Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tears gathered in the wide eyes of the little green skinned girl as her bottom lip quivered violently. She searched her friends' faces for a hint that they were joking but she was coming up blank. 

"Why can't I come with you, Yuki? I'm your friend too, right?" 

"We're gonna be inside today. You're too loud and wild. My mom gets mad at me every time you come over." the blue haired girl replied, rolling her eyes.

Hana took a step forward, clenching the stuffed orca in her arms tightly "I'll do better this time! I'll -." 

"You always say that! Just go home, Hana. You'll just get in the way." 

The other two girls began laughing as Hana's tears poured down faster and she ran off in shame. Her scrawny legs carried her as far as they could to her apartment. As the door swung open, it collided with the wall heatedly which drew her mother’s attention from the kitchen. Hina sighed deeply as her oldest child looked up from his phone with a biting glare. 

“If that little shit doesn’t quit making my baby sis cry, I’m gonna -!” 

“Stand down. I got this. You just keep my soup from burning.” his mother instructed before going into the living room to find her only daughter curled up on the couch.

“Why am I so annoying?” Hana whimpered into her knee as she trembled under Hina’s loving touch. 

“Says who? Yuki Watanabe? That kid is a spoiled brat. Her mommy and daddy can buy her anything but some damn manners.” 

“No one at school likes me because I’m so hyper. I try to keep in it but I can’t.” 

“And you shouldn’t have to! You’re hilarious, Jellybean! You’re so much fun. You keep me and your brother rolling with laughter. We won’t change you for anything.”

Hana stayed curled up in her dejected ball until Hina laughed softly. She looked up a little at her to see that she was looking at the television. They rarely watched the news but it must have come on while they were cooking. A rescue was going on the screen with a hero she’d never seen before. With his orca features and large frame, he quickly got the attention of little Hana who was wiping the last few tears from her eyes. 

“Man, would you look at them go?” Hina chuckled. “They make it look so easy, huh, Jellybean?” 

“Who is that hero, Mama?” Hana replied, pointing at the screen curiously.

“His name’s Gang Orca. I figured you’d like him because you’ve been toting that dumb plushie around since you were two.” Yosuke replied from behind the couch. 

Hina scoffed as she looked back, “You let my soup burn and I’m tossing you into it, little troll.” 

“Cool your jets. I turned it down.” 

“That’s what I want to do when I grow up!” Hana exclaimed unexpectedly as she got to her feet. 

“What, burn soup? You’re already good at that, JB.” Yosuke teased. 

“Huh? No! I meant what he’s doing on T.V! I wanna do that !” 

“You want to be a pro hero?” Hina asked, sitting forward with her hands on her cheeks. “Well, you'd be super interesting to watch, that’s for sure.” 

“Seriously? Hana, a hero? She’s too goofy. She’s not cut out for -. What am I worrying for? You change your mind every five minutes. You wanted to be an astronaut two days ago.” Yosuke grumbled as he returned to the kitchen. 

“Don’t listen to your brother, Sunshine. He’s just mad that his grades aren’t good enough to get into U.A’s support class program.” 

“Can’t hear you over the sound of me throwing this soup into the yard!” 

“You brat, your laptop’ll follow it out there!” she screamed as she jumped over the back of the sofa to go save her food from her son’s bitterness. 

Hana giggled softly as she turned her attention back to the news broadcast. Yeah, being a hero would be awesome. But heroes always had costumes and stuff, right? She pursed her lips for a second in thought before running down the hallway and getting her crayons. Who better to design an outfit for her Quirk than her ?

Time flies when you’re having fun and the hyper seven year old soon turned into a bouncy fifteen year old. To her brother’s astonishment, Hana’s hero dream never burned out like the others. Planning her campaign for president only lasted a week and it was one of the longest run schemes that she had. Despite thinking this was a dim-witted plan, he still determined to make sure that his rambunctious sibling didn’t repeat her bad habit of sleeping through her alarms. 

“Hey, are you up yet?”

Hana, who was currently wrapped up in her fuzzy pink blanket, groaned loudly without making any movement. She was absolutely not planning on getting out of this criminally comfortable bed. The deep-toned but noticeably annoyed voice from the bottom of the stairs clearly disagreed with that plan.

"Some hero you are! You can’t even make it to school on time!"

That got a quick reaction as Hana popped up and promptly fell out of her bed with an undignified squawk. She suddenly regretted the decision to get one of those loft beds. Once finally unraveling from her warm cocoon, she darted to the closet to get her clothes and found that her uniform had rudely fallen to the floor. As she dusted it off, she ran to the bathroom and hung it on the back of the door. She quickly brushed her teeth, ruffled her onyx pixie cut with her fingers for some texture, and put in her silver star earrings. She raked her bangs that framed her face out of the way as she inspected her face for imperfections. 

As she got herself presentable, the oldest Ishikawa child stuck two pieces of two into the toaster before fastening up the Gang Orca lunch on the counter and putting in that ragged, ugly pink backpack with unicorns all over that his sister refused to replace for some reason. Surely, it should be qualified for retirement after all these years, right?

But Hana wasn't one to throw out much of anything. She was the textbook definition of a sentimental fool. Yosuke wasn't exactly sure where she had even picked up that habit but she was almost religious about keeping anything close to 'important'. 

“Hana! Move it or lose it, runt!" he yelled again as he put some strawberry jam on the nearly burnt toast.

"Don't call me a runt, jerk face. I already told you that everyone else is just too tall!" she shouted from upstairs. 

He heard something crash its way down to the floor with a loud bang and sighed deeply. "What was that?"

"My shirt!"

"That was way too damn heavy to be a damn shirt." he huffed back, looking at his phone. 

As she came around the corner, she was hopping on one foot attempting to tie a glittery silver tennis shoe while standing. "Well, I was still wearing it." 

He rolled his eyes before grabbing her leg mid-hop which nearly sent her to the floor. He put the sole of her shoe on his leg and started tying it for her. She wrinkled her nose in frustration, to which he replied with a thump to the forehead.

"You're gonna break your freaking neck." he scolded. 

"You worry too much. I'm tough enough to handle whatever life throws at me." she scoffed back proudly. 

Yosuke looked at her with overwhelming skepticism. At an unimpressive five feet tall, puberty had seemingly forgotten to visit the poor girl. She was thin as a rail and still had a baby face with a button nose and big sapphire eyes. All that paired with her narrow frame, small breasts, and a high pitched voice, no one ever believed she was actually her age. 

"Whatever you say, kid." He sighed as he gave her the toast and held out her backpack. 

She shoved a piece of her breakfast halfway into her mouth, slung her bag onto her shoulder, and headed to the door. 

"What? No 'thank you'?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her. 

"Toast could have been darker honestly." she said, shrugging lightly.

"You can't just eat charcoal, Jellybean." 

She blushed slightly, pink lighting up her mint green skin. Her numerous  yellow freckles glowed softly, earning a fond scoff from Yosuke.

 "I told you to quit calling me that!" 

"But you're small, cute, and eat nothing but candy. You're our little jellybean and always will be. It's better than that shit you used to call me." 

"And that's my cue to leave." She scoffed as she opened the door. 

"Have fun today, JB. I gotta work late tonight so you'll be having way more fun than me." he called out as he waved to her.

"Yikes. Better you than me. Don't forget your wallet this time." she said, exiting the apartment. 

"Got it. Love you, bratzilla." 

The door clicked but immediately swung back open so she could yell back "Love you too." before finally leaving. He shook his head as he walked back into the kitchen. 

She wasn't sure what she did to get such bad karma but she deeply regretted whatever it was because now she was sprinting to class as fast as she could. She had missed the first bus and had to wait for the second one, so she was even more late now.  As she ran, she tried to finish putting the shoe that had fallen off when she tripped down the stairs a moment ago. Seriously, what was gravity's problem today? 

She finally reached the door and straightened herself up before grabbing the knob. Opening the door to the classroom, she was greeted by the very unhappy face of her home room teacher. The heavy bags under his eyes added to the intimidation factor as he glared her down. 

“Morning, Mr. Aizawa.” she mumbled, ducking her head like an anxious pup. 

“Nice of you to join us, Ishikawa.” he sighed deeply. "Now as I was saying, you'll be wearing the hero outfits based on the designs you submitted." 

Hana immediately lit up and the second they could get their outfits, she pushed her way to the front and snatched the case with her seat number on it. As she ran off excitedly, Ashido looked at Tokoyami who was shaking his head slightly. He was her designated best friend since the first day of school so he usually ended up playing translator for the jittery girl.

"You'll have to forgive Ishikawa's impatience." He lamented. "From my understanding, she designed that outfit when she was a little girl and she's been talking about it all week." 

"She must really be proud if she made it way back then." Ashido tittered. 

"I'm honestly curious to see what she’s created." Tokoyami replied, grabbing his own case and leaving the room. 

As the upcoming heroes stepped out in their new costumes, Hana couldn't stop smiling and looking down. It was perfectly in line with her drawing. The black one piece had a turtleneck and featured a cutout of a sun around her belly button. Squiggly cuts around it made the rays. The holes for her legs were cut high and displayed part of her hips. It laid her skinny shoulders bare and was visibly backless with only her backside covered. 

A yellow utility belt hung around her waist under the sun. The center was a circle and it was covered with panels that opened with a firm push. Her shoes were simple black ballet flats with a thick ribbon around either ankle. Her hands were covered up by a pair of yellow fingerless gloves. Finally, her eyes were protected by a square, yellow visor that faintly resembled work safety glasses. For added flair, she'd topped the outfit with a headband with a yellow oversized bow that poked up like bunny ears.

She glanced over at Midoriya and giggled as she waved her hand at him eagerly. "Hey, Deku! Look! We match!" She said, pointing from her bow to his suits 'ears'. 

He blushed slightly and nodded. "Y-yeah, I guess we do, huh?" 

If Bakugou’s crimson eyes could use his quirk, Ishikawa would have exploded three times by now. They were digging into the back of her head. Hana seemed to feel it stretching at her and looked over her shoulder to see him glaring at her shamelessly.

Ah, yes. Bakugou and his famous attitude. She'd managed to be at least on speaking terms with all her classmates. She’d quickly gained the reputation of the ‘friendly’ kid who liked everyone. Most everyone seemed just fine with her desire to be buddies with anything that moved. The exceptions were Todoroki who gave her the cold shoulder (pun absolutely intended) and the furious blonde. Every single time she got the least bit friendly with Bakugou, he’d buck like a wild stallion. What he didn't realize was that his bitterness only made it more fun for his ridiculously headstrong classmate. He'd made the mistake of making it a game and she wasn't about to lose. 

"Like my outfit?” she asked, twirling around jubilantly. 

He scoffed and looked away from her. It was admittedly a cool design. She needed a lot of skin showing to make her Quirk work its best but something extremely revealing would have been out of character for her. She had figured out how to balance the modesty she needed with the design her power required on her own? That was kind of cool. She still looked like a little brat though. That was probably less about the outfit and more about that silly grin plastered on her face.

"What's in the belt? Candy? You're always shoving your face with it." he grumbled. 

"Maybe you'd be nicer if you ate more of it yourself, sour puss." she replied with an eye roll. 

"Dumb ass." 

"By the way, love the grenades. They're super bad-ass."

His eyes widened slightly as he looked back at her suspiciously. Why was she suddenly complimenting him? She usually spent the majority of her time teasing and provoking him. Their bickering sessions started from the first day at U.A. Bakugou was at his desk with his feet propped up as he insulted pretty much anything that moved when petite little Hana walked by.

As soon as she walked by, he noticed her stockings had cat faces on the knees. Naturally, he scoffed loudly. "When did they start letting little kids take classes here?" 

She stopped mid-step and looked over her shoulder. "About the same time they started letting in annoying jackasses." 

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU SHRIMP?"

She spun around and slammed her hands on his desk as she tilted her head to the side. He raised an eyebrow at her. Was this half-pint seriously going to try and pick a fight?

Never breaking eye contact, she smiled jeeringly as she cleared her throat before smiling like a Cheshire cat, "Must be hard to hear with your head so far up your -." 

"Keep running that mouth and I'll hang our tiny ass from the ceiling!" 

"Sweetie, you'd have to catch me first." she scoffed, poking his nose playfully.

Midoriya, who was watching this train wreck from behind the wall, exhaled deeply. It was their first day and Kacchan was about to commit a felony. Sure enough, the blonde went off and threw around some interestingly detailed threats. She stood there taking his insults with a genuinely amused look on her face until he took a step toward her. She closed her eyes as her body emitted a blinding yellowish white light. Bakugou covered his eyes and stumbled back a little. 

"SHIT, WHAT THE HELL, YOU LITTLE -!" 

"My name is Hana Ishikawa." she replied, calmly as if she didn't just flash-bang the entire class. "Nice to meet you. Don't worry, the burning stops after 30 seconds." 

With that, she skipped to her seat and sat down. Midoriya watched cautiously as Bakugou rubbed his stringing eyes and growled loudly. From that moment forward, every time they made eye contact, someone usually got detention. 

All Might was the teacher today and Hana couldn't stop laughing at just how electrified Midoriya was. She was pretty excited too, but she was always that way about something. She was the kind of person who sat by the mailbox when her package was out for delivery and cheered for the mailman when he showed up. What really tickled her was how pumped up Bakugou got when the words 'combat training' came out of All Might's mouth. It got an actual giggle out of her. 

"Ishikawa will be with Todoroki on team B." Aizawa stated. 

"Yay! Dude, I'm so excited. I love your dad. He's my second favorite pro!" Hana shouted out loudly as she bounced up and down. 

Todoroki immediately rolled his eyes at her joyful reaction. Why did he have to get stuck with the class crazy lady? It was going to be a long day. 

The first teams up were "villains" Bakugou and Iida vs Midoriya and Uraraka. The other other students were watching from a secondary location on a big screen. Things were already off to a bad start because Bakugou clearly had no intention of listening or cooperating. Like now, for example, he'd run off to find Midoriya and 'deal' with him.

"Well, I see Baku is doing whatever Baku wants and I'm sure you're all as shocked as I am." Hana said with a sarcastic tone as she put strawberry pocky stick in her mouth. 

"What is he thinking?" Tokoyami asked, shaking his head. "He's being completely irrational." 

"Honestly, Yami, I'm guessing there's not much really going on in that head of his." Hana replied. 

On the screen, Bakugou found his prey and was currently doing everything in his power to stomp him into the dirt. Asui made a comment about him being a good villain which unexpectedly grabbed Hana's attention. 

"Whoa, that's a little harsh, Froggy." 

Bakugou had lost track of Midoriya who had run away for his safety. Even through a screen, his hatred was almost visible in the air. 

" That doesn't seem villainous to you?" Todoroki asked, pointing at the screen where Bakugou was apparently screaming some heavy threats at Deku as he searched for him. 

"Look, I'm not justifying it but there's clearly something going on there that we don't know. We can’t hear anything.” 

"Like what?" he asked flatly.

"Heck, I don't know! I'm not a therapist. Everyone's got a demon or two in them though, right?" She replied.

Tokoyami looked over at her slightly and noticed that her eyes were locked on the blonde with a look of what seemed to be growing curiosity.

"Gotta admire his determination though. Even if his cheese has completely slid off his cracker. He’s so natural at this. He makes it look so easy.” 

"I think you're being naïve." Todoroki said under his breath. 

Her eyes suddenly widened as she looked over at him slightly. Her hands balled into fists slowly by her sides. 

"I'm sorry? Did I ask for your opinion on my personality?" 

"With one as spastic as yours, you should be used to it." 

"Spastic?! Listen, I don't -!" 

"Stop! You'll kill him!" 

All Might's thunderous voice made her jump as her eyes shot back to the screen. They quickly widened as Bakugou's hand ripped the pin from his grenade gauntlet with wild abandon. 

"Dude, what are you doing?" She asked under her breath. 

"How about now, Ishikawa? Does murder count as 'villainous'?" Todoroki scoffed. 

"Seriously, Baku? Pull yourself together." She whispered, mostly to herself.

Midoriya used his Quirk to destroy several floors at once and Bakugou looked as if he'd seen a ghost. No, that wasn't enough to describe the level of horror in those wide ruby eyes. Hana didn't see that uncommon expression as she walked to the back of the room and pulled out another pocky stick. She munched on it as she let her forehead rest on the cold metal wall. The thought of everyone watching her mess up was making her stomach queasy.

What if she didn’t do this right? They talked about Bakugou and Midoriya. Would they talk about her too? What if they thought she was weak? Or clumsy? Or -. 

"Is everything alright?" Tokoyami asked from behind her. 

She sighed deeply and painted her smile on her face, but it didn't hold anything close to genuinely positive. "Nah, I'm okay. Just a little performance anxiety. That's all."

"Well, it's our turn so I would try to shake those nerves if I were you." Todoroki stated while walking by. 

"Sure thing, Ace." She mumbled as she followed. 

She wasn't entirely sure she could handle much more of Todoroki's bitterness today but for the sake of the assignment, she was willing to try. At least, she was before they actually got to the building. 

"You stay here. You'll only get in the way." 

Her heart started slamming on her rib cage angrily as his words unlocked a door in the back of her mind. Once again, she was just a little seven year old, wiping desperate tears from her swollen eyes as her 'friends' stood with their arms crossed disapprovingly. Presently, her teeth grit painfully as she ran to catch up with Todoroki. She grabbed his arm but he quickly shrugged her off. 

"What are you doing?" He asked as he looked back at her. 

"Just because your dad is a pro doesn't mean that you get to talk down to me like that! I'm a big fan of your dad's but I'm not just going to let you -." 

"Let's just focus on the assignment, alright?" He interrupted before continuing toward the building. "You and I aren't on the same level. It's for your benefit that you stay down here." 

As he disappeared into the entrance, she growled under her breath. Get in the way? No, she worked like crazy to get here! Some little rich kid wasn't gonna tell her what to do. It was sunny today so her Quirk was working wonderfully. The more sunlight, the more useful she was. 

The others watched as she created a baseball sized orb of light in between her hands. She continued to spread her hands out until the ball was more like a yoga ball. She then climbed on top of it as it floated up to the window.

“Oh, this is going to end badly.” Kirishima said, wincing as she attempted to jump to her target window. 

In line with the red head's predication, the ball slipped out from under her the moment she moved forward. Thankfully, she was able to reach out and grab onto the ledge before she tumbled to the ground. Her heart was going berserk as her other hand steadied her weight.  

"I swear if I fall, my ghost is gonna haunt you, Ace!" She yelled as she clung to the ledge forcefully. 

"I can't watch. Oh, just tell me when she's made it!" Uraraka said, covering her eyes with worry. 

"I like her fearlessness but that cooperation could use some serious improvement." All Might mumbled as he watched her climb through the window. 

Her target barely even had time to notice her before the floor froze solid. Ice raced up her legs only to stop mid calf. She stared at it for a moment with rage boiling ever faster in her veins. 

"I told you to stay outside for a reason." 

She was visibly shaking with anger as she exhaled deeply. Tears stung her eyes as she bent down to melt the ice from her legs. 

"Man, I wouldn't ever want Ishikawa to look at me the way she's looking at Todoroki right now." Kaminari laughed under his breath. 

"She's normally so laid back." Asui noted.

"She's probably feeling a little embarrassed. She went through all of that effort for nothing. That's a bit of an ego bruiser, don't you think?" Kirishima said, looking at the currently fuming Hana. 

Bakugou rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. His eyes wandered up to the screen and he noticed that as the ice melted off her legs, she crossed her arms and stormed out of the room. He was having a shitty day to say the least but for some reason, that little pouty march of shame of hers made him laugh. 

Okay, maybe not laugh laugh. Just that thing where you blow air out of your nose kinda hard in amusement? She came back into the room and noticed him staring a little. Her left hand came to rest on her hip as she tilted her head to the side. 

"Hey there, Baku. You feeling better after all that? I know I always feel bushy tailed after a homicidal rampage." She said, playfully. 

"You expect me to believe a little runt like you can go on a rampage?" He huffed, looking away. "What do you do? Throw your toys?" 

"Oh, my wittle heart!" She laughed as she threw her arm over her face dramatically. "You're so cruel to me, dude." 

"You're just a pansy, Sunspot." He huffed. 

He noticed that lazy, amused grin slowly spread back over her pastel face like butter on warm toast. The second he took a breath to ask what that stupid look was about, she cut him off. 

"Sunspot? Seriously?" She snorted playfully. "Oh, I get it! Because of my freckles, right? That's actually kinda cute." 

"Whatever, loser." He growled back at her, sulking over the fact that she made an intended insult into a damn pet name. 

She bounced away to go talk to Uraraka. Now that she thought about it, maybe today wasn't all bad.

Chapter Text

Hana had developed a routine that she did every single morning without fail. It was her motivation to stop being late all the time. Well, that and the possibility that Aizawa finally just gives up and locks the door on her.

"Good morning, Froggy!"

"Good morning." Asui replied as she sat down.

"Good morning, Ducky!"

A meek wave in her direction from Koda was evidently a satisfying response as she moved on to Jirou who smiled softly and returned her greeting.

"Good morning, Batteries." She said as she drummed her hands on his desk.

"Morning. You're just as pumped as always, huh?" Kaminari laughed as she propped her chin up with her hand.

"You know it. The sun is shining and I'm all charged up!"

The door opening got her attention as she stood up straight. "Good morning, Mr. Aizawa!" Hana sang happily.

"Ishikawa, playtime's over. Back to your desk." He said back.

"You got it, boss!" She replied, spun around promptly and did as he asked.

Picking a class rep sounded like an easy task but nothing was simple with class 1-A. Everyone wanted to be the chosen one. As the students made their votes, Hana started to write down Tokoyami's name but stopped. It wasn't that he couldn't do it. She just knew that he was introverted and would probably much rather just give advice from the background rather than being the voice for the entire class. So, she didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

Let's see now, she wondered to herself, chewing on her pen. She looked up at Bakugou for a moment as the blonde violently scribbled something onto his paper. She stopped mid bite on the rubber grip of her pen as she thought. Yeah, Baku was confident, focused, and unshakable. He'd make a great leader, right?

She checked to see if anyone was looking before printing her vote, folding the paper carefully, and poking Midoriya's shoulder in one finger.

"Ding, ding!" She whispered as she put the paper where he could reach it.

He took it from her and tapped Bakugou's shoulder with it, resulting in the explosive boy snatching it aggressively.

"Hey, I got a question for you." Hana said quietly as she leaned forward.

"Yes?"

"Why does Baku call you Deku?"

"I-it's complicated."

She pursed her lips for a second in thought. "I used it a few times but I felt kinda bad until I heard Floatie call you that.  I wanted to formally ask if I could too."

Of all the nicknames that Ishikawa had tagged onto her classmates, the one she had for Uraraka was the cutest in Midoriya's opinion. Honestly, some days he wanted to use it too. He wasn't nearly brave enough though.

"I don't mind. You can if you want." He replied.

"Sweet! Couldn't ever think of a good nickname for you. That'll be much easier for me to remember. Especially with Baku yelling it all the time." She said, leaning back and looking over at Tokoyami before waving at him.

When the votes were counted and the results were shown to the class, there were two obvious favorites: Iida and Midoriya. Apparently, that was absolutely ridiculous to Bakugou who quickly got to his feet and demanded to know who had the audacity to vote for Midoriya.

"Well, did you really expect anyone to vote for you?" Kaminari teased.

"Someone apparently did." Sero chuckled.

Hana's eyes darted away from the two and Jirou quickly took notice as she looked over at her. Kaminari laughed as he noticed the green girl staring at the floor in the desperate attempt to avoid eye contact.

Ultimately, Iida was given the job which realistically made the most sense. As soon as they were dismissed, Hana quickly slipped out of the room to escape all the teasing that Kaminari was playing about her voting choice. Unfortunately, her presence wasn't necessary.

"So what do you guys think of Ishikawa?" Kaminari asked the remainder of his classmates.

"She's really intense." Uraraka laughed. "She seems pretty nice though." 

"All that energy would make her a great match up for someone we know, don't cha think?"

Bakugou's eyes cut over to him bitterly and the others felt a chill. "Quit grinning in my direction like I don't know what you're talking about."

"She is the only person who voted for you." Kaminari said, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe she likes you."

"Or maybe you should stop trying to see things that aren't there. That little brat is just an attention seeker. Now, out of my way, idiot."

He shoved his way past him and went down the hallway.

'Maybe she likes you.'

What kind of stupid thinking was that? That ball of energy liked EVERYONE. Her hyper attitude and how she treated everyone like they'd been friends for years is what made her so popular.

At first, Bakugou didn't pay attention to her, but she was frustratingly hard to ignore. Easy to be annoyed by though. It wasn't uncommon to see her dancing to music that no one else could hear or twirling around while rambling about something. He still couldn't figure out how someone so small could be so loud.

As he got to the door, he heard someone crying and curiosity pulled him over to find a female with wavy pink hair and terrified hazel eyes was pushed up against the wall by a large male student with a blue buzzcut. Three horns protruded from his forehead. His knee was pushed in between her legs and tears were filling her eyes.

Bakugou had a reputation for being a jackass but even he thought this was just disgusting. He dropped his bag on the ground and was just about to take a step forward when she came out of nowhere. That skin tone and bouncy walk left little doubt about her identity. Bakugou scoffed to himself. What was this runt going to do against a big ape like that. She walked right up to them and put her arm around the girl's shoulder. The already terrified student flinched and looked over at the newcomer fearfully.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you, Pinky!" Hana said with an added sigh of relief.

'Pinky' seemed more confused than a caveman in a BestBuy but quickly nodded her head in agreement. 

"You expect me to believe you two are friends? I've never even seen you two together." The brute snorted, keeping his knee in place contemptuously.

"Sure are! I've known Pinky forever." she replied unflinchingly. "So could you kindly back off so we can go home and watch Netflix? Please and thank you."

"What's her name?"

Bakugou was honestly dying to know how she'd slip past that question. She crossed her arms and shifted most of her weight onto her left foot as a smirk spread over her shiny glossed lips. In a flash, Bakugou's skin felt so warm that he had to check his palms to see if his Quirk had activated unintentionally. Well, no sparks were coming off him. What the heck? It felt like an entire ant farm had been dumped on him.

"Wouldn't you like to know, big boy?"

The thug put his knee down and bent down to her as her smug sneer quickly morphed into a seething death glare. He tilted his head mockingly as he looked her petite frame up and down.

"I admire your spunk, but why do you go and play with someone your own level, cutie?"

As soon as that last word fell onto Hana ears, something in those azure eyes darkened and her jaw tightened. The guy's thick hand started to come down onto her head until her own grabbed his wrist forcefully.

"You really shouldn't put your hands on someone without their permission. Especially if you don't know their Quirk!"

She exhaled roughly as her left hand started to glow with her light. Bakugou hadn’t noticed before her ‘sunspot’ freckles actually glowed when she activated her Quirk. No wonder she found that nickname so fitting. She shot a beam of energy at the bully who quickly ducked and backed away speedily, tripping over his own feet in the process. Bakugou was genuinely a little impressed. A head to head fight was out of the question. 

"Now, listen up. I can't stand creeps like you. You think because she's little and timid you can do what you want?"

"Alright, alright! I get it. Message received, you little bitch."

Her eyes widened into a derisively curious look as she held up a hand that was still lit up.

"Would you like to see what else this little bitch can do? I have plenty of energy. All I need is sunlight and there's plenty of it today." 

"No! Just... what do you want me to do, lady?"

"Apologize." she hissed back. "And it better sound pretty and sincere."

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, not to me." She corrected while pointing at the absolutely floored girl behind her who hadn't moved a muscle.

"I-I'm sorry, Nakamura! I shouldn't have done that."

Nakamura nodded slightly as she tucked a loose piece of her rosy hair behind her ear.

"Good. Now, remember.” Hana stated, hand resting on one of her narrow hips. “This is a school of HEROES so please, check your hormones at the door."

He nodded quickly as he got to his feet. As he left, Hana walked back over to Nakamura and smiled warmly.

"Sorry you had to see that. I'm Hana Ishikawa. My friends call me Ishi."

"I'm Yuma Nakamura. I'm in Class 1-B. Thank you so much for saving me."

"Hey, no problem!" Hana giggled. "Queens gotta stick together, right? Heads up, it might take me a little bit to remember your name. Probably just gonna call you Pinky until it does.” 

"Where did you learn to stand up to people like that? It was so brave!"

She shrugged as she bent down and started searching through her bag. "My dad is a cop so I have to learn how to kick ass at a young age. He won’t have any other way."

"I could never do what you just did." Yuma mumbled as she rubbed her arm.

"Nonsense! I bet you could kick all kinds of ass if you wanted."

She shrugged with uncertainty and Hana suddenly grabbed her shoulders.

"Just gotta tell yourself 'I gotta be the hero that little me needed.' over and over. That's what I do."

"That's not a bad idea actually." Yuma admitted softly.

"See? You got this! Just fake it 'til you make it." Hana replied as she handed Yuma a strawberry pocky stick.

She agreed and hesitantly took the treat. Hana skipped off with her. Bakugou picked up his bag and started to walk the opposite direction. He glanced over one last time at the two girls down the street.

Hana was currently laying on the bench with a pocky stick in her mouth as she talked to Yuma who was sitting by her feet. He rolled his eyes but his head could only think of one thing. Why was his heart beating so hard?

The next morning, Hana was sitting sideways in her chair, drinking out of her large water bottle while talking with her classmates.

"Man, my cat won't let me sleep last night. I swear Teriyaki just gets high off being a brat." Hana told Tokoyami who was sitting on the desk next to her.

"Pretty sure Bakugou thinks the same thing about you." Jirou mumbled under her breath.

"I'd be offended if that wasn't true." She replied, running her skinny fingers through her short hair. "What can I say? I just love challenges."

"There's never a dull moment around you, huh?" Tokoyami asked, fixing his jacket sleeve.

"Oh, man, you're not wearing your MCR bracelet today?" Hana asked.

"I didn't know you liked that band." Jirou said, looking over at him.

"Oh, well, I actually -."

"Tokoyami!" Iida exclaimed as he sprinted toward them.

"Oh, Lord help us. Here comes Captain Buzzkill." Hana sighed.

"Get off that desk immediately! You're disrespecting this school and its values!"

"Calm your jets, dude. It's no big deal." Hana stated, putting her hands on her hips. "It's not like he actually weighs anything. No offense."

He shook his head to show he didn't find any. He was the shortest boy in class but his Quirk didn't require much muscle mass so he'd never worried about it.

"Yeah, dude, you need to chill." Jirou added.

"It's highly inappropriate and I must insist that you stop at once."

Hana smirked and stood up. Iida’s eyes narrowed unpleasantly as she laid back onto the desk like it was her own personal bed.

“Ishikawa! That’s so -!”

“Disrespectful?” she giggled, stretching her arms over her head.

“Unnecessary!”

“But it’s comfortable, Speedy.”

“Comfortable? Now, I doubt that.” Tokoyami scoffed playfully as he watched her sit up and stretch her arms over her head.

“Okay, you called my bluff. Man, my back’s screaming at me for that one.” she groaned, putting her hands on her back and pouting.

“You’re going to regret that even more later when we're training.” Jirou said.

“Not that the village princess is gonna stand a chance against me anyway.” Bakugou groaned from his seat.

"Coming from the village idiot." She scoffed back. "You haven’t even really seen me fight yet, thanks to Ace's ice cubes. There’s a pretty decent chance that I could kick your ass.”

“What are you going to do, giggle me into submission?” he scoffed loudly.

“I'm full of surprises, Baku.”

“If you can remember half of my name then you can remember all of it.”

“Maybe I just like Baku better.” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Maybe I’d like it if you stop damn annoying little sh-!”

“Would you quit picking fights? It’s too early in the morning for yet another one of your bickering sessions.”

She truly wasn’t sure if Todoroki meant that toward her or Bakugou, but either way, she smiled at her annoyed classmate. "Sorry, Ace." She said with a sigh. "I'm just excited about training and I never get tired of ruffling this little drama queen's feathers."

"Well, I'm not listening to it. You need to go sit down." Todoroki huffed.

"Aye, aye, captain." She replied, offering him a half assed salute.

"That's the wrong hand, idiot." Bakugou growled as she started to walk away. He rolled his eyes.

"Huh?"

"You don't salute with your left. It's supposed to be right hand." He continued.

"Well, look at Baku flexing that military knowledge this morning!" Hana giggled as she looked the blonde over with admiration. "Let me guess, you have a veteran in your family?"

"Sorry, I don't do back story, brat."

"No fair. I'm so curious now!" She whined.

"Not my problem."

"So cold!" She said, jokingly shivering. "I'd expect that from Ace, not you, Blasty."

"You and those damn nicknames." He mumbled as she skipped away.

Earlier that day, Mr. Aizawa had informed the students that they would be going on a field trip for more training. The students got changed into their hero outfits and got in line to get on the bus. Hana made a lot of dumb decisions. Honestly, it was like a hidden talent at this point in her life.

Like the time that she tried to see if she could fit in the fridge (she could) or the time that she tried to get away with playing ‘The Floor Is Lava’ for the entire day. Both ideas got her lectured by her stern older brother for an hour. But today’s bad idea wasn’t like that. No, it wasn’t just something silly that she thought of while playing on her phone. This one had a purpose . A good purpose too. She was being friendly! Heroes should be friendly, right? 

Sadly, the subject of this little idea wasn’t happy about his involvement. If you could call it involvement. She was completely sure this was called ‘brooding’. Hana looked over at Bakugou who was doing his absolute best to pretend that she’d never stepped foot on this damn bus in the first place, must less ask –no, DEMAND- to sit next to him.

“You’re completely sure that -?”

“For the last time, I don’t want a freaking pocky stick! Jeez, how many of those things do you have? Seems like you always have one in your mouth.”

“They’re so good, especially the strawberry ones.” she said, pulling another one out of her bag.

“I hope that crap makes you puke. Eating nothing but junk is childish.”

“You say that like it's supposed to slow me down.” she replied entirely too quickly for his liking.

“God, you’re like a walking nightmare.” he groaned, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

She threw her head back slightly in laughter and he rolled his eyes for what had to be the 39th time on this ride. God, that damn giggle was infuriatingly happy. He went back to staring out the window.

“So, how’s it going, Ishikawa? You and Bakugou best buds yet?” Kirishima called from the seat next to them.

“We’re close to a breakthrough, Red. I can feel it!” she replied, clapping her hands together joyfully.

“You honestly just live in your own damn world, don’t you?” Bakugou hissed at her.

She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s nice in my world. You’d like it here. We have parties on Fridays and group meetings on Wednesdays.”

“Would you stop being such a damn smart ass?! Everything is a joke to you!”

“I take plenty of things seriously. Like making friends. Why do you think I’m sitting here with you, Mr. Anger Issues?”

“Only Ishikawa would spend this much time on someone like Bakugou.” Asui said.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Frog Face?!” Bakugou screamed as he got to his feet.

“Just that your personality is the equivalent of the sound that an ironing board makes when you fold it.” Kaminari replied.

“No one asked you, Spark Plug! Keep it up and I’ll kick your ass!” came the heated reply.

Hana’s helpless giggling behind him didn’t help the situation any. He looked over his shoulder at her and growled which only got more laughter as a reply.

"Speaking of personalities, Ishikawa's gonna be hard to beat in the charisma department." Kirishima stated, chuckling a little when Hana blushed slightly.

"Plus your Quirk is so pretty with all the light. Like a warrior princess or something." Uraraka giggled with a playful punch at the air. 

"You guys, stop! I'm gonna die from blushing so hard." She replied, covering her face with one hand. "It's not that cool. I mean, not to play favorites but Dark Shadow is wicked awesome."

She looked over her shoulder to see Tokoyami all flustered and ruffled at the unexpected compliment. She mouthed 'My bad!' before looking back at the others.

"Kinda ironic that the sunshine kid and the Dark Shadow kid are best friends." Kirishima chuckled.

“Not surprising though. I mean, she's already made some friends in the other classes!" Kaminari added.

"Like, two!" Hana defended. "That's not nearly as awesome as you're trying to make it. You know, I almost didn't even come to U.A."

“Huh? Why?” Kaminari asked, leaning back in his seat. “With your spunky personality, you’d be a fan favorite quick!”

She crinkled up her small nose and spoke in a slightly embarrassed tone. “Honestly? I thought this place would eat me alive."

"Well, I see why." Kirishima replied.

Her face darkened as she sat forward. Kirishima felt his heart jump a little as she tilted her head and gave him an unamused look. "What's that supposed to mean, Red?”

"J-just that this place has a fierce reputation. I think everyone was at least a little scared to come here."

She sat back and her carefree aura returned. Was Kirishima seeing things or was Bakugou smirking a little?

"Oops. Misunderstood what you meant there. Didn’t mean to bite." She said lightheartedly. "But personally, I think that the next big thing to hit the streets is on this bus. Definitely not me though.”

“Oh yeah? So, who is it that’s won Ishikawa’s vote for next number one hero?” Ashido asked.

“Baku.” she said simply.

The blonde stiffened a little and everyone noticed. Several classmates gave her a confused look but Hana playfully shrugged it off. Kaminari laughed loudly.

“Hear that, Bakugou? You’ve already got a fangirl! Though I can’t see why. You’re not exactly likable.”

Bakugou took a breath to start telling Kaminari exactly where to put his opinion, but Hana cut him off.

"Well, 'fangirl' might be overkill, dude. But we all know that Baku and Ace are the top dogs of the class. My vote just happens to be for Blasty. Mostly cause I think the latter is an asshole."

Sleeping Todoroki didn't comment so Ashido asked, "So you're supporting the even bigger asshole?"

"Hey, I'm right here, you damn extras! Don't talk like I'm not!"

"Hey, you can't deny that he's got the right stuff. We just gotta get those temper tantrums under control, right, Baku?"

“I WILL THROW YOUR STUPID ASS OFF THIS BUS!”

“Man, someone's moody today, huh?"

“What did you say, idiot?” He shouted at her.

She smiled sweetly despite his irate expression being just inches from her face. “You heard me."

“You're being a brat, Sunspot!”

That smile grew at the familiar nickname and he seriously considered making good on that “throwing her off the bus” comment.

"It's a talent.” She said, shrugging her shoulders idly.

“You're such a pain.” he mumbled, sitting back down, and crossing his arms.

"You'd like me if you'd just get to know me."

“Shut up! I know a dumbass when I see one.”

“Comes with seeing one every day in the mirror, huh?” She giggled.

“Whoa! Good one, Ishikawa!” Kaminari chuckled, offering a high five that was quickly accepted.

The bus came to a stop and Bakugou immediately shoved his way past her to get off. All while grumbling something about “that stupid, spoiled brat”. Hana smirked to herself as she waited patiently for Tokoyami.

Maybe, she shouldn’t find this as fun as she did, but man, was it ever a thrill to have him all riled up like that! She just had to keep that fuse lit.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for this whole trip to USJ to get out of hands. Villains weren’t part of the plan, but they didn’t seem to mind. They were here anyway, and the students were currently scattered all over the place thanks to some bad guy’s Quirk.

They weren’t alone though. Villains were everywhere. As Hana shot another energy blast at an enemy, she started to realize just how many of them had shown up to this little surprise party. Jerks didn’t even have an invitation. How rude.

These guys weren’t impossible to handle though, especially since the ceiling was just a giant window. The natural sunshine coming in through was keeping her useful. She did want to find her classmates though. As she looked down a hallway, she abruptly felt a large hand grab her shoulder. Her eyes widened as energy lit up her body.

"Hey, hands off!” she shouted, creating a small burst of blinding light to explode from her frame.

As he stumbled to recover, she took advantage of his confusion and punched his jaw with all the force she could muster. The light faded as she looked down at him laying by her feet.

"Jeez, you guys are real pushovers if my little ass can KO you." She mumbled to herself.

"Whoa! Nice hook, Ishikawa."

She spun around and found herself eye to eye with the lovable redhead, Kirishima. Well, at least she had back up now. He had Bakugou with him and the blonde looked completely done with this entire field trip. His skin was glistening with sweat and lightly dusted with dirt. Hana crossed her arms and took a step closer.

"Well, looks like you're right at home on a battlefield, huh?" She asked, looking him up and down with an approving smirk on her lips.

"Surprised you're not out cold on the floor somewhere." He huffed at her.

"Oh, I think you'd be impressed by me if you'd just drop that big boy attitude." She replied.

"Maybe if you'd wipe that stupid grin off your face, I might believe that." He shot back quickly.

Unbeknownst to the bickering teens, another villain who had been waiting for his chance at attack got the idea to hurl some large debris at them while they were distracted. Kirishima saw it coming of course since he was looking in that direction.

Being the chivalrous type, he immediately moved forward. "Hey, look out!"

Hana pushed him back and attempted to use her powers to destroy the rock but she misjudged the debris and one of the pieces collided with her temple. By the time her dizzy eyes had adjusted, the villain that had hurled the concrete chunks was blasted across the room. When she looked up, she saw Bakugou standing over her.

"Hell, I was kinda impressed for a second, I guess." He scoffed.

"Jackass." She mumbled as she wiped the blood from her forehead.

“Hey, can you stand?” Kirishima asked, kneeling down to her.

She didn’t reply. God, her head was pounding. Was the room really spinning or was she just dizzy?

“Come on, get up! We don’t have all day!” Bakugou commanded.

She attempted to stand but her knees locked, and she slid back down. Getting impatient with her, he grabbed her arm and yanked up onto her shaky legs.

“Seriously? You’re going to get yourself killed. Hey, Shitty Hair! Keep up with this idiot.”

She’d be lying if she said that she understood half of what he just said. She could feel the line of blood running down her face and the edges of her vision were blurry. Her eyes were threatening to close so she just nodded weakly. Kirishima suddenly hauled her up onto his back which earned an alarmingly undignified squawk in surprise.

“Oops, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” he laughed.

“Is fine.” She slurred, eyes fluttering.

“Hey, keep her talking. Don’t let her pass out.” Bakugou growled, checking around a hallway before motioning for Kirishima to follow.

“Huh? Why?”

“I fell out of a tree and hit my head really hard when I was six. My old man kept saying that you’re not supposed to let people with concussions fall asleep. So, keep her awake.”

“Alright. Cool. Uh, hey, Ishikawa?”

“Uh-huh?” She mumbled.

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Pink.”

That made sense just from her backpack.

“Cool. I like red.” Kirishima replied.

“Yo-yo likes red too.”

“Oh, yeah? Who's that?"

"My big brother." She groaned.

She was so lightheaded that she couldn't tell if she was actually speaking out loud.

“You have a favorite pro hero?"

No reply.

“Ishikawa, come on. Keep talking to me.”

Nothing.

“Oi, damn brat! Wake up!” Bakugou barked.

Her eyes shot open and she laid her cheek on Kirishima’s shoulder. “Sorry. I’m trying.”

“Try harder. Come on, you never shut up! Don’t start now.” He huffed.

“How do you like school so far?” Kirishima continued.

“Yeah.” She groaned softly.

“You and Bakugou sure have been at each other’s throats though, huh?” He said jokingly.

She nodded faintly before giggling.

“What’s so funny back there?” he asked, looking back at her slightly.

“He’s so cute when he’s mad. Just makes me wanna kiss that angry face of his.” she replied, propping her chin on his shoulder now.

“Whoa! What?!” He exclaimed in shock, nearly losing his grip on her leg.

“What are you yelling about?” Bakugou demanded.

“N-nothing, dude. Just thinking about how crazy this whole situation is.”

“Don’t be so loud, idiot! The exit’s clear. Let’s go.”

Kirishima thought for a second. Curiosity was getting the better of him. It won’t hurt anything to do a little experiment. “Hey, man? My shoulder is cramping up. Can you maybe -?”

“You can’t be serious. You’ve only had her five minutes and she’s tiny! I thought you were supposed to be ‘manly’ or whatever!”

“Must have hit my shoulder earlier. I just don’t want to drop her.”

“Fine. Give me the damn goblin then!”

Hana was barely conscious and couldn’t do piggyback rides anymore which Bakugou quickly figured out when she went limp. He was cursing up a storm and the vein in his forehead threatened to pop with rage but nevertheless, he had Hana’s petite frame in his arms. Her bloody forehead was resting in the crook of his neck.

“Needy little brat even when she’s half out of it. Hey, wake the hell up, stupid!”

“Sorry, Baku.” She mumbled, sounding like a preschooler at nap time.

“I knew you’d end up causing me problems today.” He groaned.

“Why do you smell so good?”

“It’s the nitroglycerin-like chemical in my sweat. Gives off a burnt sugar smell.”

“I like it.” She confirmed.

“Dumbass.”

“At least she’s talking.” Kirishima laughed softly.

Bakugou wasn’t paying much attention but Hana couldn’t have been any closer if she tried. She was hanging on him like a baby koala. Kirishima found it oddly cute.

“Alright. I’m gonna go blast the living hell out of that portal guy. Take this dumbass over there with the frog chick.”

As Kirishima took her into his arms, she latched onto the blonde's wrist with what was left of her strength.

“What the hell? Let go already!”

"Be careful." She mumbled.

His heart skipped half of a beat as her fingers danced over his wrist softly. Her touch was gentle and delicate. Now was hardly the time for that kind of dumb thinking. He twisted out of her grip and ran off. The redhead started off toward Asui.

As he sprinted, he looked down at the nearly comatose girl in his arms to see that she was frowning a little.

"You okay, Ishikawa?"

She shook her head and curled up into a tighter ball. "Yo-yo is so gonna be mad at me for getting hurt."

"I'm sure he'll be happy that you're okay."

He didn't get a reply as Hana looked over at the group of heroes fighting the villains.

"He's gonna be okay, right?"

"Huh? You mean Bakugou? Yeah, he's got this. You don't worry about it. You just stay safe, okay?"

"Don't you get hurt either, 'kay?"

"Don't worry so much!" He said, trying to sound extra encouraging.

She sighed deeply as she closed her eyes. "I just can’t watch my friends get hurt. I’ve never had friends like you guys before."

Kirishima frowned at the sound of her breezy voice cracking. He hated seeing people cry.

"Hey, don't start doubting us yet!" He said, holding her closer. "We're all walking out of this mess together, alright?"

"Promise?"

"I promise. Just watch."

She looked up at him and smiled. It was flimsy but it was the thought that counted really. She knew Baku would be mad but she couldn't hold her eyes any long. Later that evening, Hana’s brain rebooted, and she found herself in her bedroom. That stubborn streetlight shining blinding light into her window was cruelly unforgiving and caused her eyes to squint.

“There she is. Welcome back to reality, kiddo.”

“Yosuke?” she mumbled, looking over toward the sound.

“In the flesh. I do live here after all."

“I’m about to get one hell of a lecture, huh?” she groaned, looking at her stuffed orca for answers.

“As much as I want to, I don’t think I have much to rant about. Except maybe the fact that you have way too many guy friends.” he replied.

“Well, that’s a freaking relief. I was sure -. Wait, how do you know anything about my friends?”

That smirk had some evil intention in it, and she felt her skin crawl. “Well, you’ve had a ton of phone calls during your little nap.”

“Phone calls? But I didn't give my number to anyone except -." She stopped and exhaled quietly. "Tokoyami who was probably peer pressured out of it. Who called anyway?"

“Hell, I don't remember their names. There were like ten of them."

"Aww, my friends are so cool.” she said, sitting up.

“You shouldn’t be so worried about making friends. You should be more focused on -.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Mr. Aizawa already beat you to that speech. Twice, actually.” Hana sighed, looking at the nightstand next to her bed. Her grumpy older sibling brought her favorite snacks while she was resting? Adorable.

“Well, knowing you as well as I do, I know that it takes at least six times before you even bother to start listening.” he replied, rolling his eyes.

“I listen. Just not to you.” she said, grinning satirically

“I noticed.” he said, patting her head gently. “Man, you are just like me when I was younger. Just a little troublemaker.”

“Only my grades are a little better.” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Hey, I don’t remember asking for any of your sass, Jellybean.” he scoffed.

She giggled until her phone buzzing got her attention. Yosuke reached for it but Hana quickly snatched it away.

"Hello?" She inquired, putting the call on speaker out of habit.

“Hey, Ishikawa? It’s Kirishima! You know, from school?"

“Oh, hi, Red! Like I couldn't recognize that cool voice.” she chuckled.

“What a surprise. Another boy.” Yosuke said under his breath, smirking at Hana who looked ready to get out of her bed and smack him.

“I’m guessing that was Yo-Yo, huh?” he asked.

Yosuke’s pale face illuminated with interest as Hana’s turned violently red. She grabbed her pillow and buried her face in it.

“Oh, so you do still call me that?” Yosuke asked with a smug look.

She moved the pillow and tripped over her words like a newborn deer. “L-Look, I was half unconscious and I didn’t even know where I was so don’t start thinking -!”

“I haven’t heard that since you were – what? - nine?” he chuckled.

“You’re not even listening to me, are you, you big dummy?!”

“That’s cute, Jellybean. Never gonna let you live that one down. Well, it’s been fun but I gotta go finish cleaning this messy apartment. I’ll be back in here about half an hour, alright?” Yosuke stated, standing up and stretching his arms over his head.

She scoffed at him with her arms crossed childishly so he gave her a condescending pat on the head. She snipped at his hand like a puppy but only succeeded in biting her own lip by mistake. As soon as he left, Kirishima offered an apology which pulled a smile out of her.

“It’s fine. If that’s the worst thing that happens to me tonight, I’ll be grateful. So, wanna catch me up to speed? I’m sure I missed a lot.”

Kirishima laughed softly under his breath. Man, she had no idea.

After her hour long phone call with her classmate, Hana walked into the living room with her stuffed orca in her arms. Her reverberating yawn got Yosuke's attention as he stopped cleaning for a moment.

"What are you doing up and moving? I thought I said to rest in bed until tomorrow."

"You did. I just desperately needed some water and the service here sucks." She replied.

"Smart ass." He tossed an old All Might action figure who had been cluttering up the end table into the empty wire trash basket beside his foot. Hana instantly scoffed dramatically in disapproval. 

“What? It’s broken.” he defended. 

“You can’t just throw the Symbol of Peace away! Dude spends all his time saving people and you just toss him in with used tissues? It's not his fault that his leg fell off.” 

"You know that's not the real All Might, right?" He scoffed.

"Gimme." She said, holding out her hand.

He sighed deeply as his eyes rolled and he delicately rescued the top hero from the trash. He handed the unwanted hunk of plastic to his little sister who picked some fuzz of his face. 

“Do you remember when we found this guy?” she asked softly.

“Well, yeah. It was the same day that you discovered your Quirk.” he replied, moving the box from the bed to the floor with the rest of the boxes. 

“Yeah, Mom and Dad had no idea how to handle me being so energetic all of a sudden.” she laughed, tucking one of her bangs behind her ear. 

“Then you suddenly just passed out at 7:30. Could have told us that your Quirk came in, kiddo."  

“Dude, I was an infant. Cut me some slack.” 

“Well, the Google results for ‘My new baby sister is off the walls happy and annoying’ were disappointing.” he teased, shrugging lightly.

She looked away and he thumped her on top of the head. She covered the sore spot and shot him a dirty look that only got a chuckle.

“Quit pouting. You're not five anymore, even if you still act like it." He said flatly.

"Well, the spot for the family jerk was taken so I had to be the brat." she grumbled.

"You're good at it. Seriously though, don't be so down in the dumps. I'm kidding."

"Whatever."

He poked her nose playfully as he smirked. "Hey, to be fair, sisters are supposed to be annoying. But as far as little shits like you go, you’re pretty cool, I guess.” 

She blushed slightly and looked away. "You know while we’re on the topic, big brothers are supposed to be good role models."

"Fight me, JB." 

"Don't think I won't." She scoffed as he walked into the kitchen.

"Whatever, Shrimp. Hey, I'm ordering take out later. Not in the mood to cook. That's good with you?"

“As long as you don't hog all the good stuff this time. You remember what I want, right?"

"Your favorite. Spicy tofu rolls. How could I forget about your vegetarian crap? You only do that stuff because Mom does."

"Hey, that’s not true! I have my own reasons!"

"So, you saw Grandpa kill a chicken! No big deal. Chickens die everyday." Yosuke stated bluntly as he searched for his phone.

"But I named that one!" She sobbed fraudulently

"Well, if it makes you feel better, Hillary Fluff tasted delicious."

"You're a monster, Yo." She said flatly as he chuckled. "Hey, by the way, where is Mom anyway?"

“She said she’d be headed home about six tonight. So she should be back any minute now. She called earlier to check on you. Said she would have left work early but that teenager she hired flaked out on her so she’s alone today.” 

He wasn't sure why his phone would be in the bear shaped cookie jar but he looked there just to be safe. With Hana around, it could be on the roof.

“Dude, how hard is it to put flowers in a vase? That’s even easier than that desk job you do." she said while making her way to the hallway.

“Hey, quit being so judgy, I’m just doing it until I’m done with college, dork.”

"Yeah, yeah. By the way, check the top of the fridge, college boy. I’m going to jump in the shower.” 

He turned and immediately sighed loudly when he spotted it. She scoffed playfully and headed down the hallway. As she headed to the bedroom, she spared a glance or two at the pictures on the wall. School pictures, snapshots of her obese feline friend, and professional photos of her and Yosuke decorated the walls. She noticed one picture that stopped her in her tracks. 

It was a family portrait that she was fairly sure that her mother had thrown out. It was the only picture of their dad in the entire house, but she was confident that it wasn’t here a week ago. It was a nice picture though. Very traditional for a weird family like hers. Her parents were sitting back to back. Her father, Shohei, was holding eight month old little Hana while her mother had five year old Yosuke in her lap. They were all dressed in typical autumn clothes. 

She took an odd joy in the peaceful expression on her father’s face. Her dad was nothing like her and her mother. He was straight laced, stern, and pockerfaced. How he ended up marrying a free-thinking non-conformist like Hina was still beyond her. But then again, they ended up getting divorced before Hana’s second birthday. Sighing deeply, she looked at her phone. Despite their many differences, she missed him often. She hadn’t talked to him in about three weeks. Maybe it was time to change that.

Chapter Text

"Crap, crap, crap! Aizawa’s gonna freaking kill me!" Hana yelled to the open air as she sprinted down the hallway.

She’d stayed up late last night on the phone with her dad. He usually won’t have allowed her to be awake at that time on a school night but she’d accidentally mentioned the USJ attack and how she got a minor injury. That led to a two hour lecture that Yosuke finally had to break up.

She wasn't wearing her tie because she couldn't find it and these rainbow socks were probably not in dress code, but it was fine. As her grip tightened on the small gift box in her hands, she decided not to worry about it right now. Opening the door to the classroom, she was greeted by a peeved growl from Mr. Aizawa. She wasn’t entirely sure how he was THAT visibly annoyed through all the bandages, but she could feel his disappointment burning through her entire body.

She smiled unconvincingly but he looked even less impressed than she thought humanly possible.

“Sorry I'm late.” she mumbled, shifting the box to one hand so she could rub the back of her head anxiously.

“Twenty minutes, Ishikawa.” he sighed deeply.

“To be fair, it was twenty-five minutes last week. I see this as progress.” She replied.

Oh, that was the wrong answer. She knew instantly that she messed up. He narrowed his eyes and she felt her skin crawl with fear.

“When you become a pro, do you plan on showing late to every mission? This isn’t something that you can play with. If you’re not going to take this seriously then you should withdraw from this course and find something that you genuinely want to put time into."

Her breathing felt shallow and her knees were shaking as she stared at her glittery shoes with moisture gathering in her eyes.

"Being obsessively friendly isn’t going to keep you employed or alive, Ishikawa. You need to put effort into being useful. Otherwise, hero work just isn’t for you.”

Wow, that last part stung enough to make her physically wince. She bit down on her bottom lip hard enough to hurt to hold back the few tears that were threatening to fall. Her classmates staring at them didn't help. She quickly nodded as she sat the box on his desk, ran past him, and went to her seat. Her lack of a playful reply didn’t go unnoticed and everyone looked back at her a little, trying not to be obvious. She smiled a little at them and they turned back to Aizawa, content that she was alright or at least would be soon.  

Tokoyami was close enough to her to see her hands trembling. That smile on her face was puny, but she was trying her best to hold it. When Aizawa turned around, he tapped her arm and was even more concerned when she flinched.

“Are you alright?” he whispered.

Noticing that he was getting increasingly worried, she forced herself to giggle softly and shrug her shoulders lightly. “Hey, don’t worry about me. I’m a tough cookie.”

He realized that she wasn’t going to admit anything otherwise without some serious investigating and he didn’t want their teacher’s wrath for interrupting class, so he sighed softly.

“If you need to talk, I have no issues with listening.”

“I know, buddy. Thank you.” she replied with a nod.

They started listening to Aizawa talk about the upcoming sports festival and Hana's embarrassment from earlier quickly abandoned her mind. It was exciting to think about all those recruiters taking interest in them. She was already getting a game plan in action. She had to make a good impression. Maybe that would prove to Aizawa that he was wrong? She was totally serious about hero work!

Once it was time to go to lunch, the members of Class 1-A opened the door to an unexpected sight. There were tons of students crammed into the hallway and it only took a few seconds for Bakugou to get them all furious and stirred up with his ego. Hana squeezed past the blonde and smiled at the mob.

“I’m sorry about our resident psycho here. He missed nap time today.” she said, gesturing back towards Bakugou.

“HEY, DON’T APOLOGIZE FOR ME, YOU HAPPY LITTLE NERD! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?”

“I hope to see you guys all at the Sports Festival, but at the moment, my classmates really wanna get to lunch so please clear out the hallway, okay? Bye now!” she said, waving playfully and walking away.

“HEY, STOP IGNORING ME, BRAT!”

“As anyone ever told you that your voice is like nails on a chalkboard?” a gloomy voice called out.

Hana stopped mid-stop as her eyes widened. Everything was chillingly still and even Bakugou was quiet as she looked over her shoulder slightly. “What did you just say?” 

“Now I see why you stepped out. You think you're special, huh? Like the rest of your class? Being an airhead doesn’t make you cute. It makes you obnoxious.” the purple hair student continued.

For the second time that day, her eyes filled to the brim with tears. She spun around and her freckles began to glow. She had every intention of putting that asshole in the ground but Tokoyami’s hand grabbing her arm caused her to lose her violent desire instantly. He flinched slightly when their eyes met. Her pupils were blown wide and she was trembling with rage. It was so unnatural on that normally happy face.

“Don’t do anything that you’ll regret. Take a deep breath and come with me.” he said quietly.

She inhaled deeply before allowing him to lead her away from the crowd. He took her an empty hallway away from the confused whispers of her classmates. Hana rarely got angry. She usually deflected everything with jokes and smiles. However, when Tokoyami got her alone, he realized that it wasn’t fury in her eyes. She was heartbroken.

“I apologize if this seems too forward.” he said, releasing her arm slowly. “But I told you that I don’t mind listening to you. You don't have to hide your problems from me.”

“I’m fine.” she replied, trying her absolute hardest to smile through her tears.

“Ishikawa, you can’t think that I’m falling for that. I can see how upset you are.”

She put her face in her hands and whimpered, "No offense, Yami, but I don't wanna talk about it right now. It feels like I'm being spun around on a ceiling fan."

He closed his eyes for a moment before saying considerately, "Then you don't have to but if you'd like me to stay, I'd be delighted to."

"I'm sure you'd rather be in the lunchroom with your food and your less annoying friends." She sniffled.

"I'm not worried about that right now. You're my treasured friend and you're hurting. That's not something I just can neglect, Ishikawa."

"Hana." She corrected as she wiped her left eye with her thumb.

He felt himself blush just a tiny bit but nevertheless, he sat beside her and responded with, "I'll stay right here until you're ready to move forward. Come day or night. I have no problem with the cost when the reward outweighs it."

"Thanks, Tokoyami. You're a good friend." She replied as she pulled her knees up to her chest.

"I'm merely reflecting your kindness. Take your time. I'm not in a hurry."

She laid her forehead on her knees. Meanwhile, Present Mic had gone to collect his best friend who was taking entirely too long. He burst into the room with his usual flare and Aizawa growled in his direction.

"You coming or what, Eraser?"

"I don't need an escort, Mic. I'm planning on getting some sleep anyway."

Mic exhaled dramatically and walked to his friends desk. "Again? I know you just got out of the hospital but you need to be awake more than 8 hours a day."

He leaned back onto the metal desk and his hand brushed the box. He held it up and inquired about it but Aizawa didn't even know it was there. Mic opened it without asking permission and took its contents out. He burst into laughter as he turned it to show his friend.

The unexpected gift was a white coffee mug with multiple blue cartoon water droplets decorating both sides of it. The part that he'd found so amusing was written dead center in dark azure.

"'Tears of my students'? Really?" Aizawa groaned.

"Looks like your students know you a little too well, huh?" Mic chuckled thunderously as he held his stomach. "Any idea which kid gave you this hilarious gift?"

"No, I didn't even see any of them -." He began before stopping short and falling silent. After a moment, he replied in a slightly hushed tone. "Yeah, I know which one. She must have sat on my desk after I scolded her for being late again this morning."

"Gonna guess Ishikawa? She's late at least one a week."

"I don't understand why. She's not a bad student and she's not lazy by any means. She's a little behind compared to some of her classmates but it's nothing a good tutoring session can't fix."

"Well, she might have a lot going on at home. I mean, they're our students but they have other things going on."

"They can't allow that to hinder their process." Aizawa disagreed.

"Well, not every student responds to critics the same way. Maybe just try another approach."

From under the bandages, Aizawa's eyes cut over to him suspiciously. "And what do you suggest? She's erratic like you." 

Maybe he should try a different approach with the girl. Barking at her only seemed to make her hearing more selective. Perhaps a one on one was necessary to get her attention.

After fifteen minutes of silence, Hana rose her head from her knee and said quietly, "Okay, I'm ready."

"Go ahead. You have my full attention." He replied.

"I don't even know why I'm upset, he wasn't exactly wrong. I'm not anything special."

"He doesn't even know your name. Don't let him determine your worth." Tokoyami replied, watching her comb through her hair anxiously.

"Even most people who know me don't like me." she mumbled under her breath.

He thought for a moment before sitting next to her. "That's not true. Plenty of people here like you. As Kaminari pointed out, you’ve even reached outside the class to make new bonds with people. I can tell that someone hurt you. You're friendly and want to be with everyone but you still keep most people at arm's length."

"Yami, you can't deny that I'm annoying. I'm hyper and loud. I talk too much. I'm always bouncing around."

"Things that I find endearing at this point. That doesn't bother me. Do you know why?"

She shook her head and chose to look at the floor until his hand touched her arm.

"It's because you're also kindhearted, empathetic, and unique. You've always embraced my rather.... interesting... hobbies. Not just tolerance. You wanted to know more. You wanted to listen to me talk about it. Why wouldn't I want to embrace your individuality as well?" 

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and sniffled. "People think I act like this for attention, but it's just a side effect of my Quirk. I absorb energy from the sun with the chlorophyll in my skin, right? Well, what I don't use for blasts and stuff gets turned into energy. That's what makes me so jittery. Imagine chugging an entire cup of coffee every time sunlight touches your skin."

"You make good use of that energy. You spend most of your time trying to make people around you happy. That's a positive thing."

She shrugged her shoulders and let her chin rest in her palm. "Doesn't change the fact that I'm bothersome. The whole "can't sit still thing" loses its cuteness after about 15 minutes. That's why I've never had a real relationship."

"You just need to find someone who matches your energy level. You are not unlovable. You just need someone who understands you." he said, watching her shoulders relax slightly.

She closed her eyes and whispered hoarsely, "Can we just keep this between us?"

"You have my word."

She wiped her eyes with her jacket sleeve and sniffled weakly. His low chuckle got her attention.

"What's so funny?"

He looked down at his wrist where his My Chemical Romance bracelet was currently resting before glancing at her. "Do you remember how we became friends?"

"Of course. I saw that bracelet and I love that band so I sent you a note to ask about your favorite song." She replied.

"In the form of a paper airplane, no less."

"Hey, you gotta admit that I make some nice looking paper airplanes."

"You surely do." He said, looking back at the hallway for a moment. "I honestly didn't imagine us being so close because of our different energies but you're admittedly more open and understanding than I expected."

"Hey, I could listen to you talk goth to me all day!" She said, her spark slowly returning. "You know, my first today here, I was so terrified until I met you. I didn't think I would fit in here at all."

He thought for a moment before unhooking his bracelet. "I understand what you mean. When I was younger, I got plenty of comments from other children about how I had a ‘villain Quirk’, so I hesitated even applying here for a while.”

“Excuse me?” she exclaimed in outrage. “Dark Shadow is incredible! Stupid kids!”

He laughed a little as she crossed her arms angrily. “People aren’t always understanding. However, I'd like to think that I am. Those people do not define you. At the end of the day, you’re still the same spirited individual that you’ve always been. You have plenty of people who enjoy your company. Don’t let this steal your light. You’re my friend and I’m glad that you’re here.”

“Who would feed D.S. candy if I wasn’t here?” she said.

“Odd as it sounds, I strongly hope that I never have to see that day.” he replied. "May I see your arm?"

She hesitantly complied and her eyes widened as he put his bracelet on her skinny wrist.

"Huh? Why are you giving me this?"

"Think of it as a reminder that you're not unwanted. Your light is so ethereal that even darkness is drawn to it." 

She teared up and threw her arms around him. As usual, he didn’t hug back but Dark Shadow didn’t see a problem with manifesting just for a hug. Hana reached up and patted his head.

"Thank you, guys.” she whimpered against his shoulder. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Tokoyami.”

After a moment of consideration, he replied. “We’ve been spending a lot of time together. If you want, you can call me by my first name.”

“I totally would if I could remember what it was.” she giggled.

“Fumikage.”

“Dude, that name is out of this world, but I’m gonna have so much trouble remembering that.”

"You should call him Fumi!” Dark Shadow yelled out way louder than needed.

"Dark Shadow, you must refrain from -!”

Hana lit up as her hands clasped over her heart. “I love it! It’s so cute!”

“It’s a nickname that my parents use for me occasionally. Do you really enjoy it that much?” he asked apprehensively.

"Very, very much!” she replied. She suddenly gasped and clapped her hand over her mouth in excitement. She moved her hand to reveal the biggest smile known to mankind and whispered ecstatically, “I should call you Gloomy Fumi!”

That warm feeling on his face was back, as it often was around her. Was it painfully cute? Yes. Was it totally stomping on that mysterious aesthetic that he strode for? Absolutely. Was he going to tell her no and crush that repaired lively spirit? Not a chance.

“Well, I suppose I can’t stop you, Ishik-.”

“Hana.”

“Right. Thank you for trusting me, Hana."

"No problem, Gloomy Fumi." She said, snorting with laughter as he blushed visibly.

"T-that's going to take some getting used to." 

She let him out of her embrace and walked with him to the lunchroom. Unbeknownst to them, they hadn’t been alone during that exchange. Ashido was listening in out of curiosity. She'd been curious about her bubbly classmate, but as Tokoyami said, she tended to keep everyone at arm's length. New friendships were on her terms. But now, Ashido had a plan.

At the same time, Kirishima sat down by Bakugou was unsurprisingly trying to ignore Kaminari. He was fairly content to space out for a second and check his social media, but Hana clearing her throat brought his attention back. Her hands were on those hips once again and she was looking right at him.

Bakugou was never happy to see her. “I’m not playing any more games with you today, brat, so -!” 

“Baku, I know this might come as a surprise to you, but this isn’t about you.” she replied.

“Listen, smart ass! I-!” 

She rolled her eyes and the whole table sucked in a nervous breath as Bakugou got to his feet. He'd taken all the disrespect he could tolerate today. As usual, she stood her ground even when he got closer.

“I’m going to give you five seconds to get lost before I make you cry in front of all these people.” he said with a chilling calmness. 

That seemed to have a different effect on her than the frenzied screaming. She didn’t get that determined smirk. It was evident that this side of him put her would-be smart-mouthed reply right back in its place. Only for a moment though. She shook off her surprise and took a step closer. 

“You don’t have what it takes to make me cry, big boy.” she said in the same playful tone that she said pretty everything regardless of context. “Anyways, I just wanted to ask Red to come find me before he leaves. I wanted to talk to him about something.”

Damn, that couldn’t be good. Either way, Kirishima nodded and she started to walk off.

“Oh, and Baku?” she said, looking over her shoulder slightly. “Thanks for saving me at USJ. Always knew you were a good guy.”

He stared at her for a second before growling something under his breath and sitting back down. When the last bell sounded, Kirishima found Hana sitting on the ground outside, looking at her phone. She seemed happy about whatever she was looking at.

“Hey, Ishikawa? You wanted to talk to me, right?”

She snapped from her daydream and stood up. "My bad, I was checking in with my older brother. He’s at work and he’s bored out of his mind so I’m sending him memes." As she dusted herself off, she said bluntly, “Anywho, I know you’re hiding something from me, Red.”

He swallowed thickly and forced a laugh, “What? I wouldn’t do that! Lying isn’t -!”

“Manly? No, I guess it’s not. That's why I’m hoping that you’ll tell me what I want to know."

"Well, I'm all ears." He said, holding his makeshift confidence tightly.

"When you told me what happened at USJ, you left out a lot of details and when I asked about those details, you got super anxious. That’s not like you.”

“Oh, it’s just because those parts aren’t interesting!”

“Then why do you look so freaked out?” she asked, crossing her arms.

Kirishima didn’t mind a good fight. This? This was an interrogation and he wasn’t so good with those. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes tightly. “Okay, fine! You told me that you thought Bakugou was cute!” 

She made a noise like a squeaky toy being stomped on as her face turned crimson. She covered her face with her hands and leaned up against the wall. After a moment of deep breathing, she looked back over at him with her head still tilted back against the glass.

“Does he know?”

“No, he didn’t hear you.”

She sighed softly in relief. “You didn’t tell anyone about this, did you?”

“And risk getting you thrown off the roof by an angry Bakugou? No way!" 

“Thanks. I really don’t wanna see how big of an explosion he would use to blow me up if he knew.” she said, running her fingers through her hair.

“Well, your secret is safe with me.”

“I’m gonna need you to pinky swear.” she said, holding out her right pinky finger.

Despite feeling just a little childish, he interlocked his own and she smiled, satisfied with their contract.

“Thank you, Kiri.” 

“K-Kiri? What happened to Red?” he chuckled.

“Your name is Kirishima, right? So, Kiri fits. Feels a little more personal than just calling you by your hair color and since Fumi got me to call him by his first name today, I thought maybe I should update some of my nicknames.”

“Aw, that’s so nice of you!”

She blushed slightly and picked her bag off the floor. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Ishikawa!”

As soon as he dropped his guard, Bakugou’s voice startled him. The blonde was good at that. He was quite sure that his heart just stopped for a good three seconds. He exhaled loudly as Bakugou walked up next to him.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that, man!”

“Not my fault that you don’t pay attention. What was all that about anyway?”

He blinked with fake innocence. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t give me that, Shithead! You know what I’m talking about. You and Miss Priss making some kind of pact out here.”

"Oh, you saw that? It was just something silly that Ishikawa wanted to do. Nothing to worry about.”

“Ugh, that girl is a damn menace. If I see her put those hands on her hips one more time, I’m kicking her ass.”

“I don’t know. I think she’s a little cute, don’t you think?” Kirishima prompted.

“She reminds me of one of those ugly, yipping dogs.”

Kirishima tried not to laugh at that, but he failed miserably. Well, maybe the grumpy/sunshine couple wasn’t happening just yet, but on the bright side, it didn’t seem like they were going beyond bickering. That wasn’t too bad, right?  

Chapter Text

Today was the day of the U.A Sports Festival and everyone had concluded that Hana’s energy had to be unlimited. If she let out another happy little squeal, Bakugou was going to throw a desk at her. They’d already gotten into a screaming match today. Though, for the most part, it was just him telling her to sit down and her making smart mouth comments about much of an ass he was. Every elated noise that came out of her mouth today was wearing on his nerves. 

She had been bouncing around like a caffeinated bunny all day and any attempts to keep her from being so wild were met with that damn smile and her own counter-efforts to get everyone as excited as she was.

He was honestly thankful to be in the boys’ locker room where Hana couldn’t follow. Even if the other extras were getting on his nerves too, at least they weren’t zooming around like a hummingbird on crack. He had more important things to worry about today. Like crushing all of these losers under his heel. 

As the other girls got changed into their gym outfits, Hana stood in front of her locker in just a black sports bra and her gym pants while she looked at her phone. Her energy from this morning had quickly been devoured by some negative thoughts and she was starting to show it outward. 

“What’s the matter, Ishi? You’re not one to get so gloomy.” Hagakure said, drawing everyone’s eyes to her. 

Mentally cursing at the unwanted attention, Hana looked up and smiled weakly. She wasn’t really making eye contact like she usually did. 

“What’s wrong?” Momo prompted once more. “You were so excited earlier.” 

“You aren’t getting cold feet, are you?” Asui added. 

“N-no, no. That’s not it. I’m just a little nervous about screwing this up on live television." 

"Hey, you said your family is going to be watching today right?" Ashido suggested. 

"That’s what I’m afraid of, Sis." 

A pen falling would have been thunderous against the silence that took over the room. She bit her lip and gripped the locker door tightly as the others unintentionally stared. Naturally, everyone was confused with questions on the tips of their tongues. But she wasn’t as close to any of the girls like she was with Tokoyami. 

They were her friends too, sure. She was ‘friends’ with everyone whether they knew it or not. But she had a tendency to drift toward boys more than girls for some reason. 

They’d also come to realize that while she’d listen to anyone else’s problems for hours on end, Hana’s own problems were padlocked and getting her open up unwillingly was next to impossible. After a stiff moment, Ashido took a step forward. 

She held out her arms to Hana silently. The latter showed her affection with oceans of compliments and even more hugs. She was almost always the one giving the hugs though. So this time, they'd bring the hugs to her. 

Hana teared up a little at the kind gesture but quickly wiped away the evidence. She wrapped her arms around her pink classmate and held her close. One by one, the girls joined the embrace until they were all in a big ball of friendship with a crying Hana in the middle. 

“I hope you guys all do really awesome! What am I saying? Of course you all will! You all rock so freaking hard.” she said shakily as she wiped her eyes. 

She’d put in a request to wear the glasses from her hero costume which thankfully had been approved. That much light close to her face was a little much. She’d also decided to leave her gym outfit jacket in her locker. It would just block the sun on her shoulders that she needed, so only a black tank top was in its place. 

 Once properly dressed, she went into the hallway where she found Todoroki looking at his phone. He looked a little tense, so she walked up to him and said his assigned nickname. He looked up and scoffed lightly at her. 

“Good luck today, Ace.” she said, twirling a piece of her hair around her finger idly. “Not that you need luck with your skills.” 

“Shouldn’t you be worried about yourself? You are the only person that was injured during the USJ attack after all. Everyone else was able to take care of themselves.” 

"What does that have to do with -?" 

“Maybe if you spent more time worrying with your own life instead of obsessing over everyone else, you wouldn’t be falling behind.” 

Her eyes narrowed. "What the heck is your problem? All I've ever done is try to be nice to you and be your friend!"

"That's YOUR problem. You spend too much time on trivial friendships. You're always being so over the top nice like you're just the kindest person on the planet. Well, I don't buy it. Everyone has an agenda. Keep yours to yourself." 

Her breath hitched a little and for the first time in a painfully long time, she didn’t know what to say. She wanted to make a joke or pun or SOMETHING, but her throat was tensed up. He apparently realized that she was speechless and put his phone away. 

"I don't need a distraction like you. Why don't you go play with Bakugou? He apparently has the energy to put up with someone like you." he said before walking away. 

She usually would have followed him, but she didn’t even move this time. She stood there in the empty hallway limply until Tokoyami’s baritone echoed softly behind her. She closed her eyes and shook off her shock at Todoroki’s words before looking at the ceiling. 

“You’re really good at showing up just when I need you, huh?” she sighed. 

“What do you mean? What happened?” 

“Tried talking to Ace but it didn’t really go as planned.” 

He ran a mental roll call quickly to remember who exactly ‘Ace’ was before touching her shoulder. “You can’t win over everyone.”

“I won over you pretty quick.” she pouted, crossing her arms stubbornly. 

“Yes, but it took a little while to adjust to your... nature. You can be a lot to take in at once. No offense intended, of course.” 

“No, I totally get it. Not everyone is prepared for someone who likes making pancakes at 4 am and sometimes acts like a cartoon character. You do like me though, right?” she asked, looking back at him. He could hear the slight uneasiness in her voice. 

“You shouldn’t worry about what I think. The real question is whether you like you. You owe yourself the kind of love that you give everyone else.” 

She sighed and looked down the hallway. “You know, he said something similar. He said that maybe if I wasn't so worried about everyone else, I wouldn’t be falling behind so badly.” 

“I don’t think you’re that far behind.” 

“Well, I’m not exactly soaring to the top of the class. Can I ask you another question?” she asked, looking down.

“Of course.” 

“Why did you agree to be my friend?” 

Honestly, there wasn’t much “agreeing” involved. She’d decided that she liked his unique way of speaking and his somber personality so she was eager to win his good favor. He wasn’t sure what to think of this ball of energy at first, but he didn’t ignore her like Todoroki or loathe her like Bakugou. It was originally just Hana following him around and being her wacky self but now? He was genuinely happy around her. Mostly because she was so understanding and that was a quality that he admired greatly in people. Even if they were a little loud and silly. 

He shrugged his shoulders slightly and mumbled. “We have common interests. We like the same music and authors. As I've said, my interests are a little uncommon so I really appreciated your acceptance toward them. That similarity served as a bridge for our differences. It’s true that we’re pretty much complete opposites but that isn’t troublesome since we have things that we can unite over.” 

“There has to be something that I can connect to Ace with.” 

“I’m sure there is. However, you shouldn’t put all of your value in just how much everyone else likes you. If you hand your heart to just anyone, then someone is bound to break it.” 

“You give sensational advice, Fumi. Thank you.” She replied, smiling at the floor. 

Todoroki’s words cut deeper than she expected. She could listen to Bakugou throw insults toward her all day. That was just how he communicated. However, she could tell that Todoroki meant what he said and that stung. 

She jumped a little when Dark Shadow’s misty arms wrapped around her. She looked over to see the figure’s head resting on her shoulder peacefully. She smiled warmly and touched the top of his dark face. 

“Fumi thinks you’re awesome and he really wants to see you smile. It bothers him when you’re sad. Sunlight is supposed to shine.” 

She glanced over at her friend who was clearly getting unbelievably tired of his Quirk telling everyone all of his secrets. Heck, yesterday he told Shoji that he thought he was a good friend as well. However, he didn’t deny Dark Shadow’s words and Hana’s eyes quickly lighting back was proof of her appreciation. 

“Well, I can’t be that bad if you two pumpkins like me.” She giggled. 

“You still actin’ stupid or did you finally chill out, Freckles?” 

She looked back at Bakugou who had just stomped his way out of the locker room. “You must really like me too if you spend so much time coming up with these lovely nicknames for me, Baku.” 

“Get over yourself. You’re just an easy target.” He scoffed, walking past them. 

“Better make sure you keep that promise you made about winning! I’ll never let you live it down if you don’t, big boy.” She called out to him. 

He stopped mid-step as he felt his stomach do a small cartwheel. What the hell was with this feeling? Like she had somehow whispered that sentence right into his soul. He'd felt it once before when he watched her beat down that pervert in front of the school. He growled and kept walking away from the girl who was watching him curiously. 

Kirishima waved at him as he got closer. “Hey, Bakugou! What’s -? Dude, are you okay?”

“Why the hell are you asking stupid questions, idiot!?” 

“It’s just -. Well, it’s probably just the light but I could have swore you were blushing or something.” 

“You’re seeing things, moron. Now get out of my way!” He huffed, shoving his way past him. 

Stupid little dumbass with her distracting shiny eyes and spunky little voice. Disgusting. He was going to win whether she wanted it or not! He didn’t need a damn cheerleader. He looked at the idiot in question as she bounced over to the others and started rambling again. He closed his hands into fists. Why were his palms so sweaty? 

Okay, to be fair, they were always sweaty. That was kind of his thing. But damn, they felt a little clammy as he watched her laugh at something that damn Deku just said. Her forehead rested on the nerd’s arm as she giggled helplessly and Bakugou felt his teeth grit. What was happening to him? Why did that make him so angry? She was an affectionate person. She was always giving someone those playful pushes, happy hugs, or encouraging embraces. In fact, the only ones who didn’t get those kind touches were Todoroki and … 

Well, that didn’t matter. If she touched him, he’d blow her to bits. Right? She noticed him looking in her direction and smiled softly. He growled and stomped away. His stomach felt weird. Like bees were inside it or something. Whatever, he’d deal with that later. Maybe? Probably not.

The students gathered on the field to figure out what their first challenge would be. As Midnight took the stage, a few people were surprised by her outfit but Hana was too worried about what event was to care about Midnight's lack of modesty. 

“Yes, I love obstacle courses!” Hana shouted excitedly. 

“I’m not any good at these things.” Yuma sighed next to her. 

“You got this, Pink! I’m sure you and your Quirk are gonna be awesome. Even though I don’t actually know what your Quirk is.” She replied, looking over at the timid girl who was staring at the ground.

“W-well, I haven’t gotten much of a chance to show you.” 

Hana sighed. “I’m sure I’ll see it sometime today, right?” 

“Maybe, if I don’t lose the obstacle course.” 

“Think positive! You can do this!”

“I’m not sure if I can be as positive as you are, Ishi.” 

She laughed a little and put her hand on top of Yuma‘s head.  “Then I’ll just be positive for both of us!” 

As soon as the race started, Todoroki unsurprisingly took the lead with his ice creating a slick surface. His classmates were quick to catch up however. Hana’s trick was to create a burst of sunlight around her feet with each step to melt his ice as she ran. Then she discovered the first obstacle was giant robots because U.A. had a deep appreciation for them, apparently.

That Mineta kid from the general department got knocked out of the air by one and Hana would have laughed more but she was a little bit busy coming up with a game plan as she ran up one of the machines. 

She thought about her solar ball that she’d used at the combat training. That was difficult to hold onto though and she couldn’t risk falling off and getting behind. There had to be a more stable way. She smiled to herself before creating a volleyball sized one instead. As it floated upward, she reached up and grabbed it with both hands. As soon as she was clear, she let go and started running to catch up with the others. 

The next challenge was a pit with stone pillars for some pretty risky crossing. She got to the edge and looked at her hands. She smirked slightly before using her light attacks as blasters to move around. She was grateful that Bakugou was too far ahead to see her borrow his move from earlier. Imitation was supposed to be the best form of flattery but she had serious doubts that he would agree.

“Ishikawa proving that a little sunshine actually can help you get ahead in life!” Present Mic called out as she sprinted onward. 

If she had to guess, she was probably in 10th, maybe 11th place. She wasn’t going to be able to catch up to Todoroki or Bakugou to steal first, but if she could make it to the next round, she’d be grateful. 

Meanwhile, far across town, Yosuke was sitting on the edge of his seat. His eyes were glued on his favorite student as she came to the minefield. Hina came into the room armed with oreos and almond milk. As she sat the tray on the table, she glanced up at the screen but didn’t have any luck spotting her green toned child. 

“How’s she doing?” 

“She’s actually kicking ass. Her and that dumb glittery blue headband that she insisted on wearing today.” he replied, picking up a cookie and pulling it apart. 

“You know, you’re making fun of her but I seem to remember someone calling into work today for a ‘very special event’ today.” 

Yosuke’s cheeks reddened slightly as he grumpily licked the icing off his cookie. Without his sister here, he’d have to eat the whole thing. Hana might have been a little hooligan at times, but she wasn’t too good to take her brother’s drooled on oreos. Honestly, despite butting heads during most of their waking hours, they had always been really close. Their dad moved out when Hana was two and even though they still saw him on holidays, it wasn’t exactly a strong bond anymore. Especially not with Hana. Their mother was either at work or protesting some injustice that she’d found out in the world. That generally led to Yosuke being a full time babysitter for his sister. 

Naturally, he began to become protective over her. So when he realized this whole ‘hero dream’ wasn’t fading, he wasn’t exactly thrilled. Until one day when she was in middle school, rather than fade, it unexpectedly disappeared entirely. In addition to that, she’d began wearing hoodies at all times, even to bed.  Any time they mentioned it to her, she’d either leave the room or tell them to stop without any hint of any explanation. He finally couldn’t take it anymore and demanded some answers for her drastic mood change. Granted, doing it in the middle of a sidewalk was a bad idea. 

That’s when it happened. A red rubber ball rolled out into the street followed by a little girl with a long silver ponytail. Hana spotted her long before the distracted driver did and immediately bolted into the street, tossing her hoodie to the ground as she ran. She snatched the child off her feet and embraced her protectively with her small head held against her shoulder as she let a burst of sunlight radiate from her skin. It was unquestionably enough to get the driver to look up from his phone. Once the danger was defused, the little girl looked up at her with amethyst eyes. 

“You saved me.” she stated, wide-eyed. 

Hana glanced around at the crowd that had gathered as she panted slightly to catch the breath that adrenaline had taken from her. Was this a reflex she didn’t know she had? She didn’t even think about it. She was in the middle of the street before she even realized her legs were moving. 

She looked down at the surprised, ivory face in front of her and whispered with the same level of confusion. “Yeah. I guess I did.” 

The child’s mother ran up to them with tears in her lilac eyes. She took the girl from Hana’s arms and held her close to her as she apologized repeatedly for not paying more attention. Then, she turned to Hana. 

“Thank you so much! If you haven’t been here, then -. Well, I don’t even want to think about it, but I don’ t have to because of you! You and your amazing Quirk. What’s your name?” 

“Amazing?” the teenager mumbled. “I-Ishikawa. My name’s Hana Ishikawa.” 

“Well, Hana, I’m pretty confident in saying that you’re going to be an incredible hero someday.” 

Hana’s eyes widened as they filled with salty tears. Without another word, her face lit up in the most vibrant smile that Yosuke had seen from her in a long time. 

“You have no idea how much that means to me.” she giggled. As she turned to the little girl, she poked her nose playfully, “No more playing in the street, okay?” 

As the girl eagerly agreed, Hana returned to her brother. Something about her body language was different. She wasn’t hunched over and hiding. As they headed down the sidewalk, Yosuke stopped and looked back. 

“Hey, Jellybean. You forgot your hoodie.” 

She looked over her shoulder in thought for just a tick before smirking proudly. “You know what? I’m good. Just leave it.” 

From that day forward, Hana was more determined than ever. She applied at U.A the next day. That was the moment that he knew that Hana really was destined to be a pro hero. She was just a little girl who wanted to make the world better with a smile on her face and she was stubborn enough to do it. That was the day that he swore to do whatever it took to protect that silly smile. So, when he watched her cross the finish line in ninth place, he couldn’t stop smiling himself. 

“Keep going, brat. I know you can do this.” he mumbled to himself. 

Next to him, Hina smiled. Despite all his protests about her going to U.A, he still supported her. That’s exactly how she thought a brother and sister should be. She might not have the best mother sometimes according to plenty of people, but her kids were still pretty awesome according to her. 

Chapter Text

Back on at U.A., the chivalry battle was next and Yuma was the first to approach Hana. 

“Pinky! You made it!” 

“B-barely.” 

“Well, you wanna be on my team? Fumi ditched me for Deku.” Hana replied as she rolled her eyes and pouted. 

“I’d love to be on your team.” She agreed. 

“Cool! I got a girl from class B to join up too. She reminds me of Fumi. We just need one more person. Wanna help me do some recruiting?” 

“Only if you do most of the talking.” 

“Hey, I’m a chatterbox! Don’t you worry about that.” 

It didn’t take long before Hana picked her next draft. His Quirk was like Kirishima’s. He was a given. Yuma asked if it was wise to pick people based on characteristics rather than actual strengths, to which the green girl simply replied, “Have faith in me, will ya?” 

Despite Tetsutetsu’s protests, Hana was declared the rider for their group. Once she was in place, she looked down at them and giggled. 

“Yep, this isn’t awkward at all.” She mused with playfully sarcasm. 

“You’d better not make us lose, Giggles.” Tetsutetsu huffed at her. 

“I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.” Yanagi mumbled. “At least, I’m hoping she does.” 

The game commenced and her band of reluctant misfits went after small targets first. Hana explained that it was to test their teamwork before catching bigger fish which was probably the most rational thing she’d said this entire time. It didn’t take long to snatch up three headbands from unaware victims. They weren’t sure of her approach but truthfully, it was working despite being a little unconventional. She was using her character to her advantage. Luring them into a false sense of security, so to speak. 

Regrettably, she got sidetracked by Bakugou shouting at some blonde boy. She watched for a second and felt her blood boil a little when the boy made a quip about him always ‘being the victim’. That was ridiculous! She didn’t know what that sludge villain reference was about but it didn’t matter because it clearly agitated Bakugou and that was all the reason she needed. 

“Guys, I have our next fish.” She announced, the bubbly sound of her voice abruptly a little chilly. 

Yuma detected her tension and meekly replied, “Are you sure about this?” 

“Positive.” 

As soon as the blonde boy started to depart from the absolutely livid Bakugou, Hana’s fist wrapped around one of the bands and ripped it off his neck. He instinctively reached for it but a bright light from Hana's palm blinded him. By the time his sight cleared, it was already safely out of his reach. She smirked proudly as she slipped it over her head. 

“You left yourself open. You were so busy concentrating on Baku that you didn’t even watch this side.” she called out. 

“Seriously, you only bagged one!?” Tetsutetsu barked at her. 

“Relax. I got the highest number.” She giggled, running her thumb along the headband she’d just stolen, the same one that had been on Bakugou’s forehead just minutes ago. 

The explosive blonde took notice of her prize and snarled loudly. "Oh, I'm gonna fling that girl like a frisbee!” 

“Dude, your mood swings are giving me whiplash! Pick a target already!” Kirishima called up to him. 

“FINE! She can wait! Let’s go ahead and grab that stupid Deku!” 

Hana smirked and directed her crew after another target. By the time it was over, Hana’s team had safely remained in the game. She caught the eye of the blonde haired boy from Class B who was provoking Bakugou earlier and chuckled with confidence. 

Her hands rested on her hips as she said playfully, “Thanks for the headband. Helped us fly right past you.”

“Don’t count your victories before this is over.” He replied. "You and your psycho boyfriend are going down with the rest of your class." 

Her eyes rolled as she looked away. "Not my boyfriend but I can tell you right now, Baku would wipe the floor with you." 

"Sure. I'd love to see that." 

She heard Yuma call her name. She scoffed under her breath before forcing her brightest smile. “Trust me. So would I." 

She marched off to join her friend who was looking up into the stands. 

“Told you that you’d make it.” Hana said, giving Yuma’s arm a lighthearted shove.

“Thanks to you.” 

“Well, I’m determined to see that Quirk of yours.” She commented, crossing her arms and looking over. She made eye contact with Todoroki.  “Good job out there, Ace.” 

He narrowed his eyes somewhat before walking over to her. Once a reasonable distance away, he asserted bluntly. “When we get the chance, you and I need to have a talk.” 

She gulped thickly and nodded faintly. Oh, man. That familiar tightness in her chest only meant one thing. Trouble . 

It wasn’t entirely clear why the other girls approached her with the proposal of dressing up like cheerleaders. She didn’t argue though. Realistically, it wasn’t the weirdest thing that she’d ever done. Not by a long shot. 

Naturally, when the girls found out that it was a ploy by a certain pervy grape, most of them were either devastated by the fact they actually fell for it or infuriated at the fact that Mineta had the audacity to do this. Hagakure and Hana were exceptions. They didn’t appear to mind as they continued bouncing around, unbothered in the slightest. 

“I think those two have found their calling.” Asui remarked as Hana did a cartwheel next to her. 

Whatever possessed her to run up to Bakugou was a powerful force. Not that she really needed much of a push to go and bug him. It was quickly becoming one of her favorite pastimes, right along with dancing and collecting rocks that looked like pro heroes. She only had three rocks but hey, that was more than she planned to find. The one vaguely shaped like Endeavor was her favorite. 

As soon as he noticed her, he wrinkled his nose in distaste as he glared down at her. “Why are you dressed like that, loser?” 

“Long story. I just came over here to ask you a question super quick.” 

He raised an eyebrow at her as she dropped her pom poms to the ground and crossed her arms over her modest torso as she tilted her head curiously. 

“What was that guy bothering you about earlier?” 

“Nothing.” He grumbled deep in his chest and looked away from those wide, inquisitive eyes.

“Seemed like something to me.” 

“I’m not making small talk with you! Go be cute somewhere else, Dumbass!” 

He caught his slip up as soon as her eyes dilated with delight and her smirk grew to new bounds.

“That’s not what I meant! Just go bother Bird Boy or something!” 

She nodded in agreement, looking toward the herd to her left. “Oh right, I do have a bone to pick with Fumi. See you later, Baku! You just keep being cute over here for me, alright?” 

“I WILL EXPLODE YOUR HEAD OFF YOUR SHOULDERS!” 

She laughed and scampered away to collect her friend. He rolled his eyes. Who the heck laughs when somebody threatens to behead you? She had to be the stupidest person alive. Even still, he couldn’t stop staring at her in that tiny cheerleader outfit. Had her body always had those subtle curves? He didn’t ordinarily look at her this long. Hell, she normally didn't stay still this long. 

She had the thin figure of a dancer but still had enough weight and muscle that she didn't look too fragile. It was admittedly a bit attractive that the possessor of such a dainty body wasn't afraid to stand up to anyone regardless of stature. She was so petite that she'd fit perfectly in his arms at USJ. Actually, she’d probably fit in his lap pretty nicely too, wouldn’t she?

Whoa, now! That came out nowhere like a bird against a freshly cleaned window. He shook his head to rid his mind of those thoughts. It didn’t matter if she was sort of cute. She was obnoxious and ditzy. As she found Tokoyami and placed her hands on her waist, he took a deep breath. She was so… something .

Damn, it was tough to think with that top presenting the gentle dips of her curves so smoothly.  He finally managed to pull his glaze off her and wandered away to find something else to distract him. 

“I’m still mad.” She huffed, looking away from her best friend who was totally unsurprised by her behavior. 

She had a penchant for being a little childish sometimes. Frankly, most of the time. He should have known this would happen when he agreed to collaborate with Midoriya. He was prepared to deal with it though. 

“Well, if you’re so intent on holding a grudge of my ‘treachery’, then I suppose the pocky sticks I got you for today as a thank you for aiding me in finding an anniversary gift for my parents can go back to the supermarket.” He sighed.

She looked back at him, arms still crossed stubbornly. “You’re bluffing.” 

“Am I?” 

“Using my addiction as leverage? That’s low , Fumikage.” 

“We both know it’s necessary for a hero to use the tools at his disposal to defuse tense scenarios. It’s simply understanding your opponent and I’d like to think that I know my best friend quite thoroughly.” 

A little smirk on her lips proved how much she enjoyed the complement of ‘best friend’. She exhaled heavily before unfolding her arms. 

“Oh, I can’t stay mad at you, even joking.” she lamented. ”Apology accepted.” 

“I am relieved that you’re cooperating today. Come on and I’ll give it to you while we await the match-ups.” 

“You weren’t bluffing! Seriously, where have you been all my life, dark knight?” she chuckled as she clapped her hands over her heart in playful swooning. 

He sighed deeply which only elicited more laughter. Unsurprisingly, she managed to munch down half of the box before the time to go back to the field and see who would be battling against each other. Still in her cheerleading ensemble, she danced in place next to Uraraka excitedly. 

Bakugou looked over the board. Where was his name? They couldn’t have made this chart bigger? Oh, finally, there it was.

“Ishikawa? Wait, isn’t that -?” He whispered, running through his classmates’ names (the ones he could recall, anyway). 

His train of thought was knocked off the tracks by an ear-piercingly enthusiastic squeal. He looked over his shoulder at the source of that hellish noise. Hands clapped her over mouth and eyes the diameter of dinner plates, Hana was gaping up at the screen. 

“Dude, I get to fight Baku!” 

He huffed at her wording. ‘Get to’, like it was an honor to get her ass kicked or something. He wasn’t worried about the match up. He could probably just shove her out of bounds. 

As they waited for the following event, some of the students played games on the field. Hana, though, pacing up and down the corridor until she was discovered by Tokoyami and Midoriya.

“There you are.” Midoriya said, sounding a little winded. “We were trying to find you before the fight started. I wanted to help you with your fight with Kacchan.” 

“Aw, that’s so sweet! But I think I got it figured out. As long as I keep my distance and stay low to the ground, this shouldn’t be that tough. I got a master plan in here. I totally got this.” she replied, tapping her brow with one finger before strolling away.  

“I worry she isn’t thinking about this rationally. She views it as a sparring match or even game. I doubt Bakugou shares that sentiment.”  Tokoyami remarked grimly. 

“Actually, she might be right.” Midoriya said, watching her leave. 

“What do you mean? You believe she might be in a position to win this?” 

“I’m not too sure about winning , but I think I see what she’s planning. In terms of fire power, Kacchan has her out matched. But with regard to stamina, Ishikawa might have the upper hand. Especially considering that the weather is pleasant and the field is in open sunlight. If she can manage to stay on her feet until he reaches his limit, she might have a window of opportunity.” 

“The only dilemma with that strategy is if she’s discovered that she has the edge in an endurance match, I’m certain that Bakugou has come to that conclusion as well. Which means -.” 

“He’ll be trying to end this as quickly as possible.” Deku concluded, wincing slightly at the thought. 

“So it honestly boils down to whether or not Hana can remain in the ring that long.” 

“I wish we’d found her sooner. I have a bunch of notes that might have helped.” 

Tokoyami shook his head. “I don't think she would have accepted it either way. In her mind, if she can’t do it alone, she can’t do it at all.” 

“ That definitely sounds familiar.” Deku muttered as he looked down at his notebook. 

By the time they’d returned to their seats, it was time for the first set of combatants to step into the ring. Bakugou crossed his arms and glared at her as she idly rolled her shoulders to loosen them up. She peered over at him and smirked softly.

“That’s quite the staring problem you’ve got there, buddy.” She stated with a taunting tone that made him snarl. “I’m joking. Come on. Lighten up. May the best hero win.” 

“Don’t worry, dumbass. I will.” he huffed.

“Ouch, brutal! Sounds like someone's underestimating me again." 

“Yeah right. You're not even a real match. You’re just in the damn way.” 

Then something happened that he didn’t expect. That smile on her face fell as her dark eyebrows furrowed together. He was genuinely somewhat puzzled until he realized she was pissed . Had she ever even been angry before? Whenever he saw her, she was dancing around and being a goofball. Even when taking down that pervert outside the school, she had that smug grin on her face. 

“I’m gonna cram that sentence back down your throat.” 

It took a second for that threat to even register. Was this genuinely the same little Sunspot? What was this side of her? Where had it been? More importantly, Bakugou wondered as he started to smirk, what could it do? 

"Our first fighter was a big shot in middle school and blew away the entrance exam. From the hero course, with his infamously dynamite personality, Katsuki Bakugou!" Present Mic proclaimed thunderously over the speakers. 

“It’s about damn time you got serious.” he retorted, unfolding his arms. 

"His challenger might look sorta puny from up here in the nose-bleeds, but that green skin isn’t just for show! From the same class, the happy-go-lucky little ray of sunshine, Hana Ishikawa!" 

“You wanna see serious? You want a threat? You got it, big boy." 

As soon as they were granted clearance to start, Hana's hands started to radiate as she powered up her attack. When she hurled the orb of energy at him, he deployed his explosions to send himself over it. As soon as he started his descent, she shot out a burst of light like she had the first day they met. Although seeing some spots, he managed to land on his feet with only a little staggering. He shifted his foot to advance toward her but another surge of light blinded him. 

“It doesn’t matter how strong you are. Even you can’t fight what you can’t see!” 

“That’s your plan? Just blind me? Until what?” he barked out at her. “These matches aren’t timed.” 

“No, they’re not. But you are. That Quirk you have is pretty kick-ass but you can’t do it forever.” she retorted as her hands brightened once more. 

Bakugou’s hands sparked as she clapped her together. As she pulled them apart, a huge orb of light formed in between them. Spiking it like a volleyball, it ruptured into a dozen baseball sized ones. As they loomed in front of her like a luminous shield, Bakugou scoffed. 

“Hit me with your best shot.” she hummed. 

“You’re a damn moron if you seriously think those little light bulbs are gonna stop my explosions!” he exclaimed out as he got ready to send a colossal blast at her. 

“Why do I get the sense that he’s doing exactly what she wants?” Kirishima asked Midoriya who was watching the fight intensely. 

“Because he is.” Tokoyami answered. “Hana controls how much light is in her spheres. The denser they are, the more delicate they are. If he detonates them simultaneously, he’s providing her with a significant advantage.” 

To the spectators’ surprise, Bakugou did just that. One of his larger blasts was enough to annihilate every one of them in an instant. The result was a supernova of light swallowing up the ring and blocking out the battle with its unapologetic glare. 

“Man, I’d hate to be in the middle of that light show! I’m getting a serious headache from way up here!” Present Mic announced. 

When the radiance died down, it was evident that Bakugou hadn’t strayed into her trap after all. In fact, it looked like he’d exploited it to his advance. He had Hana pinned to the ground on her stomach and her arms bound behind her. His knee was pressed up against her back to keep her down even though she was struggling as hard as she could. 

“You thought you had the edge in the air. That’s why you tried to blind me and go over the blast so you can knock me out of bounds.” Bakugou noted as she tried to twist her arm out of his grasp. “All I had to do was meet you up there so I could catch you off guard. You can’t beat me in a hand to hand fight.” 

“You’re not wrong there.” she huffed as she looked over her shoulder with a triumphant grin. “You gotta admit we make pretty fireworks though. Can you imagine how cool it would have been if I’d let you ignite both of them?” 

“What the hell do you mean both of -?” 

Her left hand flexed and an orb of light identical to the one she’d divided earlier soared down to Bakugou’s eye level. She closed her hand and the ball erupted into light just inches from his face. His grip on her arms weakened as one hand flew up to shield his eyes. She shifted her arm forcefully and jerked it upward. This time, it was Bakugou who was off guard as her elbow slammed into his jaw with more force than he expected from her. 

How did somebody so damn tiny throw that hit? Wait, they'd been outside in the sun all day. She was at peak performance right now and more focused than he'd ever seen her. As she struggled more, he leaned back to cover his throbbing mouth. When he pulled away, he had blood on his hand. She’d actually managed to bust his lip. She attempted to force him off of her but that knee of his wasn’t going anywhere. 

“Give it up, Sunspot. You’re done.” he asserted as she pushed against the floor once more. 

“Shut up! I can do this! I can freaking do this!" She yelled vigorously as her body trembled. “I worked my ass off to get here! You have no idea what I did to get here!” 

Wait a second. Was she crying? That joyful little extra could actually cry? The crack in her voice was soft but he could still hear it. She finally called out that she was giving up and he released her. Once she was free, she ran from the stage with her head ducked down in embarrassment. He might have won the match, but certainly didn’t feel like the victor. 

Chapter Text

Bakugou wiped the icy water from his bruised cheek. He’d gone into the bathroom to rinse his face and catch his breath. Since the fight with Hana, he’d been feeling strange. 

“I worked my ass off to get here! You have no idea what I did to get here!”

Her body shivering with the tears she was struggling to suppress as she grit her teeth. Something about it just felt wrong. Like something he wasn’t meant to have seen.  

It didn’t help that every time he thought about her dumb face, he felt that ‘bees in his stomach’ crap happening again. She shouldn’t have been able to hold him off. She was a runt! He didn’t think he’d have to put any effort into that fight, but he obviously was mistaken. And that look in her eyes. Since the start, they always had this nonchalant, playful sparkle in them. Something almost childlike. But as soon as he questioned her capability, a switch inside her was flipped. 

The sweetness was engulfed by fire. He didn’t know those friendly eyes could handle so much fury. It was fairly common knowledge, however, that she had a smart mouth when dealing with him and she had practically as much spunk as he did sometimes. No one else could bring that side out the way that Bakugou could.

He heard her voice from the hallway and gripped the sides of the sink forcefully before storming out there to face her with his ocean of questions. She was with that girl who hung around Deku all the time. Uraraka, maybe? Eh, probably should just stick to nicknames right now. That was a safer bet. 

“Oi, Round Face. Get lost! I need to talk to Freckles for a sec.” He hissed at them.

She hesitated with a frown but Hana winked at her and nodded softly. Of course, she wasn’t scared of him. She never was. Even after being beaten by him? What would it take to crack that bravery? Uraraka slowly departed and once she was far enough away, Hana shifted her attention to the immensely pissed off blonde before her.

“You got that little game plan from Deku, didn’t you?” 

She scoffed aloud. “Excuse me? No, I didn’t. He asked if I wanted help and I turned him down.” 

“You expect me to believe that you -?” 

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Dude, I don’t expect you to believe anything. Ask Deku yourself. I admire you way too much to just use someone else’s strategy on you.” 

He started to yell something about her being a dumbass until that last portion registered and his voice hung in his throat. Admired ? She admired him? That did sort of make sense of that little encouraging remark before the festival started. But why admire somebody who was so bitter toward you? Admire WHAT exactly? 

She sighed thoughtfully as her arms dropped back to her sides. “Anyways, I keep crackers and water in my bag if you want some. You just have to ask.”

“I don’t need a nanny, brat! I’m fine. Just mind your own damn-!”

She cut him off and continued, “Easy, killer. No need to blow a gasket over some crackers. It's just an offer. Don’t bite me too hard, alright? I might like it." 

He watched her stroll away giggling under her breath. He blinked a few times to clear his thoughts. She was being even sassier now. That wasn’t exactly the reaction he expected. At any rate, he was intending on going to sit down for a while anyway. What else would he do? Stand around in the hallway? It wasn’t like a bottle of water would alter his life or something.

She was sitting next to Ashido and watching the fight going on with Kirishima and some kid in class B. He sat beside her and listened to her cheer the redhead on momentarily before clearing his throat to get her attention. She looked over at him and tilted her head to the side. 

“What’s up?” 

“Give me a bottle of water from that hideous bag of yours. My throat’s killing me.” 

She promptly smiled wider than he’d ever seen and pulled her faithful unicorn bag out of the floor. 

“Did it finally dry out from all the yelling?” 

“No, smart ass. It’s because of my Quirk.” 

“Dude! Yours does that too? I get dehydrated so easy. It’s why I tote around all this water in the first place.” 

She dug through it for a few more moments before passing him the water he’d asked for. She offered him a strawberry pocky stick as well. 

“I didn’t ask for any of your stupid junk food, Dumbass.” He huffed. 

“Consider it a thank you gift.” She chuckled. “For giving me a fair fight. That was totally cool of you.” 

He glared at her offering for a second before plucking it from between her fingers. “Better not be trying to poison me.” He huffed.

“Yes, Baku, I’m going to spend all this time trying to befriend you then decide to poison you.” She retorted sarcastically. 

“Honestly, you’d be doing me a favor since I wouldn’t have to deal with your damn squealing.” He muttered, putting the stick in his mouth. 

“So mean to me. You should be glad that I have thick skin.”

He rolled his eyes and sighed, “Whatever. Bruise on my jaw says otherwise." 

“Cry me a river, Blasty. You should see what you did to my back with that bony knee of yours. Pretty sure the gigantic bruise is gonna last for weeks.” 

"Yeah, yeah. Quit your blubbering and give me some of those crackers you were so proud of, would ya?"

She smirked and handed him what he requested before turning her attention back to the fight which was unfortunately nowhere close to being over. 

“Damn it! I have to pee but I don’t wanna miss anything!” She whined. 

“That’s what happens when you chug four bottles of water back to back.” Ashido laughed.

“I told you it’s ‘cause of my Quirk! Come on, Kiri! Take down Steel Boy already so I don’t explode!” She exclaimed.

“Just freaking go already. Raccoon Eyes can just record it on her phone for you!” Bakugou huffed. 

“See, this is why you’re the top of the class, Baku. You got smarts!” She replied, getting to her feet. 

He rolled his eyes again, even more dramatically than the last time. “Not that hard being smarter than you, Smalls.” 

"Smalls? Dude, now you're just being cruel with these nicknames." She smirked, standing up. 

"Don't like it? Get taller." 

"God, you're mean." She stated in amusement under her breath before she ran off to find a bathroom.

Fortunately, she made it just in time. She washed her hands and fixed her bangs before heading into the hallway. She spotted Endeavor talking to Todoroki and hid behind the corner. Wow, they seriously didn’t get along. She always thought Endeavor was pretty cool. She did like the strong and silent type. Which made her interest in the exceptionally loud Bakugou that much more complicated. 

"What are you doing?”

She jumped and was incredibly glad that she already located the bathroom. “God, you scared me, Ace! I almost went into freaking cardiac arrest.” 

He didn’t appear amused by her joke in the slightest. “Were you eavesdropping? What, are you stalking me now?” 

She blushed faintly and looked away. “No, I was just coming back from the bathroom and didn’t want to interrupt you and your dad talking.” 

He sighed quietly and looked down. “So you heard that, huh?” 

She frowned and took a step closer. “I was trying to kinda space out so you guys could still have some privacy.” That was a feeble lie but he seemed to take it at face value. 

“It doesn’t really matter. I didn’t say anything that I didn’t mean.”

She swallowed nervously before saying, “You said that you wanted to talk to me. What was it about?” 

"I wanted to tell you that I thought about what you said this morning. I do harbor some resentment toward you but it's not anything you've necessarily done wrong. So, this is me clarifying that."

She blinked at him for a moment. "Wait, I'm gonna need some detail, fella. What are you talking about?" 

"It's not that big of a -." 

"You can't just drop that on me and then clam up! Come on!" 

"Your boldness makes me feel like there's something wrong with me." He admitted, a little louder than he'd intended. 

She squinted at him before bursting into an open guffaw. "Are you seriously trying to tell me that you're jealous of me? YOU? Endeavor's son? The you who got in on recommendations? Jealous of me? Thanks for laugh!" 

"I don't see how that's funny." He replied flatly. 

Her laughter died down slowly as she studied his blank expression. "Wait, are you serious?" 

He looked away from her skeptical gaze as he replied, "I'm not great with social interaction. You talk to someone for five minutes and they're your friend. It looks so easy for you.”

"My brother says I could make friends with a fence post. I did have a chicken for a friend but that ended in a delicious tragedy." 

His brow crinkled at the comment as he tried to grasp what the actual heck that was supposed to mean. "I don't think I'll ever understand you." 

"To be fair, I don't understand me most of the time, Ace." 

"I've been meaning to ask you about that too. What does that mean?" 

"What? Ace?" She inquired. He nodded and she looked like she'd seen a potato with wings fly by. "I give everyone a nickname because I'm terrible with names." 

"I know but most of them are name or Quirk related. Like Bakugou and 'Baku' or Aoyama and 'Glitz'. But 'Ace' has nothing to do with either of those. So why do you call me that?" 

She shrugged her shoulders lightheartedly. "You just look like an ace to me." 

<p>"Another example of things you say that I'll never understand." 

"Hey, when I figure myself out, I'll get you the second copy of the manual. I already promised Fumi the first." She remarked.

He didn’t look at her but mumbled, “By the way, about the other thing I said about you, I -.”

“Oh, hey, that’s not a big deal. You have a good point. I do worry too much about others.” 

“No, I still stand by that part. You should focus more on yourself. But I might have been wrong about the second part. I thought you were falling behind everyone else, but you handled Bakugou better than I expected.” 

“He still beat me good though. Haven’t been that familiar with the ground in a while.” 

“He was actually fighting back. I assumed he would just pick you up and throw you like a stuffed animal but you really managed to surprise me.” 

She laughed under her breath before looking at him, smiling as always but this was clearly more heartfelt than before. “Thanks, Ace. That’s nice of you. But siince we’re asking questions, I have one for you.” 

He glanced over at her slightly. She wrung her hands together anxiously as she looked away from him. 

“Your face… D-Did Endeavor do that to you?” 

He sneered loudly. “Seriously? We’ve hardly even had one conversation and you want to ask me something like that?”

Her fists clutched against her forearms. Crap, that was dumb! Maybe she could still save this shipwreck though. “I know that’s a bold question. But I just wanted to know if you were alright.”

“You shouldn’t -.” 

<p>“Worry about you? No, I guess I shouldn’t, but that’s just how I am. I’m not good for much, but I care about people.”

“Why do you do that? Whenever you say something nice about yourself, you lead it with an insult.” he asked. “You act like you have buckets of confidence but your words say otherwise. So, which is it?” 

“You know, it’s not fair that you got mad at me for asking a personal question, but you’re being totally psychoanalytic right now.” she retorted with an exaggerated sigh. 

“I asked about your self esteem, not if one of your parents caused you to be permanently disfigured.” he shot back promptly. 

“Touche.” she whispered, chewing her cheek a bit. “Disfigured seems harsh though. You’re not exactly ugly, Ace.” 

He blushed somewhat and looked away. “What’s the point in being friends with everyone that you find mildly interesting? Don't you have enough friends? Why waste your energy trying to befriend me when I’ve shown no interest in you?” 

She straightened her posture and the light that ordinarily illuminated her eyes came back immediately as she replied, "Because I'm the hero that little me needed. I want to be the survivor of the beaten, the broken, and the damned. It’s not that hard to understand.” 

His eyes rolled almost audibly as he groaned, "Did you seriously just quote an MCR song to me with a straight face?" 

She averted her gaze swiftly and mumbled. "To be fair, I didn't think you liked that band. Do me a favor and don't tell Fumi, okay? He'll never let me live it down."

He thought for a moment without replying anything before walking away. She sighed silently and started back to her seat when she heard his voice again. 

“It would be easier to understand you if you understood yourself. I think you should put more time into that. I might actually like that manual of yours if I got a chance to read it.” 

She felt her eyes get a little wet. That was great advice from what she was sure would be a very awesome friend. Speaking of good friends, she should hurry and check how the fight was going. Surely, those two had worked it out by now.

Chapter Text

“Ace! Come sit by me!” Hana yelled as she waved excitedly.

Todoroki was a little stunned that she was sitting next to a certain grumpy blonde. This was probably the calmest that he’d ever seen Bakugou around her. No yelling, no teasing, no… anything. He was even tolerating her energetic commentary on the fight that was currently taking place. He didn’t look thrilled about it and was still making his usual rude replies, but he was listening. After a moment of consideration, Todoroki sat beside her and noticed that Bakugou shifted in his seat aggressively.

“Ahh! Fumi and Pink are fighting next! I’m so excited to finally see her Quirk!” She exclaimed, getting to her feet and climbing over one of the seats to get to the rails of the balcony.

“Honestly, Ishikawa, where do you get all of this energy?” Kaminari chuckled.

“My Quirk keeps me wired. Plus I drink a ton of energy drinks when the sun’s not out.” She answered, looking back at him.

“Probably a gallon at a time.” Kirishima teased.

“Do you think they sell them that size? Because I would definitely buy that.” She asked, looking back at the fighting ring.

“Don’t you ever crash?” Uraraka asked.

“Oh, absolutely! But usually at night because of my meds.”

“You take medication and still chug energy drinks like water?” Bakugou huffed.

“Hey, what doesn’t kill you makes you kick ass harder.” She shrugged.

“Pretty sure that’s not how that saying goes.” Kaminari laughed.

As Tokoyami and Yuma took the stage, the pink headed girl was looking at the stands with wide eyes.

“Wow, Ishi is really excited up there. I can hear her all the way down here.” She whispered to herself.

The match began and Dark Shadow was instantly summoned by Tokoyami. The entity darted toward her until she held up her hands. Her fingers formed the same gesture as someone making a frame around something. Her two opponents were in the center of that frame.

Once Dark Shadow was about a foot away, he almost appeared to slam into an undetectable wall. Tokoyami’s eyes widened as Dark Shadow tried to find a way to get to Yuma. Every direction seemed to end in the same unseeable box.

“So this is your Quirk?” Tokoyami asked. “It’s impressive, I’ll admit.”

“T-thanks.”

Dark Shadow was pounding on the wall of their clear jail cell but it didn’t feel like it was going to give any time soon. Unfortunately, the longer they stayed in the box, the harder it was for Tokoyami to breathe. After about two minutes, he sank down to his knees.

“Come on, Fumi! You can do this!” Hana yelled out. “No offense, Pink! You’re doing great too!”

“How can they break that box? He was banging on it really hard and nothing happened.” Kaminari pondered out loud.

“He didn’t need to, idiot. This is an endurance battle.” Bakugou responded, arms crossed over his chest.

“So you spotted it too?” Todoroki asked.

“Come on, guys! Spill the beans! I wanna know too.” Hana called out, not taking her eyes off her trapped friend.

“If you’d pay attention, you could tell that she’s getting pale and she keeps touching her chest. She can’t breathe either.” Bakugou hissed back at her.

“Why not?” Hana asked.

“We all have limits for overusing our powers. It sounds like she’s controlling the air pressure around her. I’m willing to bet that she’s condescending it around Bird Brain which is how the ‘prison’ is formed. But that also means that the air around her and inside that box would be thinner. That’s why they can’t breathe. There isn’t enough air for either of them.”

“And once again, Baku proves how clever he is.” She replied playfully.

She looked back at the two fighters and her smile dropped. Tokoyami had his hand over his mouth and Dark Shadow had ditched his efforts to crack the invisible glass. He was more concerned with his suffocating friend.

“Come on. Don’t make me worry like this, guys.” Hana whispered.

Unexpectedly, Yuma gasped for air loudly and collapsed. Tokoyami inhaled deeply as the air returned to normal.

“Dark Shadow, now!”

The misty figure rushed to her as she was struggling to get back to her feet. He picked her up bridal style and carefully laid her out of bounds. The match was called and Tokoyami had progressed to the next round. Hana was screaming his name excitedly.

He wasn’t really paying attention but she was leaning over the rail unsafely as she applauded his victory. From her waist up was over the metal barrier and it was honestly making everyone a bit uneasy. They were all silently debating on saying something until a booming voice beat them to it.

“QUIT LEANING OVER THAT RAIL BEFORE YOU FALL, STUPID!”

Her eyes widened as she involuntarily obeyed and took a big step away from the railing. She looked back at the others to see Bakugou on his feet, staring her down aggressively. She blushed visibly and tried to remember how to speak actual words.

She finally got her mind in line and muttered. “S-sorry, Baku.”

He scoffed at her, but was evidently satisfied that she had listened and sat back down. She ran off to meet Fumi who was coming back up to the balcony. As soon as she disappeared, Kaminari chuckled once more.

“Wow! What was that all about, Bakugou? You getting a soft spot for little Miss Sunshine?”

“I’m not letting the Sports Festival get canceled because that loser thinks the rules of gravity don’t apply to her.”

Kirishima couldn’t keep his smile inside so he settled for hiding it behind his hand. Her expression was so cute when she realized that her crush was the one who scolded her. It seemed to surprise her more than anyone else.

It didn’t take long for her to come bouncing back with Tokoyami following her calmly. She was rambling on and on about the fight. He took the seat behind her and she leaned back to give Dark Shadow a Pocky stick. She offered Tokoyami a bottle of water but he politely declined.

“I have bendy straws.” She sang sweetly.

“You think of everything, don’t you?” He replied.

“I’m always prepared! I have all kinds of stuff in here. I even started carrying the crackers for Floatie. They help with nausea.”

“That’s so nice!” Uraraka giggled.

“Part of being a hero is taking care of people who need you, yeah? I’ve wanted to be a pro for so long, I guess it’s just instincts at this point.”

She handed Tokoyami some water before switching her attention to Todoroki. “You’re being so quiet over there.”

“Don’t you think you’re talking enough for both of us?” He asked without looking at her.

“Listen here, you meanie. I’ll have you know that some people actually find my loudness charming recently.”

“Meanie? What are you, six?” Bakugou huffed.

“Okay, you guys are jerks.” She giggled. “I’m gonna go for a little walk. If there’s one thing that I’m allergic to, it’s negativity. Well, bees too, but that’s not the point right now. "

“Better hurry back. Todoroki’s fighting next.” Kirishima said as she walked by. “You don’t wanna miss that, right?”

She smirked at Todoroki who wasn’t looking at them. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’ll be right back.”

Kirishima noticed that Bakugou's eyes cut from her admiring look to the uninterested Todoroki before narrowing slightly. That was interesting.

She went into the first waiting room and got out her phone. Curiosity was eating her alive. She hesitantly typed in the words “sludge villain attack” into the search bar. She was sincerely scared of what she might find but she had to know. She closed her eyes and hit search.

She scrolled until she found a video. It looked like amateur footage but it was still good enough quality to be intriguing. She turned down the volume on her phone before clicking play. Her eyes widened as she watched a slightly younger Bakugou struggle for his life against a mountain of dark nightmare fuel. He looked so frightened. Why wasn’t anyone doing anything? They were just watching . Wait, was that Midoriya running out there?

She was horrified. Her family never watched the news. Her mother called it ‘toxic negativity’. This wasn't negativity. This was legitimately among the most terrifying things she’d ever seen.  She covered her mouth as her eyes started to fill with tears. She couldn’t imagine what must have been going through his head. He must have been -.

A forceful grip on her wrist immediately cracked her thoughts into pieces. She didn’t have to look up to know who it was.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Bakugou demanded.

She choked on her words before mumbling, “I was just watching something. It’s not -.”

“Just watching something? Do you think I’m stupid?” He growled, yanking her to her feet.

“N-no.”

“DO I LOOK STUPID TO YOU!?”

“No!”

He snatched her phone from her hand and activated his Quirk. Her destroyed phone hit the floor as she scoffed loudly. “Hey, what the hell?!"

“You think I can’t recognize my own voice, idiot? You have no right to be watching that crap, you nosy little -!”

“I just wanted to know what happened to you!” She defended, trying to tug away.

He tightened his grip and pulled her forward. “So you went behind my back after I told you that I didn't want to talk about it? So much for being the friendly one! Friends don’t do that shit!”

Her eyes widened a little. He wasn't just angry. He was hurt that she didn't respect this boundary, wasn't he? “I didn’t -.”

“Just when I actually started to think that you might be good for something.” He mumbled under his breath.

“I am!” She shouted, blinking away guilty tears.

“Oh yeah? I treat you the same way that I treat every other asshole around here. What makes you special? What makes you stand out?”

He pushed her up against the wall closest to her and glared down at her. She should have been terrified and maybe a little bit of her was. The majority of her was lost in the familiarity of that caramel smell that was overpowering her thoughts. It brought back the memories of him and Kirishima rescuing her at USJ. Being in his arms, up close to him, with his husky voice resonating in his chest against her ear shouldn’t have been as soothing as it was. It was like that pleasant embrace of his was just part of her existence now and always should have been.

“Answer me, brat! Your pretty little smile? That peppy personality? No, that’s not enough! That shit just makes you annoying to deal with! What makes you so different ?” He asked, glaring into her soul with those narrowed ruby eyes.

Her eyes scanned over his face for a few seconds. She’d never been this close to him while fully conscious before. God, those arms that were blocking her in were absolutely breathtaking. What she was really lost in were his eyes. So focused and calculated. Almost like a wolf, ready to pin her down if she tried too much.

This side of him was the most fascinating to her. The calm, collected but still dangerous part that made her shiver. When he wasn’t screaming and swearing, he was insanely attractive. Who was she kidding? Even when going full murder goblin mode, Hana couldn’t stop staring.

She swallowed the lump in her throat before replying softly, “Because I’m the only person in this school with the guts to do this .”

Her silky lips pushed against his bruised jawline without any warning and he felt every muscle in his body contact at once. What in the hell did this extra think she was doing?! A better question would be why the heck wasn’t he stopping her? Probably had something to do with that diabolically benevolent hand caressing the other side of his face right now.

Her touches were tender and delicate, as if she feared that he would shatter under her touch. He wanted to be insulted. He wasn’t made of glass! But something about those slender fingers running over his skin felt good? No, something about it felt … right . Was he going crazy or were his knees starting to shake?

When she finally pulled away, he took a deep breath like he was drowning. She had her hand over her mouth. Was she afraid of his reaction? Even she wasn’t that damn bold apparently. Her eyes said otherwise. She didn't look remorseful or even really that intimidated. She looked anxious.

“Why the hell did you do that?!” He shouted at her face.

She closed her eyes. “I don’t know. I just -!”

He tilted her chin up roughly and growled softly. “You idiot.”

She was pretty confident that she was actually having a panic induced stroke. There was no way that Bakugou’s lips were actually on hers right now. His kiss wasn’t like hers. Hers was soft and nervous. His was forceful and a bit angry. He tried to stop it, but a soft moan slipped out of him. God, she tasted just like those strawberry pocky sticks she ate so much. Why was he doing this? This was likely the dumbest thing he’d done in a long time. But no one had ever touched him like that before, so his body had evidently just been kicked into auto-pilot by her feathery touches.

Finally pulling away, he took a massive step back and muttered, “This doesn’t mean anything. I just got lost in the moment. You’re not special so don't go thinking -.”

She closed her eyes. “You’re lying.”

He chuckled loudly. “How did you figure that?”

“That kiss should have gotten an explosion in my face. You didn’t react with anger because you aren’t angry. You liked it. I know you did.”

“Get over yourself, Dumbass.” he grumbled as he looked away.

“No, it’s more than that, isn’t it? You like me . That’s why you followed me in here. You were worried about me, weren’t you?”

“And so what?” He retorted quickly. “That doesn’t mean a damn thing! I don’t want to be in a relationship with you. I have a goal to be the best and I don’t need some little crybaby like you hanging on my leg.”

“Wow, picking at my insecurities? Now who’s being a brat?” She complained under her breath.

“What was that? I could have sworn I heard you mumble something underneath that breath of yours. Why don’t you say it a bit louder, huh?” She looked away and he scoffed once more. “That’s what I thought. You can wipe that pitiful look of your face. If you expected me to be Prince Charming then you don’t know me at all.”

He was just about to open the door when he heard her say defiantly, “Clearly it’s you that doesn’t know anything about me!”

He exhaled roughly and remarked, “Maybe we should keep it that way.”

She stepped over to her obliterated phone and sat on the floor. That was either the stupidest thing she’d ever done or the most audacious. Truthfully, she was so mind blown that she couldn’t handle trying to figure it out. He kissed her. Bakugou actually kissed her! What did all of this mean? She wasn’t sure that she was prepared for the answer.

Hana’s head was still whirling around like a top when she tapped Tokoyami’s shoulder feverishly. He looked back at her and was immediately concerned because she was trembling visibly. She motioned for him to follow her and he quickly complied, walking with to the nearby stairway.

Bakugou stormed past them and growled under his breath. Of course she’d go straight to one of her buddies to run that bratty little mouth of hers. She was probably telling him some sob story about what an asshole he was even though she actually started it. He wasn’t entirely sure what to do about what just happened.

Part of him couldn’t stand the sight of her more than ever. Another part wanted to do it again and again until he got it out of his system. The whole thing just kept flickering through his mind like a broken light bulb. He was somewhat worried that he’d never get that strawberry taste off of his lips.

Hana sat on one of the steps and buried her face in her hands. She could still feel her cheeks burning from her blushing so forcefully. She was grateful for her best friend’s tremendous amounts of patience because it took her a moment to get her words to come out.

“I screwed up really, really bad this time, Fumi.” She whispered as she ran her hands down her face in frustration.

“What happened? You’re not injured, are you?”

“Not yet but I’m probably gonna be Hana Barbecue before today’s over.”

He sat beside her on the step. “It can’t be that bad. What on earth could have done in a 15 minute time-frame that would cause something like that?” He asked, honestly knowing that somebody as spirited as her could probably get in more trouble in 45 seconds than most people could in a full day.

She took a deep breath before groaning. “I might have sorta kissed Bakugou.”

Please let that be a joke. “You what ?”

“I pissed him off and he shoved me into a wall. I got so wrapped up in my emotions that I just freaking planted one on his cheek before I ever thought about what would happen to me after.”

He was truthfully floored this time. She’d officially smashed her record for her worst idea ever. “I’m not meaning to pry but I don’t thoroughly understand. Why was kissing him your first reaction?”

She blushed again and averted her eyes from his distressed expression. “I kinda have a little crush on him.”

He tried to keep his reaction neutral but it wasn’t easy. “Well, I’m not exactly sure how in the world that came to be. I must say that your taste in men is... interesting."

“Don't rub it in." She pouted as her already neon blush rushed to her ears.

“Apologies. I suppose I’m just shocked is all.” 

“Yeah, imagine my surprise when I looked at him in class one day and felt my heart do the cha-cha slide. I was seriously hoping that it was a heart attack or something. I’m the last person I expected to fall for the school jackass.”

He chuckled under his breath before inquiring, “Well, you weren’t blown to pieces. So what exactly did he do?”

“You’re not gonna believe me.”

“Try me.”

She sighed. She was still reeling at what his reaction was. His fingertips on her skin were so natural. Like they touched all the time. She wanted it again so desperately. Anything would do. A shove would be fine. Just something to get that spark one more time.

“Hey, Ishi!” Kaminari called as he approached. “Todoroki and Midoriya are up. You wanted to see the fight, right?”

“Heck yeah! Sorry, Fumi. We can talk about this later, right? I gotta go cheer on Ace and Deku.” She said excitedly as she got to her feet.

“Perfectly fine by me. Go right ahead.” Fumi answered as he stood as well.

She sprinted to the railing and nearly leaned over the bar until she remembered Bakugou screaming at her for it earlier. She smiled vaguely. He was worried, wasn’t he? That’s so -. No, no! Stay focused, she thought. She could deal with that catastrophe later. It was Ace Time right now.

Todoroki wasn’t the slightest bit surprised that he could hear Hana plainly from this far away. Her gleeful squeals almost rivaled Bakugou’s shouting for loudest noise at U.A. He wasn’t concerned about her right now. What mattered was showing that old man he didn’t need his power to get to the top. He didn’t need him to get to the top.

As soon as the fight commenced, Hana’s energy skyrocketed. If she stood still, she might have popped like a balloon. “Holy cow! That’s so awesome! Did you guys see that?” She exclaimed, jumping up and down.

The others waited for Bakugou to tell her to shut up with all that excited yelling or to just sit down already. But it never came. He didn’t say a word to her. Fumi was the first one who spotted it though. Bakugou’s eyes were periodically switching between the fight and Hana’s enthusiastic hopping around.

He was exceptionally interested in the fight. That was his rival of course. He had to see what was happening. But he was still making an effort to look at her every so often. Hana hadn’t gotten the chance to tell her closest friend what the blonde’s reaction was but if that curious stare he was giving her was any indication, it probably wasn’t what anyone would have expected.

He was thinking about what that reaction could have been until he noticed something. Or rather, the absence of something. Hana was completely silent for the first time since this tournament started. She was absolutely still too. Was it because Todoroki was using his flames? Whatever it was, it had gotten her full attention and she was captivated by it. Her ‘deer in the headlight’ look showed that like a beacon in heavy fog.

Fumi wasn’t the only one who noted her calmness. Bakugou was glaring at her with narrowed eyes. His jaw was tightened and his hands were fists in his lap. Kirishima noticed his friend’s reaction and watched to see where it went. A whispered sentence from Hana as her eyes tracked Todoroki abruptly cracked like lightning over them.

"He's incredible."

Bakugou was out of his seat and gone from view before anyone had time to ask what had ticked him off this time. Kirishima followed him into the guys’ bathroom and watched as Bakugou leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. The hardened hero stood there for a moment, waiting as patiently as he could for the blonde to talk. After an uncomfortable few seconds, Kirishima inhaled deeply.

“What happened with her earlier?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You both disappeared for a while. Then she comes back totally freaked out and you look like you’d body-slam All Might if he breathed wrong. Did something happen?”

He looked away. “Caught that little brat getting into my business. So I blew up her phone. That’s it.”

“Are you sure that’s all that -?”

“YES, I’M SURE!”

He waited a second before mumbling, “You like her, don’t you?”

Bakugou’s eyes shot over to him, “What did you just say?”

“I’m just curious.”

"Where'd you get that stupid idea?" Bakugou demanded.

"When she was watching Todoroki fight, you looked pretty -."

"That had nothing to do with her!"

Kirishima looked away and sighed lightly. Bakugou thought for a moment before taking a step forward.

"That day you two were talking outside after school, what were you really talking about?"

Kirishima swallowed thickly and let out a nervous chuckle. "Oh, you know! Just silly Ishikawa stuff."

"QUIT LYING TO ME! I KNOW YOU WEREN’T -!"

"You!" Kirishima yelled out.

That definitely shut him up. After a second of collecting his thoughts, he asked, "What about me?"

He really didn't want to tell but he didn't want to get blown into pebbles either. "She's gonna kill me for this! At USJ, she accidentally told me that she thinks it's cute when you get mad. She has a major crush on you."

"So she wasn't just bluffing, huh?"

"What do you mean? Did she say something?"

He crossed his arms and looked away. Was Kiri going crazy or was that an actual blush spreading across that irritated pale face?

"N-not exactly." He mumbled. "Listen, if I tell you this, you better not tell a soul or I'll murder you, got it?"

“I’d never do that. Okay, so I kinda told Ishi’s secret but you’re scary as heck sometimes, dude.” Kirishima responded.

“Apparently not to that little ball of energy.” he huffed. “She actually had the guts to -.”

He shifted uncomfortably against the stone wall before looking at the door. He didn’t want to talk about this if he was being honest. But Kirishima was the one person who he figured he could trust and his head was in a scramble. There was no way he could truly focus on the important stuff without getting this off his chest. So, here goes nothing.

Chapter Text

As Bakugou filled Kiri in, Hana had located Todoroki in the second waiting room. He didn't seem too keen on chatting but did look up at her when she entered.

"I'm really not in the mood." He said softly.

"Hey, I'm not going to be as hyper right now. I am capable of calming down, contrary to popular belief."

"What do you want?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. It looked like that fight was really tough on you." She replied.

He was silent for a moment before saying, "I just realized that maybe I need to rethink how I do things. Even if I'm not exactly sure what that means yet."

She grinned faintly and moved a step closer. "Ace, I tell everyone this and I always mean it. But with you, I mean it a million times over. If you ever need someone to talk to. Hell, to listen to you shout or just to sit with you for a while, you can come to me. I know we aren’t exactly besties, but I don’t care. I got your back. One confused dork to another.”

"I don't think I'll ever understand you." He stated, looking down at his hands. "But maybe I don't have to. Maybe people like you and Midoriya just don't make sense until you're ready to understand."

She laughed and crossed her arms. "That's a weird way to say thank you but I'll take it."

"The answer to the question you asked me earlier is more complicated than you think."

"I'm not going to force you to tell me. I kinda learned today that sometimes I can be a little too nosy. So when and if you decide that I should know, I'm all ears."

He nodded and she uncrossed her arms. Somebody suddenly kicked the door open roughly and they both looked up to see how this rude person was, but they should have known. Of course it was Bakugou.

"Hey, Blasty. That door owe you money or something? " she asked playfully.

Todoroki chuckled under his breath and she smirked proudly. If nothing else, she made the ever stoic Todoroki laugh today.

"Get lost, runt. This doesn't concern you." He hissed, stomping into the room.

"Um, I was here first, pumpkin. You can wait your turn." She snapped, crossing her arms stubbornly.

"I'll burn every single pretty little freckle right off your face!"

She took a step closer and held her arms out widely. He scoffed quietly in disbelief. Was she actually challenging him? They'd already seen that he could kick her ass. She didn't seem too worried. That smug look on her face was drilling into his heart with impatient force.

However, he didn't move, despite his palms sparking slightly. Todoroki took notice but didn't say anything as he watched Hana finally lower her arms and smirk even more.

"That's what I thought." She whispered, getting closer to him. "Told ya that I was special."

She marched past him and he growled in his throat. He opted to turn that fury onto Todoroki who was looking at his phone now.

"You think you're so much better than me, don't you?" Bakugou hissed.

Todoroki didn't say a word so Bakugou did the obvious solution and kicked the table over. He blinked for a second before looking up at the exceedingly unhappy blonde in front of him.

"I don't have any idea what's going with you and that damn nerd Deku." Bakugou sneered. "And I definitely don't know what your deal is with Sunspot either. None of that crap matters though! The only thing that matters is you using your flames during our fight just like you did with Deku! I'm the one who's powerful enough to take them, you got that?!"

"You say that she doesn't matter but if that were true, you wouldn't have let her get away with that just now."

Bakugou's left eye twitched. "Don't change the damn subject! She has nothing to do with -!"

“During your fight with her, you were clearly trying not to hurt her. Why is that?”

“Are you even listening to me?!”

"Can't you tell she's still healing?" Todoroki asked.

That stalled the fiery boy in his tracks. Geez, that was kind of… cryptic? What did this guy know that he didn't? It makes sense that she'd never told him anything. All they did was bicker back and forth. But he'd overhead Raccoon Eyes say that she didn't talk about her personal stuff with anyone other than one or two people. He'd never even seen her talk to IcyHot. Okay, to be fair, generally she talked to anyone or anything that got within 10 feet of her. But he never talked back. So how could he know that?

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Just that she doesn't need to be holding a grenade when it explodes."

Why did that sting a little? He didn't care about IcyHot's opinion! Moreover, he didn't even want anything to do with that little brat. But still, his hands began sparking on their own and he growled like a cornered dog.

"I told you already, she doesn't matter. Come at me with all you've got or I'll rip you to pieces!"

With that, he stormed out of the room. Just one more fight and then he could kick that pretty boy's teeth in. While Bakugou planned his assault on Todoroki, Hana trapped the unlucky Midoriya who she'd found in the hallway. He was naturally a little uneasy about her pouncing on him.

"O-oh, hey, Ishikawa! What's up?" He asked, trying very poorly to conceal how fearful he was of her. She might not be as angry as Kacchan but that much energy was daunting nonetheless.

"Hey, Deku. Got a question for you. Do you think you can help me out?"

"I mean, I can try." 

“You’re the only person who can answer this for me. Um, has Baku ever had a girlfriend before?"

He looked like she was speaking Russian to him. He blinked several times before croaking, "Why would you need to -?"

"Just answer the question please? Sorry but if he figures out that I'm asking this, he's gonna cook me like a microwave meal. Especially since I've already ruffled his feathers like five times today. I'm just pushing my luck at this point."

"Well, he's never had one that I know of. He's not really the relationship type and not many girls find his… personality… attractive."

She rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. Cowards. His personality was fascinating to her. "Please don't mention this to him."

"I-I won't."

"Can I ask you one more thing?"

She had no idea what the heck she was doing. This was stupid to even think but she couldn't stop herself.

"I don't mind." He assured her.

"If Baku did like somebody, how do you think he would act?"

She'd gone from Russian to completely alien. She was still talking about Katsuki Bakugou, right? "Well, I'm not sure. I guess he'd probably -."

"Let them get away with being a smart aleck? Keep them from doing stupid stuff that would totally get them hurt? Not blast them to the moon if they get too close?"

"That sounds about right actually. I mean that's just a guess but it doesn't seem too far fetched."

She gave herself a gentle embrace. "Yeah, it was… it was a good guess, huh?"

She went back to her seat and poked Kirishima's shoulder. The redhead looked over at her before perking up.

"There you are! We were getting worried about you."

"Huh? I wasn't gone that long."

"Well, it's not like you to miss a fight between your two favorite people."

"WHAT?!" she exclaimed, darting over the rails once more.

Sure enough, she made it just in time to see one of Bakugou's blasts go off in Dark Shadow's face.

"Come on, D.S! You got this, little buddy!" She yelled.

It was a really terrible match up and it was over in a matter of moments. 

"Kiri, toss me my bag!"

He tossed it to her but it unfortunately landed on the ground. Mumbling something about her clumsiness, she scooped it up and ran off toward the stairs. As soon as she spotted Tokoyami, she hugged him tightly which honestly startled him this time since he didn't even see her come up.

"I'm so sorry! I got distracted with something and I -!"

He shook his head and pushed her back gently so they could make eye contact. "It's alright. You didn't miss much. It was fairly unfortunate chemistry between my Quirk and his."

"I brought my bag. I have a little blanket for Dark Shadow to hide under. That much light probably freaked him out."

"You genuinely think of everything, don't you?"

"That's my job, Gloomy Fumi. Can I ask a favor this time though? My phone kind of got demolished by an angry dandelion and I really need to call Yosuke. "

He chuckled, "Of course."

As she followed him to the locker room, Bakugou had found his way back to the balcony. He ignored Kaminari and chose to stare at the ground instead. That's how he discovered an epi-pen on the ground. He picked it up and looked at the label. The name was pretty much worn off. Who would possibly need -? He thought for a moment before putting it into his pocket.

Hana never liked the way that phones sounded when they rang. It made her super impatient. The longer it took, the more jitters she got. Finally, Yosuke answered but his voice sounded unsteady.

"What's wrong?" She asked as her heartbeat quickened. “Do you need me to come home?”

“Whoa there, Jellybean. Deep breath. I just got a question. Is there any way that you could leave school early?"

She didn't intend for it to be audible but her voice wavered as she replied, "Yeah, I'll check if Mr. Aizawa or Mr. Mic will let me leave."

"Hold it. What's up with that tone?" Yosuke asked.

"It's nothing. Don't -."

"Hana, don't lie to me!"

"Ugh, fine! I was just excited for the finals. I really wanted to be here."

He sighed. "Stay there and watch then."

"What? But I thought you said -."

"I can handle stuff here for a little while. Just hurry home as soon as school lets out, alright?"

"But I -." She insisted, only to be interrupted once more by her brother's stern voice.

"Listen to me! You've spent your whole life sitting on the sidelines thanks to all the shit you had to deal with in middle school. Life is not a spectator sport, kiddo. This is your first year at U.A. and you deserve the experience."

She smiled and replied, "I'll be there as soon as I can. I love you guys."

"We love you too. Try not to worry too much. We'll be fine."

Ending the call, she returned the phone to its rightful owner and they headed back to the balcony. Meanwhile, Hina came into the living room with her purse as she hastily tied up her long, onyx hair.

“She’s coming, right?”

Yosuke groaned under his breath before mumbling. “Actually, I told her to stay put.”

His mother scoffed in disbelief. “Why would you do that? This is more important than some sports event! When she finds out about this, she’ll be -!”

“Hana busted her ass to get into this school, Mom. I’m not taking that away from her. There’s nothing she can do about the situation. There’s no point in scaring her until we know everything anyway. So, just let it go, okay?”

She rubbed her nose with two fingers in frustration. “Fine, do this your way but when she’s madder than hell about you keeping this from her, it’s your problem.”

“I can live with that. Come on. Let’s just go to the hospital and make sure Dad’s okay.”

At the same time, Hana sat down alongside Kaminari and threw her bag on the floor. Fumi sat beside her and she threw the little purple blanket over a small Dark Shadow who was drifting in between her and Fumi.

"I'm putting money on Todoroki." Kaminari declared, earning a scoff from Kirishima.

"Nah, Bakugou's got this. Right, Ishi?" The redhead argued.

"I'm cheering both actually." She replied.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Kirishima chuckled.

“Hang on. I thought you hated Todoroki?” Ashido asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Hate is a strong word, Sis. But honestly, I didn’t like Ace until today. It’s been an… eventual day… to say the least.

Kaminari leaned over a little and looked up at her. "But somebody has to win though, right? If you had to pick, who would -?"

"I don't think so, Sparky. I'm cheering for both of them. Ace and Baku both have a chance at winning." She retorted, smirking at him.

"What’s your deal with Bakugou anyways, Ishi?" Kaminari questioned as he raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? I have no idea what you mean." Hana said, looking back at him puzzled.

"Well, you two are always fighting." He stated, shrugging his shoulders.

"That's not fighting, silly! It's just -." She sputtered for a second and tried to ignore both Kiri and Fumi giving her knowing looks. "I-it's just me speaking his language. I don't dislike him at all. I think Baku is a wonderful guy."

"Wonderfully loud maybe." Jirou muttered.

"Come on, Beats. If all you ever look at it is the yelling and screaming, you miss all the stuff that's going on underneath."

She realized that everyone was staring at her wide-eyed, except for Kirishima who was trying not to laugh and Fumi who was faking another check on Dark Shadow. Hana quickly stood up with a forced chortle.

"Wow! Would you look at that! The fight just started. I'm gonna go way over there so I can't make a fool of myself anymore."

She ran off to her spot at the rails and Ashido couldn't stop giggling. "Okay, new bet. Ishi and Bakugou hook up before the end of the year."

Kaminari squinted over at her. "I don't see it."

"You've never heard opposites attract?" She remarked playfully.

"There's a limit, right?" He chuckled. "Besides, I've never really seen Bakugou as 'datable'. He's too intense."

"Pretty sure she's just as intense as he is." Kirishima noted, over at Hana who was currently shaking the guard rail excitedly. She always got the most energy when Bakugou was in the ring. True to her word, she called out peppy cheers for both fighters. However, Midoriya noticed that Bakugou was getting slightly more of them.

He pretended not to think much of her questions earlier, but he wasn't stupid. He was sure that he knew why she was inquiring and as her eyes widened while watching Bakugou toss Todoroki across the ring, it was confirmed.

Bakugou exploited a powerful move on Todoroki that not only knocked him out of the ring but clearly knocked him out of consciousness.

She was silent as Bakugou furiously ordered his unconscious opposition get back up. When Midnight was ultimately forced to use her Quirk to knock him out, Midoriya recognized that Hana wasn't looking at the ring anymore. She was looking at her glittery sneakers with an expression that he couldn't quite read. She headed to the bathroom, bushing off Uraraka's concern with a playful but whispered remark.

When she returned, she discovered that the others had gathered on the field for the award presentation. The second she got to her classmates and noticed the stage, her temper skyrocketed and she wasn't exactly quiet about it.

"What the actual heck?! Why is he -?"

"He's been going nuts ever since he woke up." Kaminari explained.

"They can't do that! That's got to be illegal or something!" She shouted in disgust.

"It's okay, Ishikawa. They just did it because -."

"No, it's not okay! This is wrong and I am not watching this damn train wreck!" She hissed, storming past them and heading directly for the stage.

“She’s not actually going to -?” Sero whispered to Kaminari.

“Shouldn’t we stop her?” the blonde replied.

“I won’t. She looks like she’d fry anybody who tries.” Ashido said quickly.

Sure enough, the second that Todoroki made a move toward her, she shot him an uncharacteristically sour glare before approaching her snarling classmate. Frenzied vermilion irises flashed up at her as a foreboding rumble came from his throat.

“You’d think that a bunch of heroes could have figured a better way to deal with this, huh?” she whispered.

“Hana, I’m not certain this is a good idea.” Tokoyami whispered next to her.

“What kind of hero would I be if I didn’t even help my own friend?” she remarked, reaching behind Bakugou’s head cautiously. He jerked away from her touch so she whispered. “Easy, Killer. I’m just gonna uncover your face so you can breathe, okay?”

Unexpectedly, he stilled just long enough for her to unlatch the muzzle and drop it to the ground. He hung his head for a moment as he panted to regain the oxygen he’d been deprived of. He wouldn’t look up at her even when she got closer. A weighty hand touched Hana’s shoulder and she turned around to confront an obviously concerned All Might.

“Your bravery is commendable, but I believe I can take it from here.”

She crossed her arms as she began to walk away. “Good. I shouldn’t have to do your job for you.”

With a hard exhale, AIl Might went on to continue the award presentation. Hana, whose temper was still sky high, stormed through the parted, stunned crowd and disappeared into one of the exit passages. Kirishima followed her. As soon as he caught up to her, he touched her arm and was surprised when she batted his hand away. She looked back at him and her eyes widened apologetically before looking away.

"Ishi, what's really going on?" He asked.

"They shouldn’t have done that to him! He.." She trailed off and ran a quivering hand through her hair.

"It's alright. It's not like it was harming him."

"But it was , Kiri!" She exclaimed. "It was! I couldn’t stand that look on his face. Everyone just standing there watching just like... "Kirishima didn't speak as Hana took a shallow deep and looked toward the field. He realized that tears were gathering in her eyes. It's not my place to explain why. I just know that he doesn't like it. I mean, a lot of his behavior up there is just legitimate frustration because he didn't like how the fight went. But I know some of it is because he's freaking out under those restraints. I feel like I'm probably one of the only people who knows that."

He touched her arm carefully as she closed her eyes. "Man, you seriously care about him, huh?"

She laughed under her breath and shrugged. "Maybe I'm just being a silly little kid with a crush, but I do. My mom always taught me that if something seems unfair that you don’t just stand there. You gotta take charge and stand up for people. That’s what being a hero means to me. I know he’s probably pissed that I came to his rescue but not doing it would have been against everything I believe in.”

"Just give him a little space and I'm sure he'll understand that eventually." He replied.

"I hope so because he's going to blow me up otherwise."

"Nah, I think he really does like you. That's why he kissed you, right?" He laughed.

Hana's chest tightened as her eyes widened to new proportions. "What did you just say?"

Luckily for him, she had to go home early so she didn't have time to string him up like a piñata. As she ran home, she found that her mind just won't stop replaying her talk with Kirishima. Evidently, she wasn't the only one who spilled the beans.

"He told you?! Oh, my gosh. I was sure he wouldn't tell anyone! Is it possible to die from embarrassment? 'Cause if so, I'm about to be with the angels." She rambled as she paced back and forth.

"It's okay, Ishi. He knows you didn't do it just to be a jerk. He knows you meant it." Kirishima reassured her.

Hana paused her pacing and looked at the redhead out of the corner of her eye. "You didn't."

He looked away from her distrustful glare and chuckled nervously. "Well, I -."

"Kirishima!" She gasped in horror. "You pinky swore! That crap is legally binding! How could you?!"

"I didn't mean to! He's just very hard to lie to!"

"Yeah, I noticed!" She huffed back, crossing her arms.

"I honestly don't think he's mad. Just confused?" He offered.

"Well, that makes two of us." She mumbled. "I gotta head home. I have some important stuff to take care of. We're still having a chat tomorrow though, Mister! Can't believe you broke a pinky swear!"

She left in a hurry and didn't slow down until she was outside her family’s apartment. To her surprise, the front door was locked. As she reached in her bag to get her keys, she spotted a folded piece of notebook paper stowed safely into the door’s frame. She unlocked the door and pulled the paper loose. Scanning over the message in her brother’s handwriting, she felt the blood drain from her soft-hued face.

Hey, Jellybean. Mom and I had to head to the hospital. We got a call that Dad got hurt at work. We’re at the Hosu hospital downtown. Call me when you head this way. Be careful.

Hana crumpled the note in her fist as she grit her teeth. “With a note stuck in the door? Seriously!? What is this, ‘make Hana feel like an asshole’ day?”

Abandoning the paper ball on the floor and making sure to step on it, she headed to the hospital with two goals in mind. One, of course, was to check on her dad. Number two was throwing a glittery tennis shoe at her brother’s head.

Chapter Text

The next day at school, it was eerily calm. The person who usually skipped around the room and welcomed everyone as they sat down was missing. The only justification the others got was Aizawa saying that she was dealing with a 'family emergency' and might not be back for a few days. It wasn't the most satisfying answer but most of the students took it with only a confused look as any hint of argument. Bakugou wasn't one of those students.

As soon as everyone headed to lunch, that became more evident. Once he got into the hallway, he searched for a certain pink haired girl and found her about to go into the lunchroom. As his hand wrapped around Yuma's twiggy arm, she gasped softly. He'd never said a word to her, but she knew what this was about before he spoke.

"Where is she?"

She looked up at him meekly. "I thought your teacher would have -."

"Yeah, I heard him. I know you and Bird Brain know more than that. Where is she really?"

"Why do you care where she is?"

He rolled his eyes and took a step forward. "Just answer the question!"

"She's with her family." Tokoyami answered from behind him. "There was an incident yesterday involving her father. She's been going back and forth to the hospital. That's all I will tell you."

When she’d confronted that creep outside the school, he’d heard her mention that her dad was a police officer. That didn’t exactly bode well for what happened.

"So that idiot didn't get hurt?" He demanded in a low tone that Tokoyami had a little difficulty hearing.

"No, as far as I know, she's perfectly fine. Just a little emotionally shaken."

He sighed heavily and marched away. Yuma hid behind the bird-headed boy until Bakugou was completely gone.

"That was really, really weird. Thanks for saving me, Tokoyami." She said, walking out from behind him.

"Don't worry about it. He won't harm you. He knows Hana would go berserk."

"You think he cares about her opinion?" Yuma asked.

"I didn't until now. He seems sincerely concerned about her."

"Do you think he likes her back?"

He looked over at her slightly, " Back ? So you know about her little infatuation as well?"

"I'm good at catching on that kind of thing. Especially after what she did at the Sports Festival." She said with a soft shrug.

"I'd say that relationship is rocky at best. I just hope she knows what she's getting into."

Bakugou sat down at the table and angrily impaled a little piece of chicken with his chopstick. He popped into his mouth as his mind attempted to get organized. He drummed the chopstick on the table until Ashido's voice dragged him back to the surface.

“Hey, Bakugou,” she said, looking over at him slightly, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“Hmm?” he hummed flatly, taking a gulp of water absentmindedly.

“You have a crush on Ishikawa, don’t you?”

Water spewed across the table, nearly soaking Sero, as Bakugou coughed violently. Maybe that sip was badly timed but how was he supposed to know that Raccoon Eyes would ask him that unexpectedly?! Helpful Kirishima handed the choking boy a napkin and once he could breathe again, he swiftly shook his head.

“No! Don't be a dumbass! Where the hell did you even get that idea?”

“You were acting a little weird at the Sports Festival. " she pressed on.

“Whatever." He huffed unconvincingly.

“Hold on a second! Dude, you’re blushing! She’s right, isn’t she?” Kaminari called out as he leaped out of his seat excitedly.

“KEEP IT UP AND I'LL BREAK YOUR LEGS!"

“You're not exactly denying it." Sero pointed out.

“What did you say!?” he snarled, looking away. "Why would I have a crush on her of all people? That girl is obnoxious as hell. Besides, only losers get crushes."

“Well, you're always staring at her." Kaminari commented, shrugging his shoulders.

"Because she's annoying! I just said that!"

"Plus you get seven flavors of flustered when she does that one thing." Ashido said.

"What 'one thing'?" Bakugou scoffed.

"Oh?" Ashido teased. "Let me refresh your memory."

“Just shut it, Raccoon-eyes,” Bakugou snapped, shooting her a glare that would make anyone else falter.

Mina, however, simply smirked and clasped her hands over her heart like a certain peppy someone did when excited.

"Wow! Fantastic job, Baku! Keep ‘em coming, you’re doing so awesome!” she imitated the girl’s bubbly voice, making his blood boil.

“I SAID SHUT IT, YOU PINK BITCH.”

The Bakusquad laughed at his outburst while he tried to figure out why he’s so bothered. It’s because Mina’s annoying, right? He just doesn’t want to hear her voice in a high-pitched tone, yeah, that’s it.

"You should totally ask her out!" Kaminari said loudly. "It's obvious that she likes you."

"I'm not listening to this shit." He growled as he stood up and stormed off.

"Poor dude's in denial." Ashido sighed. "They'd be such a cute couple too!"

"Wait, you're seriously gonna try to get them together?" Kirishima asked, surprised.

"Heck yeah!"

"Bubbly little Ishikawa with feral Bakugou? All they do is fight." Sero replied.

"Didn't you hear her yesterday? It's not REAL fighting. It's just playful banter and that’s another word for flirting! We gotta try and get them together." The pink girl continued.

"You're just gonna piss him off." Kirishima warned.

"That's a risk that I'm willing to take! Who's with me?"

A moment of silence hung over them before Kaminari reluctantly rose his hand. The other two boys relented, mostly to try and keep their friends from doing anything too stupid.

Meanwhile, Bakugou had stomped his way into the hallway. There had to be a way to get to her. Just to return that epi pen he found, of course! He knew that Tokoyami had her phone number but he'd never give it to him of all people. He was the loyal type. He knew that Kirishima had it but he couldn't give those idiots anymore fuel for their 'crush' theory.

That just left the pink haired girl from Class B and the headphone girl. His best bet was probably the latter so he sought her out after school. As they stood outside the gate, Jirou's confused stare was quickly pissing him off.

"You really want Ishikawa's phone number? Why would you -?"

He cut her off with a growl. "Quit being so nosy! Are you gonna give it to me or not?"

"Alright, alright. Relax. Got a pen?"

Today had been rough for Hana. She'd been back and forth to the hospital to check on her dad. She had been a nervous wreck. Her dad had always been her hero and seeing him in that hospital bed was getting to her so she had been sent home to relax.She was almost asleep on the couch when her phone buzzed against her leg. She groaned softly and picked it up. It was a number she didn't have saved.

???: {Hey, Sunspot. Need to talk to you.}

She knew who it was but she was so exhausted, she asked anyway. The reply only reinforced what she already knew.

Baku, apparently: {You know who it is! I'm the only one who calls you that, dumbass!}

Hana: {Baku? How did you get my number?}

Baku: {Don't worry about that. You dropped some kind of medicine at the Sport Festival. Looks important?}

She sighed loudly in relief. She'd been wondering where that was. She quickly texted back and asked if he could bring it to her apartment. She honestly wasn't in the mood to be out and about today. The reply took a minute or two but he finally agreed if he could go home first to change clothes. She surprisingly didn't live that far from him. It was only a 15 minute walk.

Standing at the door of her apartment, he wasn't entirely sure what to say. He could throw it at her and run but she was the kind of person who would follow him until he talked back. What were you supposed to say to the girl who randomly kissed you during an argument? The same girl who you can't stop staring at.

He reluctantly knocked on the door. Well, he hit it with an open palm loudly but it had the intended effect as Hana swung the door open. That pink crop top paired with those criminally suggestive white jeans shorts was making it really hard to focus. She might have been frustratingly difficult to deal with sometimes but her legs were undeniably gorgeous.

He heard the girl attached to those toned legs clear her throat and his eyes darted back up to see her arms crossed and her lips smirking. "Amazing what three years of ballet can do for your figure, huh?" She purred playfully. "But my eyes are still up here, Baku."

He huffed at her as he pulled the pen out of his sweatpants' pocket. "You should be more careful with your stuff."

"Thanks for bringing it back. One bad run-in with a bee and I'd be toast." She inspected the label for a moment before looking back at him and smiling softly. "Hey, you wanna come in for a second? There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

Of course the obvious answer here was 'Hell no. Why would I do that?' but nevertheless, curiosity was a powerful feeling and he found himself walking over the threshold and taking off his shoes.

"I'm gonna go but this in my bag so I don’t lose it again. You just hang out for a second, okay?"

She went into the hallway and Bakugou walked over to the sofa where he found the fattest cat he'd ever seen. Teriyaki lifted his wide, gray head and narrowed his green eyes before hissing at the strange person in his house. To the feline's surprise, the stranger hissed back before walking past him. The bobtail cat blinked in confusion before sliding off the couch and going into the hallway to report this injustice to his human.

As Hana came out of her room, Teriyaki meowed at her. Her unfortunate habit of playing on her phone while walking nearly ended in disaster when he weaved in between her feet to try and get her attention. Grabbing the wall to keep from tumbling to the floor, she shot the chunky offender a disapproving glare. He didn't seem concerned as he meowed loudly again. She picked him up and tucked him under her arm as she continued walking into the living room.

"Took you long enough." Bakugou snorted at her immediately.

"Annoyed already? I haven't even started talking about this yet."

"Talking about what, dumbass?"

"You know, what happened yesterday? With the phone and the -."

"I don't want to talk about that shit. Just forget that it happened."

She raised an eyebrow at him as her hands found her hips stubbornly again. How exactly was she supposed to do that? Every time she blinked lately she could see him inches from her face with his eyes half closed as he moved in to close the distance.

She pulled herself from her thoughts to reply, "Is that really what you want?"

"I told you. I don't do relationships. I have a goal to be the best. Nothing is getting in the way of that."

"So you think I'd slow you down?" She scoffed, sitting Teriyaki back on the couch.

"Quit trying to make this a big deal. I just think relationships are dumb and useless."

She wasn't sure what she expected honestly when she did what she did. But she knew how stubborn he could be and trying to argue with him would just make him hate the idea even more. So, despite wanting to cry for a moment over the rejection, she just smiled softly and rolled her eyes lightheartedly.

"Well, frankly, I think you're full of it but... I guess I respect your decision."

"Don't go getting all emotional." He said firmly as he took a step closer to her.

"I'm not! What makes you think I'm -?"

"I can hear your voice cracking, idiot. You're not very good at hiding it."

She looked away and hugged herself weakly. "Look, it's just been a long day."

"What happened to your dad?" He replied.

A little caught off guard, she blinked at him for a second before sighing. “He got hit with a Liquid Nitrogen Quirk. The trigger for his Quirk requires him to be in close distance to criminals, which can lead to some pretty dangerous encounters. He’s okay though. Just going to have some nasty scars.”

“What’s his Quirk? I can’t imagine how plants would be really useful in police work.”

“Smart ass, plants are totally useful for lots of things. But, my dad’s isn’t plant related. I got mine from my mom’s Green Thumb Quirk. My dad’s is called Sense Deprivation. He can turn off any of one of the five senses for thirty seconds.”

He hummed in response but that was actually really awesome. He kind of wanted to see that in action one day.

“He’s the one who taught you how to fight, right?”

“Pretty much. He wanted me to stand a chance in this mean old world. Considering what career path I choose, he actually helped me a lot. Even though he hates the idea of me becoming a pro hero.”

“Kirishima told me what you said about standing up to injustice or whatever.”

“I swear, I’m about to have a talk with that redhead.” she groaned. “I thought I was bad at keeping secrets but Kiri’s got me beat hands down.”

“I didn’t need your -.”

“Help?” she huffed. “Yeah, I know. Don’t stand there and lecture me for trying to do the right thing, alright? If it bruised your ego, that’s just too bad because it was either piss you off or watch you have a panic attack on live television. So I bit the bullet and did what I thought was right. Sue me.”

“I wasn’t having a panic attack.” he scoffed back bitterly.

“I know what I saw, Baku. It had nothing to do with your ‘weakness’ or whatever. I would have done it for anyone. I just couldn’t watch something like that and do nothing.”

“If you’re expecting a thank you, then -.”

“Quit putting words in my mouth. If I wanted a thank you, I’d flat out ask for it. Stop pushing your expectations on me, okay?”

He looked back at her for a moment before rolling his eyes and looking at a picture of her mother on the wall. It was obvious where the green came from since her mother’s cheeks and nose were green tinted. The color followed a similar pattern to those glowing freckles that her daughter had. He sighed heavily before shaking his head to clear his thoughts and crossing his arms.

“Well, you got your stupid pen back now so you’re not gonna kill over.”

"Yeah." She mumbled. "Hey, I should be back next week. Don't worry. I only told one person about our little ‘conversation” and he won't tell a soul."

He started to walk off toward the door but stopped for a moment and looked over his shoulder. "You can save my number in your phone if you want to. Don't bug me or I'll block your ass though."

Her eyes widened slowly before she laughed under her breath. "Well, well. You can be friendly when you want, huh?"

"Do you want me to take it back?"

"Nope. I'll stop." She giggled. "See you at school, Fuzzball."

"Whatever." He said, going outside and leaving the door wide open like the brute he was.

Still, she didn't even notice as her cheeks reddened. Maybe he was actually starting to like her. Maybe she just really needed that nap he interrupted. Just in case, she laid down on the couch. Before closing her eyes, she picked up her phone and hit 'Add New Contact' before typing 'Blasty 💥💚'.

Her nap was interrupted a second time, this time by her brother. She mumbled some curse words before answering and hissing hello at him.

“Still mad?” he asked.

“If you can’t hear the bitterness in my voice, you need to make an appointment with the ear doctor.” she replied flatly.

“Come on, JB. I said I was sorry.”

Sitting up and rolling her eyes, she snapped back. “You left a vague note stuck in the door that our dad was hurt at work AFTER just hiding it from all together. I have every right to be mad.”

“I know, I know. It was dumb. I was just looking out for you, little sis. Forgive me for trying to be a good person.”

“I’m not a kid, Yo. I’d rather know something like this. You don’t have to shelter me.” she replied quickly.

“Trust me. Mom’s been lecturing me about respecting you for the last 3 hours. She’s been on a rant about how I’m too like dad and all that jazz. So, I really am sorry.”

Hana sighed deeply as she looked at her glittery toenails that desperately needed repainting. “Don’t apologize for being like Dad. He’s a good person, even if we don’t understand each other. I love both of you no matter what.”

A soft chuckle came through the speaker before her brother said gently. “Hey, brat? Do me a favor, will ya? Don’t ever change.”

Chapter Text

The day her dad came home from the hospital was a mixed bag of intense emotions. On the one hand, she was grateful he was okay. Unfortunately, her well-meaning mother was driving the poor man bonkers with worried calls and messages. Hard to believe they were divorced. With all the tension, Hana was genuinely relieved to be out of the house today. As she slung the classroom door open, she was delighted to see all of those familiar faces looking at her.

"Good morning, Class 1-A! Did you miss me?" she called out as she came into the room.

"Well, look who's actually on time today." Kaminari chuckled as she walked by.

"Hey, it happens way more than I get credit for." she replied, strolling over to the unaware Todoroki. Mismatched eyes gazed up at her as she leaned against his desk.

"I didn't expect you to be back so soon." he said. "How's your dad?"

Hana noted a few perplexed glances shoot their way. To be fair, how were they supposed to know she had been texting back and forth with him during her absence? Turns out that texting was the ideal medium to foster their budding friendship. He wasn't quite accustomed to her excitable nature yet but through messages, it was easier to handle. Other than the occasional emoji overloads and spam of memes, she wasn't that different than anyone else. He could concentrate what she was actually saying that way.

One of their peers didn't look confused. Those ruby eyes were more irked than anything else. Kirishima was pretty sure Hana wasn't aware of how pissed off she'd just made the blonde. Unbeknownst to her, the entire time that she was gone, Bakugou was far more quiet than normal. Not calmer by any means. He'd threatened to hurl Deku into traffic six separate times and informed Kaminari he'd make him into bacon for sneezing too loud. He just seemed lost in thought recently.

So her walking into class without speaking a word to him AND going directly to Todoroki was not a wise choice on her part. As she giggled as some monotone comment from Todoroki, Bakugou stared her down in a silent distaste. She noticed and smirked before walking over to him.

"Awww, Kacchan, if you wanted my attention, you just had to ask."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"

"Don't lie. I know you missed me." she replied, leaning over his desk.

"Yeah right.” He sneered. “Why would I miss a noisy loser like you?"

She bent forward as her glossy, emerald lips curled up into a little smile. "Did you really think that Fumi won't tell me?"

To her instant satisfaction, his cheeks reddened as he sat back and looked at the ground. Aizawa came into the room and Hana proceeded to her seat after offering him a gleeful hello.

“Oh, that reminds me, Ishikawa, I need to speak with you when we are dismissed for lunch.”

Dread ran down her spine as she slowly nodded and took her seat. All that fear would have to wait because today, the class was selecting their hero names. They were each given a card and a marker to write down their idea. As Hana uncapped the marker, she hummed softly to herself. Having her hero costume practically ready for debut since she was eight, it was only naturally that she’d thought of hero names before. A smile slowly started to form on her face as she pressed the marker’s tip onto the paper and a memory started to play in her thoughts. 

Running into the room and promptly tripping over her own feet, little Hana had a notebook in her hands as she excitedly approached her mother at the kitchen corner.

“Mama! Mama! I need your help!” 

“I’m a little busy at the moment, sweetie.” Hina answered, pressing a seed into her pliable skin. “I’m making a bouquet for your aunt. It’s her birthday tomorrow.” 

“But it’s about my hero name!” the child whined. 

“Oh, that changes everything.” she laughed, pulling a freshly bloomed, rosy tulip from her wrist. “You got any ideas yet?” 

“A few. How about Solar Girl?”

“Aww, Hana. That’s a good one.” 

“Yeah, if you like things that terrible.” Yosuke huffed as he shut the fridge.

“Would it kill you to be nice to your sister for once?” Hina reprimanded. “What else you got, JB?”

“Firefly?” Hana tried again.

“That’s a little better.” he admitted, sitting at the table with his drink in hand. “But it’s a little confusing since your Quirk isn’t actually fire.” 

“How about Sunflower? It’s your name and your Quirk all in one.” Hina proposed as she placed another tulip into the vase.

“That’s kind of mouthful though. I’d shorten it a bit.” her sibling added as he took a sip of his soda. 

“That’s perfect!” she gasped before forcefully throwing her arms around his shoulders, nearly sending the full can to the floor. “Thank you, Yo-yo!”  

“Who wants to go first?” Midnight asked, prompting Hana to jump to her feet immediately and bounce like a ball that was tossed entirely too hard.

She skipped up to the podium and held her card out with a wide grin on her face as she bounced in place eagerly. As her friends reacted to it, Bakugou peered up with minimum interest. He scoffed at it somewhat. Of course, she’d come up with something that fast. Her mind was always going ninety miles an hour.

The Solar Hero: Sunny

“That’s so cute!” Ashido commented with an enthusiastic clap.

“It’s so bright and happy sounding!” Kirishima added.

“Easy to remember and friendly, huh? That’s creative. I like it, Ishikawa.” Midnight stated thoughtfully behind her.

“Thanks! I certainly can’t take all the credit though. I had some inspiration.”

As the others all introduced their names, Hana showed her excitement with the loudness that everyone expected from her. It sounded like her favorite was Tsukuyomi which surprised utterly no one. 

“It’s so mysterious! I love it!” 

The runner ups were Froppy, Chargebolt, and Sugarman. She’d borrowed a piece of paper from Midoriya to write all these names down.

After two failed efforts at a hero name debut, Bakugou was less than happy. He did find it slightly ridiculous that perfect little Todoroki got away with just using his given name while ‘Lord Explosion Murder’ got the boot immediately. Unfortunately for him, his creative side was evidently hibernating today.

Hana saw his growing frustration and chuckled to herself before sitting forward and hastily tapped on Deku’s shoulder, causing him to jump a little. “Hey, Deku? Can I have another piece of paper pretty please?”

He nodded slightly before granting her request. She crumpled up the little sheet of paper from his notebook before tapping him again.

“Watch your head.” she warned, already ready to pitch the wad of paper like a softball.

She wasn’t actually going to -. Oh, well, that was swiftly answered for him when she chucked it at the back of unsuspecting Bakugou’s head. As predicted, he instantly spun around and targeted his infuriated sights at the alarmed Deku. His green haired classmate didn’t hesitate to point back at Hana who was waving innocently.

“What do you want, brat?”

“Gimme your card.”

“What? No, why the hell would I -?”

“Come on! I have an awesome idea. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to present it. Just give me a chance, please?”

Growling under his breath, he shoved the card in her direction spitefully. “Fine! Just hurry up and it better not be anything stupid either.”

She took the card from his hand and started writing down something. He peeked over Deku to see what she was writing but her arm was in the way.

“What’s taking so long? Hey, quit doodling! You’re just supposed to be writing a name!”

“Right! My bad, got sidetracked. Here you go, Lord Explosion Murder.”

He snatched the card from her hands, rolling his eyes as he turned back around and looked at it. The tiny, half complete sketch of him in his hero outfit that kind looked like a pissed potato got an irritated snort out of him. Nevertheless, after a moment, his eyes widened somewhat and, to Hana’s astonishment, he stood up with it in his hand. Did he actually like it?

Definitely seemed that way when he slammed it down onto the podium. Despite being a little offended that he was deliberately covering up her drawing with his hand, she didn’t even attempt to conceal her delight when she noticed that hardly noticeable but satisfied smirk on his face. She did try to duck her head a little so no one saw how crimson her cheeks got when his husky voice announced it out loud.

“The Explosion Hero: C4.”

“There we go! That’s much better.” Midnight remarked enthusiastically behind him.

Looking back at her slightly, Midoriya whispered. “Wow, Ishikawa. That was really clever.”

“Wait, you came up with that?” Sero asked as he leaned back in his chair.

“W-well, technically, I saw it in a movie a few days ago. But it had Baku’s name written all over it, so I thought I’d suggest it.”

“Looks like you might be good for something after all, Freckles.”

Hana’s eyes quickly darted to the owner of that mumbled statement as he sat back down. She smiled a little as she ran her fingers through her hair bashfully. That was certainly a nice turn around from the Sports Festival.

When everyone started to go lunch, Aizawa’s fatigued voice called out her name and she tensed up. Tokoyami looked back at her so she nodded that she was alright. He reluctantly left her behind with their teacher.

“Ishikawa, I have a serious question for you.”

“Yes, sir?” Hana replied, turning to face him.

“Your actions at the Sports Festival, what were you hoping to achieve?”

“With all due respect, sir, I did exactly what I hoped to do. Baku’s mouth being covered was causing the majority of his outburst. Once I resolved that, he calmed down, right?” she replied, crossing her arms.

“That situation could have gone extremely differently. Had things gotten out of hand, you would have been to blame for that.”

“A basic meaning for the word hero is a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for their brave deeds and noble qualities. If I stood by and kept my mouth shut to save face, I don’t think I’d be considered anything close to that.”

Aizawa sighed profoundly as he looked over his student. “Courage is not the same as running into things thoughtlessly. You didn’t know the full situation.”

“To be completely fair,” she sneered quietly, “neither did you.”

“I’ve told you several times that making friends cannot be your only goal here. If that’s all you want to do, then you shouldn’t be in this -.”

“My idea of a hero is someone who is open to everyone. If they’re closed off and selfish then they aren’t doing their job!”

“Focusing on your own future isn’t selfish, Ishikawa. How can you catch up if you don’t get that through your head?”

That undoubtedly quieted her rebellious attitude. Her tongue ran over her dry lips as she queried breathlessly, “Catch up? S-so, I actually am behind everyone else?”

“As far as training and mock battles go, you’re doing fine. Academically speaking, your grades don’t match your physical progress. The last test we took, only one student scored lower than you did.”

Her hands balled up into fists at her sides. That test had made her a nervous wreck. She was the last one to finish and half of her answers were just guesses. Todoroki was right. She was falling behind. It was that apparent to everyone but her, evidently. Studying had always been a struggle for her. With her boundless energy, sitting still long enough to read a textbook was visually impossible. She’d tried doing it in the evening but she was too groggy from the lack of sunlight and nothing stuck. So, how was she supposed to -?

“That’s why you’re constantly late, isn’t it? You’re doing late night cram sessions and oversleeping the next day.” he prompted.

“Man, you’ve just got my number with this, huh?” she mumbled, mildly surprised by his observation but still not happy with this in the slightest.

“If I were you, I’d try getting one of my friends to tutor me. Studying on your own seems to be having the opposite effect.”

“I can’t bother people like that.” she sighed, leaning her head back to look at the ceiling with dismay. “Everyone’s trying to do their own thing. I couldn’t possibly -.”

“I’ll do it.”

Her eyes widened as she spun around to see Todoroki in the doorway.

“A-ace?”

“I’ve been looking for a reason to study more myself. I’ve read that teaching others is a good way to learn the material yourself, so I could test that theory on you.”

“Thank you.” Hana replied, genuinely relieved. “Maybe with your help, I’ll be worth something.”

“You're not a bad student. Your improvement is fine. But you could do much better. It’s clear that you’re holding yourself back. You’re taking on too much outside out school and it’s crushing you under its weight. Take better care of yourself because you’ll be a lousy hero if you can’t even do that. You can’t save anyone if you’re drowning yourself. Study with Todoroki and focus on your grades.”

“I’ll do better.” she assured him, “I’ll go to bed earlier. I’ll get here on time every single day and I’ll study like my life depends on it! You just watch. I’ll be the best damn student you’ve ever seen!”

“Good. One less thing for me to worry about.” he retorted, walking away from her.

She laughed, “Man, I really wanna hug you right now.”

“I wouldn’t.” He stated flatly as he zipped up his sleeping bag.

“Fair enough. Thank you, Mr. Aizawa. Have a nice nap.”

She got a muffled huff in reply and she left the room quietly. Looks like she had a new favorite pro hero. Turning to Todoroki, she recognized that he headed back to the hallway. She caught up with him as he went into the lunchroom.

“Are you sitting with Deku today?” she asked.

“I was planning on it. Why?”

“Mind if I join you?”

A little puzzled, he questioned. “I thought that you sat with Tokoyami every day.”

“I do, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t sit anywhere else EVER, does it? It’s not like I’m anyone’s property. Besides, Fumi’s been reaching out to new people. Maybe I should too.”

“I don’t mind but it’s up to the others at the table too.”

Ashido’s voice from behind her got her to spin around. “Hey, Ishi! I wanted to ask you something.”

“I’m all ears, Sis. What’s up?”

“Do you want to sit with me and the guys today?”

“Oh, rats! Bad timing. I just asked Ace if I could sit with him and his friends. I’ll tell you what though. Mind if I join you tomorrow instead?”

“It’s a date! See you tomorrow at our table.”

As Ashido ran off, Hana followed Todoroki to the table where a bewildered trio looked up at her.

“Hey, guys. Have room for a little green somebody at this party?” she asked, hands behind her back.

She didn’t miss the apprehensive gaze that Deku shot at Bakugou’s table. Uraraka copied it for a moment before grinning up at the girl in question.

“Sure! We don’t mind at all!”

“Yay! Thank you. Be right back.” Hana replied, sitting her bag down in the seat she wanted.

After grabbing her food, she re-joined the table. She didn’t take much notice of that icy stare she was getting from Bakugou, but Ashido certainly noticed. He was trying to force himself to keep his eyes on his bento box but he was struggling.

“I can’t wait to learn more about those internships,” Midoriya said from his seat across from her. “I have so much to improve on!”

Uraraka, who was beside her, and Iida, who was beside Midoriya, cheerfully asked for his new moves as Todoroki, who was next to Uraraka, and she nodded in approval.

“I’m excited to see that Quirk grow, Deku!” Hana grinned brightly at him, shooting him a thumbs up. “I’m sure it’ll be great.”

Midoriya blushed at her warm support. “T-thank you, Ishi! You’re always so cheerful.”

“I know, right?” Uraraka piped in. “Our class wouldn’t know what to do without your smiles.”

Todoroki and Iida nodded in agreement, so Hana smiled bashfully at them. Compliments were still a new thing she was adapting to but she wanted to show her appreciation. She scratched the back of her neck as she blushed lightly. 

“Well, I’m always smiling because of you guys!”

Bakugou heard that corny sentiment from his seat and sneered when Uraraka side-hugged the dark haired girl and turned away when Midoriya and Iida blushed unashamedly.

During the Festival, she had cheered on everyone, including him. Although, thinking about it now, she did get really pumped when he was in the ring. With the exception of Tokoyami, she’d cheered for him the loudest. He’d be lying if he said it wasn’t pleasant. His friends talking about it nonstop sucked though.

“Man, I wish Ishi hugged me like that,” Kaminari sighed from Bakugou’s table as he watched her hug Uraraka back. “I just know I will feel more powerful if she wraps those encouraging arms around me, you know?”

“That’s not very manly to think about.” Kirishima frowned and for once, Bakugou found himself agreeing with Shitty Hair.

“Aw, come on!” Kaminari huffed. “Don’t you just wanna hug her after she cheers for us?”

“She really is encouraging though,” Ashido agreed. “We’re supposed to be competing against each other, but she roots for everyone, even this blond gremlin.”

“Don’t start.” Bakugou snapped.

“She seems like she’s really getting along with Todoroki since the Sports Festival, huh?” Ashido added, taking a sip through her straw.

“Like I care.” he mumbled back, crossing his arms across his chest as he sat back in his chair.

“Well, she’s sitting with us tomorrow.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“Says who?” he snorted.

“Says me. You need to talk to her.”

“YOU need to stay out of my business! This has absolutely nothing to do with you!” Bakugou shouted out as he got to his feet.

They knew he was about to pop like a balloon with rage. Then those sapphire orbs met his ruby ones. His yelling had drawn her attention and when their eyes met, she smirked that familiar, amused grin and rolled her eyes playfully before turning back to whatever Uraraka was saying. To the Bakusquad’s amazement, rather than keep barking at Ashido, his cheeks went slightly pink as his nose crinkled slightly in an emotion that they couldn’t quite read. Kaminari felt his jaw drop when Bakugou sat back down and went back to eating.

He looked over at Hana who was putting something into her mouth. It wasn’t one of her beloved pocky sticks. In fact, he hadn’t seen her eat one of those all day. She’d substituted them with her new little bag of candies.

“I didn’t know Ishi liked caramel candies that much.”

“What?” Bakugou asked quickly as he looked at the girl.

Sure enough, she was popping another tiny caramel cube into her mouth as she nodded at Todoroki’s words with her head tilted to one side curiously.

“Oh, she’s been eating them lately. She said she just started liking the taste recently.”

That light pink from before was now a neon red as he looked away from Deku’s table. “Damn brat. What game is she playing?”

The others looked confused which he was a little grateful for. Thankfully, no one of them had put two and two together that she’d started ‘liking the taste’ because of the resemblance to the sweat that was on his jaw when she’d kissed it the other day. They reminded her of him . Maybe Raccoon Eyes was right. They did need to talk. About what? Well, he’d need to think about that part a little more.

Chapter Text

Hana's hands lingered as she gazed up at the clear blue sky with its shining sun. She had promised herself not to give in when Ashido asked her to join them for endurance training at the pool. She also stood firm against Hagakure, Kaminari, and even Tokoyami. Yet, her willpower had been toppled over by Kirishima a lot faster than she wanted to admit. It certainly didn’t make it easier for her that he had chosen to talk over a video call. Hearing his disappointment was one thing, but seeing it too? That cracked her stubbornness like an egg dropped onto concrete. Of course, he also had the advantage of having a certain blonde in his company.

Bakugou didn’t provide much to the discussion other than affirming grunts to what Kirishima said or disgruntled huffs at her. Eventually, he growled off camera. “Quit making excuses! You're a social butterfly, that's for sure. So, stop playing games and get down there.”

“Bakugou’s right.” Kirishima added as he looked back at his friend. “Seriously, the others would want you there.”

“They won’t when all that sunlight hits me.” she muttered under her breath as she dipped her hand in the bag of caramels on the counter.

“You’re part of this class just like anyone else. Sunny, come on! Please? Do it for your buddy Kirishima, huh?”

Who could turn down that lovable redhead when he was so pumped up? Not Hana. So here she was, despite her best judgement. With her gut in knots and her knees quivering, she knew this was a terrible idea. Her memory unwelcomingly flashed to the last time she swam. She was at the beach with her family during the summer a few years ago. The constant exposure to sunshine had made her hyperactive, but her family didn't mind. The Ishikawa kids and their mom were having fun.

At least, until Yuki’s voice called out to her. Her brother glared at her, but Hana, always ready to forgive her friends back then, waved him off and ran up to her friends. She had been unbelievably jealous of how puberty had blessed Yuki. In that pale pink bikini, her hourglass figure and prominent assets were painfully obvious. Her blue, spiked hair was a waterfall running down her back. Even with the turquoise scales adorning her cheeks and shoulders, she was the shining star of their class and the trail of hopeful boys that she kept in her company was proof of that. She narrowed her eyes as Hana ran toward her, but then a calm smile calmly emerged on her face.

“Hi, Yuki! What’s up? That is your new bathing suit, right? I love it.” Hana said, pushing her damp ponytail back over her shoulder.

“Aw, thank you. Yours is nice. It’s so… simple.” Yuki said, gesturing toward the girl’s thin frame. “I don’t think I saw it when I got mine. Does it only come in kids sizes?”

Hana blushed intensely as she crossed her arms over her chest timidly. Sure, a rainbow one piece wasn’t what’s ‘in' but she liked it. Those stringy two piece bathing suits like the ones that Yuki and her friends were wearing just never looked right on Hana’s boyish frame. Yuki noticed Hana's hurt body language at the other girls' laughter and smirked cruelly.

 “Joking! Wow, you seriously need to relax.” Yuki sighed, tucking her hair behind her fin-like ear. “You wanna hang with me and the girls?” 

“Really? You don’t mind?” Hana asked, perking up a little.

“Sure! One condition though. You gotta cover up. My Quirk was made for the beach, but yours? Well, we don’t want you to spook everyone with that ‘jumpy squirrel’ routine, right?”

Hana swallowed the lump in her throat as she nodded faintly with a strained smile. “R-right. My voice can be annoying. Don’t want people thinking it’s a siren or something.”

Yuki laughed aloud as she moved her bangs out of her eyes. “That’s my girl! You’re so funny, Hana. Come on, I have a towel that you can wrap up in. Once you calm down, I'll let you sit with me, okay?”

Even after all these years, that memory still brought tears to her eyes. No, she couldn’t do this again. She could figure out a white lie to tell Kiri. She began to back away from the gate when she was spotted. 

“Ishi! You finally made it!” Ashido called as she waved.

The next thing she knew, 32 eyes were watching her, and she felt like a deer in the headlights. Ashido and Uraraka were on their way to her in a second, so maybe her trepidation was like a beacon to them.

“We were worried you got lost.” Uraraka laughed.

“Only in my thoughts.” she mumbled before replying louder. “I’m sorry for being late.”

“No problem! I’ll go with you to get changed if you want.” Ashido offered.

“That is super nice but I’m actually not planning on changing.”

Her pink face was tinged with uncertainty as she wrinkled her forehead slightly. Hana knew why. She was dressed in a long sleeve pastel, tie-dye shirt and light colored jeans. Not exactly a summer time outfit. Tokoyami undoubtedly heard this plan, because he excused confused Ashido, so that he and Hana could talk alone. After separating her from the others, she sighed quietly.

 “I already know what you're gonna say.”

“Does it sound good to you? Can I hear it for myself?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “That I shouldn’t worry about my hyperactivity? Because they’re my friends and I should trust them? That I can’t let fear control me this way? Only you're gonna say it more elegantly because you're you.”

He shook his head and crossed his arms over his bare torso. “Actually, I was going to say that Ashido and Kirishima have been asking me every five minutes when you’re going to get here. I’m certain they were not that eager to see you sitting in the shade, miserable.”

“Really being blunt with me today, huh?” she chuckled under her breath.

“Merely following your example. All kidding aside, I actually did consider this before I called you earlier.I withheld much of the details because it wasn’t my narrative to tell. Nevertheless, I did inform Ashido, Kirishima, and Iida about your Quirk’s effect. We will deal with any inappropriate remarks made.”

Blue eyes shot up rapidly as she asked, “Dude, you seriously did that for me?”

“You keep a blanket for Dark Shadow in your bag. I do not think this is as impressive as it may seem in comparison.”

She smiled warmly as she replied. “You know what we have to do now, right?”

“I do indeed.”

She hugged him tightly and received a well-intended but slightly awkward pat in return. She noticed that he was less stiff on reflex. Once her embrace ended, she approached Ashido who was overjoyed to hear she'd changed her mind. Hana was not exactly surprised by the conversation that her pink friend wanted to start, and she wasn’t exactly thrilled either.

“So, you and Bakugou, huh?”

“Wow, I saw this coming from a mile away.” Hana responded satirically.

"You know, Toru has a date this weekend with a boy from Class B."

"That’s fantastic! But why do I get the feeling that’s a hint to move in on Explosion Boy?" She asked, opening the girls' locker room door.

"It’s none of my business, but you two would be adorable together and -."

“I already did.”

Ashido's throat went dry as she tried to absorb the odd sentence. “Wait, what ?”

“Promise to keep it a secret? Just me, Baku, Fumi, and Kiri know right now. I love our class but I really don’t want to be the talk of the school, you know?”

“Totally, I won’t tell anybody !”

Hana raked her fingers through her hair as she exhaled dramatically. Here we go again. Meanwhile, Bakugou marched furiously behind Kirishima as they arrived at the swimming pool. Despite his spiteful pep talk at Hana, Bakugou had no intention of joining the class today. Kirishima had carefully used the little green girl and her steadily growing friendship with Todoroki as bait. Thanks to Kirishima getting his blood boiling, Bakugou's first move was to yell at Deku. Unsurprisingly, Hana was ready to pick a fight as well.

"I've never seen someone with such a weird focus, Baku."

Taking full offence at her playful banter, he glimpsed behind him to see her standing with her arms crossed over her chest. No matter how nice it was to see those elegant legs again, he wasn't going to let her disrespect him.

"Like you can talk, brat."

"I imagined someone who is as egocentric as you would be better at taking a compliment." she retorted.

Todoroki asked from his seat against the wall, "How did you know he was talking about himself?"

Crimson tinted her cheeks as she shot him a dirty look and muttered, "Whose side are you on over there, Ace?"

"Well,” Iida thundered, "now that we're all here, how about we have a race to see which boy is the fastest?"

"We'll help you judge, Iida." Momo offered.

"Uh, excuse me?" Hana interjected. "Why should only the boys race? You didn’t even ask if any of us wanted to join. Not fair for the class rep to ignore part of the class."

As Iida scrabbled to find a rebuttal, Bakugou rolled his eyes.

"Like you have a chance, Freckles." he taunted at her.

"Oh, I'll show you, Blasty!"

"Fair enough. I will put you in the first set." Iida remarked.

“Good save, Emergency Exit.” Kaminari complimented.

"That's better," she said with an affirming nod.

So, the first group of students prepared to take a dive into the water. 

"All right, gentlemen - and Ishikawa- on your mark, get set, GO!"

Bakugou, with his characteristic tenacity, decided to fly over the water using his explosions instead of swimming. The others weren’t as impressed with it.

"What the heck, Bakugou?!" Kirishima yelled. "You never even touched the water!"

"It's called Freestyle Swimming!"

"It's called cheating !" Hana shouted as she attempted to shove him into the water from behind.

He retaliated by trying to throw her into the pool instead which ended with them locking hands and attempting to dominate each other. Bakugou finally had enough and seized his petite opponent by her arms before holding her above his head as though he were displaying a big fish he'd caught. Hana squealed the entire time, calling for her friends to help her but they were all too slow to get there before he hurled her into the water. She sank like a rock, not hearing his thunderous cracklings at her expense.

He was too busy laughing at her to notice her resurface. Grasping his ankle, she yanked him into the water and earned some immensely colorful language in return. She hurriedly climbed out, but the second he returned to the top, he was hot on her trail, pursuing after her.

Iida's scolding cry of 'No running around the pool!' was ignored as she hid behind Kirishima and wheezed with laughter.

"Now I see why you didn’t wanna get in the water! You look like a drowned cat!" she cried, gesturing weakly at his blonde hair that was now being pushed violently back from his eyes.

"You can't stay back there forever! I’m gonna toss you off the roof!"

"Call animal control!" she exclaimed, giggling so hard that tears rolled down her cheeks. "There's a soggy porcupine on the loose!"

He did not abandon his revenge attempt until the group began the next set. She cheered for Todoroki, which got Bakugou's goat. He grew infuriated when she joked that his ice to avoid swimming was 'creative'. But Bakugou's own "freestyle" stunt was cheating? She was just trying to piss him off, wasn't she? She must have been, because in the third round, she did something that provoked his wrath even more.

“Wow! Go, Deku, go!”

Who on earth did that little brat think she was?! Cheering for Deku right next to him! She had to be doing this deliberately because he said that he wasn't interested in dating her. During the final set to decide the final winner, Bakugou couldn't help but listen for her direction to know who she'd cheer for this time. She was clapping and hopping around, calling the name of one person.

“Come on, Baku!”

He was still angry about the incident from earlier but he found some solace in knowing he was her favorite. Even if he wasn't sure why he wanted to be her favorite so much in the first place. That relief didn't last long when Aizawa cut their final face-off and denied Bakugou of the chance to show up those two losers. While climbing out of the water, he overheard Hana when she groaned loudly.

"Well, that sucked! I totally wanted to race the winner."

"You lost the first round, Sunspot."

Only because of your stupid 'freestyle'! If we swam in a real contest, I'd win.”

"Sure, Smalls."

Kirishima was surprised to find her walking with them toward Bakugou's house. When he found out why, he was stunned.

"Wait, you two live this close together?" He asked. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's no big deal, Kiri. It's not like we live in the same house or something."

“Man, how did you guys not meet until now?”

“I don’t talk to anyone who gets too close like Sunspot over there.” Bakugou scoffed.

“That’s just because you’re a buzzkill.” she snapped back. “But frankly, even if I had previously met you, you wouldn’t recognize me now. Back then, I was completely different.”

“Oh, yeah? How about an example?”

“Well, my hair was longer. It was to the middle of my back at one point.”

“You’d look weird with long hair, Ishi.”

“Jeez, thanks, Kiri. I only walked around like that for 14 years.” she teased.

“I’m just kidding! I’m sure it looked great. Maybe during the break, we can hang out and you can show us some pictures?”

“Eh, I’ll have to check my schedule since I’ll be spending most of my break with Ace.” Hana sighed with a slight shoulder shrug.

Bakugou stopped in his tracks and glared back at her. “Icyhot had never even talked to you before this, and now you're spending your whole break with him? Something you’re not telling us, huh?”

“Easy, Killer.” she teased, hands going to her hips. “We’re just studying together because I bombed a class last week.”

“You seriously think he’s the only one who can help you?”

Hana’s head tilted to the side like a puppy as she looked over him. ”You saying you’d be a better tutor? Great. Pick a day and you can be the teacher. Then we'll see who teaches the best.”

As she skipped off toward her apartment building, Kirishima chuckled behind him. “Man, you sure are jealous of Todoroki, huh?”

“Say one more thing and I’m sending you to the moon, moron.” Bakugou snorted back.

“Fair enough. Dang, I forgot to ask her who she was going to intern with!”

“Can’t be that important, it’s probably somewhere dumb. She's a weirdo.”

“Like having a crush on you?”

A stiff jab to the arm was his reply on that question. As Kirishima rubbed his arm, he chuckled as Bakugou checked his phone. He rolled his eyes and shoved it into his back pocket.

“Little brat seriously just thanked us for walking her home. That’s not what happened. I was just going back to my house.”

Kirishima could have easily pointed out that they’d walked right past Bakugou’s house without a word to get to these apartments, but he really didn’t want to go to the moon today. So, instead he shrugged and made a comment about how silly Ishikawa could be. Looking back at the apartments, he could just barely make out a tiny green figure chasing a big fat cat down the stairs while shouting something about how ‘ungrateful’ the feline was. Yeah, silly was definitely the right word.

Chapter Text

“I’m going to be perfectly honest here. I don’t like you very much.” Best Jeanist said, raking his blonde bangs from his eyes.

“Huh? You invited me to come here. Don’t tell me that you just wanted to bark and lecture at me!” Bakugou snorted back, taking a small stride forward.

“Yes, that’s true. Nevertheless, I invited you here as an attempt to refine you. You may be good at controlling your Quirk but your attitude and personality are a disgrace. It's for that reason I chose you, a fact that stunned most of my colleagues. Most of my recruits have been precious little angels, much like the one I selected to be your partner in this internship.”

“A partner?” Bakugou hissed, teeth gritting slightly.

“I ordinarily only work with one intern at a time, but when I saw you two at the Sports Festival, I noticed that you two had a unique chemistry. It was to inspire her to stand up to All Might himself. I decided that I must see that chemistry in action personally.”

Stand up to All Might? Who the hell was he -? Wait, the award ceremony when that little pastel colored brat stuck her nose into business that wasn’t hers for the second time that day. Jeez, she was just slipping her way into everywhere he went.

“Hey, I’m not pairing up with that dumbo for your entertainment! Whatever ‘chemistry’ you think you saw is probably just you looking for an excuse to play these stupid games.” Bakugou shouted at Best Jeanist who seemed to be looking right past him.

“Dumbo’s right behind you, Pop-Rocks. Guess it’s too much work to get your head out of the clouds.”

He rolled his eyes so hard that he felt a physical ache before turning to see her walk up beside him, dressed in her hero costume. Was she wearing eyeliner? Since when did she wear makeup other than lipgloss? What's more, when did he notice that about her in the first place? This girl was bad for his health. As she hopped up and sat on Best Jeanist’s desk, he shot her the most unwelcoming glare he could but of course, she just smirked back. He had everyone at his middle school under his command, but this one extra who was hardly even 5 feet high didn't flinch when he gave her looks that would have killed anyone else? Forget bad for his health, this chick was bad for his reputation .

“Neither of you two seem to fully understand it, but you both have good qualities the other lacks. Sunny, your compassion and positivity are excellent for working with the public. Yet, your actions during battle lack follow-through and confidence. C4, while you have plenty of confidence, your ego is crushing and difficult to work with. I believe you two could be one of the best duos I’ve seen in a while if you spoke more openly.”

“Sadly, one of us tends to refrain from talking openly.” Hana sighed as she crossed her legs and adjusted her visor.

“And the other one is a little jackass.” Bakugou hissed at her.

“Why would I mention you twice?” she responded.

“Oh, I’m getting really sick of your -!”

“Enough!” Best Jeanist exclaimed sternly. “Now, regarding how the public perceives you, we have a long way to go.”

“Those yellow bunny ears should be the first thing you get rid of.”

“I was actually referring to you , C4.”

Bakugou’s face twisted somewhat with worry. “What in the hell does that mean?”

“You’ll see soon enough.”

Hana was fairly certain her head was going to pop when Best Jeanist proclaimed that the angry blonde would be getting a makeover. She truly tried not to laugh. It was perhaps one of her most sustained attempts lately. She couldn’t stifle her glee when his hair sprang back up out of the combed fashion their mentor was trying to force upon it.

Sincerely, Hana thought he didn’t look bad like that. She sorta liked it in a way. The hilarious part was his reaction. Oh, he wasn’t enjoying this one bit. Their mentor also altered his costume as well. Those jeans were so sinfully tight, and she was battling to keep from staring. While Bakugou was pouting, she leaned back and took a secret picture. What was life without a little risk, after all?

“Why am I suffering by myself here?! Put little Miss Priss in a pair of mom jeans and we’ll see how upbeat she is then!” he roared, gesturing toward her aggressively.

“Wait, you think I wear this skimpy little ensemble just for fun, dude?” Hana huffed as she stood up. “My Quirk requires that I have as much skin showing as possible, so I can be exposed to direct sunlight.”

“How am I supposed to know how your dumb Quirk works?! How much sunlight can you possibly take in from just your legs?” he asked, pointing at them like they were the one doing the talking and not their owner.

“You’d be surprised.” she laughed. “Besides, my move-set is very dependent on my flexibility. You didn’t notice that during the Sports Festival?”

“Actually, I was too busy winning.”

“Rude.”

“Alright, you two, you’ll be accompanying me on patrol today.” Best Jeanist said as he stood up from his desk. “Try to keep the flirting to a minimum, okay?”

“FLIRTING!? WHAT WORLD ARE YOU LIVING IN, OLD MAN!? QUIT LAUGHING, SMALLS! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!”

Hana covered her mouth with her hands to conceal her snort of laughter. That look from her classmate was beyond livid but it did zilch to dampen her mood. Her ebullient spirit was radiating as she bounded down the stairs to the front entrance. The only thing that came close to being as fiery was Bakugou’s contempt for this entire situation.

Hana was once again attempting hard not to laugh despite Bakugou’s infuriated pouting as they walked down the street. Of course it made him even more irate that Hana was jumping around and waving at anything moving that crossed her line of sight.

“Why do we do these patrols?” Best Jeanist asked, strolling slightly ahead of them. He looked back over his shoulder.

”If we see any troublemakers, we can beat them to a pulp.” Bakugou answered.

“Not very elegantly put, but I know what you meant at least. What’s the other reason?”

“Creating a sense of security!” Hana shouted, her hands clapping together as a punctuation mark.

“Precisely. We want people to know we will keep them safe.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Ass kisser.”

“Pretty boy.” She remarked, her hands resting on her hips.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!”

“Don’t get so worked up! You’ll wreck your look, beauty queen.”

“I’LL KILL YOU!”

“Children! Enough! I will no longer tolerate this constant pettiness. Part of hero work is having to work with a team and develop solutions. That can’t just be avoided.”

Bakugou said with a smirk, “Most pro heroes don’t act like they’re 8-year-olds! Actually, you sound like a 4-year-old!”

“Well, at least I’m not -!”

“Hey, I’ve seen him on TV before." A boy interjected. "He got grabbed by a bad guy and looked like he was gonna cry."

Naturally, this led to Bakugou screeching at the three boys, who all understandably panicked. Hana shook her head as the children’s sobbing grew louder.

"Have you honestly ignored everything that I’ve said? Handle them like a hero.” Best Jeanist ordered.

“Fine, fine.”

It was the worst example of communication with a child they had ever seen but Hana was kinda entertained with how sassy he was today and how he picked up her habit of putting her hands on her hips. Best Jeanist rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly, so Hana decided that she better act for the sake of the children’s eardrums and their mentor’s sanity. She reached over and placed her hand on Bakugou's shoulder.

She disregarded the primal rumble in his throat and whispered, “Sit this one out, big boy. I got this.”

Hana kneeled down to their level as they wiped away teardrops that Bakugou's screeching had evoked.

“Hey there! My name’s Sunny. What’s yours?” She said cheerfully.

After a moment of anxious silence, the boy who had spoken first answered with a mumbled, “Taishi.”

“Dude, that name’s awesome! My brother has a friend named that actually. He’s a cool guy. He likes cats. Speaking of friends, I actually wanted to talk to you about mine over there.”

“The one that was crying?”

“I WASN’T -.”

Hana held a finger up to him and ‘offended’ wasn’t sufficient to describe this feeling. Little shit really just told him to be quiet? Who the hell does she think she is?! He seriously wanted to kick her dumbass over onto the pavement, but then again, where was she going with this? Curiosity won over anger as he crossed his arms and glared down at her. He wouldn’t stop her, but he still planned on staring an enraged hole through her.

“I know that it looked that way from the outside.” Hana explained gently. “But in reality, he actually handled the situation very well. His Quirk is super powerful, and he could have hurt a lot of people if he had just let loose. Heroes have to keep an eye out for stuff like that. That’s a part of it that people overlook. It’s not only beating up criminals. We have to protect the innocent. In my humble opinion, he did a brilliant job.”

She looked back over her shoulder and winked at Bakugou who was staring at her unapologetically. Hana wasn't much bothered by it and it got a little giggle out of her. The boys changed their tune and even offered a quick apology before running off.

“Well, I guess kids are easy to handle when you’re a big kid yourself, huh?”, she remarked, standing up.

“Excellent, Sunny. Perhaps Bakugou could learn from your interpersonal skills.”

“I don’t mind teaching him if he’ll just quit yelling at me for five minutes.” she joked.

When the blonde behind her failed to speak, she wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or alarmed. As she wandered up to him cautiously, he just stared at her.

“Look, I really didn’t mean to step on your ego back there. I was just trying to -.”

“Do you really think that I need your damn help that badly?”

“Excuse me?” she hissed, squinting at him in skepticism. “I just spared us all the trouble of watching you turn into a psycho on some kids. How am I wrong here?”

“I get that you’re doing the whole ‘hyper fangirl’ routine but I don’t need a fairy Godmother, brat! I don’t need some little girl trying to be my shadow. Not at the Sports Festival and not now.”

“You self-centered, narrow minded little -!”

He scoffed at her as he crossed his arms. “You know, I’ve been waiting to say this. You and that peppy attitude make me sick. You’re a fake little drama queen. I don’t buy that good natured bullshit for a second.”

 She flung up her hands in frustration and retorted. “You want to have a temper tantrum? Go punch a tree or something, jerk.”

"See, this is why we could never be in a relationship together!"

That certainly stopped her in her tracks. After weighing her choices carefully, she reacted with a bitter "Oh, do tell."

"I know your type. You see someone like me and think that you can fix me. You think that you can just love me with all your little heart and I will just miraculously transform into the man of your dreams. Well, guess what, Princess? It's not gonna happen! This is who I am, alright? You either take me as I am or you don't get me at all."

"You're so damn full of yourself that I'm surprised your lungs can even hold air, Bakugou!"

"Oh, it's 'Bakugou' now? No more cute nicknames? Did I hurt your feelings that badly?"

"For the last time, stop acting like you know me. You don't know anything about who I am. I'm done wasting my time with you." She snarled under her breath before storming away.

"Finally!" He yelled out. "Now, I can get back to what matters!"

She strayed off into an alleyway and kicked a trash can savagely before covering her face and whispering, “Keep it together, Jellybean. Now is not the time for one of your emotional moments.“

Realizing that keeping it together wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped, she took out her cell phone and texted her mother, who didn’t reply right away because she was at her flower shop. She considered messaging her brother but that would be disastrous. She could already hear Yosuke saying ‘I told you so’ when he discovered it was a boy related problem. She put her phone away and leaned against the wall. Not too long after that, she heard someone shuffling down the alley.

She naturally, and perhaps naively, assumed it might be Bakugou, but it turned out to be another, older man. The gray skinned man towered over Hana at 6'3" tall, and the air around him was strained and distrustful. He had a square jaw with a squat oval face, narrow lips, a big pair of lilac eyes, and thin eyebrows.His brown hair, with its subtle highlights, was shoulder length but heavily gelled, and he had a goatee. His right upper ear was pierced. He had bony arms, a slender torso, and spindly legs. He wore tight leather pants and a white t-shirt with a black overcoat over it.

Hana’s attention was gotten, however, by the blood splattered all over his clothes. She peeled herself from the wall and placed herself in the middle of his path. 

“Oh, I didn’t see you there, darling. Love the outfit.” he cooed pleasantly.

“Thank you. I like yours. Is the blood factory issue or did you pick it up recently?” she asked.

“My, those pretty eyes are so red. From tears, maybe? What’s got you down? Don’t tell me that hero work is that frightening.”

“The only thing scary around here is that you actually believe that I’m going to fall for the sweetheart criminal trick.” she stated flatly.

“Not working, huh?”

“Not even a little.”

“You see,” he sighed. “That’s the trouble with you ladies. You never appreciate us when we try to play nice.”

“Oh, you do NOT want to play the gender card with me today, my guy.” she hissed as her freckles began to glow.

“So that’s why you’re so upset? A boy?” he asked, his derisive tone jumping on every nerve in Hana’s body.

The man put his hands on his hips while pulling his jacket back. She wasn't shocked he had a gun on either hip but it sure didn't make this any easier. If he wanted to show them off, he probably knew what to do with them.

“You must be a good shot to have guns like that. They aren’t exactly cheap.” she said.

“Oh, you know your stuff! You like to play with guns, honey?” he asked, taking one off his hip and displaying it to her proudly.

“Sometimes.” she replied, holding up her hand. “I’m a pretty good shot.”

“I bet you are, doll.” he chuckled.

She laughed with him for a moment before quickly folding her hand into a ‘finger gun’ position and firing a beam of sunlight at his hand. The gun went to the ground and when he attempted to pick it up, the teen ran at him. She grabbed the back of his head with both hands and pushed him downward, thrusting her thin knee into his stomach with as much force as she could. As he sank to his knees, she held a glowing palm at his eye level.

“You are way too old to be calling me doll.” she deadpanned.

“Yeah, I’ll give you that one.” he wheezed, looking up at her.

Just when she felt she had this situation in check, an all too familiar voice rang out behind her.

“There you are, you damn brat!”

Every bit of Hana’s instincts and all of her father’s teachings flew out the window as she looked over her shoulder to see Bakugou standing about two feet away with his arms crossed.

“Oh, goodie.” She huffed sarcastically, “What, did you think of more insults to call me?”

Before Bakugou could give his spiteful reply, the villain got to his feet, wrapped his arm around Hana’s throat, and dragged her back. Bakugou started to use his explosions to thrust himself forward but a disconcerting click drew his attention. As he used his forearm to strangle the girl, the stranger pressed his pistol into her temple hard enough to bruise.

“Is this the boy you were crying over?” he asked, tugging her off her feet with his forceful choking. “Eh, I think you’re too good for him.”

Bakugou yelled, baring his teeth, “Taking a hostage? Seriously? Fight me head on, you coward!"

“Listen, kid, I don’t want either of you to get hurt, but I can’t have two junior heroes alerting the pros though.”

“Then you shouldn’t have been stupid enough to get caught! Now, quit using a meat shield and -!”

"Man, you got lucky. She's a feisty one!”

Bakugou's eyes traced over her face for a moment before he grinned wickedly. He either had a plan or he had come full circle. She tried fruitlessly to separate that bony arm from her trachea as she watched him straighten his stance calmly.

“Oh, you’re wrong about that. She’s a push-over.”

Hana’s eyes widened as she stared at him. What the hell was he -?

“I mean, what kind of little drama queen cries in an alley over a guy that she’s not even dating?” Bakugou continued. “Looks like I dodged a bullet there if you’re just gonna give up like that. I knew you couldn’t keep up with me.”

A low growl rumbling in Hana’s throat echoed lightly against the walls around them. Her freckles started to flicker as she grit her teeth. Still, Bakugou didn’t stop. Instead, he made sure to look her right in her livid eyes as he chuckled once more.

“Seriously, I don’t know how a runt like you even got into U.A.”

That did it. He saw it when it snapped. Just like at the Sports Festival, her demeanor was overshadowed by an aggressive ferocity. Her freckles shone blazingly as she started to thrash against her holder turbulently. Once she got her arm free, she slung it backward to crack the nose of the villain. He inadvertently released her and Bakugou grabbed her arm to pull her away from the blast zone. The villain seized her other arm to keep her from fleeing. Then…

It felt like the oxygen left the air as both teens went numb and collapsed. By marvelous luck, Best Jeanist had followed after Bakugou spotted Hana’s SunShot attack and ran to see what she was up against. After restraining the bleeding villain, he took notice of the two comatose figures at his feet. Well, that unquestionably wasn’t how today was supposed to go. On the bright side, they were still alive. If their mentor didn’t kill them both for running off like that, of course.

Chapter Text

No one enjoyed waking up in a hospital bed. This was equally true for Bakugou. Ever since he was little, hospitals gave him the creeps. However, when he rubbed his eye and discovered that his hand felt a lot smaller than it did this morning, that unsettled feeling morphed into full blown terror. The second he realized that the same hand was now a gentle mint green, he leaped out of bed and ran to the sink across the room. To his absolute repugnance, the face that stared back at him wasn’t his own. The tiny, heart-shaped one that he was now gawking at was torturously familiar though, right down to every last lemon-colored freckle.

 The only thing different from usual was that the eyes of this face weren’t the color of ultramarine he was expecting. They’d changed into a vermilion like the one that his irises were. He hesitantly gazed down at his shaky hands before pinching his arm to make sure that this wasn’t a dream. When he didn’t wake up, the natural reaction was to scream. He swiftly covered his mouth after hearing how feminine it was. He could see the body he was supposed to be in sit up in the reflection. As predicted, the red in his eyes had shifted to blue.

“What are you yelling about now?” she yawned. 

“Open your eyes and look down, idiot!”

She did so and immediately drained of her color. “Oh, this is bad .” 

“You think!?”

The door slid open, revealing Best Jeanist, Aizawa, and All Might. They detected that something was wrong with the fighting teens right away. Hana’s body language was uncharacteristically closed and guarded while Bakugou’s expression was far too friendly and trusting. Being pro heroes as long as they have, their first guess was a personality swap.  At first, that seemed to be the best bet. However, as soon as they heard the body that was supposed to be Katsuki Bakugou shout out, “Seriously, dude, would you cut it out for a second?!”, they understood this was a little more complex than that. 

“Ish-, Bakugou, go sit down so we can discuss this.” Aizawa sighed deeply. 

“No, you guys have to find the bastard that did this and haul him back here so I can stomp him!” 

“We’ve already spoken with the villain who did this.” All Might stated. “His quirk cannot reverse itself. The only thing we can do now is wait for it to wear off in a day or two.”

“TWO DAYS!?” Bakugou shrieked as loud as this petite body would let him. 

“Unfortunately, that means that a bit of your internship will have to be mainly office work. We can’t risk you two being out in the field with Quirks that you don’t even know how to use.” Best Jeanist said. 

“So we’re just supposed to go on like nothing happen!?” Bakugou demanded. 

Aizawa added. “We are prepared with accommodations.”

“What are ‘accommodations’ gonna do to fix the fact that I’m a guy in a four foot tall, FEMALE body?!”

“Hey! I’m five feet, not four, you little goblin.” Hana squeaked as she pouted slightly. 

“STOP MAKING THAT FACE WITH MY BODY, BRAT!” 

“I would like to add that you two should probably stay close to each other until this wears off. We don’t exactly know how it works." Best Jeanist stated.

Hana- well, technically Bakugou at the moment- slung her - er, his- arms into the air in frustration. "WHAT?! NO! Aren’t you listening!?  I can't stay in this little brat's body!"

"Hey, I'm not exactly having a field day over here either, buddy." Hana replied flatly from Bakugou's mouth.

"We have already explained that there's nothing we can do. You two should have been more careful before running off like that. Consider this both a punishment and a learning opportunity." Best Jeanist countered.

Bakugou rolled his eyes as hard as physically possible. "What the hell could I possibly learn from a dumbass like Sunspot?"

“Well, you have plenty of time to figure it out.” Aizawa retorted.

The two were discharged from the hospital later that afternoon. Much to Hana’s surprise, her body caught up with her while she was trying to force the snack machine to release her bag of chips from its evil grip. She noticed the reflection in the glass and sighed in relief.

“Thank goodness! I was just about to come find you. My chips are stuck, and your arms are lovely to look at, though apparently bad for reaching into snack machines. I actually got trapped and two very nice male nurses had to rescue me.”

Bakugou exhaled deeply before crossing his arms. “Listen, idiot, I think we should lay down some ground rules.” 

“If I had my chips, I would listen better.” she replied without hesitation. 

He grumbled under his breath before shoving her out of the way, dropping to his knees, and reaching up into the machine. After a moment of skilled shifting around, he managed to delodge the bag. As it landed, Hana clapped her hands excitedly and squealed. However, when she sought to get the chips from Bakugou, he held it behind his back.

“Rule number one, don’t do that.” 

She tilted her head to the side and blinked at him. “Do what?” 

“THAT! That cutesy, bubbly shit! If you’re going to be in my body, you gotta act like you have some sense. And while we’re at it, rule number two is that you’re not shoving your face with junk food.” 

“What? Why not?” she demanded in absolute shock. 

“Because I don’t eat junk like this everyday.” he responded, waving the bag in her face. “You fill my body with trash and you will freaking puke.” 

“Fine.” she grumbled. “Anything else I should -?” 

Her thoughts were interrupted as she noticed a little girl running toward her. Her golden pigtails resembled the sun. Bakugou watched as Hana’s enthusiasm slowly evaporated into confusion as she kneeled down to the child. Her gaze was fixed on Bakugou as she repeatedly leaned closer and inquired about her words. He knew what was coming, but it didn’t make it any less painful when she stood up and stared at him after the youngster had run back to her mom.

She gulped the returning lump in her throat about three times as she looked for the right words. Finally, she whispered. “B-baku, are you going-?” 

“I don’t have time for this.” he hissed as he started to stomp off.

“Wait! Don’t leave, I’m not trying to be annoying. I’m just confused. Please?” she pleaded.

He looked away and mumbled, “You’re really gonna make me say it, aren’t you?”

“You know, if you really don’t want to tell me, that’s okay. I don’t wanna overstep my boundaries like I did at the -. Well, you know. I just want to know if you’re okay or not.”

“I’m fine.” 

She knew that was a lie. She also knew there was no point in fighting about it right now. “Alright.” 

“So when I woke up, I noticed that my tongue was pierced. Wanna explain that to me, Little Miss Perfect?”

She blushed heavily as she covered her face. In all this commotion, she’d completely forgotten about the clear bar currently in her tongue. “Look, the summer break between middle school and U.A was wild, okay?” 

“Clearly. You don’t have any wild tattoos I should know about, right?” 

“God, why do I like you so much? You’re such an ass.” she remarked, tossing her empty chip bag at his face. When it just not-so-heroically floated to the floor, she huffed loudly at his laughter. 

“For someone who said they're allergic to negativity, you sure are full of it.”

“Oh, I could talk for hours about how ‘full of it’ you are, Baku. If you want, I can get you a full list when we get to my house.”

“Your house?” he snorted as she snatched the chip bag off the floor. 

“Best Jeanist said we should stick close together, yeah? Well, my brother isn’t back from summer vacation yet and my mom got detained at another protest so we'll have the entire place to ourselves.”

“What about your dad?” 

He didn’t miss the way her shoulders tensed and her face twitched before she mumbled, “He doesn’t live with us.” 

He weighed his options for a second. Realistically, this was a good plan. No awkward explanations to her family and he won’t have to listen to his mother rant about how reckless he was. Additionally, his house was close enough that he could make runs for clothes or anything else he needed while his parents were at work. 

“Fine. We’ll do this your way, Sunspot. Only because it’s the one idea you’ve had that makes sense. Go to your place and make sure that the coast is clear. I’m going to my house and grabbing some stuff.” he answered. 

 “Aye, aye, captain!” she said, saluting him. 

 After a few seconds, she looked at her hands and it dawned on him that she was checking that she did it with her right instead of the left. Once she confirmed that she was right, she nodded and whispered “Yeah, totally nailed it.” before running off. He tried not to smile at that, but he failed. At least she didn’t see it. 

On his way to his house, he felt a phone ringing in the bag from the hospital. As he rummaged through the bag, he realized they’d given him HER possessions instead of his own. He finally located her phone in the mess, and when he finished judging her harshly for her tacky Hello Kitty case, he looked to see who was so determined to speak to her. Ace? Who the hell was that? That nerd had too many nicknames to keep track of.

So, he did the natural response and answered. After hearing Todoroki’s voice, he grit his teeth. That’s right. She was supposed to be ‘study buddies’ with that loser. He had PLENTY to say to that -. 

That’s when it clicked. He had Sunspot’s voice right now and as far as he knew, no one from class had been told about the accident at their internship. He smirked as he took a breath to speak. Oh, this was just too good to resist. After all, it was a once in a lifetime occasion and Bakugou was definitely an opportunist.

Around the same time, Hana also realized that Bakugou's bag had been given to her instead of hers - meaning that the key to her apartment was with him. Since Yosuke and her mother weren’t home, all of the windows were locked and secured. Hana did not trust Teriyaki's ability to open the door. He was too overweight to jump and too grouchy to take pity on her. She sighed with all the wind in her lungs as she glanced down at her hands. Aizawa mentioned something about their Quirks. 

This was Bakugou’s body and Quirks were physical traits, so logic stated that she’d have Bakugou’s explosions. She concentrated his calloused palm for a moment but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get it to spark. 

“Come on, how hard can it be to make things go boom?” she shouted at the ceiling. 

Her heart did a spectacular backflip when the door unexpectedly opened. Her mother’s expression of confusion probably mirrored her own. From her disorderly bun to her blue yoga pants, she’d obviously gotten comfy as soon as she got home. So, having some random teenage boy screaming at her front door wasn’t exactly welcome. 

“I-I can explain!” Hana stammered, blushing darkly.

“You got ten seconds to answer.” she replied shrilly, leaning against the door frame. “My ex is a cop and he will have a fit that a boy knows where my daughter lives.”

“I am your daughter.” 

“Interesting. Last time I checked Jellybean wasn’t a blonde boy. She was smaller and more green. Can you prove it?”

“I go to the mall every Wednesday so I can talk to the fish at the pet store. I have been doing that since I was six.”

“She could have told you that or you could have seen her. Tell me something juicy that only she would know.” 

She rolled her eyes as she mumbled, “Seriously, Mom? Fine. I knocked out one of my baby teeth while I was trying to copy something All Might did on T.V when I was 10 and I didn’t want Yosuke to yell at me. So I tried to stuff a mini marshmallow in the gap but it ended up a bloody mess and I won’t stop crying so we had to go get ice cream to make me stop.” 

Man, I remember that.” Hina laughed. “You couldn’t eat marshmallows without gagging for nearly a year after that.” 

“Now that you’ve made me relive my childhood trauma, can I please come inside?” 

“Yep, you pass.” Hina replied, stepping out of the way and motioning inside. “Welcome home, honey.” 

“Thank you.” she huffed sarcastically as she entered.

Once inside, she dumped the bag on the counter and rummaged through it until she discovered Bakugou’s phone. It was password protected rather than using a thumb print scan like hers. She tried ‘die’, ‘explosion’, and ‘boom’, but none of them worked. She was just about to give up until she realized that the half-blurred, plainly hero themed wallpaper was her secret weapon.  Sure enough ,“allmight” unlocked it and earned an adoring smile from her. She’d need to keep a mental note of how adorable that was. 

Scrolling through his contacts got a chuckle out of her as well. Old Hag, Raccoon Eyes, Shitty Hair, and Spark Plug were among her favorites. She was definitely astounded by the fact that his dad was apparently just “Pops” and nothing crude. Seeing Deku’s number made her do a triple take and she immediately filed that under ‘possible ammo to yell in a fight’. Finally, she found a contact designated “Whiny Brat” and pouted slightly before pressing the call button. Sure enough, her voice answered with an exasperated “What?”

“Whiny Brat? Are you kidding me?” she asked.

“Don’t start. My name has a heart next to it.” he huffed back.

 “Why can’t you take the compliment?” she taunted. 

“Because the heart is dumb and the explosion is cheesy. So, your place is still good, right?” 

“Well, Mom’s here but she’s super chill. She totally doesn’t mind you crashing here. Unless you’d rather stay at your place.” Hana replied as she jumped up to sit on the counter, thinking how much easier sitting on it was at Baku's height.

 “I’ll be here in 10 minutes, and while I’m thinking about it, didn’t you tell me that your brother was on vacation?” he asked as he backed up against the gate to close it. 

“Yeah, why?”

“How big is he?” 

“A little taller than you but lankier. Why?”

“See if you can raid his clothes. I grabbed some of my old middle school crap since I thought it would fit your tiny ass, but it’d be easier if we had more just than my stuff to work with.” 

“If you’re so worried about clothes fitting my body, why don’t you just wear my clothes?” 

“I’ve seen how you dress at home, Smalls. The glitter and crop tops look cute on you, but I won’t wear that stupid junk.” he growled. 

“Aww, you think that I’m cute, Baku?” she said before looking at her phone and giggling. “He hung up on me. Yeah, I deserve that.”

“So,” Hina announced, leaning over the counter and grinning like a jackal, “while we wait, why don’t you tell me about this boy?” She motioned up and down at her daughter’s current form. 

“Fine. Grab the Ben & Jerry’s. This is one heck of a ride.”

Chapter Text

 As Hana sat on the counter and enthusiastically rambled about how Bakugou and Kirishima saved her at USJ, how bizarre he acted at the Sports Festival, how he stared at her, how he acted when they were alone; Hina couldn’t stop smiling.

It might not have been her daughter’s body, but those were her little girl’s eyes. A vast and shining field of ideas and curiosity that didn’t dwindle as she aged. Hina was always charmed by her daughter’s personality. She spent countless hours nurturing Hana’s imagination. Shohei had a different set of principles. Hina saw independence, but Shohei saw defiance. She saw a strong will while he saw only a rough attitude. 

Hana grew up trusting her father loved her, but his kind of love was best enjoyed from a distance. Perhaps that’s why Hana loved so passionately. So there would be no doubt about how she felt. She might have felt this way because her mother had tried to compensate for Shohei's distance with her own affectionate gestures. Like listening to whatever her daughter had to say for however long she wanted to go on. 

“So, let me see if I got this straight.” Hina said, shoving her spoon back into the ice cream bucket. “You and this guy both like each other and he kissed you at that festival thingy, but you’re not dating him because he has this whole manifest destiny thing going on?”   

“Told you it was wild.” Hana complained before putting another bite of strawberry ice cream in her mouth. 

Even Hana’s creatively wacky mind couldn’t figure out what Bakugou was thinking when he kicked open the front door to her apartment. Luckily, her mother only rolled her eyes at it. Hana’s skin crawled at the thought of it being her father instead. Shohei Ishikawa was a lot of things, but ‘patient with moody teenagers’ wasn’t one of them. Frankly, that’s why she didn’t talk to him much.

To Hina’s amusement, when her daughter hopped off the counter and ran into the living room, those eyes were virtually glowing. 

“I was starting to think you got lost on the way here.” Hana teased, as she lingered in the arched doorway.

“Your stupid neighbor and his wrinkled up mutt wouldn’t leave me alone.” he growled as he aggressively flung the bags on his shoulder on the couch.

“Dude, you look like me and all my neighbors adore me. I’m not surprised that Mr. Inoue came up to you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it. You’re Princess Sunshine and everyone loves you. Spare me.” he mumbled sarcastically.

“Well, you better not have been mean to him or Homer.”

He stopped dead in the middle of searching through the bag and stared at her with a look of disbelief. “Who in the actual hell names a dog Homer?”

Hana snorted into her palm as she giggled. “Well, what would you name your dog, Baku?”

“I don’t know. Something cool? Like King or Nitro or -.”

“Lord Explosion Murder?” she asked, feigning innocence.

He glared at her as he pulled out a shirt. “You’re such a pain in the ass.”

“Always has been.” Hina chuckled from behind her daughter. “That’s our Jellybean though.”

Her cheeks were engulfed by scarlet in the blink of an eye as Bakugou’s posture straightened and he started to smirk. Hana groaned as she started walking to the door.

“Excuse me while I go jump off the balcony. I’ll be right back.”

“Fine, go ahead and leave me with this intriguing young man.” Hina retorted.

Closing the door, she gazed over her shoulder and scowled at her mother. “On second thought, maybe I’ll just show him my room.”

“Oh okay, honey, whatever you think is best.” Hina replied agreeably, smirking at Hana’s miffed glare.

Hana went down the hallway with Bakugou following behind her. On their short voyage, Teriyaki came up to what he expected to be his owner and meowed. Sadly, he only received a scoff as he was snubbed. The feline blinked twice in astonishment before trying again, this time slipping between skinny green legs to make sure he wasn’t brushed off. Never owning a cat in his life, Bakugou wasn’t as good at walking around him as Hana and her family were and nearly tripped over him.

“Ugh, what the hell is this fat ass doing?!”

“He wants your attention. Haven’t you ever had a pet before?” she asked. Just short of the door, she paused and laughed a little. “Then again, handling you and an animal would be a bit much for anyone.”

 “What’s that supposed to mean, brat!?”

“And here I thought you were smart.” she taunted.

“Keep it up and I’m gonna -!”

“Dude, we’re in each other’s bodies. That means that I’ve got a couple inches and at least 50 pounds on you right now. What are you going to do? Throw me?”

She grinned victoriously at the pink tint dusting the cheeks he’d borrowed before he stomped past her in and shoved the door open. Up until this moment, Bakugou hadn’t put much thought into what Hana’s room would look like. He did know that she had an army of stuffed animals from their conversation (if you could call it that) on the way to USJ. Those were hanging in a little mesh hammock in the corner and she wasn’t kidding about the amount. They looked ready to overflow into the floor like a waterfall of plush.

To his surprise, however, the rest of the room was remarkably ordinary. She had some Gang Orca, All Might, and Endeavor posters on the wall. Pastel sticky notes shaped like hearts were stuck in various places. Her black loft bed with a little office space under it was decorated with string lights. One of those cat condo tower things was in the corner under the stuffed animals. A black and white chevron rug covered most of the floor.

“What's up? You look confused.” she laughed as he walked in and sat his bag under the lofty bed.

“Just not what I expected.” he muttered, looking left and right like he hadn’t seen it correctly before.

“I guess you thought it would be a neon, glitter loaded armageddon in here?”

“More or less.”

“Haven’t you ever heard of not judging a book by its cover?” she scoffed.

“I call things as I see them. Now, get out so I can change.” he replied with an eye roll.

“What? That’s my body. Why do I have to -?” 

“Just do it! Turn the light out when you go too.”

She tilted her head to the side curiously until it clicked that he didn’t want to see anything while undressing. It was oddly charming. “Oh, alright. Hey, if you want to take a shower, I have a bathing suit. But I guess that would kinda defeat the purpose, wouldn’t -?”

He paused in yanking off one of her ballet slippers. “Would you get out of here already!?”

“Fine, fine! Just trying to help.” she lamented. “I’m gonna go see if my mom needs anything. After you get dressed, I gotta show you how to use my epi-pen. Can’t have the great Baku being beaten by a bee. Oh, and please remember to take out my contacts before you go to sleep.” 

“Contacts, tongue piercings, family nicknames. Just how many secrets do you have, Freckles?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she retorted with an audacious shoulder shrug.

Leaving him alone, she looked down at her obese kitty who was looking at her confused. She kneeled down and offered Teriyaki a hand that was unfamiliarly thick. He wasn’t quick to trust and never had been. However, he seemed to find the same twinkle in those eyes that Hina had seen. With a little bit of suspicion, he laid his head in the palm of the outreached hand. Well, at least her cat still liked her.

The same could not be said for the members of Best Jeanist’s agency. They probably would have enjoyed her joyful presence a lot more if she and Bakugou could just stop arguing for a minute. Her explosive classmate was in an extraordinarily terrible mood today. Despite Hana’s multiple attempts to get the cause out of him, he only replied with more anger. Ultimately, her patience ran out and she started to get an attitude back. This resulted in a chair being thrown and Bakugou being restrained.

"Obnoxious brat!"

"Stubborn jackass!"

Best Jeanist finally couldn't take any more and separated them. Hana was taken out on patrol while Bakugou was appointed to help file incident reports. 

"I have a question for you, Sunny." Best Jeanist said unexpectedly as they walked.

"What would that be?"

"Have you explained to C4 how your Quirk works?"

She thought momentarily before replying, "No, I haven't."

"That should have been the first thing you did. Both of your Quirks are powerful and you've spent your entire lives learning to control them, but you didn't think to help the other figure it out?"

"Well, when you put it like that, I guess that doesn't make a lot of sense."

"Neither of you acknowledged what I said before about communication."

"I'm trying to talk to him but he's not listening. He's so -!"

"Prideful, I know. Use your strengths to your advantage. What do you have that no one else has? What do you have that he will listen to?"

That question rolled around in her head until they reached the agency to find that 'filing' had quickly become 'throwing'. As she watched him slam a folder on the desk, a laugh escaped her and quickly got his attention. He jerked his head up to shout at her but something was off.

"What's with you? Why are you smiling at me like that?" He demanded as he stood.

"You're funny." She replied simply.

What was she up to? That was so… genuine. No sarcasm or bite. It reminded him of how she acted at the Sports Festival. His face felt a little warm as he looked away.

"You know," she said, walking closer to the desk, "this would be less frustrating if you had a system."

"A system? I have a system! Look!" He yelled back as he pointed at the collapsing tower of papers.

She shook her head before starting to shift through the paper chaos. "Let's try organizing them by type of incident. We'll put natural disaster stuff here, criminal activity here, and this pile can be everything else."

He watched her for a moment before picking up a paper, scanning over it, and putting it in the criminal activity pile. When she commented on him 'playing nice now', he growled at her but otherwise stayed pretty reasonable. That's when she noticed it.

The finger tapping, the fidgeting, and the constant readjusting in his chair. She recognized it from when her Quirk began to get stronger. So, she handed him a pen. Of course, he wanted to know what the heck she was doing. 

"Try clicking this. It helps with the antsy feeling." She replied.

He took it from her and went back to work. Absentmindedly clicking the pen, he suddenly asked, "Does it always do this?"

"You've been in the sunlight today, right? All that energy has to go somewhere. If I don't use it, it makes me jittery."

He stopped mid-click. THAT'S why she was so wild the day of the Sports Festival. Wait, is that why she didn't want to go swimming with the class? As usual, she'd given him just enough information to make him curious. Now wasn't the time or place for asking about her secrets. She'd only get an attitude if he tried and -.

"Dude, you look so cute when you're focused." She laughed as she glanced up from the paper she was looking over.

"Would you shut up?! Aren't girls supposed to be shy around their crushes?" He scoffed, tossing a paper into the disaster heap.

"Heck if I know, I've only had the one."

"You didn't have any crushes in middle school?"

"Yeah, right. I didn't talk to many people in middle school. I was way too busy keeping my grades up to get into U.A."

"What middle school did you even go to? If you live that close to me, why didn't you go to middle school with me and Deku?"

"I went to a private all-girls school. Dad is crazy overprotective. He thought Sensui Academy would be safer. Girls can be way meaner than boys though, trust me."

"Can't imagine your friendly ass had any problems." He mumbled.

"Careful, Baku." She said, leaning over the desk. "That was almost a compliment."

"Quit making that dumb look with my face, idiot."

"You're one to talk. I'm gonna get wrinkles from all the scowling you've been doing." She replied as she stood up straight.

"Looks like you two finally took my advice." Best Jeanist stated as he came into the office.

"I just wanna get this crap over with. I thought these internships were supposed to show us how to be heroes, not desk jockeys." Bakugou hissed bitterly.

"If you think hero work is only beating up bad guys, you have a long way to go. But that's a lesson for another time. You're both dismissed."

Their truce didn't last long once they got back to Hana's apartment to find Todoroki at her door. Bakugou grabbed her arm and blushed slightly at the realization of how tiny her hand was compared to his arm.

"What? I told you that I was studying with Ace today."

"And what am I supposed to do while you and your lover boy are bonding over long division?"

She rolled her eyes at that before replying, "I don't know. You're a big boy. You don't need me to babysit you, do you?"

With that, she scampered away to talk to Todoroki. He seemed a little thrown off until he remembered they'd been hit by that weird Quirk. As Hana started to unlock the front door, he spoke.

"I was starting to think you were still mad at me."

"Huh? Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?" She inquired.

"You said that I was being 'fake and airy' then blocked my number. You don't remember that?"

"What?! I never -!" She gasped in outrage. As Bakugou pushed his way past them and went into the apartment, Hana's eyes narrowed furiously. "I think you might have spoken to the wrong me. I'll unblock you when we get inside. Sorry about that. Some people just can't mind their own business!"

She heard him scoff from the hallway and shook her head. He went into her bedroom, slammed the door, and started digging through his bag so he could change out of this semi-revealing hero outfit.

He could hear that little brat giggling in the living room. Todoroki was not that funny. She was probably just doing that thing where girls laugh at everything a boy says just to make him feel better. If she clearly liked Bakugou, why was she so eager to spend time with Todoroki? Sure, she was friendly but she was kind of flirty with IcyHot. Not as much as she was with him but still enough that it made Bakugou exceptionally pissed off.

He got tired of bending over, so he put his bag on her desk to see better. In his annoyed search for pants, he accidentally knocked off some books. He wasn't going to pick them up but something caught his eyes.

Those jet-black, low-hanging pigtails were cute but they didn't help the fact that everything else about Sunspot was wrong in this picture. Her eyes were normally so wide and shimmery, but in this she looked like she was about to burst into tears. There were three other girls in the picture and they all looked like they were having the time of their life. 

But not Hana. Dressed in a plain black hoodie, she was clearly slumping and trying to make herself even smaller than she already was. One of the girls had her arm around their dejected looking friend. Her neon blue hair was up in a spiky ponytail.

Her nose was upturned, her face was half covered in blue scales, her lips were full, and the teeth in her smile were pointed. Her ears resembled fins and her hands had bluish webbing between the fingers. She was noticeably taller than Hana and more mature looking. She wasn't a bad looking girl.

However, if he didn't know better, he'd say that the bold freckled girl was actually terrified of her. It was all over her face. Hana stood up to him with no problem. She had since the first day. She fought off a bully three times her size in front of the school.

So why in the world would Hana be frightened by this girl? He thumbed through the book to see how many pictures were in it. It was completely full. If that little runt didn't want to be straightforward with him, that was just fine. He'd suddenly just found something to do while he waited for Todoroki to leave.

Chapter Text

Hana's living room had seen better days. Crumpled up paper balls were all over the floor. Also in the floor was Hana - still Bakugou shaped - who was laying on the floor with her hands over her face. Hana had also seen better days. She had red oven mitts on her hands because Bakugou's Quirk had a mind of its own today. Just since they’d been home, she'd exploded a box of tissues, Teriyaki's food bowl, and two shoes that weren't even a pair. 

"I'm sorry, Ace! I know this is frustrating but I'm trying. It's a little easier in Baku's body to focus but I still can't -." 

"Just calm down. The only one frustrated is you. Now, let's try it again." 

She sat up and looked at the paper. All these numbers didn't even look human. More like some sort of alien vernacular that she couldn't read. 

"All you have to do is plug these numbers in and work the equation. It's not as hard as you're making it. You're overthinking." Todoroki said. 

"Why can't this exam be about that? I'm great at overthinking. You know what, I'm going to make tea so I can calm my nerves. You okay with lavender tea?" 

"I don't want any." 

"Fair enough. Be right back. See if you make this less complicated while I'm gone." She replied, walking into the kitchen with Teriyaki following her. 

As she readied the tea pot, the cat pounced from the floor to the counter before meowing loudly. She idly patted him as she scanned her messages. Tokoyami was keeping himself occupied with studying. Kirishima was asking how Bakugou was, as expected. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't heard Bakugou making a fuss since they got home today. Was he really that bitter about Todoroki being here? She debated going to see what he was up to but the teapot whistling stopped her. She laid down her phone, spun around to check on the tea and -. 

 "Oh my gosh, Ace? Are you okay?" She asked urgently as she ran into the living room. 

He was shivering and his eyes were closed. It looked like he'd broken into a cold sweat too. When her fingertips brushed his shoulder, he nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked up at her panicked expression before looking away. 

"What's wrong? You're shaking." She asked again.  

"It's nothing." 

 "No, this is definitely something." she said squatting down to his level.

Alright, Hana, she thought as she searched the room. Something is causing this reaction. He was fine until I started brewing tea. Is it the whistling noise? Worth a shot. Sure enough, as soon as she lifted the teapot from the heat, Todoroki exhaled the breath that had been imprisoned in his body. He took a few swallow breaths before addressing Hana's concerned staring. 

"It's fine. Don't worry about me. Let's just continue the lesson, alright?" 

She nodded half-heartedly before sitting beside him. He began explaining the math problem again but her eyes weren't even focusing on the paper. Her mind was preoccupied. 

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" He sighed. 

"How am I supposed to? That look on your face.. It wasn't like you. Of course I'd be worried." 

 "You have a lot in common with Midoriya. He worries about things that don't concern him too. Like at the Sports Festival, he took it upon himself to get involved with my family problems. Meddling in things that don't concern you can be dangerous." 

"There's something that Fumi says sometimes that I've really started to like. Something like 'I don't mind a bit of hassle when the reward outweighs the cost.' He's the kind of person I want to be. So kind and patient. I can see those things in you too." 

He let his back rest against the couch as he looked at his hands. "There's a lot of things about you that I still don't understand. Like why you care so much about such little things. You put so much effort into taking care of others. You even carry stuff for them in your bag. Even when I was cold to you, you still tried to befriend me even though I knew you were angry at me."

"Can I tell you a secret? Something that I haven't even told Fumi? I hurt someone when I was younger. They opened up to me and I let them down. I don't think I'll ever forget that look on her face when she found out. I swore to myself that I'd never make anybody feel that way again. That'd I accept people no matter what. So, I don't know what you've been through but I'm pretty sure it hurt. I think it still hurts sometimes. That's why I didn't give up on you, Ace." 

He was silent for a moment before replying under his breath. "Do you remember what you asked me at the Sports Festival? About my scar?"

"I'm still so sorry about that. It was really dumb of me to -." 

"Do you remember what I said after my fight with Midoriya?" He said, redirecting his attention to her. 

"You said that it was complicated." She replied quietly. 

 "You also said that when and if I decided to tell you the truth, you would listen, right?"

"Absolutely." She answered without hesitation. 

"I think I'm ready to talk to you about it." 

Her eyes had to be as big as Saturn itself. "You.. you don't have to if you don't want to." 

"I'm saying that I do. If you're that determined to be in my life, you should know what you're helping with."

She settled back against the couch as she nodded. "Go ahead. I'm all ears." 

Even though he'd compared her to Midoriya, her reaction to his past wasn't at all like his. Midoriya seemed more stunned than anything, but Hana was enraged. She was on her feet, fists clenched furiously as she listened. 

He wondered for a moment if it was because she was in Bakugou's body. Maybe his angry tendencies just came with it. But then, he remembered their combat training. She'd said being a 'big fan' of Endeavor. So, all this rage was hers. Not just for his sake, but because she was having one of her idols torn out from under her without any warning. 

"Well, now you have your answer." He concluded, standing. 

"I don't understand how someone I admired so much could do something so horrible . I'm so sorry about your mom. I think it's great that you forgave her." 

"I'm just glad that she forgave me." 

"Forgave you ? Ace, you didn't do anything wrong!" 

"You don't know the whole situation." He asserted firmly. 

"Okay, maybe I don't." She lamented as she crossed her arms. "Why don't we pick this up tomorrow? I don't think either of us are in the mood for algebra right now." 

"Fine, just text me later and we'll figure out what time." He replied, starting to put his belongings back in his bag. 

As she passed him a notebook, she said quietly, "Hey, if you ever need anything, you know you can ask me, right?" 

"How many times are you going to tell me that?" 

"At least six because I think you're headstrong like me and Yosuke always tells me that my ears are just for decoration."  

"Considering I've sent the last three hours trying to teach you how to do a single math problem, I might have to agree with him." Todoroki said as he opened the door.  

"Man, between you and Baku, I just can't get any peace, huh?" She chuckled. "Bye, Ace." 

As soon as he left and the door had closed, Hana smiled to herself. Despite their shaky beginnings, they were getting along just fine now. Even if the lesson didn't sink in. 

Teriyaki meowing loudly at her feet pulled her from her thoughts. She glanced down at him and huffed. 

"I'm allowed to have other friends besides you, Teri. You never give me that look when I'm with Fumi." she pouted. "I miss that little birdy. I should go see him tomorrow after my study break with Ace." 

Meow . 

"What?! Seriously, you've been around Yo too much. I swear I can hear him teasing me from the other side of Japan." 

She did miss her brother too though, even if he was annoying sometimes. So, she shot him a quick "Hey, tech nerd. You busy?" before going into her bedroom. The little head that was normally hers popped from behind the rail on her bed. 

"Sleeping on the job?" She called up to him. 

"Better than watching you flirt with that mismatched prick." He snarled as he sat up. 

"I was not flirting with him. I was being friendly." She corrected. 

"Right, like you do with me." He replied sarcastically as he prepared to jump down.  

"No, I do flirt with you. You're just too stubborn to call it that." 

 "Irritating fits it so much better." 

His feet struck the floor but unfortunately they weren't alone. The black photo album he'd been looking through dropped right next to him. As Hana picked it up, he could see her eyes filling with fury. 

"You went through my stuff!?" She shouted. 

 "Don't get an attitude with me, brat! It was on your desk and I accidentally opened it!" 

"Oh, then I guess it just crawled into bed with you? You don't go through people's stuff!”

“But looking up videos about them behind their back is just fine, huh?” he shot back.

“Hey, don’t try to make this about me! I actually apologized for that! I was just trying to help. You’re just being selfish!” 

"You know what's selfish!? Having your little boyfriend over here for hours on end while I sit in here and go nuts because of your stupid Quirk!" 

“It’s not like I asked for this body swap crap to happen!” 

“Well, I definitely didn’t ask to be trapped in this apartment with the most obnoxious, airheaded person that I’ve ever met!” 

 He started to shout more but that solitary tear rolling down her cheek took his voice away. She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes as she gave herself a gloomy little embrace. 

"Get out. Get your stuff and go back home. I don't care what Best Jeanist said. I don't want to be around you right now." 

"Fine." He hissed, snatching his bag out of the floor. "Have it your way, Princess." 

When he reached the door, he heard her soft sniffles and turned around. Sure enough, she was sitting huddled on the floor under the bed. 

"Thought you said that I didn't have what it takes to make you cry." He sighed. 

"That was before." She whispered. 

"Before what, dumbass?" 

Looking up a little, she replied, "Before I really started to get to know you."  

After a moment, he said, "You don't know me. You don't know a damn thing about me." 

"Well, you don't know anything about me either." 

"Maybe I want to." 

 She jerked her head up and blinked at him. She asked what he said but he only groaned and looked away. 

"No, come on. Please. What did you say?" 

"I said that I want to." He said back loudly. 

"You do?" 

"Obviously!" He roared. "Why else would I look through your old pictures, Sunspot?" 

She blushed a little as she shrugged her shoulders. "I want to know more about you too." 

"Yeah, I know. Isn't that why you pulled that little stunt of yours at the Sports Festival in the first place?" 

 Her blush darkened. "More or less. I guess I do kind of owe you one for that, huh?" 

"You owe me a hell of a lot more than just one, but it's a start. So who's that girl in those pictures? The one with blue hair." He asked. 

 A heavy sigh told him that she didn't want to do this but nevertheless, she inhaled to speak. 

 "Her name is Yuki Wantabe. I met her when we were little. About seven years old. We did everything together." 

"Is she why you look so damn pitiful in all these pictures?" 

"Damn, you're clever." She mumbled. 

 "Answer the question, Freckles. Just because I'm curious doesn't mean that I'm putting up with you stalling." 

"Okay, okay. Yuki and I got along great at first. But she teased me all the time for my hyperactivity, my body shape, my voice, anything she could come up with really. It got so bad that I wore a hoodie all year long so the sun won't touch my skin to avoid annoying her. She always made it sound like she was helping but, in all actuality, she was just humiliating me in front of our friends." 

"And you tolerated that crap?" He asked, eyebrows cocked in disapproval. 

"Like I said, I was completely different in middle school. I was a total push-over back then." 

"I heard you feel Ice for Brains that you hurt someone. What's that about?" 

 She curled tighter into her dejected ball. "I wasn't the only person that Yuki bullied. There were others. One in particular was a girl named Homura. She was really timid but she thought I was funny so we hung out whenever Yuki wasn't around. But Yuki found out and took it out on Homura. She dumped an entire bottle of water on her head in the lunchroom in front of everyone" 

Her hands knotted up into fists against the zigzag rug. He could see her trembling. 

"You didn't stand up for her, did you?" He asked. 

"No, I did. I told Yuki to stop, that we should just go back to our table and finish eating. That was the first time that I had ever stood up to her and I knew she'd be upset but I couldn't stand to watch her hurt Homura like that just because she was nice to me." 

"She got payback later though." Bakugou guessed. 

"We had a sleepover here and while I was asleep, she stole my diary. The next day at school when we were supposed to read our book reports, she read something that I'd written about Homura's doll collection. She talked about it all the time and my journal entry was less than understanding. I called her 'freaky' and said that I didn't invite her to my sleepover because I was scared that one of her dolls was cursed. She was devastated." 

"Your teacher just let this happen?" 

She shook her head. "She didn't know what the notebook was until it was too late. Of course, my mom was furious and went to the school demanding something be done. But they told us that Yuki had withdrawn from Sensui Academy that morning. I never saw her again after that." 

 "She used your little secret as a grand exit." Bakugou bluntly stated. 

 "Yeah, that was Yuki's style. If she wasn't the talk of the school, she wasn't happy." She sighed. 

"So that's it. That's the real reason why over the top friendly. To make up for hurting somebody who trusted you." 

She nodded weakly. "Probably makes sense why I got so mad when you called me fake, huh?" 

"I can't believe you've been hiding this from all those losers that you're friends with at school. I thought I didn't know you but it turns out that no one does." 

That did it. The floodgates cracked open and she started to cry. Really cry for the first time in a long time. Ordinarily, Bakugou would have walked out of the room. He wasn't a coddler. But even though his head said to leave, his body didn't listen. He wanted to be here with her. Especially as those tears started to fall harder. It was weird and a little disconcerting to watch his body quaking with sobs that weren't his. That proud smirk and loud laughter might have been irritating sometimes, but those whimpers were something even worse. He wasn't sure if it would help but he offered her a soft pat on the back. 

"Don't ever let anybody make you feel like you're nothing again, dumbass. You're not a push over. Your Quirk and your personality are one of a kind. You made a mistake. So what? You're a decent person with good intentions. Don't doubt yourself so much." 

 She looked up and wiped her eyes with the back of her oven mitt. "Wow, that was actually… really nice of you to say, Baku. Thanks." 

"I'm just saying it because apparently you can't figure it out for yourself." He mumbled as he yawned. "You're so naïve sometimes. I mean, are seriously you using the oven mitt trick?" 

"Oh, you're familiar with it? If you tell me that Baby Bakugou ran around with oven mitts on his tiny hands, I'm going to have a legit heart attack." She chuckled. 

"Wasn't my idea." He groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "After I nearly melted one of my grandpa's metals, that old bat went berserk on me." 

"Metals?" Hana asked. "Wait, like military metals! Oh, that's the veteran in your family!" 

 "God, you seriously remember that? I thought you were supposed to be forgetful." 

"I remember important stuff." She replied with an eye roll. 

"Well, I am a little impressed you figured out my Quirk, even a little. I still can't get your sunshine crap to work." He said, looking at the green hands connected to him. 

"It works on Peter Pan rules." 

That look he gave her made her laugh way harder than she wanted to. It was something between absolute confusion and pure rage, and it was hilarious . 

"I mean, it works better if you're happy. You know, like in Peter Pan. You use happy thoughts to fly. Same basic principle." She clarified. 

"Why didn't you just say that? You make everything so complicated. I'm going to bed. I'm ready to be back to normal." He complained as he started to get to his feet. 

She reached up and grabbed his arm, the hand attached to her wrapping entirely around the green twig. "Hold on a sec, Blasty. I wanna test a theory."

 "Test a theory? You're failing math but you wanna be a scientist or something now, you damn br -?" 

She cut off his insult instantly as she hurriedly pecked him on the cheek. He blushed violently and shoved her away but she got what she wanted. Those freckles were glowing like a wild fire in the distance. He promptly covered them and snorted at her but it didn't do anything to silence her laughing. 

 "Ha! I knew it! The freckles don’t lie! You do like me." she exclaimed out, pointing at him victoriously. 

"WOULD YOU QUIT DOING THAT?!" he howled as he jumped up and stomped to the door. "At least ask permission next time or something, shit." 

"Next time?" She called out excitedly. 

"Can't hear you. Too far away." He retorted from the living room. 

"He does know that I can still see him, right?" She chuckled to herself. "And he calls me a dumbass."

Chapter Text

Hana was not afraid of much. As a child, she'd run right up to strangers, big dogs, and a very cheap looking, presumably alcoholic mall Santa without an ounce of hesitation. But she wasn't completely fearless. She'd always been terrified of the dark. With a Quirk like hers, that made sense. No light equals no power. So it was natural for her to feel vulnerable in that kind of situation. The dark had a connected fear as well. Thunderstorms, with their heavy clouds and booming noise, stole away the sunshine and left her in a ball of anxiety. 

The last night of their body swap brought a mighty summer storm that echoed throughout the apartment. It was enough to wake up Bakugou on the couch. That's when he noticed the commotion from the hallway. Upon further inspection, he found Hana fruitlessly trying to get past the lock on her brother's door. He wasn't entirely sure where she'd even gotten that screwdriver but it wasn't doing her any good. 

"What are you doing?" He asked from behind her. 

She jumped and dropped her weapon of choice onto the floor as she quickly turned to see herself standing there agitated. She desperately wanted to comment on that undeniably precious oversized black skull shirt and All Might pajama bottom combo but she was in a bit of a rush. 

 "Don't sneak up on me like that! I'm already freaked out. Ugh, this damn thumbprint scanner on his door might be the best thing he's invented yet! I can't break it and I can usually break anything ." 

"What are you even trying to break in there for?" He asked. 

"Every time the weather gets like this, I usually sleep in my brother's room. Him tickering with his gadgets and all the lights from them always helps me sleep." 

"You have those little string lights in your room." Bakugou noted. 

"The power's out. I need in Yosuke's room where it's safe." 

"Are you that paranoid?" 

She sighed heavily as she looked back at him. "Look, you're probably going to make fun of me for it but I really don't like -." 

Just then, the biggest snap of thunder yet roared through the house like an earthquake. Hana dropped her flashlight as she covered her ears and yelped. She didn't move until Bakugou grabbed her arm. 

"What are you doing?" She asked shakily, hesitantly exposing one ear. 

"I'm not going to be able to sleep with you up here making all this racket. You're coming downstairs with me." He informed her. 

"I'm not a little kid, Baku. I don't need you to prot -." Another deafening pop cut her off. "N-Never mind! You win. Let's just go." 

He started forcibly leading her back toward the living room. Much to his irritation, right before they got to their destination, she pulled against him. 

"Wait, I forgot my stuffed orca!" She complained, pointing toward her bedroom. 

 "You cannot be serious!"

"It'll just take a second." She replied, attempting to pull him in her direction. 

"It's three in the morning, Sunspot! It's bad enough you're whining over the storm, now I gotta go get your freaking teddy bear too?" 

"You don't have to be so mean about it." She responded under her breath, arm going limp in his grasp.

Why did she have to sound so damn pitiful? This wasn't like her. Maybe that's why it was annoying him so much. That and he was unbelievably tired. He assumed it was because of the lack of sunlight. Man, this solar powered bullshit was for the birds. Plus he had to drink water almost constantly or he'd feel like crap. She had a lot more to deal with than he realized. 

"What do you need that dumb toy for if you're down there with me, huh? I thought you trusted me." 

She was a little caught off guard by that but after she registered what was said, she smirked a little. "I guess you can be my teddy bear tonight if you want." 

"Oh, shut up and get your ass moving before I throw you!" 

As usual, she got a good laugh out of his frustration. However, when they got downstairs, it was her turn to be annoyed. 

"What do you mean I have to sleep on the floor?!" 

"You're not sleeping on this futon with me, idiot!" 

"Why the heck not?" She shouted back. "We'd both fit just fine. You're the one who's always calling me a runt! Just let me up against the wall and you get on the outside." 

"Oh, no! You're going on the outside so I can kick you off if you get too friendly." 

"When have I ever -?" She scoffed loudly as she put her hands on her hips. 

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" 

"Okay, I'll give you that one." She muttered. "Just lay down somewhere and I'll lay on what's left, alright?" 

He rolled his eyes and laid on the side against the wall. 

"You sleep on your back? That's so weird." She noted as she wrinkled her nose with judgement. 

"Shut your face and lay down or I'm smothering you with a pillow." He hissed with a scowl. 

She finally complied and got into her sleeping position. 

"Do you have to face me?" He sighed. 

With her eyes closed, she said flatly, "Do you have to complain about everything I do?" 

"Whatever. Just keep you and your oven mitts on your side of the bed." He hissed back, putting a pillow between them for good measure.

"Don't make me whack you with one of these mitts, buddy." 

Once they'd quit arguing, there wasn't much of an issue until the thunder returned. She curled up in a ball and made a sound like a kicked dog. Bakugou cracked his eyes a little to see if she was asleep or awake. She was still mostly asleep but it was far from peaceful. 

As soon as he scooted just a tiny bit closer to check if she was okay, she connected to him like a lost magnet. It was a little awkward with his body curled up with its cheek against the arm of her smaller one. Instinct said 'shove the brat out on the floor before she drools on me.' 

But honestly? What was she hurting? She'd had a bit of a rough day with the math lessons and telling him about all that stuff in middle school. Maybe he should just let her sleep.

But his arm was starting to get a little numb from being pinned at his side. He pulled it away but when she suction cupped to his side instead, he snarled quietly. She had to be doing this on purpose. Stupid brat. He didn't have anywhere to put his arm now other than behind his head or around her. The former would get old fast. So he grudgingly put his arm around her. 

She snuggled even more into his side and those alarm bells in his head were crying out "Too Close!" but she was so still now. When another bang happened outside but she didn't flinch, anger turned to fascination then relief. If it kept her from squirming around and whimpering all night, she could stay right there. Now he could finally get some sleep. 

 The thunderstorm finally passed as sunshine returned. Unlike Hana's dark bedroom curtains that were intended to keep out sunlight so she could sleep, the thin living rooms ones did nothing to let the brazen light from shining right into her eyes. She groaned as she tried to tighten her eyelids more but it was no use, she was up now. Once she actually opened her eyes, she gasped in horror. 

On the bright side, she was back in the body she'd been born into. On the complicated side, that body was currently up against Bakugou's chest with a thick arm keeping her in place. Her head was securely tucked under his chin and his grip was iron. What the heck happened last night? She didn't recall being yelled at or kicked into the floor. Did he do this or did she? Where was that 'security pillow' that he'd put up?

What the heck was that buzzing sound? Oh, right; her phone. Oh boy, it was under the pillow that Bakugou's head was currently on. Bomb defusing had nothing on this. She delicately slipped her hand under his pillow, and froze when he let out a drowsy sigh. Thankfully, he only pulled her closer before settling back down. With that threat out of the way, she checked her missed call. 

It was from Tokoyami. He must have been making sure she was okay after the storm like he normally did. She really wanted to call him back and bring him up to speed, but she'd have to escape first. She decided that trying to push against him was a terrible idea. 

Maybe gently twisting out from under his arm would work. She cautiously moved her shoulder to try and maneuver his arm off of her a little. Those biceps weren't for show. How heavy were those grenades in his costume? Teriyaki hopped onto the futon and pawed at Bakugou's nose. 

Whispering something that sounded like 'I'll kill you.', he rolled over onto his stomach. Hana sighed in relief, climbed over her pillow, gave the cat's head a grateful peck, and headed to the door. She was thrilled to get to have a conversation in her own voice again. 

Turns out that pillow she'd been looking for was in the floor and she'd somehow managed to slip on it and collide with the door. As soon as she got back to her feet, a gravelly voice caused her to jump. 

"Where do you think you're going, klutz?" 

She unwillingly glanced over to see Bakugou sitting up. That stare Teriyaki was giving him was priceless. It gave "What the heck are you doing in my house, Blondie?" vibes and Hana had a hard time ignoring it. 

"Little early for name calling, isn't it?" 

" Way too early for your sass. Answer the question."

"I'm going to call Fumi." She replied. "What? Are you having separation anxiety already?" 

"In your dreams, loser." He scoffed before pointing at her. "That's my favorite shirt. It doesn't go anywhere unless I'm in it. Gimme." 

"Fine, I'll go change first, buzzkill." She sighed before heading to the hall. 

She met her mother halfway down. As usual, she looked chipper. Hina was an early bird, like her daughter. Yosuke was a night owl and Shohei was more of a permanently exhausted pigeon. 

"So, are you all of my kid again or are we still feeling divided?"

Hana rolled her eyes lightheartedly. "Haha. Yes, I'm all back in one place. Baku's already demanding his clothes so I gotta go change." 

"He's still here?" 

"Last I checked, he was still on the futon where I left him." 

"That reminds me." Hina said coyly as Hana opened her door. "How was cuddling your new teddy bear last night?" 

Hana nearly choked on her own saliva. "You heard that?" 

 "Oh, Jellybean, I heard everything. " She remarked, crossing her arms over her chest loosely. "The thunder woke me up and I was going to come check on you but I heard you two chatting. I figured you were in good hands." 

"Why did I decide to bring him here? We should have just gotten a hotel room." She said back, wiping her hand down her face in exhaustion. 

"I'm happy you came here so I'd know you were safe. But you're very lucky that Yo's trip got extended or you'd be toast." 

“Extra crispy.” she agreed. “When is he coming back anyway? Feels like he's been gone for ages." 

"No clue. He was busy when I called him. I'm sure he'll be back before you know it." 

“He answered you? He’s been ignoring me completely. I'm not even getting smiley faces back." 

"Don't worry, JB." She sighed, patting her daughter's head reassuringly. It’s probably just because he was busy with his friends. I’m sure he’s fine." 

 "Yeah, maybe you're right. Hey, do you feel like being super nice to me today?" 

 "Let me guess, peanut butter waffles?" 

"Please and thank you." Hana said quickly as she disappeared into her bedroom. 

Hina laughed under her breath as she headed into the living room. There she spotted their blonde house guest sitting on the floor on his phone. 

 "Hey, we haven't been introduced yet. You just kinda came in and crashed on my couch. I'm Hina Ishikawa." 

"Kinda figured that out myself." Bakugou replied as he stood up. "The dad's a cop. What do you do?" 

"I'm a florist. My turn to ask a question. Aren't you Mitsuki's little boy?" 

He suddenly didn't have the desire to read that text from Kaminari anymore. "Wait, you know my mom?" 

"We played volleyball together in high school. We haven't talked much outside of Christmas cards and sporadic emails. But I could tell you were just like her. Eyes and all." 

He made a low noise in disgust as he went back to his phone. 

 "A lot of people were intimidated by her." Hina continued. "Especially when she lost a match. I swear that scream of hers could crack the walls." 

Bakugou didn't reply but he did glance up slightly. 

"I was one of the only people who could chill her out sometimes. Besides Inko. That woman was a miracle worker." 

"Yeah, Auntie's pretty cool." He replied under his breath. 

"Can I ask you for a favor?" 

"What?" 

"Hana likes you a lot. I'm sure she's made that pretty clear. I always encouraged her to love openly. But until she started at U.A, she wasn't like that. Middle school was rough on her." 

"Because that fish faced girl?" 

Hina blinked several times in confusion. "She told you about Yuki? She's usually so secretive, especially about that. She must really trust you." 

He exhaled roughly before saying bluntly, "Look, if you're going to give me some big lecture about how I need to be good to your daughter, save it. We're not a couple and I don't want us to be. No matter how hard that little runt tries, I have a goal to outdo All Might and I'm not letting anyone get in my way." 

"Are you still on about that?" Hana mocked as she returned. "You sound like a broken record." 

Why did she have to wear shorts all the time? Those legs of hers made it frustratingly hard to think of good comebacks. This time, her shorts were faded denim and she'd paired them with a black Gang Orca shirt. 

Reminding himself that she'd taken too long and he needed to be mad, he growled. "Where's my clothes, Freckles?" 

She flung them at him and he gathered them into his arms before heading for the door. 

"Hey, where are you going?" Hana asked curiously as she hopped off the step. 

"What, were you expecting us to hang out or something? Now who's got separation anxiety?" 

"Oh, come on. It's like 8 am and my mom is making waffles before she heads to work. You don't have to just run off like this. I know I'm annoying but -." 

 "Shut it." He commanded as he thought. "You're studying with that scar faced bastard today, right?" 

"Don't call him that but yes, I am." She answered. 

"What time?" 

 "He'll be here around 10:30. Why?" 

He was quiet for a moment before releasing the doorknob from his grip slowly. "When your mom leaves, we need to talk about some stuff, alright?" 

"Yeah, that doesn't make me nervous at all." she sighed playfully. 

Breakfast went better than expected. Hana bounced around and helped her mother while blaring music on her phone. Bakugou stayed uninterested until a particular song came on. Hana caught his foot idly tapping to the beat as he scrolled on his phone. 

"Oh, a Beatles fan? I didn't see that coming." She teased as she handed Hina a red spatula. 

"Not a fan. Just like this one song." 

" Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is the one Beatles song that King of Explosions actually likes? Color me surprised." 

"Shouldn't you be setting the table or something, Sunspot? Can you even reach the cabinets?" 

"I control how many waffles you get so you better be nice to me." She pouted. 

"Technically, I'm in charge of the waffle count and I think all this bickering is hilarious." Hina stated, flipping the last waffle. 

"You're supposed to be on my side, mother." 

She shrugged as she turned off the heat and sat the pan aside. "I didn't realize there were sides." 

"You just like seeing me annoyed." 

"Guilty as charged." 

Hana was about to reply to that but her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She scanned it and smiled when she saw Fumi's name in her notifications. She wandered into the living room while the phone rang. 

"Hey there, God of the Night!" she answered energetically. 

"Certainly relieved that you're back in the correct body. I hope you were able to rest last night. That storm was quite rough." 

"Yeah, I had some unexpected help with that. No big deal. Hey, I'm free this afternoon. You want to hit the bookstore and see if they got anything interesting this week?" 

"Sounds fine by me. Would you want to meet me there?" He asked. 

"Nah, I'll just swing by your place. I think I forgot my glasses over there anyway. I'm almost out of contacts so I need those to see." 

"I'll see if I can locate them for you before you get here."

"You are a saint, Fumikage. I'll text you before I -." 

"Hey, Princess Sunshine!" Bakugou shouted from the kitchen. "If you want these damn waffles, you'd better quit chatting and get in here!" 

"Wait, is Bakugou still there?" 

"Long story. I'll fill you in when I come over. Bye, buddy." 

Reluctant to leave this call without knowing what was going on, he sighed. "Just promise me that you'll be careful, alright?" 

"Careful? Come on, Fumi. What's the worst that could happen?"

Chapter Text

What's the worst that could happen? Oh boy, she didn't expect the cosmos to take that statement as a challenge. As soon as her mother left for work, Teriyaki hopped up on the counter and ( completely on purpose) knocked the bowl of remaining pancake batter on the floor. Bakugou was no help with cleaning up. He was in the living room as she scrubbed the sticky goo off the floor. 

"You know, the polite thing to do here would be to at least offer to help." She scolded loudly.

"You should train that cat better." He remarked lazily as he looked over a picture of probably six year old Hana smiling with one of her baby teeth missing.

"You don't really train cats, Baku. They just kinda do whatever they want. A lot like you actually." 

"Whatever. Are you telling me that you can't even clean right?" He said, moving onto the next picture on the wall. 

This one was her brother at some kind of party. Despite not being green, he looked a lot like his younger sister. Their faces had the same structure but he had more masculine features. He had the trademark freckles on his nose but not his cheeks. He clearly shared his mother and sister’s carefree attitude, as his lip was pierced and he had several tattoos. One that caught Bakugou’s eye was a simple outline of a sun on his arm. A little tribute to his sister, most likely.

"You know, you call me a brat all the time, but I think that title fits you much better lately." she called out as she put the bowl in the sink. 

"Hurry up and get in here. You're the one who wanted to talk and shit. Let's get a move on before your boyfriend gets here." 

Walking into the living room with Teriyaki in her arms, she rolled her eyes. "Okay, what is it with you and Ace? You never say stuff like that about Fumi or Kiri." 

"Just sit down. Let's get this over with." 

"Well, let's start by answering my question. What's your issue with Ace?" 

"Who says I have an issue?"  

"Well, obviously, you do ." she remarked with a soft, mocking chuckle. "Because every time I mention him, you start making those smart ass comments about him being my boyfriend. What's the problem? You're the one who said you didn't like me so -." 

"Didn’t say that." 

She let Teriyaki jump from her arms as she stared at Bakugou with confusion. He was purposely looking down to avoid her line of sight. Something was off today. He usually sat so closed off but now, he was sitting with his legs apart and his elbows resting on his knees. Plus he'd actually spoken to her mother semi-calmly before she left. Now this weird comment? What was going on here? 

"What?" 

He crossed his arms tightly as she sat down next to him. She was so close that her bent knee was touching his leg. That wide-eyed wanderlust expression was difficult to ignore. 

"Come on." She implored with a stiff poke to his shoulder. "Say it again." 

"Just drop it!"

"Why should I?"

"You should have paid more attention if you wanted to hear it!" 

"Baku, quit being stubborn! I just didn't hear you!" She whined. 

He got to his feet and put his hands on his hips. "All I said was that I think dating is a waste of time. I don’t need to be weighed down by -.” 

"This again!?” She shouted, pointing at him aggressively. “I'm too weak for you? I'm strong enough to take care of myself." 

"Really? Because USJ and that crap during our internship say otherwise." He stated, looking down at her as she came closer. 

 “I should have figured you’d say something like that after the way you half-assed our fight at the Sports Festival!” 

"Whoa, hold on there, missy. I never hold back at anything, especially not a fight!" 

She was in his face in a heartbeat. "I saw the way you fought your other matches! You didn't fight me the same way. You barely even used your Quirk!" 

"You’re always saying 'don’t put words in my mouth!' but that is exactly what you’re doing. I didn’t underestimate you, idiot!"

"Oh really? Because from this side of the fence, it looks like you are toying with me and I can't stand it!" 

"Dumbass, use your head for a second! You are a mid to long range fighter who is good at staying low to the ground. You have the ability to create light in large or small doses. Why in the hell would I cover the ring with smoke from my explosions, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to see someone who could take a shot at me from anywhere!?" 

She backed up and replied under her breath. "You didn't use your Quirk because you weren't underestimating me." 

“I told you to your face that I didn’t think you’d be a threat. You were tougher than you look. Honestly, I was trying to get an idea of how to take you down but you didn't give me any time to think. Plus even when I had you on the ground, you still didn't stop. You wanted to win at all costs. Why would I underestimate somebody like me?" 

Her eyes widened as she stared, a few tears gathering on her lashes. “Baku, I -.” 

A fist hammering on the outside of the door disrupted their moment. His eyes narrowed as his glare went from the door to the girl who was looking up at him with a guilty grin. 

"You said 10:30." 

"I said around 10:30 actually." She said, walking to the door. 

"It's 9:56." 

"Well, he's just a little early. What, are you mad because you gotta leave now?" 

"Oh, don't get your hopes up, Sunspot." He proclaimed as he flopped down on the couch. "I'm not going anywhere." 

"What? Why?" 

"You said to pick a day and we'd see who was the better teacher. I'm picking today." 

"Fine, but you'd better behave. If I fail this exam because you two won't quit arguing, I'm gonna have to seek revenge on you both." 

She opened the door and let Todoroki in. He looked unusually tired but was quick to brush off her concern by saying that the storm kept him up. When he noticed Bakugou sitting on the couch like he owned the place, he looked back at Hana for an explanation. 

"Oh, Baku wants to help me get ready for the exams." 

"I didn't know Bakugou had such a giving personality." Todoroki said as he scrutinized the already pissed off blonde. 

"She'll never pass with your dumb ass tutoring her." Bakugou huffed back. 

"She must be flattered that you're so worried about her grades." Todoroki countered. 

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT YOUR -!" 

"You two start fighting and I'm putting you both in separate corners! Let's just focus on math, please?" Hana yelled before sitting down on the floor next to Bakugou's legs. 

Todoroki sat on the other side before taking out his notebook. "I spoke to my sister about this. She said that you might be getting overwhelmed. So I'm going to try breaking it down into something more simple." 

"Okay. I'm willing to try anything at this point." She shrugged. 

"Let's just try this one." He said, showing her a word problem. 

"You're trying to melt my brain, aren't you?" She asked as she propped her chin on her palm. 

"I'm just going to read parts and then give you a chance to process it, alright?" 

As Todoroki read, Bakugou noticed Hana's face twitch with confusion and frustration. She even tried shutting her eyes but by how hard she was clenching her fists against the table, that wasn't helping either. 

"God, what is wrong with me? This question probably isn't even that hard but I can't stay focused! I'm just wasting your time. All I'm good for is hopping around and doodling." She lamented as she rested her forehead on the table. 

"Wait a second. I think you're onto something." Bakugou said as he sat forward. 

"Um, ouch? You're not supposed to agree with me, jerk." She mumbled. 

"No, moron. You said doodling. You draw on everything. Your notebooks, your test papers, yourself. Sounds like maybe you're a visual learner. You don't understand these problems because you can't see them."

"Maybe if you drew what the problem's talking about, you could focus and understand it better." Todoroki added. 

"That makes sense. It's worth a shot. Hand me that pencil, Baku." 

She read the problem and exhaled loudly before starting to doodle pictures of the trains and the stations they were leaving. She even made little stick people to drive the trains. She got a thump to the head from Bakugou when she got a little too into crafting the pattern for the conductor’s hat. Besides asking the occasional question, she did most of the math herself. Todoroki worked it out at the same time so they could check her answer. 

"I think I got it?" She said as she looked back at them. 

"Let's hear it then." Bakugou stated, sitting forward. 

"5,230 kilometers?" She replied hesitantly. 

Todoroki pushed his paper over to her. Her freckles twinkled joyfully as she sprang to her feet. 

"I got… I got it right? Holy smokes! I did it! I actually got it right!" She squealed, bouncing up and down on the couch. 

Todoroki scoffed blithely under his breath in amusement before looking over at Bakugou slightly. The blonde genuinely looked proud as he watched her celebrate. At least until he detected Todoroki's eyes on him. Then he huffed in frustration before turning away. 

"You want to try some more to make sure you got it?" Todoroki asked. 

"Yeah, let's do this!" She exclaimed as she sat down on the floor next to him. 

The next hour flew by as Hana did math homework cheerfully for the first time in her life. After four more problems, however, she began to get burnt out and ultimately just laid back onto the floor. 

“You done?” Bakugou asked. 

“I think my brain is shutting down. I almost called you Ace.” she mumbled back, smirking as his eyes squinted in offense. 

“Maybe we should stop for today. I think you’ve made enough progress.” Todoroki commented while getting to his feet. 

"I actually promised Fumi we would hang out as soon as I got done, so if you two nice gentlemen would make the trip to the front door, that would be super."  

While Todoroki reached for the doorknob, he heard her call out for them before pulling both of the confused boys into an embrace. Despite shooting each other untrusting glances, neither moved. 

"Thank you. You guys seriously helped a lot." 

"What the hell do you mean 'you guys'?!" Bakugou shouted. "It was my idea!" 

Maybe it was the calm laugh he got in response or how she was standing on tiptoe to reach as her fingertips gently rested on the back of their necks. Whatever it was, it kept them still. Not necessarily calm. 

"Would you get off of me already?! Jeez, you just can't keep your hands to yourself, huh?" 

“Didn’t seem to bother you at the Sports Festival.” She huffed as she grabbed her phone and house keys off the small white table by the door. 

“You mumble one more comment under your breath and I’m feeding your cat to that living wrinkle next door.” Bakugou grumbled back, putting extra contempt in the dog’s name for good measure. 

“Jokes on you, Homer’s terrified of Teriyaki.” she replied. “Now, shoo. I got a birdie to visit.” 

As Hana locked her front door, the boys headed down the stairs. Bakugou wasn’t oblivious to Todoroki’s intermittent glances in his direction. Never one to keep his opinion under wraps, he yelled, “If you’ve got something to say, then say it!” 

“What makes you think that I have anything to say?” 

“I’m not stupid, IcyHot! I see that damn look you keep giving me.” 

“Just connecting the dots.” Todoroki stated, walking slightly ahead. 

“You leave me and my dots alone, you got that!?” Bakugou shot back. “I don’t know why she even asked you to tutor her in the first place. All you did was try to read it to her like she was dumb or something. And quit walking in front of me!” 

“She didn’t ask me to do anything. I offered.” he clarified, though not making any effort to let Bakugou pass him. “And I was reading it to her because I thought it would help her focus.” 

“I thought you weren’t here to make friends. Study dates don’t count though, right?” Bakugou snorted back. 

“Why are you so threatened by Ishikawa and I being friends?” 

“Huh?! Threatened? You think I’m scared of you, Half and Half?” 

“Before you start trying to tell everyone else what they’re doing and how they feel, maybe you should try to decide what exactly it is that you’re doing. From what I've heard, you can't even do that." 

 “You should keep your mouth shut. You don’t know anything. I don’t know what Sunspot’s been telling you, but whatever it is, it’s bullshit.” Bakugou replied with a forceful eye roll. 

“Well, whatever you two are doing, leave me out of it. I just want to be friends with her. You don’t have to mark your -.” Todoroki was cut off by his phone buzzing in his pocket. “Oh, I forgot my notebook.” 

“Good, now I can walk home in peace.” he mumbled before continuing down the street. 

Knocking on the door, Todoroki realized that it wasn’t even completely closed. He went into the living room, looking down at the hissing cat at his feet. His owner was still missing so he journeyed into the hallway. One of the doors was open which he took as an invitation to peek inside. Sure enough, the girl he was searching for was standing on her dresser on the tips of her toes as she reached up to pull a thumbtack of the wall. 

One more stretch was all it took to make her left foot slip from under her. Before she hit the floor, a pair of hands gripped her waist. She immediately peered over her shoulder and sighed with relief in recognizing the gray and turquoise looking back at her.

“Nice timing, Ace!” she applauded as he supported her onto her feet. “Maybe I should invest in a step ladder since my brother’s off on vacation.” 

“I can reach it. Do you want me to take it down?” 

“That would be awesome. Thanks.” 

As he pulled out one of the tacks, he moved the part of the poster so he could see better. That’s when he discovered that this was an Endeavor poster. He hesitated in pulling out the next tack.

“I meant to take it down yesterday but I got busy and didn’t get the chance.” she explained. 

“You don’t have to take this down if you don’t want to.” he stated. “My past shouldn’t control your opinion.” 

“I don’t like the way that poster makes me feel anymore.” she admitted. “I’m planning on replacing it with either Present Mic or Hawks.” 

“I think Hawks is a pretty interesting hero.” Todoroki said, fully removing the poster from the wall and rolling it up. 

“Hawks it is then!” she exclaimed with a clap. 

She gave him his notebook back and after putting on her glittery shoes, walked down the stairs with him. While on the bus to Tokoyami’s house, she had her earphones in until someone tapped her shoulder. Putting one of them out, she looked over to see a familiar purple haired boy next to her. Her eyes narrowed as she exhaled loudly. 

“Oh, it’s you, the guy with the hypno quirk. What do you want? Is my foot tapping like nails on a chalkboard too?” 

“Actually, I can hear your music from here. You like that band?” he asked. 

“MCR? Heck yeah! It’s one of my favorites. Especially since me and Fumi both like it.” she answered, pausing the song. 

“I just didn’t see someone like you -.” 

“Hey, anyone who claims they didn’t have an emo phase in middle school shouldn’t be trusted. You wanna listen? Makes the bus ride go by way faster.” 

“Yeah, hard pass.” he said, looking out the window.

“Suit yourself.” she shrugged, about to put the earphone back until she paused. “Oh, by the way, your fight with Deku was fun to watch. I won’t stand a chance against that Quirk. I’m too much of a smart allect.” 

“Better hope we don’t ever have to fight.” he replied, standing as the bus came to a stop. 

“Hey, hey! What’s your name?” 

“It’s Shinso.” 

“Okay, awesome. You can call me Ishi.” she called out. 

As he walked down the steps to exit the bus, he replied, “Alright, I’ll try to remember that.” 

“Remember, right! Where’s my bag? I gotta write that down.”

After properly documenting Shinso’s name and listening to four more songs, it was Hana’s turn to depart the bus. Thanking the bus driver as she hopped off the bottom step, she then headed to the third house on the left with the hunter green roof. It was odd that it took four knocks before the door unlocked. She was even more concerned when rather than open the door,  Tokoyami just poked his head out. 

“Hey, Fumi. What’s up? Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m alright. I just thought that I had more time before you arrived.” he replied.

“What’s going on? You’re scaring me a little.” 

“I was intending on changing my outfit before we left.”  

Hana stepped a little closer to the door, only to have Tokoyami hide behind it more. That troubled look on her face was making him feel unbelievably guilty. 

“You don’t have to show me, but you know how curious I am.” she said, discreetly trying to peek around the door. “You know I don’t judge too, right?” 

With a heavy exhale, he opened the door fully. The ensemble in question was a black t-shirt with a silver symbol that she was fairly sure was called an ankh partnered with dark, ripped jeans and solid black tennis shoes. His left wrist was decorated with a black leather cuff. 

“Holy -! Dude, you look awesome ! Why would you want to change out of this?” she questioned as she examined him with wide eyes. 

“I can’t present this way in public.” he mumbled back. 

“How come?”  

After a stiff moment, he responded, “Do you recall me mentioning to you that I had some difficulties with rude remarks about Dark Shadow in my youth?” 

“Yeah, I’m still mad about it. D.S is flipping amazing.” 

“Well, when those individuals discovered that the ‘kid with the villain Quirk’ enjoyed dressing this way…” 

“Shit hit the fan?” she guessed with a frown. 

“More or less.” 

“I seriously don’t even get the idea of “villain Quirks”. It’s so stupid.” she sighed. “If you want to go change, I’ll wait for you out here but I really think that you should just be you. Because no one’s opinion of you matters more than your own.” 

“For someone with memory problems, you have a talent for weaponizing other’s words.” 

“Hey, I remember important things.” she countered before looking down at her own garments. “You know, we’re about the same size! If you want, you can give me a few fashion tips and we can match.” 

“You… You would really want to do that?” he asked slowly. 

“Sure, I can take a break from the glitter and rainbows for a day! Just one request. I gotta keep the Gang Orca shirt. It’s my favorite plus it’s black so it’ll totally match the aesthetic. Sound like a plan?” 

Her heart did a backflip worthy of a gold medal when Tokoyami’s eyes brightened excitedly. 

“I know precisely what I’ll loan you.” he said, unable to keep anticipation from sneaking into his ordinarily even tone. 

“Lead the way, Gloomy Fumi! Let’s get this show on the road!”

Chapter Text

As she cautiously wiped the black mess from her stinging eye, Hana decided that eyeliner should come with a warning label. As someone who didn’t wear much makeup on a daily basis, she quickly forgot that she and her best friend had spent half of an hour painting black around her eyes with little wings and inevitably rubbed her eye. 

She did manage to avoid accidentally rubbing on the red skinny jeans she’d borrowed from her friend. Tokoyami was courteous enough to wait for her outside the bathroom while she cleaned up her clumsy mistake. His mind did wander a little though. It wasn’t until Dark Shadow surfaced and called Hana’s name joyfully that he came back to reality. 

“There’s my two favorite creatures of the night.” she chuckled as she high-fived the materialized blackness.

“Is your eye alright?” Tokoyami asked. 

“Yeah, it’s all good. Just a bit red.” 

“It certainly is.” he expressed in concern.

“Nothing a little time won’t fix.” she replied with a little wave of her hand. “D.S, you’re in charge of keeping my hands away from my face.” 

“On it!” 

“Shall we head to the bookstore, gentlemen?” she offered, marching ahead with her fist raised high. 

Following behind her, Tokoyami inquired, “How is preparing for the exam going?”

“Despite a few setbacks, I think I’m ready to take that test head on. Especially after that trick that Baku suggested.” 

He halted as he replied, “I didn’t realize that Bakugou was aiding with your studying.” 

“Well, he was just kinda hanging around so we put him to work.” she said, looking back at him. “I know that look. That’s your ‘I don’t want to be rude but your decisions are dumb.’ look, isn’t it?” 

“To be fair, I wasn’t going to use the term ‘dumb’. Perhaps ‘ill advised’ would fit better.” 

“Baku isn’t that bad. He has his moments where he’s almost human.” he giggled. “But I get the concern. All that aggressive talk makes him seem so scary but when we’re alone, I swear it’s like there’s a side of him that wants to come out but doesn’t know how.” 

“Just promise me that you know what you’re doing.” Tokoyami requested. 

“Well, I can’t promise that. I never know what I’m doing.” She chuckled, rubbing the back of her head nervously. 

That obviously didn’t reassure him much. Nevertheless, she shrugged her shoulders as she began strolling backwards toward the book store. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll be careful. I don’t want to just talk about Baku all day though. I just spent two days straight with the guy! I want to spend today with my bestest friend in the whole world, and that’s you .”  

As they continued to their destination and Hana bumped into a book display, Bakugou was at home digging through one of the hallway closets. Old photo albums filled with wedding pictures, vacation snapshots, and (in his opinion anyway) way too many photos of a certain blonde baby. But those weren’t the pictures he was after. His mother in a wedding dress or those memories at the beach had nothing to do with this search. Neither did this mother for that matter, but that didn’t stop her from discovering her photo albums being flung across the hallway. 

“Katsuki! Have you finally lost your mind?!” she shouted as he leaned out of the closet and into view. 

“No, you old bat! I’m looking for something.”

“I can see that. What are you even looking for?”  

“Your old volleyball pictures. Know where they are?” he asked, hurling another book of his baby pictures past her. 

“Quit throwing stuff, you little brat!” 

“Then help me find these damn pictures that I’m lookin’ for!” 

“Why do you even need my old pictures?” Mitsuki sighed, rubbing her forehead. 

“You went to school with a girl who had green patches on her. Remember her?” 

“You mean Hina? Of course, she was one of my best friends. How do you know anything about her though? I haven’t heard from her since you were in diapers.” 

Standing up and hopping over a heap of books, he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, the last thing I need is you involved in this crap.” 

Mitsuki bent over and picked up a book from the top of the closest pile. “There’s some pictures in here that might interest you. They’re from the last time I saw Hina.” 

Going for it only to have it pulled away, he growled at her tsk-ing at him. 

“You want this? Tell me why you need it.” she said firmly. 

“UGH! Why do you have to be so difficult?” he lamented, crossing his arms. “Fine. There’s this girl at school who’s driving me crazy and Patches is her mom.” 

“Ooh, someone’s got a crush!” 

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” he huffed. 

“Trying to see what she’ll look like when she’s older?” she suggested with a smirk. 

“Oh, shut up! It’s not like that.” 

“Well, if she looks like her mom, she’s probably going to be really cute. It’s a  little ironic though, if Hina’s ex wasn’t such a jerk, you and that girl would probably have been as close as you and Izuku when you were little.” 

“Wait, seriously?”

She flipped the book in her hand open and showed him a page with herself, Inko, and Hina. On the floor was himself and Deku, both about a year old, wrestling over a toy truck. In Mitsuki’s arms was an infant who was maybe about three months old. It didn’t take long for that green skin to confirm who exactly that tiny baby was. 

“Holy shit.” he mumbled. “Hold on, if you guys were so close then why haven’t I heard about this before?” 

“Well, it’s not like you to ask about things like this. You don’t usually care about my old friends or your baby pictures, so it just never came up.” 

Mitsuki flipped a few pages then presented a picture of a very pregnant Hina with a little boy at her side, herself with a very small him in her arms, his dad, and a man he knew he’d seen before but couldn’t place. He finally recalled seeing him in a picture at Hana’s apartment. This must have been her father.

 He certainly looked like the straight laced type that she made him out to be. His brown hair was slicked back with only a little piece dangling in his face, vaguely reminded Bakugou of Superman. He was average build and seemed to be just a little taller than he was. Though Hana was the spitting image of her mother, it was clear that the blue eyes were from her dad. Although, looking closer, it looked like he had a light blue spiral in both of his eyes. 

“His name is Shohei and he's a real piece of work. He’s a control freak and he was always mad at Hina for something . He couldn’t stand her having friends other than him and his friends. He wanted them to be attached at the hip but a free spirit like Hina wasn’t going to take that laying down. So they ended up divorcing. But by the time she’d put her foot down, we’d already grown apart.” 

That certainly bewildered Bakugou. If her parents split over her dad being mad all the time, why would pick him of all people to be so fascinated by? Not that Bakugou wanted them attached at the hip. He’d been wondering that for a while. Maybe it was time to finally get an answer. 

Back at the mall, Hana dumped an arm full of comic books onto the counter as Tokoyami wandered up behind her. 

“Man, these things get heavy after a while!” she laughed. “What did you get, Fumi?” 

“Just the second book in a series I’ve been reading.” 

Peering over, she smiled. “Vampires? Oh, awesome, I like it.” 

“Thank you.” he replied. “Oh, look. It appears they’re showing some of the Sports Festival on the TV.” 

She looked over at the little television mounted on the wall, she recognized the scene immediately. It was the award ceremony, complete with a snarling, furious Bakugou.

She sighed with an eye roll. “Of course, they’d pick that moment to play on repeat.” 

“Yeah, they’ve been really favoring that part.” the cashier commented as he started scanning one of the books from Hana’s little hill. “Hold on, is that you going out there to help that psycho?” 

“Hey, that’s harsh. I happen to like that psycho.” she huffed back. 

“Sounds like you have a strange taste in men, young lady.” 

Blushing, she replied. “Why does everyone keep saying that?” 

After paying for their books, Hana and Fumi set off walking again until they found a bench where she could put her collection in her bag. They were a tight fit but she managed finally to zip it, then they headed to the pet store that Hana had requested a trip too because ‘it’s Wednesday’.

“You know, it’s kinda weird to me that rarely anyone in our class has super obvious crushes.” she stated, popping a pocky stick into her mouth and biting it in half. “I mean everyone’s pretty much figured out mine. Then there’s Uraraka with Deku. You could see that from space, but those are really the only two like that. I do have my speculations though.” 

  “You say ‘speculations’ but I believe the word you’re searching for is ‘ships’.” 

“It’s the same thing, let’s be honest.” she replied. “Come on, you won’t understand! You don’t do the whole romance thing.” 

“I simply don’t have the time to foster that kind of thing right now.” 

“Ugh, you sound like You-Know-Who and it’s grossing me out.” she laughed. 

“Hey, look! It’s Tokoyami and Ishikawa!” 

The pair of friends turned to find Uraraka and Asui across the way as they came out of a clothing store. Hana immediately clapped her hands and ran to them. 

“Floatie! Frog- ! Wait, you asked me to call you Tsu, right? Sorry, I’m just so excited to see you guys.” 

“What are you guys up to?” Uraraka asked. 

“We went to the bookstore. Want to see the haul I got?” 

“Sure! Let me see!” 

She went to unzip her backpack and pull out the bag but she noticed Tokoyami had taken a moment to follow. Even stranger, he kept his distance like he usually did with strangers. He did eventually wander over but still wasn’t acting like himself. 

He detected her staring and waved away her worry subtly. Not that it ever worked. Hounding him about it would just make him uncomfortable and he’d always shown her the upmost respect when she was down in the dumps. So she shook her head and showed the girls her little horde of comics. 

“Wow, that’s a lot.”  Asui stated. 

“Were they on sale or something?” Uraraka asked. 

“Yep, good thing too. I had to take a week off from my part time job to keep up with the internship and study for the exam.” 

“I didn’t know you had a part time job, Ishi.” Asui said with a curious head tilt. 

“Oh, yeah. I help teach little kids gymnastics across town on the weekends. I started last summer. It’s tons of fun.” 

“Cute! I’d love to watch you do that one day.” 

“Well, I’d love to show you! I think you’d love it. I hate to hurry off, but we have to run one more place before I get back home. We’ll see you lovely ladies at school tomorrow though, right?” 

“You bet! We’ll be there and we’ll all be ready to pass!” Uraraka said, pumped up. 

“Darn right!” Hana agreed before high-fiving her. After the two girls had left, Hana eyed her friend with suspicion. 

“I’m alright. I must just be tired.” 

“It’s not even noon, you night owl. Come on, you can tell me. I can keep other people’s secrets, just not mine.” 

“I appreciate your concern, but I can assure you that everything is completely fine.” he said, making an effort to avoid eye contact. 

She studied him for a moment before looking back at where the girls were previously standing.  Even when he came over, he was virtually hiding behind her. She’d seen him talking to Uraraka recently, so that couldn’t be it. So that meant… 

“You have a crush on Tsu!” 

“P-please, be mindful of what you’re saying!” 

"Am I right? Am I?" She asked enthusiastically. "I am, right?" 

"She is quite pleasant to be around but maybe calling it a crush is rather eager."

"But do you like her?" 

"Well, that's a complicated question to answer so suddenly, Hana. Can you just please try not to get too involved? I know you mean well but sometimes you can be too -." 

"Too much?" She asked, voice quivering faintly as her smile fainted. “Yeah, I get told that a lot.” 

That was the same look she gave him at the sports festival when she asked why he wanted to be friends with her. That vulnerability in her eyes was so unlike her yet didn’t look as wrong as some of the more intense emotions she’d displayed before. Somehow that made him feel worse. He attempted to search for the right words but his silence caused her eyes to fill with tears. Before he could stop her, she ran off without her bag. He called after her but it didn’t make any difference. 

Dark Shadow popped his head out and looked up at Tokoyami who, with a heavy sigh, picked up his friend’s abandoned bag and walked to a nearby bench. 

“What do we do, Fumikage?” 

Looking down at the pink backpack, he replied. “I think I have an idea.” 

Hana, on the other hand, had went onto the pet store and was currently sitting on the floor with her legs crossed as she admired some black and white angelfish. One fish in particular had swam a little closer to the glass and earned a little smile. 

“Maybe I’m thinking too much. It’s not like he’s Yuki. He cares about me, right?” she asked, sighing as it swam away. “You guys don’t know either, huh?” 

Suddenly something bumped into her head. It didn’t hurt. It was light. Looking down, she spotted a little paper airplane sitting next to her. Realizing who this must be from, she looked around for him until he approached from behind some little hamster cages. 

“Paper airplane.” She laughed, picking it up. “Just like how we became buddies. Certainly made me feel better.”

“I think you’ll feel even better once you read it.” 

“Huh? Oh, I guess I didn’t think to open it.” she replied. 

Opening it up and scanning over, her eyes filled with tears once. 

‘ I gave you my bracelet to remind you that I’m always here for you. I don’t believe I’ve seen you without it ever since. I know trust is something you struggle with, though I don’t fully know why. But you still want to trust me and I’m grateful that you try. You’re not too much. You’re exactly enough.’

“I love when you talk all goth.” she sniffled.

“I think that bizarre little compliment is one of my favorites.”  

“Thank you, Fumi. You seriously need to publish a book one day. You have a talent for words.” 

“Speaking of books, I believe I need to cancel an order for one.” 

“What do you mean?” she asked as she stood up. 

“I won’t be requiring an instruction manual for you. I think I’m doing just fine without one.” 

That got a hug return. As opposed to stiffing up like he typically did, he cautiously fastened his arms around her shoulders. Hana’s light tears became happy sobs at the first complete hug between them. No matter what happened, she knew her best friend would be there for her.

Chapter Text

“Good morning, Class 1-A!” 

“Whoa, Ishikawa, you’re here early today.” Midoriya commented from his desk.  

“I think it’s a terrific thing.” Iida said with a single hand chop. “Ishikawa is taking more accountability for her attendance.” 

“Nah, I just set my alarm too early on accident.” she said, smirking at the disapproving stare she earned. “But I’m glad though. I really didn’t want to be late today.” 

She sat on Bakugou’s desk with her legs crossed at the knee as Todoroki came into the room. He looked surprised to see her too, but simply went to his desk. 

“Morning, Ace! Ready to pass this exam?” she called out. 

“I think I should be asking you that.” 

“Well, I have to pass or Baku’s gonna give me an earful.” 

“Get off my desk, brat.” 

“Speak off the devil!” she laughed as her favorite grump walked up to his seat. 

“I’m not going to say it again. Get off.” 

“Why don’t you make me?” she asked, crossing her arms.

He grabbed the side of his desk. “You got 5 seconds before I flip this desk with you on it.” 

“That gives me four to get you all riled up, doesn’t it?” she replied, leaning forward. 

Without any more warning, he commenced to tilt the desk backwards. As she slid, her first instinct was to reach out and her hands were quickly bunched up in the fabric of his jacket. He stopped tilting the table and pulled back, dragging her along with him until her feet rejoined the ground. After pushing her hands off and sitting down, he looked up at her as she stood frozen with a perplexed look on her face. 

“You gotta just stand there or what?” 

“R-right, I should probably sit down.” 

Ashido tapped Kaminari on the shoulder and whispered, “Still think they’d make a bad couple?” 

“I think you’ve been reading too much fanfiction.” he said back with a shrug. 

“Hey!” 

“Alright, everyone, sit down.” Aizawa said under his breath as he slugged into the room.
 

Hana had to do a double take but yes, he was actually using the ‘Tears of my Students’ mug she’d gotten him after USJ. As she bounced in her seat joyfully, he explained the exam. It was a multiple choice test consisting of 120 questions. Half of them were a mix of  the ‘normal’ school subjects like math and the other half were on hero topics. They had until lunch to finish it. Hana exhaled in relief when he said they could use as much paper as they needed to. Time to put that doodling strategy into action. 

Right away, she got into some trouble at the literature part. Taking her pencil in hand, she absently started to draw out the subject of the paragraph. She’d gotten better at drawing cats apparently. She made herself laugh by accidentally drawing one leg too short. Several questions and four sheets of paper later, she’d made it to the history section. That wasn’t too bad. That was one subject that she did okay with most days. Art history was a struggle but most of the questions at least seemed a little familiar.  

Then came the math section and she was immediately stumped. Anything with fractions just felt unfair and she was out of paper. So she asked for one and Aizawa begrudgingly filled the request with one more sheet. Three drawings of a pie, two of a cow, and six of little ducks and she was out of paper again. With a deep, long sigh, he gave her three this time. Much to his dismay, that only lasted 15 minutes. He’d never get to sleep like this. 

Finally tired of getting up every few minutes, Aizawa grabbed a medium size stack of paper and dropped them on her desk. She stared at the stack and then nodded at her teacher with approval before returning this difficult question about the mass of ice. As she drew a tiny Todoroki, she happened to notice that over half the class was already done. She wasn’t even fully half way yet. 

Maybe I’m taking too long. Should I try to go faster? But I’ll mess up if I do that. I can’t fail this exam. Baku and Ace will be mad at me. Plus I told Mr. Aizawa that I’d try harder. Why am I even in this school? I’m not as smart as the others. I’m just wasting my time and the teacher’s. And my classmates’ now because they want to help me. What am I doing here? 

Tears gathered in her eyes as she put her head down. Why am I even in this school? If she couldn’t even answer a math question, what kind of hero could she be? As she buried her face in the bend of her arm, she felt someone touch her leg. She left her head and looked down to see Deku’s hand holding a wadded up piece of paper where she could reach. She carefully plucked from his hand and unfolded it under the desk. To her surprise, there were two little messages for her. 

The first was Bakugou’s handwriting. It was a little sloppy because he’d clearly been trying to hurry before he got caught. She could still interpret it though. 

Get out of your damn head and focus. I need to talk to you after the exams but I can’t do that if you never finish the damn thing. Pull yourself together and pass this already.

Under that was a shorter and more friendly message that logic stated Deku must have written. You can do this. 

She folded it back up and put it in the pocket of her jacket before tapping Deku’s shoulder. When he turned a little to see her, she gave him a thumbs up and smiled. That was just the little encouragement she needed. She went back to work with pencil in hand as she read the next question. She wasn’t above counting on her fingers now either. Just pass. 

The hero part seemed much easier by comparison. It didn’t take her nearly as long. Once she was finished, she went back to his desk and started writing a note back to Bakugou. 

Thanks, Blasty. I needed a pep talk. Don’t worry so much. I’ll definitely pass.

You’d better. And quit reading these, Deku. I can see you, nerd.

Once the final paper had been turned in, Aizawa announced “I’ll have your scores after lunch. Once you’ve all seen your grades, change into your hero costumes and head outside for the next part of your exams.” 

With that, they headed to the lunch room. Ashido ran up to Hana and smiled brightly. “Hey, Ishi! You wanna sit with us today?” 

“Sure! I was going to before our break but I forgot and sat with Fumi out of habit.” she confessed, giving herself a small hug. “Baku said he had to talk to me anyway.” 

“Oooh! Did he? Well, I have some guesses about what he wants to ask!” Ashido chuckled. 

“Oh, really? Let me guess. You think he’s going to ask me to be girlfriend or something?” 

“What else could it be?” Ashido inquired. 

“To borrow my notes? Or literally anything else?” 

“Well, from my experience, Baku doesn’t borrow anyone else’s notes. But he does get caught staring at whatever table you’re at though.” 

“We’ve had this conversation before. He’s not ready for a relationship and I respect his decision.” 

“I just think you two would be so cute together! That little thing you guys did when you were sitting on his desk? That was adorable!” Ashido sighed. 

“Hey, I like being around him but I can’t force the guy to date me. I want it to be on it to be on his terms. I don’t want it to be out of obligation.” 

“Can’t you two walk any faster?” 

Spinning around while walking backwards, Hana replied. “Howdy, Baku! Sorry that we're being a little slow. We’re talking about something."

“About me. I could hear you, dumbass." He replied, walking onward. 

"Save me a seat next to you, okay?" 

"Whatever." 

She laughed until she noticed the look Ashido was giving her. "I see you back there." 

"Come on! You can't blame me. Ishibaku is too cute. It's right up there with OchoDeku." 

"Mina, stop giving our classmates ship names." she sighed lightheartedly. "Although, Deku and Floatie are pretty cute." 

After getting her eggplant curry, talking to a Fumi for a minute, and having to go back for the water bottle she forgot, she finally sat down next to Bakugou.

"Who's ready for the next part of the exam?" Sero asked. 

"Gotta be easier than the first part." Hana answered before taking a sip of water. 

"Easy for you to say." Kaminari said. "You're pretty decent at the physical stuff. Some of us are just bad at both." 

"Work harder and that won't be true." Bakugou mumbled. 

“We can’t all be talented like you, now can we?” Ashido teased. 

“Like I said, work harder.” 

“I heard this test is on robots like the entrance exam.” Sero commented. 

“I hope so. Fighting robots is so much easier. I don’t have to hold back.” Kaminari replied as he popped some rice into his mouth. 

“It shouldn’t matter what the enemy is. You should fight to win regardless.” Bakugou stated firmly. 

“I’m curious, Baku.” Hana replied. “Do you have any hobbies besides training? You can’t just whack the lights out of a punching bag all day, every day, right?” 

“Of course, I have hobbies, moron.” 

“Like what? Play any instruments?” 

“Drums.” 

That certainly got everyone’s attention. 

“You play the drums?” Ashido shouted happily. 

“Yeah.” he sighed, crossing his arms. “My mom got me to take lessons when I was younger.” 

“That’s so cool! Why didn’t you tell us!?” Kirishima asked. 

“Why would I tell you that? It’s not that big of a deal.” 

“Still wanted to know!” Hana protested. “Not that I’m one to talk. I jumped from hobby to hobby parkour style. The only one that ever stuck was dance.” 

“No way! You love dancing too? We have to hang out and show each other our moves one day!” Ashido squealed. 

“Yeah, totally.” she laughed apprehensively. 

She felt bad. She really did. Ashido was the kind of friend she wanted but letting another bunch of girls in was just too terrifying. Boys were simple. If they had a problem with someone, they would just try to fight about it. Things were fine the way they were. She’d let one or two people close enough. The walls would stay up. 

As soon as they got back to class and got their results, Hana was dancing around the room. She'd passed, taking spot 15 in the list of scores. 

"You're certainly excited." Uraraka laughed as she watched Hana jump in place by her desk. 

"I went from 19th to 15th! Thanks to my two wonderful tutors."

"Still my idea." Bakugou hissed. 

"And I'm still grateful. Even though you didn't tell me what you wanted to talk about yet." 

"I said after the exams. You still need to pass the physical part before we talk about anything." 

She was in luck because that took place shortly after. Turns out their opponents weren't robots. They were teachers. Hana was paired up with Sero against Midnight. She faintly remembered that Midnight's Quirk worked better on men than women. Maybe that would give them an advantage. They certainly needed one when Sero was quickly incapacitated. She was definitely giving him a good smack when this was over. 

As she hid between a rock, she tried to get her thoughts to be a little more quiet. Okay, so Midnight's Quirk could knock her out by breathing it. So the obvious answer was to cover her mouth and nose for a bit. But with what? 

"I wonder why she was put up against Midnight with Sero?" Deku wondered out loud. "All of the matches were for a reason but I don't get this one." 

On the screen, Midnight had stood up as she called out to Hana, playfully urging her to come out.

"From my understanding, Ishikawa is a talented fighter but she tends to think more than do until she's put to the test." Recovery Girl said from next to them. 

"Midnight's Quirk is slightly less effective on girls and Ishi's out in the open sunlight." Uraraka added. 

"The ball is in her court but she has to pick up the racket or she won't be able to play." Said Recovery Girl.  

"But she doesn't have a teammate to keep her grounded." Deku said. "If she doesn't think of a plan, Midnight will catch her." 

Hana was starting to panic. She needed to think fast. She could hear Midnight getting closer. As her ideas came and went, she ran her fingers through her hair. Her bow! That could be used to cover her mouth and nose! 

But even if she could get past her teacher to the gate, she couldn't possibly carry Sero and outrun Midnight. She had no choice but to fight. She still had the capture cuffs on her belt. If she could just take her by surprise like her fighting style allowed, she could get the cuff on her. 

But just running up and blinding her was too risky. She needed a full sheath attack. She clapped her hand together and made orbs like she'd used at the sports festival. This had to work. 

"You don't have to hide from me." Midnight chuckled. "I thought you like games." 

She spotted Hana's light flashing behind the rock. She couldn't hide any longer. Midnight snuck up and -. 

Only an orb was in the girl's place and once the teacher had fully rounded the corner, the ball burst into an explosive light show. Midnight stumbled back and bumped into the second orb. The dense sphere erupted like the first with even more light. 

Midnight covered her eyes with one arm when she felt the other be touched. She yanked away but tripped over a rock. As she tried to regain her balance, she realized that another orb was above her. This one had a little green girl hitching a ride. Her mouth was still covered by the fabric of her bow. She needed to hurry before she ran out of breath. 

Hana jumped from the orb and onto her teacher, using her full body weight to weigh her shoulders down as she slammed one of the cuffs on her wrist. 

"Such passion with your attack! I'm impressed! You pass." Midnight said. 

A little muffled 'Woohoo!' came from behind her. Today seemed to be going her way. As she headed into room to watch the other fights with Deku and Uraraka, she found Bakugou waiting for her. 

"Did you see me out there!? I did it! I passed!" She cheered. 

"Yeah, I saw. Not bad." 

"So can I know what the big secret is now?" She asked hopefully. 

"Well, I was going to wait until after school but I wanted to ask you a question. What are you doing tomorrow?" 

"Tomorrow? Nothing much. Why?" 

"It's the last day before we head out that camp thing so I figured you'd have plans with your buddies or something." 

She shook her head. "I was thinking about going shopping with the others, but I hadn't decided." 

"I can make that decision for you. You're not." 

"Huh? Why not?" She asked. 

"Did you really not see what I'm trying to do here?" He snorted, getting frustrated. 

"No, am I supposed to?" 

"You might have passed your exams but you're still a dumbass, huh?!" 

"Hey!" She defended. "It's not my fault that you're being so vague." 

"I'm telling you that I want to do something with you tomorrow. Just me and you." She still looked confused and he was getting a little embarrassed so he shouted. "I thought this is what you wanted, idiot! Haven't you been trying to date me since school started?!" 

"OH!" She exclaimed, freckles shining as she blushed darkly. "Y-yes! Yes, absolutely!"

"Finally!" He scoffed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "Just meet me at the bus stop by your house at 9 am, okay?" 

"You got it, Blasty! I'll see you there." She smirked. "But only if you pass your exam." 

"Of course I will. You can bet money on it." He replied, stomping off.

"I wonder if Floatie would." She mumbled. 

Unfortunately, her buzz woke off after the fight against All Might started against Deku and Bakugou. Half way into the fight, Bakugou created a massive explosion. Probably the biggest he'd made this far. But something was wrong. The blonde hit his knees and covered his ears.  When Deku tried to help, he was smacked away. Bakugou got back to his feet but by all the arguing Deku was doing with him, it was obvious something was still going on with him.

Unable to fight at his best, Bakugou still tried until All Might knocked the boy unconscious. Deku managed to help them both pass. Hana felt sick to her stomach when she heard that Bakugou had left earlier to go to the doctor. Deku wouldn't tell a soul what happened. 

Later that night, her texts went unread until about 11 p.m. when he sent back "I'm fine. Go to sleep." 

That certainly didn't make her feel any better. She had to take his word for it. She hoped he really was okay. At least she'd get to see him in the morning. He did mention moving their meetup back an hour but didn't say anything about cancelling.  She went to bed with him on her mind as she cuddled her stuffed orca. Shortly after her mind wandered into dream land, her phone lit up from another text that she decided to leave until morning. Unbeknownst to her, it wasn't Bakugou. No, this time was her brother replying to her last message for the first time in weeks. 

Busy tomorrow?

Chapter Text

While Bakugou stood in his room staring at his phone, he felt his shoulders tensing up as he read over Kirishima’s message again. 

Hey, man. How did it go? 

Honestly? Terribly. ‘It’ was an appointment with the hearing specialist that Bakugou had been seeing since he was nine. During the fight with All Might, he’d gotten a sharp pain in his ears and the ringing was even worse now. It still came and went, but it was more frequent. 

Since he was a kid, he'd known about the damage to his ears. After getting in trouble one too many times for ‘ignoring’ his teachers,  his mom found out that her headstrong son had been hiding his worsening tinnitus and how hard it was getting to hear people from too far away. That’s when the doctor got involved. Right before the Sports Festival, he'd suggested Bakugou start wearing hearing aids but stubborn as always, the explosive teen refused. 

Today, it was less of a suggestion. That damn doctor even went so far as to say that if he didn't get hearing aids, being a hero would be near impossible. To say that he was pissed was an understatement. He’d given that doctor the cursing of a lifetime. 

He wasn’t weak. He didn’t need any help from some hunk of plastic. He could do this alone. His parents disagreed and by the time he returned from camp, he'd have a pair of them waiting for him. 

At least he had the day with Hana to take his mind off of this mess. First dates were scary but not as much as going deaf was. Still needed to figure out what to wear though. 

Meanwhile, Hana had lost her patience with getting her cat knocking things off the sink and had toted the chubby Teriyaki into the kitchen. Now, she was taking a snack break. As she inspected her caramel cube, her mother came into the kitchen. 

"Oh, you're looking pretty in that white dress." She commented as she opened the fridge. "The denim jacket might be a bit much in this heat though." 

"Just a precaution." Hana replied.

She looked over for a moment before stating. "I think you look nice. I love the white eyeshadow. But if you want to make a statement, I have some red lipstick that would look spectacular on you." 

“ Red lipstick?” Hana replied. “Dad would throw a fit.” 

"I won't tell if you won't. Besides, it's just lipstick." 

A knock at the door lured her over to it as she replied. "I'll think about it." 

She opened the door and dropped her candy bag. There stood her older brother. Instead of his normal athletic wear, he was dressed in dark jeans and a white t-shirt. His hair was slick back and he bore strong resemblance to something out of an old 80’s movie. 

“Well, aren’t you going to say hi to me?” he asked. She didn’t but she did give him a good smack on the arm. “Ouch! What was that for!? I just came by to -!”

“No, you don’t get to do that! You can’t just ignore my messages then show up out of nowhere. That’s not how this works!” she shouted with another arm smack. 

“You knew this was coming.” Hina sighed from behind her irate daughter. 

“Doesn’t make it hurt less.” Yosuke replied. “That school must be paying off. That last hit really stung.” 

“Good.” she snorted.

“I’ve been reading your messages by the way, Shorty. I just haven’t had the time to reply. But I know you’ve been in the dark and I’m planning on making some big changes soon so I wanted to come tell you in person.” 

Hana tilted her head to the side. “What kind of changes?” 

“Sit down and I’ll explain.” 

She looked at the clock. She still had 30 minutes before she needed to meet Bakugou and it was only a 2 or 3 minute walk. “Alright, but I’m in a bit of a hurry.” 

“I’ll try to make this quick.” Yosuke said. “Mom, can you sit down too? I need you both to hear this.” After both were seated, he continued. “You know I’ve been gone later than expected. I’ve met a new group of friends and we’ve been working on a project to help make the world a better place.” 

“How?” Hana asked. 

“Well, the details are complicated. I’ve been helping a lot with it though. I just wanted you two know I was safe and not living in a van somewhere.” 

“Okay, but you still haven’t mentioned when you’ve coming back.” 

“Well, that’s because I’m not.” 

“WHAT!?” 

“I’ve decided to just stay where I am now until the project’s done.”

“But… But you weren’t supposed to move out until after college.” Hana stated. 

“Well, about that…” 

“If you say that you’re dropping out of college, I’m going to come across this table and - !” 

“JB, I’ve finally figured out what I want to do with my life. I supported you going to U.A.” 

“That’s different! That’s a hero school, not some mysterious ‘project’ with some dudes you met on Spring Break!” 

“I need you to trust me.” Yosuke replied. “This is very important to me. I haven’t been this motivated in years.” 

Yosuke had been in a rut lately with inventing. Maybe this wasn’t too bad. But leaving forever? So suddenly? Her eyes prickled with tears as she looked at her hands. 

“You have to promise me one thing.” 

“I’ll talk to you as often as I can. You just keep sending me those paragraphs and I’ll keep reading them. Even if I can’t answer at the time.” 

After a moment, she asked. “Did you see my message about camp?” 

“I sure did. How’s that going?” 

“Hana’s really excited. I think she’s more excited about today though.” Hina interjected. 

“Don’t think I didn’t notice the outfit. So, where is my little sister headed off too?” 

Hana shot her mother a dirty look but it didn’t do much to stop her. “Jellybean has her first date today.” 

“Seriously!?” he asked in shock. “Who’s the victim - I mean, lucky guy?” 

“Won’t you like to know?” Hana huffed. 

“Remember the blonde guy who won the U.A Sports Festival?” Hina inquired as she stood.

“Mother!” 

Yosuke raised an eyebrow. “I really hope you guys are joking.” 

“Oh, come on.” Hana scoffed. “You don’t even know him.”

“I know he’s probably got rabies.” 

“And this is why I didn’t want you to know.” she mumbled, sitting back in her seat. 

“If it makes you feel better, Yo, the kid has my vote.” Hina offered. 

“You’ve met him? Okay, okay. You have to fill me in. Who is this guy?” 

About a mile away, Bakugou had finally gotten dressed. A black and red flannel hung over his favorite skull shirt and was matched with light colored jeans. As he slipped on his black shoes, he propped a hand on the wall for balance. 

“I should probably call that little brat and make sure she’s ready.” 

He got his phone out of his back pocket and opened his contacts. It rang a few times but ultimately went to voicemail. That was odd. He’d never called her but she usually answered his texts pretty quickly. He tried shooting her a message and headed out the door. By the time he’d gotten to the bus stop, she still hadn’t replied. His nerves were getting the better of him. Did she change her mind? Was she okay? He was actually running a few minutes late because he couldn’t find his wallet earlier. 

She was always late to class. Maybe she just needed more time. He sat on the bench and checked his phone again. She said she’d be here. She’d been flirting with him all year. Why would she not show up? Thirty minutes passed and he was getting more annoyed by the second. Was this a trick? Was she just messing with him? Did Ashido talk her into agreeing? Why wasn't she here? This is what she wanted, wasn’t it? Did she go off with her friends instead? 

Back at the apartment, Yosuke was at the fridge with a bottle of water in his hand. He was completely stunned by the information he’d gotten. 

“So you and this guy really switched bodies? That’s so weird. I’m sorry that I missed such good blackmail.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Yosuke.” she said, rolling her eyes.

As he looked at his phone, he replied. “You’d better let me know if this punk hurts you.” 

“No offense but your Quirk isn’t really made for combat, my dude.” 

“Who said I needed my Quirk? I said I have new friends and they have some interesting Quirks.” 

“How about I actually go on the date before you start threatening him? Should be time to head down there, right?” 

“Oh, Hana!” Hina said, looking at the clock on the kitchen wall. “It’s 10:45!” 

“Shit! I’m almost an hour late! He’s gonna be pissed! Mom, throw me my bag. I need my phone!” She barely caught it but immediately started digging through it. “Bye, guys. I love you. See you this afternoon!”

“Bye, kiddo!” her mother called. “I hope it goes okay!” 

As she ran down the stairs, she quickly made a phone call. She felt terrible and had to make this right. She just knew exactly what to do. She just needed a little information.

Bakugou had returned home and was currently on the couch with his head leaned back. He couldn’t believe this. That little brat lied to him. He wasn’t sure if he was mad or upset but he was something and that girl was getting an earful when she got on the bus tomorrow. Someone knocked on the door and he cursed loudly before stomping over to it. He threw it open, ready to shout at whoever was there, but surprise quieted him. It was Hana. She looked amazing. Her eyelids were dressed up in silver glitter and that eyeliner game was strong. Her lips were just covered in shiny clear gloss because her eyes were doing all the talking. 

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“I know I’m super late and I’m so sorry! My brother showed up out of nowhere and I lost track of time.” she said in one breath. 

“I called you three times.” 

“My phone was in my bag. I didn’t hear it. I’m really, really sorry.” 

“You should have texted me or something. I waited over half an hour for you and you didn’t even show up.” 

“I know. I feel awful. Listen, whatever you want to do today, I’ll pay for it if you still want to go. It’s the least I can do to make up for this.” 

He looked away as his arms crossed over his chest. “You know, if you didn’t want to go, you should have said no. I don’t need you to do this out of obligation.” 

“I want this really bad, Baku. I’ve been so excited all day. I know I messed up, but I’m sorry.” 

“You can’t just show up on my porch an hour late and think I’m just going to -! Wait a second. How did you know which house was mine? I never told you that.” 

She rubbed the back of her neck anxiously as she admitted. “I may or may not have called Deku on the way here and peer pressured him into telling me.” 

He snorted to hold back a laugh. “Seriously?” 

“Well, I wanted to apologize in person.” she defended. 

He uncrossed his arms and rocked back on his heels slightly as he thought. “Alright. You got a laugh out of me. Let me get my shoes on.”

“Really? You mean you’ll still go?” she asked eagerly.

“Yeah, I’m coming. Just wait right there.” 

“Yay!” 

Once he got his shoes on, he came out and locked the door. “So, I was thinking that we could go get breakfast together then I wanted to take you to a place that I thought you’d like. Unless you have a better idea.”  

“Sounds good to me.”  

“Don’t start telling those stupid friends about this either. Just stay off that damn phone of yours.” he huffed. 

You don't need to worry. Today’s about me and you." she said, smirking. 

He rolled his eyes and started walking. She followed him and apparently felt pretty brave today because her hand suddenly took hold of his. He ripped it out of her grip and put it behind his back protectively.  

“Don’t do that! I’m not doing that stupid hand holding crap!”  

“Why?”  

“Because I said so!”  

She pouted slightly and he sighed dramatically before looking away. “But I… I guess you can put your hand on my arm or something if you really want to. Just leave my hands alone.” 

She smiled brightly and immediately took him up on his offer, wrapping her arm through his and putting her hand on his forearm. He rolled his eyes again and started walking again. They went to a place near the school. It was a little too crowded and Bakugou nearly backed out but Hana wasn’t having it.  

She had no problem in crowds. He wasn’t fond of them. It wasn’t that he was shy because he definitely was nothing close to bashful. He had no issue with being the center of attention, but that had to be his terms. Not many people knew, but Bakugou had become pretty introverted since starting U.A. He preferred his space and liked recharging after social interaction. Not being able to do so resulted in things getting blown up.  

As they stood in line, Hana wasn’t talking to all the strangers like she usually did. She was true to her word about giving him undivided attention.  

“So, I have a question.” She said for the third time .  

“Can’t say I’m surprised.”  

“How long have you actually known Deku?”  

“I’m not talking about that useless nerd today. I thought this was supposed to be about me and you, not him.”  

“I’m just curious. No need to be defensive.”  

“I’m not being defensive!” He yelled, earning a few glances from the other customers.  

“Okay, okay. I’ll change the subject. Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask you this. You know my mom is a florist and my dad’s a cop. So, what do your parents do for a living?”  

“They’re fashion designers.” He replied, looking down at her hand that was still glued to his arm.  

“That explains a lot.”  

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!”  

She giggled and looked at him. “Well, you actually dress really nice and that makes a lot of sense if your parents are good with clothes.”  

She really, really liked what he was wearing today. The pants, unfortunately for Hana, weren’t as tight as the ones that Best Jeanist forced on him but they were still enough to show off his body that she couldn’t stop staring at. She was doing that at the moment until she heard him exhale loudly.  

“God, I can literally feel you staring at my ass right now.”  

She laughed loudly and buried her face in his upper arm. He scoffed and flicked her on top of the head.  

“Damn pervert.”  

She rubbed where his fingers hit her and pouted again. “Hey, it’s not my fault. You should appreciate the compliment.”  

“Whatever. I didn’t tell you to stop now, did I, brat?”  

She smirked and resumed her unapologetic study. When it was their turn, he let her go first. Not surprisingly, she picked out something small and sweet. He told her that wasn’t real food. 

“I don’t eat much on sunny days. I get energy from the sunlight so I just eat sweets because I like them.” she explained. 

She tried paying for it but he wasn’t allowing it, finally just snatching her debit card and holding it out of reach while he paid for it. 

“I said I’d pay stuff since I was late!” She yelled as she jumped to try to get her card.

“I didn’t agree to that. You can pay for the next thing if you want. That’s more fair.” he said, leaning away from her hand. 

Once they sat down, she started playing with her straw. She had gotten orange juice but it wasn’t her first choice. “I’m still mad that you won’t let me get any coffee. I mean, you got some! How is that fair?”  

“I don’t drink 6 energy drinks a day. You’re not doing that shit anymore either. You’re not gonna force me into liking you then have a damn heart attack.” He said, pouring a sugar packet into his cup.  

“So mean to me.” She sighed, resting her chin in her palm. 

“I’m not mean. Being mean would be not caring if your heart blows out of your chest after all that caffeine. You should take the compliment.``  

“Oh, using my words against me now, Baku?” She laughed.  

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just telling the truth.”  

As she watched him stir with the skinny little straw, she grinned. “So, you do really like me, huh?”  

“Nah, I totally buy breakfast for all the idiots in class and let them hang on me like a lost puppy the whole time. You didn’t know?” He said, sarcastically.  

“Asshole.” She huffed.  

“Brat.” He said back before taking a sip of coffee. 

“How do you drink coffee like that? Just one sugar packet? I put like 26.”  

“How the actual hell do you have the patience to open 26 individual packets?” He asked, looking at her with legitimate confusion.  

She shrugged. “I’m a pretty patient person. Thought you knew that.” 

His phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his shirt pocket. She mumbled something about him being hypocrite but he didn’t look up from the screen when he flipped her off.  The message was from Kirishima, asking how things were going. He quickly typed back ‘fine’ and laid his phone down on the table. 

“You ready yet?” He asked. 

Popping the last bite into her mouth, she nodded. He led her outside and listened to her ramble about every random thing that popped into her head. He would have been annoyed with it if she didn’t keep making him a part of it. She wasn’t just talking at him. She would ask his opinion and make him involved in the story.  

At one point before they reached the next place they were going, she started walking ahead of him and that couldn’t be ignored. He shouted at her to either walk beside him or behind him and she tilted her to the side.  

“Why do you do that? I noticed you do that to other people too.”  

“It’s nothing. Just do as I say!”   

Her eyes were still on him and he squirmed a bit under her curious glaze.  

“It’s definitely something , isn’t it?” She asked softly. “Something important?”  

He looked away and mumbled, “You’re gonna make me say it, aren’t you?”  

“I just want to know you’re okay. Does it have anything to do with you getting hurt during the exam?”  

He closed his eyes. “I guess you should know if we’re possibly gonna be around each other more. But if you tell anyone about this, this little arrangement never happened and you’re not ever allowed to speak to me again, you got that?”  

She nodded as she walked closer to him. He opened his eyes and looked at the ground.  

“When people walk in front of me, it’s hard for me to hear them. I’m partially deaf.”  

Her eyes widened. That made entirely too much sense. The loudness, why he stood so close to people when speaking, why he hated being stuck up on. And now that she really thought about it, there had been several times that he flat out ignored her but seemed almost embarrassed about it once she got his attention. She swallowed the lump in her throat before saying gently.  

“My God. I’m so sorry.”  

“Don’t do that. Don’t act like I’m broken or something! I’m fine. It’s just that my explosions being so close caused nerve damage in my ears. It started when I was about nine and it’s gotten worse since I started at U.A. because my Quirk got stronger. According to that stupid doctor that my mom drags me to, I’ll probably be completely deaf by my mid-twenties.”  

She felt tears gather in her eyes. “There’s nothing they can do to stop it?”  

“I’d have to use some kind of protection for my ears but I can’t do hero stuff with ear plugs in. It’s too bad yet. It’s just hard to focus on noises.  It’s fine. I don’t care. I’m gonna be number one regardless! Something like this can’t stop me.”  

She loved his determination. She showed it by wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly. He almost told her to get off of him until he felt her trembling. She was really worried about him, wasn’t she?

“I haven’t told anyone else about this. Not even Kirishima. Deku knows because he’s been around me my whole life, but he knows that I’ll kill him if he tells anyone. He doesn’t know that it’s worse though.”  

“If you need anything, you’d better tell me. I know you’re strong. You’re stronger than I could ever hope to be. But you’re only human and I don’t want you to feel like you can’t trust me. I’m here for you, okay?”  

He exhaled lightly and replied softly, “Yeah, I know that. Now get off me! This isn’t some sob story. Let’s just go to the next place. We’ll have to take the bus. It’s a little far.”  

“Where are we going?” she asked as she let go and walked next to him. 

“You’ll see.” he said. “You’d better like it. No smart ass comments about it either!” 

“No promises.”

Chapter Text

It wasn’t until they were on the bus that her mother’s words came to fruition. The summer heat was gathering on this bus and she was definitely feeling it under this jacket. She tried to take her mind off of it by talking to the lady across from her about her dog but her uncomfortable body language was soon noticed. 

"You gonna take that thing off before you have a heat stroke or what?" Bakugou asked flatly as he looked over at her slightly. 

"You gotta admit it's a cute jacket tho." 

"In the middle of summer? I'm sweating just looking at you. Take it off before you pass out." 

She shifted slightly in her seat as she mumbled. "I can't." 

"Because you'll get hyper, right?" 

She sighed softly. "Yeah, something like that." 

"Do you think I'm that stupid?" He snarled. 

"Huh? What do you mean?" 

"I knew it'd be sunny today and I still wanted to go. I'm used to you being all giggly and excited. If it bothered me that much, I wouldn't have wasted my time." 

She stared at him wide eyed as she felt her heart do a backflip. After a moment, she leaned forward and pulled the jacket off. Sighing deeply with relief, she put it in her bag and sat back. 

"That's so much better. Thank you." She said, "So any hints about where you're dragging me off to?" 

"Why are you so impatient? You don't trust me or something?" 

"I'm just curious. Can I at least have a hint?” 

“You can’t wait five minutes?” he scoffed. 

“You’re killing me! I wanna know.” 

“Fine! Your name.” 

She squinted slightly at him. “Wait, what?” 

“You asked for a hint. Your name. That’s all you’re getting.” 

“Well, that’s not much help at all!” 

“Too bad.” he replied, looking out of the window across from him. 

"You're so stubborn." She lamented playfully. "Fine. I guess I'll just wait then." 

And wait she did until Bakugou stood up at the next stop and told her to follow. When she realized where they were, her jaw dropped. 

"The botanical gardens? This is where you wanted to go?" She asked hesitantly. "Oh! The hint was my name because my name means flower! Man, I feel dumb now." 

"Well, your mom is a florist so you probably like flowers, right? What, was I wrong or something?" He demanded. 

"No, I love flowers! I know the meanings of a ton of them." She replied. "It's really sweet that you thought about that." 

"Sweet? It's not sweet! It's common sense." 

"Sure it is, Blasty. Come on, let's go inside! I've never been to this one." 

As soon as they got inside, Hana was drawn to some yellow orchids that were standing tall at the base of a dogwood tree.