I do not own these characters or the world, that belongs to our lovely author of MHA, Kohei Horikoshi. Also, cover art was a commission by me from the artist Krumbs. Follow them on if you'd like! They are extremely talented!
A/N: So I actually rewrote this chapter three different times. I'm much happier with this product than it's previous iterations. I wanted to add more in with the woman I briefly introduce in this chapter and kind of allude to what's in store for these poor teenagers but no matter what way I spun it, it felt forced or too serious. As much as I wanted to include something like that and indicate possible Shigaraki and Himiko connections, I just couldn't find a way to do it that I liked, so I undid it all and settled on this. Hopefully it's something others enjoy. Thanks for any reviews/follows/favs. Leave me a review if you feel so inclined and enjoy the read.
Forty-Six
Impertinent Soul!
Izuku stared at the spinning rack of various keychains, trinkets, and charms. Specifically, at the keychain that depicted All Might—in his traditional position of bright smile, legs apart, hands on hip—with Midnight in a rather suggestive pose with one leg draped over his thigh, one hand on his belly and a seductive expression on her face. Was…was this a ship? Did people actually ship them? He scoured his brain for any references he might have in regards to Midnight and All Might pairings but he came up dry. Aside from the one encounter where they'd played lovers during a school scenario for them, he couldn't think of any other occurrence that the two would've been lumped together. He was going to have to ask All Might about this the next time he saw him…
"What'd you find?" Ochako's voice interrupted Deku's memory sweep, freeing him from the strange little keychain.
"Oh uh, just a weird All Might keychain is all," he explained and gave an awkward smile.
Since they'd had their brief little make out session and he'd had the misfortune of dropping their crepe, they'd just happily wandered about the festival grounds. The path that wound through the festival grounds was littered with plum trees that were in full bloom. It wasn't unlike Sakura season when the blossoms started to fall in droves after reaching their full flower. Some of the paths were practically blanketed with fallen petals, like a literal flower carpet.
The park that this ume matsuri was held in had a few older historic buildings littered about it that had been converted into storefronts to allow commerce during festivals. This particular one that they'd chosen to enter was one such building and had all sorts of little goods to choose from. A lot of it was basic tourism stuff—tee shirts with a geisha, a torii gate, samurai, or the sky tree depicted on them, traditional matcha bowls, origami paper, various handcrafted wooden bowls, decorative folding fans—the list was endless, but the reason that Izuku had been drawn to this store was the spinning rack that had been littered with All Might merchandise. Of course he'd have to investigate that! What if it had something that he didn't have? As an avid All Might fan and collector, if he found something he didn't have he would most definitely have to rectify that.
"Is that Midnight?" Uraraka asked and leaned closer to the spinning rack and by extension Izuku as well.
Deku felt her shoulder brush his arm as she attempted to get a better look at the keychain. Despite the fact that they weren't unfamiliar with touching each other at this point, he couldn't help but blush at the close proximity of her. Heat flooded his cheeks and he felt butterflies dance in his stomach. Why are you reacting like this? Calm down. She didn't even intentionally touch me, just brushed against me. Why do I have to blush at every little thing? Get a grip Izuku!
He took a quick breath in and let a shaky one out in an effort to help him calm down. "Uh yeah, it, it does look like that. Weird, huh? I never really thought of them as like a pairing that enough people would be behind that they would made keychains about them."
Uraraka's gaze shifted from the keychain and back to Deku. Warm chocolatey brown met soft emeralds. "Yeah, that is kinda weird. I wouldn't have ever thought to put them together aside from that once school scenario they had us in…but I guess it's like rule 34, sort of, hehe…you know, if the hero exists and if they've been in like the same room together somebody probably ships them."
Deku stared at her in confusion. Rule 34? What did that mean? Was it something to do with math? It sounded familiar…but he couldn't place where he'd heard it or what memory it invoked.
"Rule 34?" Deku repeated.
"What? You don't know what that is?" Uraraka asked, her cheeks suddenly turning a furious red and her eyes widening in embarrassment. Why was she reacting that way? What was rule 34?
"Uh, no…should I?"
Her cheeks were still bright red as she straightened up and took a step closer to him, her eyes now downcast. She leaned in toward his ear and whispered, "It's, uh, well, it's a rule that says…er…if it exists than there's po-po-porn about it."
"What?! Porn?!" He screeched in response, practically jumping away from her, his own cheeks now burning with embarrassment.
"Sorry!" Uraraka apologized, cheeks still bright red, eyes downcast.
"No, sorry, sorry," Izuku said, his voice significantly lower now. He cast a nervous glance to the shopkeeper who sat behind a table in the back to see if he'd alarmed them. They looked completely unbothered which he could only attribute to the fact that they looked like they could easily be over one-hundred years old, their skin so full of folds and wrinkles it was akin to looking at a particularly wrinkled basset hound. If they were as old as they looked, then they probably could hardly hear a thing.
"You really didn't know?" Uraraka quietly questioned, her eyes still downcast.
"No, no I didn't," he explained feeling equal parts stupid and embarrassed. There was a vague memory he had of when he was perhaps twelve or thirteen years old and some of the other kids in his middle school class were speaking in hushed tones, discussing something similar. Perhaps that was why it had sounded so familiar; he had in fact heard it before, just never investigated it further to find out what it actually meant. Wait. How did Uraraka know about it?!
"H-how did you know about it?" Deku asked, both curious and a little frightened of her answer.
The blush on her cheeks only darkened. Maybe I shouldn't have asked, he thought to himself and opened his mouth to speak but stopped when she spoke before he could.
"Well, er, there was just one day when I was hanging out with Tsu and some of the other girls and Ashido mentioned rule 34 and I thought it was about math and something I had missed, but then she explained to me what it actually was…" her voice trailed off and her gaze remained glued to the floor.
Ashido knowing about it made sense. She seemed incredibly savvy, or at least that was the image that she projected. "Oh okay. That does make sense. Ashido…well she seems to know a lot, socially that is."
"Yeah…" Uraraka agreed, one hand now nervously playing with some of her hair. "So, do you think you'll buy something?"
That was right. We were looking at the keychains and that was how that happened, he thought to himself as he shifted his gaze back to the rack. "I'm not sure. Do you see anything that you like?"
The blush in Ochako's cheeks had started to lighten up and Deku was relieved to see her at last turn her gaze from the floor and to the keychains. He watched her as she once again leaned in toward the rack and looked over the keychains and charms. She stopped on one of Thirteen, her helmet held in one hand revealing her face while her other hand was up in a peace symbol. "That one's not bad."
"It's Thirteen without her helmet, cool! You hardly ever get to see her without her helmet so that's really something to see on a keychain!" Deku said excitedly as he too leaned in toward the keychains. Most of them looked sort of so-so or were outright strange like the Midnight and All Might one, but one did eventually catch his eye.
Toward the bottom of the rack there was a chibi style keychain of just All Might's head. It looked kind of ridiculous but it wasn't a style he saw all that often of All Might and it was most definitely not something that he already owned and he was a diehard fanboy…
"I think I might get this," he said softly and pulled the little chibi All Might off its holder. He held it out to show her.
"Haha! All Might as a chibi kind of looks weird," Uraraka said with a laugh as she looked over it. She handed it back to Deku and smiled. "I think I'll browse a little longer if that's okay."
"Sure. I'm just gonna go buy this," he said and proceeded to head over to the prehistoric shopkeeper to buy his merch. This was the second ancient looking person he'd seen tonight. Of course, he'd seen other old folks at the festival, but the old lady that he'd run into earlier had looked old and weathered and so did this person…maybe they were married?
Just as he placed the small item on the counter, the ancient shopkeeper's gnarled hand reached out and snatched it up. The movement was far faster than Izuku had expected, especially for one so old. They were super old, right?
"An All Might keychain? A fan, eh?" The voice that emerged from that wrinkly face was neither female nor male sounding, but rather some sort of combination of the two. Taking in the shopkeeper's shape didn't help Izuku ascertain gender either as it was sort of amorphous, the toll of age having made everything that was probably once tight and firm droop to levels he'd not thought possible. Were those breasts under that navy blue smock or were they just sad saggy old man pecs? Could the waistline once have bent and curved into a feminine shape or had it been rigid and straight? The possibilities were endless and all the questions that he could think of to sus out what title he might need to use all seemed rude and inappropriate in his mind.
"Uh, yes, I-I am," Deku stuttered uncertain and uncomfortable that the conversation might travel into the direction of needing to use a formal sir or ma'am…but those weren't gender neutral terms and he hated to assume and embarrass the person and himself. Best to stick to neutral pronouns and formalities as best as he was able to!
"I have a daughter who was quite the fan, yes," the voice croaked out with what Deku thought was possibly a laugh.
"Oh really?" He said with a nervous smile. Deku doubted the shopkeeper's ability to see his smile, though since their face was so wrinkled it was almost impossible to make out their eyes beyond the drooping skin folds.
"Yes, yes…now, that'll be 3,000 yen," the shop keep said cheerfully.
3,000 yen for a simple keychain?! Are you kidding?! Deku thought to himself, his eyes bugging out at the sheer audacity of such a fee. There was no way that the keychain was worth even half of that.
"3,000? That, uh, well, that seems like a bit, er, much," Izuku said nervously.
"I felt the need to increase the price since you and your friend were talking about leud things in my shop," the androgenous voice explained, deadly serious.
Izuku stared in horror at the dinosaur before him. That was why they'd increased the price so much? Because this person had in fact heard what they were talking about? How was that even legal? Was it legal? And it wasn't like they'd been talking in depth about pornography, but rather Uraraka had just quietly explained what it was to him…though then he'd practically shouted the work 'porn', which apparently had been loud enough for even what had to be half deaf ears to hear.
"Er, well, you see—" Deku started but the string of beads that adorned a doorway behind the shopkeeper suddenly parted as a young woman passed through them.
"Granddad, please, stop trying to harass shoppers," the woman said in a deeper voice. She stood behind the ancient—gender identity now obtained—man and gave him a little pat on the shoulder before moving her gaze toward Deku. Crimson eyes, darker and more intense than even Bakugo's red irises, flicked to him as she gave an apologetic smile. "Apologies. Granddad likes to sometimes tease any of our younger customers. I will happily ring you up."
"It's not teasing Kagura; it's selective processing," the old man said in defense.
"You made that up, now be quiet," she scolded in response.
"Oh, uh, okay, uh thank you," Deku half stuttered and gave a small bow of gratitude to her.
"That'll be 600 yen," she said as she pushed the money tray towards him.
"Oh, yeah, sure," he said, immediately relieved at hearing a far more appropriate price. He pulled his wallet out and fished out the money and placed it into the tray.
"Your change," she said as the tray was once again pushed back toward him. As she pushed the tray back toward him, Deku was quick to grab at it.
As Izuku scooped up the extra coins and took the keychain, he paused briefly to admire it before putting it away. All Might chibi keychain acquired, nice! He tucked it into one of his pockets on his vest. He was about to turn away when Uraraka suddenly appeared at his side. He was surprised enough by her arrival that he jumped a little when he caught sight of her.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to sneak up on you," Uraraka said and gave Deku an apologetic smile.
"That's okay, I was just startled is all," Deku said as he looked to see if Uraraka had found anything to buy. She was empty handed which he found a bit surprising since she'd been intently eyeing the Thirteen keychain. He could always buy it for her. "Are you not going to get anything?"
She smiled again and shook her head. "No, I decided it'd be better to save my money for now."
"Oh, I could get it for—" he started only to have her put her hands up and shake her head.
"No, no! I couldn't ask you to do that. You already bought us the crepe and I'd hate to make you buy some silly little trinket that I don't actually need," she explained, her cheeks taking on a slightly rosy color.
"I wouldn't mind—" Deku started but was again interrupted, this time by the shopkeeper's daughter.
"Pardon my interruption, but are you here together? As more than mere friends?" She asked, her red eyes alight with something like excitement.
Both Uraraka and Deku looked at the woman in bewilderment and alarm. Where had that come from? And why did she want to know? Deku couldn't decide if he was more confused at her question or more alarmed at her intrusiveness.
"Pardon my impertinent granddaughter. Her quirk allows her to see connections between people and as a result she's become quite fond of asking rude questions about people's relationships," the old man explained.
"Forgive my presumptuousness. The line connecting you is just very distinct and made me think of unmei no akai ito, so I had to ask," she explained and bowed in apology.
"Oh, okay," Uraraka said with a nervous smile and a furious blush in her cheeks.
The red thread of fate? What she sees between us makes her think of that?! Deku thought to himself in both curiosity and surprise. He glanced at Ochako and her blushing cheeks and felt his heart stutter in his chest. Could something like that actually exist between them?
"I see lots of connections between people but not that one all that often. Or rather, not one that makes me think of that," she said with a smile.
"And you accuse me of teasing the younger customers yet here you are jumping at every opportunity to nose into other people's business. You are more your father's daughter every day you live. Where is my daughter in you? Hm? Where is that wonderful, sweet woman who mothered you?" The grandfather demanded, his voice taking on a prickly and cruel undertone.
Izuku was swiftly starting to feel a bit uncomfortable at just hearing this exchange. There were customers literally just in front of them. Wouldn't it be better to have this kind of conversation in private?
"Oh please. My mother, your daughter was addicted to quirk enhancers and a raging alcoholic. So bad in fact, that she drank herself to death. You're lucky that I put up with you to honor her wish that I look after you after!" Scolded the red eyed woman.
"Kagura! That was uncalled for! You shouldn't speak ill of your mother…she just had struggles; we all do…" the old man's voice trailed off sadly.
"Yes, but not all of us beat our children because we can't handle our liquor. You didn't take care of her at the end. She was horrible by the end, her brain practically rotted away—oh, you're still here, apologies," the woman blushed and bowed in apology.
"Impertinent, selfish child," the old man muttered, his ancient brow creasing further. The granddaughter snorted in response.
Awkward, Izuku thought inwardly and slowly began creeping closer to Uraraka in a desperate hope that they could begin a loud and distracting conversation about the Thirteen keychain.
"So, are you sure you don't want to get the Thirteen keychain? It can't be more expensive than the All Might one I bought and I really don't mind getting it for you if you want," Deku asked, eager for literally any conversation other than the one that he'd been an unfortunate passerby of.
Uraraka gave a half-hearted smile and shook her head. "No it's okay, really," she paused briefly to cast a nervous glance at the staring match between the granddaughter and the crypt keeper before turning back to Izuku. "Want to continue on?" She inclined her head toward the shops exit.
"Sure," he quickly agreed, took her hand as they exited the shop and resumed walking along the path dotted with plum trees.
They walked for a little while longer stopping on occasion to look at the plum trees, fat with flowers in full bloom. Eventually they decided that they wanted to scope out a place to eat something more substantial than just a crepe—the loud growling of Deku's stomach had seen to that considering he'd barely had a nibble of the crepe before dropping it. Of course, with a festival there was a lot to choose from; one need only imagine it and chances were it could be theirs.
"Gyoza maybe? Takoyaki? There's probably some place that sells soba too," Izuku suggested as he gazed out over the various food vendors.
"I haven't had gyoza in a long time! Though…I'm not sure we're going to find any gyoza vendors here. That's kind of a sit-down food. Ramen, maybe? Though I suppose that's sort of sit down too," Uraraka said with a shrug.
"Ramen might not be a bad idea, though you're right that that is also a sit-down sort of food, but I wouldn't mind trying it out walking as long as you—" he was interrupted by a loud, familiar voice calling out to him. Deku turned in the direction from the voice, eyes searching through the throngs of people before finding none other than his classmate, Satou, weaving through the crowd and heading his way.
Uh-oh.
"Midoriya! Oh, and Uraraka! Hey guys! Didn't know you guys would be here! Awesome!" The enormous boy exclaimed gleefully. He moved through the crowd until he stood just in front of them and gave them a goofy looking grin. "Hey guys! Come on over here, I found Uraraka and Midoriya!" He shouted over his shoulder into the mess of festival goers behind him.
"Wha—" Uraraka started but stopped when Shoji, Koda, and Ojiro appeared seemingly out of thin air.
"Hello Midoriya, Uraraka," Shoji said with a slight head nod. Tucked almost into his side, was Koda, his eyes downcast, cheeks flushed. Clearly, crowds were not something that he enjoyed.
"Hi," he whispered in a voice that was so quiet neither Uraraka or Deku could actually hear him.
"Hey guys. Nice seeing you two here," Ojiro added as he joined the others.
"Wow, didn't expect to run into so many of our classmates, haha," Izuku said with a forced smile, eyes squeezed shut to try to hide some of the anxiety he felt like he was permeating through his very pores. This is bad…they're here and they can see us and…and…and what? They haven't said anything but what if they do? Do we admit we're here together? Is that really such a bad thing? No, but I don't know, I don't want to have everybody make a big deal about it. Not to mention that I don't know if Uraraka is ready for the entirety of our class to know that we're not just simple friends…I think I would be okay with it, maybe, but it really has to be something that we both agree on, not just one of us.
"Really pretty kimono Uraraka! You look really nice!" Satou said appreciatively as he looked over Uraraka. Despite the fact that it was just an innocent observation and innocuous compliment, Uraraka's cheeks turned scarlet and she looked away in embarrassment.
"Oh, uh, thank you."
Deku felt her squeeze his hand which made him realize that they were in fact still holding hands, something that couldn't be missed by the four boys in front of them. Had they not noticed or were they just ignoring it? He shot a panicky glance at his classmates and aside from Koda who had a gaze directed at his feet, they all were either looking at the different sights the festival had to offer or appeared to making eye contact with them. So…maybe no one had noticed? Or maybe it had been inconsequential enough that they'd chosen to ignore it? Aside from Satou, these particular classmates weren't particularly boisterous or chatty. If anyone was going to catch them and not make a big deal about it, it'd probably be this group.
"Have you guys eaten? We saw a chocolate banana stall that we were going to hit up. You wanna join us?" Asked the sugar fueled amateur hero.
"We had a crepe earl—" Deku snapped his mouth shut then, realizing the implication of completing that sentence. If they hadn't noticed it before then they most certainly will now, he thought to himself. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Uraraka's head whip in his direction while also feeling her squeeze his hand again. Too late, cat's outta the bag.
"Oh dope! A crepe? That makes total sense and is totally a thing you could do together at a festival. Nice! What were the flavors? Were they like super varied or pretty boring stuff like just strawberry and chocolate? Did they have super sweet flavors like maple syrup or cotton candy?"
The pressure of Uraraka's hand squeezing let up at Satou's response. His reply left Izuku feeling surprised. Hadn't he just had a blatant admission that they were here on a date? And yet, Satou had briefly acknowledged it and then moved right on past it with nothing more than a thought. If he reacted this way, would it really not be that big of a deal if they came out to the entirety of their class? Though, outliers like Mineta reacting in a relaxed manner to such a revelation seemed unlikely.
"Um, I don't really remember, haha. We got strawberry but I'm sure they had more flavors than just chocolate and strawberry," Uraraka said in a soft voice.
"I could go for a chocolate crepe, maybe more so than a chocolate banana. Satou you want to head to a crepe place?" Ojiro asked. For the first time since seeing the group, Deku realized that they were all dressed in men's kimono. They looked so good and so formal! It almost made him regret not finding one to wear himself.
"I mean yeah of course, but I also want a chocolate banana," laughed Satou.
"That's…a lot of sugar," murmured Shoji, an eyebrow skeptically raised in Satou's direction.
Satou laughed in response. "I mean, I am sugarman! I live for sugar! Hmmm, you think because my quirk is related to sugar consumption that that means I am like immune to diabetes?"
What an interesting question, thought Deku. He'd never considered the possibility that possessing a quirk like Satou's might result in immunity to diabetes. "I never thought of that. Have you ever had your sugars tested or your hemoglobin A1C?" Maybe they could synthesize some sort of cure for diabetes from his quirk…
"Dunno, not that I'm aware of," Satou answered casually.
"Um, can we return to the former topic? Can we go get something to eat? I'm kinda hungry," Ojiro admitted in an attempt to redirect the conversation to more important matters and less skeptical ones.
"Oh yeah, sure! Well let's hit that chocolate banana stand and then we can go find a crepe place. Midoriya, Uraraka, you wanna join for the chocolate bananas?" Asked Satou who had slowly started moving away from them and closer to a food stand that was a short distance away that had a glowing neon banana over it.
Deku shot a tentative glance at Uraraka who looked back at him, her expression unreadable…alright, so did he want to tag along? No. Then that's that.
"Thank you but we're actually going to go get some ramen I think. Need something to help balance out the sugar from the crepe," though as Deku said that he knew that that was only partially true since he'd barely had a bite of it and Uraraka had only had a little bit herself. But they didn't need to know that.
"Alright, cool. Come on guys, let's go get those chocolate bananas and then some crepes!" Satou called over his shoulder.
"See you Midoriya," Ojiro smiled as he walked past the two.
"Bye, have fun," whispered the eternally shy Koda.
Shoji patted Koda's shoulder tenderly, not unlike a parent and a child or an older sibling comforting a younger one. "Bye guys."
Deku and Uraraka smiled and waved and started to move forward but stopped when they heard Satou call out to them.
"You two look good together!" He gave them an impish smile, a thumbs up, then turned and resumed his journey to the chocolate banana stand.
Deku watched, red faced and wide eyed as Ojiro, Shoji, and even the bashful Koda also turned back toward them to give a thumbs up to before joining Satou. Were…were they just giving them the thumbs up in regards to them being together?
"That…was unexpected," Izuku muttered as he stared after their classmates.
"Yeah," Uraraka agreed.
"So, uh, did you still want to get ramen? Or something else maybe?" Asked Izuku, his stomach loudly growling as if to add emphasis to his question.
"That was your stomach? I'm so sorry! You must be so hungry since you barely got any of the crepe. How about Takoyaki? That's a pretty easy thing to eat while walking and exploring," Uraraka said in a rush, her brow creased with worry at Izuku's growling stomach. He couldn't help but smile at that reaction.
"Okay, I'm good with Takoyaki. Let's go find some!"
The two resumed their walk that had been interrupted earlier with the presence of their classmates. Both kept their eyes on the alert for a sign indicating a vendor of Takoyaki. As they continued down the path that was quite literally peppered with flowers and flower petals, Deku's thoughts began to drift from filling his empty belly to the girl beside him.
He spared a quick glance away from the hunt for Takoyaki to look at Ochako. Her eyes were focused on the shops and vendor's that they passed by, completely unaware that he was looking at her. The large flower in her hair—something he was fairly certain was supposed to be a poppy—and the little red and white cascading petals that dropped from it would occasionally flutter in the breeze. He wanted to touch it to see what the texture would feel like. Ochako's hair caught the breeze every now and then as well, the longer strands of her hair by her face drifting lazily in the wind.
With one particular gentle gust of wind that caught those same long locks around her face, Deku was suddenly awash with the scent of flowers—but plum blossoms were essentially odorless. What was this? Roses? No, jasmine? No…peonies maybe and something like strawberries perhaps. The smell instantly reminded him of her and he knew in that moment that what he was smelling was nothing generated by the festival or some nearby smelly flower, but was rather the scent he'd come to associate with Uraraka.
Memories of the last time this perfume covered him filled his mind and for a moment he was completely lost in them. The scent dominated all of his senses and drowned out the other sounds and smells that should've been much stronger. Peonies and ripe strawberries on a warm summer's day. It surrounded him like a loving embrace and all he could see in his mind's eye was her face pressed against his when they'd last kissed…
"Look! There's a place that sells Takoyaki!" Ochako cried in excitement.
Deku blinked, his mind not entirely willing to release him from those memories of honeydew and sunshine on his tongue. He looked at Uraraka and then at what she was pointing at. A little food vendor was just in front of them and offered a large menu of various festival food staples, including Takoyaki.
Guess it's probably better to be pulled out of those memories than fall deeper into them. I don't really want to be pitching a tent while on a date with Uraraka…okay! Time for some Takoyaki! He thought to himself as he nodded at Uraraka and the two moved to the food vendor.
This time Uraraka paid as she had previously requested. They ordered a dozen little Takoyaki balls that they speared with tiny toothpicks and popped gleefully into their mouths. Deku inadvertently burned his mouth on the first three he ate—they were hot! Judging by the way Uraraka feverishly fanned her mouth she probably burned her tongue or palate too. It wasn't the best Takoyaki he'd ever had but it was still pretty good! It had a nice savory taste and the fried dough wasn't too thick and contrasted nicely with the tase of octopus. Deku finished his Takoyaki first while Uraraka still had two or three left to eat. They stopped briefly by a larger plum tree as she finished her food.
"So full! But that was so good!" She said as she popped the last Takoyaki ball in her mouth. Deku watched her with a smile and opened his mouth to say something but paused when he realized she had a little smudge of sauce on the corner of her mouth. He opened his mouth to bring it to her attention but stopped. Why not lean in and lick it off, that'd be fun and cute…
Despite the fact that at his heart of hearts he'd always be a gentleman that more often than not deferred to the needs of others, the desire for closeness in that moment consumed him. In an uncharacteristic gesture of boldness, he abruptly leaned forward and pressed his mouth and tongue to that little smudge at the corner of her mouth. His tongue swept across the sauce and tickled his tastebuds with delight. He pulled back a moment later, a sheepish expression on his face.
"Sorry, you uh, you had some sauce on your face, and well, we didn't have any napkins, so, I just, well I just did that…to you know, get the sauce off and all that," he explained nervously his eyes darting about like a shifty salesman trying to sell faulty equipment.
Uraraka looked up at him with wide eyes, her cheeks flushed. A silence broke out between them that made Izuku want to fidget anxiously. Was that not allowed? Should I have resisted that? Did I do something bad? Was this unacceptable behavior on a first real date? But we kissed earlier…was it some unspoken rule to not kiss or well, sort of lick the sauce off your girlfriend's cheek? Wait, wait…was he actually calling her his girlfriend? Was she? Well…yeah…yeah, YEAH! He was so caught up in his head and the swirling anxieties and excitements there that he almost missed what she said.
"You missed." Her voice was soft like the flower petals that danced around them as he looked curiously at her.
She stood on the tiptoes of her sandals and leaned forward, her lips touching his. The feel of those velvet dewdrops on his lips was like the sweetest of nectars on his tongue and he practically sighed in sheer bliss at the simple act of a kiss. He stepped closer to her, the hand that wasn't holding onto his Takoyaki garbage, moving up to her cheek. Could he just never stop kissing her? It was really really nice. It might be one of his favorite things. Why hadn't they done it sooner? If he'd known that it would be this nice then he would've been much more eager to get to it.
Ochako pulled away then, leaving him feeling heavy with her absence. He wanted to lean forward and kiss her again but he wasn't inclined to such boldness. Instead, he closed his still parted lips and found a smile tugging at his lips as he took in her rosy cheeks and demure expression. She's so cute!
"Sorry," she said sheepishly.
"Nothing to be sorry for, I…liked…it…" his voice trailed off and he lowered his eyes and then cleared his throat. "Wanna go find a bathroom so we can get rid of our trash?" Izuku held out his hand to add her Takoyaki tray to his own.
"Sure. Besides, I'd like to wash my hands. I don't want to get grease stains on this kimono or on you," she explained and handed over her garbage.
"That makes sense. It really is a pretty kimono, like really really pretty, and you look really, really, really good in it." His emphatic tone made Uraraka blush again.
He felt his face start to pinch up with delight at watching the color in her cheeks and her excited eyes, shyly glancing away before being able to really look at him again. "Okay, let's go find a bathroom!"
F/N: So carrying your trash with you or waiting until you get to a public toilet (which doesn't always have a trashcan for you to throw things in aside from sanitary napkin disposal) is like a really common thing to do in Japan. When I was there, we almost always carried our trash with us until we were able to return home to properly dispose of it. I was SHOCKED how clean it was there and kind of awed. Like why are we American's such dirty fucking pigs that we have to throw our fucking garbage all over this beautiful earth? I don't litter here so I certainly wasn't going to litter there. Why can't other people hold to that? Fucks sakes, throw your shit in the garbage.