15

"Huurgh….hurrgh…hate you…hurk…hate you so much."

Midoriya watched Jirou alternate between cursing him out and vomiting into the trash bag he brought with an All Might-level smile on his face. When she arrived at Dagoba beach, Midoriya told her that they would finish their conversation after doing a light workout. Jirou was unnerved by the glint in Midoriya's eye when he said that, but since she had already come all this way, agreed. She figured that whatever Midoriya had planned, it couldn't be too crazy since the festival was the next day.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

Since his control over One for All was more-or-less directly proportional to his physical fitness, Midoriya's workouts had already been difficult. Once he learned that One for All continued to grow across the resets—and carried a risk of outpacing his body's ability to contain it—the intensity of his workouts had gone from difficult to skirting the edge of detrimental. The muscle pain and soreness from his new training regimen was severe enough that daily appointments with Recovery Girl were necessary to make him fit enough to attend regular training.

When the aged hero objected to abusing her healing powers as a training aid, Midoriya didn't hesitate to bring in the big guns. With All Might's backing, he informed Recovery Girl that One for All was growing faster than anticipated, and she could either cooperate and fix his overworked muscles, or they would see if her quirk could regenerate an exploded limb. And so, with the combination of his insane exercise menu, six meals (and two protein shakes) a day, and Recovery Girl's grudging assistance in supercharging his recovery time, Midoriya packed on nearly 3 kilos of lean muscle in the two weeks since the USJ.

"Come on Jirou!" Midoriya urged her in a sing-song tone, doing push-ups at a blistering pace while he waited, fully aware that he was taking unwholesome amount of glee in watching her suffer. "We still have three more sets of sprints before we're done!"

"Huuughh…d-do it yourself…hugh…you curly-headed shit."

Midoriya snorted at the unexpected vulgarity from his victim/training partner. "That's not very nice," he said mildly, unable to keep his amusement from creeping into his tone.

After a few final dry heaves, Jirou dropped the trash bag and rolled onto her back. "Neither is lying," she moaned, "in what world is this is a 'light workout', Midoriya? Not even the training at school is this tough!"

Jirou was seeing spots, and her limbs were trembling from being overworked. She felt absolutely disgusting—her shorts and Deep Funk tank top were completely soaked through with sweat. As if that weren't bad enough, sand clung to her sweaty skin like a grimy coat, covering every inch of her body in the irritating substance.

Still grinning widely, Midoriya fetched a water bottle from his bag and handed it to Jirou. "Here, use this to get that taste out of your mouth." He watched as she swished and spat before drinking greedily. "I wasn't lying, by the way, I normally do three times this workload every day before school."

"…Holy shit, you're telling the truth." Jirou sat up with a pained grunt. "Are you insane? How the hell do you function?"

Midoriya shrugged and extended his hand to Jirou. "I do what I have to. Now get up, I had a few more exercises for us, but you've been a trooper, so we'll call it for a day after a cooldown and some stretches."

"Really?" Jirou groaned, accepting the help back to her feet, "Thank god."

"We'll be doing Tai Chi as our cooldown," Midoriya informed. "As you move, I want you to focus primarily on slow, even breathing, and maintaining constant awareness of your center of gravity."

"Tai Chi?" Jirou said incredulously. "You're having us do Tai Chi? What are you, a middle-aged housewife?"

"If you like," he said, "we could always do those extra sets of suicide sprints I had planned, and maybe add some bear crawls to round it off."

"No!" Jirou quickly shook her head while she brushed the sand off of her body the best she could. "Tai Chi sounds great! Yay Tai Chi!"

"I'm so glad you approve," Midoriya replied, pulling off his soaked sweatshirt and tossing it into his bag.

"Hey," Jirou snarked, looking up from her attempts to get the grime off, "sarcasm is my thin—whoa." Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open slightly at the sight of a shirtless Midoriya, whose training regimen had definitely done his physique good. 'Holy crap, I could grate cheese on those abs. How does someone so baby-faced have a body like that?'

"What's wrong?" He asked her, "Do you need to throw up again?"

'No no no no, come on Kyoka, this is Midoriya we're talking about here. But he's so…no! No way, don't even think about it! Remember how scary he was!'

Jirou forced herself to remember Midoriya slamming the wall near her head. She vividly pictured his glowing green eyes boring into her as he leaned in so close that their noses were practically touching, close enough that she could count every freckle on his boyish face if she wanted to, and…

'Damn it, I'm making it worse.'

"Jirou?"

"I'm fine!" Jirou snapped, grateful that her flushing face could easily be explained by the heat and the intense exercise she just did. "Why is your shirt off?"

"Because it's hot, and we're at the beach."

"You don't see me taking my top off!"

"You could have if you'd brought a swimsuit top," Midoriya said, "you knew we were going to be at the beach, so you have no one to blame but yourself."

"You're a dick," Jirou grumbled.

"Noted," Midoriya calmly replied. "Now get ready to follow my movements, I'm going to start now."

Still grumbling, Jirou dutifully lined up and began to follow her classmate's motions the best she could. "So," she said, "how long have you been coming to this beach? I read online that it was basically a junkyard until recently." 

"Focus," Midoriya raised one foot and smoothly extended it before pivoting on his heel, "we can chat later, but you aren't good enough to hold a conversation while doing this yet."

"Oh, come on," Jirou breathlessly argued, "it's not like this is that har—whoa!" Caught up in her response, Jirou lost her balance mid-move and fell on her butt.

"See?" Midoriya continued to transition smoothly through the motions, each move connecting seamlessly with the last. "This is about developing overall balance and general muscle control. We can talk afterwards, for now, just focus. Regain control of your breath, focus on maintaining a positive emotional state."

"Positive emotional state, my ass." Jirou grumbled as she shakily pulled herself to her feet and brushed the sand off her butt. "I don't even know why I'm still listening to you anyways."

"Because you feel guilty about eavesdropping and scaring the life out of me," Midoriya evenly responded. "Now focus. The only sound I want to hear for the next ten minutes is the ocean."

As she followed along with Midoriya's slow, flowing movements under the afternoon sun, Jirou had to admit—old lady exercise aside—Tai Chi was extremely relaxing. Her slow, controlled breathing, the sound of the waves crashing on the glittering shoreline, and her focused awareness of each deliberate movement completely flushed her annoying hormonal reaction to Midoriya's—admittedly impressive—shirtless torso out of her system. Despite her exhaustion, Jirou was so lost in the sense of peace rushing over her that she was almost disappointed when Midoriya announced that they were done—not that it stopped her from collapsing into a boneless heap immediately afterwards.

"Good work today," Midoriya praised her, wiping off his sweat with a towel. "I'm legitimately impressed. I thought that you'd give up partway through."

Jirou scoffed with all the dignity she could muster while lying on the ground and covered in sand. "Please. I'm not a quitter."

Midoriya pulled out a fresh shirt from his bag and put it on before nodding. "I can see that."

"I probably should have quit though," Jirou moaned. "God, I feel like a complete wreck. I don't even want to know what I look like either."

Midoriya let out a small hum as he assessed Jirou's condition. Her hair was in complete in complete disarray, plastered to her head with sweat and full of sand. The same went for her clothes, which were completely soaked through and similarly grimy. "Yeah," he agreed cheerfully, "you look like hell."

Jirou flushed, "I just said I don't want to know what I look like."

Midoriya smiled faintly, "I heard what you said."

Jirou snorted with laughter despite herself. "You're a dick."

Midoriya shrugged and helped her to her feet. "Did you take the train to get here?"

"Yeah."

"I figured," Midoriya said pulling out a spare towel he brought. "Get as much of the sand off as you can and use this. You can shower and borrow a change of clothes at my place. I normally run back, but I'll call us a ride."

"Thanks," Jirou said with genuine gratitude, "a shower and change of clothes would be fantastic. I can't even imagine the kind of looks I'd get if I boarded the train in this condition." She frowned, "But you don't have to call a ride, how far is it to your place?"

"About 5 kilometers."

Jirou blanched. There was no way in hell she'd be able to run that far in her condition, and she didn't want to spend the next hour walking in these disgusting clothes. "Okay, yeah…call the ride. I'll pay."

"It's no big deal," Midoriya assured her as he pulled up the ride sharing app on his phone. "At this distance, it'd only be about ¥800, give or take."

"That's still ¥800 that you wouldn't be spending if it weren't for me," Jirou insisted as she toweled off. "I've got this."

"I don't mind," Midoriya said, oblivious to Jirou's discomfort. "I don't ever really buy much, and I get a decent allowance. Besides, my info's already in the app."

"Just let me pay for the fucking car, Midoriya," Jirou snapped, digging a ¥1000 note out of her bag and shoving it into Midoriya's hand. "I already feel bad enough about this whole thing, I don't want to be indebted to you too!"

Midoriya blinked. "Um…okay then. I guess that settles that."

XXX

HEROES NEVER DIE

XXX

Midoriya warned Jirou on their way over, but she was still caught off guard by the deluge of tears which greeted her at the door of his apartment.

"I can't believe my little Izuku found himself a girlfriend without telling me!" Inko continued to cry even as she invited the two inside.

"She's not my girlfriend," Midoriya calmly explained. "She's the classmate I told you about, the one who happened to overhear my talk with All Might."

As abruptly as they started, the tears shut off. "Oh," Inko flushed, "now I feel a bit silly for making a fuss. But why didn't you tell me that your mystery classmate was such a cute girl?"

'Cute?' Jirou glanced over at small mirror that had been set up near the entrance, 'Seriously?'

Jirou didn't harbor any illusions of ever competing with the likes of Yaoyorozu or Uraraka in terms of looks, but she still considered herself above average. However, cute was the last word she would have used to describe disheveled, dirty mess reflected in the mirror. Midoriya had not been kidding when he said that she looked like hell.

"Uh…thank you for having me over, Mrs. Midoriya." Jirou thanked her host with a bow, "Mido—I mean, Izuku said that I could use your bathroom?"

"Oh yes!" Inko smiled kindly, "Izuku texted ahead, so I ran a bath while you were on your way over."

"Oh…um, okay. Running a bath wasn't necessary though," Jirou said, "I would have been fine with just a shower."

"Nonsense!" Inko insisted, "If Izuku put you through one of his crazy workouts, you'll need a nice soak to recover properly. While you're getting cleaned up, I'll bring you some of my old clothes."

Though she appreciated the sentiment, Jirou eyed the rotund woman doubtfully. 'I can't say anything since she's being so nice, but there's no way any of her clothes would fit me.'

As if she could read Jirou's thoughts, Inko patted her stomach with an embarrassed chuckle, "I know I look like this, but don't worry dear. Believe it or not, I actually used to be about your size. Unfortunately, my bad habit of stress eating finally caught up with me."

As she relaxed in the bath, Jirou reflected on the enormous difference between the personality of mother and son. She was like a cloudless sky, warm and open, hiding nothing—her every word, her every gesture saturated with such intense, genuine, and transparent emotion that Jirou felt like she understood Inko better than her son within minutes of meeting her. In contrast, Izuku reminded Jirou of a dam—a featureless, smooth construct designed to hold back an enormous reservoir of feeling. The day he confronted her, Jirou witnessed a crack in his facade, and caught a glimpse of the emotions hidden behind his polite, calm mannerisms and his serene smile.

Given what she knew about his quirk, she couldn't blame him. She doubted that she'd be able to handle his situation with as much maturity and grace, but she couldn't help her unsettling feeling that if the dam ever crumbled completely, whoever and whatever stood in his path would be swept away in the resulting flood.

'That's why you can't afford to think about him like that,' Jirou told herself, 'it doesn't matter how smart he is, how heroic and selfless he is. It doesn't matter if he has All Might's quirk, or that he looks amazing without a shirt.' Jirou flushed at the memory. 'Because at the end of the day, I don't know anything about him…and I doubt that he'd ever let me. He's so tightly wound up, I don't know if he's even capable of being emotionally vulnerable. Even if he isn't dangerous, he's just too…too complicated.'

"He's too complicated," Jirou repeated out loud, her voice echoing strangely in the small, tiled space. After putting her thoughts into words, Jirou was struck by a sudden sense of relief from the discomfort caused by her bout of attraction. She decided then and there to restrict her dating options to people with less baggage.

Jirou twitched at a sudden knock on the door and Inko appeared, sliding the entrance to the bathroom open a crack. "I'm leaving the change of clothes in the basket by the door, dear. And I hope you don't mind, but I threw your dirty things in the wash."

Jirou did mind a little, but there was no way she could say that now that it was already done. "Thank you, Mrs. Midoriya, but you really shouldn't have gone to the trouble."

"It was no trouble at all!" Inko assured her. "I was about to start a load of my own when you arrived anyways, so I just threw it in with my things. No point in wasting the water, right?"

"…Right," Jirou replied, feeling overwhelmed by Inko's aggressive hospitality.

"Feel free to take your time soaking the soreness away, but I'm going to start making lunch, so keep that in mind. Do you like katsudon?"

'And now she's feeding me,' Jirou thought. "I appreciate it, but that's really not—"

"It would be my pleasure," Inko interrupted. She withdrew her head from the crack in the door and checked around for her son in a hilariously unsubtle manner. "To be perfectly honest," Inko said in a low voice, "Izuku hasn't had a friend over here since his quirk came in, and he tends to sugarcoat everything since he doesn't want to worry me…"

Jirou quirked an eyebrow. "Are you bribing me with food to be your informant?" Inko's face went beet red at being called out and Jirou let out a soft chuckle. "Well, I am pretty hungry, I guess. Katsudon would be great, thanks."

Inko's face lit up. "Wonderful! Lunch will be ready in about half an hour."

"Okay, thanks again."

XXX

HEROES NEVER DIE

XXX

After a bath and a fresh set of clothes—which true to Inko's word fit almost perfectly, if a little roomy in the chest—Jirou felt immeasurably better than she did when she first stepped through the door.

"Bath's ready for you." Jirou informed Midoriya, who was sitting in the living room and drinking a protein shake while he muttered and scribbled in one of his notebooks.

"Mmhmm," Midoriya hummed, not looking up from his work. He took a moment to write a few more notes before rising to his feet and properly acknowledge his guest. "You're looking better," he remarked, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "my mom's old clothes suit you."

Jirou narrowed her eyes at the amused undertone in his voice. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Midoriya said, "it's just a little funny that you went from complaining about Tai Chi being for 'middle-aged housewives' to happily wearing a middle-aged housewife's clothing within an hour."

Jirou rolled her eyes. "You're a dick," she said without any heat.

"So you've said, repeatedly and at varying levels of volume all throughout the day," Midoriya replied.

"And you stink."

Midoriya sniffed his armpit and made a face. "Okay, that one is definitely true. I'm going to the bath now."

"Thanks for the update," Jirou snarked, "I don't know if I could have ever put that together if you hadn't told me."

"You're welcome, Jirou," Midoriya replied with a pleasant smile, "as class rep, I consider it my duty to help my slower classmates with hard to understand concepts. Do me a favor and try not to choke on any small objects while I'm gone, okay?"

As Midoriya left to go to the bathroom, Jirou stood frozen in place, slack jawed from his straight-faced, but brutal response. "Did I just get out-sassed by Midoriya?"

Jirou twitched at the soft sound of laughter coming from another room. Inko walked in with a steaming cup of tea in her hands and genuinely happy smile on her round face. "That means he likes you, you know,"

Jirou snorted. "What? I doubt that. He looked like he was having the time of his life watching me struggle during that workout."

Inko shook her head and handed Jirou the tea. "Can we talk?"

Jirou accepted the drink with thanks and nodded. "Sure."

Inko led her into the kitchen and down at the table, where she had her own cup of tea. "You know everything, right? About Izuku and All Might?"

"Pretty much," Jirou replied, sliding into a chair. "I know about his original quirk and I know that he somehow has All Might's quirk too." Jirou stared down at the table bashfully. "I don't know if Mid—Izuku told you, but I didn't just 'happen to overhear' his conversation with All Might…I listened in, using my quirk. I'm sorry."

"I'm glad," Inko replied.

Jirou blinked. "…You are? Even though I invaded your son's privacy?"

Inko sighed and stared into space for a few seconds. "What do you think of Izuku? Be honest, I won't be offended."

"Well, he's clearly really smart and talented," Jirou said, unsure of what Inko wanted to hear. "He got number one in the entrance exams and he made beating one of the strongest kids in the country look easy."

"Not like that," Inko clarified, "I mean, what's your impression of him, as a person."

Jirou furrowed her brow and thought for several seconds. "I don't know," she finally replied, "other than when he got angry with me, he's been so quiet and calm, always in perfect control of himself. Now that I know about…you know…everything I thought I knew about him has been thrown into question…I just don't know."

"Izuku tries so hard to pretend that nothing is ever wrong. It's like he can't stand the thought of looking sad, lonely, or afraid…and I think it's at least partially my fault." As Inko spoke, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. "I'll admit, when his quirk manifested, when he told me what was happening to him…I didn't have the best reaction. I didn't believe it…I didn't want to believe it. I dragged him from specialist to specialist in a desperate hope that what he was telling me weren't true. I told him that he was wrong, that the things he was saying were wrong and that he shouldn't make up such horrible stories. All I could think was 'what if it's my fault? What if the pieces that made his quirk work like that came from me?'"

Unable to come up with any response to this outpouring of information, Jirou merely nodded. She was beginning to suspect that Inko wanted a confidant more than anything. 'I wonder if she's ever been able to talk about this with anyone, has she just been waiting for someone to be in the know that she can talk to?'

"From his perspective, it must have been a terrible betrayal," Inko continued. "Can you imagine? He was just a little boy, trapped in a cycle of death, and nobody would believe him. Nobody would help him, nobody could help him, not even his mother."

"It's pretty hard to believe," Jirou said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "I wouldn't blame yourself."

"How can I not?" Inko replied. "He tried to tell me what was going on and I only made it about myself…I didn't believe him and I didn't do a thing to help him when he needed it most." She let out a loud sniff and dabbed at her eyes. "You said that you saw Izuku angry, when he confronted you?"

Jirou nodded. "He calmed down pretty quickly, but he was really scary for a second there—it was like he was a completely different person."

"You have no idea," Inko said, "Izuku…he was always so angry as a child. Just one look at him and you could tell that he hated everything…he hated school, he hated his classmates, he hated his teachers, he even hated me. Then seemingly out of the blue, he just…changed, like he grew up overnight. Now he comes home and when I ask him how his day was, he just looks at me with that little smile of his and I have no idea if he's lying to my face."

"Mrs. Midoriya," Jirou finally interjected, "what is it you want from me? I'm sorry things have been hard for you, but I…I honestly don't know Izuku all that well."

Inko flushed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dump all of this on you so suddenly…I just…Izuku needs someone to confide in, and…and it can't be me. But you…I haven't ever seen him act like that around anybody."

"You mean like a low-key asshole?" Jirou automatically snarked before flushing. "Crap…I mean…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply…" She trailed off when Inko broke into a fit of giggles.

"No," Inko laughed, "that about sums it up. Izuku has always kept people at arm's length. When he was younger, he did it with his anger, and now he does it with his politeness and aloof attitude. But now he finally has someone he doesn't have to lie to," Inko smiled, "I think he's being genuine with you."

"Hey mom, I just got the text, he should be here in a few minutes." The two women startled at the sudden appearance of a freshly cleaned Midoriya. He looked back and forth at the guilty expressions on their faces. "What's going on?"

Jirou and Inko shared a look, each wondering what to say when Inko promptly decided to throw Jirou under the bus.

"…Oh, look at the time!" Inko cried, "The rice is almost done, I better get started on the fixings now! Shoo, you two! Go wait in the living room, I'll call you in when I'm done."

"Well that wasn't suspicious at all," Midoriya muttered as they walked out of the kitchen. Jirou slugged him in the arm. "What the heck was that for?" he protested.

"Oh, shut up. I know that didn't hurt you." Deciding that honesty was the best policy, Jirou scowled at Midoriya. "That was for constantly lying to your mom and making her feel like she had to dump all of her concerns on me."

"…What?" Midoriya said.

"Have you ever talked to her about how she feels about your situation?" Jirou demanded.

"Repeatedly," Midoriya stiffly replied.

"Really," Jirou caustically shot back, "because it seems to me that your idea of talking about it is telling her that nothing's wrong when you both know it's not the case. She just wants to help and you brushing her off is hurting her."

Midoriya's smile slipped and he schooled his face into a neutral expression. "I'm sorry that my mom dragged you into our personal issues, but tread carefully. I don't know what she said to you, but my relationship with my mom is none of your business." As he spoke, his tone and phrasing grew colder and more formal. "Do not assume that being privy to a few of my secrets means I am fine with you knowing every detail of my life. I have not interrogated you about your daddy issues, so I'd appreciate it if you would kindly extend the same courtesy unto me."

Jirou flinched and bit back her first few replies. "Fine," she forced out, "you said that you wanted to set a few ground rules for our…situation."

Before Midoriya could respond, there was a knock at the door and he quickly rose to his feet. "Oh, perfect timing. He's here."

"Who's here?" Jirou asked.

Midoriya paused on his way to the door. "All Might."

Jirou blinked. "…What?"

XXX

HEROES NEVER DIE

XXX

The atmosphere in the room was tense as Inko, Izuku, Jirou, and All Might—in his true form—ate their lunch in silence. Jirou had been horrified to see him in such a state and was still in shock.

After several minutes of this heavy silence, All Might cleared his throat and pushed his half-eaten bowl forward. "Ahem, this katsudon was very delicious Mrs. Midoriya. I truly wish I could finish it, but…" he touched his side, "I can't eat very much in one sitting."

"Oh," Inko flushed, mortified that she had put him in such a position, "I'm so sorry, I wish I had known."

"No," All Might shook his head, "the fault lies with me. I should have informed you when I first accepted the invitation."

"Okay," Jirou dropped her head into her hands, "I've held it in for as long as I can, but this is just too weird. Why does All Might look like that? How does he not always look like that? Is that part of his quirk? Why doesn't Midoriya look like that then?"

"I'm sure that this is very confusing for you young lady," All Might began.

"All Might," Midoriya interjected, "let me explain." He turned to Jirou. "You know how people will suck in their stomach and flex at the pool?"

Jirou stared at Midoriya uncomprehendingly. "…Yes?"

Midoriya smirked. "It's like that."

"Exactly," All Might nodded, "that's how it is."

"Ooooh," Jirou said in an exaggerated tone, "Oh, I see, it all makes perfect sense now!"

"Really?" Inko asked.

"No!" Jirou practically shouted, "Because that's totally stupid!"

Midoriya had to disguise a laugh as a cough and All Might sighed. "It is what it is, young Jirou. Let's move past that for now. I can't say that I was pleased to learn that you had listened in on my conversation with young Midoriya." Jirou flushed. "And I was even less pleased at your idea of a joke, but I'm willing to move past this, and explain some details, provided you swear not to reveal what you know to anyone."

"I promise," Jirou instantly replied.

"Not so fast," All Might held up a massive hand, "I'm not sure that you understand the magnitude of the knowledge you now hold. The truth of this shrunken form will come to light eventually, but my quirk—or rather, my former quirk—One for All…it must remain a secret no matter what the cost. One for All cannot be stolen, it can only be willingly given, but if word ever got out that such a power could be transferred from person to person…"

"Bad people would come after me." Midoriya filled in the rest. "They would come after my mother, they would come after you, your family, my elementary teacher, the guy who sells croquettes down the street…anyone and everyone I've ever come into contact with will become a target. They would hunt them down and hurt them until I gave them what they want…and once I did, they would kill all of us."

"Izuku…" Inko reached over to grab her son's hand.

"Not now, mom." Midoriya shook off his mother's hand. "I've been putting this conversation off for the last couple of days, and I need to say my piece." His eyes began to glow. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear. One for All may very well be the most powerful quirk in the world. The danger that it poses if it fell into the wrong hands is so severe that no matter what a bad actor may threaten me with, no matter who they threaten me with, I will never give them what they want. Do you understand what I'm saying, Jirou?"

Dumbstruck, Jirou nodded.

"No, don't just nod, I want to hear you say it."

"Young Midoriya," All Might said, "You've made your point, I believe you're going a bit far."

"No, All Might," Midoriya didn't take his eyes off Jirou. "I'm not. You gave me the quirk equivalent of a nuclear bomb. I need her to understand exactly what is at stake here."

Jirou shivered. Midoriya's heart beat had completely steady as he spoke—he meant every word. "What you're saying is that when weighed against the lives of everybody you know, One for All comes first."

"Yes." The glow faded from Midoriya's eyes and he visibly relaxed. "I'm sorry for coming at you like that, but I've been holding that in for a while."

"Do you have any questions?" All Might asked her gently, "For me or young Midoriya?"

Jirou asked the first thing that came to her mind. "Why him?" She glanced at Midoriya, "I know he's a pretty good choice after seeing him in action, but he doesn't really stand out…no offense."

"Some taken," Midoriya said.

"You're exactly right, young lady," All Might replied. "But I was fortunate enough to see him in action…do you remember the sludge villain incident about a year ago?"

"Yeah," Jirou nodded, "it was a huge deal."

"In a strange twist of fate, I happened to meet him under a nearby bridge…"

XXX

HEROES NEVER DIE

XXX

By the time they finished talking, the sun had dipped below the horizon and lunch had turned into dinner. Shortly after All Might had made his farewells and headed home, Midoriya and Inko shared a conflicted look. Completely exhausted from her brutal workout, the delicious—but relatively heavy—food, and hours of mind-blowing discussions and revelations, Jirou had fallen asleep at the table. Her mouth hung open and a small line of drool ran down her chin.

"Should we wake her?" Midoriya asked Inko.

"Well we certainly can't let her sleep at the table!" Inko said, "Don't you have your festival tomorrow?"

"Hey, Jirou," Midoriya grabbed her shoulder and began to shake her lightly, "wake up. You need to go home." Jirou didn't respond, so he began to shake her harder. "Jirou. Jirou! Yeah, she isn't waking up."

"She's completely out of it," Inko murmured. "Poor girl must have been completely exhausted."

"Hold on, I have an idea." Midoriya went into his room and pulled out the first aid kit he kept in his bag. He dug through the small red case until he found what he was looking for and returned to the kitchen.

"What is that?" Inko asked, eyeing the small capsule in her son's hand.

"Smelling salts," Midoriya replied. "I guarantee that this will work."

Inko sighed, "Izuku, don't use smelling salts on your friend just because she's tired, what's wrong with you? She's not going anywhere tonight. We'll give her your bed, I'll go pull out the futon."

Midoriya groaned. "Great."

"None of that," Inko scolded him, "this wouldn't be happening if you hadn't worked her so hard earlier. Carry her to your room, I'll change her into some of my old pajamas after I'm done setting up the futon."

Midoriya let out an annoyed sigh and nodded. "Come on," he grunted and picked Jirou up in a bridal carry, "let's get you to bed."

XXX

HEROES NEVER DIE

XXX

The first thing Jirou noticed when she woke up was that she was sore all over. The second thing she noticed was that the room she was in was completely pitch dark. Since her bedroom window faced east, she normally woke with the rising sun—and even on the rare occasions that she was up before the sun, the ambient light from the streetlights ensured that she could always see well enough to do what she needed to do to get ready.

"What the heck?" Jirou muttered, "Where am I?"

"Morning is here! Morning is here! Morning is here! Morning is—"

"Oh my god shut up!" Startled by the sudden burst of noise, Jirou blindly swiped in the direction of the sound and fumbled for a few moments before she managed to shut off the alarm, only to let out a pained cry when the lights suddenly clicked on and seared her unprepared eyes. "Fuck!"

Jirou lay back down and squeezed her eyes shut, slowly relaxing as her eyes gradually adapted to the new light level. When she finally opened them, she was greeted by the sight of All Might staring down at her from the ceiling. She looked around the strange room and saw that every surface not lined with books was similarly covered in All Might memorabilia.

'This must be Midoriya's room,' she realized. 'I know he said he wanted to be the next All Might and everything, but this is kinda creepy.' A knock on the door made her jump. "Hello?"

"Can I come in?" Midoriya's voice rang out from the other side of the door.

"Uh…" Jirou looked down to make sure she was decent, and realized that she wasn't wearing the same clothes that she had been wearing the last time she had been awake. "Yeah, come on in."

"Good morning," Midoriya greeted Jirou, "how'd you sleep?"

"…Fine," Jirou replied, "quick question: who changed me into pajamas?"

"My mom, obviously," Midoriya replied with an amused smile. "What, were you worried that I did it?"

Jirou flushed, "Obviously I didn't know, which is why I asked, you dick. Another question: why am I even here?"

Midoriya shrugged, "You fell asleep at the kitchen table and we couldn't wake you up, so we let your parents know that you'd be staying the night."

Jirou raised an eyebrow. "While that saves me a lot of explaining, I feel compelled to ask how you did that—my parents' number isn't publicly listed."

"I put your thumb on the fingerprint scanner and broke into your phone," Midoriya informed her in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You did what?" Jirou asked, outraged at the blatant invasion of privacy.

"Calm down," Midoriya waved off her concerns, "I didn't do anything other than go straight to your contacts. You can ask my mom if you don't believe me, I did it right in front of her." Without waiting for her to respond, he set a pile of clothes in front of her. "Anyways, your clothes are dry now, so you can wear them on your way home. You had better get moving, the sports festival is today, and you don't want to be late."

"Crap, you're right!" Jirou's eyes widened and she immediately climbed out of bed with a pained gasp. "Dammit, I'm so sore! Why did you make me do all that yesterday!"

Midoriya smiled wickedly. "Technically, I didn't make you do anything. That's on you."

Jirou growled, "I hate you."

"Noted," Midoriya evenly replied. "Go and pay Recovery Girl a visit when you get to school. That'll take care of the muscle pains. Take this," he handed her a gel packet, "after you get your treatment—ideally within about twenty minutes of the event. It's loaded with B-Vitamins and other stimulants that will offset the fatigue. You'll crash hard when it wears off, but you should be good for the duration of the festival."

Jirou blinked. "Um."

"Also, make sure that you drink plenty of water, it's a diuretic, so you'll get dehydrated quick unless you take countermeasures."

Jirou glanced at the clock and shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, okay, got it."

"Oh, and make sure and do some dynamic stretches after getting treated. Recovery Girl's quirk will heal the microtears in your muscle fibers, but you'll still be stiff. Also—"

"Midoriya," Jirou said, cutting him off, "I know the basics of taking care of myself. So unless you're hoping for a show, shut up and get out so I can change."

"Oh," Midoriya flushed, "…right…leaving now. Um, breakfast is on the table, if you want some."

Jirou shook her head. "You do that…and Midoriya?"

Midoriya paused on his way out of the room. "Yeah?"

Jirou smiled. "Thanks."

AN: Surprise. I know, I know, I said that I'd put out another chapter of my other story first, but I couldn't get my mind off this thought thread and had to get it out. Anyways, enjoy. Let me know what you think, and as always, Plus Ultra.