Izuku felt like he was on cloud nine.

"This is so much..." He whispered to himself as he stared at his desk which was covered in chocolate from the girls of Class 1-A. They came in all shapes and sizes, from a frog-shaped chocolate from Tsuyu and Valentine-themed M&Ms with a small note from Ashido. However, he could tell that those were more along the lines of "friendship chocolate". Not that he minded much, as in his previous schools he had gotten chocolate only from a few teachers and kids who were given enough chocolate for the entire class.

But two gifts in particular surprised him the most.

The first was a massive gift-basket full of expensive chocolate from Yaoyorozu that was covered in hearts and even had the latest iPad inside!

Second was Uraraka's chocolate, which she had given to him red-faced and stammering. It was molded into a heart and had the shaky kanji for friendship on it.

Izuku hugged the chocolates to his chest and used all his willpower to not cry. "I-I can't believe it! So many cute girls have given me chocolate! Uraraka actually hand-made hers!"

To think so many girls not just from his class, but from 1-B and Hatsume from the Support Department thought he was good enough to deserve chocolate!

Granted, Mei's chocolate transformed into a miniature robot and declared him a slave to the new Chocolate Empire, but the thought still counts!

Izuku looked around. He wasn't the only guy in the class to receive some chocolate. Kacchan and Todoroki also received gift-baskets from Yaoyorozu, Kirishima received a messily-made giant chocolate heart from Ashido, Iida got another chocolate robot from Hatsume, and the rest of the guys got chocolates either from their fellow classmates or girls from other classes.

The only ones that received nothing were Mineta and Kaminari. They were sitting side-by-side, their heads down looking at their empty desks. Their eyes were so hopeless and the air around them seemed to darken in defeat.

"That's just so... sad." He looked at his desk and glanced at two small pieces of chocolate that were given to him from someone in another class. "Nobody shouldn't get chocolate on Valentine's Day." Nodding to himself, Izuku got up and took the chocolate with him.

"Hey, Midoriya." Kaminari's voice was empty.

"Why aren't you enjoying the chocolate all the hot chicks gave ya?" Mineta looked up and blinked when Izuku put a piece of chocolate on his desk.

"W-Well, I was thinking... I got too much, and it looked like you guys didn't get much so..."

All of a sudden, two sets of hands were gripping his jacket.

"HOW COULD YOU!?" Kaminari had hot angry tears streaming down his cheeks.

"W-What!?"

"THIS IS PITY CHOCOLATE, YOU BASTARD!" Mineta screamed angrily. "DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE!?"

"YOU GET ALL THE BABES AND ALL THE CHOCOLATE! DON'T GO RUBBING IT IN OUR FACES!"

Two very familiar headphone jacks went into their ears and in a second they stiffened before screaming in pain.

"Pipe down, both of you!" Jirou walked beside Izuku and had her hands on her hips. "Don't you see that the guy is just trying to be nice to you?"

"Yeah, easy for him when he gets lots of chocolate!" Kaminari hugged Mineta and sobbed, "Don't worry man, we're in this together!"

"Us against the world!" Mineta and Kaminari continued to embrace, bemoaning the lost opportunity to be with hotties or showered with female affection.

"I-I'm sorry..." Izuku muttered aloud, barely understanding why.

"Ah, don't be. Those two are just babies." Jirou unconsciously began twirling her left jack with her finger. "Say, Midoriya..."

"Yeah?"

"Here." Jirou handed him a messy vaguely heart-shaped chocolate with a tony red splotch in the center that vaguely looked like a musical note. "Kinda screwed up, but it tastes alright."

"O-Oh!" Izuku felt his cheeks heat up again. Another chocolate from a cute girl! "T-Thank you so much, Jirou-san!"

"Yeah, so anyways... you mind hanging with me after school?"

Everything seemed to stop for Izuku. Mineta and Kaminari stared at them, their eyes blazing in jealousy and rage. He saw Jirou's cheeks redden and her eyes looking away from him, her lips pursed into a thin red line.

Izuku had only one thing to say.

"...Huh?"

"I don't know about this, Peter."

Izuku's entire body was shaking, the act becoming audible thanks to the wrapping around the single rose clenched in his hands. He felt cold sweat roll down his skin, his stomach felt like it was going to expel all the chocolate he had eaten earlier, and his heart seemed to be going to the tune of Velcro Fly.

"Come on Izuku." His mentor pat him on the back with a bemused grin. "It's just your first date! It's not that big of a deal!"

"B-But I just got comfortable talking to girls!" Izuku looked desperately across the street to see Jirou sipping on a late while her fingers drummed on her table. "A-And it's Jirou-san! W-We're friends! I mean, we were or... or... how does this work!? I have no idea what to do during a d-d-da...!"

"Date, Izuku. It's just a date." Peter handed the boy the plastic bag he had gotten while purchasing a pork bun. The young man put it over his mouth and began to breath in and out. "And it's not that big of a deal! I mean, I was pretty horrible with girls too and I managed to hook up with Betty Brant no problem!"

Well, to be fair the one he pined for at for was Sally Avril who wasn't exactly the nicest of girls and Liz didn't mind joining Flash in his ribbing but he managed to do alright the third time!

"Besides, you've only got one girl to worry about so it should be fine."

"W-What!? You had more than one girl after you!?"

Peter's eyes glazed from the memory. Liz always somehow finding a way to crash his dates with Betty, Betty letting her imagination fly whenever he and Liz happened to bump into each other in the street, Gwen giving him the stink-eye when he talked to Mary Jane, Felicia getting up real close to him the night before his wedding...

One might say he was the luckiest man on the planet during his teens and twenties. Peter looked back on it as a hormonal teen and twenty-year-old's worst nightmare.

"Um... Peter?"

"Like I said, don't worry about it." Peter pushed Izuku forward, causing the young Spider-Man to stumble a bit as he began to cross the street. "Now go get 'em, Small Might!"

He watched as Izuku glanced worryingly from the young girl and back to him. "Kid's gotta get out of his shell sometime." He gave Izuku a thumbs-up in encouragement. "And getting humiliated during your first date is a great way to build up confidence. Any screwups during it will make him think it can only go up from there."

"H-Hi!" Izuku thrust the flower to Jirou and shouted, "I-I got this f-for you, J-J-Jirou-san!"

Jirou only blinked as she took the flower and he felt the sweat rolling down his face increase. "O-Oh god, why the heck did I say it like that!? I sound like some sort of broken record! I was supposed to be smooth! Play it cool like Peter said!"

What he did was the complete opposite of cool! It was so uncool that he was pretty sure he can see heat waves coming from the exposed skin of his outstretched hand, and... "I bent the stem too!? Come on!"

Jirou chuckled before she began to laugh. Izuku felt his heart sink at every guffaw that came from her mouth. There it was. Any potential romantic interest she had for him had probably gone out the window!

"D-Dude! Calm down!" Jirou wiped away a tear and continued, "Look, it's no big deal! I'm just surprised is all!" She looked at the flower and smiled at him. "It's cheesy to bring a flower on the first date but... it's sweet."

"O-Oh?"

And like that, his sinking heart somehow rose past his chest and into his throat. She thought what he did was sweet!? "Yes! YES! I didn't blow it! A-AND SHE SAID IT WAS A DATE!"

That victorious mental cheer was silenced by a new one.

"N-Now what!?"

"So, you wanna sit down and order something?" Jirou motioned to the chair opposite to her. "Unless you've got something to go to..."

It took him less than a second to get his butt into the seat and hide everything below the eyes behind a menu.

"Wow, you don't waste time, huh?"

At first, it was incredibly awkward. Izuku had no idea what to say to Jirou. He was so excited that he forgot to ask his mom for advice and when he called Peter to cancel their training for his date with Jirou he instantly offered advice.

Said advice was... unhelpful.

"Okay, Izuku. First off, make sure you pay attention to your date. Don't get lost in your thoughts unless you want her thinking you've got your mind on another classmate."

"Come up with an excuse to duck out in the event of a supervillain attack. Mentioning it at the beginning of the date makes things a hell of a lot less awkward."

"Offer to pay for everything, but make sure that you get stuff that sounds nice and inexpensive. If you go thinking that you can only show your love by spending big bucks then you're just going to end up broke."

But now that he was here with Jirou... Izuku was surprised to find that dates just boiled down to talking and having fun. Their conversation steered from school, to what they've been doing at home, their dreams as Heroes, and how awkward they were feeling about all this.

That last part surprised him. Jirou was awkward? The cool, sarcastic, and self-assured Jirou?

It was like getting to see another side of his friend.

"Oh, Deku-kun!"

Izuku looked over his shoulder to see Uraraka and Yaoyorozu walking together, with the shorter girl waving frantically while Yaoyorozu looked to the side.

"Oh, hi!" Izuku got out of his seat and smiled. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Just going for a walk, hanging out... y'know, girls night out!" Uraraka elbowed Yaoyorozu's side. "Right, Momo-chan?"

"R-Right!" Yaoyorozu raised her hand and began to wave it mechanically as if she were Iida's sister. "Indeed! We were just going on a leisurely walk here! Simply enjoying city life and hoping to pick up respectable men like two ordinary girls!"

"Wow. All that on Valentine's Day, huh?" Jirou spoke casually as her eyes bore into Uraraka. "That takes skill."

"J-Just, y'know... happened to bump into you guys by accident." Uraraka whistled and looked to the side but her cheeks seemed to turn several shades darker. "Totally a coincidence."

"I bet."

Izuku looked back and forth between his female friends. Somehow, the comradeship and good feelings that was usually around them was absent. Now it felt like they were shooting lasers from their eyes and they were meeting in the center...

...which was him.

"So this is what Peter meant?!"

Peter whistled as he watched Izuku look frantically at the three girls that surrounded him.

"A punk, a girl next door, and..." He raised an eyebrow at the third one, who's height and hairstyle told him it was the Yaoyorozu girl. "Jesus, what the hell are they feeding teenagers these days? Or is it something in the water?"

He had to admit, it was kind of fascinating to see. Izuku was fifteen and already he was in some kind of love square. It was obvious that Jirou liked him while Uraraka and Yaoyorozu were also interested. And from how Jirou occasionally glanced at the taller girl, there might be a lingering something there.

"Have to hand it to you kid, it's hard to have worse luck than me."

He saw Izuku look desperately at him, his eyes pleading for help and mercy. For some kind of escape from this social hell.

Sadly, Peter shook his head and walked away.

It was cruel, but this was one battle all Spider-Men had to face alone.

The one fight against a foe they could never win.

The battle... of love.

Note: Love is in the air and this was a gift to my regular beta and co-pilot of Amazing Fantasy, reppuzan!

Romance is certainly not going to be handled like this, but this was funny to write so I hope you enjoyed it at least!