Archive of Our Own

Izuku is so damn nervous after knocking on the door that he’s afraid he’s going to sweat through his dress shirt and coat.

He’s trying to adjust his black tie - and no, he still didn’t get it right today because he was too anxious, fumbling with his hands - and it’s not cooperating with his one free hand.  He gives up on it, before he undoes it entirely by accident, running his hand through his hair, instead.

He shouldn’t be this nervous.  He’s just seeing his childhood friend again properly for the first time in a few years.  They have just been too busy to see each other in anything but passing.  That’s totally normal.

Izuku is twenty years old and the pro Hero ‘Deku.’  Actually, as of this year, he’s the Number One Hero, though his feeling of accomplishment is muddled after everything that went into defeating the Paranormal Liberation Front when he was in school.  Still, he survived his time at Yuuei, he’s a very successful young professional, and he’s here to do some catching up with an old friend.

It’s the fact that he’s holding a bouquet of roses that makes him nervous, though.

He just about jumps out of his skin when she opens the door.  She smiles at him at first and ugh, she’s so beautiful.  She has her hair a little messy today, growing it out longer as she gets older, but she’s got it tied by a knot in the back, leaving only her bangs free in the front.  She smiles at him, though her eyes trail over to the flowers and she looks confused.

“Deku?  What a wonderful surprise!”  Ochako says, her hand still on the door.  “Did you want to come in?  I have some free time today!”

Izuku nods and smiles nervously back.  He knows that already, because he managed to get their schedules to line up on purpose, requesting the next week off.  It’s unheard of for him to do so, though this is special.  She was just idly discussing her own work schedule with him via text - she has a few days off due to an internal agency transition she’s making, she mentioned - and he made it work.

“I’d love to, Ochako,” Izuku says, so Ochako huffs a bit, giving him a sardonic look, because he’s trying to sound more serious.  Once upon a time, he used to call her ‘Occhan,’ though he was too bashful to continue doing so after she moved away.  There’s still a quiet intimacy between them that he’s willing to address her casually, though, and she’s told him she doesn’t mind either way.

Izuku and Ochako grew up together, their respective mothers having met at a sewing class when the Uraraka family moved to Tokyo for work.  It may have been a few years since they’ve seen each other more than in passing, but it still feels natural, despite how he’s sweating bullets.  It’s him who plans to make this kind of awkward, though he fervently hopes that it all works out.

Ochako invites him in, and he smiles more warmly as he surveys her new home, working his shoes off at the door.  She lives in a very nice, one-story suburban house, a product of her own success as a pro Hero now.  They’ve mostly kept in touch via phone and text for the past few years, too busy for casual visits like this, but he hopes to change that today.  Still, he’s glad to see that she’s doing so well for herself.

There’s framed photographs on the wall and Izuku stops and smiles at them, especially the first one.  His mom has a copy of this same photo in their home, though it makes him feel silly and mushy inside that Ochako keeps one, too.

In it, he’s just a tiny baby, his hair still dark and black, because it turned green later.  Ochako holds him in her arms in the photo, smiling with closed eyes and a runny nose for the camera.  It was a few weeks after he came home from the hospital, so she was dealing with summer allergies.

Still, she was so thrilled to meet little Izuku Midoriya… because Izuku is twenty years old but Ochako is twenty-seven.  They grew up together but not strictly as peers.  She was someone he looked up to as a kid, in a different way from Katsuki.

‘Kacchan’ is another nickname Izuku has abandoned as he’s gotten older and more mature.  A lot changed in their time at Yuuei together.  Though their past is complicated and fraught with conflict, they came to an understanding, eventually.  Katsuki is no longer ‘Kacchan’ and Izuku is no longer ‘Deku’ out of costume to him, yet they are friends now, as much as they can be.

Katsuki was his symbol of victory, for good and for ill, but Ochako was who he looked at as hope.  He feels silly just thinking about it, but it’s true.

She leads him through the house and there’s some other framed pictures.  There’s one of him as a toddler blowing out some candles, wearing an All Might onesie as his eyes glitter from the little flames, while Ochako smiles and claps for him next to her mom.  There’s one of her leaning over his shoulder as he marvels at an All Might comic book, a soft, curious smile on her face as she joins him in reading it.

There’s a picture of Inko leaning down on the walking path of a park, still young and slim, with a little Izuku and beaming Ochako.  Inko has her hands on each of their shoulders, Ochako’s head about level with hers, but Izuku is tiny by comparison.  Inko smiles for the camera, crouching low, and looks so proud.

There’s another one of Izuku, a bit older, maybe six or seven.  It’s one of the last ones they took before the Uraraka family moved away again from Tokyo.  He and Ochako are sitting together and smiling in summer clothes, perched on the back bed of Mr. Uraraka’s pickup truck.  Mrs. Uraraka stands on the side of the truck, waving from over the edge and wearing a sunhat and overalls.  Izuku and Ochako each have an ice cream bar and look thrilled, their free hands joined on the truck bed.

There’s one of her right after she and her family had to move back to the western part of Japan due to work, grinning with her parents in front of the first home they ever owned, rather than renting.  Her parents stand on either side of her, their hands on her shoulders, the picture taken by the realtor.

She ended up going to Shiketsu for Hero school because of that.  So there’s another picture of her wearing her military-style Shiketsu uniform - and she was so pretty in it, too, playfully tilting her hat at the camera with a grin while sitting on a low retaining wall for the school lawn with her legs crossed - and another of the first time she wore her Hero costume.

Izuku remembers those years as the hardest for him.  Ochako kept Katsuki from being too mean when she was there, but it all got so much worse when she left.  He was the quirkless Deku, useless and worthless, and now the older babysitter wasn’t there to protect him.  Those years of his life were hell, not that he blames her for it.

He remembers when she came back to Tokyo briefly as a Shiketsu student, provisionally licensed and almost finished, interning in the city as part of an exchange program.  He was only ten, and she incidentally found him walking home from school, showing up with a vibrant, magazine-worthy smile and her costume.  She was seventeen and already almost a pro Hero.

Little Izuku looked at her with a somber expression as he held his backpack straps, still wearing gauze taped to his chin from when he got pushed over in the hallway earlier at school.  He wonders if she knew.  If she knew what was happening while she was away.  She’s never admitted it, but he remembers seeing her happiness crack at the sight of him.

Her happiness cracked at seeing a little boy and one of the most important people in her life facing a situation she couldn’t save him from, the ultimate nightmare.

She reminded him that Deku, the mean nickname Katsuki gave him even when she had been there, really means you can do it, though.  She reminded him that she thinks he’s one of the greatest people in the whole world, and how much he matters to her, even if other people think he’s worthless.  She hugged him, a true Hero, and told him that he could always call her, whenever he needed help.  Maybe she couldn’t make them treat him better, but she could still be there for him.

The truth is, that’s the moment that Izuku fell in love with Ochako.

But she still had to leave.  He met All Might later and became the ninth in line to succeed One for All.  Izuku contemplates this as he stops in her open kitchen and living room space, the hardwood floor cool on his socks.  Ochako sighs and faces away from him for a moment, scratching the back of her head.

She wears a simple, long-sleeved yellow shirt and jeans, but Izuku swallows because he still thinks she’s so attractive.  Impulsively, he wishes he could walk up and wrap his arm around her waist to pull her close, fingers dancing where her shirt rides up slightly.  He’d never be so rude, though.  Then she turns to smile at him and he lets his eyes dart away, feeling guilty for checking her out behind her back.

He’s always been behind her, watching after her and pining like a fool.

“I just put Kibo down for her nap.  So, we have a few minutes to chat.  I… I can take those flowers and put them in a vase, if you like?”  Ochako says, hesitating.  Izuku nods quickly and offers them to her.  She accepts them, but she just seems very confused.

“Of course!  They’re for you!”  Izuku replies, smiling brightly at her.  She smiles, too, but she still looks a little surprised.

“Gotcha… So!  How’s being Number One?  I couldn’t make it to the last few Hero rankings.  I’m only in the nineties right now, anyway.  You know how it is…”

“You’re one of the most proficient rescue Heroes of your cohort,” Izuku counters quickly.  He coughs, backpedaling.  He didn’t mean to emphasize the distance between them, but Ochako just exhales heavily through her nose and it’s too late.  “I mean… You deserve higher.  I think so, at least.”

She still smiles, though, looking grateful for the reassurance.

“Well, I have merchandise now!  Crazy, isn’t it?”  Izuku doesn’t want to admit that he owns two Uravity shirts, a hoodie, and four action figures of her.  So he just grins and nods.  “My parents retired last year.  Sorry you couldn’t make it to the party.”

“Me, too.  I sent them a card.  Did they get it?”  Ochako nods, looking pensive.  This is so awkward, and they’re dancing around the important questions.  “How… how have you been holding up?”

Izuku immediately winces.  He wanted that to come out better.  Ochako just smiles wistfully and gestures to the kitchen island, where there’s a few high-top chairs.

“I’m… I’m doing better,” she admits softly.  “Go ahead and sit down, Deku.  I’ll make us something to eat.”

Izuku wants to protest, then decides not to.  She is the host, after all.  So he works himself out of his black dress coat and sets it on the back of his chair.  She watches him with a fond expression, then turns away as she searches for plates.

Izuku watches her and sighs in contentment.  This feels like when they were growing up, all over again.  For years, Ochako was a constant in his life.  The Midoriya family held such an important place in her life, too.  Inko was able to watch her for her parents, and she was able to help Inko with Izuku and enjoy a stable home life.

It helped her parents out so much, and they credit their current financial stability to that period of their lives, even if it meant she spent more time with the Midoriya family than her own parents.

Katsuki used to sneer and call her Izuku’s babysitter but she was so much more than that.  For years, she was all Izuku had, besides his mom.  When his other friends abandoned him and began to mistreat him, he had Ochako.  She stood up for him.  She helped him with school.

She was his constant.

Izuku doesn’t have the words to describe how devastated he was when she had to move away.  He cried and cried, feeling like his life was over as she hugged him and told him that it would all be okay, eventually.  They would still talk and write to each other.  This was ‘I’ll see you later,’ not ‘goodbye.’

And she meant it.  They were both busy and sometimes they were less consistent than they wanted to be.  But Izuku worked so hard to keep in touch with her, and Ochako did the same for him.  He just kept some things to himself, whether it was Katsuki’s behavior… or One for All.

Oh, Ochako knows he was trained by All Might and that his quirk mysteriously came in at fifteen.  She’s been very gracious to never question that.  But he’s never found the courage to tell her the truth about it.  Then again, he never told anyone else, either.  Katsuki still believes Izuku had a quirk when he was younger and just hid it for some inscrutable reason.

Almost nobody knows about One for All now.  All Might and Gran Torino both passed away last year of natural causes, while Sir Nighteye died when Izuku was at Yuuei.  Izuku is one of the last ones who knows the truth, besides Nezu and Recovery Girl.  He’s not in a hurry to spread around how his quirk is just borrowed and he’s a fraud, after all.

Izuku still remembers the first time he met Uravity in the field after becoming a Hero-in-training.  The League of Villains had been a constant thorn in the side of Yuuei during his first year.  They put Tsuyu Asui in the hospital at summer camp, and they nearly killed Katsuki at Kamino.  But their altercation with the Meta Liberation Army at Deika City went poorly and most of them died in the process.

Tomura Shigaraki tried to have All for One transferred to himself as an act of desperation, only for the Heroes to interrupt him at roughly sixty percent completion.  What followed was a protracted battle with the Paranormal Liberation Front, with Izuku ‘Deku’ Midoriya at the forefront.  When Endeavor fell, preventing Shigaraki from freeing All for One from Tartarus, Deku was all they had left to lead them, as the designated successor to All Might.

No one wanted to admit out loud he was clearly the only one who could challenge Tomura Shigaraki, even though it was true. 

He ran into Uravity among several other Heroes protecting civilians from the crossfire in the aftermath.  He was struggling with all the prior Vestige quirks dumped on him all at once, no one there to teach him how to use things like Float or Smokescreen.  But he ran into Uravity, bloodied and trying to defend a dozen people from five villains alone, like the true Hero she is.

They were dark times.  But Izuku destroyed those villains, standing between Uravity and them.  He remembers her awed look of confusion and wonder at seeing him in his damaged costume, wearing Gran Torino’s battered cape, as she caught sight of the fully-fledged final user of One for All.

Izuku would like to hope that she saw him in a different light that day:  not as little Izuku, the boy she grew up alongside, but Deku, the pro Hero that she gave hope to.

“All done,” Ochako says as she turns back with some small sandwiches, setting them down on the table for them.  She learned to cook from his mom, but he doesn’t blame her for not bothering today.  She’s probably really tired, and today is a precious day off for her.  She continues as she sits down across from him, “So… why the roses, Deku?”

Izuku has a sandwich in his hand from the plate, about to thank her, except he chokes on air and drops it again.  She blinks slowly at him, confused, and he tries to remember how to breathe.

“I… Um, well… They’re really pretty!  Like— Like you are!  And they made me think of you.  Yeah.  Yup.”

“Aw, thanks!  I’m so flattered.”  She smiles at him, and he curses his own awkwardness.  She just thinks it’s a friendly gesture.  He curses his past self for not being smart enough to write a love letter for this occasion.  “Y’know, you should’ve saved those for one of those pretty girls always yelling for you from the sidelines.  How are you still single, anyway?”

She says it in a way that’s meant to be good-natured, but Izuku just chuckles nervously, then swallows thickly.  He realizes, to his shame, that he won’t be able to eat that sandwich now.  His stomach feels like it’s about to violently attempt to escape up his throat.

“Well, y’know… None of them would compare to Uravity,” he says in a very even voice, finally making it pretty damn unambiguous why he came today.  He looks directly at her and hopes he conveys how determined he is, not how terrified he feels at how she might react.

Ochako stares at him for several moments, and he watches her blushmarks spread across her face.  She looks away for a moment, conflicted, and he wants to kick himself.  This whole thing is so delicate, and he’s making a fool of himself.

“I’m sorry, I just—“

“C’mon, I want to show you something,” Ochako interrupts quietly, standing up from across the island.  She gently pushes her chair in and gestures for him to follow her.  So he does, mirroring her with the chair, and politely lets her lead him further into the house.

She stops at one of the bedrooms and he steps carefully to her side, taking advantage of how he’s slightly taller to look past her.  He hovers behind her, but she just leans back into him; it feels very intimate and familiar to him.

“What do you see?”  She’s whispering, but he can hear her smile.  It makes him smile softly, too, at what they’re looking at.

In the room is Kibo, her young daughter.  Kibo has brown hair, a lighter shade than her mother’s, with pudgy little cheeks and the cutest little expression on her face.  She’s sleeping peacefully in her small bed, and Izuku thinks she’s beautiful.  If she opened her eyes, they would be a soft blue, just like he remembers.

She’s about three, give or take.  He saw her right after she was born, invited along with Inko to meet her.  He was so enraptured by little baby Kibo, and he teared up holding her, feeling like he was truly holding a genuine miracle.  Ochako looked so proud to see them together, and it made him feel special.  Maybe Kibo isn’t his daughter, but the way she’s so important to Ochako and Ochako is so important to him makes it feel like that doesn’t matter at all.

Accordingly, Ochako’s last name isn’t ‘Uraraka’ anymore.  It’s actually ‘Nakano.’  She married another pro Hero shortly after the defeat of Tomura Shigaraki and they had a child together.  But her husband was tragically killed in a villain altercation about two years ago, leaving her a single mother.

Izuku is quietly, selfishly glad that he doesn’t have to call her by her married name.  He wouldn’t ever want to admit that out loud.

Part of him wants to put his hand on Ochako’s waist or shoulder, but he feels like that would be too forward.  Standing here is a reminder of the kind of transgression he’s committing.  Part of him knows that what he wants is… maybe sort of weird.  He knows Ochako probably wouldn’t see him that way still, in a 'romantic' light.  They remain, after all, not peers.

He just… He wants her to.  He wants her to, so much.  He was happy she was happy, perfectly content to let her seek her happiness with her family, but she’s single now and he just…

He just wants her to see him like he sees her.

“She’s my whole world now, Deku,” Ochako whispers, turning her neck to smile softly at Izuku.  “I have work, and I have a nanny for her when I’m out.  But I take less shifts now because I want to come home to Kibo every day I can.  I can’t… I can’t afford to…”

She can’t afford to not come home, she doesn’t want to say.  But more to the point, she can’t afford to let anything distract her from her daughter.  She doesn’t want to admit it, but Izuku slowly, sadly nods.  He can imagine his mom having said the same thing, once upon a time.

She just trails off and takes a deep breath, then gestures for Izuku to go back to the kitchen.  He does, and he can hear her sniffling behind him as he goes.  But when he reaches the kitchen island and sits back down, she doesn’t have any tears in her eyes.  She won’t let herself break like that in front of him.

Ochako was always strong for him.  Now that he’s older, that’s a little sad.  He wants her to know that it’s alright for her to be vulnerable with him.  But he understands that things are complicated right now.

He wonders if he’s being rude or selfish.  He doesn’t mean to.  He just wants to show Ochako how much he cares for her.  He just wishes this was all easier.

“Deku.”  He looks back up at her, surprised by how firm her tone is.  “I want… I want you to understand some things.”  She takes a deep breath and looks away from him.  She’s so beautiful, and he hates to see her sad like this.  It’s even worse that he made her sad.  “I am twenty-seven years old.  I was married and had a kid.”  She chuckles ruefully.  “My life is over!  At least, as far as the press is concerned.  All they ever care about is gossip about who my ‘rebound’ might be, and my magazine spreads.”

Izuku is not about to admit that he bought the first ever Uravity magazine spread she did, wearing a pretty black, white, and pink bikini based off her costume, and that he still has it.  He just frowns and nods, blushing slightly at his own stupid thoughts.

Ochako deserves to be treated better by the press.  She deserves a lot of things, really.  The whole world, even.

“You are twenty years old, almost twenty-one,” she continues, looking back over at him, but now she knows.  He realizes that she knows, in such a deep sense, what’s going on.  It makes him feel naked, like one of those nightmares where he shows up to fight Shigaraki without pants.  “You are the Number Nne Hero.  Our ‘Symbol of Hope.’  You have thousands of women and men who would love to be with you.  And you’re telling me that you came to see me, a widow grandma, and give me roses?”

“Ochako!”  Izuku says, mortified.  He knows that people have these crazy ideas about ‘Christmas cake’ and how women’s lives end at twenty-five, but hearing Ochako talk about herself in those terms gives him such a visceral sense of disgust.  “You shouldn’t think of yourself like that!”

Ochako just chuckles and sighs, looking over at another picture on the wall.  It’s from when Izuku graduated, standing with All Might on one side of him and Ochako on the other, taking time off from being a young pro Hero to come attend his ceremony.  All three of them were grinning so brightly; it was the only time he got to introduce her to All Might in person.

She was married then, and he was under no illusions that he’d ever have a chance with her again.  Her wedding ring is visible on the hand she has around his shoulder, her head leaning playfully against him.

But here he sits and he just so desperately wants—

“Izuku,” Ochako whispers dangerously, and Izuku shrinks in his seat, “I… I’m not even going to get into how you have no idea if I’ve… If I’ve moved on.”  Izuku feels a sharp stab of guilt.  He didn’t think this through.  “But I have a child.  That’s the most important thing.  Kibo is my entire life.  It’s just her and I.  You and I… We live in different worlds now.”

“Ochako, please, I’m sorry I didn’t… I didn’t think hard enough about some of this.  But I’m serious, I’m so, so serious about this.  I’m not…”  He trails off because she looks hurt.

“Izuku, I love you.  I really do.  You’re one of the most important people I have ever met.  Every time that Deku is on the news, I am so proud to have been a part of that.  I am proud of you.”  She chuckles at the way his eyes shimmer.  “But I can’t… I look at you right now and I can’t stop thinking about you as a little five year old, presenting twelve year old me a little crayon drawing of me.  You were so cute, and…”

Ochako takes a deep, shuddering breath and brings her hand to her mouth, looking away for a minute.  Then she drops it into her lap again and makes a frustrated sigh.

“Listen.  I love you, but… I don’t know.  I’m flattered.  I really am.  I know you’re… you’re such a great person.  I’m sure you… I’m sure you’d be a great partner to some lucky girl one day.  But, I’m sorry, I just can’t be your… your older woman fantasy, or whatever.  I deserve better than that from you.”

“I would never treat you like—“  Izuku pauses and inhales deeply, because he’s a bit frustrated.  He’s hurt that she thinks he would ever just… use her like that.  “I brought you roses today because I’ve been in love with you since I was ten years old, did you know that?”

“I… No, I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

“I was ten years old,” Izuku says, and he’s annoyed with himself that he’s crying, “and the greatest Hero I’d ever gotten to meet told me that she still thought I could do it.  Katsuki was there, and he was always gonna be a great Hero, yet he thought I was worthless.  All Might was too far away, just an idea.  But you came back, as Uravity, and you told me you still believe in me.  And I loved you.  I really do, even still.”

Ochako stares at him in awe, as if she really never would’ve realized without him spelling it out.  Izuku huffs, because he’s not sure if that’s offensive or just dismaying.  He can’t decide which is worse:  that she doesn’t think he’d ever feel that way, or that she can’t see why he would.

“And then you got married.  You got married, Ochako, and I stood there in the ceremony for you, still a Hero course student, even though I had already saved all of Japan once, and I clapped and smiled for you.  I was heartbroken, but I was happy, too!  Because you were happy.”

Ochako’s lips part, and he can see how she’s replaying every memory between them from the last ten years.  He wonders if she can see it now:  how he clung to her every word and still thinks she could hang the moon in the sky.  She slowly looks sadder and sadder as he continues.

“But… I’m sorry.  I’m so sorry that he died.  I’m not heartless.  I can’t imagine how hard that must be.  And I’ll still be here for you, no matter what.  But… I don’t know.  I didn’t want to never admit how much I really love you, Ochako.  Like that.  So… that’s it.  You’re not… I would never look at you like that, I can’t…”

Izuku trails off and shakes his head.  He can feel this slipping away.  He can see how ultimately, he missed his chance.  Maybe there was never a chance at all.  She was his right person at the wrong time.  It wouldn’t have been right for him to bring up when he was still so young.

So he stands up and picks up his coat.  He’s just very foolish.  Now he’s realizing that this was all really just a misguided mistake.  Ochako deserves better than him, anyway, even if she doesn’t see it that way.  So he walks towards the front and puts his coat on as he goes.  It’s very quiet in the house, and he figures she’s just letting him leave.

That’s alright with him.  They just need space.  He goes to therapy now - not because of Ochako, but because of what he went through as a kid - and his therapist did point out that closure is a myth.  His therapist suggested he should just let Ochako go and move on, though Izuku dismissed that idea.

But now he thinks he understands.  Closure is a myth, but he thinks he feels something as close as he can get.  He loves Ochako so much, but it takes more than that for a relationship to work.  And she’s right, their lives are very different now and they have so many responsibilities in their lives that diverge greatly.

He slips his shoes on and doesn’t look back as he leaves her house.  He’s not angry.  He just feels… empty.  Stupid.  Childish.  Maybe he’s twenty, but he distinctly doesn’t feel like a real adult right now.  The difference between Ochako and him feels enormous, and because of that he can’t blame her.

He tries to put himself in her position, and he thinks he really understands.  What he’s asking for must be so surreal for her.  Besides, if he was a single parent, he wouldn’t let anything ever come between him and his child.  He feels terrible for being so selfish.

He makes it halfway to his car when her front door slams open.

“Deku, wait!”  Izuku stops and turns just in time to stop her from crashing into him.  He ends up with his hands on her arms as she presses against him, and he realizes to his confusion that she came running out without shoes.  “I… Hold on for one second.”

“No, it’s alright.  I… I get it.  I put you on the spot and that wasn’t right of me.  I’m sorry.  You deserve better.  I won’t hold this against—“

She steps back and puts her finger on his mouth.

“Hush,” she says firmly, so he goes quiet.  “Just… listen.”  She takes a very deep breath and looks around them.  They look ridiculous, standing in her driveway near his rental car, her barefoot in casual clothes and him in dress clothes.  But he listens.  He owes her that much.  “I… I remember that time you saved me, y’know.”

“Wha…?”  Izuku asks, muffled by her finger.  She smiles at him and shakes her head, so he stays quiet.  

He doesn’t think he saved her.  She needed help.  Maybe that distinction matters more to him than her.  He wonders grimly if she’s more insecure about her own Heroism than he realized.

“You were so… different,” she says quietly, smiling at him softly.  “I was so proud of you, but I also thought you were grown up.  I don’t know.  I never really reckoned with that train of thought.  It felt perverted to even skirt the edges of it.  But here you are at my home with roses, confessing your love to me, and… I still don’t know.”

“Ochako… that isn’t fair,” Izuku whispers.  She pulls her hand away from his mouth and sighs.

“I… I know, Deku.  I just… I don’t know what I want.  But part of me feels like letting you walk away right now is the worst mistake I could ever make.  Like I’ll lose you in more ways than one, if I do.  I don’t… I’m sorry.  I don’t want to hurt you.  I just… I feel helpless.  This is so sudden.  Does that make sense?”  Izuku swallows and nods.  It’s not sudden for him, but he knows it’s different for her.  “Okay… So how about this.”

She takes a very, very deep breath, looking very determined.  She puffs her cheeks out at him for a moment, and he chuckles slightly.  Then she blows out the air and licks her lips.

“We can go on a date.  I have a few days off here.  I get the feeling you paid attention to my texts about that and have time off, too, huh?”  He nods, his expression sheepish, because he’s completely caught.  She just huffs and smiles.  “So… we can go on one date.  We can try it out.  But I need you to promise me, Deku, promise me that if I… If I’m not okay with this, you won’t hate me.  I can’t… I can’t imagine losing you, please…”

She’s pulled her hands up to her front as she speaks, looking down in shame as she makes fists.  She looks so small and scared.  It’s heartbreaking, but it also makes him happy in a silly way.

Despite himself, Izuku smiles at her.  He’s never felt more sure that he matters to her.  Maybe not quite in the way he wishes he did, but he does, because she looks terrified at the prospect of losing him.

She makes a startled noise as he wraps his arms around her, hovering in the crook of her neck.  He breathes in her scent, and she also takes a sharp breath as he pulls her close, his hands across her back and her arms against his chest.  He’s not that much taller than her, but she suddenly feels so tiny like this.

Or maybe he’s just all grown up.

“I’d never leave you,” Izuku whispers in a weighty, husky voice.  Ochako makes a slightly choked noise, and he can feel the heat of her blush on his cheek.  He lingers, though, enjoying this closeness.  Even in spite of how he’s hopelessly in love with her, he’s also just… missed her.  He’s missed her a lot.  “How does Saturday night sound?”

“I— Yeah, haha… I’ll set it up with the nanny,” Ochako says, voice shrill and cracking.  Izuku feels satisfied by that.  Maybe she hasn’t actively thought about him as a romantic partner before today, but he would be thrilled if she can’t get it out of her head now.

Maybe that’s too aspirational.  It’s not as if he’s that much of a catch.  He’s awkward for the press, he’s covered in scars, he’s not particularly tall or dashing, and he’s got all kinds of issues.  He can’t blame Ochako for hesitating.

But he still plans to do his best for her.

She’s still blushing in the afternoon sun as she offers a small wave at him, while he backs out of her driveway in his rental car.  He just smiles and waves back through the windshield as he leaves.

He’s not sure he feels accomplished, but… he feels determined.

He just wants her to see how important she is to him.

When Izuku arrives at the appointed time, he feels ready.

He wears a freshly pressed, tucked in dress shirt, but no tie - and it’s definitely not because he couldn’t get it done right - along with black slacks.  He has his sleeves on his dress shirt, which is silky and smooth, rolled up, and he doesn’t mind showing off the scars on his arm.  He feels like he actually looks pretty good tonight, all things considered.

He still has the red shoes, though.  No point in pretending he’s something he’s not.

When he walks up to Ochako’s front door and knocks again, holding fresh flowers, she takes his breath away when she answers.  She opens it wearing a light pink blouse with a ruffled top edge, her shoulders and collarbones exposed by spaghetti straps.  She has a beautiful black skirt with a little bow on her hip, the skirt running down to her knees, and cute little sandals.  She also has her hair tied back, very clean and brushed now; when she later turns, he notices she has a black bow in her hair.

“Hello, Izuku,” she whispers, looking him up and down and grinning a bit.  She looks very pleased at the way his mouth hangs open as he stares back at her.  But her lips part as she assesses him and how his shirt hugs his waist, so she hesitates for a moment.  “I… You look great!  C’mon, I’ll put those flowers in a vase and let the sitter know that we’re going.”

She hums to herself as she puts the flowers in a vase on her kitchen island.  The other roses are still on her windowsill, looking beautiful in the setting sun.  Izuku tries not to stare at her back as she goes.  Then Ochako calls out to the nanny that she’s going to be heading out but hopes to be home by eleven.

Izuku offers the woman - a young lady who looks like she’s probably about his age - a small smile.  She has black, curly hair, thick, black-rimmed glasses, and a sardonic expression.  It’s not quite disapproving but maybe just slightly judgmental.  She has that air about her of ‘knowing that he’s trying to sleep with her boss and thinking he’s kind of tacky for trying.’

Izuku just scratches his neck and tries not to look offended.  He knows he probably seems ridiculous from the outside looking in.  She wouldn’t appreciate how much he really cares about Ochako.

They leave, and Ochako lets him open the car door for her, giggling slightly.  He almost feels like a real gentleman.  Then she offers him a cheeky smile as he takes his seat on the driver’s side.

“So, Deku, mighty Number One pro Hero and successor to All Might,” Izuku chuckles nervously at that one, “where are we going for tonight?”

“Well, I had something pretty traditional in mind.  I wanted to go down by the amusement park on the boardwalk.  What do you say?”  Ochako stares at him for a moment, blinking quickly, and Izuku feels his face warming up.  He’s not sure what the problem is.  “What?”

“I just… That’s very unassuming,” Ochako says diplomatically.  Izuku frowns and looks up at the ceiling, trying to collect his thoughts.  “It’s okay!  I’m into it.  Let’s go!”

Izuku licks his lips and tries to choose his words very carefully.  He still hasn’t started the car yet, so he can afford to take his time.

“I ran through about fifty different ideas for this,” he admits casually.  “I have an entire notebook.  I contemplated spending a lot of money on this.  But I don’t… I don’t want to show off.  I just want it to be us.  It doesn’t… It’s not weird.  I know you feel weird, but I just want it to be normal and fun.  Alright?”

He was sort of speaking to the roof of the car, so he looks down at her and finds her with a thoughtful expression.  She slowly smiles, though, and looks down at the glove box.

“Spending a lot of money wouldn’t have made it special,” she says, agreeing with his train of logic.  She sounds sincere, not judgmental.  He appreciates that more than she probably knows.  “I’m glad this is what you picked.  I’m excited.”

Izuku nods firmly when she looks at him again, then starts the car and puts it into reverse.  He’s a pretty careful driver, not that he drives that much.  Usually, he takes the train or uses One for All to zip around for work.  But he drives infrequently enough that he takes it really seriously when he does.  He only learned at All Might's insistence, anyway

He puts the car into gear on the street, then looks down at her hand with his foot still on the break.  Her neighborhood is pretty quiet, so he can take just a second for this.

“May I?”  He asks with a small smile.  She looks at him, then follows his gaze.  Then she chuckles slightly and reaches down to thread her fingers into his, resting his hand below hers on the gear shifter.  “I remember I got to hold your hand all the time when we were kids.  I missed that a lot.”

It’s a dangerous line to walk, to remind her of the difference in their ages and lives.  But he wants to reminisce, too.  He figures that there’s no point in dancing around it.  She’s still his best friend, so he doesn’t see why he should treat her any different.

Ochako just hums and squeezes his hand, mindful of her pinky.

“You could’ve held my hand when you saw me again,” she says quietly.  The suburbs slowly give way to larger buildings as he drives along.  “Were you too shy to ask me?”

“Ha, yeah.  Y’know, I was at your wedding and you offered to dance with me.  Announced me as ‘Izuku Midoriya, my childhood best friend’ and twirled me around, like it was no big deal.  I was so sweaty.  You were so damn pretty in your dress.  I… It was a good day.”

Izuku goes quiet as his brain catches up with his mouth, and he wonders if maybe he’s stepped over that line.  He looks over, and she’s just looking at him with an even expression, neither unhappy nor thrilled.  It’s a bit disarming, actually.

“It was a good day,” she agrees quietly as he turns back to the road.  “And I remember that.  I thought you were just nervous about being bad at dancing.  I was so happy to see you there.  You looked so handsome in your suit, and… Well.  I was glad to see you succeeding, even after Shigaraki.”

“I’m sorry for how it all worked out,” Izuku says in a somber voice.  “You seemed really happy.  I… All I wanted was for you to be as happy as you seemed that day all the time.”

“I was happy.  And… I’m… I’ve made peace with what happened, mostly.  It’s part of the job.  We knew that could happen going into it.  Akimitsu and I… We were happy.  I miss him.  But he wouldn’t want me to wallow in it, either.”  Ochako licks her teeth behind her lips, mindful of her gloss, and sighs.  “I go to therapy now.  It’s… it’s tough, Deku.  But the truth is, you’re the first person I’m talking to about it outside of therapy.  I haven’t even… I don’t want my parents to know how tough it is for me.”

“What was he like?”  Izuku asks.  Part of him feels like it’s bizarrely tacky to ask that on his first date with Ochako.  But she’s opening up to him, and he’s not about to shut the door on her.  More than anything, he’s still her friend first.  He just wants to be there for her.  “I only got to talk to him at the wedding the one time…”

Izuku doesn’t want to admit that he avoided her husband on purpose.  Izuku resented him, and he felt guilty for it.  It wasn’t his fault that he was the better man.  Now Izuku kind of regrets it.  Izuku should’ve gotten to know him better.

Ochako smiles wistfully and looks out the window at the passing scenery.  She’s still holding his hand, though.  He wonders if she’s as grateful for that as he is.

“He was very kind.  A bit of a jokester.  We went to Shiketsu together.  When he saw you and I dancing at the wedding, he gave me a big smile and said that you had a crush on me.”  Izuku makes a choked sound but doesn’t interrupt, trying to also focus on driving.  “I… I didn’t believe him.  He said you didn’t like him but he understood why, and I honestly thought… I thought he had it all wrong.”

“I… I wanted to be him, so badly,” Izuku admits sadly.  He turns into the parking garage and bites his lip as he carefully maneuvers the vehicle.  “But you looked so thrilled and beautiful when taking your photos.  I watched you and thought you were where you belonged.  I wasn’t… I was gonna take it to my grave, Ochako.  I’m sorry.”

He pulls into a spot and shuts the car off.  He doesn’t move right away, though.  Here in the garage, they are shrouded in darkness, save for the heavy, low orange lights.  He moves to pull away, but Ochako holds his hand tight and looks over at him with a severe expression.

“You would’ve gone your entire life carrying that alone, just to see me happy?”  She whispers, looking at him with a hard stare.  Her bangs frame her face and she looks so sad for him.  He looks back at her in surprise, but he slowly nods, confused as to why she seems disbelieving.

“I’d do anything to make you happy,” he blurts out.  He’s not even trying to be romantic, really.  It’s just… true.  She stares at him for several moments, then takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.  “Is that… Is that so hard to believe?”

“I guess it shouldn’t be,” she replies quietly.  But she opens her eyes and smiles, like he fell in love with so long ago, so he smiles back.  Then she finally lets his hand go, so they can get out of the car.

She doesn’t let him open the door for her this time.  She’s already up and stretching when he walks around.  He tries not to stare, but she giggles at the way he awkwardly scratches his chin with his index finger and looks away, smiling and blushing like a fool.

“You look really good today,” Izuku whispers, though he’s caught off-guard when Ochako offers her hand again.

“Why, thank you, Deku,” Ochako says in a cheeky, silly voice.

They walk hand-in-hand out of the parking garage and towards the boardwalk.  It’s really nice.  Ochako swings their hands a bit and he looks over to find her grinning mischievously.

“When you were about six, you told me that we’d be married one day,” she says in a playful voice.  Izuku breathes deep and offers her a wobbly, embarrassed smile.  “You didn’t even really know what marriage was.  You just said that they said at school that it means you stay together forever.  So you told me you wanted to marry me.”

“Well… I wasn’t lying,” Izuku replies in a knowing voice.  Ochako just giggles, hiding her mouth with her other hand.

For a while after that, they are quiet.  They remain connected with their hands as Izuku buys tickets for them.  No one seems to recognize them, which doesn’t surprise him.  He really doesn’t get many fans approaching him out of costume; he’s apparently rather forgettable, not that he enjoys fame much to begin with.

They are approached by a little girl as they move to enter, though, who stares up at Ochako in awe and wonder.  So they stop to chat, just out of the way of the passing people.

“Are you Miss Uravity?”  She says in a reverent voice, so Ochako lets Izuku’s hand go to lean over with two hands on her knees and smile.  The little girl has stars in her indigo eyes, her hair like purple octopus tentacles.  She reminds Izuku a lot of himself when he was younger.  “Wow, you’re so pretty in person… Is today your day off?”

It’s such a special feeling to meet your own personal Hero.

“It sure is!  But it’s a secret.  Can you keep a secret?”  Ochako asks in a faux grave voice.  The little girl nods quickly but pulls out her ticket and offers it to Ochako, along with a little red marker.

“It’s all I have but please, Miss Uravity… Can you sign it?”  She asks, like she’s asking god for a miracle.  Ochako giggles and nods, signing it gladly.  The girl accepts it, beaming, but finally looks over at Izuku.  “Oh… Is he your date today?”

Ochako stiffens, then turns back to look at Izuku.  Izuku just smiles and nods.  So Ochako chuckles nervously and turns to nod at the girl, too.

“He… he is!  But that’s part of the secret, okay?”

“Okay… He’s really handsome, though,” the girl whispers.  She giggles bashfully and gives Izuku a little, shy wave.  He waves back, smiling.  “I hope you treat Miss Uravity nicely.  Mommy and Daddy say that ladies deserve to be treated like princesses.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Izuku says fondly, “I plan to treat Miss Uravity like a queen.”

The little girl nods quickly, then goes darting off, probably looking for her parents.  Ochako straightens and watches after her.  Izuku slowly steps up to her and very carefully sets his hand on the small of her back, a chaste but intimate act.  Ochako hums and leans into him, unconcerned about the passing fair goers who ignore them.

“She reminds me of you,” Ochako says, turning to smile at Izuku.  He chuckles and nods.

“That’s how I felt when you came back,” Izuku admits shamelessly.  No point in pretending otherwise.  “I thought you were the most beautiful woman in the whole world, and you were my Hero.”

“Stop it,” Ochako mutters bashfully, playfully swatting him on the shoulder.  Then she offers him her hand again and they are finally able to enter the park.

For a while, they make less weighty small talk, catching up on their lives.  Ochako tells him about her plans to move into a leadership role at the agency she works for, focusing more on administrative tasks and training younger pro Heroes.  This will be safer while still being productive, letting her work less hours for the same pay.  She also tells him about her desire to go on a long-term vacation.

“My parents are financially secure and I’m professionally successful, but… I’m tired.  I’m really tired, Deku.  I’d like to go for just two or three weeks,” she says, sounding terribly guilty about it.  “It would be awfully expensive, though, and Kibo would have to be taken care of by the nanny the whole time…”

“You deserve something nice,” Izuku replies matter-of-factly.  She raises an eyebrow at him as they walk, so he shrugs.  “You’ve saved so many lives.  You deserve to take a nice trip.  Who cares if it’s expensive?  The whole point of becoming a Hero was to become financially secure, remember?”

“Right…”  She admits awkwardly, still self-conscious.

“You deserve nice things.”  Ochako opens her mouth to question how serious he sounds, except he gestures over to a stand.  He’s easily distracted by something he’s been looking for tonight.  “Crepes!  I love crepes, wanna split one?”

“Deku… Those are so messy…”  Ochako admonishes, smiling softly.  But she still lets him lead her over and buy a strawberry, banana, and cream crepe wrapped in colorful cooking paper, bouncing on his feet in excitement.  He’s always wanted to do this.

The man smiles as he hands Izuku his crepe, then he only gets a few steps away before he turns and offers it to Ochako with his free hand.  She looks at it, slightly bemused, her gaze flicking between him and the treat.  Then she leans forward and takes a careful bite, still coming away with some cream on her lips.

He giggles at the way she wiggles her nose and tries to clean herself with her free hand.  She pouts, then she laughs, too, when he takes his own bite and also gets it on his face.  He ends up having to stop and grab napkins from a stand for them, but it’s worth it to share it with her, taking turns eating bites, until it’s all gone.

Izuku next buys them each a frozen Kirin beer and browses the games.  There’s so many, mostly rigged, and they mostly offer tacky merchandise.  There’s still a glut of unsold Endeavor merchandise left over from the deceased former Number One Hero.  Izuku is deeply disappointed to find that there’s no All Might stuff left anymore, though.

“Oh, there, that one!”  Ochako says enthusiastically, tugging on his arm to stop him.  He looks up and makes a small noise of confusion when he sees a green, Deku-themed bunny plushie is what she’s pointing at.  “I want that one!”

“I could get you one of those for free…”  Izuku points out, raising an eyebrow.  She just offers him a cheeky, sarcastic smirk.  She’s too cute and too hard to say no to.

“And yet, you haven’t,” she counters gracefully.  “I have a few pieces of your merchandise, you know.  I bought an oversized Deku t-shirt.”  Izuku swallows at the mental image he gets of her sleeping in that and nothing else.  She eyes him with amusement, and he wonders if she knows.  “I have a poster, too.  There’s never any plushies at the store, though.  So… I want one.”

She doesn’t ask him how much Uravity merchandise he has, but he figures she doesn’t have to.  He’s only slightly embarrassed by that.  He imagines she might be flattered, though.

Still, he eyes the game and the plushie that she wants, deciding that he wants her to have it.  He’s not about to say she can’t have another reminder of him in her home, after all.  He imagines her wearing only her Deku t-shirt and clutching her Deku bunny plushie at night, blushes slightly, then approaches the game host with determination.

The game is one of those ‘hit the platform and ring the bell’ affairs.  They’re not really rigged, like most carnival games, they’re just really hard and require proper technique.

The attendant running it doesn’t look very impressed with Izuku, wearing a gaudy red and white outfit and hat.  Izuku doesn’t mind; he doesn’t look like much, even when he’s in costume.  The attendant just blows a bubble with his gum and holds out the designated weapon of choice for the game.

Izuku rubs his hands together and accepts the hammer.  He notes that there’s no posted rule about using quirks, and the attendant didn’t mention it.  They probably just turn anyone who looks like they have a strength quirk away.  That’s technically illegal, not that anyone would stop them.

It makes Izuku feel a little annoyed, as a little crowd watches on.  They all giggle and murmur, talking about how this plain young man doesn’t look up to hitting the bell.  Ochako stands near the front, though, and smiles at him.

She smiles like she knows he can do it, since he’ll always do his best.

Izuku takes a deep breath and grips the hammer carefully.  It doesn’t feel very heavy.  He wonders how much force he’d have to exert to hit the bell from a resting position.  Honestly, he’s probably strong enough from a baseline.  He doesn’t look like much because he’s compact and lithe, but he’s strong.

So, he raises it above his head and hovers like that.  Some people in the crowd ‘oo’ and ‘ah.’  Maybe they realize that the way he effortlessly holds it in a ready position really shows off how strong he is.

Then, for a fraction of a moment, molten magma lines snake up his body and arms, crackling into brilliant emerald lightning.  He drops the hammer down in a blur and the little weight shoots up the tall backboard, cracking the bell.  The bell makes a sad little ring, severely damaged by the impact, then the weight crashes down in a little haze of dust and broken wood as it crushes the bottom part.

There’s a very brief quiet, then the attendant stammers out a protest.

“You… you’re not supposed to…”  He trails off, frustrated.  Everyone probably has realized what that green lightning was.  They’re not about to bother him after that, though.  So the attendant just grits out, “We have a winner… Hooray…”

Izuku just smiles at the man as he hands the hammer back.  The handle has cracked, too, and Izuku’s calloused palms smart from how it cut him a bit, not that he really minds.  He’ll go wash his hands in a minute.

“You didn’t say I couldn’t,” he replies with a small, slightly insincere smile.  “I’d like the Deku plushie for the pretty lady, please.”

The attendant grumbles and retrieves the plushie while the crowd snickers and makes noises of approval.  Someone hoots and hollers and Izuku sees picture flashes.  He just ignores them and accepts the plushie, handing it to Ochako.

She looks thoroughly amused, accepting the bunny with two hands and appearing all too pleased with the situation.

“You’re naughty,” she says, grinning at him.  He just shrugs.

“I can be,” he says quietly, putting his hand on the small of her back as he leads her away.

He watches her swallow and comprehend the double meaning, though she keeps smiling.  He’s more impulsive because of the beer and didn’t strictly mean to be so suggestive.  She doesn’t look like she minds, though.

They decide to do a few rides next.  Izuku isn’t sure if he’s sad that he can’t hold her hand anymore, since she clings to the plushie, or if he’s glad that now he gets to hold her waist, instead.  Still, she hovers close as they go, and he’s enjoying himself.

They do the spinning tea cups and laugh together as they make it spin much too fast.  Both of them have done a lot of training for that, though - between Zero Gravity and Float - so they’re the only pair firmly on their feet when the ride ends.  The other pairs wobble and shoot them dirty looks, not that Izuku minds much.

They buy another beer in between rides.  Then they do the bumper cars and a cute little roller coaster.  None of it is particularly intense, but they’re having a blast.  Izuku begins to feel pleasantly hazy, but he doesn’t mind buying his third beer.

She stops him in the middle of it all, both of them giggling like fools, and convinces him to take some selfies with her.  They come out preposterously, with his smile a bit too wobbly as he awkwardly holds her around the waist with both hands, his cheek against hers.  She grins big, though, and the pictures make his heart ache a little bit with how much they look like a couple in them.

Still, she begs him to send them to her, since they used his phone, and he obliges.  Then she suggests doing the tunnel of love and he blushes to his ears.

“What, are ya scared?”  Ochako says, grinning at him as she playfully puts her head on his shoulder to flutter her eyelashes.  Izuku just coughs into his hand.

“I’m not scared if you aren’t!”  He replies back with slightly forced confidence, so she chuckles, seeing right through him.  He marvels at how she doesn’t seem nervous at all.  Honestly, she seems really into it now.  Maybe the beer is helping, though.

They bounce on their feet in line and Izuku tingles down to his toes.  He’s not much for drinking normally, and he feels pleasantly tipsy.  He decides then that he should stop drinking.  He won’t be able to drive home later if he has another.

They get onto the ride and Ochako holds her Deku plushie close as they situate themselves.  Izuku looks over at her and snorts, feeling looser and with less of a filter in his pleasant fog.  She looks so happy, hugging the plushie like it’s her new favorite thing in the world.

“I’ve been replaced!”  He says sarcastically, eyeing the plushie with mock disdain.  Ochako giggles like a dork as the ride begins moving.  It’s timed so that the previous boat is ahead a ways and the next one will be out of earshot behind them.  “So mean…”

“Aw, is Deku jealous that I’m going to sleep with a Deku plushie tonight, instead of him?”  The boat slips into the tunnel and there’s a severe quiet as Ochako’s words register with both of them.  Izuku swallows thickly as his eyes adjust to the dark, and he turns towards where he thinks her head is.  “I… I mean…”

Izuku feels a much more real sense of confidence in the dark.  He hears Ochako’s sharp breath when he sets his hand on her thigh.  He doesn’t do anything particularly forward, though.  He just firmly, slowly rubs his thumb into her thigh through her skirt.

“Maybe,” he whispers.  It feels so dangerously quiet in the tunnel, save for the gentle sound of running water.  “That’s not set in stone, though, is it?”

“Ha… Mm, y’know what I keep thinking about, Deku?”

“What’s that?”  Izuku says in a heavy voice, slowly leaning towards where her face is.  He can see her more and more in the dark as time passes.  He can’t see her expression well, but he sees where she is, generally.

“I… I feel like I’m robbing the cradle,” Ochako admits, letting out a shrill laugh.  “And… I feel like my parents would judge me forever.  Will Auntie Inko hate me?  Even still… I keep wondering what it’d feel like if you kissed me.”

“Really?”  Izuku whispers, and he can feel her breath on his lips.

“Yeah… I remember when you were in your first Sports Festival, y’know… Screaming like a maniac at that Todoroki kid.  You weren’t a little boy anymore.  I… I had a dream about you after that night and we kissed.  I wasn’t ever going to admit that… but now I can’t stop thinking about it all over again.”

He’s close enough to her that he can see her eyes in the dark.  His nose brushes against hers.  Her eyes don’t shine like this, without enough light around them, but he imagines they would if there was even the hint of a glow.  They would look like stars, beacons in the dark, glittering like the water around them would.

“But now?”

“Maybe it would’ve been weird… But part of me wishes we did this before now…”

That’s when they turn the corner and light shines through the tunnel from outside.  Their lips are almost touching, but they leap apart like they’ve been burned as the light hits them.  As they pull out of the tunnel and into the bright lights of the amusement park, Izuku breathes deeply, feeling like he hasn’t been taking in any air for several minutes and like his face is on fire.

He throws a sidelong glance at Ochako and she’s in the same boat, both literally and metaphorically, chest heaving and face very red.  She has a wobbly smile on her face as they reach the exit point and grips the Deku plushie like it will keep her steady.  Part of Izuku is deeply disappointed, but another part of him feels enormously accomplished that he’s left her just as breathless as she left him.

The attendant at the exit gives them a dim expression as they get out.  Izuku is still mildly affronted, because he didn’t even get to make out in the tunnel, like the attendant assumes.

Still, Ochako shifts the plushie to one hand finally and threads her fingers back into Izuku’s as they walk away from the ride.  They step away from the aimless crowds and Izuku sighs happily, the cool air helping his reddened face.  It was warm when they got here, but the temperature has dropped rapidly; when her arm brushes against his, he feels her goosebumps.

He looks out towards the water, pleasantly dark but reflecting the multicolored lights of the amusement park.  Then he looks down and checks his watch.

“It’s already ten…”  He whispers, slightly down.  He feels like the night went by so fast.  Still, he looks over at Ochako and smiles softly, letting her decide what to do.  “We could do the Ferris wheel, if you want…?”

Ochako takes a very deep breath and closes her eyes as her face returns to a normal color, her blush receding to her cheeks.  She looks so remarkable, as the gentle wind disturbs her clothes and loose bangs.  He’s reminded all over again why he’s so desperately in love with her.  It’s a great and terrible feeling.

“I… There’s gonna be pictures of us tomorrow, y’know,” she says quietly, opening her eyes again.  He nods, knowing as much.  It’ll be all over the internet.  Selfishly, he doesn’t mind that, though he knows that he should.  If nothing else, then for her sake, since she’ll face far more scrutiny for all this than he ever would.  “Do you… Do you think Auntie Inko will be mad at me?”

“My mom loves you,” Izuku says very seriously.  She pouts at him.  He just shrugs.  It’s true.  “I think… I think she’d be thrilled.  She’d be thrilled for both of us, really.”

“Oh?  Did she know you’re in love with me?”  There’s a brief pause and Ochako seems to realize that she sounded kind of mean.  “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“I think she suspected,” Izuku says softly, looking up at the Ferris wheel.  “I… I was so devastated when you left, and… Yeah.  I think she knew.”

“Oh,” Ochako says lamely.  Then she laughs nervously and shakes her head.  “I think… My parents love you, too, Deku.  They really do.  But… I don’t know how they’ll feel about this with Kibo…”

Izuku tries not to get his hopes up at the way she’s talking about it in the sense of a potential future, ongoing prospect, and not that this will be over tonight.  It’s not smart to read too much into it.  He can tell she’s still struggling with things.

He’d never forgive himself if she only agreed to keep up with this just to satisfy his ego.  If she doesn’t truly want it, there’s no point to him.

“I just want you to be happy,” Izuku says quietly, squeezing her hand.  She blinks in surprise and refocuses on him, then sighs.

“But what about you?  I want… I want you to be happy, too.  I love you.”  Izuku swallows and forces himself to smile.  He knows she means that in a way that is so much more than just the petty way he wants.  It’s something more special than mere romance.  But he can’t help that he wants that other kind, too.  “I just… I’m afraid I can’t make you happy like that.”

Izuku takes a sharp breath, his lips remaining parted, but Ochako just offers him a sad, dismayed expression.

“I… I’m sorry.  I’ve had… I’ve had a lot of fun tonight.  You make me feel special, Deku.  I honestly didn’t think I’d have as much fun as I did.  I just… I don’t know.  I’m sorry.  I know you deserve better than that, and—“

“It’s alright,” Izuku says, offering her a forced smile.  She searches his face, expression still unhappy.  Then she slowly nods and gestures over to a stand.

“I don’t think I wanna do another ride.  Let’s just… I want another drink before we go, then I wanna watch the fireworks with you.  Is that okay?”

“Of course,” Izuku says kindly.  So he leads her over and buys her another drink.  He notes that the one she picks is a bit boozier and fruity, but he doesn’t mind.  He’ll be driving.  Maybe she just needs to unwind; he’s not about to judge.

Then they find an open bench by the boardwalk and sit down next to each other, their arms and thighs pressed together.  Ochako sighs and leans her head against his shoulder, holding onto his hand for dear life on top of their thighs.  He can tell that she’s still sad, as she lets the Deku plushie sit in her lap and sips her drink, but he doesn’t know what to say.

“You can’t have never been on a date before,” she says after a few minutes.  He glances over and her drink is already half done.  She does that when she’s nervous or upset, alcoholic or not.  So he squeezes her hand supportively.  “I… I never realized it properly, but you’re such a wonderful young man.  Someone must’ve wanted to date you.”

“After my quirk came in… Yeah.  I dated a bit in high school, once… once we were settled again.  And after, too.  But… I don’t know.  I resented how they only looked at me that way because I had a quirk now.”

“I’m sorry, Deku…”

The first firework arcs into the sky and pops, releasing a brilliant, dazzling shower of red and white light.  Then several more fly up and Izuku can’t help but smile at how they dance in the night sky.  It’s something quaint and familiar, reminding him of trips they took when he was a little kid just like this.  That’s one of the reasons he picked this as a date idea, after all.

“It’s fine.  I already made peace with the idea that… That stuff might just not be for me.  You’re seeing me at my best tonight, but I really don’t have much going for me.  Did I ever tell you that I failed the Yuuei Entrance Exam?”

“No…?”  Ochako admits sullenly, sounding both offended and also baffled.  Izuku chuckles and shakes his head, his hair flying slightly wildly.

“I didn’t get any points.  I… I was such a failure, Ochako.  I only got in because of… extenuating circumstances.”

Nezu pulled strings to keep him in.  One for All was too important to let Izuku fail like that.  He’s not ready to tell her about that, but he’s willing to tell her most of the truth.  Just the unflattering, miserable parts, he supposes.

That seems fitting for this moment.

“All I’ve been since I was fifteen was the… Was my quirk.  I got let in because my quirk is… dangerous.  People only care about me now because of it.  Did you know my dad was involved with the MLA?”  Ochako sucks in a horrified gasp through her teeth.  “That’s why he left when I was diagnosed quirkless.  He ended up going to jail over in the States when we put down the PLF here.  But before that, he called after the first Sports Festival and wanted to be in my life again.  All because of my fight with Todoroki on television.”

The fireworks pop and crackle in the sky, but Izuku realizes that they’ve become blurry for him.  He just sighs and chuckles ruefully, tears threatening to spill.

“I… I cried, Ochako.  I cried and cried, because I realized nobody cared about me, besides my quirk.  All I had was my mom, All Might… and you.  But you left, All Might passed away… All I’ve got left is my mom now.”

“Deku, I’m so sorry, I…”

“It’s not your fault,” Izuku says, sniffling slightly.  “You had your own life to live.  Like I said, you were happy.  I was happy for you.  You don’t owe me anything.”

He squeezes her hand, but she shifts away to look at him.  He can’t quite bring himself to meet her eyes, but he’s surprised when she reaches out and tips his chin up to look at her properly.  Her fingers are cold from her drink, and he realizes that she must’ve finished it, setting it to her side on the bench.

Her blush is deeper than normal from the alcohol in the hard white light of the carnival spotlights.  Like this, it feels like they’re the only people in the entire world.  Just them, the spotlights, and the distant popping of fireworks that feels too happy and joyful for this moment now.

“I knew you… I knew it got worse when I left,” she says quietly.  The fireworks pop and red light arcs across her face, contrasting harshly with the white.  She looks so guilty.  “I… My family moved away, and I knew you were going to suffer.  I told myself it wasn’t my fault.  I was just a teen.  I wasn’t the only one responsible for you.  But… I remember when I came back.  I ran into you on patrol as an intern, and… you looked so empty…”

Her eyes shimmer, but she smiles.

“You deserved better.  Maybe all they see is… a quirk.  They just see ‘Deku.’  Deku the quirkless kid, or Deku the Number One Hero, but still… Deku.  I’m so fucking sorry for the role I played in that—“

“Ochako—“

“But I see Izuku, too, now.  I’m sorry… I’m so sorry I didn’t see who you really are, fully, until now.  But I do.  I do, Izuku.  And you’re so amazing.  I don’t know if… if I can make you happy, but even if I can’t, you’ll meet someone who can.  I’m sure of it.”

Izuku chuckles wetly and nods.  The way she says it and looks at him like he’s the foundation of her entire world right now, he believes her.  So she nods firmly back and finally lets his chin go.  He looks away and takes a deep breath, confident now that he’s sober enough to drive.

“We should get going.  You promised the sitter you’d be home around eleven…”  He looks back up and Ochako looks deeply torn.  Like she knows they have to leave, but she doesn’t want tonight to ever end.  Like she knows that when it does, this spell will be broken and the reality of what stands between them will be too great again.  He understands, because he feels the same way.  “C’mon.”

She lets out a giggly sob at how he says it.  It’s an admission that he knows she has made her decision, and he meant it when he said he’d let himself be heartbroken, so that she can be happy.  He’d let her rip his heart out and show it to him, just to see her smile.

She looks at him and realizes firmly how much he really loves her.

They walk in a heavy silence, but Izuku is grateful that she’s nice enough to still hold his hand.  She clings to the plushie for dear life with her other arm, pressing its front to her chest and her mouth into its forehead.  He’s curious what she’s thinking about, but he feels like he shouldn’t interrupt.

She doesn’t break the silence until he opens the car door for her, then takes his seat in the driver’s side again.

“Deku?”  He looks over at her with a small smile and nods.  Something about it must be deeply reassuring, because she lets out a slightly hysterical laugh.  He wonders grimly if she thinks he hates her now.  “I… I had a lot of fun.  You’re… you’re a great date.  I want you to know that… Well.”

“I think you’re amazing, too,” Izuku says, so she gives him a surprised stare.  “I know… I know it’s not just about whether I’m… ‘worth dating.’  I know it’s more complicated than that.  But the same applies to you, you know.”

She looks away and smiles knowingly as he starts the car, her eyes shimmering in the orange light of the parking garage.  But she still reaches out to grab his hand for the drive back.

He doesn’t mind how quiet the return trip is when she’s still got her fingers threaded in his.

They walk into her house, and neither one calls out.

Izuku follows Ochako’s lead, unsure at first as to why they should be quiet but content to do as she does.  She smiles and holds her index finger against her lips as they walk into the living room.  Then Izuku also smiles fondly as he sees why.

The nanny and Kibo have fallen asleep on the couch, the nanny snoring gently and holding Kibo protectively, with her other arm under a pillow she’s using.  Kibo looks very peaceful and tired out, a little snot bubble in her nose as she sleeps.  There’s so many toys and things scattered about.  Izuku sees some half-finished crayon drawings and notes that the television is still playing a series of animated films, slightly loud but not unduly so.

Ochako gestures for Izuku to follow her back to the foyer, where the television will cover them talking quietly.  He follows dutifully, having already made peace with where things are heading.  He didn’t even take his shoes off, ready to head out now.

“Deku, I… It’s time to go, I guess,” Ochako says with a tone of severe resignation.  Izuku hovers with his hand on her front door knob and nods, his expression even and somber.  Ochako takes a deep breath and offers him a little smile.  “Well… let me walk you to your car.”

She’s putting off the inevitable, and Izuku chuckles slightly, despite himself.  She’s being silly.  She’s so terrified that they’ll never be the same again after this.  She really doesn’t understand how much he loves her.  He’d never do that to her.

But he can’t deny that he’s hurt.  He’s devastated, actually.  It’s like that day she left all over again.  He wonders, if he opened his shirt would he find a bleeding hole where his heart should be in his chest?  It’s a silly and poetic thought, but it seems appropriate.

He just can’t shake that horrible feeling that she’s his right person at the wrong time, forever and ever.  That there’s something terrible and sickening in the prospect of walking away from this.  That he should fight for this.

But he wouldn’t do that to her, either.  She deserves better from him.

They walk out of the house, and she very carefully shuts the door and sighs.  He starts to walk towards the car, but she reaches out and catches his wrist.  So he looks down at her hand, pinky raised, then back up at her in confusion.  They stand in the hazy yellow light of her front porch, and he feels that serene sense of the world drawing down to something small again, like it’s under a camera lens.

“I…”  She lets out a choked, hysterical chuckle.  This close, he can smell alcohol on her breath.  She’s so beautiful, and his head swims as he blinks very quickly.  She’s too close.  “Wait one second.”

“Ochako… I’m tired of waiting,” Izuku blurts out.  She pouts at him, eyes shimmering.  “You’re gonna make this so much harder than it—“

“Just… listen,” she says sternly, so he goes quiet.  He knows better than to question this tone.  “I don’t…”  She takes a deep, frustrated breath, still blushing more deeply from being tipsy, and gives him an embarrassed smile.  “I can’t bear the thought of this being my only chance to ever ask you for a real kiss.”

Izuku blinks slowly at her.  He’s not sure he believes she just said that.  Still, he slowly turns back to her and she straightens in place, as if daring him to challenge her.  Daring him to tell her that he doesn’t want to kiss her more than anything else in the entire world.

The problem is that he can’t.

“When we were little, you wanted me to be your first kiss,” Ochako whispers, smiling like a fool.  Her breath smells fruity.  He wants to know if it tastes the same.  “You overheard the other kids saying that it was important.  It had to be someone important, Izuku.  Do you remember?”

“I remember…”  Izuku whispers, nodding slowly as he edges closer on instinct.

“So I kissed you on the cheek.  You giggled and gave me a big hug.  You told me I was so important to you.  And… I love you, Izuku.  You’re so fucking important to me, y'know?  So please… I just wanna know, too.  I’m terrified that you’ll walk away and I’ll never know…”

She wants to really know how important she is to him.

Izuku slowly steps further into her space, backing her towards her front door.  Any of her neighbors could look and see them now.  He finds that he doesn’t care.  More than that, he wants them to see.  He wants them to see how he puts his hands on her waist, savoring how she gasps as her back hits the door, and leans down towards her.

He wants them to know how important she is to him.

She looks at him like she’s about to drown in his eyes on her… but she doesn’t look like she minds, either.

Izuku isn’t sure what to say, as his face gets close to hers.  Her breath hitches and she shivers, reaching out to grip his shirt.  He squeezes her hips and she sighs at the way he’s moving so agonizingly slowly.  Perversely, he hopes this is better than what she dreamed of all those years ago.  It's certainly better than his dreams about this.

She makes a muffled noise as he finally presses his lips against hers.  It’s light and mostly chaste, since he doesn’t know what she expects.  It lasts a few seconds that feel like infinity, then he moves to pull away, respecting that it’s all he can ask for.

She snakes her other hand up around his neck and pulls him back.  His front presses into her as she pulls on his hair and kisses him fiercely, her other hand bunching up his shirt so much that the buttons strain.  Her back bounces against the door and they both grunt into the kiss.  She rubs her thigh against his leg and he makes a muted noise of pleasure into her lips.

This isn’t his first kiss, but it’s sure as hell the best one he’s ever had, because he’s been thinking about it for ten years.

“Izuku, I—“  Izuku cuts her off with more kisses, feeling like he’ll never get enough.  Like if he lets her finish her sentence, they’ll stop.  He never wants to stop.  She moans and opens her mouth, then her tongue is in his mouth and his hands are wrapping around her back.  When he reaches down her ass and pulls her into him, she hooks one of her legs up and around his waist.  “Mm…”

There’s a faraway part of Izuku’s mind that wonders if he’s making a horrible mistake by pushing this far.  Ochako is a little tipsy, they’re standing outside, and she has expressed very clear reservations.  But when he tries to pull away, she possessively tugs his hair and pulls him back, biting his bottom lip.

“What if I said I don’t want you to leave tonight?”  Ochako whispers against his lips.  Izuku swallows thickly, then kisses her again for good measure.

“I… Only if… you’re sure…”  He replies between.  Ochako chuckles darkly and lets out a breathy noise at how Izuku presses his fingers into her ass, pushing her firmly against her own front door.  Deliriously, he wonders if he could just push her back through it towards her bedroom, if he tries hard enough, phasing through it.

“I’m not sure yet, but I don’t want you to leave until I am,” she says breathlessly.  Then she fumbles behind herself and works the door open, clumsily kissing him still in the process.  Once she gets it open, she finally tears herself away from him and leads him back inside by the hand.  “Shh…”

Distantly, Izuku is both scandalized and deeply amused by how naughty what Ochako is proposing to do right now is.  Maybe she’s just high as a kite on finally touching Izuku in a distinctly sexual way and deciding that she enjoyed it enough to want more.  It has to be now, before the possible shame or guilt hits.

He figures that he just needs to show her why she doesn’t need to feel either one of those things, as they toe their shoes off, carefully shut and lock the door, and move towards her bedroom.

It’s only when she shuts and locks that door, too, that reality seems to set in.  He looks back and she has a slightly dazed, horrified look.  She doesn’t look like she’s really here, like she’s realizing she has just committed to something really scary.  She jumps when he walks forward and puts his hands on her shoulders.

“Ochako?”  She looks up at him and nods slowly.  She has that small look about her again, though.  “We don’t have to do anything.  You don’t have to do anything for me.  I just… I want you to know that I think you’re an amazing Hero.  You’re such a remarkable person.  I’m… I'm so grateful you’ve been a part of my life.  You don’t have to feel obligated to do this for my sake.  I want you to want it for your sake.  Because I want it, if you do.  But I don’t expect you to.”

Her lips part and she looks like she’s speechless.  She just gapes like fish at him.  So he chuckles and slowly steps into her space again.  She makes a muted noise of surprise as he presses her back into the door, lowering his face into the crook of her neck to whisper into her ear.

“You said you’re a ‘grandma,’ but I think you’re so absurdly hot.  I’ve gotten off to your magazine spreads.  I’ve thought you were the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met for years.  I was so jealous and surprised seeing you in your wedding dress that I broke a glass in my hand by mistake when you first walked in.  I know… I know you’re insecure, but I want this.  I want you.  I just want you to see me that way, too.”

“God,” Ochako breathes, then she grabs his shirt and pushes him back towards the bed in increments, until his knees hit the edge of it.  “I don’t know who taught you how to talk like that, but thank them later.”

Izuku catches himself with Float as he falls towards the bed, wrapping his arms around Ochako.  He’s mindful of making too much noise.  He very gently lets himself lay down and considers what she said.

Nobody taught him, if he’s being honest.  He’s actually had sex - brief flings and one-night stands, never one for stable relationships for a host of reasons - but none of it meant anything.  The only thing he has going for him now, versus when he was a kid, is bravery.

Maybe that’s just something else he can credit to having a quirk now—

Ochako puts her index finger on his lips, interrupting his quiet muttering.

“You’re more than a quirk, Izuku,” Ochako whispers dangerously.  “But I’m sort of glad to know this isn’t your first time.  I’d rather not have to teach you anything tonight.”

Izuku chuckles and she makes a breathless startled noise when he flips her.  She doesn’t get a word in edgewise as he leans over her and smiles.  She just stares at him, looking abruptly vulnerable and mildly shocked.  Still, she also looks hungry.

“Is it living up to your fantasies?”  Ochako asks slyly, voice barely above a whisper, but there’s an edge of insecurity there.  Izuku just makes a low rumble from his chest and reaches down to run his hands over her front.  “Izuku—“

“You need to be quiet, remember…”  Izuku says with a smirk.  He hooks his fingers into the upper edge of her top and slowly pulls it down a little, though it doesn’t give as much as he wishes.  She arches her back and squirms at the reminder of how what they’re doing is a little dangerous.

Still, he brushes his fingers over her collarbones, pressing his thumbs into her.  He realizes that her top won’t pull down that way without ripping it, so he runs his hands over her and pulls her top out of her skirt, then pushes his hands underneath it.

She makes a quiet keening sound as he finally has his hands on her soft, sensitive skin.  She feels incredible as he runs his fingers and thumbs under her bra and finally brushes across her nipples.  She responds by sitting up slightly and reaching down to undo his belt, biting her lip as she looks at his erection.  His touch makes her tense her abs and he feels the way all of her muscles shift under him, far too enticing against his calloused fingers.

They fall into a natural rhythm, quiet and wordless.  They’ve not worked together often as Heroes, but Izuku wonders if it matters much.  He knows they’d be incredible at it.  No matter how long it’s been, it feels sometimes like they operate as a single sine wave, synchronized and coordinated.

He pulls away from her just as she gets his zipper undone and she makes a little whine.  It’s cut off as her breath hitches because he hovers lower, getting his hands underneath her and running his fingers up her thighs and skirt.  Her skin is soft, but there’s more hard muscle here; he can’t wait to actually see it.  He hooks his hands into her underwear and she lifts up to let him tug them down.

He pauses when he finds that they’re white and a little lacy around her knees.  He looks up at her then and she refuses to meet his gaze, her face absolutely crimson.

“Did you…?”  Izuku whispers, trailing off.  Did she expect this to happen?  He can’t quite force himself to say it, though.  He also can’t decide how he feels about that right now.

“Not deliberately,” Ochako mutters.  “I just… I figured there was a chance, y’know.  There was a chance you might see my underwear, so I put good ones on.”  She brings one hand up to cover her eyes.  “I’m so fucking embarrassed now…”

“You shouldn’t be,” Izuku says mischievously.  He pushes her legs up straight in the air in front of him to take her underwear off, moving very slowly and deliberately.  She whimpers at how this leaves her vulnerable, exposing her ass to him.  He trails one hand down, pressing into her thighs, using the other to hold her ankles up, and she makes an abortive, choked noise.  “You’re so beautiful…”

He can see the bottom edge of her dark pubic hair and her pussy like this.  She trimmed herself down below, too, so he licks his teeth behind his lips in amusement at the realization.  She squirms as he touches her, swallowing as he looks down at her.  Like this, she can’t touch him, so she reaches out and furtively clutches at his thigh with one hand, using the other to habitually play with the bow on her skirt.

“You’re teasing me,” she mutters, sounding mildly offended at the notion, looking up from where she lays flat.  Izuku tilts his head around her ankles and grins at her, not ashamed in the slightest.

“Is that a problem?  Are you in a hurry?”

“They could wake up any minute now,” Ochako points out, and he snorts because it’s funny that that’s her first objection.

“So you want me to hurry?”  Izuku asks, then he licks his fingers.  She watches him with wide eyes and doesn’t say anything at first, as he trails his hand back down.  Then he watches her eyes flutter closed as he teases at her folds, dragging his fingertips slowly up and down and easing her into it, her legs still pressed together and held up straight against him.  She squirms more, pushing her hips towards his hand, seeking more friction.  “You seem like you’re in a hurry…”

“Midoriya Izuku, I swear to god…”  She says, trying to sound intimidating, except her voice cracks when he gets a finger inside her.  “Mm… You’re lucky I don’t want you to stop…”

She drops her head back as he gets his middle finger inside her, knuckle by knuckle, then finally stops wasting time.  She’s getting looser as she relaxes, shifting her hips back and forth.  He works another finger into her and spreads them back and forth, so she takes a harsh breath.  Then she makes a long, low hum from the back of her throat as he curls his fingers up into her.

“How many… Have you done this often?”  Ochako whispers to the ceiling as he fingers her.  Izuku chuckles and presses his thumb across her folds, into her clit.  She jumps and grunts at the added sensation.

“Are you jealous?”  Izuku asks, enjoying far too much how she sounds a little bit suspicious.  She groans and pouts at him.

“I mean… no?”  She looks like she’s having trouble thinking straight as he rubs his thumb in gentle circles, trying to focus on the different movements in tandem as she answers his question.  “I couldn’t have… I couldn't have been with you before now.  But… mm… I’m glad you weren’t alone.  I… I feel bad you were waiting for me… but I hope it was worth the wait…”

He’s impressed she’s giving him an actual serious answer as he works a third finger into her.  She sounds like she’s trying really hard to be as quiet as possible, her chest heaving as she begins to sweat.  He uses his other hand to run up and down her leg, kissing her calf and lingering there.  He’s exceedingly aroused but content to focus on her for now.  Just like their date, he wants to show that he’s serious.

“It was worth the wait,” he whispers playfully into the skin of her ankle, drawing a breathy chuckle out of her.  “I figure, if I was as jealous as I was, you can be a little jealous now, too.”

“How gracious,” she murmurs sarcastically, arching her back.  “I… Please, I want to touch you, too…”

He’s not about to deny a direct request, so he pulls his fingers out of her.  They come out with a wet, slick noise and she makes a little whine at the feeling of emptiness, then he lets go of her legs.

She spreads them and he just stares, taking in the sight of her without them in the way.  She takes advantage of that to get up more and grab onto him for support, one hand on his arm and the other on pulling on his shirt, tugging it untucked.  He helps her up and she immediately goes after his pants again, still halfway undone.  She uses her other hand to push his shirt up, exposing his abs as she works.

“Part of me,” she whispers as he goes very still, letting her do what she wants, “knows that this could never have worked until this moment.  But now that you’re here and I… I have you, I don’t want to let go.”  She looks up at him through her eyelashes as she tugs his underwear and pants down, freeing his erection.  He looks back down at her with parted lips and slowly unbuttons his shirt from the bottom to get it out of the way.  She continues as she licks her palm and strokes him, earning a breathy noise out of him, “I don’t feel jealous, because before now, I didn’t really want you like that.  But now I do.  Maybe it’s… it’s more accurate to say that it makes me feel possessive.”

Izuku doesn’t stop the noise of pleasure that rips from his throat, a small humming moan, as Ochako watches his face intently and twists her hand around his length.

“You look at me like I’m made of gold.  It’s amazing, just like you.  You look at me like you never want to look at anything else.  I… I don’t know if I didn’t know you loved me before or… I just didn’t want to reckon with what that might mean for me.  For us.”  She slowly drags her hand up and down his length and he lets his eyes fall shut.  “But now I have you in my hand,” Izuku chokes out a small laugh, “and I don’t want to let you go.  I want to face that.  Does that make me a bad person?  I’m… I’m afraid it might.”

“If it does, I want you to be worse,” Izuku whispers, opening his eyes to grin at her.  Then he reaches down and she exhales heavily as he begins to finger her again, his hand still wet from before.  She scoots closer to accommodate him, panting slightly.

He leans down to press his forehead against hers as they touch each other.  He brings his other hand up to cup her chin, staring at her with half-lidded eyes as she stares back the same way, then slowly moves his hand across her face to grip the back of her head, threading his fingers in her hair.  She slowly rocks back and forth into his touch and both of them are sweating now.  It’s intimate but quiet, and part of him is sad because he wants to hear her.

Her eyes flutter shut as he fingers her, and he watches her work her tongue in her mouth, struggling for words.

“Do you have a… ah, a condom?”  She asks, breathless, so he nods and turns to reach for his wallet.  “I’m not the only one who had expectations.”

He scoffs and struggles, not used to using his left hand for this.  He has to pull his right hand away from her and accepts that he’s gonna make a mess on his clothes.  She doesn’t stop stroking him as he fumbles with his wallet, getting the condom out and tossing it aside.  He rocks into her hand and grunts.  It's distracting, and he's getting too close, too fast.

“How do you want…?”  He asks, though she finally stops and reaches for the condom.  He lets her have it, then watches her with anticipation, biting his lip as she deftly opens it and puts it on him.  He can't stop how he thrusts his hips into her as she drags it down.  She looks at him the entire time, like it’s easy.  “Mm…”

“I’ll let you pick.  I trust you to make me feel good,” she whispers.  He swallows and nods, touched by the underlying sentiment.

Condom fully on him, he makes a twirling motion with his index finger.  She smirks and nods, getting herself upright and facing away from him.  She pushes her ass up and grabs a pillow to be underneath her head.  Then she slowly sways back and forth, waiting patiently, her face pressed down.

Like this, she doesn’t seem self-conscious.  Maybe she’s satisfied that he’s really into this.  So her comfort with it is contagious.  He doesn’t feel as nervous as he might’ve otherwise.  She’s so unconcerned that he’ll do anything other than make her feel amazing.

It’s a deeply reassuring feeling, as he licks his hand and spreads it on the condom.  Then he rubs his fingers across her folds again and she hums, anticipating it.  He sets his dick against her ass and grabs her hips, shifting her into position, and both of them make a noise of pleasure at the friction.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

He slides back and uses his hand to line up with her.  She reaches up under herself to touch herself as he slides in.  Both of them moan as he pushes forward, gently but firmly, and hovers over her for the right angle.  He bottoms out and grunts, already knowing this won’t last long.  He's already too worked up from before.

So he presses his fingers into her hips and drags as far back as he thinks he can remain consistent at.  The sound of him rocking all the way back into her feels like it fills the room, a wet noise accompanied by his thighs hitting her ass.

She moans and twists her other hand into the bed sheets, her breathing cut off in little noises of pleasure as he sets a more consistent pace.  She’s so warm and tight, as he looks over her back and is entranced by how her shoulder muscles shift in her back.

“You’re incredible,” he praises quietly, so she keens and moves to meet his thrusts.  “I… I’m already close, I’m sorry…”

“That’s fine,” Ochako whispers, looking over her shoulder at him with hazy eyes.  “You’re doing so well.  Mm…”

She’s touching herself and she clenches on him, so his breathing comes out more and more ragged.  He’s so close and she makes a moan that’s a bit too loud when he rocks harder into her.  He wants to hear that again so he leans higher, pressing his hands into the bed, and thrusts quicker and shallower right at that angle.  It pushes her legs down and she closes her eyes as she shakes with each motion.

“Ah— Izuku, please, please,” Ochako chants under her breath, and it’s like having one of his deepest fantasies satisfied to hear her say that while he’s inside her.  He spills and fills the condom, savoring the long, low moan Ochako lets out as he grinds against her.

He takes a moment to catch his breath, then grips the bottom edge of the condom to pull it out.  He carefully ties it up, then leans over to gently drop it in the trash can at the side of her bed.  When he looks back, Ochako is halfway turned back on her back.  She makes a small, startled yelp when he leans down and spreads her legs again, dragging his tongue across her this time, pushing her all the way onto her back.

“Oh, fuck,” she mutters as she grabs his hair.  He looks up at her as she tugs on his head, pressing his finger inside her at the same time.  She tastes incredible like this, and he presses his tongue against her clit, savoring it.  “Just like that…”

He gets a second finger inside her and she drops her head back, rocking her hips towards his head.  His other hand pushes her thigh aside, squeezing it back and forth, and she shakes as she approaches the edge.

“Mm…”  She covers her mouth with her other hand and pulls his hair so hard that it hurts.  He doesn’t care, though.  He watches her as he curls his fingers inside her and she shivers uncontrollably.  Then he sucks hard on her clit.  “Mm!”

She makes a mess on his face but he doesn’t stop, fingering her through it and hoping to memorize both how she tastes and how she looks when she comes.  Her chest heaves and she goes very tense, while his grip on her thigh might leave a bruise from how hard she reflexively tries to close it on his head.

He doesn’t stop until she taps on his head, signaling that it’s too much.  So he pulls his fingers out of her and lays his head against her thigh, waiting for her to recover.  Perversely, he decides that this is his new favorite place to lay his head.

It takes a long time.  Maybe a few minutes.  Which doesn’t seem like that much, but in the silence that follows, it might as well be years.  Never mind that he has no idea if they’ve woken up the nanny or Kibo, or if the two just have woken up on their own.  It's a deeply sobering thought that brings reality crashing back in.

He watches Ochako reach the same conclusions as she drags her head back up to look at him.  But when she drops her hand, she’s beaming.

“I think I’d like to go on a second date,” she says in such a goofy whisper that he presses his mouth into her thigh to stifle his laughs.  “You’ve definitely made a case for yourself.  I…”  Her tone turns somber, so he looks back up at her and closes his mouth to keep quiet.  He’s still smiling, though.  “I’m sorry about how flaky I’ve been about this, I just…”

“I get it,” Izuku says.  “It’s… it’s scary.  It’s really scary.  We’ve both got a lot going on.”  He pushes himself up and wipes his mouth off.  They’re still wearing most of their clothes, but he finds that he doesn’t really mind.  It feels like a very adult kind of ending to a date, not the awkward experiences he had in high school.  “But I meant it when I said that I’m serious, Ochako.  I want you.  I wanna be with you.  I’m not… This isn’t a game to me.  Alright?”

She nods, smiling awkwardly and looking away for a moment.  Then she takes a deep breath and pinches her brow.

“This sucks, because I don’t want you to leave,” she admits frankly.  She looks over at her bed stand, where there’s a picture of the Nakano family:  Ochako, holding baby Kibo, with Akimitsu standing behind her, his hands on her shoulders as he leans over for the camera.  Both of them are smiling.  He wonders if she feels like it’s a betrayal for that photo to be here, bearing witness to this.  “But… I don’t think you can.  Kibo is too young to explain it, and the sitter is gonna know, ugh…”

Ochako looks back over at him and he sees the tsunami of guilt about all of this hit her all at once.  She looks so distraught, eyes shimmering as she desperately tries to justify why he can’t spend the night with her.  Why it can’t just be about them, but she has other responsibilities that matter to her more than him now.

Izuku just smiles and shrugs.  She looks a bit shocked, sadly.

“I’d like to think I was always going to be an important part of her life,” he says quietly.  Ochako quickly nods, chuckling wetly.

“Of course, Deku, I always… Well.  I always thought you’d be a part of her life and my life, it’s just…”

“It’s different now,” Izuku suggests, so she nods more cautiously.  “I get it, Ochako.  I get it.  This is all new and scary.  We don’t know if it’s going to work out yet.  I understand that she always has to be your first priority.  I’m alright with that.”

“It’s easy to say that, but I have her on top of Hero work,” Ochako points out quietly.  Izuku sighs through his nose and tries to word his response in a particular way.

“Ochako, I… I’m only Deku because of you.  You’re one of the most important people in my entire life!  I would bend over backwards for you.  I mean it.  But you’re also not the only one with specific obligations…”

“What do you mean…?”  Ochako whispers, though Izuku finally pushes himself up and rolls off the bed into a low standing position.  He answers her as he buttons his shirt back up.

“I mean… How about tomorrow, we have lunch?  No kissing, sex, or complicated stuff.  Just… us.  And we can start this over properly.  You can be honest with me how tough the past two years have been, and… I can tell you a story about my quirk.”

“Your quirk…?”  Ochako asks, though she narrows her eyes.  

He watches her suspicions and theories play out in real time on her face.  She must have had some skepticism at some point about his quirk.  Nobody is that much of a late bloomer, and besides, she knows how much his quirk hurts him.  She spent long nights on the phone with him early on at Yuuei, trying to offer advice on how to deal with the negative blow back of quirks and ask him how he treatment for his injuries was going.

The day after the disastrous Overhaul raid that killed Sir Nighteye, she spent hours on the phone with him, letting him vent and cry to her about all the guilt and confusion he felt.  He’ll never forget it.

But he knows she must know something is amiss.  There’s just no way for her to know the true scope of that notion.

“Okay…”  Ochako says, looking up at him from the bed.  “I’m… I'm fine with that.  I missed you, Deku.  I missed you a lot.  Did you… Were you keeping your distance from me because of this stuff?”  She frowns when he nods shyly.  “Okay.  That’s… I understand.  But we need to communicate better.  I know you have unhealthy habits, too.  I want you to be happy, too, y’know.”

“I know,” Izuku whispers, so she smiles and reaches out.  He offers his hand to help her up and tugs her right into his space.  So she giggles and pecks him on the lips, which is deeply reassuring and freeing that she’s willing to.

“I can’t lie and say I’d mind having sex again when we’re finished, though,” she whispers into his lips, and Izuku chuckles nervously.  She hugs him close and squeezes him, though.  “I enjoyed this.  I really did.  Not just the sex part.  I’d like to do it all more, as long as you’re willing to… to navigate this with me.”

He squeezes her back, and she gasps out a laugh and how tight his hold is.  He doesn’t have to pretend like he’s not desperately in love with her now, so he lets his hug convey how much he really cares about her.  She must realize it, because she lets him linger and kiss her neck gently.

“I’d love to,” he whispers into her ear.

They retreat into the master bathroom and clean up a bit.  They focus more on him than her, because she just changes into some pajamas and lets her hair loose.  He grabs her up in another hug when she’s done and blows a raspberry in her neck, so she swats him playfully and pulls away.

When they walk out, the sitter and Kibo are still snoring away.  The television probably covered any noise they made.

So Izuku very carefully beats a hasty retreat, putting his shoes back on and heading out to his car.  Ochako follows him and offers him a lingering kiss goodbye, her hands on his cheeks to pull him closer as he tugs on her waist.

It’s close to one in the morning, and Izuku feels like he might not sleep for weeks.

Reality eventually sets in, though.

The next day, headlines of ‘Deku and Uravity date caught on camera in public?’ and ‘Green Tea Team more than just childhood friends?’ splash across the news.  The media condescendingly asks why the Number One Hero would be interested in someone so much older, and they publicly pick apart Ochako’s appearance.

Izuku is stopped for an interview on his way to meet Ochako for lunch - in civilian clothes and as a pedestrian on the sidewalk, no less - and the reporter quite rudely asks him why he would settle for ‘used goods.’  Izuku replies by snatching the microphone away and getting close to the camera.

“I know that you’re vultures and you only care about female pro Heroes if they’ll dance for the cameras,” he says severely, so the male reporter shrinks, “but Uravity is one of the greatest Heroes who's ever been a part of our society, and if you ever speak like that about her to me again, I’ll make sure you’re never in a press conference with Deku or any other top pro Hero for as long as I have a license.”

He pushes the microphone into the man’s chest and storms off, frustrated.  He knew they’d treat Ochako like garbage, but it’s the brazenness of it that frustrates him.  They don’t see Uravity or even Ochako Nakano, tragically widowed at twenty-four, they just see a prop or toy who serves as a useful way to spin stories about Deku.

There’s been rumors that they’re romantically involved in the past, and it’s always been a function of making her look bad to keep him in the news.  He realizes it’ll be so much worse now that it’s not just a rumor.  There’s only so much he can do about it, though.

It felt good to get mad at the reporter, but it was probably a mistake.  He can’t imagine it’ll be long before he gets a call from his publicist asking him what the hell he was thinking.  But even if he yelled at every reporter in Japan, it wouldn’t change that they view Ochako as strictly lesser and him mostly as a way to drive ratings.

They aren’t Heroes.  Just playthings.  Izuku has never in his life felt more empathy for what drove Tomura Shigaraki to violence, even if he’s also proud of having stopped the Paranormal Liberation Front in its tracks, before they got too far.  Maybe he just needs to take a more active role in changing society for the better.

He’s been so focused on Hero work, but now he has other things in his life, too.  He has a new girlfriend who happens to be one of his long-time closest friends.  He can’t afford to make her anything less than a main priority, especially when she has a child in the mix.

He considers that he hasn’t seen his mom enough recently.  He hasn’t seen the Uraraka family in too long, as well.  The last time he saw Ochako’s parents was at her wedding, actually, because they couldn’t make it for his graduation.  With All Might and Gran Torino gone, his mom and Ochako’s parents are all he has left as far as family goes, except maybe for Katsuki.

Hell, he hasn’t called Katsuki in six weeks.  Then again, he’s still mad about being second place.  Maybe putting that off is wise for Izuku's health.

He smiles at the hostess as he enters the restaurant he made reservations at for today.  He’s wearing more casual clothes today, but still a little dressy, with black jeans and a long-sleeved checkered shirt.  He just hopes he doesn’t look like a dork, as she leads him to the private section he rented out.

When he takes his seat, he spares several moments to just look at Ochako.  She’s got her hair down today, wearing a red sweater and black leggings.  She’s not wearing anything particularly special, but he lets himself stare at her like a fool.

She looks up from the menu and seems confused for a moment.

“What?”  She asks, self-consciously rubbing her nose.

“I don’t have to pretend not to be smitten with you,” Izuku blurts out with a stupid smile on his face.  Ochako blinks rapidly and he watches the blushmarks spread across her whole face.

“Oh wow, that is… very different.”

“Good or bad?”  He notes that she has her phone on the table, and there’s already a story about his altercation walking over here on her news app.  That’s thrilling.  She follows his gaze, then shrugs and smiles.  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let him get to me…”

“I think it’s good,” she settles on.  “I could definitely get used to this, anyway.  Both you being hopelessly romantic and standing up for me in public.  God knows nobody else ever does.”

Izuku frowns and reaches for her hand.  She happily lets go of the menu to accommodate him, letting it lay flat on the table.  Then she grabs her phone and leans over.  He gets about a second to fix his face into a decent expression as she takes a picture of them together, holding hands for the camera.  Then she leans over and kisses him on the cheek for a second one, drawing a slightly startled noise out of him as he blushes in surprise.

“What are you…?”  He cranes his neck and watches as she posts something to social media.  His mouth makes a little ‘O’ as he realizes what she’s just done.  “Oh.”

“They wanted to know if we’re dating,” Ochako says sardonically.  “So… are we dating?”

“Yes,” Izuku breathes out, chuckling nervously.  “I certainly hope so.”

“I certainly do, too, because I just posted those photos to a social media account with two million followers.”

Izuku swallows and is torn between a hideous fear of public perception - he never posts on his own social media for this reason, and his publicist keeps things banal and shallow on purpose - and an immense sense of being flattered.  He’s not sure if Ochako is doing this out of that sense of possessiveness she mentioned, as a way of showing off, or as a way to just show genuine affection.

Maybe it’s just all three.  He certainly wouldn’t mind, regardless of what combination it is.

“Okay, so, obnoxious reporters aside, why did you rent out a private section of this restaurant at great expense, instead of just taking me to lunch in the public area?”  Ochako asks, sounding slightly bitter that he has arranged to make sure she can’t split the bill in any capacity.  Letting him pay for a trip to the amusement park is one thing, letting him pay for this is another matter entirely.

“Well… I wanna tell you a story,” Izuku says, shifting in his seat.  Her gaze on him feels very intense now.  She’s not judgmental, it just feels like she’s very intently listening to him.  It’s a weird feeling, because he feels like he just annoys most people.  He’s never annoyed her, though.  “When I was fourteen, I almost died saving Katsuki from a villain.”

“You what?”  Ochako asks sharply, sounding horrified.  Izuku has never told her this part, because Katsuki didn’t want him to.  Also, he didn’t want to worry her.  “Okay, Deku, and where is this story going, since we’re just at the start and I’m already terrified you’ve been in so much more danger than you ever told me about…?”

“It’s the story of how a kid who really wasn’t born with a quirk became one of the greatest Heroes who ever lived.”  Ochako stares at him in open-mouthed confusion, trying to reconcile his statement and particular emphasis with what she knows to be true.  “Because I wasn’t.  Born with a quirk, that is.  But I have one now.  Because… I was given it—“

“It was All Might,” Ochako breathes, putting it all together.  Izuku nods and is mildly impressed.  Then again, she has just enough context from knowing him for so long to do so, given what he just said.  “He gave you a quirk that breaks your bones?”

She hisses out that last part, sounding deeply offended.  Perversely, Izuku is glad that All Might has passed on, as Ochako does not look happy.  Still, he plans to be fully honest with her now.  She deserves that much.  Besides, she wasn't there to see how hard All Might tried for him.  Maybe Hisashi Midoriya didn't care about Izuku until he had a powerful quirk, yet Izuku knows that Toshinori Yagi passed away as his real father.

“It’s also haunted,” Izuku still adds very casually.  Ochako makes a sound that’s like ‘bwuh.’  “All Might says ‘hello,’ by the way.  He thinks very highly of you still.”

“You cannot be serious,” Ochako says, looking like she thinks he’s playing a prank on her.

“I’m very serious,” Izuku says with a smile, calling back to what he told her about their relationship.  She opens and closes her mouth, then pinches the bridge of her nose.

When the waiter comes to take their orders, she orders an entire bottle of wine, and she finishes most of it herself.

Still, she believes him.  The first person he’s ever found the courage to tell the truth about, and she believes him, ultimately.  She’s nervous and blown the hell away but she takes him at face value.  He feels so free, finally being able to share this with someone else.

“Part of me has been afraid you might judge me for this,” Izuku says quietly when he finishes his story.  Ochako opens her mouth, but he continues too quickly, “I figured, if people knew I’m really quirkless, they… they wouldn’t wanna still be my friend.”

“Deku…”  Ochako says quietly.  She wraps her arms around his shoulders and kisses his forehead, sighing.  It's awkward in these seats, but he certainly doesn't mind if she doesn't.  “You’re already in therapy, but ugh… I wish you had told me sooner.  I would never have judged you for this.”

“I know,” Izuku says, but his throat is dry and it comes out scratchy.  He clears his throat and tries again.  “I know that now.  I… I was really foolish.  But you’re here, and… I’m very grateful.”

They are quiet for several moments, as Izuku brings up a hand to grip her arm.  Then Ochako takes a shuddering breath and sighs, still close to his ear.

“When Akimitsu died, I was on patrol in a nearby section of the city.  I… I didn’t respond to that call, because it was deemed low priority.  They didn’t need too many pros.  It turned out to be worse than that.”  Izuku feels wetness on his shoulder, and Ochako sobs.  “I… I got there when it was done and they… they already had him in a bag.  I… If I had ignored the orders, I still think he’d be…”

Izuku immediately turns in his seat and lets Ochako hug him more properly.  She buries her head in his chest, her arms wrapped around his midsection, and just cries, her tears soaking his front.  He doesn’t mind at all, gently rubbing her back.  He knows how hard it is to feel like you failed to save anyone, let alone someone you love.

He still dreams of carrying Sir Nighteye's broken body out of Chisaki's stronghold after defeating the Yakuza boss, after all.

“I… I keep thinking that it’s my fault Kibo is going to grow up without her father,” Ochako whispers, her voice shaking, “and… and now I’m afraid of what happens if you don’t come home, too, Deku.  What if you don’t come home?  You’re so reckless, and I’m scared.  I don’t take risks like you do in the field, but what if I don’t come home?”

Izuku breathes deeply, his own eyes watery, and he doesn’t have an answer.  He could promise to be better and try harder to be safer in the field.  He could say that she would always do everything she could to avoid that outcome for herself.  But those are just platitudes.  They don’t mean anything.

He thought he understood, but now he realizes in a very visceral way that having children as a pro Hero is terrifying.

“I can’t answer those questions,” Izuku whispers, still rubbing her back.  She hugs him closer and sobs again, sounding a bit frustrated.  But she knows he’s just being honest.  “All we can do is work as hard as we can to prevent that.  I wish… I wish I had a better answer.”

“I… I know,” Ochako says, finally forcing herself back up into a sitting position.  She grabs a napkin to clean her face off and Izuku rubs soothing circles into her thigh with his thumb.  “I know… I know that’s the only answer.  I’m… I’m glad you do, too.  I bet not too long ago, you… you would’ve been a bit defensive about being too reckless.  You pushed yourself so hard against Shigaraki…”

“Growing up meant realizing that I had too many people to come home to, to carry on like that,” Izuku whispers, smiling at her.  She knows he means more than just her, and more than just the fresh romance between them.

She searches his face with red, irritated eyes, but she slowly smiles, a tiny thing.  He wonders if this, more than anything, shows her that he’s grown up.  That he really is the Deku who always does his best, and he would be that for her, too.  It’s not what he came here today to achieve, but he hopes it’s something she takes away from it.

“Okay… Okay.  I’m… I’m okay,” she says, fanning her face to deal with how she’s all red from crying.  Izuku would never hold that against her, either.  He still cries waterfalls when prompted, after all.  “I’m afraid to look at my phone.”

“So don’t,” Izuku says with a smile.  “What if we just buy a piece of cake, split it, and go back to my apartment for an hour or two?  Then you can go home, and we’ll hammer out a plan for the immediate future for us.”

Ochako hums and eyes him with faux suspicion.  His hand is still on her thigh, and it goes still as he remembers that.  He’s just been moving it on autopilot, rubbing gentle, reassuring circles.

“And what’s your plan for when we’re over at your apartment?”  Ochako asks, pretending to play hard to get.  Izuku just chuckles and looks over at the door.  The waiter has been very good about not interrupting that often.

“Well, I’d like to keep chatting in private.  Maybe we can take some more pictures for social media.  We could also watch a movie.  I’m a very easy to please date, I think.”

“Oh?  Who told you that?”

“Well, there’s this dangerously beautiful woman I’ve known for a really long time,” Izuku says, leaning into her space.  She leans forward to meet him, and their noses touch.  “She kinda didn’t take me seriously when I suggested I’d like to date her, because she’s too good for me.”  She scoffs and blows air at him.  “But she enjoyed the date we went on enough to give me a shot.”

“Oh yeah?  And how much of that movie do you think you’ll actually watch with her?”  Ochako asks suggestively, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

“Probably less than twenty minutes.”

They do get the cake - a very heavy chocolate cake which Ochako lets Izuku eat most of, because it’s way too much - and they do walk hand-in-hand to his apartment.  They chat as they go, and Izuku is content to take his time.  There’s no rush, he figures.  He waited ten years for this.  He can wait a little more, now that he’s sure she’s interested in committing to it with him.

Maybe things are messy and the road ahead is tough.  Maybe they’ve both lost things that can’t be replaced.  But he thinks it was worth the wait.

Her pictures of them go absurdly viral.  His publicist asks if she can re-share the posts, and he gives the go ahead, which makes them spread even more.  There’s something deeply reassuring about millions upon millions of people knowing that Ochako is interested in him like that, and her being okay with it.

They pointedly ignore their phones for the rest of the day, not looking forward to the calls from their respective parents.  Izuku thinks he’s a little bit more afraid than she is of that part, but he supposes it’s not a contest.

They don’t even get the movie on, either.

But some things can’t be helped, he supposes.  He’d much rather hear the way Ochako sounds on his couch when he hovers over her, both of them fully naked this time.  He sucks hickies into her neck as he thrusts into her, savoring how she moans his name much louder this time, right into his ear.  This time, they manage to come together, so he enjoys how she scratches his back as he fills the condom inside her.  He idly daydreams about how it might feel when she's comfortable not using condoms anymore, though that's an aspirational thing, not important at the moment.

Still, it's all a good feeling, he thinks.  It feels like being seen the way he wants to by her finally.

It feels like love, too, in all the forms that matter.