"Aw, okay. Talk to you later then."
Mina Ashido pressed the "end" button on her phone, sighing dramatically. Another no.
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon at the U.A. dorms, and the pinkette had decided to use the downtime to get some food shopping done. And being the social butterfly she was, she was hoping to have some company for the trip. Unfortunately, it looked like all her friends were busy in some way. Uraraka, Kirishima, Hagakure, Kaminari, Tsuyu… The list went on. She had even tried people she wasn't as close with like Satou.
Part of her suspected a few of them just didn't want to go. She supposed she couldn't blame them; it was the middle of winter and well below freezing right now. If someone had asked her to accompany them for no real reason, she might say no too.
Deciding to admit defeat, the pink girl put her phone away and started putting on her winter gear.
As she headed down the elevator, she considered if there was anyone else she could ask. There were of course some classmates she didn't want to invite, namely Tokoyami, Iida, Bakugou, and Mineta. They just didn't exactly seem like fun company, especially the latter two.
"Guess there's nobody else," she said to herself as the elevator stopped. As she stepped out of, however, she immediately spotted something that said otherwise. "Oh!"
Izuku Midoriya was in the kitchen putting away some dishes. It seemed like he had just finished lunch.
Mina brightened up a bit. She hadn't asked Izuku, having just assumed he was too busy with training like usual. But it appeared that wasn't the case.
"Yo, Midoriya!" She greeted cheerily, walking up to the boy. Izuku looked over towards her, only now becoming aware of her presence.
"Oh, Ashido. Afternoon." He immediately took notice of her puffy pink coat, purple hat and purple gloves. "Where are you heading?"
"Grocery shopping. You wanna come?"
"Huh?" Izuku was caught a bit off guard by the question. Was this a group thing? "Who else is going?"
"Nobody. Just figure it'd be nice to have some company." She shrugged, smiling again. "So, you in?"
"Uh…" The freckled boy wasn't sure how to respond. While he and Mina were on good terms, he wouldn't exactly consider them good friends. Why him? "Is Uraraka not free?" He didn't want to just say no, but he didn't want to say yes either. Going out in the cold wasn't exactly appealing to him, and it'd mean being alone with Mina – A girl – for an extended period of time.
It had been over half a year since the once-Quirkless boy entered U.A., and by now he had gotten over a lot of his initial anxiety when it came to the opposite sex. He could actually talk to Uraraka without tripping over himself, for instance.
But the idea of going somewhere alone with a girl was still a little scary to him, especially if it was Mina. Her extreme personality made talking with her for too long difficult for a guy like him. And well… He'd be lying if he said he didn't think she was attractive.
"Ochako's busy. Like, everyone is honestly," Mina answered. She put her hands together. "Pleeeaaaase? Going on my own sounds super boring, and you're like the only one left I can ask."
…Oh, that's why she was asking him. Because nobody else was around.
"…Oh jeez, that sounded, like, super bad didn't it?" Pink cheeks turned magenta as Mina put a hand over her mouth. "S-Sorry! I didn't mean it like…"
While she and Izuku weren't the closest friends, she still liked him well enough. He was just so shy and always so busy, so actually hanging out with him was difficult.
"No it's… Fine. I know we don't talk too much." Izuku knew Mina enough to understand she was sincere in that apology.
"Honestly, I just figured you'd be too busy. You seem to never have time to do anything."
"O-Oh, well um…" The boy rubbed his hair a bit. He honestly couldn't blame her for thinking that.
"Hey don't get me wrong, not saying that's bad. I mean, you're a top student for a reason." Izuku felt his cheeks warming up a bit at the compliment. It still wasn't something he was used to.
"W-Well, actually um… I was about to go work on some homework. And then do some training after that…"
"Oh." Mina looked disappointed. "So… Too busy then?"
"I… Well um…" On one hand Izuku wanted to say yes, he was too busy. School and training were super important, after all. But on the other hand, he'd feel bad about making Mina go off on her own when he honestly could spare the time to accompany her. Plus, he didn't like the idea that he was earning a reputation of being too busy to have fun. The last thing he wanted to do was close himself off from his friends.
He shook his head.
"No, I can go. I can just do that all later." Mina lit up like a star.
"Really?" Her held her hands up a bit, balling them into fists as she bounced on her feet excitedly. Izuku nodded. "Yaaaaay!" She threw her arms up in triumph, cheering as she jumped up quite high. A silly smile crossed her classmate's face as he watched the display. Seeing her get that worked up about something like this was rather endearing. "Aw, you're the best Midori!"
"Uh, heh…" He couldn't help but blush again as his dumb smile widened. Something about being called "Midori" just got to him. "Um… L-Let me get a c-coat."
Mina sat down at one of the tables as he left the room, giggling to herself. Izuku could be a real cutie sometimes with how nervous he could get. She could see why Uraraka had been so interested in him for a little while.
"Wait." Realizing what that last thought just implied, Mina felt herself blush. She giggled again.
She wouldn't say she had a crush on Izuku or anything, but she did always feel drawn to him in some weird way. Then again, it seemed a lot of the class did; he just had that kind of effect on people.
How many of them thought he was cute though? Sure, he was no Todoroki, but still…
She shook her head, not really in the mood to think about this stuff. Groceries now, boys later.
Izuku winced as the wind picked up, the freezing air blowing across his face. Despite dressing in layers, it was still pretty darn cold out.
"Phew… Chilly." Mina's voice was a bit muffled underneath her scarf. Izuku was beginning to regret not bringing one himself.
The two students had left the dorms some time ago and started on their walk to the grocery store. They were pretty close now, maybe a couple minutes away at most. At the moment they were cutting through a park to save time.
Izuku took a glance around at the scenery. Cold as it was, there was a certain beauty to winter he could appreciate. The way the snow coated the trees and ground, the calming silence… It was nice.
Looking back at Mina, he couldn't help but notice how much she both literally and figuratively stood out against it all. She was everything winter wasn't; warm, bright, loud, and colorful.
Spending time with her like this had gone about as he had expected. Mina went on and on, asking him all sorts of questions or just telling stories. It was a bit overwhelming for him but still, he kept up. It was certainly nice having someone who wanted to talk to him this much.
"Oh wow, look at that!" Mina pointed to some nearby hills. Several people could be seen sledding down or walking up them. "That looks like so much fun! I haven't been sledding in forever."
"Same." Izuku had only gone a couple times with his mom years ago.
"Oh!" An idea hatched in Mina's head. "We should get the whole class out here for like, a snow day! We could sled and do all sorts of other stuff!" She looked at Izuku excitedly. "Wouldn't that be cool!?"
"Uh… Yeah, sounds fun." Her sudden burst of energy had surprised him. "You could ask about in class tomorrow." Mina nodded, beaming as she thought more about what they could do.
Izuku had proven to be a good traveling companion. He was quiet, yes, but didn't seem to mind when Mina talked his ear off. She had taken advantage of this rare opportunity to ask him all sorts of things about himself. Again, he had always sort of intrigued her and she wanted to know more about him.
However, there was one question she had avoided. It was a bit personal and she wasn't certain it was appropriate to ask. However, the longer they walked the more her curiosity ate at her.
"Hey, uh, question." It eventually became too much to bear. If he didn't want to answer, he could just not answer.
"Hm?" Mina glanced at his right arm.
"Um… Does that hurt?" Izuku looked confused before following her gaze and realizing what she was asking about.
"O-Oh, um…" Everyone knew about the injury he had sustained, of course. The scars were impossible to hide. But nobody had ever really asked him before. "Um… Only a little, sometimes."
"Oh." They both slowed down a bit.
Mina didn't know the full details of just what Izuku went through during the attack at their training camp, but she did know he had done something terrible to himself. It didn't seem like a coincidence that after that he started fighting with primarily his legs. He seemed fine and all, but she just couldn't help but worry.
"Sorry, um…" She cleared her throat, feeling how awkward things had gotten.
"N-No, it's okay. I know it looks… Bad."
"That's an understatement and a half," Mina remarked. "Dude, your Quirk um… Honestly, it kinda scares me."
Izuku stopped at this, looking directly at her with a little shock. It what?
"What?"
"Well, I mean." Ugh. Mina didn't want to kill the mood with this, but it had been on the back of her mind for a while now. "It's super strong and stuff, but like… How many times have you broken your arms now?" She had stopped too. "That's just… It can't be good for you, right? That's why you use kicks now instead of… Oh." Realizing she might have gone a bit far, she cut herself off.
Izuku continued to stare at her. She was right, of course; he hadn't just come up with Shoot Style to differentiate himself from All Might. He had done too much damage to his arms, and now he was paying the price.
"…Yeah." He looked forward and kept walking. "Yeah, that's… That's why."
"…Why did you keep doing it then?" Mina started after him. "You… You had to have known, right?"
"Can we please-
"But you kept breaking yourself-
"Ashido, please-
"Do you know how scary it was watching you-
"Stop!" Mina winced as Izuku suddenly shouted. "I… I'm sorry, but just… P-Please, can we stop?" This was not a conversation he wanted to have.
"I… Okay, okay." Mina held her hands up, deciding to drop it. Again, personal stuff. She understood.
"I'm sorry if I ever worried you, but…" He sighed, shaking his head a bit. "I know I messed up. And now I'm paying for it." He lifted his arms slightly. He didn't want to get into why he didn't care if he broke his body. Frankly, he didn't want to talk about his Quirk period.
The rest of the walk to the store was pretty quiet. Mina grabbed what she needed (Izuku getting a few items himself), and before long they were heading back through the park.
"Really? You like natto?" Izuku asked with some bewilderment. He had tried the stuff once and found it pretty gross.
"That's the face everyone makes…" Mina chuckled. "Yes, I do." Thankfully the tense atmosphere had dissipated by now and the pair was back to regular conversation. Mina obviously wanted to press the subject of Izuku's injuries further but knew that was wildly inappropriate now. She was just glad he hadn't been too upset with her; the fact that they could go back to talking about dumb stuff after that little moment was nice. Showed a lot of maturity.
Izuku didn't blame Mina for asking those questions. He was sure most of the class wanted to ask him too, but it seemed she was the only one willing. He wished he could tell her more, but for obvious reasons he had to keep everything surrounding his Quirk quiet.
Though the park was mostly empty due to the cold weather, there were a few people here and there. For instance, as the two teens passed by a frozen pond they spotted a group of three kids playing on it.
"Um…" Izuku couldn't help but feel a little nervous seeing them on the ice. "I-Is that safe?" He didn't see anyone else around watching them.
"Seems fine. They aren't going too far out on the ice or anything," Mina commented. It was true; they had only gone maybe a meter out.
Izuku felt a bit unsure but kept moving. She was probably right. However, they only made it a little further before he stopped again.
"Oh my god." His eyes widened as he spotted a figure walking towards them just ahead. They were dressed in casual attire, but he'd recognize them anywhere. "It's Death Arms!"
For whatever reason, the pro hero Death Arms was at the park. His lack of costume implied he wasn't on duty at the moment, but that didn't stop Izuku from running up to him. Mina stood where she was, smirking as she watched his inner fanboy go off.
"Heh, so much for incognito…" The pro chuckled as Izuku reached him. He was used to dealing with fans even off duty, so he didn't mind too much.
"S-Sorry to bother you, sir, j-just I'm a big fan a-and…" The fanboy could hardly contain himself as he fished around for something he could get signed. As he pulled out a journal, Death Arms raised an eyebrow.
"Hey… Don't I know you from somewhere?" Izuku looked up at him, confused. They technically had met once before, but would he really remember that?
"Uh, w-well I'm at U.A. s-so maybe…"
"That's right! You're that kid who charged that sludge thing way back!"
"Wha… Wait, y-you remember that?" That was so long ago! The man snorted.
"Course I do! You damn near got yourself killed pulling that stupid stunt! Hard to forget when a civ does that." He almost seemed angry as he recalled Izuku's recklessness.
"Er…" The boy shrunk a bit, blushing deeply. He remembered getting chewed out for his actions that day.
"Hmph. And you're in U.A. now? Now that you mention it I do recall seeing you at the festival…" Death Arms rubbed his chin, then smirked. "Figures someone like you'd be trying to get into the hero business. Hope they've taught you to think before you act."
Mina didn't exactly know what they were talking about, but she found the conversation amusing nonetheless. She really liked seeing this side of Izuku.
As she was about to go over and introduce herself, though, she suddenly heard shouting coming from another direction.
"Hiroto, come back! That's way too far!"
"Yeah, come on!"
"Aw come on, don't be such babies!"
Mina turned towards the voices, realizing where they were coming from. She gasped at the scene before her.
Those kids were still on the ice. One of them, a boy with short black hair, was now standing close to the middle of the pond.
"Look! It's totally safe, see?" The boy, who Mina decided was a unique brand of stupid, then jumped on the ice to show it was fine. Then he did it again, and again. "See, it's…"
He trailed off as a noticeable crack formed under him. Mina's eyes went wide.
Then, before he could even shout, the ice broke beneath him. He disappeared under the water.
"OH MY GOD!" Mina screamed and, before she could even really think about it, began charging towards the pond.
"Well anyway, I don't want to keep you any-Huh?" Izuku whipped around as he heard the shout. He saw Mina sprinting towards the frozen pond they had just passed, and two kids that seemed to be panicking at the shore.
Wait, two?
His eyes darted around until they spotted the cracks in the ice, and a tiny section that was bobbing up and down in the water. He quickly put the pieces together in his head.
"What's happening!?" Death Arms was beginning to move towards the commotion. Izuku ran alongside him.
"Someone fell through the ice!" He shouted.
"They what!?" The pro picked up his pace. "Hey, girl! Wait up!"
Mina either hear or wasn't listening. She had already made it to the pond in the few seconds they took to process what was happening.
She didn't stop at the pond's shore. Instead, she kicked off her boots mid-run and activated her Quirk. Non-acidic slime poured out from her feet, allowing her to slide along the ice at a controlled pace. Her brain wasn't really thinking about whether or not this was safe to do; all she knew was that she needed to save that boy, and fast.
Reaching the spot where the kid fell, she came to a stop. She frantically looked around to see if she could spot him trying to surface anywhere. Not such luck.
Well, only one thing to do then.
Without any hesitation, the young heroine threw off her gloves and shot some concentrated acid at a portion of the ice. It hissed, bubbled, and steamed as it ate through the frozen water, quickly melting it away. In seconds there was a sizeable hole that wasn't getting filled back in with more ice.
Izuku got to shore as this was happening, Death Arms not far behind. He felt his stomach lurch as he saw Mina standing over this hole she had made.
She wasn't going to…
"Ashido, no!"
"Don't do it, kid!"
But it was too late. There was a splash the pink girl jumped.
"ASHIDO!"
Mina felt as if a million needles were stabbing her all over as she entered the frigid water. For a moment, the sheer shock from the cold threatened nearly forced her to gasp for breath. She managed to stop herself though.
Calm. She needed to keep calm. Find this kid and get him out asap.
Her exposed skin burned and stung as her now soaked clothes weighed heavily on her. Frantically looking around, she spotted a shape weakly struggling near the bottom. It wasn't too deep in here, fortunately, and she made for it.
Above the surface, Izuku felt like he was going to vomit. Without thinking, he started running toward the hole.
…Only to be stopped as something grabbed him.
"The heck do you think you're doing!?" Death Arms yelled.
"WE'VE GOT TO HELP HER!" Izuku screamed, struggling against his grip.
"Use your head, kid! Look at the ice!" The panicked boy took a moment to look where he was pointing, and immediately saw the issue. There were more cracks forming on the ice. "See that? If you go out there and cause that to break any more, it could plug up the hole she made! That'll just be putting everyone in more danger, including you!"
"B-But… We can't just!" He refused to stand by and do nothing.
"You're right, we can't." The pro set him down. "So you call for paramedics. Every second's going to count!" Izuku watched as the man ran over to a nearby tree and grabbed a large, thick branch.
"What are you-
"NOW!" Death Arms barked, causing the boy to yelp as he got out his phone. The hero then ripped the branch clean off. Izuku quickly caught on to what he was going to do.
The sound of a splash got his attention. Mina had surfaced and was holding onto someone.
"Don't move!" Death arms cried out before holding out the branch. It was long enough to reach her. "Grab onto this!"
Mina struggled to tread water as she weakly reached for the branch. Her breath was short and ragged as the cold started getting to her.
"Hold on tight!" She did her best as the branch was lifted slightly and pulled back. Mina held the boy in her other arm close as they were safely brought back to shore.
Izuku got off the phone as they were brought in, running over as fast as he could. Death Arms was laying them both down. Mina looked barely awake, and the kid was unconscious.
"H-Help's o-on the way!"
"Good. Now we need to keep these two warm until they get here. Help me with their clothes."
"R-Right!" Izuku nodded, knowing enough about rescue to understand what he meant. Death arms tended to the boy (Hiroto, as his two friends who had come over where crying) while he focused on Mina.
"Mi…Do…Ri…?" She said weakly as he began getting her out of her wet clothes. Luckily her innermost layer was still fairly dry so he didn't have to strip her completely, not that he would have cared about that sort of thing right now.
Her pink looked considerably less bright as she swayed to and fro. Her head drooped a few times as well.
"Uh… Uh…" Izuku was more than a little terrified and wasn't sure what to do.
"Keep her awake!" Death Arms ordered as he checked Hiroto for signs of breathing.
Mina's vision was hazy as the world seemed to slow down around her. She could barely make out what looked like Izuku in front of her, but that was it.
"Is… He… O…Kay…?" She slurred.
"Y-Yes! He's safe, Ashido!" Izuku grabbed her cheeks, turning her head so she was focused on him. Her eyes seemed unfocused.
"Good…" She giggled loudly. "Gonna… Take… A nap…"
"No no no, hey… Hey…" Izuku slapped her cheeks lightly, shaking her a bit. "Stay with me, alright? Just for a little bit."
"Mmmm…" Her eyes drooped again. Izuku embraced her, hoping his body heat would help keep warm long enough. He noted just how cold her whole body felt.
"Just… Just stay with me…" Tears were beginning to fall from his eyes. "P-Please, just… Just stay with me…"
This'll just be a quick 2 chapter thingy. Was going to be a oneshot but I realized it'll be a bit too bulky if I do that. Should hopefully have the second part up by the end of the week.