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"Sorry, Tone. You're mom and I have to leave you here." He whined in response.

The sweet shepherd before us was named after the old music store, Tone & Tune, where me and Kyouka had shared our first kiss. The little memento danced around on his paws cutely. I turned to Kyouka and pouted. "Are you sure we take him with us? Please?" Kyouka reached out a hand and ruffled my hair, her wedding band cool against my skin.

"We can't take a dog with us to patrol. What if we encountered a villain?" She said kindly. I frowned.

"Okay, fine. Bye Toney." I sighed dramatically as we closed the gate to our backyard. The puppy tilted his head and whined again as if to say 'where are you going?'.

"Poor baby." I frowned. Kyouka laughed sweetly, intertwining her fingers with mine as we began the short walk to our agency building.

"He'll be alright." She assured.

"I don't think I will." I joked, leaning into my partners' side. Tone was my second ever pet, my first ever dog, and though we'd only gotten him a week ago I'd already become very attached. Perhaps because he was just another thing in addition to a home, a life, and.. taxes that I got to share with Kyouka. I loved sharing every aspect of my life with her more than anything.

"Oh!" Kyouka exclaimed, breaking me from my thoughts and lazily raising a finger in the air as if she'd remembered something. "You wanted me to remind you to drop by UA after work, right?"

"Oh, right! Thanks," I thanked her, my gratitude followed shortly by a sigh. "But telling me so early in the day? There's no way I'll remember later." Kyouka chuckled as we approached the entrance to our building.

"What do you need to do there anyway?" She asked.

"Oh I just wanted to drop off some new paint for Eri, she's been getting really into art these days. It makes me really happy." I smiled genuinely, thinking fondly of my sister, and Kyouka returned the gesture, squeezing my hand.

"That's really sweet, babe. Are you sure she'll be out of classes by then, though?" I tapped my chin thoughtfully.

"I think s-"

"Whoah, look!" I was interrupted mid-sentence by a group of teenagers who caught up to us just before we made our way inside the agency. It's Earphone Jack and (insert hero name)!!" A boy from the small crowd exclaimed. He grinned at us as we turned to face them, caught by surprise. "Congratulations on making 6th and 8th on the charts, you guys deserve it!" He cheered.

Kyouka was still nervous around fans, even after dealing with them for three years now. She'd told me herself that she still couldn't quick believe she had any. Which of course was ridiculous because she was the most deserving hero of admiration in my opinion. Still, I brushed my thumb along her knuckles in comfort and answered the kids myself.

"Thank you, I still can't believe it myself." I chuckled.

"Seriously?" A girl from the group tilted her head in wonderment. "Personally I think you should've ranked even higher. Especially with all the work it must have taken to master that crazy quirk of yo-"

"Can I get your signatures?" Another cut her off before she could continue.

"Oh me too," The fourth chimed in. "I love that y'all fight together as a couple, it's really great to see this kind of queer representation in the hero profession."

"Yeah, I want to go to UA and become a hero just like you!"

"Mhm!"

Kyouka stepped back behind me and I could tell that she was getting a little overwhelmed, but before I could do anything about it, a certain eavesdropping and explosive blonde walked out of the front doors.

Bakugo grabbed an item from each of the kids, rather suddenly. A hat, a math book, a bookbag, etc. And then tossed Kyouka a marker, which only with her quick reflexes could anyone have caught. Getting the rather forceful message we signed the objects quickly and then Bakugo snatched them and threw them back to the fans.

"There, now get lost. And next time maybe don't blab about these two idiots being your so called 'favorite heroes' outside my agency."

"Sorry sir." The kids laughed, running off and chatting to each other loudly, clearly not threatened in the least by Bakugo's attempts at rudeness. Somehow his bullying nature had lost affect over time, and did little to scare anyone anymore. It was really quite funny.

"Yeah, so, I think you meant our agency." Kyouka corrected the hero after the teens had left, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now get inside, you'll be late to check in for patrol."

"Right." I pulled Kyouka inside by the hand, following our friend.

Once we'd graduated UA, me and Kyouka had spent only about four or five months as sidekicks before Kirishima, Bakugo, and Mina had approached us with the proposition of putting together a hero team on our own. We'd agreed, reluctantly, and the new agency had done surprisingly well for itself within only a short amount of time. Especially recently since Midoriya had risen to the number one hero spot and Bakugo had been extra passionate with his hero work in attempts to rise above his spot as the number three hero and beat him. That much hadn't changed.

It'd been four years since we'd become a team and nearly five since we'd graduated highschool. Right out of the gate after graduation Kiri had proposed to Bakugo, and only a year later me and Kyouka had sealed the deal with a small, low key, but perfect wedding. Mina was a single mom to the most hilarious little girl I had ever met, which she balanced skillfully with her hero work, and many of our other classmates had settled into adult life as well.

Hagakure and Ojiro had two little twins, one with an invisible tail, and the other fully invisible save for their tail. Simply put, they were the most terrifying toddlers I'd ever met. And then there was Tsu and Tokoyami, who shared an apartment as platonic life partners across the country, and Todoroki, who had moved in not long ago to the house right next to ours and was now a loving uncle to his sisters' many children. The rowdy bunch even came by to visit every once in a while and sometimes Todoroki brought them over to our place for snacks. And of course he was the number four hero as well, and probably would've ranked higher had it not been for his focus on family. Then there's Uraraka, who had come to be one of the strongest heroes in the history of the profession, and had risen above everyone's expectations into the number two hero spot. And Iida, who was working for his brother's old agency, where Koda and Shoji had ended up joining him not long ago. Sato had become an expert rescue hero, and Momo had gone into hero work for herself. She still visited often, having dinner with us almost every Friday night. Lastly, Denki, Aoyama, and Sero had joined agencies of the previous generation of heroes to keep their important work alive and growing. Specifically Kamui Woods, Mirko, and Hawks.

All in all, everyone had grown up into wonderful heroes, and great friends, and every day I felt luckier to have all of them by my side. I glanced over next to me.

"I wonder if anything interesting will happen today." Kyouka yawned as she dawned her hero costume beside me.

Lucky to have all of them by my side, yes. But especially Kyouka.

I must have been smiling at her a little too long, because she noticed and smirked at me.

"What?" She asked. I shuffled over and pulled her into a long hug.

"Nothing," I grinned, pulling on my boots and leaving the dressing room. "You ready?"

Kyouka gently brought my face to hers for a quick kiss. "Yep," She answered. "Oh and remember to stop by UA after work." She restated jokingly.

"Right," I laughed. "You know you're going to have to say it about twelve more times for me to actually remember, right?"

"I know." We walked out of the agency and onto the sidewalk, where we began out patrol. It was quiet for a while. The kind of comfortable silence that you could exist in forever. Until, that is..

"So, remember to drop by U-"

"Oh my god Kyouka." I facepalmed. Perhaps silence can't always last forever.

"Help! Help! There's a villain!" Someone yelled from nearby.

Or peace, for that matter.

I nodded to Kyouka, and we took off running in the direction of the cries. No matter how difficult our job or lives got, I would always cherish every moment of it, as long as I was running alongside her. Because I still had a lot of time to make up for all those days I spent not by her side.