Izuku, Ochako, and Himiko find one MORE complication to their bond which sends them on a tailspin, but a quick pick me up from the Vestiges helps them recover. And Izuku contemplates the way they feel about Ochako and Himiko.
The conversation with Himiko's friends was honestly rather fun. Izuku and Ochako got to
understand a lot more about the trio of rather excitable girls, and seeing Himiko smile so freely made them both so happy for her.
Momoko was soft spoken and the least outgoing of the trio, but also the most flirty. She only made her comments once in a while, but when she did, either Izuku or Ochako (sometimes both) would end up bright red, as Himiko cackled at them both.
Mimi was blunt, and seemed to just say whatever was on the top of her mind, but she also seemed the most in tune with others moods because she always apologized if she said something that might be offensive. Not that she really did, but Izuku and Ochako still appreciated it.
As for Rika…they kinda felt a bit bad for her, because she seemed to be the self-appointed self-control of the other two. She spent half her time trying to shush one or the other frantically, or dive tackling them out of frame (Himiko reassured Ochako and Izuku that everyone knew how Rika was and it was all in good fun).
Himiko's old friends were fun, and nice, and sweet, and they enjoyed talking to them. Shoved up together, emotions blending into one big puddle of joy and cheer and happiness, Izuku and Ochako letting themselves get swept up into Himiko's excitement.
The conversation was so nice, they'd stayed up really late and fallen asleep together once more, entangled and intact, blended and fused and right. In their sleep, dreams were muddled and mixed, and they swore the vestiges tried to contact them, but they were too sleepy, too cuddly, too happy to really care.
And so the morning came upon them, and they were able to get ready for a few extra hours of classes. Some breakfast together, some changing together, some moving together to get to the empty classroom where Sensei awaited them.
Izuku, though, had noticed something odd while they sat in the classroom learning from Aizawa, and it was concerning them. Or they thought it was. Maybe? It was hard to tell sometimes. The bond had settled into a pleasant, dull hum today, a simple resonating thrum in their chest that comforted them, calmed them…Oh, wait. They shook their head. Aizawa was asking something.
"Uraraka, did you read the section I outlined yesterday?" Aizawa asked, looking over at her.
"Yep! Finished it!" Himiko replied, smiling wide.
Aizawa blinked. "I'm glad you read it too, Himiko, but I asked Uraraka."
"Yeah, and I read it, like I said," Ochako replied, looking at Aizawa in confusion.
Aizawa paused. Izuku Himiko Ochako was confused by how confused Aizawa looked. Their teacher slowly set their pen down, the expression on their face carefully blank. "Of course. Uraraka, can you do me a favor and give me your notes on my Quirk?"
"Sure!" she said happily, reaching back without looking. Izuku set their notebook in her hand automatically, not pausing in their writing in their other notebook. Ochako stood up and walked it to Aizawa, the dark-haired teacher watching with pursed lips as he accepted it and set it down on his desk softly.
He let out a deep sigh, planting his hands firmly on his desk. This was confusing. Why was he acting that way, Izuku wondered. They tilted their head to the side, Ochako and Himiko mirroring the motion at the same time. "Problem Children…take a moment and think about who I just asked for Quirk analysis."
It took a moment to filter into their mind, but Izuku's eyes went wide, Himiko and Ochako's following a split second later. Now the bond was no longer a pleasant dull hum, but a cacophony of confusion and fear and wrong. It was…it was supposed to be emotions only what was happening who was who?!
Izuku was about to panic, and because they were, and Himiko and Ochako were so close too close they feared they would drag them down with them, into a pit of fear and worry and terror…but a hand on their shoulder yanked them back mentally, emotionally, forcing calm and cutting the fear away like a knife, letting them breathe as their eyes fluttered open when had they closed them?
"Okay, kids, okay, calm down, it's okay," Nana whispered in Izuku's ear, kneeling down beside them, one arm around Ochako's shoulder, the other gripping Izuku's. Yoichi was on Ochako's other side, gently stroking Himiko's hair, the trio finding themselves in the blackness that was the vestige world once more.
Izuku could feel them forcing calm on them, and normally they would instinctively fight this, but instead they reached for it like a child reaching for a stuffed animal, desperate to be safe from this mental storm before it took control once more.
"Shit, we ain't gonna have much time to go over this," Bruce commented, rubbing his temples.
"Yes well, at least let them catch their breath!" Nana shot back.
"Allow me to say this quickly, it will be okay. We can help you deal with this. We wanted to talk to you about it last night but for some reason we couldn't get you into the vestige world," Hikage said, kneeling down beside Himiko.
"M-maybe start with what the hell is going on?!" Himiko asked, turning blown wide eyes on him, her tail flicking rapidly.
Kudo sighed as he stepped over, crouching before Izuku and laying his arms over his knees. "Look, it's…complicated, but basically, it's something that happened to all us Vestiges. We figured out how to block the effect, we just gotta show you how."
"...but we're not vestiges?" Ochako said, one hand over her chest as she tried to get her breathing under control.
"Uh…about that," Daigoro drawled, trailing off as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, drawing the attention of the trio towards the throne where Toshinori's flaming vestige normally sat…only to see a sheepish looking Toshinori vestige surrounded by a sparking bolt of emerald lightning that looked slightly like Izuku, a shimmering, shining cluster of pink and white stars that vaguely resembled Ochako, and a flowing, crimson red figure that resembled Himiko.
"...what?" Izuku said, staring blankly at the trio who waved awkwardly at them.
"So, the thing is, before you, us Vestiges weren't quite as aware, as it were, so we never quite realized that Toshinori had a vestige pretty much as soon as he took on the Quirk, since well, he couldn't talk. It seems as soon as you get the Quirk, you get a Vestige. And what happened was what we call 'Resonance'," Yoichi explained.
"It's like…a merging, or melding of consciousness, or something. We had some serious issues with that, back in the day, before we figured out how to compartmentalize it properly," Bruce added.
"Your emotional link accelerated the process for your Vestiges, as far as we can tell. But it's also…the thing is, they aren't you," Nana said, gesturing vaguely.
"They aren't all of you," En interjected softly. "They are more instinctual than you are, because they don't contain the multitude of you, and won't until much more time has passed. They are like baby vestiges, if you would. So they act on instinct. They thought you wanted to be closer, so…they tried to link to each other."
"...so…we have to…train our own half-selves to not do that?" Izuku asked, confusion evident in their tone.
"Sort of. It's not hard to learn how to block it. We can show you before we let you go again, although we'll want to do it fast. Time flows differently here, but even then, your teacher is mid-panic mode right now since you're all kind of just sitting there blankly," Daigoro said.
"If I may, I would counsel you not to ignore the benefits of Resonance. Sharing thoughts mid-fight would be a great boon to you, in an emergency," Hikage offered.
"I think that's premature to think about, Hikage," Yoichi gently chided.
"Yeah can we like…not?" Himiko said, her voice nearly a screech as she pressed her hands to the side of her head. "That was…I like being bonded with Izu and 'Chako but that was freaky!"
"I'm sorry," Izuku whispered, their head hanging low.
"Don't you fucking dare Izuku Midoriya," Ochako growled, making Izuku snap their head around to stare at the fuming Ochako, Himiko also visibly taken aback. Ochako turned around to point at Himiko. "You either! I can feel your guilt! Don't do this blame thing! We've been over this, it's no one's fault!"
"Easy for you to say," Izuku muttered.
"I swear Izu, I'm gonna…I'm not gonna yell at you but I will hug the stupid out of you!" Ochako commanded, making Himiko snort.
"If it were that easy we'd all be perfectly mentally healthy by now," Himiko said, rolling her eyes.
"Well obviously you two need more," Ochako said with her nose stuck up in the air. Neither Izuku nor Himiko was stupid…Ochako was being silly on purpose, pushing her own panicked feelings down to try and make the other two feel better, especially after her prior flash of rage that she was now wrapping up in chains and throwing into the dark depths of her soul.
"I'm…sorry for saying that," Izuku began, cutting Ochako's immediate retort about apologies off with an upraised hand. "You're right, I know you're right. But please, 'Chako, don't try and make us feel better when you're not happy yourself. We know, after all."
They could watch in real time as the energy drained out of Ochako, her shoulders slumping as she slumped forward slightly. "I just wanna help," she said, her voice nearly a whisper.
"You being you is help enough, 'Chako," Himiko said softly, leaning over to press her shoulder to Ochako's.
"Not to interrupt this touching moment, but we really do need to show you how to compartmentalize before we send you back or your teacher has his own panic attack," Nana interjected with a sheepish grin.
"...will there be anything else messing with us? I just…I'm so tired," Izuku whispers, looking down at their hands. Every other day it was something else and they were so sick of it!
"I…wish we could reassure you, but we can't. We're all in unprecedented territory. That said, we're here for you three. We will help you navigate all these changes, we swear. We're getting better able to speak to you when you need us, so just try to be patient, alright?" Yoichi said, gently patting Izuku on the head.
"...fine, just show us what we have to do," Izuku sighed. Yoichi nodded, beckoning the three partial vestiges over and began to quickly explain how to block the effect, leaving them to leave the Vestige realm as soon as possible before Aizawa lost his cool entirely.
Having to explain this new problem to their teacher was nearly as frustrating as dealing with it to begin with. Turns out their inner Vestiges, being instinct based, were latching onto both their conscious desires to hold one another close and the cat Quirk instincts to constantly be cuddled together and were trying really hard to shove that effect on them, and it was a struggle to explain to them why they didn't want that.
Yoichi said it'd get easier over time as they became more real copies of them, with less pure instincts and more thoughts, but for now it was just an annoying habit to have to every few hours 'refresh' for lack of a better word, the separation.
Either way, the explanation took so long and then they had to explain it to Nezu and Toshi and Recovery Girl and even Hound Dog was there and Izuku was fucking done with this. They were done. Absolutely done. This day was shot. Maybe this week. Hell if Izuku could choose it, perhaps the entire month? Could they just abandon reality for a month? Would that be allowed?
Hound Dog wrangled an agreement to a session with him tomorrow, one for each of them, which Izuku agreed to. They'd already said they would go before, and even with how done they were with stuff right now, they knew intellectually that they needed help parsing through all of this. Himiko and Ochako were in the same boat. Agreeing to go meant they would too, and that's all Izuku needed to convince themselves to do so. So instead, back to the dorms they would go.
And immediately a beeline to Ochako's room to faceplant on the bed. Yes, it was a fucking bad idea to encourage their closeness and no, Izuku did not fucking care right now. They wanted cuddles and they knew Himiko and Ochako did too, so they were going to get them. Luckily for them, their desires were communicated fairly easily, and the feeling of Himiko sprawling over their back, followed by Ochako curling into their side was all they needed, some tension slowly bleeding out of them.
They felt themselves drifting slightly, a desire for a nap clear in their head. Their mind was still too wired to actually fall asleep, so instead they persisted in that strange half-asleep state one would find oneself in, where they were still awake and aware, but not all there. As they drifted comfortably in this relaxing state, enjoying the pressure of their friends upon them, they pondered the difference between how they felt about Himiko and Ochako, and how Himiko felt about her friends.
Sure, it was a new sensation for Himiko to realize that they were real, true friends, but still the way she felt was different from how Izuku felt about her. Or how she felt about Izuku, or Ochako. It was a bit closer to what happened when Momoko was flirting with them,but the feeling was still very different. Much less embarrassing and more…comforting.
Izuku wasn't an idiot after all. They noticed the comments from their classmates about the 'romantic' nature of their bond, or claiming they were flirting with each other when they were teasing. The thing was…Izuku maybe couldn't be entirely certain what those feelings were, but based on the circumstantial evidence and what they'd read, they had…a pretty good guess. They would never believe it in a million years, the idea that either of those two wonderful, kind, beautiful women could ever feel romantically inclined towards them, but…emotional bonding made it difficult to hide the feelings.
Not that they were certain. Not yet. But the longer time went on, they considered it could possibly be that. The problem was, could they trust it? The bond made things…difficult. Entangled. And before today, it was now even more difficult and confusing. Izuku had worried that their feelings were being modified or influenced by Himiko or Ochako's, or worse…their feelings were influencing the girls. That would have been the worst possible outcome, in Izuku's mind, somehow manipulating the girls into feeling things they normally wouldn't?!
So they'd dismissed all these thoughts and feelings before, shoved them down, locked away, chained up in a dungeon to keep them from touching either Ochako or Himiko. But the new technique the Vestiges showed them, it…did more than block the weird fused thoughts. Maybe because it was now being filtered through their own vestiges, but now, the source of the feelings were clear as crystal. It was like they all had actual colors to them, colors Izuku could feel, and they could easily separate what was their feelings, Himiko's, or Ochako's.
Which…was now a problem, because it flew in the face of their own beliefs. Because it meant whatever they felt was entirely them, and whatever Ochako or Himiko felt was entirely theirs as well, and the feelings were…not something Izuku had named before, but they were pretty sure they knew what they were.
The worst part was all this contemplation was being spread across the bond as well. Not Izuku's thoughts, so not the full details, but the warmth of affection, that happiness they felt at the thought Ochako or Himiko felt the same as them, the comfort they found in the connection between them, all of it was going across, no longer a forced impact, but a gentle breeze from Izuku to them, one that Izuku could feel the girls taking some comfort in as well.
So now Izuku needed to decide what to do. There was a general feeling of…acceptance and agreement, but any thought of speaking up about it sent their own heart into a tailspin, and Ochako wasn't much better. Himiko, after reconnecting with her old friends and finally starting to feel more stable on her feet, seemed the most in tune with anything further, but she still had her own hesitation. So Izuku decided…no. Not right now. They needed to talk, but not today. They needed to think and ponder and consider exactly what it was, before they made a mistake and said something that couldn't be taken back, considering the connection they all had.
Waiting too long wasn't an option either though, because…well, because it felt so strong, the feelings in their chest made them want to scream them from the top of the rooftops, but also to whisper quietly in the dark and the contrast was killing them. But…they'd already agreed to talk to Hound Dog about everything, and maybe an outside opinion could help? They'd spoken to him once, and he was understanding and calm, which was everything Izuku could have asked for, so…for now, they'd hold off any important conversions, at least until they managed to get their head on straight around today's events, everything that happened during internships, and just…everything in general.
Izuku wasn't sure they were a complete person yet. They still weren't down in the bones happy. And they knew enough about relationships that building one based on others holding you up for you was just asking for everything to go wrong, so…they needed to work on that first, work on understanding who they are, and then, maybe then, they'll say something.
But for now, just for a bit, they'll let their busy brain turn off, appreciate the comfort of Ochako in their arms, of Himiko sprawled across the both of them holding them tightly, of the soft bed beneath and the warmth of both their bodies and their emotions holding Izuku tightly in their embrace. For now, just a chance to relax, to rest, and maybe in a few days time…time to confront their feelings.