Something Further than the Universe

Chapter II ~ It's Easy to Fall in Love

They started running at a steady pace both of them could keep up with, until she was out of breath and he took the lead. The February breeze felt a lot colder now that he had taken off, and she wanted to use her Quirk to catch up with him. But as she watched him in the distance, she decided that wouldn't be fair because he could've used his Quirk, too, if he wanted to. He didn't though, because someone like him wouldn't do that. So she wouldn't either.

After finishing a few more laps, Izuku stopped at the building's front entrance and waited for Mina. She showed up, eventually, but she was staggering and dropped to the ground the moment she reached him, her breathing coarse and scratchy in her throat.

"My legs feel like jelly. How do you do that every morning without dying?" she asked.

"I kind of just got used to it after a while. It's good exercise for my Quirk."

Mina felt like she lacked something. Izuku had such a big incentive, one that couldn't be touched by villains or physical setbacks or pretty much anything. She didn't think she'd ever met someone with a motivation as strong as his. Bakugo was a close second, but his heart wasn't in the right place to be a hero.

Mina sighed. "I tell myself that all the time, that training is for the best, but I don't think I have the stamina to run for that long."

"If you keep working at it, you'll get stamina eventually. It took me a while to get in shape, too. I could never run like this before I got into U.A, so don't quit now." He smiled, and Mina had one of those moments where it was impossible for her not to smile. But if she did smile it would be embarrassing, so she tried to keep a straight face.

The sky was getting brighter, and the stars that were visible a few moments ago had vanished in the morning light. Her classmates would be waking up now. "This sucks. I wanted to dance before breakfast!"

He shrugged. "It's too late now, but maybe we can after class."

"Okay. You still need a lot of work, Midori," she said, flicking his forehead. It felt customary for her to do that, natural.

"Midori?"

Oh, God. She hadn't even realized she called him that.

"I-I can call you that, right? As a nickname? I think it suits you. Don't you think it has a nice ring—"

"U-uhm, that's fine. If you want to call me that, I guess."

She was glad Izuku didn't mention anything more about it because it was embarrassing, and it kind of just slipped out. Was it weird for her to call him Midori? It just seemed like a weird nickname to call someone. Oh well, she probably wouldn't be using it anyway.

Inside, some of their classmates were making breakfast. Most of them were still in their rooms, though, getting ready. The few who were already downstairs swiveled their heads when the two of them walked in, and Izuku even noticed Kirishima raising an eyebrow.

It must've been strange to be walking around with Mina, seeing as they never would've done that before yesterday, and he felt like the center of attention until she said she forgot her phone upstairs. He wasn't too keen on being the center of attention unless he was saving peoples' lives.

His phone buzzed in his back pocket. It was Uraraka. Hey I was wondering if maybe we could talk?

He swallowed down his doubts. He didn't want to talk to her because he wasn't sure he'd be able to form a sentence, but at the same time he did because he wanted to know where they stood relationship-wise.

Sure. I'm over on the couch and no one else is over here.

Izuku spent the next five minutes waiting for her, and when the elevator doors finally opened, he let out the breath he'd been holding. She was already in her uniform and avoided any greetings from her classmates before sitting beside him. She was so close their shoulders were almost touching.