Chapter Text
“Finally! We get to relax,” Kyoka exhaled.
They had just finished up the Room King competition and were outside Denki’s room. Kyoka leaned against the doorway and watched as Denki flopped onto his bed with a thump.
“Ahh, yeah,” Denki sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Now that all the Bakugo stuff is over, we get to kick back in our sweet new dorms.”
“I am so not excited to have you at my door every day asking for help with English.”
Denki flicked his head towards her and sat up.
“Wait, I could totally do that now! Life will be so much easier now that I don’t have to chase you down after class.” Denki’s eyes lit up and he flashed Kyoka a youthful grin.
Kyoka laughed, wished Denki a good first night in the dorms, and headed back to her own. She actually was excited to be dorming with her class. It was a new opportunity to get closer to the rest of her classmates. Up until this point, she had only really been close to Denki. They got along well after the mess of the USJ attack and after Denki failed a couple tests and needed some serious tutoring. Kyoka was more than happy to help him as he was intimidated by academic geniuses like Momo and Tenya. Since then, they spent a lot of time together messing around and jamming to music.
Denki had asked before the kidnapping if she could help him learn guitar too. She agreed, begrudgingly. After having tutored him for so long, she knew that he was not the quickest learner and often got frustrated when he didn’t get things right away. But, with the right amount of motivation and reassurance, he got better and better with his studies and she figured she could do the same teaching him the guitar.
While walking back to her room, Kyoka began to think. She was friendly with all of her classmates, but all of her relationships with them were shallow. She had hoped at some point that she would find the time to get to know them better; she just didn’t think it would take a kidnapping for such an opportunity to arise.
Kyoka stepped into the elevator on the girls' side and pressed 3. She sighed and closed her eyes as she leaned back onto the cold elevator wall. Tomorrow was going to be a handful with the new conditions in the dorms.
“Wait up!”
Kyoka cracked an eye open to see Momo rushing towards the elevator. She quickly stuck out an earphone jack to prevent the doors from closing. Kyoka was caught off-guard, but she was glad her reaction was fast enough to catch the doors.
Momo slowed down and clutched the doorway of the elevator as she caught her breath. Kyoka slowly retracted her earphone jack and watched as Momo, resident rich girl and genius, panted while keeping eye contact with her.
Kyoka’s face flushed and she blurted out, “Damn.”
Momo looked at her confused as they stood silent for one too many seconds.
“Uhh― I mean, sorry! I… uh, are you ok?” Kyoka managed to get out before the moment got any more awkward. Her face was redder than ever.
Momo chuckled softly, “Um, yeah. Are you?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m totally fine.” Kyoka said, wincing as she realized how weird she had just made things.
“Sorry I startled you, I just didn’t want to have to wait for the next one or take the stairs.” Momo huffed, smiling at Kyoka. “Thanks for holding the doors for me.”
Kyoka could feel her blush reach her ears as Momo walked into the elevator and stood next to her. She had always thought Momo was pretty, but she hadn’t spent much time with her because she was intimidated by her.
“It’s no problem, really.”
The door closed, hissing slightly. The elevator jolted as it rose up.
“Oh, I could have sworn I pushed 3,” Kyoka murmured, mildly perplexed as the doors opened to reveal the fifth floor a few seconds later. “I’m such a ditz.”
Momo laughed, a bit too loudly. Kyoka looked over to see Momo kneeling on the floor. She was crying.
“Oh my god, Yaomomo what’s wrong?” Kyoka exclaimed, dropping down next to her.
“Sorry, sorry it's nothing I―” Momo choked out. “I… it’s just… a lot just happened.”
Kyoka’s mind was going at 100 miles a minute. She could not believe the class vice president had just collapsed next to her, bawling.
“Come on, let's get you to your room,” Kyoka urged. She stood Momo up and led her to her room at the end of the hall.
They got to the door and Momo unlocked it with tears still streaming down her face. Kyoka wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t know Momo that well, but she never anticipated having to console the strongest girl in the class. She had seen her face so much without having so much as a single bead of sweat dripping down her face.
“Do you… want me to stay with you for a bit? Talk it out? The thing that's bothering you, that is.” Kyoka suggested shakily. She was worried about crossing a boundary, but she wanted to help Momo.
Momo was looking down at the floor with her weight resting on her hand that was holding the doorknob. She sniffled a couple times before looking up at Kyoka to say: “Yeah if that’s okay with you. I could really use a shoulder to cry on right now.”
Kyoka let out a quiet laugh. “Both literally and figuratively it seems.”
Momo smiled through her tears and opened the door to beckon her inside.
Kyoka reveled in the sight of her king-sized bed, surrounded by bookcases. It seemed a lot less cramped and a bit more luxurious without the rest of their class crowded in with them.
She helped Momo, who was trying to catch her breath in between soft sobs, over to her bed and sat alongside her. Momo grabbed a few tissues off of her bedside table and blew her nose rather loudly.
“Sorry Jirou, I must look like such a mess,” Momo croaked after taking a deep breath.
Kyoka laughed softly and placed her hand on Momo’s back.
“You look fine Yaomomo. Now, do you want to talk about what happened?” Kyoka asked, trying to reassure her by maintaining eye contact.
Momo fidgeted with the tissues in her hand and remained silent for a minute. She looked down at them and took a shaky deep breath.
“It’s totally fine if you don’t want to tell me, but I am here for you if you need m―”
“I feel like a fucking idiot,” Momo let out.
Kyoka gasped sharply and retracted her hand. Did she hear her right?
“Asui took me and the group that went out to help Bakugo outside and apologized for what she said in the hospital. She felt horrible for insinuating that we were villains for wanting to help our friend.” Momo began crushing the tissues. “And I realized how much stress I put on our class by putting myself and others in danger.”
Kyoka did not know about the rescue operation her classmates attempted until after the fact. She could hardly imagine how she would have reacted if she had known.
“I just feel terrible for making everyone worry so much. Asui was sobbing telling us how sorry she was and worried she was for us after finding out.” Momo gripped tighter onto the ball of tissue she created. “I never wanted to cause others pain just so I could fill some selfish desire to feel heroic by saving Bakugo.”
Kyoka was dazed, she didn’t think of Momo as the type to have selfish desires. Momo had been so generous with the class whether it came to her duties as vice president or helping a few study for midterms. She was always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who needed it. It was one of the reasons Kyoka looked up to her.
“I don't think it was selfish Yaomomo,” Kyoka uttered after some time. “You and the others wanted to help someone that was in danger because you all care so much about helping your loved ones.”
Momo looked up to meet Kyoka’s eyes. As she did, Kyoka felt something sink in her chest. She could see the hurt in her eyes and it took everything in her to not break down herself. She hated seeing Momo like this.
“But I hurt others in the process. I almost agree with Asui’s claim that we were acting like villains. We put our own needs and desires above the needs of others.”
Momo started tearing up again and Kyoka grasped her hand.
“Yaomomo, you did nothing of the sort. What you guys did was incredibly brave. If I’d known, I would have done the same.” Kyoka said, giving Momo’s hand a squeeze. “All that matters is that you all came out of it alive, and the mission was successful because of what you all did.”
Momo was quiet. Kyoka wasn’t sure if she said the right thing. Was there another way she could comfort her? She had gotten so caught up in the moment that she didn’t register if her words had more weight than she had intended.
“That means a lot coming from you.” Momo wiped her eyes one last time. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this silly breakdown so late at night.”
Kyoka hadn’t even realized how late it was. She glanced over to see Momo’s bedside alarm clock read 11:38 PM.
Damn, I should have already been asleep by now.
“It’s alright Yaomomo. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. It’s not like you to be so torn up about something.”
Momo chuckled softly. “Yeah, I must seem crazy right about now.”
“Not at all. You should see how wrecked Kaminari gets watching Up.”
They both burst out in laughter.
“I’d pay to see that.”
“I’ll make sure to invite you to our next movie night then!”
They laughed again and once they settled down, Kyoka asked, “But really, are you okay?”
“Yeah. I think I’m feeling better about everything. Thank you, Jirou.”
“Anytime.”