19/03/2022

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The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 56

"Here!" Ochaco said, thrusting out both hands and bowing her head.

The bow was to hide the blush that she knew covered more than just her face. It felt like it went down to her stomach which was currently tying itself in knots.

She had a small, neatly wrapped package in either hand. One was tied off in green ribbon and the other in purple. Oh god, she was trying to give the right one to each of the boy's, wasn't she?

Ochaco risked a glance up to check but thankfully the green ribbon wrapped package was being presented to Izuku and the purple to Hitoshi.

And they both looked distinctly surprised. Ochaco blinked and paused in her bowed position with her head up. Izuku's eyes were moving between her outstretched hand to her face and then back. Hitoshi was just staring at her.

Their shock actually made her feel better, relaxing her slightly. "Friendship?" she managed to squeak.

It was almost comical to watch the two boys relax. With Hitoshi, it was kind of subtle. His eyes relaxed and his expression softened, losing the deer in headlights look it had borne. Izuku was far more expressive and he actually smiled. And then he moved forward, ignoring the gift as he gently placed one hand on her shoulder and pushed her up.

"You look silly like that," Little Dragon said softly.

Ochaco smiled. She still felt a bit nervous but the nausea, that had nothing to do with her quirk, was gone. She stood up straight and somehow managed to look both teens in the eye. "Friendship chocolates," Ochaco explained again.

Surely they hadn't been completely blind to the rest of the girls giving out chocolates?

"Well of course I'll be your friend," Little Dragon said.

That made Ochaco chuckle and from the way Hitoshi's eyes narrowed, he was laughing as well.

She shook her head slightly. "No, Little Dragon, do you know what day it is?"

Izuku shook his head firmly, his big green eyes not leaving hers.

Again Ochaco chuckled. "It's Valentine's Day," she explained hoping she didn't have to go further except in the moments after she'd spoken she didn't see a spark of recognition in Izuku's eyes.

Ochaco sighed. "You've noticed other girls giving out chocolates today?" she probed. How did he not know about Valentine's Day? Sure, she hadn't spoken about it but last week and earlier this week it had been an all consuming thing for most of the upper year levels.

She'd spent time agonising over it as well, until she'd finally realised that as much as she liked Izuku and Hitoshi, maybe even loved both of them, she didn't want a romantic relationship with either of them. Not yet. That's why she'd said friendship when holding out their chocolate. Friendship now, with the possibility of more later. Much later.

Her mum had indicated she'd know when she was ready and she wasn't ready now and certainly none of the other teens in her school interested her.

"That's why my getabako was full?"

At that, Hitoshi burst out laughing.

Ochaco managed to keep herself under control but she did grin. "Yes, Little Dragon, that was why your getabako was full," she explained while wondering who would have given Izuku chocolates. He didn't exactly talk to many other people at school so it was…

No… Mentally she shook her head. If she was objective about it, then it was no surprise other girls had given Izuku chocolate. He was good looking. The weekly change of hair colour spoke to a rebellious streak without going too far. He was strong, because while no one commented on his previous fights with Gatarui the entire school knew about them and knew Izuku had won. And… well, his father might be injured but was still a very successful businessman. She checked with her parents every now and then how JBQC were doing, and their share price was always good!

There was absolutely no reason not to give Izuku chocolates and she'd be lying to herself if she didn't feel a small stab of jealousy, except… None of the girls had actually had the courage to give him their chocolates themselves. That was something.

She had! And even if it was friendship chocolate, she'd made them with as much love as love chocolate.

She took a deep breath, wondering if she should explain further to Izuku, and just like that all the nerves she'd felt earlier flooded back. How did she explain this?

"How about I do it?" Hitoshi said, taking pity on her as he took the package she'd earlier thrust at him.

Ochaco almost felt weak with relief at the offer. "Please!" She almost begged. How did Izuku not know? She was so thankful she'd waited all day to give the boys her chocolate. Trying to explain this at lunchtime, with a zillion witnesses would have been embarrassing. Even worse than it was now.

Hitoshi gave her a shallow nod before he turned slightly to Izuku. He seemed to think for a few moments before he sighed. "I shouldn't have volunteered," Hitoshi muttered before sighing again. "Valentine's Day is a western thing where people exchange gifts and chocolate with their significant other."

"Oh," Izuku was particularly expressive with the single syllable.

Ochaco blushed harder. Maybe this was worse. If she'd known Izuku didn't know what Valentine's Day was then she'd… Actually she wasn't sure what she'd have done. Probably not felt this nervous though and… no, she didn't know.

"In Japan though it's for girls to give chocolates to the boy she likes, and in office situations the women give chocolates to their male counterparts. Those are usually obligatory chocolates."

"So it's just expected?" Izuku asked.

Hitoshi nodded. "Normally they'll buy them. But if the woman is interested in someone, she'll actually make them."

"You can make chocolate?" There was a note of wonder in Izuku's voice.

"Not the actual chocolate," Ochaco explained. "You get blocks and melt it into shapes and then add decoration," she added.

"Oh," Izuku nodded. No doubt he'd be looking it up this evening. He reached into his bag and pulled out a small packet. He held it out for them both to look at. The package was wrapped in pink and tied off with dark green ribbon. "So is this obligation chocolate?" he asked.

Hitoshi looked at the gift before he shrugged. "Did she talk to you?"

Unconsciously Ochaco held her breath, as she waited for the answer. She felt a stab of worry, which dissipated when Little Dragon shook his head.

"Then they are just obligation chocolate," Hitoshi reported. "Or friendship."

"Mine are friendship chocolates!" Ochaco interrupted quickly. "I love you both but I-" she couldn't go on.

"You didn't have to give me chocolate to be my friend," Little Dragon announced.

That made them both laugh which relaxed Ochaco enough to explain further. "No, I mean, my chocolates are friendship chocolates, even though I made them. I love you both but… I'm... "

This was hard. She bit one lip. "I don't want a ro-ro-romaticrelationshipwitheitherofyou." She rushed out the last words. "Atleastnotyet."

Hitoshi blinked at the admission, which for him was practically blushing all over, while Izuku just looked slightly confused, as if he was trying to decipher the words. Ochaco saw when he realised what she meant. He blinked as well, and then blushed. The show of nerves made her feel better.

Izuku took a deep breath. "Thank you, Ochaco," he said seriously. "I accept your token of friendship."

She beamed at him.

"And are you going to give her return chocolates?" Hitoshi asked, feigning innocence.

For a moment, Izuku looked horrified, then confusion set in.

Ochaco laughed before she mockingly glared at her friend. "Hitoshi, that's mean!" He didn't look apologetic. She turned to Izuku. "There's a day called White Day, which is in a month's time, when the boys reciprocate with chocolate or other little gifts," she explained.

"Oh," again, he was so expressive and Ochaco figured Little Dragon would be doing a lot of research tonight.

"But you don't have to," she added. "I wanted to do this because you are my friends."

He nodded. "Do I have to get presents for the other girls?"

"Only if you want to," Hitoshi replied quickly. "And… do you even know who gave you that?" he added, gesturing vaguely to the package still in Izuku's hand.

He shook his head.

"Then you don't need to worry," Hitoshi told him with authority.

Ochaco nodded to back him up. "Besides, if you can't tell who gave you what, how can you be expected to return anything?" she asked to give further confirmation.

Izuku sighed with relief and nodded before putting the package back in his bag. He then reached out to gently take the wrapped packed Ochaco had offered him earlier. "Thank you," he said again.

Ochaco smiled. "You're welcome, Little Dragon," she said softly, feeling relieved.

Things hadn't gone exactly how she'd planned but they weren't bad either.

So that was something good. Hitoshi gave her a knowing smile, as if he knew everything she'd gone through. She had such good friends.

-ted-

Objectively, All For One knew he was a patient man. Throughout his life, there were many, many times when he'd had to wait for an objective to either be fulfilled, or be in a position where it could be fulfilled. That didn't mean he liked waiting. There were always other things he could be doing. In this case though, he was willing to make an exception.

He was waiting in Hawein, Mori and Nishimura's soundproofed board room for Watanabe to bring Inko. The room was sumptuously appointed. The chairs were plush and comfortable. There was a full AV kit inset into the wall, and the lighting was second to none. There were television production studios less well appointed. He was taking advantage of the lighting and had shaded his end. The dark after all, didn't bother him and it offered him alternatives for dealing with his wife. There were any number of ways this meeting could go. The outcome was decided, but the path there could vary. He'd let her decide the route, since he controlled the outcome.

In the meantime, he was thinking about the new name he should take. He'd been Hisashi for a long time but it was time to change that. Sakerarenai sounded good though he always considered how his name went with his real surname. Shigaraki Hisashi sort of flowed. He wasn't sure that Shigaraki Sakerarenai flowed as well but perhaps it was better than Shigaraki Yamuwoe. He nodded to himself. Sakerarenai it would be. Though it was somewhat overly long.

It was perhaps a bit on the nose but the heroes deserved to know that their fall was inevitable. He'd have Watanabe draw up the papers later today.

The ancient villain took several deep breaths. The life support mask gave him a lot more freedom but it was still confining. As always, when he was not focused on something specific, his thoughts turned to his son.

Ever since he'd had that dream about his brother he'd been… bothered was probably the right term but he didn't want to admit it. He knew it wasn't his brother. When he'd first learned that quirks carried an impression of their owners, he had wondered if he could be carrying an impression of his brother but that simply wasn't possible. He'd given Yoichi the stockpiling quirk, and Yoichi had passed it on. That buffoon, All Might may be carrying the impression of his brother but he wasn't. And despite any romantic idealism, there was no link between All For One and One For All.

He'd seen Yoichi, yes, but that Yoichi was a creation of his mind. It was not his brother. It might be memories but that was all. His mind had made a construct of his brother to… To what?

All For One shook his head. He knew why.

To tell him things he didn't really want to hear. Things his brother would want him to hear.

He sighed. The mask didn't dictate his breathing rhythms like the ventilator did but… he pushed the thought aside. He'd told Izuku that it didn't matter what one wished had happened, what mattered was what had happened. He had to accept it.

All For One resisted the urge to snort. He would accept it when All Might was bleeding before him. Not before. Or perhaps when he took over Tomura's body. At that point he'd have to encourage Izuku to have a child so that there was another person capable of creating a version of his quirk.

The thought was met with a stab of … he didn't recognise the emotion. It was not pleasant. He sighed again. It tied back to the construct of Yoichi his mind had made.

It tied back to choice.

Izuku has a choice! He told himself firmly.

He didn't believe it.

Oh he could rationalise it. He could justify it. He could offer himself all manner of arguments as to why it was true but in the end none of them mattered.

There was a part of him, a part that was very much like his brother that didn't believe it. He knew from experience that part of himself would continue to make itself known until he somehow made it believe. It had happened in the past but not like this. In the past it had been smaller things, when he'd been starting out. He'd felt guilt for having to kill someone or other. He forgot who now. Or he'd regretted not finding another way with recruiting a support group, other than wiping out their leaders and bringing the rest in as workers for his cause. They were things like that.

He got over them quickly.

This felt different.

He didn't like it.

But he wasn't sure what to do about it. It was only right that his son follow in his footsteps. He knew Izuku wouldn't be a hero, and he knew Izuku wanted to help so was it really wrong to have helped him reach those conclusions?

The Yoichi in his mind was making him second guess himself. He didn't want that. He didn't need that. Not now. He needed Izuku to stand by his side. He needed his son working with him to change society. Tomura would be helping for a few years yet, but Tomura's presence would be limited, and eventually Tomura would become him. He'd never done that before and Izuku would help to make that transition smooth.

He needed Izuku but…

Mentally, All For One shook his head. He needed to sort himself out on the matter of Izuku. As far as he could see there were two options. One he continued on and ignored the feeling. He could suppress it. He'd done it before and sure he felt stronger about this issue but he was also stronger and more experienced so it shouldn't be hard. It would simply require some dedicated concentration and he could do that. The other was…

He didn't want to think about it. The other was to actually let Izuku go. To stop teaching his son and let Izuku go into the world. Let Izuku experience the world and make his own choices. Then…

Then he wasn't sure what would happen. Izuku could choose any number of paths in that scenario.

Argh… there it was again. Choice. Had he really taken away Izuku's ability to choose? No. He refused to believe that. He'd done what any good father would do. He'd taught his son. He'd guided his son. That is what a parent was meant to do. He hadn't done anything wrong, so why did he feel he had?

All For One gritted his teeth. Brother, you really are-

The thought was interrupted as the click from the door alerting him to the fact that Watanabe was here with Inko. No doubt, Gigantomachia, who was waiting in an adjoining room had already smelt her and would be on guard, but he would not need his bodyguard to deal with his wife. They would have a pleasant discussion.

"I've laid the papers out in our boardroom," Watanabe was explaining the lie he'd used to redirect Inko from his office.

"Thank you," she replied and the door opened further. She really was too trusting. Thankfully Izuku displayed that trait only to his friends.

"After you, Ma'am," the lawyer said and All For One could see the way he gestured into the partially lit room.

Inko nodded and moved through the door, making room for Watanabe to follow but the man didn't. Instead, he swung the door closed again. The mechanisms were well oiled because the only sound from that was the click as the latch engaged. Inko was confused for a few moments and he watched as she peered into the room, looking at the table where there were papers.

Just before she was about to turn back to the door, All For One spoke, adopting a tone he knew she'd recognise.

"Inko, my dear, it's been too long."

-ted-

AFO is still very much struggling with emotion! It's hard to realise that the son you thought would simply be a great lieutenant is actually someone you view as family, as close to you, or maybe closer, than the brother you once professed to love. This realisation, and what to do about it are hard for him so he's going to stew on it for a while.

And Izuku got chocolates from Ochaco! So did Hitoshi but it's Valentine's day so chocolate is the order of the day! It's probably a good thing AFO is somewhat distracted at the moment, since Ochaco will obviously not be good enough for his son.

My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out.

-ted-

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