Summary: Izuku is ready to test out a new form of training but in order to make it work how he wants it to, Ochako offers to help him out so that they can train together.

"Let's see...The targets are all set up...though Aizawa-sensei did tell me not to use them for too long...and not to damage them since we need them for class soon...," Izuku grabbed his chin, rubbing it contemplatively. For his training to work, he had to be able to gauge his power somehow and, without being able to damage the targets, it was nearly impossible to do. The problem was, though, that he didn't have any other way of doing his training without the targets. He had thought about just setting up his own things at the end of the gym and using those as targets, but Midoriya didn't really have anything that was expendable enough for him to use. No matter how he thought of it, he was stuck in a bit of a corner.

Sighing, he flicked the switch against the wall and the targets, whirring with mechanical life, slid back into their places inside the floors or in the walls.

"How am I supposed to practice my Air Force if I don't have any targets..?" He questioned himself, cupping his chin in thought. The majority of the other students were off doing their own things; Bakugo and Kirishima had left the campus earlier that morning, Iida was training with Mei, and the others—save for Jiro and Kaminari who had snuck off somewhere together—were all doing the same. Izuku didn't want to bother anyone by selfishly asking for help and he slumped in defeat, sighing heartily.

The doors to Gym Gamma opened with a loud thud as they hit the back walls. Midoriya turned, confusion clear on his face, to see who had decided to come by. Most of the others had neglected to come to Gym Gamma for purely combat training and instead went off to do other things, like basic endurance, stamina, or strength training. Midoriya, Kirishima, and Kaminari had been the only ones to go to Gym Gamma in order to improve their quirks.

Speaking of the two other boys, Midoriya hadn't seen them since they'd all come in together. Occasionally, he'd heard the familiar zapping sound of Kaminari's quirk, but that was about it. Cementoss had apologized to Midoriya before running off to watch over the other two. Usually, someone would have to be with him, but the teachers were stretched a bit thin as it was. Because of how basic his training was to be that day, Cementoss was confident that Midoriya wouldn't need him to watch over him excessively.

"So, what is it that you wanted to focus on today, Uraraka-san?"

Ectoplasm shut the door behind him and Ochako and turned to face her. The girl in questioned pounded her fist into her open palm in response.

"I want to try and increase the number of things I can keep floating with my quirk at once. Before, I was doing endurance training and trying to increase the amount of weight I could handle." She told him, animatedly moving her hands as she spoke. "I figured it'd be better to even out my training by doing both, one after the other, instead of letting one get ahead of the other."

Their math teacher nodded approvingly.

"Sounds like a decent strategy. I'll watch over you and," His eyes flashed over to Deku, who had been standing against the wall, silent. "Midoriya while you train. I can only assume Cementoss is with the others."

Using his quirk, Ectoplasm made a clone that he sent over to the other end of the gym.

"I'll check in with Cementoss. You can start your training now, Uraraka. If you need any pointers, don't hesitate to ask me."

"Mhm! Thank you!" She called after him as the clone walked away, stalking toward the other end of the gym. Ectoplasm himself walked off and stood close to the wall, watching the two students from afar. As soon as he had walked off, Ochako turned around, catching sight of Midoriya near the wall. She grinned, wide and with a hint of insecurity, before jogging over to him. He stood up to meet her, waving nervously.

"Deku-kun! I forgot you had come over here earlier. Hows your training been going?" She asked as soon as she got to him. She grabbed his outstretched hand and he smiled, his nerves calming.

"A-ah, well...n-not too well, if I'm being honest," The greenette rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "I'm not really allowed to use the built-in targets because Aizawa-sensei needs them later today and Cementoss-sensei won't be here to make a new one because he has classes too. I-I haven't made much progress because I can't really think of something to use. I want to practice my Air Force, you know?"

Ochako hummed, cupping her chin. She tilted her head and her bangs fell gently against her cheeks.

"Hmm...oh! I have a great idea!" She suddenly exclaimed, clapping loudly. The grin on her face was large and full of life. "We can combine our training! I'm training to see how many things I can keep floating at once with my quirk instead of training how much weight I can float."

Midoriya picked up almost immediately and snapped, smiling along with her himself.

"Ah! So you can float an increasing number of rocks and rubble and things like that in the air and I can use them as target practice for my Air Force!" He crossed his arms and smiled so bright, Uraraka felt like she could go blind. "You're a genius, Ochako!"

Her cheeks began to burn red with blush. Cupping them with her hands, she looked away bashfully.

"A-ah, I-I don't think so...," She murmured before pushing her index fingers together, still looking away."I-I mean, it was already on my mind, y'know? I-It just came to me..."

"That's what makes it a brilliant idea, Uraraka-san," He commented before leaning down so that she could see him. "You're great. Honestly, I don't think I would've thought of that if you hadn't brought it up."

She smiled at him, only slightly nervous. "Th-thanks, Deku-kun...y-you're getting good at this whole...r-relationship thing."

Now it was Izuku's turn to blush and turn bashful. "Y-you think so? I-I'm just...trying to say what I think is right. I-Is it working? O-or am I doing alright? I-I guess I am if you said so...h-haha..."

The both of them dropped and turned quiet, furiously blushing and thinking their own thoughts, before Ochako piped up, suddenly excited again.

"L-Let's get to training! With the both of our plans mixed together, it'll be a lot easier for us to grow! And, if we need to, we can bounce ideas off of each other! What do you say, Deku-kun?"

Midoriya nodded, dropping his fist into his open palm. "Mhm! Let's get to it, Uraraka-san!"

"Can you handle one or two more, Uraraka-san?"

"If they're this small, sure! That'll make 40 rocks in the air. Do you want to time it this time too?"

"Yeah. I have to work on aiming faster. If it takes too long, it's too easy to hit. I have to work on my speed."

"Mm! You can do it, Deku-kun!"

Midoriya nodded, a slight smile on his face. Looking away from his girlfriend and up to the 40, head-sized rocks floating in the air, he took a deep breath and lifted his arm up, clasping his other hand around his wrist.

"Okay! Starting the timer...now!" Ochako called and Midoriya immediately let the first shot of his Air Force fly straight. It hit the first rock and it exploded into dust, though Izuku had already moved onto the next target. It took him a moment—one that he would consider too long—to readjust his fingers and flick out the next shot. The rock turned to dust before his eyes and he moved on, repeating the process for the next one.

Ochako watched on in rapt fascination, though she couldn't push down the slight feeling of nausea creeping into the pit of her stomach. Midoriya had a look of pure concentration on his face and every time he messed up, she watched as he wasted no time in pulling himself together and moving on. She admired that about him. He absolutely refused to give up and, once his mind was made up on doing something, nothing would stop him from doing it.

All Might had often told them that being stubborn was both a good and bad thing. In private, he'd used Midoriya himself as an example. Stubbornness meant you wouldn't give up, but it also meant that you'd neglect yourself in favor of whatever task you were focusing on. Ochako couldn't help but admit that he'd nailed Midoriya's nature directly on the head when he'd told them that.

Still, she couldn't help but look up to him sometimes. His drive was uncanny and Ochako truly thought that, because of his nature, he'd become the best hero out of all of them.

The last floating target exploded into dust and Uraraka pressed down on the button to stop the timer as soon as it had been demolished. She released her quirk and quickly ran over to meet with Midoriya. The greenette was sweating, wiping his brow with his arm. She didn't know how much it took out of him to constantly use his new ranged attack, but it must have been a lot if the slight shake in his arm was any indication.

"How'd I do, Uraraka-san?" He asked, breathing heavily. She looked down at the stopwatch and then turned it's face to him, smiling happily.

"32 seconds! That's 6 or so seconds faster than before, Deku-kun!" She clapped excitedly and he smiled, letting his head fall and lurch as he took deep breaths. "I'm so impressed! You managed to improve in such a short time! You really are amazing...Izuku-kun."

Midoriya felt tingles go across his neck and extend down his neck. Hearing her say his name always felt...special, to him. Intimate, even. It made him blush, turning his face as red as Kirishima's hair.

"W-well, I want to be the greatest hero I can be...I-I like to think that if I'm constantly training, then I can only get better. I won't have time to get any worse or to slack off."

"That's really admirable, Izuku-kun," Uraraka commented, looking away. "I wish I had your drive. It feels like I'm just following you a lot."

"E-eh? Following me?" He asked, incredulous. "I-I find that hard to believe. A-after all, I spent a lot of my time just following All Might. S-so maybe following isn't that big an issue! As long as you find your own way eventually, r-right?"

Ochako tilted her head, humming in thought. All Might was Deku's hero, and maybe...just maybe...maybe she would admit that Deku was her hero. It did make sense to follow him, then...right?

She cupped her cheeks, which had began to turn red with blush, and shook her head.

"R-right! L-let's keep training. Ectoplasm-sensei could be back at any moment. He'll think we're slacking if he sees us doing nothing." She told him. He perked up and nodded, stretching his arms a little.

"Right. What's your limit right now, Uraraka-san?" Midoriya asked, flexing his fingers as he spoke.

Ochako counted on her fingers before responding with; "Probably somewhere around 45 or 46 rocks of that same size. I could feel it at 40, but it felt far off."

He nodded. "Do you want to stop at 45 for now, or do you want to try and push yourself?"

Smiling, she flexed her arm, resting her hand against it at the same time. "We can do 45 first, then I'll try for 50! I'm not improving if I'm not pushing myself, right?"

"Definitely. Let's get back to it." The two of them nodded before Ochako turned to run back to her spot from earlier.

"Ready when you are, Deku-kun!" She called out, to which Midoriya shot her a thumbs up. The familiar emerald electricity of Full Cowling surrounded his body and the greenette quickly turned, dashing and smashing into a large rock off to his side. Ochako followed him, running through the rubble to find the most suitable rocks. It wasn't hard, seeing as Izuku was getting better at controlling how hard he split up the rubble.

Once she'd found enough and had touched them all with her quirk, she dashed back to her spot from before and let the rocks float into the air. She fished the timer out of her pocket and looked back to Midoriya, who had crouched back into his stance from before. As soon as she nodded at him and pressed the button to start the countdown, Midoriya sprang into action with his Air Force immediately.

Ochako watched as he jumped back in and she couldn't help but think again: 'He really will be the greatest hero one day,'

Thanks for reading and sticking by me after all this time. I know it's a pain waiting for a couple months, especially because I used to update every week, but I'm trying to catch back up with my writing. I don't have a timetable because predicting the future is hard as hell, but I'm trying and that's a lot more than I thought I'd be able to say.

Thanks again, hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Dantikat, out.