Despite April being right in the middle of spring, it was still really freaking cold before the sun rose. Part of him was grateful for how the cold air felt on his burning muscles, ever since All Might came bursting into his life he hadn't had a day where his muscles weren't sore, and weren't on fire from actually being used for once. The cold air that filled his lungs stung just as much as it soothed.
But really, it was the fact that he was up before the sun was that really seemed to hit the hardest. Despite getting eight-ish hours of sleep, he was still tired just by looking at his alarm clock and seeing the big ole 5:00staring back at him. That gave him enough time to do his jog, then get home to eat and shower before school.
Then after school, he would meet up with All Might to clean the beach.
His muscles groaned and he was reminded of his soft safe spot in bed.
He wanted to quit. He wanted to go back to not waking up at five in the morning.
But he wanted to be a hero much, much more. He wasn't going to quit. He was going to prove to All Might that he had the, uhh, what exactly did All Might say he needed to have for this? Moxy? No, All Might wasn't that old. Was he? Ehh, it didn't matter. Whatever All Might wanted him to have he was going to have it!
Moe stood underneath a street light, bathing in its light even as the stars began to fade with the rising sun. Her flaming green and yellow hair was pulled into a ponytail with embers of flame flying upwards with her every movement. She was wearing tight red and black camo leggings, short running shorts that didn't even go halfway down her thigh, and a white shirt that proudly proclaimed to the world: Thick Thighs Save Lives.
She was way too hot this early in the morning.
Just looking at her made his heart beat even more, and it turned out he did have enough blood for that certain area of his body. His breath felt hot, and he couldn't quite focus on anything beyond Moe and how amazing she looked in her casual work out clothing. Not that she didn't look good in everything, just this was a new look he wanted to memorize. Especially since she was currently stretching her leg by pulling it behind her back.
Her fiery orange eyes flashed to him and her smile grew large enough to show off those wicked sharp canines of hers. She could put a wolf to shame with those. Her leg hit the ground and she walked towards him. "Deku! You're up early!"
Her every breath let out a puff of hot air.
"Are you jogging too?" She stood in front of him, back of her hands on her hips, chest out, her usual prideful stance already refreshing his stamina. She patted him on the shoulder, just rough enough to remind him that those muscles were sore too.
"Yeah," he nodded looking at her. "I uhh, kinda, started, a bit, ago."
"That's good! You're finally starting to take things seriously!" Moe slapped his shoulder again. And again. And how was she so peppy this early in the morning? She seemed like the kind of person that would murder her alarm clock if it made a peep before sunrise! "Do you do this everyday?"
"Yeah, well, except, the weekend," He spoke word by word, his hot and heavy breath forcing him to talk slowly. It really felt like his lungs were completely on fire at this point, along with his cheeks. Okay, his whole body. "I, work out, then."
"That's great! I guess I gave you some real motivation huh?" She moved to his side and gave him a sideways hug that had his elbow pressing up against her chest. Soft. Very soft. Even through the fabric. "And it looks like I got myself a jogging buddy!"
"Huh?" Izuku looked at her wide eyed. "A what?"
"Someone you jog with! I've been jogging every morning before I go to U.A, guess we just missed each other! But now we can meet up here and help encourage each other. Come on?" She smiled so easily. "What do you say, Deku? Think you can keep up with me?"
Not in a million years.
"I can try." He swallowed, the air grating against his throat.
She clapped his back again. "Great! Now come on, I can show you some stretches real quick, then we can start the jog."
She guided him to the street light and flung both of her arms behind her back, thrusting out her chest. "It sounds like you're having a bit of trouble breathing, so we need to stretch your diaphragm."
There was no way that Moe didn't know that she was all but sticking her chest out at him. Wait, she did that a lot anyways, there was just something about the way she walked that had head high, shoulders back, chest out most of the time. She had such an amazing posture. Especially compared to Kacchan that stalked everywhere like a wolf on the prowl.
Meanwhile, Izuku was fairly certain that if he kept up his posture, his shoulders might fuse into a shell for him to hide in.
"Like this?" Izuku mimicked what Moe was doing and tried not to be distracted by how busty she had gotten. It happened over winter just over a year ago that Moe went from the tall skinny girl to a full figured woman. And he needed to not be staring at her chest!
"Yeah." Moe bounced. "Just like that, now breathe in deeply."
For about five minutes, Moe lead him through her usual stretches, and then they were off. His muscles were screaming at him as he stubbornly tried to keep pace with Moe. She made jogging look so easy, like it was nothing more than fast walking, and she looked great doing it too, especially her butt.
Which he might have been staring at the entire duration of their jog.
It was a good motivator, not only was Moe moving faster than he was before, but they were already going for long as well. His feet hurt. Actually his whole body hurt. But he was going to keep up with Moe! He needed too. And once he completed his training with All Might he'd even be able to keep up with her as a hero."
"So, Deku!" Moe called flashing him a grin that tore his eyes upwards. "What would your hero name be? Like, just hypothetically, you had to think of that right?"
How could she jog and talk at the same time? He could barely jog and breathe. Especially going at this pace. He was going to fall asleep in class wasn't he?
"I uhh, I don't know." He said honestly. Well he did know, but all of the ideas were far too embarrassing to ever see the light of day. All of them were All Might based, but there was no way he was going to call himself All Might Two! Especially not in front of Moe. "Uhh, how about Deku?"
"Really? Our nickname for you?" Moe spun around somehow keeping pace and shrugged at him, her large toothy grin giving him strength he didn't know he had. "You know Katsuki says that to insult you. I just kind of think its cute."
"I know, but as long as its your Deku, and not Kacchan's Deku, I think I'd like it to be my hero name!" He managed to breathe out nearly tripping over nothing as they made a corner.
"My Deku huh?" Moe came to a slow stop and started to stretch and face him. Wait, did he know this street? Oh. It was his street. How did they end up here? "Well that sounds good! I like it!" Her smile made him blush all the more. "My Deku."
"Ah! I uhh, I mean I didn't I was, uhh, it's just, the way you say it-"
"I'm teasing you dude, chill!" She clapped him on the back.
"Oh, uhh, okay." He took a deep breath and let the early morning sun bake some of the cold off of him. "Oh, but what's your hero name?"
"Oh, that's easy. It's Burnin! Cause I'm smoking hot, and on fire. Double whammy and all that." She pulled out her wallet and flashed him a card. It was her hero license. It had her hero name on it as well as a picture of Moe in her hero costume. She looked mildly insane in it. But that was just normal for her. Probably. Did he have a crush on an insane woman? "Oh, but hey, since we're jogging buddies now, let me see your phone, it's about time we got each other's numbers right?"
A girl's number in his phone?
And not just any girl's number.
But Moe's!
He almost fainted on the spot.
XXXX
"Moe!" A blur of blue hair crashed into her with the kind of force that only a very excited Nejire Hado could muster this early in the morning. The short blue-haired girl held onto her tight, resting her chin on Moe's chest and looking up at her with star filled eyes. "Hi!"
Moe rolled her eyes and patted Nejire on the head. "Hi, Nejire, where's Yuyu?"
Seriously, where was this girl's keeper? An unsupervised Nejire was a danger to society.
"Oh! She's out sick today." Nejire's hands flopped helplessly on Moe's upper arms. "I need to get her homework! Thanks for reminding me."
How did this girl get better grades than most of their class? Nejire was ranked third, while Moe was ranked fourth.
"Well, you should probably do it after class right? I don't think they'll let you back through the gates if you leave now. Or at least not without getting in trouble." Moe smiled, the last time Nejire had gotten locked out she tried to fly over, only to get blasted by a net gun and was then stuck in the tree for a few hours. That was a good day.
"Hey, hey, hey, you're thinking something mean, aren't you?" Nejire finally let go and pressed her finger into Moe's cheek.
Moe slapped the finger away and looked up at the U.A. building. Next year, Izuku would be going here along with her little brother. Probably; he might need a shock collar. "I'm always thinking something mean, Nejire."
"Hmm," Nejire stood straight behind her, book bag behind her back. "I don't think that's true. You're a nice person Moe, but hey, you seem happier all of a sudden. Did something good happen?"
Well, she just had her first morning jog with Izuku, got his number, and found out that his hero name was going to be her version of Deku. Hehe, he was her Deku, she was going to tease him a lot. Oh, Nejire was still looking at her. "Oh, well, it's nothing really, just discovered some interesting kids that are going to be coming to U.A. next year."
"They'll have to get through the big giant robots first though." Nejire hummed and partially skipped as they made their way to class. "Still, if Moe thinks they're interesting, then I can't wait to meet all of our cute underclassmen!"
Moe just rolled her eyes. Nejire had no idea just how interesting Izuku was going to be with All Might's strength. She just needed to do her part to keep her Deku motivated.
Now, where was Dagobah Beach again?
AN: Ara Ara. Thanks for 500 followers for the first chapter! Good to know so many people were this thirsty for Burnin! (Or was it just for Katsuki having an older sister to slap him around.)