GothicChevy - Oh, if only you knew...
Guest - Close, but not quite there :P You have two names correctly, but one of them in the wrong place.
(***)
They don't finish their talk at that, of course. Izuku would have loved to have her visit Takoba again. In the meantime, seeing her visage on the screen and hearing her voice has to be enough. To compensate, he wants to have a lot of that.
"What even made you think it was a good idea?" Izuku asks. This really buggers him a bit. "I mean, the whole 'let's find you another girlfriend' bit?"
It was, honestly, so weird. He could scarcely believe his luck when Mei… well, the word 'seduced him' is probably the closest thing he got to describe what happened. Even if that was a very… Mei Hatsume way of seducing someone.
He discovered a few days later that she also had a PowerPoint presentation (with an expanded list of arguments) prepared in case the printout didn't work. It was… well, a rather interesting discovery.
"Well, I…" She looks extremely startled again. "I just… It's…"
"Mei." It's time to help her a bit. "Imagine that you're speaking to investors about your newest invention."
She blinks at him a few times, clearly surprised by the idea.
"I don't think that I can dumb it down that much, Izu." She replies. It makes him chuckle. Surprisingly enough, she chuckles as well. But it seems to have worked well enough when it comes to calming her down.
"Okay, so point one." She says. "There are a lot of arranged marriages among the people I usually live next to. Lots of people have almost official lovers. So I might have been influenced, I guess? So that I'm not really weirded out by that?"
Alright. Izuku decides that not being born among the wealthy has its positives. Because he certainly wouldn't want to enter an arranged marriage like that. That would suck super hard.
"That's incredibly dumb." Izuku announces. Mei looks startled a bit by his interjection. She must have been really shaken by her worries about him breaking up with her to react like that to… well, almost everything now. "Not you getting used to it, but… well, it."
"Oh, I agree." She replies, clearly relieved. "Well, more like 'stupidly unproductive', but… yeah. So, point two. I know I can't be there for you for most of the time. Both because I'm absolutely swamped with work in my lab, and because spending too much time in Takoba… well, you'd probably be super worried about me being anywhere close to Overhaul, right?"
It's a bit of a shock, but she is right about that. So either Mei was slowly figuring out how relationships (or at least her boyfriend) work, or Shino whispered things into her ear.
Of course, it wasn't just Overhaul. The chances of him running into her were minimal, and if he did so while she was in the Network's headquarters, Izuku would have a lot of more important problems to face. But she was still wealthy. And, all things considered, a prime kidnapping-for-ransom material.
Not to mention some people probably wanted to kill her simply because she was wealthy.
"So… you hoped to find someone else to… uhm… have sex with me in your absence?" He still has problems using the s-word, even in front of her. Which is kinda odd, considering that they already did it, but… well. Izuku was odd in general.
"Not just that!" She looks vaguely hurt by the way he put it. "I meant… more like… being there for you. Emotional support, hugs and so on? Since I can't do that for most of the time and…" She sighs, while fidgeting a lot and trying to avoid eye contact with him. "... and I'm not sure if I'm very good at this…" She half-says half-whispers.
Oh. Well, that's less bad than he thought. Then again, he kind of suspected that she wanted to build him a harem out of some really misplaced idea of teasing him in public. That was better. Or because she read about stuff like that in the wrong romance mangas. Even if it's still misplaced a lot. Of course, the last sentence… changed a lot.
Then again, didn't Tsuyu do something similar to him last night? He really wasn't sure what would happen to him if she wasn't there.
"I'm glad that you are thinking about me, Mei." Izuku decides to solve this diplomatically. "And you are doing very well in all of that, I assure you. But you really don't need to be someone's girlfriend or boyfriend to be supportive of them."
Something that he thinks a lot of superhero genre fanfic authors should probably know. Ugh. He isn't opening that can of worms again.
"I mean, I know, I just…" She is once again fidgeting visibly in her seat. "I… look, I had an uncle once." He has enough time to look at her in surprise once she suddenly shifts the subject like that before she keeps speaking. "He was… I liked him. He could actually follow up on what I said about engineering, and that's not very common."
He can imagine. Mei is a genius, considering all the things that she has made. Izuku can't really follow up on that, though his expertise on meta-abilities (that is her main point of interest for a while now) makes him an inspiration to her.
"But… well, it turned out that he wasn't a good person." She says, looking down. "He had a wife, but he cheated on her. If he did it openly, like other people around me often do, it would probably not be that bad. But he pretended that he really, really loves her and… well, he had several lovers in secret. He was like that in front of them, too. One of them had some undiagnosed mental problems, had a breakdown and… well, she poisoned his wife and… she went to jail, and he was… kind of exiled from the family. I never saw him again and…"
"... and you thought that if you'd be alright with sharing me with others, nothing like that would happen?" He interrupts her. Once again, she looks like a deer caught in the headlights. "Mei, I would never…"
"I know!" She retaliates by interrupting him as well. "Shino explained this to me already. I was wrong about that. S…sorry." She says, looking down again. "Why are relationships so complicated?" He can hear her mumble to herself.
Well. He wonders about that himself quite often nowadays.
"It's alright." Izuku replies. "You apologized for that already. It's all forgiven, so… really, don't be so worried about it."
She gives him a faint smile. It really warms his heart.
"Any other reasons to mention?" He decides to ask, just in case.
"Well, I… I really like Ochaco." She says, and… clearly this isn't about the thing that came to his mind, right? "She feels so lonely, and…" Yeah. It's not what came to his mind. Whew. That would be… weird.
"And you thought that making her my girlfriend would make her stop being lonely." Izuku summarizes it. "Mei, there are other men out there. You didn't have to share your own. That's how it works normally."
"I mean, yeah, but she has a crush on you and…" Mei freezes. Izuku does so as well a second later when he realizes what she just said. "I shouldn't have said that. I should not have said that." His girlfriend quickly says. "You haven't heard anything and…"
"No, I did." Izuku, at this point, regained his bearings enough to actually speak. "She has a… what? How? Since when? How do you know that?" Did she misunderstand something again? It's just that, right? There is no way Uraraka looks at him like that, right?
"Uhm…" Mei looked like she was considering switching off her internet connection to avoid answering the question. But eventually, she surrenders. "Well, Shino mentioned Uraraka looked kind of dejected when she said that I took you upstairs to have sex with you, so I kind of confronted her later on and… she did eventually admit that she has a crush on you, but she thinks that acting on it is unheroic since you are taken, and I… I can't… I won't… I mean, I don't want her to hate me or anything."
That was a… very odd way of making her not hate her. Technically logical, but completely ignoring common sense. Which makes it a very Mei Hatsume approach to the problem at hand.
"I… I think I need to sleep on that." It's not like they can visit Uraraka in the hospital today. Doctor Shuzenji made a no visit rule (they had a long video talk with Uraraka earlier) for now, because of the hospital only starting to recover from the chaos following Dabi's attack.
"With Tsuyu again?" Mei asks. Then she shrinks suddenly under Izuku's gaze. "Not like that! I mean, I'd be totally alright with it, but it's not, like, mandatory! And I think you really need to… you know, not be alone."
He sighs. Mei has a fair point, especially considering how close he was to breaking last night. And that somehow he had no nightmares. He expected new ones, especially since the last ones were yet to end.
He is… sort of too afraid of sleeping alone. Will the nightmares come then? Are they going to be worse than usual? Still, he has to draw a line somewhere.
"If she comes on her own, I will not fight her over that." Izuku replies. "But don't tell her or anyone else about it. It has to be her decision." He doesn't expect to see her, but… well, she feels just as damaged by what happened as he is. If she decides she needs a hug too, he will not object.
"Alright." Mei looks relieved that the talk didn't spiral into a dangerous place again.
(***)
Izuku is only narrowly surprised when he hears knocking on the door soon before night time comes. Especially when it's a very familiar, persistent knocking.
Opening the door and getting to see the source of the knocking, however, almost knocks him out.
"Ribbit." Tsuyu announces, interrupting the awkward silence. Izuku is rather thankful for that, despite the rather… miserable look on her face. He wasn't sure if he would manage to say something without breaking into laughter if she didn't take the initiative.
For the first time in their history together, she was wearing clothes while not on the UA grounds. Except…
That was a onesie. A clearly frog-themed onesie. Not a serious frog-theme, either. Something straight from a cartoon. Very green and very… uhm.. cartoonish. Certainly not the first clothes (other than school uniform) that he expected to witness on Tsuyu.
Then again, it… kind of… fitted her. Way too much, even. That's what almost broke Izuku's funny bone by applying too much pressure on it.
"Uhm…" Izuku controlled himself enough to be able to speak without making it any more awkward. "So… what changed?" She looks at him with her best quizzical face from under the hood. "Why are you wearing this?"
While looking very unhappy about it. And probably a bit confused.
"I asked Kayama-sensei." She says. "She said that sleeping naked with a boy that isn't your boyfriend is bad. So I decided to find some clothes."
So there is someone in the general vicinity of Izuku who has some common sense when relationships are involved. And that's Nemuri Kayama. Well, who would have thought?
"When did you ask her about that?" Izuku asks. Though after letting her into his 'apartment'. No need to let her stand in the corridor in front of his room. Worst-case scenario, Mina will notice.
"She said to call her if I'm not sure what to do, ribbit." Tsuyu replies. "Or if I'm confused about something. So I did."
Huh. Now that Izuku thinks about it, Kayama-sensei does act… a bit… motherly around Tsuyu, at least when they are at school. Izuku really isn't surprised. Once you get used to how Tsuyu looks, she's…
Adorable? Cute? Makes you want to cuddle her? Izuku is afraid to say it like that even in his head, but it's the truth. Except her being naked almost all the time (and being visibly uncomfortable with the rest) makes it… problematic. Especially to a boy her age.
"And… this outfit?" Izuku has a suspicion, but he'd like to have it confirmed.
"Mina." Tsuyu replies, confirming Izuku's suspicion.
They have a very limited amount of funds. Using part of her share to buy a cute onesie for a girl that normally doesn't accept any clothes on herself (but would still - as she proved that just now - look absolutely adorable in it) is something that Izuku expected from Mina.
"I see." Alright, Izuku. Let's be honest about it. You're already mostly used to it by now. Her discomfort is… well, Tsuyu in that outfit might be the cutest thing you've ever seen (more or less ex aequo with Eri), but she clearly doesn't like that. "Kayama-sensei is right, but... look, if you don't like it that much, you can take it off."
She gives him a quizzical look. And a questioning ribbit.
"Tsuyu, I want you to start wearing clothes. Eventually." It's sort of important part of reintroducing her to the society. And letting her operate normally once winter comes. "Just… small steps? If it's making you this uncomfortable, you can… you know… return to it later?"
Tsuyu seems to be digesting that concept. Despite his recent breakthroughs in understanding her facial expressions, Izuku does not know how to interpret what was happening in front of him right now.
"How do I look in it, ribbit?" Tsuyu eventually asks. And it's the one question Izuku didn't want to answer. Even doing so to himself in his thoughts was a step too far. HOW DO YOU ANSWER IT?! His heart isn't ready. His brain isn't ready. His soul is cracking whenever he even thinks about it. For all her oddities, Tsuyu knows how to really provoke a reaction when needed.
"You… uhm…" C'mon Izuku, you fought Overhaul, Dabi and Mustard. Sure, all those encounters were a tie (save for the first one), but… if you can't control your emotions, how can you be a hero? "... you look c… cute?"
There. He said it. Phew.
Tsuyu ends up staring at him for several long and increasingly awkward seconds. Before finally arriving at a decision.
"It stays, ribbit."
This time it's him who stares at her for several long and increasingly awkward seconds.
(***)
Izuku loads himself into his bed. Tsuyu follows immediately, still wearing her terrifyingly adorable onesie. Izuku's heart somehow survives its presence so closely, even when she buries her face into the front of his chest.
He is lying on his side. She is in front of him, in a similar position but facing him. It makes hugging her quite easy. And comfortable.
Izuku slowly drifts to sleep. He is pretty close to it when suddenly she speaks.
"Ribbit?" He wakes up to see her big eyes staring at him with… rather intensive… uhm… intensity? He is really confused right now. Wait. It's the questioning ribbit. It's probably her version of 'Izuku?'.
"Yes, Tsuyu?" He replies, looking back at her.
"Warm. Cozy. Safe." She replies, only worsening his confusion. "Is that what having a family feels like?"
Oof. Well, that's one way to kick Izuku in the feelings. Seriously, how do you answer a question like that? Especially considering her absolutely horrible past that no one out there deserved?
Maybe except for Overhaul, but he deserved almost every dreadful fate or traumatic backstory out there. Preferably all of them at once.
"Yes, Tsuyu." Izuku replies. That's how he felt when his mom was around. It's the best answer he can give her.
He can see her eyes closing and feel Tsuyu burying herself even closer into him.
"I think I like it, ribbit." She says.
Neither of them had nightmares that night.
(***)
Izuku is excluded from tomorrow's lesson on the UA. Instead, he is going to take part in the first from a series of recruitment talks. The first one is going to take place in the Principal's office. As, apparently, the person in question is attending the UA.
Which makes things easier. Except, the student in question apparently attends the school on a sports scholarship. Which is something that Izuku has rather terrible memories with. Then again, Principal Sasaki wouldn't let Bakugou into his school. So… it can't be that bad?
Principal asks him to not show his power until prompted and to let him talk. Huh.
Few minutes after the announcement, someone arrives. And enters the office with a rather… wide smile on his face.
"I CAME AS ORDERED!" The student (must be about 18 years old) stands at attention and salutes. Damn, that's an incredible volume. And a huge student.
Izuku is sitting on a chair in the room's corner. Mirai Sasaki is sitting in his trusty office chair behind his desk. For some reason, Midoriya is almost certain that the student failed to notice someone else being in the room.
Then again, Sasaki draws attention expertly. Even when he does nothing. Perhaps especially when he does nothing. After all, he might be plotting something nefarious.
"Let me introduce you." Sasaki says calmly. "Inasa Yoarashi. A very gifted football player that was going to join the Japanese U-20 representation, at least before it was temporarily… deactivated."
Most of the national-level sports were put on hold something like a half year ago, as far as Izuku knew. Even the normal football leagues were rather… incomplete. National league was still running, but a lot of clubs had their financing shrunk so much that it was a sad excuse for what it used to be.
The UA had its own sports clubs, naturally. In the meantime, Yoarashi was probably a part of its football team of appropriate age. While being intensely scouted by whatever football groups were still operational.
"And this is Izuku Midoriya." Sasaki continues, while gesturing towards the person in question. "Class president of the Special Course."
Yoarashi gives him a long stare. Probably assessing him or something. Izuku didn't have many occasions to interact with other students thus far. He wasn't even officially introduced to the student council yet. But he knew that the total mystery surrounding the Special Course led to many speculations among the students.
Inasa Yoarashi was probably curious. It was, as far as Izuku knew, the first time that a non-Special Course student saw a Special Course student up close.
Izuku replies with a stare of his own. Inasa vaguely reminds him of Bakugou, except he didn't feel hostile. The volume was familiar, but nothing besides it. He could live with that. Or so he thinks.
"DID SOMEONE TELL YOU…" Yoarashi eventually says. "...THAT YOUR HAIR LOOKS FLUFFY?"
Oh god, is he an airhead? Even Principal Sasaki lets out a slight sigh while correcting his glasses. He feels vaguely exasperated at that question. Then again, Izuku is faintly relieved that the volume truly is the only similarity between Yoarashi and Bakugou.
"Well… yes." Izuku replies. Mei mentioned something like that when he showed her his face.
"GOOD." Yoarashi replies while giving him a thumbs-up gesture. Then he turns his head towards Principal Sasaki. "WHY I WAS TOLD TO COME, IF I MAY ASK?"
"We're interested in talking about your 'secret' training." Sasaki replies. Yoarashi's smile freezes for a second (Izuku is observant enough to notice that, and so most likely was the Principal). "I'm afraid you have miscalculated the effective range of the cameras placed throughout the campus, Inasa."
"WELL, DAMN." Inasa scratches his head. "JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR, I HAVE NEVER USED IT DURING THE GAMES. THAT WOULD BE UNSPORTSMAN-LIKE AND I BELIEVE IN FAIR PLAY!"
Well, that's a plus. At least to Izuku. Except he would like to know what this is all about.
"I'm aware." Principal replies. "I assure you that I re-watched your every recent match. If I saw you using your special ability during any of them, we would have this talk in a completely different atmosphere."
Inasa actually smiles at it. Izuku can understand. It was a rather indirect but still a form of a compliment. Or, more like, a passing grade from a very demanding teacher.
"You still kept training it, yes?" Sasaki asks and Inasa nods fervently.
"HONING WHATEVER ABILITIES YOU HAVE IS SUPER IMPORTANT!" He yells back. It's only narrowly louder than his normal speech. "I HAD LITTLE USAGE FOR IT, EXCEPT FOR HOUSEWORK AND THE LIKES, BUT IT'S NO REASON NOT TO TRAIN IT!"
Looks like one case that won't need an awful lot of training. If he agrees. Otherwise, they'll just have someone in their unofficial protection program. Also, Izuku is absolutely dying to know what sort of quirk they were talking about.
"IS IT RIGHT TO ASSUME…" Inasa says, while glancing at Izuku for a second. "... THAT THIS IS WHAT THE SPECIAL COURSE IS ABOUT?"
Oh. So not a complete airhead. Izuku stands corrected. It was a bit obvious, but he still connected the dots correctly.
"That is correct." Principal Sasaki replies. "The UA has been extending its helping hand towards holders of meta-abilities from its neighborhood. Helping to train their abilities and providing them with specialized healthcare. They've also been assisting the local police, especially against meta-ability holders that went down the wrong path."
"YOU MEAN, LIKE SUPERHEROES?" Inasa goes right to the point. Sasaki nods. "THIS IS AWESOME! PASSIONATE! HOT-BLOODED! I LOVE IT!"
Oh god. What if he meets Kirishima? Is Izuku ready for it? Is anyone in the Network ready for it? Is the WORLD ready for it?
"We both know that Japanese sports are currently rather… stale, so to speak." Mirai says, surprising Izuku with his chance of the subject. "Not a lot of movement nowadays. Finding you a club on the level that you deserve is going to be a bit of a problematic thing, even to me. Even the most optimistic estimates indicate years of chaos in front of us. I believe you are just as aware of this as I am, aren't you?"
"THAT WOULD BE CORRECT." Inasa replies. "I ACTUALLY CONSIDERED JOINING THE GSDF, BUT THEY ARE TOO BUSY CUTTING ITS NUMBERS DOWN TO RECRUIT MORE PEOPLE. IN THE MEANTIME, I'M ON THE FIRST YEAR OF UA'S PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDIES. ALTHOUGH I CONTINUE TRAINING MY SKILLS IN FOOTBALL."
That required… quite some dedication. Izuku takes what he thought back. If Inasa does those two things at once, he is certainly no airhead. Then again, Sasaki probably prepared some safety nets for students like Inasa, whose careers were 'orphaned' by the chaos in the country.
"Now, considering what I gleaned from the recordings, your meta-ability appears to be a perfect counter to one of the most dangerous supervillains that we know of. Perhaps two of them." Sasaki says. Naturally, Izuku's already overflowing curiosity grows further. "Would you be willing to transfer to the Special Course? That would, naturally, put your studies on hold. However, I'm certain that this can be amended further down the line. Especially if you decide to assist the local police department."
Inasa spends a few seconds thinking it through.
"I THINK IT WOULD BE ALRIGHT." He says back. "MY FATHER IS A POLICE OFFICER. THAT SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING CLOSE TO IT. BESIDES, CONSIDERING THE CHAOS IS OUT THERE, ASSISTING THE POLICE IF YOU CAN IS A PATRIOTIC DUTY."
"Yes, indeed it does." Sasaki agrees. "Now, I believe some demonstrations are in order. Or, perhaps, a mock battle?" Oh. So that's what it is about.
Yoarashi looks and acts like someone who respects strength (probably less because of some weird 'might makes right' approach and more due to it proving that you worked really hard to get there).
And, let's be real. Izuku doesn't look or feel in any shape or degree intimidating. Nor powerful. So Sasaki wants to establish pecking order in the Special Course. By doing this. And without letting either side know the other side's quirk. So that it's as fair as possible.
Well, Izuku is ready to oblige.
(***)
No one expected Inasa Yoarashi here, huh. Neither on FF, nor on AO3. Well, I like surprising people, especially as all other members of the news batch of recruits have been at least mentioned in the comments. So, this.