As they did every day, the students of UA sat in the cafeteria enjoying lunch. And as had become an unusual habit, the seating was as it tended to be. One table made up almost entirely of girls, one table entirely of boys, and then a few other students of 1-A scattered throughout the other tables in pairs or on their own.
"So where are you going, Ochako?"
"I have mine all picked out!" the rosy-cheeked future hero declared proudly. "I didn't get that many offers but there were a couple that were perfect for me!"
"Perfect for what?" Izuku asked.
"I need to be strong," his sort of girlfriend answered. "I wanted to, well, I thought I could just be a rescue hero like Thirteen or the Pussycats. But I should've realised, seeing what happened to Thirteen at the USJ, a hero can't afford to be just one thing. I want to be strong, so I can help people no matter how bad things get!"
"That's very admirable!" Momo cheered her on with a beaming smile. "I also have my internship picked out. Perhaps not an ideal circumstance. I didn't receive any scouting offers, likely due to dropping out during the second event."
Izuku winced. "Sorry."
"Never apologise for doing your very best!" the class representative admonished him. "That's why we're all here. Besides, if it means I'll have to work all the harder, I'm more than willing to meet the challenge!"
"I'm still thinking about it," Kyoka admitted. "I got more options than I thought I would." Left unspoken was the reason for that. Her performance in the sports festival portrayed her as someone with a will to punch far above her supposed weight class.
Izuku nodded in understanding. "I'm not sure either."
"Oh!" Ochako exclaimed. "Why not go with Endeavor? He's the number 2 hero and your quirks are pretty compatible aren't they? Your costume even looks a little like a combination of his and All Might's!"
Bless her, she couldn't recognise Izuku's discomfort. "He didn't send an offer."
Momo frowned out of confusion. "Really? He sent Todoroki an offer."
"Yeah, well Todoroki is his son," Kyoka reminded her. "Nepotism is alive and well. I think he turned it down though."
Somehow, Izuku felt frustrated by that. He could sympathise with his classmate's situation, his desire to be his own man. But his spite was a powerful thing and would only end up hurting him. From the way Kyoka phrased the other boy's choice it would be respectable, but refusing nepotism wasn't the real reason. Just spite. That was all. Not that Izuku could talk. He got the same chance too and he turned it down for reasons that were more emotional than rational, as Mister Aizawa would probably put it.
Then again... If they were learning to be heroes by example, yeah. Neither of them should learn how to be a hero from Endeavor.
It didn't answer the real question though. Endeavor was off the table personally and practically. So who should he go with? There were plenty of famous names on his list. None of the top three but a few of the top ten.
"Young Midoriya!"
It was an interruption as he was heading back to the classroom. Not an unwelcome one. After all, Izuku always had time for his mentor. "All Might!" In his muscle form even, though they were in the school hallways so it made sense. Did he even go around the school at all in his weaker form? Izuku had never seen it. His mentor handed him a sheet of paper. "What's this?"
"It's an internship offer that just came in. From... One of my own mentors, no less!"
Even as he wore that same proud and reassuring All Might smile, even though he was giving good news, there was a... Twitchiness to the number one hero's bearing that made Izuku nervous. "Are you okay, All Might?"
"Of course, of course! There's no problem at all, haha! Gran Torino was a fantastic teacher when I was young!" His legs started shaking and he punched them in an attempt to stop them. "I know he would be willing to do whatever it took to bring out the best in you! Anyway, got to go!"
That was... Weird. Izuku looked at the paper. Gran Torino? He'd never heard of the guy. Then again if he was a big hero when All Might was still learning, that had to be decades ago, before Izuku's time.
It felt like his choice had just been made for him.
-(-)-
"Nah, don't bother."
Another dream. Another debatably appropriate lesson. This time he was learning some of the finer points of foreplay, both he and Nana naked, him standing behind her and feeling her up. It almost felt silly with how much taller than him she was. Then again, pressed against her back, enjoying the scent of her as he fondled her breasts, as his erection was pressed down into the gap between her thighs. Being the smaller partner wasn't at all a bad thing from where he was standing.
"Don't bother? But, this is All Might's teacher! How can I turn that down when he offers to teach me too?"
Nana let out a soft sigh as she guided one of his hands away from her breasts, coaxing him to explore elsewhere. He flushed a little in embarrassment. Izuku had come to realise he was definitely a boob man and Nana's were hard to resist... Though her thighs did feel very nice. "First, don't feel obligated. It's your future so you get to call the shots. Don't let anyone make you think otherwise. Second, you're not Toshi. Just because he taught Toshi and it worked out doesn't mean it'll go well for you. You and Toshi are different people who need to learn different things. You've got quite a list. Who do you want to go with?"
"I don't know," the student admitted. "I'm still struggling with the idea of anyone wanting me. Gran Torino seemed like the perfect option. Someone who would know how to work with One for All. Who could teach me."
He immediately sensed he said something wrong. Nana's muscular thighs clamping shut around his length confirmed it. "What am I, chopped liver?" she asked, her thighs sliding back and forth as her hands gripped his hips, forcing him to pump into that tight embrace.
"Miss Shimura, please!"
"Hmph." She let go, granted him mercy. "Even if I wasn't right here, you're still thinking about this wrong. You want someone to help you with One for All? You're doing fine with One for All. You're only thinking about its capabilities instead of yours. You can bet all your classmates aren't thinking about what their quirk will get out of these internships. They're thinking about what they can learn about being a hero." The older woman turned around and took him in hand, stroking his shaft as she guided his hand to pet her. "You're struggling with the idea of anyone wanting you? Yeah, that self-deprecation and humility to a fault is gonna have to go. You're strong, you're going to be a hero, people are starting to acknowledge you for it. You wanna be like Toshi, you're gonna need to work on your confidence."
He grunted in pleasure. "I-I guess..."
She must have sensed he wasn't paying proper attention anymore. Turning around, she dropped to her knees and took him into her mouth. It was like a whole other world compared to when Kyoka did it for him. An experienced woman who knew what she was doing as he felt her play with his length, sucking and licking, coaxing his release faster than he could endure. He finished fast, filling the woman's mouth with his seed before she swallowed it. Though... In the waking world he probably messed up his sheets again. "We can work on your endurance too," Nana decided as she licked him clean for what felt like no reason, except maybe that she wanted to.
Which was confusing.
"Okay," she said as she moved to sit down on what seemed to be a teacher's desk, the two of them now in a UA classroom with only one student desk situated in the middle of the room. "Let's put Sorahiko's offer aside." He stared at her, puzzled. "Gran Torino," she clarified. "If he wants to teach you, and he does, he'll show up no matter what. It's just who he is. So don't bother taking his offer."
"That feels kind of rude..."
She hummed out a little laugh. "You're such a good boy." The words, and the way she oh so slowly crossed her legs while sitting on the desk, it was both a very sexy woman who had just given him a blowjob, but also an image that reminded him of every fantasy he'd had of Midnight since getting to UA. He felt himself stiffen again. "But no, don't take his offer. And if he gives you grief about it, tell him I told you not to."
"Okay?"
"As for who you should pick? Well that's up to you." She smiled as she got up from the desk, walking towards him like she was strutting down a catwalk. His eyes strayed down as she leaned forward, lingering on her breasts for a moment before they were drawn up to her eyes again. That playful glint in them promising great and terrifying things. "You're just getting started in your training and education. A lot of stuff the school will teach you. So, pick someone who might be able to teach you what the school won't. For example," she said as she dropped to her knees, her tongue flicking over his tip, "Let's get started on teaching you endurance."
Nana was way more dedicated to training him in this kind of stuff than he thought she would be. That was his last coherent thought before his manhood disappeared between her lips, leaving him to only think of how glad he was to be alive.
"Don't blow too quick, okay? This is training."
Oh wow...!
-(-)-
It had been an intense dream. And a panicked morning throwing his bedding in the wash before his mom woke up. But while the experience of it would be something he would treasure for a long time and hope could be repeated often, the advice he got was more important.
The first thing he did when he got to school was tell All Might that he wouldn't be taking the offer from Gran Torino. A decision that had the symbol of peace breaking out in a cold sweat. Even so, Izuku's mentor promised to take the heat if there were any problems.
Really, if All Might ended up like that over a polite refusal, Izuku was starting to believe that refusal was absolutely the right call. What kind of teacher got their student to behave like that just thinking about delivering unwanted news?
That just left who he would choose as his internship. There were still a lot of great choices on his list. But taking Nana's advice into account, who would have been able to help him with what he lacked? More than that, what did he lack? Power? Not at all, and he was learning to harness more. Skill? That wasn't what the internships were for. At best they'd give him a general direction he could pursue on his own. Something he could work out for himself or with Nana's help, or even the school's. Knowledge? Any internship would give him on-the-job experience, and it was up to the school to give them vital knowledge like crisis management.
No. All of those were things he could get from anyone or would be getting anyway. The important thing was finding someone who could help him with what he personally lacked. What he, Izuku, was missing. And when he really thought about it, it was something everyone had been telling him since he got to the school.
"The Wild Wild Pussycats?" Mina asked with an absolutely baffled expression on her face. "The rescue hero team? Not what I thought you'd pick. Don't you have like, Crust and Gang Orca on your list? I figured you'd pick someone like that. Not rescue heroes in the top 50."
"I was looking at being a rescue hero before I figured out more about how my quirk worked," he admitted. Though it was for a lack of other options than any kind of innate desire to focus on that side of hero work. "But that's not why. I should go to somebody who has the thing I don't have. If they're running around in catgirl theming in their thirties, that's the kind of shameless confidence I should try to have."
The girls at the lunch table exchanged winces. "Maybe don't phrase it that way when you meet them Izuku," Ochako suggested.
"Uh, right."
Arrangements had been made, Izuku was ready to go along with everyone else on the hero track. And so much like everyone else he was at the train station on the day of departure with his suitcase and his costume case. Where he was going, he'd be pretty far outside the city, heading into the mountains where the Pussycats roamed working alongside the mountain rescue service.
"Hey Izuku," Kyoka said, sitting next to him on a bench as they waited for their respective trains. She handed him a can of coffee with a smile. "You nervous?"
"Yeah. You?"
"I guess." Her earjacks didn't give anything away about how she really felt this time. Either she became conscious of the tell, or her vague affirmative was as true as it could be. "I don't know. I was more nervous in the tournament I think. Up against people way stronger than me, thought I'd embarrass myself. But then..." She glanced at him and her jacks started to twirl around each other. "I wondered what you would do and figured you'd fight like hell, so that's what I did."
"You missed the part where I'd drive myself crazy worrying and obsessing over everything trying to come up with a plan, only to wing it when the time came."
She put her palm to the side of his head and pushed. Her hand came away cleanly without any pull. "Huh. You're getting better about that sticking thing." With a shrug, she put her hand in his, only to find that the problem hadn't yet been fully resolved. "And no, I didn't miss it. I was doing that part already. But when I fought, I gave everything I had, no matter how crazy I thought it'd be to even try, because that's what you would've done. So... That's what I'm gonna do now," she continued as she squeezed his hand, "and so are you. And you don't have to tell yourself to do it." Leaning over, she gently pecked him on the cheek. "Worry, don't worry. Just keep being you and you'll do great."
"Wow. Uh, thanks," he managed to stammer out between searching for people who might have seen that happen. "I feel kinda bad you felt like you had to say something like that."
Kyoka gave him a look that told him he maybe shouldn't have said that. "Dude, I'm trying to thank you and I don't have to say anything. Just trying to help my boyfriend feel better." She sighed. "Guess it didn't work."
"No, no! It worked, I promise! I–!" His sudden surge of panic deflated as his girlfriend looked at him, wanting to help but not knowing how. "I'm grateful, really. And it helped. But my great, amazing, considerate girlfriend being sweet and wonderful can't fix ten years of hearing how much of a loser I am, no matter how amazing she is."
"Okay, first, tone down the flattery. I'm not mad. Well, I kind of wanna kick Bakugo's ass a little bit–"
"Please don't."
"Yeah, that wouldn't go great for me. But more than that, I wanna help you like you helped me and I'm just frustrated that I can't."
The two sat together for a time, the ambience of the train station a less than pleasant atmosphere, though the company certainly smoothed over any discomfort.
"I've got it."
Izuku looked from checking the time for the eighth time in ten minutes to his girlfriend. "Got what?"
"I know how to help you deal with your self-doubt."
He hoped she wasn't serious. "Kyoka, I... You know I appreciate it but it's not that–"
"You're gonna bang one of the Pussycats."
... He stared at her, at her completely straight face as she said those words, as her jacks stayed perfectly still, conveying nothing.
... "What?!"
"It's perfect. Me and Ochako are one thing, but I bet my boyfriend is such hot stuff that even mature women can't keep their hands off him. Even established pros."
Okay, she wore just a little bit of a smirk. "Oh good, you're joking."
"Am I? I think you could do it. Hell, I bet you wouldn't even have to try that hard."
... Was she joking? "I'm... I'm... I, okay, could you be honest and tell me if you're joking because I'm only getting more lost here!" He could feel the pitch of his voice rise in mild panic.
"I bet at least one of them will be all over you in a heartbeat." She leaned over again, forcing him to look her in the eyes, keeping her fingers on his chin when she couldn't pull them away. "I think you're worth it, Izuku. So does Ochako. I bet even those pros will think so too. How many people do you have to impress before you can admit you're impressive?"
"I... Uh... Uh...!" His face was flushed, it was hard to think straight with what she was proposing, with that smirk on her face.
"What do you say, Izuku? Gonna give it a try?"
"I... I thought my first time should be with you!"
The words were blurted out a little louder than he intended, only he was too embarrassed to check if anyone was paying attention this time, not to mention his girlfriend hoarding all of his attention. Kyoka's eyes widened on hearing those words, a light flush coming to her cheeks, like she had been in the moment and that moment had been broken. "... Oh. Is... Is that what you want?"
"Uh...!" This just got very bad, very fast! He had to salvage this! Fix it somehow! "Uh, I mean, I didn't want to make it sound like pressure or anything! I'm happy to go at your pace! And this the way we're doing things with Ochako that's all different to what I expected and I don't know how it should work but I figured since you're my girlfriend you'd... Well..." He started to lose steam as the things he needed to say had been said, and he finally had to catch up with what he wanted to say. "I figured that was how you'd want this to go? Eventually, I mean. When you're ready."
"Okay, saying all the nice things, I get that." The punk girl glanced around. "Man this is a public place to be having this conversation."
"We don't need to have it now–"
"No, we should." Puffing out a breath of air, Kyoka continued. "Izuku... I don't really care about first times being with the 'right' person. I mean, I suggested doing... What we're doing. I had to think about what that might mean and what mattered to me. Being with you, that it makes us happy, that matters to me. Having first times just to like, stake a claim or whatever, I don't care. Do you?"
She was being so earnest and accommodating, he wanted to reciprocate. But he also didn't want to lie to her. "A little," he admitted. "It isn't a big deal but... Yeah, a little."
Kyoka rolled her eyes, and Izuku thought he saw her mouth the word 'men'. "Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But for now... When we're together the first time, I wouldn't mind if you somehow knew what you were doing, okay? I've heard plenty of horror stories and I want to enjoy our first time together. Whenever that happens." With a reassuring smile for him, she looked at the time. "I've gotta go, my train comes in a couple minutes." One last kiss goodbye. "And when you get a chance, don't pass it up just because of me, got it?"
She turned and swift-walked along the platform, leaving him behind before he could say "That won't happen!"
"Yeah it will!" she called back, not even turning to look. "Have fun, Izuku!"
-(-)-
Train. To bus. To taxi. Getting to his internship wasn't the easiest thing in the world. Izuku hadn't considered exactly how far away from civilisation he'd end up as part of this. The train took him to a resort town in the mountains, good for hiking and climbing and such. The bus took him to the outskirts where a lot of the trails were. The taxi took him miles up a two-lane road into what felt like the middle of nowhere before stopping at the point it turned from real road to dirt road. "Apologies, but this is as far as I can take you. This car won't manage well beyond here."
"Oh! That's alright, thank you for getting me this far!" Paying his fare, he got out of the car and fetched his luggage, wondering just how far he'd be walking to get to the location of his internship. At least he knew he was heading the right direction. The dirt road was signposted with drawings of four different cat mascots.
It seemed the answer to his earlier wondering was quite a while. Putting one foot in front of another as he plodded along a dirt road in shoes less than idea for it. The natural Japanese forest looming over him from either side. The road itself only mostly flattened out along a hillside.
He heard something. Something heavy, falling to the floor. Or maybe rolling. Maybe a landslide? Without One for All he would've been helpless but with it he could probably handle such a–
A mighty crack preceded a tree falling across the road! The thing that did it, some kind of monstrous beast, leapt atop the fallen tree before lunging at Izuku! Not a landslide! He didn't have time to think, only react. And so he dropped his luggage, leapt back away from the lunge, then up and over the reaching arms to throw a punch at the body of whatever it was. In the split second of falling towards it, he realised what was really happening. It was after all a monster made of earth, and he knew who he was coming to see.
The dirt monster blew apart from the impact of his fist against it, barely even holding together as it was. Izuku dropped to the ground atop a pile of dirt, looking to the treeline either side of him for the one who had to be there.
"Nice reaction!"
Not one. Four.
"Your feline fantasies are here! Say meow!"
"Purrfectly cute and catlike!"
"You can call us the Wild Wild Pussycats!"
Izuku stared at the display, three women and one man, all partaking in the same cat shtick. Selling it so earnestly that it kind of worked. "This is perfect," he whispered, smiling widely as he continued louder. "I'm glad to meet you! My name is Izuku Midoriya! I'll be in your care!"
"Aw, look at him, Mandalay!" the blonde, Pixie-Bob said as she stopped front and centre, looking him up and down. "He's so sincere and polite! Nothing like how he seemed in that sports festival! That reaction to my Earth Beast though, that was what we expected!" Izuku had to take a step back as she got into his personal space and then some. "Decisive, strong, all wrapped up in this cute and nervous little package! I wanna keep you all to myself!"
"Pixie-Bob, keep it together," the auburn-haired Mandalay warned, though she looked more amused than giving a genuine reprimand. "He just got here."
"I know! That's the best part! I wanna see more!"
"Welcome to the team, Midoriya!" the only man among the Pussycats said, clapping the hero student on the shoulder. "I hope you're ready to work hard! We're going to show you what it is to be part of a hero agency! Put in the effort, and we'll make sure this experience will be worth your while!"
"Yes sir! I'll do my best!"
"Ooh, so cute I just wanna eat him up!"
"Pixie-Bob, down. Don't make me get the spray bottle." Mandalay focused on their temporary employee again with a welcoming smile. "Follow us back to the lodge. We can get your things stowed away and we'll show you the ropes." Pixie-Bob opened her mouth, taking a breath to speak– "No."
"Aww."
-(-)-
A/N: This chapter seen very very early on THE GREAT FORBIDDEN P! FEAR THE P! LOVE THE P!