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The U.A. dorms were quieter than usual for the week before Christmas.
Training schedules had eased just enough to let everyone breathe.
Decorations softened the common room, twinkling lights strung along the windows, paper snowflakes taped with varying degrees of success, and a small tree in the corner that leaned stubbornly to one side. Someone had put a kettle on earlier, and the faint smell of tea lingered in the warm air.
Izuku Midoriya liked nights like this.
They made it easier to be still.
He sat on the couch near the window, shoulders relaxed, hands wrapped around a mug that had long since cooled. He wasn’t thinking about training plans or Quirk analysis or the endless list of things he felt he should be improving.
He was thinking about Tsuyu.
About the way she’d squeezed his hand earlier in the hallway, once, quick and reassuring, before slipping into the common room ahead of him like nothing was out of the ordinary.
Which, technically, it was.
To everyone else.
To Izuku and Tsuyu Asui, this was normal.
They’d never planned to keep it quiet. It had just… happened that way. A shared late-night study session that turned into more. A gentle conversation after a difficult mission. Hands finding each other naturally, like they’d always known where to reach.
No dramatic confession. No audience.
Just certainty.
Tsuyu sat on the floor near the couch, back against Izuku’s knees, legs tucked neatly to one side. She held her own mug between both hands, thumbs warming against the ceramic. Every so often, she leaned back just enough that Izuku could feel the steady weight of her there, grounding, familiar.
He rested one hand lightly against her shoulder without thinking.
She hummed softly in acknowledgment.
Around them, the rest of Class 1-A drifted in and out of conversation. Kaminari argued with Kirishima over a game no one was actually watching.
Yaoyorozu adjusted a strand of lights that refused to cooperate. Mina lounged upside down on an armchair, idly scrolling through her phone.
No one noticed the way Tsuyu’s fingers laced briefly with Izuku’s when she shifted position.
No one noticed the quiet smiles.
At least… not yet.
“Hey,” Mina said suddenly, sitting upright. “Why is there mistletoe in the common room again?”
Izuku’s heart skipped.
He glanced up instinctively.
Sure enough, tucked above the central archway- hung a small sprig of mistletoe tied with green ribbon. It looked intentional. Neat. Almost understated.
Tsuyu tilted her head, eyes following his gaze.
“Oh,” she said calmly. “That’s new.”
Kaminari perked up immediately. “Oho.
That’s festive.”
Kirishima grinned. “Someone’s fishing.”
Mina’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully as she scanned the room, then landed, very deliberately on Izuku
and Tsuyu.
She froze.
Then she slowly grinned.
“…Wait.”
Izuku felt Tsuyu shift, sitting up straighter. She set her mug aside and turned just enough to look up at him, expression composed but warm.
“You okay?” she asked quietly.
Izuku nodded. “Yeah.”
She smiled, small and steady. “Good.”
Mina stood.
“Okay,” she said slowly, pointing. “Either I’m hallucinating, or you two are way closer than I thought.”
The room quieted.
Izuku swallowed.
This was the moment, then.
Not forced. Not dramatic.
Just… inevitable.
Tsuyu rose smoothly to her feet and turned to face the room. Izuku followed a heartbeat later, standing beside her.
She didn’t reach for his hand immediately, just stood there, shoulders relaxed, eyes attentive.
“We were going to tell you,” Tsuyu said, voice even. “We just hadn’t decided when.”
Kaminari blinked. “Tell us… what?”
Tsuyu glanced at Izuku.
He took a breath.
“We’re dating,” he said. Simple.
Honest.
Silence fell.
Then-
“WAIT! WHAT?!”
“SINCE WHEN?!”
“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!”
Mina clapped her hands together, delighted. “I knew it. I knew there was something!”
Yaoyorozu looked between them, surprised but smiling. “You’ve been very discreet.”
Tsuyu nodded. “We weren’t trying to hide. We just… didn’t announce it.”
Izuku nodded along. “We wanted it to be ours first.”
The noise softened, less shock now, more curiosity, warmth replacing surprise.
Kirishima laughed. “That’s actually really solid.”
Mina crossed the room in three quick steps and stopped in front of them, hands on her hips. “Okay. But you can’t just drop that and not prove it.”
Izuku stiffened slightly. “P–prove?”
Mina pointed upward.
Mistletoe.
Tsuyu followed her gaze. Her lips curved faintly.
“Well,” she said calmly, “it is tradition.”
Izuku looked at her, eyes wide.
“You don’t- I mean, we don’t have to-”
Tsuyu reached for his hand.
Her grip was gentle but sure, fingers fitting naturally between his.
“I want to,” she said softly. “If you do.”
Izuku’s chest warmed.
“I do,” he replied.
They stepped beneath the mistletoe together.
The class collectively leaned in.
Tsuyu rose onto her toes just enough to close the distance, one hand resting lightly against Izuku’s chest. He met her halfway, careful and unhurried.
The kiss was soft.
Intimate.
The kind that didn’t perform for an audience even when one existed.
When they parted, Tsuyu stayed close, forehead resting briefly against his.
“Okay,” she murmured.
Izuku smiled, a little breathless. “Okay.”
The room erupted, not with shock this time, but cheers.
“All right, that was cute,” Mina admitted.
“Super wholesome,” Kaminari added.
“Man,” Kirishima said, grinning. “That’s real.”
Tsuyu turned back to the class, hand still in Izuku’s. “We’re still the same people. Just… together.”
Yaoyorozu smiled warmly. “We’re happy for you.”
Izuku felt something loosen in his chest.
For so long, their relationship had been something quiet and careful, protected, cherished, but unseen. Now, standing there with Tsuyu’s hand in his, it felt like stepping into open air.
Not exposed.
Just… acknowledged.
Later, when the noise had faded and people returned to their conversations, Izuku and Tsuyu settled back onto the couch. She leaned against him again, familiar as breathing.
“You did well,” she said quietly.
He laughed softly. “You make it easy.”
Tsuyu’s fingers squeezed his hand once. “That’s because you always listen.”
Outside, snow continued to fall.
Inside the dorms, beneath a single sprig of mistletoe, a secret became something shared, and somehow, it only made it stronger.