"It stings…" Eijirou whined as he held up the ice pack to his forehead. His internship with Fourth Kind, also known as Hetsu, had been successful so far. For the most part anyway. On his third day and he already had gotten a few new moves to show off.

"Hmph. I suppose that's enough for today. Get yourselves cleaned up and put on your hero costumes, we'll be heading out for one last-" Hetsu's phone ringed, "Ugh, I swear if it's Rumi again… This is Fourth Kind. Wait, what…? Got it. I'll be right there." He ended the call.

"Is everything alright, Kind?" Tetsu asked, "That sounded important!"

"It is. Listen very carefully to what I'm about to say. You two are not to leave this office under any circumstances." They both tilted their heads, "Some kind of creatures are attacking Hosu, and they requested backup. Don't break anything while I'm gone." And so, he left.

To say Eijirou was confused and worried was an understatement, he wanted to do something, but orders were orders. Taking a shower and laying down on his bed, he sent Mina and Izuku a quick "everything okay?" and waited.

As he started into the ceiling, Tetsu spoke, "Hey, Kirishima. I know I'm usually like, super loud and brash but uh… I just wanted to say, sorry for the whole beef I had with ya dude! It was super immature and just, bad, y'know?"

Eijirou smiled, "Yeah, no worries man." He looked at Tetsu, extending his fist and hardening it, "Quirk Bros?"

Tetsu grinned, extending his own hand, making it into steel and fist bumping Eijirou. This little moment was cut short by Eijirou's phone. Mina had replied.
"yea

miruko left me in her office tho"

"same here, fourth kind just kinda dipped"

"Hey, Kirishima… can you turn on the tv real quick?" Tetsu looked at his phone in terror, "I need to check something."
"Uh… sure?" He turned on their room's tv, only to see a live broadcast. Multiple Nomus, rampaging Hosu. "No… No way! All-Might beat it last time, now there's more?!"
"A-apparently…"

Eijirou's phone buzzed once again. It was Izuku. It said nothing, all it was, was a location. Hosu. He froze. His head was spinning as he took in the fact that Izuku could be in serious danger, could be against multiple of the things that almost took down All-Might, he could be-

"Snap out of it man!" Tetsu shouted, "You're sweating like crazy, breathin' heavy… what's up?"

Recomposing himself, he sent the text to his classmates whose numbers he had, with the caption: "Midoriya sent me this, I'm worried."

Immediate reply from Mina:

"y are u worried?"

"haven't you seen te news?" His fingers shook slightly, making typing harder.

"no

oh no

d

do you think hes gonna be ok"

"not sure. you doing okay?"

"yeah, just

worried now"

"the pros are there

he's gonna be ok"

That's what Eijirou told himself anyway. Izuku was strong, he was smart, no one would hurt someone as kind, as understanding, as cool as him, right? He felt his chest tighten. He wasn't sure what he was feeling, but he wanted it to end.

Hetsu's secretary came into their room, "Fourth Kind just sent me a message. Said for you two to sleep a bit earlier. Said it'll help calm you down."
"G-guess he figured we'd check the news, h-huh…" Eijirou muttered out.
"Got it, th-thanks." Tetsu answered, still shaken. They both tried their best to sleep, even with their anxious state.

The next morning came, both the boys had barely slept a wink. As they groaned and headed to the changing room to change into their Hero Costumes, they were stopped by Hetsu.

"Mister Fourth Kind! You're back!" Tetsu exclaimed, grinning, "I thought you had been injured!"

"It takes more than a few beasts to take me down." He took off his vest, showing his bruised arms, a few bandages running along it, his right arm specifically being entirely bandaged, "But they did do a good number on me. I might have to cut your training short."

"Aw man…" Tetsu whined.
"I mean, that's fine, sir Fourth Kind! I don't want you to exert yourself too much!" Eijirou replied, bumping his fists together, "Besides, I wanna make your style my own from now on! I'll grow in my own way!"

"Heh." Hetsu smirked, "Seems like I did teach you two enough. Keep it up, Red and Steel."
"Yes sir!"
"Now get changed! Just because I'm wounded doesn't mean we aren't cleaning the streets! Today is gonna be extra busy because of yesterday, so bring on your A game!"

The boys slumped their shoulders, "Yes sir…"

Similarly, on another part of Japan, Mina hugged Rumi, "I was so worried, miss Miruko!"
"C'mon kiddo, hugs aren't good for my image." Rumi pulled away, chuckling, "But I appreciate the sentiment."

"You look… surprisingly unscathed."

"What, did you think some mindless monsters could beat me up? Acid Queen, ya got a ways to go before you truly see what I'm about in that case!"

"I know what you're about!" Mina giggled, "But not even All-Might could escape unscathed from those things!"

"Well…"

"Rumi, behind you!" Hetsu shouted, before pushing Rumi away from the Nomu's attack, instead his top set of arms taking the blow in full, sending him flying across the street.

"Maybe I'm just better than even All-Might himself!"

"Yeah, right."

"Are ya doubtin' me, girl?" A malicious smirk grew on Rumi's face, "Just for that, drop and give me fifty!"

"W-wait, I'm sorry!"

Both of the students had calmed down since yesterday, seeing the news broadcast showing their friends mostly safe. She would try to face time with him as soon as she could, but she had just gotten a message from him that said "Something came up, can we facetime later?"

She was a bit upset, but mostly glad he was safe. Sure, her crush on him didn't help with her anxiety, but above being her crush, he was her friend, one of her closest ones, a classmate she could just casually hang out with. And he had been in the middle of something like the Hosu event.

To say she didn't envy him was an understatement.

30 minutes and a painful punishment from Rumi, Mina got a facetime request from Izuku. Sitting down on her bed and fixing up what she could of her hair, she answered the call.

"Hey Midori!"

"H-hey! Sorry I couldn't answer earlier, had to talk to the police, regular procedure I think?"

"It's cool! You doin' alright?"

"A bit shaken, but mostly, yeah."
She could hear what seemed like Shoto talking in the background, "Hey, Midoriya?"

"Oh, just a sec-! Yeah Todoroki?"

"Who are you talking to?"

"O-oh, it's just Mina! She was worried because of yesterday."

"Ah. I see." He paused, "So wait, you aren't dating Kirishima? You're dating her?"

Mina struggled to not burst out in laughter as she could feel Izuku just shut down. She did wish it was true, at least half of that statement, so it did tug on her a bit, but she shrugged it off.

Finally recovering from his BSoD, Izuku stuttered out, "W-what g-gives you that i-idea Todoroki?!"

"Well, you three seem to care a lot about each other, and hang out a lot too, more than with anyone else, so I thought something was going on between two of you."

"W-well-

"Todoroki, please." Iida intervened, "You are making Midoriya very anxious. I understand your curiosity, but refrain from prodding any further."
"Right. Sorry."

"I-it's fine…" He looked back at his phone, "Sorry about that Mina…"

Mina finally let out a breath of relief as any laughter she had went away, "It's cool! Hope hospital life ain't too hard for ya though! I mean, if Todo's that brutal…"

"Come on… Anyway, do you want to add Kiri into the facetime? I think he'd enjoy it."

"Oh I wanted to, but as it turns out, Fourth Kind didn't want to rest, not even for a day!"

"That's harsh…"

"I know right?!" Mina heard something fall down, followed by continuous swearing, "Ah geez, I think Miruko dropped something on her foot again- I'll call you back, bye Izu!"

"Bye!" And just like that, she hung up.

As Izuku held the phone and Shoto and Iida argued about 'being more socially sensitive', he thought about what his double colored friend had said. He really thought him and Kirishima were dating? That could never happen, both of them were just good friends- but then he thought he was dating Mina- Why was he like this?!

And why did the thought of dating them make his heart beat harder than before? Just stop Izuku. They're too good for you anyway.

Setting down his phone, he took a deep breath. Maybe he should focus on something else for now.

"Thinking about it… even though One For All increases my speed, I haven't been using that… I need to get better at dodging!" He thought, "Right… after I get out of the hospital."

A few days passed, and he was right back up and running, walking to school. Taking a longer but quieter route this time, to avoid any unwanted press bumping into him and harassing him. Finally arriving to class later than usual, he was immediately tackled by a pink blur, almost falling to the ground were it not for a door to lend a hand.

"W-woah, Mina, what's up?!" He asked as the pink girl hugged him, he would be embarrassed but he was mostly concerned, did something happen?

"You didn't tell me you three had to fight the Hero Killer!"

"A-ah, yeah… I couldn't really talk about that."

"You could have died!" She hugged him tighter, he was pretty sure she was crushing him. "I'm glad Endeavor was there to help, but at least tell us what happened!"

"I-I'd like to breathe, Mina…" He looked at Eijirou, eyes pleading, "A little help?"

"Sorry man, she's only gonna let go once class starts, pretty sure you're stuck like this for the rest of the day."

"He's right!" Mina pouted playfully as she only hugged his arm this time, "Because you didn't tell us, and you almost got yourself killed, we're doing this for the rest of the day!"

Izuku's face was filled red, a good part of the class had been staring, but they quickly went back to minding their own business.

"Oh, hey Deku!" Uraraka greeted as she walked into class, giving him a bright smile, "Glad to see you're okay! I just met Iida in the hallway, he's clearing some things up with his hero name registry."

"Huh, I was about to ask where he was." Eijirou replied, "Guess that clears that up."

Iida rushed in, "Everyone sit down! Mister Aizawa is almost here!"

"Can-can you let go now?"

"Awww. Fine." Mina frowned, "Only because class is starting!"

"Ah… Ah…" Both Izuku and Sero were breathing rapidly as All-Might did some calculations in his head, reviewing the footage.

"I have to say, Young Midoriya and Sero! Try as I might, I don't think I could find who is the winner here, this is a ridiculously close tie!"

"I… see…" Sero said, "Even in my field of expertise, I still am just average…"

"Being tied with someone with a quirk that enhances their physical capabilities is not bad, Young Sero! As both of you did reach me in time to rescue me, both of you win!

Also, if you do not mind me asking, young Midoriya…"

"Yeah?"

"Why is Young Ashido clinging so closely to you?"

The moment the test ended, she had gone back to clinging to her friend, "Because he almost died and he didn't tell me!"

"Y-yeah, that… Did you get a new costume Mina?"

"Yep!"

"I… see… Well, Young Ashido, if you could, please give him some time after class? I simply need to talk to him to see if there's any psychological damage from such a traumatic experience."

"Hm, sounds right. Ok!"

Sero pushed Izuku's shoulder, "Didn't take ya for a ladies man, heh."

"I-it's not like that!"

"Suuuure, and I'm the queen of england."

"You don't believe me do you?"

"Nope! But my lips are sealed." He gave a sly grin, "I gotcha."

After Izuku exitted the "break room" alongside Toshinori, still in a small daze from All-Might's talk, Mina and Eijirou got up, the former clinging onto him once more; which he did appreciate after getting such a major bomb dropped on him.

"Geez, you're quicker and quicker each time- Hey, who are you?" Eijirou asked, facing the skeleton form Toshinori.

"Ah, I'm… the therapist the school hired to deal with traumatic events, yes." He replied, "Smooth! He's going to believe that for sure!"

"But I thought Hound Dog did that?"

"W-well, he isn't always available, so they contacted me. I'm not a pro hero, so I'm not as busy as he is."

"Ah, make sense."

"Ashido… are you sure holding Midoriya so closely to you is going to accomplish anything?" The skeleton faced man asked, concerned.

"Probably not! But it makes me feel better!"

"Well, if it does, who am I to judge… I will see you kids later, have a good week."

"See you, mister… Um-
"Toshinori!"

"-Toshinori!"

After he left, Izuku and his two friends walked alongside one another, going to a nearby park and sitting down on a bench. While they should have gone straight for the station, the three had decided to just take it easy for a while.

Mina was still clinging onto Izuku, but softly now, while Eijirou laid his head back, with Izuku simply laying his head on his shoulder.

"This… is nice." The green haired boy smiled softly as he closed his eyes, taking in the soft breeze of the afternoon, "After everything, I think I needed this."

"Yeah. It's nice to take it easy, you doin' alright after the whole thing with Stain?"

"I'll be fine." Izuku looked at Mina, who looked like she had just either fallen asleep or was in complete bliss, humming lightly. "Guess you weren't kidding when you said she was going to stick by me for the rest of the day, huh?"

"...no… he wasn'..." She murmured in a low tone, not really paying much attention, probably barely still awake.

They all sat there. It was nice. The world was at almost a standstill for them. But they still had to head home one way or another, so after a few minutes, Izuku and Eijirou got up, the former almost dragging Mina.

"C'mon Mina… I gotta go."

"Fine…" She stated slowly, yawning then stretching, "Man, your arm makes for a good pillow. I'm gonna use it more often!"

"Please don't… I can't feel it any more."

As he said this, Eijirou put his elbow on his shoulder, while Mina took his hand, "Well, either way, I can't really stress it enough, um… I'm just glad you're okay!"

"Same here man. Take care Midoriya!"

Izuku blushed, but smiled, "You too!" And with that, the three parted ways once more. Happy, relaxed. He had finally figured out what he felt for Mina and Eijirou, but wasn't sure if he should confront it or not. Either way, it was definitely there.

And he didn't mind.