Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing.

This oneshot is inspired by a piece of fanart from user airashihinata on tumblr

"Kero...are you guys sure about this?" Tsuyu tapped her finger to her chin. "I have something of a signature look."

Ashido and Hagakure beamed to each other, while Uraraka nodded enthusiastically. "Of course, Tsu!" Uravity assured her friend, "You've got such long, beautiful hair! You'll love it, we promise."

Tsuyu sighed in defeat. "Kero. Okay. I'll trust you."

He didn't quite understand what he was doing, but he couldn't stop.

Midoriya Izuku saw Asui Tsuyu - Tsu, as she constantly reminded him to call her - almost every day. They were in the same class, same hero training, same dorm building. She sat with him, Uraraka, Todoroki, and Iida at lunch almost every day. She, along with Uraraka, was probably one of the only girls he was comfortable talking to, dorky as he was when he wasn't in a fight.

So why couldn't he stop staring at her?

For one thing, her hair was different today. Instead of her usual long, green locks falling down her back and ending in a bow, it was in twintails, each one clipped with a small frog face. A simple difference from usual, but...

Something was going on in his chest, and his stomach was buzzing. He did his best to look forward and focus on Present Mic's lesson. Though, truth be told, he wasn't sure if the importance of Shakespeare as applied to modern literature was something he'd really need as a Hero, his grades were something he took pride in. He couldn't afford to slack off by creepily staring at one of his friends.

But goddamn, she looked really cute today.

Ba-dump, ba-dump.

As the thought crossed his mind, he could feel heat rise to his face and his heart rate quicken. Where was this coming from?! Maybe he was spending too much time around Mineta and Kaminari.

Ba-dump, ba-dump.

He chastised himself, internally. He was acting like a middle schooler. He was the 9th possessor of One for All, apprentice of All Might. He had defeated Muscular, Overhaul, Gentle, saved Bakugou from the clutches of the League of Villains (with his friends), and obtained his Hero License in his first year. He was a Hero, he didn't have time to be gawking at a girl...even if she was really pretty, and an amazing hero, and really supp-

I'm doing it again. He cringed. Okay. One look. And then I focus.

Midoriya shifted his eyes towards Asui's direction, promising to just steal a glance and then, then he would focus fully on his studies.

Except when he looked, he was met with Asui's gaze. They locked eyes for a few seconds, and Izuku looked away, face burning, and pretended to scribble furiously in his notes. He could feel Asui's eyes burning a hole into the side of his face for another few seconds as his pencil scratched the paper. When he finally felt her look away, he looked down to see what he had written:

Smooth one, genius.

The rest of morning classes passed by without incident; the embarrassment of getting caught made it easy for Izuku to focus on his lessons and not look up from the paper.

He had almost put the events of the morning behind him. Almost. Then, of course, Asui sat across from him, which was usually where Uraraka sat. Instead, the zero-gravity heroine sat on the side of Froppy, across from Iida instead.

For a few minutes, everything seemed normal. The five of them made their normal chatter, until finally, Tsuyu looked up at him and asked.

"Hey, Midoriya?"

Ba-dump.

She looked at him with curiosity. "Was there something you wanted to talk to me about, kero? I noticed you looking towards me during class like something was on your mind."

This was enough to set off Iida. "Midoriya! When we are in class, your mind should be on our studies! Not only are you going to fall behind, but you have caused distraction for Asui as well!" He began speaking with his arms, as he often did when fired up. "As class rep I need to ensure all of my classmates are giving their studies laser focus to make them the best hero possible!"

As if being called out on staring wasn't embarrassing enough, Iida loudly making a scene made Midoriya's face heat up pretty quickly. "S-sorry Iida, it won't happen again, I promise!"

"See that it doesn't!"

"It didn't really distract me from anything, kero," Tsuyu added, coming to Deku's aid. "I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a big deal."

"N-no it was n-nothing like that, I just thought your hair looked nice."

The words came out before he could really think about it. In unison, both Asui's and Midoriya's eyes widened, they turned red (redder in Izuku's case), and looked away from each other. Neither of them noticed Todoroki smirk.

Uraraka beamed, excitedly, and gushed, "I know, doesn't it look pretty?! Ashido had the idea and it looks really nice."

"But it is not an acceptable reason to be slacking in your academics!" Iida added, sternly.

This. This is how I die. Not with a bang or saving anyone, but in embarrassment at lunch. A fitting end to my life. Midoriya thought as he buried his face in his hands.

"Kero." Tsuyu mumbled, just as humiliated as Deku was. "I guess it is pretty, but I can put it back to normal if it's going to be a distraction for you, Midoriya."

The words piled guilt on top embarrassment; Midoriya never wanted to make Tsuyu feel bad about this or anything. "N-no Asui – I mean, Tsu. I-it's my fault. Y-your hair always looks really pretty so you should wear it however you want."

For a second time, rushing his words bit him square in the ass, as the confession prompted Uraraka to squeal excitedly, Iida to actually stop talking, and Todoroki to just smirk harder.

Tsuyu's face changed to the shade of a ripened tomato as she looked down at her food. "Th-thank you, Midoriya. I'm glad you like it."

Midoriya looked down at his food in shame for the rest of the meal. Every time he looked up, the smug look on Todoroki's face just prompted him to return his gaze to his plate. I'll probably never be able to talk to Tsu again. Oof.

As the bell rang for afternoon Hero Training, the group stood up, Midoriya dragging his feet as he made up the rear of them to leave the cafeteria. But as they left, Tsuyu lingered behind and stopped him.

"H-hey, Midoriya?" She called out, almost in a whisper, but he was right next to her to hear it.

"Hm?" Was the small noise he made, to at least confirm he heard her.

Color rose to Asui's cheeks, but she gulped and said, in just as small of a voice, "Kero…I think your hair is pretty cute too." She looked down to her feet. "W-we should get to class."

And they did, walking down the hall together.

But each of them had a little bit more confidence in their strides that day.