Green Tea Rescue

by ss3dj

When Midoriya Izuku was 4 his quirk finally manifested. The doctor named it psychokinesis, but his friend Bakugou Katsuki called it worthless. For the next 10 years, Izuku would grow up bullied and isolated. Then, when a new student named Uraraka Ochako transfers into his class the last year of jr high, everything changes. Rated M for eventual themes.

7. Aim to Pass Part 5

Month 7 (October)

With an exasperated sigh, Inko held up two thermometers as she read off the number that flashed on the tiny screen. Confirming what she already knew she turned and looked at her two charges, both crumpled on the couch, wrapped up in blankets and looking completely miserable, "It's a fever. Congratulations, you are both sick."

Izuku gave a half hearted sarcastic cheer that quickly devolved into a cough while Ochako sank deeper into her blanket as she continued to empty a box of tissues to blow her nose. Inko shook her head at their sorry state, "What were you two thinking staying up that late? And training in that horrible storm? You're both lucky all you have is just a cold. You could have come down with pneumonia."

Neither Izuku or Ochako could look at Inko as she scolded them. They knew they had screwed up and were now living with the consequences of their actions. It didn't help that this was the second scolding they had each received that day as well. All Might upon seeing them in the morning had sent them straight back to Inko's as they were in no condition to train. On their way back, he made sure to tell them the folly of their actions.

"I put the Aim to Pass plan together for you two to specifically follow. It was made to maximize the time we had so that you would be more than ready for the entrance exams. There was no reason for you two stay so late last night. And I know this isn't the first time you two have done something like this. Working outside the limits of the plan will do more harm than good."

"But All Might, if I'm going to be the next vessel for One for All, if I'm going to be the next number one hero, I can't just make it into U.A, I have to excel! Be better than everyone else!"

Ochako nodded in agreement, "That's right! We're not going to settle for 'good enough'! To be the best, We have to push ourselves past our limits, no matter the cost!"

Their words may have carried more weight if they both didn't look ready to collapse in a heap in front of All Might, but he was still moved and impressed with their resolve.

"Alright, alright. Fine. I understand. You are both driven to reach the top. But you have to be smart about how you do it. Neither of you are in any condition to train today. So those few extra hours you earned last night-after I had left and told you to head home because of the storm, I might add, now meant nothing. And you might lose more time because if by tomorrow you aren't over this cold, you aren't training either.

Inko, after making her point, put the thermometers away, "Alright, you two just stay on the couch. I'll call your school and let them know you won't be coming in. Then I'll see if I can throw together a nice soup for you two."

A raspy and stuffy chorus of 'thank you's followed after Inko as she left the living room, leaving Izuku and Ochako alone in their misery.

"Hey Deku, whose idea was it to stay late?"

Izuku pointed to himself, but didn't have the strength to try and look guilty. Ochako hummed in agreement, "Sounds about right. You owe me some mochi for getting me sick."

"Aren't you the one that said a little rain never hurt anyone when you agreed to my idea?"

Ochako huffed and looked away from Izuku, "I can't be held responsible for my actions when they're your ideas Deku."

"You said, and I quote," Izuku's voice then came out as a high pitched squeak as he badly tried to impersonate Ochako, "'That's a great idea, Deku! I'm sure we can get this part of the beach completely finished before the storm hits! And besides, a little rain never hurt anyone.' end quote."

Ochako looked flatly at Izuku before she tossed her empty box of tissues at him. Chuckling, Izuku swatted the box away and leaned back into the couch. For some time Izuku simply lay back while Ochako started to scroll through the channels on TV, looking for something to watch as they waited for Inko to return with their soup.

"Hey Uraraka?"

"Hm?" Was Ochako's lazy response as she kept flipping through channels.

"Why do you want to be a hero?"

Ochako froze mid button press, her thumb hovering over the remote, "...Why the sudden interest?"

"Well I was just thinking about what you said earlier, about not settling for good enough, and it got me thinking that you've never mentioned why you want to be a hero. You know its been my dream since I was a little kid, but you never talk about what's driving you ."

Ochako frowned as she looked away, admitting to herself that he wasn't wrong. Since they had first met he had made it abundantly clear that he wanted to be a hero like All Might. A hero in every meaning of the word. But her? She almost went out of her way to avoid talking about the matter. After all, her reasons were much less altruistic when compared to Deku's.

Izuku could see the frown on Ochako's face and worried he might have gone too far, "Ah! Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to pry, Ochako. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to."

Ochako shook her head, "No, no. It's ok. After we've been training together for so long, you deserve to know, I think."

Ochako clicked the TV off and turned to face Izuku, who gulped at the sudden seriousness the atmosphere had taken.

"I want to be a hero to make money."

She paused for a few moments. Ochako looked at Izuku, waiting for a reaction. Instead, he was silent. As if waiting for an explanation.

"You see, my family owns a construction company, but we haven't gotten much work these past few years, so we're pretty much broke. And I want to make money so that I can help them."

She didn't know what reaction she was expecting from Deku. Condemnation perhaps. Or at the very least disappointment. But no, nothing like that crossed his face. There was a little surprise, though. He blinked a few times and mouthed out an "oh," but he seemed more curious than anything else. Curious, not judgemental.

"I know it's not the most heroic or admirable motivation, especially when compared to yours Deku. Honestly the whole reason is embarrassing."

"Why is that, Uraraka? How is having a goal to support your parents not admirable? You're actively putting yourself in dangerous situations to help people to earn money that you'll use to help your parents! If that's not heroic, then I don't know what is."

Ochako let out a sigh of relief as she felt the tension in herself release.

I guess I was pretty dumb for thinking Deku would think less of me. That's not like him at all.

Izuku absentmindedly nodded before something clicked in the back of his mind, "Wait, is that why you're so good at saving money?"

Ochako laughed softly, fighting back a sniffle. Izuku reached over and handed her another box of tissues, "Yeah, I learned all sorts of tricks to save my money growing up."

"You know, thinking about it, with your quirk, construction work would be a breeze. The money you'd be able to save by floating stuff around without having to use all the expensive heavy equipment..."

"I know, right!? That's what I told Dad when I was little! I'd grow up and work for him, I said, but he dissuaded me. He told me to follow my own dreams."

Looking down, Ochako noticed she had the blanket she was wrapped in pinched between her thumb and finger, an old habit she still had from when she was a little girl. She could feel her eyes moisten some as she recalled everything, "I promised myself that I would become a hero and make enough money so that my parents would be able to relax and not have to worry about work anymore. They deserve to be able to take it easy after working so hard for so long."

When Ochako looked back up she was startled to see Izuku in tears, "Wait, why are you crying?"

Ochako quickly passed the tissues back to Izuku, "Sorry, sorry."

"Don't cry for me, Deku, I don't want your pity."

Izuku shook his head, "No, it's not that Uraraka. Just that, with everything you said about helping your parents, it's- it's inspiring!"

Ochako felt a flush spread over her cheeks as she turned away, "It's- I mean- It's not- I don't-"

She was at a loss for words. To hear Deku say that she was inspiring was not a reaction she had expected at all.

"Is that why you've never been out to see your parents? Or why they haven't come out here?"

Nodding softly, Ochako sighed and leaned back into the sofa.

"Train tickets are expensive. Plus there's the cost of finding a place to stay and food to eat. We still talk over the phone, so it's not like I'm cut off from them all together." She explained

"But in all honesty Deku, getting me out here to begin with was something of a small miracle. I can't ask them to spend any more for me than they need to just to feel better. It sucks, but that's the reality of our situation."

Izuku had to stop himself from saying 'I'm sorry' on autopilot but held it back. Uraraka didn't want his pity and he didn't want to come off that way.

After an extended silence, Ochako went back to switching between channels, effectively ending the conversation. It would be a few more minutes before Ochako would speak up again, but on a completely different topic. While Izuku let the topic change go, internally he couldn't help but wonder just how fine Uraraka was. Being away from family for so long had to eat away at her, even if she tried not to show it.

I just wish there was something I could do.

Month 8 (November)

It was late. Very late, and Izuku was convinced he was never going to fall asleep. After getting tired of trying to force himself to sleep, Izuku rolled out of his bed and sat at his desk. Perhaps his mind just needed a distraction, that is what he told himself as he pulled his hero analysis notebook out. He just needed to get lost in some busy work, and by then he would be ready to sleep. He just needed to stop thinking about what had happened earlier that day. About what he had seen.

Unfortunately for Izuku, trying not to think of it, was having the opposite effect. It brought the memory right to the forefront of his mind.

This afternoon had been just like any other he had had for the past few months. Instead of cleaning the beach, today had been sparing day. Sparring was something he looked forward to every week because he lov-liked sparring with Uraraka. The intensity of the bouts, the rush of adrenaline he felt from match to match, the feeling of closeness and trust they had with each other that let them go all out without worrying about the other getting hurt. But something had happened today that had thrown Izuku into turmoil.

Near the end of their final match, there had been an accident. No one had been hurt, in fact Izuku would have preferred if he had been hurt. At least then he wouldn't be feeling everything he was feeling right now.

It was the final moments of the fight, Izuku had gone in to try and knock Ochako down, but she had been ready for him. Grabbing his arm and pulling him into a throw, but thats when it had happened. When she had pulled him, his hand, his thumb had hooked into the front of Ochako's gi, loosening it. Opening it just enough so that when he landed on his back and looked up, and she was leaning over him, he got a very unobstructed view.

The top of a black sports bra, and just a hint of cleavage.

Izuku covered his face, cheeks burning red at the memory. He hadn't meant to look of course. It had been an accident, and Ochako after noticing her gi's looseness quickly snapped up and tightened her top back into shape. Both had immediately apologized to the other, with Ochako simply saying whoops and playing it off with a laugh, even though her face had turned neon. Izuku had been much more serious, almost begging for her forgiveness, though she quickly made sure he knew she wasn't mad. It had been an honest mistake. And besides, she said, "You've seen me in my school swimsuit when we swam laps here back during the summer, that was way more revealing. Plus it's not like you to go ogling me, it was an accident so don't worry about it. It's not like you meant to look."

But he had looked, and even if it had been an accident, even if he hadn't meant to, he had seen and most importantly, he hadn't looked away.

It wasn't my fault. And it was only for a second at most. I'm spending more time thinking about it than when it actually happened. I just need to stop thinking about Uraraka's bra-!

With a muffled groan, Izuku rubbed his temple as once again the memory unintentionally replayed in his mind.

GAH! Stop it. Okay, just...just focus on something else. I'll update an entry in my notebook. That'll take my mind off… of this.

Grabbing a pencil, Izuku flipped open his notebook, not caring what page it opened to. Looking down, Izuku had to bite his lip to stop himself from screaming in frustration.

Of all the pages, it lands on Uraraka's!? Really!?

Looking down at the entry, Izuku lets himself stare at the page for a few seconds. The sketch he had drawn of Ochako was one of his most detailed, it was her in a basic track suit, but compared to his other sketches there was obviously more time put into it. Around the sketch, the page was smudged from stat entries getting erased and constantly updated. Scribbled along the margins in almost illegible chicken scratch were small notes and comments going over anything and everything. All in all her page was a complete mess, filled with everything he could think of about her. He was going to need to make a new entry for her, and maybe cut out some of the more miscellaneous information.

But what can I cut out?

Twirling the pencil in his hand, Izuku scanned over the page, looking for any fat to be trimmed.

Let's see. Her quirk stays of course. Limits and usages, thats a check. Combat strategies, yep that's a must. Rescue applications. Support items and gear, I'll need to make sure there is plenty of room when we start to come up with our costumes. Thirteen is her favorite hero. Will probably mimic their space style in her costume. Likes japanese foods, mochi is her all time favorite. Loves the stars at night. She can still remember the first time she saw a hero in action, and the smiles from the crowd. She wants to make people smile, so saving them is a given for her...

Izuku frowned, the last few entries sticking out to him.

Why did I write all that? Almost half the page is just filled with her likes and favorites things.

Flipping the pencil around, Izuku brought the eraser end down to start removing the excessive information. At least that's what he tried to do, but after a few grueling seconds he let the pencil fall from his hand and roll off his desk. None of it was excessive. Everything he had written was important, and it just felt wrong to try and remove it. Izuku however couldn't figure out why everything was so important to him.

I mean, everything here defines Uraraka. Shows the kind of person she is, and the kind of hero she's going to be. So it is important. Plus she's my best friend, I actually know her, so of course her entry is going to have more information than say, Mt Lady. But still, having this much info on what she likes to eat, spend her time doing, her dreams and goals, it makes it look like I have a crush… on… her…!

Izuku's mind tripped over itself in alarm as he shook his head, "What am I thinking!?"

I do not have a crush on my best friend. I don't, I can't! She's my friend. I like her sure, but BUT ONLY as a friend. It would be beyond awkward if I actually had a crush on her. Worse yet, if she found out I had a crush on her, which I DON'T, it could ruin our friendship. She's trying to make sure her family is taken care of. She doesn't need me and my...everything messing that up. Besides, what would we even do as a couple? We wouldn't have any time. Once we get into U.A. we'd be studying all the time…

Images flashed of Ochako and Izuku studying for something, sitting at his living room table, though now Ochako was sitting right next to him instead of across like she normally would. Coyly she snuck a hand under the table, finding his, and interlocked their fingers together to hold his hand, while cutely keeping her pinky up to avoid floating him.

With a loud WHAM, Izuku slammed his head onto his desk, driving the horrifically pleasant dream out of his mind.

Nope! Nope! Do not go there! I am not imagining holding hands with my best friend. I am not imagining how the pads on her fingers feel… I''m not… I'm… I'm… I'm in trouble.

It took Izuku a couple more restless nights before he was able to put aside his (self described) momentary insanity. By the end of it he had rewritten Ochako's whole entry on fresh pages, making it much nicer and cleaner, with plenty of room to add more to it.

He didn't end up removing anything, keeping everything he had written about her intact.

---

Ochako took a shuddering breath as she tapped her fingers together and released the multiple large dumpsters, filled to the brim with trash, she had floated up to the street where they would be collected later. With her burden released, she walked over to All Mights truck, where she hoped there were still some cold water bottles left. Absently she rubbed her stomach, pleased that unlike before, she now only felt a dull throbbing, and not the horrendous nausea that used to affect her when she would lift so much weight repetitively over such a long period of time.

It might be time to see how much I can lift now before I get too sick. She thought happily and with a hint of pride.

Leaning into the truck, Ochako rummaged around until she found one for herself. Taking a sip she stood back up and saw All Might, shrinking down and walking up to her, hand outreached, "I'll take one of those if you don't mind."

Pulling out another bottle she tossed it to him, "Here you go."

All Might hummed out a thanks as he cast a glance at the large dumpsters then towards her, "How many trips did it take you to bring all those up here?"

"Just one."

"Oh? You got them all in one go?"

Ochako puffed up, "All of them."

"I need to find some heavier trash then for you then, if this is getting too easy."

Ochako promptly deflated at the idea of an increase to her work load, which made All Might chuckle, "Well, we'll worry about that later. It's getting late, so you and Young Midoriya can head home."

"Where is Deku anyway? Didn't you both go for a run?"

All Might vaguely pointed back down towards the beach, "He's laying dead out there."

Sure enough when Ochako looked to where All Might had pointed, Deku was indeed there, lying down in the sand.

"What did you do to him? I thought you both just went for a run?"

" He went for a run, I observed him."

"You observed him? What does that mean?"

"Young Midoriya ran the whole course I laid out. I just tagged along to make sure he didn't get lost or drop his pace."

Ochako stared at All Might, "You made him carry you, didn't you." It wasn't really a question.

"Yes."

"Piggy back?"

"Yes."

"Were you big or small?"

All Might just smiled, and Ochako couldn't help but imagine the sight of poor Deku carry the hulking All Might on his shoulders. She broke out into a fit of laughter. All Might got into his truck, and fished out another water bottle for Ochako to hold, "Here, give this to him. I'll see you both tomorrow."

Waving goodbye, Ochako made her way down to Izuku, who was staring up at the sky when she stood over him.

"So are you really dead?"

Izuku groaned out, "I'm dead. Bury me here."

Ochako held the water bottle over Izuku, sloshing it around, "Come on, it can't be that bad. And look I got some water for you."

"Do you want to run ten kilometers with All Might sitting on your back?"

Ochako paused, before vigorously shaking her head, "No thank you."

Looking up at the offered water, Izuku made a pitiful attempt to reach up and grab it, before letting his arms fall back to the sand, "Too tired."

Ochako rolled her eyes, "Seriously? Am I going to have to feed you like a baby or something?"

"Remember to pat my back afterwards."

Ochako dug her toe into Izuku's side, getting a pained laugh from him as he rolled away. With a great show of effort, again earning him an eye roll from Ochako, Izuku sat up and reached out to take the bottle. Ochako started to lean forward to hand it to him, but was surprised when the bottle glowed green and was pulled from her grip. Ochako watched as the cap unscrewed itself and Izuku brought the water to his mouth, and drank greedily, crushing the flimsy plastic flat as he drained it.

I wonder if he realizes, Ochako thought to herself. Lately he's been using his quirk more and more for stuff like this. Like when we helped his mother with the dishes, he didn't even bat an eye when he was stacking all the plates.

"Thanks for the water Uraraka. Let me throw this away, and we can head home for dinner."

Standing on wobbly legs, Izuku hurried over to a dumpster, leaving Ochako to smile behind him, I wonder how much longer until All Mights lets the cat out of the bag. I can't wait to see the look on Deku's face.

Month 9 (December)

I think Deku is hiding something from me .

Ochako thought to herself as she glanced over her shoulder at Deku, who when he saw her looking at him, immediately broke eye contact.

Oh he's definitely hiding something, he's way too nervous.

It was christmas eve and Izuku and Ochako were finishing up their last day of volunteer community service. For the past few days to get into the giving spirit, instead of working at the beach, All Might had suggested the two spend their free time at the local community center helping with both food and toy drives. Overall, it had been a great experience for them.

Today was their last day, and they were busy moving boxes, tables and chairs around to and from storage so that everything would be ready for christmas day when people would be coming. Half way through the day however Ochako noticed a strange change in Deku's behavior. After getting a call from his mother a little after lunch, suddenly Deku was going out of his way to avoid her. And if they were in the same room, he would only talk in stutters and avoid looking at her. If she asked if something was wrong he would try at the very least say everything was fine, but would then clam up, leaving Ochako very confused. While Deku's strange behavior left Ochako stumped, it at least provided a decent enough distraction to her other problem. It was the holidays and she missed her parents.

For the past week Ochako had been dealing with a case of the holiday blues. She had been calling her parents every night to try and help deal with their absence, while not letting them know how much not being with them was hurting her, but the calls only gave her brief breaks. Once the call was over she would be hit with the same feelings of sadness and loneliness.

Not that I'm actually alone , she kept telling herself.

Deku and Inko had gone above and beyond making sure they were there for her, especially making sure she would be having dinner with them during the holidays once they found out she wouldn't be going home to visit her parents.

With a grunt, Ochako dropped the large box she had been carrying, when one of the community center workers walked over to her. She was an older lady who had been supervising her and Deku as they had worked at the center. Peering over her thick glasses at her clip board then the last box Ochako had brought in, she made a small humming sound as she quickly made a check mark on her paper, "I think that was the last of the boxes of toy donations."

"You sure had a lot of them." Ochako said with a smile.

"Hmm yes we were very fortunate this year. Lots of donations for the children."

Flipping through her papers, the work supervisor smiled, "Well not only was that the last box, that was the last thing we needed moved as well for tonight. You're all done."

"Really? It doesn't feel like I've done all that much."

"Dear you've been hard at work all day. You don't have to try and put on a show for me, you must be tired."

Ochako rubbed a hand through her hair nervously. It wasn't really a show. Compared to the work she was used to doing, the work at the center was unbelievably light and hardly taxing at all. But she couldn't just go and day that so she just laughed it off.

"Well if you're sure there isn't anything else I can help with…?"

"No, no. You've done more than enough. Thank you. Now I'm sure you and your boyfriend have much more fun things to do tonight, so you go find him and run along."

"Boy-boyfriend!? No no no, it's not like that at all! We're just friends!" Frantically Ochako waved her hands in the air in a panic.

"Is that so? Oh so you two just haven't confessed to each other yet then. I guess that makes sense with all the sneaking-glances-at-each-other, every chance you got."

"Just friends! I'll be going now! Bye! Thank you!"

Ochako bowed quickly and hurried out of the room, but not before she heard the lady call out, "Don't wait to long, you never know when someone will pop and and snatch him away!"

After making her escape, and doing her best to settle herself down, Ochako soon found Deku waiting for her near the exit to the building, holding onto her coat. As he had been for the last few hours, he was fidgety and flighty. Tumbling over his words.

"He-here you go Uraraka. I was told we were done, so I got your coat."

When he handed her the coat, he blinked a few times and for a few seconds seemed to turn back to normal, "Are you okay? Your face is all red."

Ochako pulled her coat on and pulled up her hood, "I'm fine. One of the workers told me a really funny joke. Guess I was laughing pretty hard."

Well that's a lame excuse.

Izuku nodded, "oh okay," and immediately went back to acting nervous once he was sure he was alright.

Thank god Deku bought that.

"You'll have to tell me that joke later," Izuku mumbled.

Crap!

"Um sure Deku. But later. Let's get going. I'm looking forward to the dinner your mom is preparing."

The walk home was uneventful for them. With a light snowfall and it being later in the evening, the walk back was peaceful, if a little silent. A few times Ochako tried to start a conversation with Izuku, but they all staled. So Ochako let herself become content in their silent walk. Hopeful that maybe she would get some answers once they reached his home.

Maybe Inko knows what's going on. Deku only started acting up after she called him. I hope it isn't something bad. Deku would tell me if something was really bothering him.

Reaching his apartment Izuku called out, "Mom we're back!"

Inko peeked her head into the hallway, "Oh you both are just in time, dinner is just about ready. Why don't you two take your seats. Mr Yagi got here not that long ago so we're just about ready to eat."

After a few quick nods, both Izuku and Ochako took their spots at the dinner table smiling and waving at All Might. Ochako chuckled silently to herself seeing the hero in his apparent favorite oversized yellow pinstripe suit. Settling in, Ochako looked at the spread already set and was very impressed.

Deku's mom is such a great cook. This all looks so good! She sure did make a lot though. I know Deku's appetite has gotten pretty big recently, but this is more than enough for us. There's only four of us and she made enough for like six.

Inko brought in the last of the food, "There we go. Now I think we're ready to dig in," she turned and gave Izuku a brief look and smile, "unless there's anything you'd like to do first?"

Hmm? What does she mean?

Before Ochako could ask however, Izuku cleared his throat, "Actually yeah. Uraraka, I'd...I'd like to give you your christmas present now."

"Huh? Wait now?" Ochako felt a twinge of panic, she hadn't known they were doing gifts tonight, "But I don't have your gift here! I thought we were doing gifts tomorrow!?"

"Oh thats fine! This is kind of a special case."

Special case?

"Does this have anything to do with why you've been so jumpy today?"

"Um...a little."

All Might snickered, "nervous huh?"

Inko quietly hushed All Might, "Shh Toshinori. Tease later."

Ochako looked at the two adults confused before looking back at Deku, "if you want to Deku I don't mind. I still feel bad I don't have your gift here though."

"Please don't worry about that. Just...close your eyes and hold out your hands?"

"Oh um okay."

Closing her eyes, Ochako held out her hands. She heard a chair scrape across the floor, guessing it was Deku getting up. There was also some shuffling. Someone was moving around. Ochako felt someone, Deku she guessed, take her hand and put something in it. It was thin. And very light.

A card?

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Ochako blinked her eyes open. The first thing she noticed was that Deku was back in his seat, a huge smile on his face. Behind him Inko had her phone out, recording everything. Confused, Ochako looked down at her gift. It was indeed a card. A simple christmas tree shaped card. Opening it, Ochako found it empty, at least there isn't money, don't need that kind of charity, however there was something written on it.

"Merry Christmas, and surprise?" Confused, Ochako read it aloud.

Suddenly two pairs of arms wrapped around her, "SURPRISE!"

Yelping in shock, Ochako looked to her sides and was beyond shocked by who she saw, "MOM!? DAD!?"

Mr. Uraraka laughed, "How has my little angel been?"

Mrs. Uraraka hugged Ochako tighter, "Oh we've missed you so much."

So many different questions raced through Ochako's mind. How had they gotten here? When had they gotten here? Did they fly? Take the train? Wasn't it too expensive? But with her parents hugging her, these thoughts were quickly tossed aside. Her parents were here, and she couldn't be happier.

"I can't believe you're both here!" Ochako estacily returned her parents hug, wrapping her arms around them and making sure to give them an extra hard squeeze. Mr. Uraraka gave a small, but still surprised chuckle, "Well you better believe it. And go easy on your old man now, someone here clearly doesn't know her own strength."

Ochako blushed, "Sorry Dad."

Mrs. Uraraka put a hand over her mouth, trying to hold back a snicker, "It looks like all that training you've told us about has been paying off."

"Maybe a little," Ochako said as she let her father go.

Mr. Uraraka made a show of sighing in relief and rubbing his sore sides, "A little she says. Just about snapped me in half."

Ochako just rolled her eyes while her mother gave him a little poke before turning back towards Inko, who was still recording the whole thing, "I do hope I'll be getting a copy of that."

"Oh I'll make sure you do." Inko said with a smile, while poorly holding back some tears.

Suddenly remembering they had an audience, Ochako looked back at the other three people at the table, All Might smiling at the show, sipping on his drink. Inko was still recording them, making Ochako somewhat wish she had had the chance to change into something less worked in. Then there was Deku. Who like his mother was also in tears, except he was doing a much worse job holding them back. He wasn't like a leaky faucet, he was a hydrant cracked open.

At a loss as to what to say next, Ochako ran with the first thing that popped into her head, "Um everyone, these are my parents,"

Not long after everyone took their seats, and began to fill their plates. Ochako sat between her parents on top of the world. But now past her initial surprise that she could start asking a few questions.

"So when did you all get here?"

Her father tapped his chin, "Oh not that long ago, a few hours I think. Inko was kind enough to pick us up from the station."

Ochako tilted her head, a few hours ago huh? Wait… Turning to look at Deku something clicked in the back of her head, "Wait, Deku. You got a call from your mom around lunch, then you started acting all weird. Did you know my parents were here?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his head, "Um sorta…"

"Dear," Mrs Uraraka began, "Your friend is the one that set this whole thing up."

"What? Deku set this up?" Ochako glanced from her mother back to Deku, "When, how?"

Suddenly finding himself the center of attention, Izuku gulped nervously, "Do you remember when we caught a cold after we got caught in that storm?"

"Yes?"

"Well a couple days after that I talked with mom, and we started looking into trying to get you and your parents tickets so you'd be able to spend the holidays and your birthday together."

"Wait tickets for all of us?"

Her father answered, "He got us tickets so we would have the chance to celebrate the holiday with everyone thats been taking care of you since we've been wanting to meet them, and he got you a ticket so you'd be able to come home with us for a few days, to celebrate with the whole family."

Ochako was amazed, she was going to get to see everyone, but one part of her question was still unanswered, "But this is just so, its so…" She left the word hang in the air unsaid. Expensive. And gift or no gift, she couldn't see her parents just being okay with someone spending this kind of money them. She wasn't sure how she was feeling even. It was just too much. Before Izuku started his answered, her eyes drifted towards All Might, if it was a question of money, then maybe he had a hand in this. All Might however, seeing her look at him shook his head, just enough that only she saw.

"Well Uraraka, you know all that trash we've been cleaning?"

"Yeah...?" Ochako nodded, not sure where Deku was going with this.

"And you how much of it is full of copper and other kinds of metal?"

Ochako blinked. She blinked again before her eyes widened, "wait you sold the scrap metal?"

"Yep." Izuku said with a grin.

"But scrap metal doesn't sell for that much!"

"Yeah but, we've cleaned up a lot of trash these past couple of months. And what was left, I was able to pay with some money I was saving."

"Deku… All of this, just for me though?"

"Uraraka you're my best friend and you've helped me so much this past year. I just wanted you to be happy."

Ochako could feel her heart skip a beat at that as she squeaked out a soft, "Thank you Deku."

Her father smirked, "Not many boys are willing to so readily meet a girls parents. I don't know if I should respect that or be worried he's so forward."

Izuku gulped, "Forward!?"

While Ochako shrieked, "Daddy!"

All Might didn't bother holding back his laugh as Izuku tried to get out that he and Ochako were just very good friends. Mrs. Uraraka abolished her husband, but not without a playful smile, "Now dear, you promised you wouldn't be to hard on the young man."

"It is not only my right, but my duty to give any boy my daughter 'hangs out with' a hard time."

Izuku sank into his seat while All Might gave him a good natured ribbing, "Always fun meeting the parents, isn't it my boy."

"DADDY! We're just friends! Stop being weird. You're embarrassing Deku."

"See Dear. They're just friends. Right Inko?" Mrs. Uraraka asked Inko.

"Oh yes. They are very good friends. Best friends for sure."

"And I'm sure its a friendship that will last, won't it."

"Oh it's definitely one thats going to get stronger as they grow up."

The two mothers shared a quick knowing smile, which was lost on everyone else.

As dinner continued, the poking and prodding from Ochako's father finally let up, much to Izuku's relief and soon turned to question of their training. Something All Might was all too happy to share.

"So let me get this straight, for the past nine months, most of their training has been cleaning a beach?" Mr. Uraraka asked in slight disbelief.

"Correct," All Might confirmed, "My goal was to get them to strengthen muscles that are used everyday. It has much more real life applications than what they'd get simply going to a gym and lifting barbells all day."

"Ha, if cleaning can be used for hero training, maybe I should have the kids clean up job sites for me. They get to train, and I get free labor."

"Honey, don't say that, it's horrible."

"Oh like you aren't thinking the same thing."

Mrs. Uraraka choose not to answer her husband, and instead when a few sets of eyes looked at her, whistled a little tune, not meeting any of their looks.

"Still Mr. Yagi, I have to say you've gone far and beyond anything I could have ever hoped for for my little girl down here. You even got her time under a pro hero."

"Please, it has been my privilege to help these two. And getting in contact with Gunhead wasn't that big a deal. Most of the leg work was already done by the agency, I just slipped in and took advantage of it."

"I do have a question Mr. Yagi," Mrs Uraraka began, "With your connections with U.A., and after all this training, couldn't you put our daughter, and Midoriya, in for a recommendation? Bypass the entrance exams all together?"

"Ah so you know about U.A.'s recommendation policy?"

Ochako's mother shrugged, "Only a little. I mostly know that it exists."

"To get into U.A through recommendation still requires several tests, written and practical. On top of that there is an interview, so just having the recommendation isn't a sure way to get it. Also the recommendation needs to come from someone who is well known and respected. Unfortunately for me the name Mr. Toshinori Yagi doesn't have that much weight behind it."

All the parents nodded in understanding, while Izuku and Ochako kept their mouths occupied with food. The idea of trying to get into U.A. this way had been brought up before but ran into the same problem. And the alternative, having All Might himself recommend them seemed to big a risk. They didn't want to have that kind of spotlight on them right from the get go.

Through the rest of the meal, the Midoriya home was filled with warm and pleasant conversation but all too soon it was beginning to get late and in order to help Ochako get packed for their train ride home, the three readied themselves to be off. As Ochako was preparing to follow her parents out the door, Izuku asked her to wait a second before rushing into his room. To her side Ochako heard her father snicker, "Did you see all that All Might stuff. Think the boy has enough?"

"Daddy, don't you think you've teased Deku enough?"

"Never!"

Mrs. Uraraka promptly pushed her husband out into the cold, "You get moving. You've had far too much fun tonight. Ochako, we'll wait for you downstairs."

"Okay mom, I'll be right down."

Ochako heard Izuku's door slide open and turned to find him hurrying back into the hallway, holding a gift wrapped box in his hands. With a nervous smile, Izuku held up the box to Ochako, "Here, it's your birthday present. Since you'll be out of town, I thought I'd better give it to you now."

"Deku!? You've already given me so much already!"

Ochako was floored. She had only just come to terms with the idea that Deku had spent more than enough on her to give her the chance to spend time with her family. Now this? It was too much. Izuku however either, clearly thought otherwise or had no idea that Ochako was fretting over such things as he handed the box to her, "Now this is for your birthday, so you have to wait to open it."

Nodding, Ochako agreed. The box wasn't big, just the right size to fit in her arms, and it wasn't that heavy either. Despite her misgivings over how much money had been spent for her, she couldn't help but wonder what was in the box. As she thought about what else Deku could have gotten her, a thought crossed her mind.

"Oh no! Your christmas gift! It's still at my apartment. I won't be able to get it to you till after I get back!"

"Oh don't worry about that. It's okay really. You spending time with your family is way more important." Izuku waved off her concerns with a reassuring smile.

Ochako pouted, this wasn't right. Leaving Deku empty handed after all of this just felt so wrong. But it wasn't like she had anything on hand she could give him. Standing in the doorway she wracked her brain to come up with something. Eyes inadvertently glancing around as her mind raced for an idea. Then she glanced up, and something small and green caught her eye hanging above the door frame.

Mistletoe.

She blinked once. Twice. At the third blink, Ochako could feel her cheeks warm up as she came up with an idea.

I can't do that? Can I?

Ochako looked back at Deku's smiling face.

Oh yes I can.

Swallowing the large lump in her throat, Ochako spoke softly, "Hey Deku. Could you come over here for a sec?"

"Oh sure. Did you need something?"

Izuku took a few steps forward, until he was standing right infront of Ochako. With him so close, and taking just split second to reaffirm her courage, Ochako leaned in and very quickly pressed her lips to his cheek, kissing him.

"Merry Christmas, Deku."

Then, just as quickly as it happened, Ochako pulled back, turned on her heel, and sprinted out the door and down the stairs. Izuku stood in absolute shock as he raised a hand to his cheek, fingers just grazing where Ochako had kissed him. The skin felt unnaturally warm, and tingly. That warmth quickly spread throughout his body and a huge smile split his face. It was only after a few seconds that Izuku could hear several clicking sounds. Turning slowly, Izuku found his mother, phone in hand, taking picture after picture, "My baby boy is growing up!"

"MOM!"

A couple days later, Izuku got a text message from Ochako. It was a selfie of her holding her gift from him. A Thirteen figure. She had the biggest grin on her face.

Izuku made sure to save the picture.

Month 10 (January)

"Ah you must still be asleep. I don't blame you, it's still pretty early now that I look at the time. I'll keep this brief. I'm afraid something has come up and I'm going to be flying to the other side of Japan. So I'm going to have to leave you and Young Uraraka for a time. Most of this month if I had to guess. Unfortunately I can't get into the details, legal and libel reasons, but thats hero work for you. I'm sure you'll see news reports about it eventually. But I'll try and make sure I'll call when I can. You two just make sure to follow the plan I put together for this month. Don't either of you try and slack off while I'm gone. We're only two months out, its the final push, so you two need to make sure to give it your all. Take care, and be safe.

With a click, Izuku turned off his phones speaker setting and ended the message. Sliding the phone into his pocket he glanced over to Ochako who had a small frown, "And you don't know what could be happening that All Might needed to fly out so fast to take care of?"

Izuku shook his head, "No. I did some quick searches online but nothing came up. None of the cities on the coasts seem to be having any kind of emergency that I could see."

"Well, we'll probably hear about it after its taken care of, like All Might said. That's normally how it goes."

"Yeah…"

It was only a few days into the month of January and the early morning air had a sharp crisp to it as Izuku and Ochako sipped on their tea to warm up. After spending her holiday with her parents, Ochako had returned ready to pick up her training where she had left off. Neither she nor Izuku had brought up the kiss. It would be weird for friends to dwell on such things after all.

Taking a sip from his cup, Izuku looked out over the beach.

"Hey Uraraka?"

"Yeah?"

"There isn't really that much trash left, don't you think?"

Ochako turned to look at the remaining piles of garbage that litter the sandy beach. Even if she took into account the area's All Might had sectioned off, she could see that Deku was right. There wasn't that much trash left, relatively speaking.

"No, we've really done a number on this place. It's almost suitable for people again." Ochako turned to look at Deku, "Why? What are you thinking?"

Izuku pulled of the paper with the months workout plan, "I think that going off what All Might has written here, we'd be able to get about half of our section cleaned up. Don't you think?"

Taking a sip of her tea, Ochako scanned over the notes and ran the numbers in her head. After thinking about it a bit she nodded in agreement, "Yeah that seems about right to me. Again, what are you thinking Deku?"

"Want to clean all of it?"

Ochako almost spit out her tea. Sure, the amount of trash left was small, when you compare it to what it had been, but there was still a lot of trash. Ochako would call it crazy to even think about trying to get it all cleaned up. And after their little stunt a few months back, All Might made sure they stuck to his plans.

But All Might wasn't there now.

Ochako finished her drink and tossed the cup into a trash can, "All Might will be mad if he finds out we tried to clean everything. It's so far outside his plan I bet he never even thought about it."

Izuku smiled and threw is cup away, "Only if we try ."

Both looked at each other, smiles turning into smirks. Izuku held up a fist, "Plus ultra?"

Ochako bumped her fist against his, "Plus ultra."

---

It wasn't very often that All Might was caught off guard, let alone left speechless. After having to miss almost the whole month due to hero work that had taken him to the other side of the country, All Might was finally back in town, and had let his two trainees that he would be joining them for their morning workout, as well as bringing with him their new and last work out plan for the month of February. With the entrance exam scheduled for the end of that month, All Might had put a great deal of time into planning out how to best use what little time they had left to the maximum while at the same time making sure he didn't burn the two out without any time to recover for the exam. The trip back was spent going over so many different factors his private jet's cabin looked like a conspiracy nut's room. But after pulling his truck into the beach's parking lot, and with the sun only just peeking out from the horizon he didn't think he was going to need it anymore.

All Might looked at the scene before him. From one side of the beach, to the other. From the shore, to the open water. It was clean. Dagobah Beach, the most well known unofficial junk yard in the city, was completely clean. Finally, after getting over his initial shock, All Might felt his voice come back to him, "Hey, hey, hey! This is incredible, this is too much! Not just the sections I told them, but the whole beach is clean! Seriously? There's not a can, a bottle, I don't even think they left a speck of dust! Seriously?! I can understand if they got a little ahead of schedule, but this, they jumped ahead a whole month! This isn't just a win, it's a flawless victory! OH MY, OH MY GOODNESS!"

Someone cleared their throat, and All Might turned. There, on top of a large heap of the last remaining trash to be picked up, sat Izuku and Ochako.

Sweaty.

Dirty.

Tired.

Proud.

Both looked down at All Might from their perch, with wide smiles. They had pushed, worked, and fought to finish the cleanup. And after a month of early starts, and late finishes with the last few hours from this very morning, they had reached their goal. Seeing the shocked All Might had been the icing on the cake.

"Well," Izuku began, "What do you think All Might? Beach looks pretty good, don't you think?"

All Might bellowed out a laugh, "Pretty good. I'd say that's the understatement of the century Young Midoriya. You two have gone far beyond what I had envisioned. You both have lived up to Plus Ultra."

"Thank you All Might," both said in unison.

All Might pulled out a notebook from his coat, "I had this whole next month planned out for the both of you, but now?" All Might turned and tossed it into the open tailgate of his truck, " I don't think we need it anymore."

Izuku looked over at Ochako, who mirrored his own shocked expression. Turning back Izuku asked, "If we don't need that plan anymore, does that mean? Are we?"

"Congratulations. You've both completed the Aim to Pass! American Dream Plan."

Ochako cheered, loudly. She didn't scream out any words. No hurrays, or awesome. It was just a yell of pure joy and pride. While Ochako expressed her joy in exuberance, Izuku was much more reserved. He was in tears, but he kept himself as collected as he could. If he was done, then he had a question he had to ask. Standing up on wobbly legs, Izuku made his way down the heap and kept walking until he stood before All Might. Ochako let herself calm down as she watched Deku, feeling that her screaming at this moment was wrong. What came next, deserved her undivided attention.

"All Might, you said that I'm done? That I've completed your training?"

"You have. You've done everything I asked for, and more."

Izuku swallowed, his mouth and throat suddenly dry, "Then I'm ready right? I've become a proper vessel. Worthy to carry One for All."

"You are worthy, Young Midoriya."

Warm joy bubbled up from Izuku's heart. His reservations faded, and he started to laugh. He had done it. After all his hard work. He would finally, finally…

"But."

The warmth Izuku felt cooled. A chill of dread crept into him.

"I'm not going to give One for All to you."

Izuku felt as if the ground had been ripped from underneath his feet. In an instant he was falling into a pit of his own self doubt, fear and despair. Every feeling he had before he had started training came roaring back in that darkness, in spades. Panic tightened around his throat like a noose as he tried and failed to steady his breathing. It didn't make sense. What had he done wrong.

"I don't, I don't understand. Did I make a mistake? Are you angry with me? What did I do wrong?! What did I do!? All Might what did I do wrong!?"

Quickly, but firmly, All Might reached down and took Izuku by the shoulders, "Young Midoriya please, calm yourself. Please just take deep breaths. You've done nothing wrong. You've done everything I asked of you. Everything and more."

"Then why? Wasn't giving me One for All after I completed your training the whole plan?"

"You're correct. From the moment you agreed to become the next vesal I planned to give you One for All once your training was done for the entrance exam. But as we got closer to the end, I started to realize something. I knew what the effect One for All could have on your body, but not the effect it would have on your quirk."

"My quirk?"

"That's right. I need to know that both your body and quirk are ready for this. And I can think of no better way to see than for you to use your quirk while you are in U.A."

"But how am I supposed to get into U.A. without One for All!?"

"You have your own quirk that you can use."

Izuku shook his head, "I can't use my quirk. It's not good enough! I'm not good enough!"

All Might said nothing for a bit. He supposed it was now or never. Time to see if the other part of his training, his plan had worked.

"Young man, I think it's time for you to realize just how powerful you are."

Getting up, All Might walked over to his truck and leaned inside, rummaging around as he looked for something. All Might had known that sooner or later this day would come, and he was thankful he was prepared. As All Might dug around, on a whim he looked up through the trucks windows and confirmed that Uraraka was watching him very closely. She had not rushed down to comfort Young Midoriya, nor had she said anything harsh or uncouth towards All Might as she may have once done in the past. Before, All Might had asked her to trust him when dealing with Izuku, and by staying back and letting this play out, she was showing that trust. And All Might was very grateful.

With a muffled "ah ha!" All Might found what he had been looking for. With a bit more rummaging and some sly prep work, an impressive feat for someone of his size, All Might pulled out two objects and showed them to Izuku.

"Do you recognize what I'm holding here Young Midoriya?"

Numbly, Izuku nodded, "Those are the containers I use when I practice with my quirk. That one," Izuku pointed at a small cup, "was the first one I used. And that one," he pointed at All Mights other hand, "is the bucket I've been using now."

"A big difference wouldn't you say. Going from a coffee cup to a five gallon bucket," All Might held the two containers right next to each other, showing Izuku the vast size difference, "And when you think about how much water they hold, how much added weight you've moved around, it's a very impressive improvement. Wouldn't you agree?"

"But that bucket only holds around forty five pounds of water. It's not that impressive."

"Only forty five you say," All Might glanced briefly at Ochako who was leaning forward as she watched. A look of nervous anticipation etched on her face. She had a guess at what was coming. She just had to trust that All Mights plan worked.

"Young Midoriya, would you hold these please."

Izuku frowned, not seeing the point of the request, "All Might why…"

"Please Young Midoriya. Just trust me. Everything will be clear, I promise."

After only a brief pause, the two containers glowed bright green, and lifted out of All Mights hands. Hovering above the ground between the two. All Might looked from one container to the other, his eyes lingering on the large bucket a few extra moments. He watched it carefully then smiled.

"Not too heavy right?"

Izuku shook his head, "No, they're empty so it's easy. All Might what does this have to do…"

All Might held up a hand, silencing Izuku, "Do you remember the rules I put in place when I started your quirk training?"

Izuku nodded.

"What was the most important rule I gave you. The one rule I emphasized over everything else."

"Um watch my toes?"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ochako giggled at that. Even All Might chuckled softly to himself, rubbing the back of his head, "That's true. I did definitely tell you that. But I also said something else. Something just as important."

"That any equipment that was for quirk training I was only to use my quirk to move it. I was not allowed to touch it."

"That's right. Now you can go ahead and just drop those."

Izuku blinked but did as All Might said. The cup landed in the sand with a solid thud, but when the bucket hit the sand, a loud crash rang out from it that echoed out far past the beach. The loud noise startled Izuku enough that he instinctually skipped backwards a few steps. Ochako leapt up from her seat and off the trash heap, staring at the dropped bucket then at All Might wide eyed. All Might, the only one not startled from the noise, glanced back at her and smiled. Ochako looked at All Might, then the bucket, then Deku, then back to All Might. Her nervousness evaporated away, replaced with excitement as her lips quivered into a large toothy grin.

"All might," Izuku began, "What?"

"Young Midoriya, pick these up. You may go ahead and use your hands."

Cautiously Izuku moved forward, before choosing to pick up the coffee cup. Reaching down, Izuku plucked the cup from the sand, eyes going wide when he felt the weight of it. It wasn't just a little heavier than a normal coffee cup, its was heavier by several pounds. Izuku wasn't dumb, and feeling this caused something began to click in the back of his mind. The gears in his head were starting to turn. Izuku dropped the cup shaped container back into the sand and rushed over to the bucket. Grabbing the handle Izuku pulled up, and almost fell over when it stayed stuck in the sand. Izuku regained his balance and tried to pull it up again, but it wouldn't budge. He moved his hands to the top rim and was hit by two surprises. The first was that, like the cup, this bucket was not made of normal plastic material, now that he could touch it, he could tell it was some kind of ultra dense metal. Very sturdy. Very heavy. And second, the bucket wasn't empty. Stacked inside, almost to the top were multiple round weight lifting plates. Reaching down, Izuku hefted the top plate up and out of the bucket, letting it rest on the rim for everyone to see. On the top plate was its weight stamped into the metal. It took Izuku several tries to make out the number in his addled state.

100 Lbs.

The bucket was filled to the brim with 100 lbs plates.

"All Might? I don't, I don't understand. What's going on?"

"Think back Young Midoriya. The day I made the offer to you, I told you what you had two things holding your quirk back. Your lack of use had atrophied it, and your conscious thoughts, as a result of being bullied as a child, limited its strength to a preconceived limit. So I came up with a plan. One, make you use it. Train it. Work it so that it grew stronger through repetition. But also, I made sure you were doing more than what you perceived you were doing. So that you didn't limit yourself, I made sure you trained past any limit your mind could come up with."

In Izuku's mind, everything clicked into place at last, but the conclusion he came to, it was too far fetched to put into words. Too impossible to be true.

"I don't believe this…"

"Yes you do. I can see those gears spinning in that head of yours. You know exactly what this means. You just have to accept it."

The last remnants of self doubt clawed and clung to Izuku, practically speaking for him in defiance of the truth, "But, but I'm still just me. Even if, even if this is all real. How can I be good enough for U.A.?"

All Might laughed, "Young Midoriya, you were so focused on the end result. Of getting One for All. I don't think you ever noticed the changes you went through. What you've become. What do you think becoming a vessel for One for All did to you?"

Walking forward, All Might in one swift motion yanked Izuku's sweatshirt off and pull him to one of the trucks side mirrors. Making Izuku finally look at himself. Gone was the timid, skinny, twig of a boy. In his place was a young man, sculpted from months of training to become a hero.

That's me?

That person in the mirror is me?

Izuku blinked away a few tears, and repeated that phrase in his head again, but it was no longer a question.

It was a statement.

A fact.

A declaration.

That's me.

That person in the mirror is me.

All Might took Izuku by his shoulders and lead him back a few steps past the truck and the training gear. Back enough so that he had all the room he could want.

"Young Midoriya. I want you to do something for me. Close your eyes and just reach out with your quirk. Don't think about it, just reach out and grab what you can and lift it up. No overthinking. No over analyzing. Block out everything around you and just focus on the act."

Izuku looked up at All Might and gave him a stiff, but affirmative nod. Turning back, Izuku closed his eyes, letting himself become enveloped in a black darkness. With each deep breath he took the world around him faded away. The sound of the waves, the smell of the ocean, the feel of the crisp air on his skin all vanished from his mind. The doubts from before were silent, the cruel words from his memories no longer reached him. It was just him. Just Midoriya Izuku. With one last deep breath, Izuku raised his hand out and just let his quirk spread out. He could feel it take hold of something. Many things, but what they all were, he didn't think about. He just kept reaching out until he felt there was nothing left to grab hold to. Slowly, carefully, Izuku turned his hand over, palm up towards the sky, and did what All Might had asked him to do. He lifted up. There was resistance at first, but he kept the pressure of his quirk constantly pushing upwards. He could feel a give, then suddenly the resistance was gone. He could feel it in his mind. He had lifted something up.

"Deku, oh my gosh!"

He heard Uraraka to his side. She sounded like she was in awe.

"Well, I'll be… Young Midoriya, I want you to open your eyes."

Opening his eyes, his first instinct was to look over at Uraraka. She had sounded so awestruck. Sure enough she was just staring straight ahead, a hand over her mouth, and tears in her eyes. She looked so happy . Slowly, he turned to face forward, and his whole world changed in an instant.

Izuku had reached out with his quirk. Only he had reached out much much farther than he realized, or had ever thought possible. And he was holding so much more than he could have ever thought possible.

The fake cup.

The metal bucket.

All the 100 lbs weights.

All Might's truck.

The scrap heap.

All of it, surrounded by a bright green light, was floating several feet in the air.

"I think, Young Midoriya, it's safe to say you've finally arrived."

In that moment, the dam broke for Izuku. He had shed some tears up till then, but now, he wept. He fell to his knees and wept loudly, and openly. He hadn't cried like this in months. Not since All Might first told him he could be a hero. In some ways for Izuku, that was a lifetime ago.

As Izuku cried, All Might gave a small exasperated sigh, speaking softly with a bit of humor "We still need to get those leaky eyes of your fixed, but I suppose it's not the biggest deal in the world."

All Might then took a few small purposeful steps back, so that he was no longer standing between Izuku, and Ochako. Ochako looked from Deku to All Might, who gave her a quick nod, and launched herself at Deku, wrapping her arms around him and holding him as he slowly regained his composure. Soon Izuku was able to reel himself in and stood back up. He smiled at Ochako, thanking her for being there. Ochako returned the smile, though as she got a better look at him, noticed fresh beads of sweat forming on his forehead, and she could see his temple and brow were twitching. It dawned on her that Deku was still holding everything up.

"Um Deku, I think you can let go now."

"Let go… OH! Yeah I think that'd be a good idea, my head is starting to hurt. A lot actually."

"Please don't drop the truck Young Midoriya!"

Izuku flinched before giving All Might a thumbs up, "Right, I'll put everything down gently."

With the pressure on his head gone, Izuku sighed in relief. Ochako looked over everything with a calculating eye, "how much do you think all that weighed? Three tons?"

"Three sounds about right. Maybe a little more."

A little competitive feeling surfaced as Ochako puffed up, teasing Deku a a little, "Well Deku, keep working at it, and I'm sure you'll be able to lift as much as me one day."

Izuku glared at her from the corner of his eye, "Can't you just let me have this Uraraka?" Despite the words though, both of them were smiling brightly.

"Ah, but we would be remiss if we overlooked Young Uraraka and everything she's accomplished."

"Eh?" Ochako gasped out, suddenly finding herself the new center of attention.

"Not only have you been able to increase the maximum weight limit of your quirk, you've also made great strides in your ability to use it on yourself. On top of that," All Might took hold of Ochako's arm rolling up her sleeve and while not as defined as Izuku's there was a definite muscle bulge as she flexed, "I'd say you have come a long way in terms of your physical strength and combat prowess. You've shown some real natural talent."

"I had some really good teachers to help me get here," Ochako beamed proudly from All Mights praise, while Izuku tried his best not to stare too hard, though he was finding it very hard not to.

Rolling her sleeve back down Ochako looked over at the beach, "So what happens now? You said we've finished your training, but the entrance exam is still a month away."

"I think this would be a good chance for the two of you to let your bodies recover. You've been pushing yourselves hard for a long time. Take the opportunity to rest. Now I'm not saying to let yourselves to get lazy, maintaining yourselves in times of ease is just as important as the training to get yourselves here, but you've both earned a chance to catch your breath."

Both Izuku and Ochako nodded, neither wanted to let all their hard work vanish now that they were so close to their goal.

"I suppose," Izuku started, "We could use the time to make sure we are ready for the written exam. I'd be really bad if that's the part that catches us off guard."

"That's a good idea Deku."

All Might nodded in agreement, "Very good. A hero is more than just a strong body. However, before you get to that, this is a time to celebrate. So let me take you two to get a nice breakfast, my treat."

Izuku and Ochako were more than happy to take All Might up on his offer and quickly got into his truck.

---

After a nice day of celebrating, it was a few hours after sundown and Ochako yawned as she fell into her bed happy, but exhausted. Knowing that she was finally finished with her preparation training and would be able to sleep in for the first time in forever, she wondered if her body was about to collect on all the sleep she had missed. Not bothering to set her alarm Ochako pulled on her mittens and buried herself in her comforter. As she drifted to sleep, she couldn't help but think back to the morning. Seeing Deku finally, fully, break through the mental blocks holding his quirk back, had been breathtaking. The look of unimaginable joy he had, seeing what he could do for the first time made her feel so happy and proud of him. He had worked so hard, and it showed.

Oh boy did it show.

Ochako could feel her face heat up as she recalled the way that the early morning light, and the green glow from Deku's quirk, had done a wonderful job of defining each and every muscle that had been uncovered when he had his top taken off. Try as she might, which wasn't very hard if she was being honest with herself, she couldn't deny that her best friend, Midoriya Izuku, was hot. He was hot, and looking at him made her feel, something. A lot of something. She just couldn't find the right word for it. Or the right word that didn't make her make her extremely uncomfortable if she thought about what it meant. She didn't hate this feeling, but she wasn't a fan of how distracting it was. What it did to her.

What it was doing to her.

How it made her feel so warm.

Too warm for the heavy comforter that after some tossing and turning was kicked to the side in a huff. Ochako lay still, looking up at her ceiling in the darkness of her room, lost in her thoughts.

I don't know why I'm so surprised. I know how hard he's work to get where he is. Of course he'd be in great shape. So what if he's hot now? It doesn't change anything. He's still Deku. My best friend. My Deku…

Ochako ignored the best she could the small shudder that went up her body with that last, possessive, thought.

And it's not like he's the kind of boy to go and show off. He's focused on his dream, like me. So I don't need to worry about him getting distracted. He'll want to be just like All Might. Focused on being a hero…. Though… He's such an All Might fanboy he might decide to mimic his costume too.

Ochako's imagination flashed an image in her mind. Deku posed, arms raised mid flex, in a perfect replica of All Mights hero costume. A costume that clung to Deku so tightly it showed off each and every muscle he had. Ochako smiled and unconsciously licked her lips. Soon though the image changed, and Ochako wasn't the only one looking at Deku. He was a hero, so the whole world would have its eyes on him, and the world was filled with other girls besides herself. And the thought of other girls looking at Deku, her Deku, brought a deep frown to Ochako. But just as quickly as the thought came, Ochako shook her head and covered her face with her mittens, groaning into them in frustration.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?

Ochako kept her face covered as she tried to force herself to calm down. She had no reason to be getting this upset over something that hadn't happened. No reason to feel this jealousy .

Calm down. Just calm down.

Slowly, she could feel herself cool off as she practically willed her heart to stop beating so fast. Faced still covered, Ochako remember the breathing exercises Gunhead had taught her, and walked herself through them. Deep slow breaths. With each breath, she felt the unease leave her, until at last she felt calm and collected.

She was fine.

She was fine right up until her phone suddenly began ringing, startling Ochako enough that she bolted upright. Reaching out in a daze, Ochako forgot to take her mittens off as she fumbled with her small flip phone.

Who could be calling me at this hour? Mom? Dad?

Ochako looked at the caller I.D.

Deku.

Ochako stared at the screen in disbelief, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? Deku's calling me now!? After all of...whatever all that was. I can't talk to him now.

The phone rang again, as if to spite her.

I'm asleep right now. It'll go to voicemail and he'll think that I'm asleep and I can deal with this in the morning or something.

Another ring. Only a couple more and then she could go to sleep. One ring. Two rings. At three, Ochako practically growled as she ripped a mitten off and flipped her phone open, "Hello?"

She tried very hard to keep herself calm. She was not going to let her own frustration cause her to snap at Deku.

"Hi Uraraka. I'm sorry I hope I didn't wake you or anything. I know its really late and I probably should have waited, but I really wanted to ask you something, but it's definitely something that could have waited but I had this idea that I wanted to try but I know it's not super important but…"

Deku was lost, mumbling on the other end of the line. It was late at night, well past time for phone calls and Deku had called Ochako and immediately started to mumble and ramble away. And Ochako, who just moments before was lost in a storm of confused emotions and feelings couldn't help but smile as suddenly all those silly thoughts melted away. Deku, was still Deku, and that was more than enough for her.

"Easy Deku, easy. It's ok. I hadn't fallen asleep yet, so don't worry about it."

A sigh of relief, "oh that's good."

"So what's up? Everything okay?"

"Oh yeah, everythings fine. Everythings really good actually."

He does sound pretty happy, "Well you did have one heck of a morning today."

Ochako could hear the phone swoosh as Deku bobbed his head quickly in agreement, "It really was incredible. That I could do all that. Uraraka I can't even begin to imagine what's possible for me to do with my quirk now…. Which is kinda the reason I called you."

"Oh?"

"Well you see, it's like I said. I have no idea what I can do with my quirk. What's my actual max weight limit now? How far away can I be and still lift things? How hard can I throw something? Push it? Pull it? How many different things can I hold at the same time? I just don't know. I really don't know anything about my quirk."

For a few seconds Ochako could feel worry creeping into her mind. Worry that Deku was starting to panic and that old lack of confidence in himself was beginning to worm its way back into him. However these fears were quickly dashed.

"And Uraraka, I really really want to find out. I want to test myself, and see just how strong I really am. Just what I'm capable of. So even though All Might said we should take some time to rest, I was thinking of going back to the beach tomorrow and well, seeing what I'm made of."

The determination in his voice dashed every worry Ochako had, and she felt her smile grow, "That's a great idea Deku. That should help you a whole lot when we take the entrance exam."

"Yeah, exactly. So like I said, I decided that I was going to head over there tomorrow morning, and then I thought…" Izuku trailed off towards the end.

"You thought what Deku?"

"I thought I'd ask if, if you'd like to come along. I know I'm probably being a little selfish, but we've been training together for so long it felt weird going by myself so I thought maybe you'd want to um, maybe come with me? Though I'm sure you would rather," Before Izuku could continue Ochako quickly cut him off.

"Yes."

"Huh?"

"Yes, I'd love to go with you." LOVE?!

"Really? That's great! It doesn't have to be super early in the morning or anything. We could do something around after lunch then come back to my place for dinner like normal."

"Yeah, sure. Let's say noon then? That should give us plenty of time."

"Okay great! Thank you Uraraka. I was a little worried about calling you so late to ask you about this. I thought maybe you'd rather use the time we had left to relax."

"Deku, we're in this together. Of course I'd want to be with you for this."

There was a brief pause, during which Ochako swore she could hear some sniffling from Deku, "Uraraka, thank you. Really. Thank you. I'll um, I'll let you get back to going to sleep then. See you tomorrow."

"Sweet dreams Deku."

Closing her phone and putting it away, Ochako couldn't keep the smile off her face. After months of waiting, and getting a huge peek earlier, she was finally going to get to see Deku let himself go and use his quirk to his heart's content. Of course she was going to want to be there. Mind filled with the possibilities tomorrow would bring, Ochako pulled her mitten and comforter back on and finally she fell asleep.

---

Izuku was a bundle of nervous excitement as he waited at the beach for Uraraka. After his phone call with her, instead of going straight to bed, he had stayed up late writing out different ideas on how he was going to test out his quirks newfound limits. If his mother hadn't walked into his room and practically thrown him into bed, he was sure to have stayed up all night.

Upon arriving Izuku quickly made his way down to the far edge of the beach, where the man made concrete wall separating the shore and the main land ended and a natural wall made out of many large stones and boulders began. Far enough away that he should be able to do his tests without worrying about possible hurting any passersby or getting spotted by an officer ready to reprimand him for using his quirk out in the open without a proper license.

Pulling out his notebook, Izuku started to mumble to himself as he again went through the tests he planned to run, making sure the had space for each tests results in the marked off pages.

It's funny. I don't think I can remember the last time I was excited over anything about my quirk. Actually the last time was probably before I ran into Kachan after visiting the doctor...so maybe not so funny now that I think about it. BUT, that's in the past! And I need to focus on the now, and future! Still, I wonder what Kachan will do once he sees what I can do now. Maybe he'll finally think my quirk is cool, like his...

Izuku was so caught up in his thoughts, he failed to notice Ochako walking up behind him. Ochako, with a big smile, tapped Izuku on the shoulder, "Hey Deku-!"

"WHAAA!"

Startled, Izuku jumped up, inadvertently throwing his notebook up in the air. Frantacly, Izuku fumbled around catching the book before it hit the sand, before turning to find Ochako, hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh at the spectacle she had just witnessed.

"Uraraka!? Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Pft, I'm sorry but that's completely your own fault."

Rubbing his head embarrassed, Izuku remembered why Uraraka was out here with him, "Uraraka, thanks again for coming out. I'm sure you had other things you'd want to be doing on your time off."

Ochako waved him off, "Deku I lo-like spending time with you. And if there's something I can do to help you, all the better. So I assume you have a plan for today?"

Izuku smiled and opened his notebook up and showed the pages filled with tests to her. Uraraka blinked as she scanned over the many different tests, "Wow thats a lot."

"We don't have to do all of them of course. I kinda just wrote down every idea I had before I went to bed."

"Okay then. Do you have any equipment? All Might took everything with him after we finished yesterday."

Izuku motioned to the wall of rocks, "I figured I could practice with all the large stones over here. No need to carry anything, plus if something breaks it'll be fine."

Ochako hummed in approval, though she did give Izuku a pointed look, "Just make sure you don't include yourself in the 'if something breaks it'll be fine' category."

"Oh come on, you make it sound like I have a habit of hurting myself."

Deadpanned, Ochako pulled out a pouch of tissues, over half of which were gone because of all the times his nose started bleeding. Izuku laughed nervously and quickly moved to change the subject, "Sooo, you ready to start?"

"Sure Deku."

For the next few hours Izuku and Ochako experimented with his quirk. At first Ochako had very little to do. Izuku started by pulling large rocks from the beach wall face from increasing distances, jotting down in his book his effective radius. Next he moved onto seeing how many different large objects he could move around independently of each other, making a bit of a show acting like he was juggling some of the smaller stones, much to Ochako's delight.

When Izuku moved to throwing objects, he quickly came to interesting result that he immediately wrote down into his book, "So while I can lift a couple of tons, I can't throw that much weight around."

"Don't you think that's odd?" Ochako asked as she casually watched him write in his notebook.

Izuku chewed on the end of his pencil, "Not really when you think about it. You remember some of the large pieces of trash we cleaned up here. Like the sinks. You could pick those up towards the end without issue" Ochako smirked and flexed, "but do you think you'd be able to throw one?"

"Oh, when you put it like that. I guess it does make sense."

Izuku nodded and after finishing his notes closed his book, "Okay Uraraka, do you think you could use your quirk on that rock over there?"

"That one? Sure. One sec." Walking over, Ochako tapped the large stone and lifted it up, "Anything you want me to do with it?"

"Yeah just push it up a little higher and then drop it. I want to try and catch it as it's falling."

"Oh, okay. Just be careful and don't stand under it."

Izuku laughed, "Right, because that's something I'd do. Walk right into something that dangerous."

"No you're right. You'd run."

Izuku snickered, "Okay Uraraka I think that's a good height, I'm ready."

"Release!"

The stone plummeted towards the ground as Izuku quickly reached out with his quirk and grabbed it, stopping it a few feet from the ground. Izuku inhaled sharply as a familiar dull pain throbbed in his head. Ochako heard Izuku and glanced his way, "Deku? You alright?"

Izuku dropped the stone, and spent a few seconds collecting himself, "I'm fine. Learned something too. Using my quirk on an object that already has a force acting on it is a lot like when I try to throw something. The extra force lowers my weight limit. Also makes things harder to keep hold of."

As Izuku put that into his notebook, Ochako rubbed her chin, "What do you think would happen if something you were already holding had a force put on it?"

"Oh, thats a good one! Let's test that next."

Izuku lifted the large stone back into the air in front of Ochako, "Try and move it Uraraka."

Nodding, Ochako put her hands onto the rock, and pushed. There was a little give at first, she could hear Izuku take a sharp breath, but soon afterwards, the rock stayed put. She put her back into it, and while she could hear Izuku's strained breathing letting her know he was putting in some effort, the rock wouldn't budge. Pulling back, Ochako was about to tell Izuku he could drop it, when a sudden idea came to her. On a whim, she leapt up and hung onto the rock, keeping her feet off the ground.

"Uraraka!"

Ochako, after she was sure she was secure, looked over at Izuku, "try and move it now."

Izuku grunted, but after some effort started moving the rock in a circle around himself.

"Come on Deku! Faster!" Ochako cheered, having fun with her new ride.

Smirking, Izuku gave her what she wanted and pushed the rock faster and faster. Soon though the inevitable happened and Ochako after one too many rotations could feel herself getting dizzy. With a yelp her grip loosened and she tumbled to the ground. Izuku started let his grip on the rock drop, sending the stone into the ocean. Hurrying over to Ochako, worried he may have hurt her, his worries were brushed aside as Ochako sat up laughing.

"That was awesome Deku! I wanna go again!"

Izuku laughed as he helped her up and began scanning around, "Sure, though maybe I can get something a little bigger for you to hold onto."

Before he could, Ochako came up with an idea that brought a huge smile to her face, "Actually I have an idea, lets cut out the middle man."

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, his head tilted to the side as he watched Ochako, who was almost giddy with excitement.

"Okay Deku, why don't you try picking me up." Ochako said quickly as she moved to where the last few test boulders had been.

"Are you sure?" Izuku asked. While the day had been going great, he had learned so much and had filled many pages in his notebook on his quirk, lifting a person was a completely new direction for him.

"Come one Deku. Don't get cold feet now. You just launched a boulder all the way out there," she motioned towards the ocean, "I wanna see what you can do to a person!"

Ochako paused when she noticed a mischievous grin cross Izuku's face, "Though I swear, if you do that to me, no hero in the world would be able to save you. Got it?" she cracked her knuckles for added emphasis.

Izuku just smiled at Ochako's threat, but chose not to say anything on the matter. He could try and play it off by pretending to be offended, but he had serious doubts Uraraka would buy it. So instead he simply asked, "Are you ready" and after an excited nod from Ochako, reached out his hand and let his quirk envelope Ochako, like he had done multiple times to the rocks and boulders before.

Ochako held back a gasp as she felt Izuku's quirk take hold of her. She hadn't been very sure what to expect, but it certainly hadn't been this. The green glow had a warmth that made her skin tingle and there was a constant pressure all over her body. Not like someone grabbing her, but like she was being swaddled. It felt good. It felt really really good.

I should have asked him to use his quirk on me ages ago.

For Izuku though, almost immediately he could feel something was different. Moving from an inanimate object to a living person was a night and day difference. He had to concentrate much harder just to get a hold of Uraraka, and even when he had her, he could feel his quirk getting repelled back.

Ochako looked over at Deku, about to tell him to go ahead and pick her up when she noticed the look of concentration on his face with his eyebrows all scrunched up, "Deku, are you okay?"

"It's weird. It's like trying to hold two magnets with the same poles facing each other together in my hand. I have you, but it's a constant fight. Are you okay? Do you feel anything weird?"

No this feels great! "I feel fine Deku."

"Alright, I'm going to lift you up now."

Izuku rotated his hand so that his palm faced up and lifted, but Ochako stayed on the ground and a very strong feeling hit Izuku as he tried. It was a sensation he had already felt earlier when he had experimented with lifting an object from incremental distances, but this was much stronger and he was feeling the strain from an exceptionally closer distance than before. It seemed that issues he had lifting an object were magnified greatly when applied to a person. Izuku continued to try to life Ochako for a few more seconds before he felt an all too familiar pain start to pound in his head. Quickly the green glow around Ochako flashed out, and Izuku whipped his hand to his forehead, hissing out an "ow ow ow!"

"Deku!?"

Rushing forward, Ochako dug her hands into her pockets to pull out some tissues she always carried with her. After being around Deku and his bloody nose, she was always prepared for a quick clean up when he overused his quirk. When she reached him, she was relieved to see that at least some of her worry turned out to be unnecessary. While he was busy rubbing his temple, he at least wasn't bleeding.

"Deku," Ochako started again, this time more calm, "everything alright?"

Izuku nodded slowly, "Yeah, yeah I'm ok. I may have pushed a little too hard. By the way, ow."

Once Izuku had, more or less, rubbed the pain out of his head, he gave Ochako a smile to show he was okay, "Sorry for worrying you. I'm fine now."

"Do you know what happened?"

"Yeah I do. I tried to lift someone who eats too much mochi."

Izuku snickered when Ochako gave him a playful shove.

"You better watch yourself Deku."

"I got it, I got it!"

Izuku sighed after he calmed down, "I think I know what happened in case you're still curious."

Ochako nodded, giving Izuku her full attention.

"When I tried to lift you, it felt different than when I was moving those boulders around. It was like my quirk was getting pushed away, so I was having to put a lot more effort into holding you with it."

"Why do you think that is?"

"It's probably related to my Mom's quirk. She can pull small objects towards herself, but that's the limit to it. Her quirk doesn't work on people at all. I guess even though my quirk is a stronger version of her's, I inherited that issue. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to lift a person, but it's going to take some work."

"Well that's not too bad. It's just something you'll have to work towards is all," Ochako said encouragingly.

"Yeah I guess so, but it's strange," Izuku put a hand on his chin as he began to think, A few months ago when I followed those guys that were harassing that girl, Toga, I was able to pull one of them when he threw a punch at me. I don't remember having this issue. Could I have ignored it since it was a spur of the moment decision? Maybe I was in such a hurry and focused on helping her I just don't remember the finer details? Perhaps I was being boosted by adrenaline, or its like when I was attacked by the Sludge Villain and was subconsciously going past a mental limit.

"Um Deku?"

But I'm over that now and I'm still having an issue. Hmm maybe I'm looking at this wrong. With Uraraka I was trying to lift her completely, which I suppose is fundamentally different than the other two times. With the Sludge Villain I wasn't actually using my quirk on his body. I was more or less using it to create a force to push him off, which now that I'm thinking about it, how did I even do that? I'll need to look into that.

"Deku? Hello?"

Then there's the guy from the alley. I know I was able to pull him off balance. And I didn't feel that repulsive feeling when I did. Could it be because I was only using my quirk on a smaller part of his body. Just his arm. Could it be because he was already moving in the direction I pulled so his own force added to my quirk? No, even before I was trying to move Uraraka, I could feel the difference. Then what made that time and this time different? Could I have grabbed something else besides his actual arm? But what could I have….

"DEKU! Earth to Deku! "

Startled, Izuku stopped what he was doing when Ochako grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a little shake.

"What? Oh Uraraka. Yes?"

Ochako deadpanned at Izuku's seemingly lost response, "You know that you said all of that out loud right?"

"Oh was I mumbling?"

"Mumbling, rambling, falling down a rabbit hole to Wonderland, take your pick."

Izuku blushed, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "Sorry about that, I guess I got carried away."

"I swear sometimes I wish I could see what's running through your head when you dive off the deep end like that. Then I remember that besides being a huge hero nerd, you're a teenage boy and I'd rather not be subjected to all the stuff you got in there as well."

"HEY! I'm not like that."

"Uh huh? Do you remember the magazine I found in your room? The one with the Wild Wild Pussycats?"

Izuku flushed red, "It had a brand new article over their most daring rescue opt! They were talking about how they used their quirks together to pull it off"

Ochako crossed her arms, not convinced at all, "Right. You got it for the articles. Not the Pixie-Bob spreads."

Arms flailing, Izuku continued to defended himself, "I don't see how this even matters right now! That was a while ago, and you took it before I could even use it!"

Ochako raised an eyebrow, "Use it?" Implications heavy in her voice.

"READ IT! I MEANT READ IT!"

Izuku covered his face as he sank down into the sand in embarrassment. Ochako soon broke out into a small fit of snickers, "Sorry Deku, but sometimes you make it so easy."

Izuku stood back up in a huff, "One day Uraraka, one day you'll get yours."

Ochako rolled her eyes, "Right, that'll be the day. So want to tell me what you were mumbling about? I could only catch every other word."

Deciding to take the opportunity to change the subject, Izuku nodded, "I was trying to figure out how the couple other times I used my quirk on a person, I didn't have the same issues as I am having now."

Intrigued, Ochako asked, "Oh did you come up with anything?"

Izuku thought about it for a second before he gave her a brief nod, "Actually I think so. I'd like to try lifting you again, but in a different way. If you don't mind?"

Ochako smiled, "I don't mind at all. Just don't go hurting yourself okay?"

After getting her consent, Izuku took a couple steps back to give himself some space. With his hand raised, Izuku once again let his quirk reach out towards Ochako, but instead of focusing on her as a whole, he narrowed down his target. To her clothing. Satisfied that he was not feeling the repulsive force from before, Izuku pushed his quirk to lift Ochako up.

Ochako gave a startled yelp when her feet left the sand and she was lifted, wobbly, upward. It wasn't a perfect hold, in fact he could already find several flaws with it, holding onto just her clothes meant that the hold felt off. He could feel her shifting around in his grip, and her movements were pushing back on his quirk, so he knew he wouldn't be able to hold onto her for very long. Plus if the clothing torn, whoever he was moving would be in a free fall. But while it wasn't a perfect way to lift a person, it was still something, and you can improve on something. While Izuku was lost in his thoughts, going over different methods he could use to improve his quirks effect on people, he failed to notice a sudden change in Ochako's face.

When Izuku had reached out, Ochako was surprised, and a little disappointed when she didn't get the same feeling as before. All she felt was her clothes getting pulled tight and up and dragging her along with them. She tried to find the best way to make herself comfortable, going rigid or going slack, but there really wasn't much she could do. However, Izuku was able to lift her this way, so that was a check in the win column. That is, until another attempt from Ochako to get comfortable caused herself to drop slightly, and out of a certain piece of very important clothing.

Oh no.

"Deku, Deku put me down! Put me down right now!"

Jared out of his thoughts by Ochako's sudden yell, Izuku immediately lowered Ochako back to the ground. The moment her feet touched down, Ochako whirled around so that she was facing away from Izuku. Concerned he had hurt her, Izuku took a few steps towards her, "Uraraka?"

Ochako quickly and very adamantly cut him off, "I'm fine Deku. Just please, please back up some."

"O-Okay?"

Izuku, while confused, did as he was asked, and took several steps back all the while watching Ochako intently. After a bit, Ochako peeked over her shoulder and added, "Could you um, turn around too?"

Why is her face is so red?

While tempted to ask what was going on, Izuku turned around and waited. Once Ochako saw that his back was turned towards her, she finally felt brave enough to act. Pulling her arms into her hoodie, Ochako quickly and discreetly pulled her sports bra back down. Once she was sure everything was back in place, and she was presentable, Ochako turned around and found Izuku still with his back turned, looking down at the ground fidgeting nervously.

Walking over she tapped him on the shoulder and made sure she was smiling when he looked at her, "Thanks for that Deku. I'm all better now."

"Oh, that's good. Uraraka, did I do something wrong? I didn't mean to do whatever I did. I swear."

He doesn't suspect anything. Dodged a bullet there. Thank goodness Deku isn't really a pervert like some of the boys at school. Psychokinesis is dangerous in the wrong hands.

"I'm fine Deku, don't worry about it," Ochako said with a wave of her hand.

Izuku nodded, relieved. If he had accidentally done something to hurt her. Izuku shook his head, not wanting to think about that. She said she was fine, so there was nothing to worry about, "Well I'm glad. And while it wasn't perfect, I guess I do have a method of lifting a person now."

"Yeaaah, maybe work on it a little more before you go putting it into practice."

"Oh? Does it have something to do with you wanting to get put down?"

Ochako looked away, hiding her blushing face, "something like that," she mumbled before adding, "Was there anything else you wanted to try? It's getting pretty close to dinner time."

Izuku thought about it, then shook his head, "I think I'm good for today. Let's get going."

The walk back was peaceful, with Izuku spending most of the time scribbling away in his notebook detailing everything he had learned during his quirk practice.

I may not have One for All yet, but that's okay. All Might still believes in me, and once I've shown I can control my quirk, then I'll be ready to take up his torch. Izuku glanced over at Uraraka, his eyes were drawn to the bright smile she had as she walked beside him, and I have Uraraka too. As long as we're together, I'm sure nothing at U.A. will be able to stop us.

Month 0 (February)

If one were to ask any of the fellow police officers or pro heroes that have worked with Detective Tsukauchi to describe the man, you would get several answers.

Dedicated.

By the book.

Earnest and Hardworking.

A bit stiff.

So if any of these people knew what the detective was mulling over as he sat at his desk, they would be quite surprised. Strewn across his desk were folders, files, pictures, reports and all manner of documents almost all pertaining to a single case file. A case that numerous departments, local and national were following. The Hero Killer Stain.

The sheer amount of paper on Tsukauchi's desk was a grim mirror to the length of time that Stain had been active, targeting and killing heroes. For months all anyone could do was follow the trails of blood to the most recent victim. All found after they had gone missing for some time. Evidence was sparse at the scenes with no witnesses and the heroes only suffering a few cuts and a lethal stab wound. The number of victims that shared this same M.O. had lead the departments to come up with two main theories about how these attacks worked. Either Stain would ambush his victims, or he was such a powerful villain that the heroes were simply out matched and overpowered in direct combat. Though honestly, Tsukauchi thought it was something more in the middle. All the attacks happened in areas away from public view, which lead itself to the ambush theory, but these were still trained professional heroes. Even with the element of surprise, Stain still needed to be a dangerous combatant to be able to pull all this off.

However this was not what was keeping him up so late this night. No it was the strange turn the case had taken. For some time, his department had started to receive anonymous tips about Stain. This by itself wasn't that strange. High profile cases like this always came with a mountain of calls from people who thought they had information that the police might want or need. Most of the time it was only rumors or bad info leading to nothing, but it was still his and the departments duty to investigate, but recently they had received a call that was different. It was not a call of a sighting or crime in progress, but of possible future attack locations. At first the department didn't take the call too seriously. How could someone know where these attacks could take place. But then there were three more attacks, and every one took place at one of the locations that the anonymous caller had mentioned. And that got everyone's attention.

Almost immediately everyone in the department who had any free time was trying to follow up on who the caller was. But after weeks, no one could find anything. With virtually no trail to follow people were shifted away from finding them and back onto other cases, the general sense was that they were not going to hear from the caller again. That changed a few days ago when a call was forwarded to his phone.

"Hello this is Detective Tsukauchi of the Musutafu police. How may I help you?"

"You police force bozos don't listen very well do you. I gave you three prime locations and you still let two heroes bite it, and a third is what, crippeled, maimed. The paper was really vague about the details."

In a flash Tsukauchi bolted upright in his chair, and quickly snatched a pen and paper to start taking notes.

Female

Young?

Low opinion of police = Bozo's

Speaking just loud enough that the officers at the desks around him could hear, "You're the one who gave us the tip about potential locations Stain would attack."

The office went quiet as word spread. Tech teams immediately went to work plugging into his phone to try and trace the call, while officers and others crowded around Tsukauchi's desk.

"Yep that would be me."

Happy / Chipper.

Voices in background of call. = Public location?

"Tell me Mr Policeman, how'd you manage to screw up catching Mr Stain. Its like you guys weren't even trying."

Mr. Stain = Familiarity?

Tsukauchi scribbled quickly as he replied, "We receive multiple tips over the Hero Killer case each day. We only have so many men and women available to follow up on each one."

The voice on the other end sighed, clearly annoyed, "Save the bull shit for the papers Mr. Policeman. I'm not interested in it."

Tsukauchi could see a few of the other officers listening in on the call wince with him at that. Everyone knew how important keeping this woman on the line was. If he upset her too much, there was a good chance they could lose their best lead on Stain.

"We didn't believe you. We didn't think any legitimate source would have that kind of information readily available to them." He hoped that honest answers would placate her.

Fortunately, it seemed to work, since when she spoke again, her voice carried an air of cheerfulness. An uncomfortable amount of cheerfulness.

"Ah that makes sense since I never saw anyone around. But that begs the question, do you think I'm legitimate now?"

Playful tone.

Happy

Possible unstable?

"Yes."

The caller giggled, "Good. Do you want more information on Mr. Stain?"

The room held its collective breath. Officers learned so hard on his cubicle walls, they started to bend. Tech team signaled for more time to trace. Tsukauchi steadied himself, "Yes, we do."

"Then I think we can do some business."

He blinked, "What do you mean business?"

"I gave you that tip for free mr Policeman...and if I'm being honest, I didn't really think you'd be able to catch Mr. Stain, but I needed all of you to know that I knew what I was talking about. So if you want the rest of what I know. It's gonna cost you."

A murmur filled the room at the same time a frown crossed Tsukauchi's face, "What do you want?"

"For starters, a full pardon."

Tsukauchi drummed his fingers on his desk as he moved from the large pile of paper to a much smaller pile. He didn't like this. Not one bit. Making deals with criminals went against every fiber of his being. When the caller had started to go over their price for their information, he had thought that perhaps he was dealing with a vigilante. A vigilante that had probably gotten in too deep and wanted out of the game, but once he had gotten a name, he was sure he wasn't dealing with a vigilante. While the file he was reading through was nowhere as big as Stain's, it still held some stomach turning information. The first page was a missing persons report, not filed by the family. Finding this strange, Tsukauchi had made a couple of calls to the family, but once the subject was broached, the call was cut short with them stating he could talk to their attorney if he wanted more information. Further calls were ignored outright. The next reports were all criminal activities. Criminal mischief, tresspassing, aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder and canibalism.

He was dealing with a criminal at least, and a burgeoning villain at worst, and much to his chagrin, he was working to make their demands for a deal go through. This was not ultimately his call, but a decision that came from above. The order was simple, make this happen now . He was convinced someone up top was seeing a promotion in their future if this could lead to Stains arrest, but he would never say this out loud.

So despite his misgivings he had gone to work. Most of what the caller had wanted turned out to be rather simple and disappointingly easy to make happen. The pardon came through almost the same day, though fortunately much to Tsukauchi's relief, Chief Tsuragamae put some limits on it. More or less it came down to if their caller stepped too far out of line, the pardon would be pulled and they could come down on her with their full authority. So at the very least, they had a safety net of some kind to make up for the higher up's rush to make this happen.

However, it was the last few bits that were turning into a mess. As much as the higher ups in the police force tried, they did not have as much sway with the heroes as they wanted, and that's what this last part of the deal came down to. The heroes. Or namely one person in the hero community in particular.

Tsukauchi's thoughts were interrupted when his phone started to ring. Absently he checked the caller I.D and took a breath before picking up the phone.

"Hello, this is Detective Tsukauchi... Ah yes, it's good to speak with you sir…. Yes I was hoping you had a chance to read over the information I sent you earlier?... Yes sir….I agree this is a very peculiar case…. Sir if I'm being honest, I'm against this…. Even if the information they have is good?...I agree stopping Stain must be a priority… You're interested? Really?...Potential huh...I can give you what we have on record, but it's not much ...Where would you like me to start?... Very well I will start from the beginning. Name, Toga Himiko."

Notes:

At last, the training arc is complete. I swear this was never supposed to take this long, I apologize for the long wait. I'm just happy I was able to get this chapter out before I had to go on a company trip, and then deal with family for thanksgiving. I hope you all enjoy the chapter, it was fun to write, especially since none of it was written in order. I jumped all over the place, it was crazy. But, next up is the big one folks, the entrance exam is upon us. lets hope our young heroes are ready for the challenge! As always please feel free to leave a comment, review or critique if you see something that you think needs fixing. And a big thanks to my beta readers! Since almost all of this chapter was either written on my phone or at 2 AM, it had some issues.