After the whole ordeal with Toga, Jake was ready to go over to Melissa's place and start work on the new invention.

He had changed his clothes to be more comfortable. His new outfit consisted of a red long sleeve shirt, grey sweatpants, and black slippers.

After texting Melissa that he was on the way, Jake began to walk to her place. He was able to remember where she lived, due to him being there before, so it wasn't hard to find.

When Jake arrived, he took a deep breath as he stood in front of her door. 'There's no need to be nervous. . .' He thought to himself. 'This is just a simple project. Plus, Marianne will also be here. So, it won't be awkward at all.'

Jake formed a serious look on his face as he went to go knock at the door, but before he could, he heard a voice from the other side.

"Have a good night, Melissa." The voice said from the other side. "I'll check your progress out tomorrow."

"Thanks, Papa." Melissa's voice said from inside.

The door then suddenly opened as a middle aged man came out of Melissa's room. He had light brown hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a blue dress shirt, blush tan pants, blue and white sneakers. He also had black glasses in his face and a wristwatch on his left wrist. His name is David Shield.

"Who are you?" David asked.

"Uh. . . hello." Jake said with a shy smile and wave. "I'm Jake. I'm here for-"

"Oh, Jake! You're here!" Melissa said as she ran to the door. "It's about time, too."

Jake smiled as he saw that Melissa was also wearing a different set of clothes. Now she was wearing a pink shirt, orange shorts, and white flip flop sandals with pink straps.

"Jake, this is my father, David." Melissa said. "Papa, this is my friend, Jake."

"It's nice to meet you, sir." Jake said. 'I didn't think I'd be meeting her father so soon.' He thought to himself. 'This is so weird. . . I feel so awkward already.'

"Ah, Melissa has spoken about you." David said with a smile and held out his hand. "Its nice to finally meet you."

"The pleasure is mine. . . sir." Jake said, shaking his hand.

"Please, call me David." David said with a smile. "Anyone friendly with my Melissa is a friend of mine."

"Uh. . . thanks." Jake said.

"Ok, Papa." Melissa smiled. "We'll be working now."

"Of course." David smiled. "I'll see you later. Have fun."

With that said, David left them alone.

"Well. . . your dad seems nice." Jake said.

"Yeah, he is." Melissa said. "Anyway, come on in."

Jake went inside the room as Melissa closed the door behind them. Marianne saw them an instantly lit up as she hopped over to Jake.

"Jake, you're here!" Marianne said with a smile. "I'm so excited to finally do this with you!"

"Yeah, it's nice to get together like this." Jake said. "Especially since I'm helping you girls with something your passionate about."

"I'll never not be passionate about science." Marianne said.

"So. . . let's get started with this." Melissa said.

"Agreed." Jake said. "The sooner we get done with this, the better."

With that said, the three of them began to come up with some new designs for the new gauntlets that will help with Jake's lightning powers.

___________

A few hours have passed after nonstop thing and designing for the new gauntlets. And so far, none of them seem to have any ideas.

"Ugh. . . what time is it?" Marianne asked.

"It's, uh. . . 7:00." Melissa sighed, looking at the clock. "And we've got nothing."

"I mean. . . our eighth design seems pretty cool." Jake said, looking at a piece of paper. "So does our tenth. . . and our fifteenth."

"Ugh. . . we're hopeless!" Marianne said with a deep sigh.

"No. . . it's fine." Melissa said. "We just have to keep trying. We'll get it eventually."

"I don't know, Mel. . . I'm getting tired." Marianne said with a yawn. "I think I'm gonna turn in for the night. We can continue this tomorrow."

"Wait, at least stay for a little longer." Melissa pleaded. "I'll make us something to drink. How does hot cocoa sound?"

"Ooh, yes please!" Marianne said with a wide smile.

"Coming right up." Melissa said, before looking at Jake. "Care to help me, Jake?"

"Oh, uh. . . sure thing." Jake said, standing up and following Melissa to the kitchen.

Marianne smirked as she watched the two of them go into the kitchen together.

______

In the kitchen, the two of them were making the hot cocoa for them to share. All while talking about their new design.

"Do you think we'll come up with a design on time for the presentation?" Jake asked.

"I'm sure we will." Melissa said as she turned on the hot cocoa maker. "We have to. We can't give up."

"You're always about persistence, huh?" Jake asked. "It's almost inspiring, to say the least."

Melissa blushed. "Well. . . I just want to make sure we don't fail." She said. "And. . . I want to impress you."

Jake stopped in his tracks and blushed when she said that. "You. . . want to impress me?" He asked. "Why? I'm already impressed by you."

"Huh?" Melissa asked.

"I mean. . . the way you want to help people and stuff, even though you don't have any special powers, like you said. . ." Jake said. "It's all very inspiring to me. I could never have your mindset."

Melissa blushed as he said that. But quicky changed topics as she realized she forgot something.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Melissa said. "I didn't get the chocolate for the. . . Woah!"

As she said that, Melissa tripped and began to fall to the floor. Luckily, Jake managed to catch her in his arms before she hit the floor.

"Woah, are you okay?" Jake asked.

Melissa blushed as she looked away from Jake in embarrassment. "Y-Yeah. . . I'm sorry." She said, as she managed to get back up on her feet. "Man, how clumsy."

"Awww, how adorable." Marianne smirked. "What a happy little accident that was."

"Sh-Shut up, Mari." Melissa blushed even more.

Jake also blushed at that. "Heh. . . well, you're welcome." He said with a nervous chuckle.

Marianne continued to smirk as she watched this whole thread my play out.

"It's not nice to stare." Jake said, bluntly.

"Sorry, you're just so cute." Marianne said. "But I'll mind my business now."

Jake and Melissa looked at each other and blushed hard. They didn't say anything else for the remainder of their time in the kitchen.

'What was that? And why is my heart beating so fast?' Melissa thought to herself. 'That was just an accident. Jake was only looking out for me. . . but why so I feel so nervous?'

'No. . . it's this feeling again.' Jake thought to himself. 'Why do I always get butterflies in moments like these. It's so cliche. . . I'm gonna die of cringe AND embarrassment!'

"Is the hot cocoa done yet?" Marianne asked.

________

Later, the three of them had their share of hot cocoa and they waved Marianne out the door. Once she was gone, Jake and Melissa sat down on the couch.

"What a rush." Jake said. "I'm glad this night is coming to an end. I'm getting tired."

"Um, Jake. . . if you don't mind, you can stay here for the night." Melissa said.

"Huh?" Jake said.

"I mean. . . if you want to, of course." Melissa said, blushing. "I mean, it's late and you live pretty far from here. And. . . you might get attacked by Vortex again, and-"

"Yeah, I was just about to ask that as well." Jake said. "I don't know if I want to go home to Matt just yet. He really pissed me off earlier, so. . ."

"Oh, that's totally okay." Melissa said. "Should I, uh. . . get you a blanket? Or anything?"

"That would be nice." Jake smiled.

Melissa nodded as she stood up to get Jake some pillows and blankets. But as he sat there alone, he looked down at the designs of their new gauntlets. And at the same time, he thought about the weird dream he had the night before.

'Damn it. . . what should I do?' Jake thought to himself. 'I can't be feeling this way about Melissa. Not now. . . not when I came here to strictly avoid that!'

"Here you go, Jake." Melissa said, as she set down the bedding stuff right next to him. "Anything else I can get for you?"

"Uh. . . I'll be fine." Jake said. "Thanks, Melissa."

"It's no problem." Melissa smiled. "Just looking out for a friend."

"Yeah. . ." Jake said. "A friend. . ."

"Are you okay?" Melissa asked.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Jake said. "Don't worry about me tonight. I'll be alright. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Oh. . . Okay then." Melissa said. "Goodnight then."

"Yeah. . . goodnight." Jake said.

Melissa then went into the other room and shut her door. When he was alone, Jake sighed and lay down on the couch, looking up at the ceiling.

He thought back to earlier when he was in the kitchen with Melissa and what had happened. It was then that he began to feel nervous in his stomach again.

'Is this. . . is this really happening?' Jake thought to himself. 'There's no way I'm catching feelings already. I can't be. I. . . I don't want to.'

____________

Meanwhile, just outside on the side of the street, Marianne was walking along and heading back home herself. She thought back to when Melissa and Jake were working in the kitchen together and the image of them together was still stuck in her mind.

"Those two are so cute for each other!" Marianne said to herself. "And it's about time Melissa finds someone. She's been by herself for a while now. With no one but me and her father. And I guess she made friends with those UA students."

Suddenly, there was a rustling noise coming from the shadows. Marianne turned to look into a dark alleyway where she heard the noise from.

"Um. . . is anyone there?" She called out.

But no answer.

"Hmm. . . must've been the wind or something." Marianne said, as she continued to walk forward.

But before she could get far, she was suddenly ambushed from the darkness, as a hand covered her mouth and started to pull her into the alleyway. She tried to scream, but it was muffled and no one would be able to hear her.

And once she was held against her will, she was pulled into the dark alleyway, where she was able to let out a scream of terror. Again. . . no one was able to hear her, before it was cut off.

To be continued. . .

Jake Moon and Marianne belong to me

My Hero Academia belongs to Kōhei Horikoshi

All rights reserved