Chapter Text
Kyouka heard rather than felt the first raindrop hit. It collided with the ground with a tiny explosion before another erupted to its right. She looked up at the darkening sky. Her jacket stuck to her skin unpleasantly from a combination of sweat humidity.
“Hey it’s going to rain!” she called out. They gestured for the others to get under cover before the downpour started. She quickly darted under a restaurant’s awning and turned to watch her group scramble around. Just a few meters away Tsu leisurely ambled towards her, not minding the sudden change in weather one bit. Sudden shouting drew her attention and she turned to the side where Kirishima was shoving Kaminari under cover.
“What’s up with them? Kero, are Kirishima-chan and Kaminari-chan fighting?” Tsu scratched her cheek, rain soaking her hair bow until it lay limp on her back.
“Kaminari and water aren’t really a great mix,” she said. Down the street Kirishima was flailing his arms around, likely scolding the blond, while the blond in question was flailing his arms back, likely just to match his energy. “He tries to keep out of it after using his Quirk.”
Tsu hummed and hopped the rest of the way under the awning. Kyouka held out a hand and let a few drops slide over her fingers. Her white gloves began turning grey.
“Doesn’t sound like it’ll stop soon,” she murmured with a hand pressed to her earpiece, “Should we head back now?”
“I might need a few more minutes,” came Kaminari’s crackled reply, “But let’s have a chat while I still have you here, hey Earphone Jack? How’s your day been? Seen any cute guys lately?”
They turned to see Kaminari facing straight towards them and Kyouka could just imagine the cheesy wink being thrown her way. She tried to suppress the smile she could feel coming.
“Hm? Not bad, school was okay, I did a few rounds with my classmates. The weather’s been temperamental lately, though. How ‘bout you, Chargebolt?” she said, pointedly ignoring his last question.
“Much of the same, ya’know? But hey I saw this chick the other day—well actually I kind of see her every day, you see she sits next to me in class—yeah she helped me out with this project I was having trouble with a week back just like that I got a pretty good grade on it! Aizawa-sensei didn’t even take that much off for the late penalty.”
“Really?” Now Kyouka really smiled, “That’s sick. Now that you mention it, I did help out this dummy last week with some school stuff. He got me some pop rocks, which was pretty cool of him honestly. Did you know they’re my favorite?”
They shared a quiet laugh for a moment before turning quiet. The rain continued to pound on the pavement. A small sound drew Kyouka’s attention and she turned towards it, plugging an ear jack into the ground.
“Hey Tsu-chan?”
“Kero?”
“I think there’s a kid crying two streets down stuck under something. Could you check it out for me?”
Tsu nodded and set off immediately. It was just a quiet sobbing in the distance, it might have been further than two blocks but it was probably muffled because of the rain. Lightning flashed overhead, followed a few moments later by rumbling.
“My ancestors,” Kaminari joked.
“All good over there, Earphone Jack?” asked Kirishima, “Did I see Froppy leaving?”
“Yep. I think I heard something a few streets over so Froppy’s heading over to check it out. It’s probably a stranded kid. How’s Chargebolt doing?”
“Peachy as pie!”
He had combined sayings. Kyouka smiled.
She plugged a second ear jack into the ground. Across the street Kirishima and Kaminari chatted outside of their comms. Three floors above the restaurant she was next to, a telenovela played. The collisions of raindrops increased in volume ten fold. Although she couldn’t see it, Kyouka could hear the quiet slapping of webbed feet against pavement. Drawing a mental map, she closed her eyes and focused on all the noises around her.
“Kero. Earphone Jack, am I getting close?”
“Yeah, yeah, uh. Hold on, I think you might have passed it. Come back a little and look down the side streets.”
She considered leaving the awning and joining Froppy in the search but a moment later the comms crackled to life again, “Found the kid.”
Kyouka opened her eyes and let out a relieved sigh. From the other side Kirishima and Kaminari whooped and clapped.
“I’m going to bring him home. You guys should go back to school. I don't think the rain will end soon. Kero.”
“Yeah I don’t think so either,” Kyouka frowned. It was only getting worse, the boys just looked like a vague blur of red and yellow in the distance. “Are you sure you don’t want us to wait for you?”
“I can handle the rain. Kero. You guys can’t. Don’t get sick.”
“What do you guys think?”
Kirishima sneezed.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Should we try and take a bus or just run for it?” Kaminari asked. “But we’re probably the same distance from school as the school is from the bus stop so we’ll get soaked either way.”
“Hm… I’ll race you guys. See ya,” Kyouka shrugged off her jacket despite the immediate goosebumps that spawned across her arms and held it over her head before sprinting out from under the awning. Behind her she could hear some shouts of unfair head starts before she heard the slap of boots against the wet road following her.
“I’m freezing!” she yelled, her jacket doing little to shield her.
“Then you better hurry up!” Kaminari yelled and he and the redhead passed her, the former carrying Kirshima’s shoulder gears and the latter wearing Kaminari’s jacket to cover his bare chest. Kyouka pushed herself to run faster and before they knew it the UA building was emerging out of the fog.
They fumbled with clumsy fingers to pull out their IDs and flash them towards the security guards. They were a mess of shouting and screaming as they hurried towards the dorms. As soon as they stepped foot into the warm building they practically melted to join the puddles they were forming under their feet.
“Cold cold cold!!” Kaminari whined. Kyouka threw her jacket onto the ground and quickly undid her boots. Kaminari shrugged off Kirishima’s shoulder pads and unbuckled his utility belt. Kirishima’s skin looked blue.
“Woah! It’s coming down hard out there isn’t it?” Sero appeared from the kitchen, “Lucky I decided to stay in today.”
“Showers!” Kyouka ordered, jabbing each boy with an ear jack before running off herself. As soon as she reached the bathroom she jumped under the spray. The hot water felt scalding on her freezing skin.
After a few moments she relaxed and frowned at her hero costume lying on the floor. It would be an absolute pain to clean it all. Her boots would have to dry quickly or else they’d stink and she had to check on the speakers inside of them to make sure the rain didn’t do anything funky.
It wasn’t long before she heard Tsu arrive on campus and enter the dorms and soon after she started to shower too. They finished up and quickly changed into the nearest dry clothing they could find.
She shuffled out of her room with a blanket around her shoulders and entered the commons, where Iida had just arrived, barely dripping on the carpet. His exhaust pipes were smoking. Next to him stood Todoroki who was considerably more damp but unbothered, slowly unbuckling parts of his costume. Kyouka could hear Bakugou coming in hot outside, his incoherent yelling punctuated by small blasts that fizzled out quickly.
Iida took off his glasses and wiped them before barking out orders: “Get in the showers! We must stay dry to maintain our good health!”
Todoroki nodded towards them as he passed, dripping a trail of water as he walked. Kyouka started pulling things out of the cabinets and set a kettle to boil. She dumped a packet of hot chocolate powder into a cup and poured in the hot water.
“Hey can I get a cup?” Kirishima emerged with his hair still wet behind her. He sneezed. They took seats around the living area, staring out the windows. The sky was properly dark now, a full thunderstorm raging outside. He sneezed again. Kyouka silently passed over her blanket.
Tsu hopped over with her own cup and curled up at the other end of the couch Kyouka was seated on.
“Where’s Kaminari?”
“Hm? Oh he turned in early.” Kirishima paused to cough into his elbow. “You guys are pretty close, right?”
“Are you getting sick?”
“Kero, don’t change the subject like that, Jirou-chan,” Tsu chided, “I’ve noticed you two talking a lot too. Kero.”
With one at the end of the couch and the other on the armchair directly adjacent to her, Kyouka felt like she was getting boxed in. They shifted and took a sip of hot cocoa. “I mean, yeah, we’re friends.”
Kirishima was a chatty guy. He was loud, he was friendly, and he was earnest. The earnestness read on his face as he stared at Kyouka intently and it was very unnerving.
“He talks about you a lot. The type of music you like, your favorite foods, you know that sort of stuff.”
“Is this some sort of intervention?”
“He likes you,” Tsu said. Blunt as ever.
Kyouka paused and waited. A moment later the elevator dinged and judging by the heavy steps Satou had stepped out. She turned her head and watched him shuffle past them. Kirishima and Tsu both followed her line of sight.
“...I’m going, I’m going,” Satou muttered. He hurried into the kitchen and they turned back towards each other.
“He likes the bubblegum pop sort of stuff. The type of songs that have really catchy rhythms so they trend easily. He really likes hamburgers. He hates clothes made out of wool because it builds up too much static.”
“Do you like him?” Kirishima asked quietly. He sneezed.
“I dunno.” Kyouka raised her cup to her lips.
“He really likes you.”
“...I know.”
-
“O K! Ladies and gentlemen, that is all. You’ve got an oral on Wednesday, Good Bye!” Present Mic circled the words ‘test on Wednesday’ on the chalkboard to emphasize his point and left.
Kyouka sighed and stretched out her arms as her classmates broke out into chatter. Bakugou pushed out his chair with an awful screech and was the first to stalk out the door.
“Ooh, looks like Kacchan’s in a bad mood,” Kaminari snickered.
“Isn’t he always?” Sero said. Kirishima probably would have chimed in at this point if he hadn’t gotten sick from their run through the rain and had been locked up in his room for the past two days. Kyouka eyed the steadily growing droplets on the classroom window.
“Alright!” Kaminari cheered, “We’re free!”
They stood under the overhang at the front entrance staring at Heights Alliance, which was close enough to see but not close enough that they wouldn’t get soaked through if they ran.
“I forgot an umbrella,” Kyouka sighed. Yaomomo hummed disappointedly next to her.
“If you would give me a moment I think I could make one, or if not that I could make a waterproof sheet to put over our heads,” she suggested, reaching into her bag.
“I actually remembered to check the forecast this morning,” Kaminari said cheerfully. He unfolded his umbrella and twirled it for a moment. “Here.” He thrust it towards Kyouka.
“Huh? No, I can’t take your-”
He dropped the handle before she could finish her sentence and she scrambled to catch it.
“Wait, really, Jamming Whey…”
“Try not to lose it, okay?” Kaminari saluted her with a wink. He turned and ran, water splashing at his heels with every step. Kyouka clutched the umbrella, watching him grow smaller and smaller.
“That was kind of Kaminari-san.”
Shit.
“Yaomomo? I think I like Kaminari.”