Hey there, it's ya boi coming in again with another chapter for this trainwreck. Betcha didn't expected that, huh? HUH?!
But ye, I'm getting shit rolling right now or at least hoping to if I can stop being garbage for a sec.
I've been noticing some people asking why I keep using 'would' so much and there's a very simple explanation for that! I suck! It's a bad habit! I'm trying to iron it out so have some patience with ya boi, I promise I suck like 5% less with each chapter
Oh and bladetri! Yeah, you! Where the fuck is my 'like XD' huh? You post one every chapter, but you missed chapter 7 and now I want it! Please! I need my like XDs to live!
Cringe apart, enjoy the chapter, smash the favorite and follow button like it's on the Switch and post a review, that 100 review mark is looking mad juicy right now so help your local degenerate out
Breathe in...breathe out...slowly...let the thoughts flow...
"Come on, young Midorya, you can do better than that!"
Don't hang up a line of thought for too long, just let it come...then let it go…
"Too far again, put some more grit into it, I know you can do it."
Don't try to block the thoughts...just let them flow freely without being dominated by them…
"Don't worry about it, young Midorya...I'm sure you'll get it eventually."
Izuku fell over on his back with a loud grunt as both of his hands fell to each side of his body, fingers digging into the grassy green ground that covered most of the park as he tried to keep his eyes focused on the cloudy blue of the sky as to not have to meet Uraraka's calm gaze that fell upon him as she opened a single eyelid.
"You know, Izuku, you've been really agitated these past couple of weeks." the girl said as she slowly floated past the fallen green haired teen while taking deep breaths to stave off the incoming nausea that was slowly building inside her gut "Something on your mind?"
"Eh, it's nothing…" he waved the girl off with a soft blush as he tried to not stare at her backside too much, something that was quite difficult since, you know, it was levitating right over his face.
"You were doing pretty good at meditation when we started." she added in between another set of slow, deep breaths "If it was really 'nothing' it wouldn't be getting in the way."
Her only response would be a disgruntled grumble from the boy, which wouldn't suffice for the anti-gravity girl as she opened her eyes and turned around to look down at him and give him a couple of pokes on the cheek "Come on! We know each other for a while now, you can tell me!"
"It's nothing much, I swear…" Izuku said while looking away from Ochako with a soft sigh "I guess I just hit a bit of a wall on my training is all…"
A bit of a wall...more like a huge plateau from how long it had been going on. No matter what the teen did, he couldn't let it stop bugging him, that demon followed his every step. He still remembered where it all began, the first day he started that dreaded part of his training.
Footwork.
"Alright, now you hold onto this!" All Might exclaimed as he handed Izuku some kind of strap, it looked like a belt of sorts, except for the fact this one had a rope that connected to another belt, much like the one he had just been handed "And strap in, my boy!"
"Not that I dislike your training methods, but…" Midorya said sheepishly as he watched his tutor strap in on the opposite end of the rope with a raised brow of confusion before he shrugged and followed suit, tightening the strap around his waist "I g-guess I just didn't figure out what is this thing for yet."
"Hah! It is not an issue, my pupil!" All Might exclaimed with a powerful chuckle as he ruffled the teen's hair before standing straight and flexing his bulging muscles "I shall explain now! Today we start training your footwork! Now, tell me what you know about the therm!"
"Well...from my research, footwork is in general the movement you use with your legs, it could be in dodging, controlling spacing, keeping balance, adding momentum to strikes, but not limited to those therms, if I were to ge more in dept with it…" Izuku said as he began to mumble incoherently, spouting martial arts lingo, some of which Toshinori didn't even know. That's the power of Izuku's research and it took a few pokes to the forehead to snap him out of encyclopedia mode. "Oof...I did it again, didn't I?" he asked with a blush
"It's fine, and you're not wrong, just...unpassionate with your explanation." the blond explained with a shuffle of his hands, before continuing as he noticed his protege's confused expression "Personally, I see footwork as more of a dance with your opponent. Every move has a calculated rhythm to it, but also a sensation. Sometimes you can't just dance with textbook moves, sometimes you just have to go with the feeling."
"That...makes sense." Izuku would nod before looking back down at the rope that kept the two of them connected with a confused muddling in his eyes "But what's this for?"
"Now that...let me show you…" All Might would say with his usual bright smile before he suddenly snapped forwards towards the boy, his fist cocked and ready as the teen's instincts kicked into high gear as he screamed, trying to leap backwards out of the way of the punch.
Only to be stopped by the rope. With a few blinks he would notice his teacher's fist a mere inches from his face, stopped just before it hit him before the hand opened to pat his head.
"See, that's what I want to fix." The older man would lean down to be face to face with his student "When you see a hit coming, your first instinct is to get as far out of the way as possible."
"I mean...yeah, that's what you do, right...?" Midorya would ask sheepishly "No one wants to get hit."
"You're supposed to get out of the way, but not by jumping back like that. It's a punch, not a bomb." All Might's gaze would pierce into the green haired teen's eyes, making him gulp awkwardly "I want to tighten your comfort zone and the closer to you it gets, the more possibilities open up to you!"
"Tighten my...comfort zone?" Izuku looked up at his tutor with a raised brow
"Right now you're probably comfortable with a punch being, what? Probably a whole mile away from you!" he said with a hearty laugh as he stretched his fist out in a very slow motion imitating a punch heading right for Izuku's face. Which the boy would awkwardly lean out of the way of, just like his teacher wanted him to "I want you to be comfortable with strikes being an inch from touching you, I don't want you leaping away from them, I want you weaving around them, then you'll have plenty of opportunity to capitalize on your opponent's mistakes!"
"Oh, I get it now!" Izuku said with a smile "That's just how boxers do it, they step out of the way only as much as they have to so they can counter!"
"Exactly! That's what we're going to train you to do!" All Might exclaimed with a smile "And that's what this rope is for!"
"Huh...oh...oh no…"
"With this strapped on, you'll always be at arm's reach from me, which means you will be forced to give up your habit of jumping out of the way!" the blond explained with a big smile "It is All Might's brute force training techniche! I call it: The American Way!"
Izuku's daydreaming would be interrupted by Ochako's nausea coming over her like a trainwreck as she suddenly covered her mouth and was forced to break her telekinesis from herself as she fell down face first on top of the green haired teen with a cute squeak.
Both teens took a moment to shake away the dizziness from what had just happened before letting out an awkward laugh as they proceeded to evade each other's gazes as the color red became more apparent on their cheeks.
"Hehe, oopsie…" Ochako said with a sheepish smile...though she wasn't exactly in a hurry to move as Izuku felt rather nice and...warm.
And on the opposite end, though Izuku knew he should probably help her up and off of him, he'd be lying if he said she didn't look like the cutest thing he'd ever seen from this position and she felt so soft against him, especially a certain part of her that felt rather nice and pillowy against his chest.
"N-No worries...y-you're not hurt, right?"
"Naaaah, naaaaah, pffft, it was like...just a few inches, hehehe…" Ochako replied all flustered as she tried to play it off as a casual thing...yeah, this was casual, just a couple of buds hanging out on top of each other, that's what friends did, they hung out on top of their friends...on top of their...adorable and...unexpectedly toned friends? Was that a six pack she was feeling under his shirt?
"Good….good...that's uhh...that's very good, heh…" Izuku replied equally, if not more embarrassed than the girl as he tried to get a grip and make sure his hands didn't go anywhere they weren't supposed to...even if it was tempting to test how soft it all seemed…
The pair didn't notice, but they spent quite a few moments in that position, just staring into each other's eyes for a seconds, unmoving, not even an inch until…
"Are you guys dating or something?"
Immediately the two of them snapped back and up from the floor, a machine gun of excuses rattling from their mouths 'She just fell' 'We're just friends' 'Nothing happened' 'Oh, look at the weather!', all at once in a manner that was barely distinguishable until the both of them realized who the voice belonged to.
"Tsuyu?!" They would both say in unison, before pointing at each other "You know her?!"
"Hey guys." The frog girl would ribbit, unphased by the entire situation. She was wearing a cute, green summer dress and a pair of sandals, perfect for this sunny day.
"Of course I know her!" the anti gravity girl would pipe up first as she stepped closer to the frog girl with a smile "Me and Tsuyu have been friends ever since we were little kids!"
Tsuyu, however, only gave a slight smile and a nod, while keeping her characteristically fish eyed stare as usual "Yep."
"Oh...that's nice! Small world, I guess." Midorya chuckled as he patted the dirt off of his clothes as he stood back up
"How do you two know each other?" Ochako asked the frog girl, who would bring a finger to her chin in thought for a moment as she recalled the events
"Izuku fell off a rock, then I teached him how to climb it properly."
That was...an answer. Uraraka smiled awkwardly as she glanced at Izuku, who had an embarrassed expression on his face, but still he nodded because, that was what happened...kinda.
"What were you guys doing here?" the frog girl broke the silence with her question
"Oh, me and Izuku are meditation partners! He's helping me with it so I don't get too sick in the stomach from using my quirk."
"And she's been doing pretty great at it, I'm pretty sure you're lasting much longer with it active!" Izuku said as he patted the girl's back, causing her to blush brightly with a smile.
"Heheheeeee…~"
"Cool." Asui nodded before gesturing backwards and out of the park with a blink "You guys wanna head to that cafe nearby? I was gonna stop by there before going home."
"S-Sure, but we probably won't be able to get anything too calo-" Izuku would begin to say before being pushed aside by Uraraka as she threw her arms up with a defying shout
"PIE!"
"Mmmmmh, this one's even better than the one I had before!" Ochako giggled to herself with a mouth shamelessly filled with pumpkin pie and ice cream, the little devil.
Tsuyu on the other hand, enjoyed herself a milkshake while Izuku, being the lawful dork he was, was having a chicken salad sandwich, one which he had to stress with the waiter to make sure it wouldn't have anything that's make him accidentally cheat on his diet inside it.
"Come ooooooon Izuku, just have a bite of mine! It's heaven!" Ochako would laugh, currently lovestruck with her cheat meal while the green haired young man sweated under his clothes
"I-I'm fine, r-rea-" he would begin to say before being interrupted again by Asui stuffing a forkful of pie into his open mouth. He would complain about it...if he wasn't busy acknowledging how good it was to eat something this sweet after weeks of non stop, calculated diet "Oh goodness…" he'd say under his breath in between chews "Okay, I know how you two feel now!"
After a group wide laugh the trio would relax into idle chatter as they enjoyed their afternoon snack. Nothing like an afternoon among friends to ease off the stress of the day-to-day.
Well...for most of them. Not for one Izuku Midorya, for even now he still felt his mind drifting back to what troubled him.
"Keep up the rhythm, young Midorya, you're falling out of line!" he heard All Might's voice echo out after he got bopped on the face again by his gloved fist.
The symbol of peace never hurt the teen, for that he had to be thankful, he always held back right at the point of collision and merely bumped him. The action didn't hurt, but it pushed him back and after being hit with enough of them, wore him out and left him dazed.
He was doing his best, but it was a struggle as he tried to dodge while at the same time fighting with his own body so he didn't snap back like he used to. Tighten the comfort zone, that was the mantra.
But he was so tired. They had been doing this for an hour now, the second set today and his body was drenched in sweat, legs quivering and his eyes were half lidded and murky as he shook his head every so often to snap his senses back into gear as he was grazed by another punch.
"I think that's good for today, you're all tuckered out." the blond hero said with a bright smile as he patted the tired teen's head "You've earned some rest, young Midorya."
"N-No...I can...I can keep going." the green haired teen said in between deep huffs as he wiped some sweat off his forehead "Come on, one more set, then we'll call it."
"Young man, I admire your attitude, but you're too tired. You can barely stand. Training in that state won't get us any results."
"B-But...I have to! It's been weeks since we started and I still can't do it right!" the green haired teen almost screamed with his trembling voice as he stumbled on his step before forcing himself to rise up straight again "It feels like I'm still on level one...so come on, just one more set….I can take it!"
"Izuku…" the number one hero sighed as he searched for the right words to use in a situation like this.
"No! I know what you're going to say!" the boy would exclaim, the tears of frustration starting to build in his eyes as all of the pent up stress finally started overflowing out of the bottle he kept it shut tight inside of "But I have to push myself...if I don't...I need to make it…" the teen clenched his eyes shut to stop the tears from flowing out as he tried to hold a strong gaze in front of his tutor. He had to be strong, like a hero.
All Might would let out a sigh as a puff of steam allowed his form to deflate into his true, weakened self as he stepped forward, raising his hands a bit awkwardly for a few seconds before pulling the young man into a hug as he ruffled his hair "It's okay, young Midorya...it might not seem like it, but you're doing great. You're making a lot of progress."
"Then why does it feel like I'm getting nowhere...I'm doing my best...I'm tired of letting people down…" Izuku finally let his stance down as he hugged the man back, clutching him tightly as he held back tears and just sniffled quietly.
"Some things take time, more time than we wish them to...it's hard, but you just have to respect your own time. You'll get there if you don't give up...but overworking yourself won't fix anything."
"I just don't know what else to do...it feels like by now I should be able to do it right…" the young man pleaded in a quivering voice.
"I know...and believe it or not, I've been through it too...eventually you get it, but until then it feels like it's out of your reach." Toshinori explained as he held the teen in his arms while letting his fatherly instincts take over him "Maybe we can change your training a bit, sometimes you just need to try out something new."
"Something new?"
"Yeah, like...something that might even sound like a bad idea or a waste of time to you. Sometimes the way forward is through a door you thought didn't lead anywhere."
"A-Alright, if you say so...what are we trying?"
"That's for me to figure out and for you to not worry about." the thin, bony man said as he finally let the teen go before patting him on the head with a smile "Now, until our next session I want you to relax, okay? Cut yourself a break, you deserve it."
"I'm gonna head to the bathroom, be back in a sec!" Uraraka said, her movements as she got up from her seat snapping Izuku out of his trance as he blinked a couple of times
"O-Oh...alright."
That was all that was said before a few seconds of longing, awkward silence was heard, save for the slurps coming from the frog girl as she finished her milkshake. That's kind of what happens when you zone out of half of the conversation like he did.
"Are you and Ochako a thing?" Asui suddenly blurted out in a very blunt manner, as per usual to her.
"W-What..? N-No! We're uhh...we're just friends!" Izuku raised his hands defensively in front of him
"Okay, good." the green haired girl said before going right back to her drink as if nothing had happened, totally ignoring the leftover awkwardness in the air.
"Hehe...y-yeah...why? Were you jealous or something?" Midorya would joke as he tried to break the embarrassment leftover inside him.
"Hnnn...m-maybe." Tsuyu answered with a faint blush without taking her eyes off her glass, which thankfully for Izuku meant she couldn't see his expression of blushed surprise at what she had just said to him as his mouth was left agape
"I-I...w-wha...O-Oh hey Ochako!" he laughed awkwardly as the anti gravity girl walked back to her seat from her trip to the restroom
"So, what did I miss?" she'd ask after sitting down with a sigh
"O-Oh...n-nothing." the boy would say, noticing the occasional glances Asui threw towards him with the faint tinge of red still flaring her cheeks