7

Sky embrace

"They said wait for a diversion..." Izuku was peeking from a window, inside a building. He was staring at a building vertically across the intersection. That's where the heroes who needed help were. The class had zeroed in on the signal fire. The building was blocked by the 'villains.'

"That's right, we have to be patient." She whispered next to his ear.

Deku tried to steady his breathing. His face was growing red. 'This is worse than bad!' The class had decided to split up Hatsume and Midoriya, they both had the ability to repair equipment and had ammo reserves, it would be more optimal that way. 'Although I doubt Hatsume can focus...' But that wasn't the problem for him right now. Right now he was dealing with this vixen breathing down his neck. Iida, the class representative was with Hatsume, and Midoriya was left with the vice representative. 'Why did it turn out like this?! It would have been better if I was paired with Iida!'

"Is something wrong, I-zu-ku..." Her breath trickled down his ear, as she leaned over him, both glancing for an opportunity to act.

"N-Nothing!.." His hair hid his stammered eyes. He shivered the moment she leaned on his back to get a better view.

Then came the boom! "E-Eh?!" The building in front of them had a minor explosion in the lobby floor. That was the obvious divergence. "C'mom we have to go." Without thinking, he grabbed her hand, running straight to the window.

"Wait a minute! M-Midoriya?!" She had wide eyes as he threw himself at the window, dragging her along for the ride.

The glass shattered as they busted into the sky. He had an excited gleam in his eyes, but she was crying her lungs out.

"Don't worry, I got you."

She stilled her voice, hearing his. Somehow, even through the blarring air in her ears, she heard it. It was that comforting husky whisper he always had on those nights. Her eyes twinkled. He had twisted his body around, ready to catch her. The wind had guided their bodies close. She reached out, her fingertips grazed his jaw, she skimmed them up to his cheeks until she had a delicate but trusting grip. She was falling down to him, she smiled before they met. "Right now, it's just us, here... Izuku." With a teasing giggle.

He gasped, feeling her arms go around his neck, bringing them closer in the skydive embrace. They had half-lidded wanting eyes, staring at each other. They closed them locking lips with a tender motion, as they fell through the sky.

Slowly, they broke apart, opening their eyes. "Momo..." He let out, trying to catch his breath.

She smiled, but it was that loving smile that she only opened up for him to see because there was a delicate shine in her onyx orbs that she only trusted with him. His own eyes began to grow. It was so endearing he almost missed it. He remembered seeing her lips moves. She finished, tilting her head. The wind blew away her words, but he heard it. He wanted to be so sure he heard it...

"Save me."

Tangled in a timeless fall of faith.

"How are we still alive?!" Izuku exasperated, still in shock. He had drifted, swerved, flipped, spun, and grinded to the roof of the target building. 'I was too focused on Momo that I almost let us fall to our deaths! I can't forget how dangerous these air trek are.'

"It was fun. Let's do it again sometime." She said as he let her down.

He almost choked on his spit. "F-Fun?" He didn't expect for the well educated and proper Yaoyorozu to be the type to enjoy what they just survived through. "S-Sure."

She leaned forward, finger to her lips and a wink, all with a secretive, naughty, attitude. "Sounds like a date."

He parted his lips taking in the rare sight. "A playful Momo..." He blurted out in a delighted daze.

Her cheeks tinted, still in the middle of her pose. She instantly straightened out and coughed to the side, fixing her composure. "Ah, well yes, from this point I have to ask we keep our relationship at the school level." She finished readjusting by tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Oh... Yeah, we should huh?"

"I-Izuku I hope you know it's not like that..."

"I do... I mean I want to, I don't know." He grumbled. She was going to reassure him but didn't, because he rubbed the back of his hair, smiling. "But, I'm glad you just acknowledged that we do have one, a relationship. It's the first time either one of us has, actually. So I'm kinda happy."

They shared a smile, taking a small step forward into their complex affair.

"Maaan, that was brutal." Kaminari sighed. They were all banged up and changing in the locker room.

"Yeah, but Midoriya more than held his owned!" Kirishima slapped Deku's back, right when he took off his uniform jersey.

"Ow, ow!" He groaned. 'Kirishima doesn't know his own strength.' That and he was as bruised as the rest of them. He was able to hold back Eraserhead thanks to the fact that he didn't have a quirk but did have his air treck, and was seemingly prepared for his binding scarf, causing Aizawa to retaliate with physical force, delivering kicks, elbows, punches, and knees. Izuku did his best to counter blow for blow, but took more than he preferred, although his air trek added a lot of torque to his kicks, giving him fierce close quarters combat capabilities. He held him off long enough for them to make a quick escape.

A chime from his phone pulled him out of his thoughts. It was a message from her. "Can't wait for tonight!" Followed by a kissing face. He smirked at it about to reply.

"Hey man, wanna go with us to karaoke?"

"Thanks, Kirishima, but I do have some work at the support studio. I need to hurry back."

"Damn Dude, you work hard even after school. Sure sucks to be you."

Izuku chuckled saying something along the lines of helping how he can.

A locker slammed shut. They all winced at the harsh sound.

Deku bit back as Kacchan left the locker room.

Kirishima sighed raising his arms then dropping them. "Man, how can he still be such a sour bug, just because-"

"Thanks, but I really should get going." Deku pushed past him, trying to be polite.

After he left, Kirishima asked, "What'd I do?"

Kaminari chuckled, shaking his head.

"I can't believe I actually let it go to my head for a moment." Izuku was exactly where he said he would be, working at the studio, and of course, Hatsume was as well. Both with their coffee cups beside them. "I know Kirishima means well, but ugh." He couldn't express. His hair shaded his eyes as he stared down at the hero suit he was working on. 'That's right... I'm not a hero.'

Beep. Beep.

He looked at the arm support still on his arm. A light was indicating that it had low power. "I guess I forgot to take it off, huh." He reached for the latch, opening it. He pulled it off and placed it to the side. "Let's get started." He was going to do what he usually did, take notes of repairs and upgrades. He went to grab his pen.

His eyes grew as he tried to grip the pen with his right hand. "I... I can't form a grip!" This hadn't been a problem for a while now.

Hatsume heard his shock, instantly fearing the root of the problem. She rushed over to him, dropping her goggles down to her neck.

"I can barely raise it." He attempted to test the strain on his arm. He dropped it helplessly beside him, holding his elbow with his left hand.

"I'm so sorry Midoriya, I should have-"

"Don't apologize." He quickly interrupted. He knew the only thing she was sensitive about were her babies. "It's only a prototype... Besides, it made me feel like... like, like..." He never could say it outright.

A tender grip held his bandaged hand. "You're right it's only the prototype." She stepped into his personal space, but this time it was different from all the other times she had done so, this time it was sincere. She stared up at him with her precise eyes. "I'll definitely improve it, more and more. So you can keep being a hero..."

"Hatsume..."

He felt her grip squeeze slightly. He began to feel anticipation. 'Wait, i-is something actually happening between me and Hatsume?! Are our lips getting closer? W-Wait! M-Momo!' He lifted his left hand and placed it on her shoulder, to stop whatever advances that were happening.

And the door opened.

He paled turning to the intruder.

"Aha! S-Sorry! I j-just wanted t-to talk to D-Deku! Th-That's all! I didn't mean to intrude! R-Really! Really... I'm... sorry..." Uraraka covered her face in embarrassment. Spewed her words in shame, before running away in rejection.

"Wait! Uraraka, it isn't what it looks like!" He broke off the awkward hug they were sharing. He ran to the door, but stopped, turning back to Hatsume. He was about to ask if they could talk about what happened later, but she was already back in her work. "Right." He mumbled before he ran out.

The only sound to come out of the studio was that of tools as she worked to ignore that thing she didn't understand called emotions.

Izuku eventually caught up to her at the front of the school. He was able to explain and she tried to laugh off the misunderstanding, but he couldn't ignore the salty liquid she tried to hide before he caught up.

"I just wanted to say, Deku... Jeez, I don't know why this is so hard." She slapped her cheeks. "I just wanted to say, I thought you were really cool today!" She gave him a thumbs up, before hastily running off.

And it only left him more disheartened because he was pretty sure he knew how Uraraka felt. He knew because they had been best friends for three years. And they constantly do this to each other.

Give the other hope for a fleeting moment and they reach out for it, knowing it will only slip away again.

Even after I tried so hard, why can't we escape from something that never happened, Uraraka..?