The bunker exploded.

Some of Y/N's quote on quote 'caretakers' scrambled to grab them despite their struggling. Caught under the elbows, Y/N is dragged through the rubble, towards the secret exit. They screamed at the top of their lungs; this may be their only chance at escape. Someone is coming, but they have to let the heroes know where they are.

That's when he appeared.

Sunburst wasn't especially high on the charts, but was popular enough to be recognized, and powerful enough to destroy a mock building in order to reach the secret hideout.

"Let the child go!" Sunburst demanded, holding their signature item forward. A glove with pieces of metal attached in a formation reminiscent of sun rays. It narrowed the beams of light that his quirk created and gave them an extra boost of energy, along with better aim.

One of the villains knew better. He dropped Y/N's arm and ran in the opposite direction. The other tried to hold onto them with one arm and reached behind himself with the other, trying to grab onto something.

This was their chance. Y/N yanked their arm with what little might a seven year old had, miraculously getting out of the villain's grasp. They had to run, get to the hero. Then this nightmare would be over.

"Keep running, child! Get to the police!" The hero shouted, still aiming his support item at the remaining villain.

Y/N struggled, tripping over pieces of the blasted building as they ran. The world seemed to go in slow motion as they passed the hero's side.

Sunburst was powering up his quirk, his signature move required a bit of help from his support item. Y/N had gathered this by now. They had counted how long between blasts, it was about a ten second countdown.

10.

Y/N could barely see past the tears in their eyes.

9.

They had to thank this hero. Sunburst needed to know how thankful Y/N was.

8.

Would they even meet again after this battle?

7.

Just a moment.

6.

Y/N turned on their heels, turning away from the police cars and running back to Sunburst. Wrapping their tiny arms around the hero's legs, they whimpered, "Thank you!"

5.

Sunburst jolted, surprised. He turned around, holding the charging glove away from the small child, and knelt down, wrapping them in the free arm.

4.

"It's alright, you're safe now. Run!"

3.

Y/N nodded, wiping their tears and starting to sprint towards the flashing lights that signified the police cars.

2.

A gunshot echoed across the battlefield.

Sunburst yelled out in pain.

Y/N whipped around, looking towards the hero.

Sunburst was staring down at his gloved hand, grasping his wrist in pain. The light from his quirk made the blood leaking from his hand sparkle like diamonds.

The villain who had been holding Y/N chuckled, dropping the smoking gun and bolting, away from the scene.

But Sunburst's glove was still glowing with energy.

The countdown ended, the hero still cradling his hand close to his chest.

The next flash of light was so bright it made the police officers shield their eyes. But Y/N stared, eyes wide.

The energy stored in the glove was sent out in a blinding beam that shot directly through Sunburst's chest.

The hero didn't even scream. He simply flopped over, dead, when the beam ran out of power.

The thud of Sunburst hitting the ground is what woke Y/N up every time they had this nightmare.

- - - - -

Reliving the day they were freed from those villains- or as Y/N called it, the day of Sunburst's unnecessary death- barely phased Y/N anymore. They've had that nightmare almost every time they slept since that moment.

Of course they blamed themself. It all traced back to them. If they hadn't run back to hug their hero, Sunburst would've seen the villain pull out the gun. If Y/N hadn't been born with their stupid quirk, they wouldn't have been kidnapped for villain's research, and no one would've had to be saved. It was their fault.

The only thing that gave Y/N solace was the fact that they could blame a small portion of the accident on the manufacturers of Sunburst's support item. That glove should have shut down its countdown when Sunburst got distracted, and could no longer focus on supplying his quirk's energy to the gauntlet. It should have been tested to make sure something like this could never happen.

So Y/N made a vow, that no hero would die due to a faulty support item again. They would personally make sure of it.

That's what led them to U.A. The best school for rising heroes, and the best place to learn the trade of creating support items. They were lucky enough to get into the prestigious school, and despite only being a first year, Y/N was found to be a prodigy in the field of support items, even Power Loader was impressed. That's the reason they were allowed to stay after school, testing items without supervision.

It was the perfect time to stay after school as well, once the bell rang Y/N basically had the testing lab to themselves, thanks to all of the classes preparing for the school festival outside. While their classmates played around with paint and music, Y/N got to test out all of the hero students' gear in their specially made trial center.

The trial center had been built into the support course lab, thanks to Principal Nezu using some grant money after Y/N gave a convincing show of their quirk in action.

Y/N pulled a sleeve of fabric up their right arm and grabbed the matching gauntlet. The green support item was reminiscent of a grenade, labeled for pick up by a student named Katsuki Bakugou. It was one of many support items collected from the hero course students for repairs, and a main part of Y/N's final project for the support course symposium; a giant show where the support course students showed their inventions, and scientific reports.

Y/N's report topic? Hero Costume and Support Item Design: Keeping Heroes Safe.

Yes, they would keep their vow, using this report to show just how unnecessarily dangerous being a hero was, and how they could fix it.

But first, to test out this gauntlet.

The mechanisms in the support item were pretty solidly built, it did its function at least. But the rest of the costume needed work, or else this Bakugou kid would be burnt to a crisp by his own blasts.

Y/N walked over to the heart monitor, taking note on how far they had to keep their arm out to walk casually. Not exactly a streamlined piece, a little clunky. They'd have to fix that.

They placed some stickers on their chest, the wires on them connecting to the monitor and projecting their heartbeat on the screen.

Finally they were ready to test this piece out.

The trial area had one wall of bulletproof glass, the other three walls padded with extra strong concrete. With the push of a button, the glass wall slowly slid down, opening the area so Y/N could enter. Stepping inside, Y/N pressed a second button and the wall rose back up.

"Test number 132-G." Y/N said clearly toward no one, knowing the microphones in the trial area would pick their voice up.

The testing room was secure, the glass made sure that Y/N didn't hear the voice outside of their little area.

That's why they didn't notice when another student entered the room.

- - - - -

"Hey! Anybody here?" Kirishima asked, knocking on the support classroom door. It opened by itself with a groan. Shrugging, Kirishima entered the room, holding a ball of fabric and broken pieces of armor.

"I need some help with my hero costume, it's really messed up after the last battle I was in-" He said, but as he looked up he saw no teacher was in the room, no students either. He looked around the lab, until he saw someone behind a wall of glass.

"Oh hey! Um... hey?" He called out, but it seemed the student couldn't hear him.

Curious, Kirishima stepped forward slowly. Was that... Bakugou's gauntlet they were holding?

Y/N pulled the pin out of the grenade gauntlet, letting loose the stored power, and boy was there a lot of it. The resulting explosion rattled the room, and sent Y/N flying backwards into the concrete wall behind them.

Kirishima jumped, throwing his costume aside and running towards the glass wall. The heart monitor on his side of the wall was beeping wildly, but the support course student was laying motionless against the wall. Banging on the glass, Kirishima shouted:

"Hey! HEY! ARE YOU OKAY? DO YOU NEED HELP?!"

The heart monitor suddenly stopped beeping, the lines of the screen flattening and the sound turned into a sickening singular ringing tone.

Holy shit.

That student was dead.

Kirishima tried to figure out how to get through the glass wall, but there was no door, and unlike Y/N, he didn't know what the buttons on the side wall did.

Letting out a guttural scream, Kirishima activated his quirk, hardening his fists and forearms, punching the bulletproof glass with no luck. The flatline sound resonated in his ears.

"RAH! UNBREAKABLE!" He shouted, using his ultimate move to turn his entire body into a battering ram. Slamming into the glass wall, he finally broke through.

Glass shards fell on top of Y/N. Kirishima carefully scooped the stranger up in his arms, kicking a bigger hole in the glass so he could exit with them, "Shit shit shit- I gotta get help!" He said to himself.

As Kirishima started running down the hallways of U.A, towards Recovery Girl's office, he didn't notice that the wounds on Y/N's body were quickly closing, color returning to their face, as well as a heartbeat.

Y/N slowly opened their eyes, surprised to see where they were waking up- in a strange boy's arms.

"Uh, excuse me?" Y/N said casually, tapping the red headed boy on the shoulder, which was hard to the touch.

Kirishima looked down at Y/N, doing a double take when he saw that their eyes were open. He skidded to a stop.

"Y-You're alive!" He practically shouted.

Y/N nodded awkwardly, "Uh, yeah, obviously." they replied, "Can you put me down now? Or take me back to the support lab?"

Kirishima blinked rapidly, "Oh- uh...." He let Y/N out of his grasp, placing them gently on their feet. He stared at them for a moment, but then shook his head, "Wait! I saw you- the heart monitors- you were... dead!"

"Really?" Y/N replied, genuinely curious, "Interesting." They pulled a black marker out of their back pocket and started to walk back to the support lab, "Alright, see ya."

Kirishima was shocked. He shook his head, following Y/N, "Wait wait, how are you so calm about this? And you need to go to Recovery Girl, not the lab!"

"No, I'm fine." Y/N replied, twirling the marker between their fingers casually, "No need to bother Recovery Girl, really."

Y/N pushed open the door to the lab, but Kirishima grabbed their wrist and pulled them back.

"Are you insane? Did you not hear me?" Kirishima asked, panicking slightly, "I saw you die."

Y/N sighed, "Look, you weren't supposed to see that. I get it can be shocking, but in all honesty, it's not your business."

"It totally is my business! I saved you- you would've died- I mean, you did die in that crazy room-"

"My lab you mean." Y/N moved past the red head and walked into the lab, "Why were you even in my- MY LAB!" Y/N shouted, shocked to see the destruction of the glass wall of the trial area, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

Kirishima was turning red, whether it was from embarrassment or anger neither of them knew, "What do you mean- I saved you!"

"I didn't need to be saved! You don't know anything about me or my work- which you just ruined!" Y/N shook their head frantically, "What am I gonna do about the symposium now?!"

Kirishima saw how panicked this student was getting, and was very confused. He stepped to their side and put a hand on their shoulder, "Look, I came in and the explosion blasted you back, and the heart monitor said you flatlined. I thought you needed help and couldn't get in, so I used my quirk to break through." He sighed, "I'm... sorry? I guess? I should introduce myself. I'm Eijiro Kirishima. I'm in class 1-A." He said, holding out his hand.

Y/N scoffed a little, mumbling under their breath, "Of course, class 1-A...." they sighed before shaking Kirishima's hand, "I'm F/N L/N. Support Course."

Kirishima smiled a little, "Well it's nice to meet you... can you explain a little now?"

Y/N tilted their head questioningly, but then remembered why they were fighting, "Oh... right."

Y/N walked into the lab, grabbing a broom and starting to sweep up the broken glass, "I'm doing a study on how to make hero costumes and support items more safe for the heroes using them. So they won't get hurt by their own quirks and items. It's my project for the symposium."

"Symposium?" Kirishima repeated, picking up the dust pan.

Y/N groaned, "Right, 1-A. Basically it's the time for support course students to show what they can do. Like a science fair."

"Oh." Kirishima nodded, "Right." He felt a little bad not knowing about this event before. "But that doesn't explain how you... died?"

Y/N froze. They took a deep breath and swept the broken glass into the dust pan Kirishima was holding on the floor, and knelt down so they were eye to eye on the floor.

"You listen, hero kid." Y/N whispered, "I'll tell you what happened if you promise not to go telling anyone about this. It is extremely important that this stays quiet. You got that?"

Kirishima met Y/N's eyes, staring at them for a second before nodding.

Y/N closed their eyes, breathing for a moment. They weren't exactly used to sharing their quirk.

Rolling up their sleeve, Y/N revealed hundreds of small, black dashes on their skin. "My quirk makes it so I can't die. I just... come back. Fully healed." They uncapped the marker they had earlier, and drew another black line on their forearm, "I'm keeping track... you get it?"

Kirishima blinked rapidly, as if he was trying to count the dashes.

"Are we done here? You can leave, hero kid." Y/N added, quickly rolling their sleeve back down.

Kirishima grabbed their arm quickly, looking up at Y/N as they both stood to their full heights.

"But... why?" Kirishima asked, "Why on purpose?"

That was a surprise. Maybe it was the way he found out. Y/N wasn't exactly used to being asked why they use their quirk like this.

Y/N yanked their arm away, turning away, "It's more important that heroes stay safe on the battlefield. It doesn't matter if I die. I'll come back. But one mistake and they won't." They gulped a little, "I'm making sure that their gear makes them stay safe."

Kirishima looked down at the floor, "You... you haven't told many people?"

"Well, Principal Nezu. And Power Loader. That's pretty much it." Y/N replied.

"It must be hard."

"What?"

"Keeping that kind of quirk a secret. It must be hard. And... dying that many times, all in the name of others? Pretty manly I guess...." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Y/N gulped a little, then turned around, arms crossed, "Why did you come here anyway?"

Kirishima seemed surprised, "Oh- um where is it-" He found his costume on the floor and picked it up, showing it to Y/N, "I brought my costume in for some repairs. It's pretty ragged after my last battle- I'm on my work study with Fatgum-"

Y/N looked over the costume, or what remained of it. Passing it back to Kirishima, they walked over to the computer system and typed furiously for a moment before sending a hologram of Kirishima in his hero costume up into the air with a flick of the wrist.

Y/N blinked, silent for a moment as they stared at the spinning hologram, "That's your costume?" They asked.

"...Yes?" Kirishima smiled a little awkwardly.

"It's ridiculous." Y/N spat out.

Kirishima's smile disappeared, "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

Y/N sighed, walking over to the boy and grabbing the costume pieces once again, "I'll fix it for you, but I need you to leave the lab. Now. I have work to do."

"Jeez..." Kirishima mumbled, "Fine I'm leaving, when should I pick it up?"

"I'll bring it to your classroom tomorrow."

"You can fix it that quickly?"

Y/N looked up from their workbench, "Sweetie, I'm not just going to fix it. It'll be better than ever."

Kirishima met their gaze for a moment, before chuckling and shaking his head, exiting the lab.

Y/N started furiously grabbing materials as soon as Kirishima left, dialing a number on their phone and putting it on speaker.

"Powerloader speaking- is that you Y/N?" their teacher asked.

"Yup it's me. You're in the teacher lounge right?"

"About to leave, why?"

"Can you put Mr. Aizawa on the phone?"

- - - - -

Class 1A was rowdy that morning, everyone wondering why hero training was postponed. When Mr. Aizawa entered the classroom, he was berated with questions, but as he held one hand up, all of the students fell silent.

"Your hero training has been postponed because we have a special guest lecture today." Aizawa said.

"A guest lecture?" Deku repeated, "I wonder what hero it could be?"

"We must be on our best behavior!" Said Iida.

"It's not a hero." Aizawa interrupted, "They're one of your peers. From the support course."

"The support course?" Kirishima repeated, suddenly sitting up straighter.

"Yes, I just said that." Aizawa sighed, "Be respectful to them, I'll be napping."

The door suddenly slid open, as if on cue. F/N L/N entered the classroom, carrying a hanging bag over one shoulder and a thin laptop underneath the other arm. They kept their gaze forward, stepping up to the podium at the front of the classroom, setting their laptop down and connecting it to the projector cable.

"Y/N?" Kirishima asked, "What are you doing here?"

Everyone seemed surprised that Kirishima knew this mysterious support course student. Y/N smirked a little at the sight of gazes rapidly switching between the two of them.

"I told you I'd make your costume better than ever, you thought I'd only work on yours?" They chuckled.

The projector connected, and shined a powerpoint labeled "Class 1As costume redesign" against the wall. Y/N pulled out a laser pointer and turned to the class.

"I'm F/N L/N, and I'm here to fix your hero costumes and support gear, because there is so much wrong with all of them." They smirked.

Some of the students started to defend themselves, but Y/N shook their head and shushed them, "Please. You don't want to wake up Mr. Aizawa do you?" They chuckled, then pointed to the screen, "I'll be going alphabetically-"

- - - - -

The next hour was devoted to the first and second rows of students. Some highlights were Y/N telling Bakugou that his gauntlets were: "Too clunky," and "made him walk weird." as well as them telling Hagakure that it would be simple to create a fiber recreation of her hair, so that she wouldn't be running around naked.

Iida was insistent that his costume stayed the same to honor his brother, but Y/N made multiple points about how the sudden start and stop of momentum would eventually crush his body into the metal of his armor in a big splat, as well as overheat him very quickly.

"We can keep the costume idea, but dear god boy you cannot run around in clunky metal! Your whole thing is speed, weight will slow you down!" Y/N insisted.

Jiro and Kaminari didn't have much on their powerpoint slides, except possible additions of protective gear and an aiming assistor for Kaminari's sharp shooting gear.

Up to this point, every person had one slide with some points on it.

But then they got to Kirishima.

Y/N was on their fourth slide regarding Kirishima's costume, berating the sheer stupidity of the design so much that they didn't notice some students passing notes.

Mina handed a small folded piece of paper to Kirishima, placing it on his desk and staring at him out of the corner of her eye.

Kirishima was a little tired of being insulted for his costume choices, so he opened the note. On it, Mina had scribbled: 'You know they like you right?' accompanied by a small doodle of a winky face.

Kirishima frowned, confused. He looked at Mina, shaking his head, but Mina simply motioned for him to flip the paper over and went back to watching the presentation.

Looking back down at the note, he flipped it over and was surprised he didn't notice the list before. A list of all the ways Y/N implied they liked him during this presentation.

Now that he thought about it... Y/N had been talking about Kirishima for much longer than the other students. He first thought it was an insult, but maybe....

"Hey Red!" Y/N called over to Kirishima, jolting him out of his own thoughts, "You may want to pay attention, I mean it is your life on the line with these stupid designs!"

Kirishima laughed for a second, shoving the note in his pocket, "Please- go on."

- - - - -

Y/N was now spending their usual planning and building periods in class with 1A, watching their training and analyzing the effectiveness of their new costumes and support gear. When they weren't in class with 1A, they were in their newly rebuilt lab, constantly sewing new costumes, building new gear, and testing it.

Testing gear meant failures, that's how science worked. But failures meant dangerous explosions and tally marks on Y/N's skin.

One day, Y/N had the lab to themself around lunch time. They had been skipping lunch almost everyday, sometimes skipping dinner as well, all to work on all of these costumes. No one really ate lunch in the lab, too dangerous, so Y/N was sewing, relaxing out of uniform, in a tank top and baggy pants.

There was still an hour until lunch ended, so Y/N practically fell out of their chair when a voice called out their name from the doorway.

"Shit Kirishima you scared me!" They shouted back, standing up with hands on their hips.

Kirishima just smiled, "Sorry- I just wanted to invite you down to lunch! Haven't seen you down there lately."

"I'm fine, thank you-"

"When was the last time you ate?"

"What?"

"The last time you ate. Be honest!"

Y/N gulped a little, "I mean, I had an orange this morning...."

Kirishima charged into the room, grabbing Y/N's wrist and started to pull them out of the lab, much to their protest.

"Hey- HEY I have work to do-" Y/N said.

"You can take a break. I want you to meet my friends anyway!" Kirishima replied.

"I've met your classmates." Y/N retorted.

"You've read my classmates' files, I'll give you that. You should meet them. Like a person. Interact a little?" Kirishima looked back at Y/N with big eyes as he escorted her down the hallway.

Y/N sighed, cursing those eyes, "Fine."

- - - - -

"I got this book about anti-gravity. I can't put it down!" Kaminari cackled.

"Dude, that was horrible!" Sero said, despite laughing.

"Tell that one to Uraraka-" Y/N mumbled, surprised at themselves for smiling at the joke, and even more surprised at themself adding onto it.

The group was silent for a moment, but then all of them burst out laughing.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Kirishima, you have got to bring Y/N to lunch more often!" Mina smirked.

"Well I'm in the lab whenever I'm not with you all, working on your stuff." Y/N added with a chuckle, relaxing their posture a little, leaning their arms on the table.

"I've been meaning to ask- what's with all of the marks on your arms?" Kaminari asked, "I mean, there must be a lot of them, they're everywhere!"

Y/N froze for a split second but quickly replied, "It's a side effect of my quirk."

A blatant lie.

That's when Kirishima noticed for the first time since he first met them... there were more marks then last time. A lot more. If every mark was one time they died....

The lunch bell rang, time to go back to class.

"Well I'll see you guys next time. Gotta get back to the lab." Y/N said, standing.

Kirishima stood in sync with them, "I'll come with you."

"I think I can make it back to my lab on my own-" Y/N chuckled.

"I'll come with you." Kirishima repeated, staring at Y/N with eyes harsher than before.

- - - - -

Back in the lab, Kirishima shut the door behind them as they both entered. The room was empty. Y/N started to go back to their work bench, but Kirishima grabbed their hand and pulled them back towards him.

"What the- what are you doing?" Y/N asked.

Kirishima was staring at their arms, "That's at least 50."

"What?"

"50 marks." Kirishima said, looking at Y/N, "At least 50 more marks than last time. You said every mark is one time you died."

"Kirishima let go of me, you don't understand-"

"You're right." Kirishima said, letting go, "I don't understand. I don't understand how you go on with these experiments with no care for your own safety, even though there are people here who care about you-"

"It's important work!"

"I'm sure it is! But that doesn't mean you can go on like this with no urge to keep yourself safe!"

"I don't need to!" Y/N retorted, "My quirk-"

"My quirk makes me unbreakable." Kirishima shot back, "That doesn't mean I'm not scared of getting hurt. It's what makes me human."

"You shouldn't have to be scared! If you are protected properly you will be able to do anything! Save anyone!"

"But how can I save you?!" Kirishima shouted.

There was a moment of deafening silence.

Y/N turned around, "Get out."

"What?"

"Get out of my lab." Y/N said, walking away from Kirishima and towards their desk, "I'll deliver you and your classmates costumes on Monday. The final alterations are almost done."

"Y/N-" Kirishima pleaded, but Y/N interrupted them:

"Go. Have fun being a hero." They snapped.

Kirishima closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before turning to leave the room, closing the door behind him. Once Y/N was officially alone in the lab room once again, they let out a choking sob, covering their eyes as if hiding would make this all go away. Make all these feelings disappear.

- - - - -

The weekend was almost over, and the date of the symposium was closing in. Y/N's presentation was complete, but the actual costumes still needed some last minute modifications before they could be put on mannequins and displayed with their project.

It was getting late, the streetlights were just flickering to life. Y/N exited the hardware store after retrieving a few extra screws, and began to walk down the busy downtown streets.

Kirishima was also downtown. He bolted down the streets, weaving through crowds of civilians, chasing after a bank robber. Fatgum was on his way, just a little slowed down. Rushing past another person in the crowd, he bumped into them, knocking a bag out of their hand- making packages of screws scatter on the pavement. "Sorry!" He called out.

The bank robber tripped and fell, and Kirishima quickly took the opportunity to pin him to the ground.

Y/N watched this happen, wondering if they should say hi or let the hero student take in the applause from the crowd around him. Bending down, they picked up the fallen screws, just happening to see a flash of metal out of the corner of their eye. Looking up, they gasped.

A person in a ski mask was pushing through the crowd... concealing a gun.

Kirishima didn't see it. Fatgum wasn't here yet.

Y/N's vision went into slow motion. The mask-wearing criminal cocked the weapon. The bank robber being pinned by Kirishima smiled maniacally.

They jumped up, dropping their materials. They didn't even think about what could go wrong. All they could think of was that Kirishima didn't have the proper gear on to block a bullet.

The gun fired.

It was an odd feeling, being shot. Explosions? Sure, Y/N was used to that feeling. Shrapnel getting buried in their skin? Casual. But a bullet in the chest... that was a feeling they had never felt before.

Collapsing to the ground, Y/N wasn't worried. Kirishima was safe, ready to fight, and of course, their quirk would bring them back.

As the world faded to black around them, they saw a blur of red rushing towards them; Kirishima's face turned blurry, voices echoing as Y/N closed their eyes.

- - - - -

Kirishima had scooped up the lifeless Y/N and ran them to a hospital. The scene was too chaotic to wait for an ambulance to clear through the crowd.

Now he was pacing in a lobby, waiting. This was taking too long. Y/N came back last time in, what, three minutes? It had been half an hour....

"Red Riot?" The doctor asked, walking out with a clipboard.

Kirishima looked over, "Are they awake?"

"Sir, the bullet went through their chest, narrowly missing the heart. They're still in surgery, but it doesn't look good-"

Kirishima grabbed the doctor's shoulder, "They can't die."

"We're doing all we can-"

"No- no you don't understand. They can't die! Their quirk makes them come back to life every time!"

"Sir... it was a quirk suppressing bullet."

- - - - -

When Y/N woke up, the doctors explained the situation. It took a lot longer to discharge them, once the doctors found out their quirk, they had a lot of questions and tests to run.

However, despite the bullet being removed without a hitch, no one had a way of knowing if Y/N's quirk remained functional.

If they got in danger again... what would happen?

Y/N didn't want to think about it. As soon as they got home from the hospital, they went back to work on the hero costumes for 1-A, only pausing to add a tally mark to their wrist, this time using a red marker, to symbolize that it was uncertain what would happen next.

After that, it was back to work.

The school was hesitant to let them back into the labroom. Power Loader was worried sick, not allowing Y/N to be alone in the lab anymore despite their protests.

Still, Y/N continued to work as if nothing had happened. Their time in the hospital ruined their schedule for their symposium project. They had plenty of time to spare, but it was the principle of it all. They had to keep going, they couldn't let this stop them from winning first place.

Y/N was working on Kaminari's new shooter, one final test should do the trick. Power Loader had gone to the bathroom for a moment... finally they could test something themself again.

They set up a target, put the shooter on their wrist, aimed and....

"Y/N!"

They whipped around, seeing Kirishima in the doorway.

"Oh... Hey?" Y/N said awkwardly.

Kirishima stepped forward, looking almost angry, "Take off Kaminari's gear."

"I'm almost done-"

"You're going to get hurt."

"Just a final test run-"

"Why do you keep trying to die?!"

"SO I CAN FINALLY SAVE YOU SUNBURST!"

A slip of the tongue. A moment of silence.

"...Sunburst?" Kirishima repeated.

Y/N looked down at their arms, looking at the final red tally, and started to sob.

They collapsed to the ground, Kirishima catching them as they both fell to their knees.

Kirishima wrapped their arms around Y/N, "It's okay. You're okay...."

Y/N whimpered, "I'm sorry- I just... Sunburst d-died saving me...."

They went on, explaining that fateful day and their vow to help keep heroes safe with their quirk.

Kirishima sighed, "Y/N... you jumped in front of a bullet for me. You are a hero. Who's going to keep you safe?"

Y/N sniffled, "I don't need to be safe, I need to save you... I won't let you get hurt...."

"And I won't let you get hurt. Not because of a vow, not because I'm a hero, but because... because I love you. I love you Y/N. You're smart and talented and funny, and I refuse to let you sacrifice yourself for others while I stand by silently. We're the same. We're both heroes."

Y/N crumbled to a pile in Kirishima's lap, sobbing.

- - - - -

"Heroes deserve to be protected." Y/N explained, "Just because they are dedicated to saving civilians does not mean they should be put in danger unnecessarily."

Plenty of facts and figures later, the redesigns of class 1-A's costumes were finally presented, not on mannequins, but on the students themselves. Upbeat music played as the fashion show went on, Y/N pointing out every detail and how each one would assist in battle.

Once all of the presentations were over, the symposium judges went up the microphone to announce the winner.

"The winner of this year's UA symposium is... F/N L/N!"

Y/N was surrounded by screaming 1-A students cheering their name. Pushed up onto the stage, they accepted the trophy, wiping tears from their eyes.

They walked back down the steps once the ceremony ended, where Kirishima scooped them up in a spinning hug.

"I'm so proud of you!" He shouted, "My hero!"

Y/N cupped Kirishima's face and kissed him, finally, after all that time.

"I love you! I love you so much!" Y/N exclaimed.

Cheering students surrounded the pair as they kissed again. No amount of quirks or experiments could keep them apart anymore.

Finally, the heroes were safe in eachothers arms.