Izuku didn't know much about his neighbour Naruto Uzumaki.
He knew his neighbour had a cute five-year-old daughter and that she was a very good cook. Neither Izuku nor his mother knew much about the father of her child, except for the fact that the two of them were not married. He knew from babysitting her daughter that there was only one picture of Naruto as a kid. Other than that, he didn't know where his neighbour come from. She did multiple jobs that much he was certain because Naruto always ask him to babysit her daughter, but other than he had no idea about what his neighbour was really like.
He usually prided himself for his ability to analyse but Uzumaki-san was just so hard for him to analyse.
"Izuku! Izuku! Mama, it is Izuku!"
Izuku blinked his eyes, twisted his body around and without thinking, opened his arms to catch the little ball of energy heading his way. Looking down, he saw that it was Hikaru who had run into his arms. Hikaru was Naruto's daughter or 'the light of mummy's life' as the girl loved to tell him. If it were not for the fact that Hikaru had her mother's eyes, he would never believe the girl was her mother's child. Everything about the girl screamed that she was her father's child with her pale skin and raven-black hair.
"Izuku!" Uzumaki-san greeted with a bright smile. The young woman's smile faded and was replaced with a frown. Why was she upset? From what Izuku recalled, his neighbour rarely had the time to pick up her child. She usually asked his mother to help her with picking up Hikaru from the kindergarten. Why was she so upset? He tilted his head. "What happened to you?"
"W-Why are you asking that question?" Izuku asked, furrowing his eyebrows at her.
The blonde arched an eyebrow at him. "You seemed to be upset about something and judging from your hunched back, you got picked on again."
He rubbed the back of his neck at his neighbour's observation. If there was something terrifying about his sweet neighbour, it was how she always seemed to figure things out. His mother knew about his problems but he always tried to hide it from her. All he needed to do was hide his book, pretend to smile and that would be it. None of these things seemed to work with his neighbour.
It was like she was an all-knowing being.
"I-Is it that obvious?"
Hikaru shook her head, smiled and answered. "Nope but Mummy always know when someone feels hurt or sad, isn't that right Mummy?"
"Yup, it is just one of my many special abilities," her mother replied, shaking her head. "Now Izuku, do you want to come to my apartment and talk about it? I know from experience that it is a good idea to talk about your feelings."
"I-I don't want to bother you and Hikaru-chan, Uzumaki-san," he protested.
His neighbour shook her head and smiled at him. "You won't be bothering me so talk to me about it."
Izuku wanted to protest, but there was just something about her that made him want to talk about his problems. Taking a deep breath, he began to tell her about his problems in school. He told her about how he used to be best friends with Bakugou and how it all changed when he turned out to become quirkless. He told her about his dreams and how everyone was making fun of him. He should have stopped talking but once he began talking, Izuku couldn't even bring himself to stop.
Once he stopped talking, Izuku finally realized that he was sitting in Uzumaki-san's apartment and that the woman had placed a cup of hot chocolate for him to drink. Had he been so busy talking that he hadn't realized where he was? This was why he didn't like talking about his problems.
"And why do you let their words get to you?"
Izuku blinked his eyes. "What do you mean why do I let their words get to me?"
The young woman smiled and took a sip of her own drink. "If I were to care about what everyone thought about me then I won't be able to chase my dreams. If you want to be a hero so badly then don't give a shit about what they say. Why should it matter that you have a quirk? There must be a hero out there that doesn't have a quirk."
"Uzumaki-san, do you know how hard it is to be a quirkless hero? There is a reason why we don't have quirkless heroes!" Izuku told her.
The blonde shrugged her shoulder. "Does it matter? If you want to be a hero then you shouldn't give a shit about whether you have a quirk or not. I had a friend, who just like you, didn't have a quirk but that never stopped him from chasing his dreams. If he couldn't have a quirk then he trained his body to the point where he could defeat people with quirks. My point is, don't let one minor setback from chasing your dreams."
"Uzumaki-san, do you really think I can do it?" He asked, looking at his drink.
The young woman put down her drink. "Do you know that when I was a kid that I had people saying I was stupid to chase my dream? They all thought that I had no chance in succeeding in my dream. Do you think I give up because of their harsh words? No, I ignored their words and continue to chase after my dreams. No one thought I would pass my exams but I proved them wrong. I proved everyone wrong and if an idiot like me can do that then you can do even better than me. Do you know why? Because you are smarter than me."
"U-Uzumaki-san, did your dream come true?"
The young woman sighed and stared at her daughter, who was too busy playing with her toys. "There were some complications, but I'm certain that if none of these complications occurred then I would have achieved my dream. However, that isn't my point Izuku, my point is if you want to make your dreams come true then work for it. I always tell this to Hikaru."
"If you were me, what would you do?"
"Do you want me to train you?" Izuku blinked his eyes and the blonde laughed. "Why do you look like I just said something crazy? I am giving you the opportunity of the lifetime, Izuku."
"Uzumaki-san, do you really know how to fight?"
Rolling her eyes, Naruto replied. "Just because I'm not a hero like All Might, doesn't mean I don't know how to kick someone's butt. I'm certain that if I challenge a hero to a fist fight that I won't have any problems beating them. Now let me ask again, do you want me to train you or not?"
"I want to be trained b-but what about your job? And what about Hikaru?"
The young woman smiled. "I will just use my quirk to get the job done and Hikaru won't a problem. She is around the age where I can begin her training."
"B-But she is just five."
"I know my daughter like the back of my hand and she is going to demand that I teach her too when she learns that I'm training you," Uzumaki-san said, looking at her daughter. "If I tell her that she is too young to train then she will tell me that I wasn't much older when I started my own training. If I keep telling her no then she will start to give me the puppy dog look. Despite what you think Izuku, I can never say no to my daughter. I can never say no, not when she looks so much like her Daddy."
He wanted to ask what happened to Hikaru's father, but the pain in his neighbour's eyes told him that she would never be ready to tell him about the unknown man. Shaking his head, Izuku looked at the giggling girl, who was speaking to her imaginary friends, and then to the sad woman in front of him.
In that moment Izuku came to realize something about his neighbour:
His neighbour had to be one of the kindest people that a person could meet.
Naruto Uzumaki could be walloping in her sadness instead of listening to his problems. His neighbour could have better things to do then listen to him whine about his problems. She could have told him to give up and go back home. Instead of doing all those things, she listened to him. She heard his whining and decided to help him, which was more than anyone ever did for him. She never told him that his dreams were impossible or hinted that he could do something else, like his mother always did.
Instead she encouraged him to follow his dreams. She didn't think he was being stupid to follow his dreams but stupid for not thinking of ways to achieve his dream. Naruto didn't just give him hints on how to achieve his dream of becoming a superhero, she was offering him the chance of becoming strong enough to become a hero.
He felt water building up behind his eyes and without thinking, he began to cry his heart out.
For the first time in his life, someone truly believed in his dreams.
A/N: The timeline for this story is around a few months before Izuku meet All Might. Please review and tell me what you think about this fic. Please ask me questions as it will help me develop the plot better.