Izuku wasn't much of a dreamer. Not in the sense of rest anyway. Sure he had his goals and aspirations that he wanted to achieve, and he'd work like a freaking lunatic in order to reach those goals without compromise. He was dedicated, determined, and focused almost to a fault, always doing whatever it took to get a step closer to his goal of being a Hero. Seeing everything as a chance to learn and absorb information from wherever he could, from whatever source. He was a model student, and an enthusiast for his chosen career path, and he aspired of that glorious day where he'd graduate, become a sidekick, and finally move on to becoming a full-fledged Hero.
But in terms of sleep, he didn't really dream a lot anymore… Scientifically, he knew that whenever he slept, he had a dream, but none of them were ever worth committing to memory, apparently, since they were forgotten the second his eyes opened. When he was younger, he had all sorts of childish fantastic dreams about being the Hero next to All Might who would save the day and have everyone chanting his name. He'd dream about attending a school like Yuuei, and learning every single trick in the book about becoming a Hero, making close friendships that would last a lifetime, and beginning to forge his own identity. He'd dream about fighting Villains, and saving people who needed the help, where he expected nothing but a 'Thank you' in return.
The thing was though, now that was his life. He was being guided by his idol, attending the world's most prestigious Hero Academy, had fought Villains - Although admittedly that one wasn't as glamorous as he'd thought it would be - and was gathering so many new friends that it far exceeded any expectations. Throughout his childhood, he was the kid everyone bullied, made fun of, mocked, or even beat to maintain their own social standing. Now he had so many close friends that he basically liked to consider his entire class a big social group. His entire world had been turned into a living dream that he had to fight like hell to keep going. It was just so much better than everything before.
One thing he never dreamed of, or really ever thought about, was ever having a girlfriend throughout his high school days. He'd always assumed he'd be too busy, too dedicated, or that no one would take an interest in Quirkless little Izuku. He never let it bother him though. He always focused on his studies more, so he didn't let the thought bug him. If it ever happened, great, he'd be over the moon if the planets aligned and the luck bestowed upon him, but if not, it was something that he could live with.
And now, he had Mina. The colourful, cheerful, quirky ball of energy that the entire class recognized as one of their more lively members. The girl who would play dumb jokes on other members, and laugh at the stupidest things. The girl who always seemed to be the bright glow in Class 1-A, standing out due to her innate unique appearance, and was as much of a standout as she was, there were very real, very human feelings that she had. And she had shared them with him.
And he had felt the same. And now...
Yesterday ran through his mind, over and over and over again as he slept, remembering everything that they had done, from him dancing like an idiot and burning himself out while somehow - God knew how - beating her at a rhythm game that relied on reflexes - Seriously, how had he managed this?! - , selecting reading material and finding out they had similar tastes, or just wondering around the place looking for something entertaining to do to kill some time.
He wasn't entirely sure where he developed these feelings from, how quickly they had come into being, but the happiness he felt, the beating of his heart when it fluttered, was something he wouldn't ever be able to replicate. Nor did he know where the courage to kiss her cheek like he had come from, but he was so happy that he had. It had made her open up to him. To confess to him...
To think a girl like Mina, someone so vibrant and lively, so outgoing and social, and so amazingly cute had those feelings for meek, nerdy Izuku...
His cheeks still burned up whenever he thought about their mutual confession to one another. It was still something he was struggling to fully comprehend, or even accept that it had happened. When he got home that night, when his mother asked him where he'd been, and when he'd explained everything to her, he almost wasn't sure if he believed it all himself. It all sounded surreal, almost as unbelievable as a Quirk that could be passed down. His mother had certainly been overjoyed though, weeping tears of joy, and asking a thousand questions about the new girlfriend Izuku reported to have. She must have dehydrated herself four or five times during their conversation.
Izuku just couldn't believe it all. It all seemed too good to be true... But it was.
He had a girlfriend now. And it was Mina.
No, Izuku didn't dream about the childish things like Superheroes and superpowers anymore. He was living that dream now. If anything, a dream of one of those things would be tamed compared to the real thing.
But he did dream about Mina. He dreamed about every aspect about her. Her unique, smooth and warm skin. Her horns, made of bone. Her darkened eyes. Her infectious laugh.
And her perfect smile.
"Awaaaaaawhh..."
Izuku had to stifle a loud yawn come Monday. Tears welled up as he tried to block his mouth from view for the other passengers on board. One man who wore a sick mask around his mouth seemed to glance at him, but paid him no real heed in the end.
It was just a regular subway ride to Yuuei, nothing special about it whatsoever, but to Izuku, it almost felt like it was going about half as fast as it normally did, and he couldn't decide if that was good or bad today. He was completely exhausted, not having totally recovered from his and Mina's date on Saturday. His legs still felt shaky and a bit sore, and his brain was slow and sluggish. He wasn't looking forward to the day he had ahead of him. He knew that Monday's rarely held combat training of any sort. Often times, they rarely held anything that required the class to change into their Hero costumes, so that was nice and reassuring to the tired green haired boy.
Normally he was all over a day at Yuuei, like the white on rice Lunch Rush served on a regular basis, but today, he really would have just liked to lay in. Part of that was because of Mina, but mostly, it was himself and his own lack of self-control.
He and Mina had engaged in conversation, via text, and at times, via voice and video call, for basically the entire day. Both of them had expressed their disbelief at the previous day, but their simultaneous relief and gratitude that it had happened. It was surreal to talk to Mina after the day that they had shared together, Izuku thought to himself, but he got used to talking to her again rather quickly, her energy infecting him even via mobile bandwidths. They had talked, and talked, and talked, only stopping when one of their families needed them for something, or to eat one of the daily meals.
What Izuku found really endearing about Mina was the fact that just by talking to her, she made doing the most trivial and strenuous things entertaining and fun. At certain points of their conversation, Izuku had lifted some reps on his dumbbells to tone his muscles a bit more, cleaned away some of the comics he had bought the previous day which had shattered across the floor due to his fatigue, and done a bit of studying before he realized that several hours had passed and not a single lull in the conversation had occurred, and he'd been enjoying every second of it.
What he should have expected was for the boundless energy Mina exerted to translate to the fact that she could easily talk well into the night. They switched to a text based format so as not to disturb the people in their respective houses. Mina didn't tire in the least during the exchange, easily going on until two in the morning. While Izuku knew that she wouldn't hold it against him if he just told her he had been getting tired from around the 22:00 mark, a big part of him simply didn't want the conversation to stop. He was enjoying himself way too much to care. So he kept on talking to her.
A choice he seriously came to regret that morning, when his 06:00 alarm went off, and he felt like hell on earth. He found out that he'd completely knocked out without even realizing it, his still on phone being the first thing he saw, and the blindingly bright glow forcing his eye to snap back shut like he'd been hit in the eye by a laser pointer.
He had to seriously fight off that grogginess and the temptation to roll right back over and fall asleep again. Making a mental note to use his head next time, to just say that he was exhausted to avoid this feeling in the morning, Izuku got ready for another day at his Hero Academy.
It had been pretty good thinking of his to keep his phone charging throughout the conversation. Incredibly forward thinking, since there was no doubt it would have run out of power by that morning. Upon checking the small plastic and metal device in the morning, he had a couple of messages from Mina he never saw from the previous night, one asking where he went, and another one of her figuring out that he'd passed out and apologizing for keeping him up. Nothing from that morning, although Izuku would admit, he'd be impressed if she was going to be as giddy as she usually was when she'd stayed up as long as he had. He'd be impressed, but not at all surprised. Somehow he got the feeling she did this fairly often.
Everything aside though, it was a pretty average morning for Izuku. He'd purchased a bottle of inexpensive carbonated drink to try and wake him up, not that it did much good. On the train, while he was beyond exhausted, he didn't fall asleep, and he followed his normal pattern. He checked the news for any stories relating to Heroics, finding an interesting article about a Quirk that allowed its user to create miniature canyons by touching any surface, which for some reason, acted as a slash type attack when used on a living being. He made a few notes about it in his memory, planning on sketching them down in his notebook when he eventually made it to class, noting the strengths and weaknesses such a Quirk would offer its user.
Nothing extraordinary happened outside of that though. It was a fairly average news day, a few click-bait ads wrapped up in sponsored content, and story about Mt. Lady arresting a three man group trying to rob a supermarket, the images the media published typically less than decent when it came to the Gigantification Quirk user. He quickly tilted his phone from view when those came up, lest any of the other passengers get the wrong idea of what he was looking at.
Once the doors slid open, Izuku stepped out to be greeted by the normal Tokyo morning hustle and bustle. At this point, having going to Yuuei for a few months now, he was used to the erratic commune at this station in the morning. It had surprised him at first, but now he was used to the constantly moving tall men and women, eager students, and misbehaving children that occupied the sea of grey concrete and black and greyer uniforms and suits.
The freckled boy rubbed his eyelids to try and get the sleep and fatigue out of his system. He needed to be at 100%. He always needed to be at 100%, and beyond that whenever he was faced with a day of school. That was the motto of Yuuei. Plus Ultra. Another yawn escaped him, this one far longer than his earlier one, and louder to boot.
"Midori!"
Hearing his nickname, second only to Deku in terms of its popularity, since only one person called him by it, Izuku's yawn was cut short. He took a look around, to find Mina approaching him with that perfect smile on her face, and an insulated flask in her left hand. As per normal at this point, she still hadn't put on her grey jacket like Izuku did, preferring to put it on at the last minute, although her tie was fastened around her collar. Against a sea of darkened blacks and greys, along with her skin colour, it did help her to stand out a lot easier, especially to the green haired teenager.
'What is she doing here?' Izuku thought to himself. They hadn't agreed to meet here. She had come here on her own, and he hadn't expected her here, so he was understandably confused. That wasn't to say it was unwelcome. It was the opposite of that in fact. He was very happy to see her here. He just didn't know why she was here.
Had she come just to see him a bit earlier than she would have at Yuuei?
He would have returned the smile had he not been tackled by a giant hug the second she came within earshot range. Mina's arms wrapped around his neck and she held him tight, her chin resting on his right shoulder and the warm skin of her cheek brushing against his own. He smelled of that same citron and bubble-gum scent Izuku had grown to recognize fondly, although that observation wasn't doing much to help hide the blush growing on his face. The last time she hugged him was at the end of their mutual confession on their date, and he had basically melted on the spot. This time he held onto more of his bombastic self-control, but that was seriously put to the test when she warmly greeted him with a cheerful "Good morning!" right next to his ear. Her voice was so close, so pitch perfect...
Finally letting go of him so he could move his neck without having to wrestle for breathing space, Mina skipped back a step and smiled at him again, a small giggle escaping her as she got amusement from his current state of floundering. "M-Morning, M-Mina-san."
"Back to 'Mina-san'?" She asked with an amused grin at his formality slipping back into his speech. In all honesty, she preferred him to just drop the honorifics altogether, or add 'Chan' on if he truly felt the need to use one. She never really was a formal sort of person, but right now, she didn't really care. One look at Izuku told her she had been right to bring the flask she had. Grabbing his hand in a rather loose manner, she began to lead him out of the subway station. "Come on, follow me."
Izuku obeyed, not that he really got much choice in the matter, since he was being dragged along, and whenever Mina was determined to get somewhere, she'd normally get there. He'd learned that about her over the last few weeks.
Once outside of the subway station, leaving behind the humid air of the underground station and rose up into the cooler air and the slightly less crowded Tokyo streets, that were still as busy as ever, just less compressed into a small area, Mina continued to lead him further away from the city, a bit closer to Yuuei. At first, Izuku didn't assume much of it, assuming that she was just leading him to their high school in her zealous manner.
His suspicions only began to rise when Mina instead pulled him into the only park that was located near the Hero Academy. It was a rather large park, with footpaths and a water feature that had preserved an ancient traditional bridge and kiosk over the water, in the olden days of feudal Japan, the time before Quirks. Inside was also a playground for the younger children to play in. Around this time of day, it was normally empty, excluding any park attendants that happened to be around.
"M-Mina, what are we doing here?" Izuku asked, glancing around the place for some sort of inclination as to what they were supposed to be here for. Unless Mina just felt like taking a convoluted route to the school, he came up with nothing. Truly, he was confused.
Eventually, they reached an old, wooden bench that had been preserved thanks to metal framing applied on the supports over the course of time. Slipping off her backpack, Mina sat down, and motioned for Izuku to sit next to her. Though still unsure and uneasy, Izuku did so, now too curios to not see where she was going with this. They had, what, maybe a half hour before they actually had to be there for lessons to begin? He was willing to lose a few minutes to see what she was doing here.
"You always arrive super early, I had to get up at five just to beat you here." Mina told him with a smile as she began to twist the flask open, moving the large black cap clockwise and the metallic, insulated cylinder counter-clockwise. Upon separation, a huge bellow of steam burst the top of the now exposed inside of the object, a strong scent of coffee attacking the senses. Mina passed the back cap to Izuku, it being large enough to act as a cup, and poured him out a helping of the strongly caffeinated drink. "Thought you might want a little pick-me-up before we got to Yuuei. I kinda kept you up until you knocked out, so, this is kinda me saying sorry in a way."
Izuku wasn't the biggest fan of coffee, if he was honest. He would drink it, but he wasn't entirely keen on things that were bitter like coffee was. He'd rather drink water. Still, the sentiment was there from Mina, and he appreciated it, so he took the dark liquid to his lips and began to sip. In juxtaposition to what he knew this drink was supposed to be like, it was actually incredibly sweet. He had a feeling that this might be how Mina got so much energy, because already, he felt his eyes rocket open, eradicating the fatigue he held not five minutes ago. What the hell even went into this stuff?
His cheeks burned a little from the warmth of the hot drink and he smiled. "That's... Really sweet."
"You're welcome."
"I - I meant the coffee..."
"I'd hope so, it has like five sugars in it." Mina smirked, indicating that she knew perfectly well what Izuku was referring to in the first place. Izuku suddenly felt embarrassed for some reason, and quickly hastened to express his gratitude to Mina as well.
"I - I mean, it was still really nice of you to- to do this... You - You didn't have to, you know." He stuttered quickly, tripping over his words more than usual. For some reason, he always felt far giddier with Mina, and combined with his usual inability to fluently speak, and his nervous awkwardness when he was around this girl, this left him more tongue tied than usual.
"I know." Mina simply replied, with a tint of purple on her cheeks. "But I sorta kept you awake all night, so I thought that this would be a nice way to make up for it." In saying so, she gently slipped her hand into his free one.
While his own cheeks were now turning to a shade of red, Izuku wouldn't deny that this was nice. He really didn't expect this, nor did he ever expect anything like this from anyone. He knew that his grogginess was his own fault, nothing that Mina needed to feel guilty about. And he knew that he would never ask this sort of thing of her.
But at the same time... The fact she had done this herself, without any need to be asked, because she had wanted to do this for him... Made him feel really happy. Happy in a way he had only felt a few times in his life. It wasn't something as overpowering and rapturous as All Might telling him the words he had never heard throughout his entire Quirkless childhood. This was a far more subtle, but equally as powerful.
"...Thanks, Mina." He said with utter sincerity, smiling softly along with her, and returning the hold on her hand with his own, his fingers lightly covering her knuckles as her own did to his.
"Anytime." The pink girl responded happily.
The two stayed like this for a while as Izuku finished the drink he had been given. The combination of caffeine and sugar felt like a taser to the senses every time he swallowed a mouthful of what he was now dubbing as 'liquid lava'. Whatever was in this, it was a hell of a lot more effective than the stuff that the school sold. It kept waking him up more and more until he felt like he had enough energy in reserves to at least make it through the school day. He passed the cup back to Mina, who had decided that she wasn't going to have any, quickly fastening the black holder back atop the flask, entrapping the remaining heat in the insulated cylinder.
"Feel better?"
"Yeah... A lot." Izuku blinked a few times, not quite sure how such a small amount of coffee could rejuvenate him so much. It was most likely just a rush that he was feeling, and he'd develop a lot more of an immunity to it if he kept guzzling it down as an alternative to sleep, but since this was the first time he'd had this blend, he was still weak to it, and now had enough power to face the challenges today would bring, at the very least. He'd probably still collapse in bed the minute he got home.
He shuddered slightly, his body adjusting to the increase of heat to his body. He felt good. Better than he did previously. Much better.
"Hey, Izuku?..." Mina's voice was suddenly low, like she was anxious or nervous about something, but felt like she had to say it, to get it out in the open. Hearing her being nervous was no longer unheard of to Izuku, but it still did manage to surprise him whenever she sounded like she was doubting herself.
He only now noticed that she'd been fairly quiet, in comparison to how she normally was. Typically, she was a bit overloud, energetic to the highest degree, and talkative to the highest degree. Here, she seemed to be a lot more reserved, and had seemed to be so throughout their interactions.
"Are you okay?" He asked her, wondering if something was bothering her, and hoping that if there was something wrong, she would share it with him. His hand subconsciously held onto hers that bit tighter, attempting to comfort her.
"It's just... I mean, it's... Us."
Suddenly Izuku's blood ran cold. A thousand different scenarios began to run throughout his head, the one that stood out, and scared him the most, was her telling him she had been too hasty. That she wanted to call this whole thing off. That she'd changed her mind.
Logic was overridden to him. He knew that obviously, that wasn't what this was. Mina was an absent minded person, but she wasn't going to do that to him. She wasn't that sort of person. Not after everything she'd shared with him on their date. She wasn't cruel.
As it turned out, logic was the winner of the day.
"I... I don't know if this goes without saying, but..." Mina began, blushing lightly. She could feel her words tripping over themselves as they made their way out her voice box. "I mean... I know I'm kind of easy-going about stuff, but... I - I just wanted to say that um..." She hesitated, just for a second, before she swallowed and kept going. "I'm not, you know, jerking you around or anything. It's not just some... Silly little crush that I'm doing because I'm bored or whatever. I really do want... This, us, whatever you wanna call it, I do want it to work, honestly. I'm serious about, you know, us working." As she referred to the two of them, she held up their joined hands to emphasize the point.
Hearing these words along with her evident nervousness, Izuku managed to sigh and relax himself. Having just had that little panicked thought in his head, he knew that he was equally as dedicated to seeing if he could make this work if at all possible. He'd never been in this sort of position before. He'd never had a girlfriend before. He had barely even had friends before this entire event began, so he was sort of unsure as to what they were supposed to do. Revelation came only a few moments later.
"...I uh, I - I... Me too, Mina." It was really all he could manage to say, since his cheeks had begun to burn up at the words she had spoken. She had said everything that had needed to be said, there wasn't anything more that needed to be said. As he spoke, he smiled at her, even if it was a shaky smile. "I - I feel that way too..."
It was enough though. Sufficiently reassured, Mina beamed back at him, and suddenly, pulled Izuku into a deep arm hug. Using her free hand that wasn't holding onto his hand, she tightly wrapped her arm around the same arm of the hand she was holding, clutching onto it tightly as possible, small bouts of laughter escaping from her lips as she did so. While her head rested and snuggled in just on his shoulders by his neck, she was careful not to hit him with her marrow forged horns.
If Izuku hadn't been red previously, he absolutely was now. In her hugging his arm, Mina's chest, which was of moderate size, pressed against the very quick to realize boy's biceps in his upper arm. It was very unlikely that she was doing this on purpose, Izuku told himself very very quickly, many many times, doing his absolute best to hide the fact that this was pretty much the only thing he could think about right now. Mina tended not to think things all the way through before doing them! That was what this was, there wasn't any doubt about it! At least, he hoped so. He bit his lip, and attempted to avert his gaze elsewhere as quickly as he could.
Mina just laughed again. Was she doing this on purpose to get a laugh out of his flustered behaviour?
"Come on." She said with a little jump, practically pulling an unsuspecting Izuku back onto his feet. "We're gonna end up being late for classes if we don't get a move on."
They had spent a bit longer here than intended or either of them had expected, but they still had more than enough time to cover the distance from here to the school without being late. Izuku nodded, and began to walk with her, Mina refusing to let go of the hold she had on his arm and hand as the two of them made their way towards the giant building that was their school. Walking this way seemed to be a bit awkward for Mina, who had to take smaller steps with the leg that was closest to Izuku, and longer ones with the other leg. She didn't seem to particularly mind though, since her smile didn't disappear the entire time.
Izuku's didn't either. Despite the huge amount of embarrassment he was in thanks to this, he was actually genuinely happy with the current situation he found himself in. His blushes were clear for all to see, and while his smile was still wobbly, he didn't mind this. His hand wrapped up with Mina's… It was nice. Warm.
He liked this. This calm, peaceful feeling…
And upon noticing the tall walls, massive building, and the uniforms of the other students of their prestigious academy, Izuku felt that peaceful feeling shatter.
How the hell were they going to explain this to everyone else in Class 1-A?
"You okay, Midori?" Mina asked, tilting her head slightly. "You look pale."
"I – I just thought, um…" Izuku gulped, taking a sharp breath before answering. "How are we going to… You know… How do we… Tell the others about this?"
It only just registered to her then that Mina hadn't even considered this part of what would happen. She hadn't thought this far ahead. Of course, Izuku would have done. He was awkward enough as it is, and he preferred to avoid direct attention being called to him, so this, given some of their classmate's personalities, could be a recipe for him winding up flustered as all hell.
And she might have told possibly some of the worst people last Friday about her feelings for him. "…Well, we aren't going to need to tell Hagakure, Asui, Sero, or Kirishama, I can tell you that much…"
"…Why?"
"…I may have already told them."
Izuku very visually froze this time, and it looked like his eyes somehow bulged out of their sockets before returning to their natural positioning. "Wh – What?!"
"Not that we're you know, dating or anything!" Mina was quick to reassure Izuku, seeing the clear panic that was running through his brain. "Just… You know… That I liked you… They sort of figured it out on their own…"
That seemed to calm Izuku down a bit, since none of them would actually know that they were now a couple… But he quickly went into some sort of incoherent muttering that Mina couldn't understand, despite being right next to him. She heard the occasional name or action sometimes. She couldn't help but awkwardly smile at her boyfriend's mumbling habit.
Asui was a seal trap. If she was asked to keep something quiet and personal, she'd do so without question. She wasn't some sort of chatterbox and gossip regarding feelings that people would rather she didn't gossip about, that was a safe assumption to make when it came to the frog girl. Izuku was confident that she wouldn't spread anything around.
Everyone else though… That was another story.
Hagakure and Sero… Izuku barely knew either of them, but from what little he did know of them, they seemed rather sociable. Were they the sort of people to spread rumours? Well, they already figured it out according to Mina… So it wasn't like no one else couldn't have put two and two together…
The worst of this had to be, without a doubt, Kirishama. Izuku liked him well enough, and considered him to be a friend… The issue there lied in the fact that Kirishama was, in turn, pretty good friends with Kacchan, and was fully aware of the rivalry between the two. Though the Hardening Quirk user may have underestimated just how fiercely Kacchan disliked Izuku…
If Kirishama told Kacchan that Mina liked Izuku… That could seriously damage that pride the Explosion Quirk user had, just knowing that Izuku was more popular than him! Or at least, from his perspective anyway. These days, Kacchan was on a very short fuse as it was. Izuku also doubted that his childhood friend turned bully had connected the dots himself. He either missed all the signs, or couldn't give a damn. To have this dropped on him…
"Yikes." Izuku swallowed, sweat now dropping from his forehead like a water feature.
"You're overthinking." Mina told him with a smile. Izuku felt her hand tighten around his own again. "Come on. Everyone'll be cool with it."
He was overthinking. Izuku knew he had a bad habit of doing such whenever something caught his interest, or he felt required particular focus, but still, he was nervous. Even if Mina hadn't told anyone, he would have been nervous to announce it to everyone anyway. Becoming the center of attention simply was not the kind of thing that he enjoyed…
This sort of thing could force him and Mina into the spotlight, weather they liked it or not.
"We don't have to tell people, you know." The pink girl suggested kindly, which earned her a look from Izuku. "I know you're kind of shy about stuff, so we don't have to tell anyone right now if you're uncomfortable with it. I don't mind." She rested her head on his shoulder again to comfort him and herself.
"N – No… That would only cause problems later on…" Izuku refused, but he would admit, the temptation was there. The very real temptation to hide the fact that they were a couple now – And just thinking that they were a couple made Izuku blush immensely – was strong. But… The truth was, if they found out on their own, it could lead to complications later down the line. Complications that he would rather avoid.
Not that it was anyone in their class's business… But then again, wasn't he the one person in their class who kept getting involved in other people's business when he wasn't welcome? Really, he had absolutely no right to be claiming that other people getting involved in his life was unacceptable. That would just make him a hypocrite. Sometimes, he cursed his altruistic tendencies.
Sighing, he knew that really, it was a smarter choice to get it done and out of the way… His face burned up, surpassing the pink skinned girl's natural shade.