It's Not That Easy

So author's note, I received a review on FF.net about the named characters outside of MHA making this countable as a crossover and that if I wanted to keep this out of the crossover section they had to be changed to fit MHA.

I wasn't planning on taking any characters from other stories and just pasting them into this one, every character will be changed to fit MHA's world, which includes general changes to their background and powers since some characters will have multiple powers in the original that wouldn't really mesh well enough together to be able to make one quirk out of it, in which case I will pick a single power or a set of powers and make that their quirk.

I do not consider this a crossover since none of the characters have any knowledge, memories, or experiences from their world; all of their lives were spent in the world of MHA in this story.

In the end if they forcibly move it there's nothing I can do but that's my take on the matter. As to the person who gave me this friendly advice, thank you very much for the reminder :)

It was something I hadn't given much thought before, and I should've addressed it in my first chapter to avoid any confusion with regards to FF.net, if you're still reading this I hope you enjoy what I have in store.

Oh also if anyone knows how to do pictures in Ao3 I'd appreciate a quick tutorial since I have a book cover for this story and Ao3 doesn't have book covers. I was planning on just putting it in the first chapter towards the top but I don't know how... And I can't figure it out so, if someone could help me out I'd greatly appreciate it.

Oh and I made a lot of grammatical errors in my previous chapter and a few really small changes here and there so those are fixed and I shouldn't be having any grammatical errors moving forward. :)

Anyway, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Izuku felt strange as he walked beside Mawata. He felt... light, he didn't know how else to describe it. It felt like all his pent up guilt and regret just faded away. It somehow felt like they were the only two people in the world, it was something he had experienced before, but this time it felt... off, or different(?) maybe just different. Either way, he welcomed this familiar yet strange feeling.

"So where do ya wanna go? I don't really know where anything is in this town." He looked at her in slight surprise. "What, like now?" She nodded in excitement.

"Yeah now, I wanna see all the cool places in town. I still don't know where anything is."

"I don't get out much so I don't really know where everything is." He found her looking at him with a stare of suspicion, he felt himself falter slightly in his attempt to return to his go home and take a nap club activities. "I don't have any money to go anywhere though."

Her lips slowly turn up into a sly grin as she brings up a debit card. "Hehehe. My dad gives me a rather generous allowance. And since you're my friend, and you're showing me around I may just be nice enough to get ya somethin." As she continued to stare at him with a shit eating grin, he couldn't help but give in to her.

He let out an over exaggerated huff as he turned the corner leading outside the school. "All right come on, I only know where the mall is so I hope you're fine with a crappy movie theater and the smallest arcade in the world."

Mawata followed alongside him, fidgeting and squirming excitedly as they made their way through the unfamiliar town. She found it so exciting to see all the stores and restaurants as they walked past, making note of the ones that sparked her interest.

As they entered the mall Izuku noticed that it had grown much larger in the years since he'd been there, there were quite a few stores he didn't recognize, though he never took particular interest in shopping to begin with. "So where do you wanna go first?" Mawata asked him with curiosity in her voice.

He found himself slowing to a stop as they came up to a map of the mall. He began looking around at the stores and restaurants on the map, as he looked up to make sure of the direction he needed to go he noticed another group of kids walking towards the arcade, one of which had a head of familiar ashy blonde spiked hair.

He grabbed Mawata by the wrist and made a b-line for the movie theater. As they came up to the line for movie tickets he turned to see Mawata staring down at their hands, a blush dusting her cheeks. After taking a few seconds to process exactly what he just did and is in fact still doing, he quickly removes his hand and turns to look away from his friend.

After a moment of idly fiddling with his hands as he stewed in his embarrassment, he took a look at the movies they were showing. The adventures of All Might and Nighteye, How to be a Rockstar, Fast and Furious: Route 69, and Shrek 7.

He turned to Mawata to see that she was mostly back to her normal excited self. "So what do ya wanna watch?" She met him with a curious look at the question.

"I thought you had a movie in mind since you seemed so excited to come here, and why are there only four options?."

"There are only four theaters here, and sorry, movies have never really been my thing so I don't know anything about them."

She leaned over in front of him, getting a little too close for comfort. "So why were you in such a hurry to drag me over here then?"

Surprisingly, her expression didn't show a hint of teasing or smugness, she was genuinely curious. He found himself averting his gaze slightly, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought about his answer. "Sorry, I recognized someone, and I didn't really want to talk to them."

She paused for a second to think about whether she wanted to ask more, before deciding to let it go. "I see..." Her face droops for a second before returning to normal. "Well since I've seen The Adventures of All Might and Nighteye already, how about we watch something else yeah? Have you seen the other Fast and Furious movies?"

Izuku turned and shook his head. "How about the other Shrek movies?" He shook his head again.

"Well I wouldn't want you to watch them without any context, so I guess that leaves How to be a Rockstar... which I haven't heard anything about. So I don't know if it's good or not but I guess we'll see." She shrugs and gives a bright smile.

Izuku didn't understand what happened in that moment. He felt something strange in his chest, it was warm and fuzzy, but it also left an uncomfortable pang in its wake.

.

They ended up getting tickets towards the back of the theater since that was the only way they could sit together. They got bottomless drink cups and a large popcorn to share.

As they started towards the theater Mawata remembered a very key factor when it came to her father, he was usually okay with whatever, as long as he was informed, and she forgot to call him. She turned to Izuku with an apologetic look. "Hey sorry, I need to call my dad I forgot, and if I don't I'm pretty sure he'll have the cops out looking for me."

She gave a small chuckle as she handed him the popcorn to take. "Here, go on ahead, I'll be there in a couple minutes." Izuku gave a small nod before continuing towards the theater. As he opened the door he gave one last glance down the hall at her as she talked on the phone.

As he entered the theater he noticed that it seemed a little smaller than he remembered, though he hadn't been there in a few years, not since... He felt a small hole form in his stomach as he tried to push down the thought and memories as they flooded the forefront of his mind.

He shook his head to clear his mind and took a look at his ticket as he made his way towards the stairs to find his seat, he felt something bump into him from behind. He turned around and looked down to find a girl with short purple hair on the ground, grunting and holding her head.

He extended his hand to her. "You okay?" She took his hand and let him pull her up, "Sorry I wasn't paying attention, I was so excited for... this... movie." as she looked up to talk to him, she found herself staring.

He found the air around them to be a bit awkward as she stood there holding his hand. He took note of her oddly shaped ears, they extended at the lobes down to her sides tipped with what appeared to be headphone jacks. He didn't really have the time to take note of anything else as she quickly retracted her hand and hurried away towards her seat. She was shortly followed by a pair of adults, one bore an uncanny resemblance to her.

Izuku found himself standing there for a moment rather confused about the encounter, but quickly forgot about it as he then made his way up the stairs and towards his seat. As he sat down and waited for Mawata to get there and the movie to start, he found his mind wandering to the head of ashy blonde hair he recognized before.

He thought back to his past, he thought of crackling explosions, of scarred and charred skin, of sullen green eyes and singed green hair. He felt his heart drop at the memories, his chest void of any warmth, and a subtle flush in his cheeks as he felt the anger rear its ugly head within. As he began thinking back to and rereading a small note in his head, he felt a tear sliding down his face.

He was jolted out of his memories by a hand touching his shoulder. He slowly turned his head to see Mawata with a concerned look in her eyes. "What's wrong?" Her voice was soft and calm, not at all like the normally loud and excited voice she normally talks with.

He looked down at his hand, almost examining it, he found himself clenching it into a fist cursing at himself for his past actions, or rather at his past inactions. He wiped the tears from his face and turned to Mawata. "I'm fine, sorry I was just remembering something."

She stood for a second looking at him with a soft expression, but after a moment of silence between them she sat down. They remained seated in silence for the rest of their time in the theater. The movie went almost completely ignored by the two as they were both stuck in their own thoughts.

As the movie came to its end credits Mawata watched as a crowd of people got up and left. As the last few people disappeared from view, the air between them was stale and uncomfortable, but they remained seated for a few minutes, neither making any effort to strike a conversation.

After a moment of nothing happening Mawat decided they should at the very least get up, so she got up and turned to wait. Izuku however, was still caught up in his own head to even notice that the movie had ended.

After a moment, Mawata decided to tap him on the shoulder, shocking him out of his stupor, he looked at her apprehensively. She gave him a soft and caring smile, a smile that reminded him of... better times.

"You know I'm not gonna try and push you to talk if you don't want to, you've made it clear not to. So why don't we go and enjoy the rest of what this mall has to offer?" He took a second to process and think about what she said, he felt relieved that she didn't want him to talk about why he was crying, and he didn't want to continue ruining her day. He gave her a small nod as he got up.

As they left the theater, they didn't notice another girl slightly shorter than them, as she watched her first ever crush walk away, leaving her with an aching heart before she could even talk to him.

.

The air between them felt much lighter as they browsed various shops. Izuku once again felt that warm and fuzzy feeling in his chest as he watched Mawata go crazy with excitement at the various things she found in each shop, asking him if he thought this shirt or that shirt would look good on her.

Izuku did his best to humor her but he had no sense for, nor interest in fashion. One thing that did however catch his eye, was a white t-shirt that said shirt on the front, he thought it was rather funny. As Mawata caught him eyeing the shirt up she made an elect decision to teach him at least a little bit about fashion at some point.

As they made their way through the mall they came across the arcade. Izuku watched as Mawata bore a big smile as she went inside, he let out a small sigh to himself as he followed.

As he entered he noticed that the arcade had grown to at least two or three times the size it was the last time he came some years ago. But he had to know, was his favorite game still there?

He and Mawata patrolled around the arcade for a little bit exploring the different machines before they decided what to play. Izuku felt rather relieved when he didn't find a head of ashy blonde hair anywhere.

And as luck would have it his favorite game was in fact still there, it was an antique pinball machine with a walking dead theme. It was the first game he had ever played, and he had many fond memories of competing for the high score with... He felt himself choke up a little upon remembering how much he missed those days.

"Hey you good?" Izuku looked over in surprise to find Mawata giving him a worried face. "Yeah yeah, just a little lost in thought. This place used to be so small."

"Oh, okay well now how about we go get some play cards and get some skee-ball going." He gave a small nod and followed her back to the front desk. As they approached they saw a familiar group of boys came in.

Izuku felt his hands get clammy and he felt himself on edge. As the boys came in they took note of their presence, most of the boys began glaring at them as they walked past, but a familiar face among them stopped.

"I'm gonna become the next All Might, and when I do, I'll come back to make your life a living hell, just like I did to your worthless nuisance of a sister. And you know what, after all the threats, all the talk, I don't believe you'll use your quirk on me, cause you haven't already, I don't think you got the balls to do it." He stood for a second glaring at Izuku and staring him down.

Izuku felt a swirl of guilt and rage raging inside him, he felt as if his emotion were going to boil him alive from the inside, he felt a hunger, a yearning, to punch this dickhead in the face, to throw him like a rag-doll, and to stomp his head into the ground. But somehow, he couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he opened his mouth to respond but couldn't find the words.

"Got nothing to say?" He stands there for a second more before scoffing and walking away. Leaving a distraught Izuku to sort himself out.

Mawata circled around to talk face to face with him, she could see the seething rage on his face, but it was mixed with a pained regretful look that she didn't understand. She was also curious and a bit worried as to what Bakugo said about making his sister's life a living hell.

But she wasn't about to push him to talk, she concluded that he would tell her in time. For now she needed to help him,so she grabbed his hand in her own, squeezing it, and raised her other hand to his cheek. She looked him directly in the eyes, and presented him with the warmest, most compassionate smile she could.

"It's going to be alright, I'm here for you, if you need to talk I'll listen, if you need to go for a walk I'll walk with you, if you wanna sit down, I'll sit next to you. I'm not gonna let you go through this alone."

Izuku took a second, he found himself squeezing her hand tightly in his own, it was comforting. Slowly but surely, he felt himself calm down in her warm presence, he felt surreal, like he was weightless, it was a feeling he hadn't felt in ages, but it was a familiar, bittersweet reminder of his sister.

And yet, this warmth was oddly different to the warmth he felt from his sister. When he felt his sister's warmth it washed over him like the sun as it rose. With Mawata, it almost feels like the warmth simmers beneath his skin and borders on a burning sensation.

He thought of this sensation as strange, but he knew that there was a reason for it, he just didn't know what. He decided to think about that later, right now he needed a breath of fresh air... and some time to himself. "Can we go? I... I think I just wanna go home for today."

Mawata felt a little down at that but wasn't about to push him, he seemed to be a pretty touchy person in general, but after what Bakugo said... she didn't want to make anything worse for him. "Sure, I'll walk you home."

They began the trek towards Izuku's house in silence, but to Mawata's surprise, Izuku held onto her hand with a firm grip, she didn't really know how to feel about it, part of her was giddy like a schoolgirl, and part of her was anxious about it, it was confusing for her, she didn't know exactly what it meant, to want to be closer to him, and yet also wanting to pull away for fear of something she couldn't quite place.

Regardless it seemed like it was helping him calm down so she was happy for that at least, and she wasn't about to pull away from someone who clearly needed help.

As they were walking Izuku noticed a small playground, a very familiar playground. He couldn't help but stop and stare at it for a second. He felt... a mixture of emotions, mostly negative painful emotions, as a series of memories flashed through his mind.

He remembered his sister standing in front of him, her arms stretched out, shielding him from Bakugo and his mindless followers. He remembered watching with blurry vision as they beat on her and shouted at her, while he did nothing but cry and watch.

The pang of guilt heavy on his heart as his memory shifted to one of her comforting him with bruises and burned skin. She was only two years older than him, she didn't believe in violence, she didn't believe in fighting back, so she didn't, she stood there and took on all the pain and torment that was meant for him.

And yet, he froze every time they showed up, every time she defended him, he froze, he cried and cried, but never did anything to help.

He found himself drawn out of his thoughts as Mawata gave him a tug on his shirt. He turned to her, his eyes slightly blurry from tearing up.

He pulled her into the park and sat down on a bench, staring out at it as Mawata sat down next to him. They sat in silence for a moment, Mawata waiting for Izuku to start a conversation, partly in fear that she would ruin the calm mood he seemed to have returned too, partly because she was nervous, even if she didn't understand exactly why she was nervous.

Izuku was taking his time, clearing his thoughts, making sure he was as calm as he could be for the conversation to come.

Part of him didn't want to talk about anything, part of him was screaming at him to keep everything in, to bottle it up and shove it into the deepest parts of his memory.

And in a lot of ways that part of him was correct in this situation, Mawata was a friend, but they just met, and she wasn't prepared at all for the conversation, she wasn't prepared at all, to share in the knowledge of how deep his pain truly ran in his heart, of how long the ocean of guilt truly stretched through every fiber of his being.

She wasn't prepared at all, to receive the knowledge she was about to, nor was she prepared, for just how much it would change her as a person forever.

But Izuku had no way of knowing the effects this knowledge would have on her, after all, he was just a kid, and despite part of him wanting to keep this knowledge from her, it wasn't for the sake of her, it was for his fear of rejection, a fear that she would run away, just like all the other kids had, how she herself would be affected hadn't even crossed his mind.

He took a deep breath, and let out a heavy sigh before turning to Mawata "You wanted me to talk about my past, so I will... or at least some of it." He took in another deep breath before continuing.

"My..." He felt his voice get caught as he began, deciding to turn and not face her, he stared at the playground as he took one final deep breath.

"My sister and I used to come here a lot. Us and the other kids, she wasn't much older than my friends and she was a bit boyish so she didn't really have any girl friends. But as the other kids' quirks started coming in, they started acting different, as time went by Bakugo had turned the group into... well a gang really."

"And with my... quirk being what it is, they started calling me a villain, and ganging up on me. My sister always got in the way but, as time went on it took a toll on her."

He felt himself shuddering as he remembered the details. "After a while, we stopped coming here, my sister and I started looking for other ways to spend our time, we went to the mall a lot, but we never knew when they would show up, after a while of being on our toes and having to avoid them, we stopped going cause it was too stressful."

"It's painful to go into detail, but it was like this at school too. Everyday Bakugo would torment me, and when my sister showed up, he turned his attention to her."

He went silent for a moment and found himself looking up at the sky, he wondered if she was having a better time now.

"At some point it got out to the whole school, what my quirk was, after that... It was just me and her, against everyone else, but I wasn't much help, I'm sure she had a rough time, even when I wasn't around, and then having a kid brother to look after on top of it."

"Eventually, everything got to her, and she... She's not around anymore... and I miss her a lot, I can't say I blame her for wanting to leave this world, but it still hurts, and no matter how hard I try, I can't forgive my part in what happened. I can't forgive myself for letting her fall so far, for letting her shoulder everything. And it sucks..."

He felt tears beginning to surge forward, no matter how hard he tried to hold them back, it was futile, no matter how hard he tried to hold back his whimpers, he couldn't.

"I- I miss her- so much, I didn't know what to do, I didn't know- I didn't know how to be happy without her." He couldn't help but snivel and whine aloud as the waves of emotion hit him, as the years of pent up guilt and pain overflowed and broke the dam they were held behind.

"Agckahahahhhaa!!!" He whined out in pain, unable to control the tears as they flowed down his face, unable to control his voice as it cracked and caught in his throat preventing him from properly breathing. His only solace, the warmth he felt around his hand.

He felt his shirt being tugged at the shoulder and a large feeling of pressure being applied to his arm, his arm felt wet, and another set of cries rang through his ears.

He looked down to see Mawata holding him at the shoulder and crying into his arm, her whines weren't nearly as loud or pained as his, but she still cried, she cried for his sake.

He couldn't help but feel a wave of calm warmth at that. In the midst of the unbridled whirlpool of pain and misery he felt, was a small but warm pleasure in his broken heart.

After a few moments of crying together, they managed to calm down. "You okay?" Izuku turned to Mawata, her eyes were red and slightly puffy, he was sure his were the same, if not worse.

He let out a deep breath, and then another. "Yeah I'm fine. Uhm, I guess to finish my story, I kinda started closing myself off from, well everything, I let myself get held back so I could be a grade behind Bakugo, I did the bare minimum in school so I didn't stand out too much, I went home and... well I didn't really do much, if I played video games or watched a movie I would start thinking about Inami, so I sort of stopped doing anything.

Oh Inami was my sister's name, though you probably guessed that." He gave an awkward chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck trying to ease the somber mood.

He let out a deep breath as he got up, their hands no longer connected. "Anyway, I feel a lot better. I'm sorry to tell such a sad story, but thank you for listening, I think I really needed that." He gave her a small but warm smile.

She felt a small warmth as she took in his words, though it didn't ease the ache in her heart as she thought about everything he had revealed to her.

The idea of doing what his sister had done, it made her feel sick to her stomach, and it reminded her of her mother's passing, even if the cause wasn't the same, she could relate to the feeling of loss, and she could imagine how horrible it must've been for him to feel like it was his fault.

After a moment of sitting in thought she got up and they started walking in silence once again. But as one felt a weight had lifted off their heart, another felt as if their heart had gained the weight of the world. As they approached his house, Mawata felt the need to ask him a certain question, it was a question she had heard from her father, and it helped her through the pain she felt from her own loss.

As they approached Izuku's door, she tapped him on the shoulder. He looked down at her, with a questioning look in his eye.

"You don't need to answer now, but just think about it. If your sister was still around, or if you had the chance to see her one last time. What would you say to her? What would you talk about? What's the last thing you would've wanted to do with her? Whatever that thing is, make sure you remember them when you do it, because that's when they're closest to you." She then gave a soft smile and left.

Izuku couldn't help but contemplate her words a little, it was a bittersweet suggestion. As much as he wanted to hold Inami close to him in his heart, it was painful. Anytime he thought of her, he felt a deep hole form. But as he thought about the questions, and what the answer to them was, he felt some of that pain regress into a small ache.

As the image of her pale, lightly freckled face came to the forefront of his mind, he felt his mouth form into a small and somber smile, he felt his heart throb and swell with a mixture of warmth and despair.

But the warmth was still there, and he could only hope that someday he would be able to fondly think of his sister once again. But he knew, somehow he knew, that it would never be that easy, to get over his guilt and pain.

As he opened the door and entered his house, he was greeted with the scowling face of his mother. He felt a cold shiver run down his spine as all the heat from his body seemingly flowed out of his body in a rushing wave. He hesitantly stepped inside and closed the door behind him, standing still, awaiting his mother's wrath.

"Where have you been?"