— Epilogue: Chapter three —

Infinite as the Universe

Today was December the twenty-seventh – not a particularly cold day for this time of year, slightly cloudy and, altogether, nothing too special or impressive.

It was but an ordinary Wednesday to most people. The memory of Christmas still fresh in everybody's mind and the ghost of Christmas past still lingered in many households.

But to two people in particular, it was so much more than that.

To Ochaco Uraraka, for example, today's day marked the beginning of her twenty-fifth year on this earth.

She had spent a lovely day with her friends and family, celebrating, eating cake, laughing and talking – it couldn't have been better, especially since her boyfriend had taken her on a little walk to their favorite beach in the evening, supposedly to recover from all the excitement that had occurred over the day.

To Izuku Midoriya, today was a special day as well. Not just because it was his girlfriend's birthday and he had been quite busy planning, organizing and baking.

No, he had something a little more in mind.

Sadly, that meant that he was far from calm and relaxed as he and Ochaco gazed into sunset, the couple standing under a small pavilion at the end of a wooden pier that was built a few paces into the ocean.

"I really love this place. Even in winter, the view never ceases to amaze me."

Ochaco's soft words ripped Izuku out of his frantic thoughts, calming him somewhat, but not nearly enough, in his opinion.

Luckily, the young woman was so captivated by the colorful play of red, orange, blue and black, that she didn't realize her boyfriend's tense state or his lack of response.

"O-Ochaco?" he began after a while. This was it. It was now or never.

Well… it wasn't, really, but Izuku knew that he performed better under pressure, so he tried to depict the situation a bit more urgent than it actually was.

"I-I have another… present for you, and I think now… now would be a good time to give it to you."

"Really? You shouldn't have, Izuku! Today was wonderful enough. But I guess… you already went through the trouble, huh?" Ochaco wore her usual beautifully innocent smile as she focused her attention on him.

God, how he loved her smile. How he loved her.

He checked for the last time that they were alone on the pier, for this moment was supposed to be reserved for nobody but them, and then with a wobbly smile and a nervous exhale, her reached into his pocket and pulled out…

"Uhh… it's your multi-tool? That's… that's really sweet, Deku, but didn't Tenya gift it to you?" one of Ochaco's brows lifted in confusion as she saw her boyfriend holding the small silver instrument close to his body.

Little did she know that the multi-tool had undergone some refitting while it was in Europe.

Thanks to a bald German guy who knew his way around metal, it now hid a small compartment.

A compartment that quietly snapped open as Izuku activated a mechanism with trembling fingers, revealing…

A delicate silver ring adorned with a small, light pink diamond.

Izuku went down on one knee, finally managing to look into his lover's eyes again, his self-conscious expression turning into one of determination.

"Ohmy… i-is that…? It is, isn't it?" Ochaco gasped tears welling up in her eyes "I can't believe… oh god, that's really… I-I should probably shut up before I ruin the whole… ohmygod!"

She had clasped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from blabbing, her usually soft brown eyes darting franticly between her boyfriends face and the beautiful little piece of jewelry he held in his hand.

It somewhat reassured Izuku that Ochaco was just as jittery as he was by now.

And then he started to speak, although the little speech he had prepared in his mind was long forgotten.

"Ochaco… you've… you've been the first person to ever show me what kindness, friendship and love truly meant, and… the last seven years we spent together were the best of my life. You have been in the center of my mind… in the center of my life for so long… that I can't even remember how I managed to do… anything without you by my side. I now realize that I long lost myself, especially my heart, to you. W-what I want to say is… I am yours forever… and with this I hope… I hope that maybe you will be mine, too?"

Izuku finished, and not a minute too early, because he could literally feel how short his voice was of leaving him for good.

All he could do now was to look at the love of his life with anxious eyes.

Big droplets of tears were rolling over Ochaco's face, vanishing behind the hands she still had clasped in front of her mouth.

"Izuku…" she finally choked out, breathless.

After a moment, the brunette started to wipe at her cheeks with the mix of a giggle and a sniffle.

"I-I… Izuku I have to confess something to you… a-and I'm not quite sure how to say it, but…"

She giggled again, before she reached into her parka and pulled out a small, black box.

Ochaco looked at the object in her hand with a slight smile, before her eyes wandered to Izuku, her smile only getting bigger, streams of tears still rolling down her blushing cheeks.

She opened the box and tilted it a little, so that Izuku could see its content from his lower position.

It was a ring, too.

Stainless steel, from the looks of it, with a delicate band of green jade embedded in it. It was beautiful.

"Huh." Was all that Izuku managed to say, completely flabbergasted.

"I-I have been thinking about… marriage for a while now, and I wasn't sure if we should talk about it beforehand… I mean, we talked about it, but, like talk talk. With actual planning and all that? But I thought, it would maybe… I don't know… break the spell a little? So I decided I would just ask you. It's not like it's nineteen fifty anymore, right? And now you just went and…" she laughed lightly "you just really caught me off guard, Deku."

A short period of silence passed, where Ochaco seemed to muse over everything that has happened, looking at the box in her hands, while Izuku uncomfortably shifted in his position.

"…So?" his question was more of a squeak, but it was enough to snap the brunette Heroine out of her trance.

"O-oh. OH! I never answered! Izuku, yes! YES! A thousand times yes! I'm so, SO sorry!" she quickly snapped her box shut and tackled her lover to the ground in a tight embrace.

"Of course I'll be yours! I have been for a long time! A-and when I said that you caught me off guard, I didn't mean it in a bad way! Your proposal was beautiful! Gosh, I didn't ruin it by going all dumb, did I?"

He returned her hug, cautious not to lose his grip on the silver ring in his hand while doing so.

"No…" he murmured, the feeling of endless euphoria slowly setting in "you said yes, so… you didn't ruin anything."

They basked in each other's presence for a while, their foreheads touching, their hands sharing soft caresses – both not caring about anything but each other.

Izuku then gave Ochaco a soft nudge - a silent sign. She leaned back until she was upright again, still straddling her… fiancé, who supported himself on one elbow.

With slightly trembling fingers, the green haired man reached for his partner's left hand and slipped on the ring in a fluid motion. He hadn't practiced that on a mannequin hand he'd borrowed from his former agency's R&D-Team – no, not at all.

It fit perfectly. Izuku kissed Ochaco's hand with elation.

It was now her turn to formally claim her husband-to-be and his ring, too, was a perfect fit.

They smiled at each other and entwined their hands, before coming together in their first passionate kiss as an engaged couple. Forgotten was their thick clothing or the cold wooden planks beneath them.

It was just them.

And it always would be.

— Fin —

Ladies and gentlemen, as promised: the final chapter of this story; short and sweet. I know I'm repeating myself, but I had a really fun time tinkering and tipping and I thank you all for your support.

Feel free to use all options this site provides to show me if you liked what I came up with – I'd much appreciate it.

As a little sign of gratitude, I have attached another short scene that I had in mind, but couldn't quite implement into the bigger picture.

Take care of yourselves.

Enigm4

Bonus: deleted Scene (1/1):

It was early noon and Izuku and Ochaco were huddled together on their couch watching their favorite Hero-flick on TV.

Not that the movie was particularly good, but the couple had shared their first kiss when they had watched it for the first time, so it somehow held a special place in both of their hearts.

It could have been a lovely experience, hadn't it been for Izuku's phone, buzzing in regular intervals.

The number of call's he'd received had drastically increased since his return from Europe, compared with the days before his departure.

It would have been tolerable if the calls held some importance - the only reason why the phone wasn't fully muted, really.

Instead, it was the same number time and again.

The number belonging to the secretary in charge of the paperwork that accumulated during Izuku's investigation with EUROPOL, and she wasn't interested in anything work-related, much to Ochaco's dismay.

"Maybe we should just ignore her, she has to give up at some point, right?" Izuku suggested with a nervous chuckle.

His girlfriend didn't feel like chuckling, instead she held her hand out to the green haired young man in a silent demand.

"Are you sure?" Izuku asked, hesitantly.

"Deku, she's ruining OUR movie!" Ochaco exclaimed with a pout "I won't have it!"

He finally relented, a worried look etched onto his face.

Maybe, if he stalled for another set of rings, she would hang up and-

Ochaco was faster and snatched the phone from him, immediately pushing the 'answer' button.

"English, right?" she mouthed to her boyfriend, who nodded in defeat.

"Izuku Midoriya's phone, who am I talking to?" Ochaco answered in an almost accent-free English voice. She, of course, knew who she was talking to.

"What do you mean, who am I? I'm Izuku's girlfriend" she politely answered the question Izuku couldn't hear. Too polite.

"Oh, now you didn't know Izuku had a girlfriend, huh? Honey, I happened to sit next to him when he answered your last call and I quite vividly remember how he told you about me. And not just once." Yeah, this was definitely battle-mode Uravity talking.

"No, I don't really feel like telling Izuku anything, hon." Ochaco's statement was so bland that it took a while for the female on the other end of the line to find her voice again.

"Oh, I can't pass him the phone either, I'm afraid" the brunette's expression turned into a dangerous one. She had an idea, that much Izuku could read from her features.

"You, see… he's got his hands full, right now…" she sighed suggestively into the speaker "his mouth, too, if you catch my drift."

Ochaco now had to bite her lip to suppress a giggle.

"Mhh, I'm sure a woman like you knows exactly what I mean. Well, if that's all, please do me a favor and don't ever call again. Okay, honey? Bye."

The young woman ended the call and put the phone back onto the coffee table before cuddling up to Izuku, a self-satisfied smirk on her lips.

The young male could only stare in astonishment, slightly terrified by the hostility his usually sweet and polite girlfriend could emit.

To be fair, though: they were able to watch the rest of the movie without further interruptions…