"Hmm..."
"What's up Shoto?"
Izuku was surprised by the rare vocalization from Shoto. Rather by chance he and Shoto had ended up running into each other while they both were out for a walk, Izuku trying to clear up his thoughts on his training and how he could better improve with Full Cowl under his belt, and just what that improvement would look like, and Shoto... well, it was sometimes hard to tell with Shoto what he was looking to get out of a walk. Still, Izuku'd been friendly enough in greeting his new friend, or well 'new', he'd considered Shoto a friend even before the two made it 'official' and Shoto certainly didn't seem to mind running into him. To that end, the two of them ended up just walking with each other for a moment, mostly silent but with some small talk, mostly started by Izuku, while the two passed through the various sights of Beacon's campus. It had been going along pretty normally for a light conversation with Shoto, with Izuku doing most of the talking, but a period of silence had fallen on the two as Izuku'd both gone back to ruminating on his thoughts.
Which, when Shoto interrupted that silence, had ended up drawing his attention.
"I've been thinking about something, Izuku." Shoto intoned calmly, the half and half young man rubbing at his chin as Izuku chuckled slightly. Izuku figured as much, but he allowed for Shoto to go at his own pace. "Having observed our mutual friends, I've taken note of some of the things they enjoy doing as part of their relationship as friends. Ren and Nora, for all the... oddities of their relationship, seem to enjoy spending time together, mostly with Ren cooking, while Ruby and Bakugo, both on their own time and in the time they do work together, usually end up doing some kind of training."
"I'm not surprised by either count, really." Izuku'd spent most of his time with Nora either training or cooking and only so often going out and doing something fun or just chatting, so he wasn't surprised Shoto observed a similar dynamic with Ren, given that the magenta eyed young man seemed to possess the social skills, if not the actual temperament, similar to Izuku and Shoto. Kacchan was another obvious point and Ruby... "Wait, wouldn't you see Ruby mostly working on Crescent Rose in her spare time as something fun? That doesn't really count as training, Shoto."
"... It doesn't? How does weapon maintenance not count as some kind of training?" Shoto seemed genuinely puzzled and, as Izuku opened his mouth... well, he closed it again as he realized he didn't really have a satisfactory answer. Or at least, not an immediate one. Izuku tapped his chin a bit as he took some time to consider an answer that Shoto would find acceptable.
"Well... I guess the big difference is that Ruby enjoys it, so it isn't really work for her. I mean, it is, but she doesn't view it as something monotonous or just for the sake of working." Shoto nodded slowly as he looked forward.
"I'd noticed that, but that behavior didn't seem too dissimilar to Yang's enjoyment of sparring or Weiss' intense focus on her studies, so I didn't figure that it was any different. Sparring is still training and studying is still studying..." Izuku tilted his head to the side at that as he blinked at Shoto.
"Don't you enjoy your training Shoto?"
...
There was an odd silence that sat between the pair of Them, Shoto's eyes glanced off to the side for a moment, a flicker of a memory going past it before the young man sighed.
"I can't particularly say that I do, no. It is necessary for me to become the best that I can be... but it isn't something I say I find a great deal of joy in." Izuku got the feeling that, between the hesitation and his tone, that the matter was a bit personal so he just nodded as he raised his hands.
"Well... that's not the same for a lot of people. Even in stuff other people might think of as work, they find some enjoyment in it. It's... kind of hard to explain I guess." The fire and ice Huntsman just nodded, seemingly doing his best to understand Izuku's point as well.
"Would you be in a similar camp then, Izuku?" Izuku blanched a bit at that, a little surprised by the direction the conversation was going in.
"Well, as hard as working out for the past... gosh, it has been nearly a year at this point... anyway, as hard as it's been, I've actually been kind of enjoying it. Making progress on the one hand is already pretty rewarding in and of itself but... well, exercising on its own just feels good as well." Admittedly, it didn't start off feeling good and, as Toshinori worked Izuku's body as hard as it could go in order to make sure it was ready for One For All, there were times where Izuku was sure he'd never be happy again. Okay, slight exaggeration of course, but that's just how it felt like at times. Still, now that he was exercising at his own pace, getting stronger and faster and working with his friends... well, it had become an overall more enjoyable experience, or at least, he thought it was now.
But Izuku still understood as it seemed that Shoto just nodded slowly, his expression still even. "If you say so. I can't say much the same myself... there are times where my training with my Aura and Semblance brings me peace but... well..." Shoto looked off to the side again before shaking his head. "Well, I'm not sure I could ever truly say that I 'enjoy' the physical training I've done or continue to do from time to time." Izuku shrugged his shoulders at that.
"That's fine, I think. I think it's pretty safe to say that enjoying exercise really isn't for everyone." Izuku looked over to Shoto "What's this all about anyway Shoto? Seems like a weird thing to bring up." Shoto nodded at that as he looked back over at Izuku.
"My point is that... well, I am doing my best, having become friends with both you and Weiss, to try and figure out just what friends are supposed to do and what they're not supposed to do, to prevent any misunderstandings in the future." Izuku nodded, understandable if anyone asked him. It seemed like the situation with Weiss really was just an honest mistake and one that, in his own way, Shoto regretted making and didn't want to stumble into again. "So I've been observing the members of our group that I spend the most time around to try and learn just what friends might be able to do in their spare time... all I've come up with so far looking at Ren and Nora, Ruby and Bakugo is food and some kind of training... and I'll admit, those activities don't entirely appeal, as I'm rarely as hungry as Nora and my own training can be time consuming. So I'm unsure of what I might be able to branch out into with you and Weiss."
'...'
'Okay, I definitely can feel where he is coming from,' Izuku... well, he really was new to the whole 'having friends' thing himself, so Izuku was really playing it all by ear too. Either that or Izuku was depending on his friends to come up with ideas or show him the ropes, like the book reading with Blake, going out on the town with Yang or hanging out with Coco and the others. Izuku really wasn't completely in on this whole having a social life either and it sounded like Shoto was just as lost as he was.
Still, he could try and think of something in order to help Shoto out with all of this.
"Well... alright Shoto, let's start from the top. What are your hobbies? If we start from there maybe we can try and think of some stuff to do."
"..."
Shoto just stared at him for a long moment, his expression flat as he just blinked in Izuku's direction. Izuku blanched a little at the sight, tilting his head to the side.
"You know, a hobby. Like, something you've done for fun just for the sake of having fun? Maybe you or your siblings did some stuff when you were younger or you and your..." Shoto frowned slightly at that, his eyes glancing off to the side as they seemed unable to entirely meet Izuku's own in that second. "You... you do have hobbies, right Shoto?" The young man seemed to get even more awkward in that second as he raised a fist up to cough into it.
...
"Shoto... what-"
"I... didn't have a lot of free time as a child. As you can imagine, being the son of the Number Two Huntsman... well, it came with a lot of expectations." The fact that Shoto seemed to be glaring while saying that... well, it was weird. Because it didn't feel like he was necessarily glaring 'at him', but that he was just glaring in general. Even without that anger or frustration being aimed specifically at Izuku, it more than told Izuku that 'this was not a subject he was to touch', especially remembering when the last time Shoto looked remotely like this.
"Right, okay, I getcha... well, if I'm being honest, I didn't exactly have a lot of friends when I was a kid..."
"... How many is not a lot? Because I 'didn't have a lot' either."
...
"None, I really didn't have any friends growing up, especially after Kacchan and I... well, our thing developed."
"Same... except for the Bakugou part."
...
'Gosh the two of us are pretty much completely out of our depth on this, weren't we?'
"Well then, so neither of us really have any idea of what to do?" Shoto asked, putting his hands into his pockets as he did so. Izuku chuckled nervously as he scratched at the back of his head. That certainly seemed to be the short and long of it at any rate, though that hadn't necessarily made him feel any better about the situation. Izuku scratched his chin as he tried to think of a way around this...
"Well... we could just try something random and see how we feel about it, maybe?"
"... You mean just throw something against the wall and see what sticks?"
"Y-Yeah, essentially. Look, I know it doesn't sound like a great idea, but-"
"It sounds fine, Izuku." Izuku blinked in surprise as Shoto seemed all too ready to go along with it, though he kept his normally even expression up as he responded. "I don't have any better ideas and this seems like the best approach given the situation. Let's just try something and see what sticks."
...
'Okay, well, now all I really have left to do is to try something. How hard can it be?'
'Right?'
xXxXxXxXxXx
"So... we just sit in front of the television and talk while watching shows? Is that what we're doing?"
"That's... kind of the short and long of it, yeah."
When Izuku'd first put the idea forward, Shoto had seemed a bit confused. Cooking treats, surely that fell under the prospect of cooking in general, right? Well he'd explained that the main focus of the idea wasn't necessarily cooking the treats and then eating them but rather having them there to compliment the activity of lounging about and watching television. Shoto seemed like he'd be a hard sell on it but was nonetheless willing to go along with the idea and try it out, having no better idea for something to do in his own head. So Izuku managed to cook up a nice variety of snacks, a few cookies here, some actual hot food there, and then got it all together onto a platter or some bowls to enjoy while the two had the luxury of having the main television in the dorm's main living space all to themselves. The good thing about staying on Beacon's Campus early on the weekend was that most people were either out enjoying themselves, still staying in bed nursing hangovers or were just hanging around their dorm rooms doing homework in a rush.
If any of their friends swung by they'd be more than open to sharing with them and inviting them on, but Izuku was hoping that he wouldn't have to deal with total strangers while hanging out with Shoto.
"I still can't say that I understand the appeal of this... then again, perhaps I'm speaking more from experience. I never watched television much as a child." Izuku blinked at that as he sat the snacks in front of them on the table, looking over at Shoto.
"I'm guessing that your parents weren't exactly into the idea of letting you lounge around, huh?" Shoto nodded slightly as he leaned back on the sofa, a slight frown on his face.
"Indeed. My father was insistent that if I had time to just sit around for something like television that it was likely better I put it to studying or training... he allowed me time to rest of course, it was necessary to do, but he hardly found the idea of me sitting in front of a television to do so appealing." Izuku nodded; even from interviews it seemed like Enji was kind of an uptight guy. A 'television rots your brain' sort of fellow, or at least not viewing it highly.
"What about your mom?" Shoto tensed slightly at that, though he just shrugged as he continued to stare forward, impassively.
"My mother... she and I didn't do much together..." There was a bit of hesitation there but Izuku chose to just leave it be. Instead he just passed Shoto a plate of snacks which the red and white haired young man took with a quick 'thanks' before Izuku smiled.
"Well... it isn't necessarily something that you actively do and it doesn't really keep your mind busy but if you're just relaxing or sitting around and want something to watch while you do something else, it's usually a pretty fun thing to have in the background. I used to have the television on a lot while I'd do things like curls or crunches at my house, or if I was just sitting and doing some hand grip exercises with this little thing... I never figured out what it's actual name was." Shoto nodded slightly as he popped one of the snacks into his mouth, Izuku making a quick grab for the remote control.
"I see, so it's something you do to act as background noise for something else." He nodded at that simple explanation as he turned the television on. "What will we be doing in that case?"
"I dunno, talk about whatever comes to mind? Maybe even about the stuff that comes on?" Shoto paused as he takes a moment to think, but he nodded again.
"I suppose we can try it. Go ahead, Izuku." With that Izuku quickly started flipping through the channels as he and Shoto looked for something to watch. Izuku realized that he actually didn't know what kind of package that Beacon used for its televisions... but judging from the sheer number of channels available when he pressed a guide, it's 'waaaay' more expansive than anything he had back at home.
'Well, hey, how hard could it be to find something interesting, right?'
xXxXxXxXxXx
"... So it's just sports?"
"Yeah, seems like it..."
They both just sat there as a small round table of analysts spoke to each other, some calmly others with some obvious tension or passion, as they discussed this professional sports team or that professional sports team. Apparently there was some big championship or game or... something coming up? Izuku really didn't know much about sports, as deeply invested into Hunter Stuff as he was, so he really didn't understand much of anything that was going on. They had brought up the Vytal Festival Tournament a little earlier in the show but only to talk about the new stadium and then they just blew on past it.
"... Like... all the time?"
"I guess? It is a sports channel, or something?"
Apparently Shoto was just as lost as Izuku was, the hot and cold young man just popping another snack into his mouth as they both just tilted their heads to the side. Izuku heard some girls passing by, listening to you two and then giggling and... he didn't know why, but he felt like that was emasculating.
"... Should we change the channel?"
"I think so."
Izuku nodded in agreement with Shoto's blunt assessment as he raised the remote and clicked it.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Alright right now the score is 1-1 for Team Future and Team Past. This next round of the game will decide the winner and who ends up staying in which side of the House! Will Team Past end up staying another two weeks in the Past side of the house, or will they take the win? It all comes down to whoever can use their cattle prod to knock the other contender off the platform!"
"... This entire shows seems like it was in desperate need of someone to play test it..."
"Yeah, you're not kidding..."
Izuku and Shoto just blinked in a mix of confusion, awe and just sheer curiosity as they both practically leaned forward in their seats, as if trying their very best to get closer to the screen. Maybe that would in some way key them into just what the heck was going on with the show? It had been a game show of some kind with the theme centering around 'Time'. Two Teams, a 'Future' and 'Past' Team were supposed to live in two sides of a house meant to reflect these idea. Team Future got washing machines, air conditioning or, more important for this show taking place in Atlas, heating and running water as well as a refrigerator stocked with normal food, while the others lived in a part of the house that was basically a shack with raw vegetables and fish heads.
As Shoto remarked, people who lived in the past would've had a whole fish... but that was just the tip of the iceberg for the show. It seemed like the conceit was to test which era of Remnant humans were more fit; people living in the future or ancient humans from the past. Ignoring the fact that no one in the game show had actually lived like that for any amount of time, it also seemed incredibly unfair; Team Future were coming into games on this show well rested, clean and well fed while Team Past were forced to live in a shack with no proper heating, freezing cold, not sleeping and with poor nutrition.
So it was actually kind of a surprise when Team Past actually won a round of the current game. A game that was incredibly dangerous to boot; a circular arena raised several feet off the ground where they were basically trying to push each other off with electrified cattle prods. Their only safety were cushions placed just underneath the ledge of the platform.
Like Izuku said, Shoto wasn't kidding about the show having needed someone to play test it...
"Who knows, maybe they'll pull it off?" Izuku suggested, almost hopefully, as Shoto shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe. That one guy does look exceptionally fit..." They both watched as the last two competitors ran up to the platform... at which point the player from Team Future immediately just tackled the other guy off the side of the platform.
'It was a... clever move, I guess, but it sent them flying way off the platform... several feet away from the actual padding.'
"Ouch... okay, well, maybe he's okay?"
"Oh Gods, look at his leg!"
"Someone call an ambulance, we have a pretty serious injury."
"... Izuku-"
"Right, changing it." Shoto nodded gratefully out of the corner of his eye as he quickly change the channel.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"So, was this what your family was like, Izuku?"
"Not really, no. You, Shoto?"
"No. Not at all."
They both each popped another snack in their mouths as they both continued to watch, having kind of finally settled on a bit of programming in specific. It was a pretty odd little show; the main actress could be a bit much on the screen at times, a very in their face kind of personality that wasn't directly unpleasant but could certainly feel imposing at times which, on its own, would've made for a pretty strong showing. The fact that every other character in the case had a similarly strong personality came together and... well, it made for a pretty interesting dynamic at least. A woman, her husband, her kids and their friends or, as it would turn out for her older daughters, boyfriends just all kind of bouncing off of each other in what you could assume was just kind of a facsimile of a normal family in Remnant?
'I can't think of families as being quite this loud and argumentative though…'
'Actually, wait, no, that is a lie! I can actually think of a family like this!'
'Sure Kacchan doesn't have any sisters but his mom is almost 'exactly' like the main mom of this show and his dad had certain similarities, though Mr. Bakugo is more soft spoken and patient than this guy.'
'Huh, maybe this strikes a little closer to some people's homes than I thought? Plus it could be pretty funny; I'd swear that even Shoto cracked a smile here and there.'
"... You really never had an opportunity for stuff like this, huh? Not even with any friends, or siblings?" Izuku asked, popping another snack into his mouth while Shoto just stared at the television.
"... No. Like I said, I never had much time for myself thanks to the regimen my father had me on, what time I had to myself was mostly meant to just let me rest and recover. I... wasn't close with a lot of people. To my father... well, I guess you could say I was his favorite. He thought he was going to be able to make me into an amazing Hunter and so he poured as much attention into me as he could."
"Oh, well, that doesn't sound too..." Izuku closed his mouth as Shoto looked over at him, seemingly slightly irked at the positive tone of his voice as he spoke up. "... It wasn't great, huh?"
"... No, can't say it was." Again, that's all he got out of Shoto as he turned his gaze back forward toward the television. Izuku just nodded, a bit spooked, before he looked back forward again.
"... What about your parents?" Izuku chanced a glance over to Shoto, who cast a look at him from the corner of his eye. "Ruby's spoken at length about her own father and mother, while from what impression I could get from Bakugo, his mother is 'an old hag' and his father is 'sackless', but I take this to be another of Bakugo's quirks as his parents were quite nice when I met them." Izuku nodded at that... though the fact that Shoto didn't bring up Mitsuki Bakugo did make Izuku wonder how that meeting ended up going. "Meanwhile, Ren's family is one of the few things he doesn't speak about too openly with me."
"You and Ren... 'talk' about a lot of stuff huh?"
"We do." Was all Shoto said before he continued. "So... I was wondering what yours was like, Izuku. Was your mother or father... strict, I guess would be the word. Were they like Bakugo's family or perhaps they were kinder, as Ruby suggests her parents were."
"Well I can't really say that they were strict." Izuku tapped his chin as he thought of how best to explain it to Shoto, eventually deciding to just be as straight forward as he could. "My Dad... I guess it's a little complicated. He's working overseas in mostly undeveloped areas and we honestly barely get to talk due to that, I mostly just get messages from him instead. But he's been supportive by providing for my mother and me, so I still believe he thinks about us a lot - and mom talks fondly about him. I've been meaning to get into more direct contact lately, but it seems things still are... well, complicated?" Shoto nodded slowly at that, both of them continuing to watch the program running while he spoke. After a moment Izuku sighed as he leaned back into the sofa.
"Honestly, with how unfit I seemed to be to achieve my dream of becoming a Huntsman, I guess I was actually the one being strict on myself, pushing myself harder than was reasonable or healthy... and my parents allowed me to indulge myself. My father paid the combat school fees, despite my terrible prospects. My mother supported me through all of it, every training, every injury downtime. Even when it seemed impossible to achieve, when I ran against my limits and faced set-backs, she was always there for me, despite it being pretty hard on her to watch me doing that to myself."
"Doesn't exactly sound pleasant. For either you or your mother." Shoto remarked as he looked over at Izuku while he just nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. I don't really think I did good by her during that time, frankly I may have been a little obsessed about my dream of being a great Huntsman longer than just being childish could serve as an excuse for... but we recently talked about it and she told me that it was her own decision to let me try to achieve my dream regardless of all obstacles. That it was her job as my parent to trust in me and that, in the end, I managed to do it. I still think she went above and beyond what any child could expect from their parent and I owe her a lot for it and everything else she did for me. I plan to keep doing my best to reach my dream, for her sake too, because I simply wouldn't be the person I am today without her. I really love her dearly." Izuku looked over at Shoto, the young man still just staring intently forward at the screen in front of them. Izuku blushed, wondering if adding that last part was necessary and, considering Shoto's rough sounding parental relationships, maybe a little hurtful.
"Hmmm... I'm glad that you had such a parent in your life, Izuku." Izuku blinked in surprise when that turned out to be Shoto's answer, the young man digging out another snack. "It sounds like you have someone who really cares about you back home. Perhaps it would've been smarter for her to hold you back and keep you from injuring yourself in pursuit of a seemingly impossible dream." Izuku grimaced a bit at Shoto's bluntness but wait for him to continue. "However, she wanted you to be happy and, in the end, you have been able to come here, which lead to you eventually becoming my friend and showing me what watching television was like." the green haired boy smiled a bit at that, getting what Shoto meant in a roundabout way. "It sounds like she wanted what was best for you, even if that was tricky to parse out then. I think... that's good."
"Well... thanks Shoto. My mom would be glad you think so... I think?" Shoto shrugged as they both went back to watching the television.
"I'd hope so, I meant it as a compliment." After that the two of them just continued to watch the family sitcom playing out in front of you.
"You two ARE having sex!"
"We are? David, why didn't you tell me? I would've put my book down."
"... So she's nothing like this?"
"Yeah, yeah Shoto, she's nothing like this..."
All told, it was actually a bit of a fun time.
E/N: I Lied, Shoto is the real Waifu.
-Shovern