Ultra Responsibility (My Hero Academia X Spider-Man Reader)

Issue 13 - Word to the Wise

Ashido lay sprawled across her bed, homework book open on her stomach, legs kicking lazily back and forth in the air. The pages stared back at her, full of diagrams, labels, and words that might as well have been written in another language.

She squinted at a question, then at the diagram next to it.

"...Why," she groaned, shutting one eye and letting her head fall back against the mattress, "do heroes need to know biology?"

Her pencil hovered uselessly above the page before she dropped it altogether. Ashido exhaled loudly, folding the book shut just enough to trap her place. She leaned forward, resting her forehead against it, pouting.

"This is stupid. I punch villains. I melt stuff. Why do I need to know how cells divide?"

She kicked her feet again in frustration, pink horns barely brushing the wall as she rolled onto her side. Her gaze drifted toward the window, rain streaking faint lines down the glass, city lights blurring beyond it.

Tap.

Ashido froze.

She frowned, glancing toward the window, then deliberately looked away.

"...Nope," she muttered. "Didn't hear that."

Tap. Tap.

She sighed, pushing herself upright. "If that's a tree branch, I swear..."

Padding across the room, she grabbed the curtain and tugged it aside.

She screamed.

Well, almost. It came out more like a startled yelp as she jumped back, heart slamming against her ribs.

Slumped awkwardly against the window, one hand braced against the glass, was the Spider Vigilante.

Up close, he looked worse than she'd ever seen him. His hoodie was torn, darkened in places that definitely weren't rain. One lens of his goggles was cracked clean through, the other dim. He was breathing, but barely, shoulders rising and falling unevenly.

He tilted his head when he noticed her, voice muffled through the mask.

"...Hey," he said weakly. "Uh. Weird question. Can I come in?"

Ashido stared at him for a full three seconds.

Then she turned around calmly, walked to her bedroom door, and locked it.

Click.

"Ehh, this beats doing my homework."

****

"One," she said, pointing back at him, "you are insane."

She hurried back to the window, fumbling with the latch and pushing it open just enough for me to stumble forward. As I did, I nearly faceplanted into her curtains. Ashido caught me as I grabbed his sleeve and hauled me inside with surprising strength.

"Two," she continued, shoving the window shut again and lowering her voice, "my parents are literally downstairs watching TV."

I sagged against her desk chair, letting out a shaky breath. "Good to know."

Ashido crossed her arms, trying very hard not to panic as she looked me over properly now. Bandages poked out from under my hoodie. There was dried blood along my jaw, visible where the mask had slipped slightly.

"...You look like death," she said flatly.

"Yeah," I replied with a dry laugh. "That tracks."

She glanced at her homework still abandoned on the bed, then back at him.