the day it stopped raining | midoriya izuku

12 | hazy rivulets

TOKYO
25°C
LIGHT RAIN

When Midoriya jolts awake upon the realization he slept in Masuyo's home instead of the agency dorms, he thought; Shit. What am I supposed to say to Miruko-san?

And when he did realize, he noticed just how the morning's warmer than it should when he's used to cold rainy mornings and cloudy suns greeting him on single beds and cramped rooms shared among sidekicks. Perhaps it was the first time in so long he'd been greeted by the sun this close; up in the sky when he's only at the 25th floor, so vivacious and welcoming. Midoriya was entranced.

But then he turns in his position, on the couch, to see Masuyo still sleeping.

Ah, right.

Wait WHAT—the green boy almost yelped and fell off the couch when they were a little too close, quickly silencing himself upon seeing her tranquil expression as her breathing was quiet and steady. Truly asleep as if she was tired more than he was.

Midoriya blushes at the probable fact that he was resting on her stomach the entire time, though it's too late to notice when he was unconscious. He had no memory of laying down on the couch to sleep when he himself was planning to go back to the dorms as usual. Now look where his stubbornness got him.

The intense heat on the skin of a sleeping person, a radioactive by-product of an idle mind humming with secret delusions which then vaporize when plunged into the cooling bath of reality, thus preventing a meltdown that could endanger those close by, who tolerate the risk because it gives them energy. He didn't know whether the warmth was emanating from the sunlight or her presence, yet the once numbed skin of enduring those frigid weathers craved for more of that warmth.

Maybe it's the heat of a moment where he wakes with a daze and sees a girl he'd known like he's known his old friends. Maybe it's the sunlight hitting her cheeks for the first time that he finally knows how Masu-chan looks like in broad daylight. Actual daylight.

Midoriya averts his gaze, running a scarred hand through his messy curls. He was still in his costume, and he's pretty much stinking up the apartment now. Even the leather black couch. So he slowly got up from the sofa, watching Masuyo's face unchanged as she lays on her side, some of her deep red hair cascading over her features. He doesn't know what he's doing until his fingers reached the outlines of her jaw, gently moving the messy strands out of the way, tucking them behind her ear.

The greenie gulps at his mindless action, then proceed to stand up straight before walking to the balcony, trying to open the glass door as stealthily as possible, and steps out into the outside world. It's windy and the sky's still hazy as if it's going to rain for the nth time in Tokyo, yet Midoriya finds himself reliving the moment in his somnolent trance.

Okay, maybe he spoke too soon. Because the clouds fell, but it's only a drizzle. It was barely raining, but it's enough to let himself embrace it like it's nothing.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

He jolts at the voice, turning his head to see Masuyo who'd just woken up, her shirt wrinkly and arms scarred in sleep marks—she must've had a good sleep, Midoriya thinks.

Masuyo greets him with a small smile, the curls of her lips still lethargic from the way her dark green eyes stare at him like a dream, and he thought, as his own lips parted breathlessly at the way she looked underneath all that sunlight even though it's mostly cloudy.

"Yeah." Then he realizes. "I-I mean, yeah! The view up here is really good! Especially when it's time for sunrise or sunsets, ya know?"

He turns back to the railing, internally sweating and cringing while hoping Masuyo didn't notice the redness morphing on his round cheeks. He hears her walking and standing beside him, resting her forearms on the metal bar, glancing at the city view and traffic below them.