The bell signaling the end of the school day had finally rung. While their classmates scattered, talking about video games and afternoon plans, Izuku and Uraraka exchanged a knowing look from opposite sides of the classroom. They met discreetly near the exit, blending into the tide of students.
"Where are we going?" Izuku asked in a low voice as they walked down the hallway. "We can't just start making things float in the middle of the main courtyard."
"I've got a spot," Uraraka replied, lowering her voice with a glint of clandestine excitement in her eyes. "Follow me and try not to get lost on the way."
"With me, that's never a guarantee."
He remembered his disastrous first attempt to find the classroom and laughed at himself. Uraraka took the lead, guiding him through a path that completely surprised him. They didn't head toward any of the obvious academic or training areas. Instead, they took a detour toward the back of the campus, a section Izuku didn't even know existed, beyond the gyms and the Support Course workshops.
It was a service area filled with recycling bins, air conditioning units, and a network of industrial pipes. Izuku looked around, impressed.
"Uraraka, how did you find this place? I still get lost looking for the bathroom."
She blushed slightly, scratching her cheek shyly.
"Well... you're not the only one who tends to get lost."
She stopped in front of a gap between two warehouse buildings that opened into a small, neglected courtyard with overgrown grass and rotting wooden crates scattered everywhere.
"Besides," she added with an impeccably pragmatic logic that Izuku found adorable, "I figured if we accidentally make something float and it breaks, they're less likely to charge us if it's something that already looks like trash."
Izuku let out a laugh full of admiration.
"Uraraka, you're a genius. I like how you think."
He dropped his backpack to the ground with bubbling enthusiasm.
"No one's going to bother us here," she said, her voice heavy with excitement. "The risk is what makes it exciting, don't you think?"
"As long as the risk doesn't include expulsion, I'm down!" he replied.
Izuku adopted an air of seriousness that contrasted comically with the dilapidated surroundings.
"Alright, first official session of the Power-up Protocol."
Uraraka rolled her eyes.
"Are we really going to call it that?"
"It's an excellent name! It sounds official and mysterious," he insisted. "Today's goal is simple: replicate the stable activation of my Quirk so we can start measuring and boosting your progress consistently."
Finally we're going to figure out how my power works, he thought as he pulled a crumpled notebook from his bag. And hopefully, without anything flying out of control.
"So, what's the plan?" Uraraka asked, crossing her arms.
"Experimentation," Izuku replied confidently. "During the exam, the contact was total and the emotion was intense. But with my mom, the contact was minimal even if focused. We have to find the middle ground."
Their first series of experiments was a clumsy, embarrassing disaster.
"Hypothesis number one," Izuku announced, consulting a scribbled page in his notebook. "I need a point of high concentration. Stay still."
He approached her gently. Uraraka looked at him with apprehension as he placed his fingertips on the back of her neck.
"Y-your hands are cold!" she squealed, twitching slightly.
"Shh, training protocol," he murmured. "Now try to lift the toolbox."
Uraraka tried to concentrate, but the unexpected contact was completely distracting. The toolbox wobbled a few inches into the air and fell with a dull thud.
"Negative," Izuku dictated, withdrawing his hand and scribbling in his notebook. "The test subject is too nervous. The tickle variable is interfering with the results."
"I wasn't ticklish!" she protested, her face red.
"Hypothesis two: the back. Turn around."
"Izuku-kun, this is weird!"
"It's for the greater good, Uraraka-san!"
She sighed and turned around. With exaggerated concentration, he traced a line with his finger down her back over the fabric of the uniform.
"Mhmm... nothing here, nothing there..."
She shivered and held back a nervous giggle. Izuku smiled to himself.
I'm definitely enjoying the experimental part of this, he thought while maintaining his serious expression.
"Give it a try!"
This time was better. He received a flash of information, a fragment of the manual, but it was weak and blurry.
"Unstable," he noted with frustration. "It didn't work."
They tried several more times over the next twenty minutes. Izuku tried placing one hand on her shoulder and another on her forearm. Then one on her head and another on her waist. Then both hands on her shoulders. Each attempt produced a weak connection or none at all, and with each failure, the frustration grew.
"Dammit!" Izuku dropped to the ground, sitting cross-legged and staring at his notebook with a frown. "I don't understand what I'm doing wrong."
Uraraka sat next to him, also visibly discouraged.
"Maybe we need the panic of the exam after all."
"No," Izuku replied stubbornly, shaking his head. "There has to be a way to do it without your life being in danger."
He went silent, mentally replaying every detail from that time during the exam. He closed his eyes, trying to remember the exact position.
My right hand was on her back, he reconstructed slowly. My left arm was under her knees. Two distinct contact points.
He snapped his eyes open.
"I've got it!"
Uraraka blinked, startled.
"What?"
Izuku jumped to his feet with renewed energy.
"When I carried you during the exam, my right hand was on your back and my left arm was under your knees. They were two distinct contact points!"
His face lit up with the joy of discovery.
"That's why it doesn't work when I only touch one spot!"
Uraraka stood up too, caught up in his enthusiasm.
"So we need to find the right points?"
"Exactly," he confirmed. "We have to figure out the posture that works best."
He approached her with renewed confidence.
"Okay, stand in front of me. I'm going to test the new hypothesis."
She nodded. Her heart began to race again as Izuku moved. He placed his right palm on her upper back; then he knelt slightly and placed his left hand on the back of her right knee.
The posture was strange and intimate. It forced her to lean slightly toward him to keep her balance, her shoulder almost brushing his chest. They were incredibly close.
"Now," Izuku whispered, anticipation vibrating in his voice. "The toolbox. Gently."
Uraraka activated her Quirk. Then, the box rose.
In the same instant, Izuku felt the connection.
He saw the line of code in his mind: [NAUSEA RESISTANCE (VESTIBULAR CONDITIONING): 20%]
And as his power flowed, he saw it flicker: [POWER-UP MODE ACTIVE: NAUSEA RESISTANCE -> 21%... 22%... 23%]
It's going up! he thought with euphoria. My Quirk is actively strengthening hers in real-time!
[MASS LIMIT (ESTIMATED): 3.2 TONS]
The line flickered: [POWER-UP MODE ACTIVE: MASS LIMIT -> 3.25 TONS]
He opened his eyes with a smile of absolute triumph on his face.
"I've got it! It works! Drop the box."
She let it fall with a heavy thud.
"Now do it again but with something heavier!"
Uraraka touched a rusted beam that easily weighed three times as much as the toolbox. She lifted it without any apparent effort. When she let go and it landed, she waited for the usual wave of intense dizziness. Instead, she only felt a slight disorientation that passed in a second.
"Izuku-kun!" she exclaimed, her eyes shining with wonder. "I barely got dizzy! It was... almost nothing."
He grinned widely, full of pride.
"I know. I just saw your resistance improve in real-time."
They stood there for a moment, processing the success. But Izuku wasn't the type to settle for a single discovery. His mind was already racing toward the next question.
If those two points work, he thought as he watched her, are there other points that work better?
His gaze involuntarily landed on her chest.
No, don't be an idiot, he scolded himself immediately. You can't suggest to Uraraka that you touch her... wait.
His brain made a connection that left him paralyzed.
During the exam, when I carried her, my left arm passed right under her chest. I didn't think anything of it at the time because we were running from a giant robot, but... what if that was one of the optimal points?
He looked at Uraraka, who was watching him with curiosity.
"Izuku-kun? Are you okay? You've got a weird face."
He blushed slightly.
"I have another hypothesis," he said quickly, trying to sound casual even though his heart was beating like a drum. "But it's... um... a bit awkward."
Uraraka tilted her head with a confused expression.
"Awkward how?"
Izuku scratched the back of his neck, searching for the right words.
"Well, I was thinking about the exact position during the exam and... my arm passed under your... you know..."
He made a vague gesture toward his own chest, completely embarrassed. Uraraka blinked several times before the realization hit and her face turned the color of an extremely red tomato.
"W-what?! Izuku-kun!"
"Wait, wait!" He held his hands up in surrender. "I'm not being a pervert, I swear. Well, technically yes, but not on purpose. It's just... what if the points are related to... you know... your breasts?"
You sound like a scientific stalker, he told himself in horror. Even worse, you sound like Mineta with a dictionary.
But Uraraka, after the initial shock, seemed to process the logic behind his words. Her face was still red, but there was a spark of understanding in her eyes.
"You mean... my chest might be a much better contact point for your Quirk."
"Yes," Izuku replied quickly, grateful she had said it so he didn't have to. "But obviously only if you're comfortable. We don't have to..."
"Do it," she interrupted him, her voice shaky but determined.
Izuku looked at her in surprise.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded, even though she was so red she looked like she was on the verge of spontaneous combustion.
"If it's to understand your Quirk better and so I can improve faster, then... yes. I trust you, Izuku-kun."
"Okay," he said softly. "I'm going to... um... turn around."
Uraraka turned around, giving him her back. Izuku took a deep breath to calm himself. With trembling hands, he placed his right hand on her upper back as before. Then, with extreme care, he moved his left hand forward.
Just do it fast, he ordered himself. Like pulling off a band-aid.
His left hand closed gently around her right breast over the fabric of the uniform.
The reaction was instantaneous and explosive.
Izuku felt the connection fly open. Uraraka's manual unfolded before his eyes with perfect clarity.
[OPTIMAL CONNECTION ESTABLISHED][POWER-UP MODE: MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY][NAUSEA RESISTANCE -> INCREASING RAPIDLY][MASS LIMIT -> INCREASING RAPIDLY][MULTI-MARK CONTROL -> UNLOCKING]
Holy hell! Izuku thought in awe. This is incredible!
But there was a problem.
"Ngh!"
Uraraka had let out a moan the moment contact was made. And then, to Izuku's horror, he felt her body begin to rise. She had accidentally activated her Quirk on herself.
"Uraraka!" Izuku exclaimed as his feet left the ground.
Since he was still holding her, he was dragged up with her. He ended up hugging her back while they both floated three feet off the ground.
"I-Izuku-kun!" her voice came out high and shaky. "I'm floating! I can't control it!"
"It's okay, it's okay!" He tried to sound reassuring even though his own voice sounded strangled. "Just concentrate and bring us down."
"I'm trying!" she replied desperately. "But your hands are making me nervous!"
He realized that, indeed, his left hand was still closed around her chest. And now that they were floating and she was squirming slightly trying to regain control of her Quirk, his hand was moving right along with her.
Don't think about it, he ordered himself desperately.
"I can't let go!" he said aloud, tightening his grip instinctively. "If I let go, I'm going to fall!"
He increased his grip, which meant he was now holding her breast more firmly.
"Ngh! I-Izuku-kun," she whispered with a trembling voice, "don't... don't pinch so much there..."
Pinch? Izuku thought, confused. I'm not pinching anything...
But his natural curiosity did the opposite of what it should have done. His fingers moved slightly, trying to understand what she meant.
Through the fabric of the uniform and whatever she wore underneath, his fingers found a small, firm protrusion. A sensitive zone that reacted to the touch.
Oh, he thought with sudden realization. Oh no. It's her...
"Ahhh!"
The moan escaped Uraraka's lips without a filter, sharp and broken. Her whole body tensed against him. The connection with her Quirk snapped, and they began to fall.
"Ahhhhh!"
Both their screams mixed as the three-foot distance disappeared in a second.
"Oof!"
Izuku hit the ground first, the impact knocking all the air out of his lungs in a choked sound.
"Kyaaa!"
Uraraka fell on top of him an instant later, their bodies colliding with a dull thud that kicked up a small cloud of dust.
The position they ended up in was compromising to the extreme.
She was lying completely on top of him, their bodies aligned from chest to legs. Their faces were inches apart, so close he could feel her shallow breath against his lips. Her brown eyes looked at him with sheer embarrassment.
Neither of them moved. Uraraka's breath brushed Izuku's lips in small, broken pants. He could count the eyelashes framing those brown eyes that were staring right at him.
I could kiss her right now, Izuku thought as his gaze involuntarily slid toward her lips. She's so close. It would be so easy just to lean in a bit more...
But he didn't. Instead, he watched as the pink in Uraraka's cheeks intensified to red, then to crimson, until finally her entire face seemed to burn. She lowered her head quickly, hiding her expression against Izuku's chest.
"Pffft."
The sound was small, muffled against the fabric of his shirt.
"Hehe... hehe..."
The giggle grew, making her shoulders shake.
"Hahaha... hahahaha!"
Her whole body shook with laughter. Izuku felt the vibration against his chest and couldn't contain himself.
"Hehe... hahaha... hahahahaha!"
His own laughter erupted, mixing with hers. They both stayed lying on the dirt ground, their laughs bouncing between the building walls as the sun descended, dyeing everything orange.
"That... haha... that," Uraraka said between laughs, still without lifting her head from his chest, "was the most embarrassing experiment of my life."
"But it worked... hahaha... it worked incredibly well."
"Yeah." She lifted her head to look at him, her wide smile shining despite the color still lingering in her cheeks. "It worked."
Their eyes met.
Uraraka jumped up suddenly, brushing the dirt off her uniform with quick, nervous movements. She extended a hand to him. Izuku took it and stood up, patting the dust off his back.
"So," Uraraka said, trying to sound casual even though her face was still red, "your Quirk works best when... when you touch..."
"Apparently, yeah."
My Quirk is officially the most perverted in history, he thought with amusement. I need to touch breasts for it to work at full power. Mom is going to laugh at me forever when I tell her.
"It's a little awkward," Uraraka admitted, scratching her cheek.
"Completely awkward," Izuku agreed. "But effective."
They looked at each other for a moment before both letting out another nervous laugh.
"Well," Uraraka said finally, regaining some composure, "you have to promise me something."
"What is it?"
"That you will never, ever, tell anyone about this," she responded firmly. "Especially not Mineta. That purple runt gives me the creeps."
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