A/N: 2021 couldn't even give us a week, could it?
(One Day Later)
Kyouka slipped on her black pantyhose and shoes, stretching her arms over her head as she yawned. Her jacks extended, slipping into the sleeves of her uniform blazer still on the bed. They lifted up the clothing, allowing Kyouka to slide her arms into the sleeves and button up.
*Knock* *Knock*
“Kyouka,” Mika said, leaning through the open door. Her voice in a teasing tone. “Your boyfriend is here.”
“He’s not my…” A smile then slowly bloomed on Kyouka’s face. “Oh, wait. Yeah, he is. I’ll be down in a second.”
Mika rolled her eyes, but had a smile on her face as she left the room. Grabbing her bag, Kyouka left her room and headed down stairs to be met with the face of her recently acquired partner. Izuku was on his phone checking the latest hero news when he heard approaching footsteps. Gazing up, he saw Kyouka nearing him.
“H-Hi.”
Kyouka grabbed Izuku’s improperly tied tie, fixing it for him. “I get the feeling you’re not doing this right on purpose so I can do this everyday.”
“Yes and no. I-I still d-don’t know how to tie it right, but I haven’t tried to learn so you can still tie it.”
Finishing with the tie, Kyouka chuckled. “You won’t see me complaining.”
“Oh, please.” Both teens turned to see Kyoutoku with half-closed eyes sitting on the couch with coffee in hand. “It’s far too early in the morning for this much sweetness. I’m begging you to go to school.”
Smirking, Kyouka crossed her arms and turned towards her father. “What? Too early to make threats to my boyfriend?”
“It’s never too early for that. Speaking of which, Midoriya, did you know I own a gun?”
“It’s a Nerf Gun.”
“Hey!” Kyoutoku yelled out, a finger pointing at the teens. “Anything can be a weapon in the right hands.”
Rolling her eyes, Kyouka grabbed Izuku’s hand and walked out the door. “Goodbye, old man.”
Walking down the steps and onto the sidewalk, Izuku looked over to Kyouka. “He...He doesn’t actually have a gun, right?”
“Are you kidding me? Do you know how strict gun laws are here? Besides, I’m pretty sure he’d scream like a little girl if he fired a shotgun. And why are you still afraid of him?”
“My first time meeting him he was dressed in a black cloak and threatening death. He’s unpredictable. I have every reason to be afraid if I do something wrong.”
“You know what’s really funny? You’ve been worrying about what my parents would do to you if you did something wrong, but let’s be honest. I’m the one you should be scared of.”
Izuku took a deep breath, his eyes wide. “That’s actually a good point.”
“Especially since if you do something wrong, I’m most likely going to be the one in the closest vicinity to you.”
“Wh-What would you do, exactly?”
Kyouka smirked, bringing Izuku’s face down to give a chaste kiss on his lips before whispering, “Hope you never find out.” She took his hand again, leading Izuku down the sidewalk as a cold chill ran up his spine.
…
(U.A High)
Just as the couple was about to walk through the front gates, Izuku stopped them. “Wait, w-we never actually talked about if we would be public at school.” Both teens looked at one another in thought. Izuku thought about the weird, perverted male group of the class, while Kyouka thought of the overbearing, gossip group that was some of the females.
They gazed at one another, simultaneously saying, “Nope.”
Their hands separated as they walked into the building and towards their classroom. They could act like a couple at any other time. If sticking to “Best Friends” in public meant keeping their privacy from a bunch of teenagers they barely knew, they’d do it in a heartbeat. For now, at least. As they neared the classroom, Izuku asked, “Do you think we’ll make it through the day without people finding out?”
“Were we really comfortable with doing PDA here in the first place? Or anywhere with people?”
“You’ve got a point.” They entered the classroom, sitting down at their desks like everyone else.
Except for Iida, that is.
“To your seats everyone! Class is about to begin!”
Izuku turned to Kyouka, “Should we tell him he’s the only one still standing?”
“Eh, let Iida have his fun. He barely has any influence over us to begin with. By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask. Do you still think they’ll go through with the Sports Festival after the attack? Seems like adding fuel to the fire to have another big event where there’ll be heroes-in-training ripe for killing.”
“I don’t know. If they don’t cancel it, maybe they’ll delay?”
“They better fuckin’ not.” Both teens turned their eyes towards Katsuki as he sat down at his desk. He swiveled around to glare at Izuku. “And you better do well in the first two events, Deku. Don’t forget, we’re going to rematch. And it’ll be a real fight this time. I wanna see that quirk you’ve been hiding and prove that even with it you’re still a worthles-”
"Can't you just shut up?"
Katsuki paused, his eyes quickly turning to the desk next to Izuku's. Kyouka's stare was directed right at him, her arms crossed as she gazed unamused. "The fuck did you just say?"
"I said shut your obnoxiously large mouth."
Izuku's eyes grew wide, "K-Kyouka, I-I don't think this i-is a good id-"
"Who the hell even are you, Earlobes?"
"Wow, Izuku just said my name. You're either stupid, or you're hard of hearing from your own screaming. Oh, wait. It's both."
Katsuki grit his teeth, his fists clenching. "Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?"
Izuku sighed, 'Out of all questions to ask, you had to ask that? You just gave her more ammo.'
Kyouka smirked, "Right now? Well, right now I'm looking at a loudmouth, arrogant, annoying, complete and utter jackass with a superiority complex who's in denial and being an asshole to my best friend. But in about five seconds I'll be looking at the exact same thing, except you'll be far quieter, because I can hear that Mr. Aizawa is about to walk through the door. And you'll just have to take everything I just said because you're already walking on thin ice with him."
Growling, Katsuki glared at Kyouka with veins popping out on his forehead. "You think you ca-"
"Sit down, everyone! Class is beginning!" Iida yelled out to the class. The door slid open, revealing Aizawa completely covered in bandages. The blonde sneered, taking his seat fuming. Izuku looked over to her in panic, but she shook her head.
She leaned over and whispered, “We’ll talk about it after school. I doubt you want more people learning about you two right now.”
Izuku looked hesitant, but nodded, knowing she was right. It wasn’t a conversation to have near everybody. Aizawa went to his desk, his voice muffled by the bandages. “Morning, everyone.”
Mina raised her hand up, “Um...Mr. Aizawa...Are you sure you should be here? You kinda look like a mummy.”
“Forget about my well-being. It’s not important.”
“That’s the kind of thinking that just makes us more worried.”
“Worry about yourselves, because the fight isn’t over. The Sports Festival is still on.” The class began speaking out in surprise, the revelation shocking to everyone. “Quiet down. Apparently we have to show to the public and villains that we’re not afraid and that we still believe in our crisis management protocols. Granted, we’ll still have five times the amount of police coverage compared to last year. But, either way we couldn’t skip this event. It’s an important opportunity for you all to participate in.”
Momo perked up in her chair, “We’ll be seen by heroes all over the country.”
“Exactly. You’ll be scouted for internships with real pros. This only happens once a year, so you’ll have three chances to prove yourself. Don’t waste this opportunity. Be sure to train hard over these next two weeks. Now, onto today's first lesson…”
…
(Lunchtime)
The class was talking excitedly, everyone charged up for the festival. Kyouka and Izuku were making their ways towards the door, doing their best to ignore Katsuki’s constant glare. “E-Everyone is really excited for this.”
“Are you not?” Just as they were about to leave the room, Iida grabbed their attention as he tensed up. “This is our chance to prove ourselves!”
They watched Iida’s body move in what Kyouka could only call, “A Rigor-Mortis Jig”. The purplette awkwardly nodded at him, “Ooookay, dude. Good luck with that.” Just as she was grabbing the door handle, Iida stopped them again.
“Aren’t you going to wait for Uraraka and I?”
“Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry, just wanted to get out of here. All this noise, you know?” Kyouka said, pointing to her jacks.
“Of course, I understand. Now, Uraraka let’s go-” Iida paused at the sight of his friend, a terrifying grin on her face.
Ochako gazed up at her friends, “Iida, Jirou, Midoriya, let’s do our best in the festival.”
The trio looked at one another before looking back at Ochako with Iida breaking the silence, “Uraraka...Are you alright?”
“Just determined.” She jumped up from her seat, pumping her fist up. “Everyone! I’m gonna do my best!” As the class nervously raised their own fists up, Kyouka moved over to Ochako, taking her by the shoulders.
“Okay, let’s go get lunch. You determined enough for that?”
Ochako punched her fist into her palm, “Quite.” Leading her out the door, the group traveled to the cafeteria. As they walked down the steps, Izuku turned to his friends.
“H-Hey, I-I never asked you Uraraka. But, um, wh-why do you want to be a hero?” Kyouka couldn’t help but smile a little. Izuku starting the conversations in their friend group wasn’t often, so this was progress.
The look of determination suddenly vanished from the brunette’s face. “O-Oh, well I-...It’s not exactly, uh...It’s money.” The group was startled, each one of them not expecting that answer. “I-It’s not noble or anything, but...my parent’s own a construction company and we're not doing so well. Don’t tell anyone, but we’re dirt poor right now. I’ve offered to help them at the worksites with my quirk, but they won’t have it. I want to give them a better life.”
Iida quickly came to Uraraka’s defense, “There’s nothing wrong with trying to achieve a better lifestyle.”
Kyouka started to speak up, “Yeah, but-.” She quickly shut her mouth, immediately regretting adding that “but” at the end. Now all eyes were on her.
Uraraka looked concerned, “What?”
“Uh, nothing. I was just going to say I hope it works out for you.”
“No, you can be honest. I know my reasoning isn’t exactly what most would consider heroic.”
Shit, now she was being put on the spot. If she continued to deny it, Ochako would just feel like Kyouka held something against her and just wouldn’t say anything. “I-I...It’s a good reason, and obviously it’s great that you want to help your parents, but...i-isn’t it that kind of thinking that usually leads to corruption in the hero industry?”
The pit in Kyouka’s stomach worsened when even Izuku visibly flinched at that answer. Iida swerved on her, “Jirou! It’s not right to accuse someone like that!”
Now it was Izuku’s turn to interject, “Accuse? She wasn’t accusing her of anything. She was just making sure Uraraka knew what she would be getting into.” Iida’s eyes went wide at Izuku’s sudden interruption. That was probably the longest and loudest Izuku had spoken in a short amount of time to them.
Ochako clearly didn’t know what to say, “I-I...I don’t...Well, I…I guess...I guess you’re right.”
Tenya tried to stop her, “You don’t have to-”
“No, Iida. She’s right. There’s been plenty of hero agencies that have disbanded or been shut down because someone tried to pull a scam or embezzle. I-I...I have to make sure I stay strong and never break my promise of using the money I earn for good.” The trio looked at Uraraka as she gazed down at her feet. Izuku looked past his friends to see All Might swerve around the corner, about to shout something. But, Izuku quickly shook his head, indicating it definitely wasn’t a good time. The pro halted, looking at the group and reading the room. He silently backed away from the situation and out of sight. The brunette looked back up to the group, “What about you guys?”
Kyouka faltered, “Us?”
“Why do you and Midoriya want to be heroes? Iida told us a while back, but we never go to the rest of us.”
Kyouka became a little skeptical. Was that supposed to be a way for Ochako to turn it all around on her? “Well, I know it may not seem like it, but I want to bring hope by making people smile.”
Izuku followed Kyouka’s statement with his own. “I-I want to be like All Might. I want my smile to bring hope to everyone.”
Ochako and Iida’s eyes went wide. The brunette was taken aback, “Wow. No wonder you two are best friends. That’s eerily similar.”
Iida added, “Uraraka’s right. Perhaps you two should be a hero duo, maybe even form a hero agency together?”
The couple looked at one another, both blushing. Ochako gave a weak smile, “It’s a lot more noble than wanting money.”
Kyouka quickly stepped forward, “Hey, I didn’t...Uraraka, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to soun-”
“No, it’s fine. Seriously, it...You were right. And I meant what I said, you reminded me of what path that could lead me down if I’m not careful. I’ll remember that so I reach my goal to help my parents. So...Thank you. Really, you’re...You’re awesome.” Ochako gave a genuine smile to her female friend, “And see? You’re already completing your goal as a hero.” Kyouka was at a loss for words. Had that bluntness actually helped? “So, you guys ready for lunch?”
Izuku looked at Kyouka’s shock, turning back to the other two. “W-We’ll catch up i-in a minute.” They nodded, heading to the cafeteria. As soon as they were out of sight, Kyouka immediately sat down on the steps with her head in her hands.
“Shit. Shit. Me and my big mouth. Why did I do that?”
Izuku sat next to her, “Well, I think it actually went well. Uraraka seemed to take it to heart. In a good way, I mean.”
“I still basically said she might become corrupt...We’re not very good at this “having other friends” thing, are we?”
“No. No, we’re not.” Kyouka gave a weak laugh, shaking her head. "B-But...our own hero agency, huh?"
The purplette looked over to Izuku with a grin. "Doesn't sound too bad to me. Although, sound and punching makes for an unlikely hero duo."
"We'll find a way."
"You really think so?"
"If we get the right gear and practice, I'm sure we can get it down. I-I mean, did pretty well at the USJ?"
Kyouka looked around, finding the hallway empty. Quickly, Kyouka brought their lips together. Once separated, she stood up from the steps. "C'mon. Let's go do our best to make sure lunch isn't super awkward."
...
(U.A: After-School)
Luckily, Izuku and Kyouka managed to survive the rest of the school day with minimal awkward moments. As soon as they were out of the building, Izuku swerved around to face Kyouka, panic evident on his face. "Okay, n-now that school is over and everyone is gone…" Izuku took a deep breath, his eyes growing wide. "What are you doing?!"
"Walking home with my boyfriend."
"No! I mean what was that this morning with Kacchan! He's going to be after both of us now!"
Kyouka smiled, "Yep."
"...Okay, now I'm just confused."
"That dick deserved it. He was your bully. Scratch that, he still is a bully. Therefore, it's a part of my job to hate him. If he's your enemy, he mine, too."
"Wh-? But, he h-hasn't really bullied me for a while."
Kyouka lifted a brow in confusion, "Woah, wait a minute. Besides the fact that bullying in the first place is still a major problem, you're saying that blasting you through a wall, even when you already won the match, isn't bullying?
"W-Well, I-"
"Not to mention threatening to pull the pin on his gauntlets. There's no telling what those could've done."
Izuku brought his hands together, fiddling with his thumbs. "W-Well, actually they most likely cause a much bigger explosion than he's capable of making on his own. H-His quirk is sweat-based, and my g-guess is they store his sweat for combustion of extreme scales. I-I saw them in the locker room."
"So...a massive explosion in a small, narrow hallway? You're right, that isn't bullying."
"I'm sure he w-was just-"
"That's attempted murder."
"He wouldn't go that far...I think." Izuku then realized the likelihood of having to fight Katsuki in the Sports Festival. "Oh God, I hope."
Kyouka shook her head, taking Izuku's hand and heading towards the sidewalk. "I don't understand you sometimes, dude. Out of everyone, why are you defending him? You even called him a dick, and said you didn't like him...Granted, the dick part was because you’ve been hanging around me, but still."
Izuku tried to answer, but nothing came out. "...It's a long story."
"One you're going to have to tell me."
"I know. I know, I just...after the Festival? Please? We really need to focus on that right now. Going into the...for lack of a better word, catastrophe that is my relationship with Kacchan will distract us."
Kyouka looked up to him, "It's so bad it would distract you from a festival two weeks away?"
Izuku frowned, his eyes becoming distant. "Yes."
Kyouka sighed, squeezing his hand. "Alright. After the festival. But, no later, alright?"
"I promise." Kyouka still wasn't completely satisfied, however. Continuing to put something like that off would just make it worse. Was that hypocritical of her since she too bottled plenty up? Maybe a little, but, to her, Izuku was far more important.
"Excuse me, young heroes!" The teens stopped in their tracks, swiveling around to find All Might appearing behind them. "Sorry to interrupt your walk home. Or should I say…" All Might nodded down to their intertwined hands, which caused them to quickly let go. "Romantic stroll?"
Kyouka blushed, "U-Uh, well we-"
"Now, now! Don't mind me. I won't say a word. We wouldn't want Midnight all over you two now, would we? Anyway, I must ask to take Young Midoriya away from you for a few minutes. Fear not! It won't take long. Your beau will be with you again, momentarily!"
Izuku blushed, looking over to Kyouka. “I’ll just go with him to stop any further embarrassment. Wait for me?”
“Course.” Izuku took off with All Might, leaving Kyouka to begin playing on her phone by the front gate.
As they got further away, Toshinori whispered, "Sorry, Young Midoriya. I tried to catch you at lunch, but it was clearly a bad time."
"Y-Yeah, I figured. But, wouldn't it look weird to randomly have lunch with me?"
"I...Huh, you're probably right. Aizawa is already accusing me of favoritism as is. Anyway, we need to talk about the Sports Festival…"
…
(Outside at the Front Gate)
“So…” Kyouka looked up from her phone to see Katsuki standing before her. “Deku’s best friend, huh? Didn’t think that loser had friends.”
“What? Still mad about earlier? Wait, nevermind. Of course you are. When are you not throwing some kind of tantrum? If you’re here for another verbal fencing match, trust me, I’ll win.”
“Look, Earlobes, I don’t know what Deku told you about him and I. I honestly don’t give a shit. Just as long as you stay outta my way. I don’t need any more extras dragging me down.”
Kyouka tilted her head in astonishment, “Extras? You’ve gotta be kidding me. How do you even see with your head so far up your own ass?” Katsuki merely growled, walking down the sidewalk away from the school. “It was horrible meeting you, Kacchan!”
Without turning around or stopping, Katsuki yelled out, “Don’t fucking call me that!”
Chuckling to herself, Kyouka went back to playing on her phone. “Oh, you poor, naive boy. The fact that you said that means I’m going to call you that from now on.” Wind suddenly gusted next to her. Izuku stood panicked, his body slightly glowing from his quirk.
“Please, don’t fight! I got here as fast as I- and he’s already gone.”
“Yep. Just left.”
With his hands on his knees, Izuku sighed in relief. “I saw you guys talking from the window. I figured the worst would happen.”
Ruffling Izuku’s hair, Kyouka laughed. “He may be a dick, but even he’s smart enough to know not to fight here.” Grabbing Izuku’s hand, they began walking down the sidewalk towards the train station. “At this point he’s all bark and no bite.”
“But, we’ll eventually g-get to the point where he’s allowed to bite.”
Kyouka could see the underlying fear in Izuku’s eyes, which indicated to her that she was being too lax about the whole thing. She nudged his side, “Hey, don’t worry about him right now. Everything will be fine, okay? Besides, I think he’s scared of me.”
Izuku couldn’t help but chuckle, “Really? Kacchan, scared?”
“Have you met me? He didn’t even get ten sentences out before he left. And with how much he blabs, I’m sure ten is an extremely small number for him.”
The tension cleared as Izuku began laughing louder, “You have no idea.”
“Just remember what I said at the beach. One day. My boot. His balls.”
“I-I don’t want unnecessary violence…” Izuku couldn’t get through the sentence without laughing a bit, “But, I’ll await that day.”
“Good.” They entered the train station, boarding and finding their seats. “Oh, I forgot to ask you. How was bonding-time with your mom last night?”
“It was...fine. Just fine. It was nothing revolutionary, b-but...it was nice. More than we’ve done in years. Although, she kept giving me weird looks at times, like she thought I was still hiding something.”
“...Brussel Sprout, I don’t know how to break this to you, but you are hiding something. In fact, a lot of things. One of them is one-hundred fifty-four centimeters tall, has purple hair, and who’s name rhymes with Pyouka.”
Sighing, Izuku leaned back in his chair. “Y-Yeah, I know. But-”
“Let me guess. We’re also going to add “Introduce Me To Your Mom” to the “After The Sports Festival” list?” Izuku gave a nervous, pleading smile. “You’re lucky I like you so much.”
“That, I am.”
“Well, let’s not waste any time then. Might as well get ready for this thing. To the beach we go.”
…
(Dagobah Municipal Beach Park: A Few Hours Later)
The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, purple skies hovering over sparkling, orange-lit water blessed the Earth.
Along with a green-haired teenager being tackled into the sand.
“Ow…” Izuku wheezed out.
Kyouka sat up on Izuku’s stomach, her face drenched with sweat. “You’ve gotta fight back, dude. I think I’m ready.”
Nodding, Izuku pulled the pillow out of his shirt. “Yeah, I-I can tell. The pillow has stopped working.”
“My jacks are getting stronger. I almost threw you over my shoulder with them.”
“Y-Yeah, but can you not try and throw me by the neck?”
“Only if you promise to fight back next time.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Kyouka chuckled as she fell down next to Izuku , laying down on her back like him. “We’ve seriously gotta get towels to lay down on or something.”
“Or maybe we should stop lying down in sand?”
Kyouka moved her head to Izuku’s shoulder, “Too comfortable.”
Izuku buried his nose in Kyouka’s hair, “I won’t argue that.” The couple sat in silence for a while longer, the sun fully vanishing from sight.
"Hey, I've been thinking."
"Yeah?"
"I think you've had enough emotionally draining days. And a lot of them are times when things just start pouring out of you. I know you said you want to wait until after the Festival to talk more about your past stuff, but...how about a weekly thing instead?"
Izuku propped himself up on his elbow, "What do you mean?"
"You said you didn't want our relationship to have any secrecy. But, I know you don't like having sensitive stuff forced out of you or being put in situations where it's almost like you have no choice but to share. I understand that, trust me. But, you and I can just have designated times for you to get all the lingering things from your past off your chest."
"So...therapy?"
"Hey, I'm no therapist. I'm just me, an ear ready to listen. And think of it less like weekly therapy, more telling like an episodic tale of Izuku Midoriya."
Izuku smirked, "Are you trying to turn my life into an anime?"
"No. Maybe. A little bit." They laughed, both of them not letting any tension enter the atmosphere. "In all seriousness, I know holding stuff in hurts. It's something we just have to let out at one point or another. I want you to do it as comfortably as possible. I figured, since you said I'm the only one you feel like you can talk to about it, I'm your best option. And instead of forcing it all out of you in one sitting, you and I can just be like this." Kyouka motioned to the quiet beach, their bodies pressed against one another. "Just you and I, alone. Learning more and more about each other as time passes. And, in the end, helping you feel better about it all."
"Y-You...You really think that'd work?"
Kyouka shrugged, "I don't know. I...I just wanna help you. I can always see that look on your face when your past gets brought up. And, as your girlfriend, it's my job to make you feel better."
"You already do, everyday."
"And you do the same for me, but we both know this is different." Izuku nodded in agreement, thinking over what Kyouka offered.
"...Okay. I-I guess we can. Every week I'll try to talk about something from back then."
“Try?”
“Y-You know I’m not the best at this.”
Kyouka chuckled, “Fair enough. C'mon, let's go home." Pulling themselves to their feet, the duo left the beach, both satisfied with the progress made.
…
(Dagobah Municipal Beach Park: A Couple Days Later)
"Faster!"
Izuku looked up with wide eyes. Kyouka stood across from him about ten meters away, sweating and huffing in the high noon sun. "A-Are you sure?"
"Yeah, c'mon. We both need to push ourselves."
Izuku nodded, she was right. Everyone would be training to no end until the Sports Festival. If Izuku wanted any chance of doing well, he'd need to do the same. Izuku pulled more of One For All from his body, a stinging pain emanating through his muscles. But, it stung far less than it did back during the apprehension tests.
The teen rushed over to his girlfriend, placing a hand in her stomach and shoving her back. Kyouka stayed on her feet, sliding backwards. Izuku ran forward again, throwing punches left and right. They were fast, but he kept them slow enough for Kyouka to dodge them, which she did.
Dodging left, Kyouka's vibrating jack shot into Izuku's side, causing him to jerk to the right. Before Izuku could be the victim of Kyouka's assault, he jumped up high to avoid any more attacks. But, Kyouka's jacks wrapped around his ankles, yanking him down to the ground. Izuku fell into the sand, quickly recovering by grabbing Kyouka's jacks and pulling her in, placing his feet on her stomach and kicking her back.
Kyouka flew off her feet, tumbling through the sand. Afraid that he might have gone too far, Izuku quickly got up. "A-Are you alright?" Kyouka got on her knees, a smirk on her face. Izuku saw one of her jacks was extended. He followed the appendage to see it wrapped around his knee. The jack poked him in the back of the knee, causing Izuku to buckle and fall back down.
Kyouka threw herself on Izuku, placing her knees on each of Izuku's biceps. "Pinned. I win." It was Izuku's turn to smirk, his body glowing as he easily lifted Kyouka off of him, placing both hands on her waist and tossing her a few meters up in the air. "Woah! Holy shi-!"
Izuku caught her on her descent, bringing her into a tight hug. "Pinned."
"This counts as a pin?"
"Do you plan on escaping?"
"..." Kyouka placed her head down on Izuku's chest. "No."
"Then it’s a pin." Izuku let out a deep breath, placing his head back in the sand. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, we’ve been at it for awhile.” They both stood up, going through the same routine of leaving the beach with Kyouka on Izuku’s back. Down the road, once the couple reached the urban streets again, Kyouka asked, “Okay, so I’m getting stronger. My jacks are getting stronger, more durable, yeah. But, what exactly am I going to do if I have to fight someone like Todoroki? Or even Kirishima? I doubt my jacks could affect him when his quirk is activated.”
“Hmm...I’ll have to think about it. You’d probably have to make it an out of bounds win. Maybe you cou-”
“Get him!” The duo’s attention was caught by a group of kids. Running down the sidewalk were three kids chasing after another child. They vanished around the corner of a shop, hot on the trail of the fleeing child.
Kyouka quickly hopped down from Izuku’s back. “C’mon!”
Shaken out of a stupor, Izuku followed Kyouka down the sidewalk and around the corner. But, he froze once more. Before him was a public playground. The same public playground from eleven years ago where Katsuki and his friends tried to pick on another boy.
As the child trying to escape the group attempted to climb up the monkey bars, the assailants grabbed his feet, trying to pull him down. “Stop it! I didn’t mean to burn it!”
One of the bullies with small tusks coming out of his mouth shouted back, “You wouldn’t have burned it if you didn’t have such a stupid quirk!”
“HEY!” All the children flinched, quickly turning around to see Kyouka marching towards them. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
A blonde child to the left sneered, “Who are yo-?” Kyouka swerved her glare on to the boy, quickly changing his demeanor to scared and trembling. “U-Uh...Aki, tell him.” Both other boys pushed the child with tusks forward.
“W-Well, we all just got new hero trading cards. I-I got the rare holographic All Might card, b-but Taiyo destroyed it.”
“How?”
“His stupid quir-”
“Wasn’t talking to you, pipsqueak.” Kyouka walked past them, picking up the boy on the monkey bars and placing him down on the ground. She kneeled down, her expression switching to caring. “What happened?”
Taiyo, wiped tears from his eyes, his shaggy, fire-red hair going over his eyes as he lowered his gaze. “My quirk makes me sneeze fire. I-I accidentally sneezed when I asked to s-see Aki’s card...and I burned it.”
Nodding, Kyouka looked over to the rest of the kids. “Now, answer me this. Is the world ending?”
“...What?” Aki asked.
“Is the world ending because your card was destroyed? I get you’re a kid, so little things like this are a big deal to you. But, take it from me, you’ll be just fine. It’s definitely not worth bullying someone over it.”
“B-But his quirk-”
“Is something he can’t control. Can you control those tusks coming out of your mouth? Did you ask for them? How would you feel if you accidentally poked someone with them and they picked on you for it?”
“...Well, I…”
“We all have things we can’t control. That shouldn’t ruin friendships. I am assuming correctly that you were all friends until ten minutes ago if you were all buying cards?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“And would you really want a card to ruin that? Besides, Holo-All Might isn’t that rare. My boyfriend has like thirty. Do you want to be stupid?”
“N-...No?”
“Then do the smart thing and apologize to each other, and go back to being friends.” The boys nervously turned to one another, each saying they were sorry. Taiyo apologized for burning the card, and Aki for trying to hurt him. “Good. Now get outta here before I call all your parents.”
“You know our parents?”
“I’m older than you. You don’t know what I know.” Deciding not to push their luck further, they all began running away. But, they were laughing and smiling like nothing happened. Groaning, Kyouka walked over to Izuku, placing a hand on his back. “It’s a good thing children have the memory of a goldfish.” Kyouka paused, seeing Izuku not really focused. “Hey? You okay?”
“Yeah. Y-You handled that well.”
“Eh, kids are dumb, but they can’t help it and can learn from it. You gotta make sure they understand what they’re doing is also dumb,” Kyouka chuckled. However, she faltered as she noticed Izuku’s vacant look had not left his face. “Izuku?”
The greenette looked over to Kyouka. “U-Uh...Do...I-I think now is probably a good time for that first talk.”
“O-Oh...Yeah, alright. You want to go back to my place?” Izuku didn’t answer her as he walked over to another spot on the playground, looking down at the ground.
“I haven’t been here in eleven years. I-I stopped coming after…”
Kyouka followed him, following his line of sight. “After what?”
Izuku crouched down, placing his hand on the ground. Since the last time he was there, they had covered the dirt with pebbles. Moving the pebbles around, Izuku found something even he was surprised was still there. Kyouka kneeled down next to him, looking at the dirt. “Are those...scorch marks?”
Izuku suddenly couldn’t swallow, his throat closing up as his heart began beating faster and faster. Kyouka caught on quicker this time, pulling him into a hug as they sat down. Luckily, Kyouka got to him fast enough to ward off the panic attack before it completely took hold of Izuku. It didn’t take long for Kyouka to figure out what happened either. Seething, Kyouka glared down at the marks. “That son of a bitch.”
“It’s fine. Calm down.”
“What? Calm down? You can’t be seri-”
“It’s like you said. Kids are dumb. W-We were four years old.”
Kyouka swiped her hand across the rocks, revealing more faded scorch marks. “This is a lot more than kids roughhousing, Izuku!”
Izuku shook his head, “It’s different.”
“You’re right, that is different. Assault while using a quirk illegally? I’m pretty sure that’s a felony.”
“Kyouka, four year old kids beating up another kid is far from being at the top of the world’s list of priorities. They just didn’t know any better, and n-nothing is going to change what happened anyway. So, can we move on from that aspect of it?”
Sighing, Kyouka sat back. Izuku wasn’t going to budge on the matter. “Fine...So, what happened?”
Izuku blew a raspberry, shaking his head. “They were picking on this kid, but I stepped in. So, they switched to me instead. That...th-that was the first time after my quirkless diagnosis that I felt truly helpless. I-I couldn’t do anything. O-One kid, who could extend his fingers, held m-me in place.” Izuku finished the sentence with a slight wheeze, his throat closing up once more. Kyouka pressed herself against him, laying her head down on his shoulder to help quell the panic. “Another kid with wings would hold me upside down in the air from my foot...And you can see what Kacchan did.” Izuku’s face turned to a glare, a bitterness on his lips. “And I couldn’t do anything. I-Imagine swimming as hard as you can, but you just keep sinking.”
“This is beginning to sound like torture.”
“Trust me, the feeling of uselessness is more tortuous than anything they could have done. But…” Izuku placed his hand back down on the marks, taking a deep breath before nodding to himself. “Even with a quirk, it’s hard to feel all that useful when I can barely use it without breaking my body.”
“You were never useless, and you still aren’t.”
“I think I’ve realized whether I was or not doesn’t matter. I felt useless, and everyone thought I was. It doesn’t matter what the truth is, but what the truth is believed to be.” Kyouka opened her mouth to retort, but came up with nothing. He wasn’t exactly wrong.
“Then...Then, you have to prove them wrong. Prove yourself wrong. They thought you were weak, couldn’t do anything. They convinced you, too. They were dead wrong. And you can prove it.” Kyouka took Izuku’s face in both of her hands, looking him in the eyes. “The Sports Festival. Make it a message.”
“To those bullies?”
“No. To yourself. Prove to yourself you’re not useless.” Izuku’s eyes widened, remembering what All Might had told him a few days back. His mentor wanted him to use the Sports Festival to send a message to the world. But, now Kyouka wanted him to make it a personal message. Something to open his eyes, to break past the barriers put on his own mind.
“I...I will...I’ll do my best. We both will.”
Kyouka smiled, brushing her nose against his. “I really like that word now. Both.”
Izuku smiled back, “Me, too. Has a-a lot more meaning behind it now.” They leaned in, pressing their lips together passionately. The scorches on the ground, forgotten, and a new goal set in mind. “Not exactly the detour I was expecting.”
“Me neither, but do you feel better now? Did it work?”
“A-Actually, yeah. I-I haven’t thought about that day for a really long time, much less talked about it. I guess, I f-feel like I can put it behind me now. Or, at least I’ll be able to.”
“Awesome. Now, do you wanna go home? For real, this time?” Izuku smiled, getting on his feet in a kneeling position.
“As long as you still need a ride.”
“When do I not?” Kyouka hopped on, the couple taking their leave and heading towards the train station. While Izuku may still have had some worry left in his heart, now he was even more excited for the Sports Festival. He and Kyouka had just a little over a week left to prepare.
If Izuku wanted this to be his message, then the work had only just begun.
He was just lucky enough that he had someone happy to lighten the load.
…
(U.A High. Early May: The Day of the Sports Festival)
Izuku and Kyouka stood at the front gate. They had trained all they could, both feeling comfortable about their progression. Izuku still didn’t have an exact number of how much of One For All’s power he could use, but it was definitely more than back when he first formed Full Cowl. Kyouka’s jacks were stronger, tougher, and her control over them made them faster. Her new fighting prowess helped exponentially as well. Had she mastered it? No, but she couldn’t deny the progress.
Kyouka turned to Izuku, “Ready?”
“No. Nervous?”
“Like no tomorrow.” They smiled, leaning in for a kiss before breaking away. “Just as planned. Oh! Wait! You think I’ll get to fight Mineta? Please, please, l want to kick his ass.”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t harm him unless he did something perverted again.”
“You think he won’t?”
“I...Nevermind, your chances are pretty high.”
“Outta the damn way!” Both teens turned to see Katsuki approaching, hands in pockets and glare set on Izuku.
Kyouka laughed, “And you’ll do what if we don’t move, Kacchan?”
Growling at Kyouka, Katsuki maneuvered around them. “Deku, if you lose before you get to fight me, I’ll fucking kill you anyway.”
Kyouka rolled her eyes, turning back to Izuku. “Show him what you're made of."
"A scary amount of quirk knowledge, repressed memories, and anxiety."
"Wh-...Well, yes, and…?"
"Strength and a good heart."
"There we go." The couple began their trek to the building knowing a long, eventful day awaited them.
But, they'd do their best to face it together.
A/N: Ah, good, The Festival. I've been trying to give this story some love and focus for awhile because I realized, unlike Thank You, this had slow updates. So instead of going back and forth between stories I wanted to keep this stories engine running, keep it in the spotlight.
And if you've noticed, this chapter sets up two new dynamics. Ochako and Kyouka, and Kyouka and Katsuki. Ochako now has two people to admire and aspire to be like. And Kyouka has the same role as Momo did in Thank You of hating Katsuki (as anyone's loved one would do in such a situation). But, Kyouka is far more verbal about it. She's almost getting revenge when Izuku won't. Momo sort of ignored Katsuki in TY, but Kyouka has no qualms in letting the blonde know just how she feels about him.
They're going to have future issues and conflicts, I'll tell you that for free.
Now, what do you think of the "Disguised Therapy" or "Izuku's Episodic Tales" Kyouka proposed. I've noticed it's always "Something happens that makes Izuku spill his guts". Now this is a way for Izuku to start to feel comfortable willingly choosing when to share his demons, at least with Kyouka.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed.
And yes, Kyouka's jacks become stronger with training. At least here they do. I'm fairly certain they do in canon as well, because she's shown training their strength and durability during camp. Either way, they do here.