Izuku wasn't sure when or how long his mom had planned this, but she clearly put her all into it.
Izuku didn't even know who told her that about his book, though he suspected that it was either Elmo Vespa or Юрий-Сан.
They would have been the only ones in the know about the book and would have been able to tell her, unless his mom had befriended some of the Vespas on her own.
He was very embarrassed that she had found out about the book at all, much less planned this big book release party for the day of it being released.
At the very least she had the good sense to keep it all within the close friends and family.
The shocked texts from his friends Izuku could have done without though, how was he supposed to explain to them about Mido was the one to write most of it without explaining way too many things that they could not learn about?
Izuku did promise to bring them each a copy of his book to soothe their nerves, though he strongly warned them it was a very mature book and mainly revolved around people in their last moments before they were killed by heroes' negligence.
Something he knew would be triggering for Uki, Jiji and Awa-Kun after the fire in the South Side.
Their silence once he explained that made him feel the urge to pick at his nails.
Awa-Kun's chuckle and comment of "That sounds like what you'd write, hope it makes people actually fucking think about the crap they let people get away with just because their 'pros'."
had relieved Izuku so much.
Katsuki wasn't remotely surprised and told him he'd use a highlighter to mark the grammar errors in the book.
He was glad that at least his friends would be understanding of what he had written.
His mom and their parents though, he wasn't sure how they would think about it.
So Izuku felt a mix of pressure, embarrassment and anxiety over how they would take the context and content of his book.
If he called Riya and Mido for a confidence boost before everything went down, then that would stay between the three of them.
His mom had rented out a space to hold the party since their apartment would be a bit too cramped and she had left early to decorate with auntie Mitsuchan and uncle Masachan.
It made calling his doubles easier knowing that his mom wouldn't overhear but it wouldn't stop him from worrying over today.
Strange how he could suddenly become worried over something when the right people actually know about it, and the people in this case were his friends and family.
Izuku could only hope that the parents wouldn't look at him too differently once they read the book, if they did actually end up reading it and not just leaving it on a shelf in their home.
Cause he had read Mido's work, and it could get dark, especially with the stories about the children.
He approved and had read the final draft of the book, but that didn't change how the stories were the kind that made his guts twist and turn if he thought about them for too long.
The chapter about Yukiko-Chan and her mother Anya-San was one that Izuku especially was careful not to linger on for his own mental health.
Izuku had enough nightmares about Yukiko-Chan's death as it was.
He really hoped that no one asked about anyone he knew in the South Side because he wasn't sure how he would react to them, he dearly missed those people, but he wasn't ready to talk about them with others yet.
His friends would understand, not wanting to speak about the people they were close to or the ones that they missed after an incident.
God why did someone tell his mom?
He published the book under a pseudonym for a reason, and this was part of the reason because once the trial for Endeavor came it wouldn't be tied directly to him.
He didn't want all of this fan fare.
When Katsuki came over to pick him up to give him the directions to the space, Katsuki couldn't help scoffing at him.
'You look like we're going to a funeral.' Katsuki signed to him.
"Well, I would rather hold one." Izuku quipped back as the two of them headed down to his car.
'Drama queen.' Katsuki signed, rolling his eyes and Izuku whacked him on the shoulder because Izuku knew Katsuki waited until he could see his reaction.
"Just tell me where we're going, so we can get this over with." Izuku scoldingly told the blonde.
Katsuki complied using a text to speech app to direct him through the streets.
Izuku almost wished the drive was longer so that he could have more time to brace himself, but he wouldn't want that for Katsuki, Izuku could see that Katsuki still wasn't fully comfortable being alone with him.
Going to the room his mom rented Izuku wasn't surprised when his mom was waiting on the other side of the door and had immediately hugged him as soon as he stepped inside.
Izuku couldn't help smiling and hugged her back "Hi mom." Izuku greeted.
His mom kissed his forehead then pulled him into the room and Izuku saw the party they had set up for him.
It wasn't anything that fancy, some streamers and balloons dotted the room with more color and a table of food and gifts pushed over against a wall.
His friends and Sadi-Chan were happy to throw handfuls of confetti once his mom turned him around and they exclaimed "Congratulations!"
Izuku snorted and held his arms open, Uki and Sadi-Chan diving into hug him as well.
"Thanks for coming on such short notice guys." Izuku told them, Uki pulled away and smacked him on the arm.
"It wouldn't have been short notice if someone told us they were going to be releasing a book." Uki said throwing him some shade and Izuku chuckled awkwardly as he avoided her eyes while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Speaking of, I believe that you promised us each a copy Zuri." Awa-Kun remained him.
Izuku sighed and made a bit of a show as he pulled off his bag and started pulling out copies of Heroic Sacrifice for each of his friends.
He and Mido settled on a toned-down cover, mainly black with silhouettes of heroes in grey, the title in dark red metallic kanji down the middle of the cover for the Japanese addition that would not hit the market yet.
Awa-Kun took the first copy and upon reading the cover snorted "Zuri dude I thought you were yanking my chain." Before he started chuckling.
Izuku merely shrugged back, knowing exactly what Awa-Kun meant.
"It's not my fault you thought I was joking about my pen name was Mister Green." Izuku told him.
"Did you really?" Sadi-Chan questioned moving to hover over his shoulder and look at the next copy of the book that Izuku was still holding.
"Zuri that is so corny." Awa-Kun replied.
"Why? Is it because his name has the kanji for Midori in it and his hair?" Sadi asked, since apparently they and Fumikage didn't seem to be in on the joke.
As Izuku was about to explain Katsuki tsked and answered first.
"There is this ancient as fuck board game, you've probably seen a copy of it somewhere before Potty, and it has a bunch of weird ass names for it's player tokens, one of the idiots in it is called Mr. Green."
"Ah," Fumikage understood nodding while Sadi-Chan let out a long "Ooh." Before whispering in Katsuki's ear "I still don't get it."
"Brain-dead penguins, I fucking swear." Katsuki grumbled facepalming and held out his hand for his copy.
Izuku dutifully gave him a book and continued to hand them out to everyone that wanted one.
At which point auntie Mitsuchan stopped holding back and walked over to him, roughly tussled his hair.
"I can't believe you tried to hide this from us! Do you know how proud we are of you Izuku?" Auntie Mitsuchan asked him teasingly.
"More than when I first graduated college?" Izuku guessed, making auntie Mitsuchan burst out laughing.
"So damn much." Auntie Mitsuchan confirmed then hugged him as tightly as she could, making it feel more like a headlock.
Uncle Masachan nodded gently rubbing his head.
"This is a very big milestone Izuku, and I'm glad we could share this with you." He softly told him, making Izuku feel warm inside and he melted a little.
"It really is. It's really hard to break into the publishing world locally, it takes Kimiko years to make her novels, and you're already selling books on multiple continents." Aditi-San, one of the Tokoyamis commented.
Her wife Kimiko-San nodded.
"It is a massive achievement Izuku-Kun." She told him with a soft smile.
Izuku returned the smile, but felt bad deep down.
He knew that one of the big reasons that he'd been able to publish in so many places was because Юрий-Сан and the Vespas helped him using their money and influence.
It was another reason that Izuku hadn't wanted people to know he was the main author of the book.
The book was important, dreadfully so, but that didn't make him feel like he hadn't cheated people like Kimiko that had to work so hard to get published locally.
"Thank you, Tokoyami-San." Izuku replied gripping the strap of his messenger bag, mainly to avoid picking at his nails.
Izuku thought he had gotten over the habit most days, but there were times like this one where he felt the old urge and had to actively keep himself from falling right back into it.
"Do you mind telling us about your book? I'd love to hear how you came up with yours." Kimiko-San inquired.
Izuku rubbed his neck to keep his hands away from each other.
"Well, it's probably not as thought out as you think it is Tokoyami-San. I first considered making it years ago. A few months after I started tutoring people." Izuku fumbled as he began to explain a tame version of why he wrote Heroic Sacrifice.
"It just sort of, came together by itself a year or two back and I found the time in-between everything and wrote it." Izuku said losing his train of thought, or even where he was going with his words.
Sensing his discomfort Awa-Kun came over and threw his arm over his shoulders.
"Jeez Zuri, between everything you were doing you were also writing a book too? Next you're going to tell us that you're also writing a second book." Awa-Kun joked.
Izuku's heart dropped into his stomach, and he avoided everyone's eyes.
When he hadn't said anything Awa-Kun lost some of his joviality and instead stared at him along with the rest of his friends.
'You have got to be fucking with me.' Katsuki signed at him.
"Hey, you haven't had to deal with nearly hundreds of people having all sorts of medical issues because of the misinformation about quirk dietary problems Katsuki." Izuku pointedly told his old friend.
Katsuki flipped him off while Awa-Kun gasped.
"Zuri, Zuri... Be real with me right now." Awa-Kun said turning Izuku towards him and holding him by his shoulders.
"Do you get any sleep?" Awa-Kun asked.
"Yes Awa-Kun, I promise I sleep and get enough sleep every night too." Izuku assured his friend.
"Are you sure?" Jiji asked and Izuku gave him a look.
"Yes, guys I do." Izuku replied pretending to be annoyed as he again confirmed he was getting enough sleep.
"You better." Uki told him with a bit of a huff, crossing her arms.
"Don't forget, we'll be going to U.A. come next April so we can, and we will make sure you go to sleep every night." Uki sternly promised.
At the mention of the dorms Izuku saw his mom wince but she smiled still and gently put her hand on Uki's shoulder.
"I'm glad to know that you'll have people in the dorms to look out for you there." His mom commented.
Izuku knew his mom's words were bittersweet, but he also knew better than to point it out either.
He had offered for her to move into the apartments for the teachers' family's, she would hardly be the only mother that was moved in by a teacher.
He knew more than a few would be moving in their able-bodied parents as well.
But surprisingly his mom had said no and instead chose to remain in their old apartment.
Apparently not ready to leave the place, and Izuku could understand.
Leaving the apartment was something that left an odd taste in his mouth he couldn't quite place.
But it would be worth it.
Izuku would make sure of it.
Now he just needed to make sure to get through this book release party, and hope that the people attending would not ask him too many pressing questions.