The sink cracked beneath the weight of Mirio's hands, porcelain splinters falling to the pale tile floor as hairline fractures erupted beneath the weight of One for All.

"You are fine," the blonde hissed to himself, "Get over it. Nothing is wrong."

One for All disagreed. Yellow and blue lightning sparked across his skin, and the black tendrils that plagued his nightmares threatened to burst free from within. Sweat dripped down the side of his face as he struggled to contain the Quirk, gasping when the sink shattered in his grip.

"Fuck." He winced. This wasn't good.

Mirio was supposed to go on patrol today - but it looked like that wasn't going to happen. If he could barely make it to the bathroom, how the hell was he supposed to be a Hero - let alone All Might's successor as the Symbol of Peace?

Damn it. He sank to one knee, breathing heavily as seven distinct voices screamed in his mind. "What are you saying?!" Mirio cried in frustration, "I can't understand!"

More unintelligible yelling. He could feel the inky-black tendrils struggling to break free beneath his skin, and it took all the blonde had to keep it from bursting forth. Even now, with his will steeled and body hardened, little black slits of darkness slowly managed to wiggle their way up through his skin.

Mirio felt sick. One for All was getting more and more unstable - with each passing day, it felt like his control over himself and his Quirk was slipping away faster and faster. Several shadowy figures danced around the corners of his vision, each reaching out to him but unable to fully connect and disappearing whenever he looked at them for too long.

What was happening to him?

He reached for his phone. He had a less-than-fun phone call to make.

–

Izuku hummed absentmindedly alongside his music as he worked on his latest project - a two-thousand piece jigsaw puzzle. It wasn't exactly cheap, but it turned out that he had a lot more money to spend when he wasn't wasting it buying new notebooks to replace the ones his classmates had flushed down the toilet or getting it directly yanked out of his wallet.

He sighed softly out his nose. He really had been pathetic before Nejire had practically saved him, hadn't he? Well, okay, he was still kind of pathetic, but having the most amazing girl in the universe constantly telling him how great he was and how much she loved him was doing wonders for his self-confidence.

The fact that her smiling face was the only thing he could think of whenever he went to the gym helped, too. It was like he had his own personal cheerleader in his head, constantly encouraging him to improve - if not for himself, then at least for Nejire.

And that thought was a pretty damn good motivator. He'd do anything for her.

Damn. Where did this piece go? Izuku frowned at his table - it didn't look like it belonged anywhere on the puzzle. He'd filled most of the edge out, as well as a patch of bright blue sky near the top-left corner, but he hadn't even gotten all the pieces flipped over yet. Maybe instead of just using what he could see, he should–

Izuku yelped in surprise as his phone suddenly exploded in noise, blaring the loudest ringtone he was able to find and cutting his soft classical music off in an instant.

He rubbed his ears in pain, but there was no mistaking the gigawatt-grin on his face (that would not have been there had anyone been around to see it, for what it's worth) as he picked the phone up. "H-Hey, Nejire!"

Yeah, he gave his girlfriend's number a special ringtone. The most annoying, loud, and painful one he could find - because he never wanted to miss one of her calls. Not because that sort of thing mattered to Nejire, but because Izuku was trying his absolute best to be a good boyfriend and wanted to be as available and open as possible for her.

Plus, Izuku just really loved talking with her. Could you really blame him?

"Hey, Izuku…" The tone she responded with immediately set him on edge, his good mood almost instantly being put into jeopardy. "What's up?"

He laughed nervously, trying to maintain a bright facade in the face of the somber sound of Nejire's voice. "Oh, you know, n-nothing much!" He said, forcing as much positivity into his voice as he could, "Just, uh, working on a p-puzzle. H-How are you?"

Izuku turned his eyes back down towards the table as he awaited a response. Maybe if he tried to focus on both things it'd ease his nerves? But what if he missed something important? Or Nejire sensed that he wasn't fully paying attention to her?

She sighed through the phone, and he immediately sensed her irritation. "I'm… fine," Nejire grumbled, "Um, I'm sorry, but I have bad news."

Yeah. He sort of figured that part out on his own. "W-What is it?" Izuku asked, anxiously tapping his foot against the floor.

Nejire sighed again. "I think I'm gonna have to bail on our date plans today," she muttered, "Sorry."

He deflated like a leaky balloon at her words. "O-Oh…" he said quietly, "Okay."

Izuku's heart sank. Did he do something wrong? Why did she cancel? Would it be wrong to ask? Was she finally getting tired of him?

"I'm sorry," she apologized again, tone full of sadness, "I was really looking forward to that escape room thingy, too."

"I-It's okay," he found himself repeating, "T-Things happen."

It was hard to hide the disappointment in his tone. He tried his best, but there was a pretty good chance she could tell how her cancellation affected him. If she wanted to share why she was cancelling, she'd tell him, right? Nejire usually had no problem sharing things with him - did that mean it was Izuku's fault?

"Yeah…" Nejire mumbled, "Someone called out for their daily patrol, and since I had the day off I was the first person they called to have cover for them - well, technically I wasn't the only one they called up, so I'm only doing a civilian patrol, but you get the point. I'm really sorry, again."

Izuku felt his mood rise slightly at her explanation, even if only because it meant that she wasn't cancelling because of something he had done. "C-Civilian patrol?" Izuku questioned, "T-That's when you just walk around in normal clothing, right?"

"Yeah, it's super boring!" She complained, "I mean, I'm basically a glorified police officer - not that there's anything wrong with police officers! My dad is one! Anyways, all I'm going to be doing is walking around the city all day and basically acting like a backup Hero if I'm needed - which I probably won't, because I always miss the good stuff, but sometimes I'll get called on to, like, help get someone across the street, or help an animal off of a roof, things like that. The worst part is that I'm basically missing our date for nothing! If I ever find out who called out to get the Hero Commission to force me to work, I'm gonna show them what for!"

An idea blossomed in his head. The odds of it actually happening were low, but Izuku had to at least put the offer on the table for Nejire. "W-Well," he began shakily, "Um, i-if it's really going to be as b-boring as you say… m-maybe Icouldcomewithyouandwecouldjustspendthedaytogetherthereinstead?"

Izuku cringed at just how lame he sounded. Nejire was probably trying not to laugh at him.

It took her a while to respond. "Oh, Izu…" She whispered after an eternity of silence, "You don't have to–"

"I want to - um, if you're o-okay with it, t-that is," he insisted, stumbling over his words as his bravado faded, "Like you've said, it r-really doesn't matter what we do, right? I just l-like spending time with you… But if w-we can't do that or you don't want me d-distracting you I t-t-totally get it–"

"Nope." Nejire's stoic voice was like a dagger through his heart– at least, until she continued speaking. "You've made that offer, there's no backing out of it. Are you ready to take responsibility for your words, Izu?"

He blinked. "Uh… y-yes?"

She giggled through the phone. "And you're sure you can handle the consequences?"

"C-Consequences?"

"Mhm!" He just knew Nejire was bobbing her head up and down eagerly. "Consequences! I'm gonna text you an address for us to meet up at when my shift starts, and then you're going to have to accept whatever comes next, which may or may not but is also definitely going to include me kissing you the moment I see you."

Izuku gulped, but there was no denying the way his heart sped up at her words. "I-Is that a yes, then?"

Nejire went silent for a moment– no, that wasn't it. She was trying to muffle her giggles as she processed his words. "Of course it's a yes, silly," she cooed, "I'll see you in around two hours… just don't wear any of those goofy shirts you like!"

"But Nejireee!" Izuku complained, "They're really funny!"

"Izu, no!" She huffed, "I know you have plenty of other shirts - we just went to the mall again and got you like ten more! I can't stop you from wearing them when it's just us, but imagine if I had to rescue someone and the first thing they saw was you with a shirt that said 'pajamas'! They'd probably be so confused that they might go into shock!"

He sighed. That didn't even make sense!

People just didn't understand the appeal. This could have been his chance to finally convince her that a shirt that said 'pants' was hilarious. "Fine," he grumbled goodnaturedly, "Just t-text me the place you want us to meet up at when you're ready, and I'll be there."

"I'll see you then!" Nejire finished excitedly, "Bye! Thank you! I love you!"

Another smile bloomed on his face. "I love you too."

–

Never let it be said that Nejire wasn't a girl of her word. As Izuku approached her with a bright smile and shy wave as he tried to catch her attention, he suddenly found himself lacking for oxygen as she kissed him hard enough to make him see stars.

Not that he was complaining, of course. Kissing Nejire had easily become one of his favorite hobbies, if not his number one outright. She wore a simple white knee-length skirt with frills alongside a light-blue undershirt with a bright pink jacket overtop it all.

She also had her plush unicorn purse with her, as per usual. Izuku found the object strangely adorable.

"Thanks again for coming out with me, Izu~," she cooed, holding him gently in her arms as she continued to embrace him, "It was really sweet of you to offer. This will be so much nicer with you here! Sorry again about having to cancel our other plans. I'll make it up to you later, I promise!"

Izuku would have responded if he could have - but Nejire was making that a little difficult with how she was pushing her generous chest into her face. It was the sort of thing that Nejire just did sometimes (with him, of course - she wasn't shoving her boobs into just anybody's face), but it still left him mildly embarrassed every time she did it.

Especially because they were in public. But she had long since proved that she did not care about what other people thought about her.

He wished he could have had her confidence. Maybe then he could have enjoyed the feeling of his face squished between her chest a little more.

Regretfully (Izuku could practically hear his ancestors screaming at him in disappointment), he pulled himself away from her - if only slightly. "Y-You don't have to make anything up to me," he insisted, smiling slightly despite the red-hot blush spreading across his cheeks, "It's not your fault, right? I'm just h-happy we still get to spend time together… t-that's all that matters to me."

Nejire's smile was so bright that he felt the urge to look away - but he couldn't take his eyes off the angel in front of him. "You always know what to say, Izu!" She giggled softly, teasingly batting her eyelashes at him as she did so. "If I don't have to make it up to you, then maybe I'll just, oh, I don't know, treat you to something nice once we're done here."

Izuku gulped. He had a funny feeling their definitions of 'something nice' didn't have very much overlap - at least in this instance. His first thought landed on something like getting ice cream or maybe sharing a milkshake, but the look in Nejire's eyes (and her track record with this sort of thing) told him she meant something decidedly more… intimate.

Not that he was complaining - not in the slightest. He'd never forget the day she showed up at his house wearing a cheerleader uniform of all things, only to then come in and show him the routine she had come up with.

Easily one of the best moments in his life.

He offered his periwinkle-haired sweetheart a shaky laugh. "I-If you really want to do that, um, then I'm not complaining!"

"Oh, I know you aren't, Izu~," she crooned sweetly, "After all, I still remember just how much you enjoyed it when we went back to your apartment after our day bowling and you–"

"W-W-We should p-probably get g-going!" He interrupted, voice several octaves higher than usual and face several shades redder than healthy, "A-After all, y-you said this was a patrol and I'm pretty sure that means we should be walking around and not just talking about T-T-THAT–"

Nejire shrugged. "Civilian patrol really isn't that important," she explained, "It's like having fourth-string security for a concert that is already just about as safe as can be. I wear normal clothes, walk around like a normal person, and if a building blows up I get to be the first person rushing in to help."

He shuddered. "M-Maybe don't talk that into existence."

"You're right," Nejire agreed, "Nothing big is going to happen, no one is going to have any emergencies pop up, and we're going to have a nice little make-up date. Okay?"

"Okay…" Izuku couldn't help but smile as she looked at him with nothing but love in her eyes. "S-Sounds good– I m-mean, really good, uh–"

She kissed him on the tip of his nose. "I know what you mean, sweetie. Let's go and have fun, okay?"

Izuku couldn't help the way his eyes lit up at her words, or how he leaned into the feeling of his hand in her own - a feeling that only got better when she squeezed his hand softly, tracing patterns into the back of his palm.

"Okay," he agreed, unapologetically happy, "Let's do that."

–

Nejire was right.

Civilian patrol really was boring.

Or, rather, it would have been if he wasn't there to keep her company. A fact that Nejire found very important to remind him of, over and over.

There were a few people who recognized her, even outside of her Hero costume. She was happy to say hi to all of her adoring fans, giving out autographs as frequently as Izuku gave out blushes.

Of course, there were even more people who recognized her but didn't approach. In fact, it seemed like there were more of them than usual, if anything - it seemed like everywhere Izuku looked, there were people whispering, looking at them, pointing, you name it.

It made Izuku kind of anxious. But Nejire didn't care (if she noticed at all). He tried to follow in her footsteps of uncaringness, but the fact that it seemed like just about everybody on the street was taking notice of them and doing their best to avoid being caught doing so made it harder than it likely would have been.

But that was fine. It just meant Izuku had an excuse to walk a little closer to Nejire, both to hide his head against her shoulder and to take in her almost inhuman beauty.

Even with the amount of people watching them - in an almost predatory manner, may he add - Izuku still found himself having a good time. It was unusually warm - likely being one of the last days of the year where most people would be wearing a t-shirt and shorts instead of a sweater and jeans. Fittingly, Nejire saw fit that their first order of business was to get some snow cones for the two of them. She got a rainbow-flavored cone that dyed her tongue and lips all sorts of colors, while Izuku stuck with the more traditional cherry.

It was nice. It would have been nicer if Nejire let him pay, but she just said that he could pay her back later with kisses and that was that.

They did a lot of window shopping, too; Nejire wasn't supposed to be going inside of buildings and doing things - her job was to patrol the streets, after all - so any time they found something that was to her fancy Izuku made sure to discreetly jot it down into his phone so that he could swing by some other day and pick it up for her. A giddy smile slipped onto his face at the idea of surprising his girlfriend like that, though he was quick to hide it when Nejire started asking him about it.

And if she had a little list of things Izuku's eyes lingered on for a little longer than strictly necessary that he was none the wiser about, there was no harm done.

The only sort of action Nejire saw was when they were walking hand-in-hand down the street, only for a pedestrian on the other side of the street to scream in shock.

"Stop! Thief!" The elderly woman cried, "My purse!"

Izuku didn't even have time to blink before Nejire blasted off behind the man (who was conveniently wearing a black-and-white striped shirt and a dark ski mask over his head for easy identification), snatching him up by the back of his collar in no time at all.

"Hey!" Nejire shouted into the larger man's ear, "Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

He struggled in her grip, dropping the purse he had stolen in an attempt to reach around and swat at Nejire. "Let go of me, you psycho!"

She frowned. "Uh, how about no? Stealing is against the law, you know. I can't let you leave."

The man's arms glowed red - a clear indication of Quirk usage - but it seemed like whatever his Quirk did was dependent on actually hitting Nejire, since nothing else beyond that happened. Maybe a strength-enhancer? Or a possible touch-activation Quirk? Only his arms and hands were glowing red, which signified that contact would only be important with those areas in mind, so Nejire was likely fine to continue gripping onto the back of his shirt with no trouble. She'd have to keep away from his panicked attempts to reach her, though."

"Thanks for the tips, Izu!" Nejire called, making Izuku blush as he realized he had been mumbling before turning back to the criminal she had nabbed, "You know Quirk usage is illegal in public without a license, too,and using it to attack a Hero is even worse! You're not making things better for yourself by doing this."

It took no time at all for the police to arrive. The man was subdued, cuffed, and thrown into the back of a police cruiser in less than two minutes. Once Nejire was through giving her statement (and receiving praise from a very grateful old lady), she returned to Izuku's side without a moment's hesitation.

"Sorry about that!" Nejire said happily, "But duty calls! You ready to keep going?"

Izuku nodded slowly. He didn't know why… but something about watching Nejire in action as a Hero kind of rubbed him the wrong way.

Actually, that wasn't fair. He knew why.

It was because he was jealous of her.

Izuku knew he couldn't be a Hero. Literally everyone he had ever known, aside from Nejire herself, had told him he couldn't. Even All Might. There was no changing the fact that he wouldn't cut it due to his Quirklessness. He'd never be a Hero, and that was that.

But even still… it wasn't like he could just forget about the dream he had had since he was four. It wasn't Nejire's fault - hell, it was no one's fault but his own for allowing his stupid dream to fester in delusion for so long - but watching her do something as simple as stop a purse-snatcher and return the satchel to the poor woman who'd been robbed made him wish that that could have been him.

And he hated himself for thinking that. He finally had someone who cared about him, who didn't care that he was worthless– Quirkless, who actually loved him, and he still wasn't happy with that? How ungrateful could he be?

So he'd bury those feelings and act like they didn't exist until they went away. After all, he'd missed any shot he could have had by not making it into U.A. or any other Hero school. It was only a matter of time before his brain finally got the picture and moved on, right?

He had a sinking feeling the answer was no. Even now, with the love and acceptance he had craved for so long, a hollow space still lingered inside him. It was smaller now certainly, but it was undoubtedly still there.

Was it selfish to want more?

Fortunately for him, he didn't have to think about that for long.

A group of children, likely all no older than eight, ran up to the pair. "Excuse me!" One of the children, a short girl with black hair and a dress covered in pictures of ducklings, called, "You're a Hero, right, miss? You just caught that villain!"

Nejire lit up at the way they crowded around her. "I sure am!" She said proudly, "My name is Nejire-chan. How can I help you adorable little munchkins?"

Most of the kids giggled or looked away shyly at Nejire's comment, but the girl in the duck dress grabbed at the hem of her clothing tightly. "Our cat is stuck in a tree! Can you help us get her down please, Miss Nejire-chan?"

She gasped, putting a hand to her heart dramatically. "Oh no! Of course I'll help you guys! Where is she?!"

"She's stuck in the park!" One of the taller boys in the back of the group piped up, "We'll take you to her!"

Nejire nodded, and the group of schoolchildren scurried away down the street. "Be right back," she said quickly to Izuku, "I'm gonna, you know, go help!"

He blinked. "I could j-just come with you," he offered, "I m-mean, the park isn't very far."

"Meh, it's fine." She shrugged noncommittally. "I'm probably only gonna be a few minutes, tops! Just stay here and keep looking adorable!"

Izuku's face flushed at the offhanded compliment. "O-Okay," he agreed, mumbling slightly, "Um, be safe?"

She giggled, already moving to follow the herd of young children that was quickly making its way away from them. "I will!"

Izuku watched her fly off after the kids fondly (Even if there was still a twinge of bitterness in his mind about not even being able to help with something as minor as getting a cat out of a tree), but that was fine.

Instead, he thought about how much Nejire seemed to like those little kids. This was almost certainly too soon to think about but… did she want kids one day? He'd seen enough of her around random strangers' babies in public to know that she loved making babies laugh and clap their hands, but was that all there was to it?

Come to think of it, did he want kids? Before the events of this past month or so, he'd never even considered the option that he even could have children - after all, no one had ever liked him before he met Nejire, let alone loved him (aside from his mom of course, but that didn't really count), so this was all uncharted territory…

Oh well. Thoughts for later. They had plenty of time to think about something like that, assuming Nejire didn't get tired of him, but–

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught something moving towards him in the shadows. Izuku tensed, almost immediately on edge, but as the figure got closer to him, he felt himself relax only to suddenly get so much more uncomfortable because what was a little girl in a hospital gown doing in the middle of a busy city alone–

The girl ran up to Izuku like he was the lone pillar of warmth in a city of ice. "Help me…" she whispered, clinging to his legs like they were her only lifeline, "Please…"

Izuku flinched, and not just at the sheer desperation present in the small girl's voice. She looked awful– hell, she looked even worse than he did at his lowest point. Her arms were absolutely covered in bandages, leaving almost no skin above her wrists exposed, and she trembled softly as she gripped onto him. He had realized that she had ruby-red eyes when she had approached him, but they were now squeezed tightly shut as small shakes wracked her frame. Her white hair and ragged clothes were grimy and dirty, and there was a small beige horn on the top-right corner of her forehead. She didn't even have shoes on.

He was at a loss for words. What in the world was he supposed to do?

"I-It's okay," he tried, unsure of how to proceed (other than waiting for Nejire to come back and see if she had any ideas), "I'll help you. M-My name's Midoriya Izuku. What's yours?"

She gripped his legs tighter, as if he was about to disappear. "E-Eri."

"Eri," Izuku repeated, crouching down to the girl's height, "T-That's a very nice name. What do you need help with?"

Eri flinched, and he suddenly felt like he made a grave mistake. "The bad man," she whispered shakily, seemingly at the edge of tears, "H-He's coming. Help…"

The bad man? That certainly didn't sound good. And if Eri thought someone was after her…

His eyes scanned the street, and Izuku blinked in surprise. Where the hell had everyone gone? It was like the street had suddenly been abandoned. He couldn't see anyone other than himself and Eri, but if the girl was that worried there had to be some merit to her words.

"A-Alright," Izuku agreed, taking one of the girl's tiny, frail hands in his own, "L-Let's go find a Hero–"

"That won't be necessary."

Eri froze like a deer in headlights. Even Izuku couldn't help but flinch at the cold, callous tone that came from the person who seemed to have just manifested behind them.

He turned around slowly, coming face to face with three men - all wearing… bird masks?

The lead man, the one who spoke earlier, stepped forward. He had narrow, cold eyes and dark brown hair accompanied by an odd purple and green coat. "I see you found my daughter," he began coolly, sparing a glance at Izuku before his gaze became fixated on Eri, "Thank you for that. She isn't usually one to run off."

He gestured behind him to the two other men. "As you can see, I was so panicked by her sudden disappearance that I gathered my associates to help me find her. But thanks to you, it seems like there was no need for that."

The two men behind him did not react. The one to his left wore a dark-green suit with a salmon tie, with decently long blonde hair and pale skin. The other's mask completely covered his face, but Izuku could clearly make out the hulking frame and thick neck that made him very confident he could snap the verdette like a twig if necessary.

Eri started to shake like crazy, and Izuku felt like something very wrong was happening. He didn't feel like he could let Eri go with these men - especially not when her grip on his fingers became so tight he was afraid she might break them.

His mind was made up. He wasn't letting her go.

"N-No problem," Izuku replied shakily, forcing out an awkward, pained laugh as he looked at the three of them (he had no illusions about how a fight between them would end - or a footrace), "U-Um, b-but–"

The man didn't seem to be in the mood for games. "Eri." He snapped his fingers. "Come here."

She bit back a sob, and Izuku's will hardened. Maybe he could stall for long enough for Nejire to get back? "I d-don't think you should–"

He made a grand gesture out of pulling one of his gloves off, and Eri immediately let go of his hand. He scampered back to the man Izuku really didn't think was her father anymore, and he scooped her up in his arms. "Good girl."

Izuku took a hesitant step backwards. What was going on?

As he looked nervously between the three men, unsure of exactly what their next move would be, the blonde's eyes widened. "Boss," he began quickly, snapping his fingers in surprise, "That kid - I've seen him before."

His blood ran cold. What? He'd never seen any of these people before.

Thankfully, their boss seemed as unamused with his subordinate's words as he did with Izuku - until the blonde leaned in close and started to whisper something in his ear, pointing at him all the while.

Okay. It was time to run.

Too bad he made that decision several minutes too late.

The man who was holding Eri's eyes widened. "Quirkless you say…" He trailed off disbelievingly, looking at Izuku with an emotion in his previously soulless eyes that he really didn't like. "Is that true, young man?"

Nope. Nope nope nope. Izuku turned and ran like his life depended on it - and honestly, he felt like it kind of did.

The dark-haired man snapped his fingers, pulling out a syringe filled with… something, and handing it to the fully-masked man. "Rappa. I want him. This was for Eri in case we needed to take her back through force, but it will fulfill its purpose for him. We're leaving - bring him back to the compound."

Izuku didn't hear any of that, though - he was too busy running for the hills. "Nejire!" He screamed, hoping against hope that she was close enough to returning that she could hear his cries for help, "Nejire!"

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case - and Izuku wasn't fast enough to get away. A meaty hand with a vice-like grip clamped down on his shoulder, and Izuku had less than a second to say his prayers before the beast of a man from before slammed him into the sidewalk, concrete slamming into his ribs with a sickening crack. The blow disoriented him enough to be unable to resist as a cold metal needle was jabbed into his neck - all he could do was groan weakly in pain.

"Nothing personal, kid." A deep, scratchy voice said stoically. Izuku suddenly felt very sleepy, and couldn't even think about screaming anymore as he was lifting up into the air and hoisted over someone's shoulder.

"Quirkless, in this day and age…" The tall man hummed. "I'll be damned. You're probably going to make Overhaul's year."

That was the last thing he heard before his world turned black - no matter how hard he fought for his eyes to stay open.

…

…

…

–

"I'm back!"

She paraded around the corner happily, arms full and eyes closed in bliss as she returned to the spot Izuku was waiting for her at. "Sorry I took so long," she apologized, "But after I got that kitty out of harm's way I saw this little stand set up by the park's entrance that was selling tiny bowls of katsudon and of course I thought of you when I saw it, so how could I resist? These little bowls are the cutest thing ever - well, second cutest after you, of course, so–"

Nejire froze. Her boyfriend wasn't here. The street was empty.

In fact, there was no evidence that anyone had been here.

"Izuku?"

—

A/N: Remember when I said angst wasn't over? This is what I meant. We're in for real sad boi hours now… and sad girl. There is gonna be some serious less-than-wholesome for the next few chapters.

But let me know what you think! I hope it came out well (or short), especially since I've been building up to this point for a while - there was no way I could give Izuku all this love and affection and NOT take it away suddenly and painfully! Thanks to Lugia and Helia for helping to get this chapter out tonight instead of tomorrow!

Hope you enjoyed! See you next time!