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The crisp, satisfying sound of the leaves beneath his feet made Kirishima smile. Summer was his favorite, and while it was sad to see it go so quickly, he knew autumn would bring delights in other forms such as this. As his feet crunched their way up toward the leaf-covered steps of their building at Heights Alliance, he felt a drop of rain on his head, followed by a few on his arm.
“Looks like I made it just in time, huh,” he said quietly to himself as he opened the door.
Several of the other students were lounging on the sofas of the common area; Yaoyorozu was by the stove, prepping to brew some cider with Mina’s help. They waved to him as he walked toward the elevators.
“It’s starting to rain, Yaomomo; that cider’s going to be
perfect
for tonight!” he called, waving back.
Approaching the back of the building, Kirishima heard the telltale chime of the elevator, as the one leading to the girls’ dorms opened. Stepping out, clad in a sea-blue raincoat, was Tsu, who seemed particularly happy. Tucked under her arm was a clear umbrella.
“Tsu! How’s it going?” Kirishima paused and looked her over. “…are you going outside?”
She nodded with a contented
ribbit~
. “It hasn’t rained like this in a while, but it’s my favorite. If I can spend as much time in the rain as possible, I’m happy.
”
“Huh, cool. Rain’s never really been my thing I guess, but that’s awesome!” He smiled enthusiastically. Kirishima was always trying to encourage others to follow what makes them happy; Tsu couldn’t help but admire him for it. He continued.
“I was just gonna go train in my room for a bit, I didn’t get a chance this morning. I’ll catch you later?”
“I guess so. Maybe you could learn to like it,” she offered casually. “I’ll see you soon!”
‘Learn to like it,’ huh?
Kirishima rolled over after his hundredth, and leaned against the bed. He had almost lost count during his routine.
I
used
to like it just fine,
he thought. Push-ups were done; next were sit-ups, squats, and then some practice on the punching bag. Typically he tried to do this routine every morning; since he had some errands to run earlier, however, he had put it off by a few hours.
By the time he moved on to the punching bag, his muscles burned.
I’ve been slacking… I’m out of practice. Need to be looser than this.
He paused, rotating his right arm to stretch a little more before beginning, and turned to peer out the window.
The rain’s pretty gentle right now… I guess it’s not surprising that Tsu likes this kinda stuff.
Down below, beneath the translucent shield of an umbrella, Kirishima could see Tsu’s deep green hair, strolling without a care around the campus.
‘I guess so’… ‘Maybe you could learn to like it’? ...Wait, was she going to invite me?
He watched her for a minute or so longer. Tsu didn’t seem to have a goal; she was just taking in the atmosphere, the way that someone might set up a picnic when it’s cloudy or go swimming on a hot day. Yeah, maybe people would think her strange if they didn’t know her. But honestly, he found it kind of endearing. Eventually, Kirishima found himself smiling as he thought about it. Once he realized this, he shook his head. “Ah, this is dumb. …I guess? Crap, I don’t know…”
After a moment of deliberation, he grabbed a black hoodie from his closet and tossed it on, walking out the door.
Behind the 1-A building, Tsu had settled on a large rock, her legs crossed beneath her umbrella. For her, it was the perfect place to perch during a gentle rainfall. Most students stayed indoors, naturally, and she was able to relax by herself among the sounds of the falling rain and birds chirping in the woods nearby. Half of the time she didn’t even bother with the umbrella; the feeling of the rain on her skin was wonderful. For now, however, she knew Iida would probably chastise her if she returned inside while drenched. She closed her eyes and sank into the sound, occasionally letting out a gentle croak.
It wasn’t too much later that she heard a familiar voice call out from a distance behind her.
“Hey, ah… Room for one more?”
Tsu turned as she opened her eyes, returning to reality; standing alongside the back wall of the building to avoid the brunt of the rain was Kirishima, the hood of his sweatshirt nestled on top of his spiked-up hair. Curious, Tsu raised a finger to her mouth.
“Eijiro? I thought the rain wasn’t your thing,” she chirped, as he began walking toward her.
“Yeah, well,” he began, trying his best to seem nonchalant. “You seemed like you were having a nice time, and I figured it can’t be all that bad, right?”
He climbed onto the rock next to her, settling in. Tsu looked him up and down. “You don’t have an umbrella?”
Kirishima laughed awkwardly. “Ah, no, I don’t… I usually just wear a hoodie or something.” He was, in a word, damp. Tsu held her umbrella between the both of them. “You really should, you know. You’re soaked. Here.”
The umbrella was hardly big enough for the two of them, but Kirishima wasn’t about to say anything. Instead, he let her have most of the coverage; it was the chivalrous thing to do, he thought to himself. The two of them sat in silence for a moment, and as he turned to look at her he noticed just how content she really looked: her eyes were wandering to observe the world around her, and after a moment, she closed them and took a deep, content breath. It was a rare sight.
“You really love it out here, huh,” he said quietly. She smiled.
“
Ribbit,”
she nodded, “it feels like home to me. I know that probably sounds kinda strange, but I like it.”
Kirishima took a second to look around. It was relaxing, for sure, he just didn’t often care to be out in it.
But it was nice, this time. Sitting beside the girl that he had grown fond of, seeing her at her most zen, made any weather bearable. He hadn’t even
told her
that he liked her, just said it indirectly by telling her one night that he really liked having her around. They had grown very close, and occasionally expressed little affections (she had sat in his lap once or twice), but nothing concrete.
Ah, screw it…
Tsu watched curiously as the boy beside her climbed off the rock, and began removing his hoodie.
“Eijiro?” She put a finger to her mouth, confused as he tossed the sweatshirt onto the rock beside her. His spiked hair was in mild disarray, the hairsprayed equivalent of bedhead.
“Well, c’mon!” Kirishima goaded cheerfully. “Let’s enjoy the rain.”
With a smile and a ribbit, Tsu nodded, shutting the umbrella and setting it beside her before hopping off their perch with remarkable grace. She approached Kirishima almost inquisitively; this certainly wasn’t like him, but she wouldn’t complain. As she studied his expression, he chuckled in surprise.
“What! Why are you staring!”
Tsu stood up straight and smiled. “I’m just surprised; it’s not like you to do something like this, is all.”
The boy stretched his arms behind his head, trying to appear nonchalant in his defense. “Yeah, well… it makes you happy. And… I like when you’re happy.”
Tsu gave a quiet ‘ribbit’ with a smile as she undid the toggles on her coat. Before long the two of them were meandering side by side through the grass, their clothes gradually growing damp.
“Hey, uh… how would you like to start training together?” It was a stupid question, and he knew it, but frankly he just didn’t find that he was particularly good at small talk.
“Boy, Eijiro,” Tsu began, glancing up at him, “you’re really intense about your training, huh?”
Kirishima’s face grew hot.
Yep, stupid…
“It’s just… ah, I dunno, it’s dumb.”
He continued for a few steps before realizing Tsu stopped, and was now looking at him, her face hard to read but her voice earnest.
“You know, if you want to spend more time together that’s all you have to say.”
Tsuyu Asui was always so matter-of-fact; when she was too afraid of being open and honest she tended to keep it bottled up. This happened after the Kamino Ward incident, and it was also the first time that Kirishima had seen her cry. It had absolutely broken his heart; he never wanted to see it again.
“I uh… well I guess I more or less said that before, didn’t I?” He couldn’t help but stammer, recalling that they’d had a similar conversation once in the past— “I really like having you around”, “me too”— the realization led him to berate himself up internally.
You’re chivalrous! Strong! Why is this so hard? C’mon, Eijiro, be a man!
“You did,” Tsu smiled. “But it’s okay. That would be fun.”
Her expression had Kirishima smile in return, as he sighed in relief.
Oh thank god… Tsu’s so understanding—
“But if you’d like to ask me to dinner or something I think that’d be really great too.”
Annnnnd back to embarrassment, the boy thought to himself. He considered himself the epitome of masculinity and yet the actual process of expressing feelings to a girl eluded him.
“I uh… yeah! That’d be rad! I mean… that is… would you like to?”
Before Tsu could respond, there was a small gust of wind, and the rain picked up in intensity. Kirishima let out a brief yell as the two flinched, their clothes instantly becoming even more soaked.
The transformation was completely adorable, to Tsu: Kirishima’s hair had drooped a bit from the rain but had now fallen almost completely flat. His shirt clung tight to his body, accentuating his pectoral muscles. She’d seen him shirtless countless times at the pool, but something about this instance felt almost inappropriate. Cute, yes, but...enough to make her blush.
There was no point in rushing back to the umbrella— they’d both already been thoroughly drenched— so they stood there for a moment, at a loss, and then… laughed. Just happily laughed, in the torrential downpour of rain.
With a contented croak, Tsu stepped up against Kirishima and stood on her toes, giving him a small kiss on the cheek.
“Dinner sounds great. But maybe we should get dry for now, rib~”
The front door to Heights Alliance 1-A opened, alerting those in the immediate vicinity to the pair’s return. Nobody thought anything of it with the exception of one Tenya Iida, who immediately honed in on the sound of wet shoes squelching on the carpet beneath them.
“KIRISHIMA, DRY YOURSELF IMMEDIATELY! And take off your shoes! You’re
defiling
the halls of our institution!!” He flailed in frustration, as Kirishima gave a sheepish grin.
“Ahh, I’m sorry man, hold on…”
“We didn't mean anything by it; we’ll help clean up, promise.”
Iida blinked in disbelief. “A-Asui! I wouldn’t have expected this from you…”
“It’s okay.” She closed her eyes with a cheerful smile. “We were just spending some time together.” As she wrapped a damp arm around Kirishima’s and leaned her head against his shoulder, he blushed. He wasn’t the only one; Tsu was not particularly known for showing physical affection to much of anyone, and so Iida found himself a bit taken aback as well.
They split for five minutes or so, enough time to change into some comfy and dry clothes. Tsu was the first to re-enter the common area, and as she passed the kitchen she was immediately handed a mug of hot apple cider by Mina.
“Oh my gosh, Tsuuuu! Are you and Kirishima like… a thing now?!” Tell us!!”
“Don’t I get one?”
Kirishima approached from behind, and Mina huffed at him.
“And
you
should’ve told me! How long have we known each other?”
Laughing, Kirishima shook his head. “Hero’s gotta keep his secrets, right? Let me live, I’m still kinda figuring all this out.”
It was a quick and simple lie— he’d already figured it out, he liked her, he just always felt a bit too chicken to take the next step. He was grateful, though: he considered himself assertive but in moments where he couldn’t bring himself to be, Tsu was perfectly fine with doing it herself.
After the kiss on the cheek he knew he was given the green light, and as Tsu brought him a mug of his own he took a deep breath.
And then, with a red face and a lengthy internal monologue beforehand about being a man, he leaned down and kissed her.
It was rare to see Tsu blush, but this just about did it. She considered herself lucky enough that it wasn’t in front of everyone; however, having Mina in the vicinity meant the most prying observer had all her questions answered and word would travel soon enough without them having to explain. It was one of the benefits to having a romantic gossip for a friend, Tsu supposed.
At the end of their unusual afternoon the pair curled up on the couch together, with Tsu drawing warmth from his body as well as her cider. The rain wasn’t particularly frigid, but if she got too cold it made her body slow down fairly drastically. Having another human to warm her up was pretty nice for a change.
As for Kirishima… he couldn’t bring himself to tell Tsu that the reason he didn’t care much for rain these days was because he hated messing up his hair. But at the same time, as he fell asleep against her, he couldn’t help thinking that maybe a little water wasn’t so bad after all.