The Party 2

Star Skyline sat in the police cruiser, anxiously twirling a strand of her hair. She wished she had alcohol.

[New message from: 'Bakugo']

> Press got the story straight? (5:41 PM)

She rolled her eyes at his text, but was thankful for the temporary distraction.

→ again, it's not getting the story straight if it's not true x.x (5:53 PM)

> Whatever. Close enough. (5:54 PM)

→ but yeah~ Hitoshi was teasing, so it's fine (5:54 PM)

When Hitoshi had texted her after his match, she had been more relieved than upset. At least her father wouldn't be calling any time soon.

> Good. So about earlier, before that shit… (6:01 PM)

→ when the mighty Katsuki Bakugo was apologizing? (6:02 PM)

> … (6:05 PM)

> Ya. (6:06 PM)

Star thought about it. She hadn't had a chance to respond after he attempted to apologize, and had been almost thankful for it. But it had been a few hours now… And it wasn't something she could avoid forever with him as her neighbor, trainer, and warm beverage partner…

Starting to type, she paused. Was she forgiving him? Did she understand why he did that?

Hesitating, Star looked down at the sweatband and the shirt she was wearing.

It was obvious the shirt was well taken care of, and she had never seen him without his sweat bands…

→ can i keep the sweatband as compensation?

>Already said you could, idiot.

She smiled a bit at that, surprised he was letting her keep something that he obviously liked. His mind was different than anyone she knew, but his actions seemed to speak a lot louder than his words. Maybe that was why his mind had more images than conscious thoughts.

If there was anything Star had learned growing up, it was how people's minds worked. Some people internalize their struggles, withdrawing from the world around them. Like Todoroki. Some people put the blame on themselves as a way of handling things, like Mashirao. There were people like her, who avoided issues and conflict, seeking distractions to forget how they feel. And then there were people like Bakugo. The ones who externalize insecurities and push people away to avoid feeling things they don't want to.

But when push comes to shove, everyone is going through something.

[New message from: 'Bakugo']

>I'll get more of your shitty hot chocolate. K? (6:22 PM)

Even the strongest of heroes need support sometimes. Star smiled slightly. Even if they're terrible at admitting it.

→ ok (6:27 PM)

→ deal (6:27 PM)

~~~~~~

→ we are here? cheesy much? (6:43 PM)

> It wasn't cheesy. (6:49 PM)

It really was though, despite how serious he had looked on the TV.

→ anyway... grats, Katsuki! (6:50 PM)

→ i knew you'd win (6:50 PM)

> Damn right. (6:51 PM)

As Star walked towards the Chief of Police's office, her phone went off one last time.

> Thanks. (7:09 PM)

And with that, Star sucked in a breath, and walked through the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was starting to get dark, and Hitoshi Shinso noted that everything had gone off without a hitch.

Mashirao had suggested inviting the other classes to the two party planners as they were coming back from the liquor shop, and they had loved it, pulling out their cell phones.

When Hitoshi stopped by his dorm to grab clothes, it hadn't surprised him that his class was already talking about the party before the text was even sent out. They seemed to know everything that was going on in the school before even the school knew. He had entered and left quickly, ignoring the looks he got. It wasn't anything he wasn't used to, with his quirk and all.

But as the party raged around them tonight, he felt immune to their stares, still feeling the warmness in his body at the Pro Heroes' reactions to his quirk. He finally felt… hope. His dream finally seemed more possible. Nothing could ruin the high he was on from it, making the party bearable as he enjoyed himself.

"You look… happy." Mashirao commented, sitting on the couch next to him with two drinks in hand. He handed the plastic water bottle to Hitoshi, and kept the red solo cup for himself.

"I feel happy." He admitted, gesturing for Mashirao to drink the water first. Hitoshi didn't want to deal with the guy throwing up in the morning again.

"Have you found a clue yet, Mr. Detective?" Mashirao smiled, taking a swing of the water before handing it back to Hitoshi, picking up his red cup after.

Hitoshi sighed, "There are some people here I don't recognize, so I'll keep them in mind, but everything seems annoyingly normal."

And it did. People had been slowly trickling in since the party started two hours ago.

To everyone's surprise, Hitoshi wasn't the only one from a different class there. While some General Education students had trickled in, so had some Class 1-B students.

Kendo, Tetsutetsu, Shiozaki, Tokage, and Shoda had come an hour into the party, surprising them all. Class 1-A had welcomed them with open arms, proving that the rivalry there was a one-sided exaggeration spear-headed by Monoma.

Though, it did help that Bakugo had aggressively avoided being roped into the festivities, slamming his door closed in the face of Ashido and Hagakure. Yaoyorozu and Todoroki had also decined, before leaving the dorms together for the rest of the evening. Olivia and Iida were also absent, having left the Sports Festival early.

Everyone else seemed to be accounted for though. As Hitoshi scanned the room for anything out of the ordinary, he found nothing.

Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari, and Tetsutetsu raced in the video game hooked up to the room's TV. Sato was baking in the kitchen to replace the rapidly disappearing snacks, with Koda trying to help him. Jiro, Shoji, and Tokage were by the speakers, flipping through each other's music on their phones. Tokoyami and Shiozaki were talking intensely in the corner of the room, not focusing on anyone else. Aoyama was twinkling next to Shoda, who didn't seem bothered at all as they walked across the room to the kitchen. Tsuyu, Midoriya, Kendo, and Uraraka were playing cards at the table, laughing.

When he looked for Ashido and Hagakure, he was surprised to see Hagakure walking up the stairs with Olivia, who must've just arrived.

Before he could point this out to Mashirao though, Monoma, Pony and another student from Gen Ed walked in as well.

Didn't Monoma hate Class 1-A, and wasn't Pony from America, like Olivia? The gears in his brain started whirling, noticing that they had come in shortly after Olivia had. As he kept them in his line of sight, he felt a sinking feeling in his chest.

He hoped he was wrong.