Greetings my lovelies! I realized you all had some questions last chapter about why I skipped the "Emergency Exit" scene, among other things. Just to clarify: any scene where things are nearly unchanged I don't plan on covering it. You don't want to see me try and describe the All Might vs Nomu fight when it's gonna be identical to the manga version, but worse. So, instead I'll focus on things you might not see in the canon manga, and scenes where things are very different.

That being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please, as always: comment to help me be motivated to continue release. Also, I've been looking into cross-releasing this story and discontinuing it here so I can stick to a single platform, so please weigh in on that.

Either way: here's an extra long chapter. My to-be-birthday present to you. As always, comments are writer-food, and I am starving.

Uraraka:

Deku, I know you have voice-to-text.

You better answer me, or I'll come looking for you!

Don't make me bombard you with cute text smileys until I run out of texting for the month!

Izuku smiled as Uraraka's texts continued to come in, flexing his stiff hands a little and wondering what he could possibly say to his friend. She was probably worried out of her mind, especially after seeing how damaged his hands were. His mother certainly had been.

Wiggling his digits a bit, and glad he had the day off from school so they could just relax and recover, Izuku typed out a short message back.

You:

Please, no! Spare me! I submit!

He saw the little bubble appear almost instantly, and felt a pang of sorrow. She'd been so desperate to hear from him, she was already replying. He wondered if he'd just worried her that much, or if she was just bored.

Uraraka:

Very well, I shall spare you.

Deku: in exchange for my grace, you now owe me mochi!

And the promise you'll never hurt yourself like that again, so help me!

Izuku felt a little laugh bubble up, and decided to keep playing along. It was, nice, to have a friend who could tease him and still be nice.

You:

Yes, your majesty. Will Lunch Rush's: Mochi Ball Dessert be enough to satisfy your wrath?

Uraraka:

Only because I like you.

If you were anyone else, I'd make you pay for more expensive stuff.

Well, maybe Iida could get away with it too, but he doesn't count.

You two are my besties!

Clutching at his heart, Izuku felt his chest tighten in emotion. She thought he was her bestie? This was in the top five happiest days of his life!

You:

You mean it?

Uraraka:

Of course!

I wouldn't make Iida pay for expensive mochi!

Mostly because he'd do it without thinking.

You:

I mean… us being besties. I've… never had best friends before.

There was a discernible pause in the texts, only because Uraraka had been so quick up until now, and Izuku worried he'd gone too far and somehow driven her off. He relaxed when the three dots reappeared, and her texts resumed with normal speed.

Uraraka:

If you wanna be…

You're like super cool, and Iida's really fun.

Plus, we're floaty-buddies, remember? Gotta watch out for each other!

You:

Always!

Probably should work on the name though.

Uraraka:

Hover-Pals?

Sky-Guys?

Twin Stars?

Gravity Brigade?

Flybys?

Superrabbit and the Pink Marshmallow?

You:

What was that last?

Uraraka:

I mean, didn't you know? Your cute bunny ears on your costume!

Blushing furiously at the idea that Uraraka found him cute when he was wearing his old gear, Izuku felt a small pang that it had been more or less destroyed. Hopefully they'd keep that design in mind with the Beta Model.

You:

Yeah, I guess so. But… that's not a really flattering name for you. You should be, like, Gravity Girl! Or Ultra Uraraka!

Something that shows off how cool you are!

Uraraka:

I'm not *that* cool.

Besides, we aren't picking hero names. We're doing Team names.

Spinning in his chair a little, Izuku considered what she'd said. How could she think she wasn't cool? She was already in his top thirty heroes he'd ever put down in his notepad, and Edgeshot wasn't even that high! He quickly pulled over his Hero Journal and took a picture of the page with her sketch in the center.

You:

Sent an Image

You're Super Cool!

You can even float omnidirectionally, instead of just "up" like I do!

Uraraka's text bubble blinked for a few moments, as if she wasn't quite sure what to say, or maybe just had a lot to put down.

Uraraka:

Wow… is that all me? I didn't know you thought I was worth the time to study like that.

You're a really good drawer! You could be an artist hero, if you got the right support gear!

Wait a minute, that's not my costume in the bottom corner.

It looks awesome! Is that like an upgrade?

She continued sending little messages like that for a while, asking questions and praising his analysis. Izuku wondered if he was blushing enough to heat the rice his mother was no doubt cooking in the room over.

His pondering was cut short when Uraraka sent him a question he hadn't considered before.

Uraraka:

Is there a Deku page?

For the first time in his life, Izuku thought about analyzing himself. Why shouldn't he? He'd be a hero too, in a few years, and he couldn't just brute strength his way through. He didn't even know what kinds of support gear he might need yet, since he no longer required a parachute. It had to be corrected!

Pulling over a fresh notepad, he labeled it "Deku 1" and flipped to the first page to begin sketching what he lovingly nicknamed "Alpha Costume." He started describing his battle with Kacchan, his fight with the 0-Point robot, and the events at the USJ, trying to be as objective as possible. He paused, realizing he was too involved.

No matter what he thought of, he was too close to the action. He needed… he needed his friends.

You:

Can I call you?

He was answered by his phone ringing almost immediately. He gulped and hit the answer call icon. Texting his best friend was one thing, but calling a girl in his room?

"MochiMochi?" Uraraka sang, as soon as he put his ear to the receiver.

At once, all of Izuku's tension left and he choked out a laugh. Of course, despite everything: she was still Uraraka.

"What's up, Deku?" she asked, a bit cheekily as he recovered.

"Sorry, it was just… that's a very Uraraka way to answer the phone, Uraraka," he apologized, flipping a page and setting down his pencil, "I um… I never thought about making a page on myself. I was just trying to, but I realized: I'm not exactly sure how I did. If it's not a lot of trouble… could you tell me what you remember about the times I used my quirk around you?"

Uraraka was silent for a moment, but when she answered her voice was as chipper and bright as ever.

"Sure thing Deku! It's always nice to help friends! Oh, you should call Iida and Mineta! They were there too! And what about that grumpy Kat-chan?"

Trying to put aside the image of Bakugo as a housecat, Izuku nodded and wrote down her suggestion. She was so insightful sometimes, and he wondered if he just over-thought things or if she was just gifted at seeing the bigger picture sometimes?

"I think Kacchan's angry with me. Maybe later. But I'll call Iida and Mineta after you, that's a good idea!"

"But first thing's first: what do you want to know?" she asked, her tone shifting to one of curiosity.

"Well, I know this isn't really helpful, but: can you tell me what it looked like I was doing? Was I being too hesitant, or…" he shrugged, before realizing she couldn't see him, "I don't know, I just know I'm missing the bigger picture."

The sounds of deep pondering came from the other end of the line, and Izuku took a moment to get more comfortable in his chair.

"Well, you seemed really bruised up when you hit stuff," Uraraka mused, and he could almost imagine her tapping her chin, "Like when you hit that big robot, or the bottom of the pool. I remember when I was figuring out my costume, I figured I would fall sometimes, so I had my boots made for soft landings."

Her humming came again, and Izuku found it oddly comforting as he wrote down her ideas.

"When we fought Iida and Angry Boy, you were really well-prepared, and you used your parachute really well. You predicted him super well, and you were confident. It was super cool to hear you predict all the stuff that would happen and then see it happen exactly how you said. It was kind of amazing…"

He didn't know when he'd started blushing, nor when he'd started to tear up at being praised. For some reason, he didn't really mind it at the moment.

"B-but at the USJ it was all different!" she quickly moved on, "You were using that new power and stuff. All the bouncy-jetty stuff, ya know? It was super cool how you figured out all the angles and water displacement stuff in like, a few seconds! And then when-"

Izuku heard what might have been a hint of swallowing, as if she'd caught her words and forced them down into her stomach to prevent them from being spoken. He wanted to know what she was going to say, but worried about pushing her.

"...it was really brave when you went to hit the guy who was gonna hurt me…" she finally managed, her voice suddenly very small and not very Ochaco.

"I just… I didn't want to see my bestie get turned to dust," he mumbled lamely.

They sat in an odd silence for a while, before Izuku realized she was probably in very deep thought, and unlike him: didn't have to mutter to do so.

"I'll um, call Iida and Mineta now," he offered, not wanting to interrupt her thought flow.

"Kay… see you tomorrow?"

"Always."

"Yeah. See ya, Deku."

"Bye."

She sounded oddly forlorn there, and for a moment Izuku felt like asking what was wrong. But then the line cut off, and he was left with silence.

Not letting himself dwell on it, he tapped Iida's contact and put his pencil back to the page.

"Midoriya! Are you well? I hadn't heard anything after your injury!" came his sharp voice, and Izuku could almost see his hand chopping away.

"I'm alright," he admitted, feeling some of the tension leave him, "I was just wondering if you could help me with something?"

"Anything, my friend!"

"Well, I was talking to Uraraka about some of my hero notes, and she suggested I make a page for myself. I was wondering if you could tell me what you saw when I fought you and Kacchan?"

"Of course! Such an excellent pursuit; maximizing your skills by reviewing your past actions!"

As it turned out, neither Iida or Mineta saw very much of his quirk use or actions, and could only offer some general observations. Mineta said he was too reckless, while Iida explained his actions seemed to carry tunnel vision when dealing with emotions he hadn't faced. Izuku couldn't exactly fault either of them, but didn't know if their words would help much. Still, he thanked them and went back to his notes.

"Based on what they told me, I'm thinking too much when I fight… Uraraka praised me when I bounced off the pool and caught them, and when I rushed the Nomu thing. But I wasn't thinking too much in those moments, just acting based on what felt right. But All Might first noticed my ability to be a hero when I did just that: saving Kacchan. Does that mean I need to rely more on instincts than pure knowledge? But I only beat Kacchan by knowing him and sticking to a good plan. Then again, I had to improvise a bit when he started to figure me out, but I already knew his style enough to dodge on reflex. Maybe that means I should just study every potential opponent inside and out until I know them subconsciously and then free-style it while my body acts how it should? But that would be impossible, especially with how many secret or unidentified villains there are. I suppose experience will help, but I can't get that in a day."

He blinked and realized that during his muttering he'd begun to float away from his desk, and was now sitting, cross-legged, on the ceiling. Remembering that Uraraka's floating objects tended to move upwards, probably due to the centrifugal forces apparent when Gravity left, he realized he'd probably just done the same.

Easing himself back down, he stopped midway and remained almost perfectly stationary between the ceiling and floor.

"Floating like I just was could be considered 0%... My quirk was on, but I wasn't directing it, so I just floated around like Uraraka's power does to things. But what I'm doing now, directing my body to occupy a single point, or maybe just to not be pulled by the force of spin is like... 1%. And when I go full power to fly at something like the enemies… I suppose that must be 100%. So, does that mean I can control how much force I put into my Float? Could I… could I fly for real at maybe 30%? Then again, I only seem to be able to move "up" from the orientation of my chest to my head… I think. But right now I have to be moving "down" as well as "up" to counteract gravity, yet also be stationary... "

Instead of trying to float towards the wall, like he would if he was going full power, Izuku tried to mimic what he was doing with the floor, and imagined the wall was "down." He eased himself towards it, and then away, grinning wildly.

"It's not much, but if I can control just this 1% of my Float, that means I can learn to modulate its power to exactly what I need!"

Deciding to test himself a little, he tried moving between the walls like he was swimming, pushing off with a bit of force each time to build up a little speed. When he was sure his mother was going to hear him bouncing back and forth, he tried a final push, trying to Float in the opposite direction to counter his speed.

He slowed, but only as fast as he'd moved before, and ended up crashing face-first into the wall.

"Izuku?! Are you alright in there?" his mother called, worriedly.

"I'm okay!" he called back, wondering if he was lying or not, "Just trying to practice floating a bit. I promise not to break anything!"

He heard a soft chuckle, and realized the comment was unneeded. His room was filled with All Might memorabilia, and he'd never so much as bent a hair on any of the golden heads.

Pushing off with force again, Izuku felt the fear of running into the wall again race through him, and used it to push a little bit more out of his quirk. Maybe 3%, if he was being generous, but it did the trick. He stopped dead, his limbs moving forward a little at the sudden stop.

Breathing hard, he realized that while Float was powerful enough to punch him through steel, it still tired him out like walking or running. Pushing his control was evidently something he'd have to work on.

"I can't float with intent for very long, maybe a few minutes, and Uraraka has trouble lifting large amounts or herself… maybe we can train our endurance together! But if we fall after running past our limits, we might get hurt. Uraraka better wear her boots, since they cushion her falls. I wonder why her gloves don't have the same function. I suppose legs are better suited to cushion blows than…"

His leg-related thoughts were cut short as he ran out of strength and collapsed on the ground.

"Ouch."

"Everyone's so excited…" Deku mumbled, Iida smirking beside him.

"And you aren't?" the bespectacled student said, waving him towards the door, "Come on, let's go to lunch."

Ochaco was still processing Aizawa's words on why it was so important to do well at the Sports Festival, realizing it was truly time to begin her hero career. It was time to transform from just Ochaco into something more. She had to show the world: they weren't dealing with the average gravity hero anymore. She was going to rise above, and become a legend; a legend which villains would fear.

"Deku… Iida…" she whispered darkly, catching their attention.

She turned to them and set her jaw, feeling herself swell with determination.

"What happened to your face, Uraraka?!"

"What the…? You're not looking very Uraraka, Uraraka," Mina mumbled, her expression a little confused.

She ignored their remarks and raised her hand in declaration.

"Everyone! I'm gonna crush this!" she exclaimed, channeling the ambient Kat-chan and drawing out a few raised fists in those around her.

She noticed Deku doing so as well, his expression a little confused but with a cute grin, and continued to pump her fist with her friends. Of course, she couldn't really stay there all day, and she was rather hungry, so she decided to transition from open statement to action.

"Deku-kun!" she exclaimed, pointing directly at him, "This week we're gonna train like no one's ever trained before, and crush the competition with the power of Gravity!"

The plain-looking boy she'd set her sights on began to look flustered and confused, but that was all part of the plan. She marched forward and grabbed his arm, tugging him towards the door.

"Training!" she shouted, dragging Deku away with Iida in tow.

"help…" he whispered to the class as they exited.

When she was out of the room, Ochaco let her intense mood fade and giggled. She let go of Deku so he could stand up.

"Sorry, got a bit swept up, ya know?" she apologized, grinning and placing her fingers together in the way she liked to do.

"It's okay," he assured her, looking away and seeming just as nervous as before, "Um… can I ask you- I mean, would you mind if I… Why do you want to be a hero, Uraraka?"

Her energy wilted just a bit. She didn't really know how to state her reasons, especially when Deku's and Iida's were so selfless.

"Um… I guess you could say… for the money…" she trailed off.

"...Money?!" Deku exclaimed, surprised etched on his face, "You wanna be a hero for the money?!"

"I mean, ultimately, yeah…" she muttered, itching at her head with a little shame.

"I'm sorry, I know it seems selfish and base, especially with your guys' really noble motivations and all…"

"But why? There is really nothing wrong with seeking a more comfortable lifestyle!" Iida interjected on her behalf.

"Y-yeah, it's just a little unexpected, that's all…" Deku mumbled, apologetically.

Ochaco felt her heart tingle with joy as she realized she had nothing to worry about. These were her best friends, and they wouldn't think any less of her if she'd said she wanted to be a hero for the girls, like Mineta. Tears stung at her eyes, and she pulled them into a quick hug before explaining her motivations a little more.

"So, you can actually fly now?" Ochaco asked, moving her rook forward and taking a pawn.

"Yep. Not really fast, and I'm a little better at stopping than moving, but I don't just go wherever my head's pointing at mach 11 or just kind of drift like before," Deku confirmed, shifting his knight over to take her rook.

"Damn…" she hissed, wondering how she'd missed his trap, "Well, at least you'll be able to show that off at the festival. I have to make do with whatever they have, so depending on what's in the area: I could be out of luck."

Deku smirked, stretching a little as he waited for her to make another move.

"There's gonna be other people there, and even if there weren't: there's always something you can work with. Unless they stick you in an empty box of concrete, anchored to the ground like nothing else, all it takes is a little ingenuity and you'll have something to work your magic on."

"You're so positive, Deku. Where's this confidence when you're talking about yourself?" she sighed, trying to move her king out of the way.

He shook his head, tapping his rook gently. Groaning, Ochaco moved her piece back and let Deku flick her forehead for almost making an illegal move. Luckily, he was so timid about it she barely felt his finger brush her hair. She was going to hold back on her turns too, but since he'd yet to make a mistake like that and he'd been progressively kicking her butt for the last hour, she was reconsidering.

"I'm… I'm not as cool as you guys. I'm barely even able to use my quirk, but… I mean, just look around. You're already as tough as some pros. Sidekick level at least."

"See that's exactly what I'm talking about. You're so depressing sometimes, and all bubbly about all of us. Come on, I'm about a second away from throwing up all over the floor here, and barring this one: you've won each game for the last half-hour in like, six moves!"

Swallowing, Ochaco tried her knight, smirking as she realized she could get a Check the next move. Deku nodded, as if considering her words, before pushing his queen forward to the end of the board.

"Check."

Ochaco waited for him to answer her other comments, but quickly realized he wasn't going to on his own.

"That's all you have to say? Check?! Deku: you can't be so self-deprecating all the time!"

She stood up and pointed down at him authoritatively.

"I don't allow anyone to bad-talk my bestie! Not even you, Deku-kun!" she informed him.

He blushed a little, and nodded.

"s-sorry…"

Giving his cute apology a serious nod, Ochaco sat back down and smiled normally again.

"Good. Now where were- agh!" she groaned, her face shifting to despair, "Check… blagh…"

She pushed her king out of harm's way, knowing he would just chase her the next turn. But he surprised her, chuckling and moving a pawn forward instead. Ochaco didn't hesitate, and seized her chance, pushing her knight over to place his king in Check.

"Check, Deku!" she cheered, for the first time that day.

Deku grinned and clapped for her, before pushing his king closer to her Knight and worrying her slightly. She pulled back, returning him to Check.

"Check again!"

"Okay," he grinned, pushing his rook across and taking her knight.

"Your tactical wit sickens me," Ochaco groaned, laying back and placing her face in her hands, "Ugh. And speaking of: I think I'm at my limit. Can you help me down?"

Deku reached towards her, then paused and sat back down in his cross-legged posture, shaking his head.

"Uraraka, this is supposed to be Quirk training, right?"

"Mhm..."

"Well, Quirks are like muscles, and you have to use them to train them. But you don't get stronger by just doing what you can. You get stronger by pushing yourself to and past your limits and letting your body heal."

"If I throw up and fall to my death, I'm haunting you," she swore, sitting back up and bouncing just a bit as the centrifugal force of the planet pushed on her weightless body.

"Just look on the bright side: since your whole body's zero-g, the blood doesn't rush to your head, so you don't get head and stomach aches even faster," he prompted, smiling brightly.

"You're too happy for someone who's fallen from the ceiling three times today."

"I'll make you a deal," he deflected, rubbing his bruised shoulder absentmindedly, "If you can win this game: I'll clean everything up myself, instead of together."

"You're going down!" Ochaco vowed, pushing her queen to take his rook in revenge.

Deku smirked and pushed his pawn forward again. She wondered why he was so insistent on having it march to its death against her remaining knight. Deciding it was a distraction, she moved up her queen to just shy of the king.

"Check 3: The Reckoning!"

Pulling his king sideways, Deku's eyes twinkled evilly. Ochaco didn't like it when he smiled with dark intent. It ruined his cinnamon roll factor, which was something she wouldn't stand for.

Deciding to risk her move, she pulled her rook up to try and wall off the king's range. He grinned and pushed his pawn forward again. She placed down two lanes of death, giving his King no choice but to retreat. He pushed towards her rook as he evaded, his confidence never wavering. She glanced back at the rook, seeing if it could switch to the other side, and decided to risk it.

They danced around for a bit, including a clever switch where he got to the other side of her blockade by using a pawn as a shield: his actual destination as opposed to her rook. For a moment afterwards, she thought she had him, but heard him laugh. She looked over to see him push his pawn into the end, picking it up and replacing it with a queen.

"ア、シト," she grumbled.

"Wh-what?"

"Nothing, just… lamenting my crushed hopes and dreams."

Ochaco tried to keep up, but with his king still hiding, and a spare queen to help him chop up her remaining pieces, it was all a staying action. In the end, she knocked over her own king when he quietly reminded her: "Checkmate."

"Good game, Dek-" she broke off, turning away and tilting her head up to release a stream of sparkly-unhappiness from her mouth and down to the floor, "Th-that's the sign we're done…"

Deku unclipped the weights he'd strapped to his body, most of them dangling by ropes he'd found somewhere, letting them fall back down to the easily-replaced concrete. Stepping over to her, he held her shoulders, and when she nodded: shifted around to rub her back a little. It was nice, having a friend who cared so much.

"Right, let's get you down," he conceded, quickly boxing their game and handing it to her.

Taking the chess set, Ochaco let Deku pick her up and curled towards him subconsciously, not remembering the last time she'd felt this much like garbage. He gave her a little squeeze of reassurance, before flipping them and descending slowly to land a few feet away from the vomit.

"Okay, you're good," he verified, glancing around for a moment to make sure no one was around.

Touching the pads of her fingers together, Ochaco felt like a heavy burden was just removed from her entire body.

"R-release…" she whispered.

Every weight she'd been able to float suddenly detached from the ceiling where they'd become stuck, smashing the ground in various spots. She groaned as she saw how much they had to clean.

"Don't worry," Deku soothed, "You can take a rest while I get a mop and bucket. Drink some water, and maybe do some stretches. You'll feel better."

He offered her a water bottle, and Ochaco gave him a thankful smile before laying down and pretending she'd died. Deku chuckled at her antics, before heading off to the janitorial closet.

"I wonder why I'm so bad at chess?" Uraraka mused, sweeping at the concrete powder around one of the impact points.

"It's because you're too focused on one piece," Izuku guessed, stacking the last of the weights where they belonged and turning back to her, "You were so busy trying to get my king that you didn't see where any of the other pieces were, or how I might want to use them. You have to guess at a lot of possible moves and figure out what your opponent's thinking."

"Kind of like you and Kat-chan?" she surmised, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"Well- yeah, I guess kind of, but I've been friends with him for a long time, so I don't know if I really can call it prediction at this point," he amended.

"That too, but you have the same problem I do, don't you?" she clarified.

Izuku blinked, trying to figure out what she meant by that. He didn't throw up, he just fell. Unless she meant in chess, but he was always overthinking things when it came to pretty much everything, didn't he?

"I mean, whenever we train and you two are against each other or able to compare scores, you guys look like fated rivals or something," Uraraka continued, fingering the broom and shuffling her feet a little in her adorably embarrassed posture, "Or maybe I'm projecting, I dunno…"

Glancing down at the floor, Izuku didn't see his surroundings as his mind rewound to the last few times he'd been in such situations. That was right, he had been competing with Kacchan, and in more ways than just the other students. Even in just the first battle training, he'd intentionally sent Uraraka off to deal with Iida alone, despite her not being suited to one-on-one combat in enclosed spaces. All so he could duel his bully and prove himself capable.

But he hadn't been doing it for himself, or All Might, or anyone else who really mattered. He'd been doing it for Kacchan, who now hated him more than ever.

"-eku… Deku!"

Izuku shook himself, returning to the present and realizing Uraraka was shouting at him from the floor. Glancing down, he realized that while he'd been pondering and probably muttering something vaguely related, he'd inadvertently activated his 0% Float and begun to drift like something Uraraka had touched. Comically, he'd also stayed in a perfectly straight posture, as if standing, despite being at a 30 degree angle from normal.

"Sorry, I, um… was overthinking things," he apologized, easing himself down.

"You do that a lot," she teased, breathing a sigh of relief, "So; we done for the day?"

"Um… actually, there was one thing I wanted to do, before we ended…" Izuku mumbled, itching at the back of his head.

Was he really considering doing this with a girl? With his best friend Uraraka? Granted, it would be better than with Kacchan, and probably Iida too, but maybe Kaminari or Sato might make better partners for his first time?

"I wondered if we could… maybe, if you want to… spar a little," he whispered, a bit lamely.

"Spar?" Uraraka clarified, tilting her head cutely, "Sure, but I don't really know how we'd do that. I'm not really up for hitting the floor right now."

"Well, I was thinking we could go out to the grass and try it there," he clarified, "And it wouldn't be anything intense. Just… take-down training."

"So, like tackles?"

"Well, I'd take the roll of a villain, and you'd trap me or defeat me somehow. Then we'd switch."

"Oh!" Uraraka beamed, "And since we're pretty much burned out for our quirks, it'll be harder!"

Izuku nodded, and she gave him the thumbs-up.

"Alright!" he cheered, nodding for the open doors, "Wanna race?"

"You'd win, you cheater," she laughed, finishing her sweeping job and going to put the broom away, "Not all of us can have it both ways."

Her comment confused Izuku, and as she walked back from the closed janitor's closet, she realized he didn't know what she meant. Uraraka smiled and poked his chest.

"Deku, your face looks like a teddy bear, but you're also pretty fit. It's really jarring when your shirt is destroyed or missing."

"Oh! I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's kinda cute," she laughed, jogging towards the shaded grass area a bit outside of the quirk-training gym.

Picking up his pace to keep up with her, Izuku felt his face shift to a bright red. Why was it so hard to deal with girls? Especially Uraraka. The other girls he knew were getting easier to talk to, especially after working with them in class and seeing them as heroes first, but Och- Uraraka never ceased to fluster him.

Swallowing, Izuku tried to get his focus back.

Coming to a stop on the grass, Uraraka bounced a little and brought her hands up in a mock-fighting stance.

"Alright, Villain!" she proclaimed, trying to imitate Iida's intense posture from the Indoors Battle, "I will stop your machinations here! Prepare yourself for my signature combat moves: The Beautiful Tea Child: Ochako-Style!"

Grinning and getting into character himself, Izuku scrunched his face up into his best All Might, but with a more maniacal grin.

"Fear greatly, Citizen! Your hope has departed! For I have appeared!" He proclaimed, holding out his arms in the most pompous stance he could manage.

For a moment, they both stood utterly still. Then the scene broke, with Uraraka literally spitting her laugh across the grass while Deku shook with restrained laughter.

"You can't just play anti-All Might! That's no fair!" she managed, pointing at him, "And your face! How do you even do that? You cast like, impossible shadows!"

"This is coming from Ms. "Beautiful Tea Child?" You tell a villain that much, and they're gonna track you down outside of work hours. What if they catch you napping?" he teased back, holding his diaphragm a little, "Or even worse: cooking."

"How would cooking be worse than sleeping?" Uraraka asked, easing up a little.

Izuku held up his finger authoritatively, his expression intense.

""Household fires from stoves, ovens, and other cooking devices left unattended are a serious hazard. Be sure to turn them off before doing anything else, even fighting villains! No dish is worth your home.""

Uraraka held his gaze for a solid two seconds, before breaking back into uncontrolled laughter and rolling on the ground.

"Y-you can't quote the Thirteen Holiday Special at this time of year!" she gasped, wiping at a few tears, "I'm never gonna be able to un-hear you saying that now, you know that?"

"Then you admit defeat, foolish hero?" he asked, politely.

"Never!"

Managing to get back to her feet, Uraraka got back into her "battle stance" and charged him.

"Ochako-Style!" she called, leaping at him.

Izuku was surprised, and only managed to get his arms up by the time she'd run right into him. Her arms wrapped around his midsection, her head buried in his stomach. She didn't move.

"U-u-u-uraraka?" he asked, turning red.

She twisted around to look up at him, smirking.

"Ochako-style, secret technique: Hug of Destruction."

Izuku had to admit: she'd won. No villain would expect a hug, and with her floating quirk: even if they retaliated, they'd just propel themselves into the air faster.

He also had to admit, it was ultra-effective on him.