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 or Twitter—though I guess that's called X now—if you'd like! They are extremely talented!

A/N: Ready for some fluff? Because that's what this chapter is basically from start to finish. So please enjoy. I enjoy writing light smut and probably like explicit smut too but sometimes, a lot of times, just writing some nice fluff is really pleasant. Thanks for all reviews/follows/favs—they are much appreciated! Leave me some more if you feel so inclined.

Sixty-Three

Of All the Stars and Suns, You Are My Favorite

Izuku grabbed the discarded pair of plum-colored panties and haphazardly thrust it at Ochako who took it from him with crimson cheeks. She'd managed to grab her bra which now hung awkwardly on one arm having only managed to get one arm through the straps before Izuku gave her back her panties.

He fumbled away from her and to where her tank top lay crumpled on the floor. Scooping up the shirt, he turned back toward Uraraka only to see her shimmying into her panties. It was an innocuous enough activity but for whatever reason, be it that he was a horny teenager or that he really, really liked her, watching her pull her undies on stunned him into immobility. Deku felt glued in place as he watched her slide those dainty little undergarments over her hips and settle snugly overly her shapely backside. Was this the first time he'd really been able to see her naked derriere? It might be! Why had he never spared a second thought for her rump before? It was nearly as exquisite as her breasts were! He again wondered why he'd never really thought about her backsides before…maybe you're a boob man, suggested an internal voice.

Ochako slipped her other arm through the remaining bra strap and over her breasts, struggling for a moment to move them into the cups without making them spill out or under the band. Izuku started to raise up and opened his mouth to ask if she needed assistance snapping it into place but couldn't finish that sentence because she did it all by herself. How did she do that?! Those little hook and eye closure thingies seem pretty small and she did it all without having to look at them! That's impressive!

"Wow Uraraka! That's impressive that you were able to get your bra hooked in place without even seeing it!" The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them and he instantly regretted them. What a stupid thing to marvel at or to even say to her. She probably thinks I sound like a childish idiot after saying that…

Uraraka turned around to face him, now partially clothed, and gave a sheepish smile. "Oh uh, yeah. I guess you get used to it after doing it a few times." She grabbed her fallen shorts and slid them over her legs. "Can I have my tank top?"

"Oh uh, sure, yeah," Deku replied. His cheeks were dotted with color as he handed her her shirt—apparently it was his turn to blush now. "Sorry. Should've given that to you sooner." He averted his eyes and looked down at the floor.

"It's okay," he heard her say, still not wanting to look at her face. He felt really stupid for the comment about her bra. It just painted him as the inexperienced little boy that he felt like right now; marveling at how she put on her bra—stupid. She'd probably done him a huge favor by being the one to remove it earlier. He could just imagine if he'd been left to it and how he'd be like all those stereotypical awkward and bumbling guys who spent ages just trying to take one off of a girl.

"Uh, I guess, we should brush our teeth," he said quietly and began to move blindly forward toward his bathroom. As he passed by her, she caught his arm, stopping him.

"Hold on, let me grab my bag. We can do it together!" She released his arm and moved over toward his bed where she'd left the bag that she'd brought with her; her discarded gauntlet lie with it. Izuku looked after her, surprised, and relieved that she didn't appear to be bothered by his comment about her bra. Maybe he was the only one that thought that that observation made him weird or awkward.

He watched as Ochako opened the little bag and dug out a pink toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste from it. The toothbrush looked suspiciously like the one he'd seen in her bathroom the last time he'd been there. He absently wondered if it was the same one. She'd given him a spare which was probably the only spare she had. I'll have to pay her back for using her only spare toothbrush, or maybe get her a new one—oh! An All Might themed one, he excitedly thought to himself as he watched her. She turned back toward him and moved back to his side.

"Okay, let's go!" She said and took his hand.

Izuku led them into his bathroom and rolled the door closed behind them. Once they were in the tiny little space, he started to grow self-conscious about how much All Might paraphernalia there was in his bathroom. There was an All Might themed bathroom rug around the toilet, his automatic All Might themed toothbrush along with an All Might themed cup. Even his small shower—which had come with its own shower stool and basin—had All Might in it. Rather than use the provided stool and basin, he'd added his own All Might themed items in their place. It was just…a lot of All Might.

Much to his surprise however, Ochako seemed to pay little attention to the All Might decorations and moved over to the sink where she turned on the faucet and ran her toothbrush under the water. I mean, she has seen my bedroom before. She probably just kind of expects that that's what any space that I'm allowed to be the soul decorator of will be full of All Might stuff. How would that work if I lived with another person? Or if I lived with her…hmm, her sense of style seems pretty practical, nothing loud or fancy, I could probably keep a lot of my All Might stuff and have it displayed even if we lived togetherwait, what am I thinking? We're in high school and not even 18 yet! Stop thinking about things like living together Izuku!

While Uraraka started brushing her teeth, Izuku stood close to his closed door, cheeks redder than a baboon's butt cheeks, his eyes wide with the amount of alarm he felt. They weren't even public knowledge and here he was thinking about living together. How ridiculous! Get a grip, Izuku, he scolded himself internally as he took a mechanical step toward the sink. He woodenly grabbed his toothbrush and began going through the motions of brushing his teeth.

Once the toothbrush was gooped with a smear of toothpaste and the low mechanical drone blasted away in his both his ears and head, he finally started to relax a little. It wasn't like Ochako was privy to his secret inner thoughts. He was allowed to have silly little, ridiculous inner thoughts from time to time. This was his first and only romantic relationship in life…so he was entitled to the occasional silly notion of thinking about things like living together when they weren't even full adults yet. Those are okay thoughts to have. Relax.

Ochako bent over the sink and spit before running her toothbrush under the faucet. Deku watched as she turned off the water and moved away from the sink, acutely aware that she hadn't rinsed her mouth. Certainly, the overwhelming taste of her nasal clearing mint toothpaste must be unpleasant. Didn't she want to rinse out her mouth? He realized that there was no clear cup for her to use aside from his All Might cup which he imagined she was too polite to ask to use. She could just sip straight from the faucet but he didn't like that idea; it seemed rude to him to make her slurp up water from his sink faucet.

Before she could completely move away from the sink, he surged forward and grabbed his All Might cup and offered it to her. She looked at the cup and at him curiously. His automatic toothbrush was still whining away in his mouth, not to mention it was full of toothpaste and saliva that was threatening to spill out if he wasn't careful.

"To…waarssh…yeeeeer…mouf out wid," he tried to explain, though felt like her ability to understand him was probably extremely limited considering his loud toothbrush and his currently obstructed mouth. Not to mention the fact that when he'd tried to say the word 'mouth' what had come out sounded a lot like 'muff'. Definitely not what he was going for.

"Oh—if you're sure then, um, thank you for letting me use it," Uraraka said and gently took the cup from him. She turned back to the sink and filled it up before taking a quick swig to rinse her mouth.

An indirect kiss, Deku thought to himself as he watched her lower the cup from her mouth. So? You literally just made out with her a little while ago. Calm down and finish brushing your teeth, his inner sourpuss chided.

Uraraka finished rinsing her mouth before emptying out and rinsing the cup before she refilled it. Once it was filled back up, she handed it back to Deku. He took it, not completely following why she was giving it back to him.

"For you to rinse with," she explained when he looked at her in confusion. Of course, he thought to himself with an inner facepalm. He accepted the cup from her and finally finished brushing his teeth.

Once he'd finished up, he rolled the door to the bathroom back open and stepped outside. Uraraka had waited in the bathroom with him until he'd completed his teeth and then exited with him. The room silently greeted their return.

Izuku faced Uraraka and opened his mouth to speak but the distant sound of voices in the hall outside his room drifted to him, making him snap his mouth closed. He strained to identify the owners of those voices and realized with some alarm that at least one of the voices most definitely belonged to Mineta. It made sense; they were neighbors.

"I'm just saying that if you wanted, you could totally hit it with Froppy," Mineta's voice said from somewhere in the hall.

A deeper voice responded—it had to be Tokoyami's voice. "I don't think I am comfortable having this conversation with you."

"I mean she did do affirmative consent with you not too long ago, and I heard from some of the others that you guys were all friendly at the festival. Sounds like a tinderbox ready for a light in my opinion." The voice that undoubtedly belonged to Mineta sounded like it was on the other side of Deku's door. As Izuku continued to listen, he held his breath, afraid that any sound might alert the notorious sex hound to the presence of the fairer sex being close by.

"That was a school assignment and has no bearing on relationships or romantic attraction. As for the festival, I was also there with Hagakure and Yaoyorozu as well as the vast majority of the rest of our class and I recall being friendly with all of them. Does that hint at some secret romantic relationship as well?" Tokoyami's voice sounded sarcastic, biting even.

"I mean…no…I'm just saying that if you wanted to have a shot with the frog you probably could go for it." The sound of Mineta's voice had moved just past Deku's dorm door.

"If I didn't know better, I'd assume you had a thing for her with how often you probe at the nature of our relationship." Tokoyami's voice sounded further away too. Deku assumed he was branching off from Mineta to return to his room.

"Uh, well duh. She's hot. Who wouldn't have a thing for he—" Mineta's voice was suddenly cut off by the sound of a door loudly opening and a dramatic and rather drawn out sigh.

"Mon dieu! S'il vous plaît keep it down! Some of us are trying to enjoy a nice warm cup of lait et hot fromage before bed and you two shouting loudly is very disruptive to moi bedtime regime. So s'il vou plaît, keep it down!" The sound of another dramatic sigh could be heard and was then followed by a door loudly slamming shut. The door was shut with such force that it made one of the framed All Might posters on Deku's wall shudder.

"Yeesh, what crawled up his glittery butt?" Deku could barely make out Mineta's voice and assumed he had muttered that statement mostly to himself.

"You." The single word reply was followed by another door slamming shut. Tokoyami had apparently exited the conversation.

"And here I am just trying to help a brother out." Both Uraraka and Deku heard a loud sigh and then the opening and closing of a door followed by silence.

The two stood, still unmoving and holding their breath. When no other sound emanated from the hallway, Deku let out a deep sigh of relief. Phew, that was uncomfortable for a minute, he thought to himself as he looked toward his door to make sure that it was locked. He was relieved to see that the lock on his door was active; he'd had one too many close calls with his door being unlocked and randomly opened to ever feel comfortable leaving unannounced entry up to chance.

"Kinda close, huh? Are they normally that loud right outside your room?" Uraraka asked quietly, her warm chocolatey gaze bouncing back from the locked door and to him.

"Sometimes. It just kind of depends I think," he paused as he recalled his strange cheese encounter with Aoyama all those months ago. "Being Aoyama's neighbor is…interesting."

"I bet," she agreed and then quietly moved across the room to sit on Deku's bed.

Izuku watched her and felt an odd sense of déjà vu as she patted the spot next to her. This was so similar to that first time they'd been alone together in his room except so much had changed…they had changed. It wasn't bad changes—good changes really, things that he was glad had happened. He moved over to join her on the bed and sat down next to her. She looked over at him and smiled warmly which made him smile in return.

He gently put his hand on one of her bare knees and asked, "want to get into bed for uh, the sleeping?" Why was it so hard to formulate a clear and concise sentence when he was with her? Would he be like this in five or ten years when alone with her? Five or ten years? Ambitious aren't you, laughed an internal voice that he had to shrug away.

"Yeah," she agreed with a nod.

"Right." Deku turned toward his bedside lamp and began to switch it off but movement from Uraraka caught his eye. She had one hand around her back and looked like she was unhooking something or potentially trying to scratch her back. He blinked and she was then reaching into one of the armpits of her tank top and sliding out of her bra straps—wait, she was sliding out of her bra?! But why!?

"Ura—er Ochako, sorry, why," he stopped briefly, aware that his voice was too loud considering he now knew that both of his neighbors were in their rooms. With a lower voice he started again. "Why are you taking your bra off? I didn't think we wanted to go further…did we?"

Ochako hadn't stopped removing her bra despite Deku's question and now pulled it the rest of the way off through one of the armpits of her tank top. "We did and that's not what this is about, but it's uncomfortable sleeping in an underwire bra, so I'm taking it off. I suppose I should've thought of that before I came down here…could've put like a wireless bra on or a tank top with a built-in shelf bra. I guess I wanted you to see me in something er…sexier." Her cheeks flushed red on that last word.

"Oh. That makes sense," he said in a mechanical tone as he thought about what she'd actually just said to him. She'd chosen to wear an underwire bra even knowing that they were going to be sleeping next to each other simply because she wanted him to see her as sexy. Did she not realize that she could wear a burlap sack and he'd still think it was the most attractive thing he'd ever seen before? But he did appreciate the fact that she'd wanted to look sexy for him.

"Um, Deku? Are you okay? You're making a funny face," she asked, drawing him out of his thoughts.

"Uh yeah, sorry, was just, well, distracted by what you said. Um…what side do you want to sleep on?" He motioned awkwardly toward the bed.

Ochako looked at the head of the bed and back toward Deku. "I think I'll sleep closest to the wall if that's okay."

"Sure," Deku agreed as he once again leaned over toward his bedside lamp and shut it off.

The room was shrouded in darkness except for a small All Might themed nightlight under his desk that boldly displayed the words 'I AM HERE' in red, white, and blue. Izuku felt his bed shift and move as Ochako began scooting her way up toward the head of his bed. A moment later and he heard the rustle of blankets as she drew back the covers and settled beneath them. Time to join her, he thought to himself as he rose from the side of the bed and to a standing position. He faced his bed and took a few sidesteps up toward the head of it before he repeated Ochako's movements and quietly slid under the covers with her. His bed was small but neither he nor Ochako were big people, so it fit two relatively comfortably.

Another sense of déjà vu tickled his mind as he recalled the last time that they had been under covers together. That encounter had ended nicely; would this one end in a similar way? No, we aren't going to do sexy things. We're going to sleep…and maybe cuddle. Cuddling would be nice, he thought to himself as his hand wandered all on its own toward Ochako's. His hand closed over Ochako's and he felt himself start to relax. Yes, he could just lie like this with her. In fact, he might even sleep better knowing she was with him…

The bed shifted as Ochako moved at his side, moving first onto her side and then over him and finally so that she was seated over his pelvis, straddling him. She wasn't leaned over or trying to put moves on him, which he was intensely grateful for because just the suddenness of her movement and the mere presence of her in his lap was enough to make him rise to attention. What is she doing? He thought to himself in a panic as he squirmed beneath her.

"Ochako, what are doing?" He asked, his voice tight and strained.

"It's okay—I promise I'm not trying to do anything naughty…I just didn't want to sleep yet and I wanted to talk to you, but I also wanted to touch you…to sort of hold you I guess, maybe." Her voice was soft, tinged with insecurity or perhaps uncertainty.

"Wh-wh-what did you have in mind?" He squeaked.

"Um…well…sit up maybe? Actually, yeah, sit up so that I can touch er…see you better and touch your face," Ochako instructed her voice uncertain at first but then leveling out with confidence.

Izuku followed her command and at first rose up onto his elbows before fully sitting up. Because she was seated on his pelvis, he only came up to about her collarbone rather than face to face. He could make out the shape of her face and a vague expression on it in the darkness, but not fine details. Ochako's thighs were resting on either side of his hips, her knees folded beneath them, her pelvis perfectly aligned with his.

Once he was seated and practically face to face with her cleavage, Izuku struggled on where he should put his hands. Was he supposed to leave them hanging awkwardly at his sides? Was he supposed to fondle her breasts? Hold her waist? Her bum? Where did he put his hands?!

Before he could fret anymore about the location of his hands however, he felt Ochako's hands on his face and jaw and then weaving into his hair, caressing his brow and tickling their way over his ear. It felt sensual but it also felt pointed, loving and affectionate. The fiery heat that some of her previous touches held was now more akin to a gentle but warm embrace. There was no frenzy in these touches; desire yes, but no urgency. There was an undertone of passion but it was muted in comparison to the sheer affection he felt like she radiated with each touch. He felt like he was melting into her with each touch and his hands finally found their home on her waist; scarred fingers tickling up and under her tank top to make contact with the soft skin of her hips.

Ochako leaned forward and tickled the side of his face with her nose and mouth before leaning over toward his ear. "What's your favorite subject in school?" She whispered into his ear. The feel of her breath against his ear sent chills down his spine and gave him goose flesh. If she did that too many more times, he was going to get a little too excited.

"Maybe one of the sciences, biology? I don't mind world history though either; what's yours?" He whispered back to her, his fingers and hands moving from her hips to her back to trace along her spine.

Deku could feel Ochako's body tense slightly at his touch. She moved away from his ear and cupped his face, her eyes glimmering in the dark as she looked at him. "I like health, well I did at least until we started doing the sex ed stuff. That made it a little awkward…but before that I liked learning about the mind and the body and how it works."

One hand moved up along Ochako's spine and branched out to tickle over where her ribs flared against the skin; his other hand returning to her hip and gently caressing the skin there. He could still see the glimmer of her eyes in the darkness and could feel the soothing touch of her hands on his face.

"If you could pick your quirk, something different from what you have, what would it be?" He asked as he leaned ever so slightly forward and placed a baby soft kiss on her collarbone.

"Hmm…that's a tough one. I don't know that I'd ever really thought much about that. Maybe something like Ryukyu's quirk. She can basically turn into a dragon which is really cool…or maybe something like Koda's quirk; I think being able to talk to animals would be nice. What would you choose for yours?" Her hands smoothed through his hair, occasionally stopping to play with a few curlier locks.

What would I choose for mine? But…I did sort of choose this one, you just don't know the whole truth of it, he thought to himself with a stab of guilt. He needed to tell her about OFA. After the group work studies tomorrow, I'll tell her, I swear I'll let her know the whole truth then.

"I think I'd choose Eri's quirk or something like Eri's quirk. It's really powerful and super dangerous when left unchecked but it has such a huge capacity for good. I feel like you could be like Mr. Aizawa with her type of quirk—well, sort of. If Eri erases a quirk its gone for good unless she rewinds you back to a state of having it…and using that at will might be tough since her power is dependent on accumulated energy," Deku paused briefly as recalled the enormity of Eri's power and how it would've likely rewound him to a state of nothing if Aizawa hadn't intervened. "It's because of her that I was able to beat Overhaul; her rewind was the only thing that kept me from completely busting up my body and it was what allowed me to push past my limits again and again," he explained, as memories of that particular fight drifted back to him. Had Eri not lent him her power, that was a fight that he would've lost. He hated to think of what would have happened to the little girl if he had lost. Her quirk turned the tide of the entire fight.

Ochako suddenly leaned into his face, not in a kiss but so that their noses bumped. She rubbed her nose against his, eskimo kissing him. "Who's your favorite teacher?"

"Mr. Aizawa if we're talking about actual board-certified teachers, All Might if we're just talking about instructors; you?" Even in the darkness he knew that his cheeks must be red. Not red with embarrassment or shame but…with affection. She pulled a little away from him as he moved his arms to encircle her waist, drawing her into him.

"Present Mic—he's always so upbeat that I can't help but smile and his English is so good," she said softly.

"He does seem pretty peppy most of the time," Izuku murmured and leaned into Ochako's chest, his ear gently pressed against her breast, savoring the soft thump of her heart. "What's your favorite season?"

He could feel her hands in his hair again, gently stroking the back of his head. "Summer; I like the heat and all the festivals, not to mention the fireworks. What's yours?"

"Spring," he whispered, feeling as if he was being lulled to sleep by the consistent slow and steady beat of her heart. "It's rebirth; everything that died during the winter comes back no matter how hard the winter was."

"If you were quirkless, what would do you instead of hero work?" An innocent question but a question that had far greater meaning to him than Ochako could possibly know.

If I was quirkless…"If I was quirkless," he repeated quietly, his eyes open to tiny slits as he willed the anxiety associated with that question to subside and instead to be surrounded by the sound of Ochako's heart; the slow sounds of her breathing. "I'd find a way to give back…be a teacher or a doctor maybe. I think I'd make an okay teacher. I like kids and the thought of being able to teach kids like Eri or Kota makes me happy." And I know what it's like to be a kid that doesn't fit in and feels alone simply because you are different…I'd like to think that if I was a teacher, I might be able to support those kids a little better than my own teachers were able to do for me.

"I think you'd make a great teacher or a doctor! You're super smart so if you were a doctor I'm sure you'd be good at it, but you being a teacher makes a lot of sense. You're so patient," Ochako said cheerfully. Her hands moved from his hair to his neck and back, gently tracing along its lengths with the tips of her fingers.

"What would you do?" Izuku asked as he nuzzled closer into her chest. He felt like he was completely surrounded by her. All he could hear was the soft beating of her heart or the purr of her voice in her chest when she spoke; the smell of peonies and strawberries heavy in the air. She was everywhere and he hoped that after tonight his room would still carry her scent so that he could remember it fondly whenever he wanted to.

"I'm not sure…I guess maybe I'd be a volunteer or something, maybe a social worker. It's like we talked about earlier, I like helping other people; making people smile. Everyone should be able to find a reason to smile and be happy. Though, I like the stars too. Seeing the aurora with you was really nice and I've always enjoyed looking up at the night sky. Maybe I'd do something like astrology or something. Not sure how good I'd actually be at that, though. Would definitely have to get better at math." Ochako's hands moved up over Izuku's back and around his neck, her fingers lacing together there.

"I bet you'd be good at whatever you chose," Deku murmured softly as moved away from her chest and leaned back to look at her. He could make out enough of her face in the darkness to see that she was smiling. Not a broad, ear to ear grin, but rather a shy and gentle smile. You'd be good at anything you tried, he thought to himself as he brought a hand forward to run his fingers through her hair.

"When…when did you first realize that you liked me?" Ochako asked, her voice quiet and timid.

When did I first realize that I liked her? I think I liked her the moment I met her; well, I was just sort of awestruck the first time we met. I guess I was attracted to her from the beginning…but maybe…I think maybe I realized that I liked her as more than just a friend sometime after Ashido inadvertently flashed Ochako's stomach at me…maybe before that too; I just don't think I realized what it was until I that day. I think…I think I might've always liked her but just never knew what those feelings were or what they wanted to be until recently.

"I think I liked you from the moment I first met you. When you stopped me from falling at the UA entrance exam, when you saved me during the test, and then when you tried to give me some of your points…all of that made me like you. I knew I wanted to be your friend and I think I probably had some sort of crush on you but I don't think, I'm not really sure that I recognized those feelings in myself until Ashido pulled your shirt up in gym. I think they've always been there; I just wasn't ready to really see them until that happened," Izuku explained. He circled her jawline with his fingertips, savoring the softness of her skin. "When did you realize that you liked me?"

Ochako gave a nervous giggle. "Um…well, I think for me I knew what I was feeling a lot sooner than you did. There was one night sometime after we moved into the dorms that you were outside practicing and the girls were teasing me and I could see you through the window and I knew it then," she paused briefly to give a sigh before continuing. "I'd had a few times before that where I felt kind of…I don't know, upset about other people, er, girls, being close to you. I didn't understand that those feelings were jealousy until I realized that I like liked you. After that…I decided it'd be best to just bury those feelings, or put them away for now since they weren't helpful for me becoming a hero."

Deku listened, feeling surprised at her honest admission. She'd known she had romantic feelings for him far longer than he'd been aware of his feelings for her and yet, she'd contemplated suppressing them. Emotional suppression was never a recipe for anything other than creating inner emotional trauma. Knowing her though, it made sense that she'd be inclined to block such feelings if she found them to be distracting or worrisome. I'm glad that you didn't keep suppressing them, he thought to himself.

"I'm glad that you didn't keep ignoring them and that I was able to acknowledge my own. I know we've got a lot of school left and a long way to go before we become heroes or are even considered grownups and who knows how many more world ending battles we'll have to face…but I'm glad that we were able to come together despite everything."

"Me too," she whispered and leaned forward to gently kiss him. "Ready to go to sleep?"

"Yeah," Deku said softly, his heart light as a feather and full of love.

F/N: I watched a 2024 version of Salem's Lot—if you don't know it, it's a book by Stephen King about vampires and is REALLY fucking good—and omfg, I DESPISED that piece of trash movie. Good lord it was awful! They made the strangest alterations to major plot points. Like what they did with Susan—she's like the primary female lead—was just stupid. The way things go down with her in the book make is SO much more tense, but no, they decided to make super stupid changes to what was a really scary and good story. Not to mention they made the big vampire like all Nosferatu looking and fugly and as I recall, the lead vampire looked normal while also being like super eerily pretty. I just hated it. Do yourselves a favor, and just go read the book. And adaptation of his book has been utter shit. The only changes that I felt like they made were good was that they made one of the main characters female that had originally been male and they added in some diversity to what was in it's canon material, all white. But that's it; I hated every other aspect of it.