How was everyone's holidays? I hope you've had an easy time going back to school/work. Have a chapter to ease the transition!

Izuku was just finishing restocking part of the giftshop when Mina nudged him. "Check out this unusual sight." She nodded towards Soos, who was looking strangely downcast, drawing circles on the desk with his finger. "I don't think I've ever seen him that down."

"That is unusual," Izuku agreed. For all the time they'd been in Gravity Falls, Soos had for the most part been a perpetual ray of sunshine. It was strange to see him so visibly down about something.

"It's, ah, not really a big surprise." They turned to see Ochako walking over, wincing. "You guys must not have seen it earlier, but Soos was trying to flirt with some girl and got put down. Badly." She frowned. "It was extra weird though. Usually, Soos is a lot better with people than that."

Now Mina eyes Soos with even more interest. "Flirting jitters, then. Plenty of people get them. Come on, we should go cheer him up!" She made her way over to their co-worker, and Izuku and Ochako followed behind.

As soon as Soos noticed them, he perked up a bit, masking his disappointment with a smile Izuku would've thought as genuine if he didn't know the man better. "Hey dudes, how can I help you?"

"Don't suppose you're having any girl issues lately?" Mina offered lightly. "We could help if you are." She gestured to the three of them, but mainly to herself and Ochako, which Izuku was perfectly fine with, considering his own lack of experience with dating.

Soos visibly sagged. "Guess you dudes saw that, huh? Yeah, my cousin Reggie is getting married soon, and my Abuela asked me to find someone to take to his engagement party. But I don't know the first thing about girls, or dating!"

Ochako patted Soos' shoulder sympathetically. "That's your first problem, Soos. You're a great guy, and a lot of fun to be around. Good people will naturally come to you. You've just gotta stop thinking of women as potential dates and start thinking about them as potential friends that you get to spend extra time with."

"Definitely," Izuku chimed in. "You should've seen me the first time I really talked to a girl. More than just simple sentences, I mean. You know, since I really wasn't talking to many kids my age since they wanted to avoid me because…" He trailed off, chuckling awkwardly. "A-Anyways, I was a stuttering mess the first time I really talked to a girl I found cute. It's super normal, you've just gotta get over that hurdle."

"Aww, you were stuttering over a crush?" Mina teased. "That's cute!"

"It's hard to imagine," Ochako said, hopefully oblivious to the warmth spreading in Izuku's cheeks as he realized what he was saying, and who he was saying it in front of. "I mean, you're so sweet and approachable, Deku."

…And now his face was totally super red. "Um, thanks!"

Mina's eyes shifted between Izuku and Ochako, a grin slowly forming on her face, before she turned back to the matter at hand. "Anyways, Soos, see! You're totally not alone in these feelings."

Thankfully, Soos seemed at least somewhat relieved. "That does make me feel better, knowing you felt the same way. I guess I just don't want to let my Abuela down. You guys know she raised me for as long as I can remember."

Izuku winced at that, because yeah, they knew all about Soos' lack of parents, and Izuku could completely understand not wanting to let down the most important family member in his life. "It's good to hear that cheered you up! But really, I don't think you need to worry so much. You've just gotta be you, and I'm sure you'll find someone. You're such a great guy."

"And even if you don't, going stag won't be awful," Ochako insisted. "We could even come along with you so you'll have friends, if that would make you feel better. Then your Abuela and cousin can see that you're successful and have a lot of good people around you who like you a lot."

Slowly, the stress seemed to fade from Soos' face, as he looked at the three heroes warmly. "Thanks dudes. You guys are the best." He wrung his hands. "I guess I'm still a little nervous about the whole thing though."

"Then let's spend some time taking your mind off of it," Mina suggested. "We can go to the arcade, or the mall, or that animatronic place, or wherever you want." Seeing Soos perk up at the idea, she grinned, bounced on the balls of her feet, and sprinted away. "I'll grab Shouto!"

"Okay! I'll tell Mr. Pines we're heading out." Soos walked over to their employer, looking much happier, and leaving Izuku and Ochako alone together.

There was a moment of silence, before Ochako spoke. "So, who was the girl you were so flustered over?" There was levity in her smile, but Izuku still wanted to melt into the floor. He sorely wished he could have Blendin's time machine back, if only to erase that part of the conversation.

"Um, funny story actually, haha…" Oh his face was so red, this was a disaster. "You know, um." She looked at him, confused, and Izuku buried his head in his hands. "It was kinda… you? I mean, you're very pretty and nice, and then you saved me from falling before the test, and then again at the entrance exam, and it took me a while to work up the courage to actually talk to you, so…"

"Oh." Ochako's voice sounded a little strangled. Izuku peered through his hands and wondered if he was imagining the blush on her face. "That's… wow, I don't think anyone's said that before. Um, I mean, you saved me too, in the exam! And you're super nice and smart… thanks?"

The two of them stood there for a moment, red-faced, in awful silence.

Ochako cleared her throat and smiled at him. "Wanna help Soos convince Stan to let us leave work early?"

Izuku took the olive branch. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

In the end, they decided to head to the mall, to get some cheap but fun food at the food court and play some fun games they had in some of the shops. The burden on Soos' shoulders seemed to lighten the longer they stayed, so Mina considered the trip a success.

She also kept an eye on Izuku and Ochako, because there definitely seemed to be some blushing going on there. It was absolutely adorable, and Mina quickly decided that was one pairing she'd be very happy to see.

"Don't you think they'd be cute together?" She whispered, nudging Shouto and motioning towards their fellow Mystery Crew members.

He blinked at them, as Izuku challenged Soos, frowning. "Aren't they too young for Soos?"

"Not with Soos, together! Come on, don't tell me you didn't see those red faces."

He shrugged. "I wasn't really paying attention to how red their faces were. Sorry."

"You're no fun." Mina mock-pouted, but straightened as the two separated from Soos to join them back at the table.

"Soos wants to go on that little train ride, but it's a one-person thing," Izuku explained, sitting down. "So, we can focus on lunch."

"Operation 'Cheer Soos Up' is turning out to be a big success," Ochako said happily, stealing one of Shouto's fries and biting off the end. "Do you guys hear him say when the engagement party's going to be? Hopefully it's soon, so we can keep our promise, and don't miss it."

"...Yeah. Right." Something churned in Mina's gut. For a few hours, she realized, she had forgotten they would be leaving as soon as they possibly could. That the less time they were stuck in this world, the better.

It was so silly. They hadn't even been here for two months, and she was already growing attached to the place, and everyone there. How had their lives changed so quickly?

There was a long stretch of silence that nobody seemed to want to break, all of them contemplating their quick agreement to attend Soos' cousin's wedding if he couldn't find a date, and just how much that meant they were settling into this world.

Everyone except for Shouto, apparently, who had noticed something else. "Guys. Soos is talking to a girl, and they look like they're having a lot of fun together."

Mina jerked up, looking at the little train ride. Sure enough, Soos was in deep conversation with a nice-looking lady who seemed to run a meat stand. Both of them looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. "Oh, this is great! Let's go-"

"No way!" Ochako grabbed her arm. "We've gotta wait until they're done talking. We shouldn't spoil the moment." As much as Mina wanted to meet the new mystery woman, she reluctantly agreed, sitting back down.

Eventually, the woman walked away, and Mina sprang out of her chair, jogging over, the other three following behind her. "Soos!"

Soos grinned at them, delighted. "Guys, I think I got a date! Her name is Melody, and she's super cool! Her stand is even called Meatcute, and that's adorable. And she thinks people of all ages can enjoy kids' stuff, and she likes Hoo Ha Owl's Jamboree!"

"She sounds amazing, Soos!" Mina encouraged. "Did you ask her to go with you to the party?"

Soos shrugged awkwardly. "Uh, not yet? I did invite her to Hoo Ha Owl's Jamboree though, and I guess that's sort of a date?"

"Sort of? It's definitely a date," Ochako confirmed. "That's probably good, not asking her to come right off the bat. You've got to wait a little bit, spend some time together first. And even if it doesn't work out as a date, you can still invite her along as a friend."

"Yeah, you're right," Soos agreed. "I just can't help but be nervous. What if our date goes badly? What if she decides she hates me?"

"From what you've said, she doesn't sound like the type," Shouto offered. "Not that I would really know. I'm probably the last person anyone should ask for dating advice." From the sound of his voice, he seemed a bit confused as to why he'd been dragged out here in the first place.

"We could go to the Jamboree place that same night? You know, for moral support," Izuku suggested. "I've never been there, it could be fun."

Soos smiled with relief. "Would you? Aw, thanks dudes, that would be great."

"We'll be there," Mina promised.

"You didn't tell me about the animatronics."

"Come on!" Mina huffed, dragging Shouto in by the arm. "They're not gonna bite. We're doing this for Soos, remember?"

"I remember the last time we had to deal with odd humanoid figures. They were wax sculptures, they were very creepy, and they tried to murder us."

"These aren't haunted statues though," Izuku pointed out. "They're newly made machines, they're not haunted."

Ochako was frowning, however. "Wasn't there that really old video game about murderous animatronics? Where they either thought you were supposed to be in a suit, or were possessed by ghost kids, or something?"

"Not all horror tropes are real." Even as Mina said it, there was a nervousness that was starting to form in Izuku's gut. He looked around, taking note of the different groups of families and friends that were occupying the restaurant and play space. It was pretty sparsely populated at the moment, although Izuku was pretty sure he saw Robbie in some corner of the restaurant.

One of the workers approached them. "Table for four?"

"Yes, please." They were seated close to Soos and Melody, with Izuku sitting next to Ochako. There was still a little rush of embarrassment when he thought about their earlier conversation, but he shoved it down. Ochako was a great friend now, and he wasn't going to let a small crush get in the way of that.

The night actually passed pretty peacefully, the four of them chatting and keeping an eye on Soos' date, which seemed to be going very well, although Shouto still edged away from any passing animatronics.

Then the lights shut out.

"A power outage?" Ochako wondered, her amulet glowing slightly to give them some light.

On the TV's in front of them, a pixilated girl with pink hair appeared, smiling down. "Hello Robbie!"

In the corner, Robbie jerked back, looking at the screen in abject horror.

"You aren't really rejecting me, are you?" The smiling AI continued. "You know real girls will always only break your heart. You should stay with me! R~!"

"Well, this got disturbing fast." Shouto leapt to his feet, turning to Soos and Melody as some of the other customers started to flee in confusion and terror. "Soos, Melody, you should continue somewhere else. We can handle this."

"Are you sure?" Soos asked, clearly hesitant to leave.

Melody blinked. "What's going on? Who is that figure on the screen?" In the corner of his vision, Izuku could see Robbie pointing at the screen and yelling something that only seemed to anger the digital girl more.

"Rogue AI, probably." Ochako offered. "Not the first time we've dealt with game characters coming to life."

"You know, you never told us what that was about," Mina noted lightly, pulling out her grappling hook.

"It was the incident that put that dent in the water tower." Without elaborating further, Shouto gestured towards the doors. "Seriously, we can handle this."

Finally, Soos nodded. "Alright. Let's find somewhere a bit safer to eat, yeah?"

Apparently giving up on understanding the situation, Melody shrugged. "Fine with me."

With that out of the way, the four ran over to Robbie's side. "What's going on?"

"None of your business!" It was a testament to how uncomfortable the older teenager was, that he caved after one sharp look from the Mystery Crew. "Okay, I bought a dating sim to help me get over Wendy. I didn't know Giffany would jump out of the game and stalk me in real life!"

"It's not stalking, Robbie." There was a burst of electricity, and suddenly the animatronics' eyes were lighting up red, and Giffany's voice was coming out of them. "You're my new boyfriend. I'm just making sure you don't go with some other girl. You promised we would be together forever, remember?"

"In the game!" Robbie protested feebly. "And I wasn't even flirting with Tambry-"

"DO NOT SPEAK HER NAME." Giffany lifted an animatronic arm, electrifying the other robots. "Capture Robbie."

"Oh no you don't!" Ochako lifted one of the robots in the air and smashed it against the wall. The rest of them were quick to follow, Izuku darting towards the owl robot and slicing it with his dagger like a knife through warm butter, taking its head off. Next to him, Mina shot her grappling hook at the gofer, before reeling it back and tearing it apart by doing so.

On the other side of him, another animatronic melted under the force of blue flames. "I really feel like "I told you so" is appropriate here," Shouto remarked. "You're never getting me in one of these places again."

"Yeah yeah, you can brag about it later." Mina rolled her eyes, dodging ball-pit and ball-toss balls that Giffany sent towards them at lightning speeds. "You okay, Robbie?"

Robbie looked at the mayhem surrounding him, obviously in a total panic. "What the hell is going on?"

"Yeah, sorry about the mess." An idea struck Izuku. "Hey, do you have the disc she came on? We could burn it, see if that would destroy her."

Giffany's robot body stiffened. "No, it wouldn't. Do not destroy that disc."

"You mean this one?" Robbie pulled a small disc out of his hoodie pocket. "Not sure why I brought it with me here, but sure. Maybe your fire friend can melt it."

Shouto winced. "Probably not the best idea. My fire can be chaotic. Something worse might happen."

"It's literally fire, how bad could it be?"

"It's not - whatever." Shouto shrugged and took the disc from Robbie's hands. "Anyone know where the pizza ovens in this place are?"

"I'll lead you there." The group followed Robbie, knocking, dodging, and slicing their way through the robots and projectiles that tried to block their path. "Here's the oven!"

"Come now, Robbie." Giffany said, approaching them. "Will this really change anything? You think any real girl would like you after this? Stay with me, Robbie. I won't reject you like Tambry. I won't abandon you like that heartless girl Wendy did."

At that, suddenly Robbie stiffened, and his eyes narrowed. "Don't talk about Wendy like that." With that, he slammed the disc in the still heated oven,

Giffany screamed, then her screams turned to static-filled shrieks, as the face of the animatronic she was possessing melted, and she slowly broke down, leaving the five of them staring at the absolute mess that was left of the Jamboree.

"Well…" Izuku hedged softly. "At least Soos' date went well?"

"You're serious?" Robbie snorted. "That fat weird man-child got a date, and all I got was a murderous dating sim?"

Mina glared at the other boy. "Insult Soos again and I'll shove you against the oven."

Robbie put his hands up, clearly intimidated. "Okay, okay! Geez."

Shouto rubbed his forehead. "Can we go home now? I want to get something better to eat. And also mention again about how I totally called it."

Ochako let out a little laugh. "Yeah, you totally did. Let's go home."

(Bonus:

"Stan? Why are you getting in a cab with that creepy golden statue?" Izuku asked nervously.

"Oh, Goldie saved my life from an evil badger robot, so we're going to Vegas together!" Stan insisted, grinning.

The four of them just stared at him blankly. "Oh. Okay. Please don't spend all our money."

"Don't worry about that!" And with that he was off.

"...He's gonna waste all our money," Mina guessed.

"It's all good, I hid most of his cash before he left," Ochako informed them. "Poker, anyone?")

I hope you all enjoyed, and please don't forget to review, let me know what you think!