Chapter Text
Flakes fall like fun filled confetti, welcoming winter. But, alas, Izuku Midoriya doesn't feel like there's much to celebrate this year, as neither himself or his alter ego Spider-Man, making that comparison lackluster to say the least. Slow, yet graceful, descending snow matches that mood. It's here and happening. It's just not quite as vibrant as it should be. The sky seems colder and greyer than usual this winter.
White lace softens the harsh edges of the city's rooftop corners. A sigh of wind soothes the scenery that would otherwise be commotional commuting civilians. Spider-Man silently swings through what should be a spectacular sight to behold and relish in. But, again, it just matches his mood. The world is going on. It's bound to be another year. He should be moving with it. He instead stops to perch upon a gargoyle and thinks about how Kacchan won't be there for it.
He hasn't gotten over the death of his– friend? He puts his head in his hands. He doesn't even know what to consider their relationship even was. They played with eachother. Then he was bullied. They grew apart. Fought. But in the end there… they were reconciling in some way. And despite their rivalry, they still supported one another when it mattered, for whatever reason.
He wishes he had one last talk with Kacchan. To set the record straight. But he'll never get the chance to have that talk. Just like when he lost his father and it was his fault. Or Naomasa. Or even Tokuda.
Spider-Man sticks out his hand, pressing his fingers to the trigger of his web shooter. But nothing comes out. "Huh?" He checks the cartridge, positive that he replaced it and shouldn't have already run out of web fluid.
Ice covers the escape nozzle. It's too cold. Like when pipes freeze, his web shooters are suffering weather related effects.
When he looks up, his view of the city is a bit foggy, and not just because of the snowfall. He rubs at his mask. His eye lenses are getting glossy. Another side effect of the cold.
"So that's why pros have two versions of their costumes…", he realizes that the need for thermals isn't ideal year-round but he could really use some right about now.
He wasn't getting anywhere very quickly sulking during his swinging anyways. He decides to walk the rest of the way home. It's not like he's going to get caught up in a blizzard or anything.
And considering the city has been peaceful thus far, he doubts there's anybody committing crimes during the most festive time of the year either.
Crime doesn't take a holiday. And so, neither does the director of the Hero Commission. It's no different from the time he spent as the symbol of peace. Aside from having extra energy to run around in a Santa suit delivering costumes to underprivileged children, Toshinori always spent this time of the season the same. He substitutes coffee for hot coca – what with his internal organs being damaged and all – and endures the weather with his usual work.
Only, his 'usual' work now doubles with UNusual work. It's no longer his job to take care of surface level threats with a strong right cross and a broad smile for the cameras. He now has to pay attention to the more crafty kind of criminal. It's his job to search corners and crevices where his old big clumsy hands could have never reached before. It's his position to pry into people's business and study things with a microscopic lens.
Currently, he's looking into the deaths of Katsuki Bakugo and Tomura Shigaraki. They were close together in terms of a time frame to not be considered associable. Bakugo's was certainly murder. Shigaraki's is being led to believe it was a suicide, but that just don't logically line up. There's something strange going on here and he doesn't need both eyes to properly see it's suspicious.
Toshinori discovered that there was a camera 'malfunction' during the time of Shigaraki's supposed suicide. So he used S.H.I.E.L.D's systems to search technology energy signatures for any singularities. Lo and behold, he found something. But it wasn't a quirk that disabled the cameras or a computer virus. No, he picked up a SUIT signature. One very similar to another signature. One he recognizes.
It's time to get Iron Man involved on this case.
Embracing the spirit of Christmas, Izuku's face glows a bright red under his head of green hair. He holds out the gift that he brought for Kyoka, presenting it to her with an awkward laugh. "I wasn't able to afford very much but I hope you like it.."
"Knock that off", Kyoka rolls her eyes over his humble nature but also can't help but smile because of it. "If it came from you, of course I'm gonna like it."
Izuku blinks, surprisingly surprised. "Really? I thought you seemed kinda upset with me lately.."
Which in turn shocks Kyoka. "I'm–" Her eyes widen before she blinks too. "I'm not upset with you, Izuku… I just.."
"Just… What?" Izuku notices the way that her shoulders slump and steps closer, wondering whether he should comfort her or if that'd be crossing some sort of boundary currently.
She looks over towards the other room where Inko is, before nodding that he follows her. They head to his bedroom for some privacy, closing the door.
Izuku pats the bed for her to sit down beside him. "What's wrong?"
Kyoka sighs as she sinks into the cot's cushioning. "It's Kendo."
Izuku stiffens, his body tensing. "I told you already, there's nothing–"
Kyoka stands back up and shouts, "You say that but your heart says something different!"
Which stuns Izuku. He looks down at his chest and holds his hand over it, as though his own heart underneath betrayed him. "..It does?"
Kyoka nods, tears prickling her eyes and threatening to spill over. "You hugged and held her… and danced with her.. And.."
Izuku stands up and takes her in his arms, trying to calm her down. "I'm telling you.. I might enjoy her company and how she makes me feel sometimes, but it doesn't compare to how I feel about YOU."
Kyoka sniffles, drying her tears before they can have the chance to get out of control. "You wouldn't rather be with her?"
"No", Izuku tightens his embrace on his girlfriend. "I want you, Kyoka."
She shyly turns her head away, her voice becoming a low whisper. "Then.." Izuku is confused as to why she's suddenly behaving such a way.
Until, she begins to uncover her top and he sees the purple lace bra underneath. His eyes widen, his mouth parting open. She puts her mouth over his, kissing him hard.
His hands slide lower down, past the small of her back. They moan softly, quietly. Until they separate their mouths from eachother in order to breathe.
"I– My mom–" Izuku glances nervously towards his door. Seeing that it's closed and that Kyoka doesn't care, they fall back onto his bed and continue what they started.
A human shaped rocket zips through the city. Thrusters from his feet help him fly at such extreme velocities with a suit that compensates for everything else. Iron Man's armor is state of the art. Thought to be one of a kind.
So when he discovered that there was a signature out there similar to his own, he became very … intrigued. In a world where intelligence can be boosted by a quirk, it's not improbable that somebody could create something similar. But it's still a potentially problematic situation. Especially if this replicated design is being used to murder people.
Fortunately, Iron Man's HUD system is an additional aspect to his suit, also state of the art. He is able to track the other signature and confront this matter head on straight away. All it takes is a little flying around the vicinity of the detection zone and he's bound to–
Be struck by a high concentration of energy.
He's blasted off course by a beam that sears the shoulder plating of his armor. When he regains control of his flight pattern, his sensors detect the signature coming from where the blast was shot.
A goblin-like visage of green and purple armor shares air space with him. Though it looks like they need a glider to remain airborne. They couldn't quite figure out the rocket boots part, maybe.
"Is that the way you greet people from where you're from? Where ARE you from, by the way?" Iron Man uses stall tactics while his HUD system scans the opposing suit for threats and weaknesses.
"Isn't that the question of the day?" The fellow armored character retorts with a rhetorical response while lobbing some sort of spherical object at Iron Man.
The scanning system in Iron Man's faceplate identifies the incoming projectile as a miniaturized bomb too late. It detonates and he's knocked backwards. His armor fortunately shields him from the explosion though.
"I have a few questions of my own, if you don't mind.." He's mid-recovery when the gliding goblin-like villain follows up with a piloted attack.
Iron Man throws up his arms, gauntleted gloves emitting an impulse covering to create an artificial barrier. The electrical forcefield deters the incoming enemy.
"Sure, but ask them at a safe distance, please!" Iron Man then returns fire with his own repulsor beams, and all it takes is aiming his hands.
The glider proves just as efficient as his rocket boots though. The armored villain maneuvers expertly to dodge the laser beams. "How did you find me? And who even are you?"
"Funny", Iron Man charges up the larger reactor in his chest core for a bigger blast radius, "I was going to ask you the same things!"
A wide spread of energy takes up the sky, making it difficult for the villain to dodge such an attack. Surely, Iron Man's beam hits them.
When the smoke clears, the villain is there within the blast zone – but appears unharmed. They dart forward and ram into Iron Man!
"How?!", the armored avenger braces for impact before crashing through a billboard and onto a rooftop.
The armored goblin laughs at the hero's bewilderment. A tap against their smoking chestplate piece gives off a metallic ring. "Vibranium. It's tougher material than what YOUR suit is made of."
Iron Man cocks his head to the side. He's never heard of such an alloy before. But what the villain is saying must be true for their armor to be undamaged.
"Allow me to demonstrate…" He just hopes that their energy blasts don't prove superior as well.
The armored goblin shoots a highly concentrated beam down at Iron Man. Iron Man reroutes all power in his suit to focus on defense. Armored plating amplification and external forcefielding fend off the incoming blast.
But the laser burrows through, breaking the defensive measures. Iron Man's chest plate is blasted and broken through. He's sent flying backwards, back padding scratching as he skids across the rooftop towards its end.
The armored goblin hops off their glider and stalks towards the fallen hero.
A metallic gloved hand reaches for Iron Man's faceplate and grabs it. Then, tears it off the hero's helmet covering.
Toshinori Yagi glares defiantly with one eye once having his identity exposed. Blood seeps out of his mouth. He spits it to the side.
The armored goblin pauses. Almost seems to … falter. While staring down at the now revealed identity of Iron Man.
Then, the villain raises up their gloved hand and primes another energy blast from their repulsor.
Izuku traces his finger around Kyoka's belly button, tickling her and making her giggle. They've been smiling and laughing and touching eachother like this for a while now.
But every time they start to take things a step further, or even simply try making out, they're interrupted by Izuku's phone chiming from the corner of the room. It just won't stop making noise notifications.
"I'm gonna shut it off!" Kyoka eventually climbs out from under him so that she can silence the cellular device.
When she grabs it and sees the cause of all the messaging, she loses all previous excitement to get into bed with her boyfriend. "It's … Kendo.."
"Huh?!" Izuku jumps out of bed to join her, trying not to look suspicious by snatching the phone away from her too hastily. "Let me see!"
Of all times and of all the people for there to be such a misunderstanding…
He enters his code to unlock the screen and view the messages. When he sees all the missed calls and the texts, his heart plummets even further.
"She's… She's saying All Might was injured and has to have heart replacement surgery…"