Chapter Text
Mineta woke up that morning tangled in his bedsheets, still wearing his clothes from the night before. He smacked his lips, running a hand down his face to wipe away the half-dried drool that had dribbled down his cheek as he slept.
He flicked his phone on, staring at the time for longer than he needed until he finally realised it was almost noon. He almost switched it back off, until he noticed the notification- a message from Asui. He smiled, rolling onto his side and unlocking his phone.
‘Hey! I wont be around today, Im going home to see my family but ill be back in the evening!’
His heart sank a little bit, he couldn’t deny, but he didn’t mind too much. Asui was a very family-oriented person, so it was no wonder.
‘np. think i can survive a day w/out u.’
He sat up, feeling far groggier than he would’ve liked as he slipped out of bed and headed to the bathroom. He performed his whole morning routine in about ten minutes before returning to his phone.
‘0~0 ill be very proud if you can.’
He gave a half laugh, leaving his bedroom and padding down the stairs in search of something to eat. To no surprise, Kaminari and Sero were, once again, sat in front of the television with a game on. Jirou was perched beside Kaminari on the arm of the sofa and Yaoyorozu and Hagakure were busy in the kitchen.
Kaminari perked up when he saw Mineta out of the corner of his eye. “Yo dude!” He greeted, “Tsuyu left a little while ago- you up for playing?”
Mineta yawned, “Sure.” He took a seat on the couch- he could get food later, though when he glanced back, Yaoyorozu was standing behind him with sparkles in her eyes. That...was strange.
“Someone’s a big fan of that video.” Jirou remarked with a smile, “She must’ve watched it about thirty times already.”
Yaoyorozu was positively glowing with energy, her hands clasped together as she gazed wordlessly down at Mineta, almost as if she was too excited to say anything. Mineta quirked a brow, unsure of what to make of it at first, until he remembered what they were talking about.
“O-Oh, you mean...the skipping rope thing. Ah, yeah. Pretty cool, right?” He was sheepish at first that people had actually watched the video, or the fact it had been posted online at all, but he regained his confidence quickly.
“Those children looked so happy! You and Tsuyu really did something great that day!” Yaoyorozu stated with delight and Mineta choked, genuinely unsure of how to react. Sure, it had been his idea but...was it worth this much attention? Yaoyorozu looked far too cheerful.
“Yeah, man, people like heroes who can mess around with civilians. Makes them seem more normal, I guess.” Sero explained, not taking his eyes from the screen, where he was currently pummeling Kaminari’s character into an oblivion. Kaminari let out a yelp as he was defeated.
“So...you’ve all seen it?” Mineta asked, slowly, and one by one, each person in the room nodded.
“Yeah man, literally everyone has seen it. Even some of the teachers!”
Mineta dropped his head back onto the back of the sofa, not bothering to hide the fact he was staring at Yaoyorozu’s underboob. Well, it wasn’t anything like Asui’s, but it would do. He groaned weakly, “Are you kidding me?”
“I know Midoriya showed it to All Might.” Sero set down the controller, turning to Mineta, “And I think maybe Midnight saw it too.”
Mineta shot upright, “ Seriously?! ” He smacked a hand to his forehead. “Damnit, now she thinks I’m totally childish! I wanted to be a cool hero and this isn’t helping.”
Yaoyorozu drifted off back to the kitchen, humming to herself cheerful as Jirou laughed lowly. “I don’t think cool is your default style, but, think of it this way. Lots of girls really like that kind of thing- I mean, look at Yaomomo!”
Mineta pouted, resting his chin on his hand. “I guess…” He said, reluctantly. “Still…” He didn’t want to admit Jirou had a point- in fact, it was the same thing Asui had said the other day. He’d never be a cool hero, but...he’d be a hero. It wasn’t exactly reassuring but Mineta still wanted to look cool for Asui.
Though she had found that day to be quite entertaining.
“Point is, not all girls like cool guys. I mean...I’m not surprised if you didn’t know that.” Jirou sat back against the sofa, eyeing Mineta. “Girls don’t like guys who try too hard.”
“And you, my friend, are definitely a tryhard!” Kaminari winked.
“Shut up and lose this match already. I want a turn.” Mineta snarked, and Kaminari faked offense as Sero’s character drained the last of his hitpoints. He gave up the controller to Mineta.
“She’s right, y’know.” Sero pointed out. “You try way too hard to be sexy. You gotta be chilled out, y’know? Girls appreciate someone who isn’t just interested in their boobs.”
Jirou made an incredibly accusatory noise directed right at Mineta, who frowned, flushing slightly. “Not my fault girls are so pretty. And anyway, I don’t care about that anymore.” He said, making a point of looking as indignant as possible and Kaminari, Sero and Jirou snorted in tandem.
“Sure you don’t. Hey, give over, it’s my turn!” Jirou sat forward, taking the controller from Sero, getting ready to beat Mineta in record time. Mineta made a noise of protest, knowing full well there was no way he would
Still...it wasn’t like he was going to go crazy anymore. Well, he wanted to, but he felt oddly content with Asui as things were. That was more than enough for him, which was strange considering he felt more insatiable than ever.
He shook it from his mind, focusing his attention onto the screen.
The majority of the day was spent with Kaminari and Sero, getting their way through the sizeable collection of games that had been piled together by their classmates. Jirou had slipped out an hour ago to hang out with Ashido, who announced loudly that she was leaving to go buy something.
Every now and then, Mineta would check his phone for any texts from Asui and every now and then, Asui would send a text and a little picture of what she was doing. One of them was a selfie with her and her little brother and sister- Mineta found the resemblance between them to be striking. Another was some food she was making, which looked delicious he had to say and another was just whatever she was watching on television.
It was actually nice to see Asui’s life at home and whilst he wished she could’ve been here with him instead, he was pretty happy to see her enjoying herself though it was only an hour later did he get a final text.
‘Hey ill be back in ten minutes. I had a really good day 0~0’
Mineta smiled, handing the controller over to Kirishima, who had appeared not long ago with Bakugou. The two of them were sitting on the other couch, Bakugou looking far too into the game...or, at the very least, far too into obliterating anyone who dared to be his opponent.
‘tell me all about it when u get back k?”
He set the phone down and watched the TV, though not really paying attention to whatever was going on on it. He couldn’t help but feel excited for her return- he hadn't seen her all day. Maybe it was a bit obsessive to feel like that...
He decided to slip away from the group and head up to his room to wait for Asui, giving her a message that that was where he would be. He toppled over on the bed, feeling a little restless having done absolutely nothing substantial over the course of the day- the clock read 8:30pm.
He listened quietly to the noise of his classmates from downstairs- the shouting from the group playing video games, the chatter from the girls and the sound of the front door opening and closing every two minutes. It was actually a little relaxing, though weirdly disconnecting, until there was an echoing knock on his bedroom door. He practically jumped out of bed, before regaining his composure.
“Uh...s’open!” He called, trying to act as cool as possible, but it was hard when he felt so pent-up and energetic. He gripped the edge of his bed as Asui poked her head around the door, wearing a beaming smile.
“Hey.” She greeted, stepping through and closing the door behind her.
“H-Hey!” Mineta leant back, trying his best to act cool like he’d thought about before but he just sounded nervous. Asui neatly placed her shoes by the door and trotted over to join him on the bed.
“How was your day? Everyone’s sat downstairs in front of the TV- I thought you’d be there with them.” She neatly adjusted her skirt to cover her knees, looking down as she spoke. Mineta shrugged, “I was earlier, I just came upstairs now. What about you?”
“Really good! I spent the day with my little sister, so that’s always nice.”
“I saw.” He smiled, “The pictures you sent me are pretty cute. Seems like you had a good day.”
“Yup...did you do anything else today? Aside from playing video games.” Asui placed her phone down on the bed, fiddling absentmindedly with her socks. Mineta laughed sheepishly, “Uh...no. I didn’t wake up until late- the day’s kinda just flown by.” It had flown by, but only during the times when Mineta hadn’t been thinking about Asui. Those were the times where the day never seemed to end.
“I guess we haven’t done anything really noteworthy for our reports, ribbit.” Asui deduced, giving a half-hearted laugh. “Well, I suppose every hero needs their off days. Nothing we can do about that.”
Mineta put a finger to his lips, “Y’know, you have a good point. I think that’s enough for a report, showing that we take our off days too.” He nodded his head, more or less to himself, as if agreeing with the idea. “I’ll start the report now. Can’t hurt.”
“Guess it’ll be shorter than normal then.” Asui sprawled half over the bed, reaching for the television remote on the bedside table, switching it on and turning it to the music channel, before slipping off the bed to accompany Mineta.
“So…” Mineta began, roughly drafting the report, “...how’s your family and stuff?” It was an odd conversation topic to him but he wasn’t sure what else to talk about. Asui shifted so that she was lying on her front, watching him write.
“Pretty good! Satsuki started her new school recently so she’s been really excited about that. Samidare got in trouble for pulling a prank in class, so he’s not allowed any dessert for a week.” She put a finger to her lips, thinking hard about what else new had happened. “Aside from that...it’s all the same.”
She tilted her head to look down at Mineta, “What about you? When was the last time you saw your family?”
Mineta shrugged, almost nonchalantly, “I saw my mum a few weeks after I moved in here but...not recently. Guess I should go and pay her a visit, huh?” He looked a little sheepish, having actually not thought too much about who he’d left behind at home when he’d moved into UA.
“I’m not saying you have to,” Asui pointed out, “but I think she’d appreciate it.”
“Ah, maybe you’re right.” He said finally, before quietly humming along to the song playing on the television. This report was so easy it was almost boring- he could easily finish this up quickly.
“Oh yeah, I forgot...I bought some stuff back with me.” Asui crawled over to where her bag and shoes were at the door. Mineta raised a brow, not turning around, “More sweets?”
“How did you guess?”
“I didn’t realise you had such a sweet tooth.” He smiled to himself, deciding the scrap the draft and do the final write-up now. Asui promptly returned with two boxes in her hand.
“Same stuff as last time?” He asked, eyeing the familiar packaging. Asui nodded, but held one of the boxes out to him. “This one’s different. Today me and Satsuki were making chocolate- I thought I’d save some for you too.” She became quieter and quieter as she continued the sentence, realising the possible connotations to such a gesture. Well, it wasn’t like it was Valentine’s day or anything.
Nonetheless, Mineta flushed, looking remarkably surprised by such a gift. He mumbled a thank you and took the box from her. It wasn’t like Asui had made them just for him, he was just lucky to get a few extra was all.
He flipped the lid of the box open and peered inside. There were an arrangement of flat, thin chocolates in various shapes from stars to hearts to-- well, that one was definitely frog shaped. He plucked it out, holding it up to Asui and shooting her a deadpan look.
“I can’t help it! Ribbit!” She beamed, totally unashamed. Mineta laughed quietly, placing the chocolate in his mouth. Hypocrite he was- he found himself falling for his own gimmick as well, making everything as purple and grape-themed as possible. Still…
...the chocolates were amazing!
“Mm! Hey, these are great!” He exclaimed, plucking another out of the box and promptly shoving it in his mouth. “ Seriously! ”
Asui smiled, scratching her pink-tinted cheek. “I hope so. We put a lot of effort into them.” She said, actually quite pleased about the degree to which Mineta was enjoying them. Mineta smirked.
“Tell your little sister I expect some more on Valentine’s Day!” He said, giving her a cheeky thumbs up, only to be met with a well-deserved smack. Asui pouted.
“I’d never let you date my sister, even if she was old enough.” She replied sternly, crossing her arms for emphasis and Mineta let out a giggle, “So you’re the overprotective sister, huh? What’s gonna happen when she grows up and gets a boyfriend?”
Asui didn’t seem to like the notion of her sweet, innocent, baby sister potentially growing up. She pursed her lips and frowned for a moment, before breaking out into laughter. “It’s nothing I can stop, but it’s my job to play overprotective sister, just like my dad plays overprotective dad.”
Mineta laughed, “Yeah, my dad does that too. Well, he says he does but I know the moment I bring a girl home he’ll be drooling over her.”
Asui snorted, “I didn’t realise perversion was hereditary in your family.”
“Oh yeah, my dad’s a a total raging pervert. He’s probably even worse than I am.” He laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “Except he has no taste in women. At all.”
“I wouldn’t let your mum hear you say that.” Asui pointed out flatly, but amused. Mineta scoffed, “It’s fine, her taste in men is equally shit since she married my dad. They’re both total losers.” He laughed, clearly holding quite an amount of affection for the two of them.
As Mineta continued his write-up, Asui reflected on the fact she hadn’t actually learnt anything about his family before now. She wasn’t exactly one to pry but she was certainly curious.
“So who do you take after the most? Appearance-wise.” She questioned, gesturing to his entire body. Mineta paused for a while, looking up at her. “I have the same face as my mum but my dad’s colouring, or so they tell me.”
“So you don’t share a quirk with either of them?”
“Hell no, they think my quirk is dorky! Can you believe that?”
Asui could most definitely believe that. She watched him with an amused smile as he feigned total offense.
“What about you?”
“I suppose I look most like my mum. My parents are both froggy people, though they look a bit more like frogs than I do.” She explained, creating her own mental image of what her parents looked like. Mineta raised a brow, stopping his work for a moment.
“So...ever think that back down the line one of your grandparents had a bit of an alternative lifestyle? And by ‘alternative lifestyle’ I mean, one of them fucked a frog?”
Asui’s eyebrows creased as her mouth fell open.
“That’s disgusting.”
Mineta raised his hands in defense, “Hey, I’m not the one who screwed the frog! Don’t get me wrong, I like Princess and the Frog but it doesn’t grind my gears if you catch my drift!”
Asui frowned, flicking him hard in the face. “Don’t be foul.”
“Hey, hey! It’s a genuine question! Where else did you get frog genes?”
“Where did you get grape genes? Did your parents get too frisky in a vineyard or something?”
Mineta outstretched a finger to point at her, “Look, the grape thing is a gimmick! I’m not actually a grape!” He retorted and Asui’s face fell into mild, deadpan amusement as she teased him, “Sometimes I think you have grapes for brains.”
“ Hey! Least my family isn’t into-- wait...what would you call it? I mean, it’s not technically beastiality if it’s an amphibian, is it?” He paused his writing to squint, thinking hard about the question as Asui gently rubbed her temples. “That’s what you’re concerned about? Finish the report already…ribbit…”
Mineta made a noise of disagreement, reluctantly returning to the report. Two minutes later, he sprouted a devious smile, but didn’t look up from the page.
“So, Tsu...you can do everything a frog can, right?”
Asui eyed him suspiciously. Where was he going with that? “...Yeah. Why?”
“So you can, like, spit your stomach out...stretch your tongue out...camouflage yourself, right?”
Asui felt hesitant to answer, easily and correctly deducing his expression to be ‘mischievous’. “Mhm…” She hummed.
“So...can you lay eggs?”
“You’re the worst…” Asui groaned, closing her eyes and sitting back up on her knees, slumping slightly. He was such a weirdo sometimes!
Mineta laughed, “Sorry...I couldn’t resist! I couldn’t resist.” He waved a hand dismissively, returning to the report before bursting out into laughter again, resting his head on the page. Asui watched him, before slowly dissolving into chuckles. “You’re so weird.”
“I...I know…” He grinned, breathlessly, “That one was a bit weird, even for me.”
Asui lifted a foot, gently kicking the back of his legs with her heel, “C’mon- if you don’t start doing work then I will. Let’s get this done.”
“Alright, you’re right- you’re right.” He nodded, letting out a long sigh, “Won’t take much longer…” He murmured, frowning slightly as he reread the sentence he’d written to make sure it was acceptable. He absentmindedly felt the area around him for the chocolates Asui had given him, before finding one and putting it in his mouth, eyes glued to the page.
Asui watched him quietly. There was a distinct vibe from this situation that definitely wasn’t normal but she couldn’t quite pinpoint the actual feeling. Was that just because it was the two of them, or was that because she liked him?
Oh, yeah. She’d forgotten that was a thing.
She’d actually half-expected it to go away by now but no, it was annoyingly persistent. Then again, she wasn’t exactly in her home territory with this kind of thing- she hadn’t had the chance to develop feelings for anybody before so it was still a bit new.
For a few minutes, she stared at him, but thought nothing. Her mind was empty and blank, totally void of thought and awareness.
Mineta inhaled, letting out a large, long sigh as he finished up the report, sitting back on his heels and relaxing. That might’ve been the shortest report he’d had to write over the course of the assignment. He took another chocolate as a kind of treat for himself for finishing, glancing over at Asui, only to see her trapped in a very dead-eyed stare.
She had real nice eyes but sometimes...sometimes she could look so scary!
“Uh...T...Tsu? Anybody home?” He waved a hand in front of her face and in turn, Asui visibly snapped out of her daze. “Huh?”
He gestured down to the report. “Finished. You okay? You looked really out of it.”
Asui stumbled over her words for a moment, trying to mentally recollect herself, before smiling, “Yeah, I’m okay. I was just daydreaming.” She told him, shifting her position slightly. “Is that it?”
“Yup!” Mineta mumbled, around his mouthful of chocolate, “All good. What’s the time now?” He shuffled back to get a better view of the clock beside his bed- it read 9:34pm. “Huh...it’s that late already.” He commented, to nobody in particular.
“Mm- I did come back late.” Asui munched on a piece of mochi, unsure of how to keep the conversation afloat. It seemed to have drifted back into one of those weird but comfortable silences. She wasn’t the best at small talk, but appreciated it just the same.
She looked over to Mineta, opening her mouth ready to ask him about tomorrow, but stopped when she noticed the rather intense expression on his face.
“Uh...ribbit?”
He grinned. “I have the best idea.”
Which was never really a good sign when it came from him.
Nonetheless, Asui raised an eyebrow, prompting him to continue. He sat forward slightly, “You said the other day you wanted to be a little more, uh…” He clicked his fingers, thinking of the phrase she had used, “...spontaneous. Impulsive- right?”
Asui now had a bad feeling about this, but she couldn’t deny she had said exactly that. She sat back, crossing her legs. “I did say that.”
Mineta watched her carefully for a moment, before standing up. “Grab your shoes.”
“Huh? Wait, why?” She watched him trot past her and towards the door, where his own shoes were. He slipped them on quickly, before backtracking. “I’m not gonna tell you, otherwise you might decide not to do it. C’mon, I promise it’ll be fun!”
“That really never sounds good coming from you. Really, what did you have in mind?” She asked suspiciously, though she got to her feet anyway. Mineta crouched down, shuffling close to the bed as he pulled a bag out from under it. Asui could hear the light sounds of clinking glass and all of a sudden, it began to make a bit more sense.
“I don’t think we cou--”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re doing this. C’mon, getcha shoes.” He said, slinging the bag over his back and grabbing his phone.
Asui stared at him hard for a moment, too deep in rational thought, before shrugging. It would most likely be a bad decision, a stupid decision and an inherently illegal decision but...she wouldn’t have time for bad decisions when she was a pro hero.
She quirked a smile.
“Okay.”
The two snuck out of the building- most of the other students had gone to bed by now but it would be annoying if they got caught. Asui could only imagine the kind of lecture Iida would dish out...and then Yaoyorozu...and then Midoriya…
The thought of it alone made her tired.
Surprisingly, the air outside wasn’t as cold as she’d expected. It felt a bit like lukewarm water, but pleasantly cool on her skin. The sky was pretty nice too, cloudless and shimmering. She always appreciated a nice night sky.
Mineta was walking slightly ahead of her, headphones in one ear as he hoisted the bag slightly higher over his shoulder. It was always a worry whenever he had something planned, but he seemed pretty chipper.
“So what did you have in mind?” Asui strode up next to him, matching his pace as she glanced down at him. Mineta’s lips twisted into a kind of smirk, “You’ll see when we get there. Don’t worry, it’s not too far now.”
“That really isn’t reassuring.” Asui remarked pointedly and Mineta snorted, “Yeah, I guess it ain’t, but I figured you’d like this place.” He outstretched a finger to gesture for her to follow him, as he turned away from the pavement and towards a metal bar fence that separated the pavement from a shallow bank, covered in thick grass.
Mineta raised his arms, as if to begin climbing over, before stopping and going quiet.
“Uh, actually...I...might need some help here.” He slumped slightly, scratching the back of his head, wondering how he would manage to get himself and the bag over without a bad result. Asui giggled, clearing the fence in one swift hop, before grabbing Mineta with her tongue and hoisting him over too.
“Y’know, I could tell my friends that I got tongued by you and it wouldn’t be a lie.”
“Yeah, but we’d both know that isn’t true.” She said, promptly dropping him on the ground. Mineta gave a hushed protest, complaining about the glass in his bag, before getting to his feet and heading off down the bank.
“We’re really going down here? It’s kind of dark…”
Mineta outstretched his arms, “Tsu! You’re not supposed to care! We’re just messing around!” He suddenly stopped, turning around with a kind of ‘knowing’ look, “Or are you afraid of the dark?”
“No, I was just worried for you.” She replied lightly, with a placid smile, “I didn’t want you to start crying if you got scared.”
Mineta’s face fell at the savage response. “Damn, Tsu...you’ve got spikes.” He mumbled, before laughing quietly. “I like that.”
Asui choked slightly at those words, almost losing her footing and slipping down the bank. “Is that right? I didn’t think that would be your type.” She pondered aloud and Mineta shrugged with indifference. “I dunno...It’s hard to describe what my ‘type’ of girl would be. I just like girls.”
“Evidently.” She hummed, “Certain parts of girls in particular.”
Mineta grinned, “Exactly. I have one main criteria. Anything else is just a bonus.” He laughed, outstretching his finger in a kind of ‘gun’ shape. Asui scoffed quietly, “I’ve never met a boy whose standards are so low.”
“That’s under the assumption that I actually have standards.”
“Oh, yeah. My bad.”
The two shook with stifled laughter.
“Still...oh- yeah, here we are.”
It was a bit difficult to see at first, until Asui’s eyes had become fully adjusted to the dark, but the gentle sounds of running water was easily distinguished. She’d forgotten there was a river that ran at the bottom of this bank- she hadn’t actually come down this way either but Mineta apparently had in the past.
“I guess I see what you meant when you said I’d like this.” Asui whispered, sitting down on the grass next to Mineta, who almost dropped the bag entirely, whispering a curse as he set it down.
“So.” He began, crossing his arms and sitting back, “Let the fun commence.”
“I didn’t think this was your kind of thing.” Asui hooked her hands under her legs, watching what she could see of the stream running past as Mineta took out a few of the bottles from the bag. “It...I dunno, to be honest. I like a party just as much as the next guy but this is nice. Peaceful, like, y’know?”
Asui took whatever bottle was handed to her, not too bothered to read the label in the dark. “I think I prefer that too. It feels...hmm…”
“Existential?”
“Is that the word? Whatever it is, it’s nice.”
“Like the feeling where you realise you’re, like...alive? And the world is so huge and you’re just...a piece of shit?”
Asui choked on her first sip at his words, covering her mouth with her hand. “Y-Yeah, that’s the feeling.” She said, hearing Mineta’s light laughter through the dark. “Yeah, I getcha. It’s...it’s pretty humbling when you think about it.”
Asui listened to the sounds of shuffling, assuming that Mineta had lay back against the bank. The bottle in his hand made a sloshing noise whenever he lifted it- Asui decided to lie back also.
“It is.” She agreed, “I’m...not sure what to do about it.”
“Isn’t really much you can do, is there? We’re all just kinda...small. Insignificant.”
“But we’re significant in a smaller way. I mean...you’re very important to someone, but in the grand scheme of things I guess we are just unimportant.” Asui murmured, staring up at the full moon hanging overhead. Mineta let out a small, amused sigh.
“It hasn’t even been ten minutes and we’re already getting deep.” He snickered, “Nothing goes with booze like a good old fashioned existential crisis.”
“I can drink to that.” Asui said, lips twisted with amusement at the bizarre situation. “Though I have to say...being out here is pretty nice.”
“It’s not the most impulsive thing I could think of- hell, it ain’t even that late but...I figured it would be fun.” Mineta admitted, swilling the bottle around between his fingers so the liquid inside swirled around noisily. Asui moved her head to the side to look at him, seeing the way the moon cast a relaxing glow across his face.
“Thanks…”
She watched the way his expression changed into something more surprised, or was it bashful? She couldn’t quite tell. “You don’t hafta thank me.” He mumbled, “I mean, I had all this booze so...might as well drink it.”
“Did you get a lot of it?”
“Eh, not really. It’s more than enough, but it ain’t a lot. Guess the old guy really wants me shitfaced.”
“Well, you’re only small.” Asui smiled, watching Mineta pout. “I’m not that small.” He complained, in a tiny voice, as he set his bottle down, resting his arms by his sides. Asui watched him for a long while, wondering…
…
She turned away, necking a good portion of her bottle to compensate for her cowardice.
The next hour was spent drinking at a leisurely pace and engaging in pleasant yet oddly disconnecting conversation, not that Asui minded. If anything, it added to the bizarre vibe of the entire situation, it almost felt like it wasn’t actually real.
By now the effects of it all were kicking in- she felt a lot warmer than earlier and pleasantly sleepy, gently pulling up the grass beneath her fingers. She tilted her head to look at Mineta, who was sprawled out on his back, looking very content.
Asui giggled.
“Fancy a swim?”
Mineta took a few moments, realising he was being talked to, “You serious?”
Asui laughed at his reaction, “I kinda wanna..dip my feet in a bit. Feels nice.” She said, setting the bottle down and grunting as she succeeded in spilling it across the grass. She slipped her shoes and socks off, shuffling down the bank slightly to the edge of the water. Mineta sat up slightly, watching her tentatively dip her feet into it.
“Cold?” He called.
“A bit.” She replied, “It’s nice. C’mere.” She outstretched a hand, jerking it slightly to gesture him to come over. He let out a disgruntled whine, before giving in and half-crawling over to her.
“Uh...hold this...no, wait, I just gotta take my--oh, fuck.” He groaned, watching one of his shoes fall into the water- Asui laughed. “Bye, bye, shoe.”
“Ah, fuck it.” He shifted slightly, clinging onto Asui’s shirt as he dangled his legs over the edge. There was a moment of silence, before he whined. “My...my feet won’t reach…”
“Ahahahah...here- c’mere, I can, like...uh…” She maneuvered her arms underneath him, “I can, like...dangle you in…”
Mineta let out a choked laugh, “Ah--wait, wait...no, wait, don’t you dare drop me. I--Oh, shit, that’s cold!! Fuck, that’s-- Tsu, hold on, hold on, h-- agh! ”
Asui wasn’t able to connect the sudden feeling of holding nothing at all with the loud yelp and the splash of water in time and it was several seconds until she realised she’d accidentally dropped him.
“O-oh, my god, I’m so...I’m..s...ahahahah~!” She covered her mouth with her hands, doing her utmost to stifle her loud laughter as Mineta stood beneath her, soaking wet and looking very disgruntled.
“Fuck’s sake, Tsu! I’m all wet!”
“G-Geheheh! M-Me too!”
His expression dropped into deadpan, “I’m glad my potential hypothermia arouses you.”
“It does, it really does.” She snickered, watching him lift his sodden arms up and shake the water off of him, grumbling to himself. “I’m really sorry!”
Mineta gave a half-amused laugh, “It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s only water.” He did his best to wade closer to the edge, which was hard considering the water level came up to his shoulders. He shivered slightly, raising his hands out of the water.
“C...cold.”
What he expected was for Asui to reach over and take his hands, maybe even help pull him out of the water, but what he got was a splash of water in the face and Asui sat next to him in the water.
“S’nice.” She commented, rather casually for someone who had just decided to slip into a river. Still shaking, Mineta gave a hushed laugh, “D-Damnit, that wasn’t an invitation for you to join me! I wanted you to get me out!”
Asui sunk further down to her knees, so the tip of her chin was touching the water, as she gazed over at Mineta, who looked...incredibly cold. She lifted an arm out of the water, outstretched it in a silent gesture for a hug, to which he happily accepted.
“This-- this isn’t helping. You’re cold too.” He complained, upon being enveloped and Asui sighed. “Well, there’s nothing I can...do about that right now.” She muttered, trying to balance on her knees, but her vision was blurry at best which made it difficult to tell which way was up and which was down.
“G-Ghh...why’d you hafta chuck me in here…” Mineta grumbles, pressing his face against Asui’s neck in the hopes he would find some amount of warmth there. Asui snorted, “I didn’t chuck you...just...lightly dropped.”
“L-Lightly dropped- Tsu, you make it sound like I’m a baby. Lightly dropped…”
“Lightly dropped…” Asui repeated with a smile, eyeing the edge of the bank. “Are you wanting to get out….? I can...push you back up the thing.” She murmured, making a vague hand gesture and Mineta nodded silently, feeling the cold seeping past his skin and chilling him to the bone, although if he stayed a little longer, he’d most likely become desensitised to it.
Nonetheless, Asui hoisted him up and slowly pushed the two of them towards the edge of the river. She struggled for a moment to hook her arms under him so she could pull him out, and the two of them laughed together.
“H...Ah, hold on...n-no, wait, no, no, I got it…” She mumbled as Mineta hung limply in her grip, arms outstretched slightly reaching for the bank until she managed to slide him up. He twisted awkwardly onto his side, reaching out to wrap his free arm around her neck in an attempt to help pull her up too, but her footing slipped down the bank and she stumbled slightly, chuckling to herself.
“Shit, you...you okay?” Mineta grinned, breathlessly. Asui let out a grunt, promptly toppling on top of Mineta, hands gripping the bank either side of him and he laughed much louder this time.
“H-Hahah...shit, you’re freezin’! C-C’mere, c’mere...ah…”
Asui lifted her head slightly, tilting it so the large, waterlogged locks of hair would fall out of her eyes in the right way so she could see his face better and for a moment, she’d forgotten why she was here in the first place. In fact, it felt like she’d forgotten everything but the moment she was living in now. It was bizarre, to say the least.
Their faces weren’t that far apart either, but Asui’s smile stretched out into not quite a grin, but something far more pleasant and gentle, albeit a little drunken. Mineta took a few moments to process the expression he was seeing, until his own expression mirrored hers.
“That was fun…” He remarked quietly, now rather aware of how silent their surroundings had become so late into the night. Asui let out a long breath, “Yeah….ribbit.”
She croaked quietly, getting her gripping with the bank and, though she was slightly breathless, she smiled. There wasn’t really much more to say on the matter, but it didn’t seem like the moment was moving on either.
If anything, it was one of those unforgettable moments that they had talked about not long ago. Asui’s eyes cracked open to look at his face- he almost looked a little bashful under her gaze, but his lips twisted into a small, but pleasant smile. His eyes lidded slightly as he sighed, “I...man…this is nice.”
He let out a small hiccup, “You’re...you’re nice.”
Asui grinned, almost shyly, showing her teeth which was rare- she let out an odd, spluttery laugh. “I...think you’re nice too. You’re very nice, all--all things, uh...all things aside.” She lifted a hand to wave it dismissively and Mineta’s expression turned into more of an amused pout.
“All things aside? Hey, that’s...kinda mean. Well…” He put a hand to his mouth to conceal a small burp, “I guess you got a point. Still...I think…..I think that means a lot-- it’s a lot comin’ from you. Yeah…”
“Y’think…?” She mumbled, looking down to see where her feet were, before glancing back up. She leant over slightly, sticking out her tongue and gently poking Mineta’s nose.
“Blep.”
Mineta snorted, which then dissolved into giggles, which then also dissolved into a fit of laughter.
“T-Tsu, you’re such-- you’re such an oddball...seriously, you...you weirdo.” He laughed and Asui, pushing her weight further on the bank, laughed with him. That was a pretty weird thing to do, but it was funny, so who cared?
Who cared about anything?
They both let their laughter die down, which drowned them both in a more than comfortable silence. Both looked like they were ready to fall asleep on the spot- like they were in their own worlds, staring into space, but really, they were just staring at each other.
If Mineta wasn’t so inebriated, he’d probably be reminded of the time Asui had fallen asleep during their write-up of the report. Instead, his eyes and mind focused purely on the sight before him, of a very peaceful and very happy, not to mention very wet , looking Asui.
Though, to him, she was Tsu. He liked that.
He liked it a lot.
He liked her a lot.
…
There wasn’t much of a thought process over the next few moments, nor did he really remember how his lips came to be on hers, but it was a thing that had happened. He’d barely realised that that was what was happening as it was happening, but for a moment, past all the inebriation, he’d become a little more aware of himself and of her.
Through his barely closed eyes, he could see hers were tightly shut, but her eyebrows looked relaxed and--
Soft lips. Very, very, soft lips.
There wasn’t even any kind of internal joke or quip about how her daily life or quirk affected that particular part of her, there wasn’t any recognition of any particular scent or taste, there was barely a conscious thought other than…
He wasn’t even all too sure. It wasn’t even a thought, in the end, it was a feeling that was bubbling at the surface and trying to emerge as a thought but ultimately failing under the intensity of the situation.
All that swirled in that rather empty expanse, was her. Her and a feeling that seemed to trigger every other kind of emotion, good and bad, and he could only really guess that it was something to do with love.
It wasn’t like he cared at that point, anyway. He already knew he loved her, but why hadn’t he said anything before, again? He knew there was a reason, but as for what that reason was...what was it again?
He couldn’t recall so, in that moment, there was no reason whatsoever.
He felt like he could cry at that moment, when he realised that he was kissing her , or...were they kissing each other? She still hadn’t pulled away, either. Wait- had he made that first move, or had she leant in? Maybe it was both…?
…
Whatever.
He raised a hand to gently cradle the back of her head, savouring that moment.
In the end, putting words to a feeling, an experience, was futile.