DekuShield Week Day 1: First Kiss
soooo apparently my first post got eaten by tumblr??? I was gonna submit it to the dekushield tumblr itself but apparently it doesn't have submissions on lmao. oh well, hopefully this one gets through!!
anyway, so here's a little Christmas special!
(yes I know its October and no I don't care)
enjoy!!
--
When All Might told Izuku the two of them had been invited back to I-Island for a Christmas celebration with the Shield family, Izuku had been ecstatic.
He'd really gotten along with Melissa and though things had gotten a little rough with David near the end there, he truly respected the man and knew All Might still trusted him. Izuku was really excited to see the two of them again (maybe one more than the other…), and he was really looking forward to seeing I-Island again!
Now that he's here, though, in the midst of the aforementioned party, Izuku can't help but feel sick to his stomach.
And like, not necessarily in a bad way? It's hard to explain, really. Like, he had been almost giddy with excitement, but the moment he and All Might met up with Melissa and David, all those happy feelings turned into anxiety and nervous energy. He couldn't form sentences correctly, couldn't sit still, he was hyper aware of everything that was going on - he'd almost think he was having a panic attack if he didn't acutely know how those actually felt. But at the same time, he knew he didn't want to be anywhere else in the whole world at that moment. He just doesn't understand it!
And the feeling had persisted all throughout the day, as Melissa and David escorted them to their hotel and to the new additions that had been built in their time away. Izuku wondered if he had suddenly gotten sick, but that wouldn't explain the lingering positivity, nor the fact that All Might seemed perfectly fine, and the man's immune system was worse than Izuku's.
Even now, as he stands off to the side of the party, clinging to his cup of soda like a lifeline, he feels like keeling over on the spot. All Might had left him briefly, having been pulled away by David so he could introduce the retired hero to some of his newer scientist friends, so now Izuku is just awkwardly standing alone, looking like he's about to die on the spot.
This is why I don't do parties…
"Ah, Deku!"
Izuku jolts violently, some of his drink spilling over the side of his cup and onto his hands, and whips towards the voice. Melissa stands to the side of him, looking unfairly beautiful in her elegant, floor-length dress. His voice catches in his throat as he tries to respond and the sick feeling rockets up to an eleven. He feels like he might throw up, but also like he's two seconds away from breaking out into song, and he doesn't understand.
"Deku?" Melissa's face has taken on a confused note and Izuku realizes he's just been staring at her like an idiot.
He clears his throat, but he still sounds ragged when he says, "H-Hey, Melissa." They both flinch in unison.
"Oof," she says in English, before switching to Japanese. "You don't sound too good. Are you feeling alright?"
And then she steps closer so she can press her hand to his forehead. He physically feels blood rush into his face as her hand lands on his skin, and she gasps. "You're burning up! Let's go find Uncle Might, he can take you back to the hotel. You shouldn't be here if you're sick - "
"W-Wait, no, I-I'm fine, just," he tries to protest, still reeling from the gentle touch of her soft hand on his face.
"No, if you're not feeling well, you should rest!" she insists, before taking his free hand (making his heart flip) and pulling him toward where, presumably, All Might is. "You need to take better care of yourself, Deku."
"Melissa, please, I-I swear I'm fine!" he says again, allowing himself to be dragged through the crowd and toward his mentor.
"Uncle Might!" Melissa calls out and Izuku groans softly.
All Might turns at the sound of his name and greets the two of them. "Young Melissa, Young Midoriya, how are you two doing? Enjoying the party?"
Melissa pulls Izuku up beside her and he barely has enough time to be flustered over how her heels make her absolutely tower over him when he's so close before she says, "Deku isn't feeling well, I'm gonna take him back, alright?"
All Might's content joy turns to worry in an instant. "Young Midoriya, you're feeling unwell? Why didn't you say any - well, actually, that's quite in-character now that I think about it."
Izuku ducks his head in embarrassment and exasperation at the blatant callout for a moment, before lifting his eyes and saying, "Really, I'm fine! It's just hot in here, that's all!"
The two of them stare at All Might with pleading eyes, both trying to get him to do the opposite the other wants. All Might looks a little pinned down.
Finally, All Might says, "Um, well, how about this? Young Midoriya takes a breather outside and Young Melissa can watch him, and if he doesn't get any better, I'll take him back to the hotel."
Melissa huffs a little, but nods. "I suppose that's fine."
Izuku nods. "Yeah, alright." He wasn't lying when he said it was hot inside. Maybe he just needs some fresh air.
He follows Melissa outside until she stops at the street, under one of the street lamps. It's dark enough now that all of them have turned on, as have the light-up Christmas decorations on the surrounding buildings, making everything glow in pretty reds, greens, and blues.
The cold air is already doing wonders on his face. He does feel a bit sick still, but he can feel himself calming down. Maybe he'd just had too much excitement all at once; his day had been jam-packed with reunions and tours. Not to mention, spending all day with Melissa, an incredible, inspirational,, and stunning girl, probably had something to do with his nerves.
Speaking of, he should probably thank her for caring so much. Even if he didn't want to fully leave the party yet (mostly 'cause he doesn't want to disappoint All Might), it made his heart sing that she was so concerned for him.
He turns towards her, mouth opening with a thank you on his tongue, when he sees her shivering, arms wrapped around herself. His thanks dies on his tongue, replaced with, "Melissa! You're cold!"
Way to state the obvious, genius.
Melissa giggles a little, her smile twisted into something mirroring a grimace. "A little. But it's fine, we'll be back inside sooner or later."
Izuku's having none of it. He shrugs off his jacket and feels a chill crawl up the skin under his shirt. Ignoring it, he steps closer to her and quickly wraps his jacket around her shoulders, pulling it tight over her chest so it's covering as much of her as possible.
Melissa looks down at him in surprise, her hands automatically sliding from her arms to grab at the jacket's opening. "Deku?"
"I'm trying to cool down anway," he reasons. "If you're going to stay out here, I want to make sure you're warm too. Don't want you to actually get sick."
Her surprise melts into a warm smile and Izuku's heart jumps into his throat. That sick feeling registers again. "You're too kind, Deku," she whispers as she tilts her head back, presumably to look at the stars. Then she stills, staring up at something directly above them.
She stares for long enough that Izuku gets curious and tilts his head up too, starting to say, "What are you…?" He stops, however, when he sees the white berries and green leaves of a mistletoe hanging from the streetlight.
Immediately, warmth blooms full force in his face again, but he can clearly understand where that came from. His hands tighten on his jacket around Melissa's shoulders as a wheeze exits his lungs.
Melissa laughs a little at the noise he made and tilts her head down to look at him. He mimics her a second later, feeling like he's about to combust. Before she can say anything, he nearly shouts, "We don't have to!"
She blinks in surprise, but the mirth never leaves her face. "Why, Deku, are you saying you don't want to kiss me?"
Izuku squeaks as he tries to deny it, "What? No, of course not! Who wouldn't want to kiss you?" Kill him. "Ah, I mean, that is, I don't mean that I want to kiss you!" KILL HIM. "No, no, not that, what I mean is, if you don't want to kiss me, then we won't, because I know there's that whole tradition or whatever but that's really old-school and also kind of gross if you think about the implications of two people needing to kiss just because they're standing over a plant so there's a whole weird consent issue surrounding the whole thing and basically all I'm saying is we can break the cycle right here right now and - " He takes in a gasping breath as he runs out of air, the cold having made it so his spiel was shorter than normal.
Melissa just smiles, giggling lightly at his fumbling. Then, she says, "Who said I didn't want to kiss you?"
Now, he feels breathless for another reason.
He stills, staring up at her in shock, trying to process her sentence. Melissa lets him, still smiling softly, like they have all the time in the world.
"You… what?" he says, dumbly.
"I said," she repeats, "who said I didn't want to kiss you?"
"You…" He can't even wrap his head around this, what?? "You want to kiss me? You want to kiss me?"
Melissa laughs again. "Don't look so surprised! I would've thought it was obvious, with how I've been acting."
"Well, you thought wrong." It slips out before he can stop it, and he quickly takes his hand from where it's holding his jacket closed and covers his mouth. Her laughter increases as he apologizes.
"No, no, I suppose that's my fault," she says. "I should have known better than to assume you knew how I felt."
How she FELT?
Izuku doesn't know if he can physically handle the implications of that.
"Anyway," she continues, "I'll be straight forward then. May I kiss you, Deku?"
Another wheeze escapes his throat and his knees buckle a little. He doesn’t quite fall, but Melissa's hands do surge up and catch his arms. That sick feeling is mixing with a wonderful giddiness, jumping around in his stomach, almost feeling like beating wings - and oh. Oh, he's just stupid, isn't he.
Oh, he's in love with her, isn't he.
"Yes," he breathes, high on the feeling of love realized, blissfully ignoring his own stupidity of the day. He'd been feeling sick because he was nervous and in love and he'd been with her all day, holy shit, he can be so dumb sometimes.
Melissa breathes a sigh of relief, tension dropping from her shoulders, and he realizes she'd been scared he'd reject her. As if anyone in their right mind would reject her.
Her hands slide up from his arms and cup his jaw, fingertips buried in his unruly hair. She tilts her head forward, slowly, unrushed, and Izuku's eyes flutter shut in preparation. He feels her nose brushes his, feels her breath against his lips, and then - she's kissing him.
He sighs a bit, in relief, a small, hurt part of him, that will never truly die, having expected this to all be a huge prank. But it's not, of course, because Melissa would never hurt him like that.
Her lips press a bit harder against his, and her hands slide further back on his head until her arms having fully wrapped around his neck. His own hands jolt up, unsurely landing on her waist, as she leads him. She's obviously done this before, while he's completely green.
The kiss lasts another few seconds before Melissa slowly leans back. Embarrassingly, Izuku starts to follow, before catching himself and letting them part.
They both pant lightly, breathing the same air and still wrapped up in each other. She beams at him, face flushed from more than just the cold. "That was wonderful, Deku."
"R-Really? I-I didn't know what I was doing…"
Melissa hums. "Maybe, but… because it's you, I thought it was amazing." His face turns a few shades darker. She giggles, before her voice takes on a more serious tone. "And… if you wanted, there could be more chances to… you know, improve…?"
It takes him a second.
Then another.
And another.
"Wait, are you asking me out?"
Melissa snorts a little, before nodding.
"Like, me me? Like, Midoriya Izuku?"
"I don't see any other hero-in-training here, currently wrapped in my arms and standing under a mistletoe, do you?" she teases.
"N-No, I just…" Ah, shit, he's gonna cry at this rate. "This is just too unreal. There's no way this all just happened, that I kissed you and then you asked me out. I have to be dreaming."
Melissa tilts his head towards her (when had he looked away?) and smiles brightly at him. "It's all real. I kissed you and then I asked you out. If it's too much at once, we can wait. I can wait. You're worth it, to me, Deku. I want to be with you, wholly and truly."
Aaaaand now he's crying.
Melissa takes it in stride, leaning back so her hands can comfortably cup his face again and her thumbs can wipe his tears. He grips her wrists tightly, but not enough to hurt.
"I - I just - I never thought you'd actually - that someone like you would - " He's cut off by another sob and Melissa shushes him.
"It's okay, Deku, I understand. It's a lot right now, we can talk about it tomorrow - "
"N-No, wait," he cuts in, sniffing noisily and forcing his tears to halt. He looks her in the eye, breathing shakily, and says, "Y-Yes. I-I'd like to go out with you. Please."
Melissa lets out a breath of her own, eyes wide and shining. Oh no, is she going to -
Tears drip from her eyes as her smile widens and widens, and she throws herself at him, wrapping him up in a tight hug. "Oh, that's wonderful, Deku! I'm so happy!"
Izuku laughs breathlessly, feeling like he's on top of the world. He tightens his arms around her waist and lifts her up, spinning her around as their joyous laughter fills the empty street.
After a few moments of mirth, he sets her back down and they pant heavily. Their foreheads lean against one another as they breathe each other's air.
They stand in silence, enjoying each other's company as they catch their breath. Then, nervously, Izuku whispers, "You know, we're… we're still under the mistletoe. If you, um, wanted to… help me improve, like you said…?" He anxiously looks at her, feeling simultaneously too close and like he never wants to be away from her again.
Melissa huffs a laugh and buries her hand into the curls on the back of his head. "You know, Deku? I think I'll take you up on your offer."
She leans in and catches him in another scorching kiss, and before Izuku loses himself in her, he wonders how he could ever believe he didn't love her.
