17

Chapter Text

Just like that, Izuku could think again. The surging fury of his quirk disappeared as quickly as it had arisen once he heard the nickname. The scales and claws on his hand swiftly receded, and his fangs shrunk back to their normal size. His eyes went wide with horror as he saw Ashido looking back up at him. He tried to sputter some sort of apology, but he was so ashamed and appalled with himself that he couldn't make his throat work.

Ashido, on the other hand, had no such issues. Her eyes weren't filled with fear like Izuku expected, but with confusion and a degree of mischief. Her mouth curled into a cruel smirk as Izuku stared at her. "This is pretty forward, Midori…"

He was utterly frozen; no longer holding her down as much as paralyzed on top of her. She shrugged his hands off of her arms and reached up. "Not that I mind, I~ zu~ ku~" She wrapped her arms around his neck, her hand accidentally stroking his green ridge. Izuku instinctually leaned into the contact as a low groan escaped his throat.

Ashido's eyes went wide as Izuku's body finally snapped back into action. He flung himself backward, off of her and onto the floor, covering his face with his arms. Izuku was half-expecting his face to actually catch fire with how hot it was feeling. The woman's smile grew wider as she sat up to face him. "What was that? "

"I, uh," Izuku's throat was working, but his brain still was frozen.

"I was hoping to just make you broccoli for me again." her eyes narrowed again as she regained her smirk. "But that was…" Izuku noticed a small dusting of lilac on her cheeks as he peeked out from under his arms.

At long last, Izuku managed to find his voice. "W-why aren't you afraid of me?"

She looked even more confused than before. "Should I be?"

"Yes!" he answered immediately. "Or, uh, no!" He sighed and put his head in his hands. "Ashido, I just… how can you not be afraid of me after that?"

She smiled at him, not even thinking about her answer. "I knew you wouldn't hurt me, Midori." She giggled lightly. "I trust you."

For the second time in two days, Izuku heard those words echo in his mind. He looked up from the floor, small tears of guilt forming in the corners of his eyes as he repeated the same question he asked to the other woman to say that to him. "...why?"

Ashido put a finger to her chin and thought for a moment. "Hmm, I guess I just do? That's not really an answer, is it?" She giggled a bit and kept thinking. "You saved me earlier today, that counts for a lot… and you've made friends with most of the other students in our class, so you're clearly a good dude… oh!" She pointed her finger at him. "And you have horns!"

Izuku stared at her for a few seconds, blinking. She threw her arms up in exasperation. "That last one was a joke, come on , Midori!"

"T-thank you, Ashido, but…" Izuku turned his gaze away from her, clearly wanting to say something, but looked back up after deciding against it, at least for now. "Why are you in my room? H-how are you in my room?"

Ashido narrowed her eyes slightly at his pause and pulled out a small leather pouch from her pocket. "Lockpicking kit."

"You have a lockpicking kit?" Izuku raised his eyebrow at her.

She looked at the kit in her hand and back to him. "No."

He blinked and sputtered a bit, causing the intruder to giggle. "You know how to use a lockpicking kit? Why?"

Ashido shrugged and put the kit away. "It's a useful skill to have. I could teach you if you want. It's much more subtle than kicking a door down, you know?" Her eyes drifted down from his face. "Although with those legs of yours I'm sure you don't have a problem with that."

Izuku felt his face begin to green again and tried to quickly change the subject. "Yeahsuremaybelater. B-but you didn't tell me why you're in my room."

She got up into a kneeling position and crossed her arms. "I'm tired of being interrupted. You are going to tell me the truth about what happened yesterday, and you're going to do it now. No more excuses, no more interruptions."

"You could've just waited for me to come back and knocked on my door!" Izuku threw his arms wide in protest. "That way I wouldn't have-"

"That's exactly why I broke in!" she interrupted him swiftly. "I figured that since you got so uptight about me pushing past you, being in here without you knowing would be even worse." She rubbed the back of her head and grinned sheepishly. "I didn't expect a reaction like that though…" She blushed a little harder.

Izuku's eyes went wide with surprise. "You… you…" He stared at her for a few seconds more as his mind processed what she had said. Then, realization dawned on him.

Izuku couldn't help it. A huge smile broke across his face and he looked at her with a mixture of adoration and awe. "You played me."

Ashido put her hands on her hips and puffed her chest out proudly. "Sure did!" She leapt to her feet and pointed a finger down at him. "And since you attacked me, you owe me an explanation! You have to tell me what's been going on; it's only fair because I was a victim ." She smirked down at Izuku, his smile faltering.

Izuku felt his quirk flare slightly; a small pressure growing in his head, pushing him to comfort her. He hung his head. "Okay." He sighed heavily. "You're right, you deserve to know."

Ashido smiled wide. "Good!" She stepped over and took a seat on the floor, leaning up against his bed and patting the spot on the ground next to her. "Come here and tell me."

He crawled over and sat next to her, their shoulders only a few inches from each other. Izuku looked at the ground between his legs for a few moments, gathering his thoughts and figuring out where he wanted to start. To her credit, Ashido was waiting patiently. After almost a minute of silence, he leaned back, resting his head on the bed while he stared at the ceiling. "Ashido, are you familiar with quirk adaptation?"

"Course I am. 'The process by which our bodies become better able to use our quirks', or something, right?" She mockingly repeated a line from an old textbook.

"Right. For example, I assume your body has become increasingly resistant to acid over the years."

"Yep."

Izuku sighed again as he braced himself. "Well, my adaptations are mostly mental. I've got what amounts to a voice in my head." He waited for her to say something, but she just sat there, listening intently. He looked away from her. "My whole family has it. At least the ones with the dragon quirk. So my dad, my cousin, me, et cetera. We call the voice 'instincts', and honestly, calling it a voice is a little dishonest."

Ashido was still just listening, making Izuku feel a little better that she wasn't judging him outwardly, at least not yet. "It's not a separate entity, per se, it's my own thoughts, but different. It's really hard to explain. My instincts are me, but they're not my thoughts, but at the same time, they are. It doesn't make a lot of sense, I know, but that's the best way I can explain it."

"But what does this have to do with quirk adaptation?" Ashido finally spoke up, not a trace of judgment or derision in her voice, just curiosity.

"Our instincts are necessary for us to use our quirk to its fullest potential." He stared at the posters of his father across from his bed. "For us to use our greatest powers and our maximum strength, we have to work together with our instincts. Here, you've seen how Stormclaw and Ryukyu fight, right?"

Ashido nodded firmly. "Sure have. They fight a lot like you do, transforming limbs and stuff as they need it. They only go full dragon sometimes." She sighed dreamily. "I wish they did it more often, though. It's super cool."

Izuku laughed once. "Yeah, exactly. A full draconic transformation takes a lot of stamina and it requires for the person to be fully in-sync with their quirk. But our instincts go further than that, they're a constant in our lives. We have to learn to live with them and work with them." Izuku closed his eyes as he leaned his head back onto the bed.

"That's really cool." She had some awe in her voice. Izuku's eyes snapped open and he turned to look at her. "So what kind of stuff does it tell you to do?" She gasped slightly, her face filled not with fear, but with wonder. "Did it tell you to tackle me?"

"S-sort of," Izuku began. He sighed again. "But it doesn't exactly just 'tell' me stuff. If it was just a voice telling me what to do, then I could probably ignore it. But like I said, it's not something separate from me. It is me. I can fight it, but if I ignore it, it grows stronger, and if something sets it off really hard, it flares too hard for me to control." He gripped his head with both hands, remembering the pain of his quirk. "When it gets too strong, it drowns out the rest of me, leaving me mostly at its mercy. It's honestly… really scary sometimes."

Ashido eyes went wide as he held his head. "All those times you looked like you were having a headache… when you were holding your head… those were just your quirk yelling at you and what, you trying to resist it?"

Izuku smiled sadly and nodded.

Ashido paused for a moment, staring at the ground. "What sort of things does it say to you?"

Izuku looked away again and the two sat in silence for several seconds. He transformed his hand and stared down at the claw, flexing it a few times. "Ashido… why do you want to become a hero?"

The woman was seemingly mesmerized by his quirk, staring intently at his hand as he flexed it with a slight smile on her face, but at his question, Ashido's expression turned to confusion. "Why do I- hey! Don't think you can distract me." She pointed a finger at him accusingly.

He sat up a little straighter at her sudden accusation. "No, no, I'm not. I promise I'm going somewhere with this."

She eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then relaxed. "If you say so..." Ashido straightened herself out and puffed her chest slightly. "I don't like bullies. People who abuse or hurt others because they're different or just because they're weak are the lowest of the low." Izuku couldn't help but smile at the conviction in her voice. "I want to help people. I want to protect those who can't defend themselves. I want to protect those who are attacked just because of what they look like or what their quirk is or whatever else outside of their control."

Izuku smiled wider. "I would have liked to have been your friend for my entire life, Ashido."

The woman looked surprised for a split second before she gave him a big smile, their eyes meeting for the first time. He noticed a small dusting of her purple blush on her cheeks as she grinned. Izuku stared at her, not to admire her, but to analyze her. She evidently noticed his appraising stare as her grin faltered slightly under his intense gaze.

"Ashido…" Izuku said, still staring at her. "You were one of those kids, weren't you?"

She flinched and shrunk away; it was her turn to avoid his eyes. The woman ran a hand through her messy pink hair as she nodded slowly. "I've always stuck out, you know? Weird, pink girl with black eyes and horns? I look like an alien."

Izuku moved himself a little closer to the woman next to him, hoping to comfort her by pushing his shoulder against hers. "I really like how you look, Ashido; I love your shade of pink."

Her eyes widened slightly and lilac danced over her cheeks as she seemed to melt into the contact. She recovered before Izuku realized what he had said and smiled widely at him. "Oh, I'm not bothered by it anymore," her eyes got a teasing gleam to them "But~ it's good to know that you think I'm pretty, Midori." She stuck her tongue at him, causing him to begin to sputter and backtrack.

She laughed before quickly regaining her composure. "But when I was younger, I got picked on a lot. I learned to ignore the jerks and I always had a lot of friends, but their words still hurt." She held up her hand, staring at her own palm. "But my quirk… there was a bunch of kids who called my quirk a 'bad guy's quirk.' Acid isn't exactly nice, you know? I can mess someone up really easily."

Izuku nodded, staring off into space in thought. "You want to prove to yourself that your quirk isn't evil, don't you?"

Ashido started again, her eyes going wide. "Was it that obvious?"

The green-haired man looked down to the floor again, his shoulders slumping as he sighed. "I could tell because I'm here for the same reason. Don't worry, Ashido. Your quirk isn't evil. I'm the one here with the villain's quirk."

Ashido giggled. "Now you're just trying to make me feel better. Don't worry about me, Midori, you don't have to lie."

"I'm serious," Izuku pleaded, "think about it. Why do you think I'm always resisting my instincts?"

Ashido froze.

"It's depressingly deterministic, even. Have you ever noticed that there are a relatively large number of villains in my family?"

She hesitated and rubbed the back of her head. "I-I guess?"

"Our family quirk is divided into two broad categories: metallic and chromatic. Metallic dragons have noble instincts, for the most part, while chromatic… less so. There are five types in each category that we've seen so far. There could be more, but we haven't seen anyone manifest something outside of those ten." He held up his hand and began to count on his fingers.

"Metallics are brass, like Gallant, bronze, like Stormclaw and Thunderwing, copper, like Ryukyu, gold, like Purifier, or silver, like Silverlight." He held up one finger as he numbered each one, then brought his other fist up. "On the other hand, sorry, no pun intended, on the other hand, for chromatics, there is red, like Terrorflame, blue, like Fulgurite, white, like Frostheart, black like that villain that attacked Musutafu ten years ago, do you remember that?"

Ashido was sitting completely still, taking in the information he was spouting. She nodded shakily.

He looked at the four raised fingers on his hand and hesitated. "And… green. Like me." He raised his final finger as he transformed his hand, showing off his green scales. He felt tears forming in his eyes again. "I'm born to be a villain, Ashido. It was chosen for me before I could even talk."

He threw his hands onto his head again, clutching his skull as he revealed his secret. "I fight these instincts because they tell me to do terrible things. They took control when I saw you in here, that's why I tackled you. After Monday, they wanted Mineta…" He struggled to spit the word out. "...dead." He shuddered at the memory. "So no, Ashido. I'm not trying to make you feel better, I really do have a villain's quirk."

Ashido paused for a moment, thinking. "...I thought I told you that you couldn't distract me, Midori." Izuku turned to look at her in surprise, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "What does that have to do with what happened yesterday? You said they told you to hurt Mineta, but I can't help but notice that you didn't."

Izuku let his hands fall from his head and back onto his knees. "It's all thanks to Uraraka, really. She snapped me out of it and calmed my instincts."

"Really? How?"

"By saying my name- or uh, my nickname. She said 'Deku' and my instincts calmed, if just for a moment." He waved his hands in front of him, then paused and looked at Ashido again. "Just like what happened earlier with you."

Ashido's eyes went wide. "You're saying…" She paused as she thought. "That's right. You opened the door and it was like you were possessed. You t-threw me down like I weighed nothing and pinned my arms with those big hands of yours and your eyes were wild and glowing," she fidgeted next to him, rubbing her hands up and down her arms, "and those horns of yours were growing and those big, sharp teeth of yours were snarling so close to me..." She trailed off, rubbing her thighs together as she sighed, her blush growing more and more vibrant.

Izuku blinked a few times as she quickly regained her composure. "Then I called you 'Midori' and it's like you snapped out of it. That's what Ochako did to you, too?" He nodded slowly, still a little confused. "Okay, well I have a question for you now, mister evil dragon boy." Her tone was so sarcastic that he didn't even flinch. "Why do you want to be a hero?"

This was a question Izuku could answer very easily. "It's all I've ever wanted to be. I want to save people and I want them to feel safe when they see me. I want to be the world's greatest hero and save everyone, just like All Might. I want to make villains think twice, just like my dad." His voice was full of determination and drive.

The woman smiled at him. "That doesn't sound like someone who's born to be a villain."

Izuku smiled. "You and Uraraka both have been… I don't get it. You both listened to me tell you all this terrible stuff and you both just took it in stride and encouraged me. I don't think I deser-"

He was cut off as the pink woman put her finger in front of his mouth. She didn't touch him, but she was very close. He resisted the desire to move his mouth forward as she spoke. "You stop that. We both are encouraging you because we can tell that you're a great guy, Midori. You're a great guy who's got the cards stacked against him. What I'm hearing is that you need some friends in your corner. Who knows about this besides Ochako… and I'm guessing Bakugou?"

"Here at UA? Outside of you three, just All Might, President Nezu, and Recovery Girl. The latter two were here when my dad, uncle, and cousin all went here. My dad told them all about my… issues. Professor Aizawa knows a little, too, but not the whole story. "

"And you're telling me that Ochako and I seem to have the ability to calm you down if your 'issues' get out of hand?"

Izuku nodded hesitantly as his eyes caught her mischievous smirk returning.

"So you're just a big, mean dragon in need of a couple of dragon wranglers, huh?" She was grinning ear-to-ear, her face filled with cruelty, but her eyes filled with kindness.

He felt his blush returning, but also felt his quirk flare.

Mine.

Izuku's face grew hotter as he saw Ashido notice his eyes glowing slightly.

" Oh~, did your quirk like that?" Her eyes narrowed as she teased him, but Izuku noticed the small blush on her face grow slightly.

"I-I-I-"

"Oh, hush, I'm just teasing you." Ashido giggled. They both smiled and looked away from each other for a few seconds as the air in the room grew more serious. She leaned further into the shoulder contact. "Midori… thanks for telling me all that. It means a lot to me that you trust me that much." She blinked and looked up as if she had just realized something. "Wait, why do you trust me that much?"

Izuku stopped. 'This is some serious déjà vu.' He rubbed his head awkwardly. "Uraraka and I had this same conversation yesterday… and I'll tell you what I told her." She looked at him with anticipation. "I, uh, I don't know."

Her expression fell in exasperation. "I already used that line, Midori."

He tried to recover the best he could, waving his hands in front of him. "I-I guess you've just been really nice to me. I feel like we've been friends since you first saw me on Saturday."

"That's cause we have." Ashido didn't leave room for argument.

Izuku laughed awkwardly. "Y-yeah. Right. You've been so honest with me, that I felt like I had to be honest with you…" He hesitated again but decided if he was in for a penny, he was in for a pound. "Besides, my instincts have taken a liking to you. Remember lunch?"

Ashido's eyes lost focus and a dopey grin grew across her face. "Yeah…"

"That was my instincts and I working together. They wanted to protect you, to not let anything happen to you; I agreed. It's much easier to think when your mind isn't split against itself." He rolled his quirk over his fingers, transforming them one after the other.

"So you're saying I have a ferocious green dragon looking out for me now?" She emphasized the word 'ferocious' in a way that made Izuku feel weird. He couldn't exactly put his finger on it, but it wasn't exactly a bad feeling. Like she was implying something… else.

Before he could put more thought into it, she snapped her fingers. "Wait a second! You told me on Monday that you get 'very protective of what's mine'. The thing in the locker room… the thing at lunch today… what you're telling me about Mineta…" She leveled her accusing finger at him once more. "You're very protective of Ochako... and me."

Izuku blinked, his blush faltering behind his burgeoning pride. "You… you're really brilliant, Ashido."

"Flatterer. It wasn't that hard." She crossed her arms but was still smiling at the compliment.

He looked down again. "My instincts have taken a liking to you, as I said. They can be very possessive and very protective. I-I'm sorry if that comes off as creepy, but there's no point lying to you now."

Ashido eyed him suspiciously. "If you think for a second you're going to control me, Midori, then we're going to have a problem."

Izuku eyes went wide with shock. "No! Never! I-it just…" He stopped and thought for a moment, then remembered his conversation from yesterday. "If anything, it-it gives you some power over me, not the other way around. Uraraka figured that out."

The pink woman looked at him suspiciously once more, but for an entirely different reason.

"We already talked about it in fact: my quirk listens to you. Since it likes you, I guess it wants to make sure you want to stay around me. Uraraka said that if my instincts want to keep her around, then they can't k-kill anyone." He laughed awkwardly at how dark that sounded.

"And that worked?"

Izuku nodded. "I didn't have a single incident this morning with Mineta. You can't imagine how big of a relief it is."

They sat in silence for at least a minute. Izuku saw Ashido deep in thought and opted not to interrupt her. Eventually, she looked like she reached a decision and stood up, seeming to regret breaking their shoulder contact. He rose to his feet as well, Ashido looking up at him. "I'll be looking out for you now, Midori, just like you're looking out for me. I think you deserve to be a hero, and if I can help you get there, I'll do whatever I can."

Izuku smiled and felt some tears form in the corners of his eyes again. "T-thank you, Ashido. I… I don't know if I can do it without you and Uraraka. I really do need your help." Her eyes were filled with enough kindness and determination that Izuku's restraint temporarily failed.

He reached forward and threw his arms around the pink girl, bringing her into a tight hug. She seemed startled and even pulled back at first, almost instinctively. After only a moment, she seemed to come back to her senses and melted into his embrace, throwing her own arms around him and pushing herself into him as much as she could.

Izuku's nose was filled with the sweet smell of her hair, and he adored how her arms and body felt pressed up against him. The woman was firm and fit, but soft in all the right places. Without thinking, Izuku ran one of his hands up her spine, feeling her defined muscles, while the other combed through her pink locks, holding her head close.

She seemed to be enjoying herself too; Izuku couldn't help but blush deeper as Ashido buried her face into his chest and squeezed him with all of her might. A soft, high pitched mewling rumbled up from the woman as his hand moved up and down her spine. Izuku nearly stopped breathing as he felt the woman push one of her thighs against his and lean in, putting more of her weight on him.

They stood there for almost half a minute, greatly enjoying each other's company, before Izuku slowly let her go, his face doing it's full-blown broccoli impression. "S-sorry, I couldn't help myself. You don't know how much this means to me."

Ashido seemed hesitant to release him as she squeezed even harder for a few seconds, but eventually loosened her grip and stepped back. She was blushing more furiously than he had ever seen her before as she looked up into his green eyes. The two students stood in silence, staring into each other's eyes with their faces nearly glowing with their unusual blushes. After what felt like nearly an eternity, Ashido finally broke the silence. "It's f-fine, Midori, I'm glad that I could help. I-I should let you get some rest, though." She turned and wasted no time making her way to the door, as if she suddenly had to be someplace very important. "Good night!" She waved and quickly, but quietly, closed his door behind her.

"Good night!" He barely was able to return her farewell before the door closed and he was alone again. Izuku rubbed his hand through his hair and let out a great sigh, releasing tension in his body. He took off his shirt, finally getting ready for his much-needed sleep.

'I know dad said that I hoard people, but those two… they feel different than the others… why? ' He flopped down into his bed and kept thinking until he finally drifted off to sleep.

Mina rubbed her arms as she walked down the hallway outside of Midori's room. Her mind was reeling from everything she had just learned; she had expected something when she broke in, but nothing like this. Honestly, it made a lot of sense; it explained how weird he'd been acting.

She still had a million questions to ask him, but those would come in time. For now, she had something else she needed to do. As Mina walked up the steps to her floor, she couldn't help but think back to the hug they had just shared. 'I can't believe how much I needed that. I feel so much… happier.'

She pushed the thoughts out of her mind as she stopped in front of a door on the fourth floor. Not her room, but room 405. She knocked firmly on the door, hoping the woman inside wasn't asleep.

Mina's night wasn't over yet; Ochako and her needed to talk.

Notes:

See you guys next time. Let me know what you thought about this chapter. :)