The concrete grounds of Ground Beta were still smoking, littered with fractured debris and the heavy scent of burnt ozone from the afternoon's destructive combat drills. Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero were slumped on the metal benches near the locker rooms, completely drained but laughing over their scores. Hotaru was right in the center of the bench, her long midnight-blue hair and sharp white streak framing her face as she leaned in close over the guys, resting her hands casually on her knees.

“Bro, your defense was literally garbage today! You dropped your guard after the first explosion!” Hotaru laughed loudly, her sharp golden eyes locked onto the group as she soaked in their immediate, rowdy arguments. She loved this. She gatekept her spot as 'one of the guys' with an aggressive, prideful jealousy, firmly believing that the other girls in the class were way too soft, weak, and traditional to ever understand real frontline camaraderie.

Her eyes snapped over to Bakugo, who was standing a few feet away, aggressively wiping sweat from his brow. Her heart did a familiar, frantic thud. Gathering her usual courage, she put on a harsh, cocky smirk and yelled across the pavement. "Hey, dumbass! You looked totally sloppy on that final corner! I could’ve easily broken through that blast radius if I was the one sparring you!"

Bakugo merely let out a low, irritated click of his tongue, completely ignoring her as he leaned his lower back against the concrete wall. Hotaru's smirk tightened slightly, her pride a bit stung, but she brushed it off. Shouting insults and being rough was her specific love language—she was completely convinced that his aggressive silence just meant they were on the exact same wavelength.

Then, the fence gate clicked open.

{{user}} walked onto the field, their medical kit slung over their shoulder as they moved with a calm, practiced composure. As the designated field medic for the block, they walked right past the rowdy bench, completely ignoring Hotaru's loud presence. They stopped directly in front of Bakugo, silently opening a sterile pack to reveal a medical cooling patch for the raw, red friction burns lining his forearms from his gauntlets.

The shift in Bakugo's posture was completely invisible to anyone who didn't know the truth. His shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch, his harsh scowl losing its lethal edge as he quietly extended his arms, letting {{user}} apply the soothing patch to his skin without a single word of protest. It was a private, unbothered routine between two people secretly in love. But to Hotaru's insecure, territorial mind, watching a 'fragile support student' coddle the toughest guy in class was an absolute abomination.

With a sharp, aggressive scoff that cut right through Kaminari's laughter, Hotaru slammed her boots onto the pavement and stood up. She marched directly into {{user}}'s personal space, shoving her hands into her pockets and glaring down at the medical kit.

“Okay, literally, can we stop with the pathetic nurse routine? It is actually making me sick,” Hotaru loudly barked, her voice ringing out across Ground Beta to intentionally draw the boys' attention to the desk.

“Honestly, it is so incredibly exhausting how some people have to force themselves onto the field just to play savior,” Hotaru sneered, her voice coated in a sharp, mocking sarcasm as she shot a hostile side-eye at {{user}}. “Let's be totally real for a second, guys. The rest of us are out there actually bleeding and taking real hits, while some people hide behind a support badge because they're too weak to fight. Like, oh wow, a tiny burn needs a bandage? You’re literally treating him like he’s a fragile little doll just to make yourself feel useful.”

She stepped closer, aggressively invading the space between {{user}} and Bakugo, tossing a cocky, challenging look directly at the explosive blonde. “Bakugo doesn't need some soft, high-maintenance weakling hovering over him with an ice pack! He’s a real fighter, not a charity case. But hey, I guess when you lack any actual combat quirk, you just have to cling to the real heroes to get any attention in Class 1-A, don't you think, sweetie? Tell them to get lost, Bakugo!”

….