Hello everyone! Welcome back to another chapter. I hope you enjoy!
Izuku stared long and hard at the blank piece of paper that lay before him. His right hand was delicately holding a pencil while his left held his phone. On it was a picture of Gang Orca fighting off a group of villains.
Setting everything down, Izuku leaned back into his chair to stare up at the ceiling. The desire to draw was there, but what was on his screen was simply not it. Normally Izuku would have eagerly drawn heroes in action but something about that felt wrong today.
"You know, if you want to draw, you actually have to put the pencil on the paper," a cheeky voice said behind Izuku.
With a lazy turn of his head, Izuku saw Himiko lounging on his bed. She was wearing an oversized shirt that said pants and a pair of what looked to be his shorts. Her attention was on her phone, probably reading some manga Izuku figured.
"Oh and here I thought drawing was about daydreaming about what you want to draw," Izuku sassed. The confident smirk he emulated from Kyoka slipped away as he put down what he was holding.
"What were you planning to draw? Heroes fighting villains?" Himiko asked, setting down her phone. "Why not switch it up, draw heroes with civilians? Show off the side of heroism that is lost in the media today. You could start by drawing us together. After all, you're my hero."
Izuku froze, already forming the picture in his head. The answer seemed so obvious, yet so foreign. It was incredibly rare for Izuku to see fanart of heroes during their softer moments. He almost always saw them in action, whether fighting villains or saving someone.
Picking up his pencil again, Izuku wasted no time getting to work. Izuku could only hear the scratchy sound of pencil against paper. He did not notice Himiko occasionally popping over his shoulder to look.
It was not until Himiko placed a cup of water and a plate of apple slices next to him that he realized how tired he was. Izuku quickly downed the cup and stuffed a few apples in his mouth.
"Welcome back to earth," Himiko teased, "I see you were very productive."
"Ah," Izuku looked over the many sketches he did, "I don't know what came over me."
"You were really hyper focused, like, I called your name a few times and you didn't answer," Himiko said. She rested her head on top of Izuku's. "I think you really outdid yourself with some of the sketches."
Picking one up, Izuku saw that it was a sketch of Gang Orca with a bunch of kids hanging off and climbing him. The wide smiles and laughing faces brought a warm feeling to Izuku.
"Oh, that is a lovely sketch," a voice said from the door. Looking over, the two saw Nemuri standing there appraising Izuku's drawing. "May I?"
Izuku gave her a nod, allowing her to pick up and shift through his different sketches. Nemuri showed Himiko a sketch of the two of them together where Himiko was sleeping with her head resting on Nemuri's lap.
"Oh my god, that is so cute," Himiko said swooning, "Izuku, please please color this."
"I think all of these would look amazing colored. Each and every one of them is amazing," Nemuri said still examining each one.
"Thank you," Izuku said softly while blushing.
Himiko and Nemuri shared a nod before Himiko wrapped Izuku in a hug. Nemuri pulled the two close as she held them tightly.
When Nemuri released the two, she tousled their hair a bit.
"Inko wanted me to let you know that dinner will be ready in a bit. Also, I'm going to bring in the best art supplies I can tomorrow for you, Izuku."
"You don't have to do that," Izuku said as Nemuri opened the door to leave.
"I know, I just want to." Nemuri gave Izuku a wink before leaving.
"Sooo, do you think you're going to share these sketches? Cause I think you should, especially this one." Himiko held up the drawing of Rumi reading a book as a few kids dozed in her lap. "The baddest ass-kicking hero being the gentlest mom is just the cutest gap moe."
"It's big sister, not mom," a new voice said from the doorway. Rumi was leaning on the door frame with her arms crossed.
"Uh huh, Usagi-kaa-chan~" Himiko said in a sing-song voice.
Rumi quickly put her in a headlock, "I told you not to call me that you neko-wannabe."
"I ain't the Chun-li wannabe hero," Himiko shot back, causing Rumi to growl and ruffle her hair.
Izuku simply shook his head as the two fell back onto his bed and began to grapple with each other. Rolling his eyes, Izuku tried to return to his art but found himself dragged away into forced to join the wrestling. It ended up with Rumi and Himiko sitting on Izuku's back.
"Children, dinner is ready, " Inko called out, causing Rumi and Himiko to hop off. They saw Inko watching them through the open door with a fond smile as she left back to the kitchen.
As Izuku stretched to pop his back, Himiko jabbed his side before darting off. The boy folded into a ball cursing up a storm while Rumi laughed.
"I'll get her back for that," Izuku said standing up.
"I'm looking forward to seeing you try," Rumi said as she barked out a laugh and walked away.
Izuku could only sigh, he paused for a moment, when had this become normal to him? With a shrug Izuku went for dinner, at least now it was always lively.
000
With his school uniform tossed messily on his bed, Izuku was intensely focused on his drawings. With smooth steady hands, Izuku did the line art over his sketches. True to her word, Nemuri brought over a lot of different art supplies. From colored pens and pencils to acrylic paints and oil pastels.
Izuku fully intended to use every one of them at least once. Though he was going to stick with colored pencils for the first piece at least. A knock on the door startled Izuku out of his focused trance.
"Yanagi!" Izuku said, jumping out of his seat and stumbling a little. A purple glow surrounded him and helped him stand straight. "Thank you Yanagi, sorry about making you use your quirk." Izuku bowed while rubbing his head.
"Do not fret over such a minor use, I am glad you've seemed to have regained your light after your moment of darkness," Yanagi said with a soft smile. Izuku noticed that she seemed to be forcing her mouth to stay closed as if she was hiding her teeths.
"Having supportive friends like you and everyone else helps me keep fighting on," Izuku said with a beaming smile. He moved to sit back down while patting the chair next to him. "Take a seat, take a seat."
"Your desk is unusually wide," Yanagi said as she set her bag down onto the desk. There was plenty of space for it to lay flat next to Izuku's drawing.
"I used to have a smaller one. When Himiko started coming over, we often studied together in here. She grabbed a chair from the dining table and we would squeeze together to use the desk. Mom and Nemuri-san surprised us with a larger desk and extra chair one day. Himiko actually pouted when she saw it, she really enjoyed squeezing together. The bigger desk doesn't even stop her from doing so, but at least we have more space to work," Izuku said with a small chuckle.
"Well now you can benefit from it whenever you have other guests over," Yanagi said as she used her quirk to pull out a mat and packets of clay from her backpack.
Izuku's eyes sparkled upon seeing them.
"Is the clay practice helping you? Is your fine control improving? What have you been able to make so far?" Izuku asked pulling out a notebook.
Yanagi chuckled as her phone flew up and a stylus came up too. As Yanagi showed off her self-described misshapen creations, she was also using her quirk to begin preparing the clay she brought. Once Izuku was done praising all of Yanagi's art, he ran off to get a small bowl of water for the clay. They continued their art mostly in silence, once in a while taking a break to share artwork they found online or discuss progress on their pieces.
A knock on the door, pulled the two out of their tunnel vision.
"Come in?" Izuku called out. A wide smile appeared when he saw Momo poke her head in.
"Momo-chan! What are you doing here? I thought you would join the others at Kyoka-chan's house. She said she was going to hold a karaoke or something."
Momo had a shy smile as she smoothed the cover before sitting on Izuku's bed.
"While I'm sure it sounds like a lot of fun, I did not feel up for it. When I found out you and Reiko-chan were not going and instead meeting here, I had hoped it'd be okay for me to join the both of you." Momo looked away as her face was redden.
"Momo-chan," Yanagi said, "you are always welcome to join us. Both Midoriya and I understand the need to relish in the silence of the void." Izuku nodded his head rapidly in agreement.
"You're more than welcome to grab a chair from the kitchen and squish in with us. Or you can just lounge on my bed," Izuku said. Momo quirked an eyebrow, as did Yanagi. Seeing their looks, Izuku explained. "Himiko, and Rumi too thinking about it, have no sense of personal space. Himiko loves to sneak in and curl up in my bed before jumping out and surprising me. There were more than a few times I caught her sleeping in it."
The girls giggled at Izuku's embarrassed face as he tried to hide his blush.
Momo let herself plop onto the bed and tuned out the world for a bit. Thoughts raced through her head but Momo did not interact with them, simply letting them pass by as she enjoyed the quiet of the room. When she rolled over and sat up, Momo saw that Izuku and Yanagi were still hard at work with their art. Yanagi had a deep look of concentration as she carefully put together the eldritch horror sculpture she was working on. Izuku's head was bent low over the desk. Momo watched in silent fascination, as his hand moved precisely without hesitation.
The care these two were putting into their art, the skill that could have only been perfected with countless hours of practice was clear. Taking a deep breath, Momo closed her eyes. After a few silent moments Momo's skin sparkled as a Russian nesting doll popped out. Instead of the standard dolls she normally made, this one was different. Izuku was displayed proudly on it, posed and dressed in different ways around the doll.
One was of him waltzing with open air, dressed as he had for the ball. The second was from him training, wearing a determined grin as he punched open air. The last was simply Izuku dressed in the joke t-shirts. Beaming to the world with that ever friendly and welcoming smile.
"The shadows can not muddle your clear vision," Reiko said, causing Momo to start out of her examination of the doll.
"Oh wow, do I really look like that?" Izuku asked. He took a seat next to Momo and examined the doll in her hands. Momo held it up to him, tentatively Izuku took the doll from her. He was muttering to himself as he pointed out all the little details that Momo put into his images.
"Why favor a Russian nesting doll? Reiko asked.
"Oh, it was one of the first things I learned to create," Momo said blushing lightly. "My father had a really pretty one that he got from his trip overseas. When I saw it, my five year old brain wanted to play with it so badly but he wouldn't let me. When I was pouting and thinking that I'd make my own and what I needed to do so, my skin started to sparkle. Then pop out came one, then another and another, until I exhausted myself and had a small pile of them."
"Your quirk came in at five?" Izuku asked, slightly surprised.
"My blood tests were positive that I had a quirk, so my family was not worried. It was clear I was just missing an important component which turned out to be a more developed brain."
"Do you make a lot of these dolls at home? To have them stand as guardians, linked to the shadows of your friends would make them quite powerful." Reiko said as she took the doll from Izuku to examine it herself.
"No…" Momo curled in on herself, "I never had friends as close to me as everyone now. Honestly, I never thought of just making something like this. It felt like cheating with my quirk."
"Banish the lies the void feeds you from your head," Reiko said standing up. "To use your quirk to make art is not cheating. You have a gift that so many would let their hearts be corrupted by and abuse to feed into their greed. But here you sit, pure from the darkness, worried about others. Forget the notions of cheating or not, and simply enjoy the beauty that you are able to create."
"Yanagi-chan is right," Izuku said with a smile, "It still takes a lot of skill to see a vision of something so clearly and to create it as you did. The fact it is perfect, speaks a lot of your skill using your quirk."
"Art is about creating and perfecting. Taking the time to create something meaningful to you, or to perfect a skill till it becomes an artform," Reiko said before taking a seat on Momo's left. "This doll is a piece of art. One you created and perfected creating. If you wish to use your quirk to make art like this and others, you should not hold yourself back."
Izuku and Reiko watched as Momo's eyes watered. They both tried to back off but the heiress quickly grabbed the two and pulled them into a hug. As Momo tried to stifle her tears, Reiko and Izuku gently patted her back as they hugged her back.
When Momo had finally calmed down, she disappeared into the bathroom. Reiko silently followed after her. When the two came back, Izuku surprised them by bringing an extra chair to his desk.
The three gathered round the desk, all squished together but comfortably so. As Momo picked up a pencil and took the spare paper Izuku handed over, she smiled wistfully. She leaned close to Izuku as she began making sketches. Designs of things she wanted to create with her quirk, just for the fun of it instead of always being practical.
Momo took a moment to draw a quick sketch of the three of them huddled at a desk. She wanted to remember this feeling and moment for a long time.
I had fun showing what everyday life for Izuku had become. And yes, Himiko is a clothes thief and I find that funny to me. Also showing how Himiko and Rumi interacted since they would probably see each other a lot if they are visiting Izuku and Inko a lot.
Also being able to show Izuku and Yanagi interacting was really fun to do. Giving Momo a little more time to shine as well as experiment with her quirk was something I didn't originally plan to write but it fit in with I guess the theme I had for this chapter.
On the topic of themes, I wanted to show how artist who know their craft looks a bit to outsiders. My own take on what it means to be an artist a little slipping in there. I wrote this chapter after reading a lot of martial art manga and manhwa. So my thoughts were centered around watching someone who knows their craft.
I hope you all enjoyed this and have a good day!
PK OUT!