Hey everyone, back again really quickly with another update by popular demand. I got quite a few PM's, along with a review telling me to go ahead and just dump out my remaining chapters, so that's what I'm gonna do. I'll just go ahead and upload one every other day until I catch up with where I'm still writing. Once I do, I think I'll just start updating every time I finish a chapter. Thank you all for the feedback. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 3: A Little Pick Me Up
Inko Midoriya was very particular when it came to Izuku. Before these past few days, she thought she had her son read down to a tee. Anytime something was wrong, she could usually get him to tell her what it was and that was that. But lately, Izuku was all over the place. First he comes back insanely late from school with little to no explanation whatsoever. And now, just yesterday, he came back as happy as could be. She had never seen the boy display so much happiness and energy before. It was honestly alarming. That and the fact that she had gotten a call from the school last night that her son had missed the entire second half of the day.
Now it was early the next morning, and Izuku still looked quite energetic as he wolfed down his breakfast in only a couple minutes!
She watched cautiously as her son got up and wiped his mouth, a satisfied smile gracing his lips. "Bye mom! I don't wanna be late again!"
"Of course dear! Make sure you finish school today!" She said back as she watched his form disappear out the door. What is going on with him? I thought only teenage girls were supposed to be this confusing!
Izuku walked to school with a little extra pep in his step today. He might not have been exactly overflowing with confidence now, but he still had a quirk right? Well, maybe not. After spending the better part of last night reading as many Issues of The Amazing Spider-Man as he could, he figured out a couple more things about his powers in general.
One thing was that they were probably just that, powers. It didn't make sense for him to have multiple quirks at the same time in the exact same way that Peter did. Even if he was just a fictional character, it just wasn't probable. This made the most sense to him for two big reasons.
One was the glaring fact that quirks obviously couldn't be transferred from person to person. He learned that the spider that bit Peter Parker altered his DNA in order to give him spider-like traits. And as crazy as that sounded, it was still more believable than giving a quirkless person a completely new quirk gene. Given what he knew about quirks, which to be fair, was a lot. That shouldn't be possible.
The second reason behind his theory was what he had just thought earlier, Spider-Man wasn't real. When the hero's name wasn't ringing any bells, the boy did an online search and came up with nothing. And considering that there was no hero society in the comics he was reading, it meant that it had to just be American fiction.
Either way, after school later, he was gonna stop by his local comic shop and ask one of the employees who worked there. Maybe they knew something that he didn't. He even brought an issue with him to show them in his backpack. If his memory served him correctly, it was issue #13. But that was beside the point, on top of the non-quirk status of his powers, Izuku cleared up one other big thing that had been bothering him.
In issue #2, he had learned that the ringing in his head was called a spider sense, and it was incredibly useful. It essentially warned him ahead of time whenever something was about to harm or affect him in any negative way. To him, that was easily one of his coolest powers considering it had saved his bacon the day before, but super strength was definitely a close second.
Another useful tip the boy picked up from the comics was that he could apparently heal his body much faster than a normal human could. Which he already knew was really gonna come in handy.
One of these days I really need to go somewhere deserted and test out my powers at their full potential. Who knows? Maybe I can lift up an entire semi truck! And maybe my healing factor works on more than just wounds, maybe I'm immune to diseases too!
School mostly flew by that day for the young green haired boy. And as far as he could tell, things were ok on the side of his bullies as well. Bakugo and his friends never even so much as grazed him today. All he got was a dirty snarl from the blonde every time they made eye contact. Izuku figured he must have been biding his time before he went all out and murdered him, but for once, he wasn't worried. He had what he needed to defend himself now, so things were good now right?
…
Ok, maybe he was still a tiny bit scared of Kacchan, and maybe he wasn't as courageous as he thought he was… but could you blame him? One little good day doesn't necessarily erase a whole lot of bad ones.
Still though, he definitely felt more sure of himself now that he had powers. But at the same time, he wasn't about to use them to get back at Kacchan either. He'd read about what Peter went through for not using his powers responsibly. And he was not about to make the same mistakes as him. One could even say that the lesson of responsibility was instilled into Izuku more firmly because of how big a fanboy he was by nature.
Wow, Spider-Man sure is growing on me fast! He's not even a real pro and I already look up to him! Izuku thought to himself as he exited the school. He had actually let his mom know ahead of time what his plans were after school, courtesy of his backup phone. Except she thought he was going for some of his nerdy All Might merchandise, not to get an opinion on some comics he found in a random alleyway.
Bleh, just thinking of All Might now left a frown on the boy's face as he walked down the street in silence. He had looked up to him for so long only to be crushed without a second thought from the man.
But at least now I have a chance to prove him wrong! Izuku told himself with all the strength he could muster.
The real question now was, did he believe it? Did he truly believe with his whole being that he could be a hero? He was inclined to say yes and move forward, but something stopped him, and he knew exactly what it was. How? How can I do it? No one believes in me. Heck, I barely believe in myself! If I'm still scared of Kacchan at school, then how the hell am I supposed to become a hero!?
"Hiyaa!"
The boy was broken out of his thoughts when he heard the loud shout from down the street. It sounded like it had come from multiple people at the same time, like a synchronized cry.
The boy then looked around and realized where he was. He was close to the comic shop, which was admittedly, a bit of a ways from his house. He was somewhat familiar with the area, but he still took the time to look around and inspect the street he was on. There was a small coffee shop right on the corner, as well as a variety of other shops across the street from where he was standing. But those places weren't what grabbed his attention.
"Hiyaa!"
There it was again, and that was all the confirmation the green haired boy needed to walk across the street and peer into the open window of the small little fighting dojo. It was surprisingly roomy inside, fitting what looked to be at least fifty disciples as they practiced striking all together in perfect harmony.
The Sensei looked to be quite strong as well. And something about his orange hair looked very familiar to Izuku. He must have been an old pro, but he wouldn't know for sure until he consulted one of his notebooks.
"Hiyaa!"
The super-powered teen must have sat there for an entire half hour watching the students practice and hone their skills. It really got him thinking about all the tools heroes needed to have out in the field. I guess that's another thing I'm gonna need if I wanna be a hero. I'm gonna need to know how to fight. Izuku thought glumly, once again thinking ill of himself as he continued to watch how amazing all the students were.
How the hell was he supposed to get to a level like them!?
"Uhh, what are you doing?"
"Ahhh!" Izuku shrieked in a little higher of a pitch than he would have preferred as the new voice confronted him. Turning around, he saw that there was an orange haired girl giving him an odd look, as well as a tall indigo haired guy standing behind her somewhat timidly. Though that wasn't what Izuku first observed about the boy, No, what really got to him was the boy's school uniform.
That guy! He goes to U.A! But Izuku didn't have time to keep thinking because the girl was already talking again.
"You know you don't have to just watch right? Go in there and sign up. It's really friendly," she said with a winning smile.
"O-oh, uh, I uh, I-I don't think I uh…" Is she talking to me? Why is she talking to me!? Why is a girl talking to me!?
After a few seconds of hearing some very heavy stuttering, the orange haired girl rolled her teal eyes and sighed. Why was she a magnet for these types of people? Maybe it was because she lived in a dojo, but she'd seen plenty of guys like this before. And much like the others, he probably wanted to join the dojo to get a little confidence boost. And hey, more power to him. Lord knows It's what she had been trying to get her friend behind her to do for a long time, but Tamaki just wouldn't budge. Oh well, at least I have the patience to deal with these guys.
"Seriously, It's fine, go right on in and sign up. Let's just say I'm close with the management here and they're good people. What's your name?" She said kindly once again, this time extending her hand for a friendly shake.
Izuku could barely form a coherent sentence in his mind right now, so he was damn sure that if he opened his mouth, things were gonna go south fast. But he couldn't just run away right here right? Right?
"Um… No! I just, I mean-sorry! I didn't mean to-uhhh… I've gotta go!"
With that, Izuku took off as fast as he could in the opposite direction, leaving the girl hanging as she frowned and lowered her hand.
Turning a corner and breathing heavily, the green haired boy did his best to collect his nerves and stomp them out. What the hell was that! My first conversation with a girl and I totally messed it up! Ugh, why was that so hard!? I could barely even think! It probably didn't help that she was really cute too. Should I go and apologize?
Figuring that an apology was the best course of action, Izuku walked back around the corner and breathed a sigh of relief when the two teens were still standing in front of the dojo, but what the boy didn't expect, was that the girl seemed to be chewing out the guy for some reason, what was that all about.?
Without another moment's notice, Izuku looked around quickly, when he was sure the coast was clear, he hopped up onto the small building neighboring the dojo. From there, it was only a small hop and he was in a perfect position, perching himself right over the two teens and getting an earful of their whole conversation.
"Ugh, don't even get me started on this Tamaki! You are an amazing student! And you're gonna be an even better hero some day! I don't understand why you keep doubting yourself!"
"I know, you say that all the time Itsuka, but you don't understand what I'm going through! Mirio has been so busy lately! It's only been a couple days, but I barely even see him anymore! Something about some special training."
"And how does that affect you? Are you jealous or something!?" The girl huffed, she was clearly becoming irritated.
"No! Of course not! Actually, it's just the opposite! I'm unbelievably happy for him! It's just, sometimes I feel like I'm nothing when he's not around. I guess I just rely on his confidence rubbing off on me y'know? He was the first person to ever believe in me!"
Izuku widened his eyes at the unexpected turn this conversation was taking. He knew that this was getting really personal and that he should probably just go, but something inside him kept him glued to his spot on the dojo's roof. So far this conversation had hit really close to home for him, and he wanted to see it through. Who knows? Maybe he could find a way to help this obviously timid natured U.A student.
"Oh my goodness, is that really it? Don't say that Tamaki! How many times do I have to tell you that you're amazing on your own until you believe me!?"
When the girl got no response, she simply sighed, rubbed her temples and hunkered down. "Alright, I'm tired of seeing you like this Tamaki, time for you to cowboy up and be your own best friend. You're not always gonna have someone that's there to believe in you! It sucks, but that's just life! It happens to everyone, so you know what you do? You get up, you don't take shit from anyone, and you believe in yourself! Who cares what someone else thinks!? As long as you believe in yourself, then you'll never be alone! Yes, Togata-san is your friend, but you shouldn't let him affect you this extremely. At the end of the day, you're the one that has to fight your own battles, not him, so believe in yourself dammit!"
"I-I, I'll try… Thank you Itsuka, you're a good friend." The boy said shakily.
A small hint of a smile appeared on the girl's lips before she turned around and began walking into the dojo. "Don't mention it, Tamaki, I meant every word. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm already late for training. Talk to you later."
Once the orange haired girl disappeared behind the doors of the dojo, the boy dropped his confident smile in favor of slumped shoulders and a look of despair.
Aw man, Is that really what I look like all the time? Izuku thought with a frown. If anything, he felt pity for the boy. He was going through something very similar himself. But one big difference that was just now sinking into Izuku was the conversation he just heard.
While the U.A student sort of just brushed it off as if it were just blind encouragement, Izuku began letting the words sink deep into his mind. Thinking about them more and more every passing second.
"As long as you believe in yourself, then you'll never be alone!"
Izuku didn't know how many times he kept repeating that phrase in his head. All he knew was that each time he thought about it hit harder than the last, never failing to bring goosebumps to the surface of his skin.
"How could I have been so blind?" Izuku mumbled as he took the backpack off of his shoulders and opened it up. Before long, the green haired teen pulled out his copy of The Amazing Spider-Man #13. "This whole time, the answer was right in front of me…"
"Who cares what someone else thinks!?"
"I've had these powers for almost two days now… Why did I hesitate?" He mumbled once more, gripping the comic book in his hand tightly as tears surfaced in his eyes…
"I… I can do it… I can be a hero!" Izuku cried out to the sky, finally letting his emotions bubble over and tears slip down his cheeks.
Later that night, Izuku arrived at home, a never ending smile gracing his lips as he entered his house and greeted his mom. He was thankful that it was a Friday so that he could stay up late planning his next move. He had stopped by the comic book shop and showed the owner his Spider-Man comic, and just as he expected, the very nerdy man had never heard of the arachnid themed hero before. Even after phoning a fellow comic lover from America, the store owner still came up with nothing. This along with his unexpected pep talk from the redheaded girl from earlier had convinced him of the next step he needed to take to becoming a hero. Now all he needed was a weekend to start planning things out and he would be set.
I really need to find a chance to go back and thank her.
"Thanks for having the food ready mom, but I've got a lot of homework, so I'm gonna take this to my room."
"O-oh, well, I guess that's ok Izuku," the frail looking woman said softly. Staying silent for a moment before speaking up. "I-I… I'm glad you're feeling better Izuku. You look more sure of yourself somehow… D-did you u-umm, did you decide on a new career choice yet? I saw the forms you brought home the other day about high schools… And I think it's really brave that you were able to cross out U.A like that…"
Izuku froze in his tracks on his trek back to his room, stiffening up almost immediately as he felt his shoulders begin to slump.
"Who cares what someone else thinks!?"
Widening his eyes in realization, the green haired boy stopped his shoulders and reversed their movement, pushing them back and standing prouder than he ever had before in his life. With fire in his eyes and conviction in his heart, Izuku turned back to his mother, a determined smile displayed profoundly on his lips.
"Nope, that was a mistake mom. I'm definitely gonna get into U.A next year! Just you wait!"
Without another word, the boy turned back around and walked right into his room and closed the door behind him softly, leaving his mother completely speechless.
I-Izuku… I… I've never seen you like this before. What's going on with you?
Conviction, he finally had the conviction to step up and do what he wanted to do with his life. That, as well as the means to get there. Now all he had to do was apply himself and make it all come true.
Thank you random redhead girl! I'll never forget what you did for me today! You may not even know what you did, but that's ok, I swear I'll make it up to you one day! But for now, I'm really gonna do it! I'm gonna be the greatest pro hero ever, Spider-Man!
Alright, side note time. I'm very aware that comic superheroes technically existed in the world of MHA. Or at least, that's what the author has heavily hinted at with interviews and little easter eggs.
But as you can see, this will not be the case in this story, I did this intentionally for certain plot points in the future.
Thank you all for reading, see ya next time :)
