The Emperor's Dragon

I Can Help You

Ochaco had gone home early so it was just Hitoshi and Izuku in the library today. Izuku looked at the purple haired boy. "What is it?" he asked.

His friend was resting his chin on one hand, with his fingers curled in to partially cover his mouth. He wasn't working on his homework.

"Do you want me to help you?" Hitoshi countered with his own question.

Izuku blinked. "What do you mean?"

Hitoshi sighed and shook his head slightly, without lifting it from his hand. "You've been twitchy for weeks," he said. "You're still thinking about what your dad said."

"Of course I am," Izuku hissed. He couldn't be loud in the library.

"Yeah, and that's making you twitchy and-" Hitoshi shook his head. "You aren't concentrating." There wasn't any accusation in his voice. There didn't need to be.

In the final year of Middle School they were ranked weekly. Izuku knew he'd slipped.

"What am I meant to do?" he asked his friend.

Hitoshi shifted his hand. "I don't know," he admitted.

That actually reassured Izuku a bit. His friend wasn't trying to tell him how to live his life, but he was concerned.

"I could help though," Hitoshi offered again.

Izuku didn't ask what he meant this time but the shift of his head conveyed his question.

"I'll help you not worry about the decision," Hitoshi said. "I don't know if I can, but I'll at least try," he added.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll use my quirk on you," Hitoshi shrugged. "The way I see it, is you can either stay aware of it, and worry about the decision, or you can let your mind work on it and get on with school." He gave Izuku a smile. "You'll know, Little Dragon, when you've made up your mind, even if it is just to do something else rather than run your dad's businesses, but you won't be worrying about making the decision."

Izuku blinked again. He sort of knew what his friend meant. "Do you think it will work?"

Hitoshi shrugged. "It can't hurt to try," he murmured before taking a deep breath. "Your dad loves you, Izuku. Even if you decide not to run his businesses, he'll accept it. That's the entire reason he let you go, so you could find out what you wanted to do. But you aren't going to do that if you keep worrying," he added.

"So what do you want to do?"

"See if I can make you not consciously worry about your decision," Hitoshi said.

Izuku thought for a few seconds but he already knew what his answer was going to be. Hitoshi wouldn't hurt him. He knew that already. "Alright," he said as he nodded. "What should the wording be?"

"How about I tell you to think about your future without worrying about what your father thinks?"

"That works," Izuku decided. "But how will I know when I've made a decision?"

Hitoshi thought about it for a few moments. "Then how about I make it that you think about your future without worrying what your father thinks, and when you've made a decision, you can worry then?" He suggested with a laugh.

"That seems fair," Izuku said. "Hit me," he instructed.

"What here?"

"Why not?" Izuku asked. Sure there were a couple of other students around but this wouldn't take long. "Or were you only being facetious?" Hitoshi was usually so serious about his quirk that he didn't think his friend would have made the offer to use it without actually meaning it. He didn't joke about his quirk, not like others did.