Midnight: Yes the continuation of Shou's date!

Joke: Oh my it says 'first'... does that mean...?

Mic: There'll be a second? I sure hope so! Someone's got to get this turtle out of his shell.

Nezu(chirping): Oh it's more of this caterpillar out of his cocoon.

Thirteen(shaking her head): That sleeping bag of his.

Aizawa(groaning): Can we just stop talking and get this over and done with already?

Shouta frowned as they crammed onto the crowded train. He wished that they could have avoided rush hour, but it wasn't rational to change the whole date just to avoid strangers on the train. That didn't mean he had to like it.

(everyone snorted)

"Oh, Shouta, your face!" Emi giggled.

"What's wrong with my face?"

"You look like a grumpy old cat!" Emi grinned. "You really are a misanthrope, aren't you?"

Aizawa: I am not a misanthrope.

Shouta sent her a mock glare, "I am not a misanthrope, I just don't like people."

Dabi(snorting): He does realize what the definition of a misanthrope is right?

"That is literally the definition of misanthrope."

"No, a misanthrope is someone who hates people. I just severely dislike them."

Shigaraki: What's the difference?

"You hate reporters."

"Yes, well when you learn a word for a hatred of reporters besides common sense, let me know."

Nezu: Prudence.

Shouta reached up and grabbed a hold of the bar to steady himself as the train started moving. Emi was quite a bit shorter, so she opted to keep a hold of Shouta's arm instead.

Emi looked up at him and rolled her eyes, "Just admit it, Shouta, you don't like people and therefore, you're a misanthrope!"

"I like you don't I?"

(the girls all squealed as Aizawa somehow got even redder as he realized what he'd just said)

Emi's face went bright red and Shouta's followed suit as soon as he realized exactly what he'd said. He cleared his throat and started looking anywhere but at her face. Deku would enjoy all the different quirks on this train, right? If he were here he would probably be analyzing...

Midoriya: Yup...

"That was pretty smooth."

Shouta looked down and saw Emi smiling sweetly at him, which only made his blush more intense. He wished he'd brought his capture weapon so he could use it to hide, but no dice.

Aizawa: Why didn't I bring my capture weapon along... what if a villain attacks?

Mic: Oh don't be such a worrywart Shou.

"Oh, um, thanks?" He responded eloquently.

Emi laughed, "Look at us, acting like a pair of teenage idiots. How many times have we seen our students poor attempts at flirting, yet here we are making all the same mistakes."

Shouta cocked his eyebrow, "You mean steadfastly ignoring each other only to stare at the other's back the moment they turn away?"

(a few people blinked, feeling called out)

"Yes!" The train jostled stlightly and Emi tightened her grip on his arm, "There were these two students in my homeroom last year and literally everyone knew they liked each other! Every interaction ended in one of them blushing and running away, but they were still too dense to realize it. We'd even tease them about it, trying to push them together, but they were idiots. It drove me crazy!"

"Did they ever get together?"

Shouta gulped as Emi smiled mischievously, "Yep!

Mina(giggling): Ooh Ms. Joke's a mischievous matchmaker.

"Do I even want to ask?"

"It's not that bad, Shouta." Emi whined. "But let's just say that locking the supply closet so neither of them could run away did wonders."

(everyone laughed)

Shouta laughed in spite of himself, "I can see Nezu doing that to our students. It's a fairly simple solution to the problem."

Nezu: Oh I should probably do that. There are quite a few couples who could really use the help. (a lot of students shuddered while the teachers laughed)

"Simple, but effective." Emi nodded and grinned. "Glad it didn't come to that with us though."

"Oh?"Shouta cocked one eyebrow. "Do you not remember Midoriya-san trapping us on a shopping trip together?"

Inko: Oh that's just me wingmanning.

She shoved him slightly with her shoulder, "That's just standard wingmanning."

Mitsuki: Yup.

Shouta rolled his eyes, "You didn't need her help to confess your feelings."

"What made you think she was helping me?" Emi glanced up at him and Shouta's eyes widened.

"That's not... I... no... what?"

(everyone giggled)

Emi started laughing again, "Oh, you're so cute! You're so easy to tease, Shouta!"

"Shut up..." Shouta grumbled. "It's not fair."

"Too bad," Emi said in mock seriousness, "the world is full of unfairness! It's a hero's job to combat that unfairness."

Power Loader: His own words!

He glared at her, "You can't quote me just to make fun of me."

"Just did." She pulled him down by his collar. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

"Next stop Naruhata Center."

Tsukauchi: And there they are.

Shouta jolted slightly as the train came to a stop, "T-this is us."

Emi pouted slightly, but let go and followed the trickle of people getting off the train. Shouta didn't even have to think as he led her down the familiar streets. He glanced down at her, unsure of what to say after that... moment on the train. She hadn't reached up to take his arm again either, which meant that he'd probably messed things up. Dang it. Maybe he should...

Hagakure: Oh no you're doing fine, sensei!

Kaminari: Yeah don't worry too much about it!

"Didn't you spend a few years here before you started teaching?" Emi's voice cut through his spiral and he forced himself to take a deep breath.

He nodded and pointed to one of the side streets they were passing, "Over there is where I met the Crawler for the first time. He was a good kid. A bit misguided sometimes, but he and the other vigilantes did a lot of good around here."

Midnight: They did, didn't they?

Tsukuachi: Yeah but seriously they gave me so much paperwork...

Emi smiled and Shouta gradually relaxed again as she kept asking questions until he found himself almost rambling about his time in Naruhata.

Vlad(blinking): That's the most I've seen him willingly talk about anything related to his past in years.

Mic: I know right this is amazing!

It didn't take long at all for them to reach their destination, which was just on the edge of the warehouse district. He was about to lead her inside when she stopped and stared at the giant building.

"Are you sure this is a cafe, Shouta?" She asked hesitantly. "There's no way a cat cafe would be so big. You're not just gonna lead me into a warehouse to kill me, right?"

(everyone snorted)

Aizawa: But yes the cat café is very large.

Shouta chuckled, "It'll make sense once we're inside, I promise."

She looked at him skeptically, but took his hand and let herself be pulled into the cafe. Inside, dozens of people lounged on the various levels of the cafe and the cats particularly seemed to like having a lot of vertical space to explore. A few of the older cats immediately came up to Shouta and started batting at his pant legs and sniffing to see if he'd brought them any treats.

Midnight: Aw look Shou they missed you!

"Hey, Eraser! Long time no see! The cats missed you."

Emi's eyes widened as she caught sight of the giant mantis of an employee that was greeting them with a smile. If she met him on the street, she probably would have been intimidated just by his sheer size, but he oddly didn't seem out of place among the cats and quaint atmosphere of the cafe.

Toga: Oh so the café is big so it can hold people with large quirks?

Aizawa: Mm-hm.

Spinner: That's nice of them.

"I can see that, Kirihito. Spoiled brats." Shouta said fondly. "How is business?"

"Booming as ever... wait, who..." Kirihito blinked a few times as he took in Emi and his eyes zeroed in on their joined hands. "Are you on a date?!"

Everyone: Yup!

Shouta scowled, "Maybe this was a bad..."

"Yo, Takobe, get out here! Eraserhead's on a date!"

Aizawa: Why did I go there of all places...

Emi laughed so hard that she started snorting as a massive man with an octopus quirk threw open the doors to the kitchen and made a beeline for them as Shouta started trying to pull her back out of the cafe. She simply tightened her grip on his hand and widened her stance to anchor herself in place.

Joke: Oh no you can't escape that easy Eraser!

"Oh my god!" Takobe grinned and bowed to Emi, making her laugh harder. "You have tamed the beast! I didn't think I'd ever see the day. You must be some kind of miracle worker, miss. We need to tell the Hotta brothers, they're not gonna believe this!"

"I already texted them." Kirihito said. "They're on their way."

Aizawa: Gah... (everyone laughed even harder)

"Either give us a table or get out." Shouta said irritably.

"Of course, of course!" Kirihito said. "We've got the perfect table for you two lovebirds if you're okay with stairs. It's one of the upper level seats perfect for little people like you."

He led them to a small staircase that led up to a tiny balcony that was just big enough for a table for two. It was also at the intersection of several of the cat walkways that ran around the walls, so cats were constantly running along and jumping onto the small platform and taking the staircase down to the floor. The balcony was only about ten feet off the ground, though, so Kirihito was able to stand on the main level and still see their table to take their order if he stood up to his full height.

Kirishima: Wow he's huge.

Aizawa: Uh huh. Made things pretty inconvenient for him because most of the world is built for regular-sized people.

Once she and Shouta were seated, Kirihito leaned over toward Emi conspiratorially, "I gotta say, miss, you've got yourself a real catch once you get past that ugly frown on his face."

She smiled at Shouta who was still scowling even though his face was pink with embarrassment, "Oh, I know."

"Did you know that he gave us our first cat?"

Joke: Oh really?

Midnight: Yup! Got it from Crawler one day and then after that the cats kept pouring into the café.

Emi gasped with delight, "I did not!"

"I remember one time..."

"Thank you!" Shouta said suddenly, "I'll have the black brew, and she'll have the calico combo. Now go!"

(everyone giggled)

Kirihito winked at her, but left and Shouta slammed his head down on the table, "I shouldn't have brought you here."

"Oh no, coming here was definitely the right decision."

Setsuna(chuckling): It definitely was.

Emi couldn't bring herself to stop grinning even when Shouta started glaring at her, "You are incorrigible."

Kaminari: What does that even mean?

Nejire: Unreformable.

"Aww, but you love me anyway!"

Shouta blushed and pretended to be reading the menu despite the fact that they had already ordered. She'd thought she enjoyed teasing him when all she got from it was glares, but this was even better!

Mic(giggling): Oh definitely better.

After a few minutes of this she decided to finally take pity on him and change the subject, "So this cafe is so big because of the staff, right?"

Shouta nodded, "Yeah, Kirihito was always complaining about how he couldn't really fit anywhere because he was so big, mostly because he just wanted an ax to grind, but then he met Takobe and the rest was history. They try to hire people with larger builds to give them opportunities that they wouldn't have anywhere else and they've even converted some of the surrounding warehouses into giant apartments that they manage. They'd done well for themselves here."

"If I didn't know better, I'd almost say you were proud of them."

Aizawa: Well good thing you know better.

Shouta scoffed, but a slight smile gave him away, "Well then, I guess it's a good thing you know better."

What a softy.

(everyone laughed and Aizawa sank in his seat, mourning the loss of his reputation)

It was at that moment that Kirihito returned with their drinks and a small bag of treats to feed the cats. The drinks were so cute! Emi quickly took out her phone and snapped a picture, then extended her arm to take a selfie.

"Smile, Shouta!"

Shouta frowned, "I don't smile."

Midnight: Cat him!

Everyone: What?

Kirihito grinned at Emi, then picked up one of the cats that was running past and plopped it down on top of Shouta's head right as Emi snapped the picture. The resulting disgruntled expression wasn't a smile, but it was funny enough to make up for it. Emi didn't waste any time typing out a message and sending the picture to the group chat.

Shinso: Oh so that's what Midnight meant.

Mic: It was the only thing that could make him smile back in middle school. Or at least almost smile.

Vlad: Well that hasn't changed.

Shouta's phone vibrated and he looked down at the notification before turning to him with the most done look on his face, "Seriously? You had to send them that one?"

"Well, you could have smiled."

"That would arguably have been worse."

(everyone snorted)

Spinner: Are dates usually like this?

Toga: You ask us like we know?

Emi laughed, "Oh yes, because you still like to pretend you have a reputation to uphold."

"I do have a reputation to uphold."

"Around us? Your closest friends?" She giggled. "Sorry, Shouta, but that ship sailed a long time ago."

Mirko: Sure has.

Shouta's eyes narrowed, "And what makes you so sure of that?"

Emi smiled and took a sip of her drink, "Kitten pajamas."

Aizawa(as everyone laughed and Midoriya went red): Problem child!

Shouta's eyes widened in shock before he scowled, "That little... "

Emi laughed again, "I think it's cute!"

Mt. Lady: Yeah kitten pajamas adorable.

Kamui: Who knows I might try getting them when we get back.

Hawks: Heh, that'd be fun.

Shouta groaned and buried his face in the cat that had moved from his head to his lap, "People used to respect me."

"But wouldn't you rather have friends than respect?" Emi asked innocently.

Shouta glared at her, "That depends on what you say next."

Mei: Hey cat her back cat her back!

"You're just too fun to tease, Shouta!"

Midnight: Yep, definitely way too fun to tease.

Shouta looked at her for a long moment before taking out his phone. Emi leaned forward to try to get a look at the screen, but he just stood up to keep it out of her reach.

"What are you doing?"

"The thing you forgot, Emi, is that relationships go both ways."

Mina: Oof.

Dabi: Ouch.

Emi felt her stomach drop. Had she teased too much? What if she ruined it? Was Shouta really just going to leave her here? They were never going to have a second date much less get married and what would their friends...

She was knocked out of her thoughts as a cat landed on her head. She looked up at Shouta, who was staring at her with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, then felt her phone vibrate. The picture that he had just sent to the group chat captured her shocked expression perfectly and she couldn't help it as she dissolved into giggles.

(everyone laughed)

Joke(laughing): You catted me back.

Aizawa: You deserved it.

Joke(chuckling): Eh I guess you're right.

Jana: Guess 'catting' is a word now...

"Touche, Eraser, Touche."

The cat jumped off her lap and onto the ground, and Emi ended up following, grabbing one of the cat toys that was on the table and pushing back her chair so she had room to sit on the ground as the cat pounced on the feather she was dangling in front of it.

Koda: Cute...

Shouta smiled as he watched Emi play with the cat, then grabbed the cat treats and started throwing them down near her until she was surrounded by half a dozen cats climbing all over her as she pet them and played with them. How did he get so lucky to get a girl like her?

He stopped dead in his thoughts, Emi blissfully unaware of the mini-crisis he was having just a few feet away. What was that? He... well, yes, he liked her, but she was the one that had flirted with him first! It wasn't like he was just the luckiest man in the world that she chose him and it definitely wasn't that he loved her or anything...

Oh... Oh no. He hadn't signed up for this.

Mic: Hold on a second is he really...?

Midnight: Oh my goodness Zashi get the phone to record for posterity!

Aizawa: Nemuri!

"Shouta? Shouta, are you okay?"

He shook himself out of his spiral and saw Emi looking at him, concerned, the cats around her batting at her trying to get her to play again. He must have spaced out longer than he thought.

"Shouta?" She asked again. "What's wrong?"

Joke(smiling): He fell in love with other me that's what's wrong!

There were a lot of things he could say that would be logical responses. Unfortunately, his brain to mouth filter chose that moment to fail spectacularly, "It's unfair of you to seduce me with cats."

(everyone fell over laughing and Aizawa groaned)

She stared at him for a long moment before she started laughing, "You're the one who brought me here! If anything you're the one seducing me!"

"Wait, our man Eraser is actually seducing someone? Oh man, I thought those guys were just playing a joke!"

Shouta tore his eyes away from Emi to see the Hotta brothers grinning at them from the top of the stairs. Oh no, he really shouldn't have chosen this place for their first date.

Aizawa: Oh great now those two are here.

"Oh man! To think that our main annoyance has an annoyance of his own!" One of them said, wiping a fake tear from his eye,

"Our little nuisance is growing up!" The other said. "We're so proud!"

"Okay, we're leaving."

(everyone giggled. This date was way too fun to watch)

Emi laughed and let Shouta help her up, "It's always a pleasure to meet Shouta's friends! I knew he couldn't be a grumpus all the time!"

Shouta left a few bills on the table to cover the cost of the coffee before pushing her toward the door, the others following and taking pictures to get photographic evidence of the impossible.

Nezu: Oh they know you so well, Aizawa.

As they reached the door, Emi turned around and waved, "See you again soon!"

"No, we won't." Shouta muttered. "I'm never going to be able to show my face there again."

Aizawa: No I definitely won't.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic, Shouta. It was fun!"

He sighed, "Fine, it wasn't absolutely terrible. Happy?"

She leaned up to kiss him on the cheek and smiled as he blushed, "Very."

Mina: Aw this is so cute.

Tsu: Ribbit.

Shouta cleared his throat and checked the time on his phone, "Umm, there's a train that leaves in fifteen minutes. We should hurry if we don't want to miss it."

"Lead the way."

Shigaraki: Why do I get a sudden feeling that something bad's about to happen?

They walked back through the streets of Naruhata much more comfortably than they had the first time. At some point Emi had reached over and grabbed Shouta's hand and he hadn't let go yet, so she was going to count that as a win. Then, as they were passing one of the shopping districts, everything exploded.