Nabu Island

The day had finally come, the trip to the secluded island of Nabu was mere moments away. Taking his seat on the plane, instead of talking to Mina and Momo who were next to him, Aiden placed his headphones on his head, closed his eyes and let the music take his mind elsewhere.

After saying his goodbyes to Eri, Christina and Mrs Ashido who actually started crying, he made his way to UA where he met up with everyone else from 1A. But unlike what he had expected, the class was nowhere near as excited as they initially were when they found out they were going to Nabu island. He guessed that he may have been the cause of this. It seems that his logical deduction of what they were going to be doing on the island combined with Aizawa's less than stellar explanation had dampened their mood.

Feeling the plane take to the air, Aiden ignored all the fuss around him as he remained focus on the music.

---

"WE'RE HERE!!" Mina yelled after they landed.

"Hmm?" Aiden opened his eyes after hearing the commotion.

"So this is Nabu island." Tokoyomi said rubbing his chin like he had said something insightful.

"This'll be the place we're gonna protect!!" Kirishima said trying to hype the class up.

*Yawn*

Ignoring them, Aiden got out of his seat and collected his over head luggage before exiting the plane with the others.

"Smell that?" Uraraka asked. "That's fresh island air."

"Doesn't smell any different to me."

"It is." Urakaka said to Denki who was clearly not convinced.

"So what do we do now?" Someone asked.

Realizing that as class rep he was supposed to direct the class, Aiden hung his headphones around his neck and called for everyone's attention. According to the information he and Momo received from Aizawa, someone was supposed to meet them here and take them to their place of residence. Seeing as no one was here, Aiden used the information on his phone about the island that he had gathered over the past couple of days to lead the class to the most populated area in order to get specific directions.

---

"Haha, sorry about that, didn't think you guys would have been here for another week." Standing in front of Aiden and the class was an old man with a kind smile. Apparently he was the one who was supposed to meet them at the air strip but ended up getting the days mixed up. If it was not for them asking around, Aiden doubted that they would have found him.

"So this'll be where you'll all be staying."

Opening the door to a large looking house, he directed the students inside.

"This... is nice." They tried smiling.

"Excuse me sir." Iida suddenly spoke up. "But where is the female dorm house?"

"Female dorm? Why'd you want one of those? Are you gay?"

Hearing the direct words from the old man, Iida was at a loss for what to say.

"You mean we all have to share the same space?" Momo asked seeing that Iida had froze.

"Yeah, we don't really have a lot of room here and this place is the best we can offer."

"Oh..."

"Is that a problem?"

"I... don't think so." Momo said looking at Aiden.

"Great! Now let me show you around!"

---

The next few weeks were kind of a blur, just like Aiden had said, instead of dealing with villains and saving people, the students of class 1A were closer to the island's handymen as they went around doing odd jobs for the islanders. For some reason this included doing the shopping for the elderly, fixing tractors, walking dogs, loading and unloading boxes from trucks etc.

For Aiden and the others this wasn't really an issue, but for someone like Bakugo this was pure torture.

"ARGHH!!! I'M SO FUCKING SICK OF THIS SHIT!!" Sitting on the sofa, Bakugo suddenly erupted in anger. "THIS ISN'T FUCKING HERO WORK! THEY'RE TREATING US LIKE FUCKING SCRUBS!!"

"Not that I'm not grateful for the opportunity to do hero work, but island heroes really suck." Kirishima agreed.

"C'mon guys, being a hero is more than just fighting the bad guys." Uraraka said trying to bring peace.

"Is it though? When you think about hero work do you imagine that they do this?" Sero asked.

"Well..."

"See, even you don't believe it."

*Sigh*

Listening to their complaints, Aiden couldn't help but agree. While the work wasn't challeging, it wasn't exactly the hero work that one would be inspired to do. This was especially true for someone like Aiden who had trained for solely for combat.

"Hey Aiden!" Mina walked into the room and called.

"Hmm?"

"Can you come here for a minute."

Looking at his bickering classmates then back at Mina, Aiden made a very easy decision.

---

"So what is it?"

"What?"

"Why'd you call me out here then make us walk to the beach?" Aiden asked.

Dressed in a light yellow t-shirt, jean shorts and sandals, Mina looked up at him and smiled.

"Just wanted to talk."

"About?"

"...I talked to my mom the other day."

"Oh?... What'd she want."

Falling silent for a minute, she drew closer to him and entwined her hand with his.

"S-She told me about your relationship."

"..."

"She told me everything. How you've been sneaking around behind my back and doing... that."

Letting go of his hand, she walked to the railing overlooking the beach and sea. Bathed in the light of the moon, she looked beautifully lonely.

"I'm not mad y'know."

"You're not?" Aiden said somewhat surprised.

"No." She shook her head. "We're not dating or anything, me getting mad at you for sleeping around wouldn't exactly be logical. Besides, you already told me about Pixie-Bob so its not like I don't know how you view relationships. Besides, if the mother of your child is okay with it, how can someone like me who's uninvolved with you be angry."

"That's... a very sensible way of thinking."

"Yeah." She smiled. "I know you don't like hysterical women."

"..."

"Its fine, really."

Standing in complete silence, the sounds of the ocean and crickets echoed out.

"So before this gets any more awkward than it already is, I have to ask, is the reason you called me out tonight just because you wanted to tell me that?"

"Honestly, I don't know."

"You don't?" He frowned.

"I-I know I'll never be able to make you feel the same way about me that I feel about you. I just... I just wanted you to know how much I love you." Turning back to face the ocean, she tried to stay as quiet as she could as she didn't want him to hear her sobbing.

"Its not that I don't feel anything for you-

"But you don't love me."

"I can't... I can't love anyone the way you love me. And frankly, I don't deserve your love either."

"Aiden..." Hearing him talk about himself that way, Mina wiped her tears and turned back to face him.

"I'm broken Mina." He smiled. "Broken beyond repair, the things I've seen, the things I've done, if you knew about them we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Aiden-

"I've made peace with who I am. I'm actually fine with it."

"Is that why you don't talk about your past?"

"Nothing there worth talking about."

"But-

"Its in the past Mina, I can't keep looking back on it, right here and right now, this is what matters to me."

"But if it brings you so much pain then wouldn't it be better to talk to someone about it!"

"No." He flatly denied.

"Why... WHY DO YOU HAVE TO CARRY THAT BURDEN! WHY CAN'T YOU PUT YOUR TRUST IN ME! I KNOW I'M NOT AS STRONG AND AS USEFUL AS THE OTHER GIRLS YOU'RE WITH! BUT-BUT-

Seeing the tears streaming down her cheeks, Aiden shifted in front of her and pulled her into a hug.

"I-I Wahhhh!!" Burying her face in his chest, she let out a heart wrenching cry.

Listening to her cry, Aiden stroked the top of her head.

"Its fine. Its really not a burden, and even if it was... I'd just become stronger in order to carry it."

"You're an idiot."

"Our test scores would disagree with that statement."

"...Hey Aiden."

"Hmm?"

"I-I know that I'm not strong or particularly talented at anything but... would you allow me to stay by your side. At least until you get bored of me."

"...Y'know I'll never be able to love you in the same way as you love me right."

"Yeah." She nodded. "But its the same for the others isn't it? You won't be able to love them in the same way they love you. At least that means I'll be on equal footing with them."

"That's... actually true."

"Hehe, so what do you say? Do you accept me?"

"As long as you're fine with it then sure."

"Really! Then I'm your girlfriend!"

"Lets not call it that."

"Then what do we call it?"

"Lets talk about that later."

"Oh, sure!" Overjoyed by the fact that she her relationship with Aiden had moved to the next stage, Mina actually let the fact that their relationship had no label go.

"What about your mother?" He asked.

"I'll talk to her about this later, we'll work something out."

"Cool... so what now?"

"I think this is the part where you kiss me."

"Is it?"

"I think so."

"..."

"..."

"Okay."