Work Text:
Nejire was never really one to understand why so many people found it so hard to understand what Izuku was saying. Sure, he sometimes spoke a little quietly, but the contents were always there, right in front of her!
Though, maybe it was the same reason why he never found her hard to understand?
“Um…Nejire-chan?” Uraraka tilted her head, seeing a periwinkle tuft of hair from over the top of the couch.
“Oh, hi, Ochako-chan!” Nejire turned over from laying on her stomach to laying on her back, popping her head out from the side to wave at her junior. “What’s up?”
“...Ohhhhhhh,” She seemed to have thought for a little bit before realizing the obvious. “You’re here for Deku-kun?”
“Mhm!” Nejire nodded affirmatively, eagerly sitting up. “You know where my honey-bunny is?”
Uraraka snorted, “Honey-bunny?”
Nejire got on her knees, enjoying the couch cushions as she leaned over the top of the couch, causing it to rock a little, “Mhm! ‘Cause of his first costume, y’know! Y’remember?”
“...Don’t worry, Nejire-chan,” she let out a soft chuckle as she walked over to her senpai, high-fiving her for a little bit. “I was his partner in our heroics class when he wore it.”
Nejire gasped, her mouth wide open as she leaned even further, definitely causing the couch to rock some more, “Do you have any pictures?”
Uraraka shook her head in a good-natured fashion, shrugging, “Sorry, Nejire-chan. Maybe ask Deku-kun’s mom?”
“Why don’t I ask him, then?” Nejire hummed, leaning over and– “Waah!”
Luckily, Uraraka was there to prevent any damage, pressing all five digits against the couch and letting it float alongside Nejire, who started using her own quirk to hover in the air.
“Sorry, sorry,” she giggled as she lowered herself down, though the energy hadn’t left her body. “Anyways, do you know where he is?”
Uraraka blinked.
“Uh…Nejire-chan?” Uraraka started off, unsure. “How long have you been here…?”
“Oh, just a few minutes!” She responded, flopping back onto the couch. “Why?”
“...” Uraraka stared at her for a second, trying to figure out what to say. “Have you…texted him?”
“Yep!” She responded, hitting a most wonderful stretch. “Though he hasn’t texted me back yet…” She pouted, before sitting up.
“Oh, that reminds me, Ochako-chan!” Nejire remembered what else she could be doing, and she had that look in her eyes that just told Uraraka that she was about to be bombarded with questions.
“U-Uh, w-why don’t you just call him, then?” Uraraka held up her hands defensively, trying to dissuade her from the verbal powerhouse that was, in fact, Nejire-chan.
Nejire gasped, “Oh, right!” She giggled a little before whipping out her phone. “I didn’t wanna interrupt him in case he was really really busy, buuuuut I’m his girlfriend and I miss him, soooooo too bad!”
Uraraka chuckled, “Trust me, Nejire-chan, I don’t think he could possibly think he’d ever be too busy for you.”
“Ehhh?” Nejire pouted at her, because it was clear that Uraraka knew something that she didn’t. “What’s that s’posed to mean?”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older,” Uraraka laughed as she casually headed to the kitchen. As much as she loved talking with Nejire, she was also a regular person who was normally not this energetic at a whopping 7:30 in the morning.
“I’m older than you, you know!” Nejire called out to her, though she was already in the kitchen by that point in time. A blush dusted her cheeks, thinking about the implication in Uraraka’s words, but it only brought a soft smile to her face. It was wonderful to her, knowing that she could be confident in Midoriya liking her the same way she liked him, knowing she didn’t have to even have subconscious worries about her habits around him because he had them, too.
And the notion that, just how she would never be too busy for him, he would never be too busy for her?
Well, that just warmed her heart right up. She felt it beat a little faster as she opened her messages, seeing the contact photo of the two of them at the playground from last month, him pushing her on the swings and the two of them just having a jolly old time.
She pressed “call” and just let the ringtone play out.
“Hi, Nejire!” Midoriya chirped from the other end of the phone the second he picked up. “How’s the prettiest ever doing?”
Nejire giggled, fully enjoying herself despite the fact that she was literally in the 1-A common room instead of her own dorms. Well, to be fair, it’s not like most of them were anywhere near being awake, so it was okay.
“I’m doing good, Darling!” She responded with just as much warmth in her voice. “Can I know where you are real quick?”
“I’m in my room real quick just workin’ on somethin’. Why?”
Nejire smirked, and decided right then and there to just hang up the phone.
Sure, it would confuse him, but that was okay.
She had a boyfriend to spend time with today!
Midoriya kept his project in his hands, though he was paying more attention to the “Call ended” screen on his phone.
“Uh…” He let out to himself, confusion laced in his voice. “Okay…?”
He was thinking about the idea of trying to call her back, but the startle of the rapid knocking at his door kind of interrupted that thought process.
Ohhhhh, Midoriya snapped his fingers, knowing that there was literally only one person in the world who would be knocking on his door A) at this hour, B) with that excitement, and C) right after ending a call with him.
He couldn’t help but feel giddy as he got up from his chair, carefully placing his project down on his desk, and then heading over to his door and asking in a sing-songy tone, “Who is it?”
The laugh he heard was music to his ears as the speedy knocking came to a stop, with the equally lovely response of “It’s me, silly!”
He opened the door, arms already outstretched to catch his girlfriend, who basically sped into his room and captured him in a super-duper wonderful hug, “Hi, Izuku!”
He couldn’t help but sigh in bliss, feeling her strong hold on him before pressing a kiss to her chin, “Good morning, Dear! Did you sleep well?”
“Mhm!” She nodded. “How about you, My Beloved?” She booped him on the nose, and enjoyed the way his nose wrinkled a little at the contact.
He shrugged, with a soft “I think I did?” before kissing her on the cheek.
Twice.
Nejire giggled at the contact, asking playfully, “Do you want something, Izuku?”
Izuku only pouted at her, almost having the urge to play along with her and leave her arms to cross his own, but ended up deciding against that because it would mean he would have to actively choose not to be held by her.
“...-ss,” He grumbled quietly, so quiet that Nejire wasn’t able to pick enough of it up, but she knew what she was getting at.
“Hmmmmmmm?” Her voice started a little low, but it got higher by the end. “You mind repeating that for me, I-Zu-Ku?” She enunciated each syllable, though she knew that she wouldn’t be able to play along much longer.
“...Good morning kiss…?” He used the pouty eyes that he knew she loved, and her heart soared seeing him like this.
“Oh my god, I love you so, so much, Izuku,” Nejire cooed before cupping both of his cheeks and giving in to his request. And then giving in to his request again.
And again and again.
Once she pulled away, quite satisfied with the dopey smile on his face and the blissful “I love you tooooo…,” her eyes darted over to his table, with the multiple paper sheets of varying color sitting on his desk. Huh. That was definitely not there the last time she was over.
“Ooh, whatcha doin’, Dear?” Nejire asked, and was glad that he was comfortable enough with her for her to quite literally pick him up and bring him back over to his desk. She’d been there enough for him to also get her a chair for his room, since the two of them loved to be together at his desk, learning things, doing things, finding things out about each other.
It was one of her favorite things about being his girlfriend. It was almost unbelievable how much he wanted to learn, how much he craved knowledge. How much he wanted to think.
Sure, she absolutely loved having best friends like Mirio and Amajiki, and she’d even wanted to go on double dates with them and Izuku. It was amazing how much they put thought into their quirks and how they can apply it, especially Mirio after that drought of not having his own quirk after the Overhaul incident.
She also loved being able to talk to others like Yuyu, Uraraka, and Tsu, and talking to them was generally a really fun experience!
But, man, she was so in love with the fact that she could be completely curious about anything and everything, and it didn’t matter how obscure, how much he knew, how much was possible to learn for sure or how much you just had to wonder for yourself, he matched her. She would ask a ton of questions to other people, but didn’t really think about them answering because she asked too many.
But asking a ton of questions to Midoriya instead? She was hooked on every answer he would have to every single question she put out there.
“I wanted to try getting into origami,” Midoriya explained, waving at the crumpled pieces of paper in his trash can. “I was doomscrolling last night–”
“And not kissing me?” Nejire teased, earning a playful eye roll and another kiss on the cheek from Midoriya.
“Anyways, yeah, I was doomscrolling,” Midoriya scooted his chair closer to her, their arms basically leaning against each other as he now turned Nejire’s attention to the non-failures sitting on his desk. “And I saw a video talking about the ‘Easy, medium, hard’ of origami creations.”
She gently picked one up, a dog face that didn’t have a ton of detail, but was cute nonetheless. Nejire brought it closer to her face, analyzing the little doodles he’d put on there. A little bit of penciling here and there to add a look for the ears, some goofy sharp teeth, “intimidating” eyes, the whole shebang.
“It made me wanna see what it was all about!” Midoriya chirped. “So I asked Momo-san if she’d be willing to make some origami paper for me, but it turns out she’d had a bunch that she didn’t plan on using any time soon, so she gifted it to me.”
“Oh, that’s cool! How long have you been at it?” Nejire asked. “Did you try some last night?”
He shook his head, looking at the partially folded creation sitting in the middle of the table, “No, I just wanted to go to sleep at that point in time. I’ve been trying things out for the past hour, though.” He tilted his laptop towards her, where there were a few tabs opened that were about easy origami creations, the rightmost (and presumably most recent) tab being the one he was currently working on: the classic crane.
She gently intertwined her fingers with his, and despite the height difference, she found herself enjoying the comfort of leaning her head onto his shoulder (even though it was just as lovely for him to lean his head onto her shoulder when they went on dates).
Midoriya stopped talking for a second before smiling, giving her hand a squeeze, and whispering, “I love you, Nejire.”
“I love you too.”
“...You want to join, don’t you?”
Nejire giggled, “You know me so well, Darling.”
Really, the rather antique nicknames had come out of a joke. It was actually Uraraka who made a good-hearted joke about “Man, Deku-kun, I didn’t know you were into grandmas!” and then the immediate defense of “She’s literally only two years older than me!”
From there, Nejire decided to buy into the joke and start calling Midoriya some old-timey pet names like “Darling” and “Dear,” and eventually, he found himself reciprocating.
Man, relationships were silly, even for heroes.
Midoriya peppered kisses all over her face, and handed her a piece of paper before asking, “Have you ever done origami before?”
Nejire shook her head, playing around with the paper without doing anything that could mess up the origami process as she explained, “Always wanted to, but…”
“Another hobby?” Midoriya finished her sentence, and she nodded. It was yet another commonality between the two of them, to have an interest in something, and then a greater interest just happened to have come along at the same time and taken priority.
“Yeah…” She scratched her cheek a little as she weakly laughed.
Midoriya smiled, “Well, I guess it looks like we have another thing we can do together, Dear!” She nodded, locking their arms together for a moment as Midoriya used as much free movement as he could to bring his laptop closer and type despite Nejire’s hold on him.
“So, what do you wanna try making first?”
“Ohhhh, that’s so pretty!” Nejire complimented, making sure that Midoriya and the mini-cat that she’d made sitting on top of his hair (partially covered by how fluffy it was) was perfectly in the frame of her phone camera. She’d convinced him to let her take the picture, and now, the two of them had gone far from the desk and now were lying on their stomachs, facing each other on the floor.
They’d worked on quite a few things together, like the obvious ones. The crane, a really simple butterfly, another dog face, a cat face, things like that.
However, recently, they also began working on their own things, with Nejire using her phone and Midoriya sticking to his laptop, just talking about random things, asking fun questions and hypotheticals, things like that.
(Midoriya never expected he would be discussing whether or not SNIPE of all heroes would be able to beat Endeavor, but unfortunately, becoming best friends with Todoroki meant that he would push any anti-Endeavor agenda he could. The most absurd of these agendas was the notion that goddamn DEATH ARMS would be able to take down Endeavor. Maintaining the agenda was his top priority.)
“Urgh…” Midoriya groaned, his hands having accidentally torn the paper a little. “Whoops…”
Nejire moved her eyes away from her own project to look at Midoriya, who sighed and grabbed another sheet and started working on another one. He didn’t seem so frustrated as he was vexed.
“Is something wrong, Izuku?” She gently put her own thing down. “Y’know, this is something we’re doing to relax, My Dear. Do you wanna do something calmer instead?”
He let out a soft, thankful smile as he blew a kiss at her and explained, “No, that’s not it. I’m still enjoying this. I’m just…” he gestured at his hands, and Nejire understood what he meant. She thought that’d be the case, honestly. Knowing Midoriya’s intricacies meant that she knew just how much his hand pain plagued him, and how they had recently started to have these slight tremors.
It might not have been such a soft spot for him, because he always felt proud of…well, he hadn’t told her why, but she had a guess. All he’d explicitly told her was that, even though it hurt and could be an inconvenience, it felt comforting to him as a whole.
“Is it okay if I kiss your hands?” Nejire gently asked, softly scooching her way over to be closer to him.
Midoriya smiled gratefully, and nodded as he whispered, “You’re too sweet to me, you know.”
“No, I’m not,” she denied, though without any hostility to her voice as she picked up his left hand. “You mean a lot to me, and I just want to show you that I care and that I want to do whatever I can.” She gave him a gentle smile as she started kissing his left hand, paying special attention to the parts that he talked about hurting more often than the others. The muscles right below his thumb, right by his fingernails, all the places that especially ached.
Midoriya knew deep down that, logically, Nejire doing this for him most likely was not, in fact, helping his hand pain. Yet, at the same time, there was something in his heart that was warmed by it, feeling the warmth of her love and care, that made him partially feel like there had to have been an effect. Even if his hands still shook, there was something different to it.
Once she ended up finishing with both hands, during which in between kisses, the two were still blabbing about how origami was going, she asked gently, “Is that better, Darling?”
So, despite the logical uncertainty, Midoriya spoke confidently, “Yeah…yeah, it is.” He knew that it probably wasn’t, and Nejire knew that fact just as well (she may be a little airheaded, but she wasn’t an idiot, damn it), but none of that mattered. She did. And to Midoriya, that’s all he needed.
She scooted back with a smile and hummed, satisfied to herself, “Good! Anything for my beautiful boyfriend.” His heart skipped a beat at that, but he smiled back at her nonetheless as the two went back to their own crafts, just generally talking with each other.
After a few minutes, though, he finally gasped, making one last move, “There we go!” Nejire was careful not to mess up what she was working on as she put it down gently. It was her second attempt, and she was taking things slow since it was a bit of a longer design, but she still wanted to pay attention to Midoriya here.
“What’s up? What didja make?” She leaned in, looking at the beautiful insect in his hands.
He smiled gently, before very softly whispering, “Can I put it in your hair?” It wasn’t like he was advanced enough to make something that would somehow clip on, but it was origami, light enough to catch on just a few strands. Plus, Nejire knew that he would be delicate enough to place it there in such a way that wouldn’t be annoying or painful to remove later on, nor would it be something that would damage the origami itself.
She nodded, and just as softly as she expected, he gently moved his fingers through her hair with one hand, and gently placed the origami insect in there with another.
“It’s a dragonfly,” he murmured, quiet enough that she was barely able to hear it. “It…It was the first thing I thought about making when I thought about starting origami, but I knew I wasn’t good enough to just move straight to dragonflies without practicing other things and building up basic skills.”
The reason was fair enough, at least, to Nejire. Even if it wasn’t a very advanced design, it definitely was on a different level compared to the silly dog face he’d made earlier on.
That said…
“Why a dragonfly?” She asked, though her voice had also quieted down in turn with Izuku’s. She knew he only got like this with her when he had something he’s been thinking about for a decent bit of time, something that mattered to him emotionally, and knowing the type of person he was and the person he tried to be, it wasn’t often he was so willing to open himself so widely like that.
“...It reminds me of you a lot,” Midoriya hummed, leaning back and looking at the origami dragonfly now perched in Nejire’s hair.
She didn’t quite understand what he was getting at, but she was sure that he was going to explain, and explain he did, “Everything about you. I…I thought about making you something else that flies, because, to me, flying feels the most like…freedom.”
“Freedom?” She parroted, though she couldn’t help the corners of her lips from turning upwards; she’d always loved the idea of becoming more free than before, the notion that the person she is now is the person that younger her had always wanted to be.
The notion that, even though the people around her helped her become free, she could now be free all on her own, regardless of environment.
“Yeah,” he affirmed, his tone still holding the same softness as before. “So, other flying things came to mind. Butterflies are really common to make in origami, cranes are…well, they’re cranes.” Nejire couldn’t help but snort at that. She would’ve loved it either way, but he was right, it would feel a little…normal for him to make those.
And, of course, one thing that Nejire loved about him was that, no matter how normal he thought he was, Midoriya Izuku was anything but.
“So I…I wanted to make something that felt a little more…strictly you,” he emphasized, staring right at her. “Also…you look gorgeous right now, Nejire…”
She’d never found herself able to say that she was used to his compliments, per se, but she felt like she was getting better at externally reacting to them.
Didn’t change how light she felt after each and every one of them, though.
“Thank you, my Dear,” she whispered back, gently grabbing his left hand and holding it in her own hand. “But…the dragonfly?”
“Yeah,” he hummed, almost as if he was in a dream-like state. “To be honest, maybe something else would’ve had more symbolic fit, or something like that. But…for this one, I kind of just went based off of how it felt.”
Nejire nodded, looking at him just as dreamily, taking his words into her heart and processing them. To her, he seemed much more like the type of person to meticulously research what the history, the cultural implications, the everything behind something he made with this much intention would be.
Yet, somehow, this felt like it mattered to him even more, a natural effort instead of one that he gathered up.
“And…it felt like dragonflies were most like you, at least, to me,” Midoriya explained.
Nejire tilted her head, trying to follow where he was going, “Is it the rapid flight?”
He moved his head as if he was toying with his words in his head, before settling on answering, “I mean, kind of. I’ll admit, something like that came to mind. The way they can just dart around so quickly, so suddenly, feels a lot more like you than birds. I think birds move around a lot more smoothly. Dragonflies feel like they’re more…all over the place, which I think is more you. I think you’re very deliberate in what you do, but also…very free in how you move. It’s like a chosen freedom, instead of one that’s been there from birth, in their genes.”
She caught on to his words, a small detail. He emphasized ‘is,’ which implied that, even though it’s more similar to her than birds are, he spoke it in a way that made it very clear that there was more to his story.
“So what’s the main reason?” Nejire prompted easily. A lot of questions she’d wanted to ask, he’d answered in his spiel, and she suspected that the same would be done here.
“I…I was thinking a lot about who you were,” Midoriya admitted, and Nejire caught her breath for a moment, and for just a split second, her eyes went away from Midoriya.
She muttered, “...You still think about that talk?”
Midoriya nodded, and his face took on a harder expression that she didn’t regularly see on him, a stark contrast from how softly he’d normally look at her, “It’s…It’s the first time you let yourself cry in front of me. I…I hold that memory close to me.”
Nejire gulped, not knowing exactly how to take that. She appreciated that he took it so seriously, but it felt a little scary, knowing that somebody has that moment so intimately close to them, even if it was the love of her life.
“That’s kind of why I couldn’t bring myself to make you into a butterfly,” Midoriya admitted. “Their metamorphosis is…it feels really fast. Do you remember that book on dragonflies that I read from the library?”
Nejire nodded, feeling comfort at the memory. It was probably one of the first times they’d interacted out of class, even before they started dating, where she’d decided to pick up a book on the history of Pre-Quirk American animation, and Midoriya had, in fact, chosen a book on dragonflies and the two of them simply hung out, asking questions to the other about their book, and were having a peaceful time together.
“Unlike butterflies, dragonflies start out as nymphs for months or years, and they molt multiple times. Their final molt is really demanding, takes a lot of hours, and even afterwards, their wings need to dry and harden before they can even fly. It’s an honestly brutal process, I think,” Midoriya described and opined. “I don’t know all the details of how you changed from middle school to…well, now. But…and I hope this isn’t completely wrong, or I’m making assumptions that make you feel really bad, but it sort of sounded like this when you talked about it to me.”
Nejire, for once, was quiet as she tried thinking about how to word what she wanted to say. It was a clear sentiment, and almost shameful to talk about.
“...It kinda was,” she eventually decided.
Midoriya looked a little relieved, though there was a bit of sadness in his eyes as he realized that she was also confirming all the implicitly negative parts of it even more.
“That’s kind of what made me settle on a dragonfly in the end,” he finished. “...I hope you like it, Darling.”
There was a moment of silence, but Nejire eventually broke it with a soft smile, “I love it, Izuku.”
“I’m glad,” he smiled back.
“Can I…ask Yuyu to change it up a little?” Nejire asked. “She’s really good with fashion stuff, and I…I’d like to wear it as a hair clip, and she can help me change it into that.”
Midoriya’s heart swelled as his soft smile turned into a larger grin, “Of course! You don’t even need to ask, Nejire!”
Nejire giggled and explained, “But you made it for me, Dear! You should get some input on it.”
“I want what–”
“What makes me happy, yeah, yeah,” Nejire rested her head on her hand as she started kicking her feet a little. “You little cornball.”
“Your little cornball,” Midoriya corrected, and Nejire had to laugh at that, too. “So, can I ask what you’re working on?”
“Oh, y’know how you were making a dragonfly for me?” Nejire prompted, and Midoriya nodded. “Well, I wanted to make a mule for you! I’ve been following this guide for a bit, and this is my second try, and–”
“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Midoriya held out his hands to halt her for a moment. “Why a mule?”
“Oh! Well, that’s because…” Nejire started.
And so, the two fell back into their old habit of yapping to each other while doing a mutual activity, learning and doing together.
And all that mattered now was that Nejire could watch as a hand folds a piece of paper into something beautiful.
“Hey, Deku-kun, what’s that all about?” Uraraka asked one day in the lunch room while he was working on his hero notebook. She was pointing at a piece of paper, folded multiple times into a certain shape.
“Oh, it’s a bookmark!” He explained. “I didn’t realize how good it’d be when it came to quickly accessing my newest page until I started using it. It may only save a few seconds each time, but it adds up really quickly, honestly. Big, uh…what was it, again?”
“Quality of Life Improvement?” Kaminari suggested after taking a big slurp of his soda.
“Yeah, that!” Midoriya snapped his fingers.
Uraraka rolled her eyes, “Well, anybody could’ve told you it was a bookmark. Why that?”
“Oh, it’s a mule! Nejire made it for me!” He held it up proudly, to the point where it wouldn’t have been inappropriate for a silly little ‘ta-da’ sound effect to have accompanied the action.
“Ughhhhh, you’re so whipped, Midoriya!” Kaminari groaned, slamming his head on the table. “Save some lovin’ for the rest of us, dude! I mean, it’s always ‘Oh, Nejire’ this and ‘Oh, Nejire’ that, and–”
And so, a mule kicks.
“YEOWCH! What was that for?!” Kaminari jolted, his hands instantly going under the table to rub the part of his leg that’d been assaulted by Midoriya’s shoe.
The “what” that was for suddenly came bolting over.
And so, a dragonfly zips.
“Hi, Izuku!” Nejire greeted excitedly as she essentially collided into him, wrapping her arms around him from behind his seat, leaning over as she did so. “Whatcha guys talkin’ about?!”
“Oh, nothing much,” Midoriya laughed as she planted a kiss to the top of his head. “Right, Kaminari?”
He chuckled, horrified by the look in Midoriya’s eyes, “Y-Yeah, right!”
Uraraka furrowed her eyebrows, her eyes focused on a particular thing about the periwinkle-haired girl currently participating in heavy amounts of showing her love to her boyfriend.
“Hey, Nejire-senpai?” She asked to catch her attention.
“Huh? Oh, what’s up, Ochako-chan?!”
“What’s with that dragonfly in your hair?”
“Oh! So, remember that time I was over a few days ago? I ended up heading to Izuku’s room and, turns out, he’d started doing origami, so I…”
Sure, the group sitting at Midoriya’s table would only be overwhelmed with over more fond exasperation of how romantic the two of them were, but it didn’t matter.
Because, of course, when you find a mule doing its dirty work by water, you’re bound to find a dragonfly flying nearby.