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I'm so nervous about the math quiz next week!" Uraraka exclaimed as they helped Izuku's mom prepare for dinner. The teenagers were prepping vegetables while Inko readied the rest.
"We can go over some of the topics again if you like." Izuku offered. He and Todoroki had planned to solve some problems over the weekend to practice, and he was sure the hybrid quirk user wouldn't mind Uraraka joining them.
"Really?" Uraraka looked at him with stars in her eyes and the knife nearly slipped out of his grasp. She was standing so close to him that her hair tickled him whenever she moved her head.
"S-sure." Izuku laughed and returned to chopping up the carrots he had in front of him. He could faintly feel his mother's gaze on his back, but he pretended not to notice. Uraraka didn't seem to notice that his mom was observing them quietly and he hoped it would stay that way. He didn't want her to be embarrassed by his mom, when he knew that she meant well. They discussed some of the topics Uraraka wanted to revise for a few minutes, before the aspiring hero noticed that his mom had gone quiet and had her back to him.
"What's wrong mom?" Izuku asked as he watched his mother hastily rummaging around the shelves of the refrigerator. He stopped chopping carrots and placed the knife on the cutting board before walking over to his mom, who was looking confused.
"I'm sure I had taken shrimp out to thaw, but I can't find it anywhere." Inko remembered pulling the bag out of the freezer and placing it inside the fridge very clearly. She just couldn't see it anywhere.
"We can just leave out the shrimp." Uraraka suggested, coming to stand next to Izuku. She didn't mind that there was no shrimp, the brunette loved fried rice in any way, shape or form.
"I guess so..." Inko frowned. She really couldn't understand what had happened to the shrimp, but she'd make do without it. That was until Izuku spoke and surprised her.
"I'll go to the store and get some more, mom!" He volunteered and was already halfway out of the kitchen before she could even react. Inko smiled at her son's retreating back. He had always been like that.
"He's always like that, isn't he?" Ochaco was looking in the direction as Inko when she voiced Inko's thoughts. The brunette's expression had softened to something fond and... caring? Inko didn't dare call it anything else lest it be wrong, but she had an inkling that something was going on between her son and the young girl. She was a woman and a mother to boot, so her intuition was usually spot on.
"Did Izuku ever mention how I got Coco?" Inko turned to the brunette with a smile of her own. She wasn't sure Izuku had told anyone how they came to look after Coco – he was too humble to do that.
"No, he just told me that you had always wanted to own a cat." Ochaco thought back to the first time she had seen the picture of Coco, but she could only recall Deku saying as much.
"Izuku has always had this penchant for finding and saving lost pets. Coco's mother was one of the neighborhood strays that Izuku knew and sometimes even fed. There was a storm a few months ago and he found her trapped under some iron pipes near a construction site on his way home. Of course Izuku heard her cries and came to her rescue. He took her to a shelter and made sure she got medical attention and then he found out she was carrying a litter. He helped take care of her and even printed out flyers to help with adoption for the kittens after they were born. The only kitty that wasn't adopted was Coco and Izuku was so sad about her not finding a new home that he convinced me to adopt her." Inko's heart swelled with pride as she retold the story. He might still be her baby, but to that family of cats he was a true hero.
"What about Coco's mother?" Ochaco asked and tried to spot the furry little creature that seemed to have gone into hiding. Inko-san looked out the window with a thoughtful smile on her face.
"She still roams the neighborhood. She wasn't much for being domesticated, but her kittens all have a nice home now. Isn't that right, Coco?" Inko cooed and bent down to pet the cat that had appeared out of nowhere. The kitty meowed loudly in response and rubbed her head against Inko's hand.
"That is very much like him. Everyone in our class agrees that he is a natural-born hero." Ochaco shared with his mother and noticed how the older woman's eyes dimmed a little. She swiped at her eyes quickly and turned back to Ochaco with what seemed to be a burning question at the tip of her tongue. She seemed to be struggling with herself for a few moments, but finally her shoulders sagged and she asked.
"Is Izuku having trouble adjusting at the dorm? Or is there anyone in your class that he doesn't get along with?" Inko started to wring her hands together in worry. She had wanted to question the brunette all day, but with Izuku there, she couldn't get herself to bring up his social life. She didn't want to hurt her son, she just had to ask to lessen her worries.
"No? Well, there is Bakugo, but no one really gets along with him. Why do you ask?" Ochaco was surprised that Deku's mother was asking her this. She had gotten the impression that Deku was very close with his mother and had expected him to share such details with her.
"It's just... Izuku has been looking so lively lately whenever he talks about you and Iida-kun and because he seems so genuinely happy, I just want to make sure that he isn't pretending for my sake again... It was very hard for me to agree to let him live at the dorm. I just can't stand the thought of him pretending to be fine and be all alone." Inko was starting to sniffle. She hadn't meant to spring the question on Ochaco like that, but when she brought up how their class viewed him, she couldn't help it. She so desperately needed to know that someone was looking after her baby, when she wasn't around.
"Is everything all right Inko-san?" Ochaco tentatively stepped closer and placed a comforting hand on the now weeping woman's arm.
"I'm sorry, I just haven't seen my baby so happy in a long time and I don't want his happiness to be a pretense!" The green-haired woman had produced a tissue out of thin air and was dabbing at her eyes.
"Why do you say that? Midoriya-kun is well-liked by everyone in our class and I'm sure everyone will tell you that he is their friend." Except for Bakugo, Ochaco thought to herself but didn't say out loud. Deku's mother took some steadying breaths before she looked into Ochaco's eyes with so much sorrow that it made the brunette want to cry along with her.
"I can't ask Izuku these things anymore... He'll just say that he is fine and happy to make me stop worrying, but I don't think he really trusts me." Inko's eyes welled with tears again. She had been carrying around guilt and a very small hope ever since he started attending UA. The guilt stemmed from not knowing about the incidents that had occurred at school more often than was normal and hope that his horrible school experience wasn't holding him back.
She had never been able to stop him from being bullied, which he had only recently opened up to her about, but she had known her son was shy and wasn't good at making friends. In the beginning she hadn't realized that he was shunned for being quirkless, but when she became aware of it, she had attended many meetings with Izuku's teachers to make his situation easier. It wasn't like he was completely isolated socially, but a lot of people thought of him as being lesser for not possessing any extraordinary power. The stigma around being quirkless was not something that would disappear easily, but Inko wanted the world to acknowledge her son for being amazing despite not wielding a quirk. She had tried to forget the one instance where she failed him so many years ago, but to this day it still haunted her. No matter how much she tried to be involved in Izuku's life, she felt like that one time had made Izuku stop trusting her and it broke her heart.
"-o-san. Inko-san?" Ochaco had been calling her name a few times when she was snapped out of her reverie. Inko had no idea how long she had been lost in thought, but the young girl in front of her looked borderline nervous.
"What do you mean he doesn't trust you? Did something happen to Midoriya-kun?" The brunette had a bad feeling about the direction their conversation was taking.
"Izuku's quirk developed very late, it was some sort of mutation... When he was four years old and still hadn't manifested a quirk, I took him to a doctor who believed him to be quirkless. You know how Izuku always wanted to be a hero? I didn't believe he could become a hero without a quirk and I think it hurt him more than he ever let on. I think it created a rift between us, but he never stopped believing in himself and I'm so proud of him for it." Ochaco's eyes widened in disbelief when she heard Inko's confession. She had known that something hadn't been right about Deku's overpowered quirk that kept getting him hurt, but she hadn't realized it was because he still wasn't familiar with it. Everyone, including herself, wrote it off as his quirk simply being too strong to control.
How horrible must it have been to be a child and constantly be told he wasn't cut out for his dream? She knew how quirkless persons were treated as extreme anomalies and she prayed that Izuku hadn't been victim to any of the horrible things she had heard people did to the quirkless. Many of them were exaggerated, she knew, but she didn't want to believe that her kind-hearted friend had ever been hurt. Her gut feeling, however, told her that he hadn't been so lucky.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Inko-san apologized and put a hand on the brunette's shoulder. Ochaco shook her head and bit down on her lower lip, debating whether or not she should ask something that had been on her mind for some days now.
"May I ask something?" She hesitated for another second, unsure if she should bring it up or leave it be, but when Inko nodded, she continued.
"Midoriya-kun didn't have many friends, did he?" At Inko-san's crestfallen expression Ochaco's theory was confirmed. His loneliness hadn't only been a result of Midoriya being socially awkward, but it had also been due to other people being apprehensive. She still couldn't believe that anyone would judge his character based on a missing quirk, when he was much more than that. Midoriya Izuku was one of the purest human beings Ochaco had ever met. He was so inherently kind that she had trouble believing how harsh his childhood had been. She was extremely grateful that he hadn't become bitter and still yearned to become a hero.
"On the day of UA's entrance exam, he saved me from one of the giant robots you saw in the sports festival. Some rubble had fallen over me and everyone was running away, everyone except for Midoriya-kun who jumped in to save me. After that we became friends. It was so easy." Ochaco smiled as she thought back to her first meeting with the nervous wreck that had been her Deku. While she spoke, she noticed how Inko-san's shoulders finally relaxed.
"That being said, I don't think you have any reason to think he doesn't trust you. The way he talks about you, it is so easy to see that you are the most important person to him. From my perspective, he glosses over details and only keeps things to himself, because he knows how much you worry about his safety." She explained as kindly as she could. Constant worry was a strong hereditary trait in the Midoriyas, but Deku always spoke so highly of Inko-san that she didn't believe for one second that he didn't trust her. Ochaco forgot to continue speaking, but it turned out it wasn't necessary. When the brunette looked up, Deku's mother was smiling again.
"I'm glad he met you and Iida-kun. Speaking of which, next time you come over you should bring him as well. I'd love to meet him." The stress lines on Inko's face had lessened and she looked relieved as well as overjoyed.
Only when the front door opened and Izuku announced his return, Inko and Ochaco remembered that they had been making dinner. Their conversation had made them forget the time, but they were both glad they had been able to talk so freely with each other. The curly-haired teenager stepped into the kitchen with a bag in his hand and walked straight to the counter to take out his purchases. Inko mentally noted to do something nice for Ochaco as a thank you and promptly set about teaching the two young people how to make the fried rice.
"Sorry it took so long, there were so many people out buying groceries." Izuku explained as he finished putting things away. He turned and stopped moving when he saw his mother and Uraraka exchange glances. He looked from one to the other without figuring out what had transpired between the two females while he had been out.
"That's okay, honey. Ochaco and I finally had some girl time together." Inko winked in Ochaco's direction and the brunette giggled at Deku's confused expression. He had only been gone for some twenty minutes, but he had missed so much. Coco meowed in protest over being left out of girl time. She had, after all, been present the whole time.
It was late in the evening when Izuku and Uraraka finally got up to head back to the dorm after a delicious meal. The commute would take them nearly an hour and although they didn't have school the following day, they still had to go to bed at a reasonable time.
"It was wonderful meeting you, Ochaco. I hope you'll come by again." Inko smiled at the girl, now dressed in her uniform again. She had thoroughly enjoyed the brunette's company and genuinely wanted her to visit again.
"Thank you so much for having me." Ochaco bowed slightly and also thanked Inko-san for letting her borrow the clothes. She would never admit it, but she had been a little reluctant to return Deku's hoodie to him. It had been warm and she had liked the way she could catch a whiff of his scent occasionally. The brunette realized she sounded like a pervert and stopped thinking about his hoodie.
"Bye mom." Izuku hugged his mother briefly and petted Coco's head before leading the way out. Ochaco turned and waved to the kitty and her owner before she followed her classmate out.
The walk to the train station was spent in companionable silence for the first few minutes. Then Ochaco asked a question about where Izuku had met Coco's mother and he flushed when he figured out that his mother had told her the story. He just hoped Uraraka hadn't heard any embarrassing stories from his childhood. He had no idea.
They talked the rest of the way to the station. About dinner, Izuku's mom, Ochaco's parents, school and their friends. There was never really an awkward moment between them, Ochaco realized. She had always found Midoriya so easy to approach and to strike up a conversation with, she had never paid attention to his social skills around others.
Now that she thought about it, he had managed to befriend the aloof Todoroki, who interacted minimally with others. Their friendship was something that had just fallen into place after the sports festival and internship. She was happy that Deku was making friends on his own and that no one befriended him out of pity. The girls in their class often had lengthy discussions about their male classmates and more than once, they had mentioned how Todoroki had opened up to their class after becoming friends with Iida and Midoriya. Ochaco suspected that Todoroki had seen his own loneliness reflected in Deku, although the freckled teenager was good at hiding his past. She had also decided not to pry and wait for him to open up about his childhood.
"I think my mom liked having another female to keep her company." Midoriya spoke as they waited for their train. In the light of a nearby lamp, his dark circles looked more prominent than ever and Ochaco hoped they didn't take too long to get home. She was also beginning to feel the first signs of fatigue. It felt like the day had gone on for almost three weeks.
"She was so nice. Coco was sweet too. Thank you for bringing me along today." Ochaco moved to stand beside him when she heard the train approach and she was suddenly very aware of their arms being pressed together.
"You're welcome." She heard him reply as the sound of the train coming to a stop increased. Deku grabbed hold of her hand as the doors to the compartment opened in front of them.
They waited for the passengers to depart from the train before the two students boarded. It didn't take them long to find two empty seats to occupy for the duration of the train ride and both slumped down. Izuku let go of her hand once they were sitting, but Ochaco had noticed the faint flush on his face. He was getting better at casual touches and initiated them more often, but his embarrassment was as cute as ever.
The train started moving forward and Izuku found himself being pressed closer to Uraraka as the speed increased. The brunette didn't seem to mind or she didn't notice, but to him it was hard to focus on anything else. He needed a distraction, he decided. Izuku started looking out of the window opposite of him and watched the buildings pass by underneath the tracks. It didn't take long for his eyelids to start drooping and his resolve to keep looking out of the window weakened as his desire to sleep increased.
Izuku fought for a few minutes but lost the battle and finally closed his eyes. He could feel body growing heavy, but faintly registered Uraraka taking hold of his hand and rubbing circles on the back of his hand before he dozed off.