A/N: Hi everyone. Now I know I was late with last weeks chapter of Big Sis Nejire, so I thought I'd make it up to all of you by releasing this chapter earlier! Now I don't know exactly how property viewings go, especially when there's no estate agents to help with the sale like in this story with Izuku, but I think what I wrote is somewhat close but feel free to correct me if I get anything wrong.
Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!
"Hi I'm Ochako Uraraka. I'm here for the property viewing. Are you the owner?" she asked, her voice as perfect as could be. Izuku was stunned. Never before had he seen a woman so pretty. Her brunette hair flowed down just past her shoulders. The tinge of rose on her cheeks, a subtle blush only visible to him. Her porcelain-capped teeth, just barely visible in her smile, were covered by her smooth lips. Her face, no her very spirit radiated a positive energy, something Izuku was in dire need of.
He was also in dire need of an answer to her question.
"Oh yeah! Sorry, I just blanked out there for a second. I'm the owner, Izuku Midoriya. Where do you wanna start?" he sheepishly said, trying his hardest to act natural.
"Damn it Eri this is your fault" Izuku thought to himself as he loathed the fact that Eri was right once again, the image of her saying 'their new roommate will be perfect girlfriend material'.
"Oh don't worry about it I zone out all the time! I'd like to see the bedroom I'll be staying in first please." she asked, walking into the house, taking her shoes off.
"Wow nice one Ochako, zoning out, that's a great excuse! He bought it though, besides I wasn't staring at him, no, I wasn't looking at his cute jawline, even though it's toned with little dimples, his perfectly curved chin, the way his cheekbones match with his eyes. Damn those eyes, green with a spot of black, and that hair! It's curled at the ends slightly but it's still parted, and those adorable freckles. Wait no no NO! Crap I have to move!" Ochako said internally, mesmerised by the emerald-eyed boy.
"Oh sorry I should probably move" Ochako said nervously, stepping into the house, looking around her.
"Hey before we start, do you have all of your paperwork with you?" Izuku asked, looking at the folder in her arms.
"Yeah, here you go." she replied, taking the stapled sheets of paper from her folder and giving it to Izuku.
"Thanks, just gimme a second while I put this away." Izuku said, quickly walking to the sitting room, setting the document on the coffee table. He walked back and gestured Ochako to follow him, beginning to talk again, "So I'm guessing you already know this but there's 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, all en-suite, and it's me and one other person living here."
"Thanks for reminding me, although I do have to ask, do you mind telling me who the other person is?" Ochako inquired, curious about this.
"She'd probably want to introduce herself" Izuku muttered under his breath, although not that quietly as it was heard by Ochako.
"Oh wait it's probably his girlfriend. Of course it is, I mean of course a guy like that would have a girlfriend. Lucky girl. Wait why am I getting so worked up by this I mean it's not like I li-" Ochako thought to herself before being cut off by Izuku.
"Well the other person is my younger sister, Eri, but she's out with some friends right now, which is why you didn't see her" Izuku said.
"Thank god for that, hopefully he's still sin- GOD DAMN IT OCHAKO CALM DOWN!" she yelled at herself.
"Oh that's so nice, how old is she?" Ochako asked, surprisingly maintaining her composure.
"She's 14, and here's your room" Izuku answered, gesturing to the closed door.
"Wait a minute. This is the master bedroom right?" Ochako said inquisitively, surprised that she would be staying in a master bedroom.
"Yeah" Izuku answered nonchalantly.
"Well, if you're the owner of the apartment, then why didn't you take it?" she asked him, still confused.
"Oh, umm, well I just never felt like it." Izuku said nervously, his cheery smile beginning to fade.
"I should have expected this, it's fine, it doesn't seem like she'll ask any more questions." Izuku thought as she went into the room, a grin plastered across her face.
"It's perfect! This is a really nice room!" Ochako exclaimed, ecstatic that she might be able to stay in a place like this.
"Thanks. Do you wanna see the rest of the rooms or just go straight downstairs?" Izuku asked.
"Let's go downstairs, I don't want to intrude on your personal space." Ochako answered, trying to be as respectful as possible.
"Now that I think about it, he looks my age. The hell is an 18-year-old doing with an apartment like this? He doesn't seem rich, otherwise he wouldn't be renting this place and by the amount of stuff he has he hasn't spent much either, so what's the deal?" Ochako wondered, whilst walking down the stairs.
"And here's the downstairs. The kitchen is to the right of the whole area, with a big open window by the dining table. The rest you can see pretty clearly." Izuku explained, maintaining his professional behaviour.
"Wow, this looks really cozy. Oh and can I ask one more question?" she inquired, her main concern on her mind since the beginning.
"Fire away" Izuku replied.
"How far is this place from UA university? Since I'll be going there I need to know how long the commute is going to be." She asked, this question being the deal breaker.
"Wait you're going to UA too?" Izuku asked, surprised at the coincidence.
"Eri's gonna flip out when she hears this." Izuku thought as he sulked for a moment.
"Yeah, let me guess, 1st year?" Ochako answered, surprised at this revelation.
"Yeah, wow this is a coincidence, to say the least. If you don't mind me asking, what did you do your entrance thesis on?" Izuku inquired, his inner nerd coming out.
"I did mine on the effects and applications of zero gravity. What about you?" Ochako replied, curious to find out what kind of other topics people did.
"I did mine on the psychological effects of important social figures." Izuku answered, just as curious as Ochako.
"Wow that's really interesting. What are your plans after uni?" Ochako asked again, finally having an actual conversation with Izuku.
"I want to become a psychologist, a therapist specifically, but anything in the field is fine for me." Izuku said, pride filling his voice.
"I'll make sure no one ever feels as lost as Mum ever did." Izuku thought, happy that he could do something his mother would be happy about.
"What about you?" Izuku asked her back.
"I want to work as a tester for all of those Zero Gravity astronaut training machines." she answered, getting excited just by the thought of it.
"So I take it you're taking the Astronomical Physics course" Izuku said.
"Yup, and let me guess, Psychology with a psychiatric focus?" Ochako asked, interested in his choice of career.
"Yeah that's exactly right." Izuku answered, smiling, "And as for your previous question, it's between 30-40 minutes, which is a bit of a long time, but the city life here is a lot of fun.
"I'll take your word for it. What's the route?" Ochako asked, smiling right back at him.
"It takes 5-10 minutes to get to the train station, where you take the 7 o'clock train and then 5-10 minutes to the main campus." Izuku explained.
"So the train journey's 20 minutes then?" Ochako asked, simply to confirm her and his answers'
"Yeah." Izuku replied.
"So now I have to ask, what's an 18-year-old doing with such an expensive apartment?" Ochako asked, the question bugging her incessantly.
"Oh, well I..." Izuku began, not wanting to answer.
"It's just that looking at the way you live and act, you don't seem like a typical rich kid, so what's the deal?" Ochako said, explaining her thought process.
Izuku was stunned for a second. And not by her beauty this time, by her wit.
"Wow, she managed to figure all of that out. Should I tell her? No, she probably doesn't care enough to listen to me anyways. I'll just come up with an excuse an-" Izuku solemnly thought to himself.
"Hey, um, Midoriya? Are you alright?" Ochako asked, concern filling her voice.
"Uh yeah wh-what is it?" Izuku asked, stuttering for some reason.
"Well... you're crying. Look I'm sorry if I brought up something uncomfortable, if you want to talk and if you want some advice or help as well, I'm here." Ochako sincerely said, trying her best to calm the green-haired boy down.
And that was when it hit him. How long had it been since he talked about his problems? How long did he have this empty feeling inside of him, this shallowness, this disinterest in the world around him? It was 2 years ago when he sat down with the closest person he had to a mother: Mitsuki Bakugo. She was the only one who could understand what he was going through at a certain level, being a mother herself.
But afterwards, as he got busier and older, as responsibilities and commitments filled his life, he never found the time to talk again. And try as people might, they could only listen, to him, allow him to vent his problems as much as he wanted. But all that did was make space for new problems. Problems he didn't know the answer to. Problems that he didn't have the courage to face. For that, he needed help. Actual help. Advice and guidance for his own specific situations.
Those 10 extra words, hell those 2 words, 'advice' and 'help', those words being spoken by someone else is what Izuku needed. He needed someone who understood how to help someone. Izuku had found them. Her. He looked up, tears ever so slowly flowing down his cheeks. cutting through his freckles. Shakily, he began to speak, "I-If it's o- okay with you, would you like to s- st- stay and talk?"
"Sure, I would love to," Ochako replied, feeling an immense amount of guilt for having him end up like this. She at least owed him this. Following him, she sat down at the dining table, watching Izuku take a big gulp of water before speaking:
"Well, it began when I was 5, and when that sick bastard left my mum, and she was left on her own, having to take care of me and Eri on her own. It was way more difficult on her than any of us knew about. But she still smiled, every day, always telling us it was the only way to live. I don't know how she did it. But that wasn't the worst of it. 4 years ago, we were at a bank, and I was depositing some money in, and before I even had a chance to say thank you to her that day, she was shot. Right in front of me, all because I decided to play hero, because I thought I could stop that robber. It's just been me, Eri and some close friends." Izuku said, sniffling, crying, trying his hardest not to break down. Ochako was in utter shock. The fact that someone could have gone through so much and still look so happy. She was inspired by the mental strength she knew it would have taken to get through that.
"You know she didn't have any last words? Her 'last words' were just "You go first" when we were in the line at the bank. No lesson after she got shot, no I love you, nothing. Just silence. I still have nightmares about that day. What If I did something else? What if it went differently? It tears you apart. Thinking about something like that, having it in your mind, it's not good. You know I always have to be doing something? If I'm bored for even a minute sometimes then I'll start thinking about it again. It's a good thing I have Eri, but she always tells me I need to talk, and I know she's right, but there's no one who cares enough to help. No offence. But, I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm lost." Izuku finished, hanging his head in defeat, but not without saying one last thing that tipped Ochako over the edge: "It should have been me." he said sourly.
"What do you mean? Listen I don't know you that well, but I'm sure if it was you, then your friends and family would've been devastated, your life, ended right before you began to actually grow up. So many things you couldn't have done. So many people you couldn't have met, including me." Ochako said, prompting Izuku to look up, "I know I'll never understand what you've been through, but what I can understand is an obsession. You need to stop blaming yourself. Look I'm sure in some alternate future you saved your mother and you lived happily ever after, but in this life, this is the hand you were dealt, but quitting isn't an option. You just keep playing the game, and your luck will improve eventually, and if you play well enough, you'll win, in this very complicated game we call life. So play the way your Mum would want you to, with a smile, and go out there and win it for her, okay?" Ochako said, looking at the spark in Izuku's eyes, one that she knew all too well: the spark of inspiration.
"I-I, I can't even, thank you, thank you so, so, so much." Izuku said, at a loss for words.
"It's fine, it's what anyone should've done."
"No, but, that helped, like actually. In 2 years I finally found some good advice, I- how can I ever repay you?" Izuku asked, completely entranced by the girl in front of him.
"You can start by giving me the room" Ochako said playfully, doing her best to lighten the mood.
"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, wiping the tears off his face.
"I'll take it. You look like you could use a friend, and I could too, so I wanna live here." Ochako replied. excited to live under the same roof as Izuku.
"Sure. Welcome to your new home, Ochako Uraraka" Izuku said, smiling, genuinely, for the first time in an eternity.
A/N: Wow I actually managed to get this out early! Well I hope you enjoyed this one and i'll see you all next Wednesday!
Until then, have a nice day!