There's a very potent vulnerability in being honest and holding out one's shivering heart to another. He watches Paul's gesture (sign?) and commits it to memory.

He knows the difference between being told they will fight together, as when joining or being born into something, and choosing it for themselves. It's part of what scares him, so soon after the battle, that people Midoriya cares about agree to fight by his side so readily. Paul might relate. A small but more genuine smile trembles into existence.

"Thank you, Paul-kun. I know. I've known for a while," he says more softly than one should when talking shop.

He knew it when they clasped hands by the firelight after Paul's vision. He felt it when Paul rushed to him as they defeated that Unsnakely. He traces this inkling back to when he told Paul, the first time, that he was kind, and Paul looked like Midoriya had struck him.

It's this that Midoriya admires most in Paul, a stubborn firelight in a dark storm. He looks at his friend who stares at his tea. He can feel the soft press, so similar to his own, of Paul wanting to help more. There are things Midoriya will not tell even his closest friends. There are things he has told no one.

"I'm hoping these precautions won't really end up being needed."