Beast In The Woods

Time with Nem

The rest of Izuku's birthday was spent hanging out with his friends and mate. He was feeling especially happy with Nem adopting him as her son. It was a good day for Izuku and it was made better to see on his phone there were multiple notifications from both the group chat and others wishing him a happy birthday. Gang Orca had sent him an animated emoji of an orca jumping over a birthday banner and his pack mates had each sent their well-wished in the chat.

But things had to come to an end as the Sun got lower and lower. Asato was the first to go but not before giving Izuku another hug and saying her goodbyes. Nem finally decided it was getting too late and got Toshi, Mina, and Izuku into her car to drive each one home. Mitsuki and Kacchan gave their farewells to Izuku with Masaru giving him a wave and simple nod.

Toshi stole the front passenger seat before Izuku could and he happily sat next to Mina on their way to their homes. Mina was closest to Kacchan's home and kissed Izuku on the cheek before leaving the car. They dropped off Toshi next and then it was the two Kayama's.

Izuku's smile never left his face as they drove back to UA. Nem also was sporting a smile and had her hand brushing her son's hair to the side the whole ride home. Instead of going back to his den like usual, Izuku stayed with Nem and watched movies with her late into the night. They watched comedies to slasher horror films until they fell asleep. Nem slept on the couch and Izuku with a pillow on the ground next to the couch.

Izuku jolted to full wakefulness when he heard a creak of a floorboard next to him. He relaxed when he saw a somewhat guilty Nem trying to tip-toe around his sprawled-out form on the ground. He let out a large yawn and rubbed his eyes as he woke up properly.

"Sorry, I woke you. How'd you sleep?" Nem asked with a smile as she continued her path to the kitchen.

Izuku stretched like a cat with multiple joins popping in sequence. His muscles flexed and stretched as he got up fully. "Good! And you?" He asked his adoptive mother.

Nem shook her head ruefully at the ease of him being able to wake up and stretch the way he did. "Pretty good, I bought that couch just because it was so comfortable to sleep on. But I'm still jealous of your ability to stretch like that, what I wouldn't do to be able to do that." She said wistfully as she began to boil water for coffee. "Would you like to stay for some breakfast?"

Izuku nodded happily to join his mother for breakfast. He didn't know anything about cooking except that meat turns brownish when it's cooked and that was all. So instead, Nem chatted with him as she cooked up a simple breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon. They chatted about the rest of the school year and what there would be to look forward to. They talked about the movies they watched and Nem explained some concepts to Izuku that he didn't understand at the time.

As they ate, Nem perked up in delight. "Oh! I've got a great movie for you to watch next time! There's a similarity between you and the antagonist, that usually the bad guy but could just be the opposite of the protagonist, anyway. It's a super old film from before Quirks, it's called 'The Predator'." She continued to explain the base of the movie and the more she talked the more Izuku was intrigued by the movie and its subsequent sequels.

"That does sound a lot like me," Izuku said with a gleam in his eyes.

Nem beamed at his interest and then froze at realizing what she had just done. She introduced a very impressionable boy with the unlimited ability to mimic other organisms to make him even more dangerous. Her mind flashed with the hundreds of horrifying things he could do by copying some films.

"Say, Izuku?" She asked casually. "Remember those parasites that you created to paralyze the Nomu? Could you, I don't know, make them multiply? Like they eat and then multiply over and over again?" She soaked up the yolk egg with her toast.