Toru Hagakure was going to combust.
Not literally. Her Quirk was invisibility, not spontaneous human combustion. But walking down the sidewalk toward Musutafu Station, she felt like her entire body had been set on fire and someone forgot to tell the flames to stop.
Her hand.
She had put her hand on his thigh.
In public.
In a crepe shop shaped like hearts and decorated with fairy lights.
While two of their classmates sat directly across from them.
"What is wrong with me," she whispered to absolutely no one.
A businessman walking past gave the floating U.A. uniform a wide berth.
Toru barely noticed.
Her brain was too busy replaying every single moment of the past hour in excruciating high definition. The way Izuku's arm had draped across the booth behind her. The warmth of his body pressed against her side. The rough texture of his palm when he'd covered her hand with his own.
Those hands.
She'd felt the calluses. The hard ridges where skin had been torn and rebuilt a thousand times over. The strength in his fingers when they'd tightened around hers.
Ten years of training had left their mark on every inch of him.
And she'd been brave enough to touch him.
"Oh god." Toru covered her face with her sleeves. "Oh god oh god oh god."
The evening crowd flowed around her like water around a rock. Students heading home from cram school. Salarymen clutching briefcases. A mother pushing a stroller and pretending not to stare at the invisible girl having a breakdown on the sidewalk.
Toru dropped her hands and kept walking.
Her thighs burned where they'd pressed against his. Her shoulder still felt the ghost of his fingers. Her stomach did a complicated flip every time she remembered the way he'd leaned toward her fork.
The way his lips had closed around the bite she'd offered.
The way he'd pulled back slowly.
So slowly.
Like he wanted her to watch.
Like he knew exactly what he was doing.
"He definitely knew." Toru's voice came out strangled. "He absolutely one hundred percent knew and he did it anyway because he's a smug playboy."
The station came into view. Toru picked up her pace, her skirt swishing around invisible legs as she navigated through the thinning crowd. Her train wouldn't arrive for another twelve minutes. Plenty of time to have a complete emotional meltdown on the platform.
She found a bench near the edge.
Sat down.
Buried her face in her sleeves again.
"Okay." Deep breath. "Okay. Think about this logically. You touched a boy's leg in public. It's not the end of the world. People do that all the time. Couples do that. Friends do that. It's normal human behavior."
Except she'd done it while invisible.
While anyone could've been watching.
While Mina sat three feet away with eyes like a hawk and a mouth like a gossip column.
The realization should've horrified her.
It did horrify her.
But underneath the horror, buried beneath the embarrassment and the panic and the certainty that she'd just made a complete fool of herself...
There was something else.
Something hot and coiling in her stomach.
Something that whispered: You liked it.
Toru pressed her knees together.
"I'm a mess," she announced to the empty platform. "A complete and total mess."
Her phone buzzed.
She yanked it from her pocket with trembling fingers.
JIRO: how was the walk with broccoli? have a date?
Toru stared at the screen.
TORU: IT WASNT A DATE
TORU: we went for crepes with kirishima and ashido
TORU: completely normal friend activity
TORU: nothing date-like about it at all
The typing indicator appeared. Disappeared. Appeared again.
JIRO: uh huh
JIRO: and did you "accidentally" sit too close to him
JIRO: and "accidentally" touch his arm
JIRO: and "accidentally" feed him
Toru's blood went cold.
TORU: HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE FORK
JIRO: i didn't know about any forl
JIRO: but now i do
JIRO: thanks for confirming
"NOOOOOO."
The word echoed across the platform. Several people turned to look at the screaming uniform.
Toru wanted to dissolve into the concrete.
Her phone buzzed again.
JIRO: relax
JIRO: i'm not going to tell anyone
JIRO: but seriously
JIRO: you fed him?
JIRO: with YOUR fork?
JIRO: that's basically second base
Toru's face burned so hot she was surprised her uniform wasn't catching fire.
TORU: it was NOT making out
TORU: it was sharing food
TORU: friends share food
JIRO: friends don't share food while sitting close enough to count each other's eyelashes
JIRO: or do they
JIRO: i wouldn't know
JIRO: i'm not the one playing footsie in public
TORU: WE WERENT PLAYING FOOTSIE
She hadn't been playing footsie.
She'd been playing thigh-sie.
Which was worse.
So much worse.
JIRO: whatever you say
JIRO: just be careful okay
JIRO: that idiot already has half the class looking at him like he's the last piece of cake at a party
JIRO: you're not the only one interested
The words landed like a punch.
Toru knew. Of course she knew. She'd seen the way Uraraka's eyes had gone soft when she talked about Izuku saving her during the entrance exam. The way her hands had fluttered when she apologized for vomiting on his shoes. The way she'd leaned toward him in the classroom like a flower toward sunlight.
Uraraka was cute. Genuinely, undeniably cute. Round face. Big brown eyes. That sweet Kansai accent that slipped out when she got excited.
And her body...
Toru had noticed. In the locker room. When they'd all changed for Aizawa's assessment.
Uraraka had curves.
And then there was Jiro.
Jiro who pretended not to care. Jiro who called Izuku names and threatened him with violence and claimed to hate everything about him. Jiro whose earphone jacks twitched every time he said "Compass" like it was a love confession instead of a nickname.
Jiro who had legs that went on for miles and an ass that her combat boots only emphasized.
Toru had noticed that too.
She wasn't blind. Just invisible.
TORU: i know
TORU: that's why i have to move fast
TORU: before they figure out what they want
JIRO: you're treating this like a competition
TORU: isn't it?
The typing indicator appeared.
Stayed there for a long time.
JIRO: maybe
JIRO: yeah maybe it is
JIRO: but don't do anything stupid okay
JIRO: he's not worth embarrassing yourself over
TORU: too late
TORU: i already embarrassed myself plenty
TORU: and honestly?
TORU: it was kind of worth it
She hit send before she could second-guess herself.
Jiro's response came immediately.
JIRO: oh my god
JIRO: you're actually into him
JIRO: like REALLY into him
JIRO: not just "oh he's cute" into him
JIRO: but "i want to climb him like a tree" into him
Toru didn't deny it.
She couldn't.
Because the truth was, sitting in that crepe shop with Izuku's arm around her and his hand over hers and his warmth seeping through her uniform...
She'd felt something she'd never felt before.
Safe.
Secure.
Seen.
Which was ironic, considering she was literally invisible. But there it was. In that moment, with his thumb tracing circles on her knuckles and his voice steady beside her ear, Toru had felt like she actually existed.
The train arrived.
Toru stood on shaking legs and made her way to the doors.
The car was half-empty. She found a seat near the window and collapsed into it, pressing her forehead against the cool glass.
Outside, the city slid past in a blur of lights and shadows.
Inside, her heart refused to slow down.
Her phone buzzed one more time.
IZUKU: get home safe Spotlight
IZUKU: we'll do this again soon
IZUKU: maybe without the chaperones next time
Toru read the message three times.
Then she read it again.
"Without the chaperones."
Did that mean what she thought it meant?
Was he asking her out?
On a real date?
Just the two of them?
Her thumbs hovered over the keyboard.
TORU: are you asking me on a date midoriya-kun
She stared at the message.
Then deleted it.
Tried again.
TORU: sounds good!!
TORU: but only if you're paying this time!
TORU: consider it payback for making me buy fancy crepes!
She hit send.
Watched the screen.
His response came thirty seconds later.
IZUKU: deal
IZUKU: but i'm picking the place
IZUKU: hope you like katsudon
IZUKU: it's my favorite
A date.
An actual date.
With Izuku Midoriya.
Toru pressed her phone against her chest.
"Okay." Her voice came out as a whisper. "Okay. This is happening. This is actually happening."
Toru pulled it out one more time.
Re-read Izuku's messages.
Then opened her contacts.
Scrolled to his name.
Changed it.
"IZUKU (future husband???)"
She stared at it for three seconds.
Changed it back.
"IZUKU"
Then added a single emoji.
A green heart.
Good enough.
For now.