VIP

by Glory of Dawn

Following the Provisional Licensing Exam, Aizawa gives Class 1-A an exercise normally given to second years. Izuku is partnered with Mina, and as the terms of the assignment forbid them staying at the dorms, he finds himself staying at her house. For one week, he must protect her from their classmates, endure her relentless teasing, and survive her... energetic... family.

1. Saturday - Begin

Welcome one and all to one of the projects I've been most excited about! I'm starting it a bit early to give myself something to break up the writing of EGMD a bit because I want to write something a bit more lighthearted and slice of life-y. In a bit of a break from my usual style, this story's chapters will be divided entirely by what day it is. They will take as long as they take, and that might mean one chapter is 5k words and the next is 20k. Who knows! I certainly don't.

As a heads up, this fic will not have a regular update schedule. My primary focus right now is EGMD, but I'll probably work on this periodically when I'm stumped on that. If I finish EGMD before this, this will shift into being my primary work and become more consistent.

Please note that this story will take place in a fictional period of time between the Provisional Licensing Exam and the introduction to the Work Studies and occurs over the period of nine days.

---

Light conversation floated from various areas of Class 1-A as they awaited the return of Aizawa. Normally, after their Math period on a Saturday, they were dismissed, but today they had been instructed to remain after the final bell.

Some students discussed their plans for the weekend or even the simple relief of another week of school being over. Others spoke of the math exam Ectoplasm had issued, comparing what answers they remembered or commiserating over the failing grade they were certain would be presented to them come Monday. Most who didn't fall into either of the above categories were silent.

Izuku Midoriya heard none of this, lost in a world outside of the classroom, muttering ceaselessly as he scrawled ideas into his latest notebook. He worked tirelessly to transcribe the ideas that had come to him throughout the day into his current journal, embellishing them with illustrations as was beneficial (or maybe just fun). Fortunately, the opening of the classroom door and the immediate cessation of all other noise was dramatic enough that it caught his attention, saving him from a lecture by their homeroom teacher.

The students watched curiously as Aizawa wheeled in a two-level cart stacked with identical gray boxes stamped with the U.A. Logo. The tension in the air was palpable as the students strained to keep from asking questions, lest they receive a verbal lashing from the Pro Hero. The cart was stopped in front of the teacher's desk, and Aizawa retrieved a clipboard thick with papers from between the boxes before standing in front of it.

The tension in the room climbed rapidly as he completely disregarded the class, intently studying something on the first sheet of paper. Izuku couldn't help but wonder what the purpose of the delay was; normally, Aizawa despised wasting time. After nearly half a minute had passed, he finally looked up. "Bakugou and Todoroki, you will spend the next week preparing to retake the Provisional Licensing Exam full time. There will be no classwork or homework assigned during this period. The two of you are dismissed."

All eyes in the room went to the named students. As expected, Todoroki quietly took up his bag and left the room without incident. Kacchan stood, a vein nearly bursting from his head. For a moment, he looked like he might explode at the teacher, and Izuku wasn't sure if it would be literal or figurative. However, he snatched his things from his desk and stormed out of the room, grumbling to himself and glaring first at Aizawa, then at anyone in the room who had the audacity to look at him. Very few met his gaze.

Once the door had shut behind them, the clipboard was lifted for all the class to see. "These are the printed details, warnings, and grading criteria for the assignment you'll be performing over the next week." With a single elegant turn of his wrist, he threw it behind him. It disappeared behind the stacked cart and clattered to a rest on his desk. "I'm not reading all of that. It's a waste of time and breath.

"Since you have all received your Provisional Hero Licenses, it has been decided that you'll be participating in an exercise generally issued to second year students. Because this entails the use of your powers in a public environment, it is expected that you will be responsible and cautious in doing so. Failure to do so will result in an immediate failing grade on the assignment, and if you're foolish enough to cause significant property damage or any personal damage to someone not participating, civilian or hero, your License will be put up for review and potential revocation. Am I understood?"

The silence in the room was deafening.

"Good. Over the course of the next week, you will all be undergoing the U.A. VIP Exercise. Each of you has been assigned a teammate, and your team will be issued one of the boxes you see behind me. Inside is a dossier that contains the full rules and regulations you will be operating under for the duration of this exercise. It will also inform you whether you are on a VIP team or a Kidnapper team. VIP teams will receive a list of what the team compositions are in their dossier, but only the Kidnappers will find a full listing of each other team's designation."

Murmurs of concern came up from several points in the room, the source of each drawing Aizawa's baleful glare. They were quickly silenced, but the imbalance of power was clearly being noted by everyone in the class. Whoever was on a VIP team would be at a significant disadvantage in terms of information, much less the inherently reactionary nature of their ability to interact with their Kidnappers. It seemed that the ability to gather information would be a dear prize for those teams.

"VIP teams will choose one of their members to be the VIP and the other to be the Bodyguard. You should not share the information about who your VIP is with anyone, as that will make you an easier target for the Kidnappers. Your objective is to make it to the end of the week without your team's VIP being abducted. If you do, you will pass. The only restriction on your team is that you may not spend the week in hiding or otherwise secluded in a single location. You must maintain a presence in public for at least eight hours a day, every day. Your schedule may be as varied or regular as you wish beyond that." Aizawa turned and opened the box at the top of the stack. "The only advantage granted a VIP team is this timer." He retrieved an item from the container and held it aloft for all to see. It was a rectangular device colored blue and white with the words 'U.A. VIP Safehouse' emblazoned across the top. A white button was placed on each of the bottom left and right corners. He flipped it around to reveal two white strips running along the back side. "The strips on the back are adhesive and should stick to most doors. If you press the buttons at the bottom at the same time, an eight hour countdown will start." He demonstrated, and a loud beep rang out as the numbers appeared down to the second on the face of the timer. "While this is running, the VIP is off limits as long as they remain inside the structure the timer is affixed to. The only person allowed inside the building is their Bodyguard. Anyone else entering the building while the timer is active receives an immediate failing grade. Be aware that this can only be used once, so think before you use it."

"Eight hours?!" Kirishima was unable to hold back any longer. "What, so we're fair game for the rest of the week? No restrictions? When are we supposed to sleep?!"

Izuku looked up from his rapid note-taking. It made sense; if the purpose of the exercise was to evoke the extended protection of a public individual, it was well done. Nowhere was safe forever, and a villain could strike at any time. Precautions had to be taken for a VIP's protection. Still, only having an eight-hour window with which to relax would be difficult, especially if it could only be used once. More and more, he wondered how a VIP team was supposed to be able to weather the course of a whole week.

Aizawa fixed his stare on Kirishima. "Yes, that's right." His voice was icy enough to have been generated by Todoroki's Quirk, and the redhead's outrage was quickly quenched by his teacher's warning tone. "You'll have to be on your toes twenty four hours a day for a full seven days. It's supposed to be challenging. If anything, you're at an advantage compared to an actual hero assignment. Your partner will be cooperative with you, unlike a great many examples of actual VIPs you might be expected to ward if your agency is hired for a job like this. Your partner is also capable of defending themselves, which you will find is not the case normally.

"As I was saying, this timer is the only direct advantage provided to the VIP teams, though you may travel with other VIPs for safety if you choose. Anything else in your favor will be of your own making as you strategize with your partner.

"Kidnapper teams will endeavor to identify and abduct a VIP. You are not assigned a VIP to target; you may target any team as you see fit. In the interest of some semblance of fairness, ganging up is forbidden unless multiple teams of VIPs are working together. Once you have captured someone, you will bring them back to this classroom, where a faculty member will be at all hours of the day to ensure someone is here to receive your victim and record your passing grade. You should avoid causing undue harm to them if at all possible, but in the event of an emergency, Recovery Girl will be on standby. If you fail to bring back a VIP by the end of the exercise, you will fail." One of Aizawa's eyes twitched, and he sighed. "What is it, Iida?"

The class representative had raised his hand partway through the previous explanation and had dutifully kept it up until he was called on. "Mr. Aizawa, with Bakugou and Todoroki not present, there is an imbalance in the teams. How will this be resolved?"

Annoyance faded from their teacher's face quickly as a corner of his mouth ticked up ever so slightly and a malicious glint appeared in his eye. "Due to a shortage of eligible students, I discussed this with Principal Nezu. In the end, he agreed with my suggestion that, for the sake of realism, the list of potential aggressors should outnumber the list of potential targets. There will be five Kidnapper teams and four VIP teams."

This caused cries of despair, outrage, and indignation from around the room. "But that means one of the Kidnapper Teams has to fail!" Kaminari called out.

"Then you'd best make sure that it isn't you, unless you think your grades can handle it." Izuku could only hope that this was one of Aizawa's logical ruses, but he didn't cling to the notion too tightly. This was well within the norm for his behavior either way.

Once the noise died down, Aizawa continued. "Kidnapper teams have few restrictions placed upon them. The first is the wholesale ban on entering a building with an active Safehouse timer, which will result in an immediate failure. The second is that you are not to harm law enforcement personnel in any way. They are advised whenever we are enacting this exercise and have the authority to arrest you. I don't believe I should have to point out that being arrested will also result in a failing grade, but you won't have a criminal record. Finally, you are not to assault any of the other kidnapping teams. This includes stealing a captured VIP. I'm sure you can all imagine what punishment awaits those who do." He waited for a moment to let that settle over the class. "Now, are there any questions before I assign teams?"

Despite the clear indication in his voice that he did not want to answer said questions, several hands went up. Yaoyarozu was called upon first. "Is this a Pass/Fail grade, or is there a scale?"

"There is a scale. Between each VIP and Kidnapper team, there are one hundred points, each representing a percentage point of your grade. Based on how quickly a Kidnapper achieves their objective or how long a VIP team holds out, points will be issued to each team. A Kidnapper team that brings their quarry back within forty-eight hours of the start will receive a full hundred points, while the VIP team receives zero. A Kidnapper team that brings a VIP in at the eleventh hour will receive the bare minimum points required to pass while the abductee and their bodyguard will only just fail. VIP teams that survive the entirety of the exam will receive full marks, and Kidnappers that fail to meet their objective get a zero."

Mineta was next. "How are teams picked?" The question he was actually asking was clear to everyone in the class, and Izuku saw several of the girls visibly shudder.

"Completely randomly," Aizawa replied.

"What's to stop a Kidnapper from just grabbing the VIP from their dorm room at night?" Jirou asked.

"That's actually a good question." The teacher's voice did not waver from its normal monotone. "None of you are allowed to stay in the dorms during the course of the assignment. Can't make it too easy on you. It's up to you to determine where you stay, but you have to report to me where that is so that we can keep an eye on the location. Given the recent villain activity, we're taking as few chances as are necessary."

No other questions were forthcoming. "When I call your name, you'll come up here and take the box I give you," he said, shoving the one he had opened off the cart and onto his desk. "When you receive the box, you are dismissed. You will go somewhere private to discuss with your partner who will be the VIP or Bodyguard if applicable, where you'll be staying, and any strategy you may wish to establish. Information gathering at this stage is strictly forbidden. Once you have decided what you'll be doing, fill out the informational sheet at the back of your dossier, put it in the provided envelope, and return it to me. You have until sunset to make any arrangements you need, at which time the exercise will begin. It lasts until sunset next Saturday. You will be expected back at the dorms by Sunday evening and final grades will be issued during homeroom on Monday." He swept his gaze across the class one more time, daring anyone to raise their hand with another question. Nobody did.

Aizawa took the first box. "Team One: Koji Koda and Fumikage Tokoyami." The named students came forward and, as instructed, took their box from the teacher and departed.

Once the door had shut behind them, he called the next team."Team Two: Yuga Aoyama and Kyoka Jirou. Team Three: Momo Yaoyarozu and Denki Kaminari. Team Four: Eijiro Kirishima and Ochako Uraraka. Team Five: Tsuyu Asui and Mashirao Ojiro."

Some comments were made as each pair was called out, perhaps a sigh of frustration from Jiro or a cheer from Kaminari. Each followed the previous out the door as they claimed their assigned package. Izuku had, of course, been considering how he'd work with each person in the class before their name was called. With random assignment, consideration for powers wasn't being made, which meant that some team imbalance was to be expected. There was minimal synergy between Aoyama and Jiro, for example, while Asui (Tsu, he corrected himself, still struggling with the request to use her abbreviated first name) and Ojiro had great mobility on their side from their Quirks. He was disappointed not to be paired with Uraraka, since they worked well together, and there was a lot of potential with a partner like Yaoyarozu that he would have liked to explore. Still, with those left, there were a lot of interesting options and combinations that –

"Team Six: Izuku Midoriya and Mina Ashido."

---

Once Ashido shut the door behind them, she pumped her fist with a small cheer. "Guess it's my lucky day! With you on my team, we're guaranteed to pass!"

Izuku started down the hall while his face burned. "Well, I don't know about guaranteed..."

The pink girl jogged up to him with a huge grin plastered on her face. "Sure we are! The only people who really compete with you for having the strongest Quirk failed the Licensing Exam, and you're the best at strategy out of basically everyone. Plus, ever since you figured out how to use your Quirk without breaking your bones, you can go toe to toe with anyone we'll need to worry about! This'll be a piece of cake!"

"I... Um, thanks for the vote of confidence? But we should probably still be careful. Underestimating our opponents is a good way to set ourselves up for failure..."

"See? That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about!" Ashido lightly rapped her knuckles against Izuku's head, causing him to yelp. "You – I'm sorry!" She quickly withdrew her hand. "I didn't mean to startle you!"

He felt like his face was going to go up in flames. "It's, uh, fine. Don't worry about it." Words tumbled out of his mouth at high speed to move the conversation away from... whatever that weird noise had been. "We should, um... Where do we want to go to, uh, look over this?" Izuku presented the box to her, desperate to keep her attention on anything else.

"Oh! Um... I don't know. It should be private so people can't overhear us talking, right? I don't think anyone would cheat since Mr. Aizawa said that we aren't allowed to gather information on other people yet, but still."

"We could go to the library? There are some private study rooms there."

"Really? That's perfect!" For some reason, Ashido looked particularly pleased as she strode forward, but then her face fell and she stopped. She turned back to Izuku with a sheepish grin on her face and said, "Actually... Where even is the library?"

Considering the... carefree attitude his classmate applied to her studies, it didn't particularly surprise him that she had never been to the library before. Izuku immediately felt bad for the uncharitable thought and did his best to put on a friendly smile. "F- uh, follow me, I've been there plenty."

"Thanks." She waited for Izuku to overtake her before falling in step behind him.

A short walk found them in one of the dozen or so small rooms at the back of the U.A. Library. It wasn't much to speak of – the room was about ten by fifteen feet with nothing but a table and four chairs to decorate it. The door had a small window in it, but other than that, the room was entirely closed off from outside view, which made it perfect for unpacking their box in private.

"Aaand the survey says–!" Ashido declared as she lifted the top off of the box. The dossier they expected was joined by one of the Safehouse Timers. "Aww. I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda hoping we would be Kidnappers so that we could nab someone and then have a week off."

"We might still be, they could include the timer just so that anyone watching can't tell which teams are VIPs just by looking." He picked up the booklet and flipped it open to the first page. "...Nope. Looks like we're a VIP team."

"Oh well. Guess that means the two of us will just be spending some quality time together," she said with a wink, causing Izuku to nearly choke on nothing. Ashido laughed at him. "Calm down, dude, I'm just messing with you. You're making this a little too easy."

"I'm... Sorry?" He wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to that. The pink girl was something of a mystery to Izuku; they hadn't interacted terribly much over the course of their hero education, so outside of her Quirk, he couldn't say he knew much about her. If her repeatedly embarrassing him was going to be a theme over the course of the next week...

Well. It'd be a long week.

"A-anyways!" he said. "I think I makes the most sense to make you the VIP. Your Acid can burn through restraints and would, um, discourage people from trying to grab you. Plus, since you can slide around on it so easily, you can probably escape a bit better than I can."

"I mean, I've seen you jump. I'm pretty sure you could keep up with me without breaking a sweat. But hey, if you want to spend the week protecting me from danger, I won't be complaining."

He had been ready for it this time. With measured breathing, he was able to quash the embarrassment before it reached his face. It probably also helped that he had directed his attention back to the dossier and therefore only had Ashido in his peripheral vision. For a second though, he could have sworn she was smirking at him. "It, uh, looks like the other teams... Well, the ones that we weren't there to hear Mr. Aizawa announce are Sato and Sero, Shoji and Mineta, and Iida and Hagakure."

"What are they?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"Like, are they Kidnappers or VIPs?"

"Um. Mr. Aizawa said that VIPs didn't get to know what the other teams were, remember? We just know who they are."

"Oh." Ashido lightly hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Duh. Right." As Izuku flipped through the remainder of the booklet, she asked, "What else is in there?"

"Um. Just going over the rules, legal stuff... Mostly what we were told in class." He reached the final page, which had a perforation near the binding. It was a form that said 'Fill Out, Detach, and Return to Homeroom Teacher.' "Here's that paper we have to complete." Izuku reached into his bag and withdrew a pen. "All right, so..."

Over the course of the next few minutes, he filled out the minor informational details on the form, including which of them was the VIP. When he reached the end, he paused. "Um... We do have to record where each of us will be staying during the exercise."

"Well, we should probably stay together, right? If they can attack at any hour, you'll need to be close to me, just in case."

Deep breaths. "That, uh, that makes sense, but..."

"Then we can stay at my parent's house!" she said cheerfully. "Here, I'll call and just make sure it's all right." Mina whipped out her phone and began dialing as he began to protest.

"I – Ashido, are you sure that–"

"Hi, mom! ...I'm good. Yeah, we have an assignment that's got us out of class for a week. ...Mmhmm. We can't stay at the dorms since it's got the class competing against each other."

The prospect of staying at her house was, for unknown reasons, absolutely terrifying to Izuku. He wanted desperately to advise they figure out alternate arrangements, but his sense of social propriety forbade him from interrupting the phone call, no matter how much he wanted to.

"...Yeah, so basically, I'm a VIP and I have to avoid letting my classmates capture me for a whole week. One of them is my bodyguard, but there aren't any safe times or anything, so they could even come for me while I'm sleeping, and we thought it'd be best if we stayed together. ...No, he's a great guy, I trust him. Every time we've been in trouble, he's been the first one to try and protect everyone else. ...Yeah, the one that fought the Endeavor's son in the Sports Festival. Mmhmm, with the green hair."

Somehow, it was getting worse. Without being able to clearly understand what her mother was saying, he could only imagine the conversation. There were half a million ways this could be going, but all of them seemed horribly embarrassing. To Izuku's horror, not only did she notice his discomfort, but she winked at him. He looked away, face bright red.

"So yeah, I thought we could stay at home for the week. You guys won't be in danger or anything, and the Kidnapper teams have been told not to do any property damage. ...Yeah, the worst I figure is maybe a broken window from them trying to sneak in while I'm asleep. ...NO! Why would you even say that?!" Ashido's face flushed lilac, and Izuku would have turned redder in sympathy if he wasn't already impersonating a tomato. He didn't even know what was said, but it couldn't be good. "...You're so mean to me," she pouted. "Okay. Thanks. ...No, it doesn't actually start until the sun is down. ...Yeah, I'll need to get some stuff from my dorm room before we head over. Midoriya probably will, too. ...Okay, I'll see you in a little while. ...Love you too, mom. Bye!" She hung up the phone and gave Izuku a big smile and thumbs up. "We're good to go! Got the okay from my mom for us to stay with them. Plus, added bonus..." She leaned in conspiratorially. "Nobody is sneaking into that house. Between us, my parents, and my siblings, someone is going to notice." Ashido grinned and sat back in her seat, hands folded behind her head. "Pretty clever thinking, huh? Not just a convenient place to stay, but with some extra security on top!"

The corners of Izuku's mouth twitched up slightly. Something about her smile was infectious, even though he was supremely uncomfortable at that moment. He didn't know why it was bothering him, but he knew he should tell her that he wasn't comfortable with the arrangement. He swallowed his nerves, took a deep breath, opened his mouth to tell her, and said, "Great! Uh. What should I bring? Besides clothes, I guess?" That... wasn't what Izuku had planned to say. Why did he say that?

She shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe something you like to do in your spare time in case we end up with some of that? Maybe some All Might pajamas? A little plushie to go with them?" Ashido waggled her eyebrows teasingly.

The green-haired boy looked away. "I'll, uh... see what I need."

His newly-designated ward giggled. "Well. Anything else you think we should strategize about before we go, bodyguard?"

Izuku's eyes wandered to the booklet, still opened to the form they needed to return to their teacher. As he picked up the pen to fill out the last details, he said, "I... think it would be smart to set up a defined safehouse. Somewhere that isn't your parents' house, probably, because anyone watching us would probably expect you to try and retreat there."

"That's a great idea!" She bounced in her seat slightly. "But it'll need to be somewhere I can stay for eight hours without getting kicked out, right? And somewhere I can go at night, if that's when I need it."

The only place that Izuku could think of was a rather obvious one. He wracked his mind to try and thick of another place that fit Ashido's description, but none came. Each location that came to mind had operating hours that would make it less than ideal, wouldn't allow her to stay for the full duration, or wouldn't be comfortable to stay at. The last thing he was able to conceive of was a police station, and it was possible that that could work, but it felt against the spirit of the examination and could also cause some confusion among the general populace if someone were to try and enter during that time period.

"Well," he finally said, "The only option I'm coming up with is, uh... my mom's apartment."

"You don't think she would mind? I'd hate to scare her by barging in in the middle of the night or something..."

"I'd want to talk to her. I think she'll be fine with it, but... I want to explain what's going on with her and make sure she really understands what I'm asking." Izuku looked away. "My mom gets scared easily. It's not like she's a coward or anything, she's... actually a really brave woman, but she worries about things."

"All right. Well, give her a call." Ashido's voice was gentle and encouraging.

He bit his lip and shook his head. "No, I... I want to talk to her in person. It's been a little while since I've gone to see her anyways."

"If you say so. Here, gimme your phone, I'll put my number in and save my address to your maps."

Izuku presented it to her. "I can, uh, do the same, if you want?"

"Sure!" They traded devices and plugged their information into the relevant apps. Unfortunately, he was unable to stop the embarrassment from reaching his ears this time as, upon receiving his phone back, he saw that she had entered her name as 'Mina' with hearts on either side of it. He had, of course, done nothing of the sort, instead entering his name exactly as one might expect.

"I'll, uh. I'll go and give this back to Mr. Aizawa, and then I'll head back to talk to my mom." He tore out the completed form carefully, making sure it ripped exactly at the perforation and didn't take any of the surrounding paper.

Ashido watched him do that like he had grown a second head, but didn't comment on it. "Sounds good! I'll hop on the train back home and make sure everything's ready for us. Just send me a text when you're on your way!"

He closed up the box and placed it in his bag, even though it wasn't important to bring it along since it had only contained the two items. Sliding the timer over to his partner, he said, "You should hang onto this. I know we're not starting yet or anything, but I think it'd be a good idea for you to be the one who hangs onto it. After all, it's... uh, it's not like I'm going to need it, right?"

Her fingers brushed along his as she grabbed it. "I'm really glad you're on my team, Midoriya. This isn't just gonna be easy, it'll be fun, too!" She smiled at him. "I was worried I'd get placed with someone boring, or worse..." She feigned a gag. "Mineta."

Izuku laughed uneasily. "Well, I'm glad you didn't have to deal with that. I, uh, would hate for you to have to be uncomfortable like that."

Ashido's grin was blinding as she went to the door. "Yeah, me too! See ya later, roomie!"

It was an odd thing to call him, he thought, since their living situation wouldn't be terribly different from the dorms. Perhaps it was just because they would be staying in her house? It still didn't seem quite right. Ultimately, he wrote it off as himself overthinking a social situation. Thinking about the week he was about to spend, however, Izuku was sure that overly familiar teasing would be the death of him before the week was out.

---

I got the okay from my mom. She knows we could be in at any point in the next week. I'm on my way to your parents' house now. Izuku sent the text message as he made his way to the train station. He wasn't expecting a response, much less one so immediate.

Gr8 c u soon! It was followed by a barrage of smiley face and heart emoji, which made him feel... Old? Out of touch? He wasn't sure which, but he'd never used anything like that in any message he'd sent. They left him uncertain about what responsibilities he had, if any, in the form of a response. Certainly he wasn't to respond with the hearts; that seemed rather intimate, or at least, it would coming from him. From someone like Ashido, it actually seemed more towards normal. Should he at least send back a smiley face to reciprocate the good mood?

He didn't feel in a particularly good mood.

Perhaps that wasn't correct. He wasn't in a bad mood, but Izuku was still very unsettled by the notion of staying at the Ashido household. The boy gripped the duffel bag slung over his shoulder tightly. It'd been over a decade since he'd even stayed over at a friend's house.

He had to stop walking for a moment and take a series of deep breaths to banish the anxiety that thought caused. It had been the last time he had hung out with Kacchan before the doctor's appointment that had marked the beginning of their departure from friendship and into the territory of a bully and his victim. The memory of that sleepover bubbling to the surface might have, in previous years, heralded something akin to a panic attack. Intrusive thoughts would have risen up from the depths of his mind with it to convince him that all of his relationships were doomed to the same fate, since he was nothing more than a Quirkless freak. Izuku had to remind himself that he'd been at U.A. for several months and had made several friends. Not just any friends, either. These were solid relationships, bonds with people that he felt confident would never truly fade no matter how far from each other that they found themselves. Since their fight and house arrest, even Kacchan seemed less hostile towards him. Still, it took active thought to calm himself down and remember that things had changed.

Once his heart rate had lowered back down, he released that final breath and relaxed the white-knuckled grip he had on the strap of his bag. Opening his eyes again, he strode forward with a smile. Things were better now, even with the trials and tribulations his class had gone through. Izuku walled off the thoughts about All Might. Now wasn't the time to despair about that. He –

His phone vibrated, jolting him out of his mind. Izuku was mildly grateful to the assistance in departing from that particular train of thought. Dad wants to no if u prefer beef or pork

He blinked. Either is fine, whichever is less trouble.

Ye he wnt take that answer. Srsly which do u like better?

Pork, I guess. It really isn't a big deal though, I'm happy to have whatever you guys are making.

Contrary to his previous messages with Ashido, her response wasn't immediate. He waited for nearly a minute, only to receive it as he was putting his phone back in his pocket. Dude its no prob, dad is a chef. He luvs cooking. Hed b more upset if u lied about what u liked.

Okay. Thank you. And I guess tell him thank you as well for me, please.

Lol u r such a nerd tell him urself when you get here. A winking emoji punctuated the message.

Izuku debated the meaning of the last message as he entered the station. He didn't think it was meant as an insult; that didn't seem like Ashido's style. He didn't know her very well, but he'd never known her to try and hurt someone's feelings. The emoji gave credence to the idea that it was some manner of joke as well. Winking at someone while you were being mean to them didn't seem normal, and to be fair, there wasn't any way to faithfully argue that he wasn't a nerd. He had a dorm room full of All Might merchandise and over a dozen journals filled with Hero and Quirk trivia and analysis to back it up. Ultimately, he decided to let the comment pass him by and just not comment on it. I'm getting on a train now. I should be there in about fifteen minutes.

Her response was a series of happy-looking emoji ending in a thumbs up. Rather than question it, Izuku took it as a good sign and put his phone away.

The train ride passed faster than he thought it would. With the last lingering bit of dread about staying with Ashido and her family, he had expected that time would pass at a crawl, extracting every bit of anxious agony from him that it could. However, as Izuku looked out the window and watched the train fly past its surroundings, he only felt an odd, comfortable peace. He wasn't sure where it came from. Perhaps his talk with his mother had helped; while he had said that he just wanted to see her in person, in truth, the visit had been as much for his sake as hers. She got to see him, which Izuku knew always eased the nagging thoughts at the back of her mind, and he got to talk to her about his discomfort with the arrangements that had been made. His mom had, of course, encouraged him to speak up and say that he wasn't okay with it, but he knew that wasn't likely. If an objection were to be raised, it should have been raised as the idea was broached.

In fairness, he had tried, but ultimately gave up. Either way, the plans had been made, and to try to back out now would not only be incredibly rude to the people who were welcoming Izuku into their home, but it would also cause problems with Aizawa as the paperwork had already been turned in. That was beside the fact that he still had no clue where they'd stay otherwise. It was, in any case, comforting to know that his mom supported him, even though he had no intention of taking the actions she recommended.

The somewhat aggressive hospitality of the Ashido family may have also been the cause. He knew absolutely nothing about them, but their daughter's insistence that he should pick what food he preferred rather than just coming along for the ride gave some hint as to their character. Even if he didn't entirely understand why it was so important that his tastes be catered to, the fact of the matter was that her father considered it to be so. It suggested a welcoming environment, one that he could be at ease in. Izuku wasn't sure he would be at ease, since social graces did not come easily to him, but the mood of the place would ultimately have a significant say in how he felt there.

He might never know what it was, but somewhere along the way, it seemed that something had caused him to calm down. For the duration of that quiet train ride, he was grateful for whatever it may have been.

---

The dread came back as he stared down the door to the Ashidos' home. It wasn't as large as the door to Class 1-A by even half, but it was still considerably larger than Izuku had expected it would be. Visions of giants in the house swam through his head as he tried to center himself enough to actually press the doorbell.

He never had to, as the door swung open seemingly of its own accord after slightly over a minute of him standing there. Rather than someone of inhuman stature, Izuku found himself meeting the eyes of... an upside down child?

"Who're you?" the little girl demanded. She didn't share her older sister's skin coloration or her oddly colored eyes, but she did have cotton candy blue hair, and lots of it. In fact, he noticed that it was actually at several impossible angles. Some of the hair appeared to be bracing against the floor, while more went up towards the ceiling and out of his field of view. Several of those locks came back down into the doorway to wrap around her bare feet, showing how she had suspended herself in the air. Two thick, slightly curled horns rose out of her messy hair, nearly matching Ashido's in length and outclassing them in width. Curiously, they were colored bright red – he would have accused them of being painted, except that he could see the natural patterns formed from their growth that would have been absent with a coat of paint or nail polish. Izuku noted that not only did her finger and toenails grow out in an unnatural fashion that reminded him of claws, they were also colored oddly. They alternated from the blue of her hair to the red of her horns every other digit, but they, too, lacked any of the telltale signs of polish. Izuku completely forgot his purpose here and began formulating theories about what manner of Quirk she could have that would have all of these disparate traits. However, he hadn't gotten terribly far before his train of thought was interrupted. The girl turned her head back into the house and yelled, "MOOOOOOM! There's some weird guy mumbling at the door!"

This kickstarted Izuku's brain and he was about to begin a panicked explanation when a muffled, "Wait, hang on!" came from further in the house, followed by the sound of running. Ashido slid across the polished wood floor into the doorway. She had changed out of her uniform since he last saw her, now wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts. "Hey, Midoriya!"

The little girl's face immediately lit up and she turned to her sister. "Oh! Mina, is he one of your friends?" Without waiting for a response, several long tendrils of hair reached out of the door and anchored themselves on the roof. The knots around her feet released and she swung outside, coming right-side up and nearly colliding with Izuku as she came eye-to-eye with him. "My name's Saru! I'm five and a quarter years old!"

"Uh... Hi, Saru. I'm Izu –"

"Your hair is pretty!" she interrupted. Dark green shot up from her roots and overtook all of her hair in seconds, leaving the cotton candy behind and ending with her color perfectly matching Izuku's own.

Ashido stepped out and wrapped her arms around Saru's stomach. "Come here, you little gremlin. You know it's rude to interrupt people!" Her tone wasn't at all stern, and in fact came off as rather amused. She tickled her sibling's sides once her hold was solid, causing the girl to break down in a fit of giggles. All of her hair went limp and fell to the ground, which made Izuku realize just how much she had. Her hair went all the way down to her feet and pooled on the concrete porch – she had to have nearly seven feet of it! "C'mon! Tell Midoriya you're sorry!"

"I- I'm- I –" Saru struggled to talk between fits of laughter. "M-Mina, st-top!"

His classmate looked up at him mischievously. "She can't concentrate on using her Quirk very well if you're tickling her, because she is oh so ticklish~" The end of her sentence was almost sung to the thrashing girl.

"I'm s-sorry! Sor-hee hee!"

The apology made, Saru was released and placed on the ground. "All right. Go back inside and help set the table, dad's almost done with dinner."

The long-haired child pouted and looked at Izuku. "But I want to talk to Midoriya! Why don't you set the table?"

"Because I have to show him where he's sleeping. C'mon, scoot."

It seemed as though the back-and-forth would continue, but at that point a deep voice boomed from further in the house, "Saru! Come help set the table!" Izuku furrowed his brow. It seemed too convenient to be anything but intentionally timed, which suggested some manner of hearing Quirk. He wasn't an expert at acoustics, but he didn't think they were loud enough to project deep into the house, and it sounded like whoever had shouted was a ways from the entryway. Of course, it would be dumb not to consider the possibility that they just had some kind of smart doorbell or something that might allow whoever that was to hear the conversation they were having...

"Earth to Midoriya! Come in, Midoriya!"

Izuku looked up and found that Saru was gone, leaving only Ashido with a slight smile and a single raised eyebrow. "Oh! Uh... Sorry. I was, um, thinking about Quirks. I mean, specifically your family's Quirks and what they might be and, uh... I guess I got carried away?" He smiled sheepishly.

She snorted softly and rolled her eyes. "Well, you can ask all about them over dinner. C'mon, let's get your stuff put up." Her hand reached out to take his duffel from him.

"No, it's fine, I've got it."

"Don't worry about it, let me be a good hostess!" He didn't let go of the strap, but also didn't resist as she worked her fingers between it and his shoulder. It lifted slightly as Ashido tried to heft it, and she exhaled sharply. "Damn, Midoriya, what'd you put in there, dumbbells?"

Izuku turned slightly red. "Uh... Yeah, actually."

Something about that was apparently very funny to the pink girl, who released the bag and took a moment to laugh. "You would. Well, hey, I guess you can't have arms like that without working for it." She punched his bicep and made a show of pretending to hurt her knuckles. At his awkward laugh, Ashido grinned. "Okay, come inside, we're not going to make you sleep on the porch or anything. This way."

Izuku followed his classmate into the building, where they quickly ascended a flight of stairs to a short hallway full of the same overly large doors he entered the house through.

"That one's the bathroom," she said, pointing to one of the two doors to the right of the stairs. "Depending on when you wake up, you might have to use the downstairs bathroom to shower, since, y'know, everyone wants to use this one since it's close to all of our rooms." As she walked to the left, she pointed behind her to the door across from the bathroom. "Saru's room," then to the one on the same wall as the stairs in the direction they were heading, "Katsuru, my little brother's." Ashido then walked to the door opposite that one and opened it. "And my room."

It was sparsely furnished, probably on account of them having to provide their own furniture for the dorm rooms, but the carpet and wall colors left no doubt who it belonged to. There was a short dresser with a television on it and a desk with a chair, but beyond that, the room only contained some stacked and sealed boxes and two pallets of bedding spaced a healthy distance apart.

Izuku's mouth didn't want to produce sound, which was mostly fine, since he wasn't sure his brain could supply any words to form from it. He'd need a mirror to determine what color his face was, however, because the red flush of embarrassment was combating both the pallid complexion of horror and the green of his anxiety-induced nausea.

She frowned when she turned back to face him. "Is something wrong?"

Fifteen sentences all tried to jump out of his mouth at the same time. He tried to pick one to voice, and was actually successful. Unfortunately, the once that he managed to voice was the least useful of all of them. "A-are you sure?"

She smiled understandingly. "Don't worry about it. I already talked to my parents. They were a little concerned about it at first, but once I explained what kind of guy you were, they came around."

Absolutely mortified, Izuku had to shut his eyes and take a deep breath. He needed to be intelligible here, but also speak tactfully so as not to hurt Ashido's feelings or come off as a jerk. He thought about what he wanted to say and promptly lost almost all of it when he opened his eyes and saw the concern on her face. "I... It's not that... I just... In the same room?"

How eloquent.

"Well..." The horned girl put a hand on her hip. "I mean, we could put you up in Tomoe's old room, but that's downstairs and on the other end of the house. I'm not sure you'd even hear if something happened up here from there." Izuku struggled to figure out how he wanted to respond to that, but before he could say anything else, she continued. "Look... Midoriya, I'm not going to make you stay in here, and I don't want you to feel obligated to because of the assignment. If you aren't comfortable sleeping in the same room as me, we can get you set up downstairs."

"I just... It feels... I mean, I don't want to say wrong, but definitely weird that we'd be sharing a room..."

"If that's weird to you, that's okay. We don't have to do it. I thought it'd be a good idea, and honestly, I trust you not to be weird about it. There are several guys in class that I absolutely would not trust to be in my room while I was awake, much less sleeping. I probably wouldn't have even suggested sleeping in the same building as Kaminari or Mineta." She smiled at him. "And I'm not planning to jump you or anything. Seriously dude. Not here to make you miserable."

Izuku sighed and set his bag down just inside the door. "I... I guess we can give it a shot. You're right that, um, it's probably the best way to make sure nobody... gets you in the night or something."

"You sure? Not just saying that?"

He took another deep breath and thought very, very hard about what he wanted to say. "No, I'm not sure. But... We can try it at least once, and I can... let you know where I am after that." With the trust she was putting in him, the least he could do is trust her and give her idea a shot.

She gave him an appraising look. "All right, but you have to promise that you're going to actually tell me if you decide you aren't up for it." She held her pinky finger out to him.

Izuku stared at it blankly. Was he supposed to do something in response?

"...Have you seriously never pinky promised?"

"I... Pinky promise? What?"

Ashido laughed. "It's a stupid thing a lot of kids do. It kinda stuck with me on account of, y'know." She gestured to her entire body with her other hand. "Pink. But no, gimme your pinky finger."

Still unsure about this, he complied with her request, sticking out his pinky finger like she did.

"The other one, like we're going to shake hands."

"O-oh. Uh, sorry."

She wrapped her finger around his, and even though this seemed embarrassing and strange to him, he mirrored the motion. "There you go. Now you've pinky promised with Pinky, so you have to follow through with it!"

He chuckled awkwardly, unsure what to say. "Uh, sure thing, Ashido."

"You might want to get used to calling me Mina," she said as she slid past him and started heading back towards the stairs. "You're the only one in this house who doesn't answer to that name."

That seemed almost tortuously familiar, and under normal circumstances, he probably would have drawn the line there. It wasn't that he didn't consider her a friend, more that they weren't terribly close and it seemed like too much. Unfortunately, she did have a point. As he followed her, he said, "I'll try. It might take me a while... I still forget to not call, uh, Tsu 'Asui' sometimes."

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it! C'mon, pretty much everyone else is downstairs."

---

Izuku had never been particularly afraid of large people. After all, it wasn't exactly uncommon for someone to have a Quirk that gave them a naturally larger body, or more muscle mass, or any number of other things that could cause someone to just be big. Mostly, he found it all fascinating, part of the vast interplay between Quirks and natural genetics that could have such an effect on people and how they appeared and what they could do. However, something about the fact that someone in this household required such large doors and high ceilings scared him. He didn't fully understand why it did, but he suspected it was something related to the little nagging voice at the back of his brain that wondered why the green-haired boy was working so hard not to think about the connotation of a boy and a girl sharing a house, much less a room, and what it must look like to a casual observer.

That certainly wasn't anything against Ashido. Or rather, against Mina. She'd never been anything but kind and enthusiastic towards him. It was just a manifestation of his anxiety.

Mina led him back down to the first floor, past the entryway and into a reasonably spacious living room. A television and surrounding seating dominated most of one side, while the other was populated with bookshelves, a few paintings, and a large rectangular table with eight seats, seven of which had place settings. The back end of the room was split between a half wall looking into a kitchen and an open passage that allowed entry into said kitchen and farther back in the building to rooms Izuku could only guess at the purpose of.

He could see Saru in the kitchen by merit of her using her hair to stand high enough to look over the shoulder of a man he could only imagine was her father. He didn't look terribly tall – maybe an inch or two more than he was – but when the man turned, Izuku was stunned at how broad he was. There was nothing of Mina's slim physique in him, his wide back supporting what Izuku suspected was a barrel chest. It didn't help that his arms were well muscled, either. Since his back was to them, he couldn't get a good look at Mr. Ashido's face, but even from this angle, he could tell that his daughters' horns must have come from their mother. Nothing rose from the man's head but his dark hair.

"Dad!" Mina called. "Midoriya's here!" She looked back over her shoulder at him with a thoughtful expression. "Well. Actually. If you're going to be calling me Mina, I guess that means I get to call you by your first name, huh?" She winked.

Before Izuku could respond, Mr. Ashido spun around. His face split in a smile. "Well, hey there! It's Izuku, right?" He took off his apron, hung it on a hook, and strode out from the kitchen with Saru hot on his heels. Izuku hadn't been incorrect about Mr. Ashido's chest, but he was surprised to see a protruding belly on the man, considering how defined his arms were. "I'm Ayato, it's good to meet you!" He stuck his hand out to shake.

"I, uh, good to meet you as well, Mr. Ashido." He gave as firm a handshake as he could.

"Ohhh, no, none of that. If you're going to be staying here, you can call me by my first name. There's not enough time in the world to deal with that kind of formality!" The sentence was punctuated by Mr. Ashido slapping his stomach with a hearty laugh.

"Don't hold your breath," Mina said. "You're as likely to get Izuku to call you Ayato as you are to get Saru to quit climbing on the walls." Izuku cast his eyes around and was able to note a few spots where it looked like just that had happened.

Saru did not seem phased by the accusation. "How long is Izuku going to be staying?" she asked excitedly. "Are you going to live with us now?" Her eyes widened to the point that he thought they would bug out of her head. She gasped, held her hands over her mouth, and then ran to jump on Mina, hanging from her neck. "Are you coming to live at home again?!"

"No, we're just here for a week," her older sister answered. The pink Ashido wedged an arm between her chest and Saru's stomach and another between her neck and the girl's arms, expertly prying her sister off. "Then it's back to school for us."

"Awwww!" Saru moaned.

Mr. Ashido shook his head at the two girls, laughing mirthfully. "I'd best get back to the kitchen, can't keep everything from cooking forever. Should be done soon, though!" He turned around and, as he walked back, he called out, "Taiga! Mina's classmate is here!"

A moment later, Izuku understood why the doors and ceilings in the house were so tall. A woman came out of one of the rooms past the kitchen. She had a mane of pink hair neatly bound in a single thick braid that ran most of the way down her back, which was quite impressive considering her prodigious height. She had to be several inches over six feet tall, but her head wasn't her peak. Confirming Izuku's suspicions about the origin of the Ashido family's horns, hers reached another two, two and a half feet above her. They curved out slightly from the crown of her head before tapering back towards each other, never quite to meet. She walked with a refined grace and a measured gait. In fact, the aura about her gave Izuku the distinct impression of royalty. If someone had told him that she was the queen of some far off nation, he wasn't sure he could bring himself to disbelieve them. He had often wondered where Mina's coloration came from, but that was to remain a mystery, as Mrs. Ashido was not pink-skinned. She did, however, possess the same black eyes with golden irises. Despite their differences, the resemblance between her and his classmate was unmistakable.

Mrs. Ashido smiled as she walked to greet them – or him, he supposed. It wasn't nearly as wide or boisterous as her husband's, but it was every bit as friendly and bright. "Good afternoon, Izuku. As I'm sure you've gathered from my husband's yelling, my name is Taiga. I'm so glad to meet you, Mina has told us all about you today." She offered her hand to him.

It took a second for him to realize that she was waiting for him. Something about the sheer size of her had him... well, intimidated. It was strange. With all the time he had spent around All Might, Izuku had thought he wouldn't be unnerved by someone's stature. It wasn't even like she was overly muscular, she was just so tall. With her horns, she was probably taller than the former Symbol of Peace. He shook it off as best as he could and returned the handshake. "Yeah, um... you, too. Good to meet you, I mean, not that Mina has been talking about you."

"What?!" Came a cry of obviously feigned indignation from the kitchen. "Mina! You aren't singing our praises to your classmates? I thought you enjoyed living here!"

Mina, now with Saru sitting on her shoulders, called back, "I talk about you guys all the time, Izuku and I just don't hang out!"

Mr. Ashido began loudly lamenting his daughter's lack of love for her family in an overly dramatic fashion without taking his attention off of the food he was preparing, and Mina walked to the half-wall to argue with him, a smile on her face. Saru grabbed onto Mina's horns and kicked her feet, giggling in delight.

Mrs. Ashido watched and shook her head, though she looked happy. "I do hope you aren't bothered by energetic families. You'll find that most of my children take after their father in demeanor."

"Oh, it's... No, it'll... I mean, I'll be fine."

"You sound uncertain, dear."

Izuku smiled awkwardly. "It's just... new? My family is... small." The pang of absence was so familiar by now that it barely registered.

"Well, Izuku, you're more than welcome to feel like part of ours if you're comfortable with it. I–" Her next sentence was interrupted by a loud knocking at the door, followed by it opening. Her already elated smile grew further. "Ah! That'll be Tomoe. He's moved out now, but he comes for dinner on weekends. Some weekdays, too, if he can make it."

He was left with a lingering discomfort from the notion of being part of another family, but wasn't quite able to discern why before the new arrival rounded the corner.

Tomoe had all of the most intimidating aspects of both of his parents. If he wasn't taller than Mrs. Ashido, sans her horns, it was a very near thing. However, he was also as broad-shouldered as his father, and his muscles were so massive that his skin seemed almost stretched over his body in some places. He was all hard edges and sharp angles, especially his head, which seemed almost square except for the large ram's horns curling out from the sides. It would have been horrifically rude to call him ugly, but he certainly wasn't conventionally attractive. That said, it may have had something to do with the perplexed expression on his face, drawing his skin taut and making his features all the more brutal. He was preparing to ask a question, but as it formed on his lips, something sparked in his eyes and the corners of his mouth turned up mischievously.

"Tomoe," Mrs. Ashido said softly.

Whatever message she had sent, he had elected not to receive it. Not taking his eyes off Izuku, Tomoe raised his voice and said, "Hey, Littlehorn, aren't you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?"

"Oh MY GOD, Tomoe!" came the answer from behind Izuku, who had turned immediately bright red. "You literally just got here! Can you not be an absolute jerk for two minutes?! Izuku isn't even my boyfriend, he's my partner on a class project!" Mina stormed over, face a startling violet, Saru still on her shoulders, and wielded her index finger like it was a knife she was preparing to stab right into her brother's face. "And stop calling me Littlehorn!"

"Well, stop having the littlest horns in the family," he replied, reaching up to ruffle his youngest sister's hair, much to her chagrin. "Even Saru's horns are bigger than yours these days." Rather than retort, the girl seemed rather mollified by the strange compliment.

Izuku wasn't sure what to do. Was this normal sibling behavior? He had no frame of reference for it, if so. Was he supposed to do something? Take a side? It'd be Mina's surely, but what would he say? Was it okay to say something? Should he just let it go? She seemed genuinely upset, and to be fair, he kind of was as well – it was all very embarrassing. He looked to Mrs. Ashido for guidance, but she merely had a resigned, long-suffering look on her face as she walked to the stairs and disappeared around the corner.

"You don't make fun of dad's lack of horns!" Mina was not smiling.

Tomoe was. "Of course not, he'd poison my food!"

Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin as, from directly behind him, Mr. Ashido spoke. "That's nonsense, I always poison your food. The trick is finding the antidote I put in there!" Another belly-slapping laugh punctuated the sentence.

"Well, that's easy," Tomoe said, still grinning. "It's in the pickled vegetables."

Saru sighed and sadly confirmed, "It's always in the pickled veggies."

"Speaking of, dad, what's today's attempted murder?"

"Nikujaga! I've made pork for myself and Izuku here." He put a heavy hand on the young man's shoulder in time with speaking his name. "I know the rest of you prefer beef, so that's what you've got. Besides that, rice, pickled vegetables – your favorite, Saru!" The child pouted in response. "A light miso soup and, finally, some okra salad with nattō on the side to celebrate a week home with Mina!"

The aforementioned Ashido rubbed her hands together with an excited, "Ooooh," her grievances with Tomoe set aside in the name of food.

The matron of the household came back from the stairs, joined by a goat-horned boy who looked about twelve. "All right, everyone!" she declared. Her voice was not raised, but its authoritative tone immediately silenced all other conversation. Izuku had to admit, with this bunch, that was fairly impressive. "Go wash your hands if you need to and then come to sit down, it's dinner time."

---

Izuku was properly introduced to Katsuru, Mina's younger brother, in the short time between his arrival on the first floor and everyone sitting down at the dinner table. The boy, whose only abnormal physical trait was his horns, had been mostly uninterested in talking. He was upset and grumbling about not being allowed to 'finish playing,' which Izuku extrapolated to mean he was hauled away from a video game by his mother.

Mr. Ashido moved the food from the kitchen and they all sat at the table. On one side, Mina sat in the middle flanked by Saru and Izuku. At the end next to Saru was Mr. Ashido, with Mrs. Ashido directly next to him, followed by Katsuru and then Tomoe.

Being directly across from the hulking Ashido was more intimidating for social reasons than physical ones. His build more closely resembled All Might's, and unlike his mother, there wasn't anything about him that was particularly imposing beyond that. It was something he was familiar and comfortable with due to his time with the former Number One Hero. However, he was Mina's older brother, and despite his friend's protests, Izuku did get the impression that Tomoe hadn't quite dismissed the possibility that he and Mina were... romantically involved. If the large man's gaze didn't have him terrified, the green-haired student may have blushed at the thought, but even embarrassment couldn't break through the stark white his social anxiety had plastered on his face.

An elbow from Mina brought him out of his mind. "W-what? Huh?"

She chuckled. "Dad asked how you liked your nikujaga."

"Oh! I'm sorry, it's... It's really good. And, um, thank you for asking what meat I preferred. Earlier, I mean, when you had Mina text me."

"Of course!" the smiling man exclaimed. "There's nothing better than making a meal someone enjoys, so why not figure out what you like best?"

Izuku grinned shyly and focused his attention on his rice, and not on Tomoe.

"Dude, can you ftop leering at Ivuku?" Mina asked with her mouth half full. "You're vreaking him out."

"Leering? What? Who's leering?"

"You are being a touch intense, dear," Taiga said without taking her eyes off of her bowl. "And Mina, don't talk with your mouth full."

She swallowed. "Well, I know how to make him feel better." His head snapped over to look at her, worry clear in his eyes. Mina winked at him and said, "I know he's been dying to ask you all about your Quirks since he got here."

"Oh?" Taiga asked. "I suppose it makes sense, since you're enrolled in UA. You're particularly interested in Quirks, then?"

He finished the strip of pork he had in his mouth and nodded. "Um, y-yes, ma'am. I've always been really interested in heroes, so –"

His classmate snorted and interrupted him. "Yeah, no kidding. You guys should see his room."

Izuku sucked in a large breath, eyes wide. Class 1-A had, more or less as a whole, ribbed Izuku for days following their visit to each others' rooms. The plentiful All Might memorabilia wasn't something he was usually embarrassed about, but other people had a way of making him feel childish about it. Something settled deep in his stomach, a cold pit, drawing his heart down with the knowledge that Mina was about to bring that mockery to the table.

However, it never came. Mina's eyes likewise widened at her statement, as though she hadn't expected to hear it from her own mouth. She shot him a panicked look and said, "I, uh, he just has these huge stacks of journals. Like, practically floor to ceiling in some places! Just filled cover to cover about different heroes and villains and their Quirks and how they use them and how he thinks they could use them, costume designs, what Quirks he thinks work well together and which don't... It's, like, super impressive, and he does really good illustrations in them!"

"You can draw?!" Saru asked excitedly. "We have to draw together! I can get my big box of crayons!"

He wanted to respond to the girl, but he was too busy recovering from the whiplash of emotions Mina had just given him. It was evident that she hadn't meant to embarrass him, but for the briefest moment, all Izuku could see was the entire table laughing at him. His heart pounded in his chest as he gathered his wits, only managing half a smile for Saru.

"Maybe tomorrow," Mrs. Ashido said, placing a hand on her daughter's arm. "I'm sure Izuku and Mina have had a very long day of school and getting everything ready for their project and just want to relax tonight."

The five year old began to pout, but Tomoe didn't give her a chance to protest. "That many journals means an awful lot of writing. You fill all of them up?"

"I... I mean, it's not nearly as many as Ash – er, as Mina makes it sound. But... yeah, I don't move onto a new one until I've filled one up. It'd be wasteful otherwise."

"It's good to have that kind of dedication!" Mr. Ashido said. "But, you were saying before my lovely daughter so rudely interrupted you?" He looked over at Mina, eyebrows raised, a smirk breaking the otherwise serious facade.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"It's, uh, fine," Izuku assured her with an awkward chuckle. "Um, yeah, I've always been really into learning about heroes. I remember when I was really little, I used to just watch videos of All Might over and over again. So... I decided I wanted to be a hero, like... um..." He laughed at himself. This sounded so ridiculous. "Like every little kid, I guess. But once I got towards the later end of elementary school, I started keeping the journals. At first it was all about what my hero name would be and... you know, dumb little costume designs..." Why was he talking about this? This wasn't what they'd asked at all! He screamed internally as his mouth continued to flap pointlessly. "Uh, anyways, eventually I started writing about other people's Quirks in them, and my thoughts on them. It kind of became a hobby, so... I'm always looking to learn more about Quirks, because the more I know, the more flexible my mind gets and the better a hero I can be."

"Well," Katsuru started with a grin, "I'll help! My –"

"Katsuru," Mr. Ashido warned.

"Don't," Mrs. Ashido echoed.

"– Quirk is Horny!"

Izuku choked on a potato. He coughed several times before it dislodged enough that he could get it back down the right pipe. The adult Ashidos, Tomoe included, took this time to chastise Katsuru for continuing even though he had clearly been warned not to. His brother did seem more amused than serious, though.

"What? It's the best name for it!" He looked at Izuku. "I can make horns all over my body, and retract them when I'm done!" A new horn sprouted from his forehead, and short, fat barbs rose up from his hands like some sort of built-in knuckleduster. As quick as he made them, they were gone. "It's pretty much the best power ever," he said with complete confidence. "Nobody will be able to tell where the next horn's coming from, I'll be unbeatable once I get into UA."

While it wasn't nearly as powerful as he made it sound, Izuku could see a lot of applications for such a Quirk, both offensive and defensive. Depending on the scale he was capable of growing and manipulating them to, he could potentially even create protective barriers for other people! The durability would determine its usefulness in all cases, but he could see it functioning like an odd combination of Kirishima and Shoji's Quirks if used properly. He'd have said as much, but there wasn't exactly time to interject.

"If you get into UA," Mina retorted. "Your grades are worse than mine! Plus, you don't even have half of my natural wit."

Saru excitedly chimed in, "Yeah! You're not as cool as Mina!"

"Cooler than you, fart breath!"

"Katsuru!" Mrs. Ashido snapped.

The preteen slumped in his chair grumpily. "Sorry, Saru. You're not a fart breath." It was outstandingly evident that he didn't mean a word of it and was only saying it out of expectation. His mother continued to glare at him for a moment before returning to her food.

Saru responded by sticking her tongue out at him before looking at Izuku. "Me next! My Quirk is Keta... Ket... No, Ker..."

"Keratin," Mr. Ashido helpfully supplied.

"Keratin Control!" she chirped. "Hair and horns and fingernails and toenails are all made of keratin, and I can do all sorts of stuff with them! I can make my nails long and sharp and control my hair and change their colors and make my horns bigger and make my hair long and make my hair strong enough to hold me up and make my nails strong enough to climb and –"

"Don't forget to breathe, dear," Mrs. Ashido said.

The statement distracted Saru as she crinkled her brow and breathed. She looked like she wasn't entirely sure why she was doing it, which caused Izuku's mouth to twitch up at the corners.

"Your Quirk sounds really cool, Saru," he said. "I bet it'll be really strong if you keep working on it." That was no idle praise, either. That was a versatile, high-power Quirk, especially if she could harden her various sources of keratin to a level able to withstand combat. She already seemed to have a good handle on its control, based on how she used it to lift herself up and could do complex maneuvers like she had at the door when he'd first seen her. If she was five, she couldn't have had it for much more than a year, but hers was the kind of Quirk you could use almost nonstop. In fact, he'd bet money she could walk using her hair if she really wanted to.

The green-haired girl beamed under the praise. "Uh huh! I'm gonna be just like Mina and go to UA and be a hero!"

"She thinks I'm the coolest person to ever walk the Earth," Mina whispered to Izuku. "I mean, I am, but it's adorable, right?"

"The downside of Saru's Quirk is the maintenance," Mrs. Ashido said.

"She's not kidding," her husband agreed. "We must donate at least ponytail's worth of hair for every day of the month!" He laughed, slapping his belly again.

"Saru can't retract the things she grows like Katsuru can," Tomoe explained. "And she's absolutely feral, she refuses to let any kind of grooming happen."

"Because my hair and nails are so pretty!" she protested. "They don't need to be cut!"

"Until you cut one of the other girls at school by accident," he said. "Or scratch at that boy who steps on your hair."

"Well, that's different! Sejiro is a big, mean dummy!"

"But you should still let your teacher handle it," Mrs. Ashido said. "It's not nice to hurt people, even if they hurt you first."

The lesson on schoolyard etiquette continued for a moment longer before petering off, with Saru protesting and proclaiming her justification for harming of the other student almost every step of the way before finally grumbling in defeat.

"Uh, what about you, Tomoe?" Izuku asked.

The blocky man ate a pickled beet and sighed loudly as he chewed. "Exoskeleton," he said. "I've got a layer of bone armor over all of my muscles." He rapped his knuckles against his cheek, which rang with a dull impact of bone-on-bone. "Even in my face. It's about an eighth of an inch thick and about as durable as concrete, maybe a little more. My regular skeleton is reinforced, too, so I'm pretty tough."

Izuku tried to imagine what it would feel like to be struck by something that hard. Practicing close combat with Kirishima came to mind, but he didn't have anywhere near the mass of the older man. If the layer of bone was as thick as he said it was, his muscles underneath had to be gigantic. It also went a long way towards explaining his appearance.

"And before you ask, yes, I did try to go to UA. Didn't pan out."

"He passed the entrance exam," Mina elaborated. Tomoe glowered at her, but she went on. "He was actually one of the highest performing applicants, and his grades weren't bad either, but he got hurt during the exam. One of the robots hit him really hard and shattered part of his chest plate."

"Oh, please, Littlehorn, tell your boyfriend all about it," Tomoe said, resting his head on a hand.

She growled a bit, but otherwise ignored him. "Anyways, Recovery Girl patched him up and told him he couldn't accept the invitation to enroll."

"I was given a consultation by a medical professional who said that, while I am very durable, any injury that overcame my defenses would require emergency surgery, and I should consider the dangers of hero work before I make my decision," he corrected. "If you're going to tell the story, tell it right."Mina rolled her eyes at him, but let him continue. "See, the reason why humans have ribcages instead of an enclosed case is because they're actually better at protecting your organs than a solid plate would be. Since ribs are curved, an impact is more likely to glance off of it, and if it does break, it can heal normally, and the other ribs around it aren't weaker just because another rib broke. The only things you have to worry about are blows large enough to crush multiple ribs or small enough to slip between them." Tomoe pointed to his chest. "For me, a crack means that another hit anywhere on my torso could potentially worsen the injury. A hard enough impact causes a more severe break, kind of like smashing a windshield. If it doesn't heal right, it'll never regain its strength, either. The fractures will permanently weaken my Exoskeleton, and it hurts like a..." He swallowed at the look his mother gave him, then shrugged and held his hands out. "So, I figure my options are try to be a hero, but spend an unacceptable amount of time in hospitals, or figure something else out with my life." He picked up his chopsticks and fished out another strip of beef. "And that's how I wound up teaching the third grade."

Izuku hadn't taken a bite for the duration of the story. It was incredibly sad – he could tell Tomoe was still upset about not being able to follow his dream of being a hero. To be so close but have to give it up not because your Quirk couldn't cut it, but because it was a hazard to your health...

Well. Izuku knew a thing or two about that. Or something very similar, at the very least.

"I'm really sorry to hear that," he said.

"Don't be," Tomoe waved. "I get to live vicariously through Littlehorn now. Speaking of, how're your grades?"

"None of your business, that's how they are," she spat. "And stop calling me Littlehorn."

"I'm telling you, if you would spend a little less time goofing off and a little more time studying, you wouldn't have to worry about being rated so low in your class!"

"Oh, is it my turn to be embarrassed in front of Izuku now? You think I don't know my grades are bad, Tomoe?! Shut up!"

"Mina," Mrs. Ashido warned.

She crossed her arms and glared at her mother. Izuku regretted sitting next to the pink girl, because the glare that her mother returned was one of the iciest, most terrifying looks Izuku had ever seen a person wear, villains included. He wasn't even the target!

His classmate finally sighed and gave in. "Sorry, Tomoe."

"You should be!" He said cheerfully. Mrs. Ashido turned the look upon him, to which he raised his hands in surrender.

"I'm very sorry, Izuku. Usually, my children are better behaved than this. I'm not sure what's gotten into them, but I know it's about to get out."

While enduring the exchanges between the siblings was uncomfortable, the silence that followed her statement was nearly unbearable. Izuku wasn't sure what to say, or even if he should speak at all. Everyone ate without speaking for what felt like an eternity, but in reality couldn't have been more than maybe a minute and a half.

Finally, Mr. Ashido broke the silence. "Well! My Quirk is Catalyst, and it's the reason my food comes out perfect every time! I'm aware of chemical reactions within about seven feet of me, and with just a little bit of concentration," he held his thumb and forefinger just barely apart to emphasize, "I can speed them up or slow them down. Can't stop them, and if I walk away the effect is harder to maintain, but I always know when food is done. Makes my life really easy, considering I cook for a living!" He laughed and slapped his belly. "Plus, it means I can eat basically as much as I want – just a little bit of workout goes a long way, and when you can speed up or slow down your metabolism at will, well. Let's just say I can safely consume more dessert in a night without consequence than Taiga can in a month, and she never has forgiven me for it!" Another bout of laughter followed, another slap punctuating it.

Even Izuku reluctantly had to admit that such a Quirk would be difficult to turn to hero work. By itself, it wasn't going to be terribly impactful in a fight or most rescue scenarios. Perhaps with the right support gear one could make use of it, but the relatively short range of it was a significant hurdle Mr. Ashido would have had to jump. It wasn't unthinkable that it would have expanded as he trained it, but even so, he more likely would have had to find an existing hero that his Quirk synergized well with and serve as their sidekick. No, it seemed that Mina's father had found a niche he fit into quite well.

"If I could prosecute you for your crimes against chocolate cake, Ayato, I would." Mrs. Ashido spoke dispassionately, but there was a hint of a smile on her face, so Izuku was pretty sure she was joking. Her husband certainly thought so, raucously smacking his stomach several times before quieting down. She continued, "My Quirk is nothing special. I just have these horns. They don't do anything and aren't more durable than you'd expect horns to be." After taking a bite of food, the tall woman added, "Our dark eyes come from my mother, in case you're curious."

While that was something he was curious about, it wasn't his most burning question, but it seemed rude to ask it. He settled on another. "What was... er... is her Quirk?"

"Black Eyes," she answered quickly. "It makes her see in the dark exceptionally well and very difficult to read, since she doesn't have visible irises."

"You can never tell where she's looking," Mina complained. "And she knows it! I'm pretty sure she has a wider point of view or something and just never told anyone, I have never once managed to sneak something by her."

"I can!" Saru cheered.

"Well yeah, you can just hide whatever you're taking in your hair," Katsuru grumbled.

"Plus, you're her favorite," Tomoe added. "You can get away with basically anything in her house."

Saru stuck her tongue out proudly at Tomoe, an emotion Izuku wasn't sure could be associated with that action until that very moment, and he seized the moment to ask Mrs. Ashido another question. "So you inherited black sclera from your mother, but... You don't have any of the benefits?"

"I like to think my night vision is a little better than normal, but I don't believe it's enough to merit an association with my Quirk. It does do wonders for my ability to intimidate people, however, which pairs nicely with my horns and height."

"Taiga's a defense attorney," Mr. Ashido explained. "It takes a lot of effort to get respected in that line of work, so it helps when everyone has to crane their necks to look you in the eye." He winked at his wife, who smiled pleasantly at him.

"Also good for weaponizing against your family," said Tomoe after finishing off his nikujaga.

"Well, when all of my children are disgracing themselves with horrid table manners in front of a guest, what else am I to do?" She turned to Izuku and asked, "You've hardly talked this whole time, dear. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

He shifted uncomfortably. If only there was something interesting to tell... "Uh... Well, I've... really said about everything. In UA, training to be a hero... Studying heroes and villains is my hobby..." The teen smiled apologetically.

"Well, what about your Quirk?" Mr. Ashido asked. "I haven't heard about yours."

His stomach tied up in a knot, and suddenly he wasn't sure he cared to finish his food. These people were welcoming him into their home, freely told him all about themselves, and now he was going to lie to them. It was necessary, but he still felt that they deserved better. "Oh, it's just, um... just a strength enhancer. I called it Superpower because..." He forced a laugh. "Well, I'm not great at naming things, I guess."

With a look of revelation, Mr. Ashido slammed one hand down on the table and pointed at Izuku with his chopsticks. "That's where I've seen you! You were the one who fought Endeavor's son in the Sports Festival, weren't you?"

"Wait, what?!" Katsuru exclaimed.

He smiled slightly. "Yeah. That was me."

Mina's father leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, a wide grin on his face. "Well, let me tell you, I was very impressed. I mean, you fought well and all, but it was very clear that you were less interested in winning and more concerned with getting through to that poor kid. I remember, I turned to Taiga and I said, 'Now that's a kid that's going to make a great hero one day, because he gets what's important.' And from what Mina told us in the weeks after the festival, he really turned himself around after your fight." He nodded sagely at Izuku. "You should be proud of yourself for that."

He had been fine until that last sentence. The whole statement had been very flattering, maybe a touch embarrassing, but he had been fine. It was something about those last few words. 'You should be proud of yourself for that.' Izuku wasn't sure if it was the way it was said, the nod of approval, the fact that he'd met this man less than an hour before, or perhaps something else. There had just been a pang in his heart and then someone turned on the waterworks. He clenched his jaw as tight as he could to prevent any sobs from choking their way out, but he knew nothing he did was going to prevent the tears from pouring out of his eyes.

"Wha..." Mr. Ashido sounded confused. Izuku couldn't tell by looking at him due to the fact that his vision was heavily obscured. "I'm sorry, did I say something upsetting..?"

He heard Katsuru begin snickering, which only added to the embarrassment he was feeling, but Mrs. Ashido quickly hushed him.

Releasing the vise-like lock he had set in his mouth, he managed to say, "Sorry, I... I'm just going to go to the bathroom," without more than a nominal amount of choking, rose from the table, and retreated with all possible haste to the only such location he was aware of in the house.

---

Mina believed that she was well versed when it came to emotions. She had survived all of her encounters with middle schoolers, after all, and she considered that more of a minefield than the actual minefield she'd gone through at the Sports Festival. However, she couldn't figure out what had sent Izuku nearly sprinting to the staircase and, presumably, the upstairs bathroom.

"Okay, so just checking," Tomoe asked, "Are we all equally lost, here?"

She didn't need to be looking at her family to know that everyone had turned to her. "Yeah," she said. "I don't know what's up with him."

"I didn't say anything wrong, did I? I thought I was just giving him a compliment..." She could tell Dad was upset. He took pride in getting along with everybody and would absolutely assume that any negative reaction someone had to him was a hundred percent his fault and something that required an immediate apology, even if he hadn't done anything.

"Of course not, dear," Mom said. "Mina, you're sure you don't know why Izuku is upset?"

She tried really hard not to be irritated at the question. Yeah, she had just said she didn't know, but her mom was trying to figure out what the problem was so that she could solve it. It was just the way she was. "I don't know," the pink girl replied, turning back to face the rest of the table. "He just gets like that sometimes! I mean, sometimes it makes sense, but usually I'm on the other side of the room or the training ground or whatever and I'll look over and he's just crying his eyes out!"

Mina felt bad for saying that. It sounded mean. She wasn't trying to be mean, she just wasn't that close to Izuku. Ochako would probably know why he was upset, and there was even a brief temptation to reach out to her to find that out, but it wasn't exactly a safe thing to do. In the event she was on a Kidnapper team, it'd be more or less broadcasting their location, and even Mina wasn't stupid enough to do that.

"I'm going to go talk to him," she found herself saying. It was a bit of a surprise to hear it, since she hadn't even remotely been thinking it, but it was a good idea and probably the right thing to do. She got out of her chair to follow him, but paused when Katsuru made a particularly numbskullish comment.

"Man, how can someone so strong be such a wimp?"

Mina whirled on him. "Dude, shut up. Midoriya is seriously one of the toughest people in the school, much less my class. His Quirk is so powerful he couldn't use it without breaking his own bones for a really long time, and I've never even heard about him complain about it. Don't call him a wimp just because he's manly enough to cry, it makes you sound like a dick." Kirishima's vocabulary must have been rubbing off on her; 'manly' wasn't usually an word she'd use, but it worked here quite well.

Mom didn't even tell her off for calling her little brother a dick, which was another victory for her. As she walked to the stairs, she even heard her browbeating him for being rude and inconsiderate.

The bathroom door was shut when she got there, which... wasn't really that surprising, actually, it would have been more strange to find it open. It'd be kind of weird to just go into the bathroom and not shut the door, even if you weren't doing anything in there. Maybe if you were just washing your hands?

She put that mildly upsetting thought aside and knocked. "Hey, Izuku? You in there?"

No response came.

"Hey, listen, Dad wasn't trying to upset you or anything, you know? He's not the kind of guy who wants other people to be anything but really happy."

Izuku didn't say anything, but Mina could have sworn she heard the faintest trace of a sob.

"Come on, man, say something. Nobody really knows what's going on but you, and..." And what? This would be a lot easier if she knew him better. What would he respond to? What would the green-haired boy want someone to say to him? "...It's not your fault, either. Nobody's upset at you, they just want to make sure they know if something's off-limits. Well, except for Katsuru, but he's a tween, and tweens are jerks."

Still nothing. Mina sighed and sat down, back against the door. "All right. I'll be here whenever you're ready."

Surprisingly, that brought a shaky response from the other side of the door. "Y-you don't have to," he said. "I'm sure you'd rather finish your dinner... I'll be... Um, I'll come down when I'm... done."

That seemed typical for him. In fact, it actually sparked a thought in her mind. "You know, I've got a theory about you, Izuku."

"W...what do you mean?"

"I think you're really bad at taking care of yourself." When no response was given, she continued. "Like, looking at all of the times you absolutely destroyed your fingers, your hand, your arm, really any part of you that stood in the way of your Quirk and whoever you were aiming it at, I think you get this big idea in your head that you don't really matter that much and whatever you're trying to do matters more than your own well being. And sometimes, that's super admirable. Like when you were fighting Todoroki or trying to save that one kid at the Wild, Wild Pussycats' camp. Well, maybe admirable isn't the right word, 'cause it's kinda messed up that you think you don't matter, but your dedication to being a hero is awesome." Mina sighed. "Anyways, my point is, something that happened at the table was really upsetting to you, enough that you started crying. And that's okay, y'know? I mean, it's honestly pretty cool, a lot of the guys I know are, like, emotionally stunted or something and think that only girls cry, so the fact that you cry is a good thing! Wait, what was I... Oh, right! So something upset you, and now you're up here, hiding in the bathroom, trying to get me to go away because you think its more important that I go finish my dinner and let you figure out whatever it is you're working through in there, and that's dumb! It's okay to need help! And I know it can be hard to ask for it, too. Like, when final exams were coming up and I had to suck it up and ask Yaomomo if I could join in on the study session at her house? Super embarrassing. But I probably only passed the finals because I did it!" She found herself throwing her hands up in the air, despite the fact that he wouldn't be able to see her. "Or. Well, passed the written portion, anyways," she added with a grimace.

Izuku was quiet.

She sighed once more. "Anyways, it's not like I can read your mind or anything, so I have no idea if I'm right. Like I said, it's just a theory."

"...It... Might be a little right. I do a lot of dangerous stuff. Recovery Girl yells at me about how hurt I get all the time."

"Do you listen to her?"

"...Usually."

"Well, then, think of me as a younger, cuter, mental health oriented Recovery Girl! You have to listen to me that way, and I say, let's talk about whatever was bothering you so we can make sure it doesn't happen again!" Mina paused for a moment and said, "But can we open the door? It feels a little weird to talk this way."

There was a brief delay, and then the doorknob rattled and her back support was taken away, sending her sprawling into the bathroom, looking at Izuku from the ground up. His eyes were really red, she realized. He must have been really crying in there. "I'm sorry!" he said, offering her a hand. "I didn't know you were leaning back against it so much!"

She laughed, said, "It's not a problem, dude," and accepted his hand up, which was a little awkward since he was standing behind her and trying to help her to her feet and the angle just didn't really lend itself to that. It was sweet of him to try, though! Once they were both standing, she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. "So really. What was bothering you?"

"...I don't know."

"C'mon, man, I can't help if you won't talk to me." It was disappointing, after all of that work, for him to just blow her off like that.

"No, I mean, I really don't know. I was fine, and then he said I should be proud of myself, and I just..." He looked away, blushing. It would have almost been cute if he didn't look so upset. "Broke down."

Mina looked at him for a long, silent moment. "Well, damn. That's... not great for solving the problem."

"Yeah. Sorry."

It was an effort, but she really clamped down on the urge to laugh. It was not something he needed right now. "You don't need to apologize. You haven't done anything wrong."

It was amazing how vulnerable he looked. Mina had seen him in full hero mode, when there wasn't a thing on the planet that could scare him. He was all business, and nothing could stop him from saving the day, passing the test, whatever it was that he was doing that warranted Full Hero Izuku. Even when he was just studying or taking notes or mumbling to himself, he might get a little flustered when someone called him out, but she'd never seen him look scared before. Had anyone, she wondered? Was she seeing a part of Izuku that nobody else had ever known?

"Okay. So, we don't have a solution. How about I go back downstairs, I'll tell everyone to just not worry about it or bring it up, and then you come back down in a minute or two, and we finish up what dinner we may have and have a good time for the rest of the day?" It wasn't perfect. In fact, it was kind of a bad plan that required just ignoring the problem, which is something she frequently did, but usually knew she shouldn't. Unfortunately, it was the only thing she could think to do.

To her surprise, he nodded. "Yeah, I... I think that'd be good."

"All right!" She cheered, pumping a fist in the air. "We've officially overcome the first obstacle of our VIP-Bodyguard relationship: The Mystery Problem!"

Izuku made a face like he wasn't sure how he was supposed to react to that, but it was joined by a small, snorting laugh. He clapped a hand over his mouth as soon as it escaped, looking mortified, but Mina was undaunted.

"That's the spirit!" She clapped him on the shoulder. "All right, just give me a minute to head back down and talk to them." Mina turned to leave and made it about halfway down the hall before something occurred to her. She walked back to Izuku and spoke quietly. "Oh, and... About earlier, when I mentioned seeing your room?" She looked down, shame bubbling in her heart. "I'm... really sorry about that. I know we give you a hard time about all your All Might stuff at the dorms sometimes, and I didn't even think about them not knowing about that before I said it. Which... happens to me a lot."

"Oh, uh... It's... It's fine, Ashido. I mean, Mina! Mina. I... I could tell that you didn't mean to say it, once you started talking about my journals."

A small smile crept back onto her face. "It's not, but... thanks for saying it is." Then, just like it had never happened, she straightened her back and whirled around. "Well! Back downstairs for me. See you in a minute, bodyguard~"

"Uh... Yeah, sure, in... just a minute... VIP?" He sounded confused at the end, like he was unsure how to respond.

Honestly, it was funny, and it made her laugh. "We'll work on it," the bubbly girl promised.

---

The remainder of the afternoon and into the evening was uneventful. When he'd collected himself and come back downstairs, he was greeted once more by those present and his absence not addressed, which made him feel much better about the whole thing. Dinner had been finished amicably, and Izuku had been invited to join the family in their evening activities.

Katsuru had retreated to his room, but the rest of them gathered around the television in the living room. Naturally, he expected that this meant that they were about to watch something, but the TV was not the focus of the evening. Something was always on, and Mr. Ashido frequently flipped the channels when commercials started, but each of the members of the household had their attention somewhere besides it.

Mrs. Ashido, for example, was reading a book. Izuku had tried to surreptitiously catch the cover or spine to see what it was, but she had noticed him and been more than happy to share what it was. It seemed that she particularly enjoyed mystery novels as a way to keep her brain guessing.

Tomoe told stories about his students and the various mishaps and bits of drama between them and occasionally the other staff, which frequently kept Mr. Ashido in a state of uproarious laughter and raised some questions about whether he had ever bruised his stomach from the abuse he put it through whenever he found something funny. Saru sometimes chipped in, as she evidently attended the same school that he taught at, but very seldom had much in the way of related input due to her distance from the older children of the school.

Speaking of the youngest Ashido, she spent her time trying to keep Mina's attention with literally anything that the small child was doing. Fortunately, these were mostly simple tasks, and his classmate spent most of the evening coloring in a book with her sister. Mina was frequently accused of 'coloring wrong' when Saru decided something should be a different color than what was used, but they amusingly both agreed that the 'skin colored' crayon was the pink one.

None of this stopped Mina from engaging in the conversations going between her brother and father, offering opinions on how something should have been done or what should have been said (rarely in a way that would end in anything but her amusement, but it was rather clear that she was joking) or slipping in an amusing comment when she thought of one (which was often). She frequently glanced over at Izuku over the course of the evening, offering small smiles and occasional light dialogue.

The guest himself had been brought into several short conversations, but was having trouble remaining engaged, mostly due to lingering anxiety. He had briefly excused himself after the first half hour or so to retrieve his weights and grip trainer, which had absolutely entranced Saru, who did not believe he could lift them more than once and was delighted when he did. Despite the protests of the entire family, she managed to lift one with her hair, but quickly put it down after being ordered to by her father.

All said, despite the unfamiliar situation, it was quite a pleasant evening.

---

"Gotta say," Mina commented as she returned to her room in her pajamas, "I kind of expected someone to make a move on us tonight. You know, get the whole thing out of the way and kick back for a week. It's what I'd do."

Izuku was likewise dressed for bed, but had decided to wear nondescript shorts and a shirt instead of any of his actual pajamas. It was one thing to wear his All Might branded ones in the dorm where everyone already knew about them, but to bring them here would have been... embarrassing. Probably. "I doubt anyone would. They have two whole days to capture someone for full points. Why rush into it? Even if they just waited to do some information gathering tonight and see about launching a strike tomorrow, they'd still have a lot of time to themselves."

"Yeah, good point. Besides, we're, like, the strongest team in the game! Why would anyone go after us, right?"

She was confident, that much was certain, but he was a little unnerved by how much of that might be based on being on a team with him. "We shouldn't underestimate anyone else, though," he said cautiously. "There are, um, a few teams that I'm worried about for one reason or another."

"Why worry?" Mina retorted, falling back onto the pallet she'd chosen to sleep on. "You said it yourself! My acid can melt through anything they try to use to trap me, plus it makes me super hard to just grab with their hands, and you're so strong that nobody who's actually doing this can take you one-on-one. Like, if Bakugou or Todoroki were involved, sure, that's something to worry about, but we've got it made!"

He sighed. It was nice that she was self-confident, but too much confidence lead to hubris. "I mean, maybe in a straight fight, but we don't know what kind of sneaky techniques they may try to pull on us. Like, if Yaoyarozu was on a kidnapper team, they could have access to almost anything! Or if Ojiro and Tsu are kidnappers, an attack could come from any direction, and who knows what other tricks they could have up their sleeves?" He began counting on his fingers. "Iida and Hagakure can hit us hard and fast and possibly in ways we can't see. Koda and Tokoyami barely have to be present to come after us, and are especially dangerous at night. Shoji and Mineta could find us anywhere, and I honestly don't know if I can overpower Mineta's Quirk or if you can melt through it. Sato and Sero could really easily separate us, and with enough sugar, Sato can even give me a run for my money, at least for a little while. I'll admit I'm a little less concerned about Aoyama and Jirou, but that doesn't mean they can't figure out something that we aren't expecting. Uraraka is one of the ones I'm most concerned about, since it doesn't matter how strong our Quirks are, she can neutralize us with a touch!" He put his hands down and looked pleadingly at Mina. "We might be a strong team, but we need to be careful, okay?"

"All right, all right," she said, waving a hand. "I get it! We'll be careful!"

It wasn't that Izuku felt she wasn't taking the exercise seriously. He knew that she was. She just seemed... far too assured of their success. Of course, even though they were partners, it did seem more in the vein of the bodyguard to consider potential threats and how to counter them, so perhaps it was appropriate that –

"So... You haven't been, like, scared away or anything, right?"

Broken from his chain of thought, Izuku wasn't sure that he heard her properly. "What?"

"You just were really quiet tonight. Which, I guess that's kind of normal for you if the conversation isn't about heroes or Quirks or school, but I've been worried about you since you ran up here at dinner. So, my family isn't scaring you off or anything, right?"

Were they? There was no question that he was in way over his head. He'd never been part of a normal family environment before; the closest he'd come was staying over at Kacchan's house when he was little, and he could hardly remember what that was like. Having to live with the Ashidos for a week already felt like he was being tossed into the deep end of the pool without knowing how to swim. At the same time, though, none of them were being mean to him. He got the distinct impression that Katsuru wanted nothing to do with him, but it also really seemed like he didn't want anything to do with anything that wasn't in his room, at least from the brief exposure to him that Izuku had had. The rest of them... were a lot. The only person he wouldn't accuse of having a boisterous personality was Mrs. Ashido. She was rather calm and reserved at most times, but definitely not unfriendly. She had an aura about her, though, that could be overwhelming if she directed it properly.

"Izuku?"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry, I was thinking, uh... Didn't mean to leave you waiting," he chuckled awkwardly.

Mina's voice also trembled with restrained laughter. "You were mumbling pretty hard, dude."

"Sorry. Um. No, I... I don't think I'm being scared off or anything like that. It's... a lot to experience after... never really being around a family like this. B-but I like them! It's not like I don't."

"Good!" she beamed. "You're right that they're a lot, but they're great. I wouldn't trade any of them but Tomoe and maybe Katsuru's bad attitude for the world."

Was that normal to say about your siblings? He wasn't sure, so he changed the topic. "So... We have to go out tomorrow. O-OUT INTO THE CITY, I MEAN!" He cried, sitting up in a panic. "B-because of the exercise, we have to spend at least eight hours of the day doing things so we don't fail!"

This made her fall into outright hilarity. She laughed long enough that she had to wrap her arms around her stomach and tears began to gather in her eyes. "I knew what you meant, Izuku! Why else are we here, it's not like I thought you were trying take me on a date!"

His face was fiery red, and there was nothing in the world he wanted to do more than curl up in some forgotten corner of the city and be forgotten. What a misstep to make. The young hero looked away, hoping that by not looking at his partner – Partner for the assignment, of course! – his embarrassment would just disappear.

He heard her crawling over from her bedding to him a moment before her fingertips brushed against his back. "Izuku!" Mina said, still an unsteady note in her voice from the laughter. "Seriously, it's fine, it was just really funny! I'm not mad at you or –" She had to pause to let out a fit of giggles. "Or anything, okay? Come on, what were you gonna say?"

After a moment, he finally gathered himself enough to speak. "I... I was just going to ask where you thought we should go. Since, y'know, we have to do stuff for so long."

Mina came around to enter his field of vision and sat by him on his pallet. Her shoulders still shook slightly with the aftershocks of laughter and there were clear tracks down her face where the tears had raced each other. "Well, we'll probably have to just figure it out as we go. But my family works out together on Sundays! I haven't joined them in a while because of living on campus, but since we're here, we should go with them!"

"Really? Are you sure they'd be okay with that?"

"Uh, yeah? My parents started working out with Tomoe to support him when he was trying to become a hero. Even though that didn't work out, they kept doing it to keep in shape, and I joined in once I got older. When I was getting ready for the entrance exams, they were super excited about our workout sessions! I bet they'll be the same way if we go along with them. Tomoe'll be there, too, since it's Sunday!"

He finally turned to actually look at her again, smiling slightly. "Well... I... I usually work out alone, so... It might be nice to have a group for it."

"Yeah! It'll be a blast!"

Her enthusiasm was infectious. His embarrassment slid away in the face of it. What other option did it have? "We should get some sleep, though. We'll need to be well rested in case someone comes after us tomorrow."

With a sigh, the pink girl said, "If you say so." Mina got up and moved back over to her side of... well, it was all her room, but the side she had chosen to sleep on, snatching a remote from its resting place by her pillow. "I always watch cartoons and stuff before I go to bed," she admitted with a sheepish smile. "It just puts me in a good mood. You don't mind, right?"

He smiled. "That's fine." It wasn't something he generally did, but it was her room and her house. Who was he to say no?

---

This has definitely been a different animal than writing Even Gods Must Die, that much is for damned sure. I also caught myself several times slipping into my usual cadence of writing that – I almost referred to Mina as a nymph more than once, which would have made absolutely no sense. Either way, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! It was never meant to be this long, but like I said at the beginning, it takes as long as it takes. We've got Saturday down, and Sunday will be our first full day of the VIP exercise. I can't wait for you all to see what that's going to bring!