Moments Between

Ochako Uraraka

Ochako's first ever grocery shopping in Namimori was spent with Deku. The event was blissfully domestic in an odd way. Something about Izuku whispering keenly of security, of safety, of acceptance and Ochako can’t help but yearn for it.

They’re an odd group, a dangerous one, even, seeing they are mafia, but it feels right. Easy, in a way things rarely are.

The further Deku explained about the Flames, and telling her that he wouldn't want to severe a bond they had unknowingly created that day, it’s a moment of Oh, this makes so much sense. It’s so right. She can’t deny or dismiss it because it’s staring at her in the face. This is the last piece of the puzzle— and she is so lucky that Deku wanted her.

Soothing old hurts, old scabs that never healed clean, Ochako reveled in being the first choice. Being a priority. It’s so obvious now that she’s looking, but Deku is so sky. Ochako can’t help but feel so warm.

If she were to build a house, she'd have his arms as the walls and his eyes as the windows. His smile as the front foor, and his heart as the fireplace. His soul, though dimmed, but still shines as bright as the North Star, as her light.

Ochako would put her faith knowing she found a home in Deku-kun.

It was so simple to easily put her faith and trust in him, despite his... humble beginnings. She couldn't explain it other than reusing the words Vongola had used to explain their Harmony, but if she had to be poetic, then, it's like they were soulmate stardusts. The universe had put little bits of stardusts in them - memory dust, soul traces - just so that they would know. And say things like, 'I remember you. I've been looking for you. I couldn't come here and not find you. I had to find you. I am for you.'

"I feel like I've missed you for most of my life.
It's like finding a name for a nameless void; a face I would recognize among the crowd.
A soul I could hear in an ocean of silence "

They found each other, and it felt like everything they have ever lost came back to them all at once. They didn't have to say a thing. The first time her eyes landed on him, she just felt it in her senses. She just knew.

And his voice. His voice when he called her his own, she knew she would be hearing it. Again and again, for a very long time indeed.

He was a stranger, but she felt that she had loved him for a lifetime.

Sometimes, their lives have to be completely shaken up, changed and rearranged, to relocate to the place they're meant to be.

Deku wasn't any different as any other oppressed human being. He's recieved his grudges from the world, battled his chaotic mind, indecisive sadness and countless times he had questioned his worthiness. He's broken, but that only adds fuel to the fire in her. Because the greatest thing she can offer him is to be his peace - to be his softest and safest space. She would hug his sorrows, and make him feel her sunny presence that makes her his Sun Guardian, offiering him a genuine place he could call home.

She's witnessed a life burdened by sadness in those emerald green of his, echoing with lonliness and etched with the scars of past wounds. Every glance revealed his hidden pain, a haunting pain that resonated within her. He was a masterpiece, a work of art, yet he was blind to his own beauty, for all he saw was a shattered heart in fragmented pieces. He was an elysian beauty, divine and perfect, whose unfiltered, unguarded eyes showed vulnerability that painted a story only a few could understand.

She's seen the war in his eyes, and she wouldn't flinch. She would instead hold him close.

She knows healing him isn't an easy feat. Would never be an easy thing to do. Healing isn't a short-term process. It's a long-term practice - because it's not just about healing the wound itself. It's also about retrieving what had been lost, integrating new part, maturing in the places that the trauma obscured; fixing your vision and feeding your focus. It's not that everyone and everything in your life has changed; no, it's more about you developing into the truest version of yourself possible, after years of being buried below the weight of adaption and disguise. It's about catching up with yourself, after years on the run. Healing is a life-long oractice.

But she would bulldoze her way if she had to, lighting up the dark places in his soul that continue to corrupt him. She will prove him that his thorns and scars are just as worthy as his petals and stars. Ochako will prove Deku that he deserves love, and a family. Because healing comes in waves, and she is the Sun that brightly shines on the area, destroying the misfortune with her own body, and with her shine she'd make Deku feel every rise and fall of her healing tide.

And she prays, with her whole soul she knew he could feel pulsating with his, that may he be given the love he deserves - the love that loves him back.

May his rejection point him to the right direction.

May her confidence of what and who he is be loud enough to silence the insecurities running in his head.

Ochako prays that may he be one day closer to the healing they've all been praying for.

She will pray for the day to come when his heart becomes empowered to reply yes to the whispered question of his mind, are you sure, once he finally, finally decides to love himself. Because, if anything else, he deserves somebody who knows how lucky they are to have found him. Izuku Midoriya may not be anyone's cup of tea, but to them, his family, to her, his Sun, he will be an entire ocean of everything that quenches their thirst and awaken their soul. They will not run or hide or avoid being under his Sky, for they know that under his Sky is where they belong, that they are for him.

'Deku-kun can always rest in me. If he feels unhappy, he can look into my eyes so he can remember how he's making me happy. If he feels not enough, I will make him remember that he is more than enough to them. If he feels unworthy, I am going to ask the heavens what have I done to be worthy of him. If he feels unloved, I will make him remember that he will always have her heart. And if he ever feels tired, he can always rest in my care.'

She is one less person he'd worry about. She will always let him soar and assure him that she will be here when it's time for him to come home.

At the end of the grocery trip, she doesn’t hesitate to gently interrupt him and say, “Chako. You can call me Chako."

~~~

Italics still isn't working on me. Dunno on you guys.