15 0015: A conversation or two

The day slowly came to an end and Izuku was about to get ready to clean. Mei and her uncle had already headed off for the evening a little earlier, one talking about her 'babies' and the other describing length funding applications. 

As he went to get some cleaning supplies he realised one booth was still full and looking over he chuckled at the fact Melissa was still around. Going up to her he tapped her on the shoulder.

"Melissa, it's nearly closing time."

"It is?" Her voice was clear in her surprise as she hastily took off the headset not realising how close Izuku was she turned to face his voice.

Startled, he backed away turning a little red as it dawned on him that their faces nearly touched. Looking embarrassed he rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry, I didn't realise I got so close."

Melissa who had been an equally bright shade of red shaked her head.

"No, it's completely fine. You were just trying to remind me it was nearly closing time. Accidents happen all the time." 

Her voice almost broke into a squeak as her heart was racing much faster than even Midoriya's. Growing up although her dad was supportive of her endeavours in support technology and eventually heroism he had been overly protective. Especially regarding boys and the sort so she had even less contact with them than Midoriya. Frankly other than family members Midoriya was the only male friend she even had….

Getting up she set the headset down and grabbed her coat.

"I'll head out Midoriya wouldn't want to keep you from closing the store."

She waved as she glanced to him before walking to the exit.

"See you soon, Mel- wait!" Izuku was a little panicked as he called out to Melissa who turned to face him suddenly as she kept walking only to collide with what felt like a brick wall. 

Following the brick wall was a sudden squeak. Confused, she looked up and saw a man that she had met before. Hisashi Midoriya carried a little girl in his arms with the same stark white hair but she had a horn on her forehead. His face simply had an amused smile to it.

"I'm so sorry for bumping into the both of you." She bowed trying to genuinely express how bad she felt especially since she clearly surprised Eri. 

"It's alright. That's a mistake anyone could make. It's nice to meet you again." He put his hand out to shake hers.

Easing up she smiled, grateful he did not seem upset about the situation. "That's great. I'm so sorry once again and it's nice to meet you." But as she shook his hand that faint glow sparked up as she gripped his hand. Almost as if her quirk was reacting to him.

"Quirk troubles again?" He remarked, seeming amused, while Eri seemed a little mesmerised by the sparks.

Hastily pulling away she nodded. "Yeah… I'm still not perfect with my quirk. Being a strength stockpiler it's been difficult to manage it as a late bloomer."

"A late bloomer always has struggles with their quirks. My little brother was relatively late in manifesting his quirk. I had helped him manage his as it was a strength stockpiler of sorts as well. If you like, I can offer my consulting services." With that he pulled out a sleek black card with the top being the title 'Oracle Foundation of America for Counselling'.

"Wait, you're the Hisashi Midoriya of the O.F.A.C?"

As Izuku came to pick up Eri out of Hisashi's arms he put on his smugest smile. "Well of course I am. I can assure you my consulting services are the best in the business."

"That's actually amazing. I heard it's nearly impossible to get an appointment with you?"

"That's normally true but I suppose I could do a favour for a loyal customer and friend of my son."

"But aren't you also meant to be situated in America?"

"Of course I am, otherwise the title of the group would not make sense. But recently I am taking a hiatus from work to be with my family."

"Then doesn't that mean I'd be taking up time you could spend with your family?"

"Of course not, I do have some idle time between my son working and my wife as well. So normally I'm just spending time with Eri. She's handling her own stockpiler, isn't that right little one?" He then booped Eri's nose as Izuku held her and she let out a giggle.

"Well if that's the case, I'll talk with my uncle and my mentor about it. They are currently giving me advice since they've had experience handling a quirk similar to mine."

His face seemed to almost turn into a mask as he let out a mused hum. "Is that so?"

"Yeah." Her phone suddenly rang and she quickly took the card. "That's my uncle, he must be outside."

"Ah then you best be off." He stepped to the side to let her pass him.

As she got to the door she looked to Izuku. "By the way, Izuku, remember you promised to message me to confirm your number and what we agreed to on Wednesday." And once she had left Izuku flustered. She hurried out to meet her uncle who was waiting to pick her up. 

Once the car she got into had long since passed Hisashi stood there with the biggest grin as he looked towards his son. 

"My dear boy, what could be happening this Wednesday? A lass like her had to remind you?"

Izuku looked a little sheepish as he held an equally curious Eri. Due to their immense amount of free time Eri and Hisashi had been watching a rather large amount of rom-coms and sit-coms to amuse the small child. So even she could imagine what was happening when a boy was making promises with a girl.

"Dad it isn't like that. She just wants to hang out as friends, that's all."

At this point Hisashi recalled how much Melissa blushed in front of Izuku and how they seemed to be glancing back and forth even as he was talking to her. With the pain of realising his son inherited his least desirable trait besides a mild case of megalomania he put his hands on his son's shoulders. Internally cursing the fact he knew well enough he could not insist anything to this dense brick otherwise he would shelve it as denial.

"Izuku, I'm sorry for the hardships that being my son will bring."

Even Eri sighed and looked to her father and back to her brother. 

"Hmph, Bush-nee is dumb."

Izuku looked shocked to be insulted by his little sister. "Eri, what are you talking about?"

"It's true." She had this silly little pout that helped him get over his shock even if it was just because he could not stop himself laughing.

"Son, why don't you close the shop and I'll order some takeout. Your mother is having a Girls' night with your Aunt Mitsuki and some work friends. I think she mentioned someone called Ashido and Ojiro. So I decided to bring Eri to visit you and we could enjoy a movie night."

Izuku nodded as he cleaned up the store and locked the door. "What film are we watching?"

Eri giggled in Hisashi's arms now and squeaked out "Five Nights at Freddy's!"

That threw Izuku through a loop as he froze and turned to Eri. "Wait, I don't think a kid should be watching that."

"It's fine Izuku, besides I managed to access those old internet servers I stole from YouTube before the Quirk Wars really kicked off. Had plenty of video game footage to show her and also turns out I had it on Blu-Ray. I forgot they even bothered to release it. That's besides the point. All six of them actually. Thankfully consoles haven't made any major advancements in Blu-Ray so I'll set up my old PS5 and we can use that."

"Dad, where are you getting these things?"

"The Vault." He said it so calmly that Izuku wasn't sure if he was being funny or not.

"I'm going to just finish sweeping. I'll be okay with whatever you order for takeout."

With the good to go Hisashi took Eri upstairs to set up the PS5 while Izuku made sure his store was clean.