It had been one of those days in the battlefield. Deku had been alerted on the whereabouts of a small crook running around the city centre, mugging and robbing anyone he laid eyes on. He knew this would be no easy battle, particularly since his foe could teleport anywhere and everywhere in the blink of an eye. He wasn't sure if he could take him on by himself. That's why he had his fellow colleagues, Ingenium and Uravity, back him up.

'What happened to Kaminari?' he asked the former, barely keeping up with him. 'Why couldn't he make it?'

'I don't know,' the Engine Hero answered back. 'All I heard from him was that he was being held up by some journalists and cameramen.'

'Couldn't he have told them this was urgent?'

'I should remind you that's he is quite hard to predict.'

The criminal was way too fast for them. Uravity didn't have the speed her colleagues had, so the least she could do was rely on surrounding objects and use them as weapons. Regardless, the three heroes kept following him around. He wasn't the type to slow down or take a break; he just kept throwing them for a loop. Deku and Ingenium managed to get close to him. Their target wasn't willing to go easy on them. He threw all sorts of melee attacks at them, and even dared to have a go at Uravity, who was literally right above him. The battle only lasted just over a minute, but it felt like 20 minutes. Regardless, it all ended when Deku barely incapacitated his opponent and handed him over to a fellow hero, who would seal him in a bubble so he wouldn't dare to escape.

'Fun day at work, huh guys?' Uravity asked her fellow heroes.

'I've seen worse,' said Ingenium.

'That guy was good, I'll give him that,' said Deku, visibly limping and clutching his chest.

'You don't look well, Midoriya. Are you OK?'

'It's just a flesh wound, Iida. I've already been scarred enough as it is.'

'I don't know, it doesn't look like a flesh wound to me.'

Reluctantly, Deku uncovered the area for his friends to see. What they saw was a pretty deep stab wound. Apparently, the criminal took advantage of his quirk to unleash a knife attack on him and possibly Ingenium and neither of them could notice since they were too focused on taking him out. Right after he showed them the wound, he collapsed.

'Deku!' Uravity yelped.

'It will be OK, Midoriya,' Ingenium tried to reassure him. 'We will just call up Recovery Girl or any medical team, and you should be fine.'

'It's nothing serious!' said Deku. 'I can still keep walking, just watch.'

He got back up on his feet and only took less than 10 steps, before collapsing again.

'Deku, this is serious,' said Uravity, anxiously. 'You need some help; we're going to get you some help ASAP. Iida, take him to the hospital and tell everyone this is urgent.'

'I'm on it,' he said as he hoisted his bleeding friend on his back and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

It had been a few days after the villain was apprehended, and Deku had been doing fairly well. His mom had been checking up on him, visiting him from the day she heard her son had been stabbed. His teammates and sidekicks had also come to his bedside, coming up with all sorts of ways to cheer him up. He was due to be discharged in 2 days' time, thus he spent one of his last days packing up. Uravity came around to help him; it helped that her quirk was ideal for such situation. But it wasn't just the thought of packing up that brought her to the hospital.

'You've always been the reckless type, Deku,' she said, gathering a few of his belongings. 'Jumping right into the line of fire, always maxing yourself out, taking on opponents who are too fast for you. You've been like this since we were kids.'

'Isn't that my duty as a hero?' he asked her. 'To put my life on the line to save another, and then some? Everyone's been saying that I possess the true qualities of a hero, so I can't let them down.'

'But still, what happened out there was a close one. That guy back there, he could barely slash you and Iida when you guys were at your optimal speed and yet he still managed to stab you. It's just… got me thinking.'

'About what?'

'What if you end up in another situation like this? Or yet, what if you don't make it out alive? Even you know you barely made it out of this one.'

'Ochako, are you actually scared that I might die sooner?'

'No. I've always been scared, even back in school. I knew you were stronger than almost everyone else, you had the abilities and drive of a superhuman, but at the end of the day, you're still human. I was scared because, you'd just keep pushing yourself until your body can no longer handle the strain, until you just, die in front of me, and then it'd feel like… it'd feel like…'

Uravity had become too overwhelmed with emotion to think of a closing phrase for her sentence, let alone actually finish her sentence. It had been a while since she witnessed Deku have another brush with death, but the severity of his wound was a frightening notion. A frightening notion that kept her awake for over a week. He didn't know that it had become easy for her to imagine life without him.

'It's OK. Just say nothing,' said Deku, embracing her as she started crying on his chest. It was moments like these, the moments when their guards were down, that truly brought the two heroes together. They had become closer than ever, able to empathize with each other. Plus, he'd be back at work sometime after his recovery so it was alright.

'Don't push yourself,' Uravity softly murmured.