Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“All of which makes me think the best solution might be to have heroes traveling from primary school to primary school doing quirk counseling,” Momo concluded. 

“That makes sense,” Jirou replied, absently stirring her noodles with her chopsticks, her gaze just over Momo's left shoulder. 

“Of course, it would have to be the right heroes. Approachable, compassionate, good with kids, free of any prejudice, etc.”

“Totally,” Jirou said. Her distant tone gave Momo the suspicion that she had stopped listening a while ago.

“Plus, that way if the kids are villains, the heroes can arrest them right there before they commit any crimes,” Momo continued in the same tone.

“Sure, of course.”

“Or, we could simply ship all Japan's five-year-olds to Antarctica to be raised by penguins.”

“Yeah, that could work.”

Momo decided it was time for emergency measures. “Furthermore, Iida-kun and I have decided that the only music allowed in the dorms from now on should be ska.”

Jirou’s eyes snapped into focus. Her expression was both horrified and appalled, as if she had caught Momo sacrificing Midoriya-kun on an altar of skulls. Momo smiled. Jirou's horrified look fell away, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “Ugh, sorry, Yaomomo.”

 “You can just say if I'm boring you, you know,” Momo replied, tilting her head.

Jirou shook her head. “No, that's not it at all. I'm just distracted today.” The punk girl sighed and looked away to Momo's right, no doubt actively trying to avoid giving away the object of her attention.

Momo didn't have to look over her shoulder to know who had distracted Jirou. Even if she didn't know the ‘Bakusquad's’ usual table was in that direction, the purple-haired girl was an attentive and caring friend. Only one person had ever been able to pull her attention away from Momo. “Did Kaminari-kun do something to upset you?”

Jirou gave her a tired look. “No. I'm just worried about him. His grades have been tanking lately, and he seems really distant.”

“Hm.” Momo considered her words, taking a mental inventory of her recent interactions with Kaminari. They hadn't seen each other much in the last few weeks. All the hero students had been busy with work studies and taking part in the reconstruction effort. Momo's quirk was well-suited whenever specialized parts were needed to restore vital infrastructure, so she had been particularly in demand. Besides, everyone was taking more time for family now that the dorms were optional. “Well, he hasn't been attending our study sessions, but otherwise he's seemed normal to me. Have you tried talking to him about it?”

Jirou wrinkled her nose. “You know how he is. He just pretends like nothing is wrong. Especially around me. I guess I'm extra fragile since All for One took one of my jacks.” Her remaining jack shrugged to emphasize her point as she attempted to feign indifference.

“He knows you aren't fragile. If you were, he wouldn't hide behind you when Bakugou-kun gets mad at him.”

Jirou gave a little snort. It was adorable.

“He's probably trying to avoid burdening you with his issues,” Momo reasoned.

“Well, it's not working,” the other girl huffed. 

“I mean, it's Kaminari-kun. Are you surprised he didn't think it through?”

That provoked a little smile from her, at least. Jirou was a kind person, but she really seemed to enjoy mocking the poor boy. Momo hummed for a moment before slipping a hand under the table and activating her quirk. She pulled a compact mirror from the lipids of her leg, then carefully positioned it between the two girls so that she could get a glance at the electric boy.

He was grinning as usual, having an animated discussion with Ashido-chan and Kirishima-kun. She smiled. Maybe Jirou was just projecting her own melancholy?

“Watch,” Jirou said, looking over her shoulder again. As the discussion continued, Kaminari seemed to drift out of it. He was still smiling, but as soon as his friend's attention was off of him the joy disappeared from around his eyes. When someone addressed him directly, he would act like everything was normal, but the longer Momo watched the more she could see the bags under his eyes and the way his shoulders slumped wearily. 

“I think I see what you mean,” Momo said, frowning. Ashido elbowed him then, directing his attention to Jirou's staring eyes, no doubt adding some ribald comment. Their pink classmate had been rooting for one of them to finally confess to the other and she wasn't shy about it. Kaminari grinned and waved at Jirou as Momo quietly shifted the mirror to reflect her own face, pretending to check her hair. She caught Jirou waving sarcastically back out of the corner of her eye.

“I'll check in on him for you after school. He might be more willing to open up to me.”

Jirou gave her an appreciative look, eyes wide. “Really?”

“Of course,” Momo gave the girl her most reassuring smile, the one Yagi-sensei had them practice every night for homework. “It's my duty as vice rep. Besides, Kaminari-kun is important to you, and you're important to me.”

“Thanks, Yaomomo.” Jirou smiled even as her cheeks reddened. Of course she blushed when Momo mentioned Kaminari was important to her. It was such a cute expression, her heart nearly skipped a beat. 

“You're very welcome, of course. That's what friends are for.”

—

Checking in on Kaminari proved more difficult than Momo had anticipated. She had been waylaid on her way home by a first year student who had been looking for an autograph (they were collecting one from every member of 2A) and had felt it was her duty to offer them some advice on life at U.A. By the time she had returned to the dorms, Kaminari had already made himself scarce. 

Only a few of her classmates were in the common room. Midoriya and Ochako sat at one of the tables, their textbooks open but ignored as they chatted. Sato was in the kitchen, pouring batter into his favourite cupcake tray with a look of zen serenity. Surprisingly, Ashido and Mineta were watching television together on the couch.

Momo decided that the last pair was best left alone, if possible. She approached the first group instead. “Hello, Midoriya-kun, Uraraka-chan.”

“Hey Yaomomo!”

“Hello Yaoyorozu-san, did you want to join us? We were just talking about Tamajiki-senpai's debut as a full fledged sidekick. He's got this new move where-”

“I think we were actually talking about math, before we got distracted,” Uraraka said, smiling. 

Midoriya blushed. “Sorry.”

“Thank you, but I can't right now,” Momo said. “I was wondering if either of you knows where Kaminari-kun might be?”

They both shook their heads. She'd expected as much. Midoriya would still be an invaluable source of information, though. “Maybe he's with Bagukou-kun?”

“I don't think so,” said Midoriya, who always knew where his rival was. “Kacchan and Kirishima-kun have leg day today, and he complained that Kaminari-kun has been skipping it.”

Uraraka gasped at the heresy. Midoriya nodded gravely. “Maybe Bakugou managed to drag him along today?”

“We would have heard the explosions,” the green haired boy noted.

“Hm, okay. Thank you anyway. I'll leave you to your studying,” she said with a smile.

“Oh, you can just borrow my phone charger if that's all you need,” Uraraka said, reaching for her bag.

“Um, no, thank you,” Momo waved at the pair as she walked away. They were turning back to their textbooks, though she didn't expect it to last long. She decided to try Satou next.

“Hello, Satou-kun,” she said.

“Mm. Hey.” He said distractedly. He ran a finger along the inside of his mixing bowl and popped it inside his mouth, closing his eyes as he relished the flavor. 

“Have you seen Kaminari-kun?”

There was no response. Satou took a deep breath before opening his eyes. It was another moment before he noticed Momo was waiting for a response. “Oh, sorry, Yaomomo. I was, uh…”

“... Lost in the sauce?” Momo asked. She wasn't entirely sure of the origin of the phrase, but she had heard Jirou use it. It seemed appropriate here.

Satou chuckled, nodding. “Yeah, exactly. I've been engrossed since we got back. Trying to make the most of my kitchen time before I get exploded out. Did you need something?”

“That answers my question, actually. Have a good evening!”

“You too!”

She had put it off long enough. She walked to the living room, passing Midoriya and Uraraka again on the way. He was already back to gushing about someone else’s quirk while she listened contentedly. Being in love did strange things to a person. 

Mina and Mineta were watching some drama, each of them sprawled on separate couches. The short boy had a few small bruises on his face. Only when she got close did Momo notice that the acidic girl was holding something unusual. Her eyebrows shot up. “Ashido-chan, is that a gun?”

“Oh!” Black eyes met hers, and a Cheshire grin formed beneath them. “Hey girl! Don't worry, it's one of Snipe's air guns, nothing deadly. Tell her what it's for, Mineta.”

“Mina is making me a man,” Mineta intoned seriously. 

Pop . 

“Ow! I was just joking. Okay, sorry, I mean, Ashido-san is helping me break some childish habits.”

“So, you shoot him whenever he says or does something… Perverse?” Momo asked.

“Yup!”

Momo considered it for a moment. “...Let me know if you need more compressed air. Have either of you seen Kaminari-kun?”

“Ah-huh. We invited him to join us, but he says he isn't into k-dramas anymore.”

“The poor fool,” Mineta said, shaking his head and pressing his hand to his chin. “There is no better way to learn the secrets of romance.”

Momo glanced at Mina, raising an eyebrow. The pink girl shrugged. “I'll allow it. What did you want him for?” 

Momo hesitated. These two were Kaminari's friends, and they cared about him, but they could also be indelicate. Ashido wasn't nearly as insensitive as Mineta, but she was a bit of a gossip. She didn't think she should trust Jirou's concerns to them, at least not yet. “Well, we haven't talked much in the last couple of weeks. I just wanted to… hang out.”

Ashido pursed her lips, her eyes narrowing. She turned her gaze to Mineta, who met her expression with a raised eyebrow. She raised her own eyebrow, tilting her head towards Momo. He shrugged. She put her hand to her chin and furrowed her brows. He tilted his head the other way. Finally, the two of them shook their heads dismissively, their silent conversation apparently over.

They turned back to Momo, who crossed her arms. Ashido, shameless as ever, just grinned at her. “He went upstairs right after we got back.”

“Have fun,” Mineta said. 

Pop . 

“Ow! What did I say?”

“That one was for staring at her boobs.”

“I was looking at her face! I'm short, they're in the way!” 

Pop pop .

“Owww!”

“Two for lying,” Mina said, spinning the pistol with her finger through the trigger guard.

“That's not what we agreed on!” Mineta protested.

“I got the gun, I make the rules,” Mina said, her grin returning.

Momo took the stairs to the boy's dorms, shaking her head at their antics. It was a little worrying that Kaminari hadn't been interested in joining them. It was the sort of nonsense he usually found entertaining, and those two were among his closest friends. 

She made her way to the third floor and knocked on his door. There was no response, so she tried again. On her third attempt, she pleaded “Kaminari-kun? It's Yaomomo. I'll leave you alone if you want, but please let me know you're there.”

The door to the next room opened, and Iida strode out. He looked abashed as he gave a small bow. “I apologize for eavesdropping! However, I thought you should know that I have not heard Kaminari enter his room.” The corners of his lips twitched downward. “He's not usually quiet.”

She gave him a small smile. “No need to apologize, Iida-kun. Sorry to bother you. Do you have any idea where he could be? I know he came upstairs.”

“I am afraid I do not,” he replied, punctuating his statement with a chop. “However, if you need a phone charger, you may borrow mine.”

She felt her own lips twitch into a frown. “No. I wanted to speak to him. It's a personal matter.” She knew she could be straightforward with Iida.

“Ah, I see. I will not pry, then.” He adjusted his glasses. “Have you checked with the rest of the so-called ‘Bakusquad?’” 

“Sero-kun is visiting his family and Kirishima-kun and Bakugou-kun are at the gym without him. Shinsou-kun is doing his makeup work studies, so I'm not sure where else he could be.”

“Puzzling. I suppose you have already asked Jirou if she knows?”

She nodded. “She's with her parents too. Otherwise, I would just ask her to use her quirk to-” wait. She smiled at Iida. “Nevermind, I know where to check. Thank you, Iida-kun.”

She waved and stepped quickly to the stairs. A minute later, Shouji was answering his door. The tall boy looked down at her silently. “Hi Shouji-kun. I'm sorry to bother you, but I can't find Kaminari anywhere. I was hoping you could use your quirk to find him - and please don't offer me your phone charger.”

He blinked, not moving. A voice came from one of his arms.  “Have you tried the roof? He hangs out there sometimes.”

Momo frowned, confused. “But, we aren't allowed on the roof.”

They stood in silence for a moment.

She sighed. “Right, sorry. I'll check there. Thank you.”

He nodded, closing the door.

Because of the characteristic H shape of the Heights Alliance building, Momo actually had to go back down to the third floor to access the central roof. The door was supposed to be locked, but she and Iida had been trusted with a building-wide keycard for emergencies. Kaminari, of course, had his own way to bypass electronic locks.

Shouji was right. She found him there on the roof, leaning with one shoulder to the boy's dorms, staring at an angle towards the horizon to the west, watching the pink and purple hues of the sunset, earbuds in. He glanced towards Momo, apparently hearing her approach over his music. His face was blank. No big grin, fake or otherwise. She wondered if he was waiting for a scolding. She probably should give him one, but that felt wrong.

Following her instincts for once, she simply sat next to him silently, gently took one of his earbuds, and placed it in her own ear. She recognized the song. It was from Deep Dope's second studio album, one of Jirou's favourites. The raucous sounds of punk music seemed like a strange choice for watching the sunset. 

Kaminari gave her a small but genuine smile and looked back towards the horizon. After another couple of songs - he was playing through the album - he finally spoke. “I have to use the girl's dorm building to block the sun. Otherwise I can't help looking directly at it.” 

“I'm glad you're protecting your eyesight,” she said diplomatically. He nodded. “You weren't easy to find, you know. I asked everyone and no one knew where you were.”

He turned his head back to her, furrowing his brows. “Why didn't you just text me?”

Momo blushed, hanging her head. “I… Didn't think of it. I might be an idiot.”

He chuckled. “You're the smartest human in the whole school. It's reassuring you can still make silly mistakes. What did you need me for? Your phone dead?”

Momo was happy the mood had lightened. She didn't want to bring it down again yet, so she avoided the purpose of her visit. “No. Speaking of silly mistakes, did you see what Snipe gave Ashido-chan?”

He laughed harder this time, nodding. “Yeah, that's going to end terribly, but it will be hilarious. We should get her a little tin sheriff's badge or something.”

That inspired her. A little present would cheer him up. She called upon the power of Creation, visualized a simple design, and pulled it from her calf. It was a simple tin badge shaped like a star. A chibi version of Ashido's face was emblazoned in the centre, with the words ‘Mineta wrangler’ curving around it. 

Kaminari's face lit up like the sun when she handed it to him. He threw an arm over her shoulder, pulling her into a half hug. It was warm and pleasant, if a little improper. She smiled despite herself. “Thanks Yaomomo! This is amazing. She'll absolutely love it. I think Sheriff Mina will even eclipse Admiral Ashido.”

“...Admiral Ashido?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s uh, really into ships. Ask her about it if you ever have nine hours to burn."

His smile had turned wry, his eyes rolling towards the skies. Momo was confused. She doubted Ashido was a naval history buff, but she couldn't imagine what else he might mean. Still, this was a good opportunity to gently inquire. “I was surprised you didn't want to spend time with the two of them. It should be fun to watch it play out, and those two are your best friends.”

He looked uncomfortable. He started fidgeting with the badge, turning it over in his hands. “I'm just kind of sick of talking about romance and dating. Besides, Mina and Mineta are great, but you and Jirou are my best friends.”

That warmed her heart to hear, even though she was certain the gift had a lot to do with it. “You say that, but you haven't made out with either of us,” she joked, hoping to get another laugh from him.

He blushed furiously instead. “Wow, okay. I mean, first of all, Mineta and I didn't really ‘make out.’ We just kissed a little. Platonically. The pocky game doesn't even count.”

“Mhmm. And with Mina?” Momo deliberately kept her tone light, even though she felt herself tense. Ashido had insisted it was just friendly experimentation, but if Kaminari had secret feelings for her, Jirou would be devastated. That would be terrible. Momo would have to console her. She would hate for that to happen. Wouldn't she?

“Okay, Mina and I totally made out,” he admitted. “But that was also platonic.” That was good. She didn't understand why she felt so strangely relieved and upset. Maybe she was just uncomfortable with the topic. “Anyway, you totally dodged my question earlier. Why were you looking for me?”

Well, honesty seemed like the best policy. She needed to be open with him if she wanted him to reciprocate. “Jirou-chan and I are worried about you. You don't seem like yourself lately, and your grades are slipping. If there's any way we can help…”

He frowned and turned his gaze back to the horizon. “I'm fine, really. I appreciate the concern, but I'm just adjusting to the new normal.”

She nodded. A lot had changed since the war. It was hard to let go of that state of terror, to adjust to being safe. “Okay. Maybe you could start joining our study sessions again? Just so Jirou doesn't worry so much?”

He sighed, but nodded. “Yeah, alright. For Jirou.”

The two of them stayed there for a while, watching the sky change colours.

Chapter Text

“Thanks again Yaomomo, I really appreciate you checking on him,” Jirou said, as Momo loitered near the purple-haired girl's desk like the rebel she was. It was less than ten minutes until homeroom and she still hadn't taken her seat. 

“It was actually very pleasant, although we still shouldn't have been o-”

“Yo!” Kaminari greeted the two of them with a grin as he took his own seat. “What are we talking about, ladies?”

“None of your business, Jammingwhey,” Jirou said, poorly obscuring her fondness for the boy. He only pouted at her in response. 

“Are you still joining us for the study group tonight, Kaminari-kun?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I have nothing else to do. Who else is coming?”

“Jirou, Hagakure, and Uraraka,” Momo said with a smile. It would be fun. Kaminari was sometimes a bit disruptive, but he did have a way of energizing the people around him.

“Ooh, I always wanted to come to girl's night,” the electric blonde replied with a grin. “I can do your nails, Jirou.”

Jirou bit her lip. “Actually, I can't make it. Sorry. It's my parent's anniversary today. I thought they'd want alone time, like usual, but this year I guess they want me there. We're all going to a concert. They told me last week but uh… I forgot.”

Kaminari's face fell. Momo masked her own disappointment. “That's too bad, but we'll help you catch up on what you miss next week.”

“You know what that means, Yaomomo,” the blonde intoned seriously. She tilted her head at him in mild confusion. “Ska night.”

Jirou stuck her tongue out in disgust. She started to shudder theatrically, only to stop, her brow furrowed in confusion. “Um. Did Snipe lose 50 pounds, or… Who is that?”

Momo followed the purple-haired girl's eyes to the door. A moment later, the door opened, and she heard it. She saw it, too. 

Ashido sauntered into the classroom. She was wearing her school uniform, mostly. Her horns poked through what must have been carefully cut holes in her bright pink sparkly cowboy hat. Her every step was punctuated by the jangle of the spurs of her matching pink sparkly boots. The badge Momo had made shone proudly on the breast of her school uniform, which today had been fastened with a bolo tie. Her left hand rested on her belt, while the right hovered near her holster. A toothpick dangled from between her lips.

“Oh my god,” Jirou said, switching her phone to camera mode. She sounded awed. Shiozaki had made similar sounds when she'd found the potato chip that she insisted, to this day, bore the image of the Virgin Mary. 

“Yaomomo, you didn't have to make her all that,” Kaminari said, his own tone more akin to a small child meeting All Might.

“I didn't,” she said, staring. “I guess she… Already had all that in her closet.”

They weren't the only ones to notice.

“What the hell?”

“Ashido, you are in violation of the dress code!”

“Woah, manly outfit.”

“You sparkle beautifully, ma chérie.”

“Oh no.”

Mina eyed Iida's chops of protest with bemusement, then tapped her badge. “I'm the law ‘round here, pardner.”

She slung an arm over the protesting boy's shoulder - though she had to stand on her tiptoes to do it - and gestured out towards the rolling desert sands  of the classroom. “Little advice for you, deputy. Something I learned in all my years as sheriff. Don't sweat the small stuff.”

She released the sputtering teen and moseyed over to her desk, flopping down with a threatening wink towards Mineta. 

The bell rang, and everyone was in their seat in less than a second. Aizawa walked in without looking at them. He wrote ‘study’ on the board in red marker, then started to crawl into his sleeping bag. “Hopefully you can all manage to be quiet for fifteen minutes.”

“Don't worry Yer Honor, I reckon I can keep these varmints in line,” Ashido drawled. She was sprawling at her desk, her pant legs spread in an unladylike manner. Aizawa turned to glare at her and she met his eye fearlessly, neither of them blinking. Slowly, she used her lips and tongue to pull the toothpick into her mouth, causing it to dissolve. Aizawa's quirk didn't work well anymore since his injuries. Despite her steady gaze, beads of sweat began to pool on her brow.

“...Whatever,” Aizawa said. He rolled his eyes and lied down on the ground, turning away from the class. The other students broke out in hushed whispers.
Momo took out her book to get some pre-studying done.

—
The day had gone by quickly and uneventfully. Mina had admittedly hogtied Mineta for unspecified crimes against the first year girls, as well as challenged Snipe to a duel at high noon tomorrow, but for their class it was as close to boring as they ever achieved.

Unfortunately the study group had fallen apart. Uraraka had felt sick to her stomach and had canceled at the last minute, and no one had seen Hagakure, so Momo was trying to tutor Kaminari one-on-one. It wasn't going well. It wasn't that it was awkward being alone in her room with a boy - she was surprisingly comfortable with him, despite the impropriety - it was just that he couldn't seem to stay on track.

“Kaminari, I know you can do this,” she said with a frown, pointing at the passage again. He wasn't dumb. It seemed like he either wouldn't or perhaps couldn't focus on anything that didn't interest him. She knew that was a symptom of his ADHD. Today, though, he was struggling harder than he ever had before.

“Ugh, I'm sorry, Momo,” he said, eyes falling. “Maybe we should just give up for today.”

Momo eyed the sulking boy closely. Part of her wanted to reprimand him for not trying hard enough, but she knew that wouldn't help. “Do you not want to do better?”

“Of course I do!” He protested, but there was some kind of tension around his temples that made her wonder.

“No, but really, Kaminari-kun. Look at me and be honest. I promise to listen without any judgment. Do you honestly care about getting higher grades?”

His amber eyes locked with hers for a long moment. Finally, he glanced down with a sigh. “Honestly, I guess I don't? I mean, as long as I'm passing, what does it matter? The teachers only ever judge us by how well we do compared to our classmates anyway. I mean I know it should be enough motivation to want to know this stuff for my own betterment or whatever, but it just… Isn’t.” He shrugged, his shoulders hunched forward defensively.

Momo pursed her lips, considering his words and body language carefully. He seemed vulnerable, insecure, and frustrated, not to mention sad. He really was trying. It just wasn't working. Because he wasn't motivated? She couldn't really understand that. She had always put such pressure on herself to succeed. For Kaminari, though, it didn't seem like he could simply choose to work harder.

“Hm. What about if you set a goal? Like, moving up in the academic rankings?”

He scratched his head and leaned back, shrugging. “I mean… I kind of don't care if I do? Like sure I guess it would be nice not to be dead last, but if I'm not, Mina will be, and I love Mina. She's my friend. However good I feel, she'll feel equally bad, so what's the point?”

Momo frowned. She hadn't thought of that. “Well, we could invite her to study with us, help both of you do better.”

“That's just passing the buck. Who's next? Sero? Hagakure? Kiri? I love everybody in this class. Someone has to be the dumb one. It might as well be me, I'm used to it.”

“...Hm. Alright. Maybe we should give up, just for today.” Momo had some ideas on how to proceed, but she needed more time to research. 

“Yeah.” He looked relieved. “Er, could we not tell Jirou that things went badly?”

She gave the boy a small smile. She hoped it was reassuring. “There's no need to feel embarrassed. I picked a bad approach. She wouldn't think any less of you.”

He cleared his throat and cast his gaze at the far wall. “Yeah, uh… You two are getting close lately, huh?”

What did that mean? She tilted her head in genuine confusion, blinking at him. “I suppose? We are best friends.”

“Hah, yeah…” He looked sheepish. “I just wanted you to know that, uh, it's cool. I'm cool with it, I mean.”
That didn't clarify anything. He hopped to his feet before she could ask any questions, took his leave, and almost ran out of her room. “Anyway, I should go, thanks so much for trying, bye!” 

Momo sighed, rubbing at her temples. Boys were confusing. She wasn't sure she saw the appeal. 

“Umm, I did actually have a quick math question,” Hagakure said from beside her.

Chapter Text

“Yaomomo, over here!” Jirou waved her towards where she sat next to Kaminari at the Bakusquad lunch table. Kaminari was next to Sero, who was across from Bakugo. Kirishima sat by the explosive blonde and was flanked on the other side by Ashido, who waved to Momo from inside her glittering pink poncho.

She approached with a small smile but, before she could sit, Bakugou voiced his displeasure. “Who said you get a plus one, Ears?” Momo paused. It really wasn't worth picking a fight with him. She could dine with her quieter classmates, or join Todoroki at Midoriya's table.

Jirou turned towards Bakugou with an annoyed expression. She started to say something that probably would have been scathing, but was drowned out by a chorus of loud objections.

“Bakubabe! You know I need my girl time!” Mina whined.

“Come on, bro! Don't you want a break from our dumb asses?” Kirashima reasoned.

“Sorry dude, you can't turn away the vice rep. She's got political privileges,” Sero joked.

Kaminari didn't say anything. She decided not to question why. 

“It's fine, I don't want to intrude,” Momo smiled politely, excusing herself.

“Ugh, whatever, just sit down.” Bakugou rolled his eyes.

“Thank you, but it's-”

“Sit your ass down, Ponytail! I don't want these extras whining all through lunch.” He glared at her until she sat down. That was probably as gracious an invitation as she was going to get from him.

She placed her tray on the table, voiced her gratitude, and broke apart her chopsticks. “What were you all talking about?”

“Mina was telling us about how she snuck up on Todoroki and Midoriya yesterday during training,” Kirishima said with a sharp-toothed grin. 

“Oh my god, the two of them looked so cute, th-” Mina was cut off by a small explosion. 

“Ugh, shut the hell up about Icyhot and Izuku!”

“But Blasty~!” Ashido pleaded. 

“Change the topic or I'll murder you.” Bakugou was growling, but Kirishima and Ashido just snickered at some shared joke. 

Those two probably knew Bakugou's limits better than Momo did, but she decided a change in the conversation was warranted just to be safe. “How was the concert after?”

“Oh my god, it was amazing ,” Jirou gushed. She proceeded to share the details of her night out with her parents over the course of the next fifteen minutes, interrupted only occasionally by tangents, jokes, and questions. Momo had never been particularly interested in the rock music scene, but Jirou made it sound fascinating. From there the conversation drifted to school events, gossip, tests, and all the usual chatter. 

Everyone had finished eating by the time Jirou made a vocal realization. “Mina, your horns have grown.” 

“Is it noticeable? They're starting to straighten out again.” Ashido said, moving to cover them with her hands in a self-conscious gesture. “It'd be really uncomfortable but I could file them down…”

“Fuck that!” Jirou exclaimed, causing everyone to look at her in surprise. She flushed a little, no doubt realizing she was being louder than she had intended. The pink girl lowered her hands meekly.

“Watch your damn language, Ears! There's a lady present,” Bakugou said, grinning evilly. Everyone had a little laugh, which helped defuse the tension. 

“Yeah, thanks Blasty, sorry Yaomomo,” Jirou joked. “Seriously though Mina, it's your body and you can modify it however you want, but I think your horns are super rad and you should let them grow out.”

“Really?” Ashido's eyes were wide.

“Hell yeah.” Jirou's tone was final.

“Jirou loves horny girls-ow!” Kaminari got stabbed with a jack. 

“Man, who doesn't?” Sero added with a wide grin. “Oops, sorry Bakugou.”

The ash blonde held up a smoking hand, growling at him. “What the hell did you say, Soy Sauce?!”

“He just means you're too busy for girls, ‘cause you're training to be number one,” Kirishima chimed in, possibly saving his friend's life. “Anyway I agree with Jirou, your horns are super manly! I wish I had some, but I have to settle for imitation.” He grinned as he knocked a hand on his extensively gelled hair. 

“Thanks, you guys…” Ashido was a little misty eyed. She turned to Momo. “What do you think?”

“I think…” Momo considered her classmate carefully, intent on giving a truthful answer. Had she ever really thought critically about one of the other girl's looks? She allowed herself to really focus on the person in front of her, take her in. 

Her golden irises were rings of light in those twin lakes of pitch-black sclerae, which themselves served a dark contrast for the soft pale pink of her skin. Her bubblegum-coloured fluffy hair had made her triangular face look more rounded last year, and the effect had only been accentuated by the wild curves of her horns. Now, not only were they straightening, but her hair had grown out. The extra weight pulled her curls into flowing locks, which in turn freed the horns from the forest of curls and allowed them to be seen in all their glory. Their cream colour added a touch of neutrality and balance to Ashido's face. She was the same, but different. A little less a girl, a little more a woman.

“You're beautiful.” She hoped her tone conveyed her sincerity. It was, after all, a statement of fact. “It would be a shame to change anything.”

“Wow, umm, thanks, Yaomomo…” Her pale pink cheeks heated to a warmer shade. She looked down at her tray.

“...Okay,” the girl to Momo's left said flatly. 

Momo glanced at the punk girl, confused. “Jirou?”

“I mean…” The corners of her lips twitched briefly downwards before she twisted her expression into a wry smile. Her jack pointed at Ashido as she crossed her arms. “She isn't wrong, you know.”

“Yaomomo is the smartest girl in school, Mina,” Kaminari chimed in. “She's basically never wrong. You have to accept it as fact.” Sero nodded sagely. 

“It's unanimous!” Kirishima slung an arm over his friend's shoulder, grinning at her while she became slowly redder.

“Ughhh, whatever,” Bakugou rolled his eyes theatrically. Momo wondered if he was allergic to undisguised love and support. 

“Hey guys!” A voice came from behind her, eliciting yet another groan from the explosive boy. Unlike his childhood friend, Midoriya might actually be summoned by this kind of scenario. It would explain why he was always there when someone needed a reassuring hug and some kind words. 

“What do you want, Izuku?” Bakugou growled.

“Umm, Ectoplasm just asked me to do some extra reconstruction work - one of the third years with a strength quirk got sick, so they need someone to fill in. I just wanted to let you know I'll have to miss our sparring practice tonight.”

“Tch,” Bakugou said, sucking his teeth. “Whatever. Don't blame me if you fall behind.”

“Don't worry, I won't.” Momo didn't have to look at him. She could hear that self-assured, determined smile in his tone of voice. Bakugou and he really did bring out the best in each other. Somehow.

A whistling noise cut through the lunch room, causing the students to suddenly quiet down. Jangling Western music started to play, and the slow clack of boots echoed throughout the room. Momo turned to see Snipe ambling into the center of the room, his cocky swagger doing nothing to suppress the air of danger about him. “I heard there's a new sheriff in town.”

“Oh, crap, I forgot!” The alleged sheriff vaulted over the table, sending some of the trays sliding and briefly colliding with poor Midoriya before righting herself and charging off to confront this imitation outlaw. 

The results were predictable. After a long, tense standoff, the pink girl went for her fake gun first, only to have it shot out of her hands. The students all clapped dutifully before the bell rang, leaving everyone scrambling to get back to class in time. Momo stayed behind to clean up Ashido's tray as well as her own, and sighed when she found one of Midoriya's analysis notebooks under the table. He had been warned it wasn't safe to risk losing those, but it must have fallen out of his bag when Mina tripped over him. She put it safely in her own bag for now, then hurried back to class.

—

After school, Momo pulled Kaminari into her room to try tutoring him again. Jirou had been going to join them, but Momo told her that the electric boy needed one-on-one help, at least for now. Truthfully, she worried Jirou would be too much of a distraction. Her friend had understood, of course, and Momo had assured her she would be happy to tutor the other girl once she was done with Kaminari. It would be nice to spend more one-on-one time with her, too.

Since their failed attempt, Momo had done her research on improved study methods for people with ADHD. She ended up gamifying the process somewhat, creating a series of flashcards which she used to quiz the blonde. They started with English, since it was one of Kaminari's stronger subjects, for whatever reason. Momo didn't know if it was from English media - he listened to a lot of American music - or if it was from his family background, but either way, it would be good to build his confidence. 

They started off with vocab. She tossed the boy a fidget toy she had made and started right into the questions, sitting across from him on the floor. Each time he got one correct, she placed the corresponding flashcard down on the ground between them, so he could see his successes, stacking them so each one was visible. When he missed one, she swept them to the side and started a new stack - though the previous successes were still in view, so he had a visual reminder of his successes.  It wasn't long before he successfully got five questions right in a row. “That's five in a row! Give me your hand, please.”

He looked up from the fidget cube, raising an eyebrow. He didn't hesitate to comply, though. Momo was grateful that he trusted her like that. She pressed a finger to the back of his hand, activated her quirk, and pulled it away. Kaminari pulled his hand back curiously, inspecting her creation.

He laughed as soon as he saw it, which made her smile in turn. It was only a simple little cartoon confection, emblazoned with the words ‘smart cookie!’ 

“Yaomomo, did you just give me a sticker?”

“Yes. You'll get one for every five consecutive successes,” she explained with a smile. “Should we keep going?”

“No, I mean…” He put his hand to the back of his neck, rocking backwards. “I appreciate the effort you're putting in, but I'm not a child.” 

Momo's brow furrowed. “I know that.”

“Then…” He sighed, giving her an embarrassed look. “Why are you treating me like one?”

“I'm not. I did some reading on ADHD. From what I understand, at its core, the condition is a result of a difference in the brain's reward system. Basically, when you accomplish something, you don't feel as good about it as you should. So you wear down and get tired and find it harder and harder to keep going.” She kept eye contact with him. He was studying her closely.

She looked down, feeling herself flush a little. “Maybe I don't get it. I just thought that it would help to have a little physical reminder that you're doing great. That you should feel good.”

“... Okay.” She looked back up, and was elated to see he was wearing his signature gigawatt grin. “Let's keep going, then.”

“Great!” 

They spent another five minutes on vocab, then switched to grammar. It was more challenging, but Kaminari still managed to earn a few stickers. For these ones she encouraged him to suggest designs he would like. Naturally there were classics like a gold star, and he could never resist a lightning bolt, but he also came up with some more creative suggestions - the smiling cartoon toaster wearing childrens’ water wings would live in her head forever. It was surprisingly fun, and it also allowed her to get some novel practice in with her quirk. She had trained on large mechanical items for so long that she was surprised by the challenge in delicately layering inks on a tiny design. 

Finally, after about a half hour, her alarm went off. “Break time!” She announced happily.

“Break time?” Kaminari raised an eyebrow at her. “I could keep going for a while.”

“Sure, but it's important to rest your brain. We'll just take a short, five minute break. Feel free to play a game on your phone or browse social media or whatever you like, and you might want to stretch your legs.”

“Alright.” He tilted his head at her, pursing his lips. “What are you going to do?”

“I… Hadn't thought about it, actually.” She giggled, a little embarrassed. Kaminari nodded and pulled out his phone, tapping away quickly. Momo started to look for her own phone, and was caught off guard by a sudden bouncy pop beat. She looked over to her friend, who grinned at her and hopped up off the floor.

The blonde tossed his phone onto her bed and held out a hand to her, tapping his foot to the beat. She raised an eyebrow. “Five minute dance party, let's go.”

Momo just gave his hand a skeptical look. “I think I'll refrain, but thank you. I don't really know how to dance to this type of music.”

“Just move your body to the beat. What, are you afraid of embarrassing yourself infront of me?” He grinned and performed some clearly improvised, inelegant dance moves, wagging his hips back and forth in time with the music while rotating his shoulders. She giggled. Jirou had once said that Denki Kaminari was the biggest dork in the school, and she was inclined to agree right now. It was admirable how uninhibited he was, though. 

“Yes, that's it exactly. I just can't keep up with your ‘sweet moves,’ and my ego couldn't weather the devastation.” She smiled up at the boy, who pouted momentarily before his lips curled up into a mischievous smirk.

“Fine. I guess if you'd prefer to just sit there and watch the show for a few minutes I can't blame you. Seems kind of awkward to me, but I don't judge. Jirou might when I tell her, but…” He continued dancing, throwing in a shrug as he trailed off, then extended his fingers into a peace sign and pulled his arm across slowly infront of his face. 

Momo tried to make her sigh as exasperated as possible, but she couldn't help but smile. She extended a hand, allowing the boy to assist her to her feet, and started to try to copy his rythmic movements. The two of them probably looked ridiculous, she knew. Maybe they could send Ashido a recording for her next birthday. They were probably the worst dancers in the class. Everyone except their band had been trained by the acid hero in the weeks leading up to the cultural festival. Tokoyami would never be caught dancing, Bakugou was talented at all physical activities, and she couldn't imagine Jirou being less than perfect at anything related to music. 

Her timer went off. She felt a twinge of annoyance. It was fun, laughing at themselves as they flailed. She was here as a tutor first, though. They switched topics, brushing up on Civics. Kaminari obviously found it much harder than English. He still earned a couple of stickers, but she could see the frustration building in him as they went. By the time her next timer went off he had started zoning out, so she knew it was time to call it a night. 

“I think that went really well! I bet if we try this two or three times a week, you'll be a lot less stressed when finals come around.”

“Would you really be willing to spend all that time just helping me study?” He sounded sceptical for some reason.

“Of course! I think it'll be fun.” She smiled in the hopes of reassuring him. 

A wave of tension seemed to leave the electric teen as his shoulders relaxed. He smiled back - not his famous gigawatt grin, but something more subtle and shy. It was at moments like this that she understood why Jirou was so fond of him.

“Thanks, Yaomomo. You're a great friend.”

“Thank you, Kaminari-kun. That means a lot to me. I think you're a great friend too. In fact…” She tapped a finger to the boy's forehead, then to her own, creating a matching pair of stickers. They were gold stars with the words ‘best friends’ emblazoned in black text.

Kaminari grinned when he saw hers, then rushed to her mirror and pulled up his bangs to ensure his was identical. “Amazing. I am never taking this off.” 

“Or you could wash your face like a normal person and I can make more,” she offered with a smile. 

“Nope, made my choice.” He spun back to face her, shrugging dramatically. “Dirty Denki, they'll call me on account of my unwashed nature.”

“Well, if your face is dirty, Jirou won't kiss you.” She had gotten so comfortable joking with him, the words had just slipped out before she could catch them. She bit her lip regretfully, but there was no putting the genie back in the bottle. 

She expected him to blush, or maybe get excited, or pepper her with a thousand questions about anything Jirou might have said. Instead he just looked sad. It was confusing. She was certain he liked the punk girl. Everyone knew, it was so obvious. 

“Yeah, I… Think there might be someone else she would rather kiss.” He played idly with the fidget cube she had given him, not making eye contact.

“What? Who?” Momo couldn't imagine who he might be thinking of. She racked her brain, thinking through the countless hours the two of them had spent together. “I don't think I've ever seen her look at another boy. Maybe Midoriya, but I mean, I don't think she would risk her friendship with Ochako…”

Kaminari laughed. It wasn't cruel or sarcastic, but there was more pain in it than mirth. “Come on, Yaomomo. Why would it have to be a boy?”

Momo felt her eyes widen and her cheeks flush. “You think that Jirou-chan is… Like that?”

Kaminari's eyes wrinkled in genuine amusement despite his obvious discomfort. “Gay? Yeah, I think she might be a tiny bit gay. There have been subtle signs.”

Momo frowned, searching her memories again. Jirou hadn't spent much time looking at boys, but she also couldn't remember the violet-haired girl looking at other girls. She had women she admired, of course. That was completely different than attraction, though. Wasn't it? “Like what?”

“Well, for example, she has a collar in her hero costume. Fun fact, everyone who wears a collar is bisexual. It's gay law.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. Was this just a big joke? She hadn't thought he'd fake being upset like that. She huffed and placed her hands on her hips. “Kaminari-kun, you also wear a collar.”

“Yes. Yes I do.” He gave her a bemused look. Momo just stared at him for a moment.

“Wait, you're bisexual?!” He just laughed, but Momo felt her face flush. “That means - I can't believe you!”

Kaminari paused, raising an eyebrow. His amusement died away as he realized she was serious. “Yaomomo, do you… really have a problem with me being bi?”

“No, Kaminari!” She grabbed a pillow from her bed and threw it at him. “I have a problem with how you took advantage of Shinso!”

“I-wait, what?” He was actually trying to act innocent. The nerve!

“You two were playing that silly game, gay chicken! At the post-midterm party. You kissed him under false pretences!” 

For some reason, that only made him laugh harder. She threw another pillow and he held his hands up in surrender as he tried to catch his breath. “Haha, hold, ha, hold on!” He took a deep breath, steadying himself.  “Yaomomo, he knew. He knew I was bisexual. I promise you.”

“Wait, then why would he have agreed to play with you? He must have known he couldn't win…”

“Umm, because he's gay? Openly gay? Honestly, you should have seen his face when we first met, and my awkward ass tries to compliment him by saying he ‘must be popular with the ladies,’ he did that classic Shinsou look, this one.” Kaminari adopted a completely blank, expressionless face.

“...Oh. So you two were just making out platonically?” She felt like she would never understand this boy. Maybe any boy? Was this a normal boy thing, or just a Kaminari thing? She couldn't imagine Iida or Shouto or Midoriya acting this way. 

Well. Maybe Midoriya, actually. 

“No, the game was just a pretense. We were flirting and making out very non-platonically. We made out with intent.” There was a slightly hungry look in those amber eyes, but it was overshadowed by the heavy expression in his eyebrows. He shrugged. “It was fun, but it didn't work out. I think he knew my heart wasn't in it. Anyway, he's found himself a louder, more obnoxious blonde.”

“Wait.” Momo felt her nose scrunch up despite her attempt to keep a level face. That sounded like a terrible idea for poor Shinsou.”He's dating Bakugou?”

“Ha! Can you imagine? No, he's dating Monoma.”

This time, she didn't fight the urge to make a disgusted face. Kaminari grinned at her. “Ugh. He has terrible taste in men.”

“I know, right? I should have had a shot.” He was still smiling, but Momo frowned at him. She didn't appreciate that type of remark.

“Please don't talk badly about my friend.”

Kaminari rolled his eyes at her. Her frown deepened. People didn't roll their eyes at Momo Yaoyorozu. Except sometimes Jirou, but that was a fond expression on her. “Yeah, sorry. Anyway, can we stop talking about my love life, or lack thereof?”

She nodded her assent, and he looked down at his hands again. “How about you? Any crushes?”

Momo shook her head. “No. Whatever the rumour mill says, Shouto-kun and I are just friends.

“Yeah, I-okay, whatever.” He shrugged awkwardly. “I'm going to see what Kiri is up to. Thanks again for everything, Yaomomo.”

“You're very welcome, Kaminari-kun.”

“You can just call me Denki, if you like.” He laid the fidget cube down on her desk on the way to the door. “Thank you. Feel free to call me Momo, Denki-kun.”

The boy flashed her another grin and left. She sat on her bed, gazing at the wall in silence for a moment. What a strange conversation. Why was he so discouraged about Jirou? So she was bisexual. It was one more thing they had in common. She sent the girl a quick message.

Creati: How is your studying going?

Jack: fine. hw wasn't as hard as I thought. just chilling w/ Hagakure now. she's tryna sell me on this weird old fantasy show if you want to come. 

Creati: I'll think about it.

She wasn't really in the mood for tv. She had finished all her homework in study period, but perhaps she should recheck it. She opened up her book bag to look for it and found the notebook she had picked up off the floor earlier. Midoriya probably wasn't back yet, but she decided to wait for him in the common room. She took the bag and walked downstairs. Kirishima and Kaminari were playing some video game on the couch with Sero and Bakugou, who was obviously winning, since there were no explosions. Ashido was laying across Kirishima's lap, scrolling on her phone. 

Momo sat at one of the tables and started reviewing her work.

It was 20:00 before Midoriya made it back, looking dead tired. He went straight for the stairs, but Momo intercepted him. “Midoriya-kun, you dropped this earlier.” She held out the notebook, but he barely glanced at it.

“‘S not mine. Gotta bed now.”

“You better not have skipped dinner you shitty nerd!” A voice exploded from the couches. Momo ignored them, looking down at the notebook. It was the same type as the ones he used, and the title was almost identical, but now that she looked closely, she could see that the handwriting was different.

Shipping Analysis for Our Future #15.

Did that make this Ashido's? She opened it out of curiosity. It wasn't what she expected. Despite the title, there were no trade routes or oceanic charts. Instead it appeared to be written entirely about the social relationships of one Shouto Todoroki. It started with an overview of his personality and physical traits (such as ice cold , oblivious , and maximum prettyboy ) and some speculation over what he would want or need in a romantic partner (highlights included patient , kind, pisses off dad ). She flipped through it idly. There were sections detailing major social interactions the author had observed or heard of between him and each of their classmates, with Midoriya's section taking up the bulk of the book. 

It might have been styled after Midoriya's notebooks, but it clearly lacked his ability to efficiently convey information. For some reason she couldn't fathom, two entire pages just had the words ‘IT'S YOUR POWER!’ written across them in huge letters.

She paused a little over the section on Shouto and Ka-Denki. The writer noted that the two had seemed weirdly close since first year. Despite the apparent apathy he had held towards his classmates in general and little one-on-one interaction with the electric boy, Shouto had taken to using Denki's first name early on. That was something Momo herself had sometimes puzzled over, but she didn't want to discourage it by asking questions and making him uncomfortable. Shouto needed more friends than just her and Midoriya. Sadly, the author was no closer to solving that mystery than she was. 

She flipped ahead, looking for the section about her and Shouto. Everyone always seemed to assume they would end up together. It made sense. They were both from privilege. They were both regarded as very physically attractive. They were both well-educated by private tutors and enjoyed good grades. They got along without conflict, as well. It was a logical foundation for a relationship, so she had accepted that it would likely happen eventually.

When she found it, she frowned in confusion. Underneath their names there was only a single word, in English, in that section. She knew the literal translation, but it didn't make any sense in this context. 

Suddenly, a pink hand snatched the notebook away from her. She glanced up. Ashido was holding the book to her chest with a forced grin. She laughed nervously when Momo raised an eyebrow at her. “Haha, whoops, that's mine! Um, thanks for finding it, I better go do my homework, bye!”

She fled to the girls’ dorms. 

“What was that about?” Kirishima gave Momo a confused look.

“I have no idea,” Momo answered honestly. Neither she nor Shouto even had any facial hair. What in the world did Ashido mean by ‘Beards?’

"Ponytail, what the hell is on your forehead?"

Chapter Text

The next day they had English third period. Present Mic called on Denki a few times, and Momo was pleased to hear him answer correctly on each occasion. She could see Jirou mutter some remark to him that triggered a grin. It was good to see.

She had other priorities, though. When class ended, she quickly signaled their teacher that she would like his attention, and he happily met with her outside of the classroom. “I just have a quick English question for you, Sensei - I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to ask in class, because I was concerned there's a possibility it might be some kind of vulgar slang.”

“Throw it at me, little listener! I know you wouldn't be asking if you thought it was just a rude remark.” He grinned at her. He was always happy when students asked for more information that went beyond his syllabus.

She nodded. “What does it mean to say people are beards ?”

The grin disappeared for a moment as Yamada-sensei's eyes briefly widened, then his face returned to neutral. “ Beards is just the plural of beard , which means beard, like facial hair on the chin or neck.”

“Yes, I recognized that. However, the context was talking about people in terms of their relationship.” Was he hiding something? He normally wore his heart on his sleeve, but he was capable of deceit. Momo studied his face carefully.

“Err…” He gave her a funny look. Almost evaluating. “Where did you hear this? American TV? Or… Is Ms. Joke around today?”

“Actually, I think it was from Ashido-chan,” she admitted.

“Oh, well, there you go!” The grin returned. “I try my best but you know how she is with English. Plus slang changes so fast these days and, y'know, you'd probably have to ask her what she meant. Or don't! You might just embarrass her, y'know, if she realizes she used the wrong word. Anyway, I should get to my next class.”

She stared after him for a moment. That had certainly seemed a little suspicious. Oh well. There was one more teacher who would probably know, one who would never lie to her, and she smiled as she saw him approach the classroom. “Hello, Yagi-sensei.”

“Hello to you! All ready for class?”

“Yes, Sensei. Afterwards, might I please have a moment of your time?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

—

All Might had poured them both a cup of green tea once they made it back to his office. Momo took a small sip, relishing the complex flavour. “This is delicious, thank you.” He was quite skilled in the art of brewing tea. She suspected he found it a relaxing, meditative exercise. That would be something they had in common.

He brought over a tray of small sandwiches and laid them on the table between them, then sat down carefully. He had such a calming air. When you spent time around Toshinori Yagi, you knew things would all work out. “Please help yourself. I know you're missing lunch, and the cafe where I got these always gives me more than I can eat.”

She accepted happily, placing her cup of tea back down and taking a delicate bite from a sandwich. The class had all learned not to turn down food from All Might. People were always giving the former hero small gifts of food and while he hated to waste it, his gastrectomy left him unable to eat large meals. Meanwhile, providing for his students clearly brought him joy. 

“You're still at the top of the class, I note.”

“I am. Bakugou-kun and Iida-kun do make me work for it, though. Midoriya-kun too, of course,” she added belatedly, making sure to mention Yagi's successor. The man was fond of all his students and treated them all fairly, but it was no secret that their green angel had a special place in his heart. She didn't think any of them resented him for it; Midoriya was special to everyone. 

“I hear Todoroki-shonen isn't far behind, either,” he said conversationally, his smile slightly conspiratorial. If he expected her to blush, he was mistaken. She wasn't like Uraraka in her affections, flying into the air when the right name was mentioned. She was more like Jirou. They played it cool. Momo took another bite of her sandwich, allowing the silence to sit for a moment. “Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company? Not that you need a reason, of course, but if there's anything I can help with, I'd like to be of service.”

She swallowed and nodded her gratitude. “I appreciate that, Yagi-sensei. There was a small thing. You spent many years in America, and you still have American friends, so I presume you have some knowledge of English slang terms?”

He nodded sagely. “Oh, yes. I am quite lit with the fam , shorty . Is this what you were speaking to Hizashi-kun about?”

“Yes, but he was unable to help, I'm afraid. The term was, perhaps, too obscure for him.”

“Ah. Well, I don't know if I'll do any better, but I'm happy to try. Lay it on me, momma .”

“What does it mean to say people are beards ? This is in the context of romantic relationships.”

“Hm. Yes, I do know this one!” Excellent. The former pro smiled fondly to himself, no doubt reliving some of his glory days from early in his career. She snacked happily, not feeling any need to rush him. “When my good friend Dave and his wife began their relationship, people often called her his beard .”

“That's David Shield, the support item developer?”

“The very same. From context, I discerned that it meant a significant other whose influence makes you wiser and more prudent. Dave certainly became more reserved after his marriage, a far cry from his wild party days.”

Momo leaned back in her chair, considering his words carefully. “I see. So the beard, here, is a symbolic representation of wisdom, due to its association with older and spiritual men?”

“Exactly!” All Might grinned proudly at her, perhaps impressed at how quickly she put it together. “I remember Dave got quite annoyed when he heard people say it, but I suppose that's just the pride of a scientist.”

Momo nodded. Well, that was alright then. Ashido just thought she and Shouto would make each other wiser. Part of her rebelled at that - surely she, Momo Yaoyorozu, didn't need to be wiser. Surely she needed to loosen up and rebel against social norms. Wasn't that what her classmates always told her?

That was a silly thought, though, she knew. Even the Ashidos of the world knew that it was important to be practical, even if they didn't like to admit it. There was no need to react childishly. Shouto would make an excellent beard .

After a moment, Yagi's brow furrowed. “Such a shame it didn't work out between them. I wonder why?”

—

Once they got back to the dorm, the Bakusquad flopped the couches. Jirou and Momo joined them, and Momo used the opportunity to ask if she had missed any new developments at lunch.

“I wish,” Ashido muttered.

“Ah come on, Mina, it'll be kinda fun. Something different, you know?” Kaminari chimed in.

“Sounds manly to me! I'm sure you guys will do great!”

“Do great at what?” Momo asked, turning to Jirou.

“Power Loader wants Kaminari, Ashido, and me to join him tomorrow evening for some bonus credits. We're going to be excavating some collapsed medical research building that they just got legal clearance to enter. Supposedly there's supplies and very classified data there that could help a lot of people. I'm on recon, Pinky's melting through the walls, and Jammingwhey is there to power up electronics as needed.”

Momo frowned. “Excavating a collapsed building could be dangerous. They aren't taking anyone with a strength quirk or something in case of a collapse?”

“Aww, don't worry,” Ashido said. “I'll keep your besties safe.”

“Seriously Momo,” Denki said as he lazily scrolled on his phone, “Power Loader knows how to dig safely, and Jirou will hear it if even a pebble shifts unexpectedly. We'll be fine.”

As soon as he said her first name, Ashido's neck snapped towards Kirishima, who raised an eyebrow at her. They exchanged a series of indecipherable facial expressions before both shaking their heads dismissively, apparently deciding psychically that whatever they had suspected was impossible.

“I suppose you're right,” Momo agreed. 

“Still, I would have liked a bit more downtime,” Denki said, sulking. “I just recently mastered G over F sharp and if I don't practice it I'll forget.”

The stun gun hero had picked up an acoustic guitar shortly after school had restarted earlier in the year. He said it helped give him something to do with his hands during thunderstorms or after a heavy training session, when his quirk acted up and made electronics tricky to use. 

“Oh, you mastered it, did you?” Jirou said, smirking. “Not bad for someone who only got his first callus this year.”

“What can I say? I learned from the best.” He grinned, unleashing his finger guns. Jirou just rolled her eyes. 

“So practice, Dunce Face. You're not doing anything right now.” Of course, neither were any of them. Who could blame them? They were exhausted. Brains need rest.

“Eh,” Kaminari countered.

“Why don't you play us something, Denki?” Momo asked. He would be much more motivated to practice if he was showing off for his friends. 

“Yeah!” Ashido said. “Make your teacher proud! Play her a song.” 

Kaminari hesitated for a moment, but when no one voiced any objections, he shrugged and went to get his guitar.

“Jiroooou, he's going to serenade you~,” Mina teased. 

“Whatever, dude,” Jirou replied. Her cheeks blushed just slightly, but she hid it by pressing her head up to Momo's arm, leaning up against her side. It was a comforting weight.

“Oh, Ashido-chan,” Momo said, getting the pink girl's attention.

“Yaomomo?”

“I saw what you had written about Shouto and I…”

The pink girl’s eyes widened. She bit her lip, as if she was worried Momo would be mad for some reason. The others just looked confused. “I wasn't sure what it meant, at first, but All Might explained it to me after.”

Kirishima and Sero gave their female friend curious looks, but those eyes remained trained on Momo. “Umm, and?”

“And what?” Momo shrugged, though only slightly, so as not to disturb her friend. “You're right, that's all.”

Ashido's face exploded into a grin, and she positively fainted into Kirishima's lap. A stream of giggles escaped her as she wiggled victoriously on the boy's lap. “I knew it!”

Momo's confusion was soon forestalled when Denki returned with his guitar. “Any requests?” He asked, perching on the edge of a low table.

“Play something in English,” Momo suggested. “You have excellent pronunciation.”

He nodded and started to strum. It was a pleasant but melancholic tune. Jirou started to melt against her but then, at about the ten second mark, she began to tense. A few more strums and Denki took an inward breath. He started to sing. “ Today-”

“No!” Jirou yelled, before he finished the first word. She leapt to her feet and threw one of her pens at him. He started to laugh. She cast about the room, pointing at him. “Boo this man! Boo him!”

There was a half-hearted chorus of boos from the confused room. Momo whispered hers, unsure whose side to pick. Denki's laughter indicated he'd known he was picking a fight. “But you like Oasis !” 

“You are not becoming the douchebag playing Wonderwall in our dorm, it's not happening. I would rather help you die with dignity.”

“That's what that was?” Sero laughed, though everyone else still seemed confused. As Jirou aimed another pen, Denki held up his guitar as a shield.

“You wouldn't damage an instrument!”

“Are you kidding? One more note and I will go full Animal House on your ass.” She pulled the guitar from his grip, laid it aside, and proceeded to wrestle him to the ground. Sero stepped in to help, while everyone else stared on. Momo felt completely alienated from the conversation at this point. 

“What's going on?” Shinsou said, wandering his way over from the kitchen, smoothie in hand. Shouto wasn't far behind him.

“Hitoshi! Help!” Denki cried out.

“Kaminari needs to die for his crimes,” Jirou explained to the purple haired boy.

“We've been knew,” Shinsou said in a monotone before taking an extended sip of his smoothie.

“Alright, don't make me step in,” Shouto said, raising a hand and lowering the temperature of the room by several degrees. “I won't let you hurt Denki.”

Jirou stuck her tongue out at the electric boy, but backed off. “Your boyfriend can't protect you forever.”

“Bet,” Shouto said, his voice steady as ever. 

“Thank you Shouto!” Denki said, scrambling to his feet. “Can I play you something to show my gratitude?”

Shouto stared at him for a long moment. 

“No,” he finally replied before taking the stairs up to the boy's dorms.

“I will never understand that guy,” Mina muttered. Momo thought maybe she wouldn't either.

“Could everybody promise to be cool, by the way?” Shinso asked, looking down at his phone.

“Sorry, Kami's incapable of that,” Jirou quipped, plopping back on the couch next to Momo. He stuck his tongue out at her, but rather than pick a fight, he picked up his guitar and started to practice his fingering. 

“What do you mean, Shinsou?” The taller girl asked.

“Well, I invited Neito over-”

There was a chorus of groans.

“I invited Neito over,” he repeated loudly, “and I would appreciate it if no one picked any fights with him.” Shinsou was looking straight at Bakugou, which was generally a bad idea.

“Of course, dude!” Kirishima always advocated for peace. “You're our friend, so we'll always welcome your boyfriend. Right everybody?”

This time there was a chorus of unenthusiastic, reluctant assent. Momo didn't feel particularly enthused herself. Monoma had improved since first year, but he was still difficult for most of 1-A to deal with. Shinsou was a good friend, though, and Momo figured he must see something in the boy, even if she couldn't imagine choosing him over Denki.

“Why's he coming here?” The electric blonde asked, glancing up at Shinsou.

“Bro, cause he's Shinsou's boyfriend, so he's welcome-”

“No, dude, chill. They usually hang at the 2-B dorms, so I'm just wondering why the change?”

“Ehhh.” Shinsou looked maybe a little more tired than usual, if that was possible. “They're having a movie night thing and he thinks he'll get dragged into it if we're there. They have an exam next week and he's super anxious so he's driving himself crazy studying even though he really just needs to relax and take a break. I told him we could study in my room but I'm kind of hoping I can distract him.”

“Distract him, eh?” Mina grinned and whistled lasciviously.

“Get it, girl!” Sero backed her up, moving his fist in a circle above his head.

Shinsou, ever unflappable, merely responded with a deadpan and unenthusiastic ‘raise the roof’ gesture. It was a good lesson in dealing with the Bakusquad, really. Minimally indulging their nonsense smoothed out the whole experience. 

“Alright, am I going to get my ass kicked if I play some CCR?” Denki grinned, turning his eyes to Jirou.

“Not if you're a fortunate son .” 

Denki snickered and started into his song of choice. It was an upbeat example of what Jirou had once told her was called rockabilly, and she found herself tapping her foot. Her friend tapped her hand on Momo's thigh. She found herself enjoying it quite a bit.

“ I see the bad moon a-rising,  I see trouble on the way. I see earthquakes and lightnin',  I see bad times today”

Denki sang it fairly well, she thought. He actually let a little electricity visibly fan across his body when he got to the word lightnin’ , which was cute. That said, the lyrics seemed dissonant, and perhaps a little foreboding. Perhaps it was meant to be ironic. Still, Momo wondered if trouble was indeed on the way. 

…

Well, it was actually a little while before Monoma arrived, and a few less ominous songs were played in the meantime, so perhaps his visit didn't herald untold devastation. She should probably talk to Hound Dog about her anxiety.

Monoma approached Shinso by the couches, side-eyeing Denki with that provocative smirk of his. He waited silently while the electric blonde finished the simple four-chord rock song he'd been playing, then nodded to him. “Not bad, Kaminari. You're improving.”

It was a rare, relatively straight-forward compliment. Momo turned enough in her seat to see Shinso give his boyfriend an appreciative look. 

“What can I say?” Denki said with a cocky air. The corner of his mouth twisted up into a sneer. It was a strange look on him. Momo could only recall him looking like that when trying poses for photos. This seemed genuinely hostile, though.  “Some of us are just naturally talented.” 

Poor Shinsou grabbed Monoma by the wrist, squeezing it. Jirou actually snorted a little. It was cute. “Don't get a swelled head, Jammingwhey, you're only okay.” Momo wasn't sure if she was trying to defuse the tension or her natural Kaminari-teasing had simply kicked in, but either way it worked.

“Mhmm,” Monoma hummed in annoyance, then made a point of taking Shinsou's hand in his. “Come on, Hito-kun. We should study.”

Momo was impressed by how mature he was being. Denki must not have been, because he wasn't ready to let it go at that. “Ah, yeah, I know I still don't measure up close to you, Jirou. That's just how impressive our class is.”

“Denks,” Shinsou positively growled. 

Monoma, who still hadn't grown up that much, spun towards Denki without releasing his partner. “To be clear, I was impressed that you can sing and play, since from what I've heard you can't walk and chew gum at the same time.”

“Buuuurn!” Ashido chimed in. Her dedication to drama was almost admirable. Sero laughed, but Kirishima looked offended. Bakugou, unsurprisingly, seemed annoyed. Momo could feel Jirou tense.

“I might be the dumbest kid in our class A, but that still puts me above you,” Denki fired back, narrowing his eyes.

Momo decided she needed to intervene, as class rep. “I think that we should step-”

“Poor Kaminari. So jealous that Shinsou picked me,” Monoma said, cruelly. 

Ashido gasped, Jirou went stiff as a board, and Kirishima started to jump to his feet. Surprisingly, Bakugou stopped him, grabbing his friend by the shoulder. 

“Dudes, this is so not manly.”

“Okay, Neito, that is not what-”

“He picked you,” Kaminari smirked. “But he knows I'm a better kisser.”

“Ridiculous. Tell him, Hito.”

“I think I’m just going to bed.”

“See?” Denki grinned, as if that had proved his victory. Bakugou was grinding his teeth at this point, but he nevertheless gave his squad the ‘stand down’ hand signal while Kirishima balked. Jirou was still just studying their guitar player.

“Well, not all of us are so practiced, you slut.” 

Ashido looked ready to transcend to a higher plane of existence. Shinsou looked ready to die.

“That cope worked better when you didn't have a boyfriend to practice with,” Denki said, still looking superior.

“Great point,” Monoma positively grinned, clearly sensing victory in their juvenile contest. “Let's go practice, Hito.”

The flabbergasted purple-haired boy was grabbed by the arm and pulled into the elevator. Only when the doors closed did their electric blonde release his furrowed brows and wink right at her.

“Hey Momo, you think he's gonna be distracted enough?”

Bakugou rolled his eyes. Ashido and Sero burst into laughter, and Kirishima's eyes went wide. 

Jirou relaxed. “Pretty slick, Kami.”

Momo tilted her head. She felt like she was still catching up. “Wait, you planned that?”

“Had to be there for my bro, Shinso,” he said, tapping his chest with his fist. If she didn't know better, she'd probably believe that his relationship with Shinsou had always been platonic. 

Kirishima lowered himself onto his knees in mock awe, clasping his hands in front of him. “Sensei, please teach me the way of the bro.”

“Tch, you idiots couldn't even tell his plan? Even Dunce Face can strategize now and then.”

“Yeah, you guys really thought I was all jealous,” Denki laughed. “At least Bakubro believes in me.”

“I'm surrounded by such true bros,” Kirishima said, dabbing away fake tears. At least, Momo thought they were fake.

She allowed herself to relax, leaning back a little against Jirou and closing her eyes. “Who's turn is it to do dinner this evening?” She asked. She normally had a better head for remembering these things, but it had been an off day.

“This guy!” she heard Kirishima explain. She resisted the urge to grimace. Someone else must  have failed, because he quickly added “No worries, I have a plan, I won't mess it up.”

“Absolutely fuck that. I'll just do it.”

Kirishima's usual plan was successful. “I'll help!” He volunteered, never short of energy.

“You can help by staying the fuck out of my kitchen. Ponytail, Ears, you're my assistants.”

Momo flicked her eyes open and glanced towards Jirou. The purple haired girl met her gaze immediately. They shared a short telepathic communication. Neither of them enjoyed being ordered around by the explosive boy, but they'd put up with it in exchange for his cooking. 

Food preparation under Bakugou was always efficient. He had learned to simply treat it as a team combat exercise. He therefore led his team with short, quick, clear commands and avoided almost any other chatter. 

These days it was second nature to tune out the young man occasionally muttering die die die over and over again to whatever food he took a knife to. It was during one of these periods that Jirou struck up a conversation with her. “So your talks with him have been good, huh?”

“They have,” Momo said, hesitantly. 

“I mean, he seems to be doing really well.”

“I think we've made some positive steps,” she said, making sure to take her time and carefully slice the chives into small, even pieces. “But I also suspect he's just putting on a brave face now that he knows people are worried about him.”

Jirou hummed for a moment, which was a sign she was deciding how to phrase something. Momo gave her a few seconds.

“You're probably right. Nothing anybody can say would cause that quick a turn-around. … I mean, unless you told him you'd go out with him?” Her tone was joking, but there was a slight tension in her brows. Momo couldn't stop a faint smile. She'd never try to steal Kaminari from her, even if she thought anyone could. His eyes tended to wander, but he gravitated to the other girl. “It is Momo and Denki now, right?”

“We are strictly friends and we are going to stay that way,” she said as simply as possible to avoid any confusion. She'd like to tell Jirou that the shorter girl was a major topic of conversation, but that felt like a violation of the boy's trust. 

“Okay, good,” Jirou laughed a little as she rinsed some more produce. “Because, y'know - you can do better.”

“Hey extras, I don't have that much damn hearing damage,” Bakugou growled. He laid his knife down and glared at the two of them, fists on the counter. “...Whatever's going on with Sparky, you two are on top of it?”

“We are,” Momo confirmed quickly, worried Jirou would take a jab at him for his sincerity.

Good, I have my own shit to deal with. Get me if you can't handle it. Better that than having to clean up after you if you mess it up.”

“Roger that, Blasty.”

“Now grease a fucking skillet.” 

“Yes, chef!”

—

Dinner was well worth the effort, as usual. Also as usual, Bakugou had left to train with Midoriya exactly thirty minutes after he finished eating. The rest of the squad, plus Jirou and Momo, had made their way back to the couches. Denki, Ashido, Kirishima, and Sero were playing Mario Kart, Jirou was noodling on the guitar, and Momo was catching up on some reading. She had  finally found a quality translation of La Conquête du Pain and was eager to fill this hole in her arsenal of political theory. Jirou's experimental jazz was an ideal accompaniment.

“Woah, pause, hold on,” Ashido said, interrupting her train of thought. “Sluts at attention!”

Denki got a round of chuckles by saluting Monoma, whose appearance elicited wolf whistles. The copy user's hair, normally styled just so, was an absolute mess, his clothes were thoroughly disheveled, and his lips were chapped. He seemed to have achieved a state of zen-like calm. She Created a tube of chapstick from her arm and handed it to him. For some reason this also triggered laughter.

“Thanks,” Monoma said, before his gaze shifted over to Denki. “I believe you've been surpassed.”

Their own blonde grinned, holding up his phone. “So I've heard. I tip my hat to you, sir,” miming the action. Monoma preened. “Hey, come over for a second.”

The Class B student cast a suspicious glance. “Why?”

“Dude, just to show there's no hard feelings, let me tell you my secret move.”

Monoma's suspicions were likely only amplified, but he was a curious copycat, so he gave in and approached. Denki hopped up and offered his hand. “Okay, copy my quirk.” Monoma took the hand cautiously. Momo didn't love the idea of him borrowing Denki's notoriously dangerous quirk, but she supposed that he was responsible enough. Denki pulled the boy in close, whispering something into his ear that gave Monoma an intrigued look.

“Alright, interesting. I may try that. In the meantime, I have been told there are plates here for us somewhere?”

“Second shelf of the fridge, dude,” Sero said, pointing the way.

“Thanks.”

“Bronoma, I think it's super manly that you and Shinsou are open about your relationship,” Kirishima said, once Monoma had located the food and begun his trip back to the elevator. The boy only paused for a moment to shrug.

“I mean, it's modern day, it's not a big deal to be gay. What were we going to do, find beards ?”

Ashido yelled at him even as the elevator doors closed. “I mean, not everybody's ready to come out and that's okay too!” She offered Momo a reassuring glance, then turned back to their game.

Momo did not feel reassured.

Chapter Text

Momo found herself distracted for the rest of the night. She was unable to join the others in their friendly teasing when Shinsou walked down with dirty plates, a vacant expression, and his hair standing up on end even more than normal. She was unable to focus on her schoolwork. She was even unable to enjoy Jirou's singing. Instead, she spent the whole time rethinking her conversation with Present Mic. 

They had English first period the next day, conveniently. Momo had laid awake half the night. None of her teas seemed able to quell the generalized anxiety that had possessed her. The resulting tiredness was probably the reason that she flatly announced “I need to speak to you, Yamada-sensei” before Present Mic had even sat down. 

“Er... Can't this wait until after class, listener?” Their teacher asked awkwardly.

“No.”

“Oh man, Mic-sensei is in trouble,” Mina stage-whispered to scattered giggles. 

The teacher acquiesced, leading Momo outside of the classroom and stopping. Momo kept walking, gesturing for him to follow. She didn't want Jirou or Shouji listening in to this conversation. Only once they were in an empty corridor on the other side of the building did she whirl on him, eyes narrowed. “You lied to me.”

Some part of Momo knew that she shouldn't be talking to a teacher like this. It was a very small part, however. Yamada cringed, putting a hand to the back of his neck. “Oh, did I…? Well, er, I guess you found out, so, no harm done, right? Right?”

She had to fight the urge to Create a cannon and fire him out the building right there. “Do you know what I did when you refused to answer my question, Sensei?” He shook his head meekly. “I asked Yagi-sensei.”

Present Mic winced visibly. “O-oh. What did he say?”

“I'm so glad you asked!” Momo replied, baring her teeth in a way that only Bakugou would consider a smile. “He told me that a beard is someone you're in a relationship with who makes you wiser.”

“O-oh. Did he, now?” Mic's face was a pained smile.

“Yes. He learned this from his ‘good friend Dave,’ you see.”

Mic glanced at a nearby window. She could tell he was doing a cost benefit analysis on jumping through it into a four story fall. “Of course he did.”

“So I” she said, stepping towards the teacher as he backed up into the wall, “I told Mina Ashido that Todoroki-kun and I are, in fact, beards.”

Mic bit his lip. He was either fighting laughter or the urge to cry. Perhaps both.

She was not going to use a cannon on him. She was not that merciful. “So I was thinking I might just have to tell Aizawa-sensei about the entire situation and how suddenly my social life is in shambles for reasons I don't understand. How I need him to get involved. Obviously, it will be a very emotional, teary-eyed conversation.”

“Yaoyorozu-san, I am so sorry! I shouldn't have lied!” He started bowing his apologies.

“Stop,” she ordered. He complied. “Just tell me truthfully. What is a beard?”

Mic refused to make eye contact with her, grimacing at the floor. “It's a person of the opposite gender that a gay person pretends to date to hide the fact that they're gay.”

Momo stared at him for a long moment. She took a deep breath. That certainly explained everything. Everything she wanted explained, at least. All Might's relationships should perhaps stay a mystery. 

“Okay,” she said, finally. 

“Okay?” Yamada-sensei questioned.

“Yes. It's fine. So some of my classmates think I'm homosexual. Some people are, some people aren't. I wasn't planning on dating soon either way.”

“Okay! Great. I uh, I'm glad we got this, err, straightened out.” 

“Shall we go back to class?” She asked, putting her polite face back on.

“You got it, listener! Just, eh-heh… Maybe don't tell Yagi? With his age and health…”

She nodded. She didn't want to be the one to kill All Might. Besides, other people's sexualities were not her business.

—

It was strange. At first, she felt mad. Then she was relieved. Now, the anxiety was building again, for some reason. Her appetite was low, her muscles were tense, and her heart rate was high. Her notes were a mess. She probably didn't get half of what her teachers said down. She found herself distractedly watching Jirou, Kaminari, Shouto, or Ashido.

That was the thing that was bugging her, she thought. Because if people thought she was gay, that was fine. There was nothing wrong with being gay. She was just curious why Ashido had come to that conclusion about her and Shouto. 

Well, when she thought about it, the Midoriya/Todoroki section of the notebook had made some good points. The two were very fond of each other. There was the way Shouto spoke to Denki, too. 

Still, why would Ashido think she was gay? She never exhibited any overtly homosexual tendencies, and she didn't fit the stereotypes. Was it just because she was tall? 

Maybe Ashido was projecting her own repressed sexuality onto Momo. Then again, projection came from insecurity. It was hard to imagine Ashido being insecure socially.

At lunch, Momo decided she should ask for help. She didn't want to talk to Jirou about it yet, and Kaminari was eating lunch with her and the Bakusquad, so she tracked down the only homosexuals she knew to seek their esteemed counsel.

“Well, the vice president of Class A, slumming it with us,” Monoma said as she sat down. Shinsou and Kendo gave him flat looks. "...I'm just kidding,” he grumbled.

“Hi, Yaoyorozu!” Kendo said, her smile as beautiful as ever. Momo smiled back.

“Hello, Kendo-chan, Monoma-kun, Shinsou-kun. I'm here to humbly request help from the three of you, but only if it isn't an imposition to ask you to keep it between us.”

There were glances and shrugs of agreement, so Kendou spoke for the group with her usual enthusiasm. “Of course! You can trust us.”

Momo took a deep breath.

“Why does Ashido-chan think I'm a lesbian?”

Clearly, no one expected that question. Shinsou stared at her. Kendo looked puzzled, and a little concerned. Monoma missed his mouth with his chopsticks, pressing some rice into his cheek.

“Um, I'm not sure, honestly,” Kendo said.

Shinsou cleared his throat. “Uh, Yaoyorozu, may I ask a related personal question?” 

She nodded. In a neutral monotone, violet eyes focused on her, he asked “Are you a lesbian?”

Momo gave him a small smile and opened her mouth to respond. Then she hesitated. Something finally dawned on her for the first time in her life.

“I… Don't know.”

Kendo gave her a sympathetic look. Monoma arched a brow. Shinsou gave nothing away. “Maybe you should figure that out, first.”

“I hadn't thought about it. How, um. How do you know if you're gay?”

“My deep and abiding love of musical theater,” Monoma said, unhelpfully.

“Huh, weird,” Shinsou said, using a napkin to wipe the blonde's face. “I just think a lot about sex with guys.” Monoma blushed hard and started to cough.

“I think it's different for everyone,” Kendo said, tilting her head a little at Momo, as if evaluating her. Momo returned her stare. Wait, she had already thought about how pretty Kendo was. That was a normal thought, right? It didn't make her gay.

Kendo blushed and glanced away,  causing Momo to panic internally. Was she being weird? Did she make Kendo uncomfortable? She should go.

“Well, thank you for this talk, goodbye!” She picked up her tray and joined Koda, Tokoyami, and Shouji at their table. The four of them ate in near-total silence, though Momo found swallowing unusually difficult.

—

By last period, she was about desperate enough to reach out for help again. She just wasn't sure who. Normally, if she needed help, she would ask a teacher. In this case, that didn't seem to be an option. Aizawa abhorred the idea of getting involved in his students’ personal lives and was hardly an expert on social relationships. Yamada had just demonstrated that he couldn't be trusted. All Might had spent sixty years being the number one hero and knew nothing else. Nedzu was a different species altogether, and she didn't feel comfortable going to any of the others. 

She missed Kayama-sensei so badly.

She would have to rely on her peers. Denki would be helpful, but he was out on that mission with Ashido and Jirou as soon as class was out. That left her without her two best friends and the class's romance expert. Who else was there? She trusted Iida, but this seemed out of his wheelhouse. 

Maybe she just needed to use logic. Sexuality was about sexual attraction, arousal. In essence, the desire to have sexual relations with other people. So she needed to ask herself, was there anyone she wanted to have sex with?

As Ectoplasm continued speaking about derivatives she ran through some options in her head. Mineta sat right in front of her, and Midoriya in front of him. She tried to imagine Midoriya coming to her dorm room at night.

"Yaoyorozu-san, would you like to have sex with me, please?"

Well, she would decline, obviously. Even if saying yes wouldn't make Uraraka cry or Bakugou murder her, the offer wasn't enticing. Midoriya was a sweetheart, and she loved him, but… No.

Bakugou was next in their row. She considered him next. He was, objectively speaking, very handsome. Particularly on the rare occasions he wasn't barking mad. He was also quite stylish, and physically impressive. How would she feel if she opened her door and

"Ponytail, I need to blow off some stress. You up for a workout or what?"

She would say no. Bakugou would probably be good at anything he did, but she really had no interest in being intimate with him. He was careless with people's feelings, after all. Not to mention that some awful part of her brain insisted that if she did have sex with Bakugou, Midoriya would be listening outside and taking notes.

"Kacchan is amazing!"

Hagakure was at the front of the row. If Hagakure propositioned her, well - she discounted it. It was hard enough to imagine with people she could see. Choosing the invisible girl added a layer of abstraction unnecessary to her thought experiment.

Her eyes drifted over to Shouji. God, why did they put the enormous boy at the front of the row? No, she had to focus. She tried to imagine him approaching her in private. Looking up at him, being swept into his arms, and hearing

“Yaoyorozu, I must have you."

He would say it through one of his dupli-arms, wouldn't he? She would never admit it out loud, but when he turned them into mouths, she found it sort of… gross. It was so quirkist, she hated herself for thinking it, but she couldn't help how she felt.

Jirou was behind Shouji. Momo skipped her, of course. They were too close, as best friends. Thinking of her like that would be a violation of the punk girl's trust. It wasn't right.

Behind Jirou was Sero. Sero was fine. He was taller than her. He was nice enough, and sometimes funny. She tried to imagine if she opened her door, and

“Yaomomo, wanna fool around?”

She would just close the door on him. Okay, this thought experiment was yielding useful data. So far she wasn't experiencing sexual attraction to anyone in the class. Perhaps she was asexual.

Tokoyami was next. He had a certain style which she appreciated. A serious attitude, a way with words. She liked his gravitas, and it had been fun playing with him in Jirou's band. She imagined 

“Yaoyorozu-san, for eons my soul was ensconced in the cold and dark, until your light found me. Though our stars are crossed, I ask you; shine upon me for but one night?”

She would be flattered, of course, but didn't think she would feel any desire to invite him in. Besides, with Dark Shadow, wouldn't that be like group sex? She was not ready for that.

Which brought her to Shouto. Was it weird she hadn't thought of him first? No, of course not. It was logical to do things in order. She took a deep breath and imagined hearing a gentle knock at her door at night. She would open the door, and Shouto would be there. He would wear the same expression as always, and he would say

…

What would he say? This shouldn't be so hard, should it? It was just that Shouto was so private with his feelings. She tried again.

“Momo. I want you.”

That made her feel something, she thought. He really was very pretty. He noticed her staring and glanced over. She gave him a small smile. He just nodded in response, then turned his head back to the board.

She would still say no, of course. She would tell him that it would be irresponsible and potentially deleterious to their careers, and he would nod, expression unchanging, and leave. That would be the end of it. Did that mean she wasn't attracted to him?

She just had to keep going. Satou was next. He was a nice boy. Tall and strong, and generous. An excellent baker, of course. That was an asset. She tried to imagine him standing at her door, blushing.

"Yaoyorozu-san, would you… Um… Would you like a cupcake? I made extra."

That wasn't working. She pressed on. Koda was next. It was hard to imagine the boy as a sexual creature. She drew another breath and visualized opening her door to find

…

Nothing. There would be no one outside. Koda simply wouldn't be brave enough to proposition her like that. 

Kirishima was next. He was handsome, and well-muscled, and certainly not shy about it. Those sharp teeth were a little worrying, but he was gentle and kind. She imagined hearing a heavy knock at her door, opening it to see him there, sweaty and shirtless, and hearing

“Yaomomo! Want to have manly sex with a real manly man?”

She took a moment to push the bile back down into her stomach. 

Denki was next. It was a lot easier to imagine the electric blonde actually hitting on her, compared to most of her classmates. He was a flirt by nature, even if he tended not to direct it at her or Jirou. It probably wouldn't surprise her at all if she opened the door and saw him there, flashing finger guns, saying some cornball line like 

“Wow, I might be a human taser, but you're the one who's stunning!”

Or maybe

“I always call you Yaomomo because I need mo’ mo’ of yao.”

Or even

“Girl, I'm immune to electricity, but I'm weak to you rizzin’ me.”

It was a cute image, but impossible to take seriously. If it ever happened, it would assuredly be a joke, a prank, a bet, or a dare. He would only ask because he knew she would say no, and she would always say no for Jirou's sake. That was all there was to it.

Who was next?

Oh, Shinsou. Well, since he had a boyfriend, she would have trouble imagining him wanting her. Since it was Monoma, she didn't really want to imagine it. 

Wait, had she missed someone? 

She guessed not. Ashido was next. Maybe it was because she had taken that long look at Ashido the other day, or because of their recent embarrassing conversation, but she had a much easier time visualizing this one. She felt a little flutter in her chest as she tried to imagine the pink girl hitting on her. 

The acid user would probably seem a bit disheveled, in one of her sleep shirts. She always looked sloppy late at night. A deep boat cut top hanging off one shoulder, loose but still showing off the curve of her chest. A pair of exercise shorts revealing her toned pink calves. Her hair would be messy from a long day, those proud horns curling atop her head. Her face would be flushed when she leaned in and whispered

"I need you.”

Thinking about this was so awkward, she was starting to blush. Her anxiety was making her heart beat awfully fast, too. She decided to stop the thought experiment, it obviously wasn't helping. No matter who offered to have relations with her, she would turn them down. She had other priorities. Did that make her asexual? 

She needed more data points. The bell rang, and her classmates started to file out. Momo hopped quickly over to Uraraka and asked her to wait a moment. The brown haired girl happily agreed, waving Midoriya and Iida to go on without her. Tsuyu, as always, lingered by her side.

“Hi Yaomomo! Is there something I can help you with?”

Uraraka was the perfect person to ask. She was a friend, a girl Momo's age, and she was definitely attracted to a boy.

"Pardon, I would just like your permission to ask you a personal question, please. Purely for the benefit of my own curiosity.”

“Of course!” She pumped her fist excitedly, as full of energy as always. “What do you want to know?”

“Do you want to have sex with Midoriya-kun?”

Because of the flailing, it took a few minutes before Tsuyu could get her tongue wrapped around her friend and pull her back to the floor. Uraraka had reached a shade of red that Momo had never seen on a human being before and was vociferously voicing her denial. Well, the tone suggested denial. It was far too stuttered and panicked for any actual coherency.

Tsuyu poked a finger to her chin. “That seems like too personal a question, kero.”

“Yes, of course. My apologies for overstepping.” Momo excused herself and began the trek back to the dorms. She made it a leisurely stroll, taking plenty of time to think. 

She wasn't sure why this was bothering her so much. It wouldn't affect her relationships with her parents, and her friends wouldn't treat her differently. It might have some impact on her career, but she could handle a bit of adversity. Besides, heroism was a progressive industry, and it was modern times.  

She just wanted to know for sure, that was all. She wanted a clear, unambiguous answer. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to get one.

Kaminari had figured his sexuality out easily enough. Well, perhaps it was easier for boys. They weren't shamed the same way for being overt with their physical desires. 

There was a small disturbance happening in the common room when she walked in. Shouto was in the kitchen, using a pair of black chopsticks to try and grab something from inside a beverage can, and Midoriya was huddling next to him, looking concerned. “Here, let me try,” the green haired boy offered. 

Shouto eyed him for a moment before handing over both the can and the chopsticks. Midoriya accepted them carefully, then set the chopsticks aside and reached his finger into the can opening, rooting around blindly.

“Use the chopsticks, please. You're going to cut your finger,” Shouto wisely advised.

Midoriya frowned, continuing his efforts. “My finger will heal, the chopsticks won't.”

His normally inexpressive friend actually groaned at that comment. “I will get you as many chopsticks as you want, just please stop hurting yourself.”

Momo walked over, temporarily distracted from her own troubles by the odd behaviour. “What are you two doing?”

Shouto nodded to her. “Hand crushing.”

Midoriya rolled his eyes, still digging fruitlessly. “Todoroki-kun's favourite reusable straw got stuffed down the can, we're trying to get it out.”

“Here, let me.” Momo took one of the chopsticks and created a simple, silicone-safe adhesive on the tip of it. She inserted it carefully into the aperture and stirred until she felt it stick to the straw, at which point she pulled it out of the can. “There. I know pain doesn't bother you much, Midoriya-kun, but please remember that it hurts the people around you to see you be reckless with your body.”

Shouto gave her a grateful look, no doubt more for the words than the straw. Midoriya pouted, but he nodded in acknowledgement. “Yeah, I know.”

She couldn't help but notice the way that Shouto looked at Midoriya. The green-haired boy held his full focus. His eyes, both stormcloud grey and glacial, seemed a little warmer when regarding the excitable boy.

"It's your power!"

It occurred to her again that Ashido hadn't just thought Momo was gay. She had also thought the same of Shouto. Of course, there was no actual evidence for that except for his close friendship with Midoriya. Well, that and whatever was between him and Denki.

“Is something wrong, Yaoyorozu-san?” Midoriya asked, looking concerned. Momo gave him a small smile and shook her head.

“I'm just having an off day, I think.”

“Are you worried about Jirou-san? I know she and the others are going to do great on their mission today, but it's normal to get anxiety.”

Midoriya was so wise when it came to people other than himself. When he mentioned her friend, Momo realized he must be right. She wasn't actually anxious about her sexuality. She was really anxious about Jirou. That was why her breath caught when the purple-haired girl was mentioned. 

She wanted Denki and Ashido to be safe as well, of course, but they hadn't been maimed in the past year. “Yes, I think you may be right. Perhaps I'll make myself some calming green tea. Would either of you like some?”

Shouto insisted on making the tea for her and Midoriya escorted over to the couches. Making good use of his quirk, the bicoloured boy poured them each a cup and laid out a tray of Satou's leftover sugar cookies in record time. Momo smiled gratefully at him.

She took a sip. It was nearly perfect. The dual-quirked teen had lacked domestic skills, but more than a year of living with his peers had allowed him to absorb some of their knowledge. Momo had found him extremely receptive to the art of brewing tea in particular. He seemed to enjoy using his quirk in such a simple, peaceful way. “This is excellent, Shouto-kun, thank you.”

He nodded. Momo examined him carefully as he sat down. “Your recovery appears to be going well. Do you have any lasting symptoms?”

He shrugged. The final battle against Touya had left him fairly injured, but he was always stoic about such things. “No pain anymore. Some of my joints are still a bit stiff, but my physiotherapist says I should get my full range of motion back in time.”

“I'm glad to hear it. How about your family?” 

“They're okay. Father is still as stubborn as ever. Mom, Natsuo-nii, and Fuyumi-nee have all fully recovered except for some permanent facial scarring. They aren't about to complain about that to me, so I don't know if it bothers them.”

Momo nodded her understanding. She would ask Midoriya about his own recovery, but she knew the tear-scarred boy would say that everything was fine whether or not it was true. “I sometimes forget how lucky I was to have made it out unscathed.”

“We were all hurt. We just weren't all hurt physically,” the green-haired boy said sagely. Shouto nodded his agreement. “It's okay to not be okay, even if you feel like other people had it worse.”

Momo took a deep breath, followed by another sip of her tea. “You're right. I appreciate you both looking out for me.”

They started to verbally shrug off her thanks, so Momo decided a physical reminder was necessary. She sat forward on the couch, reached across the table, and pressed a hand to each of their chests. When she retracted them, each boy's uniform now bore a gold star sticker reading 'good friend.' Shouto seemed nonplussed, but Midoriya gave her a big smile.

“Would it help to talk about your anxieties?” 

“I'm not sure,” Momo said honestly. “Rationally, I know they'll be fine. They're all competent heroes, and a good team.”

“That's true,” Midoriya said, picking up a cookie. “Jirou-san is sensible. She'll keep the other two out of trouble.”

“Denki will protect her,” Shouto chimed in, his expression unchanging. “So she'll be safe, too.”

“Yes,” Momo agreed. “Denki-kun and Jirou-chan are good together, aren't they?”

The boys exchanged a subtle glance. “I suppose,” Midoriya said, diplomatically. “They seem like good friends.”

Shouto said nothing, but was gazing at her intensely, as if looking for something in her expression. Was he jealous? Did he actually have a crush on Denki? If Shouto really was gay, what did that mean for her own sexuality? She should try to learn more.

“Todoroki-kun, please forgive my impertinence, but I am curious how you and Kaminari-kun became so close in first year.”

The taller boy stared at her for a long moment before replying. “Sorry. You'll have to ask him.”

Momo glanced at Midoriya, who just shrugged, obviously as confused as she was. She tried to think of a different approach. There had to be a way to learn his sexuality without just asking him if he was homosexual.

She was tired. That was the only excuse she had for what she said next. “Todoroki-kun, would you want to have sex with me?”

Midoriya made a strangled noise as blood rushed into his cheeks. Shouto didn't react at all for almost a minute, just staring at her with his unwavering expression of cool detachment. Momo shifted uncomfortably. 

Finally, the boy spoke. “I need to call my dad. Um, maybe another time. Thank you for the tea,” he added, apparently forgetting that he was the person who made it. He stood and bowed formally to her before hustling up the stairs to make his phone call.

—

Once Midoriya had recovered from his fainting spell, he had excused himself to take a nap. This had left Momo alone again, which in turn made her anxiety flare up. After some internet research gave her the term for what she needed, she decided to be proactive and seek out semi-professional help. That was, after all, what the support department was for. 

She hadn't expected to run into Bakugou. He left through the door to the lab as she approached it, and gave her a nasty glare. He turned his body slightly so his left side was facing her, as if trying to subtly deflect attention from the locked briefcase in his right hand.

“Oh, Bakugou-kun. What are you doing here?” She asked out of curiousity.

He snarled. “Classified. You?”

“You aren't interested,” she replied simply. He nodded in agreement and stormed off down the hallway, startling some loitering first years. 

The lab was mostly empty at this time of day but, unsurprisingly, their most industrious second year was still there. Momo approached cautiously. “Hello, Hatsume-chan.”

The pink haired girl didn't even look away from her computer. “If you want costume adjustments, you have to wait until Power Loader is back tomorrow.”

Momo frowned. It could be difficult to get Hatsume's attention when she was focused on a project. Luckily, she had learned to speak the support student's language. 

“Actually, I want to make a baby with you.”

Hatsume whirled, a manic grin on her face. “3-D Printer! What should we make? Ooh, do you want to see my designs for new cannons?”

“No - well, perhaps another time. Right now I am hoping you can help me make something a little different. Are you familiar with the concept of a… Gaydar?”

Hatsume's adjustable eyes blinked a couple of times. “You… Want me to build a baby that finds gay people? I think there are already apps for that.”

Momo felt herself flush a little. She shook her head. “No. I am hoping you can design something that would detect a person’s sexuality. In case, you know, they're having trouble figuring it out by themself.”

Hatsume tapped a soot-covered glove to her chin, eyes narrowing at the challenge. “I don't think that's possible…”

Momo nodded. She was disappointed, but this was always a longshot. She just needed to find a way to distract herself. Hopefully once everyone was home safe she could push this whole identity crisis to the back of her mind and resume her focus on schoolwork. She started to excuse herself.

“...Unless.” 

Chapter Text

BOOM!

“I give up,” Hatsume said after the ringing in their ears subsided. This latest and largest explosion was the last straw it seemed. “It's impossible. It's just too, like, ephemeral. There's no gay gene to sequence for, no queer wave to find on brain scans, no homo enzyme to find in the blood. Sorry, 3D printer.” 

The pink-haired girl looked remorseful as she turned her head towards Momo, who only shrugged in response. “I understand. Thank you for trying.”

The two of them pulled themselves up off the floor, brushed off the blackened soot, and started to clean up the remains of the lab. “I think I've heard of experiments where they test arousal by checking blood flow to genitals while showing the subject different stimuli, but there's all kinds of problems with that, I mean…”

Momo wrinkled her nose in disgust as she worked her broom. “Yes, we definitely aren't doing anything like that. I guess I'll just have to figure out my sexuality on my own…”

“Oh, is that all you wanted?” Hatsume paused, looking up from the control panel of her custom made industrial strength wet/dry vacuum robot. “I'll ask Numbers to help if it matters to you that much.”

Momo blinked. “Sorry, what? Who?”

“One of my classmates, I don't remember his name, but his quirk can get answers on stuff like that. I'll talk to him tomorrow and message you if he agrees.” She pressed buttons rapidly on the control panel of the machine as she spoke. 

“Oh, Hatsume-chan, thank you! That would be such a relief.”

“Yeah, no worries, 3D printer! You can pay me back sometime,” the genius girl grinned, hitting the start button on her machine. She dusted off her hands as it started to whir to life, then started towards the door. “Now, we should run. This thing can't tell the difference between people and dirt yet.”

When Momo got back to the dorms, her classmates were returning just behind her. She was happy to see they were all uninjured. She joined the four for a late dinner of leftovers as they recounted their adventure. Apparently, Power Loader had been very satisfied with the results. Most of the databases had been intact, and the recovered data would do a lot of good. 

“Mind you, we have no idea what any of it actually is,” Denki said, shrugging. “We don't have the right security clearance or whatever. There were lots of different chemical samples there, though, so maybe they were developing drugs?”

“I doubt they use that kind of security for blood pressure pills,” Jirou added. “It took Mina an age to get through some of those doors.”

“Seriously, I'm exhausted,” Ashido said, flopping dramatically in her chair. “If tomorrow wasn't Saturday I think I'd die.” 

“What were you up to today, Yaomomo?” Jirou paid no attention to their classmate's theatrics. “Just studying?”

“...Yes. Just studying.” Momo felt bad about lying, but she wasn't ready to talk about this stuff yet. “Are you good for another study session tomorrow, Denki? I may be a little later than normal starting, but we'll have to see.”

“Studying? On the weekend?” Ashido raised an eyebrow at the electric boy, who ignored her and gave Momo a thumbs up. “What have you done to him, Yaomomo?”

“Careful, Ashido,” Jirou warned her with a smirk. “You might be next.”

“No!” The pink girl raised her chopsticks between them like a defensive barrier. “You'll never get your hands on me or my bad grades, Creati!”

Momo just raised an eyebrow at her nonsense. She really wasn't looking to get her hands on Ashido.

—

Saturday was typically the least intensive school day of the week. Aizawa notwithstanding, most of the teachers understood that the students were too tired from a long week to put in their best effort. Accordingly, the day passed slowly. 

Seeing her friends get home safe and knowing that she would get an answer to her burning question soothed much of her anxiety, but she still felt tense for much of the morning. By the time fourth period came, it was a fight not to check her phone during class. She knew she could. Cementoss wouldn't notice, and being in the back she could see that many of her classmates already were, but it went against everything she had been taught about proper behaviour. Still. She was dying to know if Hatsume had said anything yet.

It was in her hand before the lunch bell had finished ringing. She did have a text from Hatsume! The support class student had messaged her shortly after first period had started, and several times since. 

Hatsume: Numbers is willing to help we can meet up in the lab at 16:15. [8:45]

Hatsume: One thing, he says he's almost never used his quirk on people's sexuality so you need to find some other volunteers to test it on [8:47]

Hatsume: Data data data mwuhahaha [8:47]

Hatsume: Ideally they should know how they identify already and they can't be too shy to tell us [8:48]

Hatsume: Okay? [9:00]

Hatsume: Okay??? [9:27]

Hatsume: 3D printer are you in trouble? [10:40]

Hatsume: Oh you're busy with heroics classes probably, right right right [10:58]

Hatsume: Just let me know if this works when you can [11:00]

Me: That will be fine, thank you. [12:31]

Me: Only I'm not sure who to ask. Do you have any friends who might be willing to help? [12:33]

Hatsume: No I don't have any friends [12:34]

Hatsume: Numbers is only helping cause it's for you and you're a hero [12:35]

Me: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. [12:35]

Hatsume: Lol don't worry I literally do not care [12:36]

She glanced around the classroom. Everyone else had already filed out for lunch. Who was she going to ask? She wanted to keep this as a secret as possible for now. She needed people who were open about their sexuality but could keep a secret. That didn't leave her many options. 

Me: This is probably going to sound strange, but it is important to me and I am being completely serious. [12:40]

Me: I have been struggling to figure out my sexuality. It has been causing me significant consternation. [12:40]

Me: I have found a solution. Hatsume-chan has a classmate who can, apparently, use their quirk to divine a person's orientation, among other things. [12:41]

Me: There is a problem. They say they need people to test it on, and I am not ready to go public with this. So I need to find people I can trust, who can keep a secret, and who know and are open about their sexualities. [12:43]

Me: And they need to be willing to give me a few minutes after school. [12:44]

Me: I know I am asking a great deal, but can you help? [12:44]

She waited what felt like hours for a reply.

Denki: wow ok 1 sec [12:47]

Denki: alright [12:50]

Me: Alright, as in you're volunteering? [12:51]

Denki: ya also i know who to ask [12:52]

Me: Not Jirou [12:52]

Denki: dw, i got this [12:53]

Me: Not just yet, at least, please. [12:53]

Denki: not jirou [12:53]

Denki: i will assemble a team of only the most trustworthy + sensitive bros [12:54]

Denki: softboys assemble [12:54]

Me: I am truly indebted to you. [12:55]

Denki: np [12:55]

Denki: now come get lunch [12:56]

She did. She tried to pay attention to who the electric boy spoke with throughout the day, but it was futile. He was so social, it seemed like he spoke to everyone at some point or another. Therefore, she really had no idea who he would invite until they approached her as she was waiting outside the lab that evening. 

“Softboys, assemble!” Denki said, striking a sentai-style pose. There was a flash of green, and Momo wasn't surprised to see Midoriya pose next to him. He gave her an amused smile, which she returned. She supposed he was a natural choice. He was sensitive, trustworthy, and perhaps too good at keeping secrets.

“Don't call me that,” Shinso said with a sigh. “Hey, Yaomomo.” 

“Hello, Shinsou-kun, Ojiro-kun.” She nodded to the two taller, calmer boys as they approached.

“Wait, we're missing one,” Denki said, turning. Koda shyly popped his head out from behind Ojiro, signing a greeting. She returned it fondly, before surveying the alleged softboy brigade. 

“I suppose Denki has informed you all of what we're doing here?” She asked nervously. The boys all nodded. 

“We're testing a quirk that can supposedly evaluate people's sexualities!” Midoriya exclaimed. “It's actually really interesting, because it's such a subjective, culturally dependent thing for a quirk to scan for. I was wondering if-Ow!”

The green-haired boy pouted at the mild electric shock, giving Denki an annoyed glance before recovering his poise and returning his attention to Momo. “Anyway, Yaoyorozu-san, whatever your answer turns out to be, I know none of us will think of you any differently! And we've all agreed not to tell anyone else about what we're doing here today.”

“I appreciate that,” she smiled at the group of boys. “You all have my gratitude. I am curious, though, Denki. I had expected to see Kirishima-kun.”

“Ah, but he's more of a hard boy,” Shinsou quipped. 

“Nice,” Denki chuckled. “Uh, but honestly? He's a true bro, and I would trust him with my life, but I would not trust him with a secret.”

“Kirishima-kun is trustworthy!” Midoriya protested.

“He totally is.” The electric boy pressed a hand to the back of his head. “But if Mina gets a whiff of gossip, there's a good chance she can trick him into spilling it to her. They've known each other too long. And I love Mina, but if she knows, everybody knows.”

Well, Momo couldn't argue with that logic. She knocked on the door to the lab and the six of them were let in. As part of the transition to second year, Hatsume had been given a private section of the lab, more for her classmates’ safety than out of favouritism. This meant they didn't have to worry about other support students listening in.

The pink-haired girl grinned excitedly when she saw them. “3D printer! Ten million! Generator! Come meet Numbers!”

A short, stocky boy with light, sky blue hair shaved short and wearing a pair of bulky glasses stood near Hatsume, looking annoyed. “Hello, it's nice to meet all of you. I know your names, since you're all war heroes. My name is Uranai Sokutei, and I am a second-year support student. Hatsume calls me ‘Numbers’ because she acknowledges my skill with statistics and probabilities.”

“Pleased to meet you, Sokutei-san. Thank you for agreeing to this.”

He gave her a small smile. “Happy to help.”

Midoriya stepped forward. “Could you tell us more about your quirk?”

“Certainly.” The boy took off his glasses and began to wipe them as he spoke, though they had seemed perfectly clean to Momo. “My quirk is called Census. It allows me to gather certain basic information about a person. I admit I have not used it a great deal, but when I do it's usually blood type, birthday, that sort of thing. Biographical data. It is imperfect, and has an approximately 3.97% error rate.” 

“Truthfully, I have little idea how it works for determining someone's sexuality. Frankly, I detest the idea of invading someone's privacy that way. I have only done so once, as an ill-advised middle school joke, and accidentally outed a classmate.” He frowned, a far away, regretful look in his eyes. 

“I appreciate you making an exception for my benefit, Sokutei-san,” Momo said with a small bow. The boy's smile returned. 

“Of course. Whoever would like to go first, please simply sit down in the circle.” 

The circle appeared to have been painted directly on the floor. Six candles were placed around the edge of it at regular intervals. It had a diameter of about a meter, leaving more than enough room for one person to sit. She could hear Midoriya taking furious notes nearby.

“Oooh, me!” Hatsume plopped down into the center of the circle before anyone could object. The blue-haired boy knelt down outside of it, a look of concentration on his face as he pressed both hands side by side just inside the paint. After a moment, rivulets of wax streamed from the candles, circled around the pink-haired girl, and flowed under her classmate's hands. He pulled his hands away, revealing that the wax had formed writing and solidified. 

“Aromantic, asexual. Is that accurate, Hatsume-san?”

She shrugged. “I don't know, maybe? Never thought about it.”

The boy sighed, his brow furrowing. “Making that a waste of our time as far as data points go. Oh well. We'll use what we have. Next, please.”

Hatsume vacated the spot. Ojiro bravely moved first out of the boys, sitting cross-legged with his tail wrapped around his waist. Sokutei scraped the dried wax off the floor and repeated the process anew, once more pulling his hands away to reveal the text underneath. “Heterosexual. Is that correct?”

“That's correct,” Ojiro agreed. He almost looked a little embarrassed about it, for some reason. “Bona fide heterosexual.”

In a fit of whimsy and gratitude, Momo stopped him as he started to move away from the circle and pressed a hand to his uniform jacket. He gave her a curious look, but snorted when she removed her hand to display the white and black ‘bona fide heterosexual’ sticker she left behind. 

Shinsou went next, surprising no one when the wax announced him to be homosexual. Momo made him a matching sticker, this one in rainbow colours. He looked at it with bemusement but said nothing.

Koda approached the circle with trepidation. “You don't have to do this if you don't want to,” she reminded him. He shook his head, determined, and sat down without a word. Sokutei repeated his feat and read the results. “Panromantic asexual.”

Koda signed it's me with a shy smile and stepped up to Momo, who was only happy to give him a matching sticker. She did have to ask him which colours to use, but she thought it turned out quite well.

Midoriya went next, handing his notebook over to Shinsou for safe-keeping. He gave Sokutei a big smile, eliciting a small blush from the other boy. The green-haired boy confirmed the results with a nod when Sokutei read “Bisexual.”

Denki high-fived Midoriya as they traded places, declaring it a win for the “Bi boys brigade.” He grinned happily at Momo as he waited for the expected result. It took a little longer than the others, and sweat was starting to form on Sokutei's head. He was starting to feel quirk fatigue, it seemed. Momo gave Midoriya a bisexual sticker, which he displayed proudly. 

The blue-haired boy frowned when he pulled his hands away. “That's… strange.”

“What?” Denki said, twisting his neck to see. “Oh, what the hell?”

“Disaster bi,” Sokutei read. Ojiro chuckled and Shinsou snorted. Midoriya grabbed his notebook back from the taller boy and started writing with fervor.

“Dude, come on! No one else got commentary. And why is Midoriya not the disaster?! I can actually flirt and make out and stuff without panicking, unlike him.”

“There's no use complaining, it wasn't deliberate,” Sokutei said, but he was mostly drowned out by the louder hero course students.

“No, I agree,” Shinsou said snarkily. “You're both equally romantically dysfunctional, in vastly different ways.”

“Dude!”

“That is actually fascinating though! I mean, it's so subjective, it must come from someone's perspective, but whose? The quirk user? He can't know Kaminari-kun or me that well. Does it come from our own perception, or maybe the aggregate of everyone who knows us? What if…” Midoriya continued to mutter below Momo's range of hearing.

“Okay, enough. Here, Denki.” She smiled as she pressed a hand to the pouting electric boy's chest. His sticker was larger than the others, a dark storm cloud with the words ‘disaster bi’ emblazoned on it in stylized lightning bolts. It made him crack a smile, at least, and he got up and cleared space for her.

Momo took a deep breath. This was it. She would finally have her answer. She sat down primly in seiza style and waited patiently for the mystery to be revealed.

Sokutei raised his hands, then furrowed his brow. “Well, I did say there was a 3.97% error rate.”

Momo bent down to see the results. “This says I am a… lesbiab?”

Chapter Text

“So, when you say your quirk has an error rate, I don't suppose you can just check again?” Midoriya asked, reasonably.

“No, I'm afraid not,” the support student answered. “The error rate would be meaningless otherwise. If I ask the same question multiple times I always get the same answer. It doesn't, metaphorically speaking, roll the dice anew.”

“So, does this make Yaoyorozu-san a lesbian, or does it mean the whole result is invalid?”

The boy shrugged, giving her a heavy frown. “I'm sorry. I truly don't know. I could try to keep gathering data on my own, maybe…”

“No, that's alright.” Momo gave him a forced smile as she stood back up. “I think this is my answer, and I can accept it. I'm a lesbian. Now I know and I can move on. Thank you very much.”

She gave the support students a bow and departed soon thereafter. As they walked towards the dorms, she slowed to allow the boys to gain some distance from her. Koda and Shinsou walked in comfortable silence, and Ojiro chatted to Denki as the latter sullenly played with his tail.

“So, I guess this was related to what you asked Todoroki-kun yesterday?” Midoriya asked softly as he stepped alongside her.

“Yes. I suppose I should apologize. I hope I didn't startle him too badly.” She blushed. It was only today that she had started to appreciate that her hypothetical question might have been interpreted as a proposition.

“I wouldn't worry about it,” Midoriya reassured her with a smile. “He thinks you were just playing a prank on him. Worst case scenario, he'll try to get you back.” 

Momo smiled back. That was hard to picture. “I can't imagine Todoroki-kun pulling pranks.”

“Yeah, he's a bit too straightforward for that, I think. Kaminari-kun isn't in danger of losing the title of class prankster.” Momo nodded, turning her head to watch the electric blonde ambling ahead with his tailed counterpart. “You and he are good friends, right?”

“Yes, I believe so. He's… easy to talk to.”

“I'm glad to hear that.” Midoriya beamed at her, pure and bright as the sun. “It's important to have people you can talk to about the things that bother you. I hope you know that you can count me as one of those people, too.”

“Thank you, Midoriya-kun. I appreciate that.”

“How are you feeling about being a lesbian?”

“I'm not sure. I'm still processing it, I think.”

He just nodded. She appreciated his willingness to let her think in silence for a while. 

When they got back to the Heights Alliance, an argument was already brewing. 

“Why don't you losers take pride in something you've actually accomplished instead?” She heard Bakugou yelling before she even opened the front door. 

“I don't know, bro, it's pretty manly to put yourself out there like that,” Kirishima said, patting his friend's shoulder.

Shinsou smirked at the explosive blonde, leaning forward in the cocky way he used to provoke people. “Oh, I see. You're jealous. I'm sure Yaoyorozu will make you a sticker too if you want. You just need to tell us if you're straight or…?”

“Shut the hell up!” Bakugou punctuated his shout with a small explosion from his good hand. His lips peeled back in a sneer as he glanced around the room at his various classmates. “I'm sick of all you damn losers cracking jokes and speculating about my private business. So all of you better pay attention! I'm only going to tell you once.”

Ignoring Iida's chops of protests, he hopped onto a nearby table to make his pronouncement, startling those nearby. “All I care about is being number one! My orientation is primosexual! My gender is victory! My pronouns are he/wins! You extras got that? So the next person who asks about it is getting blasted into space!”

With a huff, he hopped down off the table just as Mineta exited the elevator. The purple-haired (balled?) boy was wearing headphones and jamming to music, oblivious to the world around him. He walked to the fridge and poured himself a tall glass of grape juice.

Mineta waved when he saw her and her green-haired companion. “Hey Mido, hey Yaomomo.” His voice was loud, as if the volume in his ears was drowning everything out. He took a sip of his juice and sidled towards them. “Oh, is that a pride sticker? Cool.”

“Ah, yeah,” Midoriya said, putting his hand to the back of his head. “Yaoyorozu-san made them for some of us. If you want one-”

“Nah, I'm good,” Mineta interrupted, then leaned forward and lowered his voice to what he must have thought was a quiet tone. “But does Bakugou have one? Cause I've been wondering for a while now…”

Even as the first explosions started to pop, Momo grabbed Denki and herded him upstairs for their study session. She really didn't need to see this.

—

The study session went okay. The new approach was working well, but they were both having more trouble than usual focusing, and their moods were low. Perhaps it was because they were tired from all week, or perhaps Denki was mourning after Mineta's involuntary career change to astronaut, but either way they called it quits after just a half hour. 

“Something's on your mind,” she observed. Those amber eyes regarded her cautiously. “Did you want to talk about it?”

Denki regarded her silently for a moment, face neutral, then nodded. “Sure. But not here. Let's go somewhere more private.”

“More private than my room?” She raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Look, I know Jirou and Shouji don't eavesdrop on purpose, but there's always a chance she listens in by accident. If we sit near the air vent on the roof, it scrambles the sound. I think.”

She frowned. “We aren't allowed there, though.”

He gave her the gigawatt grin again. “How about this? I'm going out either way, and it's safer if I have responsible supervision.”

She considered for a moment before nodding her acquiescence. The two of them left her room and made their way to the roof exit, where Denki zapped the door panel and pulled the mechanism free just as the electronic lock reset, a motion he had clearly practiced many times. It should probably concern her that he could open the door to any room in the dorms that easily, but the blonde had earned her trust by now. He held the door open for her with an exaggerated bow. She suppressed the urge to smile and instead adopted the poised yet demure gait expected of a highborn lady as she stepped through. 

“Y'know, sometimes I forget you're, like, an actual princess.” He offered his arm as he walked alongside her. She accepted, allowing him to guide them to his favored place by the ventilation system. She created a picnic blanket to spread beneath them before he could plop onto the roof, and they soon sat shoulder-to-shoulder gazing at the dusky orange-purple of the horizon. 

“I'm not royalty, Denki,” she reminded him.

“Whatever Her Majesty says,” he responded dryly, causing her to roll her eyes.

“So, what's on your mind?” Momo said, deciding to cut to the chase.

“Well…” Denki remained quiet for a moment. Since that was a rare enough event, she decided she better let him take his time. He eventually continued, “... I didn't appreciate Shinsou calling me ‘romantically dysfunctional.’”

Momo paused for another moment, expecting him to continue, but he didn't expand on it. “I admit, I sometimes have trouble adjudging the line between playful ribbing and genuine insult.” She tried to take her time and consider her words carefully. She didn't want to accidentally belittle his feelings. “I have often seen you laugh off comments that I might have found offensive.”

“Well, sometimes it's more about who gets to say it, you know?” As the pressure in her arm shifted, she could feel him curl up into himself by a minute degree. She considered what little she knew of their relationship.

Since their joint training with the purple-haired boy, Denki and Midoriya had headed the effort to welcome him as a friend among their class, despite Shinsou’s vocal rejection of any such overtures. By the time he'd officially been enrolled he'd forged close bonds with a number of them, but he and Denki had seemed close friends since then. They often bantered, and had, she recently learned, been making out ‘with intent.’ Now, Shinsou had a boyfriend, and Denki had expressed a sudden disinterest in matters of romance. 

“You feel rejected by him,” she observed. He released a long, slow sigh as he slumped a little more against her.

“Yeah, I guess I do,” he admitted.

That didn't seem like the whole picture, though. “You also said that your heart wasn't in it with him.” 

A moment passed in silence as they watched the clouds shift. “...You're a good listener,” he observed in a grumpy tone.

“I try. So why do you feel that he rejected you if you never really gave him the opportunity?”

“Well… My emotions aren't always rational.” She felt his shoulder shift against her arm as he shrugged. 

“I suppose that's true for everyone. I don't know why I was so anxious about realizing my sexuality. It's hardly likely to affect anything.” 

“Yeah.” Denki's voice was a low monotone, a jarring change from his usual expressive tone. “Y'know, uhh… Well, as hard as it was for you, the Bakusquad has noticed that an explosive somebody has seemed to struggle even more.”

She couldn't help but giggle. “Yes, I think we all saw a little of that today. Poor Bakugou-kun. Does it come from his parents?”

“Well, that's what we thought, but Sero and I asked Mido, and he just laughed.”

She blinked. “It isn't like Midoriya-kun to laugh at the idea of bigotry.”

“Right? According to him, ‘Auntie’ and ‘Uncle’ Bakugou are in the fashion industry, so they're pretty comfortable with queer people.”

“Interesting. I wonder why he's so repressed, then.” She did feel a little guilty gossiping about their classmate against his express wishes, but it was rare for her to feel such a kinship with the angry teen. It was worth exploring.

“Mido thinks he isn't. He says Kacchan would never bow to external pressures.” Momo nodded her agreement on that point. Bakugou was steadfast in his rejection of most social norms, he could hardly be shamed into the closet. 

“But, uh, Mina has her own theory.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. We were up late one night and she got a bit loopy, going on about her different romance theories, and then she had this epiphany. She grabbed my shoulders and asked me ‘what does Blasty fear?’”

Momo considered the question for a moment. It was hard to think of a non-flippant answer. “What did you say?”

“Emotions.” She nodded. She shouldn't have been expecting a non-flippant answer. “So Mina asks me, who makes him feel the most emotions?”

Suddenly, it clicked. That feeling of sudden understanding washed over her, and she felt that she had achieved a deeper level of comprehension of the relationship which their entire class had seemed, at times, to revolve around. “Oh,” was all she could think to say.

“Yeah,” Kaminari agreed. 

“He loves Midoriya-kun, and Midoriya loves him back… Even though Bakugou-kun used to be quite cruel to them.”

“And if there's one thing we learned about Bakugou during the first year sports festival, he can't take a win he feels he didn't earn.”

They say in somber silence for a moment while she digested that. It was so prideful and foolish. A quintessentially masculine tragedy. 

“So the part I can't figure out is…” He trailed off, sounding tired.

“What is it, Denki?”

“... Momo, why are you scared of your feelings for Jirou?”

“I…” She hesitated, flabbergasted by his sudden leap. “I'm not! I mean, I don't! I mean, that, I…” Words were becoming difficult. Her heart was racing, suddenly much louder than the world around her. Her body felt hot. 

A sudden tingling in her hands called her attention to them, and she realized Denki was now holding them. He kneeled infront of her, gently moving their hands up and down as she breathed rapidly in and out. His voice came into sudden focus. “Breathe with me. In and out, just like this…” 

She allowed him to guide her through the breathing exercise, calming her heart rate and allowing the sudden anxiety attack to subside. “You're okay. Everything's fine.” Those amber eyes gazed into hers, though he really needn't worry so much. The unfortunate reality was that they all had a lot of experience with these sorts of episodes since the end of the war. She closed her eyes, taking another few calming breaths. “Can I get you anything? Water? A hug?”

“No, I'm fine, thank you.” She gave him a small smile. He hesitated a second before nodding and sitting back beside her.

“Sorry for, you know, springing that on you.”

She nodded. She didn't want to delay this conversation any further. “Why do you think I have feelings for Jirou?”

“Well, I mean… She's pretty rad, right? I don't know how everybody isn't into her. She's brave, funny, and cool. She has an awesome style and knows all about music. She can play all those different instruments, and her voice is just…”

“Transcendent,” Momo agreed. 

“Right?” He sounded wistful. “Don't you think she's the greatest?”

She nodded. “I do. I admire her greatly.” 

Being around Jirou made her feel wonderful, like she could take on any challenge. The violet-haired girl had unquestionable faith in Momo's abilities and a level of confidence and cool she could only aspire to. “But I couldn't… Be with her.”

“Why not?” Kaminari asked. He made it sound very simple.

She fought to articulate her objections to the idea. “Well, I mean… We've been friends for so long.”

“Isn't that a good basis for dating?”

She frowned. That was true. Denki had been friends with her as long as Momo had, and she didn't think it disqualified them from entering into a romantic relationship. “Well yes, but… I mean, we share a locker room.”

Denki snorted. “So does every potential gay couple in the class. What's it matter?”

“Emotions aren't always rational, I suppose.” Momo chewed her lip momentarily, considering the roiling feeling in her gut. “I just… Don't want to get between you two.” 

He made a long, weary sigh. 

“I'm sorry. I know you said you were sick of talking about romance.”

“Nah, it's okay.” He leaned against her, a reassuring pressure. “Talking with you about this stuff helps me too. You've had a big day, though. Maybe we should pick the rest of this up later.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. When she felt ready, Momo stood up and offered Denki a hand. “Is it too late to get that hug?”

He smiled and allowed her to help him up, then pulled her into his arms. They stood like that for a long moment, then released each other. Denki folded up the picnic blanket and she produced a brick to pin it to the roof for later use. They had just re-entered the building when her phone beeped, indicating a priority message.

Aizawa: Yaoyorozu, see me during office hours tomorrow. [16:27]

“If I got a text from Aizawa like that, I'd be terrified,” Denki said after she read it to him. The two of them descended the stairs to the common room. 

“Aizawa-sensei has a blunt communication style, that's all.”

“Hey! How'd the study session go?” Jirou greeted them from the couch, where she sat with Hagakure and Ojiro watching a tv show.

“Not so productive, today,” Momo admitted as the two of them sat on the adjacent sofa. “Denki helped talk me through some stuff, though.”

“He helped you, huh?” Jirou raised an eyebrow, glancing between them. Hagakure broadcasted turning her attention to Momo by shifting her whole body towards the taller girl, while Ojiro tried to play it cool by keeping his eyes on the television.

“I'm gay,” she said simply. She felt Denki's hand land reassuringly on her shoulder. 

Hagakure cheered. “Thank you for telling us, Yaomomo! We support you one hundred percent! Right, Jirou?”

“Yeah, totally.” The violet haired girl blinked at Momo, a slight flush to her cheeks. She quickly recovered her cool and grinned at Denki. “Wait, Jammingwhey helped you realize you don't like men? So he tried to kiss you?”

“Hey!” The electric boy pouted. 

Momo smiled. “Be nice. He's been a gentleman.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jirou leaned back onto the couch, her mischievous smile softening into something a little more authentic. “He's a good guy. Sometimes.”

Momo felt a warm, pinched feeling in her chest as she glanced between the two. She forced it down for now with a deep breath. “So does this mean it's time to make yourself a sticker, vice rep?” Ojiro asked.

To the delight of the two boys and the confusion of the two girls, she Created herself a large, pride coloured LESBIAB sticker, which she placed proudly on her chest. 

Chapter Text

“As you probably heard, some of your classmates were called in on a last-minute mission recently to recover data and supplies from a destroyed medical research facility,” Aizawa droned from across the desk. She simply nodded. “Some of the data was a high priority for us. That's why the mission was short notice; We wasted no time after we got clearance. Incidentally, the facility belonged to a Yaoyorozu Corporation subsidiary. I can't tell you any more unless you sign this.”

He removed a piece of paper from his desk drawer and slid it across to her. She scanned it in silence. It was a fairly typical non-disclosure agreement, with reasonable terms and a clause allowing for the agreement to be dissolved at the sole option of Yaoyorozu Corporation. As the heir presumptive, she had little to fear. 

Once she was satisfied that the contract contained no nasty surprises, she took an offered pen and signed along the indicated lines without further comment. 

Aizawa smiled. Not the creepy wide grin he used to intimidate his students, but the rare, small, genuine smile she'd only seen on him once before. He produced a disk from the same desk drawer, handing it to her reverently. “That facility specialized in deriving pharmaceuticals from quirks. There's data on a few formulations that could be useful to you as Creati, but if I were you I'd start with KN1. She nodded, picking up the disc. It immediately projected a holographic interface and she selected the suggested file from the menu. The hologram clipped to display a 3d model of a complex organic compound and a selection of text.

KN1

Executive summary : High potency soporific with no known side effects, suitable to be administered as an inhalant. Potential value as pharmaceutical stymied by inability to synthesize efficiently. Project on indefinite hold until new organic chemical synthesis methods are developed. 

Donor : REDACTED

Quirk : Somnambulist. User emits a unique aroma with a violet, gaseous appearance that puts others who breathe it to sleep. 

More precisely, quirk creates airborne particulate solid compounds as structured above. The large size of the molecule ensures that most standard gas masks are sufficient to nullify the quirk. Soporific effect is intensified by the presence of testosterone. Most female patients fall into a deep sleep within three to five full breaths, whereas adult male patients average half that dosage. Compound metabolizes quickly and is soluble in water, so overdose risk is negligible. 

There were more detailed records attached, all the trials and research that had been conducted on this compound. Momo couldn't go through it right now. The hologram was too blurry. She turned off the projection and tucked the precious disk carefully away in her bag, then Created a handkerchief which she used to dab at the water in her eyes.

“Obviously, you won't be immune to the effect like she was, but if you can create a gas mask first, you may find this to be a useful tool in your arsenal.” She didn't say anything in response to that. She didn't trust herself to speak just yet. She nodded her agreement. Aizawa's tired look softened, his brow relaxing as he regarded her carefully. “...She'd be delighted to pass this on to you. There's no better way to honour her memory than to use this to become a better hero.”

She nodded again, a single tear running free. She was so emotional lately, she had to keep it together for everyone.

Aizawa lifted a hand. Slowly, awkwardly, the one-eyed man bent across the table and placed his hand on her head, giving her a pair of gentle up and down pats. It was nice. Strange, but nice. It was wooden and inorganic, but in a way that felt authentic to the Eraserhead they had come to love. 

She smiled at him, masking her insecurities. “I'll make her proud.”

He only nodded. “I know.”

—

“That's so cool! I guess it really was an important mission,” Jirou said. The purple-haired girl was sitting in her desk chair, having turned it towards the bed to allow them to speak face to face while Momo reclined on the firm mattress. 

“Yes, I'm very grateful to all of you,” Momo agreed. She hadn't told anyone else, not yet. The NDA didn't actually prohibit her from sharing the details with her fellow heroes and trainees - they needed to know her capabilities to work with her, after all - as long as she kept the exact chemical formula a secret. Still, she hadn't felt like running into the dorms and yelling that she'd been given the key to Midnight's quirk.

Jirou's remaining jack waved off her gratitude dismissively. “Ehh, I had the least to do. Mina worked the hardest getting through those doors, and Kami had the trickiest part booting up the computers without frying them. Anyway, why so dour? I would have thought you'd spend the whole day memorizing the formula or whatever.” 

Momo tilted her head up towards the ceiling. She had, in fact, tried to do exactly that, but her focus was lacking today. It was incredibly frustrating, and it gave her new empathy for Kaminari's predicament. She wanted to learn and yet no matter how hard she tried, she just felt herself going in circles. “... I don't know exactly, to be honest. I find myself gripped by an inexplicable malaise.”

Jirou didn't respond immediately. She flicked her eyes towards her friend, hoping she hadn't triggered another bout of worry. The shorter girl should be focused on Kaminari, not her. “It's not a big deal, or anything. I probably just need some rest.”

“Mmm. Don't worry, I know what you need.” She spun in her chair and started rifling through one of her stacks of older media. A moment later she held up a small, flat plastic container. “Here it is.”

Momo arched an eyebrow. “I assume it's some form of music?” 

“Tch yeah, you got me” Jirou acknowledged with a small smile as she worked to set up a player on the corner of her desk. “Despite what most people think about me, I'm not actually all about punk rock…”

“I know,” Momo replied without thinking. “You like all kinds of rock music. Your father is the punk in the family.”

Jirou paused and turned away from the player, looking directly at the taller girl. She looked a little surprised, for some reason. After a second, her features softened into a shy, half hidden smile. “You're a good listener, Yaomomo.” 

She finished setting up the player and inserted the disk. “Anyway, yeah, I like the mainstream stuff just as much. But I like showing you punk because I feel like it's the sort of influence you need. Anti-establishment vibes and raw emotional beats. Now I wouldn't tell any music snobs, but this is actually one of my favourites: Billy Talent 's third self-titled album. Early 21st century. Kind of post-punk or post-hardcore, so very much the classic punk energy but with a more varied sound. Eleven tracks, every one a banger, five singles.”

“ Billy Talent ,” Momo said, feeling out the name with her mouth. “Another American band?”

“They were Canadian,” Jirou said, hitting the play button. “Like all the best American bands.” She hit play before stepping over to the bed and plopping onto it. Momo lay down beside her, giving the other girl a respectful amount of space. Jirou shifted until they were touching shoulders. It was a reassuring pressure.

Momo closed her eyes, letting the music wash over her. The angry vibration of electric guitars and an energetic drum beat were quickly joined by a male singer whose voice was tinged with a sharp, measured anger and resentment. This wasn't the first album Jirou had shared, so she knew she was meant to connect with it emotionally rather than just passively listen. 

“I dug a hole so deep

I'm gonna drown in my mistakes

Can't even sell my soul

'Cause it ain't worth shit to take”

The chorus had at least some emotional resonance, pulling faintly at her heart, but she didn't exactly lose herself in it. She could relate to feeling stymied, certainly, and to not living up to her potential. It didn't make her feel angry, though. Just regretful, and anxious. Still, the song was enjoyable enough from a strictly musical perspective.

The second song felt longer. It had a repetitive, metallic sound that intrigued her at first but quickly became monotonous. The low, poisonous resentment in the singer's tone remained, but felt more pointed. After analyzing the central metaphor, she concluded it was about resentment towards a significant other - hardly something she could connect with. 

It was wearying. She liked to think that Jirou knew her well. Did the other girl really expect her to relate to this privileged heterosexual male perspective? Perhaps she could make an excuse to leave early.

The music shifted again as the third track began. 

“They found an empty bottle on her windowsill

The day her mother lost her sleeping pills

She was sick and tired of being invisible

Hard to see in colour when you're miserable

Veronika, Saint Veronika

You can't leave this world behind

So, be strong enough to hold onto us

We're still right here by your side”

Well, that got through her guard. It was a more universal kind of pain, perhaps. She resolved to give the album another chance. 

By the time the chorus hit for the third time on track five, Momo found herself crying into Jirou's bed.

“White sparrows fell from heaven and carried her away

Black arrows cut the strings of my heart, I kneel and pray”

She felt a hand grasp her own, felt the other girl's calloused fingertips and soft palms. She latched on to that source of comfort as she cried herself out, producing a handkerchief from her arm. She didn't think she even heard the next few songs, just letting out some of the grief that had built up over the past few months. 

The music began to take an upswing as she regained her composure. By the final track, she found herself reinvigorated. She rose from the bed, giving her violet haired friend a smile. When the album finally ended, she actually found herself disappointed. 

“Want me to replay the last song?” Jirou asked, her black eyes shining. Momo considered the offer. Now that she was feeling better, she should get back to work. Besides, it was nearly time for lunch. It was a good stopping point.

“Yes, please” she said anyway, surprising herself.

Jirou grinned and her jack snaked out, clicking a button on the player and restarting the song.

By the fifth repetition, the two of them were belting out the words of the chorus at top volume, taking full advantage of the soundproofing.

Jirou gestured dramatically in her leather jacket as she sang “ So get off my road! No, I won't be told! Cause I got my own -”

“ Definition of destiny! ” Momo finished. Spending time like this with Jirou - ‘rocking out,’ as she might call it - was intoxicating, even narcotic. She was glad she'd come here with her problems. Even if the hearing hero wasn't one for deep conversations, she made Momo feel safe to be herself and express her feelings. In fact, she felt like she could do anything with Jirou's support. They really could forge their own destiny.

The song ended, and Jirou grinned at her. As they locked eyes, the smaller girl's grin faded into a shy smile. She spoke softly but quickly. “Since you and Kami are on first names, would you be willing to call me Kyouka?”

Momo felt her cheeks flush. She nodded her assent. “Of course. Feel free to call me Momo, also.”

“Awesome. Thanks, Momo.” Kyouka smiled.

Momo's heart skipped, and something in the back of her mind finally clicked into place.

Denki was right.

The other girl stepped towards her, suddenly looking a little concerned. “Are you okay? You look a little dizzy.” She glanced at her alarm clock and grimaced when she saw the time. “Oh, duh. Come on, let's get you some lunch, you must be starving.” 

She was in trouble. 

—

After they had eaten, Momo used the excuse of studying to get away from her crush. She had a big problem, and she needed help. She really knew nothing about romance, so she had to speak with an expert. That really only left her with one option. Thus, she had ended up knocking at Ashido's door.

“Yo!” The pink girl said, flashing the peace sign and posing as she answered the door. She was dressed casually today, in a plain tee-shirt and shorts. “What's up, vice rep?”

Momo cleared her throat. “Ashido-chan, please teach me about love.”

Ashido stared at her for a moment, then blinked slowly. “I kind of expected this. Okay, come in.” She stepped aside and gestured for the taller girl to enter. Once she did, her pink friend poked her head through the door and cast a glance about before pulling it shut, then ran over to her desk. Momo could see from this angle that she had been on a video call. “Sorry Aoyama, I have to go. That thing I mentioned? It's happening.”

“So early in the day? Scandalous,” a familiar voice said. “ Bon chance! ” He disconnected before Momo could greet him, and the pink girl slammed her laptop closed before whirling on Momo and gesturing to the bed.

“Have a seat. We should, like, manage expectations first,” Ashido said, looking mildly panicked. Momo nodded and sat down. She hadn't expected her request would cause this much stress.

“Okay, so, like, if you just want to make out for a while, I'm super down, but I'm probably not going to want to go any further. Despite the rumors those first year boys have been spreading, I've actually never-”

Suddenly, Momo understood what was happening. “Ashido, wait. I'm not propositioning you.”

She paused, blinking those big, golden eyes at Momo. Somehow, she managed to convey relief and disappointment simultaneously. “Oh. Okay, well, what do you need from me?”

“I want to learn about… Shipping.” 

Any disappointment the acid user had exhibited vanished. Now she was a vision of excitement, vibrating with barely contained enthusiasm, a manic grin spread across her face. “Yesss! Oh my god, where do we even start?”

“Um, maybe you could show me another of your notebooks?” Momo suggested. There were two or three in particular she was extra interested in and had been hoping to have a peak at.

“Oh, no, those are just for raw data. The real work is done here!” Ashido danced over to her overstuffed closet and began jettisoning clothes and costumes into the room behind her as she dug for something hidden. After a moment, she finally pulled out a large piece of corkboard that looked all too familiar.

“Is that Shouto-kun's conspiracy board? We agreed as a class that it needed to be destroyed.”

Ashido laid the board tipped upright on her desk and gave Momo a sheepish smile, pushing her fingers together in front of her chest. She rotated back and forth a little as she avoided making eye contact. “Er, yes. But it would have been a shame to melt it. So I reforged it! Now it will no longer tear us apart - it will bring us together.”

Momo stepped over, taking a closer look. Twenty photos stuck to the board represented each of their classmates, and a web of multicolored strings connected them. She located her own headshot and found it linked to both Jirou and Ashido with a pink thread, to Denki with yellow, and to Shouto with blue. The whole thing was such a mess that it was difficult to focus on one area at a time. Exacerbating it was the fact that one photo was linked to almost all others. This drew her gaze to the goofy, awkward face in the center picture.

“Obviously, it's hard to ignore what I'm calling the ‘Midoriya singularity,’” the madwoman said, acknowledging her stare. “You can see that I've connected all of 1A to him, most with a unique dark green thread. This is because, despite his lack of traditionally attractive facial features, Mido-chan is the most eligible of our classmates and could theoretically pull anyone into a romantic relationship. Well, except for Monoma, but he's only there as Shinsou's boyfriend.”

Momo frowned. She was connected to Midoriya by this dark green thread as well. “Ashido, I can tell you I will never date Midoriya.”

“Mhmm, that's what they all say,” she replied, a twinkle of mischief in her golden eyes. “But even Minetta fell for him.”

“I'm a lesbian,” she reminded Ashido flatly.

“And I super respect that,” the pink girl said as she moved to Momo's side, holding up her fingers to frame the green-haired boy's shocked face. “But what if Izu-chan was… a girl?!”

The taller girl was nonplussed. “He isn't.”

“But what if he was, though?!”

Momo sighed. This was a ridiculous waste of time. “Okay, so what about his other connections?”

“Oooh, well, I think Mido could have any of us, potentially. But some have more potential than others. So I've ranked the, er, top three candidates. The single pink string links to Todoroki. I'm sure you're rooting for him.”

Momo grimaced internally, suddenly realizing she had given Ashido the impression that Shouto-kun was homosexual. Which, maybe he was? It wasn't really their business. “Okay, so why connect Midoriya-kun to Ochako-chan with two pink strings?” 

“She's got a way better shot, I think. Maybe the best, but I'm biased, so I can't be sure. I mean, the way she and Mido look at each other! Isn't it so cute?!” The athletic girl pressed her arms together in front of her, squeeing in joy.

“Okay, and… The metal string?” She pointed at the line connecting Midoriya and the picture of Bakugou flipping off the camera. The explosive blonde was only connected to Midoriya and Kirishima.

“The one truly, provably unbreakable bond. Even if Todo-kun or Ocha-chan win Mido's heart, they'll have to deal with Bakubabe for the rest of their lives.” She shrugged. “Them's the breaks.”

So that was why Ashido had asked her for a titanium wire a few months ago. She sighed, pressing a finger to her temple. She searched the board, running a quick assessment. There were at least a dozen types of string. Could it really be so complex? Also, there were twenty photos, including Monoma. Who was missing?

“...Why isn't Mineta on here?”

The horned girl didn't say a word. She just picked up the board and turned it around so Momo could see the back. Only two photos were present, connected by the same dark red that had joined Monoma to Shinsou. The left photo was Mineta. The right was Ashido's air gun. A heart was drawn around them in red marker, with the letters OTP written below.

She decided not to ask. 

“Okay. Who I really wanted to talk to you about was… Kaminari.” Momo wasn't exactly telling the truth here, but it was close enough. She didn't want to see Ashido's reaction if she asked about herself or Jirou directly. 

Ashido blinked at her, still holding the corkboard up to display her monument to the suffering of Grape Juice. “Oh yeah? What about him?”

Momo steadied herself. “Well, who do you see him with?”

“Hm.” Ashido laid the board back down, gesturing to Denki's photo. For some reason she'd chosen one of the shots from their PR training with Mount Lady, the one where the electric boy was giving the camera what they later learned was the meta-liberation army salute. He had just seen it trending on social media. He was connected to a number of different people with various colours of thread, but the only pink ones connected him to Kyouka and Shouto. “I mean, he's already struck out with half the girls in our year, and Shinsou obviously moved on. There is whatever bizarre thing he has going on with Todoroki, but neither of them will tell me anything. He's, like, platonic besties with both you and I.” 

Momo nodded, though privately she thought they had very different definitions of the word ‘platonic.’ “You have him as a potential match for Jirou-chan, I see.”

“I mean,” Ashido hesitated for some reason, then shrugged. “Yeah. They'd make a good couple. She likes to tease, he has thick skin. She's a little insecure, he thinks the world of her. They have matching aesthetics and tastes. I'm certain he has a big crush on her.”

Momo nodded. “Yes. I think they'd make a good couple, too.” She felt her resolve strengthen, knowing it wasn't just her. She wouldn't let her feelings get in the way of their happiness. 

“But but but! That doesn't mean I think he's the only one with a shot at landing our punk queen.” She grinned and tapped the candid photo of Jirou jamming during band practice. It was connected by pink thread to not only Kaminari but also Koda and Momo. The pink girl waggled her eyebrows aggressively. Perhaps Momo hadn't been as subtle as she thought. 

She pursed her lips, considering the issues at play. “Do you think that it would be hard on Denki if… If Jirou and Koda started dating?”

Ashido smiled slyly. “Maybe a little. I wouldn't worry about Den-chan, though. He's pretty, he's funny, he has a good quirk, he's a good kisser, and he handles rejection well. He'll be fine no matter what happens. Besides he's, like, way too aware of his pretty boy status. A blow to the ego will do him good.”

Momo frowned. That might have been true, once, but Denki had changed a lot over the last couple of years. They all had. 

“Well, maybe if no one else makes a move, I'll see if Earphone Jack wants to try a team-up mission with me, you know what I mean?” She elbowed Momo lightly in the side with a lascivious wink. When the vice rep refused to react, she added “...Just kidding, of course.” 

“Anyway, I still think Kami and Shouto would be cute. Just two very different kinds of blockheads, and both so pretty. Imagine their babies!”

Momo did not imagine their babies. Instead, she simply nodded. “Well, thank you for this, Ashido-chan. I need some time to consider it, I think.”

“Yeah, absolutely! I'm happy to talk more about it anytime.”

Momo said her goodbyes and excused herself, allowing her friend to repeat her offers of further ‘shipping’ education and of a ‘platonic’ makeout session. Neither seemed likely right now, but she supposed she should keep her options open.

She needed to get her thoughts in order. Then, once she was ready, she needed to talk to Denki again.

Chapter Text

“It's another few hours until sunset, you know,” Denki said. The electric boy was giving her a curious look. She couldn't blame him. It was uncharacteristic of her to ask to meet him on the roof, but it was the only place they could have this conversation. 

“Sorry. I couldn't wait.” She walked closer to him, hands clasped before her, and took a deep breath to steady herself. The electric boy was looking at her curiously.

“I have been giving it some thought, and I think you're right.” She gave him an apprehensive glance, but he only stared blankly at her. “About me having feelings for Jirou-chan.”

His lips twitched for a moment, like he was fighting the urge to frown. He grinned at her instead, but it didn't reach his eyes. “Awesome. You two will be-”

“And I've decided to step aside,” she blurted out, rubbing her hands together nervously. Denki's grin faded. His brow furrowed into a look of concern and confusion. She continued, “I don't want my feelings to get in the way of you two.”

She looked down, finding it difficult to maintain eye contact right now. The drone of the air exchange system was loud in her ears. He didn't say anything. After a long moment, she risked peeking up.

Kaminari was wearing an expression she couldn't remember ever seeing on him before. His mouth was a harsh line, his eyebrows were together, and his forehead was wrinkled.

He was angry.

“What the hell are you talking about, Yaoyorozu?” 

She took a step back, shocked. This was totally unlike the happy-go-lucky Kaminari she knew. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his right hand for a moment, seemingly trying to get control of himself. A moment later he pushed up off the ground and gave her a hard look, one that reminded her of Midoriya. “That's so uncool to her!”

She hesitated, unsure of what he meant. Her confusion must have shown, because he went on. “You can't just choose me for her! She deserves the best possible partner! She deserves the chance to be with you!”

Momo blinked, feeling like he'd hit her with one of his lightning blasts. “What? You think she wants to… To date me?” 

“Obviously!” Denki slapped his open palm with the back of his other hand to emphasize his point. He continued to yell at her angrily. “She's totally into you. Who wouldn't be? You're amazing!”

She felt flabbergasted. “I don't - we're friends, that's all…”

Denki crossed his arms over his chest as he rolled his eyes at her. “Seriously? She spends more time looking at your boobs than Minetta does.”

The tall girl’s cheeks burned and she couldn't help but look away. “That's only envy. She's insecure because hers are more modestly sized.”

“Pft, sure. That's why Bakugou's always staring at Mido-kun's thighs, too, he's so envious.” He scoffed. He untucked his right hand from beneath his left arm to point at himself and then her in turn. “I'm the one who's standing aside. You need to confess to her how you feel!”

Momo shook off the daze he'd put her in. This was ridiculous. Contrary to all the etiquette lessons she'd received, she pointed her index finger back at the boy accusingly. “You're a hypocrite! You're doing the same thing I did, refusing to give her the choice of being with you!”

Kaminari blushed, either at the notion of being with Jirou or in response to being called out. His defiant body language didn't waver, though. “Well, I did it first!”

“That's worse!” He had to know that was worse, right? “How can you say I'm being disrespectful to her when you're acting the same way?!”

He grit his teeth for a moment, then glanced down. His angry expression faded a little as he sulkily said “Because you're better than me.”

“What?” She said, confused. Her hand dropped to her hip.

“Because you're better than me!” He snapped at her, his expression clouding again. “I mean, you're literally at the top of the class, and I'm at the bottom!” 

Momo had her own turn to scoff. “You really think grades are-”

“It's not just grades!” He was fully yelling now. Some small part of Momo prayed Shouji was at the gym. “You're brilliant! The smartest person at the school. You're rich, you're kind, you're diligent, a great leader, you have a powerful quirk, you're humble, you're like literally the most beautiful girl I've ever seen - You're perfect! Why would she ever want me over you?” 

Momo felt herself blush harder. Her emotions felt like a tangled web. She had never heard someone viciously spit out compliments like that, and she lived with Katsuki Bakugou. She focused solely on the growing anger she felt on behalf of her friend Denki, pushing the rest down for now. “Because you make her happy, you dumbass! She's always laughing around you! You're funny, and cheerful, and energetic, and honest, and handsome! You have a powerful quirk and you're brave an-”

“I'm not,” Kaminari said quietly. Something in his tone made her hesitate. “I'm really not brave. You remember the Gunga Mountain Villa raid?”

She nodded. How could she ever forget? It preceded the battle where they had lost Midnight-sensei. “You fought on the front lines, along with Tokoyami-kun. They said you absorbed an attack that would have taken out half the team.”

He nodded sullenly, the fire that had possessed him a moment ago suddenly gone. Averting his gaze, he returned to a seated position and tapped the spot next to him. Only when Momo joined him did he continue. “...I wanted to run away. I don't just mean I was scared inside and pushed through it - I literally begged to go back to the rear guard with you guys. Where I thought I'd be safe.”

He sounded so ashamed of it. Momo didn't think it was so bad. Anyone would feel that way. Most of them wouldn't have voiced it like Kaminari, but the difference wasn't cowardice. He just wasn't afraid to admit his feelings. It was a different kind of bravery, that level of emotional honesty. She didn't give voice to her thoughts. The story wasn't over. “Tokoyami-kun told me you were calm once the fighting started. What changed?”

He smiled sadly. "Midnight-sensei. She told me to think about the person who mattered to me the most.” Momo nodded, her own expression softening. It was good advice, as always. “Once I did that, I… I knew I couldn't let her down.”

He didn't say who it was. He didn't have to. Momo leaned towards him, bumping her shoulder into his. “She was worried about you. I knew you'd be fine, though.”

“Thanks… I just wish Midnight-sensei was here. I'm scared again, and her advice is no help this time.”

Momo turned her head towards her blonde friend. He was gazing into the horizon, a deeply sad look in his eye. Something about it felt familiar to her. “What are you scared of?” She spoke quietly, both because it was appropriate to the topic and because her lips were close to his ear.

He closed his eyes and sighed. “I'm scared to consider that maybe… Maybe I do have a chance with Jirou. And I'm way too scared to ask her out. I mean, if I never ask, she can't reject me. If she did, I don't know if I can handle that. Even worse, what if she said yes and ended up regretting it?”

Momo nodded. She leaned further into him, hoping it would offer some comfort. “I understand. I feel the exact same way.” It was true. In fact, she hadn't really understood her own feelings until he gave voice to them. 

“You do?” His head turned towards hers. He looked somewhat surprised. She just nodded. His weight shifted as he leaned back against her, offering her some comfort in turn. “...Sorry, Momo. I shouldn't have pressured you. I wasn't thinking.”

“It's okay,” she replied. The two sat in silence for a moment, their mood somber, before a thought occurred to Momo. “Actually, I should thank you.”

“Huh?”

“That mission you and Jirou and Ashido-chan went on together, you recovered data on Midnight's quirk. That's what Aizawa-sensei wanted to talk to me about. After some study, I should be able to make the gas she used. It's kind of like she's passing it on to me.” She said this last sentence sheepishly. It felt wrong to be so presumptuous, but she wanted Denki to understand how important this was for her. She wanted him to know just how much he had done for her.

She felt the comforting weight disappear as he turned his whole body towards her, his eyes shining as he reached out to take her hands. “Oh my All Might, Yaomomo, that's amazing! Midnight-sensei would be so happy. She knew you were going to be an amazing hero.” 

She smiled and pulled him into a hug. “Thank you, Denki. For being my friend.” He returned the hug tightly, strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her close. So far, the best part of coming out as a lesbian was the freedom she felt to be physically affectionate with her male friend without fear of being seen as improper. It was a warm, pleasant, safe feeling.

“It's really my pleasure, Momo.”

They released each other and shared another small smile. He reached a hand behind his head, scratching. “Alright, so… Maybe we just both cool it for a while. Leave things as they are, until one of us is ready to make a move. And whatever happens, we're still friends, right?” 

“Right!” She agreed. 

“Awesome. Any other life-shaking conversations you want to have while we're still on the roof?” He said, falling back into his usual jokes.

A thought occurred to her. She pressed a finger to her lips as she considered how to word her response, then admitted “I do have one question for you.” He raised an eyebrow silently. “What is going on between you and Shouto-kun?”

The electric boy grimaced, then actually glanced around to check the rooftop for eavesdroppers. “...Okay. You need to promise not to share anything I tell you or that I told you anything. Not with Jirou, not with Midoriya, and definitely not with Todoroki himself.”

“I won't,” she vowed. Her concern was rising. She leaned in, curious. “So there is something going on? What is it?” 

“I don't know!” Denki exclaimed in a tone as low as a whisper. His hands went to the sides of his head, gripping his hair tight. “Not long after the Sports Festival he started acting weird, using my first name and stuff, but I have no idea why or what happened! At first I just rolled with it, because you know, if the prettiest boy in school wants to flirt with me, it can only help my cred.”

Momo forced herself to nod. She didn't love his logic, but she understood how it might have made sense from his perspective. “And now?”

“And now I'm in too deep! It's been over a year. If I admit I have no idea what he thinks we are, he could react badly! What if he thinks we're best friends? Or lovers? I don't want to hurt him.” That sounded sweet, but the glint of fear in his eyes told Momo he was more worried about getting hurt by the dual quirk user in turn. Still, it was a puzzling answer.

“Has he ever tried to kiss you?” She asked, though it seemed unlikely.

He shook his head. “Nope. But he's so hot and cold with me - I mean, like, the opposite of literally. Sometimes it's like we're sweethearts, and other times he acts like he doesn't know me. Did you know he brought me chocolates last Valentine's day?”

Her eyebrows shot up. That seemed definitive. Todoroki had a crush on Denki.

Kaminari threw his arms out to the side in frustration. “But he said it was because Midoriya was complaining about all the ones he got interfering with his diet regimen.” 

Oh. Maybe not then. “I can see why you're confused,” she said, furrowing her brows in thought. This kind of behaviour was totally unlike the serious, straightforward Todoroki everyone else knew.

“He's going to drive me insane.” Denki moaned, hanging his head in defeat. Momo patted him on his crown. She felt the faint tingle of static electricity on her fingers as she disturbed his messy hair. “Thanks,” he added poutily.

“It's still early. Why don't we ask Jirou and Tokoyami if they want to go shopping, and take your mind off of it? We can try that new thrift store.”

That did it. Finally, his gigawatt grin returned in full, wild and unfettered, unmarred by any hints of sadness or fear. It was glorious.

“Momo,” he said reverently. “Has anyone ever told you that you're smart?”

Chapter Text

“I'm a lesbian,” Momo announced to the class. 

Iida reacted first, of course. The blue-haired teen sprang to his feet, chopping the air repeatedly in his enthusiasm. “On behalf of the class, we accept you for who you are and will not treat you any differently! Thank you for sharing that with us!” His bow was so sharp she could hear the wind from it.

The rest of the class answered as she'd expected, a reassuring mixture of support and indifference. 

“Iida's right!” Midoriya said, smiling widely.

“Yeah!” Ochako echoed his sentiment with a fist pump.

Denki flashed her two thumbs up and his gigawatt grin. Bakugou scoffed and ignored her. Sero didn't react at all at first, then feigned comical shock and mimed fainting. Momo didn't understand the gesture Tsuyu made, as her classmate tapped a fist over her froggy heart with a serene expression. Satou offered to bake a cake.

“So you're into girls?” Shinsou drawled. “Sounds gay. Couldn't be me.” He held up a hand to Ojiro, who gave it a high-tail.

Lesbianism was declared “super manly” by Kirishima, whose quirk evidently rendered him impervious to both bullets and irony. Shouji and Tokoyami gave her respectful nods, whereas Koda made a silent, subtle clapping motion. Todoroki's expression was as opaque as Hagakure's was transparent, but her cheering gestures made her position clear. 

Kyouka mouthed the word ‘cool.’ She may also have said it aloud, but it was impossible to hear her over Ashido's excited screaming. 

Mineta was sweating. Momo decided it was time to push her luck. “If anyone else has any comments or questions, I would like to get them out of the way now.”

All eyes turned towards the grape-headed boy, including a pair with menacing black sclerae. The sound of an airgun being cocked echoed throughout the suddenly silent room. Minetta stood up slowly, his movements more rigid and robotic than Iida's had ever been. With visible strain, he said “Thank you for trusting us with this information, we all support you.”

The tension drained out of the room as he sat back down. Ashido nodded in satisfaction, and Momo breathed a sigh of relief before taking her seat. 

The bell soon rang for homeroom, and everyone was silent and ready before Aizawa-sensei had opened his eye. “Reconstruction is slowing down as there's less and less suitable work for you to do. After consulting with the principal and Recovery Girl, I've decided that it's about time to resume practical training exercises, including quirked sparring. The first session will be this Friday. Those of you who have been slacking off will soon regret it. I know some of you have been talking about costume upgrades, so make sure those forms are in by end of day tomorrow.”

—

“I'm so excited to try out my new costume upgrades! I just hope I don't get matched against anyone too strong. Then again, our heavy hitters are all nursing injuries, so maybe now's the time to beat them. You guys think I could take Todoroki right now?”

Momo and Kyouka exchanged glances. Denki grimaced, and held up his hands to stop them before they could say it.

“Anyway, I'm not so hopeful,” the purple-haired girl said from her spot lying on her bed. “Tokoyami is as strong as ever, and I'm still injured myself. I'll have a hard time no matter who I'm up against.”

“Yeah, you're one of the heavy hitters I was talking about,” Denki said, rocking back and forth on his heels by the door. Kyouka rolled her eyes, but from her seated position nearby Momo could see she was suppressing a smile. 

“I expect that Sensei will match Tokoyami-kun against Todoroki-kun. The latter is still recovering, but his natural light-based edge against the former should even it out.”

“Makes sense,” Kyouka agreed. “By the way, did you see Bakugou's face? I thought he'd be excited to fight, but he looked really dour.” 

Ever since Momo's big rooftop conversation with Denki, things had calmed between the three of them. They were hanging out with no awkwardness, and Momo's coming out hadn't changed anything. It was nice. She hoped it would last.

“Well, you know how Bakubro is,” Denki said with a shrug. “He's worried about the same thing he always worries about.”

“Oh, right.” It was Kyouka's turn to grimace. “I guess quirk training isn't so fun for Midoriya, since he's only got finite use of his quirk left. Once he uses it all up…”

“Maybe Aizawa will just let him skip training?” Denki offered weakly, met by doubtful silence.

Momo said what they all knew, because she felt someone should. “He can't. If Midoriya-kun doesn't practice with his new, more limited powers, he won't be ready to graduate and deal with real crises.”

Denki nodded. “Yeah… It just sucks. Poor Mido looked pretty upset, too.”

“I doubt he was worried for himself, knowing Midoriya-kun,” Momo replied. 

“Right, right.” The electric blonde's brow furrowed and his eyes went wide. He moved into a hunched expression, as if trying to seem smaller than he was, and gestured to Momo with a pleading hand. “Kacchan, you have to be careful! You can fight with your injured wrist or you might hurt yourself! I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you!”

Adorably, Kyouka snorted into laughter at the impression. Determined to match him, Momo yelled back. “Shut the hell up, De-Izuku! You're the one with the busted quirk, ya damn nerd! If anything happened to you, I'd murder everyone in this room and then myself!” 

She felt herself blush, but Denki gawked at her, clearly impressed. Kyouka howled in laughter, then sprang up from the bed excitedly. “Oh my All Might, can we finally talk about that? Hey guys, is it gay to charge a villain while quirkless just for the barest hope of saving your childhood friend?”

They snickered a little, though the sludge villain incident was actually quite disturbing. They hadn't known about it until long after it had happened. With all the media coverage following the war, a lot of details concerning Midoriya and Bakugou's relationship had come to light. The full story painted quite a picture.

“I don't know, is it gay to punch your hero in the face to save your childhood friend?” Denki replied, eager to match her. 

Kyouka didn't hesitate. “Is it gay to awaken a whole new quirk because Monoma made fun of your rival?”

“Is it gay to sacrifice your body to protect your rival?”

“Is it gay to wake up from a god damn coma and immediately rage to your rival's bedside, demanding that he live on penalty of death?”

“Is it gay to repress all non-anger emotions your whole life and then cry when your rival loses his quirk, because you wanted to compete with him forever?”

“Is it gay to keep a secret from everyone, including your teacher and your beloved single mother, only to spill it to your childhood friend at the first opportunity?”

“Is it gay to gush over everything your rival does and how amazing he is?”

Momo cleared her throat and gave them both a reproving look. Kyouka just shrugged, but Denki seemed a little remorseful. Before he could apologize, Momo asked “Is it gay to call a seventeen year old man Kacchan?”

The other two exploded into laughter. Spurred on by her success, Momo tried again. “Is it gay for you and your rival to incorporate elements of each other's costumes into your own?” Guffaws.

“Is it gay to perform an explosive kabedon on your teammate during a training exercise?” Cackles.

“Is it gay to kiss, just once, tenderly, in the dorm room at night when you think no one else is watching?” Stunned silence.

Kyouka spoke first. “Momo, did that… Actually happen?”

“I have to assume,” she replied with a smile. Her best friend flopped back onto the bed with a snicker, whereas Denki rolled his eyes in a good-natured way. 

“No way. Bakubro will never make the first move because he doesn't feel like he could ever deserve Midoriya, and Mido will never make the first move because he's incapable of realizing Blasty has feelings for him. They are doomed to eternally orbit each other unacknowledged. Like lesbian sheep.”

Momo wondered idly if she should be offended by that. Instead, she suggested they watch a movie together. While her friends argued over whether something called Hero Cruncher IV was bad in a funny way or funny in a bad way, she checked her phone. There was one missed text.

Shouto-kun: We should talk. My room, tomorrow after class. [18:21]

Chapter Text

Momo walked to Todoroki's room with a hint of nervous trepidation. She was usually comfortable with Shouto-kun, but usually she hadn't propositioned him for sex and then declared her lesbianism. So things were a little unusual.

The school day had moved slowly, despite the fact that hero training had resumed in earnest. Aizawa had run them through some obstacle courses as a ‘warm-up,’ though it had felt challenging to her. 

She knocked on the boy's door. “Come in,” the cold voice said from inside.

The bi-colored boy was seated at the edge of his bed. He gestured at the chair by his desk. Momo sat, trying to read his impenetrable facial expression.

“So,” he said slowly, “I guess I missed my shot with you.”

Momo didn't know what to say, so she remained silent. 

“That was a joke,” Todoroki explained helpfully in the same monotone. 

“Oh,” Momo replied. After a moment of silence, she added a laugh. “Ha ha.”

Todoroku nodded. “I assume your question to me was related to you questioning your sexuality.”

“Yes, exactly. I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable.” She gave him a small bow. 

He nodded in acknowledgement. “It's fine.”

“So… What did you want to talk about?” 

Todoroki regarded her coolly for a few seconds before replying. “...I wanted to make sure that we're still friends.”

Momo felt her eyes widen and jumped to her feet, balling her hands into fists. “Of course we are, Shouto-kun!”

“Good.” The bi-coloured teen's expression still hadn't changed. “I wasn't sure, since you didn't talk to me about any of this stuff.” 

“Oh.” Momo sat back down, her chest suddenly feeling very heavy. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she needed to be honest with her friend. “I just… You're amazing in so many ways, Shouto-kun, but I thought you would be ill-equipped to help with this.”

“I see.” He sat in silence for a moment before continuing. “I want you to know you can talk to me about your problems, even though I may not know what to say.”

“I… That means so much to me. Thank you. I feel the same way. I suppose there are some things that have been on my mind lately.” He gestured with an open hand for her to continue, so she took a deep breath to get her thoughts in order before recapping the recent events.

“So, it all started a week ago when Jirou-chan told me she was worried about Kaminari-kun. I offered to help. He seemed to be depressed, even though he was acting like everything was fine, and his grades were even worse than usual. That day I found him by himself on the roof, just watching the sunset and listening to music. I tried to talk to him but he just pretended everything was fine. I did get him to agree to let me tutor him more, though.”

Todoroki nodded his understanding. “That sounds prudent.”

“Thank you. Unfortunately, I didn't do a good job the first tutoring session we had. His focus was even lower than it was during our first year, and I didn't tailor my lesson plan to his individual needs. I did determine that he was lacking in motivation. Competition just doesn't seem to light enough of a fire in him right now. That's when I got the idea to start making stickers.”

“Oh, yes. I still have mine.” Todoroki gestured to the lapel of his uniform, where the ‘good friend’ sticker she had made him was stuck. She smiled to see he'd preserved it.

“So the next day, at lunch, Ashido-chan asked us for thoughts on her appearance, and I…” Momo blushed, glancing away from the dual-quirk user's impassive face. “I realized that she's very pretty. Anyway, Kaminari-kun and I had another private study session, and this time went much better. I accounted for his unique learning style and gamified the process, and the results were very positive. We also… Bonded, I think. He opened up a little and we spoke about romance. I realized it was a topic I had been avoiding thinking of. I had suspected he had a crush on Jirou, and I think she reciprocates, but he seemed to think she liked someone else.”

Todoroki nodded, still not showing any emotional reactions. “I see. You believe this to be the source of his upset?”

Momo nodded hesitantly. That was the core of it, at least, even though she thought it was more complicated. “Well. I found a notebook belonging to Ashido-chan that she had been using to record… Suspected romantic interests of one of our classmates.” She decided not to tell Shouto that it was about him specifically. “I was mentioned in it, and it led to some misunderstandings… I accidentally implied I was homosexual to Ashido-chan, and it really bothered me in a way I didn't understand at the time. It led to me realizing that I'd never really thought about my sexuality. So… I started thinking about it. Who I'm attracted to, if anyone. That was the day I, um…”

“Asked me if I would like to have sex with you,” Todoroki filled in.

“Yes. That.” Momo smiled awkwardly, though the boy seemed unbothered. 

“Alright.” He paused for a moment, tilting his head by just an inch. “So how did you figure it out?”

“Well. First, I asked if Hatsume-chan could make a device that could tell me the answer. It didn't work, but she did know a support student with a quirk that she thought could help. We tried it, and my result was… Lesbiab.”

Todoroki blinked. “You mean lesbian?”

Momo shook her head. “Apparently the quirk has an error rate. I thought about it, though, and I realized that everyone I've felt attraction to has been a woman. So… Lesbian.”

Todoroki nods. “That sounds like the most likely conclusion. What happened with Kaminari?”

“Well, we had another study session, and another chat. He… Suggested that the reason I had refused to consider my sexuality was that I was scared of my own feelings for Jirou-chan.”

Todoroku only nodded. She hoped the lack of reaction was just his characteristic flat affect. She would feel foolish if even Todoroki had seen through her. “While I was still processing that, Aizawa-sensei called me to his office. They found the formula for Midnight-sensei's quirk. I'm still memorizing it, but… It's kind of like I can carry her legacy on now.” 

“I got really overwhelmed by all the emotions, but Jirou-chan helped me process them. Which was when I realized that Kaminari was right. I like Jirou-chan. Romantically.”

Discouragingly, Todoroki still just nodded. “I spoke to Ashido-chan about it. She spends a lot of time thinking about potential romantic relationships among members of our class. We spoke about Kaminari-kun and Jirou-chan. She even talked about Kaminari-kun and you.” At that, she thought she saw the faintest flicker of a smile on the cold boy's face. 

“At the end of that conversation, I thought I knew what to do. I told Kaminari that I would stand aside to allow him and Jirou to be together. He… Actually got really mad at me. He said I was just scared… I realized he was scared too. In the end we decided that neither of us was ready to ask her out. Since then things have been good, I think.” Todoroki nodded again. “Shouto-kun… Do you think we're just being cowards?”

“No. I think it's brave to recognize your limits.” He seemed to hesitate for a moment. “I haven't thought about this romance stuff at all. I'm just not ready for it. I'm still figuring out how to be friends. Do you think that makes me a coward?” 

Looking into those fierce heterochromatic eyes, Momo could never think such a thing. She knew what Todoroki had been through. “Of course not.”

“Then you aren't a coward either. You've figured a lot out very quickly. Give yourself some grace.”

Momo smiled. “You're right. Thank you, Shouto-kun. So… You really haven't thought about this stuff at all yourself?” He shrugged in response. Momo had to ask. “Then… What is going on with you and Kaminari?”

Shouto blinked. “You should ask him.”

“I did.” He had sworn her to secrecy and then explained that he was going insane because he had no idea why the half-cold half-hot hero was so hot and cold with him. 

She saw that faint hint of a smile return. “What did he say?”

“I can't tell you,” Momo said firmly. “Please, Shouto-kun?”

“You have to promise not to say anything to him about this.” She nodded her assent. “Do you remember at the Sports Festival during our first year, he played that prank on you and the other 1-A girls?” 

She certainly did. Mineta and he had tricked her into making cheerleading costumes for the girls and convinced them they were supposed to wear them. It was not one of Denki's finer moments, but he had grown since then. Perhaps Mineta had too, at least a little. 

“Well, I privately pointed out to him that by pranking our female classmates specifically, particularly to change their clothes into more revealing outfits, he had committed sexual harassment. He explained in turn that such pranks are harmless, and would even bring our class together.”

Momo frowned. What a terrible lesson to take away. She reminded herself that the Kaminari of today knew better. Hopefully.

Shouto continued, apparently unaware of her discomfort. “So after Midoriya impressed upon me the importance of team building, I decided I should do my part. Kaminari was the natural target, since I already knew how he felt about such things.”

Momo cocked her head. “Wait. So you, Todoroki Shouto, pulled a prank on Denki?”

“Technically, I'm still ‘pranking’ him. Ever since then I've made a point of acting as if we have an elevated level of intimacy. I wasn't going to reveal my motives until next year.” Momo felt herself gape at him. Todoroki must have noticed, because he cocked his head. “Why? Do you think he'll be upset?”

She thought about it for a moment. How would Kaminari Denki react when he found out that the relationship that was giving him so much anxiety was an elaborate, years-long prank? “No,” she answered finally. “However, there is a chance he falls in love with you.”

“Hm.” Todoroki nodded in consideration. “...That's an acceptable risk. Plus it would solve your problem, it sounds like.” Momo laughed, but that seemed to confuse him. It was so hard to tell when he was joking. “Well, thank you for talking to me. I should probably get back to studying.”

“Of course! Thank you so much for inviting me over. I look forward to our next talk.” Momo bid her farewell and left the boy to his own devices, feeling relieved. 

She walked down to the common area, where she saw the Bakusquad playing a video game. Kirishima and Bakugou flanked Denki on one couch, with Ashido perched on the arm on the redhead’s side. Jirou was lying across the other couch, and Sero sat on the floor. At Momo's approach, Jirou sat up and patted the seat next to her. As Momo accepted the invitation to sit, the boys roared.

“Agh! So close!” Sero hung his head in defeat.

“Can't beat Bakubro, man,” Kirishima declared sagely.

“That shortcut he used, that's the one Jirou found last week, right?” Denki glanced over to the hearing hero. When he saw Momo had joined them, he gave her a big smile, which she returned with genuine warmth.

“Yup,” Jirou said, raising her chin. “Stole my heartbeat signature, now he's stealing my moves. I guess Monoma is rubbing off on him.”

“Watch it, Ear!” Bakugou snapped. “My heartbeat scar is totally different, and Copycat isn't any more annoying than the rest of you losers. Ugh, whatever. Pinky, you're in. I have shit to do.” He stormed away, ignoring his friend's protests. 

Once he was out of the room, Kyouka scratched the back of her head. “Maybe I hit a sensitive spot?”

“Nah, don't blame yourself. He's been extra cranky lately,” Sero explained as he fiddled with the settings for the next race.

“Did something happen?” Momo frowned.

Kirishima shrugged, looking sullen. “He won't tell us. We're not smart enough to help, apparently.”

Kyouka flopped up against the taller girl. “Alright. I guess our resident genius is up. It's all on you, Kaminari.”

The remaining Bakusquad laughed, Kaminari included. “Yeah, I'm on it guys, no worries. Seriously, Kacchan doesn't want our help. He'll be fine, he's the toughest guy we know.”

Momo wondered.

Chapter Text

The next day's classes seemed to pass quickly. When the bell rang for lunch, Momo sent her friends ahead and caught Bakugou's eye. He glared at her, but was smart enough to understand what she wanted. The two of them stepped aside for a quiet conversation in the hall.

“What, you want to call me an asshole for what I said to your girlfriend?”

Momo ignored the distraction. She kept her voice cool and level. “You know that you shouldn't have called Jirou-chan that.”

The explosive teen scoffed and glanced away. “Yeah, obviously. So what? I'm trying to do better but I still backslide sometimes. She'll get over it.”

Momo nodded. “You're right.” That seemed to surprise him. His gaze returned to her own eyes, one blonde eyebrow raised in befuddlement. “So I'm more worried about you.”

Bakugou's face darkened. “I don't need your damn pity! And don't think you're gonna fix my problems with a fucking sticker.”

She shook her head. “I'm not offering pity. You're my friend, and I want to help with what's bothering you. It's obviously something big. You can't claim I'm too stupid to help.”

“Alright, shut up!” He growled at her, glancing around. “Just… Meet me after school today and don't say a damn thing to anybody!”

“Agreed.” He growled at her for another few seconds, but she just maintained a steady gaze until he stalked away to the lunchroom.

Momo took a few seconds before following, knowing Bakugou wasn't in the mood to walk with her. Once she'd acquired the generous portions required by her quirk, she took a seat by Kyouka and across from Tokoyami. Denki was eating with them today. She nodded at the electric boy as she sat. “Eschewing the squad today?”

“If that means avoiding? Yeah. Bombagou's been in a particularly explosive mood lately, as you saw.” The concerned look he gave Kyouka betrayed his real motivation, but the hearing hero actually seemed in good spirits. 

“I bet starting quirk training again reminded Murder Queen that Mido's powers are on borrowed time,” she said with a shrug. 

“Indeed, to foresee the end of a loved one is a dark curse,” Tokoyami added.

The goth was often overdramatic, but that was too far. Momo tried to put things in perspective. “Things aren't that bad. Midoriya-kun is going to lose his quirk, not his life.” 

There was a moment of silence around the table. No one wanted to say it, but as hero students, they all felt that one was nearly as bad as the other.

—

After school, Bakugou took her to one of the support course labs he somehow had acquired a key to. He refused to say a word until he had locked the door, searched the whole room, and made sure it was empty of all people and listening devices. 

“See? No radio signals.” 

Bakugou stared at the RF scanner for a moment longer, then nodded. “Can I keep this?”

“Sure.” Momo gave him a small smile. All the device had cost her was a few calories, after all, and it might be useful to Bakugou in his hero work. She didn't want to negatively impact the Japanese economy, but in this postwar period high end electronics just weren't available for sale. 

Bakugou sighed and slipped the scanner into his pocket, then turned his back on Momo. She watched as he approached the back wall of the room and pushed one of the wall panels out of the way. Momo gasped as she realized someone had deliberately vandalized school property to create the secret compartment Bakugou was using now. He removed a briefcase from the hole and laid it on a nearby table. As Momo approached, he unlocked the case, but didn't open it. Instead he raised his eyes to glare at her. “You sure you can keep this secret?”

Momo frowned. He knew the answer to that. “Bakugou-kun, is this about Midoriya-kun?”

The explosive teen growled, his hands sparking. He ground his teeth for a moment, then took a deep breath and seemed to calm. He really was trying. “You know he's going to lose his Quirk.”

Momo nodded. “Yes. He sacrificed it to save the whole country, maybe even the world.”

“Yeah, that's him,” he grumbled. “Our damn class martyr. When he told us, I saw something in his eyes that I've never seen in him before. It was… Defeat.”

Bakugou's eyes flicked down to the floor. Suddenly, Momo noticed the dark circles around his eyes. For a split second, in a moment of irony, she thought she saw something in him that she had never seen in him before. It was a look of profound despair.

Balugou growled again, returning to his usual angry composure in an instant. “I know him better than anyone, so trust me. When his quirk runs out, that dumbass is going to quit hero work.”

Momo blinked. “Well, yes, of course. I mean, he has to, right?”

“Fuck no!” Bakugou snapped, pointing a finger across the table, inches from her nose. She didn't flinch, and he seemed to deliberately calm himself again. “...Look. He never let being quirkless stop him before. He was going to be a hero anyway.”

Momo nodded as he lowered his finger. “You're right. Midoriya could do a lot of good without a quirk, but he still couldn't engage with villains and disasters on remotely the same level he could with his quirk, right?”

Bakugou took a deep breath, placing both hands on the briefcase, and looked her in the eyes. Suddenly, something clicked for her. She gasped. “Armored All Might.”

Bakugou gave her a small nod. For a moment, she held her breath, expecting the briefcase to unfold into the most powerful support item ever devised, but no. It was a normal briefcase, full of papers. Bakugou handed her a small stack.

She flipped through the first few pages. There were design documents and technical manuals that were more than half covered with black ink, partial blueprints, and page after page of pseudocode drafts. “Where did you get all this?”

“Melissa, obviously. You know, the inventor? I'm not the only blonde that wants Izuku to keep fighting.”

Momo didn't look up from the documents. She flipped through quickly, beginning to sort them into different piles on the table. “Why are they incomplete, then?”

“Tch.” Bakugou growled. “Apparently, putting together All Might's special suit was an international effort. A lot of the tech involved was provided to Melissa with strict non-disclosure clauses. Even if she wanted to risk going to prison like her dad, some of it was provided as black boxes, so even she doesn't know how it works.”

“Right, I see.” Momo picked up the remainder of the papers and continued to sort them, taking in glimpses as she went. “Most of it is just secondary systems, Melissa clearly did the most important work herself.”

“Yeah?” There was a spark of hope in the blonde's snarl. Had he not realized that? Bakugou was so intelligent, it surprised her whenever there were things he couldn't do. Still, everyone has blind spots, and he obviously wouldn't have as much experience reading support item blueprints as the scion of the Yaoyorozu family.

She nodded and continued to work for another few minutes. Once the papers were sorted, she collated the various blueprints into a more complete diagram. Bakugou's patience must have run out, because he barked an interruption as soon as she had the complete picture strewn across the table. “Well? How far are we?”

“Well…” Momo decided to be brutally honest. She was talking to the young man who killed the original All for One, he could handle it. “There are six major barriers. First and second, there are two vital missing systems not in any of these blueprints. Third, all this technology needs to be adjusted from All Might's size and needs to Izuku’s. That's not a trivial task, especially insofar as it will require making things smaller. There isn't any spare space in these designs.”

Bakugou just nodded, arms crossed, waiting for her to continue. “Fourth, we need safety and bug testing. The original suit was deployed in an emergency situation, and the whole world is lucky that nothing went wrong, because these-” She tapped the stack of technical manuals. “-Make clear that they had no idea whether or not it would work.”

Momo couldn't help but shudder. It was unnerving, knowing how close they had come to losing the war. “Fifth, it needs staying power. The original suit was designed for a single deployment, and, well, you saw how it held up after a short battle.” 

She paused, and Bakugou gave her a wordless glare to continue. Momo sighed. “Sixth, all those technical problems I listed…They'll require a lot of iteration and testing, rare pieces, world class engineers… It's going to be astronomically expensive. I mean, probably more than my family's entire fortune. I'm sorry, Bakugou.”

She expected him to be crushed, but he only shrugged, hands in his pockets. “Whatever, that's the easy part.”

Momo just stared at him for a moment. “Bakugou, I'm saying it will cost more than the Gross National Income of several countries.”

“Yeah, I get it.” He scoffed, glancing away. “I'm going to be the number one hero in the world, more famous than All Might. I'll earn tons of money. Besides, Izuku thinks we have years before his quirk dies. I have lots of time.” She shook her head. Years to earn billions of yen, if not tens or hundreds of billions. He was delusional. “What are the missing systems?”

Momo sighed, gesturing to a section of the blueprints that displayed the basics of the arm assembly. “The power source and the regulator. There's enough here that theoretically could be used to assemble parts of the suit, like the arm here. It would be enough to protect him and give him massively increased strength, except it would need to be hooked up to a massive generator to function and it would be stuck on maximum output. Without a power source, the suit isn't mobile. Without a regulator, he wouldn't be able to grab anything or anyone without crushing them.”

Bakugou growled, pulling his hands out of his pockets and using them to rub his temples. “Alright, Ponytail. I get it. Thanks. At least now I know what I'm looking at. I'll figure it out from here.”

He started to clean up the papers, but Momo stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Not on your own. You need help.” He turned his head to give her a glare, but didn't shake her off. She took that as an acknowledgement that he knew she was right. “I can't promise my family's money, it isn't mine to spend. But I can suggest the Yaoyorozu Corporation invests in acquiring companies and patents that contributed to the Armored All Might suit and Shield Labs. It's probably a good business decision anyway. I can also study some of these schematics and see if I can figure out more of what's missing.”

Bakugou swept the papers off the table and shoved them into the briefcase, then slammed it closed. To her surprise, he then whirled and handed it over to her. “...Fine. You understand this stuff better than I do, for now. Don't fuck up.”

She took it from him with a small smile. “Once my career starts, I'd be happy to contribute to the cost, too. I'm sure the whole class would if you told them.”

Balugou kicked the floor with a sneer. “Yeah, I guess. Just don't tell anyone yet. Izuku can *not* find out about this before it's ready.”

She nodded. He was right. Their ‘class martyr,’ as Bakugou had called him, wouldn't let them all put so much money and work into helping him. He would try to stop them somehow. It needed to be a surprise. “I just have one request.”

The blonde looked at her suspiciously. “I want you to try to apologize to Kyouka.”

He scoffed. “Kyouka, huh? ...Fine, whatever.”

He gestured towards the door, and the two walked back to the dorm together in silence. 

—

Kyouka and Denki waved at Momo from one of the couches as soon as they entered the common room. The tall girl waved back, then gave Bakugou a significant look before approaching them. She could hear him drag his feet as he stalked along behind her. “Hello, you two. Bakugou-kun told me he had something he wanted to say.” She stepped aside, meeting his glare with an encouraging smile. 

Denki and Kyouka exchanged a glance, then shrugged and looked up at Bakugou. “What's up, babykiller?” 

He kicked the ground and snarled at the hearing hero, not removing his hands from his pockets. “Jirou!” He stared at her for a few seconds.

“Uhh, yeah?” She cocked her head, giving Momo a concerned look.

Denki scratched the back of his head. “Spit it out, Kacchan. It's not like you to be shy.”

“Shut it, Sparky! Jirou… I'm an asshole.” It wasn't *quite* an apology, but he didn't look like he was going to say anything else.

Kyouka blinked at him. “Yeah, man. We know.” Denki snickered.

Bakugou shouted at her, “That's all you’re fucking getting!” Momo released a sigh as he spun on his heels and started to stalk away toward the stairs.

Monoma, who was sitting with Shinsou at a table across the room, seemed to catch his attention with a nod. With an air of reluctance, Bakugou changed course to join the two of them.

Denki spoke first. “Momo, how did you get him to almost apologize?” 

She sat down between her friends with a small shrug. “I just talked to him, really. He can be very reasonable.”

A muffled electric guitar riff came from nearby. Kyouka whipped her phone out of her pocket and checked the screen, then sighed and stood. “As much as I'd love to help you get the truth out of her, I need to go call my dad. I'll talk to you later, Momo. Bye Sparky.”

“Seeya!” They gave her their goodbyes and Kyouka rushed up the stairs, leaving just the five of them in the room. Denki gave Momo a nod. “We have quirk sparring again starting tomorrow. Are you as excited as I am?”

“I think I am, yes. I have a few new items I've learned to create that I believe will be useful.” She smiled, and the blonde matched it with a grin.

“Nice! Is there a chance we'll see you unveil, you know…” He leaned in to whisper. “Midnight’s quirk?” She tried to suppress her frown, but the collapse of his grin proved she had failed. He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Well, don't worry about it. You'll get it eventually.”

“I'm sure you're right.” It didn't feel true, but she said it anyway. Sometimes that was the first step. “What about you? You said you had some new tricks, right?”

It was his turn to look less confident, but he leaned back and nodded. “It might not work, but I had some ideas I wanted to try. I had to get my costume upgraded for one of them, but… Well, you'll see.” His grin returned. “I don't want to spoil the surprise.”

“I'm looking forward to it.” Momo watched him carefully. They had become close, and she was learning to read his expressions. This smile seemed forced. After a moment, she caught him glancing briefly towards Shinsou. “Denki.”

His gaze snapped back to her, and the brief uncomfortable look was replaced with a fresh smile. “Yeah? What's up, Momo?”

“It's nearly sunset. Why don't we hang out somewhere else?”

“For real?” His smile began to reach his eyes. She nodded. “Alright, cool. I'll meet you up there, I just need to stop by my room for one sec.” He hopped up with an excited air, and the two ascended the stairs together.

—

Momo hadn't been waiting long when Denki joined her on the roof. He had brought his acoustic guitar with him. As soon as he sat down, he began to strum a tune.

The two of them sat for a while, listening to him play, watching the beautiful orange and pink hues of the setting sun. 

“Denki?” 

He stopped playing. “What is it, Momo?”

“I'm really glad we can hang out like this.” 

He leaned up against her, shoulder to shoulder. “Me too. I'm grateful you're my friend.”

“It's a pleasure, really.” 

They sat together until the sky went dark and the stars began to shine. Finally, Momo spoke again. “Hey, Denki?”

“Yeah?”

“What was that song, the one Kyouka started to beat you up for playing?”

He snickered. “Oh, that. Wonderwall, by Oasis. It's fine, nothing special. It's just kind of a meme.”

She glanced over at him, confused. “What's the meme?”

“Oh, it's…” He scoffs, faintly embarrassed. “It's apparently a thing where, especially in America, these loser guys will play it on their acoustic guitars at college parties, trying to, you know…” He glanced away, blushing. “Get laid.”

Momo nodded, unperturbed. “I think I understand. Why that song in particular, though?”

“I don't really know.” He shrugged. “It's really simple and easy to play, but it sounds nice, I guess. And the lyrics seem kind of romantic if you don't look too deep, though I looked it up online once and I think it's actually about some guy's imaginary friend? I don't know Yaomomo, music is weird sometimes.”

She smiled at him, then turned her gaze up towards the sky. “Could you play it for me, please?”

“Really? I mean, I can, but…”

“It's just us,” Momo reminded him. “Besides, I know you aren't trying to ‘get laid.’” She was proud of the fact that she only blushed a little when she said it. 

Denki laughed. “Alright, fine. Just don't tell Kyouka. Todo-kun won't always be there to protect me.”

He started to play.

Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you
By now, you should've somehow realized what you gotta do
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now

And backbeat, the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure you've heard it all before, but you never really had a doubt
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now

And all the roads we have to walk are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
But I don't know how

Because maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me

And after all
You're my wonderwall

Today was gonna be the day but they'll never throw it back to you
By now, you should've somehow realized what you're not to do
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now

And all the roads that lead you there are winding
And all the lights that line the way are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
But I don't know how

I said “Maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall.”

I said “Maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall.”

I said “Maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall.”

“That was beautiful, Kaminari. You're a good singer.”

“Well, you know… It's an easy one.” He averted his gaze with a small blush. “The full version actually sounds a lot better than what I can do acoustically. They use a mallo.. Um, they use some kind of synthesizer to add the sound of a cello, it adds this really wonderful sombre sound. And honestly the song isn't even complete without a piano accompaniment.”

Momo perked up. “I play the piano!”

He grinned back at her. “I know!”

“I mean, I could learn to play it. We could serenade Kyouka together, she can't beat up both of us.” 

Denki laughed. “I don't know about that, she did take on All for One.”

Momo raised her chin to watch the stars. “Did you get to talk to her about tomorrow? Is she worried about sparring with just one jack?”

“One sec.” Kaminari shifted away from her and laid his guitar to the side, then lay down flat on his back. Momo thought he had the right idea, so she lay down beside him. “She didn't seem worried, actually. She knows she'll be at a disadvantage, but she seemed excited to get back to practicing. Plus, she said they're working on a prosthetic.”

Momo shook her head. “She's amazing. Every bit as brave as Midoriya-kun.”

“Yeah.” Denki's voice was soft. “Except even better, because she isn't going to just sacrifice herself on impulse.”

They lay in silence for a moment. Suddenly, Denki's hand shot up, pointing to the northwestern quarter of the sky. “Look!”

She saw it. A shooting star, just briefly. “Beautiful.”

“You're supposed to make a wish when you see one.”

Momo blinked. She didn't know that. What should she wish for? “What are you wishing for?”

“You aren't supposed to tell anyone.” That seemed foolish, but Momo didn't contradict him. It was just another superstition she should learn about. Besides, maybe it was worth trying.

I wish… I wish for us to be friends forever.

“You know, Momo, you're as amazing as she is. I don't think I would have gotten through the war without you.” 

“...Worrying about our classmate didn't mean you didn't believe in him.” Momo rolled onto her side to face him. She was surprised to see that he had already done the same. “And crying on my shoulder didn't make you weak. You just have a big heart, and you rely on me because you think I'm strong. I appreciate that.”

He gave her a small smile. “I know you're strong.”

She smiled back, leaning a little closer to him. He leaned closer as well.

Their lips met.

Oh, fuck.

Chapter Text

They kissed.

Less than a second later, they both pulled back. Denki looked as shocked as she felt, his mouth agape.

“Yaomomo! I, I'm so sorry!” He pressed his hands to the sides of his head, his expression changing from surprise to terror. “I don't know what I was thinking…”

He jumped up to his feet. Momo rose more slowly, watching as the electric blonde began to pace across the roof. “I'm such an idiot, what is wrong with me?!”

“Denki, calm down.” Somehow, seeing him panic kept her from freaking out herself.

He didn't look at her, continuing to pace. “How can I calm down? I just kissed you, even though I know you're a lesbian and-Oh no, that was probably your first kiss!” 

“Kaminari, we both kissed each other. It wasn't just you.” She hustled ahead of him, hoping to interrupt his pacing. 

He stopped pacing, but refused to make eye contact with her. “I can't believe I did this to Jirou, she's going to hate me, I'm such an idiot.”

When he started to smack himself in the face with his own hand, Momo knew she had to take drastic action. She seized his hands by the wrists. 

“Kaminari Denki!” His watering amber eyes finally met her gaze. “Breathe with me. In.” She slid her hands into his and raised them slowly in time with their breath, then began to lower them. “And out.”

She led him through the breathing exercises until the anxiety attack had fully passed, then released his hands. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He hung his head. “Thanks, Yaomomo. I… Why did we do that?”

She bit her lip, considering the question. She honestly wasn't sure. After all, she was a lesbian. Wasn't she? 

After all the work she put into figuring it out, she had to be. She turned her mind toward finding an explanation. “Maybe… I mean, we were talking about Kyouka, and we both have feelings for her. Maybe we projected those feelings onto each other.”

Denki stared at her for a moment. He seemed faintly sad. “Yeah. Yeah, maybe that's it.”

“It was just a mistake. People make mistakes, right?” She forced herself to smile. For once, Denki didn't smile back. Something about that made her chest feel tight. 

“Yeah. We'll just… Pretend it never happened."

A moment passed in silence.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow.” He turned to walk back towards the stairs.

“Denki.” He paused, glancing back. “Are you sure you're okay?”

He forced a small smile. It didn't actually make her feel any better. “Yeah, I'm just tired. Good night, Yaomomo.”

She nodded, and he walked back inside. Momo took a deep, calming breath. “Good night, Kaminari-kun.”

—

They didn't speak at all the next morning. Momo took lunch with Kyouka, whereas Denki ate with the Bakusquad. 

Jirou could tell the stun gun hero was uncomfortable, but didn't seem to be able to read Momo’s discomfort. It made for awkward lunch conversation. “Maybe he got rejected by another girl?”

The taller girl shook her head. “No, I doubt that's it. We should just give him a little time. He's doing better lately, mostly, but progress is rarely linear.”

One of the rocker’s ear jacks tapped thoughtfully on the table. “I guess that's true. It just seems really sudden, though. It could be the quirk sparring I guess, but he seemed so excited about that last night…” Jirou frowned. “Do you think he was lying to me?”

The look of concern in her eyes just about broke Momo’s heart, but telling her what happened was not an option. She forced herself to perform an awkward shrug. “I don't know. He might just have some anxiety. If that's it, I'm sure he'll feel better once we get started. How are you feeling about it?”

“Fine. I mean, I'll probably lose unless he matches me against Shinsou, but it'll be cool to get practicing again.” Momo breathed a sigh of relief that the topic had been changed successfully. “Any guesses on how he'll match us up?”

“Interesting question. Maybe… Match Midoriya-kun against someone a little less physically strong, like Shinsou-kun, to preserve his quirk. Todoroki-kun and Bakugou-kun are a natural match, both strong and nursing injuries. Uraraka-chan's quirk awakening will require plenty of training to use properly, so maybe Sensei will make her fight Ashido-chan. Acid could be made to float, unlike fire, but touching it directly won't work. Tokoyami-kun has the most directly powerful quirk remaining, so maybe Kaminari is matched against him, since he's close to as strong and has the edge of producing light. Maybe pit you against Hagakure-chan, so you need your super senses more than raw power. I'm not sure about the rest. Perhaps he'll match me with Tsuyu, I think she and I are on a similar level.”

When she looked up, Kyouka was giving her a sly smile. For some reason she seemed vaguely impressed. “You're so smart, Momo. I bet he puts you up against Tokoyami.”

Her cheeks reddened. “If that happens, I'll do my best.”

“You better win. Whoever you fight, I'll be betting on you.”

The creation hero laughed at that. “I'll do my best. Even if I have to fight you.”

—

Aizawa refused to reveal the matchups until they were in costume at the control center outside the new Ground Beta. He glared around the gathered heroes in training, his remaining eye glowing with just a hint of red light. “Alright, listen up. I won't hear any excuses about being rusty. You're all students of U.A., not to mention war veterans-” He practically spit that aside. “-so I won't accept any excuses for foolish behaviour. We're taking this one pair at a time. The pairs are as follows.”

He clicked a button on the remote, and the big screen listed off the names.

Midoriya versus Bakugou
Shouji versus Jirou
Tokoyami versus Todoroki
Yaoyorozu versus Kaminari

Momo stopped reading. Her hand shot up almost against her will. “Sensei! Were these randomly chosen?”

Aizawa glanced at her, radiating annoyance. “No. Any other questions?”

His tone seemed to insist that she answer no, but she just couldn't. “Then why were they chosen, sir?”

“Are you questioning me, Yaoyorozu?” His disability had done nothing to lessen the intensity of his glare.

“No, sensei. I just want to understand.” She kept her expression neutral and her gaze steady, and something in him seemed to relent.

“Tch.” He glowed at her for a moment longer before responding. “I expect each match to show me things I want to see. In your case, I'm interested in Kaminari's new equipment and seeing how well you've kept up on your fundamentals. That's all I'm saying for now. Bakugou and Midoriya, you're up first. Bakugou, I don't think you're ready to go all out with that wrist and I don't trust you to do less, so you and Midoriya are sparring quirkless today.”

Bakugou growled something in acknowledgement, but Momo didn't make it out. She was caught off guard by the serious look Kaminari was giving her from across the room.

“Don't go too easy on him,” she heard Kyouka say quietly from nearby. The taller girl hadn't even heard her approach. “Shouji will be tough, though. I wish you'd picked the matches.”

“I'm sure Aizawa-sensei knows what he's doing.” 

“Well, he did handle Midoriya pretty well. He can't keep it up forever, though. Like you said, Mido's going to need to practice with his quirk, even if it's on a timer.”

The first sparring match began soon. Bakugou saw through Midoriya's ambush attempt, and the two began to trade blows with fervor.

“Look how happy they are when they're fighting,” Kyouka mumbled. “It would be cute if it wasn't so creepy.”

“I suppose it's how they express themselves to each other,” Momo reasoned. 

“Still, I always expect them to start kissing,” Kyouka quipped. Momo couldn't think of a response. 

It took a good few minutes and several turnabout before the green-haired teen managed to entrap his rival in the capture tape. Kyouka immediately turned to her. “Wish me luck, Momo.”

“Good luck, Kyouka.”

Denki bumped Kyouka's outstretched jack with his fist as he passed her on her way out. He took a position standing alongside Momo, facing the screen. Neither of them said anything as Earphone Jack and Tentacole moved into position. Momo shifted uncomfortably. 

Aizawa sent the signal for the fight to begin, and their classmates leapt into action. Shouji ran for Kyouka while she moved into a nearby building.

“It's not working,” Denki said quietly.

Momo was confused. “What?”

Kyouka paused to plug a jack into the concrete. Shouji vaulted over a low wall to grab for her, but she heard him coming and shattered the wall, sending him to the ground. She ran off again, wisely choosing not to engage him in close combat.

“I thought it was working, but it's not. We can't just keep ignoring our feelings and hoping things work out. One of us needs to act on them.” He spoke without inflection, almost as if he was cold reading a speech someone else had written.

Momo swallowed. “But neither of us is willing to risk doing that first.”

The hearing hero managed to shake Tentacole, who created a few extra ears to try to track her movement through the walls. He immediately regretted it when an amplified heartbeat ripped through the building, sending him to his knees. 

“Yeah, well. Now we have a way to decide. If you win the sparring match, I'll confess my feelings to her. If I win, you have to.”

“That's…” Something in her wanted to reject the proposal out of hand, but there was a temptation to it. She respected him, he was going to be a great hero someday, and his quirk was impressive, but she was certain she could win. She simply knew him too well, and he couldn't compete with her strategically. If she took the bet, he would have to confess. Kyouka would reciprocate. Momo would feel sad for a while, but she would also be happy for them. Even better, she and Denki could go back to normal.

A portion of the room's ceiling nearly fell onto the dazed Shouji, but he was still aware enough to catch it and throw it away. That throw left him exposed to Earphone Jack, who had used the chunk of concrete to block his view of her approach. She hit him with a flying kick from above, sending him sprawling on the floor, then went in with the capture tape.

“Deal.”  Denki just nodded. 

Both of them grimaced as Shouji managed to backhand the punk girl with one of his lower hands. Though still wobbly, he counterattacked quickly. A single jack wasn't enough to hold him off in close combat, and the match was quickly decided in his favor.

The two combatants soon made their way back, discussing the fight amiably. Aizawa nodded to them. “Good work, both of you. Next.”

Todoroki and Tokoyami had an explosive match. The dual quirk user's fire side clearly still hadn't fully recovered, and his ice wasn't nearly as useful against Dark Shadow. He eventually squeaked a victory through by manipulating the sentient quirk into damaging the roof of the building where they fought, then ripped it off with a sheet of ice carefully crafted to focus the sun's rays onto Tokoyami. That gave him enough of an opening to buffet the jet black hero with flames, forcing him to yield. 

Kyouka tried to start a conversation with them several times during the battle, but she and Denki were just too distracted. Finally, the time for their match came. 

As she walked into position, Momo readied her mind. She needed to win this. That meant she would have to put her personal feelings for her opponent out of her mind. There was no Momo and Denki, or even Yaoyorozu and Kaminari. This was Creati versus Chargebolt. 

They faced off on opposite ends of a long street. She was ready, and she knew how she would start. Creati had been doing what she does best: studying. Somnambulist wasn't ready - every time she sat down to memorize Midnight's quirk, she found herself flashing back to that horrible day they fought Gigantomachia. Still, she had plenty of new schematics memorized and ready to create. Chargebolt wouldn't have a chance.

The blonde gave her an intense, unblinking stare from behind his visor. He was taking this as seriously as she was. She couldn't take him lightly. His raw power was undeniable, so she knew she had to stay at a distance. His weakness was endurance, so she'd bait and corner him to force him to use large bursts of electricity. A few of those and he would be out of the fight.

Aizawa's voice came in clear. “Begin!”

She started creating. Chargebolt immediately ran. He was heading for her, but veered to the side of the street, no doubt ready to dive into cover the second she produced a cannon. Well, she wouldn't be so easy to predict. Time to reveal her first new technique.

“Yaoyo-copters!” From each limb she produced a quadrotor drone, equipped with a single quick-drying cement gun. Learning to create such advanced electronics had been exhausting, but she knew the payoff would be worth it.

The automated flight systems of the drones identified their target and immediately flew after Chargebolt. The stun gun hero’s eyes widened in surprise. A second later, he had the nerve to give her a smirk before diving into the adjacent office building. The drones split up, entering through separate windows.

A moment later she pulled a tablet from her chest. It took half a second for it to connect to the drones, and another half second for the video feeds to load. Before she could get a grasp on the building’s layout, all four feeds cut out at once. 

To take all four out simultaneously he must have used one of his radial blasts of electricity, though she was surprised she didn't hear it fire. Was he that far away already? He was faster than she had anticipated. No matter, it gave her more time to prepare another attack.

She created another flight of Yaoyo-copters, though these ones hovered in standby mode in the absence of targets. Using the tablet, she ordered them to begin a search pattern, then quickly added a third flight. The fatigue started to become noticeable, but it was worth it. As long as she kept them spread out, he wouldn't be able to fry them all at once. 

After two minutes of searching, she began to grow worried. Where was he? Had something happened? 

The window of the building closest to her shattered as a chair flew through it, followed quickly by Chargebolt. He was only twenty metres away and approaching.

Too close!

Momo moved backwards, tapping quickly on the tablet before dropping it. Even as it clattered to the ground she was pulling a rubberized quarterstaff from her thigh. Fifteen metres now, he was nearly within electrification range. 

A squirt of grey liquid shot past the blonde and hardened into a lump of concrete on the asphalt. One of her drones had spotted him, which meant the rest would be closing in. He immediately dropped into a combat roll, landing in a crouch as more drones emerged into the street.

Momo continued to dance backward, but the drones should be able to capture him now. So why was he grinning?

“Indiscriminate pulse: Blackout!” Electricity sparked from his body, but instead of bursting around him, it seemed to flow into his headset. 

There was a crackle, then the whirring of rotors ceased. The drones clattered to the ground, useless. The screen of the tablet went black. 

It clicked for her. All Denki's moves were technically Electromagnetic Pulses. The new gear he was so excited about must bridge the gap between his raw voltage and the magnetic frequencies required to fry electronics at a range. That was why he was so confident: he could efficiently destroy any of her most advanced creations.

She had to think fast. Electronics could be shielded from this sort of thing - after all, his gear was still functioning. Could she improvise shielded materials? No, not unless she somehow gained a lot of distance.

Right. This is about how well I've kept up on the fundamentals. She just had to keep her cool. Electronics were a new addition to her arsenal. She didn't need them to beat him. She just needed to keep distance and wear him down. 

He was running for her again. Time for a tactical retreat. She turned and ran. A couple of his orange targeting discs flew past her. 

Way too close!

She Created blades from her legs and feet, shredding her costume boots and leaving her bare feet exposed, then Created a pair of inline roller skates over them.

“Oh, come on! You can't run forever!” 

Momo didn't reply, just fled as fast as she could. Of course it was true: she couldn't just run out the time. She needed to win. She wouldn't achieve that without a terrain advantage. 

She skated away until she spotted what she needed: a park. She grabbed a hold of a light pole, her momentum taking her into a spin around it as she shed the skates. She landed hard on the sidewalk. Her feet felt sore immediately - she had spent too much of the lipid padding. The soft earth of the park provided some relief.

Chargebolt would need at least a couple of minutes to catch up, which meant she had time to prepare the battlefield. She planted conductive green rods, each about three and a half feet tall, throughout the greenery, then covered herself in padded, rubber-coated, sleeveless suit of armour. She included a helmet with a safety-glass visor, too, though her fat reserves were starting to run out.

He arrived five minutes after she did, having paced himself to avoid running out of breath. He grinned cockily at her, but she wasn't fooled. She remembered that determined look from earlier, and she wouldn't be underestimating him now. “Nice armour, Creati. Do you really think that will be enough to block my quirk?”

Actually, she didn't. Not a full blast, not entirely, but it might shield her enough to allow a counterattack. She brandished her quarterstaff at him, an invitation to close combat. 

That damn gigawatt grin came out again. “Like I'd fall for that! Indiscriminate shock: 2.4 million volts!”

Simple reverse psychology. She smiled back at him as the electricity diffused harmlessly through her field of lightning rods and down into the earth. He frowned, then ran for her. Luckily, one of the thin green rods escaped his attention and slowed his approach. Creati used the opening to launch a counterattack with her exposed arms.

He managed to roll away from the volleyball of matryoshka dolls right before the glue bombs inside exploded, leaving the grass dotted with white pools of sticky goop. That would make it even harder for him to get up close to her.

As he rolled back, he spun into a shooting stance and began firing targets from his sharpshooter gear. Momo deflected one to the side with her quarterstaff, then a second, but the third stuck to her weapon. She held tight as he hit it with a sustained blast of electricity, bypassing the lightning rods. He was wasting his time trying to shock her through it, so she was happy enough watching him tire out his quirk.

Until she started to smell burning rubber, and then burning wood. She threw the staff aside, mentally preparing herself to dodge to the side away from his next volley of targets, but it didn't come.

The last thing she expected was for him to attack from above. Chargebolt had used her moment of distraction to jump off one of the lightning rods, vaulting into the air above her. “Indiscriminate shock: 2.4 million volts!”

She was so much taller than the lightning rods, the electricity coursed through her to get to the ground. Every muscle in her body went taut, and the smell of burning rubber lodged itself so deep in her nostrils she thought it would stay with her for the rest of her life. She knew her body must be in terrible pain, but the panic and shock were all she could feel. Chargebolt fell on top of her, knocking her to the ground. His breathing seemed heavy. “It was a good fight, Yaomomo. You didn't make it easy.”

No.

She wasn't done fighting yet, but her muscles wouldn't do what she told them. He was taking no chances, keeping a weak current flowing through her with one hand while the other went for his capture tape. 

No no no!

Her muscles didn't work. Her quirk, however, did. She Created an airbag from her chest, propelling her chestplate into Denki's chest and throwing him off her.

Both of them struggled to their feet. Her body was so sore, and she hardly had any fat left, but victory was back in sight. Denki-Chargebolt had nearly hit his limit, she could tell from the slack look around his eyes. Meanwhile, most of her body was still covered in armour that would resist both his electricity and his fists. She just needed to wear him down. 

He stumbled towards her, fists raised. It burned, but Momo used the last of the lipid in her arms and palms to Create long rubber gloves that went past her elbow. He swung, but despite her injuries she blocked it without trouble. He couldn't beat her in martial arts. The win was hers. “It's over, Denki. Give up. You'll be happy, I promise.” Her mouth was so dry she could hardly talk.

Chargebolt actually growled in response, then posed as if he was going to perform another indiscriminate shock. Momo braced herself.

“Lightning cowl!” Momo blinked in surprise. His body was covered in electricity, which was nothing unusual, but it lingered instead of exploding outward. It looked a lot like Deku's Full Cowling.

Another new ultimate move? 

She dodged his next punch, then blocked a second. This move might resemble Full Cowling, but there was no comparison. He must have been desperate to try an untested move like this. The increased use of his quirk meant he would wear out quickly, but he still wasn't strong or fast enough to-

“Edison smash!”

She didn't even see the blow. One second she was looking at Chargebolt, the next her head was twisted to the side. The booming crack and fierce pain told her he had somehow broken the helmet with the force of his attack. She forced herself to look at him, her eyes refusing to focus. The blurry hero's right arm hung limply from his shoulder. Her vision was distorted by white light around the edges, and it was spreading. She was going to pass out. She was going to lose.

Chargebolt would win the bet. She would be forced to ask Kyouka out. She would ruin their friendship. She would ruin her friendship with Denki. She would ruin everything.

She felt it again. That hopeless horror. The same thing she felt on that horrible day when they lost their fight against Gigantomachia. When they lost their teacher.

Then she had one last brilliant idea. There was one other thing that memory brought to mind, something she had associated with it by accident. She grabbed Denki by the ears, and pulled the sparking, dazed boy down, nose first into her cleavage. Into the largest remaining store of lipids on her body.

“Midnight essence,” she croaked, releasing one last Creation. 

The whiteness took her.

Chapter Text

Pain.

Her head hurt. So did everything else, but her head was the worst. Her mouth was dry, and she felt so exhausted. 

She stayed in darkness for a while longer, though she had no idea how long. Finally, she knew she had to open her eyes.

The world was brighter than she remembered. Too bright. The white lights of the nurse's office were like miniature suns. 

Nurse's office. Right. She was injured. That made sense. She groaned.

“You awake, Yaomomo?” She heard Denki ask.

Right. She had fought Denki. He punched her in the head, which explained the concussion. She hadn't woken up like this since the day after the war ended. Had Recovery Girl not healed her? “How long was I out?”

“Not sure.” She turned to look, but he was on the other side of a curtain. “I only woke up a short while ago myself.”

“Oh. I guess it worked, then? Midnight's quirk?” She blushed as she thought about how she had pulled the boy into her breasts to knock him out, though some part of her knew their late teacher would approve.

“Is that what that was? I thought I just passed out because, uhhh… Nevermind.” His voice squeaked with embarrassment. “So which of us won?”

“Not sure. I guess Aizawa-sensei will tell us.” She closed her eyes again. “I'm sorry. I underestimated you.”

“No worries. Everybody does. It gives me an edge.” There was no bitterness in his voice. He just sounded tired.

“I know better, though.” She took a deep breath. The motion made her muscles ache. “That was an amazing punch. You based it off All Might's Detroit Smash?”

“Nah. I took it from Deku's Detroit Smash. I was going to call it Tesla Smash, but since the move was stolen, I figured Edison made more sense.” 

Momo laughed. It hurt. “Very clever.”

Further discussion was interrupted as the door to the nurse's office opened. Momo opened her eyes again, though she couldn't see the entrance from her bed. The tap of Recovery Girl's cane announced her presence, but there was another set of footsteps behind her. “You have a visitor, Kaminari.”

“Oh, thanks. Hey Jirou. Yaoyorozu is awake, too.”

The little clipping sound announced her approach. “Hello, Sensei.”

“Good evening, Yaoyorozu.” Her face was stern, but she held out a hard candy. Momo reached out with a hand that wouldn't stop shaking. She managed to get the candy into her mouth, which immediately made her feel just the tiniest bit better. “How are you feeling?”

Instinctively, she wanted to downplay her injuries. However, Recovery Girl wasn't asking out of politeness. She needed to know her symptoms. “Severe headache, maybe an eight out of ten. General muscle aches and soreness all over my body, about five out of ten. Mildly itchy in a few places. Moderate fatigue, severe muscle weakness.”

Recovery Girl nodded. “Well, it could be much worse. If you were in less pain it could mean numbness, which could mean nerve damage. I'll get you something to help with the pain and some food.” Momo frowned. Recovery Girl raised her head. “You're wondering why I don't use my quirk?”

“Yes, Sensei,” Momo admitted. 

“Because my quirk uses your body's healing ability, and you came to me in a state of starvation. I've been feeding you nutrients through the IV, but you still need to eat and digest before I can heal you. You need to put on some weight, young lady! Do you have any idea how dangerous a state like this is?” She tutted at Momo, who didn't have the strength to argue or explain. “But I'm getting too old to argue with you kids. I'll leave that to your homeroom teacher.” Recovery Girl stalked off in annoyance.

Once she left, Kyouka pulled back the curtain separating her and Kaminari. The purple-haired girl gave her a sardonic smile, which was oddly reassuring. She could see Denki in the bed behind her. He looked better than she felt, but his arm was in a sling. 

Momo smiled back. “Which of us won?”

“Wow, Momo. Didn't think you were that competitive.” Jirou shook her head. “Well, Mineta's saying that this dumbass won because of where his face was before he passed out.”

The electric teen groaned, his face flushed. “He's going to be insufferable about this.”

“Buuuut,” the hearing hero continued, “as a matter of fact you both went unconscious at the same time. Pretty wild match, guys.”

Momo and Denki exchanged a tired glance. A tie. Their bet was unresolved. 

“Hey, cheer up. I'd say you both won.” 

Momo gave Jirou a smile, then glanced at Denki again. He looked as serious as she felt. If they both won, then they both had to-

“Wrong.” The students all jumped at Aizawa's sudden appearance. His stealth skills were uncanny, even short one foot. “You both failed.”

The glare he gave them hurt Momo's head worse than the lights. “Kaminari.” His head snapped to the electric blonde, who immediately sat a little straighter in his hospital bed. “What was that move you used at the end? Do you understand what you did?”

“Err, yes Sensei. I used my electricity to contract my muscles as hard as possible, so I could punch harder than normal.”

“In other words, you wilfully induced a muscle spasm through electric shock. A spasm so powerful that you dislocated your shoulder and broke the bone. You're just lucky you didn't tear your ligaments or give yourself rhabdomyolysis. Recovery Girl can't heal everything.” 

Denki winced, rubbing his head with his uninjured hand. “Sorry, Sensei.”

“Don't be sorry, be better.” Aizawa’s glare didn't relent. “The war is over. No more emergency measures. You are forbidden from using that move unless someone’s life is at stake, do you understand?”

“Yes, Sensei!” 

“Hmph.” He turned his head towards Momo, who felt herself cringe. She hadn't felt his disapproval so keenly since she had helped the others to rescue Bakugou. “I expected better from you, Yaoyorozu. I guess I should know that this whole class is made of problem children.”

She didn't apologize. Truthfully, as ashamed as she felt, she didn't know what she had done wrong. Apologizing would be disingenuous. “Sensei, my head is still foggy. Please explain my mistake.”

She bowed her head. He was silent for a moment, then she heard him ‘tsk.’ “Fine, I'll remind you of how you ended the match by pulling Kaminari's head into your chest.” His tone was venomous.

“Woah, are you really giving her a hard time about propriety?” Kyouka sounded incredulous, but quieted instantly when Aizawa turned his glare on her.

She had a point, though. Sensei was too rational to be concerned with social norms. So what was wrong with that move?

Oh.

She couldn't raise her voice above a low drone. “It's not about my breasts. It's about my heart.”

“So you still have some sense, even though you pulled a hostile, confused electricity quirk user as close to heart as physically possible. Do you realize that if he had accidentally released even a tenth of an amperage, you could have died?”

“Yes, Sensei. It was a foolish mistake, it will never happen again.”

“Tch. I'd threaten you with expulsion, but that doesn't even make you kids hesitate. Somehow I need to find a way to keep you all from being reckless with your health. In the meantime, you have one hour detention with Recovery Girl after school for the next week. You too, Jirou, for that outburst.”

None of them said anything as he stalked away. As soon as the door closed, Denki made a loud groan. “Ugh, not again.”

Jirou ignored him. “You okay, Momo? I know detention isn't something you're used to.”

She nodded. “Yes, it will be fine. Sensei is right, we need to be more rational. I will take the lesson to heart. I am sorry you were dragged into it too, Kyouka.”

The rocker shrugged. “It's my own fault. I should've known better. Seriously though, that fight was intense. You didn't have a fight or something, did you?” She turned to face them from the space between their beds. Her head was cocked questioningly. 

Denki gave Momo a nervous look, but she just shook her head. “I think maybe we just haven't adapted to peacetime yet.”

“Oh, yeah.” Jirou grimaced, glancing down towards the floor. “I get that. My counselor says the dreams will get less frequent eventually but… Some nights just suck.”

Momo and Denki both nodded. There wasn't a student in the school who couldn't relate, and 2-A had it worst of all. With everything they had been through, healing would take a long time. 

“Yeah. Oh well. We survived, and this time, we both lost.” Denki gave Momo a sheepish smile. She smiled back, understanding his meaning. They were back to square one, and it would be fine. There was no emergency, one silly kiss notwithstanding. They could just be normal. 

—

 After a bit more lecturing and a lot of food for Momo, Recovery Girl had them both healed and returned them to the dorms. They went to bed immediately, tired from the healing. 

Momo arrived at homeroom later than usual, only ten minutes beforehand. Five minutes before the bell rang, she saw something that truly terrified her.

Aizawa-sensei walked into the room, and he was smiling. There was no chatter as the rest of the students filed in; even Ashido and Mineta were terrified into silence. Denki skidded into the classroom less than a minute before the bell rang, saw their teacher, then marched to his seat with the bearing of a man sentenced to death. 

The bell rang. “After yesterday's irrational display-”

Aizawa was cut off by the sound of Uraraka. “Sensei, I'm sorry! I didn't know my quirk would do that to Ashido-chan's gun! I'll pay for the repairs to the school even if it takes the rest of my life!”

The ex-pro hero glared at her for a long moment, then continued. “As I was saying, I have decided to institute a new policy in order to make you all understand that Plus Ultra does not mean being reckless with your own health. From now on, whenever one of you recklessly injures or risks yourself during training, the offender will be punished with detention, house arrest, or worse. Further, whatever punishment you receive, Midoriya will be given the same.”

Momo could barely hear Midoriya sputter due to the howl from Bakugou as he leapt up. “You can't do that!”

Aizawa turned his wide, creepy grin on the explosive blonde. “Actually, I can. In fact, Midoriya, you're staying an hour late today because of Bakugou's outburst. Want to push it further?”

“Kacchan, please,” the green haired boy pleaded. No one would have guessed the whine came from the world's bravest hero. Bakugou lowered himself silently back into his seat, quivering in rage the whole time.

“You kids don't seem to be deterred by any threats to yourselves, so I'm focusing on the one who has been modelling this self-destructive behavior for all of you. Does anyone have any objections?”

No one said anything. They all understood it was a threat, not a question. Denki whimpered as Bakugou shot him a glare.

—

“The man is an evil genius,” Denki said as the three of them waited in the nurse's office that afternoon. “Now not only will anyone who disobeys him be letting down Mido, who we all love, but they'll also be provoking Bakugou, who we all fear!”

“Speak for yourself,” Jirou said, nonplussed.

“Your willingness to be blown up aside, I'm just saying that if Aizawa was a villain, he'd rule the world by now.”

“I feel bad for Midoriya-kun. Perhaps we can do something nice for him to cheer him up?” Momo gave the other two a hopeful glance. For some reason, they turned away from her to exchange smiles before nodding in agreement.

“Good idea, Momo.”

“Yeah. Maybe something involving Eri? He loves that kid even more than I do.”

“Or we could just get him like a year's supply of katsudon.”

“Pfft, with the way he eats katsudon? Even Momo can't afford that, Jammingwhey.”

The three of them shared a laugh, but quickly quieted when Recovery Girl returned to the office. “You know, I should be retired by now, and yet you kids have me staying late!” 

“Sorry, Sensei,” they said in unison, bowing in apology. 

The healer waved it off. “Well, this time it was my idea at least. I thought there were some things the three of you should know about emergency heart care, particularly given your quirks. What do you all know about defibrillation?”

“Oh, it's like using electricity to start stopped hearts, right?” Denki perked up, genuine interest showing in his eyes.

Recovery Girl shook her head. “That's one thing it can't do, young man. If a heart is asystole - completely stopped - CPR is your only chance of saving the patient. Defibrillation is indicated for what we call shockable rhythms - situations where the heart is pumping in a way so chaotic that it isn't properly pumping blood through the body. Defibrillation actually stops such a rhythm, giving the body a chance to resume a normal pattern.”

“Oh…” Denki digested that for a moment. “So, a bad rhythm can actually be worse than stopping altogether.”

“In a sense, yes. We're going to use these extra lessons to learn to identify the different types of shockable and nonshockable rhythms and how to treat them. Kaminari, you may just be able to learn how to defibrillate without a machine. Yaoyorozu, I expect you to learn to make a defibrillator as well as some kinds of useful medication. Jirou, you should be able to easily diagnose each kind of arrhythmia as well as possibly use your quirk to perform CPR.”

The three of them exchanged excited glances. This could actually be really good.