It wasn't unusual for Yagi Toshinori to be caught spending his evenings with his protégé's mother. As Izuku Midoriya's mentor, it was his responsibility to stay updated on all major aspects of his life. That included any of the valid concerns Inko Midoriya had about her son and his teachings. After all, he had promised to both of them a long time ago that he'd dedicate himself to helping raise and train Midoriya into the young hero he was destined to become.

On this particular evening, the skeletal man had taken the liberty to sit down with Inko to discuss Izuku's training. The boy was in his final year at UA and was shaping up to be quite the young hero. With his graduation only months away, it was only appropriate that the two should sit down and discuss what his future was going to look like after he left high school.

At least, that's how the conversation started.

One thing led to another and by the end of the evening, the two had veered off topic and were now simply bonding over the many mishaps their boy had gotten into over the years and the amount of stress it caused them both as a result. While a lot of these situations were no laughing matter and could have easily cost young Midoriya his life, there were also many that were quite frankly silly, and those were the ones that the two chose to reminisce over. At one point, Toshinori had to wipe away his tears from the intense belly laughter that the two had shared.

They both eventually settled down and a delicate smile spread across Inko's small face. "Toshinori…" she started quietly, "I would like to thank you…for all that you've done for me and my dear Izuku."

Those words made Toshinori's heart swell. This was far from the first time that the mother had expressed her gratitude towards the retired hero, and yet her words still elicited the same amount of joy as they always did. He relished in the knowledge that he had managed to keep his promise to the family even after all these years.

"You don't have to thank me, Inko," he assured, picking up the small cup of tea that his host had prepared for him, "Having the opportunity to teach young Midoriya is a blessing. I really couldn't have chosen a better successor."

"Still," Inko pursed her lips, setting her own cup down on the coffee table, her gaze fixed onto her lap, "It's only thanks to you that Izuku was able to realise his dreams to be a hero. He never would have been able to get to where he is otherwise."

Toshinori's lips parted as though to say something but Inko continued before he got to chance to, "Izuku never really got to know his father. He spent a lot of time travelling and he passed when he was still really young."

Inko bit her lip nervously and looked back up into the blonde's eyes, "I-I'm glad that you were there to fill that role for him."

The veteran hadn't noticed it before but the space between him and Inko on the couch had completely closed. Not only that, but now that he was able to take a proper look at her he was able to pick up on the faint blush that graced her cheeks. Then, before he could even register it happening, her hand was on his lap, fingers leering dangerously close.

'Holyyyyyyyyy Shiiittttt.'

The stocky woman flushed brightly, quickly pulling away before uttering out a flustered apology, "O-oh! I-I'm so sorry! I-I just thought-"

Toshinori wasn't able to make out the rest of what she said. Her mannerisms were all too familiar. He almost wanted to laugh at how similar the woman was to her son. The man opted against that however, instead finding himself smiling down at her endearingly. He placed a hand on the Inko's shoulder, successfully distracting her from her unending tangent in the process.

Steam rolled off his shoulders as he bulked up into the form that he rarely had the energy to take nowadays.

"Inko Midoriya."

Inko was now beaming up at him in complete awe at the sight.

"Don't apologise," he reassured. He could feel his own face redden in the excitement of the moment, "The feelings you're expressing – they're mutual! So don't feel ashamed!"

There was a beat.

"Because I am here…to court you!"

"The sun has teeth today," Ochaco Uraraka commented brightly, staring up at the cloudless sky as she strolled alongside her freckled boyfriend.

Izuku Midoriya looked over at the petite girl beside him, eyebrow arched in bemused confusion. He couldn't help but laugh at that statement. He was almost positive that this wasn't a common saying and just something that Ochaco made up on the spot, "Sorry…what?"

It took a moment but eventually Ochaco laughed alongside him.

"You know...the sun has teeth. Like...the sky is clear and in theory it should be really nice outside and yet its still chilly, even though the sun is shining," she explained, trying her best to demonstrate that her logic wasn't as convoluted as it sounded.

"Hm…" Izuku paused to think about it. As silly as the expression was, it made sense, in its own way.

"I like it!" he finally decided.

Ochaco responded with her signature toothy grin and the boy suddenly felt weak. They've been dating for nearly a year and yet she still managed to render him completely useless around her. Ochaco was Izuku's kryptonite, that much was clear. It was moments like this where he wondered who could have possibly given this girl the right to be so damn cute.

The two teenagers continued to walk alongside each other, indulging in their usual playful banter, occasionally stopping to inspect one of the many stalls that the fair had to offer.

Truth be told, carnivals and county fairs were never really Izuku's scene. He failed to see the appeal in throwing his money at carneys operating obviously rigged games in exchange for a toy he could have easily bought from the store for the same price or cheaper. Not only was he morally opposed to humouring a couple of swindlers, but the sheer amount of people that attended these sorts of events was enough to make the boy want to recoil into his own body.

His girlfriend on the other hand, was the complete opposite.

Ochaco, ever the optimistic extrovert, adored the fair. She couldn't think of many things more exciting than a venue full of rides, games and junk food. So, while Izuku would more than gladly trade this outing with another training session, the sheer look of joy he got to see when his girlfriend was driving around in a bumper car was more than enough compensation to make him want to stay. After all, this was the same girl who managed to make him embrace the name 'Deku' as his hero alias.

"Deku, look!" Ochaco jumped in excitement, her ponytail swishing with her bounce as she pointed eagerly ahead, "Cotton candy!"

Izuku's eyes followed towards the direction she was pointing and soon spotted the small booth being manned by an stocky elderly man. In front of him was a family with two young kids watching excitedly as they were served their individual sugary snacks. Izuku's mouth watered at the sight. He couldn't even remember the last time he had cotton candy! Not with his strict regiment anyway. He decided in that moment that today was going to be a cheat day.

"Wanna get some?" the greenette asked, gazing down at his rosy girlfriend who was now looped securely around his arm.

"Heck yeah!" she exclaimed, beaming bright with joy as the two walked up to the cotton candy stall.

Izuku grinned widely. Her intoxicating optimism never failed to remind him how much he loved the girl. Some things just came naturally and his relationship with Ochaco was a perfect example. Their transition from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend was practically seamless. While it's true that Ochaco's initial confession at the beginning of second year took him by surprise, it didn't take very long for him to realise that the feelings she shared were mutual. They've been together since. Sure, maybe they weren't the most exciting couple but their relationship but was simple and content. It was nice to have some sort of stability in their relentlessly chaotic lives.

The boy handed a crisp paper bill over to the old man before being handed their respective blue and pink cones. The two plucked away at the colourful clouds of sugar, relishing in the sickeningly sweet taste as they walked away. It was then that he heard Ochaco's voice pipe up once more.

She tugged lightly onto his sleeve to get his attention, "Hey, Deku! Isn't that your mom?"

"Huh?"

Izuku looked up and sure as day, there was his mother's green head of hair standing amidst the crowd of fair-goers.

He wasn't slow to note how odd this was. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why his mother was here. After all, if there was anyone who hated large crowds of people more than him, it was his own flesh and blood.

He wondered if she followed him here but he quickly dismissed that idea. As over protective as his mom was, she always maintained a level of respect for his privacy. She wouldn't intrude on his date, no matter how much he knew she wanted to.

He felt a slight nudge in his side and he was prompted to look back down at Ochako, "We should go say hi!"

Izuku gritted his teeth, "Err…I don't know. I'm not super keen on her pulling up my baby pictures again."

His girlfriend giggled, "Come on! It'll be fine!"

Izuku sighed, giving in as she nudged him along before abruptly stopping them both in their tracks again.

"Wait!"

Ochako looked at him in confusion before turning to see what he was referring to. When she did, she suddenly understood his sudden hesitation.

Just as Inko went to pay for her food, a blonde head of hair approached her and handed her what looked like a drink, which she accepted graciously.

All Might.

The two went on to converse, laughing together as though they were a part of their own little bubble. It was evident that they were here together. That certainly explained what his mother was doing here.

Izuku stared at them incredulously, hardly believing what he was seeing.

'No way…'

"Is that Toshinori-san?" Ochaco asked aloud, sounding just as puzzled as he was, "I wonder what they're doing here?"

"I don't…" Izuku's voice trailed off. Was this a date?

He shook that thought away adamantly. Nope.

"Maybe they just bumped into each other by accident," Uraraka suggested.

Izuku shook his head, "No, there's no way my mom would come here alone."

He pursed his lips, trying his best to rationalise what he was seeing without coming to the same horrific conclusion as before.

"M-maybe they were just discussing my grades!" he reasoned aloud, "And decided to take a walk while they were at it!"

He couldn't tell if he was trying to convince Uraraka or himself. He also couldn't tell if his girlfriend bought his reasoning. Regardless if she did or not, he just so happened to have the most amazing girlfriend in the world who was able to sense his discomfort and go along with validating his theory anyway.

"Yeah, that's probably it," she concurred, offering a sympathetic smile, "We should probably leave them at it if that's the case."

Izuku nodded, feeling as though she had read his mind as she pulled him away from the scene.

Despite what he said earlier, he wasn't able to get the image of his mentor and his mom out of his head.

No. It couldn't be true.

Could it?

The next time Izuku saw his mentor was the following Monday.

The bell rang and the classroom had already emptied out when the skeletal man had asked for him to stay behind and talk after class.

If he was still fifteen, he probably would have been a little worried to hear Toshinori call out his name. Especially with the chain of attacks that occurred throughout his first year at UA. However, he'd grown accustomed to his teacher holding him back after class just for the sake of talking since then. His soft spot for Izuku wasn't a much of a secret to anybody at this point.

"You wanted to see me, Toshinori-san?" the boy asked as he approached the veteran at his desk.

He noticed that he was having some trouble packing up his things and instinctively offered to carry some of his books for him. Toshinori grinned at his gesture, beaming ever with pride.

"Ever the gentleman, young Midoriya," his mentor chuckled, his hand reaching to ruffle through the green curls atop the boy's head. It was a habit that he never quite grew out of. Not that Izuku minded the extra affection. Although, the sight of a fifty something year old man affectionately petting the unit of teenager that Izuku had grown into was admittedly a little amusing.

Izuku smiled brightly at the man as they both slowly began walking out together.

"Graduation isn't that far away," Toshinori noted, "Have you applied to any agencies yet?"

Izuku shook his head, "I'm still trying to decide where I want to go after school. There are so many options, it's hard to decide."

"You have plenty of time," Toshinori assured, "Any agency would be lucky to have you as a hero."

Izuku blushed lightly at the compliment. Despite was his mentor was saying, he knew that he had to make up his mind soon. He was lucky in that he already had a few agencies reach out to him on their own, with his status as one of the Top Three acting as a huge incentive. That said, he realised that they weren't going to hold out for him forever.

"That's enough work talk for now," Toshinori said as the two made their way down the hall towards the teacher's lounge, "How was your weekend?"

The question threw Izuku off for a moment as he instantaneously remembered the interaction he caught him and his mother having at the fair. He had managed to get the image out of his head for a full day and a half up until this point.

"O-oh, it was fine," he laughed sheepishly, trying his best to mask his nervousness. He knew that his teacher would likely see through it anyway. He just also knew that that Toshinori wasn't the type to press for answers unless Izuku was in immediate danger, "I hung out with Ochaco on Saturday."

"Oh, yeah?" Toshinori raised an eyebrow curiously, "What did you do? Nothing indecent, I hope."

The boy flushed bright red, his mouth opening agape as he quickly jumped to defend himself, "W-what! N-no! It wasn't anything like that!"

"I'm just teasing, my boy," the blonde laughed, "Did you have fun?"

Izuku nodded, cheeks still glowing though he managed to regain his composure in the last minute.

He bit the inside of his cheek, suddenly getting an idea that he wanted to try out.

"Yeah, we decided to check out the fair while it was in town."

Izuku looked up at Toshinori as he said that, inspecting his reaction. He figured that if anything was going on between him and his mom, he'd rather hear it directly from the horse's mouth than find out on his own or from somebody else.

His mentor's eyes barely widened and his expression remained unchanged for the most part. Izuku assumed that to be a good thing. That was unless Toshinori really did have the ultimate poker-face and was just incredibly skilled at hiding his embarrassment.

His relief didn't last very long as they eventually arrived at the staff room.

"I should be fine from here, young Midoriya," Toshinori assured, reaching down to take the books off Izuku's hands.

"O-oh, right," he nodded, handing them over to the older man. He really wasn't going to say anything?

"I should probably let you head off to your next class. I don't want to hear your name in the staff room again this evening," Toshinori chuckled.

Izuku laughed along awkwardly as the two waved each other off.

The door closed behind the gaunt man and Izuku began making his way down the hall to his next class. He began speculating near immediately.

He didn't react much when he mentioned the fair yet he also didn't say anything about being there either. Why did he leave that part out when Izuku knew for a fact that he was here that weekend? Did it just slip his mind? Or was he really hiding something from him?

He shook off those pesky thoughts, deciding that they were better left for later. Maybe until he got a second opinion from someone else at the very least.

Izuku's history with Katsuki Bakugou was...turbulent, for lack of better words.

Still, Bakugou had one major thing in common with Izuku that kept them bonded together more so than the rest of his peers, - his knowledge about One for All. He even acted as a vessel for the quirk at one point, albeit only for a short time.

Aside from Bakugou's painstaking awareness about Izuku's secret, he also held one other advantage over the rest of their class that made him the ideal candidate when it came to All Might advice. Outside of greenette, Bakugou was the only other student who Toshinori held a fondness for that nearly rivalled his love towards Izuku. He supposed that that wasn't much of a surprise either, seeing how he was the only other person his age that was entrusted with the secret of One for All.

That particular evening Izuku had managed to catch his rival in the school's gymnasium, aggressively brawling with a beat up punching bag. He looked focused and stunk of nitro-glycerine. He noticed that the areas that Bakugou was targeting were covered in soot but Izuku chose not to say anything about that for his own sake.

"Hey, Kacchan, you got a minute?" the boy asked as he approached his classmate.

Bakugou took a step back from the punching bag, turning to face his rival. Izuku wasn't planning on doing any training but he still showed up with his gym bag slung across his shoulder and dressed in his dark mucky gym shorts. The sleeveless tank top he was wearing really just highlighted how well built Izuku had become over the years. Not that that was much of a surprise, with how much of a gym rat the boy was.

"What's on your mind, nerd," Bakugou grunted, stepping aside as Izuku put his bag down. He shrugged, fidgeting nervously, clearly dreading the conversation they were about to have.

Who could blame him, really? If he could count on anyone to be honest with him, it was Bakugou and quite frankly, he wasn't sure if he was ready to hear him confirm his suspicions about his mentor and his mom.

"Weird how we're the only people here," Izuku noted, looking around the room nonchalantly.

"Just spit it out already!" the blonde snapped feverishly. Izuku flinched, despite not having a reason to be surprised by his reaction.

"I think Toshinori is seeing my mom behind my back."

"What!?"

Izuku sucked in a breathe and repeated himself, "I SAID I THINK TOSHINORI IS SEEING MY MO-"

"- I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME, IDIOT!"

Izuku winced and Bakugou drew in a sigh. He ran his sweaty fingers through his yellow mop of hair, taking a moment to clear his mind and bring his temper down - a handy trick he picked up in anger management.

"What makes you so sure?" he asked finally.

Izuku rubbed his neck and pressed his lips in a tight line, "Well, I saw him and my mom hanging out at the county fair on Saturday."

"So? They could have just been talking about your grades," Bakugou countered, "Or they bumped into each other. Whatever."

"Yeah but when I mentioned that I was there on Saturday he didn't say anything," Izuku retorted, "Why wouldn't he mention that he was also there if he wasn't hiding something?"

"Hmph…" Bakugou rested a hand on his chin as though he were deep in thought. The sight was a little unsettling. The last time Izuku saw him this calm they were in kindergarten during nap time and even then it was followed immediately by a temper tantrum.

"W-what do you think?" he asked after a while.

The tempered boy groaned, "Deku, you're a fucking idiot."

Izuku blinked a few times, barely processing, "So…you don't think they're sleeping around?"

Bakugou had suddenly blown another fuse, "NO, YOU IDIOT! OF COURSE THEY'RE FUCKING AROUND!"

He would have continued on an angry tangent if he didn't notice how shaken his rival looked by his sudden outburst.

'Breathe Katsuki.'

He drew in another breath of air and released it, "Did you confront him about it?"

Izuku shook his head, "Erm…no," he admitted, "I wasn't sure and I didn't want to make things awkward."

"You should have said something, nerd!" Bakugou scolded, "Do you have no honour anymore?"

"That's not it!" Izuku countered defensively, "I just didn't want to jump to any conclusions."

"Whatever," Bakugou huffed, "You have to do something about this, nerd!"

Izuku fidgeted uncomfortably, "I-I don't know…I mean, can we really be sure?"

"Fuck yeah!" Bakugou exclaimed, "Stand up for yourself for once, will you? I don't want to be the one picking up the pieces after your inevitable breakdown if you don't."

Izuku winced at that, "I…I think I'll talk it through to Ochaco and Iida first."

Bakugou rolled his eyes, turning back to the dusty punching bag.

"Beats me, Deku," the blonde shrugged, "Just don't be a fucking idiot."

A/N

If you made it this far, thank you for reading the first chapter! I finished this fic a month ago and it's been a pretty sweet accomplishment for me, so I figured I'd share it here as well. This is my first fanfic in years and I honestly didn't think I'd ever come back to writing until I binge watched the show. Sorry if I'm a little rusty because of that. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed!