Izuku helped Kaoru-Kun run through turning his quirk on and off which was still difficult for the young boy, going under Kaoru-Kun's quirk repeatedly certainly left Izuku in a daze but he was sure that with enough exposure that Kaoru-Kun's quirk wouldn't seriously affect him anymore.
After successfully turning his quirk on and off five times Izuku had him turn it back on and tried walking around the room and they would also try to pick up some of the toys with varying results, but once an hour passed Izuku took the tuckered-out Kaoru-Kun home, making sure to inform her of what Kaoru-Kun told him about the girl being mean to him.
The woman thanked him assuring Izuku she would be "talking" to the girl's parents about her behavior and with that settled Izuku went down to the docks to meet up with Yuri-San, the two enjoyed dinner together and Izuku was happy that he only had to slip back into Japanese a few times, feeling a bit proud he was getting better at holding a conversation in Russian.
They talked about his quirk mainly and he got some more little figurines made from Yuri-San's ice which Izuku adored since they were all adorable little animals, Izuku made sure to thank Yuri-San for the gifts before he left for his train.
The next few days went on fine though he had talked with his mom more since she was helping with payroll, and she needed to know more about how much he made and spent each day.
He already kept track of that, so he just had to write up a document and send it to her by the end of each day, mom had questions though, mainly about how he wanted to do things with his money, like if he preferred payouts in cash or checks.
Though it pained him to say, Izuku had to admit things were a bit easier since he didn't have to crunch all the numbers himself, and even if Izuku would greatly prefer to handle all of it himself he knew he had to do what was best for his students and he knows he can trust his mom… He just wished it felt less like he was pushing his work off onto her.
Mom didn't seem to be overwhelmed by doing the work on top of finishing up her two weeks, if anything she still looked like she had the day they went to the zoo with his friends and was slowly getting better bit by bit with each video call, it must have been because she was given a lighter workload on her two weeks since she called him as soon as she got off work at 2:30pm.
He couldn't complain about it though when he would get to spend more time with her on Thursdays from now on, it was also kind of nice to come home to a dinner he hadn't cooked and they talked a bit more about business before discussing the normal topics, how his students were fairing in their studies or how some inconsiderate some heroes were destroying streets.
When he went to bed that Thursday night Izuku had checked in with his friends group chat to make sure all their plans for tomorrow were still on, wishing them a good night before passing out.
Ochaco nervously picked at a loose thread on her skirt staring at herself anxiously wondering if the thrift store leggings would keep her warm enough and was the skirt and t-shirt right to wear for training or should she bring her P.E uniform instead?
She and Mezo-Kun had been talking about meeting up to train since Izu-Kun first got them into contact with each other, she was a bit anxious about how they would train when she met Mezo-Kun in person for the first-time last Sunday, since he was so much bigger, but he really was the definition of a gentle giant so that fear was quickly quashed.
But Ochaco was still worried about meeting up with the multi-limbed boy to train their quirks, she has never used her quirk outside of school counseling or at home, she could never afford to go to the nearby Quirk center since it was private, and it would take too long to get to the government run Quirk center with how far it was.
And she had never dared to use her quirk in public, having been too scared of getting a fine or a black mark on her record that could bar her from entering a hero school, but both boys had reassured her that it would all be above board and she wouldn't have anything to worry about.
Izu-Kun went as far as to forward the section of the law that specified that quirk use was only illegal when in public spaces and Izu-Kun explained quirk use was alright in privately owned areas so long as they had the property owner's permission, and Izu-Kun was absolutely giving them his permission to use their quirks on his properties.
"Ochaco, dear?" she jumped with a squeak, whirling around she saw her mom "O-oh, hey mom." She awkwardly chuckled relieved "Are you finished getting ready? You're going to miss your train if you don't leave soon." Her mom asked and Ochaco looked at the time on her phone "Eep! Your right mom, I'll be back by dinner. Love you mom!" Ochaco exclaimed giving her mom a quick hug then ran off for the station.
Izu-Kun had given her a detailed list of directions of how to get to Mezo-Kun's place safely if he was delayed and didn't meet her at the station, it had a lot of concerning things mentioned for her to avoid so she hoped that Izu-Kun wasn't late.
The ride over wasn't that bad since it was getting warmer, still nippy with spring around the corner but not bad enough for needing her coat, the other passengers were minding their own business, so she didn't have to worry about anyone bugging her.
Actually, arriving at the station was a different story as Ochaco found herself feeling very out of place as she walked out of Sekiya station and looked around for Izu-Kun, when she didn't see him, she felt like she had swallowed a stone and she timidly took out her phone.
*I wouldn't be a horrible person if I asked Mezo-Kun to come get me, would I?* Ochaco thought hesitating on texting the boy "Ochaco-Chan, over here." Izu-Kun suddenly called, and she saw the greenette walking over to her, Ochaco sighed greatly relieved to see him "Izu-Kun, you're here." She said and eagerly met him halfway to hug him.
Izu-Kun hesitated before hugging her back "Uh, hi Ochaco-Chan, w-we should probably be going now, don't want to keep Mezo-Kun waiting." Izu-Kun replied as she pulled away "Right, I can't wait to get started even if I don't really know what we could do." Ochaco answered nervously, rubbing the side of her neck.
"Oh, don't worry about that Ochaco-Chan, I've already finished my work for the day so I can supervise the whole thing, and I can give you some ideas to start with regardless of if you want to work with Mezo-Kun at first." Izu-Kun assured "We can even plan out what you want to try out while we walk if you want?" he offered and Ochaco accepted it at once, wanting to do something to keep her mind off of her worries.
They got pretty into it since Ochaco almost tripped over her own two feet and would have landed face first if Izu-Kun hadn't caught her "S-sorry Izu-Kun, I-I should've paid more attention to w-where I was going." She quickly apologized, her face getting a touch red as she brushed herself off.
Izu-Kun just flashed her an understanding smile "It's fine Ochaco-Chan, I used to be tripped up by the cracks in the sidewalk all the time when I started coming to the South Side, I should've warned you beforehand." He told her and she blinked shocked then looked around with her jaw dropping when she saw where she was.
"T-the South Side?" she exclaimed disbelievingly as she took in the wrecked buildings and visible destruction wondering how she could have missed it before "Yeah, it can be a bit hard to get around if you aren't paying attention so it would probably be best if you follow behind me closely, we shouldn't run into any trouble but anything can happen." Izu-Kun suggested and Ochaco didn't argue, resisting the urge to grab onto Izu-Kun's arm.
The anxiety waned some as most of the people they passed seemed to be relatively friendly even if they looked utterly terrifying, but she still clung to Izu-Kun's side since she had heard too many stories of girls like her going missing in the South Side.
Thankfully for her heart Izu-Kun got them to a much better-looking apartment building where Mezo-Kun was waiting for them in the same fluffy poncho he wore when they first met, he saw them approaching and waved "Hi guys." Mezo-Kun greeted "I've already got my things together so we can go ahead to the center." Mezo-Kun commented, briefly showing them a duffel bag hidden under his poncho.
"Great Mezo-Kun let's go then." Izu-Kun replied beaming and the three of them begin walking away towards somewhere else with Ochaco just following the two of them unsure what to do with herself "You okay Ochaco-Chan? You're a little pale." Mezo-Kun quietly asked, having extended a hand mouth over to her.
She probably would have been scared by its appearance if she hadn't seen it come over to her "I-I'm fine Mezo-Kun, just nervous because I haven't trained with anyone before." She told him omitting her fear of the area itself since she didn't want to be rude, this was where Mezo-Kun lived and Izu-Kun didn't seem to be having the same problem she was with being in the South Side.
Mezo-Kun nodded the little mouth "Yeah, I am too but we can learn together, right?" he responded, "And don't worry, I know walking around here the first time can be unnerving, but you'll get used to it after a while." Mezo-Kun added having apparently picked up on the real reason she was anxious.
Ochaco became flustered mentally crying in her head for being so easily read and she would've hid her face in her hands if she wasn't afraid she would trip over the concrete again as they walked.
The building they ended up going to wasn't in the same condition as the apartments but it did look more stable than most of the crumbling buildings "This is the Community center, it's not a registered Quirk center but Mido-Kun owns it and has given everyone blanket permission to use their quirks here, we just go here instead of one of the ones outside of the district." Mezo-Kun explained to her as they entered.
Ochaco nodded along, taking in the inside of the building which was bare but much better than the outside, she followed the boys over to the side that didn't have chairs and tables. She had also noticed they weren't alone in the building with a couple of other people puttering around or reading at one the tables.
Mezo-Kun suddenly pulled off the poncho and she squeaked, covering her eyes and turning away from him "Um, O-Ochaco-Chan are you okay?" Izu-Kun asked, and she hesitantly peeked out from under her fingers and saw that Mezo-Kun apparently had a backless tank top on underneath the poncho.
Feeling embarrassed she had misunderstood she quickly waved her hands "Y-yep!" she exclaimed nervously laughing it off "Okay? You said you wanted to see how your quirk works on other people, would you be up for that Mezo-Kun?" Izu-Kun questioned shifting the topic and turned to the multi-limbed boy, Mezo-Kun hummed.
"That should be fine, just let me anchor myself first." Mezo-Kun requested and Ochaco watched as four more limbs sprouted from him and gained some unnerving looking claws at the end of each of them, then he dug his claws into the closest wall "Okay ready Ochaco-Chan." He announced with a thumbs up, she hesitated for a second then placed her left hand on his arm.
Her quirk activated and Mezo-Kun's feet left the floor, but he didn't float away because of how he anchored himself "Feel anything off Mezo-Kun?" Izu-Kun inquired, Mezo-Kun paused tilting his head "It's, weird being so light." Mezo-Kun answered "But you don't feel nauseous or light-headed?" Izu-Kun pressed, receiving a shake of the head in return "No, maybe a little off kilter because I'm not used to zero-gravity, I just need some time to recenter myself." Mezo-Kun clarified "Okay, go ahead and try some climbing like this." Izu-Kun instructed and Mezo-Kun went ahead slowly crawling up to the ceiling.
Things went alright after that, she would test her quirk with the small objects around the center to see if there was a way for her to control the amount of "buoyancy" (as Izu-Kun called it) she gave something with her quirk, Ochaco also tried to see if she could make one thing float and another heavy at the same time.
Mezo-Kun on the other hand worked on different ways he could change his extra limbs and using his extra limbs to move like an animal could, occasionally he'd ask her to use her quirk on him because he wanted to get used to moving around in an altered state.
Ochaco was starting to feel herself relax with Izu-Kun's continued commentary and suggestions to them both, but all of that loosening up was fore not when a loud bang shattered the calm atmosphere and she accidentally deactivated her quirk when she jumped, something she quickly realized was a grave mistake when she remembered Mezo-Kun was under her quirk.
Ochaco snapped her head towards the direction of Mezo-Kun and was just in time to see the boy's sudden and rough landing on four of his extra limbs, everyone held their breath as Mezo-Kun's limbs wobbled "I'm okay." Mezo-Kun forced himself to say and was clearly very shaken from the sudden fall.
Ochaco rushed over to him and was going to profusely apologize for almost dropping him on his head, but another gunshot loudly cut her off and making her jump again, Mezo-Kun got to his feet retracting his extra limbs and pulled her into a hug which she greatly appreciated since she could hear people yelling outside.
Scared, she pressed closer to Mezo-Kun and searched for Izu-Kun only to freeze when she saw the greenette, because Ochaco could practically feel Izu-Kun's anger rolling off of him in waves "I- Izu-Kun?" she timidly called and the intensity of his anger lowered by a fraction if that "I apologize Ochaco-Chan, Mezo-Kun, it seems there is something that has come up. Please excuse me for a second to deal with it." Izu-Kun requested through gritted teeth.
Not waiting a second Izu-Kun began walking towards the doors, his posture rigid and she was going to call out for him to stop but Mezo-Kun scooped her up with his lower arms causing her attention to go back to him.
"Mido-Kun will be fine, he knows how to deal with them. Just focus on calming down Ochaco-Chan while he deals with whoever's outside." Mezo-Kun told her as he carried her back over to the corner where their stuff was, Mezo-Kun sat them down and sprouted another pair of arms to grab his poncho which he wrapped around her.
She felt very conflicted about this, wanting to go out and make sure Izu-Kun would be okay but unable to find the strength to pull herself from Mezo-Kun's embrace or free herself of Mezo-Kun's very soft and fluffy poncho.
"Is this your first time being so close to a gang fight?" Mezo-Kun asked distracting her from the yelling and Ochaco wondered all but briefly just how many gang wars Mezo-Kun had been around for him to be so calm about this "Y-yes… " she muttered flinching when she heard someone screaming, Mezo-Kun hugged her closer rubbing her back with a spare limb.
"It's okay to be scared, Ochaco-Chan, very few people aren't scared the first time they experience a gang fight up close. We just have to wait for Mido-Kun to sort it out." Mezo-Kun said trying to comfort her, Mezo-Kun wasn't the best at it, but Ochaco did appreciate him trying to support her.
The next few minutes felt like hours as she waited for Izu-Kun to return and Ochaco could never put the relief she felt into words when Izu-Kun returned unharmed, Izu-Kun flashed her a sheepish smile "So sorry about that Ochaco-Chan, that should not have happened. It must have been very scary and Mezo-Kun and I totally understand if you'd want to go home early." Izu-Kun offered sounding sincerely sorry for something that was completely out of his control in her opinion.
Ochaco paused to consider going home and burying herself in blankets at home, something she was severely tempted to do but a different thought nagged at her, how was she going to be a good hero if she broke down and ran away at the first sign of trouble?
Even though she was aiming to join rescue work the people she was going to be saving needed someone to be their rock during their rescue, just like Mezo-Kun had tried to be for her right now and she wasn't going to become any better at handling these kind of situations if she avoided them.
So instead of taking the easy choice of leaving she gave both of her friends the best smile she could manage "T-that's okay Izu-Kun! I want t-to keep working on my quirk, so l-let's get back into it yeah?" Ochaco suggested, Izu-Kun hesitated for a second but nodded "Okay Ochaco-Chan, if you're sure." Izu-Kun agreed and Mezo-Kun unwound his arms from around her so they could get back to work.