Work Text:
"Is something wrong Deku?" Ochako asked Izuku curiously.
"Ehehe, I just realized I forgot something back at my dorm," Izuku admitted.
"Oh no! Do we need to go back?" Ochako was already slowing down, ready to turn around and return to Height's Alliance.
"No!" Izuku insisted, squeezing her hand for emphasis. "We'll be late if we go back! It'll be okay! I'll be fine without it."
"If you're sure…" Ochako said, eyeing him skeptically.
"I'm sure," Izuku gave his girlfriend a reassuring look. "Thank you for caring."
Ochako shook her head before picking up the pace again as they resumed their walk towards UA's main building. "So what'd you forget?"
"My compression sleeve," Izuku admitted. "I was in a hurry after getting back from my jog this morning. I guess I must have dropped it on the way to the shower."
"Your compre– Don't you need that?!" Ochako whipped her head around as her voice raised in concern.
"It'll be fine!" Izuku promised. "My arm doesn't hurt right now! Besides…" he laughed nervously, "if we go looking for it that'll just make us even later."
Ochako gave him a skeptical side-eye before letting out a resigned sigh. "Hopefully one of the guys found it and brought it with them."
"Ehe, hopefully," Izuku laughed nervously as they approached the main building.
Unfortunately, none of their classmates has seen his sleeve. Out of time and with no other options, Izuku sat down at his desk with a resigned sigh when Present Mic entered the class to start the day with homeroom. As the now-retired hero talked, Izuku's eyes drifted down to his scarred flesh.
It's only a school day, how bad can it be?
The answer turned out to be uncomfortable.
Izuku hadn't checked the weather that morning either, and he didn't realize until lunch that the weather was going to take a turn for the cold this early in the season. And he knew from experience that cold weather agitated his wounds. Last winter proved to be a lesson in discomfort as he felt every injury along his right arm, a stark reminder of the cost he paid in his journey to become a hero.
Scars that would remain with him for the rest of his life.
As Izuku ate his lunch, his eyes kept darting down to his arm, the draft in the cafeteria from the open space and large windows agitating his hand and wrist. Pausing in his meal, he rotated his wrist to remove some of the stiffness. Fortunately, even without his compression sleeve his uniform provided him with some protection from the cold, he thought glumly.
At least I'll be active during heroics. That'll help! And then back to the dorms!
He just had to make it through lunch!
Izuku was right and heroics class did help, if only because the physical activity kept him warm. Exertion and Shoto. His classmate's fire raised the ambient temperature of the gym they were training in and offset the cold fall air.
Relief was only temporary, however, and soon enough he was back in the common area of Height's Alliance. His compression sleeve was still missing and his wound continued to remind him of their existence. But this homework wouldn't finish itself. And so he sat, trying to ignore the discomfort as much as he could while he worked on the day's assignments.
"Are they bothering you that much?"
Izuku's head jerked upright to see Ochako standing over him, their green and pink mugs held tightly in her hands.
"It's fine," Izuku muttered as he unconsciously rubbed at his arm.
"Is your missing sleeve bothering you that much?" Ochako asked as she set the mugs down on the table, carefully avoiding the notes he had spread out across the table.
"It… helps, but doesn't doesn't take the pain away completely," Izuku admitted as he turned toward his girlfriend. "I thought you knew that?"
"I did," Ochako said softly. "But it seems worse today."
"D-does it?" Izuku asked nervously. "I… haven't noticed."
Ochako shook her head softly. "Please Deku, tell me the truth," She pleaded.
As Izuku stared into the caring brown eyes of the gravity girl, he felt his defenses crumbling. She always had a way of getting through to him, even from the very beginning. And as he stared at her now, he knew she deserved to know how he really felt.
"When it gets cold, it's always worse for a few days," Izuku said before he hung his head, his unruly hair shielding his eyes from the girl's sight. "Until I get used to it. The sleeve helps but it never goes away, not completely."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you shouldn't have to worry about it," Izuku admitted. "I'm… this is gonna be with me the rest of my life. Besides, All MIght he–"
"You're not All Might though," Ochako pointed out. "You're Deku! And unlike him, you've got me." She finished.
"Ocha–" Izuku's head snapped up to once again find those brown eyes staring at him. Eyes full of caring and warmth. And was that a hint of sadness?
He didn't have time to think about the implications when she held up her hand. "May I?"
"May you…"
"May I touch your arm?" Ochako gestured at his right arm wildly.
"Oh," Izuku looked down at the damaged limb. Releasing it from his grip, he gently held his arm out toward his girlfriend. "Of course."
Ochako carefully reached out and touched his arm. She had done it dozens of times before, but it was so rarely without the sleeve wrapped around it that she was shocked and saddened every time. Being careful to keep her thumb raised, she slid the tips of her fingers down and up the forearm, feeling the subtle shudder from her boyfriend at the touch.
Feeling emboldened, she pressed her fingers against a particularly large patch of discolored skin that wrapped around his elbow. Raising her other hand it soon joined its partner. With both in place, she started massaging circles into Izuku's skin, her fingers slowly moving across the damaged area.
"How's that feel?" Ochako asked softly. "Am I pushing too hard?"
Izuku closed his eyes and shook his head. "No, you're not."
With the ghost of a smile on her lips, Ochako continued. Soon her fingers left the confines of the damaged skin, and her hands separated as one hand worked its way up Izuku's upper arm while the other focused more on the elbow region. As she worked she periodically glanced up at Izuku's face, watching a faint heat creep into his cheeks to accentuate his freckles and somehow make him even cuter.
It would be unfair, except they were dating, and Izuku had already told her that she was allowed to stare at him as much as she wanted. And she took full advantage of that fact, surprising her boyfriend with how much she could enjoy the simple act of watching him.
But when you grow up poor the way she did, you learn to appreciate the simple things. And Izuku was far from simple.
Unfortunately, she could get too distracted watching her boyfriend. Like now. She had somehow operated on autopilot while she examined his face, and the only part left unfinished was his hand.
Taking her left hand, she gently turned his hand until his palm was raised, before she repositioned herself to gently cradle it. Then with her right hand, she pressed her thumb into his palm. She watched his fingers instinctively curl, and their eyes locked for a brief moment.
"Sorry," Izuku whispered.
"Dork." Shaking her head, Ochako gave her boyfriend a warm smile. She knew the instincts that he had honed in his first year. She had many of the same instincts herself. It was hard sometimes, but he tried his best to lower his defenses around her, to let her in.
And she felt special every time. Knowing that he felt safe enough around her to do that.
Just like she tried to let him in.
Brows narrowing in concentration, Ochako focused on his hand, massaging around the palm before working the muscles along the fingers and wrist. When she was finally done she laced her fingers between his, holding his hand in her own.
"How're you feeling?"
"Better," Izuku said with a warm look that made the room heat up around her.
"I'm glad," Ochako smiled back at him, hoping her own look would do the same. "But still…"
"Still?"
"Still," Ochako sighed as she turned their joined hands over, revealing his scarred right hand, his fingers crooked and uneven as they rested between her own.
Delicately lifting her left hand, she curled her fingers together, leaving only her index finger exposed. Carefully, as if one wrong move would make her boyfriend shatter, she placed it on the first scar, an ugly patch of skin at the base of his pinky and ring fingers. From there she traced a rough line down a scar until she reached the base of his thumb.
"You didn't deserve any of this."
"What was I supposed to do?" Izuku asked, and Ochako's heart broke at the helplessness she heard in those words.
"You're not the one I blame," Ochako admitted as she traced her finger over his crooked knuckle, each nobby and uneven from the surgery. If she closed her eyes, she could still remember the horror of watching him repeatedly breaking his bones in his attempt to break through to their classmate. "Recovery GIrl could have done a better job patching you up."
"I–" Izuku hesitated before his head fell. "You're right."
"I hate that I am," Ochako looked as if she had bit a lemon. "At least nobody can ever hurt you this badly ever again."
"W-what do you mean?" Izuku asked nervously.
Ochako froze, her finger hovering over a thin red line — a line he had picked up facing Shigaraki underneath Jaku's hospital. "I mean you've got the most powerful quirk known to man after the war! There's no way anyone can take you down! And…" She stopped at a patch of skin that looked like it had been burned, one of the wounds he had picked up from Shoto during that Sports Festival, more than a year ago. "I won't let you do this to yourself ever again."
"Ehe," Izuku smiled nervously despite the massage's soothing effects. "It worked out, didn't it?"
"But at what cost?" Ochako asked sadly as her finger circled the patch of burnt skin, tracing along the nerve endings that hadn't been cauterized by the fire. "We haven't even graduated yet…"
"But we saved Japan," Izuku reminded her gently. He placed his hand over hers and looked at her. "And I finally broke the hundred-and-fifty-year cycle of violence."
"We didn't save everyone though," Ochako said as her eyes drifted downward. Even though she couldn't see her stomach, the jagged knife scar that ran along it was etched in her memory. Like her boyfriend's arm, it reminded her of its existence today, but the pain was nothing compared to the emotional agony she carried in her heart.
"You saved her though," Izuku reminded her. "In the end, you lifted her up. Just like you lift me up every day."
Ochako gasped as she looked at her boyfriend's eyes, so bright and vibrant and warm. She felt her cheeks heating up as she matched his smile. "Thank you, Deku." She let out a high-pitched giggle before her eyes drifted down to the patch of discolored skin at his elbow. "I'm sorry, I said I'd help you but I'm just bringin' up bad memories for the both of us."
"It's okay," Izuku assured her. Gently squeezing her hand, he lifted it off his arm before he held his damaged arm up and flexed it. "It doesn't hurt so much now."
"Are you sure?" Ochako asked skeptically, her eyes narrowing.
"Yeah," Izuku said definitively. "Your massage did the trick." His face began to turn red as he continued. "The um pads on your fingers felt really nice on–"
"Midoriya!" The voice of Sero rang out, cutting him off. "I found your sleeve!"
The young couple twisted their heads in unison, eyes locking with their classmate as he tore down the hallway.
"O-oh?" Izuku stuttered out, his brain trying to shift gears from the sudden interruption.
"Yeah!" Sero skidded to a stop in front of them, holding it out. "I brought my clothes down to do laundry and I found it just sitting there! I knew it couldn't be mine because of, ya know." He gave a playful grin as he flexed his elbows. "Then I remembered you asking about it earlier!"
"Thanks!" Izuku said as he grabbed it. "I guess it must have fallen in your clothes when we were in the showers this morning.
"Guess so." Sero looked at the pair seated on the couch, one of their hands entwined as they sat there frozen, and his grin grew wider. "Well, I'll let you get back to… whatever you're doing." He gave them an exaggerated wink for emphasis.
"We're getting ready to study!" Ochako protested.
"Sure you are. I'll let you get back to 'studying' then," Sero replied with a laugh and a pair of thumbs up before he casually strolled down the hallway back to the laundry area. But the damage was done and the moment was lost for now.
"Ochako," Izuku held out the compression sleeve lamely. "Could you help me put this back on?"
"Of course!" Ochako said quickly, removing her hand from his and grabbing the sleeve. She waited for her boyfriend to hold his arm out and quickly slid the sleeve up his arm until the familiar piece of clothing was once again in place.
"Thank you," Izuku said, leaning forward to kiss Ochako on the cheek.
Ochako had other plans, however, and quickly shifted her face so that their lips intercepted, the two sharing a quick kiss.
"Not so fast," She whispered as they separated, the breath of her words tickling her boyfriend's lips.
"I guess you caught me," Izuku gave her a playful smile.
"I needed payment for the massage," Ochako smirked back.
"I hope it was enough."
"It'll do for now," Ochako let out a sigh as she glared at the notes and forgotten mugs. "I guess the rest will have to wait until after homework."
"Why don't we get to work then?" Izuku said as he picked up the pink mug and sipped the green tea inside. "I started the reading and can catch you up."
"That sounds great," Ochako smiled at her boyfriend before she adjusted herself to get a better view of the school work.
As Izuku began to explain what he had read to his girlfriend, he noticed how much better his arm felt after her massage. Even though the compression sleeve helped, he'd have to ask her to massage his scars more often.
And as he watched Ochako subconsciously touch a certain spot on her stomach, he promised himself to return the favor. He knew he couldn't take her pain away in the same way, but he'd do his best to ease the pain of her own scars.
She deserved nothing less.