Green Phoenix (A Deku Fic)

24: Training

A few days later, Midoriya, along with the rest of the hero course (obviously), had been training relentlessly for the upcoming Sports Festival. Midoriya was training with Aizawa, and was able to, for the first time, beat his mentor. He felt unbeatable, and he couldn't stop grinning whenever the memory crossed his mind.

And Aizawa had followed Midoriya's request. And he did not regret it.

" Midoriya," Shinso said one lunch, eyeing the green haired boy. " Your teacher, Mr Aizawa."

Midoriya grinned knowingly, before quickly trying to morph it into a curious smile.

Shinso pointed at his freckled face. " That! Right there! I knew you had something to do with it!"

Midoriya lifted an eyebrow at the finger jammed in his face and cocked his head innocently. " With what, oh dear Shinso?"

The other scrunched his face. " You know what I'm talking about. Aizawa asked me if I wanted him to train me. Of course I said yes, but I just know that you asked him to offer it."

Midoriya shook his head, " Nope. I told him to watch you for a while and see if you had potential to be a hero. I knew the answer, I just wanted him to take you in. And my plan worked!"

Shinso blinked and slowly lowered his hand. " Wait, so... Eraserhead actually thinks I have the potential to be a hero? I have the potential to become a hero?"

Midoriya nodded and kept on shoveling his food into his mouth. " Mmmf- thought we al-m-eady esh-tabwished th-mmf-t. Mmmmf, 'dis food's nice!"

The lavender-haired lifted an eyebrow. " Can you not talk with your mouth full?"

Midoriya smiled and looked away, embarrassed, before chewing and swallowing. " Well anyway, the point is, you'll make a great hero. So stop doubting! Even your idol said it! The guy who literally expels people on the first day of school because they showed 'no potential' since they came last in an apprehension test! Not that I didn't like that decision. That guy was a total creep-- but that's not the point!"

Shinso shrugged and started eating. " I'll stop doubting if I get into the hero course--"

" Hah!" Midoriya grinned. " You said 'if'! That means you definitely will!"

" What? No it doesn--"

" You used to deny it, with maybe a few 'assuming thats' here and there, but now you said 'if'! Doesn't mean that you're completely confident, but it's better than nothing! Upgrades, people, upgrades!"

Shinso stared at him as the boy carried on devouring his food. " ... What is that even from--"

" Who knows, who cares, and most importantly, when's your meeting with Aizawa?"

Shinso blinked. " How can you change conversation directions so fast- y'know what, nevermind, uh, it's tomorrow at four thirty... Hold on, why did Aizawa listen to you when you told him about me? He doesn't seem the type to just... take recommendations from random kids."

" Ah, but you forget, Shinso," Midoriya puffed his chest, and tilted his chin up, though the image was less powerful with the Katsudon sauce smeared on his cheek. " I am his student!"

Shinso nodded and hummed, unconvinced. " And he'd follow what any old student asks. Of course."

Midoriya huffed and crossed his arms. " Well... Anyway I also have a surprise! I'll show it to you tomorrow, afterschool!"

Shinso hummed, " Alright. I hope it's a good surprise, and not some prank, because I swear--"

" I can assure you it is not some prank, and it's not even that funny!... To you, anyway-"

" Midoriya!"

" You heard nothing!"

The next day, at around 4:30 in the afternoon, Aizawa and Shinso met at a gym on the school's campus. It was very, very large.

" Uhm, Mr Aizawa! Hi," Shinso somewhat greeted, a hand wandering to the nape of his neck nervously.

" Shinso," Aizawa grunted back. " Glad to see you turned up on time. The buffoon who's also supposed to be here seems to be running late. Sorry about that."

" Oh? I didn't realise someone else was coming too...?" Shinso said, anxiety rising at the thought of someone else there.

Aizawa looked surprised. " Really?... Oh, he must've wanted it to be a surprise or something, knowing him." He sighed. " Little brat, making everything complicated."

Aizawa stared at Shinso. " Well? Come on then, let's get a mat out. We'll start with seeing where you are with hand-to-hand combat." He started walking to a wall, where a switch was.

The boy quickly jogged to fall into step with his new... mentor?

" Shouldn't we wait for the other person to come?" he asked.

Aizawa huffed out a humourless laugh. " Knowing him, he'll be about fifteen minutes late. Since you're here, though, he might take less. Who knows. He's a bit of a wild card."

Shinso nodded, a little confused. Why would this mysterious person want to get here faster because of him? Did he know... anyone... who...

Oh wow, he was stupid wasn't he?

Goddamn it, Midoriya.

Aizawa flipped the switch, and suddenly, chunks of the wall pushed out and lowered to the ground, boxes filled with training equipment.

" Woah," Shinso breathed. Never before had he seen so many weights - such big ones, too. Seriously, who could lift that?

Aizawa smirked. " Come on, the mats should be in section three - UA's ones are good; they're extremely hard to break. Let's set one out."

They walked past the first two 'sections' - they contained weights and the other, hurdles - and came across 'section three' - filled with mats upon mats.

" Why would you need so many mats? They all don't even fit in this room, they'd have to be stacked. This was clever," Shinso murmured, before he could think. He blushed lightly. Oops.

Aizawa chuckled and looked sideways at him. " Y'know, I like you. Let's get these out, then."

They heaved a large mat onto the gym floor and Shinso looked down at himself. He was still wearing his uniform.

" Oh, should I--"

" Here," Aizawa chucked some blue cloth at him. On closer inspection, he realised it was the UA sports uniform. " I hope it's the right size. There are a few others if it doesn't fit. Next time, bring your own clothes, though. Less hassle."

Shinso nodded. " Where should I change?"

" There's a door to your right. It's the lockers; you can leave your stuff in there as well."

" Alright, now that we're ready--"

Bang.

" MR AIZAWA- huff, huff,- 'M SO SORRY 'M LATE- huff- THERE WAS THIS STRAY CAT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD- huff, huff- IT WAS INJURED- huff- AND I HAD TO TAKE IT TO--"

" -To the nearest pet shelter?" Aizawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. " Fine, okay. Come on, get changed."

Midoriya nodded, still panting, and then he saw the tuft of lavender. He gasped and shot finger guns. " Shinso! Surpriiiise!"

" Midoriya," he said, hiding his amusement at the others confused face.

" Why aren't you surprised?" Midoriya pouted, then glared at Aizawa with no venom. " Did you tell him?"

" Nope," Aizawa sighed, but he had an amused smile on his face. " He's a smart kid."

Shinso blinked, processed, then tried to hide a bashful smile.

" Okay, enough chit chat!" his new mentor suddenly barked and walked towards the mat. " Welcome to my training lesson, kid. Let's get started."

Midoriya grinned, and said in an innocent, sweet voice as he jogged to the locker room, " More precisely, welcome to hell!"

... Oh no.