I do not own My Hero Academia or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
Sorry I haven't updated in so long. Due to real life, I haven't had a ton of opportunities to write as of late. Also, I was in a bit of a creative slump while writing this chapter, so that didn't help.
Midoriya Izuku was a terrible son.
He got his mom sick.
Considering how much time she spent around him, taking care of him while he was sick, neither of them were terribly surprised when she woke up that morning with a fever and sore throat. Somehow, she managed to miss out on the horrible vomiting that he had had to go through, something they were both thankful for. But, Izuku was still worried she might start throwing up, and decided to stay home from school to take care of her. Fortunately, the heavens seemed to have taken some small amount of mercy on the Midoriya household, as she didn't start feeling ill until Izuku was almost all better.
Part of him noted that he'd been missing school quite a lot lately. But between going to school, and taking care of his mother while she was sick, he knew which one was more important.
As such, Izuku was currently in the kitchen preparing a meal of Okayu for his mom, having only the slightest bit of difficulty. It's not that he was bad at cooking, or at least he liked to think he wasn't, it's just that it had been awhile since he'd last been in the kitchen. Typically, his mom did all of the cooking in the house, and he'd actually been shooed out of the kitchen when he tried to help that last few times. Thankfully, Okayu was pretty hard to screw up, and the end result looked just fine. Though it did nearly over boil at one point.
Once it was finished cooking, he served the dish into a bowl which he placed on a tray to take to his mom. It was at that moment that he realised that he forgot to make any tea. He smacked his own forehead at his mistake, and went to grab the teapot. Really, he should have made the tea while the rice was cooking, as it would take a little while to prepare it. After he set the tea pot next to the hot water pot, he went to get the tea itself.
Upon opening the cupboard where it should have been, he was surprised to find it, well, not where it should have been. While, again, it had been awhile since he'd last been in the kitchen, Izuku knew where they kept the tea. Or at least, he thought he did. Seriously, he wasn't this useless in the kitchen that he couldn't even locate the fricking tea!
He'd have to worry about that later though. Right now, he wanted to get the Okayu to his mom before it cooled off too much. In the place of tea, he set a glass of warm water (You shouldn't drink cold water while sick) on the tray and picked it up and carried it towards her room.
Upon reaching her door, he paused for a moment. Trying to open the door while carrying the tray would be awkward, and risked spilling its contents. While he could always set the tray down, then open the door, there was a far simpler solution.
After only a moment's hesitation, a telekinetic arm manifested and turned the door knob. Izuku was still getting used to using his quirk in everyday life. Heck, he was still get used to using the telekinetic limbs period. He discovered that aspect of his quirk far later than he did his disaster sense. It was only last year that he really started using them. Currently, he preferred to only manifest them when he needed to.
The arm pushed the door open, and then he immediately vanished it. Stepping inside, his eyes fell on his mom, who was currently in bed reading a book. It wasn't anything he was familiar with, the two of them had very different tastes when it came to literature. She was wearing a sick mask, they both were. Neither of them wanted to risk Izuku getting sick again. Upon hearing him enter, she looked up from her book.
"Hey, mom, breakfast's ready." Izuku said as he made he way over to her bed. He carefully placed the tray on her lap, "I made Okayu."
"Oh, thank you!" His mom said happily, "It looks delicious." Pulling down her sick mask so that she could start eating, she picked up the spoon.
Once she had eaten a bit, Izuku spoke, "Hey um, do you know where we keep the tea?" He asked awkwardly, "I... couldn't find it."
"Tea? Ah, we're out." His mom said apologetically, pausing briefly in her eating, "I was planning on going to the store today to pick some up, but well, I got sick."
"Oh, it's okay. I can go get it." Izuku offered.
"You don't need to do that." His mom quickly responded, "It can wait until I feel better."
"No, it's fine, I can go get it. Tea'll help you get better." Izuku said, "Besides, I noticed that there was some other stuff we're out of."
"Sorry, it's been awhile since I've gone to the store. Again, I was planning on going today." She mumbled, bowing her head slightly in embarrassment.
"A-ah, don't apologise, it's not your fault. If anything, it's mine for getting you sick." Izuku stuttered while flailing his arms about.
"What, no! If had been more careful, I wouldn't have caught you illness. It was my fault." His mom replied.
The two of them argued back and forth for a little while longer, each of them trying to claim responsibility for something or another, while the other thought of some reason why it was actually their fault. Eventually, the argument died down, and Izuku had managed to convince his mother to let him go to the store.
"Oh! Will you be okay by yourself while I'm gone?" Izuku asked, the thought having just occurred to him. He didn't want to leave her alone in case she started getting sicker.
"Izuku, I'm a grown woman, and I've raised you pretty much single-handedly since you were old enough to talk. I'll be fine by myself for an hour or two." She replied with a small scoff.
"O-okay, sorry." Izuku said, blushing in embarrassment at his stupid question. The tiny part of his mind that was more manipulative and scheming noted how quickly his mom seemed to change her opinion on him leaving to go shopping once it seemed like she was some kind of burden that was keeping him from doing so, and thought that she might be susceptible to reverse psychology. Said thought was promptly bashed over the head by his conscience and then drowned in a lake of shame for even thinking of trying to take advantage of his mother, "Here, let me get those for you." Izuku picked up the tray holding the now empty bowl and cup, "Do you want any more?"
"No, but thank you. I think I'm going to take a nap." His mom said sweetly.
"Sleep well!" Izuku said from the doorway, before leaving and closing the door with his foot. Once he got to the kitchen, he immediately washed her dishes, making sure to be quiet while he did so. There was still some Okayu left that he hadn't served to his mom. Since he hadn't had anything yet himself, and decided to just eat it. Though it had gotten a bit cold.
After he was finished eating and cleaning up the kitchen, he went to get ready head to the store. Stepping into the bathroom, he opened one of the drawers under the sink and grabbed his mother's hairbrush. He should probably get one for himself while he was at the store. Looking in the bathroom mirror, he tried to force his unruly hair to cover up his left ear. It wasn't pleasant to look at, but that was probably to be expected when he was missing the upper part of his ear. It wasn't easy to hide, like the scars from where he had been shot and stabbed were. But, he tried his best to do so anyway, and eventually managed to cover up most of it with his hair after repeated brushing. For a moment he considered grabbing a hoodie to further hide his damaged ear, but decided against. It was a bit too warm today, and besides, his hair did a good enough job.
'I should probably grow it out. It might be easier to cover my ear with it then.' Izuku thought to himself as he put the hair brush back and exited the bathroom.
Putting on his shoes, he opened the front door to the apartment and stepped outside.
-000-
Izuku decided to walk to the store, rather than take any sort of public transportation such as a bus or train. He always preferred to walk places, partially because it made it easier to follow his quirk if it started buzzing. Today though, it was completely quiet, and he appreciated it. As much as he enjoyed running around to watch the heroes work, he still found himself glad that there was nothing going on.
It was peaceful.
His earphones were in as he walked down the street. Humming along to an old Prince song, he arrived at the store. Once inside, Izuku pulled a list of things to buy on his phone that he had made before he left. He grabbed a basket from near the entrance and started shopping.
Tea was the first thing he picked up, since it was basically the entire reason he made this shopping trip, so it only felt right to make it priority number one. After that he moved onto the other items on the list. In addition to food, he also grabbed a few other things. They were running low on hand soap in the bathroom for example. Quickly, Izuku started to regret not choosing a shopping cart instead of just a basket, as the number of items he picked up increased and the basket both ran out of room and became heavier.
Currently, the basket was sitting on the floor as Izuku compared two types of jam, trying to decide which one to buy.
"Young Midoriya. It's good to see you." At the sound of the familiar voice, Izuku looked up to see Yagi-san standing only a few meters away. The blonde man was also carrying a basket, though his had noticeably less items in it.
"Hello, Yagi-san!" Izuku beamed at his older friend, pulling the earphones out of his ears so that they could more easily talk, "It's good to see you! We sure do run into each other a lot. Kind of weird considering how big the city is." At that thought, the memory of the creepy man from the alley came to his mind. Izuku remembered his speech about destiny and how certain people were drawn to each other, but he quickly tried banished the memory. He didn't really want to think about that man, but unfortunately his words stuck in the teens mind, even though he'd prefer to just forget them.
"You sound better." Yagi-san said, drawing his thoughts back to the present.
"I'm mostly over the illness." Izuku replied happily, "I should be back to full health pretty soon."
"Glad to hear it." Yagi-san said, "What about your mother? How's she doing?"
"Oh, um, she actually got sick." Izuku answered with a tinge of guilt.
"I kind of had a feeling that would happen." Yagi-san said, "On the bright side, you're feeling well again. I was worried that you'd both get sick at the same time."
"Yeah, that would've sucked." Izuku chuckled. By now, he'd made a decision between the two jams, and put one back on the shelf while placing the other in his basket. He picked it up off the ground, then he heard the buzz of his quirk as his hold on the basket started to fail due to its weight. He quickly tried to readjust his grip, but ultimately it slipped out of his hands. Thankfully, before it could fall, Yagi-san's hand shot out and grabbed it.
Izuku blinked, startled by how quickly the older man had moved. He hadn't even been standing that close to Izuku when his grip failed and he still managed to catch it.
"Th-thanks." Izuku stuttered, glad that his sick mask hid most of his embarrassed blush.
"Happy to help." Yagi-san said with a small smile that reminded Izuku of All Might.
"Sorry about that. I just lost my grip because of how heavy it was. I really should have gotten a cart instead." Izuku muttered.
"Heavy?" Yagi-san blinked, and looked at the basket that he was effortlessly holding with one arm. Wow, he was a lot stronger than you'd think looking at him. Though, considering that he looked like a strong breeze could blow him away, any amount of strength would be impressive. The blonde looked back at Izuku with a contemplative expression, "Young Midoriya, you said you wanted to be a hero?"
"Huh? Yes?" Izuku said, a bit surprised by the sudden change in topic.
"Do you exercise often? Hero work is very physically demanding, so you need to be in good shape." Yagi-san said, and now Izuku could see where he was going. Yeah, the fact that Izuku couldn't even lift a shopping basket, and yet wanted to go into one of the most physically grueling professions on the planet was pretty foolish in hindsight.
"N-no. Sorry, I never really thought about it." Izuku ducked his head in embarrassment and shame.
"It's okay, when you have a strong quirk, it's not really obvious just how important physical training is. Endeavor is a good example of someone who understands this. His Hellflame doesn't require him to be built like a tank, but that doesn't change the fact that he could probably bench press a car. That extra level of dedication is why he's the second greatest hero in Japan." Yagi-san explained. Izuku mentally compared his own twig thing physique to Endeavor's, which was on par with All Might's own frame, "Of course, most heroes don't go quite as far as Endeavor, but all of them are still in exceedingly good shape.
"I see, that makes a lot of sense. I feel really stupid for never considering it. I can't even think of any heroes who aren't in really good shape. Except maybe Fatgum, but he doesn't count since his quirk requires him to be obese. And besides, when he's burned his fat you can see that he's actually in excellent shape. Even Kacchan works out a lot, despite how amazing his quirk is, so I should have noticed this sooner." Izuku muttered to himself, his words becoming quieter and faster, making it hard for anyone to actually tell what he was saying. Suddenly, he stopped and turned back to Yagi-san, "Um, what kind of exercise should I be doing?"
"Well, you have plenty of time before you go to any sort of Hero School, so you should probably start off pretty simple and move onto more intense work outs later. Maybe running? It's a good exercise for beginners, helps to build stamina." Yagi-san suggested.
"I already run plenty, pretty much every time my quirk goes off I tend to run to see what's going on." Izuku said.
"Yes, but that's not something you do every day, or even on a regular basis. Plus, the distance you run fluctuates a lot." Yagi-san pointed out, "I'm talking about scheduled runs, where you control when you run and for how long."
Izuku made a contemplative noise as he listened to his older friend, "How long should I run each day?"
"Er, I'm not actually sure." Yagi-san admitted, "I'd have to look it up. That's probably something you should research yourself, though."
"Oh, r-right. S-sorry, I wasn't trying to turn you into my personal coach or anything. I, um, just let my curiosity get the better of me." Izuku stammered as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. He noticed that Yagi-san was still holding his basket and reached for it, "H-here, I can take that back now."
The blonde man handed the basket over, making sure that Izuku had a firm hold on it before letting go. Izuku's quirk was silent as he took it, meaning that he wasn't in any danger of dropping the basket. Though his arms did seemed to visibly strain a little as he carried it, if the quirk of Yagi-san's eyebrow as he watched Izuku was anything to go by.
"If you're having a hard time carrying it, why not just use your quirk?" Yagi-san asked, "Your telekinesis should be more than strong enough to hold that up, shouldn't it?"
"O-oh, um, w-well. Q-quirk usage isn't legal in public..." Izuku stammered out an excuse.
"Midoriya, absolutely nobody follows that law. Even your mother uses her quirk in public." Yagi-san stated plainly.
Izuku sighed. This wasn't something that he really liked to talk or even think about, but, well, he was closer to Yagi-san than he was to anyone else besides his mom, so he felt comfortable in confiding in the older man.
"I... I don't really like using that part of my quirk." Izuku said quietly.
"What, why?" Yagi-san asked, concern clear in his voice and on his face.
"My quirk first appeared around the age of five, but the telekinesis didn't show up until much, much later. It's also not like most telekinesis quirks. I don't just move stuff with my mind, these appendages appear, ones that only I can see, and they pick up and move stuff. Honestly, it reminds me more of a companion quirk than just simple telekinesis." Izuku explained, "And... I can't properly control it. I've gotten it to the point where it won't activate unless I want it too, and when it is active I'm able to direct the appendages perfectly. But, sometimes they'll move on their own." Something that Izuku had noticed was that the less of it that he manifested, the more control he had over his telekinesis. So, he tended to only ever use a single arm, "Like, when the train got hijacked by villains and I got attacked. I created a telekinetic arm, and it was able to stop a bullet. I'm nowhere near fast enough to react to a bullet myself, but the arms were able to intercept them without any real input from me. It was like they switched to autopilot. And, when one of the villains tried to shoot me, one of the arms knocked the gun out of her hand, and broke her wrist. I don't really feel bad about it, since she was trying to kill me, but the telekinetic arm still moved without me making it, and it really hurt someone. I'm just kind of worried about the telekinetic limbs doing something I don't want them to, so I try to only use them when I need to."
Yagi-san was quiet for a moment as he digested Izuku's words. Izuku felt a little bad for unloading all of that onto his friend. He didn't even tell Yagi-san everything relating to why he didn't feel comfortable using his quirk, and he still felt like he had just overshared. Were they really close enough to talk about this? Izuku didn't know, he didn't have any friends, he had no clue when it was acceptable to talk about your insecurities. Gods, he probably just made Yag-san really uncomfortable.
"Young Midoriya, if that's the case, I'm worried that you may have trouble becoming a hero." Yagi-san finally spoke, "While I can understand why you might be worried about using your quirk, the fact that you so rarely use it might be part of the reason why you have trouble controlling it. I'm not blaming you, like I said, I understand why you don't feel comfortable using it, but you've still wound up handicapping yourself. However, I have a suggestion. You said that the reason you don't like using it is because you're worried about it acting on its own and possibly harming someone?" Yagi-san asked. Izuku nodded in response, "Then why don't you find somewhere secluded to train your quirk? Much like with physical exercise, it would be a good way to prepare for becoming a hero. Most people don't begin training with their quirks until they enter high school and go to a hero academy, but at the same time, they also spent almost their entire lives using their quirks casually and as a result have a pretty good handle of them, something you lack."
Izuku listened to the older man's suggestion. It was actually a good idea, one that Izuku had never really considered before because of how nervous he was about using quirk. But, where would he go to train?
"Can you think of anywhere I could do that where I wouldn't risk hurting anyone or causing property damage?" Izuku asked.
Yagi-san hummed in thought for a moment.
"Have you ever been to Dagobah Municipal Beach?" The older man responded.
I planned Izuku feeling nervous about his Stand from the beginning, but looking back I didn't do a very good job foreshadowing it. So, I'm really worried that this came out of nowhere. I actually went back and made some minor edits to chapters 5 and 6 to include mention of the telekinetic arms moving on their own. Writing this fic has really shown me where the weak points in my writing are, and I think setting up characterisations is one of those weaknesses.
This chapter was more of my attempts of writing slice of life. To be frank, I have no clue how well I did.
How is it that Izuku is both so smart and also such an idiot? Like, he wanted to be a hero without a quirk, and despite that made exactly zero effort to actually become a hero before meeting All Might. No martial arts training, no working out, nothing. It always stuck me as odd.
Also, I'm getting kind of impatient. I want to get to U.A. so I can get to the cool stuff and the main plot, but at the same time I don't want to rush things.