mezo shoji daydreams

Merry Christmas, Mezo Shoji (Part 1: Christmas Eve)

A/N: Hi everyone! I have a little message for you all before the story. I hope everyone is doing well and that if you celebrate, whatever you celebrate, I wish you all a happy holiday season.

I want to apologize for being MIA for so long. I've been going through a lot these past months, including school coming back, work coming back, and then losing my job, moving, and unfortunately going through the passing away of a parent. It's been really hard for me, but writing and escaping into these worlds really helps me, so I'm glad to be back. They call them "comfort characters" for a reason, right? I hope that this story is good enough to make up for all the lost time!

Anyway, this is a story I've had in the works for a long time, pretty much since this episode aired. I'm glad to finally have it out, just in time for the holiday season. I want to thank you all for sticking around with me so long and reading my little book! I wish nothing but happiness for every single one of you in the coming new year.

Also a bit about the reader in this story: you have a quirk, but I won't explicitly disclose what it is until later on in the story. There's some hints to figure it out though!

Now onto the story!

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Winter is arriving in Japan. The year is coming to an end and the weather is getting colder, as reflected by some changes to everyone's hero costumes.

It's Match 3 of the Joint Training between Class A and Class B . Shoji, Ojiro, Todoroki, and Iida are up against TetsuTetsu, Juzo, Pony, and Sen. It's an exciting match, with each team battling as hard as they can.

You stand below the giant screen, cheering for your friends. They're all split up now, fighting against their own opponents.

You cheer for Shoji as he chases Pony down the corridors of the arena. She's quicker than him, but he's creating limbs faster than ever before to increase the length of his arm and grab her.

"Looks like Shoji's been learning a trick or two from your style," Tokoyami states.

You simply nod, not wanting to take your eyes away from the screen for a second.

He stretches his arm but just barely misses her, and she leads him out into a clearing.

"Sorry Tentacole," Pony teases, her words laced with venom. "But I never look at the ocotopuses in the aquarium. They are NOT cute."

Everyone in Class A gasps, and even some from Class B shrink into themselves in embarrassment at their classmate's words.

"Excuse me? Did I hear her right?" you hiss.

Tokoyami tries to speak but he's busy trying to wrangle Dark Shadow who keeps shouting "Oh, hell no!".

"I'm used to people being scared of me," Shoji says.

In that moment you feel simultaneous heartbreak and blinding rage. Your eyes well with tears of frustration and your fists clench in anger, nails digging into your palms.

Your classmates earnestly cheer Shoji on even though he can't hear them. It's a chorus full of:

"Go get her, Shoji!"

"Don't listen to her, Shoji! You're amazing!"

"You've got this, Tentacole!"

You watch the screen as Shoji finally gets to debut his ultimate move, Octoblow, and feel the rage momentarily subsiding for pride. He's been working so hard on that move.

People don't usually think about the mechanics of it, but with every extra limb that Shoji produces, they become harder and harder to control. He has to be conscious of every new eye, mouth, ear, and hand he makes. Not to mention the mental capacity required to take in all the new information coming from all the new appendages at once. It takes an incredible amount of skill and concentration to wield his quirk, and you felt so proud to watch how far he's come.