Manga spoilers ahead.

A glimpse of multicoloured hair was all it took to alert him that Todoroki was waiting to catch him off guard around the corner.

Throwing what little energy he had accumulated with Fa Jin into Full Cowl, Izuku managed to kick off the air and arrive inside a nearby warehouse, successfully dodging an Ice Wall that appeared where he was once floating.

He took a second to give thanks to his peripheral vision, considering it was quite literally saving his ass since Danger Sense didn't feel like giving him a hand.

He was honestly getting a bit sick of the quirk - how the hell didn't it perceive a massive fucking glacier as danger?

"Midoriya! I've got you now!"

He looked towards the where the shout originated from, catching sight of Mineta being flung full throttle towards him, with dozens of his balls strategically placed around the warehouse.

Izuku may have walked straight into a trap.

Leaping into the air, he assumed he managed to evade the grape-headed teen until Mineta simply bounced off a heap of balls on the ground and flew towards him again.

He couldn't use smokescreen to distract Mineta since Danger Sense wouldn't kick in to help track the boy's whereabouts.

Black Whip might've been a good choice had there been anything to actually grab onto, but all the pillars and ceiling pipes were littered with purple balls and he couldn't trust his tired eyes to aim between them.

He would've loved to simply brute force his way out of the warehouse, but he was too exhausted to temper One For All's power output mid-combat. As it stood, he could either use 0% or 45% with no in between, and using the latter ran the risk of collapsing the entire warehouse on his classmate.

Floating mid-air while using small bursts from Fa Jin to dodge was the only solution he could come up.

As embarrassing as it was to admit it, Mineta was causing him an obscene amount of trouble.

Twisting his body midair, Izuku dodged the boy only for him to bounce off yet another ball and launch himself back at him.

"There's no escape this time!" Mineta taunted, continuously diving and redirecting whenever he missed.

This might've been the trickiest fight Izuku had gotten himself into. With muscular, in both instances, Izuku could simply overpower him. In Overhaul's case, he could overpower him too.

Gentle Criminal? Overpower him.

Shigaraki? Overpower him.

Minoru fucking Mineta? He was fighting a losing battle, and he was seriously beginning to worry that Fa Jim's energy store was depleting. He could likely only kick off the air 5 more times until he was stuck relying solely on Float, and while the quirk was useful for keeping him off the ground, he'd be stuck with the manoeuvrability of a paraplegic.

"Can't you see we're worried about you?" Mineta spoke between swipes at Izuku. "You don't gotta do this all by yourself!"

Izuku did his best to ignore the boy's pleas and focus on looking for a weakness in the warehouse's structure.

He wasn't sure if his exhaustion was giving him double vision, but he could swear that the entire room was overtaken by purple. The orbs were scattered endlessly around the walls, floors and ceiling and he didn't know what he could—

Opening.

To his left and 5 metres in the air there was a hole in the wall, giving him a clear escape that didn't involve injuring Mineta.

(Had Izuku been fully energised, he may have realised it was the hole he initially used to enter the building.)

Throwing Fa Jin's remnants into his legs, he kicked off the air and soared straight towards the exit, successfully making his way out of the building.

Only to be faced with yet another glacier reaching from the ground up to the warehouse's roof.

If he squinted and pushed past the urge to close his eyes for some rest, he could make out a very small blur making it's way up the ice sculpture in his direction.

He recognised this formation - they used the exact same to rescue Bakugo in Kamino, except they had his explosions propelling him in Izuku's place and Ochako at the forefront instead of Kirishima.

They also seemed to be going a lot faster than they were during Kamino, but Izuku chalked that up to the the explosions providing more propulsion than Full Cowl did all those months back.

Then, to his shock, Ochako tapped her fingers against her arm.

It took a few seconds for his sleep deprived brain to come to the conclusion that she intended to float herself, and that he needed to get away as soon as possible.

Firing up Full Cowl, he did his best to perform as many squats as he could to build up energy for faux 100%. In the middle of the battle these few seconds would likely be the only chance he had at building up the momentum necessary for an escape.

Faux 60% - Iida activated his recipro burst.

Faux 70% - The trio was at the top of the glacier.

Faux 80% - Bakugo shot himself in the air with Ochako using an explosion.

Faux 90% - Bakugo grabbed Ochako by the arm, catapulting her towards Izuku at an outlandish speed, with Zero Gravity only increasing her velocity.

100%.

Izuku leapt up from the rooftop, launching himself 10 metres into the air with Float to ensure he didn't collapse the warehouse on Mineta before throwing 45% of One For All and the stockpiled Fa Jin energy into his legs for a powerful hop, blasting him away from the battle site and allowing him to complete the rest of his escape with Full Cowl.

It was only 5 minutes later when he could no longer spot Bakugo's explosions tailing him that he allowed himself to sigh in relief and dive into an alleyway to deactivate his quirk for some brief respite.

That was way too close of a call.

Even one of his classmates getting the drop on him while he was worn out was risky, but the fact that it was the entirety of 1-A was ridiculous. He didn't believe much in higher powers, but it was nothing short of a miracle that he managed to escape.

"Deku, you're muttering again." A feminine voice whispered in his ear.

Izuku instinctively whipped around and delivered a punch to his left, only for air to meet his fist.

"Oh, I'm here." Izuku felt something poke his cheek and slowly turned his head to the left, coming face to face with Ochako.

"…Eh?" Izuku squeaked out.

"It's Mineta's quirk." She pointed a finger at her chin, prompting him to look down and notice that she was attached to him by a purple ball between his shoulder and the bottom of her jaw.

It was official - Mineta was the toughest son of a bitch he'd fought so far.

Ochako shot a small smile towards him. "Guess ya just weren't fast enough."

"Uhh…yeah." Izuku awkwardly replied. It had been a while since he last saw Ochako, and holding a conversation with her alone was well beyond the extent of his social skills.

Luckily, Danger Sense decided to finally rear its ugly head in the form of a sharp pain directing him a couple dozen metres away.

Reaching up to absentmindedly run a hand through his hair, he was shocked to find his right wrist held in a grip.

"Whatcha doin'?" Ochako inquired, prompting Izuku to face her again.

"I'm—uh, hero stuff?"

"But you're tired." She flatly stated, her nose scrunching up in irritation. "You gotta take a break."

"And while I'm resting, people are gonna be in trouble." He countered, giving up on his hair and lowering his hand back down to his side.

"And if you go out there now, you'll be in trouble." She glared defiantly at him. "You would've been in trouble earlier if we didn't jump in."

"I was fine." He brushed off her concerns. "I would've found a way out."

Ochako huffed. "Well, I'm not letting you go." Izuku felt arms wrap around the front of his torso and instinctively froze at the contact.

"Urararararara—"

"Not like that!" Ochako's cheeks darkened a shade. "I'm just doing this so you won't be able to leave."

Doing his best to fight down his own blush, he responded. "W-well, that's not gonna mean much if I just bring you with me, will it?"

When he felt her arms slack slightly around his chest, Izuku assumed his bluff worked out.

That assumption was thrown out of the window when she butted the side of her head into Izuku's cheekbone.

"Ow—what's that for?!"

"I'm stuck with you, dummy!" She scolded. "Even if I wanted to leave you I couldn't."

Izuku rubbed at the side of his face. "If that's the case, what's the point in grabbing onto me so tightly?"

Ochako's cheeks lit up once again. "Um, well, you see—"

Izuku felt Danger Sense flare up stronger.

"Nevermind." He activated Black Whip, shrouding his arms in the dark energy. "The villain's probably about to attack, so we don't have time to argue."

Any of Ochako's responses were shut down by Izuku leaping through the air towards the signal.

"That was quick." Ochako stared wide-eyed at the slumped villain. "Is he alright?"

"He'll be fine." Izuku waved her off, tying him to a lamppost with capture tape.

The villain groaned in agony.

Ochako squinted her eyes at Izuku. "You're lying, aren't you?"

"Yep." He flatly responded, rubbing at his tired eyes. While he didn't feel any remorse for the man, Izuku could admit that he may have attacked with more ferocity than necessary. The villain was weak enough that 5% would've been more than enough to take him down, so using 45% was definitely overkill.

Innocent lives were on the line though, so he didn't regret his actions.

"Excuse me, young man?"

Izuku brought out his phone, sending an alert via the Hero Network that there was an incapacitated criminal that needed to be retrieved.

"Young man?"

He'd be lying if he said he didn't miss having All Might to rely on for the—

Izuku was snapped out of his thoughts by his cheeks being pinched. Yet again.

"What is it?" He irately slapped away the hand nipping at his face and faced Ochako.

"A civilian's trying to talk to you." She moved her hand to his chin, directing him towards a middle aged lady with what appeared to be her daughter standing by her side.

To say he was shocked would be an understatement. Ever since assisting the woman with the mutant fox quirk, he hadn't been approached once by the public, with some of them even running from him on occasion.

Not that he had a problem with it. His job was to save people, not to stick around and showboat while others were in equal peril elsewhere.

"We just wanted to thank you for rescuing us." The woman bowed, with the little girl mirroring her actions.

"Th-thank you mister!" The child squeaked.

If only his mask wasn't torn to shreds - that extra little layer of security would've come in real handy right now.

"O-oh, there's, uhh…no need - it was nothing, really!" Izuku chuckled awkwardly before his cheeks were pinched once more.

As much as he love—respected Ochako, she was really beginning to get on his nerves.

"Public relations training." Ochako chimed over his shoulder

Izuku sighed out of pure exasperation and plastered the widest grin he could manage on his face. "It's all in a days work - the authorities are on their way, so you should sit tight—ow!"

"You're meant to ask if they're injured first." Ochako scolded, releasing his cheek. "Plus, that 'All in a days work' was kinda cheesy."

"My, you two are adorable." The woman chuckled. "The heroes are a little more down in the dumps these days, so it's nice to see a young couple like yourselves brighten up our streets."

"We're not a couple!" Ochako denied. "We're just friends, but there was an incident that caused us to be stuck together…"

Izuku was thankful Ochako went on her rambling tirade, else he'd be forced to speak through an unbelievable amount of stuttering trying to explain their situation.

Izuku felt Ochako's fingers make there way to his face once again and was ready to slap her hand away when he found himself floating.

He didn't know when, but Ochako's rambling eventually devolved into her squeaking.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee—"

"I'm sorry about her." He called out to the two civilians below them. "She…does that. Sometimes. When she's red and all flustered."

And almost always when he was the topic of the conversation.

Izuku chose to file that thought away for later.

Catching sight of the flashing lights of a police vehicle approaching, Izuku deemed it safe to leave the mother/daughter duo and make an exit.

"Umm…mister?

Izuku looked down at the girl and smiled. "Hey!"

She seemed to fidget on her feet slightly before holding her hands up to him. "You dropped this." She mumbled.

Izuku tried squinting to get a closer look at the object in her possession, but christ was it difficult. He dearly hoped this was only a temporary side effect from sleep deprivation and wasn't a permanent ailment.

After a dozen seconds, Izuku threw in the towel.

"Don't worry about it - it's all yours." He shot her a grin. "Tell you what - you can give it back to me whenever you next see me, alright?"

The girl perked up significantly. "Okay mister - thank you!"

Izuku chose that moment to flee the scene.

"Mama, what's all this red stuff?"

Time to pray he didn't accidentally traumatise a child with a bloody medkit.

Ochako poked Izuku's cheeks, successfully grasping his attention as they soared through the sky. "Hmm?" He hummed.

"Are you gonna rest now?" Izuku could practically see the concern oozing from her expression and chose to avert his gaze.

"Danger Sense flared up for a second, so there's probably an incident nearby." He explained. "I'll probably rest after that."

Ochako sighed. "No, you won't."

Izuku felt her shuffle on his back and whipped his head around to catch her typing away at her phone.

"What are you up to?" He narrowed his eyes at her, mostly in an attempt to read her screen but his vision instantly began swimming upon seeing the bright display.

He might've been a bit more tired than he initially suspected.

Ochako ceased her tapping. "Are you gonna rest now?" Izuku shook his head. "Then it's none of ya business." She puffed out her cheeks in a pout before continuing her typing.

He would've loved to inquire further, but he could catch a glimpse of a commotion a few blocks away which matched the direction Danger Sense was pointing to.

Darting forward to the scene, he arrived just in time to catch a villain clad in bandages pick a car up from the side of the road and toss it at a group of fleeing pedestrians.

A strength enhancer? This was going to be light work.

Extending Black Whip tendrils towards the flying vehicle he successfully grabbed a hold of it and was able to fling it back at the criminal, who managed to catch the automobile and crush it in his grip.

'I'm not sure insurance will cover that.'

Izuku blissfully tuned the voice of Nana out. Or it was Ochako's. He was beginning to think he granted too many people the privilege of whispering thoughts in his ear.

"It's over Villain—"

"A kid?" The man asked incredulously. "These heroes must be seriously understaffed if they're sending elementary schoolers to fight their battles."

God he missed his mask.

"I'm the hero Deku, and I'd advise you surrend—"

"Done!" Ochako chimed cheerily from over his shoulder, depositing her phone back in her pocket.

"Can't I just finish talking without being interrupted?" Izuku massaged his temples.

"Depends, do you wanna rest?"

"No."

Ochako poked him in the cheek and smiled at him. "Then there's your answer."

"And who's she meant to be, oh great hero?" The villain taunted with a chuckle.

Izuku began building up smokescreen for release. "It won't matter when I take you—"

"I'm the hero Uravity!" Ochako introduced. "Remember it when we send you to prison!"

Izuku jerked his head to face her. "I was gonna say that—"

Ochako poked his cheek.

Again.

"Do you wanna rest?" She repeated.

Izuku chose to keep his mouth shut. Ochako would likely cut off his response anyway, so he decided to divert his frustration towards the task at hand.

A few seconds later, the villain was unconscious on the floor.

"He kinda sucked." Ochako stated drably.

Izuku would've liked to hype up the opponent to make his victory seem all the more impressive, but the man went down after one 10% smash. Hell, he didn't even need to release the pent up smoke in his pores to snag the win.

"Yeah, he did." Izuku was about to bring out his phone to alert the authorities when he was interrupted by a tap to the face.

Izuku sighed. "What is it now?"

"You don't need to bother with all that." Izuku's ears picked up the distinct sound of explosions and whipped his head around to see Bakugo rapidly approaching the area.

"You snitched on me?" Izuku asked in disbelief.

"I just told the class that this town looked pretty run down." She explained. "But unless you want them to know you're in the area too, you're gonna take a break."

"But the villains—"

"Are taken care of." Ochako finished. "18 patrolling students would do more good than one with an unwanted passenger."

Izuku wanted to continue arguing his point, but her own sounded reasonable, and Bakugo's approaching explosions only fuelled her very convincing argument.

"Fine."

"Couldn't you have chosen a better place to stay?" Ochako whined from his back.

"Did you expect a 5 star hotel?"

"I can literally see a dead fox in the corner of this room."

Izuku squinted to where she was pointing to, and to his surprise there was the corpse of the animal in the corner of the abandoned warehouse.

Oh well - it was nothing a little Black Whip couldn't handle.

Grabbing the fox, he tossed it out of the broken window. "There - defenestration for the win." Izuku tiredly rubbed at his eyes. "So, how are we gonna do this?"

"Hmm?" Ochako scrunched up her nose in confusion.

"Sleeping's gonna be pretty difficult when you're stuck to me like this." He pointed out.

"Oh." The pair both weighed their options until Ochako broke the silence. "You could just sit against the wall."

Izuku envisioned what she described and images of resting against Ochako's body while she embraced him flooded his mind.

"B-but then I'd be leaning on you." Izuku stammered out, doing his best to fight down a blush.

Unbeknownst to him, Ochako was imagining the exact same scenario. "I..I—it's fine!" Ochako all but squeaked before clearing her throat. "I mean, I don't mind since it's the only way you'll get some proper sleep."

"Uhh…right."

Izuku slowly made his way to a wall without dried animal entrails before stiffly lowering himself to the floor, doing his best to ignore the close contact between him and Ochako.

He stiffened even further when he felt her arms snake around his torso. "…Eh?"

"It's just more comfortable." Ochako mumbled, tightening her grip. "I wanna sleep too."

Izuku's mind flashed back to all the flying and battling he did after Ochako latched onto him. She likely spent even more time searching for him before his confrontation with Class A, so it was no wonder she felt exhausted.

"You know, if you really wanted me to rest earlier you should've just said you needed a break." Izuku teased, relaxing in the embrace and looking up at Ochako over his shoulder.

"But that's not the point." She lightly scolded. "You should be resting for yourself, not for me."

"I already told you—"

"Yeah, yeah - One For All, Shigaraki, All For One." She droned on. "But if you don't take better care of yourself they can just swoop in while you're weak."

"I guess you're right." Izuku smiled. "I promise to take better care of myself, Mum."

Ochako giggled softly before removing her left arm from his torso and running a hand through his hair all the while holding him.

Izuku was really beginning to regret leaving UA if this was what he was missing out on. It'd been God-knows how long since he was this close to somebody amicably, and while he could do without the unwanted tether, he was willing to ignore it in favour of the girl snuggled up with him.

He felt Ochako stop rubbing his hair and looked towards her, only to catch her with an expression of sheer panic. "Deku?"

"What's the matter?" He inquired worriedly.

Ochako blushed and averted her eyes away from his. "I gotta pee."

Fuck.

Hope you enjoyed!