Chapter 17

Love Grows (Slowly at First, And Then All at Once)

Her hair has grown out.

Izuku probably realized it weeks ago, but for some reason, that detail hangs in his brain a little longer than he feels like it should. He has probably noticed it growing longer and longer, and he's probably even seen her get it cut and then grow it back out.

That doesn't stop him from losing his breathing rhythm as he follows her around UA's track. He has to suck in a big breath and start counting in his head to get back to his usual pace.

Inhale on the right foot.

1…2…3…

Exhale on the left foot.

1…2…3…

She glances back at him, smiling a little bit as he huffs and puffs. She is running in a baggy tank top and shorts, her hair pulled back in a ponytail that drapes down her back and covers the upper portion of her shoulders.

She is beautiful.

His chest aches at the thought.

He swallows the feelings tickling the tip of his tongue and instead pushes himself a little harder to catch up to her.

"Three miles getting too hard for you?" She teases, pushing the sentence out through her own staggered breaths.

"Just distracted." Izuku dismisses.

By a pretty woman.

Banjo!

Sometimes he enjoys having the Vestiges in his head.

Sometimes he does not.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Ochako asks, "Who my new parole Hero will be?"

He already knows. There was a staff meeting yesterday evening where they decided who would watch Ochako in order to fulfill the Hero Commission's curiously lenient request. It had been a bizarre ruling, given Ochako's record and ties, but Izuku had taken it in stride and decided that if it allowed him to keep his best friend by his side, he wasn't going to question it.

They slow down, three miles in. Ochako exhales long and slow, resetting her breathing rhythm. He does the same, but the pressure in his chest doesn't leave him.

He knows why.

But he's not going to ask. She has enough on her plate. Her adoptive father died eight months ago, and she's only now picking up all the pieces and putting them back in place. She's only now getting back fully into the swing of the civilian world, and how cruel would it be of him to ask her and force her to take on a relationship she might not want just to retain her grasp on what she just only now managed to obtain?

"Just thinking." He sighs, stretching before turning his eyes to the skyline.

It's not quite dawn, and the cool spring morning refuses to give way to the coming warmth of summer. It's not cold, but the breeze that's coming and going makes him shiver and the light sheen of sweat on his arms slick away. It makes him want to keep running and running, trying to outpace something in his chest that is pushing him towards a terrible decision.

Ochako flicks his forehead.

He startles, staring at her.

She smiles, winking at him. "You're thinking too hard, Izuku."

She's staring at him intently, sweat dripping off her brow and sliding around her cheek. A whoosh of air ruffles her hair and sends a shiver down both of their spines. He wonders if he should tuck her bangs behind her ear, or if that would be too intrusive. The heat in his stomach ties itself into a knot, twisting and bunching up as emotions and hormones war with anxiety and fear.

Ochako crosses her arms, rubbing her arms and shaking again. "Alright. I'm fine with running when it's cold, but when the sweat starts to dry and the wind gets going, I'm done. Shower?" She asks.

Izuku laughs but digs into his short's pockets and hands her the keys to the staff locker room. "Here. Come get me when you're done. I don't want to… intrude."

The thought of him and Ochako showering, even separated by the different stalls and curtains of the locker room, is too much. It's too intimate a space, too much for friends— even after the life-or-death situations they've shared.

She takes the key, giving him a strange look before jogging away. He watches her for a moment, eyes caught on a curious curling scar on the side of her thigh. He can't tell if maybe it was a knife wound, or a bullet that grazed her.

She unlocks the staff locker room, disappearing into the locker room to change and get cleaned up for the day.

And his thoughts do not linger on where the rest of her scars may be, on how far down her back they might trail or how far up they might creep on her toned and muscular thighs.

Nope.

Not even a little.

He turns his eyes back to the track, forcing his feet to start moving again as he flexes just a little bit of One-for-All. His feet land heavier, his toes flex into the sole of his sneakers and he pushes himself up to 11% of his Quirk. He rounds the quarter-mile track in a handful of seconds, each step throwing him faster and faster around the artificial turf.

He can feel his heart thumping in his chest, hard and loud with every beat. If he closes his eyes, then he can feel like he's flying, the wind wrapping around him and sweeping him forward. The feelings he's trying to outrun stay firmly in his chest, a suffocating warmth burning in his chest because…

Ochako Uraraka has unequivocally become his best friend.

She is the person he wants to talk to at the end of a long day. She is the person he likes to discuss his lesson plans with, and swap battle tactics. She is the person he walks home late at night even though both of them know neither need an escort, and he likes having the knowledge that he is the last person she says goodnight to. She is the person that has somehow seen him at his best and at his worst and still wants to be his friend.

And it makes his heart hurt.

Swallowing down the feelings growing there in the depths of his heart feels like he's taking a concentrated blast from Kacchan's fist right to the chest. It's hot and uncomfortable, and his first thought is that somehow one of One-for-All's Quirks is acting up and attempting to melt a hole through his chest.

He slows after the fourth mile, weaning One-for-All out of his veins and slowing down to a sprint, then a jog, then a fast walk, before the energy floods out of him and he finally squats down, sets his elbows on his knees, and puts his head in his hands.

He focuses on his breathing, slowing it down more and more as he reigns in his heart rate and calms his ragged breathing.

"Mr. Midoriya, are you okay?"

He exhales one more time, sucking in a long breath before pushing himself back to his feet and forcing himself to look up and into Eri's eyes.

"I'm okay. Just trying to outrun my feelings." He smiles. "Not quite sure if I'm capable of that."

Eri cocks a singular eyebrow at him before her eyes go from him to the staff locker room and then back.

"Is… Ms. Uraraka in the staff room?"

"We've started running together in the morning." Izuku explains, "It's a good warm up for me before class, and she says she doesn't mind."

"And it helps having someone supervise her before her parole officer gets here." Eri adds.

Izuku purses his lips, giving her a look.

She rolls her eyes at him. "Grandpa Aizawa and Papa Mirio told me about her, okay? How could they not? She's so cool." She huffs. "And I'm not telling anyone either. I promise, Mr. Midoriya."

He sighs, wiping the sweat from his brow before shaking his head. "Ms. Uraraka is a wonderful person, and I don't think you should be suspicious of her. She is very kind."

Eri frowns at him, like the suggestion that Ochako is anything but kind is an offense. "I never said she wasn't. Which is why I think it's dumb she has to have a patrol officer to begin with."

When had she picked up such strong opinions again?

When had the cute little girl he had saved from Overhaul turned into such an independent young lady that could stand up to him and look him in the eyes?

"Well, it's just one of the conditions the Hero Committee came up with since Ms. Uraraka's…" Izuku hedges for a moment. "backstory is so complicated."

Eri purses her lips, considering what to say next. "I guess they're just wary of a person like her." Then she blinks, and it's like an entire character shift as she suddenly smiles. "Are you going to bring her to class! Auntie Momo told me that Ms. Uraraka is really good at hand-to-hand! Can she come teach our class one day?! Please!"

"I…?" Izuku trails off as the door to the staff locker room opens.

Ochako walks out.

He shouldn't think anything about it.

She's just in a pair of cargo pants and a collared shirt. But he feels a lump form in his throat, and his hands get a little clammy as his gaze soaks in the look she gives him when she walks out.

Thankful.

Refreshed.

Her hair is damp, and the few strands that have escaped her hasty braid are curling around and framing her face in a way that makes it hard for Izuku to breathe. Like the air is suddenly too heavy or his lungs have lost the rhythm needed to intake and process air.

Eri elbows him in the gut.

He grunts, huffing out loudly before glaring at her.

"You shouldn't hit your teacher." Ochako calls, and her laughter and approach forces Izuku to turn his attention back to her.

Eri puffs her cheeks out but takes a step away as Ochako joins him. She hands him back the key. "All yours. Thanks for letting me shower."

"Of course." Izuku tries not to notice how his cheeks are heating up at her statement, "I really should just ask Principal Nedzu for a copy of the locker room key to give you, so you don't have to borrow mine."

You could also give her a key to your apartment.

Banjo!

He can feel the Vestiges in the back of his mind as well as Banjo's startled yelp as Nana pulls him and the rest of the collective consciousnesses away.

Ochako shrugs, and Izuku wants to flee. It's a childish fear, but he also feels like he's overheating inside of his own skin for some reason. Like this moment is too tense, and yet he also knows he's completely comfortable with Ochako.

She's killed people, and he thinks he's comfortable with that. So why is it that watching a drop of water slide around her bangs and drip onto the collar of her shirt too much for him to bear?

"I think I'll clean up for the day." Izuku blurts out, swallowing heavily before rushing for the staff locker room doors.

He bumbles his way through the door, feeling like a fool because he should not feel like this in front of a girl he just… likes to be around. He pushes open the locker room door, shucking off his shirt and shorts and heading into the shower.

He showers quickly, and admittedly most of the time spent in the shower is him staring at the mirror on the far side of the room and mouthing 'You're an idiot' at himself. He dries and dresses into yet another pair of athletic clothes, a pair of track pants and a dry fit shirt. It's too hot for pants, but he feels like pants are more professional than shorts, and he can't recall any of his UA teachers wearing shorts.

His mind drifts off its issue with Ochako Uraraka and onto his lesson plan for the day, and it's one he's been looking forward to. Practical Combat 101 was a class he really wanted to teach last semester, but Nedzu had wanted to ease him into things. Which is extremely fair and greatly appreciated after the events of the last few months.

He had needed the extra time, and getting to observe Mr. Aizawa teach the intro course had allowed Izuku time to acclimate to where each students' skill level was and what they needed to improve on. He had Class 2 advanced courses, which would include Eri, and then Class 1 beginner courses. The beginner courses he could handle. Most of that was just Quirk Training and getting them to understand how to move and utilize their abilities in a combat environment.

He was having a little more trouble figuring out how to address Class 2. They had fundamental Quirk Training, and even some basics in combat (though not as much as his class had- something he was extremely grateful for and a little lost on how to deal with). They were at a weird in-between level to Izuku.

He couldn't teach them the basics, but he didn't feel like they had enough experience to know what their combat styles were. Eri especially made this clear, and every time Izuku watched her and Kota spar, it was difficult for him to call it a true 'fight'. It was usually just awkward grappling…

He pulls out his phone, bringing up the lesson plans he uploaded to it and thumbing through them. He could run them through non-lethal takedowns today, or set them up in rough groups to see their individual combat potential… That might work for today. It would at least give him a baseline to start this year at.

He could also ask Mr. Aizawa if he had any ideas. He truly should have asked him earlier over the summer break, but it had gotten ahead of him, and he'd been focusing on his Ethics courses when he hadn't been hanging out with Ochako and discussing her best course of action.

And that…

Those few months…

He swallows, forcing his mind to remain on the present instead of drifting to those few months of frantic discussion and long nights discussion Ochako's future.

He has lesson plans to decide on and a new class of UA students to welcome today, and he's not going to get distracted thinking about how many late nights he spent with Ochako Uraraka eating Thai food or kimchi while they went over her testimony and some of the anticipated questions the Hero Commission would have on why she should be allowed to reintegrate with society.

He does not need to dwell on those late nights either at the office or in the front room of her apartment going over page upon page of restrictions and requirements and expectations. He does not need to think about how he misses the warmth her presence held despite the circumstances. He does not want to think how comfortable he was sitting beside her on the couch while his friends and even Lady Nagant milled about, discussing their options and helping Ochako stay out of custody.

He has classes to start.

He does not need to daydream about how nice it would be if after work he and Ochako could go out and get ramen or a hot pot somewhere or maybe even fried chicken to celebrate the start of the new school year.

He starts class.

He has the first years first, and he greets a class of twenty-three with a broad smile and a laugh that pays homage to All-Might. They get the reference, and he quickly runs them through his syllabus and his expectations. In truth, he doesn't have much planned for today, and they are all too enthused to know that their teacher is Aegis- both a ProHero and a UA alumnus. He fields a quick set of questions on the back half of the class, doing his best to make sure it doesn't get too rowdy.

He likes an easy-going classroom, and while he knows Aizawa prefers a strict and orderly classroom, he finds that he prefers his with an open light atmosphere where discussion and questions are exchanged in equal measure.

He sends them on to Ectoplasm for mathematics and then picks up Class 2-A and takes them to Training Gym Gamma. It's a short walk, and he challenges the class of eighteen to keep up with him.

Most of them do not, except for a girl with a speed Quirk— Kia, if he remembers her name— and a boy with golden scales around his eyes that crackles with lightning every time he moves- Azor.

Izuku comes to a halt at the gate of the gym, surveying it once to make sure it meets all of his needs. It's wide enough that he shouldn't have any issue with space, and there isn't anything specific he needed out of it. He supposes he could have just booked one of the more classical gyms to have them spar, but something about the gym's varied terrain made it more real.

Eri arrives shortly, and it surprises him a little that she is ahead of some of the others in the class as she jogs to a halt beside Azor and Kia. He waits for the others to fill in before he speaks.

"We're going to set a baseline for the semester today, and I can do it one of two ways." Izuku explains. "We'll be having a quick, no Quirk sparring match where I can identify your combat methods and how to train you individually. I can pit you against your classmates, or I can pit you against myself and you can see how you stack up against Hero. Which would you prefer?"

He gives them the option, even though he already knows which one they will want to take.

They are Heroes-in-training, and having guts and being a little bold comes with the territory, so it's of no surprise to him when one of the students, Lin- a girl with an aromatic Quirk similar to Midnight- steps up with a smile.

"We'll happily spar with you, Mr. Midoriya!" She beams at him, and part of him wishes they knew what they just got into.

What they got into specifically was a full course of being thrown around like ragdolls, but he doesn't disclose that. Instead, he smiles and claps his hands together. "If you're sure that's your preferred course of action."

Eri is not, and Izuku can see her sudden fear as her eyes widen and she purses her lips. But she has grown up into a defiant little lady, and so he smiles when her jaw sets and she clenches her fists and meets his gaze.

"Alright, let's get a line up going and see if we can't run through this quickly." Izuku smiles, clapping his hands together. "Who is first?"

"They're terrible." Izuku laments, his head in his hands as he drops into a chair across from Ochako.

She looks up at him, a little startled as he groans softly into his palms and knots his fingers into his hair. It's a state of being she remembers vividly from two months ago, when the Commission had been threatening to lock her up and label her an imminent threat to society.

The only difference now is that they aren't in his office, and instead of Momo carrying a box of takeout noodles in, they're in the UA cafeteria having lunch. There's also Ochako's supervision for the day, which is Shouto, who is staring firmly at his phone as he slurps cold soba.

"Terrible how?" Ochako asks, poking at her lunch.

She's grateful that UA started providing lunch, and even more so that they started covering her subcontractors as well. It cut down on traffic in and out of the jobsite and allowed Ochako to keep all of her workers onsite instead of having people coming in or out for lunch and all the hassle that that entailed.

"Just…" Izuku sighs, obviously glum as he stews in his words.

"They're bad." Shouto inputs suddenly. "They have no real combat experience, so there aren't any learned skills or even bad habits that have been forcibly corrected. They're like first years with a little bit of training."

Izuku snaps his fingers, pointing at Shouto. "Exactly."

Shouto grunts his response, but his eyes remain on his phone, typing out another text to who Ochako thinks is Momo. They've been texting back and forth all day, and other than Shouto's casual greeting and his occasional glances at her, he's barely acknowledged her all day.

She can't tell if they're in a fight, or just a heated conversation, because every few texts, Shouto will shift in his seat and hum softly before responding. She can't tell if it's because Momo is winning an argument they're having, or if it's because he's just that invested in the conversation. It's just a little strange though, because while he normally doesn't talk to her much, he at least will keep a running dialogue about something he and Momo have been thinking about or ask about her thoughts on combat tactics or philosophy.

He's a surprisingly deep guy like that.

She supposes in another life he could have been a philosophy teacher, an assignment she wouldn't have pegged him for, but given his family history and trauma, it immediately makes sense.

"I just don't know what I can do to get them to really… improve if they don't have that foundation…" Izuku purses his lips. "They're already second years, and they have the basics but there's just…"

"It's their mindset." Ochako replies, taking a bite of her food. She chews it thoughtfully, using her chopsticks to slowly mix the curry sauce into her rice.

Lunch Rush really is a good cook. If she had been a Hero, would she have wound up going here? Would she have been sitting beside Izuku back then and talking about life over meals like this, only a decade earlier?

"Mindset?"

Ochako hums her response, and it's only when she takes another bite and looks up to see both Izuku and Shouto staring at her does she realize they don't know what she means. She swallows, idling for a moment.

"Izuku, you've read the Art of War right?"

"Yes?"

"Did you read the Book of Five Rings?"

"…Yes…?" Izuku's frown deepens, and she can see the gears in his head rotating around and grinding as they try to process where she's going.

Ochako spears one of the cooked carrots on her plate, pointing it at him. "So, when a samurai draws his blade, his object is what?"

"To kill." Shouto is the one that responds.

"And protect." Izuku puts in adamantly, and of course he'd insist on that.

"Your kids' problem isn't that they don't know how to use a blade, it's that they probably don't have the resolve to wield it and cause harm. Good or bad. Unlike your class, they didn't get thrust into life-or-death situations where that choice became an immediate thing, and it became a line you willingly crossed to protect yourself and others. For them, it's something they have to learn and train for."

Izuku hums, and Ochako wonders what his next question will be. It's been a while since she's read either of the two books, but some quotes stuck with her. Five Rings was all about fully committing yourself to the sword, but also being aware of what other options were around you. Skills translated from one craft to another, and there were some constants going between, just like in combat. One of the best lessons she learned from it was that there wasn't such a thing as a half-measure in a life-or-death situation.

If you were going to attack someone, then you had to be clear before you ever decided to do so that you would kill them or break them. There was no opportunity to change your mind halfway through, and any attempt to do so would only get you killed.

"I could do a book study for the first few weeks." Izuku mutters. "Five Rings and Art of War…" He hums, considering for a while. "Did we do that with All-Might?"

"Not even a little bit. I think you and Momo are the only ones that have read either of those two books in our class."

"Asui has." Ochako hums. "She has a stylized copy in one of her desk drawers. I don't know if she's read it, but she owns it."

"Why do you…?"

"I pay attention to things, like how Eri and Kota have been eying us for the past seven minutes, or how Shouto is either having an argument with Momo or having a debate."

"Debate." Shouto informs primly, "Personal, if you don't mind."

Ochako shrugs. "I'm not reading your texts, just your face."

"Mina says I have a resting bitch face and that my expressions are unreadable."

"Mina doesn't know that your left eye twitches and the temperature drops a few degrees when you get peeved." Ochako smirks at him, and both of them seem surprised at her observation.

Satisfied that her skills have been reaffirmed and that any doubt has been quelled, she chomps down on the carrot and goes back to eating. She thinks it's the end of the matter and they'll move onto a more interesting or relevant topic.

"Did Hisashi teach that to you?" Izuku asks quietly.

She glances up at him. She's expecting a bit of rage, maybe regret or uncertainty, but Izuku's eyes are surprisingly clear of those things. He's genuinely interested, his lips parted a little like he's going to hang on whatever words leave her mouth.

She wants him to.

She likes the thought that Izuku Midoriya- in all his strength and his wisdom and overplanning, anxiety riddled brain- still stops or slows down to consider what she thinks.

"He liked doing book studies when I was younger." Ochako explains. "We did Art of War first then Five Rings. We did a few others. He believed that you couldn't just train your body for combat; you had to train your mind to handle the stress and to remain calm. Books like that helped…"

He taught her Art of War shortly after she started training with Nagant. She can remember them crowding over the book eating pasta noodles as he explained what the translation meant, or his disagreements with the text and what mattered and what didn't.

She sighs, pursing her lips at the memory.

"Would you like to teach it to my class?" Izuku suggests.

The offer startles her, and Ochako jerks away. The offer looks like it also startles Izuku, but the words have left his mouth, and someone has unfortunately overheard the offer.

"Please, Uncle Midoriya!" Eri slaps her hands down on the table, obviously overjoyed at the idea. "Please please please! I bet Ms. Uraraka would be a fantastic teacher! And you and her can fight too!"

That is a terrible idea.

"I think Izuku should go over it with you." Ochako smiles at her. "He is your teacher after all."

Eri frowns, eyebrows furrowing as her eyes bore into Ochako's. It's a short battle of wills, perhaps because Eri changes tactics. "Then could you teach us how to fight?"

That's a terrible idea as well.

She's on probation.

There is also the fact she is trained to kill, not to incapacitate.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Shouto mutters into his soba.

"I think I agree with Todoroki." Ochako smiles. "I wouldn't want to fight Izuku anyways."

Eri rolls her eyes. "But you're good at it." Izuku and Ochako exchange quick looks with each other, a little surprised, and Eri presses the advantage. "I can see it! You know how to fight, and I bet you and Uncle Midoriya could walk the class through a lot of fighting techniques!" She turns to Izuku. "And I heard you say we were bad! But we need to learn to improve, and we can't improve if we don't have the experience, right? And you can't count for all of it!"

It's not faultless logic, but it's good enough logic that Ochako can't readily dispute.

Izuku is the only one that is suspicious, and he frowns at Eri. "You just want to see someone beat me up after today, don't you?"

Eri's smile is dazzling. "I would never be so petty, Uncle Midoriya!"

She would be.

Her smile is paper-thin and entirely too sugary sweet to be real. Ochako finds herself giggling a little at her, amused at the expression and the thought that Nagant would love this little girl.

Izuku huffs. "How about I discuss that idea with Nedzu and Mr. Aizawa?"

Eri smiles at him and takes the question as her answer before sauntering away, off towards two of her other friends. They resume whatever prior discussion they had, but Ochako doesn't miss the darting glances Eri keeps casting her, as if she's too eager to see if her plan is working.

"So, you're going to fight me now?" Ochako feels her lips pull back into a smile.

It would be a refreshing change of pace. A poor choice for activities given her tenuous new lease on life, but refreshing all the same. There's an itch in the back of her head when she thinks about it.

A fight between her and Izuku without Quirks. A raw competition of power and skill where it's only a question of who is better, not who is stronger. Ochako bites her lip, teasing it between her canines as she considers the idea.

She sees Izuku's eyes dart down to consider it, and she knows that he's reading her body language just like she's reading his. It's something he's picked up from spending time with her and their assortment of discussions. That and French. He's getting surprisingly good at French, and it's forced Ochako to swap to Russian when having conversations with Nagant.

"It's not the worst idea." Izuku admits ever so slowly.

"Might be good for them to see how technique can even the playing field." Ochako agrees. "You've got quite a few kilos on me, and a couple centimeters as well… the girls would benefit from it a lot."

"And if we practiced beforehand, we could go over what holds or blocks we're doing."

Shouto glances at them, one of his eyebrows slowly rising, as if he can't believe they're actually considering it. Ochako sees him swap text chains, going to a different contact and rattling off a short text.

She has no idea what it's about, but she has a sneaking suspicion she's on the Izuku Protection Squad's Watch List even now, despite her proving that she isn't after him just to ruin his reputation or put a knife in his throat. Between that and the strange board that they keep changing the date on and putting assorted numbers on (Ochako is convinced it's a betting pool, but no one will fess up to it), she's adamant that they're planning or scheming something.

"I think it would be something we could make work." Izuku says finally, hand on his chin as he considers.

She can see the gears turning in his head and all the different tactics pinging back and forth behind his emerald eyes. It's sometimes amusing to watch how lost in thought he gets.

She misses startling him out of those tangents on the couch, nudging him with her foot, or elbowing him to keep him from getting too off topic.

She misses sitting with him on a couch.

She huffs softly at the thought. She doesn't deserve to think like that. Izuku is just a friend, and while she may have some… feelings… about him, it wouldn't be fair to pin them on him with everything else going on.

"What would work for your schedule?" Ochako asks, pushing her plate off to the side.

Shouto picks it up, stacking it on top of his own tray before taking it to the return area for Lunch Rush. He doesn't explain the unexpected kindness, but Ochako appreciates it.

That small instance of privacy.

Izuku and her have only had a few precious instances of those since everything started. Even their evening walks haven't felt as private, discussion bogged down by heavier topics and the contractual obligation he has to supervise her for the Hero Commission. It's still nice, but she doesn't feel like it's as… free…

"Do you really want to do this?" Izuku is caring and concerned as always, reaching out across the table with his palm out to her.

She smiles, taking his hand and squeezing it for four fingers. "I wouldn't back down from anything."

Except for telling him that she might be wanting to be more than his friend.

That she will hide away from, swallow the feelings down deep and ignore them until they wither and turn to dust.

Izuku Midoriya… Aegis… should not be burdened with the idea that a killer might fall in love with him.

Not again.

Toga had been more than enough to scar and wound the poor man, and if Ochako heaped her own burdens on him then…

She didn't want to see him get hurt.

She didn't want to see the wear and tear accumulate on his already battered and strained heart.

He didn't deserve that.

Izuku smiles at her.

The 'SmilesLikeSunshine' hashtag she used to make fun of is all too fitting, but it doesn't make her smile. She can't do that. Not when she knows that she won't forgive herself if she ever tells him that she loves him more than a friend. It's a bitter pill to swallow, and it turns the matching smile she wants to give him into a faint grin.

"What would work for your schedule?" She repeats.

The gears turn in the back of his emerald eyes, thoughts flashing between his class schedule, his patrol routes, mandatory office days and therapy sessions, and then what open time slots he has left over if he excludes the lunches they like to take together.

"Tuesdays and Fridays around four?" He suggests.

"I'll have to reschedule a contractor and manning meetings from Friday to Thursday, but that works for me."

Shouto returns, fingers dancing over the interface of his phone. He glances at Ochako and then Izuku. A small smile appears on his lips for only a second, his eyebrows tilting as he gives them an accusatory look.

"There wasn't any funny business while I wasn't supervising you two, was there?"

"Shouto!" Izuku hisses.

The half-and-half Hero simply smiles, tucking his phone into his back pocket. "Couldn't help myself."

Ochako frowns at him, and the fevered blush on Izuku's face makes her think there is more going on than it appears.

The bell rings, and Izuku huffs. Whatever explanation she may pry out of the Hero is lost as he shakes his head and gets up.

"I'll see you later, Ochako?" He asks, something pleading in his eyes.

As if she could ever say no to him.

"Of course."

She can see Shouto smirk out of the corner of her eye. There's a low buzz, and Shouto pulls his phone out again, the amused expression disappearing as he types out another text and sends it.

There's something definitely going on. Some sort of scheme that he and the others are concocting, and she and Izuku are trapped in the middle of it. Ochako huffs, pushing herself up and smoothing out her shirt. It still feels off not having to adjust the hem of her shirt to cover her gun, but she's getting used to it.

She's getting used to being a normal person instead of a killer.

Izuku heads out, herding some of the stragglers towards their next class. He chances a glance back at her, and for a moment, she sees something in his expression.

It's soft, and it's vulnerable. There's a certain frailty to it when he locks eyes with her. Part of her diagnoses it as being unguarded and open, but the other part of her… the one she hasn't ever had to bother considering… tells her that his focus is entirely on her, and for just a moment nothing else exists.

It's a stupid thought.

Izuku has had dozens and dozens of women of varying degrees of attractiveness, intellect, fame, and fortune practically throw themselves at him.

She is a battle-scarred killer who is under government watch and mandatory therapy sessions to address or diagnose underlying mental health issues. Her skin is not smooth and bronze, it is scarred and sun-scorched and she has a farmer's tan that most people haven't seen on anything other than a rice paddy worker. She is not elegant or sweet; she is brutal, efficient, and deadly. She is not a dame that he can run to rescue or sweep off her feet and hold lovingly in his arms.

She is a killer.

He is a Hero.

There is nothing more than that, and nothing more should come of that.

It was a miracle in and of itself that they were even friends, that he even wanted to or considered hanging out with her.

"Back to work?" Shouto quips as he walks up, and Ochako glares at him. He gives her an easy smile that doesn't reach his eyes.

"Don't make me give you a shovel, Icy-Hot." Ochako grumbles.

Maybe it's the nickname, or maybe it's just the tone, but Shouto frowns at her, taken back by her crude comment. She ignores him though, heading out of the cafeteria and back towards the jobsite. She had other things to worry about than what Shouto Todoroki thought about her.

The one her mind kept trying to focus on being, what did Izuku Midoriya think about her?

"No, I'm telling you, there's something there." Mina insists, pushing away from her desk to give the conversation her full attention. "And Sir Nighteye himself changed his date AFTER meeting Ochako that one time!"

Momo gives her an uncertain look, and as Mina watches the Creation hero produces a coin from her finger, rolling it back and forth along the desk as they both consider the whiteboard on the other side of the room. The coin falls over after a minute, but instead of picking it up, Momo simply generates a new one and continues in her anxious fidgeting.

"I'm not convinced."

"Don't act superior. We've been taking bets on Izuku's sleep schedule since second year." Mina scoffs.

Momo looks genuinely offended, flicking her coin at Mina. Mina swats the coin aside, and there's a strangely heated staring contest before Tsuyu steps between them.

"I thought we were talking about Ochako's viability here, and not Izuku's terrible life choices."

"I mean they are getting better." Momo mutters softly. "But I'm still not convinced about Ochako. She's a great person, but she's also partially the reason Izuku was targeted in the first place if you don't recall, and she's contributed to multiple contractual deaths over the years."

"All people that we have collectively agreed deserved to get tried and convicted but couldn't due to lack of evidence or the strength to bring them in. We agreed that Ochako's actions- while not ideal- were at least justifiable." Mina defends, giving Momo a look.

"I know!" She huffs back, shaking her head. She combs her fingers through her black hair before reaching back and adjusting her ponytail. "But there's a fundamental difference between being okay with Ochako as a friend and being okay with her potentially becoming Izuku's girlfriend."

Mina rolls her eyes, and Tsuyu meanders around the room before finally settling on Momo's desk.

"I'm kinda with Yaomomo on this one- Ribbit." Tsuyu weighs in, examining her fingernails before cracking her neck and stretching her back.

"Traitor!" Mina accuses. "You're on the board too for this!" She jabs a finger at the whiteboard in question.

"I'm aware-Ribbit. But I don't think that Ochako would be a good match for Izuku. She has a lot of baggage, and while I think they would get along, I don't think either of them is ready for the other's trauma."

"Ochako's starting therapy tomorrow!" Mina defends again. "And Izuku's been going since…" She trails off suddenly, grimacing. She defaults to biting her thumbnail, suddenly struck in silence as she thinks where the rest of the sentence goes.

He had just killed Shigiraki…

He had just been so lost and so hurt…

How could anyone recover from that? They were still kids back then, and he had to end a life.

She can still remember him stumbling out of that crater, blood on his hands and this terrified confused look in his eyes, like he didn't even realize how bloody or hurt he was, he was just shocked at what he had just done.

"And how much did that therapy help Izuku in the past decade or so when he hasn't opened up to Snow?" Momo counters.

And…

She has a point.

Mina grimaces, shuffling her feet as she thinks about it. They'd all been assigned to see Dr. Snow Velvatear since joining Sir Nighteye's agency, and it wasn't that much of a secret that the new policy where all combat Heroes had mandatory sessions was in part due to Class A. There were other reasons, but nothing quite as compelling as the piling emotional trauma that Mina and her classmates all shared.

Mina shrugs, "I… I dunno." She admits, "but I have to have hope, okay? She's the first person we've seen Izuku open up to and… and I just want him to be happy."

Momo gives her a sad look, nodding her agreement.

Tsuyu hums, dusting off her fingertips and arching her back to crack it.

"How about I try and pry some of her secrets out then?" Tsuyu suggests. "After all, I am her supervisor for the next couple months."

Mina hums. Out of all of them, Tsuyu was the most suspicious of Ochako, and for good reason. She had taken the League's assault differently than the others, and instead of breaking her it had made her a little bit more reclusive, a little bit more detached and colder perhaps. She took long missions, dangerous ones that had infiltration aspects of cartels or gangs. High-risk missions that put her skills to the test and challenged her luck on more than one occasion.

It had made Tsuyu overly observant, to the point that Mina would say she was better than Ochako in that aspect.

If there was anyone that could ferret out Ochako's current mental standing, it would likely be Tsuyu.

"Alright." Mina leans back in her chair. "But keep us in the loop."
Tsuyu rolls her eyes, but still graces them with a small smile. "Always- Ribbit."

They had made a pact to always protect Izuku as much as they could. Even if what they needed to protect him was a broken heart, they would do it. He had hurt enough in his life. He didn't need the burden of another heartache.