Takes place during their second year at U.A., because their first year was much too hectic for young romance. I hope they're all IC (eep!).

"Do it. I dare you."

"Ashidooo, that's not fair," Hagakure scolded, earning her a gentle shove on the shoulder in reproach.

"Yaoyorozu shouldn't have to do anything she doesn't want to," Tsu added.

Ashido folded her arms across her chest with an indignant hmph. "Whadda you mean, she doesn't want to? Look at her. It'll make her life ten times easier if she 'fesses up to Todoroki."

"I– well– I–" Momo fought the blush she felt rising to her cheeks. She knew the effort was in vain and her cheeks were already scarlet, but she wanted to maintain whatever composure she had left at this point. When she and Iida proposed separated girls' and guys' nights in the dorms, they'd intended it to be a chance to sharpen up their teamwork capabilities. It was not her plan for it to end like… this.

You are fine. This is fine, she told herself sternly. He isn't here, so he doesn't know. You can decline the dare, and everything will be just fine.

But if she were honest with her feelings, did she really want to run away? She certainly had feelings for Todoroki, albeit ones she couldn't identify as a distant crush or something more serious. Then again, it would never have the chance to mature past a girlhood crush if she kept pressing it down and boxing it away in the corner of her heart. Acting on her feelings was the only way to know for sure, but–

But, but, but…

She sucked in a deep breath, uncurled from her melting-from-embarrassment pose, and pulled her racing thoughts to heel. Bickering she hadn't even noticed before suddenly died down. Every girl's eyes fixed on her at once, metaphorically on the edge of their seats for her response. She sat up very straight and looked right at Ashido. It was too bad for her that Momo was going to decline the dare; she knew the girl loved a bit of drama.

She took a breath, opened her mouth to say 'no'. She had nothing to do with what came from her lips instead.

"I'll do it."

"I don't even know what I was thinking!" she vented to Jirō at lunch the next day. She pressed her palms to her flushed cheeks, wishing she could force the blush and flustered sweating back into her skin. It would be so nice to have Todoroki's hand right now, so he could use his Quirk to cool her— no! Stop that, Yaoyorozu! She sat upright and shook her head as if she could physically knock the offending thoughts out of her brain.

The abrupt movement startled Jirō's hand away from rubbing circles at the nape of her neck. Her friend sighed and dropped her hand into her lap.

"Maybe you weren't. Thinking, that is. But I doubt it— you overthink everything." Jirō rested her cheek on her fist, propped up by an elbow on the table. "What if you just said what you really wanted to say?"

Momo groaned.

"Maybe I did. I don't know."

She let her head drop to the table, forehead pillowed on her arms. It wasn't the best posture for conversing in, but at least it hid her face. The last thing she needed was for Todoroki to ask after her wellbeing again as he had earlier when Present Mic paired them up for a vocabulary task. He noticed her clammy skin and twitchy bearing, asked her if she felt ill, and urged her to visit Recovery Girl even after she assured him she was fine. She was glad he didn't recognize her agitation for what it was, but the situation could not have been more awkward.

"You can always still tap out, you know. Ashido will get over it."

"I suppose so," she sighed.

"That said," Jirō continued, "you should do it." Momo turned her head in its arm-and-table cradle to look at her friend in surprise. Jirō just shrugged.

"I mean, why not?"

"Why not? Where do I even begin?!" She sat up again, although not all the way, and ticked the reasons off on her fingers. "First is the chance of creating a scene which would disrupt the rest of our class. Next, school is simply not an appropriate environment to do such things, but since we are always on school premises, I can't do it anywhere but here. Third is the risk of alienating our classmates. Most importantly, however, is that it would most likely affect our training as heroes. Open romantic tension between classmates would be distracting at best, and perhaps even a detriment in adverse scenarios."

Jirō was distinctly unconvinced. "You're just scared of being rejected."

She flinched. Jirō's straightforward bluntness was always a good counterweight to Momo's habit of overthinking herself into a tizzy. It was part of what made them such close friends. This was no exception: she saw right through her over-analysis and excuses and laid bare her true anxiety.

Her gaze found the edge of the table. Something like shame made her head feel heavy, and her reply came slowly.

"What if he sees me differently because of it? Our vote to reinstate Iida as class representative this year was unanimous, but Todoroki still proposed that I be vice-rep. Despite his Quirk and his hero skills, he's said he wants to learn from me. What if I ruin that? If he thinks that I'm not focused enough on training because I have feelings for him?" She squeezed her eyes shut. "I couldn't bear to lose his esteem."

"Momo." Jirō rested her hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "I can't promise he won't think that. But you're you. You're badass. He couldn't not respect you even if he wanted to."

Momo managed a weak smile and a halfhearted chuckle.

"Maybe so. Thank you, Jirō."

"No problem."

"I suppose…" She paused to take a slow inhale. "I suppose his impression will be worse of me if my anxiety hinders my performance than if I confess and proceed as usual, won't it?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Thus, if Todoroki's opinion is important to me, it would be prudent to admit my feelings instead of falling to pieces in his presence."

"Sounds right to me."

Momo pressed her palms on the table and stood up, her chin up and her shoulders thrust wide.

"Then I'll do it. I will tell Todoroki that I like him romantically." She needed him to know. If he didn't reciprocate, then so be it!

Jirō interrupted her moment of triumph with a dry clear of her throat. Momo looked down at her, then followed her pointed earphone jack to the three people standing just out of her peripheral vision. Her resolve was immediately swallowed by consuming embarrassment and dread when she registered which three people they were. She whirled to face them.

"O-oh! Midoriya! Iida! T-Todoroki!" Her breath came fast. "Good afternoon. Is there something you need?"

Iida shifted his weight, visibly unsure what to do with the situation, while Midoriya chuckled awkwardly. She couldn't bring herself to look at Todoroki. After an uncomfortable pause, Iida filled the silence.

"Todoroki mentioned to us that you seemed to be feeling unwell during English, and you were behaving strangely now, so Midoriya and I accompanied him to check on your condition."

"Th-that was very considerate of you," she said a little too fast. The pitch of her voice was at least an octave higher than usual. She glanced at Jirō in hope of an assist, but her friend looked as lost for words as she was. "We– we were just– ah, how much did you hear?"

"Enough," Todoroki said. Momo's heart plummeted when she noticed the constriction in his voice. Here it was, the moment she was terrified of. He would let her down gently because he was considerate, but she would see his disappointment in his eyes. Momo sandwiched her face between two palms again like her hands could serve as armor against the onslaught of mid-level panic.

"Did you mean what you said?"

She closed her eyes and nodded. "Y-yes, I did. I have… romantic feelings for you, Todoroki. And I apologize for that; I know our relationship has never been anything but classmates and loose friends, and you in no way solicited my–"

"Yaoyorozu." His voice, suddenly very close, snapped her back to reality. The momentary brush of a warm, calloused hand against her elbow made her eyes fly open in shock. Todoroki's gaze latched on to hers, and she couldn't look away. Everything faded apart from his mismatched eyes. "I also have romantic feelings. For you."

"Me?" she breathed. He nodded. They stood in silence until she worked up the courage to ask with a soft, faltering voice:

"Todoroki, would you like to… do something about our mutual feelings?"

Her question was halting, hesitant— gentle enough not to break the fragile moment. Quivers wracked the center of her being, and her stumbling heartbeat throbbed in her chest and ears. Across from her, he swallowed the knot in his throat and bobbed his head.

"Yeah, I would."

"Perhaps we could… try a date? Off campus?"

"That sounds like it would be nice."

They fell silent, just looking at one another. Momo found herself so absorbed in the moment, she didn't realize her racing thoughts had quieted completely. The world had shrunk to being just the two of them. She felt very light, almost weightless enough to float away. If she didn't know better, she would wonder if Uraraka was using her Quirk on her.

A hand from outside their romantic bubble tapped Todoroki. He rolled his shoulder, pushing the finger away, but it returned as a full palm being chopped through the space between him and her. Iida pressed his shoulder between their chests, moving Todoroki away from her to get both their attention.

"I'm very sorry to interrupt, but we must leave in a moment if we're going to get to class early."

Todoroki looked dazed, like he'd been roused from a nap too soon, but Momo stepped back with a laugh. She ignored Jirō's smug expression as she turned to face Iida.

"You're right, Iida, we should all be going. Todoroki." She reached out and grabbed one hand from his side, then the other. She had the odd realization that she confirmed a hypothesis she didn't know she had: his left palm was much warmer than his right. He blinked at her, immediately attentive. She fought to not be sucked back into his eyes. "Let's talk after class, okay?"

He squeezed her hands in his.

"Of course."

"Ho-ly crap. So you told him—on accident—'cause he showed up at the right second."

"That sounds right, yes."

"Ugh, I can't believe I wasn't there to see this!" Ashido made a show of putting her hand to her forehead and collapsing against the arm-rest of the couch. "The one day I'm not at lunch!"

"You would've been if you didn't get in trouble with Mr. Aizawa," Uraraka pointed out.

"I didn't even do anything!"

"How come you were with those guys anyway?" Tsuyu said. "Kaminari said the only reason you got off so easy was that you weren't participating."

"Somebody's gotta keep those boys in line, duh. But back to Yaomomo, here." Ashido fixed Momo with an expectant stare. Momo cast a questioning look around at the other girls, not sure what Ashido wanted from her.

"I'm sorry?"

"Details, Yaomomo! Details! You said you guys talked after class, and? What happened? What'd you talk about?"

"Not that it's any of your business," Jirō muttered with a pointed look at Ashido. Momo wanted to agree with her, but she was almost having fun being at the center of attention. She'd never had drama, romantic or otherwise, and she enjoyed sharing her 'exploits' with the other girls.

"We set up a date." She dipped her head, bashful.

"Oh, fun!" Hagakure clapped her hands together. "When for? This weekend?"

"Ah, Saturday. We're going off campus for an afternoon."

Uraraka lifted her head off the back of the couch. "What are you two going to do?"

"I'm really not sure yet." Momo put a hand on her chest. "I think we're both just getting used to the idea that we feel the same about each other."

While Uraraka nodded sagely, Ashido scooted closer and leaned toward Momo with a conspiratorial smirk.

"Sooo, how long do you think it's gonna be before you…" She trailed off and made a lewd gesture with her hands. Momo promptly turned almost as pink as she was and buried her face in her hands with a flustered squeak.

Jirō, at Momo's side in a heartbeat, planted her foot on Ashido's collarbone and pushed her away with a groan.

"God, Ashido, what am I gonna tell Todoroki if his girlfriend goes catatonic?"

"Aw, c'mon, it'll be like sleeping beauty!"

"True love's first kiss!" Hagakure sighed.

Tsu, who had stayed silent throughout the last twenty minutes of gossip, shook her head. "I really don't think that's how it's supposed to be."

"Yaomomo's still a princess, that's for sure. She looked just like one at the I-Island expo!"

Ashido shrugged and returned to her own piece of floor. Momo, for her part, had managed to recover from before. She tucked her head again at Hagakure's compliment but had gathered her bearings enough to pull a paper fan from her neck. She flapped it to cool her face but froze when Ashido leveled a pointed index finger at her.

"For real, though, mark my words. Give it another year, and when we're third years, Todomomo will be king and queen of UA. They're a power couple if I've ever seen one."

"Todo… momo?"

"Yeah, like your names smooshed together. It's easier that way. Sounds good, doesn't it? Like they go together."

Amid the murmurs of agreement from the rest of the girls, Momo found herself testing the term under her breath. In their first year, she never could have pictured what life would look like now, in their second. Third-year seemed even harder to visualize. She would be beyond pleased if they remained together for that long.

One way or another, she found herself agreeing with Ashido about their names. Perhaps she was getting ahead of herself, but they did sound like they belong side by side.