Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Izuku! Izuku wake up! Time for school!”

Izuku Midoriya groans as his eyes grudgingly open to the bright daylight pooling into his room. He forces himself to sit up with a big yawn and stretch. His unruly green hair stick out in more places than usual. One piece of it is caught by the saliva drooling out of his mouth. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and heads to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Turns out looking at a mirror was a good decision he thinks while pulling the stray piece of hair free from saliva. It's the first day of a new school year at a new school. He has to look at least half presentable.

He near galaps down the stairs with a notebook under one arm and a backpack swung over his shoulder.

“Morning Mom.” he says as he brushes past her to grab the waffle that just popped out from the toaster.

“Good Morning Izuku.” Mrs. Midoriya replies before she kisses the top of his mops of green hair. Izuku takes a large bite out of his waffle as she does so.

She wordlessly motions for him to go sit at the table while he is eating.

“There is no need to rush Izuku. I made sure to wake you up early so you wouldn't have to.”

“I know mom. I just want a headstart on the first day.” he says in between bites of his waffle.

“Mitsuki told me that Katsuki is going to be in class with you again.” she says earning Izuku a light blush on his cheeks. “You two have been in all the same classes since grade school. And here you are, both still in the same class in high school.” Mrs. Midoriya stares past him seemingly having flashbacks from when he was young. She wipes away a tear from her eye. “My goodness when did you get so old. It only seems like yesterday when you were playing super heroes in the backyard.” she starts onwardly sobbing. Izuku stands up and panics.

“H-hey mom! It's ok its-”

“I know I know. *sniff* I just can't believe *sniff* how fast you're growing.” she wipes away her tears and pulls Izuku into another embrace. He hugs her back.

“I love you mom.” he hums into her hair.

She pulls away keeping her hands on his shoulders. “I love you and you never forget that.”

Izuku nods with a smile, then goes back to eating. He stuffs his face with the rest of the waffle and gets up to make his lunch. His mother has offered him numerous times to make lunches for him, but he insists on doing it himself. She has to make her own lunch for work and doesn't wish to burden. She already does so much for him. Makes him more independent as he sees it.

He closes his lunchbox ad tucks it into his backpack, then heads towards the door.

“Bye mom!”

“Wait Izuku you still have twenty minutes until the bus comes. Did you remember everything? Notebooks? Pencils? Phone?”

“Yes yes mom. I double checked. I'm going to head over early. Don't want to risk being late on the first day.”

“Right right. Have a good day sweetie!”

Izuku makes his way to the bus stop with a skip in his step. When he makes it there, he plugs his earbuds in and tunes everything else out watching the cars bustling by in sync to the music he is listening to. A very serene moment in time. That is until one of his earbuds is ripped out of his ear.

“Oi! Earth to Izuku! I said good morning, shitty nerd!”

“K-kachaan!”  Izuku jumps when he turns to the boy that interrupted his atmospheric experience. The spikey blonde before him stares him down with cherry red orbs and a scowl. Izuku averts his gaze to fight down the blush filling his face.

“G-g-g-good mor-morning to you t-too!”

Katsuki Bakugou replies with a ‘tch’ and walks past him.

“H-hey where are you going? The bus is coming soon.” Izuku calls to him hoping he doesn't sound too desperate.

The blonde doesn't look back, but he gestures to the amount of people swarming the bus stop and calls out “I'm walking to school today. Too many  idiots make me fucking claustrophobic. See you at class!”

Izuku watches him walk away with a sigh. He was already too far away to catch up to. There goes his chance to take the bus to school with Kachaan. That slims his chances of getting to sit next to him if they don't show up together. Then again, there still lingers the possibility that the professor had taken it upon themselves to assign everyone in class a seat. That is something that has happened before when they arrived to school together.

He catches himself muttering when he earns some odd looks from the bystanders also waiting for the bus. He really has to stop doing that.

Izuku takes a seat on the bus and plugs his earbuds back in. When the bus starts rolling along, Izuku makes sure to appreciate the newest ad that his- ehem. That Kachaan modeled in. The ad was for some clothing brand. He is wearing a plaid red and black flannel with ripped jeans and red converse. He also leaning against a brick wall that had the brand logo graffiti onto in the backdrop making his creamy hair and skin stand out. He has his hands in his pockets and tilted his head to one side, wearing his model grin that was so lax- yet so enticing.

Izuku wiped the drool that gathered at the corner of his mouth. Gross .

He had been pining after his childhood friend for ages. He doesn't even remember a time before he had a crush on him. He assumes that it's just always been a thing.

Yep that's right.

He has huge a crush on his childhood friend.  

And that he would never have a chance.

He shakes that last thought away and replaces it with the fact that today is the first day attending UA, a private high school in which only the best students and rich kids get into. Izuku and his mom most certainly don't have the money to spend on that kind of pristine education. So he got in on his smarts alone earning himself a full ride scholarship.

Kachaan on the other hand got in because he's rich. His mother is a model and fashion designer and his father is a very successful businessman. And their son is a very successful model on top of that. If that doesn't get one into UA then Izuku wouldn't want to know what would. He is completely aware that he would most likely be attending classes with the most pompous kids around, but that doesn't matter so much. He is in class with Kachaan so it's ok. He knows that Kachaan wouldn't allow him take any bull shit from anyone.

Izuku steps off the bus to come face to face with the UA gates.

The school is just as luxurious as it's advertised to be.  The building is completely glass, and the landscape is perfect down to the shape of the bushes.

Here goes nothing.

Izuku is about to enter, but then stops abruptly when he sees somebody collapse out of the corner of his eye. The man is heaved over on the sidewalk in front of the gates, coughing up blood onto the cream colored cement. Many people walk past him without batting an eye at him. Izuku goes over to him without hesitation.

“Oh my god, are you ok sir?” he kneels down on his level. “That was a stupid question, of course you aren't ok! You're coughing up blood!”

The stranger holds up a hand. “I will be fine my boy. Just a thing that happens every now and then. I'm quite alright I can assure you.”

Izuku helps the stranger to his feet and guides him to sit on a nearby bench on the sidewalk.

“Do you need me to call a doctor? An ambulance?”

“None of that is necessary. But thank you for your kindness my boy. You can go on ahead to class.”

“If you're sure… Have a good day sir.”

Izuku takes one more look back and makes his way to class.

Izuku walks into the classroom to see just about what he expected. Pretty much everyone already knew each other because they are all probably from the same rich neighborhood or something.

He scans the room. No sign of Kachaan yet.

Sigh.

He realizes that he has to find a seat since most of them are taken already. He takes a seat near the window where the desk in front of him and beside him on his right are vacant.

He opens up his notebook and begins doodling.

To his dismay, a girl with medium length brown hair takes the beside him. She shifts uncomfortably in her seat for a few moments before speaking up.

“Hi. My name is Ochako Uraraka.”

Izuku doesn't want to dismiss the idea of being friendly towards her just because she took one of the last vacant seats in the room.

“H-Hi. I-I`m Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you.”

He was never really any good at introductions.

His eyes darted back to the empty chair in front of him.

Kachaan, where are you?

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki Bakugou is pissed off.

Well that's not new news. He's always pissed off about something. But today he is pissed off that he didn't just wait for the fucking bus like any rational person would of. It's starting to lightly drizzle outside and he really didn't want to go through the effort of pulling out his fucking umbrella. That would just slow him down further.  

The damn streets to this city are just as fucking crammed as the bus would of been.

Damnit.

He then remembers that there is a way to get to UA through the nearby park. It would just mean that it might set him back a few minutes.

He can deal with being a few minutes late rather than having to fight the urge to shove all the extras crowding the city streets into the fucking dirt.

He slips out of the bustling sidewalk and walks through some trees.

Here we are.

He takes a deep breath in through the nose and cracks a smirk when he exhales.

There are far less people this way. Turns out not taking the bus wasn't such a bad plan.

Katsuki strides down the dirt path very pleased with himself. He takes in his surroundings. Lots of trees. The couple to his far left. The smell of nature attempting to mask the overwhelming scent of gasoline. The skeleton looking man collapsing to the ground to his right-

Katsuki stops in his tracks and turns his head towards the man. He just watched him collapse under his own weight and is now struggling to get back up.

Whatever it's not his problem-

The light drizzling starts to pick up.

This guy is going to get sick on top of not being able to get up.

Skeleton man manages to in an upright position when the rain starts to fall harder. The rain suddenly stops falling on his face. He looks up to see a hand extended out towards him. His eyes trail up the arm this hand is attached to and meets beaty - almost menacing- scarlet eyes. The blonde was using his other hand to hold an umbrella over their heads. The skeleton man takes the hand and is hoisted up back on his feet.

Katsuki replaces the grip the skeleton man has on his hand with the umbrella that he pulled out from his bag handing it to him. Katsuki then wordlessly turns away and begins walking away-

“Hold on son. Thank you, but I can't just take your umbrella-”

Katsui snaps his piercing gaze over his shoulder.

“You wanna thank me? Start so by seeing a doctor. You burden those around you by being an idiot like that.” the spikey blonde retots, then turns his head back around and continues walking.

The skeleton man is frozen in place. What a weird kid.

Katsuki doesn't have anymore time to waste. He has to get out of the rain otherwise he risks smelling like wet dog for the remainder of the day.

He was NOT going to be the wet dog kid on the first day.

He starts to pick up his walking speed. He makes it out of the park and back out into the city sidewalk.

Dammit he is starting to get kind of wet.

He spots red haired kid wearing a UA uniform up ahead with a large umbrella.

Welp. Time to take advantage of this situation by introducing yourself like you want to be his friend or something.

Chapter Text

To Izuku`s relief, Kachaan walks through the classroom door mere minutes before class is scheduled to start. Another boy with striking red gelled up hair follows him close behind. The two are deep in conversation. Izuku fights the blood rushing to his face when Kachaan makes eye contact with him and makes his way over to the vacant seat in front of him.

Victory this year!

The red head kid takes the seat infront of Kachaan and the two are still conversing.

Good, Izuku was afraid that Katsuki would have a hard time making friends with his temperament. But he had no problem at all.  

The bell rings and everyone goes to their seats. The students are still murmuring for the next several minutes.

“Huh, didn't think our teacher would be late on the first day.” Ochako whispers from his right.

“Yeah. strange.”

A yellow bundle in the corner of the room behind the teachers desk catches his eye. He wouldn't of paid much mind to it, if it didn't have a slow rise and fall as if it were breathing.

Izuku gets up to investigate. There is a man bundled up in this yellow sleeping bag! And he is sleeping! There is a lanyard name tag next to him on the floor. Izuku picks it up and reads ‘Aizawa. UA Staff Member. Class 1A.’

This sleeping man is their teacher!

“U-um. H-hey.” Izuku pokes the sleeping man on the cheek.

The man snaps his eyes open and peers up at Izuku.

“How long ago did the bell ring?” he grumbles.

What a way to start the school year.

____________________________________________________________________________

A week has gone by since classes started. Katsuki had made good friends with red spikes. Well, his name is Eijiro Kirishima, but red spikes is far easier to remember. Kirishima is a really happy guy, so when Kirishima comes back from the bathroom with a grimace expression, Katsuki immediately knew that something was wrong.

When school gets out, Katsuki walks out with him. The two don't say a word the whole way through the building. When they get outside, that's when Katsuki seizes the opportunity.

“What's fucking wrong with you.” he grumbles out.

Luckily Kirishima is already used to Katsuki`s way of communicating. He knows that he doesn't mean it harshly like it came out.

“I`ll be alright. I just got rejected is all.”

Rejected?

“You asked someone out?”

“Yeahh.” he sighs “I'll get over it. Sooner or later.”

Katsuki eyeballs him from the side. He has never had to deal with something like this before. So he doesn't really know how to go about comforting him.

“Who the fuck was it?”

Kirishima rubs the back of his neck with a sad sigh.

“...Denki.”

“Yellow hair? You like him?!”

“Yeah. Turns out he only likes girls.”

“It's not like he rejected you because he hates you.” Katsuki tried to reason. “That's something that nobody could help.”

“...I guess. But he… he called me disgusting.”

Oh. That makes a lot more sense. Kirishima didn't seem like the kind of person to be salty after being turned down. But he was rejected and insulted for who he was.

“He-He started saying things about how ‘homos’ should just go and die or something.” Kirishima says grimly with his attention turned towards the ground.

Katsuki tried to put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, but Kirishima walks ahead of him.

“Sorry Bakugou, I want to be alone for a bit.”

Katsuki stayed stopped in his tracks as he watched his friend walk away a little too quickly.

Kirishima sat in the park crying softly with his forehead leaning against a tree. He was too caught up in his emotions to notice the silver haired man that placed a hand on his face from behind and whispered into his ear.

“He rejected you and spat in your face with insults. He hates you now that he knows who you are.”

Kirishima couldn't move. In his current emotional state, he found himself listening to the scratchy voice gnawing into his ear. He found himself giving into the overwhelming darkness that settles into his mind.

A dark cloud envelops him and the silver haired man slips away into the shadows. When the cloud fades away, Kirishima is wearing a different outfit. Dark baggy pants and a belt with an ‘R’ on the buckle. He was mostly shirtless, except for red gears on his shoulders and a mask covering most of his face. His eyes are blacked out and a wicked grin is plastered on his face.

“ Red Riot. ” A voice booms in his head. “ I am All for One. I have granted you power that can get you your revenge. However, I will need you to do something for me in return when the time is right. ”

Red Riot`s grin widens.

The skeleton like man at the other end of the park is the only witness to this.

Izuku and Ochako walk out together from the school. They had become really good friends in this past week. Once they realized they had so much in common, they just hit it off from there. They liked all the same comics and video games- which Izuku had never met a girl who liked to play video games as much as her. They walk out talking about what their favorite video game strategies are. Izuku stops in his tracks when he peers away from the conversation.

He notices that Kachaan is standing in the middle of the walkway out of the school.

“Kachaan!” he calls out as he catches up to him. Katsuki doesn't look back at him, but at the gate ahead.

He snaps out of his daze and looks back at Izuku.

“Want to walk home together with us?” the green hair boy says earnestly.

“Sure.” Katsuki shrugs and begins to walk beside him.

Ochako nudges him in the elbow with an eyebrow waggle. Izuku gives her a confused glance.

“Soooo you're the famous ‘Kachaan’ that Izuku-kun keeps talking about.” she says smugly.

Izuku`s face turns tomato red. “Wh-wha-wha ar-e uh. Sh-she m-m-means th-that I told h-her that w-w-w-we grew up t-t-together and stuff. And y-y-ou know g-g-good ole best budies typ-pe of stuff. I-I-I mean-”

“Oi! Don`t call me that, round face.” Katsuki snaps at her.

“Ooooh so it's exclusive to Izuku-kun then. I see.”

“When you know me for ten plus years you can call me whenever the fuck you want, round face .”

“Who you callin round face, spikey !”  

Izuku gets between them. “H-hey guys! Cut it out!”

“Tch. Whatever. You're Izuku`s friend so I'll play nice.” Katsuki groans out through his teeth.

“I`ve got my eye on you, spikey . But anyways, I gotta get going. I'll see you tomorrow Izuku-kun!”

Izuku watches her go. He is a little confused because he thought they were riding the bus together. He will text her about it later. He turns his attention back to the spikey blonde. He decides that spikey is a fitting nickname for him. But wait, where was Kachaan`s friend who also has spikey hair?

“Where is Kirishima?” Katsuki doesn't reply. His gaze is fixed upon something. Izuku follows it to see that he is deathglraing Denki from their class.

Denki was currently walking with the short “grape haired” boy named Mineta.

“Yeah he like totally blindsided me with it. Like woah dude. Keep your gross gay shit out of my face. He looked like he was going to cry or something. It was so pathetic.”

Katsuki stormed up to him and grabbed the yellow haired kid by the shirt, lifting him off the ground.

“Listen here you lowly PIECE of DOG SHIT! If you turn him down cause you don't like guys that is fucking fine! But going around INSULTING HIM for something he CANT HELP and telling him to go DIE is just-” Katsuki throws him to the ground. Hard . “-PATHETIC!!!”

Denki looks upward, terrified out of his mind.

“I hope your fucking PROUD of yourself.” the enraged blonde exclaims as he decks Denki straight on the face.

The sound of slow clapping catches both of their attention.

“You`re so manly, Bakugou. I really appreciate the gesture. You are a true friend.” A boy around their age with red spiked hair approached them. “But I want to be the one to put the bastard in his damn place .”

“Kirishima?” Izuku says not realizing it was out loud. He wasn't so sure because most of his face was covered, and his eyes were completely blacked out.  

“What's with the new threads Kirishima?” Katsuki asks suspiciously.

“Just trying out something new.” he retorts menacingly.

Denki seizes the opportunity and slips away from his hold and starts to run away.

“Oh no you don't-”

Kirishima`s flesh transforms into what seems to be rock and bolts after Denki at a speed way faster than somebody made of rock should. The ground shakes as he runs.

What the flying fuck is going on.

Izuku makes it back to his house.

“Izuku?! Izuku!” his mother crushes him into her arms for a hug.

“M-mom. Too tight!” he wheezes.

She pulls back and cups her hands on each side of his face.

“Are you hurt? Thank goodness you're alright. It's all over the news!”

Izuku assumes it's the thing about Kirishima. He walks into the tv room to find that he was right.

“The world hasn't seen super villains or for nearly 50 years and they have made their debut with the super villain calling himself ‘Red Riot’. He is actively storming through the city wreaking havoc on the streets.” The tv cuts to a clip of Kirishima picking up a car with somebody in it and throwing it into a coffee shop screaming ‘Where are you?!’

The doorbell rings. Mrs. Midoriya is too consumed with watching the news in terror to notice it. Izuku goes back to the front door to answer.

He opens the door to a young boy- seemingly no older than 4 or 5 years old- with a baseball cap covering his eyes. He has black tufts of hair sticking out from underneath the cap.

“Izuku Midoriya?” he says.

“Y-yes, that's me.” Izuku says with mild confusion.

“My teacher wanted me to give this to you.” He hold up a small black box. “He also told me to tell you to open it alone. Make sure nobody is around.”

Izuku takes the box from the kid`s small fingers and takes a good look at it.

“Um, thanks? Why did you-” he cuts himself off when he sees that the kid is already gone.

This has got to be some kind of dumb prank. But then again, so did the idea of a super villain wreaking havoc on the city.

Izuku tucks the box into his pocket and heads upstairs to his room.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki is home watching the news. He normally doesn't give two shits about the news, but this was a worthy story.

His new friend became a super villian. Katsuki reasons that Kirishima has to be under some kind of mind control. There has to be a bigger villian working in the shadows.

The doorbell rings. His mother shouts “I got it!” as she bustles over to the door. A few moments later she comes to the tv room.

“Katsuki, there is a little boy looking for you.”

“Huh?” kids hated him for being ‘too scary’ or some shit. What kind of psychopathic child wanted to speak to him ?

He makes his way over to the front door and peers down at the black haired kid in a baseball cap.

“Katsuki Bakugou?” he says.

“Yeah that's me. What do you want lil twerp?”

The boy holds up a small black box.

“My teacher wanted me to give this to you.”

“Oh yeah? Why the hell would I? Who`s your teacher?”

The kid sighs. “He warned me you might say something like that.”

“Huuuh? It takes more thought than that to pull a shitty kid prank on me , twerp. So get lost before I call your mom.”

The kid puts the box on the doorstep with an annoyed huff.

“Open it if you want. But this might be the only way you can save your friend. What was his name again? That Kiri-something kid.”

“Oi! Don't go making jokes about things like that!”

“Then open the box and see that I'm not.”

The kid makes his way back down the walkway and leaves.

Katsuki looks back down at the box and closes the door…. A few moments later he comes back out and grabs the box to take to his room.

Chapter Text

Izuku opens the black box the boy had given him.

There is a smooth white stone and a flashdrive.

That… was not what he was expecting. Some worms or fake limb or something that a kid would prank him with.

Izuku gingerly picks up the stone. There is japanese writing on it- which he can read as ‘creation’. It feels really nice to hold. Nice and smooth.

He picks up the flashdrive and plugs it into his laptop. He makes sure to run a scan on it before he opens up the contents to make sure the kid didn't give him some computer virus. As soon as the scan cleared, he clicked open the video.

When he presses ‘play’, a man with sunken cheeks, dark swollen eyes, and pale yellow hair appears on the screen. He looks vaguely familiar.

“Hello, Izuku Midoriya. My name is Toshinori Yagi. In case you don't remember who I am, I-” he is cut of by a coughing fit. Izuku recognises him when blood starts to trickle out of his mouth. “-you helped me out earlier this week. Not much of a introduction I know, but I didn't have time to properly scout somebody out. I am just going to have to put my faith in you. Now I'm sure you've heard about the new super villian on the loose. If you want to help me save Kirishima Eijirou, then you should hear me out.”

….this has got to be some kind of prank. Izuku hovers his hand over the mouse to stop the video, but hesitates. He draws his hand back and decides to sit through the rest. If super villains can come back after 50 years then maybe there could be something to this.

“You must know that it isn't young Kirishima at fault here. He is being manipulated and controlled by a higher power at works. That stone you have in your possession is known as a creation stone. It will grant you powers that can help you stop Red Riot from destroying the city.”

What? Powers? Him?

“All you have to do is put your DNA on the stone. If you are compatible with it as I suspect, then it will grant you your powers. Then you should go and meet your partner. He holds the opposite stone, a destruction stone. He will be able to support you in your battle against Red Riot. After this is all said and done I will seek you out in person and explain everything further. If you have no interest, then place the flashdrive and stone back in the black box and leave it on your front doorstep. The choice is yours.”

The video ends….

DNA on it? Like blood or-... spit? That should work right?

Izuku stares at the stone in the palm of his hand contemplating how he's going to go about this. If it really is a prank then nothing would happen right?

Izuku brings the stone up to his lips. For the first few moments, nothing happened and Izuku was cursing to himself about falling for such a trick. Just when he's about to put the stone back in the box and chuck it out the window, the stone glows a brilliant green. His vision is enveloped by a warm green light.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki doesn't quite know what he is looking at here.

Well, he knows that there is a black jagged stone that has japanese writing (that he reads as ‘destruction’) and a flash drive. But like-

What the fuck is he supposed to be looking at here?! Is he missing something?

He takes the stone in his hand and holds it up real close to his eye. Is there some kind of hidden message to this? Maybe it's a secret code from Kirishima he has to crack? Maybe if he shines it up a bit.

He spits on it and aggressively begins to rub the surface.

The stone glows a bright red.

His vision is enveloped by the intense heat of the red glowing light.

____________________________________________________________________________

As Izuku`s vision returns to normal, he feels sort of strange. Not a bad strange, but almost like he can feel that there's something different about him. He looks down at his hands to see that he's wearing gloves. Actually, his whole outfit is changed. He stands up and looks down at himself trying to see the extent of this new clothing. He opens his closet door revealing a full length mirror. He is wearing a green bodysuit with a red utility belt and braces for his arms and legs. Oh and his shoes are red too. He is wearing two masks. One that covers his mouth and another that is fitted to his face that frames his green eyes. He pulls down the mask that conceals his mouth and lets it hang around his neck. There, he looks less intimidating this way.

Wait where was the stone? He wasn't holding it anymore. His eyes dart across the floor. Maybe he it changed form like it changed him? Where would it be-

He looks himself over. His attention is drawn to his wrist. He only has a cuff on his right wrist. There is a green stone embedded in it with the Japanese writing still there at closer examination. Ok, at least he knows that it didn't disappear...

How is he feeling about this? Excited? Nervous? Can't believe it? A mix of all three? A multitude of thoughts run through his head. What are his powers now? What can he do when he's like this? How does he deactivate it? He shouldn't worry about that now, he should test it out. Should he test it out in the open? That Toshinori guy said that he would know what to do. Oh! He said he would have a partner. Maybe he should go out and look for him. Yeah that's what he will do. But wait, he can't just waltza down the stairs and let his mom see him like this. And everyone would know where he lives. That's how that works right? The whole point of the masks is so nobody can tell who you are.

Izuku`s eyes gravitate to the window. He rolls up the blinds and opens the window wide. He perches himself on the windowsill in a crouched position. He feels like he could jump to the roof next door. He doesn't know why, but he want to try. He feels a sudden burst of energy build up in his legs and lets it loose as he jumps far out. He lands on his feet, but almost falls off the roof- waving his arms around to catch his balance.

That was… exhilarating.

He tests it again as he jumps to the next roof. And again. Each jump he gains more confidence than the last. After a few more tries, he is running across rooftops with ease.

He could get used to this.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki`s vision reverts back to normal.

What the flying fuck just happened? He opened the box and tried shining the red stone with his spit and- wow his arms feel kind of heavy.

He looks to his arms to find that they are being weighed down by large grenade looking things. His attention darts back and forth at his arms, confusion catching up to him.

“What the-”

He looks up at the full length mirror on his wall right in front of him. He is wearing a v-cut bodysuit with a red ‘X’ on the chest connected to a leather utility belt. He was also wearing knee pads and a black eye mask that pushed back the sides of his hair. He looks like he was pulled out of an anime convention or some shit.

“WHAT THE HELL?!”

He stumbles into his night stand, knocking over his lamp and alarm clock with one of the grenade things on his arms.

“FUCK!”

“HEY KATSUKI, SHUT THE FUCK UP WILL YA YOU'RE IN THE HOUSE!” his mother's voice booms back from downstairs.

He doesn't even register his mother`s yelling. He's too busy with trying to process WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED.

He stares at himself long and hard in the mirror. Upon further inspection he can see the red stone in the middle of a thin choker around his neck. So the stone did this? He tried to take it off, shouting curses when it won't budge.

Breathe. Just FUCKING BREATHE. AHHH. JUST breathe. There you go.

Katsuki is thankful that he didn't say any of that out loud, cause that would be a low blow to his pride.

The flash drive! Maybe that will tell him something.

He plugs it into his computer, and awkwardly uses the mouse. Maneuvering is proving difficult with these grenade thingies. Even if they look pretty awesome. Just a little bit.

Oh hey, it's skeleton man.

“Hello, Katsuki Bakugou. I am Toshinori Yagi. If you don't remember who I am, that's fine. You helped me out last week in the rain. In fact I still intend on returning that umbrella back to you-” he coughs a few times.”- ugh. I realize that that is hardly an explanation as to why I chose you for this, but upon further investigation I found that you are friends with Kirishima Eijirou.”

Katsuki sharply inhales. This guy has been stalking him?

“This information was not hard to come by considering that you're a famous teen model after all.” oh yeah, that. “If you want to save young Kirishima, then you should hear me out. You must know that it isn't young Kirishima at fault here. He is being manipulated and controlled by a higher power at works. That stone you have in your possession is known a destruction stone. It will grant you powers that can help you stop Red Riot from destroying the city.”

Katsuki would have ripped out the flashdrive and burned it thinking that somebody was fucking with him if he hadn`t witnessed the stone`s magic first hand.

“All you have to do is put your DNA on the stone. If you are compatible with it as I suspect, then it will grant you your powers. Then you should go and meet your partner. He holds the opposite stone, a creation stone. You will be able to support each other in your battle against Red Riot. After this is all said and done I will seek you out in person and explain everything further. If you have no interest, then place the flashdrive and stone back in the black box and leave it on your front doorstep. The choice is yours.”

Huh. So when he spat on the stone thingy it gave him powers. Good to know.

Save Kirishima huh? That bastard is gonna have his ass handed to him when this is all over.

Katsuki climbs to the roof from his balcony. Now how is he going to get from this roof to the next. He lives in the nicer part of the neighborhood, so the houses are further apart. A feels a pressure build up in his hands. He wonders….

He holds his hands out in front of him and feels himself exert the energy. In result small explosions bursted out of his hands. The propulsion of them sends him back a few feet.

He can work with this. He walks over to one end of the roof and feels the pressure in his hands build up again. Katsuki breaks out into a run and jumps while using the explosions from his hands to propel him forward. He goes soaring through the air.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku heard loud noises coming from the distance. He stops in his tracks and listens. Explosions? He turns around and starts to run towards the source using his new enhancement power.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki is having the time of his life.

“FUCK YES!” he shouts as he soars through the air with a trail of explosions erupting from his hands.

Alright. Now to find Kirishima and beat his ass!

He heads over to the more urban area in which he knows where Kirishima would be. Let's see, last he saw on the news he was on the street with the coffee shop. Katsuki is standing on the roof of the building across the now destroyed coffee shop. It seemed like a car was thrown through the glass doors and windows.

Now which way did he go…. Katsuki`s eyes follow the left, and to the right. Both directions have just as much destruction. He could be either way.

He catches movement from the corner of his eye. He looks up too late and finds himself skidding across the roof on his back and a heavy weight on his chest from the impact.

“Oh my goodness- I'm so sorry!” the stranger that just rammed himself into Katsuki and sent him belly up says quickly.

Katsuki sits up with a pained- yet aggravated groan.

“Will you get OFF OF ME?!” he shouts in the green dufous`s face.

“R-right! Sorry!”

The boy gracefully stands up in one quick motion and extends his hand out in Katsuki`s face to help him up. Katsuki swats it away and gets up on his own.

Katsuki eyes the masked stranger. He seems to be about his own age, but is stands a few inches shorter. He's in an all green getup that seems just as suitable for battle as his own. Skeleton guy did mention that he would have a partner or some shit..

“A-are you the one that Toshinori-san gave the destruction stone to?”

“Skeleton man mentioned that he gave somebody else a stone, but I didn't think that it would be somebody who was such a-.. A Deku!”

Katsuki just couldn't come up with a real insult on the spot. He blamed it on the way this Deku looked. That weird face he was making. Yeah.

“A Deku?”

Fuck that kinda sounds lame outloud.

“Yes fucknuts. It means ‘useless’.” he jabs his index finger into ‘Deku`s’ chest. “Listen here you lil Deku . I am on a mission to save my friend. The red haired punk is being mind controlled by some shit stain with powers and I am not going to let anybody get in my way. Got it?”

“Yeah, we are going to save him together!”

….is he dumb?!

“According to the news-” Deku says while pulling out his phone. “-Red Riot is currently in downtown.” the news is showing footage of police shooting at the villian only for their efforts to be futile. ‘Where is Denki?!’ the villain roars on the screen. Turns out not even bullets can inflict damage to his hardened flesh.

“We can catch up to him if we go this way. Follow me.”

“Oi!”

The green nerd is already on his way at a humanly impossible speed.

Woah. He catches himself in awe for a few seconds longer than he should and realizes that he can do that too.

He sets off explosions from his palms to propel himself forward.

Katsuki eventually catches up to Deku- yep that is what he is calling him now. He can't look at him and not think that. Damn that kid is fast. He doesn't think his power is super speed though because he can catch up to him. Then again, Katsuki doesn't really have a good enough grasp on his powers himself to be able to judge Deku`s.

The green boy stops in his tracks, skidding far less than he did when he went face first into Katsuki a few minutes prior. Katsuki let's off his last explosion, and decides to show off a little bit and does a forward roll off the roof and lands perfectly on his feet. Wow, he timed that just right. That was awesome! Did Deu see that?!

Deku`s attention was grabbed by something else. Katsuki groaned in annoyance as he looked down to see what was grabbing his attention.

Red Riot was jumping up and punching to ground to destroy the bridge that he was on.

Yeah that would do it.

“You get the civilians to safety I'll hold up the bridge!” Deku hollars and dives head first into the destruction taking place.

Katsuki doesn't even have time to think before he plunges himself off a roof and lands on the shifting ground. Deku is under the bridge when it falls on top of him. But the bridge doesn't topple to pieces on the street below. It is being held up by Deku`s sheer strength alone, saving the unsuspecting people below from being crushed. Katsuki swoops in and grabs all the people and darts back out from being under the bridge. Katsuki takes quick a moment to look back around and admire the green hero hoisting up an entire bridge all on his own. There is small green light cracking from his arms similar to when he is running across the rooftops, except in his arms now.

His power is enhancement in natural abilities. That's so… hot.

…...he did NOT just think that to himself. Civilians! Yes focus on civilians!

Katsuki swoops in and grabs all of them people with a speed that he couldn't do without the aid of his new powers.

“I got them all Deku!” he shouts.

Deku releases his power, just barely stepping out of the way of the rubble topping him. The green hero pushes some of his curly locks from his now sweating face. His glowing green orbs meet his own sharp red ones and he smiles, brimming with confidence.  

“Everyone make it out ok?”

Katsuki nods- hoping his mouth isn't hanging wide open.

Deku`s attention goes to the red spikey haired villain standing amongst the rubble.

“Kirishima! I know you are still in there! You have to fight whatever they are using to control you!” he exclaims.

“You know NOTHING!” the possessed Kirishima roars. “And it's Red Riot now! Kirishima is gone!”

‘ Kirishima is gone ’. Katsuki grinds his teeth together.

“Oi! Listen up shitty hair!” he exclaims while striding his way over to him. “Is this how you're going to react everytime you let some nobody get to you? If that's the case-” Katsuki decks him right in the face with the force of an explosion sending Red Riot back several feet. “- then you're no better than the bastard who turned out down!”

Red Riot shoots back up to his feet with a wicked smirk plastered from ear to ear. His blacked out eyes open up wide and he charges forward with his skin hardened like rock. He swings right and left, Katsuki manages to dodge the first two, but the third hits him square in the jaw. He punches him twice in the ribs and sends him back with a full scale explosion with the third. The explosion sets a ring of fire around the two. They clash head on. Katsuki notices a green flash in the corner of his eye. Somehow he knew to jump backwards out of Deku`s way as he lands a perfect green lit kick on the side of Red Riots hard head.

“Restrain him!” Deku said as he spins in the air and comes back around for another kick to Red Riot`s head. Katsuki held Riot in head lock position and Deku landed facing them and grabbed both sides of the villian`s head.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku knew what he needed to do. He cupped the sides of Red Riot`s head, and closed his eyes. The memories of the harsh words said to Kirishima flood his vision. Through the dark cloud in Kirishima`s unconsciousness, Izuku could feel the intense emotions stab him in the gut.

The pain of being rejected. Embarrassment. Shame.

‘Kirishima. Come out from there. You're stronger than this.’

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki watches the warm green light radiate from Deku`s hands appear as he opens his stunning orbs of forest. A dark energy is shot up through Kirishima`s eyes, and his clothes turn back to normal and he goes limp. Katsuki releases him from his hold and carefully places him down. Deku draws his hands back and hunches into a defensive position as the dark cloud takes a shape.

The black smoke arranges itself into the shape of a hand.

“CITIZENS OF THIS CITY.” a deep voice booms. “THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM THE LEAGUE OF VILLAINS. AFTER HIDING IN THE SHADOWS FOR NEARLY 50 YEARS WE HAVE RETURNED IN OUR PURSUIT OF YOUR NEW HEROES . SURRENDER PEACEFULLY AND WE MAY LET YOU AND THIS CITY LIVE IN YOUR RIGHTFUL PLACE UNDER OUR REGIME.”

The green hero next to Katsuki steps forward. He walks up to the cloud brimming with resolve.

“Nice try villains. But mind controlling innocent civilians is something of cowardice! We WILL find you and we WILL stop you from hurting anybody else!”

Deku jumps up high in the air and smashes through the dark hand cloud, making it disappear. The hero lands on the roof of the tallest building near them and looks back over his shoulder with a smile brimming with confidence.

If Katsuki`s mouth wasn't hanging open before when he watched Deku life up the bridge, then it definitely was now.

The civilians erupt in applause. Several news reporters begin to push their way through the crowd and -uh oh he isn't having any of that.

He gets a running start and projects himself into the air to meet Deku on the same roof. The two wisp away from the sight of the public eyes.

They end up on a factory roof, the smog shielding them from helicopter reporters.

Katsuki leans against one of the tall chimneys. With his arms crossed and a smug expression.

“I never did catch your name.”

“I never threw it, you were so insistent on calling me that nickname you gave me. Besides, we are supposed to keep our identities hidden. It would be dangerous if we knew who each other really were.”

“In that case I should come up with something for you to call me then huh. How about… King Explosion Murder!”

Deku gives him a deadpan look.

“I am not calling you that.”

“Oh come on! It compliments my powers! Look at me! I look like I could wreck shit up.”

Deku gives him an amused grin and leans in closely pointing an index finger to Katsuki`s face.

“Why don't you come up with a better name for next time we rendezvou, otherwise I'll call you ‘Huge Dork’.” He lightly taps the spikey blonde on the nose with his finger at those last two words. Then he steps away with an amused grin.  

Katsuki would be lying to himself if he didn't have a deep blush forming on his face.

“Toshinori-san said that he would seek us out. When I see him I am going to ask him what the best way to contact you is. We can't just exchange numbers, that's too traceable.”

“Tch. Wonder if he will send that goofy kid again.”

Deku began laughing, and Katsuki swore he would do anything to hear that again. “Yeah maybe. Well I'll see you around, partner .” He gave a little salute, and zipped away, the smog surrounding them covering which direction he went.

Katsuki decided that he was very much looking forward to their next meeting.  

Chapter Text

“Oh my gosh did you hear?! We have two new superheroes in our city!”

“Of course I heard idiot. It's all everyone is talking about!”

“Yeah cause it's the coolest thing ever! There haven't been any heroes since All Might took out the League of Villains 50 years ago!”

“Yeah, well now they're back and the new heroes are so cool!”

“Which one was your favorite?”

“I really like the explosion guy, but ‘Deku’ was the one that basically declared war on the League of Villains!”

“Oh so his hero name is Deku? Where did you hear that?”

“Somebody caught the explosion guy call him that on camera. That's what everyone is calling him now.”

“Deku huh. I wonder when we will find out what the explosion guy`s hero name is.”

Izuku knew that when he went to school the next day that everyone would be talking about the battle that took place. But he didn't expect his hero name to end up being the nickname that his hero partner originally came up for him as an insult.

“Good Morning Izuku-kun! Were you watching the news yesterday?”

His round faced friend startled him.

“O-Ochako-chan. Y-yes it was crazy wasn't it?”

She lets out a fangirl squee. “I know it's selfish, but I can't wait to see more of them! Especially Deku! He was so cool standing up those villains like that! I know we don't really know much about them yet, but I really want to know what his partner`s name is. Everyone is trying to guess!”

Izuku wanted to ask for her opinion on some of the names he had come up with for his partner, but he knew that it would be too risky in the chance that the explosion hero would actually take on one of the names. It would be overly suspicious.

Izuku`s heart flutters to the sight of Kachaan walking into the classroom. Kirishima is trailing closely behind him. The whole class goes silent as they watch Kirishima- his eyes down on the floor- take his seat. Kachaan takes his seat right behind Kirishima, and in front of Izuku.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki could feel the lingering judgemental stares of his classmates on his friend Kirishima.

It was really starting to tick him off. Can't they see that it wasn't Kirishima`s fault that he was being mind controlled by a super villian!

“Can`t believe they let you come to school, Red Riot.” Grape head kid says from across the room. “After all the damage you caused, you'd think the police would never let you see the light of day again.”

Katsuki shot up from his desk. Kirishima grabbed his wrist.

“It's not worth it Bakugou.” Kirishima tried to reason. “It's ok. I don't expect anyone to trust me yet after what happened.”

“That's bullshit! They should-”

“Bakugou take your seat!” their teacher Aizawa said menacingly.

Katsui locked eyes with his teacher for a moment, before grinding his teeth together and taking his seat.

Fuck everything.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku missed the bus home. Sigh. Now he has to walk.

He strides down the crowded sidewalks with his earbuds in and his hood up. He is walking past the damaged parts of the street. Some people are crowding around the caution take a closer look at the damage done by Red Riot. He passes the coffee shop that was destroyed with a car. Oh wow, they already are working on it. The car was gone and the glass was currently being installed. Oh hey, they're already open for business again.

Izuku finds his way through the bustling crowd and across the traffic heavy street and enters the small coffee shop. There is next to nobody here. Just the worker at the counter and some old man in sitting near the window that he pays no heed to. Izuku pulls down his hood and orders a donut. He sits down near the window, a few tables away from were the old man was sitting. Izuku was so engrossed in the sweet taste of strawberry donut that he didn't notice the stranger take a seat across from him at first. He unplugs one earbud.

“Can I help you?”

The old man was wearing a trenchcoat and sunglasses. He pulls off his shades and Izuku immediately recognises the dark worn eyes.

“Toshinori-san.” Izuku chokes on his donut at the realization.  

“Hello young Midoriya. We can finally have a proper introduction.” he holds out a hands to shake. Izuku immediately grasps it and gives it a weak shake.

“N-nice to finally meet you. I have some questions.”

“I'm sure you do my boy, and I am here to answer them for you. You did a fantastic job yesterday. You and your partner got the hang of your new abilities far quicker than I imagined you would.”

Izuku blushed from the praise. “T-thank you.” he stutters out. He really needs to work on his stuttering.

“There's a few other things I would like to explain now that you have accepted the stone.”

Izuku nods slowly with attentive eyes to show that he was listening.

First things first.” the old man says after he takes a swig of his tea. “The stone I gave you- you are only able to transform when it is on your person. Don't let anybody take it from you. In an incident where it fell in the wrong hands, you would still be the only one that could use it. As long as you are still bound to it that is. Having said that there is a way to cut the connection between you and the stone. Don't let that happen no matter what.”

“H-how does that happen?”

“Two ways. One, if you die.” Izuku gulps at that. “Or two, if you decide in your heart that you don't want to be a hero anymore. Then the stone becomes open for anybody to bind with.”

Izuku pulls out his notebook and begins taking notes.

“Here let me write down my address for you.” Izuku hands Toshinori his notebook and watches him jot something down. “Only come see me if it's absolutely necessary. We don't want to arise suspicion.” he says as he hands back the notebook.

“O-oh something I wanted to ask. What is the best way of contacting my partner. We figured that exchanging phone numbers would be too risky.”

“Good call my boy.” he reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a small device. It looks just like a regular phone, but smaller. “This phone can only call it's brother. It's impossible to trace to the other. If somebody tries to use it other than you, it wont work.”

He hands Izuku the small phone.

“How does that work?”

“It only works for the holder of your creation stone.”

Izuku jots that down and pockets the phone.

“Another thing. I assume you would figure, but it needs to be said. Avoid talking to news reporters and paparazzi as much as possible. You're not at a place where you should go about that yet.”

Izuku nods jotting down his last thought. His pencil slows and he peers up from his writing.

“One more question. Why me? I-I mean I'm not at all special in any way.”

Toshinori places his tea down. “Young Midoriya. Yesterday's battle should be the answer to your question. There is something in you that not alot of people have in today's world. A sense to put yourself at risk if it means helping others. I see it, the stone sees it, and the whole city sees it now.” he points a finger at Izuku`s chest.”That's the heart of a true hero.”

Tears prick at the corners of his eyes.

“T-Thank you Toshinori-san. I won't let you down.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki leaned over against the balcony fence. He clenched the phone that Skeleton man gave him to his chest.

Should he do it? Should he call Deku? Yeah he shou- what would he even say?  He shouldn't. It should be for emergencies only…. He is having an emotional crisis here.

Fuck it.

He touches the screen awake and presses the call button.

It rings once. Twice. Three times. One the fourth, Katsuki hangs up. What was he thinking it was for emergencies only!

“KATSUKI! IZUKU IS HERE! I'M SENDING HIM TO YOUR ROOM!”

He tucks the phone away into his pocket with a sigh. When he hears a soft knock on the door, he grumbles over to it. Upon opening the door reveals his childhood best friend. He is wearing a green plaid flannel and cream colored cargo shorts.

“H-hey Kachaan.” he beams clutching a notebook to his chest.

“Sup.” he steps aside letting him in. “What brings you here?” he says closing the door.

“Your mom asked me to come help you with your homework.” oh shit. “She said that Aizawa-Sensei called her and said you got a failing grade on our first test.”

That stupid hag. Thinks she can get up in his business like that.

“Just got this gig with a suit company since Homecoming is coming up. It's been distracting me.” he says lamely. He really does have this gig, but he hasn't thought much about it since he signed the contract.

It seemed believable enough to Izuku though. His green orbs sparkled with interest.

“Suits? That's so cool Kachaan! You gotta let me see- uh. I m-mean. If that's ok.”

“Not like you aren't going to see them when they're released.” it's not the first time Izuku has said that. Hes has even brought Izuku along to some of his photo shoots. He has no idea why he thinks it's soo cool. If anything it's rather boring. He is told what to wear and how to pose and they take a million pictures. But he does appreciate the moral support. That way there's somebody he can have an actual conversation with who isn't a rude asshole on his downtime.

“You could tag along to the next shoot if you want. It's only a week from now.”

“O-O-f course! Yes!”

He notices the rosy dusting along his freckled cheeks. He's probably flustered by his stutter. He got made fun of for it a lot in middle school so Katsuki knows he's really insecure about it.

“S-so anyways. Math.” Izuku opens up the notebook he has clutched to his chest and lays it out. “What do you need help on?”

____________________________________________________________________________

As much as Izuku wants to keep asking for details about this new job- mmmmhhh Kachaan in a suit- they need to get to math. Nope, he won't let himself drool right in front of Kachaan.

“What do you need help on?”

Kachaan grunts and shoves his hands in his pockets. “I don't fucking know. Aizawa has his head so far up his ass that he can't even see that his teaching doesn't make any fucking sense.”

“I actually think Aizawa-Sensei is a great teacher.”

“The man comes to class wearing pajamas and brings a sleeping bag! The amount of shits he gives are very very low.”

“If you paid any attention in his class then maybe you would learn a thing or two.” Izuku teases lightly tapping him on the head with the notebook. Kachaan scrunches up his face in frustration.

“Shut the hell up shitty nerd. I've got a lot on my plate right now. There are some things that are more important than the one shit grade I got on a math test.” he says looking away.

“Study through it and it will only be that one shitty grade.” Izuku teases while flipping his notebook to the right page.

Izuku forced himself to ignore the close proximity between them as he explains how to solve an algebraic equation. Their arms brush against each other every so often. Kachaan scratching his head furiously and throwing his paper across the room is too endearing to not watch. (If he mentioned something like that to his past therapist she would freak the heck out)

After about an hour Katsuki finally starts to get the hang of it. He finished his homework and fell on his back in exhaustion.

“Fucking finally.”

“I always believed in you Kachaan.” Izuku says as he closes his notebook and quickly checks over his friend`s work. He worked on it really hard and it's at a passing grade so he decided to call it in before Kachaan lights the paper on fire or something.

The spikey blonde lays flat on the floor, eyebrows furrowing together like he is in deep thought.

“Hey Izuku. Do you think that everyone will eventually forgive Kirishima?”

Izuku wasn't expecting that, but he shouldn't be too surprised.

“They will eventually realize that he is still the same old Kirishima and will hardly even remember the whole Red Riot thing.”

“I doubt that.”

“The League of Villains are going to mind control more people than just Kirishima. The city is going to eventually understand that there is a higher power at work. Besides, we've got two superheroes that will save the day. They are in good hands.”

“What makes you think that?”

Izuku wants to say that it's because they are in his hands, but that wouldn't go over too well.

“The city is starting to trust them. I'm sure they will tell everyone to not worry about Kirishima and the people who are going to be like that too.”

Izuku sees a light bulb go off in Katsuki`s eyes at saying that.

“...yeah. If they heroes say that Kirishima is clean, then everyone else will too.”

“Exactly! But I think it would be too early for them to make that announcement.”
“Why?” Katsuki snapped.

“The city has seen them in action once . The battle wasn't very long. And one of them doesn't even have a proper hero name yet. They should wait and take down a few villians to establish their credibility more.”

What Izuku was saying was pissing him off, but he knew that he was right…

Katsuki grunts in response, folding his arms and looking away. Izuku gives him an amused grin, like he was looking at some pouting child.

“Oi! The fuck are you looking at?”

Izuku has his head rested on the palm of his hand. His cheeks are dusted pink and he is smiling fondly at Katsuki with those large green orbs. He turns away with an all knowing grin.

“Not at you if that's what you're implying.”

“You just were a minute ago!”

“Nope.” Izuku sticks his tongue out.

Katsuki lightly pushes him in the arm, keeping his head turned away to hide his own smile.

He doesn't know where he would be without his best friend Izuku.

Chapter Text

Fumikage Tokoyami was sort of an outcast amongst his class. Sitting here amongst all of the fancy posh kids makes him want to vomit. Nobody directly taunts him to his face, but he knows that nobody there likes him.

He is short kid with dyed jet black hair that stops at his shoulders. He has his hair tucked behind his ears so his gauges are visible. He also his has uniform sleeves rolled up to his elbows so his raven tattoo is visible on his right arm. His uniform collar is popped along with keeping the first few buttons at the top unbuttoned. He used to have a chain hanging out from his pocket, but that got confiscated.

He knows that how he looks would grab him attention, but he would rather own it than be ashamed. This is how he likes to look, and nobody should judge him for it….. But they do. Not as much for how he looks, but for the fact that he's so different. The fact that he doesn't fit the mold of the posh UA student.

It pisses him off more than anything.

“Okay class, today you are going to be paired up into groups for the lesson. I have taken the liberty to have already paired you up with somebody.” Aizawa says with a bored tone.

“Bakugou and Todoroki. Ochako and Tenya. Midoriya and Tokoyami-”

Tokoyami shifts his gaze to the green haired boy across the classroom. He gives him a small wave. Tokoyami turns his attention away from him. Oh boy, cheery stuttery Midoriya. This is going to be fun. Well he supposes that he could have been paired up with somebody far worse (like the hot head Bakugou and Tokoyami half feels bad for that Todoroki kid).

When Aizawa is done speaking, everybody goes to their respective places. Tokoyami doesn't budge. Midoriya can come to him. And so he does.

“U-um hi. It's nice to m-meet you Tokoyami.”

“Likewise.” Tokoyami huffs out in reply.

Midoriya pushes the empty desk next to him together and takes a seat at it. The green eyed boy`s attention is turned to Tokoyami`s tattoo. The raven boy grimaces and turns away.

“I like your tattoo.”

Tokoyami looks back at him. The boy`s eyes were ...honest?

“I`ve always considered getting one myself. I just don't know what I`d get.”

Tokoyami raises an eyebrow.

“I`m from the South Side of the city. Tattoos aren't uncommon there.” Midoriya explains. “It makes me a little sad that people here don't seem to appreciate them.”

He smoothes open a notebook and pulls out two sharpened pencils offering one to Tokoyami.

“Let's do this.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki already didn't like this kid. His name was Todo-something. He reeks of ‘entitled rich boy in every way’. Between his mannerisms and his speech he was clearly trained to be an elite.

Although he admits that the scar over his left eye is unavoidable to stare at. And his hair is just god awful. Half blonde and half brunette. They appear to be natural colors, but there's no way that they are natural.

“Are you done?” half and half says blankly.

Katsuki realized that he was staring. His face warps into a scowl and slams his notebook on the desk.

The boy stares at him with his two colored eyes. To anybody else it would seem like a blank stare, but Katsuki has been friends with Izuku long enough to know when he was being analized. He stared back at him with intensity in his scarlet piercing eyes.

“Are you done?” Katsuki snears back through his teeth- making half and half realize he was staring also.

Half and half takes the empty desk next to him and scoots it over.

This is going to be a long period.

____________________________________________________________________________

There are two things that Tokoyami about from Midoriya.

One being that he is a complete dork. Not the annoying kind though. The kind that is himself no matter what people think of him. Tokoyami greatly respects that.

Number two being that he isn't from some prestige family. He was accepted here on brain power alone. He can definitely see it too with how easily he understood the assignment and immediately knew what he was doing.

They ended up finishing way before anybody in class. They began quietly talking about school unrelated topics.

“There is some really good modern poetry, but nothing beats the classics. Tokoyami explains. “My all time favorite poet is Edgar Allen Poe.”

“Of course he's your favorite.” Midoriya beams. “He wrote ‘The Raven’. Also known as ‘Nevermore.’”

“Y-yes that he did.” Tokoyami was impressed that he actually knew that. “I'm also a fan of ‘One for Sorrow’-”

“Another raven poem.” Midoriya chuckles.

Tokoyami`s face flushed with embarrassment.

“That seems to be your theme. It's pretty cool really.”

Huh? Most people would have sat there quietly as he tried to scare them away. Tokoyami is certainly not used to somebody actually trying to understand him in any way.

“Let's see.” Midoriya looks up pointing his finger to his chin. “I don't exactly have a favorite poem- too many to choose from. But my favorite book would probably be Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Most people love how it's themes reflect today's world, but I like it because it shows that even in a world where nobody believes in you, you can still make a difference. That probably wasn't the author's intent, but that's how I see it.”

‘it shows that even in a world where nobody believes in you, you can still make a difference’

The bell rings. Those words had stuck with him.

Midoriya waves bye to him from the other end of the classroom. Once the whole class was finished with the assignment everyone had to go back to their respective seats before the end of the day so their conversation about literature had to be cut short. Tokoyami waves back with a slight smile and makes his exit.

He exits the back of the school, away from everybody else exiting from the front. Less people equals less anxiety.

As he steps out the back door, a fist grabs the front of his shirt and yanks him off the ground.

“Hey little punk. You have until the count of three to give me your wallet or we will beat you to the ground and search for it while you're out cold.”

There are three other bullies surrounding them with devilish smirks on their faces.

Tokoyami stares his attacker straight in the eye and launches a wad of spit onto his face. The grip on his shirt is released and Tokoyami kicks him hard in the groin sending him to the ground in pain.

“Why you little-”

All four bullies attack him at once. Tokoyami is tacked to the ground and has his ass handed to him.

When he is bruised up to the point where he stops trying to fight or dodge the punches laying face up on the cold hard ground, his wallet falls out of his pocket. Their leader snatches it up and spits on his face.

“That's what you get you little goth freak .”

Then they scurry away, leaving Tokoyami on the stone hard ground alone.

He doesn't register the footsteps approaching him.

“You are in a world where you will never be accepted.”

‘What the hell was I thinking, I will always be the outcast kid.’ Tokoyami thinks to himself.

“What just happened is proof of that.”

‘ I will always be too different for anyone to accept me.’

A hand covers his face. A darkness fills his lungs and surrounds his bruised body. He rises to his feet as the dark cloud that enveloped him clears away. His head was now shaped like a raven, and he was wearing a long black cloak and heavy leather boots.

A deep voice booms through his head.

‘ Dark Shadow, you have been outcasted from this posh society you live in for far too long. It's time to show them how it feels to be a lone raven in the city. In return for your revenge, I want you to do something for me in return .’

A wicked smile grows across Tokoyami`s beak.

“I will be the beacon of justice.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki is walking home on his own. Kirishima insisted he walk home alone and Izuku already left on the bus. So he is strolling down the city sidewalks with his bag swung over his shoulder and his hands in his pockets and a scowl present on his face.

Too many fucking god damn people-

He stops in his tracks. A crow was in his path, staring straight at him. It cocked its head to the side. Katsuki found himself following suit. Then another one flew down next it his foot. And another one right on his foot. The blonde jumps back on one foot shaking the other to get the bird off.

“Shoo Shoo!”

The bird flies away into the sky. He's starting to notice that there are significantly less people on the streets and a weird amount of crows taking their place. They are fucking everywhere!

His head darts right and left. Sweat forming on his brow. People are running from one direction. As they push past him he sees a man person with a crow's head walking towards them from that direction. The sunset casts a large shadow of the bird man on the building next to them. Katsuki realizes that the shadow is not moving in sync with the bird person, but on it's own.

Katsuki retreats to an alleyway and presses his back against the brick building. Birdman walks right past him without a blink. The birdman raises an arm and the large casted shadow materialises behind him like a ghost or apparition of some sort. It launches forward and transforms more civilians into crows.

A city of crows huh. Katsuki thinks that is a book title or something, but shakes his head at the thought. He presses his hand to stone tied around his neck and magical girl transforms into his hero attire.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku usually doesn't pay attention to the world around him when he has both earbuds in. But it's hard to not notice the abundance of crows swarming the city. Weird.

The bus comes to a screeching halt, the inertia causing his earbuds to fall out. The bus doors violently snap open and a dark cloud vaguely resembling a bird enters through the door. Izuku is pushed under a bus seat as everyone on the bus tramples each other to escape.

An explosion is heard from the back of the bus.

“Everyone get out!” a familiar voice hollars.

Everyone floods to where the voice came from and the shadow follows them. A lone figure walks onto the bus with big heavy thuds. Izuku could see heavy leather boots pass by him. He peers from under his seat to see the back of a bird head and a black cloak. The head turns to one side and reveals to be raven's head. Izuku's mind immediately goes to Tokoyami.

Oh no...

Izuku watches him leave the bus towards the sound of explosions. He grabs the stone of his bracelet with his left hand and transforms into his hero costume. He thinks to himself that he is kind of like a magical girl….

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki saw the monster attack the bus and exploded the bus`s back door off it's hinges.

“Everyone get out!”

As everyone pools out, Katuki realizes that Izuku was riding this bus. A few crows fly out of the bus as the civilians exit. Once the bus is emptied, Katsuki realizes that Izuku is nowhere in sight.

Fuck. He must of been turned into a bird.

“You bird brained bastard!” he shouts as he sends a multitude of explosions at the shadow. The shadow let's out a horrible screech and launches forward at Katsuki.

In a green flash, Katsuki is no longer standing, but rather he is in someone's arms and in a new location. He peers up at his rescuer to see masked intense green eyes directed at their attacker. It dawns on Katsuki just then that Deku had just saved him from becoming a crow. And here he is, being held bridal style by his hero crush. He is placed back down to his feet- (much to his disappointment which he will never admit) and projects himself backward to dodge the shadow once more. They make their way onto a rooftop.

“Don't let the shadow touch you!” Deku shouts at him as he flashes back to Katsuki`s side in a fighting stance. “You will become a crow if that happens.”

The sun sets some more and the shadow grows even bigger.

“We don't have much time to take him out.” Katsuki says. “He gets stronger the more the sun sets.”

Deku`s eyes light up as if he's figured something out.

“Of course! Darkness is his strength. So that means that light is his weakness.” he places his hands on Katsuki`s shoulders and looks at him in the eye.

“My attacks are close ranged which puts me at a disadvantage. You on the other hand excell at long range. And your explosions create light. I need you. I need you to create as many explosions as possible while I take out the one that's controlling the shadow.”

Katsukis feels himself sweat some more at the close proximity. He finds himself staring down at Deku`s lips as he talks.

Damnit.

Katsuki places a hand on one of the hands grabbing his shoulders.

“You can count on me.” he says with new found determination.

Deku gives him a smile and draws his hands away steps behind him with a nod. Katsuki nods back at him. The blonde jumps off the roof with a ‘boom’ and sends himself flying straight at the shadow. The shadow launches after him. Just as the shadow is about to make contact with him, he let's off the biggest explosion that he's done yet. Flames erupt from the sparks and the shadow let's out a blood curdling shriek and begins to shrink.  The birdman collapses onto his knees as if he felt that explosion too. With a green flash, Deku soars through the flames and goes straight for the villian.

The villain closes his eyes and prepares for the impact, but instead feels gloved hands cup the sides of his head. He opens his eyes to see the green masked hero kneeling down on both knees to his level and looked at him with him with kindness filling his green orbs.

“Tokoyami-” he begins “I know you go through a lot of pain every day thinking that you can't fit in. It must be so hard, but I know that this isn't you.” the hero presses his forehead to the villain`s. “You are better than this. I know you are.”

Tears stream down Tokoyami`s bird cheeks and closes his eyes.

Katsuki watches the green light that he's seen once before envelope both Deku and birdman. Suddenly, all the crows on the street slowly reform back into people. When the green light vanishes, Tokoyami is back to his former self and unconscious resting his head against Deku`s shoulder. Deku gingerly places him down on the ground and rises to his feet.

He makes his way up to Katsuki.

“I think I've thought of the perfect hero name for you.”

“I told you to call me King Explosion-”

“I am not calling you that.” Deku cuts off. “I was thinking cause you came up with mine, that I could come up with yours.”

“Fine, but I still think that the name I came up with rules.”

“I was thinking, Ground Zero.”

“Ground Zero?” Katsuki repeats.

He likes it. Alot.

“Or I could just keep calling you huge dork.” he says playfully.

“I like it.” Katsuki - no- Ground Zero declares.

“My hero name is Ground Zero.”

Katuki notices at the corner of his eye that one of the civilians were recording him. A crowd was starting to form around them. He contemplates for a moment at what Izuku told him earlier about them gaining the complete trust of the city before making contact with the news. Next time, he decides. Next time he will explain to everyone that these people are victims and not villians. Him and the green masked hero exchange a nod and launch themselves away from the crowd and make their departure.

Chapter Text

“Izuku-kun! Izuku-kun!”

Izuku unplugs his earbuds. He had a coffee in hand and his hair was tousled as if he had just woken up.

“O-Ochako-chan.”

“Did you see the news?! The explosion hero has a name now! His name is Ground Zero! Isn't that clever? Cause he makes explosions with his hands!”

Ochako had been up most of the night browsing through social media and news stories. She figures that he had been doing the same going off of his clear lack of sleep.

“I-I didn't watch the newscast, but I saw on social media.”

Ochako squealed and opened up the video on her phone to show him.

The video is the best quality she could find. It was a little shaky from being recorded by a phone camera, but was up close and audible. It featured the two heros facing each other from the side view.

“I am not calling you that.” says the green masked hero. “I was thinking cause you came up with mine, that I could come up with yours.”

“Fine, but I still think that the name I came up with rules.”

“I was thinking, Ground Zero.”

“Ground Zero?” the explosion hero repeats.

“Or I could just keep calling you huge dork.” the other says playfully.

“I like it. My hero name is Ground Zero.”

Ochako let out a squee at the last part. Izuku was taking a long sip of his coffee as he watched the scene unfold.

“Oh my goodness! Don't they seem like a couple?!”

Izuku choked on his coffee.

“A-A what?”

“A couple! Just the way that they look at eachother. Deku called Ground Zero a ‘dork’ and they even came up with each other`s hero names! And in this other video-”

Ochako takes back her phone to find the video- ahah! She shoves it back in Izuku`s face and he seems a lot more woken up and interested than before.

The video is taken from a bit further away than the last, but it is unmistakable as to what is going on. The green hero flashes in right in the nick of time and scoops up Ground Zero bridal style to safety before the shadow could get him.

She pauses the video and zooms in to the pair.

“You can't tell me that they don't at least look like a couple.”

“M-maybe they are just partners.”

“They could be, but my gaydar tells me otherwise!” Ochako proclaims with her hands on her hips.

“A-Are you gay?” Izuku asks sheepishly.

“I don't need to be gay to have a gaydar silly.” Izuku gives her a doubtful look. “You on the other hand should have a better one than me.” she points at his face.

“H-how come?”

“Because you-” she stops herself and lowers her voice to a hushed tone “-have a gigantic crush on Bakugou.”

Izuku flushes red. He has never outright admitted it to her, but it is painstakingly obvious.

“Speaking of which have you made your move yet?” she says leaning in with her still hushed tone.

“N-n-no.” Izuku says in defeat.

Yes! She will take that as a confession.

“I don't w-w-want to ruin our friendship.” he says quickly. “B-besides. I don't even know if he l-likes b-b-boys.”

“Trust me Izuku-kun. He does.”

“What makes you think that?” Izuku says with his voice rising a little bit.

“He has the nicest nails I've ever seen on any guy.” she deadpans. “And he has an impeccable fashion sense. And he does his hair every day to get all of those perfect spikes.”

“He`s a model. Of course he has great hygiene.” Izuku states no longer looking convinced.

“But he can do those things on his own!”

“His mom is also a model. She taught him.”

“He wears eyeliner! Every straight male in the model industry only wears eyeliner when they have to! He wears it on his own.”

“Maybe he wants to look scarier with more defined eyes.” Izuku lamely defends.

“That necklace he wears all the time. He wears it like a choker. I've never seen a straight male wear a choker before.”

“Just because he likes to wear a necklace doesn't mean that he's into guys.”

“I agree, but it's that ontop of all the evidence I've presented you supporting that I am right.”

The freckled boy drifts into deep thought.

“H-he`s never told me though. We've known each other our whole lives and he never mentioned it.”

“Has he ever talked about girls being pretty?”

Izuku opens his mouth- but nothing comes out.

“And he probably never told you the same reason you never told him. He probably thought that you would be weirded out because you're a guy too. So he never said anything.”

Izuku looks down at his desk, cheeks flushed pink.

“D-do you really think I have a chance Ochako-chan?”

She smiles and nods. “I know you do Izuku-kun. Here why don't we hang out after school. We can talk about our secret mission.” she says with a wink.

“S-secret mission?”

“Yep. Operation ‘Get Izuku-kun Some Bakugou Ass 101’.”

“T-that's a terrible title.” the green haired boy deadpans. “I think Mina is rubbing off on you.”

Ochako giggles at that. He's probably right.

“B-but yeah. We can go to my place tonight.”

“Sounds like a plan!”

____________________________________________________________________________

Ochako-chan is a great friend. Izuku knows this all to well.

Kachaan and Kirishima are the last people to enter the classroom before Aizawa starts class. Izuku peers over at Tokoyami`s empty seat.

He doesn't blame him for not coming to school today, but he would have really liked to talk to him.

____________________________________________________________________________

The day was painstakingly long.

Izuku and Ochako took the bus to get to the Midoriya household. Mrs. Midoriya seemed very pleased to see that her son brought home a friend that wasn`t just Kachaan. Ochako introduced herself and they retreated upstairs to Izuku`s room. Izuku closes the door behind them and they sit cross legged on the floor.

“Okay. Tell me all.” she demands.

“T-tell you what.”

“Tell me everything. How did you two meet? What's his favorite color? His favorite video game? When did you start crushing on him? Tell. me. All.” Ochako`s eyes were filled with determination to help her friend. Izuku could see it, and knew that she was being serious.

“O-Okay. Well Kachaan and I have known eachother forever.”

“When exactly? Middle school? Elementary school?”

“Our mothers are friends so we've known eachother since we were born.”

Ochako`s round eyes filled with stars.

“You've known him your entire life?!” she beams.

“Yeah. We have.” Izuku says with a nostalgic smile. “Kachaan was always there.”

The round faced girl slapped her hands down on top of Izuku`s.

“Homecoming!” she exclaims.

Izuku blinks twice. “Eh?”

“Homecoming is in what like a month and a half? You should ask him out!”

Izuku took a moment to contemplate the idea. Him with Kachaan at Homecoming. He didn't even care about the football game that went with it. He would be there for just the dance. Kachaan all dressed up for him in a suit. And they could dance to cheesy slow dance music. Watching his warm scarlet eyes bare into his own.

“Yeah that's right! Romantic shit like that!” Ochako says slapping him on the back.

“W-was I muttering again?”

“Loud and clear.”

Izuku shrunk in embarrassment and twiddled his thumbs.

Kachaan in a suit. Oh that reminds him of the invite he got to sit through that photoshoot. He can't wait for that.

“What about you Ochako-chan? Do you like anyone?”

She puts a finger to her lips and looks up in contemplation. “Not at the moment, no. But when I do, you will be the one to help me out with a plan!”

They nod and fistbump.

Ochako`s phone buzzes.

“Sorry it's my mom. I have to take it.” she turns away and presses the device to her ear. “Hello? Yeah I`m at a friends why.”

Izuku tries not to focus on her one sided conversation, but it was hard to ignore the seriousness that took place of the happy go lucky girl`s eyes.

“I`m on my way.” she says almost grimly.

“I-is everything okay?”

She forces a smile. To anybody else, that smile would seem almost legitimate.

“Yeah everything is fine. My mom just needs my help with something. Sorry Izuku-kun but we will have to talk about our plan some more later. Mission ask Bakugou`s ass out to homecoming!”

There was something off putting in her voice. As if she was trying not to cry...

Izuku meets her eyes matching her previous serious gaze.

“Ochako-chan. You know that if there is anything wrong, you can tell me right?”

“I would if there was something wrong silly. I'll see you tomorrow at school.”

Izuku walks her to the front door to see her out. She waves back at him and struts down the sidewalk.

Izuku hopes that she really was okay.

____________________________________________________________________________

Ochako was not okay.

Her mom had called her to tell her that her father had collapsed at work and wound up in the hospital.

Damnit. Her dad was always the one to work himself too hard. She takes the bus straight to the hospital. She brushes past all of the other bus riders and hops off, jogging into the hospital doors. She makes it to the receptionist desk and breathlessly asks where her dad was being kept.

A doctor lead her down the white hallways. She was so focused on her dad, that she ran right into somebody.

“I-I`m sorry.” she bows her head and continues forward.

She didn't get a good look at his face, but she noticed that his hair was two different colors much like that kid that sits up front in class. If that was him, Ochako was too caught up with the situation at hand to look back around to see that he looked back over his shoulder in surprise.

The stopped in front of a door and let her inside. There she saw her dad uncautious and her mom sitting at his bedside. She rushed over to join her mother.

Her dad was dehydrated and had not slept in days for his damn job. Old memories of her father play before her eyes.

“Daddy! Daddy! Come play with me!”

“I`d love to sweetheart, but Daddy has to go to work.”

“Awww. but you just got home!”

“I have to go work my next job, I'll be home before you know it.”

She could see him frowning. She didn't like to see people frowning.

“You're forgetting something Daddy.”

“Yeah? What is that sweetie?”

Little Ochako points at the corners of her mouth while smiling wide.

“You're forgetting to smile!”

Her dad chuckled and patted her on the head. “You're right, how could I forget that.”

Ochako is comforting her mom now. She has to stay strong. Stay strong for everyone. Stay strong so that she can lift everyone's spirits. She is always going out of her way to lift everyone's spirits. So she can lift everyone up.

She notices a green flash out of the corner of her eye through the window.

Huh. She must have imagined it.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku followed Ochako to the hospital. He knew that there was something going on and wanted to make sure that she was ok. He felt bad for invading her privacy, but his instinct told him to follow. And he is glad he did.

Izuku flashed onto the roof and powered down into his regular clothes behind a chimney. He leans up against it and slides down to the ground, hugging his knees to his chest. He pulled out his phone and dialed someone in his contacts. He waits in anticipation as the phone rings.

Ring. Ring. Ring. “Oi.”

“Hey Kachaan.”

“What do you want? I did my homework already if that's what you're calling to bother me about.”

“...hey Kachaan. Do you remember dad?”

The other end goes silent, and Izuku almost thinks that he hung up.

“....more or less. What brings this on?”

“I just.. I was just reminded of him. And I wanted someone to talk to someone is all. I-I can go if you're busy-”

“Oi nerd! Stop that thought right there and spill out your shitty feelings will ya.”

Izuku cracks a smile.

“Thank you.” he says warmly. “Thank you for always being there.”

“Izuku… where are you right now.”

“On a rooftop of the hospital.”

“HOLY FUCK WHAT?!”

Izuku realizes that he probably shouldn't of said that. It's just- so hard to lie to him. Now he probably has the wrong idea…

“It's not what it sounds like Kachaan. I'm not going to do it. I just needed some air.”

He hears hustling on the other line.

“Izuku- don't go anywhere! Hang on!”

And he hangs up.

Well shit. Izuku may have fucked up this time.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki throws on some sneakers and transforms into Ground Zero. He bursts out his balcony and flies from rooftop to rooftop.

What the fuck. What the fuck . Fuck.

He grinds his teeth together. Fuck fuck fuck! How could he of not seen it before! Izuku always seemed so happy. He thought that his days of depression were over! He thought-

Katsuki shakes his head to rid that thought.

He cuts through the air as he approaches the hospital roof.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku`s eyes whip upwards at the sound of explosions drawing closer. Mixed with the sounds of the city, Izuku would have thought he`d imagine it. But he knows those explosions all too well.  

His hero partner lands crouched down, one hand on the ground. He rises slowly to his feet.

“Izuku Midoriya.” he says grimly. “You. Fucking. Idiot .”

“G-ground Zero?” Izuku says in disbelief.

“Do you think that taking your own life would make it better?! WELL DO YOU?!”

Oh boy.

“That's not what's going on.” he declares. “I was honestly up here to get some air.” he says meeting his gaze.

“Then what the fuck are you doing on the roof of a very tall building?!”

“My friend's dad was sent to the hospital, and it reminded me of my own dad because he died here many years ago. And I just wanted to get away from all that.”

Ground Zero made his way up to him and placed his hands firmly on Izuku`s shoulders.

“Promise me. Promise me that you're telling the truth.”

“I am.” Izuku states with no hesitation in his voice. “I promise. I'm very sorry to have scared you” he says with his eyes filling with sadness and his voice going soft.

Ground Zero lets out a long breath and sinks to his knees. Izuku crouches down to his level.

“How did you know I was up here anyways?”

“...Your friend is an informant of mine. You called him and he thought you were going to jump so he called me.”

“O-oh.”

He thinks that Kachaan is so cool to be Ground Zero`s informant. But he feels terrible for making him worry like that.

“I'm sorry.” Izuku chokes holding back a sob. “Damnit. Kachaan is never going to forgive me after this.”

“He will be just glad that you're ok. Emotionally too.”

Izuku shrugs and looks away.

“Here. Why don't I bring you home.”

Izuku nods and lets out a small “okay”.

Ground Zero rises to his feet and bends over, implying that Izuku should get on his back. Izuku climbs onto the hero's back.

“Hang on tight.”

Ground Zero kicks off at the sound of a boom.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku is okay. Izuku is okay. Thank the fucking gods.

His friend is not screaming like he thought he would be. He looks over his shoulder to see his friend with a content expression. He lands on his front door step and let's him off his back.

“Thank you.” Izuku says quietly. “And I'm sorry to have wasted your time.”

“Yeah don't mention it. Just don't pull something like that again.” Ground Zero turns away, but then stops in his tracks. “You know, you are surrounded by a lot of people who care about you. Your friend Bakugou being one of them. He would love it for you to call him back when you get back inside. Probably a good idea to tell him what happened.”

Izuku nods, and then watches him take off once again.

He climbs back into his opened room window. His mom never saw him leave and he didn't want to have her ask questions.

He pulls out his phone again and sends a quick text to Ochako.

‘If you ever need to talk to me, don't hesitate. I'm here for you!’ he types.

He then dials Kachaan for the second time this night. He picks up on the first ring.

“Izuku-”

“Kachaan I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to worry you and it really wasn't what it sounded like. You remember my promise Kachaan? The promise I made to you in the seventh grade? That promise that I wouldn't do it. I haven`t broken that promise. I won`t allow it.”

“Calm down shit face. Ground Zero told me what went down. It's cool. I took that out of proportion.”

“N-no. you're a real friend Kachaan. Any real friend would have reacted in the same way.”

A silence falls between them. A comfortable silence. Like it was just comforting to know that the other was there on the line.

“Kachaan. How did you become an informant for Ground Zero?”

“...my family has connections. We will leave it at that.”

Chapter Text

Ochako leaves the hospital early the next morning. She had stayed the night with her mother. She wanted to be there for when her father woke up, but he still hadn't. And she had to get to school.

She walks down the cement path in her school uniform still from the previous day. She realizes that not only will she have to go a day without a shower, but without any lunch too.

Damnit. She can't even properly get ready for school. She can't do anything. She stops in her tracks and leans helplessly against a tree.

“I can't do anything.” she mutters to herself.

Footsteps slowly approach her.

“You are helpless.” a scratchy voice nips at her ear.

‘I can't even do the one thing I'm supposed to be best at.’

“You can't do anything right.”

‘I`m supposed to lift people up, but I can't help dad or mom.’

A hand grabs her face and she can see nothing but black, a disgusting feeling enveloping her.

‘Uravity, I am All for One. I can make it so you can ‘lift others up’. But in return you have to do something for me.’

The dark cloud that enveloped her faded away. Her suit is mostly black with purple areas and large boots. She has a headband with a face shield that is completely blacked out. A blank expressionless gaze had formed on her face.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku wasn't surprised to not see Ochako in school. He was making sure to take extra diligent notes today so she won`t miss anything important.

Lunch period creeps up on them. Izuku went to the restroom before he set foot in the cafeteria. Ochako isn't at school, Kachaan was talking to Aizawa about his grade (which would take a while), Tokoyami was still not at school, and Kirishima was down at the nurses office (probably because he didn't want to sit alone either). So Izuku came to the bathroom to wait for Kachaan to finish talking to Aizawa.

He really just wanted to use his phone. Even at lunch, phones were still not allowed. He sat in the corner on the floor in the stall (which if it were any other school he wouldn't of done so. The bathrooms are cleaned every few hours). The stall  doors went all the way to the floor so nobody could see your feet. And the doors are constantly kept closed.

He other people enter the bathroom, but pays no heed. He was browsing through social media looking up things about Deku and Ground Zero. He read all the good and bad things that people were saying about them. He ignores the bad because none of them have any real point. Things such as ‘Oh they haven't defeated the League of Villains yet? Such Rookies.’ or ‘ They seem kind of young don't they? Are we letting some teenagers play law enforcement?’ My goodness, if the police could handle it on their own then they wouldn't have to do anything!

He finds it almost laughable. He reads the love comments- mostly of people they had saved. They made him feel good. Like he is doing a good thing by risking his life and privacy.

“Where did you get those bruises?”

“I was at football practice. It happens.”

“Not like that. I'm worried about you man.”

“I`m fine.”

Izuku knows that his stalker tendencies are going to get him in trouble one day. But nonetheless, he listens in.

“Denki! You're not fine. It was your mom again wasn't it.”

“...she found out about the Kirishima thing and told me to ‘quit hanging around those kind of people’...”

“She told you.”

“Shut up Mineta! You don't know anything about this! You can't tell anyone.”

“...Denki.”

“Go back to the cafeteria. I'll be there in a few.”

Izuku could hear Mineta`s fading footsteps. Denki walks over the the corner of the bathroom and hears him slump down against the wall. Soft whimpers are heard from the corner.

Izuku exits his stall to see Denki curled up in the corner with his head in his hands. The yellow haired boy's attention snaps up to meet Izuku`s concerned gaze. Izuku could see a ring of bruises forming around his neck. It's as if somebody tried to strangle him. Denki`s crying eyes turned into anger.

“What are you looking at?! Huh?”

Izuku simply looks at him with pitying eyes.

“Just go the fuck away.” Denki wheezes out between sobs.

“...you know. I used to hurt myself.” Izuku said with a solemn expression. “I used to go to the school rooftop every day and contemplate jumping off.” His face shifted to a dark expression. His emerald green eyes dulling to a murky green. “Nobody should have to go through that.”

Denki looked up at him with wide tear stained eyes. “I-..” he trails off. He bows his head and continues to sob. “That's terrible.” he manages to get out.

“The past is the past.” Izuku says his voice getting lighter. “I know now that I have people who care about me. And leaving them like that would be the worst thing I could do to them.” Izuku crouches down in front of Denki and reaches out to see the bruises forming on his wrists. Denki pulls away at first, but gives in to Izuku`s gentle touch. “I know first hand that keeping it all bottled up inside is no good for anyone.”

Denki meets his gaze, and lets out a shaky sigh.  

“She beat me. She beat me because she knows I like boys….”

Izuku`s eyes gain their light back, but his expression is still solem.

“That's why you-”

“Yes! That's why I was a dick to Kirishima! You happy?!” he shouts standing up. Izuku follows suit standing up as well. “It's because I'm pathetic! I'm weak! I just want to be normal!”

Denki`s eyes widen in horror. He looks at something from behind Izuku. Izuku whips around to see none other than Kirishima standing at the doorway. His eyes widened in shock.

He shoves past Izuku and darts out of the bathroom, brushing past Kirishima.

“Hey wait up!” the redhead calls out and follows him.

…

____________________________________________________________________________

“Yes yes I will study more. What else do you want me to do old man?!”

Aizawa rubbed his hand across his face in agitation and lack of sleep.

“Katsuki. If you get a failing grade on your next test then I will have no choice than to assign you a tutor. And yes, it would be mandatory.”

“Yeah yeah. I'll ace the fuck out of this next test! You'll see!”

“ Language Katsuki.” he barks with a bored tone. “Now go to lunch. That was I all I had to say.”

He didn't have to tell him twice. The blonde swiftly turned around to make his way to the cafeteria. He fights down the anger building up within him. He is really starting to get ticked off with old people getting up in his business about his grades. Katsuki passes by a poster that catches his eye. He stops to take a look.

It's a Homecoming poster. Ew. that reminded him that he has a photoshoot this weekend. He was not looking forward to the couples shots he would have to take with some girl or guy he didn't know. That was the worst part of the job. Oh well, at least Izuku would be there for moral support.

He hears the sound of bustling footsteps pass behind him. He looks over his shoulder to see yellow hair running and Kirishima chasing him.

“You get him Kirishima!” Katsuki calls out. Man, about time his friend grew a pair and beat the kid up.

He really wonders sometimes how he qualified as a hero.

Katsuki continues towards the cafeteria. He is about to walk through the doors, but he stops when he sees something odd through the small windows on the doors. He spots a floating person in a weird black and purple outfit outside the cafeteria window.

Oh no. He knows where this was going.

He ducked out of the line of view of the cafeteria and magical girl transformed into Ground Zero. He kicks down the doors and hollars-

“EVERYONE TAKE COVER!!”

The sound of loud shattering echos in the large room. The largest window in the cafe is now shattered completely, and all the pieces are floating in mid air.

Oh no.

Thinking fast he jumps up high and let's off an explosion above everyone's heads to disintegrate the glass into harmless dust. He lands with a forward roll to his feet- crouched down and one hand supporting him up.

The cafeteria roars with claps and cheers.

“EVERYONE GET OUT OF HERE!” he stands up pointing to the exit.

Some students pool out of the room, others brace themselves behind tables to get footage on their phones.

The villain levitates into the room. She lowers herself to the floor and slaps her hands on the two tables next to her. They float up off the ground. The tables launch straight for the hero. Katsuki let's off another explosion to chuck the tables in halves and lounges through the smoke and ash straight at her. She sidesteps and punches him straight on right in the jaw sending him flying back. The hero lands on a table- snapping it clean in half.

Man she can throw a punch!

Katsuki jumps back to his feet and pulls out a small phone and presses dial. He tucks it back away and dodges another table flying right at him.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku was still in the bathroom.

Ugh, he can't believe he told those things to Denki! Now he is going to go around telling people-

He hears the sound of an explosion echoing through the building.

Wait. That can mean-

Another boom echoes through the building.

Here at school?!  

The phone that Toshinori gave him begins to vibrate in his pocket. He doesn't answer it because he already knows.

Izuku grabs his bracelet with his other hand and transforms into his hero suit.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki pushed through another set of tables and got into a fighting stance. The villain looked at him for a moment.

“Let's do this the old fashioned way. Head to head.” he declares.

The girl looks at him for a moment, as if she wasn't sure if he was serious. She must have decided he was, and gets into a stance as well, her fists up in front of her like a guard. Katsuki charges for her swinging a right hook punch, the villain dodges and lands a kick to the side of his head. The hero spits out a wad of blood and turns back with an expression of pure fury. He swings his other arm. She grabs it, kicks him in the stomach, and flips him over her shoulder.

Katsuki lands hard on the ground face up. He does a backwards roll onto his feet and kicks out her legs. She falls, but kicks him up in the face again as she tumbles back onto her feet.

Damn. This girl can fight! She wasn't very big, but she was skilled .  

Where the fuck was Deku?

He charges again, but she fades to the side and comes back around jabbing him straight into the ribs and follows up with a kick aiming towards his head. He catches her leg this time and pulls her close to his fist. He punches her face shield off revealing her face. Katsuki freezes.

It's Izuku`s round faced friend.

The girl punched him straight in nose, making him let go of her leg. She spins and uses the momentum to snap a kick straight on the side of his head. He staggers back.

He is having his ass handed to him. Katsuki Bakugou never has his ass handed to him.

She charges after him, but he is too late. Her hand is about to make contact with his face- presumably to make him another floating object. He winces back, but the hand never makes contact. He looks up to see none other than his green themed partner. Deku grabbed her wrist and threw her into the air with green light behind the throw.

She slaps a palm onto her shoulder and she catches herself mid air, now floating.

Deku peers over his shoulder and smiles.

“Sorry I'm late, Zero.” he says reassuringly.

“I could have dealt with her.” Ground Zero tries to defend, rising to his feet.

“I never doubted you.” Deku snickers.

Zero grumbles something under his breath. Deku looks back at the villian with seriousness taking over his face.

“She is the strongest one we've dealt with yet.” Katsuki spits out

“Uraraka Ochako is a trained martial artist.” Deku says in response.

Katsuki should have figured. Izuku has a knack for befriending the strongest people around him.

“She can only levitate something when her whole palm makes contact.” Katsuki informs. “She can Levitate it's pieces if it's destroyed as well.”

“That's a strong power.” Deku murmurs. “Nothing we can't handle though.”

Deku steps forward.

“Ochako! What do you want? What would you gain by doing all of this?”

Her blackened eyes narrow. “It`s Uravity now.” she says in a voice mixed with something that isn't her own. Almost like a deeper voice is echoing her words as she speaks.

A loud crackle of thunder is heard from the distance. This catches the two heros off guard. The lightning draws nearer.

“The Hell?!” Katsuki chokes out.

A lightning bolt strikes in the middle of the cafeteria and a blacked eyed Denki appears before their eyes.

Katsuki knew then and there that they were in deeper shit than they were before.

Chapter Text

Izuku looked between Denki and Ochako.

Two villains?! Two exceptionally strong ones at that. And both of them are his classmates.

Denki steps towards ‘Uravity’.

“The Master wants us to leave now, Uravity” he says with his own voice echoes by a much deeper one. “He has a task for us to carry out.”

“Denki!” a voice calls out from outside. Kirishima look like he had been chasing after him.

“I'm Chargebolt now.” he snaps in reply. He turns back to Uravity. “Let's go before the Master gets angry.”

A fist powered by green charge makes contact with Chargebolt`s face. He is launched back into a wall leaving a good sized dent.

“You aren't going anywhere.” Deku declared.

Ground Zero goes over and stands at Deku`s side.

“What do you say? I take Floaty and you take Sparky?”

Deku sends back a concerned look.

“I need this Deku! I need to come out on top!”

Deku rolls his eyes but sends him a playful smirk.

“Deal.” he says with determination flowing through him. Zero nods back and they both charge after their targeted villain.

Chargebolt stands up and jumps through the broken window leading outside. Deku follows and charges at him for a kick. Chargebolt grabs Deku`s leg and electrocutes him. Deku yells out in pain and breaks away from his hold. This is where he is at a disadvantage. He is only good at close combat. Denki can do long range and short range. Deku begins to contemplate while dodging more lightning attacks.

Deku fades behind Chargebolt and makes contact with his back. Lightning fast, Chargebolt turns around to face him and grabs his fist and sends another electrocution shock. This time, Chargebolt doesn't let go. Deku bites back a scream, his teeth slicing through the skin on his lip. He kicks Chargebolt in the head and the electrocution ceases. Deku stumbles backwards, barely keeping his balance.

Deku jumps to the side just barely missing a lightning bolt aimed right for him. He dodges a few more times, but the last one is a direct hit.

Close combat isn't going to work no matter what he does. Deku`s vision begins to blur out. He knows then that he doesn't have a lot of time. The electrocution shocks have been too hard on his body.

Long distance. How to do long distance.

Ground Zero is really good at long distance. What would Zero do? Probably launch an explosion as a mask to close hit. He doesn't have explosion powers… aha!

Izuku kicks down a tree with his enhanced strength and throws it at Chargebolt. Chargebolt dodges, but is hit with a different tree on his escape path. The tree pins him to the ground. He tries to electricite the tree, but it catches on fire. Chargebolt`s eyes widened in horror. He's stuck! And he is about to burn to death!

Izuku pulls him out from the tree and pins him down with one that's not on fire. He cups his hands on the sides of Denki`s head. Denki sends a mass of electricity through Izuku`s body. Izuku yells out in pain, but doesn't let go. Green light ripples from his hands and the electrocution slowly subsides. Denki`s eyes go back to normal and he goes unconscious.

Deku trudges to his feet and  lifts the tree off of his classmate. After that he falls to his knees with one hand on the ground to support himself from totally falling. He is breathing heavily. His vision blurs out even more. Damnit.

He shakes his head and makes his way over to the broken window to see the fight between his partner and Uravity. He knows that his work isn't over yet.

He still has to save Ochako.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki stared back at Uravity. She is a worthy opponent.

He decides that he is going to have to spar with her later when they are on even playing field with no powers. Oh yeah, and when she isn't a villain.

“Hey! Uravity you said it was? I want you to do me a favor!” he points his finger in her direction. “I want you to come at me with everything you have! I don't want to win knowing you were half assing it! Got it?!”

Uravity stared at him with confusion, but her expression hardened. Her blackened eyes make her seem all the more terrifying.

She lowers herself to the ground, and gets into a fighting stance. Katsuki sends her a wide grin and gets into position himself.

They charge towards each other.

Ground Zero starts with a right hook. Uravity blocks it with a kick and spins for another

kick to his ribs. Zero catches her kick and pulls her off balance. She falls down, but kicks out Zero`s leg and follows up with an uppercut to his jaw as he collapses down. Zero makes contact with a left hook to her face. Uravity tumbles through his legs and kicks upwards into his groin.

The suit gives Zero protection so it didn't hurt as much as it would, but it still hurt .  

“If you're gonna play dirty-” he sends a punch to the ground with an explosion just barely missing her. “-then so will I!”

There is a giant crater in the floor from the blast. Uravity stands up and slaps a hand on the table next to her. The table bashes into the hero pushing him back. Zero blows it up and charges straight for her, projected into the air. She side steps and Zero goes crashing into the wall.

He hears a loud cry and the sound of electricity crackles from the outside battle.

Deku.

Damnit. He needs to go help Deku! He needs to finish this bitch off first!

Uravity floats in the air after him. Zero rolls to the side and just barely dodges the blow. He uses the dust from her attack as a smokescreen and projects himself up in the air and comes landing back down on top of her. He pins her down with his foot to her stomach. Another crater formed from the impact of the blast.

He leans down close to her face.

“Looks like I won.” Katsuki says with a boastful tone.

Uravity grabbed into his leg. The hero is then levitated into the air.

Damnit! He forgot about that.

Uravity jumps to her feet and brushes herself off with one hand. The other hand is held out- seemingly being the hand holding up the hero. She throws him into the ceiling, then the floor, the wall, the ceiling, the other wall, and then the floor again.

The hero is left on the cold hard ground. In the dent on the floor the impact of his body made. He grudgingly sits himself up. She levitates him again, this time just hovering in air.

There must be a way to throw off her concentration.

Katsuki begins to shoot random explosion is different directions. Uravity begins to struggle keeping him in one place and is forced to let go of her hold.

He sees a green flash from the corner of his eye. The smug smirk on Katsuki`s face grows from ear to ear.

“This has been fun and all, but it's time to end this fight.”

Ground Zero charges forward and kicks her back by the stomach. His green partner catches her places his hands on the sides of her head. Zero approaches her and kneels down to her level.

“You were a worthy opponent.” he mutters.

With a green flash, her blackened eyes are returned to normal and she collapses back Deku`s hold.

Deku lays her down and gingerly brushes some of her hair out of her face. He sighs and stands back up to face Zero.

“We did it.” the green hero says triumphantly. Katsuki was about to agree, but noticed how wobbly his partner`s knees were getting.

“Come on. Let's get out of here.” Zero muttered to Deku and places a hand on the small of his back to guide him away. They jump out the broken window to the outside. They see that the paramedics are already taking care of Denki.

“Hey!” a voice hollars.

If it weren't for the familiarity of the voice, Katsuki would have ignored it and flew off. He turned over his shoulder, Deku did too out of curiosity.

It was Kirishima!

“I`m not here for an autograph!” he says in a rush. “Well not that I`d mind one. I would really like one actually. But not the time. I wanted to tell you is I saw Denki get mind controlled.”

Both heroes are listening intently now.

“There was this guy with silver hair. He was talking to him, I couldn't make out what they were talking about, but as I got closer I recognized the guy. He was the last person I saw before I was mind controlled myself. I didn't remember him until I saw him again.”

“You said he has silver hair?” Deku said. “Anything else that could be used to distinguish him?”

“He had a lot of wrinkles on his face, but he wasn't old. He wasn't much older than us actually. And his voice. Man it sounded like he hadn't drank any water for a year it was so scratchy. But that's about it.”

Deku and Zero exchanged looks.

They have a lead.

Deku places a hand on Kirishima`s shoulder.

“Thank you for telling us this. Make sure that Denki and Ochako get the medical care they need.”

Kirishima nodded and put his hand up for a solute and turned away back to his yellow haired friend being bandaged up.

The two heros turn away to make their departure only for a camera to be shoved in their faces.

“Heroes! What are your thoughts on these attacks by the League of Villains?”

“How are you going to stop them?”

“Are the villains targeting kids from UA?”

“These kids claimed to be mind controlled. Is that true?”

Katsuki was overwhelmed by the amount of questions swarming him. There was nothing he hated more than being surrounded by large groups of people. He was ready to blast them all away.

“The mind control victims are just as innocent as the people injured on the sidelines from their powers.” Deku says speaking over all of them. “We finally have a lead on who is controlling them, and when we find them, we will apprehend them and make them face the fist of justice!”

Deku`s declaration triggered a hundred different flashes from cameras when he said that.

Deku and Ground Zero exchange glances and simultaneously nod.

“That's all we have to say for today folks!” Deku says and they turn around and fly up onto the rooftops out of sight.

They retreat to the factory. It somehow became their go to meeting spot. The smog covered them perfectly and they couldn't see which direction the other goes in to go home.

Deku`s knees give out from under him as soon as they make it by the large chimney. Katsuki catches him midfall by wrapping his arm around his waist.

“Healing two mind control victims in one day exerted a lot of my energy.”

“That on top of the amount of times that sparky electrocuted you.”

“Yeah. That too.”

Deku looked up and gazed into Katsuki`s crimson. Katsuki realizes then just how close their faces were, and that he was still holding him up by the waist. Katsuki lowers him down sitting upright leaning him up against the chimney. He sits down next to his green masked partner. Turns out Deku can't even sit upright on his own and ends up leaning into Katsuki`s shoulder.

“I probably look terrible.” Deku says with humor in his voice.

“Not as terrible as me.” Katsuki huffs. “I got my ass handed to me by a little girl.”

“She was no little girl.” Deku giggles. “I know her in my private life. She goes through every day with a brave face. But she went through something bad last night, and the villains got to her.”

“...does she know?”

“Know?”
“About you?”

“About me? About me being Deku? No of course not. Anybody that knew would be put

At serious risk.”

Deku knows round face. That is a huge hint.

“Katsuki Bakugou. Does he know?”

That catches him off guard.

“No why?”

Deku lets out a breath of relief.

“Just checking. I got wind that he was your informant which is why I asked.”

“Y-yeah. He is. His family has connections.”

“Okay.”

How the hell did Deku get wind of that? That was just a on the spot lie he told Izuku.  Izuku knows better than to go blabbing. There must have been someone else on the roof that night then. He supposes that it's not the biggest deal for his hero partner to think that (it could make things easier to explain in the future), but it could potentially put a target on his back for villains.  

“Zero?”

“Yeah?”

“I-I'm losing cautiousness.”

Without a second warning, Deku slumps from leaning on Katsuki`s shoulder to his lap.

Well shit. What was he supposed to do now?!

He scoops him up carefully bridal style and takes off.

He figures he can give skeleton man a visit. Hopefully the old man will finally give him back his umbrella. It looks like it's going to rain soon.

____________________________________________________________________________

Shouto Todoroki is sitting in the security camera room at UA.

Conveniently the school doesn't look at any of the footage without any reason to. He figures they might go back today and see what kind of footage they captured from the fight to send to the news. He volunteered to be the one to do so.

He was one of the academy`s golden children so they would trust him with a task such as this.

He rewinds to the moment the villain smashed through the window. He notices something very interesting.

Katsuki Bakugou was about to walk into the doors, but his eyes widened. He ducks to the side away from the door windows and he-

The screen goes to fuzz after a bright red light overtakes the screen.

Interesting. Very interesting.

That was the same door that Ground Zero kicked down a second later.

Todoroki has his suspicions, but can't be too sure.

He surfs through the different cameras at that particular time of day and sees that a green light fuzzed out the camera by the boys bathroom.

Also interesting.

Chapter Text

Katsuki gingerly laid his hero partner down on the futon Skeleton man provided. He sat by Deku`s side on his knees, his knuckles turning white from clenching too hard on his lap. He transformed back into his normal school uniform from before.

“You know, young Bakugou” the old Toshinori said placing a hand on Katsuki`s shoulder. “This may not be what you want to hear, but this is the consequence of you giving into your pride.”

Katsuki looked up at him with a scowl.

“You don't know what you're talking about,old man. You weren't even there.”

“I watched a livestream of it. I saw the whole thing. You insisted to take on Uravity, even though Deku had the disadvantage with Chargebolt. A fight that you would have had better odds of winning.”

“But we won. He won.”

“At what cost? Deku`s body couldn't handle the lightning being shot at him. You would have been more resistant to it. Your body is resistant to your explosions, so you would have been able to handle Chargebolt`s attacks far better.”

Katsuki slapped Toshinori`s hand away from his shoulder. His hair covered his face.

He was right. He knew he was. But-

“I took on Uravity because I wanted to beat her myself. Deku agreed to it because he thought he could take on Piss Hair, and I trusted Deku.” he peers up showing his piercing crimson gaze. “I trust Deku.”

Toshinori peers back at him for a moment, and turns away.

“Deku is reckless. He is too confident sometimes. It is your job to watch his back so he can reverse the mind control effects. Today was a close call, all because you were insistent that you could both take on villains you both were weak against.”

Katsuki cringes away in shame.

“Deku has done his best with being a great partner to you. Make sure you keep up with doing the same.”

Katsuki stood up and stormed out the door, snatching his umbrella that he gave Toshimori long ago from the umbrella rack on his way out.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku`s eyes slowly open up.

He is in a small room with plain white walls and some blue velvet curtains on the windows. There is some All Might merchandise hanging on the walls and a cream rug for flooring.

“Sensei! He's awake!”

Izuku sits up suddenly- pain shoots through his whole body and he lays back down. There is a little boy with messy black hair and blue eyes staring at him.

“Where am I?” Izuku asks cautiously.

“You know, your hero costume looks kind of goofy in person.” the boy says with all seriousness.

A hand rests on the boy`s shoulder. The boy peers up to see an old man that Izuku can assume is his ‘Sensei’ staring down at his with dark tired eyes.

“Toshinori-san.” Izuku says with realization.

“Hello there my boy. How are you feeling?”

“K-kind of terrible a-actually, but better than I did before?”

“You should power down from your hero suit. It will help conserve your energy.”

Izuku looks down at himself to find that he's right. He was still in his hero costume. He places his hand on his bracelet. The bracelet let's off  green light and the suit morphs back into his school uniform.

“H-how long was I out?” he asks nervously.

“A couple hours.”

His mother has to be worried sick. He pulls out his phone and sees that he has 23 missed calls from his mom and 2 missed calls from Kachaan. Izuku lets out a long sigh. What can he even say?

Wait.

“How did I get here?” Izuku asks the old man.

“Ground Zero brought you here while you were uncautious. He didn't know where you lived so he brought you to my home. Smart move on his part.”

“He was so worried. It was kind of sad.” the little boy apparently named ‘Kouta’ said with a sneer.

“Be nice Kouta. He was worried about his friend.”

“He was like a love sick puppy!”

“Kouta why don't you go make some tea for us.”

Izuku sits upright. “Nono I won`t impose. I should really get going anyways. My mother is worried sick.” he rises to his feet and gives them a polite bow. “Thank you so much for helping me. I really appreciate it.”

“You should tell that to your partner, not us.” Toshinori said while placing a hand on Izuku`s shoulder.  “And don't hesitate to come here if you ever need anything such as what happened today.”

Izuku nods and makes his way to the door. He puts on his shoes and is about to leave, but something comes to mind.

“Toshinori-san. There was someone who witnessed Denki being mind controlled. He said he had silver hair and a scratchy voice. Does that remind you of anyone you know?”

The old man shakes his head.

“Sorry my boy, the League of Villains must have completely new members by now. I'm sorry to say that I have no idea who could be a part of their plans. Take care my boy, and be careful.”

Izuku nods and heads out the door and dials his mom's number.

“IZUKU WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN ANSWERING YOUR PHONE?!”

“Hi mom. I'm so sorry I didn't call you. My battery died and the school didn't let me use the office phone because they wanted us all to be in the same place after what happened. I borrowed my friends charger.”

There is silence on her end. A pause long enough to make Izuku think she hung up.

“Mom?”

“*sigh* okay. As long as you're safe. I love you.”

“I love you too mom. I'll be home soon.”

“Be careful getting home.”

“I will.” he hangs up.

He goes to his contacts and presses the call button for ‘Kachaan’.

He picks up the phone almost immediately.

“Izuku what the fuck?! Why weren't you at school the rest of the day you stupid shit! If you were dipping out you could have at least told me so we could of gone together!”

“S-sorry Kachaan.”

“You were really dipping? Wow, mister goody two shoes is going places. You have to have heard what happened.”

“Y-yeah c-crazy right? Is everyone alright?”

“Yeah nobody died, but the cafeteria is fucking wrecked! You should see it before they patch it all up. That battle did some damage alright. Hey are you still coming to my photoshoot this weekend? I gotta know so I can tell my agent to let you in the building ahead of time.”

“Y-yes of course!”

“Alright. Later nerd.”

“G-goodbye!”

That was kind of a short call even for Kachaan. He must have something to do.

All of 2 minutes later, his hero phone rings. He picks it up.

“Hey Zero.” Izuku says in his facade confident voice he uses when he is Deku.

“Didn't think you'd answer. How are you feeling?”

“I'm fine now.”

“Good. I just wanted to make sure you were awake. I'll see you around then-”

“Thank you!” Izuku blurts out cutting him off. “Thank you for helping me! I don't know what I would of done without you there. So thank you.”

“You don't have to thank me a hundred times, jeez. But don't sweat it. Anything for you.”

He said it so casually, but Izuku knows now that he really means it.

“I want to return the favor.” Izuku says without thinking. “Name something and I'll make it happen.”

“..... I'll have to keep that in mind~” Izuku ia quick to pick up on the flirtatious tone of voice.

Izuku can't fight the blush that rises to his cheeks. He can do it when he's Deku, but right now he is just Izuku. Easily flustered little Izuku.

“S- *ahem* Sure thing.”

A chuckle is heard over the phone. “Later Deku.” and then he hangs up.

Just what did he agree to.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Katsuki Bakugou! What the HELL did you do to your perfect nails?!” Mrs. Bakugou roared at him.

“Get off my case you hag! The chip on my PINKY FINGER is NOT NOTICABLE!”

“No son of mine is going to ignore the details! Especially on a photo shoot day. You are going to show this to your makeup artist and get it fixed OR I WILL BEAT YOUR LITTLE ASS AND DO IT MYSELF!”

“ALRIGHT JEEZ MOM GET AWAY FROM ME!”

“THATS RIGHT GIVE YOUR MOTHER A HUG!”

“MOOOOOM!”

Today was the day of his photo shoot for that Homecoming gig. He was NOT looking forward to it. He slips from his mother`s bone crushing hug and storms out the door.

___________________________________________________________________________

Izuku is sitting on the camera side of the pre set stage. He is sitting with his legs crossed and a notebook in his lap. He isn't allowed in the makeup and dressing room while the makeup artists work their magic. So he waits patiently cranking out some homework while he's waiting.

Every so often though he checks his phone to see if Ochako returned his messages. She still hasn't said a word to anyone since the incident two days ago. She didn't go to school the next day. And now it's Saturday, so Izuku has to wait until Monday to see her in person.

After what seems like a couple hours, the photographer shouts out “Places!”

Izuku closes his notebook shut and attends his eyes to the stage. The stage has a simple black background with some stringed lights hanging up and a banner that reads ‘HOMECOMING’ in bold lettering.

Two girls come out on stage along with Kachaan -and ooooh- Izuku swears that he has stars in his eyes watching his childhood friend move in that suit.

“Where is the fourth model?” the photographer asked with a hint of annoyance.

“I just got a message that his ride is running late.”

The photographer pinches his nose in aggravation.

“Alright fine. We will do the female shots first. Bakugou get off the stage!”

Katsuki rolled his eyes and jumped off the stage and made his way over to Izuku. He sat down in the chair next to him.

“And here it goes. Someone always manages to fuck something up during these things.” Katsuki complained putting his feet up on the table next to him.

“It's not the worst thing that could happen.” Izuku tries to reason.

“It's one of the worst damn things! Once he gets here it's gonna take like an hour for him to get ready. More time I have to do stick around.” the blonde complains.

Izuku is now arms length away from Kachaan. He really takes in his features. He notices that he is wearing more eyeliner than usual and his skin is too perfect in color from the foundation used. His hair is gelled up to a stiff point and seems shinier than usual. Izuku decides then that he really doesn't need any of that make up. That if anything it takes away from Kachaan`s natural beauty.

Izuku`s eyes trail down the blonde`s body and takes in the sight of his attire. The black blazer jack fits snugly over his well built arms. He is wearing a wine red button up underneath it that really makes his creamy skin pop. It also matches his amazing crimson eyes. He is wearing a black satin tie- which was another thing that off put Izuku.

If Kachaan had creative freedom in this he knows that he would ditch the tie and keep the top few buttons open to expose his collarbone. Mhhhhksdjdvksj- Izuku can't think of that right now. He turns his attention to the girls on stage.

They were doing couples poses and cute friendship things. Holding hands, hugging, one gave the other a kiss on the cheek, one was holding the other from behind. They stood in front of each other like they were slow dancing. It was quite adorable actually. But he knows it's all an act. He finds himself doodling the pair on the stage in their different poses. He has no idea how much time has passed, but he has filled a good two pages with sketches.

“You've gotten pretty good.” Kachaan says looking over his shoulder.

“O-oh t-t-hanks. I mean. They're n-not that great. Just quick doodles.”  he has no idea when his friend started watching him, or when he scooted his chair over so that they were practically leaning against one another.

“Well they seem cool to me.”

Izuku flushes and looks down at his feet with a shy smile. Kachaan swipes away the notebook and begins flipping through the pages.

“H-Hey Kachaan! You can't just look through that!”

“You have drawings on every page. What does Aizawa think of you doodling all over your homework?”

“He d-doesn`t care as long as he can read the work. Now can I have that back?”

“No way, I'm not done looking.”

“Kachaaaaaan.”

“You can have your nerd book back in a minute.”

Izuku tries to reach for it, but Katsuki holds him back with one hand while he flips through the pages with the other. Izuku gives up after a few minutes and with his knees to his chest. He is too afraid to see the expression on Kachaan`s face as he looks through all of his doodles and random notes. He has many notebooks, luckily the one in Kachaan`s hands is merely for homework and occasional sketching.

“Bakugou-samma! You're up!”

Kachaan groans and hands the notebook back to Izuku.

“Your drawings are cool.” he gives Izuku a grin and pats him once on the head, then whips around and makes his way to the stage.

Izuku`s hand touches the spot where Kachan patted him on the head. It was a friendly touch. Something that wouldn't mean much to most people, but for Katsuki Bakugou- it means you're very close to him for ay sort of physical affection.

Izuku watches Kachaan wrap his arms around one of the girl models.

Well, genuine physical affection.

The blonde poses for couples shots with both of them. Izuku watches Kachaan work his magic acting like he was having fun. To the average person it would seem that he wasn`t just posing. He couldn't fool Izuku though. He knew that for Kachaan`s smiles to be legitimate, his eyes would crinkle slightly at the corners.

“Has the other male model arrived yet?”

“No sir. He just called and said he can't make it in today.”

The photographer rubs his temples. “My client needs these pictures by tomorrow. It was part of the agreement that we would feature both male and female same sex couples for the magazine. What are we going to do now….”

Izuku and the photographer make uncomfortable eye contact.

“He will do.” he declares.

He will do? Do for what? This isn't what he thinks it is-

The photographer claps his hands twice.

“Get this young man into the makeup room and make him look camera ready! He is our substitute tonight.”

“H-Hang on! I n-n-never ag-greed to this!”

Two woman who he presumes to be makeup artists drag him into the dressing room. They sit him down in a chair and start doing his makeup. Izuku is pretty sure this is illegal. He never consented to this!

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki is pretty sure he just witnessed the kidnapping of his childhood friend.

Should he be worried?

“Well that was an unexpected turn of events.” one of the girl models says with amusement. Katsuki thinks her name was Momo, but he's not sure. The only reason he knows that is because he has worked with her before and is pretty sure she goes to UA with them.  All these fucking extras. Too many to keep track of.

“You two already look cute together. Some genuine action for a photoshoot never hurt

anyone.” the other one says. Katsuki didn't know her name, she was kind of forgettable actually. Like she was invisible or something.

“Oi. What's that supposed to mean?”

“That you two make a cute couple!”

Katsuki snorts in amusement. “Tch. Now that would be something.” he says jokingly. His eyes trail over to the dressing room. He just hopes that Izuku`s anxiety doesn't get the best of him.

“You mean he's not your boyfriend?” Momo asks with a slightly surprised tone.

“Nah. He's here so I don't go mentally insane from the sheer agony of this job.”

“Hm. Could of fooled me.” she retorts with amusement.

Katsuki decides to ignore what she said and lean against the wall and scroll through his phone. He is scrolling through Ground Zero and Deku articles. People were ecstatic about the heros fighting two villains at the same time. There was even a video of his battle between him and Uravity. He clicked play and watched his ass get handed to him by her. He grinds his teeth at the sight.

He looked kind of pathetic….. Katsuki decided then that he was going to have to start training. He will ask round face where she got her training from.

He hears the dressing room door open and close. He peers up from his phone to see his childhood friend in a similar attire to himself, but with a black vest and a white button up. His green locks weren`t as wild and free floating, but still has the fluffy look to them. His freckles were completely coated over with concealer, and his lashes were dark and defined.

He admits to himself that the makeup artists did a good job cleaning him up. He almost looks like a different person in this getup. The big give away though is how he has his arms crossed by his stomach, like he was hugging himself and his nervous expression.

Izuku sheepishly walked out onto the stage. Katsuki placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

“You ready?”

“I-I-I G-g-uess..”

Katsuki eye was drawn to Izuku`s tie.

It's fucking tied wrong! How could the makeup artists overlook that?!

He reaches out and undoos Izuku`s black tie. Izuku`s face blushes lightly through the concealer caked on his face.

He hears the click of the camera.

Ah, the photographer wanted some action shots huh? Well he will get some of those.

Izuku looks over at the camera. Katsuku holds the tied tie with one hand and tilt`s Izuku`s chin up with the other looking at him with kindness reflecting in his crimson eyes.

“Just focus on me. It's just the two of us and nobody else, got it?”

Izuku seems to be in a daze, his forest green orbs looking for something in his own crimson eyes. His face visibly relaxes and a soft smile tugs at his cheeks.

Another few camera snaps.

Katsuki embraces Izuku from behind, doing the typical couple`s photo at a dance. Then they move into a hug face to face. Their eyes focused entirely on eachother. They move into hand holding, arm interlocking, and slow dancing.

Katsuki admits that doing these things with someone he actually knows is a lot easier than doing with some posh stranger.

He will have to bring Izuku to more of his photo shoots in the slight chance that something like this happens again.

“I want a kiss on the cheek shot!” the photographer announces.

Easy enough. Katsuki has kissed plenty of strangers in his line of work. He wraps his fingers gingerly on the underside of Izuku`s chin and lightly pecks him on the cheek, lingering there for a moment for the camera to take a few snapshots.

____________________________________________________________________________

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OHSJSDFJSDKD

Izuku is having an emotional crisis here. The his brain shuts down and doesn't compute with anything anyone is saying to him. He knows he probably has the most lovesick grin plastered on his face, but he doesn't care.

He responds to everything said to him with distant “uhuh.” and “yeah.” softly. His mind was in a far off place, and that place is that moment in time where Kachaan kissed him on the cheek.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki is almost worried about Izuku. He isn't his normal jittery self after they were done taking pictures. He seemed relaxed, but distracted. Like his mind wasn't all there. But he seemed happy.

Relaxed and happy is not a combo he is used to seeing on his childhood friends face.

They went into the dressing room and changed back to their normal clothes and washed the obnoxious amounts of makeup off their faces. Katsuki washes it all off completely and doesn't bother with putting on his everyday eyeliner look. He is so fucking done with makeup today.

Izuku steps out of the changing room wearing a white t-shirt and a lime green flannel and cream cargo shorts. His hair is back to its former free flowing glory and his freckles are back. It's almost relieving for Katsuki to see that his childhood friend is still the same old Izuku under all that makeup and glam. Katsuki was wearing a black tank top and black jeans and a red belt. A comfortable look for him.

They walk out of the photography studio together.

“That turned out to be not so bad after all.” Katsuki says with casualty. Izuku`s smile seems to widen even further. “I mean, it's way easier doing that with somebody you're actually friends with rather than some stuck up shit head you've never met.”

Izuku`s smile faltered slightly. Just slightly. But Katsuki is quick to notice.

“Where are you going now?” he asks.

“Beats me… Wanna go to my place and play video games?”

That seems to lift Izuku`s spirits up back to their former glory.

“Mario Kart?” he asks slyly.

“You're going down motherfucker!”

Chapter Text

Hitoshi Shinsou has always been exceptional at school.

He attends UA and is in Class B. He got in on his brain power and scholarship. He has been at the top at every class he has been in since grade school. He is close to getting the top gpa in the whole school. It's the only thing that he was good at was grades. He would continue to be the best at that. But there is one student that stands in his way.

Izuku Midoriya.

That name doesn't ring a bell to Shinou. He must be in Class A with Aizawa. He has only heard of the genius of Aiawa`s teaching skills and Shinou wants to get in that class.

With mid semester placement tests coming up, he was going to score the highest. And nothing was going to stop him.

____________________________________________________________________________

Ochako loved her mom, she really does.

But right now she hated her for making her go to school. Yesterday had been the day her dad finally woken up and she wanted to spend the day with her father (that and she really didn't want to face her classmates after what happened).

So here she is, standing in front of the school gates. She takes a deep breath.

She can do this.

She keeps her head down and weeds her way through the long narrow halls to get to her class. When she makes it, she takes her seat keeping her head down and facing away from the rest of the class.

“Ochako! We are so glad to have you back!”

She peers up to see that her classmates are beginning to crowd around her.

“We were all worried sick about you!”

“How are you feeling?”

“It's good to have you back.”

….what?! Why is everyone acting so weird. Wouldn't they be afraid of her? Wouldn't they hate her?!

Later that day she finds out why. She had been too distracted to keep up with the news (that and she was afraid to watch her own battle). The hero's had declared the mind controlled victims to be… well victims. And that it's not their fault. It would also explain why people were talking to Tokoyami again too.

She decided then and there that it would be her mission to find and thank Deku and Ground Zero for saving her.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki was uncomfortable.

He was uncomfortable in seeing that yellow haired bastard ALL OF A SUDDEN being buddy-buddy with his hard headed friend.

He agreed to hang out at the mall with Kirishima. BUT THEN Kirishima insisted that they let this idiot tag along.

Not only that, but they seem to have gotten very comfortable with each other which makes Katsuki very very uncomfortable .  He just can't wrap his head around them being all friendly with one another after what happened.

It was like this spark brain was a different person or some shit.

“Quit being all tense Bakugou.” Kirishima said patting him on the shoulder. “That scowl is going to leave creases in your model face.”

“Worry about your own stupid face and I'll worry about mine.” he grunted through his teeth.

“Kirishima was right. You are funny.” Denki said patting Katsuki`s other shoulder like they're old pals or some shit.

Katsuki grabbed his wrist and stared him down intensely with his crimson eyes.

“Don`t. Touch. Me.”

“G-got it.”

Denki pulls away and Katsuki decides then and there that he can't do this. He simply can't .

He goes off on his own in the mall. He would apologize to Kirishima later for it.

Katsuki stopped in his tracks when they were out of sight. Well now what? The city mall wasn't exactly close to where he lives, and he  just got here. Might as well stay a while.

The blonde spots a clothing store.

Hm. He could use a few more threads…..

____________________________________________________________________________

“Homecoming is only a month away! We have to hurry before it becomes all slim picking for what to wear!” is what Ochako said during lunch period. Izuku suggested that they go shopping after school.

They were at the city mall, and Ochako was dragging him from store to store at the sight of any Homecoming outfit at the front window display.

He found out that she was very picky with what she was looking for. It reminded him a lot of Kachaan. As a model, he was very picky of what he wore out in public.

“This one has things for guys too. Let's give it a looksee.”

He doesn't argue, just let's himself get dragged around the three story mall.

“Here, why don't we make this fun.” she says cheerfully. “What if we started looking for outfits for eachother, since we haven't seen anything anywhere that we really liked. It`ll be fun!”

Izuku smiled with a shrug.

“S-sure.”

They part ways in different sections in the store.

Hmmm.. something that Ochako would look good in. He admits to himself that he isn't as good with fashion as someone like Kachaan, but he feels that he has learned a thing or two from him. What would Kachaan say.

‘Always look for something that complements your best feature.’ his voice rings in his head.

Ochako has large brown eyes. Hm. brown isn't a very good color to work with. What's the next most noticeable thing… pink. Her cheeks are always pink.

Pink it is.

Good thing the outfits here are sorted by color. He wanders over to the pink section and begins to go through them.

____________________________________________________________________________

Something for Izuku-kun. Ugh! Everything looks so bland. All these men outfits look the exact same!

Ochako wouldn't give up. This store was HUGE, so she was sure to find something.

She is flipping through the array of colored men`s blazers hoping she would come across anything . Even as a start.

“Didn't think you'd be into wearing suits, pink cheeks.”

Pink cheeks?! There's only one person who would call her that!

“Who you calling pink cheeks, spikey?!” she says whipping around with a pout to face the one and only Katsuki Bakugou.

“You should go deep purple if you are going for a suit. But light pink for a dress.” he says eyeing her up and down. “Not that I care.” he says tearing his eyes away in a scowl. “Just saying so you might think twice before committing a crime against fashion that would make you look like an idiot who can't dress themself.”

She blinks twice in confusion.

“O-oh no I'm not looking for a suit for me. I'm looking for Izuku-kun.”

That sparks his interest. She can see it in his eyes as he cocks and eyebrow.

Hmmmmmm.

“Can't imagine why he'd ask for your help when that shitty nerd has already learned from the best.”

“From what, you?!” she deadpans.

“Take it from the guy who gets paid to model Homecoming suits.” he says with a scoff and lightly pushes her aside to look through the suits on the rack.

Ochako crosses her arms in front of her chest.

Just what does Izuku-kun see in this asshole?!

“You look for  ties to match the sets of suits I put together. I'm sure you can handle that much.” He says handing her pieces of what she assumed to be the first of many suits he will be putting together.

Was he helping her or insulting her? Either way she could really use the help. Putting together suits were harder than she thought.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku has a dress in each hand, holding them up to decide between them. One of them was sleeveless and had a puffy skirt and a flower on the sash, and the other had thin sleeves made of ribbons and bows lining the belt. He thinks that both of them would look great on her, he just can't decide which to show her…

“Can I help you with anything?” someone from the corner of his eye asks. Izuku didn't take his eyes off of the dresses, but he assumed that he was a worker.

“I`m just trying to decide between these two to show my friend. I'm helping her pick out an outfit for Homecoming.” he says without looking up.

“I see. Forgive me for being curious, but does that friend happen to be Miss Ochako?”

Izuku tears his eyes away from the dresses to face the worker eye to eye. Half of his hair was titanium blonde, and the other was a reddish brown. Izuku would recognise him from anywhere, even though he doesn't know him very well.

“A-are you in my class? You seem familiar.” he asks.

“Yes. I don't believe we have ever actually been introduced. I am Shouto Todoroki.”

“I-Izuku Midoriya. And y-yes this is for Ochako-chan.”

“Is she your date to the dance?”

“No. W-we are just helping each other out. This is a b-big store after all.”

“Indeed it is. And let me say that you have picked well for her. I could easily see her in either of these.”

“You think so? T-thank you.”

“Likewise. Now if need anything I will be at the front of the store.”

“T-thanks!”

Todoroki leaves Izuku alone once again.

Huh. He seems nice.

____________________________________________________________________________

Ochako and Katsuki have it narrowed down to two suit combinations. One of them has a bright green tie with a black sailor style black suit jacket, and the other was a white button up and a black vest with a darker green tie.

“I think the choice here is obvious.” the blonde says with his arms folded over his chest and a grin.

“I agree.” Ochako says with her arms also folded.

“The sailor one.” “The vest.” they both say simultaneously.

Their eyes meet for a staredown.

“The sailor one-” Ochako begins “Is brighter and more unique to the other suits that everyone will be wearing.”

“It's too masculine for him. The vest will complement his slim figure.” Katsuki argues back.

“That tie is murky green! That would clash too much with his hair.”

“The whole point is that it matches. It would make his eyes stand out!”

“The brighter green tie would make his eyes stand out more! That shade of green is just an eyesore and doesn't match his personality at all!”

“Listen here, round face. It's not shitty murky green, it's camouflage green. It will help blend the colors of the suit together-”

“He might as well wear a black tie! I would be less disgusting than that baby puke green.”

The two of them bash heads and stare each other down intensely.

“That shitty sailor jacket would sag off his skin and bones!” Katuki grunts while grinding his teeth.

“That muddy green is unflattering to his eyes and hair color!”

“Perhaps I could help you guys out.” a third party says causing them both to turn their intense stares away from one another.

He was a worker at the store. He has wild purple hair (kind of like Izuku`s, but wilder) and dark bags under his eyes like he hasn't slept in days. He eyes over the two suits with a hand stroking his chin.

“I would need to see what this guy looks like to give you my opinion. Do either of you have a picture?”

Katsuki was hesitant, but Ochako was quick to pull out her phone.

Ochako`s picture was a selfie they took together while at school eating lunch. In the picture the two had an arm around each other's backs in like a “bro hug” manor. They both had their hands up making a peace sign gesture.

Katsuki looked at the picture. “That`s a terrible example. You need a full body shot like this.” he pulls out his phone and shows them a picture of Izuku and him at the beach. The show had Katsuki half cut out, only showing one side of his face, and Izuku in the background waving in a loose fitting t-shirt and green swim trunks and sunglasses tucked into his wild hair. The sun was also setting in the distance and highlighted the surroundings.

“You guys went to the beach?” she said in surprise.

“Yeah. What of it?”

“Just didn't peg you to be a beach person.” she says. “You're so pale.”

The blonde shrugs, to Ochako`s surprise he doesn't find that to be an insult.

The purple haired employee looks between the two pictures. “So which one of you are dating him?” he asks casually.

Ochako and Katsuki exchange looks.  

“So both of you?” he says with humor laced in his voice.

“No way!” they shout in unison.

The worker cracks a small laugh putting his hands in his pockets. “I don't judge. It's the 21st century after all.”

Ochako and Katsuki exchange disgusted glances.

The worker coughs. “Anyways, I'm Shinou. I'm pretty sure I've seen you two around at UA. I'm from class B.”

“What a coincidence! I`m Ochako, and spikey over here is Bakugou. We are from class A.”

“I can introduce myself , roundy!”

Her eye twitches. “Forgive him, he's kind of a hot head when it comes to, well anybody.”

“Let me speak for myself will ya?!”

“My goodness, I don't know how Izuku-kun does it.”

Shinou`s eyes widened slightly at the mention of ‘Izuku’.

“Izuku Midoriya?” he finds himself asking.

“Yeah.” the girl says. “Does he know you?”

“I`ve seen him around in the hallways and such.” he turns his attention back to the suits. “Now Bakugou, you are absolutely right with the vest and button up. The sailor jacket is less common, but would be too baggy on him with his thin frame.”

Katsuki sent Ochako a shit eating grin.

“However, Ochako was right about the tie. I have no idea why we have this color on our shelves.”

Ochako sends back a smug look, and Katsuki looks the other way with a huff.

“So in that case, we can switch out the tie with the brighter one. Now send him a picture and see what he thinks.”

“Oh he's here in the store. Let me text him.”

“Oi! You didn't tell me you came here with him.”

“You never asked!”

____________________________________________________________________________

Shinsou stood there watching their interaction with a spark of interest. He couldn't quite tell what sort of relationship these two had.

Definitely not romantic. They acted like they hate each other, but they didn't?

“Tell him to meet us by the changing rooms.” Shinsou spoke up.

The brunette girl nodded and texted away at her phone. The spikey blonde boy simply stared at him with intense crimson orbs that he feels could burn a hole in his skull. Shinsou has a great poker face and doesn't it show that he feels uncomfortable from his gaze, but damn what was this guys problem?”

He guides the two over to the changing rooms and it seems their friend was waiting there already.

“Izuku-kun!”

“Ochako-chan! A-a-a-and K-kachaan?!”

“Oi nerd. Lemme see what you picked out for Roundy!”
“That's not my name, Spikes.”

“H-hey guys knock it off.”

Shinsou watches in disbelief at how the two stopped arguing just because their mutual green haired friend said so.

It is quite interesting…..

____________________________________________________________________________

“T-this is what I picked out for you Ochako-chan. I thought I`d show you both because I w-wasn`t sure which one you'd like better.” Izuku said sheepishly holding up the two dresses.

Ochako`s eyes widened and took both of them from his grasp.

“I`m gonna try both of them on! Spikey helped me pick out your outfit.” Katsuki clears his throat loudly. She leans in close with her hand cupping over her mouth and lowering her voice to a whisper. “He was going to make you wear a baby puke green tie.”

“I already told you it was camouflage green! And I still think it would look better than the emerald green one.”

Ochako rolled her eyes at him and skipped into the woman`s dressing room.

“Anyways.” Katsuki begins shoving the suit in Izuku`s face. “Try this on. I can have it tailored if it's too big.” he said averting his eyes away- turning his head to one side…. Izuku could be imagining it, but is that blush on Kachaan`s cheeks?

Huh….

“T-thank you Kachaan.” he stammers and makes his way into the men's dressing room looking back one more time.

Katsuki lets out a breath when Izuku is out of sight and shoves his hands in his pockets. He is quick to notice the purple haired employee staring at him.

“So he's dating you .” he said with a smug catlike face.

“Jeez, first my mom , then my co workers , and now you .” Katsuki says with exasperation. “I`ve known the nerd forever is all. We are just best friends.”

“They say that mothers know best.” Shinsou grins. “And I imagine your coworkers don't need to be around the two of you for very long to notice.”

“They were just saying that cause we were doing a modeling gig as a couple. My client wanted same sex representation or some shit.”

“That modeling job doesn't so happen to be the pictures featured in this week's Homecoming ad in this stores magazine does it?”

Katsuki stared at him with questioning eyes. “No way they released the photos so fast.”

“Take a look here.” Shinsou says and pulls a magazine out of his back pocket. “I keep the store magazine on me to show customers the sales. When I saw you two together, it reminded me of it.” he flips to a page filled with the many poses they did.

Katsuki swipes the magazine from him and takes a closer look.

He could recognize himself pretty easily at first glance. He was used to seeing himself with caked on makeup. But for Izuku, his curls were too tame from the vast amounts of hairspray they must of used. His hair color seemed to have been edited to be a few shades darker- almost seeming black. His lashes were too defined and full to be natural. And most of all signature freckles were completely covered over.  They definitely played around with some photoshop before publishing this. The only way Katsuki could recognize him was the facial expressions. The soft curve of his lips giving him that gentle smile that Katsuki has seen enough times to recognize it from anywhere.

“You two look good together.” Shinsou compliments while peering over Katsuki`s shoulder. The blonde honestly forgot he was standing right there.

Ochako is the first to come out wearing the dress with a flower on the sash and poofy skirt. Wow. Izuku really did do well with finding something suitable for her. He was learning.

Izuku steps out of the dressing room, and Katsuki`s attention snaps onto him. The blonde`s crimson orbs widen at the sight of his childhood friend wearing this outfit. The other suit he wore when  they were modeling wasn't quite right for Izuku, and he was more or less playing a part. This outfit was more… well Izuku. He hates to say it, but Roundcheeks was right about the emerald tie. It did make his eyes stand out way more than the darker one would have.

Katsuki spotted the tie around Izuku`s neck to be tied incorrectly. He is about to go fix it, but that purple haired bastard beat him to it.

He decides to turn to Roundy. She shoots him a shit eating grin with her arms folded over her chest.

He sends her an expression that reads ‘What?’

She rolls her eyes playfully and shakes her head.

Chapter Text

Katsuki was sitting at a school library table with that half and half bastard sitting across from him.

Katsuki thought back at how he got into this situation.

Oh that's right. Aizawa assigned him a tutor because he has more important things to worry about than algebra. Katsuki suggested that Izuku be his tutor because he has already helped him before. That was something that Katsuki could settle for, because it would be like hanging out every day after school. But nooooooo. Aizawa said that would be too much of a distraction for him being tutored by somebody he is friends  with and assigned him with half and half bastard.

Half and half bastard!

Almost anybody else would be better than this posh freak.

“So today, Bakugou-” half and half begins “-I would like to go over the questions you had trouble with on yesterday's test. That will give us somewhere to start from.”

Katsuki is leaning back in his chair with his feet on the table and his arms folded behind his head.

“It would be nice if you just pretended you care about getting your grade back up.” Todoroki says with his even tone of voice. “And you can start that by sitting properly in your seat.”

“You can't tell me how to fucking live my life, half and half.” Katsuki retorts with a glare.

“You're absolutely correct” Todoroki says without any shift in his voice or posture. “But right now with the situation at hand, it would be ill advised to go against Aizawa`s wishes of your student embetterment. You could get sent back to Class C, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to leave behind the friends you've made in Class A.”

That made Katsuki look at him dead in the eye.

Ugh. It would really suck being separated from Izuku and Kirishima…. They would never see each other. Not even at lunch.

Katsuki kicked his feet down and pushed his chair into the table and leaned his head on one hand with a pout.

Todoroki gives him a nod of approval and continues on.

The more he kisses Aizawa`s ass and aces the next few tests, the sooner he doesn't have to see half an half`s smug face after school every day.

____________________________________________________________________________

Iida Tenya is the class president of Class A at UA.

He has always been the one that plans out events and helps with executive decisions in the classroom. But most of all, he is incharge of maintaining order amongst his peers. Right now, Fumikage Tokoyami is pushing his buttons.

He had already confiscated his wallet chains and spike bracelets. And he continuously tells him to cover up that distasteful raven tattoo that he shows off all the time.

It's no wonder that someone like him got villainized and made wreck to the city.

Right now Tokoyami is protesting Iida taking away his choker.

“There is nothing in the school dress code that says I can't wear this.” the short black haired boy states crossing his arms. “If a choker is such a big deal, then why don't you pester Bakugou about his?”

“Now the difference between Bakugou`s necklace is that it's small and not a distraction to the class. You on the other hand- that thing is practically a dog collar!” Iida exclaims pointing at the leather strapped around Tokoyami`s neck. “It's hardly appropriate for the classroom and I strongly recommend you hand it in now before I make this a matter to the principal.”

“You know.” the short goth begins. “People have to start wondering what you are doing with all of my jewelry you keep taking away. Chains, spikes, and now a collar? You can't tell me that doesn't leave anything to the imagination now does it.”

A few surrounding students start giggling. Iida flushes from embarrassment.

“Now listen here you-”

“You hear that! He's not even denying it.” Tokoyami sneers.

“For your information I hand the items into the vice principal!” Iida defends.

“Oh? You and the vice principal? That's really kinky.”

“Why you-” Iida writes out a yellow slip and slaps it on Tokoyami`s desk. “-You can go see the vice principal yourself!”

Tokoyami`s smirk falters. He takes the slip in his hand and storms out the classroom door.

Iida fixes his glasses with an irritated huff.

Hooligans such as Tokoyami pollute the pristine quality of learning that UA provides to the elite class such as himself.

He spots something from the corner of his eye. He turns around to see Kirishima and Denki have their desks pushed together and sitting far too close to together to merely be just platonic.

“And you two there! At least 6 inches of space between you two!” Iida says while slapping his hand on the desk, making both of them jump.

“We are helping each other study before class.” red headed Kirishima definds.

“No excuses! Keep you hands to yourself in the classroom!”

“But we are-” Denki begins, but Iida cuts him off with a glare.

The two shift their chairs aparts and look in opposite direction, clearly annoyed.

“What about Kouji and Hagakure though?” Pink haired girl Mina defends pointing to the two, them doing pretty much the exact same thing. “They are sitting close and studying. And besides, class has even started yet! So what's the big deal?!”

To be honest, Iida forgets they even exist sometimes.

“The big deal, Miss Ashido, is that they were displaying inappropriate advances.”

“More inappropriate than Mineta`s goal to grab all of the girl`s boobs in class?!”

“Now that is a completely different discussion Miss Ashido-”

“No! I don't think it is. He is never properly punished for it because you think ‘well at least it's better than having these homos here hugging’. That's what it is isn't it?!”

The majority of the class is staring daggers at Iida now.

Iida adjusts his glasses.

“Miss Ashido, if you have a problem with the way I decide to maintain order in the classroom, then I suggest you take it up with Aizawa Sensei, or even the Principal. For the time being, I will do what I have to do to keep UA a pristine school.”

“You just abuse your power! You don't-”

“Fine! I will! Don't know why anybody hasn't done so yet.” she storms away back to her seat.

The thing is, people do all the time. But the school always sides with Iida in the end.

It was lunch time, and Iida sat alone at the lunch table as usual. Thus the hardship of being on top. He usually uses this time for extra studying anyways.

“H-Hi.” A voice says catching his attention.

Iida peers up from his book.

“Mr. Midoriya.” he says closing the book. “What can I do for you today?”

“I- I was just wondering if i-it was okay to s-sit here. All of my friends aren't at lunch a-a-nd there arent alot of tables after w-what happened. S-so…”

Iida hold a hand up cutting him off.

“Say no more Mr. Midoriya. You are a diligent hard working student in Class A. I will permit you to sit here.”

“T-Thank you!”

He takes a seat opposite to him.

Iida gazes back down at his book, but occasionally peers up to see the boy eating and reading a magazine.

It may not be studying, but it he isn't disrupting anybody.

The minutes tick by, and the silence between them is rather welcoming. It is a silence that isn't at all uncomfortable or met with untrusting glares. Iida is not used to that.

….maybe he could make a friend?

“So.” Iida begins. Midoriya looks up from his magazine with curious eyes. “What are you reading there?”

“O-Oh. um. Just some superhero stuff.”

“Ah. why yes of course you are. It is good to know that we have such promising young men on the side of the people in such troubling times.”

“E-exactly!”

“It is rather inspiring. It goes to show you that even at our age, we can make a big difference in the world… like my brother for instance. He isn't much older than us, but he is currently overseas serving in the military.”

“You're brother must be really cool then.” Midoriya says with a smile.

“...he really is. I want nothing more than to be just like him someday. Maybe not in the military like him, but out in the world making a difference.”

Iida doesn't know why he is opening up to a classmate he has never really talked to much before. He is just so easy to talk to.

“Anyways, enough about that. How are things going between you and Miss Ochako?”

“Things going? We are best friends, so great I g-guess.”

“It is good to hear that best friends can also function as a couple. Quite romantic indeed.”

“Ochako-chan and I aren't dating.” Midoriya says with a chuckle.

“Oh? Forgive me for assuming. You two just seem so close.”

“She has her eyes set on someone else. And s-so do I.”

“I see. Well whoever that girl may be is one lucky one. Have you planned on asking her out to the Homecoming dance?”

“Heeeeeey Izuku-kun.” a new voice chimes into their conversation.

“H-hey Ochako-chan.”

The brown haired girl smiled at Iida and places her lunch tray down next to Midoriya.

“Its ok if I sit here with you two, right?”

“I-If it`s okay with the President.”

“Please Midoriya, call me Iida.”

Ochako beams and takes her seat at the table. Iida is quick to notice their silent exchange.

“Iida-san and I were just talking about Homecoming.”

“Oh yeah? Who are you bringing to Homecoming, Iida-san?”

“I haven't had the time to consider that.” he says bringing a hand to his chin. “I`ve been too caught up in the responsibilities that come with being Class President for it to come to my attention.”

“I see.” Ochako says with a smile.

Ochako and Izuku echange another glance at one another.

Another person approaches the table.

“H-hey Midoriya.” Kirishima says rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. “You said I could borrow those notes?”

Midoriya scratches his cheek.

“A-ah it must of slipped my mind.” he stands up from the table. “We can go do that now. I'll see you back at class, Ochako-chan.”

Iida watches the green haired boy scurry their way out of the cafeteria.

“So. About Homecoming.” Ochako says.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Thanks again for helping out with that, Kirishima.” Izuku says as they make their way down the hallway.

“Anytime man. I don't know what that girl sees in him, but anything to help out a friend.”

“You're a good man, Kirishima.”

They make it back to the classroom and talk about video games and such. Ochako trails in with the rest of the class when the bell rings.

“So, how did the plan work out?” Izuku whispers over to his brunette friend.

A light blush forms on her face as she watches Iida take his seat up front. She nods with a thumbs up.

Izuku took it that Iida said yes to being Ochako`s Homecoming date.

Azawa trudges back into the room with his 5th cup of coffee of the day in his clutch. Kachaan is the last to enter the room, following close behind Todoroki (Izuku knew that Kachaan wanted  to get some of their tutoring sessions out of the way during lunch on the days he had work after school). He flushes red when Kachaan nods him a ‘hello’ in his direction and takes his seat in front of Izuku.

So Ochako scribbles something on a piece of paper and places it on Izuku`s desk.

‘Next is your turn.’

____________________________________________________________________________

Iida Tenya was in a good mood.

A pretty girl who gets good grades in class had just asked him out to the Homecoming dance. Little to nothing could ruin his mood right now.

He makes it home back to his mansion house. “Mother! Father! I'm back-”

He is cut off at the sight of his parents solemn expression. Both of their eyes are tearstained when they look at him.

“Iida. We have something to tell you.”

…

His brother.

His kind and honorable brother, had been paralyzed.

He was shot at his waist, making him lose his ability to walk forever. He was coming home in a few days.

No. no this can't be happening. Not his brother. Not his hard working loving brother. This can't be happening.

But it was.

He needed air.

Iida walked through the city trying to process what he was just told. His brother was coming home not as a hero, but as a fallen soldier. It wasn't fair.

It wasn't fair.

He hated that someone did this to him. He hated that they got away with it. He hated it all.

He found himself wonder to the park that he and his brother would go to all the time when they were kids.

Tears well up in his eyes at the now bittersweet memories they share at this place. He fell to his knees in front of the tree they carved their names into.

He doesn't notice the footsteps that approach him.

“Your brave and nobel brother was ruined by some nobody on the battlefield.”

‘It's not fair.’

“Now he has to carry out the rest of his days as a cripple because of it.”

‘It's not right.’

“It`s not fair to you or him. Nothing is fair.”

A hand grabs his face from behind.

Chapter Text

Katsuki gets a notification on his phone.

Live video from the news? He doesn't get notification from the news- unless.

He clicks on the video. He changed the settings so that he only gets notifications that have to do with super villains and heroes. The video shows a guy wearing some white mecha looking suit. In the background he has three citizens tied up and gagged.

“Greetings.” he says with his own voice echoed by a darker one.

Oh no.

“I am Ingenium. Now I am here make a demand. Deku, Ground Zero. Are you listening? All for One wants your creation and destruction stones. If you surrender, then no harm will come to the hostages. You have one hour. I will be waiting at the town hall. That is all.”

Katsuki is already transforming into Ground Zero.

Once he is in full gear, he dials Deku from his hero phone.

Come on Deku, pick up…

“I saw the news.” Deku says as soon as he picks up.

“What do suggest we do?”

“Let's meet up at our usual spot and discuss it in person.”

“On my way.”

Ground Zero lands on the factory building. By the time he reaches the chimney, his hero partner is already waiting for him.

“I have an idea.” Deku begins. “But you're going to think I'm crazy.”

“Deku, we are superheroes fighting a super villain like in a comic book.” Zero deadpans.

“We are going to have to make a stop at the local cosplay shop.”

“....why?”

____________________________________________________________________________

The two heros make their way to the town hall. They charge right through the doors, the police let them through without any questions.

They kick down the door to the room that the villain and the hostages are in.

“Well well well.” Ingenium says with a slow clap. “I didn't calculate that they would be idiotic enough to barge down the front door. I would have thought that you two would at least try and go through the vents or something.”

“You're going down you white metal bastard!” Ground Zero exclaims while charging straight at him.

Deku scrambles to rescue the hostages.

“Not so fast!”

Ingenium dashes out of the way of Zero`s right hook attack and aims right for Deku at the blink of an eye. Deku just barely dodges and fades back at him with a jab  aimed at the villain`s head. The white suit of armor flashes to behind him and smashes Deku to the ground with a karate chop.

“He has super speed!” Deku shouts to his partner as he rolls back to his feet. Zero launches himself into mid air from behind Deku straight for Ingenium. The villain grabs Zero`s fist. Zero let's off an explosion in Ingenium`s face and is released from his hold.

“Nothing we can't handle.” Zero says with a determined smirk as he lands back next to his hero partner in a fighting stance.

“Right!” Deku says mirroring his stance. The two are back to back getting ready for their next attack.

Zero let's off an explosion, filling the room with smoke. Deku launches out from the smoke and aims a downward kick to Ingenium`s helmet. Ingenium just barely dodges backward and knocks Deku off balance once again. Zero flies out from the smoke screen from behind Ingenium aiming a punch right for his head, but Ingenium ducks and Zero goes flying over and lands fist first into the wall.

The smoke clears and Deku gets back on his feet.

“Zero!” he shouts.

Zero gets back on his feet and wiped the ash from his face with the back of his hand.

“You're good.” Zero says with a smug smirk.

“The League of Villains is no longer playing around.” Ingenium declares.

Deku kicks down Ingenium from behind, bouncing his helmet off the ground. Ingenium flashes back onto his feet into a fighting stance.

“You're not bad, but you're nothing compared the last two.” Zero says smugly and sends another explosion after him. Ingenium loses his balance from the impact of the explosion and Zero charges head first for him punching him head on.

Ingenium blocks the punch, but Zero comes back around for another using the other hand, using an explosion to increase the speed. It lands perfectly on the villian`s helmet, knocking it clean off.

Iida Tenya.

Interesting.

Zero and Ingenium start fighting head on. Zero uses his explosions to match the speed of Ingenium`s strikes making him too fast for him to dodge. But Zero can't dodge either so they are hitting each other with every strike they throw.

They both draw back. Both of them are panting and wobbly from pain. Zero wipes the sweat away with the back of his hand.

“You`re pretty decent at fighting I'll give you that.” he says with a shit eating grin. “But you  have one major flaw.”

Ingenium looks at him curiously.

Deku appears behind him and roundhouse kicks him in the ribs.

“You have no one watching your back.”

Deku reaches for the sides of Ingenium`s head, but he flashes out of sight. Where did he go?

Deku and Ground Zero press their back together expectantly.

“I got all the hostages out of the building.” the green hero declares.

“All part of the plan.” Zero says smiling back over his shoulder. “Now we just got to revert this smug shit to being the posh school boy he is.”

Deku spots Ingenium over by the wall.

“Over there!”

Ingenium slaps his hand over a red button on the wall.

A  metal container drops down over the two heros, trapping them inside. It is fairly dark, but there is enough light escaping through the small gaps at the creases that they can see.

“The hell?” the explosion hero says to himself.

Deku`s arm sparks up green and he launches his fist onto the metal wall of their prison. It makes a loud thud, but there isn't a scratch on it.

“Go ahead and try to escape, but there is no use! This metal container can't be moved by a tank!”

Zero placed his hand on the metal wall. “Deku get down.”

The green hero complies and a large explosion is shot out from Ground Zero`s hand. After the ash clears up, there isn't even scorch marks left on the metal. It as if Zero never touched it.

“It's futile! A bomb could go off in there and the box would be unscathed! Now are you listening? There is one way and one way only you can get out of there. You must surrender your creation and destruction stones!”

“Yeah as if asshole!” Zero exclaims. “Right Deku?”

“I don't know Zero. I don't…” he trails off.

Ingenium hears this. Yes, if Deku gives up, then Ground Zero will too.

“Now, when you are ready to surrender, you can place your stones in a small drawer on the wall. That will hand them over directly to me on the outside. Only when they are in my hands, I will let you go.”

Zero stares at Deku with disbelief.

“B-but-”

“Follow my lead.” Deku whispers back. “I need you to trust me.”

Zero looks back at him with confusion, but nods slowly.

“Ingenium! We surrender!” Deku yells out. He approaches Zero and gingerly takes his hands into his own. “No peeking.” the green heros says with a wink, then  closes his eyes. Zero looks at him for a moment, then does the same.

“Are you ready?” Deku says.

Zero laces his fingers with his partner`s as affirmation. “I won't look.” he assures.

“I know. I trust you.”

Green and red light shine from the small cracks of the metal crate. The smile on Ingenium`s face contorts to a wicked grin. Walks over to the drawer and takes out a thick band choker with a red stone and a cuff with a green one.

He presses the red button on the wall once again. The crate begins to lift.

Green and red blinding light appear as the box is lifted. Ingenium shields his blacked out eyes.

The light fades only to reveal the two heros standing proudly facing each other, fingers still laced together. They both open their eyes and exchange all knowing smiles, then turn their heads towards the villain.

“B-but how! I have the stones right here-” the villain takes a closer look at the heros and sees that they are still wearing the thick band choker and cuff that they gain their power from

“You tricked me! You're going to pay for this!” Ingenium charges at them.

In a heartbeat, Ground Zero pulls Deku into his chest and extends an arm out letting off a gigantic explosion filling the whole room.

The two are sent back into the wall. Zero let's go of Deku, and the green hero kicks off the wall and dives head first into the cloud of smoke.

The ashes clear and Deku has his hands on the sides of Iida Tenya`s head. Green light changing Iid`a clothes back into his school uniform. Iida falls to his knees. Deku catches him from falling face flat and rests him on his side.

“Looks like our work here is done.” Deku says to his hero partner.

They exchange a nod and make their exit from the scene.

They go back to the factory roof top.

“That was one hell of a close call.” Zero says resting his head on the chimney.

“You`re telling me. Good thing they started selling cosplays of us.” Deku says leaning his back against the same chimney. They had went to a cosplay store on their way there and bought replicas of their respective jewelry.

“Although.” Zero begins. “That's not what my necklace looks like when I'm powered down. Those idiots should of known that much.”

“Mine doesn't either.” Deku chuckles.

Zero slaps a hand onto the chimney behind Deku, leaning in close to his face. Deku raises and eyebrow.

“What are you doing?”

“Whaaat~” Zero purrs with a playful smile stretched across his lips. “I can't get a little token of thanks from your highness?”

Deku boops him on the nose and slips out from Zero half pinning him against the chimney.

Deku is quick to notice the disappointment fleshed out on his hero partner`s face.

“There are a few things we learned from this fight though.” Deku  says quickly changing the subject.

“What's that?”

“They are definitely targeting UA students. I have no doubt now.”

“Okay we should have figured that after the last fight.” Zero scoffs.

“I also have a theory.” Deku continues. “That they have their own set of creation and destruction stones.”

Zero looks up at him with an eyebrow raised.

“You think that there's more than one set?”

“Well if you think about it, how else would they know we have the stones to begin with? How do they know they exist?”

Zero seems to contemplate this idea.

“All for One. Earlier, Ingenium said that ‘All for One’ wanted the stones.” Zero says.

Deku crosses his arms in deep thought.

“I think it's about time we visited Toshinori-san about this.”

____________________________________________________________________________

The two heros sit on the cream colored rug of Toshinori`s living room. Toshinori joins them on the floor with a tray of tea cups on his lap.

“Here young lads. Have some tea. You probably could use some after that fight.”

Deku gratefully accepts the tea placed in front of him. Zero doesn't acknowledge it and intensely stares down the skeleton like man.

“Ingenium said that somebody named ‘All for One’ wanted our stones. Do you know anyone like that?” Deku says after swallowing a large gulp of tea.

“All for One.” Toshinori repeats. “That was the same name of the villain my partner and I took down 50 years ago.”

“Hold on. Back the fuck up.” Zero speaks up. “The villain you took down?!”

“Yes.” Toshinori says placing his tea back down.  

“I am a retired hero myself. I went by the name ‘All Might’.”

“All Might?!” Deku says with disbelief. “THE All Might?! That was you?!”

“Yes my boy. That was once me. I used to be the holder of that stone you wear around your wrist there. And you Zero, your stone used to belong to my partner, he went by the name ‘Endeavor’.”

“All Might and Endeavor. The hero duo that became known as the symbol of peace!” Deku chimes in. “I used to watch videos of you and him all the time as a kid.”

Ground Zero makes note of that. He that did too with his friend Izuku.

“Why did you guys retire?” Deku says with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Because my boy, there was no longer a need for us. There were no longer any super villains for us to take down. So we went into hiding and carried out our lives in peace… but now, All for One is back. We thought we left him for dead in the rubble. We should have known….”

“That's what you get for not checking for a body, old man.” Zero retorts.

Deku jabs an elbow into Zero`s side.

“Ow! What the fuck?!”

“I`m afraid he's right my boy. We shouldn't have been so naive. And now he's back 50 years later. He must have found somebody to hold a destruction stone as well. Somebody much younger than him that can carry out his bidding.”

Toshinori looks up at the both of them.

“You two must find All for One and take him down. You must finish what should have ended 50 years ago and bring eternal peace to the city.”

Deku and Ground Zero exchange looks. They nod in unison.

Deku looks back up at the retired hero.

“You can count on us.”

Chapter Text

Todoroki replays the footage of Deku`s and Ground Zero`s fight against Ingenium one more time on his phone. He pauses the video just before the crate is lifted up enough to see them and a split second before the red and green lights appear.

There is a pair of distinct red sneakers just barely showing as the crate is being lifted.

Red sneakers. Where has he seen those before?

“Good morning Todoroki-san!”

Todoroki peers up from his desk to see a bright green eyed freckled boy greeting him as he walks in the classroom.

“Good morning Midoriya.” he says back. “Did Miss Ochako like the outfits you picked out for her?”

“Yeah she did. You were right about her liking both of them. Just wanted to say thanks.”

“Stop by the store anytime. My coworker Shinsou informed me that you found something suitable for yourself to wear. Is that true?”

“Y-yeah. Ochako-chan and Kachaan picked it out. Are you going to Homecoming?”

“Why yes I am.”
“Cool. I'll see you there then.”

Todoroki smiles back at Midoriya and watches him walk back to his seat. Something catches his eye.

Red sneakers.

Another classmate walks past him, entering the room. This time it's the spikey blonde that Todoroki had been tutoring the past few weeks.

“What are you looking at half and half?!” he grumbles.

“Good Morning to you too Bakugou. Good luck with the Midterm we have today. You have studied hard.”

Bakugou gives him a ‘tch’ and goes to his seat in front of Midoriya. He watches the two of them start to converse.

Interesting.

Very interesting

____________________________________________________________________________.

Izuku and Ochako are peering around the safety of the bleechers, staying out of sight,  watching Kachaan jog around the track. It was after school, and Izuku knows he likes to use the school field to keep up with his exercise sometimes. Izuku feels like a stalker watching his childhood friend sweating in a black tank top and shorts showing off his creamy toned muscles. Izuku decides then and there that Kachaan is too sexy to handle.

“I can't do it.” Izuku says admitting defeat.

Homecoming was the next day, so this was really Izuku`s last opportunity to ask out his crush. But he can't….

“Izuku.” Ochako says with the most serious expression she can muster grabbing his shoulders. “You are going to go out there right now and ask Spikey to be your date to Homecoming, or so help me I will make sure you never live it down.” her face shifts into a cute smile. “Okay?” she asks sweetly.

Izuku forgets just how terrifying she can be.

Kachaan slows to a halt and takes a seat on the bleachers, his back facing them. He begins to sip the bottle of water sitting there for him.

“Go now.”

“I-I-I- c-c-an`t.”

Ochako shoves him out into the open. Kachaan whips his head around to see Izuku had fallen flat in his face into the grass.

“Izuku?” he says.

OHMYGODOHMYGODHESGOINGTOTHINKIMWEIRD-

“Y-es?” Izuku chokes out lifting his head off the ground.

“Are you okay?” Kachaan asks with genuine concern.

“Y-yep!” he says shooting straight back into his feet. “I-I`m just f-f-fine.”

“You weirdo.” Kachaan says with an amused smirk. He pats the seat next to him motioning for Izuku to sit next to him on the bleachers. Izuku stiffly walks over and plops down.

“So what's up?” Kachaan asks casually.

“N-n-nothing much!” Izuku says too nervously. “I-I just wanted to a-ask you-...um.”

Izuku peers over his shoulder to see Ochako giving him a thumbs up.

“I wanted to ask y-you. U-um. Would you like to g-g-g-go to Homecoming w-w-w-with m-me?” that last part Izuku said so quietly he almost thought Kachaan didn't hear him.

Kachaan lets out a sigh.

“My mom set you up for this didn't she?”

….what?
“She's been nagging me to go to the stupid dance for weeks. Damn, I'm sorry she made you do this Izuku. She can be really intimidating sometimes so I don't blame you.”

“Wha- nono! That's not-”

“That hag thinks she can get me to do anything through you! And I'm sick of her taking advantage of you like that! It's not fucking right! Ughhh. Not today hag! Not today!”

Izuku wants to cry.

“i-I`m s-s-ssorry Kachaan. I-I`l just go..”

A reassuring hand clasps on his shoulder.

“You have nothing to be sorry about Izuku. That hag is getting an earful from me tonight!”

Izuku weakly smiles back at him.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Wait what?!” Kirishima exclaims. “Midoriya asked you to Homecoming?! How manly!”

Katsuki and Kirishima were playing video games in Katsuki`s room.

“Yeah. Poor lil nerd looked like he was going to cry while saying it. My mom is getting it handed to her the moment she gets home!”

“Can't believe he finally- wait your mom?”

“Yeah. She had to of put him up to it. The hag is almost as intimidating as me and can get just about anybody to do what she wants. She has gotten me to do things in the past through Izuku, but this one crosses a line.”

Kirishima puts down his controller, letting Katsuki shoot down his avatar in the game.

“Dude what the fuck? You don't want to play anymore-”

“Are you absolutely sure it was your mom who put him up to asking you to Homecoming?”

“What else would it be? She's been nagging me to go for weeks. Why?”

“Dude. You can't be serious.”

“Of course I am-”

“It's so obvious!”

“What? What's obvious?”
“Jesus Bakugou.” Kirishima slaps his hand to his forehead.  “I love you man, but you can be so fucking dense sometimes.”

“Spit it out Kirishima! What else could it be?!”

“Midoriya likes you man! He likes you a lot!”

“Phf. that's rich Kirishima! Didn't think you're one to joke like that!” Katsuki cracks full on laughing on the floor.

“I`m not kidding. At all.”

Katsuki stops laughing. “You for real?”

“YES Bakugou. Ask anybody in class. They will tell you the same thing.”

Katsuki pauses. It would explain a lot. A LOT actually.

“I`ve known the nerd since we were in diapers you know. You could be reading too much into it.”

“He blushes and stutters whenever he talks to you.”

“He has had a stutter his whole life, that has nothing to do wi-”

“He looks like his whole world got brighter whenever you as much as look at him!”

“I still think you're reading too much into it. If he was gay he would have told me years ago.”

“Have you told him you're gay?”

“No way. Izuku is a guy too. He would be weirded out if I did-”

“Well there you go! He probably didn't tell you for the same reason.”

Katsuki paused at that. He had told Kirishima that about his preferences after Kirishima told him about his. But never came up with Izuku.

He is processing all this...

…..oh shit.

“Oh my god.” The blonde rubs his hands down his face. “I am an idiot.”

“Yes you are.”

“Can it shitty hair! I only I can say it!”

“So what are you gonna say to him?”

“What?”

“Are you going to say yes?”

“.....”

Will he? Katsuki wants to say no, but he goes back and really contemplates it. He thinks of all the times when they were in Middle School and all of the possible signs that could mean that he is looking too much into it…. But all of the signs only confirm Kirishima`s claim.

“I don't know….” Katsuki admits.

“Well I suggest you give him an answer soon. Homecoming is tomorrow.”

“See, I um… like someone else.” Katsuki admits.

Kirishima`s eyebrows raise at that.

“Really? Who?”

“Well… I don't know who he really is.... he's…. some guy I met on the internet.”

“Katsuki.” Kirishima says his first name to emphasis how serious he is. “You can't seriously tell me that you are going to go after this guy you don't even know and turn down somebody you have known your whole life. Not even you are that shallow.”

Katsuki really wants to tell his friend that it's not like that, but bites down his tongue. He knows that Deku would have his ass handed to him if Kirishima found out.

“Yeah you're right.” Katsuki grumbles. “What do you think I should do?”

“You should say yes.” the red head says. “I think you would have a lot of fun.”

“....no.”

“No?”

“No I mean- not like this. I have to make it up to him.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Shinsou stared at the board results.

Number 2. He got the number 2 spot in the top scores.

How was he number 2?!  Who beat him?!

Number 1. Izuku Midoriya.

He steps outside to get some air. He has always been the best in school. He isn't good at anything else! Childhood bullies deemed him to be a dumb outcast, and being the best in school was how he was able to take no heed to their taunts. But now that's over.

Shinsou feels useless…

“You will never be the best.” a scratchy voice says as footsteps approach him.

‘I can't do anything.’

“You will never be the best at anything.”

‘I`m just so… useless. Nobody understands.’

A hand grabs his face from behind.

“You`re so weak, but you will make them all listen to you.”

A darkness fills Shinsou`s vision.

‘ They will all listen to me, All for One .’

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku had been silently sobbing into his pillow all night. But it had gotten late, and he really needed to get to bed.

Ochako kept trying to reassure him after what happened, but nothing helped.

A quiet knock comes from his window.

..what the heck?

Izuku thinks he imagined it. A few moments later the knock got a little louder. As the knock continues to go ignored, it begins to get obnoxious.

He is on the 2nd floor for goodness sake! Who climbed up here?!

Izuku shoot up to his feet and slams the window open. He sticks his head out the window. He looks left, then right…. Nothing. Ugh stupid kids!

He whips around to come face to face with an upside down masked blonde. The man was hanging upside down from the ceiling fan like a spider.

Izuku opens his mouth to scream, but his mouth is covered by the other masked man`s hand.

“Screaming would make your mom get suspicious, Izuku.”

Izuku pulls his hand off of his mouth.

“Ground Zero? What are you doing here?!”

The hero jumps down, landing perfectly upright on his feet.

“I came here to follow up on what happened at the hospital not too long ago. Make sure you haven't been stupid again an such.” the hero says calmly.

“I already t-told you that was a misunderstanding. Hey h-how do you know w-where I-”

“I know where everyone in your class lives. Since a lot of them have been victims of the League`s mind control, I thought it was a good idea to find out.”

“I-I see….”

“Want to talk about it?”

“A-about wh-”

“Don't bullshit me.” Zero cuts off. “Something happened today that made you upset. Tell me about it.”

Izuku averted his gaze to the side. A dark solemn expression overtaking his face.

“It's nothing.” he nearly spits out.

Ground Zero impatiently huffs. He drags over the chair from Izuku`s desk and sits it next to the bed. He sits down and gestures for Izuku to sit on the bed. Izuku plops down on the bed and hugs his knees to his chest.

“I was rejected today is all.”

“Were you?” Zero says with an eyebrow raised.

“W-well no. not really. It was another misunderstanding is all. I n-need to be more clear with my feelings. I-it's just so hard….”

“What's so hard about it?” Zero says.

“Everything! Ugh. I could ruin our friendship, and that's something I don't want to lose. It's too important to me to lose….”

“...Tell me about this person. Why do you like them?”

“H-he`s just… he's so amazing. He's so talented and confident. Everytime I look in his eyes…. I could just get lost in them for hours. And just-... he's so great and I'm stupid to think he would ever w-want me.” Izuku begins to sniffle again. “I don't even know why he puts up with me half the time…. He would hate me if-...”

Izuku buries his face in his knees.

“How long have you known this guy for?”

“Forever. S-since we were kids-”

“If this guy was going to hate you for telling him how amazing he is, especially after knowing him for so long, then he's an ass and doesn't deserve you.”

Izuku looks up.

“Look.” Zero begins. “This guy is an idiot for making you cry to begin with. This guy would be a bigger idiot to turn you down.” Izuku blushes and stares into the red eyes of the hero. “You should talk to him again. Ask him properly next time. Or.. maybe he would ask you.”

Izuku didn't seem so convinced at that last part.

“...To make you feel less shitty, you're not the only one that is bad at feelings. I have someone I like too.”

Izuku tilts his head in interest.

“He's so proud and confident. And a damn good fighter. He always seems to know what the right thing is at the worst times. He has saved my sorry ass dozens of times now, and I still feel like I need to save him to make up for it. The worst part is, I don't even know what his real name is, yet I am so sure that I can trust him. Does that make sense?”

“....It's Deku isn't it.”

“Yep.” Zero says rubbing the back of his neck.

“You like Deku….”

“Yes I just said that!”

Izuku averted his gaze and rubbed his arm.  

“Would you still think that about him if he's nothing like that without the mask?”

“Yes of course. From what I've found is that the mask brings out things in us that were always there. I'm a lot better with controlling my feelings behind the mask. I've been learning to use that without it too…. I don't know why I just told you all that. If you tell anyone I'll kick your ass!”

“I wont I wont!” Izuku holds up his hands and smiles. “I`m glad you told me actually… it's weird. It feels like I know you.”

“You've seen me before dumbass.”

“Y-yeah you're right. I don't know why I said that haha.” Izuku can't tell him that he's Deku after that.

“Welp. I'm glad you feel better. I just came by to make sure you weren't going to pretend to jump off a building or some shit.”

It wasn't funny, but Izuku let out a giggle. “You be honest with your feelings, and I will with mine.”

“We`ll see… I have to make it up to someone first.”

“I see… t-thank you Ground Zero.” Izuku smiles.

A light flush appears on the hero`s cheeks and he turns away.

“Y-yeah I'll see you later. Hopefully under better circumstances.”

“Yeah.” Izuku laughs. “See you.”

The hero looks back over his shoulder and nods. Then he climbs out the window. Izuku sticks his head out after him, but the hero was already out of sight.

Izuku feels his cheeks go warm. He presses the palms of his hands to his face.

What the heck?! Nonononoono he doesn't even know who he is. He can't just-....

Izuku shakes that thought away and falls face flat on his bed.

He just wants to sleep.

“Izuku! Katsuki is here to see you!”

The universe hates him doesn't it.

“I`m sending him up to your room!”

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK

He sits up and tries to compose himself. He rubs the tears out of his eyes and smooths out his wrinkled t-shirt.

There's a rapid knock at the door followed by a “Oi nerd! I'm coming in.”

Katsuki swings open the door, making Izuku squint form the light flooding into his room.

“Get dressed into something decent. We're going out!”

“...eh?” Izuku blinked in confusion. “Wh-where-”

“Don`t ask questions! Put on something nice! I`ll be waiting with Auntie downstairs! You've got ten minutes before I come back here and pick something out for you!”

Katsuki shuts the door and walks back downstairs leaving a very confused Izuku. What was this all about?

Izuku thought back to how well dressed Kachaan was. Damn he really wasn't paying attention. He stumbles to his feet and over to his closet.

Izuku walks down the stairs to see Kachaan and his mother deep in conversation in the kitchen. Izuku sheepishly walks into the room, both of their attention turns to him.

Izuku takes in the sight of Kachaan. He was wearing his black button up blouse and navy jeans. The top few buttons were left open exposing his creamy collarbone and small choker necklace. He has a silver chain hanging out of his pocket.

The outfit very much suited him.

Izuku himself decided on a white polo and black jeans. Simple yet straightforward for such little time.

“H-hey.” Izuku manages out while looking down feeling the heat rush to his face.

Kachaan graced him with a smile.

They wave bye to Izuku's mother and head out the door. Izuku follows his friend`s lead out the door.

“You look good.” Kachaan says side eyeing him.

“U-Um thank you.” Izuku says with yet another blush. “You look good too. Well, you always look good, but um….” he trails off and flushes from embarrassment.

What did he just say?!

“Damn straight.” Kachaan replies.

That was a close call. Izuku decides to just remain quiet until they make it to wherever Kachaan is taking them.

After a few more minutes of walking, the blonde stops. Izuku follows suit and sees where they've ended up.

“T-this is.”

“The ramen shop we would always go to as kids? Yes it is.”

It was a small casual restaurant their mothers brought them to when they didn't want to cook that night. When they got to middle school, they would meet up there sometimes. It had been a while since they came here though.

They are seated at a table to the far corner away from most of the other customers. Not that there were many to begin with on a weekday night.

Their noodles were placed in front of them, and they chowed down. Izuku could cry at how many memories the taste of this bowl of ramen brings to surface. All of them involve Kachaan in one way or another.

“Jesus Izuku, did you not eat dinner?”

“Not really.” he says after swallowing a large gulp of noodles with tears at the corners of his eyes.

“O-oi are you-”

“Just remembering old times.” Izuku says rubbing away at his eyes.

Kachaan`s soft smile returns to his face. Izuku really wish he would smile like that more often. “Yeah. A lot happened at this place for us. Figured it would be the perfect place to bring you for this.”

Izuku looked at him with curious eyes.

“Izuku.” the blonde begins. “We should go to that shitty dance.”

Chapter Text

Today's the day.

Everyone is buzzing at school about what is to happen later tonight. The school day was to be ended early for the football game that would take place, and so everyone could get ready for the dance afterwards.

Homecoming.

Katsuki couldn't give two shits about the football game that came before. In fact, the only people he knows are going are Denki (who is on the football team) and his friend Kirishima (who wanted to root for Denki).

The only good thing about coming to school that day was that nobody was going to get anything done.

Katsuki kicked his feet up on his desk and folded his hands behind his head and closes his eyes. Oh well, he could take a nap.

“G-goodmorning Kachaan.”

Katsuki opens one eye to see his green haired childhood friend.

Oh yeah, and his Homecoming date.

“Mornin` nerd.” he grumbled.

“U-um. What t-time tonight?”

“I'll pick you up at seven, Okay?”

“R-right! S-Seven it is!”

Aizawa walks in and everyone takes their seat.

Date is kind of a strong word. They are technically going as friends. Mostly cause they aren't dating each other.

Katsuki still doesn't know how he feels about that yet. He is now well aware of Izuku`s crush on him, but he isn't sure himself that he likes Izuku the same way.

The green masked hero still plagues his mind.

____________________________________________________________________________

Ochako knows one thing for sure. Her friend Izuku is in a very good mood today.

She knows all about how Kachaan took him out on a date to their favorite restaurant they went to as kids and asked him out to Homecoming. She was woken up at midnight to hear her friend ramble all about it to her.

She is very happy for him, but she still doesn't trust Spikey very much.

It was about an hour after school, and she is standing at the doorstep of the Bakugou residence.

Damn this family has money alright.

She rings the doorbell.

Muffles yells echo from inside.

“KATSUKI GO GET THE DOOR!”

“JESUS MOM YOU DON'T HAVE TO FUCKING YELL EVERY TIME THERE IS SOMEONE AT THE DOOR!”

“SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND ANSWER YOU LIL SHIT!”

Ochako was considering coming back later… it seemed like a bad time.

The door swings open to reveal incense crimson eyes glaring at her,  followed by a deep scowl. Bakugou looks down at her, leaning one arm against the door.

“What do you want?”

“You`re mom hemmed my dress for me. I'm here to pick it up.” Ochako says unfazed by his attitude.

The blonde sighs and steps out to the side.

Ochako cocks a head to the side.

“Are you gonna come in or what?” he grumbles.

Ochako smiles curtly and skips past him. Katsuki shuts the doors behind her and yells out- “MOM! SOME CHICK IS HERE TO PICK UP A DRESS!”

Ochako plugs one ear with her finger.

She wonders if she is still going to be able to hear after this encounter.

“JUST A SECOND!”

The spikey blonde releases a grumbled sigh.

“Was this a bad time?” Ochako asks with slight concern.

“Nah. the hag is always like this. She thinks the only way to communicate is through screaming.”

Ochako laughs. “I can see where you get it from then.”

Katsuki rolls his eyes and leans against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

“What made you do it?” Ochako asks.

“Do what?”

“Ask Izuku to the dance-” The taller boy slaps a hand over her mouth. “Shhhh. The hag doesn't know-”

“KATSUKI?!”

Katsuki looks over his shoulder to see his mom standing there with the pink dress on a hanger. Ochako pried the hand off her mouth and stepped to the side to see. She had given Izuku the dress to give to Spikey`s mom so she has never seen her before. She looked exactly like her son, but as a woman. It was uncanny!

“When you told me that you were finally going to the dance, I was relieved. But YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU FINALLY GREW A PAIR AND ASKED OUT MY FUTURE SON IN LAW!” Mrs. Bakugou said with tears in her eyes and a wide smile.

“MOM!”

The woman tackles her son with a bone crushing hug.

“I`M SO FUCKING PROUD OF YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT!”

“LET OF OF ME HAG! I CAN'T BREATHE!”

Katsuki breaks free of his mother`s hold and jumps back behind Ochako.

“So how was he when he asked him? Tell me all the details!” Mrs. Bakugou demands to Ochako.

Katsuki slaps a palm to his forehead.

“Fuuuuuuuucckk!” he aims an accusing finger at Ochako`s face as he walks backwards up the stairs. “You tell her shit I'll kill you!!”

“Oh shut the fuck up Katsuki! Go to your room if you don't want to hear it!” his mother tells him making the ‘shoo’ motion with her hand.

The woman has Ochako take a seat on the couch.

“Tell me everything!” she demands.

Ochako was happy to oblige.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki was going to die of embarrassment.

His damned mother had been  asking him since Middle School when him and Izuku were going to start dating.

He thought it was a joke, but he should have known better.

This was Mitsuki Bakugou they were talking about. The woman was sharp as a hawk when she wanted to be.

His mother whipped open the door and approached him only to bang her fist on her son's head.

“YOU THOUGHT I PUT HIM UP TO ASKING YOU OUT TO HOMECOMING?! WHAT KIND OF A DUMBASS ARE YOU?!”

Here we go.

____________________________________________________________________________

Shouto Todoroki stared back at himself in the full length mirror.

He was wearing a black suit with a grey tie. He combed his hair to one side covering most of his scar on this left eye. He admired his work, fixing the jacket. He makes eye contact with the other person in the room through the mirror.

“You look good, son.” the elder man says.

“What do you want father?” Shouto says with a hint of irritation in his voice.

“How is your search going?”

Shouto turns to look at his father eye to eye. “I have suspects, but no confirmation yet.”

“Who are they?” the man demands.

Shouto hesitates. He knows that if he tells his father things could very well get ugly. Besides, he has no proof of anything. It would be a huge headache for his father to go out and make a ruckus for no good reason.

“No need to worry about it father.” Shouto retorts. “My reasons for suspecting aren't enough to know for sure. I could be completely wrong. It would be shameful to make a false accusation with no solid  evidence.”

“Find out quick. Those two teenagers are doing a miserable job at scouting out the League.”

His father turns to leave the room.

“You know-” Shouto begins that makes his father stop in his footsteps. “-I looked at old news reports of you in your hero days.” he looks the old man straight in the eye. “Nobody has died on the watch of our new heros. But for you on the other hand, can't say the same.”

“Tch. You weren't there Shouto. There was nothing anyone could have done to save them. Just you watch. That good streak those two have been on is beginners luck. They will soon come across an opponent that they can't handle alone.”

The man leaves Shouto alone in the room.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki looked at himself one last time in the mirror before heading downstairs. He was wearing a black blazer jacket with a deep crimson button up. It was very similar to the suit he wore for the photoshoot, except he ditched the tie and kept the first few buttons open to expose his collarbone and small choker. His hair was gelled to perfection and his eyes were lined with just the right amount of eyeliner to make it seem almost natural.

He treds down the stairs, hoping to avoid his mom-

“Smile Katsuki!” he turns the corner to his mom ambushing him with the flashing camera light.

He was pretty sure his eyes were widened in surprise in the picture. He deepens his scowl and pushes past her.

“I don't have time for your shitty pictures mom! I have to go pick up Izuku.”

“You behave for Inko when she takes pictures of you two! I want them to come out as good as your pictures at the photoshoot did!”

“Yeah yeah- wait you saw those?!”

“Of course I did sweetie. I am the one that set that gig up for you.”

There was too much mischief behind that sentence. Almost as if she- nono. He's looking too much into it. Then again, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise if she did indeed have that model that was supposed to come in cancel out at the knowledge that Izuku was going with him. Katsuki shakes that thought out of his head- cause there's just no way.

“Later hag.” he calls out without looking back and slams the door behind him.

Katsuki walks over to the Midoriya residence and rings the doorbell. Izuku's mother opens the  door with a smile.

“Izuku! Katsuki is here!” she calls to the stairs.

“Ah come in Katsuki.” she says with her friendly smile. She steps aside to let him in. “I hope you don't mind me taking a few photos.”

Katsuki gives her a soft smile. “Anything for you Auntie.” he says.

He really likes Izuku's mom mostly because she was the exact opposite of his own. She was calm and quiet. Katsuki really appreciated that about her so he really would do anything she asked of him.

Izuku walks down the stairs. Katsuki looks at him with widened eyes. He had that similar feeling from when he saw him trying on that suit in the store a little while back, but it was stronger. Far stronger. Because Izuku looked a hundred times better than he did at the store. His hair was neater, but still fluffy and curly to the touch. His cheeks were filled with a dusting of color, and his eyes were lit up at the sight of Katsuki.

“H-hey Kachaan.” he says.

“Hey.” Katsuki says lamely. He clears his throat and gains back his composure.

Inko giggles at the exchange and has them stand outside. Katsuki knows that if it were his mom taking the pictures, she would have them pose in all sorts of embarrassing ways.

He supposes he could make Izuku happy by hugging him or something… it would be so easy for him behind the mask of Ground Zero….. UUUUGHHH FUCK IT

He pulls his childhood friend into a soft hug from behind, kind of like a couple`s pose. The color in Izuku`s cheeks darken a few shades. But he isn't all flustered like he thought he'd be. He simply smiles back softly. Inko snaps a photo.

They take a few more of them standing next to each other and in a few different spots. Katsuki doesn't complain though, cause he knows that it would have been far worse if his mother had been the one to take the photos.

“You ready?” he asks Izuku when Inko puts down the camera.

The boy nods with a warm smile.

“Let's go then.”

Izuku and Katsuki stood in front of the gymnasium entrance. The lights from the disco ball spilled out of the darkened room to go with the blaring dance music.

Welp. this was it. The moment Izuku had been fantasizing about for weeks. A moment that he didn't think he would ever live to see.

They step in, and stand there for a minute looking for people they might know.

The song that was playing ends and there is a brief moment where they can actually hear the people muttering around them.

“Hey Bakugou!” a familiar voice calls from the crowd. Izuku recognises the bright red spiked hair from the crowd waving at them. “I bet I can dance better than you to the next song!”

“You're on shitty hair!” Katsuki exclaims and runs into the crowd.

The crowd begins to circle around Katsuki and Kirishima as the next song begins.

Izuku watches with utter amusement. Kachaan was really getting into the music.

A hand slaps him on the back. “Your man can dance!”

“Ochako-chan!”

She was wearing the soft pink poofy dress that Izuku picked out for her. It was a little tighter fitting than it was in the store (Mrs. Bakugou had it fitted to her small form) and there were a few more flowers and gems added to the sash around her waist. She had a matching flower in her brown hair, and rosier cheeks than normal.

She takes a generous sip of the punch in her hand then leans in close lowering her voice to a whisper.

“Someone has already hijacked the punch bowl.” she says with a wink.

“Hijacked?” Izuku said tilting one head to the side.

“You're too pure for this world Izuku-kun.” she says with a laugh. “Stay away from the punch if you don't want to get drunk.”

“O-oh.” Izuku frowns.

“Don`t worry about me Izuku, I only had one cup. That's all this gal is having tonight.”

“Wh-where's Iida?”

She lets out a long sigh. “He is on Mineta patrol.” she takes another sip.

“I-I see.”

“Yep. Ditched so early in the night…. What was I thinking asking Iida out.”

Izuku takes punch cup and places it on the table near them and extends a hand out to her.

“How good of a dancer are you?” he asks.

“Not very good I'm afraid.” she says amused.

He grabs her hand and pulls her onto the dance floor.

“Me neither.” he smiles.

The two dance badly to the breakdance music in the background. Izuku catches the eyes of Tokoyami standing against the wall with his arms crossed staring at them with an amused look. Izuku motions for him to join. The black haired boy rolled his eyes playfully and starts dancing with them.

Eventually Kirishima and Katsuki join them after dancing off to many songs.

The songs play on. The hours pass by.

Izuku is sitting down on the bleachers with his group of friends. He was mellowed out from the amount of physical activity he had partaken in. Ochako was sitting on his left, talking to Tokoyami about the newest book that was released by their shared favorite author. To his left was Katsuki bragging about how he won the dance off to Kirishima.

A slow song begins to play. That seems to be the cue for Ochako and Tokoyami to get up and start dancing. She sends Izuku an excited thumbs up and a wink before turning away to dance with her new found friend.

Kirishima pats Katsuki on the back and goes to dance with his yellow haired boyfriend. That leaves just Izuku and Katsuki on the bleachers alone in silence.

Izuku sends a questioning look over to his date. They hadn't spent much time one one tonight. Katsuki looks back at him with a hand rubbing his neck.

The words that Ground Zero said to him the night before ring in his head.

‘ ...the mask brings out things in us that were always there… ’

Izuku rises to his feet and extends a hand out to Katsuki. His cheeks are rosy red, but he isn't jittery. He maintains confidence both in his posture and in his eyes when he does so.

Katsuki`s lips part and eyes widen ever so slightly. The blonde could feel the blood rush to his face.

This was an Izuku he wasn't used to seeing. The Izuku he knew would have sat there and waited for him to ask him to dance. Or if he did ask, it would have been vague and jittery.

This was direct. This was confidence.

It was hot.

Katsuki absentmindedly takes his hand and is pulled to his feet. Izuku guides him over to the dancefloor. Katsuki rests his hands on the green haired boy`s slim waist, not breaking eye contact with him. Izuku laces his hands around Katsuki`s neck pulling them closer.

The song plays on as they sway back and forth, the other people in the room becoming nothing but a blur.

It was just them.

And nobody else mattered in that moment.

Katsuki  in that moment realizes that he was an idiot for not seeing it before. Izuku had always been there for him. And he had always been there for Izuku. He snakes his hands from his waist to wrap them around the small of his back- a full on embrace pulling him even closer.

Izuku.

There was nothing but Izuku.

His Izuku.

And to Izuku there was nothing but Kachaan.

His Kachaan.

Their faces slowly inch closer.

The songs draws to an end and the two are staring intently into each other's eyes, lips mere centimeters apart.

They both pause though.

It had been loud all night even when the song ends.

It was too quiet.

They draw back slowly and dart their eyes to their surroundings, still holding one another.

The majority of the people in the the gymnasium were standing slightly hunched over, too still. Almost zombie like. Others started to notice as well.

Izuku and Katsuki had a bad feeling.

The DJ taps the mic.

“Somebody record this message and post it to the internet. This is for the heroes.”

Chapter Text

“ Somebody record this message and post it to the internet. This is for the heroes .”

Izuku and Katsuki were listening intently, arms still embracing one another.

“I am Mindjack. As my name suggests, I currently have control over seventy percent of the students attending this Homecoming dance. Now, I have a proposition for you. Let's play a game. If you can find where I am you can hand over your creation and destruction stones yourselves. If you can't, then you can each become my mind drones and hand them over against your will.”

Izuku locked eyes with Katsuki. Seriousness fills the green boy's eyes and he places a quick kiss on Katsuki`s cheek. Then he leans into the blonde boy's ear.

“I need you to take whoever you can that isn't infected to the locker rooms. I am going to get the authorities.”

Izuku pulls away to see his childhood friend blushing madly.

“I'm counting on you.” Izuku says before he pulls away

Katsuki is left wide eyed in the middle of the dance floor.

“Izuku! You better not die cause I swear I will kick your ass!”

The green haired boy looks back over his shoulder and sends him a reassuring smile that said ‘ don`t worry ’.

What was that .

“That idiot.” he grumbles.

Katsuki`s attention darts around the room. He spots Kirishima and Denki backed up into a corner surrounded by mind controlled students.

Katsuki shoves through the crowd and kicks down the assailants closing in on them.  

“Let's go!” he yells to them and they follow him out the door.

Tokoyami and Ochako follow close behind them as they slam the gymnasium door blocking off the zombie students.

“Come on! To the locker room!” Katsuki yells back to them as they race down the hallway. They turn the corner to see a small swarm of three zombies there.

Katsuki extends an arm out signalling everyone to stay back.

These people are under his protection now. Even if he can't find a place out of sight to transform he is still going to have to protect them.

He charges at the zombies. He starts with a right hook to the one directly in front of him. He uses the momentum to roundhouse kick the next. The one behind him charges at him, but is kicked down by none other than Ochako. She kicked the zombie straight on the face sending it flat on it's rear end confused.

The group runs past the fallen zombies and enter the locker room around the corner. Katsuki opens the door for everyone and slams it shut when everyone makes it in.

“Where`s Izuku-kun?” Ochako asks with worry laced in her voice.

Katsuki punches the wall in fury.

“That IDIOT! He always thinks he doesn't need help, but ends up getting himself hurt!” Katsuki seeths through his teeth.

Kirishima places a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey man, it's going to be alright. The heroes will come soon and everything will save everyone. They always  do.”

“Kirishima is right.” a new voice says from the back of the room. Katsuki whips around at the familiarity of it. There stands the green masked hero.

Color rises to his cheeks at the sight of Deku. He looks down at this feet.

“You didn't happen to see a green haired freckled twerp on the way here did you?”

The hero sadly smiles.

“I`m sorry. But It'll be alright in the end I promise.” he looks to everyone in the room.

There stands Katsuki, Ochako, Tokoyami, Kirishima, and Denki. Five people he has to watch out for. He pulls out his communicator and presses call.

Katsuki sees this and quickly presses the answer button and hangs up immediately after from in his pocket. He would have been revealed then and there if his hero phone rang. Deku looks at his device confused, but puts it away.

That was a close one.

There is banging at the door.

“They must of found us.” Tokoyami says grimly.

“What are we gonna do now?!” Denki says in a panic.

Deku pries open the vent opening.

“You should all be able to fit. If you keep going you will eventually find one that leads outside.”

Denki dives into the vent headfirst. Kirishima sighs and chases after him. Then Tokoyami follows.

The door is slammed down by a hoard of zombies.

“Get in the vent quick!” Deku says to Katsuki and Ochako before diving into the zombies in a green flash. He drives them all away.

“Go on!” he calls back to Katsuki and Ochako before exiting the room and turning the corner to seemingly fight through more zombies.

More zombies break down the other door. Ochako and Katsuki exchange a look. The brown haired girl then kicks away a zombie about to crawl into the vent and closes it off putting the lid back on.

“Go on without us!” she calls to them.

Tokoyami looks back at her with sad eyes.

“Don't worry.” she says. “We will meet you outside.” she gives him a reassuring smile.

“Don't die.” he says in return and turns away deeper into the vent.

Katsuki and Ochako are back to back with zombies coming at them from nearly everywhere.

Katsuki eyes the security camera, and sees a baseball on the ground. He picks it up and chucks it at the camera, shattering the lenses. He hopes that it seems like he tried to throw one at one of the zombies and missed in the point of view of the footage.

He did this just in case he has to end up transforming out in the open.

He and Ochako keep plowing through zombies. Back to back they fight for their lives, guarding each other.

Katsuki decides then that she is an even better fighter when she isn't under the influence of super villains.

More zombies flood in the room.

“There's too many of them.” Ochako exclaims returning to Katsuki`s side.

Katsuki agrees. They back up into a closet. He grabs her wrist and pulls her into the closet with him.

The closet is tight. They are huddled close.

“You know.” Ochako begins. “I never did expect to be in this kind of situation with you of all people.” a tear slides down her pink cheek. “It's okay though. The heroes will take care of it and make it all better. I just know it.” her voice shakes.

Katsuki clenches his fist.

He has no choice.

“Ochako.” he says with all seriousness. She looks up at him teary eyed. He clasps his hands on her shoulders. “We are going to get out of this. But I need you to do something for me.”

“What is that?”

“...don't tell a fucking soul.”

He places his hand on his necklace and it glows brilliant red. Her eyes widen as she witnesses Katsuki transform into Ground Zero.

“Stand back.” he says now in his hero outfit as he steps in front of her.  

Ochako was in too much shock to try and argue.

He places a hand on the door and blasts it off of it's hinges, sending a multitude of zombies on their asses.  He wraps an arm around Ochako, hoisting her up, and dashes through the hordes of zombies propelled by an explosion and out of the room.

He places her down in the hallway and they meet more zombies.

He blasts them all away with a single explosion, creating a pathway for them.

“Let's go.” he says.

She follows him through the halls. They turn into the auditorium and shut the doors behind them.

“There must be another vent somewhere in here-”

“OH MY GOOOOOOOD!” Ochako exhales and collapses to her knees. “I can't EVEN believe it! YOU'RE Ground Zero?!”

“Yeah and it would be in your best interest to not tell anyone. I just put a target on your back revealing myself, but I didn't have much of a choice.”

“Holy fuck- does Izuku know?!”

“No! No he doesn't. It would be too dangerous.”

“Jesus fuck!”

“Yeah yeah it's SUCH a shock! Some rude asshole like me being a superhero! I get it. It's not exactly something you'd expect. Just don't tell anybody. I mean it. Deku would strangle my ass.”

“Deku huh. I wonder what he's like then if you're...well. You .”

“I wonder that everyday.” Katsuki grumbles.

“Wait. You don't know who he is behind the mask either?”

“Of course I don't. It would be too dangerous if we knew who each other were. We both agreed to it.”

“But you two are partners. I think it would be beneficial-”

“Well tell that to him .”

He turns away from her and scowls. She touches his shoulder.

“Hey. I won't tell anyone. I promise. But just promise me that you will tell Izuku eventually. He deserves to know.” she says with seriousness in her eyes.

Katsuki looks back into them, then looks back down at his feet.

He is about to answer back- but loud banging from the door fills the room.

“I have to get you the fuck out of here.” Zero says turning back around. He scans the room and spots a vent opening over on the opposite wall.

They go over to it and he pulls off the lid.

She kneels down in front of the vent opening and looks back up at him.

“Hey. I wanted to thank you for saving me from the League.”

“Yeah yeah, you need to get the fuck out of here Roundy. You'll only slow me down.”

She nods and crawls in. Zero puts the vent cover back on.

“One more thing Roundy.” he says. “Something I've wanted to tell you too since I fought you as Uravity. You're tuff. Like really tuff. You were hella hard to beat and I kind of respect you for it. T-that's all.”

She smiles back at him with determination.

“Save us all Spikey. When this is all said and done we can have a rematch.”

Katuski nods with a grin.

“I`d like that. Now go!”

She turns around and crawls deeper in the vent.

Ground Zero looks back at the door and gets into a fighting stance.

The door is pounded down and zombies flood into the room. He charges for them, but in a green flash they are all sent flying back on their asses.

Deku!

“Deku!” Zero calls.

“Zero!” the green masked hero exclaims happily. “Where have you been?!” he says punching down another zombie. “You haven't been answering my calls.” he says again kicking another one down.

Ground Zero flashes to his side and begins fighting away as well.

“I`ve been a little preoccupied.” he says sarcastically as he right hooks a zombie in the head.

“I'm just glad I finally found you!” Deku beams as he backhands a zombie that was behind him still facing Zero.

“Gotten a little used to fighting these numbskulls have we?” Zero teases as he bangs to zombies heads together.

“Sadly.” Deku laughs kicking back one that was about to touch Zero`s shoulder from behind him.

“Do you got a plan?”

“We need to find the mind control victim. He has to be somewhere on school grounds. Somewhere he can watch everything from afar.”

Zero thinks to himself. He spots a security camera on the far wall as he blasts a few zombies away with a small explosion.

“The security camera room!” Zero exclaims. “That's gotta be where he is.”

“Good thinking.” Deku praises.

“I got both fucking brains and beauty.” Zero says with a wink right before blasting away more zombies that were coming at Deku from behind him.

Deku rolls his eyes and playfully pushes his partner. They run through the halls.

“Do you have any idea where the security room is?” Zero says to his partner.

“No, but most security rooms are on the base floor. If we go down to the first level, we might be able to find it.”

The heroes zoom down the stairs, passing by many zombies in the process. They run down the hall, heavily guarded by zombies.

“This has got to be the floor if there are this many of them.” Zero says crouching into a fighting stance and a smirk stretched across his face.

“You take the left I got the right.” Deku directs.

The two plow right through the mass of zombies with flashes of green and blasts. They make it to a door that is marked ‘Security Room’ and kick down the door together.

They walk in and see a familiar student with titanium blonde and auburn split hair. He was on the floor with his hands and legs tied behind him.

“Well well well. The heroes finally made it to the throne room of my mind palace.” a voice says from the other side of the room. It came from a figure sitting in a wheelie leather chair sitting in front of a multitude of screens illuminating the dark room. He turns around in the chair to face them. His legs crossed and his fingertips pressed together. He was wearing a black suit and dark purple tie to match his wild violet locks of hair. The bangs under his eyes were visible even from the aviators he was wearing in the dark.

Zero recognized him as the guy they saw at the store. His name was ….Shinue? Shinsou? That sounds right.

“Don`t speak to him no matter what!” Todoroki exclaims from where he layed. Deku kneels down to untie his bindings. “That's how he controls people, he asks them a question and when you reply he has complete power over you.”

“Way to spoil the fun, Todoroki.” he says with his voice echoed by something far darker than his own. “I knew I should have gagged your pretty face as well.”

“Don't listen to him!” Todoroki says as Deku helps him to his feet. “This is how he gets into your head. His words are fickle.”

A smirk appears on Zero`s face.

“Should be easy to kick his ass then if he can only use other assholes to do the dirty work for him.”

Zero flashes over to the villain and aims a right hook to his head. The villain dodges by merely moving his head to the side. Zero comes back around with another hook, but the purple haired boy doges again, still sitting.

“I have been watching you fight this whole time you know. Your moves are quite predictable once you watch a few times.”

Deku appears behind the villain`s chair and goes to grab the sides of his head.

The villain grabs Deku`s hands without as much as a side glance and throws him over his head straight into Ground Zero. The two heroes crash into each other.

“I`ve watched all of your other fights. Ground Zero tends to distract the villain while Deku tries to reverse the effects thereby ending the fight. Using the same methods only work for so long. You will eventually get easy to read.”

Zero grumbles to his feet.

“Remember Zero, don't say anything to him.” Deku says keeping his eyes glued into the villian.

“They don't call me ‘Mindjack’ for nothing you know. I can see every plan you are trying to formulate. It's all too predictable.”

Zero charges fist first at him.

“Zero is going to retaliate back with a right hook while Deku-” Deku appears behind him again- “Is going to try and kick me from the back.”

Mindjack ducks down and watch at Zero punches Deku in the face, and Deku kicks Zero on the side of the head at the same time. They both stumble back in pain.

Mindjack sits back up in his seat, looking quite amused.

“Getting tired already? The fun is just starting to begin-”

“JUST SHUT UP YOU LITTLE-” Zero yells out but stops mid sentence. He stumbles backward grabbing his head in agony.

“Zero!” Deku exclaims.

“F-fuck.” Zero wheezes out. “D-damn it I-”

Deku cups his hand on Zero`s cheek in concern.

“Impressive.” Mindjack begins. “The destruction stone must give you slight resistance to the effects. I may have to drop a few people under my influence to make you submit.”

“G-get out o-of here!” Zero manages out. “Go Deku! Get...o-out… go!”

Zero places his hand over the one Deku is touching his cheek with.

“..p-please…”

Deku presses his forehead against his partner`s.

“I will save you. I promise.”

The green hero backs away watching his partner fall into more and more pain of resisting. When Deku makes his way to Todoroki`s side, the explosion hero goes limp on his feet.

“Ground Zero.” Mindjack smirks. “Bring me Deku.”

Chapter Text

“Ground Zero.” Mindjack smirks. “Bring me Deku.”

Zero`s head snaps upward. His blank expressionless eyes glare over at the green hero. Deku swings Todoroki over his shoulder and escapes the room. Ground Zero charges at them in a flash of red and aims an explosion right for them. Deku flees to the staircase and zooms up them going at high speed.

They make it to the other auditorium. Deku places Todoroki back on his feet.

“Tell me.” Deku says looking down. “When did Mindjack get control over so many people?”

“At the very beginning of the dance.” Todoroki begins. “Just before the music started playing. Some people were still coming in. He got on stage and asked the crowd if they were ready for Homecoming. Everyone who cheered ended up a pawn of his.”

That would make sense. That was just before him and Kachaan had gotten there.

“Do you know if there is any way to break the mind control?” Deku asks, eyes still focused on the ground.

“Not that I know of.” Todoroki continues. “I knew Shinsou would be upset after seeing he didn't get the top score on the Midterm. I should have foreseen this.” the boy says in shame.

“No.” Deku says placing a hand on his shoulder. “There was no way any of us could have known.”

Todoroki veers his attention away.

“What are you going to do now?” he asks the hero.

Deku`s sad expression was an answer on it's own to Todoroki.

“I'm going to have to stop him.”

Ground Zero blasts through the wall of the auditorium and charges right for them. Deku shoves Todoroki away and is sent flying back by Zero`s punch. Deku kicks off the wall and aims straight  for the explosion hero.

The two of them fight hand to hand. Deku stays out of Zero`s punching range to avoid the explosions, but jabs in and out with fast paced and accurate motions. Nothing vital though, he couldn't bear to do that to his partner.

“Zero! Can you hear me?!” Deku calls out as Zero aims a kick at his head. Deku doges and continues. “I know you're in there! Don't give up! You're stronger than this!”

“It's no use.” a voice says from the stage. Mindjack steps out from the curtains. “I gave up the control of twenty people to make him submit. He is nothing but my marionette.”

“No!” Deku cries out. “Zero you are better than this! Ground Zero!”

The explosion hero continues to attack expressionlessly.

There has to be a way to break him free of this. Something like a shock? He is already fighting him.

Deku walks up to Zero and presses his hands on the sides of his head. A green light appears from his hands.

Zero stops for a moment and Deku thinks it's working, but is swatted away by an explosion. The green hero stumbles to his feet. He dodges a few more attacks. Zero blasts him backwards again sending Deku is flat on his back. Zero comes over an straddles his waist.

There's only one more thing he can think of.

‘ I'm sorry Kachaan. ’

Deku grabs Zero`s choker and yanks him down crashing his lips onto his own. The green stone on his cuff  bracelet on the hand that's keeping a hold of the choker is glowing next to the red. The red stone on the choker slowly begins to glow along with it.

Deku can feel Zero move his lips onto his, kissing back. When they break away, Zero stares down at him with shock.

“Deku?” he says. “What-”

Deku places a finger to his partner`s lips. He smiles back at him in relief.

“You came back to me.”

They stare at each other for another moment, then echange determined smiles.

Zero grabs Deku`s hand and pulls him onto his feet. He snakes a hand around the green hero`s waist and presses his face into his green curly hair.

“Thank you.” he says in a hushed tone and presses his lips to his head.

Zero looks up at the disbelieving villain up on stage. He points a finger at him accusingly.

“You're going DOWN you freaky haired bastard!”

He opens up the hand that was pointing at him and let's off an explosion. Deku bolts up into it and flies straight for the villain. Mindjack was in too much shock to dodge.

The green hero grabs the sides of the villain`s head mid air and falls on top of him. He is practically straddling him when the green light appears from his hands and lulls the mind controlled victim to unconsciousness. The black cloud of energy whips away from Shinsou`s unconscious body.

Deku limps back into his feet and holds a fist up in the air triumphantly.

The green hero flashes back to the side of his partner.

“We did it.”

“No.” Zero says taking Deku`s hand and placing a kiss on the knuckles. “You did it.”

Heat rises to Deku's face and he pulls away his hand.

“We should get going. Im sure the news reporters are outside by now.”

“Our usual spot~?” Zero purrs leaning his face closer.

“No, not tonight.” Deku says pushing the other`s face away playfully. “I was at this dance tonight.” he says lowering his voice. “People are going to wonder where I was.”

Zero nods, his  expression reverting to seriousness.

The two heroes part ways in opposite directions, leaving Todoroki in the auditorium alone.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki transforms back into his Homecoming suit in one of the boys bathrooms out of the way of prying eyes.

He slumps down against the bathroom wall and hits the ground.

Damnit! He is so confused!

Just when he realizes he has feelings for Izuku and was about to ditch his fanboy fantasy of being with the green masked hero- damnit! He just HAD to go and get himself mind controlled because of his stupid fat mouth. Now all he can think about is how good Deku`s lips felt against his!

Katsuki was so confused.

He thinks back to when they were dancing a few hours ago. How nothing else in the world mattered but him and his childhood friend swaying to the music. How entranced he was by those large green eyes. How good his lips would have felt-

UGH! He can't get Deku out of his damn head!

He punches the wall in frustration.

He sits there for a moment before rising back to his feet.

Izuku. He had to go and find Izuku.

Katsuki exits the building from the side. News reporters and police lights flash out front.

He spots Ochako standing with a group of people. He walks over to her and sees that she is amongst Kirishima, Tokoyami, and Denki was well.

“Jesus man, you made it! You really gave us a scare.” Kirishima says putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Is it over?” Denki says biting his nails.

Ochako and Katsuki exchange glances. She nods at him, and he nods back. Only Kirishima seemed to notice, but decided it was best not to ask.

“Have you seen Izuku?” Katsuki asks with his nerves beginning to pick up.  

His friends shaking their heads only makes it worse.

“Kachaan!” he hears in the distance over the sound of sirens and people bustling around.

He heard it. He knows he did.

He whips his head around looking far over the crowd.

“Izuku!” he calls out.

“Kachaan!”

There he sees him. In the far distance running at him from the far side of the school.

“Izuku!” Katsuki breaks out into a run after him.

The scene seemed straight out of a movie. They ran towards each other at full speed, pushing through the crowd to see each other.

The two clash together tightly wrapping their arms around one another.

“Kachaan!” Izuku calls out as they meet for a tight embrace.

“Izuku.” Katsuki says into his green fluffy hair with relief flooding him.

They stayed there for a while. Just enjoying each other`s calming presence. The crowds of people becoming white noise in the background.

It was just them two sharing an embrace.

____________________________________________________________________________

The Homecoming incident happening on a Friday gave the school the weekend to fix up the facility enough to have school on Monday.

It was the morning after Homecoming, and Izuku was not feeling it.

He didn't sleep all night.

How could he?  Just… so much happened.

He hears a ping from his phone and groggily picks it up.

It was from Kachaan.

‘Hey. did you sleep last night?’

Izuku gives a light chuckle at that. He knows him so well. ‘No way. Did you?’

‘Not a chance.’

‘X3’

‘Do you want to come over?’

Izuku is about to type something, but his fingers linger over the screen when another message pops up.

‘We need to talk about us’

Izuku pauses, a feeling of dread waking up in the pit of his stomach. He knew that this was coming. Doesn't make him any less nervous.

‘Sure. I'll come over after breakfast.’

When he doesn't get a reply, he trudges over to his closet. Time to get ready for the day, no matter how little sleep he got.

Once he was dressed, he went downstairs to the kitchen. He poured himself some cereal and sat down.

“Izuku.” his mother said also coming down the stairs. “You're up so early.”

“Yeah, didn't sleep much.” he says in between spoonfuls. “I'm going to Kachaan`s after breakfast.”

“You didn't get to tell me much of what happened last night.” his mother says trying to glaze over the dread in her voice. “How was your dance? Other than, you know… what happened.”

“It was a blast.” Izuku says reminiscing to the dance earlier on. “I didn't know Kachaan could dance.”

“Are you two official now?” she asks with far lighter tone of voice.

Izuku leans his head on his hand -his cheeks blushing- and keeping his eyes trailed on the cereal.

“That's what I'm going to find out today.”

Izuku stood at the doorstep of the Bakugou residence. The door swung open before he could knock.

“What took you so damn long?” Kachaan growls.

Izuku notes the dark circles under his eyes. He knew Kachaan wasn't much of a morning person and lack of sleep on top of it doesn't help with his attitude. This was probably a bad day for this then…

“Good Morning to you too Kachaan.” he smiles.

The spikey blonde murmurs something under his breath about it ‘not being a good fucking morning’ and let's him inside.

Izuku follows Kachaan to his room. He takes a seat on the edge of Kachaan`s queen size bed. Kachaan closes the door behind him, locking it, and plops down next to him. He sits with his legs spread wide and his elbows leaning on his knees, hunched forward resting his face on his clasped hands.

Izuku is the first to break the silence wafting between them.

“Last night was something else. Huh.”

“Which part? The part where we were living our shitty High School Musical dream or the part where it became fucking World War Z?”

“Both.” Izuku laughs.

“Right.”

Izuku scoots closer and rests his hand on Kachaan`s knee.

“For what it's worth, it wasn't all bad.” he smiles.

Kachaan`s ears flush red at the tips and he veers away slightly.

Izuku`s smile dissipates and he draws his hand away.

Oh.

Okay then. Izuku mentally prepares himself for rejection.

“D-do you want t-to…” dammit he's reverted back to his old stutter. “..t-talk about last night?” Izuku reaches over and gingerly takes Kachaan`s hands into his own. “About us?”

Kachaan keeps his gaze focused down.

“Last night was-” he begins but stops himself. Like he was trying to find the right choice of words. His crimson orbs grow serious and snap up bearing into Izuku`s forest ones. “Last night was amazing.” he finishes.

….eh?

Kachaan laces his fingers with Izuku`s and leans in a little closer.

“ You're amazing.” he leans in even closer to Izuku`s blushing disbelieving face. “Last night made me realize that. You're so special to me Izuku. Probably cause we've known each other our whole lives or some shit- I don't know. But I do know is that…” he unlaces their fingers and holds Izuku`s hands in his own. “... I don't deserve you.”

….

What?

“What do you mean by that?” Izuku says softly.

“...I need to sort out some things first. I don't want to start anything with you if I'm not all there. That's not fair for either of us. And I know it's also not fair of me to ask you to wait when you've already waited for so damn long but-”

“I'll wait!” Izuku cuts off, eyes gleaming with sincerity. “You're worth waiting for, Kachaan.”

The blonde`s surprised face shifts into a smile.

A smile that Izuku reads as ‘thank you’.

They stare intently at each other for the next few minutes.

“Now.” Kachaan begins, letting go of Izuku`s hands. “Want to play some League of Legends?”

Izuku couldn't say no to that.

____________________________________________________________________________

A few days ago, Ochako would have never imagined herself in this situation.

Not in a million years.

But here she is, spending her Sunday in her basement filled with all of her training equipment and matted floors sparring none other than Katsuki Bakugou.

She had her short hair tied up in a ponytail and her knuckles wrapped in white tape. She sent two jabs straight for Katsuki`s ribs. The Spikey blonde dodged the second jab and swung a right hook with his also wrapped up knuckles. Ochako ducked and came up for a jab to his jaw. A clean hit! Katsuki roundhouse kicks her aiming to her head. Ochako stops his leg with her forearm and grabs his leg, sending him flat on his ass. Katsuki rolls backward while kicking out her leg as well. They both roll cleanly back onto their feet, sweaty and huffing for breath.

“You've gotten better.” the brunette states wiping her mouth with the back of her knuckles.

“You're damn right I did.” Katsuki retorts stretching out his shoulders with an audible crack.

“Let's take five.” Ochako decides.

She tosses a bottle of water at Katsuki. He catches with one hand and they both sit cross legged against the wall of the training room.

“Ever since my teacher retired I haven't had anyone to spar with. So this is good training for me too.” Ochako beams.

“Growing up, I only ever got into fist fights with snot nosed brats. Never anybody skilled though.”

“You`re pretty good for someone with no training. It's an acquired talent I guess.”

“Damn straight.” Katsuki snickers.

The two sit in silence for a few moments.

“So.” Ochako begins. “Are you and Izuku-kun official now? Or does that still not have a title. Izuku gave me a very vague answer when I asked him about it last night.”

Katsuki fiddles with the cap from his bottle. “No title yet.” he takes a sip of his water. “Told him I have to sort some shit out.”

“What sort of shit?” Ochako pries with an eyebrow raised.

Katsuki leans his head back against the wall and rubs a palm down his face.

“It's complicated.”

“More complicated than being a superhero scouting out the League of Villains and feeling like you have to keep your identity away from him to protect him?”

“Yep.”

“Huh. You are indeed a man with layers, Bakugou.” Ochako snickers. “So what is it then?”

“It's Deku..”

“What does he have to do with this?”

“It's just…” heat rushes to Katsuki`s face at the memory of him kissing his hero parter. “...I couldn't enter a relationship with Izuku on good conscience when I can't get Deku out of my head.”

That surprised Ochako.

“You have a crush on your hero partner?” she gawks.

“Well when you say it like a fucking Middle Schooler it makes it sound shitty as all hell. But yeah…”

Ochako couldn`t hide the laughter erupting to the surface.

“You like- omg I can't breath- like -” she can barely manage to get the words out through laughs.

“QUIT LAUGHING WOULD YOU?! IT'S NOT FUCKING FUNNY!”

“Of course not!” she wipes a tear from her eye. “I just find it hilarious that you'd even think of choosing someone you don't even know over someone you've known your whole life.”

“Yeah I know okay?! It's fucking stupid as fuck.”

Ochako`s laughing slows to a stop and starts listening to the blonde.

“And for the record, I have every intention of being with Izuku.” Katsuki says averting his eyes to the ground. “I just have to sort out these stupid emotions before I do.”

“...that's actually very responsible of you.”

Katsuku looked back at her. She smiles and shrugs.

“Well, you could of taken the selfish route and made it official with Izuku while still thinking about someone else, but you didn't. Even though you could have lost him for good making him wait longer.”

“It's a shitty situation. Hopefully it will all blow over soon.”

They simultaneously let out sighs.

“Who would have thought.” Katsuki grumbles to himself in a half hearted scowl.

“Thought what?”

“That we'd be hanging out like this.” the blonde says gesturing a hand up.

“Hehe yeah. I was thinking that too. Life is like that sometimes. You never know what awaits you.”

“You're telling me.”

“That reminds me.” Ochako begins. “Did you see on the news that they want to call you and Deku in for an interview?”

“Not happening. Those extras want nothing more than to try and deduce who we really are. It would be too risky.”

“You two would not be obligated to answer any questions you don't want to. I think you should discuss it with Deku.”

“.....Yeah. Maybe.”

Chapter Text

“Welcome back to the Aoyama show. I'm your host, Yuga Aoyama.” a teen blonde says to the camera. “Now we have yet to await the arrival of our heroes today-”

The doors slam open to reveal Ground Zero and Deku standing side by side.

The audience cheers wildly.

The two heroes walk down the aisle and make their way to the stage.

Katsuki thinks back to how he got into this situation.

Oh yeah. He thought this would be a good excuse to see his hero partner and talk. Deku had been quite reluctant, but convincing him to show up was the only way he would get to see him without there being a villain. He was going to talk to him after this shitty talk show was all over anyways.

“It's so good to have you guys here today.” the host says putting his arms around the heroes shoulders making them quite uncomfortable. He leads them to sit on a couch across from his own.

“Now tell me heroes, what made you decide to accept my show invitation? You two have been captured on camera avoiding the media at almost all cost.”

Deku tilts his head with a smile. “We know you all must have a lot of questions. We figured it was time for you all to have some of them answered.” Yuga and Deku look to Ground Zero.

“Yeah what he said.” he grumbles looking away from them.

“You don't seem like much of the talker, huh Mr. Zero.” the host cackles. The audience laughs along with him.

Deku is quick to pick up the scowl forming from Zero`s demeanor.

“What would to like to know?” Deku says changing the subject much to Katsuki`s relief.

“As we wait for our viewers questions to come in, I have a few questions myself. Now is it true that you two came up with each other`s hero names?”

“Yes it is.” Deku confirms.

The audience makes excited noises.

“So the online videos were right! How did you two come up with them?”

Zero looks up with an amused grin. “This nerd here crash landed into me when he was giving his powers a test drive, and I started calling him a ‘Deku’.”

“Oh?” Yuga says curiously.

“And I came up with the name ‘Ground Zero’ while looking up terms that had to do with explosions. I thought it was fitting.” the green hero beams.

The audience and the host seem to all blush at Deku`s charm. Katsuki is convinced that charisma is a part of his super powers or something.

The explosion hero grunts at everyone`s reactions and extends his arm out behind his hero partner grabbing into the couch. Body language that reads ‘back off he's not yours’.

Katsuki knows that he isn't his either…. But that doesn't mean that they have a right to look at him that way!

Yuga seems to notice this, raising an eyebrow ever so slightly.

“How long have you two known each other? Surely with how well you work together it's been a while.”

Zero and Deku exchange looks. Deku rubs the back of his neck.

“Lets see… how long ago was red Riot? About two months ago?”

That makes the audience whisper.

“So you two met when the first super villain appeared.”

“More or less.” Deku chuckles.

Yuga nods with a finger to his lips showing his interest.

“So you two haven't been dating for long then.”

Deku and Zero exchange deadpanned looks. Looks that say ‘we should have seen this coming.’

“Afraid we aren't.” Deku says rubbing the back of his neck.

“Are you sure about that?” Ayoma says with a mischievous smirk.

A picture of Deku carrying Ground Zero bridal style is shown on the screen wall behind them. It was an older picture of them, dating back all the way when they saved the city from being turned into birds.

“Tell me now, what's going on here?”

“That is me saving my partner from turning into a raven.” Deku says with a chuckle. “I know it can be easily taken out of context.”

“Then how do you explain this one?”

A new image pops up on the screen. It was from the same day. Katsuki recognized it as the moment that he decided he would have his hero name be ‘Ground Zero’. They were staring fondly into eachothers eyes.

Zero lets out a low chuckle. Deku looks back at Zero with an eyebrow raised.

“How about we will let you know.” the explosion hero says with a wink.

The audience pauses… then erupts into cheering.

Aoyama grins with satisfactory.

Deku stares back at him with an unamused look.

Katsuki decides then and there that he may of fucked up.

When that dreadful interview was over, the two heroes met at their usual spot on the factory roof.

“That was fucking dreadful.” Zero grumbles, leaning his back against the chimney.

“You said it.” Deku sighs.

“Never again.”

“Nope.”

“By the way.” Deku begins. “What did you mean by ‘I'll let you know’.”

“Huh?” Zero responds lamely.

“When they were prying about us being a couple. Why didn't you just tell them the truth?”

“Because they were going to keep asking until we gave them an answer that they liked. They stopped asking about it so I say it worked.”

Deku let out a long sigh.

“...is it really the wrong idea though?” Zero says after a long pause.

Deku looks up at him with a solemn expression.

Silence greets them once again.

Katsuki clenches his fists and looks away.

“Look.” Zero begins. “I know we don't really know each other…” he looks up to meet the green hero`s wide green eyes. “But you can't tell me that there isn't anything happening between us.”

Zero takes Deku`s hands into his own and leans in close. Deku`s cheeks flush slightly with color at the proximity.

“Deku.” Zero says tightening his grip. “Just what am I to you?”

Deku stares into his partner`s orbs.

The green hero squeezes his partner`s hands back and smiles confidently.

“You're someone I know has my back, just as you know I have yours. You're someone I can trust.”

“Then why won't you tell me who you are?” the explosion hero says almost pitifully.

Deku`s green bangs shadow over his eyes, and let's go of his hands.

“You would be disappointed.” he says lowering his voice.

Zero cups the side of Deku`s cheek, looking meaningfully into the other`s eyes.

“Never.” he breathes out.

Deku`s expression grows serious.

“I will think about it.” he says with all honesty.

Zero nods and draws his hand away.

“I will wait.”

___________________________________________________________________________

Shouto Todoroki analyzes the interview that Ground Zero and Deku had done that day. He searches for any clues, and sort of accidental hint of who they could be.

But there was really nothing he could go off of.

Heavy footsteps enter the room.

“You had an encounter with them Shouto. You can't tell me that you haven't gotten any suspects yet.” his father`s voice booms.

Shouto merely closes his eyes in irritation.

“They were at the scene too fast to not be already present at the dance. They must be students at your school. It must be something the League suspects as well. That would explain why all of the weak minded League controlled pawns all attend UA.” the elder man continues.

“Like I said before, Father . I have suspicion, but no solid leads. Nothing that-”

“You are my son, Shouto.” the man interrupts. “You are as sharp as I am. Your instinct alone is enough of a lead. Now tell me, who are these teenage wannabees?”

“What would you do once you find them? Demand they give up their stones? You said yourself that unless they make the conscious decision to give up being a hero nobody can bond with the stone.”

“That part isn't any of your concern, Son.” Shouto`s father looms over him threateningly. “You will give me their names, or I will go to your school and sought them out myself, and you will leave me no choice but to make you suffer the consequences.”

Shouto eyes the man challengingly.

Oh yeah? What is he going to do that he hasn't already done. He drove his mother insane and had her locked up. He neglected him and his siblings for the entirety of their lives. What next?

“I will have your mother moved to somewhere far away.”

Shouto`s eyes widen in fear, then shift into sheer fury. The father and son have a stare down for the next several minutes.

When Shouto decides he's had more than enough, he shoves past his father and storms into his room, slamming the door behind him. He shoves a few things in his backpack and jumps out the window of their single story house.

And he runs.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku noted that a lot of his classmates weren't present when he returned to school on Monday.

This was no surprise. He was sure a lot of people were freaked out from what happened at Homecoming the Friday before.

And throughout the week more and more people returned to school.

Almost everyone.

Izuku noted that the half blonde and half red haired boy who sits at the front of class was absent the whole week. It was Thursday, and he was nowhere to be seen.

Izuku made sure to take Todoroki`s place in tutoring Kachaan.

His childhood friend tried to weasel out of it, but Izuku knew that pushing him to do his homework was beneficial to his learning.

As much as he loves tutoring Kachaan, he can't help but wonder where Todoroki went.

Izuku was walking home from school, strolling down the city sidewalks. He walks past the coffee shop that he attends every now and then. The same coffee shop that he met up with Toshinori, and the same shop that Red Riot destroyed all that time ago. It was all newly renovated. It was completely glassed in, so you could see the entire shop from the outside view of the street.

Something in one of the windows catches his eye. Half blonde, half auburn red.

Todoroki.

Izuku stops in the middle of the sidewalk and makes eye contact with the heterochromatic boy in the window. Todoroki stares at him with shocked tired eyes. Izuku decides to walk into the shop after him.

“Todoroki-san.” the freckled boy says as he approaches him.

“Hello Midoriya. How are you?” he asks, his voice sounding scratchy from lack of sleep. Izuku also takes note of the dark baggy circles under his eyes.

“H-how are you ?” he says with worry flushing his face.

“I've seen better days.”

Izuku takes the seat across from him and stares at him with intent eyes that say ‘I'm listening.’

“...I ran away from home.”

That catches Izuku by surprise.

“Where have you been staying?”

“I`ve been staying with my co-worker Shinsou. But as of two nights ago, I felt as if I overstayed my welcome and took to the park benches.”

“S-Shinsou goes to UA too. Why haven't you b-been at school then.”

“Because my Father would find me there.”

Izuku takes it all in. That would make sense after all. The school would notify this folks immediately if he showed up after not attending for days.

“M-may I ask w-why?”

“There isn't much to it I'm afraid. I didn't agree with my father, and I left.”

Izuku isn't very convinced that that's all there is.

“You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But if you need somewhere to stay a few nights, my mother wouldn't mind.”

“I appreciate it Midoriya, but I must decline. I'm sure my father will soon start to ask around the students in my class to see if I'm staying with any of them. I won't involve you in this. Shinsou is in Class B which is why I was okay with it for a few days.”

“B-but what are you going to do now?”

Todoroki doesn't answer.

A silence wafts between them.

Izuku inwardly sighs. He pulls a napkin from the dispenser and writes down something on it. He hands it over to Todoroki.

“That's my number. Call me if you need anything.” he says and stands up. “You don't have to be alone in this, Todoroki-san.”

Then he walks away,  leaving Shouto alone with his thoughts.

____________________________________________________________________________

Shouto pockets the phone number and heads out of the cafe soon after Midoriya leaves. He supposes he shouldn't of been so stupid to come to a place so close to his school.

He makes his way to the hospital to make another visit to his mother.

He knows his father wouldn't dare to make an appearance there, even if he was told that Shouto is there frequently by the nurses.

He swiftly walks down the halls that he has memorized to a system in his head. He approaches the door that his mother lay behind, but is shocked to find it open. He peers in to see an empty bed and a janitor mopping the floor.

Shouto stood there in confusion.

Where had his mother gone?

Don't tell him that-

A nurse that he had come to recognise him as a regular gave him a pitying look and approached him.

“I`m sorry, but she was moved to a different facility.”

Shouto`s bangs cover over his eyes.

“Could you tell me where?”

“Sorry sweetie, I can't tell you that.”

“...I see.”  

Shouto walks back out of the hospital and leans himself against a tree. Once his back hits the bark, he slides down to the ground.

Damnit.

DAMNIT!

He pounds his fist into the grass in aggravation.

Of course his father would do this. That bastard thinks that Shouto would come home and beg for the location of his mother`s new facility.

Fuck.

He felt so…. Powerless.

Footsteps approach him from behind.

“You are powerless against your own father.” a scratchy voice rang in his ear.

Shouto closes his eyes.

“You can't even see your own mother now because of him.”

“Is this how you do it then?” Shouto says.

The footsteps stop.

“Is this how you place people under your spell? You prey on them at their weakest moments?”

He turns his head slightly, just enough to get a glimpse of the silver haired man behind him.

“Well I'm afraid you're at a loss today. This isn't the worst I've had it.”

The silver haired man`s lips veer into a scowl and he turns around and walks away.

Chapter Text

Izuku was with Ochako and Kachaan, who were standing around his desk. He had just informed them of his encounter with Todoroki the day prior.

“I-I think we should be worried about him. Do y-you think I should tell Aizawa Sensei?”

“I hate to say it, but that would probably make things worse for him.” Ochako says.

“I'm with Roundy on this one.” Kachaan says crossing his arms. “Half and half clearly doesn't want to be found right now. He has to figure this shit out on his own.”

Izuku glances down at the floor with a pout.

Kachaan places a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Hey. I know it sucks. But if he really wants help, then he will call you. You said you gave him your number right?”

Izuku nods.

“Then quit sulking around like an idiot. You did what you could for him. It's up to him if he wants the damn help or not.”

Izuku`s worried face shifts into a small smile.

Kachaan smiles back at him with a reassuring glance.

“Get a room you two.” a certain grape haired student scoffs from a few desks away.

“Oi! Why don't you grow half a brain and pick on someone who won't beat your ass into the concrete, you little freaky shit hole!” Kachaan barks back at him.

“Oh come on, nobody needs to see you two being gay in the classroom.”

“Can it Mineta! Nobody cares but you!” their pink haired classmate barks from the other end of the classroom.

“I think we can all agree that none of us need to be grossed out watching any of that.”

“What is wrong with you Mineta? Can't you just mind your own business?” Ochako retorts.

Izuku grabs his own arm and looks down at the ground.

He feels Kachaan lean his arm over his shoulders. The proximity alone is enough to make Izuku blush, but he feels less small this way. Kachaan flips Mineta off with his free arm.

“Go fuck yourself, Grape Head.”

When Mineta rolls his eyes at him, that's when Katsuki decides to press his nose into Izuku`s fluffy green hair playfully.

Katsuki thinks to himself that this is definitely something that Ground Zero would do in this situation.

His normal self would cringe and cuss at the thought of PDA, but Ground Zero was far less ashamed than him (not that he's ashamed of Izuku or anything, he just doesn't normally like public affection).

His masked persona had been starting to bleed into his personality. He hasn't decided yet if that's a bad thing or not. But so far, it's been seemingly having good results.

One thing will never change though.

He will always be impulsive.

He admits to himself that he quite enjoys seeing Izuku as a blushing mess before him. He has dubbed it as ‘adorkable’ (he would never say that outloud or he would never her the end of it).

Katsuki nuzzles even further into Izuku`s hair then draws away. One may call that a nose kiss on the head. Then he draws away taking his arm off of izuku`s shoulders shooting him a smirk.

Izuku shifts from flustered to calm and confident and a matter of a few seconds. He leans into Katsuki`s face and places a kiss on his cheek.

Now Katsuki was the one left blushing. Izuku softly chuckled and took a seat at his desk with a satisfied (hint of smug) grin.

He decides then and there that he absolutely loves this newer version of Izuku that would come out every now and then.

The girls in the class (lead by Ochako) all have fangirl stars in their eyes at the sight.

Katsuki growled for them all to go away. They all did, except for Ochako. She patted him on the back proudly and took her seat.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki hated parties.

He didn't plan on having one when he invited Kirishima to come over and play video games. Kirishima then asked if he could bring Denki since they were supposed to be hanging out that day, and Katsuki wasn't going to third wheel in his own house so he invited Izuku. Izuku then said that he was originally going to hang out with Ochako so now she's invited too. Then Ochako mentioned that her and Izuku were going to meet up with Tokoyami and he got invited too.

He went from planning to hang around one person to five.

….life is funny like that.

Either way, his parents were out until Sunday on a business trip so he had the place to himself for a few days. (his mom had also left a box of condoms and a bottle of lube on his nightstand the night  before she left so clearly she was expecting him to have guests).

They were all residing in his living room. All of them were sitting on the floor in a circle playing Cards Against Humanity (it was Tokoyami`s deck).  

“German dungeon porn wins.” Tokoyami declares slapping down the black card.

“Yes!” Ochako exclaims and swipes the card and places it in her growing pile.

“Jesus Ochako.” Kirishima says exasperatedly. “Who knew that you were so dirty minded.”

Katsuki and Izuku exchange looks and both began to chuckle.

“What?!” the redhead exclaimed.

Denki pats Kirishima on the back. “Don't question it man. Ochako is their wingman. They know more than we do.”

The game continues on. When all of the black cards are gone, they decide to count up them up.

“Looks like I win, fuckwads.” Katsuki says with a smirk throwing down his pile.

Everyone sighed. It was no surprise that he had the dirtiest mind.

“New game!” Ochako exclaimed. “How about truth or dare.”

“It wouldn't be a party without some gold ole truth or dare now would it.” Kirishima chimes in.

Everyone seemed to agree.

“Truth or dare it is.” Tokoyami murmured. “Bakugou-san goes first for winning the last game.” the goth boy chugged his soda bottle and placed it in the middle of the circle when it was empty.

Katsuki gave it a spin. The bottle landed on Kirishima.

“Truth or dare shitty hair?”

“Hey that kinda rhymed. Dare!”

“I dare you to arm wrestle me!” he says slamming his elbow down onto the rug.

“How manly! I`d expect nothing less!”

The two have an arm wrestling match.

“Go Eijirou!” Denki cheers on.

“Come on Kachaan you got this!” Izuku shouts.

Tokoyami and Ochako simultaneously sigh.

Katsuki slams Kirishima`s arm into the floor.

“I win you red haired fucker!”

“Fair and square. Have you been working out? Cause last time we arm wrestled neither of us could beat each other.”

“You damn right I have been.”

Denki pats Kirishima`s arm. “Alright Kirishima is next!”

Kirishima spins the bottle and watches it land on Ochako.

“Truth or dare?”

“Dare! Give me the best you got!”

“I dare you to prank call someone in our class who isn't here!”

Ochako whips out her phone and dials a random number. She pretended to be somebody offering a foot massage service to Iida- their class president. He ended up believing her for a bit, then demanded to know where she was calling from when he heard the erupting laughter in the backdrop. She hung up with a chuckle.

“Revenge never felt so good! Serves him right for ditching me at the dance!”

She spins the bottle. It lands on Denki.

“Truth.”

“Are you a virgin?”

Denki and Kirishima look away from each other, blushing madly.

“No.”

‘Damn.’ Katsuki thinks to himself. ‘Roundy goes all out huh.’

Tokoyami high fived the bushing boys with a nod of approval. Ochako smiles victoriously. Denki spins the bottle and it lands on Izuku.

“Truth or dare?”

Katsuki watches Izuku think for a moment. He rubs the back of his neck when he says “Truth.”

“Have you ever kissed someone? Lip to lip.”

That's an easy one. Katsuki knows for a fact that that's a no. Him and Izuku had shared kisses on the cheek, but not full on the lips.

“Y-yes.”

….what?

Katsuki looks at him with utter shock. Izuku shrinks into himself.

“What the fuck?! Who was it?” he demands.

Everyone was staring at the two of them.

“Damn. That was supposed to be an easy one. I thought you guys had already-” Denki says but stops himself mid sentence.

Even Ochako looks at Izuku weird. She recalls her friend telling her that he's never kissed anyone before.

Izuku goes pale, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I-it w-w-was…”

“Hey!” Tokoyami raises his voice. “That was the end of his turn. Spin the bottle, Midoriya.”

Izuku gives it a weak spin. It lands on Katsuki.

“Truth.” he growls, still pissed at the thought of Izuku kissing anyone but himself.

“H-have you ever k-kissed s-someone?”

Katsuki is about to bark ‘Fuck no!’ at him- but stops himself. The memory of waking up to Deku kissing him so tenderly in the heat of battle to snap him back to his senses fills his head. He clenches his fists and looks away. He catches Ochako sending him a nervous glare. She must know what he's thinking. He had told her about how Deku woke him up.

“Yes….” he says almost ashamed, looking down at the rug.

Izuku looked at him with surprise. Katsuki couldn't look at him. He was too ashamed of himself. He feels like he cheated out on his best friend (even though he technically didn't they still aren't technically together).

Him and Izuki don't look at each other for the rest of the party.

It was getting late, and everyone started leaving. Ochako patted Izuku and Katsuki on the back, knowing that they needed to talk some things out. Sort of a ‘text me all about it asap’ kind of pat. She leaves the two of them alone in the living room.

Everyone had left. It was just Izuku and Katsuki sitting alone on the couch.

The silence was so loud to them. Neither of them knew what to say first.

“I um.” Izuku says to break the silence. Katsuki still doesn't look at him. Izuku trails off and looks back down at his feet.

Katsuki rises to his feet, glaring down at him with intense crimson orbs. Izuku feels that those beautiful eyes could burn a hole in his own eyes at staring into them for too long. He tilts his head motioning for Izuku to follow him. Izuku stands up and complies. He follows Katsuki to his dark bedroom.

Katsuki shuts the door behind them and goes over to the balcony. He crosses his arms and leans over on the railing. Izuku stands next to him. The silence wasn`t so bad this time. They had the sound of the night to help drown it out.

Izuku looks to his childhood friend. His eyes trace the moonlit highlights on the blonde's face. His skin seemed more like porcelain in the light, and his hair almost seemed white reflecting the moon's glow.

He knows what Kachaan is doing. He is waiting for him to explain.

“I...I don't r-really know what t-t-to say Kachaan. I-I mean…” The green haired boy deeply inhales and releases his breath. His demeanor changes, standing up taller, and his eyes not leaving Katsuki. Katsuki still won't look at him. “You said yourself that you have kissed someone else before. So you can't be mad at me when we aren't even together.”

Izuku looks away from him. Eyes settling for something on the balcony floor.

“So if you-” the rest of his sentence goes unheard when a pair of lips crash into his own. Izuku`s eyes go wide, but slowly close as he returns the kiss.  After what seems to be an eternity to them, their lips part for breath.

Katsuki cradles the side of Izuku`s face. The freckled boy melts into his touch, covering the hand with his own. He peers back up into his childhood friend`s meaningful crimson gaze. He looked at Izuku like he was the only thing that mattered in this world.

“You don't have to wait any longer.” Katsuki begins. “I am completely yours, if you want me.”

Izuku touches Katsuki`s cheek with his other hand. “Oh Kachaan.” he begins, rubbing his thumb along the blonde`s lip. “I was always yours from the beginning.”

The two join their lips back together.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku woke up the next morning to sunlight searing his eyes through his bedroom window. He sat up and trudged to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

As he brushed his teeth, recollection of what happened the night before flooded back into his memories.

Oh yeah. Him and Kachaan had their first kiss together.

...first several kisses together.

His cheeks go warm and his mouth stretches into a lovesick grin as he brushes his teeth. Man he really has it bad. Izuku spits out the toothpaste and slaps his cheeks to shake away the thought.

He stared back at himself in the mirror. His green hair was sticking out at every possible angle. His freckles dotted all over his cheeks. He had bags under his eyes from the tiredness of morning. The shirt he was wearing exposed the scars that littered his flesh and hung off of his thin frame.

Man. What does Kachaan see in him. He really doesn't find himself attractive.

Izuku left the bathroom and headed downstairs for breakfast.

“-and then I told that shitty agent to go reread the contract that he wrote up. There was nothing in there that said I had to pay for my own travel costs for their photoshoot.”

Izuku stopped halfway down the steps.

Was that?

He hears the combined laughter of his mom and… Kachaan?

Izuku continues down the steps and turns the corner to his kitchen. There sat Kachaan and his mom at the table.

Izuku stood there idly for a moment.

His mom notices him and smiles.

“Good morning Izuku. Did you sleep well?”

Kachaan turned around to face him with a smile.

“Morning nerd.”

“K-Kachaan. W-what are y-you-”

“I came to visit Aunty. Have a problem with that?” he says with a challenging smirk.

“N-not at all! I-I`ll just g-g-go then-”

“Izuku I'm kidding. Of course I came to see you.” Kachaan says with amusement in his voice. “Not that I don't like hanging with Aunty.”

Inko chuckles. “Why don't you have a seat Izuku. I'll make you boys breakfast.” she says as she gets up.

Kachaan look back to Izuku and smiles gently.

Izuku stares back with his cheeks warming. He touches a hand to his cheek. His exposed arm catches his attention. He looks down at his scarred arms- realizing he wasn't wearing long sleeves. He whips back around the corner and bolts up the stairs.

He only ever wore t shirts as pajamas. If he knew Kachaan was going to be there, he would have changed first.

He felt ashamed. Embarrassed.

Izuku shut the door behind him and dug through hs closet for a long sleeved shirt.

He really just wanted to cry right now.

Katsuki frowns when he sees Izuku flee back around the corner. He was a little confused as to why. Then it hits him.

Izuku never wore anything without sleeves.

A memory from when they were in Middle school rings in the back of his mind. A memory of when he walked in on Izuku changing his bloodied bandages around his arms in the boys bathroom at school.

That was the day that-

Katsuki shakes that thought away.

“Is eggs alright with you Katsuki?”

“Wha- oh. Yes Auntie.”

Izuku comes back downstairs wearing a long sleeved flannel and jeans. His hair a little neater too. He smiles at Katsuki and takes his seat next to him at the table.

Inko places plates of eggs and hashbrowns on the table.

“Dig in boys.”

Katsuki downs his plate of food. He really wishes his own mom could cook. His dad could kind of cook, but he was never around enough to. So Katsuki took the liberty to learn himself. Inko actually taught him a few things when he was younger. That was really when she had earned the name ‘Aunty’.

“What are you boys up to today?” Inko asks sipping her coffee.

Izuku looks at Katsuki expectantly. Katsuki swallows the large amount of food in his mouth to speak.

“Was thinking of taking this nerd to the park or something. Supposed to be nice out, considering it's autumn. Only if you're up for it.”

Katsuki was quick to catch on to Izuku`s demeanor. He could tell that he was feeling more insecure than usual today.

He had been doing so well lately….

“T-the park s-sound great.” he says smiling to himself- almost sadly.

Inko and Katsuki send him concerned glances.

Katsuki sighed and looped his arm with Izuku`s, pulling him out of his chair. Izuku flushes in surprise.

“K-K-Kachaan!”

“Time to go nerd. Get some of that fucking fresh polluted city air and soak up the sun wearing a sweater.”

Inko smiles as she watches the two boys go out the door.

If they weren't dating before, they definitely were now.

Chapter Text

Katsuki dragged Izuku to the city park.

They strolled down the walkway side by side. It was the beginning of November, so the leaves on the trees were bright colors. It was quite a sight to behold seeing the hundreds of trees at the park light up with their natural glory.

Izuku was trying to enjoy the moment, but his thoughts from earlier continued to plague his mind. His eyes trailed back and forth between the blonde beside him and his own red sneakers. His childhood friend was wearing a red beanie and a jean jacket with dark colored jeans and a small silver chain hanging from his pocket. His small choker was strapped just above the neckline, making his skin seem more creamy toned against the black and red. He was literally dating a model, of course he would put seemingly a good amount of thought into what he wears.

What does he see in you .

He supposes he could ask, but that would sound petty and insecure. And he doesn't want Kachaan to think ill of him.

“What's on your mind, nerd.”

Izuku is snapped from his gaze and peers over at his- boyfriend? They never quite established that now have they.

“N-nothing really. I-it's kind o-of chilly I guess.”

He was reminded of his encounter with Todoroki a few days ago. He had been missing from school for a while. Last time he saw him he said he had been sleeping on the park benches. It was way too cold for someone to be sleeping outside.

Katsuki stops in his tracks.

Izuku follows suit, confused.

“What is it-”

He is cut off by a pair of lips pressing against his own. Izuku was caught off guard, but happily kisses back nonetheless.

Katsuki pulls away with a satisfied smirk at the sight of Izuku smiling back.

“Found a way to make you stop muttering to yourself.”

Izuku flushed with embarrassment.

“S-sorry I-”

“Oi. Quit saying sorry for things you can't help.”

“O-okay.”

Katsuki takes Izuku`s hand into his own and laces their fingers together. Izuku finds this action to be far more calming as they continue to walk through the park.

After a while, they take a break and sit at the root of a tall oak tree.

“I-I like the new l-look.” Izuku says feeling the need to break the silence.

“You damn right you fucking do. I have this new contract with this beanie line right now and I have to look the part. I went into it thinking it was going to be another shitty job, but it's fucking grown on me a lot.”

A grin stretched across Izuku`s face topped off with a light flush.

He loves this. He loves just being with Kachaan. Just sitting here by a tree was perfect. Every kiss, every touch. It was all perfect.

Something catches Izuku`s eye. He looks up and sees red and blonde in the far distance.

Todoroki.

Kachaan follows his gaze.

“Half and half.” he mutters to himself. He stands up and shouts “OI! HALF AND HALF BASTARD!”

Todoroki turns his attention to them for a moment. Then begins to walk away from them.

“Kachaan! What the heck?!”

“What the fuck did I do?”

Izuku sighs and looks back up. Todoroki was already out of sight.

Well, at least they know he's still alive .

Katsuki brings Izuku to the beach side. A little far from the rest of the city, but nonetheless gorgeous. The park had gotten to crowded for their taste. But it was too cold out for the beach anybody to really be there. So they decided they should go.

“Remember that day we were here last summer?” Izuku says breaking Katsuki`s train of thought.

“Yeah.” he says reminiscing. “You were drooling over my abbs the whole time.”

Izuku peers up at him with a challenging smirk. “How could I not? Everything about you is drop dead sexy.”

Katsuki stops walking.

Jesus he was crushing on him for that long? A year ? Possibly longer?!

Izuku tilted his head with a cocky smirk. “ What .” he said in a teasing manner.

“I just-...” Katsuki`s surprised stretched into a smirk. “When did you get all confident and shit.”

“I-I d-don`t really know… sorry… it comes in random spurts. I will b-be all embarrassed and s-shy the one minute a-and be all sly the n-next. I-I don't know where it's been c-c-oming from I just-”

He is stopped once again by Katsuki`s lips.

“Well don't stop cause it's fucking irresistible.” he whispered against his lips.

Izuku stared into the blonde`s crimson orbs.

Kachaan thinks he's attractive? Irresistible?

“So you like it when I'm more confident.” Izuku says slowly.

“Fuck yes .”

Suddenly any insecurity he had earlier about not liking the way he looks is shoved to the very back of his mind. Izuku takes fistfulls of Katsuki`s jean jacket and pulls him down for a heated- almost desperate kiss.

Izuku pushes forward, backing Katsuki into a large beachrock on the shore. They part for breath. Katsuki wide eyes Izuku, and Izuku immediately begins to regret what he did-

“Do that again.” the blonde said breathlessly.

Izuku smiles with half lidded eyes. He nuzzles his face into the crook of the blonde`s neck.

“Anything for you Kachaan.” he murmurs against his skin.

____________________________________________________________________________

The first thing Mitsuki Bakugou noticed when her son walked through the door late that night was that he was in an exceptionally good mood. And her son was almost never in a good mood.

He walked into the kitchen, unbuttoning his jacket.  

“You're home early.” he says pouring himself some water.

“The photoshoot didn't take as long as they thought. Thank fucking god, shit was boring as hell.” she says sipping her tea.

“I know the feeling.” her son replies.

Mitsuki swallows her tea and stares at her son with an all knowing smirk.

“Izuku gave you some good ones.”

Katsuki turned towards her a little confused. Mitsuki pointed to her own neck with a smug smirk.

Her son blushed vibrant red and covered his neck with his hand.

“Did you use the condoms at least?”

“JESUS CHRIST LAY OFF YOU HAG!!”

“That's why I left them you ungrateful shit.”

“MOOOOOOM! OH MY FUCKING GOD!”

The hag had been home for 5 minutes and he is already being hounded.

That night, Katsuki laid awake thinking about his day with Izuku.

He had a very good time today. But something had been nagging at the back of his skull the whole way through it.

A certain green masked hero plagued his mind.

Damnit! He thought he was over that shit! FUCK!

He was with Izuku now. He had no room for fantasizing about being with his hero partner.

Katsuki unclips his choker necklace and lays it on his nightstand. The red stone reflects in his own crimson eyes.

...that brings up a different issue at hand.

Ochako was right. He was going to have to tell Izuku about him being Ground Zero sooner or later. Him and Izuku had been best friends their whole lives. He knew from the start that because of that this relationship would be all or nothing.

It would be dangerous though. What if the League found out and targeted him for villainization? Or worse?

He shakes the thought out of his head.

He would think about it in the morning.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku laid in bed awake.

He was going to have to tell him.

He couldn`t hide the fact that he is actually a superhero forever. If he was going to do this, he would have to be honest. But it was dangerous….

Well, he was already Ground Zero`s informant. He supposes that's risky as it is.

He reaches up to the ceiling and curls his hand into a fist, his bracelet hanging off of his wrist. He eyes the scars in his arm and inwardly sighs.

He recalls the last time he kept something big from Kachaan.

His phone lights up his dark room with a ‘ping’.

Who could be texting him at this hour.

He picks it up and squints at the screen.

It was from Todoroki.

____________________________________________________________________________

Another night Shouto has away from his bastard of a father.

The price of that was sleeping on the cold hard bench in the city park. He was already out of money and had no more food and change to wash his clothes at the local cleaners.

He won't cave in just yet. This isn't the first time Shouto has run away from home….this was just the longest.

His stomach grumbled and his lips were parched. He just really wanted to go to sleep so he would have a break from having nothing to eat or drink.

...he's kind of pathetic huh…

The sound of a twig breaking echos in the dark of the night.

It could have been just an animal in the distance, but Todoroki`s instinct says otherwise. The silver haired man must of come back for him. He pulls out his phone- (thankfully his father hadn't cut off his service yet and he had charged it today at the library)- and sends a quick text.

He had just sent out his location.

To Izuku Midoriya.

….if his suspicions are correct, then Deku would appear any minute.

Several minutes tick by, and Todoroki is growing more and more weary.

If Shouto hadn't skipped eating for two days straight, he would probably have the energy to walk away from this potential encounter. He just doesn't though. He has no strength left in him.

He just can't .

“You're too weak to even move.” a scratchy voice echoes into the night.

Shouto`s eyes open. He gives it his all to sit up straight, his bangs covering his face.

“You are here because of your stubbornness you know. If you had just kissed up to your father then you would still be able to see your mother again. And you wouldn't be here, starving and alone.”

That's right…. He was all alone.

A hand grabs his face.

“Todoroki-san!”

Midoriya? Shouto could see the green haired boy running up to him. He looked worried. Why was he worried?

Shouto extends his arm out after his classmate.

“Mid..or...iya.” Shouto croaks out.

Concerned green orbs were the last thing he saw before everything went black.

“ IcyHot. I am All for One. You have been pushed around and beaten your whole life. Why don't you give them a taste of how it feels to be burned by one and shut out in the cold by another- as you were. ”

…

“I will serve vengeance.”

____________________________________________________________________________

“Todoroki!” Izuku shouts as a large gust of wind hits him in the face. The wind turned butter cold, ice crystals slice his skin. The wind is followed by small sparks of fire nipping at the wounded flesh.

Izuku crosses his arms out in front of his face. In the distance he can see Todoroki with blackened eyes. Half of his body was completely covered in ice, and the other burning brilliant flames.

He was too late.

Chapter Text

Fuyumi Todoroki had seen some pretty bad days in the Todoroki residence.

Such as the day their mother was locked up in a psych ward for being pushed over the edge by their father and pouring boiling water on Shouto`s face. Or the day her brother Toya ran away. It was hard enough having one brother run away, but two was most certainly too much to bear.

Her brother Shouto running away was definitely one of the worst.

Their father, Enji, didn't give a care in the world at first. He was so confident he would come crawling back on their doorstep in a day or two. When a week passed, he grew irritated and had their mother moved out of the city. Now it had been two weeks since she's heard from him. Their father was not happy.

She turned the news on the tv to drown out her father`s temper tantrum in the other room, hugging her knees to her chest on the couch.

Her eyes widen in horror at the sight the tv graced her with.

‘ The newest villainized victim, calling himself ‘IcyHot’, has frozen over mass majority of the city during these few hours tonight. He seems to be heading towards the east side of the city. ’

The half white half red hair on the screen was enough to confirm for her.

Shouto.

East side? That's where they live!

The temperature suddenly plummets in the room. Frost consuming the walls and furniture around her. Fuyumi shrinks into herself, shivering.

She hears the front door creak open- louder than usual from the ice. Footsteps walk in a slow even pace, growing louder with each step.

Fuyumi turns around from the couch and sees her brother with blackened eyes, his left side almost completely frozen over.

At the sight of her, his left eye goes back to normal.

“Where is father.” he says in a darkened voice.

“Shouto…what happened to you…”

“Tell me where father is, Fuyumi.” his left eye reverts back to being marbled over with black.

“Right here.”

The siblings whip around to see their father standing in the doorway. Enji clenched his fists and scowled.

“You let those bastard take control over you?! You're no son of mine! Just like your brother, Toya.” he spits out. “You disgrace.”

Shouto exhales more frost. His father begins to shiver as well, icicles forming at the tip of his beard.

“Where is my mother.” his voice rings with a voice that isn't his own. A deeper, far more terrifying voice. His hand grabs ahold of his father's throat.

“All for One.” Enji begins. “Leave my son alone.”

“ Your son is gone .”

Fuyumi clamps her eyelids shut at the thought of what's to come next. After the sound of a crash though the walls, she opens them back up.

A green masked hero stood there, his limbs crackling green.

“Todoroki.” Deku began. “Stop this now.”

IcyHot throws down his father by the throat, onto the icy hard floor.

“You should stay out of this. This is a family matter.” the villain booms.

Deku stands his ground.

The villain launches himself at the green hero. Deku leads him to the outside so they won't destroy more of the house. Deku and IcyHot clash head to head.

“You think killing your father will make it all better?! It will only cause more pain!” Deku shouts over dodging the fire blasts aimed at him.

“You know nothing !”

IcyHot and Deku`s fists clash causing the ground beneath them to crater in. The two are thrown away from one another.

Fuyumi watches their battle from the window.

Please come back to us… Shouto.

____________________________________________________________________________

Deku is breathing heavily from the heat of battle.

Literally.

Dodging fiery blasts and icy winds while charging in to maybe land a strike grows tiring after a while.

Where the hell was his partner?!

To be fair it was rather late. He hopes Ground Zero isn't sleeping through all this. He continues to dial him up with his hero phone nonetheless.

Deku flings himself through the air to land a downward kick on IcyHot`s head. IcyHot grabs his leg. Deku broke free of his hold just before IcyHot ignited his hand in flames.

That was close.

He swings back around for ajab landing right in the middle of the villain`s stomach. The villain however, froze over his abbs almost like making a shield, and ended up making Deku`s knuckles begin to bleed.

Deku fades back and charges back in with a punch aiming for IcyHot`s face. The villain knocks the punch out of the way with one hand and elbows Deku face flat into the ground. IcyHot sends a large icicle straight for him. Deku rolls out of the way just in time for the icicle to stab through the cold hard ground beside him.

Deku rolls back into his feet and kicks the icicle into dust. The ice dust hits IcyHot in the eyes. The villain closes his eyes shut and is stricken on the face with a left jab.

The two fall back away from each other.

IcyHot wipes his face with the back of his hand.

“If you are so insistent on keeping me from him, then I will do the same to you.”

Shouto surrounds Deku in a ring of fire.

Deku charges through the flames at high speed so he doesn't catch on fire. By the time he does, IcyHot was nowhere to be seen.

Damnit!

‘ If you are so insistent on keeping me from him, then I will do the same to you. ’

What did he mean by that?

Zero. Where are you?

____________________________________________________________________________

The last thing Katsuki expected from tonight was to be rudely woken up by zero below air invading his room.

Jesus fuck! What was wrong with the thermostat?!

The shivering blonde snuggled himself further into the blankets. Nothing helped. So he got up and turned on the lights to navigate his way to the thermostat control. When the lights flicker on, he notices that there is someone else lurking in his space.

He flinches from the light filling his room.

His eyes adjust to see the black eyed figure in his room.

Oh.

Before he could make a run for his nightstand and grab his choker, the villain slowly walked up towards him.

Katsuki is backed against the wall, a frightened scowl stretched across his face.

The room grows even colder. Katsuki is starting to feel sleepy again. Probably from the hypothermia he is going to get from the frost bitten air.

His sinks to the floor feeling every ounce of heat in his body leave him.

No. he can't give up.

But he can't move.

His vision goes to black.

Help, Deku .

____________________________________________________________________________

“Any idea where he would have gone?” Deku said to Todoroki`s father and presumably his sister.

The older man rises to his feet.

“The hell you think I would know. You're the hero. Do your job, rookie.”

Deku was taken aback by the man`s bitterness.

“I knew the moment I saw you on tv that Toshinori had chosen out of desperation. I figured you would be about this competent” the man scowls.

That catches Izuku by surprise.

“You know about Toshinori-san?”

“I'm offended that he hasn't mentioned me. But at the very least, I'm not too surprised.”

“....Endeavor. You're Endeavor.” Deku says in relaization.

“Maybe you do have half a brain after all.” the man scowls. “Going by what my son said to you, it sounds like he is going to starts taking on hostages.”

Deku nods and turns away from him and joins Todoroki`s sister in the tv room.

“Do you have any idea where he could have gone?” Deku asks her.

The girl shakes her head sadly.

“I`m afraid not. Shouto has always been so distant. Even if there was somewhere, I wouldn't know.”

Deku places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She grabs it, almost deperstly.

“Promise me that you will get him back to us.”

Deku gives her a reassuring smile.

“You have my word as a hero.”

The news flashes back on the screen after a commercial break.

“ We have a message for our heroes from the newest villain, IcyHot. ”

Deku`s attention snaps to the tv. The screen fuzzes, then reveals a blurry image out of focus. The video slowly comes into focus.

Izuku`s blood runs cold at the sight.

Katsuki was tied up to a chair. His skin was pale from the freezing environment he was in, and small icicles began to form at the tips of his hair. He was shivering to the point of nearly whimpering.

“ Deku. ” a sickly voice booms from the tv. “Bring my father to me and your creation stone. I will release the hostage. If you fail to meet my demands then- ” more frost crackles onto Katsukis body, and the boy shivers even more. “- I will take my revenge out on him. You have been warned. ”

The tv fuzzed back the regular news.

Deku`s hair covered his eyes as Enji entered the room.

“Take me to him.” the old man declares. “This is all my fault. I sent away his mother again to try and get him to come back. I should have foreseen my son`s shortcomings.”

“You aren't the only thing he wants.” Deku says forbiddingly.

Does Todoroki have an idea of who he is? Is that why he called him right before he was villainized? Because he knows he is Deku and might be able to stop him from succumbing to the villains?

No he has to be looking too much into it.

Then again, why did he just send out his location rather than an actual text?

And why Katsuki specifically? It looks like he was dragged out of bed!

Izuku touches his bracelet cuff with the green stone embedded into it with his other hand.

“He wants your identity.” Enji says breaking Izuku from his thoughts. “That is also my fault. I had him looking into it. His desire to find out must have caught the League`s attention.”

Enji walks into the room further.

“Which is why I should come with you.”

“Oh my god dad, shut up!” the girl says from the couch. “You just miss playing the hero and being in the spotlight! You don't actually care about helping Shouto!”

Deku decides to ignore them both and let them play out their family quarrel.

Kachaan is in danger.

His Kachaan.

Chapter Text

Katsuki was back in Middle School.

He was standing in the boys bathroom entrance, frozen in place at the sigh of the fresh cuts that littered his childhood friend`s freckled arms and the bloodied bandage being unraveled from them.

“K-K-Kachaan!” the green haired boy stammered like a deer caught in headlights.

Katsuki`s frightened expression shifted into a deep scowl. He storms up to his friend and grabs him by the wrist to inspects the wounds closely.

“K-Kachaan I-I-I can explain-”

“What the FUCK Izuku?!” Katsuki roars in his face. “You think this is a good way to cope?! HUH?!”

Izuku yanks his arms away and pulls his black uniform sleeve down. He hangs his arms into himself and hangs his head low. He was trembling.

“This is your problem! You always bullshit everyone that you're fucking fine when you're not! You should have fucking talked to someone instead of being a fucking idiot and keeping it all to yourself!”

Katsuki takes heavy breaths from the rage welling up inside him.

Water droplets hit the floor. Katsuki then realizes that Izuku is crying.

“I-I`m s-s-s-sorry.” he whimpers. Then bolts out of the bathrooms.

Katsuki extends an arm after him, but curls it back up into a balled fist. He punches the wall in fury.

“ What kind of a hero are you. ”

Katsuki looks over his shoulder to see Deku staring daggers at him.

“ You couldn't even save him from himself. So how do you expect to get out of this alive. ”

The room begins to frost over, and Deku is ripped out of sight.

Katsuki wakes up with a jolt.

He must have fallen asleep. Where was he? The blonde tries to get up, but then is reminded of his bindings.

Oh yeah. Evil half and half kidnapped him. They were at the recording studio for the news.

He takes in their surroundings.

He found it interesting that he is the only hostage...

It's gotta be the half and half bastard getting his sweet revenge for all the trouble he had caused him during their tutoring sessions.

The doors swing open. Katsuki peers up to see the green hero and some old man.

“Katsuki!” Deku calls out with a worried tone of voice.

“D-Deku.” Katsuki shivers out, still freezing cold. He wasn't used to seeing his hero partner with such a tone. Deku was always calm and collected.

A wall of fire appears at Katsuki`s feet.

Half and half bastard stepped out into the light from the shadows in the corner of the room. He walked slowly and evenly, not missing a single beat.

Another ring of fire appears around Todoroki`s, trapping him in.

“I thank you for bringing me my father.” IcyHot says. “All I needed for the great hero to cave was to threaten his boyfriend's well being. Isn't that right, Midoriya .”

….

What?

Did Katsuki hear that right?

It must be the hypothermia catching up to him! That's it! Cause there's just no way-

Deku`s green hair covers over his eyes. He gets into a fighting stance. IcyHot smirks devilishly.

IcyHot stamps his right foot, making frost on the floor creep over to Deku`s feet. Deku jumps up to the ceiling and grabs hold of a hanging fan. A blast of fire comes at his way. Deku swings to another hanging fan, and watches the one he was just on melt from the blast. Deku kicks off from the ceiling and smashes the floor, sending a blast of large chunks of rubble at IcyHot.

Katsuki flinches away from the bits of rubble that went far enough to hit him.

Deku sends an uppercut straight up IcyHot`s jaw, using the rubble as a cover to get close to him. IcyHot is sent flying back into the wall. Deku takes that as an opportunity and charges after him, soaring through the air. A barrage of ice crystals shoot straight for him. Deku smashes right through them and lands another hit straight on the villain's face.

IcyHot shoves the green hero away from him with another shot of fire. Deku just barely dodges that one ducking himself under the flames. He could feel the heat from the flames nip at his flesh.

Deku rolls to the side and kicks downward onto the floor, making another blast of rubble hit IcyHot. The villain blocks it this time with a barrier of ice. Deku smashes through the barrier, but is met with intense flames erupting from it.

Deku is sent flying back, skidding on the floor.

The green hero is starting to look rough. Scorch marks begin to litter his suit, and he is panting hard for breath from the adrenalin.

Katsuki watches this through the flames surrounding him. The flames had melted away the ice making him too cold to do anything. He had broken free from his ropes, the fire had singed them off.

How can he get out of here. He needed to become Ground Zero! Deku needed him.

‘ Isn't that right, Midoriya. ’

Those words repeatedly rang in his head.

Why did IcyHot think that Deku is Izuku. Is that why he captured him specifically?

Katsuki watched ad the green hero rise to his feet in another fighting stance. He watched him land another attack on IcyHot. This time, Deku gets close enough to place his hand on the icy side of the villain`s head. The fireside burned Deku`s hand away and he is sent backward once again.

This is where Ground Zero would help at. He has a bit more resistance to fire so he could hold IcyHot in place while Deku broke the mind control. Another thing killing Deku is that he can only really do close range. IcyHot excels at keeping his opponent far away from him.

He needs to find a way out of here!

Deku flies back into IcyHot and lands a roundhouse kick in the side of his head. IcyHot is sent down to the ground face flat. Deku straddles his back and places his hands on the sides of IcyHot`s head once more. The villain snatches the hands just before they make contact and flips Deku off of him.

IcyHot flashes beside Katsuki and takes a fistful of his blonde hair with his right hand. With his left hand he has a burning flame being held right up next to his cheek.

Katsuki could feel the intensity of the heat. It was enough to burn him without even making contact with him.

“STOP!” Deku calls out, rising to his feet holding one hand reaching out towards them.

IcyHot smirks deadly.

“You know what to give me if you want his pretty face to stay intact.”  

“Deku don't do it!” Katsuki roars.

Deku still had an arm outstretched towards him. He draws it back and lowers it to his other hand.

“Deku NO!”

Deku takes off the cuff and tosses it down on the ground in front of him. A brilliant green light shifts the green hero`s suit back into the clothes that he was wearing before. The mask is the last to go.

Katsuki`s eyes widen in utter disbelief as the mask fades off revealing an all familiar freckled faced boy that he's known his whole life.

Izuku sadly smiles back at him.

“Hey Kachaan.”

…

IcyHot let go of Katsuki, lowering the wall of flames that surrounded him. Katsuki took two hesitant steps, then fell to his knees. His whole world had been shook.

Izuku.

Deku.

They are the same person.

Izuku and Deku.

They are-

IcyHot walks over to Izuku and picks up the cuff. When he picks it up, it reverts back into that bracelet that Izuku always wears.

A black hole appears behind Todoroki`s father and is engulfed in it.

A black hole appears behind the villain and the green haired boy. Izuku looks over his shoulder in surprise. IcyHot grabs hold of Izuku by the waist and begins the drag him into it.

Katsuki jumps to his feet. He breaks out into a run chasing after him.

“IZUKU!!”

Izuku extends his arm outward reaching out towards him.

“KACHAAN!”

Katsuki reaches his arm out to grab ahold of him as he sinks into the black hole. The hole disappears just as Izuku`s hand is gone along with it. Katsuki runs through where the black hole once was.

Sunrise pours through the window, filling the room with an orange glow. He falls to his hands and knees and punches the ground.

“GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!”

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki didn't know where else to go.

He was sitting cross legged on the carpet of Toshinori`s residence. He had made sure to run home first (he climbed through the window so his mom wouldn't see him and fawn all over him for escaping) and grab his choker and change into proper clothes. He didn't bother taking a shower though cause that would alert his parents. So he was still matted with sweat and open cuts from his kidnapping.

Toshinori`s little brat (he thinks his name was Kouta) hands him a cup of water. Katsuki turns his head to one side, not awknodeging it.

Kouta then pours the water on his head.

Katsuki`s anger is fueled even more.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT YOU LITTLE PUNK?!”

“What do you think?! You smell gross! And you let IcyHot get away!”

“That's enough. ”

Skeleton man sits down cross legged across from Katsuki with a cup of hot tea in his clutch.

“Toshinori.” Katsuki begins. He bows his head in shame. “This is all my fucking fault. You were right. I am a shitty partner to Dek-.. Izuku.”

“So you finally know.” Toshinori says grimly. His demeanor quickly changes and he begins chuckling. “About time, my goodness. You two even started dating and you still couldn't figure it out!”

Katsuki scowled and blushed.

“How the fuck was I supposed to know?! He's so different behind the mask! How could anyone figured it out!”

“Is he really that different, young Bakugou?” Toshinori says sipping his tea.

“Well yeah! Izuku is a nerd and all fucking jittery and shit. And Deku is-”

“Confident.” the old man finishes for him with a smug smirk. “You're telling me that young Midoriya never displayed this? Never showed confidence that seemed out of place for him?”

Katsuki scowled deeper.

He was right.

Izuku had been oddly confident lately. Just like how his own personality as Ground Zero bleeds through sometimes when he's Katsuki….. Shit.

Katsuki runs a hand through his hair in realization.

It really was obvious.

Or rather, it should have been obvious to Katsuki. His lifelong friend and now boyfriend. He should have known.

Wait that means-

Katsuki breaks out into laughter. How could he not have seen this before?! After being torn between Deku and Izuku it turned out that he was madly in love with the same person all along!

Katsuki wanted to cry, but he laughed so that the tears wouldn't fall.

Izuku never would have been in any danger if he told him about himself being Ground Zero. Ochako was right after all!

Katsuki`s laughter ceases.

“I need to get Izuku back.” Katsuki says finally.

Katsuki`s phone vibrates. He picks it up. It was a notification from the news.

Oh boy...

He clicks on it and the video opens up. It was Izuku on the screen. He was tied up behind ice jail bars on the floor, seemingly unconscious.

“This message is for Ground Zero.” IcyHot`s voice fills erupts from his phone speaker. “Bring me your destruction stone, and I will let the hostage go. I will be waiting for you at the old factory.”

Katsuki`s grip on his phone tightens. Fuck . this is all his fault!

And wait, the factory?

Him and Deku`s meeting place?

Shit.

Katsuki jumps to his feet.

“Wait my boy! You can't go there alone.”

“Oh yeah Skeleton man? Who the hell is going to go with me huh? You?!”

“I`m afraid not me young Bakugou. But you can choose.”

Toshinori hold up a black box and hands it to Katsuki. Katsuki opens it to see a smooth clear stone with the Japanese symbol engraved on it that reads ‘creation’.

“The hell old man! You had another one of these lying around?! Didn't think that we could of used the help before!”

“You didn't before. The more heroes there are running around the streets puts more targets on you youngsters backs. But this situation is dire. As a holder of a destruction stone, you will need a creation partner. They will not be able to heal villainization like Deku can, that ability is unique to his stone. But they will be able to support you in battle and save young Midoriya.”

“...How do I know who to give it to.” Katsuki says considering all the possibilities in his head.

“You will know.” Toshinori says with a smile. “I'm afraid this is all I can do to support you. I wish you goodluck, Ground Zero.”

Katsuki puts to lid back over the stone and pockets it.

‘ I'm coming for you Izuku. Hang in there .’

Chapter Text

Ochako woke up to her phone blowing up from social media.

There was a hero fight going on! But wait-

She watched the video from a few hours ago of Deku fighting against the villain with Spikes being held captive.

A lot of the comments on the video are asking where Ground Zero was.

But she knows.

Only she knows that he was right there.

“ You know what to give me if you want his pretty face to stay intact. ”

The video gets cut off by a green light shattering the camera lense.

Wait- what happened? Where's the rest of the fight? But that was it. No matter what website she went on the video was the same. The footage ends there.

What happened to Bakugou?!

Either way, she has to get ready for school. She slips on her uniform, shoves some notebooks in her backpack, grabs a waffle and heads out the door.

She sent numerous texts to Spikey to get no replies. She is shocked she hasn't heard from Izuku yet. Then another video pops up on her phone of Izuku being held hostage this time.

Oh.

Well that would be why.

“Oi.”

Man she's so worried that she thinks she can hear her friend's annoying voice.

“Oi Round cheeks!”

She swings whips her head towards the alleyway she was passing by. There stood her spikey blonde friend.

“Bakug-” he covers her mouth and yanks her into the alleyway out of sight.

“Shut your big mouth. The extras out there don't know that I've escaped yet. I don't want to draw attention.”

She pries his hand off of her face.

“Jesus christ Bakugou. What happened?! Where`s Deku. And Izuku he-”

“I`m going to give you the short story because the longer this takes the longer Izuku is stuck in that rotten place with half and half. Deku is out of commission cause I fucked up and let my guard down. Now I have to save Izuku`s ass from that crazy flame brained ice hearted fucker and I need help.”

“But you-... help?”

“Yes very good. Help. I need your fucking help.”

“B-But what can I do? I don't have super powers.”

Katsuki pulls a black box out of his pocket and holds it out infront of her. Ochako takes it from him and opens the lid.

“That there will give you them. It's similar to mine.” he says pointing to the red stone on his choker.

“But… why me?”

“Cause you're a fearsome fighter. And for me to admit that means your the real fucking deal.”

Ochako peers into his crimson orbs with surprise.

“Ochako.” he begins. “It has to be you. Please help me.”

Ochako figures that had to be hard for him to say. Before this moment she couldn't even comprehend him asking for help like this.

Her eyebrows furrow in seriousness staring at the clear smooth stone in the box.

“What do I have to do?”

Katsuki smiles at her answer.

“You have to fucking spit on it.”

That was not the answer she was expecting. She eyes him a little suspiciously, but decides she had no choice but to believe his words.

Ochako take the stone out of the box and conjures a wad of spit in her mouth, then let's it all out on the stone.

At first nothing happens, and Ochako is about to bark at him for making a fool out of herself. But then the stone shines a brilliant pink. The light overtakes her senses. It becomes all she can see.

When the light fades, she looks down at herself. Her outfit was eerily similar to when she was villainized way back when, but there was pink instead of purple and a lot more white on it. She spots a broken mirror on the other side of the alleyway. She makes her way over to it and checks herself out.

Her hair was different too. It was a bit longer in the front with the tips dyed pink. And her eyes were framed by a pink mask.

Where did the stone go?

Upon closer inspection she was now wearing earrings. And only one of them had a pink stone with a japanese mark.

“Not too shabby, Roundy.” Katsuki says transforming himself into his own hero outfit. “Now let's go kick ourselves some villain ass and save Izuku.”

Ochako smirks with determination.

“Right!”

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku was back in Middle school.

He had fucked up bad.

He had gotten caught red handed with fresh wounds on his arms by none other than Kachaan.  He was certain he hates him now. How could he ever be friends with someone so pathetic? Someone so pathetic that he hurts himself to cope with his father`s death.

He found himself making his way towards the door that lead to the roof without even thinking about it.

The roof… huh.

The day was almost over anyways. He could wait for everyone to leave before he does it.

Before he ends it all…

He sits and waits by the door.

The minutes that tick by seem like hours. His fresh cuts itch under his uniform sleeves. He wants it all to just go away.

He wants it all to stop.

The bell rings and he opens the door to the roof. Izuku drops his backpack at the front of the door and removes his shoes. He slowly walks over to the ledge, hugging his arms against his abdomen. He peers down at the ground so far away.

It seemed so inviting.

He knows he could get there in a matter of seconds.

All he had to do was jump .

And it would be all over.

It would all go away.

All he knows is that he need to take one more step-

A hand firmly grips his wrist as he leans forward with one foot over the edge of the roof. He is yanked backward to meet the gaze of scowling crimson orbs.

Katsuki grips Izuku`s shoulder- digging his nails into his uniform.

Tears silently fall from Izuku`s green orbs as reality starts to crash down on him.

He almost just-

He sniffles, wiping his eye with his sleeve, looking down at his feet.

Kachaan must despise him now-

Izuku is pulled firmly into a bone crushing hug. Izuku wraps his hands around Kachaan`s back holding onto him for dear life. He presses his face into the blonde`s broad shoulder and whimpers against it.

They stand there for what seems to be an eternity.

Izuku looks up from his friend's shoulder and sees Ground Zero leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed and eyes wide with sympathy.

“ I knew you were thinking about jumping that night. ”

Izuku stands up straight. In a blink of an eye he was back on the hospital rooftop with the explosion hero.

“I wasn`t.” Izuku says firmly.

“ Then what was that in Middle School? ”

“That was a long time ago.” he looks down at his exposed scarred arms. He rolls his hands into fists and stares the masked hero in the eyes with determination. Light reflects in his bright green eyes.  “I am a hero now.”

Ground Zero smirks.

“You're damn right you are.”

Izuku jolts awake.

He takes in his surroundings carefully.

He was in the corner of a large room with ice jail bars caging him in. Izuku sits up with his arms tied behind his back. He peers up at the figure looming over him from outside the bars.

Todoroki.

Or should he say IcyHot.

“Don't fret. The League doesn't know of your identity yet.” he says in a hoarse voice closer to his own.

Upon further inspection Izuku could see that one of his eyes weren't blacked out.

“They haven't taken complete control over me yet.” Todoroki says staring down at his shakey palms. “They warped me to a new place, but I concealed us with flames so they couldn't see what you looked like without your mask and I brought you here. I still don't know if I can trust them.”

“You recorded me.” Izuku says vaguely remembering him talking to a camera. “That must be enough confirmation to them.”

“As far as they know, you are merely bait for the other hero. They don't know that I have your stone yet.”

“Why are you doing this Todoroki?” Izuku says not breaking eye contact.

“With you creation and your hero partner`s destruction stone together, you can make a wish.” Todoroki begins. “And I wish for my brother to come home.”

“You don't need the stones for that! Let me help you! I'm sure we can track him down-”

“I've already tried that.” Todoroki snaps with an icy tone. “Me, someone who figured out your identity can't find him.”

“Maybe he doesn't want to be found.” Izuku realizes he messed up when Todoroki slams his hand against his ice cage, shattering one of the prison bars.

“He ran away because he was sick of our father abusing us. When he comes back, I will let him be the one who takes vengeance out on him, for father has wronged him the most over the rest of us.”

“Todoroki listen to me. You're not thinking straight because of the darkness put in your head by the League. I can help you, but you have to trust me.”

“The last time I trusted anyone, I had hot boiling water scar my face for life.”

Todoroki and Izuku stare down for a long minute. The villain walks away from Izuku, leaving him alone with his thoughts in his icy prison.

____________________________________________________________________________

“How are we getting in there?” Ochako asks when they make it to the foggy roof of the factory.

“That's what I'm trying to think of, Roundy.” Katsuki grumbles as he scans the area. Ugh, so hard to see with all this fog. They can't just walk around the building, half and half might see them. He wants to have the element of surprise on his side, even if he was expecting him to show.

Well, he has the surprise of not coming alone.

“Have you been figuring out those powers of yours?”

Ochako levitates three stone in her hands and spins them in circles. “I don't remember anything from being mind controlled, but watching the fight from outside footage it seems that I didn't have as much control over levitating the objects like this.”

“Good. People won't recognize you so easily then.”

Katsuki didn't realize she would have the same fucking power as her villainized alter ego. At least there is somewhat of a difference, and her hero suit is different enough to pass the test of viewers.

Ochako steps on a vent on the roof beneath their feet.

“Bingo. I think I just found our way in.” she says proudly.

Izuku sat alone in his icy cell.

He hears footsteps approach the prison. He looks up to see Todoroki again.  He has a tray of steaming hot food in his clutch. He places it on the ground and slides it through the bars.

“You probably haven't eaten yet today.” he says.

Izuku is smarter than that. Todoroki could have easily drugged it with a truth serum or poison.  Besides, how was he supposed to eat with his hands tied behind his back.

The sound of an explosion echoes through the factory.  

That all familiar sound filled Izuku with glee.

Ground Zero.

Todoroki whips around and storms off, probably to go after him.

When Todoroki is out of sight, Izuku whips his head left and right to search for anything that might help him free his hands.

He wasn't going to let Ground Zero take him on alone!

The ice bar that Todoroki himself broke earlier! It seemed sharp enough to do the trick.

Izuku began rubbing the rope keeping his hands bound behind his back against the sharp ice. He can feel the ropes grow looser and looser. With a snap, they fall to the ground. Izuku feels his wrists and looks around once again. He looks at the tray that Todoroki gave him. It had a bowl with steaming hot porridge.

Hmm. he wonders if it's hot enough to melt some of the bars away.

He picks it up and dumps it on the already broken part of the cell. The ice doesn't melt much, but it definitely weakened it. Izuku picks up the tray and bashes it against the weakened ice a few times. The ice cracks and crumbles beneath him.

Izuku steps out of the cell.

He was free.

‘ Don`t worry Zero, I'm coming .’

Chapter Text

“So here's the plan Roundy. I'm going to fucking blast this vent off its hinges and you're going to go slip away out of sight and find Izuku. Make sure you don't get caught otherwise our plan is ruined.”

“Roger that Spikes.” Ochako says with a salute.

“It's Zero! You can't call me shitty names right now.”

“You just called me Roundy!”

“Shhh! Fuck- Alright fine! You will be Floaty.”

“I don't like that name though.”

“It's just for this mission! We can come up with cool names later.”

“Just like how Deku got stuck with the name you started calling him?”

“Later Floaty. We need to rescue Izuku. Do you know your shit?”

“You betcha.”

“I'm counting on you so don't fuck this up. On the count of three. THREE!”

Katsuki blasts the vent opening off the wall and jumps through the ash. Ochako slips out the side, using the ash and rubble as a cover to float herself behind a large hanging light.

Katsuki decides it's best to not hang around here, otherwise it would seem suspicious. He scans the room left and right, then decides upon a direction. He charges forward- hoping to get the attention of a certain half and half bastard.

The exit to the room is engulfed in flames.

Speak of the devil.

Through the flames enters IcyHot walking at his slow erie pace.

Katsuki watches Ochako slip out the door as half and half draws nearer towards him. All according to plan.

“Where is he?” Katsuki demands.

IcyHot tilts his head to the side, that's when Katsuki notices that only one of his eyes are blacked over.

Well that's new.

“Hand over your destruction stone, and you will be reunited with him.”

Katsuki also notes that his voice is mostly his own.

Mostly.

The explosion hero narrows his eyes.

“You're a special case aren't you.”

“Very perceptive. Which is surprising coming from you, considering how you never figured out that you were dating your hero partner all along, Katsuki Bakugou .”

Katsuki scowls and gets into a fighting stance.

“You want my destruction stone? You're going to have to come and fucking get it half and half!”

IcyHot stands there idly for a moment, then launches a fiery blast straight for him. The explosion hero crosses his arms in an X formation in front of him. When the blast fades, there isn't a scratch on him. IcyHot widens his eyes in surprise.

Ground Zero smirks from behind his crossed arms. Toshinori was right, he really did have fire resistance.

IcyHot sends a glacier storm at him. Zero creates several blasts to chuck them to smithereens.

You see, Deku`s power isn't weak in any way. Ground Zero`s power was simply better equipped for this fight.

“You`re going to have to try harder than that you icy hot fucker!”

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku hid behind a corner when he watched somebody float into the room.

What the heck? Another villainization? But she didn't seem like a villain.

She floated to her feet and inspected the icy prison cell that Izuku had just broken out of. He watched her whip her head left and right to try and figure out what happened there.

Izuku decides to not risk it and slowly back up away from the sight and turns around. He comes face to face with a pink masked girl. The same one that was floating nearby the ice two seconds ago!

“Oh thank goodness! There you are silly.” she says in an enthusiastic tone. “You got out all on your own didn't you! I have no idea how you even did that!”

“W-who are you?” Izuku stammers suspiciously, keeping his guard up.

“I`m a friend of Ground Zero`s.” she says cheerfully. “He recruited me for this mission, which is rescuing you.”

Zero? He came for him?

“That's what was keeping him? Finding a new partner?” Izuku mumbled to himself bitterly.

“I don't exactly know the full story.” she said. “But I do know is that we have to get you out of here.”

“No wait. IcyHot took something from me. Something important. I need it back.”

The pink masked girl eyed him confused.

“Is it that important that you can't get it later when Ground Zero apprehends the villain?”

“Yes. it is.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Ground Zero starts with a right hook- as he always does. Ochako would have scolded him for it for being predictable, but it's not like he's ever fought half and half before.

IcyHot grabs his wrist and freezes his hand over.

Well he supposes that he's been watching all of his fights on video…. Just like Mindjack did.

Zero breaks free and smashes his hand down on the ground shattering the ice off of his hand. He sends an explosion after the villain. IcyHot sends a fiery blast in it's direction making the explosion disperse the other way. Zero came barreling through the blast, using it as a cover, and landed an explosion right on IcyHot`s face.

Zero watches the villain topple to the ground. He seems to have fire resistance too since there isn't a scratch on him from that. IcyHot rolls back onto his feet and sends ice after Zero. Zero sidesteps it and is met in the face with more fire. Zero ducks under and sends another explosion outward, shattering the ice and forcing the fire back to it`s controller. The ice and fire collide with IcyHot, and he is send skidding back- still standing.

Zero launches after him and sends a jab straight on his face, sending IcyHot back into the wall.

“Enough playing around.” IcyHot grimaces. His other eye marbles over with black, and his demeanor changes completely. A sick smile take a hold of his face.

“ We finally got him. ” a voice that isn't his own erupts from Todoroki`s throat. The smile ceceads, and Todoroki begins to tremble and shake.

“ Submit you weakling. You let me in this body, I will take what is mine! ”

That's when Zero realizes-

Todoroki is fighting the mind control. He was fighting Todoroki himself, but him with clouded judgement. The darkness in his head is probably fucking with him.

He really needs Deku.

Floaty better hurry her ass up!

____________________________________________________________________________

“He wouldn't keep it on his person, he knows better than to allow it to get damaged from his own power. So he must of hid it somewhere.”

Izuku and the pink masked hero search every room.

“It might help if I know exactly what we are looking for.” the girl says exasperatedly.

“Somewhere that Todoroki might hide something. Something small.”

“Aaaand that something isss what exactly?”

“I`ll know it when I see it.”

Man, who knew Izuku could be so difficult. Zero told her to keep her identity hidden from him for now. The plan was to rescue Izuku and that's it…. Well she realizes how flawed that plan was. Where does she bring him? Outside? And how is Zero going to undo the villainization without Deku?

Izuku opens another door. Clouds of cold air seep out from the entrance.

Ochako peers inside the room.

The room was completely frozen over. There was a bracelet with a green stone sitting in the middle of a table in the center of the small room.

“That's it!” Izuku exclaims. He goes to grab it, but Ochako throws her arm out, stopping him.

“Wait! This is obviously a trap.” she says. To prove her point she throws a pebble she picked up from the ground onto the ice. The ice grows and encases the pebble over in a solid block of ice.

“We need to get over there without touching any of the ice.” Izuku mumbles. “What was your power again?” he says looking to Ochako.

Ochako cracks her knuckles proudly.

“Just leave it to me.”

She slaps her hand against her chest and floats herself into the icy room. When she gets to the center, she gingerly picks it up between her two fingers, careful not to touch the icy table. She floats back and hands the bracelet to Izuku.

“That was easy.” she smiled.

“Todoroki wasn't expecting another hero to come. A hero with floating powers no less. Thank you- um.. I didn't really catch your name.”

“I don't really have one yet. Although Zero has been insisting he calls me ‘Floaty’ but I hate that name!”

“That sounds like him alright.” Izuku chuckles.

Ochako gives him a weird look. Does Izuku know about Zero really being his boyfriend? They never quite established that now did they.

“You have your bracelet now. Let's get you the heck out of here!”

Ochako leads him to a vent.

“Here keep going straight. You`ve eventually get outside.”

“T-Thank you miss hero.” Izuku smiles.

Ochako nods and floats away to where Ground Zero is fighting the villain.

When Izuku is sure that the hero is gone, he magical girl transforms into his hero outfit.

‘I`m coming Zero.’

____________________________________________________________________________

Ground Zero watches as Todoroki struggles with himself.

Should he intervene? He supposes he might make Todoroki lose his senses completely. If that happens, then he doubts the League would hold back.

“Did you win?” Floaty says as she lands down next to Zero.

“I don't know.” he replies grimly. “I think only Deku can help him now.”

“Lucky for you I made it to the party.”

The two heros snap their attention around to see the green masked hero standing there. His limbs still glowing from getting there at an accelled speed.

“Even if I'm fashionably late.”

“Deku!” Zero and Floaty say in unison.

The green hero walked passed them, brimming with confidence. Zero could feel his face grow warm at the sight. ‘ Izuku you drop dead sexy sfjsdkjhk ’

Zero shake the thought from his head and watches Deku approach the struggling boy against the wall.

“Todoroki.” Deku begins. “You've fought for so long.” he says gently. Deku outstretches a hand to him.

Todoroki slaps it away.

“No! I need this power! I need it to make my bastard father pay! I need it to find my brother! I need it to-...”

Deku gently cups the sides of Todoroki`s face.

“Shhhh.” he says calmly. For some reason it does calm Todoroki down. “You don't need this power, Todoroki. You're already strong on your own.” Deku gingerly places his hands on the sides of IcyHot`s head. This time his hands aren't burned away or blasted with ice.  

A bright green light takes over their senses. When it fades, Todoroki stars up at Deku with tired eyes.

“Thank… you….”

Then he passes out unconscious on the floor.

Deku stands up and turns to face the other two heros in the room. He walks over to them.

“Sorry I was late. I was out of commision for a wh-”

Deku is cut off by Zero crashing his lips with his own. Deku is taken aback at first, but find himself kissing back. A red light begins to revert Ground Zero`s hero outfit into regular clothes. Deku draws away from the kiss and watches Ground Zero`s mask whisk away to reveal the face of his best friend and boyfriend.

Kachaan?

Chapter Text

Ochako watched the kiss take place before her eyes.

She was very confused. Spikey was with Izuku now! He said he was committed! He said-

She was even more confused when she watched him transform out of his hero suit right before the green hero.

She decides to watch this play out.

Things just got interesting.

Deku stared back at Katsuki with his mouth agape. He was seemingly trying to process what just conspired right before his eyes.

Deku`s hero costume powers transforms back into his normal clothes as well. His mask reveals the face to be none other than Izuku.

The two of them stare intently at one another.

Then they start laughing.

Laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. Laughing at all the times they wondered who the other was. At every battle they fought together. At every time they had an all too intimate moment behind the masks.

They laugh it all out.

There were no words that needed to be exchanged between them in this moment.

Because they already knew.

Ochako swallows her surprise and smiles too.

She feels that nothing can surprise her anymore after this.

____________________________________________________________________________

Shouto slowly regains consciousness.

He had been in a hospital room enough times to recognize that he was currently waking up in one.

He scans the room and sees his sister Fuyumi sitting in a chair next to his bed.

“How long was I out?” Shouto croaks.

“A few days I'm afraid.” Fuyumi says wiping a tear from her eye. “You were very malnourished and hadn't had much sleep before then. But I knew you'd pull through.”

Shouto leans back into his pillow.

“Where`s father.”

“The heroes found him in the factory locked in a room. He's been back home since.”

“How has he been?”

“He's been better…. Very quiet actually.”

“I see....”

“It wasn't your fault Shouto.”

Shouto doesn't respond. He looks the other way out the hospital window.

“I was full aware of what I was doing, Fuyumi. I'm not like the other mind control victims. I remember the whole thing…”

“The heroes said you might. They explained that the League corrupted your mind and you were continually fighting to keep control. The police let you go without any charges. They decided to treat you like the rest of the mind control victims.”

Todoroki keeps his eyes focused on the window. He can't look his sister in the eye right now.

“Shinsou came here to visit you earlier. He was very worried about you. And so did some of your classmates. Their names were Midoriya and Bakugou I think.”

Todoroki knows that they will be back soon at the news that he is now awake.

A few hours later, he is proven right.

Midoriya and Bakugou walk in wearing their school uniforms. It must have been after school for them.

“Todoroki-san!” Midoriya exclaims. “We're so glad you're ok! Oh! I brought your homework. It's kind of a lot cause you did miss two weeks of classes, but it'll give you something to do while you're here.”

The green haired boy pulls out a few books from his backpack and place it on the table next to the bed.

“Why are you here?” Shouto asks solemnly. “I've wronged you two the most.”

His two classmates exchange glances. They look back at him with seriousness filling their eyes.

“That wasn't your fault Todoroki.” Izuku says finally.

“I should have had better control over my actions. It's shameful that I let myself succumb to it.”

“Oi! Quit your yapping! Cause all I hear is ‘poor me poor me I wasn't strong enough’ and you spewing bullshit like that!” Bakugou grimaces. He jabs a finger at Shouto`s chest. “You were strong against the League. Stronger than everyone else that was shanked by them. So shut the fuck up and have a smidgen of gratitude that you're alive.”

Shouto looked between them.

“I won't tell anyone about you.” he says finally. “My father wanted me to find your identities so he could play hero once again. So I ended up sticking my nose in places I didn't belong. My deepest apologies for invading with your privacy.”

Shouto bows his head in shame.

“Do you know what he's talking about Izuku?”

“Not a clue, Kachaan.”

“Something about invading our privacy? Did he catch us make out or some shit?”

“Kachaaaan!”

Shouto looked back up at them and they gave him reassuring smiles. He finds himself smiling back. A smile that says ‘ thank you ’.

Midoriya claspes a hand on his shoulder.

“You`re not alone, Todoroki-san. Don't forget that.”

When the two leave, Shouto smiles to himself.

He really wasn't alone.

…

Todoroki wakes up in the middle of the night. He swears he saw somebody standing in the corner of his room by the window.

“....Toya?” he calls out to no one.

He doesn't know why he called out his long lost brother`s name in the dark. He probably just had a dream of him or something.

He rubs his eyes and the figure is gone, the window left wide open.

He could have sworn he closed it before he went to bed...

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki sat alone on his bed.

Everything seemed to happen all at once. Between finding out Deku`s identity, adding Ochako to their hero team, the Todoroki situation, and revealing himself to Deku.

It was all just overwhelming.

There was a knock at the door leading to the balcony. A silhouette of the green masked hero shone through the curtains lit by the moonlight. Katsuki rose to his feet and opened up the balcony doors.

There he stood.

Deku.

In his all glory before him on his balcony. The moonlight making his green orbs light up in the night.

“Can I come in?”

Katsuki realizes that he was staring and steps aside for Deku to walk in. Deku then transforms back into Izuku as he makes it inside.

“Hey Kachaan.”

“H-Hey.” Katsuki stammers.

Izuku rubs the back of his neck. “S-So Ochako-chan huh? When were you going to tell me that?”

“It was for her to tell you. And I assume she did.”

Izuku gives him a guilty glance.

“I…” Izuku trails off and takes a deep breath. “I swear I was going to tell you about my life behind the mask. I just didn't know when. I was afraid of putting you in danger and that's something I couldn't live with!”

“To be fair.” the blonde began. “I didn't tell you right away either. Thought it would tick you off if I did.”

“Yeah, it would of. But it ended up being us.”

“Fuck yeah it did.”

The two sit on Katsuki`s queen sized bed with their sides pressed up against each other. Izuku leans his head onto Kachaan`s shoulder with a grin of contentment.

Katsuki leans his cheek on top of Izuku`s head, pressing his face into his green curly locks of hair.

“That night we were playing the truth and dare game.” Izuku begins. “When I admitting to have kissed someone. That someone ended up being you. That night at Homecoming when I was fighting you…” he ended with an awkward chuckle.

Katsuki paused.

Oh shit, he hadn't even thought of that.

“When I said I kissed someone, that ended up being you too.” Katsuki chucked into Izuku`s hair.

Izuku began laughing again. A sound that Katsuki decided long ago that he would do anything to hear that sound. His heart swells up with warmth every time he hears it.

“I love you.” Katsuki, still nose deep in his boyfriend`s soft hair- inhaling his scent.

Izuku draws his head away from Katsuki`s shoulder- much to his disappointment. He is met face to face with those large forest orbs. He swears he could see stars in his eyes.

Izuku locks his arms around Katsuki`s neck and closes the distance between their parted lips. Katsuki melts into the touch, moving his lips in sync with Izuku`s.

When they part for air, Izuku presses their foreheads together- cupping his hands on the sides of Katsuki`s cheeks.

“I've waited so long to hear that from you.” Izuku says. “I love you too.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Shigaraki Tomura stumbled through the door of an empty warehouse, his silver hair covering his eyes. He takes a few steps forward- scratching at his throat, and kneels down at the foot of the life support chair before him.

“Master.” he begins in his scratchy voice. “Forgive me. I have chosen another weakling to do our bidding. It's all because of those hero brats getting in our way!”

A hand is places on Tomura`s head.

“My dear Tomura, this had nothing to do with you. The Todoroki boy was too strong willed to have him under our complete control, even if he was a formidable opponent to the heroes.”

“He managed to find their secret identities, but still hide them from us! It's not fair! We try so hard only to fail each and every time!”

“Tomura, quiet down .”

The man`s words were enough to strike Tomura to silence. Tomura`s head is casted downwards in submission, but is tilted up by the chin to look up at the man in the seat before him.

“My dear Tomura. You must look at the bigger picture here. I think it's safe to say that the Todoroki boy gave us a major hint to who these heroes may be. If we can uncover who they are, then we can place both of them under our control. Then the city will be ours!”

“What are you saying Master?”

“I`m saying is that you have a new mission, Tomura. Only target those who may equate to being Deku. If he is put out of commision, then nobody would be able to reverse the effects of our mind control.”

Tomura peers up at his master, then sickly smiles. A crazed look fills his eyes.

“That's right! He's the one that always manages to mess everything up for us in the end! The other hero is just there to support him. Yes! He is the key. I will find you, Deku .”

Chapter Text

Izuku sat on the rug of Toshinori`s residence along side Ochako and Kachaan. The little boy- Kouta brought a tray of tea and placed it in front of them and then walked out of the room.

“Hello young Midoriya and young Bakugou.” Toshinori says coming into the room. He sits across from them cross legged and picks up a cup of tea. “And hello to you too Miss Ochako.”

“H-Hello sir!” Ochako exclaims bowing her head.

“No need for that young Miss. Bakugou my boy, you have chosen well in finding a keeper of that creation stone.”

“Cut to the chase old man. Why did you summon out asses here.” Katsuki scowls.

Toshinori takes a long sip of his tea and places it back down on the tray. “I originally just wanted young Midoriya to make an appearance here today, but I'm afraid the circumstances have become more dire. Last night someone broke into my residence and took something very valuable.”

“Great, you were robbed. How the fuck does that affect us?” Katsuki spat.

“Let him finish Kachaan.”

Ochako just lets out a wordless sigh.

“You see, creation stones and destruction stones always have a sister. What he stole was the sister destruction stone to Miss Ochako`s creation stone.”

“Stolen?” Izuku echoes. “Was it the League?”

“If it was, then we have a whole new problem on our hands.” Toshinori says gravely.

____________________________________________________________________________

It had been a few days since the old man gave them the ‘watch your backs’ speech due to there being some psycho with a stone on the loose somewhere. There had been no signs or villain attacks that have conspired, but that didn't let up how on edge the three heroes have been.

Katsuki was currently on the train.

Man he really fucking hates the train. So noisy, so many people, so bumpy- he hates all of it.

He had to take the train to get to a photoshoot the next few towns over. He invited Izuku to go with him (well he is automatically invited to every single one now) but he couldn't make it because he needed to stay with his mom. This week was the anniversary of Mr. Midoriya`s accident from a few years back. Katsuki planned on spending as much time as possible with the Midoriya`s this week, but this one day he had to go to this freaking photoshoot.

Well at least he has Kirishima with him.

His initial thought was Ochako, but Katsuki figured it was better to not have Izuku`s boyfriend and best friend out of town this week. That and the last thing they need is for Izuku to have to fend off the potential threat alone if one does come along.

So he invited shitty hair to tag along.

So far Kirishima had been bombarding him with questions about what will conspire today at the shoot. Any normal person asking this he would yell at to shut up, but Kirishima is one of the few people he can tolerate like this. He kind of forgot how good of friends they actually were, since the redhead spends most of his time with his boyfriend now.

“Oi! I`m telling you it's going to be boring and shitty as all hell. So quit nagging me about whats gonna happen.” he has no malice in his voice when he says this. Almost a playful tone. “I`m going to be held captive by the makeup artists for a good hour or so before the shoot even begins. And they'll have me pose in a fucking hundred different ways and take more photos than it's worth. They might have me pose with some other stuck up fuckwads and that'll take even longer because they all have to do their single shots too.”

“Nah man. It'll be cool!”

Katsuki wonders how he always manages to befriend the people that have the most enthusiasm when he himself is the complete opposite.

The saying that opposites attract doesn't seem to far fetched all of a sudden.

“It's cool you invited me and all, but where`s Midoriya at? I hear he loves going to these things.”

Katsuki averts his gaze downward. “He needs to be with his mom today. His old man died while we were in Middle School a few years back and this week marks the anniversary.”

“That's terrible.” Kirishima says with a sympathetic face.

“Yeah, he didn't take it too well.” Take it too well? He developed severe depression and tried to throw himself off a roof! No he didn't take it well. “After this shitty job is over I'm going to meet Izuku at the park and try and get his mind off of things.”

They arrive at the photography studio and make their way to the room.

Alright. 6 hours of this bullshit.

Let's do this.

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku sat with his mom in the kitchen. The two of them had hardly spoken a word to each other all day.

When he woke up to the sound of his mother weeping downstairs, the reality crashed down on him that this week was the anniversary of his father`s accident. He himself didn't want to get out of bed and just stay there all day, but he knew that wouldn't do anyone any good. So he got up and convinced his mom they should make breakfast.

Making pancakes helped a little bit, but they didn't speak much during the process. Nor are they now.

This was going to be a long week.

____________________________________________________________________________

Katsuki is on his way back from the photoshoot.

“Jesus fuck that fucking sucked.” Katsuki grumbles with a scowl.

“It wasn't all bad.” Kirishima laughs. “It was entertaining watching you argue with the photographer.”

“He was an idiot and deserved to know it!”

The train doors closed shut and began putting along through the underground tunnels.

Katsuki was using every once of will he had to suck up his claustrophobia. The train was so full that the people left standing were squished together. Some tall guy kept elbowing Katsuki in the back. Irritation crawled up his spine and he grimaced more as the minutes ticked by. Kirishima was his same old happy self the whole time.

Katsuki stared out the window when him and his friend had run out of good conversation material. They had arisen from the tunnel and rode by many trees.

After long last, his city was in sight from where they were. Finally he could get off this god fucking train-

The train skids to a halt and the lights flicker off. The crowd in the train began to mutter uncertainties and annoyed curses.

“Maybe there was a squirrel on the tracks.” Kirishima jokes.

Katsuki doesn't like this. A bad feeling is heavy in his chest.

He spots something from the corner of his eye. A blue light gets brighter and brighter seemingly coming towards him.

“EVERYBODY GET DOWN!” Katsuki hollars and pulls Kirishima down to the train floor along with himself.

The windows shatter and blue flames pour into the train car. People begin screaming cries of terror. People start pouring out of the train car from the emergency exits.  

Katsuki starts leading people to the exits. He looks back to see Kirishima and a few others swallowed up by a wall of blue flames. Katsuki goes to get them, but becomes surrounded by blue inferno himself. He can see nothing but blue in his vision. There's only one thing left he can do.

Katsuki transforms into his hero form. He sets off an explosion, expelling the flames to the sides revealing Kirishima and the others in the middle of the train wagon. They all smile in relief at the sight of their hero.

Katsuki leads them out of the train car.

He jumps up onto the roof of the train only to be met with more azure flames.

Through the flames, he can see a lone figure coming towards him.

“What a coincidence. Who knew that there would be a hero on the train.” a voice says from through the fire.

Out of the flames step out a tall man- seemingly not too much older than himself- with black hair and a white mask covering over his eyes. He wore a white shirt and black jeans with  long black coat that trailed behind him almost like a cape. On his face, upon further inspection he has a blue stone nose ring glimmering in the night.

“Who are you.” Zero demands.

“I should be asking you the same question.” the man says in a taunting manner. “But if we are to be going by our aliases, then you can call me Dabi .”

____________________________________________________________________________

Izuku was sitting on a park bench.

Just where was Kachaan? They were supposed to meet here twenty minutes ago.

He knows it's probably nothing, but he can't shake off the bad feeling in his chest.

His phone pings in his pocket. He unlocks it and checks it.

‘Watch Ground Zero vs latest villain live’

Izuku looked left and right. He needs to find a place to transform! He breaks out into a run.

‘ I`m on my way Kachaan. ’

He nearly bumps into a silver haired man in a hoodie on the way.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Dabi?” Zero snorts. “What kind of name is that?”

Dabi`s eyes widen with craze. “The kind that will send you to meet your maker is what!” with that a wave of blue flames shoot at Zero.

Zero crosses his arms in an X in front of him, skidding him backwards towards the roof edge. Zero sets off an explosion through the inferno being blasted right for him. The flames part and turn bright orange on the sidelines.

Dabi puts one hand on his hip and tilts his head with a smirk.

“You`ve got some good moves there. I guess my power is a bad match for someone in which fire has little effect on. But us fire users both have some tolerance to flames, so we are at quite the stalemate here.”

Zero sends off a massive explosion after Dabi. blue flames engulf the explosion- causing it to disperse upwards into the sky.

Katsuki`s eyes widen in shock. No one has ever been able to control his explosions but himself!

Dabi takes advantage of the explosion hero being distracted and lands a kick straight right in the middle of Zero`s stomach. Zero tumbles backwards off the train roof and lands on the ground.

When Zero sits up from his fall- the train begins moving again.

“When the train was evacuated-” Dabi crouches down and peers over the roof. “-nobody took their luggage and shit. Guess that's all mine now!” Dabi waves as the train picks up speed.

Zero jumps to his feet and boosts his running speed with explosions propelling him forward.

In a green flash- a certain green masked hero is now running beside him.

“Sorry I'm late!” Deku says to Zero.

“Pretty sure I'm the one who's late. I was supposed to meet you at the park how long ago?” Zero says with a smirk. “Did you contact Floaty?”

“She's already on the train.” Deku beams.

Chapter Text

Shouto was sitting in his co-worker- Shinsou`s bedroom room.

They were very good friends despite calling each other that. As far as to hang out with one another outside of work. And for Shinsou- as far as to let Shouto stay over a few days while he had run away from home.

At the moment they were sitting in silence- each doing their own share of homework on the floor. The news was playing on the small tv in the room with the volume down low. Shouto happened to look up at just the right time to see bright flashes of blue and orange on the screen. He reads the headline underneath the camera view.

‘ Heroes vs New Villain LIVE ’

A close up is done on who is supposedly the villain. Black spikey locks of hair and icy blue eyes.

Shinsou looks up from his homework and stares at Shouto with an eyebrow raised. He follows his glance to the tv screen.

“Another mind control huh? I wonder who it is this time?” Shinsou says absent mindedly.

Shouto narrows his eyes at the screen.

He wonders….

____________________________________________________________________________

Ochako floated herself to catch up with the train. She grabbed hold of the caboose roof and planted her feet on the train. She rubs her palms together.  

Alright. She can do this.

All she has to do is float the whole train off the rails.

She can do this.

Damnit her palms are sweaty.

She shakes her head and slaps both hands on the train roof. The entire train raises a few inches off the tracks. Just enough for the train to not be able to move forward.

“That's some power you've got there.”

She looks up, keeping her palms on the roof- her face beginning to break out in sweat. There stands a man towering over her with ebony black hair framing his masked face. She notes the blue stoned nosering matching his stone cold blue irises.

“But I'm sure it becomes difficult holding up an entire train after a while. What did Zero call you? Floaty? Quite fitting if you ask me. You can call me Dabi.”

“...like cremation.” Ochako says.

“Finally someone gets it! Was afraid I would just keep sounding like an idiot.”

In a green flash, Ochako watches Deku flash behind the man in front of her and place his hands on the sides of his head. Green light radiates from Deku`s hands.

Game over!

Dabi turns his head around to meet Deku`s eyes with a smirk.

“That shit aint going to work on me.”

Deku`s eyes widened as he is blasted back at full force with blue flames. Ground Zero hops on the train roof and lands a right hook on the side of Dabi`s head.

“Take that you freaky mother fucker!” Zero chants.

Dabi surrounds himself with flame and stands back up straight with a crazed look in his eye. Zero comes straight in with a left jab and Dabi catched it. Zero let's off an explosion on the hand that Dabi just caught dispersing the blue flames that surrounded him.

“Did you forget that we are both fire users?” Dabi says as he kicks Zero in the face.

“Now I usually am not one for upfront confrontation, but I knew it would be unavoidable with you three added to the mix.”

Deku comes barreling back towards Dabi from behind. He places his hands on the sides of his head once again.

“That shit didn't work the first time.” Dabi grabbed his wrists and flipped him over his head. Dabi then holds Deku in a headlock with one arm and holds a hand engulfed in flames up to the green hero`s cheek with the other.

Zero rises to his feet and takes a fighting stance.

“You may be immune to fire.” Dabi holds the flame closer to Deku`s cheek causing Deku to cringe from the intense heat. “But he isn't.”

“You bastard!” Zero scowls.

“Zero.” Ochako says looking up. She was still keeping her palms pressed against the train roof to keep it afloat. “I think he's the one who stole from Toshinori-san.”

Zero narrows his eyes on the blue nose peircing.

“I think so too Floaty.” He closes his eyes and stands up- no longer in a fighting stance. “Put down the train.”

Ochako looked surprised. She looks between Deku and Zero. Deku gives her a slight nod and a determined look from where he is being held hostage.

Ochako took her hands off the metal roof and stood up straight. The train is jerked back down onto the track. Everyone nearly loses their balance. Deku breaks out of Dabi`s hold and grabs his nose piercing. He rips it out of Dabi`s skin.

Dabi grabs Deku`s wrist and sends off a wave of blue flame- pushing Ochako and Deku away from him. Ochako is knocked off the train and Deku is launched into Zero- making to the two fall off as well. The train begins to move again, now that it's settled on the tracks.

Deku sits up and looks at his hand.

The piercing is gone!

He look up to Dabi to see that he put it back on his face. The train disappears into a tunnel taking Dabi with it.

By the time the three heroes are up on their feet, the train is long gone in the tunnel.

“Fuck! Goddamnit!” Zero exclaims kicking the dirt. “He got away!”

“He won against the three of us.” Ochako said in shame. “How could he be that strong? Even with a stone.”

“This is my fault.” Deku says bowing his head in shame and clenching his fists by his sides. “I had the stone in my hand and I let him get away with it.”

Zero sees the distress in his partner and forces himself to cool off. With a deep inhale through the nose he places a hand on Deku`s shoulder.

“Oi. You can't blame yourself for a failed team effort.” he says gently.

Deku keeps his eyes focused on the ground in shame. Zero gingerly touches his hand to his partner`s cheek and turns his face to meet his own.

“We did our best. And I have a feeling that this won't be the last time we see his ass.”

Deku looks into his partner`s crimson orb. He places a hand over the one cradling his face and leans into it more. His eyes fill with adoration.

“You`re right. Thank you, Zero.”

Ochako tries not to stare at her friends` all to intimate moment. She shifts uncomfortable between her feet and tries to look at anything but her hero partners sharing a kiss. She adjusts the collar of her hero suit with her index finger. She looks down at her feet.

She sighs irritably.

“Alright idiots. Back on track. We should head over to the next train station before it's too late. I'm sure he isn't there yet.”

Zero and Deku are holding hands when they part from their kiss to look back at her. They exchange glances one more.

Shit they didn't think of that.

The train slows to a halt at the station. The police raid the train alongside the heroes. They check every train car.

Nothing.

The luggage that was left aboard was missing along with Dabi.

He got away.

News reporters are being held back behind caution tape and police officers holding them back.

“Heroes over here!”

“What is the girl hero`s name?”

“How are you taking your failure?”

“Should we be concerned for our safety having a super villain running wild?”

“Are you going to get the passengers` luggage back?”

It was rather overwhelming. The three heroes echange nods and make their exit from the station.

They meet up at the roof of the old factory where the smog conceals them.

“So now what?” Ochako asks as she transforms back into her normal clothes.

Katsuki and Izuku transform back as well and share uncertain expressions.

Now what indeed….

____________________________________________________________________________

Dabi unloaded all of the stolen luggage back to his hideout. It was a little abandoned house in the middle of the woods about a mile away from the city. He was sitting outside against the wall.

“ You .” a scratchy voice rings in the shadows.

Dabi lifted his head to see a silver haired man in a hoodie standing before him.

“You ruined my plans today.” He said as he began to scratch at his throat. “It was all because of you that I missed the chance to get that Midoriya brat under my control. He would have been a grand asset whether he's Deku or not!”

“The fuck are you jabbering about?” Dabi spits out.

The man pauses his scratching and looks at Dabi`s blue nose piercing. “You have a destruction stone. I find it hard to believe that All Might gave that to you willingly.”

“What's it to you?”

“You stole it.”

“That's an exaggeration.” Dabi smirks. “The old man should know to lock his windows at night. Anyone could take that as an open invitation.”

“You know where he resides.”

“He's an old friend of the family. Figured once I happened to see him at a local coffee shop I`d follow him home and pay him a visit.”

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Shigaraki Tomura. I represent the League of Villains.” Dabi`s smirk disappears. “I want you to join me.”

“Join you?” Dabi seems to contemplate that for a moment. Then breaks out into laughter.

“What?!” Tomura shrieks. “What's so funny?!”

Dabi`s laughter slowly seceded. He is left with a smirk.

“All the League has done so far is make some snot nosed brats do their bidding. Hard to take that seriously don't you think?”

Tomura seemed personally offended by that notion.

“It's the ability that the Master was granted when he bonded with his stone.” Tomura spits out. “The ability to bring out a potential in a poor soul of what they could be if they had a stone themself.”

“And you make privileged brats cry so they can be manipulated by the guy.” Dabi snorts. “Is that your power huh?”

Tomura towers over Dabi and slaps a hand on the wall of the cabin. Within a matter of seconds the wall is turned into dust. Dabi catches himself with his hands from falling backwards and stares at the dust that was once the wall he was leaning against.

“I can deteriorate the mind and body to nothing but dust.” Tomura says watching the dust from his hand fly away with the breeze.

Dabi spots the silver stoned bracelet wrapped around Tomura`s left wrist.

“You can use your power without being transformed.” Dabi says with shock.

“The longer you are bound to a stone, the more your self behind the mask and your ordinary self bleed together. Eventually you won`t need to transform to have the same level of power. It will just be a part of you.” Tomura clenches his hand into a fist. “I want to defeat those hero brats before that happens. Their personalities must have bled through the mask by now. Next is random bursts of their power. That is very soon. It will help us find out their identities faster, but will become harder to beat them when that happens. Heh. since you are a stone holder as well, figured you might as well know.”

Dabi slowly rises to his feet. He dusts off his pants and hands.

“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do when you find them?”

Tomura`s lips curl into a sickening grin.

“I will covet their stones so the master can finally have his wish.”

“...a wish huh.”

“Yes. Their stones are unique to yours or mine. When one has both of them in their possession, you get a wish granted. Any one wish.”

“Any wish.. Huh.”

A smirk finds it was to Dabi`s face once more.

“As long as I get a wish too, I'm in.”

Tomura extends his hand and Dabi graps it for a firm shake.

Chapter Text

Kirishima sat down across from Bakugou, Midoriya, and Ochako at the lunch table. He enters just as Midoriya and Ochako were laughing at some joke and Katsuki seemed unamused, but was blushing. Midoriya gave his boyfriend a little nudge with his elbow and Ochako stuck her tongue out at him- while giving Midoriya a Hi-Five.

Kirishima can't help but smile.

It funny cause if anybody just looked at them without any context, it would be hard tell which one Midoriya was actually dating. Bakugou mentioned something about someone asking him that before.

Kirishima can have an OT3 now cant he?

“Oi! The fuck is with that shitty smile?! Shitty hair .”

Kirishima realizes he must have a goofy grin on his face from watching them.

“Oh nothing.”

Bakugou raises an eyebrow, but scowls as soon as Denki comes over to sit down. Denki pauses and sends a look to Kirishima that screams ‘ why do you hang out with him again?! ’

Kirishima pats the seat next to him, becoming him to sit. He eventually complies.

Tokoyami takes a seat down next to Ochako. She graces him with a beaming smile.

Iida watches this from the table next to them with an annoyed glint in his eye. Kirishima watches Tokoyami sends him a shit eating grin. A grin that read ‘ you lost your chance sucker. ’

“May we sit here too?”

Everyone at the table looks up to see Todoroki and Shinsou with their lunch trays. Shinsou was averting his eyes away from them all and Todoroki seemed rather shy himself.

“Of course you can!” Midoriya beams. “Kachaan scoot over.”

Bakugou grumbles something under his breath, but compiles.

Kirishima looks at everyone around him and smiles to himself.

He really wasn't alone anymore.