Work Text:
Here was how it happened:
They were on a class trip. Stationed out in the middle of nowhere, near the ocean, in a village that was quiet, class 3-A was taking a break from their internships and their heroics to fill in temporarily—something they’d done with much success before. It was fall then, leaves turning a new color, burning the skyline as best as they could, creating piles on the ground that crackled and crunched in that oh-so-satisfying way. There was a nip in the air, a cold that prodded a person’s ears as it slipped by, a warning.
Winter was nearing.
And Kaminari was its herald.
“Guys! Yaomomo just told me that tonight is the winter solstice!”
“She told us, Denki. US,” Jirou said, pretending to be annoyed with her boyfriend.
His enthusiasm wasn’t derailed in the slightest. “True Babe, true. But, my point is: we should go up on the roof to watch it!”
“Like, you and me?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.
“Yes, that too, but I mean: all of us! It’ll be so cool!”
Jirou blinked openly at her boyfriend, her confusion overpowering.
“I can’t tell if he’s really sweet and thoughtful, or really very dumb,” she murmured.
“Huh? Why?” Kaminari asked.
Nobody had the heart to tell him that he missed a very romantic opportunity for he and his girlfriend. He was just being a good friend to all of them, after all.
Bless him.
But, it did have class 3-A excited, and thus it was decided:
They would watch the solstice together.
Or, mostly together anyhow.
“I’m not looking at some dumb moon, I’m going to bed,” Bakugou had barked.
“I’m behind on my sleep,” Shinso had said right after.
Koda also opted for bed, as did a few of the students who’d had more exciting days (Deku had lifted a boat off the rocks as it nearly crashed ashore, and Iida had to use his recipro burst on overdrive to catch a runaway car with a toddler in it) but most of the students agreed.
Watching the solstice sounded like fun.
“What color is the moon supposed to be tonight? During the solstice, I mean,” Kirishima asked, towing his sleeping mat up the stairs.
They’d found so many things in the building. So many pillows and sleep mats. Sure, they had beds, but they couldn’t drag those up the stairwell and onto the roof, could they? And, yes, the mats were intended for emergency use, but they’d sanitize them and put them back later. Nobody would mind.
Ochako followed Kirishima upward, three steps behind. “I think like a golden color. Or maybe rusty or burnt.”
“Like a giant burnt cracker?”
Ochako tried to catch her laugh, but it blew out between her lips anyway. “A giant burnt cracker? That’s quite the image there Kirishima.”
His smile was a bit chagrinned. “I dunno, that’s just the first thing that popped into my mind. Give me a break! Hey, is it a full moon tonight? It might look more like a half-eaten cheese wheel than a cracker.”
There was no use hiding her smile from him. “No, I think it’s a full moon tonight.”
“We’re in luck then. I wanna see the whole moon, not just a sliver.”
“Me, too.”
This was so easy for her. So nice.
Yes, he was her crush. And, yes, they were talking. And, certainly, she had a nice view of his ass as they walked up the stairs. And, yes, that would’ve driven her up the wall back when she’d had a crush on Deku.
But her crush on Kirishima was… different.
Her heart stuttered in her chest still, and when they accidentally touched—be it in sparring or class or in the dorm—her skin burned to the bone, and she still felt like his smile might break a hole in her chest one day, it was so full of joy and kindness, but it was still different.
With Deku, her feelings had been more… well. Just feelings. Her feelings were centered on admiration. On wanting to be like him, and absorb what she could from him.
With Kirishima, however, her feelings were more than that. Her feelings were feelings, and they were thought, and they were physical.
With Deku, it’d been wholly in her heart.
But with Kirishima, the feeling was root-deep—fitted to her soul. When she was at the mall and saw something manly and red, she thought of him. When her mind wandered, it wandered to wondering how he was doing. When she had dreams of boys and… things, it was usually him that was there.
She wasn’t just curious about him as a hero, or as a friend. She was curious about his whole being, his whole person.
And you don’t come by that very often.
Even if she never dated Kirishima or confessed, she felt like her feelings for him would linger forever. She’d move on maybe—just as she had with Deku—but with Kirishima, her feelings would ghost through her life, forever present.
Which sounded more depressing than it was.
Really, she was happy about her feelings for Kirishima. Thus far, she’d only had crushes on guys she could be proud of. The sorts of young men you’d want to introduce to your parents, or flaunt casually in front of an ex, and Kirishima was no exception to that.
His smile was so bright, she felt certain he could replace the sun should the need ever arise.
She hoped it didn’t.
She wanted as much of that smile to belong to her as was possible.
But the point was: Kirishima was someone she’d always be glad she knew.
Always.
“Have you ever seen a solstice before?” Kirishima asked her, drawing her out of her thoughts.
His voice bounced along the stairwell, echoing nicely. She heard his question twice this way instead of just once. It felt almost as if there were two of him here.
The thought made her smile.
“Not in a long time, but I did once with my dad when I was a kid. It was really pretty. I think I fell asleep in his lap though or something,” she admitted.
He laughed once. “Can’t blame you. Yaomo said that the solstice won’t actually begin until later. We’ve still got a few hours to wait.”
It was the two of them, alone, in the stairwell.
That was the start of the night.
The tip of the iceberg.
It was that moment, that night.
Right then.
It was Kirishima stopping on the last flight of stairs, turning back to Ochako, smiling with his eyes as his lips barely parted. It was him, looking at Ochako, and Ochako looking back at him—heart missing a step and falling back down the way they’d come.
It was this.
“I think… I think tonight’ll really be something. Don’t you, Uraraka?”
She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she found herself nodding anyway, catching her breath as she did.
She hoped she didn’t sound breathless as she replied, her eyes still fixated on his sunrise smile.
“Yeah, it’ll be great.”
That was how it started.
The middle was a strange blur.
It was laughing with friends, and playing cards, and waiting out the stars. It was leaning over to teach Kirishima how to play spades, helping him arrange his hand, their fingers brushing briefly as they both flushed red. It was setting their mats out—next to each other—positioning herself between Tsu and Kirishima as their class began to tire. It was accepting blankets from Yaomo once the night became too bitter for them all, and accepting Kirishima’s offer to share when Yaomo could only produce so many. It was exhales that came out in fog, and it was murmurs that resonated like a landslide in her chest, and it was his smile that snuck warmth into her bones like resilient sunbeams on a cloudy day.
It was a giant, burnt cracker of a moon looming over them. Full and discolored as winter attempted to settle on them.
She was tired.
And she was awake.
Alive, actually, was more accurate.
Very alive.
“Wow, that’s actually kind of beautiful,” Kirishima murmured, voice awed as he rested a hand under his head—his chest covertly on display.
Ochako’s cheeks warmed, her eyes heavy, fatigue catching up to her.
And his voice wasn’t helping.
His tone was always so soothing, so consistent in its roughness. It drifted lazily, deeply. It was that dark tenor, nearly a bass of a voice. A song made just for her, it seemed. A lullaby in its own right.
She was getting drowsier just thinking about it.
But, she stifled a yawn when it was halfway out of her mouth, and she nodded. “It really is something,” she replied, her voice sluggish.
“You tired?”
“Always.”
He gave a gentle laugh.
“You work so hard…”
“Mhmm,” she hummed. “So do you.”
“Yeah, but you hardly get recognized for it. ‘S not fair. You know how many heroes you rescue on a daily basis Uraraka? So many. You’re the hero of heroes—going into situations other heroes haven’t come out of. It’s so manly.” He choked up, sputtering as he reeled. “I—I mean that in a different way! A good way! I mean—ah, dang it—you’re still a woman, and I see you as a woman, but you’re also very valiant and noble and—ah! That’s what I meant. You’re a good hero and—”
Reaching over, she patted his chest drowsily, nearly losing herself to sleep.
“’S okay Kiri. Knew what you meant,” she slurred. “’m glad you see me as wom…an.”
And she was out it seemed. Sleep dragging her further into its rip current, losing her in the depths.
…nearly.
It was a moment. Two. Three. Kirishima shifted a bit, closer to her, and she realized that her hand had stayed on his chest when she’d patted him.
Oh no.
Was that weird? Should she move it? Should she keep being “asleep”? She had nearly been there, but the jolt of panic was waking her up.
Something came around her shoulders then. Something big and solid. She heard Kirishima murmur, “C’mon, work with me. You’ll get a crick in your neck if you sleep like that,” and she realized then what was going on.
He was trying to move his arm under her head, so she could use it as a pillow.
He was… trying to snuggle with her.
Her heart swelled. Taking in the new information with a heap of hope.
Did he… did he maybe…
No.
Maybe he was just being nice. Probably, that was all it was. Him being thoughtful. Kirishima was overly nice, after all. A very kind, very big-hearted softie.
That could be it, too. She shouldn’t get her hopes up.
Yeah, he was probably just being nice.
He chuckled, a sound that rubbed against her cheek so nicely as she was smashed against the side of his chest.
“Night… Ochako.”
Woah—
He’d never said her name before.
Never.
It took her by surprise—hearing him say her name in his husky voice, feeling it reverberate through his chest—
It shocked the hell out of her.
Luckily, she didn’t yelp. She didn’t make any sound at all, actually. Instead, she curled up more.
Laying her head squarely on his chest.
Of course, it was an accident, and she immediately thought better of it.
Carefully—lazily, as if she were still asleep—she moved again, aiming to slide off his chest.
It should’ve been simple. In her head, she planned it out. A light exhale, through the nose, then a confused sound as she turned over. It would be smooth that way, natural. He wouldn’t question it. He wouldn’t know she was awake that way. He’d be none the wiser.
But when she began the motion, something stopped her.
The arm wrapped around her shoulders tightened, holding her in place gently.
It made her feel warm all over. Tingly. Like she had been wrapped inside a blanket fresh from the dryer, not sleeping on the roof with just a thin mat underneath her, hiding under a blanket from the cold as the stars stared down at her. She didn’t feel that, not at all. The winter’s chill, and the night’s approval of the cold, and the wind’s ability to carry it—it was all distant to her. Another world, practically.
It was impossible to feel the cold with Kirishima so close.
But, he was just being kind, she told herself. That was all it was, kindness—
His grip on her tightened again.
Gently, he lifted her higher and, though her eyes were closed, she felt him shifting toward her as he did.
Something connected with her forehead. Just for a second—the briefest of moments—just a soft touch, so tender and warm. Full of something that sparked in her stomach and upturned her insides, his lips so careful and confident in a way that had her soul sputtering. It happened, and Ochako thought it might’ve been a dream.
It sure as hell felt like one.
Heart hammering and blood singing and all of her insides dancing like fireflies on a summer’s eve.
Part of her thought it was impossible.
But, it wasn’t.
Another arm came around her—at the waist this time. It didn’t full capture her, but it did add to the notion that she ought to remain where she was— with her head on Kirishima’s chest, hand curled atop his abdomen, listening to his steadily beating heart, completely captured in his warmth.
It was… a fairytale. A dream. A cold night under the stars, unable to feel anything but warm. It was impossibility.
It was unreal.
But, in the morning, when they woke, they were still close. Still warm.
It was real.
His lazy smile greeted her. “Hey,” he said, biting back a yawn. “Sleep okay?”
God, he really was the sunrise, wasn’t he? Already, she was feeling the effects of that grin.
She smiled back, warmed to her soul.
“Fantastic, actually.”
His eyes closed, and he leaned forward just a tad, unconsciously drawn. “Good.”
She took that as her opportunity.
He’d been bold last night. Now, it was her turn.
Quickly, she struck.
A swift peck on the nose. One that had his eyes opening in a flash, shock apparent as he looked at her, confused.
“Thanks,” she gave a loaded pause and smirked at him, delighted by his awe before she returned the favor. “Eijiro.”
She had no idea that stargazing would end like this. Would end with her in the arms of her crush, feeling so protected and cared for, and sneakily admitting their feelings for each other.
But, hey.
Every relationship has to start somewhere, right?