Joe's Note: Originally the entirety of this chapter would have been covered over the span of three or four paragraphs in what's now Chapter 8... but then I realized I was falling into the trap of telling instead of showing, which is easy to do when writing a new and active fandom where everybody knows EXACTLY how things unfold in canon. At that point, why bother taking up the time and space exploring something yourself? Well, when you decide to wander off the beaten path a bit... because nobody else is going to show it. So instead of Amora's first trip to the Midoriya household being a passing mention in another chapter, it's going to get the entire chapter that it deserves. Mostly because it opens up a lot of great opportunities for world-building and exposition. After all, Izuku has an entire notebook about the Asgardians and a willing source of information. He's got the opportunity to learn a lot of things in a short period of time... as do you. Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter as much as the last, and leave a review.
Dedications & Thanks: To Nicholas, Howard, Jade, Alexander, Tibor, Alonsis2, Daniel, Clark, Adrien, erlking, ridillin, Haematite, Charles, Jacky, Edward, Andrew, Roofcrawler, Wil, PbookR, Samuel, Mikey, Beverly, Daniel, Charles, Crygon20, Subtle, Christopher, Stephen, Fablesrogue, Morgan, Joseph, Jason, RileyWestfall, bloodylord, Marc, Ziryo, Chris, George, Koby, William, Devin, JJbelle, David, Gavin, TheTenthAncestor, Lookshy, Mauday, John, Roman, Warren, and Jess for sponsoring me on P-treon, and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.


Izuku looked down at the larger hand firmly ensconced in his, fighting the urger to blush any more darkly than he already was. He was quickly coming to the conclusion that Amora was an even more tactile person with partners than she was with friends. When they were stationary, she snuggled against his side. When they walked, she held his hand. It almost seemed as if she was unwilling to let him out of her sight now that she'd found him... which if she was as enamored with attaching herself to Thors as she'd made herself out to be, was probably close to the truth.

As they made their way down the street that his apartment was on, Izuku finally gathered up the courage to raise their clasped hands and clear his throat softly. "Are you going to be like this all the time? Not trying to complain or anything, at least I guess I'm not. It's just a little strange for me, considering that I've never had a girlfriend before. Or a girl who was my friend. I haven't really talked to girls before you. And Koli and Sigyn, I guess. Have I mentioned yet that I'm a pretty sad excuse for a human being?"

Chuckling softly, Amora swung their arms a bit more energetically, raising their intertwined hands higher up into the air. "And exactly what is wrong with enjoying a simple public display of affection, hmm?"

"Because to be brutally honest, I'm not really used to anyone other than my mother tolerating my existence, much less appreciating it. You've been a notable exception to that lately, which is the main reason I'm not freaking out entirely. But..." Izuku brought his other hand up to rub at the back of his neck, only to end up blushing both at the incredulous look that Amora was shooting him and his own stupidity as the head of Stormbreaker smacked him upside the back of his head. "That's a big part of why I'm not sure that Stormbreaker chose the right person. I'm just... a quirkless Deku, to borrow Kacchan's favorite phrase. Worthless. There's nothing special or unique or desirable about me in the least."

Taking advantage of their joined hands to pull Izuku to a stop, Amora scowled down at him. And even after spending weeks with her, he still wasn't used to that. While he was far from being the tallest boy in his year, he was tall enough that all of his female classmates either looked up to him or met his eyes evenly. Even his own mother was a handful of centimeters shorter than him at this point. But both Amora and Loki towered over him by over twenty centimeters. He'd never really expected to be attracted to taller women but, well, here he was. "That may have been true yesterday but today is a brand new day for you, Izuku. Today you were judged and found worthy. Out of all the people on this planet who have stopped by that park and tried to lift that hammer? Up to and including that obnoxious little 'Kacchan' of yours? You alone were considered to be worthy to wield the power of Thor. There's more to you than you think there is, and I intend to help you learn to appreciate those things."

Izuku let out a thoughtful hum at that, letting Stormbreaker drop back down to hang at his side as he looked from Amora's face to their conjoined hands and back several times. "Even if that's true... why have you suddenly decided that you like me? You've been nice to me, sure, but I never saw a hint of romantic interest from you ever. You seemed more interest in the maids at the cafe than in me."

That question earned him a throaty chuckle from Amora, the blonde spinning around and tugging him forward again, leading him unerringly toward... the wrong apartment complex. He pulled her to a stop this time, coughing lightly before nodding in the direction of his building. She blushed faintly at her mistake but quickly regained her composure, tossing her hair haughtily. "It's simple, really. You're worthy of the power of Thor. Thor was worthy of my attention. Therefore, by the transitive property, you must also be worthy of my attention. And if it turns out you're not?" Amora shot a wicked grin back over her shoulder as she led Izuku toward the stairs. "You're a decent friend at least. I can stick out my mistake. That, and I've been around for over a millennia at this point. I've got lots of experience faking it."

It took Izuku a moment to catch on to exactly what Amora was insinuating with her statement and then he blushed as red as his shoes, tripping over the first stair and nearly pulling them both down in the process. Even Stormbreaker wasn't enough to save him, the head of the axe hitting the concrete stair at an angle and skittering off sideways as he tipped forward. Thankfully Amora proved to be as strong as she was tall, easily planting her feet and supporting their combined weight to keep Izuku from tumbling completely. He blinked owlishly at the display before quickly scrambling back to his feet as he let out a nervous chuckle. "You're very strong. And very pretty. I'm not sure which one is more intimidating at this point."

"Considering that in no time at all you'll be as strong as me, and then even stronger shortly thereafter? You should definitely be intimidated my beauty. Or my poise or charm. I'll accept any of the three. Possibly my intellect? I'm admittedly not the sharpest of my brethren but compared to you mere mortals..." Amora brought their joined hands up to chest level before putting her free hand atop it and slowly raising that hand up over her head. "...yeah."

Deciding for once in his relatively mundane and uninteresting life to just go with the flow, Izuku offered Amora a shy smile. "Well then I guess it's lucky for me that I find intelligent women attractive?" That earned him a burble of laughter from the blonde as she continued to lead him up the stairs, pausing briefly at the top of each flight to see if she should keep going. That continued all the way to the top floor, at which point she began leading him down the hallway with a slight hesitation in front of each door. Eventually, they ended up in front of his apartment and he gave her an anxious smile before unlocking the door. "Here's to hoping that my mother wasn't watching the news?"

"IZUKU! MY BABY BOY!"

So much for that vain hope.

Izuku braced himself as he stepped into the apartment, releasing Amora's hand and carefully lowering Stormbreaker onto the floor behind him and resting his weight on the handle. It turned out to be in vain as his mother came barreling around the corner, engulfing him in a powerful hug that nearly bowled him over backward. There was a soft chuckle from behind him as Amora reached up, placing her hands on his shoulders to keep him from falling back onto her and then slowly easing him back upright as he patted his mother's back awkwardly with his free hand. "Hey, Mom. It's me."

"You're all over the news! They're saying that you rushed into that alley trying to save Katsuki when the pro heroes couldn't, and then that famous magical hammer from the park came flying out of nowhere and..." Trailing off, Midoriya Inko leaned to one side, peering past Izuku at the hammer that he was leaning against. "That hammer. It's all true, then? You're really the new wielder of Stormbreaker? You have the power of Thor now?"

Before Izuku could formulate an answer that wouldn't freak out his overly emotional, highly protective, and generally overbearing mother, Amora decided to insert herself into the conversation. Taking a step forward, she pressed herself against his back, wrapping one arm around his shoulders as she offered the other to his mother. "As of today? He is indeed. Nice to meet you, Midoriya-san. My name is... oh bother, if you're my boyfriend's mother, I might as well use my real name. Incantare Amora, at your service. I'm one of the Asgardians assigned to monitor Stormbreaker for changes... and your son's new girlfriend. I look forward to getting to know you in the coming days and months."

Izuku let out a groan of resignation as he brought his free hand up to cover his face, already anticipating his mother's reaction to Amora's introduction. She didn't disappoint. "You're... my Izuku's girlfriend? My little boy has found himself a girlfriend! Oh! He's growing up so fast! And look at you! So strong and powerful and beautiful! My Izuku sure knows how to pick them, doesn't he?"

"Actually, I believe that technically I'm the one who picked him but... yes, let's go with that for the sake of your motherly pride." Amora turned herself sideways, squeezing past both Izuku and Inko and stepping into the apartment proper. Looking around speculatively, she did her best to mask the distaste that Izuku could tell she was feeling. And if someone as socially inept as he could tell how she was feeling, chances were that literally anyone else could as well. "You come from very... humble... beginnings, don't you, Izu-kun? That's okay. Every hero has to start somewhere, I suppose."

Wanting to act before his mother could recover from her shock and realize that someone was insulting her home - or, even worse, double back to the part about him inheriting Stormbreaker and the power of Thor - Izuku slipped his shoes off and left them in the genkan as he padded into the living room after Amora. Who... was no longer wearing her green boots, of which there were no sign. Magic, he supposed. She'd used it only sparingly around him in the past, but if they were going to start spending even more time together, that was probably going to become the answer to many of his questions in the future. "I, err, know you've been asking about my room. And my collection. Do you want to see it?"

Amora pouted faintly, clearly interested in continuing to explore his dwelling, before perking up as she realized that he was offering to let her explore somewhere that she wouldn't be allowed to enter on her own. "Good idea. I think that'd be an excellent way to pass the time until dinner... assuming, of course, that your mother doesn't object to me joining you two."

Were people allowed to invite themselves to dinner? Wasn't that rude? Or was that only rude if you weren't an Asgardian? Maybe it was normal to them. Or maybe it was just Amora being Amora. Whatever the cause, Izuku took Amora's hand before looking over at his mother, who gave him an excited smile and a thumbs up. Right then. Dinner for three it was. "Mom seems okay with it, so I guess you're eating with us tonight."

"But Izuku, I have more questions for you and your..." Trailing off, Inko's eyes dropped down to their clasped hands and she smiled giddily. "Never mind. Why don't you go show her your room? No funny business, though!"

Blushing brightly, Izuku gave a gentle tug on Amora's hand as he fled the room, pulling the laughing blonde along behind him. Stopping in front of a white door adorned with an All Might name plaque, he braced himself for the coming judgement. "Just to warn you, I feel like I may have undersold how much of a hero otaku I really am. Especially All Might." And then he opened the door, leading a girl into his personal space for the first time.

Amora let out a low whistle as she looked around, taking in the All Might figures... and posters... and sheets... and alarm clock... and throw rug. "Yeah, this is more than just a bit, Izuku." Moving to sit on the edge of his bed, she smirked faintly as she crossed one leg over the other. "Just think, some day soon children will be buying figures and posters of you. Won't that be something?"

Halfway to the bookshelf containing the other volumes of Hero Analysis for the Future, Izuku froze at her question before slowly turning to look at her. "Merchandise? Of... me? You really think that I'll be famous enough someday to have merchandise?"

"They still make replicas of Mjölnir for people to buy, and that particular hammer of Thor's hasn't existed in over two centuries. Why wouldn't they make merchandise of the hero who stepped up to inherit Thor's legacy?" Amora brought her hands up, pressing them together before drawing them apart vertically, yellowish-green light sparkling between her palms as she created a small glowing construct of Izuku. "You're going to need a manager, though, now that Tony and Pepper aren't around to look after your business concerns any longer. Perhaps I should set my sights on entering the U.A. Business Course? For the past few years, Loki's been nattering on about enrolling herself in a mortal school to see how her Asgardian scientific knowledge stacks up against the constant tide of human technological advancement but she had no real pressing reason to until today. I imagine she'll be considering U.A.'s Support Course in short order."

Izuku turned his attention back to his bookshelf, navigating all the way back to Volume 4 and pulling it free before turning to face Amora. He'd constantly forgotten to bring it to one of his meetings with her, but as long as she was here? Why not? "All three of us at U.A. together? That would definitely be... interesting. I wouldn't mind sharing a school with you but from what little contact we've had so far, I honestly can't tell if Loki likes me or not. Platonic like, that is, not liking me in the sense that you like me." After pondering that for a moment, Izuku shook his head to clear it before flipping open the notebook in his hand. His writing was... decidedly less steady and sophisticated than it was today, but at least it wasn't in crayon like Volume 1. "Okay, here's a burning question that's been bugging me since I started researching Asgardians... what the heck ever happened to Sif? She was your most prolific visitor to Earth but dropped off the radar right before the rest of you moved to Tønsberg."

The question earned him a faintly disgusted look from Amora, who gave a full body shudder before answering. "Vanaheimr. She appointed herself Protector of the Realm when Thor began spending more time on Midgard, and as such managed to miss both Angela's return to Asgard and the Burning. Our access to the Bifröst has been limited between Stormbreaker's hibernation and the lack of proper terminus in Tønsberg, so I have neither seen nor heard from her in a great many years. At the end of the day, though, she is a formidable warrior and there's no reason to think that she's not still defending her adopted people."

Darting over to grab a pen off his desk, Izuku's hand flew back and forth over the page as he recorded the new information. When he finished, he tapped his pen against his cheek thoughtfully. "Now that I hold Stormbreaker, I can go to Vanaheimr and meet her for myself. Imagine what she could tell me about Thor? Asgard before its fall? Other heroes that she worked with here on Earth?" Amora let out an affronted noise and Izuku looked over at her, waving his hands placatingly. "Of course I have you for that, but another perspective never hurts, right? But that's all in the far future, seeing as how I don't know how to do... well, much of anything with Stormbreaker at this point. Moving on... what about the three men who appeared with Sif during the Puente Antiguo incident? They were never seen again as far as I know, and Thor never mentioned them during any of his interviews..."

"Ugh, the Warriors Three. A group even more tiresome than Sif, especially Fandral the self-declared 'dashing'. They perished slightly before the Burning, during Angela's return to Asgard." Amora brought one hand up, tapping a finger against her chin for a few seconds before gesturing to the notebook that he was holding. "Here's some information that literally no living mortal will possess. Let me tell you about your erstwhile half-sister, and the bloody swath she cut through Asgard during her attempt to usurp the throne from Thor..."