Pop Rocks

Chapter 4: Valentine's Day

By the time Valentine's Day rolls around, Baku and I have been dating for three days. We haven't told anybody yet, but I have a weird feeling that Ashido already knows. Baku doesn't want to tell anyone because "its none of those damn nerds' business". I finally convinced him to let me tell everyone on Valentine's Day.

On the day of Valentine's, everyone wakes up to a box of chocolates placed neatly outside their door. They're from Sato, homemade. They're the best things I've ever tasted.

Our next Valentine's surprise is the common area, covered in hearts and pink and red streamers. In the middle of it all stands a very excited Ashido and Uraraka. Once everyone is standing in the common area, they both screech, "Happy Valentine's Day!"

I laugh and go over to hug both of them. "Happy Valentine's Day to you guys, too! So, who're the lucky guys who get to be your valentines?"

Uraraka turns bright red. "I-I don't like anyone," she stutters. Ashi and I share a glance and then each raise an eyebrow at her.

"You've been pretty down ever since Deku and Todo got together. Have you moved on?" Ashi asks, smiling at her. Uraraka just turns a brighter shade of red.

Then, I realize something. Lowering my voice so only they can hear me, I say, "Do you like Iida?" Uraraka just shoves her head into her hands, which produces a jaw drop from both me and Ashi.

Keeping our voices low, we both say, "You have to ask him out!"

Uraraka lifts her head from her hands and shakes it rapidly. "Guys, no way! I'm way too... jittery and nervous. I could never just go over there and ask him out," she says.

"Well, Iida is the same way. Just go over and ask him, what's the worst that could happen?" Ashi says. That sounds familiar.

"I-I don't know..." Uraraka says, trailing off. I follow where her gaze wanders off too, and I find Iida, standing by himself against a wall. I smile at Ashi and she nods. She grabs one of Uraraka's arms and I take the other, and we lead her over to where Iida is standing.

"Hey Iida! Happy Valentine's Day!" I say, smiling at him. He smiles back at me and gives a small nod.

Before he can say anything, Ashi cuts in with, "Yeah, so, Uraraka has something to tell you." She follows it up by whispering to Uraraka, "You got this." And with that, we let go of her arms and walk away.

As we walk, I elbow her gently and say, "So, Ashido, who's your lucky man?"

She snorts a laugh and says, "I don't need no man." That makes me laugh. After that, she sees some of the other cute couples paired up and talking, so she leaves me to go talk to them. I decide to go talk to Todoroki and Midoriya, who are cuddled up on the couch.

Todo has his arm around Midoriya, who is leaning into him. They're really cute, and they both seem really happy. Todo actually has a smile on his face, which is even rarer than getting a smile from Bakugo.

At first, these two lovebirds weren't very open and public with their relationship. They hid it from the class for over a month. For the first few weeks after everyone found out, they didn't really show much affection in public, nothing past an occasional hug at the beginning of class. More recently, however, they've been more open with it, holding hands in class, cuddling like this. I'm not exactly sure what changed, but it's nice to see both of them so happy.

I go over to the couch and sit on the armrest next to them. "Hey, lovebirds. Happy Valentine's Day," I say, smiling at them.

Midoriya smiles back at me. "Hey Kiri! Happy Valentine's Day to you, too!" he says cheerily.