Uraraka stretched as she walked out of the classroom. It was mid evening and the sun had started to set on the horizon. It was pretty quiet, as most of the other UA students had left by now. She had volunteered to stay behind and clean the classroom, despite it not being her turn, because she needed a little extra money and Aoyama really wanted to do something else. He didn't elaborate on what the "something else" was, but it was more than likely just a way to avoid getting his hands dirty. Uraraka thought about how he tended to dig his hands into his own hair when using his Quirk and wondered if he was just trying to avoid damage to his manicure when he did that. Whatever the reason, she had demanded some cash from him, which he tried to avoid paying at first, but she continued to follow him around all day, being as violent as she could in the most passive aggressive way she could think. She stared at him all class, during lunch, and during any breaks, boring holes into the back of his skull with her glare. Eventually he gave in, promising to pay her 2000 yen. It wasn't much, but she could buy dinner for tonight if she did it.

Unfortunately, it took a lot longer than she wanted, and she was left to her own devices. She was able to gather a decent amount of the trash with her Quirk, but the sweeping and cleaning proper was all up to her own physical ability.

As she walked past the library, she peered in and noticed Deku face first on one of the desks. Approaching carefully from behind, she leaned forward to check on him and noticed he had fallen asleep. On the table was one of those devices he used for hand strength training, and several of his personal notebooks, one of which was open, and a myriad of books on Quirks, a few autobiographies, and one cook book. Uraraka checked to see which page his notebook was open to, and saw her name written in his near perfect penmanship. She couldn't see much more of the page, but something had been written in the margins, and judging by the smearing on his face, it seemed fresh.

Giggling, Uraraka sat down in a seat next to him and rested her head on her crossed arms, staring at his face. It was relaxed, with his lips parted ever so slightly, opening just a bit as he inhaled, and narrowing as he breathed back out. Her eyes traced the lines of his freckles, taking in the constellations that painted their way across his face. She followed the tangle web of curls on his head, the way they grappled with each other near the base before flowing and loosening near the ends. She couldn't help but to smile at the way his nose twitched like a bunny rabbit with every breath, like his body wanted to snore, but couldn't quite force anything out. Deku's head rolled slightly and she could see how ink smudged his cheek was, and despite her best efforts, was unable to avoid a snorting laugh.

Deku jolted awake at the sound of her voice and looked around, a little delirious. His blurred vision fell to Uraraka, and his eyes adjusted slightly, trying to take in what was going on. Blinking away the sleepiness, he realized with a start where he was.

"O-oh, Uraraka, sorry, I didn't mean to, um..." he began gathering his notebooks and knocked one of the books he had gathered around him off the table. The girl laughed and picked it up for him, handing it back. "Thanks," he said shyly.

"Are you going to head home?" she asked with a smile. Deku turned and looked at the orange sky, then checked the clock on the wall. It was definitely a lot later than he had wanted to stay, but he wasn't too sure if he wanted to go home. He turned and checked his books and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's probably for the best if I go. Do you wanna go together?"

The girl blushed slightly at the suggestion and nodded almost aggressively. Deku smiled at her and began shoving his books back into his bag, taking the library books over to a cart that was already over piled with novels and work books, and turned back to his friend.

The two of them left the school together, chuckling at Deku's tardiness to leave.

"Wait, what were you still doing at school?" Deku queried, slightly worried that the girl had done something wrong and found herself in trouble.

"Oh, I was doing some work in the classroom," the girl reached into her bag and pulled out two 1000 yen notes. "Aoyama paid me for taking his place to clean the classroom."

Deku breathed a sigh of relief. It was definitely something he wouldn't have condoned normally, but it was better than the alternative. He decided not to ask any further questions, not wanting to push into uncomfortable territory for either of them, and changed the subject, asking about her parents. As they walked, Uraraka opened up about her mom and dad, the financial troubles they had, and the work she was putting in for them. Of course, much of it was information she had willingly given him before, but hearing it again really put into perspective just how hard she wanted to work for her family, and how much she loved them. It seemed like only moments had passed, but in reality, it was a bit longer, because Uraraka suddenly stopped, slightly white in the face. Deku felt he had perhaps overstepped his bounds and began to apologize when he noticed Uraraka was looking up at her apartment. This didn't strike him as too odd until he realized, he had never been to her place, partially because it was further away from the school than his own house. They had completely overshot his house and arrived at hers.

"Uraraka, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen!" Deku began, bowing deeply to the ground in apology, "I wasn't paying attention, I didn't mean to be intrusive!"

This seemed to snap the young girl out of her trance, as she shook away the shock from her face and gave a weak smile.

"It's not your fault, I was rambling and wasn't paying attention," she started, "but it looks like it might rain. Did you want to come in for a little bit, just to see how it gets? I don't want you getting sick."

The green haired boy looked up at the sky and saw it was clouded over. It didn't quite seem like it was going to rain to his eyes, but Deku guessed Uraraka might recognize signs of precipitation more easily, since she needed to keep an eye out to assist her family's business during busy hours building up their structures.

"If you think it's a good idea, my mom might get worried, though..." he pondered. Uraraka held up a hand defiantly.

"It's okay, you can call her and let her know you're over here! Besides, I wouldn't feel comfortable sending you all the way back home after coming out here with me; all by yourself, I mean."

It seemed a fair enough request. It wasn't like she was trying to force him to do anything he didn't want to, she was just being a courteous friend, that's all. It did seem a little odd, inviting him in out of the blue, but they were close, so it wasn't too far of a stretch, even if he had never been to a girl's house before. Especially not one he had feelings for. He squashed down his doubt and nodded, giving a bright grin to reinforce his decision.

"Sure, I'll come in!" he said. Uraraka almost seemed eager at his words, as she gestured towards the building and led him to the front door. Deku considered insisting they take the stairs just so he could get a little extra workout in, but when Uraraka pressed the elevator button, he decided against the idea, not wanting to push some weird idea of training into her invitation.

It was only a few short floors up when the doors pinged open and the girl stepped out, Deku following close behind. His friend seemed to count each step that she took, a calculated movement, her fluid movements seemed less like someone traveling by muscle memory alone, and instead made him feel like he was watching someone move with true purpose.

In reality, Uraraka was more nervous than she had ever been. It was not her intention to bring her crush to her place, let alone to invite him up to her home. It was as if something else had taken control of her, and brought the words from somewhere deep inside. She wasn't even sure if it was going to rain. The clouds were a bit dark, but with the sun barely visible on the horizon now, it wasn't much of a stretch just to assume it was because it was getting dark out. But there was no turning back now. If he was coming in, she was going to make damn sure he was comfortable.

Uraraka stopped in front of her door, and pulled her key out. The deadbolt slid open and she took a deep breath before pushing the door open. Stepping inside, she took her shoes off, and, without looking at her guest, wandered deeper into the apartment.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Deku said quietly as he entered, closing the door behind him and slipping off his shoes. He stood in the entrance for a moment before following Uraraka into her home. It was pretty well-kept, with very few items scattered around. It seemed less like a home and more like a big hotel, almost. He peered into one of the rooms and saw a scarcely filled bookshelf against one wall, with some chairs and a small coffee table making up the rest of the furnishings, as well as a stand and an old TV. Hearing some noise from further down the hall, he checked the next room.

The kitchen looked pretty good, with the basics one would expect in a kitchen, a stove, a microwave, and a small fridge, as well as a spice rack, a rice cooker, and a few small portable items, a hand powered washing machine and dryer sat on the counter, and some dishes lay by the wink. Uraraka was filling up a kettle with some water when she heard Deku in the kitchen doorway.

"I was going to make some tea," she said sheepishly, holding up the kettle. Deku nodded with a faint smile. "Sorry for not saying anything, I'm just a little nervous, is all," she said.

"Nervous about what?"Deku could feel the tips of his ears burning.

"About, uh..." her face went blank for a second before coming back as if nothing happened, "about your mom! You should give her a call and let her know you're here, and that if it rains you'll be staying a bit."

"Right, my mom," he blew a small sigh and then brightened up again. "I'll do that now."

He turned away from the kitchen and returned to the first room he had checked out, what could essentially be called a "living room," if you were okay with the lack of furnishings. He pulled his phone from his pants pocket and checked to see if he had any new messages. None had come up, which was good. His mom wasn't too worried about him, he guessed.

Though she's probably checking the news to see if there was a villain attack or something, he thought to himself.

He opened his contacts and dialed his mother. The line rang twice before she picked up.

"Izuku, there you are!" her exasperated voice said from the other side, "I was wondering what had happened. You didn't get in trouble at school, did you?"

"No, mom, I was just doing some research in the library. I walked home with Uraraka and I'm at her place right now," he said, trying to calm her down, "I'm just gonna stay for tea, but it looks like there might be some rain headed our way, so we'll see how it goes. If I need one, I'll find some transportation or something, but I'll be home, don't worry."

"Hm, I think I did hear something about rain," she said quietly. "Okay, but come home tonight! Just call me to let me know what's going on, okay?"

"Don't worry mom, I will," he insisted. "I love you."

She returned the sentiment and he hung up the phone. Uraraka appeared in the doorway of the room and gestured for his attention. When she realized he was no longer on the phone, she squeaked.

"The tea should be ready in just a minute if you'd like to wait," she said.

"Okay, do you want me to sit here?" Deku gestured to one of the chairs.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to wait in my room. I have more stuff to do in there than out here," she replied quickly.

"Oh, okay," Deku blushed again, and looked down at his feet. First into her home, now into her room? This was one adventure of a day to be certain.

It wouldn't be much use, refusing to take her up on her suggestion, so Deku walked past the kitchen to the last room, noting that the room between the kitchen and this one was the bathroom, and ended up in Uraraka's bedroom.

It was a little less plain than the rest of her apartment, with a few photos placed on her dresser, a computer desk and chair, another old TV, her bed, and a kotatsu table set up near the center. It wasn't cool enough to use a kotatsu, but he guessed it was probably just good enough to use as a table for now until winter. A small poster of All Might was taped to the wall, and a photo of Uraraka with Deku was taped next to that. He remembered that picture pretty well. They had taken it together at lunch one day, almost out of the blue. For whatever reason, the two of them had been feeling extra giddy and wanted to capture the moment. He never realized she had a printed copy of the photo, however.

"Here it is!" Deku jumped as the girl brought the tea into the room, each cup placed on two saucers and floating in the air. He watched as she carefully lowered the ceramic to just a few centimeters above the surface of the table before placing the pads of her fingers together, releasing her Quirk and letting them drop. The tea inside splashed against the edges of the cup, but never went above the rim.

The young man clapped and Uraraka blushed at the gesture. It was silly, but it made her feel comfortable and warm. The two of them sat at the kotatsu table and drank their tea in silence, unsure of which of them should speak first, if at all. This was such an odd scenario that neither of them expected to be in, no one seemed to know what to do next. Outside, the rain started pouring a lot harder than either of them anticipated. It came much sooner than either of them expected, and it didn't seem like it intended to let up anytime soon. Deku began to wonder if he should just go home, but didn't want to make it seem like he was trying to leave in a rush, either. He decided it was best to wait a little longer before making any suggestions.

"It's really coming down hard..." Uraraka stared out the window, with an almost solemn look on her face. "Maybe I shouldn't have made you come here."

"It's fine, really! I like spending time with you!" Deku tried his best to put her doubts aside, sliding up onto the bed behind him and looking down at her. "I've enjoyed being here with you. Your place is really nice, and the tea was really good, and... and..." he trailed off, not sure where to go from here. He really had liked what they had done together, even if few words had been exchanged since they arrived. Despite the comfortable home, the awkward atmosphere was making things really difficult and neither of the teenagers realized they were waiting for the other to make something exciting happen.

Uraraka stood up and began walking around the table, passing in front of Deku.

"I'm gonna go grab a sweater," she said, walking towards the dresser. Deku tried to get up, hoping to assist her, but when he stuck his leg out slightly to propel himself up, he accidentally tripped Uraraka, and sent her tumbling. His reflexes were quick to catch her, but the momentum was working against him. As he put his hands around her shoulders, the two of them fall backwards, landing back on the bed Deku had been sitting on in the first place.

Uraraka could feel her heartbeat in every inch of her body as her face turned bright red. Her body was pressed flush to Deku's, their faces mere inches apart. It would have been a sight to behold, and it was surely something she would have wanted, were it not for the fact that this had all played out in the most uncomfortable way possible. Every step of the way, she had acted against every screaming instinct inside of her, yet she kept moving along as though she was not in her own body. It wasn't necessarily terrible, but it wasn't what she wanted, not now anyway. Yet here she was, face to face with the boy of her dreams, laying on her bed, with barely enough distance between them that she could still feel his breath on her face.

"Uraraka," Deku's voice broke the silence, and she couldn't help but watch as he licked his lips nervously, noting how the sweat had formed along his brow, and the quiet ache in his voice, "I would really like to kiss you right now." Her already naturally wide eyes widened even more, and inside of them, Deku could see the stars in the sky, and the ocean cascading over stones, and the power of volcanoes that formed the land; in her, he saw everything, and he was barely able to speak, let alone form a complete, coherent sentence. Uraraka didn't answer for several seconds, neither rejecting or accepting his words, and he felt he had to press her further to get any sort of response. "Can I?"

Her reply was not words, but an action, her mouth covering his, closing the gap between them that he had fought so hard to bridge. Her lips weren't rough, nor were they exceptionally soft. They felt dry, as if all the moisture from the tea they had been drinking was drained away in an instant. Her hair fell over her face, tickling Deku's cheeks. Her hands came up to caress his face, and in the blackness of his closed eyes, Deku felt more at peace than he ever had before. His stomach churned and his whole body felt like it was a coil, tensing and compressing, ready to release into a ball of energy, more powerful than anything One For All could ever present.

It lasted only a few moments, but to the two teenagers, the kiss felt like an eternity. When Uraraka backed away, she stared into Deku's eyes for less than two seconds before bolting. Her body moved faster than anything Deku had ever seen. She had disappeared out the bedroom door, and a few moments later, he heard the front door open and slam, before he could react.

Uraraka ran. She didn't even think about it, she descended the steps of the staircase of her apartment building, exited onto the street, and fled. She didn't know what else to do, but this seemed like a perhaps appropriate response to her jumbled mind. She had slipped her shoes on and left, without looking back. She hadn't had time to grab a jacket or umbrella, but the rain was one of the last things on her mind. As she charged through the darkness, she thought about what she should do.

Deku slipped on a raincoat by the front door, putting his shoes on and raced out after Uraraka into the night. She had a bit of a head start, but he guessed she couldn't have gone too far. The street lamps did little to illuminate the darkness, despite their light, they appeared only to make the black world around him even darker.

"Uraraka!" he called out into the distance, knowing full well he wouldn't get a response. Deku didn't know what to do, he just kept going. The moon and stars were completely covered by the dark clouds that had opened, pouring the icy water on the world below. Deku couldn't help but wonder if she was getting soaked out here. There seemed to be no other presence in the darkness, only silence and solitude. Just as he was wondering if he might not find any sign of her, Deku heard loud splashing that definitely wasn't just the sound of the rain pouring down around him. Turning towards a park, he saw a scrawny girl standing in the rain in a skintight suit and a smaller girl in a rain coat next to her.

"Asui?" Deku called to the girl, who turned her head and waved to him. He closed the distance between them and saw the smaller girl, who looked a lot like the taller girl with her hair up in pigtails.

"Call me Tsuyu," his classmate said as he got closer. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm looking for Uraraka, she disappeared on me while we were hanging out," Deku's face heated up, and he prayed Tsuyu couldn't see his bright face in the rain. "You haven't happened to see her, have you?"

"Sorry, no, we haven't seen anyone, but I think I heard someone passing by just a minute ago," Tsuyu said, placing an over sized finger on her chin. "Do you want some help?"

"Y-you really would do that for me?" Deku's looked up, his ears welling with tears of both sadness and hope that his friend would be willing to assist him.

"Big sis loves helping everyone!" the smaller girl chimed. Tsuyu laughed, and ruffled the rain hood on her sister's head.

"Watch your big sister work now, Satsuki, this is pro hero work," Tsuyu winked one of her large eyes, and, in one swift motion, jumped up to a light post, perching on the wide brim and scanning the dark streets.

Deku could feel every second passing by painfully, his heartbeat pounding in his ears, mixing with the sound of the pouring rain, it was like a hundred fists beating his eardrums. He could barely contain his fervor, unsure if he would get an answer soon, if at all. Suddenly, however, Tsuyu leaned forward and squinted. Her long tongue poked out from between her lips in concentration.

"This way!" she announced, bounding down from the light post, and hopping towards the entrance to the park.

Both Deku and Satsuki broke into a run, trying to catch up to the quicker girl. It reached the point where Deku could navigate more easily by the sound of Tsuyu landing and jumping again than he could visually. He rounded a corner to a dead end road, and found the two girls standing under the awning of a convenience store. Tsuyu smiled and gestured to Uraraka, whose hair was clinging to her face in thick mats, her clothes were almost soaked through, her thick shirt clinging tightly to her frame. The boy broke into a sprint and ran right up to her, his heart practically leaping from his chest.

"Are you okay?" he asked, taking his raincoat off and dropping it to the ground, then taking off his school blazer and wrapping it around Uraraka's shoulders. "You don't want to catch a cold or anything," Deku picked up the raincoat, the owner of which he was now convinced was her mother from the tight sleeves, and zipped it up over himself.

"Yeah, I just... I'm sorry Deku, I didn't mean to hurt you. I shouldn't have done that," Uraraka mumbled.

"Don't say that! I was the one who suggested it in the first place!" Deku cut her off, trying to regain his composure.

"What, did you two kiss or something?" Tsuyu asked matter of factly. Both of her classmates turned to her, bright eyed, with Uraraka's jaw hanging much lower than she intended. "Oh, I see. So you did," Tsuyu chuckled slightly. "It's about time."

The two of them looked to each other before staring at the ground, faces so hot they could've dried the rain right off of their bodies. For a long moment, everyone was silent, and the sound of rain was all they could hear.

"Look, I don't want to get in the middle of this, because it's more than I care to handle, and I have to finish playing with my sister, and get her home, so I should head out," the two others simply nodded in acknowledgment. "Come on, Satsuki," the two Asui sisters walked away without saying another word. Deku and Uraraka stood in silence for a little while longer before looking back up at each other.

"I'm really sorry for all of this," Deku said quietly, finally breaking the tension. "I didn't know you would be upset, I shouldn't have said anything."

"Don't be," Uraraka closed the gap between them, her face red, but determined. She lifted Deku's face with her hand, and stared into those dark eyes that seemed to suck her in like black holes, and she drifted in the space they created in her mind, finally coming to peace with everything in that moment. "I did it because I wanted to. Because I like you, Deku, a lot, and I want to be around you all the time. You are the one who has believed in me more than anything, you've been the one that's kept me going. You're the most important person to me in the whole world, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

She didn't give him time to respond, as Uraraka kissed him again, more passionately than before, pressing her lips against his with a renewed vigor. The world around both of them went silent. The rain was mute, the faint buzzing of the convenience store lights, there was no noise, only each other. They could feel the warmth of each other, their heartbeats, in that moment, they felt they knew each other's hopes and and dreams, loves, they could see into eternity.

When they broke the kiss, they stared at each other for a long time, but it was once again Uraraka who spoke, and cut into the isolation of their passion.

"Hey Deku?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we go back home, I'm really cold, and I'd like to change clothes."

Deku laughed, and put his arm around Uraraka, doing his best to shield her from the downpour as they ran back to her place. The night was young, as were the two teens who were discovering love. And there was plenty of time to explore what that meant.