Chapter Four: But Friends Turn Into Sleepovers (REDUX)

Jirou wakes up bright and early to get ready to workout with Midoriya. After taking a shower and getting into her workout gear, she heads out to Municipal Beach where she notices All Might and the green haired boy were already there, and had already started.

"You guys started without me? What the hell!? It's like 5 in the morning, how!?" She questioned. She was appalled at the fact that these two are up and probably have been training for a while already. She could see the sweat beads on Izuku's face.

"A-Ah yeah, sorry Jirou! We usually get here pretty early.." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. Jirou sighs and runs down to the two, mumbling a bunch of swears as she does so. Once she reaches them, All Might hands her a strip of paper?

"What's this?" She asked, looking at the paper. It appeared to be a workout regimen, it even covered her daily intake of food and her sleep schedule! All Might didn't mess around when it came to this kind of stuff, though that should have been expected from the number one hero.

"Well, I made a workout routine for you like I mentioned yesterday. It has your body type in mind so you should adjust quite fine. It even includes some things you can do with Young Midoriya, like combat training and some cardio." The number one hero stated, watching as she took the strip of paper from his hands. "I think you'll particularly enjoy the endurance and free-running."

Jirou had started to drown him out and glance over to Midoriya who had gone off on his own and started lifting up a dryer with ease. This guy really changed after a few months of training with All Might. He was seriously beginning to show proof of being stronger than he could have let on.

"U-Um, All Might? Where do you want this? In the back of the truck, right?" He asked, heading towards the stairs of the beach to where All Might had a white truck parked.

"Ah! Yeah just put it there for now, I'll take it over to the recycling center shortly. Anyways, Young Jirou, you can go ahead and get started, I'll be back to check both of your guys' progress." He said before heading up to the truck and driving off, leaving the two teens to their training.

'It's nice to see Young Midoriya as happy as he is. He's made a lot of progress in such a short amount of time, maybe his body's ready for my quirk already…' All Might thought, looking back at the teens interacting through the rear view mirror.

Maybe he truly was ready for One For All.

"So Midoriya…" Jirou starts, "How long have you been here at the beach cleaning?" She questioned, noticing how clear the beach has become. You can see most of the beach's coast line at this point it was astounding at how much progress the boy had made.

He stops to think, "About… 3 months? I started after the sludge villain incident. Th-That's why I've been too busy to hangout, sorry again. I-I don't want you to feel like I-I had been ignoring you..." Jirou glares at him for that, and sighs. Midoriya could feel she had probably been frustrated by that fact alone.

He could've told her the reason sooner at least, but this guy was trying to keep everything a secret for the number one so she can't blame him. At the very least now she had the opportunity to hang out with him more.

"Well, that's in the past now," She says, patting his shoulder, "Now you have no excuses!" She smiled at him. Midoriya blushed and returned the smile. Her smile really was infectious.

She was right, now he could spend time doing what he needed as a hero and still maintain his time with her. What better way could he spend his time? He could now hangout with his friend while getting some training done.

"That reminds me, actually. My dad sent me a guitar, and I was wondering if you'd teach me? M-My mom wants me to try and learn and get along with him…" He said, a bit tense at the mention of getting along with his father.

Jirou looked at him a bit surprised at the fact that he even wanted to learn. And in fact he asked her of all people to learn from. He was furthering ways that they could get to hang out together.

"U-Uh, Y-Yeah. I can teach you, Midoriya. Maybe we can do that after training on some days?" She suggests. Midoriya nods, and points his thumb behind him.

"W-Why don't we finish with a quick jog and then meet up at the mall? A-All Might texted me saying he's 'hung up' and that we should head home. Besides, I could use a shower before we go to the mall." He said. Jirou nods and the two start their jog down the beach, but what she hadn't noticed is that Midoriya had taken his shirt off before they started their jog and now she was a blushing mess while they ran across the coastline of the beach.

Midoriya had become confused at Jirou speeding up ahead of him, but decided not to say anything. He then looked at her and his gaze had started to shift downward to her jogging form.

Midoriya almost passed out from blood loss that day.

Midoriya was waiting outside the mall, when Jirou called out to him. He had opted to quickly make his way over to the mall. Truthfully he had been waiting there for a while, but he knew she would make her way there eventually.

"Hey Midoriya! Sorry I'm a bit late, I ran into some complications.." She said, remembering her mother teasing her about meeting up with Midoriya at the mall after she got home.

Midoriya gave her a small smile, "It's fine, I did too actually. My mom freaked out when she heard I-I was hanging out with a g-girl."

The pair then walked into the mall and ended up wandering to the food court first. It was lunch time, and after a hard workout the two decided to get some food to fill themselves up.

They agreed to split up, after Midoriya had aggressively offered to pay for her food, and Jirou stubbornly declined. Jirou sits in line waiting for her food, when a hand gets placed on her shoulder. A rather gruff middle-aged man stood behind her.

"Hey there, what's a girl like you doing out here by yourself? Rather crowded, ain't it?" A deep and gruff voice questioned. Jirou froze in fear, unsure of what to do. Looking around at her surroundings she learned that he was correct. There were way too many people around her that would let this guy get away with whatever he wanted to do.

Why would this man go for her? Was she just an easy target? And why is he doing this in a public area where people could see him? Sure there was a social covering around them, but surely someone would notice, right?

"Hey, I'm talking to you." The man said, his hand gripping her shoulder even harder. It was now starting to hurt, his nails had begun to dig into her shoulder and she was fearful that he was going to try a whole lot more than just gripping onto her shoulder soon.

She really needed to find some way to get out of this situation. Should she go for the nuts? But what if he used his quirk or something out in public! He could kill someone- Hell, he could kill her!

Thousands of thoughts were running rampant in Jirou's mind and she had no idea what to do; this might just be how she goes out. She then feels the man's grip loosen completely and a croak of breathlessness behind her.

"Urk!" Cries the man from behind her. She swiftly turns around to see Izuku Midoriya himself with that terrifying glare on his face, holding the man in a tight chokehold. He couldn't breathe, nor could he escape. Izuku was not messing around with this guy and Jirou was fearful that he might kill him if left to his own devices.

"M-M-Midoriya! Let him go, he can't breathe!" She stutters out as a crowd starts noticing what's happening. Midoriya releases the man and he scrambles away, the greenette debating whether or not to chase him down and show him what's what. The guy definitely deserved some kind of beating for his actions.

He turns to her, staying eerily silent. She notices his food placed behind him in a bag, and realizes he had probably been waiting a while and came to check on her… He must have been so concerned.

"Jirou." He called, beckoning her to him with his hand. She steps closer to him, noticing the visible worry in his eyes. The crowd disperses and goes back to their business around them, but the tense aura of fear was present within Jirou. She wasn't sure what Izuku would do.

"You okay?" He said, placing a hand on her cheek, nudging her face around to check on her. He inspects her face and body for any sort of marks or wounds, noticing the red handprint on her shoulder from a small disheveling of the collar of her shirt. Her face turns bright red and she slaps his hand away, though his worried expression never left.

"Y-Yeah! You don't gotta go checkin' for marks, I-I'm fine!" She said, trying to distance herself from their close proximity. Izuku would then come too, realizing just what he was doing. He sighs, taking a step back as his own face heats up.

'What was I thinking!? You can't just go caressing her face like that, you moron!' He berated himself internally before fully coming back to his normally nervous state.

"S-Sorry, you were taking a while and I got worried. L-Let's get your food." He said gesturing to the line that had seemingly emptied out since the incident. Jirou nods and the two journey to the front of the line with Midoriya forcibly paying for her meal despite her gripes with it.

Jirou couldn't stop glancing at Midoriya, and everytime their eyes meet he blushes and looks away. The awkward atmosphere had become a bit uncomfortable, and yet despite all of this one minute he would look like a killer, and the next he looked like he wouldn't hurt a fly. How did he function?

'How can he be so cute and yet terrifying at the same time?' She wondered, not realizing that she had dropped her food onto the floor. Unfortunately the food that she had dropped had made an audible slapping noise as it hit the ground.

Izuku would have trouble containing his laughter after watching the food fall flat on the ground, the noise of it smacking onto the ground tipping the greenette over the edge as he broke out into muffled laughter.

"Huh?" Jirou questioned, snapping out of her trance as Izuku began to laugh. "What? What are you laughing at? What happened?"

"Your food..!" Izuku stated, pointing to the piece she dropped on the ground without even realizing.

"AH! God damnit, I zoned out! Why didn't you warn me, prick!?" Kyouka shouted, nearly throwing her chopsticks at the greenette before Izuku's food was held in front of her.

"Here. You can have the rest of mine." He offered, handing her his food before she could manage any kind of protest. "After that how about we head into this one store I saw? I-It's nearby a-and it seemed like your kind of store…"

"Sure, why not? Though I hope you know that I'm gonna have you try stuff on for almost knocking that guy out." She said, elbowing him in his side. He chuckles nervously before Jirou finishes off her food, and the two head off into the store after she throws her trash away.

'This is a lot of black…' Midoriya notices as the duo enters the store. Kyouk immediately notices a yellow tank top with the words "Deep Dope" inscribed on the front, silently drawing her in. It seemed like a nice piece of merchandise. Midoriya catches onto where she's looking and heads over to it, much to her surprise, and inspects it.

"I think this would suit you. You want it?" He asked, taking it off the rack of clothes. Jirou walks over and inspects it herself. She wasn't really sure if this could even look good on her, but if anything she'd have to see before she could give any sort of judgement.

"I think I'll need to try it first."

Midoriya sits outside of the changing room, anxiously awaiting his purple-haired friend to return with her outfit. She seemed to be taking quite a bit to change, and he was starting to grow a tad impatient. He was really curious about what she looked like in the shirt.

'What's taking her so long? Didn't she just get a tank top?' He wondered before hearing shuffling from inside the changing room. Was she just nervous, or did something else happen?

"Jirou? You okay?" He asked, turning his head towards the curtain. Jirou steps through wearing black denim shorts, and the yellow tank top. Midoriya felt the blood about to pour out of his nose, but he had to hold it back. That however didn't stop the increasing red face that struck him like a strike of lightning.

"Wh-What do you think?" She asked, noticing the blush on Midoriya's face. Izuku didn't respond and just stared, which made Jirou's face turn a deeper tint of red. She wasn't really used to being ogled at like this, or maybe he was just grossed out..?

She snapped a wary finger in front of his face, "Oi, M-Midoriya. What do you think? Does it look good on me?" She questioned further, beginning to grow increasingly insecure about her appearance.

"Huh? O-Oh, yeah! Y-You look gorgeous!" He said, regaining his composure. Jirou was quite surprised to hear him use the term "gorgeous" to describe her. Seriously, what did he see in her? This was a new reaction… Though it wasn't all that bad, in fact she found that she rather enjoyed it.

She turned her head to a full body mirror that was nearby and looked at herself. She didn't like what she saw, but Midoriya stood behind her smiling, admiring her. He seemed to enjoy the way that she looked, hell maybe he's even attracted to her… It was definitely weird to have someone stare at her so intently. It was… Oddly warm.

"What makes you say, I'm gorgeous?" She mumbled, silently hoping he wouldn't hear her, though she knew he would. Obviously him standing behind her, he heard her entirely, but the question puzzled him, which was evident on his face.

How could she not be gorgeous? Just look at her face, her hair was short, yet was silky smooth. It suits her well. Honestly if she curled it he wouldn't be able to hold himself back, she already was attractive, but adding that little bit of flair would drive him crazy.

She had a very nice figure, and although she didn't have much in the chest department she definitely made up for it with the lower half of her body. Though saying that aloud probably wasn't the smartest choice, so he'd refrain from making any comments on her body in fear that she'd take it the wrong way.

Despite all of that, she was such a nice girl who could easily be a great hero. She was cool, and always had an intriguing aura to her which made getting to know her that much more valuable. It made being her friend that much more valuable to him.

Once again he looked at her through the mirror, standing behind her he spoke, "Everything about you, Jirou." And smiled. A true genuine smile, and she could tell from the way his heart was beating… It was true. That was how he felt.

He looked at her with a deep blush on his face. Jirou looked away because of the growing blush on her face. He said it with such sincerity, Jirou almost lost it right then and there… It was so weird to have someone say these things about her, it was almost way too good to be true.

'Why did he have to say that!?' She screams internally. He left her with butterflies, what kind of power does that dork have? He somehow was able to just rid her of that discomfort that she was feeling, and gave her some sort of blockade against her negative thoughts of herself.

"Sh-Shut it, you! It's your turn, I'm gonna make you r-regret that!" She responds, pushing him into the changing room. She needed to take a breather after that, he had been making her feel strange all day and she couldn't handle much more.

On Midoriya's end he was just confused, he had only told the truth. Yet here she had been shoving him around aggressively because of it, and trying to get away from him too!

'Did I do something?' He wondered, before the curtain opened. Jirou handed him an outfit, and he immediately regretted letting her do this to him.

This was some harsh karma.

"Come on out, Broccoli-Boy. I know you're done in there." Jirou called. She could hear a sigh from the other end and Midoriya stepped out, clad in a black leather jacket, a forest green shirt that had "forest" inscribed on it. Accompanied with black denim jeans, and his signature red shoes.

"Don't you think this is a bit much? I look like I would be a part of a motorcycle gang!" He said, as Jirou just sat and laughed at his expense. Jirou just needed a way to ease her mind in reality, and torturing Midoriya was the perfect way to do this.

"Oh please! You look fine, . I think it suits you." She said, wiping a tear from her face after laughing at him. In all honesty he looked quite rugged, embarrassingly enough. Perhaps she could even define him as hot, especially after the transformation his body had gone through. But he didn't need to know that, especially after the stunt he just pulled.

"Yeah, yeah. I mean I guess I do need to change up my style a bit. But damn are these clothes tight!" He complained. Midoriya felt as though he was getting chaffed in areas he could not disclose. While it was stylish, it was also a pain to wear.

"Oh, yeah. No more "shirt" shirts, please." She said pushing him back into the changing room so he can get dressed. Jirou would hope that he would actually get the outfit, he looked way too good in it to skip an opportunity to look like a model.

After Midoriya gets changed, he pays for both of their outfits, much to Jirou's dismay. The duo decide to head home seeing as it starts to get late, Midoriya, of course, decides to walk Jirou home first. His mom raised him better than to let a girl walk home all by herself, no matter how well she can fend for herself.

"Well, I still think it's kinda weird that their lead singer had such a battle oriented quirk, but used it for singi- Oh we're here." Jirou notes, as they finish up their conversation. She notices a slip of paper taped on the door before she steps inside.

After reading it she freezes in place. Midoriya takes notice and walks over, concern written all over his face. What could be the problem?

"Jirou? Wh-What's wrong?" He questioned, placing a hand on her shoulder. She only sighs and hands him the paper.

"I'm locked out. They left for a concert and forgot to tell me! I don't have my key!" She complained. Where was she gonna stay? Her relatives were too far away, and the trains had closed down! She can't get inside and her parents didn't even call!

"W-Well, you c-could stay over at my place? I-I-If that's okay? It's not too f-far away or anything, so…" He suggests. Realizing the implications of that, he started frantically waving his hands around. "N-Not that I-I'm trying to i-imply anything! M-My mom would be there, and I-I'm sure she'd be fine with it!"

Jirou sighs, she doesn't really have much of a choice. Luckily she had just bought a change of clothes at the mall with Midoriya.

This was gonna be one strange night…

And that's the fourth REDUX chapter!

With this one, I really switch up the situation between Izuku and Kyouka int he mall, as well as their encounter with the creepo.

There's a few light adjustments as well here and there, but not much changes.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy!

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