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It was another typical night out with friends. Nothing too special.
Of course, everything was special to Izuku if it was time spent with his friends. His favourite people. People that’d always made him belong. But, Well, usually, that was.
He didn’t know why. It wasn’t even necessarily his friend’s fault.
More like the way Mina talked about her recent patrol with Kirishima and how funny it’d been when he had to climb back down the roof because he got stuck from his own hardening quirk, and how a slight blush crept up Kirishima cheeks now.
Or how Bakugo was shouting at Denki for being able to use his lightning quirk in combat but not even able to charge Bakugo’s phone properly.
Or how Jirou laughed afterwards, telling a different story about patrol with Denki where he’d thought Ochako was a villain and almost accidentally electrocuted her.
Izuku didn’t even catch the way Denki tried to defend himself afterwards as their cheerful laughter started to fade into nothing more than background.
He’d told himself it didn’t matter anyway. Countless times now.
But at times like these, it felt really hard not to think of other times.
Times when he used to train with Gran Torino, the first time he ever truly understood how to control his own quirk with the usage of 5 perfect smash. Or the times where All Might had taken him to dinner or his own office with a cup of matcha that had mostly gotten cold because of how engulfed Izuku had been with All Might’s explanations of One For All and how to master it.
But the thought that stayed with him the most was the lingering feeling of how maybe, after all this time, nothing had truly changed from that small version of him that had only ever dreamed of one tiny thing.
The thought that it had all been some kind of fever dream. A fever dream where he’d gotten to live out his dream for a little while, even though he’d spent most of it trying to make it stay a little longer.
A dream where he’d been gripping onto the remaining spark in his hands that’d slowly been ebbing away and had made him burn his fingers in the process.
He wished he could’ve held onto it a little longer, no matter how burnt he would’ve gotten.
He felt a small tap on his shoulder and when he looked up, his eyes were met with warm brown ones, looking at him like he was about to fall apart.
Izuku immediately shot Ochako a reassuring smile, even though it came out small and vulnerable.
“Guys, me and Deku-kun are going to us a drink. Anyone want one?”, she asked, even though she’d already began walking.
“Oh my god you angel!”, Denki called out in a slightly slurred voice, “Can you pleaaase get me a-“ He was quickly interrupted by what Izuku could only assume was Jiro’s foot stepping on his before he cried out.
“Ow, what was that for?” He hissed loudly.
The last thing Izuku caught was the worried glance Bakugo gave him before Izuku nodded reassuringly, making him turn away again. Izuku didn’t miss the way Bakugo’s slight frown hadn’t entirely disappeared before he started shoving his mouth full with more food.
Ochako waited for the faint breeze of warm air to tug at her hair and his sleeve, for it to almost embrace them both, forming a slight connection building between them and the now soft air around them.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Izuku had expected his voice to come out more hesitant or anxious, instead it sounded strangely calm when he spoke.
“When I was sitting at the table, I had strange thoughts.”
He waited half a second before going on.
“About.. being a hero. You know, not the career I chose, but the one I could’ve had. The one I’d always excepted to have, even though I know all it was were two years and a quirk meant to defeat All for one and save the world.”
Ochako didn’t interrupt him when he paused.
“I guess I just thought that.. I don’t know.. I’d have more time actually feeling like a true hero.” This time he quickly interrupted himself,
“Not that I don’t think I am now, of course!! Or that I wasn’t one before all of that. I just..” Izuku sighed.
When he didn’t speak for a few seconds, Ochako did.
“I get it.”
Izuku looked up at her in slight surprise.
“You imagined your life differently than this. But you still want it. This version of it.”
“But you know what? It’s okay to have those thoughts. You’re living your life so differently than what you had worked for before you got into UA. The version of you now is nothing like the version it was before you ever had a quirk, even though both of those versions don’t have one. That old version still exists, and it had dreams of a different future. But you can still build it for yourself. You are building it for yourself. Right now, in this moment.”
Izuku didn’t know when, or what it was exactly, but somewhere in between the words the girl next to him had spoken, tears had started to form in his eyes. He didn’t even mind wiping them away, and for the first time in a long time he didn’t have any words to properly describe the feelings he was holding in his hearts at that moment.
It reminded him of another time, one similar to this one, where a certain brown haired girl had also changed his life with a few inspirational words that had meant the world to him, at a time where his life had been falling apart tremendously and he’d needed it the most.
He had tried finding the pieces erratically in an attempt to make it better, and she’d been the one most capable of slowly starting to piece them back without even batting an eye.
Now, as he took her hand and studied her expression and the way the wind was playing with her hair again, he recognised the same spark he used to desperately try wrapping his hands around, in her glowing brown eyes.
And in that moment, he realised that that was the only spark he’d ever need, curling his fingers between hers instead.