Chapter 19

This is Love (Real and Raw, Bloody and Broken, Untamed and Untethered, Tentative and Terrified)

Seeing Ochako like this reminds him of when she saved him from Toga.

She's wearing a black sports bra and a pair of leggings for their impromptu combat course, and he's lying to himself if he says he isn't getting distracted here and there by the way she moves and how her scars flex and shrink as she walks in front of his class.

He's lucky she hasn't caught him looking.

He's also lucky none of his children other than Eri have caught him looking.

He's really lucky that he doesn't have to speak at the moment because he thinks he's going tongue tied.

Oh, so you like them with scars, huh?

Banjo, leave Ninth alone. Can't you see he's teaching the next generation?

Teaching them what? How to drool quietly? Wait. Is that one from a bullet?

Yes. Izuku was pretty sure it was, a small puckered mark right at above her collarbone where it sloped up to her neck.

Banjo!

"Questions?" She claps her hands together, and Izuku realizes he's zoned out of her five-minute intro course on basic hand to hand and grappling methods.

Eri is naturally the first to raise her hand.

"What combat qualification do you have to teach us?"

He hadn't thought of that.

"First hand experience, certified combat courses in fifteen official martial arts, a crash course in salat, and more hours on the mat than your entire class can match for the rest of your student career." Ochako's answer is flawless, and Izuku physically feels the influx of stress drop off his shoulders at her response.

He'd been worried about that. He should have known. She was more qualified to teach them hand to hand combat than he was in his opinion.

Someone else raises a hand, Azor. "I… Did I miss your job title?"

Ochako shakes her head. "No. I own Uraraka Construction; we've been doing work on UA's grounds for a little over a year now."

"But you know these skills…?"

"Because I do." Is Ochako's response, a soft frown on her lips. She stares Azor down, and while the boy meets her gaze for a solid fifteen seconds, he shifts awkwardly and turns back to mutter something to another in the class.

"Any question before me and Aegis move on to the practical and demonstration portion of this?" She asks.

"This is a no Quirk practice, right?" Eri asks.

"That's correct." Izuku steps in, deciding he's let Ochako field questions for long enough. While he knows she can handle them, it's not her job. "Ms. Uraraka's Quirk involves her hands, hence her gloves, and I'm taking special care not to use my Quirk as well in this. So, what you'll be seeing in this exercise is technique and raw power. It's what we can do with just the muscles we were given and the mechanics of our body, no special effects or training required."

"Exactly." Ochako nods at him, giving him a smile.

He wonders if that smile is for show, or if it's one just for him. He's starting to notice a difference, in how the light catches in her eyes and how bright those little stars in her eyes twinkle.

They square up on the mat, giving about a meter of space between them.

"What's the first thing you need to be looking at in a fight like this?" Ochako asks.

She gave him permission to attack even as she lectures, so Izuku tries for a quick pair of jabs on the left.

She bats them aside, a standard mid-block that she showed him only moments ago.

"Strength?"

"Power?"

"Speed?"

"Reach." Ochako answers her own question. When Izuku goes in for another jab, she grabs his wrist, ducking under it to throw a punch of her own.

He catches it, the soft, meaty smack of her half-gloved hand hitting his palm.

"My reach is a handful of centimeters longer than Ms. Uraraka." Izuku explains. "So, in a fight, she has to push in closer to get to me, while I can keep her at bay as long as I like, so long as she doesn't manipulate me."

Ochako backs up, and they reset. "You need to gauge your opponent's range, tendencies, and stance the moment you get into combat. Know what they like, how they operate. Even if you don't know them, sometimes you can tell just by what their Quirk is, or how they're standing or fighting. Izuku is a close-range specialist, but his Quirks and his power actually put him most effective at mid-ranged combat."

She's told him this, and they've argued back and forth about it. Truth be told, she's partially right. Between Blackwhip, Float, Fa-jin and Air Force, he could switch his entire combat style to be a mid-range combatant, but there was something about the fight he couldn't quite give up. There was just something about being up close and personal, about knowing that he was physically putting his body in between a villain and a civilian that made him want to be there.

They shift to grappling next, a seamless and unspoken response as Ochako's hands twist, opening up more instead of remaining in loose fists.

Izuku copies her, flexing his fingers as he readies. He knows that she's the one demonstrating, and it takes a surprising amount of effort to quell his instinct to react and fight.

"Grappling is the same way." Ochako opens the topic by grabbing Izuku's wrist.

She sweeps in, one leg stepping behind his lead foot while her opposite hand goes for his throat. He feels his center of gravity shift and grunts as he's suddenly on the floor, tripped up by his own weight and Ochako pulling him off balance.

She spares him a glance and then winks at him.

There's a flush of heat, but Izuku tells himself that it's just exertion as he gets back up. Not embarrassment or a rush of feelings because she's got this little half-smirk-smile that's tugging at something in his heart.

She turns her attention back to the class. "Alright, any questions on what me and Izu-Aegis just showed you?"

There's a shuffle of feet, and Izuku knows them well enough to know they have questions but aren't sure how to ask them yet.

"We'll be stepping around the mats and checking your form." Izuku puts in. "If you miss it now, don't think that this is the last time to ask. Furthermore, Ms. Uraraka has agreed in part to help me teach this course, so she'll be available when her schedule allows for some extra training just as I am. I would prefer it, however, if you asked me first, and her only if need be."

There's a grumbling of agreement, but Izuku has a feeling that Ochako will still end up being propositioned for individual training by a group of girls. It makes sense, and he can't fault that behavior. Aizawa warned him that that was a bit normal. It was often awkward to train with mixed genders in cases where training required laying physical hands on someone.

"And Froppy?" Hui asks.

"Is observing." Tsuyu answers the question, and Izuku has to crane his head up to consider his friend, who has taken a rather curious position on the side of the wall, tucking herself onto a small ledge to watch the exercise.

"Alright. Let's split up in partner pairs!" Izuku calls, and his class of eighteen divvy up into nine groups.

He splits them with Ochako, and then the next half hour is spent running them through basic grappling drills and hand to hand combat. For the most part, she focuses on getting them used to blocking and being in a combat mindset.

He keeps them moving through the motions or gets them to slow down enough to actually experience them in most cases.

"When you're training hand to hand, never practice full speed," Izuku explains, "the faster you go, the faster your partner has to go to keep up, and then it's a full on brawl. Someone often gets hurt, and neither of you learn anything."

Azor purses his lips, a spark of lightning rippling up from his lip to discharge in his spiky yellow hair. "Yes, Midoriya-sensei."

Ochako is managing the students well, though he keeps an eye on her. Tsuyu seems content to watch her from above, and despite Ochako sometimes stepping in to drill with a student and show them first-hand what the proper technique feels and looks like, she doesn't come down to inspect any closer.

Izuku knows that there was a bit of a rift between them at the start of their relationship. Tsuyu was the one that figured out first what Ochako was, and while he knows they're on… agreeable… terms… he isn't certain they're… friends.

He's hoping that they'll get a bit closer with Tsuyu being assigned as Ochako's parole Hero. He knows that it helped ease Shoto into it, and whatever issues the two had were smoothed out over the course of a few weeks.

It also probably helps that he mentioned Shoto really liked soba, and Ochako just happened to make sure she went out to get soba at least once a week with him, but still.

He wasn't above trying to manipulate circumstances to make sure that his friends liked Ochako.

You know what that sounds like? Banjo sing-songs in the back of his head.

Banjo, we talked about this, no interrupting Ninth while he's teaching. Toshinori cuts in.

Lov- Ow! Nana!

Sorry, Ninth. He hears Nana, and shortly after the extra weight of their consciousness seems to lift.

Banjo is… not wrong… though.

He does love Ochako Uraraka.

But he doesn't think he needs to love her like that.

She doesn't need someone like him. Sometimes he still wakes up screaming at night, drenched in a cold sweat and the lasting image of Shigiraki's corpse under his blood-soaked hands. His hands still shake every now and then, when someone's Toga Tell was delayed. Even knowing that she is dead, he still… isn't sure. He still doesn't feel like he's safe from her.

Ochako shouldn't have to deal with his nightmares. She had enough on her plate, enough she was trying to deal with.

"Midoriya-sensei?"

He hums an affirmative to go ahead with the question, despite his attention being otherwise occupied. Ochako is working with Azor, and even with the child moving faster and faster, Ochako doesn't seem phased as she blocks, grapples, and then suddenly throws the kid to the mat.

"Careful on speed." She reminds the boy, walking off the mat to address another group. "And keep your wrists straight when you punch and your hands a little loose so you can grapple or strike if need be."

"What was your question?" Izuku tries to turn his attention back to the student at hand.

"Just curiosity, but who would win in a fight between you and Ms. Uraraka?"

"Ochako."

"Aegis."

They glance at each other, frowning at their mixed responses.

"You have muscle mass, weight, and power on your side." Ochako justifies.

"And you have technique, experience, and training." Izuku counters.

"Last time I put you in an armbar, you pulled your way out of it like I wasn't even there."

"That was with my Quirk." Izuku reminds her, "and I was mad, so not a fair argument."

"So, you're not mad when you get in a fight?" Ochako smirks, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Not usually. It's a job, and people make their choices, good or bad. I'm a Hero, not a judge. Sometimes people make the wrong choice for all the right reasons, or the right one for all the wrong ones. Just because I have to capture or take down a villain doesn't mean they aren't somebody to someone."

Ochako huffs, rolling her eyes at him. "And that's why you're everyone's favorite. But seriously. You'd win."

"Wouldn't. Not in a non-Quirk fight." He argues.

"Why don't you settle it now?" Eri suggests with a smile, stepping off her mat and offering it to the two adults.

"I'd rather not go to the infirmary for a broken arm today." Izuku replies with a huff. Then he squares up with Eri, cocking an eyebrow. "How are your grapples coming?"

She hesitates, the color slowly draining from her face as she backpedals onto the mat. "Uh…"

"Do I need to assign mandatory practice to all of you?" Izuku raises his voice, and in response he gets a chorus of 'No's. He smiles at that, sharing the look with Ochako.

She rolls her eyes at him before heading off to check on another group. Her cheeks are flushed, and he chalks it up to exertion.

She has no reason to be blushing.

He doesn't know if she's ever been anything but cool, collected, and in control since he's known her, with a few notable and understandable exceptions.

A shiver goes up his spine as he thinks about her, blood trickling down her face and arm, teeth bared when she protected him. He can still remember that look she had on her face, some strange mixture of anguish, rage, and wildness as she ripped Toga away from him and slammed her into the wall.

It had been…

He swallows, shifting slightly before heading off to check on another group.

He keeps the class doing drills for another half hour before the bell rings and he dismisses them a bit late to their next class. Eri is the last one out, and she gives him a soft frown before her eyes go from Ochako to him and back again.

She's suspicious of them, he knows.

Mirio has told him that she'd been asking questions, and while he deflects them as best he can, Mirio is a terrible liar. Izuku knows this as a fact because there is always a nervous laugh and a blatant lie of an excuse whenever he asks Mirio what the whiteboard by the elevator is for.

He'd heard almost everything by now. A company salary chart- which was a lie because when he and Shoto joined, they sat down together to make a budget, and the amount on the whiteboard was only four months of Shoto's salary- not yearly.

Which meant that Eri probably knows that Ochako isn't what she appears to be- whether that be contractor or otherwise.

"You have another class after lunch, right?" Ochako asks, wiping sweaty palms on her pants. She huffs out a large breath, inhaling softly through her nose before exhaling again.

Izuku feels his own hands going clammy, and he subconsciously scrubs them on his own pants. "Uh- yeah. Yeah." He affirms, and when Tsuyu gives him a curious look, he pointedly does not meet her gaze.

Ochako hums, stretching for a moment before she huffs out a breath, pursing her lips. Her shoulders roll back, and he sees her eyes narrow as she focuses on something else. He sees her fingers curl into fists, the muscles in her forearms snap tight just before she lashes out at a phantom opponent with a flurry of punches, mixed with a block, a dodge, a chain of blows, and then a duck and sweep of her feet.

He watches transfixed as she shadowboxes, and only realizes he's staring when she focuses on him. She falls out of her stance, flexing her fingers and shaking out her arms and legs.

"It's been a while," She explains with a small grimace, "so I can't deny that it feels nice to use those movements and… feel that rhythm."

He can't be entirely sure he understands. He's never trained exclusively in martial arts. His training has always been confined- either by circumstance or by necessity- to how he fights with his Quirk.

That doesn't stop himself from stepping up to her, settling into his usual stance, left hand in a fist a hair further forward then his right. He knows the stance guards his face, and as Ochako gives him a curious look before settling into her own stance, he wonders if she's taking this seriously given her open palms.

She has yet to curl them into fists, her hands still loose, like she's going to grab instead of strike. Izuku isn't sure if that means he's properly set up or not, so he hesitates.

That is all the opening that Ochako needs.

She steps into his guard, blocking a light jab that Izuku throws at her. She wraps her left arm around his, pinning it behind her, and steps in so close he can smell the tang of sweat and the fruity scent of her shampoo.

Then her fist thuds into his gut, hard enough to let him know she landed the blow, but not hard enough to hurt. She smiles at him, then steps back.

They reset.

He attacks first this time, using his reach to his advantage as he feels out her defense and her habits. She likes mid blocks, and each time she wards off one of his jabs, she shoves it down and to the side. He throws a hook, and she blocks it, but steps in unexpectedly and grabs him by the throat.

He feels her foot slipping behind his, and he takes a step forward, lowering his own center of gravity before she can throw him off balance. His own arm wraps around her midsection before she can switch tactics, and he takes her to the ground in the same maneuver she was trying to pull on him.

She grunts as her back hits the mat, glaring at him as if she's annoyed by his counter. He takes a step back, rolling his shoulders as she gets back to her feet.

Ochako takes a small break to get a sip of water and pull her hair up. He tries not to watch as she pulls out a hairband, bundling it up into a tight bun on the top of her head. Sweat slides down the back of her neck, running down her back. It dips into the scar just behind her shoulder blade, tracing the soft pink recess of skin before tumbling over the edge of it and getting caught by the strap of her sports bra.

She's told him about some of her scars. Some of them are from training, like the ones on her forearms and fingers. She had laughed when he asked about them and explained that it was nearly impossible to get into a knife fight and not get cut. The fact that she didn't have more scars from it was already a miracle according to her. She has three on her right forearm, small ones that were little silver slivers of skin on the outside of her arm. A fourth was on her left forearm, longer than the others as it traced its way up. She'd explained that she'd blocked a machete. The cut had been down to the bone.

She didn't elaborate on the rest of the story, but she shifted and changed subjects quickly enough for Izuku to know she didn't want to talk about that.

Ochako takes another sip of water before stepping back onto the mat. She wipes her hands off on her leggings before stepping back up to him.

"You ready?" Ochako clarifies, and he nods.

It's refreshing to spar with her, even if it's without Quirks. She matches him in speed, and even though he's got more strength- a point that is proven whenever they reach a stalemate- she beats him out with technique. He finds himself smiling the second time they set up, shaking out his hand where his fingers got jammed against the mat.

She goes first this time: a grab for his wrist that he ducks away from. She steps in, a jab for his jaw. He ducks. She closes in, a hook that he blocks. She turns it into an elbow, and Izuku pushes her away to prevent the hit from landing. He doesn't let her recover, grabbing her bicep and wrist.

He's going for an arm bar.

She catches his wrist, and there's an awkward moment where they lock eyes. One of his hands is on her bicep, and one of her's has caught him by the wrist.

A bead of sweat drips off her jaw, staining her black sports bra with a light sheen. Sweat trickles off her upper lip, and her tongue peaks out, licking it off without a second thought. He forgets whatever maneuver he was planning on using to break away from Ochako or gain the advantage.

He is on his back.

Suddenly and brutally, Izuku realizes he has been thrown to the floor, his own arm looped around his neck and the muscles of his bicep and forearm pinching his carotid as Ochako pressed down on his elbow. Her hips bracket his own, and he can feel his weight- comfortable and somehow like she has been a missing puzzle piece. The grind of her hips as she bears down on him, her thighs locked around his own as she pushes down on his elbow, cutting off the blood flow to his brain with his own arm.

It's dizzying, and not just because he's getting lightheaded.

She's close.

So close that he can count eighteen little starbursts of light in her left iris. He exhales softly, dipping his gaze down to her lips. Soft, pink, tentatively close.

She pushes away from him a moment later, breathing hard as her cheeks flush with color.

He's staring up at her. Their hips are still bracketed together, her weight comfortable despite the intimacy of it. She cards a hand through her hair, sweeping a few stray strands of her brown locks back behind her ear. He's captivated by it.

His mouth goes dry as he stares at her, and he has to actively work to reorder his thoughts.

"You let me have that round." Ochako huffs at him, giving him a disappointed look.

He latches onto her words, because his other alternative of spewing out what his thoughts does not need to be voiced.

You sure? You forget she quit her night job for you. I bet she'd be willing to let you find out how soft her lips would be on yours.

Again. Not to be voiced.

"I got distracted." He replies with a small grimace.

She cocks an eyebrow at him, as if she doesn't believe him.

"You distracted me." He admits after a moment.

She snorts, rolling her eyes at him. "I didn't do anything." She dismisses his excuse, finally pushing up off his hips, leaving a spot in his lap he never knew had been missing something until now, and taking a few steps back. She turns away from him, smoothing out her leggings and stretching.

She did.

But he isn't about to tell her that she's been distracting him for a while now, that it takes more and more effort for him to not get jittery around her. It takes more effort for him not to want to revolve his days around her, ask her how she's doing or plan every lunch hour around when she takes her lunch. He still did on some days, but he made the excuse that it was because he wanted to pick her brain about some new law or some hypothetical, or maybe to get her opinion on how to present something in the combat class, or to just check in because he'd forgotten to ask how she was last time he saw her. It was a lie he told himself to spend time with her, and Mina had called him out on this weeks ago and he still had yet to find a good rebuttal to her accusation that he was spending way too much time with her and not the rest of his friends.

"Rare for your ass to be in the grass- Kero." Tsuyu hops down next to him, as if the twenty meter drop from her ledge to the floor is nothing. She takes a few steps forward and offers him her hand.

He grimaces, taking it and letting her hoist him to his feet. "I got distracted." He grumbles an excuse.

"By a pretty face?" Tsuyu accuses, unapologetic and blunt as always.

Izuku blushes.

You're going to have to get a handle on that, kid.

Especially with how often it's going to come up, given he's trying to cram as much Ochako time into his schedule as he can without it being creepy.

At this point you might as well just say you're dating her. You literally took vacation last month just to celebrate her finishing up one of the constructions.

Courting. Nana butts in. We settled on this. Ninth doesn't date, he courts.

You mean he gets friendzoned like a bitch.

Banjo!

He isn't sure what the difference in wording is, but he also doesn't think this is helping deflect Tsuyu staring him down.

"I uh…" He grimaces, pursing his lips and glancing back to Ochako for a possible way out of this conversation.

She gives him a curious look, taking a squirt from her water bottle. She does not approach nor offer him any attempt of salvation from Tsuyu.

"You were staring- Kero" Tsuyu accuses again.

He was.

"I…" He grimaces. "I wasn't trying to… but… she's…" Izuku chances another glance back at Ochako. She gives him a confounded look, as if realizing that something is up. Still, she just takes another swig from her water bottle before picking up a hand towel and using it to wipe off her neck.

It was his hand towel he'd lent her a month or two ago. When they first started running together. She huffs out a long breath, wiping the back of her neck and humming as the coolness of the towel takes away some of the heat from their activity.

"She's pretty?" Tsuyu guesses.

Izuku spins back to her, cheeks so hot he feels like he's going to catch on fire. He doesn't dare answer her question, and instead the frog woman simply hums, taking a step back as she considers Ochako.

"Pretty has never meant that much to you before." Tsuyu mutters, eyes darting from him to Ochako.

He refuses to so much as blink, too terrified by the prospect that doing so will confirm Tsuyu's growing suspicions. He couldn't think of anything more chilling than that, than having the full weight of Tsuyu- the solo wet worker from Class 1-A, who toed the line of being an Underground Hero and being the best infiltrator in current Hero line up- fixed entirely on Ochako Uraraka.

He wasn't sure which one would get out alive if they decided to go at each other.

A phone rings.

It's not his. There's the distinct lack of All-Might's signature theme song playing through the auditorium, and Izuku knows from experience that Tsuyu always keeps her phone on silent. How she still manages to check and respond to her texts in a timely manner is a mystery to him, but he still hasn't managed to ask her how she does that. It's Ochako's, and both him and Tsuyu turn to watch as she plucks her phone from a spot on the floor and answers the call.

She hums into the line, eyebrows furrowing as she listens.

"No no no. I didn't ask for three four-ton units, I asked for four three ton units. Tell them to ship it back and check their requisition form. I didn't get my order—" She huffs, rolling her eyes before giving Izuku a pleading look. She tilts her phone away from her mouth, gesturing to it.

"I can handle the next class myself." He assures her, already guessing that this is a problem better handled in first person, if nothing else than to make sure it got done right this time.

Tsuyu hums softly. Ochako gathers her gear, and Izuku expects the frog girl to follow her out. Instead, Tsuyu just waves Ochako forward as if giving her leave. It's a breach of protocol, and it surprises Izuku coming from Tsuyu. Out of all of his friends she was the most cautious, the wariest… the most… reclusive about the scars their class had endured and what she personally had experienced.

She was the least trusting and the most suspicious.

Tsuyu lets Ochako leave, eyes following her out the door for a moment before she turns her full attention back to Izuku.

They were close, once upon a time. Close enough that when Iida… when Iida…

It had broken both of them together. They had picked up the pieces together, held each other's hand while they tried to remember what being happy felt like. Neither of them could feel anything, really, nothing other than desperate need for validation in what they had gone through.

Tsuyu stares at him, perusing him with a calculating eye as she steps around him.

"Is something wrong?" He asks. Her mannerisms seemed the same, from how she held her hands to her speech patterns and the tone of her 'Kero'.

"No- Kero."

"Did you want to talk about something?" He asks, shifting slightly. Blackwhip whirls around his fingers, but Tsuyu doesn't check it. So, she isn't looking for a Toga tell.

"Not particularly." She folds her hands behind her back, taking a step closer.

He's a good thirty centimeters taller than her, and he has to peer down at her even as she peers up at him.

"You and Ochako were awfully close on that mat just now."

Heat burns up the back of his neck, curling around to the front and up to his cheeks. He purses his lips, a dozen different words and excuses jumping to his lips.

And then grinding to a halt at the recollection.

Her hips seated firmly in his lap, the easy confident way she moved. The flex her core muscles as she restrained his arm and wrapped her legs around his waist. He swallows both the thought and the saliva he just noticed in his mouth.

"I thought you were a gentleman, Midoriya-kun." Tsuyu smirks at him.

"I- I—" Izuku stutters, but Tsuyu simply smiles and rolls her eyes at him.

"Look- kero. I don't mind if you two want to get to know each other like that, but get a room first and at least take her out to dinner. And maybe think about letting your friends take her for a talk beforehand." Tsuyu tells him with a smirk. "I promise me and Mina won't be too bad- Kero."
"I-she wasn't- I didn't. But we were—" He stumbles for something to respond with, unsure what to say to assure Tsuyu that there wasn't anything going on.

"And tell her to wear a shirt next time. Kids can get distracted by anything, but I don't think Aizawa-sensei would approve of you going doe-eyed at your assistant teacher- Kero."

Izuku bawks at her statement but can't dredge up anything to rebuke her statement.

Tsuyu huffs at him, then turns to the door and heads after Ochako. She's almost to the door when she pauses and turns around.

"Do you have a plus one for the Hero Gala next week?"

There was a Hero Gala next week?

His expression must have answered for him, because Tsuyu simply smiles. "You should consider asking Ochako if she's free that night. It would be nice to have her come."

He isn't sure if that's an olive branch or a declaration of war coming from Tsuyu. Inviting Ochako to an event filled with media reporters, other Heroes, some of which no doubt have or had contracts out on them, and the threat of spotlight and recognition, was a terrible idea.

But on the other hand, if he didn't invite her, he would be forced to go into the lion's den without her. Tsuyu would leave him alone once they entered, and if he wasn't quick enough to inject himself into Shoto and Momo's conversation then he'd be shut out for the entire night. Mina was a social butterfly, and he never had the talent to follow her around and socialize with anyone and everyone.

So, if he didn't invite Ochako…

Izuku sucks on his lower lip, chewing it uncertainly.

You'd also get to see her in another dress. Banjo happily informs him.

There is also that.

And you could finally talk to her, maybe have a formal dinner if you can get a table to yourself… It would be the first time in a while… Nana adds.

The thought of talking with Ochako while she nurses a glass of red wine or a whiskey made his chest feel fuzzy. Like someone had shoved a still burning torch into his chest and flames had curled around his heart and set it ablaze.

"I think I'd like that."

Don't ask us, you dingus. Ask her!

Oh right. He should probably do that before he assumes she'd come with him.

…

She'd…

She'd accept if he asked…

Right?

Right…?

Oh my god, Ninth.

If Kiri had called at any other time, she might have been genuinely mad. If he had called her under any other circumstance, then she might have actually been pissed.

Right now, her mind has other things to process.

The least of which is Tsuyu Asui- the person who has been most suspicious and wary of her since her arrival- sitting in her passenger seat.

That's an issue for after-freak-out Ochako.

Right now, she's trying to replay in her mind what possessed her to ever agree to teach a close combat grappling course with Izuku. A grappling course that had somehow ended up with her straddling him and them so close that her lips could have touched hi-

The light turns green, and she focuses on accelerating smoothly instead of stomping on the gas.

"There's a Hero Gala coming up-Kero." Tsuyu says, attempting to start a conversation. Or maybe it was just that she was tired of Ochako's silence.

"Oh?" Ochako focuses on keeping the turn smooth and staying in her lane. She has seven more intersections before she reaches Kiri's new jobsite- a small renovation to an existing office structure.

"We're trying to decide who will escort Izuku in since he always brings one of us as an escort." Tsuyu shuffles in her seat, bringing her knees to her chest. "Looks like this year it'll be either me or Nejire-Chan." She huffs at that.

"When is it?" Ochako asks before she can stop herself.

He hadn't mentioned it. Did that mean he'd already decided to go with someone else? Did that mean he hadn't wanted to bother her? Or was it simply a lack of forethought on who he would attend with?

"Next Thursday."

Thursday wasn't a busy day for her. There was a concrete pour at UA that morning, and she had to supervise some steel rigging at Kiri's that afternoon, but she could move that time table up and get it done early. There was also a staff meeting at four PM that day though… She hums, mentally shuffling her schedule around before finally committing to saying, "Oh?"

As if she isn't interested.

Tsuyu hums noncommittally.

"Sounds like fun."

She gives her a look but doesn't reply to Ochako. Her fingers tap softly on the windowsill, each tap accompanied by the soft sound of her fingerpads sticking.

"Have you figured out your intentions-kero?" Tsuyu asks after a moment.

No.

Maybe.

Not exactly.

"Perhaps." Is Ochako's response, because she isn't quite ready to put into words the feelings that are fluttering in her chest.

To do so would be dangerous, now more than ever. She may be starting a new life, but her old one would no doubt linger behind her, and ghosts would continue to haunt her. It wouldn't be fair to drag Izuku or anyone else into this more than they already have been. It wouldn't be fair to put that man through any more pain than strictly necessary.

He didn't deserve it.

Tsuyu doesn't say anything the rest of the ride. She just stares at Ochako, as if testing the silence and trying to push her to explain her answer.

Ochako, however, has had enough of that today. Snow had already done so, and as tempting as it might be to voice those vulnerable thoughts, she will not do so with Tsuyu Asui. Not with the person who is most suspicious of her friendship with Izuku.

"He looked comfortable." Tsuyu says as Ochako pulls into a parking space and shuts off the truck.

Ochako frowns at her, unsure as she gets out of the car.

"With you." Tsuyu explains, no need to clarify the 'he'. "I don't know if he's ever been comfortable being that close with anyone else."

And she isn't sure what to say.

Her heart soars in her chest though, despite her knowing that she does not deserve to be held by Izuku. Never has and never will.

Quick answers to some questions I noticed from the comments.

Mina will definitely be updating the white board. The system is that you can push the date back, but you can't bring it forward. Additionally you can only change your bet date once every two weeks.
Sir Nighteye's bet has not changed from the initial handshake with Ochako. Just FYI. Mina has changed her date the most, and Tsuyu the least. When they first made the bet, Tsuyu gave a date four years in the future.

Additionally I tend to update on a bi-weekly. There is some delay on the days, but usually it's Monday or at the latest Tuesday. These chapters do go through a beta'ing process, so sometimes there may be sections I need to redo or rewrite, and that can cause delays.