Izuku didn't know what to expect walking into Musutafu General High the next day. Nejire had really beaten the snot out of most of his classmates, but she wasn't here anymore. And while he was sure her threats were ringing in just about every students' ears, she couldn't help him today if something bad happened.

As it turned out, she didn't have to.

Almost every pair of eyes in the school was on him as he walked through the crowded halls, eyes trained firmly on the tiled floor in front of him, but no one so much as breathed in his direction throughout the course of the day. He ate lunch alone in his classroom, which was depressing, but Izuku would have been doing that anyway. In gym class, the one place where he fully expected to get clobbered due to the fact that they were currently on their wrestling unit, he sat in the bleachers the entire time and just watched quietly.

As an aside, Tsubasa wasn't in school today. That wasn't the most surprising thing - he'd been known to skip days on occasion, and Izuku was sure he was nursing a wounded pride among other things - but something was off about the way his teachers seemed to be completely unbothered by his absence.

As for his other periods, all he was subject to were not-so-discreet glances and incessant whispers floating around him. He never got called on by the teachers and his grades weren't announced publicly for derision, which was how he knew Nejire's threats had reached the school's staff as well. That was more than fine by Izuku, though - he'd rather go back to just being isolated and alone instead of isolated and alone and targeted.

He didn't need people to talk to. He didn't need friends.

…Okay, maybe he needed one friend.

But he didn't need any more than that. Nejire was amazing. Who could even compare to her?

Certainly not himself; Izuku was still scratching his head as to how such an incredible girl wound up as his friend. It just didn't make sense.

He shook his head. Shouldn't he just accept it? Better not to look a gift-horse in the mouth, after all.

Izuku wondered what they looked like to outside observers - a beautiful, tall heroine with a mind bursting with curiosity and a bright future ahead of her… and the scrawny Quirkless loser, two years her junior, with no path forward in life that she decided to befriend.

It was almost too good to be true - actually, it was too good to be true. It was the stuff of fiction, and yet… here they were.

The one thing that gave away that he wasn't dreaming was the way his locker had been vandalized, he duly noted, passing by his little storage unit as the school let out for the day. No one would go after him, but that same courtesy clearly didn't extend to his things. Probably because whoever did it wouldn't have the crime traced back to them - it was clever, if extremely cowardly.

The joke was on them, though. Izuku never used his locker for this exact reason, preferring to just keep his things in his backpack throughout the day instead.

Whatever. Eventually everyone would probably get too antsy to remember Nejire's warning, or delude themselves into thinking enough of them could fight her, and then he'd be right back to getting his teeth kicked in.

His mind was an absolute treasure trove of pleasantries, wasn't it?

Oh well. It wasn't like that part of his life was prone to changing anytime soon. Even if Nejire crashing into his world (literally) made things better, there was still the underlying fact that he had no real change in his outlook on life. In fact, it would probably be easier for both of them if–

"Izuku! Over here!"

He blinked in surprise as the herd of students parted to make way for the Heroine in training, looking up slowly at the smiling form of his friend as she approached him, her form practically oozing confidence.

"Hi?" Izuku squeaked, blushing slightly at the way she marched up without a care for the hundreds of eyes on them. "U-um, what are you doing here N-Nejire?"

"I'm here to see you, silly!" She giggled, pulling him in for a quick hug that left the onlookers with jaws on the sidewalk, "I had to make sure you had a good day today! None of your classmates gave you any trouble, did they?"

While Izuku was still trapped in her hug (where she unintentionally shoved his face into her chest), Nejire glared viciously out into the shocked crowd around them. Her friendly demeanor was gone in an instant, with the only person she cared about in the area currently trapped in her embrace and unable to see the way her attitude shifted.

Just as quickly as it had appeared her glare was gone, replaced by a bubbly smile the moment she released Izuku from his confines in her arms (though she didn't fully let go of him). His face lit up with a scarlet hue, betraying his embarrassment as he stuttered out a response. "U-um, things have been g-good today…"

Nejire briefly blinded him as she grinned, the gigawatt smile he was subjected to burning his retinas with how bright it was. "Great!" She cheered, turning around and pulling Izuku along by the hand, "I'm glad all of you know what's good for you! Remember, I don't make empty threats!~"

She was clearly speaking to the crowd. A collective shudder wracked Musutafu General's populace as they all unconsciously took a few steps back. No one dared to get in Nejire's way as she led him down the street that he normally took home.

It was only then, once they had placed some distance between themselves and the crowd, that he spotted the green band wrapped around her arm. Squinting as he read it, he realized it was marked with the kanji for 'Izuku Protection Squad'... with his face consequently erupting in red.

What on Earth was that supposed to mean?

Nejire caught his dumbfounded stare, an unreadable (but clearly amused) glint in her eyes. "You noticed!"

Well, she certainly seemed pleased with herself. "Y-yeah," Izuku responded, more than a little confused, "Um, should I ask, or…?"

"I got one of my friends in the support department to make it!" She said proudly, a smug look in her eyes, "What do you think?"

She released his hand briefly to take the band off, offering it to him without a second thought. After a moment he took it, toying with the small piece of cloth in his hands, completely dumbfounded.

"Uh, it looks good," he replied, unsure of the proper way to respond, "B-but, u-um, why…?"

Nejire looked thoughtful for a moment, tapping a finger to her lips as she looked up at the sky…

Before shrugging, her shoulders as light as clouds beneath the easygoing expression she wore on her face. "I wanted to!"

He handed her the band back without a word. Nejire was one of a kind, that was for sure.

"I thought it would be cool!" She continued, slipping it back onto her forearm, "Like, I'm making sure those losers know exactly what I was there for! And that's you!"

A lot of thoughts ran through Izuku's head at her admission. Namely, that he was embarrassed - but when he was around Nejire, when was he not embarrassed? And also that he was a little disappointed that she didn't take his hand again, but that was just fueled by the fact that he was now starting to seriously crush on Nejire.

But the chances of anything coming from that were about as good as his dream of becoming a Hero - actually, they were probably less, all things considered.

He would have apologized for making her go through all of this stuff just for him, but…

"No more apologies, 'kay?"

"T-thanks," Izuku finally mumbled, "U-um, for doing all this. Y-you don't have to go through all t-this…"

Nejire gave him a friendly nudge with her shoulder. "Yes I do," she countered, "You're my friend. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna let people mess with my friend! It's what anyone would do!"

Damn. And here he was thinking he'd finally stop blushing today.

It was almost laughable how he'd once considered Bakugou his friend. Compared to Nejire, he may as well have been the devil. Had Bakugou ever, in his entire life, stood up for anyone - much less Izuku?

Nope. And here was Nejire, acting like she was ready to hand the world to Izuku on a silver platter. His heart ached at the knowledge that even though she knew he was a loser, and Quirkless, and had just about nothing to offer the world, she still cared about him - and cared more than anyone he'd ever met (excluding his mother, of course).

How could he not have started falling for her?

"...Izuku?" Nejire poked him in the cheek, making him jump in surprise. "Oh, there you are! You were kind of spacing out for a minute."

He scratched his cheek, quickly looking away in embarrassment. "S-sorry," Izuku apologized reflexively, "U-um, I was just thinking about… stuff."

Nejire tilted her head to the side. "Stuff? Like what?"

Izuku blushed harder. "N-n-nothing!" He said quickly, immediately racking his mind for a way to redirect the conversation, "U-u-uh, I-I was, e-er, just thinking about y-your fight with T-Togata-san at the S-Sports Festival. I finally got a-around to watching it yesterday, y-you did amazing!"

She beamed at him. "Thanks! I'm glad you got to at least see the recording, even if it wasn't a very long fight! I actually wanted to talk to you about Nejire-Barrier, I had some ideas for it that I thought might be worth exploring…"

As the only person in the world who would declare herself Izuku's friend began to prattle off ideas for Wave Motion for him to bounce right back, he felt his heart swell up in his chest again.

Even if they were just friends, that was more than enough for Izuku.

He didn't even realize Nejire had grabbed his hand again.

–

"...N-Nejire?"

"...Hmm?"

"W-what are you d-doing?"

Nejire lifted her head off his shoulder slowly. "What do you mean?"

For starters, that. She had rested her head down on him the moment the train started moving, turning him into a veritable statue with how tense he suddenly became. Izuku wasn't even sure he was breathing for most of the ride.

But that wasn't the most important thing weighing on his mind.

"W-why are you t-taking my t-t-train?" He asked, stammering heavily as she returned to leaning on him. Plenty of people in the train car were having a good laugh at the pair, but Nejire clearly didn't care. He was pretty sure at least one person recognized them (well, recognized Nejire) and was taking photos. "D-d-don't you live, like, the c-complete opposite direction from me?"

Nejire shrugged, rubbing shoulders with him in the process. "Didn't have any plans, so I figured I'd take the whole journey with you!" She tapped the green band on her forearm again. "I don't shirk from my jobs, y'know! I take them seriously!"

That didn't explain why it looked like she was falling asleep less than two minutes ago, but whatever. "Your shoulder is a really good pillow! Did you know that? Is it because your uniform is so soft– oh, it kind of is! You must use a lot of fabric softener, huh? Or maybe it's the same reason that your hair is so fluffy, Izuku! Have you ever thought about that?"

"U-um, no?" he replied quickly, "I-I've never really been able to fall asleep on the t-train, or tried… m-much less while in m-my uniform. And I don't know why it w-would be especially soft, it's not like I do anything s-special to my laundry."

Nejire hummed, reaching over him to continue her favorite activity with Izuku - playing with his hair. "Weird," she mumbled, "You know, I tried that conditioner you said you used, but I can't really notice a difference in my hair. Can you?"

Izuku, who was already as pink as a peach, had no ability to respond coherently as Nejire turned her back towards him and showed off her hair. "Um…" he sounded like a broken alarm. "...H-how w-would I k-know? I-I've never t-touched your h-h-hair…"

Nejire blinked in surprise, as though she was realizing this for the first time. "Oh, right!" She snapped her fingers. "Well, tell me what you think of it now, and then in a few weeks I'll ask you again and you can compare! Does that work?"

He didn't know what ancient demon possessed him the moment he tried to respond, but Izuku knew that one must have in order for him to react the way he did. "U-uh, okay?" He agreed, before realizing exactly what he said.

"Great!" Nejire let out a tiny cheer, meant to disturb their fellow passengers as little as possible, but Izuku was pretty sure they were all watching them anyway. "Go on, I won't bite!"

Yeah, like that was what Izuku was worried about. He was pretty sure his face was about to burst into flames. Maybe he had a latent Quirk that allowed his blushes to go beyond what people should be physically capable of.

He brushed his hands against her long, light blue hair, not willing to wait for Nejire to tell him to get to it a second time. She hummed as he ran his fingers through it slowly, trying very hard to not lose himself in the feeling.

And then Nejire shuddered as he accidentally touched the back of her neck. Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope.

"U-u-um…" Izuku stammered, pulling his hands back quickly like he'd burned himself on a hot pan, "Y-your hair is s-s-soft, too…?"

Nejire made a face. "If you say so," she relented, immediately going back on the assault against his own mop, "But I don't really think I can compete with what you've got up here!"

Izuku sank down in his seat, feeling his life force fade away beneath Nejire's hands. This was the most embarrassing thing he could imagine doing with someone in public, and he really wished all the older passengers would stop laughing at his predicament, but there wasn't one bit of him that wished she'd stop.

It felt nice.

And he'd deny it to anyone who accused him of thinking that until the day he died.

–

"Do you remember that girl from that mini golf place at the mall?" Nejire asked, lazily floating circles around Izuku as he walked, "Kodai? Does she ring a bell?"

Izuku nodded. "Y-yeah, why?"

His friend grinned as she slowly rotated upside down, creating a very odd image for any pedestrian unfortunate enough to walk past them. "She did pretty good in the first-year festival! I think Ryukyu sent her an offer, especially because I told her to look out for her! Ryukyu doesn't usually take freshmen as interns - even I wasn't an exception to that rule, despite how totally awesome I am - but she seemed pretty determined! I think that explosive guy won, but they had to chain him up to get him to accept his medal and he probably won't get a lot of offers thanks to his attitude, but she made it to the top eight! Tied for best in her class! She'll probably get a lot of offers thanks to her fight with that– hey, are you okay?"

Izuku hadn't moved since she mentioned Bakugou, leaving Nejire to float ahead unknowingly. "I–" He stopped himself. What was he supposed to say? "I-I-I'm f-fine."

No he wasn't. Was he seriously going to shut down just because he heard Nejire talk about Bakuogu? She hadn't even said his name, for God's sake - just offhandedly mentioned him as the 'explosive guy'.

Apparently that didn't matter. The answer was still yes. His nails had dug into his palms, creating eight curved indents in his skin that looked like they were just about ready to draw blood.

Nejire landed softly on her feet, quickly making her way back towards Izuku with a frown on her face. "Did I say something?"

Izuku shook his head rapidly. "N-n-no!" He said quickly - too quickly, "I-I j-just, uh, r-remembered s-s-something important."

Her frown deepened, but instead of saying anything else she pulled him in for a soft hug.

This was like the third one today. Was she hugging him more than usual?

He wasn't going to complain. Even if it made him red in the face and more flustered than the average person should be able to cope with, something about Nejire just made him melt into her arms.

It was very embarrassing, frankly.

"I'm sorry if I said something," she murmured, "You know you can talk to me about it if you want, right?"

He nodded slowly as a bashful glow enveloped his face, soft and endearing (though Izuku didn't know that). "D-don't a-apologize!" He said quickly, "Y-you didn't d-do anything, really!"

Nejire hummed, resting her head on top of his own as her breath tickled his emerald curls. "If you say so…" She squeezed him a little tighter for a second, releasing him soon after, "But I'm here for you, Izuku."

His heart was doing backflips. She smiled at him, and it took all his willpower to not pass out from sheer embarrassment.

He settled on a shaky, lopsided smile. "I-I know," Izuku mumbled, "Thanks, Nejire."

She ruffled his hair. With every passing day, he was more and more certain that she had an unhealthy interest in it. Was that why she became friends with him? "Don't mention it!"

Izuku cleared his throat awkwardly, averting his eyes before he actually passed out from all the blood rushing to his head. "A-anyways," he continued, "Heroes give out internships for the Sports Festival?"

Nejire nodded, accepting Izuku's attempt to shift the conversation without a second thought. "Yep! It's the Sports Festival that gives most Hero students their first chance to expose themselves - both to civilians and Heroes! Any Hero is free to offer any and as many internships as they want, but students can only accept one that they'll actually go on. Of course, if you have a really bad showing you might not get any offers, but U.A. still has a list of generic offers from their partner-agencies, which are usually run by their graduates, for people who don't have much luck."

He nodded slowly, absorbing all the information Nejire had to offer. "Does that mean that you got a lot of offers this year?"

Nejire giggled. "...Maybe?" She replied in a sing-song tone, playfully putting her hands behind her back in an attempt to feign innocence. "Does every Hero agency in Japan count as a lot?"

Izuku's eyes went as wide as saucers and his jaw dropped to the ground. "E-e-every agency in Japan?!"

"Well, probably not all of them," she admitted, "But definitely most of them. I got well over ten-thousand offers, and I'm pretty sure the only Hero to not send me an offer in the top one-hundred was Endeavor - and that's just because he already knows what my answer would be!"

Well then. That was a lot. "H-how do you decide, then?" He asked, "I mean, there's no way you could p-possibly go through that many applications in a single week!"

She shrugged. "I don't have to!" Nejire announced proudly, "I work with Ryukyu, and that means I'm going to intern with her. I don't have to, technically speaking, but once most of us reached our second year we knew what agency we'd be joining once we graduate. It's way more important for the first-years than it is for us. Even if I did want to go through all those offers, I'd probably just dump most of them in the garbage anyways. What is Mount Lady or Slugger or Death Arms or Rock Lock or anyone else like that going to teach me? You'd probably be a better mentor than, like, eighty-five percent of the people who sent me an offer! You're the whole reason I even got that many offers in the first place, don't forget!"

Izuku sighed. He would have denied and downplayed his contributions to Nejire's success, but he'd been there and done that - for the better part of a month, by this point. If he said anything other than 'thanks', she'd just heap more and more praise on him until his poor soul couldn't take it anymore.

"T-thanks," he replied earnestly, a wobbly smile on his face, "I'm really happy it's all b-been working out f-for you!"

And he meant that, from the bottom of his heart. It was a little painful to watch Nejire succeed with flying colors where he had once wished to be, sure, but he'd made his peace with that stupid idea. The fact that he could do something, anything to help his friend meant way more to him now that being a Hero ever would.

Nejire's smile was more than enough motivation for him to support her.

Plus, what kind of friend would he be if he didn't?

Izuku couldn't tell, what with his sudden fascination with the sidewalk (so that Nejire didn't see his blush, of course), but Nejire was slightly taken aback by the passion that filled his voice during his last little declaration.

She decided that she liked it. Izuku's confidence, what with it beat to hell and practically nonexistent, sometimes reared its cute little head in ways that made her want to hold him like a giant teddy bear.

But since she was pretty sure he was about to explode considering the blush on his face, she settled on a side-hug.

Izuku was inventing new shades of red with how hard his blushes were becoming.

But that didn't mean he made any effort to stop her.

"W-we're h-h-here," Izuku mumbled after a few more minutes of walking.

Nejire blinked, turning towards Izuku's apartment building. "Oh, yeah!" She exclaimed, "I forgot you lived in an apartment. Do you live alone? I know some people at U.A. who do that to try and become more independent before they graduate."

Izuku rubbed his arm. "Um, n-no," he clarified, "I l-live with my m-mom…"

It shouldn't have been something to get embarrassed about, considering he was only in his first year of high school, but something about admitting it to Nejire made him feel like he was especially immature.

The taller girl nodded. "Gotcha!" She turned her attention back towards the apartment building. "I still live with my parents, too, up in Akita. It's great, but the distance from U.A. makes it kind of a pain some days, y'know? There aren't a lot of trains that go up there!"

Izuku frowned, a sinking feeling in his gut forming at her words. "W-what time is y-your train today?"

"Uh…" Nejire deadpanned as she checked her phone. "About… ten minutes ago?"

The two of them froze. One out of surprise, the other out of guilt (and also surprise).

"Y-y-you c-could have said s-s-something w-when we were at t-the s-s-station!" He cried, "I-I c-can't believe y-you missed your t-train because of m-m-me–"

Nejire ruffled his hair. "It's not your fault!" She chastised, "I'm the one who forgot! Besides, it's not a big deal. I just have to make the next one!"

"A-a-and w-when is that?" Izuku asked, beyond exasperated.

His friend shrugged. "A little less than two hours."

…

"T-TWO HOURS?!" Izuku practically screamed, horror filling his tone.

She just shrugged. "I'll find something to do!"

Now, Izuku had two choices. He could accept her words as they were, and leave her be (after apologizing profusely, of course), with Nejire going on to figure out how to kill two hours in the middle of Musutafu while she waited for her ride home. The him from two months ago would have gone with this option without a second thought.

Or…

Izuku mustered up every last ounce of courage he could find in his measly body. "W-w-well," he stammered, already regretting opening his mouth, "I-if you w-want, u-um, s-s-since it's kind of m-my f-fault you missed your t-train and you've done s-so much for m-me recently… youcouldcomeovermyapartmentandstayforawhileifyouwant!"

Nejire cocked her head to the side as Izuku slowly deflated, like a balloon that had been popped. "Huh?"

"A-aw, man," Izuku whispered to himself, "D-d-don't make me say it again!"

He whispered something else unintelligible to himself, before straightening up and clearing his throat awkwardly. "U-um, y-you could come over to my apartment and, ah, s-stay f-f-for a while, if you w-want…"

If wanting to curl up into a ball and die was a sport, Izuku would be the world's greatest player, bar none. It was like the feeling was an integral part of his personality now.

"Sure!" Nejire said easily, "Thanks, Izuku!"

Huh?

She nudged his frozen body forward slightly. "Lead the way!"

Oh. She had accepted his offer.

Izuku had no idea if that was good or not.

–

His apartment wasn't very special. If anything, the most interesting thing about it was how bland everything was.

It only had a few rooms. The main entrance was dotted with pictures of himself and his mother at varying points in their lives, the kitchen was about as standard as it could be, with only a few hanging plants differentiating it from what would be seen in an apartment that was on the market, and Izuku didn't bother showing Nejire any other rooms. His mother's was off limits for obvious reasons, his own was painfully boring (and he couldn't bear the idea of a girl being in his room), and there was no point in showing her their laundry room.

"It's nice!" Nejire said, plopping down on the small loveseat in the living room once his tour was finished, "Really cozy!"

"T-thanks," Izuku mumbled, taking a spot on the chair off to Nejire's side, "Um, d-do you want anything to d-drink? I know you s-said you don't really drink depressors like t-tea, but we have water and lemonade."

She hummed. "Lemonade?" Nejire repeated, interested, "What kind?"

"The s-sugary kind."

The periwinkle-haired girl's eyes lit up. "Yes, please!" She cheered, "That sounds great!"

Izuku nodded, quickly making his way to the fridge to pour a glass. He handed it off to Nejire as soon as he could, awkwardly returning to his seat as she sipped the beverage.

Was he being a good host? Should he have offered her refreshments sooner? Was he supposed to have food for her, like a charcuterie board?

"Ahh," Nejire breathed out, "That hits the spot. Thanks!"

He shook his head so quickly it was in danger of flying off. "N-no problem!" Izuku rushed to say. "It's the l-least I could do since you missed y-your train because of me!"

Nejire waved him off. "I told you already," she reminded him, "It wasn't because of you! Really!"

Izuku thought it was fair if he had a hard time believing that. "B-but the only reason–"

The door to his apartment opened. "Izuku, I'm home–"

Inko Midoriya's eyes landed on her son, who sat frozen in the living room like he'd seen a ghost.

And then they found the girl sitting on the couch opposite him.

"Izuku…" his mom whispered, low enough that he could barely make it out, "You brought a girl home?"

That was the last thing out of her mouth before she passed out, fainting in the doorway in front of her son and the mysterious girl he brought home.

"Mom!"

–

After that little disaster, Izuku's mom was thankfully able to regain consciousness in no time at all.

That didn't do anything to take away how mortified he had become at the fact that his mother fainted merely because Izuku committed the grave sin of bringing someone home. And not even in a less than wholesome way - just inviting a friend over while she waited for her train.

At least Nejire didn't laugh at him - or get weirded out and leave - even as his mom burst into tears when she woke up.

"My baby is all grown up now!" His mother had cried, her tears flooding the living room, "He brought a girl home!"

Yeah. That really did not help things. Trying to clear things up with his mother while she was in that state was not very fun.

But now… things were even worse.

Because his mother invited Nejire to stay for dinner.

And she said yes.

And now she was showing his only friend (and sort of crush) his baby pictures as he set the table.

Please kill him already.

"And this one is from when Izuku was in his 'stubborn' period!" Inko pointed at a photo of him from when he was three, glaring cutely at the camera while in his All Might onesie, cheeks puffed out in irritation. She flipped to the next page in the photo album, and Nejire burst out laughing at whatever horrors his mother had placed within.

"Please, God," he whispered from his spot in the kitchen, "If you're real, smite me."

His prayers went unanswered.

It was nice to see that his mom and Nejire got along well, Izuku figured, but did it really have to be at his expense? Couldn't they both like knitting or something? Why did she have to bring out his baby pictures?

"I still can't believe my Izuku is finally bringing friends home," his mother gushed, wiping at her eyes with a handkerchief she had pulled out from who knows where, "It's been years since he's had someone over, much less someone as pretty as you, Nejire!"

Izuku winced. He was half-sure she was trying to embarrass him at this point.

"D-dinner's done," he mumbled, loud enough for both women to hear before lowering his voice even lower, "I hope I choke on it."

As they joined him in the kitchen (and Izuku once again wished he could turn invisible as his mom ordered him to pull Nejire's chair out for her), the conversation thankfully shifted away from his shame.

"Wow Ms. Midoriya!" Nejire gasped as she took her first bite of tempura, "This is great! I didn't know fish could taste so good!"

His mom laughed, and Izuku felt his blood run cold.

"Oh, Nejire, you're too kind!" She crooned, "Please, call me Inko."

She bobbed her head in between bites. "Okay!"

Dinner was full of little compliments by Nejire, as well as a plentiful amount of them from his mom as well, mostly about how beautiful she was (which was accurate) or how kind she was (which was also accurate). Izuku, for his part, merely tried not to die of embarrassment, which was quickly becoming his most-frequented word.

The real killer was that it was like his mother was getting along with Nejire better than he was.

If only he had social skills. Or confidence. Or the lack of a stutter. Or–

"Oh, crap!" Nejire suddenly shouted, nearly spitting out her glass of lemonade (it was her fifth one, but who was counting?), "I'm really really sorry about this, but I gotta go!"

Izuku glanced at the clock. "Oh!" He exclaimed, "Is it time for your train?"

Nejire hastily wiped at her face with her napkin. "Yeah, in like five minutes!"

Oh crap indeed. Izuku's apartment wasn't exactly close to the station.

"Oh, dear!" Inko gasped, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you so long!"

Nejire shook her head as she rushed to grab her bag from the entrance. "No, no, I'm just really, really, really bad at time management!" She let out an awkward laugh. "Thank you so much for dinner Inko, and thanks for inviting me over Izuku! I'd really like to stay longer but I think my parents would kill me! I'm sorry!"

His mother was the only one who wasn't currently freaking out over the chance that she missed her train. "Don't apologize dear, it was a pleasure! We'd be happy to have you over some other time! Do you need Izuku to escort you to the station?"

Nejire practically jumped into her shoes. "No time!" She flung the door open, Wave Motion flaring to life around her legs, and offered Izuku one last smile before she left. "Thanks again, Izuku! I'll text you later! See you soon!"

Izuku made it to the door just in time to watch Nejire fly off in the general direction of the station.

He hoped she didn't miss her train because of him again.

His mom stepped outside behind him, her eyes trailing behind the beam of golden light that was Nejire. "She's a very nice girl!"

He nodded slowly.

Inko smirked at his lack of verbal reaction, with Izuku silently staring after his friend with a small blush on his face. "Well," she continued, "You found yourself a very nice girl! I hope that once you two start dating you make sure to visit every so often!"

"Mom!" Izuku shouted, betrayal marring his face, "I-it's not like t-that!"

She started to giggle. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding," his mother laughed, before quickly clapping her hands together. "Now, when can I expect grandchildren?"

"MOM!"

—

A/N: Another day, another chapter… not actually, but close! It's been about a month since chapter one, and I'm shocked how popular this fic has gotten! Thanks to all of you for your support!

I'm slowly figuring out where and how I want to move the fic, which is good, because I've basically been writing up to chapter 8 for most of the story so far. As solid of an ending that chapter would have been, there's still, like, zero romance so far, and I have a lot of ideas and threads to keep up!

Hope you enjoyed! Make sure to review! See you next time!