Mina Ashido jumped from her seat at the sound of the final bell and haphazardly threw her books into her backpack, bolting out the door before the bell had even finished ringing. The other girls laughed and shook their heads at their friend's behavior, taking their time to pack away their things and to wait for Yaoyorozu, whose birthday it was.

"So like, do longer nails really help with guitar?" Ochako asked interestedly.

"Depends on personal preference." Jiro closed her notebook in her binder. "But it suits my style more." She said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

"We should probably head out soon. Ribbit." Tsu said, joining the other two as they walked over to Yaoyorozu's desk. "I'm sure Ashido's probably already halfway to the dorms by now."

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Uraraka squealed as she bounced on the balls of her feet. "I've never gotten a manicure before. Thanks again for paying for me, Jiro. I promise I'll make it up to you soon!"

"I already told you; you don't need to worry about it." Jiro said.

"Are we all ready to go?" Yaoyorozu asked, carefully zipping her pencil holder in the front pouch of her bag.

"Just about. Ribbit. We're just waiting on Hakagure. She didn't do to well on last week's test."

The four of them looked up at the front of the class where Aizawa was lecturing Hakagure. They gave her an empathetic look and winced as their teacher dropped a large stack of papers on top of his podium for her.

"Poor Hakagure." Jiro said sympathetically. "That test was killer. I barely passed it myself. Think we could do another study session soon?"

"Mmhmm." Yaoyorozu nodded. "I'm busy this weekend celebrating with my parents, but I could do next weeked."

"Yeah, that would be... oh, 'sup (L/N)?"

The girls all turned and looked over to see (L/N) standing just outside their conversation. Tsu and Uraraka mumbled an awkward greeting which he ignored. As he took a few hesitant steps forward, they quickly stepped away, breaking the circle they'd formed around Yaoyorozu's desk.

"Uh, h-hi." He whispered, hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Hi." Momo said uncomfortably. The memories of their last interaction took to the forefront of her mind. She'd tried knocking on his door later that evening, but she'd gotten no response, and instead vented to the girls about him and what Kendo had told her and how confused it all made her.

"Can we talk?" He glanced up at the others and added, "In private?"

"O-Okay."

Standing up, Yaoyorozu followed (L/N) to the back corner of the classroom. His hands were still in his pockets and the thought crossed her mind that maybe it was because he didn't want her holding his hand.

"Um..." He swallowed nervously. "H-H-Happy birthday." He stuttered quietly, shyly looking at the floor.

"Oh, um, thank you." Momo replied. She waited for him to say more, but all he did was nervously fidget with the inner lining of his right pocket. "Was that all?"

"No." He took a quick half step forward and started to remove his hands from his pockets. "No, I um... I wanted to... to give y-"

"Oh my gosh!"

A loud squeal interrupted them. Looking over her shoulder to find the cause, Yaoyorozu saw Hakagure's uniform running up to her then felt a pair of hands pulling on her arm.

"This is gorgeous!"

Looking at her arm, Yaoyorozu realized Hakagure was gushing over the bracelet she'd bought herself at the mall the other day. Her scream caught the attention of Jiro, Uraraka, and Tsu, and the three of them gathered around to also admire the diamond studded bracelet.

"Are those real rubies?" Uraraka asked in disbelief.

Yaoyorozu laughed. "They are, yes." She answered.

"They look pretty expensive, too." Tsu said, examining the shine of the gemstones. "Where'd you get it?"

"I saw it at the mall the other day and just couldn't help myself." Yaoyorozu answered. "I was saving it for this weekend when I went out with my parents, but I decided I would wear it just for today."

Just then, the classroom door opened with a slam and Ashido poked her head inside. "What's taking you guys so long!" She groaned. "Come on, let's go!"

"Sorry, Ashido. We were just leaving." Letting go of Yaoyorozu's wrist, Hakagure and Uraraka ran toward the door while Jiro and Tsu followed behind them in a walk.

"I'll be right with you!" Yaoyorozu waved. "Sorry about that, (F/N). What were you saying?" She frowned when he didn't say anything and he wore a strange expression, like he was sad, but as if the sadness were very distant and far away. "(F/N)?"

He looked up. "Sorry." He said so quietly she could barely hear him.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?"

"I um... nothing." He sighed and buried his hands deep in his pockets again. "It's nothing. Happy birthday."

Momo watched as he gathered his things and dragged himself out the door. Grabbing her backpack, she ran into the hall and paused, looking left and right until she spotted him as he ambled through the crowd of people, shoulders and neck hunched.

"Yaomomo! Let's go!" Ashido shouted excitedly from the opposite direction.

"Hmm? Right, I'm... I'm coming."

Eyes still on (L/N), she walked backwards a few steps before turning around and jogging over to her friends. Looking over her shoulder a final time, she saw (L/N) withdrawal his hand from his pocket and drop something in the garbage as he passed.

[My Hero Academia]

(L/N) came to a stop outside his bedroom door. Resting his forehead against it, he turned the handle and waited for it to slowly swing open. Maybe it was the change in seasons or maybe it was the lack of sleep, but his body felt heavy. His legs barely moved, and he'd dragged his feet the entire walk from the school's campus. The front steps of the dormitory felt like climbing a mountain, and he practically fell down the stairs leading to his room, unable to fight the weight of gravity. And now that he'd stopped, he couldn't find it in himself to move anymore.

With a deep breath, he forced himself to take the first step and shuffled across his room towards his bed. He dropped his books on his desk as he passed where ribbons of bark and splintered wood still remained. The mattress sank beneath his weight as he fell onto his bed where he sat with his body hunched forward, elbows on his knees. Leaning to the right, he fumbled on his nightstand until his hand found the book sitting there.

Momo had brought it with her a few nights ago. They hadn't started it yet, having called it a night after finishing The Book of Tea, but Momo left it behind saying they could start on it next time. It was entitled The Sound of Waves. A love story, from what Momo had told him. Not something he would enjoy, he predicted, but she seemed excited to read it with him. Picking it up, he held it in his lap and riffled the pages with his thumb and thought about the story that was likely housed within them. Probably a fairytale about a noble samurai overcoming adversity to win the heart of the emperor's daughter. Or perhaps of a traveler that meets a wealthy girl bored with her life and whisks her away on an adventure around the world. Those seemed like the sort of tales that made for good love stories. The type of love story Momo wanted. The type of love story he couldn't give her.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to the book.

"What are you sorry for?"

The ear closest to the door twitched at the sound of Yaoyorozu's voice coming from the hall, drifting in through his still open door.

"What are you doing here?" (L/N) asked. "You're supposed to be with your friends."

"We're going to go tomorrow, instead." She took a few steps into his room, noticing the lines of bark and countless braids of wood tossed aside as failed attempts. As she got closer, she saw his fingers were covered in bandages that she knew hadn't been there yesterday.

It moved her to see how much he cared. But that feeling was eclipsed by the guilt that she hadn't seen it sooner. Realizing how small she must have made him feel for him to have gone to such lengths only to abandon it at the end, all because she was blind to the gift he'd already given her.

"May I sit next to you?"

(L/N) stood up and tossed the book back on his nightstand. "I know why you're here." He sighed. "But you don't need to spend time with me out of pity."

"What?" Yaoyorozu asked. "What makes you think that I-"

"It's not like I haven't noticed." He shrugged off the jacket of his school uniform and tossed it over the back of his desk chair, "How much time you've been spending with me the past two weeks. But I was just fine before I met you. I can go one day without you coddling me."

"Hey, hey." Yaoyorozu grabbed his hands as he angrily pulled at the tie around his neck. "I've been spending more time with you because I want to." She assured him. "And yes, I rescheduled with the girls because I was worried about you, but not because I pity you. It's because I care about you, okay?"

(L/N) sighed and dropped his head. "I know." He said guiltily. "I'm sorry. I just... I don't want you to have to sacrifice anything just because I'm bro- just because I'm me."

"Don't you get it, (F/N)?" Momo smiled. "I love you because you're you. Hey," she placed a hand on his cheek to keep him from looking away, "do you remember during the sports festival, when I lost my match against Tokoyami? Afterwards, I just felt so small and helpless. I resented how weak my quirk was and I was questioning whether I even belonged at UA.

"But do you remember what you told me? You told me that it doesn't matter how strong someone is if they can't control that strength. That, despite how powerful you are, you were envious of the amount of control I had, and that my skills and talents were nothing less than extraordinary. If anyone else had told me that it probably would have just made me feel worse. But hearing it from you, it meant the world to me. Because I knew you were being genuine. I knew you meant it because that's who you are.

"You," she wrapped his hands in hers and held them firmly between their chests, "are real. It's what I admire most about you. You know who you are. And you don't try to hide it from people, you don't try to change because of what others think. You're not ashamed of who you are, and you've always remained true to yourself. That's why when you say something, I know you're being honest."

(L/N) turned his wrists over and held her fingers delicately in his palms. Still joined, their hands fell to their waist as he touched his forehead lightly to hers.

"You're wrong." He whispered. "I don't know who you're describing, but it isn't me."

"You're only saying that because you can't see yourself." She told him. "You're... like a beacon. Whenever I'm lost, I can always find you. But when you're the only light in the night, when you look around all you see is darkness. You can't see how brightly you shine."

(L/N) shook his head and scoffed through his nose. "I'm no beacon. And if I am, I'm the type that warns people to stay away." He took a half step back as he spoke, shoulders dropping with a heavy sigh. "Every time someone gets close to me, I-" The rest of his sentence died, and his brow pinched together as he felt something on Yaoyorozu's wrist. "Where did you get that?"

"Oh, this?" Momo smiled fondly at the woven bark bracelet she'd replaced her ruby encrusted wristband with. "I saw you throw it away earlier." She said with a small frown. "Why didn't you give it to me?"

"Why do you care?" (L/N) asked scornfully. "It's just a bunch of splinters. It belongs in the dirt."

Yaoyorozu felt a heaviness in her chest at the disdain he showed toward the bracelet, knowing he was comparing it to the one she'd thoughtlessly worn in front of him. Her heart broke when she found his gift discarded like trash, realizing it wasn't watches he had been staring at that day.

"Well, I," Yaoyorozu slipped it off her wrist and lifted his hand to press it into his palm, "would really like it if you gave it to me."

(L/N)'s nose wrinkled at the feeling of the wooden ornament in his hand, as if it were something odious. "Why?"

"Because you made it for me."

"That's not what I meant." He said darkly. "I mean why do you even want it?"

Yaoyorozu gave him a soft smile. "Because you made it for me."

In those words, she chased away every doubt, every invasive thought, every voice that whispered and questioned why. Why didn't she leave it in the garbage? Why was it worth something to her? Why was it special to her? Even when she could buy diamonds and rubies, she still chose a crude and clumsily assembled pile of sticks. Because no matter how much he questioned it, he realized her answer would always be the same.

Holding her hand at the wrist with the lightest of touches, he slowly and tenderly slipped the bracelet over her fingers and down her hand to settle at the small of her forearm, and whispered, "Happy birthday."

It seemed to burn against her skin, like there was a warmth that hadn't been there before. And she wondered if he had somehow done something to it before placing it on her wrist, but it looked the same as it did before.

He said again that she should go celebrate with her friends, this time with a soft expression and a gentle tone, so she didn't argue.

That night, she laid on her stomach in bed, kicking her feet in the air and slowly twisting the bracelet as she admired it. All throughout the day and still into the night, she felt it glow and send shivers down her spine that sent the butterflies in her stomach to flight. Face flushed, she squealed in delight and rolled back and forth on her bed, holding her wrist close to her chest so the warmth from the bracelet flooded her heart until it eventually lulled her to the land of sleep.