"Wait… So you aren't holding a grudge against Midori?"
Shoto leaned against the wall as Mei had stopped working on his suit for a moment, just to look at him.
As usual, her talking had been a mixture between enthusiasm, and practical and effective science. Right up until the topic of Midoriya Izuku had come up.
"...Should I be?"
"Of course! He crushed you in the tournament! Humiliated you in front of hundreds of thousands of people. Doesn't that get your blood BOILING!? Is that not why you're seething with barely hidden hatred and underlying rage all the time?"
"...No, he doesn't really have anything to do with that."
It would seem Mei had gotten quite the wrong impression about his motivation. She wasn't too far off with her assessment of his anger though.
Mei looked at him with a look of absolute disappointment… for about 10 seconds before turning back to the suit and continuing in a nonchalant tone.
"If not against Midori, then why are you so angry all the time then? I kinda just assumed it was all directed at him, given what an unlikeable, hateable, and inheritably wretched guy he is, but apparently not."
Shoto cocked his head. He was not close to Midoriya beyond talking with him a couple of times, but that sounded very unlike what Midoriya was like.
"You really don't like him do you?"
"What gave it away? The way I ripped his pain receptors inside out during my fight with him? Oh wait, you were in the hospital bed during that. No, I don't like him."
Quite the opposite it would seem.
Bakugo and Mei… Both hated their resident Spider-Man quite a lot for reasons that went beyond Yuei.
Many would probably have grilled Mei for more information, but the fact was… He did not care about it, one way or another.
"To answer your earlier question… The reason I'm "Angry" all the time as you say… The person I Hate, Is my old man."
"Endeavor? Why?"
"...Do you actually want to know?"
"Sure. If I didn't, I wouldn't be asking."
It was… A bit off how Mei would say things that could either have been rhetorical, or mocking, and just saying it like it was.
She genuinely wanted to know, even as she began working on his suit again.
Well, it was not like he cared about keeping it some sort of deep secret.
"My father is the second greatest Pro Hero of all time. He has the most resolved criminal cases of any hero in history. A living legend. And yet… For all that, for all his might and efforts… He could never beat All Might."
"Not too surprising. He does not possess much charisma, and his power is far, far below that of the Current number 1."
"Yes. My father… He always saw All Might as a roadblock. An eyesore that he could never beat on his own. No matter how hard he tried."
He felt his chest tighten hard as he continued.
"So he came up with another plan. Another way to surpass All Might."
At that Mei did turn back to look at him, clearly curious, though her eyes were hidden by her black goggles so he was only able to read her expression through her facial muscles.
"You've heard of Quirk Marriages, yeah?"
Mei had, that much was clear by the way her face turned into a disappointed frown.
"A quirk marriage? That was his big idea?" She snorted, then turned back to her work.
"Yeah, I know about them. Back in the early days of Heroes, people were already realizing that quirks, being a genetic pass down, could be bred to be even stronger with the right set of parents."
"Yes… My father… My father was one such. He used his wealth, his power, and his fame into pressuring my mother's family into forcing her to marry him… All so that he could get his hands on her quirk."
Mei snorted.
"An Ice and fire quirk combined is that it?"
"Yes. Someone with not only far greater potential for firepower than my father, but able to compensate for all his weaknesses."
He did not attempt to hide his sheer disdain as he said it, instead letting his loathing pulse through every word.
"If your old man had been smart, he would have focused on finding a bride with a Heat immunity quirk. That would have been a far, far better potential combo than what you ended up with."
He hadn't really considered that.
"I couldn't care less about that. What matters… Is what my father did. How he treated us… Me… My mother…"
He felt his hand clench into a tight fist.
"That bastard raised me as nothing more than a tool to fulfill his own ambitions. I hated it. I still hate it… The way he treats me as nothing more than a tool for his own ends… The way he drove my mother to complete madness."
He looked out over the room, the tech students going about their own business, all well away from the two of them.
He felt… Different from all of them. He WAS different from all of them. As marked by the scars on his face.
His hand went up to touch it, the phantom pain in the now destroyed pain receptors around his eye kicking in as it sometimes did.
"As far back as I can remember, my mother was always crying… All because of Him. And she just got worse and worse… I can't stand to see that left side of yours… that's what she said as she threw scalding water on my face."
Mei stopped working, having noticeably frozen.
"You've probably figured this out by now… But me not using my left side, is revenge on Him. Never using my father's Quirk… No… By rising to the top without using it… I'll have denied him EVERYTHING."
Mei turned around slowly, in a very different manner than her usual, manic, and energetic way. Though what her direct feelings might be was hard to tell from behind that pair of glasses, but he thought her face looked… Confused? Not concerned, confused.
"Okay…? So you want personal revenge on your old man…"
"You disagree?"
"No, I'm not really against revenge. I know better than most the power of spite and anger, and how it can get you through hard times… But… There is an obvious question here."
"...Do tell." He said, cold as Ice.
Mei didn't flinch.
"Okay, so you blame your dad for being abusive, for driving your mom to insanity, and by extension, for getting you scarred across half your face. So you decided not to use his powers just to spite him. I get that part. Makes sense… But… You want to become number one? The next All Might? Couldn't you just… Achieve the exact same result by resolving to become a great Underground hero? Like Aizawa? That way, you deny him the satisfaction of thinking you needed his flames to get by in life, while also refusing to even play his game at all. By becoming an underground Hero, you don't partake in the ranking system that your dad cares about so much, meaning you can become a great Hero while completely denying him anything… While also not having to go through the insane cutthroat and all-consuming road of actually becoming the next number one."
Shoto just stared at her, feeling… Numb was the best way to describe it.
"You… You hadn't even considered that as an option have you?"
"...No. No, I had not."
The rage, the anger, the wrath that was always there, just under the surface suddenly began to recede, as it was replaced by an emotion Shoto was not usually familiar with.
Humiliation.
He felt, completely, and totally humiliated, as he considered the mind-bogglingly simple solution Mei had laid out for him.
In fact… It was even more poetic than his own original plan he had pursued for years.
Why hadn't he considered this? It was such an easy way to screw over all his father's ambitions… While still becoming a great hero in his own right. Like he had…
He somehow found himself seating himself in a chair, as Mei eventually went back to work on his suit, though, unlike previous times, she occasionally eyed him, as if she expected him to continue their talk.
He did not. Instead, he simply sat there and considered it all. He thought back on younger days, in his worst moment, when he'd first formulated his plan.
The day… The day he'd lost the person meaning the most to him in the world.
…His mother.
I
Izuku liked plans. He liked to think something through, consider his options, then lay forth a course of action that would best allow him to achieve his goals.
The way he put off his current plan, the one he'd been planning since two days ago though, one might think it was actually some sort of deeper battle plan, with a high risk of failure.
It was planned exquisitely, with his target's usual pattern and behaviour exactly in mind.
The target in question was his pink girlfriend, and the behavior was that after Bakugo had vacated his seat to leave, Mina had promptly sat down in his former seat, having flipped around his chair so that it was now facing Izuku.
Izuku, for a variety of reasons, was usually one of the slower students to pack up his stuff and leave, which in turn meant that Mina(Who was the complete opposite), had taken to sit down every single day after their last class, and just watch him as he finished up.
On paper, it was not something that one would expect the always cheery and social Mina to sacrifice meeting with her various girlfriends to do, but Izuku knew better.
The way Mina would look at him as he finished up would always make him fumble and blush, and that more than anything was why she did it. Well that, and it was an excellent way to springboard into an after-class date.
It was with all of this in mind, that Izuku made his well-planned, and prepared move, as he deliberately made sure to drag out putting together his things.
"...Hey Mina? Are you… Free on Sunday?"
"Sure. Do you wanna hang out at my place?"
She grinned slyly.
"Or did you… Have something else in mind?"
Izuku blushed, but he spoke without stumbling over his own feet, as he would have a few months ago.
"Well… I did, actually. Like… Do you wanna go see a movie with me on Sunday?"
Half a week of careful planning, estimation of his budgets, and the realization he would have to tighten his belt and forgo any chocolate for the rest of the month, and scouting out what movies were currently out, as well as checking Mina's social media's to see if there had been any talk of any movie she'd been looking forward to seeing.
As it was, there were several. Some of which Izuku actually had some interest in.
Had Mina known just how thoroughly Izuku had worked just to plan this moment, she would probably have laughed her ass off, as her boyfriend had treated the simple act of asking her out on a date, as if it was a massive operation.
As it was though, she did not laugh. She smiled.
Mina beamed, making Izuku's stomach flutter for a moment, just at how… Beautiful she looked as she replied.
"Sure am! What did you have in mind? Actually… The movie can be a bit into the day, yeah? Like 13.00 or so?"
"Y-yes? That shouldn't be a problem."
Mina fist pumped.
"Awesome! What was the movie you had planned? Is it that newest Digimon movie! Oh, I've been looking forward to that one for months now!"
He had considered it. Mina's social media had made it abundantly clear that she had been really looking forward to this Digimon Tamer 2099, more than anything else. But he had absolutely no knowledge of the franchise it was from, nor had he watched the accompanying series from last year.
He did not want his and Mina's first real date night to be him humoring her about a series he had no interest in.
Luckily for him, however, there had also been another movie the pink cat girl had been looking forward to seeing. One that he actually did care about as well.
"No, actually it's… It's the newest Star Wars movie, The Last Command."
"Oooohhh! You mean the one by Haku Wasabi?"
"Yeah, that's the one. It's one of the better Japanese takes on Star Wars I think…"
"I know, right! Like the last guy who adapted 7 to 9 just… Couldn't help adding in his own stuff all the time! It was nuts!"
Izuku chuckled, actually feeling a surprising pang of confidence that he actually understood exactly what Mina meant.
"Yeah… Like at the end of Dark Force rising, and he just had to add in way more ships to the Katana fleet in order to make it "make sense". Nevermind how silly it made everything look when the Empire still couldn't win the battles in episode 9."
"Or when Luke got his face stung, and it just looked like he stepped into some nettles because the actor was too prissy to film his scenes like that? That stuff was absolute gold!"
-It would seem your girlfriend is just as much of a huge ass nerd as you. Just not about Hero shit.-
Izuku grinned, and as they continued talking about Japan's recent takes on the Star Wars franchise(The current movie they were about to go see was an Anime movie, which made it stand out a lot, compared to most other Japanese takes), he failed to notice that the rest of the class had completely moved out, leaving just him and Mina.
As it turned out, he was not the only one who had made plans.
As they talked, and the door closed behind the last person to leave, Mina, very nonchalantly, pulled out a bit of candy from her bag and just kept talking.
"-Kira's take on Karrde is probably the best thing about it all! Like, he just makes sound soooo smooth."
"Yeah, he is pretty… Pretty…"
As she finished talking, Mina had put a bit of candy in her mouth, and was now nibbling on it.
Izuku's first thought was that it was against school regulations… That thought however immediately vanished as the smell crept it's way into his nostrils, and his eyes focused on what it was.
A long, brown, stick of pocky.
Covered in delectable… Sweet… Delicious chocolate.
Mina exaggeratedly, and blatantly nibbled at it, seemingly without having noticed anything out of the ordinary, or noteworthy having taken place.
Izuku did not look around. He did not need to, in order to know they were alone. It was just him and Mina in this room.
They, and the piece of delectable piece of Candy poking out of Mina's cute, adorable grin.
She promptly leaned forward, juuust slightly, then with a bit of movement from her tongue, she pointed the end of the piece towards him.
"Want some?"
It was amazing how mesmerizing the chocolate looked. How… Alluring it was. The sweet, intoxicating taste of chocolate… And the promise of something else, more intimate as well.
Mina's eyes told him she knew exactly how he felt.
The pink girl knew exactly what she was doing, tempting him with a piece of chocolate like this… And she was having a lot of fun doing so.
He felt his mouth close around the piece, the amazing taste, immediately bombarding his taste buds.
I
Uraraka had been so eager to get out, and NOT have to look at Izuku and Mina, that she had fled the classroom the moment the class ended, and in the process left behind stuff in her desk that she would need for homework during her one free day of the week.
Then she'd cursed herself for acting like such an idiot. All she'd accomplished was having to backtrack, and return a few minutes later.
She briefly hesitated at the door… But then forced herself to open. It was just Mina and Izuku behind it, hanging out and talking. It wasn't like they would be… Doing the real stuff here at school.
That was her rationalization anyway.
She did not want to think about that kind of stuff. Thinking about that kinda stuff, in the context of Izuku and Mina… Hurt. It physically hurt her when she did.
And so, as she opened, she felt her jaw literally drop as, over by the green-haired boy's desk, 1-A's only actual couple was engaged in what could only be called a makeout session.
A surprisingly passionate, and aggressive one as well, where Izuku had cupped Mina's cheeks in his hands, while Mina… Well, Mina was apparently really into it, given she leaned forward, and had closed her eyes.
The frenching couple was so into it in fact, that they did not notice her at all, nor the door being opened.
Uraraka for her own part just felt… Dead inside.
It was the same feeling she had felt all week long, just… Somehow the void inside of her, which had felt so all-consuming, felt… Even more so. As if infinity itself could be multiplied.
She left the room behind without a word, or even closing the door behind her, the stuff she had come to pick up completely forgotten, as she walked down the hallways of Yuei.
"Ah, Young Ochako!"
She froze, All Might's booming voice clearly calling out to her with his usual enthusiasm.
Damn it all. Toshinori was the LAST person she wanted to see right now.
She panicked, and it wasn't until she was halfway across the entrance, that she suddenly realized she had jumped out a window, and with the amazing power of One For All had propelled herself out with immense speed.
As she landed, several students around her looking at her, some annoyed, some angry, some impressed, Uraraka took off running out and beyond the gates.
It was dumb. Stupid. She should go back and apologize to Toshinori-San. But at that moment she just… She wanted to be alone. She did not want to have to explain to anyone why her face was full of streaming tears.
I
It was, not too surprisingly, Izuku who first broke the kiss.
Mina felt it the moment when her boyfriend suddenly "Woke up" so to say, and realized what he was doing.
He did not pull back in a rush, the way an anime character who suddenly was interrupted in a moment like this might have.
Instead, he pulled back slowly, their lips separating, and for a brief moment, she could feel Izuku's warm breath on her lips before he pulled back further.
He was red as a crimson banner, breathing heavily, with an adorable, cute, and flustered expression.
For her own part, Mina was also breathing in a similar manner, being physically out of breath, while inside, part of her not really believing that had just happened.
It had been… Like lightning shooting down her spine! That was the only way she knew how to describe it. He had taken her completely by surprise, flipping the script she'd planned for this moment, completely on it's head, and made her putty in his hands. Literarily, given how he'd held her face like that as he… Well, he gave her quite the kiss. It had been… quite thrilling in it's own way.
"Well… I guess… You do have a dominant side after all… That's nice to know, Midori "
As Izuku sputtered furiously at that, completely back to his regular, cute self, Mina considered how she was going to have a lot of fun with this in the future.
I
Inko looked around furiously for the car that once had driven her, Izuku, and her hubby around Japan.
As she did, she fretted, almost shaking as she walked, and she was biting her nails without even realizing she was doing so.
She was nervous. Nervous beyond words.
She shouldn't be.
She should be able to trust that this was all going to turn out well.
She was seeing her hubby, her other half, for the first time in years and years. Not just talking with him on the phone, or through messages.
She was actually going to have him here in the flesh. With her.
It was her greatest desire. The thing she'd dreamed of for years and years. She, Izuku, and Hisashi, back under the same roof again. A family. The way it had always been meant to be.
There was just one complication.
Herself.
She was not the woman Hisashi had swept off her feet all those years ago. The woman in the prime of her life, who had been a great beauty who had made men want her.
She was older, overweight, and she was even shorter. She also tended to fret far, far more than she had ever done when Hisashi was at her side.
That had never bothered her before. There had been so, so many other things that had bothered her over the years, that her physical changes had seemed small and insignificant by comparison.
Her losing her job thanks to a scandal she didn't really have anything directly to do with beyond what company she had worked for, her baby's quirklessness and all that came with it, their poverty…
The damn alien.
All of it had made her changes seem small and unimportant by comparison.
Not now. Now, as she walked through the harbor's parking lot, she felt immensely self-conscious of every single little detail of herself.
The way her steps felt both heavier to make as well as less gracious, the way her stomach which had once been flat and taunt, was now sagging with a fold, the way she glanced about with a kind of instinctual worry and fear.
She was older, physically less desirable, and had become a worrywart. And she was about to reunite with the one person whose opinion about all of it mattered to her.
A lot.
She finally did find the old car, though empty of the occupant she had come to meet.
The old red piece of steel, paint, and rubber looked as striking now as it had back then. Bought in a different time. One with a lot more cash flowing around, where one's hopes for the future seemed boundless.
It was a car that held a lot of memories for her. It had carried her hubby as they went to meet her parents for the first time. She'd used it as her personal vehicle when she had been a lawyer the first time. More intimately, it had also been where her son had been made.
She blushed as she thought about that, looking over the driver's seat where a flurry of passion and love had resulted in the most precious thing in her life coming into existence.
It was as she was thinking about that night so long ago, that two strong, powerful arms closed down, around her neck in a hug.
Her breath stopped for a second before a familiar, strong jaw found itself resting on her left shoulder.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a glimpse of bright, pure gold.
"Hello… Angel… "
She blushed as a set of lips found themselves on her cheek, giving her a strong, passionate, tender kiss… then moving down to her neck, while also peppering her skin with further kisses.
Inko immediately felt her heart race, as Hisashi's lips went down to the nape of her neck, giving it a kiss, that made her moan, in a manner that was extremely inappropriate in any form of public setting.
"Hisashi! We... We can't… Not here!"
Despite her words, she felt a pang of joy at the sheer audacity of it. How bold and brazen it was. God, she had missed this.
Hisashi did not press further, instead bringing his head back up to rest on her shoulder again.
"I've missed you."
Inko blushed even more as she felt his warm breath in her ear.
"…Your touch… Your warmth… Your smell..."
She felt the strong, powerful arms shift as he repositioned himself, shifting from standing behind her to a bit more to her side.
She felt his hand at her chin, and with a motion, he turned her head around to face him.
He was just as she remembered him. The same strong powerful features that were so, so unlike his son. His piercing eyes, strong jawline, and his fuzzy mane of blonde hair… Contrasted with those adorable freckles which were the only thing Izuku had inherited from him.
"I've missed you… Angel."
She had missed him too. His chiseled looks, his hair… But most of all, the thing she had missed above anything else was that smile. That roguish, boyish smile that had swept a young woman off her feet, as easily as it did that same woman now, so many years later.
They embraced in a kiss. And in that one instance, the weight of years of separation, of loneliness, of having to manage her life all on her own just… Vanished like mists before the glorious sun.
