, Itsuka finally moved to get off of him, trying not to smirk at Izuku's small noise of disappointment as she scooted off of him. Still though, she was sure to press another kiss to his cheek before she moved her feet down to the floor - and then her eyes fell on the alarm clock on the table.

Honestly, the last … what, five minutes of making out and feeling each other up? However long it was, it … it completely evaporated each and every fear that Itsuka felt, confessing to Izuku. Now she felt like she was on top of the world, wanting to run outside and sprint with all the nervous energy that was in her right now. And staring down at the time … well …

… a sudden thought came to her. One that she slowly nodded to, weighing more of the pros than the cons, until she finally sighed, and shrugged her shoulders.

"You know what?" She looked back at Izuku as he cleared his throat awkwardly and held the covers that she had just slipped out of over his lower body, absently reaching for his pillow to cover it as well. "Fuck it."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked a bit, looking around at her as she got up. "W-what do you mean?"

"I mean," She stood up and smiled down at him, "it's time for you and me to get dressed. Do you mind if I steal a sweater and some track pants for a bit? I don't really have much clothes in your room besides pajamas and shorts, and … y'know, it's kind of chilly for shorts so early in the morning."

"I, uh - y-yeah, I - no problem, you - you can use my clothes," Izuku went a bit red as she then sauntered over to his closet, trying to pretend her hips weren't purposefully swaying to get his attention, "but, uh … a-are we going somewhere?"

"Yes, we are. We're gonna go wake Ochako up."

"I - wait, what?!" Izuku squeaked, immediately going red again as he awkwardly got out of the bed, "B-but - but - i-it's five in the morning!"

"Yep. The exact time we usually wake up to get ready for school," Itsuka looked over her shoulder at him with a smile, "don't worry, I bet Ochako will be awake. And if not, well, I'll just text her until she answers."

"I - w-well, okay, but -" He gulped nervously, "- but why are we doing this?"

"Izuku, she turned to give him a smile, "we talked yesterday about having a talk about us, right? That was supposed to happen today?"

Izuku looked unsure where she was going with this, but still nodded.

"Well," She tried to grin through her own nervousness, "we never mentioned when we'd talk. So … fuck it. Let's go talk right now."

---

It was perhaps a stroke of luck that when both Izuku and Itsuka poked their heads out of his bedroom five minutes later, they could hear the sound of the sink in the bathroom running, along with the sound of Hisashi snoring from the couch. Not wanting to take this chance for granted, both teenagers carefully slipped out of Izuku's room, with him quietly closing the door behind him, and together, they both quickly tiptoed over to the front door. With Itsuka slipping out first and Izuku right behind them, they slowly closed the door as silently as they could, not wanting Inko to hear them leave and investigate.

Thankfully, once the door was closed, both teenagers breathed sighs of relief in the somewhat chilly air of the morning, and once their shoes were on, they began moving over towards the Urarakas' door, Itsuka in the lead and Izuku trailing a bit behind her. While Itsuka remained in bright spirits, her back straight and humming happily to herself as she looked more alive than she had been all day yesterday, Izuku, on the other hand, was currently in a state of panic.

Truth be told, he was still struggling to come to terms with everything that had happened in the last eight or so hours, desperately trying to make sense of things. He had realized he was in love with Ochako, he had kissed her, they made out, they panicked and ran away from each other, he spent the whole night panicking, Itsuka woke up, they talked, they agreed to go to bed together, they got into a … a … super compromising position, he remembered as he went red again, they ended up cuddling, Itsuka confessed she was in love with him, they kissed, they made out, they - they - they -

- he grabbed her butt! Her tongue had been in his mouth! She had been on top of him! His hand had been in her hair!

And - and - and he was a piece of scum, he winced as he closed his eyes and cringed. He had two best friends, and he made out with them both in one night. HIs mind kept flashing between both girls, how much love and adoration had been in both of their eyes as they had shared their separate moments from him - and the fact that he had kissed them both, and the fact that because he felt the weird feelings he had felt for Ochako for Itsuka right now, meant - that meant -

- that meant that he was in love with - with both of them. He felt his stomach clench in worry at the thought of Ochako reacting to the fact that he had kissed her at one moment, and then learning that he kissed Itsuka the next. He felt like - he felt like an utter piece of shit.

And he wasn't sure why Itsuka was so - so - happy right now! She had a pep in her step, humming slightly under her breath as she typed something on her phone, and then glanced over her shoulder at him with a smile as they made their way over to Ochako's door. It had been like he had just - he had just made her entire day, he thought in embarrassment as his mind kept flashing back to what they had just done about five minutes ago.

The fact that she had told him that she loved him, and - and the fact that made him feel happier and lighter than he had felt in a long time - was driving him up the wall in anxiety for when they saw Ochako, with him knowing that he felt those same feelings for her, and Itsuka knew it, and - and -

- and there was … also the tiny fact that Itsuka was currently wearing his hoodie and track pants, and the sight of her wearing his clothes was making his face feel even hotter as they both stood in front of Ochako's door.

There was a moment's pause. And then Itsuka glanced at him with a smirk, and asked, "So are you done with the mutter spree?"

Blushing even brighter that he had been called out for muttering, Izuku mumbled and scratched the side of his head awkwardly, while she giggled and looked back at the door. After a moment, Izuku glanced back at her and awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Er … are … are you sure this is a good idea?" He asked in a whisper, as though Ochako was currently leaning against the door and listening in. "W-what if - what if she's still asleep?"

"I just sent her a message," Itsuka answered, raising her phone up for him to see, "and it's been seen. So either she's awake right now or she's at least conscious enough to look at her phone."

"Okay, but - but - I don't know, c-can't we wait for later today to talk?" He felt his insides squeeze tightly in anxiety. "W-when we're at the beach party?"

"Izuku," Itsuka sighed a bit, pouting as she reached up to start tying back her hair into her usual ponytail, "I think we both know that it's gonna take a freaking miracle for the three of us to talk later without being interrupted by anyone. So, well - wouldn't it be better to just talk now instead of later, when everyone's gonna be trying to get us to have fun while we're trying to sneak away to have a serious talk?"

"I - well, okay, maybe," Izuku gave her, unable to stop himself from shaking nervously, "but - well -"

"Izuku, I'm pretty sure you two are gonna be fine after having one kiss," She was unable to stop herself from lightly teasing him, looking at him with a confident grin that made the blush on his cheeks burn a bit deeper, "we've just gotta talk for a few minutes, and then it'll be over. Believe it or not, I'm pretty nervous, too."

"I - but - but - but she grabbed my butt!" Izuku whined a bit, making Itsuka giggle as he gave her a pleading look as though that would help her understand. "I don't think I can face her again if I have that on my mind!"

"I mean, you grabbed my butt," Itsuka pointed out to him, and smirked when he froze, "and I'm talking to you just fine."

"B-but you're you! I'm me! And I'm stupid!"

"Well," Itsuka suddenly looked coy, something that made Izuku's heart feel like it stopped at how teasing yet amused she was looking at him, "if Ochako really is asleep, and we have to sneak back into your room, maybe you can go ahead and touch it a bit more."

"…"

"Hm?" She hummed, raising her eyebrow and giggling at how red he was getting. "How about it?"

"… is … are …" He squeaked out, shaking nervously, "… are you … hitting on me?"

Itsuka paused for a moment, glancing away to raise her eyebrow, and then she giggled and nodded.

"Yeah," She smiled at him, before raising her hand and knocking on the door, "I am. Like it?"

"… w-well, yeah," Izuku flushed hotter, glancing away as Itsuka continued to smirk at him, "but it's not really good for the heart!"

"Awww …"

Thankfully, before Itsuka could continue to tease him, and Izuku could figure out if Itsuka blatantly flirting with him was something he really, really liked or was something that was going to give him a heart attack, they both heard the sound of shuffling feet on the other side of the door. Izuku immediately snapped back into panic mode, beginning to turn and run away before Itsuka reached out to clamp her hand on his shoulder to prevent him from moving.

And then the door slowly began to open.

"Mmmmm?" Ochako hummed as she poked her head out, her hair a bit of a mess on one side as she raised one hand to rub her eye. "Srry, Mama, Papa, but itzz … itz five. W-why are you guyz nooot …"

It was only when she lowered her hand from her eye and looked up at who was actually standing at her door did Ochako's half-asleep mumbling falter, and for a long moment, she stared at them in confusion. It was only after a moment that she blinked, and realized that she wasn't talking to her parents, her back straightening slightly.

Itsuka, for her part, gave her an awkward smile and waved a bit, while Izuku shrank at the sight of his best friend and looked like he was about ten seconds from trying to pry himself free of Itsuka's grasp and going back to his original plan to run straight out of Japan and somehow to Peru. They were all quiet for a moment, until Ochako's cheeks began to redden.

"You …" She gulped nervously, "… aren't Mama and Papa."

"Er - sorry, afraid not," Itsuka shook her head, smiling at her, "me and Izuku, uh - we were both awake, and … well … I've been informed about what you two were up to last night."

"O-oh," Ochako shrank a bit, slowly bringing the door back to her so she could hide behind it.

"Yep," Itsuka continued to smile at her, "so, uh … I ended up figuring - that big conversation we were supposed to have today? We should probably do it now, while no one's distracting us. I, uh - I figured that we could take a walk, all three of us, and … well … I have a place in mind for our talk, if - if you want to come with."

"Uh … r-right," Ochako nodded a bit stiffly, glancing at Izuku once before she glanced back at Itsuka, her face remaining red as Izuku looked more and more uncomfortable by the second, "you … wanna do the talk. N-now?"

"Yep," She nodded, "right now."

"Er … right … so …" Ochako glanced between them both for a few seconds. They could both tell, from the slightly panicked, embarrassed look in her eye, that she, like Izuku, was weighing the pros and cons of simply closing the door and hiding in her room for the rest of her life - but then, she closed her eyes, letting out a defeated sigh, and raised her finger to indicate that they give her a moment. With that, she moved away from the door, and they both heard her retreating back into the apartment.

It took about two minutes of Itsuka awkwardly holding Izuku's shoulder to prevent him from running away, but they soon heard the sound of keys clinking together before Ochako stepped back out into the open hall, zipping up a pink sweater over her sleepwear, and soon closed the door behind her, locking it behind her. While she did so, Izuku continued to grow more and more nervous by the second in his best friend's presence, Itsuka holding onto him being the only reason he wasn't running away as fast as he could.

Finally, Ochako put her keys back in the sweater pocket, and turned to look at both of them.

"Yeah," She nodded, biting the inside of her cheek as she shot another nervous glance at Izuku, "so, uh … you … er … know."

"Yep," Itsuka nodded, giving her a soft smile, "I know. You and Izuku kissed."

Ochako winced slightly, looking even more nervous under Itsuka's stare, but before she could open her mouth to try and explain, the orange-haired girl sighed and finally let go of Izuku's shoulder, turning towards the stairs as she gestured towards it.

"So, uh," She glanced back at her best friends, "I did have a place in mind for us to talk. It's, uh - it's gonna take us a while to get there, but … well, I figured we can go there and just get this conversation out of the way."

Ochako and Izuku both looked at Itsuka, blinking a bit as she glanced over her shoulder at them. Only, now that they were properly looking at her, they could see that her smile looked a bit shaken, and they could see the anxiety and nervousness in her eyes - making it clear that she was about as timid about this as they were.

Still, Izuku and Ochako stole a small glance at each other - which, of course, caused them both to look away just as quickly when their eyes accidentally met - and Ochako sighed as she gave them both a stiff nod, glancing down at her pajama pants and wincing just a bit. Izuku, meanwhile, awkwardly cleared his throat and glanced at his shoes, unable to stop himself from shaking nervously as Itsuka moved towards the stairs, and without a word, both childhood friends followed her.

It didn't take long for the three of them to get down to the bottom floor, and once they were at the edge of the parking lot, with both Izuku and Ochako pointedly avoiding looking over at the park beside them, Itsuka began leading her two best friends silently down the road towards wherever she wanted to have the conversation. They all walked in relative silence for about ten minutes - Izuku and Ochako not wanting to make the situation any more awkward than it already was, and Itsuka also not wanting to make things any worse. So, they walked in silence.

As they moved through the empty streets, the skies above them beginning to slowly lighten up, Izuku felt his mind moving at a mile a minute, panic starting to settle in. He didn't know where they were going, but he knew that wherever they went, he was probably going to die when they got there. He was walking with his two best friends, both of whom he had kissed within the last eight hours, and it was apparent that Ochako was as nervous as he was about what was going to happen when they got there. Would Itsuka tell her what happened? How would Ochako react?

Oh, god, was Ochako going to feel betrayed about kissing someone else not even a full night after kissing her? Would she punch him? Oh, that was probably what was going to happen, she was going to throw him into space and he would deserve it, and what would happen if Itsuka just - oh, no, that was what was going to happen, wasn't it?!

Itsuka was going to have Ochako help her kill him and bury his body where no one would find it! That was -

"Uh … Deku?"

Izuku jumped a bit at the quiet voice behind him, and quickly looked around as Ochako stole another glance at him. It was only when he noticed Itsuka also glancing around at him that he realized he had been muttering out loud again, and felt his heart leap into his throat.

"Er -" He squeaked, glancing between them both, "- h-how much did - did I -"

"Just the part about us murdering you," Itsuka helpfully told him, unable to stop herself from smiling as they rounded another corner, and Izuku buried his face in his hands, "and I'd say don't worry, but … well, where we're going will have some places to bury you, but you shouldn't worry about that right now."

Izuku merely groaned, shaking his head a bit. As they continued walking together down the street, they were quiet for another few seconds, and then Ochako let out a breath.

"And … I'm not gonna kill you," She said quietly to him, her cheeks still red as Izuku stole a small glance at her, "n-nothing like that, Deku. I'm just … I don't know what's going on either, and - and - yeah."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded a bit stiffly, raising his head from his hands. They both turned to look around and stared up the road as Itsuka continued to lead them - she was being quiet for now, but they could tell that she was listening.

And then Izuku let out a sigh.

"I'm …" He said quietly, "… I'm really sorry, Occhan."

Ochako was quiet for a moment before she responded.

"Sorry?" She questioned softly, still staring ahead as they walked. "About what?"

"For …" His cheeks went redder, "… you know … kissing you."

Ochako went quiet again for a long while at that. For a minute, there was nothing but the sound of their feet hitting the pavement as Itsuka remained quiet, leading them down a path that they all found familiar but didn't say anything about due to the tension of the moment. Izuku, for his part, glanced awkwardly at his best friend as Ochako kept her head down for a long moment -

- and then she fully looked away from him.

"So …" She finally muttered, "… you're … sorry for … kissing me?"

Izuku, naturally, stared blankly at her for a long moment, blinking in confusion. The way she had said that - almost as though she were disappointed - caused his fear-addled and overworking brain to short circuit, staring blankly at Ochako as they walked -

- and then he grunted as he inadvertently walked face-first into a stop sign, the loud CLANG! of his head meeting the metal pole causing both girls to jump a bit and quickly look around as Izuku tripped backwards and fell to the ground.

"D-Deku!" Ochako squeaked, her embarrassment forgotten as Izuku flopped down onto his back, his feet temporarily rising before they landed on the ground. Quickly, she and Itsuka moved around the stop sign to check that he was okay. Izuku, thankfully, seemed alright, although he was holding his forehead with one hand and groaning lowly, but at least it didn't seem that he had injured himself, instead staring up at both girls in surprise and a bit of pain.

"Uh …" He struggled to sit up, "… ow."

Together, both girls moved to help him up, Ochako taking his wrist and pulling and Itsuka gently pushing his back until he was back on his feet.

"Okay, let me see." Itsuka moved his hand away from his forehead to inspect it, and let out a small sigh of relief. "Okay, well - it's a bit of a red mark, but you seem okay."

"Oh, thank goodness for that," Izuku sighed a bit sarcastically, which made Itsuka smirk and lightly punch his shoulder. Indeed, Izuku didn't seem to be too injured, only groaning slightly as he carefully poked his forehead and winced slightly. "Uh - sorry about that guys, wasn't - wasn't really looking where I was walking."

Lowering his hand, he looked back over at Ochako, his expression falling.

"Er … Occhan," He said quietly, "do - do you -"

"Er," Itsuka suddenly cleared her throat, causing Izuku to falter and look around at her as she pointed behind her shoulder sheepishly, "sorry to interrupt, Izuku, but - uh - well, we're actually here, so …"

Both Izuku and Ochako blinked, glancing over Itsuka's shoulder at where she was pointing - and then they both felt their backs straighten, their eyes widening slightly in surprise at the familiar sign of Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, the familiar parking lot leading down to the ocean they all knew too well at this point, even if it had been a few weeks since their last visit.

"W-wait - Dagobah?" Izuku questioned out loud, glancing between the sign and Itsuka in surprise. "You - you wanted to have our talk here?"

"W-well, yeah," Itsuka nodded, looking a bit awkward, "I just … figured it would be a nice, private place for us to talk, y'know? Besides, it's … it's where I met both of you, so I figured it's … appropriate."

Both Izuku and Ochako stared at her for a moment in surprise, seeing Itsuka flush a bit in embarrassment and glance away - and then they both nodded at the same time, likewise feeling embarrassment return to them at the small reminder of what they were supposed to talk about together. Together, the three of them wordlessly stepped into the empty parking lot, walking down the sidewalk towards the stairs that would lead down to the beach.

As they walked, Izuku stole another glance at Ochako, and cleared his throat slightly, the pain of walking into a stop sign temporarily forgotten.

"Er … Occhan?"

Ochako glanced at him again, still looking a bit uncomfortable, but she still hummed to let him know that she was listening.

"Do you, uh …" Izuku hesitated for a second, "… do you think that I … I regret … kissing you?"

Ochako squirmed a bit at the question, looking away from him again as they approached the stairs - and then she sighed, and nodded.

"I mean …" She mumbled, still looking away from him as his jaw hung open, "… don't you?"

It was Izuku's turn now to be caught flat footed, staring blankly at Ochako for a long while as she anxiously held her hands together. He then let out a small breath, and likewise looked away. It took until they were both on the stairs, with Itsuka pretending not to be listening in, before he finally found his words.

"I …" He paused, and then said, in a quiet voice, "… no. I - I don't."

Before Ochako could respond to that, Izuku was quick to try hurrying down the stairs towards the dark beach, moving around Itsuka so that he could get down the steps. He completely missed, of course, Ochako pausing in her step, turning to look down at Izuku in shock while her cheeks went pinker, but when Itsuka turned to shoot her a raised eyebrow and a smirk, she quickly smacked her cheeks and hurried down to the beach as well.

Once all three of them were on the sandy floor, Itsuka sighed as she once again took the lead, guiding them down towards the water. The sun hadn't rose just yet, but Izuku could tell that daybreak would be soon - the sky was beginning to turn purple in the distance, meaning that the sun would probably start rising soon. Once they were all standing together, Itsuka let out a soft sigh, and then, as she turned back to Izuku and Ochako as they stood in the small circle they had made, Izuku quickly straightened his back.

Okay … okay, this was it, he tried to convince himself. The talk. The talk that he had specifically wanted. Here it was. And … he hadn't run away yet, so that was a plus.

For a few seconds, the three of them were quiet, Izuku and Ochako watching Itsuka as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear, and then she sighed.

"Alright," She nodded, "so … our talk. Let's, uh - let's do it."

Both Izuku and Ochako nodded stiffly.

"So …" She then turned to look at Ochako, who was still looking a bit flustered from Izuku admitting that he didn't regret their kiss, "… Ochako. Like I said back at the apartment, uh - well, I know that you two … well … kissed."

Ochako quickly refocused as Itsuka put her hands in her sweater's - or, to be more accurate, Izuku's sweater - and she quickly nodded, her cheeks going a bit red as she took in Itsuka's appearance. Still though, it wasn't like she could point it out, seeing as she was wearing Izuku's t-shirt under her own pink sweater.

"Okay. So, uh …" Itsuka glanced at Izuku for a moment, looking slightly awkward, before she sighed and nodded, and looked back at Ochako, "… I guess … I should probably tell you that … well … me and Izuku have kissed, too."

Ochako slowly nodded for a moment, while Izuku braced himself and winced in anticipation, and Itsuka cringed slightly at how she ended up awkwardly dropping that little fact. There was another few seconds of quiet - and then they both saw the gears in Ochako's head suddenly stop turning. Straightening her back, Ochako blinked, and then glanced between Izuku and Itsuka, her eyes flickering between them, and then, when she finally registered what Itsuka had said, her jaw dropped.

"… huh?" Ochako squeaked.

"Uh … yeah," Itsuka nodded a bit awkwardly while Izuku studied his feet, "we kissed. About … I don't know … half an hour ago?"

"I … huh?"

"Kinda … made out," Itsuka winced, aware that she was digging herself deeper, "butt grab and everything."

Ochako sputtered again, her eyes shifting between Izuku and Itsuka quickly while her cheeks went red. Izuku took a deep breath, his eyes still on the ground, and then he suddenly dropped to his knees. Both girls quickly looked around at him in surprise as Izuku went down into a dogeza stance, pressing his forehead against the sand.

"I … I really am sorry, Occhan," He said in a miserable voice, "I'm … I know that I'm a scumbag. If - if you never wanted to talk to me again, I'd -"

"W-whoa, whoa, Deku, hold on!" Ochako quickly interrupted him, looking completely confused while Itsuka likewise stared at him in shock. "I - I'm not mad! Not at all!"

"But … I …" Izuku glanced back up at his best friend as she took a deep breath, holding her eyes with one hand for a moment before she bent over slightly, and offered Izuku a hand up.

Blinking, and feeling himself go red again, Izuku hesitantly sat up and took her hand, allowing her to help him back to his feet. As he absently reached down to brush some of the sand off of his pants, Ochako sighed and looked back at Itsuka, an unknown look in her eyes as she observed her friend carefully.

"Can you …" She shook her head after a second, "… could you just tell me what exactly happened? Just - just so I have the full picture."

"Right," Itsuka nodded, trying to calm down how red her own cheeks had become, "of course. So, uh …"

From there, Itsuka pretty much explained everything that had happened when she woke up - from Itsuka deciding to stay in Izuku's room, to how they ended up in bed, to … well … how she confessed to him. Izuku had squeaked a bit when she had admitted that easily, with only a touch of red on her cheeks, and had caused him to turn around and huddle down on the sand, completely missing Ochako's withdrawn look at the admittance, and had stayed hunched over for the rest of the explanation. It was only when Itsuka had finally gotten to the end of what had happened in Izuku's bed before they had gone over to Ochako's that Izuku had raised his head up from where he was currently cringing, and the beach had gone quiet.

After a few moments, Izuku dared to steal a small glance over his shoulder to gauge Ochako's reaction to his … infidelity? Stupidity? Douchebaggery? Whichever one. Still, he felt surprised to see that there was a mix of emotions on his best friend's face - there was clear conflict, of course, and she was glancing between him and Itsuka for a few seconds. There was also a hint of surprise there, and apprehension, as she glanced over at Itsuka again.

Itsuka was quiet for a second, letting out a small sigh - and then she nodded, and raised her hand to brush some of her hair out of her face.

"Okay," She nodded, "so … that's what happened, Ochako. That's everything."

"Er …" Izuku was quiet as well, as though he didn't have the right to speak, "… yeah, that - that was everything."

"So …" Itsuka hesitated again, glancing back over at Ochako for a moment before she quickly shook her head, and then turned back to Izuku, "… okay. So, uh - Izuku, there's - well - there's something that we should tell you, too."

Izuku blinked a bit at that as the attention suddenly turned to him, looking around at Itsuka as she glanced back at Ochako. The brown-haired girl, for her part, blinked at their best friend for a moment as their eyes met - and then something flickered, and she let out a loud squeak as Itsuka turned back to Izuku.

Quickly, she hurried over and grabbed onto Itsuka's shoulder, making the other girl jump a bit and looked back at her.

"W-wait, hold on!" She managed to get out. "Are - we're gonna -?"

"Yep," Itsuka nodded, "we've gotta tell him."

"Uh …" Izuku glanced between them again, confused, "… tell me what, exactly?"

"I - I mean - are you sure?!"

"Well, Ochako," Itsuka turned to give her an expectant look, "it's only fair, isn't it? I mean …"

"T-tell me what, guys?"

"I …" Ochako hesitated again, still looking anxious, but then she let out a small sigh and nodded, "… n-no, you're - you're right. It's only fair. Just … how exactly are we gonna … you know … we can't just tell him, can we?"

"I mean," Itsuka gave her a small grin despite the clear nervousness on her face, "why can't we? That's what I just did, wasn't it?"

"I - I mean -"

"I - guys!" Izuku finally managed to get in, causing both girls to look around at his slightly frustrated expression. "Tell me what?"

Both girls paused for a long moment, glancing between each other again while Izuku gave them both an exasperated look. To him, he just felt more and more confused by the second - seriously, what was going on? Why were they acting so secretive? What was -

Before he could think to voice his questions, Ochako let out a small sigh again, her face turning even more scarlet as she looked away, and then Itsuka nodded a bit as she turned back to Izuku.

"So … Izuku," The orange-haired girl started speaking carefully, seeing Izuku's brow furrow, "there's, uh … there's something that happened between me and Ochako, that - that we haven't told you about yet."

Izuku blinked a bit at that, staring at Itsuka in confusion for a moment, and then, unintentionally, his gaze flickered back at Ochako as she suddenly covered her face with both hands, pointedly not looking at Izuku at all -

- and that was when something registered to him, causing his mind to suddenly pause.

Wait. Wait a minute.

This … this fluster from Ochako. The way - the way Itsuka was continuing to look awkward. They both were - these looks were both familiar to Izuku, he realized as his back straightened a bit. They were looking as embarrassed as both the times when he had …

… when he … had … kissed them.

And that, of course, was when the dots suddenly connected.

Slowly, Izuku turned back to look at Itsuka, his jaw dropping. And then he looked around at Ochako as she lowered her hands, but continued to study the sandy ground. And then back at Itsuka. And then back at Ochako. Then Itsuka. Then Ochako. Then Itsuka. Then Ochako.

And that was when Izuku took a small step back, feeling his blush return to his face full force as his mind finally caught up to what they were talking about.

"W-wait," He felt his eyes blow open, raising his hand to point in between both girls in his shock, "you … two … you two … you … k-k-k-kissed?"

"We …" Itsuka squirmed a bit awkwardly while Ochako studied her feet, "… did. Yeah."

"W-where? When?!"

"We … well, we've - we've technically kissed twice," Itsuka admitted, going much redder as Izuku's jaw continued to drop down farther and Ochako slammed her hands to her face, thankfully remembering to mind her pinkies lest she start floating off to the sky, "once at the USJ - you know, w-when it was getting invaded - and then today. W-when we were at lunch."

Izuku continued to stare at both of them like a fish as Itsuka awkwardly stopped there, his jaw completely hanging as he continued to glance between them both. Ochako and Itsuka, for their parts, were making sure not to look at each other at all, as though afraid that a single glance at each other would cause them to burst into embarrassed flames.

And then, for some reason, the comically shocked look on Izuku's face faded … and was quickly transformed into fear. Both girls blinked as Izuku took a small step back, continuing to flick his gaze between them while beginning to tremble.

"Wait," He whispered, horror beginning to fill him, "I … I kissed you both."

"Er …" Ochako furrowed her brow, confused, "… y-yeah …?"

"I … I kissed you both … and - and you've kissed each other before that," He stared down at his hands in shock, looking like he was about to have a breakdown while tears began to well in his eyes, "so that means … I … made you both … cheat on each other -"

"No!" Itsuka quickly jumped in before Izuku could get too carried away, her face now as red as her hair as Izuku whipped his gaze back up to her. "We - we aren't together, Izuku, I - I swear. We - we aren't - we aren't dating, or anything like that!"

"Y-yeah," Ochako likewise shook her head, although a sad expression did cross her face briefly, "we're not - n-no."

"I -" Izuku glanced between them again, his expression becoming more confused now, "- then - wait, you're not dating?"

"N-no, we're not."

"Nope."

"I - why not?" Izuku straightened up, his expression now a mix between confused, embarrassed, and another look that they couldn't quite understand. "I-if you - if you guys kissed, then - then you aren't - huh?"

Now it was the girls' turns to look embarrassed, their gazes continuing to stay on their feet as they awkwardly cleared their throats at the same time. Izuku, for his part, still was glancing between them in confusion as he inadvertently turned the tables on them.

"We - no, we're - we're not dating," Itsuka clarified again, feeling herself become a bit flustered as she kept her eyes firmly away from them both, "we just … kissed and - and that was it."

"I - okay, but - but why?" Izuku looked over at Ochako now as she nervously tapped her fingers together, "I - I had thought - m-maybe -"

"We - we didn't really talk about it afterwards," His best friend admitted quietly, while Itsuka continued to stare off down the beach rather than look at her, "not after … well … what happened."

"I - but why?" Izuku repeated himself, continuing to glance between them both in his confusion. It wasn't as though his heart wasn't hammering a little bit at the moment, but the way both girls avoided looking at each other was making him feel like he was missing something here. "I - I thought that - wait," He suddenly blinked, "- is - is that why I was - why Kacchan thought I was a third wheel? Because you two were - oh god, have I been -"

"Izuku, no," Itsuka turned to give him a pout while Ochako likewise shook her head, "we've been through this. You're not a third wheel."

"Then - then why?"

"I - okay," She sighed, scratching the side of her head, "the truth is - we - we did try to talk about it, on the night you two stayed over. After - after the USJ. You were asleep, me and Ochako were awake, and - and we did try and talk about it. You just, uh … you kind of had a nightmare that we had to wake you up from, and after that, we just … we didn't bring it up again."

"… oh," Izuku blinked, suddenly feeling a bit guilty, "uh … sorry."

"It's - it's not that big a deal," Itsuka shook her head, although she couldn't help but wince slightly at the hurt look that briefly crossed Ochako's face, "we, uh - we were cool with - with not talking about it. I - I think."

"And …" Izuku glanced over at Ochako to see how she was reacting to this, "… and the second one? T-today?"

"That, uh …" Ochako swallowed a bit as Itsuka continued to look away - both girls were clearly uncomfortable now, that much Izuku could pick up, and he felt a bit bad about making them talk about this. But before he could tell them that it was okay, that they didn't have to tell him, Ochako let out a small sigh and looked away.

"… we, uh …" She swallowed loudly, "… we had a - a discussion. And it just … kinda happened. That's - that's why we were awkward around each other today, Deku. Just … that happened."

"O-oh," Izuku nodded slowly, glancing between both girls again with a slight frown. There was a long pause on the beach - and then Izuku decided to just come out and say it.

"S-so, uh - do - do you guys have feelings for each other?"

The moment the question left his lips he cringed, and of course, it caused both girls to go still. They both turned to look at him again in confusion and a bit of surprise, and Izuku felt himself go a bit red, quickly clearing his throat.

"W-what I meant is," He quickly tried to clarify, "it - it sounds like - like you two have - y-you know - you've k-kissed a few times," He went red again at the reminder, "so - so what's going on? Do - do you two have a - uh - a thing for each other?"

Both girls squeaked a bit, quickly turning away from each other while Izuku blinked in confusion between them - and then they both paused. As though coming to the same thought, Itsuka and Ochako looked around at each other for the first time in a few minutes.

"W-wait," Itsuka looked surprised, pointing at Izuku inquisitively while staring at Ochako, "d-do we - are - do you have a thing for me?"

"I …" Ochako froze up again, as though she had been caught in a trap, and then quickly snapped her gaze back down to the ground, "… well, I - I don't know. I - maybe? I - I think?"

There was a pause.

"You …" Izuku tilted his head while Itsuka went red, "… think?"

"I don't know!" Ochako's hands immediately slammed against her face again. Izuku let out a squeak as she began floating, and quickly went over to grab her ankle and prevent her from flying off.

"This is - this is all really confusing!" She whined a bit. "I - I kissed you, Deku, and - and I've kissed you, Itsuka, and - and you two kissed, and - and - and now my head's all messed up and I don't know what to think! Like - I - I know that I like you, Itsuka -"

Itsuka chirped a bit at that, her face staying red but trying to keep herself quiet.

"- and I - I -" Ochako let out another humiliated noise, and buried her face deeper into her hands, "- I know that I like you too, Deku, and - and that's why I'm so confused! I like both of you at the same time, and - and now you're both here, and the thought of you two making out is - is really sexy, and - and -"

"W-wait, sexy?!" Izuku yelped, almost letting go of Ochako in his shock. She let out her own muffled squeak, Itsuka now fully turned away to hide her red face, her hand coming up to her mouth as she bent over a bit, and Ochako let out a whine.

"Oh, god, why did I admit that?!" She wailed.

"Y-you think we're -" Izuku felt like his mind was about to shut down, shakingly pointing a finger to himself in his shock, "- we're - s-s-s-sex-sexy?!"

"…"

"S-s-sex-"

"Yes!" Ochako finally admitted, throwing her hands away so they could both see her scarlet face, and her accent broke for the first time in a long time. "Yer both hot as hell! Fuckin' hell, Deku! Do ya know how fuckin' sexy ye've gotten?! I wanna smush my fuckin' face against yer abs, yew comin' outta tha' water back las' summer and takin' off yer shirt is fuckin' burned into my fuckin' memory!"

Izuku squeaked again.

"And Itsuka!" She whipped around to Itsuka, who chirped again and straightened her back. "Yer so sexy, it makes me so mad! Do yeh know how many times I've looked at yer ass?! I just wanna touch it and hug it and - and - Deku!" She quickly looked back at Izuku. "Did'cha grab her butt or did she grab yers?!"

"I - uh -" Izuku looked awkwardly away from Ochako in his fluster. "- might've - touched her butt."

"Yeh bastard! I'm so fuckin' jealous!"

"I - well, you - you also grabbed my butt!" Izuku protested, his face practically glowing now as he looked up at Ochako's hilariously angry face. "That happened! You grabbed my butt!"

"Well, yeh were the one tha' pinned me to a pole! Who kisses like that?! Like you were seducin' me!"

"I - I didn't mean to turn you on!"

"Yeh didn't turn me on! " Ochako squeaked at once, with the utter embarrassment in her voice letting both of them know that she was lying through her teeth. "Yeh just - yeh - yeh - aw, fuck, I'm gonna have to do this, aren't I?"

With a shaking sigh, Ochako moved to put her hands back together, pressing her fingers against one another to restore her gravity. Izuku was quick to let go of her ankle and stand back as Ochako dropped back down onto her feet, letting out a small breath as she shook her head and tried to calm herself down enough to regain her more natural accent.

As soon as she calmed her fluster down, she moved to sit down on the sand, not even minding her pajama pants. After stealing another glance at Itsuka, Izuku moved to follow his best friend down to the ground as well, and Itsuka grunted as she moved down onto her knees as well. Soon, all three of them were quiet as Ochako tried to gather her courage.

Finally, she nodded to herself, and glanced between them.

"I … I meant what I said," She made it clear, even though her face was still scarlet, "I - I have a - a thing for you both. And - and it's not just that I find you guys hot - it's - you know - I really, really like you both. But … well …"

She shook her head, clearly still trying to hype herself up, and she turned to Izuku.

"Deku," She said in a quiet voice, "do you … do you remember what Bakugou said earlier? The - the thing about everyone at Aldera calling me a - a fatass?"

Izuku bristled slightly at that, furrowing his brow in anger, while Itsuka winced, clearly knowing what they were about to talk about. When Izuku gave her a curt nod, Ochako took a deep breath.

"The truth is …" She hesitated for a moment, before clenching her hands into fists and looking down at the sand beneath them. "… the truth is, I - for a long time, I - I agreed with them."

Izuku blinked.

"I - huh?"

"I …" Ochako swallowed, feeling like her mouth was turning dry, "… do you remember all those girls back in middle school who would - who would call me ugly, or tell me that I couldn't afford makeup to hide my hideous face, that I'm … I'm a fat loser …?" She glanced back up at Izuku, seeing his face fall and his eyes begin to widen in shock. "For a long time … I thought they were right. And … and when Itsuka kissed me, and then when you and I were - were so close today, I - I tried to push it all down."

She took another deep breath.

"I … think I've been attracted to Itsuka for a while now," She admitted, watching Itsuka out of the corner of her eye, "probably since - I don't know - since we started training. And I've probably had feelings for you, Deku, since - since we were kids, I just - I never thought about it. But I'm … I also had my suspicions that there was - there was something more between you two. And during lunch, I … I realized that Itsuka was in love with you," She bowed her head, "and I tried to back away. Convince her to ask you out while I back off."

"I … but …" Izuku swallowed loudly, his eyes beginning to well with tears again, "… but why?"

"Because …" She let out a humorless laugh, "… because I convinced myself I'm not pretty enough for you. For either of you. We ended up arguing, and … and I told Itsuka all of this. That I'm - I'm too ugly to have either one of you. Because I thought that I don't deserve it. Because I'm … I'm too ugly for either of you."

They were all quiet for a moment, Itsuka staring down at the ground in sadness as she balled her own hands into fists. And then Izuku suddenly began blinking, rather rapidly, as he straightened his back.

"I … what?" He managed to get out, his voice beginning to shake, and Ochako winced when she saw the tears begin to leak from his eyes. "But - you - no, Occhan. You're - you're beautiful. You really are!"

Ochako let out a soft laugh at that, but shook her head while her eyes remained sad. Izuku, for his part, became more distraught.

"Y-you are!" He protested again, sitting forward quickly. Without even hesitating for once, he reached out to take her shoulder, looking almost furious at what she was implying. "You're beautiful, Occhan, I - how long have you -?"

"Years," Ochako admitted, her voice becoming quiet, "I've … I've felt this way for years."

Izuku fell silent again, the tears continuing to move down his cheeks as Ochako turned to stare down at the ground. Itsuka, meanwhile, also stared down at the ground, not entirely sure what to say at this point.

And then Izuku asked, in a quiet voice, "Is … is this why you asked me if I - I regretted kissing you?"

Ochako didn't move for a moment, and then she nodded.

Izuku was quiet for a bit longer, turning to stare down at his knees - and then he shook his head, and straightened up as he raised his hand to roughly wipe away his tears. Without even needing to be asked, Izuku scooted over to sit properly beside his best friend, and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her in for a hug. Ochako, for her part, didn't resist, simply moving to rest her head against his shoulder, and both of them let out soft sighs as Izuku brought his face down on the top of her head.

"I'm sorry," He mumbled, "you've … you've felt this way, for - for so long, and I - I never noticed."

"It's not your fault," Her answer was muffled, but he felt her hand gently wrap around his waist, "I just … never told anyone."

"I wish you did," He responded, "you're beautiful, Occhan. I just … I wish I could've told you that before."

Ochako merely mumbled, burying her face a bit harder against his shoulder. Izuku's gaze flickered to Itsuka, who was watching them both quietly for the last few minutes, but as their eyes met, Itsuka nodded a bit slowly, and made her way over to their embrace. She gently laid her hand on the back of Ochako's head, and put her other hand on Izuku's free shoulder.

"He's right," She told Ochako gently, "I just … wish we knew about this sooner. That way we could've told you how pretty you are."

"No, I -" Ochako hesitated, and then shook her head, "- I'm working on it, I promise. Just gotta … I'll let you both know. But … yeah."

The three of them were quiet for a few minutes, Izuku letting Ochako lean against him and Itsuka stroking both the back of Ochako's head and Izuku's shoulder. Finally, the sole boy of the group let out a shaky sigh and leaned back from both of them, raising a hand to rub his eyes.

"I … okay," He said quietly, "okay, so can I just … can I just talk?"

Both Ochako and Itsuka nodded, Ochako leaning away from him and Itsuka fixing her hair over her ear again.

"Okay. So, uh …" He hesitated for a long moment, staring down at his knees as his cheeks became red again, and then he shook his head, trying to summon his courage, "… I … think you both know that I - I'm in love with both of you."

Both girls stayed quiet, staring down at the sand, but Izuku saw how their cheeks burned hotter again in the morning light that was slowly but surely coming. He still sighed as he leaned forward, trying to keep looking between them.

"I just … I'm sorry," He said in a quiet voice, feeling his eyes begin to burn with tears again, "I know that it's - it's scummy, to say that to two girls at the same time, and - and I wouldn't blame either of you for - for not wanting to - to have anything to do with me. It's - it's a really crappy thing to just - to just kiss you both at the same time, and -"

"Izuku, hold on," Itsuka suddenly interrupted him before he could get carried away, her voice soft as she glanced up at him, "do you really think we would tell you to screw off?"

"I …" Izuku squirmed a bit, "… kinda? I don't know …"

"Boy," She was unable to stop herself from giggling a bit, tilting her head, "we literally just said that we've kissed each other. Do you think me and Ochako feel scummy for - well -"

She paused at that, feeling her face fall - and then she shook her head, moving her hand from his shoulder so that she could take his hand, and caused him to jolt slightly.

"Okay," She shook her head, "so … you both probably know that I - I feel the same way for you both. Izuku, I love you. I've probably been in love with you ever since we - we first hung out in my garage, I just - I never realized it until recently. You - when you talked back at Nighteye in the gym, and stood up for me, it just - it cemented it. I've been in denial about it for so long, but I'm not gonna hold back anymore. I love you."

While Izuku blushed and glanced away again, she then turned to Ochako, and moved her hand from her head to take her hand as well.

"And … Ochako …" She said in a gentle voice, seeing the brown-haired girl sit up at attention as Itsuka stared her right in the eye, "I … I know that it's kind of - you know - complicated between us, but - but I think I love you too. I haven't known how much I've liked you until - until today, after - after we talked at lunch. You told me about - about what happened with Toga-senpai, and - and I just - I broke. I know that we still have a lot to talk about, but - but I just want to tell you that I love you as much as I love Izuku."

Her grips on both of their hands tightened slightly.

"I … I wouldn't blame either of you for thinking this is too complicated," She admitted in a small voice, "I know you two have known each other longer than you've known me, and - and you have something with each other that I never will with either one of you. And you … you don't have to respond to my feelings, or anything like that, but …"

She trailed off, not entirely sure what to say next - and then Ochako sighed, and they both turned to look at her.

"Er … I guess it's my turn to admit feelings?" She asked in an embarrassed voice.

Both Izuku and Itsuka paused - and just like that, the tense atmosphere of the last few minutes finally broke. They were unable to stop themselves from giggling in a slightly crazed way, while Ochako joined them a bit as she sputtered and ducked her head, overcome in laughter briefly. As the tension finally bled away, she moved to adjust herself, sitting up, and reached out for Izuku's free hand.

He blinked slightly as she squeezed on his hand, careful to keep her pinkie up, and he looked up at his best friend.

"Deku," She said, trying to calm her giggles down so she could be serious again, "you - you said, before we kissed, that all day long you've been having these weird feelings about me. W-whenever we touched, or hugged, or talked, and - you know - all that stuff."

"Uh … yeah," He nodded, "y-yeah, I did."

"And … well, I never told you this," Her face began burning again, feeling lucky that she was holding both her best friends' hands so she didn't slam her own into her face again and float off, "but … I've been having those same weird feelings about you. And … and when we kissed, I just - I let go and embraced those feelings. I - I love you, Deku. Like I said, I - I've loved you since we were little kids."

She then turned to Itsuka.

"And … Itsuka," Her face turned guilty briefly, "I'm … I'm really sorry about arguing with you at lunch. I - I was insecure, and - and jealous of you and Izuku, and I - I took that out on you. After we - we kissed, I just - I realized how much you actually meant to me, and - and I realized that I fell in love with you, too. I just never got to tell you because of all the chaos today, but - yeah."

Itsuka slowly nodded for a moment, and then glanced between them.

"Okay, so …" She sighed, "… I … guess … that's what I needed to get off my chest. It's - it's the same for you two, right?"

"I … I think that's it for me," Izuku gave them both a tired smile, feeling a lot of weight suddenly disappear off his shoulders, "I didn't have anything else to talk to you guys about."

"Er … I don't think so, either," Ochako also gave them both a nervous smile, "that was it. H-how about you, Itsuka? Anything else?"

They were all quiet for a few seconds - and then it suddenly registered to Izuku and Ochako that Itsuka hadn't responded. Blinking, they both looked around to see Itsuka going still for a moment, blinking as though something had just come to her - and then she suddenly went red.

"Oh, uh … actually …" She cleared her throat awkwardly, "… I just … thought of something that you two should know."

Both Izuku and Ochako blinked, glancing at each other briefly before they turned back to her.

"So, uh …" Itsuka let out a small, nervous giggle, looking like she had been caught doing some kind of prank, "… it's a pretty long story, but … well … okay, so just to put it out there, Nejire might've … you know … confessed to me after the festival yesterday. And - and she kissed me."

There was another long pause. Izuku and Ochako felt the smiles slide off their faces, replaced by blank looks as Itsuka shrugged innocently, looking suddenly sheepish.

And then they both squeaked, "Huh?!" at the same time and leapt to their feet, causing Itsuka to squeak as her hands were yanked up with them, throwing her off balance.

"You kissed Hadou?!" Izuku's voice came out hilariously high pitched, loud enough that Itsuka felt momentarily panicked that it was going to carry and draw attention to whoever would be awake at the ass crack of dawn.

"N-not - not exactly!" She tried to hush him, quickly and awkwardly climbing to her feet. "M-more like she - you know - kissed me."

"S-she kissed - she -" Izuku looked like he was going to have another meltdown, his face turning bright red. Ochako, meanwhile, was staring hard at Itsuka, her mouth dropping open, and then she freed her hand from Izuku's so she could point dramatically at their orange-haired friend.

"W-wait, so you got angry about me kissing Toga-senpai, but then you kissed Hadou?!"

"You kissed who?!" Izuku nearly shrieked as he whipped around to stare at Ochako in shock.

"T-that's different!" Itsuka protested quickly, still burning bright red and trying to hush Ochako as her friend stared at her in outrage. "I - I mean, it's not really, but - but you know!"

"Nah, I don' know!" Ochako immediately slipped back into her Kansai accent, practically trembling head to toe in sudden indignancy. "Wha's all this, I can' kiss anyone but yeh can kiss Hadou?! I getcha complaints about Toga, bu' Toga's Toga! She's a ball of horny! Hadou's different! She's - she's -"

"Equally horny!" Itsuka let go of both their hands to throw hers into the air, equally indignified. "That girl is not innocent at all! She acts sweet, but she's actually a monster! A sweet, sexy monster!"

"Sexy?!" Ochako grabbed her hair with her free hand.

"W-wait, so -!" Izuku pointed between both girls in his shock. "S-so you kissed H-Hadou, and you kissed Toga-senpai?! H-how many people are you two kissing?!"

"We aren't kissing anybody!" Itsuka waved her hands frantically in the air while the other two continued to positively melt down, "I got kissed by Hadou! I was the kiss-ee, not the kisser!"

"S-same!" Ochako quickly added in, wheeling around to Izuku. "I got kissed by Toga!"

"Then -" Izuku shook his head. "- w-well, why am I the only one not kissing other people?!"

"Wha- boy, you jus' kissed both of us tonight!" Ochako stomped her foot, flashing the Danger Pout while Itsuka likewise wheeled around at him. "You don' have any room to talk!"

"Yeah, but I love both of you! That's different!"

The three of them thankfully took that chance to breathe, all of them panting from the shouting they had just done. Izuku continued to switch his gaze between the two of them with a very red face, while Ochako and Itsuka continued to pout at him. Behind them, the sun continued to threaten to poke out from under the ocean, illuminating the three of them as Itsuka balled her fists, Ochako's Danger Pout intensified, and Izuku shook with slight indignation -

- and then, without warning, all three of them let out small 'pffts' before they doubled over, beginning to laugh.

"I - oh, god -" Itsuka sniggered to herself as she bent over and covered her mouth, overcome with the giggles. Ochako, meanwhile, held her hands over her mouth as she sputtered and almost fell to her knees in her mirth, while Izuku felt his chest shake as he looked away from both of them to prevent himself from laughing even harder than he already was. Soon, all three of them moved to sit back down on the sand to laugh their butts off, the tension of the last twenty four hours finally bleeding off of them as they gave themselves over to their laughing fits.

It took them all a few minutes to fully calm down, with one of them about to get out of the giggle fest only for someone to keel over with laughter and causing the other two to break down again. Thankfully, they eventually got control of themselves, huddled in their small circle as they all looked back up at each other, their hearts lighter than they had been all yesterday as they smiled bashfully between each other, trying to regain their breath.

As they continued to try calming down, Izuku cleared his throat, some red returning to his face as he looked between them.

"So, uh …" He looked suddenly embarrassed, "… you two … kissed."

Ochako and Itsuka paused their giggles to glance up at him, and then at each other. To his credit, Izuku didn't look jealous or insecure by what he was asking, just … a little curious. After exchanging another glance, Itsuka sighed and leaned back.

"Uh … yeah," She cleared her throat, blushing, "we … definitely did that."

"R-right," Izuku nodded, hatting how he stuttered a bit as he glanced away, "so, uh … and that was back at the USJ, and - and today."

"Mm-hm," Ochako nodded as well, looking just as embarrassed as Itsuka, "the first one was a - a really in-the-moment kind of thing. We almost just died, and we were kinda delirious, and … well … yeah."

"Yeah," Itsuka bit the inside of her cheek, "and if we're getting specific, I was … technically the one who initiated it. At lunch, though, it was a - I'd say it was more mutual. We kissed each other at the same time."

"Oh," Izuku dumbly nodded, note entirely sure how else to respond to that, other than keeping his eyes locked on the stairs leading to the parking lot and keeping his legs crossed for no reason, no reason at all. "So, uh … did … was it … you know … nice?"

There was another pause - and then Itsuka snorted again.

"'Was it nice'?" She repeated, unable to stop herself from giggling again as Izuku looked more and more embarrassed. "Well, uh, surprisingly enough, Izuku? Yes. I at least thought our kiss was 'nice'."

"I - I did too," Ochako admitted quietly, wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her face against her knees. "It was - uh - it was kinda …"

"Hot," Itsuka nodded in agreement, looking embarrassed as well in addition to still grinning sheepishly, "it was pretty hot, I'll admit."

"O-oh." Izuku blushed again while Ochako went even redder. "That's - that's good to know."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… perv," Itsuka was unable to stop herself from teasing him, making her smirk widen as Izuku sputtered indignantly.

"I - I am not!" He protested, although he laughed along with Ochako as the other girl giggled. "I'm - I just - I'm glad that you two - that you guys enjoyed your kiss! That's all!"

"Uh-huh," Itsuka leaned forward, continuing to giggle as she poked his shoulder, "you're not a perv. Of course. Although, should I check my butt to make sure there aren't any bruises from how hard you were squeezing on it?"

Ochako giggled again, and Izuku whipped around at her.

"Y-you can't laugh at that! You of all people can't laugh at that!"

"But I am," Ochako teased him as well.

"I - well," Izuku looked back around at Itsuka indignantly, "I'm not the one who straddled my lap! That was you!"

"W-wait, you sat in his lap?!" Ochako gasped, looking at Itsuka in surprise and a bit of jealousy - although jealous of who, neither of them knew. The orange-haired girl, for her part, seemed shameless, nodding a bit as she smirked between them.

"Well," She shrugged her shoulders, "I guess if Izuku just wanted to know that my first kiss was enjoyable, then mission accomplished. Of course, I could offer a demonstration if he's not sure."

"Huh?!" Izuku squeaked, glancing between both girls at once while his cheeks went redder.

"Huh?!" Ochako likewise went red, her eyes immediately locking on Itsuka's lips.

Itsuka, for her part, couldn't help but laugh again, while Izuku quickly looked away to try hiding his fluster and Ochako flashed her a Danger Pout in warning, displeased at being teased. Still, though, Itsuka felt her smile fade a bit as she settled back, glancing between them both.

"So, uh …" She was unable to stop herself from feeling a bit nervous again, clasping her hands together in front of her, "… jokes aside. What … exactly happens now?"

Both Izuku and Ochako paused at that, looking back up at her for a long moment before they glanced at each other. The three of them were quiet for a long moment, as though they had all suddenly noticed the awkward elephant in the room at the same time.

They had all acknowledged their feelings for one another. They were all on the same page now. They knew that they liked each other.

So … now what?

They sat there silently on the beach for a few minutes, glancing between each other as the sun continued to rise in the distance - and then Izuku let out a small sigh, and raised a hand to tug at his lip.

"Well … I mean …" He blushed again, "… I … really like kissing you two."

Both Ochako and Itsuka went red again, but they still smiled at him.

"Well, uh," Itsuka giggled, "believe it or not, I like kissing you guys too."

"Y-yeah," Ochako nodded, "same. And - and I know that I've got all of my - you know - body issues to deal with -"

"Occhan, you are so beautiful -"

"Okay, Deku, I get it!" Ochako quickly threw her hands up in the air in defeat, before her bashfulness got the better of her and made her look away. Izuku, for his part, looked shameless in his assurances while Itsuka smiled at him in pride, and Ochako sighed again.

"Anyway," She tried to say again, "what I'm trying to say is - it probably won't be easy, but - but I like being with you two. You make me feel better about myself, and - and - I don't know. I know that we probably - we can't just go back to being friends, and I - I don't think I'd want to. I want …" She hesitated, and then let out a shuddering breath, "… I think … I want more. With both of you."

Both Izuku and Itsuka went red - but then Izuku nodded.

"I … I agree," He muttered, "I … I want to be with you both. N-not just as your friend. As - as more. I'm … I'm not entirely sure what that exactly entrails, but - but I want to find out."

"I … well," Itsuka sighed as they both glanced at her, raising her hand to stroke her hair, "I'm … pretty much aware that we're all lowkey sleep deprived right now -"

"Sorry," Izuku and Ochako winced again.

"- but I'm pretty sure that - you know - okay," She smiled as she shook her head and sat up, "so we got everything out in the open. We're all aware of how we feel about each other. And … well, what I'm … pretty sure we're all thinking is … well … it's not gonna be easy."

"…"

"…"

"… yeah," Izuku nodded slowly, "I know. It … won't be."

"…"

"…"

"… but …" He swallowed, "… I wanna try it."

"Me too," Ochako nodded, twirling her fingers together.

"It'll be complicated," Itsuka pointed out to them, "we've … probably gotta figure out what's going on with Nejire. And - well - Toga-senpai."

"Y-yeah, but - but we can - we'll deal with that," Ochako said, a small frown on her face, "if - if Hadou's got some kind of tension with you and Deku - since, y'know, she was talking yesterday about you and her going on a date a few weeks back -"

"Erk," Izuku winced, "uh - in my defense, I'm - I'm not sure if it was an actual date."

"But …" Itsuka raised her eyebrow, "… did you want it to be?"

Izuku didn't answer, simply looking down at his feet and looking guilty. Thankfully, neither girl looked like they were judging him.

"I'm … I'm not worried," Ochako continued on, "I - I might not know how to feel about - about you two and Hadou - but I should try and understand it."

Yeah …" Itsuka slowly nodded, feeling herself begin to pout, "… and … I better let go of what you and Toga-senpai did, too. Since - since we're trying to - you know - be understanding."

"Y-yep."

"Yeaaah …"

"…"

"…"

"… if she comes to the beach today and flirts with either one of you," Itsuka's eyebrow suddenly twitched, "all bets are off."

Both Izuku and Ochako let out weak laughs, still raising their hands to placate her as she pouted at them, and then Itsuka shook her head again. After a moment, with the gentle waves of the beach still sloshing on the shoreline and giving them a bit of ambient noise, Itsuka let out another sigh, and then moved her hands out to hold over both of theirs, looking between them with a small, hopeful look.

"So, uh …" She licked her lips to moisturize them, "… I know that we have a big … Nejire-sized hole to figure out, and - and we probably won't be able to do anything special, since - since there's midterms coming up soon, and then internships. But … well … I guess we should try making things official, right? Even if … if we decide to keep quiet about it."

"O-oh, yeah," Izuku nodded quickly, "we'll - we'll be quiet about it for now."

"Mm-hm," Ochako agreed, "I'm not sure if I could deal with all the drama if we - if we went public. So … not yet."

"Yeah. So," Itsuka tilted her head, "I guess … at this point, I have a question for you both."

Both childhood friends straightened up, their faces beginning to burn redder and redder as Itsuka glanced between them with a soft smile.

"Izuku Midoriya," She said to him first, and then turned to Ochako as her own face burned hotter, "and Ochako Uraraka. Are … would you … would you both go out with me?"

Both Izuku and Ochako tensed up a bit, Ochako using her free hand to hide her blushing face and Izuku looking on the verge of passing out as she glanced hopefully between them. And then Izuku cleared his throat, glancing at Ochako for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"Uh …" He cleared his throat, "… I … I guess I should … also ask if - if both of you would be okay with me being your - your - b-b-boyfriend."

"I would be," Itsuka nodded at once.

"Yeah," Ochako agreed as well, emerging from her hand and glancing between both of them, "and, uh … I know that … that I've got my issues, and - and I might get annoying about it -"

"You'd never."

"Don't even think about it."

"- I - yeah, okay," Ochako was unable to stop herself from giggling, and then sighed deeply, "then … then I'd ask … if you wanted to be my - my boyfriend, Deku. And - and if you would - if you'd wanna be my girlfriend, Itsuka."

All three of them were quiet for a moment, letting the moment sink in. And then Izuku suddenly straightened up.

"So …" He glanced between both of them nervously, "… are … are we dating now?"

Itsuka sputtered a bit, and then giggled as Ochako quickly moved to hide her flustered face again.

"Yeah," She nodded, beginning to beam, "I'd … I'd say that we're all dating now."

Both Izuku and Ochako's faces flushed at that, but the smiles on their faces as they looked back at her only made Itsuka's heart soar. All three of them let out awkward laughs, sitting there on the beach as the sun began rising into the sky behind them and bathed them in yellow light. And then, after a moment, Itsuka shook her head, and leaned over to suddenly press her lips against Izuku's again.

Ochako merely squeaked in surprise as Izuku let out a muffled noise of shock, his eyes widening and his cheeks going red, but Itsuka didn't stay too long, parting from him with a soft smile before she turned her face to Ochako. And before the other girl could blink, Itsuka leaned over, and gave her her own kiss. Izuku, for his part, straightened his back at once, his eyes widening even more and his face burning redder as Itsuka gently kissed her, and then moved back.

Settling back on her knees, Itsuka gestured between both Izuku and Ochako, and the two glanced between each other in confusion before it suddenly came to them what Itsuka wanted. After an awkward pause, Ochako giggled nervously, and leaned over.

Izuku went still again, but still closed his eyes, and when he felt Ochako kiss him gently, he answered back just as gently. They stayed there for a moment before moving back, glancing between themselves and Itsuka for a moment, before she let out a laugh and sat forward, taking both of their shoulders and bringing them in for another group hug. This time, however, Izuku and Ochako weren't as awkward, laughing a bit as they hugged the girl between them and held her tightly.

After hugging for a few moments, Itsuka began getting to her feet, and Izuku and Ochako were quick to follow her.

"Like we said," She said between them, "it's probably gonna be tougher than we're thinking. But you know what? I'm gonna worry about that later. Right now, I'm just … I'm gonna enjoy the moment."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, smiling at her, "just … gonna enjoy that … holy whoa," He stopped briefly, his eyes widening, "I have two girlfriends."

Both Ochako and Itsuka snorted a bit at that, but still smiled at the amazed look on his face. With a giggle, Itsuka stepped back, but still held fast onto their hands as she began pulling them towards the stairs.

"So," She smiled, "as I'm aware that you two are pretty much running off no sleep - not too sure about you, Ochako, but you definitely are, Izuku - let's go back to my place, okay? You two can nap and when you wake up, we can start heading to the beach with Eri and my dad."

Both of them smiled at that, and hurried to catch up with her as they began walk over to the stairs that would lead up to the parking lot -

- and then Ochako paused, and looked over at Izuku.

"So Deku," She suddenly pouted, "what's this I hear about you checking out Melissa's butt?"

"…"

"…"

"… I'm sorry," Itsuka's eyebrow twitched while Izuku went pale, "you checked out who's butt?"

"I - hold on!" Izuku squeaked. "I can explain!"

Both girls turned to aim pouts at Izuku as he began stuttering out an explanation, only for Itsuka to suddenly giggle as she moved her arms around both of their shoulders again, causing them to falter and blink. She then moved to kiss both their cheeks, and as Izuku and Ochako went a bit red, she giggled again and held them close.

"Well," She sighed, "at least things shouldn't be as complicated as it was before from here on out. Even if our boyfriend likes looking at pretty girls' butts."

"H-hey!"

---

"…"

"…"

"… sorry, Eri," Katsuma sighed as he stared down at the paper he had been handed by his girlfriend, "but your parents are gonna kill you."

"Okay, I - yes, they will," Eri closed her eyes in defeat, reaching up to do up her hair into its usual ponytail, "but at least it isn't my fault! I didn't throw the first punch this time."

"'This time'," Katsuma repeated under his breath, only to shrink when Eri shot him a small glare.

Walking down the sidewalk in the hot summer air, Eri let out a small sigh as she finished tying her hair up into the side ponytail on her head - it wasn't as easy to do with her own wild, bushy hair unlike her mom's relatively straight hair, but she wanted to have at least a tiny resemblance to her when she got home. Unfortunately for the two teenagers as they walked home from school, tonight wasn't a date night - Kota had to go home to Mandalay's so that he could visit with the rest of his aunts and uncle, so he wasn't able to walk home with them, and Katsuma had dinner planned with his dad and sister that night. It was fortunate, at least, that Eri had her own plans for tonight, but it was still a loss for the Eri-Kota-Katsuma triangle.

Still though, at least Katsuma had enough time to walk Eri home, making her giggle a bit as she linked their arms together and caused Katsuma to go bright red.

"Anyway," She tapped on her shoulder with her horn, "here's what I'm thinking for later, Kats - I've got my mom coming home tonight, and we're gonna spend time tomorrow as a family, but I'm free Sunday! Wanna come by and study for the pop quiz?"

"Oh, uh … I don't know -"

"My dad isn't gonna glare at you in disappointment," Eri guessed her boyfriend's hesitation at once, giving him a deadpan look as he went redder, "not that he would anyway. He'd probably burst into happy tears if he caught us cuddling."

"I - I just don't know how to react!" Katsuma whined a bit. "He's been my hero longer than I've known you!"

"He became your hero a whole day before you met me! It's not that big a timeframe!"

"It's still weird!"

"Kats," Eri smiled up at him, reaching up to gently cup his chin and turn his face to her, her boyfriend going stiff and bright red at the action, "even if my dad has a problem with it - which he doesn't - that doesn't mean that we should act any different than we usually do. Honestly, I was more awkward about how my parents would react to me getting in my own little poly - do you know how humiliating it was when I finally told them and they just said that they knew already? I spent like - all night long face down on the couch."

"I … I guess so," Katsuma smiled a bit weakly at her, "it's just … kinda weird, you know? To not have to sneak around anymore."

"Well," Eri's kind smile suddenly turned mischievous, which made Katsuma gulp nervously, "we can still do plenty of sneaking around if you -"

"Ergh!" He suddenly grunted, quickly turning and pointing wildly at a sign near the road. "That's - uh - that's you, Eri!"

Eri merely raised her eyebrow at his weak attempt to dodge the flirt as she glanced over, seeing the sign that pointed towards her neighborhood. With a long suffering sigh, she shook her head and moved away from him, although her smirk remained on her face as she looked away.

"I guess that is," She pretended to sniffle, getting Katsuma's attention as she stared away with a pout, "poor me - my boyfriend can't wait to get rid of me."

"I - okay, hold on!" Katsuma looked panicked, staring at her in shock as she pretended to hide her face from him, and gave her an adorable pout. "That's not fair!"

"What's not fair is that you always interrupt me when I'm not done flirting yet. It hurts, Kats, Kota at least insults me when he has to hear my cheesy pick up lines. Then there's you, who just … enjoys hurting me."

"I …" Katsuma sighed, shaking his head for a moment before he reached out to pat her shoulder. When Eri pretended to look at him with an exaggerated sniffle, her boyfriend took her by the shoulders and brought her in for a side hug, making Eri blink a bit as he clung to her and hid his face in her shoulder.

"F-for the record," He said quietly and nervously, "I … really like your cheesy pick up lines."

Eri paused for a moment, red coming to her cheeks - and then she groaned.

"Oh, man," She whined at him, "you always do that!"

"H-huh?" He blinked. "Do what?"

"That thing where you get all charming and confident, and then you have to go!" She moved her head away to pout at him for real. "Why can't you do that when we first meet up, and I can kiss you silly?"

"Well, uh -" Katsuma awkwardly cleared his throat, trying to take a step back while Eri smirked coyly up at him, and then he jumped as Eri playfully traced his jaw with her finger, "- I - I don't think I would survive if you -"

"Hm, such a mean boyfriend," Eri teased, making Katsuma stiffen up more, "you should give me a few kisses then, just to make -"

"Oi! Punks!"

Both teenagers jumped a bit at the sound of a rough voice suddenly barking at them from behind, making them quickly jump apart and look around. Storming up the street, the police detective glared down at both of them as he adjusted the fedora over his head, and scratched at the scruff of his beard while he held a folder under his arm, his coat open to show the black suit beneath as he walked over from his car.

While Katsuma looked weirdly nervous under the familiar detective's glare, Eri was the opposite, loosening her shoulders and smirking a bit as she patted her boyfriend's shoulder, and then raised her hands in surrender while the detective scoffed.

"Whatever it was, officer," She said in a dramatic voice, "I didn't do it. I have an alibi."

"Yeah, whatever, you little punk," Katsuki Bakugou grunted as he stopped just short of the two teenagers and glanced between them, "like I would believe that. Anyway, your shitty old man left this at my office," He moved the folder out from under his arm and pushed it into Eri's hands, "some shit about a villain gang west of Musutafu. Give it back to him and tell him not to leave his shit on my desk without telling me first."

"Aw, and here I was thinking you liked it when he gave you homework," Eri snarked at him, taking the folder and tucking it under her arm. Luckily for her, Katsuki merely scoffed as he moved one of his hands out of his pocket.

"You know kid, I miss when you were a shy little shit," He snarked right back at her, "at least you knew when to shut the fuck up back then."

"Yeah, and I wish you knew when to shut the fuck up now."

Katsuki, for his part, barked out a laugh and grinned down at her as he rubbed the top of Eri's head, messing up her hair. While she grumbled and tried to fix it, the police detective turned to look at Katsuma, who was still a bit stiff and at attention on the side.

"Hey, kid," He nodded at him, "tell your stupid sister that I"m expecting her to be training tomorrow morning. I better not catch her hanging out with the other losers she has at UA again, or I'm making her take a lap around the damn city."

"Y-yes, sir!" Katsuma quickly saluted him, while Katsuki rolled his eyes and turned back to his car.

"Now," He pointed between them with a smirk, "I'm gonna pretend I didn't just catch you two about to make out, and go about my day."

Eri merely flipped the police detective off while Katsuma studied his feet, and soon Katsuki started heading back to his car, wanting to take off and head back home. As he disappeared around the corner, Eri turned back to Katsuma, and with a smirk, went up on her tippy toes so she could kiss Katsuma's cheek, causing him to freeze up even more and look around at her with all the blood in his body rushing to his face.

"That'll just be a hint of what'll happen when we hang out Sunday," She giggled flirtatiously, "I'm expecting you and Kota to be paying me back in kind, mister."

With that, she twirled away from him with a laugh, and began jogging back down the street towards her neighborhood. Katsuma, for his part, stared blankly at her with a red face as he watched her press her hand to the pad outside the opaque wall, and then stepped through the two sliding doors while blowing him another kiss, before vanishing from view.

Now on the opposite side of the holographic wall, Eri twirled around as she started making her way towards her house. New Heights Alliance was honestly a dream come true, keeping all of the pesky reporters and paparazzi out of the lives of the former members of Class 1A, 1B and the various other family members and friends that lived there - her own private little neighborhood, patrolled by several pro heroes that doted on her. She waved over to Sato as he sat on his porch with a cupcake to eat, and jogged past Mashiaro and Tooru on their way to their car, although she did pause to feel Tooru's baby bump, with the invisible woman giggling as Eri looked shocked when she felt a kick.

She also made sure to pass by Momo and Kyouka's home next door, picking up their mail while they were on vacation in Venice. She also stopped to chat with Yui, her auntie having been coming back from work and looking absolutely tired, and then cringed when Tenya came up to kiss his wife's cheek and then berate her for getting into another fight at school, which made it clear to Eri that Izuku at least had heard what happened today. She thankfully got out of that by Yui seeing her distress and turning to Tenya to blatantly ask if they were, and Eri quoted, 'going to go at it like wild animals that night', which made Tenya whirl around to gape at her throwing that out there and only giving Eri slight trauma. She waved to Eijirou and Mina as they picked up their kids from the other side of the street to bring inside for dinner, Fumikage as he stayed under his tree reading a book while Reiko sketched in her notepad beside him, Koda as he talked with a few squirrels, and Ibara as she tended to her garden.

Finally, she moved up the driveway of her house, sighing in relief as she approached the three story building, and jogged up the steps of her porch to head inside, hearing the television on.

"- American authorities have confirmed that the prison break on the transfer plane was thwarted by the fourth member of Japan's own Team Clover," the reporter said to the camera as Eri closed the door behind her, "who stopped the hijacking while passing over. The criminal known to the public as Vortex and his gang have been placed back into custody, and are expected to arrive in America in a few hours' time. In other hero related news, pro hero Pretty Boy made a surprise appearance at -"

She didn't pay much mind to what the television said after that, of course, as at the moment she stepped through the door, her nose was hit by the delicious smell of food, making her stomach growl. Dropping her bag down and putting the folder on the coffee table, she quickly made her way through the living room and into the kitchen. As she suspected, Izuku was in charge of cooking tonight, humming to himself as he pushed something into the oven while she walked straight to the table, starting to salivate at the small bread buns put there for dinner that night.

"You're allowed to have one," He chuckled without even looking back at her, and Eri scooped up a bun and immediately stuffed it straight into her mouth, chewing on the whole thing and roughly swallowing it in one go, "I assume you didn't end up getting a snack after training today?"

"Nope," Eri sighed, pouting as she walked over to the kitchen sink beside Izuku and washed her hands, "Sera was being a little shit and made me spin in circles while we were training in the flood zone. I almost puked right in the pool!"

"Ouch," Izuku smiled at her, leaning over so he could press a small kiss on Eri's horn, "well, that sounds like Setsuna's sister. Oh, and I did hear from Nemuri about your fight at lunch -"

"Man," She cringed inwardly, muttering under her breath, "why couldn't you give me a break, Grandma Nemuri? At least for one night?"

"- and we'll talk more about it tomorrow," Izuku smiled as his daughter obviously sagged her shoulders in relief, "at least you didn't start it, so I think your moms and I can maybe let it slide. No promises, though."

"Thanks, Dad. Er, speaking of …?"

"Suka and Ocha are still at the hospital," Izuku's smile faded a bit as he sighed, "but they'll be back after supper, they texted me about twenty minutes ago. And your other mom'll be here soon - apparently, she had to stop a prison break on the plane back to America."

"Oh, yeah, I just saw that - it was that Vortex guy, right?"

"Yep, he broke out on the way there," Izuku was unable to stop himself from smirking a little bit, "and tried to take over the plane. But he ended up running into your mom, so she got everything sorted out - she was actually supposed to be here an hour ago."

Eri let out an excited giggle, moving to her tippy toes again to kiss her dad's cheek, and then moved back through the kitchen into the living room. As she made her way over to the couch, she called out to him, "Oh, yeah, I ran into Kacchan on the way back - he gave me a folder for you to look through."

"Oh! Well, I'll have a look at it tomorrow, I guess - this weekend's supposed to be about you girls, he'll have to wait if he wants me to look over it again."

"Heh, he made it sound like you left it on his desk on purpose. Made you sound incompetent!"

"Well, you know Kacchan - once a dick, always a dick."

Eri laughed at that, settling back on the couch and letting out a sigh of relief as she got her red tie off and put down. She heard her dad move out of the kitchen, pausing to turn on the radio in the windowsill so music could begin playing, and while she closed her eyes, she heard her dad approach the couch, making her smile when he reached down to rub her hair.

"So, uh …" Izuku's voice suddenly turned nervous, making her wrinkle her brow and open her eyes, "… did … Katsuma walk you home tonight?"

Eri felt herself pause at that, her smile faltering - and then she let out a long suffering sigh, and moved to roll over, aware of her dad standing behind her and making her grumble as her hair flopped down on her face.

"Yep," She grumbled into the couch pillow, "and before you ask, no, we didn't go into any bushes and -"

"I - okay, I'm not concerned about that!" Izuku quickly interrupted her before she could get carried away, sounding embarrassed as he moved around her to sit down on the table before the couch. "I'm not saying that you can't make out with your boyfriends -"

"Oh, god," Eri groaned, pushing her face further into the pillow.

"- I - I mean, it's - it's not like your moms or I can judge you. When we were at your age -"

"Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, please shut up."

"I - okay, you know what I mean," Izuku sighed, reaching out to take Eri's long white hair tied into her ponytail and bopped her in the face with it. While Eri grumbled and looked up at him with a scowl, Izuku smiled and put her hair down, gently taking her arm to roll her over to look at him.

"Look," He gave her a soft look, "your moms and I - we don't mind that you are dating Kota and Katsuma. We approve. It's just … we want you to be careful. It's … kinda different when it's two boys and one girl -"

"Dad, no -"

"- and it was reversed for us, so we -"

"Dad, please, god, do not talk anymore," Eri groaned, flopping back down and kicking her feet up and down against the couch. Izuku at least knew to let it go, sighing as he stood up and adjusted one of the straps on his leg brace. However, before he walked back into the kitchen, he paused.

"So, uh - just so we're clear," He went a bit red, his tone of voice making it clear that he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to know this, "when you say you're in a relationship with Kota and Katsuma - that means -?"

"Yes, Dad," Eri rolled her eyes, "they make out with each other as much as they make out with me."

"Oh. Okay. Good. That's good."

"I'm not sure how that's -"

Before Eri could snark at him, however, there came the sound of beeping at the front door. Izuku glanced over to see the small device on the side table beginning to beep, and he blinked a bit, realization hitting his eyes.

"Oh," He said simply, "your mom's almost here."

Quickly sitting up, Eri felt her annoyed and humiliated face fall away, and be replaced by excitement. Swinging her feet off the couch, she hurried around her dad towards the front door, quickly taking off her socks so that she could walk out on the front yard without shoes.

"H-hey, slow down!" Izuku laughed a bit, following her out after glancing backwards to make sure the kitchen wasn't on fire, and wincing when Eri nearly tripped right off the porch steps. "It's not like you don't see her come in every time she lands."

"But it's always so cool!"

Skipping off the front porch, Eri jogged across the yard towards the sidewalk, her eyes moving up where the dome was showing the sky. Thanks to Mei's creative and insane ideas, she had the thought of making the entire dome a giant one way mirror - they would be able to easily see the sky and area around them, fresh air seeping in from the mini vents lining the dome, but no one outside would see anything but a gray dome that was just opaque enough that no one would be able to see inside. Which meant that all of the denizens of New Heights Alliance usually got to see if there were any flying quirks well in advance.

Soon, Izuku joined Eri outside, chuckling as he wrapped his arm around his daughter's shoulders, and they both waited for a few seconds, Izuku taking a moment to wave to Setsuna and Hanta on the other side of the street as they made their way inside.

And then they both heard it.

A deep, roaring rumbling coming down from the sky.

Looking up, Izuku was quick to take his daughter by the shoulders and back her up so that their hair didn't get singed as the force field of New Heights Alliance opened at the top, letting the returning member of their neighborhood in. The descent slowly stopping just before its feet collided with the road, the giant red suit of armor standing before them landed on the open road with a loud BOOM, bending its knees slightly to absorb the impact, and slowly, it rose up to tower above most of the house, its red head with the blue slitted eyes slowly looking down at the two of them standing there.

There was a long moment's pause as the giant robot stood impressively before them, staring down at them -

- and then Izuku raised an eyebrow. Walking forward towards its midsection, Izuku raised his fist and knocked on the metal, and from within, he heard a snorting grunt.

"H-huh?"

"Melissa," Izuku smiled a bit, "are you awake in there?"

"O-oh! Yeah, uh - totally! Just - just -" They both heard a yawn, "- just gimme a sec, Izu, I'll turn - y'know -"

"Hercules," Izuku commanded in a loud voice so that the suit's AI could hear him, "return to car mode. Override password: 'Snuggle-Wuffle'."

At once, the giant suit of armor beeped, and began to transform before them, Izuku backing up so that it could have some space to work. Soon, the red shade of moving parts shifted into black, and before them was a pitch black supercar, resting on the side of the road. The window quickly sliding down, Melissa poked her head out, pouting a bit as she adjusted her glasses, and suppressed another yawn as Izuku moved forward.

"I could've done that," She pouted at him, while Izuku merely chuckled and opened the door for her, moving in to undo the seatbelt and pick his wife up, careful to mind her head as he plucked her right out of the car, "I'm not - *yawn* - I'm not that tired, Izu."

"Yeah, yeah," He shook his head affectionately, "now come on, it's nap time."

"Izu, I don't need nap time. I need -"

"I'm finishing up dinner right now. Just rest for a few minutes, and it'll be ready for you when you wake up."

"… that's … tempting."

"I imagine so. It was a long flight from America, so just take a little nap, okay? Food will be ready for you no matter what, I'll handle things."

With that, he carried his wife inside, with Eri happily moving after them and reaching out to stroke Melissa's long blonde hair as it hung over Izuku's arm, and together, they all headed inside.

Thankfully, it only took about another hour before dinner was ready and set, and by that time, Melissa had woken up from her nap to at least change out of her red and black jumpsuit, moving into the dining room with a fresh pair of track pants, a t-shirt and a happy grin as she stared down at the food being laid down on the table. Eri and Izuku, at least, had just finished setting the table when they had heard her heading down the stairs, and Izuku had just finished filling her glass with milk as Melissa sat down beside Eri, taking a chance to kiss her horn herself.

"Oh, Izuku Midoriya, I love you," She sighed in relief as she stared down at her dinner while practically drooling, "I had a single granola bar before I had to leave California, I was starving the whole trip across the ocean. I think I was a bit rougher on that Vortex idiot because I was so hungry."

"Well," Izuku smiled a bit at her as he sat down as well, all of them clapping their hands together before moving for their chopsticks, "I figured tonight was gonna be special, so … better to go all out, right?"

"At least we've got leftovers covered all weekend."

"Now," Izuku's eyes turned soft, "did you get enough sleep, Mel? Or -"

"Izu," Melissa smiled at him knowingly, "I'm probably going to crash from jet lag right after stuffing myself, so you don't need to worry about me getting any sleep. I got a few minutes of snoozes, it's all good."

"Okay," Izuku still gave her a concerned look, "but you need your sleep, okay? No sneaking downstairs to work tonight."

"Alright, alright," Melissa giggled, and then turned to Eri as she ate her dinner, "now then - young lady, I have a question for you."

"Hm?" Eri managed to get out through her chewing, swallowing and looking around at her third mother. "Yeah?"

Without even pausing, Melissa turned, and whistled. They all heard an excited bark - a high-pitched one - and a Bernese mountain puppy suddenly skittered around the corner, barking excitedly and jumping up on Melissa's leg. The American woman let out a giggle as she scooped him right up to hold in her lap, and then turned with a smirk to look at Eri, who was now busy studying her plate and sweating nervously.

"I can't help but notice," She pointed out while Izuku chuckled and kept eating, the puppy moving up to lick at her cheek, "that Gūdo here is a puppy again."

"Aaaaah … yeah," Eri giggled a bit awkwardly, "isn't … that a miracle?"

"Mm-hm. And what did Itsuka have to say about this?"

"'Stop making the dog live forever." Eri muttered in shame.

"And … will you?"

"… you already know that answer, Mom."

"Well," Izuku chortled a bit, "I'm at least glad Gūdo seems happy. This is … what, the fourth time you've turned him back into a puppy?"

"I mean, my quirk's gotta be released somehow!" She protested. "And Gūdo's happy with it!"

"Yeah," Melissa giggled, "and I'm sure Itsuka's happy too - at least until she has to potty train Gūdo again."

"She has experience now!"

"Anyway," Izuku shook his head, smiling as Melissa put Gūdo back down on the floor, "Eri's been grounded for a week for it, so she'll have to deal with that. How was I-Island, Melissa?"

"Pretty good! I was actually talking to …"

From there, dinner passed by relatively peacefully, with the three of them catching up happily. They, of course, did miss that their table had a few missing members, but they knew that what Ochako and Itsuka were doing took priority, so Izuku was sure to wrap their dinner up to eat when they got home. Melissa told the two of them what she had been up to in America - it was pretty hard work, being the Number One Hero of America after Star & Stripe, but she still worked as hard as she could - and Eri enjoyed listening to her mom's adventures over the week.

Finally, once dinner was done and the dishes were washed, Eri smartly informed the two of them that she was going to go upstairs for a bit to study, and both Izuku and Melissa watched as she all but sprinted up the stairs, Gūdo happily following her, and they soon heard the sound of the door locking upstairs. Raising his eyebrows, Izuku was unable to stop himself from chuckling while Melissa tapped her foot against the floor.

"I think," He chortled, "she's trying to avoid hearing us being up to something."

"Oh?" Melissa gave him a coy smile. "And what would that be, Mr. Midoriya?"

"Well …" Izuku paused for a long moment, turning to glance at Melissa - and then he laughed as she quickly tackled him down onto the couch, both of them bouncing a bit until Izuku could arrange himself to sit up, Melissa straddling his lap, and they both kissed deeply.

"Oh, god," Melissa groaned against his lips as his hand buried itself in her curly hair, "I missed this."

"We missed you, too," He told her as he wrapped his other arm around her waist, pressing her a bit firmer against him as they both continued kissing, "weekends are too quick, when - when do you have to go back?"

"Monday afternoon," She squirmed against him, laughing as he flipped them around to lay her on her back, Izuku on top of her and starting to kiss her neck, "so I got the morning and lunch with you guys before I have to head back in Hercules."

"Man," Izuku shook his head, feeling her stroke his strong back, "I just … I kinda wish you could just …"

"Izu," Melissa paused their make out to move his head out from her neck, smiling ruefully as she stroked his hair, "I miss living here all the time, too. But America needs Hercules, and … well, seeing as I'm the pilot, I'm not entirely sure I can be like Uncle Might and just pick someone to pilot the suit for a while. But let's talk about that later, okay? We've got a long weekend ahead of us, if your moms are gonna come over."

"I guess," Izuku chuckled, sitting up on top of her and adjusting her glasses when he noticed them going lopsided, "my stepmom wants to use our kitchen to make brownies, and … well, you know how picky Eri can get. You're right, seems we have a busy weekend ahead of us."

"Mm," Melissa smirked, and Izuku squeaked when he felt her roughly grab at his butt, "so in that case … let's get this out of the way before -"

"Booo!"

"Boooooo!"

Jumping a bit at the sudden booing, both Izuku and Melissa were quick to look over at the door. Izuku, for his part, felt his cheeks go a bit red, but still chuckled as he saw both Ochako and Itsuka standing there, their hands to their mouths as they continued to jeer at the two of them, Itsuka closing the door with her hip.

"Come on, this is the most boring scandal we've ever seen!" She pretended to complain. "You guys can't go ten seconds without talking about each other's days. Where's the heated kisses? The shock? You guys wouldn't make Juzo New's top ten scandals at this point."

"Yeah!" Ochako giggled. "Where's the tears streaming down our cheeks? We want our heartbreak!"

"Well, too bad," Melissa giggled as she slipped out from underneath Izuku, quickly hopping over the coffee table to cling to both women as they hugged her back happily, both of them leaning up to kiss her cheeks, "that was about all the energy I've got left, I'm freaking exhausted. As fun as a quickie would be, I think I'd just fall asleep right in the middle of it, so …"

"Yeah, yeah," Itsuka giggled as she moved out of Melissa's grasp, letting her cling to Ochako while she headed over and kissed Izuku's forehead, "not gonna lie, I'm pretty exhausted, too - hospital visit took a long time today. I'm more than happy to just have a bit of dinner and go to bed, honestly."

"I'll get you both your dinner," Izuku smiled, kissing Itsuka's cheek before heading over to kiss Ochako, and then started heading into the kitchen to get their dinner heated up. While they heard him hurrying around to get the food in the microwave, all three women paused, and then huddled together, Melissa glancing over at Ochako while Itsuka smirked a bit.

"So," Melissa glanced at Ochako, "does … he know yet?"

"Not yet," Ochako giggled quietly, while Itsuka squirmed a bit excitedly but kept herself quiet, "we're still debating how to tell him. We talked about doing the bit with the oven, or just flat out telling him, but … we want it to be special."

"I'm still convinced we should just give him the baby test," Itsuka smirked, "let him melt down right on his birthday."

"Oh, that sounds like a -"

"Hm?" Izuku walked out, carrying two plates and looking at them in confusion as they huddled together. "What's up?"

"Nothing!" All three women squeaked, quickly breaking apart so that Itsuka and Ochako could walk over and take their dinners from their husband, being sure to kiss his cheeks in thanks. While he laughed a bit, he took a step back, allowing them to start heading into the kitchen, Melissa following behind them with a small yawn, and he watched as they all sat together.

Standing in the kitchen's entrance, Izuku simply observed his three wives having fun together, Ochako letting Melissa lean on her shoulder while Itsuka started cutting up her dinner. However, as he watched them happily sit together, Izuku found his own smile fade a bit, and he glanced over towards the window. Walking away from the kitchen, Izuku walked over to the small table beside the door where the picture was, and scooped it up, staring down at it while he felt his smile fall and his expression soften.

It was a picture they had taken right after their first year final exam. Izuku's costume was charred in places, Itsuka had a bit of a bloody nose, Ochako's hair was wild, and Melissa's hair was a mess, but they were all huddled together, smiling in joy and flashing the photographer the peace sign. And in between them all … Izuku felt himself sigh sadly as he stared down at her, seeing the girl happily flashing the peace sign while cuddling into Itsuka and Izuku, and he sighed as he put the picture back down.

"Wish you were here, Nejire," Izuku muttered, and then turned to walk back into the kitchen.