Work Text:
It was cold.
It was late spring, and he was in the heavily temperature-controlled halls of the sports stadium, but it was freezing right outside of Uraraka’s waiting room.
Why?
Why couldn’t I…
Of course, she had lied to him. He had seen how pumped she had been to do well in the festival, how much it mattered to her that she made a splash big enough to attract attention to herself.
Of course, Bakugou beating her like that would get to her.
He stood there frozen, rooted to his spot behind her door after closing it mere seconds ago, telling her that he needed to leave for his own battle. He had run away when he couldn’t find the words- when he couldn’t figure out what to say-
When he chose to be a coward.
A pain in his leg brought him back to reality, and noticed that his own hand was gripping onto the fabric of his pants hard enough to dig into his skin.
He needed to go back, to tell her something . To make her feel as great as she had made him feel.
He needed to repay her kindness.
But…
He let go of the breath he was holding. He still didn’t know what to say. What to do. The only time he had tried to help someone like this was with Bakugou-
He shuddered at the thought of Uraraka exploding at him like that.
He wasn’t afraid to break his own body, but the thought of Uraraka hating him like Bakugou did…
He couldn’t. He just couldn’t, the risk was too great. He turned to the side of the hallway, hoping that Uraraka could forgive him for leaving like tha-
When he heard the sound of her sniffling and crying from the other side of the door, One for All almost activated on its own. His whole body twitched, beginning with his ear and cascading down to his feet, locking him in place.
I- I shou-
The door was open before he could finish the thought, his body pushing him forward before the rest of his conscious mind could doubt itself and stop him.
Uraraka looked up at him with tears in her eyes that made his heart ache and willed him to take his next few steps.
“D-De-”
His arms were around her before she could finish and before he knew what he was doing.
In that moment, the world grew dull, the sound of Ochako’s phone buzzing with the electronic voice of someone else grew distant, almost as if it was underwater. The only sensation making its way up his head was how soft her skin was, and how warm it made him feel as his arms wrapped around her and pulled her into the hug he wanted to give her since day one.
His mind finally caught up to his body a second later, the hug feeling more and more awkward as milliseconds passed, making him regret not going out there to fight, and making this grave mistake.
Uraraka’s flip phone snapped shut, the call ending as her arms wrapped around him in return, her forehead pressing against his shoulder, her body quaking with sobs. Her hands gripped onto the back of his uniform, balling the fabric up and making his shirt weightless.
“W-why did you come b-back, you are going to be late…” she managed to choke out in between her sobs. “I- I didn’t want you to…”
See her like this?
Be late to the battle?
All he knew was that she really didn’t want him to go now that he was here, which was made certain by how tight her hug was.
His hand found its way behind her head, pushing her further into the hug, the woman almost mewling as she melted against him with another shuddering breath.
“I…” The words died in his throat. He never had to do something like this, consoling someone with tears in his own eyes while trying not to cry along with her.
His body had brought him to this point, but he really didn’t know where to go from there.
“I- I was beaten so badly- the scouts they-”
Then he knew.
“Uraraka- you were amazing out there…” he whispered, slightly into her ear, making the girl in his arms flinch, the self-pity dying in her throat. “Taking on an opponent like him, the top of the class, the third place in the race, the second on the cavalry tournament- they will know how much you accomplished by forcing his hand that much…”
He could feel her trembling start to fade, and her grip tightening around his torso.
Maybe he was saying the right things, maybe he wasn’t. All he knew was that he couldn’t stop himself.
“Uraraka, you were worried about not being a ‘true hero’, right? Because you were doing this ‘for the money’?” He pulled back just a little to look back into her face, to see her eyes, her reactions.
To see if he was doing anything wrong.
She was looking back up at him with an awestruck expression.
“You were a hero out there, facing an opponent that no one thought you could beat- and you got close. Everyone thought that Bakugou was going to steamroll you, but you proved them wrong, you pushed him to use his full strength- you did what a hero would do!” He took a breath in, trying to keep his stream of thought coherent and avoid turning into a mumbling mess.
“And even after your loss, you tried to motivate me, even when you wanted to cry- you smiled, urged me on… That’s the most heroic thing I’ve seen today.” He blinked, noticing how wet his eyes had gotten, and how wet hers looked again. “And- and if they can’t see that they aren’t worth yo- your…”
A sob broke out from his chest, derailing his speech utterly as Uraraka started crying too, but she was smiling, trying to pull him back into the hug.
“Sorry- I made you cry more, I just didn’t-”
The soft sensation of a kiss pushing against his cheek stopped him in his trail of apologies, pulling him out of his downward spiral and making him feel like he was floating again in that special way of hers, the way she somehow managed every time he needed it the most.
“Thank you…” she whispered, slowly pulling back and wiping her own tears as she returned the weight to his shirt. “I- I needed to hear that…”
He rubbed an arm against his face wiping off his tears too. “I- I needed to say that too-”
“ Izuku Midoriya is running late to his match, if he doesn’t come out soon he will be disqualified! ”
Present Mic’s voice shattered the moment they were having, shaking both of them out of it.
Uraraka blinked before turning to him in a panic. “Deku, you gotta go!”
He stared blankly at her for a second before he processed what was happening. “Oh- OH-”
She pushed him out of the room, almost laughing at the sheer hilarity at the moment, Izuku keeping up the momentum and starting to run the rest of the way out.
“Kick his butt!” she hollered after him, the boy raising a fist in response even as he ran out the gate into the light.
She closed the door behind her with a sigh, the room suddenly feeling lonely without Izuku in there with her.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out to answer her dad’s call.
“S-sorry about that dad, someone wanted to talk to me and he-”
A laugh from his side cut her off, making the tension in her shoulders disappear.
“You sound a lot better, I should thank your new boyfriend for that now, shouldn’t I?”
Her eyes widened.
“It’s NOT LIKE THAT!!”