Chapter 18: Fresh Start
Fresh Start
Have you ever fallen for someone? Sorry, that's kind of random but, ok so I've mentioned my future husband a couple times in this book so far. And I should be clear by saying, yes, my actual future husband. Not like a fakeout or anything; we are currently married, have been for two years now. Anyway I ask that because when you fall for someone? It's a rush.
Yes it's exciting, yes it's time slowing down, it's all those movie cliche's but….none of them as well?
I had crushes before, who hasn't? We all have our phases, the gentle giant, the bad boy biker, the upperclassman who you hope knows you exist, or the pro you see on TV or whatever. I had mine just as he had his no matter how shy he gets about it, but falling for someone is.....exhillerating, and also terrifying. But I had made it through the former phase and was going with exhilaration, so I asked him out.
Unfortunately for me, I underestimated something about my future husband. He was a complete dummy.
And yes. I still love him. Dummy and all.
She MUST have been talking about someone else. Izuku thought with absolute certainty as he swung through the snowy Tokyo morning. It was early, the sun was just beginning to peek through the curtains of the clouds in the East as Spider-Man swung through the city sky, shooting out a web with his left hand while holding a gathered bundle in his right under his arm.
I mean that's gotta be it. Right? I mean I don't know all her friends. She could have been talking about someone I don't even know! Izuku reasoned as he shot a web to swing from, swinging over an intersection and flinging himself over a park clear to the other side before spinning another web.
It was just a few days after the Kingpin had been arrested and his televised confrontation with the crime boss. He had been laying low since then, both to recover from the battle and enjoy the holiday with his mom. He even managed to go out and get her a nice new coffee mug that said 'World's Mightiest Mom!' On the side in All Might colors.
Suffice to say she cried, which made him cry, so they both cried and flooded the apartment...again.
He got a nice turtleneck he was wearing to Kendo's Christmas party tonight.
"See you later…..Izuku."
Kendo's voice echoed in his mind, she did end up seeing him later in a manner of speaking.
"I realized....i…..I might be in love with him."
He reached for a wall to cling to, but with his mind hitting that speed bump he nearly slipped! "GAK!" I yelped, pulling himself to the wall. "Ok. Ok let's….let's think about this. Option 1.) she was just talking about someone else." He said to himself, crouching on the wall. "…..yeah. Someone who's also quirkless…..and bullied…..and who is a memorabilia nerd-ok then option 2.) I simply misheard her!"
He sprung off the wall, "....ugh I didn't mishear her." He admitted as he swung over the gate which contained a number of marked stones spread out amongst the ground. He landed in a tree overlooking the park, looking around to ensure there was no one else here, he dropped to the ground.
He had left extra early so he could make this trip, he hadn't come by before the Kingpin bust like he wanted to but was determined to visit before the new year. He approached the marked stone, and reached up to his head to pull his mask off.
"Hey dad." He greeted the grave. Before him stood a gravestone with his father's name, Hisashi Midoriya, inscribed upon it in traditional kanji. He knelt down with a somber smile, "I'm sorry it's been so long since I visited." He apologized, glancing at the flowers he had gotten for him and his mom to place. "I was going to visit you when mom did but…..well….some stuff came up."
He reached under his arm and pulled out the printed paper. He showed the front page, where the headline 'Kingpin of Crime Caught Red Handed' was printed. Beneath it was a photograph that Taneo had taken of Kingpin and him during their fight. "Yeah things have…..things have changed." He said sheepishly before looking down at himself in his costume.
"I got your gift...it was…..I've been helping people. Actually helping and saving lives for almost a year now and..." he felt tears of joy prick his eyes. He wiped them away, "It's been amazing. Well, most of it has been, I'm kind of a vigilante but I don't care, I brought down a world wide crime lord! All the people that he was extorting, threatening, they're all safe...that's all I could ever ask for." He said with relief.
He set the paper down at the grave, folding it. "I'm working with Hodo by the way! She's….well she's pretty great. I can see why you liked her. Mom likes her too, she wrote the story and it's making national headlines." He said, brushing some snow off the grave. "Oh yeah! I'm also going to go to UA soon. Though..." he trailed off.
"I don't know what I want to do. I want to help people as much as I do as Spider-Man-that's my name by the way-but I don't know how. I mean I could always look into something that gets me enough time to do this more but…..I don't know." He sighed. "...I wish you were here…..I talk with mom about it, and she's really supportive and I know you would be to I just...I want to live up to my potential…..but I don't know if I have any." He admitted.
He shook his head, "No I shouldn't say that, Kendo would bop me for that." He muttered before blinking. "Oh! Kendo's a new friend of mine, she's incredible dad! She's training to be a pro hero and I really think she'll go far." He gushed with a smile. It faltered when he remembered the last thing she said to him, "....and…..crap…..I think she might like me....but…..I don't know how I feel." He admitted.
The grave was silent.
"...I mean I admire her, I think she's amazing. But that's…..I don't think that alone means I like her back." He explained sadly. "But at the same time…..she makes me happy, I'm so glad that I have her in my life...and I want her to be happy. But would she be if...if her and I...if it's only to make her happy?" He questioned, revealing the real reason that he had been trying to find some other reason for what she said.
"And the frustrating part is….i can't ask anyone I know for advice because if I do? They'll ask me how I know that, and I can't say because she said it to Spider-Man and not Izuku Midoriya..." he blanched, "That wasn't me talking in third person, I was trying to illustrate my point."
The grave silently understood.
Izuku sat on the ground in front of the grave, "I didn't even think...I mean I thought maybe I'd meet someone one day but...I didn't know it'd be someone as amazing as her." He admitted with a blush. "And I'm seeing her and her family tonight for a Christmas party. And sometime soon we're supposed to meet up, just the two-"
"....."
"....."
"....oh my god she asked me out on a date and I said YES." He bemoaned as he grabbed his head. He didn't even realize it at the time! He thought that she just wanted to spend time with him! And the thought of that alone made his heart race a little bit now that he realized the romantic intention behind it? "I'm an idiot."
The grave silently agreed.
He ran his gloved hands down his face, "...I know you can't really answer any of this, I got to find out myself. Talking to you, anyone really, just helps a lot." he admitted. ".....I just never...I've never dealt with this stuff before and I'm scared that if I mess this up I'll lose…..one of the best things to happen to me." he admitted sadly.
There was silence again, but it was broken by the sound of a siren wailing in the distance, looking up at the noise Izuku raised his mask to his head. "Sorry dad I gotta go...I'm glad we talked, getting this stuff off my chest helped." he said before pulling his mask down and shooting a web to a tree to yank himself into the air.
Swinging in the direction of sirens, he could hear it wasn't a police or ambulance, but an alarm. Swinging over the roof of a building he looked down to see down an alley where someone was thrown out of the back door.
He watched as a middle aged man was pinned down by two masked men with their feet pressing down into his shoulders, while the third, whose quirk gave him the ability to elongate his fingers into lendable chains, walked out carrying a number of jewels in the chain links.
"Please! You can't!" The owner said as he struggled against the two men, kicking up snow off the ground with his feet.
The chain user pointed one end of his finger chains at the owner's face threateningly, "Shut it! You're lucky I don't peel your skin off your face, old man!" he threatened.
"WOW, that's kinda dark for this time of year." The thugs turned their heads to the voice and saw Spider-Man sticking to the wall of the alley, "Come on guys, it's Christmas! Hanukkah! Kwanza! Or whatever holiday you practice." He implored jokingly.
The whip super was first to react, lashing his fingers out to the vigilante, Spider-Man shot forth, twisting his body around the while before spinning forward and slamming his foot into the leader's face and knocking him into the wall beside the door, his body slumping to the ground as he groaned. Turning to the others, he raised his hands and shot webbing into them with enough force to carry them back to the wall he had been on and sticking them to it.
"Hey! Let us go!" One said.
"Wha-why would I do that?!" Spider-Man asked.
"…... .spirit of Christmas?"
".....no." Spider-Man replied before walking to the owner and helping him up, "Are you ok? I called the police? They should be on their way here." He informed the man who rubbed where he had been pinned down.
He then yanked himself free of Spider-Man's grasp, "Are you kidding me? This is your fault!"
Spider-Man's eyes widened, "I-what??"
He pointed at the young adult, "Everything was fine when I paid protection to Fisk! But because you had to play hero I got punks like this robbing me!" He shouted as he pointed at the two thugs he webbed up. He pointed at Spider-Man, "You just had to mess it up, didn't you?!"
Spider-Man's leads merely stared at the man in silence for a moment, "....I should have let the Kingpin go…..who was extorting you…..just so you didn't have to get robbed?" He asked in utter disbelief.
"Of course! I mean it's either extortion or insurance companies." The man shrugged.
".....I really have no response to that." Spider-Man said before shooting a webline up and swinging away.
"Yeah you better run! Thanks a lot, jerk!" The owner called out.
As Izuku swung away, he felt a small pang of guilt...it was very small though.
The main offices of Japan's Hero Public Safety Commission had been busy the last month. Mysterio's corruption scandal had turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg when it came to how far deep the problem had gone. The fact that something so largescale was operating underneath their notice, everyone's notice for so long, had caused shockwaves throughout the hero community as a whole.
In the top floor board room, a middle aged woman looked over her managers from various divisions. From internal investigations, to communications, to public relations, the room was composed of people who together controlled pro hero policy. Which meant this room held the people who kept Japan safe from what they deemed a threat.
"How did this happen?" The president of the HPSC asked the room.
Enjo Mitoku, head of communications, stood up, "From what we were able to parse, the King-er-Fisk bribed contract workers to install a backdoor into public communications over the span of a year and a half. This backdoor allowed a program to be planted inside local servers which, when received a signal from one of these phones, blocked out communication for the area to emergency services." he coughed into his hand, "We have-erm-found and removed the program from all public servers as of today."
Her eyes darted to Menji Trebon, the head of investigations. "We've concluded that outside of Mysterio, forty other Pro Heroes were on Fisk's payroll. As well as three prosecutors, six police sergeants, twelve judges, and a few dozen smaller positions such as evidence handlers, crime scene investigators, and desk sergeants were connected to Fisk upon recovering a server that was found on the immediate scene. There's others on the building property that we're going through so it'll be some time before we have the full scope of the corruption, but it seems as though we're past the hump so to speak."
The President sighed, "Small miracles." she muttered, "What about Fisk?"
A man in the back raised a hand, "As soon as his transport diverted course we sent out a squad of Pro Heroes to re-capture him, but when we got there he was already subdued. No witnesses as of yet." he chimed in.
The president frowned, "And that brings me to the biggest piece of this. Spider-Man. What about him?"
The room was quiet for a moment. Until an agent with slicked back black hair stood up from the back. "The facts we know about him are the following, we predict his age to be young, early twenties at least, he's 170cm tall, with a quirk which mimics those of a common spider. We've investigated most people in Tokyo and it's surrounding districts who have Spider-like quirks. They've all so far been cooperative, and have alibis for known Spider-Man sightings." he explained. The President's brow creased a little, "As for his involvement with Fisk, our findings show that he was a problem for Fisk, interfering with crimes that were hidden from us due to not working inside the system." he explained.
The president glowered, "So he's a vigilante. And worse yet, he's an effective one."
The President, with her blonde hair neatly combed back behind her ears, her experienced face hardening slightly for this next point to get across, tapped the table. "This does not happen again. None of it. No one will infiltrate our closed system again, no one will commit crimes under our noses again, no one will act outside the law to bring down a criminal and make the laws we have in place look more like a suggestion. And most importantly?" she pressed her finger into the photo on the front page of the newspaper she picked up on her way to work today, "Spider-Man has been breaking the law for almost a year now with no progress made into his arrest. We backed off because Mysterio's case was bigger and more important, and it was, but that time is over. And so is his."
She looked around the room, "I want his warrant for his arrest re-enstated by this time next week. Furthermore I want an alert put out to all active Pro Heroes that they are to arrest and detain him on sight." she ordered. "Any comments?" she asked.
She was met with silence once more.
"Then get to work." she said before standing up, gathering her bag and the paper before walking out of the board room, the others gathering their own reports and leaving to set out on their tasks.
They would be busy for the foreseeable future, Fisk's enterprise was vast and it would be months before they could be sure that they dismantled it entirely. And the fact that none of Fisk's personal items had been recovered at the port where they tracked shipments to was also concerning. They were worth a huge amount of capital and could easily be leveraged to finance some new criminal enterprise. And not to mention with Fisk gone, that left a large opening in the criminal underworld.
She turned to her assistant, "I want daily crime reports on my desk by noon."
"Yes ma'am." he said, making a note of it on his tablet. "Have you….given any consideration into my suggestion?" he asked warily.
The president hesitated. ".....I have. And I don't like it."
"Ma'am you don't like most things but you do them anyway." her assistant replied.
She clicked her tongue, "You're right about that.....but I don't want to repeat past mistakes. Send out the warrant, if we don't get anything back soon, I'll consider it." she said, looking down at the paper in her hand. Her eyes fixated on the vigilante in the photograph, she then tossed the paper into a wastebin they passed by, the picture crumpled in the small trash container.
The large table in the Kendo dining room housed a number of festive foods. Brownies, cookies, turkey, ham, eggnog, and other cooked foods littered the tabletop for the family's guests...and all Kendo could do was stare at it. Beside her, Toshinori looked between her and the spread, "...I clearly chose well for my inheritor."
"Stuff it old man I want those brownies." Itsuka replied with a pout. Normally she would be able to cheat a little on her diet with the promise to herself that she would put extra effort into training the next day. However, since she was going to be doing that anyway until the beach was cleared a month before U.A.'s entrance exam? It meant she couldn't.
All Might sweat-dropped at his pupil's response, "Sorry."
She took a breath, "No. No...it's ok. I'm sorry, my stomach spoke instead of my brain." She said before turning to him. She had worn a red long sleeve dress/skirt with black stockings for the festive mood. "Thanks so much for coming coach, we're glad that you're here." She said genuinely as her brother walked over to set down some plates.
The number one hero smiled, "Of course young Kendo."
Wei snatched a cookie from the plate, "Hey Itsuka, your friends are here." He informed her before eating the rest. Kendo smiled as she made her exit to greet Setsuna and Yui's families. "So Mr. Yagi," he began, All Might turning to him inquiringly, "Do pro hero agencies throw Christmas parties?" He asked.
"Ha!" The skinny man laughed, "Indeed we do, All Might himself made an appearance dressed as Santa Clause." He says, making the young law intern sputter out a laugh.
Meanwhile, Kendo embraced her friends with one armed hugs around their necks, "Glad you two could make it." She greeted as they patted her back. Setsuna wore a green shirt and black skirt while Yui went for a red sweater and white pants.
Yui gave her a smile, "Wouldn't miss it." she said earnestly.
Setsuna's sharp teeth grinned at her, beside her in a red hoodie and jeans, Sara hugged Kendo's waist in greeting. "Merry Christmas Ken." She said, holding up a small present, Ken whirled an eye at it, "Open it." Setsuna grinned. Itsuka's suspicion instantly shot up, but she opened it up regardless.
Opening the box, she looked inside and quickly blushed and glared at Set, who was grinning at her. "Heard your boy was dropping by, so I figured you might need those." She said with a snicker.
It was a mistletoe.
"Thanks Set." Itsuka rolled her eyes, patting Sara on the head before the little girl spotted Felicia draped over the back of the chair in the living room and walked over to play with her. "I know winter isn't your guys' favorite time of year."
Due to Setsuna family's quirks being reptile based, they were somewhat sluggish during the winter. Nothing detrimental but she and Yui always noticed that she would get sleepy fairly easily this time of year.
Setsuna shrugged, "It's alright, besides your dad's cooking is awesome, no way I'm missing that." She grinned.
Yui nodded in agreement, "My parents brought some drinks." She pointed over to her folks, both her parents greeting the Kendo family with expressions and tones which made Yui herself seem like a chatterbox. They were very nice people, just very, very, very monotone.
Set grinned with an eye going to the bottles of wine, "Reeeally?"
Kendo rolled her eyes, her dad had let her have a drink once in a while. Not regularly like some adults did every night, special occasions like this for example but nothing crazy string just some wine. She knew Set's dad would let her have a thing of beer once in a while but nothing that would really do any harm. Yui actually had the most exposure since her family made wine for a living and made a very nice living at that.
The knock at the front door made Itsuka turn her head, "I got it." She called out as she approached the door. Approaching the door she peered through the window and smiled when she saw Inko and Izuku outside through the sharp angles of the decorative window. Opening the door she smiled, "Hey guys come on in." she said, opening the door for them.
"Oh thank you dear." Inko said gratefully as Emi walked over to greet them, her and Inko sharing a hug while Itsuka looked to Izuku as he took off his winter jacket.
He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a black turtleneck for the cold, Kendo felt herself swallow at the sight of the tight fabric that showed off his figure pretty well. He turned to her and gave her a smile that was trying to be fixed but came out shy, "H-Hey K-Kendo." he stuttered out nervously like he did when they first met.
"Hey yourself." She replied, though her voice didn't carry the stutter it still carried the hint of nervousness that Izuku's did. Their eyes briefly met each other's, but broke off just as fast as their cheeks flushed with color. Kendo couldn't stop the titter of laughter from slipping out, "Thanks for coming, I know it was kind of on short notice."
"Oh!" He turned to her, "N-no! You're fine. We didn't have any plans, not that that's the only reason we came! I wanted to see you-erk!" He stiffened, kendo's eyes looking at him with a tightness to them. A brightness that made Izuku's heart skip a beat.
Off to the side, Set and Yui watched this unfold. The two looked at one another in surprise, even when kendo was with her last boyfriend she was never...well, like this before. And the crazy part was they weren't even together like that! Yui leaned over, "This is very entertaining." Setsuna nodded in agreement.
They watched as Izuku coughed into his hand, "Er, where's the food at? I'm a little peckish." he asked.
"Oh! It's just in the dining room, we don't have enough chairs to sit down for everyone so just grab a plate." she said, turning and pointing back to the doorway to the dining room. He gave her a smile of gratitude, one more sincere than the one he showed her when he faced her, and quickly ducked into the dining room. As soon as he passed the threshold, both of them let out breaths that had gathered in their chests.
God I'm pathetic. Izuku thought harshly. He had hoped that his talk with his dad would have somehow relieved his nerves but instead it had done nothing. He was just glad she didn't hand him her gift in front of everyone, he might have just fainted from shock right there.
As he went to grab some food, he saw his mom speaking with Mr. Yagi. He took a bite of a cookie and smiled, he had talked a little with Kendo's trainer at her birthday party. She seemed like a nice guy and was very informative about how he determined Itsuka's training routine. He was really surprised how it lined up with how he took hero notes. Inko's eyes lit up at something he said and then laughed, Yagi chuckled as well as she laid a hand on his shoulder to steady herself.
Izuku blinked.
What was that?
Before he could ponder further on the subject of his mom's friendliness with Itsuka's trainer, Yui walked over beside him, "Good evening Midoriya, nice to see you again." She greeted.
"Oh! Hi Yui, you too." He greeted, his tone much more enthusiastic than Yui's which wasn't surprising. However, the fact he wasn't stuttering was pretty much confirmation that he was more nervous around Itsuka.
"I hope your holiday was good." She said with a small smile.
"It was, me and my mom just enhanced gifts and watched some Christmas movies." He admitted with a slightly sheepish smile as they walked into the living room. The adults were near the kitchen, and the wine, while their children were gathered in the living room area.
"So where's Nejire? We invited her, didn't we?" Wei asked as he took a bite of chicken.
Itsuka took a sip of her drink, "She had plans with her boyfriends. But said that she wishes everyone a merry Christmas. Also every other possible holiday she could think of." She added with a smile. She saw Yui and Izuku enter and focused on her friend's stoic face.
"Boo. Boo on Nejire." Yui simply said.
Set snorted. "Don't be jealous about her dating life Yui."
"I can and I will."
Setsuna's eyes locked onto Izuku with a grin, "What about you Midoriya? Seeing anyone?"
Both him and Kendo nearly choked on their drinks, coughing a little to clear his throat he shook his head wildly back and forth. "M-M-Me?!" he squeaked out, his entire face turning red as his shoes which he suddenly found very interesting. "N-No, there's no one who's ever really shown interest in me. I mean not that I wouldn't-er-I mean I think I'd like that-" he mumbled embarrassingly, the surprise attack from Setsuna taking him off guard.
Itsuka whipped her head to her friend and shot her a glare, Setsuna just grinned at her, tilting her head to him encouragingly.
She knew it was a mistake telling her best friend about her crush. This was her worst fear, Setsuna Togake, the worst wingman ever.
"You have incredibly low self esteem Midoriya." Yui observed.
Izuku faltered while Wei looked at her with a deadpanned expression, "Kinda blunt." Itsuka gave her brother a look. "...yeah as soon as I said it, I realized how obvious that was." he admitted before taking another bite of his food. As Izuku recovered from the bout of embarrassment, he felt a tug on his shirt.
He turned, looked down, and smiled. Sara was holding Kendo's cat with one arm wrapped around the feline underneath her armpits while looking up at him. She quickly supported the cat, who seemed none too pleased by the position to begin with, by her bottom half. "Midoriya! Did you see!? Did you see?!" she asked with bouncing excitement as Setsuna shook her head.
"Yes, Sara I'm sure he saw." she said with a roll of her eyes.
He looked at her curiously, "Saw what?"
Setsuna gave him a sympathetic smile as Sara jumped up, "Spider-Man! He was on tv!" she said with excitement, reminding him of how she had pelted him with questions when she found out that he took pictures of him for the news.
"Oh! Yeah, I did. One of the people I worked with was actually the lady who interviewed him." he said, bending down a little and making her gasp.
As Sarah gasped in astonishment, Kendo smiled a little at the sight of him interacting with the little girl. Despite how his social skills were stunted by his upbringing, he had a good way with kids. It was something that she appreciated, herself having worked with kids in training for some of the entry level classes they had at the dojo. Last time he had been down about what his bully had said to him so he wasn't in his full form. But now he was much more interactive with her.
"Midoriya can you ask Spider-Man something next time you see him? My birthday is in April and I want him to come!" Sara asked excitedly. The room winced collectively, the little girl not really understanding how the vigilante's status might not allow for that to happen.
"Um, if I can talk to him then I'll ask. But he normally doesn't stick around long after stopping a crime." He half fibbed. Sara seemed only slightly disappointed by that as though she already knew it was a long shot. And he immediately wanted to assure her that Spider-Man would be there.
Sara huffed Felicia up into her arms properly and smiled, "I'm gonna ask mom and dad for kitty like Felicia. Isn't she pretty?" She asked, the change in topic causing izuku to blink while Setsuna nearly spat out her drink.
"Wha-no! No you're not, we are not getting a cat!" Setsuna denied as she pointed at her little sister accusingly. Sara stuck out her tongue in response, and cuddled the cat in her arms affectionately. Felicia's feline face almost looked smug to Setsuna, who gave the cat with squinted eyes.
Kendo was trying hard not to laugh, Setsuna didn't like cats. Mainly she didn't like Felicia, she tolerated her pet and didn't really harp on her about owning a cat but she made no attempt to ever give her any attention. Which given how vain the black and white feline was, made them bitter enemies apparently.
Izuku leaned over to Yui, "Um…..why doesn't she like cats?" he asked.
Setsuna snapped her head to him, "They know what they did." She replied coldly, turning to glare once more at the cat.
Yui shook her head, "Don't ask. It's a whole thing." She informed him. Izuku simply ate his cookie in response. Deciding to take Yui's advice.
As the party went on, the guests chatted with one another, caught up on recent events like Ryuji's return to the police force. Or how Inko had found a nice little flea market underneath a bridge that pops up every other weekend, or how Setsuna had sent in her measurements for her school uniform.
However the two who hadn't directly spoken to one another since his arrival were Izuku and Itsuka.
Itsuka noticed it right away and felt a pang of regret, maybe she had come on too strong the last time they talked? Calling him by his first name and out of nowhere was pretty bold of her. Maybe too bold for Izuku?
She hasn't called him by his first name in front of the others, that would get some eyebrows raised for sure. But not talking was starting to worry her, so as Izuku got up to throw his leftovers away in the trash she decided to do something about it. Going to the corner of the room between the hall to the bedrooms, restroom, and office and the doorway to the kitchen, there sat the trash can. He deposited his paper plate and crumbs when he felt a tap on his arm, he turned and saw Kendo, "Hey, um….can we talk real quick?" She asked.
The young man's mind quickly went to the worst case scenario, she was going to tell him that she liked him and he would say something stupid and inconsiderate and ruin their friendship forever. But that wasn't him thinking that, that was the same voice in his head that Bakugo had instilled over years of torment. The other voice? His real voice just said, Go with her.
"I-um…..sure." He said, surprise clear in voice as Kendo led him down the hall to her room.
And at this point she realized it was the first time that she would be showing Izuku her bedroom. That fact caused her face to blush a little bit, thankful that she had taken the time to clean it up in case anyone went in there for whatever reason. She turned her head around to Izuku, and saw that he seemed to realize this at the same time as her and his immediate reaction was to widely blush and look down muttering, "A girl's room….."
Damn it he was too cute sometimes.
She led him inside, practically dragging him across the threshold and then pushed the door closed behind him, "So….this is my room."
"..."
".....yes the carpet is really nice but you know you can look around right?" she asked with a smile.
Izuku looked up and around, and Kendo's room was around the same size as his own, maybe a little bigger. All Might memorabilia had decorated his room all over the place, with the colors of red,white, blue, and gold going well with his carpeted floors and white walls. Her floors were wooden, with the walls colored a light blue color that resemble the shade of it's owners eyes. There was an old wooden desk against the wall in front of the window that looked out to the street, and a closet door beside it that was cracked open but he made sure not to let his eyes linger.
He saw that hanging from her ceiling was a punching bag that swung lazily in the corner of the room. Beside the door he came through he saw she had a metallic bookshelf with an impressive number of thick books on it. On the wall was a TV and beneath it was her dresser, atop of which was a figurine that was the same Makoto character he found a statue of for her birthday but failed to acquire.
Kendo normally would have felt a little self conscious about the figurine but after seeing Izuku's room? She knew he couldn't judge. It was one vs....well she didn't even bother counting.
However the large attraction was the wall above her bed, "Woah." he muttered in awe of the poster above her red and black colored bedsheets. Above her bed was a diagram of a motorcycle which exploded out into the individual parts like one you'd find in a manual. Kendo smiled, "Cool huh?"
"Yeah! Where'd you get that??" he asked as he stepped forward, stopping in front of her bed to inspect it at a respectable distance from her bed and personal space.
She stepped up beside him, crossing her arms over her chest, "I subscribed to this motorcycle magazine for like a decade now. They sent me that as congratulations." she explained, looking up at it and smiling. "They probably thought it was going into some buff dude's garage, not a teenage girl's bedroom." she snorted.
Izuku chuckled, looking over at her he felt his earlier worries fade away for the moment. "Um...so….what did you want to talk about?" he asked.
Itsuka took a breath before turning around to face him, though she still had trouble meeting his eyes, she made herself look at them. "I....last time I saw you, I….erm….called you Izuku."
He felt himself stiffen at her saying his name, and Kendo noticed, "And I...I did it because...well…..I sort of assumed that we…..were close enough that….." she trailed off, her eyes darting away from his as her cheeks flushed slightly.
Izuku felt a pang of guilt in his chest, he knew that it was more than that. It wasn't that they were close, it was the fact that she had feelings for him.
And standing here, in the privacy of her room with only her, he found that being alone with her was…..it was nice. His mouth opened, but he stopped himself: thought it over…..and then spoke. "...I…..I think we're…..close enough for you to call me that." He said.
Kendo's eyes snapped back to his a little wider, her mouth opening with a sharp inhale of breath. He felt his face burn with embarrassment, "I just....i….wasn't expecting it."
She blinked, "Well…..why didn't you?" She asked. Izuku frowned and looked down, and she knew why right away. It was because he never had been close enough to anyone for them to call him by his first name….they just called him Deku…..that stupid nickname that lit a fire under her gut. "Right. Sorry….dumb question, you're surrounded by assholes."
Izuku snorted, and Itsuka's smile returned upon seeing he wasn't dwelling on it. "It's fine. I mean Yui and Set are probably the ones close enough to call me Itsuka." She shrugged. She noticed the look of surprise on his face, "What?"
"It's just...I'm surprised, I mean your…..really friendly. And nice, and approachable, who wouldn't want to be your friend?" He asked in genuine confusion, his words causing her to blush in response.
Oh god he's not even trying to flirt he's being sincere! She thought in dismay. If Izuku ever gained the confidence to be flirty? God help them all.
"I-I mean….I'm friends with a lot of people." She blushed, looking away. Suddenly her fluster faded as a particular someone crossed her mind. "...I was…..close to someone else but..." she trailed off.
Izuku's sixth sense warned him of danger so when it gave off the faintest of tingles he could tell this was a very sensitive topic. But still he gently probed, "Someone?" His voice wasn't forceful in any way, it was quiet and gentle.
She took a deep breath. She looked at Izuku and the expression of snatch his face held made the ball in her chest loosen. He picked up on her discomfort and was offering to listen, and it didn't matter if it was platonic or something more it was because Izuku cared for her.
"...it's a bit of a story but...." She took a breath. She figured she'd have to tell Midoriya this eventually, in a relationship or not, it was a part of her and she trusted him. But talking to the guy you liked about an old flame was…..not just awkward, sucked to do in general.
She looked at her bed, sighed, turned, and plopped down. She looked up at Izuku and patted the space next to her. And while he normally would have bushed and stuttered, he didn't hesitate this time. "You don't need to tell me if-" he began, clearly seeing how this affected her.
And shook her head, "No, no it's fine. I just haven't had to tell this story in a while and it sucks remembering." She dad with a frustrated groan.
Before Izuku could really register what he was doing, his arm lifted up and wrapped around to her far shoulder. Kendo blinked as she felt his comforting embrace, but didn't blush or find any embarrassment, instead she leaned into his side. Approximating the comfort he provided, "...there was this guy back in high school. His name was Natsuki." She began.
"He was a year older than me, I didn't know him that well at first, just the surface level. He seemed nice, pretty handsome, he tried to be funny but wasn't that good at it but he tried." She said with a bitter smile. Izuku frowned a little but didn't really know why, "And he was…..well, he was interested in me, which was…..kind of a first."
He blinked, "What?"
She snorted and looked at him, "I mean I'm not exactly what most guys would call feminine, for crying out loud you just saw that." She pointed a thumb back at the poster on the wall.
That wasn't the only thing, she helped run a dojo, she worked out regularly, she was assertive and confident, qualities that weren't bad by any means but leant to her being labeled as a tomboy. A label that she accepted without much complaint but still…..she was a young woman who would liked to be appreciated as one.
But still, Izuku looked at her with confusion, "But...what does it matter what you like? That doesn't mean you're not feminine."
Her breath caught in her throat and she felt herself buzz with affection. God I want to kiss you right now. She thought. "That's…..that's sweet." She instead said, reeling herself in, suddenly finding this story much easier to tell. "Anyway, he came in and…..well didn't so much sweep me off my feet as much as he made me feel seen….does that make sense?"
Izuku thought about it, "Y-Yeah. I think so." He said, it was similar to how Kendo made him feel.
"And things were….well they were good for a while. It was nice...but then it wasn't.." She sighed briefly. Izuku didn't like time, and he also didn't like where this was going or how he couldn't see how this would end. "He would make a fuss when I wanted to hang out with Yui or Set, he was possessive and…..just always asking for sex."
That made his eyes widen, "I-he-what??"
Kendo sighed tiredly, "Yeah, he'd ask, I'd say no, he'd get all bent out of shape and sulk until he left. Making me feel bad." She recalled, her stomach twisted as she remembered the attempts of manipulation. "And I didn't really know any better, I mean I thought maybe I'm being too frigid or something." She sighed, "So one day I just decided, screw it. And said yes."
A hurricane of emotions wrought through Izuku, concern, disgust, fear, and above all of them anger. "I-kendo are you-" he felt tears in his eyes.
"Hey." She said softly, "It's fine, I'm ok." She gently said.
"But-"
Her hand reached over to his as it clenched at the sheets of her bed, "I'm ok." She repeated with a soft smile.
"It wasn't anything forced, it was consensual...disappointing but consensual." She joked with a genuine smirk. Her crush's eyes still shined with gathered tears but the horrified look in them abated. "It's not like this just happened, this was like two years ago now. After he…..got what he wanted though, he ghosted me."
"What?!" Izuku squawked.
She let out a sharp laugh, looking away as she shook her head, "Yeah. I tracked him down and found him doing the same to another girl from my grade." She said bitterly before turning back to him, "So when I saw him I-"
She stopped at what she saw.
She had known Izuku for almost a year now and she had seen him in many emotional states. But she had never seen him angry.
His brow was creased so his brows were thin lines, his green eyes held a fire despite the tears in the corner of them, and his lip was curled back in a sneer that just looked mean. He wasn't looking directly at her but the door, like he was a second away from walking through it and finding Natsuki.
What kendo didn't know is that was actually a possibility he was considering.
But hearing her stop made his eyes dart to her, and his anger was put aside. "That's...I'm sorry kendo...I don't-"
"I-it's ok….." she sputtered out, still taken aback by how Passionate, and a little scary, an enraged Izuku Midoriya was....also kinda scary...and ok maybe a little attractive. "When I found him I punched him in the face so hard I gave him two black eyes." She smirked.
He still looked at her with concern, "So yeah...my ex is an asshole." She laughed lightly, feeling a little better after finishing telling all of that story.
Izuku could only stare at her, if he had gone through that? He wasn't sure if he'd ever trust himself to open his heart to someone again. But…..here Kendo was, strong enough to not only tell him about that but also strong enough to open herself up to someone again...open herself to him.
If she's strong enough to do that....to open her heart to me? Then what excuse do I have? He asked himself. Kendo was kind, she was strong, she was amazing...and he thought of other things.
The way his heartbeat was louder when he talked to her, the way seeing her always brought a smile to his face. She uplifted him, she inspired him, she…..she liked him.
And I like her. He realized.
.... HOLY WOAH I LIKE ITSUKA KENDO!!!
While Izuku's mind reeled from 'revelation', Kendo sighed, "I'm sorry, that's not exactly the best story to tell at a Christmas party." She sheepishly admitted. "And honestly I just wanted to apologize for making you feel awkward so-"
"Itsuka." Her words died in her throat, she turned to him and saw how his face was alight with color but his green eyes were focused on her. He swallowed thickly, "Er….if….y….you want to call me by my f….first name…..I don't mind...b….but is it ok if…..I use yours?" He asked nervously.
"Yes." Was her instant reply, fighting the dryness in her throat.
"O-ok. Ke-er….Itsuka...this is gonna be a while." He admitted.
They both snorted in laughter.
"Oh! Right! I nearly forgot!" She slid off the bed and reached under it, when her hands pulled back she had a wrapped present in her hands. The same one she had when Spider-Man intervened with those pushy guys, "This is a thank you for my birthday present." She handed it to him.
"I-Itsuka you didn't have to-" he began.
"Izuku," he jolted a little at his name, "You got me Captain America's autograph. Do you really think I'd let that slide?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"Er…..no." He admitted sheepishly. She nodded to the gift and he began unwrapping it.
"So it kinda got dinged a little but the packaging got most of it so-" she began before Izuku let out a throaty gasp.
In his shaking hands was a square box with an All Might Statue of him in the same pose as his FAVORITE video! It even had the exact replica of the people he had been carrying on his back. "T-T-T-T-This is-is-is-!!!" He stuttered out in utter excitement. He looked at her in utter disbelief, "This isn't even out yet!! H-How did you-?!"
She laughed at his conspired expression, "I kinda asked coach to snag it for me from All Might's agency. It's one of the prototypes I think." Izuku, like any collector would at that news, let out a noise that wasn't something a human would assume could be made. She smiled as he fawned over it, and a small part of her was smugly smiling to herself, finally getting back at him for his incredibly unexpected gift.
Setting it down on her bed to collect later, the two left her room, "I can't-I-Itsuka that's, I can't-" he blubbered.
She patted his shoulder, "Then don't, it's fine-" she began as they walked to the hallway, they stopped when she saw Setsuna grinning at her....that wasn't good. Setsuna smiling like that meant she was up to something.
And normally it wouldn't bother her but Yui was also smiling and THAT was even more concerning.
"...something is very wrong here." She said conspiratorially.
Izuku blinked and looked between the three girls, his spider sense wasn't buzzing so he knew they weren't in any real sort of danger. But he could also feel that he walked into something. "...Togake what have you done?" He asked somewhat fearfully.
Her grin widened, "Who? Me?" She asked innocently.
Itsuka gave her a half hearted glare, "Yes you." Izuku and Itsuka both gave her a calculating gaze. Setsuna shrugged with one hand, and only one...
"Togake, where's your other hand?" Izuku asked.
"Around." Set replied as she lifted her right hand, the hand disconnected at her wrist.
Itsuka groaned, "If this is your cousin It routine, that doesn't freak me out anymore." she replied.
Izuku's eyes widened in realization, "Oh! That reminds me!" He pulled out his notebook and flipped open to her page, "Are you able to lift more with more mass on a detached body part? And do you need leverage in order to do it?" He asked curiously as everyone stared at the sudden appearance of his notebook.
"...where was he keeping that?" Yui quietly asked.
Kendo couldn't help but roll her eyes good maturely at Izuku's inherent fascination with quirks when out the roof of her eyes she noticed something.
Suspended in the air over their head was Setsuna's hand. And within it was the mistletoe she had given her earlier. Her eyes fell on Set and glared at her, she didn't notice Izuku looking up as well. It took a second for his brain to make the connection to what it was, and when it did, his face lit up like a christmas tree that only had red lights on it. "Set, seriously?" Kendo asked, folding her arms over her chest while Izuku's face heated up so much it looked like steam was coming off his head.
The green haired girl crooned in laughter, "Oh come on! It's a classic! You literally walked right into it!" she laughed. Izuku glanced over at Itsuka, she was pouting at her friend and didn't seem to think it was that funny.
Her head turned to him, her own cheeks a little red, "Sorry I….Midoriya." she corrected herself, not wanting to give her friend more fuel to the fire.
He glanced up the mistletoe, then back to Itsuka…..and found that he wouldn't have minded a smooch…..or giving her one himself. Of course that made his blush even worse. He glanced over at Set who was laughing, not at him, he knew that this just meant to be in good fun unlike something Bakugo might do with that reasoning in mind.
And then he looked back to Kendo....and leaned over, and pecked her cheek.
The entire room froze.
Yui's face morphed into one of utter shock, the most expensive it might have been since Izuku met her, and Setsuna's jaw literally dropped off her head. Kendo meanwhile had seemed to decide to match how red Izuku's face was with her own and slowly turned to him. He swallowed and looked away, "It's…..tradition….so….um..." he muttered weakly.
Itsuka stared at him.
"Oh Izuku! Come here, you have to tell Ryuji about Hodo!" his mom called out from the kitchen, leaning out and smiling at her son in amusement. "He doesn't believe me about the stakeouts." she added.
"I'm talking from experience Inko, a tent on a roof wouldn't work!" Ryuji denied.
Izuku swallowed and tried to get his blush down as he left to go confirm his mom's story. As he left, Itsuka stared after him in disbelief and slight amazement.
".....that boy is dangerous." Setsuna said.
"I did not think he had it in him. Whatsoever. At all." Yui agreed.
Sara made a face, "You guys are gross." she said before going back to giving Felicia all the affection she could ever want.
Kendo however, couldn't stop blushing…..or the smile that spread over her features...or the way her chest was fluttering.
After a full night of laughs and joy, the families went their separate ways. The next morning, Izuku awoke later in the day and left the apartment before noon, he had a prior appointment to get to. So slipping into a public bathroom he stepped out as Spider-Man, swinging through the city towards where he was messaged to meet.
On his way there he swung along the side of a building, out of the corner of his eye he caught his reflection in the glass windows. He sighed to himself before turning ahead and swinging off his line, shooting another out; he swung through a valley of buildings before launching off it and flipping through the air as he came to land atop the roof of the Japan branch of the Future Foundation.
Looking around the rooftop, briefly the glass dome which shined down inside over in the center of the building, he saw no one was waiting for him. "Did I get the time wrong?" He pulled out his phone and checked his messages, "Nope, 10 a.m. like he said....unless he was talking about his time zone."
Cross continental messaging was kind of a pain in the butt.
Suddenly the shattering of the glass dome drew his attention up in time to see-
"...is that an Orangatang?" he asked before the large ape backhanded in the head, his reflexes passing to comprehend the absurdity. Sliding along the snowy roof he raised his hands and pressed his fingers to his palms at the animal, wrapping it in webbing as a streak of fire flew up out of the hole in the glass, the Human Torch hovering in the air.
"Oh! Hey! You got him!" The fire user exclaimed as he flew down while the ape tried to pull free of the webbing to no avail. "Nice going! And if Sue asks what happened, he just came out of the foundation. Right?" He said to the vigilante as he got up.
Izuku tilted his head, "But….he did?" he asked skeptically, his lenses giving the human torch a suspicious look. The blonde American just flashed him a grin, izuku looked at the ape again and blinked, "Wait a second isn't that one of the Red Ghosts' super apes???"
"Johnny!!!" The two boys winced at the tone of Susan Storm's Boyce. Out from the foundation in a force field bubble was a kind to pleased Susan Storm. She was giving her brother a sharp look, but when she saw the red and blue clad vigilante, she smiled. "Spidey, good to see you." she welcomed, stepping off the invisible platform to the roof, "And thank you for cleaning up my brother's mess." she said, giving Johnny a pointed look as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"His mess?" Spider-Man asked.
"Please don't-" Johnny whined.
"Johnny told us that he could transfer the apes the Red Ghost used to try and attack us to the teleporter, so we could safely transport them to their natural habitat." she said, giving her brother a look. "What he failed to mention was that he was going to use fire to chase them out of their cage instead of using the automated pallet jack to move the cage."
"I thought it'd be faster, and hey, two out of three? Not bad." he boasted.
Sue rolled her eyes and turned to their guest, "Reed's inside." she directed.
Izuku nodded, "Thanks Ms. Storm." he said politely before jumping into the hole in the glass dome, shooting a webline behind to catch his fall. He spun himself upside down so that he repelled down towards the bottom lab like a yoyo. On the ground floor, Reed was stretched across the room inspecting something on a monitor while his hands were manipulating a device across the room. "Man and I thought my webs gave me a reach." he joked.
Reed turned to him and smiled, "Ah, Spider-Man, good to see you. Thanks for meeting me." he said, retracting himself to his normal proportions as Izuku dropped from the web and stood to shake his hand.
"You too Reed, and sorry it took so long to get back to you. Things have been...kind of crazy." he admitted, thinking back to what he did last night at Ken….Itsuka's place, blushing underneath his mask so hard it was the same color as the picotech. Also from the fact that he was apparently close enough to Mr. Fantastic to use his first name!
"Oh no need, I can understand things must be hectic with the Fisk arrest." the smartest man alive said understandingly.
"Er…..yeah, that too." Izuku added, "Anyway, you wanted to discuss the suit?" he asked, gesturing to his costume.
Reed led him over to a work station, "Yes, as I mentioned before an associate of mine has taken an interest in the potential that Picotech has to offer." he explained as he he led him to the large hologram that showed a 3D model of his suit, both with the current color scheme it had and the all black look it held when Izuku first had it. "They've actually worked on an update to the picotech software and they're hoping that you'd be willing to run some tests for them."
Spider-Man rubbed the back of his head, "I mean I'll help Reed but…..my secret is really important…..especially now." he added with a mutter. Reed tilted his head curiously and Izuku winced at his slip up, "N-Nothing, I'm sorry I-"
"Spider-Man, please, speak your mind." Reed said with a gentle smile, reaching over to grab a seat and slide it over to the wall crawler to sit in. "Rest assured I know your secret identity is very important to you and nothing the suit has can compromise it, another factor that I considered when designing it was to help maintain the privacy of pro heroes who use it." he explained. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, "But….something tells me that's not what you meant."
Spider-Man looked at him, then he glanced up at the glass dome that Reed's wife had come to greet him from...
"It's…..there's someone in my life who I really like." He began, "But I'm already great friends with them, I'm afraid that if I screw it up that I'll ruin everything." He explained with a sigh.
Reed recognized the dilemma and nodded. "I see, that's certainly a hard position to be in." He said with a knowing smile, "Back when I met Susan, I was studying for my next two doctorates. But when I saw her? Everything else just…..was pushed to the side." He snorted, "I actually told her that being around her was consuming all my attention and time. And that I'm studying her more than my other subjects."
He smiled fondly at the memories, "I was scared of course, but I learned from Susan the most important lesson in life." he looked at him with an expression of content, "You'll never know where the adventure takes you. I could never have guessed that the course of my life would lead me to have a friend as great as Ben Grimm, or a brother I always wanted in Johnny, or the love I would have for Sue. I didn't know that we'd be married one day, or have two wonderful children." he said with certainty.
Spider-Man quietly took that in, "...thanks Reed that…..gives me a lot to think about."
Reed smiled, "Always glad to help encourage the thought process. Now then, let me finish up here and I'll take you to who I'm trusting with this." He explained as he closed down his workstation. He sent a message as well, telling his guests to meet him on the third floor of the Foundation, "I must ask though, does this person know about your...activities?" he asked.
Spider-Man lowered his head, "No...and that's another problem. I don't want to start something with this person based on a lie...and they…..she….thinks I'm quirkless-"
"Which isn't entirely false." Reed provided.
"-but it's still a stretch of the truth." Spider-Man finished. Reed gave him a look, "...I honestly didn't mean that one, it slipped out. But it's still the truth, if I just tell her 'Hey I'm Spider-Man,' then she's going to think I've been lying to her this whole time…..which I have….but not about what's actually a lie." he explained.
Reed walked over and patted his shoulder, "When I was a young man, my father, Nathaniel, took me outside up my treehouse, and stood at the base of it." he began. "He looked up at me and told me to jump down to him." Izuku blinked at that, but it only looked like he was staring at Reed. "I know, but bear with me here." he said understandingly as he looked away from the vigilante. "I was scared, it wasn't too high that I'd be seriously hurt but it was still scary. So my father told me, 'It's ok to be afraid. And it's ok to fail. But to say that you're not willing to try?"
He looked back at Spider-Man, "That's unacceptable.".
Reed smiled, "I jumped." he confirmed. "And later on in life, when I saw Susan for the first time, and my heart was captured by her? I was scared then too. But I remembered what my father said. And that's when I learned a fundamental fact about life."
"You leapt." Izuku answered.
Reed smiled and nodded, "Yes, that's what love is. A leap of faith."
Izuku absorbed the words, Reed's work station beeped and he reached across twenty feet to turn it off. "Ah, our guests are here, shall we?" he asked as his upper body stretched up towards the third floor. Spider-Man looked up after him and nodded, as Reed reached the third floor, Izuku smiled to himself.
"A leap huh?" he mused.
He raised his hand to the air, shot a webline and pulled it back to shoot himself up after Reed to the third floor balcony where his journey began a year ago. Overshooting just enough to get his feet up and land on a perch of the railing. "Hey there, I'm your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." he greeted.
"O-O-Oh! Oh wow." a young woman around his age gasped, the older man beside her showing surprise as well, turning to Reed in shock. The girl seemed to recover quickly from her shock somewhat and behind her glasses, fixated her blue eyes on him showing the excitement that now filled them. "I-I'm…..holy crap I'm sorry, I'm Melissa, Melissa Shield! It's really nice to meet you! And this is my mentor, Dr. Otto Octavavious."