Chapter Two
Yaoyorozu Momo wasn't quite sure what to make of the green-haired boy sitting across from her in the spacious limousine. Midoriya Izuku seemed very anxious, fidgeting about as he peered around at the vehicle's booth-style seating. Occasionally he would steal a glance at Momo's face, only to look away sharply moments later. It was odd, but honestly kind of endearing, particularly since his natural inclination was to look at her face and not at...other things. As Sebastian returned to his seat behind the wheel of the vehicle, the dark-haired girl stood up and moved closer to her guest. Her sudden proximity immediately caused him to go rigid with barely-contained nervous tension.
I wonder if he's usually like this, or if it's the result of that altercation in the alley? Momo thought as she settled into her seat.
Out loud, she softly said, "Okay then, Midoriya-san, let's see what we can do for your injury."
The boy nodded stiffly in response. "U-um, I was l-looking around the car, but I d-didn't notice a first aid b-box back here."
"Oh, we won't be needing anything so extensive, Midoriya-san," Momo replied, casually removing the blazer of her uniform. "It's just a little cut, with some bruising and swelling. We have ice and bottled water in the cooler, so..."
Momo held out her harm, now bare from the elbow down, and gave Midoriya a smile. The boy looked confused for a moment, cocking his head to one side. Suddenly, particles of light began to appear on the dark-haired girl's forearm, and from those particles something began to emerge. Within seconds, the light dissipated, and in her hand she held a large square of red, silken cloth, with the letters "M.Y." neatly printed upon it in gold.
"D-did...," the stunned youth began, face frozen in utter amazement. "Did you just create a monogrammed handkerchief from your arm?!"
Momo recoiled a bit at the reaction, and Midoriya seemed to flinch at his own volume. He held up his hands, palms forward in an apologetic gesture.
"A-ah, s-sorry," he said, nodding his head in a miniaturized facsimile of a bow. "I d-didn't mean to shout. That was j-just so...so..."
Oh, no, Momo thought. Does he think it's weird? Was it strange to show off my Quirk like that? I could have used a different piece of cloth, or maybe he already had a handkerchief, or perhaps –
"– absolutely incredible!"
The end of Midoriya's sentence caught Momo off guard. She'd gone on a mental tangent, fully prepared to believe that the boy had been put off by her use of Creation. Instead...he thought it was incredible?
Midoriya turned to face Momo directly, sitting on his knees atop the plush leather of the limo seat. No longer did he have the appearance of a nervous bunny rabbit, wary of potential danger around any and every corner. Now, his wide-eyed face positively glowed with an adorable expression of pure, childlike wonder.
"Your Quirk is amazing!" he exclaimed, though he'd made an effort to keep the volume respectable this time.
Opening his backpack, Midoriya pulled out a pair of composition notebooks. At least, Momo thought that was what they were. One of the books had clearly been through the wringer. It looked oddly...charred, perhaps? How did that happen? The boy set the weathered book on the seat, in the space between himself and Momo, and began to set about furiously writing something in the newer-looking book. The dark-haired girl stared, transfixed at the boy's sudden shift in demeanor, before realizing she'd unconsciously mirrored him, sitting on her knees atop the seat. Before she could so much as consider correcting herself, however, Midoriya looked up at her...and smiled.
Ba-bump!
Heat! Her face! Tingling! Her hand! That smile...those eyes...
W-what? What in the world?!
"Yaoyorozu-san!" the green-haired boy shouted, seemingly radiating excitement. "Would you mind telling me a little bit about your Quirk?"
Momo's mind refocused itself, and she blinked away...whatever that previous sensation had been. "T-tell you? About my Quirk?"
Midoriya nodded, motioning with one hand to the charred notebook lying between them. "I think it's a really marvelous Quirk, and want to include it in my Hero Research. I mean, wow! The ability to create things from your body! That's gotta be so useful! Are you planning to become a Pro Hero? Can you create anything, or are there limitations? Mass or material restrictions? Does the Quirk require exposed skin, or can whatever you make tear through an outer layer of clothing? Where do you get the energy to create something? Oh wait, you probably get it from processing nutrients from food, or perhaps it is a solar-powered ability..."
The youth had trailed off into a high-speed stream of incoherent mumbling under his breath, contemplations on the science of Momo's Creation having driven him into some sort of analytical overdrive. Momo, dumbfounded, could only stare. The way he mumbled had a strange, somewhat intimidating aura to it, yet the dark-haired girl found it more impressive than discomforting. To her, it made his mind seem incredibly sharp and intuitive.
He's like me, she thought. He shares that natural desire to learn; that natural love of note-taking and studying! I am absolutely certain of it!
The very idea of it caused an involuntary, giddy sort of giggle to escape her lips. At the sound, Midoriya's mumbling ceased. He looked blankly at the girl for a moment, eyes locked on her own, then immediately began to blush furiously upon the realization of what he had been doing.
""O-oh my gosh!" he exclaimed, sharply looking down at his hands. "I w-was doing it, wasn't I? I started m-mumbling to myself, d-didn't I? P-people tell me it's c-creepy...I'm very sorry! I j-just get so excited about Heroes and Q-quirks, I can get c-carried away..."
Oh, his stuttering is back, Momo noticed. I must have made him nervous by laughing like that. Control, Momo! You were taught better than this!
"It's okay, Midoriya-san. I didn't think it was creepy," the dark-haired girl spoke, with complete sincerity. "Perhaps you simply need to come off a little less...intense? Regardless, I apologize for laughing. It wasn't actually directed at you."
Momo considered the flustered boy for a moment, and looked down at the old notebook he'd made reference to earlier. "You say you do Hero Research? As in, you study the Quirks and abilities of Pro Heroes, and write down your findings in notebooks like these?"
Midoriya looked a little tense for a few brief seconds, before he sat up a bit straighter and gave a small nod. "Pro Heroes...Quirks...they fascinate me."
Momo moved to pick up the notebook, but stopped herself, hand just above it. "May I, Midoriya-san?"
"O-oh! Please, f-feel free!"
Permission gained, the girl picked up the notebook gingerly, and began to slowly leaf through the pages. Some were damaged, likely from whatever fire or explosion the book had clearly been in, but the undamaged material...
Observations and analysis accompanied surprisingly detailed sketches of Pro Heroes. Theories and postulations on the effectiveness of Quirks in certain conditions and certain settings filled entire pages, with annotations about where in Japan abilities would be most useful, and how such usefulness could be best exploited. The most amazing things, if simultaneously the most amateurish of the book's contents, were the ideas pertaining to how certain Heroes could improve their tools and suits. The drawings in these sections were more akin to doodles than proper blueprints, and the notes tended to gloss over most technical details of how some piece of gear might be developed. Yet, while Midoriya was clearly unversed in mechanical engineering, many of his points made in the notes were theoretically well-grounded.
"Midoriya-san, these notes are fantastic," Momo commented bluntly, meeting the gaze of the boy's green eyes.
"W-what?!" responded Midoriya, so taken aback with embarrassment that he waved his arms wildly in front of his rapidly reddening face. "T-that's not...I mean, it's j-just me being a Pro Hero o-otaku! Nothing special!"
"Don't say something like that! It is special!"
Momo had shouted more fiercely than she'd intended, but she didn't regret speaking her mind. This self-deprecating tendency of his was beginning to bother her, and she didn't like that. Regardless, her face heated at Midoriya's stunned silence, along with a stern look from Sebastian from the cab of the limo. With a polite cough, she composed herself.
"I apologize for my outburst, Midoriya-san," the girl said, mustering every ounce of propriety her etiquette classes had drilled into her. "I did not mean to be so rude. It was unbecoming, and I hope you'll forgive me."
"That's not true, Yaoyorozu-san," Midoriya quietly replied. His stutter seemed to have vanished again. "You were being polite, and trying to compliment me. You weren't being rude. I'm just...not used to that sort of thing, you see, so I overreacted. I'm the one who should apologize. So...sorry."
The two sat in silence for a little while, neither glancing at the other. In the end, it was the girl who acted first, nervously scratching at the back of her head as she met Midoriya's gaze once more.
"I noticed that your notes really do seem to fixate on Pro Heroes," Momo said, tapping the notebook with a finger. "You especially write a lot about Pro Heroes associated with Yuuei. Are you aiming to attend Yuuei to get a Pro Hero License?"
The question seemed to make the boy nervous, and he clasped his hands tightly together.
"I want to...become a Hero like my idol, All-Might," Midoriya said after a short while. "I want to be the sort of Hero who saves people with a reassuring smile on my face. That is my dream..."
Momo placed a hand over mouth, holding in a gasp. She could feel her eyes watering slightly. That is so moving!
"I think that's a wonderful dream!" cried Momo with a smile. "So then..."
The girl leaned in closer, almost conspiratorially, as if she was about to learn government secrets.
"...what's your Quirk, Midoriya-san?"
They were the wrong words, though she'd had no way of predicting that. The green-haired youth seemed to deflate at the question, and he looked away. To Momo's eyes, it seemed as though he were recalling a vivid memory, a bad one, and the boy squeezed his eyes tightly shut against the recollection. What could cause such a reaction? Was it that his Quirk was simplistic or unremarkable? Perhaps it was a mental enhancement Quirk, which were well-known for being difficult to apply effectively in the Pro Hero environment. His Hero Notebooks made a strong case for that theory, even if some parts weren't as detailed. A mental Quirk wouldn't get him into most Heroics courses in the nation, though there were some exceptions. Or was the problem...actually...?
Realization hit her like a lead weight dropped from five stories high. Could that truly be it?
"Midoriya-san," Momo hesitantly began, "are you Quirkless?"
Midoriya opened his eyes. Slowly, he nodded in affirmation, though he continued to look away from the dark-haired girl. He clenched his left hand repeatedly, open and closed, for a few moments. Then with a heavy sigh, he looked back to Momo. There seemed to be a fire in his eyes now, and the girl was slightly surprised at the intensity of the gaze.
"I may be Quirkless, but I'm not going to give up on my dream!" Midoriya declared with a look of steadfast determination.
Ba-bump!
That sensation again! Momo felt her pulse quicken, the tingling in her hand returning.
"I overheard some older guys talking today," Midoriya continued. "They said that students from Yuuei's Support and General Studies courses can still be transferred into Heroics under the right circumstances. So, I have decided to make that my goal. I will aim for one of those courses, and then I will prove myself in the annual Sports Festival!"
Yuuei..., Momo contemplated. So he is still going to shoot for Yuuei, even without a Quirk...
Admittedly, Midoriya didn't technically need a Quirk to be in Support. So long as he had the necessary mechanical acumen for it, such a course required no flashy powers. He would, of course, need to develop some sort of engineering skill, but that could be accomplished with access to a proper tutor. As for General Studies, Momo had no doubt he'd already be a shoe-in. She didn't know his money situation, so she couldn't speak to whether or not he could afford General Studies' costly tuition, but the green-haired youth definitely had the intellect to dominate a purely academic course. Even if he was a bit unrefined in that regard, and tended to fixate on his special interests, such an edge could still be sharpened and –
"Oh, so you do it, too..."
Momo looked up sharply, heat blossoming in her face. "D-do what?"
"Oh, um," Midoriya looked sheepishly away from her. "Sorry. You were muttering to yourself just now. Though, I don't think you give off quite the same aura when you do it. It was more like being filled with warmth merely by witnessing your sheer excitement, I guess you could say."
The dark-haired girl covered her face with both hands, as if to hide. He'd been so direct about it! Her face felt like it was on fire!
"Yaoyorozu-san?" she heard the boy say. "S-sorry! I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything."
Momo dropped her hands into her lap, shaking her head fiercely. "Not at all! I simply wasn't expecting to be called out in so blunt a manner. And...the bit about warmth..."
She felt the heat in her face intensifying, yet again. Why was this happening?! She'd never blushed so hard or consistently in her life! Was Midoriya certain he was Quirkless? He wasn't using some strange power on her, right?!
For his part, the green-haired boy seemed to have caught Momo's embarrassment. He kept his hands in his lap, shifting from side to side as he timidly looked from his clasped hands, to Momo, and back down again. It was only then that, with shock, the girl once again noticed the still-untreated injury on Midoriya's face.
"Oh, my goodness!" she shouted, rushing to open the limousine's built-in cooler. From within, she removed a water bottle. "I was so distracted that I forgot to take care of your wound! Hold still, please!"
"O-okay!" responded the Quirkless youth, going perfectly still as the girl approached him.
Momo wet the Quirk-produced handkerchief, and gently set about wiping away the dried blood and dust. Midoriya managed to remain utterly frozen in place throughout the process, though any decent glance at the poor boy could have given an onlooker reason to believe every last blood cell in his body had rushed to his face. Momo, meanwhile, was too invested in her endeavor to notice the effect her ministrations had on the youth.
Her cleaning completed, the dark-haired girl leaned in close to get a better look at the cut on Midoriya's face. It was as she thought, more a shallow scrape than anything and...
Time seemed to stop for the two teenagers as their eyes met. Momo had needed to get closer in order to effectively clean the injury, but now the pair's faces were only inches apart. Midoriya's face was already so red that, when combined with his green hair, he more resembled a tomato than a person. Now it was Momo's turn, as she felt the heat blaze in her cheeks once again. It was strange, awkward, uncomfortable, improper...yet she found herself unable to look away, lost as she was in the green of those eyes –
The screeching of tires signaled a sudden shift in momentum as the two kids, unbuckled in their seats, were sent crashing to the floor of the vehicle.
"Sebastian!" Momo exclaimed, looking back at the cab of the limousine from her position atop a dazed Izuku. "What in the world are you doing up there?!"
"Apologies, young miss," the driver said, the faintest hint of...something in his voice. Humor? "A cat leaped into the road. Had to slam the brakes, I'm afraid, else I'd have flattened the poor fellow. I am terribly sorry the jolt interrupted your...conversation...with the young sir."
No doubt about it now, Sebastian was teasing her! The two teens hadn't really been 'conversing' at all when the driver had halted the car, and he knew that perfectly well! There probably wasn't ever an actual cat in the road, even! Still, Momo was glad to have been snapped from her daze. She'd been feeling very peculiar ever since offering to give Izuku a ride home. No...no it had been even before that. She didn't have long to ponder that, however, before she noticed that Izuku hadn't sat up since the sudden stop. Two and two makes four, of course, and Momo's face turned ashen. Slowly, shakily, she looked beneath her. It was, to her great shame, exactly as she feared.
On the floor of the limo, dazed and confused and steaming from the ears, lay Midoriya Izuku...
...and Momo was currently straddling his waist.
With a high-pitched yelp, the dark-haired girl all but flash-stepped back into her seat, away from the prone body of the Quirkless boy. This allowed the youth freedom to move about again. Sluggishly, Izuku made his way off the floor and into a seat directly across from Momo. Somehow, the act of increasing the gap between the two of them only served to make the situation more awkward. Fortunately, Sebastian presented a remedy.
"We've arrived at our destination, young miss," the elderly driver stated. Swiftly, he exited the car and moved to open the door for his passengers. As he did so, the orange light of sunset filtered into the vehicle's interior.
Izuku quickly made a move to exit, only to be stopped by a light tugging on the back of his shirt.
"Wait."
The boy turned to face the girl, and he noticed the offerings held in each of her hands. In her left hand was the boy's backpack. In her right hand was the girl's handkerchief, wrapped around some lumpy bulk and tied off at the end. She had filled it with ice from the cooler.
""The school-year starts tomorrow," Momo softly spoke. "You don't want to forget your backpack. The ice is for the swelling, of course."
Silently, the boy accepted the proffered bag and icepack, though neither he nor Momo seemed to notice how their fingers strayed to brush one another's during the exchange.
"I never answered your original questions," the dark-haired girl said. "About my Quirk, I mean. Perhaps we can discuss it some other time. But I do have something I wish to say before you go. I also intend to become a Pro Hero. And when I attend high school...it will be at Yuuei."
She looked directly into Izuku's eyes then, smiling gently. "When I do, I think I'd like it very much if we were schoolmates. After meeting you today, I know...I know that you can become a great Hero...Midoriya-kun."
If the boy noticed the new honorific, he did not show it. Rather, he simply placed the icepack on his face, slung his backpack over one shoulder, and gave Momo a positively enormous smile. In the light of the setting sun, Izuku seemed to glow.
Ba-bump!
"Thank you very much for everything, Yaoyorozu-san, Sebastian-san!" replied the Quirkless boy. "I'll work very hard from this point forward!"
And within moments, the boy had retreated into his residence, and Momo was left alone inside the limousine. Exhaling a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, she plopped back into one of the seats, sprawling out along its entire surface. She'd have been scolded for her unladylike posture for certain, had she been at home. For now, she simply relaxed. Idly, she fully extended her right arm in front of her, hand open as if to grasp something just out of reach. The hand still seemed to tingle with the memory of that strange sensation.
"Midoriya...Izuku-kun, huh?"
Shaking her head, she sat back up in her seat, and went about straightening her outfit and fixing her hair. It wasn't until she was finished that her gaze happened to fall upon the object lying on the carpeted floor.
A composition notebook, battered and charred.
Oh, no! I forgot to put the book in his backpack!
The girl began to turn toward the cab to tell Sebastian they should return to Izuku's home, only to find herself stopping halfway. With a quiet cough, she returned to a proper seated position, facing away from where Sebastian was seated at the wheel of the limo. The notebook rested in her lap, Momo's right hand resting atop the cover.
It won't hurt, she thought with a smile, to return it tomorrow. After school.
Midoriya Izuku greeted his mother briefly as he came through the doorway of their home, but avoided the inevitable barrage of questions. Instead, he ran straight to his room, closing the door hastily behind him, and collapsing to his knees on the floor. The icepack and backpack fell from his hands as he stared up at the ceiling.
Today had been the greatest day of Izuku's life. He had learned that his dreams could be achieved! He'd met somebody amazing and wonderful! Said somebody, a girl, had saved him from Bakugou! He had talked to a girl! But, more importantly than that...more important than her help, her kindness, her genuine interest, her soft smile, or her beautiful eyes – none of which he'd soon forget! – he would always remember that one thing. The most precious words he'd ever been told in his entire life, words that even his own mother had never spoken to him...
"I know that you can become a great Hero...Midoriya-kun."
The dam broke, and the tears Midoriya Izuku had held back from the moment Yaoyorozu Momo had spoken those words to him flowed from his eyes like twin waterfalls.
Author's Note: Thank you all very much for reading, so far. I was absolutely shocked at the response this story received, even only a day after publishing it here. Needless to say, after that sort of response, I felt like I needed to get the second chapter out as soon as possible. I cannot promise that updates will always be so fast. My goal is to release new chapters within 1-2 weeks of each other.
With that said, a few quick remarks before I leave you. You will probably be noticing small changes here and there with regard to the characters of Izuku and Momo. These are, mostly, intentional. I have plans for their development over the course of the year until the entrance exam. Even so, I''m sure that there may be little errors here and there along the way. I do not use a beta, and I prefer it that way, so the story is pretty much presented as-is unless I screw up something major later on.
As far as the relationship between Izuku and Momo, and how far and fast it will progress, this is ultimately a bit on the side of slow-burn. There will be no sexy times for these two characters right away, even once we reach the point of the canon, I think. Then again, who knows what the future holds? Beyond that, I will not say. I think that part of the romance is not knowing how each interaction will play out.
Anyway, please feel free to follow, favorite, or leave a review. Every response helps me to stay motivated and keep on schedule. As a challenge, see if you can pinpoint where it is in this chapter that Momo's perception of Izuku somewhat shifts (hint: it's actually before she switches to the -kun honorific). I look forward to providing what I hope shall be a fun read for you all.
Sincerely,
~ Sophie ~