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Izuku pumped his fist in triumph. Toshinori came through like usual. Two tickets to the Dodgers-Braves game, right there in his inbox!
The Green Machine(ist): Thank you so much dad! I really can’t even begin to say how much I appreciate it!
I Am Mighty: Of course Izuku! It was a fairly simple task. I hope you and your date enjoy yourselves!
Izuku’s face went red.
The Green Machine(ist): Dad! I told you! Uraraka isn’t my date! She’s just my friend!
I Am Mighty: Whatever you say young man ;)
Izuku could practically hear his stepfather’s warm, teasing laughter coming through his phone screen all the way from Musutafu. It could hear it as if the retired baseball player were sitting next to him on the couch right now. He shook his head in amusement.
Truth be told, he thought the world of Uraraka Ochako. She’d been his closest friend since he first arrived in America. It was hard traveling all the way out to the other side of the world where he didn’t know a single person. He’d always had a pretty good grasp on English but learning how to read, write, and pronounce a language was a whole different world than having a conversation with native speakers. Where some people were really patient and kind, like his roommate, Melissa Shield or NASA's liaison to CalTech, Commander Bate, others much less so, like Professor Skyline.
Izuku had tried to not let it bother him, it was natural to be frustrated with someone who needed to have certain things repeated so often because they didn’t understand the topic they’d come across the world to study, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t find the professor’s words a bit hurtful at times.
It was another reason why he was so grateful for Ochako’s friendship, it wasn’t just another person that looked like him and (sort of) understood his culture, she knew Japanese and English but had the opposite levels of fluency as he did. She was born and raised in Georgia, he came from Shizuoka. He was studying English to make rockets in America, she knew Japanese to talk to her grandparents, neither one could have a full conversation in the other’s native language with one of their peers. They helped each other improve on their weaknesses.
And on top of all that, she was just so kind. She always knew exactly how to cheer him up when he was feeling down, feeling home sick. She also helped him learn to stand up for himself. Izuku was a naturally shy, soft spoken person who didn’t particularly like coming into conflict with people, but she encouraged him to advocate for himself, whether it was telling people to stop being rude to him or in general or just telling the guy at McDonald’s that he asked for his hamburger to be made with no pickles.
Ochako was an amazing girl that he’d absolutely love to spend every day with whether they were in California, Georgia, Texas, Shizuoka, Tokyo, Kansai, or freaking Cabo Verde. He’d love to ask her out but he also wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. He didn’t want to ruin their friendship by going past that boundary.
Did that run counter to her advice about advocating for himself? Probably, but old habits died hard as the Americans liked to say.
No, he’d stay friends with her, and that was a perfectly acceptable thing. The love between friends was not a lesser thing than romantic love.
Would he prefer to share a romantic love with her? Well… Yes, but he was choosing to be selfless by not asking that of her.
Or maybe he was being an idiot by denying the both of them something they’d enjoy?
Maybe they’d never know.
Fuck.
Feelings were complicated. But you know what’s not nearly as complicated?
Baseball! He needed to tell Ochako about the tickets.
The Green Machine(ist): So guess who’s awesome stepdad just gave us the best fourth of july gift?
Ochako nearly dropped her phone.
Space Girl: We’re gonna see the Braves play the Dodgers?!
The Green Machine(ist): You know it!
Ochako nearly screamed. “BEST! BOYFRIEND! EVER!”
Her roommate snorted. “Someone’s excited.”
“He got the tickets!”
“He what?!”
“HIMIKO! HE GOT THE TICKETS!” Ochako screamed with delight.
Himiko looked back at her slackjawed. “Holy shit, you guys sure you don’t want a third?!”
“For the game or our relationship?” Ochako teased.
“Yes.”
Ochako laughed. “Maybe if we both get way too drunk at the game.”
“I hope Yagi paid for beer then!”
“Taking advantage of people when they’re drunk? For shame!” The brown haired girl replied in mock horror.
Himiko snorted. “I’m just saying, you two are the biggest cuties I’ve ever met. If you ever wanted to open things up, I’d be game.”
Ochako shook her head in amusement. “I’m not opposed to it, but sometimes I wonder if Izuku even realizes we’re dating.”
Himiko laughed. “He can’t be that dense can he?”
Izuku let out a loud sneeze.
“Are you okay?” Melissa hollered from the other room.
“Hai,” Izuku hollered back, grabbing a tissue. “I mean, yeah, yeah, I’m okay, I think I might need to do some cleaning up in here. It’s a little dusty.”
Ochako shrugged. “Who knows? Either way, I gotta look for that Braves jersey. I hope I still have it! I don’t wanna have to fork over $60 bucks to buy a new one!”
“Still cheaper than the beer,” Himiko quipped.
Ochako groaned. “I don’t think I’ve been to an event at Dodger Stadium, have you?”
“I saw Pop Step make her US debut there a few years ago. Great show, horrible seats, worse prices.”
Ochako nodded. “That tracks. What about back in Arizona?”
Himiko scoffed. “My dad got us front row tickets for Taylor Swift at the start of The Eras Tour at the State Farm Stadium back when I was still trying to pretend that I wasn’t a little sicko, I might hate that bitch, but she knows how to put on a fucking show, that being said though, the merch prices were God awful!”
Ochako shook her head. “I’m not surprised.”
“You think you guys are gonna get good seats?”
Ochako thought for a moment then smirked. “If I know Mr. Yagi the way I think I do, he’s gonna set us up in full view of the cameras. He’s probably paid off someone to get us on screen at some point.”
Himiko bit back a devilish grin. “I’m sure Izuku won’t freak out at all.”
Ochako winked.
“Offer’s still on the table!” Himiko teased.
Ochako tossed a t-shirt at her goofball roommate.
Izuku took a deep breath. He was pretty sure he was on the verge of hyperventilating but he forced himself to calm down.
Steady inhale. Steady exhale. Repeat. Steady inhale. Steady exhale. Repeat.
“Okay, okay, it’s just two people enjoying each other’s company and watching a baseball game. It’s okay. It’s all gonna be okay.”
“You’re damn skippy, it's gonna be okizay!”
Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned around to see Ochako literally standing right behind him.
“Kon'nichiwa Deku!” Ochako giggled. “How’s your day been?”
“I’v been nervous about this all day, but that’s nothing new. I spend a lot of time stuck in my head.”
“That you do, but it’s a good thing you spend more of it running around on the track and learning how to build rockets.”
“Well if I didn’t overthink things those rockets would probably suck, wouldn’t they?”
“Touche.”
Izuku let out a small laugh then looked down at his and Ochako’s shirts. “Still rocking the Braves shirt?”
“Still rocking your old man’s number?” Ochako teased, pointing to Izuku's old Toshinori Yagi-Dodgers jersey.
Izuku let out a more enthusiastic laugh. “You know it, Toshinori was my hero way before he ever met my mom, and then my hero became my dad. Toshinori says that the day he married my mom was the best day of his life and I said the same thing up until the day I met you.”
Ochako smiled brightly. “You really mean that don’t you?”
“I do,” Izuku replied.
Best. Boyfriend. Ever!
“Meeting you was a pretty great day for me too, but today might just take the cake!”
“Well we won’t be able to actually eat the cake unless we go inside, now will we?”
“No, we won’t! Let’s go!” Ochako hooked her arm into Izuku’s. “Shall we go?”
Izuku’s face turned bright red. “S-s-sō shimashou!”
Ochako giggled.
“No no no, we agreed, it’s Fourth of July, American only,” she teased.
“Oh right, uh, we shall!” Izuku corrected, walking arm in arm with Ochako into the stadium.
The game was slightly more than half done with the fourth inning being over with it being an extremely competitive game with the Braves slightly leading the Dodgers 7 to 5.
“We’d probably still be leading if the old man was still here,” Izuku teased.
“Didn’t he just get his stomach removed last year?” Ochako questioned.
“My point stands,” Izuku replied, a defiant look on his face.
Ochako laughed and shook her head.
The duo looked up at the jumbotron to see the kiss cam was starting and the two young adults suddenly felt butterflies starting to flutter about in their stomachs but for very different reasons. Ochako hoping it would land on them, Izuku hoping they could avoid it. She wanted to have the moment from the end of a romantic comedy, he wanted to avoid the embarrassment of having to explain they weren’t actually a couple.
The cam initially landed on an African-American man with padlocks for earrings and yellow glasses and his blonde haired caucasian wife with brown roots who was holding their son in her lap. Sweetly, the two parents planted a small peck on top of their baby boy’s little head before sharing a tender kiss between each other.
Everyone applauded. It was a truly adorable sight.
The screen then moved to another blonde woman who was so darned pretty she looked like she’d just walked out of a Disney movie, her boyfriend however had blood red hair and an eyepatch and looked like he’d just walked out of a POW camp in some hellish place that God was a stranger to. Naturally, he wanted nothing to do with being on camera and tossed his jacket over his face, caring nothing for what the people wanted, his girlfriend pulled the jacket off the grumpy bastard’s face and kissed him tenderly on the cheek.
Everyone laughed and awed and the camera moved on, having been satisfied with what it came for.
The camera finally settled on… Izuku and Ochako.
Ochako’s face lit up with excitement, Izuku’s turned red with embarrassment.
Izuku waved his hand in front of his throat in a signal to abort. “Oh no, no, I’m sorry, we’re not-”
Izuku’s words were cut off by Ochako gently taking hold of his hand and kissing him full on the mouth.
Izuku began staring into space.
“Did that really just happen?”
Ochako guffawed. “You really didn’t think we were dating did you?”
“You thought we were?!”
“Yes!”
“You want to date me?”
“YES! JESUS CHRIST!” The brunette laughed. “How is this a question? Of course I want to date you big green dork!”
Holy shit. Izuku thought. “In that case…”
Izuku pulled Ochako into his lap and kissed her deeply.
The camera was about to cut away but this had just gotten very interesting.
“Where did that come from?” Ochako huffed, taking in a deep breath after a solid minute of kissing.
“I… Don’t know. I guess I got carried away.”
“Holy shit…”
“Do you want to do that more after the game?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely! Sexy and nerdy! I got fucking lucky.”
“I think I’m the lucky one here.”
The two of them looked up at the jumbotron, it was still focused on them.
Izuku made a shooing gesture.
“Go away! Go!” The green haired boy laughed.
“Hey, let ‘em watch, I don’t care who sees me with the man I love.”
“Love?” Izuku repeated, looking flustered.
Ochako went pale. “Well, I mean… Yeah. I mean, who else would take a girl to see her favorite team on their first date?”
“It must be pretty special if this guy didn’t even know it was a date to start the night,” Izuku joked.
“The specialist guy in the world,” Ochako teased.
“Was that an autism joke?” Izuku teased back.
Ochako made a sound that was somewhere between an offended gasp and a genuinely amused laugh. “I would never!”
“I guess I’m about to spend the next while finding out what you would do,” Izuku winked.
“Izuku Midoriya!” Ochako gasped, she was caring less and less about this game as the moments went on. “When did you get so bold?”
“About the same time I realized not being bold meant I missed out on probably a million chances to have already kissed you.”
“Well, hey, it doesn’t matter if you had to delay the initial launch, we got off the ground in the end.”
“That’s true. Very true in fact,” Izuku agreed, giving her another, much more tender kiss.
“And I can’t wait to explore the stars with you.”