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Fuyumi was good at keeping herself together.
She had trained herself from a young age to not crack under sudden panic or stress, and to always keep her composure no matter the situation.
Though, with her straightforward, all-business thinking, she had never taken into account if she was supposed to keep up the attitude around somebody who she possibly had a crush on. That was only if she was able to keep up her composure, which so far, she didn’t seem physically able to do so.
She had never had an actual crush before. Her high school years had been too blurry and upsetting, and most of the details of her life were hidden from everyone around her. There had been a time that she had assumed she had a crush, but a lot of research and confusion proved that it was only the forced feeling that she had to like a boy due to everyone around her. Shortly after that she had realized her lack of interest in boys at all.
So, at twenty-four years of age, to be reduced to a blushing and stuttering mess every time she got a text from a certain woman was certainly a surprising experience. She wasn’t stupid enough to not know what it was, but apparently she was stupid enough to have no idea what to do about it. She was not the type of person to put herself out there, unless it was for a job or the benefit of her family.
Doing things for her own sake was a bit difficult, even with her father— and the villainous reminder of the past— locked up. Having an actual crush, if that was what it was, was probably good for her. She knew that, having heard doctors and therapists drone on for her mother long enough (and the few times they even tried to evaluate her, which she always shut down), but that didn’t mean she wanted to acknowledge it.
Hiding half of her life since she was a child had taught her how to be really good at speaking to people, but only in the guarded way that she learned so carefully. The only other way she knew was how she spoke to her family, and the conversations always delved into some sad, reminiscent tone at some point. It had been happening less, but there was always the option, and she didn’t think she could compare speaking to the most important people in her life to speaking to someone who she maybe had feelings for.
It was easy to say that she wasn’t the best at speaking casually to people, and had no idea what the expected way to act was. The worst part was that she never even had to worry about those things, it didn’t usually come to her mind. She wasn’t an extreme over thinker.
Fuyumi did not like having a crush on someone. She felt like a teenage girl again, despite being well past that stage in life. It did not help that the woman she happened to have feelings for was the most effortlessly confident and amazing person she had ever seen. Rumi Usagiyama, or Miruko, was certainly a sight to behold.
She was deciding to blame Hawks. He had made a promise to her, shortly before society fell apart, to give Usagiyama her phone number. And, despite everything, he had held it up. As giddy and happy as it made her, she was also terrified, and was perfectly content to blame him for her sudden relapse into a high school girl crushing on the much cooler girl.
She’d spoken to Usagiyama a number of times. The first time they had ever spoken was during the war, while Fuyumi was standing in a safehouse and desperately waiting for Shouto to return, and Usagiyama walked by as if the entire world was waiting for her.
(“Um, excuse me, do you happen to know when the hero students group is returning?” she asked in a panic to the first hero to walk by.
Her heart was racing, and the only thing keeping her from breaking down into a puddly mess was the knowledge that Natsuo and her mom were tucked safely into another room, and that Shouto could take care of himself. Surely, he could. He was not going to be the next fatality in this war, she couldn’t allow that thought to ever cross her mind. God, why were they still using kids to fight their battles?
The woman turned around sharply. Fuyumi recognized her as Miruko, and for a brief moment she remembered a time her and Hawks had talked about how she found her attractive. Then, her thoughts caught up with her.
Miruko had looked ready to snap at her, clearly in a rush, but then her face had gone blank. Fuyumi wondered if she thought she was her mom, or if she had just begun to look that pathetic. She promptly moved her hand away from her chin, her cuticles chewed raw. She was so tired of the pity glances from every single person every which way.
“They don’t have schedules for that type of stuff anymore,” she began to walk away, Fuyumi’s heart falling with her footsteps, “but I heard some guy saying that they failed to accomplish anything and were on their way back.”)
The second time they interacted had been even more brief than the first, and she didn’t even think that the woman knew who she was. It had been two days before the end of it all, and she’d been walking out of the grocery store. There was some sort of villain attack outside, and Hawks was about ten feet in front of her. Prior to the fall of society, they’d been friends, and she tossed up a hand in wave.
She had then walked away and watched how he had begun excitedly talking to the hero beside him, Miruko, and an hour later he said he had put in a good word. At the time the lightheartedness had been much needed, despite the lack of expectation that anything would come out of it and that the conflict would be over anytime soon.
After that was the instance she had gone to Hawks place for the first time since before the disaster, and she’d only intended to stop by to give him a large container of food that nobody in her house wanted. She’d messed up the recipe, and while it was good, they weren’t going to eat it. She hadn’t expected to see Miruko sitting on the couch beside him.
She stayed an hour longer than intended that day, while Hawks played wingman (the nickname that fit far too well for him) and Fuyumi attempted to keep herself from blushing too harshly.
After that were a few more brief meetings, and a lot of long text conversations that made Fuyumi’s stomach flip every time she thought about them. Usagiyama was more than she ever expected from someone, in the best way possible, and it was absolutely terrifying.
Usagiyama was brave, and she was obviously heroic. She seemed to be scared of absolutely nothing. She was kind, but not in the overwhelming way that Fuyumi often was. It was more of how she was kind enough to give her as much information about the hero students the first time they spoke, and how she did more than just pose for a picture with kids who looked up to her, offering them advice. She was a force to be reckoned with, and despite not knowing her as well as she’d like to eventually, Fuyumi had a feeling if she set her mind to something she’d never be turned off of it.
She had also asked Fuyumi out on a sort-of date. Making her the bravest and most terrifying person ever.
Fuyumi had no idea if it was a date, though.
It was ice skating.
According to Natsuo, it was a date. Although, she didn’t want to regress to the point of taking romance advice from her younger brother. There was the fact that he had a girlfriend, but he was also a college student. Taking advice from a college student felt like one of those things that she should never do.
Yet, there she was, sitting on the floor of her room with her brother across from her. Her mom had attempted to weigh in, but she hadn’t been much help. There was no point in asking Shouto, but Natsuo had jokingly called him anyways. He hadn’t even attempted in advice, his words screeching to a halt when what Natsuo was really saying caught up with him
Fuyumi had told Hawks her panic and how much she blamed him for it, but he was also zero help. The only person he ever showed interest in was her villainous brother, so she didn’t even want to begin to ask him for advice. Just like how she wasn’t going to ask the college kid for help, she wasn’t going to ask the man who she had to teach how to do the dishes for advice (although she had to teach both of them how to do the dishes at some point.)
Deciding what to wear to ice skating wasn’t even the hardest part. Fuyumi never stressed about clothes, and while the worry had popped up, Natsuo was useful in that aspect. Her normal clothes were good enough, considering it was just iceskating.
She’d decided on a simple turtleneck and jeans, something that wasn’t formal for her but could always be played off as formal. Besides, they were iceskating, it wasn’t like she could wear a skirt.
The hardest part was trying to figure out what she’d say or do. She wasn’t even sure if it was a date or not, or if Usagiyama had any feelings for her, and it was going to be the death of her. No amount of rambling from Natsuo could fix it.
Fuyumi liked to have control. It was a fact, and she knew it and even took pride in it sometimes. People often called her overbearing for it, but it had done her well most of her life, and if it made her bossy then she could deal with it. Having control also included knowing how something was going to go, and being able to do something about it if she didn’t like it.
She had absolutely no control. She hadn’t even been to the damned ice skating rink before, nor had she ever been ice skating in her life. She was probably going to be terrible at it and fall on her ass and Usagiyama would never want to speak to her again.
She shut her eyes, leaning against the wall trying to relax.
“You’ll do fine! I’ve never even seen you struggle talking to people,” Natsuo droned on, attempting to give some form of encouragement.
At some point she zoned him out, instead opting to shove as much as she could into her wallet. She decided that she wasn’t going to bring her purse, and it’d be easier to have her wallet handing off of her wrist the entire time. Even if there was some place to keep her purse while they were skating, she was not going to leave it out in the open. Crime levels had gone down significantly but people would always take things when they’re left out in the open.
Her keys hung off of her wallet, and any identification or currency was within it. Usually she had much more unnecessary stuff on her, but she didn’t want to be the one to bring too much on a date. She was already going to mess up ten times, she didn’t want to mess up in that aspect, too.
Then, the clock was ticking down, and she was walking out of the room. Natsuo only noticed once she was at the door, turning around to glare at him.
“Oh, you’re going?”
“Yes, Natsu.”
“You’re gonna do great!” he leapt forward, placing his hands on her shoulders as they walked, “Mom, you can say goodbye to your daughter as she goes on her first date!”
Fuyumi felt her face heat up, something that definitely would not be a rarity that afternoon. Her mom popped her head into the hall, smiling widely. It was embarrassing to have never been on a date, but it also meant it was one of the few aspects of her life that she hadn’t missed. It was one of many more firsts she’d be there for, that much was for certain.
“I’m not even sure if it’s a date,” she threw her arms up, pulling on her coat.
“It probably is,” her mom smiled.
“It definitely is,” Natsuo finished.
She rolled her eyes, giving her mom a half hug.
“Be home by nine,” Natsuo joked.
“I can’t remember the last time you were home that early after going out at night.”
He looked absolutely scandalized, and she took it as her chance to walk out the door, smiling as she waved. She really did love them, even if Natsuo was just there for the day and was typically too busy to spend much time there. She walked to the train station, awkward with the absence of a purse strap to hold as she walked.
The train ride went by quickly, her leg bouncing the whole way. As nervous as she was, there was also excitement flooding through her. New situations were almost always a bad thing in her experience, and to be hopefully walking into a good one was exhilarating. She almost couldn’t keep the smile off of her face on the train ride just thinking about spending the afternoon with Usagiyama. Her self-made rule of keeping her composure at all times was falling apart at the seams.
Eventually the train stopped, and she was walking the short distance to the skating rink. The air was crisp and cold, her breath showing in front of her. It was the best kind of weather, in her opinion, one where she’d never have to worry about getting overheated. As much as she liked to act invincible to it, she knew that at a certain point it would get too cold.
The crowded area came into view, and she suddenly really hoped that Usagiyama wasn’t too recognizable in public as a hero. She had a tail and ears, both of which were pretty noticeable, Fuyumi had to assume. It would be a bit disappointing if the whole time she was just a bystander while Usagiyama was getting swarmed with fans.
Yet, all her worries fell away when she saw somebody sitting on a bench outside of the rink. Fuyumi’s face already got warm just looking at her, and she smiled, resisting running over as she calmly worked her way through the people.
Usagiyama had on a beanie, covering her ears in a way that was probably very uncomfortable. She had on a large coat, likely covering her tail. She was sitting cross legged on the bench, and one hand was covered by a mitten and holding a second one, while in the other hand was a phone which she was typing furiously on.
Fuyumi slowed her pace, unsure of how to approach Usagiyama specifically. Part of her couldn’t believe that she was on a maybe-date with someone so wonderful, and gorgeous, but the other part of her was just trying to make it through it and not panic.
“Hey!” she called, walking past the last few people in her way.
Usagiyama’s head snapped up, and a grin quickly spread over her face at the sight of Fuyumi. She stood, crossing the small distance quickly. Fuyumi saw the red across her face, but she was more than sure that it was from the cold weather.
“Hi! I was a bit early, huh.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry I’m here a bit late! My brother held me up.”
“It’s not even four yet, you know,” she smiled.
Fuyumi’s chest squeezed, “I’m just sorta early everywhere I go, so this feels late.”
“Nah, you’re fine. I didn’t mean to get here so early, but the train wasn’t busy today. Let’s get going, especially so we can warm up!”
Fuyumi turned her head curiously, though she walked after Usagiyama quickly. She saw how the woman took off her other mitten, shoving it into her large pockets and leaving her hands empty. Fuyumi promptly looked away when she noticed that she was staring at her hands, instead walking up behind her.
“I mentioned I’ve never been ice skating before, right?” she asked as they got in line to get their skates, already having bought their tickets online.
“Yep, and that’s exactly why we had to come here. Even in this awful weather, it’s so much fun.”
“I’m probably just going to fall a bunch, honestly,” she said sheepishly.
“Then I’ll help you out! It’s really not that hard, trust me.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
She bit her cheek, smiling. The line took forever, but it wasn’t exactly a bad thing when they each had good company.
Usagiyama always appeared so much taller than her, but standing beside her made their similar heights stand out. Fuyumi was always around people taller than her, so it was pretty nice, mainly because she didn’t have to look upwards to look in her eyes. Her eyes were really pretty, she mentally noted. They were like little red pools of beauty.
She was talking about a really good ramen place she had found, and Fuyumi was listening intently. Just listening to her talk was enough, with the passion that she said everything with making it all intriguing. She could practically hear Natsuo making fun of her in her head, but she couldn’t bring herself to care as they stepped up to grab their skates.
They picked a bench to put their skates on from, and Fuyumi was painfully aware of how close they had sat together. She realized that she couldn’t let Usagiyama lead the entire conversation, perking up nervously.
“Uh, I have to ask, is that beanie uncomfortable for you?”
She paused from tying her skates, looking at Fuyumi before looking up as if she could see the beanie, “Not really, actually! I mean, it’s not the best, but it’s from this brand that it made for this type of stuff. It’s a thin fabric, and I’m kinda used to the suffocating ears feeling at this point.”
“That doesn’t sound very pleasant.”
“It’s fine, really. Not like there’s another choice. Besides, it’s time to teach you how to ice skate! No stalling!”
Usagiyama stood up, balancing carefully despite only having a pair of single metal skates holding her up. When Fuyumi awkwardly positioned her hands on the bench, not quite steady, Usagiyama offered a hand to help pull her up. Even then, she looked so confident, it sent Fuyumi into a mental flustered mess that left her incapable of speaking as she took her hand.
They walked to the small entrance to the rink, Usagiyama quickly stepping on, only holding the side with one hand. Her other hand was still holding Fuyumi’s, and she practically pulled her onto the rink. Fuyumi felt how different the ground became when she was on the ice, and made the attempt to shut the door without falling.
She didn’t do well, because the moment she tried to step forward and placed her foot down, it slipped out from beneath her. She sent both arms out in some automatic attempt to catch herself, her eyes squeezing shut. Instead of landing on ice, two steady hands were now beneath hers.
When she opened her eyes, Usagiyama was grinning like a maniac, using both arms to keep Fuyumi from falling while she balanced perfectly fine. Fuyumi could only watch and try to straighten her back as Usagiyama pulled them backwards and further into the rink, away from the door as more people walked in.
“Should we maybe stay towards the wall?” Fuyumi asked, trying to keep her knees from locking.
“You don’t need the wall when you have me!”
A grin spread over Fuyumi’s face, too.
Within the next ten minutes Usagiyama explained how she could avoid falling every time she moved her foot, even if she was still terrible at it. Fuyumi managed to not be hunched over and leaning onto Usagiyama completely, even if she was a bit disappointed at that one.
She was still terrible at it, and in turn holding onto one of Usagiyama’s hands. They were side by side, Fuyumi being led by the other woman. She didn’t miss the way her hand was wrapped in Usagiyama’s, and it made her reluctant to even attempt to let go, in fear that she wouldn’t be able to hold it again.
“You’re really bad at this!” Usagiyama laughed as Fuyumi nearly fell again.
“Can you blame me?” she asked within a laugh, definitely talking much louder than she should have been.
“You literally have an ice quirk, so yes, I definitely can!”
“That’s extremely different, come on,” she burst out laughing, bringing them both to a stop.
When she recovered she looked up to find Usagiyama staring at her, that grin still spread across her face. Her eyes were sparkling, and Fuyumi could have sworn she could’ve gotten lost in them if she kept staring. When she realized that a moment had stretched a bit too long, she looked away, breaking the strong stare they’d been holding.
“I dunno, you’d think it’d give you some sort of affinity to ice skating.”
“All it gives me is way too cold hands!”
“Well, right now your hand is very warm, and it’s great.”
Fuyumi was tugged forward as Usagiyama continued skating, nearly slamming into some teenagers who were taking up a lot of space. Fuyumi was too busy mentally panicking to toss out an apology to the teenagers they’d plowed through— because, holy shit, Usagiyama had just said that her hands were great.
“Yeah, that is the one perk of it, when I’m not using the quirk.”
“Is that why you’re not absolutely freezing right now?” Usagiyama shouted, facing forward.
“It’s still pretty cold, but yea!”
“No, no, you don’t seem cold at all! Your hand is literally warm, without gloves, in this weather!”
Part of her squeezed, wondering if that was the only reason for the prolonged hand holding.
“Okay, yeah, the cold isn’t bad at all for me,” she giggled as if it was some big secret.
“I cannot even tell you how jealous I am right now,” Usagiyama turned to her, skating backwards past people.
She grabbed Fuyumi’s free hand, leaving both of their hands linked again as they faced each other. It felt so distantly romantic, and it was leaving her a mess, no words on her mind at all.
“I can’t imagine you being jealous of me, at all,” she laughed.
Usagiyama’s smile faded a bit, “What’s that mean?”
Panic surged through her, realizing she had said something wrong. She had been doing so good, too. She’d hardly made any mistakes, and now she had messed everything up. She rushed to explain herself.
“I mean, you’re just so interesting and cool! And, you know, I’m, not, I guess,” she laughed nervously.
“What do you mean ‘you’re not’?”
“Uh, you’re just, incredible! Like, you’re incredibly brave, and considerate, and just, incredible.”
“And you are..?” she inquired, narrowing her eyes as if Fuyumi hadn’t just poured out her feelings nervously.
“Kinda boring?”
Usagiyama’s eyes went wide, her hands tightening on Fuyumi’s. She looked as if Fuyumi had just said the worst thing in the world, and she wondered for a moment if she had. She couldn’t even remember exactly what she had said, not as she stared at Usagiyama’s shocked eyes.
“Boring?” she shouted, her face awfully close to Fuyumi’s.
“Uh, yeah?”
“What? Are you insane? You teach little kids! And you take care of them, really good! And you take care of your brothers, and Hawks! You make really, really good food, and you know how to do all the necessary house stuff really well!”
“That’s…” she struggled for words, “Kinda boring stuff.”
“No!” she shouted again, “You must have some sort of self worth problem. Let me say it again, you teach little kids! Little kids are a nightmare! And you put so much effort into it, and you love it! You put so much effort into everything you do, and it makes you the least boring person ever, literally.”
Fuyumi was sure that her face was flushed. Once Usagiyama was finished she leaned back a bit, and her face looked a tad bit redder then it had been from just the cold. For a moment Fuyumi was scared she’d pull away and be done with her, but she just stood, staring.
“Oh,” was all she could say.
“You really think you’re boring?” she asked again.
She bit her cheek anxiously, “I mean, sorta, yeah. Maybe not anymore.”
Usagiyama stuck her chin up triumphantly, “Good! Never think you’re boring again!”
“Thanks,” she smiled.
“Don’t thank me, just skate!”
With that, Usagiyama unlinked one of their hands and surged forward. Fuyumi tried to skate up next to her, managing to get over without falling. The hands that had been linked the whole time were still together, and she couldn’t be bothered to feel too embarrassed when she got slightly too close to Usagiyama’s personal space while they skated.
Their arms bumped a dozen more times as they skated, and eventually she stopped panicking every time it happened. Hearing Usagiyama, the coolest person she’d ever met, say that she wasn’t boring, was enough to put her head into the clouds as they continued skating.
When they came back near the door for the dozenth time and skated towards it, Fuyumi felt disappointment pang in her chest. Her legs were burning, and she had a feeling once she was back on normal ground she’d collapse, but she really didn’t want the maybe-date to end.
Usagiyama got off first, and for the first time since they had gotten on the rink their hands unlinked. Fuyumi flexed her fingers as she awkwardly positioned herself to step down, and Usagiyama held out a hand for her to take. She’d never been so pleased to take someones hand, and if they continued to hold hands as they walked to the nearest unoccupied bench, then that was their business.
She was happy to take the skates off, feeling as if they were one step away from killing her. Though, she supposed she didn’t have to worry about the dangerous shoes, not when Usagiyama was there to help her stay up.
Once her own shoes were back on and she was standing, she felt the pain in her legs from the past hour of exercise. It wasn’t even particularly taxing, but she was not an athletic person. Having her feet back on solid ground and in solid shoes again was certainly strange, too.
Usagiyama handed Fuyumi her wallet back, having previously tucked it into one of her very large pockets. Fuyumi was a bit envious of the coat, and as they pushed their way through people was wondering if starting a conversation about it could prolong their outing.
Unfortunately, they were soon enough standing outside of the train station, and dread was pooling in Fuyumi fast. She turned to Usagiyama, who was already facing her. Her hands were shoved in her pockets, though the mittens hadn’t returned.
“Congrats on learning how to skate,” she grinned.
“It’s not like I can take any of the credit!”
“I wasn’t the one moving your feet.”
Fuyumi smiled, taking a leap, “But you were the one holding my hand.”
Usagiyama tilted her chin up again, moving out of the way a bit as people walked by them. Fuyumi had a question on the end of her tongue, but she wasn’t sure she was brave enough.
Until, it became clear that Usagiyama wasn’t going to speak again, and she remembered her words from the rink. Usagiyama had said that Fuyumi put effort into everything she did, and she’d be damned if she proved her wrong for the first time ever.
“Uh, was this a date?” she asked nervously.
Usagiyama’s head snapped to face hers, and the redness across her cheeks had definitely grown. Fuyumi felt some sort of pride in that, but anxiety was spreading throughout her quickly.
“Do you want it to be?” Usagiyama asked confidently.
Fuyumi cursed everything in the world for that question.
“Do you?” she dragged out the last syllable.
“I asked first.”
Fuyumi practically whined, “You can’t ask me that!”
“You asked if it’s a date! It is if you want it to be, I’m not gonna force you into a date or something!”
She whined a bit again, before the words processed in her mind. Her heart felt as if it stopped and had sped up infinitely as she reworked that sentence in her mind a dozen times.
“So you’re okay if it’s a date?”
“You’re terrible at this, Todoroki.”
Fuyumi laughed in embarrassment before looking back up at her firmly, “Fine then, it’s a date.”
She didn’t think Usagiyama’s grin could get any wider than she’d seen, but it did. Perhaps it was the twinkle in her lovely eyes helping it, Fuyumi couldn’t be sure. She just knew that she had just gone on a date with the most perfect woman ever, and she was over the moon about it.
“Do you have dinner plans?” Usagiyama asked.
“No, I do not,” Fuyumi hurried to say, biting her lip to stop herself from grinning too hard.
“Wanna go to that ramen place I found?”
The grin broke out anyways, “Nothing would make me happier right now than extending this date.”
Usagiyama took her hand out of her pocket, rather violently grabbing Fuyumi’s hand as she turned them in the correct direction to walk.
Fuyumi had no idea what was going to happen next, but she found that she didn’t quite mind.
—
Natsuo had ended up staying at Fuyumi and his moms place for awhile, curious to talk to his sister whenever she got home. To his surprise, at 9:30 in the afternoon, he heard the door open and shut.
He looked at the other couch where his mom was sitting, a cheeky grin spreading across his face. She smiled, though shook her head lightly.
“It’s after 9 pm!” he shouted to Fuyumi.
“I literally do not care!”
When she walked by on the way to her room, she was grinning like an idiot.