I uh accidentally ended up just going off on this chapter, so it's like twice the length of a normal chapter and it's kinda all over the place with plot points. This has been the only chapter that I've cranked over two days as opposed to just one, so I hope you enjoy the double chapter!
"Alright, young Midoriya! Show me what you've got!"
Midoriya was standing out in a field (the closest field on campus to Recovery Girl's office, of course) with All Might, and Asui was watching from the sidelines. She had frequently visited Midoriya during his weekend training in the morning, when she had time. Of course, she never visited during weekdays due to needing to go to school.
"Sh-should I just attack?" Midoriya mumbled. "I've only ever done this once before…"
"Hmm…" All Might didn't have much of a response. He, of course, wanted to encourage his successor to control his power output, but he also wanted to let him figure it out on his own. "Yes, attack in a way that feels natural to you," he decided not to be direct with it.
Midoriya turned to Asui, as if looking for advice, but she just shook her head. She decided to start stretching, wanting to get some exercise in while she was out. She caught Midoriya staring while she was stretching her legs on several occasions as he grappled with how he wanted to channel his quirk. She hung her head low so he couldn't see her blush.
Midoriya stared straight at his open palms when he saw Asui looking back at him. He took a deep breath, looking for the power of One for All within himself. After his first and only use of this power, he could feel it reside in him all the time. He coaxed the power from his core to his chest and he started to sweat. All Might noticed his strain and grew worried.
"Be careful there, you don't want to overdo it," All Might said shakily. Asui pulled her head up to watch her best friend start to tremble.
Midoriya struggled to keep the power contained in just his chest as he slowly pushed it to his right arm. After some resistance, his quirk surged into his arm, his veins lighting up with a glowing red. His arm shook violently as he used his left hand to hold his other arm in place and calm the spasms. Green bolts of lightning loosed themselves from his arm out in every direction, crackling loudly. The sky began to grow dark. The clouds moved in and faded into a deep gray. It looked like it was about to rain. Asui and All Might looked at each other with worried faces. Midoriya began screaming as the green electricity continued to shoot outwards.
… … …
Ashido was sitting on the couch with Kaminari and Kirishima when they watched Midoriya and Asui leave the dorms out the back door in workout clothes.
"You think they're going to the gym together?" Ashido murmured.
"Maybe, or maybe they're going on a run or something together," Kirishima mused.
"Y'know, if they're going to the gym," Kaminari stood up, "then I wanna go too. I should be in shape for the hero course."
"Bro!" Kirishima looked at him incredulously, "you haven't been staying in shape?"
"Staying?" Kaminari had a wild expression on his face, "I've never been in shape!"
"Then how'd you pass the entrance exam?" Kirishima looked stunned.
"I short-circuited the robots," Kaminari shrugged. Ashido beckoned them to follow her. They began tailing the green-haired duo, only to find them meeting All Might in a field. They hid around the closest building to watch them.
"Whoa!" Kirishima exclaimed, "screw going to the gym! Training with All Might himself must be incredible!" Ashido pulled out her phone and took pictures of the trio in the field. She wanted proof to show other people when she gossiped, and proof to ask them about what they were doing.
"Why do they get special training?" Kaminari whined.
"Maybe they applied for something that let them start earlier?" Kirishima reasoned. "Or maybe they need the help because they're behind?" The sneaky trio stopped talking when they say Midoriya start twitching in the middle of the field. They weren't close enough to see why he was spazzing out, but they could see that something was wrong. When his arm started glowing and firing off green lightning, they got down low, and Ashido pulled out her phone to record.
"What the hell?!" Ashido called out, "Is that his quirk?!"
"Whoa, is that an electricity quirk? It's like mine!" Kaminari smiled.
"No it's not," Kirishima corrected, "look at his arm. It's probably a strength-enhancing quirk."
"A strength quirk this strong?!" Ashido shouted, "Are you sure?!" They watched the sky become dim as the clouds rolled in. They cowered as they watched the boy fight with himself and his power.
… … …
Midoriya felt pain shooting through his arm as One for All was coursing through his glowing limb. He screamed in agony and panic, not knowing what to do from here. His brain was being overwhelmed by the power.
All Might was shielding his face from the intense winds that had whipped up around his protégé, "Midoriya, my boy!" He shouted, "You have to release the power! You're channeling too much!" Midoriya looked up at him through his pain. He then turned towards Asui, seeing her worried expression. He took a deep breath and cleared his head.
"Calm down, calm down! I need to release the power! Ok, ok, I need to throw a punch… b-but where?! If I attack anywhere, it'll destroy buildings! I'll get expelled before I even start class!" he swung his head towards, looking at the billowing dark clouds and realizing his plan of attack.
"HNNNG! AAAAAAAAAHH!" he let out one last breathless gasp and excruciating screech before bracing himself and launching a powerful uppercut towards the sky. An immense bolt of green lightning shot upwards towards the clouds. It crashed into the clouds and split off in every direction, riding on the undersides of the clouds and stretching for miles. Then the world seemed calm for a moment. But the reality was that the serenity barely lasted any time at all, and an intense air current ripped through the atmosphere as it soared upwards. It breached the clouds and sucked them upwards with it, taking all the clouds that were visible in the sky. It continued its ascent until the current couldn't hold together in the pillar it had formed, and it all shot outwards. The clouds were stretched across the sky, forming an umbrella of thin, painted clouds that danced beautifully in the air.
Every bystander within viewing range of Midoriya had either held on for dear life to something (as the three that were spying on him had done), or were knocked over and flung about. All Might had managed to hold his ground by crouching low, but the force that the uppercut had exerted still pushed him away. Asui, who had watched the lightning bolt in awe, was knocked off her feet and thrown into a building headfirst. She faded into unconsciousness after staring at Midoriya's figure, a lone silhouette in the field, standing with an arm raised, as if he had just won a battle.
Midoriya looked around at the damage he caused inadvertently, not expecting that punch to rock the world so significantly. His arm was still held in the uppercut position as he was frozen in time. It was a disgusting purple and suddenly started spurting blood. He dropped to his knees as his arm fell limply to his side. The last thing he saw before passing out was Asui hunched over on the wall of the building in front of him, a crack visible in the wall above her head.
"Tsuyu… n-no…"
… … …
He shot up and reached his arm out, "No please!" but an enormous pain struck him in his limb. He looked around briefly, noticing that he was in a hospital bed. He had a cast on his right arm, which was likely why it hurt so much. He sat around for a little bit, trying to figure out how he had gotten there. Recovery Girl eventually walked in.
"Hm, how are you, young man?" she said with a smile.
"I—uh," Midoriya was struggling with his words, "I'm a bit c-confused… what happened?"
"Ah," Recovery Girl gestured towards the open door as if to call someone over, "you might want to talk to this fool about it." The withered All Might stepped in.
"Hey, young Midoriya…" he smiled awkwardly. "How are you?"
"What happened, All Might?" he paused. "Wh-where's Tsuyu?!"
"Don't worry, Midoriya, Asui is fine," All Might reassured. He explained what had happened to the boy, from him showing up to train to a brilliant sight that could be seen for miles. Midoriya gasped as he heard what happened.
"Gah—Is Tsuyu ok?!" Midoriya panicked. "C-can I see her?"
"Your friend woke up not too long ago," Recovery Girl explained. "It was just a concussion, she'll be healed by tomorrow thanks to my quirk," she puckered her lips. "You should be back in working order by this afternoon, as long as you eat well to keep your energy up. You're free to go if you're feeling up to it, your friend is waiting outside."
"Thank you, Recovery Girl!" Midoriya got up out of bed shakily and stumbled out of the clinic. He found Asui sitting on a chair with her head wrapped in bandages. Midoriya felt the guilt hang on his heart like a heavy weight, dragging him down.
"I…" he got choked up and couldn't speak for a moment. He took that moment to start crying profusely, "I'm sorry!" Asui immediately rushed up and hugged him tightly.
"You're ok!" she cheered as she stood on her toes to rest her head on his chin, "ribbit, you're ok…"
"Wh-what about you?" he pulled back and pointed at her head.
"I'll be fine by tomorrow, so it's ok. You were the one who shattered their arm," she gestured at his cast and sling.
"But… I hurt you…" Midoriya looked down at his feet. "I'm an awful person… I hurt my best friend…" She pulled him into another embrace.
"It was an accident, ribbit. It happens. What's important is that we're both going to be ok," she smiled fondly at him. He collapsed into her arms and returned her hug with his left hand.
"Thank you, Tsuyu… I don't deserve your forgiveness…" he mumbled into her shoulder.
"Yes you do, now let's head back," she went to pull away, but Midoriya flopped into her. "Are you able to walk?"
"I'm so tired…" Midoriya mumbled. "I think Recovery Girl's quirk sapped all my energy…" Asui nodded and wrapped his left arm around her neck, helping to keep him standing as the made their way back to the dorms.
… … …
Ashido had her phone out in front of her, and a whole crowd surrounding her.
When the three stalkers returned to the dorms after watching All Might carry the two injured students to the health clinic, they saw most of the class gathered outside to see why it had gotten so dark suddenly. Ashido took this brilliant opportunity to push everyone inside and show them the video she took.
"That was Midoriya?!" a couple students called out. They had all seen the lightning bolt and the clouds get whipped upwards. They finished the video, watching Midoriya's mangled arm crumple and his body drop almost lifelessly into the grass.
"That's insane…" Sero mumbled. He looked at Bakugou. His palms were smoking and crackling intensely, his breathing was heavy, his eyes were unfocused. He was obviously thinking about something else. Sero was about to be Kirishima to do his magic and try and calm him down, but when he looked over to him, Kirishima wore the same expression as Sero. They wordlessly agreed to leave him alone for a moment.
Bakugou was seething. His head hung low as his mind was racing, "What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck! Who the fuck let fucking Deku have that kind of fucking power?! What if… no, that's not fucking possible. What if that asshole had a quirk all along? Fuck! Fuck me! Fuck him! Fuck off! He's been fucking playing me like a fiddle for years! When I first heard that he had a quirk, I thought for fucking sure that it was something dumb and shitty that wouldn't amount to anything. Something so fucking embarrassing that he would rather be quirkless then use it on me to protect himself. But this shit?! What the fuck! He's been fucking pretending to be a feeble weakling to make me feel better! I bet he fucking laughs behind my back! Well I'll show him that I don't need his fucking charity to know that I'm better than him!"
Everyone else had been reeling from watching the video and chatted quietly about it while Bakugou left discreetly for his room. Just as Ashido collected everyone's phone numbers to make a class group chat and send the video, Midoriya and Asui stumbled in.
Everyone froze immediately as Midoriya was leaning his full weight on Asui, with his casted arm in a sling and his head resting on her bandaged head.
"Whoa, what happened…?" Satou muttered. Midoriya smiled awkwardly as Asui elbowed him in the chest gently.
"This dork happened," she pointed to his face. He tried to wave with his right arm, but in a stunning display of intelligence, forgot it was broken. He ended up jostling his arm and wincing at the pain.
"But… why is your arm broken?" Yaoyorozu asked the question on everyone's mind. The class could figure out what happened to Asui, but Midoriya's broken arm was a mystery in its own.
"Oh, uh…" he chuckled awkwardly, "it's um…" he needed to figure out how to word it without implying that he received his quirk from somewhere, "my quirk only manifested recently. I-I still can't really control it…" The whole class stared at him in surprise. While hardly any of them could boast a perfect control or optimization of their quirk, they could at least control it normally.
"Is it really that strong?" Tokoyami asked. Midoriya half shrugged, still leaning on Asui.
"I uh, I don't know. I haven't tried it at full power yet…" he mumbled. Even Asui was shocked at this. He was able to generate enough wind pressure to drag every cloud in the city into a whirlwind, and it wasn't all he had? "I mean, I almost disintegrated my arm earlier, I'm not sure if any more is a good idea." The whole class was shocked into silence. Asui started dragging Midoriya towards the stairs.
"Well, I think Izuku should probably rest, ribbit," she helped him up the stairs, "and um, someone needs to watch him to make sure he's ok, uh yeah," she waved to the class, her face a glaring red, and rushed Midoriya up to his room.
"Man," Ashido mused, "she really fell hard."
"What do you mean?" Uraraka turned to her.
"What do you mean 'what do you mean'?" Ashido started at Uraraka with her dark eyes. "Have you seen those two? Like, ever?"
"Yeah, and they made it up the stairs just fine," Uraraka said. "She didn't fall at all."
"…" Ashido was at a loss for words. "I—no! They like each other! It's so obvious."
"Ohhh!" Uraraka thought about it for a moment. "I get it! So what's the story with them? I know they're inseparable, but are they… dating?"
"No, but that's where we come in!" Hagakure jumped in, wrapping her arm around Ashido.
"Yep! We've been working to try and get them together," Ashido cheered.
"And how's that been working out?" Jirou showed up, having overheard their conversation with her quirk. Much of the class had cleared out by now to go do their own things, but Jirou and Yaoyorozu stuck behind with Ashido, Hagakure, and Uraraka.
"Umm…" Ashido stopped. "So about that—" Jirou cut her off.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," she remarked. "You two just pulled that love letter stunt, which didn't do much."
"I'd like to see you do any better!" Hagakure called.
"I thought you'd never ask!" Jirou smirked.
"I didn't ask anything, but we'd love your help."
"I have a plan and everything. We need to be up front with them. Who knows how long it'll take if we leave them to their own devices. Neither one of them are gonna make a move unless we cut in. So Ashido, I want you to talk to Asui and convince her to confess. By tomorrow. Uraraka, same thing goes to you with Midoriya. Hagakure and I can be the spy team, because she can sneak up and watch them at any time, and I can hear them from almost anywhere. Yaoyorozu can supply any items we need going into this, like a small camera for Hagakure to record while she's spying, i-if that's ok with her… and leave the rest to me!" Jirou finished laying out her plan and everyone nodded. They exchanged phone numbers to keep in contact and split up. Ashido and Uraraka stayed on standby while Hagakure waited for Asui to leave Midoriya's room.
… … …
Asui laid Midoriya down in his bed and pulled up his desk chair to sit next to him.
"So, ribbit," she broke the silence, "was that really not your full power?"
"No, I could feel more power within me," Midoriya stared down at his hands, one of them bound in the cast, "but I couldn't draw out any more power than what I had. I think my body has a limit to what it can physically handle before destroying me."
"So… if you were to assign a number to how much of your power you used, what would it be?"
"Hmm… it was a lot, maybe like…? 70%? 75%? I couldn't really tell. It was definitely more than half, at the minimum." Asui froze in place.
"My best friend can level cities at only the cost of his bones… sounds like a deal with the devil or something…!" she waved her thoughts away and turned back to him. "So, how are you feeling, ribbit?"
"Huh?"
"You know, how are you doing? You just broke your arm, I wanna know if you're feeling ok."
"I—uh… I guess I'm fine. I think? I'm kinda bummed out. I just used my quirk for the second time ever and I broke my arm and hurt my best friend… things aren't really working out. I thought that the moment I got a quirk, everything would be better and I could do anything, but… not much has changed. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a hero after all…" Midoriya trailed off as he stared blankly, lifelessly, at nothing.
"How could you say that, Izuku?" Asui exclaimed. "Y-you promised me that we would become heroes together, ribbit! You can't just g-give up now!" Small tears began to roll down her cheeks.
"Tsuyu!" he started crying as well, "I'm so sorry! I made you cry again!" he pierced her with ghastly eyes, "All I do is hurt you! You have to put up with my issues all the time! You shouldn't even be around me… why do you let me hurt you…?!" Midoriya's face crumpled as his tears poured like water from a faucet. Asui wrapped her arms around Midoriya's neck and began crying into his shoulder.
"You idiot!" she choked between her sobs, "It hurts me when you're hurting yourself!" Midoriya stopped and looked at her, "You bottle up all these negative feelings without telling anyone… like saying that you can't become a hero. Are you even listening to yourself?!" she started gasping, her crying making it hard to breathe evenly. "You shouldn't keep these thoughts to yourself… I know it's not easy, but please… let me help you… ribbit…" Asui squeezed tightly around his neck. He put his unbroken hand on her head and ran his fingers through her hair.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry… I'm sorry… I didn't realize I was hurting you… I'll try to be more open with my feelings… I don't want to hurt you anymore… I just want you to be happy…" Midoriya blushed slightly, removing his hand from her head and wiping his eyes. Asui looked up at him.
"I'm just happy to be with you…" she smiled, blushing a deep red. Midoriya's face lit up to match hers, and she rested her head on his chest once again, letting him run his hand through her hair. They stayed like that for some time, relishing their time together. Eventually, to stop himself from falling asleep, Midoriya spoke up.
"So… w-wanna watch something?"
"Ribbit," Asui nodded and got up to put on an anime. Once it was set up. She returned to the chair she was sitting in, and turned away from Midoriya to watch. He fumbled momentarily before speaking up yet.
"Uh, I mean, gah…" he was struggling to speak, "what I'm trying to say is, that looks pretty awkward to be watching from there, so… would you rather be on the bed with me?" His face turned the same color as his shoes. Asui, however, thought that a greater opportunity had never presented itself and nodded. She got up and laid down next to him, which was quite the surprise. He was only expecting her to sit next to him, which was what he was hoping for, but what he got was much better.
Midoriya had fallen asleep pretty quickly, his fatigue and need for recuperation getting the best of him. Asui wrapped her arms around him and tried to sleep as well, but her mind was buzzing as she cuddled him. Eventually, dinner time rolled around and she figured that they both should eat at some point, so she woke Midoriya up.
He woke up with her laying on his chest almost, nearly freaking out. He kept his cool though as his brain shut down, and they got up together to go to dinner.
As they were walking downstairs, Asui received a strange text.
Unknown number: Hey Tsu! It's me Mina can you meet me in my room after dinner? Thanks~! xoxo
Asui: Ok
"What could Ashido want from me?" she slipped her phone away and walked with Midoriya to the dining room. He stumbled a bit, but managed to stay on his feet with almost no assistance.
Their meal proceeded as they had normally for the past few days, and after everyone finished, the class broke off again to do their own things. Asui explained to Midoriya that someone wanted to talk to her and left. He quietly shuffled back to his room.
"I think this is the first time since moving in that I've been away from Tsuyu. Aside from sleeping, of course. But even then, we've slept together a few times… nonono not like that! Ugh, stupid brain! What's wrong with me? Though I wouldn't mind sleeping with Tsuyu like that… I bet she probably—what am I doing? This is disgusting, I shouldn't be thinking about my friends like this, my best friend most of all… I wonder what she's needed for though—" Interrupting Midoriya's thoughts was a gentle knock on the door.
Midoriya staggered up and opened the door to find Uraraka.
"Hey Deku, can I come in? We need to talk," she murmured.
"Uhh, yeah, sure. What's up?" he mumbled, not sure what else to do. She sat down in his desk chair as he stumbled onto his bed.
"S-so…" Uraraka's blush went a shade or two darker, "I'm not gonna beat around the bush here, but… h-how do you feel about Asui?"
"Hmm…" Midoriya paused for a moment, "Oh! She wants people to call her Tsu, by the way," Midoriya corrected. He was stalling. "How I feel about Tsuyu… wh-what do you mean?" He hoped to avoid the situation Uraraka was trying to bring about, much to her displeasure.
"Uhh… l-like, how does she make you feel? Do you… l-like her?" Uraraka looked away as her face went bright red.
"I-I… uhh…" Midoriya's conscience went silent on this one. His first idea was to throw out a garbage answer that doesn't actually answer the question, "Wh-what do you mean, 'do I like her'? Of course I like her, she's my best friend!" he chuckled awkwardly.
"Deku, you know what I mean." It didn't work. His next idea was to dodge the question.
"Well of course I know what you mean? What do you take me for?" he laughed again.
"Deku. This isn't any easier for me than it is for you," Uraraka mumbled.
"Aaah…!" Midoriya's internal scream slipped out of his mouth. "Fine! I like her!"
"How much?" Uraraka wanted to tease him for it a bit.
"A lot! Like, a lot, a lot! She's… she's my whole life. She makes me happy, and makes me feel appreciated, even when I'm being a bad friend. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for her…" Midoriya wore a smile as he spoke fondly of her.
"Deku, what do you mean?" she was confused by what he meant, and afraid of what he could've meant. Sure, he could've been referring to being in the hero course, but his intonation spoke to a more grime secret.
"Wh-what?" he realized that he let it slip, "I-I really like Tsuyu a lot." Uraraka stared through him, her concern piercing him.
"Deku," she stood up, "What do you mean by that? That you wouldn't be here without her?" she stepped forward, looming over him.
"I-uh, well, you see…" he fumbled over his words, unable to get anything out.
"Deku."
"I… tried to jump off a building. She was there and stopped me… that's how we met…" he winced and looked away as he spoke.
"…Deku…" Uraraka stared at him in silence. She hadn't known him for all that long, but considered him a friend nonetheless. And there he was, confessing an attempt on his life.
"That's the guy that saved me. I wouldn't be here if not for him. But who's going to save him? In his blaze of heroics trekking ever forward, who will save him?
I saved him at the entrance exam when he was falling. But… that feels so insignificant now. He's probably needed some saving for a while, huh? Poor guy. I'm not gonna pry. Not until he's ready. I don't know why he did that, but I hope he tells me when he's ready," Uraraka wiped her eyes unconsciously, not realizing the tears rolling down her cheeks. She gently wrapped her arms around Midoriya.
"Deku…" she sniffled, "I'm so sorry…" she held him for a moment in hopes of calming him down. His deathly expression faded and was replaced with tears as he returned Uraraka's embrace.
"I'm so sorry you have to hear that…" Midoriya whispered. Uraraka leaned back and wiped the tears out of his eyes.
"Don't be sorry," she mustered a smile. "We all have secrets, things that we aren't proud of. Demons in the closet," she began wiping her own tears away. "What's important is that you know that there are people that care about you. I care about you, and Tsu definitely cares about you. And that's what friends are for."
"You think of me as a friend…?" Midoriya spoke meekly, still recovering from divulging one of his darkest secrets.
"Of course, and as your friend, I want you to know that I'm here for you. As long as you open up, I'll be here to help you," Uraraka spoke slowly, trying to help soothe the tense atmosphere in the room.
"Heh heh…" Midoriya chuckled under his breath, "that's exactly what Tsuyu said…" he smiled a warm grin.
"You two really care about each other, huh?" Uraraka noted.
"Mmhmm, she means more to me than anything…" Midoriya mused. This was the perfect opportunity for Uraraka to get back on track, the reason she was there in the first place.
"You should tell her how you feel."
"What?" Midoriya almost blew a gasket, "what do you mean?"
"C'mon Deku, you know what I mean. I'll spell it out for you. I think you should confess to her," Uraraka watched him squirm. "It won't be so bad. Listen, I'm probably not supposed to tell you this, but we're setting you two up for tomorrow for this."
"Huh? You are?" Midoriya was completely baffled. Who cared about his relations anyway?
"Yeah, so if you can cooperate, that makes it a lot easier."
"Telling Tsuyu my feelings for her…?" Midoriya started mumbling under his breath. "Well I suppose it would be a good thing, having us both in the same place for the purpose of us telling each other how we feel. But what if she doesn't like me back? Then I'm just gonna make a fool out of myself. She might not want to talk to me after that. What if she thinks I'm creepy or weird? Maybe this isn't such a good idea. Maybe this…" he devolved into unintelligible speech after a while. Uraraka let him carry on until she figured that he had enough.
"Deku! It's ok, don't overthink it. Trust me, you'll be fine," she reassured.
"You think so?" he asked, his eyes shining with hope.
"Of course! Just leave it to us! So, does 7:00pm work for you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I think so. I-I'll be there!" Midoriya had found a new excitement within him. Uraraka nodded and saw herself out, waving goodbye to the injured boy.
… … …
Asui knocked on Ashido's door, "I really can't think of any reason why she would want to see me. It's so weird—" he thoughts were silenced by Ashido opening her door.
"Tsu! How are you?" she ushered Asui into her room. She smiled inwardly, noting how Ashido remembered to call her Tsu. "Oh, and call me Mina! If we're gonna skip the formalities," Ashido grinned.
"Ribbit, ok," Asui nodded. "So… what do you need me for?"
"Let's get right down to business," Ashido flopped on her bed while Asui took the chair, "do you like Midoriya?" Asui turned bright red. Her face matched Ashido's.
"What?" she croaked out.
"Do you like him? Y'know, like, romantically," Ashido smirked as she watched the girl in front of her struggle to form any signs of coherency.
"Wh-why do you want to know?" Asui eventually sputtered out.
"Man, you've really fallen hard for him," Ashido remarked. Asui didn't think she could blush as hard as she was. "Well to be honest with you, we want to set you up to confess to him tomorrow. That's all. It's hard watching you two swoon over each other all the time." Asui could swear she burst a blood vessel in her cheek.
"Wait, 'we'? What do you mean by that?" Asui pivoted the conversation away from herself.
"Oh, the other girls in the class. This whole thing is Jirou's idea, but she hasn't even told us what she's planning. It's all a bit confusing, but I trust her, she seems confident in what she's doing." Asui paused for a moment before sighing.
"…fine. I'll do it, might as well get this over with, ribbit," Asui pouted. Ashido smirked at her.
"Y'know, you're pretty cute when you pout like that~," she watched as Asui's fading blush came back in full force.
"Mina!" Asui was very surprised by Ashido's comment. "Wh-wh-what…" she intended to address what just happened, but decided to ignore it and focus on the more important details at hand, "what time do you want me to show up? And where, ribbit?"
"Oh, uhh… I think it was 7:00pm? I don't know where though, I'll keep you updated," Ashido still wore her massive grin. With that, Asui saw herself out, waved goodbye to Ashido and tried to cool her burning face off as she walked to Midoriya's room.
Though when she approached it, she could hear other voices behind the door. She assumed that someone was telling him about the plan and resolved to go back to her room.
"It's probably better this way… it'd be pretty awkward to talk to him when we both know what's being planned. Though maybe they didn't tell him that it's a whole plan with a bunch of people in on it… so maybe he thinks that he's just confessing to me… d-does that mean that he really does like me?" Asui felt her heart flutter at the prospect, and happily made her way back to her room.
… … …
"I need to be more open…"
Young Midoriya: Hey All Might?
All Might: Yes my boy?
Young Midoriya: Can I talk to you tomorrow? It's important
All Might: Of course? Is it about your quirk?
Young Midoriya: Well sorta… I would like to get some training in after we talk though
All Might: Sounds good to me! Let's return to the field at noon tomorrow then
Young Midoriya: Perfect thank you All Might (^^)!
… … …
"Hello, young Midoriya!" All Might, his massive form standing tall, greeted the somber boy as they approached the field. "Are you alright?"
"…no," Midoriya mumbled. He had since removed his arm cast and sling, his broken bones being healed. All Might looked confused. "I was told by some friends that I need to… to be more open, a-and so there's something they wanted me to t-tell you…" he couldn't make eye contact with his idol.
"Go on, my boy, you can tell me anything!" All Might's enthusiasm made Midoriya's heart hurt even more.
"W-well…" Midoriya felt his tears threaten to spill, "I, um… after I met you… and you told me that I couldn't be a hero…" he could feel All Night's expression drop. Did his persistent smile disappear? Midoriya was too afraid to look. "I… er, I was weak. So… I…" he squinted his eyes and braced for impact. "… jumped off… the roof of a building…" Midoriya's cheeks were stained with his tears. "That's how I met Tsuyu… she s-saved me…" his legs gave out from his anxiety and shame, and dropped to his knees.
He heard All Might drop his massive hero body, reducing himself to bones. He heard the violent coughing that came with his change. "I'm killing All Might…!" Midoriya kept repeating in his head. After his coughing fit, All Might cleared his throat.
"Young Midoriya," All Might began. Midoriya couldn't decipher his tone. "… I am sorry. I was wrong to make the judgment that someone quirkless could not be a hero. Quirks don't define a hero, it's their spirit, their devotion to saving people that defines a hero. And you, my boy, are more devoted than anyone else I've ever seen. That's why you're my successor." Midoriya was buckled on the ground, crying joyfully this time. It was cathartic to hear his hero praise him, especially in spite of what he just divulged.
"All Might…!" he sobbed. And he continued sobbing for a while, until he eventually composed himself and stood up. All Might pulled him into a hug.
"I'm very sorry… I'm supposed to mentor you and I almost didn't have the opportunity to do so. I will try and be a better mentor for you, and a better hero…" All Might reassured the boy as they embraced. After they separated, All Might reassumed his heroic form, "Midoriya, my boy! It's time for you to learn how to use One for All!" Midoriya's puffy eyes lit up.
"Really? Is there a secret?" he exclaimed.
"Well, you could say that," All Might wore his traditional smile. "I wanted to let you figure this out on your own, but I no longer see any reason to be withholding knowledge! We'll start slow, but there's something important you should know about using your quirk first of all!" Midoriya nodded intensely. "You see, it seems that your quirk is significantly more powerful than my own!" Midoriya nearly fainted. He was more powerful than All Might? By a lot even? "As I'm sure you know, One for All is a stockpiling quirk, and it gets more powerful with each new holder. But for some reason, your power increased exponentially! So it's very important that you can control it!"
"Control it?" Midoriya questioned. "Isn't that what I'm trying to figure out?"
"Yes!" All Might continued to shout, "But here's a thought! So far, I have only seen you concentrate your power into your arm before releasing it!" he could see the light in Midoriya's eyes shimmer as his smile shone like a brilliant sunset. He had figured it out already. "So, what if you try spreading your power throughout your body, and trying to control your power output like that?" Midoriya started nodding viciously again. "You will still need to suppress your quirk's output, but this is a good place to start!" All Might was overjoyed watching the revelations he could see on Midoriya's face.
"That's genius!" Midoriya spit out. "Is that what you do, All Might?" The number one hero gave his protégé a nod. Midoriya squealed. "Ok, ok, calm down Izuku… let me give it a try!" Midoriya steeled himself as he pulled One for All out of his core. Instead of letting it flow to his arm, as he had done, he pushed on it from the center and spread it across his whole body.
"That's it, young Midoriya, you're doing it!" All Might cheered. As usual, the power coursed visibly through his veins a bright red, and his whole body was shrouded by the green lightning that whipped off his body. However, Midoriya started groaning loudly as his quirk evenly spread throughout his body, steam coming off. It was still too much power for him. All Might could hear his body creaking as the lightning became more intense and the steam rose off of his body like he was a pot of boiling water. Every time Midoriya flexed his body in an attempt to subdue his power, a huge gust of wind burst off his body in every direction. It was powerful enough to sting All Might when it contacted him.
"Midoriya!" All Might used his arms to protect his face from the gusts of wind, "You need to control the power!" he hoped that Midoriya could hear him, but when he didn't respond, he tried a different approach, "If you can't get a hold of it, then let it go!" He did hear that one, and Midoriya released One for All.
The sound echoed throughout the campus. A gruesome snapping, shattering, a brutal pop and Midoriya's bones broke. All of them. Each of his limbs was bruised, bloodied, and broken beyond belief, his disfigured body dropping limply to the floor. Needless to say, All Might had rushed to the clinic faster than he ever had before.
… … …
Midoriya arose in the hospital bed yet again. In a full body cast.
"Uh-oh," he mumbled. Recovery Girl walked in right after that, an awfully convenient time.
"So, the bone breaker is finally back," she scolded. "Your arm just healed and you went and broke everything else? It's your second time here today and classes haven't even started."
"I-I'm sorry!" Midoriya tried to bow but ended up crinkling his body cast slightly. "I'm still trying to get a hold of my quirk… it's not going so well… I apologize for making you work so hard…"
Recovery Girl gently (very gently) tapped his shoulder, "It's ok, I'm just worried about your safety. I can't keep fixing your bones forever, so you need to get some control on your quirk soon." Midoriya nodded to the best of his ability.
"S-so… when will I be all healed?" Midoriya stuttered.
"Hmm, you should be fine by about noon, tomorrow," Recovery Girl checked some miscellaneous charts and graphs that Midoriya could almost guarantee were fake. "Physical injuries can heal pretty quickly, as long as you have the energy. You'll be able to leave by tomorrow morning, but in the meantime, you're stuck here," Midoriya started to open his mouth but was cut off, "and no, unfortunately visiting hours are over. I need to make sure you're fed and doing well, so I'm closing up shop for tonight. All Might has already notified your class though."
"… oh, I guess that makes sense," Midoriya mumbled, wanting to see Asui. But he understood Recovery Girl's point and figured that it wasn't his place to argue. And so, she fed the shattered boy and gave him some painkillers and a good night kiss, letting Midoriya drift to sleep in his hospital bed.
So just like, fuck it, right? Let's just make Midoriya's quirk busted.
