Everything was going perfectly for Ochako: her dress was absolutely stunning, the wedding ceremony was going off without a hitch, and she was about to kiss the messy haired man of her dreams. They even wrote their own vowes crying as the other began to spill the extent they loved each other. Right as their lips were about to join and seal the deal, the scenery changed. no longer was she in a chapel with Deku and her friends by her side now she was in her pajamas starting at the ceiling of her room within the dorms.
"Third time this week," she whispered tears starting to form in her eyes. Not wanting to be in her current environment any longer, she jumped out of her bed and started to make her way outside. Once outside she started to run as fast as she could only stopping when she found a tree far enough away where no one would be able to see her cry. And so she sat, softly crying, the cool breeze stinging her face as the tears rolled down her eyes, the cloud's hiding her puffy eyes. Ochako knew that there was no use crying over something that she knew she could never have, but after several days in a row of seemingly getting what she wanted then having it be nothing but an illusion was too much to bear. Time seemed to pass incredibly slowly, to her it seemed that she had been sitting at this tree for hours, yet she felt no desire to move as the silence was calming. That would not last as she heard someone call out to her, but she wouldn't look up or even move until the voice calling out her name was right next to her and began to shake her shoulder. To her complete dismay, it was the subject of her sadness.
"De...Deku" she squeaked out tears coming out at full force now.
"Uraraka, what's wrong you are out here all alone while it's cold and dark out," responded a cleary tired Deku, with baggy bloodshot eyes. Ochako managed to get a small chuckle out of that, noticing that he's clearly in bad shape too yet is still putting other peoples problems before his own.
"Its nothing I just came out here for some fresh air it was getting really stuffy in my room," sniffled Ochako. She hated having to lie to her best friend, rationalizing that it would probably be better for her to spread this small lie than to come forth with the truth and be utterly rejected. Deku, however, was not buying it the slightest.
"You don't have to lie to me ya know," Deku said moving to sit down next to Ochako, who went back to hiding her face in her arms. "And if you are going to lie you might want to try a little harder," he added with a smile and a small laugh. Ochako nodded but refusing to move from her current position. The two sat in silence for a bit until Ochako raised her head and began to speak.
"I keep having this dream, where I'm getting exactly what I wanted, with the people I wanted. But right at the moment is about to get to the best part I wake up, I realize that it was all a dream. Then the crushing reality that, that hasn't happened, that I can't get want I want and I should. I just love him so much and want to be with him," after letting that last part slip out and realizing what she had just said she began to start bawling and rested her head on Deku's shoulder. Deku, now having a crying girl on his shoulder, moved his arm around her instinctively in order to try and comfort her.
"Uraraka it might only be a dream, but that doesn't mean that you can't make it real," Deku softly told her, with Ochako raising her head to look at him. "You are easily one of the strongest people I know, you want something done you make it happen. That's the attitude that can get someone anywhere, I know that you will make this dream come true, you'll get the person you want to be with and you'll be happy, you will get everything you want Uraraka I know this, and I'll be with you every step of the way," he added. Ochako wasn't expected to feel this comforted by the person who, albeit indirectly, caused her this much pain in the first place, but she was and slowly began to stop crying and re-rested her head on Deku's Shoulder, Deku having never move his arm from around her. After savouring this comfort something clicked in Ochako's head and remembered that Deku looks just as bad she did when he had arrived.
"Deku?" she asked
"Hmm?"
"I was so busy being sad that I didn't get a chance to ask, Why are you out here and why do you look like you haven't slept at all. What's wrong"
"Heh, I guess you did see that huh. The truth is: I haven't been sleeping at all. I keep gettings nightmares and I figured at some point that it would be better to just not sleep"
"Well talk to me about them."
Deku began to hesitate, moving away from Uraraka, scratching the back of his head trying to find the words to say. Finally finding what he wanted to say he began to spill his thoughts. "I've been having the same nightmare for the last couple of days. I'm older and an established pro hero, then I'm set to stop a villain attack nearby. And when I get there it's a complete disaster, people are dying, the town is completely decimated." Izuku pauses and stares forward, and Ochako looks up at him but Izuku continues without looking at her. "I get to where the villain and you and another hero I cant recognize are fighting her, the hero next to you is struck down. So I run up to help you, and so we start fighting her together. We are trading blows etcetera when suddenly she gets a strong blow right to your head and now you are down too." Izuku begins to choke up and stops talking for a moment, in response Ochako grabs his hand and squeezes it calming Izuku down to the point where he continues. "After seeing you go down, I kinda went into some sort of overdrive, I managed to throw a punch so hard it instantly knocked this villain 30ft from me and left them unconscious. I even managed to break my arm, even though I haven't done that in years. When I managed to get to you, it was the worst outcome, that last blow was enough to kill you, and the last thing I can remember is just getting into my knees and just crying, and then I would wake up with tears in my eyes." Deku paused for a moment staring up into the sky, tears starting to come from his eyes, before continuing again. "I know its kinda silly because it's just a dream but I just felt so powerless. I couldn't save the civilians, I couldn't save the town, I couldn't save that other pro, and I couldn't save….you. The most important thing to me and I couldn't do anything to stop you from dying."
At this point, Izuku is flowing with tears and lightly punches the tree the two are leaning on, Ochako just moves to sit on Izuku's lap and wraps him in the tightest embrace she could manage. Taken aback at first Izuku sat there frozen for a second before returning the hug with a similar fervor. Nothing happens for a solid minute in a half as the pair are completely focused on the hug before Izuku snaps out of it and begins to speak. "Sor.." he began before Ochako started to shake her head into his chest, successfully getting the message across that she wouldn't accept Izuku trying to apologize. While this is happening the clouds have dissipated almost entirely, letting the light of the full moon illuminate the teens while also revealing a full array of stars in the sky. Noticing this change in atmosphere Izuku fell to the ground, dragging an unexpecting Ochako with him. While the two are cuddling on the ground Izuku spoke up.
"You know whenever I would get nightmares as a kid my mom would come into the room with me and talk about the stars, heh it's kinda why I came out here in the first place. She would point out the well-known constellations, like the big and little dipper, the ursas, ya know. But she would also just point out random groups of stars and just make up a story about them, she would instruct me to do the same, so we would just sit there for however long it took just telling stories. I know that might not help you in the same way as me but we could do that together if you'd like"
Ochako, completely delighted by how caring he was toward her, simply said: "That would be nice Deku." And then snuggled into Deku's chest, with Deku once again moving his arm around her.
"Why don't you take the first one."
"Hmm ok," looking up from Izuku into the night sky, Ochako scanned for a group of stars that could in anyway be used to tell a story, until she found a perfect one pointing at a group she began. "Oooooh, I think I found one, ok so there's this guy who is walking in a hurry when suddenly it seems that he trips over but luckily right behind him is this girl who manages to rush over and catch him. The two of them hit it off really quickly, becoming best friends they were completely inseparable. Until one day the girl realized that she was falling in love with him, and began to worry about their friendship, what if the boy didn't like her back. Doing everything in her power to hold her feelings back she continued on, the feelings continued to grow and grow Then one day the boy expressed that he was in love with her, to the complete and utter shock of the girl not that she was going to complain or anything. That was the best of her life, and the boy would spend the rest of his days with the girl all while happily in love." Realizing that she had used: both her and Izuku's backstory and adding what she wanted from the friendship, Ochako blushed and buried her head back into Izuku's chest and hoped that he wouldn't notice.
"That was a really cute story Uraraka," said Izuku clearly not noticing. "Ok, I guess it's my turn then." Looking and finding something story worthy Izuku began to tell his tale, this one being less about friends to lovers and more of a story about a hero and his journey to save the realm he was apart of. The two would alternate telling stories, with each progressing one getting quieter and quieter as exhaustion had begun to overtake both Izuku and Ochako.
Then after Izuku's turn, he waited for Ochako to go, but she didn't, focusing his attention on her he noticed that she had fallen asleep. So he just sat there for a bit just watching her, feeling the rhythm of her breathing, seeing the complete change in demeanor from just a short while ago. She wasn't the crying, sad person he had found. Instead, she seemed relaxed, and happy even. Izuku noticed that he himself was in better shape after talking to and sharing the night with Ochako. He started to think about how much she meant to him, how he might not be who he was without her. Izuku knew that he had a crush on her, she was super cute and close to him after all, but thinking about tonight he began to wonder if it was something more than a crush. Feeling her rise and fall against his chest, he made one thing crystal clear to himself: he was completely and totally in love with Ochako Uraraka and started to plot when and how he was going to confess. Incredibly tired himself Izuku closed his eyes and whispered "Goodnight Ochako," and let sleep overtake them. And so the two laid together, their body heat keeping each other warm on this cool night, both with a huge smile on their faces and neither one of them experienced a bad dream that night.