Inko probably enjoyed chaperoning her son and his friends more than she should, they mainly stuck in a group together as they went from exhibit to exhibit, she loved seeing Izuku explain the reasons why certain things were in the animal's habitats for enrichment to his friends.
But more importantly, that Sunday outing reassured her that as fast as Izuku was maturing and all of the horrid things he saw daily Izuku was still a child at heart, and that he could get just as excited as he did when he was a toddler.
Towards the end of the day, Inko dropped Izuku's friends at the station with assurances that they would walk each other home then she took Izuku back to the apartment, her son was of course tuckered out from his exciting day out, so she was taking care of making dinner while he registered for biology courses.
She would have to do something to thank little Ochacochan since she was the one that suggested going back to college, which gave her a little more time to mentally prepare herself to talk with Izuku *Gosh... How did Izuku ever get up the courage to talk the first time?* she mentally whined feeling abysmal as she thought back to when Izuku confessed the truth of his work in the South Side.
Ever since the day at the onsen Inko had been worrying over how she should tell Izuku her plans, she had even taken a page out of her son's book and tried to make a bunch of different notebooks full of things that she could use to bolster her plan, it helped her to have something she could physically provide as evidence.
That being said Inko was still very nervous about approaching her son about this, as great as her son was to his students Izuku was still very adverse from accepting any help, Izuku only accepted handouts because he could give them right back to the people who gave it to him.
So, it would likely be an uphill battle to get Izuku to agree to let her take over any of his workload, one of the reasons she had put the effort into making as much evidence for why Izuku should let her, hopefully, she would be able to find her words by the end of dinner.
Inko set the table before calling Izuku to come to the table, he walked over with a massive grin and set his laptop over to the side on the counter "Have you already decided which extra subjects you'll take this time?" She questioned and Izuku rapidly nodded "I'm going to take a more advanced JSL course, and I'm torn between whether or not to take another ethics course or a new language." Izuku explained as he made himself a plate.
"What language were you thinking of taking?" She inquired admittedly curious, after all, Izuku knew about four if her last count was right, fluent in English and Japanese, and almost fluent in French and Russian... maybe some Italian, or was it Spanish?
"Oh, I was thinking of taking either German or Chinese," Izuku answered. "I have some students who immigrated from those two countries and a few more with heritage there that are fluent enough to speak it regularly." Izuku elaborated as he sat down "Or I could take both and just drop the accounting course, but I think I need accounting so I can handle finances better." Izuku mused looking conflicted.
Inko almost dropped her cup but shook it off and kept the cup from hitting the ground with her quirk *I guess we're having this conversation now.* she thought nervously fumbling with her cup "A-about that Izuku... Um, there is something I've been m-meaning to talk to you about." Inko said, Izuku blinked and stared up at her curiously "Sure? What do you want to talk about?" Izuku asked, head slightly tilted.
She gulped and tried to find any of the confidence she had last Friday before she tried to speak "Last Friday, I turned in my two weeks' notice at my job." She told him and Izuku blinked then his face twisted into a mix of shock and horror "What... " he muttered "W-why would you do that? You love your job." He timidly questioned looking so lost "I-it's not because of me, right? Have they been giving her a hard time because I'm a two-toes?" Izuku mumbled under his breath not intending for her to hear.
Oh, Inko had gotten a lot of drama from having a little two-toes at home, much less for being a single mother but she quickly jumped up to clear up the misconception because that had not once been a deciding factor in her choice to quit "No dear, I've been thinking about changing careers for a few years now, but we've never been financially stable enough for me to do it before." She assured him, the horror lightened up to unease as Izuku wasn't completely satisfied with that explanation.
"But why?" He meekly questioned, Inko exhaled deeply "Being a nurse was my dream Izuku, I can't deny that, and I've loved my work." She answered thinking back to the early days of her career "But in the last couple of years it's been too much for me, people change every day and dreams can change as well." Inko tentatively elaborated, struggling to explain her changing feelings on the matter in a way that Izuku couldn't somehow twist into making it his fault.
She could practically hear the gears turning in Izuku's head, trying to understand what Inko said and Izuku reluctantly let it lie "Okay... What are you planning to do now then?" He asked Inko making her pause, since losing her ambition for nursing Inko couldn't say she had ever found any sort of desire for another career.
She considered it before, but she was only looking for a higher salary that wouldn't waste any more of her time from caring for Izuku, now though... She wasn't looking for a career, sure she wanted a job, but she wouldn't get very high on any corporate ladder because of her lack of ambition, Inko did know that she would enjoy working with her son and that would be more than enough for her.
"I've considered some fields but I'm not that attached to any of them yet, accounting has been the most promising so far, I got a feel for it when Mitsuchan and I helped you with payroll, so I think I want to get some more experience in the field before I commit." Inko told him and Izuku nodded looking down at his plate and lightly poking at his food.
Okay, Izuku took the news of her quitting relatively well and her change of career, now all she has to do is get Izuku to agree to let her work with him.
Izuku's brow furrowed, and she knew he was mentally working something out in his head before he cautiously turned his gaze back to her, his mouth opened and closed "Do, d-do you want to help out with this month's payroll?" Izuku hesitantly offered, greatly surprising her.
Was Izuku offering her an olive branch and inviting her into this side of his life? Well, he probably didn't mean for it to be like that, he likely was only trying to support her the only way he could like always. But that still took a lot of trust on Izuku's end to even reach out to her like this with something that clearly meant so much to him.
"That sounds like a great way to start, do you need any help with managing the payments for your new properties?" Inko asked feeling perhaps a bit brazenly, Izuku bit his lip and looked away from her "M-maybe... " he painfully admitted, Inko decided that as a responsible adult and good mother chose to do what was best for her child and that was to back off "Alright, well if you ever want a second opinion, feel free to message me Izuku." She commented.
Relief rolled over Izuku in waves "I'll think about it." He replied his shoulders slumping "What do you feel about watching some movies tonight? There's supposed to be a documentary about pre-quirk comic book heroes" Inko suggested and Izuku gained back some of his energy "That sounds great mom, I'll grab us some blankets." He told her, then Izuku and her ate the almost forgotten meal.
A couple of hours later both Midoriyas were curled up on the couch watching an in-depth review of different comic characters, Izuku had been happy to discuss the supposed real-world effects of each hero and villain, he even gave some heroes some harsh criticism.
That probably shocked her more than anything, Inko had never thought she see the day where Izuku looked down on a hero... Though Inko never thought she'd one day have her son being innocently mixed up with multiple criminals and herself being mostly okay with it.
As Izuku watched wide-eyed and grinning as he snuggled closer to her, he got sucked into the lore behind the evolution of one villain character to a hero she couldn't help but wonder just what her life would be like if she hadn't gotten home early to surprise Izuku.
Inko mentally snorted and quickly tossed the thought out before it could actually form, why should she entertain such ideas when she had her son right here to shower with all the love and affection he deserved before he left for Monday, besides nothing good would come from such "what if"s.
"What if" had never changed how people viewed her son or how they treated him, it certainly hadn't made her ex-husband come around from cutting all ties with her son, not that she would ever want that.
A little later in the five-hour documentary, Izuku's excitement couldn't keep him from passing out, his head laid on her shoulder and he was softly snoozing away, Inko smiled fondly and gently ran her hand through his hair.
Sleeping on the couch would surely give her a crick in the neck which would be so annoying to deal with at work tomorrow but looking down at her boy she couldn't help it as a warm bubbly feeling of contentment enraptured her as they finished up another Sunday, Inko grabbed the blanket around them and wrapped it tighter around her son.
As awful as tomorrow could be when she had to go to work Inko had no plans of moving from her spot and instead basked in this small precious moment, she could only count on one hand the number of times they had such moments before Izuku started traveling, there had to be some form of irony where she only got to start spending family time with Izuku after he left home.
Feeling herself drifting off Inko's sleepy mind had enough foresight to turn off the tv and she tried to carefully adjust so her neck pain wouldn't be that bad without waking Izuku up, settling down for the night couldn't stop herself from smiling as she nuzzled her son gaining the most adorable sleepy whine from him.
A sleepy giggle escaped her "I love Izuku." She whispered gaining a small smile Izuku and he muttered "Wuv you too." In his sleep, the warmth she felt from the simple reaction had overwhelmed her to the point of tears.
No matter how much she had to struggle Inko would never regret all of the work she has done to give Izuku the life he deserved, she had made a few blunders here and there, and she had outright failed him after he was confirmed quirkless.
But tonight, just before Inko slipped into unconsciousness she promised herself that after seeing just how much joy for life Izuku still held within himself she wasn't going to stand by as his world shifted with every choice he made, but to stand beside him however he needed her.