Hello, friends, and welcome to Chapter Six... a whole two years later.

I can't begin to tell you all how sorry I am about this story being on hiatus for so long. I don't really have any excuses, aside from life just being life and doing what it does, but frankly, I don't want to take away from the story by having you all focused on how much time it took for me to get out another chapter. Rather, I want my actions to do the talking, specifically by continuing to write.

So I hope you enjoy, and expect more coming soon!

All characters owned by Kohei Horikoshi.

Chapter Six

For a few moments, the only sound in the hallway was that of Midoriya's panicked breathing, and Momo found her smile deepening to match the blush growing on his cheeks.

Until she realized the way she'd phrased her previous question, and her own panic set in. "Oh my goodness, Midoriya, I'm so sorry!" she said, the fingers of her free hand pressing over the oval of her open mouth. "I didn't mean to… that is, I had no intention of—"

"It's okay," Midoriya said, shaking his head. "I understand. I know you didn't mean anything by it."

He turned his eyes to the ground, and somewhere in the depths of her chest, Momo felt the pang of a harsher heartbeat; a vibration that ran up into her neck, causing her to swallow, then travelled to her face, pushing her eyebrows closer together.

She did not like seeing him this way.

It was an aspect of his personality that she always found herself questioning. He seemed to be willing to go to ludicrous lengths—his match with Todoroki at their first Sports Festival was proof enough—to ensure that his classmates not only knew that he believed in them, but that they believed in themselves. "It was probably the first time since my mom left that I'd thought about becoming a Hero for my own sake," Todoroki had told her. "I don't know if I can ever repay him for that."

When it came to himself, though, Midoriya could barely accept the possibility of someone believing in him, much less their friendship. And for the longest time, Momo had trouble understanding why.

Yesterday, however, had made the reason painfully clear.

Learning that Midoriya had spent his youth having to live Quirkless had been eye-opening. Even from her relative distance, Momo had been able to tell that Midoriya was quiet and reserved. He liked to keep to himself, and stepping out into the spotlight of Hero work had been daunting for him. But now, Momo understood that flying under the radar like he had might have been the only way for him to make it through. More than likely, even if he or his family had tried to tell people he did have a Quirk, the other kids wouldn't have believed him, and it would've just made things worse.

Life was different for him now, yes. He'd made friends with many of their classmates. Momo liked to think she was one of them, despite their not being as close as they could have been.

But still, those hardships must linger.

"Anyway," Midoriya said, lifting his eyes and giving her a light smile. "You don't have to repay me; I'm just glad I could be helpful."

And then there was this part, yet another of Midoriya's characteristics by which Momo was regularly baffled. An invulnerable kindness, one that could well be as strong as he was, and which was difficult to know just where it came from. They all knew Midoriya's favorite Hero was All Might (and honestly, whose wasn't?), but even All Might had basked in the spotlight and wealth of being number one. And from what little they'd learned about his home life, it didn't seem likely to have stemmed from there either. He'd spoken highly of his mother, but also mentioned how she could be overprotective at times; as for his father, all they knew was that he worked in America and had very little contact with his family.

Midoriya just seemed born with the desire to help others.

It was a trait Momo found herself admiring, resigning to adopt it more herself.

"At least give me a chance to show you what I've got in mind?" Momo said. She turned her body, gesturing toward the door with her bow.

His eyes followed down the hallway, glancing back down at his scuffling red shoes before nodding and saying "Okay."

They fell into stride beside each other, opening the doors together as they stepped back out into the central area of the gym. Momo felt the eyes on them as they made their way through, particularly on the bow she now carried slung across her back. She did her best to ignore the growing warmth on her face, and walked faster to the sparring mats on the far side. Midoriya followed close behind, reaching the sparring area only moments after Momo.

"So, um," Midoriya said, one hand idly scratching the back of his head, "What's the plan?"

As she pulled her bow off her shoulders, Momo had to smile. When she'd initially made the offer, she didn't really have a clue on how to follow through with it. As they'd walked, however, she had decided to take a page out of Midoriya's book. "Join me on the mat, if you would," she said, leaning the bow against a chair before gesturing to the circle in the center of the blue surface. He followed, though with hunched shoulders and a wrinkled brow. Momo crossed to the far end of the circle, stopping to face Midoriya as she reached the mark on her side. He stopped at his own, squaring off against her.

"Now," she said, "I want you to hit me."

His face paled, making the freckles that shaped his cheekbones even more prominent. "I, uh," he stammered, and Momo found a corner of her mouth turning upward. "You want me to what now?"

Momo's grin deepened, and she shifted her stance, placing more of her weight on her forward foot, raising her upturned hands to uneven heights before her torso. "Hit me," she said.

Midoriya's face paled even further, so much so that Momo became slightly concerned about the blood flow to his brain, but he readied himself into an approximation of a fighting stance. "Uh, okay, Yaoyorozu," he said. "If you're sure…"

"I'm sure," Momo replied.

There was a shift in his demeanor, then; his eyes closed and he sucked a breath up through his nose, and when they opened on the exhale they seemed almost a brighter shade of green, though there was no evidence of his Quirk activating. His eyebrows pulled together, and his lips pressed into a thin line. It was a face she had seen several times before, and remembered fondly.

It was his face of determination, of victory.

And then, he stepped forward, cocked his arm back, and threw another painfully sloppy punch.

Momo waited the half-breath it took for his weight to shift off balance before she turned her body. To Midoriya's credit, he'd kept his other hand close to his body, ready to defend against another strike. But with how he'd moved so carelessly, there was nothing he could do about Momo using his own momentum against him. She grabbed his wrist with one hand as she turned and used her other to grip around his elbow; then, stepping into his body, she used her shoulder and hips to heave him off the ground, his own momentum causing him to crash onto his back.

Midoriya looked up at her with wide upside-down eyes, a grimace over his features. He rolled over, having to push himself onto his knees before standing again. When he raised his head, his eyes were still wide, but the grimace had been replaced with upturned eyebrows and a smile. "What was that?" he asked. "That was amazing!"

A grin pressed at her own cheeks, and Momo felt herself having to suppress it. "I did mention that I've been training in several different martial arts, did I not? Aikido, Judo, karate…"

"You did!" Midoriya said, his green waves bobbing up and down. "But what made you think it?"

"I think I remember you using a throw like this yourself at some point?" Momo found her smile drifting. "But well," she said, turning her eyes to the floor, "It was when you hit the punching bag earlier?"

Midoriya's smile dipped, and his head turned slightly to the side.

"Well, um," Momo continued, a corner of her bottom lip pulling from between her teeth, "You have quite a bit of raw power, obviously; but you… don't have much technique."

His face dropped further, but lifted quickly in a small smile. "That's true, you're not wrong," he said, his grin fading some as he glanced down at the mat. "I've been in plenty of fights, even before coming to U.A., but I've never really been trained."

"There was also something Mr. Snipe said," Momo said as she helped Midoriya back to his feet. "About how learning to shoot made using his Quirk easier?" She looked down at the hand in her own, at the scarring there. "I know you've been worried about the toll your Quirk can take on your body."

Midoriya lifted his hand out of hers, slipping the whole arm behind his back.

"And I just thought, well," she paused, taking a breath to steady her mind and her words. "I thought if you had better technique, you wouldn't need to use as much power."

He frowned, pinching the bottom of his chin. "It sounds like a good idea," he said after a moment. "But how would better fighting skills help me against someone who's super strong?"

"You mean like the villain you fought when we were in the woods?"

Midoriya nodded.

"I'm sure there will be times when you'll need to use your power," she said, waving a hand. "But consider this: if you had had the technique to render his muscles useless, or to turn his own strength and momentum against him, do you think you would have needed to use as much power as you did?"

He turned away from her, fingers still holding his chin. Momo began to worry he was going to decline until she heard a stream of muttered benefits coming from his general direction. "Okay!" he turned back around, his face practically glowing with a smile. "I'd be happy to learn some fighting techniques from you, if you're willing to teach me!"

Momo smiled in tandem and held out her hand. "So, it's a deal, then? You'll help me study archery and long ranged skills, and in return I'll teach you some hand-to-hand combat techniques?"

Midoriya reached out and took her hand with his own, the scars on either side smooth beneath Momo's thumb and fingers. "Deal."

"Excellent," she said. "Shall we get started?"