A/N: Hey all! Just popping in here to announce that 'My Hero' just hit 300,000 reads, and 1000 favourites, almost on 2000 followers too (As I'm writing this). That is completely bonkers to me! I'm so happy you're all enjoying this story so much, It genuinely warms my heart, and I love you all dearly for that. Anyway, Chapter 45! Enjoy (God... 45... Already...)
It's now Christmas Day when finishing this chapter off. Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you had a cracking day!
P.S: Also, with new side-plots (What I'm calling the Toga Hero Arc in my lore), I'm changing the theme song of the story! The new theme is now 'Stand By Me - Peggies'. Treat this as something of an anime OP, if you will. Now, do enjoy Chapter 45!
Looking up to Mina's house, Izuku felt a kind of fear, or maybe it was anxiety, that he'd never felt before. It felt like a looming beast over the home of his girlfriend. It was a nice home on the outside, and he imagined it looked just as pleasant on the inside, especially compared to the apartment block he and his mother lived in. However, it didn't matter how nice the house looked, his lead legs wouldn't let him move any closer.
"What're you doing Midori? You just gonna stand there?" Mina asked, looking over her shoulder at him, her key hovering a few centimetres from the keyhole. The greenette swallowed saliva and took a deep breath, before forcing himself down the drive and over to his pink-skinned partner.
"Hey, you're gonna be fine, you got nothing to worry about, my families awesome." Mina smiled, resting her hand on his shoulder and gently caressing it, a sweet smile on her face. His heart fluttered when his eyes met hers, and already he felt more at ease, but the guttural feeling of fear wasn't getting any weaker.
"Come on." She grinned, pushing the key into the door and turning it. The lock clicked and she pulled down on the handle with her thumb, pushing it open and walking herself and Izuku inside. The greenette's stomach wouldn't stop churning no matter how badly he wanted it to.
The house smelled like a mixture of clean washing, and motor oil, which was a very awkward combination. He watched his girlfriend as she kicked off her shoes and left them carelessly in a pile with a few others of various sizes. He followed her lead, taking off his shoes, but putting them together neatly beside the pile, before following Mina cautiously towards the living room.
He could hear voices from inside, who he assumed to be Mina's mother and father.
"Hey, mum. Hi dad." She smiled, pushing through the door with a spring in her step. Izuku stopped, watching her round the corner and disappear, leaving him standing in the hallway like a lemon. He stared at the door, frozen with fear. Couldn't he just go to her room and hide in the closet or something?
"Hello, honey! Is he here?" Her mother said in a happy tone. He could see her getting up from the reflection large window of the living room door, and he tried his best to relax, but to little success.
"Here he is!" Mina beamed, almost skipping out of the room and throwing her arms around Izuku as her mother came into view. She was a rather tall woman, and she didn't look anything like what Izuku expected.
"Hello, Izuku Midoriya." She smiled, folding her arms and looking him up and down as her daughter clung to him. He swallowed nervously and stared her in the eyes, unable to look away.
"I'm Fumika Ashido. It's nice to meet you after all this time." She smiled wider, stepping aside a little as Mina's hulking father now stood beside Fumika in the doorway. Izuku felt his stomach drop even further into the abyss of his body now as her father stepped forward, looking down at him.
"So you're the lad, my daughters, been going on about after all these months huh?" He asked, looking down his nose at the greenette, almost like he was mentally picking him apart. He looked slightly surprised; clearly, Izuku wasn't the kind of boy he'd expected Mina to be dating, but he didn't look unpleasantly surprised.
"I hope you live up to the expectations Mina's given us." He chuckled suddenly, holding out his large hand to shake Izuku's. Izuku accepted as firmly as he could and shook, bowing respectfully at the same time.
"Names Arata Ashido. Somewhere 'round here's her rascal Brother, Yuuta, but you'll meet him eventually." Arata smiled warmly, stepping back to his wife's side.
"Come on, come sit down, get comfortable! Ya look like you've just been pulled out of a freezer." He smirked, before turning on his heel and walking back into the living room with Fumika. Izuku felt stiff as a board, and not even Mina's touch was calming him like it normally did. This was a different kind of terrifying experience.
"What's the matter? You're so tense." She cooed, putting her arm around the One For All Quirk user, rubbing his chest affectionately.
"They're more intimidating than I thought..." He muttered, looking out to her with wide eyes. She giggled.
"My parents? Intimidating?" She smiled and shook her head, letting him go and walking into the living room.
"You've got the wrong family babes."
Izuku stared after her... He had to go in, and he had to have confidence. Being scared stiff and silent wasn't going to give her parents a good first impression of him. So, he took a breath as deep as he could, let it out with a sigh, and buried his nerves as deep as he could.
Pull yourself together! He yelled at himself, following Mina and her parents into the living room.
It was quite warm in here, and it smelled strongly of cinnamon, probably because of the candles burning away on the mantlepiece. They all looked over to him as he came in, but they didn't say anything, smiling simply as he sat beside his Acid Quirk using partner.
"So, Midoriya..." Arata started, sitting forwards in his armchair and turning the TV down as he did. "Let's hear a bit about ya... What's your Quirk?" The large, horned man asked, pausing as he thought of something to ask the greenette.
Mina turned to Izuku with a slightly startled expression at first but quickly gave him a reassuring smile.
"It's a Power-Up Type, but it's still a bit too strong for me to handle at full power." The greenette responded simply.
"Oooh, a Power-Up Type eh? I'd hoped to have a quirk like that too, but we can't have it all." Arata smiled, poking at the horns sticking from his head. They were very similar to Mina's in shape, but they were slightly longer and looked much tougher.
"How did you and Mina meet, Midoriya?" Fumika asked sweetly, cocking her head as Mina sat right against Izuku, resting her head on his shoulder.
"She never mentioned that?" Izuku asked, turning to Mina with a confused frown. Of all the times she'd said she'd told them about him, he'd expected them to know at least that. Fumika shook her head.
"I left my bag in class. I got called out by our Math Teacher to get a homework assignment I hadn't collected the day before. I came back into class and Izuku had it; said he was looking for me." Mina explained briefly.
"Really? So you being a clutz actually paid off for once?" Fumika asked joking to her daughter. Mina looked at Fumika with an unimpressed expression, before smiling, shaking her head, and resting back on Izuku's shoulder.
"I can't believe it's been almost four months, and this is the first time we're meeting you... You must be very busy with school work." Fumika said, more to herself than anyone else.
"That reminds me Mina, have you broken up for Holidays at all since you started?" She asked. Her face looked serious and somewhat annoyed.
"Technically yeah, but we've been training and stuff through most of it. We've got this weekend as a real break with no work, which is why I've brought Izuku over." Mina explained, smiling and grabbing Izuku's arm again.
"Really? That don't seem very fair..." Arata spoke up now, a disapproving look on his face.
"It's fine, and it's good for us! We need harsh training otherwise we won't get any stronger." The pink-skinned girl said with a reassuring smile, looking to Izuku for back-up.
It was clear that Fumika half agreed, half didn't, but she didn't bother saying anything else about it. He was starting to feel a little more comfortable in the house with them all, and Mina was right, her parents weren't as intimidating as he first thought, but the anxiety he'd been feeling ever since the house came into view hadn't died off.
"Was there anything either of you wanted to do? Your mother and I got the day off since we knew it might be important for ya. Maybe we could take you out to dinner somewhere, Midoriya." Arata offered. Izuku looked to Mina first before saying anything.
"Don't look at me." She grinned. Izuku looked down at the floor, thinking.
"If you really don't mind, then yes, please." He smiled. They were the ones who had offered. If they didn't want to take him anywhere, they never would have.
"Would we have offered if we did?" Fumika asked with a smile, before Izuku's arm was pulled at by Mina.
"Oh, I ain't even showed you my room yet!" She exclaimed, jumping up from the sofa and pulling him up after her.
"Good luck finding your way around that bomb site." Arata muttered with a laugh. Mina frowned at him as she pulled Izuku to the door and gently pushed him out, following after him.
"So, whaddya think! They're not that scary right?" The pink-skinned girl smiled, grabbing Izuku's hand and taking the lead up the stairs.
"No, I guess not..." Izuku said with a shrug. "I just want to make sure they like me." He added, looking down at the floor as Mina led him to the top of the stairs and down the hall to the door of her room.
"Midori, honey." She cut him off quickly, turning to him and taking both his hands.
"They do like you. If they didn't, then..." She smiled at him, before her face faltered. "Well... I don't know what I'll do..." Izuku chuckled at her.
"But I don't have to, 'cause they like you! You've got nothing to worry about." She beamed, leaning in a pecking his cheek before turning and pushing open the door to her room.
Izuku smiled after his girlfriend and followed her into the room. It smelled strongly of incent sticks in here, and it was very hot. Mina let out a sigh as she headed over to the window and pushed it open, taking a deep breath of the fresh air.
It was actually cleaner in here than Izuku expected it to be, but that was probably because all her belonging were back at U.A. Even after that, it was still quite cosy. Spare bed covers were neatly laid out on the bed, and the belongings of hers that remained were neatly scattered amongst the shelves and along her bedside table.
Clearly, this was her parents' attempt at making it feel like she was still home, even tho she wasn't. Izuku at first wondered if his mother had done anything like that for him, but she didn't have a reason to, since he had to leave quite a bit of his All Might merchandise behind.
"So. Whatcha wanna do?" She asked with an excited smile.
"What?" Shigaraki grumbled, staring at the remaining members of the League of Villains sitting before him.
"Toga, she's gone." Mr cCompress stated again, leaning in the doorway rolling two of his compressive balls around in his palm.
"What do you mean she's gone?" The white-haired villain asked, getting up from his usual bar-stool. He was like a looming shadow, staring down at all of them from the opposite end of the old establishment.
"I mean what I said." Mr Compress said sternly. Shigaraki growled to himself, turning to Kurogiri with a sigh.
"When did we last see her." He grumbled.
"Yesterday evening. She went for a walk around the city. That was the last time I saw her." The Warp-Gate Quirk user responded, his tone and mannerisms unchanging. Shigaraki went to speak but quickly stopped himself, clenching a fist and scratching his nails across the countertop.
"Do we have no way of tracking her?" He asked, his voice intimidatingly calm.
"No..." Kurogiri responded simply.
"Does it really matter that much?" The black-haired villain snarled.
"Yes. If she's been captured by heroes, or the Police, that puts this whole plan at stake!" Shikaraki screamed, pointing an enraged finger at Dabi, who didn't even flinch.
"That's her own fault. She should be more responsible, and you should be keeping her more in check." Dabi muttered, rolling his eyes. Shigaraki sighed heavily to himself and turned to Kurogiri, but he didn't say anything.
"What should we do?" The Warp-Gate Quirk user asked after a few moments of silence. Shigaraki stood for a moment, thinking.
"We find her." He responded simply, turning and walking towards the back room- where his living quarters were.
"Mmhm, really genius, fearless leader. How do you suppose we do that?" Dabi commented as Shigaraki pulled open the door. He stopped, looking over his shoulder with a smirk.
"It won't be just us for long..."
And with that, Shigaraki disappeared into his room, slamming the door behind him. Dabi, Kurogiri, Mr Compress, and the other members of the League all stood in silence, exchanging awkward and quiet glances.
"He really thinks All For One is going to help us find someone who means so little? What a waste." Dabi scoffed, turning and walking out.
"Ain't there something you can do about it?" Spinner asked, looking at Kurogiri with a raised eyebrow, leaning back in the sofa he was sitting in.
"No, there is not. If I knew her location, I could make a Warp-Gate to her, but I do not." He replied with a shrug.
"I don't get it. Why join this League, go on one job, then vanish? What sense does that make?" Spinner frowned, raising his hands in an annoying way.
"Toga is a mysterious girl. We will never really know what was going through her head." Mr Compress stated.
"I thought she would have at least said something to me..." Magne muttered although he didn't look too concerned.
"But getting All For One? Really?" Spinner turned the subject back to what Shigaraki had said, getting more agitated.
"He never said that was who would be helping us. For all we know, he might've organised some other recruits with more adverse Quirks for things like tracking. It's not so much that he wants Toga back, it's that she knows incredibly important inside information, and she is not entirely trustworthy." Mr Compress explained, removing his top hat and sitting beside Spinner with a sigh.
"Well, he's the boss. Ain't our job to sort this out." Spinner muttered. "Why don't he get Giran's dog-ass on the case. He brought Toga here, he can do it again." The Lizard-Man added smirking over at Kurogiri, whose cloudy expression remained sullen.
No one said anything else in response. There was nothing more to be said about the matter. All of them questioned why Toga had left, and where she'd gone, but there wasn't anything they could do about it now, so there was no point wasting time talking or thinking about it. There were more constructive things to be doing.
"So... About All For One, Kurogiri..." Magne spoke up again. "What exactly is our plan when he returns? Considering it seems to be such a grand event, we know very little about it."
"I do not know," Kurogiri stated simply. "It has been a very private matter between Shigaraki Tomura, and his master. Even I have not had much information disclosed to me." He added. Mr Compress rubbed his chin behind his mask, thinking.
"I do hope he knows what he is doing. If he plans to have us assist in All For One's return, then he shouldn't be keeping us in the dark like this." He said. Again the group of four villains fell into silence, the empty hum of the broken down ceiling fan filling the ambience.
Izuku sat silently in the back of the Ashido's car, Mina staring out of the window while he sat between her, and her little brother Yuuta, who he'd only met a few minutes before. No one had really spoken in the car, mostly because none of them were really sure what to say. Instead, they listened to some pop music Fumika had put through the Bluetooth stereo.
At first, both Arata and Fumika were asking about school, and other things that you'd expect parents to ask about, but that subject had quite quickly grown stale since all young couple had to talk about were exams and training. Arata had briefly brought up the incident at the Forest Training Camp, asking what had happened to Izuku, and how he was feeling now, but again, that was a subject that wasn't dwelled on for too long, considering it was still fairly recent.
The five had decided to go to a restaurant that Mina's parents had gone to when they were dating. It was an Italian style restaurant, which in Japan, was not too uncommon. However, Izuku wasn't a boy who'd gotten out much, with his mother often working through his childhood.
All Izuku knew for Italian foods, were pizzas and pastas, which might've been very stereotypical, but again, he didn't get out much as a child. However, he was very excited about the new experience. Eating something new wasn't something he had the chance to do very often. At least, not something as new as this.
Mina had been beaming the entire journey, and her smile only seemed to be growing as they pulled into a car park just up the street from the place they were planning to go. It was a family-run establishment, owned by an Italian gentleman who'd married a Japanese woman, and had moved back here to open a restaurant.
The greenette knew Italian food was quite popular in Japan, because he'd seen quite a few places that sold that sort of food dotted through the City, but he had never been in one before.
"Right... let's get in there, I'm starvin'." Arata smiled, pushing open the car door and grunting as he pulled himself up out of the seat, grabbing his pillow as he did before closing the door behind him.
"Ready?" Fumika asked, smiling over her shoulder at her children, and Izuku. Mina quickly turned to her mother and nodded enthusiastically.
"Come on Midori, hurry!" She beamed, unbuckling her seatbelt and almost leaping out of the car, following after her father as they started off head.
"It worries me sometimes, how much like him she is..." Fumika commented over at Izuku as they left the car, trailing Yuuta who was walking a little ways ahead of them.
"Really? How so?" The greenette asked.
"Well, I myself am not as excitable about this sort of thing as Arata, so she's clearly taken after him for that. I think she gets her fashion sense from me though, don't you?" She asked with a giggle, smiling over at the teen. Izuku turned from Fumika, to his girlfriend and her father. Mina was dressed in pale blue skinny jeans and a beige turtle neck sweater, whilst her father was wearing a dark green T-shirt and winter camo cargo shorts, which weren't very appropriate for the weather.
"I suppose so..." Izuku responded cautiously, unsure of what the right thing to say would be.
"How are you feeling though dear. You've been very quiet, and I just want to make sure you're alright." She said a little more seriously, smiling down over at him sweetly.
"I'm fine, just nervous... It's very scary, meeting you both for the first time..." He chuckled, his cheeks heating up a little as he did.
"It's alright, we were nervous too. Only hearing about you after months, then finally having the chance to meet you. It's more nerve-wracking than you might think. Knowing your daughter is going to introduce you to her boyfriend is always scary, because there is no guaranteeing he will be good for her. However, so far, you seem like a very nice boy, and I've heard good things about you." She smiled.
Izuku felt his cheeks growing in temperature, and a smile spread across his face.
"T-Thank you, Mrs Ashido..." He muttered, unsure of what else to say.
"Thank you for taking care of Mina. She thinks an awful lot of you." She responded, not looking at him, but at her daughter, skipping alongside her father who had a jolly spring in his step.
"I-It's really nothing, you don't need to thank me..." He muttered, his old flustered self quickly rearing its head again. Fumika chuckled and shook her head as they caught up to Mina, Arata and Yuuta, who were all waiting at the desk with a pleasantly dressed, middle-aged woman, who was holding five very elegant looking menus.
Mina quickly grabbed Izuku's hand once he was close enough, sticking herself to his side as they followed the waitress across the building towards a booth at the backside of the building.
It was beautiful inside. The entire building looked like traditional Italian architecture. Everything was laid out very neatly inside, with large arched windows at the front of the building, and beautiful glass lamps lining the roof. There were tall fern looking plants in every corner of the restaurant, and the booths, which is where they were sitting, were almost completely surrounded by dark wood, and blurred glass windows, with old chandeliers hanging above the rounded table.
Arata set his pillow down in the middle of the booth before Fumika and Yuuta filed into the left side of the booth, and Izuku and Mina filed into the right. It smelled incredible. Garlic bread and fragrant spices filled the greenette's nose, and the hubbub of happy diners created a cosy atmosphere.
"I'll leave you with these menus and I'll be back over in a few minutes." The woman smiled, before turning and walking away, probably to serve a different table. Mina took a menu from the pile of five in the middle of the table and opened it. Instead of looking through its contents, however, she kept staring over at Izuku from over the top of the laminated menu.
She couldn't take her eyes from her boyfriend. There was something about him today that looked different- more attractive than normal, and she couldn't for the life of her tell what. Perhaps it was seeing him outside of school, in a more casual environment after all this time. She'd gotten so used to seeing him in an academic environment, that she'd forgotten just how good it was seeing him somewhere more comfortable. Like with her family.
Almost four months already... Where did the time go... She muttered to herself, reaching over to him under the table and resting her hand on his knee, tracing the material of his jeans with her thumb. He flinched a little, clearly startled by the sudden contact, but when his forest green eyes met her own, he smiled.
Every time she saw his smile, she felt herself falling deeper and deeper in love with him, but very quickly she looked back at the menu, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Her smile only grew when Izuku's hand rested on her own. It felt like their first date all over again. Any contact or compliments exchanged made her heart skip a beat, and her vision felt tunnelled around her greenette partner.
"God... I dunno what I wanna get..." Arata thought out loud.
"One thing. Last time you got two massive pizzas to yourself, and that didn't go well for you, did it?" Fumika asked rhetorically, firing a glance at Izuku with a smirk. Izuku chuckled in response, before looking down at his own menu. He hadn't had pizza for a long time, and he wasn't the biggest fan of pasta, so pizza was what he was going to get.
"Hey, Midoriya, what is your Quirk?" Yuuta asked. He had a similar tone and interesting expression as his father did when he'd ask, and the similarity made Izuku smile.
"It's a Power-Up Type." The greenette responded. Yuuta's face lit up at this response.
"Really! That's awesome!" He beamed, before his face fell to a curious frown.
"Wait... I think I remember seeing you fight at the sports festival... You were the one against the white and red-haired dude right?" He asked. Izuku nodded.
"Yep, Shoto Todoroki. He's a good friend of mine." The greenette smiled, closing his menu and putting it back in the middle of the table.
"Damn... That was easily my favourite fight out of all of them, I'm sad they never let you finish it." Yuuta complained, resting his head in his hand with a disappointed expression.
"Well, Midori has much better control of his power now, so they might next time." Mina perked up with a teasing smirk.
"Todoroki is stronger too, Mina. We might end up at a similar spot to the first time." Izuku replied, now looking at Mina.
"Rematch, rematch, rematch!" Yuuta chanted, half-jokingly. Izuku chuckled, but what Yuuta had said did get him thinking.
He would like to rematch Todoroki at some point, because Izuku believed he'd end up being stronger than his father, and if that was the case, then the battle between the two of them for the number one spot in the future, would be an incredible one.
"Oi, it's dinner time, not fighting time. What do you want?" Arata perked up, flicking Yuuta's menu. The unsuspecting boy dropped the menu with a shocked look on his face, before turning to his laughing father.
"Calzone." Yuuta responded.
"Which...
"This one." The dark-haired boy picked his menu back up and leaned over his mother to show his father what he wanted. Arata nodded, before turning to Izuku and Mina.
"What about you two?" He asked.
"Oh, Bolognese!" Mina exclaimed quickly, almost throwing her menu to the middle of the table. Arata nodded and now turned to Izuku.
"Umm... P-... Uhh... Four cheese pizza... Please." Izuku faltered on his words, his stomach twisting with anxiety. He hated asking other people for things, it always felt wrong for him.
"I-I can pay for mine." He added quickly.
"Psht! I know you can, but you won't be." Arata responded with fake severity in his voice, smiling as Fumika called over the waitress from before as she passed them.
Toga stared absently out the window at the afternoon sun. She'd forgotten how nice it was, sitting in such a comfortable space, with the warmth of the sun on her face. The distant hubbub of the teachers in the main living area of the dorm filled the silence as she sat, eyes closed, enjoying the breeze through the window, and the comfort of a soft bed.
She was grateful to herself for taking the chance to run from the League and talk to Izuku, and she was grateful to Izuku for trusting her. It'd only been a few days, but she was already loving it here. The teachers were all treating her much kinder than she'd expected them too, with Aizawa being the only one who was dislikable. He was dismissive, and careless, from what she'd seen, and it bothered her.
However, Nezu, Cementos and surprisingly, All Might, were the ones who were the nicest to her. All Might was always checking in on her, Nezu was making sure her needs were being met, and Midnight... Well, Midnight was just a woman who she could talk to about private matters.
There was only one more thing she really wanted, and that was a chance to prove to them that what she'd said on the day she was taken in, was the truth. The only chance she'd have to prove that, was when the League finally made their move. From the way Shigaraki spoke about it, there was no way he was going back on his plan to bring All For One to the city. She'd just hoped that the heroes here would have enough time to do something to prepare.
Overall, she was feeling the happiest she'd felt in a very long time, but the thoughts of the League still held her joy back. She wanted Izuku back already. He'd been gone for only three-ish hours, but it felt like days since he'd left.
It was strange, how she was feeling, and it was hard to describe. When Izuku first left, it was like she could feel him getting further away; like something that was filled inside her, was emptying the further away he got.
She couldn't help but wonder what he might've been doing right now. Was he thinking about her? Did he miss her like she missed him? She wanted to know what he was really thinking so badly. She could stare into his eyes for hours, but even if she did, she would never be able to figure out what was going through his mind.
Then, a little knock at her door startled her from her thoughts, a smile spreading across her face at the thought of finally having company. She bounced up from the bed and skipped over to the door, pulling it open and being met by All Might, standing there with a big smile on his chiselled face.
"Hello, young Toga! I just wanted to come and check on you as you hadn't come out of your room." He stated, smiling down at the blonde-haired girl. She beamed up at the number one pro.
"I'm okay! Just thinking about Izuku." She responded honestly, lightly bouncing on her toes as she looked up at him.
"Oh, young Midoriya is on your mind? What's got you worried?" He asked with a ponderous frown.
"Nothing, I'm not worried about him! I'm just thinking about him- wondering what he's up to." She responded truthfully.
"Ah, I see... Is that something you do often?" All Might asked, a mix of concern and curiosity in his voice.
"Mmhm." Toga hummed, almost skipping back over to the bed, sitting down heavily.
"I'm always thinking about Izuku." She said, her voice full of fondness as she smiled over to All Might. "I wanna be just like him." She added quietly, looking down at the floor with an unsettlingly large smile on her face.
"Well, you will! Young Midoriya is never one to turn down helping his friends." All Might smiled in response, trying not to let the fact he was unnerved, show. Toga giggled to herself but didn't say anything else.
"Lunch-Rush has made lunch for us too if you would like to come down and eat." He said, changing the subject and stepping out of the door, pointing down the balcony into the living area below with his thumb.
"Oh, alright." She said, pleasantly surprised. She was happy that she didn't have to ask to eat like she did back at the League of Villains. Shigaraki was neglective of her, and in her mind, she was the only one he treated this way. She had no idea why, and he never gave her a reason, but she was glad that this treatment was something she had to suffer with anymore.