Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/6963121.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Underage
  Category:
      F/F, M/M
  Fandom:
      僕のヒーローアカデミア_|_Boku_no_Hero_Academia_|_My_Hero_Academia
  Relationship:
      Midoriya_Izuku/Shinsou_Hitoshi, Midoriya_Izuku/Todoroki_Shouto
  Character:
      Midoriya_Izuku, Toshinori_|_All_Might, Uraraka_Ochako, Bakugou_Katsuki,
      Shinsou_Hitoshi, Todoroki_Shouto, Class_1-A, Class_1-B, Various_Yuuei
      Sensei, Sensei_(Boku_no_Hero_Academia), Dabi_(My_Hero_Academia), Toga
      Himiko, Shigaraki_Tomura, Kurogiri_(My_Hero_Academia), Akaguro_Chizome_|
      Stain, Original_Characters
  Additional Tags:
      Deception, Third_Year_at_Yuuei, Bakugou_is_cruel, And_also_kind_of_stuck
      in_the_past, multiple_POVs, League_of_Villains, Consensual_Underage_Sex,
      BAMF_Izuku, Villain!Izuku, Multi-Quirk!Izuku, Fluff, Humor, Angst,
      Beefcake_Izuku, Brainwashing, Past_Kidnapping, Minor_Character_Death,
      Unrequited_Crush, Blogger_Shinsou_Hitoshi
  Collections:
      BOKU_NO_HERO_ACADEMIA_FICS, My_Hero_Academia
  Stats:
      Published: 2016-05-25 Updated: 2016-09-15 Chapters: 12/? Words: 69170
****** the distinction between hope and expectation ******
by kattenprinsen, Ramabear_(RyMagnatar)
Summary
     Five years ago, Bakugou's favorite nerdy victim vanished off the face
     of earth. Even if that was the proper thing for a quirkless, useless
     kid to do, he never quite forgot those bright green eyes staring
     resolutely up at him even in the face of Bakugou's violence and
     explosive quirk.
     The last thing he expects is to find the boy again in his final year
     at Yuuei- not just that, but to have him hauled into the middle of a
     fight by a group of bizarro villains out to smash All Might to bits
     (or something). Admittedly, it's hard to pay attention to a madman's
     stupid raving when your childhood friend (not dead. not missing
     anymore. still useless. still so pathetic. utterly helpless.) stares
     up at you with eyes that are begging for help.
     Yuuei hasn't taken his rage or his vulgarity away from him, but it
     has given him something. Bakugou is a hero. And heroes? They save
     even the useless ones and save Deku he will. He doesn't have a single
     plan beyond that moment, doesn't need one.
     Besides, when it comes right down to it, Deku has all the plans that
     any of them need.
***** a promise to save, unspoken, a promise to protect, implicit *****
Chapter Summary
     Desperate cry. The lightest burden. Redeem him. Your Father's trust.
Shouto tapped his toe idly against the concrete ground, listening absently as
Thirteen welcomed them back to the rescue arena. His eye caught on Uraraka, who
gave him a wave, a thumbs up and a wink all in the span of about two seconds.
He gave a slight smile back to his friend before glancing back to their sensei.
They’d gone to USJ plenty of times over their first two years at Yuuei but
apparently the third years got to go to EUSJ or the ExtremelyUnforseen
Simulation Joint.
It was, as far as Shouto could tell, about the same size as USJ proper.
Thirteen explained that it was a far more dangerous edition of the first area,
built to show the dire circumstances that cropped up during rescues-
aftershocks, flash floods, liquefaction, and cave ins. The area they arrive at
isn’t static. In a time of crisis, the ground is ever shifting underfoot and as
Heroes they had to be flexible to such drastic changes.
Thirteen has just started to assign their groups when a strange black mist
begins to form in the air behind him.
The Pro Hero turns at someone’s gasp and exclamation- Shouto identifies it as
Uraraka’s voice- and immediately Shouto can see tension in the man’s shoulders.
The black mist spreads out from an epicenter, swirling like an ever shifting
cloud and Shouto shifts his feet for better balance. Whatever this is, be it
another one of their sensei’s intense tests or an actual surprise and possible
threat, he’ll be ready to face it. He slides his right foot forward, readying
himself as something pale appears in the center of the blackness.
It’s a head. Shaggy grey hair that parted oddly around a hand- a disembodied
hand clutching the front of this man’s face- and Shouto feels his stomach
clench at the sight. He’s seen some injuries on his field training excursions
and one of the worst was the body smashed to bits under the force of an
oncoming truck. This man doesn’t just have one hand but several, at least a
dozen, clinging to his thin frame as he comes out of the mist.
Portal, Shouto thinks, a portal quirk. Who is this?
He’s not alone either. A dozen, two dozen people or more, follow him out of the
mist, brushing it aside like sheer curtains and fanning him.
A hulking beast of a, well if it was ever human it isn’t now,is the last thing
that steps out of the mist. As it does, the man with hands all over begins to
speak.
“Ehh?” He says, head swinging back and forth, one wild eye visible between the
fingers, “Is All Might not here after all? And after all the trouble-”
His voice is drowned out by the ever familiar, almost nearly constant sound of
Bakugou’s shouting explosion combination. Where Shouto, and others, linger and
listen to find out who the hell these people are and what they want, Bakugou’s
already made his decision on the matter. He flings himself into the thick of
things with firey explosions launching him forward and his voice rising in the
shout of “Go die you fuckhead!”
The monstrous creature-human (God, Shouto thinks he can see its brain)lurches
away from the portal with incredible speed. It’s so quick that he thinks that
he can see two of them, actually, but suddenly no one can see much of anything
anymore. Bakugou’s explosive hands land on something- possibly that creature,
possibly the ground or someone else- in the center of the villains (and what
else could they be, looking like that?). Fire and smoke fill the air, obscuring
everyone from sight.
Shouto coughed and brought his hand up to block his mouth and nose. Thirteen is
already on it, dispersing the smoke with a tiny ball of his quirk and he
dismisses it once things begin to clear. Someone on the villain side clears
away the smoke as well as he can suddenly see Bakugou’s blond hair.
Bakugou is surrounded. He’s still in the air too- except this time it’s that
monster creature that holds him there with one huge hand on Bakugou’s shoulder.
The creature is half crouched, its other arm protecting something small and,
from what Shouto can see, green. Bakugou twists in its grip, kicks at the head
but his strike does nothing. Shouto has felt Bakugou’s kicks- the ones he gives
in sparring matches are never as held back as they should be- and winces
reflexively. One of Bakugou’s boots to the face should have broken a bone or
something.
The monster doesn’t even flinch.
In fact, it only straightens up, lifting Bakugou higher into the air. This
reveals the small green thing- a person- that he was protecting.
At the time, Shouto had no idea how much that wide eyed boy was going to change
his life. All he knew was the boy stood with hunched shoulders, in the shadow
under the creature’s body, with one of it’s hands curled over him.
Shouto was moving before he thought of it. This boy wasn’t wearing some
stylized outfit. He wasn’t scarred. He wasn’t carrying a weapon. He might not
have been bound, but it was clear that he was there against his will. There was
horror in his face as he looked up at Bakugou. His mouth moved but Shouto was
too far away to hear him.
Shouto wasn’t the only one moving now. His classmates surged forward, even as
Aizawa-sensei went forward to attack. They weren’t fourteen year olds. They
weren’t freshmen. They were in their final year- they were definitely able and
willing to fight.
“Sensei,” He said to Thirteen, coming up to his side, “You said Heroes have to
be ready for anything in a rescue situation, right? Things are always changing
underfoot?”
“Todoroki,” Thirteen said, with a voice that said he knew exactly what Shouto
was going to say next and wanted him to not say it. It was a voice Shouto had
heard a lot, mostly from his sister when he was having ‘conversations’ with his
father.
“We have to save that boy!” Uraraka shouted from the other side. “And we have
to help Bakugou!”
“Kids,” Thirteen said, urgent, “This isn’t a game-”
“Right!” Someone else added, it sounded like Kirishima, “And we’re not kids!”
Bakugou’s voice cut through the air, stopping them from arguing. It wasn’t his
usual vulgar shouting either. There was a strange almost desperate edge to it.
“Give him back,motherfucker! Let him go and I’ll kill you quickly!” He had
gotten free of the monster’s grip, stood several feet away with villains all
around and blood, that was definitely blood, dripping down his arm and hitting
the ground. Bakugou didn’t seem to even notice it though as fires continued to
burst in his palms.
The monster held the green haired boy around the waist, up and off the ground.
The boy reached for Bakugou with one hand, the other braced on that arm, and
called out, “Kacchan!”
Suddenly it doesn’t matter whether or not Thirteen gives them permission or
whether or not Aizawa can save Bakugou on his own. That boy’s desperation
reaches down inside of Shouto’s gut and yanks.He finds himself going forward
again, ice forming like a shell on his right side and his classmates are
rushing up with him.
What follows can only be described as chaos. He sees Uraraka propelled forward
by someone -Iida probably- with the buoyancy that means she’s lightened her
body considerably. She lands just after Aoyama’s navel beam cuts through the
air and sends villains scattering. The monster one lurches along with the
others, keeping the boy with one arm.
While that makes it difficult attack it with full force, it also gives the
monster a severe handicap. The kind that keeps it rooted to the ground. The
kind that makes it easy for Shouto to send a spike of ice screaming across the
concrete and snagging it around the ankle and up the leg. Bakugou, in his
wrath, might not even notice the others arriving, because he’s screaming
obscenities and going forward again, bomb palms slapping against the creature’s
face, over its eyes. It lets out a low, grating sound of pain, reaching up for
its face with one hand.
It’s the same hand that’s holding the boy. Bakugou grabs him by the front of
his green shirt and yanks him free. He kicks off of the creature at the same
time, shouts, “Uravity!” and tosses the boy over his head backwards.
Shouto pays enough attention to make sure she catches him- (his mind will
replay, later on, the vision of that boy floating in the air, his hand held in
Uraraka’s, his eyes wide and shining with gratitude and tears, his hair
drifting along with his floating clothes and Shouto will wonder why he can’t
get the image out of his head- he’s seen plenty of people rescued before, what
is different about this boy?)- and that Asui snatches her out of the fray and
into safety.
After that, it’s all ice and explosions, it’s Tokoyami’s shadow and Kaminari’s
electricity and it’s the villains with their knives and weapons and their
flames and their mist. Shouto fights, not at Bakugou’s side exactly, but near
enough that they bounce villains between the two of them.
There's the hand guy, too, and he’s got a wild eye, a crazy eye, as Shouto
keeps him at bay with his ice. He’s stopped shouting about All Might, though,
and now seems driven to recapture the boy in green. His hand closes on one of
Shouto’s icy spikes and at the same time as Shouto tries to get the ice to
climb up his arm and freeze him, what the man holds begins to disintegrate.
The man rushes up to him, ice crystals in his hair, on his clothes, hands
outstretched and reaching for Shouto. “Give him back to me!” The man cries,
“Izukun is mine!”
Shouto grimaces in disgust, he skips back from the man, giving up ground and
hating that but he’s seen what those hands can do now. He won’t get caught
under them and see if they can dissolve flesh as well as ice. “What do you
expect heroes to do when you go around capturing kids as hostages?” He snaps,
snapping his hand against the man’s elbow to knock that dangerous grip aside.
“We’re not going to ever give him back to you!”
“Izukun!” Handsman screams as Shouto drives ice through his elbow, a spike from
his own palm.
A huge explosion rocks through the ground. It’s large enough that some of the
ice Shouto’s laid down splinters and flies into the air. He flinches back,
using his left arm as cover for his face. He’s about to snap at Bakugou to
remember there are allies here too, idiot!When he realizes that wasn’t Bakugou
at all.
All Might has arrived, his grin broad and his fist in the ground. Relief sweeps
through Shouto.
Handsman turns on All Might, snarling, “You’re late.”
Shouto tries to use that time to strike, because underhanded doesn’t mean much
when you’re fighting a hero like, well, Handsman. He just gets a knee to the
gut for it, Handsman tossing him aside with a dismissive turn of his head and a
grunt as Shouto tries to understand just what the fuckhappened. He’d been
fighting to disable or at the very least immobilize the man. He had assumed the
man was fighting back at his full ability- he was hysterical, there was no way
he could hold himself back!
And yet Shouto got knocked aside, winded and gasping as he hits the ground
covered with his own ice. He’s shivering, he realizes belatedly, shivering and
vulnerable and just because Handsman is done with him doesn’t mean some other
villain doesn’t come after him.
A girl with a wide smile and a cat’s eyes comes at him with a knife red with
blood already. “Ooooh!” She cried, “You are sooo cute! What’s your name?”
Reflexive icy armor protects him from getting his arm stabbed, but the knife
skitters off his arm and lands in his chest instead where the ice take longer
to form. Shouto gasps again, once more breathless. The girl’s eyes are
feverish, her face flushed, and she coos at him, “Give me all of your blood,
pretty boy! I’ll take super good care of it. Promise!”
Sudden electricity crackles across her body, surges down her arm and, through
the knife she holds, into Shouto’s own chest. He jerks as all his nerves dance
in pain and his heart stutters under contracting lungs. As the charge fades,
smoke rises from the girl’s shoulders and her eyes roll back in her head.
Shouto sees her start to fall but his own head turns away, his eyes rolling, as
he struggles to breathe, his heart laboring for every beat. Someone, somewhere
is calling his name, shouting something, but he only sees the bright blue sky
above, a billowing of smoke at the edges of his vision and then nothing but
blackness.
In the middle of the battlefield that was supposed to be a routine rescue
training session, Shouto blacks out.
 
===============================================================================
 
Ochako is surprised how tall the boy really is when she sets him down on the
ground away from the fight. His eyes are a brilliant green, made even more
startling by the frantic shine to them and the sheen of sweat on his tanned
skin. She holds his arms as his knees buckle from under him and he sinks to the
ground.
They’re well away from the fight, with Tsuyu’s tongue giving them the distance
they need for safety. Ochako smiles gently, kneeling down beside the boy. She
keeps calm, letting him hold onto her arms tightly as he struggles against
hyperventilating. “You’re okay,” she says, “You’re all right now. We’re heroes
here and we’re going to protect you.”
His gaze pulls away from the faraway fight and he looks at her. “H-heroes?” He
looks her over, “B-but you’re… Aren’t you my age?”
She laughed, “Yup! We’re still studying but one day everyone here will be a
real hero. So don’t worry about a thing! We’ll absolutely protect you from any
villains here!”
For a moment he gave her the strangest look, like he couldn’t quite believe it,
or like hearing those words hurt. But then he blinked and he gave a little
smile and said timidly, “My name is Midoriya. Midoriya Izuku.”
Ochako grinned, “I’m Uravity! Well, that’s my hero name anyway!” She
surreptitiously looked him over, searching for any obvious injuries, but other
than some dirt and scratches, he looked fine. Well, his shirt was missing a few
buttons from where Bakugou had grabbed him, but what could you expect? Bakugou
wasn’t a very, ah, gentle hero type.
“Are you okay, Midoriya? Are you hurt anywhere?” Just because she couldn’t see
anything didn’t exclude other injuries.
“I think, um…” he patted his chest and abdomen and then nodded, “Yeah. I’m
okay. Sore and uh, I’m definitely gonna feel this in the morning, but I’m
okay.”
“Great!”
He glanced past her again, “Um, don’t you have to go back to the fight,
Uravity?”
She shook her head. “My priority is you. Besides, my quirk is really good for
rescue types, but not so much open brawling like this. I’ll stay with you until
the Pros show up and can help you get home!”
He gave her another odd little look. “Do you…  Do you think they’ll just let me
go home?”
“Well of course!” She affectionately brushed some crumbles of cement out of his
hair. Really, Bakugou should be more careful with his explosions! “Your family
must be super worried about you- I mean, unless they don’t know you’re gone
yet, and then they’ll be worried but relieved that you’re safe! Besides, why
wouldn’t you be able to go home?”
“Oh. I just.” He hunched his shoulders, looking down. “I um. I’ve been gone for
a while… I mean…”
Ochako leaned in to hear his muttering. “Yes?”
“Won’t the Pros think that I’m one of those villains? Because I was with them
so long? I mean. I mean, maybe there were times I could have escaped on my own
but…” He worried his bottom lip with his teeth, “I was with them for a long
time. Longer than a few days.”
Ochako thought of the way Bakugou had screamed for the villains to let go of
this boy. She thought of the way he’d looked so small at first, like he was
eleven or twelve, not the sixteen or seventeen year old young man he really
was. “...How long did the villains have you captured?”
She puts her hand over his, squeezing gently. His hands are shaking, trembling.
Without looking up at her, he whispers, “Five years.”
Ochako’s heart aches in her chest. It reminds her of her first heartbreak- a
relationship that ended as sharp and as sudden as a flash of lightning. She had
had all these assumptions and then the reality had crashed around her and broke
all of it. “Oh,” She whispered back, “Oh Midoriya- You must be- Your family- Oh
Midoriya-” She sniffles, tears welling in her eyes. She hugs him suddenly,
tightly. “Don’t worry about that. Don’t even think it! You’re safe now! We
won’t let those villains near you again! I promise.”
He puts his arms around her, holds her tightly, and buries his face against her
shoulder. She can feel his body shaking in her arms. She runs her hand up and
down his back to comfort him. “You’re okay,” she whispered to him, “I won’t let
them call you a villain too. You were just a victim. They had you against your
will. It’s okay! You’ll be okay.”
She’s still holding him when All Might arrives with an earth shaking punch.
Ochako twists to turn and watch, Midoriya still in her arms, still holding onto
her, and they watch as he fights against the brain monster and the man covered
in hands. Other students are pulling back now. She sees them limping,
supporting each other, in their rush to open the field to the Pro. Satou and
Shouji are carrying Aizawa-sensei. Iida and Ojiro are carrying Todoroki between
them.
But it's Bakugou who catches her attention. His eyes are riveted to her and
Midoriya. She feels the rescued boy freeze up in her arms and Ochako swallows.
Bakugou's hands are fists, his mouth a twisted sneer, and he’s staring right
through her. He opens his mouth and she knows the first thing he is going to
say will be terrible and not what Midoriya needs in his life.
She covers Midoriya’s ear with one hand, holding his head against her shoulder
to block the other one, and glares at Bakugou. “Don’t you say a damn word,
Bakugou! Don’t you have any idea what Midoriya’s gone through? Those villains
had him captive for years!”
The others circle protectively around, some watching them, some watching All
Might’s fight, some watching the gate, some with the injured parties. Ochako
doesn’t pay them any mind. She might have been Bakugou’s classmate for two
years now, just starting the third, but it hasn’t really lessened her fear of
him. His temper might have begun to mellow, somewhat, last year, but it’s clear
now that Midoriya inspires First Year level fury in  Bakugou. He’s too strong
to be so impulsive, but Ochako knows he’ll lash out whether or not others
around him are prepared for it.
She has to focus completely on him, on him and Midoriya in her arms, if she is
to overcome her trepidation of her explosive classmate. Ochako promised she
would protect Midoriya- and that means from Bakugou too.
“Yeah,” Bakugou says, biting off the word like it hurts him to say. He doesn’t
even look at her, just stares at Midoriya. “I fucking know. It’s been five
years and eight fucking months since he went missing. I know that, you stupid
bitch. Why the fuck do you think I had to pull him away from that fucking
thing?” He jerks his hand first from his chest with I had and then points back
to the fight where All Might is, indicating where that fucking thing still was.
“Deku is fucking useless.Someone had to save his stupid ass from those fucking
villains.”
“You know each other?” Ochako hears someone say.
“Well then you should know better than come over here looking like you’re going
to hurt him too!” Ochako hears herself say, holding Midoriya closer. He doesn’t
resist her at all, is almost limp in her arms, almost seems distant to
everything going on, except for the steady rise and fall of his chest, except
for his one hand that rests on her arm still, firm and solid. “He doesn’t need
you blowing up in his face after something like this!”
Bakugou sneers. She’s always hated his face when he does that, hates the way he
shows off his teeth like a dog, but she’s never said anything about it. Now,
Ochako lifts her chin defiantly, daring him to press the issue.
Bakugou is arrogant. So of course he does. “I saved his damn life.”Bakugou
jerked his thumb against his chest again, “Excuse me if that means I want to
fucking make sure it was fucking worth saving in the first place! I didn’t mean
to interrupt you two as you fucking comfort him with your tits, bitch. I’ll
just fucking wait over here until you’re done babying this quirkless little
asshole.”
Ochako’s mouth drops open, snaps shut, opens again to speak and she can’t find
the words. She has never felt so angry before. Sure, fine. Bakugou gets on her
nerves but, dammit!, he wasn’t ever this bad! Where did she even startwith
this?!
Midoriya’s hand closes on hers and pulls it down off his ear. He gives her a
slight smile, “Thanks for the effort, but Kacchan’s voice can be heard across
town when he wants it too. Your hand doesn’t do much, Uravity.”
“Kacchan?” She repeats, blinking. She’s blindsided by Midoriya’s name for
Bakugou- she hardly remembers her classmate’s first name these days with how
much she really wants to avoid him- and it makes her look from the sweet boy in
her arms to Bakugou.
Bakugou whose cheeks are flushed and his teeth bared as he grinds them
together, “Deku,” he snarls out the word like it’s the most foul curse he can
think of. “What. Happened.”
Midoriya’s hand is warm in hers. He sits up a little, but doesn’t really pull
away from Ochako as he speaks to Bakugou. “Do you remember Tsubasa? From when
we were little, Kacchan?”
Bakugou’s head jerks back as though his spine was forcibly straightened. “Sure.
He transferred out of our middle school. Who the fuck cares about that winged
bastard?”
“Sometimes I saw him walking home from his school,” Midoriya says. His voice is
so much softer than Bakugou’s but somehow it’s even harder to listen to. “One
time, I saw him talking to an older man. Alone. He looked scared.” Midoriya
gives this abashed smile, “And you know I can’t leave someone to face something
they’re scared of on their own, Kacchan.”
Bakugou’s hands open and shut at his sides. “You.Fucking. Useless. Quirkless.
Little.Shit.” Each word brings him a step closer until he’s looming over the
both of them. Ochako gets her legs under herself, about to pop up and chase
Bakugou off but Midoriya’s still holding her. His grip is warm and deceptively
strong. “Always sticking your nose where it doesn’t fucking belong! What the
fuck were you thinking? You could have gotten-”
“Killed? Yeah,” Midoriya laughs. It sounds painful. “I guess so. I mean.
Tsubasa did, after all.”
Bakugou’s already wide eyes go wider. He pales and for the first time in
months, if ever, Ochako sees something akin to shock blanch his face.
“...what?”
“Kids-” Ochako isn’t the only one who jumps at the sudden voice. Suddenly
Cementoss is there, looking around at them like he’s counting them, “Kids, it’s
time to get out of here.”
Ochako blinks and realizes that they’re not alone anymore. Pro Heroes have
arrived to clear out the rest of the villains. The black mist is gone, along
with Mr. Hands, and the giant beast had been laid out by All Might.
Standing, Ochako helps Midoriya to his feet. He’s way taller than she thought
before, even when she’d noticed his height as they sat. The top of her head
barely hits his shoulder. Even Bakugou, who hasn’t grown a centimeter in at
least a year, blinks up at Midoriya in surprise as if he can't believe the
other boy is taller than him. Cementoss looks at the young man at her side and
Ochako remembers her promise.
She hooks her arm around Midoriya’s and smiles at her teacher. “Sensei, we
successfully rescued the civilian named Midoriya Izuku from the villain Mr.
Hands!”
Midoriya makes a muffled snort of surprise but bites his lip and doesn’t laugh.
“Ah, good job Uravity,” Cementoss says. “We can take care of him from here.”
Ochako hugs herself tighter to Midoriya and gives her teacher her absolutely
most shining smile. “Sensei, if you don’t mind, I really want to make sure that
Midoriya is well taken care of! He’s gone through a lot, you see, and I
promised I would help protect him.”
Cementoss’s face is hard to read- he’s so blocky it leads to natural
expressionlessness- but she knows what it means when he rubs his hand over his
forehead. “Uravity-”
“Excuse me!” Ochako jumps at All Might’s booming voice. He approached from the
side, scuffed from battle but still smiling brightly. “Did I hear you right,
Uravity? You addressed this boy as Midoriya Izuku?”
“Yup!” She exclaimed, turning to face the man. “Midoriya, this is All Might!”
“Yeah,” the boy at her side said softly, “I know. I’ve seen the cartoons too.”
What was strange was the way All Might looked at Midoriya, like he knew the boy
too. “Midoriya my boy,” and the way he spoke made it sound like he knew him
too. Ochako peeked at Midoriya, but his serious expression gave nothing away.
“May I speak to you?” A pause and then, “Privately?”
All Might gestured off to the side with one hand. This was the least boisterous
that Ochako had ever seen him. Worried, and growing more so as Midoriya gently
extracted his arm from her grip, she said, “Um, Midoriya-”
“Don’t worry,” the boy says, smiling, patting her hand as he steps away,
“Surely All Might can keep me as safe as you can, Uravity.”
Ochako flushes, feels her cheeks burn, because of courseAll Might can keep him
safe? What is she thinking? “Um. Okay. I’ll just…” Her voice trails off and he
steps away. She watches as All Might takes Midoriya out of hearing range, his
hand hovering near his shoulder. Their conversation looks incredibly serious
and she feels kind of bad staring at them so she turns away.
As she does so, she catches Bakugou’s expression the moment before he’s put his
back to her.
Ochako never thought she’d see someone so angry and, well, emotionally one-
dimensional look so… haunted before. However Bakugou was expecting this day to
go, finding and saving Midoriya was clearly not anywhere on that list.
She wants to know more, but her questions will have to wait. There’s no way
she’s going to ask Bakugou about Midoriya- not when that would just get her an
explosion to the face.
So it’ll have to be later. Later and from Midoriya.
 
===============================================================================
 
Midoriya Izuku was tall and broad shouldered. He looked more like a man than a
little boy but Toshinori has looked at that tattered photograph of the green
eyed twelve year old boy every day for five years and seeing him in person now
doesn’t change that fact. It just makes it easy for him to overlay the image in
his mind and see the boy he used to be in the man he is now.
And with eyes so hard, like malachite stone, not budding leaves like they’d
looked when he was younger, there is no more proper for Midoriya than grown
man. Still, he says, “My boy, we have a lot to talk about, you and I.”
Toshinori isn’t quite sure where to begin. Your mother asked me, personally, to
search for you when you went missing but I couldn’t find you? No, no, that
wouldn’t work. I carry a picture of you around with me, just in case I found
you while I worked in the city? But I never did? No, no, not that either. I’m
sorry I gave up? I’m sorry I thought you dead? I’m sorry I never told your
mother that I stopped looking for you?No. No. That was the worst one yet.
“Can I…” Midoriya says, preventing him from having to start the real
conversation, “Can I see my mom before you take me away, please?”
“Of course you-” He starts, then stops, starts again, “What do you mean take
you away?”
Midoriya gives a self-depreciating smile. He spreads his hands as if to say,
this is all of me, look, and tell me what you see.“I was held captive by
villains for five years, All Might. They would tell me that meant I was as good
as a villain myself. You’re going to want to know everything I know, right?
You’re going to lock me up and interrogate me, right?”
Toshinori has felt very few punches to the gut that were stronger than this one
now. It doesn’t wind him physically, but it stuns him mentally. “...We do... We
will want to know about your time with the villains,” he says, “And anything
you can tell us about them specifically will help, of course, but our priority
is getting you somewhere safe. That includes letting you see your mother.”
Midoriya glances away. His shoulders shake. He covers his hand with his mouth
and then whispers, “Mom… I can see Mom again… I thought I would never…” Tears
spill down his cheeks and Toshinori hesitantly puts his hand on the boy’s
shoulder.
Midoriya hides his face in his hand and sobs. Toshinori stands with him as he
cries and when he’s finally done, he says, “Come, Midoriya, my boy, let’s take
you to Yuuei. We’ll get you checked up in the infirmary and I’ll have someone
go pick up your mother and bring here to you. How does that sound?”
“Please,” Midoriya says, his voice trembling with his tears. “Please. That
sounds great.”
Toshinori beams and that five year weight on his shoulders finally, finally,
lifts.
 
===============================================================================
 
Tomura’s rage is echoed in the others that are gathered in the bar. Kurogiri
has put the actual bar between himself and the others villains, gaining enough
distance to keep his sanity. He aches from the fight still and a lot of the
others are far worse off. They lost nearly twenty members of the lower levels
of the League as well as the Noumu and that loss will be felt for weeks now-
But the one that hurts the most is the boy’s capture.
Tomura grabs a cup and throws it, but it’s half dissolved before it hits the
wall. He rounds away from the damage, looking for something else to turn his
anger against, when the screen on the bar clicks on. Kurogiri is flooded with
relief at the sight of Sensei, sitting in his shadowy chair, hands folded
together in his lap.
“Tomura,” that cool voice catches the wayward man’s attention like hooks in a
fish’s mouth and drags him around. “Your status?”
“They took him!” Tomura shouts. “They took Izukun! How dare they!”
Dabi, nursing a wounded side and with a still unconscious Himiko slumped half
across his lap, repeats the words under his breath. His frenetic belief isn’t
as burning as Tomura’s but, well, they all have a special place that bears
Izuku’s name on their souls. Even Kurogiri is fond of the boy. He can’t help
it. You have to be truly heartless to not care about the boy.
“And the others?” Sensei asks. “How many were lost to the young heroes?”
“Nineteen,” Tomura snaps, “Aren’t you listening, Sensei? They have Izukun! We
must go get him back at once!”
“Nonsense,” Sensei says.
“Sensei!” Tomura’s hands curl around empty air. “They stoleIzukun!”
Sensei’s voice is ice when he speaks next. Kurogiri sees it make not only
Tomura, but the others in the room, freeze up and listen and obey.
“If you think that Izukun could be captured by anyone against his will… Then
you sorely underestimate my son’s skill or the level of his planning.” Sensei
leans forward slightly, his mouth turned down in a frown, “Leave him to work.
We have other things to concern ourselves with.”
A long pause and then, “Am I understood?”
Tomura’s smile is as creepy as ever, Kurogiri thinks, but at least he’s
appeased and, well, laughing. “Of course, of course, Sensei. We’ll leave him
be. We have so much more to do before he comes back. We need to be ready for
him.”
Kurogiri relaxes completely then. Tomura’s calm again and that radiates out to
the others around them.
Good luck, Izukun. I hope we meet again soon.
***** unchanging opinion, unflinching resolve *****
Chapter Summary
     No greater rift. A sugar spun story. Two voices are better than one.
     Big verses Little.
Katsuki can think of absolutely zero reasons why he has to be in this shitty
little sitting room with his teachers when all he wants, really, is to go home,
ice his shoulder and bitch at his mother. Not that she would fucking
listenanyway. She had stopped listening to him sometime after he hit ten and
had flat out stopped hearing him by the time he got to Yuuei. At least, from
the way she rolled her eyes and nodded at whatever he was saying, no matter
what he was saying, that’s what he got.
So he lunged headfirst into battle. What, was he really supposed to wait for
his sensei to give him the all clear? They were already ready to fight, if only
in fake rescues, and he wasn’t going to get shunted off the field like some
first year punk kid. Besides, he ran headlong into shit all the time! By this
point he was a well known face around the disciplinary council room.
He could see when his teachers were pissed off at him for fucking around or
fucking with property or getting himself in over his head (though that rarely
ever fucking happened to him). They would glare at him, annoyed or angry or
generally upset with him. It was a common enough expression, a lot of people
were often pretty pissed at Katsuki. The expressions these ones wore right now?
They had a worried sort of proud look, kind of like after the first sport
festival, when he’d worn his medal to class for a solid week and taunted
Todoroki bad enough that he froze his desk solid. Katsuki remembers that with
fondness. Solid ice burst so well when it came in direct contact with his
explosions. Todoroki’s face when he’d blown up the ice fucker’s desk had been
priceless.
Thatshit warranted disciplinary action. It also warranted a celebratory ice
cream but teachers were never quite so forthcoming on sweets. (Katsuki made due
on his own, of course.)
All those looks he was getting were undoubtedly because of the fucking asshole
perched on the edge of the couch, a blanket drawn tight around his shoulders
and his head of shaggy dark hair even more wild and unmanageable than Katsuki
remembered it to be. Not that his memories of Deku were all that crystal clear
anymore. It was easier to picture that face on the flyers his mother put up on
the bulletin boards in their neighborhood than anything from his memories.
Katsuki had almost completely forgotten about Deku.
Almost.
Deku turned his head slightly, peering up at Katsuki from under messy bangs.
His hair was stupidly shaggy and long, like it hadn’t seen the right side of a
pair of scissors in over a year. It hung around his shoulders, tangled and
jarringly dark against the baby blue blanket that Recovery Girl had wrapped
around his shoulders.
He narrowed his gaze at Deku. Hauled into the middle of a villain-hero battle,
carried around by a giant fucking brain-exposed rage-beast, caught and tossed
through the air like a ragdoll and flung out of a fight under the power of
zero-gravity and somehow the unlucky asshole was fortunate enough to not have a
single fucking scratch on him. Not a single one. Recovery Girl had marveled at
him, in fact, making the idiot blush and stumble over his words as he muttered
apologies for being uninjured.
First of all, five years and he still is a weak sack of shit?
Second of all, hello, Katsuki got claws to the shoulder and a bruise that
covered more of his arm than unbruised skin did, but Dekuwas the one they
fussed the fuck over? Fine. What-the-fuck-ever. No need to get worked up on
that. He was resilient. He was properly bandaged up. He’d heal just fine on his
own.
“K..Kacchan?”
Katsuki felt his eye twitch. Goddamn. Five years and that voice- that inane,
pathetic little voice- saying that stupid, shittynickname-
“Kacchan!” A pale, small, too small, hand reaching up for him. The other is
braced on the deep blue arm of the creature holding him, holding Deku. Those
big green eyes pleading, tears on his face and all Katsuki can think is-
“What the fuck were you doing with those fuckers?” Katsuki snarls, stepping
forward. The teachers are keeping their distance, waiting for Deku’s mom, and
the police, it sounded like, before they really start questioning Deku.
Katsuki has no such qualms.
Deku flinches away from him -as he should, Quirkless bastard-and hunches his
shoulders, tight and small. Katsuki takes another step forward, looming over
the kid on the couch. “Well?”
“I-I-I didn’t-” Deku whispers, “I didn’t have a ch-choice.”
It’s an unsatisfying answer, but probably true. Katsuki has discovered a lot of
things that are true are also unsatisfying. He leans back, giving Deku a little
space and then asks, “What were you to them? Some sort of bait? A toy? A pet?
What did a bunch of fucking villains want with a quirkless little shithole like
you? You don’t look fucked up enough for them to not give a shit about you.” A
sneer spreads its way across his face, “I heard what that hands guy fucking
called you. Izukun.Why were you on such good terms with that hand covered
fuckface villain, Deku?”
Deku ducks his chin down and his hair, his stupid long hair that looks knotted
and filthy, all curls and waves and shit, obscures most of his face. Not enough
of it, though, not enough that Katsuki can’t see the red along his jaw and
chin, spreading to his neck. His hands tighten on the blanket he’s curled under
and Katsuki can barely hear him when he answers. “Th-that’s not… I d-don’t
know… B-but I wasn’t-”
“Speak the fuck up Deku, the rest of class can’t hear you.” The words popped
out of his mouth like they were back in grade school together. Katsuki can
almost feel that old rage clawing its way out of his gut and into his throat.
Everything about Deku was so goddamn annoying.How had he forgotten that? Why
had he even bothered saving this stupid fucker?
“Bakugou,” Aizawa’s voice stops either one of them from speaking. Katsuki looks
up to see the adults have pulled out of their other-side-of-the-room-huddle and
have returned to paying attention to the two of them. Katsuki gives Deku a
meaningful look -we’re not done, quirkless-and then steps back. He carefully
folds his arms over his chest, his shoulder pulling and complaining all the
while.
“Do I really need to be here?” Katsuki asks his sensei directly. “Everyone else
got to go the fuck home, why do I have to stay behind?”
“Young Midoriya has been missing for several years,” All Might explains with a
sweeping gesture of his hand to Deku on the couch. (As if Katsuki was not fully
aware of that fact. It was he who had the empty chair in his middle school
classroom for almost a full year, after all.) “We have his mother arriving
shortly and surely she will want to thank the young man instrumental in her
son’s recovery!”
Katsuki thinks of Midoriya Inko, once his mother’s friend, with a haunted,
hunted look to her face, pale as she pressed the smooth paper of her missing
son’s flyer on a bulletin board. The way she had stopped what she was doing
when she heard footsteps and turned, looked at him over his shoulder. The way
she had seen him, recognized him, and glared hard at him, as if it were
hisfault her shitty fucking kid went missing. (Ran away, Katsuki had thought at
the time. Ran away because he couldn’t face being a quirkless little fuck.)
He shivers. Nah. He’d rather not see her again any time soon.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Katsuki says, “I’m not doing this hero shit to be
mobbed by sobbing mothers and weepy kids. I’ll leave that to you fuckers.” He
turns on his heel. It used to sting, talking like that to All Might, turning
his back on his childhood hero but… If Katsuki wanted to be number one of all
the heroes, that meant beating All Might as well.
He was inches from opening the door when it swung outwards suddenly and he
stood face to face with the exact woman he’d been trying to avoid.
Midoriya Inko looks at him with wide eyes set in a pale face. Her eyes are red
rimmed, her cheeks flushed and she clutches a handkerchief between her hands.
She looks like she’s been crying. He stands a moment too long and for that gets
pushed aside as she comes racing into the room, crying, “Izuku! Izukuuu!”
Katsuki grimaces. He scowls even harder when a pair of policemen follow her
into the room and then slips out. As he does, he catches Aizawa’s gaze, his
sensei’s expression as unreadably exhausted looking as usual, but gets the
feeling that there’s going to be a one-on-one chat between them later.
Fucking. Fantastic.
 
===============================================================================
 
There’s a moment, right before his mom reaches him, where Izuku meets her gaze
and it makes him wince internally. He hates the fear that he can see all over
her face, masked only barely with the weight of concern and relief. And then
her arms are around his shoulders, her fingers in his hair and she’s pressing
his face to her shoulder as she shakes with her sobbing.
Izuku leans into her, putting his arms gingerly around her. Remember, you’re
not supposed to be used to friendly contact. This is the first time you’ve seen
your mother in five years. He takes a shuddering breath and says, just loud
enough to be overheard, “Mom.”
Inko cries harder. She sinks down onto the couch next to him and she’s shorter
so it makes him have to lean over. He doesn’t care. He just curls closer to
her, as if seeking her comfort instead of being the one to comfort her.
“Oh Izuku, Izuku, baby,” she cries, petting his hair restlessly. “I was so- so-
so scared.” 
She shakes in his arms so he tightens his grip until they’re pressed close.
“Mom,” he says again, “I missed you so much-”
“I missed you too, oh my baby, my baby boy,” Inko cries.
Izuku can feel eyes on them- that’s not unusual, really, but in this case he
keeps it in mind as he summons tears to shed on his mom’s shoulder. Pro Heroes
have seen tender family reunions plenty of times, he has to forget himself for
a little bit, act as though the smell of his mother’s perfume, her soap, her
shampoo, is foreign-familiar to him. Act as though he almost forgot it, as
though he’s not seen her in five years.
Ah, he thinks in the back of his mind, there it is. The emotional switch
triggers suddenly and his body begins to shake with his sobbing. He begins to
babble- he missed her so much, he thought about her every day, he was so
scared, so alone, so hungry,and he wanted her to come save him, come take him
away from the bad people.
“Izuku,” she says, holding his face in her hands. Her fingers wipe away his
tears, “Izuku, I never stopped looking for you. Never.”
“Mom-” Izuku can hardly speak around his weeping. He just hugs her again and
wishes that he could have turned his head to see All Might’s expression. He
reminds himself that there are probably cameras in the room and if he really
wants to see it, he can, later.
When he finally calms down, when they both finally calm down, it’s Nedzu, the
principal, who is standing nearest to them, patiently waiting to speak. Inko
wipes her face with her handkerchief while Izuku uses the back of his sleeve
for his eyes. Nedzu smiles, as much as an intelligent mammal can, and says,
“I’m sorry to interrupt your reunion, but there are a great many questions we
have for Izuku.”
Inko tenses, “He just got back. He just got rescued, and you want to question
him? My baby did nothing! He can’tdo anything!”
“Ma’am,” Nedzu says, “Even if he is quirkless, he was missing for a long time.
There could be all sorts of information that he knows about his captors. It
will be extremely beneficial if we can get him to talk about those villains.”
Inko gets to her feet, her hands fists, her body shaking, “You want to question
him right now? I just got my baby boy back and you want to take him and-and-”
She turns to look at Izuku, “Baby, I won’t-”
“Mom,” He says, gentle and soft. He reaches for her hands and takes them in his
own. “I should- I need to tell the heroes what happened… If I can help stop it
from happening to any other kids, then I have to.”
“Izuku,” she says helplessly. “Even after all this… You want to help others…
You haven’t changed a bit…”
Izuku smiled at her.
Sighing, Inko sat back down beside him. “If you have to talk about this, I’ll
be with you the whole time, son.”
Nedzu looked over his shoulder to the other teachers and the two police
officers. At his nod, they took seats on the couch across from Izuku’s, with
the coffee table between them. He took the one directly across from Izuku and
Inko, crossing his little legs at the knee. “Please be as accurate as you can
be, Izuku. The police here will be making an official recording of your
statements.” He gestured towards one of the cops, who was setting up a recorder
on the low table. “We understand that so much of this is traumatizing to you,
so if there are any things that you want to avoid talking about, just let us
know.”
Izuku nodded. He looked anxiously to one of the cops, a man with dark hair and
a friendly smile.
“I’m Detective Tsukauchi,” the man said, “First, we’d like to confirm your
identity as. Please state your name, age, birthdate and quirk status.”
Izuku nodded again. He cleared his throat and spoke, “My name is Midoriya
Izuku. I’m seventeen years old. My birthday is July fifteenth. As for my quirk
status,” he felt a smile pull at his lips and let it. “I’m officially
registered as quirkless but that’s… that’s not true anymore.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw All Might tense up, but he kept his eyes
straight on Tsukauchi. “During those five years… A man who had access to a lot
of quirks and had the ability to transfer them experimented on me with… varying
success.” Aizawa, standing behind the couch that the other teachers sat on,
shifted his weight and hurriedly, Izuku added, “One of the quirks put in me
makes my form unstable. You might have noticed it already, but I am constantly
using a form retention quirk to maintain my size and shape.”
Izuku pressed his palm to his chest and said, “I have an elasticity quirk that
makes me extremely, um, pliable? I guess is the right word. Basically, if I
don’t maintain my form through the use of my quirk, I kind of start to, uh,
melt?” He flicked his gaze to Aizawa quickly and then back to Tsukauchi, “So if
that quirk gets forcibly stopped, I, uh, can lose my shape really quickly and,
um, sometimes it takes a while to reform.”
“...How long is a while?” Tsukauchi asked, blinking rapidly. He was shocked.
Most of them were, Izuku could see. His mother too, though differently. She
clutched one of his hands tightly, sniffling behind her handkerchief. All
Might’s face was serious, however, and unsurprised.
“The longest time it took me to reform was a week,” Izuku said, “The shortest
amount of time is a few hours, depending on my exhaustion level. Um, I can
maintain it almost constantly, though, and almost perfectly during my sleep
too. It doesn’t take much energy to retain the shape my body would naturally be
in, if, uh, I didn’t have that quirk.”
“What other quirks have you been given?”
Here, Izuku glanced his eyes downwards, projecting shame and guilt and sorrow
with the tilt of his head and the hunch of his shoulders. He felt his mother
shudder at his side, heard her whisper his name heartbreakingly, but didn’t let
up on the emotional influence until he heard All Might say,
uncharacteristically softly, “Surely he doesn’t have to list them all right
now? He might not even know what all of them are…”
“We can come back to the quirks he has acquired after you answer some of our
other questions about the villains,” Tsukauchi said. He pulled a small notebook
from his pocket and flipped it open. “Let’s start from the beginning and how
you were taken, Izuku. And please, you can take as much time as necessary…”
Izuku brought his eyes up, fixing them on a point beyond Tsukauchi’s shoulder,
and began to tell the man, the heroes present and the tape recorder everything
from the beginning for the first time. At his side, his mother held his hand
tightly, silent except for her occasional sniffles. She had no questions, only
silent support, as he spun his story.
After all, she had heard most of it before.
 
===============================================================================
 
Ochako waited nervously in the hallway outside the teacher’s conference room.
She was alone, having been sent there by Recovery Girl when the elderly heroine
had returned to the Infirmary and told her that All Might had requested her
presence here. She tugged at her school uniform, straightening it even though
there wasn’t a single wrinkle in it anywhere, and glanced down the hallway to a
clock on the wall. There was only an hour left of school hours, although her
class hadn’t really had classes since, well, they made it back from EUSJ that
morning.
After all, they were supposed to have spent all day at the arena, working on
their skills. Instead they had had an extended study hall period, some review
classes, and a couple hours outside to work through the post fight jitters.
None of them had been allowed to go home early, though, and the injured ones
were in the infirmary.
Ochako hadn’t been injured herself, but Momo had gotten burnt, Todoroki stabbed
(and electrocuted) and a few others had been hurt too. She had visited them
rather than sit in class where an injured and absolutely furious Bakugou was.
(Better he was in class than the infirmary, though. Keeping him away from a
hurt Todoroki was definitely worth the stress of having Bakugou at his desk
with smoking hands and hatred in his eyes. Todoroki needed to focus on healing,
without the stress of the mad bomber breathing down his neck. Figuratively
speaking, of course.)
Her heart jumped in her chest when the door finally opened. A man in a trench
coat- a policeman?- stepped out with another person accompanying him. He lifted
his hand in a final wave to the occupants of the room and walked away with only
a cursory glance given to Ochako. She tiptoed up to the door and poked her head
around, “Excuse me?”
In the room was the principal, All Might and two people with green hair. Ochako
wondered if this was where Aizawa had been before he had showed up that
afternoon to herd everyone outside. Her gaze lingered on the strangers. The one
with curly hair she recognized as Midoriya Izuku, the other one she figured
must be his mother.
All Might gestured her in with one hand, “Please come in! There is someone here
we think you’d like to meet.”
Ochako walked in, shutting the door behind herself, and came over to stand by
the coffee table. There were several cups of tea and what looked like a tray of
snacks that were only crumbs now. How long had they been in this room? All day?
Since everyone had returned from EUSJ? That was nearly five hours ago!
“Midoriya-san,” All Might said, “this is the girl who brought Izuku directly
out of the fight after young Bakugou got Izuku free of the monster. She
protected him until the end of the battle, preventing anyone from getting
close.”
Ochako flushed, “I was only a rear guard, really. The others did all the
fighting!” The modesty was reflexive, making her anxiously wave her hands as
though to keep All Might’s praise at bay. It always made her feel undeserving
when he praised her, especially when she didn’t do nearly as much as he made it
sound.
“You helped save my little Izuku?” The woman said. Her eyes were red from
crying, her face puffy, and Ochako immediately thought of her own mother’s
tearful face when she’d left them behind for the first time to live on her own
for school.
“I did. Yeah,” Ochako admitted.
The woman got to her feet quickly and came up to her. She first took Ochako’s
hands, squeezed them tightly, and then pulled the girl into a tight hug. Ochako
let out a woohfof air as she was embraced, but managed to put her arms around
the woman. “Thank you, oh thank you,” Midoriya said, her voice soft, trembling.
“Thank you so much.”
“I had a lot of help,” Ochako admitted. “All my classmates fought off the
villains so I could keep your son safe. It was a team effort.”
Midoriya pulled back, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief. “Such wonderful
children. You’ll all become such wonderful heroes! I just know it.”
“Thank you!” Ochako beamed at the woman.
Turning to look at her son, Midoriya said, “Izuku, have you thanked this kind
girl yet?”
The boy flushed and ducked his head. “Oh- Really-” Ochako began, “It’s not
necessary-”
But Izuku stood, the blanket slipping from his shoulders, and he bowed to
Ochako. She pressed her hands to her face, flushing at the sight because wow,
he was really quite tall, and his face was very cute and his hair looked so
sleek and curly. He’s so pretty, she thought as he said his thanks to her. He
hardly looks like he was a kidnapped kid only a few hours ago.
“Thank you for saving my life and protecting me. I owe you a great debt,” Izuku
said. He straightened slowly, looking up at her and then glancing down and
away. “Please, if you ever need anything-”
Flustered, Ochako waved her hands, “Really. It’s fine. I mean. Oh gosh. I’m
just glad that you are okay! Especially since you said you were held captive so
long and you seemed so freaked out and I was worried you might be feeling sick
from the zero gravity motions! I mean that’s not really something a normal
human can adjust to very quickly and Bakugou did mention you were quirkless and
so I’m really just happy that you’re alive and unharmed!” She paused for
breath, a short one, and asked, “You are okay, right? I mean…” His eyes were
swollen like he had been crying too, now that she really looked at his face.
“I am,” Izuku said, “And I’ve felt worse than that before. Floating like that
was actually kind of… fun. I guess.” He gave a little smile. His hands twisted
together in front of him, tugging at the hem of his shirt. It was the same
green one he’d been wearing that morning. Ochako distantly wondered why they
hadn’t put him in some fresh clothes- clothes not given to him by a villain.
“Oh. Okay.” She said, blinking. He had a cute smile too. It really was so
unfair for someone so tall to be as cute as a little kid! “Um, uh.” She looked
to the principal and All Might, “What’s going to happen now?”
“It’s about the end of the school day,” Nedzu said, “So you and your class will
be dismissed shortly. You don’t need to worry about Izuku. He’ll be well taken
care of.”
Ochako looked at the young man again, sadness filling her heart. Were they
never going to meet again? That was the way rescues seemed to go and yet…
“Um,” Izuku said softly. He had his chin ducked down and he stared at the
table, as though he was unable to meet anyone’s eyes. “If I could… After the
tests in the hospital… If I could… I mean… I always wanted…”
His mother put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He leaned in towards her
touch and said a little more boldly, “I know that the classes have already
started this year and I’m way, way too late to start them but- I have quirks…
Quirks that could help save people and I- I always wanted- even when I was
little and couldn’t- I always wanted to be a hero. To help save people. And
now. Now that I’m back. Now that I’m free I just-” He finally looked up, tears
in his eyes and a smile stretching across his face, “I just want to be a hero
and save people like me. I want to save people who are lost like I was! So
please, please let me enroll here! There’s nothing I want more- I dreamed about
it every day! Please let me be a student here! I’ll do anything!”
Ochako felt awash with desperate hope. Just from the look on Izuku’s face she
could tell that this really was his greatest wish. Tears flooded her own eyes,
running down her cheeks.
I dreamed about it every day!
Five years. Izuku had been prisoner for five years. All that time…
He just wanted to be a hero?
Ochako turned towards the principal and All Might, “Please!”  She cried,
“Please, you have to let him! Please let him join us! Classes just started this
year and- and- Izuku-kun would be a good hero! I just know it! He’d help so
many people!”
Izuku clapped his hands together and bowed over them, pleading along with her,
“I’ll do anything at all! Please just let me study to be a hero!”
Ochako’s vision was blurry with tears as she looked at her own personal hero,
All Might. It was embarrassing to be caught sobbing like this, but she couldn’t
help it! If this was Izuku’s dream… If this had been the thing that kept him
sane through all those years of torture! There was just no other choice!
Nedzu looked from Izuku to All Might and back. With a sigh, he said, “All
right. We’ll set up a special entrance exam. If he passes, he can join the
third year class.”
 
===============================================================================
 
Night had fallen by the time Inko opened the door to her small home with Izuku,
tall and quiet, following her. Even though it was dark, she had seen quite a
few people staring. Of course, when All Might himself accompanied a woman and
her son to their apartment building, people were going to notice.
Even more so if said woman’s son had been missing for five years.
“Izuku,” Inko said with a smile, “welcome home.”
Izuku laughed and let the door shut, “I’m back. For good this time.”
“Oh Izuku, I was so worried,” she said, keeping her voice down. “I almost
called Father when I heard that you had been caught! I only didn’t because they
said you were rescued. Rescued! You! I was so worried, so worried! How could
you do that to your momma!” She fussed at him, waving her finger in his face.
She was so much shorter than him that it looked like a kitten scolding a great
dane.
Sheepishly, Izuku scratched at the back of his neck, “I’m sorry. But I had to
make it look real, didn’t I? And I told you I was going to give a surprise to
you soon!” He gestured to himself, “Look mom, I’m all grown up!”
“Grown up!” She pouted, “Is that what that’s supposed to be?” Inko huffed and
turned on her heel, “You can’t fool me with that get up, son! Momma knows
exactly what you look like all grown up!”
“I really am sorry,” Izuku said gently. “Please forgive me. I just… It had to
be like that or else they’d think I was lying to them.”
Inko sighed and shook her head. After a moment of silence, she turned back and
reached up to pat his cheek. “Are you going to stay around the house looking
like this? You’re so tall, Izukun, and what is with this long hair?”
“What? Don’t you like it?” Izuku blew on a lock hanging in his face, “I think
it softens my look up, you know? Otherwise my size would be too intimidating!”
“You don’t have to be so tall!” She admonished, “Little Izuku would have been
just as adorable!”
“Little Izuku is only good for distracting Katsuki,” Izuku replied. He took her
hand and squeezed it gently. “Big Izuku needs to catch All Might’s attention.”
Inko tugged on his hand, drawing him deeper into the house. “Fine. Fine. But
every once and a while, will you shift back into your little self? I like being
able to pick you up and cuddle you still.” She tightened her grip, although she
didn’t look at him as she took him to the kitchen, “Big or small, with a
thousand quirks or none at all, you’ll always be momma’s baby boy.”
Izuku stepped up and hugged his mother from behind, effectively stopping her in
her tracks. “I love you, Mom. Thank you so much. For everything.”
Inko wiped at her eyes, already tearing up again. She thought that she had run
out of tears when Izuku had first gone missing, but she had been wrong. She
thought that she had cried her very last when Izuku had returned to her the
first time, but she was wrong again. And here she was again, crying over her
son. She should have known better than to think she’d ever stop crying.
As long as she was Izuku’s mother, her darling son would bring her tears. Inko
didn’t mind, though, Izuku was her son and she loved him no matter what he did,
no matter who he became.
“Izuku,” she pat his hands, still around her abdomen, “Are you hungry? How
about I fix you up your favorite? You’ve got to get ready for that test
tomorrow, don’t you? So you can get into Yuuei.”
Izuku picked her up, hugging her tightly, “Yeah! I’m super hungry mom! Can I
help you make dinner? Can I?” He carried her into the kitchen like she weighed
nothing.
Inko laughed and only pretended to struggle, “Ooh, put down your poor mother!
Yes you can help! You’re a good son, aren’t you?”
“Yes!” Izuku beamed. “And you’re the best mother! I love you!” He set her down
in the kitchen, by the fridge.
Inko, still laughing, wiped tears from her cheeks and reached up to ruffle the
soft hair on her son’s head. “I love you too, Izukun, I love you too.”
***** the thoughts that linger *****
Chapter Summary
     Let them explain. Make first contact. Get that smoke out of your
     eyes.
Chapter Notes
     rama would like u to remember: alternate timeline, guys. some things
     have changed, like who is in which class ;)
The large lecture room was filled with whispering. Shouto stood off to the
side, arms folded across his chest. It had been three days since the incident
at EUSJ and he had made a full recovery of his stab wound with proper rest and
Recovery Girl’s help. A single glance told him that all the students of 3-A and
3-B were there. In fact, not only were all the students of both classes in
attendance, but most of their teachers were lined up against the far wall. All
of his class’s regular teachers as well as 3-B’s were there.
Well. Almost all of them. Aizawa, Blood King and All Might weren’t there, but
the rest were. They didn’t say a word to each other, but didn’t try to stop any
of the whispering of the students, either.
Uraraka bounced up to his side, hands clutched as fists and eyes bright.
“Todoroki-kun! Do you know what’s happening?”
He shook his head. “Do you?” His gaze flicked past her. Iida, Asui and several
others of his class, most of Uraraka’s friends in fact, were drifting towards
them. As Yaoyorozu came closer, he asked her as well, “What about you, Class
President?”
“Only that there is an announcement and we should wait here patiently for the
arrival of our homeroom teachers and All Might,” Yaoyorozu said with a shake of
her head, “So only the same as the rest of you.”
“What could it be about?” Uraraka wondered, “I mean, do you think it’s about…
him?”She glanced over her shoulder nervously, but Bakugou wasn’t anywhere close
to them. He was near a window, leaning a shoulder against it, with a good
several feet of distance between himself and the rest of the students.
“It’s been three days since the EUSJ incident,” Iida said, sharing that same
glance towards Bakugou. Even saying that acronym could be a problem, if Bakugou
were to hear.
He’s such a petulant child,Shouto thought before actively dismissing his not-
quite-rival-but-definite-annoyance from his mind. “You said that the principal
was going to give him a test, right? Maybe they needed that time to evaluate
him- not just from the entrance test but from the whole kidnapping thing.”
“Five years is a long time to recover from…” Yaoyorozu said quietly.
“Hey!” came a shout from elsewhere in the crowd, “Everyone quiet down and pay
attention!”
Shouto turned to look and saw that the door at the end of the room had opened.
In came their homeroom teachers as well as All Might and the principal. They
crossed the front of the room as students turned and shuffled around to get a
better view. There was a small stage and the four adults took it. The principal
cleared his throat and said, “Many of you must have heard by now of the young
man rescued during the attack at the Extremely Unforeseen Simulation Joint.
Some of you were not only present but instrumental in his rescue. The name of
that young man is Midoriya Izuku. Now that he is free of his villainous
captors, he has expressed a deep desire to become a hero. Yesterday, he
underwent a remedial entrance exam and was evaluated by the same heroes and
teachers that evaluated all of you three years ago.
“Midoriya Izuku passed.”
The crowd erupted in murmuring again. Shouto tensed. He glanced over his
shoulder to see Bakugou with his eyes fixed to the front of the room and his
body utterly stiff in anger. He didn’t even look like he was blinking or
breathing. Shouto grimaced. That asshole was going to be completely out of
control for the rest of the damn day.
All Might stepped forward, “You might have heard rumor about what happened to
young Midoriya. Some of it is true, some of it is just gossip! Remember, as
heroes you must learn how to discern fact from fiction so that you can act with
confidence in achieving your goals!”
The principal nodded his head, “It is to that end that we have chosen, with
Midoriya’s consent, to reveal to you some of his history. Please keep in mind
that this information is shared with you not to assuage your curiosity, but to
remind you that there are those around you that you must be patient and kind
to. Your responsibility as heroes extends not only to those whom you protect
but those who fight at your side.” He stepped to the side and allowed Aizawa to
step forward and recount the information.
“Shortly before turning twelve years old, Midoriya and a former classmate of
his were captured by villains. Both he and his classmate were experimented on.
This resulted in the death of his classmate, but Midoriya survived.” Aizawa’s
tone was flat, almost disinterested, but Shouto knew he wasn’t the only one
listening intently. “The experimentation in Midoriya resulted in his
acquisition of multiple quirks. For the five years he was held captive, many
quirks were given and taken from him and he was tested endlessly on their
strengths, weaknesses and uses. It is unknown just how many quirks he has now,
although he will be spending time with faculty discovering just what he has
access to.”
One of the students raised her hand but immediately asked as soon as she did,
“Are you really letting him into Yuuei? Isn’t seventeen a little old for the
first year classes?”
Aizawa gave her a blank stare, “...He tested high enough to pass the written
exams that are at your level. Midoriya will be attending a third year class. He
will be in 3-B, along with Blood King.”
The room erupted in shouting, some of it dismay, some of it simple surprise.
Uraraka was one of the dismayed. “I was hoping he’d be able to join our class!”
she whispered, frowning.
“Certainly our teachers are aware of Bakugou’s reaction to… him.” Iida said,
cautious as ever, “Putting him in 3-B will assure some distance between the two
of them.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Shouto admitted, “I certainly don’t want to be stuck
in the same classroom as the pair of them. Can you imagine? It’d be like
Bakugou was fifteen all over again. No thanks.”
“But Izuku-kun is so cute!” Uraraka said, “I wanted him in our class! 3-B can
have Bakugou instead!”
“...don’t you like girls?” Shouto asked her.
“Shut up,” She snapped, “Izuku-kun is differentlycute. I’m not interested in
him like that.”
“We are all aware that this is a very unusual circumstance!” All Might’s voice
rose above the shouting and the students quieted down. “But Midoriya is quite
the unusual young man. His drive to be a hero is no less strong than any of
you! You must do your best to welcome him back into this world, as he has been
left alone and mistreated for many years! Many of the experiences you all went
through these last few years, not just as students but as teenagers are foreign
to him. He will rely on all of you to help adjust him back into this world
after so long in the darkness.”
Shouto felt a strange clenching in his chest. Had Midoriya really consented to
all this being revealed about his past? Was he really accepting the figure that
was being portrayed? Shouto could close his eyes and still see that boy, made
of green, covered in green, floating in the air under Uraraka’s touch. He had
been, in that moment, bathed in sunlight, without a drop of this darkness on
him.
The boy that All Might spoke of sounded like a cowering child, unable to speak,
to move, to act on his own. Like a child thrust too soon into the cruel adult
world-
Like a boy that was constructed for a purposeand not allowed, even once, to be
just himself.
The whispering was back, but Shouto could tell they were accepting of Midoriya
without having to really listen to the words. He felt cold, colder than normal,
and flexed his right arm. There was stiffness in his sleeve and he crushed the
use of his quirk without a second thought. To have such a reaction to just
hearing about Midoriya’s life…
Shouto wasn’t sure if he wanted to meet the other boy at once or avoid him at
all costs.
Suddenly, at his side, Uraraka was floating above the crowd, “All Might!” She
called, “Sensei! When is Izuku-kun going to join us at school? Is he going to
be here today? Tomorrow? When!?” There was concern in her voice, clear as a
bell.
“He will join the regular classes this afternoon,” was the reply. “You all have
the morning to come to terms with this information. Remember, though he may
smile and seem just normal, there is a lot of pain inside that boy. All of you
can help bring out the light in him if you do your very best work, young
heroes!”
A cheer went up but Shouto’s voice didn’t join it.
Do I want to see him? A boy who is… A boy who was an experiment like me?
What kind of purpose was he made for?
 
===============================================================================
 
Standing outside the classroom door, Izuku took in a deep breath and then let
it out slowly. He straightened his shoulders, gave himself a little nod and
then lifted up his hand for the handle. This is it, he thought, this is the
beginning.
Well actually, he amended as he pulled open the door. It started a long time
ago, didn’t it? This is just where I finally get to start gathering all my
pieces…He ducked his head slightly as he edged into the room, letting his
straightened shoulder sag slightly to display are more shy posture.
Blood King, the homeroom teacher for 3-B, greeted him with a broad grin.
“Class,” he said, “Here is our newest student. Please come introduce yourself.”
The staring was something he was going to have to get used to, it seemed. Izuku
hesitated on his first step but then, slowly, made it to the front of the room.
He let his gaze sweep over the class before glancing down. He didn’t let it
linger on a single person for more than a second, not wanting to give anything
away yet. Instead, he bowed quickly.
“My name is Midoriya Izuku,” He said quickly. “I apologize in advance for being
kind of, um, awkward but I’ve… I’ve not gone to school since I was twelve. I’m
really looking forward to making friends and, uh, doing fun things like regular
people do!” He looked over the room again, this time making sure everyone was
paying attention to him. Assured that they were, he gave his broadest, most
dazzling smile. Along with the expression he projected as much cheerful
determination as he could. “Please, take good care of me!”
In the silence that followed, Izuku counted twelve blushing expressions, but
only one of them mattered. He glanced to Blood King, lowering his bright smile
to a softer one. “Which seat is mine?”
“Ah… any that are empty…” The teacher said. He gestured to the room. Izuku
nodded and shuffled down the aisle towards the middle and back. He took an
empty seat between two other boys, settling in a little awkwardly. Maybe he
hadn’t thought through his whole ‘way fucking tall’ plan… The seat was smaller
than he’d like and the desk too…
“Hey,” said the boy on his left. “You sure about that seat, Midoriya?”
Izuku blinked and looked up. “Who are you?”
The girl sitting in front of the boy turned around and frowned at him. “Sen,
introduce yourself first!”
“Kaibara Sen,” the dark haired boy said, “And really, you could sit on the
other side of me if you want to stay in the back, dude.”
“I like this spot,” Izuku said. The spot was fine. The chair was annoying. He
could probably fix that later though. “What’s wrong with it?”
Kaibara looked past him. Izuku turned to look at the other boy, on his right.
Immeasurably tired eyes blinked back at him, set in a face that bore only the
tiniest hint of pink from that initial smile charm used on the whole class. He
had his chin in his palm, his head turned towards Izuku and Kaibara.
“Oh,” Izuku said. “Hello. It’s Shinsou Hitoshi, right?”
Kaibara made a startled noise. Both of Shinsou’s brows lifted. He nodded his
head once.
Izuku smiled. “I’m Midoriya Izuku. It’s so nice to meet you. Let’s be friends
from now on!”
Several more students turned around in their seat abruptly. In front of him,
the student with a speech bubble for a head had at least a dozen exclamation
points pop up. The girl from before audibly gasped. Izuku looked around and
asked, “What? Isn’t that how people make friends?”
“You don’t just ask like that,” Kaibara said, leaning over, lowering his voice.
“I mean, like, little kids do that!”
That got his desk shoved at by the girl in front of him. She had grown a size
or two as well, Izuku noticed. He looked at her and asked, “What’s your name?”
She blinked in surprise and then said, “Kodai Yui.” The student in front of
Izuku turned and introduced himself as well, his name appearing on his face as
Fukudashi Manga.No one sat in front of Shinsou, though, and there was no one
else behind them.
“Nice to meet you two also!” Izuku said cheerfully. “Let’s be- Oh. Um. Instead
of asking to be friends? What do I do?” He looked at the four students around
him for suggestions.
Let’s be friends works for me!Fukudashi’s face, or what worked as a face as far
as Izuku could guess, displayed a thumbs up shortly after that message. Izuku
mimicked the gesture back to him.
Kodai rolled her eyes and did it too, “I’m fine with that.”
Kaibara gave him a double thumbs up. “Nice to meet you too, Midoriya.” He gave
a nervous glance again to Shinsou. “But uh, if you know who that is… Are you
really sure…”
“This seat is fine.” Izuku insisted. “Well, I mean it’s a little small…” He
glanced to Shinsou, “You’re tall too, right? Doesn’t it feel like these desks
are a little small? Huh?”
Shinsou blinked at him in silence. His brows still hadn’t come down. Izuku
leaned over and whispered, “Is your desk not too small? Should I talk to
someone about it? Or do we just sit with it like this? Is it some sort of
test?”
“Dude, really, he’s not going to talk to you.” Kaibara said, “Shinsou doesn’t
talk in class unless a teacher directly calls on him.”
Izuku frowned thoughtfully at this, “So you only talk when you’re responding to
people, but no one needs to respond to you?”
Shinsou shrugged a shoulder, but his brows came down. For using strictly non
verbal communication, his face is considerably blank, Izuku noted. He’s making
it hard to read his expression on purpose, not to mention the fact that he
could possibly use sign language in placement of verbal dialogue- unless-
Izuku was pulling out one of his notebooks without thinking about it, flipping
to a page half filled with notes as he asked Shinsou, “Does your quirk only
work through your voice or are you able to instigate control over others with
gestures as well? Specifically, I’m asking if you’ve ever attempted sign
language as a way of using your quirk.”
“Uhh…” That was Kodai, Izuku noted absently, basing that on the position and
sound of her voice.
Shinsou sat up straight at his question. Izuku couldn’t tell if that was
because of what kind of question he had asked or because he had asked it at
all. He wrote down both possibilities in his notebook, along with a few quick
observations.
“Dude,” Kaibara said in undertone, as if trying to prevent Shinsou from
hearing. Izuku wanted to turn around and tell him not to bother, but, well, it
would probably come out a little too sharply edged. “Are you tryingto get him
to brainwash you?”
At this, Izuku did turn around. He knows his smile is knife sharp just from the
way Kodai and Kaibara both sit back in their seats, eyes going wide. “After
what I went through to get here, to this seat right now, do you think that I
wantto be brainwashed?” He let that settle for a moment before letting his
smile soften into something kinder. “Besides, it’s not like Shinsou would use
his quirk on me. I’ve known him for barely five minutes and he’s done literally
everything he can to ensure that he doesn’t even accidentally use his quirk on
me or anyone else around.”
Fukudashi’s got a shadow and a sweatdrop on his face, but both quickly fade
when Izuku glances to him. He turns back around, though Izuku can tell from his
hunched shoulders that he’s been affected by those words. Looking to Shinsou,
he said, “Sorry for asking you those questions. Old habits die hard, you know?
I used to study heroes when I was little. I wrote all about them in notebooks.
Their strengths, weaknesses, costumes and changes made to their outfits. Even
favorite foods or colors when I found them out. Being home again… It brings it
all back.”
Shinsou didn’t say anything, but this time he turned his head away. Izuku
sighed, wrote a note to himself in his book and turned the page.
Getting Shinsou on his side wasn’t going to be very easy at all.
But if it were, where would be the fun in that? The game is pointless if there
isn’t any challenge…
 
===============================================================================
 
After the final bell rang, students poured out of Yuuei, chattering loudly in
the hallways and out the door. Hitoshi moved slowly through the flood, his bag
a solid weight on his shoulder, his hands tucked loosely into his pockets and a
yawn begging to come out. He indulged in the gesture, covering his mouth with
his hand and ignored the way it made a couple of girls from one of the other
classes look at him funny.
As if there were anything funny about being feared by your own schoolmates,
that is. He took his normal route out the school, the quickest one down the
stairs and to the front gate. Already he was tallying up the homework he would
have to do, the training he wanted to accomplish and how he was going to spend
his few free hours that night before passing out at last.
If he was lucky, he’d get a few decent hours. If he wasn’t, he’d get one or two
good ones and the rest filled with those wonky dreams.
Hitoshi rubbed at his eyes, pausing so he wouldn’t end up tripping over himself
or anyone else. When he finished he was only more tired than before and the
press of people even worse. He allowed himself to be swept up into it and
carried outside.
The crowd didn’t disperse like it usually did, however. There was something
holding it back. Taller than some of the other students, Hitoshi had a pretty
good view of the mild explosion that went off at the edge of the group.
Like most of the other students at Yuuei, Hitoshi had a pretty good
understanding on different types of explosions and what level of danger they
presented. Not only was that kind of information useful out in the field as a
hero, but it had a special significance to one of the top students of the
school: Bakugou Katsuki.
The smoke that rose from the small plume of fire signified that Bakugou was
well and truly pissed. The crowd of students circled around the scene, parting
like water around an immovable rock in the center of a river. Some continued
on, but others were like Hitoshi. They clustered at the edge, watching
curiously, as Bakugou tormented another student.
Who has he got now?  The smoke was clearing at last to reveal-
Midoriya.
Who stood a good four inches taller than Bakugou, with one arm upraised to
cover his face from the smoke and flame. Bakugou had a fistful of his uniform
shirt, one of the lapels and the tie it looked like, and he was pulling hard on
it. Hitoshi was close enough that he could see the flexing pulling Bakugou’s
uniform tight across his arm and shoulder, but…
Midoriya wasn’t even budging. He lowered his arm slowly, a solemn expression on
his face, and he said, “I’m sorry, Kacchan-”
“I said for you to stop fucking calling me that.”Bakugou snarled. His free hand
was smoldering, more smoke rising. “We’re not little kids anymore, you dumb
fuck.”
“But, Kacchan-”
“WHAT DID I JUST FUCKING SAY!” That hand came up, fire blossoming and-
Nothing.
No fire. No smoke. Nothing.
Bakugou jerked his hand back, staring at it like it betrayed him. Midoriya had
both of his hands up in a defensive gesture, but… there was nothing in them
either. An audible gasp rose from the crowd.
“How did you-” Bakugou began, “What the fuck did you just fucking do you little
shit!” He shoved his hand back against Midoriya’s chest, but while he had to
stagger back from the motion, Midoriya only shifted a foot back to brace
himself.
“How about we make a little deal?” Midoriya asked, hands still up, giving a
little smile. “You don’t use your quirk on me and I don’t call you that name
anymore. Does that sound fair?”
“You don’t have any fucking right to make any goddamn dealswith me you
quirkless-” Bakugou’s words stopped in his throat. His eyes were wide. They
weren’t the only ones. Hitoshi stared right along with him at the smoke curling
out of the corner of Midoriya’s smiling mouth.
Midoriya gave a nervous laugh, reaching up to scratch at the hair on the back
of his head. He coughed, letting out a small plume of smoke, and then it
stopped entirely. “Sorry,” He said, still smiling, “But I have a bad reaction
to being called that. I’m not quirkless anymore. I haven’t been quirkless for a
long, long time.”
He had stopped Bakugou’s explosions -somehow- and with that smoke in his mouth,
a tell-tale sign of fire breath if Hitoshi ever saw it, it as clear that
Midoriya did have at least one quirk. Sensei said he was experimented on,
Hitoshi thought, looking the green haired kid over slowly, thoughtfully. Who
knows what kind of quirks lie dormant in his body?
What is he even doing here, allowed to walk around with the general public? Is
anyone even sure he didn’t become a villain himself? Five years with them,
given any quirk he could feasibly want- That’d be enough to turn any quirkless
wanna-be hero over to their cause.Hitoshi frowned. His own quirk was terrible
for combat purposes- he had to rely on base strength and speed without any sort
of enhancements. Without being able to actively use his quirk on a regular
basis, he might as well have been quirkless himself.
If I was given something like fire breath… or whatever it was he used to stop
Bakugou’s palms from bursting…
Would I have switched sides too?
“Yeah? Well I feel the fucking same about that goddamn name,” Bakugou said. “So
don’t you dare use it again.”
“Don’t use your quirk against me again.”
Gritting his teeth, speaking as though the words actually brought him physical
pain, Bakugou said, “Fine.”
Midoriya beamed.
There was no other word for it. His smile spread across his face, bright and
shining, dazzling almost. It was similar to the one from earlier that
afternoon. Hitoshi felt his face heating up completely involuntarily, just like
it had before. He looked away from Midoriya, knowing instinctively that he was
the source of that reaction, and saw that there were flushed faces on students
all around him.
Sitting in the back of class, barely listening earlier that day, he hadn’t
noticed it then- had been too alarmed at his own blushing to notice- but now.
Had Midoriya’s smile done that to them at that time too?
Even Bakugou was red faced, though the vein bulging in his forehead made it
seem more like anger than, well, whatever the hell it really was.  Another
quirk? How many does he really have? How did he get all of them?
“Thank you, Bakugou,” Midoriya said. “I’m glad we could come to an
understanding!”
“Yeah, yeah, fuck off, Class B loser,” Bakugou snarled, but it had very little
force behind it. “Before I fucking change my mind.” Even though he told
Midoriya to leave, he was the one who stomped away first, smoke curling from
his fist again.
Midoriya straightened his tie, smoothed his hand over his jacket and said
goodbye to the explosive bully. As he stepped away, his gaze flicked over the
crowd and caught Hitoshi’s own. At least, so he thought, until Midoriya lifted
his hand in a wave goodbye to him.
Hitoshi hadn’t even spoken to him yet- had no plans on speaking to him ever,
really- so he glanced over his shoulder to see who it possibly could be that
Midoriya was waving too. After all, Class A had been the one to rescue him from
the villains. He certainly could have a closer bond to them than anyone in
Class B.
But there was no one behind him waving back.
Looking back to Midoriya, he raised a brow and pointed to his own chest.
Midoriya smiled, nodded, and waved again.
Hitoshi lifted his other brow and did nothing else. Midoriya was...weird.
He was trying. Trying very, very hard. To be Hitoshi’s friend.
When his second wave didn’t get a response, Midoriya shrugged and walked away.
Hitoshi did have some experience with people who wanted to be his friend as
much as Midoriya did. None of them had been kidnapped by villains, but the
intent was all the same.
Midoriya wanted access to his quirk.
The only question is, who does he want me to use it against, and why?
***** the weight of unspoken words *****
Chapter Summary
     Gossip never dies. Show off your quirk. Get a drink. Get into a
     fight. All the while: smile, smile, smile.
Chapter Notes
     Katten got so emotional during this chapter they cried, so Rama
     figures its a pretty good one. Enjoy~
See the end of the chapter for more notes
The very first thing Itsuka heard when she walked into class on the last day
that of that weird, weird week, was her best friend Yousetsu saying, “Itsu,
that new kid is fucking weird as hell.”
She sighed, setting her bag on her desk. “Good morning to you too, Setsu.”
He gave her a little wave. He sat at his desk behind hers, the chair turned
around backwards, with his arms crossed on the back and his chin resting on one
of them. “Seriously though, did you hear what he did yesterday?”
“You mean sit down and ask Shinsou to be his friend?” She asked, because, well,
that had been pretty weird. She had noticed because Yui had told her all about
it on their walk to the train together.
“No he and Baku- Wait he did what?” Yousetsu sat up, blinking in surprise.
Twisting around in his chair he peered at the back of the room, but of course
Midoriya hadn’t arrived yet. Shinsou wasn’t in his seat either. He had a habit
of spending as little time in the classroom as possible.
“Wait, what was it you were going to say?” Itsuka demanded, “He and Baku-who,
Bakugou? From 3-A?”
“Bakugou totally called him out after class yesterday,” Yousetsu said, turning
back around to face her, “He got right up in Midoriya’s face too, shouting like
the fucker he is. And then when he was about to use his bomb palm to, I don’t
know, Midoriya’s face or something, it just… didn’t work.”
Itsuka stared at him. “What.”
“The smoke went out. The fire didn’t come. No explosion. Nothing. Just
voip!Nothing.” Yousetsu waved his hands vaguely. “Midoriya just put his hands
up like this and the explosions didn’t fucking even happen.”
Itsuka sat down in her chair, very grateful that it was there.“What?”
“It was amazing,”Setsuna said, leaning in from her seat. She had her hands
clutched together and hearts in her eyes. Well, metaphorical hearts. She wasn’t
Manga after all. “He just stood there when Bakugou started yelling at him like
he wasn’t afraid at all. Then he made Bakugou’s quirk fail and demanded that
Bakugou never use it on him again!”
“He did?” Itsuka whispered. She couldn’t believe it. Absolutely couldn’t
believe it.
“And.” Yousetsu added, lifting a finger, “He totally agreed.”
“What? Why? How?”
“So that rumor that they were childhood friends?” Setsuna said, “Totally true.
Mina in 3-A told me that Bakugou won’t let them even say Midoriya in front of
them because it pisses him off so bad! They knew each other before Midoriya was
kidnapped.”
“Yeah,” Yousetsu said, “And apparently Midoriya was calling Bakugou by some
childhood nickname but Bakugou wanted him to stop. So in exchange for not using
his quirk on Midoriya, he did.”
“...I can’t believe I missed all of this,” Itsuka said, “What the hell.”
Setsuna leaned forward even more, she looked like she was about to fall out of
her chair, “How do you guys think he did it? Do you think he has a quirk like
Aizawa-sensei?”
“Didn’t anyone ask?” Itsuka asked, “Like, what happened after he got Bakugou to
agree?”
“He just waved goodbye to someone and walked off,” Yousetsu said. “I was too
surprised to ask, plus, I mean. I haven’t even really met the kid yet.”
Walking past them on her way to her desk, Ibara said suddenly, “You have the
chance to if you want. He was out in the hall talking to Shinsou just a minute
ago. I passed him on my way here.”
“With Shinsou?”Setsuna gaped.
Ibara nodded. She settled into her desk, next to Yousetsu. Brushing some of her
vine hair behind an ear, she said, “Yui told me they talked yesterday, too. Or
at least Midoriya talked to Shinsou.”
From a few seats behind them, Yui leaned forward. She grew a couple of sizes
larger, to join the conversation without leaving her seat, “He totally did. He
just sat down next to him and asked to be his friend! Can you believe it?”
“I’m telling you,” Yousetsu said, “The kid’s totally fucking weird.” He seemed
to notice what kind of company he was talking to and amended, “Like, weird for
a hero-student. C’mon, don’t tell me none of you think he’s weird.”
“Maybe,” Setsuna said, leaning back, “But I’m not rude enough to say so.”
The door opened behind them. Itsuka wasn’t the only one who turned to look.
Shinsou stepped into the room, noticed immediately that they were all staring
and narrowed his eyes. Without a word, he walked the edge of the room to his
seat in the back. Midoriya drifted in after him. He was still surprisingly
tall- something about his face made it seem like he wasn’t supposed to be like
that- and he hesitated longer at the front of the room.
He gave a timid little smile, held onto the strap of his bag with both hands
and nervously walked towards them. Itsuka stood suddenly, just as he reached
her desk.
“Midoriya?” She asked, “My name is Kendou Itsuka. I’m the class president. If
there’s anything you need, help with work or with the school, please let me
know.”
Midoriya smiled at her. It was- It was- Well it wasn’t as bright as the one
he’d given yesterday, but Itsuka felt herself relax a little at the sight of
it. She smiled back and gave a little bow when he bowed to her first. “Thank
you, Kendou,” he said, “I’m still getting the hang of, uh, well being able to
just kind of go anywhere, you know? I got kind of lost on my way to class this
morning… Got caught by 3-A, actually…”
“Ohh!” Setsuna chirped, “Were you visiting Bakugou?” She smiled, “We heard you
two were friends as kids!”
The tall boy winced. “Uh. That’s...one way of putting it. I guess.”
“What were you then?” Setsuna asked, unperturbed by the awkwardness. Itsuka was
trying to motion for her to shut the hell up,but the other girl didn’t have
much of a filter connected to her speech centers it seemed. “Childhood rivals?
I guess if you could stop his quirk from working whenever you wanted he
wouldn’t really like hanging out with you, huh?”
“Didn’t you fucking listen at allduring yesterday’s fight?” Yousetsu jumped in,
“Hell, Setsuna, Bakugou said that Midoriya was…” His voice dropped off suddenly
and he shifted nervously in his seat.
Midoriya gave a little smile, lifting a calming hand, “It’s all right. But when
I was little, I was diagnosed as quirkless. I have the double jointed little
toe and everything.”
“But-” Setsuna started. She was cut off by a yelp as the boy behind her,
Juuzou, kicked at her chair and glared at her. “What? I’m just curious!” She
scowled at him and then turned a pout to Midoriya, “You’d say something if I
was bothering you, right? Right?”
“Uh…” he looked nervous again, “Who are you?”
“Tokage Setsuna!” She said cheerfully, and then introduced everyone around her.
“That’s Honenuki Juuzou, Awase Yousetsu, and Shiozaki Ibara. We’re all really
super curious about how you stopped Bakugou’s quirk from working? Can you tell
us how you did it? Do you know how?”
“I uh,” Midoriya shifted uneasily, “I have a few quirks. One of them lets me
affect the chemical makeup of a space about, uh, this big.” He held up his
hands, putting about the size of a beach ball between his palms. “It really
only works with something like air or gas, where there’s a lot of little
molecules in a loose space and if it’s not contained like in an open air
situation. Meaning, of course, that in an enclosed space I have a difficult
time sectioning out different types of chemicals. I can’t really draw any in
and I can’t manipulate more than one type at a time, but most air is nitrogen
based and flame needs oxygen to explode. I just removed the oxygen from around
Bakugou’s hand. His nitro-sweat can’t explode even if he triggers it because
once it’s separate from his body, the flames need air to breathe, just like
people do.”
Itsuka wasn’t the only one who stared at him in silence, a little awed.
Yousetsu recovered first, “And you just… You were able to do that to his hand
before he struck you? But why didn’t you do it the first time he hit you?”
“Oh. I wasn’t ready for it then. It takes some effort to switch between
quirks,” Midoriya said with a little shrug. He lowered his hands again, letting
them curl around the strap of his bag, holding tight like he was afraid it was
going to be taken from him. He didn’t seem to notice his grip on it, though. “I
was focusing my attention on another one when he approached me.”
“How many quirks do you have?” Setsuna asked, “What do they do?”
“A few,” he said, “And a bunch of different stuff.” He shrugged, “Some of it
I’m still learning but the ones I use the most are my retention quirk and my
primary quirk. Other than that, I’m trying to learn my fire breath one a bit
better and the gas manipulation. I figure that those two would work best
together, you see, because oxygen really can bolster a fire and my fire breath
tends to come out, uh, funny.”
“Funny?” Itsuka heard herself ask. “What do you mean by that?”
Midoriya gave a little smile, “We’re doing a quirk exercise today, aren’t we? I
can show you guys it then. Class is about to start after all.”
“Wait, there’s still a few minutes left,” Setsuna insisted, “I want to know
more!”
“I’m not going anywhere any time soon,” Midoriya said, “But I want to talk to
Shinsou some more before class starts.”
Itsuka felt her stomach drop at that. Yui had said that Shinsou hadn’t talked
back to Midoriya but Ibara had mentioned seeing them in the hallway… Lowering
her voice, she leaned in and asked quietly, “He didn’t manipulate you into
being his friend, did he, Midoriya? He’s got a pretty dangerous quirk, you
know.”
Midoriya’s smile froze on his face and she had the impression that it was less
of a smile and more of a baring of teeth. “We all have dangerous quirks… But
we’re all still here learning to be heroes, right? Shinsou isn’t any different
than us.”
She didn’t have anything she could say to that. Neither did anyone else. She
turned and watched as Midoriya walked to the back of the room and sat down in
his seat. Shinsou glanced her direction, meeting her gaze for just a moment,
before she had to look away. She could hear Midoriya brightly greet Shinsou and
ask him about their homework.
Yousetsu had to get up to turn his chair back around for class. As he did, he
said quietly to her, “Hey, don’t worry. Shinsou hasn’t mind controlled anyone
in like, a year or something, right? Midoriya will be fine.”
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” She agreed, but only half heartedly.
Uncharacteristically quiet, Setsuna whispered, “We’ll just have to keep an eye
on him. And make sure Shinsou doesn’t pull anything funny. Midoriya’s still
pretty new to all of this regular highschool stuff. If we become his friends we
can protect him pretty easily.”
“Well,” Itsuka sighed. It was an uneasy feeling, befriending someone for
ulterior motives- even if it was to help them or protect them, “I guess.”
Blood King walked in a few minutes later, so Itsuka put it out of her mind.
Everything would be fine.
 
===============================================================================
 
Hitoshi slid to a stop, panting, at the end of the obstacle course. He was one
of the last to make it, spitting dust from his mouth as he wiped the sweat from
his forehead. Two years and he was still near the bottom of his class as far as
physical ability went. He wasn’t theworst, of course, but still. Practically
quirkless.
The thought made his lips twitch into something resembling a part of a smile.
Isn’t that what Bakugou called Midoriya?Yes. Yes it was. Where was the new kid
anyway?
Making his way from the end of the line, he travelled along the outside of the
course to where the rest of his class should be. Midoriya had, effectively,
promised to show of his ‘funky’ flame breath and their Sensei, Waterspout, had
said that he could after they’d finished their main workout for the day.
There was already a crowd when he made it back, although the others had gone
through different obstacle courses. After all, different quirks demanded
different landscapes to navigate to help build their skills. A few of the other
students were scuffed up, their gym outfits scraped or pulled from where they
skidded against concrete or stone.
They stood around Midoriya, who looked nervously around at them, hands flailing
a little as he spoke to to Kendou and her friends. Hitoshi lingered towards the
back of the group, curious but more cautious. He wanted to see if Midoriya
would do that weird smile thing again. He hadn’t yet, though he’d given quite a
chilly expression when talking with Kendou that morning.
“Sensei,” Tokage asked, “Can we pleasesee Midoriya’s quirk now?”
Waterspout sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Since everyone’s done now… Fine,
fine. Midoriya? Are you okay with this?”
“Well, um, yes?” He laughed nervously. “I haven’t used this one very much. It’s
still a little. Weird?”
“Unstable weird? Or just, unusual weird?” Waterspout asked.
“Unusual.” He said, “There were… complications? It’s not like normal
firebreath…”
“All the more reason to show it off!” That was Tetsutetsu, shouting and
excited. “C’mon, bro!”
“O-okay…” Midoriya cleared his throat. “Can I have uh… Can everyone stand
behind me?” He looked around for a moment and then his gaze settled on a blank
part of the grounds. “Could I have some help setting up, first?”
“Sure,” Waterspout said, “What do you need?”
“Tsuburaba, could you make a wall of air along here to here,” Midoriya said,
gesturing with his hands. “And Bondo, if you could use your quirk to make a low
cement barrier? Sensei, if you could be prepared for putting out uh, small
fires? The grass might catch and uh… The landscape is gonna change a bit.”
Sensei nodded and the two boys Midoriya called out went to help. Together, they
formed a small area that was blocked off by three low walls of concrete on
three sides. Midoriya stood at the point of the triangle when they were done.
He squared his shoulders, brushed his hair out of his face and took a deep
breath.
What came out of his mouth wasn’t flame, exactly. Hitoshi felt his mouth drop
open when magma came pouring out of Midoriya like he was an active fucking
volcano. It was hot, crazy hot. Hitoshi could feel it from where he stood and
other students were pulling back from it automatically. As soon as the lava hit
the ground, the grass burnt up into black char. It rolled slowly across the
ground from the point of origin that was a human fucking being,and seeped to
the edges of the triangle. It began to cool, but not before it hit the concrete
and began to boil that too.
Midoriya wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, something red hot and
shining on his lips, and then flicked his hand down at his side so drops of the
molten rock splattered to the ground beside him and let up curls of smoke. He
coughed, once, a belch of black smoke escaping his mouth, and turned to give a
little smile. “See? Not exactly fire breath.”
Stunned. Silence.
Hitoshi, weirdly, thought of an old kid’s movie he’d seen once, a long time
ago.
“...He’s like Lava Girl.”
“He totally is,” said a girl next to him. Then she suddenly jerked and whipped
around to stare at him, her eyes wide, and her vines flared around her head.
Hitoshi stared at her too. That was the most he’d said to...well… anyone all
year. Shiozaki took a step away from him and then another.
Hitoshi carefully closed his mouth and looked away from her. Didn’t they know
anything? He could activate his quirk at will.That didn’t mean everything that
came out of his mouth was a command. His hands tightened into fists and he
shoved them into his pockets to hide that. Shiozaki quickly moved away from
him.
The other kids ran up excitedly as Waterspout looked carefully over the new
rock form addition to the training yard. Midoriya was bombarded with questions
that Hitoshi didn’t bother listening to. He didn’t care. Couldn’t care. His
heart was beating hard in his chest. He had just spoken without even thinking
about it. Was it really that much of a surprise…?
“Do it again!” came the cry.
“Add that gas manipulation quirk to it!”
“Can you make flames at all or just magma?”
“Do it again! Do it again!”
Hitoshi slunk farther back from the group. He just wanted to get a drink,
change out of this stupid jumpsuit and get back to class-
“That’s enough kids,” Waterspout said. “3-A has the field today too. Time to
head back into the locker rooms. Midoriya, are you all right?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m just, uh, hungry.” He flushed, looking abashed, “I mean, the
magma doesn’t just come out of nothing… So if I could get a snack or
something?”
“Ohh,” said one of the other students. Tokage again, probably. She was kind of
a chatterbox. Hitoshi was pretty glad she sat at the front of class. “Is that
why you went to get a snack before gym?”
“Exactly. It totally depletes me if I use it too much and if I let my blood
sugar drop to low, uh…. Well I just don’t want that to happen.” He smiles.
Waterspout says he can go and he says, “I’m not exactly sure where it is, do
you mind if someone comes with me?”
“Of course not,” Sensei turns, clearly about to speak to Kendou, the class
president, when Midoriya turns that smile to Hitoshi and says, “Let’s go,
Shinsou!”
Even Waterspout is thrown for a loop, “Eh?” She blinks, comically almost. Or it
would be if Hitoshi wasn’t blatantly aware of the fact that everyone was
staring at him. The ones who weren’t surprised were wary, distrusting.
Yet Midoriya walks up to him as though this is perfectly normal, and maybe in
his fucked up little traumatized brain it is. Hitoshi feels a shiver crawl its
way down his spine as he wonders, maybe, that Midoriya likes him so much
because he reminds the weird kid of people he used to be around. Does he remind
Midoriya of villains?
Because there was no way that this kid was as tortured as everyone believed.
Not with a smoothness to his charm and sociability like that.
“Do you mind?” Midoriya asks him, smiling. Hitoshi wonders if this is what it
feels like to be hit with his compulsion quirk. He finds himself shaking his
head, almost saying “fine, let’s go”before he remembers Shiozaki’s horrified
expression and bites his cheek to keep his mouth shut. The two of them walk
away together, Midoriya all smiles and humming contentment, Hitoshi staring
straight ahead so he doesn’t give the other teen wary glances.
He leads Midoriya back to the building in silence. Well. Silence on hisend.
Midoriya fills the air with odd, odd things. He went through the same obstacle
course as some of the other enhanced kids, although his quirks weren’t for
mobility, and did fairly well. While running the course, he apparently was
aware enough to keep an eye on anyone else he saw, and recounts the curious
things to Hitoshi as if he actually cared about his classmate’s quirks.
The rambling is distracting enough that Hitoshi almost forgets that Midoriya
has been at the school for less than one school day.
He clenches his jaw, wanting to ask, “How do you know everyone’s quirks
already?”But his learned silence is a hard habit to break. Besides, he can
think of possibilities on his own, keep an eye on Midoriya and figure out the
most likely option over time. Unfortunately, he had weeks of time to spend
observing Midoriya. The boy showed no sign of moving chairs to any other part
of the classroom and was, infuriatingly so, determined to continue this charade
of friendship.
They reach the locker rooms before the others and Hitoshi, out of habit, keeps
his eyes forward and changes as quickly as he can. He’s done just after
Midoriya, who smiles again at him and asks, “Are there vending machines or
something? A school lunch store that’s opened before lunch?”
Hitoshi sighs. He motions for Midoriya to follow and for half a second he’s
certain the other boy will say “No. I’m not going with you until you say
something.” Hitoshi hasn’t had thatkind of forceful “friend” yet, but it was
only a matter of time. But he doesn’t. He just follows and this time, when he
talks, it’s about the television shows he’s discovered in the last few days.
They find a vending machine easily enough and Hitoshi stands to the side as
Midoriya orders a snack and a drink. “Do you want anything?” He asks, coins
clinking in his hand, “It’s the least I can do, making you walk around with me
on the campus.” Again, a little smile.
He smiles a lot,Hitoshi thought as he pointed to one of his favorite drinks.
Midoriya buys it and hands it over. They lean against a wall and drink
together. Class changes while they’re doing that and they can hear a classroom
down the hallway get loud. Hitoshi doesn’t realize that this spot is a direct
route between the third year classroom and the locker rooms until he hears all-
too-familiar shouting.
3-A is headed down the hallway, chattering excitedly as any class of students
would. 3-B is taking a different route of course, they’re headed toward a
different extra curricular class and will go back up to the classroom proper
just before lunch. He chose this vending machine not only because of its
selection, but because of the placement. The fewer people who saw him with
Midoriya, the better.
He had forgotten about 3-A.
3-A has not forgotten about him. Or Midoriya.
“Izuku-kun!” Is the cry and very suddenly there is a girl, bubbly smiles and
cheerful tones and bouncing footsteps running right towards them. “It’s you!”
Midoriya smiles to her too. “Hey, uh, Uraraka.”
“Please!” She said, “Call me Ochako! We’re friends, aren’t we? And now we’re
yearmates too! Although you should have been a classmate! Why didn’t you try
and get into 3-A?”
“Well, 3-A didn’t really have the space for me,” He said, “And the teachers
weren’t a good match.”
“We have All Might as a teacher!” she said, “He’s amazing!”
“Yeah, but Blood King is pretty cool. And Waterspout is good for managing my
quirk.” Midoriya shrugged. He still leaned against the wall next to Hitoshi,
who had yet to even be acknowledged by this Uraraka.
As if she could tell he was thinking that, she turned her attention to him,
“And you! Stealing away Izuku-kun from us-”
“Ochako,” Midoriya cut in, cheerful. Hitoshi felt the hair on the back of his
neck stand on end. Was he the only onewho heard the ice in his voice? “Shinsou
is my good friend. He didn’t steal me away from anyone, either. I wanted to be
in 3-B.”
“Good friend?” She pouted, “But you call him by his last name, don’t you?”
“When Shinsou wants me to use his first name, he’ll let me know.” Midoriya
said, “But that doesn’t change the fact that I consider us good friends.”
Hitoshi drank from his can in silence. His gaze slid past the girl, who kicked
up less of a fuss at that, and to the other kids of 3-A who walked past. There
was Monoma, tilting up his nose a few degrees more just because a 3-B kid was
around. And a few others looking over in concern, not at Midoriya, though. To
him. Iida was one. Tokoyami another. Asui gave them both a quick, curious
glance before slipping up close to Uraraka and saying something about being
late to class.
Todoroki, though, he was looking at Midoriya strangely. Hitoshi couldn’t read
the expression, but it seemed conflicted. As though different desires pulled at
Todoroki with enough strength that he couldn’t quite cover it up.
Hitoshi glanced to Midoriya, to see if he noticed and, ah. Yeah. He definitely
had. He was giving a bright smile to the ice user and Hitoshi felt… odd looking
at that smile. It was as if water were being poured from a pitcher beside him,
close enough that the spray of droplets were hitting his skin. Midoriya was
directing that smile to Todoroki, but Hitoshi felt just hint of what it carried
in it.
Curiosity. Gnawing at his gut like an animal. Poking at him until he turned to
really give his attention. Suddenly, his tongue felt lighter, like he really
could ask those questions he had with no repercussions at all.
Hitoshi held his drink can to his lips and kept it there. He wasn’t about to
talk. No way. No how. The look passed, as Todoroki did, and though Midoriya
turned his attention away, Hitoshi saw the other one glance back over his
shoulder twice before he left sight.
The entirety of 3-A had almost passed by the time Bakugou appeared. When he
stood across the hall from Midoriya, he stopped and stared hard at him. He
visibly grit his teeth, lips pulled back like the snarl of a dog. Hitoshi held
perfectly still. Bakugou was pretty damn merciless, even when it came to his
fellow heroes in training. And there was nothing but bad blood between the two
of them, as Bakugou thought his brainwashing quirk pretty despicable.
If he knew about Midoriya’s smile, would he feel the same way about him?But a
glance from between Bakugou to Midoriya told him that it wouldn’t matter much
anyway. There was no love lost between those two at all.
“Looks like you found your own nerdy kind, Deku,” Bakugou sneers. “The ex-
villain kid hanging out with the villain-quirk kid? Don’t you think you’re both
in the wrong fucking place? You don’t fucking belong here.”
“Hey,” Midoriya said suddenly to Hitoshi. He offered the bag of crackers he had
bought, “Want one? They’re pretty good.”
“Deku!” Bakugou takes three steps towards them, “I’m fucking talking to you,
asshole!”
Hitoshi looks Midoriya dead in the eyes, hoping he has some sort of fucking
plan that he’s using, and takes a cracker. He bites it in half. It is the
loudest sound in the hallway.
Midoriya smiles at him. “See? Tasty.”
Hitoshi nods.
“I am going to grind you into the fucking dirt,” Bakugou growls, “You little
piece of shit Deku!”
“You know,” Midoriya says, light and conversational, “The last person who
called me Deku, I mean, last I heard, right? Before you? He died.” He took out
one of the crackers himself and held it between his thumb and first two
fingers. “They caught Tsubasa with me and he screamed that a shitty little Deku
like me should just fuck off if I knew what was good for me…” He was looking at
the cracker he held. It was shaped like a little animal. A panda? Or a horse?
It was hard for Hitoshi to tell.
“You fucking-”
“Do you have any idea what they did to him? How much he screamed and screamed?”
Midoriya slowly lifted his gaze up from he cracker. “They took his body and
pumped it full of chemicals and stripped all his skin off. They brokehim,” he
snapped the cracker in half. “And then put him back together again. But it was
too late. They couldn’t salvage anything but his wings.” He tossed both halves
into his mouth and chewed them with thoughtful slowness.
Bakugou stared, his face pale. His hands were fists and they lowered to hang
limp at his sides. “...Why...What?”
Midoriya licked crumbs from his fingers and then said, “I just thought you’d
like to know what happens to people who call me Deku.” Smiling, he pushed off
the wall and took a step towards Bakugou, “So please don’t do it again,
Bakugou.”
Hitoshi’s eyes widened as he saw Bakugou take a step back.Almost instantly, he
took it forward again, as if to pretend he never took it at all. “You little
fucker,” Bakugou snarled, “You didn’t even try to help him did you? You’re the
reason Tsubasa got caught and killed? Aren’t you?”
It’s a low blow and one that hits. Hitoshi sees it in the way Midoriya’s face
drops his little smile and his eyes go wide. He lifts his chin and stares
Bakugou down. In his hand, the can he’s holding crunches and the juice spills
out. His fingers curl and curl inwards until the sound of crushing metal stops
and his knuckles are white. “You know nothing about what happened that
afternoon, Bakugou,” Midoriya whispers.
The vicious look on Bakugou’s face fades into something guarded and definitely
afraid. He brings his hands up as fists defensively. It’s not a stance Hitoshi
has seen before and he’s glancing around, looking for the best place to go if
they start actually fighting in front of him. He doesn’t trust for a second
that Bakugou won’t use his quirk and there are several large windows in this
hall. That’s a lot of glass that could go flying at any second.
But running from a fight… Was that what he was here to learn? As a hero?
He licks his lips and opens his mouth, “Hey.”
Automatically, Bakugou snaps, “What?”
To Hitoshi’s surprise, Midoriya responds too, “Shinsou?”
Immediately, their faces relax, tension draining out of them.
Hitoshi’s heart is beating like a drum in his chest, heavy and loud and almost
painful. He blanks for a second, almost forgetting how his own quirk works.
It’s been so long, at least a year, since he’s used it like this. He addresses
Bakugou first, because he can see Midoriya’s hand twitching in a weird way and
that seems like all sorts of bad. “Bakugou, you have class right now. Go join
your classmates in the locker room. When you’re there, walk into the door frame
to break out of your trance.”
Bakugou turned on his heel and began to walk without a single look back. Taking
a breath, Hitoshi let it out in a sigh. He kept his distance from Midoriya,
who’s eyes had half closed but hadn’t left him yet. Midoriya watched him, even
in his trance.
“Midoriya,” he began, keeping his voice steady, “Calm down. He’s gone now. He
can’t hurt you with his words or his quirk. Take a deep breath and let it out,
slowly. Do that five times.” He watched as Midoriya obeyed him, breathing in
and out. His chest rose and fell, taking in more air than Hitoshi imagined.
When his hand had stopped twitching and he had done all the breaths commanded,
Hitoshi released him from the mind control.
Midoriya blinked, once, twice, and then rubbed his hand over his eyes. He
muttered something under his breath that sounded almost like, “God, what a
callback that was…” and then seemed to shake his whole body. While he had been
controlled, both the snack and the crushed can fell to the ground. He bent
over, scooped them up and then turned to fully face Hitoshi.
Stiffening, Hitoshi waited for… something. He wasn’t sure what.
What he got was a smile. A bright one, though there wasn’t any push of emotion
along with it. “Shinsou,” Midoriya said, “Thank you.” Then he looked at the can
in his hand and laughed, “I should probably get some paper towels to clean this
up or something… Is there a bathroom around here?”
He lifted his hand, pointed, “That way. I-” and suddenly all those months of
silence and control over his tongue meant nothing because the words were all
tumbling out, “I just used my quirk on you. On you and Bakugou. Midoriya I
can’t believe you’re just okay with that. I could have done anything to you!”
“You could have,” Midoriya says, “But do you know what you did?”
“What? I- Of course I do. I was right there I just-”
“You helped me.” Midoriya laughed, gentle, and for once Hitoshi didn’t feel
like someone was laughing at his expense. “You were a hero, Shinsou. My hero.
You saved me.”
Hitoshi’s heart lodges itself in his throat. He doesn’t think he could speak
even if he wanted to now. His hand drops to his side and he just stares. Stares
at those sincere green eyes looking back at him. At the smile that fades into a
serious expression. At those curly black locks that frame his face so well. At
this tall young man with who knows how many quirks, with strength to turn a
metal can as thin as a string, with everyone trying to befriend him, help him
and-
“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Midoriya’s voice seems oddly gentle, as
though he’s the one who is coaxing Hitoshi out of a panicked state. “That’s why
you went to Yuuei in the first place. The most difficult Hero school to go to.
The one that produces the highest quality heroes around. That’s what you wanted
to be, a hero. More than anything else, you wanted to be a hero.”
Midoriya smiles at him, “Right?”
In a daze, Hitoshi nods his head. “Right.” He can’t quite… wrap his head around
it. Around the whole thing. From beginning to end, from the vending machine to
the girl to Todoroki to Bakugou to him using his quirk to this, right now. He
can’t quite figure out how he got to this point until.
“Shinsou?” Midoriya asks.
“Yeah?” He blinks and looks up. When did he start staring at the wall?
Nevermind. That didn’t matter. What did Midoriya want?
Midoriya holds out his hand, the one that isn’t sticky with juice, and asks,
“Want to be friends?”
This time, Hitoshi doesn’t even think about it, doesn’t let himself think about
how people will react, whisper, stare. It doesn’t matter. Won’t matter.
Midoriya will be there.
He took Midoriya’s hand and said, “Call me Hitoshi, please.”
When Midoriya beamed at him then, there wasn’t any room left in him for regret.
Chapter End Notes
     3-B is just full of fun kids, isn't it?
***** a cat, a princess and a wolfhound walk into a bar *****
Chapter Summary
     A welcome visitor. Decompression in action. Orders for your general.
Chapter Notes
     Rama: so when I actually name a quirk in this fic I'll be making a
     note of it at the bottom of the chapter. Named quirks are the ones
     with full capital letters instead of just being referenced in their
     action: IE: a retention quirk vs Direct Contact quirk.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Izuku took two steps into his house before he let out a groan from the depths
of his lungs and dropped his school bag on the floor. He toed off his shoes as
he staggered in, slumping down lower and lower until he was nearly shuffling on
his knees across the floor. Reaching the couch, he climbed over the side,
dragged himself over it and stretched out over the cushions. Not satisfied with
dangling his feet over one edge and his hands not reaching the other side,
Izuku activated his elastic quirk and stretched out his spine and limbs enough
so his elbows hooked over the arm. Pressing his face against the cushion, he
groaned again.
“Izukun?” His mother’s voice drifted in from the kitchen. “Honey?”
“School is  exhausting,”  Izuku said in reply. “Non-stop chatter. Non-stop
attention. Non-stop quirk use. My brain is going to ooze out my ears and drip
onto the floor.”
Inko came into the room. She sighed when she reached the couch. “Look at you,”
she admonished, “Izuku, my couch is not shorter than you. What are you doing?”
“I’m going to melt into the cushions,” he said, “and go to sleep for forty
years.” He turned his head almost all the way around, his elastic quirk making
him incredibly flexible. “Is that okay? Can I just do that?”
“You can do anything you like,” Inko said. She pat his hair gently, “But I
thought going to school was what you needed to do right now.”
Izuku turned his head back around and buried his face into the cushion. She was
right, of course. Everything he had planned would be easier to accomplish with
his pieces all in one place instead of scattered around like they would be
after graduation.
“Besides, isn’t school more fun to go to with all those other kids? You can
make friends and, well, I suppose you already know most of the basic lessons in
literature and math but the hero classes! They must be a lot of fun!” Inko
carried on brightly, as though Izuku wasn’t actively trying to meld with the
cushions. Well. Not a  actively  actively. He didn’t want to be fibrous on top
of everything else for that day. “Didn’t you get into class with that boy you
like? Did you meet him? You should tell momma everything!”
Izuku twisted around again, so that his mother could clearly hear him, and
frowned. “Research shows that teenagers are supposed to be embarrassed talking
about romance with their parents. Statistically speaking, I should be
attempting even harder to bond with the couch or disappear into the floor.
Please excuse me for neglecting common teen behavior, mom, because I absolutely
met him and he is just as cute as he was on TV.” He ended up grinning at his
mother. It took only a flicker of attention to regain his normal, well, at
least semi-standard, size and then turn off his elastic quirk.
Inko beamed at him, “That’s wonderful honey! I was so worried about you in
school! You haven’t gone since you were just a sweet little thing and, well, I
know  that child  goes to school with you.”
Izuku shrugged a shoulder, “He’s barely on my radar. He’s in another class
altogether so he can only bother me between classes or after school. Most of
the time he’s too busy with his head up his own ass to even see me.”
“Good.” Inko came around the couch to sit with Izuku. He gathered his one leg
up underneath himself, still limber even without a quirk active, and tucked the
other knee to his chest. “So about the boy in your class. The one who likes
cats?”
“Haha, he’s got this cat binder, mom. Oh my god,” Izuku rolled his eyes, “It’s
the cutest thing ever. He tried not to let me see but of course I did anyway.”
“Ohh nooo,” Inko gasped behind her hand, giggling in delight, “Izuku! Momma
wants to meet this boy! You should bring him home!”
“I will, I will,” Izuku smiled at her. He propped his cheek on his knee, “Not
yet, but hopefully soon. I made a lot more progress with him today than I was
expecting. I got him to speak and use his quirk with only a little prompting.
He has such a soothing voice… Although he’s a bit stilted, I mean, he quotes
these things he’s read online like, all the time. I guess he spent a lot of
time online instead of dealing with other people from school.”
“Well you find out what his favorite meal is so when you  do  invite him I can
make it for him! Any friend of yours is welcome here, Izukun.” She reached out
again, brushing his hair back behind his ear and smiling gently at him. “I’m so
glad you get to come in as yourself. It was nice before, when you could visit,
but it just isn’t the same as having you live with me again.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Izuku said, pitching his voice lower. He met his
mother’s gaze. For a moment he debated activating his Direct Contact quirk, but
decided against it. They had already said enough that if they were being
overheard by any surveillance there would be questions. Just because he had
checked his home out a week ago for anything didn’t mean that there hadn’t been
a bug put in since then.  “We probably shouldn’t get in the habit of talking
about that, Mom. It’ll be trouble later on if we do. Do you understand? I want
you to be safe.” He took her hand in his, “You’re important to me and I want to
protect you.”
She squeezed his hand. “I understand.” Tears glistened in her eyes as she
whispered, “My own little hero… You’ve grown up so well, Izuku.”
Izuku laughed and nodded. “I’m glad you think so.” It hadn’t been easy to get
to this point but, as his mother took his face in her hands and kissed his
forehead, Izuku thought it was probably worth it.
Before they could sit in silence for too long, there came a knock at the door.
Inko blinked in comic surprise as she rose from the couch, muttering in wonder
about who it could possibly be. Izuku sat back on the couch, relaxing with his
eyes shut. He had a pretty good idea that it was-
“Daichi-san, welcome!” Inko said delightedly, “Please come in!”
“Thank you, Inko-san,” a genteel voice murmured back, carrying just enough so
Izuku could hear. There was the sound of him stepping into the house. “I heard
word that you had finally found your son?”
Izuku rolled his head along the back of the couch so he could see the doorway.
He cracked open an eye to see the tall man taking off his hat as he addressed
Inko. She waved her hands as she spoke, flustered as though the man wasn’t a
common visitor. “Oh yes! Yes! Izuku was rescued earlier this week by a lovely
girl in Yuuei. We’ve been so busy getting him checked up and enrolled in
classes that I just haven’t had time to contact you!”
“That’s all right,” He said, “I thought I’d stop by and see how you were doing
myself. You are, after all, my longest client and I would be remiss in my
duties if I didn’t see your son returned to you myself.” He looked up, giving a
gentle smile to Izuku. His elderly face was lined from stress and pale from how
much time he spent indoors. His hair, though more silver than black, was thick
on top of his head. “Hello Izuku-kun. My name is Daichi. I was the private
investigator that your mother employed in the search for you.”
Izuku bit his lip to keep from snorting. He put his arm over the back of the
couch and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Daichi-san. I’m glad that my
mother wasn’t searching alone for me all these years.”
There was a long pause where Izuku bit back his smirk and Inko pressed her hand
to her lips to keep from giggling. Abruptly, Daichi broke his stoic expression,
laughing hard enough he started coughing. He thumped his chest and cleared his
throat. Inko fluttered nervously at his elbow, worried about his health.
“I apologize, Inko-san,” Daichi said. “And to you too, little master. Ahh, I
simply could not contain myself any longer!”
“So we aren’t under surveillance anymore?” Izuku asked, perking up. “I thought
they’d at least bug my front room, you know?”
Inko looked briefly alarmed, but calmed as Daichi pat her shoulder. “There was
some attention for the first few days, of course, but heroes are very busy and
policemen are easily distracted. Why, just the other day, there was as series
of mysterious attacks with strange burn patterns and reports of dark flames on
the other side of the jurisdiction and they had to focus their efforts on
that.”
Dabi,  Izuku thought with a grin. “How is Father doing?”
“The master is… adapting.” Daichi said generously, “He does do that thing still
where he looks up from his work to ask your opinion, of course, so he clearly
does miss your presence.”
“Oh the poor man,” Inko murmured, clearly empathizing. “How is his health?
Izukun mentioned he wasn’t doing so well when he last saw him.”
“It is stable,” Daichi said, “He is dedicated to his work and that maintains
him.”
Here, Izuku turned away to hide his instinctive frown. Father’s  work  was
something Izuku had disagreed with. Not entirely, of course, but in a few
fundamental ways, there was contradicting desires. It was why he had left
Father’s laboratory. He wouldn’t have been able to achieve his goal if he
worked within the man’s shadow.
Inko and Daichi chatted for a while, about Father and, bewilderingly, the same
soap opera they both liked, while Izuku stared at the far wall. His mind was
clipping along at a quick speed. A lot of work had been accomplished this week.
He had nipped the Bakugou problem in the bud, insinuated himself into 3-B,
started the lure on Todoroki and had gotten Hitoshi to speak to him- and those
had only been the things he had  planned  on doing.
He was quickly discovering that this infiltration business took a lot more
effort and a level of finesse that was higher than a typical heist. His head
was still swimming with information, and though he knew his mother was
definitely a willing ear, he knew that there were just some things better said
to others. Others with, how should he put it, less innocent ears.
When he turned back around, it abrupt enough that Daichi stopped midsentence,
looked up and asked, “Little master?”
“Is Himichan at Kuro’s tonight? Could you drop me off there?”
“Izukun,” Inko frowned, “Are you going out?”
“Just for a few hours, Mom,” Izuku said, getting to his feet. “I read that
decompression after things like school or work is important and one of the best
ways to do that is to discuss things with friends. Well, Himichan is my friend
and I know she’d love to hear what’s going on.”
Inko gave a sad look that Izuku read easily as,  But your mother can help you
too!  And he gave her a calming smile. “I’ll tell you more over dinner. I
promise! I just, well, it’s part of the teen experience, isn’t it? Hanging out
with friends?”
“Well, I suppose… And that is important for your image right now…”
Izuku smiled at her. “Thank you. I’ll be back tonight. I promise.”
“Okay.” She agreed with a nod.
Daichi tucked his hat back on his head, “Both Toga-san and Dabi-san should be
at Kuro’s place. I can indeed escort you to that location.”
“Fantastic. Just a moment, I’m going to change.” Izuku ducked away, already
undressing by the time he reached his bedroom door. He slipped out of his
uniform, tossed on casual clothes and a hoodie that fit him as a seventeen year
old. He paused on his way out, shifting shape and tightening his belt to adjust
for his smaller size. As he reached the door, his mom gave a little gasp.
“Izukun!” She cried, “You’re little again!”
Fourteen year old Izuku brushed the hoodie back from his tangle of hair and
grinned. “Yeah. This is how I look when I hang out with Himichan and the
others. Isn’t it cute?”
“Look how small you are!” She whispered, stars in her eyes, “I could cuddle you
for days!”
“Mom, please,” Izuku rolled his eyes. “Be reasonable. You could only cuddle me
for a few hours before you got bored.”
Daichi held out his hands, “Are you ready to go now, little master?”
“Yup,” Izuku said. He flexed his shape shifting quirk again, and instead of
just making himself appear as his younger self, Izuku shrank down and adjusted
into a completely different species. In moments a small, extremely fluffy black
cat crouched on the floor where he had stood. Izuku pounced, landing in
Daichi’s arms.
The man let out a  whoof  of breath as he caught the surprisingly heavy cat. He
settled Izuku in his arms and then gave a nod to Inko. “I’ll see your son to
his destination safely, Inko-san.”
Inko gently pat Izuku between the ears. He closed those bright green eyes of
his and purred at her touch. “You be a good boy, Izukun,” she said, “Don’t get
into any trouble you can’t get out of!”
Izuku purred louder. Daichi gave Inko a nod and turned. He stepped back out of
the Midoriya home, the black cat curled in his arm and his expression bland. On
their way out to the street, they passed a familiar blond with an irritated
expression. He gave them one red eyed glare, but Daichi amiably smiled at him.
Izuku stared back at him, eyes narrowed. Bakugou spat in annoyance as they
passed each other, grumbling about “stupid fucking animals” and Izuku purred.
 
===============================================================================
 
The door was an inch ajar, just enough for a single black paw to bat it open
further. Nudging it with his nose, Izuku slipped into the dimly lit and
sparsely populated  bar and padded across the floor silently. Delicately
picking his way through the chairs and seats, he leaped up onto a stool at the
bar. Lifting a paw, he pat the counter, and gave a “Mrow!” for attention.
Kurogiri turned, his light eyes crinkling in amusement. He glided over, “Well
hello there, are you lost, little stray?”
Meowing again, Izuku shook his head. He pat his paw against the counter again.
“Well, if you’re in the right place,” Kurogiri continued, “Would you like to
order something to drink?”
Izuku perked up. He drummed both paws on the counter, meowing repeatedly. Hell
yes  would he like something to drink!
“Hmm, let’s see if I have something suitable for a cat…” The man of mist
chuckled to himself as he drifted away to search the fridge behind the bar.
Izuku sat happily on the stool, his bushy tail curled around his feet. After a
minute or two, Kurogiri returned with a glass of milk. He placed it down in
front of Izuku. “Here you go. Would you like to drink it here or at the table
with your guests?”
Izuku stood again, gave another “Mrow!” and hopped down from his seat. He
crouched on the ground, arching his spine and stretching, pulling at his quirk
until he rose to his feet, fourteen in appearance and wearing his too-big
sweatshirt again. “Meow!” He said automatically. Coughing, he picked up the cup
of milk, “I mean, thanks. And I’ll take this to my table.”
“It’s good to see you again, young one,” Kurogiri mused, leaning back. “There’s
been quite a buzz about your activities. Is it true that you melted half a
building down in your entrance exam?”
Izuku flushed, “It wasn’t a building, it was a bunch of robots. But yes.
Machinery doesn’t do well against magma, after all.” He flashed a grin and
slipped away, “I’ll have to tell you about it later!”
Kurogiri chuckled and waved him off.
Izuku made his way back through the tables, grinning and greeting the different
associates that were there. He got more than a few congratulations and half a
dozen slaps on the shoulder before made it over to the booth that Himiko sat
in, stars in her eyes, a drink cradled in her hands and the biggest grin Izuku
had ever seen outside of a mirror. “Himichan!” He cried.
“Izukun!” She squealed back. He sat beside her and pulled her into a tight hug.
She hugged him just as tightly back, giggling. When she pulled back, Himiko
cupped his face in her hands, her painted nails sparkling as brightly as her
eyes. “You scoundrel! Aren’t you supposed to be in school?”
“Class been out for an hour,” Izuku said, rolling his eyes, “You would know
that if you actually attended any.”
“Booooring~” She sang. “No way am I gonna bother with that stuff! Teachers and
homework and smelly boys? Ew!” She gave him a smooch on either cheek, her pink
lipgloss leaving a glimmer of strawberry on his skin. “I’d much rather have you
go and then come tell me all about it!”
Across the table from them, Dabi dropped into his seat. He lifted his chin,
grinning at them, “Ay, boss, welcome back to the joint.”
“Hey Dabi,” Izuku said, his face still caught by Himiko. “Looking sharp as
always. How’re things?”
Dabi shrugged a shoulder, “Y’know. The usual. I thought you were held up in
your house under examination for a while…”
“Yeah, they let me out early,” Izuku said. He closed his eyes and said in a
mocking tone, “Apparently, I’m a very well adjusted young man and my mother
should be proud that I’m recovering so well from my experience.” He snorted in
laughter, “That and all I need now is to reintegrate into normal society like
your average teenager.”
“Ahh,” Dabi nodded. “High school’s a bitch. I do not envy you one single
fucking bit, kid.”
Izuku’s shoulders sagged. His head would have drooped as well, but Himiko was
stroking his hair now and he didn’t want to disturb her. “I have homework.
Homework.  It’s mind numbing at best and just tedious bullshit the rest of the
time.”
“I told you high school was boring,” Himiko said. She finally let go of his
face and scooped up her drink. It was mostly whip cream and fruit but Izuku
knew it was as strong as it was sweet. “There’s no point in going at all.”
Izuku dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone, “Oh really? These pictures
of my new friends says otherwise.” He flipped it open, smirking as Himiko
scooted even closer to peer at the screen. He pulled up the first one and she
immediately gasped.
“Is that  her?”  Those stars in her eyes turned to hearts as she cooed at the
image of Uraraka giving a peace sign next to Izuku. “Is that  Uravity?”
“Yeah, she’s in class 3-A,” Izuku said, “In fact, she was instrumental in my
whole rescue scene and acceptance into Yuuei. She’s adorable even when she
cries.”
“Oohhh,” Himiko groaned, “I’m so jealous! I want to see her! I want her to save
me too! Did she use her quirk on you? Ohh. She’s so cute! She’s soo cute!
Izukun! I wish I had gotten to see her cry.”
“We took a couple of pictures together like this,” Izuku said, flipping through
them. Dabi made an interested noise so he turned his phone around and showed
them to him. He got a grin in reply and a thumbs up.
“And here’s that guy I went in for,” Izuku said, flipping to a picture of
Hitoshi. “Look at him, isn’t he just amazing?” He beamed, sharing the picture
with Himiko.
“Not as cute as Ura-chan, but then  no one  is.” Himiko admitted, “I like his
hair though.”
Showing Dabi, he got the comment of, “That boy looks like he could sleep for
forty years.” Dabi laughed before sipping his own drink. “And it wouldn’t even
touch the exhaustion he has.”
“He’s got weird dreams and insomnia,” Izuku said, looking back at Hitoshi’s
picture and smiling. “He likes cats and fruit flavored drinks, specifically
melon or peach. He’s perfected this posture in class that let’s him look like
he’s paying attention when he’s really looking at his phone for his blog. He
has a blog!” Izuku brightened up even more, “He says he’ll show it to me later
but isn’t that neat?”
“Izukun made a friend!” Himiko cried, “Congratulations on your very first
friend!” She held up her drink.
“Thanks!” Izuku clinked his glass against hers and then Dabi’s, held up by the
older man. “You should have seen me at lunch time. I had half of my class
trying to sit with me. Hitoshi was pretty nervous the whole time, but they were
really excited about the magma quirk I showed off earlier. Even Ochako wanted
to know more about it.”
Himiko gasped, “You call her Ochako? Izukun, I want to go to school too! Let me
go and meet her please, please!”
Izuku shook his head, “You can meet her later, Himichan. You’d never pass for a
hero in Yuuei. Besides, you’re way too mature for a first year class and the
third year classes are all full.”
This caused the girl to pout into her drink. “You’re certain I get to meet her?
Promise?”
“I promise,” Izuku said. “Her and all the other girls in the third year
classes. Ochako isn’t the only cute one they have.”
“That’s right,” Himiko said, stirring her straw through whipped cream, “There’s
Creatie and Earphone Jack and Alien Queen!”
“Alien Queen is hot,” Dabi added, “I can’t wait to see her in action as an
adult Heroine. She’ll be fun to compete against.”
“Her acid is no joke,” Izuku said, “They used it to get rid of the rock and
cement formation I made with my volcano quirk this morning. Pretty impressive
shit, I think.”
“You have to tell us more about your school day, Izukun!” Himiko declared. “You
must! Tell me all about the girls in your class and about this boy you like and
Uravity!”
Izuku rolled his eyes again. “Okay, okay, so first there’s this girl Tokage
Setsuna, right? Lizard Lady is her hero name and…” He went on to explain the
different ways his classmates had reacted to him and his budding friendship
with Hitoshi. There was Setsuna, determined to be his best friend- despite
Hitoshi already having that spot and the fact that she was basing it off a
movie he hadn’t even seen. There were wary students like Honenuki and Shiozaki
who kept their distance but weren’t rude when he greeted them. Ones like Kendou
and Awase were friendly enough, though he had a feeling they were more worried
about Hitoshi being his friend than any sort of villainous history he himself
might have had. Shishida had been more curious towards the end of the day.
Kaibara had kept asking if Izuku was  sure  he wanted to sit beside Hitoshi
(especially since Hitoshi started talking again).
Himiko ate up all the gossip as well as the descriptions. She cheerfully asked
who was rivals with whom, who the friends were, who Izuku thought was dating
and all sorts of things about them from hairstyles to quirks to favorites.
Dabi sat, listening mostly in silence. He kept an eye out over the bar, unable
to give up a watchdog position even if they were supposed to be relaxing.
As Izuku wound down from school, he remembered that, with his new phone from
his mother, he needed to get their phone numbers too. Dabi gave him a smirk at
this, “Won’t you get in trouble if you have villain numbers in your contacts?”
“Daichi will make sure no one can get through to my contacts,” Izuku said with
a wave of his hand, “Plus, I’m going to put you down with nicknames, like the
rest of my listed numbers. Dabi, you get to be Wolfhound. Himichan is going to
be Princess.”
Himiko, delighted, put her phone number into Izuku’s phone without a second
thought. Dabi laughed, “Wolfhound?”
“I thought guard dog was too offensive,” Izuku said. “And you follow in the
footsteps of the Wolf.”
Dabi’s brows rose. “You’ve already got his contact information? Bah, I
shouldn’t be surprised. He’d be here himself if he wasn’t out testing out a
lesser boundary.” He too put his number in. As he slid the phone back across
the table, he said, “In fact, he sent me with a gift for you.”
Reaching into his pocket, Dabi pulled out a small cloth bag. Tossing that over,
he sat back again. “A congratulations present, I guess. He just wanted me to
deliver it when I saw you next. I don’t know how he knew I’d see you before
him.”
Izuku shrugged. There had always been an odd connection between the two of
them, since the very first time they met a few years ago. He had learned not to
question it. Opening the bag, he poured the contents out on the table. Seven
dice rolled out from the velvet pouch, rolling across the wood surface before
coming to a stop against Izuku’s guarding hand. He didn’t want to lose any to
the floor, after all. He picked up the twenty sided die and turned it around in
his fingers. “Is this… Is this made out of bone?”
Himiko snatched up one of them and sniffed it. She turned it around in her
fingers and then nodded, “I think it is. Wow, are these hand made?”
“Of course they are,” Izuku said with a laugh. “You can’t half ass a gift like
this. Dabi, let him know I’m grateful for these. I’ll definitely treasure
them.”
Himiko rolled the ten sided die towards Izuku with a little frown, “You
shouldn’t lead him on like that, Izuku.”
“What? I really will treasure them. It’s got to be a lot of work to make these
individual die. Not to mention they’re really the perfect gift. I’m pretty sure
I’ll be carrying them around with me all the time. They’ll definitely be useful
for my work.” Izuku gently put them back into the bag and tied it shut.
“He’ll be happy to hear that,” Dabi said, smiling, “He gets back in a few days.
Are you planning to visit with him, boss?”
Izuku shrugged. “I might, if I have time, but …  school.  I don’t know how
often I’ll be able to come around here, actually. This might be my last day for
a while.”
“Uwah! No way!” Himiko said, “Izukun I’ll be so lonely without you! Dabi isn’t
nearly as good company and no one else is as fun or as cute as you are!”
“It’s only for a little while,” Izuku said. “Think of it as a minor adjustment
period. Once I’ve figured out my schedule with school and have acquired a few
more tools, then I’ll have free time to spend with you again. Keeping apart is
the safest option for now.”
Himiko pouted but nodded her head. “All right. If you say so… But you better
not forget about me when you get to hang out with all those other girls!”
“I could never forget you, Himichan,” Izuku said seriously, “None of this would
be possible if I didn’t have support like yours.”
Himiko preened under his praise, giggling as she sipped her drink again. Dabi
met Izuku’s gaze and gave a small smile. Izuku smiled back. Himiko might not be
a key player, but she and Dabi had their places in the game. So long as they
complied with the rules, Izuku could count on them for support.
Of course, support always went two ways.
 
===============================================================================
 
At the end of his visit, Dabi walks with Izuku to the door of the bar, his
hands in his pockets. The flow of patrons has been steady over the last hour as
clusters of people come in to get a drink before their evening work. In the
darkness outside the bar itself, Izuku steps closer to Dabi, to speak
privately. They’re alone, more or less, but Izuku likes to be careful. He lifts
his chin, making eye contact with Dabi and initiates his Direct Contact quirk.
Dabi’s eyes widen slightly and he shifts from his relaxed position to one ready
for action, responding to the tell-tale sensation that Izuku’s privacy quirk
gives the recipient. “Yes?”
“I need to spur the father-son duo into spitting fire at each other,” Izuku
murmured, “Metaphorically speaking of course. Can you take care of that for
me?”
“I’d be happy to,” Dabi smirked. “Any particular way you want it done, boss?”
Izuku smiled broadly, “Surprise me.”
Dabi lit up, responding to that smile as quickly as Himiko would have. “It’ll
be my pleasure. Me and the crew will get right on it. There’s nothin’ like a
little stress at work to make a tense home life even worse.”
“I’m glad I can count on you,” Izuku said before dismissing his quirk and
looking away. “I’ll be heading out then.” He took a few steps away before
pausing and turning back. Dabi arched a brow at him, standing and waiting
there. Izuku came back, grinning, and hugged him tight around the middle.
With his ear to Dabi’s chest, Izuku could hear the man’s heartbeat increase.
Dabi pat his shoulder with on hand for a moment before he hugged back. When
Izuku drew back, he said, “Take care of the Wolf for me while I’m out.”
“Of course, Boss,” Dabi muttered. The part of his face that was still his
original skin color was flushed. “That’s why I’m your wolfhound, ain’t it?”
Izuku nodded. He slipped out of Dabi’s arms and tossed a casual wave over his
shoulder. “Be good to the princess,” he called, “And don’t get into any trouble
you can’t get out of!”
“You worry too much,” Dabi grouched back, but he was smiling. Izuku could hear
it in his voice.
In the darkness of the hall, he shape shifted from human to cat once more and
headed up for the stairs to the street. If a cat could whistle, he would have
been. As it was, he exuded a smug pride all the way back home.
Piece by piece, everything was falling into place.
Chapter End Notes
     Direct Contact:
     When making direct eye contact with another person, activate this
     quirk to prohibit anyone else from overhearing what you have to say.
     You can whisper or shout and no one but your recipient will hear your
     words. (Audio listening devices pick up static. This quirk cannot
     work with a camera lens or tinted glass, but can work through clear
     glass.)
***** cut like a diamond, chiseled like a greek god *****
Chapter Summary
     Scars revealed. Pictures taken. The thrill of anticipation.
Chapter Notes
     Rama: you're gonna have to pry buff bara izuku out of my cold dead
     hands, bc I am never letting him go
     Katten: guys, please, Izukun is not yandere. at all. seriously.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
The locker room is abuzz with conversation on Monday morning. Izuku smiles idly
to himself as he changes into his track suit. The other boys are talking about
games and movies, training workouts and homework. It’s the idle chatter of a
familiar group. There’s laughter and the sound of hands thumping against
shoulders.
Izuku feel’s eyes on his back as he shrugs out of his shirt. He turns, looking
over his shoulder and catches Kaibara’s eye. The other boy is staring at his
back, eyes widened, and his mouth slightly open. Next to him, Tsuburaba elbows
him, saying, “Hey man, don’t just stop mid-sentence like that. What’s up?”
Kaibara’s eyes jerk away from Izuku and he flushes. “Uh-”
Tsuburaba looks over. “Dude, Sen, what are you staring-” His jaw drops. “Holy
shit.”
Izuku rolls his eyes and finishes taking off his shirt. He folds it up to put
in his locker and catches the eye of Shishida next to him. The beastly student
shoved his glasses up, abruptly cleared his throat and turned his head away. On
Izuku’s other side, Shouda flushes and whips his head back around to stare at
his open locker.
“Oi, Midoriya,” Kaibara calls. Izuku pauses in undoing his belt to give his
attention to the other boy.
“Yeah?”
“Not to be, like, ridiculously rude or anything but did they lock you up with
exercise equipment or is it a quirk that’s got you looking like that?” He
gestured his hand up and down.
Slowly, Izuku turned around to face him, thumbs tucked behind his belt as he
considers Kaibara and his definitely insensitive question. He was kind of used
to those from him, though, as Kaibara’s curiosity seemed to trump the social
customs of keeping your nose out of another’s bullshit. Honestly, Izuku liked
that about him. “Bit of both,” he said. He noticed that now he was talking to
Kaibara, the others were staring again.
It was a bit ridiculous, since he wasn’t the only one well muscled in the room.
Tetsutetsu had a good set of abs and Shishida had arms and legs to die for.
Maybe he had a little less fat and therefore looked a little more cut than the
others, but really, it shouldn’t have been thatshocking to them. “I have a
minor strength enhancement quirk that requires a high baseline strength to
activate without damaging myself,” Izuku explained, “And so I was trained to be
extremely physically fit in order to maintain the use of that quirk along with
others.”
“Just how many quirks do you have?” Kaibara asked, not for the first time.
Izuku shrugged. To be completely honest, even he wasn’t quite sure. Half the
time, if he needed to do something it turned out that he had the quirk to
accomplish it, whether or not he remembered Father giving it to him. “Enough, I
guess.”
Kaibara’s questions seem to have broken the ice enough for more because next,
Shishida clears his throat and asks with a gesture towards Izuku’s shoulders,
“Did they give you… that? From the villains, I mean.”
Following the line of his hand, Izuku looks to his bare shoulder. The scar that
stretches across his skin is a raised splatter of pink, damaged tissue. He’s
seen it so often that he had completely forgotten about it as he changed.
Looking at it now, he can easily picture the second scar that is on his back,
near his right shoulder blade. The one there is almost exactly like the one on
his shoulder, pulled and puckered flesh that’s an oddly dark pink color that
contrasts against his regular skin.
He shakes his head in answer to Shishida. “No. I had this before they took me.
One of the first quirks I was given was a regenerative one so the experiments
done on me wouldn’t kill me unnecessarily.”
“Really? Then when did you get it?” Tsuburaba asks, eyes widening, “It looks
awful… Kind of like Todoroki’s burn.” He gestured to the left side of his face
to indicate which burn he meant.
“It’s from an explosion when I was ten,” Izuku said. He gave a bitter smile.
There were few memories he had kept from before his capture that were good
ones. Most of them were like the one associated with the burn, thoughts laced
with broken glass or bitter poison, ready to hurt him at the slightest
remembrance. “I mean, Bakugou’s quirk developed when he was little, just like
they’re supposed to. He’s always been quick to use it, especially against
people who annoy him. And I always annoyed him. He even had this shitty
nickname for me, on top of calling me quirkless and a fuckface loser.”
The heavy silence that follows that is broken by an unexpected voice asking the
question that Izuku was sure they were all thinking.
“Bakugou did that to you? Twice?” Hitoshi asks, frowning. His hand is holding
onto his jacket tightly. He, like the rest of them, is half dressed during this
conversation. “And he got away with it?”
“I was a forgiving kid,” Izuku said with a shrug, “I admired him. I wanted to
be his friend. I knew he was mean but he wanted to be a hero so I looked up to
him.” He laughs, shaking his head, “Maybe I was dropped on my head as a baby.
But I forgave him even when the burns hadn’t finished healing.”
He turns away first, removing his belt and shucking his pants so he can change
into his gym outfit. Conversation has dropped off almost entirely after that
and the room is filled primarily with the sounds of clothing shuffling and
lockers opening and shutting. Tetsutetsu is the first one done, stomping past
Izuku to the doorway. He stops just at the door and turns around to face the
room. Izuku catches the motion and turns his head to pay attention
automatically.
“I don’t know about the rest of you guys,” Tetsutetsu says, the words snarled
out between his sharp teeth, “But I’ve always thought Bakugou was a piece of
shit. If your story is true, Midoriya, that only confirms what I believed. That
fucker’s no hero. He’s just a sack of trash who thinks he’s better than
everyone else.” He jerked his thumb to his chest and said, “I don’t care what I
have to do to keep him from the top Hero spot, but by god I’m going to fucking
do it. He doesn’t deserve that position if he’s willing to injure innocents on
his way to the top.”
He looks around the room and grins. Izuku glances around and sees similar
determined expressions on the others. “The sport festival is going to be here
faster than we know it,” Tetsutetsu continued, “I suggest we train as hard as
we can until then and then we, as a group, as a fucking class, take Bakugou
down. No way does he get to win first place three years running. You guys with
me or what?”
Immediately there’s a chorus of agreement. Fists are pumped into the air as the
other boys whoop. Shishida growls out his assent and Kaibara jumps up onto the
bench, both fists in the air, “We’re gonna take you down Bakugou!”
Izuku laughed, more surprised than anything.
Hitoshi walks up to him then, dressed as well and on his way out of the room.
He gave Izuku a thumbs up and said in a deadpan tone, “Congratulations on your
adoption, Izuku.”
Izuku grinned. He returned the thumbs up and then pat Hitoshi on the shoulder.
“It’s only finalized when they adopt you too, Hitokun.”
Hitoshi flushed, turning his head away to hide it. “Yeah, yeah,” he muttered,
brushing Izuku’s hand off. “Hurry up and get dressed. I’ll see you out on the
field.” He hurried away.
Across the room, Kaibara jumped down from the bench and gave Izuku a thumbs up
as well, “Yeah, Midoriya. You better not go out half dressed like that. You’ll
give all the girls nosebleeds with an indecent chest like that.”
“Is there something wrong with my chest?” Izuku called as Kaibara headed for
the exit.
“Duh,” came the reply, Kaibara turning to walk backwards through the door.
“You’re cut as a fucking diamond. One look at those abs and who knows how many
panties will drop for you!”
“Ignore Kaibara,” Shishida said from behind Izuku, “He’s just being needlessly
crude.”
“What?” Izuku turned and asked, “Do you think my chest wouldn’t be appealing to
the girls?”
Shishida flushed, “W-well it’s not exactly that I think it wouldn’t be
appealing- I just think that saying it in such a way is unnecessary.”
Izuku blinked at him. Really, this was a bit too much fun. If high school could
be more of this chatter and weird teasing, he would be having a lot more fun.
“So I am appealing?”
Awase, passing by, adjusted his bandana and said idly, “Midoriya, your physique
is something many people strive for years to attain. I don’t know how much TV
or internet you’ve gotten a hold of in the last little while, but if we were to
film you dripping with water, coming out of a swimming pool or some shit, we
could sell like, anything to women or gay dudes. Sex sells, Midoriya, and
you’re pretty up there when it comes to what a woman likes.”
“I am?” Izuku blinked, honestly surprised at his forthrightness. “How do you
know?”
“Itsuka’s my best friend,” he admitted easily, “When they were playing that
Norwegian water bottle commercial with the guy taking off the full body scuba
suit thing with close ups on his body, it was, like, the only thing she would
talk about for a week. So you better cover up or you’ll distract all the girls
and we’ll never get gym class finished.”   
Shishida nods enthusiastically in agreement to this. Izuku shrugs and finishes
dressing. He’s one of the last headed out the door, a smile on his lips and a
spring to his step. The admiration is a nice thing, but Tetsutetsu’s
declaration was definitely the highlight for Izuku.
Bakugou would never know what hit him.
Izuku could hardly wait.
 
===============================================================================
 
At lunch on Tuesday, Izuku and Hitoshi are outside in the courtyard. They sit
together under a tree, the wide branches providing plenty of shade. Izuku’s
eating mostly in silence, listening as Hitoshi explains his current favorite
mystery show. “...then they go into this room and give their account of the
crime. It never shows like, the full story from each one of them, but little
clips of it. We do get to hear who they accuse though, so we know who they
think is the killer and we can guess based on what they know.” Hitoshi said,
gesturing with one hand.
He stops to take a drink and looks up at a voice calling out to them.
“Midoriya!”
Tokage is at the head of a cluster of girls from their class. They’re
practically marching across the field towards them. Awase and Kaibara are with
them, looking sheepish.
Izuku glanced to Hitoshi, “Do you have any idea…?”
Hitoshi shrugged.
Tokage arrives, stands with her hands on her hips and said, “Sen said that you
were ripped, Midoriya. He said that you have an eight pack. We want to see if
it’s true or just more of his bullshit.”
Izuku blinked.
Blandly, Hitoshi said, “Wow. One day. You managed to keep a secret for one
whole day.”
Awase sighed, “Sen and Togaru kept talking about what kind of exercises would
be needed to maintain Midoriya’s level of fitness and they overheard.”
“Don’t blame me for this,” Kaibara demanded, “I wasn’t the one who call him
chiseled like a greek god.”
Awase didn’t even blink. “I’m not going to lie to Itsuka.”
“I. Don’t. Care!” Tokage stomped her foot. “It doesn’t matter who told whom. I
just want to know if it’s true! Midoriya, take off your shirt!”
There was surprised silence for a moment before Kendou laughed nervously,
“Setsuna, that’s so inappropriate. You can’t demand Midoriya to strip during
school.”
Tokage grinned. “So after school would be fine?”
Izuku cleared his throat. “I’d rather not waste time after school like that.”
He set aside his bento and got up to his feet. “It will only take a moment,
right? And then Hitoshi and I can get back to our lunch?”
“Yeah, sure,” Tokage grinned with all her teeth bared. The other girls giggled
behind their hands, watching curiously.
“Hitoshi, you don’t mind if I do this, right? I don’t want to ruin our
conversation,” Izuku asked his friend.
Hitoshi got to his feet too, “If you want to take your shirt off, go right
ahead. Can I take a picture for my blog? My followers have been asking to see a
picture of you all week.”
“Sure,” Izuku said. He loosened his tie with one hand, giving Hitoshi a bright
smile, “I don’t mind if you take my picture, Hitokun.” He was rewarded with a
slight pink flush across Hitoshi’s cheeks. Looking to the girls, he said,
“Tokage, would you mind holding my clothes?”
“Absolutely not.” She held out her hands immediately. He shrugged out of his
jacket and handed it and the tie over. Her grin grew wider and wider as Izuku
unbuttoned his shirt and peeled it off. A soft chorus of gasps rose up as he
handed over his shirt.
“Izuku,” Hitoshi said, “Pose for the camera?” He lifted up his phone.
Izuku blinked, “How? I’ve never really done that before.”
“What?” Kaibara gaped, “Seriously? It’s just like this, man,” He came over and
slung his arm around Izuku’s neck even though he was shorter than him. Then he
grinned at Hitoshi and held up a peace sign. “See? Like this!”
Izuku nodded. He put up a peace sign, putting his arm around Kaibara’s back.
“Bending over like this is kind of uncomfortable. Do you mind if I…?”
“Eh?” Kaibara said, “EH?!”
With his arm around Kaibara, Izuku held him against his side and straightened
back up. He lifted Kaibara a few inches off the ground, completely supporting
his weight with his arm. Then he flashed a peace sign to Hitoshi. “Ready!”
The was the audio of a shutter clicking and Hitoshi said, “You should do a
flexing picture too, Izuku.” His cheeks had turned a darker pink but his voice
remained steady.
“Flexing?” Izuku repeated, “Oh. Okay!” He let go of Kaibara, who staggered back
in stunned silence and was caught by one of the other students. Turning, Izuku
lifted his arms, flexing his entire upper body. “I’ve seen this on TV,” he
explained gamely, moving from one pose to the other. “Is this what you want,
Hitokun?”
“...yeah.” Hitoshi said, his phone shuttering again and again. “Perfect.”
Izuku smiled. “Tokage?”
She blinked slowly at him, like a lizard caught in the warmth of the sun. “Mm?”
“Can I have my clothes back?” Izuku held out his hand. Tokage looked at her
arms and then at his hands and then offered back the clothing. “Thanks.”
He dressed again while his classmates whispered amongst themselves.
“Who else knows about this? The boys? Is that it?”
“They can’t keep this a secret- They’re terrible at secrets- Everyone is going
to find out.”
“But if everyone finds out it’ll be like that time Yui shrank out of her
clothes at the school festival and all those other students came by the class
to take-”
“SHUT UP. We don’t talk about that anymore!”
A moment of tense silence passed. Izuku, tugging his tie into place, looked to
Hitoshi. His friend was tapping away on his phone, a smile quirked up at the
corner of his mouth. Curious. Izuku stepped closer, peeking over the edge oh
his phone to look. Hitoshi was typing out a message to go along with the
picture. Izuku’s brows rose as he caught part of the words. ...have believed me
when I told you. I don’t blame you for second guessing me. Pics or it didn’t
happen, right? Well here are your pics!
“Are you putting that online?” Izuku asked. Hitoshi jumped.
“Ah. Yes. Is that… Do you want me to not do that?”
Izuku scratched at the back of his neck. Anonymity was kind of important to him
and his work, but on the other hand… “Is this a normal teenager thing? Do
people post pictures of their friends online like this?”
“Er. Yes.” Hitoshi said.
“Then okay.” Izuku grinned. He could almost hear Himiko discovering those
pictures. After all, she had texted him the day before that she had found
Hitoshi’s blog. Izuku wondered if Hitoshi had any idea how many villains he had
in his followers because of Himiko. “I give you full permission to post my
picture on your blog. But only you, because you’re my best friend, Hitokun.”
“What?” Hitoshi replied, “I’m your best friend?”
Izuku nodded. “You are. My very first best friend since I was, well, four I
guess.” He put his arm around Hitoshi’s shoulder, smiling, aware that the girls
had stopped whispering and were paying attention.
“What happened to your first best friend?” Hitoshi asked, lowering his phone.
He shifted a little uneasily under Izuku’s arm. He had acted similarly when
they ate in the cafeteria together the week before. Izuku had adapted to the
others staring at him, but Hitoshi was still nervous by it.
“He got a quirk and I didn’t,” Izuku said, “He stopped being my best friend and
became my tormentor instead. You saw the scars he gave me.”
Hitoshi’s fingers tightened on his phone. Izuku noticed Kaibara straighten and
glance to Awase out of the corner of his eye. Both boys frowned deeply. “I
can’t believe that bastard got into Yuuei,” Awase muttered.
“Who?” Kendou asked, looking to her friend.
“Who else?” Kaibara sneered. “Bakugou Katsuki. He knew Midoriya when they were
kids. He’s the one who burned Midoriya’s shoulder like that. Didn’t you girls
see the scar?”
“Oh, I thought it was….” Kendou’s voice trailed off. Shifty glances were
exchanged with each other. Izuku continued to smile.
“Do you guys mind if I go back to my lunch? I’m kind of starving?” Izuku
laughed. He motioned them to shoo with one hand, “I can talk about that stuff
later. Discussing Bakugou makes me lose my appetite.”
Kendou opened her mouth but Awase elbowed her in the side. They exchanged
glares but it was Tokage who sighed loudly and said, “Okay, okay.We’ll go. But
you have to eat lunch with us again sometime, Midoriya! You don’t get to just
eat lunch outside with Shinsou all the time!”
“But I like eating outside.” Izuku remarked, “I didn’t get to do that very much
in the last few years and Hitokun is excellentcompany.” He hugged Hitoshi
closer to his side, pretending to not notice the very obvious blushing that he
was doing.
Tokage grinned at them both. The other girls giggled, looking from one to the
other of them. “All right, Midoriya. You and Shinsou enjoy your private lunch
out here in the yard!” She waggles her eyebrows in the most obvious way and
Izuku flushes in response. The other students leave, Awase miming an apology
behind the backs of the girls, and Izuku laughed.
“Everyone is really energetic at school,” Izuku said, sitting back down with
Hitoshi.
“It’s exhausting,” Hitoshi muttered, joining him. “I miss nap time.”
“Yeah,” Izuku said, “Me too.”
 
===============================================================================
 
On Wednesday, Izuku stood outside the teacher’s office area after having been
summoned there during a study period. He knocked and slid the door open, poking
his head inside, “Excuse me but-”
Blood King looked up from the desk he was working at and gestured him over.
Some of the other teachers were in the room, though only two or three. They
glanced up to see Izuku cross the room and join his homeroom teacher. “Sensei?
You called for me?”
“Ah, yes,” The man smiled and turned his chair to face him. “There’s a joint
class exercise being conducted later this week that I wanted to talk to you
about first.”
Izuku nodded, hands tucked behind himself. He made sure he looked attentive and
interested, smiling slightly at his teacher. He could feel All Might’s gaze
from across the room, though the man had been talking to another hero when he
had entered. “What about it, sensei?”
“It’s a common exercise that we do with our students, starting even in their
first year.” Blood King explained, leaning an elbow on his desk as he spoke.
“Generally we accompany it with a study of the students individual abilities
and their willingness to co-operate to achieve a goal. The activity is to go to
a prepared map and divide the students into heroes and villains. Both sides
compete against each other to succeed at their goal during a timed match.
“During the third year, events like this are integrated with other classes. In
this case, not just the heroics based ones but one that covers some of the
psychological behaviors of villains.” His teacher looked incredibly serious as
he spoke, his brows furrowed slightly. “It’s important for future heroes to be
able to understand and predict the mind of a villain, so they can better fight
against them.”
Izuku let the smile fade from his own expression, mirroring that intensity. He
had hoped that he hadn’t missed this exercise yet. The timing of his arrival to
Yuuei had been dependent on EUSJ, but he hadn’t been able to pinpoint the
curriculum for events like this. This was one of the activities that Izuku had
looked forward to. It was a prime opportunity, after all. “Are you wondering if
I would be comfortable participating, sir?” he asked.
“Yes. You were so recently rescued that we want to be sure we don’t add to your
trauma in any way. If you can only participate in half of the exercise or need
to sit it out entirely, we’re prepared for that.” Blood King nodded. “There
will be a surveillance area that you can watch from, or you can remain in the
classroom to study.”
Izuku shook his head. “Sensei, I can do this. It’s important that the others in
my class have everyone there to help, right? And I want to be a hero! I want to
be like the other students. I can do this.”
“I don’t want you to push yourself,” the man said firmly, “You’re in a whole
new environment and it’s easy to become overwhelmed.”
“Please let me participate,” Izuku asked, “I know Hitoshi will be playing and
we’re friends- I want to be there to help him with this. It’s important!”
The man sighed. He tapped his jaw with his fingers, looking away thoughtfully.
“We’ll have you put in the later section, then. That way if you get overwhelmed
by watching the other students, you still have time to pull out. You are a hard
worker, Midoriya, and you’re doing well in your classes considering what you’ve
been through. If you think you can handle this, I feel confident trusting you
to know your own limits.”
Izuku brightened up. He clapped his hands together, bowing in gratitude. “Thank
you! I’ll show you I can handle this too, sensei!”
“All right. I believe you, Midoriya. For good measure, though, I’ll make sure
you’re on a team with Shinsou. I think that he can help keep you grounded.”
Blood King turned to write a note on a pad of paper. Izuku glanced at it and
saw that it was divided into four sections, each one of them filled with ten
different names. The team formations?He thought before lifting his gaze.
“Thank you again, sensei.” Izuku smiled. “Is that all?”
“Yes. Go ahead and return to class.”
Izuku bowed again and walked back to the door. He pressed his palm against the
wall by the door, activating his Sensory Awareness quirk and immediately
putting it into hibernation. Sliding open the door again, he left behind the
teacher’s offices with a broad smile stretching across his face.
Finally, he thought, putting his hand into his pocket. I can start the
instructions this week.
Rolling the twenty sided die around and around in his fingers, Izuku felt a
thrill of excitement run down his spine. Father’s so foolish, thinking that his
way is the better way. I’ll show him. I’ll show everyone the correct way to
play the game.
Chapter End Notes
     Sensory Awareness:
     By placing one's bare palm to a surface, they can lay down a print
     that will absorb different types of sensory input to be gathered
     again at a later date. The information is stored there until one
     places their bare palm against the same spot, collecting it directly
     into their own mind. Left too long and the information can easily
     overwhelm a simple mind.
     what is this??? fanart by the fantastic Leilei! Please enjoy here
***** intentional versus accidental *****
Chapter Summary
     Shit goes down. Twice.
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Hitoshi figures he’s not the only one whose heart is beating crazy fast on
Friday morning. Blood King has them getting kitted up in their hero costumes,
and even though he says it’s just an extended exercise, the whole class knows
what’s up. Izuku had spilled the surprise the moment he had returned from the
teacher’s office on Wednesday. Everyone’s been buzzing about it, as it’ll be
the first class vs class event of the year. Not only that, but it’s an
irregular exercise, where they’re apparently going to be getting different
roles to play.
He finishes adjusting the last touches of his uniform, letting out an anxious
breath as as he does so. Izuku said he didn’t know who was on what team or what
the specific dynamics were but… just knowing that they were up against 3-A was
enough to make him nervous. Tightening his gloves, he turned away in time to
see Kaibara standing with his hands on his hips in front of Izuku.
Izuku, to his credit, seems to take Kaibara’s personality in stride. He’s
laughing at something the other student has said, brushing his hair back with
one hand as he affixes a pair of tinted goggles over his eyes. Hitoshi leans
over just enough to see the full outfit.
It’s a body jumpsuit, a lot like the tracksuits they were for regular gym
activities, except it’s a deep forest green with white accents. The white
rectangles are at the shoulders, hips and the sides of his chest along the
ribs. He wears thick dark gloves that have a flash of metal on the backs and
his boots are obviously steel toed. He looks… different, with his hair swept
back and those goggles obscuring his eyes but when Izuku looks over at him,
Hitoshi swears he can still see the bright green of his irises beneath the
glass, clear as anything.
“Shit!” Kaibara exclaims, drawing Izuku’s attention back. “You know what we
totally forgot?”
“What?” Izuku asks, a quirk of a smile on his lips.
“Your hero name!”
There’s a pause and then the other boys emphatically agree.
“Sheesh, I can’t believe we forgot that!” said one.
“Not only us but sensei too! What the hell!”
Izuku laughed, cutting off the discussion with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got a suitable hero name already.”
“Yeah,” Hitoshi hears the boy next to him mutter under his breath to his
friend, “Lava Girl.”
Izuku carries on like he didn’t hear that. “My hero name is Noumenon.”
Hitoshi forms the odd word with his lips, frowning. It’s foreign, definitely,
and weird.
“What is that?” Kaibara asks, “Like the opposite of a phenomenon?”
Izuku shakes his head. “Nah. Not like that.”
Kaibara gets an elbow to gut from Awase before he can ask more prying
questions. “Don’t ask the origin of the name, dude. You’ve got to stop your
prying questions sometime and we’re all going to be late if we don’t hurry the
fuck up out the door.”
Kaibara grunts, shoves Awase and says, “Yeah, yeah  Dad.”
Hitoshi catches up with Izuku in the hallway leading out to the grounds where
they’ll be practicing that day. Izuku gives him a friendly smile that does too
much to increase his heart rate than is really fair. He clears his throat and
asks, quietly, “So where  does  Noumenon come from?”
Izuku looks away from him, and with the goggles over his eyes, it’s not easy to
tell exactly where he’s looking. “Don’t tell anyone, but it’s a bit of a pun
off of what I was called when I was with the villain leader. I don’t want to
freak anyone out by using something close to what they called me.”
“It doesn’t bother you?” Hitoshi asks, “I mean, they experimented on you…”
“I know.” Izuku shrugged, “but it really does help. I have to accept what
happened to me if I want to move past it. Pretending it didn’t happen won’t do
anything but hold me back.”
Hitoshi nodded to that. It made sense to him, though he was still troubled by
it. “Does Sensei know about your name?”
“Yeah, haha, he forgot about it until just before sending us off to change and
I told him what it was then. He said it was acceptable, though I think he
wanted to know where it came from too.” Izuku said as they exited the building.
Hitoshi blinks against the sudden light. Looking up, he sees 3-A is mostly
there already, chattering excitedly and turning to see them as they exit.
Uraraka immediately begins to wave to Izuku, who tosses back a wave and a
friendly greeting.
Hitoshi bites the inside of his cheek and consoles himself on the fact that
Izuku is in  his  class so he gets to spend more time with him. Shoving his
hands in his pockets, Hitoshi looks away, immediately realizing how needlessly
jealous and possessive that thought was. Izuku could have friends if he wanted
them. He could get to know pretty girls from the other class. He could-
He snapped out of his thoughts when Izuku gripped his elbow and brought him to
a sharp stop. “Watch out,” Izuku murmured, “You almost walked into Shishida.”
“Ah. Sorry.” Hitoshi flushed, stepping back. Izuku squeezed his arm and then,
gently, let go of him.
The two classes form two groups automatically, leaving just a little space
between them. Though there were a few friendships between the two classes,
there was a definite undercurrent of contention between the two. Hitoshi had
noticed it within a week of being moved into class B in the middle of his first
year and it had only grown more pronounced as time passed. Part of it had been
the natural competition between two similar classes, the rest of it had been
because of the actions of a particular student.
It was easy to pick out Monoma from the midst of 3-A, standing with that smirk
on his face in his garishly bright hero suit. He glinted in the sunlight, parts
of his clothing polished and reflecting. The sport festival in the first year
hadn’t been good just for Hitoshi. Monoma had placed fourth overall, impressing
the heroes at Yuuei enough to bump him up from class B to class A. He was
looking over at Hitoshi, eyes narrowed and chin lifted. It wasn’t often the two
of them crossed paths but when they did Monoma seemed utterly determined to
prove that he was better than all of class B, especially Hitoshi.
Hitoshi met his gaze and lifted his brows at him as if to ask,  What do you
want?  Monoma wrinkled his nose back and made a show of turning his head away,
giving Hitoshi the cold shoulder.
Sighing, Hitoshi decided to ignore him too. That was easy enough since Izuku
was looking curiously at him. “Was that Monoma?” he asked, leaning forward to
look around Hitoshi.
“Yeah,” Hitoshi muttered back. “It’s best if you ignore him, really.”
“It really is,” Tokage chimed in from the other side of Izuku. “Even when he
was in class with us the only way to really get him to shut up reliably was to
ignore him until he got offended and decided that  he  was going to ignore all
of  us.”  She rolled her shoulders as she spoke, stretching her arms up over
her head. “I swear trading him for Shinsou was the best thing about the sport
fest in first year.”
“I gotta agree,” Yanagi said suddenly. Hitoshi jumped, having not noticed how
close she stood behind him and Izuku. She spoke quietly and in her soft grey
outfit, she seemed even more ghost-like than usual. “I mean, Shinsou-san was
scary to have around at first, but you’re much better company than Monoma.”
Izuku nudged Hitoshi with his elbow, grinning at him. Hitoshi glanced away, his
cheeks flushed. He knew that the class only was beginning to acclimate to him
because Izuku served as a buffer between them. Without Izuku, it was likely he
would have never left his position at the back of the group, silent and
unwanted. He didn’t know exactly what it was about Izuku that made people warm
up to him but if he had to guess it was probably that smile he gave. The one
where it felt like stepping out into sunlight for the first time in days.
The one that Hitoshi was pretty sure had some sort of emotional persuasion
quirk attached to it. Not that he’d seen or felt Izuku use it much since the
first few days he’d been around but still…
He rubbed at his arm where Izuku nudged him, trying not to feel as awkward as
he did. Izuku’s understanding of personal space meant that there was a scant
few inches between him and the people he chose to be next to. Where most people
put a foot or more between themselves and Hitoshi, Izuku stood close enough
that he could bump shoulders with him without having to move his feet at all.
Close enough that when Izuku whispered, “Now who’s the one getting adopted?”
Hitoshi was the only one to hear him even though they stood in the crowd of
their whole class.
“Only because of you,” he muttered back.
“Does that really bother you?” Izuku asked, still leaning in close.
“What are you two whispering about?” Tokage asked, poking her head around Izuku
again. She grinned mischievously, “Is it about-” Tokage’s voice was cut off by
the dramatic and attention gathering shout of All Might, who stood in front of
both classes, hands on his hips, beaming at them.
“Now that everyone is here and ready,” All Might declared, “We are going to be
able to begin the match!”
Blood King stood off to the side, holding a clipboard. “Usually, we decide your
teams on a random basis to simulate the way it often plays out in the field.
Today, however, we’re going to emulate a specific kind of situation. This is a
large scale fight where you will be divided into groups of ten. Two groups will
participate at one time, with one group simulating the behavior of villains and
the other group practicing as the heroes.”
He looked at his clipboard, referencing his notes, something he often did in
class. Lifting up a page, he said, “The villains will be spread out over the
whole area, where there is a mixture of open space, roads and a few buildings.
There are between three and ten hostages, represented by life sized dummies.
The heroes will be sent in waves, first five and then another five after twelve
minutes as reinforcements. The goal of the heroes is to rescue all the hostages
and capture as many villains as possible.  This exercise is timed, giving you
thirty minutes to accomplish your goals.” He lowered the page with a nod.
“Are there any questions?” Blood King asked. It was perfunctory, really,
because no one ever had-
“Yes, Midoriya?” All Might’s voice broke Hitoshi’s train of thought and he
turned to look at his friend with his hand up in the air. Izuku had a question?
It was obvious what was going on. Heroes versus villains with hostages- a very
clear cut situation.
“Are the hostages civilians or other heroes?” Izuku asked, lowering his hand.
There was a blink of surprise from the teachers. Blood King looked to All
Might, who cleared his throat. He sounded almost cautious as he asked,
“Civilian or heroes, it doesn’t matter which one they are. As heroes, it’s your
responsibility to save them.”
“Yes, but,” Izuku continued, “as villains, it matters.”
There was a strange pause after he said that. Hitoshi was suddenly very aware
of people staring at Izuku, and in consequence, him right next to his friend.
Even the kids in front of them had turned back to look at Izuku. The hair on
the back of his neck stood on end as Hitoshi saw how serious Izuku’s expression
was. Hitoshi licked his lips, shifting uncertainly, but he didn’t step away
from Izuku’s side.
“Why does it matter?” Blood King asked.
“Because heroes and civilians aren’t the same to villains. They would react
differently depending on who they had captured.” Izuku explained, “It would be
important to villains to know the status of the hostages.”
There was obvious uncertainty on Blood King’s expression as he glanced again to
All Might. All Might seemed to catch whatever his fellow teacher was attempting
to express because he stepped forward, “I see! It seems Midoriya is already
thinking ahead to the secondary purpose of this exercise. Understanding the way
a villain thinks can help you predict their actions to a certain extent. Will
they stay and fight? Will they try to run away? These are the kinds of things
that are important to know when fighting a villain, either one or one or
against groups.” He gave Izuku a thumbs up, “In this case, we’ll declare all
but one of the hostages to be civilians and one of the hostages to be a hero
that’s been rendered unconscious!”
Immediately, Izuku’s hand was in the air again. There was only a tiny
hesitation before All Might called on him again. “Will you have the hero
hostage identified, sir? I mean, if the villains are the ones who took them
hostage, they were probably in their suit, right? So the villains would know
which one they were.”
“Ah. Yes. We’ll have the hero hostage identified. Thank you for the insight
into these details, Midoriya.”
Izuku shrugged, “Sensei said we have to think like villains to understand them.
I think I’ve got the most experience dealing with villains so it’s only fair I
share what I know with everyone.”
“Of course,” Blood King said, “Are there any other questions?” A pause, filled
with silence. “Good. Now I’ll start with the first team. When your name is
called, please come forward and stand in the designated spot.”
He read out the names quickly, using just last names and a letter to identify
which team. Izuku was called before Hitoshi and was put on Team D. Hitoshi,
when he was called after Sero from 3-A, was also put in Team D. It was a bit of
a relief to be on Izuku’s team, but also kind of worrying. They had Kaibara,
Yanagi and Tokage on their team as well, the latter giving them a thumbs up and
the former a grin. Yanagi smiled slightly, though she seemed troubled when she
glanced to Izuku.
While the rest of the students were being separated out, Tokage asked, “What
was that deal about the hostages, Midoriya?”
Izuku shrugged, “It’s just something the villains talked about in front of me a
couple of times. They had some rules that made it so they didn’t treat
civilians and heroes the same way for some reason.”
“What rules?” Kaibara asked, just as nosy as Tokage.
“Umm, if I remember right they were, uh,” Izuku scratched the back of his head,
frowning thoughtfully, “One, escaping with your freedom is priority. Two, don’t
kill other villains who follow the code. Three, was don’t kill heroes, but you
can kill civilians.” He counted the rules out on his fingers. “There seemed to
be a lot of sub categories to everything but they didn’t go into much detail
about that around me. I think there’s some sort of complicated point system
involved with rule three, but I’m not sure.”
“Don’t kill heroes?” Tokage repeated, tilting her head to the side. Her braided
hair fell over the shoulder of her slick green suit and she tossed it back out
of her way absentmindedly. “Are you sure that was one of them?”
Izuku shrugged, “Honestly, sometimes I’m not exactly sure how conscious I was.
Sometimes I was on a lot of sedatives to keep from screaming. I wasn’t always
very coherent.”
Hitoshi winced. He’d gotten used to Izuku saying things bluntly like that about
his whole kidnapping affair, but it was clear from the flinch and pull back of
the students around them that they weren’t. He sighed and nudged Izuku’s
shoulder, “You’re freaking them out, Izuku.”
“Eh? Oh. Sorry. My therapist says that I should be open about my trauma so that
I don’t dwell too much on it and let the associated emotions build up and cause
me problems. I have to admit that these things happened to me and while I wish
they didn’t, I can’t go back and change them into other things.” He smiled,
“Because these things seem normal to me, I forget that they are troubling for
others.”
“Oh,” Tokage said, blinking, “Well, um, if it helps you recover then it’s okay,
I guess? I mean, it’s just startling. People don’t usually talk about being
drugged up around villains or anything.” She laughed nervously, glancing to
Kaibara, who shrugged and added his two cents.
“Look, I hear this a lot, I mean Midoriya sits next to me in class too.
Sometimes you get all muttery, dude. You say some weird shit when that
happens.”
“Now that I can’t really help,” Izuku laughed, “I’ve been doing that my whole
life.”
Their conversation was interrupted by their teachers, yet again. This time it
was to tell them that Teams A and B were going to go first while Teams C and D
would observe. Hitoshi walked with the others to the observation room. It was a
little cramped with half of both classes plus the two teachers in among all the
monitoring equipment, but Izuku found the two of them a spot in the back on a
long bench.
Izuku sat cross legged on the bench, keeping both feet off the ground and his
hands in his lap. He pushed his goggled up so he had a clear view of the TVs. A
lot of the other students stood or sat nearby, some on the bench some on the
floor, some against the wall. Hitoshi stayed with Izuku, mostly because Monoma
was in the room and was trying to get his attention so he could show Hitoshi
that he was ignoring him, but also because he was a bit worried.
When Izuku had found out Bakugou was on Team C, he had given this very brief,
very sharp smile. Hitoshi thought he was the only one who had seen it and if
so, well, he felt responsible for keeping an eye on his friend. He had already
seen the two of them clash twice before and he was sure he didn’t want to see
that happen again. They only escalated what they said and did to each other
each time they crossed paths.
If that meant brainwashing Bakugou to leave them alone in the middle of all of
this, well, then that was what Hitoshi would have to do.
Izuku watched the far screens, frowning slightly. His fingers twitched, his
hands opened and shut in his lap as he watched. His eyes were bright, flashing
green as they flicked from one screen to the next. The first five minutes were
relatively uneventful while Team B, comprised of 3-B students and also acting
as the heroes, infiltrated the large area where Team A, comprised of 3-A and
acting as the villains, had spread out. The first five stayed close together,
moving methodically through the area.
When the reinforcements came, things became suddenly more serious. The cohesion
in Team B fell apart abruptly over unheard discussion. Hitoshi and the other
watching students could see, but not hear what was being said. Only the
teachers had communication devices that connected to the two teams out in the
field.
“What are they doing?” Izuku suddenly said, a frown on his lips, his brows
furrowing together. He spoke low, more to himself than anyone else. Hitoshi
looked at the screens too, to try and see what Izuku did. He saw fighting on
some, sneaking on others, and other ones that had either no one on it or
students patiently waiting. “They’re going to fail if they do that.”
As the exercise progressed, Izuku’s muttering picked up until there were no
pauses between his questions or his observations. He hunched over slightly,
eyes focused, muttering constantly. Occasionally, he would wince, hissing
between his teeth. Sitting around them, their classmates would glance back at
Izuku, looking quizzical.
Yanagi, who sat on the floor with her knees up to her chest, peered up at Izuku
but then asked Hitoshi, “Is he okay? He’s been doing that for ten minutes.”
“He’s fine,” Hitoshi replied. “He does this a lot in class when he’s really
focused on something.” Izuku’s fingers were digging into his leg, his knuckles
turning white, so he reached over, carefully, and touched the back of his hand.
Izuku blinked for the first time in probably a minute and his gaze cut to
Hitoshi. It was hard to describe his eyes as anything other than glowing,
especially in that dim room. “Hey,” Hitoshi said, “Don’t strain yourself,
Izuku.”
Izuku’s blank expression melted into a smile. “Sorry. I got caught up in the
moment. It’s the first time I’ve seen the actual combat practices of the
others.” He turned his hand suddenly and took Hitoshi’s hand in his own. “Thank
you.” He didn’t let go of Hitoshi’s hand when he looked back at the screens,
but now he sat back, more obviously relaxed.
Hitoshi stared at their hands until he realized he was staring and had been for
at least a whole minute. Then he looked up abruptly, ignoring the flush of his
cheeks and the way Yanagi, sitting on the floor, giggled behind her hand. They
sat together like that for the rest of the time. Whenever Izuku’s grip turned
too tight, Hitoshi would squeeze back briefly and Izuku would relax again.
Hitoshi jumps when he hears the buzzer ring out after the thirty minutes are
up. The fighting onscreen comes to a grinding halt, and Hitoshi grimaces at the
postures of his classmates. Even as the heroes, they hadn’t been able to beat
3-A’s kids. That put a damper even on the mood of the 3-B kids around Hitoshi.
He made the mistake of looking at Monoma, who stood tall, chin lifted and
smugness radiating off of him. Gritting his teeth, he turned his head away
sharply. Izuku squeezed his hand briefly to get his attention. “They could have
done it,” he said, soft but intent. His eyes were focused on Hitoshi now.
Hitoshi had the strangest feeling that Izuku could see into him, not like he
could read his mind or anything, but like he could read even the smallest
shifts in his expression and know what they meant. “They could have if they had
taken the time to discuss a plan. And they had that time. It was clear the
villains weren’t bringing the fight to them after the first five minutes. Even
against powerhouses like Yaoyorozu and Todoroki it could have been done.”
“Yeah?” Kaibara asked, from where he stood against the wall, “How? 3-B always
loses to 3-A. They’ve just got stronger quirks than we do.”
He spoke loud enough that some of the other students, even the 3-A ones, looked
over.
Izuku gave a grim smile, “It’s not the strength that matters. It’s knowing who
and what you’re fighting and how to use your surroundings to your advantage.”
“How the hell are people like Ibara supposed to beat people like Todoroki?”
Kaibara asked, folding his arms tight against his chest. “You saw how he froze
her vines. She was useless against him. Hell, everyone is. He’s too powerful.”
“He relies on his environment being stable,” Izuku said, “And on being
tangible. Shiozaki and Tsuburaba could have taken him together. If Shouda had
been there with them, it would have been a quick finish. Todoroki had no back
up and he was protecting three hostages, one of which was the hero.” Kaibara
snorted in disbelief and Izuku frowned. “It’s true. They could have done it and
then while Shiozaki got the hostages out, Tsuburaba and Shouda could have gone
to back up Bondo with Yaoyorozu. With the two of them down, the biggest threat
would have been Tokoyomi, but Tetsutetsu and Honenuki could have easily taken
him if they hadn’t separated. It makes sense that they did since they didn’t
know he was there, and they had found the bait of hostages left out, but-”
“You really think that  anyone  of 3-B could take down 3-A’s students?” Monoma
interjected. He had walked over while Izuku was speaking and stood with that
haughty tilt of his head. “Even in groups they couldn’t manage! 3-B is just
inferior in every way.”
“Copycat,” Izuku breathed out the word, eyes flashing, voice so soft Hitoshi
wasn’t even sure Izuku knew he said it.
“Oh shove off, Monoma,” said Tokage from her spot further down the bench. “You
were one of class B too. You have no room to talk.”
“I was, sure, but unlike the rest of you losers, I was elevated to where I
belong based on my skills.” Monoma pressed his hand to his chest.
“You were bumped up to make room for Hitoshi,” Izuku said, leaning his shoulder
against Hitoshi’s. “If I remember correctly he came in third because he beat
you in the tournament. There was no precedent for moving a general education
student to the class A, so they just shoved you up out of the way so he could
get where he belongs.”
Monoma’s eyebrow twitched. “Excuse me? How do you even know about that  mister
I was locked in a cell for five years.”  His voice went nasally with his
mocking, his expression twisting up in annoyance.
“Villains have television too,” Izuku said, mild as anything, “and if you think
they don’t watch young heroes displaying their skills for literally anyone to
see, you’re an idiot. The sport festival isn’t just a talent scouting arena for
Pro Hero agencies.” He glanced to Hitoshi, “It’s how I knew who you were. I’ve
seen the last two years of sport festivals. Everyone has. Civilians. Heroes.
Villains.  Everyone.”
Hitoshi’s heart beat hard in his chest, hard enough that he was sure everyone
around him could hear it. He hadn’t ever thought about- Hadn’t realized that-
But of  course  if it was broadcasted on regular television- Recorded and put
online- Sold as DVD specials-
Monoma looked a little green at the prospect, but managed to say with a sneer,
“So what does that mean?  You saw a little TV special about our quirks and
that’s enough for you to know what we can do?”
“Yes,” Izuku said, smiling a tiny smile. “And you only know one or two of mine,
at most.”
Hitoshi shivered.
“All right, young heroes!” All Might said suddenly. Hitoshi jumped, nearly
falling off the bench. Tokage actually did pop up to her feet, with a little
shout. Around him other students turned, wide eyed and startled, to stare at
All Might who looked at them with some confusion on their shock. “Well? Didn’t
you hear me? Let’s get up and get ready! Pick up your comms and head out to the
designated area! Team D is the next set of heroes and Team C are the villains
this time!”
Izuku squeezed Hitoshi’s hand one last time before he stood up. Monoma wasn’t
the only one who quickly backed away with him, but the 3-B kids around Izuku
were the ones who held their ground. “Good luck, Copycat,” Izuku said with a
grin. He tugged his goggles back into place. “Have fun being the villain.”
“It’s  Phantom Thief.  You’ll never get anywhere if you don’t take this
seriously,  Midoriya,” Monoma said with a dismissive sniff, “If you don’t
you’ll just be another Class B loser.” He turned on his heel and stalked off.
Izuku shrugged his shoulders.
“Fuck,” Kaibara muttered, “That dude will never stop being an asshole, like,
ever.”
“I’d really like to win once, just to rub it in his face,” Tokage said as well.
She elbowed Hitoshi, “I never said it, but thank you for first year. You making
him slap himself on camera in front of literally thousands was the highlight of
my month.”
He nervously smiled at her. It still turned his stomach to realize that
villains  had been watching the sport festival, that they always did
apparently. It seemed like a breach of security, somehow, but at the same time…
All the adults had to know, right? Someone knew, right?
“No problem,” he smiled, “I think I would happily do it again if I could.”
“Make him punch himself next time,” Kaibara said, giving a thumbs up of
approval. “Like, really hard. Black eye hard.”
“Guys we’re supposed to be  heroes,”  Yanagi said behind her hand, stifling her
giggles as they got in line for their comms.
“Yeah? And Monoma’s a villain today. We can totally wish harm on our villainous
enemies, right?” He held out his hands, palms up, shrugging as he added,
“Shouldn’t we want our heroic allies to make our enemies punch themselves in
the face?”
“That’s a completely true,” Tokage said. “Hey, can we manage that this time,
you think? It’s a small enough goal. It’s probably a hell of a lot more likely
than actually winning.” She turned to address Izuku, who stood behind Hitoshi
in line, several people behind Tokage herself. “You sound like you’re good at
planning this kind of thing out, Midoriya. Could you make that happen?”
He cocked his head to the side and then, smiling, said, “If you want me to, I
can do my best. I’ll need cooperation from everyone else, though. I can’t do
this alone.”
Rin Hiryuu and Tsunotori Pony, who stood in front of Hitoshi in line, turned,
looked at each other, then looked at Izuku.
“If you can manage it, I’ll listen,” Rin said.
“Me too,” Pony agreed quietly.
At the end of the line, Shishida grinned and Kamakiri gave a thumbs up. Izuku
looked to Hitoshi. “Do you want to make this happen, Hitokun?”
Izuku’s smile made Hitoshi’s heart pound and his cheeks burn. He turned around
abruptly, but nodded his head in agreement. Blood King gave him a bemused look
when he hurriedly grabbed his comm from the box and rushed out the door, but
didn’t say anything. Hitoshi really, really wished that his damn crush wasn’t
so  blatantly obvious  to everyone around him. That only meant that Izuku was
going to figure it out. If he hadn’t already.
Which he probably  had,  because he was too terribly observant like that. He
had noticed when Hitoshi had come in too tired to tie his tie right for school
the other day. He had also noticed whenever Hitoshi fell asleep in class,
though no one else did, and made back up notes for him.
The thoughts of the sport festival were far from Hitoshi’s mind as he joined
the rest of his team in the waiting area. It dawned on him that his growing
crush was disgustingly apparent to everyone,  everyone,  including Izuku
himself. Sooner or later, someone was going to say something about it too and
that only meant one thing.
Hitoshi was going to have to confess his feelings to Izuku. Izuku, who had been
locked up for five years, who probably thought they were really good friends,
and definitely didn’t need a confusing teenage romance on top of his kidnapping
recovery and trauma therapy. Izuku who would probably feel awkward about it,
who probably already did feel awkward about it or he would have said something
about it. Because Izuku talked about everything else with Hitoshi. Everything
besides  Hitoshi’s disgustingly obvious crush.
Suddenly wanting to do nothing but sit down with his head between his knees
until everything went back to normal and he stopped having this massive crush
on the first person that had been this friendly to him in two years. Izuku just
wanted to be  friends.  Why couldn’t Hitoshi be satisfied with that?
Why did he want so much to be closer to Izuku than he already was?
What the hell was he going do now?
 
===============================================================================
 
The plan had been a simple one.
In retrospect, that was probably where the problem had come up. It was  too
simple. It was based on the wrong playbook. They were supposed to be heroes-
there to save the day as noble protectors of the innocent. Villains were the
ones to base whole schemes around achieving one possible but slightly inane
goal.
But his classmates had wanted to make sure Monoma delivered a perfect blow to
his own face and Izuku had been a bit too excited to have them under his
command to think it through. He should have. He should have considered the fact
that Monoma had picked him out to argue with earlier. He should have considered
the fact that the other students were trained to be individuals on the field
and no matter how much they said they were willing to listen to him, they would
still hesitate to act.
It hadn’t been too much for him to think through. He trained for years to be
able to process even more information than that. His quirks were  built  for
this.
And yet…
Drawing Monoma out of hiding had been easy enough. That had fallen into place
just as Izuku expected.
Yanagi’s voice was a soft song as she used her quirk to possess the hostage
ragdoll that had been left in Monoma’s care. “He’s alone,” she reported back,
her speaking voice melodic, “And pacing by the door. I’m ready to spook him out
when you’re in place, Washer.”
“Copy that, Spirit,” Hitoshi whispered back over the comms. A brief snicker
from several comms let Izuku know that the others appreciated his pun. “I’m
almost there. Thirty seconds.”
Izuku had put himself, Tsunotori, Komori, Shishida and Kamikiri in the second
wave- the reinforcements. They weren’t allowed to speak or act with the first
set until they were on the scene but they could listen. Had he been able to be
there from the beginning, perhaps it would have ended differently, but the
scenario had been laid out by their teachers and Izuku could only play within
the rules of the game.
They waited eagerly, listening as the other five members of their team searched
out Monoma through Yanagi’s possession technique.
“I have an eye on the target,” Kaibara said. The grin was audible in his voice.
“His stupid suit is glinting right through the window.” There was a pause, a
slight whirring sound and then, “Lady Zilla, there’s a handhold to your left-
Yeah, right there.”
Tokage grunted over the comm, “It’s Lizard Lady, asshole. I’m not Godzilla over
here.”
“Hey heroes don’t call other heroes asshole,” Kaibara teased, “
“Washer is too,” Hitoshi said. “No more responses until clear.”
Izuku held his breath.
Yanagi’s humming grew louder, though it was wordless. The sound was haunting.
The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
Izuku grinned as he listened to it. They were six minutes into the fight. Only
two more minutes and the second phase could start.
They could hear wood break and glass shatter over the comms- Tokage’s, if
Izuku’s understanding of his location was correct. There was a distant shout,
the sound of concrete crunching and sharp intake of breath. “C’mon, c’mon,
c’mon,” someone whispered, too softly to be sure who it was, though Izuku
thought it sounded like Kaibara.
“Almost,” Hitoshi murmured. “Krosis, time for the lure. Make sure he takes the
bait.”
There was a grunt of acknowledgement. Izuku bounced on the balls of his feet. A
minute and a half was left.
Rin didn’t speak when he fought. There were concentrated breaths, sharp grunts
and the occasional,  “Keh,”  of what was probably amusement (Izuku had to spend
more time in Rin’s company to be sure of that). Monoma, on the other hand, was
practically monologuing as they fought. It was clear, just from the sound of
it, that he thought Rin was weak in his attacks.
“Use Rin to draw Monoma’s confidence out,”  Izuku’s command had been,  “Rin’s
good enough at single combat to make Monoma’s over inflated ego so huge that he
won’t notice he’s being led by the nose to an isolated location.”  He wanted to
see it in person, but knowing that they were under Kaibara’s eye, and that he
was placed by one of the cameras, assured Izuku that he’d be able to see it
later.
“Phantom!” Hitoshi’s voice was frantic over the comms, an artificial
desperation, “Phantom Thief, help!” It was incredible, the way that Hitoshi’s
voice gave nothing away when he was using his quirk.
“They may be acting as villains, but they’re still heroes underneath,”  Izuku
had said when Hitoshi had looked uncertain on carrying out his part of the
plan,  “And heroes are built to save. All they need is a willing victim.”
“Clear,” Hitoshi said. Izuku and the others waiting whooped excitedly.
“Fuck yeah,” Kaibara said over the comms with near-reverence. “Washer did it.
He fucking did it. Copycat’s been caught.”
Thirty seconds.
“Washer,” Tokage said with a happy sigh, “I’m not crushing on you or anything
but I hope you’ll accept a congratulatory kiss for this. I swear this is gonna
be the highlight of my whole year.”
“I- Uh-” Hitoshi stammered,  “What?”
“Shut up, Zilla,” Kaibara snapped, “C’mon, do the punch!”
“Krosis,” Hitoshi said, his voice slightly strained, “Be ready to catch him as
soon as he breaks out. The punch will definitely knock my control off of him.”
“Copy,” Rin murmured. Kaibara laughed.
“No one respond,” Hitoshi said, “Make a fist with your right hand. Punch
yourself in the face as hard as you can.”
“Oh my god,” Tokage whispered. “It’s beautiful.”
“INCOMING!” Kaibara shouted suddenly over the comms, making Izuku wince at the
volume.
At that exact moment, a smoke flare rose into the air, signifying the end of
eight minutes. Izuku took off from the waiting area, the other four on his team
just behind him.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Kaibara continued, “Fucking Blasty and Riot are here!”
“Scatter,” Izuku said over the comms. “Don’t let them take you down.”
“We’ll lose Copycat too,” Hitoshi replied.
“An acceptable loss. The most important thing are the hostages,” Izuku said.
“Keep to your pairs, focus on the hostages. Spirit, how many have you located?”
He lengthened his stride, outpacing his companions by several feet. Kamakiri
followed him while the other three peeled off.
“Six in total,” she replied. “In groups of two and three and one.”
“Dash, Spore and I are on our way to rendezvous with you, Spirit.” Shishida
said, picking up Komori with a sweep of one large arm. Izuku caught sight of
them ducking between a building and a fence, the swish of Tsunotori’s costume
tail following the motion of her body as her long legs kept her pace easily
with Shishida.
There was a loud explosion. Smoke rose as the ground shook slightly. “Oh my
god,”  Tokage breathed out, “Blasty’s using his arm bombs. He’s taking this
villain thing way too seriously.” There was a pause and then, “Krosis, did you
and Washer get out of there in time? Krosis?”
“I’m… I’m fine,” Rin panted back. “I can’t see Washer. There’s too much smoke.”
“Fuck,” Kaibara whispered. “I don’t have eyes on the spot anymore. And-” he
yelped, cutting off his words.
“Careful,” Tokage said, “Beams nearly got you there. C’mon. Let’s bring him
down together.”
Izuku tucked Kaibara’s and Tokage’s conversation out of his mind as they
engaged with 3-A students. His focus was Bakugou, who, by the sound of it, was
setting off continual explosions. “Scyther,” Izuku said, “Find Washer and pull
him back.”
“Riot’s there too,” Kamakiri replied, “Can you handle them both?”
Izuku grinned, though he knew no one could see it. “Blindfolded.”
“Don’t get too cocky, Noumenon,” Hitoshi said suddenly. He was quiet, panting
for breath. “Explosions and magma aren’t exactly the same. You might be heat
resistant but there’s a hell of a lot of force in those arms.”
“I’m a lot more than heat resistant,” Izuku said. He took a corner quickly,
reaching out with one hand to grab a lamp post to control his turn. His fingers
dug into the metal, his weight and grip combining to crunch it. “Are you able
to walk?”
“Yeah. Keep Scyther with you, I’ll pull back to Krosis and we’ll go after Jacks
and Tentacles like in the plan.” Hitoshi replied, “Blasty got bored with me
pretty quick when he saw you weren’t here. He’s after your blood, Noumenon.”
“Well, there are a lot worse things he could be after,” Izuku replied. “Is Riot
still there with him?”
“Can’t see beyond the explosions, sorry,” was the answer he got.
“It’s fine. Just focus on the priority. We’ve gotten the punch-out so it’s time
to get down to business. That goes for everyone. Stick to your pairs, take down
your opponent and save the hostages.”
The chorus of “Got it!” was music to Izuku’s ears. Literally, in Yanagi’s case.
“Scyther, keep an eye out for Riot.”
“Aye.” Scyther said.
Walking out into the dust cloud, Izuku grinned and lifted up his hands.
Standing in the center of the street, Izuku called, “Oi, Baka-gou!” His air
displacement quirk flared around him. For a moment, he stood as the center of a
vortex of wind and then the smoke and dust blew outwards, leaving him exposed
and revealing where Bakugou stood at the other end of the street. Half of it
had been turned to rubble and a nearby building listed heavily to the side
because of the hole it had instead of a wall.
“The fuck did you call me you piece of shit?” Bakugou shouted back at him. “Do
you  want  to fucking die?”
Izuku rolled his shoulders, flexing out his back and arms. He couldn’t see Riot
anywhere. Kirishima was the kid’s name, right? Izuku hoped to meet him. He had
seemed like a companionable dude on TV. “Have all your explosions finally
fucked up your hearing?” He taunted, “How fucking deaf are you that I’ve gotta
repeat myself like I’m talking to an old man, Ba-Ka-Gou.”
“I’ll fucking kill you!” Bakugou snarled. He jumped, his fists of flame
thrusting him through the air at Izuku.
“Two problems with that,” Izuku said conversationally as he shifted the density
of oxygen in front of him so that Bakugou’s flames sputtered and his attack
became a bare fisted  punch. That wasn’t the best part, though. The best was
when Bakugou sucked in a breath of air and gagged on it as though he were
suffocating.
“One,” Izuku held up a finger, “It’s against the rules for us to kill each
other.” He dodged back as Bakugou’s first fist follow was followed by another
one.  He had to keep his hands up to maintain the density and so he didn’t turn
away, just hopped back as Bakugou advanced.
Every breath Bakugou took turned his face a little more flushed, his eyes a
little more wide and wild. He stopped trying to hit Izuku and began to back up.
Izuku followed him. Bakugou’s red eyes were filled with hatred as he fought to
escape the invisible oxygen-deprived bubble that Izuku kept up around him. His
struggling only made him breathe harder, made him pull in lungfuls of nitrogen
rich air.
Bakugou dropped to his knees, both hands reaching for his throat. Izuku stared
down at him and said, “The second problem is that I’ve already died. Multiple
times. Feels kind of awful, doesn’t it?”
Izuku crouched down to be eye level with Bakugou. He reached up with one hand,
tapping his comm to turn it off. Slowly, he tugged off his gloves, setting them
aside so he could take Bakugou’s face in his bare hands. His former friend
grabbed his wrists but couldn’t pull him away.
Gently, Izuku whispered, “Isn’t it such a horrible feeling? Knowing you’re
within arm’s reach of salvation but no one is there to turn back for you and
take your hand, pulling you to freedom. Oh, Kacchan, if only you hadn’t walked
away that afternoon. Maybe Tsubasa would still be alive. Maybe I wouldn’t have
been experimented on. Maybe it wouldn’t be this way at all.”
He lifted Bakugou’s face up, watching as involuntary tears filled those red
eyes and fear edged into his desperate expression. “You know,” Izuku murmured,
“Most people pass out pretty quickly when you drop their oxygen intake as low
as I did to you. This much nitrogen dilutes the oxygen in your blood quickly.
It only takes a couple of breaths to knock a regular person out. But as usual,
Kacchan, you are different from normal people. You really can do incredible
things, but it’s time for you to go to sleep. Just close your eyes, Kacchan.
It’ll be over in a little bit.”
Izuku brushed Bakugou’s tears from his cheek with his thumb. Bakugou’s eyelids
fluttered, his lashes brushing Izuku’s fingertips. Then they closed and he went
limp.
Immediately, Izuku dropped his air manipulation quirk. He tapped his comm with
one hand as he reached for the strap to wrap around Bakugou to show he was
captured. “This is Noumenon, back online. Blasty is down for the count, how are
we doing, folks?”
“Scope and Lady Zilla here,” Kaibara said, panting, “Beams and Ridley are
down.”
“I really am going to punch you, Scopes,” Tokage growled, “How would you like
it if I called you by the wrong name?”
“Argue on your own time,” Izuku ordered automatically, “Everyone else?”
“We have rescued two hostages,” came Yanagi’s voice, “Dash has taken them to
the secure zone.”
“Riot ended up joining Jacks and Tentacles and the three of them have pinned
Krosis and I down,” Hitoshi reported. “We need backup. I’ve confirmed they have
a single hostage, marked with a gold star on the chest that I’ve assumed to be
the hero.”
“Hank. Status?”
There was static as a reply.
“Hank?”
There was a roar that rent the air but didn’t come over the comms. Komori’s
voice, however, did, “Hank got knocked through a wall and lost his comm,” she
said quickly, “He and Tailman are fighting now. Charge is all burnt out and
down as well. My shrooms keep telling me someone else is here but I can’t see
them so I think that Invisible Girl is at my location.”
Izuku ran through the list of 3-A students that should have been out there
quickly. “Scyther, go assist Washer and Krosis. All we have left to find is
Copycat and he’s probably lurking, nursing his wounds. I can handle him.”
Later, Izuku would regret those words. Regret thinking them. Regret speaking
them. Regret ever even believing them. Kamakiri nodded to him and took off.
“So we’re only missing three hostages, correct? Ah, no need to answer that,”
Izuku added, “There were two rescue, one with those other three and Spirit
found six total. Every hero is engaged except for Copycat.” Izuku turned
slowly, observing the area around himself. “Question: Washer and Krosis, did
you engage or were you engaged?”
“It was an ambush,” Rin panted. “We were headed their way and they came to us.”
Izuku’s lips moved silently as his memory played back the arena’s layout. He’d
spent half an hour staring at it earlier on so he knew where every street,
every building was laid out. Recognizing where he was from the color of the
brick and the size of the building on his left, Izuku turned. “Keep them busy,”
he said, “Spirit, you know where the last three are? Was it a room above or
underground?”
“Basement. There were three windows,” She replied, “High on the wall and small.
I could check to see if there is a guard with them again?” She sounded out of
breath. Her melodic tone was gone.
“There are only two basements available,” Izuku replied. “Save your breath and
rest up. You did great work. I can check them myself.”
“Okay,” she said, her voice full of relief.
Izuku put the fighting in the back of his mind as he headed down the street. He
felt a smirk pull at his lips as he heard Komoi shout that Invisible Girl was
down, but he didn’t join in the cheering. His heart was jumping in his chest,
his feet hitting the pavement in time to the quick beat. He hadn’t been out in
the field in months, having been so busy with the preparation of this school
year that he hadn’t been able to do more than oversee the villains out to play.
He found the first basement easily. There were two entrances, one inside and
one outside. Izuku didn’t bother going in first. He found the cellar door,
crouched down in front of it and gripped the lock. With a mouthful of magma-
spit, Izuku burnt through the metal and tossed it aside. The door banged open
and Izuku dropped down the darkened stairs. Faint light peered in through one
of the small windows, and Izuku blinked, activating an infrared vision quirk.
He saw only the spreading warmth of sunlight that pooled in behind him and that
which came in through the windows.
Looking up, he saw two windows. “Wrong basement,” he murmured, and then turned
away, dismissing the infrared quirk. Izuku stopped the moment he looked up,
eyes widening in surprise. Monoma stood at the top of the stairs, backlit by
the sun, and grinning down at Izuku.
“You think you’re so special because of all your secret quirks,” Monoma said,
lifting his hand dramatically, “Why don’t we just see how many quirks you
have?”
“Don’t,” Izuku said immediately, dread filling his gut. His legs were frozen at
the look on Monoma’s face. He  looked  villainous, a sadistic light to his
eyes, a sharp slant to his smirk. “You can’t handle them. Don’t do it.”
“You think you, a shitty pity-case hero-wannabe can tell me, the  Phantom Thief
what quirks I can and can’t handle?” He pressed his other hand to his chest,
grinning down at Izuku. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, you fool, I can use any
quirk in the whole world!” He laughed.
Again, much like Hitoshi’s quirk, it was impossible to tell from the outside
when it was being used. Hitoshi’s voice had no telltale reverb. Monoma’s had no
distinctive sensation.
However, his appearance began to change dramatically. His eyes shifted green
and glowing. His hair turned darker, began to curl away from his face. His pale
skin darkened, growing closer to the tan of Izuku’s on skin. His body began to
change as well, growing taller bulging. Monoma’s jaw dropped down, his teeth
shifting along with the rest of him. His laughter came to a burbling stop,
smoke rising from his throat. “What-” He choked out, eyes growing wide, “What
ish thish-”
Izuku’s limbs unfroze at the horror that burned across Monoma’s face. At least
half of it anyway. The left half of Monoma’s face sagged while the right was
pulled back in abject terror. “How-?” His cry was cut off as the left side of
his body gave out supporting him.
Izuku leaped up the stairs, arms out. He caught Monoma before he hit the
ground, cradling him in his arm. Blood dripped from Monoma’s nose, his eyes,
still burning green, stared up at Izuku. His jaw, distended, worked to form
more words, but nothing coherent came out.
“Monoma,” Izuku said, “Monoma, just hold on.” He shifted the other boy in his
arms to reach up and touch his comm. “Sensei, please, I need medical attention
for Monoma right now.”
“Midoriya, what happened?” Blood King’s voice was shocked in his ear. “We just
saw Monoma change and drop, what just happened?”
“He borrowed my quirks,” Izuku replied, “He copied them.”
“Fuck,” someone else said, from outside the comm. Izuku looked up to see
Kirishima, kitted up in his Red Riot outfit, stood a few feet away, eyes wide.
“What’s going on?”
Izuku looked down to where Monoma’s features were some sort of hybrid between
his own and Izuku’s and then back up to Kirishima. His vision blurred with
tears, “I told him not to,” he choked out. “And now he’s-”
There was a thump, a vibration through the ground, and suddenly All Might was
crouched in front of him. “Midoriya, my boy,” he spoke with surprising
gentleness, “Let me take Monoma. We’ll get him right to Recovery Girl.”
Izuku immediately handed over Monoma. As he did, he saw that the boy’s features
were beginning to return to normal. His unseeing eyes were shifting back to
their original shade, his hair turning blonde again. “I’m sorry,” Izuku said,
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let him do it.”
“Don’t worry,” All Might said, holding Monoma in one arm, “I will take care of
young Monoma!” He leaped away, taking to the air as if he could fly. Izuku
watched as his childhood hero took away the unconscious Monoma.
He knelt on the ground, feeling drained of energy. He felt someone shaking him
and blinked, looking up to see Kirishima with his hand on his shoulder. His
mouth was moving, but Izuku couldn’t hear him speaking. The only sound that
existed was the rushing of his blood in his ears.
That and his own voice, whispering, “It’s against the rules. It’s against the
Code. You can’t kill heroes. It’s against the Code. I broke it- I can’t- I
can’t- I broke the Code…”
 
===============================================================================
 
Hitoshi stood with the other nine members of his team in the designated safe
zone. They had six rescued hostages and seven capture pseudo-villains but none
of them were celebrating. Izuku stood off by himself, shoulders hunched, head
bowed. He had been silent since Kirishima had walked out of the battle zone
with him. Kirishima, Shouji and Jirou were the only three of the villain team
that had remained uncaptured by the time the battle had ended.
Tokage nudge Hitoshi with her elbow. “What are you doing?” she whispered, “Are
you just going to stand there and let him freak out alone?”
“Go to him,” Kamakiri said, stepping closer and lowering his voice, “He had a
run-in with Bakugou too.” He glanced to Izuku’s back and added, “He suffocated
Bakugou until he was unconscious and didn’t freak out. But the thing with
Monoma get’s him like that?”
“He shouldn’t be alone with this,” Yanagi said, poking her head around Tokage,
“Why aren’t you going to him?”
Hitoshi flushed and nervously rubbed his hands over his arms. “Me going over
there will just make it more awkward for him,” he started, “I’m- I mean-”
Tokage pushed his shoulder this time, harder than before. “This is no time for
your weirdness, Shinsou. Go over there and make sure Midoriya is okay. Stay
with him! You’re his friend.” They stared at him, expectantly. Hitoshi rubbed
his shoulder where she had punched him and then nodded.
He could feel people staring at him as he crossed over to where Izuku stood.
Hitoshi glanced over his shoulder to see Tokage give him a hopeful thumbs up.
Turning back, his eyes swept over Bakugou, who looked at him with narrowed
eyes. Once he was at Izuku’s side, he stopped.
“Izuku…”
The other boy tensed. He looked up from under his shaggy bangs, his goggles
hanging around his neck. His eyes were red-rimmed with tears. Hitoshi
hesitated, not knowing what to say. He reached out a hand, tentative. If Izuku
was panicking, the last thing he needed was to be grabbed-
Izuku grabbed Hitoshi’s hand in both of his, tightly. “I didn’t mean to,” he
whispered intently, standing so close that Hitoshi could feel his body heat. “I
didn’t mean to kill him, I swear. I didn’t.”
Tears ran freely down Izuku’s cheeks and he ducked his head. Hitoshi felt his
face burn as Izuku rested his forehead on his shoulder. He hadn’t seen Monoma
before All Might toko him away and neither him nor Blood King had said
anything. Not wanting to lie to Izuku, Hitoshi did the only thing he could.
He put free arm around Izuku’s shoulders, drawing him close. If Izuku was
comfortable leaning on him, needed to lean on him, then Hitoshi could stave off
his embarrassment long enough to be there for his friend. “It’s okay,” he
murmured, “You’ll be okay.”
Monoma might not be, but Hitoshi could at least believe that Izuku would be
okay.
 
Chapter End Notes
     3-B kids use nicknames for most of 3-A's kids during the fight (so
     they're intentionally NOT using 3-A's names but they are using their
     names) Also, like, none of them have listed names or even very
     detailed quirks so Rama just kind of made all that up. Here's a brief
     explanation of why these names were chosen:
     Tokage: Lizard Lady: she's only listed to have lizard like regen
     skills so i kind of tacked on some other lizard abilities for her too
     (wall climbing and claws anyone?) (Kaibara calls her Godzilla/Lady
     Zilla/ Zilla teasingly)
     Kaibara: Scope: his ability is called "swivel" and he likes cameras
     so im like "Guess who can do the whole "what do your elf eyes see"
     nonsense. this guy"
     Tsunotori: Dash: She's based off of MLP stuff. no, seriously, she is.
     So guess who gets the least obvious MLP nickname. bc she's got horns
     and horse legs. she got legs for days.
     Rin: Krosis: his quirk is 'scales', his trivia puts his name as
     dragon related, so guess who gets the Skyrim reference to his name?
     This guy. He's my fave dragon priest from Skyrim. aw yee
     Kamakiri: Scyther: ok. his quirk is like, blades. he looks like a
     pokemon. so. yeah. obvious.
     Komori: Spore: again, no listed ability, but a mushroom quirk so idk.
     Shinsou: Washer: ok this one might be short for something else but
     it's basically a reference to him having a brainwash quirk, that
     involves memory loss
     Shishida: Hank: idk how many of you know xmen, but guess what the
     name of the big fuzzy blue beastly mutant is! (hint, it's Hank)
     Yanagi: Spirit: Possibly short for "Ghost Spirit"- she possesses
     shit. what the hell else am i gonna use. also i paired her with Dash
     in part of this because I loved spirit, stallion of the cimarron.
     Midoriya: Noumenon Plot reasons. You'll find out later.
***** throw fire at all your broblems, bro *****
Chapter Summary
     Hallway calls and conversations. Plan for a Good Time. Face off
     against Two Face.
Chapter Notes
     so this was going to be longer but we cut it off there because its
     such a good stopping place it'd be a shame not to use it
See the end of the chapter for more notes
“And then his head just went  schlooop  in the back! It was bulging like a
really weird growth or something.”
“I saw his hair turn colors too! It just started to change like the rest of
him!”
“Didn’t you see how his jaw started to stick out? What kind of quirk deforms
someone like that?”
“I mean, I don’t like Bakugou either but he just choked him like it was
nothing. I bet he wouldn’t have stopped if not for the cameras…”
“C’mon he spent  five years  with those villains… So what if he passed the
entry test! But does anyone really know if he’s safe to be around?”
Hitoshi’s whole body felt alternatively hot and cold. The lunchroom was flooded
with chatter about the morning fights, even though it had only been classes A
and B involved. It seemed that the only thing that anyone could talk about was
Izuku. Izuku and his multiple quirks. Izuku and how he choked Bakugo. Izuku and
Monoma’s collapse.
Izuku and the way he knew so much about villains.
His stomach churned at the rumors. His hands shook so badly that when he got
his tray of food, the plates clattered on it. Automatically, he went to sit by
himself, as Izuku was gone from the cafeteria room and he still wasn’t used to
joining his classmates on his own. Hitoshi hunched his shoulders against the
whispers. Somehow, it was worse to hear about his friend being called a villain
than it was to have people call  him  one. After all, they only assumed that
because of his quirk, whereas Izuku…
Well, Izuku was different. Strange. Traumatized from being with the villains.
It was hard to see, because he seemed so damn cheerful all the time but…
“And that weird thing he said about the hostages at the beginning of the
session?”
“Yeah! What was up with that?”
“I heard that he said civilian hostages don’t matter! That villains just kill
them off.”
“What if he’s really a villain?”
Hitoshi stood up abruptly. His chair screeching a it was shoved back from the
table. It was the group directly behind him that had asked that question, and
when he turned to look at them, Hitoshi noticed they weren’t even from class A.
The rumors had spread to other classes already, it seemed.
“Stop.” He said. It wasn’t the chair that got their attention, but him,
speaking. The students fell silent, blinking at him. “Don’t call him a villain.
He isn’t a fucking villain.”
There was a moment where they looked at each other, quiet, but then one of them
spoke, their eyes narrowed. “Well he’s not a  hero, ” she said, “not the way he
hurt Monoma.”
Hitoshi clenched his fists at his side. If only he’d seen what had happened-
but they hadn’t even shown the recording to the rest of his group. Only the
other half had seen and they-
“He didn’t hurt Monoma. Monoma hurt himself.”
Hitoshi blinked and looked up only to see Kirishima standing a few feet away,
holding his tray. He had an uncharacteristic frown on his face. The girl and
her friends blinked owlishly at him so he just rolled his eyes and said,
“Monoma used his copycat quirk on Midoriya  after  Midoriya told him not to.
Monoma didn’t know what kind of quirks Midoriya has. Hell, I don’t think
Midoriya even knows what all of his quirks are, but he knew taking them was
dangerous so he told Monoma not to do it.”
Kirishima looked at Hitoshi then, his expression sad, “I know they took Monoma
to the infirmary, but how is Midoriya? He looked like a wreck after it
happened.”
“I…” Hitoshi faltered, “Last I saw him, Blood King was taking him away to speak
with. That was before we headed back in for lunch, though.”
“Oh, okay. I hope he’s all right…” Kirishima said. He rubbed the back of the
neck, “He was…” He glanced to the other students and then lowered his voice,
“Can I talk to you a second? Privately?”
After a stunned moment, Hitoshi nodded. He followed Kirishima towards the
windows, where there was at least a little privacy. Turning to face Hitoshi,
Kirishima said quietly, “I’m not sure how to bring this up but, after Monoma
got hurt, Midoriya was holding him and whispering something… weird?”
“....Like what?”
“I… I didn’t hear it very well but it sounded like he was whispering about a
code? Like,” Kirishima glanced to the side, brows furrowing, “he said that he
broke the code by killing a hero? Do you… know what that meant?”
Hitoshi stared at him. Izuku’s words-  “don’t kill heroes but you can kill
civilians”-  flit across his mind. He was quiet long enough that Kirishima
looked back at him instead of out the window.
“I know that Izuku was traumatized by the villains he was around,” Hitoshi
said, “And I know that we don’t know the extent of that damage done to him.
Monoma going down really rattled him. I suspect that he might have flashed back
to something that happened to him during his time in captivity.” Frankly,
Hitoshi was only certain about some of the words he was saying. Was Izuku
traumatized? Yes. Did Monoma’s injury scare him? Yes. Did he have a flashback?
Probably not.
But Hitoshi’s other theories were not for those like Kirishima, who nodded at
him, still serious. “Our class has been told that Monoma is still alive, by the
way. So if you could pass that on to Midoriya? In case no one told him?”
Hitoshi agreed.
Kirishima left him shortly afterwards. There was no reason to linger after
saying his peace, though, oddly, he said that Hitoshi seemed to be a good
friend to Izuku.
Hitoshi hadn’t really replied, just watched him go, thinking about that. Izuku
made friends quickly and easily, even without that charming smile quirk that
he’d used, the class probably would have warmed right up to him. It was Hitoshi
that hadn’t had any friends before Izuku; Hitoshi was the one who benefitted
the most from their relationship.
He returned back to his lunch, only to find that his table was no longer empty.
Kaibara grinned up at him, cheek bulging as he chewed a mouthful of food. Yudai
said hello. Yanagi smiled. Even Hiryuu was there, quietly eating his lunch,
only giving Hitoshi a cursory glance when he sat back down. Kaibara and Yudai
carried the conversation for most of lunch, but that was fine. It was enough
that they were there.
It was enough that when they finished, Yanagi said quietly, “Could you go to
the infirmary and check on Midoriya? We’re worried about him. The teacher’s
haven’t told us anything but that Monoma was alive.”
Hitoshi didn’t have to be asked twice. He readily agreed, so long as they would
cover for him if necessary. There was a free period for the next hour or so, as
they digested their meals and prepared for the second wave of battles. He
parted ways with his classmates at the stairs, heading to the infirmary with
his hands in his pockets.


 
There was a bench in the hall outside the door to the infirmary. The hallway
was lit well enough with fluorescent overhead lights. Hitoshi expected to have
to go inside the room to find Izuku, but to his surprise, the boy sat on the
bench, head lowered, shoulders hunched, clutching his phone in both hand. At
Hitoshi’s approach, he jerked his head up.
Hitoshi’s footsteps faltered. For a second, he could have sworn Izuku’s eyes
glowed  bright green. But then the boy blinked and they looked normal, as
though it had only been a trick of the light.
Izuku took in a deep breath and sat up, “Hitoshi?”
Hitoshi lifted a hand in greeting. He walked over and, after a moment of
hesitation, sat down on the bench beside him. “Are you okay?”
Izuku closed his eyes. He leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his
knees. His hands hung in the space between them, phone held loosely in his
fingers. “I wasn’t the one who nearly died.”
“That’s not your fault,” Hitoshi said, “He used his quirk on you. Kirishima
said you told him not to.”
“I could have prevented him from doing it,” Izuku muttered. “I could have… but
I…” He shook his head. His long hair fell in his face, the dark curls
obstructing most of his face.
Hitoshi sat there, staring at the opposite wall. There was a bulletin there,
but only a few flyers were posted up. One was a reminder about school holidays
and upcoming festivals. Hitoshi sighed. “But he’s okay. So it’s fine.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Somewhere nearby there was a clock that
Hitoshi couldn’t see, but he could hear the rhythmic  tick-tock-tick-tock
sound of it. After a while, Izuku said, “He had a hemorrhagic stroke. His brain
started bleeding. Any slower and he would have ended up permanently disabled.”
Hitoshi turned to stare at Izuku. “A hemorrhagic  stroke?  What  happened?”
Izuku laughed softly. He rubbed at his face with one hand. Still not looking
up, he said, “So when they had the hospital run a battery of tests on me, no
one really looked that closely at my brain. Or maybe they did but they didn’t
see  this . Apparently, it’s… Weird. Yeah. Weird is how the doctor put it. Too
developed in some places. A little oddly shaped. But it’s all brain tissue, no
tumor, no swelling, nothing malignant.”
Since Izuku had his head down, Hitoshi could look at it closely. “Your head is
still head shaped. There aren’t any hidden lumps or anything under your hair?”
Izuku laughed again, a little brighter this time. He sat up, brushing hair out
of his eyes. “Nope. No strange lumps. But it’s still different. They think the
reason is tied to one of my quirks, and when Monoma took it, well… His brain
couldn’t handle it.”
Hitoshi sat in silence for a while, looking at Izuku. Izuku had turned slightly
towards him, but his gaze moved past Hitoshi. His fingers tightened on his
phone. “So… it started to bleed instead,” Hitoshi said. “I guess that makes
sense.”
“They can’t know for sure. They can only look at the aftermath but…” Izuku
shook his head. Hitoshi bit his tongue to keep from asking  “but what?”
Izuku was remarkable about talking and talking but never really saying anything
about himself. Whenever he brought up his quirks was the most he ever said
directly about himself. Most of the time, it was regurgitated information from
weird places- like Villain rules or the best way to get literally any stain out
of anything. So when he did, Hitoshi tried to keep quiet and  listen  to him.
This time, that silence stretched out until the phone in Izuku’s hand buzzed.
He jumped up to his feet as Hitoshi jolted at the surprising sound. Izuku
looked at the screen an expression of pure relief flooded his features. “Excuse
me for a second, Hitoshi, I need to get this.” He didn’t wait for a response,
though, just flipped open the phone and answered it as he crossed to the other
side of the hallway.
Izuku chose to stand between two windows, leaning a shoulder against it. His
body was turned away from Hitoshi, his head bowed slightly, the line of his
shoulders and back tense. Hitoshi held his breath, trying to listen in, but he
only heard bits of Izuku’s words.
“... worried about what you would say…”
“I know that… appreciate what you think…”
“Accident. It was an accident. I even told him …”
“...shima saw but he…”
“Thank you. I know you’re...”
“...mention this to- right. Yeah.”
And then Izuku laughed, bright and happy. He cupped his hand over his mouth to
muffle it, but the sound eased the worry Hitoshi felt. Izuku turned, putting
his back to the wall, and said, “Yeah, just like that. Thank you again. I’m
sorry to bother you with this. What as that? Oh. Yeah. I can do that.” Izuku
was smiling, it was a small one, but warm. “Goodbye. Thank you again.”
He smiled at his phone a he pulled it away and closed it with a snap. Hitoshi
waited for a while, watching Izuku. He’d seen plenty of expressions cross the
green haired teen’s face over their short acquaintance and budding friendship
but this one was… different. Softer, somehow. Izuku looked younger, almost.
Then he glanced up and turned a blinding smile to Hitoshi. For a second,
Hitoshi as convinced that that charm quirk had been turned on him. His heart
raced, his cheek flushed, he looked to the side. But no, he didn’t feel any
overflowing of emotion. Everything that was inside of him was twisted and
muddled and strung tight like the chords of a guitar.
“Sorry about that. I had sent out a message to my, ah, therapist.” Izuku said,
“What were we talking about before?”
“Monoma,” Hitoshi said. “What else did the teachers say about him?”  Therapist?
He thought, feeling a little coil of tension release in the back of his mind.
Good. He probably needs someone he can talk to that he can trust absolutely not
to spill his secrets.
“They said that they were going to make sure he was stable and take him to a
hospital for further checkup.” Izuku slipped his phone into his pocket as he
walked back over. He moved in a much more relaxed way, sitting easily beside
Hitoshi. “But everything looks like he’ll recover. Because All Might was there
to get him out quickly, and because of… I have this other quirk that didn’t let
it get too bad. I don’t know how many or which ones he really took, but it was
only the brain one that messed him up.”
“...So what now?”
Izuku sighed. “Now I have to go back to class… where everyone probably thinks I
killed someone today.”
“They know you didn’t,” Hitoshi said quickly. “Class A was told that he was
alive. Kirishima said so at lunch. They know you didn’t kill him. And they know
it was his quirk that did this to him.”
“Kirishima said that?” Izuku looked wide eyed with surprise. “Oh. Right. He did
show up at the end there…”
Hitoshi nodded.
Izuku smiled. “I’ll have to… thank him I guess.”
Hitoshi fidgeted.
Izuku turned that smile to him. “What is it?”
A dozen questions crowded for attention on Hitoshi’s tongue, but the words he
spoke weren’t a question at all. “Kirishima heard you say something about
breaking a code.”
Izuku’s face does a strange thing. It holds perfectly still, as if the entire
surface of it transformed into an incredibly accurate mask. He’s still smiling;
his lips are pulled back very slightly. He has that light to his expression
that usually accompanies his smile; cheeks a little rounded, freckles standing
out on the tops of them, and a lightness to his eyes.
That’s the strangest part,  Hitoshi thinks,  He froze the light in his eyes.
Somehow.
And then Izuku blinks and asks in a strangely soft tone, “Did he? What did he
say?”
Hitoshi finds himself repeating back the words. When Izuku asks for what  he
said in reply, he gives those too. It’s… odd. He doesn’t feel compelled to
answer the questions, but it still feels like he’s giving them… too accurately.
As if the memory were little bits of lint that Izuku rolled over with a bit of
sticky tape to collect them up just as they were.
At the end of it, Izuku is looking forward again. The sunlight from the windows
must be illuminating his eyes, because they’re that faint green glowing and
really,  Hitoshi,  could you be any more obvious? You keep staring at him like
you’re dumbstruck and he’s going to fucking notice you like him.
Izuku, swinging his legs back and forth despite the fact that it made the soles
of his shoes squeak on the tile, hummed and said quietly, “Okay. I think
everything will be okay.” He reached over and put his hand on Hitoshi’s arm.
“I’m glad you came to find me and check on me, Hitocchan. I’ve never really had
a friend like you before.”
Hitoshi felt his ears burn as he nodded back. The place where Izuku put his
hand felt heavy and warm, as though there was much more weight or significance
behind the gesture than a simple touch. He didn’t speak because he couldn’t but
Izuku didn’t seem to mind.
That hand slid down his arm to the top of his hand.  Izuku squeezed, once,
before letting go and getting to his feet. “It’s still lunch time, right?
Should we go back and get some before it’s all gone?”
Hitoshi nodded and got to his feet. He put his hands in his pockets, ignoring
the way the right one felt warmer than the other, and followed Izuku away.
 
===============================================================================
 
Group A of Class A  crushed  Group B of Class B when the roles were reversed in
the afternoon match.
Izuku watched the match with a frown on his lips and his hands in his lap to
keep from biting his thumb out of anxious habit. Before the matches had even
begun, he’d worried about his classmates for one simple reason.
All Might and the other teachers had decided that Todoroki and Bakugou would
switch places on the teams. It went unsaid, but Izuku figured they didn’t want
to see what kind of retribution the blond would attempt on Izuku- especially
after the Monoma event.
Izuku could have convinced them otherwise, might have tried to even (it wasn’t
as though Bakugou could do anything to him after all) but they were switching
him out with  Todoroki.
Beyond a few glances of acknowledgement between them, Izuku still hadn’t been
able to address the teen with two quirks. And with what he had Wolfhound and
the others doing out in the world… He needed to make contact soon.
So he kept his mouth shut and his quirks to himself and instead witnessed the
way Bakugou, given the free reign to use his quirk to his fullest, decimated
any hope for the Class B students. It was, in simplest terms, a slaughter.
Bakugou’s fury was visible to  everyone.  It crashed and crackled in the air
around him, burning with incredible intensity. He was utterly ruthless and his
actions gained him more than one instruction to tone it down from the
supervising teachers. And though he barely co-operated at all with his team,
they were successful in saving the civilians and rounding up the villainous
acting Team B.


 
While Teams C and D left the observation room, in thoughtful, somewhat cowed
silence, Teams A and B were brought off the field. Several students had minor
injuries, mostly from Team B and mostly due to Bakugou. Izuku stood off to the
side, watching his classmates go into the observation room- those who were not
being taken to the infirmary- and kept quiet at Hitoshi’s side.
Awase caught sight of him and split off from the others suddenly. He trotted
over to Izuku, his expression serious. “Bakugou broke Itsuka’s arm,” he said
instead of a greeting. His dark eyes were hard as steel as he stared at Izuku.
“They’re going to let him get away with it because it was a training exercise
and because she can get it healed up pretty quickly, but he did it on purpose,
Midoriya.”
Izuku blinked at him and cocked his head to the side. “You’ve all spent much
more time around Bakugou than I have. Surely you know how dangerous he can be.”
“You’re  the one who wounded his pride by choking him out the time before. It
should have been you who he got revenge against,” Awase said, frowning even
more. “We’re behind you in giving him what he deserves, but-”
“An eye for an eye- An arm for an arm?” Izuku suggested with a small smile. He
tucked his hands behind himself and looked thoughtfully up to the sky. “I can’t
break Bakugou’s arm for you- I’m not fighting him because of the switch- but I
can promise something else.”
“Yeah?” Awase asked, glancing over his shoulder. Most of the others had filed
away now. Hitoshi and the other eight on Izuku’s team were watching and
listening to their conversation.
“Team A crushed you,” Izuku said matter-of-factly. “I can make sure Team D
crushes Team C. Even out the score that way.”
“We shouldn’t purposefully hurt anyone,” Yanagi said quietly. “Even if we are
pretending to be villains.”
“All right,” Izuku nodded to her. “We’ll go for shock and awe. And
humiliation.” He looked back to Awase. “Is that enough for now?”
Awase shrugged. “We’re going to have to work on a strategy for Bakugou later.
For the Sport Festival.”
“I look forward to that,” Izuku said honestly. “Tell Kendou that I hope she
heals quickly and well. I apologize for antagonizing Bakugou, but nullifying
him as quickly as possible is always the best option.”
“Yeah. Ain’t that the fucking truth,” Awase said as he stepped away. He gave
them a nod in goodbye and, sticking his hands in his pockets, walked away to
join the others. The attention he was getting from the others of Team D
refocused on Izuku.
Tokage gave him a toothy grin. “So, Midoriya. It seems you’re the boss again…
What have you got in mind for your new villain team?”
Izuku turned his gaze back up to the sky and said, thoughtfully, “A villain’s
primary goal, beyond survival, is to have a good time, right?” He got a few
mumbles of assent. “So… let’s have fun with it… Here’s what I have in mind…”
 
===============================================================================
 
“Shouto?” The voice in his ear was a breathless Ashido. “Have you seen  any  of
them? We’ve covered the entire eastern border and there’s  nothing.”
Shouto didn’t roll his eyes but the temptation was very real. He was using them
to keep a careful eye on his surroundings. He was the only one on their team
without a pair. “It’s been three minutes, Pinky. Look  inside  some of the
building.”
“Dude,” Jirou said over the comms next, “I’ve been checking each floor and I’m
not hearing a peep. They’re either in another area or dead. I should be hearing
heartbeats or breathing or talking or  something.”
“Northern border is clear too.” Came Ojiro’s voice. There was a waver to it,
like he was anxious as well. “Tentacle, have you caught  anything?”
“There is something in the center of the area that is giving off light.” Shouji
said. “I’m going to higher ground to locate it.”
“I’m on the ground headed that way. Invisible girl is with me,” Kirishima said.
His breath came over the sound of the comm, the steady puff that alerted the
rest of them that he was running. Shouto listened in silence, still walking
down the street, searching the buildings around him for any sign of movement.
After a minute or so, Kirishima spoke again. “Holy  fuck.”
“Oh my  god,”  Hagakure said only a second later. “How did they make  that?”
“Isn’t the cement guy on the other team?” Kirishima said in disbelief.
“What is it?” Ashido asked, excitement making her voice higher and faster.
“What is it? Where is it?”
“It’s in the center of the buildings, all right.” Kirishima said.
“My god,” Shouji muttered. “I’m on the roof just south and… What the hell?”
Shouto started to run.
His feet hit the concrete ground as fast as he could make them go. Racing down
the pavement, he took the corner sharp and nearly skidded into a lamp post.
Dodging around it, he navigated to the center of the arena while Kirishima
described what he saw in confusion.
“Right so, it’s… like a castle? Or a fortress? And I think it’s… I have no idea
what it’s made out of. But it’s circular and is that fucking  ice  sticking out
the top? What is-”
“Red Riot watch out!” Hagakure shouted. “What is that?”
“Use your words people!” Jirou snapped. Everyone was running. Everyone was
anxious.
Shouto arrived on the scene about the same time as Ojiro. He stumbled to a walk
and then a stop, gaping at what sat in front of him.
In the center of the arena, where there had been a makeshift park, there was a
newly constructed, well, fortress was probably a good word for it. Maybe. There
were ten foot tall walls of bizarre black bubbling. Inside the black it looked
like there was faint orange glow, like they were lit with hellfire. Rising
above these walls were several icy white spires. There were five of them in
total rising up in glittering spirals to sharp points at the top.
There was a ditch or moat dug around the building, which, for its impressive
and weird look, wasn’t all that big after all. Shouto stepped closer, but
Hagakure reached out for his arm, stopping him from getting too close.
“It’s a moat,” she said, “made of  lava.”
“I can see that,” he replied dryly.
“Is that ice?” Kirishima asked, pointing up to the spires.
“It looks like it.” Shouto said. But they didn’t look like any ice he made. His
was raw and jagged in appearance. These ones were sculpted. It looked like the
scalloped roof of a castle’s spire. Shouto just didn’t have that kind of
intricate control of his quirk. There wasn’t any  need  for it.
“...Is that … did Midoriya do that?” Hagakure asked. “I mean, none of the
others used any sort of ice quirk before and the lava pool is definitely his.”
“Uh, speaking of which,” Kirishima said, “It’s cooling. Do you think we can
cross it?”
“Are you insane?” Shouto asked. “It might be cooling on the surface but it’s
clearly still heated in the center. Step on it and your foot will go right
through the crust and melt off.” Kirishima backed away another step from the
moat.
“Besides,” Ojiro said from a little farther off. “I just walked around and
there’s no way inside.”
“Heeeyyo, heeeeroes!”
The five of them looked up towards the call. At the top of the wall there was
an icy platform- with railing, Shouto noticed absently- and on that stood one
of Class B’s ‘villains’. She had dark hair and green scaling on her uniform.
Shouto identified her as Lizard Lady, aka Tokage. She waved both hands over her
head and grinned down at them with a mouth of sharp teeth.
“Do you want to play a game?” She called out, hands cupped around her mouth. It
was a bit unnecessary, as she was decently loud enough.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shouto saw movement and looked over to see the
other four members of the team arriving. Ashido waved back to Hagakure, but
Jirou’s attention was up at the building and the girl on top.
“Oh good, you’re all here! So we can start playing!”
“This isn’t a game,” Kirishima called back. “We’re here to kick your villain
ass and bring you to justice.”
The girl bent down and pulled up a dummy. She held it over her head, and called
back. “Play my game, heroes, or all my friends will escape and all your
precious civilians will die!” She threw her head back, laughing maniacally.
“Ohh, she has go the laugh down  pat.”  Hagakure whispered. “Nice.” She brought
her hands up, shouting back, “What’s the game, villain?”
“Hide and seek!”
“Are you kidding me,” Jirou said with a sigh. “What is with this team? First
the punching Monoma bit and now this…”
“What are the rules?” Hagakure called. Shouto eyed her, wondering how the hell
she became in control of the group. That was just nonsense. She was a stealth
hero, not a combat one…
But then again,  hide  and seek might be right up her alley.
“Rule One! Castle Black is base! If a villain is inside of it, you can’t catch
them! I’m already here because we thought nine on nine would be most fair,”
Tokage said, holding out one finger. She slung the dummy over her shoulder as
she spoke. “Rule Two! For every villain you capture, you get one of our ten
captives. Conversely, for every villain that makes it back to base, a civilian
goes into the Pit!” She laughed again, hefting the ragdoll over her head and
then  tossed the dummy into the lava moat.
Shouto reacted instantly. The doll was supposed to be a civilian, after all,
and he was supposed to save them as the hero. That was what heroes  did.
Racing forward, he swung his right hand out. Ice flared out from his fingers,
reaching out to catch the dummy. Before his ice could capture it, though, it
twitched mid-air. The movement threw the ragdoll off to the side. He stretched
his ice to reach, but it wasn’t enough. The ragdoll fell into the lava and
instantaneously caught fire.
Tokage gripped the railing with her gloved hands and shouted,  “Follow the
Rules, Shouto!  If you break the rules, then I’m gonna set the Rule Master on
you!”
Shouto narrowed his eyes, “What kind of villain name is the Rule Master?”
“That would be mine, Shouto.”
Shouto jumped and spun around. That was Midoriya’s voice. It was  absolutely
his voice, and it sounded like it was right in his ear but-
He was only surrounded by his classmates. “Where are you?” He asked, “Show
yourself!”
“Shouto? What?” Kirishima looked at him but Shouto was searching the
surrounding buildings and then- there. At the top of that one. Dark hair and
dark clothes and-
“They can’t hear me,  Shouto~”  Midoriya teased. Shouto felt a shiver run down
his spine. It was such an intimate sound. He could almost imagine the breath of
the other teen on his ear. “Only you can.”
“What do you want?”
“Play the game,” Midoriya said, “Come and find me.” And then he stepped back
and out of view. Shouto gripped his hands into fists and grit his teeth.
Tokage held up a third finger when he looked back to her. “Rule Number Three!
The villains will hide until the ten minute mark of the scenario! After that
they will attempt to return to base! The Rule Master will only return after all
the others have made it back or have been captured! Once he returns to the
base, then and  only  then can the heroes attack Castle Black! Any questions?”
Ashido waved a hand, “Yeah! What if we catch the Rule Master?”
Tokage laughed. “I heard that he’ll grant the wish of anyone who manages to
catch him. Any wish at all. Not that it matters, of course, because no one can
catch him. Not Blasty. Not Ditto-head. Not Icy Hot. And certainly not you,
Space Queen!”
“Wow, she went from cool villain to bitch, real fast,” Hagakure muttered.
“I’ll take Rule Master,” Shouto said immediately. He turned on his heel and
began walking towards the building he’d seen Midoriya on top of.
“Wait! We haven’t agreed to the game!” Ashido said.
“Yeah,” Jirou added, “And you going alone isn’t really the best idea against
him. Is it?”
“You think you can take him?” Shouto asked. “He’s the one who built  that.”
Shouto gestured to the monstrosity that was ‘Castle Black’. “I’m the only one
with a quirk that can come close to matching his.”
“It’s not about matching quirks,” Ojiro said, “It’s about outsmarting him.”
Shouto gave him a flat look and then gestured at the castle again. “He built
that. He probably came up with the rules and helped hide all the others and you
want to try and outsmart him? No way. But that much use of a quirk, of at least
two quirks has got to wear him down. Tell you what. You all go hunt the other
villains and I’ll hold him off. When you manage to catch yours, find me.” With
that said, he walked away.
He was out of earshot but not comm range when he heard an unidentifyable voice
mutter, “Jeeze. He can be just as bad as Bakugou sometimes.”
Shouto grit his teeth and kept walking. He didn’t need them to become the
greatest. He could do it on his own with his own quirk  just fine.



 
Midoriya waited for him at the farthest corner from the center. He’d left
little trails- a couple drops of cooling lava at one spot, some crystals of ice
in another- all the way to this location. He leaned against the side of a
building with one shoulder, a slight smile on his face and his goggles over his
eyes. Shouto stopped when he saw him fully because he could  swear  there was
something green and glowing beneath those tinted glasses.
“I’m here,” he said. “I’m playing the shitty game.”
Midoriya grinned, “Are you upset, Shouto? Usually you seem to keep your cool
better than this.”
“Stop calling me that,” Shouto snapped. He narrowed his eyes, lifting his right
arm in preparation for a fight.
“It’s your hero name, isn’t it Shouto? If I’m talking directly to you,
shouldn’t I be using your name, Shouto?” Midoriya said, stepping away from the
wall. He rolled his shoulders, lifting his arms above his head to stretch them
out. “Don’t you like the way I say your name,  Shou~to?”
“We are the only two people here. It is unnecessary to keep calling me by
name.”
“No need to get all steamed up about it,” Midoriya said. He approached slowly.
Shouto’s gaze flicked to his hands, but they were relaxed at his sides. Then
they went to his face again, but he was just smiling, relaxed. “Are you here to
capture me, Mr. Big Time Hero? Or just stare at me?”
He gestured to himself with one gloved hand, “I’m well aware that my clothes
are rather tight fitting, after all, I’ve been getting quite a few looks, but I
thought you were here to stop the big bad villain I’ve become.”
“Sounds like you’re having a little too much fun with this,” Shouto muttered.
Midoriya now swung his hands at his sides. He wasn’t slowing down. He was still
advancing. The ground between them was quickly disappearing.
The hair on the back of Shouto’s neck stood on end.
Midoriya gave a little huffing laugh and that was all the warning that Shouto
got. In the next instant, Midoriya was in the air above him. Shouto lifted his
arm protectively, ice forming instinctively, but his eyes were locked on the
boy in green in the air above him.
It was like that day at EUSJ all over again. Midoriya seemed to hover in the
air, green from his hair to the glow of his eyes to his uniform. Except this
time his scared face was a maddening grin and he held a fist up. And he jumped
from his own power and-
Shouto’s ice met Midoriya’s fist in a shattering of crystals and a forced grunt
from his lungs at the hit. He skidded back. There was so much more weight
behind Midoriya’s punch than he had expected.
“No one said you can’t have a good time while you’re on the job, Shouto,”
Midoriya said, landing on his feet. He flexed his hands and lifted them up like
a boxer. “Play with me. I want to see what’ll make you  burn.”
Shouto grimaced. He drew his ice around him like armor and a spike. “In case
you haven’t noticed,  Rule Master,  my quirk is  ice.”
“Said the son of Endeavor and Marzanna.”
Shouto’s blood turned to ice in one second and then flared hot, burning like an
ember as his anger curled, unbidden in his chest. “What did you say?”
“Said the son of  Endeavor”  Midoriya held out his left fist. A curl of dark
flame encircled his knuckles. “And  Marzanna.”  He held out his right fist. Ice
formed along the backs of his fingers like knuckle dusters. “What do you say we
pair your two quirks against mine? Or do you want to keep pretending that the
only blood that runs through you contains ice?”
It was hard to catch his breath. Shouto knew that some people knew- you
couldn’t be the son of Endeavor, the second highest ranked Pro Hero without
people prying into your own life too. He even knew some of his classmates that
knew. Endeavor breathing down your back at every sport festival kind of made it
impossible to ignore.  He was  literally on fire  most of the time.
But almost no one knew the hero name of his mother. Hell, he hadn’t heard it
since he was younger, since his sister had told him stories that their mother
had told her. Marzanna had only been active for a few years before Endeavor had
swept her off her feet and into the hell that had become her life.
She had been incredibly skilled with her quirk, or so he’d been told. Her
dedication to the craft was akin to any sort of prodigy in their field. She was
like an artist with her ice and yet was as dangerous with it as Endeavor was
with his flames.
For Midoriya- a teen formerly held captive by villains for five years- for him
to know his mother’s hero name-
“Ah,” Midoriya said. The pleasure in his voice made Shouto blink. Then he had
to blink again because there was smoke around him and where had  that  come
from? “There it is.”
Shouto looked down to his left arm. Flame crawled across his uniform. Out of
the corner of his eye, he saw the curl of red-orange fire on his face, where
his red hair should have been. His horror wasn’t enough to shut off the quirk
and he didn’t have time to fully process it before Midoriya came at him again.
Instinctively, Shouto blocked with his dominant side. Midoriya shoved him back
again, making him stumble.  Just how strong is he?  He wondered as he caught
his footing just in time to block another punch. Each strike came wide and just
slow enough that Shouto always saw them coming.  Is he playing with me? Is he
not taking this seriously?  He narrowed his eyes at Midoriya.
“Come on,” Midoriya taunted. His fist was encased in Shouto’s ice but he didn’t
seem to even notice, “Fight me  seriously,  Shouto. If you don’t use one
hundred percent of your ability against me, I’ll never even break a sweat.”
“You will if I turn up the heat!” Shouto snapped. His left side’s quirk was
hardly controlled- he used it so, so rarely after all- that when he struck,
open palmed, against Midoriya’s chest, the fire blossomed out in a gush of heat
and flame. His eye widened as he realized what he’d done, as he watched
Midoriya’s uniform catch fire.
Midoriya broke away from his icy hold and danced back a few steps. His clothing
burned but he didn’t even look down at it. With the hand that was wrapped in
fire, he pulled at the ruined top of his jumpsuit and grinned. “That’s a little
better. Now  bring it.”
Midoriya’s bare chest didn’t show a single singe mark on it. It was broad and
well muscled and caught Shouto’s eye a little too long before he made himself
look up to the teen’s face.  I’m going to wipe that smug little expression
right off his face…
“Fine.” Shouto said, “It’s not like my shitty old man is going to find out
anyway.” He let the fire kindle along his arm and side. He flinched whenever it
flared to hot or the flames licked too high, though. He wasn’t used to it. He
still hated to use it, still hated the man who it reminded him of but he… he
had to have Midoriya take him seriously.
He had to hold him off. He had to give the others time.
He had to beat Midoriya so the damn kid would talk to him instead of taunt him
and he could ask who told him about Marzanna and why.


 
Shouto had never fought against anyone like himself-
He’d trained with his father, but the man’s fire was nothing like Midoriya’s.
Endeavor threw flame at every problem like burning it to ashes was the best
solution. Midoriya’s flame was white hot at his knuckles and existed nowhere
else. It was so hot that the flame retardant gloves he wore were burned clear
through.
He’d trained a little with his sister too, but she’d never used ice like this
and that had been years ago now. Shouto’s jagged ice spears or traps seemed
shoddy in comparison to Midoriya’s pointed knuckle-dusters or the literal
daggers he threw. They were solid enough, well enough constructed that Shouto
had grabbed one in desperation and threw it back at Midoriya. It had felt just
like a slightly too-cold knife in his hands. It was incredible.
Shouto had never fought against anyone so ridiculously overpowered.
Midoriya took flame hits to the body like the fire was no more than slightly-
warmer-than-normal air. It parted around him like water around a stone.
Midoriya broke through each layer of ice like it was damp tissue paper. It
shredded under his touch. His clothing, on the other hand, did not fare well.
After his top, he lost his flame glove and then his ice glove. At some point,
Shouto iced his goggles so he yanked those down to dangle around his neck.
Flame took the right pant leg. Ice ruined both his shoes.
It wasn’t until Midoriya was tearing the ruined tatters of his left pant leg to
out of his way that Shouto realized he was, effectively, causing Midoriya to
strip down to nothing. He was bare from shoulder to waist and from upper thigh
to the soles of his feet.
And he didn’t even seem to care about it.
Worse still, he  did  notice that Shouto noticed.
“Hey Shouto,” Midoriya said, snapping his fingers and then pointing to his
face, “My eyes are up here.”
Guiltily, Shouto’s head jerked up. They stood a few feet apart, panting for
breath. He was simultaneously proud of himself for causing Midoriya to have a
sheen of sweat across his skin and mortified because  he couldn’t stop staring
at it.  “Did you not prepare your uniform for your quirks?”
“I did,” Midoriya said, “I said a simple jumpsuit with flame repellant cloth. I
got exactly what I asked for.”
“Why only repellant? Why not resistant? You’re mostly naked!” Shouto regretted
saying that  instantly  because his comm lit up with people exclaiming various
forms of “What the hell?”  in his ear. He winced.
“If you didn’t want to see me naked,” Midoriya said with that aggravatingly
teasing tone of voice, “Then you should have been more careful, Shouto. After
all, I was kind enough to not burn holes in  your  uniform.” He gestured to
said clothing. True, there were scorch marks, but no significant burns. With a
grin, he tapped his ear and added, “Ohh, my team is not pleased with that.
They’re scandalized that the great Shouto is a pervert hero.”
“I am not!”
“No need to feel ashamed, Shouto,” Midoriya said. “Interest in the attractive
bodies of your peers is a healthy part of one’s sexual development.”
Shouto’s fire surged up around him, riding high on the embarrassment he felt.
He struggled to contain it, but couldn’t manage it. The fire was out of his
control- he’d been using it for too long and was growing tired. He hadn’t
anticipated using both it and his ice quirk. But he couldn’t stop now. He
couldn’t-
Midoriya cocked his head to the side for a moment, “Repeat that, Washer? Oh?
Really? Excellent.” His gaze flicked to Shouto and he shrugged a shoulder.
“Sorry, Shouto. Playtime is over. It’s time to return to Castle Black.”
“No. I won’t let you-”
His words cut off suddenly. Between one and the next, Midoriya went from
several feet away to in his face. His fingers were cool as he cupped Shouto’s
cheek. Shouto’s heart hammered in his chest.  He’s so close- He’s so dangerous
and he’s so close-
“Shouto,” Midoriya whispered, leaning in, “This was never about you  letting
me do anything. Don’t you recall? I’m a villain. I’m the  Rule Master.  My
game. My rules. And it’s time for the next game.”
“What are you-”
“Sweet dreams, Shoucchan.” Midoriya said before pressing his lips against
Shouto’s.
He noticed they were strangely cool against his own and then Shouto didn’t
notice anything at all.
Chapter End Notes
     "But Author Rama, what is Castle Black made of?"
     "here,_dear_reader,_watch_this"
***** the diner with the M on the door *****
Chapter Summary
     Have a good time. Recover lost calories. A bus ride and a hint of
     something more.
Chapter Notes
     rama: some of you who read my fic 'coherency' might recognize a few
     faces in this chapter.... uwu
     katten: shit gets hella gay, kids
     also hey if you wanna see Hitoshi's blog it's here
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Hitoshi, half hidden behind the wall of ice and lava, poked his head up to
check the streets again. The remaining heroes- there were seven as Rin and
Kaibara had worked together to get Kamanari to fry himself- were pulled back
into a tight group. They huddled together, keeping an eye on Castle Black but
clearly planning something.
In contrast to their seven, there were only five left of the villains. Kaibara
had gotten caught when working against Kamanari. Shishida had gone down to
prevent Tsunotori and Komori from getting caught. Kamakiri and Yanagi had gone
down together. They were bound up near the heroes; their wrists were tied and
they each had a bright ribbon to signify they’d been Caught.
“I wish we still had Scope’s eyes,” Tokage said next to Hitoshi. “I haven’t
heard anything from Rule Master since he put Shouto down.”
“Do you think he choked him out, like with Blasty?” Tsunotori asked quietly.
She looked around at their small group, clearly making the question an open
one.
Hitoshi shrugged, like most of the rest of them. This group was a collection of
some of the quieter kids in their class, besides Tokage. He could tell she was
holding back in her chatter because she kept grumbling under her breath. The
others waited quietly, listening for any sign of change.
This time, he was the first one to catch sight of Izuku. Hitoshi had a hand
over his eyes to shield against the glare and was checking down one of the side
streets when he saw the movement. Leaning forward, he said, “There. That’s…”
his voice trailed off.
Even from a distance it was clear to see that Izuku’ uniform had been damaged.
And that he was carrying Todoroki in his arms bridal style.
Hitoshi wanted to swallow his tongue. The closer the two got, the more details
he could make out of the two of them. Izuku’s goggles hung down around his
neck. He stood straight and tall, carrying Todoroki in his arms like the other
teen weighed nothing. His arms and chest were bare, from what Hitoshi could
see, and the glimpses of his legs were alsobare.
Todoroki looked like he was either asleep or unconscious. His arms were folded
on his chest and his head was against Izuku’s shoulder. He didn’t seem to be
moving or struggling in the least bit.
Izuku walked forward with a smooth, confident gait. It took a moment for the
heroes to see him, but when they did they just stared in open mouth shock.
“He really is naked,” Tokage whispered in awe. “Shouto totally fucking ruined
his clothes. He’s such a pervert.”
For some reason, she turned to look at Hitoshi, “Washer, you totally can’t let
that pervert get away with that! Rule Master is practically your boyfriend,
isn’t he?”
Hitoshi’s face burned. He pulled back from her, his mind reeling at her almost-
accusation. “He’s not. We’re just friends. I swear!”
“Uh huh,” She said, “And Shouto just ripped all your friend’s clothes off!”
“Pervert,” Komori whispered.
“Actually,” Izuku said over the comm, “Half of them he burned off, half he iced
off. He was very determined and a little upset. And I’m not completely naked.
See?” He paused in his walk to half turn towards them, showing his side and
back. His uniform was almost completely torn to shreds, creating some sort of
weird short-shorts look over his underwear. Hitoshi wasn’t exactly sure what
was on Izuku’s dark blue underwear, but he could see an edge of gold or red to
them and he really wanted to know.
He leaned his forehead on the ice to cool his heated face. Friends. We’re just
friends. Don’t hit on the traumatized guy. Don’t do it. He needs friends, not
romance bullshit!Which, honestly, only made Shouto’s act even more awful.
“...I’m going to make him strip too…” Hitoshi said to himself. What had Izuku
said before? An eye for an eye, an arm for an arm?
“There will be plenty of time for stripping later,” Izuku said over the comm,
making Hitoshi jump. “For now, I’d like a way up, please? The heroes aren’t
waiting around anymore.”
Looking up, Hitoshi saw Kirishima and Ojiro running towards Izuku now. Izuku,
in turn, was running to Castle Black. “Rapunzel, Rapunzel!” Izuku shouted,
grinning madly. “Let down your hair!”
Tokage grabbed the strange rope that had been left behind by Izuku to help them
get up. She flung it over the side, where it dangled over the pit of lava. The
trick was getting to the rope itself- as the only way up into Castle Black.
Without stopping his running, Izuku put Todoroki on his shoulder. His stride
seemed to lengthen even more, keeping him just out of reach of the heroes. He
reached the moat and flung himself across it. One handed, he grabbed the rope,
but it began to slide downwards immediately. Hitoshi’s classmates yelped as
they grabbed for it. Hitoshi did too. It was cool and almost slick in his
hands.
They clung to it, unable to pull but able to be an anchor as Izuku pulled
himself up, walking up the side of Castle Black with the rope as stability. He
reached the top fairly quickly and dumped Todoroki into Hitoshi’s lap. “Here,”
he said, “A present just for you.”
Todoroki mumbled something and moved a little. “What?” Hitoshi gaped. “Is he
okay?”
“Don’t worry, he’s just sleeping. Well, dreaming. I used a quirk on him because
he was going to keep fighting and burn himself out.” Izuku said. He sat on the
top of the wall, shaking his foot out over the side. Red hot lava clung to his
heels and toes and he flicked it off with his bare fingers. Hitoshi stared at
that. He stared, also, at the way Izuku’s back muscles flexed and the way he
seemed to gleam in the sunlight that reflected off the icy towers.
“Now what do we do, Rule Master?” Tokage said gleefully.
“How many minutes have we got left?”
“Five or six,” Rin said.
Hitoshi dragged his eyes off of Izuku to look down at the teen in his lap. He
was mumbling again, frowning in his sleep. Hitoshi shifted him so he was more
across the thighs and in a comfortable position. That didn’t stop the frowning,
but it did stop the mumbling.
“Cool,” Izuku said, “So we just need to hold them off.”
“What about our teammates? Should we try to rescue them?”
“In some cases, yeah, that would be a typical next move. Especially if we were
a normal small villain group because those are usually tightly knit friends or
relatives. In this case we know that it’s going to end safely, so we don’t need
to bother. No one is actually going to jail. We won’t have to stage a break in
to get them back.” Izuku ran a hand through his hair, sending a small cascade
of ice crystals running down his back. He didn’t even seem to notice them as he
lifted his goggles back to cover his eyes.
“Do villains really do that?” Tokage asked.
“Do what?” Izuku asked, “Work in groups? Or with relatives? Or break into
jail?”
“Yes.” She said, “That.”
Izuku laughed. He crossed his legs, still sitting on the wall of Castle Black.
“Yeah. So I heard, anyway. Anyway…. We said they could attack once I got back,
right? What do you suppose they’re going to try and do?”
Rin eased closer to the edge. The roof that they sat on was icy, but the wall
around them was made of ice with the cooled lava on the outer side and was high
enough that they could sit or kneel and have it up to the chest. Only Izuku was
in a dangerous spot, sitting where he could easily slip and fall. Hitoshi had a
feeling that it would take more  than a fifteen foot drop into lava to do
anything to Izuku, though.
“It seems as though they are trying to find a way to cross the lava moat. It
has been cooling for ten minutes after all but they’re still concerned about
the heat,” Rin said.
“Well considering I just stepped in it and came out with lava on my toes, I’m
not surprised,” Izuku said. He rocked back and forth idly on the wall. “We
could just wait it out…”
Tokage sighed heavily. “But that’s boring.”
“How are they going to tally points at the end of this?” Hitoshi asked. “We
lost four, we captured Shouto here. They have four of the hostages, but we only
gave them the hero ones like you said. The civilian ones were burnt up in the
lava.”
“That was fun,” Tokage said. “Especially when they tried to stop them and
Spirit possessed the bodies and made them flip out of the way.”
“You make a good villainess,” Tsunotori said. “The evil laughter is very well
done.”
Tokage flushed and mumbled, “I used to watch a lot of those old cartoons- you
know the ones with Batman and his nemesis the Joker?”
“Batman?” Izuku asked, turning to look over his shoulder. “Those really are old
ones. I didn’t know they still aired.”
“My dad’s a sucker for them,” Tokage said. “He has every copy of those old
Batman cartoons.” She shrugged, “I mean, they’re okay I guess. He’s technically
just a glorified vigilante though, isn’t he?”
“Vigilantes are tricky folk,” Izuku said looking back to the heroes down below.
Hitoshi edged closer to the wall, dragging Todoroki with him. He saw that half
the group had gone somewhere else. Were they circling around? Going for high
ground? The captured villains- their classmates- hadn’t been moved. “They tend
to have particularly strong morals and a willingness to do whatever they need
to do to adhere to them.” He put his elbow on his knee and his chin in his
hand. “Each one has to be reasoned with individually, whereas most heroes
follow the same subset of internal morals.”
“What about a villain’s morals?” Hitoshi asked.
“What morals,” Tokage snorted.
“They tend to fall into two categories,” Izuku said. “Petty selfishness and
grandiose egoism.” He gestured idly with his free hand, “Once you figure out on
which side of the line they sit, it’s easy to, ah, deal with them.”
‘Deal with them’Izuku said. But Hitoshi felt a shiver run across his skin. That
didn’t sound right, though. The words he said didn’t sound like the ones he
meant. His thoughts were distracted by a sudden turning of Todoroki, though,
and the young man in his lap was mumbling incoherently.
“Uh,” Tokage said, “is he supposed to be doing that?”
Izuku glanced over his shoulder again. He gave a smile that had a lot more
teeth than anything. “He’s dreaming. I have a quirk that puts people to sleep
and makes them dream about things. I mean, I can’t make them dream about
something specific, so it’s usually what was most on their mind at the time.”
“Weird quirk…” Tsunotori said. “How do you use it?”
“Oh. By kissing them. I call it the Sleeping Beauty quirk.”
Hitoshi blinked. He looked down at Todoroki, who Izuku had kissed and then up
at Izuku, who looked completely nonchalant about the fact that he’d kissed
Todoroki.
There was a deep moment of silence and then Tsunotori whispered, “You really
kissed him?”
“It’s how the quirk works.”
“So… What does that mean?” Tsunotori asked. She gave a sideways glance to
Hitoshi who blinked at her and frowned. Why was she looking at him like that?
Her next question was still directed to Izuku. “Do you like kissing boys?”
He cocked his head to the side. “Do I like kissing boys,” he repeated.
“Or do you like kissing girls?” Tokage asked.
“It’s just a kissing quirk,” Izuku said with a shrug. “It doesn’t mean anything
to use it.”
“What about outside the quirk?” Tokage insisted, “Who do you like to kiss
then?”
“Guys,” Hitoshi said. He was tempted to use his quirk to shut them all the hell
up. Any more of this conversation and his stomach would turn in on itself in
embarrassment. “Is this really the place?”
“Rule Master said that villains are all about fun,”Tokage said. “Isn’t it fun
to find out gossip?”
“Is it really gossip to-” Izuku started and then he suddenly whirled around,
getting to his feet. The bubbles of lava crunched under his bare feet as he
leaped up and into the air. They all looked up and saw above them the gliding
Tentacles holding Red Riot- or rather droppingRed Riot down on top of them.
Izuku met him mid-air, his punch colliding with Red Riot’s hardened palm. “I
was in the middle of a conversation, Riot!” Izuku complained. “What kind of
timing is that?”
Tentacles landed on one of the spires and began sliding down it. Izuku and the
redhead landed on the back end of the top of Castle Black. They grappled
instantly while Rin leapt to his feet and rushed to meet Tentacles. Komori
caught up two of the civilian dummies, Tsunotori grabbed the other three and
they both went for the wall.
Hitoshi was stuck with Todoroki on his lap and an idea in his head. He took in
a deep breath of air and shouted, “Oi!”
The fighting paused for a second. He gestured to Todoroki and said, “Rule
Master kissed Shouto.”
Red Riot gaped, “What?” 
Tentacle glanced to Izuku in surprise, “He did?”
Izuku grinned at them and didn’t say anything. Hitoshi smirked, feeling as his
quirk overtook both Red Riot and Tentacle. “Please take a seat and put your
hands, all of your hands, flat on the ice floor.” Automatically, the two under
his control did just that.
“Woah,” Tokage breathed out. “You totally caught them.”
Izuku brushed off his shoulder, even though there was nothing there to brush
off or brush against except his bare skin, and walked back. He dropped down
onto the ice beside Hitoshi. They both ignored the slight crack in the ice that
started when he hit the floor. “Nice job.”
Rin was the one who took the capture tape from the two heroes and bound their
arms together. Then he sat down in front of them as if to guard them.
“...I think there are two minutes left,” Komori said, settling back down.
“Maybe one.”
Tokage grinned. “We totally won.”
Izuku put his arm around Hitoshi’s shoulder. His grip was warm and solid. He
pulled Hitoshi close until they were exactly side by side with nothing between
him and all that bare, tanned skin but his own uniform. He cleared his throat
several times, but never could quite get the nervousness swallowed down.
Before any conversation could strike up again, a flare went up and an alarm
echoed over the arena, signalling the battle was over. The kids all cheered.
Hitoshi quickly released their two captives from his mind control.
Izuku bent over into his lap and kissed Todoroki.
Hitoshi stared, watching as his friend cupped Todoroki’s cheek with one hand,
the other still resting on his own shoulder. It looked like such a soft thing.
He couldn’t tell if Izuku’s eyes were closed beneath his goggles, but he
imagined they were. When he drew back, it was slow, and his fingers trailed
through the ends of Todoroki’s red hair.
Todoroki himself blinked awake a second or two later. His eyes met Hitoshi’s
and then widened suddenly. He sat up sharply, his cheeks flushed and his head
nearly colliding with Hitoshi’s. It would have except Izuku pulled him back.
“What the- Where the-” Todoroki looked around wildly.
“Battle’s over, Todoroki,” Izuku said cheerfully. “It’s time to find out who
won.”
“It’s … what?” His voice faltered with his confusion.
Tokage, standing up, stretched her arms over her head. “I guess this was an
okay end. It seems pretty lame, though. I just hung out here for like, the
whole time!”
“How do we get down?” Kirishima asked as he got up as well.
“Ice slide.” Izuku said. He pulled his arm away from Hitoshi as he got up.
Hitoshi wasn’t the only one who stared at his body as he, too, stretched and
walked to the wall. He distantly heard Kirishima give a soft gasp and a whisper
of, “Woah… He’s so ripped.”
Izuku walked as naturally in nothing more than tattered ‘shorts’ as he had in
his actual full suit. He bent over, putting his hands on the wall and Hitoshi
turned away from the sight of his ass and thighs in embarrassment. Only to
confirm that yes, everyonewas staring. Including Todoroki. And Kirishima. And
Tsunotori too. Everyone.
Tokage was even grinning, eyeing Izuku shamelessly. Hitoshi glared at her and
she glanced to him and shrugged. “What?”
There was the sound of ice forming and Hitoshi was distracted from his glaring
to look and see the incredible slide that Izuku was forming. Tokage sidled over
and whistled. “Look at that! It’s got railing and everything. You know what
this reminds me of?”
“What?” Izuku asked.
“That staircase in Frozen,” she said, “Except without the stair part. The
railing is incredible. How are you so good at this quirk? I thought your main
on was the lava spitting! You can’t be Lava Dude if you’re spitting out ice
like Elsa.”
“Oooh,” Tsunotori said, crowding close. “This looks like a lot of fun! I’ll go
first!”
“Send the dummies first,” Izuku said instead, “Just to check. I’ve used this
quirk a lot today so I want to make sure it’ll support people before we jump
on. Okay?”
“Sure,” Tsunotori dumped the dummies she held onto the ice, letting them slide
down. Komori brought over the other two and let them slide. Only then did Izuku
wave them down. The two slid down one after the other, giggling madly as they
did. Tokage followed them with a whoop of delight. Kirishima followed with a
shout. Shouji went afterwards, giving a glance to Todoroki who lingered. Rin
followed them. Izuku stood to the side.
“Who’s next?” He asked, looking from Hitoshi to Todoroki.
“If you can use ice like this, why do you bother with the lava?” Todoroki asked
instead when Hitoshi made no move to go first.
Izuku smiled, “I’ve mastered the ice. I haven’t mastered the lava. It would be
irresponsible if I didn’t learn how to control my quirks. They’d be dangerous
if I let them run wild whenever I got upset.”
Todoroki shifted on his feet, turning his left side slightly away from Izuku.
Hitoshi saw his fist tighten up as well. He gave a slight nod and walked to the
slide. He took it without another word.
When Izuku looked to him, Hitoshi said the first thing that came to mind. “Why
did you kiss him?” He regretted the words immediately. Wincing, he shook his
head, “No. Don’t-”
“Just to put him to sleep,” Izuku said. “And wake him up again. Like I said,
when I’m using that quirk I don’t really consider it a kiss. Kisses mean
something else.”
“If… If quirk kisses don’t count,” Hitoshi fumbled through the words. Why was
he asking? Why did he care? It wasn’t as if kissing were that much of a big
deal. “Then have you…?”
“Have I had a kiss that counts?”
Hitoshi shrugged.
“Yeah. A few.” Izuku said. “What about you?”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
Izuku gave him a thumbs up, “Nice.”
He was so casual about it. Smiling and giving him a thumbs up and being so
confident in his asking- Did Izuku not feel like he felt? Did Izuku not feel-
What wasit that Hitoshi felt about Izuku kissing other people? Envy?
Irritation?
Jealousy?
“We should go,” Izuku said.
Hitoshi nodded and took the slide down. Wind whipped his hair and for a brief,
dizzying second he could see the faintly glowing lava below, but then the slide
smoothed out and he came to a stop at the bottom. He hurriedly got to his feet,
brushing droplets of thawing ice from his clothes. He looked up in time to see
Izuku sliding after him.
He landed at the bottom of the slide in a tumble, but quickly got to his feet.
Izuku grinned to Hitoshi. “That was fun.”
“Do you really think we won?” Hitoshi asked.
“By the point system, yes. But according to the teachers? Maybe not.” Izuku
shrugged. “It depends, really.” Hitoshi nodded. It would come down to their
teachers, after all.
All Might was the one to corral them out of the arena, grinning at them all and
giving no hint to who had won. Hitoshi, surprisingly, didn’t find that as
irritating as it could have been. That might have been because he felt like
they’d done well or maybe it was because he’d sort of genuinely enjoyed himself
during the hiding and seeking and scrambling up the side of Castle Black to the
sound of Tokage cackling and Tsunotori cheering for him. Or maybe it was
because Izuku bumped shoulders with him, patted him on the back, and stood with
him while their team gathered around them.
Kaibara complains about getting caught and Shishida bumps knuckles with Izuku
over ‘incredible displays of strength’ or something. Hitoshi notices Kirishima
looking over at them and elbows Izuku, gesturing towards the redhead.
Kirishima gives a thumbs up and says, “You look like you’re doing better,
Midoriya! That was some crazy castle you made there!”
“Yeah? Thanks!” Izuku said back. “It was really exhausting. I was worried you
guys would find us before I finished it.”
“We didn’t know you had an ice quirk,” Jirou says, poking her head out from
around Kirishima. “Is it like Todoroki’s? Or do you have a borrowing thing like
Monoma, since you took Todoroki with you.”
“No, that’s one of mine,” Izuku said. “It’s really only good at building
something I have a concrete image of, though, like walls or slides or rope. It
doesn’t work like Todoroki’s, but it’s similar.”
Hitoshi couldn’t help it. He looked over the Class A group, searching for the
teen with two colored hair. He spotted him, walking at the farther edge of the
group, watching Izuku. Their eyes met for a long, tense moment. Hitoshi thought
Todoroki looked a little strange. Off, somehow. Not like he was afraid, but
that he was… wary maybe? Uncertain?
Todoroki pressed his lips into a thin line and Hitoshi found himself
remembering the way Izuku had kissed the other boy, bent over Hitoshi’s lap.
Izuku might not count it as a kiss but Todoroki- Izuku interrupted his thoughts
when he caught Hitoshi’s wrist and tugged. Hitoshi blinked and looked over.
Izuku grinned at him. “Didn’t you hear, Hitoshi?”
“Mm?”
“We won!” Tokage shouts, throwing her arms in the air.
“What?” Hitoshi gaped. “We did?”
All Might stands in the center of the group, fists at his waist and grinning.
“Congratulations Team D! It was an unorthodox tactic, but villains work in
unorthodox ways! You managed to keep the majority of your teammates andcapture
several of the heroes. It was a successful strategy and grand display of
teamwork!”
There were high fives given all around. Izuku’s grip on Hitoshi’s wrist
tightened. Hitoshi felt a little smile on his face, just a little one.
“Team C, you were at a slight disadvantage from the beginning, missing your
tenth member, but you performed admirably! You did not give up the fight even
until the last, and used unique tactics to rescue those that you could.” All
Might praised them as well. “Everyone should be proud of themselves for this
match.”
“That was good quick thinking with your quirk at the end,” Izuku murmurs,
distracting Hitoshi from All Might’s speech. He’s leaning over, slightly, more
in Hitoshi’s space than he had been before. “It would have been a close call,
otherwise. I think the others were lying in wait near the bottom, expecting
some of us to flee.”
“Thanks,” Hitoshi said. Izuku had pushed his goggles back down to hang around
his neck. He noticed this because he could see clearly into Izuku’s eyes. They
were bright green and he stood close enough he could see little flecks of gold
and black? In them. Remembering the way they glowed before, Hitoshi opened his
mouth to ask when a someone bumped into his back, throwing their arm around his
and Izuku’s shoulders.
Tokage grinned at them, “Since we totally, absolutely won, Yousetsu said he was
gonna buy us some meat buns at the shop after school! Do you two wanna come?”
There was a loud growling sound that came from Izuku’s abdomen. He blushed and
said, “I’m in. I’m absolutely starving.”
“Sure,” Hitoshi says and then Tokage’s sliding away again, fists in the air
with a shout of “two more, Yousetsu!” and they’re left alone.
Hitoshi is very aware that Izuku hasn’t let go of his arm yet. He’s also aware
that those fingers have slid a little lower and now are half over the heel of
his hand. He takes in a breath. Let’s it out again.
“Hey,” Izuku asks quietly, “After the meat bun thing… Do you want to get some
real food? My treat.”
Hitoshi swallows dryly and nods, unable to speak. Izuku smiles at him, squeezes
his hand gently, and then pulls away at last, joining a conversation where
someone starts asking him about how he lost his clothes and he starts talking
about his fight with Todoroki.
It’s like outside the infirmary all over again. Hitoshi can still feel the
warmth of Izuku’s hand holding his own for that brief second. He squeezes his
into fists and takes a shaky breath to calm himself down. This time, without
Izuku to distract him, it works.
 
===============================================================================
 
It’s a  forty minute bus ride from the school to the street that Izuku says has
the best restaurant in the entire district. Hitoshi spends most of that trip
reading through a homework textbook while Izuku drowses. They both have to
stand for half the ride, but Izuku’s grip on the handle above his head is firm
and his head only barely rests on Hitoshi’s shoulder. They’re still in their
uniforms and at first they’re not the only students on the bus. As time goes
on, though, Hitoshi notices that they get more and more looks as there are
fewer and fewer students and more and more… well…
It’s not that the people around them are adults, it’s that they don’t seem much
like office types. Only one in five has clothing similar to what his mom would
wear to work- a suit or pencil skirt- something professional or even business
casual. Most of the others who get on or off wear casual clothes with signs of
lots of wear.
At one stop, five or six people that are, at best, no older than highschool
students get on. One of them, taller than the others and with dark wild hair,
glances over to them. He does an obvious double take at the two of them, eyes
widening slightly. Hitoshi holds still, looking back at him. The guy is at the
front of the bus with his group and most of them have to stand too. It isn’t
their clothes that makes Hitoshi stare, or even just the fact that he’s staring
at them-
It’s the guy’s skin.
Hitoshi goes to Yuuei, so he’s seen plenty of people whose quirks have made
them look a little odd. There’s Bondo, Shishida, Fukidashi and Kamakiri in his
own class, for one, and Tokoyami, Ashido, Shouji and Kouda in Class A that all
look different because of their quirks. But the difference here is that they
were clearly born looking like that and this guy…
It looks like parts of his skin were burned badly, or just… scarred somehow.
There are stitches or staples that keep the differing pieces of skin together
and where it isn’t red and rippled it looks almost too pale. Hitoshi’s not
entirely sure which part of the skin is the original part; the pale skin around
his eyes or the red that runs down his throat?
The guy stares and stares at them, silent. He responds to his friends when they
talk to him, but he doesn’t look away for more than a second. The hair on the
back of Hitoshi’s neck stands on end.
He jumps when he hears Izuku huff out a heavy sigh and lift his head. Hitoshi
glances back at him only to see him looking at the man with the weird skin.
Izuku arches an eyebrow, just one, and gives the man the mildest expression of
curiosity that Hitoshi’s ever seen. The man abruptly turns away from them so
Hitoshi can’t see his face.
Tiredly, Izuku yawns and leans his cheek on Hitoshi’s shoulder as though he
didn’t just intimidate a weirdo on the bus with an arched brow.
Hitoshi lets out the breath he didn’t know he held and relaxes, slowly. He
looks down at his book again and gets back to reading.
 
 
He’s just reached the end of the chapter when Izuku wakes again and nudges him.
“Here’s our stop.”
They get off together, Izuku hitching his bag up higher on his shoulder.
They’re two of a handful that get off, but the man with the scarred skin isn’t
around- neither is his group. Hitoshi looks around, feeling a little nervous.
He’s never been in this part of town before, hasn’t ever heard of these streets
or these shops. He doesn’t go out much, doesn’t know how exactly to get back
home if he were stranded here.
Izuku takes his hand and tugs him along, preventing him from standing there,
stiff from worry and unmoving. “C’mon,” he said eagerly. “It’s this way.
Seriously, this is the best place in town.”
Hitoshi curls his fingers around Izuku’s, grateful for the contact. It’s a
solid, warm grip and strong, too. Izuku is just very strong, Hitoshi’s come to
learn. If he doesn’t watch his strength he tends to do things like snap pencils
or dent doorknobs. It’s a little scary at times, but he’s never turned that
strength on Hitoshi or anyone else so-
The restaurant they end up in front of has a bright red awning above it, but
that’s not what makes Hitoshi’s thoughts about Izuku’s hands cut off. It’s not
even the gaudy, bright gold M painted on the door. It’s the look on Izuku’s
face.
He’s grinning like a little kid- he even looks a little younger again- and
Hitoshi is reminded of the phone call, of Izuku’s joyous laugh, of the way he
seemed to catch sunlight behind him and absorb it into his body, only to turn
around and let it radiate out in smiles like this.
Oh my god, Hitoshi thinks numbly as Izuku drags him into the restaurant by the
hand, I am in such serious trouble. This crush has gotten way out of hand.
Hitoshi wants to laugh because while that is, indeed, very true, it’s also
truth that Izuku is still holding his hand.
They get three feet into the diner before they stop dead in their tracks.
Izuku grins. Hitoshi gapes.
Every inch of the place is well lit and gleaming. There are booths and tables
and a counter, just like any other restaurant. There’s a really tall young
woman with incredibly long legs and a nametag that says Hostess with the name
Amiwritten beneath it. It’s the theme of the place that has frozen Hitoshi in
his place.
There is All Might memorabilia everywhere.Posters, framed autographed pictures,
news paper clippings and more cover the walls. There are at least three life
sized cardboard cutouts around the room that he can see and everything is
themed in red and gold and blue from the tablecloths to the napkins to the
fucking floor tile.
Hitoshi looks at Izuku, who has stars in his eyes. Ami, their hostess, smiles
and greets them. “Just two?” She asks. Her eyes flicker down to their held
hands. Hitoshi tries to let go but you can’t let go of Izuku’s hand, it seems.
He just keeps holding on without you.
“Two,” he confirmed. “A booth please.”
She nods and smiles. “This way.” Then it’s Hitoshi’s turn to tug Izuku after
him as they’re lead to a booth.
Izuku finally lets go to sink down into his seat. Hitoshi sits across from him
and looks pointedly around before meeting Izuku’s eyes. “So this is the best
diner in the whole city, huh.”
Izuku has the decency to flush and his hands flutter restlessly in front of
himself. Hitoshi hasn’t seen much of this side of Izuku, but occasionally a bit
of the fanboy creeps through in class. “The food is really good, Hitoshi, and
so is the service! I just… It just also happens to be the biggest All Might fan
hangout?”
Hitoshi pulls his phone out of his pocket. “I have to document this for my
blog,” he says. “No one will believe me otherwise.” He turns in his seat,
taking some pictures of the room around them before lifting his phone up and
saying, “Do you want to be included or not?”
“Sure,” Izuku laughs. He throws up a peace sign to Hitoshi, who takes the
picture. He then starts working on the post itself, forgetting entirely about
the menu that Izuku starts to read through.
The waitress that comes by gives them a bit of a tired smile and asks for their
order. Hitoshi guiltily looks up from his phone; his menu hasn’t even been
touched. Izuku flips open his own and points to a section, saying “One of
everything from there, please.”
The woman looks at him and blinks. Izuku meets her eyes, grinning, and after a
minute she blinks. Straightening up a little, she clears her throat and looks
to Hitoshi, “And you, sir?”
Hitoshi blinks. Sir?She hadn’t been nearly so formal just a second ago. “Uh… I
haven’t…” He looks quickly at the section that Izuku pointed to and saw that
about half of those plates look interesting in one way or another. “Just some
extra plates. We’ll share.”
“Of course. Thank you.” She takes their menus and quickly hurries away.
Izuku leans an elbow on the table, eyebrows lifted, “We’ll share?” He repeats
back, smiling slightly.
“You can’t possibly eat all that yourself. And this way I get to try several
things instead of just the one.” Hitoshi ignores the twisting in his belly that
tells him sharing plates of food is something special.It isn’t. He does it with
his siblings. He figures friends do it too.
“What? You think I’d order all that and not be able to eat it?”
“You’ll burst trying.”
“I’ll have you know I have an elastic quirk,” Izuku sniffed, “I can eat as much
as I need and never burst.”
“But do you really need all of that?”
Izuku nodded, “Absolutely. Do you know how many quirks I ended up using today?”
Hitoshi shook his head. Of course he didn’t. He only knew, for sure, that Izuku
had a lava quirk, the gas manipulation quirk, some sort of brain related
‘primary’ quirk, an ice quirk and the kissing quirk. He wasn’t a hundred
percent positive about the smile-charm quirk but… only because HItoshi hadn’t
really noticed it again since that first day or two.
“Like, ten or something. A lot of them. So I’m absolutely ravenous.”
Hitoshi frowned a little. He’d been hoping for a list of sorts, but didn’t feel
it was a good idea to pry. He huffed out a ‘whatever, sure,’ and ducked his
head down to finish his post. Izuku put his other elbow on the table, his chin
resting in his hands, watching.
The first thing the waitress brought them was a milkshake for Izuku and soda
for Hitoshi. He accepted it happily, though there was a weird thought in his
mind of “Did you hear Izuku order these drinks?”that he couldn’t quite shake.
Izuku closes his eyes in utter contentment as he sucks down the milkshake.
His hands cradle the base and his lips seal off the top of the straw. He sucks
down half of the milkshake with his eyes closed, barely stopping to breathe
through his nose, while Hitoshi watches with wide, wide eyes. Izuku lets go of
the straw with an audible sigh of pleasure and a glowing smile.
Hitoshi’s thoughts veer off to the side and hang a left right into the gutter.
He clears his throat, tears his eyes away and drinks his soda with a tight
throat. He hears a shifting of cloth, sees Izuku moving a little and looks up
to see the other teen adjusting his sitting position.
It’s one of Izuku’s weird habits. (He has a lot of them. Hitoshi takes notice
but tries not to say anything- he doesn’t want to make Izuku self-conscious.)
He doesn’t like to sit with his feet touching the floor for very long. So even
though his legs are long and often he’s got no space on his chair (like in
their school desks) he tucks his legs up and sits cross-legged.
Hitoshi notices this one a lot, maybe the most, and it always makes him wonder.
Izuku stirs his straw around and around in the bottom third of the milkshake
that’s left. He looks up from it, his eyes bright. “Want to try some? It’s
good. Chocolate flavored.”
“...sure.” Hitoshi shrugged.
Izuku pushes the milkshake over and Hitoshi takes a sip. It is pretty good,
actually. A rich chocolate flavor of ice cream that slides easily down his
throat. He licks his lips and pushes it back. As he does so, a strange white
mist opens up at one side of their booth. “What the-”
“That’s the way they serve the meal here,” Izuku said gleefully. “The servers
do drinks and stuff because they can spill, but the food comes out like this.”
He gestures towards the small white circle of mist. Hitoshi’s eyes widen as
bowls of food come out of the misty portal. Izuku takes them quickly and starts
placing them around the table. “Anything look particularly good?”
Hitoshi reaches out and slides one of the bowls closer. “Yeah. Do you care if i
just-”
“Go ahead, pick and choose. I’ll eat whatever you don’t.” Izuku gestures over
the table’s surface.
“Yeah right,” Hitoshi says with a roll of his eyes. As more and more plates
come through, he becomes more and more confident that there’s no way Izuku can
eat all of that. “You know what? Before you touch any of this, I want to take a
picture.”
“For your blog?” Izuku asked, grinning as he squeezed another bowl into a
corner. “Sure. Want me to pose again?” The misty portal finally vanished,
ending the stream of food.
“Sure,” Hitoshi said. He slid out of the bench and stood up to get the best
picture. He took some of just the table and then a few with Izuku grinning over
it, holding chopsticks in one hand and an empty bowl in the other. Just before
he sat down, though, there was a tap to his shoulder.
Hitoshi turned to see a blond young woman standing next to him. Her face lit up
with a toothy grin as she saw his face. “It’s you! It’s really you!!”
Hitoshi’s pretty sure he’s never seen her before. He’d probably recognize the
hairstyle or the oversized sweater or the way she swings her fists up and down
excitedly in the space between them. He’d definitely recognize that shining,
euphoric look in her eyes and that big, broad smile. “Excuse me?”
“Nekonaptsune!” She cried and Hitoshi feels the blood drain from his face. That
was his- “You’re him, aren’t you? That’s your blog?” She bounces on her toes,
way too excited. “I saw you post pictures of the diner and I knew the diner so
I came to say hi and to see you in person for realsies!” She spoke quickly, too
and abruptly turned to look at Izuku. “And you too! You’re the boy he blogs
about, aren’t you? You’re Izu-kun!”
Izuku has his cheeks stuffed full with food. A noodle hangs from his mouth. He
holds a bowl near his face and chopsticks hover in the air mid serve. “Mmmg?”
He cocked his head to the side.
“Uh,” Hitoshi cleared his throat. “Who are you?”
“My name is Himiko!” She said excitedly. “I follow your blog! I’ve been
following for a while because your cat pictures are sooooo cute! Oh! Do you
mean my url?? It’s himi-himechan. Here, I’ll show you my blog!” Hitoshi
blinked, reeling a little bit. He’s never met any of his followers in real life
before. He didn’t even think any of them lived around here but … here she was…
She pulled out her phone and, after a few button taps, brought up her own blog.
It was- Pink. Very pink. And not just the background. The pictures were also
pink but in a verydifferent way.
Villains have television too. Izuku’s voice rose up in the back of his head,
soft and dark. It made Hitoshi shiver. Television, phones, internet, blogs…He
feels a little queasy as he looks away. “You follow my blog for… the kittens?”
“I love the kittens,” Himiko says with complete sincerity.
“Ah.” Hitoshi has no idea what to say to her.
Izuku cleared his throat. “Do you mind, Himiko-san? We’re trying to have our
dinner?” He gestured with his half empty bowl. Hitoshi belatedly realized that
it was his second. The first was empty in front of him already.
“Ooh I’m so sorry! I just wanted to get a picture if I could? You see my friend
will be so jealous that I got a picture with you two!” She beamed at Hitoshi,
holding her phone tight in both hands, “We’re following all your adventures in
love,Neko-san.”
Hitoshi flushed, “It’s not- That’s just a-” He looks at Izuku, who has his
mouth full again as he looks curiously back. “It’s just a tag I use for some of
my posts. I’m nothaving an adventure in love.”
Himiko pouted. “But-”
“Himiko-san,” Izuku said, his voice chilly but so polite, “That’s enough. Thank
you for coming to say hi.”
She looked down at her shoes and mumbled, “No picture?”
Her expression was miserable. Hitoshi had a hard time connecting this bubbly,
excitable girl with that gorey blog he’d seen. He winced, realizing that he
didn’t actually knowif she was a villain. She just might… be interested in that
kind of stuff for some other reason. “One picture,” he said, quietly. It was…
probably worth it, the way she lit up and grinned at him.
She threw her arm around his shoulder, pressing her cheek against his and held
up her phone. “Smile, Neko-san!” He did smile. She smelled like something
sweet- candy or something- and was warm where she held him. Himiko took the
picture, looked at it on her phone and then gave an excited giggle. She pressed
a glossy-lipped kiss to Hitoshi’s cheek before dashing away, waving her phone
above her head and cheering excitedly.
Hitoshi blushed. They were getting a lot of bemused stares by the other patrons
and it made him blush even worse. He slid back into his seat and sighed
heavily. Izuku held out his bowl where there was a tempura shrimp resting in
the bottom.
“Here,” he said, “Help me finish this off, okay?”
Hitoshi rolled his eyes and reached out with his chopsticks. He popped the
shrimp into his mouth and ate it. Swallowing, he said, “That was actually
really good.”
“It all is. Seriously, dig in!”
With a nod, Hitoshi did just that.
 
===============================================================================
 
The sun has gone down by the time they make it back to the bus stop. They sit
on the bench with a few other people, waiting together in relative ease. It’s
too dark to read his book, so Hitoshi’s just scrolling on his dash, checking
today’s updates and the notes he got on the All Might diner. Not many of his
followers are super into the hero, but they’ve all been following his posts on
Izuku so he’s got plenty of disbelieving comments on the insane amount of food
that Izuku ate.
Izuku sits next to him, and if Hitoshi thought it was a bit cute when Izuku was
drowsing on the bus on the way there, he was so, so mistaken.
His friend is completely out of it, leaning against Hitoshi’s shoulder with his
hair in his face and his hand fisting Hitoshi’s sleeve. He snores softly, his
mouth slightly open and Hitoshi’s pretty sure Izuku is going to start drooling
on him but he doesn’t want to move Izuku and wake him up.
It’s been a long day and a crazy one. Izuku’s been at the center of it all and
Hitoshi knows how much it sucks to not be able to get decent sleep. So he just
sits there, his arm slowly going numb from the weight of Izuku’s head as they
wait for the bus together.
When it finally rolls up, Hitoshi wakes Izuku awake and helps him get to his
feet. Izuku’s heavier than Hitoshi remembers, but considering he ate half his
body weight in food, that’s not really much of of a surprise. Izuku blinks
awake and follows Hitoshi onto the bus, where they find a seat near the back
together.
There are only a few other people on the bus- though there were ten or so at
the stop waiting, only another pair get on at the same time as Hitoshi and
Izuku. Hitoshi notices them looking at Izuku and his heart races a little,
remembering they’re in a strange part of town he’s never been and Izuku is dead
to the world.
Protectively, he puts his arm around Izuku’s shoulder and holds him close to
his side. Hitoshi ignores the way his face heats up as Izuku snuggles against
him, muttering something unintelligible. They’re still in their school
uniforms, and Hitoshi is acutely aware that all the commuters are long gone.
The people who are on the bus now remind him more of that group that he’d seen
before, the ones accompanying the man with the scars and staples in his skin.
The couple that he saw looking at him and Izuku sit in the middle of the bus
where Hitoshi can see them in profile. The man is tall, tall as All Might,
probably, and wearing a dark jacket. His hair is shaved short around the sides
and back, while the top is dark blue and longer, sweeping over his face. He has
his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankle and his arms
across the back of the bench on either side. Conversely, the girl at his side
is smaller, sitting with her legs crossed on the bench. She’s in bright
clothes, a white jacket over a baggy red shirt that hangs down to her thighs
easily. Her hair’s done up in a pair of buns that do nothing to hide the bright
pink and blue hue.
She’s the one talking to the man, her voice low enough that Hitoshi can’t pick
it up over the rumble of the bus.
They don’t look over once they’re settled on the bus, though, which eases
Hitoshi’s mind a little. He pulls his phone back out to scroll and blog,
wasting time while Izuku sleeps on his shoulder and against his side like a
warm lump. It’s weirdly comforting and Hitoshi keeps bouncing his leg in
nervousness, wondering if it’s really okayto be sitting like this with Izuku.
After all they’re friends but they’re not… more than that. And yet, here he
sits, holding onto him, letting Izuku sleep on him, watching out for him…
Was this a typical friend thing? Hitoshi didn’t have much experience with
friendships outside of the few he’d had in middle school and those with his
siblings. He knows for sure that he doesn’t feel the same way towards Izuku as
he does his siblings but…
He does care. Definitely does care. He cares more than ‘just friends’ too. And
he doesn’t really have anyone he can ask without getting really embarrassed.
So he does his best not to think about it.
Instead, he takes a selfie with the sleeping Izuku and, after about five
minutes of back and forth thinking, he uploads it to the blog with the tags:
Adventures_in_Love,_look_who_sleeps_with_their_mouth_open, he snores too, ate
abt twenty plates himself nd is going to sleep it all off now, growing boy
needs him some zzzs.
He immediately regrets posting it because his dash explodes with comments on
how cute they are and endless questions asking him about his date. Huffing out
a breath, he shoves his phone into his pocket and sit, staring at his knees.
Izuku stirs at his side about ten minutes later. Hitoshi looks up and his eyes
lock with those green glowing ones. And they’re definitely, one hundred percent
glowing. There’s no denying it. Not this close. Not in the back of the bus like
this. Not when he can see the shine of them flickering only inches away.
“Your eyes,” Hitoshi says without thinking about it. “They glow. Is that..?”
“A quirk?” Izuku asks, blinking slowly and then yawning. He shrugs, which feels
strange under Hitoshi’s arm, but he hasn’t lifted his cheek up from Hitoshi’s
shoulder, so it’s not like he can take it off. “Yeah.”
“Oh.” Hitoshi’s curiosity gnaws at him. “Which … What does it do?”
Izuku watches him silently for a while, long enough that Hitoshi opens his
mouth to apologize for asking. Izuku isn’t smiling. He looks so serious it’s a
bit eerie. Hitoshi’s sure that he’s offended him, somehow.
“A couple of different things,” Izuku says, cutting off Hitoshi’s beginning of
an apology. “You noticed the glowing eyes, didn’t you?” He asks it like a
question but it doesn’t really sound like one. It sounds like Izuku knows what
he saw and why he’s asking.
“Yeah. But they don’t always glow.”
“Right,” Izuku agrees, “It’s a… an observation quirk, of sorts. My eyes catch
information as I look around at things and then after enough information is
gathered, they stop noticing so much and my brain processes it.”
“The brain thing,” Hitoshi says, making the connection to their conversation in
front of the infirmary. “The quirk isn’t just in your eyes but your brain,
too?”
Izuku nods. His eye slide closed for a second or two and then when they open
again, they’re no longer glowing. “It’s my primary quirk. The one that I was …
born with. The one that makes me, me.” He says that with a funny smile and a
bit of a breathless laugh; his gaze slides down and away.
Even looking away, Hitoshi can clearly see Izuku’s eyes. They’re green and so,
so bright. But this close he can see gold around the outer edges of the iris;
little flecks of it that catch the light a little sharper than the green
itself. An there are black flecks too, closer in towards the pupil, but not the
pupil itself. That’s still a regular round shape.
“They’re pretty,” Hitoshi says.
Izuku looks at him and smiles.
The bus comes to a stop, jerking them both forward as they were unprepared for
it. Izuku blinks and looks around. “Oh!” He sits up, sliding out from under
Hitoshi’s arm. “This is my stop.”
“It is?” Hitoshi says dumbly. He feels a lot colder as Izuku stands up. “Oh.”
He looks out the window but doesn’t recognize where they are.
“Hey, Hitocchan?”
Hitoshi’s head snaps back around to look up at Izuku. His friend smiles at him
and leans down. He rests one hand on the cushion beside Hitoshi’s head
balancing himself as he ducks his head in and-
Warm lips brush against Hitoshi’s cheek so close to his own that if he had just
turned his head in the slightest way they would have touched. Hitoshi’s heart
jumps into his throat at the spark that he feels from Izuku’s mouth on his
skin. Izuku draws back slowly, saying, “Thanks for coming with me tonight. I
appreciate it.”
“Yeah,” Hitoshi mumbled. “You’re welcome.”
Izuku hitches his bag higher on his shoulder and then turns away. He gets off
the bus with a casual little wave, one that Hitoshi returns without thinking
about it.
The doors close behind him and Hitoshi sits there, blinking, hand touching his
own cheek for a long time. Eventually, he blinks and looks around, aware that
he hadn’t been alone, but none of the other passengers are looking at him.
It’s another block before Hitoshi realizes that the two he noticed before, the
man in the hoodie and the young woman in white, have also left the bus, though
he can’t remember seeing them go.
Chapter End Notes
     You might have noticed the link in this chapter! it's a beautiful
     piece of fanart by LeiLei. Here's_a_link_to_it,_if_you_missed_it!
***** misconception, mismanage, misdemeanor, misery *****
Chapter Summary
     A foundation is laid with four cornerstones.
     (or, in which Endeavor gets fucked up)
Chapter Notes
     rama: there's a bit of an intense bit between shouto and his mom in
     this chapter. it might? be triggering? im not sure, but just be
     careful reading, lovelies
See the end of the chapter for more notes
Gran Torino’s place looks about the same as the last time that Toshinori
visited, which is to say that it’s just a normal looking as can be. He sits on
the couch, relaxed for the first time all day. No one is about to burst into
the room like they might in the teacher’s offices or anywhere else he happens
to stop and catch his breath.
In his hand, he holds an old picture, worn around the edges and crinkled a few
places where it’s been folded. He runs his thumb lightly over the edge and then
sighs, tossing it down onto the coffee table in front of him. Torino looks up
from the tea he holds in his own hands, sitting across from him.
His gaze drops down to the picture and he gives a little frown. “That’s the
boy?”
“That’s the picture his mother gave me when he went missing.” Toshinori
clarifies. He can still remember that afternoon, as clearly as if it had
happened the day before. Midoriya Inko’s tearful eyes, her tear streaked
cheeks, her hands shaking as she clutched the picture of her son for All Might
to have. Her voice shaking as she begged All Might to do  something  for her
son. Anything at all.
In the image, the twelve-year-old boy is grinning up at the camera. He wears an
All Might shirt- one that Toshinori can tell is one of the limited runs from
earlier that same year. There were only a couple thousand printed in the city
and this boy had gotten one. Inko had believed so fiercely that All Might could
find her son.
He had tried- he really had tried- but no one had seen anything. No one was
talking- no villains that were caught, no undercover heroes,  no one.
Then he’d been found in the arms of that weird creature, held hostage,
presumably to agitate Bakugou- Because it was unlikely that many villains, if
any, knew his own interest in the boy’s well-being. Which, considering the way
Bakugou and Midoriya had interacted since then, led to more questions than
answers.
“The one that was in the clutches of that villain alliance.”
Toshinori nodded. “He described being in the captivity of someone remarkably
like All For One, Torino,” Toshinori said with exhaustion in his voice. “And
it’s not like this isn’t the first time that man has worked behind the scenes
in order to attack me. He  knows  I’m the last. He knows I haven’t chosen
anyone.”
“So what purpose did he serve for that man?” Torino asked. “That’s what you’ve
been trying to figure out?”
“As far as I can tell,” Toshinori said, “He was used as subject to experiment
on. He said that the man with the hands on his face brought him along to the
fight, but Midoriya didn’t realize that Bakugou would be there at the same
time.” He sighed and rubbed his face with one hand. “Yet he knew that I was
supposed to be there. He said that they were there to attack and kill me.”
Torino set his cup down on the table. He shook his head slowly. “This isn’t
good. You need to find a successor to train, Toshinori. You can’t keep putting
this off.” He paused and then asked a little quieter, “Or do you intend to be
the last bearer?”
Toshinori closed his eyes. He propped his chin up on his hand and sighed, long
and slow. “As long as All For One is out there I have to keep going. One For
All has to keep going. His focus is all on me, and I can’t let him look away.
If I was gone he’d be free to do anything he liked and I can’t let that
happen.”
“I understand,” Torino murmured.
He didn’t say it, but Toshinori doubted Torino really understood. Being the
focus of someone as determined, intelligent and amoral as All For One was a
weight that he bore on his shoulders alone. All For One had taken his own
mentor from him and Toshinori could feel it in his bones that he, too, would
fall to that man’s onslaught eventually. His body was already wearing down. The
injuries he’d taken over the years were making it harder and harder to take his
muscle form and be a hero.
He’d joined Yuuei two years ago in an effort to find a student that would be
able to handle all that One For All was: the strength, the wear and tear on the
body, a symbol of peace and justice, and a target for arrogant villains and
competitive heroes alike. Throw the possibility of death at the hands of the
near immortal All For One user, and it was no wonder that Toshinori hadn’t been
able to pick a single student to succeed him.
Toshinori’s gaze fell to the picture on the table. Bright green eyes and an
optimistic smile. He had that same look even now- Toshinori had seen it on the
boy’s face, though only in passing as he was not one of the boy’s main
teachers. Five years as a lab rat and what was his greatest desire?
“I just want to be a hero and save people like me. I want to save people who
are lost like I was!”
He wanted to save the lost. And with a smile like that, with such a burning
personality… Midoriya could do it. He could be a light in the darkness.
And what a darkness it would be. The whisperings of a League of Villains, of
some alliance being formed in the underground, of some powerful and charismatic
leader gathering forces together, to follow his rules- Those rumors were coming
true. All Might was off the main fighting circuit, but it was bad enough that
word had spread to the professional heroes that worked as teachers in Yuuei.
There was something out there. Something coordinating villains. Something that
was tearing up parts of the city, taunting heroes with senseless messages.
Toshinori picked up the photo and considered it again. “Did you know…” he
started, speaking slowly, thinking over his words as he did so, “Midoriya has a
minor regeneration quirk? Nothing strong enough to heal him instantly, but over
time his bones set and heal and his muscle knit back together. He spoke of some
of the tests done to him- ones including having him falling from a great
height- and he was able to regenerate to full health.”
He glanced up and saw Torino looking at him with his lips pressed into a thin
line. The old man reached out and picked up his drink again. Then he held out
his other hand, “Let me see him.”
Toshinori handed it over. “He has… many quirks already. In fact, it seems he
has a strength quirk already in use. One For All wouldn’t break him apart like
it would any of the others.”
“Those quirks were forced on him,” Torino said. “He was an experiment. He
certainly isn’t stable enough for this.”
“He’s been medically examined. Both physically and psychologically. He still is
meeting with a therapist,” Toshinori said, “Despite his years away and a little
bit of awkwardness, Midoriya displays an incredible amount of goodwill and
cheer. He wants to be a hero. He wants to be a light for those that are lost.”
“So you mentioned,” Torino said, “That is why you supported his enrollment into
Yuuei if I recall correctly.” He tossed the photo back onto the table where it
slid to the center. “Do you really think he can handle the responsibility of
One For All? Are you sure of his allegiance to the greater good?”
“I’m sure that he is trying his best,” Toshinori said. He made a fist with one
hand, resting it on his knee. “He is anxious to be a hero. He wants to heal and
move on from that trauma.”
“Don’t rush into anything, Toshinori,” Torino warned. He eyed Toshinori over
his cup as he sipped. “You can only pass it on once. It must be to the right
person to carry your legacy.”
“He can do it.” Toshinori insisted. But he quickly acquiesced under Torino's
hard stare. “But I won’t give it to him right away. I won’t talk to him about
it yet, either. The Sport Festival is approaching quickly. I can use that time
to see if he can handle this quirk and the responsibility of it.” Torino’s look
didn’t let up. Toshinori frowned and looked off to the side.
“There isn’t much else I can do, is there? The strongest students in my class
are either too volatile, too brittle or can’t handle the strain of One For All.
Midoriya would be able to adjust the quickest. He can break his body and it
will heal. He was captive for five years and his spirit wasn’t broken. He still
smiles like he did in that photo, Torino, and that tells me enough.”
“Wait until after the Festival to decide,” Torino said, “The boy might have
some surprises up his sleeve still.”
Toshinori kept frowning, but he nodded in agreement. Midoriya was a little
troubling in some ways, so of course, he’d be paying close attention to the
boy. Still…
He looked at the photo. That twelve-year-old boy beamed up, ignorant of the
pain and fear his older self must have gone through.
If Midoriya could smile like that, even after all he was put through… He
certainly could be one to follow in Nana’s footsteps. Toshinori was certain
about that.
 
===============================================================================
 
The hospital room that Shouto’s mother stayed in was well lit and warm from the
sunlight from the window. The walls were painted a soothing lavender color that
went well with a landscape painting hanging across from his mother’s bed. She
looked up from the book in her hands when Shouto stepped in. He smiled at her.
The smile she gave in response was such a fragile, small thing.
“Hello Mother,” He walked in and up to her. She sat at the little desk that had
been provided for her. Shouto sat at the end of the bed, hands in his lap. “How
have you been?”
“Shouto,” she greeted, turning towards him. She immediately closed her book and
set it aside. Shouto tried not to frown at the sight- she hadn’t saved her
place in any way. He worried that she hadn’t even been reading it, had just
been staring down at the pages as she sometimes did. “There you are. I’ve
missed you. It’s been so quiet here lately…”
“Well I have some new stories about school to tell you if you want to listen,”
Shouto said. She smiled and got up from her seat, crossing the small distance
to sit beside him. Shouto tensed for a moment but then reached out and put his
hand over hers.
“Of course I do. I love your school stories so much.” She held his hand in both
of hers, squeezing it tightly.
“Well,” Shouto said, “We had a mock battle on Friday,” his eyes drifted away a
bit from her face as he remembered the fight. He recounted the first fight
quickly- fighting Team B hadn’t been all that exciting, really. Witnessing the
second fight that morning had been, though. He’d never seen Bakugou go down so
quickly before in his life.
He skipped over what happened to Monoma, though. Shouto didn’t want to upset
his mother with the fate of the teenager. When he started talking about his
fight with Midoriya, though, his mother’s grip grew tight on his hand.
Shouto paused after describing the crazy castle that had been made to look at
his mother’s face. She was a little pale, her eyes a little wide.
“Go on,” she said to Shouto, her voice insistent, even a little eager, “Please
go on.”
Shouto nodded. He stroked the back of her hand as he spoke. He carefully danced
around the fact that he had used his flame quirk- it was uncontrolled, it was
all Endeavor and his mother didn’t need to hear about that. Instead, he
explained Midoriya’s ice; how he had formed spikes on his knuckles, how he’d
conjured daggers with such skill.
“I wish I could do the same, Mom,” Shouto said, holding up his right hand. “I
don’t have the same control as him. I could do this,” he formed a small spike
of ice. His mother crowed in delight at the sight of it, letting go of his
other hand to run gentle fingers along the edge of the ice. “But I can’t make
the daggers he made. They looked like real knives, too. I could pick them up
and throw them back at him.”
“Like real knives?” His mother repeated back at him.
“Yeah. And then uh… there was this bit I was unconscious for, but when I came
to I was in the ice castle. And, Mom, I wish you could have seen it. It looked
like it was laid with icy brick, not just formed all at once. And the tops of
the spires looked like an actual rooftop.” Shouto explained with a little buzz
of excitement. There was color rising in his mother’s face, her cheeks flushed
more than he’d seen in months. There was a spark of something in her pale eyes,
too.
“He created this slide to get down from the castle safely,” Shouto said. “It
looked like it was made out of crystal. The railings had all these intricate
loops and swirls to it. They looked like vines made out of ice.”
“Vines?” She repeated him again.
“Yeah,” Shouto nodded. “They were so incredibly delicate looking. Mother, I
wish I could do that, I wish I could show you. I had no idea an ice quirk could
be so… Mom?”
Her wide eyes were glazed over. Her fingers curled around the spike he’d
created out of ice. “...do that…” She whispered, her breath so faint he missed
half the words.
“What?” He asked. He gently put his hand over hers. All his instincts told him
he needed to get that back  now.
“I could do that.”  She said, her voice suddenly sharp. She moved her hands,
trying to shake off his grip. “I could do that with my ice.”
“Mom-”
“That’s my quirk!” She shouted. “That’s  mine!”
Shouto flinched back, his hands pulling off of her. Now he recognized her
expression, wild and haunted around the edges, as the one from his childhood.
He froze, staring at her, unable to speak or move.
“I was able to do that! Me!” Her voice rose even higher, “No one else could
control their ice that well! I was a prodigy! And they took it from me! They
took my ice! Give it back. I want my quirk back!” Her hands lifted up, the
spike glistening in them. The heat of her skin was beginning to melt it, making
it slip.
Shouto stared up at it, throat tight, mouth dry. He was a child again. He was
in his kitchen again. There was his mother over him, capable of anything,
capable of ending his life as she had given birth to it. Fear pinned him to the
bed.
The door to the room burst open. Shouto heard it only distantly. His mother’s
screaming filled his ears. Her quirk had been  stolen.  She wanted it  back.
It was  her  quirk. There was someone whose hands were strong as they gripped
him by the shoulder and pulled him away from the bed. He saw but didn’t see
orderlies calming his mother down, restraining her, taking the ice from her
grip. She screamed and fought them before they were able to bind her wrists
together.
Once she could no longer freely move, Shouto’s mother sagged to the side and
began to sob.
Shouto watched, wide eyed, breathing shallowly. Someone came over to him,
careful and cautious and asked him if he was okay. He nodded his head,
swallowing with difficulty. “I didn’t know,” he said.
“What was that?” The orderly asked.
“I didn’t know she as quirkless,” Shouto said, looking at his mother in horror
and sorrow. “I had no idea.”
“Ah,” they said to him. “Well… Your mother is a bit of an unusual case. Her
quirk faded away a year or two ago. She’s not been… quite the same since. We
were asked by your father not to say anything to anyone- not even her children.
But considering you just saw this…”
Shouto stared as his mother curled up on the bed, sobbing, his mind blank
because of the shock. He couldn’t speak. There was nothing he could think of to
say. His mother was quirkless and he… he was still scared of her hurting him
anyway.
 
===============================================================================
 
It’s nearly seven at night, but Izuku isn’t alone as he strolls through the
park with his phone out. He has an earbud in one ear to play the cheerful
background music of his app and he’s half paying attention to the screen and
half looking around for a familiar face. There are over a dozen other twenty-
somethings out in pairs or small groups. Most of them have their phones out as
well.
One, passing by, stops and turns, “Hey, did you see the ponyta down by the
fountain?”
“Yeah,” Izuku said, “There’s a horsea down by the pond if you’re looking for
that.”
“Thanks, man,” the guy says before trotting off, phone in hand. Izuku smiles
and continues down the path.
There’s a good turn out that night. The weather is warm and the sun is taking
its sweet time in descending. Izuku is in casual clothes, with the addition of
heavy duty gloves (with a pad on the finger so he can still use the screen of
his phone) and his goggles hang loosely around his throat. He’s not in any of
his child forms, not the eight-year-old his mother prefers or the fourteen-
year-old that he uses to visit people at the bar with. He’s not seventeen,
either, because even a high school student alone might catch someone’s
attention.
No, Izuku’s aged himself up to the stable age of twenty-three. The weight of
his true form settles a little easier with this build. His broad shoulders and
heavily muscled arms and legs are hidden under an All Might hoodie and baggy
pants. His face doesn’t change much, never really does, making him look younger
and wide-eyed with innocence. This form is, perhaps, his favorite of the
handful or so that he works with because of the ease with which he can move
through the city. No one looks twice at an adult- and with the undercut to his
hair, the height of his body and the confidence of his movements, Izuku is
nothing but an adult.
As he rounds the fountain, eyes on his phone, he hears a familiar voice calling
out to him.
“Mint-niichan!”
Izuku looks up, grinning, just as Kagaya takes a running tackle into the center
of his chest. Izuku staggered back, catching her with one hand and spinning to
diffuse the momentum. Her wiry arms are slung around his neck and she laughs
brightly. “Mint-niichan, I missed you! Gomi-nii has missed you too!”
Izuku rolled his eyes. “I saw you, like, two days ago.” Kagaya wrapped her legs
around his waist, leaning back and grinning up at him. Her golden eyes are
alight with mischief. “I saw  both  of you two days ago.” He easily supports
her with one arm.
“But that was a boring meeting, and short! And we didn’t get to hang out at
all!” Kagaya complained, locking her ankles together behind his back. “By the
way, did you catch the vulpix out by the gazebo? Choco-chan is there right
now.”
“Yeah I caught it. Is he still working on his ninetails evolution?” Izuku
asked, turning to face the way he was before and walking again. It was nearing
the half-hour mark and they still weren’t at their meeting spot.
“Yup.” She unwound her arms from around Izuku to pull out her phone and pop
open the app. “What should I name mine? I haven’t named it yet. What did you
name yours?”
“Haruka,” Izuku said immediately. “She had that kind of vibe to her.”
“Hmmmm,” Kagaya’s head tilted from side to side, making her braided pigtails
swing along with the movement. Izuku’s gaze caught on them, noticing that the
dye was fading somewhat. She must not have been able to refresh it while she
was out of town, he figured. Either that or she’d been too busy to do so.
“Sacchan.” She said, fingers tapping the screen. “That’s a good name for a
vulpix.”
“Sounds good to me,” Izuku said, leading up a stone path. The farther he
walked, the fewer people were around them. “How  are  you doing?” He ducked
them both under a low hanging branch and took the moment to look more closely
at her face. The other night, after the bus ride, he hadn’t had much time to
spend talking to Kagaya or check up on her.
Her golden eyes still had that brilliant, cunning light to them and her makeup
was as impeccable and unique as usual. On her right cheek is a painted black
spade; mirroring it on the left is a pink heart. She looks like she’s gotten
enough sleep recently, as there’s no makeup being used to cover shadows under
her eyes. When Izuku shifts her body against his, he estimates her weight and
decides she’s probably been getting enough to eat too.
She waved her hand at him, the other scrolling through her pokemon or
something. “I’m  fine,  Mint-nii. Gomi-nii and I both were on the last trip
together. I didn’t have to stay behind with Choco-chan or Bakaboss.”
Izuku chuckled. “Well, I’m glad he could take you with him. I worry when you
two are separated.”
Kagaya eyes him for a moment before huffing and returning to her phone.
Quietly, she said, “I don’t like it when my niisan is gone. Either one of
them.”
Wincing, Izuku held her a little tighter. Kagaya frowned but propped her chin
on his shoulder in response, looking down over his back at her phone. “Sorry,”
he murmured. “But don’t you like getting to see your little brother?”
Kagaya elbowed him in the ribs, though not as sharply as she could have, Izuku
knew, and grumbled, “Duh,” at him. “My lil’ brother is the cutest.” Izuku could
hear the grin in her voice as she added, “Choco-chan agrees~”
Izuku laughed. He came to a stop by a cherry tree, the one that had a green
ribbon fluttering from a branch just above their heads. Kagaya looked up and
sighed. She unhooked her legs and slipped down. Izuku put away his phone,
taking out the earbud so he was more aware of his situation. Kagaya used him as
support still, leaning against him as though he were as solid as a tree.
He looked over at the rustling of some grass and smiled at the familiar face
that appeared. Dabi looked up from his phone and smiled back. Then he blinked,
looked Izuku over from head to toe and smiled wider. “Hey,” he said, “Haven’t
seen you like this in a while. You look good.”
Kagaya snickered softly from Izuku’s other side. Izuku ignored her, though Dabi
gave her an annoyed look. “Thanks. It’s nice to stretch out a little. How have
things been?”
“Eh. The most exciting thing was that call the boss got a few days ago.” Dabi
shrugged with a shoulder. He came walking over, phone in hand. “I’ve been all
over the city this week but still haven’t hatched my 10-k egg. I think it might
be bugged out again. Other than that, it’s been pretty dull.” Once at Izuku’s
side, he showed the screen of his phone, “Caught a vulpix earlier, and a
ponyta. I heard there was a psyduck around, but I didn’t see it.”
“That was a rumor,” Kagaya said with a sigh. “Someone started it because there
were ducks in the pond and there are never ducks in the pond.”
“What? That fucking sucks,” Dabi groaned. “I spent twenty minutes hunting that
thing.” He scratched at the back of his head. “How has your hunting gone,
Boss?”
“Eh, school is really fucking with my hours,” Izuku complained. “But I think
Hitoshi and I are going to go hunting together next week sometime. There’s a
project we have to work on with a classmate so we’re going to use that as an
excuse to wander around town collecting pokemon.”
“Mint-nii is going on  another  date?” Kagaya grinned up at him. “You just went
on one the other night!”
“That wasn’t a date,” Izuku said. It didn’t dim Kagaya’s grin any, though. “I
just needed to regain lost calories and thought it would be nice to spend time
with Hitoshi.”
“Yeah?” Dabi asked, “Where did you take him?”
“Ah,” Izuku cleared his throat.
Kagaya’s grin broadened to show all her teeth. “Mint-nii took his date to All
Might Central. Himichan saw him there.” She leaned in, prodding Izuku in the
side with a finger. “Gomi-nii and I saw you there too. He was eating out of
your dishes and sharing your milkshake straw and  everything.”
“Oh shiiit,” Dabi said, eyebrows rising, “That sounds like a date to me, Boss.”
“It wasn’t a date,” Izuku felt his cheeks heating up. “Hitoshi is my friend.
Right now, we’re just friends.”
“Right now,”  Kagaya repeated back as a taunt. “You totally kissed him on the
bus. We saw it happen. Didn’t you check his blog? He totally posted about the
kiss!”
Izuku elbowed her back, but she nimbly ducked out of the way, giggling now. “It
was only a little peck on the cheek.”
“A kiss from Boss is still a kiss,” Dabi said with a shrug. “Don’t you  want
to start dating this guy? Why don’t you start already?” He frowned, looking at
Izuku. “Does he not want to date you? Is it because you were kidnapped? Does he
think you’re a bad dude?”
“No, no, it’s nothing like that,” Izuku shook his head. “I just don’t want to
rush him into anything. It’s a bit like…” he ran a hand through his hair and
down to the back of his neck, scratching at it idly. “It’s a bit like when I
met you guys. I didn’t ask you right away to help me, did I? Even though I
thought that eventually, we’d work really well together and that you could
understand what I was trying to do, I didn’t start off that strong.
“It’s kind of like that with Hitoshi. I feel like we could be really good
together but I don’t want to come on too strong. Maybe he likes me back, but
maybe he’s just a little overwhelmed by having me as a friend so suddenly.”
Izuku sighed. His interactions with Hitoshi weren’t always as clear cut,
considering the varying interests and desires he had of the teen. On the one
hand, Izuku certainly had a romantic interest. On the other… Well. Hitoshi’s
quirk was just a bit too powerful, wasn’t it?
“Ohh, the slow burn,” Dabi said, “That’s what Himiko would call this.”
“It’s not  that  slow,” Kagaya said.
“It’s the exact speed that Hitoshi needs it to be,” Izuku said firmly, hoping
to end that topic. His timing turned out to be perfect, as at that moment the
fourth and final member of their group arrived.
Chizome came up the path, his long legs carrying him swiftly down the stepping
stones. Izuku saw him first, but Kagaya saw him second. She let out a screech
and hurled herself forward to tackle him. Chizome caught her with one arm
around the waist but she still got hers around his neck, squeezing a hug so
tight that Izuku winced in sympathy.
“Bakaboss! You’re still alive! And not in jail!” Kagaya giggled, kicking her
legs idly as she hung in the air.
“And you are the same little monster as usual,” Chizome said with amusement. He
pulled her off by the back of her shirt, and fortunately, she let him do so. He
set her down and then looked up to the other two. “The two of you ready to get
on with this?”
“You don’t sound all that excited,” Izuku teased lightly. “Isn’t this what
you’ve been building up to all week?”
Chizome crossed the distance between them quickly. Izuku blinked up at him-
there were few that had inches on him when he was his adult self and Chizome
was one of them. The man roughly rubbed the top of Izuku’s head. “You little
brat, you’re still in a tenuous place, aren’t you? That was a hell of a scare
you had Friday.”
“It was just a scare. I’m fine now.” Izuku gave him a smile. “I haven’t had any
trouble since then.”
“Not even with the witness?”
“No. Actually, he defended me when I wasn’t there. Hitoshi Informed me.” Izuku
said looking away guiltily. His Inform quirk wasn’t very invasive, as far as
verbal compelling quirks went, but it was still a compulsion quirk. It was one
he only used to get quick explanations from people already willing to divulge
to him.
“Ah,” Chizome said. He lifted his hand and tucked it under Izuku’s chin, making
him have to look up again. “Your cover is good then, Arbiter?”
Izuku snorted and brushed Chizome’s hand away from his face. “Of course it is,
Bloodstain.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dabi straighten up at their
use of each other’s code names. “I wouldn’t be working it still if it was
blown.”
“Even a little suspicion isn’t good for you. They know you have some
association with the likes of us,” Chizome said, “They watch you too closely
and they’ll know more about you than you think they do.”
“Pocky is keeping an eye on some of that,” Kagaya said from behind him.
Izuku nodded, though. His lips were pressed into a firm line, his brows lowered
to mimic Chizome’s serious expression. “I understand. I’ll keep my head down
better in the future.”
Chizome watched him for a moment, silent and calculating, then he too nodded
slightly. “There is more attached to your cause than just your own name and
skill, Arbiter. Don’t throw away your best chance for a little romance or fun.
Those things are secondary to your cause, are they not?”
Izuku’s jaw tightened. “They are.”
He got another nod for his admission. Then Chizome glanced to Dabi. “Don’t
encourage Arbiter to go astray.”
“Yes sir,” Dabi said immediately. “I apologize.”
Chizome waved that away with a hand. He turned to look at Kagaya. She stood
with her hands on her hips, a cocky grin on her face and a devilish look in her
eye. “What,” she said, “Are you gonna try and boss me around  too,
Bloodstain?”
“God knows what kind of shitshow that would be, Eris,” Chizome said, calling
her by her code name as well.
She laughed.
“It’s time to go,” Izuku said, flicking his gaze up towards the sky. He checked
the angle of the sun, the light of the horizon, the oncoming darkness and gave
a wicked smile. “Flames will do nicely tonight.”
“How do you want to divide it?” Chizome asked. “Singles or pairs?”
“Pairs,” Izuku said. “Dabi and Eris together, you and I together.” He flicked
his gaze over the group, “Complaints?”
“I agree but only if I get to sit in the booth next to you when we’re done,”
Kagaya said, beginning to stretch. Her arms went over her head, her back arched
and she rocked up to her tip-toes. There was the faint crack of her bone as she
moved fluidly from one stretch to the next.
“Agreed,” Izuku said. He glanced to Dabi, who shrugged.
“I know better than to get in the way of your planning time, Boss.” He sighed
and rolled his shoulders, stretching them out a little as well. “What point
count are we going for?”
“No more than two hundred, at a hundred a pair,” Chizome said. “We’ve taken a
couple dozen points here and there all week. This is the largest one, though,
so it’s more about overall property damage and a wide range of destruction to
catch attention.”
“We’re working from the outside in,” Izuku continued, “The final scene should
be right outside the agency. It’ll be tight if we don’t keep them at bay around
the edges, but if we manage it, I’ll have plenty of time to leave a message to
the number two.”
“You two go north and then east. Arbiter and I will go south and then east.
Avoid capture. Avoid being seen if you can. Move quick and keep going until you
see the signal to scatter.” Chizome instructed. He glanced to Kagaya who had
perked up at his mentioning a signal. “And yes, it’s the usual one.”
“When we’re done,” Izuku said with a smile, “Reconvene at AM-Central. My
treat.” Chizome pushed at his shoulder gently at that, but Izuku just kept
grinning. “What? It’s been a while since we could really sit and talk. I’ll
have some time to spare after this, I’m sure.”
Kagaya whipped out her phone, “I’ll tell Niisan to meet us there! It’ll be a
party!”
Chizome shook his head, sighing in exasperation. “If you have no more
questions…?”
“We’re good,” Dabi said with a nod. “We’ll see you soon.” He looked intently at
Izuku. “Be careful with your flames.”
“Be careful with yours,” Izuku replied. He pulled his goggles up from around
his neck and slid them properly into place. The world was tinted and darker for
a moment before his eyes quickly adjusted and the brightness no longer was an
issue.
Kagaya skipped over and slipped her arms around Izuku one more time in a tight
hug. “Careful, Mint-nii,” she whispered, “Remember you promised me dinner!”
Izuku put an arm around her, hugging her tight to his side and he smiled at
her.
“I’ll be there. I always keep my promises.”
She nodded and ducked away again. Dabi lifted a hand in a wave, gave Izuku one
last long look and then followed her out through the bushes. This left Izuku
alone with Chizome.
For a second they looked at each other in silence. Izuku grinned first, wide
and vicious as he flexed under his loose clothes, adding extra bulk with hardly
a thought. Chizome’s grin was just as broad and he gave an open-mouthed grin.
“Shall we race? Our first destination is only a few blocks from here.”
“Sure,” Izuku agreed readily. He flexed his hands, making fists and shaking
them out a little. Looking up, he met Chizome’s gaze and flashed another quick
grin. The next second they were tearing out of the park, headed southward. Once
they broke away from the green grass of the park, the weapons came out.
Chizome’s sword flashed in the light of Izuku’s burning fist of fire. They were
neck and neck as they ran, fleet-footed despite their heavy boots. There was
only minor damage done to their surroundings as they ran- Chizome took a corner
too hard, knocking into Izuku, who hit the side of a car with enough force to
leave the impression of his side in the door. He kicked away from it, laughing,
fire trailing from his hands and sending people screaming away from them.
Izuku hit their destination first, running fast enough that when he skidded to
a stop he went face first into the wall. Chizome had to slow up sooner but
arrived only a second or two after Izuku. He chuckled under his breath, caught
hold of Izuku’s hood and pulled him free of the wall.
Izuku shook the dust from his hair and grinned. “I won.”
“You’re being idiotic.” Chizome gestured to the wall which had caved in
somewhat around the impact. “Look at this. Someone is going to have to take
care of this.”
“You’re right,” Izuku laughed. “But to fix it… the rest of it probably needs to
go.” He looked up the two story building and flared the fire in his hands a
little hotter, though not much bigger. “Think I can bring it down in the time
it takes you to get, what, fifteen points?”
“Fifteen?” Chizome scoffed, “I can get thirty, easily.”
Izuku lifted a fist, readying a punch. “Prove it.” He taunted and then slammed
his fist into the brick, creating a hole through force and heat. He heard the
crunching step of Chizome’s boot as he took off around to the front of the
building. Izuku grinned wildly as he let fire rise up his limbs and consume
him. His clothes didn’t burn, this time, but his hair lit up like a wick,
burning much like that number two hero, Endeavor. Except, instead of a red and
orange natural flame, Izuku’s was blue and white and hot enough to melt the
metal of the first appliance he came across in that small back room.
With a dark chuckle, Izuku set to work with flames and fists. This was only the
first of several buildings that they were going to tear apart and if he really
did want to meet up at the diner and get some dinner, he was going to have to
hurry up.
 
===============================================================================
 
It was full dark by the time Endeavor made it back to his offices. He had
caught sight of only one of the multiple assailants- and it was a different one
than he’d seen earlier that week. Rage burned in through him, almost as deeply
as the exhaustion that made him sluggish.
It had been a week of this- chasing the after image of villains tearing through
his section of the city with fire and destruction. They were quick, whoever
they were. He’d seen one for a second, on the other side of a shattered window
and a wall of his own flames (ones that he’d sent up to try and capture the
bastard) and that wide grin and the flash of gold from the giant M on his
hoodie made Endeavor’s blood boil in his veins.
He didn’t even make it into the building before he was accosted by an
underling. The woman was breathless as she caught up with him, “Endeavor, sir,”
she said, “The villains. They left another message.”
“They did?” He rounded on her, “Where? What is it?”
She pointed across the street. “On the side of that building, there.”
“Take me to it. How did they get so close to the agency without getting
caught?” Endeavor asked her, the flame on his head roaring up with his voice.
“Where  was  everyone?”
“Out, sir,” She said, her voice shaking only a little bit. She had been around
enough to not be quite as afraid of him as some of the newer heroes he had
working for him. “There’s been damage all over. Buildings falling, cars
exploding, people walking off of rooftops, it’s been crazy, sir.” She led him
across the street to the building she’d mentioned before. “Some of us only just
returned, like you, sir.”
Endeavor scoffed in anger. He’d called in everyone today, scheduled or not,
once that first building had gone down. There had been a build-up all week-
taunting messages, numbers counting down to today- but he hadn’t been sure
when  they would strike.
And yet, they still hadn’t managed to catch any of the villains. He wouldn’t
even know for sure how many were involved in this until he’d heard everyone’s
reports.
“Here,” she said, gesturing up. “That’s what was left behind.”
Along the side of the wall were five words, each one a meter tall at least and
they were made of solid ice. As he stood there, looking at them, fear crept
into Endeavor’s heart for the first time in years.
Dead Wives Tell No Tales.
Chapter End Notes
     the Inform Quirk:
     This quirk requires the victim of it to be willing to give
     information to the user. The user has either a few particular
     questions or a specific scene in which they want to know the exact
     details as much as possible. The use of this quirk makes the victim
     recount, word for word, to the best of their ability, their memories.
     The quirk lasts only a few minutes and ceases to work if the victim,
     at any point, becomes unwilling to provide information.
***** footsteps in the dark *****
Chapter Summary
     A considering eye. Testing the variables. Unwanted attention.
Chapter Notes
     katten: hey funfactoid, izuku uses 父上/chichiue/“honorable father” to
     address sensei making it Super Formal
All Might Central was a twenty-four-hour diner. It had to be, considering a
large portion of its customers were vigilantes or outright villains, all people
with unconventional working schedules. Some of the busiest hours of operation
were after ten at night when the stars were out, the moon was high, and people
were looking for a safe place in off the streets to duck out of sight of the
cops and get a bite to eat.
Even though there were many who lingered around their meal the place never
quite  filled up. There was always available space at the diner, no matter if
your party was two or seven or thirteen.
As it neared midnight, the height of night activity, Izuku and Chizome entered
the restaurant, a little charred around the edges and smelling faintly like
smoke.
In his adult form, Izuku was instantly recognized by the hostess. Jackie
grinned at him, putting her fists on her hips. “Well hello there! Is it just
the two’a you boys today?”
“Actually, there should be a party of three waiting for us. They’re probably
under Freecs?” Izuku replied, smiling back.
Jackie tossed her copper colored hair over a shoulder. “Ohh, right. Y’all
follow me then! Shirogiri went and put them in one of the back rooms.” She
tucked a pair of menus under her arm and gestured for them to follow.
Jackie wasn’t the only one who recognized Izuku, or Chizome, as they made their
way through the restaurant. They got shouted greetings from a scattering of
tables, usually something simple like “yo, boss!” or even more casual like a
“my dude!”. Izuku grinned and waved back, but didn’t stop to chat. Chizome
rolled his eyes and kept ushering Izuku along, clearly eager to get to their
destination.
The door Jackie led them too had a little wheel with colored wedges on it. She
spun it until it pointed to green and then pulled a lever. All the while she
spoke, “It’s been quite a while since I seen y’all come ‘round here! Y’all
must’ve been pretty busy to miss your regular hours. I know Shiro’s had an
easier time back in the kitchen with Choi since ya been out, but all our
regulars miss your shining face, boss!” She stepped aside as the door slid open
to reveal a room beyond.
“I’m sorry, Jacks,” Izuku said apologetically to her, “I promise to come around
whenever I can. I’m just busy with all sorts of things these days.”
“If everything is going well for you, can we really ask for anything else outta
life?” Jackie asked rhetorically, nodding to herself. She gestured towards the
doorway. “Anyway, here are your friends. Ya know how to order in one of these
backrooms, right?”
Izuku nodded. Chizome cleared his throat and the young man stepped back so he
could go through ahead of him. Izuku rolled his eyes at Chizome’s back and then
leaned towards Jackie, putting his hand up by his mouth to whisper to her,
“Gomiko’s been out of town for a little while. Kagaya wasn’t the only one to
miss him.”
Jackie laughed and waved him off, “Ya better go play peacemaker then! Lord
knows how that girl gets when her brother’s been off for a while! I don’t know
how he manages to get any personal time with Akaguro, if you know what I mean!”
Izuku snickered, “They’re very determined.” Jackie laughed again and Izuku left
her by the door.
A single circular table sat in the center of the room. At the far side of it,
across from the door, sat Gomiko. He was in the process of standing to greet
Chizome in a very friendly manner. On Gomiko’s left perched Kagaya. Her hair
was down now, with a bit of it falling into her face and the rest pinned back
with a row of glittering gold star clips. Gomiko’s right side was open, and
that was where Chizome sat after greeting his boyfriend.
Dabi lounged in his own chair, pushed back from the table with his legs
stretched out. He was the one sitting left of Kagaya, leaving an open seat
between himself and Chizome for Izuku. He settled down in it with a sigh,
slouching a little so that he and Dabi matched.
He got a crooked grin for his trouble, “You okay, boss?” Dabi asked, “You got a
lot of ash in your hair.”
“Mm? Yeah, I’m fine.” Izuku said, flipping open the menu and scanning the
items. His stomach was growling already and he was feeling sluggish. It was
definitely time to give some energy to his body. “It ended up being me that
Endeavour chased around the city blocks. The guy is a  bit  of a loose cannon
with his fire when he’s all worked up.”
There was a soft tapping on the table. Izuku glanced up to see Gomiko drumming
his fingers across the polished surface. He lifted his gaze up to meet the
man’s eyes. “Not at the dinner table,” Gomiko said, his tone as solid as stone.
“You two can speak about that later.”
Izuku held his gaze for a moment but Gomiko was unflinching. So he gave a
little smile and apologized. “Sorry. It was just habit.” He folded up his menu
and pushed it away from himself, “I’m ready to order.”
“So am I,” Chizome said, tossing his menu forward to join Izuku’s. He leaned
back in his chair, putting his arm across the back of Gomiko’s. “The rest of
you?”
“We have already,” Gomiko said as he reached to the center of the table where
there was a small white dome. He tapped it and it lit up. A holographic display
popped up of their waitress, who bowed and asked for the additional orders.
Chizome gave his first, as it was only a single dish, and then Izuku gave an
order of several. When they were finished, Gomiko thanked the holographic woman
and tapped the light again to dismiss the figure.
Kagaya, elbows resting on the table, chin in her hands, looked across at Izuku.
A slow, broad grin spread over her face. “So, Mint-nii,” she asked with a glint
in her eye, “Are you gonna spill the details of your training matches at school
last week or do I have to pull out Pocky’s video and show everyone for you?”
“Pocky got video?” Izuku groaned. “What are they doing in Yuuei’s systems?”
“You’re in Yuuei.” Kagaya said, “And you’re interesting to Pocky-chan. So, of
course  they’re gonna record it! We can’t be there so this is all we have!”
Dabi perked up, “You have the video with you?”
Kagaya grinned, reaching for her pocket. Izuku put up his hands, “Fine,  fine.
I’ll explain it all,  again.”  He glared at Kagaya, “There’s no need for
video.”
Kagaya settled her chin in her hands again. “Go ahead and tell us the story of
how you ended up kissing-”
“Ah ah!” Izuku interrupted. “No spoilers!”
Chizome and Gomiko exchanged a look. Turning back, Chizome said, “You didn’t
mention a kiss on the phone, earlier.”
“It happened afterwards,” Izuku explained, “Honestly, all of you are far to
interested in who I kiss. Stop it.” His glare around the table was ineffective
though. Chizome just rolled his eyes and Dabi’s apologetic look was entirely
false. “Anyway, here’s how it went…”
Once Izuku started the story, he got into telling it. Gesturing with his hands,
repeating back conversations, miming out actions, he told the events of Friday
with some gusto. The only part he skipped was his own trip to the infirmary,
the phone call with Chizome and the sheer panic that had flooded him at the
thought of having nearly ended Monoma’s life.
As he told his story, the food was delivered via a series of white misty
portals. They ate, asking questions, listening to him talk, and, as it ended,
the conversation dissolved into a more natural state. Gomiko mentioned some of
the sights he’d seen while out of the city. Dabi and Kagaya had a brief
argument over a strategy game. Izuku and Chizome discussed weapon shops and
knives.
During a discussion about couches (Gomiko’s office needed a new one and Kagaya
and Chizome had differing opinions on style)  the door opened. Izuku looked up
to see Jackie standing apologetically in the doorway. She twisted her hands
together in front of herself and cleared her throat.
Conversation died down and Izuku asked, “Jacks?”
“Excuse the interruption,” she said, looking straight at Izuku, “But Daichi-san
is outside the restaurant asking for you, Boss.”
A different kind of silence spread over the table. Everyone sat tense in their
seat. Gomiko’s gaze flicked to Izuku. His eyes were sharp as fragments of glass
and Izuku forced himself not to wince under that judging gaze. “I thought you
had left his service.” Gomiko glanced to Dabi, “Was that not what you said?
That that man had let Izuku go?”
“He told Tomura to not go after Izuku,” Dabi confirmed. His fingers were at his
throat, nervously tracing over the metal staples that held his skin together.
“That Izuku had his own plans going on.”
“Are you going to go speak with him?” Chizome asked Izuku, his voice low, “Do
you want company?”
“I can handle this,” Izuku said, standing. He picked up a bowl and some
chopsticks, finishing off the remnants of food in the bottom before he stepped
away from the table. “I’ll catch up with you all later.”
He could feel their eyes on his back as he walked to the door. Izuku stepped
out with Jacks. As the door shut behind them, she reached out and gripped his
arm, “Isn’t he the man who wants to kill All Might?”
“Don’t worry, Jacks,” Izuku said, putting his hand over hers. “I swear that no
one will kill All Might, not while I’m alive.”  
She gave a tiny smile. Squeezing his arm a little tighter, she said, “Honey,
you be careful okay? You let us know if you need anything to help you.”
He nodded to her and slipped away. Navigating his way back through the
restaurant, Izuku stepped out and back into the night.
 
===============================================================================
 
 
 
Daichi waited for him, hat on his head, his long coat covering him down to his
ankles, with his hands folded behind his back, underneath the pooling light of
a streetlamp. The direct light overhead cast his face in shadow under the brim
of his hat, but Izuku didn’t need to see his face to recognize the man. There
were some downsides to having a brain as hyper-aware and retentive as his.
He stopped a few feet in front of the man, hands buried deep in the pockets of
his All Might hoodie. He gave Daichi a lopsided smile. “Is there a reason
you’ve interrupted my dinner?”
“Your father has heard about the events of Friday afternoon,” Daichi said
plainly. “If you had come in yourself, this interruption would not be
necessary.” He paused and leaned forward slightly, “He gave you a full day to
come in of your own free will.”
“It would have been an unnecessary trip,” Izuku said, still smiling.
Daichi looked at him, unimpressed. “It is not your choice. This is part of your
agreement with your father. You will respect it.”
Izuku grit his teeth for a moment and then forcibly relaxed his muscles. He
shrugged. “Fine. I’ll go now. It’s not like I need to sleep for school or
anything in the morning.”
Daichi said nothing. He simply turned and led Izuku to a waiting car. The car
sank a little as Izuku climbed into the back. Daichi got behind the wheel and
began to drive.
The trip occurred in silence. Izuku watched as they drove through the city,
busy with night life, into a warehouse district, where the only people out were
guards over merchandise and the only light came from powerful floodlights. He
leaned against the door, staring out the window, idly counting the lights they
passed, predicting the turns out of memory until they arrived at the warehouse
that passed as Father’s laboratory.
Daichi drove the car into a small garage door, that opened automatically for
him. The room inside was lit from above with blue fluorescents. Izuku didn’t
bother waiting for Daichi to open the door for him. He slipped out of the back
of the car, rolling his neck and stretching out his back and shoulders idly.
The garage looked the way it had the last time he’d seen it- spotless and empty
besides a series of four cars and, along the very far wall, a metal table with
perfectly aligned tools. Daichi removed his hat and lead the way to a door in
the side of the room. Beyond that door was a long hallway with more doorways.
This too was well lit.
“He is waiting for you in the cerebral examination room,” Daichi said as he
hung his at and his coat up on the coat rack behind the door. There were two
more hats and three more coats of exactly the same type already there. Daichi
was, as far as Izuku knew, the only one who wore those items.
“Of course,” Izuku said, smiling. He kept his hands to himself, even though he
wanted to tap the wall and leave a sensory quirk active there. Bugging each
other’s bases was against the rules of his contract and if Izuku wanted his
freedom, wanted the freedom to accomplish his goal, he had to play by the
rules.
Even if they were disadvantageous. Even if he didn’t particularly think they
were necessary, either.
The Cerebral Examination Room was unsurprisingly steril in feeling and
appearance. The largest thing in the room was the actual machine itself. A
cousin of the MRI, this machine was one that Father had tweaked for his own
personal use. After all, it was impossible to study a living brain without
being able to see it- and no point in studying a dead brain when it was the
living one that had the mysteries you needed to open.
Behind a separating glass wall, Father sat in a chair beside a computer. He
breathed through his mask, slow and steady, and his eyeless face turned towards
Izuku when he entered the main room. Izuku looked back at him for a moment
before walking over to the chair. “I told Daichi and I’ll tell you, Father,
this is unnecessary. He didn’t have a clear copy of it and they immediately
healed the change in his brain.”
“Allow me to be the judge of whether or not it's necessary, in this case,”
Father replied with wry amusement. His voice carried over the speaker with only
the slightest of crackling. “I am an old man and I have not gotten this far by
being careless.”
Izuku sat back on the chair and folded his hands over his stomach. “I won’t
prevent you from wasting your resources. If you won’t listen to me, you won’t
listen.” He looked up at the machine. The smooth curve of plastic overhead was
as familiar to him as the hard cushion of the chair he sat in. How many times
had he sat here as that same mechanical arm descended, the machine humming, as
it settled over his head?
“Too many to count,” he muttered to himself as he forced his mind to think of
something else to prevent it from calculating that number.
The machine’s humming filled the air with white noise. The chair he sat on
vibrated in sympathy as it lowered to cover his head entirely.
“We’ll begin the test now,” Father’s voice said over the speaker inside the
machine. It was familiar and soothing. Izuku relaxed a little farther, his
breath deepening. “Start by thinking of your earliest memory overall.”
Izuku pictured the forested park of his childhood clearly. The sun was warm and
he was small, so small that the trees around him were tall as towers. There was
a stick in one hand as he scratched designs in the dirt. He was waiting in the
afternoon, waiting for his friend to appear so that they could play together.
Kacchan was the one he waited for. Kacchan had said he had a surprise- a gift.
It was almost Izuku’s fourth birthday.
The memory was fuzzy, because of it’s age and because of how many times it had
transferred from mind to mind. Reviewing it was like looking through nearly-
transparent frosted glass. He could see, he could hear, but the emotions of the
memory had been stripped down to the singular feeling of  waiting.  The weaker
emotions of the moment had long since faded.
Izuku breathed in and out, slowly. He refused to think about the details that
had been lost.
“Now,” Father’s voice filtered in through his memory, a disembodied sound that
guided his thoughts with ease, “Your first memory in this body.”
The greenery of the forest drained away, melting and bleeding into another
memory, though not as old as the first.
In his memory, Izuku woke to a room that was warm and smelled of electrical
discharge. Something bright flashed and flickered in the corner of his vision,
at first he thought it was lighting, but then his eyes adjusted and he saw it
was a machine that looked as though it had burst from the inside out like a
popped kernel of corn. Glass was scattered across the ground. Exposed wires
crackled.
Izuku’s gaze swung around. He moved his whole head to do it. His head was
heavy. His neck thick. His body felt like stone. Stone that ached and throbbed
in pain. A man stood in the center of the room, one hand pressed over an open
cut on his arm. His lower face was covered with a mask. The top of his face was
just skin- eyeless, hairless skin.  Behind him was another man, approaching
cautiously. He came to bandage the first man’s arm.
“Tell me the color of his eyes,” came a voice. Izuku recognized it, but, for
some reason, it felt strange. As though he was used to hearing it in a
different way.
“They are green, sir,” was the reply. This voice sounded as it should. And
immediately Izuku recognized the difference. He was used to hearing this voice
with his ears. The previous voice he had heard without his ears before. “Green
and glowing.”
“Enough,” Father’s voice cut through the memory a second time. “Let it go,
Izuku.”
With a harsh breath out, Izuku cleared his thoughts. He opened his eyes,
looking up at the plastic again. The machine hummed overhead, but while he’d
been reliving his memories, the sound had faded into the background.
“Are you satisfied?” Izuku asked, lifting his voice loud enough that he was
sure Father could hear. “I retained the memories. I’m still me.”
Slowly, the machine lifted up again. Izuku rubbed his eyes and then dragged his
hands through his hair. His brain always felt weird after that. Like sparkles
had been dumped over his head and were now scratching up along under the
membrane somehow. He scratched at his scalp. Izuku looked up to the glass
window at Father.
There was no reading any facial expressions on the man. Instead Izuku noted the
position of his shoulders and the tilt of his head. He wasn’t pleased about
something. Izuku frowned.
“Monoma’s survival is not unprecedented,” Father said. Izuku frowned even
harder. He drew up his legs so he sat cross legged on the chair. “Whenever your
Primary quirk is transferred one of two things occur. You are aware of this. I
know that you are.”
“Now it’s one of three things,” Izuku countered. “You never bothered to heal
the brains of those who partially transferred. If you had the healing
capabilities of Recovery Girl on hand, you could have successfully saved those
organs. But you didn’t, Father. That’s the difference.” He propped his chin in
his hand, his elbow on his knee, “That’s the new variable, introduced by the
Yuuei environment. Monoma’s brain was fully healed, preventing a horrific end
to his consciousness or a hemorrhagic end. He got to keep his life and his mind
with only a little emotional scarring.”
“Mmm,” Father turned his head slightly. Izuku watched as he fiddled with
something on the computer screen. “I will be keeping an eye on him,
nonetheless.”
“Just an eye,” Izuku said, “I’ll take care of him myself.”
“Of course,” Father replied, “I won’t touch the boy.”
Izuku narrowed his eyes for a moment. Father gave nothing more away, though,
simply sat in silence. Izuku heard a faint whine over the speakers as the
silence settled heavily.
With a huff of breath, Izuku hopped up from the chair. He ran one more hand
through his hair to straighten it out and idly brushed off his pants. “If
that’s all, I need to go. A growing boy like me needs rest if he’s to do well
in class.” He paused for a second and then added, “You’ll be watching the sport
festival again this year, right?”
“My son is participating,” Father replied, “Do you think I would miss it?”
Izuku shook his head, “No. I just thought I’d mention that there’s a special
afterparty this year. At the Todoroki residence. In case you want to turn your
gaze there after the award ceremony.”
“How kind of you to let me know,” Father remarked. “I’ll look forward to it.”
Izuku gave him a wry little smile and then, while heading to the door, “Don’t
bother Daichi-san. I’ll see myself out, Father.”
“Travel home safely, my son,” he said.
 
===============================================================================
 
Katsuki woke suddenly when his arm slipped and he hit himself in the leg. He
jerked upright and stared blankly at the wall above his desk while his mind
rebooted into consciousness. The only light in the room was the red glow of his
alarm clock, the outdoor streetlamps and the dull silver of the moon coming in
through the window. It took a second for his brain to register the numbers (2:
43 AM) and when he did, he swore under his breath.
His homework was smudged where he’d fallen asleep on it, but it looked mostly
complete. He flipped the book shut and pushed up from the chair with a groan.
His legs were stiff and his back ached from sleeping in that position so he
took a moment to stretch out his muscles and his limbs before stumbling over to
his bed.
Shedding clothing until he was down to his underwear, Katsuki crawled across
the bed to the window to shut the blinds and block out the moon and
streetlamps. He looked out before he did it and saw a shape trotting down the
street. For a second, he couldn’t make it out. Then the person- and it was most
likely human since it was bipedal- passed around the outside of a circle of
light from a streetlamp.
Avoiding the light made it impossible to make out details, but Katsuki saw
messy dark hair poking out of the front of a hood. The cloth itself was a dark
blue, looking almost black when the person was out of the light again. Katsuki
blinked and rubbed his eyes to get a better sight, but by the time he looked
again, they had vanished down the street. He saw a flash of a foot- a white
edge to a shoe that reflected streetlight back- as they turned the corner to
the left and then nothing.
The street was dark and quiet, as though no one had passed through it at all.
Frowning, Katsuki closed the blinds. He hadn’t seen them carrying anything-
which a burglar most likely would have been- and with that bit of hair sticking
out, it didn’t seem likely they were hiding their face.
Someone’s house might be being staked out,  he thought as he lay down on his
bed.  Is someone on the street out this week or next? ...I’ll ask mom tomorrow…
As soon as he settled into the bed, cheek on the pillow and a blanket pulled up
to his chin, Katsuki fell asleep.
All that night, he dreamt about following footsteps in the dark.
***** in preparation *****
Chapter Summary
     a plan is settled. a settling is planned.
“I don’t think it’s particularly fair,” Kendou said over her lunch. She held
her bowl in one hand and her chopsticks in the other, gesturing with them as
she spoke. “Or particularly smart, either. The festival is about showing off
your individual talents! This is our third year, guys. If we’re so focused on
making You-Know-Who fail then we’ll just be showing how petty we are!”
Sitting across from her was Tetsutetsu. He rolled his eyes, capping his drink a
little harder than necessary, if one were to ask Hitoshi. “C’mon. He  totally
deserves to be brought down a peg or two. When else are we going to get a
chance to deflate that ego of his a little bit? None of the school tests have
nearly the same impact as the festival does!”
Kendou wrinkled her nose, “We’re supposed to be  heroes,  though. Tearing each
other down doesn’t sound very heroic…”
Hitoshi, sitting a few seats away, glanced to Izuku. Izuku met his gaze and
then looked to the other students. Hitoshi arched an eyebrow. Izuku shrugged
his shoulders.
“There’s another problem with this plan,” Awase added. He had finished his meal
a while ago and was absentmindedly folding his napkin into smaller and smaller
parts. “Taking down that guy isn’t exactly anything any of us can do on our own
and if we act in too large a group we’ll  definitely  get noticed. Izuku’s the
only one who can take him one on one and you’ve seen how he’s been avoiding
Izuku since the fake battles.”
“Plus,” Kendou said, “Everyone’s going to be paying attention to Izuku.
Anything he does will be noticed by all of the spectators, including the media
and the teachers. You can’t pit him against You-Know-Who like that. They’ll
catch on instantly.” She put down her bowl, reaching for her drink. As she
lifted up the cup, she said to Izuku, “No offense, but you’ve got to realize
everyone is going to be staring at you during this.”
“True,” Izuku confirmed. He added nothing else, instead popping a chunk of his
roll into his mouth.
“So what do we do? We have to do  something,”  Tetsutetsu exclaimed. “We can’t
just let him win again!”
Hitoshi set down his drink. “I have an idea,” he said. The others looked over.
He fought down a brief wave of nervousness as he noticed just how serious their
expressions were. “We can’t tear him down alone. We need someone who can
replace him and to help them.” Kendou opened her mouth to comment and Hitoshi
pushed on, “I don’t mean to make ourselves look bad in the process by failing
on purpose, but a natural effect of our focused attention on one person means
that we’re going to be distracted when facing others anyway.”
“Wait,” Kendou asked, “So you want to guarantee someone else winning instead?”
Tetsutetsu grinned, “That might work a little better, especially with any of us
on that person’s team we can work even harder. And that person wouldn’t have to
do anything but focus on winning because we’d take care of everyone else.”
“Doesn’t this still have the problem of not making us look as good with the
scouts? Not everyone will agree to it.” Awase said, “They’re going to figure
out we’re trying to rig the results by watching our actions.”
“You’re right,” Izuku interjected, “They will. But what they’re going to see is
an entire class of students who can agree to something and work in concert to
pull it off. This won’t look good unless we can convince pretty much everyone
in class to assist.”
“It still feels against the rules,” Kendou frowned. “And besides, who do we
even pick to take his place? You, Midoriya?”
Izuku immediately shook his head. “No way. It has to be someone that he’s
beaten before, someone that he fights and wins against on a semi-regular
basis.” He gave a little smile, full of pride, “I don’t count.”
Hitoshi immediately thought of someone who did. Someone who could have been the
winner both the first and second year, if not for Bakugou. “Todoroki,” he said,
looking at Izuku. That proud smile grew wider. Hitoshi turned to the others at
their table. “It can’t be anyone of us. We’ll end up fighting over that
instead. It has to be someone else and the only person that description fits is
Todoroki.”
Kendou frowned, but this time thoughtfully as she stirred the contents of her
bowl. Tetsutetsu crossed his arms over the chest, nodding as he considered it
silently. Awase rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.
“Once he finds out we helped him get to the first place position, he’ll be
pissed,” Awase said, “Are we gonna be cool with that?”
Kendou snorted and then looked immediately embarrassed. “Sorry, I just-” She
looked at Awase and mimicked, “Are we gonna be  cool  with that? Really?”
“Pun not intended,” he said with a grin.
“I’m comfortable with having him as the victor,” Tetsutetsu said. “You have a
point, Shinsou. If we tried to decide it was one of us, we’d end up fighting
over who it should be.”
Tokage, sitting on Tetsutetsu’s other side, finally chirped up, “Is there any
way to lock the asshole out of the top three positions? Or should we just focus
on having him not first?”
“If we’re going to ice him out of first, why  not  all three,” Kendou
suggested, “We can let second and third go to whoever gets up to those spots,
so long as it isn’t him.”
“Pun intended,” Awase muttered. Kendou flashed him a quick smile before turning
her attention back to the group.
“Let’s prioritize first place,” Hitoshi said, “But if we manage to keep him out
of all top three spots all the better.”
“Sounds like we have a goal,” Tokage said with a growing grin that showed her
sharp edged teeth. “And what we need to work on is the execution.” She pushed
aside her lunch tray and pulled out a notebook, “Let’s get to planning!”
Hitoshi felt Izuku shift at his side, leaning in a little more. When he looked
over, he saw a gleam in those green eyes and felt his heart jump a little in
his chest with how close Izuku sat to him. Of course Izuku wasn’t looking at
him,  but that only allowed Hitoshi a moment to get a closer look at Izuku’s
face. He hadn’t been able to really do that before, even with the surprising
kiss, because Izuku had moved so quickly.
And then Izuku’s gaze shifted to Hitoshi and they locked eyes for a moment.
Hitoshi felt a tingle run down his spine at the contact, just before Izuku said
softly, “You’ll probably be the most useful in this with your quirk. But you’ll
need to be subtle, Hitoshi.” He paused, his face breaking out in a smile that
made his eyes glow, “I know you can do it.”
Hitoshi’s heart beat a little harder, caught somewhere between his chest and
his chin. He could feel Izuku’s belief so strong it was almost a physical
sensation against his skin. Hitoshi tensed his arms to resist the urge to reach
out to Izuku. They were in public- but not only that, they were at lunch with
most of his class.
“Thanks,” he managed to choke out. The feeling lessened as Izuku looked away
from him, attention reverting back to the group. The shiver that had run down
his spine ran back up it when he did that. Hitoshi swallowed the lump in his
throat once Izuku was distracted.
He caught Awase’s gaze for just a second. The other boy looked at him with one
brow lifted. He glanced meaningfully to Izuku before looking back at Hitoshi
and raising his other. Hitoshi said nothing. Hitoshi also didn’t shake his
head.
Instead, he did his best to ignore the way his face felt warm while he helped
them come up with a serious plan for the Sport Festival.  
 
===============================================================================
 
Shouto blinked in surprise as he noticed the two extra pair of shoes at the
entrance to his home. Toeing off his own a little slower, he called into the
house, “Nee-san?”
Cocking his head, he could just hear the  thup-thup  of her footsteps on the
mats. She appeared at the end of the entrance with a little smile. Her hair had
grown a little longer in the last few years and she had it pinned back now in a
loose bun. She also wore an apron and gloves, clearly indicating she had been
cleaning something. “Shouto,” she said with a little smile, “Welcome home.”
Shouto returned the smile, “Thank you. What are you doing here?”
“Cleaning,” she said, pointing out the obvious. Then, with a little nervous
wave of her hand, she added, “I mean I’m preparing Mother’s rooms. Father
wanted me to take care of it and not anyone hired. He said that only family
could prepare things for her now.”
The knot that had settled in Shouto’s stomach since his visit with his mother
the week before now turned into stone and sank lower. A sickening wave of
nausea hit and he reached out to brace himself on the wall, “Preparing Mother’s
rooms? For what?”
Fuyumi took a step closer, “Shouto? Are you okay? You turned so pale.”
“I-” his throat gummed up. Shouto cleared it and then repeated his question for
his sister.
She looked at him in confusion, “Haven’t you spoken to Father recently? Or I
suppose, hasn’t he told you?” Fuyumi clasped her hands together in front of
herself, “Mother isn’t safe at the hospital anymore. Someone tried to kill
her.”
“What?”  Shouto gasped. He pressed harder against the wall, needing it for more
than steadying himself now. “What happened? How did he find out? Is she okay?”
“Mother’s fine,” Fuyumi assured him. She stepped closer and put a comforting
hand on his shoulder. “The nurses caught on that there was something wrong
before she suffered permanent damage. They got her back to full health, but
Father’s worried someone is going to try again and he says that we can’t trust
the staff there anymore.”
Shouto remembered the firm hand that had pulled him from his mother’s reach
when she’d gone into hysterics. He remembered the frantic look in her eyes as
she’d clutched the ice in her hands. He remembered her screaming,  screaming.
Someone took her quirk and had made her powerless.
“He wants to bring her home,” Fuyumi said, “At least for a little while until
he can find a more reliable place for her to stay.”
“He wants her  home?”  Shouto whispered. “But she- She’s still sick, isn’t
she?”
After a moment of hesitation, Fuyumi nodded. “Yes, but Father wants her safe.
And we’re all older now anyway.  And  she won’t be in charge of taking care of
anything around the house. She’ll be taken care of here instead.”
“By who?” Shouto asked, “You? But you have work and-”
“I worked it out with Father and Kei. We’ll stay here in the little house so I
can help take care of mother when I’m not at work. Kei will be around the house
as well, since he works from home.” She gave a little smile. The rubber of her
gloves felt odd against Shouto’s skin as she brushed his white hair back from
his face. “Don’t worry. Mother will be safe here. You know Father’s security is
top notch.”
“It has to be,” Shouto said automatically, “He’s one of the most active heroes
in the city.” He took her hand in his, pulling it away from his face. “But is
Mother- Will she really be safe here? With Father around?”
“That’s the thing,” Fuyumi said, “We’re giving her my old rooms, so she’ll have
her own space away from him. I know it’s a little worrying but it’s only for a
little while. Only until Father finds another place he can trust.” She stepped
back, smoothing her hands over her apron. “Besides, you haven’t been the only
one visiting her, you know? He said that he goes to see her from time to time.
Things are… different. This time.”
Shouto’s hand against the wall turned into a fist, but he didn’t say anything
about that. He nodded instead, lips pressed into a thin line. “Do you need help
getting things ready? When is she going to be here?”
“Father is bringing her tonight.” Fuyumi said, “Kei has been helping me with
the rooms. Would you mind making something for dinner? It can be simple. I
don’t want to stress her out too much. The change is already going to be so
much.”
“I can do that,” Shouto said. He didn’t know how much he would be able to eat
himself, considering how his gut was as twisted up as a box of electrical
cords.
Fuyumi gave him a grateful look, “Thank you Shouto. I really appreciate it.”
She turned towards the door but, before going through it, stopped and said
quietly, “It’s going to be difficult for a while, but… I think everything will
turn out okay. I have a good feeling about this.” She waited another second
before slipping away.
Shouto sat down on the step up into the house. He couldn’t understand how his
sister felt at all. This change loomed over him like a black cloud. Not even
the excitement of the Sport Festival, only a few days away now, could cut
through it. His mother was going to be in his home. His  mother.  Was  home.
Indefinitely.
He put his head in his hands and both of them down against his knees. Taking
deep, controlled breaths, Shouto let them out slowly. He could deal with this.
He could. He could live under the same roof as her. She’d be off in Fuyumi’s
old rooms anyway. Shouto’s own were far from them. He wouldn’t have to see her
unless he wanted to. Unless he accidentally came upon her, like he had as a
child as she’d been in the kitchen--
Shouto shuddered and curled up a little tighter, holding his breath. When his
frantic heartbeat was more for the breath held trapped in his lungs than the
anxiety that had kicked it off, he let out his breath in a rush and sat up
slowly. He could  do  this. He was nearly eighteen now. He was a third year at
Yuuei.  He was practically a hero.
As long as he didn’t meet his mother in the kitchen, Shouto would be  fine.
Still, it took him another ten minutes before he could get up and leave the
entryway to go cook. But Shouto figured if no one but him knew that, it didn’t
matter.
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