Chapter Text
The school year has finally started. After the war, everyone was happy to go back to school without the impending threat of death and a new war. It was the first month of class, more precisely it was almost October. The 1A class became the 2A one. As opposed to last year where internships were a bother to get, this time the requests flooded every high schooler. It’s true that they all did great during the war, and it was some kind of reward. Everyone had found a place that they liked working in. The rhythm was quite easy too. A week out of two everyone was at their agency.
Tsuyu had found a decent internship. It wasn’t near any source of water, but here in the city it would’ve been hard. She worked at an agency where the heroes gave villains a second chance. Small villains of course, not killers or else, just minors raiders and stuff. It was a way to rehabilitate them into the world, giving them opportunities they wouldn’t ever get in prisons. She loved it actually. She always thought that everyone that had the chance to do good without suffering would take it. And here, it just comforted her about this state of mind. Many of them were paupers, or with quirks that were frowned upon. But before their quirks, before their actions, they were people too. Something that many chose to ignore. When she learned about this agency, she knew that’s where she wanted to go. They didn’t offer her any place, she was the one that came down there and applied. The surprise on the receptionist’s face when she saw a UA student applying here made her understand that it was an agency with a bad reputation. She knew it of course, because rehabilitation was a noble cause, but when it came to “villains”, the people just made a disgusted face. It didn’t matter for her, and that’s how she got her internship.
The first week went well. The second one left her a bit disconcerted. At school, feelings blossomed. Ochaco had long forgotten about her first-year crush, Izuku, but seemed interested in Shoto for example. Deku had girls from 1st year and last year coming onto him. Bakugo did too actually. While the green-haired man seemed embarrassed, he did take some of them out on dates. The ash-blond just avoided carefully every fan-girl. Eijiro and Mina finally ended up together. Kyoka and Momo too. Basically, everyone was flirting, in a relationship or crushing on someone. The worst part was that it was only with people in the school. Tsuyu understood why. They were still in dorms. But Momo and her shared a wall. A thin wall. Too thin. She didn’t hear any discussions, only sex. And damn those two girls were loud. And consistent. The same nights, each week. She took a habit to drink a bit of water were she dissolved a sleeping pill on those nights. She knew she wouldn’t sleep if she didn’t.
Of course, Tsuyu was not left behind on those relationships. She still saw her friends, and dates too. But she’s more discreet. Talking about her love life was not her thing. She didn’t met a lot of people, but on weekends, when her parents finally let her go out after she finished the chores, she went out. Not in clubs or bars. At the pool actually. It was relaxing, especially at 7 or 8pm, when there was no kids. She was alone most of the time at the pool, and it was amazing. One day, a boy her age showed up. She was a bit late when she arrived, so she was intending to leave later than usual. They literally just stared at each other, a bit confused. When they talked, they had a lot in common. So, every weekends they met here at the same time. They met during the summer, in late August. When she got back to school, she missed him. They texted every day, sometimes calling, and met on Saturday nights. He asked her out during the first week of school. She gladly said yes.
Now, October was arriving in a few days. It was Saturday, the day of their third date. He was late, but she waits. Looking at her watch from time to time, an hour passes by. The texts she sent were not opened. She calls him and a woman’s voice answers.
“Hum.. Hey? I’m waiting for you?”
“Who is this?”
“Well, I can ask this back, why are you on Eric’s phone?”
“I’m his girlfriend. You?”
“We.. we were supposed to have a date today?”
“Is this a prank?”
“No, look at our texts, my name is Asui Tsuyu.”
Tsuyu hears the woman look through the phone. Then a gasp before the girl takes the phone to her ear.
“So, do you have a frog quirk or sum’?”
“Uh, yeah, why? How did you know?”
“Because you’re not called Asui on the phone but ‘Fuckable frog’. And I saw the texts where he says your name.”
A long silence ensues.
“I’m sorry I fucked your boyfriend kero.”
“I’m sorry too. For you. Damn he’s a jerk..”
“Yeah.. I have a favor to ask though ribbit.”
“Uh, what?”
“Could you put me on speaker and I’ll break up with him like that?”
The other woman chuckles, but it’s a sad chuckle.
“I’ll do that, no problem. I’ll get to see his face when he realizes that we know.”
An hour later Tsuyu is single again. Well, all three of them actually. The other girlfriend broke up too. She’s now home. She cried on her way back. But her parents don’t see it. They have a lot going on too, so they just ask her to clean the dishes before going to bed. And so she does. Sobs are swallowed by the running water. Her brother and sister are already in bed, or at least in their rooms. When she’s done, she goes to her bed and falls asleep crying. It’s not her first breakup. But it’s the first time she had sex with someone.
The next day, she doesn’t get up early like she usually does. She stays in bed until noon. During lunch she gets scolded by her parents for sleeping in. No fight is in her so she just apologizes. After she cleaned up the table and did the dishes she pretexts having to go back to school early.
It’s the middle of the afternoon when she arrives on the campus. No one is here yet, except teachers maybe. She doesn’t run into any of them though. For the first time in weeks she’s completely alone. At home there’s always a sibling or a parent. At school, she’s with her friends. At the agency, there’s always a hero here. And on her phone no one texts her. Not him at least. The group chat of their class is always active so it doesn't really count.
She’s glad to be alone though. It’s what she needs today. And a bath. Oh she really needs to take a bath. She grumbles a bit because there’s no tub in her room. Well, it’s probably for the better, because if there was, she’d never leave it. But right now she wants one. So, she roams around the school, searching for an adult. She finally finds Aizawa. In his sleeping bag on the grass.
“Sir?”
“Mhhhh. I’m sleeping.”
“Sir, I was wondering.. if there was a tub I could use exceptionally today?”
A groan from her teacher later, he seems to move around. A key falls onto the ground and he just closes his eyes again.
“Here, the key is to the teacher’s bathroom. Bring it back once you’re done.”
She smiles happily.
“Thank you so much sir!”
She hurries into the teacher’s building and when she finally finds the room, which was not easy as she never went there, her eyes lighten. It’s a king-sized bathtub. She jumps a bit, too excited for it. She locks the door before making the water run and undressing. She checks and there’s unused towels under the sink, perfect. The water is at a perfect temperature, she’s more than happy to hop in the water.
A relaxed sound leaves her mouth. It feels so good. Almost like heaven. She lies down, enjoying the moment. The minutes in paradise turn into a few hours. She’s almost asleep by then, but forces herself out of the tub.
Her eyes feel heavy, her whole body does too when she gets up. A cold shiver runs down her spine when the air touches her wet body, she immediately wraps herself in a towel. The fabric is soft, brushing against her skin. Once she is dry, she puts back her clothes. Since it’s weekend she does not need to be in her uniform. She just wears a pair of jeans with green frogs embroideries and a simple white T-shirt. That was her outfit before she bathed, since she didn’t bring any spare clothes to change in. Her hair is still damp though, wetting her back. So, she braids them in a long and fluffy one and goes out. It’s not hard to find her teacher, still in his yellow sleeping bag, lying on the grass. His eyes open before she says anything, then close again.
“Put the key in the grass, I’ll take it later.”
She nods and does as she’s said.
“Thank you again Sir.”
“Meh. Now let me sleep.”
She chuckles silently and goes back to her room. While she could start crying again about the jerk, she knows that some of her homework will take too long to finish for that to happen. So, she puts every feelings in a little box that locks and throws the key. She starts working. When she stops, she’s finished. A quick glance at her alarm and she sees it’s past 8. She sighs, normally everyone has arrived by now and maybe someone is even starting to cook.
As she opens the door to her room, she meets Ochaco, fist in the air, about to knock.
“Hey Tsu! How are you? I was checking to see if you were already here.”
The face of the frog girl curls into a smile.
“Yes, I arrived after lunch kero. I needed a calm place to work.”
“Okay. So…… How was your date last night??”
The green-haired girl’s face just drops the smile. Her eyes always as motionless and expressionless. She just sighs.
“Jerk. He already had a girlfriend. She answered the phone. Apparently I was registered under ‘Fuckable frog’ or sum’. So, as much as I’m flattered by the lack of disgust on my appearance, I’m disappointed.”
“Oh.. I’m sorry for you Tsu… You know you’re pretty right? I truly hope you know it. You’ll find someone good that finds you beautiful but is not here for your looks. I know you will. You’re perfect and someone out there will see it.”
A genuine smile appears on the frog-heroine face. She takes the hand of her friends and squeezes it softly.
“You know, I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear this. You’re an amazing friend kero.”
The two hug.
“Well, you’re my best-friend, of course I’ll tell you how great you are, because I mean it. Now let’s go eat, Kirishima convinced Bakugo to cook, it’ll be delicious.”
Tsuyu smiles, it’s true that Bakugo was a great cook. Probably the best cook in their class. Maybe she was better, after all she did cook every night for her family for the past 7 years. She can’t know for sure who’s the best though. And it’s not like the man would like to hear her say this.
“Good, I’m starving. And you, how is it going with Mister huh? Any progress yet?”
“I’ve been dying to tell you about it. Last night, we called and talked all night long. He was more talkative than usual, it was so fun. And it was a facetime. I got to see some abs…”
Ochako giggles, she was really into him. They talked the rest of the evening. As expected, the food was delicious. Pasta all'arrabbiata, spicy enough to have a tingling sensation in the mouth but not too spicy to feel like you were on fire. As the students begun to go to bed one by one, Tsuyu stays a bit in the common room, drinking an herbal tea. Soon enough she’s alone, Ochako leaving to go to bed last after chatting with the green-haired girl until 9:30pm. Once her infusion is done, she gets up. The kitchen was a mess. The ash-blond cleaned everything before serving the food, but the students sure did a good job at dirtying it quickly. No dishes were done, some cans were opened but unfinished. She sighs. As much as she’d like to go to sleep because crying all night wasn’t restful, the risk of the whole class getting scolded tomorrow was not a risk but a fatality. And so, she starts by the dishes. The hot water burned her a bit at first but after making a face she got used to it. Then, a plate after the other was washed and dried. It was actually peaceful to do the chores without being obligated to. Her music in her ears, she did not hear anything. So, when Bakugo, who misplaced his phone in the room, came back pestering, she didn’t saw nor hear him. The red-eyed man found his phone before seeing the light was on in the kitchen. He pesters even more at the students who forgot to turn it off before entering it. Only to find the woman doing the dishes, shaking her head at the music in her hears. She was even humming the song. He looks around at the mess and grumbles. She did not seem to have registered his presence, so he could just leave and let her handle it. But she was cleaning a mess she sure did not create. He clears his throat pretty loudly and she just glances before freezing.