Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Allllllriiiight everybody, may I have your attention please?"

Mina definitely got her desired answer, as every conversation in the dorm common room ground to a halt upon her loud arrival. Everybody silently watched as she strode from the doorway over to the wall next to the kitchen, carrying a rather sizeable whiteboard underneath her arm.

When she reached the wall, she spun around in place and planted her feet to the ground.

"It has come to my attention that we do not know each other as well as we should." She declared in a commanding tone. "And as growing heroes-in-training, that can not and will not stand!" she boomed, sounding oddly like Iida giving one of his lectures in that moment.

The first sound to be made by someone other than her belonged to Kaminari, who let out a large guffaw.

"Mina, what the hell are you talking about?" he asked indignantly, "We save each others' lives on a regular basis, how do we get closer than that? I mean, earlier this week I got Kirishima out of the way of those falling rocks." He pointed out for what felt like the hundreth time, making everyone roll their eyes at the admittedly impressive save that he would just not let go of.

"Ah, but that's the thing." Mina countered, "You saved Eiji's bacon, but do you even know what his favourite food is? His favourite movie?"

"Uh, well I-"

"Exactly! We all know each other, but we don't know anything about each other." She spelled out to the class. It was an odd point to make, but they could see where she was coming from. Despite living in the same dormitory for nearly a full year now, everyone basically just kept to their separate friend groups unless they were paired up with someone outside of it during class exercises. Very rarely did those groups shake up, the last major change being when Shinsou had finally transferred into the Hero Course following Mineta's expulsion. Upon joining 2-A, the insomniac had immediately gravitated towards Izuku and his friends, to absolutely no-one's surprise.

After a dramatic pause for impact, Mina continued her speech. "So!" She took the whiteboard she'd been carrying under her arm and positioned it against the wall, pressing down on it using both of her hands. She must have placed adhesive on the back, because the whiteboard stuck to the wall and revealed to the class what was displayed on it. A large grid of initials layed out in different colours, apparently coordinated to the respective person's primary colour, with each set of letters featuring a blank space next to it.

"I made a birthday board!" she cheered excitedly, "Everyone puts their birthday next to their name on here, so we know when they are. Then, when someone's special day rolls around, everybody gets them a present! Doesn't have to be anything big, but the intention is that you ask people who know them for gift ideas so that you get something they really care about. The end result is that everyone learns a bit more about each other, and it's in a nice fun little birthday package!"

The class perked up at the explanation. Mina wasn't the only one who had been feeling like the class was a bit segmented lately, and this idea of hers seemed to be a good gateway into changing that.

Iida suddenly stood up straight from his seat and addressed the pink girl. "Ashido-kun! I must compliment your dedication to forging bonds with your fellow heroes! I have no clue how this obvious flaw passed me by, but I will do my best to change such woeful ignorance in the future!" He finished off his statement with a right-angle bow.

As Mina waved off Iida's praises, the rest of the class began excitedly chattering between each other about the prospect of the birthday board. Even the usual contrarians like Bakugo were getting into the idea, though he was probably more excited about getting more stuff on his birthday than any bonding he would be forced to indulge in. All in all, everyone was on board with the birthday board.

Almost everyone.

Izuku just kind of sat quietly, absorbing everyone's opinions on the proposal and blessing the fact that no-one had noticed his silence yet. He had kinda forgotten that teenagers generally hung out with their friends on their birthdays. Last year, Uraraka, Iida and Todoroki had all decided to spend theirs with their families, for various reasons. Uraraka didn't see her parents too often since they lived outside of Musutafu, Iida wanted to check up on how his brother had been recovering from his encounter with Stain, and Todoroki had gone to visit his mother in the hospital, citing a want to rekindle their relationship which had lay dormant for the last decade.

Izuku himself had spent his last birthday the same way he always did, with a small celebration involving only him and his mom at their then shared apartment. It was a quiet affair, where the most exciting thing that had happened during the day was his mom cooking a larger portion of his favourite katsudon than usual, but Izuku preferred it that way.

Actually, that was a lie. Izuku would much rather not celebrate his birthday at all.

He knew it was weird to have such an aversion towards what was the happiest day of the year for most people, but he could never find the joy in such an event. For most of his life, he had been completely friendless, with no-one besides his mom to share the festivities with. He knew that she tried her best to make it a special day for him, so he pretended he was having the time of his life whenever she let him stay up later to watch more All-Might movies, using the flicks to try and distract himself from his loneliness. Part of him felt bad for lying to his mother like that, but he knew she'd break down in tears learning that her only child didn't even like his own birthday.

Every year, July 15th was just a reminder of how isolated he'd been his entire life, wishing for someone, anyone, to be a true friend. Growing up Quirkless had left him sad and alone, with only the far-flung hope of someday becoming a hero to keep him going. However, sometimes that hope dimmed after an extra awful schoolday, where the laughter rang in his head louder than usual and the burns on his skin raged harder against his nerve receptors. His birthday was eventually religated to just a mark on the calendar that said he would never be normal again.

The feeling wasn't helped by the fact that it was around his 4th birthday when he received that fateful diagnosis.

He knew that things were much, much better now. He was in a class full of heroes-in-training who not only refused to mock him for being Quirkless, but actually respected him for it. That had been the shock of a lifetime. He'd come to UA expecting the same as always, the more powerful kids getting preferential treatment, and the lesser ones getting pushed to the sidelines, with him at the very bottom rung of the social ladder. He supposed that priorities shifted now that they were actually fighting for their lives rather than just saying that they would like in middle school.

That couldn't be the entire reason though. He found himself on the receiving end of high praise from most of his classmates, and was more than happy to respond in kind to the first people in his life he could truly call his friends, even if he didn't really agree with some of the compliments they lobbed his way. If you told the Izuku from two years ago that he'd have this kind of support, he'd have laughed hollowly and told you to take a swan dive off the roof.

However, that class full of friendly faces was proving to be a double-edged sword right now. Especially Ashido.

Now, he had nothing personal against the pink-skinned girl, quite the opposite in fact. He was crushing on her so hard that even his mother had figured it out from a single conversation regarding the acid user. This birthday situation might be less than ideal, but he'd never dream of taking out his frustration on her.

She was just so..incredible. Always so lively and chipper, but knew when the time called for seriousness and acted accordingly. Her control with her quirk was unparalleled, and every time she skated past him using the acid from her feet as a makeshift ice rink, he swore he could feel his heart skip a beat. A lot of things about her made his heart jump in his chest now that he thought about it, some of them non-accidental. Ashido was a prankster by nature, and no-one in their class was safe from a friendly ribbing every now and again, but sometimes, she said things to him in a certain way that caused him to light up like a Christmas tree.

He distinctly remembered one time when he had caught her from a high fall during heroics class, instinctively clasping his hands around her in a princess carry. Without missing a beat, she had given a teasing remark about 'knowing how to make a girl feel special', which of course flustered him beyond belief. He had carefully set her back down feet-first on the ground whilst spouting repeated apologies, all while she watched him with a fond smile on her face, highlighted by the faint spread of hot-pink across her cheeks. He couldn't even be mad about her joking comments, because he really did like them. Every verbal prod, every shouted praise, every word spoken in that special tone fine-tuned towards raising his body temperature, would only cause his heart to start racing like he was running a marathon, bolstered by the fact that on top of all that, she was one of the nicest people Izuku had ever met.

Despite her constant teasing, she was genuinely encouraging when she wanted to be. It was only with her support that he had gained the courage to share his written quirk analysis with Hagakure, which eventually led to the invisible girl discovering that she could toggle said invisibility on-and-off. She had thanked him profusely for the information, and a new friendship between the two hero students had formed.

Shortly after, Hagakure had learned of Izuku's crush on Ashido and vowed to act as 'the best wingwoman in the world' according to herself. It had taken several minutes of panicked stuttering and Uraraka stepping in to convince Hagakure to stay out of his love life. She had complied, but only after a hefty amount of teasing about his attraction towards the pink girl, which turned his previously burning face nuclear.

Because as much as he didn't want to admit it, he did find Ashido really attractive. Something about the way her black sclera, centered by golden pupils, contrasted with her vibrant skin and the dazzling smile she usually wore, really made her stand out in a way that turned Izuku red hot with embarrassment. He had long suspected that he had a slight thing for visible mutations, perhaps stemming from his almost obsessive level of quirk analysis in his younger years. And now it was coming back to bite him in various, mortifying ways. Most notably, the jagged antennae that stuck out from the top of her head tested this thing to the extreme, where Izuku had found himself on multiple occasions having to resist the urge to run his fingers up and down the yellow feelers.

Those physical features combined with her sweet personality had made crushing on her all too easy. Her bombastic nature in contrast to his admittedly meek demeanour was also something he admired. It was like she was the exact type of hero he'd envisioned himself as when he was a kid, the kind who rescued people with an unwavering smile on their face. Every time she excitedly reported to the class on a piece of fanmail she'd received from a young child somewhere around the country, he felt the flame he held for her flicker a little brighter, and if he wore glasses he knew they'd be firmly rose-tinted by this point.

Of course, her scatterbrained attitude on anything academic and roll-with-the-punches outlook she regarded most things in life with could be a little irritating to some people, but Izuku found it mostly endearing. Plus, he knew she could buckle down and get things done, if his one-on-one tutoring sessions to help her pass her first year midterms were any indication.

About two weeks before said midterms, he had overheard her complaining about the upcoming exams to her friends in class and, like the lovesick dope he was, immediately offered to help the pink girl study, which she had enthusiastically accepted. When the time came for their first session together, Izuku had honestly thought that most of the revision session would be spent trying to keep his study partner on topic, considering her track record with schoolwork. However, she had surprised him, listening to his explanations with rapt attention and completing every booklet and practice test he created with an unflinching focus, coming out of them having achieved above average marks. Not perfect by any means, but she crept closer and closer to that point with every ensuing session up until the midterms.

It was a little eerie honestly, seeing her so serious in a situation that wasn't a matter of life or death. Izuku felt a bit unnerved as he watched her silently complete the practice exams, the usual bubble of chatter that surrounded her seemingly popping as soon as that pen hit paper. He was secretly glad that this bizarro version of Ashido only stayed until the end of the midterm period, reverting back to her usual self shortly after.

Izuku felt his cheeks heat up as he remembered the intimate moment they shared in class when 2-A had received their results back.

'Midori! Midori!'

Izuku turned from where he stood next to his desk to see Ashido bounding up to him, holding a marked exam tightly in her hands. She presented the stack of paper to him, the top page revealing an impressively high grade.

'I got a 79 in History! That's the highest mark I've ever gotten on anything!' She exclaimed, looking down at the number like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Izuku would have helped her study either way, but the wide grin she sported at her exam mark was the best reward he could ever hope for. His own mouth formed a similar smile as he responded to her enthusiasim.

'T-That's great, Ashido-san! I knew you could do it!'

Her gaze moved up to connect with his and oh wow, his heart was not ready to have that smile pointed directly at him.

'Thanks, Midori! I never woulda passed all these tests without your help.'

'I-I'm sure that's n-not true, Ashido-san. You're plenty smart, I j-just assisted a bit.' He tried to correct, but she wasn't having any of it.

'Nuh uh! You're like the best teacher ever! You've got such a way with explaining stuff, it almost makes learning interesting.' She praised, letting loose an adorable laugh at the end.

Izuku chuckled along with her, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

'I-If you say so.'

'I do say so!' She declared, practically shoving the clipped exam pages into his hands so that he could take a closer look. He eagerly took the opportunity, flipping through the stack to see how she had done. There were a few mistakes, dates that were slightly off and a misremembered name here and there that Aizawa had pointed out to her in red marker, but other than that it was just a solid exam paper. Not for the first time, he found himself impressed by the pink girl's performance.

'Hey, Midori..'

Izuku glanced up from the paper to give Ashido his full attention, and paused when he saw the state she was in. She was tightly gripping the hem of her skirt with one hand, the other nervously fiddling with a strand of pink, fluffy hair. She was pointedly looking away from him, eyes straying to the side towards the floor. He could tell she was actively trying to keep herself still, judging by the way her body was jittering in place like a cola bottle about to burst. She then looked up at him oddly shyly with a trace of magenta on her cheeks, and asked a question in a soft tone that he knew would play on repeat during his dreams from then on.

'..is it alright, if I hug you..?'

Izuku's face turned cherry red.

'H-huh?'

The pink splashed across Ashido's cheeks grew in intensity, and she hastily amended her query.

'It's just- I know you're really iffy on physical contact, but I-I don't really know how to thank you without it, so..' She hesistantly opened up her arms, '..can I give you a hug? Just this once?'

Izuku must have died and gone to heaven. That was the only logical explanation for this turn of events. He even went to pinch himself to see whether he was dreaming, before he realised that Ashido still had her arms out, waiting for an answer. He quickly gave a repeated set of nods, and her face absolutely lit up at his response.

She carefully walked up to him and gradually snaked her arms around his torso. It was such a departure from her usual demeanour that he was tempted to check if anything was wrong, but then it registered that she was probably worried about scaring him off by moving too fast. His heart softened at the realisation, and he timidly returned the embrace, bringing her even closer. Since they were around the same height, she ended up resting her head on his shoulder, letting out a content sigh dangerously close to his ear.

'This is nice..' She murmured quietly, making his neck hairs stand on end at the way her vocal chords vibrated against his clavicle.

They stayed there for a minute or two just basking in each other's presence, before Ashido slowly backed away from the hug, loosening her arms from the tight hold they had around his back. He found himself missing the warmth immediately, and he coughed lightly to stop his thoughts wandering down that rabbithole any further. The red on his cheeks hadn't let up yet, and the full embarrassment of the situation was starting to catch up with him now.

'W-well, I'll s-see you around, A-Ashido-san. You can let me know if t-there's anything else you n-need help studying with, and I'll h-help out as best I can.' He stuttered out, eyes darting around to anything except her.

'Yeah.. I'll see you around, Midori.' She responded in that same soft tone, and Izuku knew his face couldn't get any redder than it was right now. He put on a wobbly smile and gave her a shaky thumbs up, all the while refusing to look directly at her lest he end up burning to ash. A light giggle and a set of retreating footsteps told him that she had left his vicinity, and he felt like he could finally breathe again.

Jeez, that girl was going to be the death of him.

All this reminiscing on Ashido made him wonder how she spent her birthdays. He knew from a few anecdotes she'd shared that she had a rather large family, especially in comparison to the Midoriya party of two. A mother and father, 2 brothers and 1 sister. It made Izuku's mind boggle at the idea of sharing a house with so many people, but Ashido seemed to enjoy how populated her household was, despite her grumbling about how her sister had left her Lego bricks on the floor only for the pink girl to directly step on them, or about how her older brother absolutely refused to stop teasing her. Izuku had asked her once what exactly he was teasing her about, and she'd clammed up, stuttering out a deflective response while her cheeks flared with colour. While the reaction had confused him, he felt bad about putting her on the spot like that, so he didn't ask again.

Still, he imagined that she likely had much better birthday experiences that he did. Days full of laughter and fun, surrounded by people who cared about you, and a dad who..wouldn't just leave as soon as he found out you had an extra toe joint. Izuku couldn't help but feel a little envious of Ashido's upbringing; from the way she spoke about her siblings, how they were beyond annoying but still lovable, to how she described her parents, her mother a hardworking breadwinner with a soft spot for her family and her father a laid-back stay-in parent who knew his way around the kitchen. It all sounded magical to him, to have that many people in your corner for your entire life. Izuku loved his mother, he really did, but he couldn't help but think about how less lonely Ashido's life must've been, especially on her birthdays.

His mind started to wander and he pictured what it would be like to spend his own birthday hanging out with the acid user and all his other friends. The imagery was nice at first, but then thoughts of how frustrated they'd get when he was still moping around started to swarm his imagination and he began to feel sick. They'd all realise what a weirdo he is and slowly but surely abandon him, leaving him all alone again. Logically, he knew that Class 2-A has been through way too much crap together for a depressing birthday to be the final straw, but he'd never been very good at ignoring the invasive voices in his head.

A different voice forced his focus back to the common room, and he realised that Ashido had started speaking again.

"-start us off, so I'll put down mine first!" She took out a black marker and slotted a date next the hot-pink 'A.M.' initials.

"There! July 30th! It's only in a month, so don't forget it!" She finished off brightly, popping the cap back on the marker.

Izuku groaned internally as his classmates started making their way towards the whiteboard to add their own dates. It was bad enough that he had to reveal his birthday to the whole class, but he had a good guess as to how Ashido would react to the date he put down.

She would likely make a big deal out of the fact they shared a birth month, which was the last thing he wanted. Seeing how she was practically jumping for joy after learning that her and Sero's birthdays were two days apart only confirmed that suspicion, and he knew had to get out of here.

Luckily, everyone was focused on writing down their dates, so slipping out of the common room unnoticed was fairly easy. He knew he'd have to face the music eventually, but he really didn't want to do it in front of the entirety of 2-A.

Later that night, Izuku found himself trudging down to the kitchen again to grab a cold glass of water. The summer heat was starting to get to him, and he knew he should probably stay hydrated if he was going to spend so much time in his sweltering room. Since it was rather late by now, the common room was completely empty, everyone having gone to bed already. A slight sheen on the wall just outside of the kitchen area caught Izuku's eyes, and he paused.

Whereas before the birthday board had been empty save for the list of initials, now it was almost fully complete. The only missing date was the one situated next to the forest-green 'M.I.' that sat smack dab in the middle of the list.

Izuku had a choice to make. Should he write down his birthday? If he didn't, he knew there'd be questions, the blank spot on the board stuck out like a sore thumb. His mind raced as he thought up different options. He considered putting down a different date, one far away from July that wouldn't make Ashido cause as much of a fuss, and quickly shooed the idea out of his head as soon as it appeared. No good would come from lying like that, and if the truth ever came out it'd cause his friends to lose trust in him. The sick feeling from earlier returned at the thought of that happening.

With a defeated sigh, he picked up the marker that had been left on the little shelf below the whiteboard, and wrote July 15th next to his initials. He'd much rather Ashido found out his birth date second-hand through the board than in-person after a barrage of prodding. Of course, the most preferable option was for her to never find out, but Izuku knew there was a better chance of hell freezing over than that secret being kept for long.

After grabbing the glass of water he originally came down for, he made his way back up to his room, mentally preparing himself for the bubbly onslaught he knew was headed his way.

It doesn't take long for Ashido to notice the new addition on the board. Just the next day, Izuku was returning to the dorms after visiting the support lab when she ambushed him.

"Midori!"

"AH!" He let out a high-pitched yelp as she suddenly appeared in front of him, looking positively ready to burst as she bounced excitedly.

"I didn't know you were a July kid too!" She exclaimed, "This is awesome! Our birthdays are so close together!"

In any other situation, Izuku would be smiling along with her, swept up in her infectious enthusiasm. However, he found it hard to feel anything except a faint sense of fear at the many roads this conversation could lead down, none of them good.

"Aha, yeah.. Funny coincidence, I guess.."

"Mmhmm! I'm so jelly though, yours is in just two weeks while I gotta wait a whole month!" She moaned, sagging her body forward as she let her arms limp in front of her.

Izuku tensed. He did not like the direction this was turning, and he knew it'd only be a matter of time before she asked the fatal question.

"Soooo.." Ashido didn't seem to notice his trepidation as she gave him a coy grin, "..got anything fun lined up? Laser tag? Escape room? Oh oh, a trip to the arcade?" She asked, her excitement ramping up in intensity.

He managed to stifle a wince at the light interrogation. Izuku knew the truth wasn't really what she wanted to hear, but he definitely didn't want to lie to her either. "Uh, nothing really."

She deflates in an instant.

"What? Like, nothing at all?" She questioned, like the idea was completely foreign to her.

"I mean, basically nothing. Might do some training, or a bit of studying, just something to pass the time really.." His voice lowered in volume as he spoke, eventually turning into a mutter.

"You don't wanna do anything special for your birthday..?" Her voice was small, and he hated the way his heart clenched hearing her so sad.

"Uh, I just.. I've never really done anything for my birthday. I was an only child, and I never had any friends growing up, so it was just me and my mom."

"Oh.. You never had like, a birthday party or anything? No games, no presents, no cake..?"

Izuku realised what that sounded like and rushed to defend his mother. "I-It's not like she didn't w-want to or anything! It's- She's a t-travel nurse and had to work l-long hours to make ends meet, so I n-never asked for any of that s-stuff because I d-didn't want to stress her out more!"

Ashido relaxed slightly knowing that her friend hadn't been intentionally emotionally neglected, but her worry persisted.

"Still..."

An idea came to her and her eyes lit up again.

"Oh! What if we throw you a proper birthday party here in the dorm?" She proposed.

"Uh, t-that's kind of you to o-offer Ashido-san, but I don't really-"

"Come onnnn, dude! How do you know you don't want it if you've never even had one?"

Izuku could tell things were starting to spiral out of control, so he snapped to try and fix it.

"T-That's okay, A-Ashido-san! You don't have to g-go through all that effort!" He nearly shouted, arms flailing about.

Ashido had a wide grin on her face now that her plan was set in stone. "Tsk-tsk, Midori. What is it that you always say? 'Meddling where you don't need to is the essence of being a hero.' I'm meddling right now to give you best birthday ever."

Izuku desperately tried to de-escalate the situation. "B-But that saying's for stuff that matters, not-" He clamped a hand over his mouth, realising he'd spilled too much.

Ashido looks confused for a moment, before she pieces together what he had cut off.

"That saying's for stuff that matters, not.. you? Is that what you were about to say?"

Izuku doesn't respond, but his silence tells her everything she needs to know. Her eyes harden, and she marches up to him.

"Listen here, mister." The bite in her tone is almost tangible, "I'm fine with you not wanting a large birthday party because you've had one before and weren't a fan of it, but I will not accept you thinking you don't deserve one because you think you don't matter." She jabs a finger in his direction to punctuate her words. "You do matter, Midoriya. And you do deserve to have a nice birthday. So here's what's gonna happen."

She took a deep breath and calmed her voice for the next part. "I am going to throw you the best birthday party I can, and you're going to come along. If, and only if, you still don't like the idea of a large party after you've experienced it once, then I swear to you I will never bother you about this again. But promise me that you'll at least give it a try?"

He was still stunned from her impassioned rant, so it took him a moment to respond with a quiet "I promise". Her eyes finally soften again, and she's back to her jovial self instantly.

"Good! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a party to plan. Look forward to it, Midori!" She exclaimed as she skipped away from him through the dorm hallway.

'Well, that could've gone worse.' His inner monologue piped up, glad that the pink girl hadn't literally torn him a new one for his slip of the tongue. Still, now he was locked into attending a birthday party where he'd be the main focus, which had not been the plan.

Oddly enough, he was less upset by this turn of events that he thought he'd be. But the longer he ruminated on it, the more sense it made. I mean, wasn't this the exact kind of thing he'd dreamt of as a child? A birthday party surrounded by close friends, with presents and cake, the full works? The trepidation still lingered, but now it was joined by a small spark of anticipation beside it.

The next few days were rather uneventful, outside of a new groupchat created by Yaoyorozu regarding Ashido's birthday at the end of the month. Apparently, the heiress had made a classwide reservation to have dinner out at a local western-styled restaurant that Ashido adored. The groupchat, missing only the pinkette herself, was just for Yaoyorozu to confirm that everyone could attend and to ask them to please keep the plan a secret from the birthday girl.

Izuku eagerly accepted the invitation. He'd been to that restaurant with Ashido before, and they had the best chicken burgers he'd ever eaten in his life. Most of everyone else was set to come as well, with only a couple of outliers sadly having other plans for that day.

All he needed to do now was focus on Ashido's gift. Luckily, he had a sounding board in the form of one Hagakure Tooru to bounce ideas off of.

"EEEEEEEEEE! Midoriya, this is perfect!" Hagakure squealed, wriggling around to show her glee despite the fact that she was fully visible at the moment.

Izuku grinned at the reaction. "You think so?" He began folding up the sketch he had just showed the girl, pleased he had done a good job. Years of drawing diagrams of heroes had improved his art skills to a point where not even he in his self-deprecating nature could downplay it, and he was glad to put those skills to use.

"Absolutely! Mina's gonna freak when she sees the final thing!" Hagakure gushed.

He paused his folding at that. "That's.. good, right?"

The girl started laughing. "We really gotta get you up to speed on modern day lingo, old-timer."

Izuku flushed at the not entirely inaccurate assessment and coughed into his hand. "A-anyway, it's good that I had this idea early on, otherwise I wouldn't have had enough time to make it perfect for Ashido's birthday."

"You know you don't gotta make it completely perfect, right?" Hagakure drolled, "Mina would still like it even if you just drew a stick figure. I mean hell, even if you showed up to her party with a boatload of nothin', she'd be ecstatic."

"That's why I do have to make it perfect, Hagakure-san. Sure, she might accept any old drawing, but I need to wow her. She deserves only the best."

"Man, you are one smitten kitten, huh?" She smirked.

"W-Wha-" He blushed furiously at the jab.

"Chill, dude. No need to get your panties in a twist. This whole mutual pining thing you two got going on? It's kinda cute, if not really goddamn annoying as well." Hagakure pointed out.

His blush only deepened at being indirectly called 'cute', but the phrasing of that last sentence caught his attention. "Mutual pining? As in, reciprocated?" He asked hopefully.

"Well, duh. Everyone can tell she's as gaga for you as you are for her."

His head slumps in disappointment. "Hagakure-san, I thought we agreed no more speculation. You need to stop giving me hope like that." He whines.

"You're the only one calling it speculation, man. I've seen the way she looks at you. Literally just last week in class I had to practically pry her face away from the spectator cams because she was so fixated on your spar with Satou."

"That's not conclusive evidence.." He mumbles out.

"..Fine, I guess it technically isn't a love confession, but I seriously don't get why you're so set in stone on this idea that she doesn't like you."

"I mean, what's there to like?" He asked. "I'm awkward, I cry a lot, I thought girls weren't into that sort of thing?"

"Look, I'm not Mina. I can't say what she likes about you, 'cause I don't know. But you're crazy if you think you're straight up unlovable, Midoriya." Her phone buzzed and she winced as she checked whatever notification she had received. "Crap, I gotta go help Sero with his physics homework, I'll see you around dude." And she dashed off, leaving Izuku to his thoughts again.

As he pondered her words, his mind began to stray. It wasn't that he thought Hagakure was lying about Ashido's possible feelings towards him, but he just couldn't see it being true. She was vibrant and bouncy, while he was nervous and gloomy. There was no practical reason as to why she would have a crush on him of all people rather than Kirishima, or Uraraka, or even Hagakure.

That was the reality he lived in. He had nothing to offer her that she couldn't find elsewhere, in another person who had all of the very few positive traits he possessed and then some. He would only ever be her friend, and that was enough. It was more than he deserved anyway.

July 15th came way sooner than Izuku expected. That morning, he had been practically wheeled out of the dorm after breakfast by Uraraka and ordered not to return until later that afternoon, after a cheerful "Happy Birthday!" of course. Stuck outside with no real plans in store, he decided to get some extra training in, which had the added bonus of keeping his mind occupied for the most part. He also took a half-hour break to call his mother and catch up with her, though she didn't seem very surprised when he mentioned that the class was throwing him a birthday party, so he guessed that someone else had already told her that plan.

Even with those distractions, a looming anxiety crept over his head about what Ashido could possibly be planning for him when he got back. He trusted the pink girl with his life, but she did have the tendency to go a little overboard when it came to special events.

Despite that, a small part of him was genuinely excited to see what she and everyone else was cooking up, as evidenced by the fact he had just called his birthday a 'special event' for the first time in years.

When his phone finally buzzed with a message from Uraraka, he changed back into his casual garb and headed to the dorms.

As he entered the front door, he could hear some distant voices from the common room, which made him pause. He'd thought that Ashido would want to do the whole 'lights off surprise' routine, so he had braced himself for an overwhelming barrage of cheers when he walked through the door, but it seemed like everyone was still chatting amongst themselves further in. Was he somehow still too early?

Panic started to set in. Of course he'd mess up his own birthday surprise, stupid Deku! Luckily, he could still salvage this. No-one had noticed his arrival yet, he could leave and then come back once they were all prepared.

Just as he was preparing to open up the door again, a voice called out to him from behind.

"Where are you going?"

He froze in place. Slowly, he turned around to find Shinsou looking at him with a raised eyebrow. The two stared at each other for an extremely long minute before Izuku spoke again.

"Uhh, I was just gonna go and come back later because I'm pretty sure they're not ready yet?" He gestured past Shinsou towards the common room to get his point across.

"Oh for- They are ready, dumbass." Shinsou replied snarkily. "They've been ready for the past 20 minutes."

"Oh. I just thought 'cause usually there's the whole 'surprise!' thing, y'know..?" Izuku trailed off as he realised his reasoning wasn't exactly sound.

"I mean, some of them wanted to do that, but Ashido vetoed it because she thought you wouldn't like it." Shinsou explained.

That was.. actually really considerate of her. His heart was still pounding out of nervousness, but the knowledge that Ashido had taken his fears into account while planning gave him just enough courage to push on.

"C'mon," Shinsou continued, a lazy smile now spread across his face, "Let's go celebrate, birthday boy." And with that, they both made their way through the hallway and into the common room.

Upon entering, several people sprawled out on the couches immediately noticed Izuku and he could see them shaping up to greet him. Before anyone could open their mouth however, a pink blur darted in front of him and beat them to the punch.

"Happy Birthday, Midori!" Ashido exclaimed, with the other members of 2-A joining in not a moment later.

"Happy Birthday!"

"Happy Birthday, Midoriya!"

"Happy Birthday, dude!"

"Happy Birthday, Midoriya."

"Happy Birthday, Green."

"Happy Manly Day, Midoriya!" Kirishima capped the cheer off with.

Izuku was stunned into silence by the chorus of cheers sent his way, and he doesn't quite know what he was so worried about anymore. These were his friends, they weren't going to just leave him all alone, even if he's never had a birthday party before. That little fact had somehow escaped his mind up until the bombardment of smiling faces entered his field of vision. After all these years, he really wasn't alone anymore, and the thought was almost too much to handle.

He could feel the beginnings of tears welling up in his ducts, but before any could leave his eyes, Shinsou interrupted by clapping him on the shoulder.

"Happy Birthday, man." He said with a calm smile, before walking over and joining the rest of the class near the couches.

Izuku may not have started crying, but he definitely choked up as he spluttered out his thanks.

"T-Thank you, everyone!"

Ashido turned to face everyone in the room and announced in an animated tone, "Alright everybody, now that the man of the hour has arrived, I declare this birthday party officially on!"

Everybody cheered at that, and most got up from the couch to spread around the room and take advantage of the available activities.

Speaking of which, now that the attention was off of him, Izuku could look around at the transformed common room. Most of the walls had been covered in streamers spanning multiple shades of green, and practically every corner of the room had a bouquet of floating balloons milling about. Near the kitchen, another whiteboard had been set up right next to the birthday board. This one contained the words "Happy Birthday, Izuku!" written in bold blocky letters. Underneath the message was a cute portrait of him smiling, likely drawn by Kaminari if the artstyle was anything to go by.

The dining room table had been fully rearranged into a makeshift buffet board, with a large variety of snacks layed out across it. In the centre of the table was an extra big portion of katsudon, covered by a see-through lid to contain the heat and make sure it didn't go cold.

Back around the couch area, a seemingly countless amount of games were stacked on top of one another in a tall tower, some he recognised and several that he didn't. When Ashido had given the go-ahead, Todoroki had bolted over to the tower and, with Iida's assistance, was now trying to remove the box of Jenga from the stack, ironically enough. Near the TV, an older games console was plugged into it and showing a fighting game that he used to play all the time as a child. He suspected that his mother had something to do with that information being leaked, and smiled at the thought.

On another table at the far end of the room, a gigantic pile of presents was on display, and he couldn't help but the observe a few weird shapes of wrapping paper in the mass. His anticipation only grew, and he was getting increasingly eager to join the festivities.

It was actually less in-your-face than he had expected. He thought that Ashido would pull out all the stops, with performers, or a bouncy castle or.. something. He wasn't actually sure what the usual entertainment lineup for a birthday party was, now that he thought about it. This just looked like it would be a day full of hanging out with his friends playing games together, exactly what he envisioned when he was much younger. It seemed that she really had considered what kind of birthday party he'd actually want, and planned accordingly.

As he finished his surveyance of the room, he noticed Ashido out of the corner of his eye looking at him expectantly, and he turned to face her.

"Well.." She started, "Whaddya think?" She asked, spreading out her arms fully.

"Ashido-san, this is amazing.." He said, completely awestruck by the change the common room had undergone. "Thank you.." He continued breathlessly, and she beamed at his reaction.

A new voice broke the spell they found themselves in.

"Midoriya!" Kaminari waved from his spot just in front of the TV. "Get over here! I've been dying to beat your ass in this all day!" He jerked a thumb towards the fighting game displayed on the screen.

Izuku felt a challenging grin spread across his face, and he started making his way over to the electric boy.

"Oh, you're on!"

The party was in full swing now. After a few rounds of demolishing Kaminari in Hero Fighter while a few others watched from the couches, the yellow-haired boy had waved the white flag and begged anyone to swap with him to take down 'The Green Menace', as he had been dubbed. The only one willing to take up the challenge was Hagakure, who gave him a much closer fight than Kaminari did. After a couple more tense rounds, she had enabled her invisibility, which led to accusations from Sero that she was cheating by 'hiding her inputs'. Izuku doesn't think he's ever laughed as hard as he did at the ensuing argument following that callout.

Once their attention on the video game had been exhausted, they moved onto the imposing tower of physical games, spreading out into smaller groups to play different ones. Izuku found himself in the middle of the most intense game of Monopoly he's ever seen, partially because both Yaoyorozu and Uraraka are equally as money-aware as the other, and end up passionately negotiating at any conflict of interest.

Afterwards, he joined Todoroki and Iida in their quiet game of Jenga that they'd been locked in for since the party started. Iida was meticulously measuring the distance between each block trying to calculate the optimal piece to remove, only for Todoroki to casually pull his own piece without the tower budging an inch, much to the taller boy's bewilderment.

Even in the games that Izuku wasn't actively participating in, quick glances told him that everyone involved was still having a good time even though he wasn't able to give them his full attention, which made him sigh in relief. He'd hate it if any of his classmates were getting bored at his birthday party, but it seemed like most were happy to be there. Not that every single student of 2-A was currently present, anyway.

Some of the more introverted members of their class had elected to just drop off their presents for him along with a birthday greeting, before slinking off towards their rooms for the rest of the day. Izuku wasn't offended, and he'd be a hypocrite if he judged them for not stepping outside of their comfort zone, considering it had taken a forceful shove from Ashido to push him out of his.

Amongst those few introverts was Bakugo, who had unceremoniously stomped down the stairs about an hour in, practically shoved a wrapped box into his hands, and muttered a "Happy Birthday, Deku." alongside a harsh warning that he'd better get a gift of the same magnitude for his own birthday. Izuku still didn't really know how to feel about his childhood-friend-turned-bully-turned-rival, but he appreciated the gesture all the same, and made sure to let Bakugo know that. In response, the blond just scoffed and made his way back up the stairs.

With that, it was time to open them up. The class had collectively transferred the gifts from its display pile over to the coffee table by the couches, and now they were all sat around watching him unwrap the paper with a laser focus.

A lot of his gifts had been All-Might related paraphernalia, unsurprisingly. By the fourth time a present had been revealed to be adjacent to the now-retired No. 1, a small game had started between the members of 2-A trying to guess based on the shape of the wrapping paper whether the next one would also contain the Symbol of Peace. The All-Might stuff was extremely exciting, but it was the outliers to that pattern that really caught his attention.

He had received a large amount of high quality notebooks and pens from Yaoyorozu, citing that they were there 'to help supplement his analysis habits'. From Jirou he'd gotten a pair of running earphones to use while working out in the gym. Kirishima had gifted him a new set of weights to push his strength training. Todoroki, in his odd fashion, hadn't wrapped his gift, instead just handing him a stack of hero comics, along with a personal letter from his mother wishing Izuku a Happy Birthday and thanking him for helping Shoto come out of his shell.

The presents kept coming. A schedule planner from Iida, a book on various Japanese martial arts from Ojiro, the newest instalment of Hero Fighter from Kaminari, who was still grumbling lightheartedly about his poor performance earlier in the day. Hagakure had gotten him a plain white t-shirt with just the word 'underwear' written on the front, which nearly made him bust a gut laughing at it. Each package was accepted with a full smile and an exclamation of his appreciation.

One gift had been a large bag of green tea flavoured mochi, and he could immediately guess who that was from. Uraraka had sheepishly apologised for what she considered a lackluster present, but he nipped that idea in the bud by thanking her profusely and giving his best friend a tight hug. He had backed away from the embrace a moment later to find the gravity girl smiling brightly at him.

After all the presents on the table had been opened, it was then time to eat. Everyone made their way over to the dining area full of snacks, and Izuku was just about to follow them when he felt a light grasp on his wrist. Turning to see who had caught his hand, he found Ashido looking at him with a devilish smirk on her face. Before he could ask if there was a problem, she leaned in close to his ear and whispered directly into the canal.

"I've got a present for you too, but you're gonna have to wait until everyone else has left~" He shivered from her breathy tone, and she giggled at his beet-red face.

Releasing her lax grip on his wrist, she skipped over to the dining room table whilst he stood there, heart pounding out of his chest. What.. What did she mean by that?

Deciding to mentally table those words before he went into cardiac arrest, he stiffly walked over to the others to grab his fix of dinner.

Soon enough, the presence of his friends, along with a scene of Kaminari and Sero fighting over the last piece of sweet and sour chicken, pushed the softly spoken sentence fully out of his mind.

After everyone had cleared the table of food, it was time for the birthday cake. The hero students had sat at the table, with Izuku up the far end, and the lights were turned off to help illuminate the cake's candles as Satou carried it out of the kitchen. It was an absolute monster of a dessert, stacking multiple layers of vanilla sponge on top of one another (Izuku's favourite flavour, his mother must have let that slip too).

As everybody sang that iconic song while the cake was set down in front of him, the situation he was in finally registered and the tears started welling up again, this time with nothing to stop them leaking out. He felt his friends gazing at him in concern, so he put on the best smile he could with his watery eyes and choked out a cry of gratitude.

"T-Thank y-youuu!"

The floodgates burst after that, and everyone jumped to console him, with Uraraka pulling him into a side-hug while tears streamed down his face.

Despite his crying, he couldn't think of a time where he'd been more happy in his life.

From there, hours passed by in an instant, almost feeling like no time at all. After finishing up the cake, the students had cranked out a classwide game of Truth or Dare and a small round robin tournament in Hero Fighter amongst the classes' best players, which ended with Yaoyorozu as the surprise winner. By that point, everyone's energy levels had plateaued and it was decided to call the party there and pack everything away. His friends tried to convince him to go upstairs and get some rest while they tidied up all the decorations, but he staunchly refused and stayed to help out with the cleanup effort.

When the last of the streamers had been put back in its box, and the common room had been rearranged back into its original layout, the students of 2-A began to trail out of the lounge and back up to their rooms, giving him a final "Happy Birthday" as they left. All that was left to do was bring his new stuff up to his room, so he got to work.

After a few trips up and down the stairs, he finally placed the last box next to his bed and felt his phone buzz. Confused, he pulled it out of his pocket and his eyes widened as he read the notification.

'Ashido. M: You forgot one of your presents down here~ <3'

He gulped hard and felt his cheeks heat up as he recalled what she had said to him right before dinner. For a long moment, he mentally debated the pros and cons of heading back down to the common room to meet with Ashido. On one hand, his heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest at the thought of being alone with his crush, but on the other, he didn't want to disappoint her while she was currently waiting patiently for him to show.

Puffing out a few breaths and slapping his cheeks to psyche himself up, he marched his way down to the ground floor where the common room resided. When he arrived, he found Ashido sitting on one of the couches, one leg up on the seat as she rested her hands on her knee.

Once she noticed him, she beckoned him over with a smile on her face and gestured for him to take a seat on the couch as well. Izuku complied with an unsteady heartrate, and they both sat there in silence for a moment, before Ashido decided to break it.

"So.. did you enjoy your party?" She asked.

"U-Uh, yes!" He stammered out before clearing his throat and trying again. "Yes, I did enjoy it. Thank you, Ashido-san."

"Good." She said with a soft smile, "Of course, it's not over yet."

"O-oh?"

"Yeah, you still have one more present to open." Her eyelids shutter slightly as she continued, "If you close your eyes, I can give it to you right now~"

Izuku swallowed nervously, and his whole body started shaking as he slowly closed his eyes.

The darkness seemed to taunt him, and he could hear Ashido shuffling ever closer. After what feels like the longest minute of his life, he hears her voice again.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

He lifted his eyelids, mind racing about what he would come face to face with. But what he found made him pause in confusion.

Ashido was now sitting right next to him, holding a box in both hands, wrapped in paper patterned with green stripes.

The pause continued as he kept staring. With all the teasing she had led up to this moment with, he had almost thought that she was planning to..

Finally, she cracked, letting loose a short chuckle. "Sorry, it was just too good an opportunity, I couldn't resist."

Izuku let out a relieved breath as he laughed back while clutching his chest. "Oh my god, Ashido-san. I thought I was gonna die."

"Sorry!" She repeated with a grin on her face, not looking sorry in the slightest.

After he calmed back down, his gaze dropped to the gift in her hands. Her eyes followed his, and she remembered why they were both there.

"Oh, right. Here you go. Doy." She passed the gift to him and backed away slightly, slapping a hand against her head in exasperation. His mouth lifted into a small smile at her antics as he moved the gift into his lap.

Taking both hands to it, he carefully ripped apart the wrapping paper until it revealed the packaging of a shoebox underneath.

Izuku's heart sunk, and he tried not to let his disappointment show. It wasn't Ashido's fault, she probably had no idea he wouldn't be able to wear these. The impact one extra toe joint could have on a foot's shape wasn't exactly common knowledge amongst the quirked, after all.

"I know what you're thinking, Midori." Her voice cut through his thoughts, and he looked back up at her. "Open the box." She continues.

Now more confused than anything, he slowly lifted the shoebox flap to reveal two dark-green trainers resting up against each other, and immediately he's in love. They're the kind of shoes he'd always wanted as a kid, to match his forest-coloured hair. But having only one local company able and willing to sell shoe sizes for the Quirkless meant he was limited to the bright red boots he had worn his whole life. His RedTreads had served him well throughout the years, and they were always more comfortable than any other type of shoe, but red had never been his favourite colour.

When he was much younger, he and his mother had tried searching for alternatives that would still fit his feet, but the best they could find were custom shoe manufacturers for people with mutant-type quirks that affected their foot size. Being custom-made, these shoes were infinitely more expensive than the mass-produced ones that RedTread sold, and definitely not obtainable on a single parent's income.

Browsing Quirkless forums on the internet revealed to Izuku that this was not an uncommon problem for those lacking a quirk, the one saving grace being that this information was not common enough for most people on the street to recognise him as Quirkless from it. He shuddered to think about what his childhood would have been like if that were the case. So, the RedTreads stayed, despite how badly Izuku wanted to move on.

And now, he had to reject these sleek, gorgeous, perfect shoes, all because of a stupid toe joint. He just hoped that Ashido wouldn't be too upset by his refusal.

"Ashido-san, I really appreciate the thought, but.." He trailed off, unsure how to word the issue.

"Take a closer look at them, Midoriya."

This back-and-forth was getting weirder and weirder by the minute. She was looking at him with a mostly neutral expression, though a hint of a smile was peeking through her lips. Nonetheless, Izuku followed her order and performed a longer inspection of the shoes, even picking one up to see if that would reveal the secret Ashido was trying to hint at. It was only when he held the trainer between both hands that he realised what was special about them.

"These are my size.." He breathed out. He'd spent hours when he was younger comparing shoe sizes at department stores, just in case they had a pair that miraculously fit him. He knew the exact shape his RedTreads took, and these green ones matched it perfectly.

"These- These are my size!" He repeats, looking back over at Ashido in disbelief. The smile she was trying to hide earlier is now in full view, the corners of her mouth stretching out across her face.

"Surprise!" She yelled, throwing her hands up in excitement. Izuku would've been right there with her if not for the myriad of questions that were swimming around his head. There were too many to count, and they all wanted answering, but eventually his mouth just spouted the first thing that came to mind.

"H-How?!"

"Well.." She started with a smug grin on her face, "You know how my mom's a lawyer, right? Turns out one of her clients makes shoes as a side-gig, so I asked them for a favour and got those bad boys custom made." She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "I hope you don't mind, but I had to ask Hatsume for your foot measurements. Didn't wanna go through all that just for them to end up not fitting you."

How Ashido had gotten his measurements was honestly the last thing on his mind at the moment, but he was glad for the explanation all the same.

"Woah.." He was completely awestruck, she had just given him the one material possession he thought he'd never own and here she was, acting like it was no big deal. "Ashido-san, thank you.." He rotated the trainer in his hands, as it started to set in that he had a new pair of shoes for the first time in his life. "That's some crazy luck, huh? Your mom knowing someone who'd be willing to make these for free."

Ashido winced at that, which set off alarm bells in his head. "Aha.. yeahhh, so.. they weren't exactly free.."

"What." The word lacks any intonation.

"Yeah, the woman who made them said that it's a really cutthroat industry, the whole custom shoes thing, so she couldn't afford to just make them for nothing. She did give me a discount though, a whole 25 percent!" She crossed her arms, looking quite proud of herself.

"Ashido-san, how much did you spend on these?" He asked with a hint of dread, remembering how much those shoes cost when he was a kid.

She hunches in on herself slightly as she mumbles out her answer. "Uh, 'bout ¥60,000..?

"Sixty thou- Ashido!" He reprimanded.

"I know it's a lot, but I don't mind! Honest!" She placated, throwing her hands up in defense.

"I mind! That's way too much!" His words had peaked by this point. "Why on earth would you spend that kind of money?!"

"Because it's not fair that you don't get a choice!"

Izuku was glad that UA had sprung to soundproof the dorms a while back, because the volume of that shout would've certainly woken everyone in the building without it.

He sat there, shellshocked at Ashido's anger, while she panted heavily under furrowed eyebrows to try and calm herself down. After a moment, she sighed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. But I did mean what I said." She tried to keep an even tone as she spoke.

Taking another deep breath, she continued. "When I was trying to think up a gift for you, I realised that you only ever wear those red boots, so I thought 'Oh, he must really like that brand, I'll get him a different pair from the same place!' and then I started looking around their website to see what they had, but.. then I noticed your shoes were listed as 'alternative size' ones. I wasn't sure what that meant, so I did a bit of research and found out that was basically saying that they fit the extra toe joint that you have. I dunno why they don't just put it as 'for Quirkless people' or something."

Izuku knew why. The company didn't want backlash for catering to Quirkless people, so they tried to hide it behind a thinly veiled marketing catchphrase. He wasn't an idiot, he knew that RedTread didn't actually want to help the Quirkless get easier access to shoes, they just wanted a monopoly on an untapped corner of the market.

"So with that in mind, I started searching around for other places that had those alternative size shoes.. I'm sure you can guess how that went."

"Absolutely nothing?" Izuku asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"Yep." She deadpanned, "It was about 8 pages into my search that I started thinking that rather than you actually liking those boots, it was moreso along the lines of 'it's better than nothing'. Am I right?"

Izuku could only distantly nod.

"Right." She continued, "Luckily, that's when I remembered my mom mentioning her client who makes shoes on the side, so I was able to get those ones custom ordered." She pointed at the green trainers in his lap. "But, it shouldn't have had to come to this." She sighed.

"I-it's okay, Ashido-san. I'm used to it by now."

"Yeah, but you shouldn't be." She emphasized. "It's not fair to you, or the other Quirkless people, or the many mutant-type users who also have to get their shit custom made. It shouldn't cost an arm and a leg to just.. be comfortable in your own shoes.." She trailed off, staring into space.

After a moment, she shook her head erratically to mentally reset herself. "Ugh, alright. That's enough moping for now. Not really what we wanna be feeling on your special day." She motioned with her head towards the trainers, "So, do you like 'em?"

He did, very much. He liked them to a point that was almost unhealthy. He wanted to put them on right away and run around campus to show them off to anybody still up and about at this hour. He wanted to parade around and brag to the heavens that he had the best shoes in the world, gifted to him by the most amazing friend in the universe. But then, he remembered how much of a wallet sink these trainers had been, and he knew he had to return them. Ashido probably wouldn't be able to get a full refund by this point, but she might at least get some compensation.

He carefully placed the shoes back inside the box and set it down on the coffee table.

"Um, y-yeah. They're amazing, A-Ashido-san. But, I c-can't accept-"

"Mina."

He froze at the interruption.

"Huh?"

"Call me Mina." She was looking at him with a firm smile as if daring him to disobey her instruction, not that he had any intention of doing that. "And I won't hear anything of you refusing the shoes because you're 'not worthy' or whatever." She continued, framing the words around air quotes.

She was really getting into it now, scooting closer to him and placing her hands on his shoulders as she reiterated her point from the conversation that started this whole thing. "You are worthy, Midori. And even if you weren't, you still deserve to have something nice on your birthday." She relaxed her hands from his shoulders and gave him a bit more space. "Honestly, I don't think all the gifts in the world could balance out everything you do for everyone."

"That's not why I-"

"I know that's not why you do it, that's what so amazing about you." Her eyes were practically sparkling as she praised him, and he'd do anything to have her look at him like that all the time. "You lend a helping hand to everybody, even villains, just because you can. No matter what they've done or how they've treated you, you're still there to support them when they need it. You're the first thing I think of when I hear the word 'hero' now, and I can't imagine anyone more worthy of that title, Midori." She capped off her speech with a smile, softer than her usual bright grins, but no less happy.

Izuku's heart was beating out of his chest this point, and he could tell by the burning temperature across his face that his blush was showing it. Despite that, he managed to get out what he wanted to say in a flurry of stutters.

"I-I, um, u-uh, y-you c-can c-call me I-Izuku if you w-want, M-M-Mina.." He stammered out, feeling like he was about to combust. He gained just enough courage to look her in the eyes, and what he found took his breath away. Her smile had softened even more and her eyes were slightly lidded, framing her irises like a skewed halo, while her cheeks sported a healthy blush, the hue shifted to a dark purple by her unique skintone.

As they both locked eyes, she took a short breath and spoke.

"Sure thing.. Izuku."

His heart soared at the sound of his given name in her voice.

It was there, gazing into her golden pupils, that he came to a decision. He was glad he'd prepared this way in advance now.

"Wait right here, I'll be back in a second." He told a confused Mina before jumping up from the couch and rushing to the stairs back up to his room.

When he returned a minute later with the tube-shaped gift held in both hands, she was still planted in her spot on the couch. Noting the package with interest, she patted the area next to her and he obliged, sitting down in the place she had gestured to and manuevering the present so that it sat in his lap comfortably.

"Izuku." She started, "You do know that you don't typically get gifts for other people on your birthday, right?"

The question was so unexpected that it caused him to release a lilted chuckle. After clearing his throat, he turned to Mina and prepared to explain the present currently rested on his knees.

"Um, I know yours isn't for another couple of weeks, but I thought this would be a good time to give it to you." He held the gift in both hands and presented it to the girl. "Happy Early Birthday, Mina!"

Her mouth dropped open in complete surprise at the gesture. She numbly took the present from his hands and carefully positioned it on her own lap. Quietly unwrapping the paper, she made sure to take more caution with it than she normally would.

The tube shape was finally revealed to be a rolled up A3 poster of some kind. Mina unfurled the poster and gasped at what she saw. On the page was a near perfect recreation of the original theatrical poster for Aliens, painted using a mixture of watercolours and pastels for some additional details. So much care had been put into the shading that it almost looked photorealistic, but the quality of the painting wasn't what caused Mina to gasp like that.

Gone was the iconic depiction of Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley, and in its place was Mina herself, drafted with a similar technique to the rest of the poster. Her visage had adopted the same pose and expression as Ripley, complete with the character's outfit and weapon. In fact, the only thing out of place from the original is the lack of the young girl Ripley was shown holding in a protective carry, this version replacing her with Mina using her other hand to hold the front half of the heavy gun.

She stayed there staring at the poster for a long while, and eventually the silence becomes too awkward for Izuku to let sit.

"Uh, yeah. I hope I got everything right there, it was lucky I had enough materials to complete it. I might've missed your birthday if I had to get another order of watercolours in." He rambled on.

Mina perked up at that and swiveled her head to face his in disbelief.

"You- you painted this yourself?" She asked incredulously.

Izuku suddenly felt a bit self-conscious. "Y-yes? I was asking around for gift ideas and Hagakure-san said this was your favourite movie, so I did some research on it. It seems really scary, definitely not my sort of thing, but I can see why you like it. The monster designs are so cool, and the main actress was really good from the clips I saw and-" Izuku cut himself off when he realised Mina was staring at him with a dumbfounded expression on her face.

The two locked eyes for what felt like an eon, before Mina jolted out of her stasis and moved the poster to the far end of the couch, taking care not to disturb it as she set it down softly on the seat. She slowly turned back to him and swallowed the buildup in her throat before speaking in a low tone.

"I'm going to hug you now, is that okay?"

Izuku was barely done squeaking out a startled yes before Mina tackled him into a tight bear hug, the both of them tumbling over slightly on the couch before repositioning themselves upright, breaking contact just to end up staring at each other again.

After a brief pause, she started laughing, with him following seconds later. Izuku didn't fully know what being in love felt like, but if it was anything like the lightness that filled his chest at her breathless giggles, then he wanted more of it.

While they were both still giggling like schoolchildren, she eased her way back into their hug, slinking her arms around his midsection and pulling him tightly towards her. Izuku's laughter stopped in an instant, replaced by the furious pounding of his heart. Mina's own laughter soon trailed off as she snuggled deeper into his torso, eyes closed as her face shifted into a closed-mouth smile. She shuffled up a bit to make herself more comfortable, landing in a formation that was eerily similar to the hold she'd had him in after she showed him her exam results way back when. As the embrace continued, he felt himself relax and eventually moved his arms around her back, melting into her shoulder.

A spark of courage passed through him from who knows where, and he let out a teasing remark.

"Wow, haven't had a hug like this since our midterms." As soon as it left his mouth, he wanted to eat his own foot.

Her arms slacked, and she moved away from the embrace. "Well, I like to bust it out for special occasions. And I think today definitely qualifies, don't you?" She posited with a grin.

Her laid-back response eased his mind, and he responded with a grin of his own.

"Aw, does that mean I won't get another one for a while?" He joked while adopting a faux pout on his face. "Guess I'll just have to wait to help you out with our finals."

Her countenance falters at that, and his heart froze, terrified that he had somehow messed up.

She shuffled around nervously back into a seated position on the couch, legs dangling off the edge, before she took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

"Do you..know why I was so focused in that midterm period?" She asked, her being the one to avoid eye-contact this time around.

Izuku just blinked at her. In all honesty, for a little while he did have some concerns surrounding her sudden shift in personality during that time, but eventually he just chalked it up to her wanting to do well in her exams for once.

"Uh, because you were worried about your grades?"

"No- well I mean, yeah. But.." Mina paused for a moment before continuing on with her train of thought. "..that's not the main reason."

Her gaze drifted down to her knees, the colour on her cheeks reaching a bold purple.

"I did it to impress you."

His breath hitched.

"What..?" He whispered.

"I know, it's stupid. But.. I thought that maybe, if you saw me acting all studious or whatever, you'd.. um.. you'd like me better.." She trailed off, her face raising to a dangerous temperature.

Izuku's heart was racketing around his ribcage. Call him crazy, but it almost sounded like Mina...

She was subconsciously murmuring under her breath now, acting more like him whenever he got into one of his muttering moments. "Why did you ever think that would work..? He already knows you're that stupid, bumbling loudmouth. Just because you can pretend to be smart for two weeks doesn't mean he's suddenly gonna.." Her voice was small as she accidentally spilled her inner thoughts.

"You're wrong."

Her eyes snap open in surprise at his interjection, and she turns to face him.

"You don't need to be laser focused on academics, or quiet, or shy or any other thing you're not. If anyone sees who you are and thinks that you need to change, then they're an idiot." He declares firmly.

"Izuku.." She breathes out, but he wasn't done yet.

"I've known you for over a year now, Mina. I don't think I've ever met someone as kind, and funny, a-and sweet as you in my life. I know for sure that you're gonna go far in the hero world, and I am so incredibly privileged to be able to rise up in the ranks alongside you."

She was looking at him in complete shock now as he continued on with his speech.

"Back then, I was happy to help you study for those midterms, but not because you suddenly acted like a model student. I just wanted to help out someone I consider a dear friend. It is a good thing for you to take your studies seriously, don't get me wrong, but not at the cost of who you are. You don't have to take yourself seriously. Mina, I don't know if you realise it, but you were absolutely on fire during those revision sessions, and I doubt that would change much even if you had been your usual excitable self."

He places his hands on her shoulders to emphasize his words.

"You are smart, Mina. You just have a little trouble applying yourself, and that's okay. We just have to figure out a way for you to do both, because I'll be damned if I see you change yourself in that way again just to appease someone else, even if that someone is me."

He backs away from her and pauses for a moment to catch his breath. If his hunch was correct, then this next part could be the exact thing Mina needed to hear right now. If it was wrong however, then it might be the biggest mistake of his life.

"You know what my favourite part of that whole midterm thing was? Seeing how absolutely ecstatic you were when you got your results back. You don't need to change yourself for me to like you.."

He took in another shaky breath and mustered up what little courage he had left.

"..because I already d-do."

The words seem to reverberate around the common room, and he slams his eyes shut in fear of her reaction.

After a few long moments of absolute silence, he can't take the suspense anymore and chances a peek through his eyelids. And what he finds has him completely stupefied.

Mina is staring wide-eyed at his face, both eyebrows raised as far they can go. Her cheeks are fully blotted in a beautiful violet, the colour reaching all the way up to her temples. She's breathing irregularly, shoulders heaving at the motion, like she's struggling to take in air. Izuku would've been concerned by all of this if not for her bright open-mouthed smile stretching from ear to ear.

"You do!?" She shrieks in delight, her smile only widening.

Too overcome with relief, he could only nod fervently in response.

Mina squeals as she darts into point-blank range, latching her hands onto his shoulders.

"I like you too!" She exclaims, practically shaking in excitement.

The proximity was clouding Izuku's brain, but he's pretty sure that his grin was just as wide as hers. The lightheadedness lowers his inhibitions, and he does something that he never would have dreamed of before.

Matching her double grasp on her own shoulders, he quickly moves in and slams his lips against her cheek in a manner that's almost desperate.

As soon as his lips connect with the burning heat on her face, his brain catches up to his body and he hastily rips his mouth off of her. She looks gobsmacked at his impulsive manoeuvre, and then her expression shifts into a mixture of surprise and glee.

Before he can even begin to worry that he's overstepped, her grip on him tightens and she rushes in to pepper his face full of kisses in retaliation. The ticklish feeling of her lips paired with the utter joy he's experiencing in that moment causes him to let out a series of bubbly giggles.

Mina's hands move up to cup his face as she continues her onslaught, and only pauses briefly to ask a rhetorical question under her breath.

"How are you so freakin' adorable..??" She immediately goes back to her repetition of pecks, and it feels like her lips have touched every square inch of his face by this point.

The compliment raises the temperature of his cheeks even as his giggles begin to peter out. Eventually, Mina's energy starts to die down too and her rhythm slows to a crawl, finishing off her kissing spree with a long smooch on the tip of his nose.

A smack escapes her mouth when it leaves the spot, and her eyes open languidly to gaze at his through her lids. Both of them are breathing heavily at this point, and neither really wants to disrupt the spell they found themselves in, but after a moment of laboured panting, she speaks.

"Hey..." She says breathlessly, a stupidly attractive grin glued onto her face.

"Hi..." He responds with a smile, just as winded as she is.

Her eyes trail down to his lips, and his heartrate picks up at the implication. After spending just a moment staring at his mouth, her eyes dart back up to his and ask an unspoken question, one that Izuku is all too eager to agree to.

She begins leaning in at a snail's pace as her eyelids slide shut once more, closing her mouth and puckering her lips slightly. Despite his jackhammering heart, Izuku mirrors the motion as best he can, and they both inch closer to one another.

After a few tense seconds of trepidatious movement, their lips finally come into contact, and Izuku feels his whole world drop.

There's no fireworks, no spark, no explosion of feeling that comes into fruition, but there is a steadily growing warmth in his soul, and he's absolutely ravenous for more. Pushing back a little harder, their lips slot together and oh, there's the spark. The shock courses through his body like it's a closed circuit, with her mouth acting as the most potent conductor in the world, and it takes all of his restraint to not jolt erratically and ruin their positioning. His blood is pounding hard in his head by now, but he can't quite bring himself to care about the incoming migraine.

Mina seems to think the same, as she lets out a content hum directly into his mouth and the ensuing vibrations travel straight down to his ribcage to assist his heart in beating even faster. Her arms shift to wrap around his neck and pull him deeper into the kiss, which makes him release a decidely unmanly squeak that gets muffled by her own mouth.

They could've been there for seconds, minutes, hours, and Izuku wouldn't have noticed the difference. Everything else ceased to exist, leaving only her breathy gasps and soft lips remaining. The contact was making his head spin and he couldn't think straight, though that may have had more to do with the delirium from a lack of air than any feeling of euphoria he was currently experiencing.

Eventually, the oxygen problem gets the better of them and they're forced to break the kiss. Izuku must've still been drunk off the adrenalin, because the first thing that leaves his mouth after their lips disengage is utterly moronic.

"Best birthday gift everrrr.." He slurs, with eyes heavily lidded.

"Pfft," Mina tries valiantly to stifle her laughter, but fails almost instantly. "Hahahahahahahaaaaa!"

Izuku knows that he should probably feel mortified at his verbal slip, but all that runs through his head at that moment is how infatuated he is with this absolutely radiant girl. He continues watching her laugh with a dopey grin on his face, until eventually she calms down and wipes her eyes free of tears.

Looking back at him, she then repositions herself so that she's sitting slightly further away and moves her hands to grasp his in a tight hold, their fingers locking together. His breath hitches at the motion.

"Midoriya Izuku." she starts, "Would you do me the absolute honour of becoming my boyfriend?"

He swallows hard, and responds as best he can.

"Ashido Mina, I would absolutely lov- like! Like to be your boyfriend." He quickly corrects, a fiery blush spreading across his face. She lets out a short chuckle at his awkwardness.

She's looking at him with such a fond expression, and the thought that he might get to see that face for the rest of his life turns him positively giddy.

"Good." Mina says with a nod of finality. Something catches her eye, and her head shifts to look at the clock on the wall. "Ohhh shit, it's really late."

He turns to look at it as well. The clock reads 11:37 p.m.

Yikes, he's usually in bed by 10.

"I think we'd better go get some sleep." She continues, sighing in disappointment. Though, she perks up again after a second and finishes her thought off with another prod. "So, I'll see you tomorrow, boyfriend~" She smirks, giving his hands a squeeze.

Izuku suddenly felt extremely shy again, as the emotional high he'd been riding for the last few minutes had started to fizzle out.

"U-Uh, yeah. I-I'll see you t-tomorrow.. g-g-girlfriend." He squeaks out. She chuckles again at his antics, and unclasps her fingers from his. Rising from the couch and picking up her handmade Aliens poster, she starts to make her way over to the stairs, only to stop and turn to give him one final tease.

"Happy Birthday, Izuku. Sweet dreams and all that, hopefully I'll be featured in them~" Which she then punctuates with a wink, before making her way up the stairs while he remains stunlocked on the couch, heart racing at her flirty gesture.

After she's fully left the room, his breathing can finally calm down and his gaze drifts around the area until it inevitably lands on the shoebox containing his brand new trainers, at which his face spreads into a content smile.

Yeah, he likes his birthday now.

Chapter Text

The next two weeks were some of the best in Izuku's life. That might seem like an exaggeration, and perhaps it was, but he was too high up on Cloud 9 to really care. And it was all thanks to his newly dubbed girlfriend, Mina.

The morning after they confessed to each other, Izuku had walked downstairs to find the acid wielder up and about uncharacteristically early. After a quick "good morning" to him, she revealed her reasoning for waking up sooner than usual, wanting to discuss how exactly they should go about their relationship in regards to their classmates. They talked for a little while and came to the conclusion that they should probably tell them as soon as possible.

Mina said that she didn't really want to hide the fact they were dating, even professing with a blush on her face that she would likely have a hard time keeping her hands off him now that they had breached the 'physical contact' barrier between each other. That admission made him blush twice as hard as he recalled how intense their kissing session had gotten the previous night, though he couldn't deny he felt a thrum of anticipation at the thought of doing it again.

Back to the issue of their classmates, Izuku was of a similar mind on the matter. The idea of concealing what he had with the pink girl made his skin crawl, and that feeling vastly overpowered any sense of embarrassment he might have had about revealing his relationship to his friends. Plus, if Hagakure learned that they started dating and didn't tell her, she might actually kill them both. Mina just laughed when he pointed that out to her.

As expected, the invisible girl almost tore the dorm down with her squealing when they broke the news to everyone, nearly ripping Mina's arms off while jumping up and down begging her best friend for details. Most of their other classmates reacted with either a milder congratulations or passive acceptance, and so began their relationship proper.

One might expect that with a brand new relationship, came brand new tribulations, problems to overcome. But much of their dynamic had stayed the same as when it was platonic, only now greetings were followed up by hugs, and teasing remarks came attached with kisses.

Well, that was only half-true. There had been a somewhat major change in the way that Mina spoke about and to him, namely the fact that she was a lot freer with her infatuation now that they were dating. And it had done wonders for Izuku's self-esteem. Turns out having an extremely pretty girl mention how attractive she found you day-in and day-out made you feel better about yourself. Who knew?

He tried to return the favour, in the hopes that Mina would feel even a percentage of the bliss he did whenever she complimented him, but honestly, he wasn't that good at it. He remembered one particularly embarrassing moment when she had said hello to him as he entered the dorm tagged with one of her usual flattering phrases and devilish smirks.

"Well, hello there stud-muffin. How you doin' today?"

He had clammed up with a red face and desperately tried to respond in kind, eventually settling on a stuttery "U-Uh, good. How.. you d-doing.. pretty lady?"

The delivery of that line made him want to dig his head in the ground like an ostrich, but Mina still laughed at it with a nice shade of magenta across her face, so it wasn't a complete failure in his book.

Of course, there were times when he managed to get the upper hand in their verbal duels. Very rarely, and usually by accident, but still there.

It was just after final period one day, while they were all gathering their belongings and preparing to head back to the dorms for the evening, that he overheard a conversation between Hagakure and his girlfriend from across the classroom.

"There's no way Setsuna did that, right?" Mina asked her friend incredulously.

"I'm only reporting what Pony told me." Hagakure raised her arms in front of her, "She said that it happened right in first period before homeroom even started."

"Hahaha!" The pink girl burst out laughing, "I can only imagine how pissed Vlad-sensei must've been when he saw the tomatoes, oh my god!"

"I know, right? Apparently she got detention for the whole week." The currently visible girl grinned at the thought.

"I mean, jeez. What did she think was gonna happen? Of course she was gonna get in deep shit for trying that!" Mina was still struggling to hold in her laughter. Izuku's face spread into a dopey smile from his spot a few desks over, the subconscious reaction sprouting from seeing his girlfriend happy.

"You'd never catch me dead going for something that crazy." She continued, "I'd have to be an angel sent from the heavens to leave that situation scot-free."

Izuku's eyebrows pinched in confusion and the words escaped him before he could think twice.

"But you are though?"

Mina's laughter stopped in an instant, and both she and Hagakure swiveled round in shock to face him. His brain finally caught up with his mouth, and he flushed crimson while attempting to apologise for his comment.

Before any more words could leave his mouth, Hagakure hollered from across the room.

"Woahhhhhh, that was smooth, Midoriya! I think you broke her!"

Sure enough, Mina was frozen in place, slack-jawed in awe with a fiery blush painted all over her features. It was so intense that her cheeks were dropping to a tone of purple close in brightness to her eyes.

Before he could really appreciate the sight before him, she jolted back into motion, gathering the rest of her items into her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

"C'mon, Tooru! We s-should really get going!" She exclaimed with a squeaky voice while power-walking out of the room, refusing to look at either of them lest they notice the lingering tint of colour on her face.

Hagakure just snickered as the pink girl exited the classroom, turning back to reassure Izuku when she noticed the worried expression his face had shifted into.

"Ahh, don't fret too much, dude. She's just a bit embarrassed from you putting on the moves for once." She explained.

"Putti- No, that's not what I-! At least, not intentionally.." He slumped over slightly as he trailed off. Looking back up at Hagakure, he continued. "..are you sure she's okay? She looked pretty upset.."

"Positive." She reassured one more time, "She'll be back to normal by dinner."

"If you say so.."

After the other girl bid him farewell and left the classroom too, he could finally finish packing up his belongings. Once he put everything back in his bag, he pulled out his phone and typed out a proper apology to his girlfriend for his actions.

Mina had replied swiftly, telling him that Hagakure's guess was fairly accurate and that she was just a little flustered by the sudden flirting. She apologised herself for darting off and leaving him worried over her, to which he hastily texted back saying that she had nothing to be sorry for and that he was in the wrong here.

That began a small back-and-forth between the two, trying to take the blame onto themselves and absolve the other, before Mina called it off with an offer to share it 50/50, a set of terms that Izuku found acceptable even if he didn't really agree with the idea that she was at fault.

After that, Izuku began walking back to the dorms while keeping up his text conversation with his girlfriend. They started chatting about how classes had gone, which was comprised mostly of Mina ranting about the problems Ectoplasm had them solving in maths whilst Izuku looked at his screen with a fond smile on his face.

Eventually, he was coming up on the dorm entrance, so he let Mina know and she started jokingly moaning about how long it'd be until they next saw each other and how 'parting is such sweet sorrow', which made him snort at the dramatics.

He was just about to put his phone back in his pocket when he felt one final buzz, and his eyes widened when he checked the last message she sent before signing off.

'Mina 💗: You might think that I fell from the heavens, but I'd much rather be falling for you instead~ <3'

That line left a caustic blush all over his face, and he had to wave off Todoroki's concern when he walked into the dorms covered in red. Despite his apparent victory this time, Mina still had the last laugh in the end.

Those two weeks passed by rather quickly all things considered, and now it was July 30th, Mina's birthday. As dictated by Yaoyorozu's party plan, most of everyone else went ahead of Izuku straight to the restaurant, and he was tasked with occupying the pink girl's time elsewhere, since Hagakure had to temporarily stay behind and arrange the dorm lounge for when they all got back. He then had to escort his girlfriend to the venue without raising her suspicions, something that was much easier said than done since Mina's persistence could rival most detectives when she desperately wanted to know something.

She had clocked pretty quickly that he knew exactly what was going down and pestered him relentlessly for information as they roamed around a local park. In most other cases, he would've caved after the first few attempts, but he held strong and refused to reveal any major details. Eventually, Mina realised that Izuku wasn't going to budge, and just resigned herself to the fact that her birthday party would remain a surprise up until they arrived.

After he got the confirmation text from Yaoyorozu, he discreetly redirected their stroll in the park towards the restaurant. As they walked down the street hand-in-hand, the pink girl helpfully provided her own distraction by enthusiastically retelling the events of Sero's birthday just two days prior. The tape wielder, as per his request, had a smaller party involving only his close friends, so Izuku hadn't attended that one. He listened quietly to Mina's rambling, occasionally chiming in with his own comments, and the walk passed by in no time at all.

Conveniently, they came up on the restaurant right when she was almost finished regaling her experience of the party, the chatter diverting her attention to the point where she nearly walked right past their destination. It was only when Izuku slowed his pace that she seemed to realise where they were, and spun around to find the front doors of her favourite restaurant.

"Oh. My. God. NO WAY!" She cried with excitement, turning back to Izuku with an open-mouthed smile on her face.

Izuku felt the corners of his own mouth lift higher. "Everybody's already inside, and it's all been paid for, courtesy of Yaoyorozu. Happy Birthday, Mina." He said warmly.

"Haha!" She laughs gleefully, "This was so worth the surprise! Thanks Izu!" She brought him into a tight hug.

"Hey.. don't thank me, it was all Yaoyorozu's idea." He deflected weakly, still with a smile on his face.

"Mmmm, don't care! I wanna hug you anyway!" She stated firmly and he chortled in response.

The rest of the afternoon from then on felt like a blur. After they went inside, they found the collection of tables that had been arranged to fit the large amount of hero students, complete with said diners sitting patiently and talking amongst themselves while they waited for the birthday girl to show up.

When they noticed the two new arrivals, they launched into an excited cheer of "Happy Birthday!" for Mina, who was looking positively ready to burst. After a bout of squealing to release some of that energy, she darted over to the table area and gave Yaoyorozu a big hug, along with a hearty thanks. The taller girl looked slightly flummoxed at first, but then relaxed and returned the embrace just as fervently.

Despite that, dinner was a rather calm affair. At least, calmer than Izuku was used to when it came to Mina, though he chalked it up mostly to them being in a public space for once rather than the privacy of the dorm lounge. They didn't want to get kicked out for causing a ruckus, after all. Not to say that it was completely silent, either. The class continued their jubilant chatter all throughout the courses, not even stopping when their meals eventually arrived despite Iida's admonishments on talking with their mouths full.

Izuku was sat up next to his friends at one end of the table, with Mina taking a seat on the opposite end next to her own. Neither minded the change in company, as they had spent the last hour or so talking only to each other, so it was nice to chat with their other friends now. Even if Izuku's insisted on teasing him relentlessly about what he and his girlfriend were up to in that time spent alone ("I gotta say Deku, you did a good job distracting her. Did you use tongue?" "U-Uraraka-san!"). If the purple on her cheeks that he could spot from across the table was any indication, Hagakure was likely doing the same thing to Mina.

Once everyone had finished their meals, and Yaoyorozu could confirm with the wait staff that every item had been accounted for, the group made the trek all the way back to the dorms.

When they entered the common room, Izuku's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Hagakure had had done an extremely impressive job for what little time she had, since the lounge was practically unrecognisable from its state that very morning. The room had been covered in a mass of decorations spanning various shades of pink, ranging from faint pastel all the way to vibrant magenta.

Since they had already spent most of the day out and about, there weren't as many activities spread around in comparison to Izuku's party, and the activities that were there were catered more towards Mina's interests. The couches were shuffled around to create a suspiciously large empty space in the middle of the room, one that Izuku had a feeling would be used for dancing later in the evening.

Mina suggested that everyone take a moment to head back up to their rooms and get changed into something more comfortable, as they were all still clad in their less casual outfits that they had worn to the restaurant. Izuku decided to don a pair of loose white shorts he had lying around, paired with a dark-green hoodie he was really fond of. Mina herself had decided on a very similar fit, though hers was pink instead of green. When she came back downstairs and they both caught a glimpse of each other, they started laughing at the coincidence.

When everyone returned in their new clothes, they started the next phase of the party. Mina was moreso a fan of traditional party games, so they begun with a long game of Truth or Dare, one that they only stopped when things almost went too far concerning one of the dares. Izuku was fairly sure that Kaminari was risking homicide by telling Bakugo to do something like that.

Next, they moved on to Charades. He felt a bit self-conscious acting out his prompts in front of everyone, but he managed to get them all done, and he must've done a decent job considering at least a couple of people on his team got each of his words. No-one in the class had anything on Koda, though. The quiet boy's aptitude in sign language gave him an edge over the competition, and every single prompt he displayed garnered a multitude of immediate answers, earning his team a landslide victory by the end of the rounds.

They played a few other games after that, before Hagakure decided that now was the time for dancing, and brought out a CD mixtape of Mina's favourite songs. Most of everybody (some decided to stay on the sidelines and just watch) made their way over to the large empty space while the invisible girl loaded up the CD on Jirou's stereo system she'd set up earlier in the day.

Izuku was more than happy to just casually hang around the dance area whilst his girlfriend got into the swing of it with her friends, though he did feel a faint sense of fear as to whether Hagakure had chosen any songs of a more.. romantic nature. His practice for the Culture Festival had improved his dancing skills leaps and bounds from where they were previously, but he was still firmly in the 'two left feet' stage, and definitely didn't feel ready for a slow dance.

Eventually, the dreaded moment arrived, as the music faded out and a new tune begun, this one much slower than the last. Izuku could feel his heart start beating faster, but he forced himself to push past it. This was for Mina.

Taking a deep breath and sucking in his gut, he sought out his girlfriend amongst the partygoers, finding her easily thanks to her bright skintone. As he walked over to her, she noticed him and perked up at the sight. He almost tripped over from the stunning smile she sent his way, but caught himself at the last second and stumbled the last leg towards her.

He was now stood right in front of her, and she was looking at him with a mixture of amusement and confusion. Taking in one final deep breath, he brought up a trembling hand and spoke in a shaky tone.

"May I.. May I h-have this dance?"

The question was barely audible over the music and chatter from his classmates around them, but Mina heard it perfectly clear. Her eyes widened slightly before her mouth lifted up into a smile at the corners. She raised her own hand to take his, but before they made contact, she paused.

"You know you don't have to do this if you don't want to, right?" She asked with a concerned expression.

Around him, he could see his friends pairing up with each other for the slow dance. Some of the couples were to be expected, like Uraraka and Tsuyu, or Jirou and Yaoyorozu. However, there were some surprises, like Kaminari and Sero, and he could see Hagakure attempting to psyche herself up near Koda. Even Kirishima was trying to convince Bakugo to join him in a dance, with an unprecedented amount of success. The blond was putting up less resistance than usual, and it'd only be a matter of time before the red-haired boy got him to break.

The knowledge that he wouldn't be alone in his slow dance with Mina caused to him to relax a bit, and he could finally think properly. What was he so worried about? This wasn't a formal event, no-one was going to laugh at him if he danced weird or fell over. And even if he did fall over, Mina would be right there to catch him, like she always was. He felt a surge of courage spark through him, and he turned back to her with a determined look in his eyes.

"I'm sure." He said, jutting his hand out a little further.

Mina's worried look shifted back into a tranquil one at his confidence, and she placed her hand in his.

Once everyone had paired up, the remaining singles made their way off the dance floor to occupy themselves elsewhere, and the couples took the stage. Mina dragged him over to one edge of the floor, likely to help him feel more comfortable since he would have an easy exit if he got overwhelmed. He felt his heart soften at her thoughtfulness, and any remaining trepidation slowly seeped out of his joints.

The music was picking up now (as much as a slow song could, anyway) and Mina brought him into a tight hug so that they could sway to the beat. She rested her forehead against his as her eyelids slipped shut, and he found himself melting into the intimate embrace.

"So," He began, "are you enjoying your party so far?"

Her eyelids languidly opened again, and she looked directly into his eyes with a soft expression.

"Definitely." She answered with an air of finality.

"That's good." He replied, though he felt the need to apologize as well. "Sorry that I didn't really help out much with the planning, I just-"

"Izuku, you had your first proper birthday party like two weeks ago." She cut him off before he can go on his apology spree. "I wouldn't expect you to have it all down that quickly."

"Right, yeah. That's fair enough." He thought for a moment and then continued, "Next year, I'll be ready. You're looking at the future main party planner for Ashido Mina's 18th." He joked.

That got a small laugh out of her, and she leaned her forehead against his once more.

"I like the sound of that." She said in a quiet voice.

"What, me planning your birthday party?" He asked.

"The idea that we'll still be together next year." She corrected.

The underlying joy in her tone as she said that made his cheeks heat up, and he decided that words weren't needed for a response, just the return action of pressing his forehead further into hers while his arms tightened slightly around her torso.

After a minute of leisurely swaying, his girlfriend spoke up again.

"Hey, Izuku.."

Her reserved tone made him open his eyes, and he found her looking down at the floor, avoiding direct eye-contact with him. Now a little concerned, he shifted his hands to gently take hers, and responded in an equally low volume.

"Yeah..?"

She seemed to be deliberating on whether to continue, and eventually her hesitation won out.

"Nevermind. It's nothing." She said.

"You sure..? You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" He cautiously pressed.

"I know.. It's just a me thing, I'm being silly. I promise I'll tell you eventually." She looked back up and gave him a small smile, though he could tell it wasn't all there.

"Alright, if you're sure."

They went back to their swaying after that, and kept it up until the slow music faded out completely.

After the dancing session came more food. Since they'd eaten out already, all that was left was dessert. And what a dessert it was! Once again baked by Satou, the platter contained a massive mound of chocolate cake, one that had nearly everyone at the table staring at it in awe. Izuku was pretty sure he spotted Mina drooling as it was set down in front of her. After a quick rehearsal of the birthday song, the slices were divvied up amongst the class and they could finally dig in.

Of course, the party wasn't even close to finished yet. Those who already had their fill of cake got up from the table and began to rearrange some of the couches back into a usable formation, ready for the gift-giving part of the day. Joined by the others once everyone had enough dessert, they pulled out their individual gifts from the pile and gathered around the birthday girl.

Izuku couldn't help but huff a few quiet laughs at the difference in gifts between him and his girlfriend. She was definitely a creature of material wants, receiving tons of presents related to her interests, as opposed to his more practically oriented ones. Like with his affinity for All-Might, she had similar pull towards the Alien series, and most of the gifts reflected that. Merchandise, themed clothing, even a box set collection of all the available movies on DVD. There were a few outliers, but by and large it all pointed back to the Xenomorph and its mother series. He probably should've expected that considering she originally based her hero branding around it.

When it finally came time for Izuku to present his own gift, Mina accepted it with a confused look on her face, one that he read as 'Didn't you already get me something?'. Even if he had previously gifted her the custom Aliens poster, he still wanted his girlfriend to have something from him on the day, and he told her as such.

Luckily, Izuku wasn't overprepared for nothing. When brainstorming ideas for the original gift he planned, he made sure to think up second and third options incase the first fell through, something he was thanking his past self for foreseeing since it massively expedited the process of creating a second present. It took a bit of collaborating between all the members of 2-A, but he managed to get something together just in time.

Mina unwrapped the paper to find a thick photo book simply titled 'Class 1-A'. Opening up the book revealed a catalogue of all the major social events they'd experienced that year alongside a bunch more casual pictures of the multitude of friend groups that formed the class, helpfully submitted by his classmates when he asked for any potential images they had lying around.

The pink girl was currently flipping through all the pages with a bright grin on her face, occasionally pausing to laugh at a particularly funny image until eventually, she stopped on a space near the back end of the book that had been dedicated to a few pictures from Izuku's birthday party.

He noticed her eyes fixate on one specific photo featuring just him and her, since Hagakure had insisted sometime during the party that the birthday boy and planner absolutely had to commemorate the occasion with a picture together. It was a little embarrassing in hindsight, seeing his smiling red face as his photographed self stood side-by-side next to the pink girl, but the feeling was brushed aside by all the fond memories he now had of that day.

After Mina had taken a good long look at everything the album had to offer, she closed it back up and thanked him for the gift with a tight hug, which he returned enthusiastically.

The rest of the party passed by relatively quickly after that. Before long, the festivities had begun to die down and everyone was now starting to pack away the decorations. Mina tried to offer a helping hand, but her friends are even more stubborn than she is, and she ended up being practically yanked out of the lounge by Hagakure, laughing joyfully all the while. She called out a final thank you and goodbye to everyone through her laughter as the invisible girl kept carting her towards the stairs, and Izuku felt his own chuckles slip out at the girls' antics.

Later on, when all the decorations were back in their boxes and most of the dishes were drying out, he noticed that the plate in the dining area still held a smidgeon of cake left over, and he got an idea.

After double checking that nobody else wanted the remaining dessert, he took the plate and started making his way up the stairs to the pink girl's dorm room.

Once he approaches her door, he knocks a couple of times and she gives a muffled response from inside. "Come in!"

Turning the handle and opening the door, he greets his girlfriend. "Hey, Mina. We had a little bit of cake left over so I thought I'd bring it up to you." He says, holding up the platter to show the last two remaining slices of chocolate cake.

Mina is now dressed in her hot-pink pajamas, sitting lazily on the chair at her desk with her laptop open and powered on. Her eyes sparkle at the treat in his hands.

"Oooo, thanks Izu! I'm gonna enjoy that later."

He smiles and sets the plate down on the dresser next to the door. "So, uh, what are you up to?" He asks.

She casually jerks a thumb towards her laptop. "Just on call telling my family how my b-day went."

He blanches. "O-oh, like right now? Sorry for interrupting, I'll just-"

"Is that him? Mina, bring him over here!" A voice crackles from the laptop speakers and brings both teens' attention back to it. Mina looks back at him a second later with a conflicted expression. He can interpret the look; she obviously wants to show off her boyfriend to her family, but she knows that Izuku is uncomfortable with surprise social situations. His heart softens at the consideration and despite his nervousness, he makes his way over to the desk, since he does really want to meet her family as well.

Mina's face brightens at his acceptance, and she pulls another chair from the side of her bed up to the desk. He sits down in it with a grateful smile and focuses his attention on the laptop screen.

The first thing that strikes him is that no-one in Mina's family looks like her.

Four faces stare at him from the other side of the video call, varying in age and gender, but all with a dark golden brown skintone, a far cry from the shade of pink that he'd expected them to have.

In fact, the only blatant physical resemblance that any of these people have to his girlfriend is the familiar, yet slightly different yellow antennae jutting out of the older man's head, who he presumes to be her father.

Izuku takes a quick mental checklist of each present member of the Ashido family. Along the bottom half of the screen are two boys, one slightly younger than him and one slightly older. The younger one has messy yellow hair that covers all of his right eye and most of his left, resulting in a rather shaggy haircut that he can tell is at least partially unintentional, if the way he was constantly moving the left side out of his face was any indication.

The older boy, on the other hand, has the complete opposite 'do, with shorter brown hair that spikes out in all directions. His face is smattered with freckles, the lighter dots standing out amongst his dark skin, and he's a lot lankier than his younger brother, looking as thin as a rail.

Standing behind the two boys in the top right corner of the video call is Mina's father, a large, stocky man with the aforementioned antennae, although his stick out at a 45 degree angle on either side of his head as opposed to straight on top like his daughter. His hair flows all the way down to his shoulders in long, dark-red strands, paired with an extremely full beard that covers the lower half of his face.

On the opposite side of the screen is an older woman with an easy smile on her face. Mina's mother looks the most like her daughter out of all the members of the Ashido family, with a similar facial structure and fluffy haircut. The similarities end there though, as her hair colour is a sandy brown more reminiscent of her oldest son's.

All of them are dressed for bed due to the late hour, either clad in loose t-shirts and shorts or a flowy nightgown in her mother's case. It makes Izuku feel a little out of place with his hoodie, but he tries not to let that bother him.

Realising he should probably introduce himself, he clears his throat and does just that. "Uh, hello. My name is Midoriya Izuku, it's nice to meet you." He prepares to bow in his seat, before remembering that there's a desk in the way. He then tries to course correct by raising his arm in offer of a handshake before he realises the problem with that too, and attempts to pass it off by quickly rubbing the back of his neck. His cheeks are now burning with embarrassment at his fumbling, and he can feel several pairs of eyes on him.

Suddenly, Mina's father starts laughing raucously, the two younger males joining in a second later while their mother just rolls her eyes at them. He can hear Mina trying to stifle her own laughter too, and his face burns even brighter.

The laughter dies down just enough for her father to address him. "Hoooo boy, sorry about that, Midoriya. I'd love to shake your hand, but I'm afraid the technology isn't quite there yet." He grins through the screen and despite his embarrassment, Izuku can feel the corners of his mouth lifting as well.

The other boys finally finish their cackling spree, and the man continues, "Name's Ashido Kenji. Nice to meetcha, kid. Though, it feels like we've basically already met since Mina never stops talking about you." He says, showing Izuku exactly where Mina got her teasing habits from.

"Wh- DAD! Don't tell him that!" She shouts, blushing a brilliant purple while the two boys start snickering.

"Whaaat? I'm just saying." His grin widens as he shrugs before turning his attention back to Izuku. "I remember over a year ago now she came home one day gushing about 'Midori' this and 'Midori' that. I don't even think she realised how much she was swooning over you at first."

Mina just groans and hangs her head in her hands. Izuku decides to come to her rescue and take some of the heat off her. "Um, yeah. I kinda get that. My mom says I do something similar when I talk about Mina." She raises her head slightly, sending him a grateful look from between her fingers.

"Ugh, gross." A new voice chimes in, belonging to the younger of the Ashido sons currently onscreen.

"Hey! Be nice to your sister and her boyfriend!" Kenji chides, "It won't be long before you're making goo-goo eyes at someone yourself, Naoto."

The younger boy, apparently called Naoto, scrunches his nose in disgust at the thought. "Unlikely. That crap's way too mushy for me."

"Uh-huh." His father drawls, "Let's see how you feel in a few years, bud."

Izuku just blinks at the interaction. Was.. was this normal? He's seen this kind of dynamic play out in his class, Kaminari and Jirou being particularly good examples of it. But, that was just between friends. He's never witnessed it happen between family members before, especially not a father and son. He gives a quick look over to Mina to gauge her reaction and she's watching the back-and-forth with slight amusement, so he just assumes this sort of conversation is a regular occurrence in the Ashido household.

"Yo, Midoriya!" The older boy pipes up, garnering Izuku's attention. "I'm Daisuke, by the way- Just a small request, could you stop being so goshdarn good at kissing?" He fake swoons as he says that. "Mina will just not shut up about how awesome your makeout seshes are." He finishes off with a smirk.

"N-NOT TRUE! I DO NOT TALK ABOUT THAT!" Mina practically screeches while she and Izuku both burst into flames at the idea of kissing like that. Daisuke starts laughing at their reaction, though it's quickly cut off by a sharp whack around the back of his head from his mother.

"Cut that out! Mina is already embarrassed enough without you adding fibs into the mix!" She reprimands. Daisuke just shrugs, looking pleased that his precision strike jab had landed.

The Ashido matriarch huffs an annoyed sigh and rolls her eyes again before turning her attention back to the screen.

"Anyway, it's nice to finally meet you, Midoriya. I'm Ashido Taiga, Mina's mother. You'll have to excuse my childrens' lack of manners." She bites, giving the boys a side-glare. "They're just curious. Mina's been awfully cagey over certain details about you despite her 'gushing', as my husband put it."

"Yeah, we didn't even know what you looked like until you showed up at the Culture Festival." Naoto adds.

That statement strikes Izuku as odd, and he brings it up to the girl beside him. "We've taken pictures together before, you could've shown them that?"

Mina scoffs, "What, and give these two dips that kind of ammunition? Knowing them, they would've made crappy Photoshop edits of us kissing to torment me with."

"Oh yeah, we absolutely would've." Daisuke admits unabashedly. Mina just gives her boyfriend a look that says 'See?'.

"Huh.." Izuku doesn't really understand this weird mix of animosity and love the Ashido family seem to regard each other with. He tries to imagine his own mother teasing him like Mina's parents do, and the idea seems utterly absurd. But if it works for them, then he can't really judge.

"Oh!" Taiga suddenly exclaims. "I almost forgot, she'd want to be here for this too." She turns away from the screen. "Chihaya!" she calls, sounding quieter now that she wasn't facing the microphone. "Come back to the computer! Mina's boyfriend is on!"

Before he can question who Chihaya is, he hears a distant "What!?" through the laptop speakers and a set of rapid footsteps growing steadily closer. A couple of seconds later, a young girl with long black hair slides into the background and almost trips over in her slippers running up to the camera.

"Hi! I'm Chihaya, but you can call me Chi-Chi! Is it really true that you're Quirkless?!" She spouts, not even taking a breath between sentences. "I have a friend who's Quirkless, her name's Rei and she moved to America with her parents 'cause apparently they treat you guys better over there."

Izuku could barely keep up with the whirlwind on the screen currently bouncing up and down. He can, however, definitely tell that this is Mina's sister. The younger Ashido was practically a carbon copy of her older sibling in all but appearance, sporting the same darker skintone as the rest of her family.

Speaking of the other Ashidos, they make no effort to stop Chihaya's barrage of words, even backing away slightly from the computer when they initially heard her coming, and Izuku can sense that this course of evasive action was learned from experience. Realising that the young girl was still talking, he quickly zoned back in to listen properly.

"-and when Mina said that she had a Quirkless guy in her class, I told Rei and she didn't believe me, so we looked up your fights at the Sports Festival and you were so cool! You were all like BAM! POW! to that ice guy, even though you lost." Her excitement fades for a moment before coming back in full swing.

"Rei says she wants to be a hero like you when she's older, so I wanted to ask-" She scrambles around the desk that their computer is situated on and pops back into frame with a notepad and pen held in both hands.

"-do you have any advice?" She asks hopefully.

Izuku's mouth had dropped open by this point, dumbstruck by the turn this family meeting had taken. "Uh.." He glances over at Mina for assistance, but her face told him that she was equally lost, so it seemed like he was on his own for this one.

All of a sudden, the weight of the request fully hit him. A child was asking him, him, for advice in heroics. He couldn't afford to disappoint now.

"Right!" He says, clapping his hands together to psyche himself up, "Firstly, does your friend have any combat training?" He asks Chihaya, and the girl lit up at his response.

"Yeah! She's been taking aikido classes since she was 6."

"And how long ago was that?" He questions.

"3 years, we're both 9 now." She answers dutifully.

"Okay, okay. That's a good start, but she's gonna need an extra leg up if she wants to be on-par with her classmates when she gets into hero school. Tell her that she should start trying to learn how to use a weapon of some kind. I personally prefer two-handed melee, but it should be whatever she finds most comfortable."

Chihaya nods fervently and jots down his words on her notepad. "Okay, what else?"

"Hmmm.." Izuku thinks for a moment, "She should also probably be practicing on-the-fly quirk analysis. One of the biggest strengths any person engaging in quirk combat can have is the ability to calculate what exactly their opponent can do, and how best to counter it." He explains.

Chihaya notes that down as well and looks back up at him. "Uh-huh?"

"Last thing, and this is the most important, so listen closely." He leans in to the laptop and can see the younger Ashido do the same, hanging onto his every word. "People are going to tell Rei-chan that there's no point in trying to become a hero, that she should just give up and go home. It's happened to me before." Chihaya furrows her brow at that, and he continues.

"I need you to tell Rei-chan that, with enough hard work and determination, she can become a hero. And that nothing and no-one can stand in her way if she truly puts her mind to it."

Chihaya's eyes are practically sparkling as she stares at him, and he distantly wonders if this is how he used to look at All-Might.

"And one more thing, for you this time, Chihaya-chan." She straightens up at the direct address. "You seem like a really good friend to Rei-chan, so please, keep being there for her, especially when things get difficult. Good friends are hard to come by for people like us."

He can feel the other Ashidos looking at him with pity, but he keeps his attention on Chihaya, who takes in his words and gives him a nod of grim determination.

"Yes, sir!" She salutes.

"Thank you." He responds with a smile.

They both sit there looking at each other for a moment before her mother senses that the discussion has ended and clears her throat.

"Did you get everything you wanted, Chihaya?" She asks, and the young girl nods with an affirmative hum. "Alright then, I think it's time for you to be off to bed again. It is a school night, after all."

"Okay.." Chihaya hangs her head in disappointment.

Taiga chuckles. "Oh, don't look like that. It's not like Midoriya is going away forever, he'll be around to talk about heroics some other time. Right?" She looks back at the screen as she asks that.

Izuku gives a firm nod. "Yeah, we can talk again another time, Chihaya-chan. I'd be happy to help you and Rei-chan with any questions you have." He smiles at the girl, and her face perks up again.

"Really? I can't wait! Thank you, Mister Deku!" She climbs down from the desk and starts skipping away from the computer, notepad still in hand. She turns and utters a cheerful "Night, night!" with a wave goodbye and everyone, Izuku included, wishes her a goodnight back. The girl giggles before making her way out of the room and presumably back up to hers.

The conversation pivots elsewhere after that. The Ashidos talk about their hobbies and display each of their quirks, and Izuku has to bite at the reins to stop himself from analysing them right then and there. Then, after they fully introduce themselves, they begin questioning him. Naoto is particularly curious about what life at UA is like, despite his front of indifference he tries to keep up, asking about what they do in class and how it is to live in a dorm, much to Mina's annoyance ("Dude, you know I live at UA too, right? You could've just asked me." "S-shut up!").

The Ashido parents are much more interested in Izuku himself, lobbing a multitude of questions about his personal life.

"So, Midoriya. Mina mentioned that you do a lot of quirk analysis in your free time?" Taiga begins.

"Huh? O-oh yes, that's right. I just like thinking about how they work, and how they can be utilised differently. It's really interesting stuff, or a-at least I think so." He explains.

"It does sound pretty interesting." Kenji pipes up, "Mina was saying that you've been helping out your classmates with their quirks."

"Uh, yes, I suppose so. It's not as impressive as she probably made it out to be though." He says, rubbing the back of his neck.

Mina chimes in at that point. "Oh, come off it, Izuku. It is impressive." She turns back to the screen, "You know how my friend Tooru learned how to turn off her invisibility a while back?" She claps a hand on Izuku's shoulder and shakes it vigorously, "All this guy." Her parents raise their eyebrows in intrigue at that.

Izuku squawks and tries to correct his girlfriend. "I-I didn't do much! Hagakure would've figured it out by herself, I just lent a helping hand."

"Oh really?" She challenges, "What about when you figured out Ochako could make things float in any direction? Or when you figured out Kyouka could give and receive electrical signals with her jacks? Or when you figured out Tokoyami could send Dark Shadow through walls?" Her tone gets more and more sarcastic with each listing.

"I- That's- Those were lucky guesses!" He splutters.

Mina turns back to face her parents. "See what I mean? Best strategist in 2-A, yet can't even take a simple compliment."

Izuku gives up on trying to argue that point, and crosses his arms while slumping in his chair with a pout on his face. "Hmmph. You say that as if you're not at the top of the class as well." The pout morphs into a small smirk. "Remember when you lead that 3-point pincer ambush on Satou and the others in that hostage exercise?"

Mina swivels her head back to him, with a fire in her eyes and a grin on her lips. "Oh yeah? Well, remember when you single-handedly rescued like 20 people in our second USJ trip?"

"Those were actors!"

"My point still stands!"

While the two teens were playfully arguing and trying to one-up each other's praises, Naoto just looked up at his parents. "Should we disconnect now before they start sucking face?" He deadpans, making the hero students freeze instantly and flush hard.

Mina's parents ask him some more questions after that, mostly things about his family and where he went to school before UA. Izuku's glad for the relatively normal queries, since he doesn't think his burning face could take much more of the embarrassing ones.

He might've gotten a little too complacent however, because when it comes time for Daisuke to ask his questions, the older boy has a much different topic in mind.

"Midoriya." He starts, leaning forward over the desk and placing his hands together atop it like he was trying to negotiate a deal, "I gotta know. Bro-to-bro, how smoking are your seniors? 'Cause UA's gotta have some absolute gods and goddesses in the 3rd Year Hero Course."

"Um.." Izuku takes a wary side-glance at his girlfriend, and while she has a look of annoyance on her face, luckily it's pointed firmly at her brother and not him. "I don't think I should answer that." He deflects.

"Yeah, can you keep it in your pants for like 5 minutes, dude?" Mina huffs.

"I'm just asking!" The older Ashido raises his hands in defense.

"Chi-Chi was asking for genuine advice on becoming a hero, and all you want to talk about is getting some tail?" Naoto deadpans once again. Izuku got the feeling this was the younger boy's usual response to things.

"Yeah?" Daisuke says incredulously, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Where did I go wrong with that boy..?" Kenji murmurs under his breath.

Taiga snorts in response. "As if you weren't the same back in college."

Kenji thinks for a moment, before shrugging. "Yeah, fair enough." He concedes.

"..Anyway.." Daisuke continues, looking vaguely disturbed at the new information he's just learned about his father, "Midoriya, answer the question. Hot or not?" He points at the screen.

Thankfully, Mina steps in before he has to think up another excuse. Pinching the bridge of her nose, her irritated voice comes through with an edge of disbelief. "Like I told Naoto, why not just ask me? I've been at UA for as long as Izuku."

Daisuke's face scrunches up at that. "Ew, no thanks. I don't wanna know what my sister's type is. Besides-" His eyes dart over to Izuku and back again, "-I think we've got very different tastes in partners. No offense, Midoriya."

"None taken?" Izuku replies with a questioning lilt, not entirely sure whether he should be offended or not.

Mina smirks at she readies her counterargument. "Oh, but you do have similar tastes to Izuku? The guy who's dating your sister?"

The rebuttal makes Daisuke recoil in disgust. "Awwwww, god, Mina! Why'd you gotta make it weird!"

The entire Ashido family starts laughing at his outburst, with Izuku joining in moments later. As Mina's head falls against him whilst she's trying to compose herself, he can't help but think about how lucky she is to have such joyous people in her life.

Once everyone's questions are out of the way, the six of them continue chatting about whatever comes to mind while the hours slip by. Of course, the Ashidos swap on a dime between doing that and embarrassing Mina in any way they can.

Daisuke is halfway through regaling the story of how the pink girl melted through the kitchen countertop when her quirk first started coming in, much to her chagrin, before the digital clock strikes 10 p.m. and interrupts their lively discussion with a beep.

"Ah.. that's probably a sign to pack it up now." Kenji sighs, "It was really nice to finally meet you, Midoriya. I'll see you.. whenever, I suppose." He finishes with a lazy smile.

"O-oh, right. It was nice to meet you as well, Kenji-san." Izuku responds.

Kenji just gives him a nod before clapping his hands together and speaking.

"Right, come on you two, let's hit the hay. Especially you, Naoto. You've got school tomorrow as well." He stands up straight and starts making his way out of the room, Naoto following after him whilst grumbling under his breath.

Daisuke lets out a yawn while stretching his arms. "Yeah, Dad's right. I'm beat. Good to see ya, Midoriya. I got a bunch more of Mina's childhood stories to share the next time we talk." He says with a smirk, ignoring Mina's shout of "Don't you dare!" and trailing after his brother and father out of the room, leaving only Taiga remaining at the computer.

The Ashido matriarch turns back to Izuku and Mina.

"I completely forgot to ask, Midoriya, but how are your new shoes?"

The question catches Izuku off-guard before he remembers the role Mina's mother had played in her birthday gift to him.

"Oh yes, they're wonderful, Taiga-san. Thank you very much for them." He gives a half-bow, still wary of the desk in front of him.

Taiga waves off his gratitude. "Nah, it was all Mina's doing. I just happened to know the right person." She grins for a moment, before it shifts back into neutral. "I must admit, I was a little concerned when she came to me wanting to spend so much on a birthday present 'for a friend'." She gives Mina a pointed look, who turns magenta at the accusation. "But, she explained your situation and I acquiesced. It's not right that it's so difficult for people with different foot sizes to find proper shoes." She frowns a bit, eyes squinting. "Maybe that's something I should look into.." She trails off, lifting a hand to her chin.

"Uh, mom?" Mina pipes up.

Taiga jolts out of her stasis. "Oh, sorry about that. Just got lost in my thoughts. In any case, I'm glad I could help you out, Midoriya. Even if it was only a little."

"Thank you anyway." He replies with a smile on his face.

Taiga smiles back before stretching out her arms in front of her with an audible groan.

"Urghhh, I guess I should probably go to bed too. I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow." She turns to her daughter. "Happy Birthday, Mina. Make sure you sleep properly tonight."

"Yeah, yeah, I will." Mina brushes off her mother's warning. "Night, mom."

"Good night, Taiga-san." Izuku adds.

"Good night to the both of you as well." The woman responds, before something else crosses her mind. "Oh, and uh, I know you two are responsible young adults, but try not to make me a grandmother just yet, okay?"

The two teens blush furiously at the insinuation, Izuku clamming up entirely and covering his head in his hands whilst Mina lets out a scandalised "Mom!" at the laptop.

Taiga just chuckles. "Never gets old. G'night, you two."

The call disconnects and the two hero students are left in embarrassed silence.

"They seem nice." He states plainly, not sure what else to say. Mina hums in agreement, and the silence continues.

'Nice' was an understatement, in all honesty. The Ashidos, despite their eagerness to tease, were all lovely people, and Izuku could definitely see how his wonderful girlfriend had been shaped from growing up with them. Although her quirk made her look extremely different from the others, there wasn't a doubt in his mind that they were all cut from the same cloth.

Eventually, his thoughts drifted to the youngest member of the Ashido family, and her friend's situation. The idea that Chihaya had been chomping at the bit to ask him for advice, just so she could help out her friend, filled his heart with a pool of warmth. He didn't know Rei personally (though that could be changed with another video call in the future), but he knew that as long as she had a friend like Chihaya with her, she'd be alright.

"Izu? Whatcha thinking 'bout?" Mina's soft voice cut through his train of thought.

"I, uh.. I guess what your sister was talking about. About her Quirkless friend and how she apparently wants to become a hero like me."

Mina stays quiet as she slowly wheels her chair over to his, placing a supportive hand onto his arm. He smiles at the contact, and continues.

"I've never told anyone this, but one of the main reasons I wanted to be a hero so bad was so that everyone could see that it was possible. I don't think I need to tell you that there's not really been a Quirkless pro hero before, not even in America where they're way more lax about that sort of thing." Mina nods, rubbing her hand up and down his arm for comfort.

"I wanted other Quirkless kids to have someone to look up to, someone like them. And.. hearing that an actual Quirkless person was inspired to become a hero by me.. It- I can't describe how much that means to me."

Mina pauses her comforting for a moment, before she asks him a question.

"That thing you asked Chihaya to tell her.. about being able to become a hero as long as she puts her mind to it.. nobody ever said that to you, did they?"

Izuku doesn't respond verbally, only giving a barely perceivable nod.

Mina stands up from her chair and repositions herself so that she's leaning against the back of his, arms draping over his shoulders. With her newfound proximity to him, she whispers softly into his ear.

"I know it's a few years too late by now, but I believe with my whole heart that you're going to be one of the best heroes there's ever been.. even better than All-Might."

That makes him snort. "You're exaggerating."

She vocalises a negative hum. "If anything, I'm downplaying it."

His heart melts at the adoration in her tone. "Thanks, Mina. Y-you too, y'know."

"Hm?"

"You're gonna be one of the best too." He clarifies.

"Thanks, Izu.." She says with a warm smile. Her arms tighten slightly around his neck, and her head slumps onto his shoulder with a content sigh. Izuku just looks at her with a fond expression before turning back and staring off into nothing, happy to just co-exist with his girlfriend for a while.

After a minute of comfortable silence, he feels her head shift slightly and his eyes glance over to find hers looking up at her bedroom wall. He follows her gaze and spots the handmade Aliens poster he made for her plastered onto it. His face softens into a small smile as he remembers when she had excitedly pulled him into her room and shown him the display, proudly stating that she placed it there so that it was one of the first things she saw each morning.

His smile softens even more at the thought, and he leans his head against hers from its place on his shoulder while his eyelids gradually close.

"..I love you."

Those words snap them back open immediately, and he looks to his girlfriend in shock.

"H-huh??" He asks dumbly.

Her focus is still planted firmly on the poster as she replies to him. "You don't have to say it back or anything, I just.. wanted to let you know." She tries to play it off like she's not affected by it, but the blush on her cheeks and the way her arms are slightly trembling around him seem to imply otherwise.

Izuku doesn't think his face has ever been this hot before, he can practically hear the steam coming out of his ears. With just three simple words, Mina had set his heart gunning like a racehorse, his mind whirring at an unfathomable speed trying to process them. He could feel the sweat clamming up his hands and resisted the urge to wipe them down.

Her gaze is still pointed forward, like looking directly at him would be too much to handle, which gives him a moment to think.

He's seen this sort of behaviour in his girlfriend before, where her face tints purple and she suddenly has trouble making eye-contact, but there's something different about this time. Usually, her mannerisms are more muted when she's shy, but right now it seems like she's ready to bounce erratically all over the place, only stopped by her shaking arms using his neck as an anchor.

From where her torso is now pressed into his back, he can feel her growing heartrate, and she's attempting to hide her unsteady breathing through short, irregular puffs out her nose.

It's only when he notices her pupils quivering in their sockets that he realises what was happening. Mina's not acting shy, she's nervous.

Flashes of the past two weeks, no, even further back, as far back as when they first met, tumble through his mind. Izuku hasn't seen Mina nervous before. Happy? Definitely. Sad? Sometimes. Scared? Occasionally. Shy? Once in a blue moon. But nervous? Never.

It was easy to forget, with her extroverted personality and easy-going nature, that this was her first relationship as well. Of course she's getting anxious over telling her partner that she loves him, she's only human.

The thought sobers him up instantly, and despite his own overwhelming nervousness, he rounds up every morsel of courage he can possibly muster to the forefront of his mind.

He knows there's only one way he wants to respond to her declaration.

Slowly raising his head up, he turns and gently places his lips on her cheek, causing her to let out a small breathy gasp. The sound of it swims around his head, and it's quickly becoming one of his favourites.

When his lips leave her face with a barely audible smack, she finally turns her widened eyes to look at him. The eye-contact only causes his heartrate to fasten, but he steels himself and swallows hard before speaking.

"I love you too."

Her arms flinch aggressively in their hold around him, and her mouth drops open further. Then, she lets out a short, breathless laugh, more out of relief than happiness.

"Thank god.." She manages to get out, snuggling her head into his neck while her arms squeeze impossibly tight around it.

Izuku feels his heart soften at the gesture, and he temporarily breaks away from the hold just to stand up from the chair and bring her into a proper hug, which she eagerly accepts. They both stand there in a tight grasp for a long while, occasionally broken up by whispered affirmations and chaste kisses. Eventually, Mina pulls back from the embrace and moves to take his hands in hers, giving his fingers a comforting squeeze. The action causes an enamoured smile to spread across his face.

Her mouth matches his smile, but she seems to be deliberating something if the thoughtful expression she's adopted is anything to go by. After a few seconds of thinking, she apparently comes to a decision and looks him dead in the eyes before taking a short breath.

"Hey, Izu.."

She swings their conjoined hands, swaying languidly from side to side as she proposes her idea with a shy smile.

"Since we're getting a lot of firsts out of the way today, did you wanna try sleeping together too..?"

His eyebrows instantly shoot up and his face flushes bright red as an inhuman noise escapes him, and she immediately realises her mistake.

"Nonono, wait! Not- I meant just sleeping in the same bed, not that!" She starts blushing up a storm, both of their cheeks darkening to a dangerous shade.

"O-OH! RIGHT! That makes more sense!" He squeaks out, his traitorous mind absolutely not helping by filling his imagination with unholy imagery.

Mina clears her throat and tries again. "S-so, do you wanna? Sleep in the same bed, I mean."

Izuku's heart was jackhammering in his chest, but he's never felt so certain of anything in his life. "Y-yes, please!"

"C-cool.." She attempts to swallow down her shyness, "I'll get it ready. You should, uh, take your hoodie off. It's kinda warm in here."

"Right, yes!" Disconnecting his hands from hers, he reaches up and pulls on his hoodie until it comes off over his head, his shirt riding up slightly from the motion. He's halfway through folding it up before he realises Mina hasn't moved an inch. Turning his attention back to her, he sees that she's staring at his torso, mouth slightly open and eyes wide.

"..Mina?" He asks, uncertain of what caused to her freeze like that.

She quickly snaps out of her rooted position. "Huh? Oh right, bed! I'll uh, do that." He only gets a glimpse of her violet face before she spins around and starts arranging her pillows into a 2-person formation.

Confused, but ultimately deciding to let it go, he finishes folding the hoodie before depositing it neatly into his chair and turning to face the bed. By that point, Mina is already under the covers on the left side, leaving the right open and ready for him to enter. She pats his side of the bed with a smile on her face, and he returns a wobbly one as he timidly makes his way under the covers.

Almost as soon as the duvet is over him, she glomps onto him in a koala hug, releasing a happy trill as she nestles into his side. The familiar contact causes all the tension that was wound up in his body to immediately fall loose, and he feels like he can finally relax. To her credit, Mina does lift her head afterwards to double check with him.

"This okay?" She asks softly.

He just gives her a warm smile as he replies. "More than okay."

She returns his smile and goes back to snuggling. A moment later, he brings his arm around and shifts to bring her into a proper hug. The joined body heat between the two reaches a sweltering temperature, but neither can find it in them to care all that much. Izuku can't help but think that he wouldn't mind it if he went to bed like this every night, and he hopes that Mina feels the same. From the way she's clinging onto him, with their legs tangled together and their arms encircling the other, he's pretty sure that she does.

After a minute of comfortable silence, his partner shuffles slightly as she speaks up.

"You know what'd make this even better?"

"What?" He says with a tired smile on his face.

Suddenly, she springs out of their embrace, leaving the bed half-empty and him befuddled.

"Cake!" She exclaims, excitedly bounding over to the slices of chocolate dessert that he left on her dresser earlier.

The action is so unexpected that he starts laughing uncontrollably from his spot on the bed.

God, he really does love that girl.