A/N: Happy New Year everyone~! I hope you'll enjoy this fic. This is fluff, *laughs* but seriously. It is. Or so I think. Anyway, enjoy this fic~!

Also Belated happy birthday for my dear Ochako. :]

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia.

...

When Deku became the symbol of peace, apparently 'workaholic' is an understatement.

"I have to work, Ochako." Izuku declared with desperation as if the act of working himself to death was the only reason for his breathing.

Deku was struggling to get out of bed. The gravity hero stopped him before he could move his legs—which he couldn't, but still, he insist. The gesture hurt Ochako more than she thought it would. She hated hospitals as much as he does, but she couldn't idly stand by and just watch him kill himself.

Ochako pulled the wheelchair away from him. "Stop it. You're going to hurt yourself."

He had pain, plenty of it. But Izuku shook his head. "I need to go back to the agency. Or at least, look through the files while I'm sitting here. Can you please get the files for me?"

Ochako took a moment, her lips pressed into a thin line. His face was bruised and bandaged. Yet despite his injuries, the moment his mother left him, Izuku insisted to his best friend he couldn't rest. Ochako wouldn't let him discharge early no matter what he said though. She'd seen him worse but this was definitely in the top ten.

"Deku, I know you want to help. I know how much this means to you, really," Ochako gestured towards his body. "But look at you."

Izuku did as he was told. Both of his legs were in a cast. His right shoulder was fixed into place. Bandages covered his whole torso hiding the new stitches on his skin underneath.

"Don't worry about Shigiraki." She said. "We'll investigate the new conspiracy he was pulling."

It was raining outside. Harsh wind battering against the window's glass, the rain turning the frigid temperature of Izuku's room up a notch. Even though the world was almost seeming to lull him back to sleep, it didn't aid to ease the impatience of his desire to go back to the job he left behind.

His jaw clenched. Besides the thin river of pain and drugged fatigue, frustration simmers atop everything. The new symbol of peace had been battered, but he wasn't defeated.

"I can't just let you tackle this alone." Izuku insists; almost close to pleading, but she only shook her head.

"I'm not alone." Gently, Ochako brushed the hair back from Deku's bandaged forehead. "Shoto will extend a helping hand. We're just tying loose ends after all. It'll be fine."

Deku fell silent at that, still, frustration had him clenching his blankets with his fists. She stood there watching him, aching inside.

Ochako could still remember that messy fight—could still picture Izuku straddling GripPoison, one of Shigiraki's ally, and methodically pumping a fist into the villain's face until Deku breaks his shoulder. When GripPoison was finally out of commission, both of Deku's legs were broken. The police took the villain away, and everything was alright again. The new symbol of peace was finally relieved and eventually ran out of steam.

She was Deku's partner for pete's sake. Around that time, they had to fight different battles at the same time. GripPoison was stronger than Uravity's opponent. Helping Deku recover was the least she could do.

But for some reason, for once, Deku was being uncharacteristically stubborn. He didn't want to sleep or stay in the hospital these days and she didn't know what to do.

Ochako sat in the chair beside his bed quietly, not knowing how to help him anymore.

Izuku looked at his best friend to insist his proposition once again. His eyes met hers, then widens. She doesn't say anything but it was in her eyes; the way it glinted, her russet eyes were glacial and devastated.

His throat burned. Izuku saw that familiar look before. He always saw that same pain reflecting on his mother's eyes. His jaw clenched. Ochako and Deku promised that there would be no secrets between, they kept that oath for years and yet, he didn't tell her about his nightmares.

It was unfair to continue to seek refuge by her side yet not tell her everything.

Deku was quiet for a whole minute before his hand reaches out to scratch the back of his neck sheepishly. Ochako knew that nervous gesture. Her curiosity burns on his sudden change of mood but she waited for him to talk patiently and didn't say anything.

"Ochako, the truth is . . . I. . ." She was hanging to his every word. Beyond anxious, Izuku's restless fingers fall back to his lap and began playing with his blanket. "I'm afraid that if I lay here longer without doing anything. . ." His voice trails off and she almost couldn't hear what he said, and when she does her heart breaks.

"I feel like I'll slowly go insane."

He couldn't look at her after that admission.

Ochako's eyes softened. "Deku. . ."

"Sometimes, I have this dream. . ." Heartsick, bitter taste filled his mouth as he remembered. "It was dark yet I saw glacial glares with different colors, hands in different sizes and all drenched in blood, reaching out yet I couldn't move."

Izuku lifted a hand to his bruised cheek. Then lifted both to cover his face in shame.

"It was painful." He murmurs in his hands.

Undone, Ochako stands and wrapped her arms around him and cradled him against her chest. The hug was tight but careful enough not to hurt Deku. The gesture surprised and flustered Izuku yet he clutched the back of her sweater for support and tells himself not to cry.

She didn't know the burden of being the symbol of peace was this heavy. She bit the inside of her cheek. It must be her fault, for making him feel so alone, for being so incompetent. It wasn't the time to feel sorry for herself, however. She ran her fingers through his hair and laid a comforting kiss on his temple, willing herself not to cry as well.

"I won't tell you to do your best because I know you already are." Ochako mumbled against his hair.

Izuku nodded gratefully, a lump starting to form in his throat. Ochako had stayed beside him all night the day he was admitted to the hospital. He knew because when he was unconscious with dreamy distant pain accompanying him in the dark, panic overwhelmed his whole being when he realized he didn't know if he was sitting or lying down . . . or if he was already dead.

Deku heard Ochako talking to him, and felt a hand brushed his hair and he knew he was alive.

His lips curved as he remembered.

"I wanted to thank you. For staying with me the first night. If you were not t-there. . ." He bit his lower lip as he fought to pull his raw emotion back in line.

"It's okay. I didn't do much."

"Yes, you did. I heard your voice and I knew I was still alive." He pulled away to look at her face to express how serious he was. "Thank you for always being there to lift me up."

"Literally or metaphorically?" Ochako asked with a snicker.

Izuku chuckles timidly as well. "I'll say both since you're the one who carried me here."

She giggles at that, remembering the way she carried him to the hospital. Ochako wouldn't say she couldn't forget that image of him though. Deku was sprawled on the ground when she found him, covered with his own blood, his chest heaving only just slightly as if he wouldn't take his next breath.

Ochako wouldn't tell Izuku many tears she shed. How she couldn't sleep until he regains consciousness. How regrets hit her hard when she realized all the words that she saved in her heart that she left unspoken will forever remain unheard.

Above all, she realized how scared she was of losing him.

He wouldn't know and she would like that to stay that way.

Ochako lifted a hand and touched Deku's cheek. "Better now?"

"I feel better now, thank you." A smile appears on his face and Izuku laid his hand atop hers, grateful for the comforting gesture.

Her lips curve as well. "That's a relief."

"I can't say a hundred percent though." Deku reluctantly admitted with a sheepish shrug. "I still want to do something. Can I just read the report this afternoon?"

Ochako's brows furrowed, a beginning of a pout on her lips. He scrambles to explain better. "I'm sorry! It's paranoia. I know I'm being childish but—" He releases a long weary sigh. "I'm really sorry. I can't help it."

"It's okay." Ochako can relate after all. She was having the same nightmares. "Why don't you think of something else?"

Upon her suggestion, Izuku's shoulders slumped.

"I don't know. . ."

"Do you want me to help you?" It's the least she can do. She was not permitting him to work while staying in the hospital, to begin with.

"It's fine. I don't think I can think of something else. The only thing I can think about was the villains—"

She leaned over and kissed him.

The kiss was brief and innocent, her lips were just slightly pressing against his. She pulled away before he could even realize what was happening.

Speechless, Izuku only gape at her.

"Distracted yet?" Ochako asked, her chocolate-brown eyes burning with mirth.

He still couldn't say anything, his mind failing to process what just happened.

Ochako kissed Deku again before he could recuperate. Her lips touched his once again and when it slowly sinks in, he flushed, the tips of his ears turning red. Her lips were soft, and he could smell her hair, her skin and the faded scent of her sweet cologne. Before he could even close his eyes though, she was already pulling away.

She opened her eyes and met his.

"Do you understand now?" Ochako mumbles playfully, contrasting the seriousness in her eyes.

His heart was doing a solo drum special. Izuku blinks a couple of times before he could find his voice. "Ochako—"

She interrupted him with another soft kiss. This time, however, it wasn't as brief and he wasn't as surprised. His eyes fluttered close upon their lip's contact.

It was vivid, mesmerizing. Izuku could sense only her, the way she smelled and tasted and felt. Her hands caress his cheek and his hand fluttered to her hair, running his fingers through that silky brown tresses. Deku moved his lips against hers out of instinct, wanting to know what she tastes like. She moved along with him, deepening the kiss in the process and his heart missed a dozen of beats.

Ochako leaned her forehead against his, both of their eyes close, their breaths intermingling. She murmured a soft sigh against his lips and his mouth went dry.

Before Deku could even think of closing the gap between them Ochako pulled away abruptly.

"I bet y-you're wondering what that was," Ochako began, her voice uncharacteristically loud. She released a comical haughty scoff nervously, looking anywhere but him.

Izuku can only stare, his heart still thundering in his ears.

"I just stole three of your first kisses!" Ochako blurted out, her smug smile twitching but it remains on her face even though she's red in the face as he was.

"I'm a villain. Think of me." She whispers, and after that announcement fled out of the room, her face in a deep shade of red.

Izuku didn't know what just happened but there's no way he could think of anything else besides her at all after that.