Well, we've hit ourselves another milestone! Twenty chapters and we've only just gotten started! Let's keep this party going!
ALSO, just before I'm posting this I took a look and overnight we hit the 800 Follows mark. WOOHOO!
Review time:
Unknown4804: He's a bit of both here, but the D&D stuff certainly seems to be the lion's share of it. It just works so well for him! I'm glad you like it.
Renlu: First off, sorry that I made you cry. Unless that's a good thing, in which case thank you.
In retrospect, it really was a pretty eventful chapter, wasn't it? This one will be a bit more focused. Don't worry about traitor stuff, since I don't plan on having a traitor. I'm of the same opinion that you are regarding that, though some of the theories are interesting.
I really wanted to sit down and have a real moment with Dad Might since we haven't had much of that recently. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!
LawKaynn: 1) Indeed. 2) You got it. 3) I hope you enjoy!
NPGamer11: Thank you for this incredibly high praise. The only real advice I can give is to write the kind of thing that you would want to read. That way you have fun doing it and that's something that people will be sure to pick up on!
the_narr_master: You know, I never thought to compare Shoji to Shirou but now that I think about it it makes a lot of sense. Just sans the trauma. I'm also glad you like Shigaraki. I really do have a lot of fun with him.
Well you see, the thing about your Eri suggestion is *SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS*. Your JoJo reference is acknowledged. I never knew that about the seven deadly sins, but I agree that they are seven very powerful motivators that can drive people to extremes. I hope you enjoy!
Dark White Fang: I'm glad that you're enjoying it! I can totally see Shoji as a monk and the six arms only makes the image that much more perfect.
MalumAnima: Thank you! I always feel validated when someone likes my characterization since that's the thing I try and put the most attention into. FMA is also one of my all-time favorite anime right after Yu Yu Hakusho, so props for getting the reference! I hope you continue to enjoy!
uchihaNaruto247: Thank you. I do try to keep things grounded in realism to make them feel more relatable and impactful.
dspendragon125: I am glad that I was able to impact you so. I hope you continue to enjoy!
bhennen: I'm glad you are enjoying it! I do try and keep things at least semi-realistic and if you squint there is a little hint as to what might be coming next for Izuku in this chapter.
Markus-Antonius: Thank you!
Ezylryb: Thank you! I certainly intend to keep going. I think you will enjoy this chapter very much.
WiseFoolofDeath: Thank you! I will certainly be continuing the story and I hope that you continue to enjoy it!
bigdogneversleeps: I do love it. There's nothing more satisfying then just typing like a madman and realizing that you just spewed out a couple thousand words like it was nothing. I did have a bit of fun with Snipe. I wanted to just make him as incredibly Western as possible. It makes me laugh especially since he's such a serious-looking character.
BloodySS2God: Thank you! I hope you enjoy this one as well.
The 0bservanc3: I haven't put too much thought into the hand situation, but I don't see why not. We at least don't have anything to contradict it. Your idea about Kurogiri also makes a great deal of sense. I will certainly keep the references coming with Shigaraki. As for how I know it...well, I'm a gamer. I've played D&D for several years including DM'ing some stuff, so I learned it over time.
As for taking twenty, there's a rule in D&D where if you spend a certain amount of time on a skill check then you can treat it as if you rolled a natural twenty, causing the check to be as high as possible. You can also take ten in certain situations where nothing is actively distracting or opposing you, which is sometimes referred to as your "passive" level with that skill. This is most commonly done with Perception/Spot and Insight/Sense Motive to just sort of casually notice that something is up.
In the manga at least, Snipe does talk like a cowboy, at least in the fan translation that I am using for reference. I like it so I decided to use it. With how detailed your reviews are, I don't mind the occasional "it's great." You get a pass. XD I also appreciate your appreciating what I did here.
I dunno, AM I?! I absolutely agree with the image of Mezo as a monk. I'm also glad that you recognized the Dad Might scene for what it was supposed to be and enjoyed the message. I hope you enjoy this one too!
kresnamurti17: Welcome aboard and much thanks for the review injection! I hope you continue to enjoy!
TheOneWhoWillSurvive: Thank you very much! I try very hard to keep things feeling realistic and relatable and am glad to know that I am succeeding. I hope you continue to enjoy!
Impressed Dude: Well I am very pleased to be the exception! I had a lot of fun writing that scene and that chapter as a whole and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you as well for this incredibly high praise. I very much appreciate it and hope you will continue to enjoy!
mookstafar: Thank you! It's gratifying to know that my story is a page-turner for the newcomers. I hope that you continue to enjoy!
Manny Siliezar: I too occasionally get paid to read fanfiction XD Thank you for the praise! The friend group will most certainly get more screentime. You are correct in deducing that I have a lot of fun writing Todoroki and Hagakure, so definitely expect to see more of them as well. In what capacity? You'll have to wait and see :P
Mezo was a come-from-behind character for me. I didn't expect to use him as much as I've ended up doing, but he's really grown on me. As for Mineta, he is not dead and we will see what became of him soon enough. I do indeed intend to change things up a bit with the Sports Festival and people have given me some good ideas on how to go about that. I hope you continue to enjoy the story!
Tism-schism: I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying it! Full-Cowl will be significantly different from canon but saying exactly how would spoil the surprise. I do not at this point have an ending point in mind for this story, though using the manga as a reference we're still only at about chapter 22 or so. I have no doubt that this thing will end up being an absolute monster when all is said and done though.
Twain apprentice: Your comparison of my writing to the actual author's is very flattering and I thank you for it. Your review actually reminded me that it's been a few weeks since I've looked at the more recent chapters of the manga so I went and read those real quick and...damn. What a good time to be writing this fic. That piece of gear that our Hero Course hopeful has is really cool. In all honesty the limitations revealed by Horikoshi make a TON of sense to me and I might end up just keeping his Quirk as-is.
As for the suggestion of limiting the shout-outs to just those to whom I have a detailed reply to make...that could work. I do like taking the time to thank each of my reviewers though and I don't use word count as a metric of success. I prefer to use Reviews/Follows/Favorites. I feel like they took the time to review so the least I can do is take the time to acknowledge them, but I also don't want to have to PM everyone. I'll have to ask for everyone else's opinion in the post-chapter A/N to get a better feel for popular opinion.
JehovahReigns: Thank you! It's an idea that I've heard several times, so I couldn't say exactly where it came from other than it just makes sense. I hope you continue to enjoy!
Now, it's been a few chapters since someone got punched. Let's start with that.
Chapter Twenty: No Pressure
Katsuki Bakugo was irritated. This was not at all unusual; he was often irritated and the cause of his irritation was rarely the same twice in a row; there was just so damn much to be irritated about! Stupidity, ignorance, idiocy, wishy-washyness, denial, spite, outright evil and so much more.
And that was just the list of general topics, to say nothing of the specific incidents and individuals of whom the number of potential rage-inducing combinations may as well have been infinite.
This particular incident was unusual in one particular sense, though: Katsuki was not irritated at any one person in particular, nor was he irritated with any specific action or event.
He was just irritated and he knew that he shouldn't be.
After all, he along with the rest of Class 1-A had just learned that at least one session of Hero Training each week would involve no-Quirk sparring which was designed to sharpen their basic combat skills and develop their overall battle-awareness.
Being given the ticket to an all-the-ass-you-can-kick buffet was essentially Katsuki's definition of a good time, give or take one or two minor details. The first of these was that nobody was allowed to use their Quirks (it was kind of in the title) and the second was that they were under strict orders to try and avoid serious injury, since self-control was as important to Heroes as combat ability, if not more so.
"After all," All Might finished his explanation of the exercise, cape billowing as it always did when he was pontificating regardless of whether or not there was any wind present, "a Hero can just as easily cause harm as they can protect if they are not conscious of their Quirks as well as their circumstances. I believe that Thirteen said something similar to you all at USJ?" the students all nodded in response, with a few making verbal affirmations as well. Clearly satisfied, All Might spread his arms and declared, "Then let's get this show on the road! Everyone pair off in one of the squares on the floor and go a round or two. The main purpose of our first exercise will be to determine everyone's relative skill level in hand-to-hand combat, so expect to change partners often and don't worry if you have a hard time in the beginning; I shall use what we learn today to refine our lesson plan for next time. In the meantime, Plus Ultra!"
"Excuse me, Sensei!" Iida's voice caused several students to stop in their tracks as they were in the process of pairing up, "We seem to have an odd number of participants. How do you wish to proceed given this? Shall one of the pairs accept the third member, or will they simply rotate in and out?"
Odd number? That was weird. They hadn't had that kind of problem with the Battle Trial, had they? Katsuki thought back to a few days ago and concluded that he did not remember such an issue. Was someone missing? Or maybe it was because Deku still wasn't allowed to do this kind of stuff because of his injuries? Yeah, that made sense. Katsuki remembered him saying something about that. Mystery solved. Good, that had been starting to annoy him.
"Ah, don't worry, Iida-san," Deku responded, "I'm still not completely healed yet, so I'll be sitting this one out. You don't need to worry about there being an odd man out this time."
All Might nodded and gave Iida the thumbs-up to show his approval, "Nice catch, Iida my boy! Hopefully we will have everyone next time, but I shall make sure to come up with a contingency plan in the event that we do not! Everything will be All Might."
Huh? So Deku wasn't the one missing? That was weird. Katsuki took a quick mental inventory of his classmates and couldn't figure out who was missing. It seemed like everyone was there, but that obviously wasn't the case because there must have been twenty students in 1-A at one point or the Battle Trial wouldn't have worked out like it did.
As Katsuki took his place across from his first opponent (Kirishima, to absolutely no one's surprise) and they began to circle each other, he decided that he really, really wanted to know what he was missing.
"Oi, Kirishima?" Katsuki threw a couple of quick jabs to keep his opponent at a distance until he was ready.
"What's up?" Kirishima swayed back to avoid the jabs before quickly reversing his momentum and coming back with a step-in left uppercut.
"Who the fuck's missing?" the uppercut was so ridiculously telegraphed that Katsuki could have dodged it in his sleep, so he took the opportunity to counter with a sharp right hook that caused his opponent to stagger away.
Huh. That should've knocked him down. Must've held back too much. Can't forget this is Kirishima I'm dealing with here; durability is kinda his thing.
"What're you talking about, my man?" Kirishima shook his head and regained his stance, eyes as alive as ever. It did not appear as though he had taken any real damage in spite of the counter.
That settles it. I'm putting my weight into the next one.
"I mean there's a student missing and I can't figure out who it is." Katsuki took the offensive this time, steering Kirishima towards a corner with a series of jabs and the occasional low kick to keep him guessing. Ordinarily his style would have been to go straight for the finish, but he was unsure if that would work on a tough opponent like the Hardening Quirk user. Besides, he had to at least get his question answered first.
"Oh!" his opponent seemed to have caught on to what he was talking about as well as his plan because he was suddenly starting to make a conscious effort to hold his ground, responding with punches of his own that were either blocked or dodged, "That'd be Mineta."
"Who?" he purposefully whiffed a high hook and then followed up with a knee to the face when Kirishima ducked to avoid it, causing him to land on his ass just outside of the ring.
"Ring Out, Kirishima, my boy! Take your starting positions and then begin anew!" All Might shouted from off to the side, "And remember, no Quirk usage!"
The idea of the rings was a simple one: there would be times when you would be forced to fight in enclosed spaces or while surrounded by onlookers or bystanders. It was important to be able to keep a fight contained to avoid unnecessary damage when at all possible.
Kirishima grinned sheepishly, having activated Hardening at the last possible moment out of reflex before getting kneed in the face.
"Could've busted my nose there, Bakubro."
"Was pretty sure I wouldn't." Katsuki responded as he hauled Kirishima to his feet by the hand and returned to the center of the ring, "Besides, I don't think a busted nose would qualify as a serious injury unless it got caved in or something. Now who the hell were you talking about?"
"Dude, Mineta? You know Mineta. Little purple dude with grapes on his head? Got a little bit too handsy with Yaomomo at the Battle Trial?" Kirishima obviously knew who he was talking about but Katsuki was honestly drawing a blank. He just shrugged and took up his fighting stance again.
"I'll take your word for it, I guess. Now let's get back to it. Try and last a bit longer this time, yeah?" without waiting for a response, Katsuki charged his opponent with his right arm cocked back, ready to slam a palm strike into Kirishima's face if he didn't react quickly enough.
Kirishima had apparently gotten wise to the fact that Katsuki was faster than him in addition to being more skilled, as he had adopted a tight defensive posture and took the blow with his forearms, having to brace himself on his back leg to avoid being knocked over. He had clearly not expected this kind of physical force from Katsuki if his wide eyes were any indication. Katsuki capitalized on this moment by grabbing onto one of the arms that had blocked his palm strike and taking Kirishima's back with a quick pivot, allowing him to drive a sharp left jab into his opponent's kidney.
"JESUS FUCK!" Kirishima dropped like a sack of bricks and rolled back and forth a couple of times.
"Relax," Katsuki reassured him, "I didn't follow through, so you won't be pissing blood or anything like that. Probably still hurts like a bitch though."
"Agh! Yeah, that's fair to say." Kirishima's voice was a bit strained as he took Katsuki's hand and was helped to his feet. By unspoken agreement they took a breather to allow him time to recover, "How are you so good at this?"
"Me and Deku have been doing no-Quirk sparring for years now," Katsuki informed him, "we both always knew we wanted to be Heroes, but with Quirks like ours we couldn't exactly go too nuts practicing them. In the end we just decided to spar with each other. We used footage of Heroes as inspiration to try out different styles. Nothing too fancy but it gets the job done. Good time-killer too."
"Wait," Kirishima held up a hand, "are you saying that Midoriya's as good as you are?" Katsuki shook his head.
"Not quite. He can put up a decent fight, which you probably saw at the Battle Trial, but he's never been as aggressive of a fighter as me and, honestly, he doesn't have the right instincts for it. I usually just end up overwhelming him."
"I can see how." Kirishima massaged his side, "Has he ever beaten you?"
"A few times, yeah." Katsuki shrugged, "It's no secret that he's smart; tactics have always been his strong suit. Every now and then he comes up with a plan that and catches me off-guard. All it really takes is one good hit, after all."
What Katsuki had neglected to mention was that there had been more than a few close calls over the years. Deku rarely came up with bad ideas; he was simply not always able to put his own plans into motion well enough to use them against someone like Katsuki who could react at a moment's notice.
"You ever punched him in the kidneys?"
"Liver once. He threw up. His mom got really mad at me."
"All right! Everyone take a moment to exchange tips and find a new partner!" All Might's voice boomed from the sidelines.
"Well, since you kicked my ass so badly, any advice?" Kirishima asked with a sharp-toothed grin.
"Yeah, actually," Katsuki replied, "you leave yourself really open, probably because you're so used to your Quirk soaking up the hits for you. It's not a bad way to fight, given what your Quirk is, but if you're gonna be that way you really need to work on the accuracy and speed of your attacks. If you're dead-set on exchanging hits with your opponent, then you'd better make damned sure that your counterattacks actually land, otherwise you're nothing but a punching bag."
"Yeah, Ojiro showed me that at the Battle Trial." Kirishima nodded before perking up, "Hey! That gives me an idea! You should go spar with Ojiro! I bet he'd give you a run for your money!"
"Tailman, huh?" Katsuki looked over to where Ojiro was speaking to Sato, looking as though he were giving him a few pointers, "I guess his Hero Costume is a gi, so he must be at least a little good."
"Oh, trust me," Kirishima's grin widened, "he's more than just 'good.' He broke through my Hardening with nothing but his bare hands and I could barely touch the guy. He may have looked beaten up after our match, but most of that he did to himself; I just got off a lucky punch."
Katsuki had to admit, this was starting to sound interesting. At that moment, Ojiro caught his eye. Something of his thoughts must have shown on Katsuki's face because Ojiro smirked and gave him a nod of acknowledgement before gesturing to the ring he was standing in.
Well, he couldn't very well turn down an invitation like that, could he?
"I saw a little bit of your match with Kirishima-san," Ojiro admitted when Katsuki had drawn closer, "have you had martial arts training?"
Katsuki shook his head, "Not unless you count me and Deku beating the crap out of each other a few hundred times martial arts training."
Ojiro nodded, "I understand. So, you have no formal training, but quite a bit of experience nonetheless. Couple that with your natural battle instincts and I believe we have much we can learn from each other." he touched a fist to his open palm and bowed to Katsuki, "I humbly request your cooperation, Bakugo-san."
Katsuki resisted the urge to roll his eyes. If this guy was the real deal, then he could put up with a little bit of traditional BS.
"Yeah. Let's get going." he raised his guard and spread his feet slightly. He would take this seriously from the start; his fight with Kirishima had served well enough as a warm-up and if Tailman couldn't take the heat…
…well, that would be his problem.
Katsuki shot forwards, intending to either strike his opponent's head or grab his guard as he had done with Kirishima. Apparently seeing what he intended, Ojiro ducked slightly and guided his arm up and away before sending his right fist shooting towards Katsuki's gut. Katsuki diverted the blow with his left arm with a sharp block, leaving both of them with their bodies exposed. Katsuki immediately sent his foot shooting upwards, attempting to land a snap kick on Ojiro's chin and take him out of the fight.
Ojiro could not block or evade in time, so he simply allowed himself to fall backwards before the kick could connect, rolling along the ground a couple of times before flipping to his feet.
"I must admit, your reflexes are astonishing, Bakugo-san. I have seldom fought anyone with your reaction time." then he moved.
"I think I might be able to step up my game against you." his fist had buried itself in Katsuki's gut. Only his last-second step backwards had prevented it from knocking the wind out of him completely.
"HAH!" Katsuki let fly with an angular uppercut that he vaguely remembered was called a "smash" oddly enough. Ojiro knew better than to try and block such an attack outright and instead redirected it while sidestepping, forcing Katsuki to overextend himself. He then gripped Katsuki's wrist and pivoted while planting his other hand on the Explosion user's shoulder joint and using his sudden leverage to slam him into the ground.
"I have you now, Bakugo-san." Ojiro stated calmly, "You cannot escape my hold without having your shoulder dislocated and I would rather not resort to such a thing during training." Katsuki sighed and used his free hand to tap out. Ojiro helped him to his feet.
"Would you agree to another match? I am very much enjoying not having to hold back for the sake of my partner's safety."
"What, big guy didn't do it for you?" Katsuki grinned.
"Sato-san's strength is remarkable, but his speed and technique leave something to be desired." Ojiro remarked as he returned to his stance across from Katsuki.
This time Katsuki did not rush straight in. Instead he circled his opponent, looking for an opening.
"Oh, you need not worry about my tail," Ojiro assured him, "I have decided that, since my tail is my Quirk, that I will not use it for this exercise." his response was Katsuki charging at him in a zig-zag pattern, keeping himself low to the ground.
Ojiro aimed a roundhouse kick at Katsuki's head which was intercepted by a well-placed shoulder block. Before Ojiro could retract his leg, Katsuki trapped it in the crook of his elbow and leapt into the air, dragging the off-balance Ojiro with him.
There were a few things that Katsuki could have done from such a position. He could have tried to break Ojiro's leg, kicked him in the balls, grabbed his face and slammed his head into the ground or what have you. Unfortunately, none of these moves were suitable for a practice session, so Katsuki had to content himself with shoulder-checking his opponent into the ground when they landed. What he had not expected was for Ojiro to slam his knee into Katsuki's ribs shortly after their landing and remove his leg from his hold with a sharp jerk while he was distracted. He then reversed their positions so that he was mounting Katsuki and punched him once across the face to make sure he got the message.
Said message being, "Nice try."
Katsuki spat a small amount of blood onto the ground from where the inside of his cheek had been cut by his teeth and looked up at Ojiro with a small frown.
"Was that really necessary?"
"I could keep going if you would prefer? I am in an ideal ground-and-pound position."
"No, I'm good."
"You honestly almost had me there, but your finish was sloppy." Ojiro helped Katsuki to his feet.
"I couldn't think what to do." Katsuki honestly replied, "All I had were cheap shots or debilitating ones."
"A valid concern. One which I certainly appreciate you acting upon." Ojiro looked thoughtful for a moment, "I suppose you could have gone for a leg lock? The landing would have been a little rough, but it would most likely have been effective."
"Honestly I don't know much about wrestling." Katsuki shrugged, "In a real fight when would I ever use it? When I get ahold of someone like that my first move would always be to just use Explosion to do some damage."
Ojiro shrugged in return, "Fair enough. I suppose in that regard I am at something of an advantage, since for me this is my primary fighting style apart from the fact that I am not using my tail."
Apparently Deku's Quirk Theory senses were tingling because he walked over and started talking about how interesting it was that Quirks could change someone's fighting style to such an extent. Ojiro did not seem to mind the interruption and eagerly expounded on the topic of martial arts at Deku's request while the latter wrote in his ever-present notebook. Seriously, where had he been hiding that thing? They were only wearing their gym clothes!
It was then that Katsuki realized what had been bothering him: Deku had seemed really off all day. At first it had been easy enough to attribute this to whatever Uraraka's problem was, but when lunch had been over and Deku still looked like something was bothering him, Katsuki started to wonder if there was something else going on.
He hadn't even had the heart to chew Deku out for forgetting to tell him that he was leaving early that morning. He had only found out when he had gone looking for him because he was running late, knocked on his door and been told as much by Inko.
Then he had shown up late to class (which never happened) with his jacket rumpled and a big, damp blotch on his shoulder. It hadn't been hard for Katsuki to put two and two together at that point.
He had hoped that a day of classes and excitement would be enough to get Deku out of his funk, but when All Might called for the pairs to change again and his friend resumed his place on the sidelines, Katsuki saw his expression darken again.
That wasn't right. That wasn't how Deku was supposed to be. He was supposed to be the mumbling nerd who fanboyed over anything and everything Hero or Quirk-related. Having him stare at the group in front of him with a thousand-yard stare like he was looking at something that nobody else could see just…wasn't right.
The rest of the exercise went well enough. Katsuki had the opportunity to spar with Shoji, who gave him some serious trouble with his six arms, Iida, who was surprisingly skilled with kicks and reasonably fast even without his Quirk, though Katsuki won in the end, and Kaminari, who had attempted to perform an honest-to-god shoryuken on him. He had sidestepped and sent him flying out of the ring with a double palm strike while he was still airborne.
One particular highlight had been Todoroki sparring with Ojiro. Apparently, the Half-and-Half kid had received training in martial arts as part of his upbringing and had given Ojiro a good fight, though he still had no chance in the end. Tailman just dominated because he was in his element the whole time.
Throughout all of this, Katsuki had been working on a plan for snapping Deku out of his funk. He had a couple of ideas but had been unsuccessful in developing any of them past the "what-if" phase.
"Hey, All Might-sensei is about to tell everyone how they did!" Kirishima interrupted his train of thought, "Though I gotta say, this was seriously useful! How would you like to maybe get together this weekend and spar some more? I wanna be better for next time!"
"Hmm? Yeah, sure." Katsuki replied without much thought. It would at least make for a good time-killer and Deku would probably be happy to have other people to-
Wait a minute.
Wait. A. Minute.
That was a good idea.
"Kirishima I think you just gave me an idea."
"You aren't gonna punch me in the kidney again are you?"
"Not right now."
This could seriously work, but he would need time to put it together. He would need something to keep Deku occupied in the meantime…
Well, that wouldn't be hard. If anything, it'd be stupidly easy.
Satisfied with his plan thus far, Katsuki turned his attention to All Might, who was currently announcing the relative skill levels of the students.
At the very top, no surprise, was Ojiro. He had dominated in every match he had fought. All Might even went so far as to request his assistance in future exercises since, while the Number One Hero had oodles of experience and his skills were no joke, he had never needed to develop his actual skill level beyond a certain point and had little formal training in any true martial arts himself. Ojiro had humbly accepted, honored at his teacher's opinion of him.
Todoroki and Katsuki were both ranked highly, as were Shoji, Iida and Yaoyorozu. At the head of the middle of the pack was Ashido, her natural athleticism and reflexes lending themselves well to close-quarters combat. Also in the middle were Kirishima, Sato, Jiro, Sero, Asui, and, just barely, Kaminari.
Those at the bottom (or, as All Might so kindly put it, "those who need the most work") were Uraraka, Aoyama, Koda, Tokoyami and Hagakure. Deku was not ranked because he had been unable to participate.
Katsuki was initially surprised to see Uraraka so low on the list, but then he realized that she relied almost exclusively on her Quirk when fighting.
Speaking of Uraraka…
After class was over for the day and everyone was gathering their things, Katsuki made his move.
"Oi, Uraraka, Deku says he wants to hang out with you over the weekend."
"I said wha-mmph!" Katsuki muffled his friend's protests with a hand and used the same hand to nod his head.
"Oh!" Uraraka had gone a bit pink, "Well, sure! I don't really have anything to do so…"
"I mean, if you don't want to then-"
"No! No, I want to! I was just surprised is all. Is tomorrow okay with you, Deku-kun?"
Katsuki removed his hand and allowed Deku to speak for himself.
"T-that should w-work for m-me j-just fine!" he barely managed to articulate, "W-where should I m-meet you?"
"I'll think about it and text you later, okay?"
"Okay! D-deal!"
Distraction complete.
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
Izuku Midoriya found himself in an unexpected situation. This was, paradoxically, not in and of itself unexpected. After all, in a modern world full of Quirks the unexpected happened on a daily basis, to say nothing of what the lives of Heroes were like.
The fact that Izuku was on his way downtown with the intent of spending the day with a girl was certainly unexpected, but no more so than suddenly being attacked by, say, a Sludge Villain.
No, what currently had the inheritor of One For All well and truly perplexed was one simple question:
Was this a date?
Looked at from a logical standpoint, it had all of the basic characteristics of a date: he was going to spend time with a girl with the understanding that it would be just the two of them for an extended period, this had all been premeditated (even if not by him) and an invitation had been extended (even if not by him) and accepted.
But by that logic every time two friends arranged to spend time together it could count as a date and while Izuku certainly liked Kacchan a great deal, he had no desire to date him.
So, there went that theory. Back to square one.
Was this a date?
Having never been on a date before Izuku had no real frame of reference for what was and wasn't implicitly one. He understood that when a couple went out together then it was pretty much inherently a date, but he and Uraraka weren't a couple. Of that, at least, he was fairly certain.
If they had been going to a formal event of some kind then she would have been considered his "date" for said event whether or not what they were doing was a date in the conventional sense or not. But that was not the case today; they were meeting up at the station closest to Uraraka's apartment and were just going to walk around town and see what there was to see. She had told him via text that she would try and come up with some ideas in the interim.
Izuku had said that he would try too, but had shortly thereafter realized that he had no idea what this was actually supposed to be and so everything he came up with either seemed too date-like or not date-like enough. The only passable idea he could think of was that they could grab lunch at some point assuming she wasn't sick of him by then.
Was he dressed alright? Uraraka had told him to just wear whatever he felt comfortable walking around in and wouldn't mind possibly getting a little dirty, so he had thrown on a pair of dark cargo pants and a short-sleeved shirt that said "SHIRT" across the chest. His lighter went into one pocket while a notebook and pen went into another just in case.
Before he had left, Izuku had glanced into the mirror. Clothes? Not on backwards. Hair? An untamable mess. Face? Caught somewhere between anxiety and terror. Mom? Standing behind him and giving him the type of smile that said that she had gotten entirely the wrong idea about what he meant when he said that he was "spending the day with a friend."
Had she gotten the wrong idea?
Was this a date?
Izuku had considered texting Uraraka back and asking, but he had immediately put the kibosh on that plan upon realizing how incredibly awkward that would make things, especially if the answer was "no."
The train had stopped. It was time to get off. The station looked much the same as any other did; crowded and with advertisements everywhere for various things. The one notable difference was the brown-haired girl bouncing up and down on her toes and waving to get his attention.
"Deku-kun! Over here!" he made his way over to her and immediately noticed the differences in her attire when compared to her school uniform. For one thing, she was wearing shorts instead of a skirt and her usual black tights were nowhere to be seen, giving Izuku an unobstructed view of her legs. Quickly forcing himself to look upwards, he saw that she was also wearing a pale, pink button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to just above the elbows.
All-in-all, her outfit looked cute and practical to Izuku. She looked more natural and relaxed than she did in her uniform.
"Uraraka-san, good morning." he greeted her as he drew closer.
"Good morning! You found everything alright then? I know the stop comes up kind of suddenly after the previous one."
"Yeah, your warning from last night really saved me! Thank you for that. You were right about the name of the stop not matching the name of the area. If I hadn't been expecting it, I would have been totally caught off-guard!" she raised her arms into the air and let out an exasperated huff.
"Thank you! I don't know why they can't be bothered to fix the recording! Do you know how many times I missed my stop before I got used to it? Three! Three times! I was so embarrassed!"
They shared a laugh and Izuku forgot about his previous anxiety. The icebreaker had served to remind him that it didn't really matter to him what they did or what it was called; he was just happy to be spending time with a friend. He would have to thank Kacchan later.
As the pair exited the subway station via the stairs, Izuku decided to broach the topic of the day's activities. Uraraka blushed a little and rubbed the back of her neck nervously.
"Well, since I told you my story yesterday, you know that I don't exactly have a lot of money…so I usually don't do things that have a price tag on them unless they fit into the budget." she gave him an apologetic look, "I know that kind of limits our options, especially when we're in the city like this."
"It's alright, I understand." Izuku assured her, "My mom and I aren't exactly rich ourselves so I don't go out very often either. I have a bit of money on me that should at least be enough to pay for some lunch though."
"Oh!" she waved her hands back and forth frantically, "You don't have to do that, Deku-kun! I didn't say that to try and convince you to spend money on me! I'm sorry!"
"Ah!" he suddenly realized how that must have sounded and felt his face heat up, "No! No, I didn't mean it like that! I'm sorry! Honestly it was the only thing I could come up with for us to do without…without making certain assumptions." he managed to catch himself before he completely ruined the mood, "So, it just seemed right that I would at least pay for that, since you're really doing all of the work here." he finished lamely, feeling like he was admitting to his own social incompetence.
Uraraka blinked at him a few times while she processed what he had said, her expression curiously blank.
"Wow." she finally said, "That's really, really considerate of you, Deku-kun. I guess I can't really refuse if you put it like that, huh? Alright then! Lunch is on you! Don't worry, I know a lot of cheap places around here." she gave him a smile that he had not seen from her before. It looked almost a little shy, "But, there is one thing I need to make sure you understand first, okay?" he could only nod, "I don't see this as a chore; I actually had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for today, so I don't want you to get the wrong idea and start thinking that you're being a burden or something."
She took his hand and started leading him in a seemingly random direction, beaming at him from over her shoulder, "Okay?"
"Yeah." he returned her smile without thinking and nodded his head emphatically, "Okay, Uraraka-san."
Shortly after that he had to warn her before she walked into a pole. That was weird. She usually seemed to have more situational awareness than that. He let this thought fade from his mind when she pointedly kept her face forward for the next few minutes and nothing remotely similar happened.
Was she a little red? Must have been his imagination.
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
Izuku sat down next to Uraraka at the small noodle stand she had pointed out to him when the pair had decided that they were hungry. He in particular had managed to work up quite the appetite.
Uraraka had started the day by asking him if he had ever been to this part of town before. He responded, quite honestly, that he had not. She had then decided that her mission in life that morning was to show him every interesting shop and landmark that she had come across since she had moved there just over a month prior.
And just like that it was three hours and some change later and Izuku was starving. As they placed their order he saw that Uraraka had been quite accurate about the affordability of the establishment: it would take just about a third of what he had on him to pay for their food. While they rested their feet and waited, a question occurred to Izuku.
"Uraraka-san?"
"Hmm?" she leaned forward and propped her head on one hand so she could look at him more easily, as the stools at the stand did not rotate.
"You mentioned that you've lived here for just over a month, right?" she nodded, her expression curious, "Classes only just started this week, so I was wondering what prompted you to move in so early?"
"You really can be curious about just about anything, can't you, Deku-kun?"
Crap! Had he asked something he shouldn't have? Had he made it awkward? Had he- why was she giggling?
"I'm sorry!" she managed through her laughter, "The look on your face was just so funny!"
"I…what?" Izuku was confused.
"Deku-kun, you didn't do anything wrong." she said, having mercy on him, "You can ask me anything, okay? I promise I'll tell you if it's something that I'm not comfortable talking about."
Izuku took a steadying breath. That was good to know, actually. It saved him a lot of guesswork.
"Thank you, Uraraka-san. You can ask me anything too." she nodded in appreciation and then proceeded to answer his previous question.
"Well, it's really nothing too interesting. Once we found out I got accepted into U.A., my parents and I knew that I'd have to get a place somewhere close by since it would be too time-consuming and expensive to take the bullet train twice a day every day just to get to and from school. We did some searching and it just so happened that the lease on my apartment was up a month before class started and the price was right." she shrugged, "Right place at the right time is all there was to it and I figured that if we were gonna be paying for the place then I may as well use it, right? Besides, it gave me some time to get to know the area and adjust to living by myself."
"How is it?" Izuku asked, legitimately curious, "Living on your own, that is?"
"It's…different." she said thoughtfully, "It's not bad or anything. There're plenty of perks to having a place all to myself for sure. I can pretty much do whatever I want whenever I want and there's always something to do in the city." she took a moment to sip her drink, "It…can get a little lonely sometimes though. When you get so used to having other people around you kinda take certain things for granted that you don't realize until they're suddenly just…not there anymore. Don't get me wrong, I still talk to my parents all the time but…"
"It's not the same as being face-to-face with someone." Izuku finished for her.
"Yeah." she agreed.
Their bowls were set in front of them at that moment, steaming hot and smelling like heaven to the hungry teens. As Izuku attacked his ramen, he took the opportunity to process what Uraraka had just said to him.
I've never really thought about it, but I can understand where she's coming from. I can only imagine how it would be if I suddenly had to move away and couldn't see Mom or Kacchan anymore. Of course she feels lonely. It's no wonder she was so eager to hang out.
Yeah. A sweet, cute, lonely girl who only wants someone to spend her time with.
You stay out of this, Other Izuku. Go back to your corner.
You gonna ask her if we're on a date or not?
No, I am NOT going to ask her that! We're having a good time right now and I'm not going to ruin it!
What if she says "yes" though?
What if she says "no?" What about that?
At least then you could stop worrying about it.
I'll have you know I was doing perfectly fine on that front until you brought it up again!
…You do realize that I'm you, right? You're about to start debating semantics with a little voice in your head while said little voice is trying to give you advice, which is in and of itself worthy of concern since, by definition, you cannot give yourself advice.
Great. Now he had a headache.
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
Izuku had to admit as he paid for their food and they left that the bang for his buck at the noodle stand had been incredible. The food had been as good as anything he had ever had.
"Haah, I feel alive again." Uraraka sighed contentedly.
"Yeah, that hit the spot." Izuku agreed, "Where to now?"
"Hmm…" she took a moment to think before her eyes lit up, "Actually I have a great idea that'll also let us work off some of those noodles! Come with me!" she grabbed his hand again and off they went.
Instead of leading him towards a statue, shop or shrine, Uraraka seemed to be taking them into an older part of town where the number of derelict buildings was higher.
"You remember how I said that I don't really do things that cost money, right? Well, I still had to do something to kill time besides training and window-shopping." she said in response to his unasked question, "So, a lot of the time I just went exploring. Most of the time I didn't really find anything that interesting, but then I started to look at things from a new angle." she led them through an alleyway next to an abandoned parking structure that was littered with chunks of concrete and rebar, "My Quirk lets me explore in ways that nobody else can, you know? I can move debris out of the way or jury-rig an elevator. I can leap onto rooftops as long as I don't do it too much."
She let go of his hand and hopped onto an especially thick slab of concrete that seemed to have come from the roof and spread her arms wide with an expression of wonder on her face.
"Do you see, Deku-kun? With a Quirk like mine, the city is my playground! I can go anywhere I want in a place like this!"
She was so obviously excited to share this with him that Izuku felt bad about having to ask his next question.
"Isn't that illegal though? Using your Quirk in public without a license?"
To his surprise, she shrugged.
"Technically, yeah. Whose gonna care if I'm just playing around some abandoned buildings though? Everyone's practiced with their Quirk in public at some point, Deku-kun. Even you must have. As long as you aren't causing a disturbance or hurting anyone though, then the most you're likely to get is a warning."
Izuku was torn. On the one hand, what Uraraka was saying was the truth. If any form of public Quirk usage being a punishable offense was actually enforced, then there wouldn't be enough space in prison for how many small-time offenders they would get. On the other hand, it was still the law and a prospective Hero probably shouldn't be breaking it.
"Deku-kun?" he came to his senses to find her staring at him with a worried look on her face, "You aren't mad at me, are you?"
Oh, dear god that was simply not fair.
"No, Uraraka-san, I'm not mad at you. You're just giving me a lot to think about today is all. It's not a bad thing, I promise." Izuku gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile and it seemed to do the trick.
"Well, the reason I brought you here is because it's actually one of my favorite spots! Here, let me show you."
He climbed up onto the slab with her and was very surprised when she hopped onto his back and made him weightless, wrapping her legs around his torso.
"Up, up and away, Deku-kun! Right onto the roof!"
"Uraraka-san, that has to be at least ten stories high! I can't make that with a single jump!" not without channeling his flames and possibly breaking his legs, anyway.
"Hmm…what if you took a few jumps?"
He took a moment to examine their surroundings. The building next to them was only about two stories, which he could probably make since Uraraka was lighter than him and they were already a few feet off the ground. After that he could get to the fourth level, then jump and grab that piece of rebar, use that to make his fourth jump…
…that could work.
"Uraraka-san, this will take about five or six jumps, so hang on okay?"
"Right!"
"Smash!" the first jump was the most disconcerting. It was odd to have his center of gravity suddenly be further back than it usually was. That was fine. He could compensate by leaning forward when he landed.
"Smash!" the second jump was taken at a run and sent them through a hole in the wall of the fourth floor of the parking structure.
"Smash! Smash!" the third jump got him high enough that he could grab onto some rebar sticking out of the ruined structure and pull himself up onto it, where he used another smash to leap up to the eighth level and just barely managed to catch himself and crawl into it.
He was momentarily stumped until he saw that there was a convenient hole in the ceiling and roof above them.
"Smash!" with one final jump, they emerged onto the roof of the parking structure and Uraraka released her Quirk.
"Phew." Izuku took a moment to just sit and rest. Jumping was hard! All Might always made it look so easy! He needed to do more squats, "I wish I didn't have to go through each smash as a separate movement. It'd be so much easier to do this kind of thing if I could just fire them off one after another." he took the hand that was offered to him, noticing yet again how soft her skin was and the way the sensory pads on her fingertips were just a little squishy.
"Don't worry, Deku-kun! I'm sure you'll get there if you practice. Besides, I think you did a great job! We made it, right?" he nodded, unable to feel too bad when she was so obviously excited.
"Here, look, look!" she pulled him to the edge of the roof where the knee-high wall was still intact and Izuku's jaw dropped.
He was looking out over the cityscape from a hundred feet in the air and suddenly felt a surge of envy for those who had flying or gigantification-type Quirks. The view was nothing short of incredible. He had never seen anything quite like it before. Cars, people, rooftops and the very layout of the streets themselves were visible to him from this vantage point. It was equal parts fascinating and awe-inspiring as he understood on a visual level just how large the city truly was as it lay spread out before him.
"Do you like it?" her voice was closer than he had expected and under any other circumstances he probably would have jumped. As it was he turned his head to see the look of pride on her face as if she could read his thoughts.
"Yeah." he nodded, noticing that his voice was a bit lower than usual, "I can see why you like it here."
"Mhm. Open air, a great view and nobody to bother you." she hopped up onto the ledge and took in the sights around her, a contented smile on her face.
At that moment, seeing her silhouetted against the midday sun, Izuku was in complete agreement about the view.
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
"Dude, for real?!" Kirishima exclaimed with a mixture of disbelief and excitement, "Are you sure this kind of thing is allowed? If it is, then this is going to kick so much ass!"
Katsuki Bakugo looked at his sparring partner as they took a break.
"If I didn't think it could work then I wouldn't have suggested it. I reviewed the school's policies and it looks like all we need is a minimum number of members and a teacher willing to be in charge of the whole thing."
"My man," Kirishima said after taking a long drink of water, "if you can get a teacher in on this, then I know for a fact that you'll be able to get however many members you need. Our class is full of hot-blooded manly types!"
Katsuki nodded in agreement, not being at all worried about reaching the required head count. Hell, if he wanted he could get six signatures basically on-demand and the school only required three or four.
"The only question," Kirishima continued, "is which teacher do you think would go for something like this?"
Katsuki's phone chose that precise moment to vibrate. Even though they were in a U.A. building, class was not currently in session so there was no rule against phone usage. Katsuki read the message and grinned, having gotten exactly the response he wanted. He showed Kirishima and watched as the redhead's grin grew to shit-eating proportions.
"That one."
The message read as such:
Bakugo, your request, while certainly an unusual one, does have merit. Your reasons for wanting this are logical and the fact that you made it a point to emphasize the lack of Quirk usage tells me that you have put some thought into the logistical side of things, so that would be one less thing for me to worry about. I will agree to be your faculty advocate for this as long as I don't actually have to do anything apart from sign some papers and it doesn't cut into my naptime. It also goes without saying that it will be disbanded immediately if you start taking things too far. I expect you to have a list of no fewer than four signatures on my desk by the start of class on Wednesday at the latest.
"YES!" Kirishima fist-pumped victoriously, "I can't believe you actually convinced Aizawa to go along with this! This is, like, every man's dream!"
"Yeah, it should be pretty sweet." Katsuki agreed. "We just need to get some signatures for Aizawa by Wednesday. I figure why stop at four though? We'll make the announcement during lunch on Monday and I bet you at least half the class will be chomping at the bit to sign up."
*Vmmm Vmmm*
It was Katsuki's phone again. He read the new message and couldn't stop himself from chuckling.
Troublesome. One of the other teachers found out about this and has expressed a large amount of interest in being an active participant. I hope you weren't planning on keeping this low-key because any chance of that just got shot to hell. He's already talking about setting up martial arts tournaments and streaming them on the internet and how many views they'll get. I'm going to try and talk him down but don't get your hopes up.
"Huh." Kirishima scratched his head, "I wonder who found out?"
*Vmmm Vmmm*
Greetings, Listener! This is everyone's favorite English teacher! I stole Shota's phone! You have to let me make this a part of my broadcast! Please? Pretty please? We can talk more about it between classes because Shota's catching up to me and he looks angrahdas;lkdhlasg;alf
"Well I guess if Yamada-sensei is still alive on Monday then you'll have to talk to him about that." Kirishima snickered.
Katsuki just shrugged and started planning ways to take advantage of suddenly having two faculty members involved while he wrote up a signatures page and inked in the label at the top in big block letters.
"What are you gonna call it?" Kirishima asked.
"What do you think I'm gonna call it, dumbass?" Katsuki looked at him like he was stupid and held out the page that he had just signed, "There's only one name that fits."
Kirishima let out a bark of laughter and signed his name below Katsuki's.
"Well I guess when you put it like that I have to agree."
The signature page only had a two-word label, but it got the message across just fine:
Fight Club.
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
It was just after four and Izuku and Uraraka were making their way in the general direction of the subway station. Izuku had, after all, promised his mom that he would be home in time for dinner.
They had spent at least an hour on top of the abandoned parking structure looking out at the city from every angle and chatting about miscellaneous things. After that they had taken the long way down by walking through the structure and trying to figure out how it had been damaged and why it had been abandoned. The working theory they had settled on was that it must have been the result of collateral damage from a Hero or Villain and the cost to fix it had just been too high.
As they sat together on a bench and waited for the appropriate train, Uraraka broke the silence.
"I had a lot of fun today, Deku-kun."
"Yeah. I did too." he responded.
And he had. For that one day he had almost been able to forget about his worries and the weight that was on his shoulders as the inheritor of All For One. Never in a million years would he curse that weight, but it was nice to just…forget. For a little while anyway.
"I'd like to do this again sometime." he heard her say.
"I'd like that." he responded.
And he would. He was a bit surprised at how very much he wanted to do something like this again.
But he needed to know something first.
"Uraraka-san?"
"Yes?"
"There's something that I want to ask you. Honestly, it's something that I've been wondering about all day but I didn't want to take the chance of ruining anything, but now…it's driving me crazy and I really just need to know." it had come out sounding a lot more serious than he had intended, but Izuku stood by his words. It was the truth, after all.
"Deku-kun, I said you could ask me anything and I meant it." he looked into her eyes and saw her nervousness. He imagined that he looked very similar at the moment.
"Was this…was this a date?"
There. He had asked. There was no taking it back now. He felt his face heating up and could see hers reddening as she processed his question. She mumbled something that he couldn't quite make out.
"What?"
"Did you want it to be?"
Of all the replies he had expected, that had not been one of them. Izuku was struck dumb, which prompted Uraraka to continue.
"I mean, at first I don't think it was. I just wanted to spend time with you and show you the town, especially after I found out that you've never been here before today! But then…I don't know. For some reason I started to wonder the same thing. I don't really have any frame of reference since I've never been on a date before, eheheh." she started playing with her hair in that way she did when she was embarrassed, "So I guess…you tell me, Deku-kun. If you say this wasn't a date, then I'll be fine with that. And if…" she trailed off, her implication plain for him to see.
She doesn't know either. She's in the same situation as me, but what should I say?
The truth. It should always be the truth.
That simple realization somehow made everything clear for Izuku. If it was up to him, then he knew, right then and there, what he wanted the truth to be.
He was terrified. His heart was pounding a mile a minute and his breathing felt shallow.
But he took her hand nevertheless.
"I-if it's up to m-me," he struggled to speak, "th-then…I want the answer to be 'yes.' I've never been on a d-date either, so I d-don't know how it's supposed to b-be, but…I l-like you, Uraraka-san. That's the t-truth. Whether this c-can become anything m-more or n-not I don't know, but I d-do want t-to do this again." she listened to him silently, never breaking eye-contact, "Th-that's the t-truth." he repeated, not knowing what else to say.
He felt something happening with his hand and looked down to see Uraraka's fingers entwining themselves with his. He looked back up as she began to speak.
"It makes me really happy to hear that, Deku-kun, because I like you too." if he had not seen her mouth the words then Izuku would have thought he was suffering from an auditory hallucination, but she wasn't done yet, "I know that it must have been really, really hard for you to say that, so I want to say 'thank you.' I want to make sure you know how much it means to me that you feel the same." she was leaning towards him. Her face was getting closer.
Oh shit. She's not…she's not SERIOUSLY going to-?
Sure looks that way, doesn't it?
I'm not- I JUST confessed to her! I can't handle this right now!
Well unless you plan on shoving her away I don't think you've got much choice!
Like hell I'd do that!
Izuku closed his eyes but remained where he was, anticipating the very worst.
Then he felt something soft press against his cheek for a brief moment before pulling away.
It wasn't what he had feared, but it was still a lot to process right then.
"Don't worry," she really seemed to be able to read his mind right then, "I don't expect you to make it official or anything just because we've agreed to start dating. That was just a 'thank you,' so please don't feel pressured or anything."
Izuku let out a long sigh and sagged into the bench.
"Thanks, Uraraka-san. I needed to hear that."
He really didn't think he could handle anything else that day.
There we go! It's semi-official. To clarify, they are not boyfriend and girlfriend yet. I fully intend to take this slow so as to avoid the trap that a lot of fics fall into of making things go too far too fast.
Now, my question for the week. An interesting suggestion was made to me about limiting my number of reviewer shout-outs (as opposed to just not doing them or PM'ing them, which I have already vetoed). What is everyone's opinion on this? The way I see it, my longest shout-outs are usually to the same people, so limiting myself to just ten wouldn't actually reduce the length all that much. I enjoy taking the time to type up my pre-chapter wall of thanks and I do make sure to bold it so that people can skip it if they want to.
Does anyone think that this should be handled a different way, or is this just the vocal minority talking? I'm not trying to put anyone on the spot, I'm honestly asking. If there is a significant number of people who are legitimately bothered by this then changes can be made, but I won't know if you don't say anything.
Next time we get to see Bakugo recruiting people for Fight Club!
As always, thank you for reading!