Chapter 5

Saturday Morning, 9 hours later, 10 AM

Mina awoke to her alarm ringing, wishing that she didn't have to get up this early.

"Ugh- I just wanna go back to bedddddddd" she thought, but as she got dressed she looked at her phone and saw a message she missed.

From Izuku.

Hey Ashido! Sorry for leaving you asleep but I didn't wanna wake you up because I've heard from Kaminari firsthand what happens to people who disturb your naps.

Mina chuckled at the incident Izuku mentioned, which had occurred when she fell asleep at the table with Kaminari and Toru. While Toru knew better than to awaken the pink beast, Kaminari had not suffered her wrath yet, so he had foolishly woken her up.

"Ashido-" Kaminari said as Toru backed up,"Wake up, this isn't a time to sleep! You're supposed to be helping me with the Japanese homework!"

He lightly shook Mina awake, but already Toru could see the ire in her half closed eyes.

"Ashido?" was the last word Kaminari managed to get out before Mina turned her head with an ugly scowl and furious eyes.

At this point, Toru had moved over to the other side of the table and started recording her best friend's reaction with her phone.

Meanwhile, Mina grabbed Denki's collar and looked into his eyes with an intense glare.

"LATER!" was the only thing Mina said before she let go of his collar and went back to sleep.

Kaminari just stayed frozen in fear, and let the pinkette sleep as Toru did her best to stifle her laugh.

"Yeah but he had that coming! No one disturbs the Alien Queen's naps!" She sent to Izuku.

"Oh speaking of which, those Aliens you wanted to name yourself after come from a movie right?"

Mina grinned as she thought of the perfect way to mess with Izuku.

"Yeah! You gotta see it with me! It's awesome!"

She giggled at the thought of Izuku holding on to her for dear life as the movie played.

"I might end up giving him a heart attack but it'll be worth it if I can see his scared face." she thought.

Her phone dinged, and she eagerly opened up the message.

"Alright! I'll see you in a bit, I'm gonna finish up my morning workout!" He sent.

"You work way, way too much, you make the rest of us look bad!"

Both of them looked at their phones, enjoying the other's conversation, even if the topics were a bit bland.

"Alright, well I kinda have been texting you for a while, so I'm gonna get back to work okay Ashido?"

Mina, with nothing else to do that day, and wanting to get to know Izuku better went out on a limb and sent

"Actually, could I join you right now? I have nothing else to do…"

Unfortunately for her, Izuku didn't see this, and it would lead to an awkward encounter later...

At U.A's weight room

Getting up from the bench press and removing the weights, Izuku moved to grab the 30 pound dumbbells.

The conversation with Ashido invigorated and excited him, with the prospect of seeing her again later motivated him.

Ashido had always been a great "relaxer", and only she and Uraraka could ever convince him to relax. Although, he was never able to truly relax, as the burden of One For All was laid upon his shoulders.

Truly relaxing was something he had not been able to properly do in about a year. Izuku, wiping the sweat from his forehead, looked at himself in the mirror and reminisced. He still remembered the days before he inherited All Might's quirk.

The bullying and ruthless teasing from Bakugo and his friends.

The depression.

The unending disappointment he felt.

Then All Might had entered his life and brightened up his life. However, that came with it's own set of challenges. As he continued his workout, he thought back to how he started training to keep One For All.

The hot sand shifting beneath his feet.

His arms and legs burning hotter than the sun and straining himself against metal, wood, and plastic.

The blood, sweat, and tears that he put into building his body well enough to handle the power of the quirk he was going to inherit.

His hands becoming rough, callused, and eventually, scarred whenever the calluses burst or he cut himself on some scrap metal.

Those 10 months of hell were finally behind him though and now, he was on his way to becoming a hero.

Another 2 months in, he could now finally see himself as the hero he wanted to be now, with the body to match. He was no longer the scrawny, scared kid who had no chance of catching up to Bakugo.

He was the inheritor of One For All, destined to bring the world into an age of peace.

Izuku chuckled to himself as he lifted his 30 pound weights, feeling a lot better once he had given himself some credit on how far he had come.

He continued his workout for a bit, until hearing a little squeal coming from someone.

Who had just seen him shirtless.

Izuku immediately looked around for his shirt, grabbed it and caught a flash of pink

He quickly turned around and saw the lurker, who was covering her face with her pink hands

"Ashido?"

Hiding her flushed face, almost as violet as Jirou's hair, Mina managed to mutter a word out.

"SORRY!" was all Mina said as she turned around and tried to process what she had just seen.

Izuku scrambled to get his shirt on, and once he did he approached the pink girl.

"I-it's okay Ashido, I k-know you d-didn't mean to peep." he stuttered to her..

"What are you doing up this early on a Saturday?" Izuku asked.

"The last text I saw mentioned you wanting to go back to bed, I never expected you to come to the weight room!" Izuku said

"You normally sleep in, and when you do you're impossible to wake up," he laughed a bit, trying to diffuse the awkwardness and embarrassment he felt at that moment.

"W-well y-you see," Ashido was having a hard time putting words together at that moment, with the image of Izuku's body burned into her head.

"I kinda wanted to hang out, did you not see my text?"

"No! I went back to working out!" Izuku yelled, frustrated and embarrassed.

There was a silence, as Izuku was embarrassed about her seeing him shirtless, and Mina feeling hurt that Izuku had yelled at her.

"I-I'm just gonna head back then..."

"Sorry again…" Mina said as she turned and walked towards the dorms.

"Ashido!"

Mina stopped as a hand grabbed her wrist, and she turned around and found his green eyes again.

"I'm so sorry for yelling at you, I was just so embarrassed I couldn't control myself."

"It's my fault Midoriya don't feel bad okay? I probably should have knocked before opening the door..." but before Mina could finish, Izuku spoke again.

"Mina, I'm sincerely sorry for yelling at you, it was uncalled for and the last thing I want is for you to be hurt by me."

"I was just, surprised, is all and I don't like other people seeing me like that."

Mina just stood there, and listened as Izuku slowly let out part of his past, from the bullying (minus Bakugo's identity) all the way up to his previous insecurities about his skinny frame.

"I promise I won't yell at you again Mina, and I want this to be behind us okay?" Izuku said.

"It already is!" Mina put on her best smile, which only got wider as Izuku sighed a sigh of relief and smiled back.

"Somehow, that smile always manages to make me want to smile too." Mina thought.

"I wish we had spent more time together before the festival, he really is just a great person..."

This conversation made Mina even more impressed with Izuku, who had not only gone through some of the worst bullying she had ever heard of, but rose above all of that and still managed to stay humble.

"He really is going to be a great hero," she thought.