Stuck In The Middle

Chapter 24: Let's Not Go Too Far

"I guess this is gonna be goodbye for a while..." Kyoka said, hugging her green-haired boyfriend for possibly the last time for a few days. Izuku nodded and hugged the girl back. This was going to be a bit of a difficult time for them as a newly found couple. This would be their first time away from one another for more than a day, and as a fresh couple they wanted nothing more than to spend every waking moment with one another.

"Yeah, I'll miss you guys... Please stay safe." He replied. Izuku would have given the girl a kiss goodbye if not for their brunette friend, Ochako Uraraka. Everyone was saying their goodbye's, or See you later's, and as friends Izuku and Kyoka would hug, right? There was nothing more to it when in front of their classmates. Though maybe that decision to hide it would end up as a mistake. Unfortunately their goodbye was interrupted as Tenya Iida himself tried to rush past them without saying goodbye, but Izuku quickly called out to him while releasing Kyoka from his embrace. He wasn't going to get away with just trying to walk off.

"A-Ah! Iida-kun!" He called, halting his engine-legged friend. Iida swiftly turned around as a signal for Izuku to speak up. The greenette fiddled with his fingers before giving his friend a compassionate and worried look.

"If it ever gets to be too much and you need to talk... Just say something. We're your friends." Izuku said as Kyoka and Uraraka stepped up beside him, both of them nodding in agreement.

Iida's face turned into a pained smile. Izuku had wished he could say more, but no one but him could understand what he was truly going through. No one but him could say what was going on inside of his head. He looked down, but then back up to his friends with a smile that reeked of falsehoods and uttered a single word.

"Sure."

Izuku's thoughts were clouded with concerns for his blue haired friend, Tenya Iida. He looked as if he was going down a dark path, and Izuku could tell. He could only hope and pray that his friend would be alright, but there was no way to be completely certain. Izuku would come to regret not saying more on this day. He would wish that he did more to help his friend in need. To change his mind of the actions he would commit. The greenette stood in front of a run down building. Compared to the buildings next to it, this looked like a random demolition sight. Was this the right address? Did Gran Torino really live here? What kind of pro hero operated from this kind of run down office complex? The man was supposed to be All Might's former teacher, so what gives?

"Well, appearances don't matter right? It's what's on the inside that counts..." Izuku stated before opening the door to the run down building. "Hello? I'm from UA, Izuku Midoriya!"

Izuku called into the building before seeing a small lump on the ground covered in a red mess. Upon closer inspection it was an old man in a puddle of what appeared to be blood. Izuku's face paled and his heartbeat spiked as he screamed out in a panic.

"HE'S DEAD!?" He shouted, beginning to rush to the man's side before his tiny head popped up with a blissfully clueless smile, halting the greenettes movements. What Izuku didn't know was that he was going to be in for a troublesome few days of working under the pro hero Gran Torino. The man took a breath before he spoke.

"I'M ALIVE!" The old man shouted, who knowingly (Or unknowingly) scared the boy half to death himself. The old man was short and frail looking, with his hero costume being a bit old fashioned. It was pure white and yellow with a cape and black eye mask.

"HE'S ALIVE!?" Izuku shouted, questioning the morbid nature of this... Strange old man. Was this Gran Torino? All Might had sent Izuku to a total nutcase. Talk about a rude awakening.

"To slip and fall while carrying ketchup-covered sausage links... How clumsy of me!" The old man exclaimed while standing shakily. Suddenly his eyes shifted to the greenette in front of him; a new face that he had never seen before. "AND WHO ARE YOU!?"