AN: Sorry about slow updates everyone. Writer's block plus an unrelenting amount of insomnia has made it hard to do anything recently. I'm working on pushing through it though.

AN2: To answer the question I got from a couple of you in the last review, no, Izuku won't use the minor or original arcana from the Persona games. I considered it but decided against it. In part because I wasn't sure who would best fit those after I already figured out twenty base bonds. That said, I might toss in some non-canon Omakes about potential ways they could have been used.

A Fool's Bonds

Chapter 6

-Izuku-

"Yo! Midoriya!" hearing the cheerful voice of Mina, Izuku grinned and waved back, hurrying over to his two new classmates.

"Hey guys." Izuku grinned, sliding into the booth across from the duo, the lights and sounds of the colorful arcade they'd invited him to surrounding them.

"Welcome to our home away from home bro…or Mina's at least, the gym is more my speed. But this place is still a great way to unwind." Kirishima nodded to him as he got settled.

"I can see that." Izuku nodded, having noted Kirishima seemed to be a bit of a gym nut "I miss anything?"

"Just Mina trying to convince me to change up my planned Hero name." Kirishima rolled his eyes.

"I'm telling you it would be awesome!" Mina pouted as she sulked.

"I've been planning to use the Sturdy Hero: Red Riot for ages though!" Kirishima protested to the girl who Izuku was honestly still trying to get a feel for.

"But think about iiiiiit!" Mina whined "Red Riot, Chivalrous Hero of the Northern Star sounds so much more dramatic!"

"And much more of a mouthful." Kirishima rolled his eyes "Plus I don't want to center my entire brand around one of my classmates. No offense dude." The last part was added in hastily as Izuku waved it off, unbothered by the valid protest, especially when he noted the name was already an homage to an older hero to begin with.

"Fiiiiiine." Mina grumbled dramatically, huffing with her cheeks puffed out as Kirishima relented.

"How about a compromise. First of the Northern Star does sound like it would at least make for a good attack or super move." The hardening quirk user allowed as Mina went from pouting to giddy in an instant.

"Victory!" Mina fist pumped before looking over to see Izuku scratching away at his sketch book. "What's dat?" she tried to snoop.

"Working on designs for my support gear." Izuku explained, showing the page he was currently working on. It was his own design for the Tarot Card of the Emperor. The border as well as the title and number at the bottom were standard but to make things more creative, he had the card showing both Aizawa and Vlad Tepes, in this case a diagonal line cutting the 'image' in half to show the two forms facing some unseen enemies on either side of the card.

"Holy shit dude, that looks awesome." Kirishima gaped at the sketch "I didn't know you could draw."

"Yeah, I kinda started sketching with analysis I would do when I was a kid and I…eventually, got better." Izuku admitted with a sheepish grin, remembering how bad his sketches were in the beginning "But anyway, I plan to have five different decks of throwing cards as part of my Hero kit."

"Five?" Mina and Kirishima shared a bewildered expression.

"Yeah, one for the Major Arcana and one each for the four Minor Arcana." Izuku explained and, at the duo's bewildered expression, elaborated "So you know of the Major Arcana, right? The ones most people use for Fortune Telling?" when they nodded, he continued, relieved he didn't have to explain even that basic bit of information "Well there are also four minor ones that can be used. Each Minor Arcana is a suit of fourteen cards, making a full deck of fifty-six. There's the Suit of Wands representing Momentum and Fire, the Suit of Cups representing Emotion and Water, the Suit of Swords representing the Mind and Air, and the Suit of Pentacles representing the Physical World and Earth. I plan for those four suits to be more standard with Wands being essentially impact triggered flash bangs, Cups releasing some sort of smoke or gas, Swords to be extra sharp designed for cutting, and Pentacles to be blunt for a hard impact."

"That's a lot." Kirishima gaped at the number of items Izuku would have to keep track of, even if they were only the size of throwing cards.

"Yeah, but they aren't that big and it's better to be ready ya know?" Izuku admitted sheepishly, "The hard part is the Major arcana. You can see I'm going to make each one have its own design of both the form I get and the one who I got it from. I was also hoping to let each card do something unique based on either the one I got it from or the form I took."

"Isn't that…um…impossible?" Mina asked with a wince.

"Only maybe. They do have hero costumes that are able to interact with and react to the quirk of the wearer if they're made out of said heroes' hair after all." Izuku shrugged as the two blinked.

"Seriously?" Kirishima gaped.

"Yep." Izuku grinned "I don't know the limits on them, or if it only works if they're used by the one who's quirk they came from, but they are a thing. There's actually a third year at UA who already has one just so he doesn't go around naked all the time from what I heard."

"The blond guy who kept losing his pants in the last two Sports Festivals?" Mina asked with a smirk.

"Why am I not surprised that that is what you remember?" Kirishima bumped Mina's shoulder playfully.

"Hey, don't judge, it was a nice ass." Mina mock huffed, "And it was right there on display! At least I wasn't flat out staring and drooling like that creepy little grape midget in our class. Jiro used her quirk and overheard that him muttering about finding a way to get a peep hole into the girl's locker room."

"So Unmanly." Kirishima growled, neither of them having paid attention to Mineta when in the locker rooms earlier and so they hadn't noticed.

"Don't worry, we're working on ways to prevent it." Mina assured them, "Back to what we were talking about before Midoriya, this stuff is impressive. You have any ideas for support gear I could use? Best I could think of were special boots to let acid out the bottom without melting."

"Acid resistance in general is going to be a necessity for any gear you have." Izuku let his mind take off, "Can you control the level of acidity?"

"That's the first thing I figured out." Mina nodded; expression serious before going back to being bubbly "My parents made sure I knew just how dangerous acid was as I grew up so I wouldn't get reckless with it."

"Wish more people had that attitude." Izuku sighed, "Most of my classmates growing up were very…free Spirited with the use of their quirks. But yeah, for yours I'd recommend something like a 'grenade' where you could fill it with acid and have it air sealed. Then you could just throw them when needed and not have to worry about overusing your quirk when it comes down to it. Another option would be something like a hose where you could push your acid into it and the device lets you fire it in a more pressurized stream."

"Daaaang. That was all just off the top of your head?" Mina asked, looking impressed even as Kirishima went to go get them some Pizza to share.

"Not exactly." Izuku's eager expression fell a bit, "I had a friend growing up who's quirk also involved secreting a volatile liquid from his skin. We…we stopped being friends a long time ago, but it took me awhile to really get that. For the longest time I thought if I studied hard enough, and thought of enough ideas we could go back to being friends but…" he trailed off with a shrug. He hated what Bakugo had become, but he also hated how their schools had helped turn him into that, feeding and cultivating the worst in the already combative blond bomber.

"Okay, no sad!" Mina declared; finger raised dramatically into the air "Not allowed! This is officially a no sad zone, you got that?!" she gave him a big grin as she made her declaration, yanking over Kirishima who'd returned with Pizza "We're here to have fun!"

"Better listen to her bro, Mina isn't one to take no for an answer when she gets like this." Kirishima chuckled, thankfully not pushing for what brought this on even as Mina swatted at him for his jab. It felt…good. Weird after going so long with his only friend being his mentor, but still good.

A laugh started to bubble up in his gut, slipping out his lips as Mina and Kirishima looked his way as Izuku leaned back in the booth, unable to stop from laughing at the raw exuberance Mina just seemed to let out at all times. "Thanks Mina, I needed that." He chuckled, realizing how much that was true as he grabbed a slice of pizza "I haven't laughed like that in…quite a while honestly."

"Hey, you heard the lady, no sad thoughts!" Kirishima chuckled, "Now she's liable to punish you."

"And punish you I shall!" Mina stood up dramatically as she pointed a slice of pizza at him like it was a royal scepter "You, knave, are to battle me, the QUEEN, at Dance Dance Revolution! What say you to this?!" smirking, Izuku leaned in and bit at the fresh slice she'd been pointing at him, chewing smugly as Mina squawked indignantly and Kirishima fell out of the booth laughing.

"Oh, it is on!" Mina growled, hurriedly finishing her share of the food so they could hit the games. Izuku lost track of time as they went from game to game in the arcade, Mina trouncing him in her game as promised. It was the first time for a long time that Izuku had just let himself relax and have fun. That he didn't focus on training or being a hero. That he didn't worry about his old bullies, or about failing, or anything.

Izuku could simply laugh and have fun with friends he liked spending time with.

"You're lucky they don't have low score boards Izuku." Mina chuckled as he lay sprawled, having tripped over his feet trying to keep up with Mina at the harder setting of Dance Dance.

"Yeah, yeah." He chuckled, taking the offered hand up when cerulean flames burst from the joined hands once again, Mina and him both having their eyes widen.

"I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow. I shall become the burning light that shines from within one's soul, he who's spirit shall never falter. With the birth of the Sun Persona, you have obtained the power of confidence that shall lead to success and the spark of knowledge."

This voice was strong and confident, as assertive as Mina herself was. Coiling through his mind and the flames as he felt the power from within it.

"That…was…AWESOME!" Mina's response honestly shouldn't have surprised him.

AN: Just to waylay any concerns, the Arcana acquiring is going to start slowing down soon. They've been going so fast because he had so few, so several slots are open. Even in the Persona games, you get a large chunk early on then things slow down. I plan for only one more to be gained before the USJ incident (next chapter during the battle trials), and maybe one or two others before/during the Sports Festival itself, quite possibly just set up for them to form properly. Given the nature of this Izuku's quirk this is a very character focused story so lots of bonding and character interludes between plot are a definite.