**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!

A/N: So I've completely mapped out this story now. It will have 52 chapters with an epilogue and I am currently just starting chapter 47. Once I get to and complete chapter 50 I think I will more consistently update 3-4x a week since a large buffer between where you guys are and I am will no longer necessary. So enjoy this random end of the week update for now. Thanks for any and all reviews and follows. They're so nice to get. Have a great weekend!

Twenty-Nine
Do Snitches Get Stitches

Uraraka's frustration with her partner had only continued to grow since they'd been assigned to one another. Since that day, he'd hardly communicated with her about anything. To be fair, Bakugo had had to be gone for most of Tuesday for his work study but Uraraka had texted him multiple times to ask about what he wanted for their models of the uterus and testis and he subsequently ignored her. When he'd returned from his work studies on Wednesday, he'd largely ignored her again. She'd been extremely pressed for time on Wednesday since she had her own after school work studies that evening, not to mention her little stargazing date with Deku, that she'd really not even spoken to him.

By the time Thursday rolled around, Uraraka was feeling incredibly frustrated with Bakugo. She'd looked over the notes he'd given her and had committed most of them to heart, but didn't really know what he wanted for their essay or what his expectations were for their model. She'd tried to approach him at lunch but he again had steadfastly ignored her or shot her warning glares to stop. Uraraka had even gone so far as to try to approach Deku about it but he'd had his hands full with a difficult partner of his own. She wasn't sure who was a worse partner, Mineta or Bakugo.

Shortly before their lunch break had ended and she had made no further progress with Bakugo, Uraraka had decided she'd approach Mr. Aizawa. She wasn't really sure what she'd say to their teacher or what she really expected from it, but she felt hopelessly frustrated since this group project felt like it was going to be a colossal failure.

"I've tried to approach him multiple times, Mr. Aizawa, but he just acts like I'm not there. I almost wish that I could just do this project by myself," she'd admitted nervously to the always rough looking Mr. Aizawa.

Mr. Aizawa had looked at her with a neutral expression, no real emotion apparent on his face. "Uraraka this is a project that has been assigned as a group effort because of its awkward context. It mirrors some of the difficulty that you'll face in your career and in your personal life when undesirable team ups have to happen. Bakugo may not be your ideal partner but regardless of the difficulty this pairing brings you, you have to find a way to work through it."

"But I've tried everything! I just want his input, really, right now I feel like I'm working with nothing and when the project is due, he's just going to show up with an essay and expect me to present some extremely well-made model. How can I meet that expectation when I don't even know what his expectations are!?" Uraraka had asked, exasperated.

"If you can't find a way to work together or a middle ground, then perhaps being a hero isn't right for you. Awkward pairings happen in this line of work. Not that often, but inevitably you will be forced to team up with someone you don't get along with or someone you butt heads with. In those instances, you find a way to get through it and make it work to your advantage. If you can't find a way to come together on some a simple school project, well, perhaps you should reassess your aspirations."

Uraraka had almost felt like she'd been physically hit listening to Mr. Aizawa. It felt like a below the belt hit, but she knew that it was a true statement. She had to find a way to communicate with Bakugo that wasn't just him throwing his notes at her and telling her to memorize them.

As the school day drew to a close and that last hour in the day remained for their sex education lesson, Uraraka formulated plan after plan of getting Bakugo to work with her. She was so lost in those thoughts that when that last hour began, she was shocked speechless when it was just Mr. Aizawa at the head of the classroom telling them that they could use this hour to work on their projects. Mr. Aizawa reported that Recovery Girl had other things that she had to attend to today, so as her stand in he was going to have them work on their group projects. She had no idea if this was somehow Mr. Aizawa helping her or not, but whatever it was, she was going to take it.

The second he'd finished speaking, Uraraka was out of her desk and moving over toward the always annoyed looking Bakugo. He sat in his usual way, hands thrust into his pockets, leaned back in his chair, one foot up on his desk, the top few buttons of his shirt unbuttoned, jaw thrust out, face scowling. She didn't care about any of that however, and was solely focused on making as much progress as she could in the limited time she had a captive audience.

"Can I use your seat Jiro?" She'd asked her classmate who had been much more slow about moving from her desk over toward her partners.

"Sure, I was planning on going over toward Ida anyway," Jiro replied with a shrug and vacated her desk.

"Thank you!" Uraraka had said with a grateful bow. The moment Jiro had left her seat, Uraraka pushed the desk up against Bakugo's. She pushed it with enough force—intentional on her part—that it jarred Bakugo's precarious leaned back chair back to all four legs on the ground. His leg that had been resting up against his desk was knocked down rather abruptly.

"Hey! What the hell?!" He hissed at her and glared. Uraraka ignored his outburst and pulled out the notebook he'd given her earlier in the week and thrust it at him.

"Here's your notebook back. I read over all your notes and copied them. At least in terms of our assignment, I'm caught up to you," she said in a tone that begged no argument.

Another hiss, and possibly a small amount of steam as well, emitted from the ashen blonde, crimson eyes narrowed in petulance. "I doubt that." The words were practically a growl.

Uraraka refused to rise to his level of irritation. No, she was going to be the bigger person, the more mature person. She wasn't going to overreact and get angry and flustered. They were going to work together whether he liked it or not and if that meant that she had to be the level headed one, then so be it.

"I've also written some key points that I think would be useful in the essay we write," Uraraka explained and pulled out a piece of paper with clear and concise notes written on it. She'd spent quite a bit of time working on that outline and had in fact re-done it several times, fearful that if anything was misspelled or sloppy that Bakugo would reject it or criticize her for it.

As she handed the outline over toward Bakugo, he surprised her by snatching it out of her hand, glancing at it for less than five seconds, and then crumpling it up and dropping it on the floor. He turned his fiery gaze back toward her, gave a cruel smirk and said, "Don't bother. I've already written a rough draft that you can look at. I didn't write an ending. You can do that, since you want this to be done together." He surprised her further then by pulling out a sheet of paper with a fully fleshed out essay on it. Bakugo didn't bother handing it to her, he simply pulled it out and dropped it on the desk, a smug look on his face.

Uraraka glanced down at the paper he dropped and back up at him. She felt like her eye might start twitching at any moment in response to his obnoxiously smug little face. Without even intending to, her eyes narrowed and her mouth turned down ever so slightly. He was insufferable! She wanted to yell angrily at him or slap him or anything really…but that would be what he wanted or at least what he expected and she'd be dammed if she did anything he wanted or expected her to do.

"I'll look over this and add my own input to what you've already written then. I am also happy to write the conclusion," Uraraka said with a forced smile on the word 'happy'.

Bakugo looked at her with irritation and snorted. "Whatever." He turned his face away from her and proceeded in leaning back in his chair again. A small thrill of triumph ran through her at seeing his irritation at her response. She'd reacted in a way that he found displeasing which she found quite pleasing.

While he was still looking away, Uraraka pulled out her backpack and rummaged around in it for a few minutes before she found what she was looking for. Bakugo continued to look away and ignore her even as she pulled out two small packages of what looked like putty or clay. She dropped her backpack down to the floor and then put one package on her desk and the other on his. He did look over then, his gaze dropping to the package on his desk and raised his eyebrow in question.

"What the hell is that?" He asked irritably.

Uraraka didn't answer right away, instead she opened the package on her desk and pulled out the tan colored putty like substance. She squished it between her hands to demonstrate its malleability. "It's clay. We're going to make clay models. I brought you your own package. You can pick the uterus or the testis, I don't care."

Bakugo stared at the clay in her hand and frowned. "I told you I don't want to do that arts and crafts shit."

"And I told you that we'd do it together," she quipped back.

"I don't do arts and craft shit," he said, enunciating each word slowly as if that would make it easier for her to understand.

Resisting the urge to snap or raise her voice in anger, Uraraka replied, "Well today we are going to do it. It isn't even together because you're making one model and I'm making the other, but this is a team effort and you need to participate."

Bakugo stared at her incredulously. His eyes were narrowed and angry, his mouth turned down in a nasty frown. She boldly stared back at him, unwilling to back down, remembering Mr. Aizawa's words. She would make this work.

He continued to stare at her angrily, giving off heavy murder vibes that should've sent anyone in the nearby vicinity scurrying away. But Uraraka remained steadfast, meeting his angry glare with her own intense gaze of perseverance. They remained that way for several minutes, neither one willing to give up ground.

Finally, Bakugo huffed and sighed angrily. "Fine! We'll do it your way, but I'm making the uterus, you get to make a pair of saggy old man balls. And don't just roll together two circles and call it good. They better actually look like old man balls." After he'd said that he savagely tore into the package of clay on his desk and began to angrily mold it.

Uraraka stared in shock, completely surprised that he'd caved and had done what she wanted him to. She couldn't help but smile at her triumph. He was participating! He might've made things difficult by going off on his own and writing an essay outline by himself, but she could add to that so that it could be not just his but theirs, but he was actually participating in making the models! She wanted to shout with pleasure at her success but held that want in, knowing that if she gloated or came off as too pleased Bakugo would probably ignite into a fiery inferno.

For the rest of the class she was practically giddy with success as she molded the clay in her hands. One of her instructional books was open and she was trying to make the clay into something similar to what was in the book. She doubted that it'd probably live up to what Bakugo had called, 'saggy old man balls,' but she didn't care. If it looked like what was in the book he couldn't be that mad.

Just before their allotted time for sexual reproduction education was coming to a close, Bakugo thrust his wad of clay at Uraraka. She looked at his outthrust hand in surprise, unsure at first if he was just giving her back the clay or if he'd actually sculpted it into something.

"What's—" she began only to have Bakugo interrupt her.

"It's done. I've sculpted it. Take it and go bake it or something, whatever, I'm done," he snapped.

Uraraka gently took the little blob of clay from him and looked it over. It was roughly the same size and shape of an upside-down pear. She turned it over carefully in her hands and was shocked at some of the details that he'd sculpted into it. Bakugo had sculpted out a small portion in the center of the pear-shaped clay to represent the actual uterine cavity, with thicker layers of clay surrounding it representing the uterine lining. He'd even gone so far as to roll small elongated portions at the top to represent the fallopian tubes exiting into either side of the uterus. Perhaps what surprised her most however, was that he'd delicately sculpted out a small little pencil thin portion under the uterine cavity to demonstrate the cervix and the bottleneck of the cervix ending in the vagina. It was anatomically correct but well done for someone who she doubted had ever done any kind of sculpting…aside from playing with playdough or mud as a child.

"Wow Bakugo! This is really good!" She exclaimed and glanced over at him. He wasn't looking at her—as expected—and instead was staring moodily out the window. She realized that there was no book open on his desk meaning he'd sculpted the anatomically correct figure from memory. "You did this without any reference?! Wow!"

"Pfft, it's not like it's hard. Easy shape to remember and at a basic anatomy level the uterus is not complicated at all. If you did any reading at all you'd know that," he'd snapped in response. Of course he couldn't take her marveling at his work as a compliment or say thank you. Hell would have to freeze over for that kind of thing to happen.

"I did do the reading but I don't have it committed to memory, so really good job!" She said, ignoring his salty response.

He glanced briefly over at her desk and the pair of testicle shaped clay on her desk. Wrinkling his nose he said, "Add more wrinkles and you should cut out some of the clay on one side to represent the difference between the testis and the scrotum."

"Actually, I was going to just have one that just looked like your uh, what you asked for, the uh, old man ball, and the other one I was planning to just sculpt to just be a testicle. That way both are visible," she explained as she looked at the ball shaped wads of clay.

"Whatever," he huffed and looked away in annoyance.

"I can have Momo bake these," Uraraka mused mostly to herself. She was pretty sure that Momo would happily make her a small pottery kiln that she could use to bake the sculptures in.

"Yeah, if ponytail girl can stop batting her eyes at icy hot, I'm sure she'd help," Bakugo muttered under his breath with a devious glance in that direction.

"What—" Uraraka started when the bell rang, cutting her off.

"Finally. Later cheeks," Bakugo said with a shrug as he quickly gathered up his belongings to make a hasty exit.

Uraraka began gathering up her own things as she thought over Bakugo's previous statement. As she put her things in her bag she looked over toward where Todoroki and Momo had been. Todoroki was already half way out the door but Momo was slower to exit, still gathering her things. She remembered Ashido and Hagakure encouraging her to ask Todoroki out. Had she? Was there more to them than met the eye? Perhaps she'd have to have another girls night study session one of these days.

She finished putting her things away and started to leave the classroom, briefly noting that Bakugo had remained behind, apparently being stopped by Mr. Aizawa before he could leave. Uraraka filed that away for later contemplation and left the classroom.

"Hey Uraraka," came a soft and timid voice, surprising her.

Deku stood just outside the classroom, his cheeks slightly flushed, eyes shyly downcast. Had he waited for her? That thought sent a thrill of happiness through her belly. She couldn't help the smile that plastered itself on her face at the sight of him.

"Hey Deku!" She said cheerfully and stepped closer toward the shy eyed boy.

"Want to walk out together?" He asked quietly.

Heck yes I do! "Yeah, I'd like that!" She replied, practically beaming.

"Great! I mean, okay," Deku said a little too excitedly.

The two headed out of the school together. Uraraka felt painfully aware of how close they were as they walked. She desperately wanted to reach over and hold his hand but the fear of discovery prevented her carrying out that want. There were still others around that might see such an interaction and ask either of them questions that she knew she wasn't ready to answer.

After they'd collected their shoes and coats and put them on, they made their way outside of school. Just as they stepped through the door and to the outside, their fingers brushed. Uraraka looked at Deku, feeling a blush of her own come on. Their fingers were still touching and she was hard pressed to not entwine her fingers with his.

"Deku," she started, eyes wide as she looked at the boy that made her heart skip a beat.

"Uraraka," Deku murmured, his eyes on hers but also darting to her mouth.

She couldn't help but lean in toward him, knowing what his eyes on her mouth meant. Without even meaning to, her fingers encircled his.

Just as their hands entwined and Uraraka started to lean in and Deku's eyes began to flutter closed, the door behind them exploded open.

"URARAKA!"

Both Uraraka and Deku jumped away from the doors violently flying open. They looked in shock as Bakugo came storming out of the school, face enraged, hair extra spikey. Hot on his heels was Kirishima who appeared to be pulling at the just barely taller boy to slow his furious stampede out of the school. Clutched onto his shoulder in what also appeared to be an effort to slow him down, was poor little Mineta desperately tugging at his sleeve. A few of Mineta's popoff balls could be seen adhering to Bakugo's left calf with a few dotted behind him.

"Dude calm down! Just leave her be!" Kirishima pleaded, still desperately trying to hold the raging Bakugo back.

"Uraraka run! He's like a bull in heat—he can't be stopped!" Mineta shouted as Bakugo grabbed the pint sized boy and tossed him off of his shoulder as if he were nothing. Mineta landed a ways away, cushioned by a flurry of his sticky balls that he'd thrown in a mad attempt to soften his fall.

Uraraka and Deku had both bounced away from each other when the door had burst open so now there was a few feet of distance between them. Deku took a step toward the rampaging blonde, hands raised.

"Kacchan what's gotten into you? What's the matter?" Deku asked his voice soft and attempting to be soothing.

The soft tones of Deku's sensitive voice only seemed to further inflame Bakugo, however. He shot a poisonous glance at the green haired boy, his eyes murderous, his aura terrifying. Kirishima continued to tug in vain on his friend. His hands looked like hardened boulders, his quirk in play as he tried to mitigate Bakugo's fury.

"Get out of the way shitty Deku! She knows what she did! Narc on me to Aizawa, too much of a coward to come to my face, huh?! What the hell do you call the teamwork we did today?!" Shouted Bakugo angrily. He continued to storm forward and shrug off Kirishima's desperate attempts to slow him.

Uraraka remembered seeing Bakugo with Mr. Aizawa as she left. Was that what this was about? Mr. Aizawa had decided to do something about her complaint after all? He hadn't just decided to leave it in her hands and deal with it as he'd implied she should do and had intervened after all? Well, this was a disaster.

"Bakugo you need to calm down. I told Mr. Aizawa that I didn't know what to do since you never wanted to work with me but you did really good today! We made a great team—"

"SHUT UP! You still ratted on me to Aizawa and now I get lectured? I wrote that goddamn essay for you! I gave you my notes so you wouldn't struggle! I even used that stupid clay to do arts and crafts shit because you demanded it and this is the thanks I get?!" He had at last successfully managed to shrug Kirishima off. Nothing stood between he and the focus of his rage now.

"Kacchan calm down! I'm sure Uraraka just wanted a partner that would work with her," Deku began as he hopped into the path between Bakugo and Uraraka.

"Outta the way nerd! This is between me and her," Bakugo spat and aggressively shoved the unprepared Deku out of the way with a yelp.

Uraraka watched the scene unfold, it somehow becoming like a slow-motion dance as the raging boy pushed Deku aside and stormed up to her. She anticipated him reaching out to grab her and stepped forward to use her signature Gunhead martial arts maneuver on him. He surprised her though, by grabbing hold of the scarf around her neck instead of actually snagging hold of her shoulders or torso. She was violently tugged toward him as he yanked on her scarf with one hand, the other hand raised up behind him palm open and the first few sounds of crackling beginning to form as he prepared to launch an explosion at her.

"Bakugo stop!" Kirishima yelled from behind them.

"Chill out Bakugo! Leave her alone!" Shouted Mineta from Kirishima's side.

Uraraka took hold of the arm that was grabbing her scarf, adjusting to this position and still preparing to flip him before he could explode her.

"Gunhead martial arts!" She called out as she stepped into Bakugo, putting her weight against him as she prepared to use her momentum and weight to flip him. She just hoped it was fast enough to get him before he could launch an explosion at her.

Just as she began to pull him toward her though, something warm and wet suddenly wrapped itself around her middle and yanked her backwards causing her to lose her hold on Bakugo's arm. At the same time, a black tendril of energy had appeared out of nowhere and had wrapped around Bakugo's torso. This pulled him back as well as dislodged his grip on her scarf. Uraraka realized that a second tendril of dark energy had also entwined itself around Bakugo's hand that was raised and ready to strike, pulling it down forcefully, closing his palm and diminishing any ability to lob an explosion.

A split second later and she was several meters away from where she'd been just a moment before, Tsu at her side. The warm and wet thing wrapped around her waist released and Uraraka put two and two together that it had been Tsu who had pulled her out of Bakugo's fiery grip.

What was equally as surprising, was Deku behind Bakugo, black whip fully extended and reeling in the fiery blonde. The lines of dark energy extending from Deku's right hand were strong and solid but were swiftly starting to grow fuzzy and waver as if they would diminish at any moment.

"Deku! Let me go! FUCKING LET ME GO!" Bakugo shouted angrily, the hand that wasn't contained by black whip now open fisted and sparking with fire. The lines of dark energy containing the volatile blonde were beginning to waver and falter, Deku's ability to maintain control limited.

"Kacchan calm down please!" Deku pleaded though not yet releasing black whip.

"LET GO DAMMIT!" Roared Bakugo as he successfully fought against black whip until the dark energy had dissipated to barely a whisp and Bakugo broke free with a triumphant holler. He spun around to face Deku who was frighteningly close to him, both palms open, crackles popping off them as sparks flew. "IT'S YOUR TURN NOW NERD!"

"Kacchan please! This isn't necessary!" Deku begged though Uraraka could plainly see the beginnings of green electric like energy begin to form on him. He was preparing to stand his ground against his childhood friend.

"That's enough!" A stern and angry voice boomed from the doorway to the school. All eyes shifted in that direction to see Mr. Aizawa standing there, hair on end, eyes glowing red. A moment later and the binding cloth was in their teachers' dexterous hands, one end wrapping effortlessly around Bakugo and securing him in place.

"I'm so glad you're here!" Mineta practically wept and clung to their teachers' feet.

"This is no way for UA students to behave. Bakugo, I spoke to you because I've seen how poor of a team member you've been to Uraraka and I know how capable you are of good teamwork. Your performance with your peers against class 1-B was outstanding. I approached you because I expect you to bring that same level of excellence that I've come to expect from you to your schoolwork as well. She may have spoken to me about it but I was the one who chose to talk to you based on what I've seen not what she told me. All of you may think I don't pay attention during Recovery Girl's lessons, but I assure you I know all that goes on amongst you," Aizawa said seriously, his eyes narrowed.

Everyone shifted rather uncomfortably at his last words. Uraraka felt a blush rise to her cheeks. She thought she could see Deku blushing as well and oddly enough, she saw Kirishima turn a dark shade of scarlet. Why was he so embarrassed?

Boldly she took a step forward and lowered in a bow of apology. "Mr. Aizawa I am sorry I brought this to you before trying harder to find equal footing with Bakugo," she paused and turned and bowed in apology toward the angry blonde, "Bakugo I am sorry that I wasn't more direct with you. I felt very frustrated that you wouldn't talk to me about our group assignment, but I should have tried harder to get through to you before bringing it to Mr. Aizawa."

"I appreciate the apology, Uraraka. However, this is still unacceptable behavior for UA students. Bakugo you know better than to use your quirk outside of work studies and training. That goes for you too, Midoriya, and Asui. I know you were trying to defuse the situation but it is still using your quirks in an unsanctioned setting. That goes for you too Mineta," Aizawa said as he finally blinked, his hair falling back to his shoulders. He released the binding cloth around Bakugo a moment later.

Despite what was likely a remainder of furious energy still built up in him, Bakugo did not shout or maneuver to strike out again. Instead, he simply dropped both his hands to his sides and glared at everyone.

"I'm dismissing you all back to your dormitory at once. If I catch anyone using their quirks in an unsupervised manner, you'll face far worse consequences than house arrest," Aizawa threatened. With one last narrowed glance at everyone he then turned and walked back into the school.

An unpleasant silence settled amongst the students. Bakugo huffed and then began trudging his way toward the class 1-A dormitory.

"Kacchan, wait, I'm sorry about having to use black wh—" Deku began only to have Bakugo sharply turn back to face him with angry eyes.

"Can it nerd. I expect you to bring that level of black whip to tonight when we work with All Might! After your little display of power and control, I've realized that I'm just not providing the right motivation for you with black whip. So tonight, expect to die in a supervised setting!" Bakugo snapped, practically growling before turning away and continuing toward the dorms. Deku stood where he was, clearly somewhat deflated.

"Are you okay, ribbit?" Tsu asked quietly beside Uraraka. Uraraka looked at her friend and saw the concern in her face and felt a stab of guilt. Was this all her fault? She'd tried her best with Bakugo but he'd been resistant until today when he'd been forced to work with her. Should she just have patiently waited until class today? Could this all have been avoided?

"Yeah, sorry if I made you worry Tsu," she apologized softly and dropped her eyes apologetically.

"It's okay Ochako. I'm just glad I was around to grab you and that Deku used black whip so well to control Bakugo…even if it was short lived ribbit," croaked her amphibian like friend.

"That was pretty intense, but uh, great job with black whip Midoriya! I hadn't seen it in action. I think that's some pretty good control!" Congratulated Kirishima who gave Deku a pat on the back.

"I'm just gonna say it, I think that dark tentacle stuff is gross, reminds me of some weird por-uh stuff I've read…but yeah, good job getting Bakugo under control, just work on maintaining it because he was ready to blow up your face if Aizawa hadn't interrupted," Mineta added critically.

"Thank you. I just wish Kacchan hadn't gotten so angry," Deku murmured softly as he looked down at his hand.

"Don't sweat it. If he doesn't have like one blow up a week I think he's sick so this was just that. It's all good. Come on, let's head back!" Kirishima added optimistically and began heading in the direction of their dorm, Mineta trailing behind him.

Tsu gave another concerned look at Uraraka, saw the direction that Uraraka was now looking—toward Deku—and took a step backward. "Ribbit. I've got to meet Aoyama, so I'm going to head back. See you back there, ribbit." With the others now making quick time toward their dorm, just Deku and Uraraka stood together.

"Deku," Uraraka started and then stopped. What was she going to say? She didn't know. She felt partly responsible for all of this. If she'd just kept her mouth shut and dealt with Bakugo he wouldn't have freaked out and tried to blow her and Deku up. That wasn't what had happened though and regardless of Aizawa's words, she'd at least instigated his lecturing of Bakugo.

"Things got pretty crazy, huh?" Deku asked softly. Uraraka looked up from her feet—her favorite place to stare nervously at as of late—and saw Deku standing an arm's length away from her, a soft but insecure expression on his face. He was looking at her with uncertain eyes.

"Yeah they sure did. I didn't expect my going to Mr. Aizawa to cause such a fuss," she murmured quietly. The memory of the dark energy wrapping around Bakugo to pull him away from her filled her mind and she felt momentarily starstruck by the power that he possessed. She briefly wondered why that part of his quirk hadn't really manifested until recently. Though she recalled Bakugo at some point talking about how everyone had thought him quirkless until the UA entrance exam. What exactly was his quirk? She'd seen him perform feats of strength and agility that reminded her of All Might, though honestly, it was his perseverance, dedication, bravery, and idealism that she loved about him.

That I love about him, that thought repeated in her head and an instant blush colored her cheeks. No, no, no. She wasn't in love. This was a crush! A crush on someone who she was very good friends with and who she cared deeply for. One day it could be love but not now. She didn't really know what love was, right? She was barely sixteen years old and a sixteen-year-old didn't really know what it was to be in love. That was reserved for adults or at least people that were eighteen. Not sixteen-year-olds.

That I love about him. The words started to repeat in her head and a lump formed in her stomach. It felt like a cement brick stuck in there; a cement brick of truth.

"Uraraka? Are you okay?" Deku asked, interrupting her from her thought spiral.

Nervously laughing she said, "Oh yeah of course! I am great. I uh, well, thank you for stopping him from exploding me by the way. You're getting pretty good with black whip. I was really impressed! Um, we should head back to the dorm, I think." She at last stopped talking and felt a fresh wave of embarrassment wash over her. Why could she not get her mouth to shut up sometimes?

"Oh uh, thank you, and yeah, let's head back," Deku agreed, a slight blush coloring his cheeks. "But uh, Uraraka…?"

Uraraka had started walking in the direction of their dorm but stopped and looked back at Deku. "Yes?"

"Since there's no one else here, I was well, I was thinking, that, since we're alone and all, I was uh thinking it'd be a good time, to uh, well, a good time to k-k-k-ki—er hold hands!" He stammered, unable to meet her eyes. "Can we hold hands on the way back?"

She felt her heart tighten at his awkward cuteness. If they weren't literally standing outside of school with Mr. Aizawa probably creeping on them from somewhere hidden, she would've wanted to do some more kissing…but since he hadn't actually asked that and since she felt a bit tense, holding hands was a perfectly reasonable and nice compromise.

"Of course we can," she said with a bright smile. She held her hand out to him and Deku sheepishly made his way to her and took her hand in his.

"Thank you," he said bashfully as the two began heading toward the class 1-A dormitory, hand in hand.