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You knew that you shouldn’t have come to this party. It really wasn’t your scene: the music blasting, deep bass shaking the corners of the house, clouds of smoke looming above your head, cheap beer spilling onto the hardwood floors. But it was your high school graduation party, and you felt some kind of cosmic teen obligation to attend the rager. It’s not that you didn’t love your classmates, you absolutely did. And you wished on everything possible that you’ll keep in touch after graduation, especially with your long-time crush, Izuku Midoriya.
Midoriya has been one of those crushes that slowly devours your soul until he’s unintentionally claimed your entire heart. It started your first year when you shyly asked for some tutoring for an upcoming combat exam. You knew his incessant note-taking would prove to be useful. Plus… you really just wanted an excuse to talk to the cute, quiet kid in class. After some blushing and stammering, he agreed to help. You fell headfirst as he hesitantly showed you some of the notes he had already taken on your quirk, a quirk you had always thought was nothing to brag about: a mermaid quirk.
Sure, it sounded wonderful– a true fantasy come to life. But the reality was that when on land, your quirk was rendered pretty much useless. You did have some water-bending abilities that you could call upon, but the mermaid extension of your power had little potential unless the fight was in the water. And then there was the issue of when your human legs would turn into an iridescent mermaid tail. When your skin comes in contact with enough water, your body automatically transforms, whether or not you want it. You always saw it as a pretty big weakness of yours– that a villain could pour a bucket of water on you and in ten quick seconds you’d quite literally be a fish out of water. Luckily, your water manipulation proved useful in situations like that, but only if you were able to notice the water about to hit you before it made skin contact.
But all that considered, when Midoriya talked about your quirk, he made it sound like one of the greatest possible quirks someone could have.
“Your body goes through a whole transformation that exponentially increases your speed in water and your water manipulation ability. Almost any villain would be at an automatic disadvantage if they were in the water with you. It’s an incredible quirk!”
You smile at the memory, cherishing those moments where Midoriya could make you feel like the strongest person on Earth while simultaneously making you weak in the knees. You adore his passion for hero work, his constant devotion to bettering himself never fails to inspire you. Plus, you can’t deny that you enjoy watching him fight. The way his messy, green hair tousles as he activates his quirk consistently lights a fire in you that you’ve never been able to extinguish. Sure, he could be a muttering mess of a nerd, but dammit if he didn’t have you completely wrapped around his finger.
Of course, he didn’t know that. You two went through high school together remaining nothing more than close friends. The second something would tease crossing that line, one of you guys would chicken out. And before you knew it, high school flashed by, leaving you with a heap of unconfessed feelings of infatuation.
As you now stare at him from across the room and this graduation party, you can’t help but feel a twinge of regret. What if he has felt the same way about you, and you just wasted four years of your life pining for no reason? Then again, the fear of rejection weighed heavily on your shoulders, never really giving you the chance to break free and shoot your shot.
Your thoughts are cut short by the sensation of cold water being splashed on your back.
“MINETA!” you scream, whipping around to see the Fresh-Picked Hero running around, pouring water on other unsuspecting girls’ shirts.
Your anger gets the best of you as you stand to stomp your way towards him, completely forgetting about the fact that your legs have begun fusing to form a tail. You begin to fall face-first into the floor, but right before you do, you feel a crackle of energy around you, the air fizzing as you feel yourself be caught by, who else, but Izuku Midoriya.
“A-are you okay?” he says, balancing you in his arms.
You try to catch your breath as you blush from all the eyes on you.
“Damn, Midoriya,” Kaminari drunkenly slurs his words. “You ran across the room in less than a second to catch her. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you run that fast in the four years I’ve known you.”
There’s an awkward silence as you look up at your hero, his emerald eyes trying to keep focused on your eyes, blushing as he too notices the room staring at the pair of you.
“Uh, Midoriya,” you say before clearing your throat. “Can you carry me outside? Somewhere where I can wait to dry off?”
“Oh! Yeah, yeah of course.”
You tentatively wrap your arms around his neck as he begins to carry you through the house, trying to keep your heart from beating out your chest. You were so close to him. You attempt to take a few deep breaths to calm down, but every breath is immediately taken away by his presence.
“Thank you for catching me.”
He smiles before setting you down in a reclining patio chair. “No problem. I’m sorry that Mineta did that to you.”
“Not your fault,” you shrug. “I’ve gone through all of high school with that little perv, I should know what to expect now.”
Midoriya lets out a short laugh and takes a seat next to you, causing your heart to flutter. Was he going to sit with you while you waited to dry off and get human legs again? Could he get any more thoughtful and charming?
A few moments of silence pass. You let the gentle buzz of bugs, occasional croaks of frogs, and chlorine smell from the pool next to you fill the air. You look over and catch Midoriya staring, causing both of you to blush and look away. There’s a special kind of tension in the air, one that’s making your stomachs do flips as you ponder it. He could like me. He could like me, and now’s my chance to-
“So how long does it usually take for you to transform back?” he interrupts your thoughts. He must see the disappointment in your eyes because he immediately starts backtracking. “N-not that I’m in any rush! I’m fine sitting here with you! It’s just…”
He sighs and his green eyes stare into yours. “-it’s just that you always look so sad when you’re in this form.”
His observation catches you off guard but doesn’t surprise you. You’re never thrilled to have this quirk; whenever you transform you see it as a burden rather than some kind of gift.
“I guess I kind of dislike this part of me, that’s all.”
Midoriya looks at you like a kid who was just told that Santa isn’t real: shocked, confused, and hurt. “But! But, it’s such an amazing quirk! The possibilities of all that you can do to save people and fight villains are endless. You must at least know that! And your water manipulation and combat skills mean that you’re just as effective out of water. And then you-”
“I know,” you say, cutting him off. “I know. It makes for a good hero quirk sometimes. But sometimes I just want to enjoy my class’ graduation party without turning into a half-monster with scales.”
“Monster?!” Midoriya practically yells, looking even more shocked and upset than before. “You think that your quirk makes you a monster?”
You gesture down to your tail, half hanging off the patio chair. Its iridescent scales reflect the moonlight, scattering hues of purple and yellow into the pool beside you. “What else would you call this?”
“Beautiful,” he says quickly, before blushing and beginning his usual stammering. “I-I mean beautiful in the way that I’m sure other people see you, not that I don’t think you’re beautiful, I mean, I do, but I just meant that you shouldn’t think that about yourself because I’m sure no one thinks of you other than beautiful, not that you’re not smart either because you are, I just mean-”
As he mutters, you can’t help but feel a magnetic pull towards him. It’s too strong, too strong for you to try to resist anymore. You’ve fought it for four years. Four years of stealing glances during late-night study sessions. Four years of your hands occasionally “accidentally” touching his, causing electricity to flicker throughout your body. Four years of always hoping and dreaming that one day you’ll get to know the feeling of his arms wrapped around you. You can’t fight the pull anymore, even if you wanted to. So you give in. And you kiss him.
The kiss catches him off guard, effectively stopping his rambling. He tenses and gasps, but once he feels your hand reach up to his cheek, his eyes flutter close and he absolutely melts into your touch. Your lips move gently against his, guiding him at a slow, yet eager, pace. After a few fleeting moments, you’re forced to pull away for air.
You see your long-time crush, Izuku Midoriya, eyes big with adoration, cheeks flushed red, and your lipstick slightly staining his lips. In that moment, you can’t help but wish you had done this sooner.
“I… I really like you, Izuku,” you whisper, unable to break eye contact as he hypnotizes you to move closer to him. “I have for a while.”
He smiles and attempts to blink back the tears in his eyes that threaten to spill over. “I really like you too.”
You don’t know this at the time, but Midoriya’s entire being is overflowing with elation. He has liked you far before you ever said your first words to him, choosing to admire you from afar. He never stopped having the mindset of the awkward, quirkless boy he once was, so he never considered that you could feel the same way. That you could reciprocate the way his heart practically burst out his chest every time he laid eyes on you. Or the way he often found himself lost in a daydream where he magically had the nerve to go up to you and tell you how he really felt. Tell you that when he’s walking beside you, he can’t help but feel like he should be holding your hand; that when he’s talking to you, all he really should be doing is kissing you.
So having you here beside him, quite literally sparkling under the moonlight and confessing that you like him just after kissing him… it’s almost too much to handle. He feels like his brain is short-circuiting.
“You wanna hop in the pool?” you suggest, effectively snapping him out of his daze.
“The pool?” he replies incredulously.
“Yeah! Why not? It’ll be fun. Plus, now that I know you think I’m beautiful like this, maybe I want to stay like it,” you say with a wink.
Midoriya feels his brain short circuit again. “I-I think you’re beautiful without your quirk too!”
You can’t help but giggle at his unwavering concern that he might say the wrong thing. You start to try and shimmy yourself off the patio chair to get to the pool, but Midoriya reacts quickly and leans over to help you lift you up. You admire his upper body strength (your mermaid tail was in no way a lightweight body part) and relish in the feeling of once again having his arms wrapped around you. He slowly lowers you into the pool water, blushing fervently once he notices the way your wet shirt clings to your body.
“Well? Aren’t you coming in too?” you ask, splashing at him.
He chuckles and begins climbing in, not bothering to take off any of his clothes. Right as he enters the water, you take a breath and go underwater, feeling freer than ever before, completely in your element.
“Not fair!” he whines, watching you swim circles around him. “Not all of us have fins, you know.”
You giggle as you come up behind him, using your quirk to cause a small wave to crash over him.
“Did you get me in here just to tease me?” he asks, trying to catch his breath from laughing.
You smile and swim up to him, getting as close as possible. “Maybe, but also to do this.”
Your lips crash into his, this kiss having much more confidence and purpose behind it than the one before. Midoriya lets out a soft moan as he kisses back, running his shaking hands through your wet locks. When you both stop to get air, he stares at you with wonderment.
There’s a special glint in his eyes that you can’t make out. Maybe it’s just the pool lights reflecting in his green irises. Or maybe there’s something else, shining bright within him like the stars above you, burning with passion and brilliance.
“What is it?” you ask, bewildered and hypnotized by his stare.
“It’s just,” he begins and looks up towards the sky, as if searching for the proper words, the ones that would have the right amount of letters, just the right sound to describe his current feelings. “It’s just… I’ve never seen someone as stunning as you. Both inside and out. And.. you absolutely amaze me.”
It’s at that moment that you know with complete certainty– you will keep in touch with Izuku Midoriya long after graduation.