Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

19. A Long Day Off

"Izuku? Are you awake?"

With a small, questioning grunt, Izuku's eyes fluttered open, feeling confused and out of it for a moment. He wasn't exactly sure what time it was, or where he even was at the moment - probably just grogginess from waking up - but he knew that everything felt weirdly soft. He was lying on top of a soft mattress, a pillow comfortably propped up so that his neck and head weren't at a weird angle, and he could feel someone softly brushing their fingers against the back of his neck - the tips of that person's fingers feeling ticklish and familiar.

Feeling a bit more confused about what was going on, Izuku rolled over onto his other side, and felt himself falter and go a bit red as he realized who was in the bed with him. Ochako was lying on her side as well, giving him a small, adorable smile as she laid right beside him - as in, their legs were entwined under the white covers, making Izuku shiver at her gently rubbing her thigh between his.

What she was wearing, however, was what made Izuku blink a bit - he could've sworn she went to bed in her black tank top and shorts, with her mitts on her hands, but she was now wearing a familiar white t-shirt with kanji on it, making him blush as he realized that she was wearing his shirt. Plus, her gloves were nowhere in sight, her fingers idly rising to brush against his arm and making him gulp.

But maybe he shouldn't be surprised she was wearing his shirt - he was pretty out of it last night, and she borrowed his clothes all the time. Maybe she even changed her shirt before she had gone to bed with him and -

- and -

"Huh?" Izuku blinked again, glancing over his shoulder. To his surprise, Itsuka was no longer in the bed - just an empty space where she had been, leaving Izuku and Ochako as the sole occupants. The entire room was bright and warm, making Izuku feel like they were just floating in the air, as though Ochako had used her quirk on them and the bed, just to give them their own little private world.

"Itsuka already got up," Ochako explained with a giggle, making Izuku turn his head back to her as she pushed half her face into her own white pillow, "she's just getting breakfast ready. We decided that you could sleep in for a bit, and I'd stay behind so you didn't wake up alone."

"Oh," Izuku nodded, letting out a small sigh as he felt himself relax on his side. There was something in the back of his mind that felt like there was something off right now, but everything was so soft and warm he couldn't quite concentrate on it, closing his eyes.

Suddenly, Ochako's weight on the bed shifted, and he quickly opened his eyes again to see her scooting a bit closer, giggling lightly as she raised her hand and brushed it against the fringe of his hair, making him flinch slightly and blink at her in surprise.

"O-Occhan? What're you -?"

"'Occhan'?" Ochako repeated, smiling teasingly at him as she trailed her finger against the mark on his head. "Haven't heard that nickname in a while …"

"H-huh?" Izuku wrinkled his brow, staring at her in confusion. "W-what do you mean?"

"Shhh, silly," She smiled, making Izuku's heart suddenly skip a beat, "just relax. You're safe here … with me."

She scooted even closer, with Izuku feeling himself turn red with how close their faces were getting - they were almost nose to nose, and the soft, adoring look in her eyes was making his heart beat rather fast in his chest, and the blood running throughout his body quickly make a detour to his face. Gulping loudly, Izuku acted on instinct and rolled back over, facing away from Ochako as she giggled cutely again.

"Oh, Izuku," She laughed lightly, making Izuku shiver for reasons he didn't quite understand - and then he felt something soft and slightly wet press into the back of his neck, hearing the sound of her lips quietly smacking as she moved away from where she kissed him, and felt himself go even redder as her hand began rubbing his side, "acting so shy …"

"I - O-Occhan, I don't - I -"

"What's wrong?" She mumbled into his hair, pressing herself against him and making him shake again, "Don't you think you deserve this, Izuku? Are you wondering why?"

"I - I'm not - I -"

"I'll tell you what, Izuku …" She whispered, "I'll tell you why I'm doing this … giving you everything you deserve … if you answer me one question."

Her hand slid up his arm, ghosting over his bicep, and she gently took his shoulder -

- and then squeezed.

Squeezed hard.

Hard enough that a shot of pain suddenly streaked through him, making him wince.

"I -?" Izuku wrinkled his brow in confusion, grimacing slightly from the pain of the grip on his shoulder, and looked back around to see what his best friend was doing -

- and standing above the bed where she should have been, grinning wickedly down at him as blood and saliva mixed together fell from his mouth and onto the white bed, and face to face with Izuku as his large hand crushed his shoulder in a tight enough grip that blood streaked down his clothes, was the hooded man.

"W-w-why," He growled in a quiet voice as Izuku stared up at him in horror, the yellow glowing eyes widening insanely, "were you not s-strong enough to stop m-me?"

As he raised his other large hand to wrap around Izuku's head, the boy shook in frozen terror, as the warm feeling of the covers he was under suddenly vanished, and he felt a slight wetness. He only had time to glance down to see the blood soaking through the white sheets, whether it was his or someone else's, before the hand completely covered his face and blocked his vision.

And then the hooded man squeezed his hand into a tight fist, laughing as he easily crushed Izuku's entire head like wet paper -

- and that was when Izuku let out a sharp gasp, his eyes shooting open and jolting where he was laying.

For several seconds, Izuku panted raggedly as he stared up at the ceiling, the phantom feeling of the hooded man's hands on his face and arm fading as he tried to control his breathing. From the sunlight pouring in from the window on his left, he knew that it was the morning, with the sun trickling in the open window as the birds sang outside. Finally, Izuku let out a small sigh, and closed his eyes, flopping his head back onto the pillow. The events of what had happened yesterday slowly came back to him, making him frown as he kept his eyes shut, and a small breath escaped his lips, feeling a weird tingling sensation on the right side of his neck, but it wasn't unpleasant, so he didn't pay any heed to it.

He … probably shouldn't be surprised, he supposed as he grimaced slightly. There would be no way in hell that he would just be able to … get over what happened yesterday. He had almost died, after all, at the hands of a group of madmen obsessed with killing All Might and killing him when he dared to call them out on their hypocrisy. Still though, he couldn't help but breathe through his nose for a few minutes - he hoped that the hooded man wouldn't be showing up in any more dreams, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't be so lucky. Hopefully, once he got up, he'd have enough time to forget about the nightmare and pretend that he was fine.

He could feel his entire body aching in a throbbing pain, his back sore and his arms feeling weirdly pinned - but he was here, wherever he was. He was awake, he was alive, the hooded man was nowhere in sight, he was safe. They weren't going to knock down the door, he wasn't going to be beaten to death, he was fine.

With a groan, Izuku tried to bring his hands up to rub his eyes, wanting to get some of the gunk out of them -

- but he felt suddenly confused when he realized that he couldn't move them - mostly due to that feeling of them being pinned down.

Crinkling his brow, Izuku opened his eyes and moved his head up to check on why he couldn't move his arms - and then he felt his eyes suddenly bulge out of his sockets as he realized he was currently face to face with a sleeping Itsuka. As in, she was resting her head on his shoulder, lightly snoring as she nuzzled into him in her sleep, and it was her slow breathing that he felt on his neck, sending a ticklish sensation through his body and making him shake. The arm that she didn't have in a cast was wrapped around his waist so they were pressed together, cuddling him so securely there would be no way he could break away without waking her up.

Another small groan suddenly came from Izuku's left, and he slowly turned his head, feeling horror fill him as the events of last night suddenly came back to him, to see Ochako in a likewise state as Itsuka, snoring as she pressed her face into the same pillow Izuku was resting on, her nose brushing against his cheek and making his face burn bright red. He soon realized that she had her own legs wrapped around his own, Izuku glancing down to see that she had raised it to wrap around both of the other bed's occupants to wrap around Itsuka's back, and her hand, encased in her sleeping mitt, was resting on Izuku's chest right above his heart, which had begun beating so fast it wouldn't be surprising if it woke her up.

And his hands … Izuku felt himself shake in terror as he realized that he had wrapped them around them as well. One hand resting on Itsuka's lower back, where her shirt had ridden up and letting him touch her bare skin (which made him shake for other reasons) and the other one wrapped around Ochako's shoulders, his fingers spread on her upper arm.

Oh, god, he was going to die, Izuku thought to himself as he felt paralyzed by his predicament - his best friend and their training partner, and let's be honest, their closest friend outside each other, were clinging to him like lifelines, and there was no way he would be able to escape without waking one of them up and causing complete and utter chaos. There would be no way he'd be able to slip his arms out from underneath them, Izuku realized as his blush burned even deeper. They were both pinned by the girls' weight, Ochako resting her head on top of his bicep and Itsuka's pinning his other arm under her body -

- and he was still rubbing her back, Izuku realized in horror, his thumb absently brushing against Itsuka's spine and making her hum in her sleep. Quickly, he snapped his hands down, flopping his other arm so it wasn't wrapped around Ochako's shoulders, which made her grumble, and sending a small spike of … something down his spine.

It was almost claustrophobic, with no way for him to ignore the fact that two girls were cuddling him, and - and god, it was so warm and soft, he thought with a shudder. There was a part of him that was trying to lull him back to sleep, or to move his hands back around them and bring them even closer, and …

… and he felt a sudden warmth in his stomach as Itsuka somehow nuzzled even closer, her orange fringe pressing against his cheek and making him gulp at how soft it was. And then Ochako's leg rubbed against a bit of his stomach, the shirt having ridden up slightly, and he could feel himself shake as Itsuka's hair tickled him, and Ochako nose nuzzled against his neck, making him take an audible gulp as they -

- and that was when the door to Itsuka's room began to slowly push open. Izuku's gaze snapped up as the white door slowly creaked open, all the blood that had been rushing to Izuku's face in the last minute draining just as quickly as a familiar head poked in.

"Hey … you guys awake?" Tenohira said softly, looking around at where her daughter was supposed to be. "I'd hate to wake you up, but we've all gotta leave for work soon, so we made breakfast for ..."

And that was when her eyes met Izuku's and he felt himself begin to shake in terror and embarrassment as she took in the little … situation he was in. Her gaze trailed from her daughter nuzzling into him on one arm, to Ochako hanging onto him like a lifeline on the other, and her small, kind smile fell as her dark eyes returned to meet Izuku's.

There was a moment's pause in which Izuku desperately attempted to find his words, and Tenohira slowly blinked -

- and then a sinister smirk appeared on her face, which only terrified Izuku even more as she slowly brought her head back out from the door to look down the hall.

"Inko, Miwa," She called in a sweet voice, "come have a look at this."

"Oh, no," Izuku groaned quietly, watching in embarrassment as Tenohira pushed the door fully open, "M-Mrs. Kendou, please don't -!"

Alas, it was too late to protest, as Tenohira took a small step back and let his mom and Miwa curiously peek inside to see what was going on. He felt heat explode right back onto his face as both Inko and Miwa's faces lit up in delight, and flopped back onto the pillow as they let out small squeals and tiptoed into the room, Gūdo walking behind them and giving the empty futon beside the bed a few curious sniffs.

Izuku could only lay there in embarrassed horror as the three mothers took in the sight of Itsuka and Ochako clinging to Izuku underneath the bed covers while he flopped back, and let out another groan as he peeked up and saw them taking out their phones.

"Oh, my goodness," Miwa flipped open her flip-phone, immediately snapping a picture while Tenohira likewise brought out her own phone, "this is going straight on the wall."

"Same here," Tenohira giggled, leaning over to snap a picture of her daughter's snoring, undignified face, "oh, Izuku, you little womanizer, you."

"I - no!" Izuku quickly but quietly protested, not wanting to make this situation any worse but also not wanting to wake up the two sleeping girls. "I just - we - I didn't - I -!"

"My little baby," Inko sniffled, moving her hands over her mouth as happy tears welled in her eyes, "he's finally becoming a man!"

"Mom, no!"

"Hm? What's going on down here now?"

Now Izuku felt like he was about to die as Hakushu poked his head into the doorway, blinking at the situation his daughter was in with her friends, and raising an eyebrow as he leaned against the doorframe, sipping on his coffee and feeling unable to suppress a smirk as his wife and Miwa continued to snap pictures.

But Izuku couldn't concentrate on that, since walking around Hakushu to see what was going on in the bedroom came -

"ALL MI-?!" Izuku almost shouted, but quickly caught himself before he could make this morning any more awkward than it already was. "- I - I mean - C-Coach Yagi?"

Indeed, All Might, albeit in his weakened for, was standing in the doorway, looking down at the three of them in surprise as Inko, Tenohira and Miwa continued to take several pictures of the trio in the bed, holding a coffee cup in his hand and glancing from Itsuka, to Izuku, to Ochako as a dust of pink appeared on his cheeks.

"A-ah, uh … Young Midoriya," He nodded stiffly, looking like he wasn't entirely sure what to say here, "good morning. You, uh … you seem to be comfortable."

"You can say that again," Hakushu laughed good-naturedly, chuckling as he leaned against the frame of the door and smiling at the entertainment as Izuku went redder and redder, "seems to be quite the pickle you're in there, Midoriya."

"I - uh - M-Mr. Kendou - C-Coach Yagi -"

"Oh, this one's going in the book," Tenohira gushed, giggling quietly with glee as she absently reached down to pat Gūdo's head, the dog looking like he was about to jump onto the bed as well as he popped his two front paws on the soft mattress, "down, Gūdo, you'll wake them up. And I see you wanting to bark, don't do it!"

"Aroooooo …"

As the dog let out a small, pitiful whine, Izuku felt himself blush even hotter as he heard the sound of more footsteps approaching outside the door - and then he felt himself pale in horror as Teko likewise poked his head in to see what the commotion was about. His gaze trailed to the bed, and met Izuku's eyes as his student stiffened up, seeing the old teacher flick his gaze to the arm Izuku had under Itsuka's waist, and Izuku gulped as Teko's eyes narrowed.

Quietly moving around All Might and Hakushu, Teko walked into the room, moving past Inko as she continued to barely keep her tears of happiness in, and moved to stand at the foot of the bed, staring down at the two sleeping girls and Izuku mentally praying for forgiveness - and then he suddenly reached down, grabbing the foot of the comforter they were all under, and ripped it straight off them.

At once, Itsuka and Ochako made confused and alarmed noises as they were suddenly jerked awake from the feeling of one of their sources of warmth vanishing, both of their eyes snapping open. Izuku grimaced and prepared for a world of awkwardness as they groggily sat up, looking confused and out of it as their gazes trailed down to him - and then, suddenly, clarity seemed to return to them.

They then realized what positions they were in - both of them clinging to Izuku while he had his arms beneath them, what they were doing suddenly clear - and Itsuka let out a small squeak as she pushed back, almost falling right over the side of the bed, and Ochako scrambled up so that she could press herself up against the wall. Izuku, for his part, immediately began apologizing, finally using his arms now that they weren't trapped underneath the girls to wrap around his head as he blushed brighter than he probably had ever done in his life.

"I - what -?!" Itsuka stammered, her entire head looking like it was on fire from how red it was, and quickly whipped her gaze up to the adults surrounding the bed, Tenohira pouting at her father while Teko stared down grimly at them. "- Mom?! Dad?! Grandpa?! Gūdo?!"

"Woof!"

"M-Mama?!" Ochako squeaked, likewise burning bright red at the sight of the flip-phone in her mother's hand, already knowing that she wasn't going to like what she found on it if she looked. "What - what are you -?!"

Before the three teenagers could freak out even more than they already were, however, there was the sudden sound of a door bursting open in the hall, making everyone in the room blink at the sound of footsteps quickly running throughout the house and making everyone look around in confusion.

"H-hey, man, let's slow it down!" Taiyo's voice was suddenly heard, sounding a bit confused and alarmed. "Izuku's over -"

"Where are you, Izuku?!" The voice of someone familiar shouted, making Izuku and Inko blink, and then they heard the footsteps come closer. "Are you -?!"

And coming right around the doorframe, while Hakushu and All Might blinked at him, came a man that neither the Midoriyas or the Urarakas hadn't seen in person for at least a year. It was clear that he had just gotten off his flight and came straight here, his business suit wrinkled and long coat kind of crinkled as a tall, lean man with short black hair, a bushy beard, and a look of absolute panic on his face, skidded into the room, looking around for his son.

"Izuku, are you -?!" Hisashi's gaze finally moved towards the bed, seeing Izuku sitting up and blinking in complete shock at the sudden appearance of his father, and relief seemed to course through Hisashi as he sagged forward, a smile appearing on his face - and then his gaze moved to Itsuka, and then to Ochako.

Hisashi faltered, straightening up and staring at the three of them in the bed for a brief moment, and became aware of everyone staring at him in surprise at his sudden appearance - and then a tinge of red came to his cheeks, and he quickly cleared his throat, looking suddenly awkward and out of place.

"Oh, uh … hello," He glanced around, giving an apologetic look to the adults in the room, glancing around at Hakushu, "you, uh … you must be the Kendous. I - I heard all about you from Inko, uh - er - hello. I'm Hisashi."

"Er … hey there," Hakushu awkwardly waved as Hisashi stole another glance at the bed his son was in, going red.

"Uh … well … it seems that you're … pretty busy right now, Izuku," He coughed, pointing awkwardly behind his shoulder while Izuku held his face in his hands and Itsuka and Ochako went redder and redder, although only Ochako was looking as embarrassed as Izuku - Itsuka seemed to be growing more annoyed and angry by the minute, glaring up at all the adults in her room, "I'll, uh … I'll just wait outside until you're done."

"A-ah, there's - there's coffee in the pot if you want it!" Tenohira quickly tried to jump back to normal, turning to the older man while her daughter began trembling, her face turning redder and redder, "and - and it's a pleasure, Mr. Midoriya. I'm Tenohira."

"Oh, uh - yes, Tenohira! Inko told me all about you in our calls. And - and I assume you must be Hakushu?"

"H-heh, that's right. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Midoriya."

"O-oh, no, Hisashi's fine -"

"Will you all get out?!" Itsuka finally shouted, unable to hold it in anymore, and the adults jumped as they looked around at her, as though suddenly aware that she was about to jump up and forcibly shove them out. Quickly, Inko moved to push Miwa out the door, apologizing quietly to Hisashi as he was likewise shoved out, much to his sputtering confusion, and Teko followed them out with Tenohira on their heels, taking a moment to pause at the door and give Izuku a suspicious glare as he slowly closed the door behind him.

Finally, the room was quiet again, save for Gūdo jumping up on the closed door and scratching at it, clearly wanting to go meet the new person, as Itsuka took a few deep breaths and swung her legs down onto the floor as Izuku and Ochako's faces continued to burn, not looking at each other at all.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... alright." Itsuka nodded stiffly, still not looking at either of them, "I'm gonna grab some clothes and go get changed in the bathroom."

"Er - right."

"Y-yeah."

"Mm-hm." Itsuka began moving to get up, letting out a small grunt as she realized how stiff she was, and glanced behind her shoulder to see Izuku and Ochako likewise beginning to get up, Ochako groaning as she began awkwardly sliding down the bed towards the foot of it. Izuku lowered one of the hands he had over his face as he sighed, still looking embarrassed as he pushed the blanket properly away, and Itsuka gave him a sympathetic look as he pushed the blanket off him with his foot -

- and then, as Izuku moved his leg back down, he saw both Ochako and Itsuka's eyes trailing down to follow the movement as he straightened his legs - and then they both locked on something on his midsection.

Izuku felt himself falter at the sight of both girls suddenly stopping their movements, staring down at something on him with their eyes widening slightly, Itsuka freezing where she was sitting on the edge of the bed and Ochako pausing her attempt to crawl off the bed, her eyes staring at something on his midsection. But before he could ask what was wrong, he blinked at the sight of color immediately flooding their faces again - both of them looking like all the blood in their bodies had suddenly went straight to their faces, Itsuka looking like her entire head was alight and Ochako looking like she was about to faint.

"Uh … guys?" Izuku asked in an uncertain tone, and that thankfully seemed to snap them out of their frozen states. Itsuka immediately whipped her gaze away, her hair flying, and hurriedly stood up so she could all but run to the dresser to grab her change of clothes, a tank top and jeans, and Ochako likewise scrambled off the bed to find her bag, while Izuku looked between both of them in confusion.

"I'm - just gonna - yeah, I'm j-just - I'm off to the bathroom. To g-get - to get changed." Itsuka managed to stutter out, quickly hurrying out of her room and practically shoving the door open in her attempt to get out.

"I'm - yeah," Ochako likewise grabbed her backpack, hugging it tightly to her chest while running after Itsuka, not looking back at Izuku at all, "I'm - I'm going - to - to the changing room downstairs. S-see ya."

With that, the door to Itsuka's room snapped closed behind them, leaving Izuku more than a little confused as he sat up, hearing the sound of their footsteps hurrying away. Wrinkling his brow, and wondering what that weird reaction from his friends was about, Izuku let out a small grunt as he moved his feet to the floor, wincing at a kind of weird uncomfortableness in his pyjama pants, and glanced down to see -

- and that was when Izuku himself froze, staring down at the bulge in his pants from waking up this morning.

That Itsuka and Ochako … from their reactions … had clearly noticed.

Staring down blankly at the tent in his pants for a moment, Izuku stayed completely still - and then slowly laid back down on the bed, grabbed the pillow that he had been resting on, planted his face right into it, and let out a muffled scream of embarrassment.

While also trying not to notice how good the pillow smelled, like how Itsuka and Ochako smelled -

- no. No, he was not going to go there.

---

After taking about ten minutes to calm himself down so that he would be able to properly face Itsuka and Ochako today (and even then, he knew it was pretty iffy), Izuku managed to get changed into a pair of shorts and a white kanji t-shirt, and left Itsuka's room with his head hung low. He could hear the sound of adults talking in the dining room, so he made his way into the kitchen, grabbing a plate filled with toast and pancakes that had obviously been left for him, and then moved through the doors of the living room, petting Gūdo's head as the big dog hurried by him, and soon he was pulling open the door to the dining room.

"... so Mr. Yagi," Hisashi was sipping on his coffee, having taken off his jacket and leaving him in a white dress shirt, as he looked to Izuku's mentor sitting in the seat across from him, "you're the man who trained my son."

"That's right," All Might nodded, putting down his own cup of coffee on the table and adjusting himself in his seat, "for the last year or so. I also trained Young Ochako and Young Itsuka as well - it's how their families met."

"I see," Hisashi slowly nodded, and there was the hint of a frown on his face as Izuku sat down beside him, his father automatically wrapping his much bigger arm around his shoulders and bringing him in for a side hug, "and … during this time, you got to know Inko as well."

"I …" All Might briefly faltered, not exactly sure where that line of thought was going, "... did? I mean, yes, I - I did."

"Hm," Hisashi pursed his lips, taking another long sip of coffee while Tenohira and Miwa brought some more breakfast for their husbands, the two of them watching the Midoriya patriarch from their own seats curiously, "and … I've also heard that the two of you went out for dinner a few times."

"... uh …"

"With everyone else, of course," Hisashi quickly corrected himself, but there was still an angry glint in his eye as All Might began sweating a bit, clearly nervous about where exactly this conversation was going, "but you two have met up for lunch. And dinner. And you also visited her every weekend for those … 'progress reports' of yours."

"Er … I … did."

"Hm. 'Progress reports'. That was happening while you two were … alone. In the apartment."

"I - Mr. Midoriya -" All Might began blushing, and looking very panicked as Taiyo chuckled into his coffee and Izuku wondered if this conversation was too mature for him as he gulped, "- I assure you that - that I -"

"Hisashi, what are you saying to Mr. Yagi?" Inko said in a very deadpan voice as she came into the dining room, glaring down at the serious look on Hisashi's face as he stared at the sweating All Might, and bopped him on the head with her hand, making him yelp a bit. "Stop messing with him already."

"Alright, alright!" Hisashi shook his hands, chuckling as the angry look from before immediately vanished from his face, and he gave All Might an apologetic smile as the taller man glanced between the two Midoriyas in confusion. "I'm sorry, Mr. Yagi, I just thought I'd have a bit of fun. I'm not actually accusing you of doing anything untoward with Inko - although it's not like I have any right to complain if you did."

"Is - is that so?" All Might still looked a little nervous, taking a sip of his coffee while Inko sat down on Izuku's other side so she could kiss his unbandaged cheek, while Tenohira and Miwa likewise sat beside their husbands and Teko walked in to take his spot at the end of the table, being sure to give Izuku a sharp look that made him gulp nervously, making it clear that the Kendou patriarch had not forgotten what position he had found Izuku in with his grandaughter.

"Yeah. Me and Inko are - well, we're not divorced," Hisashi grimaced slightly as Inko nodded, "more like … separated. We haven't signed any divorce papers, so we're technically still married, but …"

"It's hard to keep a marriage fresh when we're in separate countries," Inko took over the story for her ex-husband, "especially when we can only see each other about twice a year, and overseas calls get expensive. And Hisashi can't exactly move back all the time, he had an important position in his company that requires him to actually head into the office, and going from America to Japan and back ends up racking up the bills, so we agreed to just … separate."

"Ah …"

"It's not like there's any hard feelings," Hisashi guessed the conflicted look on All Might's face, chuckling, "Inko's still probably my closest friend - has been like that since before we were even married. I certainly don't mind staying on the couch whenever I visit."

"Oh, I … I see." All Might nodded slowly, looking … well, not happy about that answer, but definitely interested, which made Izuku blink. "That's … that's good to know."

However, before Izuku could try to digest what that meant, fixing All Might with a slightly suspicious look, the door to the dining room slid open again, and he glanced over to see Itsuka and Ochako entering from the living room with their own plates filled with toast, and holding drinks in their other hands.

Gulping, Izuku sat up slightly, letting Hisashi take his arm away from his shoulders so he could keep eating, and glanced up at the two girls as they took seats beside their own parents, and took a small, unsteady breath. Hopefully they would just … pretend that they hadn't seen what - what they had - what they had seen this morning. They were both mature enough to know that it was a - a guy thing, and that kind of thing happened.

Yeah. Yeah, it would be fine.

However, to Izuku's horror, both girls happened to glance at Izuku out of the corners of their eyes, and, with their faces turning a bit redder, quickly looked back down to begin practically inhaling their breakfasts, while Izuku felt himself pale.

Oh, no! It's awkward!

Before he could figure out how he could get himself out of this, Inko sighed as she looked back at Izuku's face, giving her son another small kiss on the side of his head, making him grumble, and then gave a small worried look at the bandage wrapped around his head.

"Sweetie," She asked in a quiet voice, "I was reading the paper the school nurse sent home with you - you're gonna have to change out those bandages soon, won't you?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, glancing at her in confusion, and then realized what she was saying, reaching up to pat the bandages on his cheek and forehead. He felt his eyes briefly turn downcast, and nodded. "Oh, y-yeah, Mom, I will - after breakfast. Recovery Girl said to change out the bandages every so often - I'll head into the bathroom after I'm done washing my plate."

"What about you, sweetie?" Tenohira turned to her own daughter, who was taking small nibbles out of her piece of toast, "Do you need to do anything about your arm?"

"Well …" Itsuka furrowed her brow, putting down her piece of toast, and slowly slipped her arm out of the sling she had over her shoulder, to the surprise of everyone at the table. She seemed fine enough, although it was clear that she couldn't stretch her arm all the way out, wincing in pain as she nearly got it all the way out, and making Hakushu and Tenohira give their daughter a sharp look.

"Sorry, sorry," She smiled guiltedly, putting her arm carefully back into the sling, "I was just demonstrating. I can't stretch my arm out all the way just yet, so once we head back to school on Monday, I'll head over to see Recovery Girl to finish up the treatment - me and Izuku."

"Er … right," Izuku nodded.

"'Izuku'?" Tenohira blinked, glancing between both of the teenagers, and both Izuku and Itsuka went red as they realized her slip up, with Itsuka quickly clearing her throat and looking around at All Might, who was likewise raising his eyebrow, while Hisashi blinked in confusion and glanced between both teenagers and Miwa subtly bent her fork with her fist, making Taiyo gulp nervously at the pout on his wife's face.

"A-anyway, coach," Itsuka tried hard to change the subject while her cheeks felt a bit hot, "when did you - uh - when did you get here? This morning?"

"Er … about an hour ago," All Might shrugged a bit, "I had - uh - I had heard around All Might's agency about what had happened yesterday at UA. Apparently - er - All Might had seen Young Izuku off yesterday, but I was still concerned, so I decided to stop by and check up with the three of you."

"Which we do appreciate," Hakushu gave him a smile, "we know that Itsuka said you were coming back to town, but it's good to actually see you back."

"Well, it's good to be back," All Might smiled in return, "it's been rather … busy these last few months, but I at least know that I'll be in Musutafu for the foreseeable future. A-anyway - Young Midoriya," Izuku looked around in surprise as All Might reached into his pocket, clearing his throat as he brought out a small envelope, "there was another reason I wanted to stop by today - I have something for you."

"Huh? R-really?"

"Mm-hm. I take it that you remember Melissa Shield?" The three students blinked, straightening up in their seats as Izuku was handed the envelope, "She actually reached out to - uh - All Might a few days ago. Apparently, she forgot to include something in the package she sent the Full Gauntlet in. All Might asked me, since I know where you live, to pick it up yesterday and deliver it to you - I'm sure that, uh, All Might would've given it to you yesterday, but ... well, with everything that happened ..."

"I … I see," Izuku slowly nodded, glancing at his name written on the envelope in English curiously - she had forgotten something? What could it be? Was it serious?

"Well," Hisashi sighed in satisfaction as he finished his breakfast, scratching his beard as he put down his now empty plate and smiled at Tenohira and Miwa in thanks for breakfast, "I guess that's taken care of - that was delicious. In any case, I'd … well, I'd love to stay here a bit longer to get to know you all, but I need to get back to the airport."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around at his dad in shock. "Wait, are you - you're leaving already?"

"Oh, uh … no," Hisashi suddenly looked awkward as he cleared his throat, glancing away from Inko while she turned to give him a pointed look, "I was, uh … I was really worried about you, Izuku, so when I got off the plane, I … couldn't find my luggage in time, and … just kind of … left it there."

"Hisashi."

"I was worried!" Hisashi waved his arms defensively, leaning away from his ex-wife as Inko gave him a glare, "I wasn't thinking clearly, I just wanted to make sure Izuku was okay!"

"Er … dad, I - I mean, I get why you did that," Izuku smiled awkwardly as he bit into his toast, "but - but you shouldn't have left your luggage. I'm definitely okay afteeeeeeer …"

He trailed off, however, as this was evidently the wrong answer to give, mostly indicated to him due to everyone at the table - from the Midoriyas, to the Urarakas, to the Kendous, to All Might - turning to give him an unimpressed look. From Inko narrowing her eyes at her son, to Hisashi raising an eyebrow, to Hakushu and Tenohira tapping their fingers against the table, to Teko humming, to Taiyo and Miwa crossing their arms, to All Might letting out a small sigh, and Itsuka and Ochako giving him a glare.

Izuku gulped very nervously, feeling all the displeasure around the table aimed at him.

"Er … I'm … okay … compared to yesterday, I mean," He quickly corrected himself, raising his glass to take a hurried sip, and tried not to choke on it as it went down a bit quicker than he expected.

"Hm," Inko hummed while pouting at her son, and then turned to put her chopsticks down on her plate and sighed, "well then … if that's that. I know we agreed that Izuku and Ochako can stay here for today last night, so Hisashi - if you forgot your luggage, I'd better go with you to get it. We don't know how long it'll take to find it if you just left without it. I know that Taiyo - wait," She suddenly realized, looking around at the Urarakas as they winced, "you probably won't be able to drive us back to the airport and get to work in time, won't you?"

"Er … Taiyo cleared his throat, looking awkward, "... unfortunately not, Inko. I'd love ta give the both of ya a ride back ta tha' airport, but … well …"

"We have to be on the site in at least half an hour," Miwa grimaced, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine!" Hisashi shook his head, smiling as he waved his hand. "I certainly don't want to make you both drop everything to help me out. We can always -"

"Well, if you both need a ride," All Might spoke up, prompting the two Midoriyas to look at him, "I wouldn't mind helping you out - I don't have any work to do until much later today."

"Oh!" Inko blinked, smiling happily as she sat up, "O-only if it's not any trouble, Mr. Yagi."

"Of course it won't!" All Might smiled back, prompting Hisashi to glance between them with a raised, amused eyebrow, and Izuku to narrow his eyes suspiciously, "I'd be more than happy to help you both out."

With that, the three families seemed to be ready to start their day - it was known since last night that since the Urarakas and Hakushu had work that day, they wouldn't be able to spend as much time with their children that they wanted. For their parts, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka were okay with having the day to themselves, since Tenohira had to step out to do a grocery trip before sitting down in her room to write up some taxes, and Teko had to teach at the dojo. Above all else, the adults made it clear to the three teenagers that they were not to do anything strenuous, and just sit down and relax for the entire day - granted, they had mostly aimed that at Izuku when they said that, but he at least knew that it would be foolish of him to move around after what happened yesterday and the amount of energy it had taken to heal him, so he didn't mind having a day where he could do nothing and recharge his batteries.

Soon enough, All Might left with Inko and Hisashi so he could bring them to the airport, with both parents hugging Izuku bye and telling him that they would see him at home (Hakushu would swing by at the end of the day to bring him and Ochako back to the apartments) and the Urarakas did the same with Ochako while Hakushu kissed his daughter's cheek and walked downstairs. And soon enough, with Tenohira telling them that she would see them later, and Teko moving downstairs to prepare for his weekend classes, it was just Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka in the living room with Gūdo, the dog hopping up onto the couch and laying down.

"..."

"..."

"..."

As the front door shut, an awkward silence filled the living room as neither Izuku, Itsuka or Ochako looked each other in the eye, staring down at their feet or the opposite wall as Gūdo gave an inquisitive whine. Izuku, for his part, let out a small sigh as he sat down, putting down a few bandage wraps that he had grabbed from the bathroom as his parents had left, and reached up to pull the bandages off his face, wincing as the tape pulled slightly from his face.

Both girls glanced up as Izuku tossed the slightly reddened bandages into the garbage, wincing as air finally hit the wounds on his face for the first time since yesterday. He kept his back to them as he reached over for the bandages, fudging the first attempt to pick it up with a small grumble - and then Ochako reached out, tapping his shoulder and getting his attention, Izuku glancing at her behind his shoulder.

"Deku," She quietly asked, feeling a bit awkward from this morning but still smiling, "let me help you, okay?"

Izuku paused at that, clearly conflicted about showing the two girls his face - and then he let out a small sigh, nodding, and after a moment to gather his courage, turned properly around, sitting down on the couch and lifting the fringe of his hair.

Both girls winced at the sight that greeted them. It wasn't as though he was suddenly deformed, but their eyes trailed up to the large red gash on his forehead, and another one on his cheek, slashing through his diamond freckles. Izuku, for his part, looked embarrassed, glancing down at his knees as Ochako rubbed some ailments on the bandage before she would wrap it around his head.

"It's … not really nice to look at," He said in a small voice, pulling out the envelope he had gotten this morning, as though wanting to stare at it so he could avoid looking at both girls, "but from what Recovery Girl said, they'll probably fade into - you know, white scars, so it's not so bad to look at."

"No, Deku," Ochako shook her head, frowning as she sat down across from him on the coffee table, "they're not … it's okay. You don't look weird. Besides, eventually the scars are gonna fade away, right? Like the one I got on my knee after I fell off that railing."

"That scared the crap out of me," Izuku chuckled a bit to himself, glancing over at Itsuka as she glanced between them curiously with a small smile, "she got a skateboard for her birthday, and tried to do a … was it a rail grind? Anyway, she flopped off her board and hit her elbow on the concrete - we were both crying our eyes out when we got home."

"Cute," Itsuka smiled gently, and sat down beside Ochako so she could lift up her other arm, showing him a white faded patch of skin on her elbow, "I got this after some jackass knocked me over in the dojo and scraped my elbow against the wall. I cried and whined when I couldn't hit him back."

Both of them smiled at the thought of a young Itsuka trying to beat up another kid while crying, chuckling as Ochako began wrapping the bandage around Izuku's head again. As she did so, Izuku let out a small sigh, trying not to notice Ochako being so close to him and feeling his cheeks turning red, as he finally began opening the envelope from Melissa.

Carefully tearing the lid off the envelope, Izuku opened it up, feeling his brow wrinkle as he felt something sliding around within - it couldn't be any bigger than a coin - and cupped his hand as he slid whatever the object was out. Itsuka and Ochako watched as a small metal disk landed in Izuku's palm, all three teenagers staring down at it while blinking in confusion - and then Ochako suddenly thought of something.

"Wait," She tilted her head, pausing her attempt to fasten the clean bandage around Izuku's head, "doesn't that look like one of those … hologram things that UA gave us for the entrance exam?"

"Hey," Itsuka blinked, tilting her head, "yeah, that - that looks like - yeah. Does that mean …?"

Izuku tilted his head somewhat, wincing as Ochako fastened the bandage around his head, but still moved to press his finger down on the button in the middle. Immediately, the small button in his palm began blinking a small, blue light, making the three of them instinctively lean back as Izuku quickly put it down on the coffee table, staring at it and wondering what was about to happen.

And then they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"..."

"..."

"... uh." Izuku glanced up at the two girls as they likewise glanced between each other in confusion, "I didn't just … activate some kind of bomb, right?"

"No," Itsuka shook her head, frowning as she moved to sit in the armchair, while Ochako moved to grab the gauze and tape to make up the bandage for Izuku's cheek, "I don't think the inventor who gave you a cool gauntlet would send you a bomb in the mail, Izuku."

"Uh … okay, I guess. I suppose we're … just gonna wait," Izuku shrugged, moving back against the couch as Ochako moved to put the bandage on his cheek, carefully putting it on while Izuku winced and quietly apologized.

The room fell into a small silence, with Izuku occasionally glancing at the now glowing button, Ochako finishing putting the bandage on his cheek and moving to stroke Gūdo's head while he flopped his head into her lap as she sat beside Izuku, and Itsuka fidgeted with her phone -

- while occasionally glancing between the two of them on the couch, gulping quietly.

Their parents were all gone, her grandpa was down in the dojo, they had apparently forgotten about … what they had seen this morning, Itsuka thought with a blush. It was just them now, and it was going to be just them for at least two hours, since her mom took her time shopping … so … this was the perfect time, wasn't it? It was time to tell them about One for All.

They were all quiet, they were clearly unsure of what to do for an entire day by themselves, and it was clear that they weren't going to address seeing Izuku's … boy parts, she thought with a small shudder. It was the perfect time to bring it up. It was time.

And yet, Itsuka couldn't help but feel herself shrivel up in her comfortable chair, glancing at Izuku patting his bandages to make sure they were securely on, and Ochako petting Gūdo, and feeling her courage seriously waning.

However, before she could try to mentally inspire herself to speak up, she heard her phone pinging, and turned it over to see who was texting her, expecting her mom or her dad reminding of something they forgot to mention -

- and then she blinked in surprise, sitting up in her seat.

"Midnight-sensei?" She wondered out loud, which drew Izuku and Ochako's attention as they looked over at her.

"Hm?"

"What's up?"

"Oh, it's -" She held up her phone awkwardly, "Midnight-sensei is just texting me. Hold on a sec, I should probably respond."

With that, she unlocked her phone and scrolled over to the messages app, tapping it as she once again pulled her arm carefully out from the sling around her neck. After all, she probably needed both hands so Midnight wouldn't be waiting all day for her to type with one hand.

MIDNIGHT

MIDNIGHT

Good morning, Kendou, this is your teacher. The staff was talking a bit last night, and we decided that they would have me reach out to you this morning since you're the class representative of Class 1A, and Aizawa is still in the hospital.

Just respond to this message when you wake up, please :)

YOU

Er

Good morning, sensei.

MIDNIGHT

Ah! Good morning, Kendou

How are you feeling this morning?

YOU

Well

would you believe me if I said I was fine?

MIDNIGHT

Not really, dear

But don't worry if you're not okay after what happened yesterday - I don't know many pro heroes that haven't talked to a therapist at least once a year over the things we see on this job, and you've only been in school for a week.

We've already decided that you all will be doing mandatory meetings with Hound Dog, Tenko and myself to discuss how you've been recovering on Monday, before you're cleared to return to class

YOU

Ah

Bakugou won't like that

MIDNIGHT

We did acknowledge that possibility lol

But if he wants to return to class, he'll have to put up with talking about his feelings for ten or twenty minutes

In any case, Kendou, have you heard anything from your classmates? Recovery Girl said that you, Midoriya, Uraraka and Hadou left together yesterday.

YOU

Well, I was going to reach out to them all this morning

But ... I don't exactly know most of their numbers.

Something that just occurred to me

MIDNIGHT

Ah! Well, in that case, I can help you out with that, Kendou.

We all have your emergency contact information, so if I go ahead and look them all up, I can make both our jobs a bit easier.

I'll get back to you in about a minute.

"Uh … Kendou?"

She looked back up, blinking, to see Izuku and Ochako looking over at her, glancing between each other before looking back at her.

"Is everything okay?" Izuku asked. "What does Midnight-sensei want?"

"Oh, she's - she's just checking in to see how we are," She quickly explained, "she's also gonna help me get in contact with the rest of the class - I don't exactly have everyone's number, after all."

Izuku slowly nodded at that, about to open his mouth to say something else - and then both his and Ochako's phones dinged, along with Itsuka's. The three of them, blinking curiously, returned their gazes to their phones, Ochako pulling hers out of her pocket to see what was going on.

CLASS 1A GROUP CHAT

Midnight has added Mina Ashido, Tsuyu Asui, Yosetsu Awase, Tenya Iida, Ochako Uraraka, Denki Kaminari, Eijirou Kirishima, Itsuka Kendou, Yui Kodai, Mezo Shouji, Kyouka Jirou, Hanta Sero, Pony Tsunotori, Setsuna Tokage, Fumikage Tokoyami, Nejire Hadou, Katsuki Bakugou, Izuku Midoriya, Momo Yaoyorozu, and Reiko Yanagi to the chat.

Itsuka stared blankly at her screen for a moment, feeling her forehead begin to sweat, and then glanced back up at Izuku and Ochako, who were likewise staring at their phones in surprise at all of the names.

"... this … might have been a mistake."

Before any of them could respond to that, however, they noticed Midnight beginning to type, and looked back to their screens so that they could see what their teacher was going to say.

MIDNIGHT

Good morning, everyone! I hope that you all had a pleasant night, at least. I was discussing things with Kendou, and I decided that a group chat that you could all share to keep in touch, help each other with homework, and other miscellaneous subjects, would be a benefit to you all.

With that said, I will be handing administrative responsibilities to Kendou as she is your class representative, and can keep everything in check.

I do have some work to do today, and will be reaching back out to this chat later about what we teachers will be expecting come Monday, but if you all need something, please don't be afraid to reach out to me. With that, I hope that you cuties have a good rest of your day, and see you on Monday! ;)

Midnight has given administrative rights to Itsuka Kendou

Itsuka Kendou has locked nicknames

TOKAGE

whew new group chat

ken you spoilsport D:

YOU

sorry set i don't have the patience to learn people's nicknames lol

we'll stick with normal names for now

TOKAGE

for now you say ?

YOU

behave and i might recant that XD

in any case, guys, i was just checking in to see how you're all doing after yesterday

i was gonna reach out to you guys one by one, but i forgot that i didn't have everyone's number, and midnight texted me and decided that this would be easier

HADOU

oooooooooooh new group chat!

hi guys!

how are you?

everyone okay after yesterday?

it sucked, i know, but we gotta keep our heads up!

speaking of heads, though, tokoyami

were you born with a bird's head or did it come later?

TOKOYAMI

I beg pardon, Hadou?

HADOU

oh and tsunotori, the same question!

TOKAGE

uh oh

HADOU

did your horns come later or were you born with them?

did it hurt for your mom to

wait no i don't wanna know that nvm

TOKAGE

i forgot about you hadou lol

this chat's gonna be busy

and yeah, best not to think about those kinds of questions

BAKUGOU

fuck this

i'm out

YOU

stay bakugou

or else midnight will want to know why you left

just say if you're fine or not and then go about your day

BAKUGOU

eat shit and die

YOU

i'll take that as a yes

IIDA

Bakugou! That is foul language!

YOU

dickhead

IIDA

Please refrain from insulting your classmates with such words!

Kendou?!

YOU

not you iida

bakugou

bakugou is the dickhead

BAKUGOU

Fuck you!

don't me!

Katsuki Bakugou has muted the chat.

YOU

well, that's not surprising

MIDORIYA

uh

yeah

URARAKA

nope, not surprising at all

ASHIDO

midori!

you're up!

Tenya Iida is typing …

MIDORIYA

huh?

oh

yeah, i'm okay

KIRISHIMA

you sure, bro? yesterday was

uh

kinda rough

MIDORIYA

er

yeah

but i'm okay, i'm just kinda relaxing right now

very stiff

very sore

Tenya Iida is typing …

YANAGI

That's good to hear, Midoriya. I'm glad to hear that you are doing much better.

TOKOYAMI

Indeed. While the foes of darkness attempted to drag you into the abyss, you resisted with everything you had, and now are here with us to assist in driving back the horrors that we may face in the future.

KIRISHIMA

uh

yeah

what he said

just not as wordy

ASHIDO

do take it easy today, okay, midori?

yesterday was really

…

i'd rather not go through that kind of thing again

URARAKA

don't worry, ashido, he won't

we've got our eye on him, he ain't going anywhere

Tenya Iida is typing …

YOU

yeah, he's fine rn, we're making sure he's benched for the day

iida i can see you typing out something about me swearing, we don't have time for that today lol

are you doing okay, though?

IIDA

Hmph! Well, please know that I will speak to you in person about addressing your classmates with such language! And that does not exclude Bakugou either! I will be speaking with him come Monday about how to address his class representative!

TOKAGE

ooof

that'll be fun to watch

ASHIDO

i'll bring popcorn!

KIRISHIMA

Hoo boy

JIROU

lol i'll bring popcorn too

IIDA

In any case, Kendou, I am doing well! I did not have many problems going to sleep last night, save a nightmare or two, but that is to be expected. Once I woke up, I went on a brisk walk with my brother this morning, and I must say that helped me tremendously! Apparently, he's going to be spending a few days with us at UA once classes resume, and help us until Aizawa is fit to return to class!

ASHIDO

oh that's good

didn't mention it yesterday, but your brother's really nice, iida

IIDA

Indeed!

YOU

that's good to hear

in any case guys, just text the chat if you're awake how you're feeling

TOKAGE

i'm good, ken!

TOKOYAMI

Indeed, I am well, Kendou. I tend to enjoy the darkness of my room, but it was a bit difficult going to sleep last night, so I am very much awake and tired in this mortal coil. Know that I am currently alright, and simply enjoying a bit of downtime with Dark Shadow.

YANAGI

I concur with Tokoyami's statement

Just doodling in my notebook for the day.

YOU

awesome, awesome

TSUNOTORI

good

i am good

hard to typ

e

crap

hard to read and ty

pe japanese

at same time

everyone type

s really fast

SHOUJI

oh right, that would be a problem for you

i'm also fine, kendou

YAOYOROZU

I'm also doing well! I've been having breakfast with my parents, my apologies that I couldn't text the chat immediately

SERO

yeah, i'm good too

just woke up

YOU

awesome guys

TOKAGE

lol

SERO

oh no

TOKAGE

so buddy

oh shut up i haven't even said anything yet

but anyhoo

how was the walk back home lst night, bro? food get in the fridge?

SERO

yeah all good

imma be the leftover king for the next few days lol

AWASE

food?

something happen last night, you two?

i'm okay btw, just kind of playing games on my phone fn

SERO

ah man

well uh

TOKAGE

lol basically

this guy was gonna walk me to the train station last night after the fuckwads fucked up our day

and we got to talking

YOU

TOKAGE

and basically we got distracted, and he ended up walking me all the way home

my legs were deadass tired lol

AWASE

lol smooth dude

SERO

we just got distracted!

i was exhausted lol

but then her parents saw me at the door when she opened it and

TOKAGE

lol basically they dragged him in for dinner

my parents love you btw

and sera does too

pretty much because of your name XD

YOU

lol

'sera' 'sero'

yeah i can see how sera'd like you

SERO

lol

but yeah basically i met tokage's parents and they gave me loads of leftovers to take home

basically because i'm living at my student apartment by myself and gotta make my own food

so i'm pretty much going to live off that for the next couple days

AWASE

smooth

KIRISHIMA

smooth

KAMINARI

smooth

JIROU

smooth

YOU

smooth

KODAI

smooth

SERO

shut up y'all

TOKAGE

smooth

SERO

shut up tokage

TOKAGE

T_T

anyhoo, yo yui

KODAI

hey

woke up to you people blowing up my phone

btw iida i got home safe, forgot to text you last night because i passed out pretty much immediately on the couch

sry

IIDA

I see! I suppose that's understandable, Kodai. Still, I did worry about you when you did not respond to my message, so please try to at least send me a text to confirm that you arrived home safely!

TOKAGE

?

story here?

KODAI

too tired, going back to bed

later haters

IIDA

Kodai! It's currently eleven thirty in the morning! This is no time to go back to sleep!

YOU

lol she's probably already passed out again iida

alright i think that's everyone accounted for

had to do a quick headcount lol

so we're all good?

JIROU

i mean i wouldn't say good

we did almost die yesterday

MIDORIYA

i ... guess that's true

JIROU

…

oh shit greenie

sorry about that

MIDORIYA

huh?

KAMINARI

I mean

we did almost die yesterday

but you especially

from the sounds of things, that hooded guy almost beat you to death!

AWASE

dude

TOKAGE

smooth dude

JIROU

stfu, kaminari!

TOKAGE

that's sarcasm btw

KAMINARI

huh? what did i say?

MIDORIYA

oh

oh no i'm okay, guys

i mean i'm not okay, okay

but i'm alright

IIDA

Are you sure, Midoriya? I recognize that we should not compare the traumas we all shared yesterday, but you in particular got the blunt of the horribleness that happened.

MIDORIYA

oh no i'm

okay, i won't say okay because kendou and occhan are glaring at me

but i'm moving around, so i'm going to count that as a win :)

URARAKA

:)

YOU

nerds

:)

ASHIDO

y'all are cute

anyhoo what's the plan for everyone today?

just sitting around and stewing?

YAOYOROZU

I am actually free at the moment - I was going to ask, Midoriya, if it would be alright if I stopped by your place of residence?

I wanted to check up on you and see if you were alright. Not to say that I'm not concerned about everyone else! You just were injured quite terribly yesterday, and I wanted to make sure

Wait, am I rubbing salt in the wound? I'm so sorry!

MIDORIYA

oh no, yaoyorozu it's

it's okay!

it's just i'm not at my apartment rn

i'm at kendou's

ASHIDO

O_O

TOKAGE

O_O

TSUNOTORI

O_O

wait why are we post

ing this, what's going on

SERO

O_O

KIRISHIMA

O_O

YOU

okay y'all shut the hell up

uraraka's here too

AWASE

O_O

ASHIDO

oooooooooooooh ? ﾟﾘﾏ?

URARAKA

this groupchat was a mistake

YOU

they just stayed over because we didn't want to get separated too soon, alright?!

stop with the emojis before i whack you

Midoriya slept in the other room

"..."

"..."

"... if either of you tell them the truth," Itsuka glared at them both, "I am taking you back to Dagobah Beach and tossing you into the ocean."

"Gotcha."

"Read you loud and clear."

HADOU

back!

just had to go grab a snack

and pet my cat

which took twenty minutes

she's a siamese

she likes to chat

ASHIDO

i mean

so do you, hadou

HADOU

yeppers!

wait what were we talking about?

YOU

thanks for getting us back on track, hadou lol

just read up, it's a long bit

anyway yaoyorozu, if you wanted to come visit my place to see midoriya, he's here

IIDA

Ah! In that case, Yaoyorozu, I may accompany you to visit Midoriya - I also want to check up on his current condition!

KIRISHIMA

me too! you were awesome yesterday, mido-bro, so i just wanna make sure you're in one piece!

MIDORIYA

guys ...

TSUNOTORI

me too!

i have to

apologize for yesterday

MIDORIYA

wait what? apologize for what?

HADOU

oooh! a home visit!

i'm coming too!

i'll bring yuuyu

YOU

wait hold on guys

how many of you are inviting yourselves to my house?

YAOYOROZU

Oh dear! For a moment I completely forgot he was at your place of residence, Kendou. My apologies for somewhat inviting everyone to your home.

YOU

all good, yaoyorozu

but

well

okay, i get that you guys probably wanna see midoriya

MIDORIYA

i'm not sure why

HADOU

?

MIDORIYA

uh

i mean

There was a long pause in the room, with Izuku slowly looking up from his phone, terror beginning to build in his eyes, at the sight of Ochako and Itsuka likewise turning to look at him with their eyes darkening and looking very unamused.

"Do we really need to remind you," Itsuka raised an eyebrow, "why people would be concerned about you after what we went through yesterday, and the state you were in? Or is this about how you can't imagine people being concerned about you?"

"Uh …"

"C'mon," Ochako grumbled, patting Gūdo's head one more time as she got up, "time for a pep talk."

"Yes, ma'am," Izuku hung his head shamefully, getting up as well and following his best friend out the door into the kitchen as Itsuka returned to the group chat.

KIRISHIMA

huh

he got quiet

mido-bro, you good?

YOU

he's fine

he and ochako just had to be excused so they could have a talk about why people would want to make sure that he's okay

TOKAGE

ah i see

he's being roasted over the fire

SERO

rip

YOU

anyway

i'm sure that you guys would love to see him, but there's only

so much room in my house XD

plus my grandpa's dojo lessons start soon, he doesn't need like ten people running around upstairs to distract the kids

IIDA

Ah, of course! In that case, Kendou, I completely understand. We would not want the children to be distracted by us while they are attempting to learn martial arts!

TOKAGE

that and grandpa kendou will literally kill us

or drag us downstairs to be used as punching bags

KODAI

it's happened before

i still feel pain in my side occasionally

YOU

IIDA

... I suppose that as well!

HADOU

aw

i wanted to come see you guys ? ﾟﾘﾫ? ﾟﾘﾭ?

ASUI

don't worry, nejire

i'm sure that they'll be okay and we'll see them monday anyway

YOU

ah! asui!

ASUI

tsuyu

YOU

*tsuyu!

i'm so sorry, i completely forgot that you were the only one who didn't comment :(

ASUI

kero, it's fine :)

i was just reading through the chat, forgot to comment that i was here

i'm looking after my sibs today, and they're being very clingy

hard to read and cuddle at the same time lol

TOKAGE

same!

i'm looking after sera since my parents had to head to work

YOU

right, right

and while we probably can't hang out today, we can talk about doing something later

y'know, once we all have the free time

in any case, guys, if you are heading out to hang today

just be careful, alright?

if you see anything suspicious, text the chat or midnight or something

KIRISHIMA

no need to worry, kendou!

me, kaminari, awase and sero are just heading out to lift weights

we're heading to a gym right near a hero agency, just to be safe

YOU

okay

just keep an eye out, okay, guys?

and no lifting heavy weights

no idea if you guys got too injured yesterday, you don't need a barbell dropping down on your neck because your arms suddenly get weak

AWASE

yeah

i'm probably going to spot for them anyway, so i'll make sure they don't get in over their heads

YOU

alright, awesome

in that case guys, i need to get a drink so i'm putting my phone down

have a good rest of your day

ASHIDO

later, ken!

TOKAGE

oh god i think sera's trying to get into the cookie bin

later babes

HADOU

oooh, she sounds cute!

i gotta go wake up yuuyu

she's sleeping in

and it's like, almost twelve

no more sleep, need cuddles!

later!

With another small sigh, Itsuka tossed her phone over to the couch, taking a moment to stretch her good arm above her head as she stood up to go get herself a drink from the fridge. Luckily for her, it appeared that Ochako had just got done her 'reasons why your classmates would be worried about you after seeing you get beat up' speech to Izuku, who was sitting at the kitchen table, slumped over and nodding guiltedly while Ochako crossed her arms and stood above him.

"Learned your lesson?" Itsuka asked in a teasing voice as she entered the kitchen, making Izuku groan lowly and Ochako smirk. "Good. I let everyone know that you're gonna be here for the rest of the day, and that we probably won't be accepting guests - not unless they want Grandpa to kick them in the head."

"I … see," Izuku nodded, sighing as he straightened up and Ochako moved to sit down at the table, watching as Itsuka bent over to look in the fridge for her drink, "and … uh … so …"

"Hm?" Itsuka hummed, still looking around for something to quench her thirst, "What's up?"

"What … exactly are we doing today?" He decided to ask, folding his hands together as Ochako looked likewise interested. "It's … not like we have homework to do. There's not actually much to do today."

"That's true," Itsuka shrugged, spotting what she wanted with a small 'aha' as she grabbed her drink, and straightened up while closing the fridge, turning around, "I didn't really think there was gonna be a plan, actually - I thought we'd just be staying up here, hanging out, and trying to see … a … ghost."

At that last word, Izuku and Ochako blinked, looking back up at their friend in confusion. Itsuka, for her part, was suddenly still, staring at something behind the table with a dropped jaw and widened eyes. Feeling their brows furrow, Izuku and Ochako turned to look behind them -

- and then let out twin squeaks of surprise.

"Hm? A ghost?" The transparent girl asked in an interested voice, giggling slightly at their flabbergasted reactions. Well, flabbergasted might be the wrong word, seeing as they were currently staring at the sight of a half-transparent girl they had never seen before looking around at them curiously - Itsuka was half tempted to throw her drink at the ghost, as though to see if it would sail through her head.

She was currently coloured blue, looking like something straight out of Star Wars with occasional flickers and blue waves pulsing around her. She was also very cute, Izuku thought with a blush, with wavy hair falling to her upper back, and a pair of oval glasses on her round, smiling face. She was wearing some kind of vest over a short dress shirt, with a strange bow and a pair of brown boots along with a pair of plaid socks.

"I mean, I don't want to think I'm a ghost," She giggled, tapping her foot against the floor and not making a single noise, "more of a holographic image of myself, all the way over in America. Or at least, we're ported in America right now, we'll probably be heading back across the Pacific in a day or so."

"Uh …" Itsuka tilted her head at the hologram in her house, raising an eyebrow, "... hello?"

"Hi!" She gave them a small wave, and the three of them suddenly realized that this girl, whoever she was, definitely wasn't Japanese - not only were her eyes much more rounded than theirs, there was something in her voice that immediately told them that Japanese wasn't her first language. "I saw that you guys activated the device I sent you - sorry that I didn't immediately answer, I was working in the shop."

"The device -? Wait," Izuku blinked, the dots finally connecting in his head as he sat up, "you're …?"

"Melissa Shield," She introduced herself, taking a moment to bow, "it's very nice to finally meet you, Midoriya."

---

Melissa had a very kind smile.

It was something that Izuku had noticed pretty much at once, seeing her lighten up the room with just a grin as they returned to the living room to sit down and talk, Melissa bringing a small stool to sit on so she didn't have to stand around, and properly introducing herself to Itsuka and Ochako as the inventor of Izuku's support item. That nice, pretty smile had been on full display, quickly endearing herself to the two girls and Izuku as they properly made their introductions.

The reason Izuku had been thinking of her smile, however, was because it had pretty much completely vanished the moment Izuku had sheepishly brought her the Full Gauntlet for her to have a look at - or at least, what was left of it. As it had turned out, he had completely forgotten to take off the support item while getting changed last night, and since it had been shrunk down into its now chipped smaller form, he had just worn it back to the Kendous' the previous night.

And now Izuku pressed the button, prompting it to stutter for a moment before finally opening up to the Gauntlet - or at least, the part of the support item that showed the large hole punched into it, giving a pathetic whine as it briefly started up, and then shut down just as quickly.

There was a long silence in the room, with Melissa staring blankly down at her destroyed creation, the physical evidence of all her hard work being completely and utterly ruined, and Izuku automatically moved down into a dogeza bow, keeping his head against the floor while Ochako and Itsuka waited for the explosion.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... it took me two months to complete the Gauntlet, you know." Melissa said in a low, emotionless voice, which only made the three of them wince.

"Er … yeah," Izuku nodded, guilt coursing through him.

"I put aside all of my projects to make sure that it was ready for your entrance exam. You have no idea how many all nighters I had to pull in order to modify it for your quirk."

"Yeaaaaah ..."

"You've only had it for a week," Melissa's eyebrow twitched, "and you've already broken it."

"Er … in his defense," Ochako weakly said from the couch, where she was sitting on the couch with Itsuka, both of them watching Izuku about to be murdered by a girl who wasn't even there, "it was actually a villain that broke it. He just kinda … yeah."

Melissa took a sharp inhale through her nose, shaking her head and putting her hands on her hips while Izuku continued to grovel before her.

"I … guess you have a point there. If I have a problem with how it was broken, it's gonna be with these stupid villains," She gave Ochako that, seeing Izuku quickly looking up at her in relief and raising her eyebrows, "but that doesn't change the fact that you're kind of boned now, Midoriya. The only reason I was able to adjust the Full Gauntlet to become a support item for your quirk was because I was working off another project. I can't exactly build another one from scratch - that would take months, even with the data you sent me, and while my family is rich, we don't exactly have the time for me to just fly to Japan to fix your support item."

"I … I see," Izuku slowly nodded again, sitting up on his knees to look up at Melissa as she bent forward to inspect the Gauntlet's damage a bit closer, "then … well, what am I supposed to do? This was the only way I could use my quirk safely - do I just … I don't know, bite the bullet and start experimenting with my quirk?"

"I'm not too sure about that," Itsuka shook her head, "your quirk still hurts you, Izuku - and Recovery Girl won't be happy if you keep popping into her office."

"I suppose that's true," Melissa finally smiled again, nodding and straightening up, "so in that case, Midoriya, there's only one thing we can do."

"Uh … okay … and what's that?"

"Well," She reached over to the side, pulling over a piece of paper, and waving it in the air, "I'm going to have to teach you how to repair the Full Gauntlet by yourself. I realize that UA probably has a support studio, but they tend to be … well, from what Uncle Might's told me before, they're a lot more interested in adding unnecessary additions to the items and costumes, just so they look cooler. Better for me to just teach you how to finetune it yourself - I sent this device so we could talk about it, after all, so I guess we were gonna have to eventually do this kind of thing anyway."

"The support studio puts in … unnecessary additions?" Ochako repeated, feeling suddenly nervous- it just registered to her that all of her stuff was in the hands of the support studio at UA, making her gulp.

"Wait -" Itsuka blinked, something registering to her as she turned back to the hologram, "- 'Uncle Might'? Did you just call All Might 'uncle'?"

"I did," Melissa giggled, noticing Izuku suddenly look back up at her with widened eyes, and smiled, "My papa and All Might go way back, they used to work together in America after All Might graduated from UA -"

"Wait," Izuku straightened up, feeling himself begin to shake a bit as he pointed uncertainly at Melissa, who looked down at him curiously, "you - you said that your last name was 'Shield'. As in - as in David Shield? The scientist who designed -"

"- All Might's costumes?" Melissa finished that sentence for him, giggling again at the wide-eyed fanboy look in Izuku's eyes, "Yep - he's my dad."

"That - that's amazing!" Izuku quickly scrambled up from where he had been kneeling to move closer to her, Melissa blinking and leaning slightly back even though she wasn't technically in the same room as him, while Ochako and Itsuka rolled their eyes, seeing this coming from a mile away. "Professor David Shield! The scientist who received a Nobel Quirk Prize for his research into quirks! All Might's partner while he was living in America!"

"Er -"

"The scientist who designed his costumes! Young Age, Bronze Age, Silver Age, Golden Age! That's - that's amazing! Is he -?!"

BONK

Melissa jumped in surprise as Itsuka got up, raising her hand and growing it out slightly, and then quickly bringing it down to chop Izuku right on the top of the head, stopping his fanboying in its tracks while nearly slamming him face first into the coffee table. With a sigh, she looked up to give Melissa a weak, apologetic smile, gently taking Izuku by the back of the head and lowering him back into a bow.

"Sorry about him," She said in a small, embarrassed voice while Izuku caught on to what he had been doing thoughtlessly, squeaking and beginning to mutter apologies as well, "he's a bit of an All Might fanboy. As in - uh - his biggest one. He tends to get carried away."

"Oh, it's - it's not a problem," Melissa giggled, waving aside the apology as Izuku glanced up at her, "I definitely get it - my dad's got his own fanboys on I-Island. Although I gotta say, that's a bold claim to make in front of me - I'm pretty sure I'm Uncle Might's biggest fan."

"I mean … I've seen his room," Ochako laughed as well, the three girls looking down at Izuku as he went redder and redder and fixed his gaze on the carpet, "you've definitely got some serious competition right here, Miss Shield."

"Oh, just Melissa is fine," She shook her head, smiling, "I don't mind being on a first name basis with you guys - although I do know that American customs are a tad bit different than Japanese. If you guys want to call me Miss Shield, that's fine."

"Oh, no, only if you want us to! And in that case, you can call me Itsuka."

"And Ochako!"

"Itsuka and Ochako," Melissa grinned happily, clapping her hands together, "it's nice to meet you both! And of course, I know that I sent this device so Midoriya had a way to communicate with me about the Gauntlet, but if either of you want my help with any support items, I'd be more than happy to assist!"

"Wait, really?"

"Of course!" She nodded, glancing between both surprised girls as she balled her fists, "I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm in this for the long run with Midoriya - I may have said that constructing a Full Gauntlet from scratch may take a long period of time, but that doesn't mean that I'm not willing to try! I'd say that around summertime I might have something for you, Midoriya - and hey, if you three are close, then why should I build things exclusively for Midoriya? That is, if you're both interested."

"Yes!" Ochako and Itsuka said at the same time, nodding happily - seeing the Full Gauntlet in action, they knew better than to turn down her offer.

"Great!" Melissa quickly swiped another piece of paper up, grabbing a pen, and then looked to Ochako. "So in that case, Ochako - what kind of quirk do you have?"

"It's, uh - it's a gravity based quirk," Ochako quickly explained, raising her hand to show Melissa the pads on her fingers, "I can take away the effects of gravity on anything I touch with all five of my fingers - and if I press them both together, I can return the gravity."

"Interesting …" Melissa wrote that down, nodding, "... I assume there's side effects?"

"Yeah, if I go past my weight limit, I, uh … I vomit. I'm actually not too sure what my limit is at the moment, I haven't checked in a while."

"Well, just let me know by - well, I was gonna say you could use this device, but I can just get your numbers later, can't I?"

"O-oh, yeah!"

"Anyway, Itsuka," Melissa turned to the other girl, smiling, "what about you? What's your quirk?"

"Me? I can …" Itsuka was about to say, raising her good hand to grow out her hand - but then she found herself pausing, blinking. There had been a part of her that was going to say that she could grow out her hands, but … but technically that wasn't all she could do now. Now she had One for All …

… ooooooooh, crap.

Melissa, Ochako, and Izuku, who had edged off to the side while the three girls talked, blinked as Itsuka obviously hesitated - and then Ochako found her gaze flickering down to the arm she had put back in her sling, and found herself blinking. Itsuka's gaze flickered to her, seeing the gears in Ochako's head suddenly turn, and gulped nervously.

"Uh … actually, Melissa," She tried to remain calm, and not on the verge of freaking out about Ochako about to call her out on her bullshit, "could I get back to you on that one? I just kinda … want to figure stuff out about my … quirk. Yeah, I'll - I'll get back to you on that."

" O-oh," Melissa nodded, looking a bit confused while Izuku glanced up at Itsuka curiously - obviously wondering what Itsuka needed to figure out about her quirk, seeing as she just needed to grow out her hands to use it - but thankfully, Melissa turned her attention back to Izuku, clearing her throat, "yeah, that's - that's alright, Itsuka, just let me know if you have any ideas and I can help you out. Anyway, Midoriya - we should get down to business, starting the repair of the Gauntlet. To start, you'll need a few tools …"

As she began to explain what he needed to get the repair started, Izuku stiffly bringing out his notebook to start writing things down, Itsuka glanced at Ochako, seeing her still flickering her gaze between Itsuka's arm and her face as her brow furrowed and she frowned. With a small sigh, Itsuka glanced over at Izuku, and then turned back to Ochako.

"Can you … keep quiet about it for a few minutes?" She asked in a quiet voice, making Ochako blink, "I … I know you have questions, Ochako, but … but not right now, okay?"

Ochako crinkled her brow, obviously uncertain about that as she glanced back down at Itsuka's arm - but before she could say anything to that, Izuku let out a sigh, prompting the two girls to look around as he finished writing the notes for whatever Melissa was telling him.

"Uh … Kendou," Izuku looked a bit awkward, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, "is - is it okay if I go down to the garage to use some of your tools? From the sounds of things … uh … yeah, I need tools. A lot of them."

"Hm?" Itsuka blinked, glancing between him and Melissa giving her a small, awkward smile as well, and then quickly nodded. "Oh, yeah, go right ahead Izuku, I don't mind. Actually, I think I'll go with you - I can work on my bike for a bit. Ochako, do you wanna come too?"

"... yeah," Ochako slowly nodded, her eyes still on Itsuka's face as she tried not to wince too much, "yeah, I'll come with."

With that, once they had picked up both the broken Gauntlet and Melissa's communication device so that she could come with them (prompting her to look like she was standing sideways in the air, making her grumble a bit in embarrassment), the three, technically four, teenagers made their way down the stairs towards the garage, Gūdo happily following them while jumping up in the air trying to hit Melissa with his paws while she giggled at him. They quieted their steps as they moved past the dojo, hearing Teko barking instructions at his students within, and managed to get into the garage quietly, with Izuku heading over to the work desk, putting Melissa's hologram down on the floor, and she created a holographic blueprint for him to follow and pointed out the tools that Izuku would need as they got to work.

Itsuka, meanwhile, let out a small sigh as she sat down on the stool beside her bike, dragging her kit towards her, while noticing, out of the corner of her eye, Ochako moving to bring another stool over to sit beside her, a frown on her face that made Itsuka bite her lip. Once she was seated, the garage fell into silence, other than Melissa instructing Izuku and carefully pointing things out to the broken Gauntlet Izuku had put on the desk.

And then Ochako let out a small sigh.

"You're hiding something," She said in a quiet voice, "aren't you?"

Itsuka stayed quiet for a moment, picking up a screwdriver to check what size nut she needed to put into the engine, and exhaled.

"Yeah," She muttered, not looking at Ochako at all, "there's … something that I haven't told you or Izuku. I … can probably guess what you're about to ask me, Ochako."

For her part, Ochako remained quiet, carefully watching her as she flipped her ponytail behind her shoulder.

"You … want to ask me why my arm was glowing yesterday," She guessed, tapping her finger against her leg as she put down the screwdriver to pick up another one, "that's what you wanted to know last night before we had to wake Izuku up - and why I didn't answer Melissa earlier."

"... yes."

"Mm-hm," Itsuka slowly nodded, grimacing slightly, and put down the screwdriver to look up at her. She had to fight down a wave of guilt from seeing the hurt look on Ochako's face - it was clear that she was wondering why Itsuka was hiding something from her, since they had both been pretty honest with each other about everything, ever since they had met. But this was a misunderstanding that Itsuka couldn't let continue.

It was just …

"There … is an answer to why my arm was glowing," She admitted, "and I do want to tell you. A-and I am! Please don't think I want to hide this from you, Ochako. It's just … I'm not exactly sure how to say it."

"S-say it?" Ochako repeated, crinkling her brow as Itsuka briefly ducked her head.

"It's … it's a lot. And I don't … exactly know how to begin." She looked back up at her, letting Ochako see the pleading look on her face. "Just … please, give me some time to think over what I'm going to say. And - and I want to make sure Izuku's there to hear it too. Please believe me, Ochako, I don't want to hide anything from you, either of you - but I just need some time to organize my thoughts."

"I …" Ochako hesitated again, clearly unsure as Itsuka nervously glanced away, and then let out a small sigh. There was a moment of silence between both girls as Izuku worked away on the Gauntlet, and then Ochako tapped her fingers together.

"Just … tell me one thing, okay?"

"Of course."

"Is this something … something that you were going to tell us anyway? Like - like if I didn't see your - your arm glowing, were you going to tell us anyway?"

"Yes," Itsuka nodded without hesitation, "this is something I was - I was working up the courage to tell you."

Ochako slowly nodded at that, glancing off to the side - and then let out another sigh, slumping her shoulders, and then turned to look back at Itsuka, seeing her look hopeful as Ochako smiled, and she giggled.

"Okay," She nodded again, "okay, Itsuka, I'll - if you are going to tell us, then - then that's fine. I can wait for an explanation for a little bit longer."

"Alright," Itsuka smiled at her, "thank you so much, Ochako. Can you, uh … can you pass me that screwdriver right there?"

"Hm? Oh, sure," Ochako quickly nodded, looking down and around for where the screwdriver Itsuka needed was - there were quite a few amassed by her feet. Itsuka herself glanced back down, trying to pick up the bolt that she needed - and then letting out a small curse as she fumbled it out of her grasp, sending it falling to the floor with a small clink and rolling away from her.

"Ah, damn it," She grumbled, bending over in her seat to pick it up while Ochako kept her eyes down on the box at her feet, trying to pick out the screwdriver that Itsuka had pointed at.

"Woop! There we go," Ochako smiled as she picked out the screwdriver, turning her gaze back up to hand it to Itsuka - and then blinked when she saw Itsuka bending over to pick up the bolt that she had dropped.

But her gaze didn't go to the back of Itsuka's head, or a part of her back. Instead, it flickered down.

It was pretty obvious that Itsuka, having not put much thought into what she was wearing that day, chose something rather simple to wear - in this case, her white tank top and a pair of jeans. A tank top, by the way, that kind of … rid up in the back, giving Ochako a look at her lower back, and how Itsuka was bent forward in her seat meant …

… meant that Ochako, at the current moment, had a very good look at Itsuka's butt.

For some reason, Ochako's gaze locked onto the small of her back as Itsuka grumbled, trying to reach the screw that rolled away from her, and got up from her stool to reach for it, making Ochako gulp. She found herself unable to look away as Itsuka continued to bend over, suddenly feeling a bit hot around the collar and pulling slightly at her pink t-shirt as she nervously swiped her lip with her tongue, and for some reason, a sudden thought came to her.

There was a part of her, a small, innocent part of her, that was suddenly tempted to reach out and trail her fingers against her friend's back, pushing the shirt up, or maybe reaching down to pull the pants slightly down. Ochako felt herself pale in horror as she realized something, something that she had never thought of before finally came to her.

The fact was … Itsuka had a great ass, and there was a part of Ochako that wanted to reach out with both hands and -

"Aha!" Itsuka finally managed to grab the screw, letting out a small grunt as she straightened back up. Ochako let out a tiny squeak, her eyes widening and her face turning red, and quickly whipped her gaze down to her feet, stiffly lifting up the screwdriver for her friend to take and desperately trying to pretend that she hadn't been staring at her best friend's ass as Itsuka looked back around at her.

"Ah! Thanks, Ochako."

"Y-you're welcome."

From there, everyone quietly worked in the garage for about an hour, going over the two separate projects. It was pretty clear that Izuku wasn't going to be rebuilding the Gauntlet in a day, but he was at least an attentive listener as Melissa went into more specifics about how the Gauntlet worked, so they counted that as a win. Itsuka, for her part, worked on her bike and hummed a bit to herself as she turned on the radio beside the bike, and Ochako tried not to look over whenever Itsuka got up and bent over, so as not to pass out from blood rushing to her head. During that time, Tenohira returned from grocery shopping, poking her head in and blinking at the blue ghost helping Izuku through the Gauntlet's repair, before slowly backing up and out of the garage, wondering if they were haunted.

Finally, Melissa let out a small sigh and stretched her arms, nodding down at what Izuku had been doing and smiling.

"Well, I think this is a good spot to stop," She gave Izuku a thumbs up, getting the two girls' attention as she glanced around, "the nanobot I had you design should work around repairing the other shattered bots for the next few days, and soon enough, the Gauntlet will be good as new. We just have to wait for now."

"G-great!" Izuku smiled happily, turning in his seat to look up at her. "Thank you for showing me how the Gauntlet works - I've always been kind of curious about it."

"No problem - honestly, I shouldn't have forgotten to include this device so I could've run it through with you anyway, but what's done is done. Anyway …" She took a moment to stretch again, yawning, "… I don't know about you guys, since you're halfway across the world from me, but it's pretty late, and I need to head to bed soon - I've got an assignment to work on tomorrow."

"Of course!" Izuku quickly stood up from the desk so he could bow, "Thank you so much for helping me, Miss Shield."

"Melissa."

"Er … right. Melissa."

"Anyway," Itsuka smiled, walking over to pat Izuku's arm and rolling her eyes at the blush on his face as she turned to face Melissa, "thank you for looking after this guy. I'd rather not see what might happen to him if he doesn't know how to fix his stuff. Honestly, you've been a great help - I'll add you to our groupchat in a little bit, okay?"

"That sounds great!" Melissa nodded. "And if you guys need anything else, don't hesitate to ring me up!"

"Of course!" Ochako clapped her hands and waved. "Goodnight, Melissa!"

"Goodnight - or, y'know, have a good rest of your day," Melissa giggled, and reached over to tap something. Soon enough her hologram faded away, leaving the three teenagers alone in the garage as the small disk finally stopped glowing blue, powering down.

Finally, the room was silent again, other than the muffled sound of the students two doors down shouting as Teko instructed them, and Izuku let out a small sigh as he likewise stretched, glancing down at the Gauntlet as the tiny nanobot Melissa helped him modify crawled around the broken red support item to begin fixing everything up.

"Okay," He nodded, swinging his arms down and beginning to move towards the door, "I think that it's been a few hours since we had breakfast, so if you want, I can go upstairs and maybe cook us some -"

"Wait a second, Midoriya."

Izuku felt himself blink at the sound of Itsuka quietly speaking behind him, and wrinkled his brow. Looking around, he saw Itsuka staring down at her feet, not looking at either him or Ochako as their other training partner likewise gave her a curious look - and then Itsuka let out a small sigh, and glanced around at both of them, looking suddenly rather nervous and making them both feel a sudden shot of concern pass through them.

"Uh … Kendou?" Izuku asked in an unsure voice, "Are - is everything okay?"

"Y-yeah, everything's - everything's fine," She quickly said, glancing away and beginning to fidget, "it's just … well … there's something we … have to talk about. Do you guys mind … uh … sitting on the couch for a bit? Just - yeah, we - we gotta talk."

Izuku couldn't help but feel more confused by the second, glancing around at Ochako to see what she was thinking, and blinking at the sight of the registration in her eyes as she turned to look at Izuku as well, grimacing slightly.

"It's, uh …" Ochako paused for a second, and then nodded, "... let's sit down, Deku."

"I … okay …?" He nodded slowly, still not sure what was going on but deciding to just humor them by walking over to sit down on the couch, moving carefully so as not to disturb his stiff and sore body. Ochako likewise did the same, plopping down onto the couch beside him, and they both watched as Itsuka grabbed her stool beside the motorcycle to bring over to them, putting it down in front of them and carefully sitting down as she decided to slip her arm out of the sling again, folding her hands together.

For a few seconds, the garage was silent, with Izuku and Ochako letting their friend gather her thoughts. Taking a few moments to stare down at her feet, Itsuka let out a small sigh.

"Okay," She breathed out, nodding slightly to herself, "so … guys. There's … something that I have to talk to you both about."

"Uh …" Izuku glanced between both girls again, still not entirely sure what was going on, "... okay."

"Alright. S-so … first of all, I - I just wanna - okay," She shook her head again, and raised her hands to smack her cheeks briefly, before turning to look at the both of them with a serious look on her face, "okay. So first of all - what I'm about to tell you, it - it doesn't leave this room. I'm telling you both, but you can't - you can't tell anyone else. Alright?"

Izuku and Ochako glanced at each other again, clearly unsure where this was going, but didn't hesitate to nod in agreement.

"I'm serious, guys," Itsuka made sure to give a pointed look to both of them to emphasize this, "this does not leave this room."

Both of them nodded at her again, still not really sure what she was about to tell them that required this much secrecy, but still, they didn't hesitate to agree to her terms. Once she was sure that they were taking what she was saying seriously, Itsuka sighed again and settled back in her seat, glancing between the both of them.

"Okay," She bit her lip briefly, breathing through her nose, "so … well, Izuku, you don't know this, but - but yesterday, during the - the invasion - I was the one who destroyed the mountain zone."

Izuku slowly nodded at that, understanding that just fine - and then he blinked.

"Wait," He felt confused for a moment, his brow furrowing, "you destroyed it?"

"Mm-hm."

Izuku felt his mouth open briefly, but he was quick to close it again, although both girls could see the obvious question in his mind, making Itsuka smile and Ochako sigh.

"You're wondering how, aren't you?" Itsuka guessed, nodding slightly when Izuku went red, "I don't blame you for thinking that, Izuku - that goes against what you've noted about my quirk, doesn't it?"

"I … well …" Izuku hesitated, and then sighed and nodded, while still burning red, "... yeah, it - it kinda does. I know that you're strong, Kendou, and - and your quirk does increase that strength by at least five times that - but - but you were able to destroy a mountain with your quirk?"

"Doesn't add up, does it?" She chuckled, shaking her head, "Well, Izuku, the answer is … well, it's … yes and no."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, while Ochako tilted her head somewhat. "What - what do you mean, yes and no?"

"Well," Itsuka folded her hands together, feeling herself begin to shake as she realized that this was it, "Ochako was there with me when this happened, and … well, she's part of the reason why we're having this conversation, because she can tell you that …" She took another deep breath, and closed her eyes, "... that she saw my arm glow before I destroyed the mountain."

Ochako slowly nodded at that, looking a bit more serious, as she turned to look at Izuku - and unable to stop herself from giggling a bit at the sight of him looking more and more bewildered by the moment, quickly taking out his notebook to flip to Itsuka's page.

"But - but -" He glanced back up at Itsuka, who at the very least was smiling at his antics, "- but that doesn't make sense! Your quirk is to - it only allows you to grow out your hands, doesn't it? We've worked together at the beach for a year, and your arm never glowed. I - what -?"

"You're right," She gave him, biting the inside of her cheek, "you're right, Midoriya, that my arm's never glowed on the beach. But … well, I'm glad you brought that up, Midoriya, because … well … okay. So you guys know … you remember why we trained on that beach, right?"

"Uh … yeah," Ochako nodded slowly, not exactly sure where this was going, "so we could all improve our quirks and bodies for the entrance exam, and so Deku could practice using his quirk in a safe environment."

"Yeah, and … and that part was true. It's just …" Itsuka took another deep breath, fidgeting in her seat, "... the truth is … there was … another reason why All Might had me training on that beach. One that … we didn't tell either of you about."

She could tell that had grabbed Izuku and Ochako's interest, Izuku straightening up and stopping his almost mad reading of Itsuka's page and Ochako sitting up, but she could see a flash of shock on their faces that she and All Might had kept something from them, and that hurt her even more than she expected as she sat forward in her seat.

"You see," She decided to start right at the beginning, "it - it all started when I - when I ran into a burning building to save a few kids. You guys remember me telling you that, right?"

Izuku and Ochako nodded at the same time.

"Yeah … the firefighters were a ways out, the heroes weren't doing anything since their quirks couldn't combat the fire, and … and I just ran in to save them. I got the hell reprimanded out of me, by the cops and the heroes and my parents, but when I was walking home afterwards - All Might approached me."

Both Izuku and Ochako sat up a little bit more as Itsuka aimed her gaze away from them.

"He told me that … that I had shown the true heart of a hero," She explained, "and that I … reminded him of someone that he used to know. That he was interested in making me his successor. I - I accepted, of course, but he …" She took another deep breath, knowing that this was the point of no return, "... he said that … there would be a … a benefit."

She glanced back at them, knowing that she had just gotten their interest - they knew the small details of that meeting, but she had never mentioned anything about benefits, seeing Izuku looking more and more curious by the second and Ochako's brow wrinkling.

"Izuku," She smiled at him, "when we first met, and All Might told you that I was your successor … you were wondering what was so special about me."

"H-huh?" Izuku straightened up, going very red as he stared at her in shock. "You - wait, you heard that?! I - I thought I didn't say anything though -!"

"You were muttering under your breath."

Izuku stopped, and then let out a small groan as he held his face with both hands, which made Ochako roll her eyes and mutter his name in a disappointed tone while Itsuka giggled.

"I don't blame you for thinking that," She smiled sheepishly, "All Might choosing a girl who can only grow her hands does seem weird. But … well … that's where the benefit comes in."

With this, Itsuka took a deep breath, aiming her gaze back to the ground, staring at her feet while trying as hard as she could not to break, and just ripped the bandaid off.

"He said that … well and I know this is going to be hard to believe, but … but he said that I was … I was worthy of inheriting his quirk."

At those last seven words, silence fell once again in the garage. Itsuka stared down at her feet, and Izuku and Ochako went quiet. For several heart pounding moments, Itsuks was afraid of what she was going to see when she looked up, expecting either looks of shock, disbelief, or anger that she wasn't taking them seriously.

But it was with a deep breath, and steadying of her nerves, that she finally, slowly, looked up to see what their reactions were.

And ... they didn't have any.

For one, they both looked - suddenly very blank, staring at her while slowly blinking. Izuku brought his head out from where he had been holding it with his hands, his mouth slowly dropping open, and Ochako slightly tilted her head, her brow furrowing.

They stared at her, and she nervously stared back for a moment.

"... uh …" Izuku finally managed to find his words, "... what … uh … what does that … what does that mean, Kendou? That you're worthy of - of All Might's - what?"

"I'm … with Deku," Ochako said in a quiet voice, still blinking slowly, "what?"

"It … it means …" Itsuka faltered again, and then took another deep breath, shaking her head, and just decided to bluntly say it, "... it means that All Might said that I had the - the chance to take his quirk from him. That if I wanted to become the next Symbol of Peace, I would have to inherit his quirk. And … and I accepted. That's why my arm glowed, and why I was able to destroy the mountain zone yesterday. I didn't use my quirk," She leaned in, looking serious, "I used All Might's."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... bullshit." Ochako finally managed to say, and quickly squeaked as she threw her hands to her mouth, as though she couldn't believe she said that.

Thankfully, that finally broke the rising tension that the trio had been under for the last few minutes. Itsuka let out a small sputter, and then felt herself break as she cupped her face with her hands and began giggling hysterically. Izuku, for his part, finally snapped out of the blank state he had been in, so that his jaw could properly drop open, and stared at Itsuka in complete and utter shock as his world was slowly blown apart.

"I thought it was bullshit at first too!" Itsuka laughed, watching through her fingers as Ochako slowly melted into a puddle of embarrassment, "but - but nope, he was - he was being serious! He could give me his quirk, I said I wanted his quirk, and … yeah."

"W-w-w-w-w-wait a second!" Izuku managed to stammer out, quickly waving his hands in the air frantically to get Itsuka to stop for a second, "I - I mean, it's true that All Might's quirk is something that's been heavily speculated about before - it's pretty much one of the world's greatest mysteries! People are always debating online about what it could possibly be, whether it's some kind of super strength quirk or something else, but - but I don't understand what it means to 'give' someone a quirk - it flies in the face of everything we know about quirks!"

"Er … Izuku?" Itsuka raised her eyebrow as Izuku slowly descended into mutter mode.

"Either through biology, or what's been theorized about quirks! I've never heard of anything like this happening before, it hasn't even been covered in any of the official debates scientists have had before, but why is that? Is it because at the dawn of history, quirks like that have never been confirmed? In the first place, it shouldn't even be possible for …"

As his mutter spree increased slightly in volume and speed, Itsuka and Ochako watched with amused looks as Izuku essentially had a mental breakdown over everything he thought he knew about quirks, bending over slightly in his seat and tugging at his lower lip in concentration. With another small giggle, getting control of herself, Itsuka reached out with both hands, and lightly slapped both of his cheeks, jolting him out of his thoughts and looking up at the smile she had on her face in surprise.

"Izuku," She said sweetly, "I realize that you're probably having a breakdown, but maybe you can let me keep explaining? I wasn't done."

"O-oh!" Izuku jumped, embarrassed, and quickly sat back in his seat as he flushed right, "R-right, Kendou, of - of course."

"Alright," She nodded, settling back in her own seat, and let out a sigh as she glanced between them again, "so … back to what I was saying. All Might offered me his quirk, and … explained how it worked. The name of the quirk …" She gulped, and then, in a quiet voice, said, "... is One for All."

"One for All?" Ochako repeated, blinking and sitting forward while Izuku seemed to be resisting as hard as he could not to jolt down these notes, remembering Itsuka's insistence that it would only be between the three of them and how she probably wouldn't take it kindly if he wrote it down.

"Yeah. It's a … well … it's a special quirk," She admitted sheepishly, "All Might explained it to me that it's a … well, it's kind of a transferring quirk. A quirk that can be passed down from person to person, making the quirk stronger as each user adds their strength to it. One person cultivates the power, and then passes it onto another person to continue cultivating it. And so on and so forth, yada yada yada. He inherited it from the previous user, and he wanted to pass it on to me."

"And … and you accepted," Ochako felt her eyes widen in shock, sitting forward and staring at Itsuka like she had never seen her before, "and you used it to - to destroy the mountain zone yesterday."

"Yeah," Itsuka, gnodded, grimacing and rubbing the sore arm, "it had … well, it definitely had a lot more kickback than what I was expecting."

"But - but -" Izuku continued to stammer, completely blown away by this as he scooted even closer, "- but when did - when did All Might even have time to give it to you? When did he -?"

"Well …" She smiled sheepishly again, "you guys remember All Might asking me to talk after the battle trial a few days ago?"

Both Izuku and Ochako paused, clearly thinking for a moment - and then their eyes widened.

"Wait … so when you met up with All Might …?"

"That's when he gave me One for All," Itsuka nodded, grimacing slightly and shuddering, "and … I'd prefer not to go into how he gave it to me. Eugh."

"But - but Kendou, this is amazing!" Izuku suddenly gushed, and leapt out of his seat. Itsuka squeaked as he suddenly hovered overtop her, making her have to lean back so that he wasn't in her face as he stared down at her in excitement. "You - you have All Might's quirk! This is awesome!"

"I - uh -"

"This - now that I'm thinking about it, it makes sense!" Izuku continued to excitedly rant, unaware of Itsuka's face turning redder and redder the longer he stood over her, and Ochako glanced between them with a small, strange look as he balled his fists. "I had thought it was a little strange that All Might insisted on working on the beach, but - but if this - this 'One for All' is some kind of strength enhancing quirk, it makes sense that he had you build up some more muscle before you took on the quirk! And using the garbage on the beach makes sense!"

"Uh - I-Izu -?"

"But in that case, what are you capable of now? You said that the quirk gets stronger as it gets passed along … so does that mean you're even stronger than All Might?!" Izuku looked away, almost as though he couldn't quite believe it as he began shaking again. "In - in that case, how does it feel? How did All Might transfer it to you? What did it -?"

However, before he could continue his fanboying, he felt a finger tap on his nose, making him wrinkle it on reflex. Feeling himself falter in his excited chatting, he glanced back at Itsuka - and felt himself freeze when he realized how close he had gotten to his friend. As in, their noses were almost touching, in that he was leaning so far in she had to physically lean back in her seat so they weren't touching, and the fact that she was bright red indicated to him her uncomfortableness.

Letting out a small squeak, Izuku quickly retreated backwards, sitting on the couch while Ochako glanced between both of them with a small pout on her face.

"Sorry," He muttered, flushing red and slowly covering his face with his hands, "didn't mean to … you know."

"Y-yeah, it's - it's cool," Itsuka managed to get out, sitting back up properly and trying to calm her own face down as she adjusted herself on the stool, "but … yeah. That's - that's what I was hiding from you guys. That I have … All Might's quirk now."

"I …" Ochako hesitated for a moment while Izuku sank back into the couch, the girl clearly thinking over everything - and then she let out a small sigh and shook her head, smiling a bit despite herself, "... I'm not gonna lie, Kendou, when you said you were gonna tell us why your arm was glowing, I didn't expect … all that."

"I didn't think so," Itsuka smiled at her as well, "it's … definitely something else."

"I … uh … well," Izuku cleared his throat, glancing back up at his friend while his face continued to glow red, "is … is that everything, Kendou? Are - is there anything else -"

"No," She shook her head, "that's everything, I swear. I'm hiding nothing else from either of you. I - I didn't wanna hide this in the first place, but I swear - I swear that that's all I was trying to hide."

"Okay," Ochako slowly nodded, although there was a look of conflict on her face, "but … why?"

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked. "Why what?"

"Why … did you tell us?" She leaned forward slightly, with Izuku glancing at her curiously before returning his gaze to Itsuka. "We - now that we know why, I get why you were hiding it, but … why did you tell us about One for All? We're just ... us."

Itsuka faltered then, staring at Ochako in surprise for a brief moment, and then glanced at Izuku. Although he still looked flustered from leaning overtop her, he seemed to be having similar thoughts, lowering his arms so that he could look at her. Itsuka found her gaze returning to the floor, thinking for a moment - and then she sighed.

"I think …" She mused quietly, "... that I told you both about One for All for - for a few reasons. One of them was just … y'know, because of yesterday. We worked together for a year, you both saw my quirk in action loads of times - if you had seen my arm glowing and me unleashing that power, you'd both come to the same conclusion you did, Ochako - that there's something going on."

"That's … fair," Ochako smiled weakly - but then both she and Izuku blinked when Itsuka suddenly leaned forward, and rested her hands overtop both of theirs, making them both blink down at them and feeling their cheeks go red - or in Izuku's case, go redder.

"But that's not all," Itsuka shook her head, seemingly without thinking about what she was doing as she glanced between the both of them, "I told you about One for All because you two - you're -" She swallowed, and then said, in a quiet voice, "- because you're important to me. You both worked alongside me while I was fighting as hard as I could to get One for All, on the beach and off of it. Izuku, you defended me from Nighteye - you don't know this, but this is the real reason he doesn't approve of me - he doesn't think I'm worthy of One for All."

"What?!" Izuku straightened up, his eyes widening in shock and outrage. "Then - then when he came to the beach -?!"

"He was there to convince All Might to change his mind." Itsuka shook her head, smiling bitterly.

"That ..." Izuku slowly shook his head as Ochako looked outraged, and Izuku himself wasn't that far behind - but Itsuka squeezed their hands, distracting them from their anger and making them look back at her.

"But … but that day, Izuku, you told me to ignore him. And you, Ochako - when he came with Gran Torino, don't think I didn't see how close you were to beating Nighteye's ass. Both of you …" She hesitated, and then let out a shuddering sigh, "... you didn't know it, but you've been on this journey with me the entire time, and … and I care about you both. Both of you. If there's anyone deserving of finding out the truth about One for All … it's you two."

The garage finally fell into silence again, with the three of them glancing between each other, and Gūdo raised his head from where he was napping to give an inquisitive bark. The sound of her dog barking seemed to jolt Itsuka, making her realize that she hadn't moved her hands off of theirs, and felt her cheeks turn red - but before any of them could move, or open their mouths, they heard the sound of the door to the garage opening again.

Quickly, Itsuka withdrew her hands, straightening up and whipping around in slight panic as her mom poked her head through the door with a smile.

"Was wondering what was taking you three so long," She giggled a bit, opening the door a bit wider and raising a bag that smelled absolutely delicious, making the three teenagers' stomachs growl, "I picked up some meat buns on the way for you guys to share - and if you want, since I've got nothing else to do today, I can make you guys some lunch."

"O-oh!" Izuku quickly blinked, standing up from the couch as Ochako's mouth watered and Itsuka studied her lap with her face continuing to burn, "That - thank you, Mrs. Ken- I - I mean, Tenohira. Do - do you need help with making lunch?"

"Oh, no, you three just sit back and relax, I can handle it."

"B-but we should also help!" Ochako hopped up as well, neither she or Izuku looking at Itsuka while she likewise didn't look at them in fear of bursting into embarrassed flames, "We're guests, I know, but - but we should still help out where we can. I can make a bit of mochi for dessert, if you want!"

"Mochi?" Tenohira smiled a bit teasingly at the mention of Ochako's favorite food in the world, but shrugged, "Well … I did buy some rice flour … so if it's for dessert …"

"Yes!" Ochako quickly nodded, happy to have an excuse to run to the bathroom to calm down her fluster, and quickly moved out of the garage. "In that case, Tenohira, leave it to me!"

"Uh … I'll come too," Izuku nodded, walking around Itsuka towards the door while stiffly glancing down at her, "I can help out with lunch. Are - are you coming too, Kendou?"

"Hm?" She hummed absently, turning slightly towards him while continuing to hide her red face, and quickly nodded, "Ah, uh … yeah, yeah, I'll be up in a sec. There's just - something I wanna screw into the bike really quick. Be right up."

Both Izuku and Ochako stiffly nodded, feeling like the cool garage was suddenly a tad bit too hot for them, and quickly followed Tenohira out of the garade, Gūdo happily bouncing out after them. As soon as the door closed behind them, Itsuka nodded quietly to herself, standing up and grabbing her seat to bring back over to the bike. She had just enough time to sit down, pick up the wrench to screw in the bolt on the engine of her bike, before she suddenly sagged over, taking a few deep breaths as she rubbed her chest, where her heart was beating a mile a minute.

Good god, that was nerve wracking! She was thankful that telling Izuku and Ochako about One for All went even better than she expected - they both accepted it, they didn't laugh at her, they didn't not believe her, they didn't get angry at her for keeping such a big secret from them. The fact that they seemed to accept it, and her, was more than a relief to her.

So why was her heart still hammering in her chest? She got through it! It was over! Izuku and Ochako were in the know now, and there wasn't anything else she was hiding from them! This didn't have anything to do with -

- oh, who was she kidding. This one hundred percent had to do with the fact she grabbed their hands and said those - those things to them.

"You're both important to me."

"I care about you both."

With a small groan, Itsuka slumped forward, resting her forehead against the engine as she closed her eyes. She honestly had no idea where her mind was at all ever since yesterday - kissing Ochako, resting on top of her, whether it be on her legs or her shoulders, hugging Izuku, literally sleeping with them both and waking up cuddling him - what the hell was going on with her?!

She might've thought that she was just being clingy after what they went through yesterday, but …

… but she knew there was something else there. Something that made her feel …

… really, really, really fucking good when she touched them.

Itsuka shivered, raising her hand to her chin and biting her lip as she closed her eyes. Her mind was going a mile a minute, and she didn't like where it was going. She remembered that day on the beach, with Izuku lighting himself on fire and running into the ocean, and then coming back with his shirt off. How fucking tight the abs in his stomach were, how good his arms looked. She remembered hugging him yesterday, how solid he had felt against her, and waking up this morning with his arm under her waist. Wondering if he had been holding onto her as tightly as she had been holding on to him, a thought that made her shiver.

Then her thoughts turned to Ochako - making her remember the times they got changed together, seeing her in her hero costume for the first time. How nice that costume hung to her, made Itsuka feel embarrassed even looking at her. She remembered yesterday, how it had felt to kiss those nice lips of hers … their lips smashing together, before they opened their mouths and their tongues -

SMACK

Itsuka acted without thinking, raising her hand up and bringing it to her cheek to slap herself across her face, jerking a bit in her seat and letting out a small whine as she shook her head. What the hell was wrong with her?!

Shaking her head, Itsuka let out another grunt as she got up, tossing the wrench down onto the mat beside the bike, and quickly moved to the sink and mirror in the garage, glancing up at her reflection and grumbling about how red her cheeks were as she washed her hands.

She was just … disorganized, that was all. She went through something awful yesterday, and now she was just feeling confused. That had to be it.

So she needed to get herself together, Itsuka nodded as she turned off the faucet and wiped her hands on the towel, walking out of the garage so she could join everyone upstairs. She needed to stop feeling like she was skipping on thin air whenever those two so much as looked at her. She needed to forget about Izuku's stupid, sexy body. She needed to forget about kissing Ochako and how much she …

… nope, nope, she wasn't going to go there. Admitting it, even in her head, would've just spelled out more trouble for her.

Once she finally got up the stairs, pausing to pat Gūdo's back, Itsuka moved into the kitchen, hoping that her face wasn't as red as it felt as she glanced around and saw Izuku helping her mom out with starting the food prep for their late lunch while Ochako helped put away some of the groceries. Trying her hardest to smile, Itsuka hurried over to start helping Ochako, humming as she picked up some fruits and veggies, and then looked over at her two friends as she tried to clear her throat.

"So, uh … we've got all day for ourselves," She pointed out, Izuku and Ochako looking around curiously, "and you two aren't going home until my dad gets back from work, so why don't we watch a movie after lunch? We can hang and eat some popcorn if we're still hungry."

"Uh … sure! That sounds great!" Izuku smiled awkwardly, although there was slight apprehension on his face, "Just, uh … no horror movies, okay?"

"No horror movies?" Itsuka laughed, shaking her head as she opened up the fridge, "Oh, come on, Izuku - they're not all that bad."

---

"Oh no," The man gasped, staring down at his open palms in abject horror as he slowly backed up, the empty fridge in the grocery store large enough that he had a lot of space for himself. "I can't - it's starting!"

"What - what's starting?" The woman in the thin tank top whimpered, leaning against the wall next to the locked door as the man raised his hands dramatically to his face.

"My - my eye quirk!" He suddenly shouted, his voice coming out raw and agonized. "It's - it's starting to -!"

And suddenly, several eyes opened up on his face, looking rapidly around as the woman let out a high-pitched scream of terror.

"K-KYO!"

"Help me!" He screamed desperately, his body beginning to jerk and hitting the floor where he convulsed. "Please, HELP ME!"

As the woman on the screen continued to scream in terror, the camera not moving away from the man's body twisting and transforming with several eyes emerging on his skin, as shown from his lack of a shirt, the three teenagers sitting in the dark living room, the curtains drawn and the doors closed, were not having a good time at the moment. Ochako had her face buried in Izuku's shoulder and her hands covering her ears, while he felt himself rapidly turning blue as he shrunk somewhat, his eyes fixed on the screen, and on his right, Itsuka was trying as hard as she could not to jump as much from the scares, although her eyes were similarly transfixed on the screen as she clasped her hands tightly together and raised her feet off the floor.

"PLEASE!" The man screamed as the eyes began forming more and more across his skin, the woman shrieking against the wall and desperately jerking the handle of the locked fridge, "PLEASE HELP ME!"

"KYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And the eyes rushed forward, completely enveloping her and causing the screen to smash to black.

QUIRK AWAKENING III

"Oh, thank fuck that's over," Itsuka sighed in relief, slumping forward and holding her hand over her eyes as eerie violin music began playing over the credits, "I was starting to wonder if we were actually going to have a happy ending. No way that's possible in this stupid movie, no way no how."

"Oh, god, this is going to haunt me for the rest of the weekend," Ochako shuddered a bit, likewise rising from Izuku's shoulder and fanning her face slowly, as Izuku tried hard not to think about the horrifying time he had in the last hour and a half, "why can't we just watch something soft? Like puppets? Puppets aren't bad."

"Puppets?" Itsuka blinked, repeating that word, before a small, evil smile appeared on her face that the other two couldn't see due to her facing away from them, and pulled out her phone, "I mean, if you want puppets, Ochako, I've got a few videos we can watch - Set sat me and Yui down to watch them when we were like, eleven."

"Oh, yes!" Ochako clapped her hands happily, smiling in relief, "Please, let's just watch something lighter."

---

"WHAT THE FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Wow," Itsuka chortled, enjoying the sight of Ochako grabbing her face with both hands and screaming at the top of her lungs at the screen while Izuku likewise paled in horror beside her, "I know I punched Set for showing us these - but I think I get it now. This is fun."

POW

"Ow!"

---

"... so now you pull up the corner and tuck in the edges," Ochako instructed Itsuka as they rolled the mochi balls, both of them concentrating in the kitchen as Ochako pulled her hair up into a bun so it wasn't in her face, "and you keep pulling and tugging until it's a thick small mound."

"Okay," Itsuka nodded, concentrating as she rolled up the small piece of dough, sticking her tongue out slightly while Izuku wrote in his hero notebook on the couch, off in his own little world as Gūdo napped with his head in his lap, "so like that ... that ... and like that?"

"Yep!"

---

"Izuku."

"Y-yeah?"

"You have any nines?"

"Mmmgh ..."

"Ha! You're too easy. Ochako, any sixes?"

"Go fuck yourself."

"Heh, heh, heh. Gūdo, any twos?"

"Woof!"

"Hm ... I'll take that as a 'go fish'."

---

With a low grumble, Teko pushed the door upstairs open, taking a moment to wipe his sweaty brow as he closed it behind him. All in all, it had been a long day, but he was satisfied that it had been a successful one - none of his students got on his nerves, they had remained professional, and other than one student breaking his nose after being kicked in the face, there weren't any injuries that required hospital visits. So Teko would be satisfied with retiring into his bedroom, taking a bath, and then going straight to sleep - he wasn't feeling all that hungry, and certainly felt more tired.

All in all, he did not get much rest last night, Teko frowned as he moved down the hall towards the kitchen - he had gotten back at a late hour, but fortunately for him, no one was waiting up for him, and everyone sounded asleep, so his return to the dojo and his quiet movements into his bedroom went unnoticed. He was a bit disappointed that no word had gotten back to him yet, but he was unsurprised - it may take a while for his contacts to find what he was looking for, so he would just have to continue his regular schedule and -

His dark thoughts were interrupted, however, as he moved into the kitchen, looking around, and stopping in his tracks at the sight of Tenohira poking her head into the living room, the doors having been slid nearly all the way shut. Furrowing his brow, he moved through the kitchen, walking up to his daughter and raising his eyebrow.

"Daughter?"

"Shh, Dad!" Tenohira shushed him, which only made Teko raise his eyebrow even more, and feel suspicious about the happy, gushing tone in his daughter's voice. Moving his head to the side, he got a look into the dark living room, seeing the sun setting through the window - and let out a sigh at the sight of his granddaughter sleeping on the couch, Izuku napping on the floor beside her while Ochako curled up against him.

The sight of the three of them asleep only made Teko roll his eyes, but at the very least, neither girl was clinging to Izuku - his granddaughter at the very least had her hands to herself, so he would count that as a small victory. Still …

"How many more times shall we find those three sleeping together?"

"Shush, Dad, it's cute," Tenohira giggled, withdrawing her head so that she could slowly slide the doors shut, and turned to her father with a pout, "I'm still really unhappy with you waking them up this morning - they looked so comfy, and you ruined it."

"You were busy taking pictures of them, daughter - they needed to get up anyway, it was close to noon."

"Still!"

Teko sighed, and moved past his daughter, patting her back and shaking his head, "I do not know why you are so insistent that my granddaughter must be in love with with the first boy she brought home, Tenohira, but please keep your dreams of a future son-in-law in check. You aren't considering Uraraka's own feelings."

"I am!" Tenohira shook her head, pouting again, "I'm not going to pressure Izuku and Itsuka into getting together, Dad - I'm just gonna watch and hope Izuku leans in her direction. No unnecessary pushing from me."

"And I assume he isn't staying the night again? Or should I be worried that we will find him and Itsuka in more compromising situations?"

"Oh, Dad, don't be ridiculous, that was just a bit of cuddling. And no, Hakushu is going to give him and Ochako a ride home once he's done work."

"Hm," Teko shook his own head, frowning, and moved back down the hall towards his room and sighing again as he raised his hand to rub his sweating forehead -

"Where did you go last night, Dad?"

With his hand on the door, Teko stopped in his tracks, blinking slightly at the change in his daughter's tone. The light and happy voice she had was gone, replaced by a far more neutral tone - but he could sense the change in Tenohira's voice.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw his daughter moving out of the kitchen towards him, her expression blank but her eyes knowing.

"I was listening for you last night," She pointed out, "and you didn't come home until late. Not until at least one in the morning. Where did you go?"

Teko paused, and then turned back to the door.

"My walk took longer than expected - I ended up getting lost in my thoughts. And I bathed downstairs in the changing room when I returned home - I did not want to wake up anyone on this floor with the sound of my bath running. I didn't want to get sick, not at this age."

As he began to pull his door open, however, Tenohira's hand landed on his wrist, stopping him. Teko turned back to his daughter, seeing her look concerned but still rather cold - it was an odd sight to see on his otherwise lovely daughter.

"Dad," She said in a serious tone, "you're … sure that's what happened?"

"..."

"..."

"... yes." He nodded, his own expression falling into a scowl, "You don't need to doubt me, daughter - I know what you are thinking."

"Do you?" Tenohira's own frown was cross enough to rival his own. "I made it clear when Hakushu and I moved back here, Dad -"

"Daughter, I am done with that life."

Tenohira paused, watching as her father turned back to her, and did nothing to push him away as he raised a hand to cup her cheek. "I did not lie to you, Tenohira - I will not be doing that kind of thing anymore. I am far too old and tired. Even if I could convince your brother …"

He stopped there, seeing the flash of pain on his daughter's face, and closed his eyes with another small sigh.

"... I'm sorry. There is no reason for you to worry, daughter - I took a long walk with my thoughts last night, and got carried away and walked into the city. Do not worry yourself."

"..."

"Now, I am going to take my bath. There is no need to make me any dinner, Tenohira, I am not hungry. I will be retiring early this evening - please wish Itsuka a goodnight for me."

There was a part of him that knew, as he turned around to walk into his room and slide the door shut on his daughter's clearly conflicted face, that she knew that he was lying.

He couldn't quite bring himself to care, however - this was for Itsuka's safety, so it would be better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Even if he was betraying everything he and his daughter had agreed to.

---

"Nine? Are you awake?"

With a small knock on the door, Slice pushed the door open, attempting to keep the tray she was holding level as she stepped inside. She frowned at the darkness of the room due to the closed blackout curtains drawn against the window, only letting a small sliver of sunlight in to show her where she was going. The room itself was nothing impressive, with a desk pressed up against one wall, a large TV on the side, and a small bed on the other wall facing it.

Laying on his back, Nine let out a small grumble, staring up at the ceiling while his long white hair hung loose behind him. Slice furrowed her brow at the sight of her leader - he had his shirt off, showing off the harsh red burns of the lightning strike he had been hit by yesterday. They had spread down his torso, red jagged lines lining his chest, stomach and arms - a permanent reminder of what that little bastard did.

But Nine's breathing was steady, and his eyes were open, so they would count that as a win.

"I brought you some food," Slice said in a quiet voice, setting down the tray near the bedside table and watching Nine's eyes flicker over to her, "our options were limited, but at least the convenience store employee doesn't know what we look like, so it's better than nothing."

"Alright," Nine's voice came out a bit raspy, and Slice gave him a gentle smile as she sat down on the edge of the bed. Gently taking the back of his head, Slice guided him into sitting up, Nine hissing slightly but offering no complaint as she settled him back against the pillow, seeing him grimacing slightly.

"Do you need help eating?"

"No," Nine shook his head, unable to stop a small smirk as she put the tray down on his lap, "I'm not that pathetic yet, Slice."

"It's not a matter of you being pathetic," Slice reminded him with a frown, putting her hand down gently on his leg, "you took a lightning bolt to the chest, and since we can't take you to the hospital you'll probably be bedridden for a while. Being hit by lightning isn't something one can just shrug off."

"Then we'll just have to find the regenerative quirk faster," Nine frowned, taking the spoon from the tray and dipping it into the soup, "we can't just wait around for our benefactor to be ready for us. Can you turn on the TV? I'd like to see what the news is making of us."

Slice nodded, scooping up the remote from the side table and turning on the TV in the corner. Flicking through the channels as Nine began to eat, she eventually settled on one major newsfeed, leaning back and using one of the pillows from the side to lay against her upper back as she sat against the wall on the bed, putting her legs over Nine's. They both watched the news absently, not really interested in the various reports of hero news and gossip (really, who gave a shit about Wash?) but then it changed to an image of UA High School, making them both sit up and Slice turning up the volume.

"In other news," The reporter with the one horn on his head said, making both Slice and Nine narrow their eyes at him - was that all his quirk was? Just a horn? - "the Hero Public Safety Commission has yet to make an official statement on the attack on UA High School yesterday, where one of their classes was attacked by a group of villains known as 'the Villain Consortium', according to police. The identities of the five villains referred to as the leaders of this villain group have yet to be revealed to the public. As our sources confirmed yesterday during a police conference with Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, over seventy-two villains were arrested yesterday after an attempted assault on the high school, and while no students were harmed, police will continue to search for the leadership of the Consortium. It's not known yet if HPSC's head president will address the attack, but -"

"The same bull they've been saying over and over again," Slice scoffed, shaking her head as she turned back down the volume, "just trying to downplay what happened. And outright lying about it too - we injured quite a few of those students ourselves, after all."

"It's the direction the Commission always goes," Nine shook his head in disgust, "downplay the obvious threats to be nobodies while siccing their little hitmen after us to kill us in secret. It means that they're afraid - and that they'll be looking for us. I wouldn't be surprised if they've already decided that they'll be sweeping our deaths under the rug."

"Mm."

"With that in mind, did you hear back from Chimera and Mummy yet?"

"I did," She nodded, pulling out her phone and raising it, "they're both in hiding now. Chimera is going to hold down on the Trigger barrels, and Mummy is moving around seeing what the word is about us."

"And what about this place?" Nine raised his gaze to look around the dark room, "Will it be secure enough for us to stay in?"

"It is," Slice nodded, smirking a bit as she absently pulled on her tank top, "I convinced the landlord to, ah … look the other way for us."

"I see. And Giran?"

"Still hasn't gotten back to us."

With a grumble, Nine carefully put the tray back down on the bedside table, slowly and stiffly, and sighed as he laid back against his pillow, suppressing a small cough. Slice scooted closer so that she could pat his arm, seeing the subtly glowing veins appearing under his skin and furrowing her brow as he raised a hand to rub his sweaty forehead.

"We underestimated those brats yesterday," She said in a patient, soothing voice, "it won't happen again. We've sent our message, and the heroes received it. We can begin focusing on taking down the more dangerous pro heroes -"

"No." Nine growled slightly, shaking his head. "No, Slice, we didn't. We were humiliated. All for One can go on and on about pyrrhic victories, but I was defeated by a brat who couldn't even die properly. Odds are that he managed to survive, if they managed to get him to safety … along with those other two brats. As much as I hate to admit it, Slice …"

She watched as he paused, clearly thinking to himself for a moment - and then he sighed, shaking his head as he looked around at her.

"... that boy," he said in a low voice, "as much as I try not to, I can't help but think about him. Him and his quirk."

"The green-haired brat?" Slice raised an eyebrow.

"There was something … about him yesterday," Nine shook his head again, "something that seemed to be holding him back. During his fight with Hood, he didn't attack at all - just dodging and weaving. Until those girls were in danger. Then he moved to kill, and if it had been anyone else other than Hood, that boy would've been walking away with blood on his hands. And then, when he hit me with lightning, I went down like a sack of potatoes."

"Meaning … what, exactly?"

"It means that whatever might have been holding him back," Nine couldn't help but smirk a bit, "has faded away. Now he can begin to experiment with his quirk, revealing its full potential. And UA does like to broadcast their students … we might be seeing what could be a powerful new hero - a new Endeavor, a new Hawks. Maybe even a new All Might."

"And …" Slice raised an eyebrow, "... in that case, why should we wait? We should kill him, then, if he'll be a threat."

"That quirk," Nine's expression turned almost hungry, "I want it. And I can't take the quirk if he's dead. So he can live for now - UA always has a little sports festival, don't they?"

"Yeah …?'

"And there will be no chance in hell that they'd cancel it after what we did - it would be seen as an act of weakness, they want to remind everyone that they're strong. So we'll be watching their little festival, and look for him - and once All for One reaches back out to us, to give me the chance to improve and receive more space for quirks - we'll find the regeneration quirk I need to save me - and then I'll be taking that lightning quirk for myself."

A small silence fell in the dark room then, with Nine turning his gaze, which had been studying the hole in his hand, towards Slice. There was a clear look of conflict on her face, opening her mouth briefly and then closing it - and then Nine chuckled, shaking his head.

"You have doubts," He guessed, "about going after the brat again?"

"I mean …" Slice hesitated, and then shook her head, "... I just don't see the risk, Nine. He's a fifteen-year old kid."

"Power is power," Nine shrugged, "no matter where it comes from."

Slice wrinkled her brow at that, as though to refute that, but before she could, Nine's hand rose, stroking the side of her face and making her falter as he absently played with her long, beautiful hair.

"Besides," He said softly, "it's not like we've ever been weak. You and I … we were strong, even when we were kids."

Slice shut her mouth at that, staring into Nine's gray eyes as he stroked her cheek.

"Both of us … we both know what it's like," He frowned, "to be looked down on, to give everything but receive nothing in return. When I found you, Slice … I was so angry about what they had done to you. To try and make you think that you were nothing, even when you fought as hard as you could to make them happy with what little they had. They betrayed you, and my only regret is that I wasn't the one to put them in their place - even if you deserved to be the one that made them suffer."

Slice, for her part, felt a small scowl return to her face.

"I gave you purpose," He reminded her softly, "and I showed you how ugly this world was with the monkeys ruling over the lions. And you agreed with me."

"I just … don't see the purpose of going after that kid again."

"He humiliated me," Nine narrowed his eyes, frowning, "just like they humiliated you. They humiliated us. And like you … I'll have my revenge. I have plans for him. And not just him, but the girls that dragged you around yesterday, those little brats that stopped us from killing All Might. All of them."

Slice faltered at that, staring at her leader as he continued to stroke her long, beautiful hair - and then she sighed, nodding. Gently, she took his wrist in her hands, bringing his hand down to her face, and she pressed a gentle kiss against his knuckles. Nine raised his eyebrows at the intimate action, but did nothing to stop her as she closed her eyes and exhaled - and then she nodded, opening them back up to look him in the face.

Slowly, she pushed him back, Nine moving with her as she laid him back, and then Slice moved overtop him. Nine watched as she took the remote and turned off the TV, standing back up so that she could walk over and close the door again to completely seal them inside. With another sigh, Slice took the helm of her tank top and lifted it over her head, Nine blinking a bit at the sight of his lieutenant's scarred, battle-worn torso appearing before she began sliding her jeans down her legs.

"Hm," Nine couldn't help but smirk, "you seem to be losing a few clothes there, Slice."

"Hush," She shook her head, quietly approaching the bed again. Gently, she took him by the shoulder and laid him back down against the bed, Nine grunting as he was pressed into the stiff mattress. Slowly, she activated her quirk, and her hair, unsharpened this time, began moving around his arms and legs, leaving a ticklish sensation.

Before he could say anything, however, Slice moved her leg overtop him, and quietly began straddling his legs, staring down at him with a look of adoration while Nine stared blankly up at her for a moment, before a smile appeared on his face and his hands rose to gently take her sides, Slice shivering as his hands rubbed up and down her hips.

"You know," He said absently, "this won't help you with Mummy and Chimera's suspicions that you're only here to cozy up to me."

"Let them think that," She smirked, laying down on top of him gently so as not to disturb his injuries, and gently brushing her nose against his cheek before kissing his cheek, "I've made it clear to you so many times, Nine - you saved me. The least I can do is give my king everything he deserves."

"Hm," Nine smirked, absently wrapping his arm around her waist as she continued to kiss the side of his face, trying not to chuckle too much at the ticklish sensation of her hair wrapping around him, and used his other hand to rub her thigh as she laid down on his side, her own hands beginning to feel him up.

"So you just lay back," She breathed into his ear, "and relax. I'll take care of you, Nine, and then once you're fully recovered, we'll get back to work. You'll take that little brat's quirk … we'll find your regeneration quirk … you'll become the strongest man in the world … and then, when we overthrow the old king, you'll become the new one. And everything will be yours."

"Yes," Nine nodded, stroking her hair as Slice gave his earlobe a light nibble, "it'll all be mine."