~Amy's POV~
On my way home from school, I had my nose buried in a book using my peripheral vision to avoid bumping into anyone. I'd gotten quite skilled at reading and walking back when I lived in the states. It was easier to block out the bullies comments when I was reading a good book. As I stepped to the side to avoid a gaggle of high school students, one of them intentionally blocked my path pulling my gaze from the book in my hands.
I politely bowed my head, "Sorry, excuse me." I tried to move around the tall boy but he blocked my path again.
"Hey, are you All Might's daughter?" The boy asked me curiously causing the rest of the high school students to pause. A few other passersby on the sidewalk turned to look. I could hear lots of frantic whispers all around.
"What?! Really?"
"I didn't know All Might had a kid."
"That's really cool."
Their voices sounded all around me and I clutched the book in my hands a little tighter. I didn't like having this much attention. Keeping my head bowed, I nodded in response to the boy in front of me.
"That's gotta be really cool, your dad is the greatest." The boy smiled.
"Y-yeah." I replied meekly. "I-I'm s-sorry but I need to get home." I didn't want to make them mad by running away and didn't know how to excuse myself from the conversation.
"Oh, yeah, no problem." The boy smiled, "it was nice meeting you, we're all big fans of your dad, just let him know we're all rooting for him." He moved out of the way.
"Th-thanks...I w-will." I bowed once more before scurrying away quickly keeping my head buried in my book.
As I continued on my way, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Someone was watching me. I kept my nose in my book and scanned around me with my eyes. I noticed a group of high school aged boys who didn't appear to be wearing school uniforms across the street on the opposite side walk. They were keeping pace with me. I didn't like that it seemed like all of them were looking at me.
Deciding I didn't want to lead them to the house, I took a random turn. If they really were following me, they'd have to cross the street. Picking up the pace I took another random turn. Now the fine hairs on my arms were standing on end, they followed me.
"Maybe it's just a coincidence." I mumbled softly to myself and took another turn before realizing I had no idea where I was, I was in another part of town.
The boys followed me. I picked up the pace to a brisk walk. They kept my pace. I snapped my book shut and held it tightly in my good hand as I moved to a slow jog and took another turn at random. A gasp escaped me as I realized I'd ducked into an alley and turned to go back. My heart sputtered in my chest as I saw the group of high school aged boys in dark clothing blocking my exit.
I turned back around preparing to run through the dirty alley to get away from them when one of them called out to me, "are you really All Might's daughter?" I chanced a glance over my shoulder to the boy that had spoken, his hair was dyed a vibrant acidic green color. He appeared to be their leader as he stood front and center.
"Y-yes."
"That's a shame." He took a step forward and some of his friends chuckled.
"W-why?" I asked shakily as I took a step back.
"Your old man put my old man in jail." He said coolly as he took another step toward me.
"I-I'm sorry...but I-I d-don't know what th-that has to do with me?" I took a few more trembling steps away from him as fear gripped my heart. His friends were moving with him, fanning out, they were trying to corner me.
"Well, you see, your dad hurt me by taking my dad away, I feel it's only right to hurt him back." He smirked, "such a shame you have a cute face, I really don't want to mess it up."
Their herding tactics worked and I soon found myself backed against a grimy brick wall. "H-how does this accomplish anything?" I squeaked as he towered over me with a wicked smile.
"Well, it'll make me feel better to rough you up a little." He said as if it were obvious and reached for me.
I heard a panicked cry from the end of the alley that sounded like it was supposed to come out intimidating, but was filled with fear. An open trashcan filled with rotten food smacked into two of the goons and a banana peel smacked into the face of the boy in front of me.
"AMY!" A familiar voice shook me from my frozen terror. I looked over to see a terrified Midoriya running right for me. He extended his hand to me and I dropped my book and placed my good hand in his.
He gripped my hand tight and yanked me after him. We sprinted away from the confused high school aged boys, running as if our lives depended on it. My heart thundered in my chest as I clung desperately to Midoriya's sweaty hand. We ran as fast as we could away from the alley and didn't stop until we were several blocks away.
Midoriya slowed to a stop at a park I didn't recognize and I collapsed to my knees in the grass as I struggled to catch my breath. I'd never run so much before and realized I was horribly out of shape. Midoriya was breathing heavily too but I didn't think it was from running. He still hadn't released my hand.
There were some younger kids playing nearby throwing rocks and having a grand time. Their somewhat violent game of rock throwing drew closer to us. I chanced a glance upward as I saw the kids point and felt my heart drop, there was a beehive hanging from the tree above us.
"A-are you okay?" Midoriya panted as he finally regulated his breathing, he noticed that I'd paled and dropped down beside me, "Ah! Are you hurt?!"
"N-no." I still hadn't caught my breath, "we have to go. I'm really allergic to bees."
He looked up just as one of the kids threw a rock at the beehive. It smacked into the hive and a swarm of bees angrily flew out of it heading straight for us. Midoriya released my hand and jumped into the swarm of bees. I scrambled away with a squeak and watched in awe as Midoriya got attacked by the angry swarm. One lone bee managed to break away and flew toward me. Midoriya caught it in his hand before it could get to me.
After the swarm calmed and dispersed Midoriya turned to me with a cheesy smile and gave me a thumb's up as if to say he was alright. There were dozens of angry red welts from the bees' stingers all over his face, neck and exposed arms.
"You didn't get stung, did you?" He asked me, his dark green eyes filled with worry. He slowly made his way over to where I'd escaped, like a coward.
I shook my head as tears welled in my eyes, he had angry red stings all over him! "Midoriya! That looks really bad!"
"I'm okay." He smiled brightly, "but we should probably get inside before they come back." He pointed to an ice cream parlor I recognized. It was the one I'd met him at a few days ago.
I nodded and we escaped to the ice cream parlor as the kids continued throwing rocks at the bee hive. They'd been amused by Midoriya's frantic screams of pain while he was getting stung half to death by bees.
When we stepped into the ice cream parlor the man behind the counter let out an audible swear as he took one look at Midoriya's swollen face. "What happened to you?!"
"Bees." I replied guiltily.
"Ah, hang on a sec." The man replied before bending down to rummage beneath the counter. When he popped back up, he had a first aid kit in hand. "Use this, I'll get you some ice."
I accepted the first aid kit from him, "thank you, sir."
He smiled and motioned for us to grab a seat at one of the empty tables. Midoriya dropped into one of the chairs as I opened the first aid kit and found a cream for bee stings inside.
"Ah, you don't have to do that, I can-." Midoriya attempted to reach for the first aid kit.
"It's my fault you got stung in the first place, it's the least I can do." I felt my face redden as I held the bee sting cream in my hand tightly refusing to relinquish it.
Midoriya's face turned a shade redder.
"Oh no! It's getting worse!" I panicked.
Midoriya babbled incoherently trying to wave away my worry. It was hard to make out what he was muttering but the general tone made me think he didn't want me to panic. I calmed myself down and began applying the ointment as gently as I could to the plethora of stings on his face, neck and arms. By the time I'd covered all of his stings, I'd gone through the whole tube of ointment.
I returned the first aid kit and bowed apologetically, "I'm so sorry we ended up using all of the cream for bee stings."
The shop owner chuckled, "nothing to worry about little lady, it's quite alright. How would you two like some ice cream?"
"Oh, sure." I blushed as I fumbled with my bag to find my wallet it would be rude of us to take up space in his establishment and not buy anything.
"It's on the house." The man chuckled, "looks like you two have had quite a rough day, I think you both need it."
"Ah...sorry for the trouble." I bowed my head apologetically.
"Don't worry about it. What will you have?" He smiled warmly as he adjusted his little white cap.
"Mint chocolate chip, please." I blushed as I realized I had no idea what Midoriya liked.
Seeming to catch onto my train of thought as I looked back at Midoriya with a bag of ice covering the majority of his face, the shop owner laughed. "Don't worry, little lady, he's a regular, I know what he likes. I'll bring it over to your table in a bit."
"Th-thank you so much for your generosity." I bowed again before returning to the table and awkwardly dropping into my chair.
Midoriya's eyes were closed. It seemed like the ice was helping to provide him with some much-needed relief but I was sure he was still in a lot of pain. I bit my lip unsure if I should try and talk to him or if I should just let him sit quietly. I needed to thank him, for saving me.
"M-Midoriya?"
He opened his dark green eyes and his face reddened as he met my gaze, "Ah...you can just call me Izuku...if you want." He ran a welt covered hand through his unruly mane of forest green hair with a nervous laugh.
I blushed, "I-Izuku..."
His face turned a brighter shade of scarlet.
"Thank you for saving me."
He looked flustered and somewhat jittery as he tried to tell me it was nothing. "I d-didn't do that much."
"You saved me from those guys and all those bees." Tears welled in my eyes, "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me."
He laughed as if to show me he wasn't in any pain though it looked quite painful. "Don't worry about it, I'm just glad you're not hurt."
"Here you go, kids, mint chocolate chip for the little lady and All Might berry for the young knight in shining armor." The shop owner chuckled as he set down a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream in front of me and a bowl of bright red and blue swirled ice cream with little All Might sprinkles in front of Izuku.
I couldn't help but smile. Dad was right, he really was a fanboy.
"Thank you." We said in unison causing the man to smile before he headed back to the counter.
"You really are a fanboy, huh?" I smiled as I looked at his All Might ice cream.
He laughed nervously as he ran his hand through his hair, "y-yeah, so I hear, guess I'm a hero nerd."
"Ah! I didn't mean it in a bad way." I squeaked realizing it probably sounded like I was insulting him. "I th-think it's good you have an interest you can get so involved in. I'm the same way with books!" I rambled trying to make amends.
Izuku smiled as I babbled on awkwardly trying to fix what I'd said. His eyes suddenly grew wide, "Oh no! Your book!" He paled and I remembered the book I'd abandoned so I could take his hand. Thanks to the cast on my wrist, it was really hard to hold things with that hand so I had to take his hand with my good hand. My book was sacrificed.
"It's okay. I think escaping with you was a little more important than my book." I offered him a reassuring smile.
We enjoyed our ice cream and talked about books and heroes for hours. Izuku was so passionate about heroes, he knew every hero there ever was. He even found some old videos online of my mom and dad from their early hero days. Mom never talked about the time she spent as a hero. It seemed like she'd only really been a hero to support dad. Izuku's passion for heroes inspired me. Perhaps being a hero wouldn't be so bad if I could support Izuku like my mom had supported dad. I could listen to him talk about heroes forever. We talked a little bit about my parents, he seemed shocked and somewhat sad to find out I'd just met my dad recently.
My phone buzzed startling me. I looked down at the screen, it was dad. I glanced at the shop windows and felt my heart drop; it was after dark! He was probably freaking out! I scrambled to answer the phone quickly so he wouldn't worry more. Before I could even get a word out, he was already panicking on the other line.
"Amy! Where are you?! Are you okay?! What happened?! Why aren't you home?!" He was in full blown panic mode.
"A-ah, I'm okay, I'm s-sorry dad, I lost track of time." I squeaked as guilt made my stomach churn. "I'll head ho-."
"What? No! Stay where you are, I don't want you on the streets after dark. Where are you? I'll come get you."
"The Ice Cream Parlor we went to after the hospital."
"I'll be right there! Don't move!" He hung up.
Izuku looked thoughtful for a moment, "Hey, Amy?"
"Huh?"
"Weren't you ever curious about your dad growing up?" He asked softly.
"Of course I was..." I smiled sadly as I remembered the time, I'd asked my mom about him, "I asked about him once. My mom got really sad when I did. I thought maybe it was painful for her but then I also thought maybe it hurt more that I had asked to begin with like maybe she'd think I thought she was lacking as a parent and I needed something more. I never wanted her to feel that way because she was always more than enough. Even though I didn't have a dad growing up, I never really wanted for one because mom always handled everything." Tears welled in my eyes and I dabbed at them. "S-sorry."
Izuku had tears in his eyes. We looked at each other's crying faces before laughing at ourselves.
I smiled as I remembered a funny memory, "back at my old school in the states they held a father daughter dance once. The school told my mom, since she was a single parent, she was more than welcome to take me as is, but mom was always a tad bit over the top. She rented a tux, hired a limo and drew on a fake mustache and beard to take me to the dance." I giggled, "the only problem was she used permanent marker by accident and it was stuck on her face for almost two weeks."
Izuku laughed with me, "it sounds like she was a great person. I wish I could have met her."
The door to the shop opened and we both turned. Dad was there in his weakened form staring at us with wide eyes before he started to get observant. He noticed the welts all over Midoriya's exposed skin.
"Young Midoriya, what happened to you?!"
"Bees." I answered meekly as I shrank a little with guilt.
"Bees?!" Dad's voice went up an octave and the next thing I knew my chair was being swiveled around to face him, "did you get stung? Are you alright? Where's your epipen?"
"Dad...I didn't get stung...Izuku saved me..."
"...Izuku?" Dad mumbled more to himself, "they're on a first name basis..." He seemed a little out of it. He snapped out of it and cleared his throat, "let's get you home. Thank you for keeping her safe, young Midoriya." His voice was a little stiff as he addressed Izuku.
I got to my feet feeling like I needed to do something else to thank Izuku. I spotted a small patch of untouched skin on his left cheekbone. Leaning forward I placed a soft kiss to his cheek careful not to hit any of the stings. "Thanks for saving me today, Izuku."
Dad and Izuku both made strange choking sounds. Izuku's face turned a bright shade of scarlet and he began babbling incoherently. I couldn't help but smile as I gathered my backpack and waved goodbye to him before heading for the door. Dad looked from me to Izuku with worried eyes before groaning and following me to the door.
Video- "Run For It" By Woodes