Kaminari: Wait wasn't the last Viridian chapter titled 'friendship' when he met me? Maybe he'll talk to me again and things will be better.

Kirishima: Hopefully.

Inko held her breath as she tiptoed back into Izuku's room and put his phone back on his pillow. Sure, the shower was still on, so it was very unlikely she'd get caught, but still, it was better safe than sorry. Whatever funk Izuku had been in for the past few days hadn't let up yet and Inko knew that she just needed to be patient and let it pass, but... she just felt so helpless. It was like when Izuku was diagnosed all over again! He'd just barricaded himself in his room and wouldn't tell her how she could help!

Midoriya: I'm sorry mom...

Inko: Oh Izuku...

She hadn't meant to invade his privacy. She hadn't! It was just that when she'd decided to grab his laundry when he got in the shower, his phone had started vibrating. It was obviously a phone call, so she checked the caller ID so she could tell Izuku when he got out! That was it! That was all she was going to do!

Mitsuki: Wait Inko...

Inko: Oh. Oh dear.

But then the phone had stopped vibrating and the screen had lit up with the missed call notification:

Denki Kaminari

3 missed calls

Midoriya: Sorry Kaminari...

Kaminari: No, I get it. Someone died and you think it's your fault.

Izuku didn't have many friends. Inko knew that. With what had happened at that school, it was a wonder he'd found the courage to make friends with Kaminari at all, but... had something happened between them? Even if it hadn't, maybe Kaminari would know why Izuku was so upset? Inko would even take him just being there for Izuku at the moment, so that he didn't have to feel so alone.

... So she may have borrowed Kaminari's contact information.

Midoriya(gasping): Mom!

Inko(burying her head in her hands): I'm sorry!

What Izuku didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right? And she could always apologize later! But Inko didn't know what else to do and it couldn't be healthy for Izuku to completely isolate himself from his friends like that! She forced her guilt down under a layer of determination as she shakily typed out the number in her own phone now that she was safely back in the kitchen.

The phone rang quite a few times before someone picked up, "... Hello?"

"Um..." Inko winced. Was there a non-awkward way to introduce yourself to your depressed son's best friend? "Is this Kaminari?"

Kaminari: Yup.

"If you're calling about my car's extended warranty, I have bad news for you." The boy said seriously. "I can't drive."

(everyone snorted)

Inko snorted before she could help herself, shocked that Kaminari's sense of humor was every bit as bad as Izuku had warned her about.

Kaminari: Aw!

Mina: Hey you're getting better.

When she finally managed to stop laughing after a few seconds, she gasped, "Sorry, I didn't get the chance to introduce myself. I'm Inko Midoriya, Izuku's mother, and I am definitely not calling to ask you about your car's extended warranty."

"Oh!" There was a scramble on the other end of the phone and Inko winced as something crashed. "Ow. Um, sorry! I could've sworn you were a spam call, so I was just trying to... well, kinda spam you back? It was just supposed to be a joke, but you're not! Not that I thought you were a joke, just a robo-caller, but um..."

(everyone snorted)

Joke: Nope, not a spam call.

"Are you okay?" Inko asked, holding back a giggle before forcefully reminding herself that her son's friend might be hurt. "Did you fall?"

"Um... no. My homework might need to be reorganized, but uh... I'm good." Kaminari laughed hesitantly. "What about Izuku? Is he okay? I haven't heard from him and he's kinda been ignoring my texts... which is fine! I'm really not trying to be clingy, not that taking to my friend's mom is really helping my case, but I'm just worried because I didn't know if something had happened to him. "

Mitsuki: Oh don't worry you're not clingy.

Inko sighed, "I was actually hoping you could tell me. Izuku... well he hasn't been himself for a few days now. I've been trying to cheer him up, but haven't had any luck. Did you two get in a fight or something?"

Hound Dog: No. Worse.

"Not that I know of..." Kaminari said slowly. "But, uh, I think... well, I might know why he's been so... well, not a friend, but someone we know, she... she got caught up in villain attack and she, uh, she didn't make it."

Momo: Well he's almost right...

Toga: Yeah he just doesn't know that Izuku thinks it's his fault too.

Inko gasped.That poor girl! Of course that explained Izuku's behavior! He was grieving! Why was he trying to go through it alone?!

Midoriya: ...Because... because I don't want you to worry.

Inko: Izuku that's my job... you've got to tell me these things okay?

Midoriya: Yeah... yeah I will...

"I know I was pretty shocked when I heard the news," Kaminari continued, "which is why I was trying to reach out to Izuku, to make sure he was safe and taking the news well, but uh, that obviously didn't work..."

Inko heard the water turn off and panicked. She needed to wrap this up, "Would you, uh, would you like to come over for dinner? I just feel better if... well, neither of you should have to be alone right now."

Kaminari: She's inviting me to your house!

"Sure!" Kaminari answered. "I mean, if Izuku is okay with it. I kinda get the feeling he's avoiding me right now..."

"I think he's avoiding everyone right now." Inko said sadly. "Which is all the more reason he should have a friend, right? Even if Izuku retreats into his room, I'll at least get to meet you right?"

Mina: Yeah she should meet her son's future boyfriend.

Kaminari and Midoriya(shooting a double take at her): Ashido?!

"Yeah!" Kaminari practically yelled, but he sounded cheerful, so Inko was going to count that as a win. "I'll see you later!"

"Good." Inko smiled. "I'll text you the address. See you soon!"

She hung up right as she heard the bathroom door open and she set the phone down as innocently as she could and started cooking, despite the fact that she knew Izuku couldn't see her and wasn't even paying attention. She had a lot of work to do.

Inko: Yes... I definitely do.

"Why are you doing so much for me?" Katsuki accused. "I'm just a little jerk who showed up at your stupid reform group one time. Why are you doing this?"

Currently, he and Ogawa were sitting on a wall overlooking one of the cleaner areas of the beach. Akiko had had work, a legal job this time she assured them, and Maki was on a date with his girlfriend, so Ogawa had insisted on getting ice cream and sending pics to the others, just to rub it in their faces. The two of them had, of course, sent appropriately enraged responses and promises to get pizza the next time they were gone, which had made Ogawa and Katsuki laugh their asses off. Overall, it was a good day, which didn't do anything to make Katsuki feel better.

He didn't deserve any of this.

Midoriya: Kacchan-

Bakugo: Stop I don't want to hear it.

Ogawa licked at his ice cream thoughtfully for a moment before humming, "Well, I mean you were there..."

"Haha, very funny." Katsuki deadpanned.

Monoma: He's being serious.

"No, I'm being serious!" Ogawa swung around to look at him seriously. "You were there. You went to the reform group by choice, not because anybody forced you to. Akiko, Maki, hell, even me, we had to get kicked in the butt and faced with prison to even show up and yet there you were, showing up every week just because you knew you wanted to change. Do you know how rare that is?"

Tsukauchi: Very.

"It's not that special." Katsuki grumbled. "If it's your fault, it's your responsibility to fix it."

Mirko(snorting): Blasty's got a point.

"You see, that." Ogawa laughed. "That's what I'm talking about. Most people try to blame everything else, but not you. You take responsibility for the @*#$ you've done and are trying to be better. I guess we just wanted to be a part of that, you know? Make sure you didn't end up messed up like we did."

Katsuki rolled his eyes, "You're not that messed up."

"Yeah we are." Ogawa's grin faded and he looked out over the beach. "Look, my life was never easy. Dad has eight arms, and Mom's quirk lets her change her hair and skin to match a bunch of different animals, but neither of them ever looked exactly human, you know? So we ended up on the wrong side of society before I was even born. It's hard to get jobs with mutation quirks."

Spinner(sighing): Yeah tell me about it.

Ogawa sighed, ignoring the way that melted ice cream was starting to run down his hand, "And then it somehow got worse when my sister and I were born. It wasn't like we could just inherit one of our parent's quirks, no! That would be too easy. Instead, our hair took on characteristics of animals that happen to have eight limbs." Ogawa gestured toward the tentacles on his head. "I got a gross octopus and I was the lucky one. My sister? Imagine having spider silk for hair."

Mic(shuddering): Yeah he was the lucky one.

Katsuki thought about that for a moment. He thought his quirk put him in a box, but having a quirk associated with octopuses and spiders? If kids were being nice, they'd call quirks like that gross, but most kids would straight up think they were scary. And if the kids were bullies, it wouldn't take that much of a mental leap to go from gross and scary to villain's quirk, just like that purple-haired kid Katsuki had saved from a beatdown that one time.

Katsuki took a bite out of his own ice cream, "That sucks."

Shinso: Mm-hm.

Ogawa gave an amused huff, batting away a bee that was trying to eat the melted ice cream off his hand, "Yeah, you're telling me. Arakune got the brunt of it, obviously. Kids on the playground would always run, saying that if they played with her, she'd summon spiders on them. She tried telling them that her quirk didn't work like that, but..."

Shoji: But they wouldn't listen.

Ojiro: Hang on guys... bee...

Jirou: Wait... wasn't Ogawa one of the instant villains?

All Might: Oh no.

"But they obviously didn't listen." Katsuki finished. He remembered so many times that Izuku would try to make a new friend from another class or something, only for their classmates to warn them away because obviously Izuku would steal their quirks, since he didn't have one of his own. Why were kids so messed up?

Shigaraki: Hey quirkless people can't steal quirks. That's sensei's quirk!

"The friends she did make were outcasts too." Ogawa scowled. "And delinquents. It didn't take long before smoking behind the gym moved onto shoplifting and petty theft and before long, I got dragged into it too. It wasn't like I had a whole lot of other options, right? It was either hang out with Arakune and her friends or try to get along with kids my own age and what middle schooler wants to hang out with the sea witch?"

Toga: Oh poor Ogawa. I don't want him to be kidnapped and experimented on!

When he sighed again, he sounded frustrated, but tired too, "Maki and Akiko have similar stories. I know Akiko's shared some of hers before. The point is, we're all kinda messed up. And then in walks this kid, obviously lost, who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty?" Ogawa shrugged. "It's like the golden opportunity we never got growing up. And then we learned you were a bully, and it's like... a giant (*^# you to all the kids that used to bully us, you know?"

Bakugo: Huh...

"Huh..." Katsuki didn't really know how to respond to that. "So it's not that you think I'm special or something. I was just willing to put in the work."

"Pretty much!" Ogawa shrugged and threw the rest of his forgotten ice cream in with the rest of the trash at the beach. "But, hey, don't let it get you down, we still like you!"

Mei: No the ice cream!

"Yeah right, like I even care!" Katsuki griped. "Let's get going. The old hag wants me home in time for dinner."

Mitsuki: Yes I definitely do!

Izuku was lured from his room by the smell of his mom's cooking. He didn't necessarily want to eat, he was still worried about how he was going to be a vigilante now that the hereos were actually going to try to catch him, but he was hungry enough to make up for that, especially once he remembered that he really hadn't eaten since the day before. He pulled at the hem of his Eraserhead hoodie, hoping it wasn't too wrinkled, but decided that Mom probably didn't care, considering she seemed to like the hoodie for some reason.

"Mom? What's for dinner? It smells really..." Izuku froze, "... good."

Kaminari: Yup I'm there.

Denki was sitting at the table. Why was Denki sitting at the table?! Was he angry with him? Had he somehow figured out that it was Izuku's fault that Kohaku was dead and he was here to tell him that they weren't friends anymore? How was Izuku supposed to deal with losing his hero friends and his civilian friends on the same day?! It wasn't fair!

Kirishima: Hey Midoriya calm down!

Uraraka: That's not going to happen!

"Hey sleeping beauty!" Denki grinned, bouncing over to him and pulling on his arm to lead him to the table. "Your mom invited me over for dinner! She's the best!"

"...Mom?" Izuku looked between her and Denki in confusion. "You invited him? How did you even get his number?"

Mitsuki(smirking): Someone stole your phone.

Inko(sputtering): I put it back!

"That's not important!" Mom said hurriedly. "What's important is that dinner's ready and I made enough for two growing boys, so you both better eat up, do you hear me?"

Midoriya: ...Mom have you ever touched my phone to do something like this before?

Inko: ...I have no idea what you're talking about.

Midoriya: Mom!

"Sure thing Midoriya-san!"

"...Okay."

Izuku didn't speak much as they ate, mostly letting Denki and Mom get to know each other. They got along well, which would be great if Izuku was sure that Kaminari wasn't here to abandon him. He didn't seem mad, which probably just meant that he didn't know, which was... wasn't that better? At least it meant that Izuku wasn't going to lose his only friend.

Kaminari: Yeah you're not.

Not that he was sure he deserved a friend, but he couldn't just tell Denki everything! Even though it felt like a betrayal and he hated the fact that he had to trick his friend into liking him, admitting that he was at least partially at fault for Kohaku's death would mean coming clean about everything, including his vigilantism and he just couldn't put Denki in danger like that. Maybe once he got in UA and was actually on his way to becoming a hero... but even with how much they'd trained Denki's quirk and his combat skills, he was still a civilian and he hadn't signed up for whatever powerful enemies Izuku had somehow attracted by sticking his nose where it didn't belong. Izuku could live with lying to his friend if it meant that no one else got hurt.

Kaminari: You're not tricking me! You didn't mean to kill her!

Or maybe Denki just didn't want to end their friendship in front of his Mom.

Mei: No it's not that! Stop being so pessimistic!

Hound Dog: Easier said than done.

Soon enough, dinner was over and Izuku started gathering up everyone's dishes, if only to have something to do so he didn't have to talk. Denki would probably be leaving soon, which meant that Izuku would finally be able to retreat back into his room and stop trying to hide how guilty he felt.

"Oh Izuku, don't worry about the dishes! I'll do them." Mom said, grabbing the stack of plates from him before he had a chance to protest. "Why don't you show Kaminari your room, since it's his first time here?"

"Yeah man!" Denki grinned and gave him a thumbs up. "I mean, you've already seen mine!"

Sero: Oh yeah right when he helped take out the glass shards from the whole... Endeavor incident.

Izuku tried to calm his breathing as he looked between the two of them and nodded slowly, "... Okay."

Izuku couldn't stop his mind from racing as he led Denki down the hall. This was it. Denki was probably too polite to end their friendship in front of his mom, so this was just a ploy to get him alone and once they were in the privacy of his room, Denki would drop the bomb. Izuku shut the door behind them and braced himself for the inevitable.

It never came.

Uraraka: Yeah.

"Whoa! You've got so many different heroes in here!" Denki's smile didn't fade at all as his eyes roamed over the posters and figurines filling Izuku's room. "I mean, don't most people keep to All Might and the top 10?"

Joke: Hey look Eraser he's got you too!

Aizawa: He's got all of the underground heroes he's worked with on a regular basis.

Izuku shrugged hesitantly, "Um, yeah, I guess? I used to have a lot more All Might in here but uh... I wanted to give space to some of underappreciated heroes? Yeah! Um, because All Might can't be everywhere and a lot of the heroes do a lot of work to keep everyone safe, even if they're not really in the rankings."

Joke: Yup and thanks!

"Cool!" Kaminari looked at one of the posters that Izuku had behind his bed. "Amplifier? I think I heard of her once. She's that announcer hero, right?"

Izuku nodded frantically, "That's how most people know about her, because she volunteers at a lot of hero events because of her quirk, but she's actually a really effective nighttime hero! She stops a lot of crimes near the bar district and keeps everyone safe!"

Tsukauchi: Yes she's surprisingly competent.

Denki gestured to Izuku's hoodie, "And Eraserhead? Is he a hero too?"

Izuku's smile faded slightly, "Um, yeah. I... he's one of my favorites."

And yet Izuku had disappointed him. Again. Eraserhead had looked so hopeful when he'd brought up that vigilante rehabilitation program, and Izuku had hated that he'd had to crush that, but then again, he wouldn't have even made the offer if he'd known that Izuku was quirkless, so he didn't feel too guilty.

Aizawa(groaning): Of course I would've problem child but then again if I did I would've recruited Nezu to help convince the Commission.

At least, not about that.

Recovery Girl: Again, not your fault dear.

There was a beat of silence as Denki continued looking at his collection and Izuku took a deep breath before hesitating. He knew he couldn't tell Denki about the whole vigilante side of things, but was it weird to just not bring it up? Like, it was kinda a big thing, so it was weird that it hadn't come up yet...

"Okay, um, I am so sorry, but uh, the elephant in the room is killing me." Denki said suddenly. "So, like, how are you holding up? I mean, I know it kinda came out of nowhere and I'm sure you saw it on the news, cause your mom said you hadn't really been yourself and stuff, you know? I'm, uh, I'm sorry, maybe you're upset for some other reason, cause I know you didn't know her very well, but then you weren't answering any of my texts and I hadn't known if something happened to you too..."

Spinner: Wait until he finds out Viridian's a vigilante.

Compress: You think he will?

Toga: I'm about eighty percent sure he'll find out eventually. Whether it's on purpose or an accident is another story