"... well, I know that you all would probably love to hear me go on about the different kinds of shampoos you can use to coat your furr, which would be pretty useless since a very small amount of you do not have any furr to begin with, but I believe you've heard quite enough from me!" Principal Nezu laughed from his podium, giggling softly to himself as the crowd of students, teachers and heroes roused themselves from the sleepy state they were in as they waited for their principal to be done with his tangent. "Now, in order to get this graduation properly started, it is time for the moment you've all been waiting for - a speech from your valedictorian, Momo Yaoyorozu."

At the sound of them moving on in the ceremony, the crowd politely clapped for their principal as Nezu jumped down from the podium, walking across the stage in his yellow sneakers and offering a polite nod to Momo as she walked across the stage herself in her school uniform, smiling widely as she put down her flashcards, probably already memorized her speech by heart. In the crowd, Izuku could make out the sound of Itsuka cheering almost as hard as Kyouka was, while right beside him, Shouto politely clapped for one of his girlfriends with a proud smile on his face. Even Izuku couldn't help but join in the loud applause from Class 1A as their vice-president moved behind the podium, with Tenya wiping tears from beneath his glasses while Ochako patted his shoulder.

Once she had settled behind the podium, being sure to clear her throat, Momo smiled at the group of graduates, the crowd of parents, teachers, friends and classmates that had squeezed into the gym to watch this, and the pro heroes that were once their teachers and now were their coworkers.

"Fellow classmates - fellow heroes," She couldn't help but have her smile widen at that, while the two classes before her shifted in excitement, "today is an important day in all of our lives. As we gather here to celebrate more than three years of long, hard work, where we learned everything that we needed to become heroes - we're surrounded by all the people who taught and inspired us throughout our lives. Parents, family members, teachers ..."

As Momo got into her speech, waxing on and on about heroism and working together and all that jazz while also sprinkling all they had learned and the hardships they had endured, Izuku couldn't help but glance around from where he was sitting, raising his hands to his tie to make sure it was on properly - Itsuka had made sure that today it was actually proper, slapping his hands whenever he tried to help as she did it up for him. It still kind of took him aback, knowing that this would be the last day he would have to wear his school uniform - the grey coat, red tie, white dress shirt and dark pants. Honestly, he was going to miss this - not that it was super comfortable, but he was so used to wearing his uniform it'll take some getting used to not wearing it anymore.

It still shook him that he had finally accomplished the dream he had since he was little - he had finally graduated from UA. He had his hero license. He was going to finally become a hero.

Of course, he didn't expect that he'd be graduating with a girlfriend, let alone seven, but that was just the icing on top.

Unable to stop himself, Izuku moved his head to glance in the small crowd of students he was in, catching sight of Setsuna and Kinoko sitting together and watching Momo's speech while giggling a bit about something. He knew that Ibara and Pony were sitting together today, as were Itsuka, Yui and Reiko, and the seven girls had warned him before leaving the house today that they wanted to pay attention to the graduation today, so he had better not, in their words, 'do something sexy' to distract them - whatever the hell that meant, Izuku thought with a chuckle.

Still, he had no problems with them paying attention to the graduation ceremony and giving him no attention - he knew how important today was to them too. Besides, it wasn't like they had no time together today - they had an hour after the ceremony to do one last sweep of the house before they had to separate for the week - and then once that ended, they could get properly started on their lives together.

The last year and a half since they had started officially dating had been the best of Izuku's life, times he could look back on with a bright smile and a heart swelling with love. Ever since that week with them dealing with the rumours, and Ibara and Pony hooking up, and Eri calling them her parents, and that date night that began with him telling them about One for All and trusting them with their secret that ended with the massive orgy, his days together with them had been nothing if not the best. Since that night they had all gone steady together, the girls going on their own first dates without him involved until they were all comfortable enough to call each other their girlfriends, and from there their date nights got better and better, either one-on-one dates, three of them going on dates or everyone at once.

Of course, after the first orgy Izuku had vowed he wouldn't do anything else like that again after they all woke up in desperate need of an ice bath, with everyone promising not to do something like that for a long time while they recovered - only for that promise to go out the window two months later on Halloween, when he had seen Itsuka in her sexy-werewolf costume and things escalated from there with the rest of the girls. Suffice to say, they didn't make it to the Class 1A Halloween party that year, and instead spent the entire day afterwards with ice packs on their crotches.

Of course, it wasn't just physical stuff that Izuku could look back on fondly - no, it was more than that. Once their second year properly got started and they went back on their internships, Izuku found himself lucky to snag an internship under the same hero Itsuka and Reiko interned with, which also had the benefit of serving with a new hero that wasn't Endeavor (he learned a lot from the fire hero, but he needed experience elsewhere). There had also been an instance where he and Setsuna got a little famous after beating down a villain during one of their dates, with their classmates and girlfriends teasing them about getting on the late news in their ruined date clothes while beating down some punk with six arms and a grudge against Izuku the boy had no idea about.

It wasn't just date stuff, of course - Izuku woke up early every day to garden with Ibara, this time joined by Pony as the horse girl began waking up at the same time to help them, which gave him the benefit of finishing watering early so that the three of them could sit on their front porch and watch the sun rise, usually with the two girls cuddling him. Yui also enjoyed taking everyone out on dates and spoiling them no matter how much they protested or tried to pay for her. And Kinoko, after lots of teasing and taunts, finally conceded and allowed him to learn the secret of the Komori Mushroom Recipe, and he cherished the memories of making the soup for the other six girls and, taking a leaf out of Kinoko's book, refusing to tell them the secret, prompting Itsuka to grow out her hands and shake him in frustration while he laughed so hard it actually hurt.

Of course ... things weren't always sunshine and rainbows, he remembered. They were all together, but that didn't mean that there wouldn't be arguments, fights, insecurities that refused to go away, and other problems that made sure that their journey together wasn't always a smooth ride. He still remembered their worst argument that occurred when he had come home in a cast, which had eventually lead to a screaming match with the girls that made him purposefully sleep alone for a few nights, before everyone sat down, reconciled, and ended up in a cuddle pile filled with apologies and declarations of love.

But in the end, he knew that even though there had been dark times, the good times easily overwhelmed them, giving him memories he would cherish for the rest of his life.

And now … he knew that there was another big step he had to take soon.

"... and I know that together, we'll become the next generation of heroes!" Momo finished her speech up at the front while Izuku had been in his own little head, smiling bashfully when Tetsutetsu and Kirishima led a loud round of applause for her, and moved away from the podium to return to her seat, bowing respectfully to Principal Nezu and All Might as the two returned to the stage and retook the podium, smiling widely.

"Well, I believe that concludes all the speeches we needed to make today - now, to the moment you've all been waiting for! It's time to hand out the diplomas! Please come to the front when you hear your name, so that All Might may give you your diploma, and please be careful to walk up the stairs! We shall start with ... Aoyama Yuuga!"

"Deku!"

Izuku let out a small laugh and opened his arms, letting Ochako taking a running start and leaping into them, and was quick to wrap her up in a hug and spin her around in an embrace. Behind them, they could hear Tsuyu ribbiting with laughter while Tenya sighed and merely pointed a hand at their friend, wanting to reprimand Ochako for abruptly leaping onto Izuku but knowing that, as he was technically no longer their class president, he didn't have much authority anymore.

After the diplomas were all handed out and Izuku almost flooded the stage when All Might gave him his would a pat on the shoulder and a proud smile, they had been let out for the last time with a loud cheer, and the group moved to stand outside Gym Gamma that they had been using for the ceremony, and stood around chatting and laughing with each other as they took that opportunity to stretch and relax before moving on with their days - and ultimately, their lives. Right now, though, Izuku was feeling patient enough to wait - he knew that Itsuka had gathered Class 1B up so that she could give them one last speech, so he had no problem with hugging Ochako and spinning her around to celebrate their accomplishments.

"We did it! We did it, we did it, we did it!" Ochako squealed, letting him put her back on the ground while she hugged him tight. "We graduated!"

"I know!" Izuku laughed, giving her another squeeze before they moved back and could beam at each other, Izuku raising a hand to wipe some of the tears out of his eyes. "It's - wow. I - I don't even know what to say."

"Well, I do!" Tenya threw an arm up into the air while smiling widely, letting Tsuyu go in for her own hug with Izuku. While they celebrated, behind them, Shouto, Momo and Kyouka were also having a moment to themselves, with the two girls kissing his cheeks and making him go red while he softly smiled at them and took their hands. "This is an occasion that we should be celebrating! I will not lie when I say that our entire class managed to graduate together, what with Aizawa-sensei's habit of expelling his students, Mineta's perversion and Bakugou's attitude problems -"

"Shut the fuck up!" Bakugou screamed behind them, unaware of his mother glaring at him and raising her hand to smack his head. "I don't have attitude problems, you fucking four-eyed prick!"

"- but I am proud of us all for managing to graduate together!"

"Y-yeah," Izuku chuckled while he agreed, wiping his own eyes from the tears still threatening to streak down his cheeks, and moved forwards to hug Tenya as well. The stiff boy blinked in surprise at the smaller boy embracing him, but didn't have much trouble and offered no complaints as he hugged him back, being a surprisingly relaxed and tight hugger for someone so robotic.

However, before Izuku could comment on it, he blinked at the sound of the doors opening behind them again.

"Excuse me!" A voice called to him from behind, and Izuku turned to see his girlfriends coming out the door, Setsuna pointing at him with a knowing smirk on her face. "Where's my spinny-hug? Chipmunk gets one, but I don't?"

"I mean ..." Izuku shrugged with a grin, moving back from Tenya and opening his arms again, "... I was going to offer one, Set, so all you really - oomph!"

Setsuna, of course, took his invitation at once and without warning, charging at him and almost tackling her boyfriend to the ground as she grabbed him in a tight hug that she leapt into. Thankfully Izuku got control of himself before she carried him to the ground and spun her around, enjoying the sound of Setsuna giggling in his ear as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Soon enough everyone was gathered in a circle, letting Itsuka hug Ochako as well when the brown-haired girl jumped her, and the girls waited patiently for Izuku to get free from Setsuna's grasp so that they could have their turns.

As Izuku put his green-haired girlfriend back onto her feet, his gaze trailed over to Itsuka's face as she smiled wobbly at him, and he faltered.

"Er ... baby, are you crying? What's wrong?"

"She got ... well, she got a tad bit emotional during her speech," Reiko smiled as Itsuka wiped her face, patting her shoulder, "we all had to do a big group hug afterwards."

"In my defence, I didn't exactly plan to start crying," Itsuka sniffled with a small smile, shaking her head as Yui approached her from behind and hugged her, "just ... crap, I got too emotional over the fact that I'm not going to be looking after those idiots anymore. Really cool of me, right?"

"It was very cool, honey," Yui took her hand and squeezed while standing up on her tiptoes to kiss her cheek. "Tetsutetsu was the only one crying harder than you. Although the guys definitely aren't going to judge you, I think Jurota was also fighting back tears."

Izuku chuckled weakly at that while Itsuka gave him an adorable pout, making him giggle a bit nervously at her narrow eyes and moving to crack her fists in warning. Sure, it was pot calling the kettle black, but he could find some humour in that - he just hoped that she didn't beat him up.

"So are you guys coming to Yaomomo's place tonight?" Ochako asked hopefully, "I know she's got a big after party planned for everyone, and her parents said that it's okay if we use her manor, it's big enough for all of us. Nej is also going to stop by!"

"We'd love to," Ibara said with an apologetic smile as she folded her hands, "but we do have a few things to finish up before Itsuka drives Pony to the airport for her flight - we might be able to make it, but it won't be all of us, unfortunately."

"Why do you have to go to the USA for a whole week?!" Setsuna whined, moving out of Izuku's arms to hug Pony's head to her, "We're gonna miss you!"

"Just gotta visit the folks!" Pony giggled back as she hugged her girlfriend, "I'll be back next week, then you can give me all the cuddles."

The next week would be supremely busy for all eight members of their relationship, for various and different reasons, of course. For one, their new home would be ready by next Monday, and seeing as they had to move out of their house at UA by the end of the day, that meant that they were going to have to split up for the week, keeping in touch by phone and text. Yui's father, a polite albeit meek man that had made his fortune in real estate, had set them up with a large home in Tokyo, that city being the one that they hoped they could open their agency in. It was a large three story house, with several bathrooms, bedrooms to keep all of their stuff and to use in their private times, and the best of all, they got their own commissioned room with a floor made of mattress, so that was probably the room they'd all be sleeping in (just sleeping in, Itsuka had lectured Yui and Setsuna when the two girls were pouting).

The only problem, of course, was that it wouldn't be available until next week to put the finishing touches on it, so the eight of them would have to split up for the week - Pony was going back to the States for a week to visit her parents (the last time she and Izuku had went together, it was an utter nightmare, but that was a story for another time); Itsuka and Yui, meanwhile, would be staying at the orange-haired girl's house, while Kinoko went with Reiko to her own home, and Setsuna and Ibara would be staying with Izuku at his mom's house with Eri, since both of their parents were out of town and the trip was too long for them to take and come back on their own.

Speaking of Eri, the little girl was pretty much bouncing off the walls in excitement that she would be moving in with the eight of them as their ninth roommate - and, of course, as their daughter, as Kinoko and Pony had been crying in happiness about for the last few weeks. After a long and difficult process, being mentored by Aizawa through the applications and tests, sometime next week, Izuku and Itsuka would be going to City Hall with Eri to officially sign the documents adopting her into their family.

After a discussion with the rest of the girls, it was decided that Izuku and Itsuka would be Eri's official guardians, seeing as they were the ones that went through the months of medical exams, police checks, getting references from the teachers of the school and their parents, and interview after interview and home visit after home visit. And once those papers were signed, Eri would permanently be in their care, attending school for the first time and living in the same house as them, as she had always dreamed of.

It'd be hard, of course, seeing as they were going to have their hands full with opening their own agency and doing hero work - but they'd get by. They always did.

After waving after Ochako, Tenya and Tsuyu as they moved to get hugs from the rest of their class, and Izuku was bombarded in his own hugs from the rest of the girls (he only had to spin Kinoko and Pony, thankfully, although he blushed up a storm when Yui kissed his cheek), the seven girls and Izuku let out small sighs as they stood back, watching the crowd of students, teachers and parents quietly for a moment.

"Okay," Itsuka nodded as she finally got control of her crying, straightening up and tossing her ponytail behind her shoulder, "now that we've got that out of the way, we just need to go double check the house, and then we can get out of here. Pony's plane leaves in three hours, and I wanna get there early."

"Ah, man," Setsuna pouted a bit as they began walking away from the gym towards the direction of their house, Izuku smiling as Pony and Yui took each of his hands and held on, "if I'm being honest, Prez, I was kinda hoping we could put this off just a little bit longer."

"Sorry, Set - I kinda want to put it off too, but we have to double check and make sure that we got all of our stuff. I'd hate to think about what would happen if some second years move in next semester and find a pair of our panties behind the laundry machine - especially if it's a guy, I'd rather not give them jerk off material."

"Why, Prez," Setsuna smirked teasingly, leaning in to get in her face, "why, oh why, would your panties be behind the laundry machine? A pair of your silky, sexy panties just lying around …?"

"... because it's the laundry room, and that's where we wash our stuff?"

"..."

"..."

"... okay, I'll admit, I didn't put much thought into that one," Setsuna shook her head in disappointment towards herself, while the group giggled at her and Ibara kissed her cheek to palate her.

"But seriously," Itsuka got back on track as she cuddled into Reiko, "just one more waltz around the place to double check, make sure we didn't miss anything, and then it's you, me, the bike and the airport, Pony - don't worry, we'll strap your suitcase into the bumper car."

"Yeah ..." However, Pony's smile fell, glancing at the ground with a sad look on her face, "it's just ... it's gonna be hard to go in there one more time, you know? Like - our last time in our house."

The other girls felt their own smiles fall as well, glancing to the ground and frowning while Izuku glanced around with a sad look. It had went unspoken over the last few weeks, but everyone knew that it was more likely than not that they would never be able to go back to this house again - Nezu would probably move a new group of students into it after they left, and even if they visited UA it would be unlikely that they would be able to go inside to look. This would really be the last time they would be able to go in, have one more look around, and then leave forever.

With that said, however, Izuku took a deep breath and straightened up.

"I, uh …" He cleared his throat, prompting the other girls to look at him, "I'm … not gonna lie, guys, I'm also kinda … I'm pretty sad that we'll have to finally leave. I - I know that we all have a lot of good memories there. But … but I don't think this is something we necessarily have to be sad about, is it? We can - we can go back and just - you know - relive the memories. Sure, I'm going to probably cry my eyes out -"

"Probably?" Setsuna was unable to stop herself from snarking, "More like definitely."

Izuku shoulder checked her playfully, making the other girls giggle while Reiko sighed.

"I … believe I get what you're saying, darling," She gave him, "and you're right. It's probably going to be hard, but it's not like it's the end of the world. We're going to be moving into a new place next week, and it'll be just as great as the last one. This time though, we get to have Eri there permanently - that'll add a bit of spice into our lives, won't it?"

"More like sugar," Ibara giggled, "that girl is a bunch of diabetes in human form."

"Shoot that shit right into my veins," Setsuna laughed along with her and the rest of the group.

"Where is she, by the way?" Kinoko inquired as she looked around, wrinkling her brow. "I saw her in the crowd when All Might was giving me my diploma, she was cheering us on - but I don't see her anywhere here."

"I actually texted my mom when we got out here - she's with her and the rest of your parents near the front," Izuku smiled awkwardly, "they're going to wait for us by the gate so she can say bye to us before we leave for the week."

"Damn," Setsuna shook her head again while smiling softly to herself, "then I guess we really can't put it off any longer. Okay, okay, let's go do our last round in the house, and go meet up with our daughter."

They all blushed at that - even a year in and getting used to Eri calling them her moms and dad, and they still got flustered over it. Not that anyone was complaining, of course.

However, before they could turn to begin walking back to the house, intending to get it all cleaned up and sorted out, a voice spoke up from behind them.

"Midoriya."

Straightening up and wrinkling their brows, they looked around, and Izuku blinked when he caught sight of Monoma leaning against one of the walls, giving him a small glare as he crossed his arms. Behind him, still in Reiko and Yui's embrace, Izuku could tell that Itsuka was tensing up, feeling nervous about what she would do if she didn't move away from him as the blonde boy on the wall jerked to a spot beside him with his head.

"I want to speak with you privately for a moment," He said shortly, "and then I won't bother you again. Promise."

After pausing and feeling himself tense up in nervousness about what the hell Monoma would want to talk to him about, but wanting to avoid any conflict that may sprout from this, Izuku let out a sigh and turned to look at his girlfriends.

"Just ... give us a minute, okay?"

While they all frowned and shot a suspicious look at their now former classmate, they still nodded, and turned their back on Monoma as they went to go talk to some of the other classmates from Class 1A, waiting for him to be done so that they could get back to the house. Izuku looked after Itsuka worryingly for a second, seeing how sharply she had walked over to chat with Momo, Izuku let out another sigh, and then turned back to walk to Monoma.

It had been a year and a half, and there had been absolutely no change to the new relationship status between the girls of Class 1B and Monoma - as in, there wasn't a relationship at all. They weren't friends, they weren't enemies, they were just ... classmates. They talked to him in class if they had to, they discussed potential internships with him if they were paired together, Pony most especially, but - that was it. No 'hey how are you, Monoma?', no 'I'm hating Class 1A, Kendou, what do you think' - none of that. It was clear that Monoma wasn't willing to put in the effort to reconcile, and the girls didn't bother with trying to make him.

Of course, that wasn't due to any lack of enthusiasm on the subject on the girls' parts - from what Itsuka had told him late at night while cuddling under the covers, the rest of the girls were willing to hear Monoma out if he came to them an apology for both them and for Izuku in his role in spreading rumours about him. They were willing to work things out if Monoma put in an effort and actually owned up to his actions against him - but an apology for his actions back then, spreading rumours about Izuku, never came.

It had saddened Izuku to see how they distanced themselves from him, but he knew better than to try to help them mend fences. Monoma made his hatred of Izuku very well known, subjecting him to glares whenever he saw him, as though he were at fault for Monoma's own actions. And he knew that it wouldn't do any good to try and force an intervention between him and the girls.

He knew it would do more harm than good to try and fix the relationship between Itsuka and Monoma, and the boy's relationship with the rest of his girlfriends, especially if the blonde boy didn't put any effort into fixing it himself.

Joining him in standing next to the wall, Izuku let out a sigh as he leaned against the brick beside Monoma, and the two boys looked out at the crowd, seeing them all chatting happily with each other.

"C-congratulations on your graduation, Monoma," Izuku tried to say politely, "I'm happy for you."

"..."

"... er ... um ..."

"Midoriya, let me make something clear."

Izuku shut up at that, looking over to Monoma as he glared out into the crowd.

"I hate you. No amount of apologies or self-reflection is going to change that. I hated you before you moved into their house, and that hatred only grew every day when you had been flirting and sleeping with my - with my former classmates."

"... right." Izuku frowned, returning his gaze to the crowd himself.

"A lot of that ..." Monoma sighed, his gaze flickering to Itsuka as she chatted with Mina, "... was because we were both in love with the same girl. But unlike me, you actually did something about it. I kept my distance and tried to wait for a chance to get her, and you - you actually pursued her. That's the only reason you won."

Izuku kept quiet at that - despite his own thoughts about how wrong Monoma was about that. He spoke like the only reason Izuku was the one dating Itsuka and Monoma wasn't was because he got there first - as though the work he had put in to get Itsuka to fall in love with him had nothing to do with it.

"I acknowledge that what I did - spreading rumours with Sasayaki, being used by her - was wrong. It wasn't what a hero does. I was jealous and enraged at you, and I lashed out. But I will not apologize." Monoma levelled his glare to the ground, "I - I can't. No matter how much I might want to, I refuse to bow down to you. Even if the girls won't forgive me until I do."

Izuku continued to study the crowd for a moment, waiting for Monoma to say something else, but when the boy fell silent, he let out another sigh, and turned his gaze back to the ground.

"... you want my advice, Monoma?"

"No."

"Well, you're getting it anyway." Izuku huffed, crossing his arms. "You're being an ass. And the only one you're hurting with this - this doubling down and stubbornness - is you.

"..."

"I ... I won't say that I like you either, Monoma." Izuku shook his head, continuing to study the ground, "I - I dislike you. I don't hate you, but I don't like you. I remember when you called Itsuka a whore, and if I hadn't been in shock back then, I'd have broken your jaw. You love her, and you still called her that. I don't care if it was in the heat of the moment, you don't call the woman you love names like that."

"..."

"I'm not going to appeal to your inner goodness, Monoma. The girls don't want me to, and I won't fight their battles. You can keep being stubborn about how much you hate me, Monoma, I honestly don't care. It's no skin off my back, and it doesn't affect my life in any way. But like I said, the only one you're hurting at this point is yourself. From how you were talking ... from what you said … do you think that you lost your chance with Itsuka?" He turned his gaze back to the blonde boy. "This isn't me rubbing this in your face, Monoma - I want to know if you still love her."

"... of course I do." Monoma turned his gaze away. "She's Itsuka Kendou."

"Yeah," Izuku smiled a bit despite himself, "yeah, she is."

"But I do accept it, Midoriya. I know that she'll never return my feelings."

"And I know that she wants to be friends with you, Monoma." Izuku's gaze softened somewhat, aware of Monoma's own breath stopping for a moment. "Itsuka - she misses you, I know it. I haven't dated her for an entire year to not notice this kind of thing. She wants to be friends with you again, but she won't unless you take that first step. And I know ... I know that she's waiting for you to apologize to me. That's the first step. She's just waiting for you to take it.

Adjusting himself on the wall, Izuku looked back up into the crowd, where his girlfriends were mingling and hanging out, "I won't say that she'll ever reciprocate your feelings, Monoma - both of us know that. But I won't deny that you're dear to her - you just need to actually take that first step and try to mend fences."

With that, Izuku fell silent, letting the boy beside him think. For a moment, they watched the crowd - and then Monoma sighed.

"I didn't drag you over here for you to lecture me," He shortly said, "I wanted to give you a warning."

"Huh?"

"I'm telling you," Monoma finally looked at him, giving him a glare, "to take care of her. Take care of them all. Or else."

"..."

"..."

"... of course I will, Monoma," Izuku returned his gaze to the crowd, getting up off the wall and frowning. "I always will. I don't need you to threaten me in order for me to do that."

"I know I don't," Monoma's gaze returned to the ground, "I'm just warning you."

"Consider me warned." Izuku was about to step away from the wall, to get on with his day, but then hesitated, and spoke again, "I meant what I said, though. All you need to do is take the step."

With that, Izuku walked away from the wall, wanting to return to his girlfriends to get back to the house and get on with their lives - and left Monoma there, staring back at the ground with a frown.

Thankfully, after they all said their byes and telling their friends that they would see them later, it didn't take long for them to make it back to the house, taking their time talking about what Monoma wanted and approving of what Izuku told him, and then laughing and chatting about what they'd be doing during the next week before they reunited at their new home (Itsuka shot down Yui's stoic proclamation of 'sex', saying that they wouldn't be doing it with her parents in the house, which made the stoic girl sulk to the side). Soon enough, however, everyone stood together on the porch of the house, staring at their door with an air of melancholy and sadness.

Izuku knew that everyone here was feeling pretty bittersweet right now, himself included, but they also needed to make sure that they weren't leaving anything behind before they left today, and needed to double check each room before they left.

That, and he needed to get upstairs and put what he knew was on his desk in the backpack he left up there. No way he could leave them there.

With a small sigh, Itsuka finally took the initiative and reached forward, putting her hand on the doorknob and twisting it, and finally pushed the door open, moving inside. Gulping, the rest of the group were quick to follow her inside, not wanting to be left out in the spring air as they trooped in one more time as a group. Finally, everyone was inside, shutting the door quietly behind them as they took in the bottom floor of the house, seeing the kitchen, dining table and living room.

It looked … well, at first the differences weren't easy to spot - Itsuka and Ibara ensured that everything was clean and tidy, so it didn't look that much different than normal. And then they looked closer and saw their things all gone, everything that made this their home missing. Pony's gamestation was coming with Izuku to his mom's, as was the rest of her stuff so she didn't need to lug everything all the way to America and back; the punching bag that Itsuka had put up at Christmas time had been taken down, as well as the billboard in the living room that they had used to put up any pictures they took of each other and themselves that they'd taken during their year and a half of dating.

It looked ...

"... wow," Ibara softly said, looking around with an unknowing look on her face, "it looks like it did when we first got here."

"Yeah," Reiko frowned, "everything just ... gone."

"C'mon, guys," Itsuka tried to smile for everyone as she straightened up, "I ... well, I know it sucks. It sucks that we have to leave, but ... at least ..."

She stopped for a moment, blinking as she tried to think up any positives to this - and then sunk her shoulders.

"... yeah. It sucks."

"Yeah," Yui nodded, looking around the saddened graduates, "but that doesn't mean that we have to be sad about it. Of course we're going to miss this place, but that shouldn't mean we should sulk about it the whole time."

"... yeah ," Pony nodded, letting out a sigh and straightening up, trying to force a smile on her face as she clenched her fists. "Y-yeah, you're right, Yui. We shouldn't be pouting, we - we should be happy. So, uh - er -"

"Why don't we have a look around," Yui offered, somewhat taking the reins for Itsuka while the other girls looked to her, "and see if we missed anything. We can work our way upstairs."

The group glanced between each other, seeing no problems with that plan (well, Izuku did, but he didn't want to voice that and look suspicious), and then nodded, letting out sighs and trying their best to smile as they straightened up as well. With that, they all began moving throughout the first floor, attempting to group up and grab anything they missed.

Thankfully there wasn't any mass cleaning to do, as that was what they had done for the last week or so. Once the results of their final exams came and they were confirmed to graduate, they had dedicated their time to packing up all of their stuff and sending it off to their houses to wait until they moved into the new place. The only problem was the large amount of stuff they all had. Izuku had grown indignant when he realized where all of his sweaters went, and the girls had absolutely no shame in wearing them to make sure he didn't get them; they had to persuade Pony to package up most of her stuffed animals, convincing her to take the Deku plushie with her to America on her visit; and they had dedicated an entire afternoon to clearing up Ibara's garden, putting them into pots to send with Inko, the woman more than happy to put them in the living room and water them.

And now all that was required of them was making sure they didn't miss anything, with Izuku going around the TV to look, and the girls going into the kitchen, opening up the counter and cabinets to see if they left any dishes or cutlery behind.

As they began looking around, Izuku felt himself gulp a bit in nervousness, glancing behind the TV while sweating a bit and trying to make plans as to how he could sneak away. He needed to go up to his room and get the contents of his desk into his bag - but the fact that they were saying that they would go up as a group wasn't doing him any favors. He hadn't put them away yet - he had put them onto his desk to look at, and got distracted by Itsuka calling him down to do his tie since she knew he would fight her on it, so they were still upstairs and out in the open. If they all went upstairs together and into his room, they would see them. And he wasn't ready yet, he still had to plan what he would say with Ochako ...

... so he needed to sneak away at some point to get them hidden, and back downstairs before anyone noticed he was gone.

"So I'm not sure if we talked about this or if I missed anything, but what are we doing with the hot tub?" Reiko asked as she opened up the dishwasher, "It's not like we can just carry it out of here."

"I've got it covered," Yui raised her hand, "I've already emptied the water and shrunk it down, it's in my bag. Once I'm at Itsuka's I'll put it on her front porch, and then when we move to the house next week we can put it in the backyard. It'll be good enough for us to relax in while Izuku and Itsuka are building Eri's pool."

"How dare that little girl," Itsuka laughed in an affectionate way, "forcing me to build her stuff with wood and hammers. I'm a mechanic, for god's sake, not a construction builder."

"Yeah, that's supposed to be Chipmunk's job - or we can just hire her dad to build stuff for us again, like she did with the jungle-gym outside."

"Ha! 'Hiring'. Right." The orange-haired girl shook her head with a smirk. "Like he wouldn't do it for free - if we tried to hire him again, Mr. Uraraka will just turn down all our attempts to pay him, like he did when he made Eri's jungle-gym in the back. I swear to god, I had to sneak yen into the man's wallet, and he still turned his truck around to give it back to me! I had to actually threaten him to keep the money."

"Oh, speaking of Ochako and Nejire," Kinoko raised her eyebrow as she looked into the fridge and grabbed a spare water bottle, only to pout when Setsuna's hand detached itself to grab it from her and bring it to the green-haired girl, "does anyone know what they're doing now that they're pros?"

"They're still working with Ryuukyu with Asui," Izuku said from his spot in the living room, moving away from the TV, "they want at least a year of experience as sidekicks before they decide to go solo, and they're just waiting for when Asui starts her own shore side agency before they go, they just want to make sure she's not going to be on her own."

"I mean, we can always hire them as sidekicks!"

"Oh, good lord, no," Setsuna chortled, "no way I'd be able to order Chipmunk around, she'd never take me seriously. And Nejire would just blast everything around her and leave nothing for us to work with. Nah, if they come to work with us it'd have to be as partners, and that's a discussion we'd have to actually have with them, we can't just text them and ask."

"I mean, I'm not opposed to working with Ochako and Nejire!" Pony laughed. "They could bring a lot of firepower to our team!"

"Neither am I, but we gotta remember that they're going to be working together for now on," Itsuka opened another cabinet to check for anything that they may have missed, "we can't just go up to them out of nowhere and invite them to work with us, it'll also have to be a discussion between them,"

She sighed, straightening up from where she had been bent over, and looked into the living room. "See anything, babe?"

"Nothing," Izuku shook his head as he bent down, looking behind the love seat - and then blinked. "Actually, wait - oh, hang on -"

The girls wrinkled their brows and glanced around the corner into the living room, seeing Izuku bending over to reach for something and having absolutely no problem with blatantly checking out his rear as he leaned over, Itsuka nodding in approval and Reiko smirking ("I fucked that ass, you know, Kinoko." "Yes, darling, I know, I was there."), until Izuku let out an 'aha!' and straightened back up, holding something small and light in his hands. Turning it around, Izuku let out a small gasp, and a smile crossed his face.

"I wondered where this picture went," He smiled down at it, and then turned to lift it up for the girls to see, making them all blink in surprise. It was the picture from their Christmas party a year ago - they'd invited over the Dekusquad, Tetsutetsu, Kirishima and Eri, so it was a group picture of them sitting on the couch with Eri in Izuku's lap, everyone dressed in Santa Claus costumes and beaming at the camera.

Walking over, Itsuka took the picture from Izuku and smiled down at it - she still giggled over the stupid Santa beard Tenya had insisted on wearing, and how Tetsutetsu and Kirishima somehow shared the exact same braincell and thought a shirtless Santa look was a good idea.

"Oh, I remember this," Ibara smiled softly at the picture as she put her head down on Itsuka's shoulder to look at it, letting the orange-haired girl nuzzle into her, "I swear, at some point we're going to need to sit these two down and explain to them the concept of shirts, aren't we?"

"Oh, I imagine they do see the point of shirts," Setsuna smirked from the kitchen, "they just don't care. Although I wish they didn't go out in the snow in those getups, Eri got inspired and ran out after them in her t-shirt, remember? Aizawa's probably never going to let that one go."

"At least we got to take care of her afterwards!" Kinoko smiled, "Oh, she was such a cutie when she was sick, I could sit down and watch cartoons with her forever."

"Well, if that ever does happen again, let's just hope we don't catch it from her again," Reiko shook her head, shivering, "I was dying for a week straight, I'd rather not experience that another time."

The girls giggled in reminiscence, moving back from around Izuku to look over the living room and down the hall towards the laundry room, shower and bathroom - unaware of Izuku shifting his gaze back and forth nervously, gulping and subtly beginning to move towards the stairs.

"Honestly, thank god Honenuki for covering for us," Itsuka shook her head, "I'm never going to be over that, the man did not have to copy his notes for all seven of us."

"I still buy him lunch whenever I can," Setsuna grinned, "plus I'm going to meet up with him at some point next week, he said he's got a meeting for an internship with a pro hero he wants to use me as reference for, I'm just gonna back him up."

"Well, anyway!" Kinoko clapped her hands, "Sorry to change the subject guys, but do we know what we're going to do next week when we're all back together in the new house?"

"Uh ... unpack literally everything?" Reiko shook her head, "We all have too much stuff, it's going to take forever to unpack it. Plus we're going to need to transport Ibara's garden again and replant everything - I swear to god, if this gives me a sunburn, Ibara, I'm going to take it out on your ass."

"Er …" Ibara gulped nervously, "... is that just a threat, or are you speaking literally?"

"I'll let you decide. I'm good either or."

"Actually, guys," Pony giggled over from her spot in the kitchen, "I think she was talking more about - you know - what'll we be doing in our offtime!"

"If you guys are having horny thoughts right now," Itsuka shook her head, smirking, "no, we aren't going to be doing any group stuff anytime soon. I wanna get settled and Eri comfortable before we think about any big date nights. That, and we don't need to scar our daughter - I'm not sure how thick the walls are going to be in the new place, she doesn't need to hear us going at it."

While Yui, Kinoko and Pony snapped their fingers in frustration, the other girls giggled while looking underneath the table for anything they may have dropped and forgotten, unaware of Izuku continuing to inch towards the stairs.

"Yeah," Setsuna smirked, "although before we think about anymore orgies, we'll probably have to talk about inviting Chipmunk and Nejire to our next one - I swear, neither of them are subtle about how they look at us."

"That, ma'am, is a can of worms we'll have to open later," Itsuka shook her head good-naturedly while Izuku went red while sneaking away, knowing what they were talking about, "and for the record, keep the teasing on the down low for now, Set - no pointing out how they can't keep their eyes off my or Izuku's asses."

"Can you blame them, Prez - you both got great booties!"

"That's because you keep looking at our asses," Itsuka smirked, "if you weren't, then you'd have noticed that they've been looking at your butt too."

While the group giggled and teased each other some more, temporarily forgetting his existence, Izuku finally found his chance to escape, and, as quietly as he could while sneaking another peak at them to make sure they didn't see him, slipped away and up the stairs. Moving up as quickly and silently as he could, Izuku moved around the corner, breathing a sigh of relief that his escape went unnoticed as he ran up the stairs, taking them quickly and determined to do his thing quickly before they had any chance of seeing that he had vanished, and hoping that he would be back before anyone noticed he was gone.

Finally reaching his bedroom on the top floor, Izuku quietly opened the door, letting out a small sigh as he walked in and shut it behind him. He saw how bare and blank his former roomlooked now, due to him having packed up all of his stuff and had the boxes moved back to his mom's place, and looked over to the desk he was leaving behind -

- and seeing the seven tiny boxes lined up perfectly there.

Letting out a small sigh, Izuku walked over to the desk, grabbing his backpack from beside the now blanketless bed and putting it down on the desk behind the boxes. They were all colour coordinated, as he intended when he had been shopping for them - blue and yellow for Itsuka, purple and green for Setsuna, red and white stripped for Yui, orange and white for Pony, green and white for Ibara, pale purple and black for Reiko, and red and white polka-dots for Kinoko.

It was just so he could tell the difference, but of course the rings inside were all the same - he had them custom made, all of them identical but for the similar purpose, he thought as he let out a small sigh, opening one to double check its contents and then closing it again.

Buying these ... it had honestly taken a very long time, saving up as much money as he could on his internships ever since second year started in order to afford one apiece for all seven girls. Maybe he could've just done something symbolic, like buying one ring for them all, but - but he wanted this to be special. Ochako, Nejire and, probably not surprisingly, Mina, helped him with making the rings for the last three months, while Izuku snuck around while they were asleep to get their finger measurements, and working with Ochako to write up a speech for when the time came to finally propose.

The problem, though, was that he wasn't exactly sure how he would do it, or where. Did he wait until they were all on vacation at some point? At home? Over dinner? On a beach? Somehow pull some strings so they could beat the shit out of All for One escaping from Tartarus and he could spontaneously propose to them in the heat of battle?

… okay, that last one was straight up impossible. All Might and Gran Torino would kill him.

But he needed this to be perfect - he could always propose to the seven of them individually, of course, but he wanted this to be the proposal of a lifetime. And that meant that he couldn't just go up to Kinoko one day and ask, "Hey, what's up, nice day, huh? By the way, wanna shroom up a marriage? And help me with Reiko, by the way."

No, no, if he wanted to do this right, he needed to propose to all seven of them at once. He didn't have any doubts that they would say yes - he was at the very least confident in that. It was just ... he wanted the time to be right, and he couldn't exactly have a do-over if he messed this up.

Shaking his head, Izuku opened his backpack, intending to put them carefully inside and head back downstairs - until his eye caught something on the floor, beside the bed.

Blinking, Izuku wrinkled his brow, not sure what it was hidden underneath his bed, and bent down to scoop it up from underneath where it had fallen - and blinked when he realized it was another picture. This one, however, made all other thoughts leave his head as he scooped it up and gave it a proper look, feeling a small smile grace his face.

It was ... wow, he remembered when this picture was taken. It was a shot of all of them in their hero costumes, a bit banged up but otherwise okay as they gave the camera a big smile. Their agencies had been going on a patrol together, convinced by their interns, when a large villain had appeared from nowhere, and the eight of them had teamed up to combat him while the heroes had focused on saving a building that had been collapsing due to the collateral damage. It had been a long, hard fought battle, giving all of them a good few bruises and scrapes, with the girls at one point thinking Izuku had died when he had been punched into a building (Itsuka never let that one go, and he had to cuddle Pony for a week straight after that) but they turned out all right.

Once the villain had been detained, one of the pros they were working for had happily taken a photo of the group of eight beaming at the camera, before sending them home to recover - and that had turned horny very quickly, Izuku thought with a blush and a sheepish chuckle. Turned out seven girls watching their boyfriend almost die called for a big night of passion and threats to never do it again.

Still ... seeing this, it brought a soft smile to his face. It didn't matter to him, seeing his girlfriends looking bruised and scuffed up and bloody - all of their beams, their smiles, how they circled around him, it made him gently caress the picture, wondering how he got so lucky to date these seven beautiful girls.

"Izu? Are you up here?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, momentarily taken out of his little moment and looking around to the door at the sound of the sweet voice on the other side. Before he could call out, the door opened up, and Ibara poked her head in, looking around and spotting him near the desk.

"There you are!" She smiled, opening the door up wide and entering, and from behind came the other girls, looking curiously at him. "We wondered where you went, you kind of vanished on us."

"Oh, uh - y-yeah, sorry," Izuku turned fully around to face his girlfriends, watching as everyone trooped into the large bedroom to take a small look around, curious as to why he vanished, "I just, uh ... I found this, and I kinda got lost in memories."

He held up the photo he was holding in his hands, which made the other girls blink and then chuckle when they saw, with Itsuka strolling forward to take it from him and look at it for herself, smiling softly.

"God, I remember that," Kinoko smiled as she hopped up to look properly over the orange-haired girl's shoulder, "that was the one time we actually limped in class, wasn't it? Everyone knew what we did after that, Kurioro couldn't look me in the eye for a week!"

"No regrets from me," Setsuna shook her head, "Parsley pushes us out of the way and takes a hit, no chance in hell we don't take him home and smother him in thanks."

"Yeah," Yui snorted. "Thanks. That's what we smothered him with that night."

"Heh," Itsuka smirked, Izuku blushing a bit when he remembered that she in particular was one who smothered him with her 'thanks', as they were calling it. "Well, lucky it was only the one time, and no one questioned it. We should also consider ourselves lucky that you aren't dumb enough to do something like that again, right, babe?"

"... er -"

"Izuku, for your health and safety, you're going to say yes once I'm finished saying this."

"Yes," Izuku said robotically while the other girls giggled, "I will say that I will not sacrifice my life for you guys."

They rolled their eyes at that phrasing and knowing exactly what that meant, but still let it go. For now.

"Well, in any case," Ibara giggled, her eyes trailing around the empty room, "at least now we know that your room is good for inspection, Izuku. So we can go down floor by floor and ... check ... all ... our ..."

Izuku faltered when he heard Ibara's positive and happy tone suddenly stutter, and then fade away into silence, glancing around at her in confusion. He blinked when he saw her gaze moving to one spot in the room, and then staying there, those lovely eyes he loved widening. The other girls followed Ibara's gaze as well, and found themselves frozen stiff, eyes widening and going red.

Izuku felt confused, glancing around at his girlfriends as their gazes went to -

- to his desk.

Feeling his own eyes now widen in horror, Izuku slowly turned his neck, having forgotten in all the excitement of finding that picture what he had actually been sneaking up here to do - and seeing all seven boxes out in the open and free for the girls to look at, all of them obvious as to what they were.

With a loud squeak, Izuku moved fast, one moment standing beside Itsuka and Kinoko near the bed, and the next standing in front of the desk with his arms outstretched, attempting to fix this at the last possible moment by blocking the rings from the view of his girlfriends, as though getting in the way and standing in there would somehow magically convince them that what they had saw had been a figment of their imagination.

For a few moments of silence, everyone stared at the desk behind Izuku, with even the normally snarky Setsuna falling completely silent, while Izuku desperately attempted to come up with some kind of excuse as to what they could have been. And then Itsuka spoke softly.

"Izuku Midoriya. Please step aside so we can have a look at those."

"..."

"..."

"... no?" Izuku tried, desperately trying to find a way to get out of this.

There was a good ten seconds of silence where all seven girls quietly studied Izuku for a moment - and then they charged in, Izuku yelping but still throwing his arms out in an attempt to stop them as they desperately tried to push him out of the way, or reach around him for the rings, a feat that was much harder than usual due to Izuku trying to use Black Whip to push them back.

"Guys - it's -!"

"Parsley, let's get a look at those!"

"It's for us! Let's see!"

"Guys, no!"

There was a good minute of struggling and pushing as Izuku stretched out Black Whip to push back his insistent girlfriends while they attempted to drag him away from the table. They were at a stalemate for a few moments, the room filled with the sound of shuffling, grunting, yelping and Izuku squeaking when Yui took the chance to grab his crotch in an effort to distract him - and then Izuku finally gave him, letting out a small sigh as he fell to the floor in a heap and frowned glumly, giving the girls access to the desk.

He could hear them go silent as they picked up the boxes, grabbing the ones color-coordinated for them, and then he heard them open the boxes, indicated by the soft intakes of air he suddenly was aware of. After another pause, the girls joined him on the floor, sitting in a tight circle as they stared down at the rings.

For a moment, everyone was quiet - and then Itsuka let out a soft sigh.

"... wow," She muttered, staring at the ring in her hand in wonder, "it's ... wow."

"Yeah," Reiko also said, her voice small, "wow."

"..."

"... guys, is ..." Izuku muttered, eyes going a bit misty as he stared at the hardwood floor, "... are you ... did I make you uncomfortable?"

"Wha - oh, god, no!" Setsuna waved her hand quickly, looking panicked for a moment and carefully holding her ring in the other hand. "Just - sorry, Parsley, we - we just didn't expect ... this when we came up here."

"And ... honestly, we probably should've," Kinoko was unable to stop herself from giggling a bit despite herself, "I don't know about you guys, but, uh - this is - we should've seen this coming."

"R-really?" Izuku stole a glance up, seeing them continue to study the open boxes in their hands with slightly mystified expressions.

"Yeah ... definitely," Yui muttered, using her finger to gently rub the gold band with curiosity, although there was something in her eyes that told Izuku she was definitely fighting something back, "you romantic sap, you. How - how did you even afford these? One ring's gotta be expensive enough, but for all seven of us ..."

"Uh ..." Izuku couldn't help but laugh a bit sheepishly, raising a hand to scratch his hair as they turned their gazes to him, "... they were ... very expensive. But I - I saved up a lot to afford them all. I - I considered one big ring, but - but I don't think the sentiment would've come across as well. I still have money, by the way, so please don't worry about that."

The girls giggled at that, glancing back down at the rings in their hands while shaking a bit - Ibara raised a hand to wipe her eyes and Pony was trembling something fierce - but then all of them looked back up to Izuku, seeing him sitting up a bit.

"So ..." Itsuka felt a wobbly smile grace her face while she blushed again, "I ... I guess you have something to ask us, huh?"

"I ... yeah, uh ..." Izuku hesitated, and then chuckled despite himself, "... I ... sorry, I was - I was actually in the middle of planning this when you guys came up here. I - I had this planned over a - a nice dinner, or a beach, or ... somewhere a lot more romantic than on my bedroom floor."

"Oh, hush, you," Ibara giggled, her voice catching slightly, "it doesn't matter where you do it or how romantic it is, it'll be perfect either way. It's you, after all."

"That," Setsuna was unable to suppress a smirk, "and I think you already know what our answer will be. So get up on your knee, big boy, and hit us with everything you got. I guarantee most of us are going to be crying anyway."

"Screw that," Yui shook her head, "I bet I'm going to be crying at this. But yes, Izuku, bedazzle us."

Izuku couldn't help but laugh at that again, glancing around to see them all smiling and waiting for him to get started, and he let out a deep breath as he did as Setsuna requested, and shifted up, managing to sit up on his knee. It was kinda weird - he expected them to be standing right now, but honestly, Ibara was right. It didn't matter how much of a dork he looked when he did this - it was going to be perfect because it was them.

"Okay ..." He sighed, giving them all another smile, "just to warn you guys … this is going to come out really awkward. Uraraka was helping me write up this speech, so - so this is like - first draft stuff. It's probably going to get really sappy really fast."

The girls nodded and sat up in their spots, waiting for him to get started while he took a deep breath.

"... okay," He sighed, "so ... you guys ... I say this every day, but I love you. More than anything. When - when I first moved into this house, I was - I was really nervous, since - since I didn't know you guys, and - and then two months later, I was so head over heels for you guys it wasn't even funny."

"I don't know," Pony softly giggled, "I thought it was pretty funny."

"Shush," Yui poked her, "he's about to turn on the charm."

"And then ... here we are, a year and a bit later, and - and no matter what, that love for all seven of you - it gets stronger every day, and it's never going to go away," Izuku felt himself begin to tear up, but he shook his head and tried to soldier on. "And ... and I'm so happy about that. I love all seven of you, so - so much. I love you, Yui, for your kindness, even if you never show it on your face - your eyes always tell me what you feel. I love you, Set, for how wild you are and how you inspire me to embrace my craziness. I love you, Pony, for how sweet and happy you are, and I could spend all day lying on the couch with you watching anime. I love you, Kinoko, for how crazy and lovable you are, and how you always keep me on my toes, either with your teasing or your mushrooms - although your puns still definitely need work."

"Boy, you're proposing to me," Kinoko was unable to stop herself from teasing, although she sounded a bit choked up herself, "you're signing on for the unlimited puns."

He laughed at that, at least, and turned his gaze to Reiko, who was staring at him with tears building in her eyes, which definitely didn't help him with his 'no-crying' problem.

"I love you, Reiko, for your - for your loveliness, for how caring you are, for how you're always there for me to talk to, even late at night. I love you, Ibara, for everything we've shared, for building our garden and nurturing it - even if it took a lot of effort to move it over to my mom's house this week. I love you, Itsuka, for being my sparring partner, my friend, and - and being the leader of our little band.

"You guys ... you're my rocks. Which is why ... I thought this would be appropriate." Izuku paused, and then chuckled nervously as he dorkily pointed to the rings in their hands. "This, uh - this is when I was supposed to have you guys open the boxes to look at the rings."

Snorts and giggles sounded throughout the room, but they humoured him and opened up their boxes again, showing the golden band with the green stones embedded in them. Smiling softly at them, they looked back up to see Izuku reaching under his shirt and taking out the heart-shaped necklace Setsuna had given him so long ago, holding it in his palm for them to see and smiling down at it - seeing how the diamond looked the exact same as the emeralds in the rings.

"Set, you, uh ... you gave me your heart so long ago," Izuku smiled through his tears, "so I had the thought to ... to shatter mine into seven pieces ... and give it to you guys to keep. Forever."

The girls looked down at their boxes again, staring at the green gem in the rings that he meant to symbolize his heart - and then they all let out shuddering breaths, while Itsuka sniffed and held a hand over her mouth, gaining the attention of the other girls and Izuku looked at the tears building in her eyes.

"Oh, baby, no need to cry ..." Reiko tried to say through her own tears.

"I know," Itsuka sniffled with a wobbly grin, throwing her hand down to pout at a taken aback Izuku, "I just - fuck, this just - it got to me, okay?! Fucking Izuku with his - his stupid fucking suave. Already knows I'm emotional today and punches me square in the face with that cute shit. God."

"Er ... sorry?"

"Only you would apologize for making me cry happy tears! You gorgeous bastard!"

"I -" Izuku smiled, and then raised a hand to wipe his tears away, "- yeah. Yeah, I would."

"Goodness," Ibara sniffled, taking a moment to hold her own hand over her mouth before she shook her head, letting some of her tears fall down her cheeks, "just - go on, Izuku, ask the question so we can say yes already."

Izuku shook briefly at that, glancing around the group and seeing them all looking expectantly at him to finish up his big speech so they could get to the hugging and kissing part of this, Yui already half up on her feet in order to lunge at him - and took one last deep breath, wiping his own face, and beaming at them.

"Itsuka Kendou," He said in a low voice, "Ibara Shiozaki, Reiko Yanagi, Pony Tsunotori, Yui Kodai, Setsuna Tokage, Kinoko Komori ... will you marry me?"

There was a good long pause while they digested those last four magical words - and then they surged on him again. This time, Izuku did nothing to resist as they practically tackled him to the ground in hugs, laughing loudly as he felt several pairs of lips pressing against his face and smothering him in their own tears, letting him do his best to hug them back and kiss their foreheads, cheeks, lips and even chins in Kinoko's case.

Finally, they all sat up again, wiping their faces and letting Ibara gently caress his face.

"I believe I speak for all of us," Itsuka sniffled, "when I say - hell fucking yes, we will marry you."

Izuku finally felt himself break at that, raising a hand to hold over his eyes while he laughed and sobbed, much to the girls' humour and giggles. They helped him back up into a seating position and gathered him up in a large group hug, letting out all of their tears while Izuku rested his chin on Itsuka's head, and let Setsuna hug his own head to her chest while the other girls glomped on him. After a few more giggles and attempts to get their emotions under control, they finally released him and sat back letting Izuku wipe his face on his sleeve again.

Once he got control of himself, without anyone saying anything, Izuku got to work, taking Itsuka's ring box from her to pull out the band, and slipping it onto her finger. Then he did the same for Ibara, then Yui, then Reiko, then Setsuna, then Kinoko, then Pony. Soon enough, the seven girls were admiring the rings he had put on their fingers, wiping tears away while they tried to get their own emotions under control.

"God, we're going to give your mom a freaking heart attack," Setsuna shook her head, "seeing us all coming out in matching rings ... they're going to be calling for tsunamis, because she's gonna flood the whole campus with her tears."

"Yeah," Pony wiped her eyes, "and my dad's gonna have his own heart attack when he sees this. Mama's gonna be pretty happy, though."

"Goodness," Ibara sniffled, unable to stop the tears from streaking down her face no matter how much she wiped them away, "I must admit, I - I knew that this would happen eventually, but I was - I was wondering how complicated it was going to be."

"Proposing was always going to be a massive shitstorm," Reiko giggled, "so - I suppose we're all good with - with marrying each other? I don't think I could do a speech that tops this, so I'll just ask outright if you're all good with marrying me."

"Of course," Yui shook her head, a bit more under control than everyone else but still wiping her eyes, "I'm marrying you sorry assholes too. This ceremony's going to be super long, and Tetsutetsu will probably want to rip his hair out from boredom in the middle of it - but we're all getting married. Your asses will be mine, except with a marriage certificate confirming it this time."

"Oh, goodness," Ibara softly laughed, "we're going to have to read vows for each and every one of us. This wedding will take forever."

Everyone laughed again, and then Itsuka shakingly got to her feet, wiping her face again as she shook her head.

"Okay," She nodded to them, gesturing with her head, "okay, this was - this was beautiful, and I'm probably going to hug you extra tight when we part at the airport, Pony, but - but we still gotta inspect the rest of the house. C'mon, fiancé and fiancées - let's do this."

"God, you guys are so lucky we have to split up for a week," Yui shook her head as she got to her feet, "or else I'd be tearing off your clothes right now."

"Oh, man, Izuku!" Kinoko gasped, looking around at Izuku in outrage. "You did this when we weren't able to cuddle you for a week! You bad, bad man!"

"Er - sorry?"

Still, with happy hearts and smiling faces, they got off Izuku's old floor, and headed downstairs to inspect the rest of the house and make sure they didn't forget anything. Thankfully it didn't take long to look around the rooms, everyone inspecting each corner of the room while glancing at their ring hands, unable to stop the stupid grins from crossing their faces when they saw the emerald shining in the light.

But alas, not everything could last forever, so after they had double checked every corner of the house, looked under every bed frame, checked under the mattresses, opened the closets, they couldn't find anything else that would delay their parting. So they went back down the stairs, one at a time as they walked with what little stuff they had found, and stood at the front of the house, looking into the living room and kitchen one last time.

This time, however, none of them could stop themselves from feeling bittersweet, staring into the house they had started dating and grew to love each other for the last time.

And they all took one last deep breath.

"Okay," Itsuka sighed, smiling a bit as she took Pony's hand in hers, "we got a plane to catch, sweetie. Yui, my dad's good to drive you back, okay?"

"Mm." Yui nodded, glancing out the door. "Mama Midoriya texted me earlier, by the way - she says that she and Eri are waiting by the school gate for you guys. Do we have anything else we need to do on campus before we go?"

"I ... don't think so," Ibara shook her head, wringing her hands together, "I think we're all ready to go. I ... suppose we're going to the after party tonight? Setsuna, Izuku?"

"I guess if we don't have anything planned," Setsuna shrugged, smirking a bit, "Ashido's going to flip out when she sees the rings, though, so we'll just have to avoid her at all cost. Which I plan to anyway - Izu, I still need to kiss you fucking stupid for this, we're totally making out later."

"Yeah," Izuku chuckled weakly, blushing, "yeah."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... we're putting this off," Itsuka said softly.

"Yeah," Ibara sighed, frowning, "yeah."

"I know we are, just ..." Kinoko pouted a bit, glancing away while tears built in her eyes again, "... I'm really going to miss this place."

"We all are," Reiko sighed, holding her hand, "this was our home."

The group stood there at the front of the house for a moment, looking around and feeling their hearts clench at the thought that this would the last time they got to come into this house - a new class would have to move in after them, so they were going to put their keys in the box outside on the front porch, and then that would be that.

Izuku looked around at his girlfriends - no, his fiancées - and then closed his eyes briefly. And then opened them again, and pulled out his phone, having a sudden idea as he sighed.

"Okay," He said softly, getting their attention, "okay. Why - why don't we take one more picture of us in the house? Just - just for us to remember it by. And - and to put a close on our time here."

The girls blinked at that, glancing between each other - and then, with small smiles, they began to crowd around, leaning in as Izuku lifted the phone into the air, clicking on the app for the camera and pointing it at them. As soon as they were all in frame and smiling or throwing the peace sign, Izuku snapped the picture, and brought it back down for them all to look at, while he softly smiled at it.

"We're going to frame this one," He told them, "and we're going to have the memory of this place and all it did for us. I'd love to stay here forever too, but … but it's time we head out and start our lives together. So let's - let's get going, okay? We gotta meet up with my mom and Eri before you're off on your trip, Pony."

The girls paused again - and then let out sighs.

"Okay," Itsuka softly giggled, "you're right, Izu, you're right. Let's get going, people - we have to go give Inko a big freaking heart attack."

Laughing and giggling amongst each other, they did as Itsuka asked, however, and moved out the front door of the house, standing on the front porch. Once everyone was back in the spring air, they all took one last look inside the house before Itsuka softly shut the door behind her, letting out a small breath, and then turned to the box.

One by one, they dropped their keys into the box that Vlad King had put on the porch, until at last, Izuku's copy slipped in - and that was that.

"Alright," Itsuka sighed, "let's go, people - before we get second thoughts and break down the door and refuse to leave."

Everyone laughed at that, realizing that it was definitely a possibility, and together, the seven girls walked down the stairs, past the small plot of land that had once contained Ibara and Izuku's garden, and towards the road. Letting himself fall behind them, Izuku let out one more small sigh, and looked behind him at the door one more time.

Raising his hand to press against the wood, he felt a small smile grace his face.

"Bye," He whispered, "and ... thanks for having one more room for me."

With that, Izuku turned, moving down the stairs, and joined his seven girlfriends in walking down the road towards the UA barrier, where Inko and Eri were waiting with the rest of their parents and Itsuka's motorcycle, the vehicle having been taken there by Itsuka's dad when he had visited the house earlier that day.

He honestly had no idea what the future had in store for them now. He had no idea where this was supposed to go, how to even plan for a wedding for seven people, and had no idea how their agency would go when they opened it up.

He remembered what Itsuka had said about Ochako and Nejire checking them out, and had no idea how they were going to even address that. He couldn't deny there was something there to settle, but he had no idea how it would affect the relationship between the eight of them and the couple.

He had no idea what his future as a hero would bring, where he or the girls would land in the polls, whether All for One would be in prison forever or if he'd eventually break out to settle things between the two of them.

He had no idea.

But ... when he looked at his seven girlfriends, he couldn't help but forget all of those anxieties, and feel grateful.

He felt grateful when Yui had come up to his room that first night, offered to make out with him anytime, and then stole his first kiss.

He felt grateful that the argument and talk had happened between them, despite how awful that day had initially went, so he could have grown closer to them.

He felt grateful that he had given his declaration of love to Pony in English, so that she gave him the biggest kiss of his life.

He felt grateful that Setsuna gave him her heart in the shape of the pendant he wore around his neck.

He felt grateful that he went to the forest with Kinoko for their date, and they talked the day away.

He felt grateful for Reiko, sitting with her in the shower that night and cuddling her, one touch starved teen holding another.

He felt grateful that Ibara had invited him to her hotel room that day, so they could become intimate and close together.

He felt grateful that he had mustered the courage to go into the shower with Itsuka that day, and finally kissed her.

Because ... it gave him this.

Walking in a big group, with Itsuka holding one hand and Reiko the other. Kinoko laughing as she took Pony's hand and swung it around. Ibara using some of her vines to wrap around Pony's hand and making the two girls giggle and blush, still flustered around each other even after a year of dating. Setsuna detaching her head so she could sneak a kiss on Izuku's cheek. Yui holding Itsuka's other hand with a small smile on her face. And all of them with the rings he had given them worn proudly.

He felt grateful that he got to become their new roommate.

... fin.

And that was Chapter 52, and at long last, we've come to the end of Our New Roommate. Our protagonists aren't the only ones feeling a bit bittersweet, readers - I myself found myself tearing up a little bit. Almost a full year since the first chapter was published, and I am still completely blown away by how much love and attention this fic has gotten. To think, this started as an excuse to write Izuku having sex with the seven girls of Class 1B, and then became ... so much more.

As you guys know, this probably won't be the end of Our New Roommates just yet - there are a few spinoffs to explore, and I'm looking forward to revisiting these characters, but for now, it's time for what I think is a well and deserved break. I'll be updating Ignited Spark soon, but for now, Our New Roommate will return eventually.

Sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you all for reading. See you later.