Good evening all! I know it's been a solid week and a bit since my last update, and it's mostly been due to exhaustion with some new meds I'm on and writing this particular "fluff" chapter as well as the next one which is going to be written or at least started tomorrow.

I am so thankful for all the fav's/follows I've been getting with this story, and as I've said before, it's been great telling this story and having people enjoy it. As to why I spilt this chapter, it's mostly due to focusing on one boy then try and go back and forth, plus I've been focusing a little too much on Naoki as of late and Izuku needs the spotlight for a bit and his growing relationship with the ever-popular frog girl. :D

So it back and enjoy part A of Chapter 12!

Chapter 12A: Foundations for the Future

A groan echoed off the walls of the large sem-darkened commons room of the Heights Alliance Dorms as Izuku stretched and raised his arms to try and pop his spine. When he felt said pop within his own body, he sighed after and relaxed against the soft cushions of the couch. His legs were crossed over one another and partially covered in numerous different notebooks, which were all opened, displaying other heroes with stats about their quirks with pros and cons.

He rested his head back on the couch. He stared up at the ceiling, slowly moving his eyes towards the clock on the wall closest to the kitchen area, 'Huh, already nine o'clock… didn't realize it was already that late.'. A couple of his open books fell onto the couch beside him as the flicker of light from the large TV caught his attention. He had been moving between the news and "hero watcher" channels since having dinner a few hours ago. Thankfully, a good portion of his classmates has left to see their families or the group outing to karaoke, allowing free access to the TV and commons room.

His emerald eyes watched the muted screen as the thoughts and memories of the lesson he had with the principal earlier that evening.

"I take it your studies have been going well so far, Mr. Midoriya?" asked Nezu, sitting on the opposite side of the chessboard that was between him and the green-haired student. Izuku was thinking about his next move but was knocked out of his inner thoughts when he looked to Nezu as a white pawed hand placed a piece forward.

"Huh?... Oh! Y-yes sir, the classes a-are going fine." he gave a small smile as Nezu nodded at him, tapping the timer to allow Izuku to start his turn.

"I'm glad to hear it, and no further incidents with Bakugo Katsuki since Monday, I hope?" asked Nezu with his paws together and watching the young man before him, eyes glinting slightly when the boy flinched and looked at the principal. Izuku slowly looked down at the board before making his move and taping the timer.

"N-No… he's been… he's actually been decent, s-still get glares from h-him though… " Izuku rubbed his hands together before his head shot up, "B-B-BUT it's not like t-t-that can be helped-"

"It is fine, my boy… I understand completely, and it is good to hear that Mr. Bakugo took my "advice" seriously." Nezu interrupted while lifting his paw and taking a piece off the board, placing it back down a few spaces forward, "I believe that's checkmate, Mr. Midoriya…"

Izuku's eyes widened and looked, the small emeralds shifting left and right to see what his opponent was talking about, before hanging his head and groaning from realizing he lost.

Nezu chuckled as he took the King from his side of the board, "Tell me," looking over it for a moment before eyeing his pupil, "when Ms. Ashido asked you to join her and the others for that little social outing earlier today, why did you decline?"

Izuku kept looking down, his fingers fidgeting as his hands were clasped together, "I.. I-I had today's lesson with you, s-sir."

"Very true! And I am glad for that as it is rare for me to teach nowadays what with my responsibilities as principal." Nezu said with glee.

"But you and I both know that these "sessions" of ours only last for, but an hour; you could have asked if they could wait until we finished, or you could go catch up with them afterward." He eyed how the boy flinched slightly again, "But.. you outright denied the invite, even knowing that Ms. Ashido would ask Gensou to come along, why is that?"

Izuku grabbed his right arm, slowly rubbing it with his left hand sighing, getting his thoughts together, before looking at the chimera across the table.

"W-Well, I-I just didn't think they would w-wait for me, and I didn't w-want them to get angry with m-me."

Nezu looked at Izuku, leaning back in his chair and watching as he continued to fidget, his unblinking beady eyes shifting towards the chess piece in his paws before looking at the boy again, "Midoriya-... Izuku, tell me, you wish to be similar to how Toshinori is as All Might, yes?"

"Y-yea… I want to save people with a smile, so they know that everything is going to be alright…" Izuku answered with a determined look, something the principal smiled at and chuckled.

"A dream which I'd be more than proud to nurture and help grow with your classmate's dreams of heroism; however, with your wish, do you want to emulate everything Toshinori has done? All the good AND bad?" Nezu asked as the boy tilted his head, looking confused.

"B-Bad, sir?"

"Well, not so much 'bad' but some of his more… illogical choices in life, which he had every right to make, don't get me wrong, was fine at first in the past but in the present, it will… as Aizawa would say, 'bite the showboat in the ass.'" Nezu chuckled softly and heard Izuku snicker a little before clearing his throat with a bit of blush.

"Let me put it this way, let's consider All Might as one of the chess pieces, given how he act's and his freedom of movement, let's say… the Queen" Nezu snickered now with Izuku trying to hide his laugh. Once both of them had calmed down, Nezu continued speaking, "Now, while the Queen is a formidable chess piece in of itself, going and taking out anything it can... tell me Midoriya, if the player controlling the queen and was basing all of their tactics on it with no support from the other pieces, were to lose it, what would happen?"

Izuku slowly began to think, answering pretty quickly, considering it was an easy thought to process, "Well, the player would have nothing to fall back on."

"Exactly!" beamed the principal, "And let's say we put that scenario as All Might being represented as the Queen and let's say… the public as the player… What happens then?"

Izuku slowly began to think about that now, going over what he said and applying it with those new dynamics, eyes gradually widening in realization as Nezu continued to beam a smile.

"No matter how much good he has done, how much crime has dropped since his debut, Toshinori tries to carry all the burdens of the world on his shoulders with no support… Yes, he has his own friends and allies. Still, as I'm sure you noticed, he will rush to any crime scenes to stop whatever is happening or solve the problem himself. Even if another Hero is there and perfectly capable of handling the situation."

Nezu eyed Midoriya then, who was listening intently, "When Toshinori retires, and not if… his time limit will see to that… Japan will be lost for a time, as the public has come to rely upon the strength of the "Symbol of Peace" and solely him to solve all problems." The chimera sipped some tea, looking directly at the young man.

"Midoriya, being his successor does not mean you need to be exactly like him. Learn from this, and know that your classmates do care about you and will not abandon you, some more than others, and I am not just referring to Mr. Gensou."

Nezu's eyes glinted as Izuku blushed, rubbing the back of his head and looking away, "Regardless, you are going to be studying here for three years, so you will have that time to build up those connections."

Nezu's eyes stared directly into Izuku's, "Support them, and their support will be added to your dream, as we all know…"

"A single pillar makes a poor foundation."

Izuku sighed after remembering those words from the principal, his thoughts going a mile a minute with all of his worries and anxiety to try and figure out if he was even ready. He was glad that these sorts of feelings were few and far between, but when given a chance to think and be by himself, they would creep up, and he would begin to doubt his capabilities. So much so that he failed to hear the door to the dorms open and the lone figure walking up towards him.

"Hello Midoriya-chan, what are you doing down here?"

"GAAAH!" Izuku shouted and jumped off the couch, landing on the hard floor with a couple of his books falling off with him. He hissed as he landed on his back as the figure that spoke rushed to the other side and into his full view, "Ah! As-... T-Tsu! Y-you scared me!"

"Sorry, I didn't notice you were deep in thought, kero." Tsuyu said after rushing over to make sure the teen was alright; she offered a hand out to him, which he gladly took, hoisting himself up onto his feet with her help.

"So, you never answered my question, kero… what are you doing down here this late?"

"Huh? O-Oh! I was doing some r-research on some new heroes a-and updating a few entries in my analysis books…" he said, now realizing that he was still holding the girl's hand from when she had helped him up.

"Your hand feels hot, Kero…" the frog girl spoke gently with a soft blush on her cheeks, and that comment made the green-haired boy's face go atomic red before he let go, but slowly doing so as not to be rude. Both teens looked away as Tsuyu spotted a notebook on the ground and, with a tilt of her head, bent down to pick it up, "Class 1-A hero analysis?"

Izuku was frozen as she was looking at the book. A cold sweat slowly ran down his face as his eyes were wide and pupils shrunk.

This was one of his worst fears, one of his new classmates finding the book that he wrote about them, at least… the book he would use for quick notes and observations.

"Is something wrong, Midoriya?" She sat down and waited for him to join her as he stuttered out a slew of words to try and explain himself.

"If you don't want me to read it, I don't need to if it makes you uncomfortable… and not like I would expect you to put in notes that are lewd like Mineta would make."

"I-it's… It's well… I-I-I d-d-don't want you t-t-to think I'm c-c-creepy o-o-or a s-s-stalker…" Izuku stuttered out, looking down and his face a deep red in color, tapping his index fingers together before his head shot up from the gentle croaks of laughter coming from the frog girl,

"Midoriya, I speak my mind freely, and I will tell you this… While your muttering can be a little off-putting at times," Tsuyu said, which made Izuku flinch a bit, she croaked to get his attention again.

"Regardless, I know that this is a way for you to process information quickly and is a 'tick' similar to my croaks, kero." She said with a small smile as the boy blushed, "Now, would it be alright if I looked through it? I am curious to see what you wrote down about us."

"Ah… s-s-sure… go head, Tsuyu.." Izuku spoke gently as he watched her slowly open the book, giving him a look to see if he was actually ok with it. When he didn't protest or anything, she turned her black eyes towards the pages and slowly began to read some of her classmates' notes. Izuku watched her for a few moments before his attention went to his notes on the floor that was still there when the frog girl spooked him, sighing and bending down. He began to pick them up and stack the closed notebooks.

As he placed the gathered notes onto the couch, he heard Tsuyu croak suddenly, causing his head to shoot up to see her cheeks were bright red once again, gripping on the notebook a little.

"Ts-Tsuyu? Is everything alright?"

The girl slowly turned towards him with a gentle 'kero' coming from her throat, flipping the book around to reveal the page about her, which made both eyebrows on the boy rise. His cheeks going red as he watched her point to a note that stated 'cute.'

"I-I-I-I CAN E-E-EXPLAIN!" he said aloud and rose up, his face a bright red like a tomato as he began to explain, "W-w-well… Your costume is p-p-perfect when it comes to your q-quirk and abilities as it's a w-w-wetsuit. Your e-e-entire ensemble makes you look really friendly, which is great towards a younger demographic which fits perfectlyforthosekidsthatmayhavefalleninthewater-"

Izuku began to entire his mutter mode once again but was interrupted with a flick to his head by Tsuyu, smiling brightly. The blush was still evident on her cheeks.

"It is alright, Midoriya, it's nice to know that my theme to look friendly for children worked out, kero." she began as she patted the seat beside her for the boy to join her, which he did… while screaming internally about how he was sitting beside a 'beautiful classmate,

"A lot of kids end up falling into water off of boats and riverbanks, so appearing friendly would help them calm down." she finished explaining as Izuku nodded to her, listening and rubbing his chin,

"And it also helps that my siblings helped me design parts of the suit as well."

"Y-Your siblings?"

"Mhmm, kero, I have two younger siblings…" she replied while fishing out her wallet from her purse; Izuku blinked as he hadn't noticed it when she had come in and tilted his head once she brings out a small teal green wallet with a little frog hanging off of the zipper handle, opening it up and pulling out a small picture.

"My brother Samidare is on the left while the youngest, my sister Satsuki is on the right."

Izuku looked at the photo she handed him, and he found the two younger siblings with Tsuyu in the middle and could tell these were her siblings. While the boy had a more relaxed look to him and one part of his hair covering an eye, and the pig-tailed little girl had the same vivid eyes like that of her bigger sister, he could see the familial love between the three as he handed it back to her with a smile.

"That must have been a happy moment; you were all smiling so brightly!" he beamed before he looked confused to a shocked looking Tsuyu, who merely was staring hard at him with a pink flush of her cheeks.

"You could tell we were smiling, kero?"

"Y-yes? Why? It's clear you were smiling happily about something." responded the boy as she just kept staring directly into his eyes, as if searching for any falsehood.

She kept doing this for a solid few minutes before the doors to the dorm swung open, and walking in was Mina and Naoki, the pink girl with her hands behind her head as she was talking about something with him along with Kirishima, Kyoka, Toru, Denki, Sero and Yuga following behind and talking amongst themselves.

With a sudden start, a silent Tsuyu quickly grabbed her belongings and sped walked towards Mina, taking hold of her hand and pulling her with a confused look on the pink girl's face towards the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories.

The rest of the classmates present stared at the scene with Naoki looking towards the couch and seeing his best friend looking just as confused, "What was that all about?"

"I don't… actually know, she had shown me a picture of her younger siblings with her between them, and I said that it must have been a happy moment because they were all smiling!" he said as Naoki raised his eyebrow.

The devil boy hadn't ever seen Tsuyu smile even once; he thought he did a few times, but it was honestly hard to tell if the frog girl could emote. Izuku, on the other hand, had noticed some of his friend's clothing had a few tears and cuts with a bandage here and there on his cheeks, "N-Naoki? What happened to you? I thought you and the group went to karaoke?"

"Hmm? Oh, right… well… turns out the place we went to had a few songs that were a little risque…" Naoki spoke as he sat on the couch to relax, "But yea, so the night went like this…"

With a loud bang of the door, a very perplexed looking Mina was left in front of her room door as the frog girl that had dragged her in was sitting on the pink girl's somewhat psychedelic bed, "Tsuyu! What's wrong?"

"*Kero* Izuku…" Tsuyu had begun to answer but grew quiet rather quickly as Mina rushed to her side, in pure panic.

"What?! Did Midori do something to make you upset?" asked the pink-skinned girl as she took her friend's hand, her eyebrows furrowed at the thought that the usually stuttering and innocent looking boy. Before more ideas of that nature and the possible creative uses she could use on him with her quirk, Tsuyu croaked, tearing up slightly, which caused Mina's face to be pale and hugged the girl close.

"Shh, Shh… it's alright, Tsu, tell me what happened when you're ready…"

"... We were talking on the couch; I had just arrived from babysitting my siblings for the evening and seen him doing some analysis work; I scared him as he seemed deep in thought, kero..." Tsuyu spoke gently, leaning away to look at her hands and fidget with them, Mina listening in on every word, her face still frowning.

"Anyway, we were talking, and I showed him a picture of me and my siblings… one that was taken when I got my letter from UA and got accepted… and…" Tsuyu paused before wiping her tears away, blushing a bit, " and he said that we must have been happy from the smiles we had." she finished, reaching into her purse once again to fetch the picture.

Mina now looked confused as she got the photo Tsuyu had mentioned. She looked over it slowly to see the rather emotionless faces of the three people within but did notice what could have been a smile on the young boy in the shot. Mina looked up to her friend as Tsuyu blushed some more.

"It's... rather hard to emote because of my quirk; my entire family is like this kero… But we know what the other's are feeling because we can tell the subtle differences in our facial expressions… it was hard growing up like it. Still, my mom told me something one day when I was little, and it had been a horrible day…"

"Yea? What did she say?"

"She, kero, said that one day… a special person could tell when I was smiling and could tell how happy I am, no matter what,"

She spoke softly as she fidgeted, her cheeks blushing a little more red as the face of rage on Mina soon shifted to one of pure joy, smiling and hugging Tsuyu, who returned the hug.

"Oh my god, Tsu! That's amazing! I never knew Midori could be so smooth like that!" she giggled as Tsuyu fidgeted a little more.

"I don't think he was being flirty or anything, but being honest... Which makes it even more special, kero…"

"Oh, no doubt! I'm super happy for you, Tsu!" Mina beamed her big smile, relieved she didn't have to murder Izuku for upsetting the frog girl.

"So how did karaoke go, kero? I am sorry I couldn't make it again."

"Oh! It's fine, Tsu! You had to take care of your little siblings; I know how it is." Mina smiled as she shifted her body and moved to the wall beside the bed and relaxed against it, "and honestly, aside from one or two hiccups, the night was great!"

"Oh? Did something happen?" asked Tsuyu with her head tilted to one side and her finger on her chin. Mina smiled at her and relaxed some more with her legs crossed one over the other.

"Well, It went like this…"