Honor the Hero

Author's Note: I admit, I was pleasantly surprised by the positive response to my one-shot last week. I wrote it on a whim and didn't expect much of a reaction. My hope is that readers enjoy this submission as well. If you enjoy it, please leave a review, favorite, and follow. I'm afraid I don't have very much time in my week for this, so as with last week, it's unedited. Please forgive me that and enjoy.

Ochaco wore a pleated white blouse, a black suit coat and skirt, and way too high heels. She fidgeted with them around her feet. Somehow, they cut through her tights and into her skin. How? Like she knew. Her ankles still ached from walking around on them across Tokyo.

"We're all here tonight for one reason," announced the city mayor. He was a portly, balding man with a graying goatee. "Tonight we honor the world's greatest hero, All-Might."

They were in a large ballroom in downtown Tokyo, sitting at one of those round tables you only ever saw at these types of things, with the cream colored sheets and neatly arranged plates and cutlery. The ceiling was enormous, with giant, golden chandeliers hanging extravagantly over them.

Ochaco's and the rest of class 1-A's table was at the back. She squinted as All-Might, now an emaciated and frail-looking old man, stood from his chair behind the podium and bowed.

It was an event put on by the city at the behest of the mayor himself. With not only his true identity, but also his retirement, revealed, All-Might had been asked to attend one last hoorah in his honor, to thank him for all the lives he'd saved.

Word was that the Symbol of Peace had specifically requested that his students be in attendance.

Which meant that Ochaco had to don formal-wear, something she was not used to. She was the daughter of construction workers, not bureaucrats. Yaoyorozu, thank goodness, had navigated this scene throughout her life, and she'd been a life-saver when she volunteered to take the other girls shopping for clothes.

Ochaco wasn't sure who'd helped the boys out, but whoever did deserved a medal. All the boys were dressed up in fitted dark suits. Some took stylistic liberties, like Kaminari and Bakugo, who forewent neckties. Some of them wore striped button-up shirts, while Kirishima had his necktie worn loosely about his neck.

Deku, though… Deku seemed born to breathe in his suit. He had a type of gentle, assured power about him. It helped that he seemed lost in thought. A man could look good with a smile, but a real man looked sexy with that extra gravitas.

Ochaco felt her face turn up the heat as she realized that she was staring at Deku… again.

It'd been less than a week since their midnight rendezvous, and they hadn't had opportunity to discuss exactly what had happened, what with training for certification and this particular event coming up. Truth be told, Ochaco had avoided discussing that moment like the plague.

Her face lit up like the rising sun as she remembered- remembered- remembered… She gulped. She'd kissed Deku. Only on the cheek, but still. She'd started doubting herself the moment she'd gotten back to her dorm room. What if she'd misunderstood his intentions? What if she'd misread the whole situation? Had she overstepped her bounds?

Taking a gulp of water to calm her nerves, she stared forward at the podium once more. The mayor had finished speaking, and he'd opened the stand for All-Might himself to speak.

He approached the mic, and looked out at the whole of the audience. "This is my first time addressing the public as a retired hero," he said, his voice a rumbly bass that carried deep into the wooden walls and glass chandeliers. "I don't have much to say, except this: everyone here can be a hero. All it takes is the guts, determination, and fortitude to always do what is right. That is, perhaps, the last lesson I learned in my career. It is bittersweet to pass on this torch, but I know that I leave this city, this country, and this world in capable hands. I look forward to our next generation, who will carve a path so bright it will make all paths before it look dim. When I see my students, who are in attendance, I am brought to remember words I have spoken many times. They are words which have defined my career, and have given me the strength to carry on in the bleakest of times. They are the words I leave with you now.

"Go beyond. Plus Ultra."

Ochaco looked quickly about her table, to see how others reacted, even as All-Might left the podium. And as she did, she noticed something: Deku was missing. His chair was empty, and neither Todoroki on his left nor Iida on his right seemed to have noticed.

She hoped he was okay.

He was probably in the bathroom.

But what if he wasn't?

Then he probably wouldn't want me going to him and meddling with whatever was on his mind. Though he did seem to be thinking really hard about something earlier.

What would Deku do?

Ochaco stood, quietly told Tsu she was going to the bathroom, and left into the lobby of the building they were in. She didn't know what the building was called- only that it was huge, and that the floor was made of marble and the ceiling was really really tall. She saw Deku just outside the doors of the building, a near-silhouette illuminated by dampened white building lights.

With a swallow, she walked through the rotating door- having to push awkwardly on it to move properly- and out into the late-night summer heat. She slowly walked toward him without a word and sat next to him on the bench. They were in the main courtyard of the building, a wide semi-circle with a white stone brick flooring and a circular guard rail separating the main area from parking.

Deku didn't look up at her. Perhaps he hadn't noticed that she'd sat next to him. He was certainly lost in thought- no, not lost in thought. He looked like he was really stressed. He was shaking in his seat, face buried in his hands, his fingers gripping through his hair at his scalp.

Tentatively, slowly, Ochaco reached out and placed a hand on Deku's shoulder.

He stopped shaking and lifted up his head to see her. Ochaco saw the deepest hints of a blush cross his cheeks as he rubbed his eyes in his sleeve and sat up straight. "Uraraka," he said, "What are you doing here?"

She smiled at him. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

"Oh," he said, looking down at his hands, "I just needed some air."

"You wanna talk about it?"

He looked up at her, and she saw in his eyes, his wondrous green eyes, the same fierce respect and strength she'd always seen, mingled with that genuine sense of kindness, and- she never admitted it- something else. Something deeper in those emerald eyes of his.

"I… I…" he clenched his fist, then looked up into the sky. There wasn't a single star out. Not in this Tokyo jungle. "I just suddenly felt this huge weight of responsibility, you know? When All-Might spoke, it…"

"It's huge, right?" said Ochaco.

"Yeah," he said, "It's enormous. Like I have the whole world sitting on my shoulders."

Ochaco nodded. "I know you can do it, Deku. We all will. We'll make All-Might proud."

For a moment, Deku seemed to consider her words, and then consideration melted into a smile, and that smile took Ochaco's breath right out of her. Whatever she'd thought about a sexy, brooding man in a suit had nothing on this.

Deku had a beautiful smile.

She felt herself turn red at the thought.

Gathering her bearings, she focused on the issue at hand. "So," she said, "You want to go back inside?"

Deku seemed to consider that as well, for a moment, before he shook his head. "I can't. It's… It's too much right now."

"Then," said Ochaco, grabbing his forearm and pulling him off the bench, "We are in Tokyo. Not often we have a chance for a night on the town. Let's go somewhere!"

"Where?" Deku said, blushing.

"Anywhere."

"Now?"

Ochaco grinned from ear to ear. "Come on. We'll figure it out as we go," and she dragged him right out of the courtyard and onto a street in western Shinjuku.

They didn't walk too quickly- there was no need. Plenty of things to see in Tokyo. Cars zoomed by, tail-lights trailing like tracers behind them. There was the occasional puddle on the sidewalk from the day's earlier rain, as they passed between large corporate buildings and skyscrapers.

"Oooh, look at that," exclaimed Ochaco, pointing out big flashing lights on one of the buildings, "Isn't that so pretty!"

"Wow!" said Deku, "Oh, and look at that!"

Ochaco let her and Deku wander aimlessly, as she did her best to keep his mind off whatever had been bothering him at the ceremony. She wanted him to enjoy himself.

And so they did just that. Up and down the streets of Shinjuku, intentionally avoiding the train station, down streets with gargantuan buildings on each side and into beautiful parks planted right into the center of the city.

As they walked, Ochaco felt conversation come more naturally to her. They began to talk not just about the things they saw, but about life in the dorms in general, and UA, and.. And…

Then they finally came to the topic. About their night under the stars and moon, up above all of the city, and above all their worries.

By this point, they'd been walking for an hour or two. Or three. Ochaco had lost track of time. They'd strayed out of Shinjuku and into Minato, wandering along the streets until they came to the water's edge. They finally found a bench and sat down, Ochaco almost sagging into it.

Her feet hurt so, so much. Heels were literally hell, and she would never walk around Tokyo in them again.

"So, about that night," Deku finally said, as they gazed out onto the water, which illuminated with the backdrop of the cityscape and rainbow bridge which towered over it.

"Yeah," said Ochaco. About that night. Where did she even start? Could she? She felt her face heat up again, turning red. Hopefully, he wouldn't see it in the dark.

"I was thinking about what you said that night."

Oh crap. What did I say that night?

Deku stuck out his fist at the water, clenching it. From Ochaco's view, it looked like he could hold the whole city in his hand. His face was so solemn, so thoughtful. The way his messy hair fell around his eyes gave him that really cute, unkept look, which contrasted so wonderfully with his fitted dark suit. It was like the best of both worlds, which honestly described Deku aptly. He was so happy, and kind, and considerate, and he was also deeply serious and passionate about those things that mattered to him.

"I've been thinking," said Deku again, "About ways our quirks work together." And just like that, he whipped out a notebook, as if by magic. "I've been giving your powers a lot of thought, Uraraka, and how they can complement mine. For one," he opened up the notebook to the middle, where he had a page titled Deku and Uravity, "When we're together, we can literally fly. You provide the weightlessness, and I provide the propulsion. Together, we could seriously clear miles in only a few seconds. Also, I was thinking about back to your fight with Bakugo at the sports festival, and back to our first day of hero training, when we took on him and Iida. We can totally use my quirk to break stuff, and then you can make the pieces weightless and to use as weapons. And then I was thinking about…"

He continued going, almost breathlessly, and Ochaco couldn't stop and smile at him. He really was amazing.

Gently, almost without thinking, she put her hand against his cheek and turned his face toward hers. He immediately stopped talking. His pupils dilated, and his face turned very, very red.

Was this what she wanted?

There was only one way to find out. Breathlessly, her heart pounding in her chest, and before she could stop herself, Ochaco leaned in close and-

"HELP!" someone screamed. "SOMEBODY HELP!"

Ochaco froze, and then pulled away from Deku, casting her eyes about. "Where is that coming from?" she said, her heart still hammering away.

Deku stood, looking off in the distance, then pointed, over at the Rainbow Bridge, illuminated like a beacon. Ochaco squinted through the night, and there saw a silhouette against the yellow light of the bridge's walkway, a man dangling from a metal pole.

"HELP!" he cried out again, his voice carried over the water.

Ochaco turned to Deku and saw him already formulating a plan. The man was too far away, and there didn't seem to be anyone helping him. It would take too long to reach him before he fell, even with his new power.

Those were all things that just flashed through Ochaco's mind, and she couldn't know what other ideas Deku had accounted for, but the fact that he hadn't moved told her he hadn't formulated a plan to save the man yet.

Was there nobody with a quirk nearby to help him?

The man slipped, screaming, but managed to grab onto something at the last second. "HELP!" he screamed again.

Ochaco looked to him, and then to Deku, her head clicking with ideas, before she finally came up with something.

"Throw me," she said quietly.

"What?" said Deku, breaking his train of thought.

Then the man fell.

It was like watching one of those American horror films in slow motion, where the side character slowly plummets to his death while others looked on helplessly.

"Throw me!" Ochaco shouted, "At full power!"

They didn't have time to think. Didn't have time to reconsider. She made herself weightless, and then looked into Deku's eyes. And there she saw that he understood.

He grabbed her by the waist, and with no time to waste, threw her with all his power. She flew through the air, wind whipping in her eyes as she sailed, catapulting toward the screaming man.

Right as she was about to pass the man, she reached out and slapped him.

It was enough. The man stopped falling, and Ochaco sailed right past him. And kept going. Upward, and outward, away from the bridge, away from the water.

Oh no. I didn't think this through.

How high had she been when she hit the man? Had it been low enough that she could drop him? She couldn't know. What if there was a boat passing underneath? She couldn't just let him go without seeing where he was going.

But she was still flying. With Deku's momentum, she was carried, hair whipping in her face, straight toward the flat face of a building. Only a few seconds, and she'd splat right into the side. She didn't have super strength, she couldn't handle an impact like that.

What could she do? What could she do?! Think, think!

A flash of green, one she recognized, raced up the side of the building in front of her.

No way.

It was just like the very first day she met him. A explosive spark of energy, leaping into danger, performing utterly impossible feats, to save her.

Midoriya Izuku was suddenly there, on the side of the building. He caught her, wrapping his arms around her and bracing her against the impact of the building. They slammed into the concrete together, and Ochaco heard him grunt under the stress.

For a second, Ochaco was worried they would fall. But as she buried her face in Deku's chest, she felt him reach out with one arm for a handhold and stabilize them.

Safe at last, Ochaco breathed a sigh of relief. She pulled her head back from Deku's chest, and grinned at him.

"Good catch, Deku," she said.

"Th-thanks," he smiled.

Then she kissed him.

It was like the world around her exploded into a cacophony of bliss and happiness. The moment her lips touched his, she felt herself sink into him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself up to his level.

Then, only a moment later, she pulled away, breathless.

He was completely red. That made her laugh. She giggled like the overly delighted schoolgirl she was.

"I think," she said quietly, "I might really like you, Deku?"

He gulped. "R-really?"

Ochaco laughed again and hugged him.

Taking a deep breath, she faced out to the Rainbow Bridge, where she'd just made her save. The man was still there, dangling only a dozen feet or so over the water. Already, a police boat was on its way to him, light illuminating the man.

With that, Ochaco finally released her levitation and let the man fall harmlessly into the water.

At that same time, she sank deeper into Deku's grasp. She looked up into his eyes, illuminated by the lights of the city. He hadn't taken his gaze from her yet.

"Come on, Deku," she said, "Let's get back to UA. I'm sure the others are wondering where we went off to."

Deku shook his head, then nodded. "That's a good idea."

Even in a dusty mini-crater, formed by the impact of two colliding teens, Deku still looked damn good in his suit. One could say he even looked Plus Ultra.

As they descended, Ochaco realized that, even if Deku couldn't see it, she could. She could see why All-Might was ready to pass the torch on. It's because Deku was amazing. Simply… amazing.