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Kyouka doesn't really regret many things. She regrets letting Bakugou play drums for her in her first official single, because no matter how amazing it sounded he still gave the other drummer a black eye and she wasn’t invited to record in that studio again. She regrets getting into that screaming argument with her parents her second year at UA and not talking to them for months, even though it gave her a chance to bond with her teachers as the entire staff tried to rectify the problem. She regrets breaking Mineta’s nose and helping to get him expelled.
Actually, no. She doesn’t regret that one.
But she really, really regrets never asking Yaomomo out. Because now it's too late. It's too late. Kyouka it's too late stop thinking about it-
“Don't you dare,” she whispers to herself, looking at the magazine in her hand. Number 8 Hero Creati Breaks Up With Long Term Girlfriend! The article itself is utter nonsense, going on repeatedly about how now “everyone” has a shot with “the stunning beauty of UA’s most legendary class.” There had a few more...in depth comments about Yaomomo’s physical appearance before Kyouka attacked it with a sharpie.
Yaomomo just broke up with her girlfriend, and now she's probably getting hounded by a crowd of fans at every opportunity. She doesn't need one of her closest friends chasing after her like half the country probably is right now.
Kyouka leans her head back on her couch and groans in frustration, glad that her roommate is currently on patrol instead of witnessing this. She's supposed to be working on a new song. She told herself she was going to get groceries, and then come work on it.
That was over an hour ago. The milk is going to sour if she doesn't put it away soon. Forget the milk, you're supposed to be showing your producer a finished album at the end of the month. Fucking hell. She glances at the milk one more time as she stands up, and decides that if the milk manages to sour in the time before she bothers to put it away, she'll just get to enjoy Denki chugging from the carton like he always does and instantly spitting it everywhere.
She tosses the magazine on the couch and grabs her guitar, wandering into the bathroom because it has the best acoustics. She tries her best, but she's still thinking about Yaomomo and zones out. She snaps out of it around thirty minutes later when she hears the front door slam, and realizes she's been playing Wonderwall for the last half hour.
“It's so hot outside,” Denki whines. “Why do I always get the day shifts?”
Kyouka walks out of the bathroom. “Because you're about as subtle as a spotlight and a hurricane siren?”
“Says the person who literally makes loud noise with her quirk,” Denki plops down on the couch, and at this point Kyouka realizes her mistake. He spots the magazine instantly.
She dives for it at the same time he does, but he's a lot closer. “Interested in Yaomomo’s recent breakup, are we?” he asks.
“Shut up!” she pounces on him, and within seconds they're rolling on the floor like children. After a minute she manages to pull the magazine away from him.
She stands and backs up, defensively holding the magazine to her chest.
Denki sticks his tongue out and pulls himself up to sit on the couch. “I say this is good news. I never liked her old girlfriend, anyways. And now you can finally get your girl!”
“I'm not going to ask her out after a break up like that,” Kyouka replies. “She's probably still getting over it, plus I'm sure her whole fanclub is bothering her now trying to get a date.”
Denki pauses for a moment before he speaks. “You realize she told us months ago that she'd already gotten over her? Before their relationship even ended?”
“I still don't want to bother her.”
“Okay first of all, this is Yaomomo. You'd never bother her. Second of all, you're just looking for excuses to avoid asking her out. Again.,” and with that bombshell, Denki stands up and walks to the kitchen. A minute later Kyouka hears the sound of him spitting something everywhere.
The next few days pass in a semi decent peace. Kyouka beats up a few criminals, nearly bashes her head into the wall trying to write a song, and keeps an eye on her old class’s group chat. Denki asks Yoamomo if she thinks she’s ready to date again and Kyouka nearly strangles him.
It turns out they were both right. Yaomomo says she’d be fine dating again, but only if it’s someone she was already interested in. Kyouka...may have screamed into her pillow when she read that.
All in all, her life stays relatively the same for the next couple of weeks. She’s sitting the counter eating microwave mac and cheese where her phone dings in her pocket.
ExplodoKing : @everyone are all you fuckers here
Defying Gravity : Bakugou you did NOT just @/everyone
ExplodoKing : you’re gonna be glad i did
ExplodoKing : IS EVERYONE HERE?
Everyone confirms their presence, either through emojis or messages scolding Bakugou for using the @everyone feature.
ExplodoKing : cool
And then he sends….The Picture. The picture Kyouka has been waiting on for months since Bakugou had shown up at her and Denki’s apartment to drag Denki off. She’d asked what the hell they were doing, and she was lucky enough to be part of his friend group. So he’d yelled something about ring shopping and continued to pull Denki away.
A week later, Kirishima had shown up at their apartment and dragged Denki off to do the exact same thing. She and Denki are in agreement that it’s the best secret they’ve ever gotten their hands on.
The picture Bakugou sent is of him and Kirishima, last night’s brilliant sunset staining the sky red behind them. Each of them has a ring on their finger.
The chat instantly devolves into chaos. It takes some time, but eventually they get their answers.
The wedding will be in about a month, because these two wouldn’t understand the concept of patience if it hit them in the face. They want to get married, so they’re going to get married as soon as possible.
Kyouka is completely unsurprised by all of this, but she still ends up with a goofy smile on her face. Then there’s another soft ding from her phone as someone texts her. It’s Yaomomo.
Hey, would it be okay if I called you?
Kyouka feels part of her heart turn to goo at the sight of the message. She’s gotten over her nerves around her crush by now, so now instead of nerves her whole body relaxes whenever she even thinks about Yaomomo. Well, she doesn’t get nervous so long as she doesn’t consider actually asking Yaomomo out. She types out a response.
Yeah.
After a moment, her phone begins playing the tune she’d created in their third year for this specific purpose. She hits accept and presses the phone to her ear.
“Hey, Yaomomo, what’s up?”
Kyouka hears Yaomomo suck in a breath before speaking. “Hey, Kyouka. I’m going to ask you for a favor and it’s kind of a big one. But if you don’t want to then that’s fine, alright?” Yaomomo has gained some confidence since their school years, but her old worries sometimes came back, and she was still polite to a fault.
Kyouka pauses for a moment before responding. This sounds serious. “Yeah, of course. What do you need?”
“I uh...I need a date to Bakugou and Kirishima’s wedding.”
Kyouka nearly drops the phone. “You. Uh.”
“This is going to hit the news in no time, and as soon as the general public finds out I’m going to have an army after me. There’s my fanclub, plus a few of the police officers I work with, and quite a few other heroes as well. I just...if I could just tell them I already have a date, it would save me so much stress.”
Okay that’s a normal thing. That’s a normal thing she just needs someone to help get a bunch of jerks off her back STOP SHAKING. “Yeah, sure! No problem!” Her voice is a bit higher pitched than usual, but that’s not the point here.
“Thank you, oh my gosh. Thank you so much,” Yaomomo sounds so relieved that Kyouka knows, regardless of how much stress this is going to put on her heart, that she made the right decision. “I'll let my agent know.”
“Yeah, sure, I'll talk to you later?”
“Sounds good. Thank you so much Kyouka! Bye!” There's a soft click as the line goes dead. Kyouka buries her face in her hands and groans.
Half an hour later the group chat explodes and Denki slams the door to her room open screaming that the entire hero world thinks she and Yaomomo are dating. Kyouka buries her face in her pillow and starts screaming.
Yaomomo apologises profusely, saying how her agency’s PR officials purposefully exaggerated the situation, but Kyouka isn't mad. Honestly, out of their entire class no one is mad except Bakugou, who is pissed they're stealing some of his and Kirishima’s spotlight.
No, Kyouka isn't mad. But she might just have a heart attack. Still, the wedding approaches with ever looming certainty, and within the month the entirety of the once Class 1-A, as well as several pro heroes and a few family members, have packed up their things and are driven to the biggest hotel Kyouka has ever seen. She supposes it's not that surprising, considering how much income the number five and number fourteen hero probably make.
There's literally a line of guards all around the perimeter to keep the paparazzi out, so Kyouka allows herself to relax a bit as her car slips through and into the relative peace of the hotel.
Before long she's being ushered through one of the hotel’s three massive courtyards, designed to look like a literal rainforest, and then up an elevator until she reaches a room complete with a living room, a bathroom, two bedrooms...and Yaomomo.
The other girl is sitting on the couch, meticulously unpacking her suitcase and placing a few bottles of wine in the miniature fridge. She looks up as Kyouka enters the room, then flushes red and returns to her task. “Hi, Kyouka,” she says. “I'm still really sorry about all of this.”
“It's not your fault,” Kyouka says, also looking away with a scarlet face. “Besides, no one here thinks we're dating so it's not like it matters.”
“I suppose you're right,” Yaomomo says. She pulls a wine bottle back out of the fridge. “Would you like a drink?”
“I'm gonna go put my stuff away first,” Kyouka says, them rushes into the room Yaomomo doesn't already have stuff in. She closes the door behind her, throws her suitcase on the bed, and pulls her phone out.
Direct message between @ Drop The Beat and @ ExplodoKing
Drop The Beat : WHY AM I IN A ROOM WITH YAOMOMO?!?!
Bakugou doesn't respond for a few minutes. Kyouka supposes he's busy.
ExplodoKing : all dates share a room feel lucky I gave you one with two beds
Drop The Beat : you're doing this on purpose
ExplodoKing : yeah no fucking shit
ExplodoKing : just ask ur girl out jirou jfc this is pathetic
He doesn't respond to any of her messages after that, so he probably muted her. Kyouka wonders why she considered befriending this asshole a good idea.
She takes a deep breath and unpacks her suitcase (which she never does). Once she's finished with that she finally walks back into the main room. This would be a whole lot less awkward if paparazzi hadn't been asking Kyouka about her relationship with Yaomomo for the past month.
Yaomomo is sitting on the couch now, the local Hero News for their city playing on the TV. The caster is talking about how, with the legendary class 1-A, several other graduates of UA, and most of their former teachers gone for a few days, crime has already spiked. Yaomomo looks nervous as she hears the list of incidents, and seems about ready to drive herself back to the city when Kyouka sits down next to her. Regardless of the situation, she's not gonna let the girl she's in love with drive herself up the wall. They're supposed to be relaxing.
“There's this kid interning at me and Denki’s agency. Technically we're in charge of him,” Kyouka says. “He sprays acid paint from his hands, calls himself Graffiti. No guts to speak of. Bakugou burst in one day, screaming about something or another, and the kid actually started crying. But look at that,” she points at the list of apprehended villains and the heroes who stopped them. Beside one of the villain names is Defeated by Guitar Hero Agency Intern Graffiti. “They're gonna be fine without us for a couple days.”
Yaomomo nods. “You're right. Thank you,” she lifts the remote up, and though she still looks nervous she changes the channel. “So!” she smiles, and it’s got a slightly mischievous glint that she's developed over the years, “I brought my XBox, and I bought a few horror games.”
Kyouka looks at her, excited but surprised. “You bought horror games?”
“Well I remembered that you liked them, so I thought it could be fun!”
Kyouka had mentioned that to her months ago as a passing comment. But Yaomomo had remembered. Kyouka feels like she’s going to melt, wondering to herself if it’s possible for this girl to be any more perfect.
They play horror games for about two hours, and Kyouka forgets any previous ideas of keeping a safe distance and is clinging onto Yaomomo’s arm. “Where did you get this game?” Kyouka asks.
Yaomomo is shivering slightly, but her grip on the controller remains firm as she makes her character march forward. “It had good reviews,” she says. “Why do you like these again?”
“They're fun!” Kyouka hardly believes her own words. “Just pretend you're on shift and defending a girl you’re in love with from terrible danger or something.”
Yaomomo’s eyes flicker over to Kyouka, then her spine straightens. “Alright, let's do this.” This strategy works fairly well until a monster jumps out of nowhere and runs at the screen. They both scream, Kyouka’s ear jacks instinctively rising in defense. Yaomomo’s reaction is a bit more extreme. One arms wraps around Kyouka and yanks her closer, while the other throws the controller at the screen.
The screen fades to black, displaying Game Over in bloody letters. Well, Kyouka thinks that's what it says considering the controller broke the screen. She looks at it for a second, because it's easier to comprehend that than the fact she's halfway in Yaomomo’s lap now with one of the girl’s arms around her.
This distraction only works for a moment. Yaomomo is warm, and Kyouka just feels so safe there. Her body is practically melting into Yaomomo’s side, her heart slowing down even as she can feel herself heating up. All she wants, in that moment, is just to hold and be held in turn, safe and warm and feeling as if this is where- where she’s supposed to be-
But after a few second Yaomomo gasps and hastily lets Kyouka go. “I’m sorry!” she says. “I just acted on instinct!”
“I- it’s fine,” Kyouka mutters. Reality comes back to her in a slow drip. She’s not supposed to cling onto Yaomomo anymore. They’re not teenagers anymore, so close but both too afraid to take that final step. “I’m gonna go uh, work on some songs,” she stands up and hastily leaves the room. She tries her best, but all that comes out of her guitar are sappy love songs in minor chords.
Kyouka nor Yaomomo are in the wedding itself, so they don’t have anything to do until the next morning, when Kyouka has to check the sound systems for the reception. This leaves Kyouka free to watch youtube videos for the rest of the night.
But about three hours after the earlier incident, near seven, she hears a knock at her bedroom door. She pauses, then pauses the video she’s watching. She swallows, takes in a breath, then says, “come in.”
Yaomomo opens the door, just a crack at first but then fully. “I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner with me? There’s a Mexican place not too far from here if you’re interested.”
Kyouka loves Mexican, and Yaomomo knows that fact well. Ashido had snuck alcohol into the dorms a few days before graduation to celebrate, and Yaomomo had ended up dragging a drunk-off-her-ass Kyouka onto the common room couch. She’d heated up some of her own leftovers from when the class went to a Mexican restaurant last week, and Kyouka cried for five minutes because she loved Mexican food and she loved Yaomomo so much that it hit her all at once and her addled mind couldn’t process it.
“Yeah, sure,” Kyouka manages, and then they’re silently walking out of the room, out of their section of the hotel and into one of the massive courtyards. Yaomomo produces a map from her bag and leads them to the restaurant. There’s still a working staff, and once again Kyouka wonders just how much freaking money Bakugou and Kirishima make.
A few other people are in the restaurant, but few enough that Kyouka and Yaomomo are placed in a booth where they can hardly see anyone else. The waiter takes their order, walks off, and Kyouka blankly looks at the wall and the table for a solid five minutes before she can find herself to break through the awkward air between them. “So, um,” she says, “did your fan club at least leave you alone after all of this?” Oh, nice one, Kyouka, open up with the fact the hero world at large thinks you’re dating the girl you’ve been in love with since high school. That won’t rub salt in your own wound or anything.
“Yes!” Yaomomo says, and she just looks relieved that Kyouka broke the quiet. “Well, most of them did. And a lot of people wanted me to tell them about you.”
Kyouka pauses as she processes that. “They wanted to talk about me?”
“Of course!” Yaomomo frown, and Kyouka thinks she saw the look of guilt on Kyouka’s face. “I didn’t mind, though. I like talking about you.”
Kyouka freezes and feels herself shrink back, trying to keep her face from turning red. “Oh. Thanks.”
Yaomomo’s shoulders slump, and Kyouka wonders if she missed some invisible cue. “Yeah, don’t mention it.”
The next morning dissolves into chaos near instantly, with Ashido barging into their room at seven in the morning to tell Yaoyorozu they forgot the red fairy lights and they need her to make some. They’re still discussing it when Kyouka runs out the door in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top to check the sound setup.
The sound setup is mostly fine, aside from the wires that are literally everywhere. She spends half an hour rearranged everything so someone doesn’t step on a wire and ruin everything within five minutes.
When she returns to the room to get ready, Yaomomo is already dressed in a red evening gown and looking noticeably displeased. “Ashido talked you into making the lights?” Kyouka asks as she walks by her.
“They know I can’t deny a pretty girl anything,” Yaomomo says. Kyouka ignores the way it makes her heart hurts. She locks the door behind her and changes, then walks across the hall into the bathroom to do her makeup.
She leaves the door open, and as she carefully outlines her eyes in black she says, “so, is Ashido the girl you have a crush on?”
There’s a noticeable pause before Yaomomo says, “what do you mean?”
“Well, you like someone, right? That’s why you sent that message in the group chat about being ready to date someone you already liked.”
“Yes, I do. You...have no idea who that person is, do you?”
Kyouka ignored the traitorous part of her that says I know who it is, I swear I know. I have to be right all these signs, everything- “No clue.”
“...I need to go talk to Shouto,” there’s a sound of heels clicking on the floor, and then the door shuts.
The traitorous part of Kyouka laughs in victory. She shoves it down as hard as she can and resists the urge to throw her eyeliner at the mirror.
The wedding goes off perfectly, which is surprising considering Ashido, Sero, and Denki are the best men and women, but also unsurprising considering Bakugou was in charge. The reception is when everything goes to shit.
Kyouka climbs up onto the stage, greets the guests, then plays through a few requested songs, including the first dance, before just strumming whatever comes to mind. Bakugou and Kirishima gave her free reign. Altogether, everyone is having a good time. Tokoyami is walking to the stage to play for a bit so Kyouka can go eat when she hears Yaomomo yelp in shock.
Kyouka’s head jerks towards Yaomomo, who now has wine dripping all over the front of her dress. The man in front of her is apologized repeatedly, reaching out with one hand for a napkin and the other hand is behind him, reaching for-
Reaching for his camera, which is probably already full of wedding photos. That’s why she doesn’t know him. Looks like some of the paparazzi slipped their guards.
Kyouka considers herself a good hero. After everything Shouta told their class, she’s always done her best to make sure she doesn’t abuse her power. But right now, everything in her is screaming to take this guy out.
She picks up her guitar up by its neck, raises it into the air- and smashes it onto the stage in front of her. The noise grabs everyone’s attention, including the asshole with one hand on his camera. “Trespassing is a crime, you know,” she says, staring the man down. It doesn’t take long for the other to realize what’s happened.
Before they can even move Yaomomo knocks the guy’s feet out from under him and pulls a pair of handcuffs out of her arm. The situation is handled in under a minute, and Kirishima personally goes through the man’s camera to delete every image of the night’s event.
“I’ll handle him,” Yaomomo says, “you all stay here and enjoy the party.”
“No, I’ve got it,” Shouto says, pushing his way through the crowd. “You should talk to Jirou. She’s the one who saw him, right?” And without waiting for an argument, he grabs the man and pulls him out- presumably to a car and the nearest police station. He’ll be free by morning, but it should at least send a message to any other members of the press trying to pull the same stunt.
Kyouka goes to get some food. Sero gets the speakers working and they just use his phone to play music for the rest of the night.
“So,” Yaomomo says, and Kyouka turns around to see the other girl standing next to her, looking at the floor and a new dress on (courtesy of Uraraka). This one is purple, and it doesn’t fit Yaomomo the same way the last one did, but Kyouka thinks she looks beautiful all the same. “Thank you for stopping him.”
“It’s not a big deal. You could have handled him just fine,” Kyouka says, pretending an unknowable something isn’t hanging in the air around them. “I guess...I just thought you shouldn’t have to.”
“Well I appreciate it,” Yaomomo sucks in a breath, and then she steps forward until the two of them are nearly touching. “I know you loved that guitar.”
“Well yeah, but I-” love you more, she thinks, but doesn’t say. But she moves forward a half step, close enough that she can feel the warm breath coming from Yaomomo’s lips. “I would’ve done it for anybody.”
“I know. You would’ve sacrificed a prized possession for anyone, just to make their lives a little bit easier,” Yaomomo stiffens her shoulders. “I’m going to try and be brave now, but I think it’ll only last a minute.”
“Yaomomo, what are you talking about? You’re one of the bravest people I know-”
“Not that kind of brave,” Yaomomo reaches out and cups Kyouka’s jaw in her hands, the tips of her fingers burying themselves in Kyouka’s hair. “Kyouka, can I kiss you?”
Kyouka feels her brain shut down, but someone manages to shakily nod her head yes. Yaomomo presses her lips to hers, gentle and sweet, and for a moment she forgets everything. Her heart stops beating in her chest. She is not a hero, or even a human. She’s just a kiss, a press of lips to hers, a feeling of such perfect calmness, such perfect rightness, that she never wants it to end.
But there is the sound of Yaomomo’s heart, the sweet taste of her blood orange lipgloss, and the faint, sticky sound of makeup pressed to makeup. It’s a melody, a melody all their own. Kyouka closes her eyes and wraps her arms around Yaomomo’s waist as if they’re dancing, and she invites the the other girl to carry her away.