Chapter Text
That Saturday
Ochako didn’t know how to feel as she stood in front of her closet in her dorm room. On one hand, she was overjoyed that Izuku had agreed to come on this trip with her so readily. On the other hand, she was furious (in a good way) at the other 1-A girls. It wasn’t a coincidence that every other person she considered asking to accompany her was busy.
Tokoyami, Koda, and Shoji were going to study together, Iida and Todoroki had gone home for the weekend, Ojiro and Hagakure were on a date, and the other 1-A girls were at Yaoyorozu’s house for the day. She didn’t dare ask Bakugo to go despite the improvement he’d been showing, plus the rest of his crew were just sitting in the common room playing Hero Smash Ultimate (she could still hear Kaminari complaining about how overpowered Fat Gum was while Kirishima was insisting that he was balanced from when she went down for a snack earlier). Aoyama was teaching Sato about French pastries, and Mineta was completely off the table.
She knew Tsu had a hand in this. After the Provisional License Exam, the frog girl had finally cornered Ochako about her very obvious crush on the green bean and told her to act on it before work studies started up. Not to mention that Tsu also vaguely threatened her.
“Ribbit, if you don’t confess, I’ll do everything in my power to get you two together, you’ll see.”
“Ugh, darn that frog,” Ochako muttered as she shifted through her closet, finally picking a short-sleeved pink blouse, “so cunning and crafty yet so wonderful…”
She also guessed that Ashido and Hagakure were involved, because since the start of school, Tsu had somehow gained some sort of power over them, making the duo somewhat of her lackeys in a way. Though she wasn’t sure how. The duo had definitely gone around to everyone in class besides Izuku and made sure that they were doing something on that Saturday.
After pulling out some black leggings and her nicest pair of tennis shoes for her date friendly outing with Izuku Midoriya, she applied some light makeup (couldn’t hurt to not look like a wreck in front of him), and headed down to the common room, where Kirishima, Sero, and Kaminari were already 5 matches deep into their Hero Smash marathon. The trio had enough snacks and drinks to survive a zombie apocalypse, while Koda was sitting on one of the couches looking like he wanted to jump in and tell them to stop fighting.
As Kirishima used All Might’s powerful down air on Kaminari’s Death Arms to spike him into the void, the blonde sunk into his seat in defeat before looking around. “Oh, hey Uraraka, you look nice for your da- OW!” He was interrupted as Sero knocked him on the head with his tape dispenser elbow.
“Don’t listen to him, Uraraka, just go and focus on having fun.”
Ochako blushed lightly at what Kaminari was implying before nodding. “Thanks, Sero. I’ll try.” The three boys started their character selection, and as they somehow dragged Koda into playing (he picked Tiger of the Wild, Wild Pussycats), Ochako wondered what was taking her date friend so long.
Izuku’s Dorm Room
Izuku had just tucked his phone and wallet into his pockets, and was just about to head downstairs to meet Uraraka to head to the observatory when his door abruptly opened and Katsuki Bakugo stepped in. “My nerd senses were tingling.”
Izuku raised an eyebrow at him. “Wow, you’re not yelling at me. That’s a first.”
The explosive blonde scoffed. “I can be calm when I want to be.” He looked Izuku up and down, taking in the t-shirt that had the word “t-shirt” written across the chest, the athletic shorts, and Izuku’s signature red hightops. Katsuki narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, this isn’t gonna work.”
“What do you me-” Izuku tried to say as Katsuki pushed past him and walked over to his closet. Izuku watched for a few minutes as his friend shifted through his piles of shirts and pants. Finally, Katsuki produced a long sleeved green waffle-knit shirt, a blue vest, and a pair of black jeans, dropping them onto the All Might comforter. Katsuki pointed at the clothes, simply said, “Change,” and began walking toward the door.
Izuku looked at him, stunned. “Wha-” but Katsuki interrupted him.
“Listen, I may not be very popular with the ladies, both here and at that dump of a middle school, but I know my way around a good outfit and I have a pretty decent understanding of what women like. Most of it comes from that ha- I mean, my mom, you know she’s a fashion designer.”
Before Izuku could ask what was up with his friend-turned-bully-turned-acquaintance, Katsuki walked to the door before turning around and saying “Oh yeah, those shoes still work with the outfit. Go get the girl or whatever, I don't give a crap.” At that, the explosive blonde closed the door behind him to go do God knows what, leaving Izuku in silence.
“What the holy what just happened?” He questioned his empty dorm room. He thought the clothes he had on right now were ok! It was a casual outfit for an outing with a friend! And what had Katsuki said before leaving? ‘Go get the girl or what-’.
Izuku's face exploded into a blush. No, no way Uraraka saw him that way. He certainly didn't see her that way, did he?
He sat down on his bed and buried his face in his hands as his face continued to burn. Oh my God, I have a crush on Uraraka. I have a crush on her.
As he rethought his entire friendship with the gravity girl up to that point, another knock was soon heard at the door.
“Uh, Deku? Are you ready to go, we're going to be late for the show!”
Oh my gosh, Uraraka! “I'll be right out, just give me a second!”
Izuku quickly changed into the outfit that Katsuki had picked out for him, stopping in front of the full-length mirror near his door while attempting to tame his wild green locks. He had to admit, the clothes were comfortable. He stuffed his phone and wallet into separate pockets on the vest and opened the door to Uraraka standing there.
The first thoughts to come to each of their minds were He's so hot!/She's so cute! and they both lightly blushed upon seeing each other.
“U-Uh, hey, U-Uraraka,” Izuku stuttered. Oh no, I’m already flipping and fumbling.
“Hey, Deku, you look nice.”
“I could say the same for you. A-Anyway, should we be going?”
The girl’s eyes lit up. “You bet, come on, let’s go!”
With that, Uraraka grabbed his hand and dragged him to the elevator. Soon the two of them were slipping their shoes on, about to leave. By that time, Katsuki had joined the Hero Smash Ultimate group of Kirishima, Sero, and Kaminari, while Koda was in the middle of calling Tokoyami to bow out of studying later. The trio had hooked him on the game.
As Katsuki’s third win in a row wrapped up with yet another All Might down air on Kaminari’s Slidin’ Go (which is impressive, Slidin’ Go had one of the best recoveries in the game), he glanced back at Izuku and offered him a soft smile and a nod before turning back around to brag about his skill.
Izuku grinned at him as he finished tying his shoelace, straightening back up and looking at his cru- Uraraka. “Are we ready to go?”
The girl gave him an affirmative nod. “Yep! Let’s go, Deku!”
30 Minutes Later
After a quick train ride down to the observatory (with Ochako nearly nodding off on his shoulder, which made him nearly go catatonic), the two of them were standing in the lobby of the building, waiting to be let into the main auditorium, when a certain space-themed pro hero caught Ochako’s attention.
“Thirteen is here!” the girl nearly shrieked like she did back in the lunchroom on Monday. Izuku chuckled at her antics, which earned him an admittedly adorable pout from her.
Hearing the girl, Thirteen turned toward the sound, walking up to the duo. Clicking a small button on the side of their helmet, the pitch-black visor with the white splotches for eyes flipped up, revealing Thirteen’s real face. “Hey there, Midoriya, Uraraka, what brings you two here today?”
“Iida gave me a pair of tickets to the show today, he and his brother don’t really have any interest in this kind of stuff.”
The Space Hero crossed their arms and nodded at that. “Yeah, that sounds like Iida.” Thirteen got a look on their face, as if they were fondly remembering something. “To think that if he hadn’t gotten out during the USJ attack, I might not be here today.”
Ochako and Izuku flinched, remembering the USJ incident that happened not even a few months ago.
“But no matter, why take Midoriya and not someone like Asui, Uraraka? I understand you and Asui are pretty close.”
Uraraka’s face flitted through a range of emotions before settling on a fond look. “By sheer coincidence, everyone else was busy.”
Thirteen glanced back and forth between them. “Uh… huh. Well, I hope you two enjoy the show. There might be another cameo from another pro hero you may know.” They gave them a wink and flipped their visor back down, quickly signing Ochako’s Thirteen phone case and Izuku’s notebook that he pulled from nowhere. (Ochako and Thirteen decided not to question where he pulled it from)
Soon, they were sitting side-by-side on mats on the floor of the large dome that made up the auditorium of the observatory, surrounded by a few families and couples.
Sitting cross-legged made Ochako aware of her left knee occasionally bumping into Izuku’s right, making her flinch every time they collided. Soon enough, Thirteen took to the stage close to where the duo were sitting, taking a mic from one of the observatory employees. Once again flipping their visor up, Thirteen began to speak.
“Hello everyone, and thanks for joining us today here at beautiful Taruwaki Observatory for an educational and fun journey through the cosmos!” Thirteen waved their arms, and as they did, the lights in the auditorium dimmed and a projection of the Milky Way appeared above the crowd, Ochako gasping and looking up, making Izuku smile fondly.
Next, Thirteen instructed everyone to lay down on the mats as they began identifying basic things in the solar system for the kids in the audience. Meanwhile, Ochako had taken Izuku’s hand (she had a massive blush on her face, but she wouldn’t admit that until years later), pointing and softly explaining some more complicated stuff about the solar system to the boy beside her.
Izuku was barely paying attention to what Ochako was saying, as he was just focused on how ecstatic the girl was to be talking about one of her favorite hobbies. Her face just lit up every time she saw something new to talk about in the big projection on the ceiling.
Soon enough though, the large projection on the ceiling disappeared, causing Ochako to pout and mutter, “Thirteen, you’re close to losing favorite hero status from me…” Izuku chuckled softly and patted her on the shoulder in sympathy.
“Don’t worry, Uraraka, there were a few moments in All Might’s career that made him almost lose that spot.” Ochako glanced at him in shock.
“You owe me an explanation later, mister.”
“You got it, Uraraka,” Izuku replied, giving her a wide smile.
“And one more thing,” Ochako continued, “I want you to call me Ochako.”
Izuku.exe has stopped working.
While their conversation was going down and as Izuku crashed like a Windows XP computer, Thirteen had been observing them as they talked, softly smiling. “Ah, young love.” The Space Hero once again took to the mic.
“Alright, everyone, we’ve come to the final part of our event today, and we have a special guest today! Please welcome Voice Hero: Present Mic!” They gestured at one of the doors on the far side of the auditorium.
At that, the doors burst open, Present Mic stepped through, waltzing his way onto the stage next to Thirteen. “Hey hey hey, listeners! How are we doing today?”
The crowd of children in the audience screamed in appreciation for the Voice Hero.
Mic grinned in satisfaction, turning to Thirteen. “This crowd is a lot less tough than the one at the Yaoyorozu’s a few months back.” Thirteen chuckled at that.
“Alright, little listeners, today I’m bringing you a special slideshow of space pictures to a special song from the Pre-Quirk era!” Cover art of a little guy in a homemade spacesuit and sitting in a cardboard spaceship appeared on the screen. At the bottom, in stylized letters, read “Orbit”.
“This, my little listeners, is the cover art for a song by a Pre-Quirk band known as Good Kid! And can any of you out there guess why I picked this one?”
The room was silent until Ochako tentatively raised her hand, Izuku still blue-screening, “Is it in reference to how everything in our universe ‘orbit’ around each other?”
Present Mic grinned as he recognized a few of his students. “Correctamundo there, Uravity.” The girl blushed at the use of her hero name. Mic leaned over to Thirteen and whispered behind his hand, “This a date?”
The Space Hero leaned over and replied, “As far as I can tell, no, but I think this may have been a setup by the other 1-A girls. Hagakure and Ashido were conspiring in the corner during Wednesday’s science lab.”
Mic nodded at that. “Alright, let’s get this show on the ROAD!”
The Voice Hero strided over to the DJ booth that had been set up for him, throwing in a perfect Michael Jackson moonwalk in the process.
Ochako was trying to hold in her laughter as Mic made his way over, but she lost it when he threw in the moonwalk, sputtering a laugh out, causing Izuku to reboot. She coulda sworn she heard the Windows XP startup noise.
Thirteen got back on the mic and told everyone to lay back down as “Orbit” by Good Kid started blaring throughout the auditorium, accompanied by some beautiful pictures of the cosmos, both Pre- and Post-Quirk.
After the opening riff, the first verse started up:
“I've been, I've been thinking that
I can't quite get enough time
On the inside of the cycle that you spin with
Gravity and dust, I've fallen in between the planets and the sun”
Izuku and Ochako oohed and ahhed along with everyone else at the pictures. By the time the second verse rolled around, Ochako was just looking at Izuku instead of the pictures.
“Now the space is filling up
Satellites that I can't seem to keep track of
I get the feeling I'm not quite made of the right stuff
To float between the rings of cosmic metal love”
“Deku,” she whispered softly, tapping him on the shoulder.
The green bean turned his head toward her, “Yeah?”
The girl's eyebrows crinkled as she smiled softly at him. “I-I don’t think I can hide it anymore… I… I like you.”
Izuku’s eyebrows shot up and his eyes grew to the size of white dinner plates with a small serving of peas in the middle of them. “R-Really?” his eyes filled slightly with tears.
Ochako’s hand raised up to softly stroke his cheek. “Yeah, ever since the entrance exam when you jumped and punched that big ol’ Zero Pointer… I’ve had a crush on you.”
One of the boy’s hands raised up to cover hers. “I… I think I’ve felt the same ever since the first battle trial against Katsuki. That ‘improvised special move’ of yours… what was it called?”
Ochako chuckled at that. “The Comet Home Run?”
“Yeah, that one. You didn’t hesitate at all when facing down Iida, it was really cool. You’re super cool, Ura-Ochako. And you know what?”
Ochako paused. “Yeah?”
“I think you can call me Izuku.”
T-minus five, four, three, two, one
Ignition sequence
As the song counted down to the guitar solo and the images on the screen became a little more frantic to match the pace, Izuku and Ochako leaned into each other and shared their first kiss. Like most first kisses, it was a little messy. Their teeth clacked a few times and Izuku was pretty sure his lips slipped and kissed her nose once, but after a few seconds, their lips slotted perfectly together.
Not too long after that, they pulled apart, and Izuku was fairly sure both of them were crying.
“So,” Izuku asked, “what’s this make us?”
“A couple,” Ochako replied as she giggled.
“That orbit that surrounds you (That orbit that surrounds)
That orbit that's around you (That orbit that's around)
That orbit that surround you
That orbit that's around you”
And as the last chorus finished up, the screen shut off, the lights turned back on, and the new couple sat up, hand in hand.
As they were walking out of the room, Thirteen greeted them at the door. “Well, congrats, you two, I had a feeling something like this was going to happen.”
Ochako and Izuku blanched at that. “Uh, you… did?” Ochako asked.
Thirteen chuckled lightly. “Of course, all week, I noticed the other 1-A girls conspiring behind your back, Uraraka.”
Ochako got a look in her eyes that Izuku hadn’t seen since he had the 10 million point headband before the Sports Festival’s second round. “I think Mina and the rest of them want to see the troposphere in person.”
Izuku set a hand on her shoulder. “Ochako, you can’t do that-” she frowned at that “-without me.” she grinned at that.
Suddenly they were engulfed in a big hug from Present Mic. “Little listeners, congratulations!”
“Mic, personal URGH space!” Izuku managed to choke out. He and Ochako were then released shortly afterward.
After waving goodbye to the teachers, the two of them walked outside to find that the sun was beginning to set.
“Deku, I have a feeling that the girls are going to be waiting in the common area of the dorms just waiting for us.” Ochako said.
Izuku cupped his chin in his hand while he thought for a second, before having an “aha” moment. “Don’t worry, Ochako, I have an idea.”
He quickly pulled his phone out and messaged Aizawa.
Private Message - Problem Child & Shota Aizawa
Problem Child: Hey, Aizawa, are the roofs of the dorms off-limits?
Aizawa: Not technically, why do you ask, what are you scheming, Problem Child?
Problem Child: I have a feeling Ochako and I will be bombarded by questions once she and I return to the dorms and we’d like to avoid that.
Aizawa: Well, as long as you two don’t fall off, I don’t think I have a problem with it, carry on, Midoriya.
Izuku pumped his fist. “Alright, my plan is in motion. Now we need to hit up a convenience store.”
Ochako raised an eyebrow at that. “Are you gonna pay? You know my budget is tight.”
Izuku nodded in earnest. “The man always pays on the first date.”
Ochako blushed a bright red. “When did you get so confident?” she asked as they began their trek to the train station.
The green bean rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. “Honestly, I’m still super nervous inside. The thought of anyone, especially someone like you, wanting to date ME is still kind of mind-blowing to me.”
At that, Ochako immediately cuddled up next to him and grabbed his hand, careful not to float him.
30 Minutes Later
The two of them stood on the backside of the 1-A dorm building at Heights Alliance, arms full of trashy convenience store food, staring up at the roof 5 floors up.
“So what’s your plan?” Ochako questioned.
“Well, I was hoping you could float us and I could use Blackwhip to pull us up.”
Ochako blinked. She had been having such a blast that she completely forgot that Izuku had gotten the hand of Blackwhip recently. She shrugged. “Well, as your new girlfriend, I trust you.”
Izuku grinned at that as he transferred the food bags onto one arm before picking Ochako up in a piggyback. The girl softly pressed all five fingers to his chest and herself as he reached his right arm up and focused his emotions on the awesome afternoon he had. Black strands of energy shot out and latched onto the roof above them.
“Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
He focused on retracting the strands and felt his feet leave the ground as they shot up into the air. Soon after, his hightops touched the rough material that made up the roof and he put Ochako on her feet.
Tapping her hands together, the gravity girl said, “Release,” feeling herself and Izuku touch the roof.
Soon after that, the new couple were sitting on the edge of the roof, eating trashy convenience store food and just being a happy couple.
“That orbit that surrounds you.”