Disclaimer: This is purely a fan work and I own nothing

Midoriya took a flying leap over the canopy of the trees; it had not been his idea to go out to the forest to train his Full Cowl in the wooded area near UA, but beggars can't be choosers, he had figured.

He had adapted his fighting style to leaping and kicking, using the spread of power across his whole body to vary what he could do. Even while not nearly as powerful as All Might, being able to have this much control over One for All, to be able to hang with the others...it filled him with happiness. It finally felt like he was getting somewhere, one step closer to being a hero.

But he still needed to work on certain aspects, hone his skills. Which is why during lunch, he broke away from Uraraka and Iida, taking a seat next to two of his other friends, Tokoyami and Tsuyu. They both looked up from their meals, surprised to see him walk over. He smiled at them nervously; he did tend to keep to Uraraka and Iida most of the time. Still, they both returned his awkward yet friendly gesture with smiles of their own.

"Greetings, Midoriya," Tokoyami said, returning to his bento, picking over the bits of what was left.

"Hey Midoriya, what's up?" Tsuyu asked.

He sat down next to Tsuyu, and rubbed the back of his neck, nervously, "Hey, guys. Not much. I was actually just wondering if you were free after class tonight, Tsuyu." Even if it was just to train, asking a girl to hang out after class made his heart race and his eyes widen.

He didn't notice Tokoyami freeze up at the question, smirking to himself momentarily before digging back in, finishing his meal. "If you'll excuse me, I believe I have somewhere to be."

The bird-like boy grabbed his bag and empty container before heading out of the cafeteria. No one can say I'm not a good wingman, he thought to himself.

Midoriya had been so awkward asking a favor of her, he didn't notice how red Tsuyu had turned. "S-sure Midoriya. Why?"

He also hadn't noticed that she was so flustered, he didn't get the usual, "I told you to call me Tsu," response, but, he looked up at her, with a sheepish grin, and admitted, "I was hoping you could help me work on my jumping."

Tsuyu sighed, but laughed a little. Definitely not what she had been hoping for, but hey, she'll take it, she figured. "Your jumping?"

He gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah. I've gotten good at not breaking myself every time I attack, but..."

"You do tend to over or under jump a lot during class training and have been known to hit buildings fairly often," Tsuyu, interrupted, with her trademark brutal honesty, "though you do look cool when you kick off of them."

It was Midoriya's turn to blush and look at the table. "Heh...I'm glad you think I look cool, but yeah...not my intent. So, you'll help me? No one has jumps like you Tsuyu, your frog powers are amazing!"

He looked up at her, and she blushed again as his eyes shone with excitement, like they always did when he talked about quirks. Tsuyu had to catch herself before she gave in to staring into his vibrant green eyes. They reminded her of...

She twitched her mouth into a faint smile, and replied, "Okay, I'll help you. Meet me at the forest bridge at the eastern entrance of campus. Wear your gym clothes. Oh, and one condition."

"Sure, anything."

"Call me Tsu."

Which leads us to the present: Tsuyu had challenged Midoriya to follow her through the woods, using ONLY jumps. He had met her outside of the forest in his gym clothes, as promised, surprised at her idea of an obstacle course, but he eagerly accepted.

At first he thought it would be easy enough: Tsuyu took long jumps through a forest path, and Midoriya was able to keep up. Then, as the trees began to thicken, and Tsuyu took an unexpected right hop into a thicket of greenery.

"Huh?! What?!" Midoriya yelled as he sailed over the spot where she had made the 90 degree turn. He rolled forward a good twenty feet past where she went, and turned to take another step back towards where she had vanished. From the trees, a prehensile tongue smacked him lightly on the back of the head.

"Jumps only!" Tsuyu croaked, from amongst the trees, "Kero! No cheating!"

He smirked, embarrassed. During combat, he was full of adrenaline and always seemed to leap just right. But outside of it, he was still the same, clumsy Deku. He saw her figure zoom into the woods, hence why he made a big leap over the canopy, to get a better view. He saw her figure in the distance - man, she was fast - and as he landed into a crouch, he sprung forward a distance, kicking off a tree, following the sound of crunching leaves and twigs. Finally, he emerged onto another path, seeing her make another immediate right turn with a jump. He landed more precisely, stopping right where she turned, but fell onto his face against the dirt and wood chips.

"Smooth landing, Midoriya!" Tsuyu laughed, croaking a little.

Midoriya laughed as he sprang to his feet and brushed himself off. "Guess that's why we're here."

"Try and keep up! Kero!" Tsuyu challenged, turning and then leaping back and forth between a row of trees, kicking off each one to zig-zag deeper into the forest.

Midoriya's eyes widened. He didn't realize Tsuyu could use her jumps like this! She was practically a parkour master. Instinctively, he wanted to grab his notebook, before realizing he'd left it back in his dorm. I'm slipping up!

He watched her form and did his best to copy her kicking off a tree, and then kicking off the adjacent one with his opposite foot, going back and forth until he was right behind her.

"Almost got you, Tsu!" He exclaimed, laughing.

"Not quite, Midoriya!" She ribbited, kicking off a tree and up and over the canopy of leaves.

'Whoa, what?" He replied, pausing on the side of tree to angle his trajectory, and launched himself up and over the woods for a second time.

For a moment, before gravity took a hold of him, he marveled at the nature around him. The trees, the ever stretching green landscape that surrounded him; it reminded him of camping trips and s'mores, simpler days from times gone by. Cutting through the forest was a stream, giving some blue in the midst of rustling forest leaves.

Wait a minute.

He was heading right for the -

SPLASH!

Fully submerged, he swam up to the surface, only to see Tsuyu waiting for him on the river bank, looking rather pleased with herself.

"I see you made it to the finish line!" She said, a bit of a teasing tone in her voice.

He swam over to the shore and shook his hair out a bit. "I can see why you made me wear my gym clothes," he replied. "So how'd I do?"

"Not too bad," she replied, laying out on the grass and looking up at the sky. "I figured a race would help you learn how hard to jump and to change paths on the fly. You goofed up here and there, but it was pretty good for someone inexperienced."

Midoriya laid down next to her and let out a deep sigh. "Yeah...yeah, I think this helped a lot! Thanks Tsuy - " He caught himself, "Tsu. It was really nice of you to take time out of your day to do this."

"You would do it for me," she replied as her gaze fell upon the clouds.

"Of course," Midoriya smiled, "But you have such awesome control of your powers. I don't think there's anything I could do to help you."

"That's not what I mean," Tsu answered, looking over to him, a pink tinge rising to her cheeks. He turned to her with a raised eyebrow, so she elaborated, "You go out of your way for everyone, Midoriya. If anyone in our class is a hero, it's you."

He turned bright red and averted his gaze. "Aw come on, Tsu, I think you're giving me too much credit."

"Remember when we got trapped in the shipwreck zone?" She replied, shaking her head, "You and I had never really talked before that day. But you jumped right in front of me to save me from those villains. You pushed Todoroki to be the best hero he could be, even if it cost you a win at the Sports Festival. And you risked yourself to save Bakugo, even if, well, to be frank, he's kind of a jerk."

Midoriya laughed at the last remark, "Kacchan has always been like that. But I think you're overestimating me, Tsu. I remember in shipwreck zone. You saved me first from the shark guy. And then when Shigaraki was after you, you could have gotten away, easily. But you tried to save me from Nomu instead. You're just as much of a hero as anyone. Maybe more. I admire that about you."

"Kero?" She croaked.

He looked back at the sky. "I don't know what made you want to be a hero, Tsuyu, but you're really good at it," he turned to her, eyes drooping as he began to relax. "You have awesome powers and you're always there to help. Even when you don't mince your words, you do it to be encouraging and with the intention of helping."

He opened his eyes to see she was staring back into the sky, her face now a crimson color. She looked a little uncomfortable. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

She turned to him again, a lock of her green hair falling between her eyes. In his sleepy haze, Midoriya turned and reached over to push it out of her face with his thumb. His eyes shot open as he realized that he had done this, lurching his hand back and resting it between the two of them on the grass, both of them blushing heavily now.

"Midoriya," Tsuyu began, "I don't mince my words, but this is hard to say."

"I-I'm sorry Tsu, whatever it was I didn't mean to-"

"Stop and listen." She interrupted, and Deku hushed himself.

"I like you." Tsuyu said, averting her eyes once more, "A lot. Probably beginning when I saw you sacrifice your fingers in that plan to save Mineta and I from the villains in shipwreck zone."

Midoriya pursed his lips and looked away. He was shocked, he would have never thought Asui Tsuyu would feel this way. Not just because she was hard to read, he was used to being plain old Deku.

"You are resourceful, thoughtful, and kind." Tsuyu added, "You are an exceptional beast. And also, you have great hair."

The remark cut the tension in the air and Midoriya found himself chuckling at the compliment. "Th-thanks Tsu."

Looking down, Tsuyu hesitantly placed her hand on top of his. "I want to...spend more time with you like this." She added, pausing before saying, "not, you know, the training. I mean we can do that too. But I mean...like...this."

Looking at her, in his panicked and nervous state, Midoriya calmed down seeing that Tsuyu, usually the calm and collected type, was just as nervous and red-in-the-face as he was. This helped him center himself, realizing this was just as nerve-wracking for her. The thought made him smile.

She's really cute. And I always feel like I can count on her when we're together... he thought.

It was true, he had never really stopped to think of her that way before, but...

I...want to spend more time with her too, he realized.

"Do you want to..." he gulped, steeling his resolve. You can do this Deku! PLUS ULTRA! "Want to go get something to eat?"

She looked at him and smiled. The sight took his breath away, momentarily. "Can we go shower and change first? We smell like river water." She asked.

He laughed. "Sure thing, Tsu."

He helped her to her feet, and before he could blink, she leapt over him and into the trees.

"Race you back to the dorms, kero!" He heard her call.

Midoriya Izuku smiled to himself before giving chase. Yes, asking Asui Tsuyu for help was definitely one of his better ideas.