U.A. was quiet at night, cloaked in a soft silence only broken by the distant hum of the building's AC unit. In the boys wing, Tenya was wrapping up his nightly routine. His textbooks were aligned, his uniform was hung, and his alarm was set for 5:45 a.m. sharp. But as he stepped away from the mirror, finishing the final swipe of his glasses, his phone buzzed - a text from her.

Tenya’s heart stuttered for a moment. Not from anxiety, but from that warm feeling he still wasn’t used to. It had been a few months since they’d started dating and she was beyond patient with him. Patient when he panicked about grades or when he got too wrapped up in his academics to respond to texts and calls. If only balancing her with being a model student and class president didn't feel like walking on a tightrope.

He typed out a response to decline to her invitation then paused, the words blinking back at him. He stood abruptly, looking at the door with doubt. “This is a one-time exception,” he whispered to himself, voice hushed but firm. And with that, Tenya walked out into the hallway and up the stairwell until he arrived on her floor. When her door opened just a crack and her sleepy face peeked out, something inside him relaxed. "You called..?" he murmured, careful to keep his voice quiet.