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Izuku always was enthralled with her, his best friend, admittingly, the muse to his thoughts, and the sun to his mindscape, but of course, it was just for him and himself.
Ochako always fascinated him, whether it be her wonderful and amazing quirk, her drive, or just her in general, Izuku would always seem to gravitate toward her and her orbit, how can he simply not?
Izuku always seemed to struggle with being physically close to touched by those around him, second-guessing ideas or words that would just splurge out of his mind, but she didn’t mind. She didn’t seem to mind when she would just look at him with this twinkle in her eyes and giggle or smile right after he noticed the eyes watching him.
He would notice how she was watching him. He did always find her eyes staring back at him whenever he would look around the room for her, she would smile turn pink, and wave before turning away, then he would continue to stare for a few moments turning pink himself and looking away.
When observing her he would notice how she would act around the girls, playing around or hugging one of the girls, she would be in contact in any way she would, or how she was not shy to bump shoulders with Shoto or comically shake Tenya around, but not him.
He wondered why at first, one night when they were studying together, how she would put a comfortable distance between them, he didn’t mind it, but he did wonder.
What sets him aside from her interaction with the rest? He wouldn’t dare voice the question, he might just combust and seem needy if he did voice it out.
But eventually, a shift in their relationship did change in their third year, Izuku didn’t know what or how, it just happened and it felt so bizarre. And seemed like the normalest thing ever at the same time.
It was one time they had a group sleepover and it was in the middle of the night, it felt so secretive, like a moment that never happened if you blinked but he knew he wasn’t woozy from sleep or his imagination.
They were on the couch, Shoto and Tenya were on the floor somehow feets tangled and munching on a bowl of buttered popcorn they shared while Tsuyu was leaning her head on their taller friend and cuddling with her pillow. Izuku and Ochako were sharing their bowl of caramel popcorn and swaddled in their own blankets. They were a healthy distance away and she would occasionally reach over a handful of popcorn.
She must have felt tired of the tedious reaching over and scooched closer, he paused midchew and glanced at her, she was still watching the movie and attention focused but he could feel her pause, he smiled when she gave him a side eye and scooched closer and placed the bowl of popcorn on their lap, she smiled and nuzzled comfortably by his side.
‘Ok we’re doing this now’ his mind concluded, spiraling into an internal gushing about his best friend finally sharing this comfortable proximity. And it all took a timespan of under 5 minutes in the dark.
He remembered being warm in a different way than his blanket was giving him, it felt nice. He didn’t expect any close proximity after that, but she didn’t mention it the next day when they woke up head leaning on his shoulder and his on hers, so he didn’t feel the need to mention it himself.
But he did notice. The shoulder bumps, the closer-than-before proximity, the shoulder tap, or the slight arm squeeze when he went on muttering sprees.
He feared that he might push her away or jinx it if he started putting a name to the strong emotions he’s have that he tried to push away or brush over and justifying that maybe this feeling was foreign because he never experienced friendship of the opposite sex, he’s had no other experience to base it off of.
It was just another school night when she was suddenly at his dorm room door looking like an empty shell of herself after opening his door.
She just sent him a text asking to maybe hang out.
They were no strangers to each other’s room at night, but never alone like this. It was always with the group or another one of their friends present.
She gave him a wobbly smile while holding onto her pillow and blanket tighter. She whispered a small apology when she was let in and immediately she sat on his bed. He commented on how she shouldn’t be sorry, or ever being apologetic about seeking him out when she needed someone.
They were friends after all.
He didn’t ask, afraid to accidentally turn her away if the subject was too much, he just offered his presence and a listening ear. He trusted her to share at her own pace.
The two fell into a hushed conversation with Ochako curled into a ball by his wall beside him, she was picking at her finger pads while talking.
Izuku stared, they were pinker than most days, and one of her fingers had a bandaid on it with a noticeable blob of red bled through. Ochako saw him stare and hid her hands from his view and continued to quietly ramble on about how Tenya was throughout the day.
He frowned and gently touched her arm and pulled her wrist, Ochako froze but didn’t fight him from gently pulling and inspecting her fingers.
Her voice went even quieter while he caressed his fingers over her bruised and calloused finger pads with gentle strokes.
He always wondered about them, how adorable and unique characteristics she has, how would they feel. Are they squishy like a cat's toe beans, are they rough from touching different textures of objects?
Well, they were both squishy and protected by a layer of skin and callous but squishy nonetheless, it almost distracted him from how red and picked on they were right now.
He looked up at her and saw her eyes looking nervous, and almost unreadable, her blush marks more prominent by the darker shade of blush she has, but her lips were in a small frown.
Izuku stared at her just as intensely with a mirrored expression of her frown, he reached for her other hand and saw how picked on and red they were.
He cradled both her hands to his chest, taking extra care to exclude her pinkies, and frowned even more when she looked away wordlessly.
She never did tell him what was wrong that night. Izuku just recalls her leaning onto him and relaxing, sharing a moment of silence.
He wrapped his free arm around him while his other hand still cradled at her hands, stopping her from picking on them and he recalls him continuing their hushed conversation with a much different topic
She draped her legs over his and gave hums of responses before her breathing evened and her hums slurred, Izuku rubbed circles over her back and draped her blanket over his friend.
He reached over his all-might bandaids with black whip and delicately patched up her finger pads with care.
He stared down at her, she looked so peaceful. Izuku indulge his selfish heart and placed a careful kiss on her forehead and drifted off to sleep with her.