A/N: So I upload on AO3 as well and they got ahead of you so there's going to be a few updates in one day to catch up, so enjoy!

**I do not own these characters or the world, that belongs to our lovely author of MHA, Kohei Horikoshi. Also, cover art was a commission by me from the artist Krumbs. Follow them on if you'd like! They are extremely talented!

Nineteen
Press X To Doubt

Mineta leaned casually against the door to the boy's bathroom, his gaze occasionally darting up toward the clock in the hall overlooking the toilets. The clock was ticking and he'd only have so much more time to be away from class before someone started to wonder where he actually was or if he was actually sick. Ashido better hurry up.

Approximately five minutes earlier he'd asked Present Mic if he could be excused and had been granted leave, but no matter what excuse he'd provided the teacher if he was gone too long, well the teacher or someone would get suspicious. He and Ashido had exchanged quick text messages at the end of lunch agreeing to meet up to discuss their findings. Mineta was supposed to leave first and then Ashido was supposed to follow shortly later and they'd meet up at the boys bathroom—specifically the handicap toilet. He wanted to talk to her because there was so much to talk about.

He'd waited patiently all weekend to see Midoriya come back from his work studies so that he could witness any interaction between Uraraka and Midoriya and oh how that had paid off. Mineta had been rapt with attention from the moment he had first spotted the green haired boy that morning. He'd been acutely aware of Midoriya's constant looks over toward Uraraka's seat—who was mysteriously absent from morning classes due to what he assumed were lady troubles—his face knitted with worry. Of course, that had all been speculation and quite possibly he could be seeing things that weren't really there or seeing what he wanted to see…that was until lunch.

When lunch had started, Midoriya had taken off like a rocket in the opposite direction of the cafeteria. It had nearly inspired Mineta to follow him but when he'd spotted Todoroki hot on Midoriya's heels, he'd aborted and gone to the cafeteria. He'd thought that that would be it and that he'd not be able to see Midoriya anymore during lunch that is until the boy had shown back up just a few minutes later and wonder of wonders, Uraraka had also shown up.

Mineta had watched that entire interaction with laser focus. He'd been vindicated when he saw Midoriya practically fly from his seat and in Uraraka's direction. Sadly, he wasn't able to creep closer since he was surrounded by others who'd certainly inquire as to why he was intruding in on a conversation that clearly didn't involve him. That didn't stop him from keeping his eyes glued onto the couple though.

Uraraka had looked a little worse for the wear with a small bandage on her cheek and what looked like a healing black eye. Mineta had filed that away for further inquiry when Bakugo had abruptly inserted himself into the interaction between Midoriya and Uraraka. That had been surprising. Mineta had been so caught up in watching Deku and Uraraka that he'd missed the ashen blonde getting up at all, let alone crossing the cafeteria to talk to the two.

He had no idea what Bakugo was doing though it appeared as if he'd thrown a set of blue headphones at Uraraka—ones that looked suspiciously like Jiro's—and then left. It was an odd interaction but not one that Mineta wasn't too hung up on. He didn't care that Ashido thought that there was something going on between Bakugo and Uraraka, he knew otherwise. Bakugo entering Midoriya's and Uraraka's conversation was purely coincidental. Of that he was certain.

"Sorry, it took me a little bit to get out of class. Present Mic wasn't real keen on letting me go in the middle of his lecture," Ashido said, startling Mineta who'd been deeply lost in his inner thoughts.

"Whatever. Come on," he nodded toward the handicap toilet and gave a licentious smile. "Come into my office." He beckoned toward the door.

"You're disgusting," Ashido said with a wrinkled nose. Mineta rolled his eyes and pulled open the door, not bothering to leave it open for Ashido. A moment later she followed him in and locked the door behind them.

It was the only private restroom available at UA and one of the only handicap toilets. Mineta didn't use it too often, though sometimes if the call of adolescent nature summoned him, well he'd use it then. It really depended on the mood.

"This place is…gross," Ashido said looking around.

"Eh, it's not that bad," Mineta said softly as he pulled down the lid on the toilet and hopped up onto it. "It's a toilet like every other one."

As toilets went, it certainly wasn't great. There was old discarded toilet paper strewn about the floor, the trashcan was overflowing, there was a huge dingy looking puddle under the sink and behind the toilet, and there was the general stench of stool everywhere. There was some graffiti written in heavy ink that read, 'the big three suck dick'.

"It's gross," Ashido reiterated and crossed her arms over her chest, clearly disgusted by their surroundings.

"Whatever…so what'd you tell Mic to get out of class?" Mineta asked curiously.

"I told him I had a really bad period and that if he didn't let me go, I was going to get blood all over my skirt," Ashido replied casually.

"Nice," Mineta mused with a smirk. He almost wished he'd seen and heard that.

"You?" Ashido asked curiously.

"Oh, I told him I had a monster case of diarrhea and that I'd probably need to go to the nurse," Mineta said with a shrug.

"Ew," Ashido said with a cringe.

"What? It's a great excuse to get out of anything. Nobody wants you around if you're going to dookie in your pants," explained the pint sized pervert. "Besides, I've actually got a bit of IBS so sometimes I legit do need to go have an explosive dumper."

"TMI."

"Says you."

"Changing the subject," Ashido stressed and looked pointedly at Mineta.

"Okay, right to it, I like it…so," Mineta began as he clasped his hands together and crossed his legs, refining his posture. "Looks like I was right. Today's little scene at lunch just proved it."

"I don't know. Today's scene at lunch proved that my theory might beright?" Ashido countered, though the way she'd said it made it sound more like a question than statement.

Mineta snorted in annoyance. "Why? Because Bakugo showed up to talk to them? So what? Big deal. Did you not see Midoriya practically fly over the table to get to Uraraka? If that's not a sign of them being involved I don't know what it."

"Okay, I admit that did look a little suspicious, but Bakugo just inserting himself into their conversation is also weird," Ashido argued.

"Oh, I call big ball bullshit," Mineta rebuffed.

"Well there's more, more that you don't know!" Ashido countered.

Mineta raised an eyebrow and looked at the pink haired girl skeptically. "Oh really? And what would that be?"

Ashido took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if preparing to deliver a speech of great importance. "I saw them together this morning. Like together," she paused to wrinkle her nose at the raised eyebrows and open mouth stare Mineta was giving her, "not like that! I mean I saw Bakugo carrying Uraraka out of the dorm, well I assume it was his dorm, this morning before anybody was up."

"I call bigger bullshit on that," Mineta practically snapped in response.

"What? I did! I saw them!" Ashido said defensively.

For a moment Mineta was quiet, thinking. Ashido clearly felt some anxiety to reveal this information so he doubted that it was made up. She'd likely seen something, something involving those two but deep down Mineta felt convinced that Ashido had likely misinterpreted whatever she'd seen. There was no way that Uraraka and Bakugo were together. If he was stretching his imagination, he supposed he could possibly see Uraraka having some kind of crush on Bakugo, but even just that thought made him shiver. It was unlikely, in fact it was an impossibility. The more Mineta thought about it, the more he felt like it was hugely unlikely that Uraraka would have friendly feelings toward the fiery blonde. Possibly, Bakugo could feel something for her, but he doubted that nearly as much as Uraraka having feelings for Bakugo. Romance and Bakugo seemed like a contradiction. If Bakugo was anything it was, ick—he practically shuddered at even thinking the word—asexual. Uraraka was clearly hung up on Midoriya. It was that simple.

"Explain," Mineta instructed.

"Well, I was up and well, I uh…" Ashido suddenly looked uncomfortable as she began trying to explain what she'd seen. Mineta couldn't help picking up on that and wondering why she'd been up before everyone else and how she knew that Uraraka had been in Bakugo's room.

For her to be certain that Uraraka came from Bakugo's room, well she'd have to be on the boys side of the hall already. Hmmm…what was she up to this morning?

"Maybe the better questions is why were you up and how could you have seen the boy's side of the dorms?" Mineta asked in a deadly serious tone. The pink skinned girl blushed at his question.

"I was…er, okay! I had to uh, get a snack, so I'd been downstairs and when I came back up, I uh, I heard voices and so I raced back to my room. I kept hearing voices though so I cracked my door open and then Bakugo came by holding Uraraka like a bride in his arms. He came from the direction of his room, not hers. And the voices I'd heard when I was getting a snack most definitely came from his room." Ashido explained in a huff.

She was flustered, that much was obvious. So she didn't want to tell him exactly what she'd been doing, that was fine, he had plenty of his own suspicions about Mina Ashido's private time and this could just be one those times where he filled in the gaps himself. None of that mattered though. What mattered was what she'd seen. Or what she thought she saw.

"Okay…you were up in the morning doing totally not sus things and you spotted Bakugo carrying Uraraka out of the dorm. Was Uraraka awake? Were they talking? What did his face look like? What did her face look like? Was she holding onto him like a bride would? Was he whispering sweet nothings into her ear? Where were they going? What were they wearing?" Mineta asked seriously.

"Whoa! That was a lot of questions and I don't know the answer to half of them. I had the door open only a crack so I couldn't exactly see what expressions they were wearing. I have no idea what they were wearing, like how am I supposed to remember that? Especially when I only saw them for a few seconds," Ashido countered.

"It's an answer like that that has me doubting the validity of your reported observations," cooed Mineta, somehow sounding like a lawyer tearing apart a defendant's testimony.

"Excuse me!?" Ashido exclaimed incredulously, her golden eyes sparkling with anger.

"I'm just saying, it seems like a pretty shaky story to me and not exactly convincing in terms of you trying to make me believe that Bakugo has a thing for Uraraka or vice versa," Mineta said calmly.

"Well then what were they doing in his room and why would he carry her out?!" Ashido demanded angrily.

"No idea, but you saw her face at lunch. She'd clearly been smacked around and she wasn't here for morning classes. Clearly, she was at the infirmary. What would put her there? I can't imagine, can you?" Mineta asked in a leading way, his eyes piercing.

"What, are you saying that Bakugo, I don't know, blew up her face or something and then took her to the infirmary because he took it too far?" Ashido looked at Mineta with doubtful eyes.

"Hey, when I left that disgusting video that Yaoyorozu made us watch, they were sitting next to each other and—"

"They were sitting next to each other, or rather I think they'd both fallen asleep. And when I left, which was well after you, Bakugo was practically cuddled up to her…but him choosing to harm her just because he fell asleep on her doesn't seem like a Bakugo move. Like sure he's a dick and all, but I don't think he'd hurt…so maybe they were like I don't know, cuddling in his room together?" The longer she spoke the less conviction there was in her voice.

"Grasping at straws there, Pinky," Mineta said with confidence.

In all honesty, he'd barely looked at the two of them when he'd fled that horrible birthing video. He'd been just vaguely aware of the fact that Bakugo was seated next to Uraraka. Bakugo appeared to be asleep, but clearly in his own space, while Uraraka had had her eyes closed tight but not maybe not asleep? They'd not been touching and she had been awake, or he'd thought she'd been awake, when he left…but if Ashido left after he did, it was entirely possible that they'd changed positions or that Uraraka had also fallen asleep.

"I mean maybe I am, I don't know. I guess it does seem a little like a long shot. When I left, Uraraka was clearly asleep, and Bakugo was scooted closer to her. I don't know how long they stayed like that or what happened, but clearly between when I left and last saw them, they'd somehow managed to get to his room…and whatever happened there led to him carrying Uraraka to the infirmary. I assume Jiro was involved somehow too since she was missing this morning, plus it looked like Bakugo threw her headphones at Uraraka at lunch."

"I'm not doubting that they were there or what you saw…but maybe he woke up and got mad and in typical Bakugo fashion, took it too far and exploded her face but she's not Deku so she couldn't exactly take an explosion to the face as well as he does."

"Okay there's a lot wrong with what you just said. Number one, Uraraka would probably take one of his explosions to the face just as well as Midoriya does and number two, Bakugo would never unload a fully powered, actually dangerous explosion at Deku or Uraraka. Just like I said earlier, he wouldn't hurt her just because he fell asleep on her. I don't know what her injury came from, but I don't think it was him. And you're completely ignoring the fact that Jiro is involved in this somehow, so whatever happened to Uraraka extended to her as well and the theory of Bakugo hurting Uraraka because he fell asleep on her doesn't explain Jiro's involvement," pointed out the pinkette.

Mineta rolled his eyes. She was probably right about a lot of that but it still didn't change his mind that Bakugo and Uraraka was a pipe dream and not the real thing.

"Okay, I don't doubt that you saw them together and you've made valid points. You saw Bakugo carry Uraraka out of what might've been his dorm. We don't know why or what happened we just know that he carried her out this morning in a state of distress. Unless you heard them saying something that implies that there was more than Bakugo being a good samaritan, I just don't think that's enough to go on."

Ashido's eyes lit up suddenly. "What about what Mr. Aizawa said this morning? That little statement lends credence to Uraraka being in his dorm room, though it doesn't really explain the why. Maybe, maybe, if they've been having a secret love affair-like you suspect of Midoriya and Uraraka—and after watching that birth video Uraraka got really nervous about getting pregnant and they had like an argument this morning—"

"Wow. Did you take crazy pills this morning or what? Assuming any of that crap you just spouted off was real—aside from what Aizawa said—why would they be together in his room this morning if she was so terrified of getting pregnant? Wouldn't that just be adding insult to injury?" Mineta interrupted skeptically.

"Hey it's rude to interrupt! Anyway…she's stays over with him because she's real nervous about being pregnant and because they're together he convinces her to stay over because…well, I don't know," Ashido stopped and made a face when she saw the expression Mineta was giving her. "Hey don't look at me like that! I'm just spit balling here! It was probably a stupid theory, I know, but it sounded sort of plausible in my head."

Mineta simply stared at her, unsure whether he should laugh or shake his head in sympathy. He was grateful she'd stopped when she had because if he'd had to listen to anymore of such a laughable theory well, he might've started to lose brain his own personal sordid fantasies lacked that level of impossibility and fantastical thinking.

"So…everything you just said sounds like…like way far off from ever even happening. Like Seriously Ashido, do you really think that any of that could happen?" Mineta asked as he pinched his brow in consternation.

"I didn't even finish telling you that theory because of that look," Ashido paused to shove Mineta in annoyance before continuing, "yes, it's farfetched and probably not what happened but I felt that it was worth sharing. Next time I won't share my theories with you!" Pouted Ashido.

"I'd say that that theory of yours could be possible with anyone other than Bakugo. He's, just, he's…no," Mineta let out a breath and looked back at the golden eyed girl. "I'll admit that what you saw definitely sounds weird. Him carrying her bride style out of his room is weird for sure. Him butting into the conversation with Midoriya and Uraraka also looks suspicious, but in no way and in no reality or world, would I ever think that those two are having a hot and heavy affair that was the cause of him carrying her out of the dorm this morning. It also fails to explain why she was hurt."

Ashido looked deflated, her shoulders slumped, her eyes not meeting Mineta's. Mineta almost felt bad for not believing or letting her finish her insane theory, but there was no way that it had any basis. It was too farfetched to even be feasible.

"Well whatever, there still might be something going on between them…and as much as I hate to admit it, ugh, you might be right about Uraraka and Midoriya. Midoriya clearly cares about Uraraka. I'll agree with you that him reacting the way he did to her this afternoon, was, well it was a bit telling, but I'm not totally willing to rule out Bakugo and Uraraka," Ashido said softly.

He had to respect that she was still sticking with her original pairing; even if it was wrong.

"Okay, you can think that. I think that we both need to do some more research. We clearly don't know enough to make a determination. We can watch them more this week and you can talk more to Uraraka to get some insight, and we can meet up again to discuss our findings," Mineta suggested.

"Yeah, I guess—" she abruptly stopped and suddenly clapped her hands together and squeezed her eyes together in excitement. Mineta stared in confusion.

"Ashido?" He asked curiously.

"Wednesday is Valentines Day! We will know by then or at least the day after! Think about it, if either one of us are right, well something will happen by then, something that will be obvious if we are watching for it. It's the most romantic holiday and if there's been a thing going on for a while or if it's just starting, well that day would be the day for something. We will see something and then we will know!" Ashido exclaimed in excitement.

Mineta couldn't help but smile as well. She was right. Valentines was just the day after tomorrow and it would mean that something would probably happen. If it was Uraraka and Midoriya or Uraraka and Bakugo, well there'd be something that would tell either of them what was actually going on. If they were watching carefully for it, well he was certain that they'd catch something and then have a much clearer idea of what was going on.

"That's a great point Ashido. I think we should reconvene on Thursday after Valentines Day so that we can put more of l the pieces together," Mineta agreed with a smile.

"Yay!" Ashido said with a wide grin.

"Okay now, one of us like has to get back to class or for sure Present Mic is going to come find us and haha, wouldn't want him to think certain things about you and me, would you?" Mineta asked suggestively.

The smile dropped instantly from Ashido's face. "You're repulsive." She wrinkled her nose, turned on her heel, unlocked the bathroom door and then left.

Mineta was left sitting alone on the toilet seat with a smile. Well, that hadn't exactly gone like he thought it would, but they'd at least developed a plan, and hey, he got to spend at least ten minutes alone in a bathroom with that total hottie. Even if they'd not come up with a plan, it was still a win for that reason alone.

He rose from the toilet but then realized that that oh so often call of adolescence was on the horizon. Dammit, thinking about being alone with Ashido in a bathroom just did me in, he thought to himself with a sigh.

Best get to it, he thought to himself with a sly little smile. Mineta locked the bathroom door again and turned back toward the toilet.