For the day where Midoriya tried killing himself, it was a good day. He was getting a quirk! A real quirk! And not just any quirk, but All Might's quirk! The number one hero and his idol's quirk! He was beyond ecstatic.
Not to mention that he made a friend. A nice girl who saved his life.
He ought to follow through and text her like he said that he would. He opened his text app and pulled up her contact, the only one aside from his mom, and his newest contact, All Might. …Now what does he say?
He fumbled for a bit, trying to navigate his mind. Wandering and wandering, almost lost in his own head, he struggled to find the right words that weren't completely awkward. He bit the bullet and hit send on his overthought message.
Midoriya: Hey it's me Midoriya you know the guy you saved today I hope this isn't too weird or anything
Asui was laying on her bed, scrolling through her phone and ignoring her homework—it was Friday, she had all weekend to work on it. She immediately read his text once she received the notification for it. She decided to respond casually.
Asui: Hey how's it hangin?
Midoriya: Pretty good actually
He was about to tell her all about One for All and how he was on track to becoming a hero, but remembered how All Might wanted to keep his quirk a secret. Probably better to keep that under wraps for now, maybe he could beg All Might to let him tell her later.
Midoriya: I met someone today who wants to help me train to be a hero! Can you believe it?
Asui: Wow that's pretty nice, when do you start?
Midoriya: Monday, I'm going before school every day until the UA entrance exam
Asui: That sounds rough. But if it's what you need to do to be a hero, then I believe in you
Asui: Anyway, you free this weekend? I thought it would be fun to do something
Midoriya's face lit up a burning red. Going out with a friend? And a girl at that? He hadn't gone out with friends since… elementary school. It's been a while. "Be cool Izuku, be cool," he kept repeating in his head while he responded.
Midoriya: Sure sounds fun. How about tomorrow then?
Asui: Great I know this cool place that I think you'll like, does noon work for you?
Midoriya: Yeah where should we meet?
Asui: Meet me outside the train station downtown, it's a quick walk from there
Midoriya dropped his head to his desk, his face searing like a hot iron. He was excited, of course, but his anxiety couldn't help but flare up like a pit inside his chest, eating away at his better judgment. What if she saw him for who he really was and didn't want to spend time with him anymore? What if he did something dumb that embarrassed himself so much that she didn't want to be seen in public anymore?
He took a deep breath to calm down and decided not to think about it too much, focusing instead on his hero notes instead before going to sleep.
Midoriya woke up from a rather restful sleep at about 9:30 and entered the kitchen in his pajamas to find his mom cooking an egg for him for breakfast.
"Hi sweetie," she smiled at him, "What's on the agenda today? I have to go grocery shopping so I'll be doing that later, but what about you?" Inko Midoriya was not dumb by any means. She knew pretty well what her son's social standings were, and that he was bullied, though not to what extent. But she had full confidence that he would say something like "I'm gonna research some new heroes" or "I have some homework to do" or even "I'm gonna go out and pick up that new hero comic I was telling you about". So when his response wasn't one of those, she was floored.
"Actually," he started awkwardly, "I was invited to go out somewhere today."
"Invited?! To go where? By who?" She couldn't believe it. Was her son finally making friends?
"I uh, I met someone yesterday who helped me out with something and offered to show me some place. I don't know what it is, but it's downtown somewhere."
Tears were forming in Inko's eyes, "My little boy is growing up…!" She swung her arms around her son, who reciprocated the hug and smiled.
"I'll be leaving at about 12:00, is that ok with you?" he told her.
"Sure, I'll probably leave a bit before then," she pried herself off of him. "Anyways, here's breakfast!" She passed him a plate with a scrambled egg on it. "Don't forget to change your clothes and shower before you go!"
"Of course I won't, thanks mom!" Midoriya began eating his breakfast as his mom left the room. After eating, he ran into the shower and cleaned himself up, dried off and entered his room. He looked around for something to wear. He didn't want it to be too extravagant, but he wanted to look nice. He eventually settled on a black polo and some navy blue shorts. It wasn't too glamorous, but he didn't want to stick out. It was just a casual get together between friends… right?
To say that he was nervous was an understatement. He could barely talk to people that weren't his mom, he worried that he would freeze up in a broken record-style stammering and they just wouldn't be able to talk.
He checked the time. "10:39, that means I have some time. The train schedule says that the train to downtown leaves at 11:20, and it takes about 10 minutes to walk to the station, but that should take me all the way to 12:00. I think I'll do my homework in the meantime."
After cranking through his weekend homework, he debated whether or not to bring a backpack. He initially thought it would be a bit excessive, but figured that he could keep working on his hero notebooks on the train ride. He stared at his charred and soaked 13th notebook. It stared back at him.
"No! Not today! I'm finally doing something fun! I'm not gonna think about that today."
Midoriya put the notebook in his backpack carefully, along with a few other notes and supplies. He slung it over his shoulder and looked around for his mom to tell her that he was leaving. Once he couldn't find her, he assumed that she already left and departed himself.
"11:05… good, I still have extra time. Maybe I'll pick up a snack or something." He visited a convenience store and picked up some chocolates. He ate a few of them, and stuffed the rest in his backpack. "Maybe Tsu would like some…? Maybe I'm overthinking this… I can always eat them if she doesn't want any. Is it too much to be offering her chocolate? Is that weird? … I guess I'll find out."
He bought his train ticket and sat down. Not much happened on the ride, but it gave him a lot of time to work on his notebook. Eventually, the train pulled into the downtown station and Midoriya was at his destination. He stumbled out of the train doors and sat down on a bench in front of the station. He was early, as he planned, so he continued working in his notebooks.
... ... ...
Asui pulled into the station at 11:55 on a different train, five minutes after Midoriya. She stepped out and looked at the time. "Hm, I'm early. I guess I can wait on the bench until—" she spotted Midoriya on the bench she was going to sit on, mumbling under his breath and drawing in a notebook. He didn't even notice her. "Wow, he's really wrapped up in that notebook. Oh, he's drawing something. Is that one of those new heroes? The wood guy? That's a really nice picture. I didn't know that he had such talent. Then again, I don't know much about him at all."
Asui spoke up finally, "Hey Midoriya!" She smiled at him.
Midoriya nearly shit his pants. He immediately clapped his notebook shut and shot to his feet, "H-H-Hey Asui howareyoudoingtoday?!" The words wouldn't stop pouring out of his mouth like a loud faucet. She simply giggled at that.
"Now now, Midoriya, you don't need to be formal, ribbit, call me Tsu," she put her hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down. Instead, he instinctively pulled back. She saw a deep-seeded fear in his eyes. "Wow, he's really… I'll need to be gentle with him, make sure not to overstep any boundaries."
"Uhh…" Midoriya's brain shut down for a moment, "… d-do you w-want some ch-chocolate?" He pulled some chocolates out of his backpack and held them out.
"Oh, thank you." She smiled gently at him and took the chocolate.
Midoriya was elated that she took the chocolate and smiled nervously, "So, wh-where are we going?"
"Hey, Midoriya," Asui said as she began to open the chocolate, "calm down, it's ok. You don't need to be so tense."
Midoriya's voice was caught in his throat. He managed to choke out a shameful "I'm sorry," before they began walking together.
"There's this cool cafe that I think you'll like," Asui said, "just around the block." She was excited to share this with him. Judging by how nervous he was, she couldn't imagine that he went out with friends often. Ever. Hopefully she could change that.
The pair stopped in front of a cafe with assorted hero graphics on the front. The cafe was aptly named "Hero Cafe". Midoriya saw the All Might graphic and got excited.
"A hero cafe! I can't believe something like this exists!" Midoriya was shining. Asui noticed a light in his eyes that wasn't present before. He was glowing like a radiant star, a ball of sunshine shimmering off his face. She couldn't help but feel the tug at her heartstrings as she returned his contagious smile.
"I thought you'd like it," she figured that he'd like it, but underestimated his love for heroes. They stepped in and Midoriya nearly dropped dead on the spot. There was various hero merch adorning each and every inch of every wall, most prevalently All Might. Midoriya thought that he might have to change his pants.
They both ordered their coffees (and Midoriya ordered an All Might pastry) and took their seats at a table. Asui started, "So, what do you do in your free time, ribbit? Have any hobbies?"
"Uh…" what were his hobbies? Outside of studying heroes, he didn't do anything! He couldn't tell her about his unhealthy obsession. "Not a whole lot…"
"Oh c'mon, you've gotta open up eventually if we're gonna make this work."
He steeled himself for her reaction, "Well, I kinda… spend all my time studying heroes and quirks." She looked thoughtfully at him, but with a blank expression. He couldn't get a read on her. "I've uh, been meaning to ask, what's your quirk?"
She paused for a moment. "My quirk?" she touched a finger to her chin, "My quirk is called Frog, ribbit. I'm very frog-like, if you haven't noticed. I've got a long tongue, I can jump really high, and can secrete weak acids from my skin, and uh… I can do a couple other things." She opted not to mention that she can spit up things from her stomach, feeling it was a bit too embarrassing. By the time she was done explaining, she noticed that Midoriya had brought out a notebook and was writing down what she was saying.
"Hm, that's really cool! Can you do anything else? I know that frogs can regenerate parts of their limbs at a young age, can you do that? And some amphibious species can regurgitate things? And you mentioned secreting acids, but are you always secreting a moisturizer like many amphibians? That would explain why your skin is so nice and sm—" Midoriya stopped as his face started burning intensely, a scarlet searing his cheeks and ears. He immediately clamped his hand over his mouth and put his head down shamefully.
Asui blushed a bit and giggled at his antics. "Wow, he really can't navigate social situations at all. It was sweet of him though." She fumbled for a bit, regarding the rest of what he said. "I um… I can do one of those, but it's… embarrassing…"
He looked up, face still burning up, "Is it the regurgitation?" She nodded, frowning at his frighteningly vast knowledge of amphibians. It wasn't a part of her quirk that she was particularly proud of. "That's so cool!" Midoriya shouted, "That's such a versatile ability! It could be a quirk on its own! You can hide anything with ease! That's gotta be so useful!" He began scribbling rapidly in his notebook.
"Wow, th-thanks Midoriya," Asui was shocked. Hardly anyone knew about that facet of her quirk, but those who did thought it was gross.
Nobody had ever responded positively to her quirk this way. Not unlike Midoriya, Asui had been subjected to bullying in the past, usually about her quirk. People were unnerved by her huge hands and feet, her large eyes and her long tongue, and she began to feel a little self-conscious about her quirk. She had never been physically bullied though.
"He thinks it's useful? And not gross? He's even excited about it, he's writing a lot down. Nobody's ever been this excited about my quirk. Except Habuko, but she's… Everyone else just saw me as 'frog girl' and wrote me off. But he actually thinks my quirk is cool… he's such a sweet guy, it's hard to believe that he tried to—" Asui grabbed her chest as she struggled to breathe, her mind racing with her suppressed thoughts.
"Ah! Are you ok?!" Midoriya reached over to her. After a moment, she started to calm down and take a few deep breaths, grabbing and gently squeezing Midoriya's hand in the process. He flinched at the contact, but made a concerted effort not to pull away.
"I'm ok, I'm just surprised that you like my quirk enough to write it down, ribbit," she diverted the conversation, trying to focus on him instead. "This is for him," she kept repeating to herself.
"Well you want to be a hero, right?" Midoriya smiled brightly, "I might as well add your data now rather than later!" He was too bright, she was blinded by his excitement.
"Data? What do you mean?"
All of his momentum screeched to a halt. "Well I um, you see… I-I keep these journals on the heroes that I research."
"Wow, that's cool," she mused, again confusing him with her unreadable expression. The truth of the matter was that she was very interested in his hero research, but she had a bit of trouble outwardly expressing her emotions. A permanent poker face had settled so as not to let any of the tormentors get the satisfaction of knowing that they've won over her. "Can I look through it?"
"Uh I-I, s-sure!" he stuttered and passed off the notebook. Just then, his and Asui's orders were called up, and he offered to pick them up.
She flipped through the pages without looking at any of them initially, just enjoying watching them fly from her thumb and onto the other side of the book. She reached the front cover and shut the notebook, finally seeing the sad state it was in. The whole front cover was burned to the point where the words "Hero Analysis for the Future No. 13" was almost unreadable. And the wavy quality that the book had spoke volumes to the water damage. Midoriya sat back down and handed her a coffee.
"Midoriya, what happened to this, ribbit?" she held the notebook up. He tensed up immediately, which she noticed. "Y-you don't have to tell me if you don't want to—"
"No," he cut her off, "it's like you said: I've gotta open up if this is gonna work." He took a sip of his coffee and grabbed his All Might cookie, a smile flashing on his face momentarily. "Look! It looks just like him!" They both chuckled before his smile shattered and he looked down at nothing.
"That guy from the sludge monster, his name is Katsuki Bakugou. He and I have known each other for years. We used to be friends in preschool, when we were really little. But after his quirk, Explosion," he gestured at the notebook and Asui understood what he meant, "had manifested, he changed. Kacchan looked down on anyone that didn't have a flashy quirk or the strength to be his equal. Once he found out that I didn't have a quirk, he started picking on me for being weak and useless. It was only words at first, but after he became more proficient with his quirk…" he paused for a moment, as if contemplating something, "he started using it. And as we got older, his words and actions became more intense. I…" he paused again in the same manner, turned around and pulled his shirt up, revealing his back.
Revealing the massive burn scar. It was layered, with the center of the burn, lying between his shoulder blades, being a fleshy dark color, and progressively getting lighter as it flared outwards. The whole scar was tough and scab-like, and extended outwards across both shoulder blades and halfway down his back. To say that Asui was horrified was a gross understatement. After what felt like an eternity, Midoriya dropped his shirt and turned back around.
"So yesterday, Kacchan took my notebook, blew it up and tossed it in a fountain." She winced at his words, struggling to imagine how horrible his situation was. The image of the burn scar was imprinted into her memory. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, but fought them back.
"I… I'm so sorry. T-there's nothing that I could say to make you feel better. That's awful," Asui mumbled solemnly. She had thought that her experiences were bad.
"Sorry to kill the mood, wouldn't be the first time," he said the last part under his breath.
"Don't worry about it, ribbit" Asui reassured him before sipping at her coffee and flipping through the notebook. They spent a while looking through each hero. Asui constantly complimented his artistic prowess, to which he just blushed and wrote it off. Then they got to his page.
"Wow, this is a cute drawing," Asui said, "Is this you?"
"Y-y-yeah, I m-made a page for myself. I-It's a hypothetical page, if I had All Might's quirk." He wanted to tell her so badly. But he promised to keep his mouth shut.
"Oh, I get it," Asui nodded, "Though I have a few suggestions, ribbit."
"Hm?"
"Well see, the costume just looks too much like All Might. I like the colors, with the green and the pads, but the smile is exactly the same. It's good to look up to your heroes of course, but copying them isn't. Think about what All Might would say if he saw a hero on the streets that looked just like him? That'd be weird, ribbit. The ears are also similar. What if you had a hood instead? The ears can stay on that, it would look a little better."
Midoriya took in her criticism. She was right, it would be weird. "Like this?" He erased some parts and drew a hood with two tufts like rabbit ears.
"Yeah, that looks good. And what if you had a face mask on to go underneath the hood, ribbit? Then the hood could pull over your eyes with eyeholes and you could wear the mask over that? Maybe it could be like a gas mask or something?"
Midoriya scribbled in the suggestions and Asui smiled and nodded. They continued looking over his costume ideas and made edits to it, bouncing ideas off of each other in the process. Eventually, they finished their coffees and left the hero cafe.
"T-that was a lot of fun, Tsu! I'm really glad you showed me this place," Midoriya was once again radiating with his shimmering smile.
"I had a lot of fun too," Asui smiled back, "We should do this again sometime. I heard there was a new arcade that isn't far, ribbit."
Midoriya was beaming, "Yeah! That sounds great!"
They reached the train station. After getting their tickets, they awaited their respective trains and said their good-byes.
"Well, here's my train. I'll see you later Midoriya!" Asui called as she turned to leave.
"Izuku," he said, "call me Izuku. If you want me to call you Tsu, then it's only fair. It's like you said, no need for the formalities, right?"
She grinned at him, "You're right. Well in that case, ribbit, I'll see you later Izuku!"
"See ya, Tsu!" The train left the station, and not too long afterwards, Midoriya's train pulled in and he began his trip home.
He opened up to Asui's page in his tattered notebook and began working on possible applications for her quirk, smiling the whole way.
