note: changed the story name from "the jaws of futility" to "four past two" because i doubt anyone would get the reference. (it's from. homestuck.)

uhhh god i had a whole thing where i explained why vig deku is taking a while to get to but i can't link it on so tl;dr vigilante deku is not the focus of the story but you can expect it in 2-3 chapters. well. 1-2 now. hopefully. hopefully. shit never goes as planned.

Izuku isn't doing much right now. Just. Laying on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, and trying to find shapes in its popcorn texture. There's a chicken, there's a boot, there's a knife, there's a cow. When he hears the door creaking open, though, he first stills, before quietly stepping over to his closet. It takes him a few seconds to find it, and just like that, he's armed with a steel bat. Whoever calls his mom a needlessly worried person is a fool that will have him to speak to.

The last thing he's supposed to do is approach the intruder, but, hell. He's too anxious to sit still and wait for them to come to him. Upon stepping out into, he catches sight of a very specific shade of green. Midoriya green. Izuku drops his bat, saying the first thing that comes to him, "Ma-ow", he yelps. Yeah, leave it to good old Deku to drop a steel bat on his toes.

"Izuku!" Inko exclaims, running to the fridge, while Izuku curses under his breath. She comes back with an ice pack, pushing Izuku towards the couch. "Sit, sit." She says fretfully, giving him the ice pack and stacking up some pillows for him to lie his feet on.

The classic Midoriya welcome. "Ma, you never told me you were going to come home," Izuku whines.

Inko opened her messages with Izuku on her phone and showed it to him, "I texted you two days ago!"

Huh. Izuku took the phone out of her hands, to look at the message. Oh wait. He's stupid. "The nearby cell phone towers are down for repairs, some villain took them all down overnight."

Inko deeply sighs, "Honestly, all these villains are always causing so much damage!" She sits down at the end of the couch, where there's a little bit of space next to where his feet are resting.

"Wait," Izuku comes to a realization, "If you're home, then is..." He leaves the statement hanging in the air.

Inko smiles, "Hisashi is awake and kicking, earlier than they thought he'd be. He maxed out on the insurance provided for him by the, um, agency he works for and the individual insurance plan only works inside of Asia, so..."

Izuku bites his lip. He feels like he isn't being told the full story, and he could care less about insurance, but...There's a question that's been bouncing around his head for years. It seems like there's no time better than now to ask it, so he does. "Why won't he come home?"

The smile on Inko's face freezes, before melting into a somber sort of expression. "He's...Your dad is...He's always been a free spirit. He climbed to the top of Mount Fuji in his first year of university, the first moment that he could get away from his parents. I don't think there is any way to get him to settle down in a single place and just stay there."

"But we're here!" Izuku exclaims, making a wide gesture with his hands before covering his mouth. He continues, more softly, "Can't he even visit?" He might not feel much for Hisashi, but he's hurt that his father doesn't even consider Izuku worth coming home for. He hasn't seen his father for so long that he can't even remember the last time the three Midoriyas acted like a complete family. When he was four, maybe. His last memory of the guy is of the two of them on the balcony, as he tried to huff and puff and blow some fire out of his lungs. Obviously it didn't work, and Inko ended up stepping out onto the balcony to give his dad an unimpressed look.

Inko hums, getting up from the couch and walking towards a bookshelf in the living room. "I've never really told you about your father, have I?" When she comes back, there's a photo album in her hands. Inko kneels down by Izuku, flipping the photo album and showing him the first few pages. "See, here's us hiking the trail to Machu Picchu, and here's us in Qingqing City in China, you know, where the first quirk appeared. Oh, and here we're backpacking on a beach trail, I'd never been more glad to be on solid ground after that."

He'd say something about her avoiding his question, but Izuku can't really complain. Inko loves those photo albums with all of her heart, but she always looks through them in the privacy of her room. Izuku kind of assumed that they were off-limits to him by the time he was ten. It means a lot, that she's sharing these past moments with him. This is an entire new side of his mom that he's seeing, right now. The adventurous Inko who backpacks on beaches and takes pictures of dead whales and stuff. Even if she doesn't let him see that particular picture.

Honestly, though, he's just glad to have his mother back.

After the Sports Festival, Izuku has very much come to appreciate the existence of Uraraka Ochako. For a week or two, he had been pretty fucked up over the idea that, contrary to his belief, Kacchan is not in fact invincible. It's strange. "Kacchan does not lose," had practically been a law of nature, an unshatterable reality (a survival mechanism) for Izuku in the past twelve years of his life. And then Uraraka just came along, said, "Hey. Fuck that," and then metaphorically—and almost physically—punted his ass into the stratosphere. There was an almost strange sort of glee in watching her match against Kacchan. Watching the fire in her eyes, seeing the moment that Kacchan's eyes became so, so desperate.

To say that Izuku respects Uraraka is a bit of an understatement. He's half-tempted to make fan-made merchandise based on her and post it on his Herobubble. The reason that he doesn't is because he has every intention of meeting her. Stopping himself from doing it is a sorry attempt to dial down his admiration of her before it evolves into full-blown fanaticism. In the past, he'd definitely scared off the very small minority of people who were willing to befriend him by doing that.

Would she even like to be his friend, though? Izuku doesn't really have a lot going for him. Otherwise he'd, y'know, actually have friends. . He'd like to say Kanai randomly texting him at 4 AM about the latest conspiracy theory counts as friendship, but the only other the two of them interact is through awkward waves in the school hallway. But outside of that, it's really just...Daichi, with his mid-jog rants, and Fumiko, with her giant collection of crocheted hero dolls. He read on the internet somewhere that it's kind of sad if you're a teenager who considers grown ass adults your friends but...to be fair, they're good company.

Regardless of all of his lingering doubts, Izuku still gets a chance to at least try at friendship with Uraraka. It's actually a bit of an inevitability. Now that his mom is home, the Urarakas and Midoriyas frequently gather to eat meals together or just hang out. Uraraka would have to come home to meet her parents eventually, wouldn't she? It isn't too far-fetched to think that one of these days, she'd join the four of them for dinner.

They don't meet over dinner, though. Rather, they meet when Uraraka is practicing using a slingshot with zero-gravity ammo. He came out onto the balcony to get a breath of fresh air, not to have a rock narrowly miss head. But hey, that's just life, isn't it?

"Sorry!" A voice calls from the balcony to the right of him. Izuku turns to see exactly one (1) Uraraka Ochako covering her mouth with a very guilty expression on her face, a slingshot held in her other hand. Her hair is tied into a ponytail in a way, face still framed by her long side bangs, and she's wearing a loose pink shirt with black athletic shorts.

Izuku immediately loses any semblance of chill that he had gained standing on the balcony, because oh my god he is talking to a girl he is talking to Uraraka Ochako oh my god. "Can I get your autograph?" Izuku yelps, covering his mouth for a moment before he starts barreling ahead in a squeaky voice, "Oh my god, that's a stupid question. I'm sorry, please just ignore everything I said. I'm just going to go inside, bye!"

He's almost through the door when Uraraka's voice stops him. "Wait, don't go!" Izuku slowly turns towards her, pointing at himself as if to say, Who, me? "You're Midoriya, aren't you? Mom and Dad have been talking about your family a lot. I've been wanting to meet you, let's go talk over coffee or something!" Wait, what? Somehow, Izuku manages to stutter out an agreement, and half an hour later, the two of them are dressed properly and walking to a nearby cafe. It's a place called Cafe Futhe. He's never actually been there, mostly because he's never really been anywhere in his three months of living in Mie Prefecture. Not that he has anyone to go to these places with.

He...isn't sure how this works. The best that he manages is awkwardly looking over to Uraraka, who seems to be marching forward with a purpose. Are they supposed to be talking about something, or is he just supposed to follow her? To his relief, it's her that starts the conversation. "So, which school are you going to?" She glances over at him.

"Oh! Umm...Hibiya High School!"

This time, Uraraka whips her head back to look at him, "Hibiya? You must be so smart!"

Izuku waves his hands in front of his face, shaking his head vehemently, "No! I just...got in! Yeah! I mean it's nothing compared to Yuuei!"

Uraraka gives him an incredulous look, "Hibiya. One of the best academic schools in the country. Yuuei's just got the money to wave around."

"Okay, sure," Izuku concedes, "But it's still impressive, considering Yuuei gets tens of thousands of applicants apply every year. I mean, sure I got into Hibiya, but I also applied to Yuuei and di-," He pauses, reconsidering his words. "They're super choosey, so the fact that you even got past the application process is impressive!"

Uraraka scrunches her face, "I guess when you put it like that." To Izuku's relief, she doesn't comment on the part where he mentioned applying to Yuuei. It's still a bit of a sore spot.

When they arrive at the cafe, Izuku realizes that it's an area that he's passed by a lot during his jogs with Daichi. He's never really taken the moment to appreciate the surrounding though. Cafe Futhe is a rather quaint little shop that sits near the top of a hill. It takes a bit of a hike to get there, but Izuku and Uraraka don't work up too much of a sweat trying to get there. At some point on the path there, the cement road turns into a little dirt trail that cuts through grass and trees. At the end of the path sits Cafe Futhe, amongst the grass and weeds. Little tables sit on the front porch, offering a nice place to sit and eat for those who want to appreciate the surrounding.

It's so out of the way that Izuku has to wonder how it gets any business, muttering the thought under his breath. Apparently he said it loudly enough for her to overhear it, because Uraraka laughs, "It really shouldn't. But us locals love it enough to go here regardless. Once it got wrecked in a villain attack when I was five, and everybody pitched in to get it back up and running. Mom and Dad offered to have the company put the building back together again." Izuku glances over at her, seeing the sheer love in her eyes as she gazes towards the building. It feels like he's intruding on a moment between her and the cafe. "I wanted to visit it because I haven't been here since before the school year started, and I figured you'd never visited it. Two birds with one stone, yeah?" She looks straight into his eyes and gives him a blinding smile. For a moment, he's sure that he's looking right into the sun. He can't be blamed for looking away.

He stumbles a bit as Uraraka takes his hand and tugs him inside. The door gives a little chime, as the two of them enter the cozy interior of the cafe. It's small and empty, save for the girl playing on her phone behind the counter. Izuku's eyes are drawn towards a little mounted chalkboard with the most popular items written on it, as Uraraka and the girl at the counter start enthusiastically talking to each other. He's honestly a bit dazed because of all of the new experiences, so it takes him some time to actually read what's on the chalkboard. The two of them are still talking to each other by the time he decides on something to get, so he pulls out his phone to check the latest hero news. Before he can actually get into it, Uraraka turns and talks to him, "Midoriya! This is Asatani Kaori, we're pretty close childhood friends! I guess she started working here."

Asatani waves at him, looking a bit bored, "Heya. She drag you here?" Izuku doesn't know how to respond to that, so he doesn't, "You want a drink or something?"

"I, uh...Sure," he says, and gives her his order. She nods, pulling out two cups and starting to prepare the drinks. Uraraka must have ordered something while he was busy spacing out at the blackboard. It's easy to see what she's doing, because all of the supplies she needs are in a room behind the counter. He doesn't understand what she does, but his attention is focused on the way that milks pours out of the tip of her finger as she makes the drinks. Izuku...doesn't ask about the quirk, because then he wouldn't be able to stop himself from asking where the milk comes from. Izuku has learned the hard way that asking people about quirk-related bodily secretions usually winds up badly for him. His old classrooms suddenly started smelling a lot more when he learned that Kacchan's quirk is basically explosive sweat.

As soon as Asatani asks for the money, he whips out the bills he had crumpled in his palm and blurts, "I'm paying!"

Asatani looks over to Uraraka, who looks ready to protest, a lazy grin slowly stretching over her face. "He wins."

"Kaori!" Uraraka huffs, crossing her arms, but thankfully doesn't protest too much. "Fine. Be like that, but I'm spamming you with you know what later." Asatani's face goes from smug to horrified in a flat second. When Uraraka turns to go outside with her drink held in her hand, Izuku trails after her, bringing the drink and pastry he ordered.

As they sit, Izuku offers her one of the forks that he grabbed from inside. "We can share this!"

"Oh!" Uraraka says, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's a little too big for me to eat," Izuku lies, borrowing one of the tricks his mom uses to make people accept her kindness. It works, and the two of them share the cake as they talk about random things. Comfortable, safe, ice-breaking topics.

Uraraka has a kind of relaxing presence to her. It's impressive, how quickly Izuku settles into conversation with her despite the misgivings he has about...well, a whole lot of things. Talking to her is easy, almost natural.

Perhaps too natural, because he starts accidentally fanboying over her. "Oh my god, you were so impressive in the Sports Festival, you and Shinsou definitely deserved being moved into the heroics course."

She gives him a smile, but doesn't look into his eyes, "Yeah, I'm really glad to be in the heroics course now, but...I don't know if I really deserve it. Everyone's always saying Wonder Duo this, Wonder Duo that, but I couldn't even fight my final match. At least Shinsou actually fought against Todoroki." Uraraka looks down into the empty cup in her hands, squeezing it a bit more tightly.

"But you do!" The words spill out of his mouth rapidly, because by god does he believe that Uraraka deserves it. "You made an advantage for yourself in a situation where you were given nothing to work with. You managed to beat someone who is naturally equipped with a weapon. I think you would have totally destroyed him if it weren't a tournament style battle, maybe in a building sort of setting. Granted, it's hard to say, when there's so many different factors at play in actual battle, as well as the added factor that you're both heroes-in-training." Izuku taps his fingers on the table and bites his lips in an attempt to make his point short, "Anyway, what I'm saying is it's super impressive that you managed what you did without any of the training the hero course kids got. And...that guy has been training his whole life."

Uraraka considers his words for a moment, before replying, "You know him?" Damn it, Izuku was trying to make it seem like he doesn't know Kacchan.

"Oh, no!" Izuku quickly covers up his error, "I just saw someone...interview one of his old friends? Yeah. Should we head back or something?" He says, trying to distract her from his terrible lie. The two of them have been at this cafe for a while now, their drinks having been finished for at least an hour, so it isn't necessarily a concern brought out of nowhere.

Uraraka gets up suddenly, her face a little shocked, "Oh my god, time passed so quickly! Let's head back to the apartment building." The two of them carry the cups and plates inside just to be nice to Asatani, and start walking back.

When he catches the sight of a battle between the Pro Hero Air Jet and a villain with a rock-looking mutation quirk, he does something that he should be ashamed of in the company of someone he's just met for the first time.

"Wait, can we watch this?" Izuku asks Uraraka, tugging at the sleeve of her shirt, anxious to see the fight unfold.

"Sure!" Izuku beams at her, glad that she appears to be okay with waiting a bit longer before getting back to the apartment building.

Browsing The Guard's Archives so frequently has introduced him to a new sort of hobby, one that is perhaps an evolution of his previous interests. Chasing down hero fights is fun and all, but there's only so much he can do with the notes that he takes on the scene and detailed analyses he makes afterwards.

As Izuku gets his phone out, he surveys his surroundings. There aren't too many people near this street, save for the two of them and a mother tugging her child away. He lifts up his phone and presses the record button, deciding that there isn't anyone who's going to call him out for recording this.

Unless, of course, you're Uraraka. "Isn't that illegal?" She whispers, though her face gives no signs that she actually cares about him breaking this particular law.

She's right tho, it is illegal. It's been illegal for some time now. The law was put into place maybe one or two years after the pro hero career went from a highly controversial topic in the new era of quirks to every kid's dream career. It isn't chasing after hero fights that's against the law, because one of the biggest things keeping the hero industry afloat is the lack of appropriate limitations on observing hero fights. After all, less publicity means less cash flow for a pro hero, and the same applies to the entire industry of pro heroics.

What is illegal, though, is recording fights like these without the type of recording license that only news stations get, for a number of reasons. Sure, it's dangerous, but there's more to it than that. News stations and the hero industry work on a bit of a "you scratch our back, and we'll scratch yours" basis. Because of that, it's not hard for the public relations sector of a hero agency to contact news stations and get them to pull any footage they have on a certain fight where...say, a pro hero like Endeavor causes massive property damage. After that, blaming it on the villain or on unavoidable circumstances is a lot easier to do with only witness accounts to go off of. Your ordinary civilian, though? Leave them alone with half a minute of incriminating footage, and suddenly, you've got a scandal on your hands.

Izuku really isn't trying to a be a revolutionary with this, though. He's just become a little less averse to breaking the law after a thread on The Guard's Archives informed him on the rationale for this particular law. If he's already been living on the edge by watching battles like these, he might as well milk it for all its worth.

The battle concludes with an easy victory for Air Jet, after the villain receives an air-propelled kick to the groin. It looks like being rocky isn't enough for the villain to protect his...softer regions. Thankfully, the part of the fight that Izuku and Uraraka got to see was only three minutes long, because his phone is starting to run out of storage.

"What are you going to do with the video?" Izuku almost leaps into the air at that, having forgotten that Uraraka is with him.

Izuku scratches the back of his neck, a bit self-conscious about his hobbies. "When I get home, I'm going to analyze the video to see how Air Jet's support equipment aids him in redirecting his Air Propulsion quirk," He waits for the usual

'That's weird', or the 'You really think that'll help you become a hero?'.

He forgets that Uraraka is not one of his old classmates, that know about his status as a quirkless person, or his old aspirations to be a hero. Instead, he gets, "Aizawa-sensei is always telling us to look at old footage for any techniques that would work for us, but I could never! It's really cool that you can do that without anyone telling you to."

He almost trips on flat concrete because of that comment, but Uraraka grabs his arm and uses her quirk to keep him from falling. It'll take years before Izuku stops reliving the embarrassment of the scene in his head, but he can at least manage to seem like he isn't currently dying of shame. "R-really?"

"Yeah," Uraraka nods with strong conviction, "But wouldn't it be better to use a camcorder if this is something you do often?"

Izuku rectifies his previous statement that Uraraka is merely impressive. She isn't just impressive, she's a goddamn genius. With a camcorder, he can not only record hours of footage to look back at and analyze without worrying about storage, but he can also upload high-quality videos to the footage forum of The Guard's Archives. Inko is perhaps a little confused about why Izuku wants a camcorder for his 16th birthday of all things, but she ends up getting him one anyway.

Two weeks after they meet, Uraraka goes back to Yuuei for their yearly summer training camp.

A few days into the training camp, Shinsou Hitoshi is kidnapped by the League of Villains, and social media goes into an absolute frenzy.

Three days after Shinsou's kidnapping, the paragon of hero society crumbles in front of the world, and Izuku is left feeling so fucking lost.

um. i had stuff to say. wow, i'm so used to having so much to say in a/ns that i end up having to pick what to cut out. hmmm let's see. oh yeah. shinsou got kidnapped instead of bakugou. not for any particular narrative reason, that's how shit worked out. guess that's what happens when you change most of the sports festival.

ummm yeah this chapter was delayed by a week because this chapter was kicking me in the ass. i hope it wasn't as boring for you to read as it was for me to write (not to say that it wasn't fun! just. difficult). there...really wasn't much going on in the scenes, but i needed them to establish certain details. uhh the formatting might be fucked up cuz this website is wonky.

thanks to chim_cheeree_choo on ao3 for editing this chapter for me! ilysm