Phoenix (mha x oc)

Chapter 18: Study Buddies

I nodded and he walked away. After school, I flew home to change into a random t-shirt and some black shorts before flying to where Midoriya's apartment complex was. I walked around the complex for a bit before I found myself at a door labelled 'Midoriya'. I knocked on the door and a few seconds later, a short, middle-aged woman with green hair and eyes opened the door. "Oh, hello. Is there something you needed?" she asked.

"My name is Fuka Tanaka, I'm here to study with your son," I said, assuming that this was Midoriya's mom.

Her eyes brightened up. "Oh! Izuku mentioned he'd be having a friend over today! I didn't expect that he meant a girl! You can call me Inko!" she exclaimed excitedly, pulling me inside, "Izuku honey!"

Midoriya then peeked his head out of his door and blushed as soon as he saw me. "T-Tanaka, I'm glad you were able to make it," he stuttered.

'I wonder what's up with him,' I thought to myself as Inko led me into the house. She sat me down on their couch and Midoriya sat beside me with several notebooks in hand. "S-so what subjects are you worried about?" he asked.

"Math and English mainly," I said, sitting so I was facing him, mainly so I could spread out and relax my wings.

He then grabbed the notebooks for those two subjects and we started going over his notes. After a few hours, Inko said, "Alright, how about you two take a break and eat some dinner."

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a bother..." I said quietly.

"Nonsense! No child goes hungry in this house!" Inko declared as Midoriya led me to the dining table.

We all sat down and I took a bite of the food. "Wow Inko, this is really good!" I exclaimed as I ate more.

"Thank you sweetheart!" Inko said happily, "Also, I just wanted to say that I thought you did amazingly in the Sports Festival. It's not just anybody who can make the top two of a big hero tournament."

I blushed and looked down, "I-it wasn't that great, I could've done better in that last fight against Bakugo..."

Midoriya's head shot up immediately, "But you did so good! Nobody else put up nearly as good of a fight against Kacchan!"

"I got distracted by something though... my head wasn't fully in the game because of that, and that's why I lost. Bakugo even said it himself, it's why he was so mad at the award ceremony," I dismissed.

Inko sighed, "That boy has always been so prideful. Even back when Izuku and him were in preschool, he was always going on about being the best."

I cocked my head to the side, "You and Bakugo have known each other for that long?"

Midoriya nodded nervously, "Yeah..."

"Y'know, that explains a lot," I remarked.

Inko chuckled, "Anyway, is there a time you need to be home? I don't want to worry your parents."

I sweat dropped at the idea of my parents, but shook my head and said, "Well, my uncle has been really busy lately so he's probably going to be home really late. And if he ever gets too worried, I'm sure he can use his heroing abilities to track my phone."

Midoriya chuckled and Inko asked, "Oh, you live with your uncle? Who is he?"

Midoriya and I sweat dropped. "I'm surprised you haven't guessed it, we look very similar. Most people guess it almost immediately," I joke.

"I don't pay as much attention to heroes as Izuku does, sorry," Inko remarks.

"Mom, he's not just any hero. He's the number three hero, Hawks," Midoriya explains.

Inko looks back over to me for a moment and gasps, "Oh my goodness! To think that the niece of the number three hero is in my home!"

I chuckle and say, "Yeah, it's not a big deal though."

We finished dinner and Midoriya suggested that we study in his room so his mom could watch TV in peace. I follow him and was shocked by the amount of All Might merch this guy had, but decided not to comment and just sat down on his bed. We started studying a bit more, but as I was doing some practice problems, I noticed that Midoriya had stopped working. I looked up and saw that he was staring at me, almost puzzled. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

He blushed and said, "N-nothing, I-I was just thinking about some of the things you've said to me."

"Like what?" I asked.

He went silent for a moment, twiddling his thumbs. "Like whenever you mention your childhood... like during the Sports Festival... or what Kacchan said afterward... and then what you said in the hospital..." he said quietly.

I sighed, "I guess I haven't really been discreet, have I? And not that I don't trust you... it's just not an easy thing to talk about..."

"It's ok, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Midoriya said.

I looked into his sincere emerald eyes for a moment. His aura was so kind and welcoming that I felt the overwhelming urge to just pour my heart out and tell him every single secret of mine. Before I knew it, I had started opening up about my childhood. "So your parents were apart of a yakuza and the boss's kid would use his quirk on you? What was his quirk?" Midoriya asked.

I shuddered at the thought. "It was called Overhaul... it allowed him to completely disassemble and reassemble molecules. He would rip me apart and put me back together. It was... quite a painful process. One day, he didn't put me back together... he was frustrated and decided to just leave me as a pile of blood on the floor..."

"Was that the time you were talking about? In the hospital, you said that you'd been resurrected before," he asked, his eyes watering slightly.

I nodded and looked away, not wanting him to see the tears that were falling down my cheeks. However, the next thing I knew there were arms wrapped around my body. I stiffened at first, but then relaxed when I realized it was just Midoriya hugging me. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to. The hug was all I needed to burst the dam. I started shaking, sobs catching in my throat. I buried my face in the crook of his neck as I sobbed, holding onto him for dear life. He reached up and started rubbing circles on my head, running his fingers through my hair. I kept crying for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes. As I started calming down, Midoriya started to speak. "You've been through so many terrible things... most people would've become a villain after everything that happened to you. But... you didn't. You're probably one of the strongest people in our class. And... thank you for trusting me with this. I'm sure it wasn't easy to talk about."

I sniffled and backed up enough to look at his face. "T-thank you..." I said.

He gave me a soft smile and said, "Of course. What are friends for?"

A smile worked its way onto my face. "It feels like a massive weight has been lifted off my chest..." I remarked.

Midoriya's smile widened. "Well, if you ever need help with anything else, you can always talk to me, ok?"

I stared into his emerald green eyes for a moment, feeling nothing but gratitude. "Ok."