A hero isn't hope

Beautiful World

Cover was by @Carziecat_Art on Twitter, check her out

The sun was breaking through the horizon as morning came. The birds chirped as the trees rustled along.

He grunted, rolling over, being woken up by nature. After a moment of trying to go back to sleep, he sighed not being able to, before sitting up on his bed. He yawned as he rubbed his eyes, the purple bags under them having become a prominent part of his face nowadays, it was one of the subtle contrasts to the sunshine appearance of his first year.

He barely got any sleep like usual, although by now he was used to it. He turned his head to the window, staring out at the sky,

"Another day, huh?"

Izuku Midoriya left his apartment, heading off to U.A. He was attending his third and final year there. He pulled out his phone as he walked down the street, holding his school bag with his other hand. He was checking the crime feed. "It's probably going to be another slow day at the agency." Izuku rubbed his tired face as he let out a helpless groan.

Ever since the league of villains was defeated Izuku's hero life had calmed down and that meant he had more time to focus on his personal life...

"Deku, Deku!"

The voice of the bubbly airhead caused him to internally stiffen. He hated how she always went out of her way to seek him out. Always...

Izuku turned his head to the side, seeing her run up to him from around the corner of the block."Oh good morning, Uraraka." He gave her a freckled chuckle in greeting, she gave a ditzy giggle in return, their personalities always resonating.

"Get out of my way, Nerd." But that was just Bakugo's way of saying hello.

"Hey, Kacchan." Izuku kept his smile but averted his eyes when Bakugo put his arm over Uraraka's shoulders, she snuggled into it, leaning on him. Izuku didn't see, it was better if he didn't. He was always hit with a wave of guilt whenever he saw them express their affection. Uraraka was dating Kacchan, not Deku.

"Deku, wanna join us, heading to school?"

He scratched his cheek, staring at the ground, he would have refused but there was no reason not to. "Uh, sure, I mean we are going the same way, regardless so..."

The three of them were walking up the stairs leading to the train stop. People were littered around like every morning but they were able to find a bench for themselves to sit on as they waited.

Izuku Midoriya occupied himself with his phone, never able to avoid it.

Katsuki Bakugo didn't want to care for it, so he stared off.

And Ochaco Uraraka did what she did every morning. She encouraged it...

It was the squealing halt of the train tracks that interrupted them.

Izuku didn't know if he was glad or upset but didn't have time to ponder it.

"Midoriya..! Guys." Momo Yaoyorozu strained out his name, calling from inside one of the train cars. He instinctively searched for her voice, it skipped a beat as he spotted her. He waved at her as she indicated for his group to join her and Todoroki, who was sitting next to her.

"H-Hey, Yaoyorozu." Izuku went to go sit by her other side, "Yo, Todoroki."

The icy-hot teen nodded his head, more focused on his phone. "Morning, Midoriya."

Uraraka and Bakugo were sitting across from them, doing their own thing.

"Thanks again for studying with me over the phone, I hope I didn't hinder your sleep schedule." Momo started her morning conversation with her buddy. They had become close friends over the years, sharing an interest in academics and other nerdy subjects.

"Hm, oh don't mention it, it's also good for me to keep my mind sharp, hehe."

"That might be true but I still feel guilty for taking up your free time. You're always out there patrolling and I know how little you rest-,"

Izuku began to chuckle. "Yaoyorozu, if you didn't ask me to study then I would have asked you, you know that. I mean you're the one who helps me keep up with the school work," Izuku tried to rub his sleepiness away from his face, although as he lowered his hand, his eyes landed on the couple across from them, mainly focusing on Uraraka. "Besides, I catch up on rest, in my own way..."

Uraraka giggled from Bakugo whispering something into her ear, she covered her mouth with one hand while trying to smack him away with the other as he nibbled on her earlobe. She felt eyes on her, matching them. Her giggling slowed down to a small smile as she removed her hand from her mouth to fix a loose strand of hair.

They broke eye contact at the same time, switching their attention back to the person beside them.

Throughout the rest of the morning commute to school, Izuku and Ochaco avoided eye contact.

During school, the class had just finished a training drill in Ground Gamma, and all of them were heading to the locker rooms to change out of their hero costumes. Bakugo was as obnoxious as ever, bragging about how good he did, walking ahead of the rest of the class.

But in the shadows, among the maze of pipes, those two classmates were hidden away, staying behind.

"Oh!.. I-Izuku!" She panted, her legs were growing weak, bending inward at the knees. She was leaning desperately on the wall, with her bust sloshing against it, as she also supported herself by wrapping one arm around his neck.

"Ochaco..!" He grunted in a rough whisper close to her ear. He was pressing himself against her arching back, having wrapped his arms around her possessively, as his lips kept tracing over her supple neck, leaving butterfly kisses.

Izuku and Ochaco would always lose themselves to the blurring passion, only able to realize what they were doing after it was over.

And yet,

They remained locked in the heated embrace after finishing, even if it only was for a fleeting moment.

Once they broke apart and started to adjust their hero suits, she spoke, hesitantly at first before becoming more sure of herself, "Th-This... This was the last time, Deku." No longer calling him Izuku, she only called him that during moments that never happened.

"I know, Uraraka." He knew she was lying, like the last time she said that but he also knew how guilty she felt after doing this with him. The least he could do was let her believe her own words until the next time.

"I'm going on ahead," She quickly added, never able to face him as she walked away from what just happened, pretending they never did it.

"Yeah, I'll catch up."

Finally alone, Izuku sighed out dejectedly, he glanced up at the sky, thinking of how simple their friendship was during their first year was compared to now.

"Everything changed after I came back..."