Birds of a Feather

Just kiss me.

カラス
          Karasu slid her cuff on her wrist smoothly, she had gotten used to doing that one handed by now, as she got dressed. It was a rare Sunday without pro work- the pros were in a meeting all day, giving all the students the day off.
Mina and her had gone shopping to get new clothes just for the occasion- Mina had gotten a sundress with a daisy pattern and a dark green cardigan. Karasu had picked out a pale blue half shirt and a new pair of high waisted denim shorts.
When she had sent Todoroki a selfie of her when she tried the shirt on asking if he liked that shirt, he had only responded with 'YES', and as much as she'd liked it his response had made her feel nice, which was her deciding factor in her buying it.
For their day off, the second year classes of the hero course had jointly planned to go to the festival celebrating the end of the lockdown, both classes A and B together. It was sort of a double date for Karasu and Todoroki and Kuroiro and Komori- which Karasu was very excited about. She'd wanted another couple to double date with for a while. Hadn't expected it to be this couple in particular, but she was excited about it all the same.
She slid a clip into the left side of her hair and left her room, her wings perked up excitedly behind her as she pushed her door open.
"Hey." Todoroki caught her as she left the room, spinning her around to face him before pulling her into a kiss. "I would've gone inside but everyone's been buzzing around in the halls."
"Don't need Aizawa to think we're sneaking around in UA... again." She joked with a grin as she looped her arm around his neck and kissed his cheek.
He took her hand before they stepped into the elevator, running his thumb over her knuckles gently. He took her waist with his free hand and kissed her again, taking the brief moment of privacy in the dorms to kiss her until they heard the doors beginning to open again.
"You'd probably hate it if I started wearing lipstick," Karasu joked as they stepped into the main lobby of their dorm building.
"It would make it harder to kiss you," he said.
Karasu turned back to look at him, surprised to see he had a thoughtful look on his face.
"You took that so seriously." She giggled as she kissed his cheek quickly.
Todoroki blinked for a moment. "Oh! You were teasing me."
"Yes-" Karasu actually laughed now, putting her hand over her face.
A real laugh was rare for her anymore- after spying, after the war, after everything... it had taken so much joy from within her. Todoroki had the ability to bring that out in her, sometimes Hawks as well but even though they had made up and talked through their fight it still wasn't like it had been. Todoroki was her shining light in all of this. Her beacon of hope, of love.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head as they walked outside after their classmates, his arm draped over her shoulders and their fingers linked together. Originally, it had given her a lot of anxiety to hold his hand because she only had one. It had become a source of comfort for her, the knowledge that she was completely safe with him.
He tugged her closer as they got outside, if Iida got on to them about it he'd use the excuse of the cold but he just liked holding her. He liked the warmth of her body, the way he could see the light in her eyes when she looked at anything. The way she would lean on him when she was tired. The feeling of her wings moving. With everything in his family still an insane, untenable situation- having her next to him was what kept him level, what kept him sane.
          "I'm so excited for this festival!" Mina said excitedly as they all started getting on the bus. "We haven't gotten to do fun teenager stuff in so long!"
"Not since the school festival, really." Midoriya echoed as he took his seat.
"I'm excited to do some teen stuff, ribbit." Tsu agreed, looking out the window as the bus began to move.
"It will be nice to have this chance to relax." Momo said from beside her with a smile.
Mina and Shinso are sitting next to each other, Karasu thought as she glanced over at them. Shiso had a smile on his face as Mina chattered excitedly about the carnival rides. 'Why do people question my couple senses? I'm just right.' She leaned against her boyfriend's shoulder to get a better view out the window.
Todoroki pressed a kiss to her hair as he slid her closer. "So we're gonna 'get lost' at some point, right?"
"Shoto, we can't just ditch Kuroiro and Komori." She gave him a look and then smiled, leaning up to whisper to him. "At least, for a while. We leave at midnight, so maybe at eleven? There's got to be a maze we can make out in."
Todoroki smiled at that, he leaned down and pecked her lips quickly so that none of their classmates would complain. "Sounds like a perfect plan to me."
"We've all gotta play bumper cars, okay? Class B too!" Hagakure exclaimed from the back of the bus.
カラス
         "Kara!" Kirishima stopped as he almost walked past her. "Why're you standing on your own?"
"I'm not, technically. Shoto and Kuroiro are getting cotton candy for the four of us but Komori wanted to go with Kuroiro so I am holding our spot in the line for the Ferris Wheel." Karasu said as she looked at Kirishima with a smile. "Did you lose Bakugo?"
"Nah, he's doing that arm wrestling game. I'm gonna get us pretzels while he's busy." Kirishima gestured back towards him.
"I'm surprised you didn't want to do that, too." She covered her mouth to suppress a laugh when she saw the furious look on Bakugo's face when he lost and decided to play again right away.
"I'm gonna play once Bakugo is done. I might break it so he wanted to go first." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Probably wise." Karasu nodded as she looked at Kirishima again. "How's everything going with you two, by the way?"
"Oh! It's good. We're gonna let everyone know soon. Kats and I just wanted to make sure it was... real, ya know? Not just us both being panicked about each other during the war and the aftermath." His face lit up slightly when he looked back at his own boyfriend.
"I understand that... Shoto and I wanted to try for that at first, but it didn't happen. Although a year later and here we are, so it all worked out for us." Karasu peered behind Kirishima at where Todoroki, Kuroiro, and Komori were buying the cotton candy. "Being in love is a lot of fun, honestly."
"Yeah..." Kirishima let out a happy sigh. "I won't take up too much of your time, and I don't want Bakugo to blow up the game before I have a chance."
"Good luck with that." Karasu laughed and waved as he walked away.
"What was Kirishima doing over here?" Todoroki asked as he walked back to her, Kuroiro and Komori behind him.
"He was getting pretzels for him and Bakugo." Karasu said as she tore a piece of cotton candy off and ate it. "Mm! You got sour candy flavour!"
"Of course I did, I know that's the only kind you'd actually like." Todoroki shrugged as he ate a bite. "I'll get used to that eventually."
"That's why you're the best." She kissed his cheek quickly and took another bite.
"What flavour did you guys get?" She smiled at the other couple.
"Black cherry!" Komori said happily.
"Good combo of the two of you." Karasu said cheerily as she ate another bite of her and Todorki's cotton candy.
"We're up next." Shoto pointed to the kearny who was now gesturing to the four of them. "You two can get on first."
"Thanks." Kuroiro nodded to him as he and Komori walked up the small set of stairs to get on the ferris wheel.
Todoroki wrapped his free arm around her waist as they got into their own seat on the ride, smiling as she took another bite. He took one as well and made another face. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to the sour candy thing."
Karasu grinned and kissed his cheek again as they got into their own Ferris wheel car. "You don't have to, but I do appreciate that you got the sour cotton candy anyway."
"I wanted to make you happy," Todoroki said as they began going backwards on the wheel. "I always want to make you happy."
She blushed, looping one leg over his. They rode in silence for a short while, cuddling and eating the cotton candy.
          "You know," Karasu said softly as she kissed his cheek and his jaw. "I've heard that if you kiss someone at the top of the Ferris Wheel, you'll be together forever."
Todoroki looked over at her with an almost puzzled expression. "I mean, I was already planning that we're going to be together forever."
She gave him a look and then laughed, cuddling closer to him. "Shoto, just kiss me. That's what I'm trying to say."
"Oh!" He realised and wasted no time before leaning down at pulling her into a kiss. He held her waist as he pulled her close against him.
Karasu smiled as she kissed him back, holding the back of his head as she slid her fingers through his hair.
He moved his lips to her jaw and then to her throat as they began their descent back down the track of the Ferris Wheel.
Karasu let out a happy sigh as she felt his lips against her skin, letting herself relax and enjoy the moment.
After a little more of that, he kissed her again and smiled at her, still pecking her lips softly every so often.
"I see you took that superstition very seriously," she teased him, still hanging on to him.
"I want to do everything I can to make sure we're together forever." Todoroki answered softly, kissing her cheek.
Karasu cuddled in close to him and grinned, holding her hand on the side of his neck. "I love you so much, Shoto Todoroki."
"I love you too, Karasu Takami." Todoroki whispered against her hair.
カラス
          Hawks landed on the roof of the 2-A dorms and took a seat on the ledge.
Karasu was sitting on a picnic blanket on the lawn, her head reclined over Todoroki's legs. They were both reading- the same book, meaning it was probably schoolwork. Todoroki had his free hand by the top of her head, gently running his fingers over her scalp and twisting a few pieces of her hair around his finger.
It was still odd to see her so domestic like that. In a way she had been a caretaker of their house before she'd moved to the dorms, so it wasn't entirely a shock. To see her so in love, so young and so in love. He felt like he wasn't prepared for it yet, even though he didn't exactly have much say in any of it. They'd been together for a year now- and Hawks knew his sister. He knew she'd picked Shoto Todoroki as long as he'd picked her. That was how she'd been with Hawks, as well. In a family capacity. Even when he had chosen her for the second time, after pushing her away and breaking her heart, she had chosen him again. That was one of the reasons he was surprised she was so reluctant with their mother- she was so inclined towards forgiveness.
Although he supposed that was the depth of her fear of the hurt her mother had dealt her.
He understood that pain, himself. It was a feeling he had had too when his mother had all but sold him to the HPSC. The person who was supposed to love them completely- love them entirely- their mother, she abandoned them. Didn't put up any fight to keep them close.
In a way that had broken her- even though Hawks had been there to pick up the pieces for her, it had altered the way she had seen herself and their mother forever. It was why she had stuck to Todoroki so closely- he had chosen her when not doing so may have been the easier route for him.
In her mind, that was doubled and tripled with the loss of her arm.
Hawks knew that. He hated that she felt like that. He hated that he couldn't make that all go away for her.
          "Hey, kid. Todoroki." Hawks jumped off the ledge and landed on the lawn. "Thought I'd find you two together."
"Keigo." Karasu sat up, setting her book aside. "What're you doing here? Did I miss training?"
"Nah, nah. Nothing like that. Got a few updates for my trio, although you can listen in if you want, Todoroki, your father will be updating you as well."
The teenagers nodded and followed Hawks into the dorm building.
"Yo! Shinso." Hawks gave him finger guns. "I need Tokoyami, too. Where is he?"
"Upstairs. I'll text him." Shinso pulled out his phone quickly as he stood up to follow Hawks into one of the adjacent rooms to the foyer.
Karasu flashed him a smile as she walked in just after him with her boyfriend.
"I do need to talk to *my* trio, so just sit in the back, okay?" Hawks turned around and looked at Todoroki.
He nodded and took a seat against the wall as Karasu and Shinso took a seat in chairs beside each other. Hawks leaned against the table in front of them, looking at his phone for a brief moment.
"I'm here." Tokoyami came through the door and took a seat on the other side of Shinso. "What do you need us for?"
Hawks sighed and leaned back on his hands. "I know our last mission just wrapped up, but we've got some new reports. There's reports of a new villain- singular, at least for now. Name unknown, but reports are that she's a woman. Has a quirk called 'love smoke'. All that's known is she can sense reciprocated love and she breathes a smoke that strangles people. So far she's gone mostly after couples who, according to people who knew the victims, were completely in love with each other."
Karasu looked back at Todoroki for a moment before looking at Hawks again.
Hawks glanced over at his sister. "The plan is to lure her out. With... well, the obvious targets."
'I knew that was going to be what he said.' "So- what's the plan of attack?" Karasu smoothed her uniform skirt out.
"We know the area she's active in, and we know how to ." Hawks responded, lifting his flight glasses to the top of his head. "Endeavor, Jeanist, and I are working on the finer details from there. The main point of coming to see the three of you is to assess that I think you're still ready to be on this mission."
"What do you mean?" Tokoyami frowned slightly. Hawks typically only expressed the utmost faith in his trio these days- so hearing him say that was nothing short of a giant surprise.
"Well, for one of you this is all extremely new, and for the other two you've barely had a break since the war." Hawks said honestly. "The only people expected to handle that level of work are typically us top pros and that's a main reason we have sidekicks."
"It's been nice to have something to do through all of this." Shinso admitted. "I feel like I'm catching up to the rest of my class due to it."
"I feel it'll keep us ready to be fully-fledged pros upon our graduation." Tokoyami followed up thoughtfully.
Hawks looked at his sister now. "What about you, kid?" He spoke carefully.
"It helps me feel connected to you," she admitted. "I've struggled to feel that as much since- well, you know." Karasu took a breath and met Hawks' eyes. "It also allows me to keep helping people, which is what I want to do. As long as estranged parents stop randomly appearing I'll probably be fine."
Hawks smiled slightly at that last quip. "Good to hear. That's all I needed. I'll let all of you back to your studies." He said pointedly.
"Subtle." Karasu smiled slightly as she stood up with her classmates. "We do actually have to study, though. Because we didn't take finals in the summer, we're taking them just before the holidays. Meaning it's a birthday test for me." She let out a dramatic sigh as she took Shoto's hand.
"I feel like no one in this room should really be worried about that, though." Todoroki pointed out. "I don't know officially for Shinso, but I imagine he's pretty skilled academically seeing as he was allowed to transfer."
"It'll still be nice to have an official rank in the hero course." Shinso said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I at least want to beat Mineta."
"A goal everyone should aspire to." Karasu said, walking out of the room behind Tokoyami and Shinso but still hand-in-hand with her boyfriend. "It'll be interesting to see how you shake up the academic rankings... as long as you don't knock me out of my space. I'm right in front of Shoto and I like it that way."
Todoroki half smiled. "So funny. Maybe I have a goal of getting ahead of you?"
"That's nice, but unlikely." She kissed him quickly and walked ahead of him to the sofa and took a seat, opening her book again.
"May the best student win, then." Todoroki sat beside her. He kissed the back of her neck quickly before he opened his own book again.