The sharp twang of antiseptic and floor cleaner wafted heavy in the halls; an uncomfortably familiar scent of late. She strode purposefully forward, counting the room numbers, her feet carrying her to the place her mind already was. Room 333. It was a room that she knew by heart, one that she had spent quiet hours examining, when she wasn't examining the unconscious form of her friend.

Was that room 341? Whoops.

She spun on her heel and marched back to room 333. Deku's room.

Her hand was already on the door handle before she was able to get a grip on her muscle memory. This wasn't like the other times. This time he was awake! She pulled her hand away and smoothed the front of her skirt. It was just Deku. She'd been waiting for what felt like ages for him to wake up so she could see he was okay. And so she could tell him what an idiot he'd been.

Her enthusiastic knock echoed down the hall, making her wince. The motion deepened further when Deku's muffled, "Come in!" was loud and surprised. With the courage instilled by a long deep breath, she pulled open the door and stepped through.

The evening sun shone orange through the large window opposite the door, its light adding color to Deku's still-pallid features. His mop of tangled hair was still its usual mess, but the back had been flattened by his extended rest. His dark freckles stood out even more than usual across his nose as it wrinkled up into a welcoming smile.

"Uraraka?" he said, his voice surprised and...nervous? "You're the second person to come visit. I only woke up this morning."

"I was already on my way," her treacherous mouth divulged before she had the chance to moderate herself. He didn't exactly need to know she'd been here almost every day. She didn't want their time together to be any more awkward than it was already going to be. She grabbed a nearby chair with practiced ease and pulled it up to the edge of his bed and dropped down into it.

"Thanks for coming," he said, leaning back against the raised back of the bed with a tired sigh. "It's never much fun to have to just sit in here by yourself."

She had to bite her tongue against the sharp retort that was trying desperately to escape. She knew full well how depressing sitting in a silent hospital room could be.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay," she replied instead. There was safety in the norms of expected conversation. No awkward questions, no angry rants, which meant no guilt when his big sad eyes inevitably followed.

She didn't know what his Quirk really was, but she was beginning to think its sole ability was to upend her expectations. Instead of the cheery smile and reassurance that was meant to follow in their well-rehearsed script, he ducked his head, his messy fringe shadowing his eyes.

As though the moment had never happened, the smile returned as bright and beaming as ever.

"I'll be fine," he said, lifting one arm to flex for reassurance. She saw the wince in his eyes and watched the smile grow wider. "It'll just take a little bit, but I'll be back to it in no t-time-"

His words stuttered to a halt as she stood from her chair and leaned forward, one arm propping her up on the bed. She held a single finger out, and gently rested it on his pale cheek, just next to the edge of his frozen grin.

"Don't show me that," she murmured, feeling her own pleasant smile leak away from the corners of her mouth. "You don't have to be a hero in here."

What little blood he had left colored his cheeks, bringing them momentarily back to their usual healthy hue. Any other day she would've been thrilled. Or terrified. She wasn't sure which. The smile fell away from his face like the foundation of a building. Bits and pieces of it seemed to drop away, eventually taking with it the entire facade, leaving behind nothing but the broken and battered remnants that sat in bed in front of her.

"Why are you pushing yourself so hard?" she asked; a question she had decided to save for another day. She frowned. She'd promised herself she'd have more control than this. He didn't need to worry about her hangups while he was busy healing from almost...almost…

"Uraraka…"

She lowered herself back into the chair, and adopted the most unflappable stern gaze she could manage. She hoped she didn't look ridiculous.

His nervous gulp sent thrills of satisfaction running down her spine.

He shrugged, a motion that clearly disagreed with him. He let out another deep sigh that seemed to come from his bones. "I just...there were so many people there. I had to stop it."

"But you could have waited!" she countered, fear mixing with her volatile anger. "Pros who were better suited to fighting an absorption type came only minutes after you'd...after you'd beaten it. Pushing yourself so hard to fight against type almost got you k-killed!"

He nodded, but she could still see the defiant spark in his eye. "But what if someone else had gotten hurt because I didn't give it my all?"

Her legs pushed her from her chair and her hands grabbed the sheets, bunching them up beneath her tight grip. Her eyes trapped him motionless in the bed, and her heart spoke for her.

"I would rather someone else be hurt than for you to be dead!" She allowed her anger to evaporate the fear-filled tears that threatened to fall.

"But...I'm a hero," he whispered, almost so quiet as to be only for himself. "Our agency is down two heroes, and the people in our area need me more than ever."

"I-" she cut herself off before she could continue, and redirected her words. "How many people do you think you can save during your career as a hero? If you achieve your dream of becoming the next symbol of peace, how many do you think that'll be?"

"I don't know," he answered, his gaze dropping to the thin sheets covering his lower half. "Hopefully a lot."

"The answer is none if you get yourself killed." She raised a hand to poke him in the chest to make her point, but thought better of it, a flash of his bloody chest after the battle surfacing in her mind.

To her surprise, Deku grinned awkwardly up at her. "My mom said pretty much the same thing. Though with a lot more crying."

She felt her anger deflate a little at the genuine smile he leveled at her, the one that made his eyes sparkle and her heart reciprocate.

She quickly returned to her seat and busied herselfsmoothing the front of her skirt. She'd known it'd be pointless to try and stay angry at him. She never could. But that didn't mean he didn't need to be more careful.

"It sounds like your mom cares about you a lot," she said, shifting tactics. She'd never get anywhere appealing to his definition of a hero. "A lot of people do. The whole class asked me to pass along their well-wishes."

"I'm surprised it wasn't Yaoyarozu or Iida," he said, a thoughtful set to his face. "Since they're the class reps."

She didn't hear him over the cloud that had settled over her heart. Just hearing her name from his lips brought back the raw painful betrayal. She could still see his wide surprised eyes as he pulled back from their kiss at Yaomomo's party. She'd been nervous, hopeful, but unbelievably nervous. Then she'd been crushed when he had abruptly turned and sprinted away.

She'd hid for a while after that, avoiding the rest of her classmates that were caught up in the festivities. Yaomomo's mammoth home had plenty of spare rooms for someone to hide in.

She'd emerged a little later to find Deku and Yaomomo sitting on a loveseat, side-by-side, Deku hanging onto the wealthy girl's every word.

She'd fled.

Nothing had really changed after that. She'd made the decision to treat Deku as normally as she could manage. She'd been the one to cross that distance anyway, it hadn't been his fault he wasn't interested. She didn't want to lose one of her good friends, and if that meant she needed to bury all the hurt...she could do that.

But seeing him throw himself into danger against Overhaul had uncovered her unresolved feelings as she lay bleeding on the ground, unable to help someone she cared so much about. As she lay on Yaomomo's lap, getting patched up by bandages she produced from her arm, she couldn't help the burst of overwhelming pity that flooded her, and she began to cry until the pain in her side pushed her into unconsciousness. She'd woken up to find Deku surprisingly whole, allowing her to resume her pretense of simple, unassuming friendship.

Until she'd seen him bleeding on the destroyed pavement, a beaten nomu laying just yards from his battered body.

"Uraraka?" His concerned voice pierced the haze of memory, and she found tears dripping from the end of her chin. She quickly wiped them away and tried her own version of the hero's smile.

"I'm okay. I was just...we were just worried about you. I'm sure Yaomomo would come visit you if you wanted her to. I can ask for you if you would like."

"I…" he began and blew a heavy breath out through his lips. Lips that had been so soft and tender, where the rest of him was so calloused and firm.

She shook her head to dispel the thoughts. This was her problem, not his. He had enough to worry about.

"I'm glad it's you that came," he murmured, turning his embarrassed gaze out the window to the fading light. She could see the way his jaw jutted forward a little, the way it always did when he'd made up his mind about something.

"I'm sure Yaomomo would-" she tried again, her voice ignoring the screams of protest from her heart.

"Why did you disappear?" he blurted, his scarred hands fiddling with the edge of the blanket around his waist.

"Why did I...what?"

"At the party," he clarified, his gaze still avoiding her own wide-eyed one. "After...uh...well, you disappeared. I didn't see you at all again that night, and then you acted like it never happened." He grinned sheepishly at her and her heart did a flip in her chest. "My mom told me it was good to live your life so you don't have any regrets, but that I should probably try harder to make sure it lasts a bit longer."

"R-regrets?" she echoed, screaming internally at her inability to do anything more than stutter uselessly.

"The uh…" he tried, the color again returning to his face as he blushed. His freckles stood out adorably against his flushed skin. "The k-kiss."

"Oh, that!" she almost shouted, and immediately wished she could curl up on the spot and vanish. "You...you ran away, Deku. And then you were sitting up close with Yaomomo. I figured it had been a mistake."

He blinked at her for a maddening moment without saying anything.

"My stuff is in that cabinet," he said finally, gesturing to the wall opposite his bed. "Will you open it for me?"

"What's that got to do with-?"

"Please?" he interrupted. Those big damn eyes were impossible to refuse.

She stepped quickly over to the cabinet and pulled it open. His hero clothes rested inside in a pile at the bottom. On one of the shelves sat some normal clothes with a perfectly folded pair of All-Might boxers resting on top. She couldn't help the giggle that escaped.

"It's on the top shelf!" he said frantically from the bed.

She reached up and grabbed the small item.

"Your hero notebook?"

Deku nodded and beckoned her back to her chair.

"It's just my notebook really. I like to take notes about things I'm interested in so I don't forget."

She nodded as she sat. She'd seen him muttering to himself and writing details about various heroes down often enough.

"Turn to the back half," he said, his voice cracking as he spoke.

She dutifully skimmed by the detailed notes and sketches of various heroes and villains until she started to find blank pages. She slowed, flipping page by page until she began to see writing again. She felt him shift on the bed, but couldn't tear her eyes away from the page in front of her.

Resting at the top of the page in his tight, efficient handwriting was; Ururaka Ochako: Likes and Dislikes. What followed were two columns on either side with a detailed and startlingly accurate collection of notes.

"I'm sorry if it seems weird," he said. "I just didn't want to do something you didn't like. And after we kissed I thought that meant we were going out so I freaked out and went to get my book and you were gone so I went to ask Yaoyorozu about the list to see if it was right or if I had messed up…" he took in a deep labored breath and began to cough. "Sorry."

She made a show of scanning the list, buying time to try to quell the incessant hammering of her heart. "I notice you've missed something."

"What?" he asked, leaning forward to look at the list.

"Your own name," she said squinting her eyes at him for effect. More pleasant chills as he gulped.

"Where...er...where would it go?"

Her finger hovered over the words 'likes' and 'dislikes for a moment. There was a small amount of perverse pleasure to be had by the almost palpable tension he radiated. But...it wasn't his fault she misunderstood. She should've known he was flighty...and weird. But he could've been a little more considerate too.

"Somewhere in the middle right now," she said with a small smile, dropping her finger on the line between the two columns.

His face fell, but before she could reassure him, the door to the room swung open.

"Oh, Izuku!" a voice called out. "I've got-"

Ururaka spun in her chair to see a short middle-aged woman with familiar messy hair, though it was quite a bit longer than Deku's.

"M-mom!" Deku said, quickly reaching over and slamming his notebook shut. "This-this is-"

"Oh!" his mother said, her eyes growing comically wide. "Is this your girlfriend?" She began to tear up. "I knew it wouldn't be long before someone caught your eye at that school!"

"She's not-"

"Yes, I am." Uraraka said, beaming over at Deku's astonished expression. His mouth hung open for a moment, before a wide, true grin slowly overtook his surprise. "It's nice to finally meet you Mrs. Midoriya."