Archive of Our Own

Wanted to do something a little simpler this time around to show I'm not dead. I'll try to get back on track in the following days.

Anyways, this story was greatly inspired by CategoricalGrant on Fimfiction.

Enjoy!

Izuku Midoriya's first kiss!

The sweet, herbal scent of premium rooibos tea drifted through Momo Yaoyorozu's sprawling dorm room, competing with the less sophisticated aroma of a giant bag of sour cream and onion chips that Mina Ashido had aggressively torn open. The floor was a colorful chaos of plush pillows, discarded school blazers, and half-empty cups.

It was a rare friday night with no homework, no training, and no other duties to attend to, which meant Class 1-A's girls had converged for what was supposed to be a relaxing night in.

Instead, Mina had taken control of the itinerary, her eyes gleaming with mischief as she spun an empty bottle in the center of the rug.

She had somehow convinced the girls to play truth or dare with her.

Mina smiles. "Alrighty, let's see who's going next!"

The plastic bottle clicked against the hardwood floor before slowing down, its cap pivoting sharply to point straight at Ochaco Uraraka.

Ochaco, who had been mid-bite into a rice cracker, froze.

"Alright, Ochaco! The wheel of fate has chosen you!" Mina beamed, leaning forward so fast her pink curls bounced. "Truth or dare? Choose wisely, or suffer the consequences!"

Ochaco swallowed hard, looking at the chaotic grin on Mina's face.

She knew exactly what kind of ridiculous, embarrassing dare Mina would cook up. Probably something involving floating one of the boys outside the window by surprise or singing the school anthem at the top of her lungs in the cafeteria the next day. Either way, when Mina was the one doing the dares, she wasn't risking it.

"Truth." Ochaco said quickly, nodding to reinforce her choice. "Definitely truth."

Mina's grin turned wicked, a low chuckle escaping her throat. Around the circle, Toru Hagakure's invisible form shifted excitedly, her UA pajama sleeve ruffling, while Kyoka Jirou took a slow sip of her tea, looking highly amused.

"Oh, you think you're safe, huh?" Mina leaned in, propping her chin on her hands. "Fine. Truth it is, then. Since you're always so focused on training and money, let's talk romance instead for today. Ochaco, exactly how many boys have you kissed in your entire life?"

The room went dead silent for a beat.

Then, a collective murmur of excitement rose from the group. Hagakure gasped, her hands clapping together, and even Tsuyu Asui blinked in mild surprise, placing a finger against her chin.

Ochaco's face instantly transformed. A deep, vivid crimson rushed from her neck all the way to the tips of her ears, matching the color of a ripe tomato.

She squeezed her eyes shut, her hands flying to her face to hide her glowing cheeks. "M-Mina! What kind of question is that?!"

"An honest one!" Mina cheered, pointing a finger at her. "Come on, give us a number! Spill the beans, girl!"

"I... I mean..." Ochaco stammered, her voice squeaking as she accidentally activated her quirk on the pillow she was holding, causing it to float a few inches into the air. She quickly touched her fingertips together to release it. "None! Okay?! I haven't kissed anyone before! Not even once!"

Mina let out a dramatic, booming laugh, throwing her head back. "Oh my gosh, really?! Not even in middle school? Ochaco, you're lying! You're a hero-in-training and you've never even had a little crush-kiss? That is so adorable!"

Ochaco groaned, sinking down into her knees and burying her face in her lap to shield herself from the teasing.

"Hey, leave her alone, Mina." Jirou interrupted, her tone casual but firm. She was leaning against the foot of Momo's bed, twirling one of her earphone jacks around her finger. "It's not that big of a deal. I haven't kissed anyone either."

The laughter stopped.

Mina's head snapped toward Jirou so fast her neck almost popped. Her eyes widened in genuine shock. "Wait... seriously? You haven't?"

"Yeah. Seriously." Jirou said, shrugging her shoulders. "Never really felt like it. Too busy with music and stuff."

Mina blinked, looking completely thrown off balance. "But... wait. I thought you were, you know... a lesbian?!"

Jirou's eyes narrowed, a sharp prickle of annoyance crossing her face. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Mina shrugs. "I figured you'd at least have kissed a girl or someone by now, you know?"

Jirou's earphone jack twitched threateningly. "First of all, I'm not a lesbian so I don't know what the hell you're on about. Second of all, even if I were, that doesn't automatically mean I've kissed someone before. And third, I just said I haven't kissed anyone. Period."

"Fair enough." Hagakure chimed in from across the circle. The invisible girl shifted her weight, leaning back on her hands. "And honestly, it's not as uncommon as you think, Mina. I've actually had a couple of boyfriends back in middle school, but I haven't kissed any of them."

Mina's jaw practically dropped to the floor. "What?! Toru?!"

"Cut me some slack." Hagakure muttered, her voice dropping into a slightly embarrassed pout. "Getting a boyfriend in the first place is kind of hard when they can't see my face, you know. They always got awkward and nervous about bumping into my nose or missing completely, so we just held hands instead."

"Ribbit. I haven't kissed anyone either." Tsuyu added calmly, reaching into the bowl to grab a chip. She chewed thoughtfully before continuing. "In my middle school, everyone was pretty focused on exams. Plus, I had to take care of my younger brother and sister after school, so I didn't really have time for dating or boys. It just never came up."

Mina looked like her entire worldview was crumbling. She turned her head slowly toward the host of the room, her last saving grace. "Momo... please tell me you have some experience. You're beautiful, you're rich, you're literally perfect!"

Momo, who had been gracefully pouring a fresh round of tea, paused. She looked around the room, noticing all eyes were suddenly on her.

A faint blush dusted her cheeks, and she cleared her throat into her hand, looking uncharacteristically flustered.

"Well... no, not really." Momo admitted softly, setting the teapot down with a delicate click. "I have not kissed anyone either."

"No way!" Mina cried out, gripping her own hair. "How is that possible?!"

"My parents have arranged several social gatherings over the years where I met many young suitors from prominent families." Momo explained, her expression shifting from embarrassed to slightly annoyed as she remembered those events. "But frankly, they were all incredibly tiresome. They were so needy for my attention, constantly bragging about their family fortunes or trying too hard to impress me. It was really exhausting. I never found any of them remotely appealing enough to want to be close to them like that."

Ochaco peeked out from behind her hands, her blush fading slightly as she realized she wasn't alone. A small, amused smile broke out on her face.

The entire room fell into a sudden, heavy quiet.

Then, slowly, five pairs of eyes, well, four pairs and one general direction where Hagakure's eyes would be, turned to focus entirely on Mina.

Mina froze, sensing the immediate shift in the atmosphere. "Oh no."

The hunter had officially become the hunted.

"Hey, Mina." Jirou said, a smug, knowing smirk spreading across her face. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "You're doing a lot of talking and a lot of mocking for someone who hasn't talked about herself much."

"Yeah, Mina." Hagakure echoed, her empty sleeve pointing directly at the pink girl. "What about you? You're always giving advice and talking about romance, but have you actually kissed a boy before?"

Mina swallowed hard, looking around the circle. Ochaco was grinning now, her embarrassment completely gone, replaced by a look of sweet revenge. Tsuyu just stared with her usual blank, unblinking expression, waiting.

Mina let out a long, defeated sigh, her shoulders slumping as she collapsed backward onto a pile of plush cushions.

She covered her eyes with her arm, groaning loudly. "Fine! Okay! I haven't kissed anyone either! Happy?!"

The room erupted into a chorus of laughter and cheers.

"Oh, look who's the total baby now!" Ochaco teased, throwing a pillow right at Mina's stomach.

Mina's dramatic groan echoed off the high ceiling of the dorm room as she lay starfish-style across the pile of cushions, staring up at the elegant light fixture.

The collective laughter had finally died down, leaving a strange, lingering energy in the air. It was a mixture of relief and a sudden, sharp realization that had sneaked up on all of them.

What actually counted for that question?

"Hold up just a second." Tsuyu said, breaking the silence as she sat cross-legged, tapping her chin with a finger. "What exactly are the parameters of the question, ribbit? Does it have to be a romantic partner?"

Mina peeked out from under her arm, blinking. "What do you mean?"

"Well, my little brother is a boy." Tsuyu explained in her usual flat, calm cadence. "I kiss him on the cheek all the time when I'm putting him to bed or when he's crying. Does that count toward the total?"

"What?! No way, José!" Mina sit up instantly, crossing her arms to form a giant 'X'. "Family absolutely does not count! That's completely different and you know it! We are talking about romantic territory here."

"Aw, man..." Toru complained. Her invisible head tilted back, her pajama top shifting as she groaned. "If family doesn't count, what about pets? Because my cat, Marlo, is technically a boy, and he licks my nose every single morning. I feel like that should give me some kind of partial credit."

Jirou let out a dry snort, leaning back against the bedpost. "A cat? Seriously? That's how low we're going now? If that were to be the case then Koda would be a ladies' boy. Unless your cat is a secret prince under an evil spell from a witch, that definitely doesn't count. We're talking about actual human boys."

Momo looked thoughtful, resting a manicured finger against her lower lip as she genuinely pondered the rules of the game. "If we are strictly discussing the physical proximity of a boy's lips to our own... what about an attempted gesture?"

Ochaco blinked, turning to look at her. "An attempted gesture?"

"Yes." Momo said, nodding with complete seriousness. "During those social gatherings my parents hosted, there were quite a few young men who tried to lean in quite close. I distinctly remember at least four separate occasions where a boy puckered his lips and closed his eyes, right as I slammed the heavy mahogany front door directly in his face. Technically, their lips were within inches of my person before the barrier was established."

The entire room stared at Momo for three long seconds.

"Momo, that is just a very polite way of saying you rejected them via a door to their faces." Jirou said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Definitely doesn't count."

"And honestly, it sounds like it kinda sucked for them." Ochaco added with a nervous little chuckle at the mental image of a bunch of wealthy, entitled boys leaning in to kiss Momo just to get their faces slammed by a heavy door the next moment.

Mina let out another massive, soul-crushing sigh, letting her head drop back onto the floor with a soft thud. "This is a disaster! How did this happen? How is this even statistically possible?!"

She rolled over onto her stomach, propping her chin up on her fists and looking around the circle at the rest of them.

"I mean, just look at us, dude!" Mina exclaimed, gesturing wildly with one hand to encompass the entire room. "We are in Class 1-A! We are literally some of the prettiest, most adorable, and most famous heroes-in-training in the entire country right now! We've fought villains! We've been on national television for the Sports Festival! I'm pretty sure we have fan clubs somewhere online! And yet, between the six of us, our grand total of romantic experience is a big fat zero! It's tragic!"

"You're blowing this way out of proportion, Mina." Jirou said, trying to inject some grounded logic into the conversation. She picked up her tea mug, blowing softly on the surface. "We're not all that old yet. It's totally normal not to have done any of that mushy stuff. We've been kind of busy saving the world and trying not to get expelled by Aizawa-sensei."

Ochaco, who had been staring blankly at the floor, suddenly let out a small, hollow sound. Her eyes were wide and completely devoid of life as she stared straight ahead.

"Ochaco?" Tsuyu asked, tilting her head. "Are you okay, ribbit?"

"Normal..." Ochaco muttered, her voice dropping into a flat, haunting deadpan. "Yeah, right. Normal..."

"Uh, yeah?" Jirou blinked, looking a little unsettled by the sudden shift in Ochaco's demeanor. "Isn't it?"

Ochaco slowly turned her head toward Jirou, her expression completely blank. "One of my closest friends from middle school sent me a text message yesterday. She and her boyfriend just signed a lease on an apartment together. They're moving in next week. They already bought a bed for both."

Mina gasped, her eyes widening. "No way!"

"Yup." Ochaco continued, her voice sounding incredibly distant as she relived the shock. "And another girl I used to sit next to in math class is already making a Pinterest board for her wedding destination. And yes, we're not all that different in age. How's that for normal?"

A heavy, uneasy weight seemed to drop directly onto the room. Toru's sleeve dropped limply to her side, and Mina looked genuinely horrified.

Momo quickly sat up straighter, smoothing down the skirt of her casual clothes as she tried to salvage the group's collective dignity. "Well! We must remember that our paths are entirely different from those of regular high school students! We are on a highly specialized track. We simply have no time for such trivial distractions! Our days are completely consumed by physical conditioning, rescue philosophy, and development of our quirks. It is a matter of priority, not a lack of appeal!"

Mina slowly turned her head toward Momo. The theatrical panic was gone from her face, replaced by a cold, harsh reality.

"Oh, Yaomomo..." Mina said, her voice dropping into a flat, merciless deadpan. "Last Tuesday, during the lunch rush. Did you look out the window toward the courtyard?"

Momo blinked, caught off guard. "I... I suppose I might have glanced outside, yes. Why?"

"Because I sure did." Mina said, staring into the middle distance. "I saw three different couples from the Support Course and General Studies sitting under the cherry blossom trees. They were literally feeding each other pieces of tamagoyaki. And then, right before afternoon classes started, I saw a third-year hero student, someone who is literally about to become a fully fledged hero, walking down the hallway holding hands with a girl from Class 3-B. They looked incredibly happy. And guess what? Seems like they're all doing just fine in their hero work."

Momo opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. She slowly closed it, her shoulders dropping slightly as her flawless logic crumbled to pieces right in front of her.

An uncomfortable, thick silence settled over the room.

Nobody spoke. Nobody reached for the sour cream and onion chips. The only sound was the faint, rhythmic ticking of the elegant clock hanging on Momo's wall.

Ochaco looked down at her own hands, completely overwhelmed by a sudden crisis of faith. Tsuyu stared intently at the rug, her fingers tapping a slow, thoughtful rhythm against her knee. Jirou suddenly found the patterns on her tea mug to be the most fascinating thing in the universe, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Even Toru was completely still, her presence somehow radiating a profound sense of existential dread.

The silence went on for a while, and Mina couldn't take it anymore. She slapped both hands against her cheeks, the sharp smack sound startling everyone out of their gloomy reveries.

"Okay, look, stop! Everyone just stop moping around!" Mina yelled, sitting up straight with a determined flare in her golden eyes. "We are completely overthinking this! So what if we haven't kissed anyone yet? It's not a race! We're going to get our first kisses eventually, okay? We just haven't done it yet because we're waiting for the right moment. We only have to meet the right person!"

Ochaco blinked, the lifeless look slowly fading from her eyes as Mina's infectious energy breathed some warmth back into the circle. "The right person...?"

"Exactly!" Mina beamed, pumping a fist into the air. "A real, genuine, perfect first kiss! And honestly, when you think about it, our standards aren't even that crazy. Right?"

"Right!" Toru cheered, her form instantly bouncing back into high spirits as she raised a pajama sleeve. "Yeah! They just need to be someone we're already really good friends with! Someone you can just hang out with without any of that awkward, stiff pressure."

"Ribbit. And someone we deeply respect and trust." Tsuyu added, nodding her head in firm agreement. "In our line of work, trust is everything. It has to be someone who has your back, no matter what."

Jirou scratched the back of her neck, a slight smirk returning to her face. "Yeah, and let's be real, they don't need to be some stunning, flawless supermodel or anything. But, you know, not totally ugly either. Just... someone cute in a normal, dorky kind of way."

"Someone who is incredibly sweet to us would also be delightful." Momo contributed, her eyes shining with newfound optimism as she leaned into the shared vision. "A person who thinks of others before themselves, who shows gentleness and consideration in the smallest of everyday gestures."

"And someone who would protect you if it ever came down to it!" Ochaco chimed in, her cheeks dusting with a much lighter, happier pink this time. She held her hands to her chest. "Someone who wouldn't hesitate to stand up for you, who fights hard for the people they care about."

"Yes! Exactly!" Mina shouted, completely re-energized as she pointed around the circle. "And most importantly... someone we feel totally safe around! Like, someone we could confidently practice kissing with without it being totally weird or creepy!"

"Yeah!" The girls cheered in perfect unison, their voices echoing off the walls of the dorm room, their spirits completely lifted by the sudden, beautiful clarity of their collective ideal guy.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The sudden, polite tapping against Momo's heavy wooden door cut their cheering short.

The room went dead silent again, the girls blinking in surprise as they looked toward the entrance.

"Um... hello?"

A familiar, slightly nervous voice called out from the hallway.

"Yaomomo? Is everyone in there?"

Ochaco's heart did a sudden, violent flip against her ribs.

She'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Deku-kun?" She called out, her voice squeaking slightly.

"Oh! Hey, Uraraka-san!" Izuku Midoriya's voice sounded muffled through the door, followed by the faint, metallic clinking of what sounded like heavy trays. "Sorry to bother you guys so late! I just... well, I knew you girls were having a get-together tonight, and I know how hard everyone has been training lately. Since we're all such good friends, and I wanted to do something sweet to help everyone relax..."

The girls in the room collectively froze.

Mina's jaw slightly slacked. Toru's head tilted. Jirou stared at the door, her earphone jacks completely paralyzing mid-air.

"...I decided to make some katsudon for everyone!" Izuku continued cheerfully, entirely unaware of the sudden shift in reality occurring on the other side of the wood. "I made a few big bowls so there's plenty to share! Oh, and I also pressed some fresh juice, I made a bunch of different flavors like apple, orange, and berry so everyone can have what they like. Plus, I stopped by the convenience store earlier and bought an assortment of those sweet pastries and chocolates you guys like! I even bought some mochi for you, Uraraka-san! I can just leave the trays out here if you're busy, or-"

Inside the room, absolutely nobody moved.

Six pairs of eyes slowly, meticulously drifted away from the door and turned to look at one another.

The silence that fell over Momo's room was entirely different from the awkward silence of five minutes ago.

Mina's eyes went completely wide, a fierce, feral spark igniting in her pupils. Toru's pajamas stiffened, her posture shifting from relaxed to an aggressive, competitive stance. Jirou's face went entirely red, but her earphone jacks began to twitch with a sudden, localized intensity towards the rest of the girls. Momo's breath hitched, her hand flying to her mouth as her brain rapidly processed the logistics of the situation. Tsuyu's eyes narrowed slightly, her legs tensing beneath her. Ochaco felt her entire body temperature skyrocket, her mind completely racing.

Momo cleared her throat, her voice trembling slightly with a mix of high-society politeness and sheer, unadulterated panic. "M-Midoriya! Please... hold on one moment! Just wait out there for a brief second, if you would be so kind!"

"Oh! Sure, Yaoyorozu-san! Take your time!" Izuku's cheerful, innocent voice replied.

The moment his footsteps settled into a patient wait outside, the peace inside the room shattered into a million pieces.

"Back! Back I say, all of you!" Mina hissed in a harsh, fierce whisper, throwing herself forward into the center of the rug. "I was the one who got us out of that incoming depression in the first place, and I was the one who asked the question that started all this! I'm going out there!"

"No way, Mina!" Toru yelled, completely abandoning any sense of indoor volume as she lunged forward, grabbing Mina's pajama sleeve to yank her back. "I'm the one who has the worst chance of kissing anyone because absolutely no one can see my face! Plus, I've been rooting for him for a while, so I should go!"

"Both of you shut up!" Jirou barked, her face a fiery, embarrassed red as her earphone jacks shot out, snapping through the air like tiny whips to deter the other two. "If anyone's going to do this, it should be someone who isn't going to make it weird! I can be totally chill about it! You guys are going to freak him out!"

Mina exhales. "Oh, please. I'm the cornerstone of this group, so I should go!"

Jirou screeched back. "CORNERSTONE?! YOU CALLED ME A LESBIAN!"

"Ribbit! All of you are wrong!" Tsuyu said, her legs uncoiling as she leaped over a pile of pillows with a sudden, frog-like burst of speed, landing right in front of the door to block the path. "Midoriya-san respects stability. Out of all of us, I am the most level-headed. I should be the one to do it."

"Hold on just one moment!" Momo shouted, completely losing her usual elegant composure. She stood up, her hands instantly glowing with sparks as she used her quirk to manifest a thick, solid metal clipboard to shield herself in case things got more heated. "As the vice representative of Class 1-A, and as the host of this establishment, it is my administrative duty to ensure that any... any experimental procedures are conducted safely and orderly! I volunteer to establish the baseline!"

"Nice try, Momo! Don't you try to bring any of your fancy bureaucratic nonsense to confuse us!" Mina screeched, breaking free from Toru's grip and diving straight toward Tsuyu at the door.

"Hey! Don't push me!" Toru yelled, her invisible body tackling Mina around the waist, sending both of them crashing into Momo's carefully arranged tea table. A plastic cup of chips flew into the air, raining sour cream and onion flavor all over the floor.

"NONE OF YOU ARE KISSING HIM!" Ochaco finally exploded, her brain completely short-circuiting from a lethal combination of jealousy, embarrassment, and sheer adrenaline. The inhibitions in her mind completely vannished. She didn't care about being polite anymore. "I have known him for longer than any of you, and we have a connection that can NEVER be severed! None of you are allowed to kiss him! Before I do, that is."

She lunged into the fray, her hands slapping against Mina's shoulder and Toru's back.

"Get outta here!" She yelled, instantly using her quirk on herself as she kicked off the floor, launching herself directly over the girls toward Tsuyu.

"Uraraka-san, that is cheating, ribbit!" Tsuyu cried out, reaching up with her long tongue to wrap around Ochaco's ankle, pulling her back down into the chaotic, thrashing dogpile of fighting girls.

"OW! That was my earlobe you just stepped on!" Jirou yelled as she was dragged down into the mess, swatting wildly with her hands. "Get off me, Toru! I swear to god I will-"

"That wasn't me, it was Momo! Don't hate me just because you can't see me!" Toru screamed back, her fists flailing wildly as she accidentally punched a plushie across the room.

Outside the door, Izuku stood holding a heavy wooden tray laden with three massive, steaming bowls of katsudon and three large glasses of mixed-berry juice. He blinked, tilting his head as a series of loud, violent thuds, crashes, and muffled shrieks began to reverberate through the thick wood of Momo's door.

"Um... everything okay in there?" Izuku called out, his voice laced with genuine concern. "I heard something break... Should I come in?"

Inside, Mina had Tsuyu in a headlock, Momo was using her creations to hold back an airborne Ochaco, and Jirou was actively trying to untangle herself from Toru. They all froze for a split second upon hearing his voice.

"We're fine, Deku-kun!" Ochaco yelled over her shoulder, her face practically glowing in the dark as she used Momo's shoulder as a launching pad. "Just... give us five more seconds!"

Momo's voice cracked through the chaotic din of the room like a gunshot. "Everyone, please, HALT!"

The swirling storm of fighting girls came to a grinding halt.

Momo stood in the center of the wreckage, her hair slightly disheveled.

She took a deep, stabilizing breath, smoothing down her wrinkled shirt. "This is completely, utterly ridiculous. Look at us! We are elite students at the most prestigious hero academy in the nation. We have faced actual, dangerous villains with calm and composure! To reduce ourselves to a physical brawl over a... a hypothetical romantic milestone is beneath our standing. We must be reasonable!"

The girls grumbled, slowly untangling themselves from the heap of blankets and pillows. Ochaco tapped her fingers together to come back down to the ground, while Mina and Toru got up from the ground.

"Momo's right about the fighting, this is stupid." Ochaco said, standing up and dusting off her sweatpants. She planted her feet firmly, looking around the circle with an intensity that could have rivaled Bakugo's. "But if we're talking about being reasonable, then I stand by my point. If anyone is going to... to do this, it should be me. It just makes sense."

Mina sat up, her golden eyes wide and completely innocent. The fierce, feral competitive spark from a moment ago was totally gone, replaced by a sweet, cooperative smile. "You know what, Ochaco? You're totally right. That actually makes complete sense. Tell you what, since I'm already closest to the door, I'll just pop outside and tell Izuku the news myself so he's prepared. We wouldn't want to startle him!"

Before the final word even left her mouth, Mina's legs twitched, her body tensing to launch herself toward the doorknob like a rocket.

She didn't even make it two inches.

Everyone knew exactly what she was trying to do.

In a synchronized flash of pure survival instinct, five girls lunged forward at the exact same time.

"Get back here, Mina!" Jirou yelled.

"I should have known, ribbit!" Tsuyu countered.

They tackled Mina collectively, knocking her over. The collective force of six girls slamming into the carpeted floor right next to the entrance was far too much weight for the structural integrity of the door.

The girls collided heavily with Momo's door, the latch gave way with a loud, metallic snap, and the entire tangled, thrashing pile of Class 1-A students poured backward out into the hallway, collapsing right onto the polished linoleum floor.

Right at Izuku Midoriya's feet.

Izuku froze. He blinked down at the sudden groaning group of girls currently writhing on the floor in front of him.

"Uh... girls?" Izuku stammered, his face immediately turning a light shade of pink from the sheer confusion of it all. "Is... is everything okay?"

Momo was the first to try and salvage the situation. She scrambled to her knees, pushing Toru's leg off her shoulder, and offered a thoroughly strained, overly formal smile. "Midoriya! Yes! Everything is entirely within normal parameters! Please, approach a bit closer. We simply require a moment of your time to discuss a... a highly academic matter."

"Don't listen to her, Deku-kun." Ochaco groaned, breaking free from the pile and crawling forward on her hands and knees until she was looking right up at him, her face incredibly flushed. "Just come over here for a second. You and me need to get something over with before it becomes some kind of huge thing later on."

"Wait, no, Midoriya-san, step toward me instead." Tsuyu interrupted smoothly, her long tongue darting out slightly as she sat up. "They are being far too loud and aggressive. They'll just get in your head."

"Hey! No fair!" Toru's empty pajama sleeve waved frantically in the air as she tried to push past Tsuyu. "Midoriya, look over here! Well, you can't see me, but listen to my voice! Come over to this side! I have something really important to tell you!"

Izuku took a subconscious step backward, the heavy trays trembling slightly in his hands. His green eyes darted from Ochaco's intense gaze to Momo's rigid posture, then over to Mina, who was trying to covertly crawl between Jirou's legs to reach his ankles. "Um... what kind of academic matter? Is this for a class project or something like that?"

"Oh, it's a project alright." Jirou muttered, standing up and leaning against the wall, trying to look casual despite the bright red blush covering her ears. "It's a very unorthodox project. And you happen to be the last piece we're looking for, greenie. Just hold still."

"Yeah, Midoriya, it's just a quick little experiment!" Mina chimed in, finally breaking free and reaching out toward his shoes. "It'll only take a second, and honestly, you should be flattered!"

"Mina, will you back off already?!" Ochaco snapped, a sharp edge entering her voice as she actively grabbed Mina's ankle to drag her back. "Stop trying to cut the line!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ochaco, did I miss the part where you put a legal patent on Midoriya?" Mina shot back, casting a fierce glare over her shoulder. "Last time I checked, you don't own him!"

"If we are discussing legalities and priority, the host of the domicile should technically have the first right of administrative review." Momo argued, her voice rising in pitch as she tried to push her way past Jirou. "Please step aside and let someone with composure handle-"

"Oh, just stop it with the fancy talk, Momo!" Jirou complained, using her earphone jacks to gently push against Momo's waist. "Everyone can see right through it! At least I'm trying to be normal and chill about this!"

"Ribbit. All of your arguments are completely flawed." Tsuyu stated calmly, though she was actively holding onto Toru's sleeve to keep the invisible girl from advancing. "Midoriya-san is clearly overwhelmed by your shouting."

"I am not shouting!" Ochaco and Mina yelled in unison, turning to glare at each other.

Izuku's green eyes grew wider and wider as the girls began to talk completely over one another, their words blurring into a loud, frantic, passive-aggressive argument about bonds, data collection, and administrative rights for some reason.

He could practically feel the tension radiating off the group, skyrocketing the temperature in the hallway to levels he hadn't seen before. Every single instinct in his body was screaming that he was in extreme, unpredictable territory.

"U-Um... girls?" Izuku squeaked, his voice entirely drowned out by Toru and Jirou bickering about who was getting in the way of who.

He looked down at the steaming bowls of katsudon, then at the chaotic, tangled mess of his classmates who were now actively holding each other back by the waist, sleeves, and hair.

"I'm... I'm just going to leave the food right here!" Izuku shouted over the noise, rapidly setting the heavy wooden trays down onto a small utility table in the hallway. "It's... it's best eaten while it's hot! I forgot I have to... go do some push-ups! With All Might and Kaachan or something! In the gym! Bye!"

Before any of them could realize what was happening, Izuku turned on his heel and vanished down the hallway with a sudden, panicked burst of his quirk, a faint trail of green electricity crackling in the air as he sprinted away at breakneck speed.

"Wait! Deku-kun, come back!" Ochaco screamed, trying to scramble to her feet to give chase.

"Nice going, Jirou! You scared him off!" Mina yelled, throwing her weight forward.

"It wasn't me, it was Toru!" Screeched back Jirou, trying to untangle herself from the rest.

It was a complete disaster. As Ochaco tried to run, Mina inadvertently tripped over her leg, sending both of them crashing down. Momo tried to step over them, but Toru's hand caught the hem of her shirt, pulling her back. Jirou tried to lunge forward, but Tsuyu's hand clamped firmly onto her jacket, keeping everyone anchored in one giant, struggling, self-defeating knot on the floor.

The night had gone well, hadn't it?

The next day...

Izuku Midoriya walked down the second-floor hallway, rubbing the back of his neck as he headed toward the kitchen.

He was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and green sweatpants, his mind still entirely boggled by the bizarre, high-tension explosion that had occurred outside Momo's room. He still hadn't figured out what everyone was shouting about yesterday, but he hoped things would calm down today.

As he turned the corner near the stairwell, he nearly collided with a floating pair of teal-and-white striped pajamas.

"Oh! Whoa, sorry about that, Hagakure-san!" Izuku stammered, quickly stepping back and raising his hands in an apologetic gesture. "I wasn't looking where I was going. And, um... hey, I'm really sorry about leaving so suddenly last night! The vibe in the hallway was just really intense, and I felt like I was getting in the way of... umm... whatever... project you guys were working on. I hope the katsudon was still good, though!"

Toru didn't answer right away. She didn't bounce, she didn't cheer, and she didn't wave her arms in her usual high-energy fashion.

Instead, the invisible girl stayed completely rooted in place. Slowly, her sleeve raised, her hand gently resting against the doorframe as she leaned her upper body forward in a posture that could only be described as a dramatic, theatrical attempt at being seductive.

"Oh, don't worry about last night, Midoriya-kun." Toru said, her voice dropping into a low, breathy, totally unnatural purr. "Actually, it's funny you mention projects... because I'm working on a brand new stealth technique. It requires a completely quiet environment and very, very close observation. Why don't you come to my room for a little bit? Just the two of us. We can really get down to the details."

Izuku's brain completely stalled. "U-Uh... your room? For a stealth technique? But Hagakure-san, your quirk is passive, so I wouldn't know how I'd-"

Before he could even begin to process the strange, sultry tone or the invitation, a blur of bright pink burst out from the stairwell.

"Move it or lose it, sis!" Mina Ashido shouted, aggressively shoving her way between them. With a decisive push, she forced Izuku several feet away from the invisible girl, planting herself right in front of him. She was wearing a tight tank top and shorts, a bright, dazzling smile plastered across her face.

"M-Mina?!" Izuku squeaked, blinking in surprise.

"Hey, Midoriya!" Mina said, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness as she stepped into his personal space.

Before he could react, she reached up and placed both of her hands on his shoulders, gently kneeling her fingers into his muscles and rubbing them softly. "Jeez, you look so tense today! You must be exhausted from all that training. You know, I was actually looking all over for you. I need some major help studying for our English exam on Monday!"

Izuku's face flushed a deep crimson at the sudden, soft contact on his shoulders. He froze, his arms locking at his sides as he tried to look anywhere but at her face. "E-English? But... Mina, isn't English literally the only subject in which you have a passing grade? Present Mic said your conversational skills are actually really good because you watch so many American dance shows..."

Mina's hands stiffened on his shoulders, her perfect smile twitching with a sudden, sharp spike of irritation. "That's... that's totally irrelevant! My grammar is terrible, okay?! I need a private tutor right now in my room to help me with my oral presentation skills, and you're the perfect-"

"Deku-kun!"

A fierce, determined battle cry echoed down the hallway. Before Izuku could even look toward the sound, Ochaco Uraraka sprinted around the corner, her eyes locked onto him with absolute focus. She didn't pause, she didn't greet him, and she certainly didn't wait for Mina to finish her sentence.

Ochaco lunged forward, her fingertips smacking directly against Izuku's forearm.

"W-Whoa!" Izuku cried out as his feet instantly lost all friction with the floor. He floated backward into the air, completely weightless.

Without breaking her stride, Ochaco grabbed the hem of his t-shirt, using her own momentum to drag his floating body right along with her as she bolted down the corridor toward the common area elevator.

"U-Uraraka-san?!" Izuku panicked, his arms and legs flailing in the air as he floated horizontally behind her like a human balloon. "What's going on?!"

"Don't worry, Deku-kun!" Ochaco shouted over her shoulder, her face incredibly red but her expression fierce and unyielding. "I just really need your help! I'm trying to develop a new close-quarters combat move, and I need to test it firsthand with total, maximum close contact!"

She abruptly stopped running, pulling his floating body down until his shoes touched the linoleum. She quickly tapped her fingertips together to release his weight, but before Izuku could regain his balance, Ochaco stepped directly into his chest.

She grabbed both of his shoulders, her grip tight and unshakeable, and leaned her face in incredibly close. Her big, round eyes were wide, staring directly into his.

"We need to practice the... the facial alignment part of the defensive stance for the thing and stuff..." Ochaco stammered, her voice trembling but her posture completely blocking him against the wall. "Just stay completely still and close your eyes while I-"

"Pardon the interruption!"

A heavy, incredibly solid wall of literal iron suddenly manifested between Ochaco and Izuku's faces. Momo Yaoyorozu stepped out from the adjacent lounge area, having just created a miniature barricade to physically push Izuku away from Ochaco's grasp.

"Yaoyorozu-san?!" Izuku gasped, his back hitting the wall as the wooden barrier vanished into glowing gold sparkles.

Momo didn't waste a single second. She stepped over the threshold, closing the distance so rapidly that Izuku's breath hitched.

She didn't just step close, she deliberately pressed the side of her shoulder and arm directly against his chest, her hands reaching up to gently grasp his forearm, rubbing her palm against his sleeve in a thoroughly uncharacteristic, highly tactile manner.

"Midoriya, I find myself in a state of immense academic dilemma." Momo murmured, her voice laced with a forced, breathy desperation as she leaned her head close to his shoulder, her perfume completely filling his senses. "I am attempting to draft a new blueprint for a rescue apparatus, and I desperately require your opinion. Please, come with me to a more private setting. I feel entirely overwhelmed without your specific guidance, and I... I find your presence incredibly comforting when we are this close."

Izuku's mind was officially melting. His face was a uniform, glowing shade of scarlet, his eyes wide as saucers as his chest heaved in pure, unadulterated panic. "HUHH?!"

He was pinned to the wall by Momo, being glared at by a furious Ochaco, while Mina and Toru were sprinting down the hallway toward them.

"Hey! You're such a hypocrite, Yaoyorozu!" Mina screamed, skidding to a halt. "You said we needed to be reasonable last night! This is not reasonable!"

"What would YOU know about being reasonable?" Momo protested, though she didn't let go of Izuku's arm, pressing even closer to him.

"Oh, please." A cool, amused voice cut through the rising argument.

Izuku snapped his head toward the lounge entrance. Kyoka Jirou was leaning against the doorframe, her hands in her pockets, while Tsuyu Asui stood right beside her. Both of them were looking at the chaotic scene with smug, knowing smirks plastering their faces.

"You guys look totally pathetic." Jirou said, her earphone jacks twirling lazily through the air. She walked forward, her eyes locking onto Izuku's panicked expression. "But hey, Midoriya... since everyone's apparently asking for favors today, I figure I should get a turn too. I'm trying to test out some new audio frequencies, and I need someone to stand really, really close to me so I can feel the vibration. What do you say?"

"Ribbit. I also require his assistance." Tsuyu added, her finger on her chin as she walked up, her calm eyes gleaming with rare competitive mischief. "My body requires temperature regulation practice in close proximity. Midoriya-san seems very warm right now. He could help me."

"MINE!" Toru yelled, her invisible form tackling Mina out of the way.

"GET OUTTA HERE ALL OF YOU!" Ochaco shouted, trying to pry Momo's hands off Izuku's arm.

"BEGONE!" Momo argued, her voice dropping all pretense of elegance as she gripped Izuku's shirt.

Izuku's green pupils shrunk to tiny pinpricks and his brain completely short-circuited.

His ultimate survival instinct completely took over.

"I FORGOT I HAVE TO DO THE THING WITH THE THING RIGHT NOW BYE!"

With a frantic, terrified shriek, Izuku activated his quirk at five percent.

'One for All: Full Cowling!'

Green lightning crackled violently across his skin, the sudden burst of energy breaking Momo's grip and allowing him to dive beneath Ochaco's outstretched arms. He hit the floor in a dead sprint, blasting down the hallway and diving down the hall three meters at a time, leaving a faint trail of ozone and pure panic in his wake.

"Wait! Deku-kun!" Ochaco yelled, spinning around.

"Get back here, Midoriya!" Toru shouted, trying to run after him, but she immediately collided with Momo, who was trying to step forward.

"Nice going, Jirou! You scared him off again!" Mina cried out.

"You got something you want to say to me, Mina?! What's your beef with me, huh?!"

Within seconds, the hallway erupted into a fierce, loud, six-way argument, the girls completely forgetting about Izuku as they stood in a circle, shouting and pointing fingers over who had ruined their best chance at getting their first kiss.

Later...

The cool evening breeze rustled through the neatly manicured cherry blossom trees lining the stone path between the UA high school dorm buildings.

Izuku Midoriya finally came to a stumbling halt, his chest heaving as he deactivated One For All. The green electricity fizzled out from his skin, leaving him leaning heavily against a stone bench, clutching his knees.

He panted heavily, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. He looked frantically over his shoulder, half-expecting someone to tackle him into the grass, but the pathway behind him was completely empty.

He sank down onto the cold stone bench, burying his face in his hands. His mind was a chaotic, tangled mess of absolute confusion and sheer terror.

He couldn't understand what was happening. Yesterday, they were practically tearing Momo's room apart and falling through the doorway into a screaming pile for some reason. Today, they were cornering him in the hallways, pulling him into their rooms, dragging him against his will, and rubbing his shoulders while talking nonsense.

"What is going on with them...?" Izuku muttered to himself, staring blankly at the ground. "Did a villain with a behavioral modification quirk infiltrate the campus? Is it a side effect of some weird training exercise I missed out on? Did I do something to upset them? What the heck is happening to them?"

He began to mumble rapidly under his breath, his thumb pressing against his chin as his brain went into overdrive, analyzing every single interaction from the last twenty-four hours. He factored in the katsudon, the specific wording of their statements, the aggressive territorial disputes, and the lack of etiquette.

Nothing made sense. The math simply wasn't adding up.

"Hey, Midoriya-kun?"

Izuku practically leaped three feet into the air, a small, terrified squeak escaping his throat as his arms flew up in a defensive boxing stance.

Itsuka Kendo stood a few paces away on the stone path, blinking at him in utter bewilderment. The Class 1-B representative was dressed in a casual weekend attire, a simple denim jacket over a white t-shirt, with her distinctive ginger hair tied up in its usual high side-ponytail. She carried a small convenience store bag in one hand, clearly having just walked back from the main campus gates.

"Whoa, easy there, tiger!" Kendo said, raising her free hand with an amused, slightly concerned smile. "It's just me. I didn't mean to scare you out of your skin."

Izuku let out a massive, shaky sigh, his shoulders slumping as he lowered his hands. "Oh... Kendo-san. Sorry about that. I'm just... a little on edge today."

Kendo walked closer, her keen eyes scanning his disheveled hair, his flushed face, and the genuine look of existential dread lingering in his green eyes.

She adjusted her grip on her shopping bag and tilted her head. "A little on edge? Midoriya, you look absolutely terrified. Are you okay? Did something happen during training?"

Izuku looked around the path one more time, ensuring no one from Class 1-A was lurking in the nearby bushes, before turning back to her with a desperate, pleading expression. "Kendo-san... can I ask you a question? As a class representative? And, um... as a girl?"

Kendo raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. She walked over and sat down on the opposite end of the stone bench, placing her bag between them. "Sure. I can try to help. What's on your mind, dude?"

"It's complicated... and a little bizarre..." Izuku started, his voice dropping into a frantic whisper as he leaned in. "The girls in my class are acting completely weird. I don't know what happened, but since yesterday evening, it feels like they're all trying to corner me specifically. First, they were fighting outside Momo's room, yelling at each other about who had 'rights' to see me. And then today, they were all trying to pull me in different directions at once! I had to use my quirk just to escape the hallway! I don't understand what I did wrong, or what they want from me!"

Kendo listened to the explanation, her expression shifting from mild curiosity to utter, profound disbelief. Her large, teal eyes blinked slowly as she processed what Izuku was actually describing.

She knew the girls of Class 1-A well enough to know they weren't crazy, but hearing Midoriya describe them acting like a pack of wolves hunting a single, completely oblivious rabbit was almost comical.

She leaned her elbow on the back of the bench, resting her chin in her hand as she pondered the situation.

A tiny, knowing smirk began to pull at the corner of her lips, though she quickly suppressed it.

"Well..." Kendo began, letting out a soft hum as she shrugged her shoulders. "Girls usually are pretty complicated, Midoriya. Especially when they're all hanging out together in a group late at night. Secrets get shared, ideas get thrown around, and sometimes things spiral out of control. Honestly, it sounds like they've gotten some kind of weird idea in their heads, and right now, you happen to be the target of whatever game or challenge they've cooked up. It's probably just something that will blow over with enough time."

Izuku rubbed his temples, looking thoroughly defeated. "I hope so... but they seemed really intense. Like, life-or-death intense."

Kendo chuckles. "That intense?"

Izuku nods. "Definitely. It was insane."

He paused, looking up at Kendo with a curious blink. "Um, Kendo-san? If you don't mind me asking... do the girls in Class 1-B ever act like this?"

Kendo let out a loud, hearty laugh, waving her hand dismissively. "Oh, you have no idea. The 1-B girls are just as gossipy and dramatic as any other group of girls our age. Believe me, I've had to enforce order quite a few times already in our dorms just to keep their chaos from getting completely out of control."

Izuku raises an eyebrow. "Really?"

Kendo nods, a fond but exasperated smile on her face as she remembered her own classmates. "Mhm. Between Setsuna throwing out wild theories, Kodai being impossible to read, and Pony misinterpreting stuff on a daily basis, things get chaotic fast. If left unchecked, they'll start obsessing over the most ridiculous things. Last month, they spent three days straight trying to reverse-engineer a rumor about one of the third-years. I literally had to physically drag Setsuna away from the poor guy before she started a full-blown investigation on the guy herself."

Izuku blinked, finding a strange sense of comfort in the fact that Class 1-B wasn't a perfect haven of tranquility either. "Wow... so it really is just a normal thing?"

"Yup, completely normal." Kendo reassured him, her tone turning firm and supportive. She leaned forward, looking him directly in the eyes. "Which is exactly why you need to stop running away from them, Midoriya."

"E-Eh?! But Kendo-san, you didn't see their faces-"

"Listen to me." Kendo interrupted, tapping his shoulder with a closed fist. "You're a hero-in-training. You've faced actual villains, right? You can't let a few high school girls frighten you out of your own dorm building. My advice? You need to be firm. Next time they approach you or try to pull you into one of their weird scenarios, don't run away. Just stand your ground, look them in the eye, and ask them directly what the fuss is all about. Force them to explain themselves. Once you demand an honest answer, they'll probably realize how ridiculous they're being and back off. At the very least, you'll finally know what they actually want from you."

Izuku sat in silence for a moment, Kendo's words echoing in his mind.

He looked down at his hands, clenching them into firm fists. She was right.

He stood up from the bench, a newfound spark of determination igniting in his green eyes. He slapped his cheeks with both hands, leaving faint red marks, and puffed out his chest.

"You're right, Kendo-san!" Izuku said, his voice sounding much more confident. "I can't keep running away. I'm going to go back to the 1-A dorms, and the next time they try to do something weird, I'm going to be firm and ask them exactly what's going on! Thank you so much for the advice!"

"Anytime, Midoriya." Kendo smiled, waving her hand as he turned on his heel. "Good luck out there!"

"Thank you!" Izuku called back, steeling his resolve as he marched down the stone path, his posture rigid and determined as he headed straight toward the entrance of the Heights Alliance building.

Itsuka Kendo sat on the bench for a few more seconds, watching his retreating form.

Her smile slowly morphed into an expression of sheer, unbridled curiosity. She picked up her convenience store bag, her mind racing with questions.

What on earth could the 1-A girls possibly be plotting that had Izuku Midoriya, the boy who fought the most terrifying villains with broken bones, completely terrified? What kind of situation had they put him in? What was the "close contact" about?

"Hehe... There's no way I'm missing this." Kendo whispered to herself, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

She stood up from the bench, quietly stepping off the stone path and onto the soft grass. Keeping her distance, she began to follow Izuku from far away, blending into the shadows of the cherry blossom trees.

Outside the Class 1-A heights alliance dorms, the cool night air was thick with the scent of pine and damp grass. Izuku stood tucked behind a large concrete pillar near the entrance, his hands on his knees as he drew in sharp, quiet breaths. His legs ached, and his hair was even more of a wild, tangled mess than usual.

He had spent the last hour psyching himself up, trying to channel every ounce of courage Itsuka Kendo had injected into him on the path. He had steeled his resolve. He had promised himself he would march right through those front doors, stand tall, and demand an explanation.

But the moment his hand had hovered over the electronic door, a sudden wave of primal panic had washed over him, and he had dived into the shadows instead.

'Just be firm.' He reminded himself, gripping the fabric of his sweatpants. 'Just stand your ground and ask them directly. They're my friends. There's nothing to be afraid of... Right?'

Before he could take a single step out from behind the concrete pillar, the automatic glass doors of the dorm building slid open with a soft hiss.

Izuku's heart stopped. He instinctively pressed his back flat against the cold concrete, holding his breath so tightly his chest began to burn.

"He's got to be around here somewhere." Mina's voice carried through the quiet night air, sharp and full of relentless energy. "The kitchen staff said they saw him heading back toward the dorms a while ago. There's no way he skipped campus entirely."

"We need to find him before curfew, ribbit." Tsuyu added, her flat, calm tone carrying an underlying layer of determination that made Izuku shiver. "Otherwise, Aizawa-sensei will catch us wandering around the hallways."

Izuku squeezed his eyes shut. 'Please don't look over here. Please don't look over here. Please don't look over here.'

A few yards away, standing near the edge of the stone path, Kyoka Jirou stopped. Her earphone jacks, hanging loosely from her earlobes, suddenly extended. The metallic plugs hovered just above the ground, twitching as they picked up the subtle, low-frequency vibrations of the night.

"Hold on." Jirou muttered, her eyes narrowing as she turned her head slowly toward the concrete pillar. "I hear a heartbeat. It's incredibly fast, and... yeah, someone's holding their breath right behind the entrance support."

"Gotcha!" Mina shouted.

"Oh no." Izuku gasped out loud, completely forgetting Kendo's advice as his survival instinct took the wheel.

He didn't even wait for them to close the distance. He dropped into a low stance, green electricity immediately sparking across his skin as he activated One For All at five percent. With a sharp kick against the concrete base, he launched himself straight up into the air, aiming for the second-floor balcony to bypass them entirely.

"Not so fast, Midoriya-san!"

A green blur intercepted his trajectory. Tsuyu had used the nearby tree trunk as a springboard, launching herself into the air with incredible speed. She spread her arms wide, blocking his path to the balcony entirely. Izuku's eyes widened in mid-air, and to avoid colliding with her and sending them both crashing to the ground, he twists his body, canceling his momentum and dropping heavily back onto the grass.

He hit the ground rolling, immediately spinning on his heel to sprint toward the open courtyard. "Sorry, Asui-san!"

"I've got the perimeter covered, Midoriya!" Momo's voice rang out from the darkness ahead.

Izuku skidded to a halt, his sneakers tearing up patches of turf. Directly in front of him, a massive, solid wall of dark iron rose rapidly from the grass, sparkled by the remnants of Momo's creation effect. The barrier was ten feet high and stretched across the entire path, completely cutting off his escape route.

He turned sharply to the left, but Jirou was already there, her earphone jacks plugged directly into her amplifiers, ready to send a sonic pulse if he moved. To his right, Toru's empty pajama sleeves were raised in a defensive stance, and Mina was rapidly closing the gap from behind, a triumphant grin on her pink face. Ochaco stood right beside her, her cheeks flushed but her eyes locked on him like a hawk.

He was completely surrounded.

The iron wall blocked his back, and the five girls formed an unbreakable semicircle in front of him, slowly stepping inward.

The green lightning faded from Izuku's skin. He looked at the closing circle, his chest heaving, his face a mix of deep embarrassment and pure exhaustion.

Izuku took a deep breath, planted his feet firmly on the grass, and threw his hands out to his sides.

"Okay! Stop! Just stop!" Izuku demanded, his voice cracking slightly but carrying a desperate firmness that actually made the girls pause. He looked at each of them, his green eyes wide with genuine bewilderment. "Please, just tell me what this is really about! Why have you guys been chasing me since yesterday? Why are you pulling me into different directions and trying to get so close to my face?! If I did something wrong, or if I upset someone during training, just tell me! I want to understand!"

The girls looked at each other, the aggressive competitive energy suddenly dipping into a slightly awkward silence.

Ochaco rubbed the back of her neck, looking at the ground, while Momo cleared her throat, suddenly finding the iron wall she created very interesting.

Finally, Mina stepped forward, rolling her eyes at how dramatic he was being. "Oh my gosh, Midoriya, you didn't do anything wrong! You aren't in trouble!"

"Then why are you doing all of this?!" Izuku pressed, his voice full of confusion.

Mina sighed, crossing her arms. "Because! We just want a kiss!"

The words seemed to hang in the cool night air for three incredibly long seconds.

Izuku's brain completely left his body. His jaw dropped so low it looked like it might unhinge. His green eyes shrunk to tiny pinpricks, and his entire face, from the tips of his ears down to his neck, turned a shade of red so intense it looked dangerous.

"A... a what?!" Izuku squeaked, his voice reaching a pitch only dogs could hear. "A kiss?! From... from me?! Why?!"

"It's a bit of an embarrassing story." Jirou explained, her tone defensive as she crossed her arms to hide her own massive blush. "But basically, we all found out we haven't kissed anyone ever before. Then we talked about what our ideal guy would be, and... well, you basically checked every single box by accident."

Izuku stood frozen, his mind completely reeling at how utterly ridiculous the entire situation was.

Mina's eyes suddenly narrowed with a new wave of curiosity. She stepped closer, tilting her head as she looked at his completely shattered expression. "Wait a second... Midoriya. We already spilled our secrets last night. What about you?"

Izuku blinked nervously, taking a step back until his shoulder hit Momo's iron wall. "W-What about me?"

"How many girls have you kissed in your life?" Mina asked, a smug, knowing grin spreading across her face.

The other girls instantly perked up, their mutual embarrassment forgotten as they focused entirely on him. Even Tsuyu stepped closer, her large eyes blinking with interest.

"I-I mean... that's... that's a completely private matter!" Izuku stammered, his hands flying up to cover his face as he looked everywhere but at them. "We're heroes-in-training! We should be focusing on our studies and developing our quirks, not counting... counting things like that!"

"He's dodging the question!" Toru shouted, her sleeve pointing right at his nose. "That means the number is low!"

"Come on, Deku-kun." Ochaco said, her voice a mix of curiosity and a strange, hopeful desperation. "Just tell us."

"I... I... I haven't!" Izuku finally blurted out, shutting his eyes tight as he pulled his collar up over his burning face. "I haven't, okay?! I haven't kissed anyone either!"

Mina clapped her hands together, a triumphant bark of laughter escaping her. "Yes! I knew it! A total clean slate across the board!"

"Well, that actually makes things a lot better." Tsuyu stated, a small smile appearing on her face. "Since we are all in the same position, there shouldn't be any awkwardness. Midoriya-san, you should just kiss one of us right now to clear the baseline."

Izuku's eyes snapped open, his panic returning tenfold. "W-Wait, right now?! Out here?! I can't just-"

"I should go first!" Ochaco interrupted loudly, taking a decisive step forward and pushing past Mina. "I am NOT letting this slide, you guys."

"Oh, absolutely not!" Mina argued, grabbing Ochaco's shoulder to pull her back. "You already had your turn trying to get on his case today! I was the one who asked the question in the first place, so legally, the kiss belongs to me!"

"There is no legality in a game of truth or dare, Mina!" Momo argued, stepping away from the iron wall to join the fray. "If we are prioritizing comfort and order, a structured rotation should be established, and as the host of the original gathering, I shall oversee the first trial!"

"Stop with the fancy talk, Momo!" Jirou yelled, her earphone jacks twitching aggressively. "If anyone's going to do it, it should be someone who isn't going to turn it into an awkward mess! Let me handle it!"

"Hey! What about me?!" Toru cried out, her invisible form shoving through the center of the group. "You guys should know I've got the worst chances of kissing anyone! I should go!"

"And yet you're somehow the only one in this group with more than one former boyfriend, Toru." Tsuyu said, trying to calmly navigate the rising tide of shouting.

"So what?!"

Within thirty seconds, the calm, firm resolve Izuku had built up completely vanished into the night air. The girls were completely ignoring him again, locked in a fierce shouting match right in front of him.

Izuku stood pressed against the cold iron, his face still bright red as he watched the chaos unfold.

"STOOOP IT RIGHT NOW!"

A booming, authoritative voice sliced clean through the chaotic chatter like a knife through butter.

The girls instantly froze, their arguments dying in their throats. They all snapped their heads toward the edge of the stone path.

Itsuka Kendo stepped out from the shadow of a large cherry blossom tree, her hands planted firmly on her hips. Her distinctive orange side-ponytail swayed slightly in the night breeze, and her large teal eyes were narrowed in a fierce, unyielding glare.

She looked like a disappointed older sister who had just caught a group of toddlers tearing up the living room couch cushions.

"K-Kendo-san?!" Izuku gasped from his position against the iron wall, looking at her like she was an absolute angel sent from the heavens to rescue him for the second time today.

"What in the world is going on out here?!" Kendo demanded, marching straight into the center of the semicircle. She looked around at the Class 1-A girls, her expression a mix of profound exasperation and curiosity. "I could hear you guys shouting all the way from the main path! You're supposed to be winding down for curfew, not staging a full-blown riot on the front lawn! What is this nonsense you're all screaming about?"

The girls completely shrank under her gaze. Mina looked at her shoes, tapping her feet nervously against the turf. Momo's shoulders slumped, her face turning a deep shade of embarrassed pink as she realized exactly how loud they had been. Jirou quickly pulled her earphone jacks back, letting them dangle innocently against her neck, while Tsuyu simply placed a finger against her chin, blinking blankly.

Izuku, seeing a desperate window of opportunity to finally resolve the madness, raised his hand nervously from the back of the group.

"Kendo-san..." Izuku squeaked, his voice trembling as he looked at her with wide, pleading green eyes. "They... they're competing."

Kendo turned her gaze to him, softening slightly but still looking thoroughly confused. "Competing for what, Midoriya?"

"To... to get their first kisses..." Izuku blurted out, shutting his eyes tight as the words left his mouth. He felt like his face was going to melt off from the sheer, unadulterated embarrassment of saying it out loud to a student from Class 1-B. "With... with me. They found out last night that none of them have ever kissed anyone, and they want to do it with me because they say I fit their criteria..."

The silence that followed was absolute.

Kendo stared at Izuku. Then, she slowly turned her head to look at the five girls of Class 1-A.

A deep, visible scowl settled over Kendo's face. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, her teal eyes flashing with genuine disapproval as she glared at the group.

"Are you guys serious right now?!" Kendo's voice rose, carrying a sharp, lecturing tone. "You've got to be kidding me! You're some of the top hero students in the entire country, and you're acting like a bunch of spoiled children fighting over a toy in a sandbox! What were you thinking?!"

"Kendo, it's not like that, we were just-" Mina tried to interrupt, waving her hands defensively.

"No, Mina, listen to yourselves!" Kendo snapped, stepping closer and gesturing directly toward Izuku, who was still trying to shrink into the iron wall. "Look at him! Midoriya is completely terrified! He's spent the entire day sprinting through the hallways and hiding in the shadows because you guys have been hunting him down like a pack of wild animals! You're treating him like a prize, or an object, or some kind of milestone on a checklist! Did any of you stop to think about his feelings for even a single second? Did you bother to ask him what he actually wanted, or if he was even comfortable with any of this?!"

Ochaco's eyes widened, Kendo's words hitting her like a physical blow. She looked over at Izuku, really looking at him for the first time since this crisis had started. A sharp, heavy wave of guilt washed over her.

"I... I didn't..." Ochaco whispered, her voice cracking as her face burned with a completely different kind of flush.

Momo looked down at her hands, her flawless posture completely crumbling. "Oh dear... Kendo is entirely correct. We have behaved in a thoroughly unprincipled manner."

"Ribbit. It was pretty stupid of us..." Tsuyu admitted softly, bowing her head in a rare display of visible regret. "We got so caught up in the game that we didn't realize we were making Midoriya-san miserable."

Jirou rubbed the back of her neck, looking completely mortified. "Yeah... sorry, Midoriya. We totally crossed a line. We were being completely ridiculous and unfair to you, dude."

"I'm sorry too, Midoriya-kun!" Toru wailed, her empty sleeves flying up to cover her invisible face. "We didn't mean to make you feel like an object!"

Mina let out a long, defeated sigh, her shoulders dropping as she offered a genuine, apologetic look toward the green-haired boy. "Sorry, Midoriya. We totally lost our minds for a bit there."

Izuku blinked, watching the intense, aggressive wall of competition completely dissolve into a puddle of genuine, heartfelt apologies. The heavy, suffocating tension that had plagued his entire day vanished, replaced by the familiar, warm comfort of his friends being themselves again.

A soft, gentle smile broke across his freckled cheeks. He rubbed the back of his neck, stepping away from the iron wall and shaking his head.

"It's... it's okay, guys! Really!" Izuku said, his voice returning to its usual warm, earnest cadence. "I was just really confused and a little overwhelmed because I didn't know what was going on. But I'm not mad at all! You guys are amazing, and... and no matter what kind of silly games or misunderstandings happen, I will never stop cherishing all of you as my closest friends. We've been through way too much together for something like this to change that!"

The girls looked up, their hearts collectively swelling at his pure, unadulterated kindness.

Standing a few paces away, Kendo watched the peaceful resolution, a soft, satisfied smile pulling at her lips. She nodded approvingly, glad to see that her lecture had worked and that order had been restored to the campus.

"Well, I'm glad we could all be reasonable and make peace." Kendo said smoothly, taking a few casual steps forward into the center of the group. She stopped right in front of Izuku, looking down at him with a warm, playful glint in her teal eyes. "You really are a sweetheart, Midoriya-kun. No wonder they all think so highly of you."

"A-Ah, thank you, Kendo-san!" Izuku blushed, offering a shy, happy smile. "I really appreciate your help with everything today."

"Don't mention it, Izu." Kendo purred softly.

Before Izuku could even blink, Kendo reached out. Her hands flew up, her fingers gently but firmly cupping both sides of his jaw. Before his brain could even send a single signal to his muscles, Kendo leaned forward, closing the distance between them in a fraction of a second.

And then, she pressed her lips flat against his.

It wasn't a quick, accidental peck on the cheek. It was a deliberate, solid, remarkably deep kiss right on the lips.

Izuku's eyes shattered into wide, paralyzed saucers. His entire nervous system caught fire, a high-voltage shock of pure, unadulterated electricity slamming through his spine. His arms locked out at his sides like iron bars, his feet entirely glued to the grass as his brain completely ceased all cognitive function.

A collective, earsplitting gasp echoed from the Class 1-A girls.

Ochaco's jaw literally dropped to the floor, her hands flying to her hair in absolute, structural horror. Mina's eyes looked like they were going to pop clean out of her head, her pink skin turning three shades paler from pure shock. Momo's creations slipped from her hands, hitting the grass with a dull clatter, while Jirou's earphone jacks froze mid-air, perfectly rigid like antenna wires. Tsuyu's unblinking eyes widened significantly, and Toru's invisible body went entirely stiff.

Kendo held the kiss for two more long, agonizingly silent seconds, ensuring every single girl in the semicircle took in the view, before she slowly, gracefully pulled back.

A faint, brilliant crimson dusted Kendo's cheeks, but her smile was utterly triumphant.

She let go of Izuku's jaw, stepping back a pace and smoothing down the front of her denim jacket with complete, unbothered elegance.

Izuku remained standing exactly where she left him, a faint wisp of imaginary steam rising from his ears, his lips still slightly parted as he stared into the void, completely and utterly speechless.

Kendo turned her head toward the paralyzed lineup of Class 1-A girls. She popped a hand onto her hip, a wicked, thoroughly mischievous smirk spreading across her face as she gave them a playful wink.

"Well..." Kendo said, her voice dripping with absolute satisfaction as she picked up her convenience store bag from the grass. "Now that that's settled... I guess I can officially brag that I got my first kiss before any of you girls did! Thanks for the opportunity, everyone!"

The girls immediately began foaming at the mouth, their regret completely vaporizing as they practically vibrated with a brand new, fiercely localized rage toward their rival class leader.

"WHAT?!" Mina shrieked, literal steam seeming to pour from her ears as she clutched her head in absolute agony. "SHE TRICKED US! SHE TOTALLY BETRAYED US!"

"KENDO!" Ochaco wailed, falling to her knees on the pavement as if she had just witnessed a national tragedy. "THAT IS SO UNFAIR! SHE PLAYED THE MORALIST JUST TO STEAL HIM!"

"A tactical deception..." Momo muttered, her eyes vacant as a thin layer of foam actually began to form at the corner of her mouth from sheer, unadulterated shock. "I never could have guessed she could be so cunning..."

"I can't believe it." Jirou muttered, her hands shaking as she stared down the empty path. "I ACTUALLY cannot believe it."

"Ribbit..." Tsuyu croaked, her tongue flaccid against the floor as she stared blankly ahead.

Behind them, still pressed firmly against the iron wall, Izuku Midoriya remained completely motionless. His face had transcended red, his eyes staring blankly into the middle distance as a small wisp of smoke curled out of his ears. He was completely, utterly, and entirely speechless.

Kendo just let out a loud, delighted laugh, waving her hand over her shoulder as she turned on her heel and began a leisurely, victorious stroll back toward the Class 1-B dorm building. "Have a good night, girls! Don't stay out past curfew!"

As Itsuka left the scene, Ochaco stepped forward and furiously looked at Izuku, who was still speechless. "This could all have been avoided, you know! You could have just kissed me like I said! I believe I said 'you and me need to get something over with before it becomes some kind of huge thing later on', and you know what? You didn't kiss me, and it became a huge thing later on!"

Izuku manages to blurt out a few words. "I... I... I..."

"Uhp uhp uhp!" Ochaco uses her quirk on him, turning away from him to silence him. "No talking! You are in trouble, Deku! Tomorrow, you are going to help me train all by ourselves no matter what other fancy stuff with All Might you miss out on! And when we're done, you're going to willingly give me a kiss with a smile on your face because second place is better than nothing!"

And with that, Ochaco grabbed Izuku by the arm and pulled him alongside her inside the dorms, leaving the rest of the girls foaming at the mouth.

That night...

The savory aroma of cold katsudon and mixed-berry juice hung heavy over the Class 1-A common room. The giant, luxurious television was playing a popular talk show on low volume, but none of the girls were watching it. Instead, they sat spread out across the sofas and floor cushions, chewing their food in a thick, thoroughly defeated silence.

Momo stared blankly into her porcelain bowl, her chopsticks idly poking at a piece of fried pork. She let out a long, deeply tragic sigh that seemed to carry the weight of her entire family lineage.

"I am completely ruined." She lamented softly, her shoulders slumping as she rested her chin in her hand. "Kendo is never going to let me hear the end of this. For the rest of our lives, at every joint training session, every representative meeting, and every casual gathering... she will find a way to weave this into the conversation. She will never let me forget this for as long as she lives. I am never going to emotionally recover from this."

"Ugh, tell me about it." Jirou muttered, leaning back against the sofa cushions with her ankles crossed on the coffee table. She tapped her earphone jack against her knee in a rhythmic, agitated beat. "She looked so incredibly smug walking away. It's infuriating."

Uraraka, however, was practically radiating a physical aura of pure, unadulterated determination. She stuffed a massive piece of katsudon into her mouth, chewing fiercely before swallowing and slamming her bowl down onto the table with a loud clack. She puffed out her glowing, rosy cheeks, her eyes narrowing as she stared a hole into the common room rug.

"It's totally unfair!" Ochaco huffed, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. "I was his first friend at U.A! I was the one who changed the meaning of his nickname from 'useless' to 'you can do it'! I've literally held his hand during important moments! From now on, I am going to be extra loving, extra thoughtful, and completely attentive toward Deku-kun to ensure that absolutely nothing like this ever happens again! He won't even have time to look at anyone else!"

Mina, despite her own lingering frustration, couldn't help but crack a wicked, teasing smirk at Ochaco's intense outburst. She leaned over the back of the sofa, poking Ochaco's burning cheek with a single finger. "Oh ho? Extra loving and thoughtful, huh? Sounds to me like you're trying to hoard him, Ochaco! But let's be real, aside from Midoriya, you couldn't get any other guy anyway."

"W-Well, what's it to you?! It was YOUR questions that got us into this mess in the first place!" Ochaco shrieked, her face instantly turning a violent shade of scarlet as her hands flew up.

"Alright, that's it." Jirou interrupted sharply, raising her hand like a referee. Her face was still dusted with an embarrassed blush from the outdoor incident. "I am officially enforcing a new rule. Talking about kisses is completely prohibited from now on. It's going on the banned conversations list, along with 'All Might's butt', 'Todoroki's daddy issues', 'Endeavor Vs. All Might', 'getting into the gambling business', and 'sticking your hand in Toru's mouth to check if you become invisible'."

Toru shudders in her seat. "Ugh, don't remind me of that one."

Jirou nods. "If anyone brings up the letter 'K' in a romantic context tonight, I am plugging my amplifiers directly into your ears. Clear?"

"Agreed." Tsuyu said, nodding calmly as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. "It is best for our mental health to change the subject, ribbit."

A brief, uneasy peace settled over the common room.

The girls went back to their food, the tension slowly draining from the air as the ticking clock reestablished its regular, soothing rhythm. They had survived the night. They had apologized. They were moving on.

Then, Toru shifted on her cushion. Her invisible form tilted back, her pajama top ruffling as she dug her hands into her pockets.

"Okay, so no talking about that word, understood." Toru began, her voice dripping with a casual, dangerous curiosity. "But... I'm still kind of wondering how we all actually do with boys in general. Like, completely separate from Midoriya-kun and whatever Kendo just did."

Jirou shot her a warning glare. "Toru, I swear to God I will-"

"No, no, this is different!" Toru insisted, her empty sleeves waving frantically in the air to defend herself. "I'm just talking about more normal stuff. Have any of you guys actually... you know... cuddled with a boy before? Like, just sitting on a couch, watching a movie, and sharing a blanket? Because that's supposed to be more normal than the 'K' word, right?"

The common room went dead silent again.

Momo suddenly became intensely focused on the patterns of her chopsticks. Tsuyu blinked slowly, her finger resting against her chin as she stared at the television screen. Jirou immediately reached for her juice glass, taking an incredibly long, loud sip to avoid speaking, while Mina suddenly found a stray piece of lint on her shorts to be the most fascinating thing in the world. Ochaco just stared blankly ahead, her brain rapidly scrolling through her memories and finding absolutely nothing even remotely close to the description.

"Come on, guys." Toru whined, her sleeve dropping limply to her side. "Not even a little bit? None of us?"

"Well..." Momo started, her voice high and strained as she tried to deflect. "During the winter holidays, my family often hosts traditional kotatsu gatherings where young gentlemen from neighboring estates are present. Technically, we are sharing the same heated blanket structure while discussing global economics-"

"Momo, sharing a wooden table to talk about taxes does not count as cuddling." Mina deadpans, her head dropping back onto the sofa.

"Ribbit. I have held my younger brother while he sleeps, but as we established earlier, family members are a completely separate category." Tsuyu added, her tone flat and honest. "So... no. I have never cuddled with a boy."

"Yeah, me neither." Jirou muttered, her voice dropping into a thoroughly embarrassed mumble as she stared into her lap. "Simply never happened."

"I haven't either!" Mina groaned, throwing a pillow into the air and catching it. "This is so annoying! How are we dropping the ball and fumbling it like this?!"

The girls sat in a silent, brooding circle, the weight of their complete lack of casual romantic experience crushing their spirits all over again.

Ochaco's eyes suddenly flashed. A reckless, completely spontaneous idea seized her brain, short-circuiting all of her regular inhibitions.

She stood up abruptly, her chair scraping loudly against the floor. Before anyone could stop her, she turned toward the hallway leading to the boys' wing and cupped her hands around her mouth.

"DEKU-KUN! COME TO THE COMMON ROOM RIGHT NOW!" Ochaco yelled at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing down the corridors.

A quiet, muffled sound of a book dropping echoed from the far end of the dorms, followed by the faint, hesitant shuffling of slippers.

A few seconds later, Izuku's voice called back from the adjacent study lounge, sounding completely exhausted and deeply traumatized.

"U-Uraraka-san?!" Izuku shouted back, his voice cracking with immense anxiety. "I-I'm actually right in the middle of writing a very detailed quirk analysis report! And... and I really need to get to sleep early tonight! So I'm going to have to firmly reject coming over there!"

"I don't care because I am firmly insisting, Deku-kun!" Ochaco yelled back, her tone unyielding as she took a step toward the hallway.

"...Nope!" Izuku shot back.

"DEKU-KUN, GET YOUR WORTHLESS BUTT IN HERE RIGHT NOW OR SO HELP ME I WILL USE TONGUE TOMORROW!"

"NOT A CHANCE!"

Inside the common room, the atmosphere underwent a sudden, violent chemical reaction.

Mina's eyes snapped wide open, a ferocious, wild spark igniting in her pupils as she realized exactly what Ochaco was doing. Toru's pajamas stiffened, her posture shifting into an aggressive, competitive stance. Jirou's ears flushed bright red, but her earphone jacks instantly twitched with a localized intensity. Momo's breath hitched, her manicured fingers gripping the edge of the sofa as her brain rapidly processed the brand-new parameters of the situation.

"I'll go get Midoriya." Said Momo, starting to stand up. "All he needs is a proper lady's touch, that's all."

"Wait a minute, Momo!" Mina hissed, jumping over the back of the sofa and landing gracefully on the rug. "I'll go get him, just take a seat, you delicate lady!"

"Both of you get out of the way!" Jirou barked, her face a fiery red as her earphone jacks shot out like whips, snapping through the air to clear a path toward the hallway entrance. "Might as well let me do it since I'll make sure he doesn't freak out again!"

Mina smirks defiantly. "Wanna scare him off yet again, Jirou?"

Jirou scowls. "Wanna say that to my face again, Mina?"

Tsuyu began to silently make her way towards the staircase, which the rest of the girls noticed in unison.

"FREE-FOR-ALL!" Toru screeched, throwing herself forward.

All hell officially broke loose. The girls completely abandoned any sense of order, dignity, or friendship as they charged forward hot on persuit of their prey.

I'll try to continue my other works in progress soon!