Chapter Text
A week passed, and then two, and Izuku fell into a happy little routine. Inko proved more than willing to keep an eye on Eri during the day, meaning that Izuku didn't need to become a junior high dropout to take care of his new daughter. Ashido learned to stay concealed enough at school, although they did talk mentally for portions of each day. Tooru had visited one of the Saturdays but not the other, although they did video call every night without fail. And so as April turned into May, Izuku found himself... content, for the first time in a long while.
Their forays to the beach continued on a fairly regular basis, with Izuku devoting two or three hours an afternoon three days a week to his effort to clean it. It might not have been the most strenuous workout plan, but no longer felt like he was about to die by the end of each session, so clearly he was making some form of progress. Ibara had reappeared twice, both times with new shells to show off to him. He'd gotten to do an entire three page entry on Talokanil, and a fourth about her quirk Seaweed. Against all odds, he had somehow managed to make a friend all by himself. It was nice.
Something else that was nice? His Friday night date nights with Ashido. Sure, they weren't exactly a conventional couple, what with her being a Klyntar and him being her host. But they managed to have fun together. Ashido was inordinately fond of rhythm games, although she was too light on her own to apply pressure to the sensors. Izuku was starting to become passable at dancing by way of indulging her. And he'd managed to pick up enough tickets to bring home some cute prizes for Eri.
For the most part, Izuku kept himself out of Tapple, although he had made a point of inspecting the profile that was publicly posted for 'Midoriya Izuku (AND ASHIDO!!!)' on the service. Every day when he dug his phone out of his backpack for the walk home, there seemed to be a few more notifications from the app than there had been the day before. He was keenly aware that Ashido was talking to... at least one person, if not more on the service. But she hadn't brought anyone to his attention yet, so he assumed that nothing serious was going on.
That changed on a Friday, when the bell rang and Izuku checked the after school chore list to verify that it wasn't his turn to clean the classroom before turning and heading out for the afternoon. As he yawned and stretched in the bright sunlight of a spring afternoon, Ashido shifted around him and transformed from his uniform to a bright pink t-shirt and jeans. "Midori. Midori. You don't have anything planned for this afternoon, right?"
Setting off down the sidewalk, Izuku shrugged. "I mean, do I ever have plans for a Friday evening? You're the one in charge of deciding where we go on dates. I leave my calendar open for you. As long as we're home in time for our video call with Tooru, I'm all ears if you have something in particular that you want to do. Why?"
"Uh, so, I've been flirting a little flirt. Well, been flirting a lot of flirt to be honest. And then remember how I mentioned there was that girl I knew whose father was born in 1832?" Vaguely. They had covered a lot of ground during that particular discussion, and most of it in only cursory detail. But yes, Izuku passingly remembered her mentioning such a girl. Assuming her normal position on his shoulder, Ashido grinned at him as she poked two tendrils together. "So I invited her down here from Nagoya? She'll be getting here in... uh, she says her school is near the station and Maps says it's an hour and sixteen minutes from her station to our station? So let's say that she'll be here in an hour and a half, give or take?"
Izuku reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out an exasperated sigh. "You don't think this was maybe something we should have discussed a little before you offered to hang out with her? Seeing as how you're sorta... attached to me, Bubblegum?"
Huffing softly, Ashido flailed her tendrils. "I mean, it's not like she's a stranger? We kinda sorta barely knew each other before bumping into each other on Tapple, but we've been really hitting it of? And did I mention that she's not technically a stranger? And technically correct is the best kind of correct!"
Oh, so this wasn't just a meeting of friends, this was a possible date situation. Fantastic. Izuku let out another sigh as he shook his head despondently. "Bubblegum, when I agreed to let you run wild on Tapple, I kinda expected that you'd respect me - or for that matter, us - enough to talk to me about these sorts of things? I admit that I don't know much about relationships, and even less about polyamory, but... communication? We're supposed to communicate, right?"
"And we are! Right now! Which..." Ashido slumped slightly and looked away from him. "Is probably pretty awful of me, especially given how awkward and anxious you can be. I'm sorry. Are you mad at me?"
Izuku shrugged as he continued down the street, orienting himself and heading for Shin-Musutafu Station. If she was coming from Nagoya, there was only one way that she was possibly coming into town and there was no sense in avoiding the inevitable. "I'm a little annoyed, yeah. But I'll get over it. As long as... Bubblegum. Ashido." Caught in mid cheer, his girlfriend abruptly sobered and looked over at him with wide eyes at the use of her real name. "Please don't do this again. Please? Just... talk with me."
Nodding fervently, Ashido rubbed her cheek against his. "I promise. I just sorta got carried away and one thing led to another and the next thing I knew I was like, 'hey, Midori would probably love to meet you, we should hang'. Maybe I should have, I don't know, arranged a video call? Or maybe let you text with her first?"
"That would have been nice, yeah." Izuku looked down at himself, subtly altering his outfit to have a black t-shirt with the words 'Host Body' scrawled across the chest in white katakana. That made him chuckle and Ashido huff in exasperation so... mission accomplished? "What's done is done at this point. Just gotta get to the station and... I don't know, I guess I'll grab a tea or something."
Ashido rubbed cheeks with him again. "You're being exceptionally cool about this and I thank you... so, so much for that. Can you get me a tea? Do I deserve tea at this point?"
Considering that ingesting anything was more of a guilty pleasure than a necessity for a Klyntar, Izuku was tempted to say no... but he also wasn't the type to hold things against people. She'd messed up. She'd apologized. Life was going to go on. "Yeah, let's go get some tea, Bubblegum."
As they walked, Ashido made a thoughtful noise. "Whatever happened to me being Princess? Like, I seem to recall that discussion being that I would be Bubblegum until we started dating and then switch to being Princess. Well we've been dating for weeks, Midori, and I haven't been called Princess a single time. What gives?"
"Honestly, I just sorta like Bubblegum for you. It's unique. Like you. I mean, think about how many girls out there must get called Princess by their boyfriends? Way, way more than get called Bubblegum." Izuku grinned faintly as he looked over at Ashido, the symbiote clearly considering his words. "I can switch if you absolutely want me to, but... you're a good Bubblegum."
Freezing, Ashido looked over at Izuku with wide eyes. “Can you call me that again? I think… I think I just accidentally discovered that I have a praise kink.”
Izuku sighed again at that. “I… you… you know what? I can probably do that, yeah. Not all the time; that would devalue it. But like, I guess when you deserve it? Do you want, like, good Bubblegum or good girl or..?”
The discussion over Ashido’s newfound - and strangely endearing - kink consumed the rest of the journey to the station and most of their stop for tea. Eventually, Izuku checked his watch and his eyes widened. “Oh shoot. We weren’t keeping track of time. The train is either getting here any minute or it might have-“
“Already gotten here!” Izuku jerked backward in surprise as a girl invaded his personal space, grinning widely. “Hi! I have enhanced senses so I basically went ‘hmm, what smell haven’t I smelled before?’ and it led me straight to Ashido!”
Izuku nodded slowly as he scrutinized the girl in front of him. She has blonde hair pulled up into twin messy buns, bright yellow eyes, and… were those fangs? How cool! She had pretty obviously come straight from school without the advantage that he had in Ashido’s endless wardrobe options, and was still wearing her uniform. He quickly recovered from his surprise and shot the girl a bright smile. “Well hi! I’m Midoriya. Midoriya Izuku. It’s nice to meet you. And… did you say that you have a sensory quirk?”
Grinning cryptically, the girl straightened up and took a step back, raising her hand and wobbling it from side to side. “I have enhanced senses as part of my quirk. My entire quirk… is for me to know and for you to find out.” Sprawling into the chair across from him, the girl offered her hand. “My name is Toga Himiko. We have… literally never talked before.” At Izuku’s amused look, she gestured to Ashido. “Yeah I’m kinda aware that she’s the one talking for both of you. Same texting style the entire time. Pretty obviously not two people actually sharing the account.”
“You’ve got us! Midori is pretty shy and awkward. I think it’s endearing? And he’s got this sorta bluntly honest rizz? But he’s not the best conversationalist. So I sorta took point on trying to meet people.” Ashido spread down Izuku’s arm and formed a blob of pink on the table between the two before waving a tendril. “So yeah. It’s been me the entire time. And let me just say that we get along amazingly. That’s why we’re here.”
Himiko nodded agreeably before reaching out and grabbing Izuku’s tea, taking a sip from the straw. When Izuku made a protesting noise, she grinned playfully. “What? I’m probably going to kiss you later. It’ll be less weird then.” As he sputtered and blushed, she giggled brightly. “Oh, this is fun. I have a good feeling about this.”
Reaching out, Ashido poked Himiko’s other hand with a tendril and then completely enveloped the girl’s hand when the blonde nodded in approval. “Yeah, I mean, I feel like I did a really good job explaining me and Midori so that you could make an informed decision. So now all that’s left is to see if we get along as well in person as we do online.”
Izuku looked back and forth between the two. “And ask about her quirk?” When the girls looked over at him, he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I really want to ask about her quirk.”
Giggling, Himiko put his tea back down so that she could stretch her other hand out toward him. “Do you have to ask me? I mean, I kinda just want it to come out in a natural sort of way. Like, you’ll get to see my quirk eventually. And then you’ll know what it is.”
“You know what? That seems fair.” Izuku reached out to give her hand a squeeze and then rose to his feet. He really wanted to know what her quirk was… but he would respect her wishes. Respecting women was important. His mom had thoroughly drilled that one into his head. “So what is our plan for the afternoon? Since I didn’t participate in the planning at all.”
Ashido kept herself spread down his arm in a bright splash of pink so that she could remain on Himiko’s hand as he stood up. “Himiko is a pretty avid DDR player. So we were going to go to the arcade. I want to try karaoke but I’m not sure if that’s too loud a noise for me?” At Izuku’s curious glance, she flicked a tendril at the arm she occupied. “Fire and very loud noises. I have exactly two weaknesses. So, uh, don’t try to fistfight Present Mic in a Denny’s parking lot or anything.”
He would, uh, take that under advisement. It gave Izuku a very valid incentive to keep working out, though. If he ever had to tackle a sound or fire based villain, it was just going to be him and his fists. He’d have to make sure he was ready for that eventuality. “Okay. So station to arcade. Arcade to maybe karaoke. Food either at karaoke or after. Or maybe before, depending on how long we’re at the arcade. We’ll play it by ear. Does that sound like a good plan?”
Hopping up, Himiko moved to press her symbiote covered hand against Izuku’s until Ashido receded enough where she could interlace her fingers with Izuku’s. Ashido cooed and promptly spread back down to cover their joined hands, making Himiko smile toothily. “It does. Why don’t we get going?”
Evidently a pair of junior high students made a more tempting target together than Izuku did with just Ashido for company, because they made it two entire side streets before he found himself confronted by a sweaty, disheveled man wielding a knife. “Hey! Hey! No funny business. Just give me your wallets and I’ll let you be on your way. Nice and easy. Nobody needs to be a hero.”
Izuku and Himiko exchanged a look before laughing loudly at his words. Oh gosh. He had certainly picked the wrong pair of teenagers to rob, hadn’t he? But before Ashido could do anything - or for that matter, Izuku could take things into some pink symbiotic hands - Himiko looked over at the mugger, her eyes gleaming. “You know what’s better than having knives?” The man stared at the blonde warily as Himiko slowly let go of Izuku’s hand. Without warning, she lunged forward. She brought her right hand up in a fist, and then there was a curious wet sound as her flesh parted and two gleaming blades emerged from between her knuckles. She pinned the man to the nearby wall, waving the blades in his face as he cowered from her. “Being knives!”
Sucking in a breath, Izuku let out a delighted squeal. “Himiko! That’s your quirk? It’s so cool!”
Ashido sighed. “Midori. Focus. Please.”
He was focused! He was completely focused! On how cool Himiko’s quirk was!