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!

40. Date Night

Well … today had been utterly exhausting.

Melissa let out a low, tired sigh as she continued to brush her teeth, staring at her dull-eyed reflection in the mirror as she tried to suppress a yawn. It was around eight o'clock now, and the negative effects of staying up late last night were beginning to catch up with her in earnest. She had been quite drowsy during dinner, with Izuku and Ochako having to stop her from headbutting the kitchen table a few times, and she had decided once dishes were done that she would be putting a pause on the brainstorming tonight and try to go to bed a bit earlier so that she wasn't a zombie the next morning.

Both sets of parents at the table had, of course, been worried about how tired she had been, but the Urarakas had, at least, been empathetic with her, with Taiyo chuckling and telling Melissa about the time when he and Miwa had simultaneously face planted into a dessert after a long day of work. Honestly, she was just happy that both families were happy to help take care of her, at least until she moved to Heights Alliance next week. She had to struggle, of course, with feeling like a burden, what with her attempting to give Inko and Hisashi some semblance of rent money for letting her stay the week and both parents looking at her like she had grown a second head.

Still, at least she comforted that she wouldn't feel like a freeloader for much longer, Melissa yawned as she finished spitting into the sink and putting her toothbrush back into the cup. After another 'talk' with Mei that afternoon (that had ended with her nearly taking off her shoe and throwing it at her rival inventor's head), she had met up with Aizawa and Midnight before they left school that day, and they had both given her permission to officially move into the first house in the 1A block this Saturday. Further discussions with Power Loader had both of them confirm that she would need a lot of free space for her project, and he wasn't able to grant that for someone not even in the support course, as curious he had been about her power armor.

So instead, she would be having her equipment and tools moved to her new house a few days early, and she'd be able to use the garage/basement as her workshop. Thankfully, Aizawa had been more than okay with Melissa moving in a bit quicker than the other members of her class – her homeroom teacher wanted his student to be ready for their in-class training as soon as possible, so that meant that she would have to get to work at once the moment she had everything she needed.

She just … honestly wished that she was able to find some roommates before she had to move in, Melissa sighed unhappily as she made her way out of the bathroom and walked down the hall towards Izuku's open room. It was going to be lonely, living on her own, and … well … she knew that she would be a lot happier if she had company.

But who would she even ask? She didn't have much of a clue, she shook her head. She supposed, if she had to pick anyone, she'd choose Itsuka or Ochako, but - but she wasn't sure they would say yes. Setsuna, Yui, Momo and Kyouka were nice as well, but she didn't know them well enough to just ask them to move in with her.

Nejire was … well, she had no idea what was going on with that girl and why she seemed to have insisted on walking in between her and Izuku during their trip to the support studio and back to the changing rooms after they were all done with Uncle Might's lesson afterwards, but she wasn't sure if the blue-haired girl even really liked her. Eijirou was cool, but he was already committed to a house. And Tenya was … well … he had been nice, but he was still clearly dealing with his family issues to really ask him to be a roommate.

So in the end, she sighed as she walked into the bedroom, that would leave -

"Hey, are you done in the bathroom?"

Blinking as she was yanked right out of her thoughts, Melissa quickly looked around to see Izuku sitting on the edge of his bed, reading through one of his notebooks. He had changed into his pajamas, a pair of black shorts and a white t-shirt, and there was an easy-going smile on his face as he closed the book and looked up at her.

Still, Melissa glanced down to the floor briefly, and wrinkled her brow when she saw that the futon wasn't anywhere on the floor. Was … was he not going to be staying in the same room as her tonight? That thought made her stomach drop a bit in disappointment.

"Uh … Melissa?" Izuku tilted his head a bit, causing her to quickly look back up at him. "Did you hear me? I asked if you were done in the bathroom."

"Oh!" Melissa quickly straightened her back, going red in embarrassment at how easily she got lost in her thoughts – she was probably more tired than she had initially thought - and giving him a weak smile as she stepped into the bedroom. "Oh, uh, yeah, I'm done. Sorry, I just … got lost in my thoughts."

"Really?" He gave her a curious look. "What about?"

"Uh … Heights Alliance," She decided to give him a half-truth, sighing as she walked into the bedroom as Izuku got up from the bed and passed her so that he could head towards the door, "was just … thinking about what I'll do for roommates."

"Oh?" He hummed, Melissa hearing the door close behind her.

"Yeah, uh … just thinking about how lonely it'll be without anyone to live with."

"Huh. Oh, uh -" Izuku seemed to have remembered something, looking back around at Melissa with a small smile as she glanced around at him, standing near the bed, "- I forgot to mention, my parents have stepped out for a bit - apparently, the Urarakas needed a bit of help with a few things next door, so … so it'll just be us for a bit."

"Ah," Melissa slowly nodded, "uh - yeah. Okay."

That … did make her pause, though, she frowned as she looked back around at the bed. She could've sworn that the Urarakas had needed help with something earlier, right after dinner, and Inko and Hisashi had already stepped out to give them a hand. Maybe … they needed help with something else?

However, before she could put a bit more thought into it, she heard bare feet moving on the hardwood floor behind her. Blinking, she looked around to see Izuku approaching her, a soft smile on his face as he put his hands in his pockets. She wanted to ask him what was up, but the sight of the strangely confident look in his eyes made her pause, feeling as though something was off as her shoulders straightened and her cheeks kept burning a bit warmly.

"Hey, uh … Melissa, listen," Izuku reached out, and she herself stiffen even more as he gently took her hand, turning to stare down at the way his thumb rubbed against the back of her hand in surprise, "I … really am sorry about what happened this morning. You know, when I, uh - when I walked into the bathroom while you were using it."

"O-oh, uh -" She stuttered, looking back up at him and trying to fight through the weird fluster that briefly overcame her to smile weakly at him, "it's - it's fine. It was an accident, there's - there's nothing to worry about, Izuku."

"Er - yeah, I know that," He nodded slowly, "but … that's not exactly what I meant."

She felt herself blink, opening her mouth to ask him what he did mean - and then she felt his hand squeeze hers, making her suddenly inhale sharply. And then, slowly, she turned away from the bed to face him properly, and she felt her heart begin to beat a bit quicker.

"W-what … uh …" She felt herself lick her lips, feeling as though her mouth and lips were suddenly dry, "… what did you mean, then?"

"I mean …" Izuku hesitated - as though he were unsure as to how to even voice his thoughts - and then he shook his head and smiled genuinely at her.

And she felt her heart begin to beat even faster in a sudden rush of excitement and anxiety.

"… I mean … I think we … both know that you wanted me to stay."

He then raised his other hand to gently rub his palm against her bare arm, his fingers trailing lightly up until it found the arm of her t-shirt. She felt herself shiver, aware suddenly of the lack of space between them - with the back of her legs pressed against the mattress behind her, and Izuku being almost claustrophobically close, looking up at her with that soft look on his face, she felt suddenly trapped.

And yet - she didn't mind how close she was. She didn't mind how fluttered she felt. In fact, she … she …

"We …" She began to tremble, her voice becoming hushed, "… we … shouldn't."

"Why not?" Izuku tilted his head slightly in curiosity. "Because of my parents only being next door? And Occhan?"

"I - uh -"

"I mean …" Izuku's hand continued to rub up and down her arm, sending a shiver down her spine, "… we are … two people who just kinda - you know - live in the same space. And … my parents don't typically hear anything …"

"U-uh …" Melissa felt herself begin to sweat.

"… and Occhan doesn't mind …"

She gulped audibly.

"So," Izuku gave her an innocent smile, "what's the harm of - you know - messing around a little bit?"

"M-mess … mess around?"

"Melissa," His smile fell so that he could give her a serious look, even if the kind look in his eyes didn't fade, "I … I'm not gonna pretend that I didn't - I didn't like what I saw in the bathroom this morning."

"Oh, my god," She whispered.

"And … and I don't think that either of us can deny it anymore. There's - there's something between us," He then raised his hand from her arm to brush against her warm cheek, Melissa unconsciously leaning into his palm, "something that's been building between us, for the last couple of days. And … and I've seen how you've checked me out. We both know that I've checked you out, too. So …"

Melissa stayed there, frozen, for a long moment. She knew what Izuku was implying, what he was inviting her to do. And staring down at Izuku's warm smile returning, looking into his eyes, she knew that he was ready to do something … anything … to her.

And … she …

… wanted it.

Snapping out of her frozen state, Melissa acted. She grabbed the back of his head with both hands and brought him to her so that she could slam her lips against his, both of them immediately inhaling, and she squeezed her eyes shut behind her glasses as their mouths opened at the same time. Izuku responded as enthusiastically as she was kissing him, pushing her back with his full weight, and they both toppled over and landed on the bed with a bounce.

They immediately began making out, moaning wildly as they kept their mouths open and slid their tongues against one another, and Izuku's hands grabbed her waist and rolled them both over. With her now on top, Melissa began peppering Izuku's face with enthusiastic kisses, thrilling to his hands running up and down her body as she quickly brought her legs to each of his sides so that she could properly straddle him.

"Yes," She moaned through each smooch, "yes, yes, yes …!"

"Melissa …" He groaned as their mouths joined again.

"I – I –"

"Say it," He growled, grabbing a huge handful of her long blonde hair and almost yanking her head back, causing her to moan as he buried his face into her neck, and his other hand grabbed at her lower back and made her arch her back, "say you love me."

"I – I –"

"Say it!"

"I – I love –"

"Say it, Melissa!"

"I love –"

And that, with her eyes closed, was when Melissa suddenly felt the sensation of falling.

With a gasp, her eyes snapped open as she abruptly stopped dropping, letting out several deep and shuddering breaths as she realized that there was something off in the darkness of the room. It took her a few seconds to realize what was wrong - her head and shoulders were hanging off seemingly nothing, her back aching as it was bent at a weird and uncomfortable angle. The sensation of blood pooling in her head, and the feeling of her hair brushing against the ground, made her realize that she was hanging upside down out of the bed, her body dangling half-off the mattress.

After managing to catch her breath and come to terms with how uncomfortable her back straining was, Melissa grunted, and hoisted herself up from where she had half-flopped off the bed, carefully getting back into the bed so that she didn't accidentally flop out. Finally seated in the bed in the dark room, she stared blankly at nothing for a moment, still feeling the phantom feeling of someone laying on her and lips brushing against hers, and she felt herself begin to blush.

She then became aware of the sound of light breathing coming from beneath her, and she turned to look over the side of the bed.

She felt her cheeks burn even hotter as she saw, even if her vision was blurry, the sight of Izuku clearly being asleep in the futon, snoring quietly as he laid on his stomach under the covers. The memories of the dream burned into her mind, feeling her face turn hotter and hotter as she stared down at his currently drooling self and contrasting it with the image of the confident young man in her dream that had charmed her so quickly.

She then snapped her gaze away from Izuku's face, letting out a small mumble as she blindly flung her hand out to scoop her glasses up from the bedside table and put them on her face, wincing slightly when she missed and nearly poked herself in the eye. Turning to stare at the alarm clock on the side, she stared with slight bleariness at the late time - it was just after midnight, and now that she felt like her face was on fire, she knew sleep wasn't going to come back to her any time soon.

Still, one thing was clear, with the vivid memory of the dream on her mind and the guy snoring next to her feet. She … definitely needed some air.

Quickly and quietly, she slipped her legs out from under the covers, scooping her phone up and unplugging it from the charger. Getting up, she carefully stepped around Izuku, trying not to look back down at his face again, and made her way out of the room, quietly opening the door and stepping through it. Since the rest of the apartment was dark, and she could hear Hisashi snoring from the couch in the living room, she knew that she was the only one still awake, and thus, needed to be extra quiet.

Tiptoeing her way over to the front door, she slowly opened it and stepped out into the open-air hallway. Breathing in the fresh air, Melissa took a moment to look around - it had started to rain, washing her with a cool feeling to enjoy as she walked over towards the railing, and looking out into the dark sky, seeing the occasional flash of lightning accompanied by the rumble of thunder, she felt herself begin to calm down from her fluster.

Finally, once she had control of her breathing again, she let out a soft sigh and slumped her shoulders, letting her hair fall around her face as she tried to come to grips with what she had just been dreaming off. And … to also convince herself that the feeling of lips on hers wasn't real.

Okay … okay. So … so she just had a dream of making out with Izuku. That was … only slightly embarrassing.

…

… okay, scratch that, it was very embarrassing, Melissa groaned. She just dreamed of kissing the guy that was letting her stay in his room. Getting naughty and wild with him. Making out on his bed, rolling around and grinding and - and -

- and trying to get love confessions out of her.

Yep, it was official, she blushed as she leaned against the railing. She wasn't gonna be able to look him in the eye again tomorrow morning, and he was going to be so confused.

But … okay, she - she couldn't panic just yet. She had no idea where that dream had come from, but there was no need to freak out about it yet. It happened; this kind of thing happens sometimes. It wasn't the first freaky dream she had that made her feel super embarrassed when she woke up. She just needed to keep herself calm.

She just … needed to make sure that she could look Izuku in the eye the next morning, without trying to remember what it felt like to have his lips on hers, and his body pressed against hers, and - and wonder what the real deal felt like, and -

- and -

BANG

As Melissa's forehead met the metal railing, she let out a long, embarrassed groan as she realized that she was pretty much boned.

She just … okay. She wasn't going to delude herself and pretend that - that Izuku wasn't attractive. She let herself mumble in frustration as she kept her head on the railing and wrapped her arms around her head. She knew that she wasn't exactly innocent - there were too many scratches in her notebook when she had been rewatching the sports festival that commented on some part of Izuku's body that she had noticed and - well - wasn't exactly appropriate.

And while she had been distracted a lot by Mei's stupidity today, she couldn't deny that Izuku's new hero costume looked good on him. Like … good lord, that boy seemed to be fond of baggy clothes, and she hated him for it, because he was fucking built like a Greek statue, and it was making her feel like there were butterflies in her stomach.

It was just … she didn't know what it all meant. Did she … like Izuku? No, she immediately shook her head, she didn't think so. She certainly liked him as a friend, and … was alright with admitting that he was hot, but … but did she have feelings for him? She didn't think so.

Besides … she then raised her head to look around at Ochako's door, feeling her stomach churn.

"I just … I know I like Itsuka … and I like Deku … but I just … there's just a part of me that doubts that they'd really like me. Not if they both like each other, and they can just - they don't have to include me to be happy."

"What? Why not? Ochako, I know that Izuku and Itsuka would be lucky to have you like them."

"Because I'm … I'm just me. I'm not pretty at all, not like - not like Itsuka is. I'm - I'm all frumpy, and - you know."

She knew … Ochako and Izuku had a - a thing. Izuku kissed her, she kissed back, so - so things were complicated. She didn't even know if the two of them had ended up talking about it with Itsuka, or if they were just really good at pretending that the kiss never happened. She … knew that Ochako probably wouldn't like it if she found out Melissa was having sexy dreams about the guy she liked.

And knowing that Ochako's self-esteem was next to non-existent … admitting to having the hots for the guy she clearly liked wasn't a good idea. Scratch that, it was an awful idea. She had already chosen to ignore the weird fluster she had felt that night when Ochako had smiled at her, so … so this was something that she needed to likewise ignore, as well.

This – this dumb dream of Izuku – she couldn't mention it to anyone. Well, not like she would anyway, Melissa groaned lowly, because why the hell would you tell someone that you had a sexy dream about your friend?

Thankfully, as Melissa continued to bemoan her stupidity, a distraction came at the feeling of her phone in her pajama pocket buzzing. Blinking a bit at the sensation, she raised her head from her arms and lowered her hand to grab her phone, bringing it out of her pocket and turning it around to see who was texting her so late.

PAPA

Hey, Melissa! Got your message about the stuff you need me to send – give me a call when you wake up

For a long moment, Melissa stared down at her phone, the dream of Izuku and her messing around fading a bit as she felt her mind catch something new to pay attention to. Her dad wanted her to call?

Well, it made sense, of course - it had almost been a week since they last talked, and she had promised to call him at least once a week. And she was, of course, relieved that he was getting back to her with the materials she needed so quickly, but …

… well … she did need the distraction right now, so …

Her mind quickly made up, Melissa straightened up, and clicked on the button on the back of the phone. The small metal disk popped out into her palm, allowing Melissa to rub it with her finger for a moment before she pressed the button, and once the blue light began flashing, she put it carefully down on the railing, leaning against it again and waiting for him to notice the call on his own end, staring off at the storm as the sound of rain pattering on the rooftop and the parking lot below made her feel a bit more relaxed.

It only took about thirty seconds before the device emitted a louder beep, and a shimmer appeared in the air beside her, forming the familiar image of a man with messy hair, glasses, a dress shirt and jeans.

"Melissa?" Her dad looked surprised and delighted to see her.

"Hi, Papa," She giggled a bit, feeling joy begin to swell in her chest - it had only been a few days, but she had missed him.

"Hey there yourself, honey - sorry, did I wake you up with my text?" David winced, looking a bit guilty. "It must be pretty late over there."

"It is, and - and it's okay," She assured him, "I was awake anyway. I was …"

Having a weird sex dream about my friend.

"… having … weird dreams," Melissa went a bit red, "and I decided to try to get some fresh air when you messaged me."

"Ah, I see," David sighed in relief, "well, I … guess if you wanted to wait until tomorrow to talk to me -"

"No, no, right now's fine - um - so how're things going back home?"

"Lonely, honestly," Her dad laughed as he took a step closer to her, although he raised his eyebrow at the sight of her looking a bit guilty at that admittance, "I've been so used to you being awake at three in the morning every night, the apartment's eerily quiet. I'm not used to the silence, heh."

"Oh, Papa …"

"Now, don't you start," David chuckled, putting his hands on his waist briefly before he pulled a chair out of nowhere and sat down on it, "I'm pretty sure that I'll get used to the silence pretty quick. Besides, let's not talk about me, I'm thinking that things are more exciting over in Japan. I got your notes - so you're building a mechanized suit?"

"Oh, uh - yeah," Melissa nodded, brightening up a bit as she moved to sit down against the hallway's railing, sitting on the floor so that her dad could look down at her, "I got it approved by the teachers at UA. There's gonna be a bit of red tape that I'll need to tiptoe around to make sure I get the approval to use it, but I'm pretty sure that I can get a prototype off the ground pretty soon."

"Awesome, awesome …" Her dad smiled down at her.

"So, uh …" Melissa shrugged, feeling her smile fade, "… that's been my week so far. How about you? How's …"

She saw David's smile fall, making her feel a bit guilty for bringing it up. If that was the look on his face when she even indirectly mentioned it, it meant that it was nothing good.

"Yeah, uh … well," David shook his head as he folded his hands together, "I just wish that I knew I could go with you on Saturday."

"Oh, no …"

"Yep, Sam left I-Island on Friday," He sighed, "I got a call from a support company in Otheon - he signed on to work for them, and they wanted to know if I would recommend him based on his work history with me. I tried to give him a call to follow up, but … well, he blocked my number."

"Wait, he - he left?" Melissa straightened her back, feeling worried. However, her dad gave her an assuring smile as he chuckled.

"You don't need to worry, honey," He assured her, "we both signed a contract not to talk about what we invented, and if he tries, he'll get caught up in about fifty different lawsuits. I still reported to security what he had been trying to convince me to do when I met with them Sunday, and - well, they confirmed that they'll be tightening things up in the tower. No, I'm just … I'm more worried that he'll stay angry with us. He's been our friend for a long time, and … and I just want to make sure that he knows that I'm not angry at him for his offer."

"But …" Melissa shook her head slowly, not really getting it, "… but he wanted to hire actors to pose as villains, Papa."

"Yes, he did. But he was also desperate, sweetie. Hell, I was desperate, since I was the one who was actually considering it. So I sympathize with how he was feeling - it wasn't easy to have our invention taken away from us, after we worked so hard on it. And … your Uncle Might …"

They were both quiet for a moment, their minds going back to what they had argued about on Friday. David, for his part, looked ashamed of himself, while Melissa felt her face fall.

And then she softly asked, "Papa?"

"Hm? Yes, Melissa?"

"You … you said that Uncle Might … he's sick."

Her father paused again, his face falling. Melissa felt her own mood plummet, turning to stare down at her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs. Finally, her dad let out a soft sigh as he adjusted himself in his seat.

"Melissa," He said in a quiet voice, "I am … I'm sorry that was how you had to find that out. But your Uncle Might, it's … he … it isn't my place to tell you what's going on."

"But …" Melissa bit her lip.

"I shouldn't have said anything," David, for his part, looked regretful, "I should've talked to him about potentially telling you. But … but your Uncle Might, he - I think that you've known for a while now that he tends to think that the weight of the entire world is sorely on his shoulders. I've made that mistake myself a few times, thinking that peace would disappear entirely if something were to happen to him. But what that means is that sometimes, he doesn't know how to take care of himself. Your uncle, he - he isn't dying, but -"

"You said that his quirk is disappearing," Melissa said quietly, "and that your device - it would make him stronger."

"… yes. And I … I don't know why his quirk is disappearing, but - but that was why I considered working with Sam to get the device back. Not out of pride, or arrogance, but - but to make sure that your uncle could continue to fight for peace."

Melissa stared up at the ceiling, feeling tears begin to well in her eyes. However, she heard the sound of a chair moving back, and she looked around to see David kneeling on the ground beside her.

And even if she knew, in the back of her mind, that her dad wasn't really there, she felt a bit comforted by the soft smile on his face.

"But Melissa," Her father smiled at her, "you were right. Stealing our device back from I-Island - it wouldn't have been what All Might would've wanted. He wouldn't have wanted us to sink that low to help him. I'll … I'll figure something else out, something that can help him without having to break the law."

Melissa slowly nodded.

"And sweetie, I don't want you to worry about Uncle Might either - even if he tries to hide things, he's still your uncle. You can go to him and ask him about his – his illness, and …" He hesitated for a moment before shaking his head, "… and you can tell him what we talked about. If you need your uncle - even if you need to confront him about his sickness - you can talk to him about anything. You know how much he loves you."

Melissa didn't really know how to respond to that for a moment, instead taking a moment to remove her glasses and wipe at her eyes - and then she sniffled, and nodded.

"… okay, Papa," She sighed, putting her glasses back on, "I'll … I'll trust you. I - I still need to talk to Uncle Might, but … yeah."

"That's my girl," David smiled at her, and she smiled back.

From there, they were both quiet, David sitting beside her so that she didn't feel so lonely in the open hallway. And then he let out a small noise.

"So, uh …" He gave her a certain curious look, "… Melissa."

"Hm?" Melissa hummed. "Yes, Papa?"

"I, uh … I was looking over your requests earlier, and noticed that you wanted the All-Mobile sent over," David looked a bit surprised by that, "you mean the old car, right?"

"Oh, uh - yeah."

"Ah, well … I'll probably get I-Island's approval to have it sent over to UA - it shouldn't be very hard, since it's been outdated by a lot of my newer tech - but why do you need it sent over?"

"Huh? Oh," Melissa realized what he was asking, sitting up and nodding, "well, uh - since I'm building a support item that kind of has the same functions as the All-Mobile, I was thinking of taking out the main computer to see if I could repurpose it for my suit. And maybe see what the engine is like, too."

"…"

"…"

"… you're gonna gut the All-Mobile?" David sounded shocked.

"Yep," Melissa nodded matter-of-factly, "I am. Do you have a problem with that, Papa?"

"What, me? As long as I get the actual car back, I'll be fine." David was unable to stop himself from chuckling nervously. "But your Uncle Might? He's gonna fight you tooth and nail over this."

"Oh, Papa," Melissa giggled lightly, and then turned to give her dad an evil grin, "I'm not worried about Uncle Might."

---

"Achoo!" All Might sneezed loudly, causing several people to look over at him.

"You sick?" Aizawa grunted in disgust, scooting a bit away from him. "Don't give it to me."

"No, no," All Might waved his hand while raising a handkerchief to blow his nose, "just … er … I've been having this foreboding feeling all day. Never mind me."

Rolling his eyes slightly, Aizawa turned back to the scene below him as he leaned against the railing. At the moment, he was standing on the running track above Gym Gamma's first floor, his eyes on Izuku as his student stepped into the gym wearing his hero costume and looking nervous as he walked over to the table Tenko was standing at, with the two of them the only ones on the bottom floor. Tenko, at least, was wearing a pair of rubber boots as Izuku stepped up to the table with a steel girder on it, the green-haired boy looking around a bit at the quirk experiment they were about to perform. On the other side of the gym, a small hospital bed had been brought in, along with a table with some paper cups on it and other medical equipment that may be needed.

After discussions with Recovery Girl, Aizawa and All Might had decided to have Izuku stay behind for a bit after school had let out so that they could do a few experiments with his quirk in the gym. Izuku, for his part, had agreed to participate when Aizawa had talked to him during their exercises in the USJ, and had stayed in his hero costume when everyone had been excused to go get changed. Joining the two teachers on the second floor were several members of his class and Shouto from 1B, most of them chatting amongst each other while glancing down at Izuku occasionally out of curiosity.

None of them were really filled in on what exactly was happening - Izuku had given them a vague explanation of the scenario, and they were allowed into the gym after Aizawa made it clear that none of them were to ask questions that he didn't want to answer. Still, the teacher could tell that they were all curious, but out of respect to Izuku, they were keeping quiet. So Aizawa was alright with having them here.

Tenya, for one, had been eerily silent for the last two days or so, only barely speaking up in class, but at least he was looking down at Izuku with a curious, albeit reluctant eye. Setsuna and Yui were leaning against the railing together, chatting a bit about a request that got sent to Setsuna that got the green-haired girl excited; Momo and Kyouka, meanwhile, were watching Izuku down below curiously. Eijirou, was leaning against the railing and flashing his bro a grin while being ready to shout encouragement once the exercise got started; Shouto, keeping quiet and standing near Momo, leaned against the railing as well, staring down at the floor with a raised eyebrow while dressed in his gym clothes.

On Aizawa's other side, Recovery Girl was seated in a raised chair, writing notes. Beside her, Himiko was likewise leaning against the railing beside Ochako, who was standing beside Itsuka as both girls looked down at their partner. Beside Itsuka, Melissa was writing notes in her sketchbook as well, and above them all, Nejire floated up in the air above the gym, giving Izuku a concerned look.

Down below, Tenko nodded up at Recovery Girl, and then turned back to Izuku.

"Okay," He clapped his hands together as he gave Izuku a smile, "so, Midoriya, the point of today's exercise is to learn and work on your limitations. Basically, we want to see how much you can use your power without a support item, so we can see how much power you can use before any signs of cellular degeneration show up. Aizawa up there will be keeping his eye on you in case we need you to stop at once, and I'll be close by while you experiment with your quirk."

"Er … right," Izuku nodded unsurely, "okay."

"Great. So first, we'll start with using your ice," Tenko then gestured towards the metal girder on the table, "we wanna see if you can activate it, and if you can replicate what you did with Bakugou on Friday with this. Just hold onto the girder and freeze it."

"And be sure to be careful!" All Might advised him from above.

Nodding, Izuku turned to approach the metal girder, feeling a bit squeamish despite himself. He was aware of Aizawa's eyes on him as he approached the table, and how Itsuka and Ochako were giving him nervous looks.

Those two, of course, were the reason that Izuku was trying to fight down that squeamish feeling, and looked back down at the girder in determination. No matter what, he knew he didn't want to upset Ochako or Itsuka. So, he was going to do this calmly, and carefully. As he stared down at the steel girder, Izuku tried to concentrate.

He tried to remember that moment back at the sports festival, as he sighed deeply and laid his hand on the metal girder. The moment where he froze Katsuki. The fear he felt, the need to stop his old friend from hurting him.

The way he needed to stop him … to stop …

And then, taking a deep breath and exhaling, Izuku closed his eyes and focused. And at the sudden hot flare that suddenly erupted in his stomach, Izuku used his quirk.

Rather than the electrical sting of power that usually left his hands after green sparks popped out of his palms, an unnerving chill filled Izuku's arms as a green sheen of ice quickly spread across the piece of metal from where Izuku had his hand. Izuku quickly moved his hand back as the piece of metal was completely encased in ice, and quickly opened his eyes to inspect his arms and hands.

And thankfully, he didn't see any green cracks of light under his skin or frostbite on his fingers, making him sigh in relief.

"Okay, that's seriously cool," Setsuna giggled a bit as she leaned against the railing. Yui, for her part, raised her eyebrow and looked at her.

"Pun intended?" She asked in a dry voice, while Kyouka groaned beside her and Momo gave her fellow recommended student a weak smile. Setsuna, for her part, blinked a bit at her unintentional pun and then let out a low groan.

"Ah, hell," She shook her head in disappointment, "now I'm making accidental puns. What have I become?"

"Suppose that means you're not having an 'ice' time?" Shouto asked her innocently.

The four girls paused. And then Setsuna groaned loudly, Yui shook her head, Momo giggled to herself, and Kyouka pointed her earjacks at the 1B class recommended student threateningly.

"You can't sit with us if you make puns," She warned seriously.

"I'll keep that in mind." Shouto nodded just as seriously, raising his hands in surrender.

Back down below, Izuku chuckled a bit nervously at his friends messing around above him, feeling his shoulders lose their tension from their laughter. Hearing footsteps behind him, Izuku quickly refocused and backed up so that Tenko could inspect the now frozen piece of metal, carefully tapping on it with his knuckle before lifting it up, wincing a bit at the cold feeling.

"Yep, that's ice," He confirmed, looking around at Izuku, "so how are you feeling, Midoriya?"

"I … yeah, I feel fine," Izuku nodded, looking down at his hands again and wincing when he saw them shake a little, "really cold, but - but fine."

"So, ice doesn't have the exact same negative side effects of your lightning," Recovery Girl noted on her own pad, looking down at Izuku, "when I inspected you on Friday, I made a note for frostbite, but perhaps it's because Bakugou was a bigger target for you to freeze than a simple piece of metal."

"Mm," Shouto nodded, causing everyone to look around at him, "so it's a different weakness than I have - or at least I have a better counter to it with my fire."

"So, the bigger the thing I try to freeze," Izuku frowned, "the more I might damage myself with frostbite."

"Right," Tenko nodded slowly, before he put all five fingers on the frozen piece of metal in his hand and instantly disintegrated it, "so now what we want you to do is switch over from ice to lightning. I'll be standing over near the stairs, just in case something - uh - explodes."

"Er … I don't think it will," Izuku went red, "but … yeah, maybe you should stay back."

"Sounds good to me." Tenko gave Izuku a thumbs up, and then quickly jogged over to the stairs on the side, waddling a bit awkwardly in the rubber boots he was wearing.

Once he was safely out of the way, Izuku took a deep breath, turning to walk away from the table so that he could take a deep breath, and focus again on his quirk. This time, instead of thinking of how he wanted to capture something, he took a deep breath, and …

… well … as awkward as it sounded, and how flustered he felt thinking of it, he tried to think back to how he felt when Itsuka had kissed his cheek before his match with Katsuki and Fumikage, going a bit red at the memory. He thought about how excited he had felt, how shocked, and -

ZAP

He let out a small yelp of surprise at the flickers of green electricity suddenly popping out of his palms with several sparks and running up his arms. As the green lightning flickered and caused him to flinch, he felt himself go a bit red – he had a feeling that would've worked, but it was a bit embarrassing how easily it had worked.

Quickly shaking his head to try getting over his fluster, he looked around to Tenko for instructions.

"Okay, good!" The teaching assistant called over to him. "How do you feel?"

"Uh …" Izuku shrugged, "… electric?"

There was another pause above him. And then Setsuna, Yui, Eijirou and Kyouka began booing down to him, while Itsuka and Ochako snorted and Shouto wrinkled his brow and looked at Momo.

"Does this mean Midoriya can't sit with us anymore?" He asked to clarify, while Momo sighed and shook her head.

"Okay, dumb pun aside," Tenko rolled his eyes but smiled up at the other teenagers' playful booing of their friend while Aizawa merely frowned at their tomfoolery, "are you hurt?"

"N-no."

"Alright, then! In that case," He pointed over to the other side of the gym, "move over there, and we can practice your supermoves. We'll leave your - uh - lightning bounce fling thing out for now, since you shouldn't be firing at the ground full blast with a roof over you. But we can practice the ground blast thing -"

"Ground Current!"

"- and then your electric knuckle thingy."

"That's - oh," Izuku suddenly blinked, looking around at the teaching assistant and grinning, "hey! I was trying to think of a name to call that move! Electric Knuckles - that's good!"

"Thank you!" Tenko gave him another thumbs up.

"Yes, yes," Recovery Girl rolled her eyes while Aizawa sighed, and All Might shook his head gently at both Tenko and Izuku and muttered something that suspiciously sounded like, "Nerds," under his breath with a grin, "now, if you two are done nerding out?"

Quickly nodding and going red again in embarrassment, Izuku quickly stepped back again as he took another deep breath. While he tried to summon his bravery to use his quirk without the Full Gauntlet to lessen the pain, up above him, Ochako turned to glance over at Himiko as the nurse hummed and watched Izuku hyping himself up interestingly.

"So, uh …" She gestured down towards her boyfriend with a jerk of her head, "… how does Recovery Girl think everything's going?"

"Not sure," The nurse sighed as she poked at one of her hair buns with the other end of one of her pocket knives, "Granny was coming up with a bunch of doomsday theories for your BFF down there - worst case scenario, he's gonna blow up and take everyone in this gym with him. So, the fact that hasn't happened yet is pretty good!"

"Oh," Ochako went a bit pale, "uh - that's good."

"Wait," Itsuka blinked a bit, looking around at the nurse in nervousness, "is him blowing up a possibility?"

"I mean, I don't know," Himiko shrugged, leaning around Ochako to flash the orange-haired girl a teeth-filled grin, "but that would be nice to watch, wouldn't it? Him blowing up."

Itsuka kept quiet for a moment, frowning at her senpai - she had the feeling that Himiko wanted to make some sexual innuendo, so she wasn't going to feed her the ammunition and just waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Just … not because of his cellular degeneration, if you know what I mean."

"Yep," Itsuka rolled her eyes, completely and utterly unsurprised, "I know exactly what you're talking about, senpai."

"Hm," Melissa hummed to herself, not paying attention to the conversation beside her as she continued to write on her notepad and glancing down at Izuku, privately relieved that she could do so without wanting to shrivel into an embarrassed ball at the memory of the dream, "so basically, the ice affects him in a different way than the lightning … I'll have to figure out a way to have the new Gauntlet feed back to me how cold it can make Izuku. And maybe I can find a way to install some kind of heater?"

"A heater?" Ochako blinked, leaning around Itsuka to look at their American friend. "So the new Gauntlet's gonna support his lightning and make sure he keeps warm when he uses the ice?"

"Pretty much," Melissa nodded, tapping on her notebook with a hum, "I'll have to figure out a way that the Gauntlet will automatically switch modes when Izuku switches elements - it'd be a bad idea if Izuku tries to use his lightning while the Gauntlet is trying to protect him from ice, it'll probably blow the device apart."

"And his arm, right?"

"…"

"… Melissa. You're gonna prioritize his arm not getting messed up, right?"

"Yes, yep, his arm," Melissa nodded, aware of both Ochako and Itsuka turning to pout at her and gulping a bit nervously at their unamused glares, "I'm definitely going to design this with Izuku's comfort in mind and not how to make sure he doesn't destroy it again. Mm-hm, yep."

Ochako nodded at her while continuing to Danger Pout in her general direction for a few seconds, and then sighed as she looked up at where Nejire was continuing to lazily float above them. It was kind of weird, having Nejire be quiet for so long, with her floating above the gym and watching Izuku carefully, but … well, it wasn't like anyone could really blame her.

It was clear, at least to Ochako, that Nejire was worried for her green-haired friend - she knew that the blue-haired girl didn't know much about what was going on with Izuku, with them only really filling Melissa in today when they stayed behind with the rest of the teachers, but she at least knew that Nejire was aware of Izuku's cellular degeneration from the offhanded mentions they were making after Izuku left the nurse's office last Friday. And that, of course, made Nejire anxious, obviously.

It was … it was good to know, Ochako thought at least. Nejire was as worried for Izuku as Ochako and Itsuka were. That was … well … she wasn't surprised by that, seeing as Nejire's crush on her boyfriend was becoming more and more obvious to her by the day. So it was good to see that Nejire was worried about him, despite Ochako feeling a weird, churning feeling in her stomach.

However, before she could think more about it, she heard someone clearing their throat beside her, and she blinked and looked around at Himiko as she stared down at the floor below.

"So, uh … cute kohai," Himiko suddenly looked a bit weird, as though she were nervous but trying to make it look like she was still totally cool," I, uh - I got a question for you."

"Er … yeah, senpai?" Ochako leaned against the railing. "What's up?"

"You, uh … you know that Tsuyu chick, right?" Himiko kept her eyes down on the bottom floor. "Green hair, tongue, all that stuff?"

Ochako blinked a bit - and, internally, had to fight down the temptation to ask, 'The girl who tried to push that tongue down your throat Saturday?' - and shrugged.

"Uh … y-yeah, I know Tsuyu," She nodded slowly, "not - not very well, but - you know - yeah."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, uh - well, that's good," Himiko nodded slowly, and Ochako blinked when she saw a bit of her senpai's pale cheeks go a bit red, "I was just … wondering if … you know … she might've … mentioned me."

"H-huh? Oh, uh -" Ochako felt her brow furrow, "- I'm not -"

KRACK-BOOM

The chatting girls jumped a bit at the sudden sound of lightning coming from below, and they turned their attention back to the ground floor. Kneeling on the floor, Izuku panted a bit, wincing from the Ground Current strike as he waved his arms around a bit and felt them sting. But he didn't feel that hurt, looking back over at Tenko as the teaching assistant shot him a thumbs up from the stairs.

"Okay!" He called over to him. "Can you do it again?"

Izuku nodded, taking a deep breath, and then raised his hands before slamming them down against the floor again. Activating his quirk, Izuku bit his lip from the power of his lightning recoiling slightly into his arms, but he managed to hold fast as the green electricity crawled along the floor for a few moments before they dissipated, leaving black marks along the floor.

Nodding slowly to himself, Izuku stood up again, waving his hands again from the sting and checking his arms - but to his relief, he didn't see any green cracks yet.

So … he was okay so far.

"I'm good!" He called up to the people above him. Aizawa nodded a bit as he leaned against the railing, looking at the black scorch marks along the ground floor where Izuku's electricity had traveled, and then cupped his hands around his mouth to call down to him.

"Then let's go ahead and move on," He called down, "try the Electric Knuckle thing."

"Right!" Izuku quickly nodded to his teacher, feeling like he was on a roll as he quickly took a step back.

Taking a deep breath, he raised his arms into the air for a moment before he brought them sharply back down, remembering the anger he had felt towards Katsuki in that moment and trying to draw back on that power. To his relief, the supermove activated quickly - lightning flickered and intensified around his hands, with the energy forming around his knuckles and running up his arms.

Izuku panted a bit, smiling and looking back up at his teachers -

- and then he blinked when he glanced over and saw Tenko pointing at him - or rather, he was pointing at something on him - at the same time that a sudden sharp pain felt like it stabbed through his brain, and his vision became blurry.

"W-wha …?" He grunted, taking a small step back as he became lightheaded, and the lightning running up his arms suddenly vanished as he became aware of Aizawa's eyes glowing red. He had enough time to glance down at his arms as his quirk was deactivated, and he saw small shards of green light begin to poke out and crawl under his skin from his hands.

As he stared at them beginning to spread slowly, he felt himself lose his balance as his fuzzy vision turned black -

- but before he could collapse on the ground, aware of several voices above him calling his name in shock and worry, he felt a sudden whoosh of air around him, and he fell into a pair of strong arms, a large hand immediately moving to the back of his neck, so his head didn't lob back.

"Easy there, Young Midoriya," He heard All Might say above him, his usual bombastic voice soft and quiet, "I've got you."

Feeling his brow furrow a bit, Izuku felt his vision slowly return to him, slowly moving his head around in confusion. He was still in the gym, of course, but he could see several of his friends looking down at him in alarm and concern, and he winced when a bit of yellow light appeared in his vision as Nejire landed and quickly ran over.

"Hey, hey, are you okay?" She quickly asked as she gave his arms a worried look. "You're glowing, but not in a good way! Are you sick? Do you need me to go get you some water?"

"Actually, Young Hadou," All Might turned to smile at her, "that sounds like an excellent idea. Could you grab one of those paper cups from the other table and go get Young Midoriya some water?"

Nejire quickly saluted him and ran over towards the water cooler on the side, scooping up a cup as she went.

Izuku, for his part, let out a small murmur as All Might continued to hold him up. He became aware of the sound of footsteps quickly approaching, and looked around to see both Aizawa and Tenko quickly running over, Aizawa's red eyes slowly fading as he realized that the green cracks under his skin stopped, and behind them, he saw Recovery Girl hurrying down the stairs.

"I … what …" Izuku gulped, his mouth suddenly dry, "… what happened?"

"It's okay," Tenko assured him kindly, "you fainted for a second there. Let's just take it easy and move over to the bed, slowly."

"Oh," Izuku muttered, feeling shame well within him, "that's embarrassing."

"No, no, there's nothing to be embarrassed about, we were expecting this. Let's just go lay back for a bit, okay?"

Up above the gym, both Ochako and Itsuka leaned forward over the railing in worry, watching All Might carefully help Izuku over to the medical bed on the side where Recovery Girl was already standing, with the Number One Hero holding the back of Izuku's head as he was carefully laid down. Once Izuku was laid down, Recovery Girl quickly moved an ice pack underneath the base of Izuku's head, and began inspecting his arms, with everyone up on the second floor, from Setsuna suddenly snapping her mouth closed and Tenya breaking out of his stoicism to look at Izuku in concern, was watching in worry.

Finally, when Recovery Girl looked up and down Izuku's arm, she let out a small hum.

"Alright," She nodded, looking back up at Izuku as he rubbed his eyes carefully with his other hand, "I see a few cracks, but they aren't as violent looking as the other ones I inspected last week. I think we'll stop for now, Midoriya."

"Right," Aizawa nodded, and then turned to the other teenagers above them. "We're done, you lot come down now."

With that, the rest of the members of the Kendousquad quickly hurried down the stairs towards the ground floor, careful not to push or trip over each other in their haste to reach Izuku. It didn't take long for them to reach the first floor and over to where their friend was now sitting up, some color returning to his cheeks as he accepted the cup of water from Nejire, and was looking a bit embarrassed by his collapse. At the very least, he was able to sit up without assistance, sipping some water from the paper cup and grimacing as everyone surrounded him.

"Sorry," He muttered, "didn't … know I'd fall over."

"It's fine," Recovery Girl shook her head, "like Tenko told you, there's nothing to be embarrassed about, Midoriya. Sudden collapses is a common side effect of quirk cellular degeneration, so I expected this."

She turned to the side and picked up her notebook.

"Now," She flipped it open, "from what I noticed up on the second floor, you were able to use your two supermoves without the normal backlash you experience without the Full Gauntlet. Perhaps that's a sign that your body is at least adapting to the natural recoil of your quirk. The problem, however, is that the cracks are beginning to appear a bit quicker - I reviewed your match with Bakugou this weekend to take notes, and I noticed that the cracks were slowly appearing throughout the match, but they began prominently showing up after discarding the Full Gauntlet."

"And what about the other times Midoriya used his quirk without the support item?" Aizawa crossed his arms.

"If you're referring to when I examined him after the USJ, I didn't see them at all," Recovery Girl shook her head, frowning, "but we also have to consider that Midoriya hasn't been using his quirk for nearly a decade before the last two months - and I assume that during your training for UA, you didn't use it often either?"

"Er - no," Izuku shook his head, glancing between Itsuka, Ochako and All Might, "only … only about once or twice a day. And - and it was only during the middle of our training that I - I got a handle on using it."

"Mm-hm," Recovery Girl hummed, "so … well, at this point, I'll admit that I'm not sure where these cracks are coming from, and why they're appearing on you now. At this point, what I'd recommend more than anything is to get a similar support item to the Full Gauntlet, and we can test if the cracks appear when you're using it."

With that, everyone turned to look at where Melissa was standing in the small crowd. She blinked a bit at the attention suddenly being on her, but she quickly got over her fluster and took a step forward.

"I did talk with my Papa last night," She confirmed, keeping her eyes on Izuku's face as he gave her a hopeful look, "he'll be sending the materials to build a few new support items by the end of the week. I've had ideas on how to improve on the Full Gauntlet to make sure that - you know, this -" She gestured at the green cracks on Izuku's arms, looking uncomfortable at their unnatural appearance, "- won't be showing up if the Gauntlet is adjusted to handle your firing power."

"Oh," Izuku felt his shoulders sag in relief, "that's - that's good."

"Yes, that's all well and good," Recovery Girl turned to give him a pointed look again, "but you also have to be sure that these support items don't become a crutch that you fall back on. You must make sure that you keep your cellular degeneration under control, Midoriya - you shouldn't become too used to the Gauntlet, we'll still be testing you without them to see if we can get a handle on it."

"Y-yes, Recovery Girl, of course."

"Well," Aizawa let out a short sigh, "I suppose that settles that. All that we need to figure out now is what you'll be doing for internships so that this doesn't happen while you're out on the field. I won't lie to you, Midoriya, I'm half-tempted to have you stay at the school under my supervision so we can get a handle over this."

"O-oh," Izuku quickly straightened up, feeling his stomach lurch at the thought of having to stay behind at the school while everyone else got to go on their internships. However, before he could think to panic, Aizawa shook his head and sighed again.

"Unfortunately, as I have my own internship that'll be taking me away from the school, I won't be present in case of any quirk accidents," He frowned, "so, in this case, we'll have to find someone for you to work with that can help you with this."

"Well, uh …" Izuku gulped a bit as he looked around, seeing the other teachers look to him, "I - uh - I actually got an internship offer from someone I'm - I'm interested in. Ryukyu."

Unbeknownst to him, standing on the edge of the group on her tippie-toes, Nejire blinked a bit, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Ryukyu, huh?" Aizawa narrowed his eyes a bit, looking around at the only other pro hero there. "The Top 10 hero? I've never worked with her before - would she be a good fit for Midoriya?"

"I've worked a few times with Ryukyu," All Might confirmed, putting his hands on his hips as he nodded, "she's a strong and capable hero. From what I've observed, she's also had a history of struggling to control her own quirk during high school - so perhaps working with her would do you a service, Young Midoriya. She can relate to your struggles - even if they're not exactly the same - so she might have the correct mindset to give you tips on how to control your quirk."

"Hm," Aizawa turned away, clearly thinking, "I suppose … if they have that in common …"

The gym was quiet for a moment, before the teachers turned back to look at Izuku. He blinked a bit as he realized they were waiting for his final say - which, of course, made sense as he was the one who had to make the decision - and then he slowly nodded, looking around at everyone.

"Yeah," He gave them a thumbs up, "yeah … I … guess I'm interning with Ryukyu."

"Alright then," Aizawa nodded, "then in that case, just be sure to give me your internship paper with her info on it before you head home today. Also, I don't know how Top 10 heroes work, but don't sign any paperwork or anything like that - UA students aren't allowed to officially sign on with any agencies as employees during the work studies week, they can only as volunteers. I'll be in the teacher's lounge, you lot, if you need anything else - you're all excused to go get changed."

With that, the quirk erasing teacher turned to walk out of the gym, keeping his hands in his pockets as he went.

Tenko and Recovery Girl stayed a bit longer to make sure that Izuku wasn't going to be collapsing the moment he got up, and once he was on his feet without Ochako and Itsuka holding onto his shoulders to keep him stable, they both excused themselves as well. Finally, All Might left after them once he made sure Izuku was okay, waving his hand and leaving them by themselves, while being unaware of Melissa watching his back with a small, worried look.

Finally, once the gym doors were closed and the students were alone, Setsuna let out a small sigh and turned to Izuku.

"Uh … in a very rare case of me being serious, dude," She gave him a concerned look, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Er - yeah," Izuku nodded, going a bit red as everyone surrounded him, "I'm fine. I'm sorry about - you know, being dramatic and fainting."

"Oi," Itsuka gave him a frown, "no more of that."

"I mean, you can't really control when you faint," Yui agreed with her best friend, "and I'm not going to say that I understood every single thing Recovery Girl said - but things do seem pretty serious with this cellular stuff, Midoriya."

"I agree," Momo nodded, crossing her arms and giving Izuku a sharp look, "like Recovery Girl said, cellular degeneration is not something to underestimate, Midoriya."

"Y-yeah, and - and I get that," Izuku nodded quickly, gulping at Momo's deadly seriousness and wanting to appease everyone before they could get carried away, "and - and I'm taking this very seriously. Today was just … we were trying to see how much I could do before the effects showed up. And … well … you guys saw how that turned out."

"Yeah …" Kyouka tapped her earphones together, frowning, "… but - I don't know, maybe Aizawa-sensei had a point? You should probably stay behind to practice your quirk."

"No," Izuku shook his head, frowning a bit, "I - I need to make sure I can go on internships."

"I mean, come on, dude," Eijirou gave him a worried look, "if things are serious enough that you can't really use your quirk without a support item -"

"I'll figure it out," Izuku cut him off at once, feeling a bit defensive suddenly, "Melissa said that she'll be working on new support items, so - so I'm going to trust her."

The group quickly closed their mouths, staring at Izuku in shock from Izuku snapping at them as he turned to look down at his red shoes. Both Ochako and Itsuka shared a worried glance, Setsuna and Yui kept their mouths shut, Nejire kept quiet, and Melissa and Eijirou stared at Izuku in surprise. Momo looked regretful, Kyouka uncomfortable, Shouto with concern, and Tenya continued to stare at his feet.

Izuku, for his part, let out a sigh, allowing some of the anger on his face to melt away, and he glanced off to the side, feeling suddenly guilty.

"Sorry," He muttered, "I … I shouldn't snap at you guys. I just … I know that it's serious, and … and it's hard to accept that."

"I … I understand," Momo sighed as well, looking remorseful, "and … I'm also sorry for making you feel bad."

"And us needling you about it probably doesn't make you feel better," Yui gave him, frowning, and trying not to look at Tenya as he studied his feet, "so … yeah. Sorry."

"Yeah," Setsuna shook her head, allowing their small group to be quiet for a moment before she tried to fix on a grin, "so, uh - well, let's try not let this get us down, guys. I don't know about y'all, but I'm definitely craving some burgers and the arcade. So who's in?"

Nejire let out an excited gasp.

"Burgers and arcades?! I'm there!" She excitedly nodded, while Setsuna turned to give her a grin - but then Nejire's smile faltered, blinking as she suddenly thought of something. "Wait, but Mom's gonna be back to make supper tonight, and she wants me to come … ah, darn. Darn it! Sorry, I can't! I want to, though! But darn it!"

"Ah, no, It's okay, girl," Setsuna nodded in understanding, "we'll go out another night and party."

"Er … I'm afraid I have to decline as well," Momo sighed, looking disappointed while Kyouka looked around at her with a sad look, "my father and mother have a dinner party tonight, and I'll have to attend. My father is …" She hesitated for a moment, as though debating how much she could share, "… he's still thinking over letting me move to Heights Alliance, so I should try to - to make sure I'm in good standing with him once he makes a decision."

Shouto frowned at that, but still looked at Setsuna with a curious look.

"Burgers and arcades?" He repeated, drawing his fellow recommended student's attention as he looked intrigued. "Interesting."

"Oh?" She perked up, giving him an excited look. "Does that mean that you're down to come with us, Todoroki?"

"Well, I'm not familiar with many games," He shook his head with a small frown, "just to warn you."

"Nah, man, we'll teach you!" Eijirou gave him a grin as well, while Yui nodded and Kyouka sighed to herself. "I bet that you'll take to shooting games like a fish on water!"

"Hm," Shouto turned to the side, thinking, "well … I believe that Endeavor will be busy tonight … and if the invitation is open to everyone … hm. I suppose I could go."

"Awesome!" Setsuna pumped her fist, and then turned to Itsuka, Izuku and Ochako. "How about you three? You in?"

"Tempting," Itsuka grinned, aware of Izuku and Ochako suddenly looking down at their feet with interest (and unknowingly getting Nejire and Melissa to blink at them in confusion), "but I'm gonna have to pass - my parents are taking Eri out for dinner tonight, so they want me to hold down the fort. And before anyone asks, no, I'm not gonna be throwing any parties. Just pizza and a movie for me tonight. Sorry."

"Nah, it's all good, Ken," Setsuna lightly smacked her shoulder, "you had to take care of our dumbasses Saturday at the beach party, so you deserve a night of R'n'R."

"R'n'R?" Shouto repeated, confused.

"It means 'rest and relaxation'," Momo explained to him quickly.

"Ah, I see. Then yes, Kendou, get your R'n'R."

"That I will," Itsuka giggled.

"Anyhoo," Setsuna twirled around to count, "so that's me, Yui, Kirishima, Todoroki …"

She then gave a pair of puppy eyes at Kyouka, who scowled for a moment before she let out a long groan.

"Fine," She shook her head, "I'm only coming for the burger."

"Hooray!" Setsuna cheered. "So Jirou's coming with, and Ken and Yaomomo's doing their own things. So how about you, Midoriya. Uraraka, Melissa? You guys in?"

"Oh, uh -" Ochako cleared her throat, going red and praying that her lying didn't come across as too obvious, "- I actually gotta make a call tonight for internship stuff. Don't know how long I'll be, so … I'll probably be staying home. Sorry."

"Huh," Melissa nodded, and then turned to smile at Izuku, "well, in that case, what do you think, Izuku? Burgers and the arcade sounds pretty good, you wanna go with everyone?"

"Oh, uh …" Izuku went a bit red at Melissa's offer, while off to the side, Setsuna and Yui blinked a bit at the hope on Melissa's face and the fluster on Izuku's, raising their eyebrows suspiciously.

Thankfully, before Izuku could try to think up a convincing lie, Nejire suddenly popped in between them, wrapping her arm around Melissa's shoulders and making her jump a bit in surprise and look around at the slightly frantic look on the blue-haired girl's face.

"Oh, uh - well, I was thinking!" Nejire quickly said while Melissa blinked a bit at the urgency on her face. "Mom was saying something about me inviting some people over, and if you're busy, why not - uh - why not come by, Melissa? Maybe we can hang out for a bit after, you can meet my cat! But - but if you wanted to go to the arcade with everyone, that's okay, I won't be upset. But how about it? Do you wanna hang out?"

"Uh …" Melissa felt herself falter a bit, staring at Nejire in confusion for a moment before she glanced around at Izuku. She then blinked, her mouth slowly closing as she turned back to look at Nejire - and then she slowly nodded.

"You know what?" She said carefully, "Why not? Sure, I'll - I won't turn down free dinner."

"Yaaay!" Nejire cheered, looking weirdly relieved and making Melissa raise her eyebrow subtly as she began putting a plan into motion.

"Okay, then!" Setsuna clapped her hands happily together as she looked around the group. "Then that's that! Todoroki and Kirishima are going on a big date with me, Yui and Jirou! Don't worry, boys, we'll make sure you have a good time."

"Good to know," Eijirou chuckled, scratching the side of his head while Izuku was very thankful for the Nejire-Melissa distraction, being able to slink in behind Itsuka and Ochako as they both smirked subtly at him for not having to come up with a lie.

"A date?" Shouto blinked, taken aback as he looked between the three girls and went a little red. "Oh, my … my first date, with so many girls. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that."

"It's not a date," Kyouka groaned while making sure to zap Setsuna's shoulder with her earphone jacks, making her jump a bit and pout as she rubbed her arm, "Tokage is just being stupid. We're just hanging out, dude, you don't need to look that far into it."

"So I see." Shouto nodded, turning away with a thoughtful look. "So I don't have to go home and get changed into a suit?"

Setsuna snorted while Yui raised her eyebrow.

"Wearing a suit and tie to a burger place and an arcade?" She shrugged, "I wanna see that. Yes, Todoroki, go get changed into a tux."

Shouto nodded, clearly serious about it as he turned away and went to call home to get his suit ready. Momo looked like she wanted to protest, but at Setsuna covering her mouth with a trollish grin, she merely sighed and nodded.

With their plans made, the group excused themselves to go into the changing rooms to get back into their school uniforms, with Setsuna excitedly bumping Shouto's shoulder with her fist as the girls went into the changing room to get out of their hero costumes. Itsuka, for her part, flashed both Izuku and Ochako an excited grin as she headed into the changing room, and Ochako gave Izuku a nervous grin as she followed her in.

Letting out a small, shuddering sigh as he felt a bit excited about their night - but trying to temper it, seeing as he and Ochako still had something serious to do before they could head to Itsuka's - Izuku turned back to the boy's changing room to follow Tenya and Shouto in -

- but before he could, he felt someone poke his shoulder from behind. Blinking a bit, he looked around to see Nejire flashing him an awkward smile and peace sign.

"Uh - Hadou?"

"Hey, Midoriya!" She greeted him with a goofy wave. "Sorry to, uh, interrupt, but, um - I wanted to ask you about something."

"Oh," Izuku blinked again, turning properly around to face her, "uh - yeah. Uh, what's up?"

"Well, um, there was something that I was curious about - you know, about what you said earlier, so here I am! Going to ask you about it! Heh, heh."

"H-heh, heh," Izuku nodded a bit awkwardly, feeling himself go a bit red as he glanced around. He couldn't help but remember that the last time he was alone with Nejire in front of these changing rooms, she had kind of asked him out on a date, and seeing how nervous she looked was making him … well … feel just a tad bit nervous.

Just a tad bit.

Only a little.

Just a little.

"So …" Nejire folded her hands behind her back, giving him a hopeful grin as she leaned forward, "… earlier, you, uh - you said that Ryukyu sent you an internship request, right? The, um - the Dragoon Hero?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, feeling taken aback - of all the things he thought Nejire was going to ask him about, he didn't really expect this. "Oh, uh - y-yeah, she did. I was actually gonna go hand in my paper to Aizawa-sensei when I got changed. Er … so why do you ask?"

"Well, uh …" Nejire nodded, walking over to where her backpack was beside all the others, and quickly zipped it open, "… I was just wondering, because … well, I looked over all my offers last night, and there were a lot, and I noticed that Ryukyu sent me a request, too!"

"Oh, that's …" Izuku winced a bit on her behalf, knowing that Nejire got the most offers in the class and feeling a bit sympathetic that she had to crawl through them on her own, almost tempted to apologize for not offering to help her look through them -

- and then what she said suddenly registered.

"Wait," He felt his back straighten and his eyes go a bit wider, "Ryukyu … sent you a request, too?"

"Yeah!" She nodded, hurrying over with a sheet of paper. Quickly, Izuku took it from her, aware of Nejire moving around his shoulder to point at a specific name and going a bit red at her closeness, but still looked down to where she was pointing.

And indeed, there with the same email and phone number on his own paper, was the name of a certain Number Nine Hero."

"Huh," Izuku tilted his head.

"Yeah! It's weird, right?" Nejire gave him a curious look. "Since I would've thought that a hero seeing all of us working together during the sports festival probably would've tried getting the pairs, right? Like, if she had sent a request for me and Itsuka, that'd make more sense! But hey, maybe she saw both of us and thought 'hey, those two need my help'! Maybe, right? Or maybe she thinks we're cool?"

"M-maybe," Izuku nodded slowly, glancing down at the paper for a moment while frowning to himself.

It was true, he thought, that it was a surprising move, a pro hero sending requests to two different students - especially two people who weren't seen interacting as much during the sports festival. If it did happen, it'd probably be easier for a hero to pick two students with similar quirks, like Eijirou and Tetsutetsu over in Class 1B, but … Izuku and Nejire? Their power sets and problems were entirely different from one another. Or - well, at least on the surface they were. Maybe … Ryukyu noticed something in common with both of them?

Maybe … yeah. Yeah, Ryukyu might have seen problems with both of them that she wanted to help out with, and she just didn't feel restricted by only wanting one intern student.

However, before he could try thinking about it a bit more, Nejire cleared her throat a bit awkwardly to stop his mutter spree, causing him to look back at her as she gently took the paper back from him.

"So, uh …" She looked suddenly embarrassed, tucking her twirling hair behind her ear as she glanced off to the side, "… I was … kinda considering saying yes to Ryukyu's offer. But, um - if you wanted her all for yourself, that's okay! I can find someone else."

"H-huh?" Izuku looked back around at her in surprise. "W-wait, you - what?"

"I mean, if you think you need her to help you out, then I don't have to be there to distract her!" She quickly assured him with an assuring look. "I was just thinking that it would be - you know - kinda cool if we interned together. But since you want her to help you out with your - your cellular thingy, I can -"

"No!" Izuku quickly interrupted her, shaking his head and giving her a panicked look while she blinked in surprise. "No, it's - it's okay, Hadou! You can intern with Ryuyku, too! I just …"

He paused for a moment while Nejire gave him an uncertain look, and then he let out a sigh.

"… no, I - I don't have a problem with you also interning with Ryukyu," He confirmed in a quiet, embarrassed voice, "we - we should both be there, if - if she wants us to intern with her."

"Really?" Nejire gave him a worried look. "Are you sure? I don't wanna distract her if you need her help."

"I am," He said in a certain voice, "if - if Ryukyu wanted both of us to intern with her, then - then we should both take her up on her offer."

There was a long pause as Nejire stared up into Izuu's eyes with a slight suspicion, as though trying to figure out if he was just pretending to be okay with this - but when she saw the honestly in his eyes and his small, nervous grin, her own smile began to grow again.

"Okay," She nodded slowly, "okay! Then I guess we're gonna be interning together! Let's have fun, Midoriya!"

"Uh - y-yeah!" Izuku smiled back at her, taking a second to pause before he raised his hand for a high-five - but then he grunted as Nejire instead chose to zip in and give him a tight hug, making him wheeze as his eyes bulged like a stress toy.

Letting out another giggle, she quickly moved back to beam up at his red face.

"You gotta get used to the hugs, buddy!" She lightly teased him, smacking his chest with the back of her hand, "I'm gonna be giving you lots of hugs from now on, if we'll be interning together! Now, I gotta go get changed so me and Melissa can go back to my house! But I'll talk to you more about it tomorrow, okay? I'll see you then, intern buddy!"

With that, she happily skipped around him as she made her way into the changing room, humming a sweet little tune under her breath as she zipped inside. Izuku stared blankly after her for a moment as he felt his face burn bright red -

- and then he let out a shuddering sigh, smacking his cheeks lightly, before he turned back to the boy's changing room and shook his head.

"Intern buddy …" He muttered under his breath, "… more hugs … yeah. Between her, Occhan and Itsuka, one of them is gonna kill me."

---

"Okay …" Ochako gulped as she stared down at the phone, "… this is it, Deku."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, giving her a weak smile as he sat before her, "you've got this."

At the moment, they were both back in Ochako's room back at the apartment, Izuku seated on the edge of her bed as Ochako paced before him with her phone in her hand. The door had been left half-open, the two teenagers distantly hearing the sound of Miwa cleaning dishes from their dinner last night while Taiyo was grumbling while doing paperwork at the kitchen table, but their focus was on something else entirely.

To be precise, they were looking at the phone in Ochako's hand, with Lady Nagant's contact info on it, and staring at it as though it were a bomb about two seconds from going off.

"So …" Izuku gulped a bit as he glanced down at the phone, "… I guess …?"

"Yep," Ochako nodded, her gaze not moving away from the phone at all, "just … gonna call her now."

"Mm-hm."

"Just … press the button and … and … yep."

Izuku stared up at Ochako for a long moment as her eyes remained glued on the screen before her, the panic on her face obvious. And then he let out a small sigh, and reached out to gently take her free hand.

Ochako, feeling him squeeze on it gently, blinked and looked away from the phone, staring into his eyes as he tried to give her a comforting smile.

"Hey, uh … it's - it's gonna be okay," He quietly said to her, "I'll be here the whole time."

Ochako gave him a blank stare - and then she let out a shuddering breath, closing her eyes and nodding. She moved around his legs and sat down on the bed beside him, moving to rest her head on his shoulder. Despite Izuku going a bit red at the action, he still leaned down to rest his cheek against the top of her head.

"I'm just …" Ochako said quietly, "… I'm nervous. And I feel stupid that I am."

"I know," Izuku nodded, "and - and it's nothing to be embarrassed about."

There was a pause.

"… why do I suddenly feel like a hypocrite?" He blinked a bit, while Ochako giggled and patted his arm.

"Then just remember that the next time you end up fainting, hypocrite," She lightly teased him, and then sighed and shook her head, "and … yeah, I - I know that it's okay to be - you know - nervous. It's just … I'm just scared of what she's gonna say."

"Yeah," He nodded, squeezing on her hand again, "it'll … it'll be okay. You'll call her, you'll - you'll talk, and even if it ends badly … remember, we're heading to Itsuka's right after this, and we can tell her. Don't worry, Occhan - we're both here for you."

Ochako slowly nodded at his words, turning to stare down at the phone in her lap again - and then, with a shuddering breath, she moved her head off Izuku's shoulder, trying to hype herself up as she took a moment to summon her courage, and then raised the phone to press the green button beside Nagant's number, and lifted it up to her ear.

For a few, long moments, Ochako felt like the world had slowed to a crawl, the sound of the phone humming in her ear making her straighten her back and stare blankly ahead in horror. Even the feeling of Izuku holding her hand didn't make her feel better, feeling like everything was beginning to spin around her.

But then, before she could think of panicking and hanging up, there was a click on the other end of the line, the sound of shuffling, and then a low, feminine voice spoke.

"Nagant speaking."

At the sound of the rough, tired voice on the other end of the phone, Ochako felt herself freeze. Her hand, which had been holding the phone up to her ear, began trembling as she stared blankly ahead. Izuku, sitting on the bed beside her, gave her an encouraging smile and squeezed her other hand again, as though urging her to speak up.

"… hello?"

"Ah!" Ochako squeaked a bit, her eyes going wide, and she immediately felt a wave of embarrassment pass through her body. "Is - is this - is this K-Kaina Tsutsumi?"

"Yes …?" Nagant paused, and then her voice became guarded. "Who is this?"

"I'm …" Ochako gulped, trying to keep her bravery, "… I'm … Ochako Uraraka."

There was a pause over the line.

"Your - your daughter," Ochako quickly clarified, wincing at her awkwardness, "I was - my parents gave me your number, and I - I wanted to -"

Before she could say anything else, though, there was a click on the other end of the line, and the call disconnected.

Feeling herself blink, she lowered the phone from her ear, and stared down at the screen, her face turning blank as shown in the phone's reflection. Izuku, feeling his brow furrow a bit, leaned over and tried to look over her shoulder to see what was going on - but then, before he could open his mouth, Ochako abruptly stood up from the bed, making him squeak a bit as her hand slipped out from his.

"Uh - did she, uh -"

However, at Ochako turning to face him, Izuku quickly shut himself up, gulping nervously. Ochako no longer looked nervous or afraid - instead, there was a familiar fire in her eyes, the same kind of fire that would appear when she was really upset. So Izuku was sure to keep himself quiet as, without a word, his girlfriend pressed the call button again and lifted the phone back to her ear.

The first time, it rang enough times without an answer that it went to voicemail, to which Ochako ended the call before it could finish its message. And then she called again, tapping her foot impatiently against the ground while Izuku wisely decided to stay silent, gulping a bit nervously at the anger on Ochako's face.

The third time, however, after a few rings, Ochako heard it connect.

"I - okay, look, kid, you really need to stop calling me," She heard Nagant sigh, "I'm not interested in talking to you."

"But -"

"No," Ochako winced a bit as Nagant sharply snapped at her over the line, "I'm telling you, I'm not interested in talking to you, and you shouldn't be interested in talking to me. I've got nothing to say to you, and if your parents -"

She hesitated, and then sighed.

" - if they told you stuff about me, then you should ask them if you have any questions, they'll know what to tell you. So stop calling me, and delete this number. Goodnight."

"Please," Ochako tried to protest, "just listen -!"

Alas, before she could get anything else out, she heard the call end yet again, and she let out a frustrated growl. Izuku, sitting quietly on the bed, grimaced as Ochako lowered the phone to give it a Danger Pout.

"I'm not gonna stop calling you!" She threatened the silent phone with venom in her voice.

Izuku, wincing a bit at the heat and agitation in her voice, quickly stood up from the bed, holding his hands out to her.

"Occhan, it's -"

"What's going on in here?"

At the curious voice at the door, both teenagers blinked, Ochako being yanked out of her bad mood, and they looked around. Poking her head in through the door and pushing it open, Miwa looked between both of them in confusion, as though wondering why they were alone and why Ochako was shouting.

However, as her gaze fell to the phone in her daughter's hand, Miwa faltered for a second before an understanding look came to her face.

"Calling Kaina?" She guessed.

Ochako bit her lip, and then let out a shaky sigh, some of the heat in her gaze fading away as she turned to look at the phone.

"I'm … I'm trying to call her," She explained in a quiet voice, "but she keeps hanging up and telling me to stop calling."

"Huh," Miwa slowly nodded, moving to step into her daughter's room. Quietly, she walked up to her daughter, rubbing the top of her head briefly, and then gently took the phone from her. She smiled at them both and gestured for them to sit down on the bed, and once they were seated side by side, she pressed the call button and raised the phone to her ear.

There was about a thirty second pause in which Miwa tapped her foot a bit against the floor, and then she hummed and lowered the phone to press the disconnect button when she obviously went to voicemail, only to call again and lift up the phone. After a repeat of this about two more times, as the two teenagers watched Ochako's mom wait, Miwa paced up and down once before she suddenly stopped, her face brightening after two rings.

"Oh, calling me a little shit, huh?" She said in a cheerful voice, "You haven't done that since you moved out."

There was a brief pause, in which Miwa's smile widened and she nodded when she apparently heard a response over the phone.

"Yes, hello, Kaina. It's me. I was, uh - well, I overheard you continuing to hang up on our daughter."

"…"

"Mm-hm. Thought it was a bit rude, so I decided to give you a call myself."

"…"

"That's right. Now, then," Miwa's smile suddenly turned cold, causing both teenagers to gulp, "here's what's going to happen if you hang up on our daughter again, you stuck-up, child-abandoning, bottom bitch -"

What followed from that delightful opener was, to Izuku and Ochako, the most traumatizing two minutes of their lives. As Miwa spoke calmly but coldly into the phone, both teenagers reflected on the times that Ochako's dad would cuss up a storm, remembering how colorful his vocabulary could get at times. It was a mix of scary in some situations and hilarious in others, and, of course, they loved Ochako's father more for it. But Miwa? Miwa was a different kind of beast.

For what was only two minutes but felt like ten, they listened to levels of swearing, threatening, and vows to tell stories that would give Ochako gray hair instead of pink that they had never experienced before. It was enough that both Izuku and Ochako stared at the kind mother with their mouths fully agape, unable to tear their gazes away from this metaphorical trainwreck as Miwa threatened Ochako's other mother, until at least, Miwa paused to breathe.

With that breath, she then turned back to Ochako, and smiled as she gave her back her phone.

"There," She said cheerfully, "she'll listen now. Come get me if she hangs up again."

With that, she spun on her heel and strolled confidently out the door, whistling a tune to herself. Ochako felt herself stare after her mom for a moment in genuine terror as Izuku tried to pick his jaw up from where it had hit the ground - and then she tentatively lifted the phone back to her ear.

"Er …" She gulped, "… hello?"

"… kid, don't you ever fucking put me on the phone with her ever again," Nagant sounded genuinely haunted for a moment, "good fucking god, I forgot how fucking scary she could get."

"Y-yeah, right. So - uh - are you gonna hang up again?"

"And have you get the hag on my case again? Yeah, no. Just … okay, fine. Just fucking tell me what you want, kid."

"Y-yeah, of - of course," Ochako quickly nodded, sitting up next to Izuku as he tried to shake himself out of the shock from Miwa's swearing, and gave her an encouraging nod.

After a moment of trying to compose herself, Ochako took a deep breath and sighed.

"So," She gulped a bit, "well, I - like I said earlier, my - my mom and dad told me everything. I - I know that you're my mom, and that - that you used to be married to my mom and dad. I - I know that you left. I know everything."

"Right," She noted how quiet Nagant's voice had become, and the sound of wind whistling in the background, indicating that she was outside, "and … what about it?"

Ochako slowly nodded, taking another small breath to try hyping herself up.

"I …" She felt herself hesitate for a moment before she tried to steel her gaze, "… I want to intern with you. For UA's hero work studies program."

There was a long pause. And then Nagant, in a blunt, sure-of-herself voice, replied, "No."

"L-listen -"

"No, you need to listen to me, kid," Nagant sounded cold again, "you seriously don't want anything to do with me. I get that you have questions, but like I said, you can ask your parents about it. I'm -"

"I did ask my parents about everything," Ochako interrupted her, aware of the heat beginning to come to her voice while Izuku gave her a worried look, "and they told me everything they know. I wanna know your side of the story."

"What your parents told you is my side of the story," Her mother stated, "I realized that I was in over my head, being a hero and raising a kid at the same time. I couldn't handle the responsibility. So I ditched you three - you had your mom and dad, you were gonna be fine."

"And you came to that decision after sobbing your eyes out?" Ochako challenged.

"It wasn't an easy choice to make."

"Yeah, no, that's - that's bullshit," She decided to make clear, noticing how Nagant's voice wobbled a bit, "and we both know it."

"I -" Nagant let out a low growl under her breath, Ochako hearing the sound of feet moving against the floor. "- look, even if I took you on in an internship, what would I even teach you? Our quirks are nothing alike."

"You could …"

However, Ochako felt herself hesitate, feeling her determination falter. In her nervousness over calling her other mother, she … kind of forgot to think up reasons as to why Nagant could be a good mentor.

Unfortunately for her, her other mother picked up on the obvious hesitation.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"I -"

"Kid, no," Nagant sighed, with Ochako beginning to scowl at the finality in her voice, "look, I get that you … you probably want to ask me shit. But whatever your parents told you was the truth, and there's nothing that I can add that you don't already know. I can't help you as a mentor, so just - just intern with some other hero, and forget about me."

Ochako began to feel a pout come to her cheeks, feeling angry about her mother's rejection. Izuku, for his part, kept quiet but gulped a bit nervously as she Danger Pout-ed at nothing for a moment - and then she let out a small sigh.

"Fine," She said, shrugging her shoulders, "I mean … I guess in the end, I don't need your permission to intern with you."

"Huh?" Nagant scoffed. "The hell are you going on about, kid? I'm pretty sure you do."

"Well, I could just …" She said innocently, "… call the HPSC's official line and talk to a representative about applying as your intern. I'm sure someone there can help me out."

There was a long pause over the line. Ochako blinked a bit for a moment, almost wondering if Nagant had hung up again, but then she spoke.

"Kid," Ochako felt herself go still at the very cold, very angry shift in Nagant's tone, "don't even fucking joke about that."

"I, uh -" She felt herself falter, taken entirely aback, "- I just -"

"Who are you talking to?"

At the sound of a man's angry voice on the other side of the phone call, Ochako blinked, looking around at her phone by her ear.

"W-who's that?"

"None of your business," She heard her mom snap, and she wasn't sure if she was talking to her or the guy evidently on the other end, Ochako hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, "I'm just gonna hang up now."

"Don't you dare. That is not a phone call you've been given permission to make. Give it to me now."

"I - hey -!"

Before Ochako could ask what was going on, feeling a small twinge of panic in her voice, there was a shuffling on the other end of the call, and then someone cleared their throat.

Someone who, obviously, wasn't her other mom.

"This is Agent Iguchi, from the Hero Public Safety Commission." The man's cold voice spoke directly into her ear. "Who is this?"

"O-oh, uh -" Ochako felt herself hesitated, glancing back at Izuku as he sat up and gave her a confused look.

"This is - uh -" She gulped. "- this is Ochako Uraraka. I was - I was just calling to ask -"

"Ochako Uraraka?"

She blinked a bit at the change in the agent's voice - he sounded a bit less like a hardass.

"Y-yes, that's - that's me."

"The student from UA?"

"Er …" Ochako cringed a bit, "… yes? Sir?"

"Might I ask why you were calling?"

"Uh …" Ochako paused for a second, not entirely sure where this was going, "… I'm … I'm interested in applying as Lady Nagant's intern. I was - I was just calling to -"

"I said no!" She heard Nagant irritably say in the background, which made her brow furrow.

For a few seconds, Agent Iguchi didn't say anything, letting Ochako stand there for a moment nervously - and then he spoke again, this time in a far more business-like tone.

"Let me put you on hold for a moment, Uraraka."

"H-huh?" Ochako blinked. "Sorry, what did you -"

And that was when the line clicked, and she was placed on hold. Blinking, she turned to look around at Izuku as he gave her a concerned look.

"Er … what's going on?" He asked.

"I, uh …" Ochako slowly lowered the phone from her ear, grimacing lightly, "… if I'm being honest, Deku, I've got no fucking clue."

---

"Is that so?" Kanshi blinked at her agent, a pleasant and surprised smile appearing on her face. "Nagant's daughter wants to intern with her?"

"I told you, I already said no!" Nagant barked at her from the other side of the room, but both agents ignored her as they talked near the door of the hotel suite.

"That's correct, ma'am," Agent Iguchi nodded as he held Nagant's phone out for her to take, "she wants to intern with Lady Nagant for UA's work studies program. They've been arguing about it for the last five minutes, when I came in to see who she was speaking to."

Nagant, for her part, merely flipped the younger man off and gave him a look of complete and utter scorn, pacing up and down beside the bed. On the inside, however, she felt her heart continue to hammer in terror at the thoughtful look on Kanshi's face.

She saw how the president stared down at the phone, as though she had observed something curious that had caught her attention. She had to resist the urge to run over and rip the phone away from them as Kanshi took the phone from her underling and held it for a moment.

And then, to her horror, a smile appeared on Kanshi's face, and she lifted the phone up towards her ear.

"Don't -" Nagant tried quickly to stop her, but it was too late, as Kanshi already pressed the button on the phone and lifted it to her ear as she stepped into the hotel room.

"Good evening! Am I speaking with Ochako Uraraka?" She asked in a pleasant voice, keeping the phone to her ear as she tapped her heeled foot against the hardwood floor. And to Nagant's horror, she distantly heard her daughter answer through the phone.

"Ah, excellent - my name is Kanshi Shiryoku, the president of the Hero Public Safety Commission. How are you doing tonight, Uraraka?"

As she heard her daughter squeak even from across the room, Nagant felt like ice was filling her veins, staring into the young woman's calculating eyes with horror. She knew what was coming, what Kanshi was about to do, but she felt powerless to stop her, especially as Agent Iguchi kept his own eyes on her, his hand in his coat as an obvious threat.

One that she could obviously deal with, of course, but she was too busy staring at the HPSC leader, her entire body tensing.

"Yes, I'm doing well, thank you for asking," Kanshi giggled, turning away from Nagant, "now, then, I hear that you're interested in interning with Lady Nagant? Just for the week, am I right?"

"…"

"Yes. Well, I think that's an excellent idea," She nodded, "Nagant has experience as a former member of the Top 10, so I imagine that she could probably teach you a thing or two. Now, before you accept our offer, I just want to make it clear that Nagant will have a mission to go on during your work week - would you be alright with tagging along?"

"…"

"Oh, good! In that case, Uraraka, I'll be officially notifying UA that you're interested in interning with Lady Nagant, and once you meet with Nagant during the work week, we'll have you go through some paperwork to sign, and - oh, what's that?" Kanshi blinked at something Ochako said. "Oh, you're not allowed to do any official paperwork? Huh! I didn't know that."

Nagant straightened her back a bit, a hint of relief suddenly coming to her. But at the way Kanshi looked simply more amused than anything, she felt her stomach drop again.

"Ah. Well, if UA won't let you sign any official paperwork, then - well, there's not much we can do." She sighed. "But Uraraka, if I could offer a small bit of advice?"

"…"

"I'm actually a pro hero myself," She explained, "and signed on to work with the HPSC after I graduated from Seiai. I know that we can't make you sign anything official, but I just want you to consider the option of working with the HPSC when you're done with school - we offer some very nice bonuses, and I did watch your presentation at the sports festival. I think that we," Kanshi's eyes wandered to Nagant's, "can find some very interesting uses for your abilities as a pro hero."

Now, Nagant felt the fear return.

"Very good. Yes, yes, we'll still be reaching out to UA to confirm your offer. I imagine that they'll be very agreeable."

"…"

"Yes, thank you. Have a good night yourself!"

With that, she moved the phone down from her ear and disconnected the call, lazily tossing the phone onto the hotel bed. Kanshi then turned back to where Nagant was breathing heavily through her nose in an attempt to calm herself down.

"Well," The HPSC president smiled happily, "there you have it. You have an intern now, Nagant - and your own daughter, even! You must be thrilled."

Without a moment's pause, with a loud snap, the long metal barrel slid out of Nagant's elbow, and she quickly threw it up to aim the gun straight at Kanshi's face. Her eyes quickly filled with hatred as she shoved the barrel straight at Kanshi's uncaring face, her eyebrow raising as Nagant took a menacing step forward.

As she glared hatefully at the HPSC president, Iguchi pulled his gun out from his coat pocket and pointed it right in Nagant's face, but it was a little too late as Nagant's ripped out hair hardened into a bullet that easily slid into the hole in her other hand, clearly ready to fire.

"Put it down!" He shouted at Nagant in warning, but she completely ignored him, her cold eyes glaring at the HPSC as Kanshi gave her assassin a fascinated look.

"She doesn't intern with me," Nagant growled in a deadly whisper, "cancel the request."

Kanshi paused for a moment to consider it, glancing to the side.

"Hm … no." She shook her head. "I don't think I will."

"I'll shoot you. I swear to god, I'll -!"

"If you shoot me, you'll be arrested and thrown back into Tartarus," Kanshi smirked at her, fearless even with the gun in her face, "and this time, with no chance of parole. Your daughter, meanwhile, will simply be shuffled off to intern with another one of our agents - maybe Hawks, maybe Sol, maybe Takeshita, maybe even Yoroi Musha. Either way, she'll be working with the HPSC."

Her smirk widened a bit as she raised her hand, a finger tapping against the edge of the gun.

"Let's make this perfectly clear, Nagant - your daughter has made the choice, of her own free will, in fact, to work with the HPSC. And now it's too late - once we get her to sign the paperwork, she'll be a hero working with us for the rest of her life, just like you."

Without a hint of fear, Kanshi used her finger to push the end of Nagant's rifle away from her face. Despite the temptation to just fire a bullet into the smug woman's face and fight her way out of the hotel, Nagant merely gritted her teeth and glared, as though the mere hatred in her eyes could make the president drop dead on the spot.

"Now," Kanshi tilted her head as her smirk remained positively psychotic, "you need to accept, Nagant, that your daughter will be one of my agents. I'm going to make sure of that. But let me ask you this - between rotting away in prison for the rest of your life without a clue of what's happening, or mentoring your daughter - which choice would you prefer?"

Nagant stayed quiet. Kanshi didn't like that, evidenced by the way her eyes turned from playful to cold.

"Which one, Nagant?" She said in a low voice, pushing the gun completely away and stepping up to the assassin - and despite being a tad bit shorter, she showed no hesitation in getting in Nagant's face and sneering up at her. "Answer me. Prison, or mentoring your daughter - which do you want?"

"…"

"Answer me. Now."

"… mentor her." Nagant muttered.

"There you go," Kanshi's smile returned, "good girl. You had me worried for a moment that you were seriously considering your answer - I'd have thought you would have agreed to mentor your daughter at once. Maybe that's the real reason why you left her - you just didn't love her enough to stay."

Nagant's free hand clenched tightly into a fist, her nails digging into her skin.

"Now then," Kanshi took a step back, flipping her blonde hair behind her shoulder, "she'll be your intern for the hero work program, and you'll make sure that she agrees to sign paperwork by the end that says that she'll begin working for us after school."

"No," Nagant shook her head slowly, a tinge of desperation in her voice, "no, I - I won't do it."

"You really don't have a choice in the matter," Kanshi replied coolly. "If I say bark, you'll bark. If I say jump, you'll jump. And if I say that you'll get your daughter to work with us … you'll do your damndest to do so. And if you don't, then I'll just have to lean on her other parents."

"…"

"This is happening, Nagant, whether you approve of it or not. What you can do is get with the program and help your daughter, or I'll just toss you back into Tartarus once your contract with the Hero Killer is done."

Nagant, for her part, glared down at her bare feet, but slowly, the gun slipped back into her elbow, the hand on her shoulder flopping down at her side.

"There you go. Now," Kanshi turned away from her while Iguchi glared at her, "for pulling a gun on me, you will not be able to leave this hotel room on your own unless Agent Iguchi here escorts you. You'll have a shoot on sight order put on you if you step outside this room without permission or supervision. We'll also be taking your phone - you won't be needing it. We'll brief you on what you'll be doing with your daughter once the time to assassinate the Hero Killer comes, so be on your guard. And Iguchi," She turned to the other agent, "I'll make sure to get you a sharp sight quirk, so you can keep your eye on her in case she tries anything stupid."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Moving to scoop up the phone from the bed, Kanshi began strolling out of the room with Iguchi, with Nagant glaring after her boss with such hatred that the lizard agent didn't holster his gun, glaring at her back as he backed the young woman out of the room, and spoke into his earpiece to relay the boss's order.

"Now then," Kanshi resumed her usually cheerful voice as she opened the door, looking around at Nagant with a happy smile, "get ready for tomorrow. We'll be having you do some internship paperwork to send to UA. How exciting!"

"Fuck you!" Nagant shouted at them both as loudly as she could. Kanshi, of course, merely giggled as she stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind Iguchi, leaving Nagant as the only occupant of the room.

Letting out several shaking breaths before grabbing her hair and pulling at it, Nagant let out another frustrated scream before she stormed over to the wine cabinet that she had ordered be put into the room. Grabbing the first bottle she saw, she stormed out onto the balcony, not caring in the slightest as red dots appeared on her body - a sign from the HPSC snipers around the hotel for her to behave.

Instead, she ripped the cork out from the bottle, and threw her head back as she took a long, deep drink. Once she was satisfied, she dropped the bottle and let out a sobbing breath, covering her eyes with her hand as she leaned heavily against the railing.

"Fuck," She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, "just … fuck. Baby girl, you - you fucking idiot! Fuck!"

And with that, she took another drink, more than aware that all the sacrifices she had to make to keep her daughter safe were decaying before her eyes.

---

Melissa … wasn't really sure how she had gotten here.

"Now," The grandma sitting beside her, who gave her a wobbly grin while adjusting her hair, angled up into spiraling pigtails that stuck above her head, "Melissa, was it? Or was it another name? Angela? Linda? Maria? Cassandra?"

"U-uh - it's Melissa, ma'am."

"Oh, just call me Granny!"

"Er - right. Granny."

"Y-yes, dear, she - she - she did say that," The old, bald man with the big beard sitting across from them nodded rapidly, his voice continuing to tremble from what she presumed was age, "n-now - now - now, M-Melissa, t-tell us - how have you - you been finding Japan? H-hmmmm? Nice? T-tropical? Warm? C-cold? Rainy?"

"Give her a second to think of an answer, Grandpa!" Nejire lightly reprimanded her grandfather, before she turned back to grin at Melissa sitting beside her at the table. "Buy, hey, that's something I never did ask you, Melissa, how is the weather here compared to I-Island? Is it a bit warmer? I thought it was pretty warm last spring when we got back from our trips to one of the islands - er - which island did we visit again, Mom?"

"We visited Okinawa," Mami Hadou confirmed, using her chopsticks to push one of her rice balls into her mouth, "and that was during our vacation in the summer, not the spring."

"Oh! Right! So in that case, Melissa, is I-Island usually cold? Is it warm? It has to be warm, if the island moves around the ocean, it would have to make sure nobody freezes! But wait, hold on, if it's a city that moves through the ocean, it should probably protect everyone from tidal waves, right? How does it do that? Like a force field?"

"Y-yes, dear," Grandpa Hadou nodded encouragingly at Melissa, "tell us about - about the force field."

"And the weather!" Granny Hadou happily added in.

Now, as one could guess, Melissa was, at this point, starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. And seeing as Yuuyu was too busy eating her own supper quietly on the other side of the table, she wasn't getting a lot of support. Indeed, as soon as they had left Gym Gamma, Melissa had been all but dragged by Nejire all the way back to her home in the Akita prefecture - a nice, big house in a suburban area, where Melissa was brought inside to meet the blue-haired girl's family while Yuuyu was silent and listened to her music instead of talking.

There, Melissa had gotten to meet Nejire's mom, Mami - a nice, albeit tough looking woman with muscular arms and blue hair like her daughter's tied back into a spirally ponytail. She had also met Nejire's grandparents on her mom's side, who apparently lived in the upstairs rooms, who had happily greeted her and … proceeded to show where Nejire had gotten her natural curiosity from, bombarding her with question after question. Nejire's father hadn't been there, on the other hand, apparently being a defense lawyer that stayed for long hours at work, but somehow, Nejire's mom had convinced her to stay for dinner and be bombarded by questions on three different sides.

Which … admitted wasn't that bad, seeing as the food was absolutely delicious. Still, it was kind of hard to chew and talk at the same time.

"So, Melissa," Mimi sighed as she gave the blonde girl a kind smile, "thanks again for staying for dinner. It's nice to see that Nejire's friends are interested in finally meeting us."

"Oh, uh - of course, ma'am," Melissa quickly nodded, swallowing her rice and smiling while Nejire turned to beam at her, "I'm - I'm more than happy to - to be here. I think."

"Yeah, it's a bit overwhelming, I know," Nejire's mom guessed Melissa's hesitation there, chuckling when Melissa went red, "our family definitely doesn't know how to shut up."

"H-h-how rude," Grandpa Hadou shook his head, "we - we - we know how to stay q-quiet!"

"You're welcome to prove me wrong, Dad, but it'll never happen! Anyway," Mimi's grin suddenly sharpened, making Melissa blink as the older woman looked back to her, "tell me something, dear - have you heard of some guy named Midoriya yet?"

Nejire felt herself stiffen. On the other side of the table, Yuuyu let out a small humming growl as she poked at her rice.

"Uh … Midoriya?" Melissa repeated, her eyes glancing over at Nejire for a moment before moving back to her mom. "Oh, uh … yeah, I - I know him."

"Hm," Mimi nodded, her eyes narrowing a fraction, "he a friend of yours?"

"Well, uh … yes. I'm … I'm actually rooming with him right now -"

"Huh?!" Nejire's mom suddenly gawked, her eyes widening. "You are?! With Midoriya? Wait, you mean that you're staying in another room than he is, right?"

"Er …" Melissa hesitated for a moment - and then she made the mistake of saying, "… uh … n-no. We - we stay in the same room."

"Huh?!" Mimi's eyes blew open even wider.

"A-a-a-ah, youth," Grandpa Hadou reminisced, still shaking a bit as he turned to where his wife was eating, "do - do - do y-you remember wh-when we w-were that age? W-we used to - to to sneak around a-and mess around?"

"H-huh?!" Melissa squeaked, whipping around to stare at the older man with a heavy blush - and the fact that her dream of Izuku last night also used the term 'mess around' only made her blush even hotter. "O-oh, no, that's - uh - that's -"

"Aaaaah, yes, I definitely remember that," Grandma Hadou giggled, "oh, how we used to get in your car and sneak around all the hero and villain fights … going to our little home away from home and spending the night -"

"Mom, Dad, put a sock in it, you're traumatizing the kids!" Mimi barked suddenly, making the entire table jump a bit at the volume in her voice.

She then turned back to the taken aback Melissa, an assuring smile immediately replacing the snarl.

"Now, then, sweetie," She said in a kind voice, "you don't need to worry - I'd be more than happy to let you stay here, just so you don't share a house with a boy. We'll swing by Midoriya's place after I'm done with the dishes to grab your stuff -"

"Oh, uh - no, that's - that's okay!" Melissa quickly tried to placate her, trying to make sure that whatever misunderstanding had just happened was cleared up at once. "I - I don't really mind sharing a room with Izuku. He's very - he's very courteous, and polite, and -"

"And that's not the problem!" Mimi suddenly snapped, banging her fist against the table. "The problem is that I don't want anyone seducing Midoriya other than my daughter!"

There was a long pause at that proclamation. Nejire suddenly went bright red and hid her face behind her hands. Melissa stared blankly at the older woman as Mimi stood up and clenched her fist. And then Yuuyu let out a long groan.

"I've lost my appetite," She said shortly, putting her chopsticks down on the table and clapping her hands together before she got up, and moved to leave the dining room.

"I …" Melissa said in a blank voice, "… I'm … sorry? I'm … seducing who?"

"You're seducin' Midoriya!" Nejire's mom threw herself back in her chair, looking positively horrified at the very idea. "You know how often my little girl here talks about him? That's her future boyfriend we're talking about here -"

Nejire let out a small squeak behind her hands.

"- so I wanna make sure that no one sneaks in and seduces him away from Nejire! Bad enough that he was pretty much clinging to that Uraraka chick during the entire sports festival! Why couldn't those idiot teachers have paired him up with Nejire?! We'd be having him over for dinner by now if those damn teachers weren't so biased against my daughter!"

"Uh …" Melissa managed to get out, unsure if Aizawa would really be as 'biased' as to put Izuku and Ochako together during the sports festival.

"Now," Mimi gave her a serious look, "we'll go to the Midoriyas after this, you grab all your stuff, and you'll stay here. I'll convince the hubby to abandon our bedroom, if you want to stay there, we'll take the couch. Better that you stay here than over there, where accidents could happen and babies could be made!"

"B-babies?!" Melissa squeaked, her already red face burning even hotter.

"A-ah," Nejire's grandpa sighed, "like how we -"

"Dad, zip it! Melissa, do you get me?!"

"I - I -"

"Oh!" Nejire suddenly jumped up from her seat, grabbing Melissa's arm and yanking her up with a yelp. "I almost forgot, Mom! Melissa and I have homework! About something! Something important! Like, 'end of the world' important! We should probably get on doing it before Aizawa-sensei comes into our house and tries to stitch my mouth shut in my sleep! Which would be really bad! So, we're gonna go do it now! Bye-bye!"

With that, Melissa was pulled roughly away from the table, with the two small older grandparents giving her a wave bye-bye while Nejire's mom continued to aim a suspicious look at her retreating back. It didn't take long for the two teenage girls to go through the nice looking, albeit chaotic living room, up the stairs, and then into Nejire's room, with Melissa pushed inside and immediately looking at the Siamese cat napping in the window as Nejire closed the door behind her.

Looking back around at her, Melissa saw Nejire slump against the door, holding her hands over her face again.

"Sorry about my mom," She apologized, her voice muffled by her hands, "she's super cringe."

"Er … no, no, your mom's not - uh - 'cringe'," Melissa gave her a weak smile, "she's just … enthusiastic about your love life, apparently. Very … very … enthusiastic."

"Yeah, and she's super cringey about it!" Nejire threw her hands up as she pouted up at the ceiling, hopping up and down in her frustration and embarrassment, "I talk about one guy, and she's all 'oh! That's your boyfriend, isn't it? Let me get the wedding bells ready!' And, like, sometimes it's funny, but when it's in front of other people, it's humiliating! Like, Midoriya's not my boyfriend! He's adorable and cute and hot and sexy, but he's not my boyfriend!"

"Mm-hm," Melissa slowly nodded, choosing not to comment on the 'hot' and 'sexy' points in Nejire's little rant, and looked around.

Looking around at Nejire's room, she felt her shoulders sink a bit in relaxation at how normal it looked - there were, of course, a few posters of idol singers or bands lining the walls, a messy looking desk with papers everywhere and a laptop with a nice looking spiraling screensaver, and her bed a bit of a mess as well. And above the desk was a board nailed into the wall, and on it, several photos were pinned there.

Blinking a bit, Melissa approached the board, looking at the pictures as a soft smile appeared on her face. The photos were from various points of Nejire's life - there were a few of Nejire with her mom and dad, a thin, pale guy with long purple hair and a narrow face, smiling goofily as he held his fingers up as a peace sign; one of Nejire sitting in a skatepark beside a bruised but smiling Yuuyu; one of Nejire as a little girl, laying on her stomach on the floor and drawing. Melissa found herself smiling more as she looked around the board, aware of Nejire walking over to see what she was looking at.

"Oh? Having a look at all my stuff?" She asked in an interested voice, leaning against the desk and beaming over at Melissa. "I like to have everything up here so I can look at them when I work! It gives me all the happy feels whenever I need it. So, which one's your favorite? Or wait, is that a weird thing to ask about photos of me? Well, in any case, which one do you think looks the nicest?"

"Uh … well …" Melissa shrugged a bit, her eyes trailing back around the photos again - and then one caught her eye, making her blink. Moving her hands over to carefully take it off the board, she stared down at the picture of what looked to be a toddler Nejire, who was looking up at the camera and crying as she laid on her stomach and looked up at the camera as though in betrayal.

Raising her eyebrow, she showed Nejire the picture.

"Oh!" Nejire let out a giggle, taking the photo from her and smiling down at her crying younger self. "Yeah, my mom took this picture after I first started flying with my quirk, and I fell to the ground for the first time! I was so upset when Mom just took a picture before she came to comfort me. I swore that I would never forgive her!"

Melissa let out a small laugh, which was helped by Nejire giggling along with her as well.

"So I assume you eventually did forgive her?"

"Well, she said sorry! And then took me inside and made me jasmine tea! So yeah, all was forgiven!"

Melissa giggled a bit at that, watching as Nejire put the photo back on the board before heading over to the windowsill to pet her cat. Melissa watched her friend for a moment as she cooed and stroked her pet's head, feeling her smile fall just a little bit.

Mostly, of course, because of the reminder of why she had agreed to come to Nejire's place to begin with. And … well, they were alone now, so …

"So, uh … Nejire," Melissa carefully put her hands behind her back, keeping her face neutral, "thank you so much for inviting me over to dinner tonight."

"Oh, you're welcome!" Nejire smiled. "Did you like it? Mom's a great chef, but sometimes she'll feel lazy and cheat and bring home fast food for us to eat. Would it have been okay if it had been one of those nights? Our cheat nights? It probably would've seemed rude, wouldn't it?"

"Um - well, no, not really," Melissa chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I'm not gonna pretend that I haven't had my own fair share of fast food instead of healthy food over the years."

"Oh, same!"

"But, uh … well, with that out of the way, I guess that I do have one question for you, Nejire, that I was hoping you could answer."

"Huh? A question?" Nejire blinked, looking around at Melissa in surprise and delight. "Sure! Ask away!"

"Okay," Melissa nodded, her eyes staring at Nejire from over the top of her glasses, "so … why do you keep getting in between me and Izuku?"

As her question hung in the air, she saw - granted, through blurriness since she wasn't looking through her glasses - Nejire suddenly went still. Melissa was still willing to wait a few seconds for Nejire to get over her surprise, crossing her arms and giving her an expectant look.

Finally, Nejire straightened her back, and let out a nervous giggle.

"Uh … ha, ha, ha!" She laughed weakly. "W-what do you mean, Melissa? I mean - uh - I - I think I do know what you mean, but I - uh -"

"Every time I've gotten close to Izuku in the past two days," She raised her eyebrows, "you always find a way to push in between us."

Nejire was doing a very good job staring nervously over Melissa's shoulder.

"If it had happened only once? Then I probably would've thought it was nothing," Melissa shook her head, "but we walked to the gym today and you made sure that you were between us. And when I asked Izuku if he wanted to come with me to the arcade, you instead jumped in to invite me over. That," She looked through her glasses to make sure Nejire knew that she was looking straight at her, "makes me suspicious."

Nejire continued to sweat nervously, her smile shaky and weak, and she flinched a bit when Melissa leaned slightly forward.

"So," She tilted her head, "spill, Nejire. What's going on?"

"Er …" Nejire hesitated for another long moment, very much aware of how guilty she was starting to look under Melissa's suspicious and skeptical eye.

There was a long pause, in which Nejire stared nervously over Melissa's shoulder at the door while Melissa gave her an unimpressed look - and then the blue-haired girl sighed, and looked down at her feet while twiddling her fingers together.

"Er … darn," She giggled anxiously, "you, uh - you're really observant, Melissa. Super, super observant."

"Mm-hm," Melissa nodded, "so … explanation?"

"R-right," Nejire nodded rapidly, continuing to sweat nervously, "explanation. Yeah. So … um … there's … obviously an explanation for what I'm doing. And - and it's really important! So, so important! But the thing is, uh … I'm … not allowed to say."

"…"

"…"

"… huh." Melissa slowly nodded, looking clearly unimpressed.

"I mean it!" Nejire clapped her hands together in apology. "It's just - well - it's not really my secret to tell! But I promise that I wasn't doing it to offend you or make you feel bad! Cross my heart!"

Melissa slowly nodded, still not really impressed by Nejire's weak attempts to push off her questions, but she still sighed and moved to sit down on the edge of Nejire's bed, giving her friend a moment to stammer her way into silence. However, when she looked up at how Nejire was starting to blush, Melissa felt her brow crinkle.

And then, suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

Wait … the way that Nejire was trying to avoid meeting her eyes. The way her fingers were twiddling together. The way that she was blushing. The way that she … kept blushing. While they were …

… talking … about Izuku.

Hold on, Melissa felt herself blink, does … does Nejire …?

"I … know that I must seem really confusing," Nejire mumbled, unaware of Melissa sitting forward and widening her eyes while staring up at her, "me being all confusing and getting in the way. I just … don't want you to accidentally realize that … you know …"

There was a pause. And then both Nejire and Melissa spoke at the same time.

"You like Izuku."

"… you like Midoriya."

As they both realized what the other had said, both girls blinked.

Turned to look at each other.

And then they felt their jaws drop.

"Huh?" Melissa squeaked, her face going red.

"Huh?" Nejire gave her a look of surprise. "Wait, you know that I like him, too? How long have you known? Wait, was it obvious? I was thinking that I was being subtle!"

"I - wait, what?!" Melissa quickly stood up from the bed, her face now looking like it was turning into a tomato. "No, I - I don't like Izuku! No way!"

Both girls paused as what Melissa said soaked in. And then it was Nejire's turn to give Melissa a skeptical look, while the blonde girl quickly aimed her gaze down at her feet.

"I just - I mean - I - uh - I - okay, look," She sighed, twiddling her thumbs together, "I know that … you know … Izuku is … really attractive -"

"Mm-hm, yes, I do know!" Nejire confirmed with a nod, beginning to smile as she leaned in, and Melissa leaned back so that the blue-haired girl's face wasn't in hers. "It's frustrating how much of a hottie he is, isn't it? He's so cute, and he doesn't even notice! But wait, how long have you liked him? A long time? Only recently? Has it been since before you came to Japan, or after?"

"N-neither!" She tried to protest. "I just - I -"

She felt herself trail off after a moment of trying to stutter out an answer, her face burning bright hot as she looked away. She knew that she was lying through her teeth, she blushed, but it wasn't like she could just tell Nejire that she had a naughty dream about Izuku last night!

However, as she opened her mouth to try to find something to say, while Nejire gave her an expectant look, something in her memory poked at her. She felt herself blink as she looked off to the side - and then it suddenly came back to her.

"I kissed Deku."

… wait. Wait. Oh, no.

Melissa felt her blushing cheeks slowly fade, turning to look back over at Nejire standing before her in horror and shock. Wait - wait, how could she forget? Even last night after her dream, she had remembered her conversation with Ochako - the one that pointed out that she was in love with Izuku? And had kissed him? They - they had a gossipy talk about it! And now here she was, in front of Nejire, who had just confessed that she liked Izuku too. And … probably had no idea.

Oh, god! How was she supposed to explain and make sure Nejire didn't do something stupid with Izuku without knowing about Ochako?! Especially when - when there was also Itsuka to -

- to -

- wait a minute.

Suddenly, Melissa found herself pausing. Blinking. And then turned to look away, unaware of Nejire looking confused as the embarrassment suddenly fell off of Melissa's face. But she couldn't concentrate on that, because she had just … remembered something.

Something important. Something …

"I just … I know I like Itsuka … and I like Deku …"

Ochako … liked Itsuka. And she liked Izuku. And Setsuna this afternoon …

"How about you three? You in?"

"Tempting, but I'm gonna have to pass - my parents are taking Eri out for dinner tonight, so they want me to hold down the fort. And before anyone asks, no, I'm not gonna be throwing any parties. Just pizza and a movie for me tonight. Sorry."

"How about you, Midoriya? Uraraka? Melissa?"

"Oh, uh - I actually gotta make a call tonight for internship stuff. Don't know how long I'll be, so … I'll probably be staying home. Sorry."

The three of them … had declined the offer to hang out with the rest of the group. So Itsuka could go home. So Ochako could go home. So Izuku … presumably could go home. So the three of them were alone.

But that was when Melissa's mind began connecting the dots, feeling her jaw begin to drop.

The way those three were always together. How they had come back nearly late from lunch the other day, looking weirdly flushed and embarrassed from everyone looking at them. How red Itsuka and Ochako were when Izuku came over in his new hero costume. How … how she had freaking met them when they were doing a stay over at Itsuka's. How close they were …

… but … that could only mean …

"… oh my god." She whispered, her eyes going wide behind her glasses.

"Hm?" Nejire gave her a confused look, crinkling her brow at how quiet she had gotten. "What's up, Melissa? You went kinda quiet for a minute! Is everything -?"

"They're together."

Nejire stopped at that, her face falling and her eyes becoming a bit confused. Melissa then looked at her, one of her hands shaking as she pointed.

"I-Itsuka." She stammered. "Ochako. Izuku."

That was when Nejire stiffened up.

"They're … they're dating," She whispered, face going red, "they're - they're together?"

For five long, tension filled seconds, the room was quiet.

And then Nejire let out a loud squeak, her face transforming into horror, and she quickly charged forward to cover Melissa's mouth with both of her hands, causing the inventor to yelp as well as Nejire slipped on a shirt left on the floor. Collapsing into Melissa, both girls fell onto the bed, making the cat in the windowsill jump a bit and then aim a glare down at the two struggling girls.

"Shhh!" Nejire begged her, trying to keep her hands over Melissa's mouth as the American girl continued to stammer, raising her own hands to grab Nejire's wrists. "Shhhh! No one is supposed to know! Shhhh!"

"You - you knew?!" Melissa managed to get out, raising her hand to grab Nejire's own mouth in turn as they rolled over onto their sides, continuing to struggle against each other. "I - how did this happen?! When did this happen?!"

"I - I can't say! Shhhh!"

"You shush! I just - ew! Did you just lick my hand?!"

For about two minutes, the girls continued to struggle against each other, one wanting more answers and the other one ironically wanting to stop the questions. They both rolled around a bit while trying to keep the other one quiet enough to talk, the bed squeaking under their weight, and the struggle only continued when they inevitably rolled off the bed, both of them yelping as they fell to the floor, and then continued to roll around trying to silence the other, with Nejire squeaking when some of her hair got caught under Melissa's back and pulled, and Melissa panting in exhaustion as she was forced to fight against someone else for once her life and coming to the realization that she absolutely no stamina.

"I - agh -!"

"Ow! My hair!"

"S-shit, sorry, I - ow! Okay, hold on, time out, time out!"

Both girls stopped wrestling for a moment, panting as they both sat up. Melissa, for her part, quickly took off her glasses and strained to put them over on Nejire's desk, while Nejire tied her hair back into a big bun, hoping to get it somewhat out of the way. They both also took off their school jackets and tossed them over to the bed, before they turned back to each other.

"You good?"

"Yep!"

With that, they both grabbed at each other and flipped back onto the floor, grunting and yelping quietly as they began wrestling again. The cat above them merely stared down in disapproval as both of them rolled around for another few minutes, Melissa trying to get her answers while Nejire tried covering her mouth.

Eventually, though, they both ran out of steam and collapsed onto their butts against the opposite wall, panting and rubbing their backs where they had hit the hardwood floor. Melissa's hair was absolutely crazy, while Nejire looked likewise disheveled as they both tried to catch their breaths, and then turned to look at each other.

"…"

"…"

"… okay, I know that was supposed to be super serious," Nejire was unable to resist giggling, "but wrestling with you was kinda fun!"

Melissa sputtered a bit, and then she laughed as well as she shook her head.

"Yeah, I'll admit, that was pretty fun," She chortled as Nejire giggled along with her, both of them sitting up to lean against the wall as they tried to recover from the unexpecting wrestling match. As soon as she caught her breath, Melissa let out a sigh as she started fixing her hair.

"So, uh …" She glanced at Nejire, "… those three?"

Nejire blinked a bit - and then suddenly rolled around with a pout, as though threatening to roll Melissa back to the floor.

"I'll still wrestle you to keep quiet!"

"I - okay, yes, I believe you," She gave her, "but I also think that us 'wrestling' wasn't exactly quiet either."

Nejire paused at that.

"Oh," She said, a tinge of red on her cheeks, "ah. I … guess I'll have to explain to Mom that I wasn't … uh … playing around with … you …"

Melissa cleared her throat at that, going a bit red before she shook her head and tried to dispel the image of her and Nejire … 'playing around'.

"Yeah, uh … a-anyway. I'm - I'm not gonna tell anyone that I know," She shrugged, "I mean, I - it's not like you're the only one who doesn't know stuff."

"Huh? You do?"

"Y-yeah. I, uh - I know that Ochako kissed both of them -"

"Wait, you do?!" Nejire gasped, her eyes going wide again.

"Yeah, she - she told me," Melissa nodded, "and I just - well, I knew that she was going to do something about it, but … well, I never got a follow up. But now that I know that they're together …"

"You won't do anything about your crush on Izuku?" Nejire asked hopefully.

Melissa let out a small sigh, moving to wrap her arms around her legs as she pouted.

"I - okay, look," She felt her cheeks turn a bit redder, "so, I - well - okay. So I don't have a crush on Izuku. Honestly, I just … there's been times where I thought that he was attractive, and cute, and his butt is … really, really nice, and … and …"

Nejire raised her eyebrow a bit higher.

"… and this is really not helping my case."

"Nope! Not really."

"Well," Melissa let out a defeated groan, "shit."

"Oh, no, you don't have to feel embarrassed about it!" Nejire patted her shoulder comfortingly. "I mean, I like Izuku and Itsuka, and I don't know how I feel about Uraraka yet, but I wanna find out! I'm not embarrassed to be attracted to any of them! They're hotties!"

"I …" Melissa paused for a moment, feeling like she was having a small overload of information - from Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka apparently going out, to Nejire apparently having feelings for maybe all of them, to having accusations of herself having feelings for Izuku thrown at her - and then she shook her head.

"Okay …" She nodded slowly, "… so I - I think I need to get caught up with this whole thing. I - I'm not really asking for details on those three, because - because if I want to know something, I'll just ask them - but I'm not really sure how you fit into all of this, Nejire."

"Oh!" Nejire blinked. "So you just wanna know about my feelings for them?"

"I guess," She shrugged.

"Well, in that case, sure!" She giggled lightly. "As long as I don't have to tell you about - uh - anything they want me to keep secret."

"Of course," Melissa smiled, "yeah, that's fine."

"Okey-dokey! So -"

However, before Nejire could get going with her explanation, the door near them creaked. Both girls blinked a bit, and quickly looked around to see Mimi slowly poking her head in through the crack, her normally kind eyes narrowed into slits as she looked down at the two girls on the floor, with their hair a mess, their clothes ruffled, and looking flushed.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… Melissa," Mimi looked very disappointed in her, "I have a strict rule in this house that Nejire's not allowed to be involved with any hanky-panky if the person she's hanky-panky-ing with isn't named 'Midoriya'."

"N-no!" Melissa immediately went redder. "That's not it at all! I can explain!"

"Yeah, Mom!" Nejire balled her fists, also going red. "We weren't making out on the bed and rolling around on the floor! We were wrestling!"

"'Wrestling' is exactly what I assumed you two are doing, little missy!"

"A-a-a-ah, y-youth -"

"Dad, shut it!"

---

Letting out a small hum of excitement, Itsuka bumped the upstairs door closed with her hip, carrying the two boxes of pizza, with its delicious smell wafting up to her nose and making her stomach growl, into the living room to set down on the coffee table. Straightening up and heading back to the kitchen to grab their plates, she continued to hum to herself as she put the plates down on the counter, aware of Gūdo slumbering into the kitchen so that he could bump his head against her leg with a whine.

"Yeah, yeah, I got you too, boy," She giggled, grabbing the bag of dog food and pouring some into his tray on the side. As the dog bent over to start eating, Itsuka put the large bag back down and went over to grab the three plates to bring into the living room.

As she set them all down beside the pizza, she heard the sound of her family continuing to get ready to go. Her parents had already told her that they had wanted to grab an early dinner with Eri before they went to go see a movie with her, a move that made Itsuka blink a bit in confusion but she knew better than to complain. It was more surprising, on the other hand, that her grandpa had agreed to go with them, but maybe Teko just wanted to spend a bit of time with the family, even if he had to sit through a kid's movie afterwards, before he went to buy his new mats for the dojo.

Either way, that meant that Itsuka had the house to herself for a few hours. And that, Itsuka grinned to herself, was something that she was going to enjoy with her partners once they got there, any minute now.

"Seems like someone's in a good mood," Tenohira noted with a smile as she poked her head into the living room, seeing the way Itsuka was practically bouncing around, "that excited for Izuku and Ochako to come over? What's the occasion?"

"Well, it has been a while since it's just been the three of us," Itsuka half-fibbed, still smiling happily as her cheeks went a bit pink, "so yeah, I'm excited."

"Well, that's good," Tenohira sighed as she put on her coat, Hakushu coming into the kitchen behind her while still scrubbing some grease off his face, "because we'll probably be back at around nine-ish, so it'll just be the three of you for a while. Try not to burn down the house, please."

"That we will," Itsuka muttered to herself, going a bit redder at the thought of what they could get up to for a few hours of alone time.

"Anyway, uh …" Hakushu suddenly spoke up, sighing as he put the towel down on the back of his chair and looked around at his daughter, "… Itsuka, there's - there's something we wanted to talk to you about."

Straightening up and blinking a bit, Itsuka looked around at both of her parents as they stepped into the living room. For their part, they didn't look upset or angry or anything, but there was still a seriousness on their faces that made her tilt her head a bit in curiosity.

"Uh … yeah, sure," She shrugged, "what's up?"

"Well," Tenohira sighed as she approached her daughter, "we wanted to talk to you about Midnight coming to talk with us a few days ago."

Itsuka gave her a look of surprise.

"Midnight-sensei?"

"Yes. So, uh, we got a lot of info we didn't really understand, but," Hakushu grimaced, "to sum it up, she basically informed us that the police have been looking into whoever Eri's caregiver is."

That, of course, caused Itsuka to pause fully, quickly looking over at her dad in surprise. But when what he said sank in, she felt her face fall as she glanced between both her parents.

"… oh."

"Yes," Tenohira likewise looked a bit awkward, "they - they haven't gotten any leads yet, but they've been talking about it with Principal Nezu."

"Is -" Itsuka felt herself shrink a bit, a twinge of fear running through her, "- is this because of me being in the sports festival?"

"No, no, sweetie," Her mother quickly assured her, shaking her head and reaching up to rub her arms, "from what the police have been looking into, there haven't been any leads after you appeared during the sports festival, so they think you're fine. It's just, the police were discussing things with the principal, and …"

"He had the thought," Hakushu took over the explanation, "that having Eri stay with us may - well - it's not like she's in any danger, but he thought that it might be safer for Eri to stay somewhere with plenty of heroes to look after her, just in case. But since they know that you and Eri have grown close, they figured that she wouldn't want to be separated from you …"

"And basically," Tenohira gave her a weak smile, "Principal Nezu wants you and Eri to move to Heights Alliance together."

"Oh," Itsuka nodded slowly, glancing away, and thinking about how that kind of made sense -

- and then what her mom said actually registered in her mind, and she felt herself blink.

"W-wait," She quickly looked around at her parents again, looking surprised, "so - so the school wants me to move to Heights Alliance? With Eri?"

"Mm-hm," Tenohira nodded, giving her a soft look, "the teachers are thinking of having Eri stay at their dormitories full time, so they can watch over her a bit more closely, and maybe start giving her an education. And since they know that Eri loves to be around you, and … probably won't take it very well if she has to live with the teachers -"

"Yeaaaah," Itsuka winced, thinking of what would happen if Eri had to stay with Aizawa and Midnight all day long and cringing.

"- so they're wondering if you would be okay with living with her full time at the school - you know, basically the same deal now."

Itsuka let out a small hum at that, turning to look down at her bare feet as she thought for a moment. As though sensing her daughter's hesitation, Tenohira reached out to gently brush her hand against Itsuka's cheek, drawing her attention again.

"It's just so that she feels comfortable," She said in a soft voice, "we'll still need to ask Eri about it, after all. That's why your grandpa wants to come with us tonight - he wants to help us make her feel comfortable when we ask, it's a big thing that we're asking of her."

Itsuka slowly nodded, turning to glance down at her feet again - and then she let out a small sigh.

"So …" She looked back up at her parents, giving them both a weak smile, "… I … guess I'm getting kicked out a few years earlier than I thought I would?"

"I - okay, you don't really need to put it that way." Hakushu chuckled at his daughter's snark while rubbing the top of her head. "The teachers are just asking that you live with Eri at the school while they try teaching her. We'll be expecting you to be coming home every weekend, young lady - especially since Eri will be taking your grandpa's classes."

"That's right," Tenohira giggled as well, "I know it's tempting to try living it up living at a boarding school, but that won't be stopping us from grounding you if you get yourself into trouble, little missy."

"Me, get into trouble? Yeah, because I'm such a troublemaker."

"That you are, Miss 'Jump into a burning building'. Oh, and you'll be bringing the dog with you. We love Gūdo, but he's your dog, not ours."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that," Itsuka gave her mom a far more genuine smile, "and … well, I was kind of expecting to have to stay at Heights Alliance anyway, since I'm the class rep. So … yeah, I guess I'll be keeping everyone out of trouble anyway."

"Okay," Tenohira reached over to give her daughter a hug, to which Itsuka rolled her eyes but hugged her back, "that sounds fine to me. Just expect me to be clinging to you until we leave Saturday."

"Yeah, that's - wait," Itsuka blinked a bit, moving out of her mom's grasp to look at her, "Saturday? I thought Heights Alliance opened next week."

"Yeah, that's what Midnight told us was officially happening," Hakushu chuckled, "but for you and Eri, they'll be making an exception. They'll be opening one of the 1A houses early for you two to share - she also said that if you come up with any roommates you want to stay with, you just need to let her know before Saturday so that they'll have their doors open."

"Ah …" Itsuka paused, beginning to think, "… wait, so how many roommates would I be allowed to grab? Me, Eri … so … three more roommates?"

"Honey," Tenohira sighed, "let's not pretend that Eri's not going to be staying in your room all the time. Your dad rearranged the guest room for her to stay in and she's been in there a grand total of once."

"Perfect waste of my weekend," Hakushu grumped.

"Yeah, that's fair," Itsuka slowly nodded as she backed out of her mom's embrace, "so … I just gotta grab four roommates. That's … easy peasy, I guess."

"Yeah, I'm sure that you can just grab Setsuna and Yui. I'm sure -"

"Dad," Itsuka gave her father a dry look, "I love those two, but I'm also aware of what their rooms normally look like. I refuse on principle to live with them, because I know I'll tear them both apart if I have to clean up after them."

"Fair enough," Tenohira giggled, "anyway, we'll be going over everything with Eri over dinner - we think that it'll go well, but we're hoping that she'll be okay with moving out with you."

As though they had summoned her just by mentioning her, they heard the sound of socked feet shuffling on the floor, and the three Kendous looked around to see Eri coming into the living room. She looked very nice, wearing a red dress with a t-shirt and shorts underneath, and her long gray hair was tied back into a ponytail.

However, since the little girl's hair was out of her face, Itsuka felt her eyes be drawn up to her forehead, and she felt herself blink.

Wait, she thought to herself, is it just me, or has her horn always been that big?

Before she could even think to ask the little girl, Tenohira let out a small giggle as she straightened up, and walked over to take Eri's hand.

"Seems like we're just about ready to be off," She grinned down at her, "do you know if Grandpa's waiting for us?"

"Mm-hm," Eri nodded, "he's downstairs."

"Alrighty, then, we better not keep him waiting," Hakushu grinned as well as he gave Itsuka a side hug, and then walked over to escort the other two ladies out of the living room, "are you excited for the movie tonight, Eri?"

"Yeah. Is it going to be good?"

"Well, we hope so!"

With that, Itsuka heard the sound of her parents moving out of the top floor with Eri, the sound of their voices fading as they closed the door behind them. Now alone in the house, and hearing the distant sound of the door downstairs sliding open and closing, Itsuka let out a soft sigh, leaning against the end of the couch while looking around, feeling herself frown.

So … come Saturday, she was going to be moving out. Or at least, she would be staying at the school full time. She wanted to say that she was excited, but … well … truth be told, she was starting to feel a bit nervous, and sad. Not just because she would have to pack all her stuff and move it to UA come the weekend, but … because it would just be her in the house with Eri, having to take care of her. And …

… well … it wasn't like she minded doing that, but she knew that it was going to be a challenge, living with Eri on her own. The teachers would be there to help, of course, but … but it would be lonely, in a big house with just her and Eri.

… unless …

… Midnight did say that she could have roommates, didn't she?

Itsuka blinked a bit and straightened up, feeling a twinge of hope enter her chest. From what her parents said Midnight told her, she … could get a few roommates, to help her take care of Eri. And - and that would mean that she would have to get people that she knew Eri would be comfortable around.

And that … Itsuka thought, feeling a blush appear on her cheeks again, … that would be …

And again, as though she had summoned them by mere thought alone, she heard the upstairs door open again.

"Er - Itsuka?" She heard Izuku call out for her, making her jump a bit as she was yanked out of her thoughts. "You up here?"

"Huh? Oh, uh - yeah!" She quickly tried to shake herself out of her fluster and get back to her excitement. "I'm in the living room!"

Hearing them coming into the kitchen, she hurried out to meet them, feeling her smile from earlier return, and at the sight of her two partners stepping around the corner and brightening up at the sight of her, her smile widened. They had both gotten changed out of their school uniforms, with Izuku wearing a nice green sweater and jeans, and Ochako wearing a pair of track pants and a pink t-shirt. Of course, Itsuka couldn't judge, seeing as she likewise changed into a pair of tight jeans and a black t-shirt, but at the way they both glanced up and down her and went a bit red, she felt a bit proud of herself.

So - apparently both Izuku and Ochako liked tight jeans. Good to know.

"Uh … hey," Izuku gave her a dorky wave, which of course made Ochako roll her eyes good-naturedly and Itsuka giggle, "we, uh - we ran into your parents, and they said that you were waiting for us."

"That I have been," She nodded with a grin, "pizza arrived about five minutes ago, so your timing is impeccable."

As they both approached her, Itsuka quickly stepped forward to wrap both her arms around their necks, and brought them in for a hug. Both Izuku and Ochako squeaked a bit, going red, but they still shook themselves out of their fluster to hug her back as she giggled and squeezed them gently.

"Sorry," She said, her voice muffled by how she pressed her lower face into Izuku's shoulder, "just happy to hold you both without having to make it quick."

"Yeah," Izuku sighed, "yeah … secret relationships suck."

"They dooooo," Ochako groaned, "I wanna cuddle!"

"Well," Itsuka stepped out of their embrace to beam at both of them, "since we're all alone for a few hours, we'll get all the cuddling we want. Now then, you two - date night begins now. If you both will come with me into the living room, our dinner awaits - and a nice surprise for you, Izuku."

"F-for me?" Izuku blinked, looking intrigued. They both quickly followed their girlfriend through the sliding doors into the living room, taking a seat on the couch in front of the pizza, and Izuku watched in curiosity as Itsuka quickly retreated around the corner to grab something, while Ochako reached down to pat Gūdo's head as the dog wandered into the living room after them.

And once Itsuka came back, a huge stack of papers in her hands, Izuku's eyes widened in surprise and delight while Ochako snorted.

"Is that …?"

"Yep," Itsuka grunted as she put the huge amount of papers down in front of Izuku, "my internship offers. All three thousand, four hundred and fifty seven internship offers from heroes all across Japan. Have fun, sweetie."

"That I will," Izuku eagerly rubbed his hands together, while Itsuka giggled and kissed his cheek.

With that, Izuku quickly got to work, flipping through each page and muttering under his breath as he pulled his notebook out and began scribbling. Itsuka, meanwhile, moved around him to sit in the middle of the couch, allowing Ochako to lean fully against her as both girls sighed in contentment and started eating, Itsuka flipping on the TV so that she could turn on some music to give them ambient noise.

As Gūdo slid in to rest under their feet and snooze, the two girls relaxed as they stretched their legs out to rest on the coffee table beside their pizza and drinks, Itsuka lazily wrapping her arm around Ochako's shoulders as the brown-haired girl sighed and nuzzled her head against Itsuka's shoulder.

"So, uh …" Itsuka looked down at her in concern and curiosity, "… did you get the whole Nagant thing sorted out?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded slowly, letting out a low huff as she lifted her slice of pizza for another bite, "it was, uh - it was kinda like pulling teeth, but I eventually got to talk to the HPSC president -"

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked in surprise. "Wait, really? Why?"

"Yeah, I was surprised too. Apparently, the HPSC president handles Lady Nagant's internship offers. No idea why, but … uh … yeah. Anyway, she told me that I could intern with her, as long as I'm okay with going on some kind of assignment with her. She tried to get me to sign paperwork, though, but I told her Aizawa-sensei's thing about not signing any official papers, and she backed off."

"Huh. So …"

"So, yeah," Ochako grinned nervously, "I'm … interning with Mom. Yay."

"You …" Itsuka turned to give her a concerned look, "… don't sound very happy with that."

"Well," Ochako pouted, shaking her head and cuddling a bit more into Itsuka, "I'm not - well, I'm not gonna pretend that it'll be easy working with Kaina. She kept shouting that I wouldn't be interning with her until her boss completely overruled her."

"Eesh."

"Yeah, it's - it's pretty obvious that she doesn't really like me. But," Ochako looked more resolute, "I'm not there to be liked. She's got answers, and I want them. So if she wants to act like a jerk to me, then I'll just act like a jerk back."

"Right," Itsuka nodded slowly, looking around at where Izuku was continuing to do his notetaking, and then reached up to rub the side of Ochako's head, "but I know that this has gotta be stressful for you. So - so if you ever do need to vent to someone, don't hesitate to give us a call, right? Me or Izuku."

"I know," Ochako nodded at her, and smiled, "and - and I will. I promise."

Itsuka smiled, and then leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Ochako's cheek. Moving back and letting Ochako blush and begin studying her pizza in her fluster, Itsuka leaned back again and looked around at Izuku continuing to excitedly mutter under his breath as he scribbled in his notebook, flipping one of the pages off the stack.

"Izuku?" She called to him, and smiled in amusement when he clearly didn't hear. "Izuku? You still with us?"

Of course, she didn't get an answer.

"Hm? What's up?" Ochako looked over her shoulder at Izuku.

"Time for talks," She grinned, "but I think Izuku's lost to us."

"Oh, no," Ochako tsked in mock sympathy, "poor him. How will we ever go on?"

"Well," Itsuka smirked, still observing Izuku with amusement, "I guess we could just … keep moving on with the date and hope that he eventually realizes that he's missing out!"

With that, she used her arm around Ochako's shoulder to slip down to her waist, and pulled her. Ochako let out a squeak as she was roughly laid onto Itsuka's lap, and she let out a loud laugh as Itsuka immediately began peppering her cheek with kisses. The two struggling girls eventually bumped against Izuku's side, who blinked a bit at the elbow he got in the side, and looked around to see Itsuka kissing Ochako's laughing face as she was half-flopped in her lap.

Staring down at both girls with a light blush, Izuku awkwardly cleared his throat, drawing their attention up to him.

"Uh … hi," He waved weakly to them, still blushing, "I've … missed out on something."

"I mean, you almost did," Itsuka giggled as she pressed another kiss to Ochako's temple, "here we were, about to make out while you were distracted by paperwork. Such a neglectful boyfriend we've got here, Ochako."

"H-hey! That's paperwork you gave me!"

"Well," Itsuka smirked a bit as she pressed another kiss to Ochako's head, "if you wanted to get back to the paperwork, and we can get back to making out …"

Izuku paused, his eyes drawn back to the large stack of papers before him.

"The fact that you're hesitating doesn't bode well for our kissy times," Ochako pouted at him, and then giggled when Izuku quickly shook his head and quickly tossed his notebook and pencil onto the table beside the stack of papers.

"N-no, the list can wait," He tried to give both giggling girls an adorable look, "I - I want kissy times."

"Yeah, yeah," Itsuka snorted, angling her head up to press her lips against his jaw, while Ochako likewise hoisted herself up to lean over Itsuka and kissed his chin.

Both girls then moved to lean on him, Itsuka putting her head down on his shoulder and Ochako moving to lay down on both their laps, keeping her head on Izuku's thighs while he absently put his pen down to stroke her hair. The three of them were comfortable enough to lay like that for a few minutes, Izuku taking this moment to take a bite out of his pizza, and Itsuka mischievously tickled Ochako's side and got a warning elbow to the ribs for her troubles.

They settled down a bit as they simply listened to music, Izuku enjoying the ticklish sensation of Itsuka's hair on his cheek while he stroked Ochako's own hair, Itsuka enjoying slowly rubbing Ochako's knee, and Ochako enjoying laying down on both of them. And then Itsuka let out a soft sigh, her smile fading.

"So, uh …" She cleared her throat, "… I guess if … we're not distracted, we can talk about … you know …"

Both Izuku and Ochako blinked, looking around at their girlfriend as she glanced away.

"… the … 'Nejire-sized hole' in our relationship," She finished in a weak voice.

Both of them paused at that, with Izuku's slow stroking of Ochako's hair stopping and Ochako feeling herself stiffening slightly in their lap. They both turned to stare at Itsuka for a moment as she grimaced slightly at them, and then they both sighed and nodded.

"I, uh …" Izuku gulped nervously, his cheeks going red, "… yeah. Right. We should, uh - yeah."

"M-mm-hm," Ochako nodded slowly as well, "let's, uh - let's talk Hadou."

"Right," Itsuka sighed again, adjusting herself slightly in her seat as she moved to lean against Izuku a bit firmer. They stayed like that for a moment, and then Itsuka went a bit red.

"Er …" She winced, "… sorry that I brought the mood down."

"N-no, no, it's okay," Ochako quickly assured her while Izuku nodded, "it's … yeah, it's something we knew we had to talk about, so - so we should just get it over with, right?"

"Yeah," Izuku agreed, "it's … yeah, it'll probably be awkward, so … so let's talk it through."

"Okay," Itsuka bit her lip a bit, "okay, yeah. So … okay. Nejire."

Both of them nodded.

"So … what do you two think?" She grimaced a bit again. "How … do you two see her fitting into all of this?"

Both of her partners were quiet for a moment, glancing between each other - and then Izuku sighed and adjusted himself, trying to keep his girlfriend's head in his lap.

"I, uh …" He stroked Ochako's hair while moving his other hand into Itsuka's, "… I guess since … since I'm technically at fault for Hadou being - you know - into us? I guess? I - I guess I'll go first."

"Right," Itsuka nodded slowly, "since you're the first one she - uh - yeah, since you were the one she started being friends with first."

She had to fight off the temptation to say 'the first one of us she started liking', seeing as she wasn't sure if telling Izuku that Nejire had feelings for him was something that the blue-haired girl wanted her to do. Thankfully, Izuku didn't seem to catch on to it.

"So … uh …" His face turned red, "… so … okay. Can - can I be honest with you guys?"

Both Ochako and Itsuka nodded at the same time, trying to remain completely non-judgmental.

"I … well … I don't really have an - an answer for how I feel about Hadou," He admitted to them both, looking a bit guilty about that, "I … well, I'm not gonna pretend that there haven't been - uh - moments where I've been … you know …"

"Attracted to her?" Itsuka guessed, and smiled when Izuku blushed and nodded.

"Yeah. She's - you know, she's nice, and kind, and beautiful, and - and -"

He hesitated for a moment.

"- and - if I'm - I'm being honest, there's - there's been times where I - I feel like she gets me."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked a bit. "'Gets you'? What do you mean, Deku?"

"I mean …" Izuku felt himself hesitate again - he wasn't sure how much he could share of what Nejire told him about his past to his girlfriends, but he knew better than to go behind her back. But at Itsuka and Ochako giving him a curious look, he let out a small sigh and sat forward a bit, continuing to pet Ochako's hair.

He couldn't … tell them everything, but …

"It's … not really my place to tell," He admitted, "but … but Hadou … Occhan, me and you haven't been the only ones that - that had a rough time when we were kids. I - I can't really go into it, but she told me a bit about her past, and - and I can't help but feel like we have a lot in common. And she told me that she wanted to be my friend, someone who's close to me, and I … well …"

Both Ochako and Itsuka were quiet, letting him talk.

"… if I'm being honest … I want to get closer to her, too," Izuku admitted quietly, "and I don't know if I mean that in a - a platonic or a non-platonic way. But … but there's a part of me that does want to explore that. I haven't been able to, since - you know, everything happened after we went to the beach that day, with Eri and then Nighteye and then the sports festival and - and all that chaos."

"And then us," Itsuka guessed for him, smiling when he went red, "you're not sure about exploring your - uh - feelings for Nejire while you're dating us."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, "I … I want to make sure that you two are my priority. I - I wanna explore my - my feelings for Hadou, but I - I don't want to do that at the expense of you two."

Both Ochako and Itsuka nodded at that, smiling softly at the look of guilt on Izuku's face, and Ochako raised her hand to brush against his cheek, letting him lean against it. With her own sigh, Itsuka adjusted herself against him.

"So," She brushed some hair behind her ear, "I guess … it's my turn now."

Both Izuku and Ochako looked around at her as their girlfriend went a bit red, squeezing on Izuku's hand and Ochako's knee.

"Yeah, uh … so I guess that I'm kinda in the same boat as you, Izuku," She told them, "my feelings for Nejire just kinda … snuck up on me. You guys know that Friday was - it got really emotional at times, and - and looking back, when I was hurting, it was Nejire I started clinging to. She was understanding, she heard me out, she understood me. I've had … well, a lot of complicated feelings about her before, but - getting everything out of the way and sorted out, it - it helped. I thought I had gotten a really good friend that day …"

Both Izuku and Ochako raised their eyebrows.

"… and then the next thing I knew," Itsuka groaned, "Nejire's tongue was trying to get in my mouth. And that threw all my 'oh hey new friend' plans completely out the window."

"I - I can't believe that she just kissed you, though," Izuku went red, holding a hand to his mouth, "she - she just asked if I checked her out when we were in swimsuits. I - I have no idea what would've happened if she asked me to k-kiss her!"

"… and did you?" Ochako turned her skeptical look up to his face.

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked. "What do you mean?"

"She's asking," Itsuka turned to give him an amused look, "if you did check her out."

"…"

"Your silence will be accepted as a 'yes'."

"I plead the fifth."

"We're in Japan, Deku, there is no fifth to plead."

"Crud," Izuku winced, glancing away while both girls smirked at him, "well, uh … I … I tried not to."

"Uh-huh," Ochako snorted, "and I imagine that was a struggle."

"It was!" Izuku raised his hand from Ochako's hair to cover his face. "You saw what she wore during the beach party! Imagine that but with her attention all on me! I thought I was going to die!"

"Well," Itsuka giggled, turning to look down at Ochako (and trying not to betray how her own eyes had been wandering in the changing room today, something that made her go red), and then asked, "so … Ochako."

"Hm?"

"What, uh - what are you thinking?"

Ochako felt herself pause at that, her teasing smile fading as both her partners looked down at her. She then turned to look up at the ceiling for a moment, and both Izuku and Itsuka gave her a moment to think quietly.

Finally, she let out a soft sigh.

"Well …" She bit her lips, "… I … know that you two know I've been having thoughts."

"Uh-huh."

"So," She grunted as she slowly moved to get off of their laps, both of them watching as she adjusted herself and was careful not to put her feet down on the dog's tail as she sat up beside Itsuka, "I'm aware that - that Hadou and I aren't exactly close. Not like you two are with her."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, clearly worried.

"All the times that me and Hadou have interacted, it's either been in a group, or - or we fought, like in class or at the sports festival. And … and I'm not gonna lie when I say that I'm -" Ochako gulped a bit, "- I'm a little insecure about that. With - with Hadou being closer to you two than she is with me, and - and how she wants to be - uh - maybe romantically involved with you two. It feels like - like it's a recipe for disaster, if - if she wants to hook up with you two while I'm off in the corner sulking."

Both Izuku and Itsuka looked completely understanding of her points - they both knew, of course, that they would likewise feel as Ochako did if Nejire had been flirting with her and not them. However, before they could think of a way to make her feel better, Ochako nodded.

"So," She shrugged, "I, uh, I had the thought that - that if you two are gonna be attracted to her, and - and just maybe, we start something with her, whatever that is - I should try to get to know her better. To - to try and understand why you two are attracted to her."

Nodding surely to herself, she reached out to gently take both their hands, giving them both a smile.

"I … I don't know exactly how Hadou's going to be fitting in with all this," She told them, "but … well, I'm not gonna knock something I haven't tried, right?"

"Er …" Itsuka felt herself sweating a bit, "… I'm … not exactly sure how much of Nejire I've 'tried' myself."

"Well," Ochako shrugged again, "we might as well - you know - try a bit more."

They all slowly nodded amongst themselves for a moment.

"So …" Izuku glanced between his girlfriends unsurely, "… what does this mean, exactly? Are - are we going to consider letting Hadou … you know … join our relationship? If she wants to?"

Both Ochako and Itsuka blinked at that, going red and glancing between each other. Truth be told, however, all three of them were feeling a bit concerned themselves - they knew where each of them individually stood with Nejire, what with Izuku being confusedly infatuated with her, Itsuka having shared a kiss with her, and Ochako knowing that she needed to get to know her better.

But … what exactly did that mean? Their relationship wasn't even a week old yet, and now they were considering a fourth member?

They were all quiet for a moment - and then it suddenly came to Itsuka.

"… we take it slow with her."

Izuku and Ochako blinked, and looked around at their girlfriend in their confusion. They watched as Itsuka leaned slightly out from Izuku, her hand moving to her mouth as she thought.

"We … all have some pretty mixed feelings for her," She reminded them, "and we aren't all on the same page with her either. I'm pretty sure I like her, you want to explore your feelings, Izuku, and Ochako, you want to build a connection with her. So … so in this case, there's only one thing we can do."

"A-and …" Izuku asked nervously, "… and what's that?"

"Well," She glanced between them with a small smile, "how did the three of us get together?"

Both Izuku and Ochako paused, leaning over Itsuka to look at each other in confusion.

"You two," She pointed out, wrapping her arms around their shoulders, "have known each other since you were little kids. And you only met me last year. You two had your entire lives to fall in love with each other, but … well, I've only had the year. But would you say that your love for each other is stronger than your love for me?"

"No." Ochako shook her head at once, and then winced at the speed she said that, glancing at Izuku in concern. "I - I mean -"

"No, no, I agree," Izuku shook his head, smiling at her, "I … I agree. I love you, Occhan, and … and I love you, Itsuka, just as much."

"Right," Itsuka nodded, "so … in that case, why can't we do the same thing for Nejire?"

"Huh," Ochako tilted her head, thinking, "so … basically, we're going to just … romance Hadou?"

"Pretty much," Itsuka shrugged.

"Huh," Izuku glanced between both of them with his cheeks turning red again, "then - then in that case, if Hadou ends up … you know … wanting to go on another 'date' with one of us …?"

Itsuka gave him an innocent smile.

"And if she wants to kiss one of you?" Ochako raised her eyebrows, and then went red. "Or - or me?"

Itsuka shrugged.

"… this kind of sounds like we're gonna let Hadou do whatever she wants with us."

"Nejire knows how to restrain herself - well, okay, I should say that she knows how to restrain herself when it's important," Itsuka quickly corrected herself when Izuku and Ochako raised their eyebrows, "she knows better than to cross any real boundaries. If you tell her to back off, she'll back off. But if you give her the go ahead …"

"She'll … 'go ahead'," Izuku blushed.

"Yep."

She looked between both of them, her eyes soft.

"We shouldn't do this if one of us isn't comfortable with it," She said quietly, "so … what do you both think?"

Izuku stayed quiet at first, slumping down and moving his hands to cup together for a moment in thought - and then he let out a sigh.

"I mean …" He shrugged a bit, "… like Occhan said … I can't knock something I haven't tried."

"And I … did want to get to know Hadou better," Ochako sighed as well, "… so …"

The three of them paused - and then they all snorted.

"Okay," Itsuka giggled, "so … I guess we've become Team 'Fill the Nejire hole with a Nejire'?"

"I - okay, no, I'm not gonna refer to it as that," Izuku chortled at her joke, "but … yes. Okay, we - okay."

"Yeah," Ochako nodded in agreement, "so I guess … we'll talk to Hadou about it when we see her next?"

"Yeah," Itsuka leaned forward to scoop up her pizza, "like I said, we'll - we'll take it slow. Or - you know, however slow Nejire takes things. But, uh - but that'll be for another time. So - do you guys wanna hear about how I'm gonna have to move to Heights Alliance this Saturday?"

"…"

"…"

"… okay," Ochako shrugged, "really random change of topic, but at least you got our attention. Why are you moving to Heights Alliance?"

"Well …"

From there, Itsuka managed to swerve them from their Nejire talk to get back on track, explaining what her parents had dropped on her before leaving for the movie with Eri and Teko. After getting permission from the chortling girl, Izuku went back to reading through Itsuka's huge list of offers, occasionally letting out a small 'ooh' and writing something down, while Ochako listened to Itsuka's explanation while continuing to eat her pizza.

"Okay," She nodded slowly, chewing on her slice, "so … basically, you and Eri are gonna be living together? By yourselves?"

"Yep," Itsuka grumbled, chewing on her own slice of pizza glumly, "one giant house, all to myself and Eri. It's … definitely not what I was expecting."

"Well," She tried to give her girlfriend an optimistic smile, "maybe it won't be that bad. It's your own house! You're in charge!"

"Yeah, but if I wanted to be living alone, I probably would've asked for one of those apartments," Itsuka sighed, "I don't think I'm ready to be living in a giant house all by myself. I'd much rather live with other people - and I mean, as much as I love Eri, I have a feeling that I'm gonna be her caretaker, and - and that's a lot of responsibility for just me."

"That's true." Ochako slowly nodded, thinking for a moment before she turned back to Izuku. "So what do you think, Deku?"

They didn't get a response from him. After a moment, Itsuka then turned to look around and saw him staring down at something on a piece of paper, his other hand raising to tug at his lip while keeping his notebook and pencil in his lap.

"Uh … Deku?" Ochako tilted her head, leaning over Itsuka to poke his shoulder. "Are you still with us?"

"… huh."

"Hm?" Itsuka let out a hum, turning to grab another slice of pizza from the box. "What's 'huh'?"

"Well … uh …" Izuku let out a small, nervous chuckle, and looked around at both girls to show his face with a surprised, nervous look, "… I was … looking through your papers, Itsuka, to - to see if I could identify the hero with the highest ranking. And, uh - and I found her."

"Her?" She raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah," Izuku gave her a nervous grin, "Miruko sent you a request."

"…"

"…"

"… you're shitting me." Itsuka felt her jaw drop open.

"Nope," Izuku shook his head, and scooted over as he passed her the paper. Quickly, Itsuka took it and began giving it a read over, with Ochako picking her own jaw up from the floor and looking over her shoulder.

And indeed, sitting there on the page with a short phone number and email, was a certain bunny hero's contact information.

"Holy shit," Itsuka breathed out, shaking her head, "that's … wow."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, "now, uh - now read the message she sent."

Blinking and wrinkling her brow, Itsuka turned to see what the small blurb the Number Six Heroine left her. She knew that some of the pros who sent internship requests also sent a short message, either encouraging them to take their offer or giving them advice on what they could work on under their tutelage.

But what she saw briefly scribbled down in the box underneath Miruko's name made Itsuka raise her eyebrow again.

"'Your kicks are shit,'" She read out loud, "'come intern with me so that I can make sure they're less shit'."

"Ah," Ochako felt herself sweat a bit nervously, "so … that's … specific, but also not really specific."

"Yeah," Itsuka chortled, putting the paper down and looking around at both of them, "it kinda sounds like I'm getting a request from Bakugou. All that's missing is the degenerative 'Ginger' every other word."

"Well …" Izuku winced a bit, shaking his head, "… I … wouldn't exactly say that. Sure, Miruko's - she's reported to be someone who loves getting into fights, and … you know, not really do any rescue missions … or be … very friendly. Honestly, I'm shocked that she sent you a request - usually, she's reported to prefer operating alone."

"Ah," Ochako nodded slowly, "so Bakugou, but a grown ass woman."

"But she is considered the best hand-to-hand combat hero in Japan," He still pointed out, "she's up there with All Might - hell, I think she's reported to be even better in a fist fight than Endeavor."

"And …" Itsuka tilted her head as she thought, "… as I'm someone who also tends to get into fist fights, she's someone who would know her stuff that I can learn things from."

"I don't think there's another hero that has a win-ratio as Miruko," Izuku nodded, "besides All Might and Endeavor, of course. Sure, she's - she's got a bit of an attitude problem, but she's also good at what she does."

"Well," Itsuka sighed, sitting back and putting the paper down on the table, "as Bakugou-sounding as she seems to be … I can't deny someone who could teach me some new moves. I mean, I already know how to fight, but I'll admit that a lot of my martial arts are based around my hands and punches."

"And she's a kicker," Ochako pointed out.

"Exactly. As much as I might not want to deal with someone who acts like Bakugou, I can't exactly deny that I could learn something from her."

"Right," Ochako nodded, leaning forward as well, "so …"

"So," Itsuka shook her head and grinned nervously, "I guess it would be stupid to turn down an internship offer from the Number Six Hero. I'll give my internship request to Aizawa-sensei tomorrow."

Nodding, she got up, moving around Gūdo and trying not to step on him as she headed into the kitchen. After grabbing their drinks from the fridge, she came back and handed them to her partners, all three of them sighing and taking drinks before Itsuka put it down on the table and looked around at both of them.

"So," She sighed, "I'm probably going to be interning with Miruko. Ochako, you're gonna be interning with … uh … your mom. And Izuku, you'll be interning with Ryukyu."

"Mm-hm," Izuku slowly nodded, putting his own soda can beside hers while Ochako took another sip, "with Hadou."

Both girls nodded - Izuku had, of course, told them about Nejire talking to him about Ryukyu sending her a request as well when they had been walking to the train station, so they were well aware that their blue-haired friend was going to be working with him for the internship week.

"So," Itsuka smiled a bit sadly, "it kinda sounds like the three of us are gonna be pretty lonely for about a week or so."

Both Izuku and Ochako sighed, looking unhappy about that fact - it was true, with them having three different internships, they'd have to go an entire week without seeing each other. Still, Itsuka reached out to gently take both their hands, interlocking their fingers, and they both looked around as she smiled at both of them.

"So, uh …" She felt her cheeks turn a bit red, "… in this case, I - I have a question for you both. Do you remember what I was saying about having to move to Heights Alliance this Saturday?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking surprised.

"You weren't listening, Deku, you were going over her internship offers. Just go with it for now and I'll explain later."

"Er - right. Sorry."

"It's all good," Itsuka giggled, "anyway, uh - I'm … well, I'm allowed to pick my own roommates."

Both Izuku and Ochako went quiet at that.

"And since … you know …" She licked her lips, " … Set and Yui are probably no-go's, and Kirishima's already living with a few other guys … and it sounds like the other girls are trying to organize their own houses …"

They were all quiet for a moment as Itsuka hesitated - and then she let out a laugh and shook her head.

"Oh, who am I kidding?" She looked between them both with a grin. "You both know what I'm gonna ask. And, uh - you'll probably say yes, won't you?"

"I …" Ochako paused for a moment, and then she giggled as well, "… well, yeah."

"Y-yeah," Izuku chuckled, "we - we do."

"So," Itsuka smiled at them both, "you two are living with me and Eri?"

At once, both her partners nodded, smiling happily back at her. With a joyful giggle, Itsuka leaned over to kiss Izuku's lips, and then she turned to give Ochako her own kiss.

The three of them paused for a moment as Itsuka moved back from Ochako, her eyes slowly opening and glancing between both of them as they all went suddenly still - aware of their hands still intertwined, and how close they all were on the couch. Gūdo, who was still napping beneath their feet, let out a small groan as he flopped down on his side, unaware of the silence between the three of them.

And then Itsuka grinned.

"So," She smirked coyly, "is it time to get to the … uh … kissy parts of this date?"

Izuku and Ochako audibly gulped at the alluring tone in her voice, but still nodded rapidly all the same. Feeling herself smirk a bit, Itsuka let out a tired groan as she carefully got up from the couch, stretching briefly - and then a mischievous idea came to her mind. Smirking, and feeling her cheeks turn red, she turned back around to look down at both of her partners for a moment -

- and then she said, "So just to make it clear - the bra stays on."

Both of them blinked a bit in confusion, but their questions died in their throats as Itsuka suddenly grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt, and began pulling it up.

Izuku made a sound similar to a frog croaking while Ochako felt her jaw drop, and they stared up as Itsuka pulled the t-shirt over her head, showing off her hard stomach, and the nice black sports bra that she was wearing underneath. Finally getting it over her head, Itsuka tossed the shirt aimlessly behind her shoulder, continuing to smirk coyly down at both of them

"Holy shit," Izuku muttered, face bright red.

Ochako audibly gulped, her eyes staying on Itsuka's chiseled arms.

Snorting a bit at that last comment, Itsuka still her hands down so that she could scoot the two of them closer. Gūdo grumbled and moved out from under their feet to find someplace quieter to nap, and soon, both Izuku and Ochako were pressed firmly side by side, both of them going redder as they were pressed so tightly together they wouldn't be able to move at all. Once she was content with how close they were, Itsuka let out a long sigh as she spread her legs – and then she moved back onto the couch, this time with one leg laying over Izuku's, and the other over Ochako's.

It wasn't entirely comfortable, and there was a bit of a strain, but the looks on both Izuku and Ochako's faces as they realized what she was doing made it all worth it, causing her to smirk even more as she leaned forward, and Izuku gulped as her chest pushed just under his chin, while Ochako began to tremble as their girlfriend straddled them both at the same time.

"So," Itsuka giggled playfully, "you got me on your laps. Now what?"

Both Izuku and Ochako paused, glancing at each other - and then Ochako asked, "What's the rules on hickeys?"

"Nothing in an obvious place."

"A-and butt grabs?" Izuku sweated nervously.

"All yours, baby."

"And boobie grabs?"

"Perv," Itsuka chortled at Ochako's pouting, "but … yes."

Both Izuku and Ochako gulped - and then at once, they grabbed a laughing Itsuka by the back and pushed her down on top of both of them. Itsuka let out a loud giggle as Izuku grabbed the back of her head, her mouth opening as it approached his and Ochako's mouth hovered over her neck -

- and then they all heard it.

The distant sound of knocking on the downstairs door.

At once, the three of them froze, their eyes snapping open. They stayed like that for a long moment, Itsuka's eye beginning to twitch, until she let out a low growl, and slowly, she put her hands down on the chests of both her partners to slowly get up, Izuku and Ochako missing the weight of her on top of them, and slowly looked around for her shirt.

"Excuse me," She said through gritted teeth, "I'm going to go see who that is and then kick their ass."

Izuku and Ochako gulped a bit, feeling disappointed as they saw Itsuka march over to grab her abandoned t-shirt and put it back on, but they knew better than to interrupt their girlfriend as she blindly got dressed again and then march out of the living room, both of them glancing at each other but choosing not to say anything as Itsuka began marching downstairs.

Once she was down on the ground floor, she quickly realized that the knocking was coming from within the dojo, which meant that there was someone obviously thinking that her grandpa was holding lessons tonight. Grumbling lowly under her breath, she marched inside, her footsteps echoing on the hardwood floor as she approached whoever was rhythmically and loudly knocking.

"I'm sorry," She called to the paper door, and whoever's shadow was standing there, "but the dojo is closed for tonight. Sensei Kendou is currently -"

And then, as she approached the door, a beaming face suddenly pushed through the wall, grinning widely at her.

"Hey there, Sensei Kendou!"

"Gak!" She squeaked in surprise and terror, slipping backwards and tumbling to the floor with a grunt.

"Oops!" The face blinked, eyes going wide, and then suddenly, he pulled back and the face vanished through the wall. After a moment, the dojo's door slid open, and Itsuka looked up to see Mirio standing there, grimacing awkwardly as he flashed her the peace sigh.

"Uh … hey there, Kendou!" He looked sheepish, stepping into the dojo and quickly lowering a hand to help her up. "Sorry about that, I thought I'd make a joke and surprise you! But, uh - well, I'm still working on my comedy."

"Er - t-that's fine, Togata-senpai," She winced, taking his hand and grunting as he pulled her back to her feet, but gave her senpai a surprised look, "but - but what are you doing here? H-how do you know where I live?"

"Well …" Mirio chuckled weakly, moving to look back at the door - and then, as though waiting for the cue, the door slid open, and the second man standing there looked inside.

And at the pair of yellow eyes looking into hers, Itsuka felt her back stiffen and her eyes go wide.

"Good evening, Kendou," Nighteye nodded as he stepped inside, sliding the door shut behind him, "I was hoping that you were still home. We were in the neighborhood, and I wanted to talk to you."

"N-Nighteye?" Itsuka glanced back at Mirio, seeing him standing there grinning at her in his school uniform, and then back to the pro hero standing before her in his hero costume. "I - but - what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I wanted to swing by!" Mirio explained to her, moving away from her and grinning at the dojo around him as he put his hands on his hips. "There was something that I wanted to talk to you about, and since I was out with Sir, he agreed to show me where you live. Man, this place looks cool! I should probably come check it out when it's open, I bet it's really cool to see everyone doing kung fu fighting!"

"I -" Itsuka hesitated, and then let out a small sigh as Nighteye slowly moved to stay near the wall, and she turned her attention over to Mirio. "- I'm really sorry, senpai, but we are closed. I'm - is it possible for us to talk at school tomorrow? I'm kinda - I'm kinda busy."

"Oh, that's fine," Mirio chuckled, "it won't take long."

"I - okay, seriously -"

"And I mean," His voice suddenly turned light, "I don't think you wanna talk to me about One for All at school tomorrow."

And that was when the dojo filled with silence.

Itsuka, for her part, froze, staring blankly at her senpai as he slowly turned to look at her. There was still a smile on his face, but his blue eyes had suddenly turned serious, making him look oddly sinister. Nighteye, for his part, frowned and leaned against the wall, staying silent as the two students observed each other."

"Yeah," Mirio nodded slowly, "Sir let me know everything. About All Might's quirk, about how I was supposed to get it, how … you have it now."

"I …" Itsuka swallowed a bit, feeling as though she had suddenly gotten trapped, "… I … I don't know -"

"Yeah, no need to play dumb," Mirio laughed, "it's not like you, Kendou. You're a smart person, and I acknowledge I can be pretty dumb - but seeing as you were using two quirks during the sports festival, I kinda put the pieces together. And Sir explained everything to me - how I was supposed to get One for All, until All Might made a mistake … and chose you."

He then turned back to Itsuka, who was still sweating nervously but her face tightened at that veiled insult, and his grin widened as he lifted his hand up to her, as though he were requesting she hand him something.

"Now," He smirked, "I'm gonna give you a choice, Kendou. You're either gonna give One for All to me right now … or I'm gonna take it from you."