Chapter 12
All Might's idea was the most expensive personal weight sets on the planet. They were completely adjustable and had weights from five pounds to a thousand, with resistance bands designed to quadruple that. Honestly, for anyone else, it was a completely ridiculous expense.
For Izuku, who didn't feel anything different in his body the next day, graciously accepted the gift for what it was, a versatile exercise tool that both he and Tanya could use. Tanya came over and they both played with it and the settings while laughing at the thousand pound weights. Neither thought it was possible to start with those and weren't crazy enough to try them.
Tanya used her quirk to check Izuku and she confirmed that he did have an odd power inside of him, and that's when she realized what that meant. “Izuku! It's just like my quirk! I always have it! I just don't manifest unless I want to exceed my limit or that of what I'm using!”
Izuku stared at her for several moments as that realization sparked through his brain.
Tanya saw the realization on his face. “Yes! You understand! It's a part of you and that's why you can't feel it. It's not a foreign entity that you need to discover or figure out how to use. It's you. It's all you!”
Izuku looked down at his hand and in his mind he knew that she was right. This wasn't All Might's power anymore. He gave that up and now it was his. He made a fist and could feel an almost acceptance from inside of him and he smiled.
“I'll set the weights!” Tanya exclaimed and Izuku didn't look or ask what she was setting them at. She pat his shoulder and he laid down on the bench and grasped the bar. “Ten reps. No slowdown. Keep breathing.”
Izuku nodded and did as she said as he hefted the bar over himself. He felt it was fairly light, so he had a hard time not laughing as he did the reps quickly and put the bar back on the hooks.
“Nice.” Tanya said and disappeared from his sight. “Okay, do it again.”
“Are you spotting?” Izuku asked.
“Always.” Tanya said and touched his shoulder.
Izuku did another ten reps and he felt the weight this time. It was manageable, though. He did ten slower reps and set the bar back on the hooks.
“How was that? Be honest.” Tanya said.
“It's doable.” Izuku said. “It might take me a while to get it to a comfortable rep schedule.”
“Then that's perfect.” Tanya said and walked around where he could see her. “Go ahead and look.”
Izuku sat up and turned to look at the weights on the bar and the resistance bands. He choked and sputtered. There were three hundred pounds of weights on the bar and the double resistance band was set.
“Yes, if you're wondering. You really did six hundred pounds of weight in a single set.” Tanya said. “Want to keep going?”
Izuku turned to look at her smug face. “You didn't help at all?”
“I didn't need to, you muscular stud!” Tanya exclaimed with one of her slightly manic grins on her face.
Izuku laughed and shook his head. “If I didn't like you so much, I'd swear you would make a great and terrible villain.”
Tanya barked a laugh and placed a hand on his chest. “Ah, but that's the secret of being a hero, my friend. Your power can easily be used for evil and you can hurt a lot of people with it. It's the choice you make to help that makes us so much better than those stupid villains. Their shortsightedness and lack of vision will always make them fail.”
Izuku looked into her ice blue eyes and saw the same conviction in them that he saw in his own eyes when he stared into a mirror. “Two more sets, right?”
Tanya nodded and Izuku went back under the weight bar and did the required set. They switched out and she only managed a hundred pounds before she started using her quirk to reinforce herself.
“Easy. Don't burn yourself out.” Izuku warned her.
“It'll help... me keep... my quirk working longer!” Tanya said as she benched three hundred pounds without the resistance bands. She was going for more definition than power, because her quirk needed her to be slimmer and lighter.
The could both do double their normal sets with their legs, and that's what they did. They took turns doing reps on the machine and rested, then they went for a run on the cleaned up beach. A lot of people had started to frequent the beach, now that it was completely cleaned up, and several of them waved and said thank you to them.
“Now that... feels good!” Tanya said as they sprinted the last hundred feet to the halfway point.
“The burn in our muscles?” Izuku asked as they skidded to a stop and he handed her a water bottle.
“No, the recognition.” Tanya said. “We might not be heroes yet; but, they know our names.”
“The fifty foot billboard might have something to do with that.” Izuku said with a grin.
Tanya laughed. “I've gotten more clients that have seen that than my paper ads!”
“Then it was all worth it.” Izuku said and put the empty bottles back into his pack.
Tanya reached out and ran a hand through his spiky green hair. “It really was.”
“If you keep looking at me like that, Little Deku is going to make an appearance.” Izuku joked.
Tanya blushed and didn't stop petting his head. “I'm still conflicted about all of this, you know.”
“What does Millie say about it?” Izuku asked with a sly smile.
“She wants to know if you'll pet her feathers the next time we hang out, just to see if she feels the same way when you do it.”
Izuku thought about it. “Okay, I'll try it, as long as she doesn't expect me to do much more.”
Tanya let a wicked smile appear on her face. “Oh? And how much more would you do to her?”
Izuku blushed and turned his face away from her. “N-nothing.”
“Oho! So you would do something!” Tanya said and her hand dug into his hair to hold him steady. “Tell me, Izuku. What else would you do to the poor anthropomporphic velociraptor that would be at your mercy?”
Izuku mumbled something and Tanya couldn't make it out.
“What was that?” Tanya asked.
“Her... tail. I'd pet her tail.” Izuku admitted, his face red.
Tanya blinked her eyes and eased her hold on his hair. “Just her tail?”
“Well... it's... ah... attached to her... lower backbone.”
Tanya finally got it and she laughed. “You want to grab her dino ass? Ha! Hahaha!”
“I'm just curious if she has one, is all!” Izuku said as his face went beet red. “She has a big tail and...”
Tanya was bent over and holding her sides as she laughed. “Oh! Ohhh! That's hilarious!”
“Please don't tell her!” Izuku pleaded and that just made Tanya laugh harder. “I'll see you back at the house!” He said and ran off.
Tanya laughed for a few moments more before she calmed down and started running back herself. She would occasionally chuckle as she kept remembering the terrified look on his face when he admitted that he was curious about another girl's butt. She came to a stop outside Izuku's place and used the towel he had left on the fence to wipe at her sweaty face. She froze as she smelled him and then she bundled the towel up and took in a long slow breath.
She wiped at her forehead after that, pretended that she didn't just enjoy inhaling Izuku's scent, and went inside. She used the house bathroom to shower and dressed in normal clothes for her, pants and a shirt, and went to his room. She saw Izuku sitting at his desk and writing furiously, so she walked over to him. She ran her hand through his freshly washed hair before she slid that hand down his muscular back as she bent over to whisper in his ear.
“You can pet her tail and even ask to see her butt for scientific purposes.” Tanya breathed into his ear and he shivered. “However, you do not have my permission to ever touch another girl's ass. For any reason. Ever.”
Isuku nodded his head several times.
“I'm glad you understand.” Tanya said and used her other hand to turn Izuku's face towards hers. “I may not have decided what is happening... or could happen... between us; but, I will not let anything happen with anyone else, either.”
“I would never betray you.” Izuku whispered. “You're too important to me to lose you over something so stupid.”
Tanya locked her eyes onto his and knew he was being sincere. She nodded and stood up as she dragged her hand back up his muscular back and caressed the side of his face. She wasn't sure why she liked the devoted look on his face or how her heart and brain seemed to really like that he was hers. She turned around to put her back to him and looked over her shoulder.
Izuku stared at her face and saw her eyes drop down and then lock onto his again. She can't really... no, she can't expect me to... oh, boy. Oh boy ohboy ohboy. He thought on a loop as his hands moved on their own. He kept staring into her eyes as he lightly touched the forbidden cheeks of the cutest ass he had ever seen.
He had secretly stared at Tanya's ass for years now and in his mind, there wasn't a sweeter feeling. He gripped the cheeks a little and rubbed them a little, never breaking eye contact with her, and he saw her bite her lip to stop the little moan she let out. Izuku knew not to press his luck too much, so he eased his hands away from her and saw her smile before she hid it.
Tanya didn't say anything about what just happened and went over to the bed to lay down to rest. She made sure to turn onto her side to let Izuku keep looking at the thing that he had not-so-secretly stared at for the last two years. It gave her a tingly feeling inside to know that he wanted her, even if he was only fourteen. She had stopped questioning her urges about things like that a long time ago and just let them run their course.
The problem was, Tanya really liked that he had been both forceful and gentle when she allowed him to touch her. He also didn't go too far or made her feel uncomfortable, which was why she hadn't said anything when he stopped. She had been fully prepared to berate and yell at him for mauling her, and he didn't. It was a surprisingly effective turn on for her and she hadn't realized she could get turned on by that.
Damn me and my affection for self-discipline! Tanya thought and closed her eyes.
Izuku stared at the cute butt that really looked like a heart with her legs curled up. He wanted to go and grab them again. His hands almost ached for it and his mind already had him half-convinced that it was a great idea.
Shut up, hormones! Izuku berated himself and tore his gaze away from the wonderful sight that was on his bed. She's on my bed again! He ground his teeth together and fought down the feeling between his legs. No! She would hate me if I did anything she didn't want!
He took a deep breath and let it out quietly, to not give himself and his dilemma away, and went back to work. He needed to figure out how much he could accelerate his workout during the rest of the summer. With nearly every day available and with so many hours in the day, he could rotate a full body workout through the weight machine's various functions every three days.
Izuku looked back at the bed and saw the gentle rise and fall of Tanya's shoulder. If I can convince her to use her minor healing spell on me, essentially accelerating my own healing metabolism, I could cut my full workout down to two days and start over after a short rest.
His eyes drifted down to her cute ass and he shook his head as he turned back to his desk and started fleshing out the schedule and the approximate times he would be busy.
Tonight after supper. I'll talk to her then about healing me. Izuku thought and kept working.
*
Tanya readily agreed and so their summer of whirlwind working out and studying started. Izuku had been smart and added in timely breaks where Tanya could easily make deliveries for her business. They had music playing on low constantly in the background while they both used their quirks to advance themselves and each other.
The summer flew by almost as fast as Tanya could and then it was suddenly the time for the UA entrance exams. They were as prepared as they could possibly be and headed for the main campus where they would be attending. Neither of them had any thoughts of failure or doubt, even as the time of the written exam approached.
“Well, this is it.” Tanya said as she looked at the large main doors of the UA building.
“Yeah. Finally.” Izuku said and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Gentle by their standards, anyway. He could crush a piece of steel if he used the same pressure on it.
“Out of the way, extras!” A very familiar voice shouted from behind them.
Izuku chuckled and let Tanya's hand go to step aside and turned to look at Bakugo. “After you, Kacchan.”
“Oh, it's you.” Bakugo said as he came to a stop and stared at Izuku. “How come you're so tall?”
“Massive growth spurt and killer physical training all summer.” Izuku said, truthfully. He didn't mention that All Might's old Strength quirk enhanced physical stats every time you used them.
“Huh.” Bakugo said and looked at Tanya. “Who's the hottie?”
“You don't recognize me, Bakugo?” Tanya asked, sweetly. She had outdone herself and styled her hair to keep it out of her face and behind her ears. She had cut it into a style that she said she liked and tied the rest back into a short ponytail.
“No. Should I?” Bakugo asked.
Izuku rolled his eyes. “That's my partner, Tanya.”
Bakugo coughed and blinked his eyes at her. “What happened to you?”
“Like Izuku, a growth spurt and the same workout.” Tanya said. “Of course, I'm nowhere near as strong as Izuku.”
Bakugo barked a laugh and walked between them. “You two quirkless wonders are made for each other.”
Tanya let him get ten feet away before she spoke. “Bakugo? I never told you that I was quirkless.”
Bakugo whipped around so fast that he stumbled backwards several steps before he tottered and almost fell. Instead of hitting the paved stones, he was suspended in the air with a brown-haired girl's hand on his shoulder.
“Sorry I used my quirk on you. I didn't want you to get hurt... or dirty.” The girl said with a big grin.
“Thanks for rescuing him.” Izuku said and he and Tanya walked over to them. “Now I have to ask you what your quirk is.”
The girl's smile didn't falter. “It's called Zero Gravity.”
Izuku poked Bakugo's knee and he started rotating in mid-air. He stopped him when he was facing down and then tapped his foot to make him rotate into a standing position.
“Release.” The girl said as she touched the fingertips of both her hands together.
Bakugo dropped an inch to the ground and grunted a little, gave the girl a nod, glared at Izuku for the 'rescuing' comment, and walked away.
“You're welcome.” The girl said and smiled at the other two teens. “My name's Uraraka Ochako.”
“Izuku Midoria.”
“Tanya DeGraff.”
“It's nice to meet you.” Uraraka said and shook Tanya's hand first and then Izuku's.
Izuku stiffened slightly as he felt the thick pads of skin on the girl's fingertips. “The pads let you use your quirk?”
“That's right!” Uraraka said, happily. “When I touch all five to an object, it becomes weightless.”
Izuku and Tanya exchanged intense looks.
“Um... what's the look for?” Uraraka asked, a little nervously.
“We need to ask you a few little questions.” Tanya said and directed her and Izuku towards the building that everyone was entering. “Nothing personal. We study quirks in our spare time.”
“All right.” Uraraka said and relaxed as they entered the building. “What do you want to know?”
Tanya and Izuku successfully hid the matching manic grins they had on their faces.