So, as I've discovered...writing fanfiction is almost as addicting as reading them. Maybe it's partly I can shape my own MinaDeku interactions and make them a weapons-grade adorable as I want. Or the fact I finally get to bring to life something that I've been thinking about for a while. Either way, welcome back dear friends. It's a good day. Publix(if you have them in your state) has Boo Berry cereal again, which is a blast from the past, and I bought a 6 pound bag of Sour Punch Straws. I don't know when I'll be able to post this, as I have class tonight, and 2 hour round trip commute, so it might be later today. I have to talk to my...partner, Bentholomew, who is essentially my springboard for ideas. What that means is I basically bombard his phone like the Zentradi did to Earth in Robotech until he replies. It's a good system. I'm only like 10% worried he's going to snap and murder me. Acceptable odds.
Essentially, this chapter will jump around a bit timeline wise. It's essentially a set up chapter for the next, in which...YOU WILL FIND OUT LATER MWUAHAHA.
Chapter 5: Bird is the Word
"So basically, Spider-Man was seen as an outcast until the government formally recognized super hero as a profession?" Mina asked curiously, clearly not knowing much about the story of one of the first to use their powers for good. She coughed a few times, but Izuku didn't bring it up, figuring she just drank her tea too quickly.
"That's right. People were still scared about the advent of quirks, and they didn't know what this meant for society as a whole. But it was thanks to the actions of Heroes like Spider-Man that reassured the worries of the people. Spider-Man was actually the first superhero to be honored by a country leader." Izuku pulled up a picture of Spider-Man shaking hands with then U.S. President George Sears. "As you can see in this picture, President Sears awarded Spider-Man the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, for his actions in search and rescue in the aftermath of a hurricane. Spider-Man left his home city in the hands of of his wife, Felicia Hardy, who was the super thief turned super hero "Black Cat", while he himself went to into South Carolina's affect areas, and helped with clearing rubble and getting people out of collapsed homes. This was what made Spider-Man into America's most legendary hero, and solidified the public opinion that Quirks were a force for good." Izuku finished his speech, taking a sip of his drink. Mina and himself were currently sitting in LeBlanc, and he was assisting her in writing her paper. Just as she'd said, she had chosen Peter Parker for her figure. She had told him her teacher was very surprised she knew who Spider-Man was, but had told her "as long as it's in by Friday, I don't care."
"So, Izuku..." Mina began "Is this...a date?"
Izuku shot ramrod straight at this. Mina pressed on, oblivious. She coughed again, but pressed on:
"It's cool if it isn't, and I know what I said yesterday, but my mom said something when I told her my plans for today. She said 'Have fun with your date'. I know I'm probably overthinking it, since we haven't know each other long...but I honestly wouldn't mind if it was, you know?"
MEANWHILE, IN IZUKU'S HEAD
' .OH MY GOD. WHAT IS HAPPENING.' Izuku was definitely handling this well.
I believe this attractive girl was asking for clarification of your intentions. Which you probably should respond to.
'That's easy for you to say! You're an amorphous blob! You don't have dating problems!'
A sexy amorphous blob, to be precise. And hey, have you SEEN pictures of Peter's wife? The only reason he landed got a ring on that was because I helped! Hang on, tell her this...
As Izuku listened to his partner, he went red in the face, before composing himself. He coughed once, and then looked at Mina and spoke:
"O-only a fool would say no to a date with you...uh Pinky..." He started so smooth, yet ended so lamely. Mina went red, and then started laughing.
"Ahahaha Pinky! I love it. Honestly, Izuku, how can you be cool and dorky in the same sentence? I guess I'll just have to stick around and find out." At this, she smiled warmly at him, sending butterflies or some other bug into his stomach.
Not...quite the execution I had in mind...But I can't argue with the results, kid.
"S-stick around?" By this point, any hip factor Izuku had was clocked out for the day.
"Well, yeah. You're fun, Izuku. And you're a pretty cool guy." She reassured him. "Besides, you're cute, which is a perk." Again, Izuku went red in the face, and barely able to formulate coherent thought, let alone sentences.
"Hmm, it's getting pretty late. Plus, I'm basically done with the paper anyway. Wanna walk me to my station?" She observed, and then questioned almost...shyly.
"S-Sure, Mina, I'd like that." Izuku smiled, and he paid their bill.
After they walked out of LeBlanc, they headed to the station. When they arrived, Mina turned to face him.
"Thanks for helping me, Izuku. I really appreciated it. And I had fun, which I honestly never thought I'd say about schoolwork." Mina once again smiled brightly at him, conveying a nice summary of her bubbly personality in those pearly whites.
"L-Like I said Mina, it was no trouble at all-OOF" He was cut off from saying more when she hugged him suddenly, causing borderline nuclear meltdown in his head.
HA!
'adskfhaslfkjadshfljehfh' Were Izuku's extremely coherent words back to his partner.
"Was...was it okay for me to hug you, Izuku?" Mina sounded unsure at the moment, as if she was worried she'd gone to far with her gratitude.
"N-NO!" Izuku got out, before he breathed, then continued "It was fine. I enjoyed it actually. I just don't...get many hugs from people other than my mom. Especially girls."
Technically, your mom IS a girl. Oh wow, I sound like Sigmund Freud. Never mind. Forget I said that.
Izuku pointedly ignored his partner's comments. Instead, he focused on Mina. She smiled at him again, before letting go of him.
"Ah, sorry. I tend to just get overwhelmed with my feelings that I just kind of hug people sometimes. I did mean it, though." Izuku opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the PA system.
"Attention, the last train bound for East Mustafa City is departing shortly. Please make your way to the boarding area." Mina jumped at this, realizing she was about to miss her train.
"Oh crap! If I miss the train again, I'll have to call my brother! And he'll just make fun of me the whole way back!" She sprinted off, but not before turning around to face him one more time and yelling:
"BYE IZUKU! I'LL TEXT YOU!"
Izuku just sort of waved lamely, unsure of what else to do in this situation.
….She likes youuu.
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The Next Day.
Izuku was walking around Mustafa City, with no real destination in mind. He was actually trying to patrol the city, but when he remembered his alter-ego was technically wanted for beating the crap out his childhood bully, he realized that might not be the greatest idea. It was actually why he'd skipped school today, because heroism is more important than a sitting in a class for hours at a time. Plus, he knew he didn't have any tests today. So instead, he is just walking around, hoping to stumble across a mugging or something. Suddenly, his phone beeps to signal he got a text message. He pulls his phone out to see a message from 'Alien Queen'
Alien Queen: Hey Freckles! I stayed home from school because I'm sick but now I'm super bored. You should totally ditch class and hang with meeeeeee :3
Izuku read her message, and figured since he wasn't doing anything anyway, he might as well spend the day with Mina.
Spider-Freckles: Sure thing, where are meeting up?
Alien Queen: I'm actually near the train station in midtown now. I can wait for you if you want.
Spider-Freckles:Sounds good, be there soon.
Izuku closed his phone, and looked for a nearby alleyway. He'd needed to practice using his powers for movement anyway.
"Okay, as long as I don't fully transform, I should be okay." He muttered to himself. He coated his hands and feet in his symbiote, and climbed up the alley wall. Once he got to the roof, he formed a half mask around his nose and mouth allowing him to tap into his partner's reflexive enhancements, and took off running across the rooftops. He quickly came to a ledge that was too far out to jump without assistance, so he ran and used a tendril to zip him to the other roof top. Once landed, he took off again, and kept running until he found himself near where Mina said she was waiting. He climbed down the wall of another alley, and then let his partner recede. Walking out of the alley, he saw Mina sitting at a bench. She looked a little under the weather, but that didn't stop her face from lighting up when she saw him.
"Hey, Freckles. You got here quick. Were you nearby when I called?" She asked innocently. He began to sweat a bit.
"U-uh, yeah, something like that."
"How convenient! Anyways, apparently I missed out on some super hush hush training exercise at school today. Laaaaame. It sounded like fun when my friend Toohru told me about it. Though I guess she's busy, because I haven't heard anything else from her. That was a couple hours ago, actually."
"I'm sorry you didn't get to go, Mina."
"Eh, don't sweat it too much, Freckles. There will be other trips where I show how awesome I am!" She gave a victory sign as she said this, before grabbing his hand and dragging him off into the station. "So what do you want to do since we're both being delinquents and skipping class?"
Izuku thought about this for a moment, although her holding his hand definitely slowed his thinking a bit.
"I-I was thinking we could go for a walk on the edge of town near the woods. I thought the clean air of nature might help your illness a bit."
"Aww. Look at you being all cute and thoughtful."
Izuku said nothing, but his red face spoke volumes for him.
Xxxxxxxxxx
"Man Izuku, you weren't kidding when you said the air here was clean. I feel my sinuses and stuff clearing up already." Mina spoke in wonder as she looked around the forested area.
"Yeah, I thought it might. Say Mina, can I ask you something?"
"You just did but you can also ask another question too." She spoke with a teasing grin.
"I was wondering how being sick effects your quirk."
"Oh, is that all? Sheesh I thought you were gonna ask me something super personal like what color my underwear is today." She waved him off.
"M-MINA! No! A-anyway, I was curious!"
"Um, it sort of depends. I have a fever so the sweat sort of clogs my pours and effects my ability to adjust acidity of my secretions. But other than that, most sickness doesn't really impact my quirk too much."
"Oh. That's really interesting actually. Although I guess you probably wouldn't find yourself in a situation where you needed to use your power if you were sick, since heroes have sick days."
"Mhm- Hey wait a minute, do you hear that Izuku?" She stopped in their walk, as a whistling noise became increasingly louder and louder. She looked up at the sky to see the cause, and she spotted a dot that was growing bigger and bigger by the second.
Izuku spotted it too, but he could help but notice his spider-sense was beginning to pull at him. He didn't know why, the only reason it would is if-
"Mina! We need to move, my sense just went off which means that things heading towards us!" He grabbed her hand and quickly moved them about 30 feet away until his sense slowly dulled down. But he noticed it hadn't faded completely. He was about to say something when something crashed immediately where they had just been standing. As they approached the crater, they saw what looked like a horror movie monster. It looked like a person, but its skin was charcoal black, like it had been charred by a fire of some sorts. It was extremely muscular, and had several angry red scars scattered across its body. It wore some shorts with kneepads that resembled skulls. And the most horrific feature it had was its head. It had a bird like beak, but the facts its BRAIN was exposed somehow made the creature all the more terrifying.
Mina moved a little closer to check its pulse, when Izuku's spider-sense went haywire.
"MINA LOOK OUT-" but it was too late. The creature suddenly grabbed her by the throat, and stood up onto its feet. It looked around the clearing before its unintelligent eyes landed on Izuku.
Kid, this is bad. We have to get her free. Otherwise, it could break her neck. And she's too sick to help herself. We don't have a choice. We have to use our full powers.
Needing no further convincing, Izuku's form shifted into that of Venom's, the sleek body suit forming as quickly as it was able. His mask forming seconds later, the white sclera of his mask narrowed menacingly.
"We would appreciate it if you put down our friend."
The creature gave no visible response, but its teeth clicked a few times, blood running from a few of them.
"So you're injured then. Normally we wouldn't fight an injured...whatever the hell you are...but you're trying to hurt our friend." At this, Izuku shot a tendril into a tree behind the creature and zipped into it, ramming his shoulder into its solar plexus, forcing it to drop Mina in the process. She crawled weakly to another nearby tree and faced the fight, her eyes widening in recognition of the masked figure that freed her from the monstrosity.
"Venom?"
Izuku gave no indication he heard her, too focused on evading the flailing fists of whatever the hell this thing was.
This thing looks like the bastard child of Solomun Grundy and Big Bird.
"Now is not the time for quips, Symbiote!" Venom growled through gritted teeth, hands locked with the monster's. It then lifted him up and threw him into a tree, shattering it into splinters.
"Grah! Damn that hurt!" Venom coughed out as he stood up once again to face the creature. "This thing is stronger than us, which says something since our limit is 20 tons. We can't brute force it, because it shrugs off blunt force trauma." Venom took a moment to observe the creature. The fact its brain was exposed meant that could be exploited. It didn't seem to have any thought capacity, reacting on blind instinct. "Alright creature. Let's see how you handle this."
Venom rushed the creature, using his spider sense to dodge its swipes and subtly maneuver near a tree. Right hook, left hook, it kept swing at him, missing each time. When it had gotten close enough to the tree, Venom suddenly shot his arms and body forward, tackling it into the base of the tree, before shooting two web tendrils to the other side, and then jumping back, wrapping them around the creature and tying it to the tree. The creature struggled against the webbing, trying to break it. However, the tree was ripping in half from the force of the monster's strength and struggle against its bonds.
"Crap! How the hell are we supposed to put this creature down!" Venom ground out in annoyance.
We're going to have to bludgeon its brain. We know that it might cause brain damage, but this thing has to be put down somehow.
"Fine, but we won't kill it." At this, Venom rushed back towards the monster, hitting in its beak repeatedly, until it brought it down and headbutted Venom with the force of a rhino. Dazed, Venom was unable to stop the creature from ramming its shoulder into him and knocking them both to the ground. Venom kicked the creature off of himself, and then used his right arm to wrap a tendril around the creature, and his left to pull them towards a boulder. Before they made impact, Venom tied the left and right strands together and kicked off the creature midair, in a acrobatic maneuver many gymnasts would be jealous of, before kicked off the ground towards the rock that held the monster. Venom pressed his knees to its shoulders and began to beat the creature mercilessly on its brain case, until the creature lost consciousness. Venom slumped back, and fell to the ground. His mask receding into his suit. He took several deep breaths, realizing he'd crack a few ribs in his fight with the monster. Suddenly, police sirens filled the air, and Izuku realized he once again had to make a run for it. He was about to look for Mina when he was suddenly helped to his feet.
"Go, before they find you. I'll tell them you saved me." Mina looked at him with concern evident in her oddly colored eyes. "Thank you." She then kissed his cheek, and gently nudged him to make his escape. "We WILL talk later though, Freckles." Izuku gulped and nodded, before zipping away through the trees until he was sure he was safe.
Mina watched him go, and thought only one thing as he disappeared.
"Freckles is Venom?"
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A few hours later...
Mina and Izuku stood watching the city lights from a perch on a rooftop. As the twinkling lights came and went, the silence between them grew. Finally, it was Izuku who broke it.
"We are Venom." He said simply, as if that wasn't a hot button topic of debate right now. He was at worst a villain(though besides his assault on Bakugo, she didn't know of any crimes he'd committed), and at best, a vigilante.
"Well no duh, Freckles." She said exasperatedly. "Though I gotta admit, that suit doesn't leave much to the imagination. Wouldn't have pegged you as a show off." She continued with a teasing grin. Izuku looked at her aghast at what he'd just heard, but then he realized she wasn't running away in terror. Instead, she was eyeing him with...respect. And something else he couldn't place.
I can.
'Not now.'
"I would have told you, Mina. I just didn't want to scare you off so quickly after meeting you." Izuku spoke lamely, finding the clump of grass next to his feet highly interesting.
"Dude, you realize your considered a villain right?"
"Yes."
"..But are you?"
"...No."
"Then that's good enough for me." She said, causing Izuku to look up. Their eyes met yet again, and she closed some of the distance between them.
"Izuku, you saved my life today. Now granted, while you could argue it's your fault we were there in the first place..." She gave him a teasing grin, as he sputtered indignantly "You also unveiled a huge secret in order to protect me. That...makes you a hero. My hero." She took his hand in hers and brought him to the railing. She didn't let go it though.
"Izuku, when you look at this city, what do you see?"
"I...I see a place worth protecting. For more than just the financial gain of doing so."
"Exactly. You do what's right, not because it pays well, but because you genuinely want to help people." She closed the distance even more. "That's what I like about you."
And then, she kissed him.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A few weeks later.
Izuku sat on the couch in his mother's living room, watching the news covering of the UA Sports Festival. Mina had done okay in the first event, and had earned a spot in the finals based on her performance in the second. While they were setting up the third event, he texted her that he was so happy for her, and he was excited to see her perform. She replied a minute later "If I win, can we kiss again? ;)".
This caused him to drop his phone in shock. Before he could reply, the news cut to a special on Venom.
"In other news, the villain turned vigilante known as Venom reportedly saved a local UA student from a creature that was involved in the USJ attack a few weeks ago, leading many to question his status as a villain. Other actions by Venom include saving numerous people from muggings, as well as stopping a few small robberies. While the Super Hero Ethics Committee and the Police denounce his actions as unsafe, and unethical. One officer had this to say:
'What Venom is doing sounds great on paper, but he's also a lone wolf, meaning he doesn't answer to anyone. While he's not getting paid, that also means the only thing he answers to is himself. That's a dangerous place to be.'
We now go live to one of our field reporters, who is interviewing citizens on their thoughts on Venom."
The image shifts to a reporter standing beside a man with a disfigured face, his nose missing. He had dreadlocks, a red scarf, and a rather pointy chin.
"Sir, you said that you support what Venom does. Why is this?"
"Venom is a true hero, much like All Might. He does his work not because it is profitable, but because it is the righteous path. He is not like these gaudy pretenders who are no different than mercenaries enforcing the law for financial gain. Venom, if you are hearing this, I want you to know that I too, will carry on this path."
The man stopped speaking and walked away, causing the news to shift its feed back to the studio.
"Fascinating stuff there. It appears we took more time than we though, and now we have moved on to the second find of the UA Sports Festival Finals. We have a Hitoshi Shinsou versus Neito Monoma.
Xxxxxxxxxx
As Izuku watched the fight, he heard how Shinsou talked about his quirk, and how everyone saw it as villainous. "He's like me." He thought, eyes glued to the television. Monoma kept rushing him, trying to touch him for some reason that the announcers hadn't seen fit to explain. Shinsou's quirk was called Brainwashing, and apparently allowed him to control people based on responses to his questions. However, the fight was over when Shinsou made a comment about class 1-A being superior, causing Monoma to freak out and scream about how overrated they are. This lead him to become brainwashed, and Shinsou made him cartwheel out of the ring.
Indeed. The boy is a kindred spirit. I think we should seek him out. While having Ashido as an ally will undoubtedly be helpful, by helping Shinsou, you add a versatile quirk into your group's arsenal.
'So we're a group now?'
Not quite. But if you're anything like Peter, which you definitely are, you're going to end up with a team of heroes. And kid, trust me. You want that guy in your corner.
'I understand. We can approach him soon.'
To be continued...
AN Now everyone has heard, about the bird- I'm kidding, please don't hit me. That was Ben's idea. Not mine. ANYWAYS, we have reached the end of yet another chapter of No Hero Academia. More relationship development, and another bread crumb of the plotline given. I hope you guys enjoy it.
ALSO HOLY CRAP GUYS, 99 FOLLOWS IN A LITTLE OVER DAY?! MY GOD YOU GUYS ROCK. THANK YOU SO MUCH
Raizen out!