Another prompt I was given by a member of the Izuocha Discord server! Admittedly, the prompt was actually 'late night talk' and this kind of deviated somewhat... but it was originally meant to be a drabble in my defense. As usual it ran away with me.
When am I ever going to be able to write something other than flustered awkward teenagers and fluff...?

(Cross-posted to AO3)

A Kiss Among the Stars

"Ready?" Izuku asked her, shifting her on his back a little and tightening his grip.

"Mhm," she hummed, secure in the piggy-back he'd insisted on, and trying not to blush at his touch and the feeling of his body against hers. She leant her head against the back of his, unable to control herself from almost nuzzling into his shoulder and felt him shiver slightly. Sensation was all she had while she was blindfolded like this.

"It would be better if you'd tell me what I should be ready for though," she tried again playfully, even though he hadn't let on what they were doing the many, many other times she'd asked. "Or if I could take this blindfold off?"

The blindfold was a surprising and unexpected addition to his request for her to come with him in the middle of the night. So far all he'd explained was that he was helping her with some 'secret-special-quirk-training'. Which, for Izuku, could mean absolutely anything.

"Ah, sorry! You'll find out soon," he said conspiratorially, bending his knees a little. She could hear the smile in his voice.

"We're breaking so many school rules right now," she whispered into his ear, unable to hide her concern, "I can't believe you're risking sneaking out again after what happened last year with Bakugou."

"It's for you, so it's worth it," Izuku whispered gently back, rubbing a thumb over her arms around his neck.

Ochako pushed her face into his shoulder, feeling a blush beneath her blindfold - (Gods, she was so weak for his cheesy lines) - but she was sure he'd be blushing too, despite his confident words.

"I need you to activate your quirk on both of us when I say, okay?" He bent his knees even lower as Ochako felt the strange static-y sensation of Izuku's quirk activating beneath her; the fine hairs on her arms prickled upwards and she shuddered at the tiny static shocks she could feel from her clothes. With their bodies pressed together she knew the green lightning would be bouncing over his skin and hers. She was sure she could see the glow of it even through her blindfold.

"W-Wait, what do you mean? What are you do-ing?!" Ochako yelped the last part of her question as her stomach leaped at the sensation of launching upwards. She could feel air roar past her and knew that they had left the ground far behind. She only realised how tightly she'd clung to Izuku and how hard she was screwing her eyes shut, even though she couldn't see anyway, when they began to slow down. There was a tiny moment in their ascent when gravity was just about to drag them back to earth, suspending them perfectly still between up and down, when Izuku yelled, "Now!"

Ochako released her death-grip on him to touch her finger pads to his arm, with a little more force than she intended, and quickly against the pads on her other hand, a tiny pink glow accompanying each touch.

Then they were floating.

Izuku laughed a little in exhilaration, and she could feel him looking around rapidly as if he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Her heart was hammering so hard in her chest, she was surprised he couldn't feel it on his back.

"Deku- What- Where are we?" Ochako wished she could see, even though she'd already guessed they were probably a long way up from the school.

"Sorry, are you okay?" He manoeuvred them to face each other, not too easy without gravity, holding tightly onto her hands. She nodded, and he laughed nervously, "Even I didn't think I could get us up this high."

In truth, she could already feel her stomach clenching from the sensation of floating herself and another person at the same time; it was making her head spin and she feared she was going to lose her dinner, but she tried to sound confident when she lied and said, "I'm fine. Guess you still don't know your own strength, huh?" Ochako smiled, though she feared it was a bit wobbly.

She reached up for the blindfold. "Can I...?"

"Oh, wait." Izuku captured her hand with his again. "Let me, um, let me explain first." His voice softened, "I couldn't stop thinking about the training lesson yesterday- about how distractions can make heroes lose focus with their quirks- but I... I don't think that's true for you."

Ochako tilted her head to one side and smiled, this time she felt it reach her eyes. "You're always thinking about things Deku, I wish I could see what goes through your mind sometimes. If you had gears in there they'd never stop turning!"

He was a little flustered when he continued, "W-Well, I know it's a weird habit, but I can't help analysing everything, and sometimes I guess I do end up overthinking things, or I get so wrapped up in a deeper meaning that I forget the really obvious stuff and-"

"Deku!" she laughed, her chest nearly aching with the force of just how much she loved this rambling mess who would take her into the stars to explain something he couldn't get off his mind, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

"Right, of course, sorry," he cleared his throat, embarrassed, "anyway, I thought about how your quirk makes you feel bad, but when you're doing hero work, or when we've got an exam, your mind is so focused on other things that you don't even think about the nausea.

"Not saying that it's all in your head, obviously, but that if it's something you're not focusing on - if you're distracted by something else - than you don't notice it as much. With practice, you might be able to learn how to be able put that sick feeling into the background without the need for an outside distraction. Or something like that..."

"You've thought hard about it, huh..." Ochako whispered, really wanting the blindfold off. She really wanted to see his face... she really wanted to kiss him.

She blushed at the unexpected thought.

"So... this is your distraction for tonight," Izuku announced, gently removing the fabric from her eyes.

Ochako blinked and couldn't stop the gasp that nearly took her breath away.

They were floating so high above campus - so high above the world - that she could see all the buildings and lights laid out below her like tiny specks on the dark landscape. Above her the stars were a spattering of glowing lights in a deep, inky vastness that stretched on so endlessly that it felt like she might tumble up into the galaxy itself. With her head tilted up she almost forgot there was anything below them; it was simply a world of stars and sky.

"This..." Ochako began, almost too stunned for words, "This is amazing."

She let a laugh of pure joy bubble out of her chest as she threaded the fingers of one hand with Izuku's and reached up with the other, as if she could touch the stars themselves.

"I-I knew you'd like it," he stammered, giving her hand a squeeze.

When she turned to him and flashed him a bright genuine smile he looked slightly startled before he smiled back, with a blush blooming beneath his freckles. He was illuminated strangely in the otherworldly light coming from the bright galaxy above them; it made his green eyes as bright as they were when he used his quirk and dusted his messy hair with silver starlight. The urge to kiss him flapped nervously in her stomach. Or maybe it was still her quirk-induced-nausea.

Ochako frowned a little as she became more aware of the effect floating them both was having on her, trying to resist the urge to clutch at her abdomen. Izuku must have noticed because he reached over with a concerned expression and took her other hand in his.

He gave her a flash of a smile and used her hands to push himself above her, then twisted and tried to pull her backwards so that she would be almost lying down in the air. It was an extremely awkward manoeuvre in zero gravity. They both laughed awkwardly as they began to spin slowly, but uncontrollably, in the momentum he'd created.

"No, no," he muttered, "not cool, not cool!"

Ochako had to pull a hand away from him to cover her mouth before she really let loose some laughter. He was so cute when he was trying to be smooth. He'd probably thought he would be able to lie her down to look at the stars like they were on a blanket on the ground, but without gravity every movement could send you floating away.

"It's ok, just stay really still and don't let go," she giggled.

They were still rolling slightly when he sighed and gave her hand a sharp tug, making her squeak in surprise, pulled her upright again, and twirled her around like a dancer so she faced him. She gave him a bemused smile and was about to comment on his aerial dancing when he placed both his hands at the small of her back and pulled her body against his.

"D-Deku...?" Ochako's cheeks flushed with heat as she instinctively wrapped her arms around the back of his neck. She hadn't even noticed how cold it was being up so high until their shared body warmth and her blushing cheeks reminded her of the chill. She shivered slightly. He tightened his grip, somehow bringing them even closer.

She brought her nose to the base of his neck and closed her eyes, breathing in the mix of his unique scent and the sharp tang of ozone.

They clung like that until they stopped moving altogether and simply floated still again.

"I was going to distract you with star-gazing in the sky," he murmured, letting a hand trail circles in her back, "but I guess I didn't think about how awkward moving around would be up here. I knew it was going to be hard, but I don't have any practice with zero gravity, and I didn't know quite how badly each movement was going to make us spin. I should have planned it better." Izuku sighed, disappointed in himself.

"But you are distracting me Deku!" she enthused. "I'm so touched you'd even think of doing something like this to help me. You're... You're always helping me to get stronger, in so many ways."

"R-Really?" His voice hitched.

Ochako giggled. "Yes, really. You're full of kindness and drive! The fact that you'd even go to this much trouble means so much to me. I-"

Her words were cut off by Izuku's mouth capturing hers. He'd tilted down and stolen her breath. Her lips moved against his as her hands threaded into his messy hair. His hands trailed a tingling sensation over her skin as they moved up to cradle her cheeks, deepening their kiss. Which was good because she craved more.

But all too soon she had to lean away and gasp a breath, her pulse racing and her heart hammering. He gazed down at her, also fighting for breath, a bright blush staining his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. Ochako knew her face must look just as flushed.

She bumped noses with him, trying to play it cool, but she couldn't stop the stutter as she said, "S-So this was your 'distraction' plan all along, huh?"

"A-Ah, I'm sorry, I, um, I - I d-don't know where that came from. I shouldn't have interrupted you like that. I can't believe I..." Izuku crossed his arms over his face.

"Oh! Don't let go!" She reached over and gripped his jacket before he floated away from her. "What would I tell everyone if I had to admit I'd lost you in space?"

Izuku lowered his arms and gently took her hands in his again, though his bright blush remained, and he was obviously still very flustered.

"You'd save me before that happened," he grinned but there was a hint of shyness in his expression that made Ochako want to kiss him again.

She cleared her throat.

"K-Kissing in zero gravity was a g-good way of keeping my mind of using my quirk too much," she began, not able to meet his eyes while she spoke, "so, um, maybe we could... you know... do it again some time. For... training purposes..."

"A-Absolutely!" Izuku replied so instantly that they both dissolved into awkward laughter. "It's probably time we come down anyway, it's cold up here," he breathed onto her icy fingers between them, "and you could probably do with a break."

Ochako nodded, becoming aware of the tight knot in her stomach again.

But... They were so high up, just how were they supposed to get down now anyway? She tilted her head at her own internal question, giving Izuku an inquisitive look.

He chuckled as if he could read her thoughts and said brightly, "Release us!"

"What?" she yelped. "You- You can't be serious? From this height?"

"Yep," he continued in the same confident voice, "just release us until we're really close to the ground and then activate your quirk again and stop us from falling."

"I can't... I can't do that!" she protested. "The momentum will make us keep going and splat us onto the floor."

Izuku shook his head. "I know you can remove our gravity and stop our momentum. You did it to me at the entrance exam, remember? When you kept me floating in the air just above the ground."

"Well, yeah, but I haven't actually done that again since then..."

"Then this will be great practice!" Izuku declared with total and complete faith in her.

Misplaced faith.

"I..." She bit her lip.

"You can do this, I know you can." His determination must be infectious, because the look he gave her filled her with confidence. Or maybe it was the memory of the kiss...

"Okay," she finally agreed, realising her hands had started shaking. She either released them now or she'd lose the grip on her quirk anyway. "Ready?" She smiled grimly, echoing the exact thing he'd said to her before taking her up. It seemed like a lifetime ago now. It was fitting to be saying it when she was about to get them back down.

Izuku nodded. "Three..."

"Two..." Her eyebrows scrunched together.

"One..."

"Release!" She touched her finger pads together, feeling an uncomfortable jolt through her very core at the sudden rush of the return of gravity. She grabbed Izuku's hand at the same instant he grabbed for hers.

Then they fell.