Manifest Monsters

Part 14~Naming

Twisting my fingers, I waited outside the door. I chewed my lips, growing more anxious as time went on.

"Oh, chill out, everything we'll be fine." Tiny hit my head with her paw, an annoyed expression on her face.

"But what if it's super awkward? I haven't talked to him since yesterday. I should have said something but he looked so insecure! I didn't want to make it worse." Sliding down the wall, I placed my head in my hands.

Tiny rolled her eyes. "You're such a disaster. This is why I don't mate."

"Don't say it like that." I jumped up as the door swung open.

"Oh, hey Izuku. I didn't think you were waiting for me." Tokyami scratched the back of his head as I smiled.

"Of course!" I reached out, hesitating before linking our fingers.  Even though his feathers obstructed it a little, I could clearly see the blush on his cheeks. I tightened the grip as I pulled him forward. "Come on or we'll be late! I wonder what's going to happen today."

Tokoyami shrugged as we walked to school. "As long as we're not attacking people again I'm good."

I chuckled a little, running into the school grounds.

"Oh, Izuku. I found this." Jiro placed my notebook on the table, looking at me with worry in her eyes. She seemed to calm down as she spotted our hands, smirking at us. "I see you two finally got together." I yelped out a small squeak as I pulled my hand back. Tokoyami looked away as Jiro watched us weirdly. "Or not."

I wasn't able to say anything when class started. Mr Aizawa told us about the offers we received. I got the most offers, obviously, while Tokoyami got the second most. Todoroki got the third most though he claimed that was only because of his dad. Some of the other students got offers but most weren't worth mentioning. Aizawa was meant to help us chose our heroes name but he decided he wasn't going to do that and let Midnight take over.

I had no idea what I wanted my hero name to be. It was hard to choose. Midnight allowed Tsu's name of Froppy the rainy season hero and Jiro's Earphone Jack, the Hearing Hero but she wouldn't let Mina have Alien Queen which I thought was fine.

There was a series of students who didn't know what they wanted. Todoroki, Iida and Bakugo being amongst them.

Tokoyami walked up to the front, showing off the name he had come up with. 'Tsukuyomi, the Jet-Black Hero.' It was really cool! He was really cool!

Tiny purred in my hair as her tail swished back and forth. "If you don't choose a name soon, you'll have to go with the unnamed lot," she teased as I shook my head.

Chewing on the tip of my pen, I slowly wrote down the idea. I could hear Tiny chuckling as I held it up to Midnight. "What about the Ink Hero, Ink Pen."

Midnight seemed confused for a second before she became proud. "Wow! I was expecting something scary but that's just cute! What a great name!"

"Yeah, I thought it would deceive the villains into thinking I'm weak when in reality my Quirk could probably snap their neck in a second flat."

Midnight froze as I walked back to my seat, kicking out my legs. Jiro snickered as Tokoyami sighed. Both of them expected something like this.

The second class was over, I let Charlie come out as she hopped over to Jiro and Yaoyorozu's side, asking them about their hero names. I walked towards Tokoyami, trying to ignore the lingering awkwardness between us from earlier. "So, any idea where you want to go for your internship?"

Tokoyami looked over the page he had been given, shaking his head. "I have no idea. Maybe someone will come up."

"Oh! Is that Hawks?! He wants you? He should totally intern with him!"

"Why? Because we both have bird Quirks?"

"Well yeah! Please he is the number three hero and I'm pretty sure he can't exactly fight with just his wings. He could help teach you how to fight without relying on Dark Shadow!"

Tokoyami raised his eyebrow. "Like your one to do it all by yourself. You rely on your characters more than I rely on Dark Shadow."

Humming, I had to nod in agreement. "Yes, but my Quirk is more diverse and don't worry, I'll do something similar during my internship! Now you should totally go with Hawks!"

Groaning a little, Tokoyami slid the paper away. "I'll think about it. So, who are you considering?"

"I was thinking Ectoplasm!"

"Ectoplasm? But you can train with him any time while here, he is a teacher."

"While that may be true, Ectoplasm is a powerful hero who creates clones. He'll be able to help me control large numbers of my characters and teach me how to organise them. And since the clones are just clones, he should have a half-decent fighting technique as well."

Charlie spun around in her seat, looking over her shoulder. "Oh wow, you seem to have actually thought about this."

"Well, of course, I have! I had to make sure whoever I ended up going with, all the characters at least didn't mind. Having your Quirk going nuts and attacking the person you are interning with won't exactly go well with my record."

Sitting up, Charlie looked offended. "How comes you never asked me about it?"

Rolling my eyes, I hopped up and ruffled Charlie's hair teasingly. "Oh, I'm sorry. Would you mind if we interned with Ectoplasm, the teacher who lets you sit in all his classes and I quote you said was 'the best teacher in the world.'"

Charlie opened her mouth to fight me but ended up huffing in defeat. "I actually said second best. After Midnight."

Yaoyorozu looked up, tilting her head. "Why Midnight?"

Looking away, Charlie jumped up. "You do not need to know that!"

I shook my head as I watched her. "Don't mind her. She's an idiot." Charlie gaped at me, offence clear on her face. I ignored her, grabbing Tokoyami. I returned Charlie to my blood before waving goodbye to Jiro and Yaoyorozu.

As we walked away, I became more nervous. I was still holding onto Tokoyami and I didn't want to let go.

"Izuku..."

I hummed, glancing up at him. "Yes, Tokoyami?"

"About what happened yesterday, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make things weird between us. Can we forget this all happened?"

Biting my tongue, I tightened my grip. "What if I don't want to forget it?" I couldn't face Tokoyami, hiding my face. I stumbled as Tokoyami pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me. "T-Tokoyami!"

Tokoyami pushed up my chin, forcing me to look at him. "Do you mean that?"

"Yeah..." Tokoyami pressed his forehead against mine as I giggled. "You're too cute for your emo exterior!"