Conflagration

Prologue

Tears flowed down Inko's face, her body shaking with heavy sobs as she pulled her son in for yet another hug. Her eyes closed tightly, and an airy sigh could be heard from the young man above her. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and rubbing her back.

"Mom, I'll be fine. Please stop crying."

Inko smacked her son as she pulled out of the hug, laughing quietly with a sniffle. "Okay, okay. It's just... can't a mother be worried for her child?" She asked, using her thumb to wipe away some of the tears streaming down her face. Izuku sighed, shaking his head and readjusting the straps of his yellow backpack on his shoulders. "I'll only be a twenty-minute drive away, Mom. We've gone over the calculations many times."

Inko didn't respond, glancing at the many pictures of her and her son along the walls of their apartment. She knew Izuku would leave eventually, but she didn't expect it to be in the middle of his junior year in college. He was taking the classes online, so he decided to move in with a few of his friends in their three-bedroom house.  Inko was opposed to the idea at first, but what could she do? If she held Izuku back anymore, he'd think she was overprotective.

He probably thinks I'm overprotective now. She thought.

Izuku shuffled towards the door, a look of excitement on his face. They'd finally gotten all of his things out of his room, and one of his friends was waiting outside for him in the car he'd gotten for his 19th birthday, with the very last of his figurines and trinkets. "I've gotta go, Mom. I promise to call you every day, and I'll come to see you whenever I can." He said with humor in his eyes as his mother began walking after him. He knew what she would say before she even opened her mouth, and he spoke at the same time she did.

"Just one more hug, Izuku!"

"Just one more hug, I know."

He paused his movements, letting her arms wrap around him for one final time, he would hope. His mother always had a way of surprising him, either way. They stood there, in the middle of the hallway with their arms wrapped around each other in a tight embrace. Anyone looking could see that the longer they stood, the more uncomfortable Izuku felt. "Mom, I feel like you're trying to lock me away forever. I'm not even leaving the city." He exclaimed in an exasperated tone, awkwardly wiggling out of Inko's grasp. "Goodbye Mom, I love you!"

"I love you too, Izuku! Call me!"

And with that, he began the journey of a lifetime. Or, maybe just a year.

Play 'Mandisa - Good Morning'

Izuku jumped into the driver's seat of his car after practically running out of the building, receiving a chuckle from his heterochromatic friend. "Your mom is something else, Midoriya." He muttered, rolling his window up and turning on the radio before Izuku could touch it. "You don't even need to tell me, Todoroki." The green-haired boy hummed, clicking on his seatbelt and starting up the car. He pulled out of the parking lot, his smile only growing the farther they got from his mother's apartment.

"Honestly, I'm surprised she let you move out. That whole 'gangster's rule downtown' article messed her up, didn't it?" Todoroki asked in monotone, though not necessarily bored. He'd spoken to Inko multiple times, probably the only one of Izuku's friends that she wasn't too nervous to speak to. Well, she was just as nervous about Todoroki as everyone else, but Izuku had brought him home for dinner on a whim, so she didn't have a choice.

"I wouldn't say it messed her up, just made her nervous. She hasn't trusted downtown since Dad died." Izuku replied, turning a corner and glancing around at the cozy little part of town he would no longer be living in. I'm gonna miss it, just a little. He thought, sighing at the memories that flooded into his mind. "I'm just glad to be out and able to do what I want. To an extent, of course." He quickly added, trying not to ruin the good mood with a sad thought about the past.

Todoroki just nodded, and they let a comfortable silence overtake them as an upbeat song played from the radio. It was a quiet ride, full of quiet singing from the driver and nods from the other. Izuku had to stop himself from squealing at the sight of their home as they drove up to it, parking on the side of the road since Tenya's truck was taking up the entirety of the small driveway. 

All Izuku had to do was finish and find a job. "This is gonna be a great experience, right Todoroki?" The naive young man asked, earning a small smile from Todoroki. "If you say so." The man shrugged, stepping out of the car and walking to the mailbox to check for mail.

I'll take that as a yes.