FSSHT!

The pressurized air released out of the soda bottle. Ochaco brought it to her lips, gulping it down to cool down in the humidity. She pulled it away from her mouth with a satisfied sigh.

"Ahhhh, this is the life!"

"Can I get you anything else?" Izuku enquired, kneeling next to her in her beach chair. Ochaco shooed him off.

"Oh, stop fretting over me you big lug. We just set up shop here, I wanna relax a little."

An umbrella was planted right next to them in the sand. Accompanying the two of them were Shoto Todoroki and Momo Yaoyorozu settling down beside their friends.

"A double beach date right under the sun! Oooooh, I've always dreamed of doing this ever since I was a little girl!"

Momo was practically sparkling as shestretched herself out, reaching toward the sun in her wide brimmed straw hat and designer sunglasses. She was wearing a white linen button up over her elegant black bikini. Shoto wore a simple gray T shirt and navy blue trunks.

"Momo, you in need of a drink?"

"Oh, no thanks sweetie."

Izuku was wearing teal trunks under another of his plain white t-shirts. Today, the katakana on it read "Cloth shirt." Ochaco had stripped off her windbreaker and was lounging in her lush teal bikini matching with Izuku's. Izuku had to stop himself from letting his eyes stray toward her cleavage… it was rude to stare.

They were at the beach close to the Yaoyorozu vacation house. After a few months of settling in, Izuku and Ochaco had quietly begun dating again. It had gotten serious… fast. The two spent most of their time off work together. They were finding themselves separated from one another even as they started merging their agencies together, but the process was being sped up by the fact it was Deku and Uravity wanting to team up together. Izuku had even joined Ochaco on a couple patrols at one point, but Ochaco noticed he ended up stopping and doing his own solo. To be expected, she guessed…

Izuku had asked Katsuki if he wouldn't rather partner up first. Not that it would've been anything permanent like he planned with Ochaco, but he wanted to check in on his childhood friend. He predicted the answer "piss off" all the same but was touched by his surprisingly considerate response. For Katsuki.

"Shore up with your girl instead, man. The hell you doing with me? I only work with my sidekicks, remember? We'll catch up eventually, so stop trying to butt into my business!"

That was nice. For Katsuki.

Although reflecting on it, he was probably more afraid of partnering up with Ochaco than he was with his old rival… The shame that bubbled up from that convinced him that, yes, partnering with his girlfriend was the right choice.

"Ah crap." Shoto said softly. "No ice cream. Forgot to pack it."

"Well, the store's right there. Go ahead with Izuku. Perfect for me and Ochaco to have girl time with one another." Momo waved the boys off.

"Sounds good," Izuku said. "See you guys in a bit."

As Izuku and Shoto's sandals crunched through the sand, Momo settled into the shade of her own umbrella next to Ochaco. A comfortable silence fell between the two as they absorbed the warm summer air and the soft chattering of beachgoers, all with the gentle crashing of the waves against the shore.

Speaking up after a few minutes, Momo pulled her sunglasses off. "I never got the chance to ask, and I've been curious for a while: when did you and Izuku get back together? Everybody always thought you guys made the cutest couple."

Ochaco, despite herself, flushed at her comment. "I mean, it's not as if we ever split up officially but… well. It just felt natural."

"How natural?"

Ochaco looked away and pressed her pointer fingers together in embarrassment. "We kinda got intimate the day he got back…"

"Oh my!"

"Momo, pleeeeease!"

Momo giggled. "What? I'm not teasing you, honest. But after everything, it's really good to see things have smoothed over with you two. I was honestly pretty worried."

"That makes two of us." Ochaco pressed her still cool beverage bottle against her neck. "Not that it was ever bumpy… I think."

Momo pulled down her sunglasses, obsidian eyes peering at her friend. "Things have been okay with you two, right?"

"Oh no, don't get the wrong idea! It's been great, it's been great… thanks for the concern though."

"What are friends for? But even so…"

Momo sat up, paying Ochaco her full attention. "It feels like you're still a little afraid he'll take off again."

Ochaco remained quiet for a solid minute. When she spoke up, it was barely above a whisper. "I mean, we were never exactly dating before. It was this in between thing. So, when he told me he was leaving but would try to stay in touch, I wasn't sure what to say. I thought it'd be pathetic to beg him to stay, especially since Deku's going to do whatever he thinks is best, but… I can't say it didn't hurt. After everything."

"Oh, sweetie. I don't think he meant to hurt you."

"And I don't blame him for it. One for All is a major burden. I could never imagine being in his shoes. I understand he feels terrible about it. Rationally, I should be mad at him but considering everything… what's the point? I yelled at him when he got back anyway. He doesn't deserve that scorn."

Momo looked at her friend fondly. "You might be the most mature person to ever come out of UA, Ochaco."

"Oh, come on! You're really just paying lip service now." Ochaco giggled.

Momo nodded her head. "Come on. Let's head into the water. Give the boys a little tease when they get back. I'm sure Izuku loves the sight of you glistening and wet!"

Ochaco blushed as she ran after Momo. "H-hey! You're supposed to be the demure one! What's with the teasing like Mina!"

Meanwhile, at the local convenience store, Izuku pulled out a pack of fruit popsicles.

"These good?"

Shoto inspected them. "Well, Momo was pretty partial to the ones with ice cream on the inside. You ever try them?"

"Oh yeah, those are good. I think I saw them right… ah, here we go. What else should we get?"

"Before that though…" Shoto held up a finger. There was nobody in the store aside from a bespectacled old woman going through a crossword puzzle at the counter.

"I've been meaning to ask you. You've been… okay, right?"

Izuku shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm settling in fine. Everything with Ochaco's going good again. If you're worried I'm still out of sorts, don't be. I'm back, I'm ready to move forward."

"Move forward?"

Izuku pressed his back to the glass freezer door, shuddering as the chill seeped into his core to combat the dreadful heat.

"I mean, after Shigaraki was taken care of we didn't know what was gonna happen. Then there was the reconstruction period, and then Ochaco had to help out her family—"

"Well, yeah, but I'm not sure why you should still let that affect you."

Izuku cracked an eye open to survey Shoto with curiosity.

Shoto began elaborating. "I know me of all people saying this sounds odd after everything with dad and Touya. But you've been keeping pretty quiet for the number one hero. Zip here and there, you barely so much as stop for photos or anything. Gotta get to the next person in trouble quick? Well okay. But you'll only wear yourself down if you do it every time. And I'm sorry if this sounds intrusive, but I noticed you only went out with Uraraka on patrol just the first couple times. You've been mostly by yourself again lately."

Seeing where the conversation was headed, Izuku waved his friend off. "Look, if this is leading into another don't do things on your own speech, I got it the first time. Honest. I'm just figuring things out on my own for a little bit."

Opening his single popsicle with a crackle of plastic, Shoto kept his gaze downward. "Figuring things out on your own after a two-year solo stint in America and dropping out of school to go vigilante. I completely understand."

Izuku reeled back like another blast of cold had assailed his back. He could only stare at Shoto for his sharp jibe. Shoto sighed.

"I'm not saying this to be rude. But girls don't really…" Shoto was trying to find the words.

"They don't tell you when they're upset, yeah." Izuku sighed. "They should add a course on how to deal with girls at school."

"My advice would be to let her know you care. Be brave, get back with her on patrol. Make sure she's not alone whenever you have nights off."

"Trust me, I never leave her alone on our nights off. Not once."

"Oh, that's nice. What do you normally do?"

Izuku flushed red, scratching his cheek. He bluntly ignored the question and ended up changing the subject. "Is there anything else we want to buy?"

Even the dense Shoto clued in. "I think those chocolate covered berries are pretty "elegant" as Momo would say."

Shoto took another bite out of his popsicle. The lady at the cash register thumbed another page of her magazine as she squawked at them.

"You eat it, you buy it! Understand?"

The two boys jumped at her outburst and bowed to show they understood.

"Dekuuuuuuu! Come join me in the water!"

Most of the day had passed. In between casually chatting, reading whatever books or magazines they'd brought along and a few matches of volleyball at the nearby net, the afternoon was drawing to a close with the sky steadily turning orange. They'd gotten back from a dinner at the local restaurant with full bellies an hour before then for dinner.

"You should go ahead, Izuku. I'm tuckered out." Momo exhaled in exhaustion, letting her wet skin dry out in the heat in her beach chair.

"Well, I can join you guys if you want." Shoto made to stand up before Momo forcefully yanked him back down into his chair. He looked like a cat who'd just been scolded.

"Go ahead sweetie," Momo nodded warmly. She gave Shoto a sharp look when Izuku turned away from them.

"My bad," he relented.

Izuku splashed his way into the water and affectionately stroked her damp hair out of her face.

"I ever tell you how pretty you look?"

"Very frequently, which I'm happy about. That's the right thing for a boyfriend to do."

"Well… how about I told you that you'd look even prettier if I did this!"

Mercilessly, Izuku yanked Ochaco into his arms and he dunked the two of them into the water by falling backwards. Coming back up, Izuku hurriedly trotted away as Ochaco playfully pursued him. She crashed into him and they took a tumble into the water again, coming up for air and giggling.

The sky grew darker as they continued splashing water and chasing one another. A random passerby would label them as just any other ordinary couple. And that was the beauty of them being together.

A short while later, Momo shouted at them that her and Shoto would be waiting by the car when they were ready, and to take their time. They shouted their thanks in return.

Eventually they ended up floating aimlessly in the water side by side, surveying the large, white moon peeking through the clouds.

"It just occurred to me… this is the first time I've been to the beach in years." Ochaco said. "I'd go out every second weekend as a kid with my parents. But once I got into UA, that all stopped as I focused on my dream to help them."

She raised her arm, watching the water drip lazily down her skin.

"I can relate, actually. But whenever I did any actual swimming, it was for cleaning up garbage."

Ochaco righted herself as they drifted back to the shallows. "What do you mean?"

Izuku joined her in standing up. "Remember Dagobah Beach getting mysteriously cleaned up of all its garbage that one year? Some good Samaritan clearing it for everybody to enjoy again?"

"And then the city mandated it be cleaned regularly by employees and student volunteers, yeah. Why are you bringing that up."

"Well… I realize I've never told anybody how specifically All Might trained me to get One for All."

It took a second for Ochaco to register what he was saying. "Hang on, that was—?"

Izuku raised his hands in acknowledgement. "Yours truly."

"You cleaned up the whole beach!? By yourself!? Quirkless!?"

"It was practically a landfill, and nobody was bothering clean it. 100% cleaned out by moi."

Ochaco blinked in surprise, chuckling. "Guess you put the "super" into "superhero" well before anybody else did."

"Come on, that's not true. Everybody who goes to UA has a hero inside them somewhere. And other schools across the country. And now, with things steadily being fixed, true heroes are on the rise again…"

He trailed off as he noticed Ochaco staring at him pointedly.

"Too much?"

"A little less patriotic and impenetrable Symbol of Hope, a little more being my boyfriend taking a simple compliment. Okay?"

"Yes'm."

Ochaco giggled again. Izuku realized now would be as good a time as any to start addressing what Shoto had suggested earlier.

"Hey, Ochaco. I was wondering if… well, I know I've mostly been doing solo work since I've gotten back. And that you've been having to tag along with other heroes. So, and I was wondering if that was maybe, uh…"

"Hey, Deku. It's okay. What are you trying to tell me? Take a deep breath."

Flushing red at mumbling through his words, Izuku followed Ochaco's advice. Collecting himself, he was ready to ask her.

"I know it kinda seems like I've been avoiding you at work. And in a sense… I guess I kinda have been without realizing it. So tomorrow, when you're out on patrol, why don't I come with you? That is, unless you don't want me to of course…"

Ochaco cocked her head. Izuku felt his heart have an ugly stutter. "You, uh, don't resent me for avoiding you, right…? Oh crap! Did you not notice until now?"

Break.

"GAH! I didn't mean to say that! What I meant to say is, I, uhhhhhh…"

Izuku's worrying was broken by Ochaco's bell like laughter. She was bending over as she laughed at her boyfriend.

"Wait? You thought I was starting to… PFFFFFT, hahahaha! You… you thought I was starting to resent you just because I noticed?"

Izuku nervously chuckled along with his girlfriend. "Well… I was kind of afraid of that, yeah."

Composing herself as her laughter died down, Ochaco fixed Izuku with a gaze as sweet as honey. Sweeter, even.

"Deku. There's nothing in the world you could do that would make me resent you. Because you're you. We went over this before, right?"

Drawing close, Ochaco angled Izuku's chin so he would be looking right into her eyes. "All the same, I appreciate you continuing to be more open with me."

Izuku grew a little uncomfortable looking into her brown eyes. They were too vibrant for him. Instead, he chose to focus on the rippling reflection of the moon against the gentle waves.

"I didn't hear you refuse though…"

"Honestly, I've been thinking it needs to be the other way around," Ochaco said. "Strongest man alive should be taking the lead. I'll be joining you on patrols more often. How about that? Think I can keep up?"

Hearing this, Izuku looked back into her chocolate orbs. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. I've got more confidence you can keep up with me than anybody else."

Smiling happy, Ochaco gave Izuku a peck on the lips. "Glad to hear it."

"Hey, lovebirds! The beach is past closing time, you'd better hoof it."

The night lifeguard called to them. Izuku took Ochaco by the hand and they trudged out of the water.

"Not that I can't understand staying for the scenery," the lifeguard chuckled. "This is the most romantic place on earth at the right times."

He peered at their faces. "Have I seen you two somewhere?"

"Perhaps you have," Izuku said briskly, bowing to him. "We'll be heading out now."

Momo was waiting by the car while Shoto sat in the front seat. She waved at her approaching friends.

"Hey there! You ready to head out?"

"We'd better before that lifeguard asks for all our autographs," Izuku said, opening the door for Ochaco. Her and Momo settled into the backseat.

"Did something happen between you two?" Momo whispered excitedly.

"Nothing much. Just… sorting out some Deku things."

"Well, you seem happy! That's amazing for you two. Tell me the details later."

Izuku gave a sigh of relief as he climbed into the front passenger seat.

"Haven't had a day that fun in forever."

"It's good we all got something out of this trip," Shoto said, turning the engine on. "Oh, you packed the other stuff we got in the trunk, right?"

"Sure did?"

"And that would be?" Momo enquired.

"Chocolate and marshmallows," Izuku explained. "We were thinking if you two were open, we can hang by the fire and make them."

"Oooooh, that sounds delicious!" Ochaco clenched her fists, stars in her eyes.

They continued conversing as Shoto drove.

"You got some high-quality chocolate, correct? I prefer the kind imported from France… they're exquisite."

"Momo, honey, that doesn't really matter when you're making smores…"

"It's not?"

"Uh, Momo? Have you ever actually had smores before?"

"I think maybe… once. As a child. Why do you ask, Ochaco?"

"Were you with anybody when you made them?"

"Just me and my dad at our other vacation home."

"Oh, your other vacation home. Uh huh. I see…"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Honey, your privileged upbringing is showing…"

"Like you have room to talk!"

"Come on, settle down… we'll show you how to enjoy smores with cheap and expensive chocolate."

"So you did get some high quality chocolate! Right?"

"We got it at a convenience store…"

"Oh… right."

Their conversation continued like that the rest of the way back.