The door remained shut as Izuku stared at it. He stood outside his home, and didn't take a single step toward that front door. He couldn't. Images flashed in his mind. Izuku saw his mother, lying on the ground with blood all around her. He saw her with her limbs all bent out of shape and her skin all burnt. No, that wasn't what was going to happen. He'd texted with her just an hour ago. There were a dozen thoughts that he couldn't ignore, though, anxieties that bubbled to the surface as it came closer to the time that he had to see his mother after abandoning her to Bakugo's mercy. He took a deep, shuddering breath, and looked to his left. Ochako had come with him. He'd asked when Todoroki and Iida had gone their own ways home and the two of them had been left alone together. She had been hesitant, questioning if it was really the right time for her to meet Izuku's mother, but Izuku had assured her that it was fine. When was the best time to meet your partner's parents? It was going to be weird and awkward no matter what. Might as well get it over with sooner rather than later. So, the two of them stood at the front door, and Ochako gave him a look that told Izuku that she knew exactly what was going on inside his head.
"She's not going to be mad at you," she said. "You did nothing wrong, and she knows it. It'll be fine."
"Yeah," Izuku said. His eyes caught on the hole in the balcony that the owner of the building still hadn't gotten filled, the one that Bakugo had made during their second fight not too long ago. The fight in which Bakugo had almost attacked her the first time. A stab of anger poked at him, but he released it with a harsh exhalation. "It'll be fine."
Izuku opened the door carefully. He walked through the hall and took deep breaths. There wasn't a shred of hesitation in his mind or body now. He needed to see his mother. Izuku stepped out into the living room and saw her there, sitting on the sofa, and his heart almost beat right out of his chest. He ran to her, crouching down beside her and hugging her tightly. She embraced him in return, and they stayed there for a few moments, clutching each other. Izuku shed a few tears, seeing his mother safe and sound after what he knew had happened. Even he had missed the building anxiety in himself, wondering whether or not he was going to come back home and find her dead. He sobbed into her shoulder, and she into his. He pulled back and looked at her, finding her smiling up at him. He smiled widely, overjoyed at having his worst fear disproven.
"I'm so glad you're okay," he said.
"Me, too!" she replied. "I was so scared that my message would be too late and that he would have found you before I could warn you that he was after you!"
"It's alright. We beat him," Izuku sighed.
"That's good. I'm so proud of you," Inko said. "I knew you could do it!"
"Well, actually — we didn't really beat him. We just fought him until he had to run away," Izuku said with a forced laugh.
"He's still out there?" Inko asked. Her face tightened with panic, but she smoothed out her expression right away. "That's okay. You still won! You must have been so strong!"
"I think I was, at least," Izuku said with a small smile. "But I wasn't alone. I had some friends around that helped me out with Bakugo, and the maniac he brought along to help him."
"Friends? Oh, from UA?" Inko asked again.
"Yeah. I'd actually like you to meet one someone who was there last night," Izuku said, standing back up. He looked over to Ochako, who was standing behind him toward the entrance to the room, where she'd stayed after Izuku had rushed to his mother. "She was a big help."
Ochako stepped forward and forced a smile as she waved to Inko stiffly. Inko's whole expression went from confused, to concerned, to elated in about half a second. She stood up, drawing Izuku's attention to the cast around her lower leg for the first time. It didn't cover her knee, so she could still walk and stand on it, but it still looked uncomfortable for her to do so, so Izuku went to tell her not to push herself. When she saw that it was to greet Ochako specifically, some part of Izuku's brain told him not to get in the way of that.
"Thank you for looking out for my baby," Inko said.
"It was my pleasure. If he thinks he can pick a fight without me there as backup, he's dead wrong," Ochako said, laughing in a way that Izuku could tell was solely to alleviate the tension that kept her whole body rigid.
"Oh, you're a fighter! I wouldn't have guessed," Inko said, surprise written all over her face.
"Well, if there's one thing the hero course teaches you, it's that you need to be ready for anything," Ochako said, laughing a little bit more genuinely at that, echoed by Izuku. That was definitely true.
"Especially in our experience," Izuku said, getting a snort of a laugh from Ochako, which made him smile.
"Well, let me make you two some tea and we can talk some more," Inko said, beginning to limp off toward the kitchen.
"Wait, no!" Izuku said. "It'd be wrong to let you make tea for us. You've done more than you ever should have had to lately. Let me do something for you now. Okay?"
Inko looked at him warily. "Okay." She hobbled back to the sofa.
Izuku made sure she was sitting before he slipped out into the kitchen. Rummaging around was easier now that he'd switched back to his regular cloth gloves. It was a shame that he couldn't use the ones from his hero costume now that his internship was over, though. He tried his best to ignore the look that Ochako had given him, which told him she was just loving the chance to see him in completely mama's boy mode. He got to brewing some tea and tried to ignore that he'd just left his girlfriend and his mother in a room alone with each other. In all the movies he'd and television he'd watched, that had never ended well even once.
Ochako looked around the Midoriyas' living room as she sat beside Izuku's mother. Her heart was pounding, beating against her ribs faster than the speed of light. She was trying her best not to panic and say something totally inappropriate or make a joke that wouldn't land right, and she thought she was doing well so far, but it was only a matter of time, especially since Izuku had left her alone with his mother. She tried distracting herself during the lull in the conversation by looking around at all the different pictures hanging on the walls. They always featured Izuku or his mother, and never his father. Ochako knew the story, of course, but it still hurt to see the reality of their fatherless home so clearly. She couldn't imagine growing up without her dad. It must have been hard for both of them. Ochako's spirits were quickly lifted, though, when she had it confirmed that Izuku as a little kid was absolutely adorable. Izuku had told her that his hair had been green originally, but seeing it on him in those pictures was strange, like looking at a different person. She preferred the white.
"So, what was your name again, young lady?" Ms Midoriya asked.
"Oh, right! Never really got around to that part, did we?" Ochako laughed shakily. "My name is Ochako Uraraka. It's very nice to meet you."
"It's wonderful to meet you, too!" Ms Midoriya said. She looked at Ochako strangely, and a flash of panic momentarily washed over her. "I've seen you somewhere before. Did you participate in the recent sports festival at UA?"
"Oh, yes, I did," Ochako sighed in relief. "I did relatively well, but I wasn't spectacular or anything."
"Oh, nonsense. I remember you now. You fought that boy with the fire and ice powers. You were more than spectacular!" Ms Midoriya said. "Now that I know that was you, I have no trouble at all seeing that you're a fighter. You were very impressive, especially against such a powerful young man!"
"Thank you," Ochako said, flushing slightly.
"May I ask what your Quirk is? I saw it in use during the sports festival and thought it was a kind of telekinesis. I have a very minor Quirk of that type as well, you see, so I'm curious!" Ms Midoriya said. She demonstrated by pulling the television remote to her hand from the other side of the room.
"Oh, wow! That has to be a handy power for housework! But no, my Quirk is something else. I can make the things I touch weightless. May I?" Ochako said, gesturing to the remote. She took it and touched it with all five fingers on one hand. Letting it go had it floating above both of their heads.
"I'm sure it'll allow you to go all the way with heroics. I think the best heroes are those who don't have very useful Quirks for fighting. It means they have real drive, and they're in it for the right reasons," Ms Midoriya said with a smile that tried its best to melt Ochako's heart. She could see how Izuku turned out the way he did, even with all of the dark happenings in his past.
"Thanks! I try," Ochako said with a smile of her own.
"Here we go!" Izuku said from the kitchen.
Izuku walked back in with a smile very clearly plastered on his face. Ochako stifled a laugh at the realisation that he was panicking hard but just barely masking it. It was cute that he was so worried about making this first interaction between herself and Ms Midoriya, a positive one, but he honestly didn't need to worry so much. Ochako doubted that anyone had had a negative interaction with Inko Midoriya in the history of the world. As was normal for Izuku, though, that did not stop his anxieties from rearing their head and making him think that something bad could happen if he didn't insert himself. It was a trait she admired in him at its best, as it was like All Might always said — giving help that isn't asked for is what makes someone a hero. It sometimes had him acting like he was right then, though, sweating and jittery as he tried to ensure a good outcome where that level of stress wasn't warranted. Ochako sighed, and took a cup from him. Green tea. Who'd have guessed?
"So, aside from the obvious, how were those internships of yours?" Ms Midoriya asked.
"It was … fine," Izuku said, pulling up a chair for himself before elaborating when he must have realised that he'd said nothing at all of substance. "I trained for a few days and then last night happened. There's really nothing more to say. I didn't end up doing any of the things I went to Thirteen's agency to do. Well, I did do one thing." He smiled, and Ochako knew what he was talking about. "I have this friend, who's been struggling with some pretty heavy stuff lately, and I managed to help him out and stop him from doing something that would get him really hurt, or worse. It didn't end up saving him from harm, but I think I managed to change his mind about something really important, so I'm glad I got to help him."
"Oh, honey, that's so great," Ms Midoriya said, tearing up as she heard about what a hero her son was. So that was where he got it from.
"Yeah. It felt really good to help someone break out of a tough mental space. I guess I want to pay it forward after some people, Ochako included, helped me out with something similar," Izuku said with a smile and a waver in his voice. He didn't cry, but Ochako thought it was a close thing.
Ms Midoriya's eyebrows rose, surprise written all over her face, and Ochako tensed in the same way Izuku did upon noticing that. None of them had missed how Izuku had used Ochako's given name so casually. It was happening right then and there, then. Okay. She could handle this.
He could not handle this. Izuku hadn't even gotten through a minute of conversation before saying something that gave him away like an idiot. It was fine. That's what this visit was for. Izuku had walked through that front door knowing that he was going to tell his mother that he and Ochako were dating. That didn't make it easier. If anything, that made it scarier, since he knew it was coming and couldn't do anything about it. Izuku knew he was being irrational, but this was his first relationship. He didn't want to mess anything up, for Ochako's sake. He knew she was nervous as well, so he had to make sure this went well so that she was comfortable. It was happening, though, and he had to say something. He realised that he was just sitting there and saying nothing, and forced out a laugh that was more like a yelp.
"Uh, yeah. Mom, we're kinda — I'm — she's — what's the word we're going with?" he stammered, turning to Ochako.
"You're asking me right now?" she asked, wide-eyed with surprise.
"Why not?" he asked. He turned back to his mother and smiled nervously. "We're dating."
Inko's reaction was immediate. She leapt up, probably faster than she should have given her cast, and hugged him tightly. Izuku expected the ruffling of the hair and the rambling congratulations and celebrations, but it was over sooner than he would've thought. Instead, Inko moved onto Ochako, who also got her fair share of affection. It was like the world itself released the breath it had been holding, and the knot of anxiety in Izuku's chest untwisted itself as he witnessed what he thought would take a miracle just a few months ago. How had his life changed so much in such a short time? Izuku sometimes felt blessed. He knew he'd worked for everything he had, but it felt like too much sometimes, like he didn't deserve it all. He would've taken just one of the many things he'd gained. He was glad that he'd gotten to a place where he woke up in the morning and was excited to go to school, excited to interact with his peers, excited to see how the day worked out. He never thought that would happen. It was all thanks to his mother's support, the unwavering backbone of his entire life. He didn't thank her enough for that. Izuku doubted that he could. He'd have to do it more often either way.
"How long have you been dating?" Inko asked once they were all sitting down once again.
"Not long. Since before the sports festival," Izuku said.
"That's wonderful! I'm a little shocked that you haven't told me yet, but I'm very happy that you've got someone in your corner out there," she said.
"Ever since we met, I've tried my best to help him out where I can, so don't worry, Ms Midoriya," Ochako said with a big smile.
"Well, thank you. That means a lot to me," Inko said, smiling at Ochako. "I do worry about you sometimes, Izuku. Every time something happens at that school of yours, you come home with new scars! If this fine young lady has your back, though, I think I can let my heart rest a little bit. I saw how she fought that young man with the fire and ice!"
"Not to discredit you, because you were amazing," Izuku began, turning from Ochako to Inko. "But I also fought Todoroki. I won, too. Doesn't that let you rest assured that I'll be just fine?"
"Oh, I know you're strong, baby, but it's different. No matter how strong you are, I'll never want you to be alone. Knowing you have someone — someone who can go out there and do what you want to do with you — for you to find someone like that to lean on if you need to is all I've ever really wanted. I hope you understand," Inko said.
"I do. I just … yeah. Thank you, Mom," Izuku said.
He had no words. Even when she was doing something mostly for herself, it was still for his benefit as well. He didn't know how he felt about that. He thought that she should be a little selfish sometimes. Izuku had gotten that chance, so why couldn't she? Why was she different? He knew the answer. She didn't want to be selfish. Izuku had very much enjoyed his more self-serving behaviours in the past. That put a lump in his throat, and he didn't bother trying to make it go away.
"Do you kids really want to spend your precious time having tea with an old lady like me? Why don't you go out?" Inko said abruptly, probably sensing that the two of them — Izuku, at least — were still tense.
"No," Izuku said, steadier than he'd expected of himself. "I'm not leaving you unless I have to."
"Very well," Inko said. She turned to Ochako with a smile. "What about you? Aren't your parents dying to see you after what happened last night?"
"Uh, yeah!" Ochako said with a shaky smile. Izuku wouldn't mention that she lived alone if she didn't. "I better head home and explain everything to them!" She added, "Face to face!"
Ochako stood up and paused. She took half a step toward Izuku, probably to give him a hug or something, but probably realised that Inko was still watching them and promptly turned to leave with a hurried, "See ya later!" Izuku watched her go and noticed that she was bright red in the face by the time she closed the door behind her. He smiled, but at the look from his mother, he shrugged his shoulders and silently asked her what she was making that face for.
"She's nice," she said.
"Yeah," he said.
"She's pretty, too. Really pretty."
"Yep." Izuku did not blush. If anybody said otherwise, they were lying.
"I'm proud of you, Izuku. I think you're a good match," Inko said. She walked over and hugged her son.
Izuku smiled, and once again thought that he might've been luckier than he deserved. No, that was wrong. It was like Ochako had said. She and his other awesome friends gravitated toward him because he put in the effort. That was a nice thought. Despite the events of the night before, Izuku had a good day after that. Who would've guessed?
Ochako slid the key to her apartment under the welcome mat. She slid her shoes off and walked over to the single armchair in the apartment, across the one-room apartment from her bedroom, which was a mattress. The kitchenette was in the corner, which amounted to just an oven and stove top, as well as a tiny pantry and a fridge and freezer. She reclined awkwardly in the armchair. It was old and lumpy, so it wasn't very comfortable. Ochako sighed as she took in her living place. This wasn't her home. For now, it was, but her home was back in Matsusaka in Mie, hours away. A pang of sadness hit her. It had been nice when, the day after the sports festival, her mom and dad had made the trip and they'd spent the day together before they'd had to get back home and keep working. Ochako wished they could do that again. She wouldn't be the one to drag them away from work, though. Ochako was going to be a hero. She was going to get into dangerous situations. She could handle that.
She pulled out her phone and dialled their number. Surely, one of them would be free to talk. It rang a few times, and Ochako's father ended up being the one who answered it.
"Ochako! It's good to hear from you. WIth that disaster in Hosu we thought you might've been hurt!" he said.
"No, I'm okay," she said meekly. Ochako had never been good at approaching her parents about their money problems.
"Thank goodness. Are you … are you really okay?" he asked. He must've picked up on her nerves.
"I'm fine. I need to tell you something real quick, though," Ochako said. "So, you know how All Might scouted me for an internship?"
"That's right! I'm so proud of you! Hold on. Did something happen? Did he—?" he said.
"Nothing bad happened. This is actually really good, I promise! He gave me a meal plan," Ochako said, wincing in advance. She knew the exact words that would come out of her dad's mouth next. He didn't disappoint.
"I'm not sure we can afford the mighty meals that the number one hero eats, Ochako," he said.
"I know, Dad, but you won't have to spend a single yen," she said, injecting some cheer into her voice to stop her nervousness from bleeding through.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"All Might's going to be paying for it all! It'll be totally free on our end," Ochako said. She got giddy again just thinking about it, and didn't have to try so hard to make herself sound excited.
"That's … that's incredible! Just for you? You know what that means, don't you, Ochako? It means that the number one hero sees something great in your future," her father said. "Just like we've always told you. You're going places, Ochako. I'm so proud of you."
Ochako didn't mention how ironic it was that her dad was the one wondering if she saw the bigger picture when he was woefully ignorant of that meal plan's true value. It would lead to her inheriting All Might's power, his Quirk itself — One for All. Just thinking about that Quirk sent shivers up and down her spine. That was her ticket to achieving all her goals. First, though, she needed her dad to do something that he was absolutely not going to like.
"I know! But you know what that also means, right?" Ochako waited for her dad's response. When she didn't get one, she pushed. "You can stop sending me money now. This apartment is free because Aunty Setsu owns the building, right? The only reason you needed to send me money every week is for groceries, but that's all taken care of now! You can keep that money and use it for something that actually helps get business flowing!" Ochako paused. "Dad?"
"Leaving you nothing wouldn't sit right with me," he said at last.
"I know, Dad, but this is an opportunity, right? A chance for you and Mom to start actually keeping the little money you make," Ochako said. She'd said it, and now that she'd hit her stride, she couldn't stop talking. "You guys can use the money I don't need anymore to boost yourselves up. Ten thousand yen every week, more or less! Sure, it's not a whole lot in the short-term, but it'll add up. Right? I know it's a good idea."
"Oh, Ochako," her dad laughed. "You've always been smarter than me. I've always said you get it from your mom. Okay. I'll tell your mother and we'll talk about it. It still doesn't sit right with me to leave you with nothing, even an emergency fund, but I do see your logic. It's a good idea, at least."
"Yes!" Ochako pumped her fist in the air. "Thank you, Dad! You won't regret this. I promise!"
"I'll talk to you later, let you know what your mom says. I love you, Ochako," he said.
"Love you, too!" Ochako said, and ended the call. "Yes!"
A knock at the door startled Ochako out of her celebration. She went over and opened the door to discover that an assortment of food items had been delivered to her doorstep. A car that she'd never seen before pulled out of the parking lot of the apartment building and disappeared onto the street. Ochako looked through the food items and found packages of meats and vegetables, protein powders and drinks filled with electrolytes. The question came to her immediately, and it was so obvious that she spoke it aloud.
"Wait, where the hell am I gonna put all this stuff?!"
The days after what the media had quickly dubbed the Hosu Incident were chaotic for everyone involved. All Might, Endeavor and Thirteen stayed in Hosu to help with the cleanup operation and search and rescue efforts. A great deal of heroes whose usual areas of authority were outside of Hosu City travelled there en masse in order to help as well. The Wild, Wild Pussycats, the Flaming Sidekickers, the Oki Mariner Crew, and many others. They were led by Manual and his Normal Agency in collaboration with Team Idaten, whose leader, Ingenium, had taken a leave of absence after an injury sustained battling the Hero Killer Stain just a short time prior to the Hosu Incident.
That very night, about a dozen videos had been uploaded to YoTube, all containing more or less the same content. These videos depicted a fight that none of the heroes in Hosu that night had participated in nor spoken about to the media. The videos all depicted a group of seemingly underaged heroes battling the Hero Killer himself, as well as a similarly young lackey of his. The fight generated overnight prestige, but the videos were deleted shortly thereafter. However, more videos kept getting reuploaded, reposted and reblogged. No matter how many videos the authorities took down, either because they were about minors or whether the comment sections of those videos contained a shocking number of people who thought the Hero Killer and the guy with the explosions, who was later identified as one Katsuki Bakugo, were badass — who were almost disappointed to see them lose to such children — more were put up in their place. The world knew about what had happened outside the Normal Agency on the night of the Hosu Incident, and those who'd watched the battle from their apartments or offices had posted video evidence that the Hero Killer and Katsuki Bakugo were connected to, or possibly were themselves, the people who had instigated the Hosu Incident, given their partial use of warp gates to escape, just like the Nomu that had attacked the city elsewhere.
Soon after the videos started appearing, the inevitable happened. The underaged heroes were identified as four of the top sixteen participants in UA's recent sports festival. The four of them agreed over text when they learned of this development to not leave the house for anything other than school for a while.
Izuku regretted a great many things about how that night had ended. He regretted being unable to keep Bakugo from getting away, through the same kind of portal that had been used by All for One's lackey Kurogiri during the USJ attack. That meant that Izuku's suspicion was correct, and that Bakugo was in league with villains of that calibre, not just the Hero Killer. What had he gotten himself into? Did he have even scraps of sanity left? Or had the magnitude of his losses over the last few months simply driven him completely mad? Izuku didn't like thinking about that option. He wanted to believe that Bakugo was entirely lucid and simply chose to behave the way he had that night, because at least he could understand that. He couldn't understand someone who was insane, committing horrible crimes just because they could. As much as he'd been trying to reject that mindset, Izuku almost wished he could know for sure that Bakugo was pointing all of his anger at himself, because then there was a reason for his actions. By the sounds of it, Bakugo didn't even care all that much anymore about whatever revenge he'd initially thought he'd been owed. Now it seemed like he was driven by one thing, and one thing only — the insatiable need to destroy what he hated. Izuku was still at the centre of that, but now that included Ochako, and even Iida and Todoroki, for the whole lot of nothing they'd actually done to Bakugo. Izuku knew it wasn't his fault, but he still felt the need to apologise to them for getting roped up in his petty feud with his childhood friend. Izuku couldn't believe some days that that was where they'd started.
Classes commenced once again the following Monday. It felt strange going back to school after everything that had happened, but it was out of Izuku's hands. He'd told the police everything that had happened, even the parts that he really would have preferred to not mention. He'd almost lied back there, at that moment when the cops had asked him to tell them what had gone down. Izuku had slipped into that old headspace of his where nobody would believe him because Bakugo was too powerful to be challenged, even socially. He'd managed to make himself tell the entirety of his version of events, with some help from Iida when it was needed, like the stuff that happened while they were battling Bakugo and Stain separately. It was hard, but he'd gotten through it. He could only hope that the police would follow up with Bakugo's parents, and start looking for him if they hadn't already, since he'd violated his house arrest during their second fight at Izuku's home. Izuku wondered what was going to happen concerning Bakugo now. It would be too easy if the cops caught him and he just … went to prison. Did he qualify for Tartarus? Probably not, since he was a minor, and his Quirk wasn't nearly as strong as Bakugo thought it was, since if you stopped him from sweating he was effectively Quirkless, so throwing him in a room where the temperature was kept low could contain him pretty easily. He was still just as human as anyone else, despite how much he wanted to appear otherwise.
School would be a whole other challenge to tackle, though. Exams were tough enough in a regular school. Izuku couldn't imagine what they were like at UA. Classes alone were taxing, with the workload of just their academic classes already being hard to manage by themselves. Then they had their Foundational Heroics classes, which put them to the test physically. They were a whole different beast, for sure. Izuku was confident that he could make it through, though. He'd stalemated Katsuki Bakugo. There was nothing that could stop Izuku now.
End of Arc 8: The Real World
Author's Note: And that's a wrap on the internship arc! This is really the turning point for this fic. It got really dark there, and while the next arc, final exams, is going to retreat a little bit from that darker tone, the next two arcs after that are going to dive so deep into it that we may never be able to come back. I'm really looking forward to showing y'all what I've been cooking up.
