Mirio sighed as he collapsed on the bench in the gym.
His body was aching and the only relief he had for the moment was the beads of sweat rolling down his skin and the air-conditioning that he had the forethought to crank up before he started his daily workout.
Once he calmed his racing heart, he reached for his water bottle to pour a bit on his head then started drinking the ice-water inside, the chill relieving him and his muscles.
Even though Mirio's body still felt burned out he couldn't keep a lopsided smile off his face.
Cause while his body might have ached or he felt boneless when he went to bed at the end of the day it was worth it, because each and every day he could see the rewards of his intense work out.
Even now with Mirio looking across the gym he could see his form in the mirrored wall.
A sense of pride and accomplishment filled him as he saw himself in the mirror, he'd never thought that he could've ever built up so much muscle before he started working with Sir.
He'd tried before and hadn't quite been successful, his dad said it was harder for people in their family because of their quirks but Sir had always been very supportive of him, having offered Mirio a lot of help and options to help him with his strength trained.
Mirio brought both his arms up and flexed them, the new layers of muscle bulking out in the mirror, something that would no doubt put some more 'oomph' when he said his catchphrase out in the field.
What with how he was nearly doubled in size with a dedicated year of training himself, he also felt much more comfortable wrestling or grappling someone since he was much stronger, Miyake had been very helpful to learning some moves that would help him with larger opponents.
It had been tough, but he felt he was at least starting to cross the gap between himself and his friends.
Mirio huffed and ran a hand through his hair, there was that weird envy rearing its head again.
Mirio knew that the dang 'gap' between them was all in his head, but it still showed up from time to time when he thought about how far his friends were going in their own training.
Talking with Inu-San had helped some but not as much as he'd like whenever he was reminded of how far each of his friends had come, either in heroics or in their personal lives.
Nejire was close to learning to fly, Sunny was getting more confident in talking with their friends, Oz was doing much better since he started being fostered by Master-Sensei, Haya was finding her footing now that she chose which branch of heroics she wanted to do, and of course Miyake was Miyake.
And he'd done a lot to grow too, not just physically.
His new costume for instance was much nicer, Deku-Sensei had managed to keep it looking mostly the same, but now he had more protection on himself and even a helmet too!
And depending on how well the helmet worked out, Deku-Sensei said he might talk to some people and get him some gear made from his hair.
Nothing to fancy, some zip-ties, a communication set up, and a knife were all Deku-Sensei currently had planned for him.
Admittedly most of his progress was with the help of either Sir or Deku-Sensei, but people were supposed to rely on each other, so he wasn't going to let himself stay that hung up on it.
The sound of the gym's door opening made Mirio's head turn in that direction.
Centipeder, Sir's other sidekick entered the room.
Mirio grinned and waved a hand over his head "Good afternoon Centipeder! Did you have a good patrol?" Mirio asked cheerfully.
The man stopped, Mirio would have thought he surprised the hero with his words, but the man hadn't really jumped when he called out to him.
Centipeder hummed, the sound being more chitter like.
"It went fairly well Lemillion, I've already dropped my report off with Sir." Centipeder informed him.
"And the bruise on your side?" Mirio asked pointing to the growing yellow-green bruise he saw on Centipeder's side since the man had chosen to go without a shirt this time.
Centipeder chittered again his antennae flickering "As I said, it went fairly well, not completely well. A mugger merely got a lucky shot in." Centipeder answered "It shall be gone in a few days." the man assured brushing it off, focusing instead on wrapping his knuckles.
"So would you be up for a spar then?" Mirio inquired and Centipeder gave him look which Mirio probably deserved.
He most likely still looked worn down from his training earlier and his sweat soaked tank-top, not the most convincing look if he wanted Centipeder to spar with him.
"Would that be wise?" Centipeder questioned, not immediately shooting his offer down which caused Mirio to perk up.
"Totally Centi! I'm just a little worn out, give me another minute and I'll be good to go." Mirio cheerfully promised.
"Koi taught me some new moves and I really want to try them out with someone else." Mirio added.
Centipeder's pincers tapped each other thoughtfully then he sighed.
"Alright, but only after two minutes Lemillion." Centipeder acquiesced before turning to go over to the punching bags attached to the far wall.
Mirio fist pumped, mentally congratulating himself for being able to convince Centipeder to spar with him.
Content to refresh himself during those two minutes in an effort to not have jelly-legs when he stood up.
Centipeder would probably change his mind if Mirio was shaking like a new-born fawn.
Was it advisable to spar when he felt like taking a nap? Probably not but it would be good training for him to continue fighting even after something happened, like if he got hit by a quirk that made him impaired in some way.
Something he was pretty good at since using his quirk for a long time or a lot always left him light-headed, or whiplash on the odd occasion depending on how he 'popped' back out of places.
But complacency was too dangerous for heroes, Bullet-Sensei had stressed that over and over again for the students during the times she was involved in the hero classes.
With the two minutes coming and passing Mirio got up to his feet, glad they weren't even wobbling and went over to the sparring mats.
Centipeder coming to join him after taking a minute to drink some water and spritzing himself for good measure.
Mirio was still surprised that Centipeder really didn't sweat and needing to mist himself to prevent overheating, though he supposed it wasn't that different to how Miyake needed to sun-bathe.
"Alright, do you want to walk me through each move first and then try them or just try them?" Centipeder asked walking over to Mirio while he put his gloves on.
"I think I'll walk you through 'em, make sure I'm getting everything right for someone that ain't as big as Koi." Mirio replied, rubbing the back of his head.
"Okay, which one would you like to try first?" Centipeder inquired stretching his neck out and then coiling it around itself, like he always had it when in costume.
"Well, I need you to wrap an arm around my neck like this first," Mirio began to instruct, gently guiding Centipeder's arm after he turned around "And hold my wrist with the other hand, try and keep me from getting out of your hold." Mirio added, offering his wrist.
"With normal human strength?" Centipeder asked, reminding Mirio of his increased strength and Mirio considered telling him no but knew he wouldn't have the strength to get out of a stronger grip at the moment.
"Yeah, now Koi said most people being choked out like this scramble and that pros expect people to do the usual stuff, like head butt them from behind but that isn't the best option sometimes." Mirio recounted from Miyake's own lecture to him.
"But small things can be used to get them to loosen their grip, like this." Mirio explained before slipping one of his feet back and hooking it behind Centipeder's knee "Then I can force them on their back, I'm going to try that okay Centi?" Mirio asked lower the leg again.
The man was already injured, and he didn't want to catch the hero off guard by suddenly flipping them if it worked.
"Go ahead Lemillion." Centipeder told him, Mirio nodded then as quickly as he could manage hooked his foot behind Centipeder's knee and yanked it forward like Miyake taught him too, causing the leg to buckle despite Centipeder trying to brace for it and the two of them went down.
Mirio unintentionally landing on Centipeder's bruised side and making the man wince, a pained whine forced from his mouth.
"Woah I'm sorry Centi, are you okay? I didn't, bust anything did I?" Mirio questioned immediately getting off of Centipeder and turning around to examine him.
Centipeder was already sitting up and waved him off.
"I'm alright Lemillion, just a bit tender, you didn't break anything." Centipeder assured him, Mirio sighed relieved.
"Thank goodness, I did not want to have to explain to Sir that I broke one of his sidekicks." Mirio joked a bit poorly.
One of Centipeder's antennae flicked.
"Lemillion," Centipeder said "Is everything alright?" the man asked.
"Wha? Yeah, why do you ask Centi?" Mirio questioned back rubbing the back of his neck, trying to play dumb.
Centipeder paused, his mandibles moving as he thought.
"I've noticed recently there's been some, tension between you and Sir lately, has something happened?" Centipeder told Mirio and the boy's stomach dropped.
"Pfft no, Sir and I are great, I mean," Mirio answered brushing it off but could tell that Centipeder wasn't fully convinced, and he cursed himself for the last bit.
"Sir's just been acting a little weird since he left for his meeting, but really it's nothing you need to be worried about Centi." Mirio promised, shrugging.
Centipeder's mandibles pressed a bit closer to his face "'Weird' how?" Centipeder pressed in a tone of voice that implied his brow was raised even if he didn't have eyebrows proper.
Mirio bit his lip, his hand pressed against his neck, he didn't want Centipeder to get the wrong idea from him and it kind of felt like the was exactly what he was accidentally doing.
"Nothing bad I swear, he's just been asking me a few more questions than normal since his meeting yesterday, all really basic stuff like how I'm doing with the diet he recommended me or how my dad is doing." Mirio said, waving his other hand placatingly.
Centipeder remained silent for a moment watching him carefully and Mirio couldn't help feeling the urge to squirm under the man's gaze.
Mirio jumped when Centipeder placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Alright, if you say so. But if Sir's questions start to make you feel uncomfortable do know you aren't obligated to answer them, and if he continues to act like this you can tell me alright?" Centipeder told him.
Mirio snorted and grinned up at him "Of course. You feel good enough to continue though Centi? I wouldn't want you to get hurt by accident." Mirio replied.
Centipeder clicked and stood up again, brushing himself off "I assure you Lemillion I'm much tougher than I look, now which move would you like to try next?" Centipeder inquired, offering Mirio a hand up.
Mirio accepted the help up then went on to detail another move Miyake taught him to block an uppercut, a small pit of guilt for having just lied to Centipeder like that, trying to comfort himself that it wasn't really that big of a lie.
More like a white lie.
Sir had been asking about his diet... just not the one he'd given Mirio, he'd been asking about what foods he ate regularly before U.A. and what his dad usually ate.
Which wasn't that creepy really, just weird with how Sir was asking him, like the man was trying to use his quirk on him without actually using it.
Mirio almost felt like he was being interrogated during some of those times.
Softly interrogated but still.
And Sir was also asking about his dad's health.
But Mirio and Sir hadn't really talked about his dad before now so having Sir suddenly asking about his dad's medical health was kind of out of left field.
It had to be really important though, Mirio knew at least that much.
Sir did a lot of research and didn't ask a lot of unnecessary questions, so Mirio was one-hundred percent sure Sir's sudden interest in his family had to be important for some reason he didn't know.
It... was just probably something above his pay grade as an intern.
But he couldn't help this nagging doubt in the back of his mind, one that questioned just what in the world would cause Sir to ask about his dad.
Why was his mentor so interested in his dad now?
What had changed?
Centipeder suddenly dropping him into the mats after he practiced the same move again brought Mirio out of his thought's with an 'oof'.
"Think we can try that again? Best two out of three? Loser buys brunch?" Mirio asked rubbing his jaw before standing up again.
Centipeder clicked and Mirio couldn't help chuckling "Come on I ain't that poor, I can afford to treat my co-workers once and awhile." Mirio told the man.
Centipeder sighed "Just this once." Centipeder agreed, making Mirio whoop.
"And no letting me win or I'll hide your paperclips." Mirio threatened playfully, causing Centipeder to shake his head and click again.