A Needed Conversation
Part 1: Longing For Home
Uraraka held her hand out, waiting patently until the smaller one reached up to hold onto it.
The tiny hand had such an odd feel to it. There was warmth but it was somewhat blunted by the hard carapace that surrounded her palm and her fingers in-between the joints.
"Are you ready?" She asked.
She could feel the tremble in her hand. Gumo was quite short, even for a little kid of her age, barely coming up past Uraraka's knee guard, and right now she probably felt even smaller.
"I'll be with you the whole time. I promise." Uraraka reassured her once again, placing her other hand on top of the one she held.
Six close-knit eyes looked up at her, each one with a slight quiver in their shine. "O-...okay..." She spoke softly, yet still causing a slight click to be heard from the tusks that had formed at the sides of her mouth. The moment she made such a noise Gumo's head sank a bit lower in shame. It'd been made clear to Uraraka in the time she'd known the girl that she didn't like the way she looked. She didn't like any reminders of the less than human features her body had developed since her Quirk had manifested, and she hardly ever spoke because that noise was a consistent one.
Uraraka took slow and short steps, leading the way but still allowing Gumo to move at her own pace. She didn't want to go dragging her. More than anything this had to be her choice.
The distance to the office was not very much. Just around the corner and a few doors down. Gumo likely didn't know which office specifically they were heading to. She wasn't old enough to consistently understand numbers yet, so the room number she'd been told wasn't one she was going to be looking out for. She only knew they'd arrived at their destination when they got to a door Uraraka finally stopped at.
Uraraka felt the hold on her hand squeeze just a bit tighter. Maybe even as hard as this little girl could squeeze.
Holding off on opening the door yet, Uraraka knelt down to her, putting a hand on top of her head. "It's going to be okay." She smiled to her, giving her scalp a gentle rub to calm her. Gumo's hair, unsurprisingly, felt as soft and light as any human's she'd ever known. "But if you want to go back, we can. There's nothing wrong with needing more time."
She could feel the slight lean into her hand Gumo did, desperately needing something to help settle her nerves. The girl's eyes flickered back and forth between Uraraka and the door for the longest time. For a moment it seemed like she was right on the edge of accepting her offer and running away.
But in the end, the child made an unsteady and shaky intake of air.
"I want...I want to see them again." She let out once she finally worked up the courage.
Giving her a lookover just to make sure she was sure, Uraraka gave her a nod, letting her know she was proud of her.
Standing back up, she opened the door.
Inside the office were three people seated around a desk. The one behind it was someone Uraraka had come to know well over the relatively few years they'd been working together. Dr. Alina, a Quirk councilor who had been very supportive of her efforts to improve the program once she caught wind of them and had been an unparalleled help in allowing Uraraka to properly learn the ins and outs of the prior system. It was a happy coincidence they'd ended up working together on this particular case.
Well...happy, relatively speaking. As the other two in the room were evidence of.
They stood up almost immediately when they saw them in the doorway. In contrast to Dr. Alina Uraraka had only personally met these two a couple of times and never with Gumo along with. Though now that they were in the same room she was able to better see the resemblance.
They lacked all the spider-like features that Gumo had but the man's hair was the exact same shade of black as hers. Take away the multiple eyes and tusks and Gumo and the woman actually had pretty similar facial structure, just with slightly darker skin (as in literally black in pigment). Gumo's long hair was even styled in a way that resembled the woman's own.
Mr. And Mrs. Jirai. Gumo's parents.
The tension in the air could be felt by everyone. Nobody knew what to say, or if they even wanted to say anything.
Gumo's head sank and her tiny body recoiled, taking an unconscious step to hide behind Uraraka.
In that moment, something within Mrs. Jirai broke.
Her face twisted and became ugly. Uraraka tensed herself, ready to step in. More than a few times she's had to deal with a parent trying to assault their child, even in public.
But thankfully such fear was unneeded. The ugliness that filled the woman's face wasn't that of anger or disgust. Or at the very least, if it was, it wasn't the kind that was directed at Gumo.
Mrs. Jirai fell without dignity or thought to her knees, tears flowing from her eyes in a violent stream.
"Baby! Baby, I'm so sorry!"
She held out her arms to her, her entire body begging for Gumo to come back to her.
"You're my daughter! You'll always be my daughter! Things will be different, I promise! So please, come home!"
Gumo let go of Uraraka's hand, probably not even realizing she did so, or with thought or awareness of anything else for that matter, as she ran and practically tackled into her mother's chest, letting her scoop her up into her arms.
"MAMA! MAMA!" Gumo sobbed and shrieked as she clung to her; so tightly, like she was afraid if she let go this would never happen again.
"My baby girl...it's alright...it's alright, I'm here." Mrs. Jirai soothed her as she hugged squeezed her tiny body, never wanting to let go. "I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry..."
Though his family was in a quivering mass before him, Mr. Jirai did not join in. But it was not out of heartlessness. Quite the opposite, as Uraraka could tell. His was subtler but the breaks in his expression made it clear enough how much his guilt was ripping him apart from the inside. He didn't feel he had the right to join them.
"This... This is all my fault." He said to Uraraka when she made her way over, his fist clenched as he tried his damnedest to hold back his own tears. "My Quirk...it lets me shoot spider-like webs from my wrists. I never was that interested in being a hero, so it was always just a fun little party trick. And when Meari and I started seriously talking about having kids we knew there was chance they not only could have a Quirk like mine but an evolved version of it. We joked that she'd be able to shoot webs out her feet too, or maybe she'd be sticking to walls and we'd be freaking out trying to find her while she'd snoozing away on the ceiling. Regardless, no matter what we'd love her. ...And when the time came for me to put my money where my mouth was..."
He hid his face in his hands in shame, sucking in air through the tight space so that he wouldn't completely break.
Uraraka had come to know their case well by this point. Gumo had been born with multiple eyes but otherwise was pretty standard human. Not that unusual alongside neighbors who had horns or coworkers with beaks. But it was after she turned four, as is not uncommon, that her Quirk fully kicked in. Her skin darkened. Carapaces hardened around her fingers and knuckles. And those twin tusks formed on the sides of her mouth. She had simply gone to bed and woke up the next morning a bit more spidery than before.
It made for an initial scare for everyone but overall had made for nothing worse than a needed adjustment period.
No, what had created the need for all this was the day her parents caught her in their backyard, having built a web that had ensnared multiple rabbits, and her in the center of it all with one hanging from her mouth.
"She had heard me complaining about how the rabbits kept destroying our garden. She just wanted to help..." Uraraka could hear him say from between his fingers. "The things I screamed at her... I wouldn't even listen..."
Over the course of the past few weeks the whole picture was put together for through the police reports, the screaming and yelling the neighbors had heard that made them call the police in the first place, investigations of the scene, and questions that'd been asked of each member of the family separately. None of the rabbits had actually been killed, just caught in the web. In fact the one Gumo had in her mouth was one she caught when it'd broken it way free of the web and would have landed hard had she not captured it again.
But the sight of the whole thing, along with the smaller discomforts Gumo's unusualness had caused within them over time, and the Jirai parents were convinced they'd given birth to a monster. And they certainly had let Gumo know it that night.
Uraraka placed her hand on his shoulder. "You can't change the past, but you can still decide what you'll do going forward. You can still make a better future. The only question is, do you want that future to have your daughter in it? Do you want it to be one where your daughter is smiling?"
Mr. Jirai looked up from his hands upon hearing those words, his eyes making clear his disbelief that he was at all worthy of receiving them.
His head turned shakily to his family. He...he had no right to hold Gumo like that. Not after what he'd said. Not after the look of terror he'd put on her face that night. Not after...not after he'd done everything he possibly could have to convince her he didn't love her. What right did he have to call himself her father anymore?
But there was his wife, who blamed herself just as much for all of this, even though he knew she shouldn't, clinging to their girl with all her might, willing to do whatever it took to have her back in their lives. To have them as a family again.
And he...
"I want that. I want that more than anything." He said, the words flowing without hesitation. Was he saying it to Uraraka or to himself? Honestly, it didn't really matter.
Uraraka took her hand off his shoulder and gestured it to his family.
Finally, Mr. Jirai went down to his knees to, throwing his arms around both his wife and daughter. Gumo was crying so hard it was difficult to say whether she'd even noticed.
But she certainly wasn't fighting against it. All she wanted more than anything was the holds these two had on her right now.
Dr. Alina had taken the reins from that point on, Uraraka stepping back to act as support if needed. The hour passed by, some of the time naturally set aside to allowing the Jirai family to calm down and fix themselves up. She went over the usual with them. The ways they could help their daughter and themselves adjust to her Quirk going forward. The importance of clear, open communication regarding whatever ideas or impressions Gumo's relation to her Quirk may give her. Setting up time for a follow-up appointment and giving numbers they could call if they found themselves struggling. How they WILL be having people coming by on occasion to make sure Gumo is being treated properly. And so on.
Finally, their time all together came to an end. Mr. And Mrs. Jirai got up to leave, this time being allowed to bring their daughter home with them.
"Bye, Miss Uravity." Gumo held the kneeling hero's hands. Unsurprising for a kid, she was having trouble dealing with the mix of emotions she was feeling. Happy to be with her parents again. Sad that she wouldn't be with Uraraka anymore.
"I'll be sure to see you again." Uraraka promised her. "So keep that adorable little chin up, okay?"
Gumo nodded her nod excitedly, doing her best to put on a strong face and show that she was going to be okay. She released Uraraka's hand and went back over to her parents' side, though it was still clear to everyone how much she was having to fight through her nervousness.
That's when Mr. Jirai had a flash of inspiration.
"Hey, Gumo?"
Gumo turned her head up, looking backwards at her dad in confusion.
He raised both his arms up, in a pose not unlike he was pretending to creep up on someone. Such a thing was certain to cause confusion in most people, but with the way Gumo's face immediately brightened up she knew exactly what this was and couldn't throw her hands up in the air fast enough.
Pressing his middle and rings fingers against his palms, webbing shot down from his wrists, grabbing the tiny outstretched hands.
"The Puppet Spider has snagged his latest prey! Gonna has to walk her out of here so she can escape!" He dramatically declared, with the way Gumo couldn't stop giggling making it clear this was some game the two had played since she back when she was even younger than she was now.
Mr. Jirai then gave a series of blinks as he felt something suddenly coat his own hands.
Gumo's were only lightly covered in her father's webs, leaving her fingers just free enough to copy his pose and shoot her own webs up to him.
"See, dad?! I can do it too! I'm just like you!" She said to him so excitedly, having been waiting for so long to be able to do this.
Now that he thought about it, that web in the backyard had been the first time she'd ever made one, wasn't it? A reason, probably an even bigger one to her, besides the rabbits she'd been so eager to show him what she'd done. And it hadn't even occurred to him until now.
"You sure are, kiddo." He told her, swallowing the small choke in his voice so that she wouldn't hear it. The smile he gave her was deliberate but not insincere. Self-pity wasn't going to solve anything. What his daughter needed now was for him to just be her father.
"Alright now! Let's march!" They both declared as Gumo lead the way, despite being the puppet being held by the strings, but given how Mr. Jirai went along with it this likely wasn't outside the norm when they did this. His job was just to keep her arms up as he followed behind.
Gumo's smile. It was wide and unrestrained. Her tusks clicking as she laughed without a care in the world to their noise.
"Am I...cute?"
Uraraka felt a familiar pain in her heart at the echo of those words.
Mrs. Jirai was the last to leave. "Thank you. Thank you both for everything." She said sincerely.
"You'll do fine. I have no doubt about that." Uraraka reassured her in response.
The door closed behind her, leaving just the two women behind in the office.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa..." Uraraka collapsed backward onto the nearest chair, laying sideways across its arms.
"Been holding that in for a while, I take it?" Dr. Alina playfully ribbed her as she straightened up and put away the papers on her desk.
"I love when they have happy endings like this but they still tend to get heavy on the way there." Uraraka replied simply, refusing to yet open her eyes as she rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand. The Jirai's weren't the only recent case she'd been brought in to help with but it'd certainly been the one that had occupied most of her time.
"And that's coming from someone who can literally negate gravity."
"Only literally, Ros. Great for rubble and debris, not so much for familial issues. I chose this life and I don't regret it but I'm soooo looking forward to doing regular patrols again for a bit."
"Everyone needs a break to recharge. Unsurprising, Pro Heroes are no different, no matter how much of a brave face you put on for us."
"A break..." Uraraka's thoughts drifted.
While a bit awkward from her current position, she reached into the poach on her belt. She felt around carefully, pinky held to her palm so she wouldn't make anything accidentally float. There was the hard plastic of the First Aid case. The fuzz of an All Might Christmas ornament. Annnnd...there. The smooth and bumpy feeling of intertwined metal.
She pulled out the small length of chain, letting the ring at its end flop down and dangle in front of her eyes. It'd be too easy to lose if she actually wore it during work but it didn't feel right to just leave it behind at home when she'd be gone for these long trips away.
Uraraka gave a soft smile at the memory, almost able to see him through the ring's center, down on his knee presenting it to her. Fighting to not trip over the words he'd clearly gone over a hundred times in his head already. Rubbing his fluffy green hair to distract himself from his nerves. The way he almost collapsed after she'd accepted. Did he really think there was any way she was going to say no?
Seeing him again after three weeks apart. That sounded like exactly the kind of break she needed.
"Have you set the date yet?" Dr. Alina asked, it being kind of difficult not to notice her staring at a piece of jewelry in the middle of her office.
"No. Not yet. Don't worry, you'll get your own invite." Uraraka said, curling the ring into her fingers and holding it down to her chest as she continued to take this opportunity to relax. "It's not like we're intending to throw a huge wedding but right now most of our extra income is going to the house we want, so money's a little tight at the moment and we're putting it off until we're at least moved in."
Tight...relatively speaking. She'd grown up with money being tight. Compared to back then she was almost flush with cash. Her checks weren't anywhere close to what bigger Pros like LeMillion and Mount Lady were pulling but between her job, royalties from the Uravity merchandise, Izuku's teaching salary, and even what was coming in now that he'd returned to Pro Heroing part-time, it felt almost alien how good financially she was doing. She was on her way to actually putting down a payment for buying a house, not just renting one.
Even her parent's construction business had been on the uptick over the years, to the point she frequently had to push back against her dad's attempts to pay her back for the money she'd given them during the times the business was in trouble, since it'd been a GIFT, not a loan. She'd obviously told her parents right away when she'd got engaged but the exact details of the wedding she was keeping a closely guarded secret, lest they insist on paying for the whole thing themselves the second they heard the two couldn't afford to have it just yet.
God, she loved them so much.
"Well, I'm sure you'll start seeing some extra coming your way soon." Dr. Alina remarked. "My husband's brother, the one who works at the toy store? Apparently according to him the upcoming Deku toy has got a lot of the major retailers in a heavy competition with each other to the ones selling it in time for Christmas. It's shaping up to be the hot item of the season."
Uraraka gave a small giggle. It wasn't just their old class. Midoriya really had underestimated how many people had been looking forward to his return. Half the kids she'd worked with were almost certainly going to be bugging their parents for one once they caught wind of it.
"I wonder if there's a way I can get one early." She mused absentmindedly.
"Couldn't you just ask your fiancé? I thought Pros could usually get advanced copies of their merchandise, as long as they don't go too crazy with the number."
"I could but this is less about the toy itself and more wanting a little bit of...payback, I guess you could call it." Uraraka turned her head to smile at Dr. Alina and playfully put a shushing finger to her mouth. "Ever since my first poster Izuku's been collecting my merchandise. Don't get me wrong, it's really sweet and he's always been so supportive of my career but I don't think even my office has as much of my face scattered around as the wall at our apartment does. I think his goal is to someday have as much Uravity merch as he does All Might merch." She gave a sigh. "I knew he was an otaku before we got together."
"So your "payback" essentially will be you just trying to sneak some greenery into that collection." Dr. Alina remarked drolly.
Uraraka scratched the side of her temple, a little embarrassed. "At least enough for me to have something to enjoy looking at on that wall. I've never really been a collector and trying to compete with him in that regard definitely feels like I'd get swept away in the landslide that'd follow."
"Well, if you find a way, definitely try and see if you can pass the blessings onto me." Dr. Alina just shrugged at the whole thing. "My daughter is almost certainly going to be one of the rugrats begging for a Deku toy once the commercials start airing."
"Will do." Uraraka gave her a thumbs up. "I like Peachie. I'd be happy to spoil her a bit for you."
"You like all kids, Uravity, in case how good you are at your job wasn't proof enough of that. I can only imagine what you and Deku are going to be like when you're eventually parents."
Unintentionally, Uraraka's hand squeezed the ring within its hold a little tighter.
"...Yeah. Eventually." She said simply, trying to keep her voice neutral enough so that Dr. Alina wouldn't think much of that line of conversation not continuing.
Her thumb found itself rubbing the ring's edge up and down, her fingers needing something to occupy them.
She...would have preferred if her friend hadn't brought it up.
"I don't want to think about it yet."
Author's Notes: I always wanted to do an IzuOcha fanfic. Unoriginal a pick as it may be, they are my favorite ship in all of MHA and probably one of my top ships in general. It's definitely a big comfort ship for me.
Never thought I'd be writing it partially out of spite though.
Not spite for the ending, mind you. For the most part I do actually quite like MHA's ending, with my biggest complaint mainly being that I don't yet feel a full sense of closure, with one of those things naturally being the lack of direct confirmation on Midoriya and Uraraka being a couple. I'm certainly clinging to the potential implications that they are and am cautiously optimistic and hopeful we'll get some kind of confirmation in the near future.
No, my spite is towards the people who decided to flashbang the fandom and half the internet with all their cucking "memes" and "jokes" after the ending that just treated Midoriya and Uraraka horribly, all because she might not be in a relationship with him.
I'm pretty sure most of those people don't even care about Uraraka to begin with and solely viewed her as bragging rights for Midoriya or whatever "alpha male" character they have as their favorite. They sure don't seem to spare a word or thought to how she worked to improve Quirk counseling after becoming a Pro Hero, which was a very good ending to her arc and conflict with Toga. Nope. It's all about who's d*ck she's glued to.
Seriously, f*k those people.
So, to cleanse myself after having to deal with all that toxic bullsh*t, I wrote this short little story.
By the way, I got the names of Gumo's family from a Yu-Gi-Oh card and Dr. Alina is a Mario character. Figured I should fit the theme of Horikoshi's doctor characters.