Fire Within -Tododeku

Awkward meetings and quiet assessements

"It's you! The guy who beat the robot with me!" The girl from the exam earlier had popped out of nowhere, grabbing Izuku's arm excitedly. "I am Uraraka Ochako, it's a pleasure!" She almost yelled, and he started to panic. She was way too close, and he had no idea what to reply until some sense slapped him. He could just present himself back.

He said his name, still thinking he had truly had no idea what to say. It was the second time someone treated him like he was normal, like he could actually be nice to talk to.

"You really shined out there! Disappeared so fast I barely got your name. To be honest, I am still in awe that we could defeat that thing! Must be nice to have such a powerful quirk. Mine makes me puke... but I'm sure you remember." She said, apparently embarrassed for the way a flush crept on her cheeks and she touched her neck in a nervous manner.

He did remember the way she had emptied her stomach after the robot had been taken down, and he had assumed it was a side effect of her quirk. Turns out he was right. However, he quickly realized she had complimented him. He was becoming increasingly shocked. Not only did she say something nice about his quirk, but she was nice overall. It was nothing like the coldness he met at his high school.

"I couldn't have defeated that thing without you" he let his thoughts out loud. "You threw so much debris and robots at that thing! Your quirk is truly powerful under your hands. Not only can you turn objects completely weightless and turn them into lethal projectiles, but you also can use it for so many other purposes! It can allow you to rescue people by lifting carefully fallen structures if they are trapped like you were, but you could also locate survivors in emergencies situations by also lifting the debris...." Izuku stopped himself, realizing Ochako had became a tomato. Had he gone too far? He crossed a line, probably.

"I am sorry! I didn't want to feel uneasy or overwhelm you! I just really think your quirk is nice and.." he started to apologize, bowing to truly show his regret. He didn't want to scare off the first truly genuine person he had met.

"No, no, it's ok! I was just so surprised... only my parents have been so enthusiastic over my quirk." She explained, flustered. How could this boy not realize how nice he was? He had nothing to apologize for, she decided. "I take this as a huge compliment!" She insisted, grabbing his hands, which were covering his face in a shy gesture. But then, she felt mortified. She couldn't just grab his hands like that, even if she had done it so he would stop covering his face in shame.

Izuku regarded how, out of nowhere, she bowed.

"I am so sorry. I just wanted you to stop being embarrassed, so that's why I grabbed your hands!" She justified, still bowing.

"No, it's fine!" Izuku replied, more shocked than ever. She was so considerate.

"I just didn't want to make you uncomfortable!" She insisted.

And so they kept on, one apologizing while the other party, Izuku, claimed that he had already crossed a line in the first place, while Ochako denied it.
It was going to be a long day.

But he had already had a really positive encounter, he realized, and them being friends could actually be a possibility.

*

Shouto carefully observed this interaction. From all the noise, he couldn't really hear their words, but he saw them both bowing at each other.
Humans could be so weird, he mused. The boy, whose name was Izuku Midoriya, he learnt after listening to the teacher checking the list, was nothing but really friendly, from what he had seen in that encounter. He seemed really nervous by his mannerisms; he kept bouncing his leg while he was sitting, pulling on his nails and by the way he had covered his face multiple times during his chat with the girl.

Shouto couldn't remember her name, since he had only paid attention to find out Izuku's. He would learn it at some point.

Shouto wasn't expecting to meet him again. He had truly meant his words when he told him he would fail. And he had also not expected this anxious and candid demeanor from him. He had expected the same distant behavior he tended to show in his high school days, because even if he didn't like him, he could recognize they both had the same similarity: they both wanted to achieve their goal, and would go above and beyond to do so. This determination could blind people into believing they didn't need any friends, while science clearly said otherwise.

But, oh well, it seemed like it was just him who struggled to accept friendships were necessary for a better mental health.

Whatever. Izuku Midoriya had plenty of issues to worry, one of them his father, and secondly, his toxic determination that blinded him into thinking it was justified to push himself into abusive training. He clearly wasn't self aware enough, not as much as Shouto.

However, Shouto didn't expect his shyness either. He had a powerful quirk. He had seen at his school what this could mean for people: some let it get to their heads, developing a strange superiority complex while they treated others with less flashy quirks like trash. He had seen it in first hand many times, the way the hushed whispers were always said on the back of the only quirkless kid his class had.

He remembered wanting to do something but not being able to. After all, talking to these kids to get some sense into them would be useless, and none of the cruel taunts were said openly in front of the quirkless girl, because that would mean that they could actually be accused of bullying, and that did have consequences. But now, Shouto realized, he could just have offered a helping hand to that girl. He could have became her friend, and therefore he would have done something good for once.

If Shouto was a better person, he would have done it.