I almost felt bad about setting up a date in front of the guy I'd kissed only a few hours beforehand, and then I remembered how many of his handprints were burned onto my skin, and I suddenly I didn't feel so bad.
"Jesus, I'm an idiot. I don't know anything about dating girls. Not unless you count the stuff from those shows my mom watches. Even then, a lot of that is just what not to do." It was stupid, I was nervous, I didn't have any ideas on how to deal with this, but at the same time, I didn't regret it.
"Any ideas?" I asked Bakugou, who shrugged.
"You're on your own on this one." He told me, leaving me with the feeling that Bakugou had been on as many dates as I had.
I texted Mina, wondering why she'd hang out with me. I wasn't the most handsome guy, I wasn't the most ripped, and I wasn't the smartest. The thought flashed that she might actually like me for me, and I felt happy and warm with that thought.
We texted until later than I'd normally be awake, making plans, sending funny pictures, and just talking. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep with a smile.
The next day, we voted for class president, and for whatever reason, I ended up getting the position of Class President while Yaoyorozu was Vice President.
"Huh? Why? I haven't led anything since i was like eleven, and even then, that was a line for All Might merch." I told them, confused about the process. I'd voted for Iida, but it looked like I was the only one who did.
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Midoriya. Just roll with it." Kirishima called, and I took my seat.
"Yep. Rolling with things. That's me." I mumbled, setting my head down and sighing.
Lunch felt like it came much quicker than usual, our normal lessons much more fun. Maybe it was having heroes for teachers, but I had never been so active in a classroom.
As we ate, the only thing anyone wanted to talk about was the results of our election until an alarm went off, a third year telling us that it meant someone was in the building.
Everyone was running, blocking the exit. They were going to trample someone. Someone could get hurt.
"Make me float." I told Uraraka, our hands briefly touching before I maneuvered awkwardly up to the top of the exit sign, barely holding onto a pipe before screaming at the top of my lungs.
"Everyone! Everything is okay! It's just the press! Start acting like you have brains in your heads, and behave like you're people and not baboons!"
It calmed the crowd who managed to evacuate and let the police shoo away the reporters who'd managed to make it onto campus, everyone going back to their homeroom classes.
"I'm confident now that my vote did not go to waste." Yaoyorozu told me as I rubbed my neck awkwardly.
"Well, juries still out on how I feel about it, but your words are very humbling. I'll do my best to be a good class president." I promised, but I wondered still about who else had enough faith in me to vote for me.
The next couple of days were a blur of books and hero coursework, but I could keep up pretty easily. After all, I'd spent years researching every aspect of heroism, so my main worry was my regular school work, but even I needed a day to rest my brain which left my brain working harder than ever as I tried to figure out what I was doing for this hangout/date. I mean, it was a date, right? She'd kissed my cheek. But then again, it could have been strictly a friendly thing.
"God, I'd pay good money to know what people were thinking. No more guessing around girls." I grumbled, picking out a nice pair of shorts and a plain t-shirt. Between that and my red shoes, I didn't look too bad.
"Okay, Izuku, you got this. You got this." I mumbled, standing in front of the mirror and looking at my hair. I'd tried so hard to slick it back, but it just refused. Making it slightly neat seemed impossible.
"Uh oh, I know that look. Your father had the same look every single time he'd come and pick me up for a date." My mom told me, watching me look at myself, an unknown feeling in my stomach.
"Oh honey, whoever it is, they wouldn't have agreed to meet with you unless they already liked the way you looked. Don't think too much into it, okay?" She told me, patting my cheek lovingly.
"You're surprisingly calm about me not mentioning that I'm going on a date." I told her, finally tearing my eyes from the mirror.
"You need me to be calm right now. Now, when's your date?" She asked, getting a stool.
"Three. I'm meeting a girl at the arcade." I told her, glancing at my phone. It wasn't yet one, and I'd already gotten as ready as I could. Yep. That was me, a chronic overthinker.
"Let me show you a trick that I learned taming your fathers hair for our wedding." She told me, a basket of hair supplies in her hand, my mother spending the next half hour fighting back the waves of curls until my curls laid neatly on me head, showing them off while looking nice.
"You're a genius." I told her, touching my locks gently with a small smile.
"No, I'm a mother." She told me, and I could see pride on her face.
"Same thing." I replied, hugging my mom, muttering softly. "Thank you."
Two thirty came faster than I wanted, waving goodbye to my mom before heading out to the arcade early. It gave me time to gather myself before I got a glimpse of Ashido in the crowd, and I felt a goofy grin sneak up on my face.
She was wearing loose-fitting black pants and a long sleeve shirt with the word "acid" on it in English.
"Wow, you clean up nice Izu-kun." She teased, winking with a large grin on her face.
"My mom helped me." I told her, feeling my face heat up. We'd met up ten seconds ago, and I already brought up my mom? God, I felt stupid.
She didn't think it was too weird. "Aw, that's so sweet. My parents have completely different hair than me or my brother. In fact, my dad's never had hair before." She told me all about her family, the two of us walking around the city for a little bit. I'd scheduled the bulk of our meet-up for four, and we'd make it with time to relax and see the local shops.
"I know this is a dumb question, but is this like a friend hangout or a date? I mean, you kissed my cheek, and we've been texting like crazy, so I just want to make sure I'm not misinterpreting anything." I told her, my face redder than I could ever remember.
"Well, I thought it was a date, but if you want to, we can just call it a hango-" and this time it my turn to interrupt her, leaning over and kissing her cheek.
"Definitely a date." I told her, feeling my heart bearing like crazy. It was one thing when a girl kissed a boy. I hoped she'd didn't think I was some pervert.
"Works for me." She replied, but it was like she had no air in her lungs.
"Cool." Was all I could say, my face hot, but I didn't feel embarrassed, just elatated that this was happening.
We window shopped around, and I could see her admiring a pink and black tiger stripped jacket.
"You got unique taste. Not bad, just different." I told her, looking at the jacket. I didn't, and still don't understand fashion.
She turned, getting too close for comfort, but I didn't want her to move either. "I keep telling you that like weird and different."
Slowly, I nodded, and she pulled away, thoroughly pleased with herself for making my brain feel fuzzy, looking back to the jacket while I looked at her, that stupid smile back.
An alarm went off on my phone, and I snapped back to reality.
"We should get going. They close at six, we don't want to be late." I muttered, turning off the alarm.
"Come on, Izu-kun, you're in no shape to be taking the lead." She told me, grinning and taking my hand, my brain going back on vacation while she led us to the aquarium, and I pulled up my phone to scan us in.
"See? Don't think for a little bit. Trust me, it's more fun." She whispered, the two of us going from exhibit to exhibit, mostly the ones she liked best, but I stopped by the koi pond, taking in their beauty. They weren't so bad when they weren't trying to eat my notebooks.
She seemed to especially like the colorful fish, stopping by a tank of them to take a picture of them, and then a selfie of the two of us.
I was confused until I saw that one pink and one green one were swimming peacefully next to one another. The universe really liked giving me symbolism, it seemed. Not that I was particularly upset. I was just happy Ashido seemed to like me.
She seemed to really like the seal, too, but I couldn't think of a single person who'd hate seeing one.
"You know, this is nice. Usually, learning kind of makes me board, but I don't mind so much when I'm leaning with you." She told me, reading the sign next to the seal exhibit.
"Well, normally, I'd stop to read every sign and do more research when I go home. But I just like being around you." I told her, leaning against the wall and watching her.
"Ooh, we bring out good things in each other?" She teased, finally looking up.
"You make my brain go all fuzzy until I forget how to talk sometimes, but I like when you do it."
"I know."
She took my hand again, past all the exhibits
and cool fish we'd already seen and through the gift shop, back out to the front of the aquarium.
"Ashido, where are we going?" I asked, and she turned her head to look at me.
"We're literally on a date. Call me Mina." She told me aa the two of us walked slowly through the streets, finally coming up upon the train station, standing there silently for a moment.
"I had a good time today. Thank you, Izuku."
I liked the way she said my name. It made me feel warm.
"This was great. Time passed so quickly, but that's okay. We can always do this again sometime. I mean, If you'd like to." My reply was learned, read off the internet, but I meant it too.
"So you're already asking me out on another date?" She pretended to think about it, stroking her chin like she had a beard. "Well, normally, I'd say no, but you're cute, so i guess i don't mind." Her train pulled into the station, and she let go of my hand.
"Oh, before I forget." She turned, kissing me, just for a second, but it felt like forever, I didn't want it to stop.
"See you tomorrow, Izu-kun." She waved, getting on the train, and I think I waved back, but no matter how much I tried to say goodbye, it came out as incoherent babbling. She liked me enough to kiss me, and I was so lost in my own world that It wasn't until the train whistled that I finally managed to put myself together enough to go home, still in a daze when I walked through the door.