A "Friendly" Warning
'Man, that mobility training was awesome,' Izuku thought.
The day's hero lesson had been a "Rescue-Training Race" to have students figure out and practice how to quickly and efficiently navigate a cityscape to All Might's distress call. Despite his last-second slip in the race, Izuku was happy with the progress he'd made learning under Gran Torino.
Then All Might's request to meet with him came back to the front of his mind. To have a private discussion about One For All. What could it be about? Izuku felt anxiety begin to tingle between his shoulders-
"Hey, Midoriya!" Mineta said hurriedly. "I just made the discovery of the century! Get over here!"
Discovery of the century? What could-?
"Look at this hole! Just like in Shawshank!" Mineta said, pointing at a small hole in the wall once covered by a paper poster. "Our predecessors must have worked really hard to make it!" Mineta was not just sweating, but practically panting now. Which could only mean- "And next door is … you know what, right? The girls' locker room!"
Izuku grimaced and turned away as Ida began protesting, with all of the robotic chopping motions it implied from him, about how peeking was a major offense and then Mineta's almost nonsensical response.
Honestly, Izuku had strongly mixed feelings about their short classmate. While they had gained some respect for each other during the USJ incident, Mineta's perversions made Izuku deeply uncomfortable on a personal level. Not just because he knew what it was like to be judged for something outside his control — him for his Quirklessness and the girls for their gender and objective attractiveness — but because the girls simply deserved to be respected as people.
But who was he to correct Mineta? He wasn't a teacher, and Ida was rightfully the class representative. Plus, few people had ever taken his opinions seriously in the past, so he'd just leave it to-
"Oh-ho-ho! Yaoyorozu's boob-orozus! Ashido's sexy silhouette! Hagakure's floating panties! Asui's surprisingly decent boobs! And Uraraka's ohh-la-la-!
Something snapped at those words.
In a flash, without conscious thought — just like with Kachan and the sludge villain or Ochako and the gimmick-bot — Izuku had Mineta pinned to the concrete wall by the front of his shirt, lifted to his own eye level. Eyes that were harder than steel and filled with carefully, barely, controlled anger.
"Listen. To me. Now," Izuku said quietly. Dangerously. "No more of this crap." He slammed Mineta into the wall again in emphasis, his breathing heavier.
On his end, Mineta was not only still sweating, now the cold sweat of fear, but was a second away from wetting his pants. He'd never seen Midoriya like this! He was usually an awkward or just timid guy when he wasn't nerding out. Unless the stakes were high, because then he would focus and become awesome! But this … This was different. Scary-different!
"What you do in your own home I can't stop," Izuku said, his voice so low it was almost a growl. "But here, on this campus, with our classmates …?" Another slam. "You will treat the girls with utmost respect. If you don't …" Bands of glowing red-pink criss-crossed over Midoriya's skin, green lightning flickering over his muscled limbs and torso as he curled his free hand into a fist.
He'd activated his Quirk, which Mineta had seen the potency of firsthand.
"I'll bury you alive at the entrance of a mens club," Izuku snarled. "So that for the rest of time, your body will be just out of reach of what you seem to desire most." He stepped back and let Mineta slide down to the ground. The shorter boy was shaking and instinctively flinched away while his guts felt like water, his spine like ice, and his testes felt shriveled into raisins.
Izuku turned away with a heavy sigh and resumed changing back into his school uniform. Only after the strange ringing in his ears finally faded did he realize the locker room was quiet. He looked around to find all of the other guys watching him with stunned expressions.
"Damn," Kaminari drew out. "That was badass."
"That was manly in the extreme, Midoriya!" Kirishima said, fists clenched with support.
"While I cannot condone violence or threats between peers," Ida said, pushing up his glasses, "this was for a most noble cause and I'll keep my silence. That, and it was quite impressive."
"What a creative threat," Tokoyami noted.
"C'était magnifique," Aoyama chirped with one of his odd sparkles.
"Didn't think you had the sack, Deku," Kachan sneered as he put his shirt on.
Todorashi said nothing, though he nodded with respect.
All of the other guys added their support, ignoring the trembling Mineta against the wall.
"Thanks," Izuku said tightly, uncomfortable with the attention. "I'm sure they would have done the same for me." He blinked as a thought occurred to him. "Ida, would you plug that up? I trust you to do it right."
"Of course! I had shamefully forgotten," Ida said, chopping his arms. "I'll retrieve materials from one of the teachers myself after I finish here."
"I just hope they didn't have to hear all of Mineta's garbage," he mumbled.
The girls had heard everything.
Jiro had tried to stick Mineta's eye through the hole with her earphone jacks, but she'd missed. And then they'd heard the thud of Izuku slamming him against the wall. On impulse, she'd set up her jacks to listen in on what was being said, and every one of them had heard Midoriya's threat to the class perv.
Even after it had been quiet for a while, they were all processing as they continued to change clothes.
"Okay, if no one else'll say it, I will," Ashido piped up. "That was both ridiculously sweet," she smirked, "and kinda hot."
"Midoriya really is a little cinnamon roll," Tsu noted. "With a tough center, it seems."
"Truly a most noble spirit," Momo said with a smile of respect.
"'Bout time someone had the guts to put that little gremlin in his place," Jiro scowled.
"Okay, yeah, that was awesome," Hagakure said. "But has anyone else noticed when Midoriya lost it?" They all looked at her invisible self curiously. "I mean, Mineta mentioned Momo, Ashido, me, Tsu … but Midoriya only lost his cool when he mentioned-" Her clothes turned to face Uraraka, "-our dear Uravity!"
Ochako blushed and hid her face in her shirt, mumbling excuses in a very Midoriya-like way.
"She has a point, Uraraka," Ashido said with a grin. "How'd his 'defense of our honor' make you feel?"
"Uh, grateful?" Ochako said. "He didn't have to do that, but he did. And it didn't sound like he was putting on a show. It was just to be kind."
"Kind to us; not to Mineta," Tsu croaked happily.
"Perhaps we should find a way to show our appreciation?" Momo suggested. "Violence is remarkably out of character for Midoriya, and I feel he may be conflicted."
"We?" Hagakure asked. "Or Uraraka~?"
"Sto-o-o-op!" Ochako whined.
"But that is an excellent point," Tsuyu said, tapping her lip in thought. "You are the closest to him out of us all, there's no denying." All of the girls murmured their agreement, and Ochako sighed and accepted the truth of it. "Do you have any ideas on what he would like?"
Ochako pursed her lips as she thought it over. It was true that she and Deku were close. He may honestly be the best friend she'd ever had, period. He was sweet, and sensitive, and considerate, and fiercely determined, and so endearingly dorky, and cute- Nope! Back on track!
"Just an honest thank you would probably be more than enough for him," Ochako decided. "Deku … didn't have friends growing up." She blinked back tears at the thought of how dumb kids could be to not recognize how amazing Deku was. "Really, I think a word of thanks from six people, much less girls, would probably overload his brain."
"He is awkward around girls, isn't he?" Ashido giggled.
"He's kind of awkward around everyone," Tsuyu added playfully.
"Ah, c'mon," Hagakure whined. "We gotta do something special! That was not normal for a guy our age! Even Ida didn't do more than try to chastise Mineta!" The locker room fell into silence as everyone finished up and they began to file out the door for the dorms.
"Y'know what?" Jiro said with a sly grin. "I think I've got a plan …"
Izuku's brain felt like it was overstuffed with cotton. Everything All Might had just told him about One For All and its history, the Lord of Evil that was All For One, and the fact that Izuku might have to fight someone- No, something like that … It was so much to take in that he could barely keep walking. Then there was the thought of the final exams, which was something else entirely.
"Hey, Deku!"
Izuku looked up at the sweet voice that had called him and turned to find Ochako and the rest of the girls catching up with smiles. "H-Hey, Uraraka! And everyone else! What's goin' on?"
"Okay, full disclosure," Ashido said teasingly, "we all heard you tear Mineta a new one earlier."
"O-Oh! You, uh-!" Was his face on fire? It certainly felt like it. "I-I'm sorry! I know you can all handle yourselves! I just kinda got so mad at him, but that's-"
"Deku, breathe," Uraraka said calmly, taking a hand in both of hers to ground him. "We're not mad." Her cheeks turned a bit pinker. "Far from it, we all appreciate it so much."
"Not like the rest of those jerks who just stood by," Jiro said with her arms crossed under her chest. "I mean, Ida scolded him, but you?"
"You went Plus Ultra," Momo said proudly.
"And we want to thank you for it," Tsuyu croaked.
"Oh, that's not necessary," Izuku said hurriedly. "It's just what a hero does, right? No need for thanks and stuff."
"But we want to," Hagakure said brightly. "Now, are you going to turn down our thanks or accept it like a gentleman?"
Izuku blinked as he thought about that and ran his hands through his hair as he realized he was cornered. "Well, I'm just happy to help," Izuku said with an honest smile.
"And we're happy you helped, too," Tsuyu said. Then she leaned in and gave a chaste, sisterly kiss to his cheek. "You're a great friend, ribbit."
"The best kind of friend," Hagakure said before placing a quick kiss on his other cheek.
Okay, now his face was definitely on fire. Especially the places they'd been kissed. Oh man, he'd just been kissed by not one but two girls who weren't his mom!
"You're the man, Midoriya," Jiro said as she kissed his cheek, too.
"And you're kinda hot, too," Ashido giggled as she kissed his cheek. "In a sweet cinnamon roll kind of way."
Did he feel steam coming out of his ears?!
"We're all fortunate to have met you," Momo said and lifted his chin to place a sisterly, almost motherly, kiss on his forehead.
By now, Izuku was on the verge of a heart attack. He wasn't an idiot, he knew every one of his female classmates were very, very attractive. He just might pass out …!
"Deku," Ochako said as she held his hand tighter with bright pink cheeks and a shy smile. She took a deep breath and placed her free hand on the side of his face … then leaned up and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "Don't ever change," she sighed.
"Wh- Uh- I-" Izuku's brain was officially fried.
"This may have been a mistake," Jiro said with a wince. "We might have broken him."
"We should escort him home," Momo decided. "Uraraka, his address please."
"Wh- Why would I know?" Ochako yelped.
"You're his best friend," Ashido slyly pointed out. "So do you know it or not?"
"I do, but that's not the point!" she said.
"It's getting late. We should get moving," Tsuyu said. She took one of Izuku's elbows and began guiding him along. Or she would have if he wasn't still frozen in shock.
"C'mon, Deku," Ochako said gently, taking his other elbow to guide him along with Tsu. "Let's get you home, okay?"
"Mm-hmm," he said distantly, eyes still wide as if caught in a bright light.
As the girls of Class 1-A walked away with their friend in tow, most of the boys of the class were watching from the front of the school with gobsmacked faces.
"Son of a bitch," Katsuki snarled. "There's no way Deku has that kinda game!"
"The evidence would suggest otherwise, Bakugo," Ida noted, adjusting his glasses.
"Lucky guy," Sero said with a wide grin.
"What a man's man!" Kirishima cheered with a fist pump.
"Dammit, I shoulda put Mineta in his place," Denki said.
"Hey! I'm right here!" Mineta whined.
"Am I the only one who noticed that Midoriya only freaked out when Mineta mentioned Uraraka?" Koda asked timidly.
"Nope," Sato said. "I predict a confession from one or the other soon."
"Shut up! There's no way Deku's gonna get a girl before me!"
"He's closer than you've ever been," Ojiro chuckled, then leapt away from a predictable explosion from Bakugo as he laughed harder.
Toshinori Yagi, All Might, watched his successor be led away by his half-dozen female classmates with a proud, sly smile. Ida had reported the locker room incident to Eraser Head and it had made its way down the grapevine to him.
"A true hero in the making," he noted.
Hello to all MHA fans! I've only recently gotten into the fandom - as such, this is my first fic for My Hero.
*Who else wants to see Mineta get the snot beaten out of him? One of the few tropes in shonen manga/anime that I actively dislike is the over-prevalence of "perverted" characters. Seriously, that is not okay! And Mineta in particular makes me want to chew nails. Frankly, it was only my determination to keep characters relatively close to canon that kept me from writing Izuku actually beating him up.
*Yes, I switched Tsu and Ochako in Mineta's little rant. It served my brief plot; sue me! (Please don't sue me!)
*I am a commisterate Izuku/Ochako shipper and I am not ashamed of it! HA-HA!
*Denki's line, "Dammit, I should have ..." was taken from the season 3 premiere of "The Big Bang Theory."
Hope this was a fun foray into the MHA world! Leave a review if you like, or if you liked it! And may your own works flourish!