(The prequel to "Clasp His Heart, Don't Let Go!")

sorry for not uploading for so long, it's all school procrastination school you know the cycle

"Hi there, Midoriya! Guess we're partners today, hopefully you're not like my other partners who contributed absolutely nothing to the past projects.." Toru eyed a certain blond electric boy.
Toru and Izuku were assigned to do a project based on the first generation of heroes. Izuku was already quite knowledgeable about the first heroes, researching it ever since he got obsessed with heroes, which began at a young age.

"Don't worry about that, I already k-know a little bit about the t-topic. P-plus I u-usually like t-this type of work."
Even if Toru was invisible, she was still a girl. Izuku knew that but tried his best not to look like a dork as a first impression.

"Well we better get started, I'll do the decoration on the rough draft and you can examine it once i'm done. Can you do the facts and stuff? I don't really know a lot about all the past heroes and all that.."

"Sure, I can d-do that.."

..

About an hour later, Toru finally finishes the rough draft. She was.. very dedicated to make it stand out. It was pretty time consuming for Toru, making every little detail count. Izuku was shocked at the outcome, because despite it being a rough draft, it looked like a complete project. While Toru was drawing her heart out, Izuku was putting the most interesting facts about the era in a separate piece of paper. His paper was a complete train-wreck compared to what Toru created.

"H-holy wow.. this looks great.."

"Hah.. yeah, once I get deep into concentration I just can't stop until I'm satisfied.." She was sort of embarrassed, but still proud of what she did. The only issue with it was..

"How much time is this g-gonna take to put on the poster..?"

"Oh.. haha.. uh.. a while."

Aizawa immediately interrupted the two with an announcement.

"Times up for today, please take your rough draft home. You also have the freedom to work on your poster at home with your partner if you want."

..

As Izuku was right about to walk out the classroom, Toru approached him with a question. Since she felt like she could actually complete the project quickly before the due date with some extra hands, she wanted Izuku to help her out since they'd gotten good progress in just an hour.

"Midoriya? Can I ask you something?"

"Y-yeah? What do you n-need?"

Toru could feel a sinking feeling in her chest. It was her first time asking a boy to stay home with her, but reminded herself that it was just for a project. Despite the attempts of relief, her anxiety still rose.

"Since we couldn't finish today, wanna keep working on it over a-at my place? I-I mean.. I won't mind if you say no.."

.

.

.

Izuku processed the question in his mind, and quickly made up a response.

"S-s-sure..? I mean I-I don't t-think my mom will mind.. i-if I'm not home for a w-while."

Izuku surprised himself with how calm he was. He expected himself to not even be able to speak at all in these types of situations.

"Really?! Ok, thank you so much! I got kinda worried that you'd get creeped out and all that, thankfully I was wrong.." Toru didn't know why she was so happy. The project was due the next week, so there wasn't any rush, and she knew that.

"Ok.. so.. when? T-today? Or-"

"Today. I just want to get this project out of the way so I can focus on my missing work.."

"Oh.. o-ok.. what time?"

"Can we go right now? I-I mean i'll be fine even if you can't go right now.."

The awkward energy made both sides even more nervous. Izuku didn't want to seem like a dork, and Toru didn't want Izuku to think she had another other intentions to invite him over, since she seemed so eager.

"Ok.. I can c-call my mom and tell her I-I won't be home.."

Toru's sigh of relief could be heard by the whole class.

..

Toru leads Izuku to her home, which was in an apartment complex. She opens the door to let Izuku inside, trying to appear as calm as humanly possible.

Izuku on the other hand, was completely filled with anxiety. It was his first time being in another girl's home, and the fact that they were alone didn't help at all.

"O-ok. I-I'll start with the facts a-and you can surround t-the decorations around it.."

"Ok.. that's fine.. tell me if you need anything, do you want tea? I-I mean I just dragged you here out of nowhere, so I feel like that would kinda make it up to you.." Toru had no clue on why she felt so anxious. It was just a guy, and one who posed no threat to her since he didn't seem like someone who'd be a perv.

"O-only if you want to. I'll b-be fine with anything."

..

After what seemed like ages to Toru (which was actually about 30 minutes), Izuku finally approached her to tell her he was finished. She got bored after not being able to do anything and just sat there and watched. Eventually, she began to close her eyes..

"Hagakure? I'm finished with the facts. You can add the d-decorations now.." Truthfully, Izuku didn't want to wake her up. She seemed so peaceful, despite the fact that Izuku couldn't see her face.

She yawned out of nowhere and sat up in her spot. "Well that took a while.. sorry for falling asleep on ya.. I got kinda tired." Toru could still feel her anxiety from before, despite her attempt of trying to calm it down by sleeping.

She grabbed a marker and looked at the large sheet of paper in front of her. Everything was neatly put into boxes and separate topics, all perfectly laid out for her as if it was a perfect canvas. She took a deep breath, and got into her creative mindset.

..

It was Izuku's turn to be asleep this time, with him sleeping on the couch nearby. Toru was finally done with her decorations after focusing for nearly an hour straight.

She stood up to go wake the greenhead up, who went silent a quarter in to her decorating. She felt bad for wanting to wake him up, since he looked so vulnerable. He wasn't moving at all, just softly snoring. She stood over him for a few seconds, then sat in the open spot next to the unconscious Izuku. She enjoyed his company, even if it was awkward. She'd seen his heroic efforts and perseverance, and for some reason, felt at peace right then and there.

Izuku unconsciously flips onto his back from his side, with his shirt slightly pulled up to reveal his stomach. She squeals as quietly as possible, and reaches to pull his shirt down.

Instead of completing her one and only task, some magical force pushes her over onto the unconscious green-head. Thank you, normal dense MC-kun magic. Izuku wakes up instantly to the feeling of weight on him, and doesn't notice anyone at first. Then he realizes that he fell asleep at Toru's house, and makes an instant conclusion.

"H-hagakure? W-w-what are you doing..?"

"I-I-I.. I d-d-didn't mean to.."

She instantly pushes herself off of Izuku, and turns around so that she wasn't facing him. "I-I'm sorry. That w-was my fault.."

"N-no! I was the o-one sleeping here in the first p-place.."

They both could sense the awkward energy quickly coming back. Izuku had to find a way to prevent it from completely affecting a possible friendship.

"Can I see the project?"

"H-huh? Oh yeah, sure.."

Izuku gets up from his spot on the couch and walks toward the table, with the project out for display. The old boring looking notes were now completely standing out, and even included some drawings of the 1st heroes. He was amazed at how much detail was included, and since he was already so invested in the topic, he was a lot more satisfied with the outcome then someone who didn't care would be. She even included the some of the many vigilantes who were never counted as heroes.

"This is.. this is awesome!"

A wave of relief came over Toru instantly. She did extra research on the heroes and their descriptions just to impress Izuku.

"Uh.. Izuku?" Toru noticed the boy instantly start to mumble as his fanboy mode came on. She giggled to herself and pinched his cheek, causing him to snap out of it with a surprised yell, only making her laugh even more. Izuku caught on to her happy mood and began to laugh with her.

...

The next day, both were confident in their project. Toru handed the rolled up project paper to Aizawa and sat in her seat, drowning in a mix of anxiety and determination.

"I'll be showing the results for who had the best project next week. Toru Hagakure and Izuku Midoriya have already turned their project in. In normal conditions, I wouldn't call that a good thing, but with Midoriya, nothing is ever normal."

Izuku wasn't sure if that was a compliment or an insult, but still displayed a confident smile.

part 2 coming out 2021👍