A/N: Well, I'm back with another MHA one-shot! When I put up 'Lost For Words' three weeks ago, I'd never written for MHA before and I literally dashed it off for fun. But that story actually took off, explosively so, more than I ever expected. So I figured I'd keep going with a good thing and write some more MHA one shots for ya!

This time, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if the Hardening Hero and the Acid Hero hooked up…

'Atsui... Hot...'

Kirishima flopped onto his desk, never in his life more jealous of Todoroki than at this moment. Because Todoroki was smart enough to stay out of make-up classes at summer camp, and given his icy Quirk, he wouldn't be suffering the beginnings of heatstroke, as Kirishima currently was.

'Hot?' Kaminari bolted upright and scanned the classroom. 'Hot? Where?'

Kirishima would have reached over and smacked him, but he was too drowsy for that kind of effort. 'I was talking about the weather, idiot.'

'Oh.' Kaminari sagged back into his chair again. 'Mm. Man, it's so hot that I think I'm going to short-circuit…'

Kirishima dragged his pen over the last couple of questions on the page, then pushed it aside. That was rough. He was so past done that he was forgetting the stroke-order for single-stroke kanji.

The students staggered up to the front with their finished papers, and Aizawa took them without even looking. He flicked through the pages. And nodded.

'Hell's over for the day,' he said; slammed the sliding door open, and walked out.

The students groaned and collapsed back into their seats.

A frigid shower and something caffeinated, Kirishima thought. I'm thanking all our lucky stars put together that Aizawa Sensei didn't work out how to change the standard 'no-hot-water' to 'no-cold-water,' just to be rational.

'I'm gonna die…' Mina moaned.

He glanced back, to see Mina face-down with her head on her arms, dying of heat exhaustion.

And her desk was sizzling below her.

'MINA, THE DESK!' Kirishima yelled.

She sat up so fast that she nearly tipped her chair over and nearly cracked heads with Sero in the next row back. 'Wha — what?!'

'Your acid! The desk!'

She looked down and panicked. 'Oh great…'

The surface of the desk bubbled in silence.

'You all right?' Kirishima asked with a weary smile, hooking his arm over the back of his chair.

She nodded. She was panting slightly, like some kind of pink alien puppy that had been out in the sun for too long. 'Sorry. My Quirk's worse when I sweat.'

Kaminari joined the conversation. 'I thought Bakugo was the one with a sweat-based Quirk.'

Kirishima grimaced, as Bakugo's voice came to mind unbidden. Oi, I ain't nothing like Pinky here, you got that?!

Even though they were friends, having a break from Bakugo — as they were in different classes for the summer holidays — was refreshing, to say the least.

Mina fanned herself, and grimaced at the still-bubbling desk. 'Yeah, that's right. It's just that I secrete acid from my skin, so sweating makes it worse.'

'Kinda gross…' Sero said.

She slammed her hands on her desk and yelled, 'Like you can talk — you shoot tape out of your elbows! Who knows what that stuff's made out of!'

Sero raised his hands in surrender and slapped a piece of tape over his mouth for good measure while he was at it.

As he watched Mina fretting and panicking about the still-burning acid on her desk, Kirishima's brow creased.

'H-Has anyone got something I can use to clean this up?' she asked in a fluster. 'A rag, or something?'

Kirishima looked down, then sighed. And pulled his shirt off.

'Bro?!' Kaminari yelped. 'I know it's hot, but we're in school! Keep your shirt on! Literally! On!'

'School just let out, idiot. And besides, I'm walking around shirtless half the time in my hero outfit, so what gives?'

Kaminari shrugged. 'Jeez, fine.'

'But what if you hardened?' Mina frowned. 'Would that classify as shirtless… because then you couldn't really call it skin.'

'Wow, Mina.' Kaminari shrugged, then turned to Kirishima. 'So, what — if a person lost their clothes, it's sociably acceptable because they're made of granite or something?

'I ain't trying it,' Kirishima protested. 'If you're that desperate to find out, get Tetsutetsu to help.'

Mina grimaced. 'Does that mean that we're going to stumble across a metal statue of Tetsutetsu in the buff somewhere on the campground?'

'This is getting out of hand…' Sero mumbled.

'Yeah, it is.' And Kirishima turned around and tossed the shirt to Mina. It fell into her hands, and she stared at it, bewildered.

Kirishima jerked a thumb at her. 'For your desk. Use that.'

'WHOOO!' Kaminari cheered, and cracked up. 'So manly!'

Kirishima scoffed, and ran a hand through his hair. 'Ah, shut up.'

'Eh?' Mina blinked. 'Oh. Uh, thanks, but — I'd feel bad!' she protested.

'It was 10,000 yen or something from Uniqlo! I've half-destroyed it already!'

The pain-in-the-neck from Class B came out of his heat-induced daze long enough to say, 'It's more like 15,000 yen for those ones — '

Everyone rounded on him and yelled, 'This is Class A stuff — stay out of it!'

Kirishima shook his head, and added, 'And besides — what do you want her to do, take her shirt off?'

A dead silence, and Kirishima turned back to see Mina cracking her knuckles with a deadly smirk. 'You know, Kirishima, I can spit acid really far — wanna find out how far?'

'Oh crud — you know it was a rhetorical question! Kirishima protested.

She sighed and started scrubbing the desk with his t-shirt. 'Yeah, I know. Besides, it's too hot to get mad.'

A barrage of footsteps blasted into the building, and Mina looked up, saying, 'Hey, that must be the rest of the class back.'

'Otherwise, that's one massive horde of villains.'

'Shut up, Kaminari. It's too hot to even think about fighting crime.'

And sure enough, a stampede of teenagers with assorted hair-colours blasted past the classroom, bringing with them their various arguments and issues from training.

Mineta screeched to a halt outside the door. 'Am I missing anything exciting?

Kaminari shrugged. 'Mina stole Kirishima's shirt…'

Mineta's jaw dropped, and his face turned red with fury. 'Why couldn't it have been the other way around?!'

'Die, Mineta!' Ashido yelled.

'Die, Kaminari!' Kirishima yelled.

'DIE, SCUM!'

And Bakugo kicked Mineta all the way down the hall like he'd been given a game-breaking corner kick, scattering passing 1-A students like he'd launched a rocket down the hall.

"Waaah!'

Kirishima managed a wary grin. 'Whoa, bro… What's your damage?'

Mina pretended to swoon. 'Bakugo! My hero!'

Bakugo blanched. 'Shut up, Pinky — I had the stupid little wad of chewing gum as my partner for training exercises.' He jammed his hands in his pockets and stormed down the hall. 'I was gonna kick the stupid little wad of stupid down the stupid hall and into the stupid-bin either stupid WAY!'

The door slam that followed a moment later nearly broke a hole in the wall.

'Another inspiring speech from our captain,' Mina remarked.

'Heh. Yeah.'

Kirishima got up from his desk and headed to the door, giving the others a wave over his shoulder. Any longer at his desk and he was going to fall asleep. Caffeine and fresh air. Then a shower. He dodged the students scattered throughout the halls and swung into the kitchen. Later, he'd be dragged into helping the rest of the class make dinner, but hitting the fridge for a drink before then wouldn't hurt.

He opened the fridge door and kneeled, letting the ice hit him full blast. Ahh. Who needs Todoroki when you've got an open fridge door?

'Kirishima! Close the fridge!' Iida barked, turning from the counter to tell him off. He had a glass in one hand and a water jug in the other.

'I'm getting a drink?'

'It's a glass-door fridge! Choose your beverage first and then open the door!'

Kirishima laughed wearily, and looked through the rows of cans. 'Okay, got it, got it. I'm no doubt shaming my parents and the fridge and the people who manufactured the fridge. I beg your pardon.' He glanced up at Iida. 'You all right, man? 'Cause you seem even more uptight than usual, and that's saying something. Did you get something stuck in your radiator?'

Iida blinked. 'Yes, I did, actually.'

Deku and Ochako nearly tripped as they passed by, disturbed to the core. 'How would you even…' Ochako shook her head, and with a nervous laugh. 'I don't really want to know…'

Iida downed his glass of water and put one foot up on the counter with a grimace, checking the vents and exhaust pipes imbedded in his calves. Kirishima noticed that the metal was dented and scratched. 'Yes… running for extended periods of time in outdoor areas has been a new experience, to say the least.'

'Ouch. Rough.' Kirishima reached into the fridge and grabbed a blue-and-silver can. He'd hurry up if only to give Iida one less thing to worry about. 'Red Bull for me…'

A wiry yet soft body tackled him from behind and plunged a pink hand over his shoulder and into the fridge. 'And Dr. Pepper for meee!'

'Whaaa — Mina?' Kirishima said, laughing from the surprise.

'Yep, the alien queen is thirsty, so prepare to be abducted, beverages!'

Kirishima couldn't help but grin. This girl is the craziest person I've ever met.

'Oi, Stupid Hair! Pinky!' a voice barked.

Mina looked back, yelped, 'Oh, crud,' then snatched a can of Mother and hurled it at Bakugo. 'Here! Your drink! Don't kill us for existing!'

Bakugo blinked. He held the can in his fingers, having caught it reflexively. 'What the…'

Mina sagged against Kirishima in relief. 'Phew. He could have blasted us out of the way or shoved us into the fridge! Crisis averted!'

Bakugo scowled, and said, 'Cut it, Pinky.' He stalked off and cracked the can open, downing half before he was even out of the room.

'Maybe I should buy him a soccer ball for his birthday,' Mina observed. 'Kicking Mineta around really seemed to reduce his stress levels.'

Suddenly, pink flashed in Kirishima's vision. Mina pressed a scorched and yellowed bundle of rags into his hand. 'Your shirt. It died a worthy death, so thank you.'

'We can hold a funeral after dinner,' Kirishima joked.

'Ahaha… Do you want to bury it or cremate it?'

'It's kind of a mess… cremation would be better.'

Mina leapt to her feet and sprang to the counter. 'Todoroki, we need help performing a cremation!'

Todoroki and Momo looked up from their work at the kitchen island and stared.

'…Who died?' Todoroki finally asked.

'Kirishima's t-shirt. I murdered it.'

Iida looked up, and looked Kirishima up and down, then his eyebrows shot into his hairline. 'Kirishima — where is your shirt?'

Kirishima stood up, closed the fridge, and pointed at the mess in his other hand. 'Here? And here I am getting busted about the fridge when I've been walking around shirtless for the better part of the evening… Glad to know our class president has his priorities straight!'

'Just find a shirt — for my sanity's sake if nothing else, Kirishima.'

Kirishima nodded and rolled his eyes, stuffing the ruined shirt in his pocket, and Mina waved to get Todoroki's attention and get an answer out of him regarding the burial procedures for the t-shirt.

'…Bother Bakugo with it instead,' the Todoroki replied.

'Whoa!' Mina yelped. 'Are you trying to get me killed?' Then she grinned and made a phone hand by her ear. '"Bakugo's Cremations: you got 'em, we explode 'em!"'

'That's ghastly!' Momo protested.

'Hmm?' Mina scanned the room. 'I'm not seeing any Pokemon…'

Kirishima clicked his fingers. 'Hey, you have a favourite?'

'Muck!'

'Onyx!'

'I choose you!'

'What…' Todoroki said flatly.

'Todoroki, you haven't lived…'

'Anyway, Todoroki,' Momo said, tapping the counter. 'How many more?'

'Two or three.'

On the other side of the counter, Momo was making silver bowls and Todoroki was filling them with ice cubes, probably to put drinks in for later. But on the other hand, with the amount of ice cubes the other students were stealing and either licking or crunching with their teeth, Momo and Todoroki had probably been put up to the task by their classmates.

'I remember the time that my family ordered an ice statue for this gala…' Momo said, dropping another bowl on the table. 'That was fun.'

Todoroki glanced at her. 'Was that a subtle hint for me to make an ice statue? Because my control isn't fine enough for that.'

'What? No!' Momo protested. 'I mean, I could make the tools to carve one, but — '

Ice blasted from Todoroki's hand, and he walked from the room, leaving a massive block of ice behind.

Momo stared at it, bewildered. Then metal tools began to materialise from her arms, clinking on the counter.

'Hey, nice, Momo!' Kirishima said with a grin. 'Bet you're really arty with all that creating stuff. Make it look good!'

She laughed nervously, and stepped up to the block of ice, tools in hand. 'Well, I'll give it a go?'

'…Even though the aircon is on a set temperature and we can increase it, we still can't maintain an extremely low temperature in the house to keep the statue frozen solid because then the rest of us will freeze, so at best we have a couple of hours before it melts, but that still doesn't solve the problem of water leaking onto the floor and these are hardwood boards so any water damage could warp the whole floor, meaning that we need to maintain the temperature of the ice by refreezing it, so we'll need to set up a rotation of fifteen minute blocks where Todoroki refreezes the ice or better yet we could have Momo create a container to sit the statue in to catch the water as it melts but that means we'd need to lift the block of ice and we would either need to find students strong enough to lift it and it's taller than all of us so maybe it would actually be more effective for Momo to make a forklift to lift it into a container but that could be breaking the law because I don't know if you need a license to drive that kind of machinery nor what type of licence, and do they let high schoolers apply for — '

'Gah, my eyes! It burns!' Mina yelled. 'The nonsense is reaching critical levels — everybody run!'

Deku broke off and blushed bright red. Everyone burst out laughing.

'I'm gonna go get some fresh air,' Kirishima said, ducking out of the kitchen. 'See ya.'

'I want you on my team in the apocalypse, Deku!' he heard Mina say as he headed for the door.

'No way, man, he's with me!'

'No, me!'

'The apocalypse is a pulp fiction theory at best — by far the more practical situation would be having him on hand for an emergency evacuation!'

'Killjoy, Iida…'

Kirishima pushed the screen door open and sauntered out, avoiding the couple of stray quirk users still practicing in the dusk, ignoring the yells and screams coming from the cave relatively nearby, and he headed up the grassy hill behind the house and sprawled over the grass.

'Haah.' He cracked open his can of Red Bull and took a sip, and watched the sky fade through every shade of purple, like a colour palette. 'Good stuff.'

'Hey, Kirishima!'

He looked down to see Mina trekking up the hill, picking her way through the grass with her can of Dr. Pepper in her hand and a bright grin on her face.

'Hey,' he said. 'What's up?'

She flopped down beside him and turned her face to the breeze, eyes closed in pleasure. 'Thought I'd join you.'

She popped the top on her drink and gulped some down. 'Ahhhh.' She wiped her mouth. 'It was getting kind of crazy in there. Somehow, the whole ice statue thing turned into a competition to see whether Momo can carve a statue better than Todoroki can make one by hand.'

'And how's that going for them?'

A jagged stalagmite of ice burst from the roof, with shrieks, followed by Aizawa sprinting into the house to yell at them all.

'Ooh.'

Mina winced, yet grinned. 'Yeah.' She clenched a fist. 'Looks like we got away unscathed!'

'By the skin of our teeth!'

'Pointy teeth, in your case…'

Kirishima grimaced, as his sharp teeth caught on the rim of his drink can yet again. 'Tell me about it.'

Mina leaned forward and peered at the can. 'Hey, Red Bull! Wasn't that Red Riot's favourite drink?'

He grinned at her. 'You got it!' He drained the last, then crushed the can flat between his hardened hands.

Mina tossed back the last of her drink and held hers out. 'Me too!'

He nodded and flattened hers as well, but with a bit more care. The last thing she needed was to cut her hands on any jagged metal. 'Here. Make it into a necklace or something.'

Her jaw dropped, then she looked at the flattened circle. 'As much as you're an idiot, that would look kind of cool. But Diet Coke cans would go better with my hero costume…'

Kirishima pocketed his flattened can, and his fingers caught on something. He pulled out the cottony tangle of his ruined t-shirt.

Mina glanced at it, then looked at the skyline with a sulk. 'Sorry about that.'

'Eh? It's fine. It's just a shirt.'

She said nothing for a moment. 'I didn't get any acid on you before, did I?'

'Huh? No?'

She sighed, propping her outstretched arms on her knees and paddling with her hands. 'When I was a kid I used to splatter acid everywhere. Got it all over stuff, even got it on a few people, so I seriously freaked people out whenever I tried to talk to them.'

Oh… man…

She tried to brighten her voice. 'But I got past that phase pretty quickly and stopped splattering. Still…' Her expression drooped, and between her black, feline sclera and cat-like mouth, she looked like a sad kitten. 'You saw earlier. Sometimes I still mess up, and when I have a quirk that can burn people, it's…'

She looked at him, and he must have had a stricken expression on his face because she sat up and smiled and laughed so hard that it looked like it hurt. 'Sorry, sorry! I shouldn't be making you listen to my personal rubbish, sorry. Besides! I'm the upbeat crazy one — what's the point if I'm not upbeat!'

She was smiling so hard that it looked like her face was going to crack.

Kirishima stared, then slowly shook his head, catching her off guard.

'Just because you're peppy or whatever doesn't mean you can't get upset or rage or do whatever like anyone else.' He jerked a thumb at himself. 'I'm meant to be easy-going, but I still stuff up and get mad and do stupid things like all the other hotheads in our class.'

He stopped, then waved his hands in a fluster. 'I'm not saying that what you're doing is stupid! I'm just saying that you can do stupid stuff if you… want.'

'Heh.' A puff of laughter escaped her lips, and she laughed into her hand. 'I know what you meant.' She smiled, normally this time. 'Thanks, Kirishima.'

She fell onto her back and traced the appearing constellations, poking at the sky like she was two-finger typing. Her fingers slowed. She sighed. '…I worry about it. I know I'm the upbeat "peppy" one, or whatever, but I still worry about stuff. And everyone worries about their quirks.' She threw her hands into the air. 'Mine burns people! I don't even know if I'll ever be able to kiss my boyfriend!' she yelled.

Kirishima's eyes were so wide that if Bakugo had been passing by, he wold have been tempted to stick something in them.

She froze. 'Argh! I'm sorry! What am I saying — you're a guy — oh this is embarrassing I'm gonna dieee…'

She risked a glance up at him. He shrugged. 'It's cool. Sometimes I freak out and wonder if I'd poke my girlfriend's eyes out with my quirk if we kissed…'

Having sacrificed a little bit of his pride to make Mina feel better, Kirishima crossed his arms behind his head.

And froze.

Then turned to her. 'Hey… You wanna, I don't know, try kissing?'

She stared at him from the grass. 'I'm sorry, what?'

He stammered. 'I mean, you said you were worried about your Quirk… you may as well test it out on someone who can turn himself to stone… right?'

She sat up so fast that she nearly cracked heads with him. 'Are you crazy?!' she yelled.

'Seems that way!' he yelled back.

'Just checking!'

'What, would you prefer to kiss Tetsutetsu?!'

'No chance!'

They stared at each other.

And she nodded. 'Fine, let's do this,' she said, and pounced.

'Wha — hey, at least give me time to activate my Quirk!' he protested.

'Too slow!'

He clenched a fist and felt himself turn to stone, and after a few awkward attempts to line up the right angle, they kissed.

His eyes widened. 'Mmph!'

His senses were dulled somewhat through the stone, but he could definitely feel it, the softness of her touch, the scent of her wild, fluffy pink hair — and the acid.

The acid that still burned at his skin, even though it was made of stone.

The acid that tingled and burned on his lips, like a mouth full of sour cola bottle candies — the kind that he loved.

She broke the kiss, and panicked. 'Oh… Oh my… Kirishima, your lips, I — '

Kirishima knuckled his mouth and rubbed the acid off on the grass, before reverting to normal. His lips stang a little, but other than that it was nothing.

'It's cool. Besides.' He grinned. 'The first go is always a practice go, am I right?'

She stared at him. And maybe she was crying.

And she dropped her head onto his chest, and laughed until she was wheezing for breath. 'You've got to be kidding me… This has got to be the weirdest hook-up in the history of U.A…'

'I'm pretty sure there's been weirder.' He paused. 'Wait, are we a thing now?'

She jolted and cracked her head on his chin. 'Ow! And I don't know — we were kissing! Naturally, I'm gonna make some kind of related comment!'

'Okay okay okay.' He glanced down at her. He could feel himself beginning to soften. 'If you want a practice partner, that's cool.' He looked away. 'And if you wanted to be a thing, that's cool too.'

'Huh?'

And their senses dulled; their Quirks shut down, and they froze, and their eyes flicked over to see Aizawa Sensei right next to them.

He fixed them with an unimpressed look. No doubt racking his brain for a rule that they could be breaking while sitting out on the lawn with Mina on top of a shirtless Kirishima and kissing, no less.

'A-Ah… Sensei…' Kirishima managed.

'Hey…' Mina said weakly.

'You two — '

'It's not his fault! '

'It's not her fault!'

'I spilled acid on my desk — '

'I gave her my shirt to clean it up — '

'I started telling him all this — '

'And I offered to — '

'And I said yes — '

'And I should have — '

'And he didn't — '

'And she didn't — '

'I was being stupid!'

'We were practicing how to use our Quirks!'

Mina stared at him. 'Hey… that's a decent story. Why didn't we come up with that before someone found us?'

'Because we were too busy being stupid?'

'You were the one who told be to go for broke on being stupid!'

Aizawa glared, and they both shut up. He exhaled. 'If I had a dollar for every two students who told me they were practicing their Quirks…'

'Ew,' Mina said. 'Gross.'

'A-Anyway,' Kirishima said, 'That aside — the whole point of this training camp is to practice our Quirks!'

Mina had had a rollercoaster of a night already, and her getting in trouble was the last thing he wanted to see. For some reason, he just had to take the fall. 'And I offered to help her out with something, so it's not her fault — '

Aizawa rapped him on the head. 'Can you stop talking? I get it.' Kirishima blinked. 'Besides, I could see you two amateurs all the way up the hill. You seemed to be behaving yourselves. Relatively.'

'Hey, we were… We are amateurs, that's the whole point!' Mina said.

Aizawa Sensei rolled his eyes and nodded. And waited.

'…Did you need us for something?' Kirishima finally asked.

Aizawa pointed at his eyes, and Kirishima could see a vein ticking in his forehead. 'Hurry it up. I'm getting eye strain.'

He's cancelling our Quirks. No quirks means no acid. No acid means —

They both blinked, and looked at each other.

'Err… I know you were asking me if we wanted to be a thing before, Kirishima, but…'

He tried to ignore the blush that was creeping up his neck. 'I mean, we could. You're cute, I'm cool, we get on, and I like you, so if you like me than I guess we've got it sorted.'

'Kirishima. I know you think you're being super smooth, but you are blushing.'

'I-I am not!'

'YOU'RE BLUSHING!'

'Fine! Get off, pink thing!'

'Ooh, we're already up to pet names?'

An inappropriate laugh bubbled in his chest. 'Stop!'

'You're still blushing! That is a "riot," Red!'

'Pink thing — '

'Just do the d_ed kiss already,' Aizawa snapped.

Mina threw up her hands. 'Yeesh, bossy! Fine!'

And she pulled Kirishima in and it was over far too quickly.

She got up and smiled at Aizawa, saying, 'So, what's got you in such a good mood — did you win the lottery?'

He walked off down the hill. 'You merely did well on your pop quizzes. Consider it a reward.'

'You're such a sweetheart, Sensei!' She dashed after him, but he sidestepped and she ploughed down the hill, shrieking, running too fast for her feet to keep up.

'Momo and Todoroki have finished destroying the kitchen, so both of you get in there and help the others with dinner!' he called after her.

'Yeah, Senseiii!'

Aizawa turned back and raised an eyebrow at Kirishima, prompting the boy to snap out of it and chase after him.

His teacher glanced at him as they walked. 'Put something on that.'

'Huh?'

'Your mouth.'

And Kirishima remembered the stinging, from that acidic kiss.

'…Thanks, but, no.' He rubbed a finger over his mouth. 'If I can't take everything she gives me in stride, then what's the point?' He grinned. 'And we're not always going to have someone who can cancel Quirks around, either.'

'D_ right,' Aizawa grumbled. 'You were being so nauseatingly cute that I thought I was going to vomit. Give me dry eye any day of the week.'

'You're a real softy at heart, Teach — '

And Kirishima sprinted through the open door before Aizawa could get a hold of him.

'Go put a shirt on!' his teacher yelled after him.

'Ack! I forgot!'

Mina sprang out of a doorway and bounced over to him, backed by the soundtrack of shattering ice and laughter in the background, saying, 'Take one of mine! Do you want pink, or pink? Or what about pink?'

He smiled. 'I don't know if it will work, but I'll take pink.'

And she gave him the brightest grin he'd ever seen.

The End

A/N: Reviews welcome, and thanks for reading!