Green Phoenix (A Deku Fic)

8: New Friend

For the next three months, Midoriya trained with Aizawa and his improvement showed drastically. He became significantly more muscular and stronger and could now fly non-stop for over two to three hours, as well as very nearly defeating his teacher.

His training sessions and researches also showed in Midoriya's room, where gradually, more and more All Might posters and merchandise was replaced by Eraserhead and a few other heroes.

He had also taken a liking to Mirko - he thought her determination to be a hero despite her 'cute, harmless little bunny quirk' (as she had quoted from past people she had interacted with) was inspiring and fantastic - and also Hawks - who always had a laid back and casual appearance to comfort people around him, despite the fact that he had an extremely dangerous job as No. 3 hero (and maybe he also liked him a little because he had a similar quirk. Sue him).

In conclusion, his room was full of Mirko, Hawks and, of course, Eraserhead (though his merch was hard to find). Hopefully, none of the heroes would ever have a reason to enter his room.

On another note, he now had three more months until the UA entrance exam, and he was excited. He was coming back home from shopping for various pieces of cloth and bits that he was going to use to make his makeshift hero costume. He had asked for fireproof cloth, too, and somehow, the shop had some. It hadn't cost that much, surprisingly.

But just as Midoriya turned a corner, holding his bag, he heard loud tauntings and a small whimper coming from an alley close by.

Without so much as a thought, he ran towards it, skidding to a stop at the entry.

There, four people were throwing... something at a... Boy? Midoriya wasn't sure, but they had some kind of mutation quirk that changed their appearance entirely. One thing was for sure, though; the four people were bullying the mutant boy.

He yelled, " Hey! What are you doing?"

They paused, and turned to him. A girl stepped forwards and snarked, " Isn't it obvious? He's a freak. He doesn't belong here - just look at how stupid he looks!"

She pointed at the cowering boy as he just hugged his legs tighter - he was curled up, back to the alley wall. The other kids snickered. A spark ignited in Midoriya's chest, and he had to push down an urge to-- he shouldn't think like that, actually. He was trying to be a hero, not a killer.

Instead, he inhaled slowly, and gritted his teeth and made a tight smile. The girl grinned back, wrongly guessing what the smile meant, before he could say anything.

" Oh, I understand; you wanna join in, right? Here, there are loadsa creepy crawlies lying around. Just chuck 'em at him," she smirked.

He shook his head and chuckled, " Oh, no. No, no. I don't want to do that, but... You know what I want to do?"

He stepped forwards and angled his head down a little, a shadow over his eyes, trying to be as intimidating as possible. It somehow worked, because the girl took an uneasy step back in response.

" What...?"

His smile dropped. " You don't want to find out. Now, scramble."

With his last word, he activated his flaming wings and his eyes started to glow, his head snapping up as he bared his teeth at them. At the sight, all four people scurried out of the alley without a moment's thought; all too focused on getting away from Midoriya - who looked like the devil himself in that minute.

As the children ran away, Midoriya made himself less frightening by deactivating his wings. Good thing he had worn a fireproof top today. He sighed in satisfaction, " There. That's better."