Text"Midoriya, are you and Ashido dating?"
It sounded like something a gossip would drag someone away to ask away from everyone else so as not to start rumours unfoundedly. A gossip with that sort of integrity was a rarity in itself, and Izuku certainly knew just how impossible it was to find someone who cared about if their stories were true or not. He'd run into plenty during his Middle School days. Disregarding every single aspect of that though, it certainly hadn't even come close to what Izuku had been expecting to hear out of Aizawa-sensei when he'd lead him outside the classroom. The Erasure Quirk user couldn't be even further from that sort of person if he even tried to be. He could only be less like that if he never spoke at all.
For a short while, Izuku just stood there, gawking at his homeroom teacher with absolutely no clue what he was supposed to even do or say here. There wasn't much that he could think about, let alone say in this situation. Part of him questioned the legality of what was going on here. Were teachers even allowed to ask questions regarding pupil's personal lives like this?
In fact scratch that. If it was illegal, Aizawa would probably still ask anyway if he felt it important to ask. The real question here was, why on earth would Aizawa even care?
Not caring about societal appearances was one thing that everyone knew that Aizawa couldn't care less about. In his own words, he couldn't give the slightest damn about what it was that other people thought of him, because caring about how the rest of the world was going to look at you was totally illogical, and could even affect your duties as a Hero. And while he was correct there, popularity was also something Heroes had to keep in consideration, not that that was important right now. Either way, him coming up and questioning Izuku's love life was...
Really starting to creep the young boy out.
A lot.
"U-uh..." He stammered nervously, looking up at his taller conversation partner and feeling slightly intimidated. Aizawa just looked back at him, his face expressing neutrality as it always did, though his mouth was covered by the fibre-alloy weapon which he always kept handy, and by just covering up that small part of his face, made him that bit more tricky to read than he normally was. It made Izuku flinch that extra bit when he blinked.
"Are you going to answer? We don't have all day." He asked flatly, staring daggers straight into his student. It wasn't like he was aiming to intimidate, or even coerce an answer from Izuku, but rather, he felt it important to get an accurate answer as quickly as possible.
After all, if they were dating, and if they were serious about one another, then they had some choices they needed to make. Truth be told, Aizawa thought very little of his pupils dating one another, as he saw it as no personal business of his, and outside of being their homeroom teacher, he had little reason to care. But as their homeroom teacher, he had to make sure to help them down the right path, and especially with regards to dating Heroes, there were discussions that needed to be had.
For a second, the holder of One For All was seriously considered lying to Aizawa right then and there. The temptation was rapidly making itself known to the timid green haired boy, and the temptation was certainly strong. This entire atmosphere felt crushing, like an interrogation, and frankly, he wasn't sure he even wanted Aizawa to know his personal relationships... But common sense won him over. Mina wasn't one for subtlety, even under the best of circumstances. She was far too open about her love and was much too publicly affectionate for any lie Izuku made to even be slightly believable. He'd be caught out within five minutes of lessons being over. And besides... His homeroom teacher wouldn't have bothered calling him out of the room to interrogate him like this if he wasn't already a hundred percent certain about their relationship. There had to be some kind of reason behind why he was even bothering to ask, hadn't there?
So, fighting back the impulse to hide his relationship from his teacher, Izuku opted to, very hesitantly and shakily, nod his head. He barely trusted himself to say much, so he just added a very small, "Y-Yes sir."
Aizawa looked at Izuku blankly for a few moments, before he took one of his hands from his pockets and scratched at his hair lightly, letting out another sigh as he did so. Almost one of disappointment, but it wasn't quite there yet. A certain level of surprise would have been expected, but Aizawa didn't even seem to be slightly taken aback by this news, rather he was resigned to it.
"I just wanted to confirm that this was the case for myself." The older man said, explaining why he had even bothered asking to the clearly uncomfortable boy. His eyes narrowed suddenly, meeting directly with Izuku's. "And you're sure that's the best course of action?"
"What..." Izuku struggled to find his voice after that sentence, not sure if he liked the implications as to where this was going. He swallowed the lump that was lodged in his throat down painfully, and cleared his windpipe. "What do you mean?"
"Is having your partner on the field with you a good idea?" The Pro looked at Izuku with a stare that so many people would struggle to understand the meaning behind. "Say you have a Villain or a criminal with two guns, one aimed at a civilian, and one aimed at Ashido. You can only save one before the criminal pulls the trigger of both weapons. Which one do you save?"
It was such a simple question... But it made Izuku's blood run cold, like ice right then and there, visibly making him shiver. He should have thought about that sort of scenario... But he hadn't.
Because... He'd chosen not to, because the idea was just way too disturbing to even think about. Both of them were training to become Heroes, of course... And therefore, both of them fully understood the dangers of their chosen line of work. On their very first hang out, or what would become known between the two of them as their 'First unofficial date', they had fought the Villain Overgrow. That should have been the wake up call to remind Izuku of the dangers of fighting alongside the people you cared about... But he'd just not wanted to accept it... Because he didn't want to imagine harm coming to Mina. Of everyone in the world, Class 1-A understood the realities of Heroism best. It wasn't all glamorous, and it wasn't all perfect. There were people out there who were totally psychotic, evil maniacs would wouldn't think twice about killing a baby, never mind a child or teenager if it was in order to achieve their goals. Harrowing a concept as it was, the possibility of winding up dead in the Hero business was one that was a reality for someone in the world every single day.
Stain had been the one to prove that to him. That had been the very real danger that he'd come close to losing his own life to not too long ago, so the imprint was still fresh in his mind. He knew the realities of it...
But when Mina finally came into his life in the way she did... He found himself pushing certain parts of that experience to the back of his head, even when the rational part of him was aware that he was doing it, and that he shouldn't be doing it at all... The prospect of her getting hurt or worse...
He wanted to be happy along with Mina. Anything that threatened to end that happiness... He just pushed the thoughts to the back of his head.
And he knew that the example given... Was entirely valid, so much so it honestly terrified him. Obviously it was incredibly hypothetical, and unlikely to happen in reality... But it got the point across.
If he were put in that situation... Who was he supposed to save?
Did he save Mina, his girlfriend, the hyperactive girl who never failed to make him laugh, the person who it was difficult to imagine life without, and the same person who he loved with every fibre of his being, at the expense of an in innocent civilian's life, thereby neglecting his duties and obligations as a Hero?
Or did he save the nameless person he had never met and would likely never see again in his life and stay true to the way of the Hero... At the expense of Mina's life?
This was something a Hero would have to choose between. This was the sort of thing that would give Heroes nightmares. Just thinking about the prospect of having to make such a choice... To someone who hadn't dreamed about coming to a school like this to train to achieve their goal their entire life... It might make them think twice about Heroism being their chosen field.
Deciding that making him answer the question would be pointless, Aizawa let out another sigh. Dealing with problem children like this was exhausting, and he was starting to think that his class was filled with nothing but those sorts of people. "Obviously I can't decide on your life for you. Though once you become a Hero, you are expected to follow a particular set of codes of conduct and those can interfere with your personal life." Rooting into his jacket to find something he'd prepared earlier. From it, he pulled out what appeared to be a pamphlet, with a pair of Heroes on the front of it, and held it out for Izuku to take. "Here. Look through this."
"H-Huh?"
"A lot of couples, husbands and wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, and everything at either end go into the Hero field as teams, or as individuals. It's not uncommon at all for these sorts of relationships to happen. Field romances actually rather common. Part of the dangers of the work that bring people closer together. There are dangers to that sort of arrangement though, Midoriya, but you should be able to get some sorts of training here to help the two of you get better at working together as Heroes."
Izuku's eyes widened at that statement, leaving him dazed for a moment. While they were now rare, Hero teams still did exist. Groups of Heroes who all agreed to work together as a single team, although in the current age, usually only very close knit groups did this.
"Speak to Ashido about it, and if she agrees, head over to the Hero Prep rooms tomorrow after homeroom." Aizawa recommended. "Even if you decide to work as separate Heroes, I'd recommend going to ask them about Quirk compatibility. Oh, and they'll expect you to have a Team name planned out if you decide to get training from them. It isn't any different to a Hero name, except it has to cover both of you."
"..Yeah, I can see why that'd freak you out." Mina nodded in agreement with her boyfriend's recollection at the story. In doing so, she passed him a can of cool soda straight from her family's refrigerator, resting it against his bare arm before he quickly grabbed it. "I'm kinda surprised that he even needed to confirm it with you. Could have just saved time and asked literally anyone in homeroom." Taking the seat next to him, she rested her head in her left hand, using her right to mop the sweat from her forehead. Heat combined with the current topic had led to Mina feeling like she was starting to overheat. "It's kind of difficult to see Aizawa-sensei showing any sort of interest in that sort of thing... And for him to do... That."
"He said it was the most logical option for him. It was either that or he could spend a few weeks spying on us..." Recalled Izuku, virtually word for word. That also made him shudder, the prospect of their homeroom teacher using whatever means necessary to determine their relationship. He knew for a fact he was thinking too deeply into this, but he couldn't help himself. He pressed the cold can against his forehead in an effort to cool himself down from the heat himself.
Mina chuckled lightly, before cracking open her own drink and taking a long intake from it. "Ahhh... Y'know, if Aizawa-sensei uses pure logic all the time, I don't thinkI mind being a bit irrational now and then, if that's the result."
Despite trying not to, Izuku did smile and laugh very lightly at his girlfriend's joking around. "It was just to help us, you know." He said, once he'd managed to stop his own laughter, though his smile refused to fade. "He said it didn't make sense for us to continue training only as solo Heroes if there was an option like this available to consider."
"Mhm." Hummed the pink girl, looking over at the leaflet that Izuku had down her, as provided by their homeroom teacher. When Izuku had first mentioned the prospect of them forming a Hero Team, she'd been interested, no question. It had been an option that she hadn't particularly considered, though she felt like the probably should have.
Hero Teams were often very effective in what they did, since they had more than one set of hands working on any particular case, and that also translated to one extra Quirk. While that was often the case, even with many solo Heroes who had to work together even if they were with different agencies, Hero Teams had the added benefit of knowing exactly what their partners were capable of, and even had strategies in play for certain situations, whereas solo Heroes often had to improvise. The reason so few existed being that differences, personal and financial, separated many groups and led them to going their own ways to pursue solo careers.
So greed and ego, basically.
However, the main thing preventing her and Izuku from deciding without hesitation that yes, this was an idea worth trying out, wasn't anything to do with money, nor was it anything to do with strategy or ideology. They both more or less agreed with one another in those various regards. It wasn't even anything to down to individual dreams of glory, since Hero Teams weren't necessarily restricted to only working with their partners. Individuals could still go out on patrol and fight crime when called upon specifically for their Quirks, or just stumbled upon it. No, being in a Hero Team didn't restrict people much at all if that was how they agreed to work their alliance.
The main issue here was their Quirks and their compatibility.
While both Quirks were Emitter Types, there were huge fundamental differences between the two. Izuku's One For All required physical contact, unless he planned on breaking one of his fingers to use a ranged attack, while Mina's Acid Quirk could be used at medium to long ranges if she was accurate with it. However... Their Quirks didn't exactly mix well together.
Sure, they'd used them together before, and the result had been pretty good against Overgrow on their unofficial date, but that was before Izuku had fully developed his Full Cowl fighting technique, and even then, that fight had only worked because Izuku had managed to get lucky, and not shoved his hand in corrosive acid. Now, his fighting style worked by getting in close, hitting his opponents with controlled super strength.
Unless he was close enough to give his targets a tight, reassuring hug, his Quirk didn't exactly do him much good.
Meaning Mina wasn't able to use her Quirk to help, or she risked injuring Izuku. Even if they used a tag-out system, the weakness of One For All shone brightly - It had next to no defensive capabilities. Perhaps that was to be expected from a passed down Quirk, and Izuku possessed literally nothing to his name except for some natural highlights in regards to individuality until he received One For All, but at the end of the day, it left them in a tricky spot.
"Did he say what sort of training there was gonna be?" Mina asked, internally praying to non-existent deities that it wouldn't involve anything written down.
"Nothing specific." Admitted Izuku with a sigh. "He just said that it would be helpful when it came to teamwork..."
"Well... What d'ya think?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, it could be kinda fun... But it's just our Quirks that make us working as a solid team tricky." The Acid Quirk user explained her reasoning simply. "It's not like working as solo Heroes is gonna change anything between us... But I'm willing to give trying at being a Hero Team a go, see how it plays out."
She basically had summed up all of Izuku's feelings towards the idea, and since Team Heroes could still operate independently from one another, it wasn't as though they were restricting themselves. Plus, the opportunist in Izuku was screaming how great an opportunity it would be to learn how Hero Team's properly functioned, and receive training that would no doubt be a huge help in the future.
"I'd say he's pretty much foaming at the mouth for it."
The inclusion of a third, male voice into the conversation almost gave Izuku a heart attack, until he quickly remembered, they were in Mina's house. Other people lived there. Growing up where he did, Izuku wasn't used to there being more than two or three people in any shared living environment. Plus, Mina had checked, and reported that no one had been in the house when they arrived.
And now Micha had shown up, a smug grin on his face that quickly spread when he had seen Izuku jump in surprise. At this stage, it really shouldn't, but it still did give Izuku a shock whenever Micha jumped in from nowhere.
"Do you find giving my boyfriend scares funny, Micha?" Mina asked her amused older brother, with a smile on her face, indicating that she herself found humour in the event. After all, Izuku's reactions had enough variety and entertainment in them to be their very own sitcom.
"Yep." Flatly answered the older Ashido sibling with a humorous edge to his voice. "Every time. He's easier to freak out than Mika around a melted Lego set."
"Cool. I'll remember to remind your girlfriend how you are with spiders then – "
"Don't even think about it."
The dynamics between the two Ashido siblings still did leave Izuku feeling like he was out of place at times. The two seemed to find endless amusement in mocking and insulting one another as much as physically viable, but they always did so with great humour. Banter wasn't exactly something that Izuku knew much about or how to do, or even what it was, but Mina and Micha seemed to get along well enough that they could take jabs at each other's most personal, darkest secrets, and the other one would just brush them off as though they were a lunatic and laugh along with them. Both had thick enough skins that they could probably metaphorically survive getting stabbed.
Did they ever go overboard? Had they ever actually upset one another by taking it one step too far and genuinely offending the other one, or were they just so headstrong and de-sensitized to one another that they couldn't even upset each other if they genuinely wanted to?
Ever since he had first been introduced to the members of Mina's large family, he had been invited back multiple times, usually by Mina, though her family would occasionally ask him if he wished to have dinner with them, which he usually accepted not to seem rude. While he did enjoy their company, and did indeed find value in what they had to say, and their opinions regarding him and Mina, their own personal relationships with one another seemed to all involved reckless disregard for the emotional stability of one another. Of course, they all cared for one another and never meant any of the offense that they hurled at one another, but their total lack of restraint did sometimes make Izuku feel like he'd just walked into an overly dramatic pantomime experience.
Most of the time he was there, they'd question him about Mina, and question Mina about him, trying to get any privy details that they could from their interrogations. After the first few visits though, they gave up on that, and just started teasing the crap out of the two of them. In spite of that though, they were genuinely friendly, and often told Izuku he was welcome there any time. In need of a place they could brainstorm and think of the best course of action, Mina suggested her house.
A choice she was now starting to regret. With Micha here, they weren't even gonna get close to figuring stuff out, were they?
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna interrupt your little session-stroke-date-stroke-planning-meeting-stroke-whatever the hell it is you two're doing." Assured the Meltdown Quirk user, pointing towards the refrigerator in the corner of the room as he made his way over to it. "Just wanted to get something cold to drink. Just ignore me."
"I've been doing that for the last five years." Mina sassily replied with a grin, before returning her attention back to Izuku, and glancing down at the leaflets again. "So… Do you think it'd be worth having a look at, Izuku?"
"Y-Yeah." He confirmed, nodding his own head. "I do."
To him, there weren't many negative associations to be made in attempting such a partnership, even if they decided that they didn't want to remain as such. Nothing would change between them in their relationship, and doing so could actually help them in their careers as Heroes. In addition, the training that they could receive would be invaluable when it came to learning to co-operate with Quirks that were dangerous and a hindrance to them, and could even be used to help combat Quirks used by villains that they struggled with.
If it was recommended that they gave becoming a Hero Team a try… Then Izuku was totally prepared to see where it went./
"Hey, if you're serious about doing the whole Hero Team thing, I already got a name for ya." Commented Micha from the other side of the room, opening up a can of soda in his hands and taking a long drink from it.
Mina let out a small sigh. "I thought you were shutting up?"
"And I thought you knew me better, Pinky." Grinned her brother victoriously.
"This should be good." Muttered the pink skinned girl, before turning to properly face him. "What've you got for us then?" She was expecting some smart-ass joke about the two of them, or a sarcastic quip about the way that the two of them interacted. She could practically hear his smug laughter already, and she decided that she could use a good laugh herself. Or maybe he'd surprise her.
Maybe her brother would be creative for once. Now that would certainly be a shock.
"A'ight, you're hyper as all hell, right?" Micha commented, pointing at his sibling with his finger, the rest still wrapped around the can he held. "Seriously, you act like you're on crack half the time. I don't get how you don't run out of energy half the time."
"It's called being physically fit."
"Yeah, and my skin and bones a'int gonna get me much of that, are they?" Lamented Micha, before moving on. "And Midoriya… You're timid as holy hell. I don't even have anything to go off of 'cause you're so awkward. I can't even make fun of you."
"Uh… Thanks?" The green haired boy nervously laughed, scratching the back of his head, unsure if he was being insulted or complimented.
"So you're awkward, and she's energetic – There's your Hero Team name. Awkward Energy."