Text They only had a day before they went on the School Trip. Once today was gone, they'd be loading up onto the bus and headed to who even knew where, to do who even knew what. Since Izuku had been held hostage by Shigarki, the school had to change the original location of the week away so the Villains wouldn't be able to find it. So tomorrow, they had no idea what they were supposed to expect. It was why Mina had asked. Plus, since they had failed the initiation to become official Hero Team students the day prior, she figured that they probably needed some sort of time together to help one another cope with the failure.
To be fair, neither of them were totally and utterly devastated about it. It had been a last minute, throwaway suggestion that Aizawa had made before the trip, so neither of them had a lot of time to think about it, and therefore, neither of them had set their sights on it so much that they felt pained by the loss. It hurt them about as much as it hurt to miss an ice-cream truck in the summer – A bit irritating and a bit disappointing, but they got over it fairly quickly.
It wasn't like they'd just had their entire futures ripped away from them. Still, that didn't mean that they weren't a bit upset. Mina was. She would have liked Team Awkward Energy to become a thing that day, but their results just didn't allow that. They would try again next term, once they got back from the trip and had their summer break, and then, they would pass, and work to become a Hero Team. It was something they really wanted to give a try – To actually learn how to become a Hero Team.
Until then though, they had to come up with ways to cheer themselves up.
Hence why Mina was suggesting that Izuku sleep over at her place.
"I-I feel like neither of o-our parents would be o-okay with this…" As expected though, Izuku was as flustered as someone in this situation could possibly get. She was able to casually just suggest this sort of thing, which always made Izuku feel awkward. To her surprise, he wasn't outright objecting against the idea, though he was bringing up some fairly valid concerns.
None that Mina hadn't already thought to counter though.
"Dude, you know how chilled out my family is about this sorta thing. I asked them, they're already on board, and besides, they really like you." She informed him with a fond smirk across her lips. "I keep getting asked by mom and dad when I'm bringing you over again. They got pretty upset when I told them they missed you the other day."
"A-And what about my mom?"
"It's not like it'd the first time we've slept together." Her choice of words were very deliberate there, and the absolute crimson blush on Izuku's face afterwards was the exact result she'd been seeking. "Heh… Jokes aside, I already stayed with you like, a few days ago, and she seemed totally fine about it then. I dunno why she wouldn't be okay with us staying together overnight again." Those circumstances were a bit different, Mina would admit, but she still maintained that it wouldn't be too different for Izuku to sleep at her house. Given that it'd happened in Izuku's once already, stopping them now was pretty pointless. Adding on to her earlier joke, she stated, "It's not like we're gonna be doing anything that inappropriate. There are still kids in the house, y'know. I don't wanna wake 'em."
Once more, flustered Izuku appeared, quickly moving his face away so Mina could only catch glimpses of his red cheeks through his green hair. Getting such a reaction from him had become so easy for Mina, sometimes she didn't even think about it when she was doing it.
Though through fluster though, he did manage to ask another question. "I-if we did get our parents to agree... W-Where would I sleep?"
"My room. With me if you want."
Now she could swear his hands were turning red as he blushed with hi entire body. Though this hadn't actually been an attempt specifically made to make him blush. She was actually being serious here. Her ideal situation would be if Izuku did wind up sharing a bed with her. She remembered waking up in his arms when she fell asleep during their revision session, and it was one of the most comforting experiences she'd ever had. Then again, she wasn't at all surprised that he went that red.
He was just awkward and easily embarrassed.
It was cute.
"C'mon, it'll be fun! We'll get to hang out, play some games, steal some snacks and watch a movie and cuddle together!" Mina tried to convince him, putting on a deliberately whiny, almost begging tone to her voice, and gave him the closest to puppy dog eyes that she could manage. "C'mon, please Izuku? I wanna spend some time with you before we gotta go on the field trip."
They were both looking forward to it, but it was a good point. Once the trip began, their chances to spend time together as a couple were going to be limited. They still might have the opportunities, sure, and once the trip ended, they had a summer break to look forward to, but they expected to be very busy with training for the foreseeable future, and Aizawa didn't seem like the type to lay off just because they were dating.
...In fact, it wasn't even questionable. Aizawa wasn't going to lay off for a second just because they were dating. If anything, he'd just hammer the pair of them with even more training for failing the Hero Team Initiation. Why either of them had even entertained the brief notion that perhaps he wouldn't was a question they wouldn't ever figure out. He'd said Mina was going to need extra tutelage, and he was damn well going to make sure she got it.
So yeah, Mina was right. Their chances to spend a large, if any, quantity of time together were probably going to end during the field trip. At least, their time to date like regular teenagers would come to a brief end.
Was wanting to spend a night with your boyfriend an out of the ordinary thing to want to do given the circumstances?
Absolutely not. Izuku wasn't going to deny that fact. Mina's feelings, her desire, it was completely justifiable given the week they had ahead of them. And to be honest…
It wasn't like he didn't want to either. He did. There wasn't really a reason to deny to do so either… Well, aside from his own general awkwardness and hesitation.
Part of that hesitation did indeed come from his revelation, the decision that had come from being held hostage by Shigaraki just a few days ago. The belief that had come into his head to not risk what he had with her. That even just risking their relationship by letting it slip out that he loved her would start some unending domino effect into would just end everything.
He just wanted this one thing. This simple thing. He wanted to keep this feeling he had whenever he was with Mina. This warm, wonderful feeling. The feeling that made him feel loved and trusted, that he had the ability to just be himself around her and to not have to worry about what she thought, that he needn't fear her judgement, because she was so clear with how she felt.
Was it selfish of him to think like that? To want nothing between them to change, to not rock the foundations he had with her?
Was he making the wrong choice? Would this lead down some other path?
Was he not considering Mina's perspective on this? She hadn't said anything about it at all… Given the way she acted, so affectionate and loving, he would have assumed that he would have at least brought it up… So did it not bother her? Did she understand? Did she know how he felt without even needing to hear him explicitly say it?
He honestly didn't have the answers… That was why he hesitated to have this sleepover with her. Not because he didn't want to, but because he wasn't sure if he trusted himself not to botch it in some way.
Even so… Looking at her now, with her putting on the cutest face that she could pull, almost like she was pouting in a sense, because she knew that she'd be able to break him by acting like this…. She didn't play fair sometimes.
"…A-Alright." He agreed, giving into her request. He didn't have it in her to upset her by denying this final bit of private time together before they got thrown into a week's long brutal straining session.
A huge grin spread onto her lips when she heard Izuku's surrender to her request. "Yahoo!" Mina cheered in her victory, throwing her hands into the air and bouncing up off the ground in celebration, before then wrapping her arms around her boyfriend and pulling him into a tight hug that ended up lifting him up off of his feet, with enough force that Izuku briefly thought that she was going to end up accidentally crushing his ribs.. "We're gonna have so much fun!"
As Mina had guessed, Izuku's mother was totally fine with the idea. There hadn't even been a brief moment of concern in the larger woman's voice or eyes, not a single hint of anxiety or worry for her son. Even if he couldn't say it, she knew her son perfectly well. Inko understood exactly how Izuku felt, even when he didn't say exactly what it was that was on his mind, or in his heart.
So, Izuku had basically spent the time packing everything up in his room that he felt he was going to need. Clothes, a notepad and some pencils, in case he met any Heroes or other students with interesting Quirks he wanted to make notes of, and a grip booster, to work on his forearms some when he felt like doing so. He doubted that they were going to be left with a lot of time to do much else, other than train, eat and sleep. Any free time he did get, he was probably going to spend with Mina.
As he was doing this, Inko found herself sat with Mina as the two of them waited for Izuku to finish packing up what he was going to need.
"- So they're not even telling us where we're going. I honestly have no idea where we're gonna end up." Mina had just finished explaining what Inko had suspected from Izuku's behaviour – That no one in the class even knew where the training trip was even taking place.
It made a lot of sense to Inko, Mina was confident. It was her son that had been held hostage by Shigaraki, so she was probably the only parent who would fully understand the severity of the situation. As such, Mina felt little to no danger in telling her any of this.
Judging by how relaxed she was about the situation, she seemed to understand why the school had done this perfectly well. It was totally justifiable. Frankly, it was a very smart thing to be doing. When it came to the students, if there was even a shred of a possibility that something could go wrong, the school should do everything within its power to reduce that risk until it wasn't even worth taking into consideration. So Inko didn't seem mind that at all.
"I see." She responded, taking a small sip from the tea from her cup. "Thanks for explaining that to me. Izuku's quite tight lipped about this sort of thing."
"Yeah, I know…" Mina muttered to herself, underneath her breath. Frankly, she hadn't even noticed that she had done it, but it highlighted an issue that she had noticed when it came to her boyfriend that she just kept quiet.
Something that was… Starting to bug her.
She hadn't shown that it had bothered her, or even that she'd noticed at all. A lot of the time, she was just pretending that she was totally okay with how things were, but if she were to be completely and utterly honest with herself, she wasn't. She wasn't happy with how things were going right now. Not with her relationship with Izuku. Well, she was happy with their relationship, absolutely…
It was difficult to explain.
Trials and tribulations aside, she loved Izuku to absolute death, that wasn't what was being questioned here. Izuku made her feel like absolute gold. He was so sweet with her, kind to everyone around him, and genuinely heroic and selfless that he almost crossed the line into downright idiocy. He was a massive dork and it was adorable, and she loved him to absolute death.
It wasn't any one thing he did or said, but rather, everything that he was. When she had seen him from afar, she hadn't thought much of him. Seeing him now, knowing the person he was… She thought she couldn't possibly love him any more that she already did. It just didn't feel like it was possible, but she was managing, somehow.
The question was… Was that how he felt about her?
She had been very open with her feelings towards Izuku, she felt. In fact, she didn't think it was possible to telegraph how deeply she cared for him any more than she already had done. She kissed him so often, hugged him and told him how she felt towards him so clearly that anyone who had even the slightest bit of awareness would be aware that to her, Izuku meant the world.
But was that how Izuku felt? He'd never told her as such. He'd never told her that she loved him. He had never told her that he felt the same way. And as much as his actions told her that of course he loved her, and that she was an idiot for thinking that he did anything other than absolutely adore her… The thought just couldn't get itself out of her head.
Here was a person that was so selfless and so genuinely caring about people who had done nothing but make his life pain, that he would do anything within his power to help them out. Todoroki was the very first example that she'd seen of this altruistic spirit of his. The Half-cold-Half-Hot Quirk user hadn't shown much but a general coldness towards Izuku since the Sports Festival had begun, and yet Izuku had gone out of his way to help him to use his fire side. A less controversial one in terms of the person he was helping, but he'd run to rescue Iida in that whole debacle of a mess against the Hero Killer. During the End Of Semester exam, he had told her about the fight he and Bakugou had had with All Might, and what had happened.
Including how the Explosion Quirk user had just lashed out and struck him before they'd even engaged All Might. How he'd gone out of his way to avoid working together with him, just for the sake of his own damned pride. And even when he was working with him, he'd use his Quirk to throw Izuku all over the place.
To be as blunt as possible, it made Mina angry. Genuinely angry that Bakugou would even dare do something like that to Izuku. All it really did was fuel the fires of distaste that she had for him, sending her over the line from dislike and distrust, to outright hate.
Mina hated Bakugou.
She hated Bakugou for everything he'd done to Izuku. Hate was the perfect word to describe what she felt towards the arrogant, prideful, conceited son of a bitch.
Izuku on the other hand – He'd still helped him. Even when he didn't want to be helped, he'd gone out of his way to help him, even when it made literally no sense to do so. Running back to grab him and drag him out of the exit when all he needed to do to win was get out of the perimeter of the place? Going back to drag a totally unconscious Bakugou out made no sense whatsoever, and yet Izuku just did it anyway.
He was a far better person than she was. He might be a little bit crazy, but Izuku always meant genuine good.
And then most recently, there was him, when he was probably scared out of his mind, being held hostage by Shigaraki. And instead of doing what anyone else probably would have done – Try to use their Quirk and bolt out of the nearest exit – He instead went along with it, just because the Villain threatened to hurt more people if he didn't.
If that didn't highlight the type of person Izuku was, she didn't know what did.
And to be honest… That was what was scaring Mina right now.
Taking all of that into consideration… Izuku would never do anything to intentionally harm anymore. He just wouldn't do it. When faced with hurting another person or himself, he always opted that he be the one to suffer. That was how he was, and how he had always acted when faced with these sorts of scenarios. His actions spoke far, far louder than his words did, and proved time and time again, that he wasn't going to let anyone get hurt in any way as long as he was around.
And…
It made her shudder to think about, and part of her did know that she was being completely irrational. It was way too convoluted to be the actual reason. It would just cause Izuku more trouble than it would have saved him. He wouldn't do this sort of thing even if it would have saved him trouble. He just wasn't that sort of person. It was stupid to fear this sort of thing from him…
But… What if that was why he was even with her in the first place?
Was it that he just didn't want to upset her, or hurt her emotionally?
Given everything, was that an absurd idea? Was that why he hadn't said that he loved her? Because he didn't want to lie to her on top of everything else?
Were these ideas too crazy? Was she just being paranoid?
Probably. No, almost certainly. Absolutely. She knew that logically, she wasn't making any sort of sense. It was just her mind filling in the blanks. When she stopped, and just took a breath, she knew that she was just being irrational. Izuku wasn't the kind of person to lie like that. He wouldn't toy with her emotions like that.
But the fact remained that Izuku just hadn't said three simple words that she just wanted to hear. Needed to hear. Mina wasn't a clingy person. She was affectionate, yes, but clingy? Absolutely not. But at the same time… She just wanted to know that she was loved by her boyfriend, that she wasn't alone in her feeling like this. That her love was reciprocated. That the boy she loves loved her too.
Whatever the reason was… He hadn't said it.
And that left Mina unhappy with the current state of things. Not that she was unhappy with the relationship – It was still one of the best things that had come out of going to Yuuei… But not with how it was progressing. They'd been dating for a few months now, but apparently nothing was happening to progress anymore. They'd reached some sort of standstill. Part of why Mina had been so openly willing to be more intimate with Izuku by letting him feel her chest just a few days ago was partially in the hopes that something might push one of them into progressing more… But nothing had really happened from it. In fact, she'd just found the limits of what he was willing to do.
It was partly why she wanted to have this sleepover in the first place. To reaffirm things with Izuku. Show him that she really, really did love him with everything that she had to offer. Maybe that would comfort him. Maybe that would do something for the pair of them.
Mina took a sip of her own tea in silence, and put the cup down flat on the table when she was finished, blinking twice and then sighing. Upon exhaling, her phone began to let out a loud buzzing noise, indicating that she had just received a text message. Reaching into her jacket's front pocket, she unlocked the phone by swiping it left to right, and then hitting the messages app.
It was Micha, revealing that he was outside and just about ready to take both the young Heroes-In –Training back to the Ashido household. Apparently he was borrowing their father's car to do so.
…Did he even own a drivers licence?
"Whatever. It'll be fine." Mina muttered in response to that last thought, and turned to look back at Inko. "My brothers here to pick us up. I'm just gonna check on Izuku."
With a nod from Inko, Mina downed her tea in one large gulp, and rose to her feet. Even if she'd never been in this apartment building before, Izuku's room wasn't even remotely difficult to locate. His room had a sigh hung up on it that was All Might themed, like everything else in that room was.
She could only imagine the reaction All Might would have if he ever saw the room.
That would be a hilarious situation.
She planted three knocks on Izuku's door, and then spoke up so he would be able to hear her. "Hey, Izuku, Micha's here. You ready to go?"
"Yeah, just a second…" He fumbled around in his room for a second, unzipping his suitcase, putting something in it presumably, re-zipped it up, then made his way quickly over to the door, and opening it to see his girlfriend. "Alright, I'm good to go."
Even his freaking suitcase was All Might themed… Mina had to seriously stifle a giggle.
In the face of all her worries, even then, Izuku managed to make her laugh, without even trying.
"W-What?"
"You're literally the biggest nerd I have ever met."
"Wh-Where did that come from?!"
"Just you in general." Still having to hold back her laughter, Mina grabbed hold of Izuku's hand, and pulled him out of his room, and down the front door of the apartment.
All her concerns still in place, she really did still love just being around the guy.
Never – Mina made a mental note to herself – Ever, ask Micha to drive her anywhere ever again. The only suitable time for her to ask him for a ride anywhere – The only time – Was if she ever accidentally swallowed poison and needed to get it out of her system as quickly as she possibly could. The majority of the time that they were in the car, she felt like she was in a rocket ship headed out to space more than a four wheeled automobile.
Micha was the sort of person who would make the car go as fast as he could possibly get away with at every single opportunity. The second he wasn't behind another car or someone wasn't watching him, he'd slam down on the accelerator, put it into fourth gear, and speed down the road like he was being chased by a Villain with a Speed Enhancement Quirk.
How he hadn't crashed and gone flying out the window since he'd learned how to drive was a mystery that she would never, ever be able to figure out. Frankly, she was amazed that some Hero hadn't jumped in and put a stop to his reckless driving weeks ago. He was technically still inside the speed limits sure… But he was absolutely insane when he was on the road. Swerving, moving into open lanes, going from zero to a hundred when it came to how fast the car was moving….
Mina was honestly amazed that they even made it back to the Ashido household without ending up in a violent wreck.
Finally pulling on the handbrake as the car pulled into the family's drive, Micha quickly turned around to look at the green and pink pair behind him. Putting on a particularly cockney accent, the older teenager pretended to be a hired taxi driver. "Alright, we're here. That'll be two-thousand yen."
Both the teenagers felt like their heads were spinning, and from the looks of things, Izuku seemed about ready to throw up his guts onto the pavement, and then pass out. Not exactly the best way to end any given car journey. Mina was more hardened to this sort of driving, since her father wasn't a ton better. Still, she felt dizzy more than anything. The second the car stopped, she lower the window to allow fresh air to filter out the sickly air in the vehicle.
"Micha… I wouldn't pay you two yen after that drive." Mina groaned, running a hand firmly down her face as she tried to keep her stomach inside her body, and not in her throat. "I don't… I don't get it… How the hell did the Heroes not pull you over for dangerous driving?..."
"Maybe they just liked the style points."
"If that was style, then out house is a literal castle."
"And on that note, onwards to fort Ashido!" Finally killing the power to the car, Micha opened the door nearest to him, and leaped out of the car with gusto, apparently ridiculously energetic tonight.
He had a date with his girlfriend that night, Mina knew, which probably did explain why he'd blasted back to their house like his life depended on it. Shaking her head, she looked over to Izuku, who still seemed rather dazed from the ride. Somehow he had a Quirk like One For All which let him leap from roof to roof, and he was now pale white from a messed up car journey. He was a living dichotomy, that was all that could be said about it. .
"Hey, Izuku, you alright?" She questioned.
"Y-Yeah…" He responded, though his voice was notably shaky. He'd be alright once he actually started walking again. He blinked a few times once Mina had spoken to him, snapping him from his stupor and bringing him back from whatever plane he'd been on for the last couple of minutes. "Your brother… He drives like a maniac…"
"Yes he does." Mina thoroughly agreed, grabbing hold of the handle to her door and opening it, and stepping outside of the metal contraption, stretching as she did so. For a second, her legs wobbled, before she found her balance. It felt good to be on solid ground again. "You good to get going, or do you need a minute?"
"I-I just need a second.."
"Sure thing." Mina sighed, with a soft smile on her lips.
Sure, she wasn't happy with how things weren't progressing with the two of them. Things felt like they'd come to a standstill.
But she was still happy with their relationship overall. It was just this one thing that was keeping it from being absolutely perfect…
So, she made it her goal to get over that particular hurdle.