Chapter 10
As Uraraka stood on the bus next to Midoriya, she could hardly think straight.
They had taken a short bus ride to reach the destination that Midoriya had planned for their date. Midoriya had insisted on paying for Uraraka's fare, as he was the one deciding on where they were going.
There hadn't been any seats for them when they walked down the aisle, so they ended up standing near the middle. Not before long, the bus got filled up with more people and without noticing it, Midoriya was practically pressed up against her.
He held his hands out on each side of Uraraka to make sure she didn't get squished by the surprisingly high number of people on the bus with them.
"I'm sorry, I should have considered the number of people using the bus at this time on a Saturday," Midoriya looked at all the people standing around them before he smiled sheepishly at Uraraka.
She could feel the blush burn on her cheeks from the close proximity.
"N-NO! It's alright, don't worry about it," Uraraka flailed with her hands in front of her body.
Why was she so tense? Why did they have to stand so close to each other so soon? Have they ever been so close before? Uraraka felt like she could count the freckles from Midoriya's face, they made his otherwise plain looks seem quite cute.
When Midoriya effortlessly shielded Uraraka from one of the other passengers she caught the subtle smell of his scent. Had he always smelled this nice? Or was it purely because of their date? It was a great smell, not too strong or pungent, just enough.
Definitely not sweet like Bakugou's smell of caramel.
Wait … Huh? Why am I comparing them with each other? And more importantly, why am I thinking about Bakugou of all people, while standing in this kind of position and proximity with my crush!? Who I'm on a date with! Get it together Ochako!
Uraraka mentally slapped herself, and forced her mind to think of nothing but Midoriya standing so close to her.
"Oh, this is our stop," Midoriya suddenly noted.
Until they had to get off the bus that is.
They wiggled out of the bus and when they finally escaped the crush of passengers, they both took a deep breath of the fresh air into their lungs.
"That sure was crowded, huh?" Uraraka chuckled before she looked up and she could barely keep her mouth closed, "wooow, what is this place?"
What Uraraka saw when she looked across the street, surprised her. She had no idea this kind of place existed.
"It's an activity park. I found it the other day while I was out running," Midoriya laughed sheepishly as he looked at all the people, doing their different activities together, having fun. The place was filled with people of different ages, sizes and shapes - even colours.
"It's amazing!" Uraraka almost gasped when she looked at all the different activities.
"Deku! They have roller skates! We have got to try it!" Uraraka had completely forgotten about her nervousness from earlier or maybe even the fact they were on a date, when she grasped Midoriya's calloused hand in her delicate one and began to drag him across the street.
Midoriya followed her without struggling, a small smile blooming on his lips.
As soon as they had their roller skates, Uraraka and Midoriya cautiously entered the rink. They had to dodge a few skaters who were jumping and doing crazy tricks, but most of the people were rolling calmly together in pairs.
Uraraka started to roll on her skates immediately, taking a few steps with confidence and then turned around, only to see Midoriya trying to hold himself up as if he was Bambi on ice.
A small chuckle came out of Uraraka's lips, but she hurried over to him and took his rough hands to support him.
"Are you okay, Deku? I'm sorry, should we have done something else?" She tried her best to calm down her nerves while she waited for Midoriya to catch his balance.
He smiled reassuringly even though you could clearly see that he was struggling. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit unsteady." Midoriya's legs were shaking and his other arm was held out from his body, as if grabbing the air would keep him on his feet.
"Remember to bend your knees slightly, it will make it easier to stay upright," Uraraka did so herself to show what she meant, briefly letting go of Midoriya's hand to take a quick lap around the rink. She stopped herself as she came back to where he was still standing, then turned around on the skates, rolling backwards.
"Wow, that was amazing! How come you're so good at it?" Midoriya asked with light in his eyes, filled with impression and admiration as he was still trying to stay upright. He tried to take a few steps, successfully staying on his feet as he did so.
"Oh well, I had a pair of roller skates back home." She almost blushed. She never thought something like her skating would come up again and definitely not something Midoriya would get to see.
"Amazing!" He smiled brightly at her, before he almost lost his balance and had to try a few times before he regained it again.
"Ah, try to widen your legs a bit and remember to bend slightly in your knees, you should be able to keep your balance easily then. Think about how you usually use your body with your quirk when you jump all over the place." Uraraka explained softly, still skating backwards, making sure he didn't fall down.
Midoriya did as suggested and it was obvious that he could skate a little easier than he did before, although he was still unsure on his feet at times.
"So uhmm, I wanted to ask you something," Midoriya almost blushed as he slowly looked at Uraraka who had turned around to skate normally again, now at his side.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I just wanted to ask if you were alright? You seemed out of it the other day. Did anything happen?"
Thinking back on the other day where she had rushed away from him in the middle of their training, she forgot her footing. Uraraka fell to the ground with a loud 'thud'.
"Are you okay!?" Midoriya tried his best to stop his skates, but in the end, he as well fell down next to where Uraraka was lying.
They both moaned in pain, until they looked at each other and they both started to laugh.
"We're apparently both kind of klutzy, huh?" Uraraka noted as she tried to stifle her giggling, while getting back up on her skates again, helping Midoriya as soon as she got up.
"Yeah, we are," Midoriya smiled at her, "but you're okay?"
"I am, but I think we better find something else to do."
"That's probably a good idea," Midoriya agreed as he got up, with the help of Uraraka.
She helped him get over to the starting point again, where they both delivered the skates they had borrowed, retrieved Uraraka's bag, and put on their own shoes.
"Phew, it sure feels good to have a safe footing again," Midoriya cheered, jumping once just to feel his balance again.
"One of the best things about skating," Uraraka agreed.
"Sure is. So, should we walk around a bit? See what's here?"
"Sounds like a good idea."
"Great," Midoriya seemed a bit unsure of himself when he smiled at Uraraka. A small drop of sweat trailing down from the side of his face and his hands started to get fidgety, although he quickly made an executive decision when he took Uraraka's hand in his as they started to walk around.
At the sudden contact from his hand, now in hers, she jumped slightly and her heart started to jump nervously around in her chest.
"I uhm, hope this is okay?" he asked with a shaky voice.
"Yeah, it is," she had never thought her own voice could be so small as it was right now and she could feel all her blood rushing to her face.
Relax, relax, you need to relax. Don't be so nervous. She took a deep breath.
Shortly after, Uraraka did start to relax, and it was almost like she even forgot they held hands at times.
As they walked around the place they were marvelled at how many different people walked around, all with different quirks; some more obvious than others, some using their mutational quirk for some of the activities in the park. A girl with a tail used it to dominate a game of basketball, while a guy who had several legs was surprisingly nimble playing on the dance machine.
"Deku! Let's try the dance machine!" Uraraka let go of Midoriya's hand as she ran over to the next free machine, already pressing the buttons on it to make it ready to start.
"Yeah, sure, seems like fun!" He ran up to the machine where Uraraka was standing, waiting for him.
"Though, how about, we make this more interesting?" She asked as soon as he got up to the platform.
"What do you mean?"
"The loser pays for the winner's drink when we get lunch," she made a challenging smile and Midoriya agreed immediately.
Along with running around in her roller skates before she started at UA, Uraraka used a lot of her free time dancing with her friends, making her pretty sure she could win easily.
Although it didn't take long, before she figured out that it wouldn't be that easy to win against Midoriya. She wasn't sure if it was because he was a natural, his quick reflexes that made him able to dance on the platform so well, or if he had been playing this game a lot before, just like she had.
She had to admit that Midoriya didn't look half bad while dancing, it made him look rather cute, especially when it looked like he had so much fun when they were dancing next to each other. Before she knew it, the dance was over and for the first time in a while, someone was only a few percentages away from winning over her, it was way too close for comfort.
"Phew! You won! Wow, you're very good!" Midoriya breathed while he was trying to catch his breath, breathing slightly heavier than usual.
"You're not half bad yourself, Deku!" She playfully jabbed his shoulder, maybe a little harder than intended as the nerves got to her seeing how close to her own score he was. Though she was sure that Midoriya couldn't feel the difference as he didn't even show it on his face.
"Should we get the winner her drink then?" Midoriya jumped off the platform and held out his hand for Uraraka to take it.
"Sure!" She let Midoriya lead her off the platform and they walked around the park while they were looking for a place to get something to eat and to get Uraraka her victory beverage.
They stopped by a cute little café in pastel colours, filled up with small sandwiches and different kinds of beverages, hot and cold.
The first thing that caught Uraraka's eyes was a hot and spicy beverage called 'Kaboom' and it made her giggle to herself. She thought that would definitely be a drink for a certain hotheaded blond. Uraraka pauses, and had to pinch herself to get out of her thoughts. She was not supposed to be thinking about him, especially not while she was on a date with Midoriya of all people.
"Oh, this one looks delicious!" Midoriya exclaimed with those innocent stars in his eyes when he saw a katsudon sandwich and a cinnamon latte.
Uraraka giggled to herself as she went up to the counter together with Midoriya, to see what else they had. Her eyes fell immediately on a small box with mochi of different colours and flavours. Her mouth started to water at the thought of eating them. It had been a while since she had let herself get something like that.
"E-excuse me? Can I get a katsudon sandwich, two cinnamon lattes and a box of mochi, please?" Midoriya ordered once he saw the look on Uraraka's face.
After he paid and their meals were put on the counter for them to take, they went over to a table to sit, though not before Uraraka was trying her best to insist on paying for at least her own half - although she also knew she didn't have much money.
"Don't think about it, it's my treat, I was the one who invited you on this date," Midoriya reassured her with his calm and bright smile.
Uraraka relaxed into the chair, "well then, thank you Deku!"
"Ah, no problem, just enjoy."
Uraraka opened the box eagerly and when she took the first bite, she felt pure bliss. Aah, the soft and chewy sweetness that let the flavours dance on her tongue.
"So good," she almost moaned to herself.
"I'm glad" Midoriya took a sip of the latte as he started to fidget around in his seat.
"Are you okay?" Uraraka swallowed the last bit of mochi as she watched Midoriya try to find a comfortable spot in his chair, looking around him as if he were worried that something might happen at any minute.
"Yeah, sorry I'm a bit nervous I guess, now that we're sitting here." He was starting to blush, and the sight made Uraraka start to blush as well.
"I know what you mean," she took a sip of her latte, and let it calm her nerves for a bit before she tried to look at his eyes, but quickly averted them.
How had she suddenly lost all ability to carry on a conversation or at least to say anything? She was finally on a date and she could hardly get a word out and he was blushing and stuttering enough for both of them.
But even then, she had enjoyed herself and was very happy to have her first date with Midoriya. She couldn't help but smile a little to herself.
"I'm sorry for running out on you the other day," she blurted out, focusing on her latte as she spoke, "that wasn't fair to you at all."
"I get it," he didn't. "I mean, I don't really to be honest but … I was just worried about you," he gave her a small smile and Uraraka's heart did a little dance in her chest.
"Thank you. I mean! I'm sorry for worrying you but … Thank you."
"No worries," Midoriya chuckled and so did she as they sat there in silence.
Nothing much happened after that. They both enjoyed the rest of their meals and Midoriya bought another box of mochi for Uraraka to take home.
They took the same bus home, although this time there weren't as many people on it as there had been on the way over. So, luckily they could easily find seats to sit on. Uraraka was almost about to fall asleep against Midoriya's shoulder, just a few seconds before they had to get off the bus and she was woken up by a soft nudge.
Midoriya had insisted on walking Uraraka to her door when he was going to end the date.
"Thanks a lot for today, even though I believe my ass will be a bit sore for a few days," Midoriya joked.
"You're a hero-in-training and have been thrown through concrete and survived multiple villain attacks, but a fall on the ground is what's going to make you sore?" Uraraka giggled.
"Well, it's the little things sometimes."
"Sure seems like it."
"So, uhmm," Midoriya looked into Uraraka's eyes and took a step closer as he took her hand in his, "thanks for today."
"Yeah, thanks for today," Uraraka squeezed his hand softly, she could feel her hand starting to get sweaty.
A/N: Thanks to Falconurgando and Doctor Emmit Brown for helping me with this chapter! I've been struggling with my confidence for this one, so it means a lot.