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Chapter Summary:
Izuku wants a day of fun with his friends. And thinks the best way to do that without bringing up bad thoughts is to have a movie marathon at his house. Thankfully, it all works out.
And, better still, a plan is made for when/if the Sports Festival is held.
After all, there was no actual rule AGAINST students working together from the start.
I wanted to write the kids having a nice time. So I did.
I was originally gonna pepper in more stuff of Hitoshi and Toru getting sus about Izuku keeping something from them but it shifted to them all just having a good time together.
I think it’s good. A nice pacing spacer to ease off the drama for a little bit.
Chapter 13: Planning for a Festival
Izuku carefully dug out snacks, setting up some bowls in the living room and flitting about the apartment.
It was the first time in years that he’d had friends over. Not since his diagnosis. Usually, he spent time with his new friends at school or in some of the little cafes around the campus. Mei had invited them over to her lab to hang out before, but this would be the first time he’d invited them all to his house.
But, after the attack at the USJ, he wanted to do something normal. Yet special? Did this count as special? Did it count as normal? He honestly wasn’t sure.
He wanted to spend time with his friends. He wanted to do something fun and safe with them.
And he wanted to give Toru the chance to do something that didn’t end up looping back in one way or another to what happened to her class.
The school had already been shut down for a few days so the teachers could investigate the security breach. Spending so much time at home after the attack was driving him crazy, and there was only so long he could research and stare at his computer screen before he felt like he had to be around more people than his mom and little sister. Nooroo had suggested inviting his friends over to hang out, even if it meant the kwami would have to hide while they were there.
His mom had agreed with the kwami and gave him full permission to invite them over.
Eri had school, but she wanted to meet the rest of his friends. He was sure they wouldn’t mind staying for dinner.
He’d dug out some of the pre-quirk era media he liked, intentionally choosing old shows and movies that were cheesy and didn’t involve hero schools. If they could avoid anything reminiscent of the attack, that would be best. Unless he knew they were just too goofy for them all to take it seriously. He had some old hero movies based on purely fictional heroes, a few of which were magical heroes that he’d thought were fun.
“Are you ready, Izu-bocchan?” Nooroo asked, his favorite little cup in hand and filled with snacks for himself.
Nooroo was going to hide on the top shelf of Izuku’s closet until his friends went home, even if Izuku felt bad about making his best friend have to hide in such a small space while he had fun. There was a chance some of them might spend the night if they all stayed up too late.
“I think so. I asked everyone in the group chat about any allergies, and they all said no. So I got lots of snacks and made sure the fridge was stocked in case we decided to cook something for lunch. Although I think Toru-chan said she wanted to bring some of her favorites to share with everyone…”
“I’m glad! I hope you all have lots of fun,” the kwami said, smiling softly at him.
“I made sure to charge up my tablet for you, so you can play your games or watch whatever show you like on it. And I charged up some portable batteries and put them on the top shelf with you, so you don’t have to worry about it running out.” Nooroo beamed at that.
There was a knock on the door, making both jump. Izuku nodded at the butterfly kwami, who quickly zipped away and hid in the agreed hiding place with his snacks.
“Coming!” Izuku called, jogging to the front entrance. He opened the door to see the bouncing shape of Toru with several bags in her arms.
“Hi Izuku-kun! I know I’m a little early, but I was just really excited.” The invisible girl held out a few of the bags to him. He could pick up a few faint notes of nervousness in her. “My mom made us some snacks! I also brought some movies I thought might be fun to watch together.”
“That sounds great, come on in!” He smiled warmly, taking the bags he was offered and stepping aside to let her by. “We can put the food in the kitchen, and then set up the movies on the coffee table.”
“Is your mom home? I wanted to thank her for letting us all come over…” Izuku shook his head.
“No, Mom had to go to work today. She usually works remotely for an insurance company, but they had a massive case come in the other day. She went in to help them work on it in person.” It was kinda sad. He would have liked to introduce his friends to her. But, on the other hand, it was nice to know that his mom trusted him to have friends over without her there.
“Oh, okay.” Toru gave a little fist pump. “I’ll have to make sure I help clean up before I leave. I promise I won’t leave a big mess for you!”
Izuku laughed at her energy.
“Thank you, Toru-chan. I appreciate it.”
This looked like it was going to be a good day.
Hitoshi jogged up the last few steps to Izuku’s apartment.
He was too winded from that. He may need to add stairs to his training regimen. Izuku had been right about his lack of athletics when they first met. How was he supposed to work as an underground hero if all it took was a flight or two of stairs to leave him panting? Sango-sensei had been helping run his reflexes into the ground for hero work. Maybe he should talk to her more about general exercise he could do on top of his stuff in class? That would probably be the best idea.
He adjusted the duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
He hoped Midoriya-san wouldn’t mind if he asked to stay overnight. The new orphanage matron was on a warpath lately, and he was getting sick of the other kids trying to pin shit on him.
He was lucky that, this time, he was staying with someone who was willing to give him a chance instead of just assuming he was guilty and going straight for punishing him. But the repeated checking of his stuff for things people claimed were stolen was getting on his nerves. He needed a night away, and he was pretty sure the Midoriya’s would agree if he asked. The green-haired duo were stupidly nice like that.
He counted the doors until he reached the one with a nameplate that read ‘Midoriya’. Hitoshi took a deep breath, held it, then slowly let it out.
Then he knocked.
There was a call of “Coming!” from inside, then the door opened to the face of his quirkless friend.
Izuku had his hair in the familiar half-up, half-down style he always had, a plain t-shirt on with a light jacket, worn-looking jeans and (interestingly) no slippers on. He didn’t take the green-haired boy for the type to just walk around in his socks when he was home. So he was already learning something new about his friend.
He gave a relaxed smile back, waving idly.
“Hey, sorry if I’m late. The trains were held up,” he said. It had been annoying; apparently, there had been a villain attack that had managed to hit the train lines and they’d had to delay the train to rush someone out to fix them. The green-haired boy shook his head.
“It’s no problem, Hitoshi-kun. We heard about the delay on the radio,” his friend said, waving him inside the apartment. “Did you have breakfast? Toru-chan and I made some brunch things while we waited for you and Mei.”
His friend hesitated, his face pinching nervously.
“Unless you don’t want it? It’s okay if you don’t, I promise it’s not a problem if you don’t want any!” He couldn’t help laughing at that.
After how they’d first met, he thought Izuku was a cool and calm sort of guy. But that had been quickly disproven as he got to know him. Izuku was actually really shy and seemed to always worry when it came to other people’s boundaries. Hitoshi appreciated that concern. He didn’t know a lot of people who would stop and ask if something was okay with him. It was one of the things that made him get along with the other.
“It’s cool, Izuku-kun. But I wouldn’t mind something with eggs if you have any.” He stepped inside and looked around at the small apartment.
It was greener than he’d thought it would be. But it fit.
He could see a small sitting room that connected to the kitchen, which had the dining table already set up with snacks, and a small hallway that he assumed led to the bedrooms and bathroom.
The sitting room had a TV set up on top of an entertainment center. He could see a shelf of DVDs and a game system waiting to be turned on. There was a blue-green sofa with a throw blanket tossed over the back and a coffee table laden with DVDs and games in front. A similarly colored armchair was tucked into one corner of the room, and a large basket of yarn sat on the floor next to it. A big bookcase was against the back wall and stuffed full of books. He could see a couple of manga, some novels, a few cookbooks, and even some books that looked more home-made. (Journals, maybe? Possibly more cookbooks.)
And there were a lot of plants. There was a planter box sitting just outside the window, a couple little potted plants sitting on the divider between the front entry and the kitchen, and a few succulents were in the bookcase acting as bookends. Bustles of dried plants (herbs?) hung in a few spots on the walls next to framed photos. All of which looked like they were made of wood. Some of the frames looked like someone made them from cut branches, even.
He could see Izuku in a lot of them, along with his mom. He could see Izuku’s little sister, Eri, in a lot of them too, smiling shyly and waving as her picture was taken. But he didn’t see anyone who looked like Izuku’s dad. Just Izuku, his mother, and Eri-chan.
(He wondered why…)
There was a year-long lunar calendar on the wall by the entrance, hanging like a banner with the names of each “type” of full moon written on it. It was kinda cool looking, the art and text having a chalk-drawing style that made it look like it was written on a chalkboard instead of printed on paper. There were other decorations on the walls too: a couple of shrine talismans for safety/wealth/good health, some hanging ceramics shaped like moths or butterflies, and some framed drawings that he was pretty sure were drawn by either Izuku or his little sister.
It… Wasn’t the kind of place he expected. But it was nice. It made the place feel warm. Cozy. Lived-in.
(He forced back the tiny seed of envy in his chest. He was there to have fun with his friends, not to think about how differently he lived from them.)
He set his bag by the couch.
Mei was sitting in the armchair, curled up with one of her drafting books in hand. He could tell she was scribbling away at some new idea she’d had while on the way over. She was wearing some kind of brightly colored jumpsuit instead of her usual work overalls, her favorite goggles hanging around her neck instead of pushed up on her head like they usually were.
He’d spotted Toru in the kitchen, dressed in a striped tank top and shorts as she happily put food onto a plate. Singing along under her breath to some tune from the radio sitting on one of the counters.
Turning around, he found Izuku staring at him with a small frown on his face. Like he was trying to figure something out.
He raised an eyebrow at his friend.
“Something wrong?” He asked. Izuku jumped.
“Ah! No, no! I was just thinking about something, that’s all.”
“Don’t spend too much time in your head, then. I’d hate to see what your nerves would churn out.” He gave his friend a lopsided grin. Izuku did stuff like that a lot, but it wasn’t a bad thing. The green-hairded boy laughed, scratching his cheek sheepishly.
“What do we want to start with then? Both Toru and I have movies we can all pick from…”
“Oh, oh! Can we watch that magic one I was reading earlier?! The one with the clock in the walls! It looks really neat!” Toru shouted excitedly, sliding on her socks into the room while balancing a plate of food in hand. Mei looked up, squinting slightly.
“Hmm… A fantasy movie would be a good starter. We can save nitpicking a hero movie for after.”
“Which movie is that, anyway?” Hitoshi couldn’t help asking. Based on what Toru said, it wasn’t one of the movies she’d brought with her. Izuku pulled the movie from its place on the shelf, showing it to the other two. “Huh. I wouldn’t mind starting with that one.”
“I think it’s a good one. It’s meant to be kinda scary, but it’s very fun.” Izuku said with a grin. The movie was put into the DVD player and started, all of them settling in to watch.
It was after the third movie was put in, an old pre-quirk one about a bunch of random heroes being asked by the UN’s private task force to work as a team despite never meeting before, that Toru brought up something that Hitoshi had been thinking hard about himself.
“What do you guys plan on doing during the Sports Festival? If they hold it this year, despite… You know.”
Toru was picking at her shirt, her invisibility making it harder for him to figure out what she was feeling. But he felt like he’d gotten to know her enough to make some educated guesses. She was probably nervous about the whole thing, since her quirk wasn’t flashy in combat. He was a little nervous about it himself.
But that was why he was taking Sango-sensei’s class. He had to cover the gaps his quirk left open if he ever wanted to be a hero. And Toru had picked up a lot from him and Izuku helping her spar. She still needed some work, but she was leagues ahead of how she’d been doing when they first started hanging out.
“My plan was to get all the way to the tournament. I don’t think I can win it, but I want to be part of it,” Hitoshi admitted, leaning back in his seat. He’d mentioned it in passing before, but he didn’t know if the others knew about the opportunities that came from doing well in the festival. “I… I really wanted to get into the hero course when I first signed up for UA but I didn’t meet the cut. But if I make a good enough showing during the festival, I can apply for a transfer.”
The cushion behind Toru’s head gained a dent in it, making him think she was leaning her head back against it.
“You can do that?! Oh, that would be really cool! I’d love to have you in my class.” He heard her let out a frustrated huff as she grumbled out, “You’d be a way better classmate then Mineta is…”
He snorted at that. Toru had complained about her classmate enough for all of them to know what she meant. (He wasn’t really sure how the guy managed to get in, considering he really couldn’t do much. Izuku theorized he got in through traps or accidental rescue points, once he’d explained the test to him. Something told him that the green-haired boy was right.)
“If you’re worried about how well you’ll do, I’m sure Hitoshi-kun and I can help you train up for it. We can use some of the more serious training rooms at the school now, since we’re students, and we can stay after hours to help you work on your form.” Izuku offered, smiling over at her. He nodded in agreement.
Sure, they would all technically be competitors, but that didn’t mean he wanted his friends to do badly. No, he wanted to see his friends kick ass and take names. Maybe knock some of the quirk-ist jerks in their year down a few pegs. That would be fun.
(Especially that guy in the Hero Course that Izuku seemed to go out-of-his-way to avoid. He didn’t know the history they had, but Hitoshi desperately wanted to kick his ass.)
“I plan to show off as many of my babies as I can! I’ve been working on a good array of them to get me through the events as much as possible. I don’t care if I win, I just wanna make sure I get as many people seeing them as I can.” Mei’s face turned a little more serious than usual, leaning against the arm of her seat. “Sponsors mean my babies are being used to help people. And that’s what I want more than anything else.”
He looked over to the last member of their little group. Izuku was quiet for a moment longer before he seemed to realize they were waiting for him to speak up.
“I’m just- I’m just gonna do my best. I’m quirkless, so I probably won’t be able to get much further than the first task. It’s usually an obstacle course of some kind, so I can at least get to the end of it.”
Hitoshi frowned at that. It sounded like Izuku’s low self-esteem was acting up again. It was rare, but sometimes he just couldn’t seem to see how good he actually was at the things he did. And the rest of them needed to remind him that he was better than quirkist randos thought he was.
“Nah, you’ll probably make it to the tournament. I mean, you’re damn good at hand-to-hand and can read people really well. I’m sure you’ll get there, and kick some under-trained jerks around like they’re footballs.” Hitoshi said with a smirk, idly waving his hand as he did. Izuku shrugged, his smile fading slightly.
“I don’t know. The second event is usually some kind of team centric thing, and not many people would want a quirkless kid on their teams. I’m pretty sure you guys are the only ones who would want to work with me.”
“Then… Why don’t we do that?” Toru’s quiet suggestion made them all look at her. He could see her shifting slightly against the cushions. “I mean, why don’t we just plan to work together during the festival? There’s no rule against it.”
Hitoshi turned the idea over in his head.
“That could work… I mean, my quirk gets a lot of flack so getting onto a team of strangers isn’t gonna work too well if I try to do it without telling them about it. If we can all get into the top forty two, then we could all just work with each other instead of trying to convince people we don’t know into working with us.”
Mei straightened up, eyes glinting in excitement.
“I know the kinds of things you all look for in support babies, so I can make some custom stuff to work for you all. I’ve had some good ideas for making your umbrella even better, Notebook boy! I can definitely make it strong enough to handle the tournament. And maybe a grappling hook or some taser tonfa…”
“And we can do some training together to work out how to cover each other during the events. I’ve sparred with Hitoshi-kun and run through some katas with Toru-chan, we can do a couple with the equipment Mei makes so that we know how to move and use it beforehand!” He could see Izuku getting excited, his eyes getting that glint that always showed up when he’d started plotting out something he thought would be amazing. The grin was infectious.
“Hell yeah, let’s give the world a real show.”
