**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!

Seventeen
Two Plus Two Definitely Equals Six

There were two loud thumps that woke Mina Ashido from sleep. She looked around blearily, feeling mildly confused at her surroundings. She wasn't in her bed and this wasn't her room. Mina looked behind her and was startled for a half a second at seeing Kirishima there.

Oh.

That was right. After they'd watched that horrible birth video, they'd all scattered like scurrying insects and gone their separate ways. She'd been so alarmed by what that laboring woman's vagina did to deliver the baby that she'd nervously texted Kirishima. She just couldn't get it out of her head. It was awful! Not that texting Kirishima would make it better, but for whatever reason, he was kind of like her own personal security blanket.

Kirishima had been the only boy to make it through the film in its entirety, aside from Bakugo, though he didn't count because he'd fallen asleep. Kirishima had also been disturbed by the birth and gone to his own room without even a second glance at her. She hadn't even been too certain why she was texting him. It wasn't like she even wanted to have sex—possibly ever again—after seeing that video, but she couldn't settle her mind. She'd decided that she wanted to sleep with someone else that night, a sleepover buddy if you will, but she wanted it to be Kirishima not one of her friends. Nobody was quite as comforting to her as he was.

Even though she was certain that sex wasn't exactly on his mind either, he'd readily agreed to her coming over and spending the night with each other. This was not something they did, like ever. The only time she'd been physically intimate with him had been long ago before they'd even moved into the dorms and since then they'd not had sex. On two separate occasions after that though, she had slept over with him.

The first was after he'd finished his work studies with Fat Gum. While the full details were somewhat unknown to her, she knew that Kirishima had been incredibly brave and pushed himself beyond his physical limits to the point of coming close to dying. That event had shaken her and so when he'd returned to the dorm mostly recovered, she'd snuck into his room and slept by his side. He'd not complained and like the gentleman he was, he didn't make any moves on her.

The second time was for their school Christmas celebration. It was before they'd gone home to their families and she'd just felt like being physically close to someone that she cared about that wasn't a girl. Just as he had the previous time, Kirishima hadn't tried pulling any moves on her. Even with morning boners, he'd remained the perfect embodiment of a gentleman.

This occasion was simply because she couldn't get that poor woman's destroyed vagina out of her mind. After she'd crept into Kirishima's room, she'd vented all her anxieties about having a kid and what that might mean for her vagina, how it'd never be the same! While Kirishima had attempted to calm Mina to some extent, he couldn't help but agree. Having children looked like it destroyed your body. How could their mothers ever even want to have kids when it did that to you?! Maybe the joy of having a child made it worth the damage it wrought on the body?

After they'd both had a little venting session, they'd settled into bed and had slept undisturbed until two loud thumps from next door woke Mina.

She'd listened for a few minutes more but heard no more thuds or bumps and so she shrugged it off and went back to sleep. Mina had slept soundly and comfortably curled up next to Kirishima until sometime around five in the morning when she heard a door nearby open and close. She startled awake and had to reorient herself again. Kirishima slept undisturbed next to her.

Rising out of bed, Mina gave a long stretch and sigh. It was quite early, earlier than she'd normally be inclined to get up, but if she was going to have secret slumber parties with Kirishima, it meant she had to get up before everyone else did. She'd set her alarm for 5:30am but when she glanced at her phone to check the time, she was surprised to see it read 5:07am. Then she remembered hearing a door slam that had woken her.

What direction had it come from? Was it Shoji or Bakugo's door? It wasn't like either of them to be awake this early, not that she was all that cognizant of their waking times.

She quietly moved to Kirishima's door and pressed her ear to it and listened carefully. She heard nothing. Perhaps she'd imagined it.

"Oh well," she murmured to herself and decided that now was as good a time as any to sneak back into her own room.

Mina turned back toward the sleeping Kirishima and smiled fondly at him. She knelt at his bedside and gently rand a hand through his red hair. I know your secret, your hair isn't really red, she thought to herself with a smile. How often did he have to dye it?

Moving away from the bedside, Mina grabbed her phone and then returned to the door. Again, she pressed her ear to the door and listened carefully for a full minute. After hearing only silence, she very carefully opened the door just a crack.

The brightness from the hall briefly blinded her, but she adjusted quickly and surveyed the hall through the cracked door. She didn't see anything and she still couldn't hear anything. So, quiet as a mouse and quick as a cat, she widened the gap enough to slip out of Kirishima's room. The hall felt much chillier than Kirishima's room and she was instantly missing being cuddled up beside him.

Mina wasted no time stealthily moving from Kirishima's door and into the hall. As she turned the corner to get to the girl's side of the floor she suddenly halted when she realized she could hear the soft murmur of voices coming from down the stairs and what she assumed was the third floor or possibly lower. Frozen in place, she stood uncertain whether or not to hurry to her room or to turn around and spring back to the safety of Kirishima's room.

The hush of voices was growing louder and she felt the first flutters of panic in her stomach. Go now, a little voice urged and she surged forward as quietly as she could. Her room was in sight! Her hand closed over the door handle and she slipped in as quickly and quietly as she could.

Her heart pounding, she pressed her ear to her door and listened. The voices were much more muffled now that she was safely hidden in her room, but she could make out the sound of two distinct voices. Both were on the lower side, both clearly male and coming from the direction of the stairwell.

"—to me, you go get Uraraka and meet me there," came the muffled sound of a sleepier sounding voice. She couldn't immediately tell who it was since it was somewhat soft spoken but it made her think of Mr. Aizawa. Thinking of her homeroom teacher made a shiver of alarm wash over her. Could someone have seen her sneak into Kirishima's room last night? Could someone have told Mr. Aizawa?

Wait. Why were they talking about Uraraka? She continued to listen carefully but heard no response from the second voice, only a soft footfall of someone coming up the stairs and walking down the hall. The footsteps receded and Mina was briefly compelled to crack her door open and peek outside into the hall to see what was going on.

She'd woken earlier in the morning to what she had thought was a door opening and closing, but had shrugged it off…perhaps she'd been right and either Shoji or Bakugo were out and about now. But how did that include Uraraka? Where were they going to take Uraraka? And why?

A conversation she'd had with Mineta from a few days ago suddenly played in Mina's head. He'd been blathering on about how he thought Midoriya and Uraraka were seeing each other and possibly sleeping together…Mina found that highly unlikely. However, the perverted little boy had also made mention of Bakugo and how he'd seen him with both Midoriya and Uraraka. He'd thought nothing of it but Mina had wondered if there were more to it.

It seemed likely that Uraraka had a crush on Midoriya given how she would always jump to his side at any and every occasion. Not to mention that she would furiously blush whenever he was brought up…but Midoriya seemed oblivious. Mina had a hard time believing that Midoriya would reciprocate any kind of crush, more likely horribly blush and bumble about. Honestly, she'd seen him blush around all the girls at some point in time. There was an interest in the opposite sex for him but she didn't think it went really beyond that. She doubted he'd know what to do beyond becoming flustered and blushing around a girl. Not to mention he was obsessed with heroes and All Might which to Mina meant that romance, possibly even a sex drive, were likely not even on his radar. He was a teenage boy though, so it was a possibililty…

In Mineta's retelling of the observed encounter however, Bakugo had apparently showed up and physically grabbed Uraraka who'd been floating away. Mineta hadn't been able to tell her what Midoriya and Uraraka had been talking about and was clearly hung up on them holding hands. That was admittedly suspicious but Mina didn't think that it automatically meant that they were having some secret love affair. Look at her and Kirishima! She'd secretly sleep over in his room sometimes and yet nothing romantic was even going on with them.

Or so she told herself.

The point remained however, just because Midoriya and Uraraka held hands didn't mean they were together. Not that Bakugo's presence and prevention of Uraraka floating away meant anything either. The entire situation could really be much ado about nothing or it could be the first visible sparks of a fire that had been secretly burning this entire time!

Mineta had been somewhat vague and uncertain about whether or not Uraraka had started to float away before or after Bakugo's arrival, so it was entirely possible that Uraraka became embarrassed because of his presence…or it could be because of whatever she was talking about with Midoriya. Regardless, she had some legwork to do to sus out the truth of the matter.

Right now, however, Midoriya was at his work study and Bakugo was not. She briefly recalled the previous night and the awful film and everyone's seating locations. She'd been sitting next to Kirishima at a far end of the couch and Bakugo had been next to him…and next to Bakugo had been Uraraka. When she'd left after the film it had looked like both Uraraka and Bakugo had fallen asleep whilst watching the birth. Awfully comfortable next to each other, aren't you? She had thought when she left for the night but had dismissed any further thought on the subject. Perhaps she should've paid more attention to that scene though.

With her ear still pressed against the door she caught the sound of soft murmurs and her heart leapt into her throat. She couldn't differentiate the voices or if there was just one or two, they were too far away…but that meant that they weren't next door in Uraraka's room which meant that Uraraka was somewhere else…in a boy's room!

While a small part of her thought she might be jumping to conclusions, a larger part of her was now convinced that there was something secretive and illicit going on with her zero-gravity classmate. Did it involve Shoji or Bakugo? Mina was betting it was the latter.

Boldly, she just barely cracked her door open so that she could see into the hallway. It was empty and still for the most part. Very soft voices did start to drift down the hall and to Mina's tuned ears. One was softer than the other, most definitely female, the other was…

"—shut up and stop floating!" Came a slightly louder and harsher voice.

It's Bakugo, Mina thought with wide eyes. I am right! She wasn't floating because of Midoriya, she was floating because of Bakugo! Mineta got it all wrong!

Her heart was beating so loudly with excitement that she missed whatever else was said and almost hissed in annoyance. Calm down, you don't know anything for certain, you have to see them to be sure, she thought to herself and tried to calm her excitedly beating heart.

She heard more soft murmurs, a door shut and then heavy footsteps, far heavier than just Bakugo would make. Watching the hall closely, she at last caught sight of movement coming down the hall. It was hard to make things out too clearly considering she could only see through the micro crack she'd allowed her door to open, but she could see a swiftly moving person—most definitely Bakugo—coming down the hall toward the stairs.

Mina's eyes widened yet again when she realized that Bakugo wasn't by himself but in fact carrying Uraraka like a groom carrying a new bride. She couldn't make out that much of Uraraka's expression or anything aside from the fact that it was no one else but Uraraka in Bakugo's arms.

Bakugo came quickly down the hall, pausing for half a second to adjust Uraraka before continuing around the corner and to the stairs. Mina watched through the crack in the door as the blonde boy practically flew down the stairs all the while carrying Uraraka, perhaps carrying her a little roughly considering his pace and how her head looked like it was flopping about. Would he be that rough with her if they were like together? He vanished almost as quickly as he'd come into her line of site as he descended down the stairs.

When she could no longer see him, she let her door swing wide open and stared down the now vacant stairs. Had she really just seen that? Had she really just seen Bakugo and Uraraka in the wee hours of the morning with Bakugo clearly taking Uraraka from his room? Why had she been in his room? Where was he taking her? Why on earth would they be meeting Mr. Aizawa in a mystery location? Wouldn't they be in really big trouble if he found out that they'd had a late-night tryst together in his room? What other reason could there be?

"Could it be…?" Mina whispered quietly.

It made perfect sense! They'd watched that awful movie about birth and while Uraraka and Bakugo had appeared to be sleeping they must not have been, or at least one of them wasn't sleeping. They'd probably closed their eyes and pretended to be sleeping because they didn't want to think about the very real consequences of unprotected sex…assuming they were having sex. But if they were having a secret little love affair and late-night hook ups and saw that movie it was also possible that one of them, more likely Uraraka, freaked out about possibly being pregnant—especially if they were having sex—and had a major meltdown to Bakugo who probably wouldn't really be all that sympathetic or interested in offering support. So, they'd gone to Mr. Aizawa to seek help and advice and…her thoughts trailed off there. And what? What would they do then? And why would they even go to Mr. Aizawa? Wouldn't he just like, expel them? Teen pregnancy was a very serious thing.

The more she thought about it the more implausible the entire imagining became. The chances of someone as intelligent as Bakugo engaging in unprotected sex without confidently knowing a female partner was on some other reliable method, seemed extremely unlikely. And Uraraka didn't exactly scream secret sex goddess. She gave off more of a girl next door vibe and while sure, girls next doors could most definitely be into secretive trysts, something about that and Uraraka just didn't mix.

"So why was she in his room? Why was he carrying her?" Mina asked herself a little too loudly. She was momentarily grateful that Uraraka wasn't actually next door for fear of being too loud.

They'd only go to Mr. Aizawa if there was a problem urgent enough to alert him to the fact that they were clearly breaking the rules. Was she certain that Uraraka was in Bakugo's room? She'd heard a door open and close but that didn't necessarily mean that Uraraka had originated from Bakugo's room. Whisking Uraraka away like he had, alerting Mr. Aizawa could only mean that whatever was going on was serious enough to go get help…probably Reco=very Girl kind of help. Ah! Yes. That was where Bakugo would take her or at least it seemed the most probable.

Thinking over these various details Mina started to realize that it was actually a bit of a stretch to think that some sordid love affair involving Bakugo and Uraraka was very unlikely. It was a bit of a jump to go from Bakugo and Uraraka are together and having night time trysts to their afraid they're pregnant. It was hardly even plausible. Even if she dismissed that idea entirely though, it didn't explain why Uraraka was at least somewhere near Bakugo's room or why he'd carried her away bride groom style…not that she'd been able to see much of Uraraka, but what she had seen hadn't looked very good. She'd looked paler and the lolling head indicated unconsciousness. All signs of something bad having happened that required the help of adults.

Slowly Mina shut her door and turned into her room, looking forward at the dimly lit space. The sun was on its way up. She could be right, or she could be only partially right…or she could be completely wrong. Bakugo and Uraraka could be together but jumping to the conclusion that they'd been banging like bunnies and something like a pregnancy scare had occurred and led to the scene she'd just witnessed, was a bit of a leap. Scratch that, it was a huge leap.

She was unwilling to entirely dismiss the idea that there was maybe something going on with Bakugo and Uraraka, but she doubted that her initial assumption at seeing Bakugo carrying Uraraka had any validity whatsoever. What could've led to Bakugo carrying what looked like an unconscious Uraraka out of the dormitory? Uraraka being there didn't make sense. Something in between the time that she left after watching the birthing video and what she'd just seen, something had happened. What wasn't she seeing? Was Bakugo just being a good Samaritan and helping Uraraka because she was in some bad way that required his assistance and adult intervention? Were Uraraka and Bakugo having secret slumber parties just like she had? Where did Midoriya fit into all of it? Why had she been holding hands with him if she was romantically involved with Bakugo? Not that Mina was certain how Bakugo would react if he was involved with someone romantically, but she was pretty sure that he'd be very displeased if she was off holding hands with someone else…especially if that someone else was Deku.

The more she thought about it the more doubtful she became when thinking about a potential relationship between Bakugo and Uraraka. Perhaps Mineta was right and the scene that he supposedly saw was exactly what he'd perceived it as. Midoriya and Uraraka having some love confession and Bakugo stepping in to help because he happened to pass by. Abrasive and gruff he might be, he wasn't a bad guy. If he saw her floating away he might not be as inclined to help as some of the others but he'd still help.

Okay, so she wasn't sure what she saw…or what it meant. That just meant that now she had to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. She'd also have to update Mineta which made her wrinkle her nose. He'd been so convinced that it was Midoriya and Uraraka and that Bakugo was just a random bystander. What would he think of this development? Was she really going to start agreeing with the little lech and commit her skills of investigation into a Midoriya and Uraraka pairing?

Mina's alarm going off on her phone frightened her then and she hurriedly shut it off. It was 5:30 now, the time she'd normally be sneaking out of Kirishima's room. She wondered if Mineta was awake yet. Probably not.

The sun continued to rise outside her window. Yuck, I can't believe I might actually be agreeing with Mineta, she thought to herself with a wrinkled nose.