Shouta blinked and tried to concentrate despite the ringing in his ears. He looked over to see Emi on the ground beside him in a similar state, her pink dress smudged with soot. They looked over to where the explosion had come from to see a man and a woman in matching black vests striding out of a strip mall, duffle bags in hand. There wasn't any physical indication of either of their quirks, but Shouta was willing to bet that at least one of them had something to do with explosions. But he taught Bakugo, he could handle this.

Bakugo: Yeah you'd better hobo!

"Alright people!" One of the villains threw her duffle on the ground, revealing a fair bit of cash already inside. "Put your valuables in the bag, unless of course you'd like a repeat of what happened inside..."

Shouta felt his stomach sink. What had happened inside? Were there survivors? He glanced around, but didn't see any on duty heroes yet. Of all the days to leave his capture weapon at home! He glanced over at Emi, who nodded and activated her quirk. She wouldn't be able to aim it as accurately without her mask, so some civilians might end up with sore abs from watching the fight, but it was better than another explosion.

Joke: Okay note to self, always bring my mask with me...

Aizawa: I'm never leaving without my capture weapon again.

Aizawa was already charging forward by the time the villains burst into laughter. He made sure to keep both villains in his sight, since he didn't know which one had the explosion quirk, but he ran toward the woman first, since she appeared to be the one in charge. He managed to sweep her legs out from under her, making her cry out as she grabbed a ball from one of her pockets.

"Wrong choice." She giggled. She still somehow sounded threatening despite the effect Emi's quirk was having on her. "You should have just obeyed."

Mina: Well she can't use her quirk with sensei around!

She tossed the ball at him and her eyes widened as the ball bounced harmlessly away.

"Joke, this one has the explosion quirk! You take care of the other one."

Tsu: Do they look related to you guys too, ribbit?

Dabi: Kind of...

"Got it, Eraser!" He turned his back on the man and focused his attention on making sure the woman was out of commision. She had managed to get back to her feet, but Shouta was much better at hand-to-hand than she was and had her prone on the ground in no time. He straddled her back and extended her hands out on either side of her, holding her wrists down with her palms facing up so she couldn't touch anything and make it explosive. He made sure she couldn't get out before he let himself blink.

"Stop!" The man called from behind them and Shouta whipped around to see him holding a ball like the woman had, but this one was glowing purple. @*(&$, the villains had matching quirks, they must be related. "Let her get up, or the girl gets it!"

Everyone: Oh no!

All Might: Great a hostage situation.

He held the bomb threateningly toward Emi, who was glancing between the two cautiously. Shouta swore under his breath. He could just cancel the villain's quirk and the bomb would probably defuse itself, but there was always the possibility that the bomb would simply explode the moment that the villain lost control of it. With this many civilians around, he couldn't take that risk. From the look on Emi's face, she had come to the same conclusion.

Mitsuki: Got to get the bomb away.

Shouta watched out of the corner of his eyes as Emi reached for something in the pockets of her dress, before glancing at him, then up to the sky. He glanced at the male villain one last time before nodding and holding his hands up in surrender, "Alright..."

The moment the villain relaxed even slightly, Emi ran forward and kicked the bomb out of his hand like it was a kickball, launching it skyward where it could detonate safely if it exploded. Shouta slammed the woman's wrists against the floor again and almost immediately canceled the man's quirk. Emi was already moving to punch him in the face, the street lights glinting off her knuckle-dusters as the ball fell out of the sky and bounced harmlessly on the ground a few times. So his quirk had defused it. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

(everyone breathed a sigh of relief)

Within seconds, Emi had the man on the ground in the exact same position as his partner. Shouta could hear sirens over the screams of the watching civilians and he sighed. He hadn't wanted to do paperwork that night. A pair of officers came up and looked at the situation in shock.

Endeavor: I hate paperwork.

Aizawa: The one thing we agree on.

Shouta just looked at them in exhaustion, "These two were attempting a robbery and were responsible for the explosion. We don't know what the situation is inside, but there are most likely casualties."

The officers looked toward the crowd as if to confirm his story, but didn't seem to see anything in the civilians' faces' to say anything else because they each started approaching one of the villains. Shouta leaned back to allow the officer to put the woman in quirk-suppressant cuffs, and saw Emi doing the same thing with her villain.

Hagakure: Well that was a chaotic date night.

Momo: Definitely...

When the villains were secure, he helped the officer lead them to the car, then started making his way toward Emi as ambulances arrived and paramedics started checking on the situation inside the exploded strip mall.

"Not so fast, you two. Hands on your heads."

Shinso: Wait what's going on?

Koda: Aizawa-sensei didn't do anything. (suddenly Tsukauchi started laughing and everyone looked at him)

Shouta and Emi both glanced toward the senior officer in confusion, "What?"

Tsukauchi(laughing): They're not in their hero suits so the police think they're vigilantes! (everyone started laughing too as they realized)

Aizawa: Seriously?

Joke: Well we are underground heroes so it's not like we're recognizable...

Mirko: You two had better have your licenses with you.

The officer frowned, "I'm sure you two are already aware that your actions here constitute vigilantism. While I'm sure these nice people are very grateful and you did do a decent job resolving the incident, we still have to take you in."

Shouta blinked a few times in shock. Were... were they being accused of being vigilantes? He suddenly realized that both he and Emi were in civilian clothes and that they were both underground heroes outside their usual patrol routes. For all intents and purposes, it looked like they were just two unusually competent civilians that had taken down a pair of villains. Emi started laughing her head off and Shouta just groaned as the officers glared at them. This night literally couldn't get any more exhausting.

Midnight(shaking her head): Don't jinx it, Shou.

He sighed and reached for his wallet, making the officers tense, "Don't worry. I'm just getting my wallet."

Recovery Girl: Police these days.

The officers didn't look any less suspicious, but Shouta kept his movements slow and obvious and they didn't make any move to attack him, so it seemed like that was as good as he was going to get. He flipped his wallet open and grabbed his hero license, then handed it to the senior officer, who looked at it suspiciously, then glanced toward Emi, "She have one too?"

Emi nodded and got out her license, then handed it to the other officer. The two glanced between the two licenses, then up at the two heroes. They didn't look any less suspicious.

Tsukauchi(sighing): They're going to make this more difficult than it has to be aren't they?

"Well, Eraserhead," The senior officer said contemptuously, "I've never heard of you. How do I know this isn't just a fake?"

Rin: Seriously?

Honenuki: Yeah shouldn't police officers know what real hero licenses look like?

Kamui: They should.

"I don't know," His partner said slowly, "Ms. Joke sounds kinda familiar..."

Shouta frowned, "We're underground heroes."

"Still," The senior officer said, "I think we'd better take you in until we can confirm your identities..."

Shigaraki: Oh come on! Just let him go already.

"Seriously?" Shouta scoffed. "Just call Detective Tsukauchi over in Musutafu, he'll know it's us."

The officer glanced over toward Emi, who nodded, then toward his partner, who did the same, before pulling out his phone, "Hello? Yeah, can you patch me over to Tsukauchi? The Musutafu division. Yeah, I'll wait." He glanced over at them again and Shouta gave him a venomous glare, which made Emi laugh and the officer turned away quickly, "Hello, is this Detective Tsukauchi? No, there's no problem, I just have two people here claiming to be heroes and was hoping you could verify that. Yes, um, Eraserhead and Ms. Joke? Well, yes, they do appear to be dressed for a date. No, they resolved the incident without any collateral damage. Yes, I'll send the paperwork right over."

Mic(chuckling): Of course he asks if they're on a date.

Aizawa: Really Tsukauchi?

The officer hung up and smiled sheepishly, "It, uh, appears that everything is in order, Eraserhead, sir. Um, Tsukauchi requested that I send the paperwork to him so you can complete it after..." he cleared his throat awkwardly, "after your date. Umm, congratulations?"

(everyone groaned)

Momo: Well at least it's over with?

Mitsuki: Well some police officers are just annoying.

Bakugo: You said it.

Shouta glared at him again as Emi tried to hold back her laughter, "Come on, Shouta, these guys have the situation under control. Let's go home."

Shouta sighed, but let her drag him away, "They're idiots. And we already missed our train, so there's reason to rush."

"The reason to rush," Emi grinned, "is that if we waited around for them to stick their feet in their mouths again, you were going to actually get arrested for assaulting an officer."

(everyone snorted)

Joke: Hey am I wrong?

"Not my fault they couldn't even recognize an official hero license." Shouta scoffed.

Emi looked at him and started giggling uncontrollably. He tried turning his glare on her, but that just made her laugh harder.

Cementoss: ...I feel like I'm misisng something here.

Nejire: Yeah you're not the only one.

"What?" He asked finally.

"It's just," she laughed, "we couldn't even manage to go on one date without running into villains!"

Toga: Yeah we're everywhere.

Shouta rolled his eyes, "I guess that's the curse of being a hero. Even off duty, you never get a moment's peace." He stopped. "Wait, it's always going to be like this, isn't it?"

She glanced up at him, "Well, yeah. We're heroes."

He frowned, "Wouldn't you rather have someone calmer? Some normal guy with a good sense of humor that wouldn't have to run off and chase dangerous villains all the time?"

Joke: Not really...

"First of all," The look in her eyes was so determined that Shouta had to resist the urge to take a step back, "you do have a sense of humor. It might be practically a cryptid, but it exists.

Mineta: We sure about that?

Kaminari: Well he has cracked a few jokes here and there.

Second of all, I like you because you're a hero, Shouta! If I was with any other guy back there, civilians could have gotten hurt. I don't want someone calm, I want someone who can fight alongside me. We're always going to be heroes first, but would you really have it any other way?"

He looked down at her in shock. Her eyes were practically glowing as she panted in the wake of her speech. He could just barely see the light blush on her cheeks in the dim light of sunset. Her face was still streaked with soot and her hair was tangled and blowing in the evening breeze. He didn't think he'd ever seen someone more beautiful.

Midnight(realizing what might happen next): Do it do it do it...

Slowly, he brought his hand up to cup her cheek, using his thumb to wipe away some of the soot, but he really only succeeded in smearing it. Her eyes widened as he smiled softly and leaned down.

"No, I wouldn't." He murmured.

Then he kissed her.

(the girls all squealed)

Mina: He did it Aizawa-sensei kissed her!

Hagakure: I've got a picture!

Aizawa(sinking into the floor): Nem, Zashi, help...

Mic and Midnight(shaking their heads and chuckling): Nope, you've got to suffer Shou. Suffer.