The first thing Izuku saw when he woke up was pink. Specifically, pink hair. First thing in the morning, and still half asleep, the green haired boy thought he was still dreaming, or that the entirety of the previous lucid seven hours had been some kind of hallucination on his part, due to stress and other factors he couldn't possibly be aware of.
Why on earth he would be hallucinating about tutoring Mina was a completely different question. Had he finally lost it?
It wasn't until he actually took a breath, and caught the scent of her hair - At this point, he was convinced that she could practically claim a trademark on it - That he realised that in fact, he was awake, he wasn't going a very weird sort of insane, and that Mina was indeed still in his room, in the same position that she was in last night, and that it was morning. She'd spent the entire night here.
That was... A very conflicting thought to have. Both exciting and absolutely terrifying at the same time.
Blinking a few times to regain his sight, blurred as it was in the mornings, Izuku looked around the room, finding aside from the slightly shorter girl if you excluded the horns, and if you did, then slightly taller than himself, located on his lap, and her belongings around the place, then everything was as it should be.
He yawned, and unconsciously moved his hand to cover his mouth out of pure muscle reflex that this was how his body was supposed to act. His arm didn't move how it was supposed to, instead staying where it was for the most part, his forearm moving vertically slightly, his hand suddenly pressed against something warm. Following where his arm was with his eyes, he found out that his hand was, somehow, underneath her partially rolled up school undershirt and pressed against her bare stomach. How this had happened was beyond him. Either this had happened in his sleep, or Mina was intentionally messing with him.
A few seconds passed before it fully registered what the hell was going on.
When it finally clicked, Izuku felt his entire body go as rigid as concrete. Eyes fully open now, he almost bit on his lips so hard that he drew blood. Dear God, how the hell did this happen?! His mind was racing, and he was fighting a serious urge to rocket away from the sleeping girl and let the consequences to that action be damned. There was only so much Izuku was capable of taking at one point, and this was one step too far, especially first thing in the morning!
He couldn't exactly move his hand, all that said. That would require him untangling himself from the weird maze that seemed to have developed. There was never a point the word 'maze' should be used to describe a person's clothing and body, and that thought in itself made Izuku blush, even more than he already was doing. If that didn't make matters bad enough, looking down Mina's body, which was a blush inducing incident in itself, to where his hand was, he discovered her own hand atop where his was.
So this was Mina messing with him. She must have woken in the middle of the night and done this just to mess with him.
She really was going to wind up giving him a heart attack someday, wasn't she?
"Mmm...uhuh?" Upon thinking that, he suddenly heard Mina begin to stir awake. Her head tilted to the side, which nearly caused her horns to whack Izuku in the chin due to where he was positioned. He avoided being hit narrowly, pulling his head back as rapidly as he could to evade being accidentally caught by the visual Quirk his girlfriend had. Her body also shifted, wriggling like she must normally do, like she was trying to roll straight over and return back to sleep, only to find out that she couldn't do that. "...The heck?..." She questioned with a loud yawn of her own, not moving her hands to stifle it whatsoever.
Neither of them spoke or moved for a couple of seconds, while Mina went through the same thought process, checklist, and realisation that Izuku had been through, only about ten times faster.
Tilting her head backwards carefully, she looked up at him, and smiled sleepily at him. "Hey."
"H-Hello."
"Mornin'."
"Morning."
"So." Mina smirked, waving her hands shakily around the general vicinity of where they were sat, cuddled, whatever one wanted to call it. "This happened."
"Y-Yes..."
"Sleep well?"
"Y-Yeah... I-I mean I'm a bit stiff, but i-it should wear off." His back was starting to strain after being in this position with an alien amount of weight on him. Cramped up for so long, he was struggling to stay limber. He could already feel his spine wanting him to stretch and click something back into place.
The girl on the other hand just snorted a laugh before noting where Izuku's hand was. Her grin grew from ear to ear, and she narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Somehow I'm not surprised."
"N-W-W-W-H-Hold on -"
"No thanks."
"M-M-Mina!"
"Yo."
Screaming on the inside, and stammering on the inside, Izuku found himself unable to either speak, or properly construct his thoughts. He tried his best to move his hands off of Mina's skin, but she wasn't helping, keeping his hands exactly where they were. Mina was enjoying this way too much.
"You know I'm messing with you, right?" His girlfriend asked with another sharp look in her yellow irises. Her voice had a flirtatious tone to it, with an almost daring edge. "Put your hands wherever the heck you feel like it."
"That - That is not what I was doing!" The thoroughly flustered boy could only gasp out now, like all the force from his lungs had been duly stamped out with repeated flirt after flirt. It would have been one thing if this had been later in the day, but first thing in a morning, and already Izuku felt like his skin had caught alight.
On the other hand, Mina was just sat there giggling to herself, relaxed and comfortable as one could be in the world. Though it seemed like an insane statement to make, she seemed less energetic than one would expect, but her edge was there, particularly when it came to making Izuku embarrassed. That being said, she wasn't jumpy or hyper like she normally was. Izuku theorised it was because she had just woken up, that she needed some sort of kick before she would revert to the bombastic girl he loved.
Though despite her crippling addition to making him lose the ability to use his words and make his heart increase in rate like a track runner, this version of her had its appeal. Seeing her in a calmer frame of mind was refreshing in a sense. She was human, not some sort of weird alien that managed to assimilate into society through boundless energy and flirting mastery.
"First thing in the morning, and you're already sweating. Nice." Teased Mina, using her free hand to tap Izuku's forehead lightly, in time with the final word she used. She then sounded embarrassed, like she'd just remembered what was going on. "Seriously, we just slept like this?"
"I-I guess..."
"You... You said you used my phone?.. I think? Last night's kind of a blur right now."
"I mean... You were half asleep when I told you."
"I'm just glad you told me." Mina stretched forward, extending her arms with her fingers inter-winded, pushing until she heard a serious of clicks in her fingers and arms. Doing so seemed to trigger another yawn from the pink girl. "Better than keeping secrets."
Taking the opportunity, Izuku quickly took his hand back from her stomach. It felt like fire.
"Thought you might've been enjoying that." Slyly commented the teary eyed girl, rubbing her left visionary optical that had welled up from her yawning with her hand.
Izuku blushed. His enjoyment none withstanding, if he kept his hand there any longer, he wasn't going to be able to force himself away. Her skin, especially under that sort of condition, was like fleshy magma. "H-How do you even manage to flirt like this as soon as you wake up?"
"I'm good at adapting." Was the answer she gave. Another yawn followed. "I won't be myself until I get some caffeine in me... So you've got this version of me until then."
That didn't honestly sound too bad.
"So you get unpredictable Acid girl until I'm back to normal, Izuku."
There was definite meaning behind those words. Looking down at her, Izuku saw haughty looks being thrown at him like they were about to become extinct from the records of humanity. Like she was planning on how she was going to keep him tied in-
With a ferocious blush, Izuku looked away in literally every direction all at once.
"U-U-W-We-We sh-should, you k-know, g-get ready to g-get to s-school!"
"Aw, do we have to?" Mina asked with another smirk, before giving up with her teasing, and getting up herself, leaving the spot she and Izuku had spent the entire night in. Standing up now, her uniform was all wrinkled and unkempt, not that it bothered her too much. "Hey, you sleep alright? You look tired as hell."
In truth, Izuku had slept lightly, very lightly. With Mina on his lap, his mother walking in and having that awkward conversation, and how early he had woken up out of sheer habit, left him with about five hours of sleep. He could manage on six hours if he had a particularly good rest and had a goal in mind for that particular day that enthused him, but these aside, he was still normally exhausted. Eight was his usual, and that was the optimal for humans anyway. What most people needed to function at their top.
"I'm... Just a little sleepy. I'm okay." Izuku said with a small nervous laugh that couldn't have been more obvious a giveaway. The young boy didn't want Mina to worry about him throughout the day. He could manage. He'd make sure he could keep his eyes open. He'd survived far worse during his training with All Might, and that was during middle school. That was before he'd fought with dangerous Villains on a regular basis. He could handle this.
It wasn't like he had much choice, anyway. Just staying home because he was tired was completely out of the question.
Both of their uniforms were crumpled up, neither having been washed, ironed, or any of the other chores that wearing a uniform from such a high level establishment as Yuuei came with. Still, Bakugou went every day with two of the top buttons undone and without a tie completely, and no one seemed to care. It couldn't be that big a deal to go in with a few wrinkles to the clothing. So either way, it saved them some time, since they were both already dressed.
Luckily, they had woken up at roughly the normal time Izuku did to get ready to head over to the school. Since he had to catch trains, he had to be up and ready at a very specific time, or risk missing his ride entirely.
Mina gathered her belongings quickly, and slipped into her school jacket, and doing up the tie that came with it. Her uniform jacket was far more obviously unkempt than Izuku's was, since it had been stuffed into her bag since the previous day. Again, it was too late to do anything about it right now. She wasn't particularly too bothered when it came to the uniform anyway, not liking it a great deal in the first place.
"Quick question, your mother does know I'm still here, right?" Mina asked. "I'm not gonna have some awkward exchange about what the heck she thinks I'm still doing here?"
"No, she knows." Izuku assured her. "She's probably out of the apartment right now anyway. She mentioned something about having to go out early today."
"Aw." The pink girl sighed, sounding disappointed, which caught Izuku's attention. "I had like six lines planned to mess with you."
"... I think you plan out ways to embarrass me a bit too much."
"Maybe. Fun though." Her teeth showed as she grinned. "It's like a hobby."
"I think you may need a new one."
"Oh yeah? Like what? Cross stitching?"
"Studying?"
"You realise a hobby is supposed to be fun, right?" The girl asked, suddenly deadpanned. "They're not supposed to make suicide look like a pleasant alternative to turning a page."
Izuku looked horrified for a brief moment until he realised that Mina was supposed to be telling a joke. He shuddered. "Th-That was a bit dark..."
"Yeah, I only realised that after I said it." The pink girl sighed, blinking hard a couple of times. "Should I just stick to finding ways to embarrass you?"
"Y-Yeah..."
"Glad we had this talk." Yawned the Acid Quirk user. Her left arm brought her backpack up her arm, and slung right over her back, where her right arm slid itself underneath the right strap, until it rested on her shoulder. "Hey, don't suppose your train station has a coffee stand or anything?"
"I uh, there should be one?"
"You have no idea."
"...No."
"There'll be one at the Yuuei stand anyway." Mina muttered. Ideally, she would have just grabbed one at the station to wake herself up sooner. The only real negative to the possible lack of a stand was that she'd have to spend about another half hour like this, sleepy and yawning constantly. She needed her usual intake before she could snap herself awake.
"You-I could make you a drink, y-you know. I-I don't mind." Izuku offered kindly. The offer was heart-warming, simple a gesture as it was. If they weren't in a rush to get to classes on time, Mina would have gladly accepted it. Hell, if it was anyone but Izuku, she would have taken them up on it, but the young girl knew how much learning to be a Hero at Yuuei meant to him.
"Yeah, I know, but I'm thinking about time. I don't want us to end up being late because I needed a hot drink." Mina explained, smiling sweetly at her boyfriend. "Thanks though. I appreciate it."
Fortunately for the pink skinned girl, there had been a stand selling the glory that was scolding hot coffee, lined with as much caffeine as one could fit into a plastic cup. Izuku had been offered a drink many times, but had politely refused each time, saying he wasn't thirsty. It wasn't exactly a lot to reassure Mina that he was okay, but she couldn't exactly shove boiling hot coffee down his throat against his will, so she wound up drinking the entire contents herself within a space of ten minutes, before the train had even shown up.
When the train finally did arrive, Izuku and Mina had hopped on it, Izuku more or less collapsing into one of the available seats. He could deny it all he wanted, he was utterly exhausted, emotionally just as well as physically.
Mina may have felt some responsibility for those.
"You're not okay, are you." It wasn't a question, more an accusatory statement. She knew he wasn't entirely okay, there wasn't the slightest need to ask him if he was. He'd try to convince her that really, he was okay, so he wouldn't worry her.
"I can manage." Izuku muttered quietly, rubbing his left eye with the corresponding hand. "I did a bunch of training with All Might before I got my Quirk, remember?"
"You still got eight hours sleep back then. Hell, you got six hours sleep at the least. I'm not exactly the most academic type, but even I know we can work with six hours, but anything less than that is gonna be an issue." She grinned sheepishly, but her tone remained serious. "I may or may not have learned that the hard way."
Letting out an amused laugh, Izuku knew that she was right in that respect. There wasn't really a way he could spin that in his favour. She was right...
"...Heroes have to work with a small amount of rest."
"...Not gonna lie, that's probably the last thing I expected you to compare to Heroism. I'm actually kind of impressed you managed to link the two." Mina giggled at his one tracked mind, amused by his antics, and impressed with his tenacity towards his chosen work field. It only held more substance and a feeling of genuine passion for the craft since he was born Quirkless.
Still, Mina also knew that was basically his 'Get out of jail free' card. She didn't have to be his girlfriend to know that though. Anyone who knew him even slightly knew he'd try to set himself to the standards of Professional Heroes. He was a bit overzealous in that sense.
"... But you aren't a Hero yet, Izuku." She gently told him. "Not a Pro, anyway. We're still students. And come on, this is a pretty easy fix. We'll just grab you something to wake you up at the next statio - You don't have any money, do you." It suddenly hit her like a brick to the forehead. That was why he was trying to literally argue against one of the easiest solutions that she could even think of, to a ridiculously simple and trivial problem.
With a weak attempt at a smile, Izuku shook his head in confirmation, a shaky laugh coming from his lips.
"...You know, you do some pretty odd stuff sometimes." Sighed the pink girl. Maybe it was because he was a smart guy, but he was quirky in both the best and worst ways. "Wish you'd said something, you could've shared mine."
"S-Sorry..." To his credit, Izuku did actually seem apologetic for making her worry like he was. His plan to not worry her had backfired immensely. All over a damned cheap coffee from the station and his brain didn't remind him to pick up some spare change due to the lack of rest. All of it came into some sort of sponge of awkwardness and badness all at once.
Mina hadn't got the chance to get any spare change either, since she hadn't actually gone home the previous night. She had a bit of cash that she kept at school for lunches, but it wouldn't do either of them any good at that point. Izuku probably did the same, but he'd argue that a meal was more important, and he was probably right in that regard. So essentially, his own awkwardness meant that he was going to be marching through the day without so much as a pick-me-up to help him on his way. It wouldn't have been a lot, but if he was anything like her, it would have helped him out at the least.
"You worry about some really dumb stuff, man." Mina rested her head on his shoulder in exasperation herself. With a small smile of mild amusement at the whole thing, she teased Izuku, "This has to be a new record for you."
"I kind of feel like an idiot now."
"Well, you are kind of an idiot, for being someone so smart. You're kind of dopey."
"I think I get the idea."
Giggling for a moment, and then sighing, Mina lifted her head from Izuku's shoulder. It would take them half an hour before they ended up at the station they got off at to walk the rest of the way to Yuuei. It wouldn't be much, but it would be something. Better than nothing, and it might help.
Without saying a word, Mina brought her hand that was furthest away from Izuku up to his cheek. She felt a bit of resistance when she pulled his head down to her own shoulder, but not much. For a second, both of them were completely still and silent.
"Go to sleep." Mina told him softly, resting the hand that had pulled him there now atop his green and black hair. She was gentle with it in the places she needed to be, knowing the drawbacks to having curly hair such as the two of them had, in the same way someone with spiky or straight hair knew the drawbacks to them. "Get a bit of rest before we get there. I'll wake you at the station."
Hesitant for the briefest of moments, Izuku slowly nodded from his position, his girlfriend's soothing voice and scent far too appealing for him to even begin to think about resisting. He didn't have either the energy, or the willpower, to oppose this simple motion.
His eyelids slammed shut before he even could think about closing them.