TOP 100 IZUOCHA'S LOVE STORIES (BOOK 3)

29 - A BACON, LETTUCE AND TOM-AU SANDWICH (PART 2)

By Madam_Chauncey

SUMMARY: This is the continuation from Part 1. It's a few months into Ochako's friendship with Izuku Midoriya that things begin to get complicated. She struggles with the idea that her burgeoning feelings may be more of a distraction to him than a blessing--spurring her to try her best to mask them for the benefit of their relationship. Which turns out to be an uphill battle in and of itself; one that she isn't sure has any winners.

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PART TWO
BUT CONSTELLATIONS ARE FARTHER AWAY

Their friendship had been in its infancy—maybe a month strong.

Ochako sat between Inko and Midoriya on the loveseat. The other woman was flipping through a scrapbook of her friend as a child. She had been invited over to have dinner with them at their cozy home.

Midoriya had just been accepted into the police academy. He'd been ecstatic over the phone earlier that day and Ochako couldn't be any happier for him if she tried.

It'd been a journey for him—she knew that. In more ways than one. Inko, who had been cautious about the idea of her only child going into such a dangerous line of work, had now reached a place where she was happy for him, too.

Sandwiched between them on the sofa as Inko flicked through the pages of pictures and drawings her son had done as a boy, Ochako lifted a finger to gesture at a hand-drawn card that had fallen open as Inko turned the scrapbook page.

"Is this a birthday card that he made for you?" Ochako questioned. The card had been scribbled onto lined notebook paper by someone who was just learning how to read and write. A five or six-year-old by Ochako's guess.

Inko laughed, fingering the vibrant orange of the crayon used by the artist. "No, Izuku didn't do this one, actually."

"Oh, Uraraka doesn't want to spend all night looking at old pictures, Mom," Midoriya squeaked, reaching over to close the book.

Inko chased his hand away with her free one. "You stop that, Izuku," she told him, voice authoritative and very mom-like. Ochako had to swallow a laugh.

"This is from Izuku's best friend when he was small. Bakugou," she continued. "Things got tense after Katsuki got his quirk and Izuku didn't, but they were close for many years. His mother, Mitsuki, is one of my best friends."

Ochako's eyes roved over the shaky letters and bold lines of a child who pressed down hard on their writing utensil. The lettering caught her by surprise.

'Sorry you don't have an awesome quirk but happy birthday anyway, Deku.

-Katsuki'

Ochako lifted her gaze from the page curiously, turning toward Midoriya, who seemed like he was doing his best to avoid eye-contact. "Deku?" she questioned.

Midoriya chuckled, but it was uneasy and nervous. "Y-yeah. Well, when we were younger, he misread my name as 'Deku' instead of 'Izuku'. He said useless fit better anyway since my quirk never manifested and it... uh, became a nickname I guess."

Ochako pursed her lips, trying to imagine what it was like growing up so different from the other children. She couldn't. Midoriya had vaguely mentioned he'd had a hard time with being quirkless as a child, but this was the first time that she'd witnessed proof that he'd been teased.

"Mitsuki tried her best to break Katsuki of using that name," Inko added, "But Katsuki ran with it. I tried to keep Izuku from letting it get to him, though."

Ochako bit her lip. "Well, if ya ask me, I think it sounds like 'you can do it'! A cry of determination, ya know? Deku..." she mused, rolling the name around her tongue. "I like it!"