Izuku… Felt great.
He felt… Amazing. And not just because he once more got to take to the skies above a cityscape.
He had felt like this even before he once more returned to this place, HIS place. The place that welcomed him like an old friend.
The source of all his warm feelings was somewhere behind him, running across the roofs, jumping from one to another.
But she was there. He could feel her. Even without concentrating, he knew she was there.
The most wonderful girl in the world.
It had been an… Interesting half week of recovery before they came back to Yuei. Not all of it had been perfect, or good, nor had all their wounds healed.
When he was alone(Or as alone as he could be with Venom by his side), he often felt… Melancholy. Alone. Cut off from everyone and everything. He also still had trouble sleeping, the old dreams of himself as a spider refusing to let go.
He could not do anything about his dreams. He suspected it would be a long time yet before he would be able to truly sleep as he had before.
But when awake… when he stepped out into the world… That was a different story.
It was… Wonderful to not be alone.
There were a lot of other things that were wonderful too, but it was that feeling… Of truly knowing he was not alone in the world, that he had someone at his side who not only made him feel better by her very presence but actually WANTED him by her side, was… Spectacular.
It made the dark clouds feel so much less… Real. Like mists giving way for the glory that was the rising sun.
Whatever doubts and worries he had, just… Did not seem nearly as scary or pressing to him right now.
And there were things to be scared of. There were the leagues, the mysterious Nomu that had to come from somewhere, and in his case, the prospects that he would soon be meeting his dad again for the first time in a long, long while.
That last one should have been absolutely terrifying, given it would happen in a day or two, but… It didn't.
Right now, as Izuku was at top of what those far, far more experienced than him in ways of relationships would have dubbed "The honeymoon phase" of his relationship, there did not seem like there was anything that could possibly worry him at the moment.
It wasn't perfect of course. Or… Not perfect wasn't quite the words to use. There were parts of this relationship Izuku… Had not been prepared for.
There was the fact that Mina was far, far too affectionate in public than he was even close to being comfortable with… But it was not something he was planning on complaining to her about.
Mina had an amazing ability to make him tongue-tied, and stiff… It made him feel awkward and embarrassed beyond words… But when she took that to the next level, it also made him feel loved. Her just being there. Making it clear how fond she was of him.
And that was a feeling… Izuku did not think Mina fully understood just how greedy he was for that feeling. How he longed for it.
---
Uraraka stared at Izuku and Mina walking in from the training exercise, having just handily won first and second place in their group, Mina having firmly clasped Izuku's hand in hers and saying something that made the green boy blush and look bashful, something that somehow Uraraka could not hear, despite the short difference between them.
Instead, not having to worry about having to take her shot at the exercise just yet as group 2 prepared for their journey into the factory area, Uraraka leaned her back up against a railing, just looking at Izuku and Mina, feeling… Somehow paradoxically feeling numb to her bones, completely beyond feeling, and yet also feeling like someone had rammed a dagger through her gut, and was currently twisting it. Hard.
She didn't even watch the actual exercise, instead, she just kept staring at the couple that now had their back turned against her, looking up at the screen.
There were a lot of things going through her head at that moment, but one of those things was utter confusion.
She hurt. She hurt so bad… But she wasn't sure why?
It wasn't before Mina leaned over and gave Izuku a peck on the cheek that it finally, truly sank in for her, as she felt a stab of bizarrely hot, ugly anger directed at Mina.
She was angry… Because she was jealous of Mina. She was hurt… Because Mina was kissing Izuku… Because she was not.
Because Mina now had something that Uraraka hadn't even known she wanted.
Soon enough, it was time for group 3.
Uraraka was not in the mood for it… But she did rise to go.
"Good luck Uraraka!"
Mina grinned as she said it, cheerfully lifting her free arm in a wave at her, her other hand still intertwined with Izuku's.
She felt sick.
There was also a part of her that felt a powerful urge to punt Mina into the stratosphere.
She blinked.
Then turned around towards the mock city, and slapped herself on the cheeks with both hands. HARD.
The pain immediately shot through them, and she blinked at it, suddenly feeling her mind clearing somewhat.
What was wrong with her!?
She forced herself to focus entirely on the mission at hand. She pushed the topic of Izuku and Mina out of her head and forced herself to redirect every single bit of energy and focus on the task at hand.
To reach the broadcasted goal somewhere in the city.
On the plus side, she blew absolutely everyone's time out of the water. Even Izuku's, Mina's, Bakugo's, and Todoroki's.
On the bad side, she also was the only one who got yelled at for causing property damage, having hit the tower roof with enough force to break it like it was fine porcelain.
Hell, even Bakugo managed to avoid damaging the environment for once. A first for him. And yet she, who had spent the entirety of last week mastering her powers, managed to shatter a roof.
Not a good way to restart her time at school.
---
"I still can't believe that YOU managed to hook the best girl in the entire grade!"
Kaminari's voice was a bit in disbelief, but his expression was actually one of being impressed, as he began buttoning up his school uniform.
The class's prospective heroes in training had varied results from the exercise. Generally, they had either managed to do it with ease, or they had struggled mightily.
Of course, Uraraka had blown absolutely everyone else out of the water, having seemingly managed to make more progress than anyone else this last week. That might have pissed off, or frustrated Bakugo and Todoroki, but Izuku felt nothing but gladness for her.
Uraraka had a goal she wanted to achieve, and she was making massive strides to do so. Even in normal circumstances, he'd have felt happy for his friend, but he might have felt a bit daunted by the ever-increasing power gap between Uraraka and everyone else.
Not now though.
Izuku felt his cheeks burn at the comment… But his smile didn't waver nor did he contradict him.
He wasn't wrong.
It was a strange new sensation for him. Izuku wasn't really a person to measure(At least not outside of empirical measures, like points or rankings) other people. It just wasn't something Izuku was comfortable doing.
But… He absolutely found himself agreeing with Kaminari's opinion.
Mina was far and away the best girl in their grade.
Though in his opinion, that was a bit off. As far as he was concerned, she was the best girl in the entire school.
Addmitingly, he was not in any way an objective source on the matter.
Surprisingly it was Aoyama of all people who disagreed, making a dismissive sound.
Izuku felt a surprisingly strong pang of annoyance, but it was Kaminari who got the first word in.
"You disagree? More into Momo?"
"No… I would certainly not be as uncouth as to rank our Mademoiselles… But I cannot agree with ranking lady Ashido as number one… Not when she continuously keeps so carelessly destroying my capes."
Several of the guys actually laughed at that.
Izuku for his part thought back… And yeah, he wasn't wrong. Mina had a strange tendency to accidentally burn holes in his cape in every single training they had together. Even when she barely used her acid in any other way, somehow they still… Wait… Had that been on purpose on her part?
"Never change man." Kaminari said with a grin.
Izuku was taken out of his musings on Mina's cape-destroying tendencies when a call was let out by the wall.
"Holy-Hey guy's look at this!!!"
Subsequently, every guy in 1-A other than Bakugo and Todoroki(Both of whom had already left.) Did indeed turn around to where, by an old, decaying poster, Mineta stood pointing out what was clearly a hole in the wall.
"Lookit, this hole! Just like Shawshank! Our professors must have worked really hard to make it!"
On that point, Izuku really doubted Mineta's conclusion, given just how easy any number of quirks would punch a small hole through a wall with no problem.
That assessment though distracted him for a moment from the larger, more obvious question.
Why would anyone want to make a hole like that? What would be the point when measured against the price tag of potentially being caught intentionally destroying school property?
The answer was obvious, though not one Izuku would have immediately arrived at, having grown up relatively sheltered about such manners as he was.
Mineta, however, was kind enough to spell it out for him, and the rest of the boys who didn't immediately catch the further implications of said hole.
"And on the other side is… You know what right!? The girls' Locker room."
That immediately got most of the boys' attention.
Inside his mind, Venom snorted derisively.
-Why the hell would they even need that? This is the age of digital media, porn is readily available for all!-
...
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