The group went to go and get ice cream after. The same place Mina went with Midoriya. She made sure to buy his favorite, Mint Chocolate Chip. However, she only had the money for one box of ice cream. Thankfully, Kirishima offered to buy her a box. He gave her a box of Rocky Road, something different from her usual Strawberry. She ate it regardless and enjoyed it. She was explaining all of this to Midoriya, who listened intently. The unlikely pair grew closer after the program. They still met up to study and spar, despite the program being over. The program at least helped Mina, who had a C+ average in Algebra now. She wasn't sure how Midoriya was feeling about it, though. She planned to ask him.
"I still find it a bit weird that Uraraka was able to calm down Kacchan," Midoriya said softly. He rolled the pencil to Mina on the table. She caught it. "It's weird that they got paired up together, and it's even weirder that they still hang out." They were studying in the living room today. Mina complained she was too tired to go out to work at school. She brought up how her back ached and throbbed from the last sparring session. Izuku being the kind friend that he is, suggested they study at home today.
"Same here," Mina sighed. "Maybe they clicked."
"Like we did?"
"Exactly!" Mina clasped her hands together.
"I'm still worried about Uraraka, though. Kacchan can be pretty unpredictable," He was careful with his choice of words. A little hesitant saying that last one. " I don't want Uraraka to get hurt. Kacchan can be a lot when things don't go her way." There was some sort of desperation in his voice when he said that, but Mina shook it off.
"Just call him a jackass and go Izuku," She sighed. "Anyways, it seems like she has him on a leash. It's like she's controlling him, some BDSM shit." He laughed at that.
"Also," Mina stated. "Uraraka wouldn't let Bakugou push her around. She can stand her ground. You don't need to worry about her, she wouldn't put herself in a harmful situation. She knows what she's doing, I think. We just have to trust her." She reached over and squeezed Izuku's hand to reassure him, he smiled back.
"You're right, Mina. Uraraka can handle herself."
"You seem to care for Ochako a lot, Izuku," She laid back on the couch and rested her feet on his lap. He shuffled at this. "You have feelings for her?" He reddened again.
"N-no!" Izuku spat. "I-it's not like that! I-I respect Uraraka very much as a classmate and an f-friend." Mina kicked her feet at her friend in annoyance.
"Y'know, Deku, you can like someone and still respect them. It's kinda fucked up if you don't, no?"
"I didn't mean it like that-"
"Then how do you feel about her?" She sat up and moved her legs off him.
"I," He started. "I don't think I can see Uraraka like that."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," His palms rested on his jeans. "A least, not right now,"
"So responsible and boring," She yawned. "You don't want a relationship?"
"Well, no," He started. "The idea of one sounds nice, all those romantic things. It doesn't mean I want one. I don't know if this is making sense. I sound weird."
"No, no," Mina rested her hand on his hand, the one with the scar. "Your not. I think that is how I feel too."
"I don't like being tied down. At least now. I want to experience a lot of things, with a lot of people. Being with one person for a while threatens that."
"You're free-spirited," He said.
"Yeah," She smiled. She laid back down and rested her legs back on Midoriya's lap."Can you pass me my book?" He tossed it to her she caught it.
She pretended to work while Midoriya made progress on his work. She had her book propped up and had her phone behind it. It looked like she was working, but she was scrolling on Instagram. The minutes went by like this until she kicked Midoriya again. He looked her way.
"Izuku!" She started. "They're making a new season of Saiki!"
"Yeah, I saw that earlier today," He hummed. "How do you know, though? Isn't your phone over there?" He moved her legs off of him and crawled over to pull the book off her. He pulled it away with ease, revealing a Mina scrolling through the official Saiki Instagram.
"Thought so," he mumbled. "Just because you have a C now doesn't mean you can slack off." She groaned at this.
"You are so boring, Deku," She groaned." Take a break with me!"
"I might be boring," Midoriya said as he grabbed a pen. "But, my grades are higher than yours, so."
"Besides, you've been "taking a break" since we started," He scoffed. He tossed the pen for Mina to start working. Once again, she pretended to work.
"Hey, Izuku," She said softly. She sat herself up and moved her legs.
"Yeah?" He turned to her now. Those big emerald eyes stared back at her.
She bit her lip.
"Have you ever thought about being quirkless?" She looked down. She expected an immediate answer from the green-haired boy. "Ah, that was a dumb question. I'm sorry, forget that."
"No, no" He waved his hand. "I'm just choosing the right words." She nodded and waited. After what felt like a while, he spoke.
"My quirk," He pursed his lips. "It manifested before the school year started. So I was quirkless most of my life,"
"Izuku, I'm sorry. I didn't know-"
"It's fine," He cut her off. "You didn't know. I'm not hurt too. I have a question."
"Go ahead," She nodded.
"Why would you want to be quirkless?" His brows furrowed a bit. She winced at the question, not expecting someone to ask her. Still, she prepared herself.
"My quirk, Acid, it manifested in elementary school," Mina started. "Things were already a bit hard on my family and me, being the only Black Japanese family in the area at the time. "
She pursed her lips, trying to find the right words. "Most kids avoided me. I learned to deal with it. Then, my quirk started manifesting. At first, it was the hair. It started turning pink. Then my skin got paler and paler."
She gestured to her body. "Now my skin is this!" She chuckled at her joke. "I think the worse part about it was my eyes. It's like they sunk in. I don't know. "
Midoriya nodded, wanting her to continue. "As you would expect, it would be natural for kids to be afraid. I expected that. I didn't expect the rude names they would call me. The same thing with bullying. "
Mina cleared her throat, trying to swallow down the lump in her throat. It didn't work, as water pooled in her eyes. "It got so bad that I transferred to a school for students with quirks that altered their body. I stayed there until middle school."
"It's been years now. I should be over it," Mina spat, the tears falling a bit harder now.
"Quirks that alter bodies are much more common now. It's just sometimes things happen, and I wish I didn't look like this," Mina's hands formed into fists and lightly patted her jeans.
"I'm sorry, this must sound so invalidating," She covered her face to hide her embarrassment. Firm hands slowly pulled hers away from her eyes. The pair of them both sat on the couch on their knees, facing each other.
"No, no," Midoriya started. "I wanted to know what it's like for you. Besides, what you went through is valid."
"I have a bit of luck. I guess you could say. The quirk I have doesn't change me," Midoriya squeezed her hand in comfort.
"I was bullied, too." He took a breath and continued. "Up until I got to U.A. I prayed every day, prayed that I would get a quirk." Some tears started to fall onto his cheek. He quickly wiped them before Mina could.
"There were a lot of dark days." He said between sniffles. "There were many days I felt like losing everything. We're strong, though. We're still here!"
Mina nodded. "I guess,"
"The way our society treats quirks that don't fit the norm and quirkless people are unacceptable. You and I are living proof,"
"Maybe that's why I wanted to be a hero," Mina mumbled.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"With a top pro hero with a bizarre appearance like mine, it might make a kid feel a bit more normal," She smiled. "I dunno, there are already many pro heroes like that-"
"It's still admirable to work towards!" Midoriya said at once. "Keep working on it!" She gave the green-haired boy a small smile, one which he returned.
"Something doesn't add up, though," She brought a finger to her chin. "Didn't Bakugou go to your school? How could he have not known about the bullying?" He flinched at the sound of Bakugou's name.
"Oh, Kacchan?" He started. "We were neighbors. He was never in my classes, though," He spoke quickly and skidded past the topic. Mina wanted to pry more, but something within her told her to wait.
"If you say so," She sniffled. "Look at the both of us. We're crying." They laughed at this.
"We deserve it after the shit we've been through," He nudged her. Though it was unexpected, she lunged forward and hugged the boy. He was reluctant at first and then returned the embrace and wrapped his arms around her. She cried a little and nestled herself into the nook of his neck.
His embrace only grew firmer as she cried. Hell, he even did too.
She didn't care that her bonnet was in his face or that he was as red as a tomato. Izuku was warm and firm, and he could relate to what she bottled up. She needed this. Could she be selfish and hold onto him a bit longer?
They eventually stopped crying and just held each other in the dark silence. It would be around 2 am right about now. "I needed this," Izuku whispered. "It feels nice to let it out."
"Yeah," It was now that she noticed that she was still in his arms. She slowly pulled off of him.
"Come on. I'm in the mood for ice cream."
"At this hour?" His eyebrow raised.
"We deserve it after the shit we went through," She joked. Izuku rolled his eyes but got up. She
practically skipped to the fridge and opened it. She pouted.
"There's only Mint Chocolate Chip, Izuku," She turned her head to face the boy entering the kitchen. "Can we share?" He nodded and turned to the cabinets to get cups. He got some, and
Mina dished two generous spoonfuls of ice cream into each glass.
They clinked the cups together and dug into their desert happily. ---
"I swear, Mina," A celery stick floated in the air before disappearing. . "How do you not have feelings for him?"
"Because I have feelings for Kiri," Mina said bluntly. she pulled her lunch tray from Tohru. "Stop eating my celery sticks!"
"Your acting like a guy and a girl can't be friends, Tohru," Mina yawned. "Pretty sexist if you ask me." Mina could feel the eye roll Tohru gave her. She grinned.
"Anyways, how did you even develop feelings for Kirishima?" Now a slice of pizza was slowly disappearing. "This feels like it came out of nowhere."
"Well, I blush around him, get butterflies, my heart skips a beat, the textbook definition for crushes. Also, this has been going on for a while. Longer than my Bakugo phase," The horned girl dipped a celery stick into some peanut butter and ate.
"I forget you had a Bakugou phase sometimes,"
"Who hasn't?"
"Good point," The sleeves of the U.A uniform went up into the air. "It still doesn't add up to me, though."
"I already explained-"
"Very vaguely," Tohru snapped. "You and Midoriya are so close you can lounge around with him. Even in your bonnet!"
"I'm not ashamed of my bonnet-"
"You were that first time he saw you-"
"Because he didn't know me like that-"
"Anyways," Tohru cut her friend off. "You can open up to each other about some deep topic you don't wanna tell me. Cry it out, and then cuddle!"
"Don't even get me started on the ice cream and him helping you with homework after!" Tohru yelled. If you squinted hard enough, you could see steam.
"How do you not like him too?" Tohru's hands folded so it looked like she would rest her head on the palm of her hand.
"I dunno," Mina sighed. "It's nice talking to him. I can open up to him about things."
"You can't with me?" The change in Tohru's tone suggested anger.
"I can!" She reassured her friend. "He understands me. It's hard to explain." Mina shrugged.
"Clearly," Hagakure mumbled under her breath. "I'm done with this. Let's talk about something else. Namely, the training we have next period with All Might. Half of me feels like stripping and skipping out. His classes are always so rigorous."
As Hagakure rambled on, Mina looked through her and at the boy at the table across them. A small smile curled on her lips.
---
The training wasn't that bad. Just doing laps around the campus of U.A. U.A was a large campus, and they had to run a minimum of 3 laps. It was a breeze to the most athletic girl in their class. Not to mention, quirk usage was allowed. She paced how much acid she used and practically glided her entire way through. It was going pretty well too.
Until she landed on Kiri. Mina fell onto him, only to slip again from the acid. They rolled for a bit before hitting the sidewalk. She straddled him, not for long, though.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry, here let me help you up," She immediately scooted off her crush and reached a hand towards him. He took it and pulled him. His hands were...rough.
"Damn, Mina, I keep forgetting how strong you are," He awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of his head.
"Once again, I am so sorry!" She slapped her hands together into a praying position like she was asking for forgiveness.
"Once again, it's fine," He waved his hand. "If you wanna make it up to me, just run with me." He broke out into a jog which she followed.
"You're on the third lap, right?"
"Yeah, you?"
"Same here," He grinned, flashing his fangs. Mina took the opportunity to run a bit closer to her friend. He didn't seem to mind or notice and continued with their convo.
Even after they finished the lap, they were still talking. Mostly about school. While the horned girl enjoyed this, being able to be with him at this moment, she wanted more.
"Hey um," she interrupted.
"Wanna get ice cream this weekend?"
He blinked, a little taken aback, more at the fact that she interrupted than the proposal. "Uh, sure,"
"Great!" She beamed, "It's a date," She then sped off, leaving a confused Ejirou.