Starlight: The Rise of a Hero
Chapter Four: Blooming Heat
Izuku Midoriya, having just returned to class, was pulled aside by his teacher, Mr. Aizawa. The man had an odd look in his eye, almost like he was deciding whether or not to squish an insect that had invaded his home.
"Midoriya. You are to report to the Development Studio, to receive equipment that will supplement your hero costume. I've seen the design you sent in, and it wasn't even fire-proof. You're lucky that I'm deciding to be nice, otherwise you would have ended up naked or worse during tomorrow's battle training," the annoyed man explained. Izuku's face went red with embarrassment, backing up and grabbing his bag, hefting it over his shoulder.
"T-thank you, Aizawa-sensei. Thank you for looking out for me."
As he watched the younger man make his hasty retreat, aided by a map of the school's grounds, Shota Aizawa almost seemed to grin. He wasn't always a hard-ass.
Walking with a purpose, Izuku Midoriya made his way to the Development Studio. When he arrived at the double doors, he knocked, the sound echoing throughout the hallway.
Hearing a noise from inside, he backed up a few steps, looking down at his shoes for a moment. Steeling himself in preparation for meeting new people, he made his expression more serious, looking up at the doors.
They opened, and Izuku was beckoned in by the teacher, who introduced himself.
"Hello there, young man. I'm Power Loader, and I run the Development Studio. How can the support department help you today? You don't appear to have a costume with you." The older man noted, not entirely confused. Aizawa had sent the man an email as a heads-up that he was sending a student down.
There were noises from a corner of the room as Izuku followed Power Loader to one of his many work-benches. Turning his head, he made eye-contact with a young woman, who seemed to be tinkering with a small device. He turned back to the teacher, answering his question.
"Oh. I'm Izuku Midoriya, from the Hero course's class 1-A. Aizawa-sensei told me that my costume was inadequate for my quirk," he said, sheepish. Power Loader brought a hand up to his chin, appearing thoughtful.
"Oh? You mind elaborating on that for me?" the teacher asked, sitting down in his swivel chair.
"Well, my quirk can cover my whole body in flames, but my costume isn't fire-proof. I need a body-suit, I think. It really should be fire-proof, I don't want to end up naked in front of my classmates…And can it be sleeveless? I tend to concentrate my power into my arms, so if there's fabric covering them, that could pose a problem."
The older man nodded his head in approval.
"You seem to have a mind for the analytical. Hatsume! Come over here and introduce yourself!" He shouted over to the girl in the corner. Out of the relative shadow of her corner, came an attractive young woman, who waved as she approached.
"Hello there," she intoned, walking up to Izuku, looking up slightly to meet his eyes. "I'm Hatsume Mei, but you can call me Mei." She held out her hand in greeting, which he took.
"It's nice to meet you, Mei-san. I'm Midoriya Izuku, but please, call me Izuku." He looked at her, curious. They both appeared to be sizing each other up.
"Hatsume, I need you to take Midoriya-san's measurements, but please, don't molest him," the teacher said, turning to a recording device embedded in the wall. "Midoriya Izuku, bodysuit, fireproof type seventeen, sleeveless. Measurements to be updated upon examination, since his costume is not within the department." Both students heard a click as he cut the recording.
Mei took a tape measure from her heavily pocketed cargo pants and nodded towards her instructor. "Gotcha. Should only take a sec. Midoriya, stick a leg out for me, would ya?"
When he did as she asked, she took the measurements that applied to his legs and feet, but her hands stayed on the leg just a second or two longer than seemed necessary.
She then proceeded to measure his waist, moving up his body.
She caught sight of his arms, dense with muscular definition from his step-dad's boxing training, and she blushed hard, taking one of them into her hands, brushing her hands across it before taking the measurement.
Izuku caught sight of her blushing face, and his confidence at a record high, decided to say something.
"See something you like?" His voice was amused, and he flexed, the muscle fibers under the skin firming up even further.
Mei just finished up his measurements quickly, before writing them down on her notepad.
After she handed the sheet to Power Loader, she appeared to write down something else, ripping off a strip. She offered it to Izuku, blushing.
"It's my number. You should call me sometime. You're funny."
Leon and Nejire walked through the courtyard, towards the building that would take them to the front gates.
Looking to his right, he just admired her silently for a second as they went along. The sunlight reflected off her periwinkle hair nicely, and she looked flawless to him. Smiling to himself, he reached over and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey. So you're coming over on Wednesday, right?" He said, as she turned to him, processing.
"Of course, why would I not? I was actually just thinking about it."
There was a moment where both of them just smiled stupidly at each other, Leon rubbing the back of his head, abashed. "Well I'm glad to know that you're looking forward to it."
They had long since stopped walking, and as Leon stepped toward her, her phone began to ring. She fished her phone out of her pocket, apologizing for the interruption of their moment.
"Sorry Leon-kun, that's probably Ryuko-san."
She turned away, taking the call.
Leon minded his business, doing his best to pay attention to his own phone, occasionally looking around at the courtyard. It was a nice space, the fountain in its center perhaps not the most upkept. That just seemed to add to its charm, in Leon's eyes.
His phone was dry of notifications, as always. He really only had three friends. And as it was, he was often too busy with his training to talk to them consistently. Endeavor had been able to push his safety limit up by twenty-five percent, which meant that in combat, Leon was stronger than the man himself. But only for a minute or two at a time, after which Leon would have his reserves drained. He could, of course, recharge, as seventy-five percent was within his "safe limit," or the range of his abilities which he could properly control.
Nejire, having finished her call, came over and poked him in the side, and while he flinched in surprise, dropping his phone, she got up on her tip-toes and pecked him on the lips.
"Hey. Ryuko-san needs me at her agency to do some paperwork ASAP. So I'm gonna go change into my hero costume and blast off, okay?"
Leon was dusting off his phone's screen when he realized what she'd done, bringing a hand to his lips with a gasp and widened eyes.
"Did you...just kiss me?"
"Yeah!" She shouted as she ran to the nearest bathroom. "I'll call you later!"
Realizing his hand was still on his lips, he shook his head and chuckled. A heat in his chest betrayed how he really felt.
He smiled. A small, genuine thing.
The door to the Yagi household opened with a hesitant creak. Izuku entered, shrugging off his weighted (on purpose) backpack, rubbing his left shoulder. It was probably going to bother him for the rest of the evening, but hey, no pain, no gain.
His father stood from the couch. "Hey, young man. How was your day at school?" The tall, blonde man's voice boomed throughout the room, as he scratched his head, drowsy. It was apparent that Izuku's arrival home had woken him from one of his naps. Today was his father's day off, and his mom was to be at the pantry tonight until ten p.m. , leaving the two men to fend for themselves.
"It was alright. How was your day off?" Izuku asked, slipping off his shoes, leaving them on the genkan with his father's boots.
"I didn't really do much, aside from the chores your mother asked me to do. That was a nice nap, though. What are we ordering in tonight?"
"I don't know, I think we have food in the freezer that mom wanted us to finish up first."
"Well that's awfully boring. Did you have a bad day, or something?" The man said, peering above the door of the refrigerator. His massive two-hundred eighteen centimeter frame allowed him to do such bizarre things, and he towered over his family no matter the occasion.
Even when sitting, he was a good fifteen centimeters taller than his wife when she was standing. Toshinori Yagi was not a small man, and he was the tallest quirkless person Izuku had ever met.
"No, it was alright. In fact, it was probably the best day of school I've had in years. I'm just afraid of Mom's wrath."
Toshinori nodded. "Ah. True, let's see what we've got," he agreed, looking into the freezer.
"Well, we've got what appears to be some takoyaki with only a mild case of freezer burn. That sound edible to you?" His father had opened the container to show Izuku, who had since followed his father into the kitchen.
"Yeah, sounds good enough. I got a girl's number today, by the way."
His father's eyebrow quirked up, indicating his interest.
"Oh?"
Leon opened the front door to his house, and with the evening sun framing him, he took his shoes off, carrying them back to his room, where he deposited his backpack.
"Mom! What's for dinner?"
There was a pause, and then a voice sounded out from within the kitchen.
"Grilled salmon and greens!"
Oh, so his father was cooking.
Walking down the hall to the kitchen, he greeted his parents. His mother was a foreigner, with violently blonde hair and a powerful quirk, which she'd used to save his father's life when they first met. Called Lightbulb, she could draw power from all light sources, and use that energy to set off flashbang-like explosions. It was only usable at point-blank range, so she had never given a career as a hero much thought.
She was happy with her career as a florist, having a shop in the city of Mustafu, near U.A. High School. She opened whenever she wanted, and closed whenever she wanted.
His father was a stern, but caring half-japanese man, his own quirk ill-suited to supporting hero work. All that Leon knew about it was that it had something to do with solar radiation, and that his father never got sunburn, no matter how long he was outside.
He didn't like talking about it, and he wasn't one for conversation at all, really. He was a researcher at a lab somewhere up north, and he would spend days at a time away from home.
"Hey, you guys. How were your days?"
"Well, considering that I wasn't at work? Six out of ten." His father mused, smiling a bit to himself. His wife giving him a nasty bit of side-eye, he shook his head.
"But it was nice to spend the day with your mother for once. How was your first day of third year?" The question held firm on the air, and it was clear that Leon was expected to answer, both sets of his parent's eyes on him, his father pulling the greens off the heat so he could pay attention.
"Well, I got to see my friends again, and you won't believe who my homeroom teacher is. It's the number two hero, Hawks! And he's super chill about everything. My blood is pumping just thinking about the advanced battle training he said we're having tomorrow!"
His father's face stretched into a full grin as he chuckled. "You seem more excited than I've seen you for a long time, Leon. I suppose the number two hero lives up to his reputation?"
Olivia Weitz watched, curious at the interaction between her men. They didn't talk much, and it was odd to see them deep in conversation. Bemused, she just sat back and enjoyed the show.
Leaning with his back against the counter to face his father, Leon nodded in the affirmative.
"Yeah, he has a super-powerful aura about him. He seems like a natural leader, he was able to get everyone's attention in a super flashy way. I was impressed."
"That's good. I'm hoping that he's just as good of a teacher as he is a hero, for your sake."
"He will be, I'm sure, dear," his mother intoned gently, interrupting the moment. "Leon, did you talk to Nejire about dinner?"
"Yes, she'll be coming over on Wednesday."
His father winced. "Damn," he whispered.
"Sorry, dad, I know you're going to be out of town, but she's working with Ryukyu the rest of the week, Wednesday was the only day that worked for her."
"It's okay. I was just hoping to meet her. Another time, then."
"Yeah, I'm sure she's excited to meet both of you, and I'll tell her you were sorry that you couldn't be here to meet her."
Nejire Hado sat on her bed, exhausted. It had been hours since the sun had set, and she'd just gotten home. One aspect of hero work that wasn't often mentioned was the lack of social life that heroes suffered from. When you're always giving your all, sometimes things fell to the wayside, like eating consistently, sleeping as much as is ideal, and often, the hero's social life.
Brushing her nightgown down as she sat up, she yawned, her periwinkle hair a silky mess about her shoulders and mid-back. Reaching for her phone on her nightstand, she looked throughout her contacts, finding Leon's profile at the top of her list. It had a sun emoji and golden hearts next to his name, her own personal modification.
Tapping the 'edit name' function, she changed the heart's color to red.
"On one hand, it's a little late to call, but… on the other," she muttered, tapping the call button after a moment of hesitation.
After a few rings, she set the phone to speaker, and sat it down.
"Hey, so you know that this is super late, right?"
She jumped, flinching at the sudden sound of his voice.
"Well, yeah. But I said I would call you, and… I just wanted to hear your voice, Leon. I had a close call today, and I just wanted you to know that I was okay, in case you saw what happened on TV or online."
There was silence on his side for a few seconds.
"Are you really okay?"
"I'm grateful that Ryuko-san was there. I'll say that much. I don't want you to worry about me-"
"No. It's fine. I always worry when you go out on patrol. Not because I think you're not capable of handling yourself, because you are. But...you know how I feel about you, don't you? If you really feel the same way that I do, you'll understand this heat that blooms in my chest when you're near. You'll understand, that I never, ever stop worrying."
And it was like he said, because deep in her chest, she felt that same heat roaring in response to his voice, his words. She smiled, her eyes glistening in the moonlight.
"Thank you, Leon. I needed to hear that, after today. I'm gonna head to bed. Talk to you tomorrow, okay?"
"You're damn right, you're gonna talk to me tomorrow. You're the person I look forward to seeing the most, every single day. The last two weeks were fucking awful, with me being at home, and you being so busy. But yeah. I guess I'll go back to sleep now."
She heard him chuckling for a second.
"Goodnight, Nejire. Sweet dreams."
"You too."
