12

…

The gurgle that came from Himiko's stomach silenced the good-natured teasing Izuku had been giving Iida for winning their little race, which the robotic boy had been adamantly denying as cheating with a smile. The students sitting nearby turned to the fanged blonde with grins and giggles as she curled up next to her geokinetic lover with a quiet groan. "'m hungry…" she whined, clutching her belly with a pitiful expression, nuzzling Izuku's shoulder.

Chuckling, he fished a meal bar out of his belt, unwrapping it and handing it to her before reaching over to grab the blood-draw bracelet. "I wondered when you'd crash," he stated, closing it around his left arm and inserting a vial. "Did the adrenaline finally wear off?"

"Yeh…" She mumbled, perking up a bit as she chewed. "Man, I gotta give Frosty props; I was playing it by ear the whole time, throwing whatever I could think of at her and she was just," she flicked a foot and made a whooshing noise with her mouth, "Whoosh, iceberg. Fwoosh, glacier. I got her in the end, but she got me, too. Talk about a cold reception."

They all looked over at Shimo, who sat in her seat in sullen silence, staring stonily at her shoes.

"She doesn't even look tired," Mina noted with a little awe, "Even after she made that second Ice Age. Man, that's kinda depressing, how strong she is…"

Himiko bobbed her head. "It would be depressing…if it wasn't so INVIGooooh, dizzy…" She'd enthusiastically leaped to her feet, but wobbled and sat down hard, holding her head. "Man, I think thish ish the lowesht bludd I'be ewer been…" Izuku quickly removed the vial and handed it to her, his dark red blood splashing thickly within. "Thanksh shtud," she mumbled, putting the mouth to her lips and drinking it all in one go.

"…That can't be sanitary," Keqing muttered, her cat-eared helmet in her lap, watching the proceeding with a curious tilt of her head.

"It is, believe it or not," Izuku replied, rubbing the blood-drinker's back. "Feeling okay, Himiko?"

She shook her head, sighing. "Yeah, my head doesn't quite feel like it's gonna float off of my neck now, so that's good. Still starving though. Steak sounds really good right now. Where was I? Oh yeah." Himiko turned to the quiet icy girl and shouted. "Hey, Frosty the Snow Girl!"

Shimo jolted, heterochromatic eyes darting around the bus before settling on the blonde in a glare.

"Next time it won't be a draw!"

She blinked once, parsing over the sentence. Then she nodded. "It won't," she muttered, leaning back in her seat, with what just might've been the echo of a whisper of a hint of a ghost of a smile, possibly.

Himiko grinned to herself and sat back, patting her suit down to check it for any damage that might come from being frozen, dipping her chin into her mask and noticing that her blood storage wasn't empty. "Oh right," she muttered, biting into the guard and sucking the misted blood down her throat. Oddly spicy tasting for an Ice Quirk, she noted, before noticing that Izuku's hand on her shoulder had started vibrating.

Izuku checked his tacpad and found the name of the caller, reaching under his glove to twist his communication ring around and answering with a bright, "Hey Yu!" With his thumb next to his ear and his pinky next to his mouth, he knew he looked somewhat silly, and ignored it in favor of chatting with one of his favorite people. "How are you? Are we still on for tonight?"

Mina's eyebrows perked and she shot a look at the blonde blood-drinker, who simply leaned up the press her ear against the back of his thumb, cheerfully greeting whoever it was on the line. "…Are they messing with us?" She asked, looking around and receiving shrugs.

"We're still on, Kouhai, but for dinner!" Yu enthused, sounding out of breath and squeaky with triumph. "You won't BELIEVE what happened today! I can't wait to tell you all about it! And I wanna hear everything about your guys' first week at Yuuei!"

"Can I come, too?" Himiko asked into Izuku's pinky.

"Of course, Himi-chan! Meet me at the North Gate and bring your appetites 'cause I am starving! See you two in an hour!" And then she hung up.

Izuku shrugged and returned his ring to its usual position. "Looks like we have plans tonight," he muttered, making a note on his tacpad.

"Awww, does that mean you aren't cooking?" Toru whined from across the aisle, gloved hands crossing. "I like your food…"

"I'm sure you can handle it yourself for a night," he replied with humor, nodding at the muscular, yellow-suited teen. "And Sato-kun is quite the chef himself."

"Yeah, don't worry guys! I can whip something up!" The teen in question replied with a grin and thumbs up.

Mina eyed them with a slight frown. "And who is it that's stealing you two away from m-us?" Himiko shot her a knowing look and the acid-spewing girl quickly added, "We're gonna have a Smash tournament tonight and I want some easy targets!"

"Yu." Izuku answered.

"Who?"

"Yu," Himiko added helpfully.

"Me?" Mina pointed at herself confusedly.

"No, Yu."

"But 'you' is me!"

"No, you're Mina, we're talking about Yu."

Mina looked at the girl sitting next to her, or rather the space she occupied. "Toru-chan?"

"No, Yu."

"'Yu' who?!"

"You know who, Yu!" The geokinetic replied, fighting to keep his face straight.

"No I don't know who!" The pink girl growled cutely, squinting at them. "Who's Yu?"

The bus slowed to a stop, the door opening with a chime. "Oh look, we're here," Izuku commented, standing up with Himiko and walking off of the bus.

"Hey!" Mina called jumping up to race after them.

…

After a quick rinse in the school locker rooms, Izuku and Himiko headed home for a deeper clean in their own showers before getting ready for their night out.

The blood-drinker emerged from her room to find most of the other students in the living room, the majority either playing Smash Bros or cheering on those who were, while Keqing, Momo and Tokoyami were doing their homework while Iida read a book. "'Sup guys?"

"Toga-kun, be sure to complete your homework as soon as possible, don't forget it in favor of going out like some people!" He shot a narrow glare at the back of the students sitting on the couch and sprawled in the living room.

"Hey!" Ochako called defensively, giving the speedster a frown and holding up a notebook. "I'm doing my homework, Iida-kun! Slowly…"

"Not you, Uraraka-kun!"

Mina waved him off, not looking away from the screen as the bright pink blob she was controlling sucked in and spit out an elf in a blue tunic. "It's Friday, Iidaten, we got the whole weekend to do it!"

"Yeah, no need to worry about that, Iida-kun," Himiko shrugged, brushing out her damp hair with her nails. "I already did it all." At their slightly incredulous looks, she shrugged. "What? I live with Izuku, guys, he was number one in his school. And I was in my room for thirty minutes: ten to shower, fifteen to do the work while my hair dried and then five to dress." She gestured at her clothes.

She wore a simple blue skirt and a blouse that read 'I don't *SPARKLE*, but I do BITE' with a little drawing of a fanged smile dripping blood, along with her red tabi shoes.

Iida blinked. "Ah, excellent, Toga-kun! Would you mind if I reviewed it, and you would review mine in turn?"

"Sure, Iida-kun. Anyone else want to have a little 'review our homework' party?" She looked around, noticing that Jirou had raised a hand, along with Momo, Tokoyami, Iida and Ochako. "Alright, we'll do that after training tomorrow."

Kyouka grimaced, mind going back to the fights the class had witnessed and taken part in. "Hey, Toga…can I come train with you? That fight was…not good."

"Did someone say 'training?'" Izuku asked as he came out of the stairwell, pulling an unbuttoned shirt over a tee.

"Kyouka wants to train with us tomorrow," Himiko relayed, smirking.

"Oh, good!" He enthused with a bright smile. "Glad you changed your mind, Jirou-san! Since it's Saturday training, make sure to wake up at seven. Better to start early and get it done, then rest all day!"

The punk rock girl nodded with a pained look, then squinted at him. "…What are you wearing?"

Izuku looked down at his chest, pulling his unbuttoned button-up away. "A shirt," he said plainly.

It was a shirt indeed, one that had a picture of a shirtless All Might, with pants, thankfully, lying on a fur rug in a saucy pose, holding a rose between his teeth. It read 'WANNA SMASH?' and was bordered with hearts.

"Super Limited Edition shirt, too," he admitted with a shrug. "My mom got it for me."

Kyouka, Momo, Ochako and Toru had been giggling at his shirt, but traded concerned looks at his admission.

"She just saw 'Super Limited Edition All Might shirt' and bought it," he quickly added. "After I opened the package and she saw what it said, she couldn't look me in the eye for two weeks."

And then they were laughing again.

"Let's head out Zuku, don't wanna be late," Himiko waved him over with a grin.

Mina's pink blob of a character slapped Kaminari's caped swordsman off of the stage, turning over shoulder to shout, "Who is it?!" As the announcer cried 'GAME!'

"It's Yu!" They called back before stepping through the door and into the evening sunlight.

The pink-skinned girl sighed, yellow eyes watching their retreating forms. "…Hate to see 'em go, love to watch 'em leave," she muttered to herself.

"What does that mean?" Toru asked innocently from beside her, making Mina jump.

"…Nothing," she coughed unconvincingly, looking back at the door before coming to a decision and handing the controller off. "You know what? Screw it, if they aren't gonna tell me who they're gonna see, I'll just find out for myself." Mission so stated, she vaulted off of the couch and hurried to the door.

Mina flitted from bush to tree to shrub to bench, keeping low. Her sharp eyes followed the pair of teens as they strolled down the sidewalk about thirty feet ahead, arm in arm. It probably would've been more stealthy if she hadn't been humming 'sneaking music' the whole time, but the distance meant they shouldn't be able to hear her. She watched as they waved their student badges at the gate, then cursed to herself as she patted her pockets and realized she didn't have hers with her.

She cast her gaze around and spotted a tree, back enough from the wall around Yuuei that no one would be able to use it to climb over, but high enough that she could definitely see what was happening on the other side. Burning handholds in the bark, she scurried up into the branches, balancing in a fork as she peered over the fence. There was a car waiting for them, a small sporty type that was colored purple and light orange, the door opening to let out a tall, beautiful woman with long blonde hair.

"Aha!" Mina snapped her fingers, "It's a beautiful blonde!...Wait, that doesn't narrow it down at all!"

Said blonde greeted them with a cheerful cry, most of which was lost on the wind and distance. "...-hai! So…-ee you! Miss…-o much! You…-lieve wha-...pened!" Himiko reached her and was immediately pulled face-first into the beautiful blonde's abundant bouncing bountiful bosom.

"Nice," Mina muttered, cupping her hands around her eyes. "But who is this chick?" She frowned a bit as the taller blonde released the shorter and pulled Izuku into a big hug, pressing a rather deep kiss to his cheek. Then she pulled back and giggled at his shirt, running her hands over the picture on the fabric. The pink-skinned girl felt it was more about feeling the body underneath the shirt than the shirt itself, not that she blamed the mysterious blonde.

Then Himiko shouted "Shotgun!" And rolled over the top of the car, while Izuku lifted himself up by the roof and slid inside through the driver's side door, with the blonde ending up in his lap.

The older blonde laughed, hopped inside and then they all drove away.

"Dammit, that didn't help at all!" Mina complained, slumping back in her makeshift seat. "They went and met a beautiful blonde woman with a nice rack! Ugh…"

"They looked like they were having fun, though," Toru said from beside her, making the pink-skinned girl shriek in surprise and tumble out of the tree.

Scrambling up from the ground, Mina spun around to find a tank top and a pair of shorts sitting on a branch just below her former perch. "Toru-chan?! When did you get here?"

The shoulder straps of the tank top shrugged. "I've been right behind you the whole time," she said simply. "I wasn't even trying to be sneaky."

"Ugh," Mina groaned, brushing herself down. "Well, that was a bust…if only I was closer and could hear what they were saying…" She turned a thoughtful look on Toru, before smiling. "Say, Toru-chan, you wanna help me spy on them next time?"

Toru scratched her temple, or so Mina assumed. "Isn't using my Quirk to spy on our classmates while they're meeting with someone they obviously don't want to really tell us about yet a big violation of their privacy?"

The acid-spewing girl paused, rubbing her chin in thought. "…I mean, when you put it like that…"

"I'm totally down for it!" Toru chirped, hopping out of the tree, "Just thought I should point it out!"

"Sweet!" Mina rubbed her hands together, cackling evilly,"Soon, all of their secrets shall be ours!"

…

"Wow, that was very dramatic, Mina-chan!"

"Thanks!"

…

Izuku felt Himiko's stomach grumble as Yu pulled into a place called 'Barbeque Kingdom.' "Alright, we're here!" The older blonde announced, shutting the car off and opening the door. "I used to eat at this place all the time when I was a student at Yuuei! It's cheap, but good and there's a lot of food!"

"Sounds like my kinda of place!" Himiko enthused, and the trio walked into the establishment and were seated with menus in a minute. "Ooh, meat…"

"Hey guys!" The waitress greeted them with a smile, a notepad held between hands that were rather wide and bore a gray, quilted pattern. "Want to start with drinks while you decide what you want?"

"Nope!" The blood-drinker clapped her menu closed with a smile. "I know what I want! A number eight, please."

The waitress blinked and glanced over at Izuku and Yu. "…For the table?" She asked.

"Just me," Himiko denied, still smiling.

The waitress' expression became one of confusion. "B-but…that's a party platter, it serves six people!"

Himiko nodded firmly and held the menu out. "I know what I'm about, ma'am."

Yu smiled and handed her menu and Izuku's over. "We'll take another one of those and some classic soda."

The waitress shrugged, jotted their orders down and left.

"So, while we wait, what happened today that's got you so excited?" Izuku asked, turning an expectant smile Yu's direction. "It must be something good if you're this bouncy about it."

"It is!" She clapped her hands, her cheeks pink. "So, I was out on patrol earlier and I ran into that uh, wood guy, and then we got a call about some jerk taking a family hostage, so we jumped into action-!"

Jumping into action…

Wood Guy ducked a car chucked at his head and the tall and glorious and beautiful Mt. Lady carefully grabbed it out of the air, gently setting it down before turning an angry look on the one responsible. It was some big guy with pink skin and gross bulging muscles that kinda went over his head like a hood, it was creepy-

"You mean Habit Headgear?"

"…Man what a dumb name."

Big-Dumb-Name-Muscle-Man leered at them from under his muscle hat, a family of three held under his arm, the civilians but especially the little girl crying in fear. "Back off, shitheads!" Pink-Muscle-Hat shouted, flexing the arm holding the family, making them cry out. "You can't get me before I crush 'em, I'm too damn fast! So you best back off before I mush 'em!" With his other arm, he lifted a truck and sent it spinning at them.

Wood Guy-

"-Kamui Woods, you mean?"

-Wood Guy called out, "Lacquered Net!" Wood extended from his hands, branching out into a wooden net that caught the truck, but with much less style than Mt. Lady had. "Dammit, if only we were faster!" He cursed, eyes narrow behind his wooden mask. "We should keep the pressure on, maybe another Hero will get him from behind-!"

With that gross thought, Mt. Lady closed her eyes and thought. 'We need a swift strike to take him out before he knows what's going on, or at least to break his grip on the civilians.' Her mind drifted to the move she'd been working on, not that it was an easy thing practicing moves with a Quirk that made you Gigantic. But what better time than the present?

"Wood Guy-"

"Kamui Woods, Lady, dammit I've told you like six times-!"

Ignoring the shrill words coming from his mouth, she continued, "Get up high and distract him, keep his attention. I'm gonna circle around to split his view, then…he'll get a kick out of this." Wood Guy with his slow brain gave her a confused look.

"What does-?"

Mt. Lady waved him off, standing up to her full height and stepping to the side, making distance between the two Heroes. Woody threw a wooden vine out like a grappling hook, pulling himself up on top of a three-story, perched on the edge of the roof like a gargoyle.

"Back the fuck off, bitches!" Head-Gear-Guy shouted as she took a short step towards him, the family crying out once more. Mt. Lady subtly motioned and Woody grappled laterally to another building, further dividing the Villain's gaze. She took another step forward and got another shout, then inched behind a four-story and crouched slightly. Woody moved again and she ducked a bit more, beautiful long blonde hair and shining amethyst eyes barely peeking around the edge of the building. "I see you hidin' bitch! Gettin' your fat ass behind a building doesn't mean I can't see it!"

"He was just being a jerk, Yu, you know you're lovely."

It still stung her feelings though. Woods moved again and she ducked behind the building, leaving her hand poking out on the street before shrinking down. The other Hero was looking at her, and she mimed counting down from ten. He nodded subtly and she raced around the other side, strides long but as quiet as she could make them. Wood cracked loudly and Helmet-Guy jerked his head around to look at the source just as Mt. Lady jumped into a roll, planting her hands on the concrete and coiling her body like a spring before unleashing her move!

With one leg extended as she darted through the air like a majestic hummingbird, she Gigantified. The force of her launch with the displacement of her growing combined and her heel crashed into the Villain's chin like a bullet train. His head snapped back, feet leaving the ground with surprised look on his stupid shadowed face, arms going limp, dropping the poor family with a scream.

Mt. Lady flipped and landed gracefully, hands coming up to gently catch the civilians before they'd had a chance to start falling, cradling them in her soft palms.

Hooded-Muscle-Guy crashed to the ground, and the gawking civilians broke into wild cheers. "Mt. Lady's the best!" Children cried with admiration. "Yu's the best around! Nothing ever keeps her down!"

"I love you, Yu! Marry me!" A handsome, muscular young man shouted, stunning emerald eyes sparkling with love, then he ripped his shirt off-

"Your meat's burning, Yu," Izuku said, removing some grilled chicken from the grill to her plate. "Also, you kinda trailed off after kicking him in the chin."

Yu coughed into her fist and took a sip of her drink to hide the pink in her cheeks. "Anyways, I caught the family and set them down, then Headguy started getting back up and Woods started using his wood on him-" Himiko snickered around a mouthful of steak, "-but then All Might came out of nowhere and just psssh!" She zoomed a hand over her head. "It was too fast for me to see, but it looked like he barely brushed his knuckles against the back of that guy's head and bam! Down for the count!"

"Ah, the Missouri Smash," Izuku said with a sage nod, taking a bite of pork.

"Nerd," Himiko scoffed, grinning at him.

Yu put a few more slices of meat and vegetables on the grill, dipping a cooked piece in some spicy sauce before popping it in her mouth. "And then he just casually gives us a thumbs up, says 'GOOD WORK, YOUNG HEROES!'" She tried to imitate the Number One Hero's booming tone, only getting sauce on the table and dropping her chopsticks. "And then he just jumped away."

"That's awesome, Yu!" The geokinetic smiled, his calloused hand resting on top of hers. "You used your skill, your Quirk, and teamwork to land a clean hit on a Villain with hostages, without hurting anyone and keeping damage to a minimum!" His eyes glittered with admiration and affection, his smile warm. "You're amazing, Yu."

The mountainous blonde felt her cheeks burn and her heart thump and squish in an almost-uncomfortable but very pleasant way, turning her hand over to grasp his. "T-thanks," she murmured, resisting the urge to duck her head, running her thumb over his scarred knuckles.

"Awww," Himiko said with a grin, her honey gaze warm and teasing, "If you two weren't so cute, I might be jealous…" They already didn't believe her, and the little wink she gave afterwards didn't help.

"Anyways…" Yu fiddled with her chopsticks and coughed. "I'm gonna call the move 'Teton Tumble,' what do you think of that?"

"I like it," Izuku announced, and Himiko echoed him.

"Thanks!" Yu said brightly, popping a slice of steak in her mouth. "So, how was your first week at Yuuei? Tell me everything!"

And so they dutifully relayed how moving in had gone, their first day- "Eraserhead's still being a dick, I see," -their classes, the other students- "Oh, you have a Chinese transfer? We had an American transfer our year," -and then, the big surprise of their other teacher. "What?! You guys got All Might as a teacher?!"

All in all, it was a very nice dinner. Yu holding one hand with Himiko at his side, plus all the meat and vegetables he could eat? A great way to cap off the week.

And there was a pleasant little surprise during dinner, too. "Excuse me, ladies, I need to use the bathroom," he said, sliding out past Himiko, the two blondes sliding together to, by the muffled sounds of giggling, engage in the dreaded Girl Talk ™.

As he walked towards the bathroom, he heard a low buzz that made his teeth tingle. Casting an eye about the booths, his eyebrows peaked when he discovered the source: a girl with purple hair, two buns done up like cat ears, the tip of her tongue poking between her teeth as she squinted at a chunk of meat impaled on a large needle. The air subtly buzzed again and purple sparks danced up and down the length of the needle, the meat steaming and hissing as juices popped and evaporated. She took a small, tentative bite and chewed thoughtfully, then shook her head and devoured the chunk before stabbing another and focusing again.

"Keqing?" His hand darted up, catching the needle aimed at his eye between his fingers. "I guess that answers the question of whether or not you followed me here." He said casually, setting the slim metal spike on the table.

"Oh, Izuku!" Keqing breathed, patting her chest before looking alarmed. "Please, forgive my actions, you caught me when I was concentrating and I acted on reflex and I…well, I am sorry." She bowed her head in contrition.

"It's alright, Keqing, I understand," Izuku nodded. "Can I ask what you're doing?"

"Ah, I am training my Quirk for survival situations," she replied, holding up the meat skewered on her needle. "I've cooked fish on my needles before, but beef is different. I actually asked for boar, but they didn't have any."

"I see," he hummed. "Do you want to get a ride back with us? We're leaving soon."

"No, thank you," Keqing denied, frowning at the chunk of meat as it gained a charred edge. "I will be here for some time."

He nodded in acquiescence. "Very well, I'll leave you to it. And please, be careful, using your Quirk in a public setting is an offense."

She shot him an incredulous look. "Even just for cooking meat? Meat that I bought?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Izuku replied with a frown.

"…That's stupid."

"I agree." He shrugged helplessly. "It's the law, though. Anyway, I'll leave you alone, Keqing, have a good night."

She gave a short bow. "You as well, Izuku."

When he returned to his table, the platters had been cleared and the check paid, so the trio headed back to the car and the short drive to Yuuei. Yu parked just a bit away from the gate, sighing as the night had come to an end; satisfying as it had been, it still didn't feel like enough. Then Himiko crashed against her, the warmth of their hug making her feel that while it wasn't enough, it was enough for now.

Then Izuku stepped up, his strong arms caging her with firm gentleness, and she rested her head on his shoulder, breathing in the scent of him and his shampoo. His hand softly stroked her spine, his cheek resting against her temple, basking in her embrace. She felt his lips touch her ear and shivered at the way his breath brushed over the shell.

"…You know Himiko likes hugging you so much 'cause her face goes right into your chest, right?" He whispered, and she giggled against the tender skin of his neck.

"I don't mind having her face in my boobs," she murmured, smiling as he shivered slightly. "You jealous?"

He squeezed her just a bit tighter. "Maybe just a little," he admitted with humor, nuzzling her hair. "But I like this."

"Mm, me too," Yu breathed, reluctantly pulling away, biting her lip as she gazed up into his warm emerald eyes through her long lashes. "I guess I should head home…"

He cupped her cheek, thumb brushing under her lovely amethyst eyes and the warm, silken skin of her cheek, her plump pink lips moist and inviting. "…Yeah, I guess so…"

Despite her words and his agreement, neither moved away. In fact, they actually inched closer, him leaning his head down as she tilted her chin up…and then they paused, looking to the side where Himiko was chanting, "Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!"

Clearing her throat, Yu reached up and pressed a kiss to his jaw, just below his ear, then another against his cheek, and a final, lingering kiss just at the corner of his lips. "I'll see you next Friday," she murmured.

Izuku smiled and kissed her forehead, then pecked the tip of her nose, then left a final kiss on the edge of her mouth. "See Yu Friday," he nodded, grinning at her pained reaction.

"Boo!" Himiko called, hands cupped around her mouth. "Pussies!"

Yu waved and slid into the car, pulling away with a final blown kiss to the two of them.

Stepping through the gate and back towards their dorm, the blood-drinker lightly punched Izuku in the side. "Dammit, man! She was leaning in with her lips puckered and everything!" She slapped a hand to her face, giving him an irritated glare. "I know they say 'you are what you eat,' but that doesn't mean you should be a pussy, Zuku."

"Well look at it this way," he shrugged, "If you hadn't been chanting, we probably would've kissed," he admitted with a small blush.

Himiko squinted up at him, rolling her eyes in thought and sucking her teeth. "…Well, well, well, if isn't the consequences of my actions," she muttered, before giving a decisive, "Fuck."

He hummed agreeably, pulling up the door to find most of the class where they left them, sprawled on the couches and beanbags. They were watching TV, some show that most were ignoring in favor of chatting, their phones or a book. "Hey guys," Izuku greeted them with a wave, "Whoever's training with us tomorrow, meet down here at seven, okay? So if you want a full nine hours of sleep, you should head for bed…" He checked his phone, "Ten minutes ago. And I'm heading for bed, see you tomorrow!"

Himiko told him goodnight and broke away to chat with Eiri, giving him a subtle wink as she went. The other students echoed her sentiment and a few rose to head upstairs themselves.

Within ten minutes of him laying down to sleep, Himiko climbed through his patio door and shed her clothes, climbing under the covers to find him just as naked and ready as her.

In the dark there was a smacking of lips, teasing fingers and willful tongues, moans hastily muffled by lips or a pillow, but in the end they fell asleep in each other's arms, satiated and content.

…

The next morning dawned bright and early, as sunrise was wont to do, and found the two of them waiting in the kitchen, filling water bottles and chatting.

Eiri was the first down, rubbing her eyes and yawning but giving them a cheery, "Hey!" As she saw them. She wore a black tank top and shorts, with a sweatband on her forehead. She spotted a plate of sliced fruit and meat, grabbing some as she leaned on the counter. "Morning, guys!"

"Mornin' Eiri-chan!" Himiko greeted her with a bright smile, "Make sure to eat light, otherwise you'll throw up." She shuddered. "Learned that the hard way…"

Eiri shivered in sympathy. "Oh believe me, I know. Made that mistake the first time, and it was not manly. At all. I didn't even eat any corn!"

"Morning Toru-chan," Izuku said out of nowhere, making the other two give him off looks until the invisible girl chirped "Hi!" from beside Eiri.

The redhead jumped, nearly falling over before seeing a lime green tank top above a pair of neon pink shorts. "Don't do that!" she gasped, pounding her chest.

"Okay!" She replied, snagging a few slices of apple to munch on. "Do what?"

"Sneak up on her, probably," Kyouka entered by way of a muttered comment, small bags under her eyes. "Where's the coffee?"

"I wasn't trying to be sneaky!" The invisible girl protested.

"Adrenaline is better than coffee," Izuku commented, sliding a bottle of water her way.

"Lies," she retorted, taking a drink and a few blueberries.

Momo then entered from the elevator, dressed in a black tracksuit with a white stripe down the side, hair done up in a low ponytail. "Ah, good morning," she greeted them with a polite bow, "I hope you all slept well?"

There was a chorus of mixed results. As the girl of noble bearing went about eating a light breakfast with them, Mina and Sero came out of the elevator, the sticky boy in plain shorts and a shirt, while the acid-spewing girl wore an eye watering combination of a yellow leotard that hugged her figure tightly, and a pair of sky blue leg warmers.

"Sup guys?" She greeted with a grin, sweeping over the gathered students. "Man, this is more like a class field trip, huh?" Leaning on the increasingly crowded counter, she popped a few berries in her mouth and eyed Momo with interest. "Not bad, Yaomomo…so, these are the workout clothes of a rich person…!"

Izuku bounced a strawberry off of her forehead as Shoji, Tokoyami and Sato came down to join the party. The geokinetic clapped his hands for attention as Himiko passed out bottles of water. "Alright, everyone! Thanks for joining us this morning for training! Please be sure to eat lightly, we will be working hard and as this is mostly focused on building stamina, please take your time to reach whatever distance goals you have." The elevator chimed and Keqing stepped out in a dark purple tracksuit, just as Iida raced down the stairs wearing school-standard gym attire. "That being said, if you'd like to push it a bit, I'd be happy to provide."

Izuku reached under the counter and pulled a large block of glass off of the floor, setting it down with a thump. "Who wants some weight?" Himiko asked, grinning at the speedster. "Iida-kun, nice to finally see you!"

"Good morning to you all!" The speedster greeted with a sharp, short and stiff bow. "I apologize for my tardiness, I was reading the instructions of my newly-purchased weights!" He held up a pamphlet and tapped the harness strapped to his chest, along with a small block of medal that stuck to it. "It's magnetized!"

"Very nice, Iida-kun," Izuku commented with a grin as he formed a glass harness of sorts on Tokoyami, leaving a band of opaque material around his chest and over and under his shoulders. "I would've given you some glass if you wanted it."

Iida nodded sharply. "I appreciate your generous nature, Midoriya-kun, but I also wish to be able to take my weights off without needing your help or breaking glass." With that said, he speedily consumed some fruit.

"Fair," Izuku replied, finishing the weight for Shoji, turning to Kyouka. "Lift your shirt a bit."

The punk-rock girl colored slightly and covered her stomach. "Why? What for?" Her jacks crossed in front of her as she hunched a bit.

He gave her an amused look. "I'm not saying take it off, Kyouka-san, but I need to put my hands near your waist to add the weight. Unless you want it over your shirt?" He turned to Shoji and formed another glass harness, with the multi-armed teen having shown his strength the previous day, Izuku felt fine adding around ten kilograms of weight.

"I mean, why the waist?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Girls have a lower center of gravity," he shrugged, leaning down to form a sort of glass belt around Mina's waist, valiantly ignoring the way she bounced on her heels. "Let me know if it's too much for you, I can adjust or remove it in a second."

"Thanks, Midori!" She chirped cheerfully, playfully flexing, "Soon, I'm gonna be buff as hell!"

"Weights like this are more for stamina and endurance rather than muscle-building," Izuku commented matter-of-factly, his eyes darting to Eiri. "Hey Eiri-chan, want some?"

"You know it!" The redhead cheered, coloring slightly as she lifted her shirt to expose her sculpted abs. "I'm probably the slowest one here, so pile it on! Pushing the limits is Manly!"

"Alright, gimme some," Kyouka sighed, tugging her tank top a bit.

With those who wanted weight given it, the rather large group stepped outside into the early morning light. Water bottles were passed out and Izuku clapped his hands with a smile. "Alright, looking at the map, we've plotted out a course that will take us around our part of the campus, which is pretty quiet and should be low traffic, ending at an open-air gym. Two laps would be the same distance of a mile, and if you need anything, BB's gonna be around. Let's get to it!"

With that said, he popped in a pair of earbuds and tapped his phone before taking off at a run.

…

Two Hours Later…

Kyouka flopped down on the ground next to Mina, panting and positively swimming in her own sweat. Grasping at a water bottle, she popped the cap with her teeth and sucked down the cool liquid. "Don't just flop down, you'll cramp up," the pink girl commented, stretching a leg out in front of herself, reaching down to grasp her toes.

"Yeah," she huffed, wiping the sweat from her forehead and stretching. Her eyes followed the figures still running, latching onto one pair in particular. Izuku was running at the same pace he'd started at, and besides the sweat running down his face, he appeared unfazed. Which was all the more surprising given that Himiko was latched onto his back like a blonde spider-monkey. "Starting to wonder if those two are machines," Kyouka muttered, watching as the blood-drinker hopped off of the geo-kinetic's back and matched his pace.

"I hear ya," Mina nodded, "I mean, I knew he could run what with the tests and all, but they haven't stopped. Only Iidaten's keeping up with them. And he's got engines in his legs."

Done stretching, Kyouka flopped down onto the grass and pulled out her phone to check the time. "We've been at this for two hours," she moaned, jacks wrapping around her face in distress. "Wish we had some music for this at least…"

"A training montage would be nice, yeah," the pink girl agreed, taking out her own phone and flicking through it. "Hey, there's an open connection nearby called 'Rock-it-out,'" she said aloud. "That yours?"

"No." Their eyes found the geo-kinetic as he looped around them again. "...You think?"

Mina shrugged and tapped the connection. "-ON MY OWN, INVISIBLE WARRIOR, I AM A WIND OF DESTRUCTION!" She dropped her phone as the music blasted from the speaker as Kyouka clapped her hands over her jacks. Scrambling for the screen, she tapped at the connection and cut it off. "…Ow," she muttered, rubbing her ears. "Not what I thought he would listen to, honestly."

"What?" The punk-rock girl said, squinting in pain as she rubbed her jacks.

"Never mind, I'm gonna get back to it," Mina replied, pushing herself to her feet. "These guys are making me look like a chump! Gotta get my eyes on the prize…s." With a huff, she set off on a light jog.

"What?" Kyouka said, looking around and finding herself alone. "…Okay, whatever, I guess."

…

Five Hours Later…

"I'm…done…done, I…say," Mina panted, lying limply in the grass as the afternoon sun shone down upon them with ironically gentle light. "My bones…are noodles. I am…a noodle person now. My muscles…are soup. And somehow…my skin hurts. Is this…what it's like to be…dunked in acid? I…I don't like it."

"Pain is…manly," Eiri moaned beside her, lying flat on her stomach, using a wrapped sandwich provided by BB as a pillow.

"You said that already," Kyouka commented tiredly, a bit more put together than the other two because she'd stopped long before they had.

"Pushing the limits…is manly," the muscular redhead mumbled into the sandwich.

Most of the students were in similar positions, scattered around the grass with water and a lunch BB had brought with him, though a few were still working out. As large a group as it was, they'd naturally split up into smaller groups. Eyes fell on the pair who had started the day at hundred percent and seven hours later still seemed to have it. Even after weightlifting, where Himiko had squatted nearly twice her bodyweight and Izuku had benched almost as much as Shouji, the sanguine blonde was currently balancing on her fingers…on top of a metal pole. She was even doing slow, intense push-ups; her core, bare from her choice of workout clothing, was almost painfully tensed as she lowered herself until her crown was touching the pole then pushed herself back up.

On the same metal pole, Izuku was hanging from his knees, doing crunches and after every ten, he'd swing himself down and grab the pole to do the same handstand push up as Himiko, without touching the ground, before switching back.

The blonde breathed loudly before gripping the bar and swinging her legs up, spinning around the pole faster and faster until she let go, sending herself up into the air, backflipping some five times before landing feet first on the metal. Then she jumped off, flipping twice and landing on her hands, carefully lowering herself to her feet, breathing heavily. Grabbing up her water bottle, Himiko drank deep and doused herself in the rest as she walked over to the grass, sitting down next to them with an exhausted sigh. "BB!" She called, holding up a hand, "Sammich!"

The cyclopean robot glanced up at her from his job of putting dummies together and reached into the basket of food next to him, winging a wrapped sandwich at her.

She caught it in her mouth and used her sharp teeth to tear open the packaging before steadily devouring it. "Ah, that's better," Himiko sighed, sitting back on her elbows, turning a grin on the other girls. "And now comes the best part: the show." She cupped a hand around her mouth and called out, "Izuku! Shirt!"

Wordlessly, Izuku stripped his already criminally-tight top off, revealing his sculpted muscles, the unnatural gleam from the sunlight playing off of his sweat-soaked skin the only reminder of his glass weights, demonstrated as he resumed his hanging crunches.

"Yeah! Work that pole, baby!" The sanguine blonde cheered, cracking another water bottle. "Hard work pays off, don't it ladies?"

"Yummy," Mina muttered, eyes locked on the earthbender's abs as he switched exercises. "Is it bad that I wanna lick him?"

"That's rather inappropriate, Mina-san, not to mention unhygien…ic…" Momo, who had just trotted up to join them, paused as she saw the same sight that had so enraptured the pink girl. "Oh…oh my…"

Izuku had stopped doing handstand pushups and was now doing some sort of handstand crunch, where he held himself in the air, drew his knees to his chin then extended them back out.

Keqing, who had come with Momo, nodded stoically. "A strong core and flexibility are vital," she noted, her track jacket unzipped to display her own toned figure. "Excuse me, Himiko, I was wondering if there was anything else we would be doing today."

The blonde blood-drinker arched an eyebrow at her. "You don't have to stick around, you know? Me and him are gonna be at this for a couple more hours. After this, we're gonna do some martial arts practice and conditioning. If you can't keep it up, we don't mind." She clapped her hands together in remembrance. "Oh, Momo! Can you make me some rocks or shuriken or knives or something? As long as it's blunt."

"Of course," the polite girl nodded, slipping a hand under her jacket and withdrawing a bundle of rubber shuriken. "Can I ask why?"

"Sure," Himiko chirped, picking one up and flicking it at Izuku. He split his legs and let it pass between them. "That's why."

"Kinda rude, huh?" Mina frowned as the blonde threw a couple more, all of which were dodged. "Can I throw some?"

"Sure."

Kyouka watched them toss shuriken with a small frown. "Your boyfriend's kind of a show-off, huh?" She noted, a smile tugging at her lips as Mina completely wiffed a throw.

"Wrong on both counts," the sanguine blonde grinned. He's my lover, after all, not boyfriend. "He's probably not even aware we're here right now, he's so focused. Look at his face."

It took a bit of squinting, given the distance, but they eventually saw that despite the strenuous exercise, he looked almost like he was sleeping. His face was slack but his eyes were sharp, laser-focused on something only he could see.

It was a little disturbing, actually.

Then a timer sounded out from Himiko's phone and Izuku froze. Then he started to swing, around and around and around until suddenly he switched and was swinging from his ankles, then from his knees and back to his hands then feet and then he jumped clear, backflipping three times before pausing mid-air, flipping forward as he rushed down to meet the ground. His hand shot out, fingers digging into the concrete, arm bent, slowly pushing himself up until he was balancing on his digits, then slowly lowering himself to the ground.

Then he blinked, the focus fading from his eyes as he bent double, hands on his knees as he panted, fresh rivulets of sweat trailing down his chest. "Whew!" Izuku sighed, wiping his forehead. "Core strengthening exercises complete! Hey girls! Working…hard?" He glanced down at himself. "…Where's my shirt?"

"It's over there, I-Izuku-san," Momo answered, lightly coughing into her hand to cover her stutter, cheeks pink.

"…Why'd I take it off?" He muttered, scratching his temple before shrugging. Grabbing a bottle of water, he quickly downed half of it before pouring the rest over his head with a moan of relief. Sweeping his wet hair away from his face, Izuku gave them a bright smile. "Hope I haven't been ignoring you, ladies. I've never worked out in such a large group before."

"Heheheheheh," a creepy old-man giggle was Mina's reply, yellow eyes firmly fixed on his glistening pectorals, her entire face lilac.

"'Sfine," Kyoua mumbled, gaze on the grass.

"I wouldn't mind a more personal routine," the Creative girl commented, brushing her hair away from her eyes. "Though I've exercised plenty, I'm not entirely familiar with the more esoteric weight-lifting equipment."

"Perhaps we should sit later and devise personal schedules? Maybe find out what everyone wants to improve on?" Izuku asked, tossing the water bottle in the trash. "Alright Himiko, conditioning time."

"The fun part," she groused, rising from her laid-back position and stretching. "BB, pills please!" A small white bottle zipped into her hand. "Thanks!"

"Pills?" The punk-rocker asked.

"Calcium supplements," the earthbender answered after demolishing a sandwich. Throwing his wrapper away, he strode over to the concrete of the outdoor gym, kneeling and jamming a hand into the stone. Pulling it up, he shaped it into a round pillar about as tall as he was, then dragged his hands down the surface, shaping stone so that three 'arms' jutted out from it; one set at head height, another mid-torso, another at hip height, and the last near the shins. He gave the arms a little poke, and they spun around the pillar with a soft grinding noise. Satisfied, he started on a second.

"Hey, I've seen those kinds of dummies before," Mina noted, tapping her chin in thought, "But where…?"

"How 'bout you try to remember it while you show Momo the leg machines, huh?" Himiko interjected, cracking her knuckles. "No more time to chat, girls, gotta get back to it."

Kyouka heaved a sigh and herself up, brushing her leggings down. "Yeah, I've been sitting around too long. C'mon Pinky, let's get working."

"I'll come with you," Momo added, the trio of girls heading for the equipment, finding places to sit that also gave them a good view of the other two. Keqing lightly kicked Eiri in the side, the redhead having fallen asleep on her sandwich, pulling her up and towards the gym with the others.

Izuku and Himiko took up a matching stance, striking one of the arms, dodging another as it spun on its axis, kicking another then blocking the follow up, quickly picking up speed in a coordinated dance of strike-dodge-block that spoke of their long experience in training together. Then they punched the arm with an audible impact, the section spinning around but instead of dodging, the concrete arm hit their shoulder with a loud thwack. And so the dance had a new step, the two allowing the dummies to strike them back, on the arms, the chest, legs and even the head.

Despite the noise and inferred strength of the blows, neither flinched or even seemed to notice, tirelessly continuing their 'conditioning.'

"Hey guys!" Ochako chirped as she skipped up to the other girls, a bright smile on her face despite her obvious fatigue, "Whatcha…doing?" She squinted, watching along with the others as the two continued beating the dummies and themselves. "…How long has this been going on?"

"Fifteen minutes," Keqing replied, curious amethyst eyes taking note of their actions. It reminded her of the conditioning someone she highly respected would put himself through. No doubt they would get along, and not just because of that.

"Man…" The brunette breathed, watching them work, "All this stuff they do, have been doing…it's kinda-"

"Manly?" Eiri offered from her place spotting Kyouka doing some presses.

"Nuts," the gravity girl finished, biting her thumbnail in thought. "No, actually, it's really nuts. Bein' this-" an arm spun and struck Izuku on the side of his head with a disturbingly loud crack, "-dedicated is scary, you know? Right?"

"Inspiring, also," Momo added, wincing slightly at the impact. "Not certain I would take it that far, though…"

"And that is why they will succeed, and you will ultimately fail," the Chinese girl announced, drawing surprised looks from the others. "There is a saying my…friend is fond of: 'When one dedicates themselves wholly to an ideal, to the point that they become one and the same, that is when they become immortal. After all, a person can die, but ideals are forever. And what is pain when you cannot die, but the removal of weakness?' I believe you refer to it as 'Plus Ultra.'"

"Bit much saying we'll fail, though," Kyouka pointed out, "We haven't even been tested, not really. And Aizawa threatening to kick us out and robots don't really count in the long run."

"Ah, yes, this is true," Keqing nodded thoughtfully.

There was a series of loud cracks of stone breaking as the two Serration users precisely removed each arm from their dummies with punches, kicks, elbow and knee strikes. They drew an arm back, fingers locked together, their hands almost seeming to lose color before they struck like lightning, fingers emerging from the back of the stone dummies. Then they repeated the move with the other arm.

Then they fell out of their stances, drooping with fatigue. Himiko slumped onto the grass with a loud sigh as Izuku put the concrete back into the ground, while BB approached them with a basket of food. They both downed a couple supplements with water, then tore into the food like a school of paradoxically polite piranhas.

Together they ate: four sandwiches apiece, two apples, two bananas, two oranges, two carrots, two granola bars, two sleeves of crackers, three rice balls, a peach and polished it off with a chocolate bar split between them. With the feasting done, Izuku crossed his legs and Himiko sat on his lap, her crown fitting neatly under his chin. Their eyes closed and they went still, looking akin to a sculpture than two teens.

Ten minutes later their eyes opened and they popped up, looking fresh as daisies. "How the hell do you do that?" Mina asked incredulously, having finished her workout and now lying on the grass once more. "I would be passed out if I'd done about half of what you guys did, but you look like you could do it all over again! Seriously, are you cheating?"

Izuku and Himiko traded looks. "…Remember a few days ago, we mentioned a method we use to recover quickly? As I said, we could teach it to you, it's handy to know…but it's not easy. It can take weeks to learn," he warned, vividly recalling the ordeal…and the warning he'd seen afterwards. He locked eyes with his lover. Do you think they could handle it? They said they could, but should we tell them?

You think they won't pussy out when they find out how dangerous it is? She arched an eyebrow.

We didn't, he tilted his chin, And they have both of us to lead them through it. But maybe we downplay the possible death parts…and Recovery Girl is here, too.

Alright, let's try it then, but-

"-Can you not do that?" Kyouka complained, her jacks pointing accusingly at them, "It's like talking in another language in front of people who don't speak it!"

"Do what?" They both asked, Izuku's expression genuinely innocent and Himiko's…not.

"That thing where you stare into each other's eyes and don't say a word but everyone can see that you're talking with your faces and leaving anyone else out of the conversation!" The punk-rock girl explained in a rush, a scowl tugging at her lips. "It's freaky!"

"Oh," the earthbender realized, "I didn't know that was making you uncomfortable, I'm sorry."

"Uncomfortable?" The blonde blood-sucker asked, a teasing glint in her eye as sharp as the teeth in her mouth, "Or envious? Uncomfortably envious?"

Whatever Kyouka's retort would have been, it was lost as BB spoke up. "Father-the-gauntlet-is-prepared. Would-you-like-to-run-it?" The cycloptic robot waved at 'the gauntlet,' in actuality a park set between two of the other dorms, scattered with simple dummies and pylons for forbidden areas.

Izuku glanced at his lover. "Do you want to go first? I can get them started on the meditation part."

"Sounds good, that part's boring," Himiko hopped to her feet, taking her grapple belt from BB along with her shuriken glove. Strapping both on, she stretched and strode over to the starting line scratched into the dirt. "Alright Brobot, count me down!"

"3-2-1."

"The key to true restful meditation isn't 'clearing your mind' like most would say," Izuku started as Himiko shot forward like a bullet, "It's different for everyone. Some people can just stop thinking with ease, like politicians, but for those with more active minds it's better to let it flow." She shot a grapple up and jumped, snagging a dummy by the head as she zipped by, slamming it into the side of the building. "Imagine it like a river; some are slow and placid, others are rapid. Some you can just calmly float on top of, others you have to dive deep to find the peace." She sprung off of the building, spinning and flicking a trio of shuriken, the whirling blades lodging into the shoulders of three different dummies. "It's not so much as ignoring your instincts, like an itchy nose or a twitchy finger, it's more acknowledging that they exist and letting them pass." A grapple shot from her belt and anchored into another building but instead of pulling, she swung down and flipped over a gap, firing a grapple into a dummy and pulling herself into it. "When you let them pass, you trick your body into thinking that you're asleep, and in that state you can almost sink into yourself."

"So it's just 'naptime' with extra steps?" Mina asked with a grin, "Sounds pretty restful to me."

Himiko summoned her shuriken as she jumped up, firing a grapple further out and reeling herself in, launching herself into a slide that she turned into an extended spin, flicking more shuriken. "It's hard to describe in exact terms without experiencing it yourself," Izuku continued as his lover jump-kicked a dummy in the chin, cartwheeled backwards then grappled up, two more throwing stars buzzing into their targets. "But you could say it's somewhere between being awake and asleep. A mantra can help reach this deep state, though not always. My recommendation for starting the process is a solitary attempt, but if you need some help, a soothing voice or some kind of music or white noise, there are options."

The blood drinker swept the base from beneath a dummy then leapt onto the shoulders of another, springboarding off of it, twisting in air to throw a brace of shuriken, the spinning stars embedding into the last two dummies just as she crossed the finish line. "What's my time?" She kipped up, brushing herself down.

"35.6-seconds," BB announced, quickly moving to reset the dummies. "You-missed-one."

"Dammit," Himiko muttered, sitting down next to the other girls, "Alright Zuku, your turn."

"I just mentioned methods to get started," Izuku said, hopping up and stretching, "Maybe tell them how it worked for you?"

"Oh, I'll spill all the deets," she promised with a saucy smirk, patting his knee, "See if you can beat my time, big boy."

He gave her a challenging grin and jogged to the starting line, kneeling to take a running start. "BB, go ahead!"

"3-2-1."

"A key part of sinking into that deep, peaceful place is comfort," Himiko began as Izuku bolted forward, kicking up clouds of dirt and grass. "The most comfortable place for me, well, one of them, is in his lap," she nodded at her lover as he hopped onto the shoulders of a dummy and leaped off of it, throwing it to the ground. "His warmth, his scent, his heartbeat thumping in time with mine…and of course his strong arms and…comfortable pelvis," She waggled her eyebrows, grinning as Momo blushed. Izuku landed on the side of the first building, running along it as if it was flat ground. "I'm sure if you asked, he'd do the same for you. You gotta word it as needing his help, though, otherwise it just kinda," she whistled and brushed a hand over her blonde hair as he launched himself into a dummy, surfing atop it before flipping it up and kicking it into another two.

"I know what you're doing," Kyouka accused, eyes narrowed on the other girl while Izuku flipped into the air, throwing a fan of stone knives. "It's so obvious now that I think about it. I thought I was just reading too much into it."

"Why aren't you watching this?" Mina asked out of the side of her mouth as the still-shirtless earthbender threw himself into a slide, taking the feet out from underneath a dummy, catching it and spinning himself up to hurl it into another. Her yellow eyes were locked on the skin on display, sculpted muscles working beneath with a grin and lilac cheeks. "Missin' out."

Himiko arched an eyebrow at the punk-rock girl. "And just what am I doing, exactly?" Izuku raced up the side of the second building, moving so smooth it was like he was skating, spinning and throwing even more knives.

"You're trying to get a girlfriend for Midoriya!" she revealed, far more dramatically than her appearance would suggest, "All the talking him up, mentioning his figure all the time…You're trying to hook him up!"

Ochako gasped loudly, tearing her eyes away from Izuku as she turned to Himiko with her hands clasped to her pink cheeks. "Are ya really?!" She practically shouted, brown eyes sparkling. She paused, realizing that she'd sounded just a bit too enthusiastic, as Momo and Mina shot her searching looks while the blood-drinker grinned. The blood rushing to her face almost made her head steam.

"And why would I do that?" Himiko asked with an airy shrug, examining her nails. Izuku launched himself into a spinning leap, then a flip that turned into a kick, sliding along the ground like it was greased, precisely flicking three more knives into the last three dummies just as he slid over the finish line.

Kyouka scoffed, getting into the drama of the situation, "All the looks, the closeness, the touching…Midoriya's your best friend and you think of him like a brother!" The blood sucker lost her feigned disinterest, gaping at the rocker in shock. "And you want to get him a girlfriend so he'll be happy!"

"Time!"

"29.8-seconds-father."

"Whoo!" Izuku jumped and punched the air excitedly, "I'm gonna run it again!"

Himiko's jaw audibly clicked shut and she blinked, lips trembling with amusement. "…You know, for a moment there, I thought you were on to something," Kyouka slumped slightly, then even further as the blood drinker threw her head back and laughed. "Y-you're so wrong." She breathed deep through her nose, restraining further laughter. "I mean, you are right that Izuku's my best friend, but there's no way in hell I'd ever think of him as family, 'cause I'm not into incest." She watched as Izuku began the gauntlet again, a small, gentle smile curling her lips, amber eyes glistening like warm honey.

"…We're lovers."

The other girls traded searching looks. In the short time they'd known Himiko, she'd been sarcastic and teasing more often than not, they weren't sure if she was being serious. "…Really?" Mina voiced softly, something in her chest feeling heavy but oddly empty at the same time. "You aren't joking?"

"Every night since we've been here, I've snuck into his room so that I could sleep in his arms, just as I did every night since I moved into his apartment," she paused, a frown briefly crossing her face, "Well, except for that time…gods, that was horrible," Himiko shuddered in abject discomfort, goosebumps vivid on her skin. Then she turned a serious look on the other girls. "I would never joke about my love for Izuku. Without him…there's no point to life."

Kyouka felt her mouth dry at such a serious declaration. "T-then why all the talking him up? Are you…testing him or something?"

The blood drinker grimaced at her. "Why the fuck would I do that? That's terrible." She shook her head. "You were right about me trying to get him a girlfriend, though. And myself if I can help it."

The girls blinked. "W-why?" Momo asked, the normally put-together girl feeling wildly off-balance.

"28.7-seconds-father."

"Again!"

"'Cause I like girls," Himiko said bluntly, "And I love Izuku. He's got a lot of love to give, and giving it and having it returned makes him happy. Seeing him loving another girl, making her happy…it makes me happy. Blissful, even. I know it from experience." She pulled her phone out and unlocked the screen, opening the camera and flicking back. She landed on a photo of five people: her and Izuku, hugging three other girls. One with long hair made up of sakura blossoms, another with blonde hair in a ponytail, a pair of small tusks jutting from her bottom lip, and a small girl with mint-green hair and fox ears. "Ino, Sakura and Sukuro. We dated them before coming to Yuuei…well, he dated them, I dated Ino and fooled around a bit with Sakura."

Mina leaned in as Himiko changed pictures. "…You weren't jealous?" She asked faintly.

The blood drinker shrugged. "I was at first, but…" She swiped to an image of Izuku and Sukuro sitting on a bed (with an All Might bedspread), the girl in his lap, arms around his shoulders, lips pressed together. "Look at that. How could anyone see that and not think it's beautiful?" The next picture had obviously been taken seconds before the other, as the two were gazing lovingly into each other's eyes.

The next picture was Ino and Izuku both in workout gear, leaning against each other in the shade cast by a tree, sharing an apple. The next, Sakura and Izuku sleeping peacefully, her hair spread out so that it looked like they were resting in a flowery meadow. Next, the three girls and Izuku sitting at a table in some restaurant, all of them smiling at the camera; the only boy with a particularly toothy grin as he stole the egg out of Ino's ramen. Then, Sukuro with her head in Izuku's lap, a smile on her lips as he stroked her hair. Then, Ino pushing Izuku up against a tree, hand fisted in his tank top as they kissed almost savagely. Then, Sakura riding on Izuku's shoulders, beaming with joy. Then, Himiko and Ino embracing topless in a dressing room, shooting sultry looks at the camera with a caption reading 'need some green in this sandwich, stud. See you soon!' Then, Sakura and Izuku kissing tenderly, her slender fingers framing his jaw. Then…a white pigeon nestled on the head of a fluffy kitten.

"Whoops, forgot I took that," Himiko muttered, showing them one final picture: all of them sitting around a couch; Sukuro sitting on his left, nestled into his side, Sakura on the right, flower-hair draping over his legs, and Ino and Himiko sitting by his legs, the two blondes smiling into the camera while the flower-haired girl napped, and the two teens with green hair stared at a TV screen, enraptured. The other girls swiftly realized that everyone in the picture was naked, only the angle of the camera, arms wrapped in an embrace and the shadows cast from the only lightsource in the room keeping it from revealing too much. "I miss them," the blood drinker sighed, "Ino and Sakura never got bit by the Hero bug, so we ended things when we got into Yuuei. But Sukuro-"

The phone buzzed and rang, showing the second picture of Sukuro and Izuku on the screen.

"Perfect timing, hey Suku-chan!" Himiko greeted brightly, "It's so good to hear from you, too! Aww, of course I miss you, you sweet little thing! Yeah, of course we're still on for tonight…no, you know him, he's still training. It's Saturday, after all, we'll probably be at it for another hour or two. Have you settled in alright? None of the other super-nerds picking on you? No? That's good, I'd hate to have to come all the way over there just to dispose of some bodies. Melissa, you say? Oh, she sounds nice, you'll have to send a picture of you two. Alright, get back to your experiments, sweetie, we'll talk to you later, okay? Of course I'll give him your love. Bye Suku!"

"It's some kind of long-distance thing, then," Kyouka muttered, "Don't those usually fail?"

The blood drinker shrugged. "Usually, yes, but there are exceptions and I sincerely hope they're one of them." She brushed her hair back from her eyes and leaned back on her hands, watching as Izuku ran through the gauntlet again. "It's worked before and it'll work again as long as we find the right girls," Himiko said, glancing at the other girls curiously. "You guys haven't said much. Especially you, Eiri, Keqing."

The Chinese girl bobbed her head. "I do not feel as if I should comment, because while it is somewhat unusual, it does not truly bother me. I have nothing more to add."

"Fair," Himiko nodded, before blatantly eyeing the other girl, who had unzipped her jacket at some point, displaying her surprisingly sizable chest clad in a dark purple sports bra along with her smooth, lean stomach. "You want in? You're just our type; smart, strong and good-lookin'."

"Thank you for the compliment, but I have only known the pair of you for about a week, that is not enough time to determine if a relationship would work," Keqing replied evenly.

"…Nothing about them being a boy and a girl?" Ochako asked carefully, tapping her fingernails together.

"A friend of mine once said that love is like lightning, it strikes whether you're wearing metal or not," she shrugged.

"I'm stealing that," the blood sucker nodded, turning an arched eyebrow on the muscular redhead. "Eiri?"

Said redhead had her thumb in the side of her mouth, pointed teeth gnawing at the rock-hard digit in thought. "-Can it be-? Is it more manly than the other way? Is it even manlier with more than two?" Mina rapped the side of her head sharply, making Eiri jump. "I wasn't thinking about it!" She denied reflexively.

"Sounds like you were," the pink-skinned girl pointed out. "Himiko, listen-"

They all jumped as Izuku came sliding in with an excited whoop. "Yeah! 26 seconds even! Beat that!" He pointed victoriously at his lover, a boyish grin lightning up his face. "High-five, Toru-chan!" A lime green tank top they somehow hadn't noticed moved and the impact of a slap came from his upraised hand.

"Good job, Izuku!" The invisible girl cheered.

"Anyone else want to go?" He asked, smiling at the girls, his expression dipping briefly as they forgot to respond. He was, after all, still shirtless and dripping with sweat. "…No?"

"Zuku," Himiko piped up, crooking a finger at him with a hungry expression, "Kiss."

Without complaint or hesitation, the earthbender knelt by his lover and pulled her into a firm but chaste kiss, cupping her jaw tenderly as she grasped the back of his neck. She sighed contently into his lips and pulled back with a quiet smack, gazing into his eyes with love glimmering in her amber orbs.

"Thought we were being subtle about it?" he murmured, giving the other girls a sheepish smile. "Excuse us."

"I told 'em," Himiko announced, turning to them. "Think about it, alright? No one's demanding a commitment, unless you want one, and we're all swiftly approaching the prime of our lives. Now is the perfect time to fool around a bit, find out what you like and how you like it. Maybe you'll find something that lasts, or just an experience to take with you into something real." She stretched with a sigh and stood up. "Let's get one more run in before we call it a day, 'kay 'Zuku?"

"Sounds good," Izuku nodded, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Iida-kun! Want to get one more run in?!"

The speedster, who'd just finished bench pressing with Sato as his spotter, hopped up with a robotic salute. "Yes, Midoriya-kun! My engines are burning with inspiration!...Also pain!"

Keqing rose to her feet and jogged after them, leaving the other girls in thoughtful silence.

…

A Few Hours Later…

Freshly showered, hair still damp, Izuku set his phone on its side and propped it up against a stack of books on his desk. Sitting in his chair with Himiko in his lap, he waited with baited breath, eyes fixed on the black screen. Then it chimed, an image of a sweetly smiling Sukuro replacing the darkness. Hurriedly tapping the answer button, the image was replaced with a feed of the fox-eared girl herself, a wide smile on her face. "Izuku! Himiko!"

"Suku-chan!" They greeted with matching expressions of joy. "How are you doing?" Izuku asked, leaning in. "It's so good to see you!"

"It's so good to see you too!" Sukuro squealed, hands covering her cheeks. "I'm doing good, everyone here is so smart! Sometimes I even have trouble understanding what they're talking about! How about you, is Yuuei everything you thought it'd be?"

He shrugged, scratching his cheek sheepishly. "Well…maybe? Our homeroom teacher doesn't seem to like us that much, but the other teachers are interesting and the facilities are really nice. Plus, our classmates are, for the most part, great!" He frowned a bit. "Katsuki's in our class…"

"Wow, she always ends up being around you somehow," the fox-eared girl noted.

"It's not easy living with her, I know, but we also get to show her up from time to time, and it's almost guaranteed we're gonna fight in the future!" Izuku added, briefly flashing a dark smile full of anticipation and sharp teeth.

"Plus, much as I want that, too, one of our teachers is All Might!" Himiko chimed in.

Sukuro gasped. "Really?!" She squeaked with excitement, leaning in so close to her phone that an orange eye took up the majority of the screen. "You must be so excited, he's your favorite Hero!"

"It's great! He's teaching the classes that go deep into Hero strategies and learning how to combat Villains, how to work together and I'm hoping we go into Emergency Response soon, that's something we really never learned about…" Izuku tapped his chin in thought. "I'm not sure how, though, that kind of thing would be really hard to simulate…maybe using the False City training grounds? Those would be damaged enough, and Cementoss could repair them afterwards…"

"But if they have a whole fake city, wouldn't it make sense that they would have the resources to partition part of it and dedicate it entirely to Emergency Response? Or have a facility for it?" Sukuro wondered, taking a thoughtful pose. "Or maybe-"

"As adorable as you two nerding out is," Himiko cut across politely, pinching Izuku's cheek, "If I don't stop you now, we'll be here all night. We don't know how that kind of training is going to go down, but no doubt it'll be exciting. Speaking of classes, there was a mix-up the first day, and I ended up in the dorm for 1-B instead of 1-A with Izuku."

"Oh wow, that must've been terrible," the fox-eared sweetie murmured, "But you got it fixed, right?"

"Yup!" The blood sucker chirped, wiggling a bit in Izuku's lap, "It wasn't that bad, there're quite a few cuties in 1-B, and even more in 1-A! Plus, now I don't have to sneak out of a building to get to Zuku, just a room."

"Yeah…" Sukuro trailed off wistfully, before shaking her head. "So besides looks, do you like your classmates? Has Katsuki calmed down at all?"

"No," Izuku answered immediately. "Hopefully having more people unwilling to tolerate her crap will help her settle down a bit, but I'm not sure. Otherwise, we've got quite a good class with us, even a Chinese transfer student! They've all got really interesting Quirks and for the most part, they're pretty friendly." He bobbed his head a bit, "Some don't take it as seriously as I'd like, but it's only been a week and we've got years."

"You mentioned a Melissa when you called earlier," Himiko reminded, "She sounds nice."

"She really is!" The other girl gushed with a smile, "She showed me around, I got to see some of the really cool stuff…she's an All Might fan, too! I think…she has pictures of him. And, of course, Doctor Okuto has been wonderful, I've been learning all kinds of things! We just started on a project that could really help when it comes to emergency responses! Although I don't think I'm supposed to talk about it…"

Izuku and Himiko simultaneously mimed zipping their lips shut. "We'll pretend we didn't hear anything," he promised, "It sounds like things have started off well for you, Suku-chan!"

"They have! And for you guys, too! I like it here, it's amazing…just…" She sighed, reaching up to stroke one of her fox ears, "I miss you. Both of you. And Ino and Sakura-chan…I miss going to get ramen, sitting in the park, cuddling on the couch…" A soft sniffle escaped her. "…Have you…talked to them, at all?"

The two Heroes-in-training looked down. "…We thought it would be best if it was a clean break," the blonde said quietly, leaning into her lover as he stroked her back.

"We haven't seen or sent messages to them or anything," the earthbender muttered, "With you gone and us coming to Yuuei, it'd be a struggle to find ways to spend meaningful time together. Not without inconveniencing everyone. It wouldn't be fair."

"Yeah…" They fell into an uncomfortable silence, interrupted only by awkward shuffling. "I kinda hoped you changed your minds about that…" Sukuro sniffed, giving them a watery smile, "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring the mood down. I've got to go, they're about to serve up dinner and it's been a long day." She leaned in close to the camera and kissed the air. "I love you."

"Love you, too," Izuku replied while Himiko nodded and got off of his lap as he reached for the phone. "I'm not sure how long it'll take, but we sent you a little care package in the mail. Something to have when nights are getting lonely, you know."

"Really? I, uh…sent you something, too," she admitted with a bit of color in her cheeks, squinting at her phone, "Oh, wait, no, I didn't, I forgot to hit send. Also, I mean a package, not just…uh, this. Don't look at it now! After, okay? Also, take some pictures, please! I want to see what Yuuei and your classmates look like!"

"You too, Suku," he smiled, gazing into her glittering orange eyes with affection, "And if you ever want to talk about your experiments, even though I probably won't be able to follow it, I still love just hearing you talk."

"Me too, Zuku," Sukuro sighed, almost caressing the screen of her phone. "Talk to you next week…"

"…Bye Suku," Izuku waved, blowing a kiss.

"Bye, Zuku," she returned the gesture with a small smile, then brought her mouth to the speaker. "Himiko, do the thing!" And the screen went dark…for a moment, then a message appeared.

He opened the message as the bathroom door opened and a picture appeared of a red-cheeked Sukuro standing in front of a mirror, wearing a labcoat and a pair of lacy blue panties, arms pressed together to enhance her modest cleavage. The text message attached must've been written with a full-body blush, as it read: 'wAnna sdo aaa litl eXpermibation?!' He squinted at the words, trying to figure out what she meant.

"Hey, Zuku," Sukuro said softly, and he jolted at the sound, whirling around to find the fox-eared girl standing in the doorway of his bathroom, dressed in the same outfit as the picture. Her arms were crossed over her chest, hiding skin but showing much of her chest, her skin a soft, heated pink. "W-wanna do a…a little experimentation?"

"…Himi-?"

"Suku, you mean?" She cut across quickly, before shyly looking down, "Don't tell me you forgot already?"

Izuku narrowed his eyes in thought. She subtly spun a finger at her waist, her message clear. Roll with it. "…Of course not, Suku-chan," he said slowly, letting his eyes slowly scan her tantalizingly near-nude body. "I'd love to experiment with you."

'Sukuro' slowly shuffled towards him, doing a little twirl. "W-what do you think?" She asked, one hand keeping the lab coat from fluttering open.

"Beautiful," he breathed as she sat on his lap, hands on his shoulders while she leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. "You think we have time for this before we have to go?" He whispered against her lips.

"If it's good it doesn't matter how long it lasts," she murmured, giving him a wink. "Let's put on a good show, okay Zuku?" She shrugged her lab coat open, and that was that.

…

Later, Izuku stood at the kitchen counter, throwing together a quick salad with chicken and cheese, light fare after a day of intense training to fill the stomach without overloading them. He and Himiko had been ready to hit the dance floor, but upon asking the others the response had been: 'After all that training? Are you NUTS?!' With their plans no longer viable, they'd settled in to hang out at the dorm, hitting the couches to watch a show. Serving up bowls for Himiko, Eiri, Mina, Kyouka and Ochako, he had just served himself when the door burst open.

"Big Green!" Mei called joyfully, jumping onto his back. "Did you miss me? Have you seen my lab it's sooo big but I have to share with other people and that sucks but omigosh the equipment is sooo much better than what I have except for the Reclaimer and even then the one here is bigger and the teacher won't let me work when I want and locks the lab after hours unless you get permission but he won't give me permission 'cause it's the first weekend and I 'need to socialize with my classmates' but I have so many ideas so I brought some of my equipment from home so I can work in my dorm but the room isn't big enough to fit all my stuff and I can't knock a wall in and have a bigger one and I don't wanna socialize so I came to see you and Hemi-chan instead and also show the stuff I made and-OH!"

The dread-locked inventor gasped so loudly it sounded like she was about to fall out of a building, making the girls jump in surprise. Except for Himiko, who was watching the proceedings with a wide, cat-like grin.

BB stood behind his creator, a large case in hand that Mei snatched from him with a pat on his chrome dome. "Thanks BB!" She slammed it on the counter, nearly scattering the salad bowl, and popped the latches with almost psychotic glee. The case in question was actually one of her suitcases; it still had some of her clothes in it. She removed a hard case from within and held it aloft like a lion cub. "I present-!"

She stopped, yellow eyes taking in the students watching her with a mixture of amusement, annoyance and bemusement. Her smile fell and she frowned at them, leaning close to Izuku and speaking out of the corner of her mouth, "Izuku, who are these people and why are they watching me? And where did they come from?"

The crunching of lettuce sounded much like popcorn between Himiko's teeth, her smile never wavering.

"They've been here the whole time," Izuku pointed out, "This is our dorm."

Mei squinted suspiciously at them. "…Tell them to knock it off," she whispered, handing the hard case to Izuku, "Anyway, here's the Stun Shuriken you wanted, plus-!" She held up a thick black glove wide tube on the top, a diamond-shaped metal thing attached to the front of said tube. BB played four quick notes from his speaker: Da-da-da-daaaa! "The Grapple Gauntlet!"

"Ooh, what's this-?" Mina asked interestedly, leaning over the counter. She jumped as Mei swiftly slapped her questing hand, fixing her with a glare enhanced by the cross-hairs in her eyes.

"Not yours, don't touch!" The inventor hissed, holding the gauntlet away from her. Then she turned back and started explaining the functions. "See, it uses titanium cable wrapped in a geliform layer to reduce weight, with an air compressor to launch the grapple itself, and a quick-spooling winch to pull it back, though that does it mean it will take time to suck in and compress more air, but the metal cable means you can do it manually with your Quirk if you need to. And here's the best part," she donned the gauntlet and twitched her forefinger, the grapple unfolding into a four-pronged hook, though it seemed to lack sharp edges and a green film was present between the metal. "Instead of digging into whatever surface, this grapple deploys a modified geliform that creates an air-tight seal, so you can use it on whatever and it won't get big holes gouged out of it." Mei pointed at Himiko, "I'm gonna need your belt back, by the way."

The inventor passed the glove onto Izuku, who pulled it on and tapped a small plate near the bottom, the material of the gauntlet tightening onto his arm. "So, how do I work it?"

Mei took his hand with surprising gentleness, turning his palm up. "It's twitch-based, just like Hemi-chan's belt," she explained, tapping his thumb, "Twitch this and it launches the grapple, twitch it again and it reels in," she touched his pointer finger, "This releases the grappling hook, and that's it! Simple, right?"

"Very!" Izuku replied with a smile, carefully wiggling his fingers, "And the pressure points are metal so I can press them with my Quirk, too!" Taking aim, he launched the grapple with a sharp hiss, the hook flying from his wrist to latch onto his target, twitching his thumb to pull it towards him then his forefinger to release it, easily catching a can of soda. He handed it to Mina, nodding in appreciation at the gadget. "Easy to use, too!"

The inventor grinned up at him, idly playing with one of her dreadlocks, her cheeks nearly matching her hair. "You like it?" she asked hopefully.

"It's even better than I imagined," he answered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "Thank you, Mei. I love it."

The inventor giggled to herself, before clearing her throat and standing proudly with her hands on her hips. "Of course you do! That's why I'm the Best!" She boasted, thumbing her chest.

"'The Best' at what?" A feminine voice gently asked as Momo approached, dressed in a white blouse and a dark blue skirt. "I don't mean to intrude, but I couldn't help but overhear what you said."

Seeing Mei frowning at the Creative Girl, Izuku quickly introduced them. "Mei, this is Yaoyorozu Momo, one of my classmates; Momo, this is Hatsume Mei, one of the smartest people I've ever met and the one who created all of my and Himiko's Support Gear, including costumes."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mei-san," Momo bowed, favoring the shorter girl with a smile, "I've heard many compliments from Izuku and Himiko-san about the gear you have provided them."

Mei didn't return the greeting, her eyes narrowed on the fancier girls' prodigious bust. "…Hey Zuku, isn't this-?" She blinked upon finding Izuku's hand covering her mouth and him shushing her.

"It's a surprise!" He whispered hurriedly, withdrawing as Momo arched a curious brow at them. "Anyway,I was about to take a bath. Why don't you hang out here, get to know some of my classmates and hopefully friends?"

Mei shuddered theatrically. "Socializing, ugh," she muttered, before pouting up at the earthbender. "I thought you were gonna cook for me?"

He pushed the bowls towards her with an apologetic shrug. "I made plenty of chicken salad and, honestly, I thought you would come by tomorrow." Izuku felt bad seeing her disappointment, but an idea struck as his eyes flitted to Momo. He knew that if he told Mei just what her Quirk could do, there would be no stopping it. On the other hand…sorry Momo, but I don't like seeing Mei disappointed. "Speaking of making stuff, did you know that Momo's Quirk lets her create anything she knows the atomic structure of?"

The dreadlocked inventor squinted at him, confused by the seeming non-sequitur, before realization struck like lightning. She turned slowly to the Creative girl, mouth agape. "…Really?" She asked, eyes beginning to sparkle.

"Uh, yes, that is correct," Momo replied cautiously, then flinched as Mei seemed to teleport next to her, mouth moving a mile a minute. She turned a helpless look on Izuku who shrugged and mouthed, 'Sorry!' swiftly followed by 'Have Fun!'

Slipping out of the room and down the stairs, Izuku was swiftly disrobed and showered, stepping into the steaming bath water with a quiet sigh. He leaned back against the rim of the tub, feeling the heat seeping into his muscles and the familiar soreness seeping out. The water next to him rippled and parted, conforming around a lush, hidden figure. Then grey goo swirled about them and Himiko was sitting next to him with a smile. "Come around here often?"

"First time, actually," he returned, draping an arm around her shoulders.

She leaned into his side, naked flesh pressing against naked flesh, her hand rubbing his chest. "Well then, let me make sure you feel properly welcomed…" Her hand descended, and it wasn't only the heat of the water that made the bathroom steamy…