So this was originally going to be a oneshot, but I realized it was going to be a bit long for that, at least for my style. So I decided to split it into two parts. Enjoy!

Cover image is by Justanotherbhnalover. Check out their Tumblr for more.


It was a typical evening at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. Stores bustled with activity as customers streamed in and out. People swarmed the food court as dinnertime rolled around. Here and there a hero could be seen patrolling.

Among the chaos, a tuft of green hair weaved its way through the crowds.

"Excuse me… S-Sorry…"

Izuku Midoriya quietly apologized to just about every person he moved past, though most of them didn't even seem to notice him. The U.A. student looked somewhat anxious as he hurried along, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people around him. Looking back, he felt somewhat stupid for not expecting it to be this busy on a Saturday. Granted, he hadn't been here since his encounter with Shigaraki, so he wasn't familiar with what days were busier than others.

The fledgling hero had come to Kiyashi to pick up a few things for his room. Having only moved from his apartment to his school's new dormitory only about two weeks ago, he was finding there were still some items he lacked that would make living on his own a little more manageable.

It had certainly been a rough adjustment. Not that he struggled much with independence; he had only lived with his mother most of his life, after all, and there were many times she hadn't been home. He had picked up basic living skills long ago.

No, the difficulty came from the fact that, again he had only lived with his mother before; now he shared a living space with his entire class. He got along with (almost) all of them well enough, of course, but it was still tough getting used to it all. It was difficult to get some peace and quiet outside his room.

…And even then, he had Mineta for a neighbor. But the less said about that, the better.

Still, that wasn't to say he disliked it. There were plenty of perks to living on school campus, after all. And, again, he was pretty friendly with most of his dormmates. The only real exception was Bakugou, but even he had begun to treat Izuku with a bit more respect. Mostly due to their fight last week, where the explosive student had learned the truth about his classmate's Quirk. Since then, he had treated Izuku with indifference rather than outright aggression. A small but significant change.

With all that said, the shy boy had adjusted to the changes in living conditions at this point. Once he had gotten more comfortable, he had started to consider getting some additional conveniences for his room. Hence the reason he was here.

As he continued to walk through the crowds towards his first destination, a familiar shade of pink caught his eye. Sitting on a bench a few meters ahead was Mina Ashido. She hadn't noticed him just yet, as she seemed to be staring intently at her phone, tapping a foot impatiently.

While seeing one of his classmates at the mall wasn't unusual, what was unusual was Mina's outfit. Izuku was used to seeing her in pretty casual clothing; she seemed to hate formal wear, always changing out of her school uniform the second she got a chance. This though?

Well, Izuku hadn't even seen her in a dress until now.

It was a pretty short dress, covering just past the pink girl's hips. It was solid black with the exception of a gold band near the bottom, and two more on the sleeves just past the shoulders. Said sleeves came all the way up to her hands, actually covering a bit of the palms. Along with the dress she wore black boots that came up just past her knees, and a pair of necklaces that matched the color of the bands. In her hands was a small purse.

On top of all that, Izuku couldn't help but notice her lips looked a bit more vibrant than normal; she was wearing makeup (or at least, more than she usually did, assuming she wore it normally).

For a few seconds, the boy just stared, stunned by Mina's appearance. She looked… Quite attractive.

"…Ah!" A bit startled by his own thoughts, Izuku came to his senses. The sound he made managed to get Mina's attention, who looked up from her phone.

"Midoriya?" She sat up slightly, smiling warmly at the familiar face. "What's up, dude?"

"O-Oh, uh… Nothing really. Just saw you sitting here and wanted to say hi." He had been planning on giving her a more proper greeting, of course.

"Ah. Well… Hi!" Mina's grin widened. "So what brings you here? You don't seem like a mallrat to me. Anyone else with you?" Izuku shook his head.

"Just… Just getting some shopping done, that's all." His classmate stifled a laugh.

"I swear you're like, the one guy I know who would spend a Saturday night shopping," she teased. Izuku felt a blush creep onto his face.

"H-Hey, what's the supposed to mean?" This time Mina didn't hide her laughter.

"Nothing, dude, nothing… Sheesh. Always so serious!" This only made Izuku's blush grow. He really hated his awkwardness sometimes.

"A-Anyways, um… You look a little, er, different." He was careful to use a relatively neutral adjective.

While he had gotten much better about it since coming to U.A., Izuku still struggled when it came to conversing with girls, especially one on one. And out of everyone in his class, Mina was perhaps the most difficult one for him to talk to. Her extreme personality could overwhelm him a bit, and her tendency to (playfully) tease him made him feel even more awkward than he normally did when it came to girls.

He didn't dislike her for any of it, of course. He appreciated that she seemed to treat him like any of her other friends, and he found her enthusiasm for, well, just about anything that wasn't school quite endearing. It just made trying to talk to her a bit tough for someone like him.

Mina responded to his question with an exaggerated gasp, putting a hand to her mouth.

"You noticed?" She asked with feigned surprise before suddenly sprang to her feet, posing. "What do you think? Cute, right?"

"I… I…" Izuku gulped, unsure how he should answer her question. If he said yes, she'd no doubt tease him relentlessly for it. But if he said no…

The well-dressed girl giggled.

"I'll take that as a yes!" Her classmate's face was glowing red at this point. "Well, hopefully my date thinks the same!"

"O-Oh! You're on a date?" Mina nodded enthusiastically, her usual grin even wider than normal. "Oh, um, s-sorry! I d-didn't mean to interrupt!" Izuku suddenly felt even weirder talking to her than usual.

"You're fine, dude," she assured him. Her smile dropped. "He, um, actually isn't here yet…" As she said this, she pulled out her phone, checking the screen. Her giddiness from before vanished as an anxious look appeared on her face.

"Is everything okay?" It was strange to see Mina with that sort of expression. The girl looked back at him.

"Hm? Oh. Yeah, everything's cool. Just…" She looked at her phone again. "He's like, 20 minutes late and hasn't called or texted or anything." She paused. "And like, our reservations are for 6:30… But I'm sure it's fine!" Izuku couldn't help but notice her smile looked a little strained as she said this.

Izuku checked his phone. 6:24.

"I-I'm sure there's a good reason for it," he said. "Um… Who is he, if you don't mind me asking?" He didn't want to pry into Mina's personal affairs, but if it was someone he knew then he could try to call them or something.

"Some guy I met through a dating app. Doesn't go to U.A., if that's what you're wondering."

Oh. Well so much for that idea.

"But… You're right. He probably just got held up and can't get to his phone… Yeah, that must be it." For the third time, the pink girl checked her phone.

Izuku frowned. It was clear this was bothering her a lot.

"Maybe I should call him again… Oh!" Mina gasped in surprise as her phone buzzed. "It's him!" Her gleeful demeanor returned as she grabbed the phone with both hands, holding it up to her face as she read over what Izuku presumed was a text message.

However, as she read over the message, her expression slowly changed. Her eyebrows furrowed as a bewildered look formed on her face.

"What…?" She said to herself, continuing to stare at her phone.

"A-Ashido?" Izuku didn't like the look in her eyes. Her face grew more solemn as her posture slumped a bit. She let her arms fall to her side, her phone hanging loosely in her right hand. "Ashido!?"

Izuku panicked a bit at the sudden shift in mood. Mina slowly sat back on the bench, staring down at the phone in her hand. The worried boy stepped closer.

"Ashido, what's-

"…He's not coming."

Izuku froze for a moment, wincing slightly at the words. He had a feeling that's what it was.

"D-Did… Did something happen? Is he okay?" Mina scoffed.

"He's fine. Just… Decided he… He didn't want to come."

There was a long, heavy silence as Izuku let those words set in. He thought that maybe something came up and the guy had to cancel, but…

"Ashido, I… I'm sorry, I…" He had no clue what to say.

"What are you apologizing for?" Mina seemed to snap out of her trance, wiping one of her eyes. "Not like you did anything. Besides, it's… It's fine." She looked up at him, giving an extremely fake smile. "I mean, at least he let me know, right? He could've just not said anything." A forced laugh escaped her. "I mean, at least I know for sure that this was a complete waste of time now!" Her voice was shaky.

"I-

"At least I know I got all dressed up for nothing. At least I know I made reservations for some super cool dance club for no reason. Right?" Izuku's stomach tightened as the fake laughter continued. Mina was getting louder and louder as she spoke.

"Ashido…"

"I've only been looking forward to this since like, yesterday! So no big deal, right?"

"Ashido-

'WHAT!?" The startled boy leapt back as his distraught classmate finally cracked, snapping at him. A few heads of nearby shoppers turned towards the sudden noise, but quickly lost interest. Mina glared at Izuku for half a second before her anger was replaced with guilt.

"Oh god, Midoriya, I…" Shutting her eyes, she took a deep breath. "I'm… Sorry, I just…"

"I-It's okay. I, um, I understand."

Another long, awkward silence followed. Mina wiped her eye again.

"Well… I guess I'll just… Head home now." She sniffed. Once again, she wasn't doing a very good job hiding her feelings. "Not like I got any other plans…" Standing, she nodded at Izuku, flashing another strained smile. "I… I guess I'll see you later… H-Have fun sh-shopping…" Tears were desperately being fought back as the heartbroken girl turned around and began to walk away.

"Wait!"

The word came out of Izuku's mouth before he could even think. His classmate stopped, turning her head to look at him with confusion.

Knowing Mina was so distraught hurt the young hero-in-training. She was normally so positive and full of energy, always smiling, always laughing… Seeing her on the verge of tears like this was almost unsettling. The last time he'd her anywhere near this upset was during his class's first round of finals, and even then, she quickly bounced back.

He… He couldn't just leave her like this. He had to do something to try to cheer her up. But what could he do?

"I'll go to the club with you instead!"

Once again, Izuku spoke without thinking. As Mina fully turned around, he realized what he had just said.

In an instant, his whole face turned red.

"…I'm sorry, what?" Mina didn't seem to think she heard him correctly.

"I-I-I-I mean… A-As friends! Y-You s-said you had r-reservations… I-I can… I can go with you, if y-you want… A-As a friend, I swear!" he stammered, trying to make his intentions clear. Mina studied him for a moment, then shook her head, chuckling.

"That's… Very kind of you, Midoriya, but… It's fine. You don't have to do that."

"N-No, I insist! I-If you want to, I mean." The tomato-headed boy took a deep breath, trying to collect himself. "I just… Y-you sounded like you really wanted to g-go. I'm not much of a dancer, but…" He trailed off. Mina's demeanor shifted again. She almost looked… Hopeful?

"Are… Are you sure? I don't want you to do this because you feel you have to." After a moment of hesitation, Izuku nodded. He knew this was probably going to be awkward and embarrassing for him, but he couldn't stand the thought of leaving her alone after all that.

Mina was a good person. She deserved this.

"I'm sure." He paused. "B-B-But again, as a f-friend! P-Please don't think I'm just trying to-Ack!" Izuku made a strange, bird-like sound as a pink blur suddenly slammed into him, pulling him into a vice-like hug.

"Ohmygosh, you're the BEST Midori!" Mina squealed as the boy in her arms struggled to breath. She quickly released him, grabbing his arm. "Come on, we're already late!" She exclaimed before more or less dragging him off.

"Ah! W-Wait!" Izuku nearly fell over as he was pulled along. "J-Just to be clear, I… I wasn't trying to-

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You weren't trying to catch me off a rebound." She looked back at him, grinning. "You're way too sweet to do something like that, dude. I get it, we're just going as friends."

Izuku's felt his face heat up at being called "sweet", but he nodded.

"Right."

He had continuously insisted that's all this was. A fun night between a couple of friends.

…So why did he feel disappointed when he heard her say it?


Izuku didn't fully grasp the situation he was now in until he and Mina had actually arrived at their destination. Moseisley was the name of the place, some combination of restaurant and night club located right in the shopping mall. As the two U.A. students approached the establishment, Izuku could already hear the beat of music coming from inside.

Unsurprisingly, the shy boy was not exactly fond of these sorts of places; the loud music and large crowds tended to stress him out. And making a fool of himself by attempting to dance in front of a bunch of strangers was not his idea of fun.

…Why was he doing this again?

The image of Mina fighting back tears appeared in his mind, as if to answer his question.

"Here we are!" The excited girl had returned Izuku's arm to him on the way here. "Let's hope we can still get a seat."

As the pair entered the club, the music amplified in volume, now no longer just a faint beat. It wasn't deafening, but still quite loud.

The place was illuminated by purple and blue lights, giving it a sort of neon look. Booths and tables lined the perimeter, while the center area appeared to be where the dancing happened. There was currently a sizeable crowd on the floor, and a good amount of the tables were full.

Fortunately, it seemed the reservations were still okay. The two were taken to a booth and sat down.

"This place is so cool!" Mina exclaimed, looking around with amazement. "Alright, what to get…" She began mulling over the menu. Izuku did the same, having not eaten dinner yet.

Once they decided on what to eat, Mina leaned forward, resting an elbow on the table and her chin in her hand.

"So... What's new with you?" She asked. Izuku took a few seconds to answer. The music was making it a little tough for him to think.

"Uh… Nothing, really." Why did he always struggle so much with basic conversation? "Just getting used to the new semester, I guess." Mina nodded.

"Yeah, guess we haven't had a lot of time to do much since we moved. All that training for the license thingy, then boom! New semester." She let out an exaggerated sigh. "It's like we didn't even have a break… Can't they cut us some slack?"

"Well… This is all to make us better heroes. U.A. is the top school for a reason," Izuku tried to explain.

"I knoooow. But still!" Mina shook her head. "Of course, you don't mind it, I'm sure."

"Huh? What do you mean?" The pink girl smirked.

"I mean you don't seem to have freakin' off switch, dude. You're a real workaholic."

"I… Er…" Izuku wanted to argue, but he knew she had a point. She giggled at his flustered response.

"Don't get me wrong, I think it's super cool! Especially since you have more reason than, like, any of us to want a break." Her companion looked at her, confused.

"What makes you say that?"

"Uh, how about the fact that your Quirk hurts you, for starters? But you don't let that stop you. Like with Todoroki at the Sports Festival." She sat up as she started to count on her fingers. "Then there was you running into the Hero Killer, you having to fight All Might for your final, those villains you fought at the training camp, and the whole thing with you and the others going after Bakugou! Seriously, the amount of crap you get caught up in is nuts, dude!"

"Uh… Heh…" Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. She had a point…

Of course, he couldn't explain the real reasons he was so gun-ho about everything hero-related to her.

"And yet you're so calm and quiet all the time." She paused. "Okay, maybe not calm but still. We like, never talk." It was true. Though, again, that was mostly Izuku's fault for being so bad at talking to girls. Especially her.

"Yeah..." Thinking about it, he did wish they spoke more. Mina seemed like a really fun person to be around. Why did he have to be so bad at basic communication?

"Seriously, I think we've said more to each other in the last five minutes than we have all year," Mina joked, laughing. "To be honest, there was a point I thought you didn't like me or something." Izuku was quite shocked by this statement; what would make her think that?

"What… What do you mean? Of course I like you, Ashido!" It took a second for him to realize what he just said. "I-I-I mean…!" He started flailing his arms a bit as his face began burning up. "W-Wait, th-that came out wrong! I-I…" He couldn't get a coherent sentence out he was so flustered. Mina had doubled over from laughing so hard, a hand on her stomach.

"Oh my god, dude, relax! I get it," she said as she calmed down. "God, you get so worked up about the smallest things." She shook her head slowly. "Honestly, it's kind of adorable."

As she said this, her black eyes opened a little wider than normal, as if she just realized what she said. If Izuku's brain wasn't short circuiting from more or less being called "adorable", he might have seen the color rushing to Mina's cheeks.

"I… Err… A-Anyways!" After a brief silence between the two of them, Izuku tried to change subjects. "What… What made you think I had a problem with you?" He made sure to avoid using "like" again. Her face back to normal, Mina shrugged.

"I dunno. You're just so quiet and serious and smart… Then there's me, who's… None of that, really. Like, at all." She looked down, her cheery look fading a little. "Guess I figured you didn't want to talk to me because you thought I was annoying or something. I mean, I know better now, but still."

Izuku frowned. Had he really given that impression? He hadn't deliberately tried to avoid her or anything.

"…Do you think he thought that?" She suddenly asked, not looking up. The question confused Izuku for a second until he noticed she was looking at her phone again. "I mean… I obviously did something to make him change his mind like that…" Her peppiness disappeared once again as her whole body sort of slumped. She obviously hadn't gotten over her date ditching her.

Anger was a very rare emotion for Izuku. He tried not to think badly of people, even someone like Bakugou. And yet thinking about whoever this guy Mina was talking about was made him grip the table much tighter than necessary.

"You didn't do anything," he said quietly. His classmate looked up at him. "Whatever… Sorry, what's his name?"

"...Doesn't matter anymore."

"…Well, whatever his reason was, it wasn't because you did something wrong. Some people can just be…" He trailed off, unsure if he should continue. Mina looked at him for a moment.

"Has… Has something like this happened to you?" She suddenly asked. Izuku winced, hoping she wouldn't have gauged that from the way he answered.

The formerly Quirkless boy didn't like to bring up his past much. He had only brought up bits and pieces to his friends, and even then, only the small stuff. Aside from Bakugou, nobody knew the full extent of what he had gone through for most of his life.

However…

"…Yes." While the story he was about to tell was particularly personal, for whatever reason he felt compelled to tell it. If nothing else, it would hopefully show he understood, at least on some level, what Mina was going through. "Um… B-Back in middle school, during my… Second year, there was… There was this girl."

He could feel himself already tensing up just thinking about this. It was a particularly unpleasant memory. Mina gave a worried look.

"Hey, if you don't want to talk about it…" Izuku shook his head.

"No, it's… It's fine." He gathered his thoughts again, continuing. "Anyways, there was this girl in my class that I… Well, I had a bit of a c-c-crush on." A small blush formed on his face. "F-For a while, I… I didn't know what to do. I… I was too nervous to tell her." Back then, he was absolutely terrified of people, given how the majority of his peers treated him. "But eventually I just… I couldn't take it, so I… I told her."

"…And?" Izuku sighed, a bit reluctant to answer.

"She… She just kinda… Laughed at me." Mina sat up straight at this. "Basically said I was… I was an idiot for thinking she'd feel the same." It was part of the reason he was so nervous around girls nowadays, and why he had kept going out of his way to clarify that he wasn't trying to ask Mina out before.

Because this wasn't a date. It was just a couple of friends hanging out.

"That's awful!" Mina cried. "She's awful!" Her fiery personality returned, albeit angrier than usual. "What kind of person does that? That's just… Oooooh!"

"It's… It's fine, Ashido. It happened a long time ago."

"Fine? It's not fine, it's…" Realizing her voice was growing louder and louder, Mina took a couple deep breaths and let herself calm down. "Ahem… Sorry. That kind of stuff just… Really gets to me." She let out a heavy sigh. "God, that just sucks, dude. Sorry that happened."

"It… It was rough. But I'm over it now." He gave a small smile to assure her he was okay. "But… That's why I offered to come here with you. I… I sort of know how you were feeling."

"Ha… Guess you did." Mina returned the smile. "…I really appreciate all this, you know. Like… I don't want you to think I'm just… Settling for you or something."

"Oh, um… Th-thank you." Izuku didn't really know how to respond. The way she phrased that, it almost sounded like she was considering this a date…

But that was ridiculous. They were just friends. There was no way she'd want to go out with someone like him.

Right?

"I should be thanking you, dude." She looked at him with slight concern. "…You sure you're good? It kind of feels like you don't like this place."

'H-Huh?" The sudden change of topics pulled Izuku from his strange thoughts. "What makes you think that?" It was true he was a little uncomfortable at first, but he was finding himself slowly getting used to it all.

"Just the way you've been acting… Trust me, I'm good at reading people," she explained, winking. "Seriously though… You good? I don't want to be the only one having fun here." Her companion nodded.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I mean… Y-Yeah, I'm not really used to these kinds of places. But… I'm fine now. I li-I mean… Talking to you is fun." He caught himself before he said something else that could be misconstrued.

"Glad to hear it!" Satisfied with his answer, Mina perked up again.

A waiter came by to take their orders. Once he was gone, the two continued to converse about a variety of topics, such as school, heroes, Quirks, and other hobbies and interests they each had. They managed to learn quite a bit about each other in a pretty short time. Unsurprisingly, Mina continued to take up the majority of the conversation, but she always made sure to give Izuku time to talk.

As time went on, the normally shy boy found himself growing more and more comfortable talking to her. It turned out they had a bit more in common than he thought, and her cheery, laid back attitude made him feel he could be a bit more open with her. Of course, she'd still tease him, and he'd still say things that turned him into a stuttering mess, but overall, he was surprised at how well things seemed to be going.

Occasionally, he almost got the impression she was flirting with him. But he quickly dismissed those thoughts; again, this was not a date.

Eventually, their food arrived. They continued to talk as they ate, though the conversation did slow down a bit for Izuku, at least; Mina didn't seem to get table manners much). Before long, they were finished with their meals, waiting for a check.

"Alright, now that that's done…" Mina suddenly rose to her feet. "Let's boogie!"

"What?" She raised an eyebrow at Izuku's confusion.

"You think I wanted to come here for the food?" She stepped out of the booth, holding out a hand. "Come on, hurry, I love this song!"

Izuku looked like a deer in headlights. He had actually somehow forgotten this place was a dance club.

"B-But I… I c-can't dance!" While that was certainly true, he was mostly trying to come up with an excuse not to completely embarrass himself. Mina just grinned.

"That's okay, I'll teach you!" She grabbed his arm, yanking him out of his seat.

"W-Wait!" Oh god. This was not good.

"Relax, you'll do fine! Let's goooo!" She practically ran towards the dance floor, dragging a helpless Izuku along with her.

"I… Buh… Ng…" Realizing she wasn't going to take no for an answer, he conceded. "O…Okay."

He had a feeling he was going to regret this.


I'll have the second part up soon… Ish? Hopefully? We'll see.