✰keep your cool!

✰Chapter Nine: Jun Is Overwhelmed. That's It.

On the morning of the Sports Festival, Jun spends the entire car ride to Yuuei clutching Izuku's hand like a baby and ignoring his mother's fretting. Mrs. Midoriya had insisted on driving the two there, as she'd taken time off work to watch the Sports Festival live instead of just recording it for later like usual. Yaknow, since her son and pseudo-child are now participants in it.

And yeah, it had taken some (A LOT OF) confidence to thread their fingers together, what with the Realization™ and Mrs. Midoriya watching, but Jun eventually did it. And boy, are they glad they did because Izuku's firm grip on their hand is probably the only thing keeping them from jumping out of Mrs. Midoriya's beat-up little Honda and right into oncoming traffic.

"Now, I want you two to know that I'm proud of you no matter what the outcome of this Festival is," Mrs. Midoriya says softly as she pulls up to the curb of a street a few blocks away from the gates of Yuuei. "And I know Ryūsuke-san feels the same. Don't worry so much, okay? Just do your absolute bests."

Jun gulps nervously and nods, squeezing Izuku's hand tighter and hoping to God that they don't die of embarrassment before they even get to the school.

"Are you seriously telling me not to worry?" Izuku laughs borderline hysterically. "Mom. I always worry. Worrying is my state of being. If I'm ever not worrying about something, you should be worried-- oh God, I've said 'worry' so much that it doesn't even sound like a word anymore--"

"Hush, you drama queen!" Mrs. Midoriya chides, leaning back over the center console to grab Izuku by the face, forcing Jun to crowd themself back against their seat. "You need to keep Jun-san from getting too anxious, so you can't just be off in your head, okay? Can you do that, sweetie?"

Jun side-eyes her, fully aware that they're being used as a means to get Izuku focused on anything other than the Sports Festival. Mrs. Midoriya just winks at them and settles back in her seat. Meanwhile, Izuku has started muttering to himself about 'how to keep Junchan from having another nervous breakdown.' How sweet.

"I'll give them lots of physical reassurance and . . . oh! We need to get going, Junchan!" He bursts out, wide-eyed, before opening his door and forcibly dragging Jun out of the car. They only manage to shout a quick "THANKS-FOR-THE-RIDE-BYE" to Mrs. Midoriya before Izuku is hauling ass down the street and tugging them along like a human-shaped balloon.

"JUNIE?!" A very familiar and very loud voice screeches just as Jun and Izuku make it to the Yuuei gates. "MIDORI! WAIT UP!"

As soon as the yell rings out, Mina plows right into them both and almost sends them tumbling. Izuku, by some miracle, manages to hold them all upright. "Oh my gosh, you guys, I'm so excited! Aren't you? This is gonna be so great!" She squeals, and it's so high-pitched that Jun wouldn't be surprised if it could shatter glass.

"I-I'm excited too, Ashido-san! Well, maybe not excited, I mean-- I'm on the verge of crying, and I think I have so much anxiety that it's all canceled out, and that's why I'm so calm . . . "

"Oh, Midori, that's not good! D'you want me to make some of my special acid for you? My middle school friends said it felt kinda like weed!"

"Wait, really? That's so cool! Maybe one day I could study your acid to see why it feels like that! Or, wait, you said 'special acid,' so are you actively changing the chemical components of it so it induces drug-like effects? Also, thanks, Ashido-san, but I really don't need an acid trip right before the Sports Festival; my mom's going to be watching and she'd cry--"

As those two continue their rapid-fire conversation about tripping balls on acid, Jun just smiles. With Mina's arm casually slung over their shoulder and Izuku's grounding hold on their hand, they feel some of the knots in their stomach loosen.

With their best friends at their side, maybe this won't be so bad.

--

Okay, maybe this will be bad.

The goddamn Festival hasn't even started yet, but someone just had to go and ruin Jun's morning by asking the least helpful question ever. 

"Hey, Aizawa-sensei," Kirishima calls out from where he's seated in 1-A's waiting room with Sero, Kaminari, Hagakure, and Tsuyu. (Jun, like the rest of the class, has gotten bullied into calling her by her given name instead of 'Asui.') "Shouldn't that guy who got suspended on, like, day two be back by now? It seems kind of unmanly that he's not being given a chance to prove himself in the Festival."

Jun tries very hard not to scream. They look to where Izuku is sitting across from them, only to find him already staring right back at them. To convey their current feelings, they promptly scrunch their face up and mouth: "Blastard."

"I must have forgotten to update you on his status." Aizawa's monotone voice makes Jun turn their head towards him. "As of now, he is no longer suspended. He has been expelled."

Silence ensues until Izuku breaks it with a whisper of "holy shit" and Jun whoops triumphantly at the top of their lungs.

"Quiet." Aizawa shoots Jun a Look™ before turning his back to the class and walking away. "You don't need to know the details," he calls over his shoulder, "But just know that he was not Yuuei Hero Course material."

And with that concluding statement, he walks out of the waiting room and shuts the door behind him, leaving class 1-A in varying states of confusion. Jun's sitting at a table with Izuku, Todoroki, Jirou, Mina, Ochako, and Momo, most of whom look at least a bit bewildered.

"Woah," Kaminari calls out. "What d'you guys think he did? I mean, he was kinda overkill during the Battle Trials, but Todoroki literally froze the whole building, so that can't be why he got kicked."

Jun feels Todoroki tense where he's pressed against their side (seven people at a small table is crowded, okay?) and they feel irritation well up in them. 

"Todoroki-kun froze a non-living thing," they snap, the urge to defend their friend clouding their common sense. "Bakugou used a potentially lethal explosion on Izukkun at close range. I think there's a difference there."

Kaminari snaps his mouth shut and Jirou lets out a low whistle.

"Would-- would it really have been lethal?" Hagakure asks, her voice timid. "He can't have really tried using it if it was, right?"

Jun gets ready to spew some insults to Bakugou's character, but they're cut off by a very grave Izuku. "His smallest explosions can scar at close range. Who knows what one that large would have done if I hadn't dodged as quickly as I did."

Class 1-A digests this morbid information in silence until Tsuyu croaks loudly. "Kero, Midori-chan, how do you know that his explosions can scar?"

Both Jun and Izuku tense at this question, and Jun just barely refrains from lifting their left elbow up and waving it around to showcase the large, patchy burn covering it.

"W-well--"

Izuku is saved from answering as an announcement loudly interrupts with, "Class 1-A, head out to the field."