Symbyosis
Chapter Twenty One: Shock and Awe
The ping of his phone jolted Taro out of his stupor. Some of his friends from high school had invited him to a viewing party for the UA Sports Festival, but he had declined in favor of joining Naomi in spending the day with Izuku's mother. Usually, they would have watched the festival with their parents, but since they were such close friends with Izuku they had planned for this as soon as the festival had been announced. As a compromise he had joined a group chat with his friends so they could talk about the action as it happened. The notifications had been sporadic during the second event so far and had fallen silent during the final four or five minutes of the event. Now that the event was over, the chat was exploding with messages.
Taro couldn't look at any of the messages because he was still recovering from the shock of what had just happened. The second event had been pretty exciting, watching both Bakugo and Izuku doing all kinds of awesome maneuvers during the chaos. There were all kinds of super talented people running around the maze that UA had supplied for the event, and it had driven home just why UA was such a big name in heroics. But the biggest shock had been in the final minutes of the event in Izuku's team assault on the vine-haired girl's base. It had been a heart wrenching sight to see Bakugo rip their flag out of the pedestal just before Izuku could arrive to help defend it.
Taro had always known Izuku was smart, if the high test scores didn't prove it then just talking to the boy for more than a few moments certainly would. He would probably never have known just how smart his friend really was if he hadn't been watching him lead his team at the sports festival. The idea of using the Uraraka girl's quirk to bypass the maze entirely was genius in a way that Taro couldn't have grasped on his own. On top of Izuku's brains, he had developed some real brawn in the last year or so. The way he'd slung that horned girl over the wall was almost as brutal as anything Bakugo was capable of, and Taro knew his friend well enough to know he'd be really torn up about being so rough with the girl later.
All of that would be shocking enough, but it had been the showdown with the Todoroki kid that really made the whole thing 'Plus Ultra'. Every time the other boy would use his ice powers, Izuku would just plow through it and stop him in his tracks. The looks on the boy's faces as they fought and yelled at each other had been really intense, and there was no doubt that whatever had passed between them had a huge impact on Todoroki. Fire had erupted from his left side and combined with his ice powers there had been some kind of explosion as a result. The buzzer had sounded just as Izuku's team had taken the flag and jumped the wall away from the enemy base, and Izuku had been surrounded by a thick shell of concrete that just sprang out from the walls of the maze.
Having recollected his faculties, Taro spared a glance to his right where Mrs. Midoriya and Naomi were sitting. Izuku's mother was still tense and he could see tears welling up in her eyes. He had known the woman long enough to know this was par for the course, but he still worried about her. Midoriya Inko was like a second mother to Izuku's friends and Taro felt blessed to have her approval. Naomi looked about as shocked as he felt. Her mouth was slightly ajar and one of her hands was halfway between her lap and her face where it just hung in her catatonic state. The two ladies were starting to recover from their shock, so Taro pulled up the group chat on his phone to see what was going on.
The first message that caught his attention from where he had left off said, "That Midoriya kid is something else! Standing up to a quirk as powerful as Fire and Ice takes guts." Another message read, "Did you see that move? Sticking his plates out to shatter that ice was AWESOME!" There were a lot of comments on the standoff, and more than a few about how powerful the other students at UA were. He scrolled through the messages idly, still trying to process what had happened in the last few minutes when another message caught his attention. "Hey Taro," it read, "Didn't you say you knew some of the kids going to UA?"
He typed back a message in the affirmative and asked why they wanted to know. "Do you know that Midoriya kid?" He was hesitant at first to reply. He wasn't sure where his friend was going with the question, and he remembered that even after Izuku had gotten his quirk he had still been bullied quite a bit. Sometimes it was over his quirk coming in so late, sometimes it was over how 'weak' his quirk seemed to be, and sometimes it was over how much better other students – namely Bakugo – were compared to him. He typed out his reply slowly, making sure to be careful with his wording until he knew what direction this was going.
"That's so COOL!" The reply surprised him. He owed Izuku from way back when, so he had been fully prepared to defend his friend from any kind of attack. It didn't matter to Taro that Izuku had never expected him to repay him, and any time he brought it up Izuku would just wave it away as no big deal. Taro was serious about making sure Izuku could count on him however. If it hadn't been for his friendship with Izuku, he would probably have a bad scar on his face or something worse. Taro wasn't the only person Izuku had defended from harm, it was just something Izuku did, but he could count on one hand the number of times anyone besides his parents had stuck up for him.
"What is he like?"
"Are you guys friends?"
"Did you know that Bakugo kid too? He's so intense!"
"Could you introduce us to Midoriya? Please?" The messages were coming rapid-fire again and he had no idea how to respond. Thankfully his attention was pulled away from the exploding chat by his two companions.
"MY BABY!" The dam on Mrs. Midoriya's tears had finally broken and she was gushing about how Izuku must be in pain and how scared she had been during the final confrontation. Naomi had scooted closer to her to try and calm her down, and was handing her tissues as she needed them. It had taken them some time to get used to Mrs. Midoriya's emotional nature, and when they had first met her it had been clear where Izuku had inherited his own emotional temperament. Taro and Naomi both knew that her tears would pass, and they would make sure she was calm enough to watch the last event.
Another intermission had been called and Taro was both excited and terrified of what awaited his friend in the tournament round. The matches were being determined by random seed, and the pairs and order would be announced after the break, which would be an hour and a half for lunch so that the students could recover. Taro knew that UA had Recovery Girl as a school nurse, and that meant that Izuku would be fine even if he was beat up from his standoff. It didn't changed the fact that Taro worried about him though. Izuku had never cared about being injured if it meant he could help someone else, and while that was an admirable trait for a hero Taro worried that it would lead Izuku to really put himself in danger one day.
He turned back to his group chat and tried to figure out what to say to all of his friends questions and comments. He supposed Izuku would just want him to be honest, so that's what he decided to do. "Midoriya is one of my best friends," he typed out, "And I knew Bakugo back in primary school." The replies came fast and Taro was stunned at all of the praise Izuku was getting. He idly wondered how Izuku would take all of the compliments, and realized it would probably overwhelm and embarrass him.
Taro looked back to where Naomi and Mrs. Midoriya were settling down again, and he smiled at them. He held up his phone and said, "Looks like Izuku is getting pretty popular."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The next thing Izuku knew, he was dropped unceremoniously on his aching behind in the grass near the outer wall of the arena. Disoriented and still running on the adrenaline high, he jumped to his feet and cast his eyes about looking for threats. It wasn't until he heard Present Mic's commentary that her realized the event was over. "How's that for an explosive conclusion folks?" Once he processed the words he felt his entire body go slack and he nearly fainted from the sudden wave of pain that coursed over him. "The winning teams are as follows: In fourth place is Team Shinsou with one thousand seven hundred and fifty points!" The crowd gave a hearty cheer for the fourth place winners and quieted down easily. "In third place is Team Todoroki with two thousand two hundred fifty points!" Another cheer went up, this one accompanied by the incoherent bellowing of a certain pro hero.
"In second place," Present Mic continued once the crowd had settled down again, "Is team Midoriya with two thousand five hundred points!" As the crowd cheered once more, Izuku felt a wave of relief flood his pain addled body and a weak smile stretched across his face. He promptly dropped back onto his rear as he could no longer keep himself standing once both the adrenaline and the anticipation wore off. "In first place," Present Mic paused for a moment to hype up the crowd, "Is Team Bakugo with four thousand three hundred seventy five points!" One final raucous cheer erupted from the stands and Izuku felt a hand on his shoulder.
Tuning out the crowd he turned to see Uraraka's face, closer than it had ever been as she knelt next to him, looking at him with mixed emotions. He could see relief and joy in equal measures for making it to the final round, and strong concern that likely stemmed from how unsteady and clearly in pain he must look. There was another emotion buried under all the others that he couldn't place, but he hardly had the presence of mind to try. "We did it!" he cheered weakly from where he had collapsed once he'd realized they qualified.
"Yeah..." she said softly, "We did." There was a small smile on her face as she helped him to his feet. "Lets go see Recovery Girl and get you taken care of." Izuku didn't argue. Uraraka pulled one of his arms across her shoulders, and he grimaced a little as pain shot up the arm from his elbow. Once the pain subsided they started walking slowly, and Izuku couldn't help but lean into his friend's shoulder. He felt elated and tired, and noted absently that Uraraka's hand felt soft and warm on his arm and the feeling of her arm around his waist was nice.
He frowned slightly, as the thought seemed strange to him. The reason escaped him and he would think of it later he was sure, but at the moment all he could focus on was how nice it was to lean against his friend. They took slow, steady steps toward the infirmary and Izuku noticed that most of the labyrinth's walls had receded from the outer edge of the arena. Uraraka was taking him towards one of the entrances on the south side.
Once they entered the corridor and turned down the hall toward the arena's medical room, he turned his head to look at Uraraka. Pain and exhaustion were making it hard to think straight, and he had trouble organizing his thoughts as he would have liked. Something about the determined look in her eyes and the worried expression on her face poked at a part of his brain and he spoke the first thing that came to mind. "Aren't you happy? We made it." He smiled weakly, trying to encourage her and cheer her up. She didn't really look at him but she responded.
"I am happy that we qualified," she said, "We just need to get you to Recovery Girl before we celebrate." He frowned again at her answer. It bothered him that she wasn't smiling, Uraraka had such a nice smile and Izuku wanted to see it just now. Something should have bothered him about that thought, but he was too tired to care at the moment. The only thing that seemed to matter was that she was being so serious.
"We did well in the event so you should be smiling." She shook her head and was about to reply but Izuku spoke over her. "I like your smile, it's pretty." He saw her eyes widen and she half turned her head to him. Her cheeks were turning a shade of pink that made her look even prettier, and Izuku had been sure that wasn't possible before now. A thought tugged at the back of his mind but he ignored it. His eyes were straining a bit and it was getting harder to focus them.
"Deku!" she said, "What are you saying?" He frowned again. Had he said something wrong? He tried to think about what he had said that would be wrong, but nothing came to mind. She had a nice smile, and he wanted to see it. None of that seemed wrong to him. Uraraka was always so nice to him and he liked having her around. She and Iida had been with him since the beginning and he felt so lucky to have such good friends. He suddenly needed her to know how grateful he was.
"You're such a good friend," he started. He needed to make her understand how much he appreciated her so he rushed ahead before she could say anything. "You're nice," he started to ramble, "You always look out for me and try to help me with things. I like it when you smile and I don't like it when you look sad." She was staring at him now, and they had stopped moving but he just kept going because this was important. "You're always so cheerful and it always makes me feel better when you're around. Iida is a good friend too, but he's different." He was struggling to get out everything he wanted, and he knew that it was all out of order but he kept trying.
"I really like your eyes," his own eyes were starting to droop and he struggled to keep them open, "I like how they sparkle when you're happy..." He wanted to say more, but his tongue was suddenly tied and nothing would come out. He tried again to tell her all the things he wanted her to hear, but all he could do now was lean further into her shoulder. He felt them start moving again, but his eyes had fallen shut against his will. He tried again to pry them open, but step after step they refused to budge.
"Oh dear!" he heard a familiar voice say. "Just lie him down over here Missy." He was guided by the soft hands to sit on something, and then they pushed him down onto his back. Once he was laying down properly he felt Uraraka's presence pull away and he reached out to try and pull it back, but his fingers grasped at air. "Why does he always have to push himself so much! Look at all of this bruising." The other voice sounded a little mad at him, but he couldn't think of why that would be. He felt something brush his forehead and a tingly wave rushed through his body, pain quieting as it passed over each part of him. He sighed deeply and felt his body finally begin to relax.
It wasn't more than a moment before sleep took him and he knew no more.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"...keeps pushing himself too hard and ends up with all of these injuries." The words tugged at his mind as Izuku faded back into consciousness. "I haven't seen anyone so reckless with their own body in many years," a familiar voice was speaking in a huffed and impatient tone. "Even in a school filled with teenage hero students this is bad!" Izuku thought maybe he should be a little ashamed of himself, as he realized the voice was talking about him.
"I know he pushes his limits," another voice spoke up, "And sometimes he does push too far, but it's a good thing for him to want to improve and grow as a hero." This voice was also very familiar, and just hearing it brought a smile to his face. "I'll have to speak to him about pacing himself, but I know from experience that in situations like these his instincts take over."
"That's all well and good," he heard the other voice say, "But his instincts are going to keep getting him injured until he learns to keep a grip on that power of yours." There was the sound of a cane being tapped on the floor and it carried all the weight of a disappointed elder. "You should have seen him when Uraraka brought him in here," there was a concern in the words that sent a pang of guilt surging through his chest. "His elbow was broken and nearly all of his muscles were strained or bruised. He could barely stand up the poor thing, and he passed out as soon as I healed him."
Izuku knew he needed to get up and tried to sit up, but his limbs felt heavy and the effort to move them surprised him. The room fell silent as he tried again to move and he could hear the shifting of clothing nearby. He tried again and could feel his limbs twitch a little in response, which he felt was a good sign. The room remained silent as he made little bits of progress until he finally got his eyes open, then it was just a matter sliding around until his legs dangled off of the cot he was laying on. He used his arms, which felt heavy and floppy, to push himself into a sitting position.
Once he was situated he took in the space around him. The arena infirmary was a spartan affair, painted much the same white and blue as the rest of the rooms and hallways. He was sitting on one of several cots arranged in opposing pairs along each wall, his was the last one at the back of the room. On the cot across from him sat Yagi, having left his muscle form go for the time being. Standing to his side with her characteristic disapproving frown was Recovery Girl. As he looked around he wobbled a bit.
"Steady now," Yagi reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Those were some impressive moves you showed us out there young man." There was a flicker of pride in his eyes and Izuku felt himself blush just a little at the praise. It disappeared as soon as he heard the exasperated huff from the rooms final occupant.
"Impressive indeed," the sarcasm may as well have been dripping from her words, "What in heavens name possesses someone to do the things that you do, young man?" All Izuku could do was shrug, and that was clearly not a satisfactory answer if her expression was anything to go by. "In any event," she continued, "You've been out for roughly twenty minutes and there's about another hour left in the break. I suggest you get something to eat immediately and try to rest as much as possible between now and the first round of the tournament." She turned to move back to the desk sitting near the door, but she stopped and left him one last comment, "If I had my say, I'd have you sit out the rest of the festival." With that she walked away.
Izuku swallowed at the implications behind Recovery Girl's remark. Yagi gave him a reassuring smile, and while he still felt a little tired the heavy feeling in his limbs had subsided considerably. "Why don't we go get something to eat?" He gestured toward the door and Izuku nodded. The two of them exited the room and headed for the concession stands in search of food.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
In one of the restrooms that had been set aside for the festival participants, Ochaco was trying to get her heart to slow down. Ever since she'd left Deku in the infirmary, it had been beating about a kilometer a minute. She stood in front of the sink in the small restroom with both hands covering her face, all of the things Deku had said still bouncing around her head. At first she had tried to write off his comments as being tired and disoriented from his battle with Todoroki, but with how insistent he had been in talking to her she couldn't deny that he was being sincere.
In the moment she'd been able to push all of the thoughts and feelings into the back of her head and focus on the task of getting him to Recovery Girl, but as soon as she'd set him down everything flooded back into her mind and she had quickly become overwhelmed. Even just thinking back on it brought the heat back to her face in an intense way, and she splashed her face with cold water in an attempt to get it under control. Beyond the things he had said was the memory of his body as she helped him walk, and she needed another splash of water to cope with those thoughts.
His arms were well toned, and she could see the results of all of that training he'd been doing. Just thinking about how he'd leaned into her on the walk to the infirmary sent her heart fluttering wildly in her chest. She turned away from the sink and ran a hand through her hair. It had all come at her too fast, and while some of the feelings were confusing she had no doubt about the general notion of what she was feeling. It had dawned on her very quickly that she had a huge crush on Deku.
"What am I going to do? What does this all mean?" Those were the real problems she was facing. She had admired Deku for some time, and recently she had been aware that she felt something else growing in her as well. Being aware of the feeling had not prepared her for the sudden realization that had hit her like a Texas Smash.
She had to get a hold of herself. "All right," she said, "Deep breaths." She could handle this. After thinking on the situation for a few moments, she came to several conclusions.
First, Deku had been barely conscious when he had said those things and he likely would not remember saying them. While all of the compliments were really nice, she knew that had he been able to think straight, he would have kept them to himself. While he was friendly and somewhat outgoing, Deku still kept a lot of things close to his chest. He rarely talked about anything prior to the entrance exams, and she only knew about his friends from before UA because they had showed up at school after the USJ incident.
Second, they were in the middle of the sports festival and it was not exactly the best time to have a mental breakdown over realizing she had a crush on her best friend. If she was going to do her best in the upcoming tournament round she needed to be able to focus on her opponent and the best strategy. One of the reasons she admired Deku was because he was so good at strategizing, and while Bakugo was clearly better at improvising in the heat of battle Deku was getting much better at adapting on the fly. His strategy at the end of the previous event was clear proof of that. If she was going to admire him, it was better to put that energy to use in pushing herself to do better.
Finally, while she really enjoyed the idea of Deku liking her, she would need to sort through all of her feelings and get her thoughts straight. She couldn't do that now and would likely not be able to until they had a break from their schoolwork. She didn't know what was in store for them after the festival, but as soon as she had some time for herself the situation would be one of the first she would have to ponder over. For now, there were much more important things to worry about.
After calming down and sorting her thoughts, she noted that about a half an hour had passed. Feeling much better about having handled her crisis she finally exited the restrooms and started heading towards the concession stands to fill the gaping void in her gut. She hadn't eaten much for breakfast, and she was hoping she could find some mochi to calm both her stomach and what remained of her nerves from her recent shock.
"I'll deal with all of this after the sports festival."
A/N: Sorry for the late chapter guys, work has been kicking my ass this week. Fighting off the exhaustion and general run down feeling has been a task in itself. Things should be slowing down a bit, and I should be able to refocus on getting ahead again.
In this chapter we wind down from the second event, and boy did Izuku drop a bomb in Uraraka's lap. Poor girl's gonna have a lot to think about when this is all over. Beyond that, it seems like Izuku earns the ire of Recovery Girl in almost every universe - lol.
As usual, what did you guys think of this chapter? Hope you enjoyed it!
~AQ