Chapter Text
"It's going to be amazing!" Mina drawls, half-asleep. Her head is pressed up against one of the many pillows they stole from the couch.
"Mmm hmm." Ochako hums, eyes closed as she lays on the common room’s floor.
Mina looks out the window. The sky is almost pitch black, star-spangled and free of clouds.
“I think I'd wanna do it on a night like this.” Mina says, pointing out the window.
Ochako rubs her eyes, looking out the window and following Mina’s pointing. “Ask her out at sunset. That’d be romantic.” Uraraka says, mustering as much energy as she can.
“I don’t know…” Mina says dramatically, leaving Ochako waiting excitedly. “If I ask her out at sunset, you’ll barely be able to see the fireworks…” Mina taps her chin in thought.
“Fireworks?” Ochako giggles, slapping a hand to her mouth. “You’re going to buy her fireworks just to ask her out?”
Mina places her hands on her hips. “Frankly, Uraraka, I’m concerned that you wouldn’t do that.”
Ochako sits up. Clearly less sleepy now, snapped out of it by Mina’s antics. “Ashido, you should just go for it. I’m sure Asui- I mean, Tsu wouldn’t decline.” She says supportively, giving her a kind smile. She stands up, drinking the last remnants of her tea and zipping up her hoodie. “It’s late. We better get to bed.” She says, yawning.
“How many times do I have to tell you? 1 a.m. is not late.”
“It’s a school night,” Uraraka presses, “Aizawa will kill us if we’re late.”
Mina pouts. “He loves us, he’ll cut us slack if we’re late just this one time.” She waves her hand, dismissing Uraraka’s concern.
“Come on, Ashido.” Uraraka says, and Mina can’t say no to her cute pink cheeks and chocolate brown eyes. They shimmer in the golden-orange lightbulb’s glow.
“Fine. We’ll continue this tomorrow night?”
Uraraka nods. “Of course.” She hugs Mina from the side before yawning and walking up the stairs to her dorm.
Mina groans, taking one last glance at the ink-black sky before retreating to her dorm.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Mina isn’t one to do anything underwhelming — she isn’t one to anything less than extravagant.
She has to wake up early, because unfortunately Uraraka is a really good friend and keeps track of Mina’s unfinished assignments — there were a lot. After painstakingly racking her brain for answers to impossible maths equations, throwing on her school uniform, and dousing her hail in gel — it takes a lot to get her hair how she has it, okay? — and humming the entirety of that one anime that she can never remember the name of’s theme song in entirety, she skips out the door, heading to UA.
Mina’s head is clouded with busy, obnoxious thoughts about Tsuyu. She had never felt this way about someone before, maybe that’s why she was going just so over the top. She hated to admit that just last year she was scared she would never like anyone.
Tsuyu's cute and kind, and Mina admires just how blunt she was. She can’t help but giggle and smile like an idiot when Tsuyu would say something like it was the most obvious thing in the world, or reject something with no hesitation.
She feels like the main character in a Shōjo — a blushing, crushing mess.
She loves it.
It’s the most exhilarating feeling in the world.
She wants to dance in the rain, have picnics under the shade of tall and lush trees and stay up all night talking with Tsuyu.
Unfortunately, she hasn’t even asked her out yet. If Uraraka were with her right now, she’d say something like ‘for someone who’s so over-the-top, you seem a little nervous to ask her’, or something stupid like that, which clearly wasn’t true.
Ashido is just waiting for the perfect opportunity.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
“Ashido?” Aizawa asks in a voice that can’t be anything but annoyed.
Mina lifts her head from her desk, looking up at the room around her, and the 19 students who are staring at her.
“What network is used to request assistance from other licensed heroes?”
Mina blinks, staring up at Aizawa. “Umm…”
Yaoyorozu’s hand is raised, and she is bobbing up and down in her seat, begging for Aizawa to call on her.
Aizawa notes this, but his eyes are still fixed on Mina.
“I think Yaomomo has an answer.” She flashes Aizawa a smirk, glancing back at Yaoyorozu.
“I’m aware. But do you, Ashido?” He asks. Momo sags down into her seat.
Mina groans. “Well…” She begins, looking back at Momo for help. “It’s….a….hero network?” She says slowly, choosing her words carefully.
Aizawa sighs. “Good enough. Yaoyorozu, can you tell us anything about The Hero Network?”
Momo’s eyes light up, and she begins listing off facts that sound almost rehearsed. Mina remembers Momo’s Class 1-A group chat name, 3D printer, and makes a mental note to change it to Human Google.
Mina zones out for the rest of the lesson. It’s probably not even that important anyway. Only Deku, Iida, Momo and Ojiro contribute to the lesson.
Mina wishes she could be like Kaminari, and sneak glances at Jirou, who he sits right next to. But unfortunately, Tsuyu sits right behind her. There isn’t really a way to look at her that doesn’t involve bringing a mirror to class or creepily turning around to look at her.
She imagines looping her fingers through Tsuyu’s and skating along the ground with her acid, or starting an agency with her. ‘Rainy Day Agency’ She thinks, combining her acid with Tsuyu’s frog-like quirk. ‘Acid Rain Agency’ she hums to herself.
By the end of the lesson, Ashido has thought up 17 different agency names, 13 names for their legion of cats, and has scribbled Mina Asui all over her notebook.
She tucks her book away, placing the agency and cat names at the back of her mind. Mina hums that one anime’s intro to herself, until someone taps her shoulder.
“Hm!?” Mina jumps, twisting around.
“Oh,” Tsuyu says, “I didn’t mean to scare you, Ashido-chan.”
Mina feels her face turn even more pink. “Oh, it’s fine, Tsu!” She says quickly, splaying her hands out on Tsuyu’s desk and leaning closer to the frog girl.
“I was just wondering if you could help me study for maths, kero.” Tsuyu says, tapping her chin. “I’m falling behind.”
Mina laughs. “And you’re asking me?” She stops herself mid-sentence, mentally slapping herself. “I mean- good thing you’re asking me!” She forces out a confident smile. “I’ll help you pass, for sure!”
Tsuyu smiles — that gentle, kind, and ever-so-unique smile. “Thanks, Ashido.” She grabs her bag, walking over to Tooru, who is waiting by her desk.
Mina doesn’t know whether to pump her fist into the air or collapse into a pink, human pile of sadness.
So she resorts to grabbing Ochako’s wrist, pulling her out of class, and stopping when they reach the big tree outside of U.A. Uraraka is huffing, trying to catch her breath.
“What…” She pants, “was…that…” She fans her forehead. “...about!?”
Mina shifts from foot to foot uncomfortably. “Ura! You gotta help me, girl! Tsuyu wanted my help with her maths homework! I don’t do my maths homework!”
Ochako winces. “Did you…tell her that?”
“No!” Mina whines, tugging at Uraraka’s blazer. “You gotta help me study! I need Yaoyorozu, Iida, Deku…maybe Bakugou- Who else is smart?!” Mina says, sinking to the ground. The grass is soft and slightly wet from the rain earlier that day — but it’s fine to sit on.
Ochako smiles, sitting down cross-legged in front of Mina. She unzips her backpack and pulls out a selection of bubble gum pink markers, notebooks, and a calculator.
The sun is high in the perfect blue sky, the clouds drift slowly overhead. The breeze smells of picnics and citrus fruit.
And Mina is doing maths for the girl she likes, and she isn’t very happy about it.