A shaded sky, tinted a tone darker from being brightly blue, stares down at Izuku Midoriya as he looks up. The shopping mall's ceiling is domed higher than most cathedral architecture, made of a sun shielding glass layer. Absentmindedly, his body weaves its way through a tributary flow of walkways below the plaza's skylight. Only when he hears his fellow outing companions chatting does he bring his gaze back down to stare straight ahead, and his mind as well only then begins to reconfigure his existence at that present place.
He and a collection of girls stroll through the shopping center without much rhyme or reason. Kyoka Jirou, who always tends to feign carelessness, expresses care by asking the group about their intentions per store destinations. "What are camping essentials?", she reminds them of the original purpose behind this trip for Class 1-A …he and Gwen- Melissa Shield aside… but it's a good enough question to ask in order to prevent them from merely wandering aimlessly.
MJ- Itsuka Kendo makes a lighthearted joke out of her answer, "You could always ask Iida! I'm sure he made a list!", but she's really just hiding the fact that she herself doesn't know what they should all be looking for to buy. For all her martial arts knowledge, survival skills – especially for being out in the woods – doesn't necessarily mean she'd be all that versed on wilderness materials.
"No way! It'd just be emergency kit stuff like flares and flashlights!", Toru Hagakure laughs at her friend's misdirectional mention of Iida. She's looking for a fun shopping trip experience anyways. Not an actual equipment assembly checklist. They'll be seeking out more recreational things rather than necessary essentials if they all follow her lead.
"Oh", Melissa Shield catches on quickly and makes a suggestion under those circumstances, "So you're looking for stuff like s'mores ingredients then!" If she felt like the odd one out on this shopping trip already, then she feels even more singled out when all eyes fall on her.
"S'mores?" Hagakure wonders outloud for everybody what it is that Melissa suggested.
"What is that, like, an American thing?" Jirou's earjacks sway when she leans her head to one side while inquiring about the s'mores as well.
"No way all of you have never had s'mores..", Melissa looks to the boy beside her for assistance on the matter – her hopefulness is both in him as a fellow non Hero Course student and that he may have a clue as to what she's saying – she has a pleading look behind the frames of her glasses, "Midoriya?"
Much to her relief, Izuku does happen to have familiarity with the camping treat. "S'mores?" He says it more than asks about it like the others. Though, his answer does come with a hint of sorrow in his tone, "Once.. with my dad.."
She can relate to that bittersweet feeling he has when recalling a distant but fond memory. Especially when it comes to absent fathers. "Me too..", she meets his gaze and the two hold that stare for some time in a kindred sense of connection. After a while, Melissa looks away and clears her throat. "Um, anyways, they're basically just marshmallows and chocolate between two graham crackers."
"Sounds pretty good to me", Jirou shrugs as she agrees to the idea of s'mores for a snack. It may be coming from two people that aren't even going to be on the camping trip but it's still worth considering from her understanding.
Hagakure seconds that opinion with her own vote, "S'mores ingredients it is then!", she doesn't even wait to get Kendo's say for a final decision to be made.
"But we should also get important stuff too", Kendo provides her input anyways, "Like hiking boots or–"
"Don't be a buzzkill! We're at the mall! Let's have fun!", but Hagakure is too excited about s'mores now to be willing to cooperate with an actually coordinated shopping list. She skips ahead of everybody else in an effort to also hype them all up as well.
Kendo rolls her eyes but smiles nonetheless. She quickens her pace to keep up with the transparent girl of the group. Izuku walks alongside her, also hastening his walking speed. She turns to him and jokingly asks, "Are you having fun Midoriya?"
Although, the joke goes over his head. Izuku fakes a smile as he deadpans an answer, "Absolutely."
Jirou makes a noise, something between a scoff and a short laugh, but smiles good naturedly. Even with her heightened hearing, she or anyone can tell by his tone that he's not simply playing along with the joke. She shares her own sarcastic statement. "Yeah, you sound ecstatic to be here."
Izuku fixes her with a sidelong stare. "You're not all that thrilled either.. Are you?", his drawl loses the hint of humor it may have originally had before. Now, there's no joke or amusement intended.
Jirou stops to look at Izuku and asks, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Izuku halts his walk as well to turn and face her. He notes out of the corner of his eye that Kendo is watching them. "Kaminari got as short a fuse as Bakugo?", his ill mood is directed toward both girls now that he's got their shared attention.
"Guys.. ?", Hagakure notices everybody – including Shield – has now stopped walking. She turns back to see what the cause of commotion is about.
"Kaminari and I aren't anything", Jirou denies Izuku's accusation about her relationship with the electric quirked teenager – although, she has to force & fight down a blush – she looks around at the group gathering around her and adds, "Not that it is anybody's business."
Izuku blinks back his confusion. He wants to pry further about Jirou and Kaminari even if she's uncomfortable talking about it. Some slight consideration that he might have misinterpreted things when seeing them together crosses his mind. He may not be able to tell if she's lying by her heartbeat like she can but he believes she's telling the truth, at the very least.
Kendo looks between Jirou and the boy before inserting herself into their argument. She forms a 'love triangle' out of their placement when facing eachother. "Speaking of Bakugo.. What was that between you two earlier?", she takes her chance to ask Izuku about their earlier exchange & altercation.
Izuku turns his attention from Jirou to Kendo. If the one girl is undeserving of his ire, then he deems the other one is. He still has plenty of harbored resentment to release and he can't find anybody better to direct it at other than Kendo currently. "Worried that he can't keep a secret or something?", he takes a verbal jab at the redhead that her martial arts training couldn't have prepared her for.
Kendo flinches like she was physically hit. Her heartbeat picks up but for a different reason from the other times that she's interacted with Izuku Midoriya. Hearing him say that makes her worry about whether or not Katsuki Bakugo can keep a secret. She worries she may not have given Bakugo much reason to keep her secrets after their argument.
There's a tension in the air so thick that it can't even be swallowed when Melissa Shield sucks on her saliva. She clears her throat while trying to interject, "I feel like I'm missing something here."
Hagakure also puts herself in the middle of the 'fight'. She serves as a mediator to quell the problem while saying, "Maybe we all are – the point – the point of this meetup is to enjoy ourselves and get along!"
Jirou crosses her arms and looks away, "Tell that to the instigator", she's still flustered over the accusation to do with her and Kaminari.
Kendo opens her mouth to also say something. Although, she thinks better of herself and closes it just as quickly. The ginger girl looks away, matching Jirou's body language by folding her arms under her bust.
Hagakure continues to be their peacemaker while trying to make light of the situation with a joke, "You've gotta give it to em though! Most guys would be thrilled to be surrounded by girls like this!" She keeps the attention on them when otherwise asking, "Hey.. Midori.. Which of us do you like the most?"
Which, both as a question and attention adjustment, works like a charm. Kendo and Jirou become flustered for a reason other than being upset with the boy.
"Hagakure!", Kendo covers her face with huge hands in order to hide her embarrassment.
"Toru!", even Shield is taken aback. The blonde girl shyly looks away as she blushes.
"What the heck?!", Jirou fans her face while simultaneously trying to keep her ear jacks from becoming too tangled.
"What?! Don't tell me that none of you aren't curious!", Hagakure giggles as she gauges each girl's reaction. She proudly places her hands on her hips, pleased with herself and what she's done.
"It's just an out of pocket question..", Jirou tucks her jacks behind her ears to keep them from squeamishly squirming around. The petite girl somehow shrinks even smaller to hide her shamefulness.
Shield nods along before pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, "And not fair.. Midoriya hasn't even known me for that long.."
Somehow, the irony of the situation becomes lost to them – they are all talking about Izuku Midoriya but none of the girls notice that the boy in question has since then vanished from the scene – he slipped away some time ago. The reason being… is the ensuing explosion that blows them all backwards. Izuku had sensed it preemptively with his Spider-Sense and snuck off to change into his alter ego.
Through flickering fire, a silhouetted shape steps out from a damaged wall. Covered by a purple hood, a green skinned figure basks in the orange glow of destruction. He exudes a manic aura that can only belong to a villain. When his sickly yellow eyes lock onto the girls that got caught in the radius of his blast-in-troduction, a devilish grin completely confirms his villain status. "Well now.. Hello my dears.. If it isn't all of our favorite little play things!"
Kendo clambers to her feet in order to protectively plant herself in front of the others. "Back off!", her fists enlarge and OFA radiates across her body in an effort to intimidate the villain.
"Ouch", the goblin-esk offender feigns being hurt by placing a hand over his heart, "Rejection never gets any easier" A sly smile and the sarcastic tone mocks Kendo's brave front.
Hagakure worriedly looks between Jirou and Kendo, "What do we do? We're not allowed to do anything without a license!" It's all too similar to what happened on I-Island and not quite like the USJ incident. A public space instead of school grounds without permissible quirk usage from an instructor can warrant expulsion and legal remedial action.
But Jirou, ever the rebel if her punk aesthetic attire is enough to go by, stands up alongside Kendo. "I'm not standing around doing nothing a second time!", she views things from a familiar perspective to that of Spider-Man if she's not mistaken when it comes to bending the rules in favor of justice.
Kendo is torn. She nervously starts to sweat. She wants to protect her friends but she's still got a ways to go when it comes to accepting the gray area in between black & white hero laws. Her fists shrink somewhat as they start to shake. "No, Hagakure is right, we need to back off and retreat.."
The villain who had so courteously waited this long for them to bicker now begins to charge up an attack from his palms. "You all better decide on something soon!", he lets out a crude cackle when fire ignites from his form, "Or your friend isn't going to be around much longer!"
A focused beam of heated energy, something stronger than that of a simple flame, blasts toward Melissa Shield. But before the orange laser can reach the damsel in distress, she's whisked away and rescued by none other than Spider-Man. The vigilante carries her out of range from the hazard zone as an explosion engulfs the spot behind them.
When they land safely at a relative distance, Spider-Man sets her down. The frazzled girl looks at her rescuer, startled and shocked. But her openmouthed expression soon changes into a familiar frown that he recognizes from I-Island. Gwen– Melissa Shield tells him, "This doesn't change anything", nothing is forgiven.
Spider-Man wishes that he could respond. But he doesn't. There's no time to waste with a villain present anyways. The vigilante leaps back into the fray of fire to face his opponent. When he lands in a crouch, he comes back up with a hard uppercut. However, the punch never lands. The hooded fiend catches his fist with an open palm and softens the strike with a similar feat of strength.
"Impressive!", the green menace gives a spurious compliment to Spider-Man before retaliating with an uppercut of his own. THIS punch lands. The blow sends Spider-Man flying backwards.
Watching the guy who took on Doctor Doom and other criminal crazies get his shit rocked makes Jirou all the more willing to take action. She plugs her ear jacks into the ground in order to ready her quirk's abilities. "Still wanna not fight back?", the hero hopeful looks back at her friends to see if they'll back her up or not.
"Fine! You'd better not make me regret this!", Kendo unleashes the black whip aspect of OFA and uses the rope-like limbs to bind the villain in front of them.
With the villain held in place, Jirou works alongside Kendo to perform a combo-type move. "Take THIS creep!", she sends a sonic wave through the floor to jolt the fiendish fellow with strong vibrational frequencies.
The Green Goblin violently shakes. Not from the vibrations flowing through him though. He shakes with laughter. He whips his head back as he cackles loudly. Then, by merely flexing his muscles, he breaks free of the black whips that had been wrapped around his body.
Watching her black whip protrusions get snapped off so easily makes Itsuka Kendo take a startled step back while she mutters, "That's not good.."
On that note, Spider-Man returns – having recovered from being launched – and puts himself in between the villain and the girls. "You all did good holding this guy off! Now get outta here!", he urges them to run away while getting himself into a stance that's ready for combat.
But Hagakure pushes past Kendo & Jirou in order to grab Spider-Man by an arm and holds him back. "Wait! Don't hurt this guy!", she shocks them all when she says, "He's an anthropomorphic type like Ojiro! Maybe this is a misunderstanding again!"
The Green Goblin finds this amusing, laughing with glee. He aims with his fingers pointed like they're a pair of pistols. From the pointed ends, miniaturized laser beams fire out. Spider-Man has to grab and carry all of the girls away from the focused blasts in order to keep them from being shot.
"That's twice now that he's tried killing your friends", Spider-Man refutes Hagakure with a counter observational point. "Misunderstanding or not..", the vigilante pushes the invisible girl and the others away before facing Green Goblin again, "..That's unforgivable."
Spider-Man is thinking 'what are the odds that this could be a repeat scenario similar to Ojiro?' without realizing that it's Katsuki Bakugo who he is fighting against currently. When the serum took effect on Bakugo, Bakugo's Goblin state of mind took to stealing a hoodie in order to conceal his identity – that garment coupled with a green skin pigmentation, pointed ears, and a tonal eye color change is enough to throw anybody off – and so he operates under a disguised persona.
"Think fast!", Green Goblin fires another round of concentrated laser beams by switching from finger gun to finger gun, "Think faster!" The villain takes delight in making Spider-Man scurry to dodge the beam blasts.
Spider-Man feels the symbiote squirming along his skin every time the superheated lasers come close to hitting him. He has to move to take cover in order to recuperate. "Not only does this guy have some sorta fire based quirk to put us at a disadvantage..", Spider-Man frets over the unpleasantry of having to handle a villain that can harm the symbiote – when one of the lasers slices his arm and makes the protective symbiote sear when trying to shield him, he becomes even more disgruntled – Spider-Man growls while peaking from his spot of cover, "That precision of his is a problem as well.."
"Who's laughing at the weaker person now?!", Green Goblin continues to relish in having the advantage while cackling all the while.
"Yeah, this whole thing is just hilarious…" Spider-Man doesn't bother with a witty retort other than that. Now annoyed, he focuses on closing the gap between himself and his opponent.
Spider-Man tosses stray objects in front of himself so that they intercept Goblin's lasers. The beams wind up getting crossed and Spider-Man moves quickly enough to get up close and personal with his enemy. However, before Spider-Man can grab the Green Goblin, a different orange illumination consumes the mall floor. It's a bright glow that comes from the villain's chest.
An explosion engulfs the area. Flames tear along the walls, ceiling, and ground. Spider-Man takes the brunt of the blast before being blown back. The symbiote squeals as it gets damaged from the intense detonation of heat.
More cackling comes from Green Goblin. "You thought it'd be a good idea to get closer to a fire type?! That IS hilarious!" Flames flicker and flare along his now exposed torso. The hoodie he had on is charred and torn, hardly hiding his facial features anymore. The fire does a good job of concealing his identity with shadows though. "Could've gone with a better first opponent to show off my new and improved power but..", his hands are starting to revert from having sharpened claws to now having regular fingernails as well, "This will have to make for a decent debut.. I suppose."
Since the formula's effects are beginning to wear off, the villain is forced to fall back. Which does him and Spider-Man BOTH a favor. For the Goblin, retreat does him well to hide his identity as Katsuki Bakugo per the damaged hood & transformation back to his usual self. For Spider-Man, he's fortunate that the villain doesn't stay behind to finish him off while he is weakened.
The symbiote suffers from the Goblin's attack. It struggles to reshape and form itself back around its host. What part of it got burned away works overtime to regenerate. Spider-Man crawls and groans, trying to help the symbiote by putting distance between them and the fire around them.
Just as he feels he's about to succumb to his weakened state, Spider-Man is saved by someone. He feels gentle arms grabbing ahold of him so that he can be dragged away from the fire. His head lulls and swims while he searches for his savior.
"Are you okay?", Kyoka Jirou looks down at him with a scrunched up & concerned look on her face. She worriedly tends to moving the injured vigilante to where a support column still remains intact. The girl props him up against it there.
Already, the symbiote starts to recover and recoat the cell layers that have been damaged. Where patches of scarred skin and flesh are exposed soon become covered by the slimy surface that is the symbiote's safety. Spider-Man still stirs nonetheless while asking, "How'd you find us?"
Jirou looks around, thinking that the vigilante is referring to himself and the villain he was fighting. "I just focused on specific sounds", her ear jacks raise as though aiding her answer but they're more-so in a defensive state should the villain return.
Spider-Man shifts to stand up – Jirou helps him when he stumbles – he slumps a little but does manage to get on his own two feet. "Thanks for the assistance", and then he's ready to leave. With sirens in the distance able to be heard, with or without enhanced hearing, it's probably a good idea that he does.
Jirou takes him by the wrist when it raises to spin a web though. Her hand slides into his own as she steers him back around to face her. "Hey, um, before you go.." The girl shyly diverts her gaze, "Whatever you or Midoriya think is going on with me and Kaminari.. He and I are just close friends.." When she doesn't receive a response right away, she looks back at him. "You believe me.. Right?"
Spider-Man's stare softens. However, only for a second. The white eye lens on his mask crease at the corners as his stare hardens. "Kaminari is not your friend", his voice is just as rough as his eyes. When he turns his back to Jirou, he pulls his hand away from hers. "Just thought you'd ought to know.." And then he fires a web line from that same hand to swing away.
All the while, Toru Hagakure looks on from a nearby place. Despite her quirk granting her invisibility to spy and eavesdrop easily, she hides behind a damaged debris piece.
Some time later, police and emergency services have chartered off the shopping mall. They tend to everyone that had been present during the villain attack from within the plaza's parking lot. A few overly dramatic people get checked out by medical site professionals, but otherwise there aren't any injuries or casualties to warrant a fully fledged sort of activity. Only witness testimonies and interviews will be able to turn the tides of that if at all.
Amongst some of the written reports being taken, Sansa Tamakawa sits with Itsuka Kendo to get her story on what happened to transpire. The cat-like cop jots down details in a notepad much like his passed predecessor in law enforcement. "So we're looking for an anthropomorphic type with a green skin pigmentation", he's unaware that this description of the crime's culprit will lead him nowhere so long as Katsuki Bakugo doesn't transform again.
"That's right", the same goes for Itsuka Kendo who believes she's genuinely helping with the prospect of a police investigation, "I couldn't see very much otherwise."
Tamakawa sighs as he clicks the pen that he was using to write with. "They're a dime a dozen but it's a start", he's not too keen on conducting a search with characters that can easily match that description all over the world – plus there's the fact of the matter that this will be all a wild goose chase considering Bakugo doesn't meet that criteria ordinarily – but he plans to work with the potential lead anyways.
Kendo happens to then see Bakugo in the distance. Since he had disappeared during the commotion, she intends to go over and check on him. "Um, can I be excused now?" But she first asks the officer that she's speaking with if that's allowed.
When Tamakawa tracks the girl's gaze, throwing a brief glance back, he gets the gist of it and nods. "Sure, kid" He smiles as he closes the notepad that he got all Kendo's information documented in. "We're finished."
Kendo quickly thanks the officer before excusing herself to intercept Bakugo. "Where have you been?! I was worried sick!", she catches up to the blonde boy and gets his attention.
When Bakugo looks at her, he appears dazed and confused. That's not quite the reaction she had been expecting. The usual gruff demeanor of anger that he has is lacking any real aggression when he answers her. "I thought you wanted nothing to do with me.. ?"
Kendo awkwardly turns away from him. "Just because you were being an ass, that doesn't mean I don't care.." How she felt earlier over their argument has had the time to fade, especially after such a fiasco. Though, when she looks down at her hands and sees the burn mark on the wrist that he had grabbed, she's not entirely willing to forgive him right yet either.
Bakugo notices her staring at the injury that he gave her – without having even gone 'Goblin Mode' beforehand – and swallows the lump that forms in his throat, "Tch", he then turns away from her as a poor man's copy of her body language. "I'm fine.." He plays off the side effects of the serum that are making him somewhat dizzy since he doesn't want her knowing about that at all.
Thinking that it may be a good idea to change the subject, Kendo starts to look around the area. "Midoriya's missing too", she just somehow doesn't realize it's a poor decision to choose Izuku Midoriya as the new subject of interest, "Why are you boys so reckless?!"
Before Bakugo can say anything, Kendo spots Denki Kaminari instead of the boy she intended on finding. The electric user is accompanied by Hitoshi Shinso and Kyoka Jirou. Jirou overhears the tail end of Kendo's conversation with Bakugo and joins in, "Midoriya? He probably just got scared and ran off when that guy attacked."
Kaminari huffs out a laugh, "You mean like a coward?" Which earns a quick glare from both Jirou and Kendo.
Shinso backs up the blonde boy though, "We saw him do it before in U.A's cafeteria", he brings up a similar situation where basically the same thing happened.
"Weren't you sticking up for him then?" Jirou frowns at the boy that she thought was Midoriya's friend when hearing him say such a thing behind Midoriya's back.
"Clearly that was a mistake", but Shinso is unphased. As a matter of fact, he only feels further justified in his changed feelings towards his former friend. "Maybe you should know better by now too."
Everyone's opinion on the matter is shaken as much as they are startled when Katsuki Bakugo of all people has something significantly different to say about Izuku Midoriya. "He's not like that..", he surprisingly DEFENDS Midoriya, "..He never was.."
Bakugo thinks about the boy that he grew up with. Despite being quirkless, Izuku Midoriya never gave up on his dream of being a hero. So the nerd turning tail at the first sign of danger instead of trying to help doesn't make any sense to him. The dumbass not facing the facts about reality when it comes to trouble and his capability is what pissed Bakugo off the most. For that to so suddenly change… Bakugo's red eyes catch a glint of yellow when he thinks a thought so simple and yet so detrimentally important to keep in mind: Izuku Midoriya is hiding something.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. None other than the subject matter himself, Izuku Midoriya, jogs over to the small group. "Guys! There you are!", he acts like he's been looking for them all this time.
"That's OUR line!" Jirou raises her ear jacks, threatening to jab the boy with them for making her worry and then having the gall to act all nonchalant about it.
Kaminari shares a look with Shinso. They know well enough to keep their mouths shut but they're able to communicate somewhat with the mutual look alone. As surprised as they are to have heard Bakugo defending Midoriya, their opinions haven't changed.
Kendo shakes off her own stupor – she's especially shocked that Bakugo would turn over a new leaf so soon after what they argued over – and she directs her focus onto Midoriya. She asks him, "Where the heck were you?"
Midoriya plays off the question with a small chuckle while bashfully rubbing the area behind his neck, "We wound up doubling back and hiding in the bathroom to wait things out.."
Now, Katsuki Bakugo is really sure of his suspicions about Izuku Midoriya hiding something. Before the Green Goblin incident, he had been in the bathroom himself. He did not see the other boy there. Even if he did wind up blacking out – and can't seem to remember much of what happened afterwards – he knows for a fact that the damned nerd is lying for some reason. Bakugo's stare skewers as he watches Midoriya from the corner of his eye.
All the while, Shinso scoffs at the excuse Midoriya gave for a different reason. "See? Told you all he was a coward that abandoned you."
"What was that?", Midoriya doesn't take kindly to the remark – he'd normally let such a comment slide – but everyone is surprised by the boy's behavior suddenly developing some sorta backbone.
"Guys", Kendo can see things escalating and getting out of hand though so she does her best to intervene before it does, "Stop."
But Shinso pushes her aside, having had enough animosity built up that he feels the need to air some of it out finally. "No! It's long overdue somebody puts this jerk in his place", Shinso gets in Midoriya's face.
"Funny", and Midoriya doesn't cower or back down as he stands his ground, "Because we were thinking the same thing."
Kendo looks to Jirou for help. Jirou steps forwards with the intent to separate the two, "Guys! Seriously! Knock it off!"
But Kaminari places himself in the way, getting in front of her. "I say let em hash it out", he grins while relishing in the confrontational moment.
Shinso takes that as his chance to really let loose on Midoriya. He gives his old friend a piece of his mind. "You say 'we' a lot lately – like you've got friends to back you up – but from how it looks to me, you've chased away all the people who actually wanted to be your friends!", he sneers while leaning forward, "And to be frank.. You deserve them leaving you. You deserve to be all alone."
Izuku Midoriya decks Hitoshi Shinso. The punch sends Shinso stumbling backwards. Shinso then winds up sprawled out across the pavement of the parking lot.
"Hey!", Sansa Tamakawa is the closest police officer on the scene so he's the first to respond to the fight, "What happened here?!", the cop hurries over to see Shinso unconscious on the ground.
All of the teens other than Izuku are too stunned to say anything. So he speaks on their behalf. Izuku gives Shinso a single glimpse and says, "He fell."
Steam fogs the bathroom, which blinds & blurs Izuku Midoriya's reflection in the mirror as he looks ahead at it with a blank stare. Sweat mixes in with condensation, water beads rolling off of his face. Instead of grabbing and using a towel to dry off, he drags his rough hands over the damp skin. He then keeps them there so that he can hold his own head up. It's filled with thoughts after the day that he's had – which is nothing new.. but still.. – he needs a moment to mull things over.
After hitting Shinso, he just … walked away. He knows he should have done that from the very beginning – walked away – without ever hitting Shinso. It's just that he thought Shinso was his friend still and to hear otherwise set him off. Regardless… He considers himself lucky that all he got out of assaulting the other boy was a few stares and not some sort of reprimanding from Tamakawa – he's sure that if he stuck around, then maybe he would have – but he also wonders if Tamakawa even recognized him to bother beyond what was done about it already.
There ought to be some explaining to do the next time that he sees Jirou and the others. Even if they are in the Hero Course and he's only in Gen Ed. And he can count on things only becoming even more increasingly estranged between him and his fellow Gen Ed classmate now; he fears that Shinso might even try to stir up further trouble. Things are going to get complicated with his relationships and he's not wanting to deal with that any time soon.
Tamakawa probably won't pursue him, even if he did recognize him. But that was too close for comfort for his liking either. If Shinso decides to press charges of some kind, then that could definitely make things worse. Trouble with the police as Spider-Man is one thing but them snooping into his lifestyle as Izuku Midoriya would spell disaster. He frets over the possibility of having things crumble around him just because he lost his cool.
Then there's the Green Goblin. A new member of his rogues gallery still at large and out on the loose. To make matters worse, the Goblin has a quirk that's a direct counter to the symbiote which was meant to make him stronger. He had thought himself to be at his peak, at a new level of capability, and this new villain put him to shame in seconds. It's been some time since he struggled with an enemy this way.
As Izuku dwells over the series of mall incidents, he doesn't notice his mother stepping into the doorframe behind him. She has to rap on the side of it with her knuckles to get his attention. He whirls around, shocked to see her. He doesn't have the chance to hide his torso that's covered with burn marks from the fire that he was engulfed in.
Inko shudders and shivers despite the steamy heat of the bathroom. "Are– Are those from Katsuki.. ?", she shakily makes an assumption based off of what she sees from her son.
Izuku looks down at himself, noting the uncanny resemblance to burns he had received growing up from his childhood bully. "Huh?", but he still feels the need to correct her and not lie this time for the sake of potentially causing unwarranted trouble with their neighbors, "No.. Not these ones.."
Inko has to fight back tears. "I'm sorry, sweetie.. I always suspected something was wrong but.." The worrisome mother thinks back on how her son was bullied for being quirkless and fears the worst of that bullying could be happening now. "You'd tell me if there was, wouldn't you?"
The burned boy looks away from his mother, "We're just hurting right now.."
Inko swallows down a sob, still not allowing herself to break down and cry. She believes her child is referring to them and their relationship. With the focus moved from external wounds, she addresses the internal injuries as well. "We are.. Aren't we?"
Izuku slowly turns his head to look back at his mom. He doesn't say anything in return but he's at the very least returning her gaze now. The two of them just stand there for a while, taking in the other person's company and the air of emotions.
Despite what they have to work through together to get back to where they were before, they are still mother and son, and so Inko Midoriya still insists on taking care of her baby boy. "Well.. Nothing soothes aches and nulls pain better than a nice warm bath!" Inko forces herself to wear a smile while suggesting, "Maybe also grab some of the remaining pine bath essence from the cupboards."
Izuku looks behind himself at the cupboards, "Thanks mom..", and then he agrees to take her advice with a hum and a nod, "Will do."
With that, Inko turns to leave her son to his vices. But, before she does go, she must stop to look back and say one final thing. "Izuku?", she gets his attention before telling him, "I love you."
He steps forward, walking up closer to her. She turns around, expecting him to hug her. He instead puts his hand on the door, "Love you too", and closes it.
With the door in between him and his mother, Izuku rests his head against the wooden wall. He sighs. After a moment more of angst, he turns back around to go ahead and rummage through the bathroom cupboards to find the pine bath essence that his mom told him about.
When Izuku finds the scented bath stuff, he hates the color of it. "Green", his fingers grip the pine properties tighter & tighter until it crushes in his hand, "It would have to be green.."
AUTHOR NOTES
Super relieved with your reactions to Bakugo being Gobby! I thought for sure that it'd be a hit or miss decision, and was worried about the buildup not being enough, but it seems to have worked out well enough. Hope this chapter was just as satisfying as a followup!
Per my approach to Goblin now that the cat is out of the bag - I intend on further developing him to be more like his comic counterpart with the fully fledged outfit (maybe even pumpkin bombs and a glider) with this introduction being more of a early beta test run / tease - oh, and Ultimate comics fans may be pleased with not only how his powers work in a similar sense here but with future plans on how to also adapt that giant monster-esk form.
That being said, the pot continues to be stirred with all of the Izuku/Spidey issues! Girls, Goblins, etc. !
Haha, I've got more twists to come, Nova-x-Prime!
And welcome to the fic family here, Walkmanapprenticewordsmith! I hope that you continue to read, catch up, and find this reply to your review soon! Per Izuku's color scheme with his outfit, I did actually originally think of doing something akin to the 'Big Time Spider-Man' suit for awhile, but the good ol' classic red & blue has a sweet spot with my heart (plus it felt fitting with All Might's colors as a reason for him to go that route). Per organic webbing VS webshooters, the fluid running out and causing such dilemmas is actually why I leaned more towards the support gear route haha! (Though I do absolutely adore the moment in Spider-Man 2 when Peter's powers fail and his webs don't work, which wouldn't have been possible without the webbing being organic!) Lastly but not least, you'll be pleased that on this final note that I do mostly agree with you - you'll find only character meshings in this fic with pretty much no OC's or Marvel character crossovers otherwise!
Glad that you're still on board with the fic, CapoPerk! It is looking like it'll be a long one (definitely my longest fic yet) probably gonna go to 100 chapters or so at this rate with all that I've got planned!
Thank you, Racan! Appreciate the support!
Till next time, readers!
-Courtesy of your friendly neighborhood author!