Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

All men are not created equal. That’s a lesson Midoriya Izuku learned when he was four years old. Now, at fourteen, he remembers it.

All Might had just told him he couldn’t be a hero without a quirk. He’d just about given up on his dream when his useless legs walked him to a villain attack.

It was the sludge villain again. Except, it had another kid it was holding hostage, and as those frightened eyes opened, Izuku’s heart froze. It wasn’t just any other kid, It was Kacchan.

Something caught his attention in the corner of his sight, a throwing knife, left on the ground- perhaps a backup weapon for one the heroes on the scene? A plan formulated in his head almost immediately. He could throw his bag at the villain’s eye and risk missing, or he can throw the knife, run in, hope to god it hit the eye, throw the bag if it didn’t, and maybe it’d manage to distract him long enough to try to dig Kacchan out, or at least enough so he could breathe.

The second his finger touched the throwing knife, something changed. His posture went from clumsy and hopeful to precise and confident, his eyes narrowed as he calculated the throw with terms and thoughts he had never heard before, the knife twirled in and between his fingers as if he'd done it a thousand times before, and he threw.

The knife embedded itself deep in the sludge villain’s pupil but Izuku didn’t stand still to marvel at his accomplishment or wonder when the hell he’d gained that skill. He ran straight towards Kacchan and began digging at the sludge.

Katsuki was too busy gulping in precious air to yell at the ‘useless’ Deku who’d run into the fight, who’d pitied him, who’d, for some ungodly reason, thought he could handle what the pros couldn’t, but he tried his best to send the message over with the nastiest glare he could.

Toshinori hadn’t expected anything to happen He was expecting to wallow in self-pity while another preventable death happened right before him, to gain another death that’ll weigh on his conscience, when the young quirkless boy from before ran in. It’d given him the courage to follow through with what he’d preached about just moments before.

As All Might took care of the villain, Izuku’s mind began running a mile a second. Was that his quirk? What was his quirk? Could he test it? What were the limitations? What would the consequences be now?

As an officer came up to him, Izuku blurted out the first thing on his mind. “I think I just discovered my quirk?”

The officer blinked, confused. “...Just now?”

Izuku nodded.

“...Okay, I’ll take your statement of the events that happened here. Then, you can go home, tell your parents that you discovered your quirk, and register it, alright?” The officer softened his tone and Izuku nodded and compiled easily.

He didn’t even hear the heroes that were reprimanding him as he was getting checked over and walked back to his house in a daze.

When Bakugou ran after him to claim he didn’t need help, Izuku listened silently. “YOU’RE JUST A QUIRKLESS FAILURE WHO WOULDN’T-”

“I’m not Quirkless.” Izuku cut in, calm as he repeated the newfound truth. “That knife throw. That was my Quirk.”

Bakugou glared harder and began spouting more nonsense that Izuku quickly tuned out as he thought more about what he said. Was his quirk truly knife throwing? Wouldn’t there be more to it? How could he strengthen it further? Would that make him a support items based hero?

“STOP FUCKING MUMBLING YOU STUPID DEKU!” Bakugou yelled. “You are nothing! You will never be a hero, even if you do have a quirk now! You’re just a stepping stone on my path to becoming the number one hero.”

Izuku watched as Bakugou walked away, unperturbed. Bakugou could say whatever he wanted. He had a quirk. A quirk suited for combat, even. He analysed quirks for fun, so surely he can figure out how to use his quirk and become a pro-hero, just like-

“I AM HERE!” And Izuku screamed as he traded one loud blonde for another, the declaration effectively cutting off his train of thought.

“All Might? W-what are you doing here? Weren’t you just surrounded by reporters?” He asked as he tried to quickly calm his racing heart.

“Getting away from them was a piece of cake! Why? Because I am All Migh-!” Izuku pursed his lips shut and stifled a small scream that he couldn’t let anyone hear as All Might deflated yet again.

” Young man. I come with thanks, a correction, and a suggestion. If you hadn't been there...If you hadn't told me about your life...,I would've turned into a guy in a bodysuit who was all talk. Thank you.” Izuku blinked stupidly at him.

“T...Thank me? I’m the reason the villain got away from you at all..” He protested.

“Yes, but you’re also the reason I was inspired to get up and fight again.” All Might pointed out gently.

“I…” Izuku stumbled as his eyes widened.

“You know, each of the greats have a story about them from their school days. Most of them have something in common. Their bodies moved before they had a chance to think. It was the same for you, wasn’t it?”

Izuku looked down, trying to blink away the tears as he remembered his legs carrying him without his permission to the scene, how he reached for the knife without asking or thinking, tossed it, straight at a weak point, and moved. No matter how futile it seemed.

Izuku nodded, choking back sobs. He would not break down crying before he told his mom about his quirk. He would not!

“Young man… You can become a hero!”

Oh yes he will. He was absolutely about to break down crying before he told his mom about his quirk.

“I deem you worthy to inherit my power!”

...What?

“What?”

A quick explanation from All Might later, Izuku felt even more confused than before.

“So, will you take my offer?” All Might asked.

“All Might… I’m honored you’d see me as worthy, but truthfully, I think I just discovered my quirk today, with the throwing knife. I’m not sure I can give your quirk the place and focus it deserves while I’m studying and figuring out my own quirk.” It hurt Izuku to refuse, physically hurt him, but he had to refuse.

“I’ll take your secret to the grave, sir! Thank you for trusting me with it, I’m sorry I’m not the right fit!” Izuku bowed as his tears returned, worse than before.

“Hey, kid… Don’t worry about it.” Izuku looked up again as a large, warm hand was placed on his shoulder. “If that really was your quirk back there, then you’re going to need to improve physically to get into a good heroics course. I can probably make you a training regime based on that, if you’d like?”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly ask that of you! I mean, that’d probably take up a lot of your time, and if I’m not going to be your successor, then-”

“Think of it as an apology, then.” All Might cut him off, giving him a soft look. “I was wrong saying that anyone should give up on their dream, and I’d like to apologize to you for that.”

“All Might…” Izuku’s tears hadn’t stopped, but the emotion behind them changed. “Thank you!”

Neither of them were aware of a third party, an eavesdropper, listening in from the shadows.

It was only after a very emotionally draining conversation with his mother that Izuku finally went to bed that night. If he’d ever had the illusion that his mother might’ve been more supportive of his dreams of becoming a hero if he’d been born with a quirk, it would have been dashed tonight.

“You.” A voice called from his window just as Izuku was going off to sleep and Izuku just barely held back from shrieking as a thin sword- was it a katana?- was placed at his neck. “You ran headfirst into that villain attack today. Why?”

“I couldn’t just stand by while Kacchan was being killed. He was scared, and I couldn’t turn my back on him.” Izuku answered, preparing himself mentally for his future, which had just been looking up, to be cut short. Quite literally. Blame the Midoriya family luck, he supposed.

“You saw those ‘heroes’ standing there, not doing anything. What made you think you could do better?” The lunatic asked.

“Nothing. I didn’t even know I had a quirk, I just knew I couldn’t stand there and be useless.” He whispered at the crazy person.

The katana was removed. The lunatic smiled. “You. You’re a threat to All Might, but you have the makings of a true hero. All Might is going to get you more physically fit, right? I’ll teach you about weapons.”

“...No offence, but why would I want to learn from some crazy person who just held a katana to my neck a second ago?” Annnd there went Izuku’s filter. Right down the drain with his common sense and self preservation.

The lunatic gave a cruel sounding chuckle at that. “Heh. I like you, kid. You can call me the Hero Killer: Stain. And you’ll want to learn from me, because I can teach you a whole lot better than any dojo. More than that, I can teach you how to survive.”

With that, Stain left as Izuku’s mind raced to process what had happened.

He went from a Quirkless nobody that nobody cared for, to a Quirked somebody who’s being trained by The Number One Hero… And the Hero Killer: Stain.

“What a day…” He murmured, trying desperately to keep his mind off of analyzing his quirk again. That would come tomorrow.

Chapter Text

The next day at school, nobody looked too closely at Izuku. Well, nobody but Kacchan, but Kacchan was probably still upset that Izuku saved him, and maybe Izuku should examine his relationship with Kacchan a bit more critically, but that was a problem for tomorrow Izuku. Or, more likely, for the very far future Izuku.

Izuku’s current (and far more pressing) issues were with a maniac called Stain and an enigma called All Might.

Though the man accepted Izuku’s refusal with grace, it was quite obvious that the refusal was not a part of the plan. Which raised the question, why was All Might even putting in any effort for him? Or would he even remember?

Then there was Stain. The maniac who murders heroes and claims they’re fakes. It seemed that his entire being was in conflict at the very thought of the man. Every instinct he had told him to run away, call the cops, tell his mom, tell All Might, anyone, that the man was in contact with him.

But...

The pragmatic side of him told him that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, just like with All Might. He could learn about how villains thought, and learn life skills from a villain who evaded most, if not all, of the top ranked heroes easily.

All Might might help him strengthen his body, but it felt like a no-brainer that Stain would teach him how to use his Quirk.

Plus, Izuku might be a complete sucker for weapons. And boy did Stain carry a lot of them. Logically, this would mean that Stain also knew how to handle those weapons and could teach him.

So, where did that leave him? Why, with a list of objectives to prepare him for entering UA, of course!

Heroics Course Entry Plan!

• Train body with All Might! (ALL MIGHT!!!)
• Train Quirk with Stai - the angry hobo man
• Study hard! See what free time you have and put it in!
• STAY ON ALL MIGHT’S REGIME EVEN IF IT KILLS YOU!

...He didn’t say they were impressive. They’re just there to help him focus, after all. Keep him on track.

He wondered what kind of regime All Might would put together for him.

A light bulb flickered to life in his mind as Izuku walked home from school.

...How the hell would All Might even find him? It’s not like they exchanged phone numbe-

“I AM HERE!” The sudden appearance of the Number One Hero was, thankfully, under the bridge where they first met, which might have kept this meeting secret… Had said hero not just announced his presence.

Dropping the notebook he was currently using, trying to draw a correct picture of Stain, Izuku found himself choking back a scream as he stared at All Might as said man deflated.

“Sorry for surprising you, but I figured I’d approach you as soon as I could.” All Might apologized, blood splattered his lips and even a little dripping down his chin.

“I-it’s fine…” Izuku quickly lifted his notebook into his arms, closing it and trying to hide the picture. He didn’t know how good his drawing was or if All Might could recognize Stain, but he didn’t want to chance it.

...Chance what, exactly? Telling a hero that a villain had decided to train you? Losing that opportunity?

All Might smiled at him. “Well, I finished up your training regime, and I figured I’ll show you where you’ll be training before you start.”

Izuku followed All Might, silently freaking out over how this was a reality now. This was his life now. All Might was training him, personally.

Annnd… he led him to the trash yard beach. Dagobah? Yeah, mom mentioned that at some point.

"The most heroic way to get more fit is by giving to the community! The regime I made for you dedicates three hours of your day to getting more fit by cleaning the beach, an hour each day for quirk experiments and analysis, eight hours for school and eight more hours for sleep! The last two hours is for hygiene and eating!" All Might explained as he revealed a truly ridiculous schedule.

Izuku stared at it, noting the changes he can make. Who the hell gets eight hours of sleep? He can cut it down to six and add a third hour for quirk development. School was given eight hours, but in reality, he could cut it down by a lot just by doing school work during school.

All Might continued by showing Izuku the meal plan he had, which Izuku was pleased to see, had three variants for each meal that he can choose and pick from, while also having the average calorie count for each meal in the bottom of the page, allowing for customization while keeping within the recommended calorie intake for him, which All Might helpfully placed in the upper corner of the page and circled with red marker.

"All Might… Thank you so much!" Izuku smiled up at his hero, tears stinging the corners of his eyes.

"Of course! Anything to encourage the next generations of heroes!" All Might buffed up again as he said that. "Now, I must be on my way! I have an important meeting to get to! Try to stay on schedule when you clean the beach and I'll try to be here when I can, alright?"

Izuku nodded, happy that the hero could make time for him with his busy schedule. "Thank you!" Izuku called after the hero, who gave him a thumbs up as he jumped towards the city.

"I can't believe I have a schedule made by All Might… And a meal plan! Customized for me!" Izuku grinned as he hugged the items to his chest.

Of course, Stain had also appeared again today, the brooding figure once again in his window.

"So? Did you get All Might's plan?" The man asked instead of a proper greeting.

"I did. With a few adjustments, I can get three hours or more a day for Quirk training." Izuku informed cautiously.

Stain didn't answer, holding his hand out for the schedule.

"..." Izuku sighed as after a few long minutes of a staring match, he handed over the priceless piece of paper.

Stain soundlessly went over the schedule before nodding. "What are you going to cut two hours from?"

"Sleep, probably. More from school." Izuku shrugged.

"Alright." Stain carefully put the schedule down. "Get dressed in something more casual than a school uniform and meet me on the roof."

With that, Stain left him there, utterly confused.

"...Ooookay then…" Izuku sighed as he quickly dressed himself in a pair of comfy, nondescript black pants and a dark grey shirt that had 'front' written on the back and 'back' written on the front.

After much difficulty, Izuku managed to get himself on the roof where Stain was watching him, eyes narrowed critically.

"What?" Izuku asked the villain.

"We'll need to work on your parkour." Was all Stain said before sitting down across from him.

"So, what have you learned about your quirk?"

"Nothing yet, I'm not sure if it's a honing quirk, like Snipe's, or something else entirely." Izuku shrugged.

Stain hummed in consideration. "That throwing knife you threw was one of mine, the police took it as evidence, guess they dropped it, though. How about this-"

The villain got up and motioned for Izuku to get up, too. "Show me your form."

Izuku nervously stood up and tried to get a fighting form, trying to copy anime characters he's seen in the past.

Stain did not look impressed as he walked up to him, kicking at his foot. "Get your feet further apart, that'll increase your balance, your fists are off, thumb outside, don't use your wrists to block, use the length of your arm where the bone is and finally…"

Stain pushed down his back slightly, watching as Izuku obeyed every command near instantly, and watched as Izuku got it.

"Standing up straight is nice and all when you want to intimidate someone who has no idea what's going on, but if you curl your spine, you can use your guard to protect your stomach as well as your face."

"Now, show me your form if you had a knife."

And so it continued, with Stain making endless corrections, but never losing his temper, and Izuku quickly correcting himself and absorbing the information as best as he could.

What baffled the both of them, however, was the fact that Izuku's stance went far beyond the simple corrections the second he had a weapon in hand.

Stain seemed to understand something, as without even asking for a stance, he handed Izuku his katana and watched the boy fall into a flawless stance.

"I think I know what your quirk is, boy."

"I think I do too. A weapon's based skill boost, which might mean that I can use each weapon I'm handed flawlessly, but that'd mean that I can't fight without a weapon, which'll make me absolutely useless if I get disarmed, which means I'll have to rely heavily on support items, but still run the risk of getting disarmed and fighting more or less Quirkless and-"

"Thanks for telling me how to defeat and kill you." That comment turned Izuku's insides to ice.

"Mumbling is a bad habit for a hero. We'll have to break that out of you."

In hindsight, that was probably the most obvious sign that training with Stain was probably the best choice he'd make in a while. At least, as far as surviving long enough to become a hero went.

Chapter Text

Training with All Might, Izuku found, was a grueling, painful process.

When the man was there, he was relentless in pushing Izuku forward, yelling at him to hurry it up again and again, despite Izuku moving the fastest he could.

It was around three months later that All Might came to the beach, later than usual, with Sir Nighteye and his intern.

The intern, Izuku learned, was Toogata Mirio, as the boy enthusiastically introduced himself,  and the two newcomers became prominent figures in his life from that point onward.

When Toogata was around, he’d mostly be there to teach Izuku how to work efficiently with others, offer funny stories (that would often be derailed by Izuku’s curious questions regarding the quirks of his classmates) or just be there as a friend he could talk to freely. It didn’t take long for the two of them to decide they were practically brothers and to treat each other as such.

Sir Nighteye, on the other hand, seemed to constantly be testing Izuku. If he wasn’t testing his character with terrifying nightmare scenarios that came out of nowhere, he was questioning Izuku’s analytical skills, dropping surprise questions regarding random heroes and their quirks.

On the other side of the law, Stain was a surprisingly good mentor.

Sure, his methods of correcting behaviors he found to be detrimental was a bit… Extreme... - If your standards were screwed and your definition of a bit extreme was to be thrown off a rooftop - But he also freely offered advice, and was surprisingly flexible.

On days where Izuku worked harder on the beach, Stain would only make him eat the floor three times that day instead of eight. He worked with Izuku at his own pace, forced him to take breaks and to understand why he was taking breaks.

Those breaks, of course, had enlightening conversations. While usually Stain would try to talk Izuku into understanding his point of view,  Izuku would argue that a hero’s reasons for being a hero weren’t what made them a fake, but rather their behavior.

And of course, the same old tired argument about what methods were and were not appropriate for dealing with fakes. Izuku felt like Stain might jump the gun a bit on murder.

“You’re right, Stain, there are fake heroes.” Izuku remembers admitting for the first time and continuing quickly to cut off his mentor’s victorious ‘Ha!’ “But, the fault lies primarily in the system that lets them do what they want.”

“See, in my opinion, a fake hero is one that lies, hurts others, even commits a criminal action and gets away with it without repercussions because the system is broken. In your opinion, any hero who goes into this line of work for anything but the pure desire to help others is fake. It therefore stands that in your opinion, only Underground Heroes and All Might can remain alive.”

Not letting his mentor cut off his train of thought, Izuku continued. “We both agree there are fake heroes. We don’t agree on what makes them fake, nor do we agree on what should be done. I think that the entire system needs reform, and it’ll start from the Heroes. If Heroes aren’t allowed to get away with as much, it’ll show people, especially children and educators, that they can’t get away with as much. I mean, how much easier would my childhood have been if people told bullies that despite having a perfect quirk for heroics, they should also act heroic instead of just turning a blind eye to abuse and bullying?”

Stain huffed in what Izuku was slowly learning was an amused manner. “Lead your own revolution.”

“Once I’m a Hero, I will.” He wouldn’t be like All Might, who spoke out against bullying in his public service announcements. No, he’d be a hero that’d actually enforce it. That’d fund charities for the quirkless, for the kids with ‘villainous’ or weak quirks, he'd be a hero that’d speak up at every opportunity. 

It was a nice, warm night when they had a conversation about UA. There were still two months to the closing of the entrance exam submissions, four months to the entrance exam itself.

“What are you planning to do when I enter UA?” Izuku asked casually as he took a small sip from his bottle of water.

“Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself?” Stain sighed. “What department are you even planning to go into?”

“Heroics, of course! I know the test is going to be insanely tough, but after all the training from you, and All Might, and Sir Nighteye, and Toogata-senpai, I’m sure-!”

“Don’t.” Stain shook his head. “The Entrance Exam is against robots, if it’s anything like when I went there. You may be able to take them on with whatever weapons you can make, but you’ll be far better off starting from Support, making your own weapons there, where you have excess to far better materials, and then transferring in the Sports Festival.”

Izuku stopped drinking and stared at Stain. “...That’s possible?”

Stain smirked at him. “How do you think someone like Eraserhead got into Heroics? Sure, it’s more common to transfer from the Gen Ed Department than from Support, but if you get into Support, other inventors will want to help you so you can advertise their work while you work on making weapons to help with your Quirk.”

The two of them fell silent as Izuku thought it over, his brain going a million miles a second before he decided that Stain was correct, that he did have a better chance, starting from Support. Besides, he was going to be a Support based Hero either way. Starting from the Support Course would just give him a better start with befriending those who’d be providing the support.

A thought occurred to him. “You never answered me. What will you do when I enter UA?”

Stain sighed, but kept his smirk. “You stayed focused, good. What I’ll be doing will be none of your business, because once you’re in UA, we cut contact completely. For your own good.”

Izuku nodded, understanding.

From that day, his sessions with Stain seemed to pass much faster than they used to as Stain continued to spar with him, explaining to him what exactly he was doing each time he used his quirk, since ‘although quirks like erasure are rare, they’re still out there, and you need to be prepared,’ and to teach him the art of freerunning and parkour,

He also managed to cut more time from his schedule, somehow , to work on his invention for the Support Department exam. He ended up designing and making a pair of unpolished, lumpy glasses that could read heat signatures from up to a twenty kilometers distance, which he managed to create in a month from salvaged parts he’d gotten from Dagobah beach.

He spent a while polishing it up into a sleek, lightweight design that matched his ears perfectly, and from the test runs he’d done while freerunning with Stain, he found they stayed on even when he fully expected them to fall off.

It seemed that the ten months of training had passed by in a flash, and on the day of the exam, he woke up to several messages.

Senpai-nii: Good luck out there! Can’t wait to tell Tamaki and Nejire about my super cute kouhai! Call me as soon as you’re out, okay? If you’re up for it, we’ll go have a little meal! My treat!

Loud, Blonde and Amazing: Good luck, Young Midoriya!

Calculating And Infuriating: You’ve trained hard for this, Midoriya. Don’t disappoint.

Terrifying Murder Hobo: Knock ‘em dead, kiddo. Or I will.

Izuku couldn’t help the grin that overtook his face. He had such amazing mentors.

His school’s group chat was filled with well wishes for Kacchan, but Izuku didn’t bother to say anything, just like Kacchan didn’t bother responding to any.

His mom tried to make conversation during that breakfast, but things between them had been awkward ever since she caught him cleaning the beach with Mirio. Sure, she became more supportive of his dream now that he was actively working towards it, but for Izuku, it still felt too little, too late.

She offered to drive him to UA herself, but he assured her he was okay with the train and left, leaving most of his food untouched due to how damn nervous he was.

UA had three Support Department classrooms, classes F, G and H. Each one had a hard limit of five students. With the amount of students who came to take the entrance exam this huge, Izuku didn’t doubt he’d have some serious competition.

The written exam itself was initially terrifying, but once he had it in his hands and read the question, he almost wanted to stand up and declare to everyone around that Sir Nighteye is the greatest hero to ever exist.

The questions were all in the same vein as the ones Sir often threw at him when he was working on the beach, and he very quickly finished the test, surprising everyone else in the testing room with him, including the teachers.

He very carefully ignored the way a boy with dark blue hair seemed to glare at him as he was led away to show off his invention.  The Support Department test was split into three parts;

First, showing off the item itself and how well it functioned.

Second, explaining the blueprints provided with the item and how well it can be replicated.

Then finally, the presentation, where the inventors had to explain what made their item worth the attention and they themselves worthy students before a panel of judges.

The panel that stood before him was made of Nedzu, Powerloader, Present Mic, and Eraserhead. He very quickly understood why, seeing as Nedzu was possibly the most intelligent being in existence, Powerloader was the teacher in charge of all of the Support Department, while Eraserhead and Present Mic both relied heavily on their own support items.

When the door closed behind him, Izuku knew that he was at his weakest point, but he couldn’t let that distract him. He had to give it his all!

He had to make it, not just for himself, but for those who truly did believe in him.

Chapter Text

Nedzu started the conversation, seeing the poor boy was freezing up.

“Hello, Mr. Midoriya. Welcome to the Support Department exam.”

That seemed to snap the boy out of it as he gave a small, grateful smile. “Thank you, Principal Nedzu, for the welcome and for seeing me.” He bowed.

“What did you bring here?” Powerloader asked and Midoriya straightened.

“These are my heat-vision prototypes. They let me see heat signatures from up to twenty kilometers away, with the option to zoom, controlled by eye movement. They’re meant to stay on during fights, which is why they have adjustable tips that can match any user’s ear shape, and they will hopefully aid in evacuating civilians from either natural disasters, fires, or collapsed buildings in the case that there isn’t a hero on the scene that has a heat vision quirk.”

“What makes you think this creation is needed, when there are plenty of heat vision quirks.” Eraserhead demanded.

Izuku swallowed hard and spoke carefully. “I was misdiagnosed as Quirkless as a child, and only discovered my own quirk less than a year ago. I know a lot of people with quirks tend to see that as their only weapon, their only way through.” He straightened his posture.

“Case in point, the Slime Villain attack ten months ago. I was involved. I didn’t know I had a quirk, but I knew the kid that was trapped in there wouldn’t be able to live much longer, so I threw whatever I could at the Slime Villain’s eye, his natural weak point. It ended off being what made me discover my quirk, but the fact that there were at least three pro heroes on the scene that were waiting around for someone with a better suited quirk opened my eyes to a certain reality.”

“People with quirks often bind their sense of worth to their quirk. They don’t often think of another way to accomplish things if they can’t power through with their quirk. If another Slime Villain Incident happens, and there are people trapped somewhere, fighting for their life, but the Heroes can’t see them, I want my invention to offer much needed help.”

Eraserhead grunted. For a few moments, nobody said anything as the judges wrote down notes and Izuku fought hard not to fidget nervously.

“Alright, let’s test them.” Powerloader announced when everyone finished writing.

Izuku straightened up and waited for the Hero to explain himself.

“You say the prototypes aren’t supposed to fall off, so how about we give them to Eraserhead here, who will test the limit for how far the heat signatures last and how good the zoom is, while also seeing how much movement they can withstand.”

Izuku knew a challenge when he was dealt one and he simply nodded. “I’ll need to adjust the prototypes for Eraserhead-san’s ears.”

As he worked on that, with Eraserhead crouching to give him access to the hero’s ears, Powerloader started again.

“So you mentioned these are prototypes, correct? What’s the finished project supposed to look like?”

“Well, ideally, I’d like them to become visors that’ll connect to the user’s temple and cast a holographic display that’ll also include things like vital signs and distance from the victim themself, but I couldn’t make that from scrap I found on the beach.” Midoriya answered absent-mindedly as he finished off adjusting the prototypes.

“Alright, you’re good to go. Narrow your eyes if you want it to zoom in.” And with that, Eraserhead was off. 

It was like he was trying to shake off the prototypes, Izuku thought, and he was sure he’d be more nervous if he hadn’t tried the exact same thing before. It took the hero a few minutes before he returned, the prototype still in place.

Izuku wordlessly released Eraserhead from the prototypes and stepped away from the man’s personal bubble.

“Alright, Little Listener! Good job! You’re done with your tests for today, since you’re not applying for the Heroics course. Thank you for your presentation!” Present Mic happily guided the young boy away.

“So he got in, right?” Mic asked the moment he was back.

“Got in? He’s probably going to get the best score this year.” Powerloader huffed, crossing his arms. It wasn’t everyday they found someone as talented in support as that boy.

“Right, next up to present is a Hatsume Mei…”

Smol Green Fighting Machine: I think I blew it.

Senpai-nii: Impossible!! Σ(ﾟ口ﾟ;)//

Smol Green Fighting Machine: Nobody looked impressed at all! They looked like they were questioning what I was doing, wasting their time the whole test!

Senpai-nii: Oh shush! It's probably just your nerves talking! C'mon, meet me outside the main gate when you're done, I'll treat you to some comfort food!

Smol Green Fighting Machine: Okay…

Mirio was not going to let Izuku's nerves ruin today! He was sure his Kouhai was going to get into UA, win the sports festival, and get an internship from either All Might or Sir Nighteye, and once he's confident enough in his abilities, All Might would offer Izuku One for All again.

It was a great honor to be considered worthy of being All Might's successor, but…

Mirio has gotten where he was thanks to Permeation and he didn’t particularly want to start working on mastering another quirk, considering it would also affect his own quirk in a likely unexpected way.

Midoriya, however, was different. Working hard to figure out his own -incredibly late- Quirk, answering every one of Sir’s questions in a fraction of the time it took Mirio himself to answer them, like there wasn’t even a moral dilemma in whatever he was being asked.

Then, there was his attitude. The go-getter, determined attitude that Mirio couldn’t help but be impressed with. Yes, Midoriya Izuku was made to be a hero. Mirio couldn’t bear to think of a world where he wasn’t, and he was sure that neither could the judges.

So, he invited his adorable little Kouhai out to his favorite cafe. That always lifted Mirio’s spirit.

And if the younger man was really so moopey, Mirio suggested to the waitress that they could keep him around to clean the floor at closing time. Well, Mirio was sure it was only temporary.

The week passed quickly. Izuku frequented Dagobah Beach just to finish cleaning it up, and devoted even more time to training with Stain.

“You know, I don’t think I passed.” He mentioned offhandedly as they ran across the rooftops. It was a calm evening, stars hanging over their heads as they made their way from building to building.

Stain rolled his eyes. “If you didn’t pass, then there’s no hope left for UA.”

“Not funny.” Izuku quipped.

“Nobody’s laughing, kiddo.”

They continued on in silence for a few moments before Izuku spoke again.

“Hey, Stain… Why’d you take me on? You must have known I could have turned you in at any point.” Izuku asked.

“You needed the training to survive. No one who rushes into a fight like you did is going to last long in Heroics.”

 “Yes, but, why me? Why not pick someone else who looked like they needed he-”

“Izuku. Before long, my own actions will catch up to me. Soon, whatever damaged All Might so much that he needs that other form will catch up to him. The next generation needs a true hero. You’re it. Society needs you to succeed. Your little revolution, while naive in my opinion, might just work.”

The rest of that night was mostly the two of them just bringing up funny things that happened in the past, like all the stupid, beginner’s mistakes Izuku made before, all the times Stain threw him off a roof for hesitating, even all the weird threats that were exchanged.

It almost felt like they were friends instead of mentor and disciple. Izuku wondered if he’d miss this, if he got into UA.

If he hadn’t? Well, the terrifying murder hobo was either going to turn vigilante again, or he’d have to train a vigilante.

Finally, the week of worrying was over. The letter came in, for better or for worse.

Smol Green Fighting Machine: The letter came in.

Senpai-nii: Well?????

Smol Green Fighting Machine: ….I’m too anxious to open it….

Senpai-nii: I swear, you are just like Tamaki sometimes! C’mon, worst comes to worst, with how Sir trained you, you’ll at least get into General Education!

Smol Green Fighting Machine: ….

Smol Green Fighting Machine: Thanks, Mirio-nii.

With Mirio’s comfort in mind, Izuku opened the letter, revealing a small disk that opened up to a hologram.

“Midoriya Izuku.” Began Powerloader. “You’ve impressed us greatly, gaining a score that will surely go down as one of the highest in the history of UA’s written exam, and the highest of your year, you’ve been accepted into the General Education Department of UA.”

“However, you also applied to the Support Department. Your prototypes were very impressive, your reasoning was far more grounded in reality than I’d have expected from any student, and your idea, while simple, was executed wonderfully.”

“The Support Department exam tests a future inventor’s practical skills, imagination, and presentation. You came second in practical skills, fourth in imagination, and first in presentation. Congratulations, Midroiya. Welcome to UA. I hope to see you in class 1-H starting next year.”

A breakdown of his skills was printed out on a piece of paper, which also included any forms he had to have his mother sign and a list of essentials for the next school year. On the bottom of the page, written by hand, was his classroom.

Smol Green Fighting Machine: Mirio-nii! I got in!

Senpai-nii: Heck yeah! Meet me in Dagobah in ten minutes? We’ll go to celebrate!

Tiny Terror: One last run tonight?

Terrifying Murder Hobo: Sure kid. Congratulations.

Possible Ninth: Have I thanked you yet for all those questions? Because thank you!!!

Calculating and Infuriating: I heard from All Might. Good job.

Young Midoriya!!: All Might! I got into Support!!!

Loud, Blonde and Amazing: Good job, my boy!

“Mom! I got into UA! I’m heading out to celebrate with Mirio-nii!”

“Congratulations, Izuku! I’ll make Katsudon for dinner! And be sure to text me when you’re on your way home!

Chapter Text

Izuku made sure he got to UA as early as he could, to account for any confusion finding his classroom. However this was, of course, nullified by his big brother figure Mirio meeting him at the gates with his friends, Amajiki Tamaki and Hado Nejire.

“Izuku! Meet my friends! Tamaki, Nejire, this is Izuku! He’s the little guy I was telling you about! The one Sir and I started training!” Mirio introduced with an abundance of energy.

“Uh, hello, it’s nice to meet you!” Izuku smiled at the two with a small wave.

“...So bright…” Amajiki murmured, turning slightly away.

“Oh! You’re just as cute as Mirio said you are! Did you really only discover your quirk last year? What does your quirk really do? Is it an emitter type? It doesn’t look like you physically indicate anything!” Hado babbled and Izuku straightened up, looking shocked.

“So that’s what it feels like…” He murmured as he began walking after Mirio. “Um! I did just discover my quirk last year, it lets me know exactly how to handle any weapon I touch, and it’s probably a good thing there’s no physical indication as to what it does!”

Hado narrowed her bright royal blue eyes at him, consideration obvious within her thoughtful gaze, and something in Izuku just knew she was loading up a whole new set of questions to launch at him like a Gatling gun getting ready to fire when Mirio stopped.

“Well, here we are! Classroom 1-H!” Mirio gestured happily, grinning at Izuku. 

“Good luck today, Kouhai! Try your best not to fall asleep during the speech!”

Izuku watched as Amajiki, Hado and Mirio all left, leaving him alone in front of a huge door, which he spent a few seconds staring at.

“Will my new classmates be nice? I mean, Support doesn’t necessarily need to be supportive… Will they try to sabotage me? Probably not, right? No reason for that, unless one of them is also trying for Heroics, but then, why not try and befriend them anyway? Yeah, this is just another opportunity to make friends!”

Izuku stepped through the door, seeing three other students already in. And here I hoped to be the first in…

“Oh hey there!” A blonde with green eyes called. “My name’s Kelly Chem! Uh, Chem Kelly? Whatever, just call me Kelly! It’s a pleasure to meet you!” She called as she bounded over to him.

“Oh hey, I’m Midoriya Izuku, it’s nice to meet you.” He smiled at her.

“Oh, finally! Someone who speaks!” Kelly sighed in relief. “I think those two are… Ayeka Ayema and Vella Aiden? Neither of them talk. Or at least, talk to me.”

The chairs in the room were arranged strangely, two rows of two chairs each and one large table in the back, in the front row sat the two boys Kelly spoke about.

One was wearing a darkened welding mask and a pair of one way goggles and had thick gloves on, one neon pink and the other a mottled green. Behind the welding mask there was a mop of wild red hair, he didn’t react in any way to Midoriya’s arrival, aside from a pointed look at his messed up tie.

The other was pale, with dark eyes and black hair that was bound in a bun. He did look at the two of them, but didn’t react other than that.

“U-uh, I see. Well, let’s just leave them be, t-then. We shouldn’t pressure them if they don’t want to talk to-”

The door slammed open and a tiny girl with wild pink hair came in.

“I’m not late, am I? I was working on my baby till late last night so I have no clue what time is!” The girl called as she launched herself into the room and gained everyone’s attention.

“Nope! Not late at all!” Kelly grinned at her.

“Great! My name is Hatsume Mei, but since we’re going to be classmates, just call me Mei!”

Kelly squealed and immediately grabbed Mei, talking about how happy she was to know she wasn’t the only girl around, while Izuku blinked at the two of them.

“Am I that much of a bad company?” He murmured, causing the redhead to snort in amusement before continuing to meddling with a mechanism.

Izuku didn’t bother grilling the other boys like Kelly was grilling Mei, instead checking up the name list and finding out where he was sitting.

“Oh! And did you hear that there’s this guy in the Heroics course that sweats nitroglycerin? I wonder if he’d let me collect some of that…” Kelly murmured.

“Oh, that’s Kacchan.” Izuku looked up at Kelly.  “We’ve known each other since before we had quirks. Or, well, before he had his quirk.”

“Do you think he’d let me collect his sweat?” Kelly asked.

“You sound like you’re thinking something dirty.” The black haired kid said.

“Dirty? Me? Nooooo , never! I just- oh! Sorry! I was getting ahead of myself! I’m specializing in support items that are based around chemical reactions! I was hoping to get that nitroglycerin to check and see if I can do some… Quick fixes with his support items.” Kelly said. “Oh, and you never told us your name!”

He looked up at her before sighing through his nose. “Vella Aiden. Analysis. You’re loud.”

Izuku quirked an eyebrow, knowing full well what Vella was saying. “Is that the official analysis, then?”

He quickly shut up, remembering that he wasn’t training with Stain right now, but the damage was done and the red head was trying to hold back from chuckling.

Vella raised an eyebrow at him and uttered a simple “Yes.”

“Well, I’m specializing in gadgets! Any problem found in the field, Hatsume can counter it!” Mei stated happily.

“...Design.” The redhead uttered from behind the mask.

“I’m going to specialize in weapons and quirk-mimicking gadgets. I want to be a hero.” Izuku stated.

Everyone turned to him, calculating and Izuku froze up. Did he already mess it up? Were they going to laugh at him?

“Well, you sure look like you trained your body for it.” Kelly stated.

“What’s your quirk, hero kid?” Mei asked.

“M-Mastery, it lets me use any weapon perfectly.”

Vella smirked. “Well you’re going to need our help then, aren’t you?”

“The perfect guinea pig! I can outfit you with anything and you’ll know how to use it?” Mei asked.

“Well, I guess it depends on what weapons you’re going for, but I’m sure I can help!” Kelly offered.

“Well, I was looking at some weapon-focused media lately, and I think I found something interesting, from a show called RWBY, it’s these bracelets that extend into gauntlets that also have shotguns in them! I was thinking that maybe I could have it go double sided, so instead of always shooting at whatever I’m punching, I can also use the shotgun’s recoil as extra momentum for my punches and-”

Ayeka slammed his hands down on the table and turned to Izuku. “Hero costume. Design specs. Now. If you’re going to just add bracelets that extend, you’re going to need a design that’ll let them, and by Best Jeanist and Ryukyu themselves, if you think I will let some Iron Man wannabe looking hero come out of MY class-!”

Everyone went silent, shocked before Vella began laughing. “For a walking fashion disaster, you sure throw a lot of shade, huh? This class is going to be a riot!”

Someone cleared their throat and the students’ attention went to them, revealing Powerloader standing in the doorway.

“It’s great to see you’re all making friends, but I do have some announcements before we head off to Orientation. Luckily, you’ve all arrived early, so that’ll make this easier. Please take your seats.”

Everyone did as they were asked, Izuku sitting behind Ayeka and next to Kelly, while Mei got the lone table in the back.

“Good, so first off, I’m sure you all know me as Powerloader, but just call me Maijima-sensei. Support classes work a bit differently from other classes, seeing as you guys are five students per class, each Support Class pairs up with a General Education for their education. For the practical studies, Class F gets the Development Studio at mornings, Class G gets it during the afternoon, and Class H gets it from the moment the general studies are over. You’re all in Class H because we felt like you’d benefit from the most amount of time in the Development Studio.”

Izuku knew for sure he wasn’t the only one who grinned, but he was pretty sure he was the only one who had a normal excited grin, not one of a maniacal scientist.

“Now, as for the General Education class you’ll be paired up with, you’ll be studying with Class 1-C, homeroom teacher: Present Mic. I hope you guys won’t cause any problems for him. If you have any requests you’ll need me for, I’ll always be supervising over the Development Studio, otherwise, and for any other purpose, Present Mic will be your Homeroom teacher, as well.”

“Because of your high scores in the written exam, most of you are dismissed from some classes entirely. During those free periods, you’re expected to stay in this classroom. You’ll be provided with anything you may need to start developing your projects from here, to eventually make them in the Development Studio.”

Maijima-sensei turned to them. “Any questions?”

…

“Good. Now, please remain here for the time being, Present Mic will come collect you guys when he takes his class to the opening ceremony.”

Chapter Text

The opening ceremony almost bored Izuku to tears. He was ready to bow to his new stoat overlord and beg for the end. He wasn’t as bad off as the kid beside him, a guy with fluffy, gravity defying purple hair who groaned for half a minute, grumbled about having failed the heroics exam, and tried to fall asleep for the rest of the speech. Which he had, lucky. 

Finally, lunch arrived, and Izuku quickly joined his classmates.

“That was sooooooooo boring!” Kelly groaned, stretching out and clicking multiple joints.

“Did he say anything about us? I zoned out after he brought up schedules.” Mei shrugged.

Vella shook his head. “Honestly, you two… No, he didn’t really say anything about us, specifically. Just kept going on about how we were just as good as the Heroics classes. There was some blonde hero student behind me who kept going on about how they were so much better the entire time.” he seemed to glower at the memory. 

“Ugh. So disappointing! If we were as good as the heroics, then why did the A class of heroics not show up at all? We could have also just skipped, gone to acquaint ourselves with the support studio!” Kelly grumbled with crossed arms and a tapping foot.

“Well at least it served some purpose, considering Hero kid here looks like he’s laughing at us.” Mei prompted, making everyone turn to Izuku.

“Ah, not really, no. It was boring as all hell, I'm glad to have gotten out.” Izuku went for a bite of his food.

“But?” Kelly prompted.

“But…” He put down his chopsticks. “I did hear a boy from Present Mic’s class say that he’s only there because he failed Heroics. I think that there’s a chance to go, fill him up with gadgets and support items. He might move on into Heroics, maybe he won’t, but at least he could put up a fight and show off our inventions.”

“Spoken like a Business Student!” A new voice called as another student invited herself to their table. “My name’s Endo Sachie. You guys are 1-H, right? The class that gets the most time in the Development Studio.” she held a pair of chopsticks in her hand as she spoke, a glint in her eye. 

“Which means you’re the Support students with the most potential.” Endo concluded, pointing at them with her chopsticks. “Which means our partnership would be the most beneficial one, if you decide to partner up with me.”

“And why should we decide to partner up with you? Do you also want to switch to Heroics?” Kelly asked, and Izuku watched the purple haired student who started to pass by them, stop, turn and march up to them.

“No, not really.” Endo started.

“Endo here, wants us to partner up with her, because she believes she can help us promote our inventions, and in return, she’ll get to handle most of our finances. It’s a solid deal, assuming we agree preemptively on percentages instead of cuts.” Vella raised an eyebrow at Endo, who just grinned.

“Did you say one of you was planning on getting transferred into Heroics? As in, that’s a possibility?” The purple boy said, tired eyes narrowed at them.

“Sit down, let’s have a chat.” Izuku invited, smiling at him in the nearly-pleasant smile he had learned from Sir. “My name’s Midoriya Izuku. I’m going to be a support hero, and I have a way for you to get into Heroics.”

“What makes you think I’m a good fit for Heroics?” The boy asked.

“I never said you’re a good fit, because frankly, I don’t even know your name, let alone anything else about you. I judge heroes on their personalities, not their quirks. Now, are you going to introduce yourself, or are you just going to grill me for more information?” Adopting Sir’s business attitude, Izuku looked at the boy, wondering what he was going to do now.

The purple boy cautiously sat down and grumbled out the name “Shinsou Hitoshi.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Shinsou. Now, why don’t you tell me what your quirk is.” Izuku asked.

“No. Tell me what’s this way into Heroics you were talking about.” Shinsou glared at him, arms crossed.

“Wow. Someone didn’t check the website at all, huh? You were that convinced you were going to succeed in the Entrance Exam?” Endo asked.

“Sounds like it, I don’t know if someone with that kind of confidence can even get in the way you’re planning, Zuzu.” Kelly sing-songed, clearly hoping to aggravate the boy who seemed to rub her the wrong way.

“I don’t… Where the heck did Zuzu come from?” Izuku asked, blushing, business facade falling. Vella shook his head as Mei cackled, Ayeka not even lifting his head up from his meal to watch the spectacle (how was he even eating? He hadn’t even taken off the mask??).

“It sounds like Shinsou-san here just banked on his quirk fully. If it didn’t impress the teachers at the Entrance Exam, how would it impress them in the alternate route?” Vella asked, chin resting in his palm as he poked at his meal with a fork.

“What is this, a fucking job interview?” Shinsou grumbled at them. “I want to be a hero. I’m here to train, aren’t I?”

“I don’t know, are you?” Endo asked, twirling a dark strand of her straight hair.

“Of course I am!” Shinsou snapped at her, hands now flat on the table.

“You realize they’re testing your reactions, right?” Izuku asked with faux innocence painted across his face. “Ultimately, the other way in is through the Sports Festival. If you impress the heroes enough, there's a possibility you can be transferred over. The purpose of us telling you this is to give you more time to prepare, as well as why they’re testing you.”

“Without the proper drive, no one’s going to invest in you. No teacher, no agency, no support company.” Endo nodded along, her smile not quite reaching her brown doe eyes.

“So this was a test, to see… What, exactly?” Shinsou questioned.

“To see if you’re worth the effort to make you the support items you’ll need. For that, we’ll need to know your quirk, to know what we’d be working with.” Kelly answered.

“Or you can just give me genetic tissue, and I can use my quirk to create a brainless version of you to study and analyse.” Vella pointed out before jamming a forkful of food into his mouth.

“Wait, hold on, is that what your quirk does? You just need genetic tissue, then you make like, a mini clone of the person, and make another version of them?” Kelly asked, a strange light in her eyes as she considered.

Vella nodded and Kelly turned a maniac grin towards Izuku.

“Your little friend who sweats Nitroglycerin, where is he?”

“Kelly, no. Please , that's a bad idea, a very bad idea, don’t try to-!” Izuku started.

“He can’t catch us all.” Mei pointed out.

Vella started grinning as he and Mei began chanting ‘He can’t catch us all! He can’t catch us all!’, Kelly and Endo quickly joining them.

Shinsou and Ayeka watched them, transfixed by the chaos that was slowly erupting when a whole class, probably the previously-absent 1-A, walked in.

“Fine! He’s the angry, red-eyed blonde!” Izuku hissed at his classmates and Ayeka, very helpfully, pointed a gloved finger at Bakugou.

“His hair is a disaster.” Ayeka said, but apparently Bakugou’s hearing aids were turned up far more than usual.

“What did you just say to me, you extra motherfu- Deku. ” The level of pure hatred in Bakugou’s voice just made Izuku want to hide.

“What. The hell. Did you just call him?” Kelly asked.

“...If you draw blood, I can use that.” Vella added flatly, and ever-so-helpful.

“He can’t catch us all.” Endo whispered from behind a hand, falsely cheerful.

“Wait, you’re not really going to-?!” Mei had already leapt from the table to try and scratch at Bakugou, quickly joined by Kelly. Ayeka slowly gets up to join them in distracting the explosive blonde.

“...Maybe we should call a teacher?” Vella offered.

“What, and lose the entertainment?” Endo asked before tossing a chip into her mouth, Shinsou nodded in agreement as he began eating his own meal.

Izuku looked at the group, watching Mei and Kelly try to swipe some of Bakugou’s sweat while Ayeka just straight up tried to push him around, as a red headed Hero student hardened his skin and tried to restrain Kacchan from killing the support students. Yelling and shouting filled the cafeteria as the other classes just looked on at the chaos.

He shrugged helplessly, having only known these people for half a day and already gave him the feeling that no teacher could help them.

Chapter Text

Mei Hatsume created chat room Class 1-Hell

Mei Hatsume has added Izuku Midoriya, Kelly Chem, Aiden Vella and Ayema Ayeka

Kelly Chem: hewwo?

Ayema Ayeka: goodbye

Mei Hatsume: shhh enough memes give us nicknames!

Kelly Chem: oh hell yes

 Kelly Chem has changed Kelly Chem’ s nickname to Looking for Trouble

Looking for Trouble has changed Mei Hatsume ’s nickname to Bad at Math

Looking for Trouble has changed Izuku Midoriya ’s nickname to 3 Oz of Whoopass

Looking for Trouble has changed Aiden Vella ’s nickname to This Jackassery will Not Stand!

Looking for Trouble has changed Ayema Ayeka's nickname to Preens for Satan

3 Oz of Whoopass: Question

Looking for Trouble: answer?

3 Oz of Whoopass: What the hell?

Looking for Trouble: 

3 Oz of Whoopass: New question

Preens for Satan: yes, this is good

Bad at Math: Is this about the cafeteria today

3 Oz of Whoopass: Mei, there's a hero teacher and several students who already hate our guts and it’s only the first day

Looking for Trouble: well bakuhoe kacchan should watch his fucking mouth then

3 Oz of Whoopass: ljhalskjdfas;ldsakd KELLY

This Jackassery will not Stand!: god what the fuck is this, why am i here, who are you people

Looking for Trouble: hi class dad

Preens for Satan: hi class dad

3 Oz of Whoopass: Guys please.

This Jackassery will not Stand!: who. are. you.

Bad at Math: scroll up i'm working on my babies and the notifs are distracting

This Jackassery will not Stand: god damn, did a comma murder your entire family or something??? 

3 Oz of Whoopass: kldjslakfhbhjbsdkamn

Preens for Satan: wow that was almost a word hero kid

3 Oz of Whoopass: Stfu wannabe best jeanist

Looking for Trouble: shots? Fired.

Preens for Satan: meet me in the pit

3 Oz of Whoopass: Should I bring a weapon or do you want to live?

This Jackassery will not Stand!: holy shit midoriya

Preens for Satan: dude. w hat ?

 Looking for Trouble: did y’all forget he wants to be a hero kid?

Bad at Math: oh please wants to be? with my babies he’s ending off in first place if he wants to or not

This Jackassery will not Stand!: vaguely threatening but okay

Preens for Satan: i came here for a good time, now I'm just scared

3 Oz of Whoopass: Good.

Looking for Trouble: good, he says

3 Oz of Whoopass: My mentor always said fear keeps you alive

This Jackassery will not Stand: boi. who’s your mentor?

3 Oz of Whoopass: Well there are several. There’s All Might, Sir Nighteye, Lemilion, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Looking for Trouble: boi

3 Oz of Whoopass: Yes?

Bad at Math has added Hitoshi Shinsou and Sachie Endo

Sachie Endo: Hello?

Bad at Math: scroll up

Hitoshi Shinsou: How did you get this number?

Bad at Math: registry is notoriously easy to hack entertain hero kid before he blows everyones minds further

Hitoshi Shinsou: Have you ever considered using proper punctuation?

Bad at Math: have you ever considered go fuck yourself

Looking for Trouble: we just gonna ignore the fact that zuzu got trained by mfing all might?

Hitoshi Shinsou: Wait, what the fuck?

Looking for Trouble: read up you dumb

Looking for Trouble: in the meantime…

Looking for Trouble has changed Hitoshi Shinsou's nickname to Meditates for a Break

Looking for Trouble has changed Sachie Endo 's nickname to Down to Clown

Down to Clown: What?

Looking for Trouble:

Meditates for a Break: Valid.

Looking for Trouble has changed that chat picture!

Meditates for a Break has changed the chat name to Troubled Birds Chaos Class

Looking for Trouble: YES!

This Jackassery will not Stand!: oh god there's two of them

Meditates for a Break: Anyway, Midoriya, you were saying something during lunch today before you were cut off by the Chaos Crew?

3 Oz of Whoopass: Shinsou I regret to inform you that you are, by default, also a part of the Chaos Crew.

Meditates for a Break: No I'm not, that'll require for me to be friends with any of you.

Preens for Satan: sir, are you aware that you're the one who came to us?

Down to Clown: The laws of the land dictate we are all friends now

3 Oz of Whoopass: Wait really?

This Jackassery will not Stand!: yeah, you're kinda stuck with us now hero kid

Meditates for a Break: Wait why's he the hero kid?

Bad at Math: bc he put effort into his physical side? bc he was trained by all might?

Meditates for a Break: Okay makes sense.

3 Oz of Whoopass: Wait I have to go tell my mom I made friends!

Looking for Trouble: what, did you not have friends before?

3 Oz of Whoopass: Well, consider this: I only discovered my Quirk last year.

Meditates for a Break: What the fuck I didn't know that could happen?

3 Oz of Whoopass: Neither did I. It's part of the reason why All Might, Sir and Lemillion trained me.

Meditates for a Break: Okay we keep getting off track here, what were you going to tell me during lunch?

3 Oz of Whoopass: Well, I was going to grill you for information regarding your quirk to see what support items we can get you and what training you need.

Meditates for a Break: Ah. Well. It's a brainwashing quirk.

*3 Oz of Whoopass is typing *

Looking for Trouble: Wow. That's sure taking a while.

3 Oz of Whoopass: Brainwashing???? That's such an amazing quirk! It'll be perfect for underground heroics, I mean, you can resolve hostage situations without any danger, and depending on the limitations of your quirk, you can get intel then make people forget about you entirely, that's such a brilliant quirk, do you think you can influence people? Give commands to rethink their life and make them forget it? What are the limitations? How does it work? How many people can you influence at once? Will a speaker influence your range?

Meditates for a Break: Um. Wow.

*3 Oz of Whoopass is typing *

Meditates for a Break: No, shut up.

*3 Oz of Whoopass has stopped typing *

Meditates for a Break: Shit that was a lot of words, let me read it.

This Jackassery will not Stand!: did you just ramble? mister silent unless spoken to?

3 Oz of Whoopass: I used to ramble a lot, but my mentor kind of shocked that out of me.

Looking for Trouble: which one???

3 Oz of Whoopass: No one you know.

Preens for Satan: who trained you. what

Meditates for a Break: were you trained by an underground hero or something?

3 Oz of Whoopass: Sure, we'll go with that.

This Jackassery will not Stand!: sure we'll go with that midoriya izuku what the fuck

Chat room: UA Teachers and Staff

Nightnight: can you believe it, @DumbassErasure only expelled one (1) student today!

DumbassErasure: and then @ToolBox's students started a fight with another one and made me wish i could expel support students

CockatooBuckaroo: ExcUse mE, ShouTa???

DraculaWannabe: yeah, they're your students too, hizashi. mind finding out what happened?

LivingLegos: oh thank god

Highnoon: oh thank god

CockatooBuckaroo: Damnit.

Nightnight: see, that’s what happens when you teach gen ed and support. that’s why the business class is the easiest.

DumbassErasure: one of your students was also involved, nemuri.

Nightnight: what the fuck

No.1Dumbass: May I inquire as to who was involved?

No.1Dumbass: ...What is my name?

DumbassErasure: seven students in total, bakugou katsuki, from my class, the entirety of 1-h, meaning midoriya, ayeka, chem, vella and hatsume, 1-c’s shinsou and 1-j’s endo.

No.1Dumbass: Midoriya? I know him, he’s not the type to start a fight.

Nedzu: He didn’t. Apparently, Bakugou attempted to provoke him by calling him useless, to which 1-h took offense. Chem, Ayeka and Hatsume were further provoked by Endo and Vella referring to a previous conversation, and thus attacked Bakugou. Midoriya, Shinsou and Endo remained in their seats, but as they were either provoking or provoked, they count as being a part of this incident.

ToolBox: Makes sense. Bakugou and Midoriya did come from the same high school, and with how middle schools treat quirks, combined with the knowledge that midoriya only discovered his quirk in the last year, it makes sense that Bakugou would think he could get away with it.

CockatooBuckaroo: Except your little listeners don’t allow Quirkist attitudes! That’s great!

Nedzu: Perhaps the hero classes would benefit from some classes on proper behavior towards quirkless and people with weaker Quirks?

DraculaWannabe: after the usj, before the sports festival, maybe?

DumbassErasure: fine by me.

No.1Dumbass: It’s great that you’re taking such a stance about Quirkless people! Maybe we could make it a bit more public, to try and influence the middle schools?

DumbassErasure: save your preaching for the students.

Chapter Text

"So, All Might, you're going to do a Battle Trial for your first combat training class?" Powerloader asked, uncharacteristically making conversation as they were doing some paperwork in the teachers lounge.

"Yes, that is the plan." All Might nodded, looking confident.

"Great, do you think I could send in class 1-H for their own projects?" The support class teacher placed a pile of complete work to the side.

"Class 1-H? They're the class that had an incident with Young Bakugou yesterday, aren't they?" All Might asked, hesitant. He figured the group of students that caused chaos on the first day would be bound to cause trouble.

"Yes, but they're also the class with two of the best inventors I've seen in my life, a costume designer that any Hero would want, and an analyst who could probably already rival most paid professionals, as well as a chemist that somehow managed to mimic a quirk from the other side of the planet for her entrance exam .” the teacher was waving his hand around by then. 

“Now consider how many students you have that have never had a professional analysis done for their quirk. How many of them could use a costume upgrade, or will rely on support items in the future? Or use quirks that are based on chemistry?" Powerloader added with enthusiasm.

"I…” pausing for a moment of resignation, the pro sighed “Yes, I see your point. Very well, you can send 1-H to meet me outside the main building so I can walk them to the training area." All Might agreed, and it almost felt like he was making a deal with the devil.

"Oh! One of my little listeners also wants to be a hero, mind letting him join in, too?" Present Mic asked and All Might nodded reluctantly.

"I suppose it would be unfair to include Midoriya and not your student. Send them all to meet me at the start of the seventh period."

Mic grinned while Powerloader nodded, the both of them leaving the number one hero alone after that, making him wonder if, perhaps, that was a bad idea.

Izuku was excited. His class was invited to study the first practical Heroics lesson of 1-A in real time! Not to mention, Shinsou and Endo both somehow weaseled their way in as well.

Shinsou just shrugged when he was asked how he got to come, while Endo answered that she was scoping possible partners for her own project.

In any case, it was a ride and a half, trying to restrain Kelly from literally shaking a girl with pink skin who's costume has gained the ire of Ayeka, said classmatewho was scribbling in his notebook, intense concentration evident in every line of his body.

Speaking of Ayeka, he had started pulling at his hair at the sight of several outfits, and Izuku was constantly on edge that Ayeka might make an offhanded comment once again, and gain the ire of Kacchan.

Mei was cackling as she was writing down in her notebook, occasionally lifting her eyes to look up at one student or another before going back in and scribbling something else in her unreadable handwriting.

Vella at least seemed to be on Izuku's side, helping him contain their incredibly inspired (or frustrated) classmates.

Then there was Endo, who was scrutinizing several students silently, testing them in her own mind, and Shinsou, who seemed mostly content to let the madness happen around him.

And, of course, 1-A themselves. An Ingenium copy seemed to be glaring at them through his helmet, a blonde was openly gossiping about them to a girl with purple hair and ear extensions, (probably related to her quirk), who was looking just as unimpressed with them as the boy with the bird head did.

No one from 1-A seemed to want to come near them before a brave brunette did, walking over to Izuku.

"Um, excuse me? I was told that there would be a costume designer here, and I was wondering if you could…" She prompted and Izuku blinked.

"Yeah, of course. The one you're looking for is Ayeka, the red head." He directed, and at the mention of his name, the designer curiously tilted his head.

"Right, thanks. Um, I was wondering if you could, somehow, make some adjustments to my costume at some point? I wanted it to be more loose, you know, like Thirteen's? But the Support company made it rather tight…"

Ayeka watched her through his orange goggles for a few seconds. "Do you suffer from nausea as a side effect from your quirk?"

"Yeah! How did you know?" She blinked, surprised.

"No choice is without a reason. The skin-tightness is probably meant to ease your nausea. Hmm…" And with that, Ayeka went straight back to his notebook, leaving the girl to blink, confused.

"I'm guessing that means he's going to work on a redesign, probably." Izuku attempted, and Ayeka nodded silently, without looking up, making him smile.

"Oh! Thanks…?" She prompted again.

"Midoriya Izuku. And you're welcome…?"

"Uraraka Ochako!" She grinned at him and he smiled back.

That seemed to at least put some students at ease. Izuku's attention, however, was taken by All Might, who began the lesson.

"So, Shinsou… What are you planning on doing here?" Endo stage-whispered from behind hand.

"Scoping out the competition, obviously." He whispered back, however quieter.

"And Midoriya? We all know he's not planning to make anyone else support weapons. At least, not with the time crunch he's already in." Endo pointed out.

"Studying movements and attack patterns to integrate and watch out for in my fights. Now quiet down, he can hear everything." Izuku hissed to the both of them.

"Right you are, Young Midoriya." All Might grinned at him. "Now, spectators, please do keep quiet unless you have something important to add."

The self proclaimed Chaos Crew nodded, everyone but Midoriya gulping at having been found out. Well, Ayeka was still scribbling away at a redesign, too busy to even care.

Meanwhile, Izuku was too busy staring down the literally growling Kacchan to be afraid of All Might.

And with that, the matches began, Izuku and Vella working together to make a coherent analysis at the end of each match, bringing pros and cons of each action, strategy and quirk in turn, shocking everyone around.

"You're pretty good at analysis, hero kid." Vella stated as a match was called.

"Hm. It's something I liked doing, to prepare myself better to become a hero." 

Vella nodded, eyes glued to the screens displaying the current match.

"You ever wonder if that's another manifestation of your quirk?” a few dark strands framing curious eyes. Match forgotten, he turned to his classmate with wide eyes “Your analysis mainly focused on weaknesses and openings. That could be classified as an advantage, and be weaponized." Vella pointed out and Izuku froze as his world view slowly shattered in front of him.

"Would manipulation also work in the same way? Technically, it's just using words and emotions as weapons." Shinsou joined in, hands in his pockets and eyebrow raised.

"And what about hand-to-hand combat? I mean, it's just using your body as a weapon. Can Zuzu also do that?" Kelly piped up from next to the greenette. When did she get there?

"He's just a Quirkless Deku who got lucky once and thinks it's a quirk. Don't encourage his delusions, he must have finally gone mad." Kacchan growled from where he stood, hunched over and livid.

"Oi, do you want to go another round, you bastard?" Mei turned to him with fury in her eyes. "Zuzu can beat you into the ground, I'll bet!"

"W-what?? Please don't volunteer me for these kinds of things!" Izuku jumped as Kacchan snarled, and hid behind All Might the second the teacher stepped in.

"Alright, you two, break it off. Young Bakugou, you've just finished your battle trial,-” More like finished brutalizing his opponents, if you asked Shinsou. “-there's no need to rush into another fight so soon." All Might chided, knowing that Powerloader was researching the middle school that had taught his student that this behavior was acceptable.

'Please hurry, Powerloader… I'm not sure I can handle your students as well as mine.'

Of course, it seems that Powerloader knew what he was talking about, as by the end of the lesson, each student had a few pages worth of analysis in both Midoriya and Vella’s notebooks, the two proudly proclaimed that they’ll have binders made for the next lesson, a new costume design that seemed to gain more favour, and several of Hatsume's notes on ‘babies’ that could be integrated into the outfit to aid their quirk.

The question that rang through All Might’s head was ' was it worth it? ' as he nursed a headache from the stress of keeping 1-A and 1-H from killing each other (at this point the other two were part of the class). The No.1 hero wished he could have a drink at the end of the school day, only to have those hopes dashed when Powerloader asked him to supervise the seven-person hellclass as Toshinori while they used the studio to start working on whatever inventions they’ve planned.

Well, most of them were. 

Midoriya was showing Chem a video on one of the tablets provided by the studio, trying to get her to make him… Elemental blasts? While on another tablet, he was trying to order the alloys he needed to make… An Eraserhead grade Capture Weapon?

Meanwhile, Ayeka was using a different tablet to start working on his design for Yaoyorozu’s outfit, while Vella was typing down and formatting the notes he and Midoriya had compiled throughout the lesson.

Hatsume was going nuts on a few metal pieces while Endo masterfully slid in a word or two every now and again to get her fired up again, and Shinsou alternated between watching those two, trying to understand what Midoriya and Chem were talking about and trying to make, and occasionally attempted to read over Vella’s shoulders.

Chapter Text

Hitoshi… Didn’t really have friends. At least, not since his quirk manifested.

He could only thank his lucky stars his quirk wasn’t too different from his parents. His mother’s quirk made people tell her exactly what they wanted, even if they themselves weren’t sure, and his father’s quirk let him know exactly what someone wanted without even having to talk to them.

They owned a bakery-cafe hybrid. A very successful one called Heart’s Desire. His mother usually worked with the waiters while his father made the drinks. Sometimes, they even had cat events, when kittens were found out in the streets, his parents rescued them and temporarily turned the Heart’s Desire cafe to a cat cafe.

Those were, of course, Hitoshi’s favorite times, because he got to brush and maintain the little felines. And cats are great. They were warm, often purring, and they never judged him for his quirk.

Hitoshi sometimes wondered if his quirk is the reason he was an only child. But at this point, he didn’t dwell on it.

Not anymore, that is.

Not since he met the curly, green haired sunshine and his group of feral bastards he seemed to attract like iron filings to a magnet.

Midoriya Izuku was… An interesting guy, honestly. Around the mysteries that seemed to only grow the more they spoke, there were The Questions.

There was the question of ‘What’. What was his deal? What are his motivations? What drove him to purposefully seek Hitoshi out? Because he did. Hitoshi had been close enough to Midoriya for the other boy to hear him, the other even made eye contact as he mentioned getting into the Heroics class.

There was the question of ‘Why’. Why did Midoriya go for support? Why try for the Sports Festival if you already gave up on Heroics at the start? Why test him? Why offer to train him?

Then there was ‘Who’. Who was Bakugou Katsuki to the greenette, to influence him so deeply with but a few words?  Who trained Midoriya? - Sure, he says he was trained by All Might, who did always act rather friendly towards the first year, but who else? And who the hell is Midoriya, even?

Growing up, Hitoshi was very fond of puzzles, and his father taught him that to build a puzzle, you had to start with the cornerstones.

Midoriya Izuku is someone who wants to be a hero.

Midoriya Izuku was thought to be quirkless up till last year.

Midoriya Izuku is someone who wants to help him.

Midoriya Izuku is someone who never had friends before.

All this was painting him was a picture of a lonely kid, desperate to find help and friendship anywhere he could. And maybe that, in and of itself, was a cornerstone?

Hitoshi made a face at that. He found it slightly childish to be reduced to using puzzle solving techniques to understand a yearmate, but really, if Hitoshi was correct, then Midoriya was, like most people, far more complicated than a simple, one dimensioned puzzle.

The cornerstones he could collect and match would have to suffice as a basis for understanding the enigma that was Midoriya. At least, until he could understand Midoriya better. Gain something of a better understanding of Midoiyra’s past?

But, of course, the cornerstone that got the most of his attention was the third one. Midoriya Izuku is someone who wants to help Hitoshi .

With that in mind, Hitoshi resolved to walk up to Midoriya during the first period they had together tomorrow and ask him for help with training, then his mother called him down to help with something.

The cafe was always darkened, mostly to let people relax and forget about the outside for a bit, and although there weren’t any cats today, that didn’t mean Hitoshi wouldn’t help as he went to get the information he needed from his mom before he went for the table. Table eight, four diners, meaning four menus.

“Hello, welcome to Heart’s Desire Cafe I…” Hitoshi halted and blinked as he saw Midoriya looking equally as confused between the three older UA students.

"Did he break from looking at our Kouhai?" The blue haired girl asked.

"No, he's a yearmate of mine. Hello Shinsou." Midoriya smiled at him. It was warm, and big and…

"So bright…" The student closest to him, the boy with dark blue hair, murmured.

"Bright…" Hitoshi echoed. Midoriya's smile was bright. So bright it felt like the entire building was being lit up.

The two blue haired students turned to him, the bubbly girl seemed to be overjoyed.

"Hey, Tamaki! It's just like you and-" The dark haired student - Tamaki? - turned to level her with a Look, that seemed to stop her from continuing.

"Well! This is not awkward at all!" The Blonde grinned forcefully.

"Hey, Shinsou-kun." Izuku waved. "These are our senpais, Hado-senpai-" The girl grinned. "Amajiki-senpai-" 'Tamaki' nodded slightly, but didn't react otherwise. "And Togata-senpai."

"Ah. Well, welcome to Heart's Desire cafe." Hitoshi tried for nonchalant. "Here are your menus. If you need me, you can call me."

And with that, he left their table to contemplate the fact that Midoriya was apparently hanging around their upperclassmen.

...When will these strange revelations end?

Probably when Hitoshi manages to complete the Midoriya Izuku shaped puzzle.

"Ah, Toshi, I see you met Mirio." Fumiko, Hitoshi's mother, called from behind the counter.

"Mirio… Toogata?" Hitoshi asked.

"Yeah! He's one of the best UA Heroics students in recent years, from what I've heard. I figured it'd do you some good to chat with him!" Fumiko cheered as she passed Eiko an order written neatly on a note.

Eiko, Hitoshi's dad, happily went to work on the order.

"Well, I'm sure it would help, but he's currently with his friends, as well as one of my yearmates." Hitoshi shrugged, picking at a loose strand on his shirt.

"Oh? Someone you recognize already? Do they have a name?" Eiko asked from his workspace.

"His name is Midoriya Izuku, he's a support student who manifested his quirk rather recently, and he wants to be a hero. He's frustratingly mysterious."

“So, get to know him.” Fumiko suggested.

“Not what I meant when I said he’s mysterious. He’s not a stranger, well, not completely, considering his feral friend group somehow keeps pulling me into their shenaniganry, but it’s like he’s hiding something? Several somethings?” Hitoshi frowned.

“He’s a puzzle that I’m trying to solve without even knowing the edges from the middles.”

Fumiko snorted and Eiko blushed. “Toshi, you sound exactly like your father.”

“But Dad’s hopeless.” The man sighed, not even bothering to argue, adding another ingredient to a drink.

“Dad also puts a lot of your food on your plate, young man.” Fumiko shook her head with a chuckle.

Hitoshi found his escape from the conversation in the form of running to get Midoriya’s order.

...Hado, Toogata, Amajiki and Midoriya’s orders.

...Maybe he was like dad? No. No he was not. Just because he was gay and Izuku was cute, nice, helpful and appreciated Hitoshi’s quirk did not mean Hitoshi was going to be a disaster. No, Hitoshi was a perfectly functional hero-to-be, who can handle a simple conversation with the guy he’s going to train with. The fact that said guy was cute didn't hurt anyone.

“Um, Shinsou, are you okay?” Midoriya asked, hesitant as Hitoshi stared at the table.

“I’m ga-okay. I’m okay. Sorry, didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. What did you say you guys wanted?” Hitoshi just barely saved it, but Hado’s blue eyes narrowed at him and a dangerous grin appeared on her face. She didn’t buy it. Not in the slightest.

“Another falls…” Amajiki murmured as he held a menu in front of his face. Togata tilted his head and smiled at his shy companion.

“Something the matter, Tamaki?”

“ Too bright… ”

No. Hitoshi was going to take their orders and be a functional human, who might get less than four hours of sleep at a time, but was still going to be a hero.

Chapter Text

[Loud, Blonde and Amazing: Young Midoriya, I've seen that you and Young Bakugou don't seem to get along. Would you happen to know why the rest of your class doesn't get along with him, either?

Young Midoriya!!: Kacchan called me deku in front of my friends during lunch and they kinda took offense to that. ]

No.1Dumbass: This is what I've gathered from Young Midoriya.

Toolbox: Good for them.

CockatooBuckaroo: Good for them!

DumbassErasure: don't encourage violence among the students

Nightnight: Shouta, if you don't reign your student in, their students will do it for you.

DumbassErasure: i know. the problem is that I'm working on it and antagonizing bakugou won't lead anywhere.

Toolbox: Shouta, your students spent most of their first heroics lesson glaring at mine. The antagonizing isn't one sided at all.

DumbassErasure: i'll handle my class if you handle yours.

Maijama sighs as he turns his phone screen-side down. Usually, he didn't interact with the other teachers at all. All of the teachers of UA were stubborn, independent people, but Aizawa Shouta was probably one of the worst. Ironically, All Might seemed to be the one closest to his students, and the one most willing to vouch for them.

The Excavation hero frowned. Independent teachers teach hero-hopefuls to be independent heroes. Independent heroes often made it to the top ten, but at what cost? Just looking at how young the top ten were, at All Might, the hero who held the number one spot and survived the longest. Barely alive, missing a lung along with the majority of his stomach.

"What a damn mess…" He sighed. If Aizawa had seen Midoriya's records, he likely decided that it was him provoking Bakugou, despite the blonde's explosive temperament. But Majima was sure that Bakugou was going to learn about how to handle Support students soon.

Support students were a tight knit group. Even as first years, gossip spread through the classes like a wildfire in a dry summer, and the encounter between one support class was going to gain traction way faster than anyone would be comfortable with.

Endo and Shinsou also offered more reason for the rest of the classes to hate the Heroics class. Business classes would hear from Endo how 1-A treated them, and Shinsou, despite how much of a loner that he was, would definitely not be spared the Heroics glare, which will further unify the General Education classes.

All in all, every year where any Heroics student didn't get along with a Support, Management or Business student, they’d see this happen again.

The Heroics department was heavily competitive, so their students tended to stick together less. However, the rest of the departments were always quick to unite in comparison due to being compared to the Heroics class so much.

All it took was a single student to show the other departments that they thought they were hot shit, and there would be a lot of tension that year, from the initial incident up until the very last day of school.

There had never been a Hero student who antagonized all of the other departments in a single week before. It didn’t help that 1-A seemed to think that he needed their support.

1-A will soon be isolated by the rest of the courses. Hopefully they'll have 1-B around, because otherwise, it'll feel far too 'Them against the world’ for comfort.

It's in Math class, one of the only general classes Izuku actually takes, that a balled up piece of paper hits the side of his head.

' Honestly Kacchan, that's so childi-Wait. ' Izuku blinks, surprised, before turning to see the ball of paper on the floor.

He lifts it up, but decides not to look until after class as he listens to Ectoplasm explain something. That plan is foiled when another ball of paper hits his head.

Vella, as the only other student from 1-H who has to take math, turns to him with a baffled look as he gestured to the ball of paper. Izuku very expressively shrugged, to which Vella responded with a jerky gesture towards the papers.

Izuku gave him a Look that read ‘Don’t encourage me to do dumb things!’

And Vella sent him back a Look that read ‘Just open the stupid things so we can study!’

And Izuku responded with a look that said ‘I’m not missing out on the lesson just because some jackass was bored’, but was cut off by another paper ball hitting his head. This time it hit his nose.

The dark haired student sighed and opened the most recent paper projectile.

Giving his classmate a flat look, Vella held the paper up for Midoriya to read:
‘Midoriya I swear to god if you don’t open the messages!’

Izuku rolled his eyes and opened the two others.

‘Can you train me for the sports festival?’

‘Midoriya, please open the message.’

All three were signed ‘Shinsou’. Izuku turned to the responsible classmate and gave him the driest look imaginable, but rolled his eyes and nodded.

First thing first, beat some patience into that brainwasher.

Izuku chose P.E as the opportune time to start Shinsou up. It helped that the teacher was Kacchan’s homeroom teacher, aka the teacher that hated them both, so he mostly just let them do whatever after a quick raised eyebrow.

Shinsou himself was in a sorry state. He had none of the flexibility he should have to make up for the complete lack of muscle, and his ‘fighting style’ was… Well. Nothing, really. He was lucky if he had the reflexes to duck or swat away an incoming hit.

“Are you two trying to cause trouble?” The teacher, Aizawa, asked. Izuku narrowed his eyes and turned to him.

“No. We’re training to transfer to the Hero course in the Sports Festival.” Izuku answered, challenging.

“Your records claim you ‘were’ quirkless up until the last year of middle school. If you’re faking a Quirk and think that’s enough to get into the Hero Course, I have to say you’re mistaken.” Aizawa drowled.

Though the green haired boy was fast and flexible, he didn’t seem all that much when fighting, and from what Bakugou told him, the boy didn’t train at all and expected the world to hand him everything. A student like that could never be a hero.

“Pretty low blow there, Sensei. Telling a student to give up. You’re far from the first, but trust me, you will be the last.” Midoriya told him. His voice was sharp, eyes narrowed, the green cold and calculating.

Aizawa grunted and walked away. If the quirkless boy wanted to try, so be it. If he’d actually succeed in the Festival… Well. That was a whole other story.

In reality, things weren’t as safe as he’d assume. Without a quirk to help him, the boy would be dead within a week.

...However . Aizawa might be curious how a quirkless hero would fare. -Even knowing how Shirakumo died despite Cloud being such a versatile quirk? This kid was signing his death certificate-. He could only hope the Sports Festival tore that childish hope from him.

If not, he should know that Aizawa wasn’t planning on going easy on him just because he’s quirkless.

“Right, now that that incredibly degrading interaction is over with, show me your form when you go in for a punch.” He heard from behind him.

This was the child that gained Bakugou’s ire. He should have expected him to have no fear. And if Aizawa spent the rest of the class seeing Midoriya run Shinsou through basic forms and different warmups and stretches, well. He really couldn’t be blamed for scoping out possible students.

Midoriya listed his quirk as ‘Mastery’, detailing that it let him know exactly how to use any weapon he touches. An extremely vague definition, but if it truly did exist and wasn’t a faked quirk, it had the potential to be incredible for hero work as an attack-oriented Hero.

Highnoon: @ Toolbox and @ CockatooBuckaroo i’m stealing your weapon child.

CockatooBuckarooo: Okay!

Toolbox: No, stop, he has too many chaotic influences in his life.

If that conversation that Aizawa read while waiting for his class to pick a class president intrigued him, well. No one needed to know that.

Chapter Text

The day before, there had been a break in that Endo claimed was the media with no small amount of disdain, clearly displeased with their lack of etiquette. She claimed, “Any business that doesn’t respect itself enough to follow the rules of an establishment it’s interested in is only doing it’s field a disservice, which is why one has to be selective with the hero they work with.”

Apparently, that translated to giving Mei public speaking lessons so she doesn’t miss her chance in the sports festival. Izuku thought it was nice of her. But maybe a bit enabling. Either way, his classmates weren’t affected beyond Midnight stopping her lesson to go try calm the storming hero students, which gained apathetic sighs from all of 1-H who were forced into the class. Shinsou, meanwhile, simply dropped his head on his desk to take a nap.

It was late in the afternoon at the start of the second week of studying in UA. It was as calm a Studio Development period as it could ever be. Kelly had figured out how to make actual Dust after binging RWBY (the barely there rings under eyes proof of that), and was currently well on her way to creating something that could mimic the way the Life and Death weapons were attracted to one another, thus giving him another way to maneuver around.

Izuku was happily working away on his first weapon project while Kelly made her Dust, which was assuredly NOT cleared to be made into clothes or be injected into the body, but definitely cleared for being made into ammo and a power source.

Mei was working on some shoes that had Ayeka pulling on his red locks on multiple occurrences. Vella had been working on some analysis for the 1-B students, as well as self-teaching himself some hacking and analysing some Underground Hero’s quirks and their practical application.

Powerloader was watching over his students -Over Mei, really, she was the only one of them likely to start trouble- When his phone dinged and he turned to look at it.

"All of you guys stay here. If someone comes to attack you, you're cleared to use your quirks for the purpose of self-defence  or for the others around you." Powerloader stated before running off, leaving the entirety of 1-H to stare after him.

Shinsou stepped in after Powerloader left, apparently just returning from his Midoriya-adminissioned workout as he looked behind him. "So, what's that about?"

It was, of course, at that exact moment that Endo ran down the hall to their class. "Did you guys hear? Kayama-sensei just ran out, saying that U.A was attacked, and we’re cleared to protect ourselves if anyone comes and attacks us!” Everyone stopped what they were doing to consider that.

“Well we have now.” Kelly informed cheerfully. “We’ll just give Zuzu here a wrench and let him go to town if worst comes to worst.”

“Ah, no combat quirks around here, either?” Endo nodded, sitting down on Ayeka’s table, where he (presumably) rolled his eyes with the motion his mask did.

“Well, I mean, I don’t know about anyone else’s, but my quirk is just a minor telekenisis.” Kelly demonstrated by grabbing a wrench from Mei’s workbench and moving it next to Midoriya. “Nothing above 20 kilograms.”

“Zoom. Lets me see anything up to 5 kilometers away as easily as if it were right in front of me.” Mei answered. “Chemi, check my notes for a sec, I think I figured out how to make your pieces migrate closer.”

“Reanimation, but you already knew that.” Vella answered, undisturbed as he jotted something down.

“You know my quirk already.” Shinsou shrugged.

“Sensory deprivation.” Ayema grumbled, having given up on pushing Endo away.

Izuku startled as Endo stared at him from her place around his short classmates shoulders. “D-did we forget to tell you? My quirk is Mastery, it lets me know how to use any and all weapons like second nature.” 

Endo whistled. “That’s a hell of a quirk, Hero.”

“Thanks, I just got it.” Izuku murmured, clearly done paying attention, making Kelly and Shinsou both cackle.

“Anyway, since apparently I lost his interest, anything new happening here?” Endo sighed.

The conversation continued on, with either Vella, Shinsou or Kelly contributing to it, chatting with Endo was nice background noise, but Izuku was craving some music, which he quickly put on with his big old noise cancellations headphones and got lost in the world of his music.

“Raise hell! Baby drop them bones!

Raise hell! Baby sell that soul!

Raise hell! Baby fare thee well!

Somebody gotta, gotta raise a little hell!”

When a hand was waved in front of his face, which made him look up to see Shinsou’s lilac eyes as he moved the ear of his headphone away. “Midoriya, what the hell are you listening to? You’re lip syncing.”

Izuku looked at him, decided Eh, why not? And started singing.

“Young blood, stand and deliver!

No need for a queen affair,

Young blood, gotta pull the trigger,

When the whole world running scared,

Raise hell!”

Singing in a much softer voice than usual, Izuku looked to see his friend’s surprised looks.

“Send me a link.” Vella called from his station, not looking up.

“With that singing voice, maybe you have a side of your quirk dedicated to singing. Like, using songs to change minds and stuff?” Endo asked.

Izuku shrugged and returned his headphones to their previous location.

He didn’t exactly notice Hitoshi staring at him, wondering what it’ll feel like to be danced around and serenaded by Midoriya. Which prompted him to shake his head and blush at the thought.

Kelly and Endo were both looking at him with twin mischievous expressions when he refocused on the conversation.

“Oh, Kelly? Is it just me, or do you also see the budding flowers of romance?” Endo singsonged.

“Shut. Up.” Shinsou hissed, tensing up.

“Well, Zuzu does have a certain charm about him. A mix of cute and could probably fold you in half without breaking a sweat.” Kelly nodded. “Not exactly my type, but I can see-”

“Shut. Up!” Shinsou repeated with a flushed face as Ayeka started chuckling quietly.

“I’m pretty sure he can’t hear the conversation.” Vella mentioned.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t, though.” Mei mentioned. “Hero kid does have some mystery appeal to him, I guess. Oh, Chemi, how’d the newest adjustment help?”

“We’re closer, but not quite there yet.” Kelly smiled. “You know, Shinsou… We could probably help-”

“ No. Nobody’s helping, because this is just a stupid crush that won’t outlast the week.” Shinsou grumbled.

Neither Kelly nor Endo looked convinced, then Endo seemed to have a bright idea of announcing, while pulling away Izuku’s headphones. “Hey guys, let’s play Truth or Dare!”

“ -’ll learn my lessons from my scars and mistakes

I'll make my own future, I won't leave it to fate

My name is thunder, and lightning

My name is something very frighteni-”

Izuku cut off the song after some fumbling.

“Um, I don’t know if I remember how to play.” Izuku pointed out with an awkward smile.

“Oh, it’s easy, we just pick whoever goes first, they pick whoever they want, they can choose either truth or dare, if they pick either and regret it, they can back to the other option, but they have to do one of them.” Kelly explained and Shinsou narrowed his eyes at her.

Before they could start, however, Powerloader came back.

“...I’m not even going to ask what you two are doing here," he gestured pointedly at the two non-support students," but school is dismissed for the day, we’ll meet tomorrow like usual, but there was an attack on USJ, so we need to comb through the school and find out why we didn’t know about it earlier. I’ll notify your teachers that I’ve dismissed you two.”

There was some grumpy protests, but the support students quickly dispersed, leaving Endo with Shinsou walking to the bus.

“So… Midoriya?”

“Shut up, Endo.”

“Not judging. He’s cute.”

“It’ll pass.”

“He sings well.”

“God, don’t remind me.” The purple haired boy smothered his face with his hands. 

She broke into cackles as Shinsou sped up his pace to reach his bus.

“See you tomorrow, lover boy!” The girl waved a goodbye as her friend dashed ahead, a large and genuine grin on her face at his red ears.

Chapter Text

A student died. That was the thought that rang through Izuku’s mind like a bullet, ricocheting, breaking off into little pieces that kept coming back between every thought.

While he was working on his Sports Festival gear, 1-A was fighting for their life. And there was a casualty. Someone failed. A child his age died.

The attack was meant to be against All Might, and from what Sir and Mirio mentioned, it worked. All Might’s status as the Symbol of Peace wavered, UA’s status as an infallible fortress wavered along with it.

All Might’s confidence shook. Izuku couldn’t stand the thought. And then he was alerted to the happenings by Endo frantically complaining about the whole situation and he saw Shinsou leading the charge complaining about 1-A taking all the spotlight, to their face, claiming the empty seat of a dead student was theirs for the taking.

“What. The hell. Is wrong with you?” Izuku hissed as he broke through the human barricade. “Do you guys think they asked to be attacked by villains? To be hurt? Someone died!”

He was shaking, from anger or from disgust he wasn't sure, but his hands trembled at his sides, “There is a whole person less, not because they were pulled out, not because they decided that the hero life isn’t for them, but because they were killed! They’ll never grow up, become something, and you think that it’s okay to take advantage of that fact?!”

“If they’re going to be heroes, they’re going to have to deal with-” A business student started.

“Shut. Up.” Izuku hissed. Fists clenched. “They fought for their lives, they don’t need this right now. You-” He turned to the two 1-B students. “Don’t let your inferiority complex take over your senses. If you got to the hero course, you are on the same level. Gain that attention that you want further in your career, it’s the first week, don’t rush into fights for glory when you’re not trained for it, you zygotes!”

“And you-” Izuku turned to Shinsou with the strongest glare he had, however he was cut off from his next rant.

“A-ah… Young Midoriya?” All Might asked from where he stood, almost shivering. “W-where did you learn that…?”

“Sir took me to meet Gran. He’s great.” Izuku grinned and All Might paled significantly.

“R-right. Great….”

The majority of the crowd had left, running with their tails between their legs after the talking to, which was when Kacchan spoke.

“We don’t need some shitty, Quirkless Deku defending us!”

“Hey, didn’t you just see? Even All Might is intimidated by this so-called ‘quirkless deku’, so unless you want to discover why, I’m going to suggest you shut up.” Shinsou growled at him.

‘Didn’t he just get told off, too?’ He could hear from the 1-B student.

“Well yes, but I have friend-privilag-” Shinsou’s response was cut short by a rather sharp look from Izuku.

“Don’t worry, you won’t have to worry about me defending you for long, Kacchan.” Izuku assured, he then grabbed Shinsou so he could scold his friend in peace.

“So, painting a big red target on your back. Any particular reason for that bout of stupidity, or was it just to rub their faces in the dirt when they were already knocked down?” Izuku asked in a biting, tone, his emerald glare as frosty as his voice.

“...Irrationality?” Shinsou tried. He did not like Izuku being angry at him.

Izuku gave him yet another Look, shook his head with a sigh, and began making his way towards the Support Studio.

“W-wait, Midoriya!” Shinsou ran after him, trying to catch up to his cru-friend. His friend .

Neither were aware of a different green haired student watching them.

“Excuse me, ribbit.” Sachie looked up from her meal to see a Heroics student. Class 1-A. Mutation quirk. “You’re connected to class 1-H, right?”

She lowered her chopsticks and lifted her head, giving the other girl her full attention. “I am. Any particular reason why you’re asking?”

The Hero hopeful nodded. “My name is Asui Tsuyu. I was… I was right there when…”

Sachie tensed up, realizing. “You don’t need to say it out loud.”

“Right.” The frog girl bit her lip and breathed in deeply. “The green haired boy, Deku. He’s from 1-H, right?”

“His name is Midoriya Izuku, but yes. Why?”

“I want to thank him, ribbit.”

Sachie blinked owlishly, trying to piece this together. “You… Want to thank… The boy you just called useless?”

“I didn’t know a different name for him, he never introduced himself, but he defended us, ribbit. I want to thank him for that.” Asui stated.

Sachie blinked, even more slowly than before. “...Right. Meet me after the General Education studies are over for you, right outside the cafeteria, and I’ll take you to him.”

Asui nodded, then went back to her own lunch spot.

“Strange girl.” Sachie commented.

[Chatroom: Midoriya’s Spies

Business Spy: Just got approached by a hero student. She said she wants to thank Mido.

Brainwasher Spy: Did she seem genuine?

Business Spy: Hard to say. She was extremely hard to read.

Necromancer Spy: okay, what did you tell her?

Business Spy: Told her to meet me outside the cafeteria at the end of gen-ed day. Formally requesting backup if I’m about to get beat up by a Hero kid.

Brainwasher Spy: Consider it done.

Chemist Spy: don't you have pe at that time?

Brainwasher Spy: Ah, shit.

Designer Spy: i'll go.

Business Spy: Thanks Ayeka! ]

God, Sachie loved the Support Class. They're her chaotic crazies.

She could definitely see a benefit to partnering up with Hatsume for her grand plans of opening a support company. Midoriya and Shinsou, she assumes, will want to go Underground, so as much as she'd love to partner with one of them, it seems Hatsume is currently her best bet.

Especially if she could get Kelly in on it, too.

Yes, Kelly, Sachie and Mei. They could definitely do it.

Class C and H didn't seem to stare as much as class A did, but then again, they didn't see why Shouta is so bandaged up.

Well it was a normal physical education class, with Midoriya and Shinsou training quietly in the corner when Endo came in with Asui, and Shouta barely resisted raising an eyebrow, both because it hurt and because she wouldn't see it.

"Aizawa-sensei, may I go talk to Midoriya-san for a bit, ribbit?" She asks.

"About?"

"Earlier today, a lot of students were crowding outside the classroom. They were saying some really awful things, and Midoriya told them off. I wanted to thank him, ribbit."

Asui wasn't the type to cause trouble. She was an excellent student with a good head on her shoulders.

Aizawa sighed. "Fine. You can speak with him." While Aizawa mulls over the fact that Midoriya apparently defended his class.

Asui thanked him and made her way over to Midoriya.

"Hero student, on your six." She heard from the purple one who was probably one of the rudest.

"If they're here to tell you off, I'm not helping you." Midoriya hissed back at his friend.

"And if they're here to kick my ass?"

"Depending on their reasons, I’ll either  join them or help you." The green haired boy turned to her.

"Can we help you?" He asked.

Tsuyu shook her head. "My name is Asui Tsuyu. I wanted to thank you for what you said earlier, ribbit."

"Oh!" Midoriya blinked, startled. "Well, there's really no reason to thank me, I was jus-"

"I was there when he died." Tsuyu croaked, and Midoriya stopped. "I think what you said really drove it home for a lot of people. It helps, a lot. I know Bakugou wasn't nice to you earlier-"

Tsuyu tried to ignore the purple haired boy's snort of 'try ever'. Tried.

"-But I wanted to thank you and assure you that not all of us are as against you as he is, ribbit."

"Oh, well, thank you for the assurance, and you're welcome for, well." Izuku scratched the back of his neck and Tsuyu nodded.

"Are you going to try to transfer?" She asked.

"That was the plan." Izuku nodded.

"Ah. I see. Well, good luck. I can't wait to see what you can do, ribbit." And with that, Tsuyu walked away.

"What just happened?" Izuku asked Shinsou.

"She thanked you, then left. By your standards, that's friendship." Shinsou snorted.

"...Okay. let's get back to training. I still have to finish off my weapons later." Izuku turned to his partner with raised hands.

"Right."

Chapter Text

The week leading up to the Sports Festival passed in what felt like minutes as Izuku carefully diverged his time between working on his projects and training with Shinsou. Izuku had his inventory of weapons at the ready, a replica of Ember Celica, a copy of a Capture Weapon. Which he tried to teach Shinsou to use. However, that ended off with Shinsou somehow taping them both together with the capture tape.

(“Shinsou, seriously, just calm down for a second.” Izuku tried, hand moving towards where the most fabric was gathered, the back of Shinsou’s neck.

Hitoshi tried his very best to stay calm, despite the fact that he was bound up, on his back, with his crush between his legs and ghosting fingers along the back of his neck, every touch feeling like a bout of electricity.

“See, it’s easy if you-” “It’s easy if you have a quirk that does the learning for you.” Shinsou snarked. It wasn’t that Midoriya didn’t teach well, he very much did, showing each and every motion slowly, carefully, teaching him where to grab and when to pull, but he was getting frustrated that he couldn’t nail it down and that his crush was so stupidly close to him.

“You guys are too hard on yourselves.” Yamada-sensei had said, shaking his head with an exasperated grin. “It took eraserhead three years to learn how to use his Capture Weapon like he does, and you’re already doing far better than he did at the start of the second year.”

It was a small mercy for Hitoshi, who had accepted that only to squeak when Midoriya straight up straddled him to unhook the scarf-like tool.

'T-T-TOO CLOSE!' The very second they were freed, Hitoshi had thrown Midoriya off of him and ran home to scream in his pillow.)

Back to his equipment, he had his very own design, two beautifully made, strong, silver colored throwing axes that, if partnered with Kelly's Powdered Elements would be extremely volatile.

(She was working with Endo to patent that. They agreed he'd have a pretty much unlimited supply, since it was shockingly cheap to make, only needing a while of concentration and Kelly's guiding hands.

She was also working on a duplicator. That was nice of her, if Izuku did say so himself.)

Anyway, back to his throwing axes, they had a small canister full of black… something, a lovechild of Kelly and Mei that would make the pair attract to one another the second Izuku put a finger on the canister, with a whole extra slot for putting in Powdered Elements if he needed a frosty, hot, or even electric explosion.

He was still unsure what to call them. But he did love his Ember Celica replica.

Unlike the show version, this design was less bulky, thin and slick, it didn't serve the purpose of protecting him as much. Without the extra ammo casings, it would simply be an ineffective gauntlet, mixed with his highly temperature resident black gloves that lacked the pointer and thumb finger.

The extra ammo cases each held 30 bullets and could be equipped on the back, along his arm for a shotgun shot with each punch, or on his knuckles for a pair of extra effective knuckle-dusters with an added rocket on the back to triple the pain with an extra punch.

He didn't think Ember Celica fit it's name anymore. He didn't know what did, quite yet.

It felt pretty symbolic. He didn't know what to call his gear, they had been so heavily influenced by a show, and yet, so very him. With the capability to do as he needed them, they were far more flexible than just weapons.

He was like his gear. Nameless, still, but with a clear purpose. Not just to hurt, to stun, to move, to fly, to protect… it was a statement. I'm not going away, I'm here to stay. I'm not going to fade into the background and be just an attacker.

He'd had lessons with Snipe, where all he did was test them out, which was always fun, because Snipe seemed almost, if not just as lost as All Might was when Izuku went into an analyzing spiral  and started coming up with more and more ideas.

Besides all that, he made a specific set of gear, footwraps, to be precise, that would store up kinetic energy to be let loose when he needs it. In the one on one battles.

Izuku listened in for when Yamada-sensei would call them out, he was currently talking about the student that had been killed, Mineta Minoru, and some of the different measures UA is taking to prevent and prepare for such events in the future. Some. They still needed their secrets.

Meanwhile, Izuku triple checked all of his equipment for the fifth time that morning. It wasn’t just him, Shinsou and any other students from another department who hoped to transfer  needed to make the most of this. They needed to make an impression.

Vella and Ayeka were both mostly hoping to finish this in the first round, since it had nothing to do with either analysis or design. Kelly and Mei, however, were also checking up their equipment for the umpteenth time.

Everyone was stressed, and maybe it was that stress that got Vella talking.

“Hey. Remember when Kelly wanted to do dirty things to Bakugou?”

“I did not! I just wanted an easy source of nitroglycerin!” Kelly objected.

“I ship it.” Ayeka said as drily and as sarcastically as possible, the redhead had barely anything with him, so he was just sitting on the table watching Midoriya check over everything.

“Ship name: Kamikaze.” Izuku joined in, grinning as he checked the canisters on his gauntlets.

“With the number of times Chemi nearly blew herself up with her Powdered Elements? Makes sense.” Mei laughed.

“You guys are the literal worst!” Kelly’s words and tone were betrayed by the grin on her face  as she said it, but that quickly changed when she knocked over a small, glass vial. “Run!”

Jumping into action, all of 1-H dashed forwards as a sea of purple and pink balls took over the corridor, screaming at the top of their lungs.

It was a good thing they decided to do the introductions by departments this year, Hizashi thought, as he saw 1-H run into the field last, as planned, except they were chased by… Something.

“...And Support Class 1-H!” He grinned as the shock died down.

“Holy-!” Called Mei. “Chemi, What did you do ?”

“It was supposed to immobilize anything it touched… And destroy electronics.” Kelly panted from where she stood, catching her breath.

“My equipment!” “My babies!” 

Izuku and Mei both began frantically checking their equipment over, giving twin sighs of relief when nothing seemed out of place.

“Typical, Deku’s group tries to show everyone else just how fucked up they are. Makes sense, since they’re friends with that quirkless failure!” Kacchan sneered.

“What the fuck did you just say about Midoriya? Step the fuck up Bomb Bitch!” Kelly yelled at him, the last part coming out in English.

In a desperate bid to stop the fight he was sure was going to ensue, Izuku called: “LOOK, IT’S KAMIKAZE, THEY’RE INTERACTING!”

Shinsou, ever-chaotic, called out from his position among the other students, in the driest tone he could possibly muster. “OTP!”

Izuku could just barely make out Endo’s rolling laughter with all of Bakugou’s yelling. Kelly herself went along with it. “NOTP! THE REAL OTP IS MIND OVER MATTER!”

Izuku tilted his head at that, not even seeing Shinsou, in the crowd, blush a deep red from the tips of his ears to his cheeks.

The sound of a whip flying through the air caught all of their attention, and Izuku snapped to attention, feeling leagues better than before. Turns out all you need to turn a terrifying day into a pretty good one, is your friends being chaotic.

Then Kacchan had to go give a speech.

“Didn’t he only place first in the heroics exam?” Endo lit the match.

Izuku blinked in confusion as the entire stadium erupted into noise.

“SHUT UP, SHITTY EXTRA!” Kacchan yelled from the stage.

“I VOW TO BE NUMBER ONE HERE! YOU’RE ALL NOTHING BUT STEPPING STONES FOR ME, AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT! ESPECIALLY YOU, SHITTY DEKU!”

Shouta sighed. Singling out another student wasn't the way to make friends or amend the sorry state of the year’s dynamic.

“Literally everyone told you it wasn’t Midoriya starting those fights.” Hizashi pointed out.

“He was provoked.” Shouta gritted his teeth. What was with his coworkers and antagonizing his students, specifically Bakugou, this year?

“He’s provoked by a falling leaf, Shouta.” Hizashi argued as Nemuri explained the rules of the preliminaries.

“Just. stop.”

Hizashi lifted his arms in surrender, knowing full well he wasn’t going to stop. He and Shouta usually worked very well together, so when Shouta deliberately singled out his sort-of-student, it caused some very noticeable tension.

Hizashi was not going to let Shouta discriminate against Midoriya. Not after seeing how hard Midoriya worked for this. He already knew Shinsou was safe.

“Good luck, little listeners.” He whispered before turning on the microphones to start both his and Shouta’s commentary.

This was about to get interesting.

Chapter Text

Everything went to hell the moment the race started.

Some stuck-up bastard just froze the entire track, which Izuku did NOT appreciate, thank you very much, and then half of Kacchan’s class just went with it anyway. Marking all of them as threats.

Shinsou clearly didn't care as he passed by Izuku being carried by a group of brainwashed students, raising an eyebrow at him.

“ Here come the obstacles, and so suddenly! ” Yamada began explaining as the IcyStuckUp ran forward. “ From the very outset! The first barrier will be a robo inferno! ”

Izuku perked up, a plan in mind. ‘Just gotta make an opening!’ He sent a tendril of fabric towards the IcyStuckUp, grabbing him by the leg and tugging him towards the hordes. Not even bothering to watch the hero student eat the dirt, Izuku threw an axe towards the robot, catching it by the head.

A quick touch to the canister later, and Midoriya was off in the air.

“ And from the start, we see a literal raising star in 1-H’s Midoriya who is using his support items to get past everyone else! ” Yamada called.

Hitoshi looked up just in time to see Midoriya soar, each movement he made in the air clear and precise. Intentional. “God he’s hot…” He murmured.

“Come on!” He heard Mei shout to her classmates as she ran after Midoriya, grinning. “I’m not letting him steal my sponsors!” the others followed in hot pursuit, chuckling at her enthusiasm.

“ But it seems class 1-A’s Todoroki has left his mark on the robots! Because it is going down, listeners! ” Izuku frowned, but didn’t panic, grabbing onto the axe embedded in the robot and throwing it at another, letting himself fall through the air freely until the axe embedded itself again and Izuku was off, once more, thanking the powers that were held in those canisters.

" Midoriya has left the rest of his year well behind him! HOWEVER, four students are catching up! Tokoyami Fumikage, Sero Hanta, Todoroki Shouto and Bakugou Katsuki! All hailing from Class 1-A! ”

Well, if that didn’t clue him in, Bakugou’s terrifying yell of “ DEKU! ” would have surely done it.

Then there was canon fire, and Izuku had to divert most of his attention on the road ahead, instead of the angry blonde behind him, who’s voice and footsteps faded away to the sound of the hundred of students trying to catch up with Izuku.

“ Well then, missy, if the first barrier was such a cinch, whaddya think of the second?! You fall and you’re out! If you don’t like the idea, maybe you can crawl! It’s the FAAAALL! ” Yamada called.

Izuku watched as Mei surged forwards, Kelly being held bridal-style in her arms and Endo striking a pose from her place, piggyback riding (or clinging, he couldn't tell) on Mei’s back. He reacted as calmly as he could, by throwing the axes and lunging forwards, even as he was passed by the IceyStuckU-...Todoroki. And Bakugou. He won’t lose. Not without a damn fight!

Axe throw by axe throw, Izuku passed the fall with little difficulty, flying through the air with as much freedom as he’d ever felt, a bubbling laugh building in his chest.

“ And now we’ve come to the hidden final barrier! Its true form is none other than a Minefield! ”

“...Yamada-sensei you’re the best!” Izuku called, grinning widely at the boost he was sure his kinetic gatherers were going to get. A small bump of dirt betrayed the position of a mine as Todoroki and Bakugou ran forwards and Izuku did his best to stomp on the mine as hard as possible.

“A mine is a trap! Which counts as a weapon!” He called, maniac grin fully in place as he launched himself through the air and straight over to the second mine he’d activate, this time, he stomped down with the other foot.

“ ...What. ” Aizawa questioned for the first time.

“ Midoriya’s quirk lets him wield any weapon he gets his hands (or feet) on like second nature! And as he said, a mine constitutes as a weapon! ” Hizashi’s grin was big and proud.

Izuku gleefully used the Capture Weapon to grab onto the fence, and launch himself off it with clear, precise movements, squarely ahead of the two heroics department leads.

“And with that magnificent use of your capture weapon, Midoriya makes it to first place! Overtaking both of the Heroic’s Department’s best and brightest! And following this dramatic turn of events, the students are passing the finish line one by one! We’ll compile the results later, and for now, enjoy your breather!”

“Who taught him that?” Shouta asked as soon as Hizashi turned off the microphones. “To use a capture weapon…”

“Again, it’s his quirk. He discovered it just last year, and he’s pretty determined to get into Heroics.” Hizashi grinned. “Better watch out, Shouta… Hurricane Midoriya might just be heading towards your location!”

“Hm.” Shouta didn’t keep the conversation going, mind rushing. There were countless easier quirks to fake. Countless quirks that Shouta couldn’t prove were real or not, but this? Mastery? It couldn’t be faked. Not at the level where the boy was so proficient at using his Capture Weapon that Shouta was almost uncomfortable mentioning it, because he was more proficient than him.

Izuku watched, terrified as he waited to see any familiar face at all pass the gates. Asui was the first he saw and they acknowledged each other with a nod.

Then came Shinsou, looking like he barely moved an inch by himself from the starting line. Izuku lunged at him with a hug, the aftershocks of adrenaline getting to him after the race, plus hiding from Bakugou made him want to hide away, and what place was safer than the embrace of a friend?

“Shinsou!” As far as Hitoshi was concerned, the only thing that existed in the moment was Midoriya clinging on to him like a koala, trying to hide his face in Hitoshi’s neck.

“M-Midoriya? Are you okay?” He asked, awkwardly patting the other boy, not exactly sure what to do.

“I don’t know! I want you to pass!” Izuku babbled as he tried to dry his tears. Shinsou blushed slightly.

“W-what’s with that look? I passed a lot of the hero kids!” Hitoshi wasn’t exactly sure what to do and he saw several of the hero students give them confused looks. Honestly, me too. He thought.

Both boys turned to see the results when Midnight called out to them, and twin relieved sighs could be heard when they saw Shinsou at 26.

“Shinsooou!” Izuku immediately wrapped himself around his friend again, eyes teary.

“M-Midoriya, look! Kelly and Mei also passed!” At 40 and 41, sure, but they passed!

Izuku looked at the board again and started to smile.

Then the game was explained. And Izuku paled significantly.

“T-ten million…” He repeated, slightly swaying.

Panicked eyes turned to Shinsou the second he started to peel Izuku off of him. “Wait, no, don’t leave me!”

“Midoriya, calm down!” Hitoshi shook his head. Izuku sure is fun when he’s freaking out. He’s just been so composed this entire time that Hitoshi never realized how much of a huge nerd he was. “I need to find my own teammates!”

“B-b-but!” Izuku started.

“If I stick with you, I won’t be able to display my own abilities.” Or protect you Hitoshi absolutely did not voice that thought as he explained softly.

“But who will pair up with me?!” Mei and Kelly chose that exact moment to pop up.

“We will!” Kelly announced.

“C’mon, ten million points and you think we won’t join you?” Mei called out. “This is the perfect time to show off our gadgets!”

Shinsou quirked his lips up, not exactly smiling. “Go on, Midoriya. I better see you in the last stage.”

Hitoshi watched as Midoriya reluctantly released him. “Y-yeah…” And smiled. It felt good to be wanted, but it’ll feel better to be needed and to be in control. Plus, with the unfortunate amount of feelings he had towards Midoriya, it might be easier to focus if he finds someone else to work with. He then set off to locate some teammates

“Now, let’s find our fourth member!” Mei decided with a clap of her hands, and Izuku smiled, suddenly confident.

“I know exactly who to ask.” 

And so, Izuku found himself in front of the bird-headed boy from 1-A.

“Tokoyami, right? I want you in my team.” Izuku stated, Kelly and Mei peeking out from behind him, looking expectant.

“...The chaos has found me.” Tokoyami marvelled. “I accept.”

“Great! So we have Mobility taken care of, with Mei’s babies, attack taken care of, with Kelly’s custom grenades and defense taken care of, with Tokoyami’s…” Izuku prompted.

“Dark Shadow.” The bird figure popped up.

“Awesome! Let’s win this!” Izuku cheered.

“And show that spikey bomberanian what’s what!” Kelly exclaimed, knocking her fists together with a defiant grin.

“Yeah, let’s fuck him up.” Mei agreed.

“Revelry in the dark…” 

Chapter Text

“Alright, so here’s the idea. Dark Shadow protects us from incoming attacks, if someone still comes too close-” Izuku extended his gauntlets. “-I freeze them solid.” Tokoyami seemed a bit startled, the ruffle of his feathers indicated that, but nodded all the same.

“Mei, you’ve got the jetpack ready, right? If need be, you all hang on to me and we take flight.” Mei nodded with a maniac grin.

“A perfect showing for my babies…!”

“Kelly, you’re working on our backup. Use your telekinesis to gather as many bands as you can, keep a low profile, and keep them between you and Mei.”

“Man, you’re really covering all our corners…” Kelly shook her head, impressed. Before raising her fists in a bust of excitement, menacing stars in her eyes. “This is going to be great! I’m aiming for the bomberanian!”

“Please don’t aim for the bomberanian. He wants us dead enough without us antagonizing him.” the greenette pleaded.

Dark Shadow cackled from next to his master at the exchange.

The plan was working perfectly, Kelly helped by applying her telekinesis to the jetpack for their getaways, and the number one spot was solidly their’s, thanks to her efforts of stealing headbands.

Of course, that came with a price. That price being that the second Yamada-sensei announced the scores, at 10,002,510, the entire field of students seems to zero in on them.

Izuku, however, narrowed in on a group moving in towards Shinsou. 

“Kelly! Can you give Shinsou a distraction?” Izuku called, gaining said student’s attention.

“Sure thing!” Kelly very quickly pulled at the feet of the team charging towards them and Shinsou rewarded them with a grin.

“Thanks for the assist, Izuku! ” He sang the first name and nervously watched Midoriya’s eyes narrow. Nope. He did not rise to the bait-

“Anytime, Hicchan!” Izuku beamed at him with a glowing smile which had Hitoshi very nearly falling off his calvary team. Too cute!

“...God I wish I had the confidence to kiss him.” Hitoshi murmured as he pulled himself upright.

“Did you say something?” Izuku asked, apparently still reading his lips. It was still strange for him to know that Izuku’s hearing was impaired. Though the culprit was clearly visible.

“I SAID THAT IF YOU DIED I WOULDN’T MISS YOU!” Hitoshi yelled, blushing bright red.

“Why do I feel like that’s a lie?” Izuku asked, grinning mischievously.

Kelly laughed as they maneuvered around more teams and Mei pinched Izuku, just to make sure. Meanwhile poor Tokoyami looked absolutely bewildered.

The time for banter, however, was soon over, when Todoroki’s team boxed them in.

“He uses his ice, always on the right. Move to the left.” Izuku ordered quickly.

“He’s supposed to also have fire, isn’t he?” Kelly asked, a bit confused.

“If he decides to use that, he’ll be putting his teammates-... I’m an absolute  fool.” Izuku shook his head, a small smile playing at his lips.

“Zuzu?”

“Kelly, their formation!”

He released a tendril of his Capture Weapon and tugged Todoroki off his horse as Kelly took out the engine guy’s legs by pulling them forward, effectively breaking their formation.

“Eat dirt!” Izuku called out with a spiteful tone.

“ Damn, Midoriya’s getting creative! But team Todoroki still has the time to regroup! ” Yamada sensei’s voice called out from the speakers.

“Anyone see a way out?” Izuku asked.

“Nope! We’’ll have to stay and fight!” Kelly answered as she looked frantically.

“ Only two more minutes remain for last minute scoring! Better get a move on! ”

Izuku frowned. “I have an idea. Not one I like, but an idea. Cover your ears.”

Dark Shadow tried his best to cover everyone’s ears as Izuku loaded up an ammo case with a simplistic snowflake on it.

“Sorry about this!” He called with an apologetic grin as Team Todoroki reformed and shot three perfect blasts at them, freezing the three carrying Todoroki.

“ What a shot! Midoriya has just revealed a brand new support weapon he's constructed! And using it, he has completely immobilized Team Todoroki! "

" And with that, the clock struck zero! In first place, Team Midoriya! In second place, Team Bakugou! In third place, team Todoroki! And In fourth place, Team Shinsou! "

Shouto began releasing his team from the ice, face neutral as his mind raced.

Who the hell was Midoriya? What kind of quirk was that ? Was he really that quick of a thinker, to wait everything out while still grabbing more headbands? To ensure his win?

Shouto watched his newest rival dart towards the purple haired boy again, congratulating him with a smile that could easily rival All Might's.

Nothing jumped at Shouto when he first saw Midoriya. He had just been a plain looking support student.

But now? Now he bested Shouto twice, with quick thinking and a masterful mix of imagination, support items and a strong quirk.

Tears seemed to spring to the greenette's eyes as he congratulated the tired looking purple haired boy, who seemed just as transfixed on the way the tears caught on the boy's dark lashes and fell down his round cheeks, highlighting the freckles that littered his complexion.

"-roki, Todoroki!" He snapped out of it at the sound of Yaoyaruzu's voice.

"Are you okay? You seem to be taking this loss badly." She asked.

"No, it's not that. It's just… That boy. Who is he?" Shouto narrowed his eyes at the boy and accidentally caught his friend's eye, prompting a rather frosty glare.

"Someone we should watch out for, probably." Kaminari said, the blonde was rubbing his temples, probably recovering from his quirk.

"Midoriya… Bakugou's ‘Deku’. Probably a delinquent much like the rest of his friends." Iida scoffed with his arms crossed stiffly.

But that didn't seem right to Shouto. The boy didn't seem like a delinquent, he seemed more like someone who wanted something and was willing to work for it, regardless of what others perceived as right.

"He's a threat." Shouto decided. In this festival and to my sanity .

They were given a thirty minute break for eating, and Izuku was starving. He quickly followed Kelly to a table that had been occupied by Vella, Ayeka and Endo.

"You guys did great!" Endo cheered as soon as the four still competing joined them.

"Thanks!" Izuku smiled at the girl who took a bite of her noodles. "How did you guys spend your time?"

Vella groaned as loudly as he possibly could and let his forehead hit the table top. Endo nodded sagely, as if he just revealed the secrets of the universe.

"...What?" Shinsou asked with a raised eyebrow, curious of what could have put the other teens in this state.

"Either kill me or kill Ayeka. Please ." Vella answered, gesturing wildly at the short teen tied to the seat across from him.

"They should know their costumes are absolutely hideous and horribly inefficient." Ayeka defended with what they assumed to be a childish pout, based on how his back slouched.  Endo just groaned.

"He's been going around telling pros how their costumes suck! Vella can barely handle him! So I have to step in and now half of the heroes here won't ever work with me!"

Mei scoffed. "Why would you need them? You're going to be the manager for Kelly and my company, we'll deal with the heroes."

Endo blinked, blushed, and a large smile overtook her previously sour expression. "Seriously?"

"Yeah! Didn't we discuss this already? Mei and I will be working together, with our first project being on full display during the obstacle race, which, thank you so much, Zuzu, you did amazing sweetie-" Kelly pet his mess of curls. "-And you'll be our manager!"

"You're welcome." Izuku smiled at the girl, then turned to Endo. "Well, Endo, if you decide to take them up on it, I'm already a customer."

Endo nodded, grateful. "I'm the only first year student with such an offer, and you expect me to turn it down? Of course we're a team!"

Izuku grinned at them, happy for his friends.

Hitoshi watched the interaction, eyes on Izuku. He called him by his given name… Maybe…

"Hicchan? You're not hungry?" Izuku turned worried green eyes to him.

"Hm? No, I'm just thinking." He answered, blushing slightly at the nickname. "So, Hicchan, huh?"

"Well, you called me Izuku, so…" Izuku shrugged as he turned to his meal, eating ravenously.

"Right." Hitoshi nodded, still blushed.

Chapter Text

Izuku watched as two of participants from Hitoshi’s team decided to forfeit. Hitoshi turned away from them in a way that told Izuku very clearly he was trying not to let it get to him, especially when the tailed guy singled him out.

“Hicchan...” Izuku turned to him, a concerned frown on his face. “You okay?”

Hitoshi looked at him, and attempted a smile. “I will be. Don’t worry about me, Izuku.”

Shouto watched the two interacting. He didn’t care much for who replaced Ojiro and the other kid, but the two boys there? They had caught his interest.

Soon, all of their attention was called to the screen, where Midoriya’s name was first--to the surprise of no one, really.

“Against… Ashido Mina?” he questioned.

“That’s me!” Turning around, he spotted the pink skinned girl that Kelly had possibly traumatized.

“Oh, hey. It’s nice to meet you.” Izuku smiled at her.

She blinked, seemingly not expecting that. “Nice to meet you, too! It’s really cool how you got this far, but I’m afraid I’m going to be the one winning that round!” She grinned.

“Oh? Well, I sure hope you’ll give it your best, Ashido!” He seemed to be excited.

Hitoshi barely refrained from pouting when his name appeared last. Against… Aoyama? That was the sparkling French student from his cavalry. He winced. That’ll be a bit troublesome.

Kelly looked at the boy she would be fighting. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. Quirk: Steel. Hm. Guess she’ll have to use the saltwater grenades she prepared earlier.

Mei turned to the Iida boy. Engines. She pondered if she should introduce herself and explain that she was going to use this for an over-glorified commercial, but… that unimpressed look on his face convinced her otherwise.

‘Welp. Guess I’m going to piss off Ingenium and the Idaten line. Kelly should be able to handle business with them,’ she thought before an excited grin overtook her face. ‘Now, time to make some entertainment!’

All in all, Izuku had not been expecting much from Ashido. That did not mean he underestimated her, of course not. She was in the Heroics department. She survived the USJ. She was not someone to overlook easily.

“ It’s going down, I’m yelling Timber!”

“ Seems like someone hacked our speakers! ”

“ You better move, you better dance! ”

Unfortunately, she did not seem to get the memo that he was not someone to underestimate, either. After she went for a full frontal attack, which Izuku easily dodged, he moved to kick her out of bounds, curling his toes to trigger the kinetic footwraps' mechanism.

Izuku watched her sail out of bounds in confusion. Then he remembered he triggered the mines with those footwraps.

“Ah!” He ran towards her and, upon seeing her unconscious, helped put her on the stretcher that carried her to Recovery Girl.

“ Let’s make a night, you won’t remember!

I’ll be the one, you won’t forget! ”

As the crowd roared, Izuku refrained from pouting. ‘I know I just defeated a great Hero student, but…. Did it really have to be this short and unspectacular?’

Izuku watched, silently sitting on his chair, writing down (in code) the biggest weaknesses for the two who passed to the next round. Kirishima and Todoroki. Kirishima, he was going to fight in the next round. Todoroki, probably right after that. 

Better to stay prepared. Underestimate no one. Show no mercy to those in your way. Stay focused on your end goal.

Mei really didn’t care for all those ego games the others were playing. Besides maybe Kelly, who also wanted to get them sponsors. Either way, the music started as soon as she stepped up, she started talking, explaining her babies as she happily dodged Iida’s hits, Let’s Face it, I’m Cute blaring all the while on loop.

She could see how very amused her friends were, especially when she stepped out of bounds and everyone could hear Iida yell out about how she played him for a fool.

“Welp. My job here is done.” She grinned. “Oh, and I’m still cute, by the way!” she called over her shoulder as she walked away.

The less that was said about the Shiozaki versus Bakugou fight the better, in Izuku’s opinion. Poor girl didn’t stand a chance.

Kelly stood before Tetsutetsu. He didn’t look impressed at all. That was fine. She wasn’t there to impress him. 

“ And begin! ” Yamada-sensei finally called after the long winded introduction.

“ It’s time for me to take it,

 I’m the boss right now. ”

Kelly moved, knowing that turning took longer than simply running, as she readied her saltwater grenades and began tossing them at Tetsutetsu.

“Ah, damnit! I’ll rust!” he grumbled.

“ Not gonna fake it

Not when you go down,

‘Cause this is my game,

And you better come to play!”

“That’s the plan, Steelix! ” God only knows what the Japanese name for the pokemon was, but Kelly wasn’t slow enough to let go of the jab to ponder it.

“What are you eve-Agh!” He tried to cover his eyes when she tossed more saltwater.

“Hm. Wonder how Lyewater would feel.” She hummed and threw another grenade.

“Yo! Would you stop throwing shit and fight me like a man?!”

“Ha! Real funny, that! I am neither a man, nor a hero student!” she assured with a gleeful expression, throwing a rapidly heating lye-water solution at his chest. “This is my fight style, bitch !”

“ I used to hold my freak back

Now I'm letting go

I make my own choice...”

Kelly tried to focus on the song while Tetsutetsu cried out in pain from the chemical burns she was inflicting on him.

“You…!” He growled at her, lunging.

“Bitch, I run this show

So leave the lights on

No, you can't make me behave.”

Kelly dodged, but the call was not in her favor, as she stepped right over the white line.

“ Chem has passed the boundary! Tetsutetsu will be moving on to the next round!”

Kelly looked down at where she’d stepped over the white line, body rigid and eyes wide in shock.

Tetsutetsu didn’t spare her a look, instead going straight to Recovery Girl.

She ran back towards her friends’ seats, but Sachie found her before that.

“Kelly!” There was concern in those doe eyes, but pride as well. “You were amazing!”

“I didn’t even pass the first fight.” Kelly sniffed, trying to hold back tears.

“Against hero students? You put on a great show, and showed your resourcefulness! Seriously, the only reason you didn’t pass is because you don’t have the same situational awareness as them.”

Kelly looked at Sachie with doubt in her green eyes. “Seriously, Kelly. You were amazing.”

Then, Sachie did something Kelly wasn’t expecting. Wrapping her arms around the foreigner, she offered the physical comfort that Kelly had just gotten used to not having ever since she moved to Japan.

“You did amazing, Kelly,” Sachie insisted.

“I… Thanks, Sachie.” Kelly hugged her back.

Hitoshi managed to find them like that and gave a small grin. It’s nice to see someone get somewhere, at least. Even if Izuku had hugged him a lot today.

[Brainwasher: Found Kelly. She’s being comforted by Endo. We’re good.

Pink Chaos Goblin: gr8 thnx

Brainwasher: Please learn how to spell, Mei. ]

Izuku carefully watched Tokoyami battle the Creation girl, Yaoyarozu. He couldn’t see any visible weaknesses for either of them, so he was glad that if they would fight, he’d have plenty of battles to see them in. Thankfully, Yaoyarozu was taken down, she would have been very problematic.

Hitoshi stared at his opponent. Aoyama. Someone who was with him during the cavalry battle.

“So, I guess we’re not going to do this the easy way, huh,” he started. Aoyama narrowed his eyes.

“ Gotta raise a little hell! ”

Hitoshi bit his lip to stop a smile from spreading as he began dodging the other boy’s navel laser. Clearly, whoever was choosing the music felt confident that Hitoshi will win.

“ Gotta raise a little hell

Young blood, run like a river

Young blood, never get chained

Young blood, heaven need a sinner

You can't raise hell with a saint

Young blood, came to start a riot

Don't care what your old man say

Young blood, heaven hate a sinner

But we gonna raise hell anyway

Raise hell!”

After more dodging and less attempts at conversation, Hitoshi noticed that Aoyama was beginning to slow down as the song became more familiar. Izuku’s song.

“Yeah

Raise hell

Somebody gotta, gotta raise a little hell

Baby drop them bones

Baby sell that soul

Baby fare thee well

Somebody gotta, gotta raise a little hell

(Oh my my, oh hell yeah)

Somebody gotta, gotta raise a little hell

(Oh my my, oh hell yeah)

Somebody gotta, gotta raise a little hell!”

It didn’t take long for Aoyama to tire himself out, by which point those lines came on. The ones he kept hearing in his head for hours after he heard them the first time. The lines Izuku sang.

“ Young blood, stand and deliver

No need for a queen affair

Young blood, gotta pull the trigger

When the whole world running scared... ”

He sang along as he walked over to where Aoyama was bent over, obviously suffering from his quirk’s drawbacks.

“Sorry about that,” he shrugged as he pushed Aoyama over, effectively dropping him on his side and out of bounds.

“ Raise hell!”

He wondered if Izuku was singing along. Did he miss it? He hoped not. Hearing Izuku sing was fun.

“ Now, on to the next round! We have Midoriya versus Kirishima, Todoroki versus Iida, Bakugou versus Tetsutetsu and Shinsou versus Tokoyami! This is going to be good! ”

Chapter Text

Eijirou hadn't actually known what to expect from the green haired Support student that somehow managed to leave everyone else in the dust.

"Hey, you're Kirishima, right?" The weapons master asked, green locks swaying in the slight breeze. "You really saved my friends when they tried to pick a fight with Kacchan earlier in the year. I don't think I ever thanked you for that, so thanks!"

The goofy, bright grin on his face was at odds with his performance throughout the Festival, but Eijirou simply nodded. 

Present Mic called for the match to begin and Eijirou took a defensive position, hesitant to attack his opponent. He didn't want to fall to this guy as quickly as Mina had, after all.

" I'm gonna sit back and watch my flag ascend

I won't talk myself up I don't need to pretend, "

Midoriya's grin sharpened, turning from grateful to competitive in the blink of an eye. He seemed to appreciate Eijirou not underestimating his abilities and simply began thumping the ground with one foot as he twirled an axe around with terrifying elegance.

" You won't see me coming till it's too late again

I'm gonna sit back and watch my flag ascend, "

"You know, that's a bold assumption to make, to think that I don't have a way to attack unless I'm in close combat," Midoriya said with casual grace as the scarf around his neck began moving in a familiar manner.

No, not a scarf… A Capture Weapon? Eijirou moved, attempting to dodge the fabric moving towards him. Luckily for him, Midoriya was evidently moving it lazily, not really aiming for him. His wrist was almost lax as he maneuvered the material.

" My name is thunder, and lighting

My name is something very frightening,

My name is adrenaline, exciting

You don't believe-- "

"Kirishima, harden!" Midoriya advised in a tone that Eijirou felt compelled to obey as he narrowly avoided getting his foot cut off by an axe that embedded itself where it had been a mere second ago.

And then, the blade exploded with ice, the frigid element trapping him in place.

"You didn't really think I was that limited, did you?" Midoriya asked, his head slightly tilted, a sly grin in place.

" I'll make my own future, I won't leave it to fate.

I'll raise so high I'll be the Empire State,

I'll learn my lesson from my scars and mistakes,

I'll make my own future, I won't leave it to fate. "

"Kirishima, can you move?" Midnight asked from the side as Midoriya recalled his axe with ease. Eijirou grinned, breaking away from the cold grip of the ice.

"Sure can!" Midoriya narrowed his eyes at Eijirou, and then suddenly he was right in the redhead’s face, attacking with slashing motions from his axes, driving him backwards as Eijirou struggled to find an opening.

" I'll get this off my chest

I'm gonna be the best

I'm gonna change the world

It's all I got left

Gonna get back up

When I'm left for dead

I'm gonna change the world

Like mamma said... "

Eijirou finally lost his footing and his hold on his quirk, prompting Midoriya to Sparta Kick him across the white line and out of bounds.

" Kirishima is out of bounds! Midoriya moves on to the next stage! "

"Nice fight. I wasn't too much, was I?"

Eijirou blinked in confusion at the hand offered to him as the greenette complimented him.

"Nah, you were super manly! That was amazing!" Eijirou grinned up at him. So, the terrifying, tiny Support student that was looking to transfer was friendly? That's awesome!

"Aaah, thank you! You were amazing out there too, your quirk is super cool!" Midoriya grinned at him as they were both led to Recovery Girl for a quick check up. "I was afraid I'd overdone it again…" The smaller boy's expression turned guilty as he thought of the previous match.

"What, worried that Mina was offended?" Eijirou asked curiously.

"Kind of. I know I wouldn't take it too well if someone just took one look at me and ruined my chances at winning." Midoriya scratched the back of his neck.

Eijirou didn't really have time to reassure Midoriya before they arrived at Recovery Girl's room and a certain pink girl’s eyes immediately locked onto the Support student.

" You! " she hissed, one arm in a sling, probably sprained. Midoriya yelped and jumped, before trying to hide behind Eijirou.

"I'm so sorr-!" He began to apologise, before he was cut off abruptly.

"You were so cool!" Mina cheered. "You didn't even hesitate before throwing me out! That was amazing!"

"Y… You're not upset?" Midoriya asked.

"What?” Her expression turned incredulous. “Why would I be upset? Sure, you beat me fast, but you did it fairly, and you have a reason to give it your all, even more of a reason than I do!"

Midoriya blinked, completely shocked, as Recovery Girl looked him over with a small smile. He hadn’t expected her to be so forgiving; hell, she was excited that he had beaten her so quickly.

"When you transfer to Heroics, you'll sit with me at lunch, right? I mean, your friends don't exactly have the same lunch time as us. Oh, besides the purple one," Mina recalled with a thoughtful expression.

When. Ashido said when , not if . Izuku smiled at her. "I'd love to!"

For Shouto, the only real tricky part to fighting Iida was his speed. Sure, his classmate had gotten a hit in, but Shouto had already been fired up and angry from yet another 'conversation' with Endeavor, so it really didn't take much for Iida to be frozen and unable to battle.

His mind kept drifting to the two boys. Shinsou had finished his battle not too long ago, exhausting Aoyama to the point of being unable to fight.

Midoriya, however, was far more active in combat, always moving, continuously dodging… Shouto couldn't decide which of them was a bigger threat to him.

Shinsou might be able to outlast him if he kept dodging, but Midoriya, being so active, might be able to move in close and take him down.

Then there was the fact that Midoriya hadn't used his gauntlet again. Was it supposed to be a hidden weapon of sorts? He seemed to be very deliberate when choosing which type of ammunition to use in each fight, so maybe there was more to that gauntlet of his.

On the other hand--or rather, limb -- there were those devastating, charged-up kicks. He only demonstrated them with Ashido, but then he’d revealed that his axes also exploded . Which was… concerning, to say the least.

Either way, he'd have to fight one of them before the other. Arguably, the bigger threat was Midoriya...though he really wasn’t sure, seeing as he didn't know Shinsou's quirk (let alone how to counter it).

Ultimately, it didn't matter to him. Shouto would defeat them both, without breaking a sweat and without using that bastard's quirk.

If there had ever been any doubt that it was someone from his Chaos Crew doing the hacking, it had been destroyed when Tetsutetsu fought Kacchan and the song playing in the background started.

" For the love of god, will you bite your tongue

Before we make you swallow it

It's moments like this where silence is golden

(And then you speak)

No one wants to hear you

No one wants to see you

So desperate and pathetic

I'm begging you to spare me

The pleasure of your company... "

Izuku watched as Kacchan hadn't reacted at all and that's when it hit him.

"Hicchan!" He turned to his friend, startling the boy from where he was enjoying the show of Tetsutetsu getting his ass handed to him. Apparently everyone was feeling a bit vindictive after Kelly's loss.

Seeing her and Endo hold hands afterwards was cute though. He was glad that they had each other.

"What is it?" Hitoshi may or may have not been daydreaming about going on a date with Izuku when he was called on.

In his defense, the thought of that sweet smile pointed at him, eyes soft and lidded as Izuku sat on the front of his bicycle and Hitoshi pedaled across town, stealing kisses from the other boy who'd laugh and kiss right back was downright intoxicating.

"Kacchan, he's not wearing his hearing aids!" Izuku told him frantically and Hitoshi paled by more than a few shades.

God, he was going to have to fight that brute without his quirk?

Hitoshi turned to Izuku, saw his concerned look and immediately amended his previous statement.

He was going to win against that savage, with or without his quirk. A dog like that, one who loved to bark, could easily be provoked into talking, no matter what he did.

With that thought in mind, Hitoshi made the decision.

He was going to win against that bastard, and when he faced off in the finals with Izuku, he was going to win against him, too. ‘And hopefully win him over as well,’ the unsuccessfully-buried part of his mind whispered.

Hitoshi smiled at Izuku, determined, then pet his head. "Thank you, Izuku."

Izuku blinked, confused, but nodded. He trusted Hitoshi to have a strategy.

Of course, Hitoshi might have already been thinking about how Izuku was far too intelligent to converse with him during the match. He'd have to let Izuku pin him down, then confess to him. That'd get a reaction out of the greenette, for sure.

Hitoshi would then order Izuku to walk out of bounds, release him from his quirk’s effects and launch into the other for a hug. Yes, that'd be perfect.

" Tetsutetsu is unable to battle! Bakugou goes on to the next round! "

Yes. After this one, there’ll only be one more battle until Hitoshi confesses.

Fumikage wasn't sure what to do about this General Education student. He also seemed to have a darkness to him… Not to mention, if he won against the General Education kid, he'd be going up against Bakugou. Bakugou, who could expose Dark Shadow's weakness to the world.

"Alright, everyone, remember. We're not showing our strongest cards here. Not when this event is televised to the entire nation, maybe even overseas," Midoriya had warned when explaining their strategy.

Fumikage paused, and felt Dark Shadow startle at the realisation. There could be villains watching. Villains who'd already taken the life of one of their classmates. Not attacking the Festival might be more strategic than previously thought, because they could gain information… Just the kind of information that the villains would need to get the jump on them again.

He looked up at the tired, determined eyes of his opponent and declared, "I forfeit."

Shinsou clearly wasn't expecting that; he looked a bit hurt, even, as Mic and Midnight began preparing for the next fight.

"Damn." Shinsou shook his head. "Why?"

"Your boyfriend brought up a point I wasn't expecting. There might be villains observing this. I don't want to risk my weakness being exposed," Fumikage answered, quiet.

Shinsou blinked, nodded in understanding, then froze, blushing.

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Hitoshi tried to ignore the small ‘you wish he was’ that his mind supplied.

"Hm. Then I suppose it's more correct to say future boyfriend."

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK HE'S MY FUTURE BOYFRIEND?!" Shinsou looked beyond flustered, with a growing blush crawling across his cheeks.

"The pure chaos potential," Fumikage answered, arms crossed and head bowed sullenly.

"And his attempt to protect you during the Cavalry battle!" Dark Shadow added helpfully; the two corvid-kin watched as Shinsou fumbled for an answer, eyes wide and face bright red, right up to the tips of his ears.

“Alright guys! Are you ready for the next round?! Up next, we have Midoriya versus Todoroki and Bakugou versus Shinsou! Hold onto your seats, folks, ‘cause it’s about to get even wilder up here!!”

Chapter Text

The roar of the audience filled the stadium as Present Mic introduced the next competitors: Midoriya Izuku, who’d defied everyone’s expectations and had somehow stayed perfectly on top throughout the entire Festival, versus the son of the number two hero, Todoroki Shouto, who’d frozen everyone he’s fought so far in place.

“So. You’re supposed to have a fire side too, right?” The greenette’s stance was relaxed, casual even, as he stood across the stage, “ So, do you mind telling me why you aren’t using it?” Midoriya’s green eyes were narrowed, testing. Shouto did not care to be tested right now.

He looked so nice interacting with everyone else, besides me… Guess it was too much to hope for. To hope for what? Who knew. Nothing he had ever been taught could explain the slight ache that had blossomed in his chest.

“I will never use that bastard’s quirk.” Shouto scowled right back before creating an ice dome around his opponent. He wouldn’t be getting out of that anytime soo--

That train of thought was cut off by a blast, the sound booming across the walls, the sound of something shattering occompaning it like a terrifying symphony. Midoriya had broken through the dome with a single super-charged kick, causing shards of the frozen prison to fly across the stadium. Shouto could hear Mic yelling in the background, hyping up the audience.

“ I'm checking my vital signs

Drawing my battle lines

Going to war again

Feeling the rhythm inside of my chest,”

Izuku grabbed onto his Capture Weapon that had been wrapped loosely over his shoulders, feeling it come to life like a tensing cobra, and watched as Todoroki’s gaze zeroed in on it. Oh yeah, Izuku had gotten him with the capture weapon quite a bit today already.

“ All I need is just a pen

I know I was born for this

I know I was born for this. ”

“Is that what you’ll say to the people trapped in avalanches?” eyes calm on the surface, but something boiled below the emerald, “To the homeless freezing in the winters?” Midoriya’s question cut through him like a knife, making him freeze (pun not intended).

Everyone always said he would never be the most efficient hero he could be if he only used his ice. No one had ever mentioned the situations where that asshole’s quirk was the only way out.

“ Don't care for the critics

My words are like physics

A force that they can't stop, ”

“If you want to be a hero, you have to let go of any pettiness you still have. You have to give it your all.” Midoriya’s voice was stable and frigid. Colder than Shouto’s ice, however he continued to use it, trying to trap Midoriya, or at least push him off the stage.

Midoriya’s reaction was to pull out his axes and throw one. The flick of his wrist was a nonchalant sort of graceful: quick, fluid, and as if by pure instinct. Upon contact with the ice racing towards him, the axe burst into flames.

The weapon returned to its user within moments.

“ They just don't get it, I think they forget

I'm not done till I'm on top

I know I was born for this

I know I was born for this

I believe, I believe

We can write our story

I believe, I believe

We can be an army!”

“Who are you trying to prove yourself to?” Izuku bit out,  replacing the used casing of Powdered Element in his axe. Just in time, too, because the wannabe-Elsa was throwing another wave of spikes at him.

“What does it matter to you? You’re just another person my father paid off--” Midoriya’s eyes flashed with something hard, -anger- as the smoke from the next explosion cleared.

“You’re an entitled little prick, aren’t you?” He cut the heterochromic boy off as he adjusted his footing.

“ We are the warriors, who learned to love the pain

We come from different places but have the same name

'Cause we were born for this, ”

“D’you wanna know something, Todoroki? I only discovered my quirk last year .”

“ We are the broken ones, who chose to spark a flame

Watch as our fire rages, our hearts are never tame, ”

“I’d have given anything I had for a fraction of your power before then.” the curly haired boy stalked closer, his movements reminiscent of that of a hunting predator.

“ 'Cause we were, 'cause we were,

'Cause we were, 'cause we were born for this

We were born for this, ”

“But you? For you, it’s just a curse. Something your father forced on you, isn’t it?” the axes spun in his grip.

“ I've struggled for years and

Through all of the tears

I've faced the doubts I hide, ”

“Shut up! ” Shouto didn’t want to hear another word from that ignorant little--! He sucked in a breath as he felt the flames licking at his body, reacting to his emotions.

“ I never gave in to my fears deep within

'Cause I heard my voice inside

I know I was born for this

I know I was born for this, ”

The -by now- familiar fabrics caught him by the waist and Midoriya lifted him up with a single motion, suspended in the air above the arena.

“You don’t get to tell me to shut up, Todoroki. Not without giving it your all.” Midoriya’s voice somehow stayed calm, even and sharp. Not a hint of emotion. “To be a hero means to give it your all, every single day, to put your life on the line for the ones who need you!”

“ I will never lose my voice

If I cut out all the noise, ”

“How can you say you’re giving it your all when you’re only using half of your quirk?!” Midoriya finally cracked. He looked furious, a solid defiance laced into the emerald depths of his eyes, Shouto was silent, his opponent’s words  ricocheting like bullets within his head.

‘My quirk. It’s not his? It’s mine.’

“ I know, I was born for this

I know, I was born for this

I believe, I believe

We can write our story

I believe, I believe

We can be an army! ”

Midoriya’s green eyes weren’t… angry. No. They were hopeful . He wasn’t trying to rile him up for Endeavor…No, he wanted something else.

To be taken seriously? To make Shouto take him seriously? Shouto chuckled, the low sound dark and angry.

“You know, Midoriya…. I seem to have possibly made the wrong guy my rival!” He acknowledged, feeling the fire release itself, the flickers growing onto a roar.

Midoriya smirked, and released him to the ground.

“No room for pettiness in Heroics, Todoroki.” a barely there grin ghosted across the freckled face.

“No room for hesitance, either, Midoriya.”

“ We are the warriors, who learned to love the pain

We come from different places but have the same name

'Cause we were, 'cause we were,

'Cause we were, 'cause we were born for this

We were born for this

We are the broken ones, who chose to spark a flame

Watch as our fire rages, our hearts are never tame

'Cause we were, 'cause we were,

'Cause we were, 'cause we were born for this

We were born for this. ”

They ran at each other, Todoroki superheating the air around him, Midoriya with his axes at the ready. Then he tossed one.

It passed right next to him, just grazing his arm. Then Shouto gasped out, eyes wide as electricity ran through his veins, forcing some sort of numbness onto him.

“ These words that I write are for someone like me

To know you're not alone, ”

Shouto didn’t let it stop him as he released his flames on the boy, forcing him to dodge, and as Shouto watched Midoriya, suddenly all he could see was the fire of determination in the other’s eyes, the embers of pride. All encircled in green .

He didn’t want me to take him seriously… He wanted me to take my training seriously… To take heroics seriously…

“ The moves that you make ya they come with mistakes

Don't ever lose your hope

Just know, you were born for this

Just know, you were born for this ”

“Where the hell did they find you, exactly?!” Shouto shook his head in bewildered amusement.

“Under a bridge, choking on filth!” Midoriya answered with a manic grin as he brought his foot down, and Shouto watched with wide eyes as it began glowing before it caused an explosion.

“ Todoroki is out of bounds! Midoriya continues onto the  stage! To the finals!! ”

“....Holy shit…” Izuku whispered to himself.

“...What was that about filth?” Todoroki questioned, about ninety percent sure that his head had been hit

“Nothing important. Let’s get you to Recovery Girl?” Izuku asked, crouching next to the bi-coloured teen.

“...That’d be nice,” Shouto answered, voice slightly slurring. Then his two-toned gaze locking on those pretty, green eyes. “I like your eyes.”

“...Thanks?” Izuku questioned, unsure how to take the compliment.

“You’re welcome. You’re very pretty.” Todoroki murmured.

“Um...Did you hit your head?”

“Maybe.”

Izuku sighed. “Right, to Recovery Girl with you.”

Hitoshi was nervous. Sure, he’d psyched himself up before, but now he was actually faced with the feral dog. And what the fuck was this eerie ambient music?

Bakugou was glaring at him from his side of the arena, making him feel like a gladiator entering the arena with a lion.

The thing was, the lions in those stories were often starved, foaming at the maw for a meal. However, Bakugou was overfed. He’d had enough.

Hitoshi glared right back. “So, you’re Bakugou. Izuku’s Kacchan,” Hitoshi began, watching as Bakugou’s eyes instinctively moved to his lips, and his glare deepened.

He didn’t reply. Why didn’t he reply? Had he been warned by the Monkey?

“You know, you’re kind of a shit human being, right? And you want to be a hero?” Hitoshi continued, stretching his arms and neck.

“ Lurking in the shady streets, hazy.

Wandering all on your own, crazy. ”

“What a fucking joke,” he growled. “You’re nothing but a bully.”

Bakugou suddenly launched into an attack, but Hitoshi had spent long enough listening to Izuku go on about how Bakugou fought to know how to dodge.

“ Thought you were the monster here, how sad.

Time to learn your place, you're only just a lad.

Cast a thousand sins and one, have you? ”

“You know he hates you, right? You know you hurt one of the kindest people on Earth, y’know? And made him hate you?” he made sure to stabilize his footing as the blonde lunged past him

“ Common boogeyman you are, it's true.

Let's see if you're all just bark, no bite.

Cowards like you always turn tail and take flight. ”

The explosions were ringing in his ears. It hurt . God, he was going to end up just as hard of hearing as Izuku by the end of this. That thought just pissed him off more.

“You’re trying to sell yourself as a hero? You’ve never cared for another person in your life! You hurt those you thought of as weaker than you for no fucking reason! You’re no better than a villain!”

“ Why the good die and the cruel live (non nocent. Reddentes)

Injustice I cannot forgive

Don't play God you're no deity

Who, pray tell, will try to stop me? ”

Then, Hitoshi was too slow, and Bakugou grabbed his arm. The pain of the sudden explosion was almost enough to make him cry out.

“Hitoshi!” Izuku called, already knowing this wouldn’t end well, he sprang up from his seat in Recovery Girl’s temporary office, leaving Todoroki to stare after him as he ran.

This was not going to end well, not at all.

“ Bear no arms, I'll rip those from you

As a corpse no more harm you'll do, ”

Bakugou was treating Hitoshi like a fucking dog toy, throwing him around, singeing  and tossing him, he could feel skin tearing from the rough treatment, when he saw from the corner of his eye a hand move towards his head.

There was an explosion, and Hitoshi lost consciousness.

Katsuki was livid. How dare this useless extra act like he knew Deku at all? Deku might not be quirkless, but he’d always be chasing at Katsuki’s heels, never even coming close to his level. So why did  the thought that Deku might hate him hurt ?

The purple freak was taken from him by a Capture Weapon, and Katsuki looked up to see Deku, his eyes filled with anger and loathing , protecting the extra with his own body and shielding him from Katsuki’s view.

The tendrils of fabric were floating, snapping through the air in an agitated manner. Deku’s eyes narrowed further, not a single hint of the quirkless loser Katsuki once knew in them. Not a trace of the boy who silently demanded that the world hand him his dream on a silver platter.

“ Don't look at me with those eyes, you've got

No one else to blame for your demise.

Think you'll catch my mercy now, really?

After all your crimes, beyond a doubt guilty. ”

Izuku stared Bakugou down. He was no longer Kacchan. He hadn’t been in a while. Kayama-sensei got between the two of them.

Katsuki looked up at the hero just in time to read her lips. ‘ Stop. The battle is over. ’

His eyes slid to Deku again, without his permission. His childhood victim was trying to carry the bleeding lavender bush to the nurse’s office, not even sparing him a glance.

Izuku glared at the bully that had ruined every nicer memory he’d had of his childhood friend.

Bakugou was forced to use his hearing aids for the final fight, since not using them previously had led to him unable to hear the teachers’ warnings. Izuku was planning on using that fact. He loaded up his gauntlet with fire ammunition.

He still had a few powder vials for his axes left over. His gauntlets had remained practically untouched, however his footwraps were down and out for the count.

That’s fine. He was going to take Bakugou down with his own quirk.

The blonde stared him down, waiting for the signal that the fight had started. Once he had it, Bakugou was launching himself forwards.

Izuku had already made sure that the gauntlets were loaded so his punches had some extra power. He didn’t want to kill Bakugou, no. Just to teach him what pain felt like. What he’d always made others feel.

“I am a man at war…”

Chapter Text

Katsuki didn't know what to expect from Deku. He had beaten everyone he had faced before him. Raccoon Eyes, Shitty Hair, even that Half and Half bastard.

It was pissing him off, but then again, if Katsuki didn't know how to be cautious, he'd be nothing more than a rabid dog.

"I am a man at war

And I am fighting for,"

Izuku ran at Bakugou, using his footwrap's mechanism to toss himself up in the air and behind the blonde before dealing out a vicious punch to his side.

"All of the broken people

All of the people thrown overboard,"

Bakugou turned to him, perhaps expecting to see nervousness, but all he could see was the pure undiluted rage that his opponent was radiating.

How dare Bakugou hurt his friend like that! How dare he injure Hicchan like that!

"They always tried to shame us

But they don't speak the language

No we're not nameless, we're not faceless,"

The sound from the gauntlet made Bakugou flinch. Izuku's eyes narrowed as he quickly switched the directions of his gauntlets, putting them squarely into shooting position, and with two strong punches, shot forward with the explosions. Bakugou's shoulders dislocated with a loud ‘crack’ from the impact.

"We were born for greatness!"

Ignoring the other's shout of pain was a frighteningly easy thing to do as Izuku began kicking him around.

"Do you forfeit, Bakugou?" He bit out, white-hot anger lacing his taunting tone as he towered over the blond who was now on his ass, bruises littering his skin and a split lip bleeding.

"Somebody sound the alarm

(Oh, oh oh) a fire was set in the dark

(Oh, oh oh) it's time that you know

No, we're not nameless, we're not faceless

We were born for greatness!"

"I'll never lose to a Quirkless failure like you!" Katsuki barked out, trying to ignore how much his arms hurt, but the very fact that he was now only 'Bakugou' to Deku hurt just as much (why, he didn’t know).

"Shame," Izuku sighed, bored. He stepped on one of Bakugou's dislocated shoulders, applying his entire body’s weight onto it.

"It doesn't matter if the world has gone mad

If we just hold on, if we just hold on yeah

The sky is falling and the world has gone mad

And we sing our songs, and we just hold on yeah..."

"You fucker!" Katsuki growled, kicking him off, to which Deku fucking obliges, like he has a choice.

Izuku flipped his gauntlets’ firing system around again, but this time he switched the ammunition to ice casings.

"So if you're running, stop running

One life, one chance, start living

Sing it louder just to let the world know

No, we're not nameless, we're not faceless

We were born for greatness!"

"Would you quit it with your fucking, elemental gauntlet of doom, you fucking kamikaze motherfucker?!" Bakugou yelled, before Izuku began freezing him to the ground.

With each blast of the gauntlet, Bakugou flinched more, attempting to dodge quicker, leading to about a fourth of Izuku's shots actually hitting.

"We're not nameless, we're not faceless

We were born for greatness

We're not nameless, we're not faceless

We were born for greatness!"

"Must be hard to keep dodging with those dislocated shoulders," Izuku snapped out mockingly, his voice somewhere between disinterested and vindictive. Once grassy green eyes now resembled boiling acid.

"You-" Katsuki was quick to shut his eyes in response to the axe that sailed across the arena, embedding itself next to his leg in an explosion of ice.

"You're done," Deku informed him, quiet rage simmering beneath the surface. "Both your shoulders are dislocated and your legs are frozen in place."

"Bakugou is no longer able to fight! Midoriya wins!" Mic announced.

"No! I can still fight!" Bakugou insisted, despite the fiery pain that spiked up his arm as he tried to move, he only stopped when his vision started to distort, fuck it hurt. Izuku didn't stay to stare him down after his win was announced, instead heading towards where Hitoshi would be.

In the recovery room, Hitoshi was just coming to when he heard the sound of cheering.

"Mnn? Wha… what happened?" He groaned.

"Bakugou blew up the side of your head. You passed out and Midoriya ran to protect you. He just defeated Bakugou," Todoroki stated flatly from his seat on the other side of the small room.

"I… lost?" Hitoshi repeated, his face blank, but his mind reeling. He lost? He lost to Bakugou? He couldn't protect Izuku from that bully. He couldn’t protect himself and he couldn’t…

The door opened and familiar green eyes locked on him.

"Hicchan!" Izuku's arms were very quickly wrapped around him and they all heard Recovery Girl tsk at him.

"Your gloves need to be thicker next time," she said, taking one of Izuku's hands and revealing the burnt knuckles.

"Oh…" Thankfully, Izuku still had enough energy to be healed.

"You didn't even notice?" Hitoshi asked, and Todoroki gave him a look.

"Ah, I guess I was just too angry to take notice." Izuku chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.

Angry? What the fuck happened during their fight? 

Izuku's attention was stolen away by Recovery Girl absentmindedly clearing her throat.

"Ah, should I bring you a cup of water, sensei?" Izuku asked innocently.

Recovery Girl sent him an incredulous look. "You just finished winning the Sports Festival, maintaining a hold on 1st place the entire time, and your knuckles were nearly burnt off. You're worried about me?"

Hitoshi tried not to chuckle. Key word being tried.

"Lay down, sonny," Recovery Girl ordered, forcing Izuku into a bed with a few taps on his head with her cane. "You just rest here, you have twenty minutes until the award ceremony. Shinsou, I'm trusting you to keep him in place." The short nurse sent a pointed look the lavender students’ way.

Hitoshi grinned, trying to stifle the laughter born from an old lady bossing his badass crush around and quickly found himself laying on top of Midoriya.

"Hicchan?" Izuku's eyes were still concerned, worried (the rise in pitch went ignored).

"Izuuukuuu… The big bad wolf gave me a concussion. Heal me with affection," Hitoshi demanded, practically nuzzling up to Izuku, who just snorted.

"Sure, Hicchan." Very soon, there were fingers running along the back of Hitoshi's scalp, soothing and calming strokes through his hair.

Shouto watched the two, seeing the small, excited smile on Shinsou's dopey face, the blush high on his cheeks. The tender, caring smile on Midoriya's lips as he watched his friend.

… He didn't know he could feel jealous of another person for having specific company. He also wanted to be comforted by Midoriya, if that's what it looked like.

Shouta sighed as he watched the arena be transformed for the last part of the festival.

Both the Aldera boys were brutal with their opponents, but there was a huge difference between them, in how they treated those who lost to them.

Midoriya ran towards everyone who lost to him and helped them to Recovery Girl. He talked to them, seemed to befriend them. His whole stunt of winning against Todoroki… Frankly, he could have won a lot sooner by simply flicking the other out of bounds.

But Midoriya wanted to make him use his fire, first. To help him.

Bakugou, however… He ignored everyone who lost to him, choosing to keep fighting even when they were down, in Shinsou's case.

And this action must have been predictable to Midoriya, because he was pulling Shinsou away from the explosive boy before Midnight even reacted.

Maybe… Maybe he should make more of an effort to understand the Midoriya. The boy was pleasant enough to his class, seeing as how Ashido and Kirishima were still awestruck over how cute and down-to-Earth he was when interacting with them. Even Tokoyami seemed to think positively of the boy.

After all… Winning first place like that? Midoriya was promised a place in the hero course. Shinsou was too, despite his quirk not being displayed.

In fact, it was probably better to keep his quirk a secret, as the boy would undoubtedly want to be an Underground hero, if his tactics and behaviour were anything to go by.

"So, Shouta, weren't my boys awesome?" Hizashi started, eyes shining with pride (no, there were no tears, and even if there was you wouldn't need to know that).

"They're going to be joining my class, aren't they?" Shouta sighed through the layers of bandages.

"They sure are! Either that or you only get Shinsou. I don't want Midoriya and Bakugou in the same class." Hizashi's entire presence seemed to darken at the thought. "I've never seen Midoriya angry like that, and I've been watching him train this entire time."

"So you think separating Midoriya and Shinsou will help?" Shouta asked. They'd have a meeting over this sooner or later, might as well get the facts straight now.

"No. Those two are good for each other. I think that your only options are to either put Midoriya in 1-B and Shinsou in 1-A, or put them both in 1-A and keep a close eye on Bakugou," Hizashi answered. "Midoriya needs a friend, or else he won't stand up for himself."

Shouta grunted, and was left to ponder that as the loud blonde's attention was called elsewhere.

Standing in the stadium, on the grass instead of the benches, would have to be enough for Hitoshi. Even if he had wanted to stand as tall as Izuku did, from his perch in first place.

All Might's smile wasn't empty as he presented Shinsou with his medal. Though, it was clear that All Might was proudest of Izuku, going by the look in his luminescent eyes; the fact only angered the blonde on the second place pedestal, judging by the glare he sent the other boy and the way his slings shook. Well, the boy was shivering anyway, what with his nose bright red and snotty, he must've caught a cold from the ice that had encased his feet.

Shinsou just hoped that he managed to get into the Heroics department.

He was just about done with gathering his stuff, getting ready to leave and go home, when his phone pinged, announcing that he had a message.

[Chatroom: Troubled Birds Chaos Crew

Down to Clown: Hey guys! Let’s go out to celebrate!

This Jackassery will not Stand!: sure. anyone got a place? specifically one where we won’t be mobbed because of hero kid?

3 Oz of Whoopass: Rude

Meditates for a Break: I can get us a private table in Heart’s Desire.

Bad at Math: is it any good???

3 Oz of Whoopass: It’s great! It’s Hicchan’s family’s cafe!

Down to Clown: Excuse me, Hicchan????

Meditates for a Break: Yeah, what about it?]

[Chatroom: Midoriya’s Spies

Business Spy: Hicchan???????/

Brainwash Spy: He’s so cute and I’m so gay for him help me Endo

Designer Spy: why would endo be able to help?

Chemist Spy: excuse you, that’s my girlfriend you’re talking about

Brainwash Spy: See? Endo can help because she’s also gay and oh, I dont know. Actually has a girlfriend.

Necromancer Spy: is there anyone straight in our class?

Invention Spy: we dont know anything about mido yet

Brainwash Spy: Mei I will cry.]

[Chatroom: Troubled Birds Chaos Crew

3 Oz of Whoopass: Chat’s dead, isn’t it? If you guys aren’t up for meeting up, Mirio-nii keeps messaging me about how he wants to meet up to congratulate me.

Meditates for a Break: No, I just messaged my parents, we got a private table. You can invite him if you want, though. Mom likes him.

Looking for Trouble: the inlaws get along

Meditates for a Break: KELLY DELETE THAT

One message was deleted!

3 Oz of Whoopass: Did I miss something?

Meditates for a Break: Nope. Meet you guys outside the gates, tell your third year friends to meet us at the cafe. Let’s go celebrate, Izuku.]

[Chatroom: Midoriya’s Spies

Designer Spy: izuku????????????

Brainwash Spy: Shut the fuck up Ayeka]

Chapter Text

The scene was comfortable, cozy and straight up contentful.

Hitoshi was surrounded by friends, even though they were cut off into couples.

Amajikis face was hidden in Toogata's neck, the bright blonde's arms around his waist.

Kelly was leaning against Endo in a way that Hitoshi was sure meant their fingers were laced together beneath the table.

Vella and Ayeka, in a twist he really didn't see coming, were sitting rather close to one another.

Hitoshi was, thankfully, squeezed up to Izuku, practically people-watching as he observed as Mei and Hado chatted between themselves about the different performances.

Izuku was drinking a cup of hot chocolate, eyes drifting up to Hitoshi's head, where the bandages Recovery Girl had placed on him remained.

Hitoshi was actually dying to know what the hell had happened to make Izuku that protective over him.

"Hicchan," Izuku called, smiling at him, "I'm sure that if Bakugou hadn't taken out his hearing aids, you'd have easily gotten second place."

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow. "Second place?"

"Unless you could really trip me up and take control of me, second place." Izuku confirming the statement, grinned at him.

"Trip you up, huh?" Hitoshi put an elbow on the table, leaning on it as he looked at Izuku's victorious, teasing grin.

Uninvited thoughts about how he’d wished to confess to Izuku during the last fight wormed their way into his mind. Would he have gotten to cuddle up to Izuku if he had confessed? Would he have even been allowed to be as close?

"Hmm. I'm pretty sure I could’ve tripped you up. Actually had a plan and everything," Hitoshi confessed.

"Oh, really?" Izuku asked, voice low, a smirk dancing across his lips. Hitoshi had to fight not to shiver.

Brainwash made him far more sensitive to people's voices and pitches than most. Usually, Izuku's voice seemed rather unremarkable, but every now and again, he'd get sassy, or execute a plan and gain confidence, and then it's goodbye to functioning, hello to being a human disaster.

"Oh! that's right. Hey, Zuzu," Kelly started, breaking out of her conversation with her girlfriend. "How did you get Todoroki to use his fire? I heard all the 1-A kids going nuts over it. Apparently, he never uses it."

"Oh. I uh… just kind of listened to whatever my gut was telling me?" Izuku seemed sheepish, almost as if he didn't know himself.

"Well I had a theory," Hado started. "Have you ever heard the phrase 'armor-piercing question'?"

"Oh. Oh! " Kelly seemed excited and Hitoshi hummed, bringing a finger to his lip.

"So it fits what I was talking about at first, about manipulation being possibly a part of Mastery?"

"Well, maybe? But manipulation is a broad term, and I think it depends more on the word choice!" Hado answered, and Izuku perked up.

“What are yo-?" Hitoshi was cut off by his crush.

"You're saying that armor-piercing questions work because the element of a weapon is in the name? As in, to work my quirk to the fullest, I need to think of actions in analogies to war and fighting?" Izuku caught on.

"Like how kisses can be thought of as fights between tongues." Endo pointed out and Hitoshi froze, trying oh so hard to not imagine Izuku on top of him, kissing him breathless with a smug air about it.

"Ah, I guess?" Izuku scratched his neck.

"Maybe you should check if it works!" Hado suggested, and Togata seemed to almost sense trouble brewing, by how quickly he went from whispering into Amajiki's ear to turning to her. "Why don't you try kissing someone no-"

"Nejire!" Toogata scolded while Hitoshi's brain bluescreened as Izuku looked at him, and hey, was that a considering glint in his eyes?

"Thanks for the offer, and the viewpoint, Hado-senpai, but I don't think that'd be appropriate," Izuku tried to wave off, when Kelly joined in again.

"Hey, since sex is sometimes referred to as a battle for dominance, do you think--" Hitoshi was thinking far too much for this line of thought. Drink something, you thirsty disaster! He mentally ordered himself.

His hands found a big cup of hot chocolate and he thoughtlessly drank it.

"...My drink…" Izuku whined next to him, which was when Hitoshi froze remembering that he’d gotten tea and not hot chocolate.

The entire table went silent. Everyone was staring at Hitoshi when Izuku's phone went off.

"Oh, I better take this. I'll be right back!" He crawled out of the booth, leaving Hitoshi to the sharks.

"...Oh my God," Kelly started.

"I… I know I suggested he kiss you but… I didn't mean an indirect one!" Hado tried to hold back giggles.

Amajiki was apparently dying of secondhand embarrassment, hiding his face in his boyfriend's chest. Said boyfriend looked at Hitoshi with a sympathetic, yet amused smile, same as Mei.

Vella was trying not to laugh, only to end up practically laying on Ayeka, who was chuckling, judging by the motion of his shoulders.

Endo and Kelly were both giggling, and Hitoshi was really tempted to yell at them all to stop bullying him.

Hell, he could even see his parents laughing in the kitchen.

"I'm disowning you guys!" He yelled at them, making his mom laugh even louder.

Then suddenly there was a whole lot of green in his vision as Izuku launched himself at Hitoshi with a squeal.

The table quieted down as everyone stared at Hitoshi, waiting for his reaction. As for the lavender boy himself, he could really only put a hand down on his crush's back as he slowly, hesitantly, attempted to coax the reason for the outburst out of Izuku.

"Hicchan! I'm not supposed to tell you yet, but!" Izuku looked up at him with bright, shiny eyes and Hitoshi stilled, disbelief in his eyes.

"No… Already?"

The greenette bit his lip to try and hold back a smile. He failed.

"...MOM! DAD! I'M IN THE HERO COURSE!" Hitoshi yelled, hearing the entire table burst into cheers as Izuku squirmed, giggling.

"We're both in the hero course!" Izuku cheered.

Then it sank in. Izuku was going to be in class with him. All day. Every day.

Fuck. His crush was just going to keep growing into something uncontrollable, wasn't it?

Izuku hadn’t been expecting a call from All Might, which was why he removed himself from the table.

"All Might, hey," Izuku greeted his mentor quietly as he answered.

"Hello, my boy! I know I said it earlier today, but I figured I'd say it again, you did wonderfully today!" The number one hero's voice came from his phone, and Izuku quickly forced his attention back to it despite the giggling he heard from his table. It was so nice of Hicchan's parents to let them stay and enjoy the cafe after they closed it to the other patrons.

"Thank you!" Izuku tried to keep his voice from rising too high.

"But of course! Now, I'm not technically supposed to tell you, but both your and Young Shinsou's transfer requests have been granted. You're both joining Heroics!"

Izuku strangled back the excited yell that bubbled up in the back of his throat.

"Now, I called specifically to tell you something. Since you mentioned to Young Togata how Aizawa does not get along with you, Mirai has offered to take your first work experience week."

"Sir did?" It wasn't that Izuku was entirely not expecting it. Sir wouldn’t let him go on with a teacher who belittled him. But he wasn't the type to make an offer first. "I'll have to send him a thank you!"

"Yes, well. He wanted me to tell you that, so if Aizawa starts something about how he's not willing to take two students at once for transfers, you'll know you have backup," All Might explained.

"I see! Thank you so much, All Might!" Izuku grinned.

"But of course! Are you with your mother already?" All Might asked.

"No, I actually went to Hicchan's family cafe to celebrate with my Hicchan, 1-H, Mirio-nii and his friends," Izuku answered.

"Ah, I see! Well, enjoy your celebrations, Young Midoriya!"

"Thank you!" Soon after that, All Might closed the call, and, really? Was anyone expecting him not to hug Hicchan after this?

And if Izuku toyed with the idea of leaving his medal to his friend, because after all, Hicchan was convinced he'd have won, well. No one needed to know that.

Chapter Text

Izuku and Hitoshi were both removed from the classroom announcement the next day, and instead led to 1-A.

"Right, so congratulations on your performances during the Sports Festival. On another note, we'll be taking in two new students today, Midoriya and Shinsou. Make them feel welcomed, would you?" Aizawa drawled dryly, before gesturing for the two to sit down.

Thankfully, they were seated one behind the other. Unfortunately, it was right in front of the Hard-of-Hearing Satan himself.

Obviously, Hitoshi took the seat that allowed him to separate Izuku from the bully that had tormented him for years. He was rewarded with an angelic smile and a bush of green seated right in front of him.

They ignored the looks that the majority of the class sent them, although Izuku sent a small wave to the pink girl from the festival.

"Alright, with that out of the way, today you'll be choosing your Hero Names." Annnd there went all of Hitoshi's hard-earned confidence, out the window and far away.

Izuku was called up early on, and he presented his name with a muted grace.

"The Proficiency Hero: Adaptability," he offered, fingers clutching the board with confidence.

There was some chatter, with people questioning it, but Izuku clearly didn't pay any attention to them; rather, he looked to Midnight.

"Hm… Adaptability sounds like a name that promises a lot…" The R rated hero pointed out, hesitant and holding a finger to her lips.

"I can back it up," Izuku assured her with a determined expression.

She smiled at him and approved it with a thumbs up.

A few moments later, it was Hitoshi's turn. "Vex," he said simply, decidedly not adding any flair (unlike that one classmate, Aoyama was it?).

Izuku perked up, eyes wide and happy before he opened a notebook--which was surprisingly empty, must be a new one--and began scribbling in it.

Hitoshi tilted his head in an unasked question, but had his name approved and quickly found himself trying to look over Izuku's shoulders to sneak a peek at what he was writing with such vigor.

It took them the entire period before they were told to return to Mic's class, and to disregard any internship offers they received for the time being (which was, in Hitoshi's words, a WHOLE LOT OF THEM, HOLY SHIT ) because they'd be training under a hero of the school's choosing. After much careful treading, Hitoshi finally got a glimpse at what Izuku was working on.

Well, less got a glimpse and more a clue.

"Hicchan," Izuku gave a low whine that told Hitoshi immediately that he wanted something. "You'll let me change your costume around a bit for added support items, right?"

"I, uh… Depends?" He fumbled his words around. That whining tone was always a hard-hitter. It made Hitoshi want to give Izuku everything he asked for, but. Well. It was his costume. He wanted it to be his own.

"On?" Izuku prompted, a million and one selling pitches already loading up in his head.

"W-what do you want to add?" By the glint in the greenette's eyes, Hitoshi knew he was in for it.

"I am so glad you asked, Hicchan! See, I'm thinking of adding some visors that'll give you heat vision and a whole information hub, a filtration system, hybridized with a voice mimicker, obviously, maybe some fox-themed ears that'll enhance your hearing? Maybe we could make them a bit more flexible to give you greater range, add a pair of capture weapons, once you're proficient enough to use them, just as backup, and-"

Hitoshi cut his crush off with small waves of his hands. "Okay, okay! You can add your gadgets!"

Izuku let out a squeal; a squeal ; and gave Hitoshi a quick hug that really messed with the lavender boy's heart. "Thank you, Hicchan! You won't regret it!"

"Great. Now, what was that about a fox-theme?" Hitoshi queried,a single brow raised.

"Well, the name you chose, Vex? For me, it brings up the idea of a vixen, you know, like the term for a female fox? I was thinking that we could fake you a fox-like quirk using support items, to keep Brainwash a secret. Like how Eraserhead's Capture Weapon helps him fake a quirk that's kind of like Best Jeanists’, you know? Instead of having no visible indications of his quirk."

Hitoshi tried to think it over, but the second he heard 'capture weapon', all he could see was the image of Izuku crouched in front of his body, protecting him from Bakugou, just like he saw in the recording of the Sports Festival, the cloth surrounding him like tendrils of protectiveness.

"Y-yeah, I guess I can see what you mean," Hitoshi agreed, rubbing his neck.

Izuku beamed up at him, the notebook clutched to his chest like a stuffed bear. "Great! I'll submit the ideas I've had to Ayeka, and you'll have your very own costume ready by the time our work experience week starts!"

"R-right." Izuku was already off to the 1-H classroom as Hitoshi walked into his next class, just a touch confused and very unsure of what exactly he’d just agreed to.

"So, who will train Midoriya and Shinsou?" The question was brought up, and Toshinori immediately perked up, but waited for Aizawa's reaction first.

"Well, I'd assume whoever gets a claim on them first, but Aizawa has to agree, right?" Vlad asked, then shook his head with a deep sigh. "We haven't had transfers from the other departments since Aizawa, apparently. So the protocols are a bit outdated and...ineffective."

"We've also never had two transfers at once," Midnight reminded. "According to protocol, it's traditionally the receiving homeroom teacher that does the work experience week. But…" A manicured nail waved a small circle in the air, letting the thought go unsaid.

Mic tried not to make a face; key word being tried . Aizawa sent him a warning glance, now finally free from his bandages.

"Are you really going to train two students during their work week, Shouta?" Midnight asked, a concerned look passing over her features.

"I can understand Shinsou, he still needs to work on his physical abilities, but Midoriya is kind of… well-rounded? A jack of all trades?" Mic offered with a few hand gestures to help the words along.

"Midoriya needs real world experience and to develop some restraint when it comes to Shinsou," Aizawa simply stated. "Constantly pairing those two up is going to result in a dependency problem."

"Ah, well if that's the case, Midoriya has been requested by a personal friend of mine, Sir Nighteye. They already know each other, and I don't have any doubt-" Toshinori's chance to speak up was stolen away by an Aizawa Glare TM .

"No. He's going to need to learn how to operate like an Underground hero with a quirk like that," Aizawa grumbled.

"You know, Nighteye's a stable hero who can give him the chance to see both the Underground Heroics world and the Daytime Heroics wo-" Mic began to point out.

"No," Aizawa cut him off, earning him a small glare from the blonde.

"It would almost seem like you're impressed by my student," Powerloader drawled, tapping the tabletop rhythmically.

"The little sharpshooter's quite the character," Snipe nodded from where he sat with his arms crossed, one of his legs sitting on top of the other.

Aizawa groaned like they were physically paining him. "Fine. I might have been wrong about Midoriya. He's got potential and I want to draw it out of him. Happy now?" The scowl on his face did nothing to hide how he felt regarding the confession.

"Ecstatic," Powerloader snapped bluntly. He clearly didn't think much of Aizawa's ability to handle Midoriya after all of that, and frankly? Toshinori wasn't sure if he did, either.

But, well. He should at least give the tired Underground hero another chance.

Wait, when did he get coffee on his tie?

Chapter Text

Izuku had the design approved by Ayeka --thankfully, with minimal complaints-- the very next day and took Hitoshi’s measurements the day after that. The design was indeed ready by the start of the work experience week.

There was not a trace of loose, comfortable clothing. It was all tight, black fabric, with white lines along specific areas; several patches were darker than others, and there were several boxes with fragile gadgets in them lining the waist.

‘Seriously, Shinsou? Loose, black clothing doesn’t do a thing for your figure, nor will it catch Midoriya’s eye. Not to mention tighter fabric is harder to get a hold on, but don’t worry, I didn’t make it nearly as tight as Midoriya’s is.

So, here’s a rundown. Several gadgets are included, Midoriya left notes on each one, but we’re focusing on your costume here. Upper body is tighter than lower, because Midoriya brought up the idea of a vixen, so we might as well work with that, right? If you want me to change it, just tell me, it’s  a thirty minute adjustment, at most.

The darker areas are padded, Midoriya said it’s for easier falls and better protection, so you’re looking at wrists, hips, shoulders, elbows and anything below your thighs. All it means is that the added protections are outside the costume instead of inside it, so you’re protected all around; it’s just more stab-protected there, but more impact-protected everywhere else.

The white accents are meant to glow when you tense your muscles a bit, to show civilians that you’re not some weird, roof-jumping fox furry. They match the ears Midoriya made for you.

Check your gadgets now. If you want any adjustments, again, just come to me, I've been pretty bored.

-Ayeka’

‘Extremely helpful,’ Shinsou thought as he put the printed letter down next to his costume’s suitcase.

Next was the handwritten letter in the boxes for the gadgets. If there was something that warmed in Hitoshi’s chest after seeing the effort, well, nobody really needed to know that.

‘ Shins- Hitos- Hicchan! Your newest support items are here! I hope you like them! Please test them out in the field and give me your harshest feedback!

The items are separated into boxes, and the boxes are organized by numbers! I thought it was a bit too organized, but Endo said it’s more professional this way! Please give me feedback on how it was set up, too, if you have any!

Now, onto the support items!

• -MidoHearing- Work in progress of a name. These connect to your mouthpiece, and go over your ears! They don’t look like it, but they’re highly flexible and you can adjust where they’re pointing with a look! They enhance your hearing!

• -MidoVision? God I need to stop letting Mei name my stuff-Haven’t found a better name for them yet. They’re meant to discolor your eyes a bit, make you look a bit more fox-like, you know? They also have heat vision, vision enhancers -- like Mei’s Zoom! -- and a stats hub, like I said. It’s mostly contained to scanning for obvious injuries and for how far away you are from a person!

• The Mouthpiece! Not named yet, as it’s going to be completely unique to you! I was thinking Vex-hancer. Feedback, please and thank you! Anyway, like I told you, it’s a hybrid of fake vocal cords -- the lower part goes on your neck and face and connects to your goggles and earpiece; it’s tight enough to connect to your skin and give you better control over your gadgets -- and a filtration system! The filtration system goes on top of everything else (it gets attached last) so keep that in mind! It’s a bit elongated to fit the fox theme!

• Along the light lines, you’ll find little indents! They’re for throwing weapons! I included a small selection of them here, including ninja stars, dulled throwing knives and several little Chemi Surprises, including tracking darts and small time-grenades!

And that’s it for your support items! Remember, any refills, adjustments, problems and feedback, please deliver to me! (If you could write it down, that’d be great because we both know I can’t remember anything)

Hopefully you’ll enjoy these!

-Izuku’

...Well that was cute. Hitoshi carefully began putting on the costume, following his friends’ instructions to the letter.

“When you divas are done, we should be starting to see where you’re at in unarmed combat,” Aizawa drawled from outside the changing room, and Hitoshi carefully took a deep breath before leaving the room.

Aizawa didn’t react to his outfit too much. That might just be because Izuku had just come out of his changing room, though.

Izuku’s outfit was skintight, dark brown with plenty of forest green indents that were currently filled with weapons, apparently. There were also several parts in his outfit that were just moss green, and Hitoshi assumed that’s where his ammo cases were.

Well. He would assume if he was capable of doing much of anything other than staring at Izuku’s muscles.

God, being gay around this boy was hard. In more ways than one.

“Oh, Hicchan! Your costume looks so good!” Izuku jumped towards him, a beaming grin on his face. The insomniac had to actively avoid staring at how the material accentuated the curves of the greenettes muscles, because holy fuck.

“Th-thanks. Yours is…”

‘Straight out of my fantasies.’

“Serviceable.” Why the fuck did I say that?

Aizawa cleared his throat, looking unimpressed.

“Midoriya, put all your weapons away. Spar with Shinsou,” he ordered from where he held a timer.

Izuku nodded and immediately got to it, treating his weapons with care and respect.

Hitoshi wrought his hands together anxiously. Izuku was really strong, and he was sure he was going to disappoint Aizawa. It may have been the usual thing in P.E classes, but now, it was different. Now, Aizawa was their homeroom teacher.

“Shinsou. Be less obvious,” Aizawa called him out, and Hitoshi nearly choked on his tongue at the possible double meaning as Izuku turned around, tilting his head in confusion.

“Did I miss somethin-”

“No! Go back to taking off your weapons!” Hitoshi yelled, trying to refrain himself from physically turning Izuku around.

Then Izuku shrugged, and went to take off the hidden weapons in his boots. Which meant he was bending over.

Hitoshi decided to adopt the tested and proven Amajiki Method of dealing with shit TM , meaning he turned around, faced a wall and waited to be called on.

“Alright, I’m done!” Izuku called out and Aizawa turned his judging, unimpressed look on the greenette.

“Good. Get to the mats, spar and show me what I’m working with.”

Suffice to say, Hitoshi ate the mats a whole lot that day. But it didn’t feel as important as the feeling of Izuku’s hands touching him.

Or that skintight costume on Izuku. Nope. Most of the day wasn’t nearly as important as that skintight costume.

As for Shouta, he was very much regretting taking on both boys.

Midoriya alone would be fine, he wasn’t nearly as overprotective as he’d initially assumed, though his social awareness was garbage and would definitely need some working on.

Shinsou alone would also be fine. They’d mostly just work on his lack of physical skills and confidence, and maybe add a bit of situational awareness.

The two together? It was disastrous, with Midoriya proving to be a trigger to all of Shinsou’s dumb, hormonal teenaged impulses, and Shinsou activating Midoriya’s caretaker instinct every time he lost confidence, leading to several minutes of pep talks each time.

God. The others wanted to keep this dynamic alive? What bets did they even have on those kids?

Chapter Text

The majority of the work experience week was kind of bland. Aizawa was trying to cram as much information as he could into their little heads, to get them up to speed with the rest of the class.

Hitoshi just wanted something a bit more exciting to happen! Maybe on their first patrol?

It was only far later, during the night of their first patrol, that Hitoshi regretted ever wishing for excitement.

[Iida’s WEWM - Manual: Hey Eraserhead, I’m really sorry to throw this on you, with the two you’re already training, but Tenya’s really not doing well. At this point, I’m kind of afraid he’ll go after the Hero Killer, since he was last seen here in Hosu.

Eraserhead: Yeah, figured that might happen. I’ll be swinging by Hosu tonight, bringing the transfers for a patrol. I can talk to him then.

Iida’s WEWM - Manual: Much appreciated! ]

Really, Shouta should have known that with his track record, something like this would happen. Of course every time he tried to go anywhere with his students, there would be a Nomu.

The city being on fire was new, but, well; might as well happen.

“Vex, Adaptability, you have permission to use your quirks and support items for protecting yourselves and others. Do not engage the Nomus,” he instructed, not hearing Vex question what a Nomu was. “I have reason to suspect Iida ran off from his mentoring hero. If you find him, message me the location. Do not separate. Don’t hesitate to ask for backup if you require it.”

They needed to find Iida. During chaos like this was the perfect time to slip away from a hero. Adaptability was surprisingly competent, and his protective streak over Vex should allow them to go through this rather easily.

Honestly, there were so many times this week when Hitoshi wondered just who the fuck trained Izuku. First aid? He aced it. Fighting, both unarmed and with nonlethal weapons? Took to it like a fish to water.

Parkour around a burning city? Apparently! Hitoshi was trying really hard to keep up with Izuku, who moved his own flexible, antenna-looking audio receivers around, trying to listen for… something . He didn’t even seem fazed by the fact that shit was burning and there were monsters attacking Hosu!

Izuku stopped, suddenly, then broke into a sprint. “Iz-- Adaptability! Where are yo--?”

Adaptability turned to give him a look and lifted a finger to his lips. “Get ready to call Eraser over. I hear something.”

And hear something he did. A dark, shadowy silhouette was closing in on the armored boy whom Hitoshi distinctly remembered as the poor soul who’d ended up getting messed with by Mei during the Festival.

“Vex. Send Eraser our location, tell him we have the Hero Killer here. I’ll distract him,” Adaptability whispered, crouched on the edge of the building and ready to spring into action.

Something about the chaos felt off to Adaptability. Like it wasn’t just monsters or villains attacking for the sake of attacking. No, this felt purposeful.

The purpose became clear as his Adapta-Hearing picked up the sound of metal dragging on concrete, along with the sound of a cold, familiar voice.

He couldn’t really dignify Vex’s question with an answer, only giving a barely-there warning before he jumped down into the alley.

“Stain. You’re going against your own principles. Once by attacking Ingenium,” Adaptability growled lowly, catching his mentor’s attention. “Twice by attacking a child. And thrice by causing all of this chaos. What are you doing?”

“Izuku…” Stain turned to him. “This isn’t the time to be lecturing me again, boy.”

“You’re trying to kill an innocent, Stain.”

“ He’s a fake. ”

What. The. Fuck ? Why does Stain know Izuku?  Hitoshi frantically wondered as he sent a message to Eraserhead with shaking fingers.

[Vex: We found Iida. He’s bleeding, fighting with the hero killer.

Eraserhead: on my way

Vex sent their location!

Vex: Izuku knows the hero killer. ]

I don’t know what to do… Please hurry, Aizawa…

“He’s a kid. He’s got time to grow,” Adaptability snapped.

“You sure gained some confidence since you entered UA…” Stain sounded amused. Vex’s phone dropped into the alley, making Stain turn to him.

“Got backup, kid?” he asked, turning to look at Vex. In that moment, Izuku nearly stabbed him.

“You’re fighting me. Not him,” the greenette hissed, an agitated gleam in his eye.

The standoff continued. Hitoshi had started feeling faint the moment Stain insinuated the idea that Izuku knew him from before UA.

Then Stain chuckled.

“Always the true hero, aren’t you? Protecting three fakes? You really think you can take on your mentor?”

Excuse me, what?!

“I’ve done it before.” Adaptability injected so much fake calm into his voice, he might have sounded disinterested. Inside, he was panicking.

Did Vex call Aizawa? Would he be able to hold Stain off until a pro arrived? Just in case, he sent out a location drop through his goggles off to any number his phone would have been near the last two weeks.

Stain chuckled, the sound dark, and launched into an attack.

Adaptability met him blow for blow, blocking when he could, feeling a strange rush each time. Like when he touched a new weapon, the rush of knowledge. He found it easy to evade the weapons he touched.

Filing that away for later, Adaptability focused completely on the battle.

Hitoshi sat petrified and unable to move on the rooftop, watching the two fight.

It was like a dance of deadly blades, neither relenting, with the only real sound being the clash of steel in a whirlwind of movement that betrayed hours of practice fighting each other.

Iida had long since given up on moving, staring at the two fighters with pure hatred in his eyes.

And Aizawa was still nowhere in sight.

Shouto was not expecting a message. He ran off from Endeavor, saying he got a location drop, and found what looked like a scene from a horror movie.

Familiar silver armor was stained red with blood, a pro hero Shouto just barely recognized as Native looked to be just a few seconds from passing out from blood loss...

And Midoriya was fighting for all of their lives against a lunatic with several swords strapped to his body.

He immediately sent out a glacier of ice to separate the two and give Midoriya a few seconds to breathe.

Todoroki announced his presence with a wall of ice, something that reminded Izuku very clearly that he was not fighting against Stain alone.

“Todoroki!” He could have cried with relief, if that wouldn’t have made the fight even harder.

He smiled at Todoroki, but scanned the rooftops for Hitoshi.

Why hadn’t he stepped in yet? Izuku gave him a clear hint as to what to target, Stain’s principles, why hadn’t he stepped in? Did Stain have backup? Did they catch Hicchan?

He caught the familiar purple eyes, wide with terror and betrayal and suddenly understood, his smile dying out. Oh. Hitoshi…

Stain broke through the ice far too quickly for either fighter’s liking, and Izuku jumped back towards Todoroki.

“If he gets a taste of your blood, you’ll be paralyzed! He’s also got throwing knives!” he warned.

Why was Izuk--... Why was Midoriya telling them how to fight against his mentor? A sharp intake of breath made Hitoshi turn around to see Eraserhead.

“Vex. Use your quirk. You have permission,” he said, jumping down to join the fray.

Quirk. Midoriya gave him an opening for his quirk.

“Hey! Who the hell do you think you are?” he shouted, reaching out for the response.

“Didn’t you hear Izuku, kid? I’m--” And there it was! His quirk quickly caught a hold of the answer and stopped the Hero Killer in his tracks.

Adaptability could finally breathe. Stain was under Hitoshi’s control, and-

And then Iida ruined it, going in for a kick, yelling something about his brother.

“No!” Both Eraserhead and Adaptability called, but it was too late. Iida’s kick launched Stain across the alleyway, but it also gave him a clear idea of what Hitoshi’s quirk was.

“A brainwasher… By vocal commands.” Stain grinned and made a movement Izuku was far too familiar with.

“Hicchan!” Izuku, not Adaptability, cried out as he intercepted a throwing knife aimed at Hitoshi’s heart.

Izuku froze as the knife embedded itself in his neck. It hurt like hell, his throat felt like it was on fire and he wanted to scream. But he knew... he knew that if he moved around too much, it could dig in deeper, like the talon of a hungry beast, and that would be the end.

He didn’t want to die. No, not like this, not as the scared, cowardly kid: Midoriya Izuku. He didn’t want to die before he’d accomplished anything. Not before he could do anything of importance.

No, when he died, he wanted to die doing something worthwhile, as the hero: Adaptability.

Could he? Did he even have that right, to choose how he died?

Was it too late for that already?

Chapter Text

Hitoshi watched as Izuku went down.

He watched, eyes wide and terrified, as Izuku took a knife to the neck, calling out his name, protecting him… And falling… falling… falling… 

Stain watched, frozen, as his protege took a fatal hit for a coward who’d stood by and stared.

The next generation’s one true hero might have just been cut down by Stain himself. The world's next guardian could have just died... for a fake .

“ You! ” Stain hissed with venom, eyes alight with rage.

Hitoshi could only stare, mute and completely numb, as the serial killer launched towards him, murderous intent written plain as day in his eyes. No, not just a serial killer. Izuku’s killer.

He felt cold all over as he watched the blood spill, as the ground was soaked in red. Izuku…

Izuku was dead. Or dying.

“You killed him,” Hitoshi whispered. He felt...numb, like his head and heart weren’t quite able to accept the fact. Actually, Hitoshi wasn’t sure how he felt. He just… he couldn’t really process it. But he knew, deep in the rational part of his mind buried by all his emotions… 

Izuku. Izuku was dead. It felt like the aftermath of a bullet shot. The sound of the shot nobody else could hear was still echoing, the silence was too loud and suffocating. Cold dread clawed at his throat like an animal desperate to escape.

Hitoshi’s knees gave out. He was still a building’s height away from where he should be right now ( should’ve been before, a biting voice in his mind whispered) as he scoured his brain for anything that could be useful, thoughts racing as his body remained still.

How? How could he have been so-- so cowardly? So useless? He didn’t-- couldn’t --do anything to help, and Izuku had paid the price for his inaction. Hitoshi could only watch, frozen ( just like he’d frozen before ) as Stain’s fury made itself known, as the killer raised his sword, as he prepared to bring it down with the judicious finality of execution.

A towering ice wall shot up suddenly, separating him from Stain.

“Iida, call an ambulance!” Eraserhead ordered, already in motion to trap Izuku’s attacker in his Capture Weapon. “Todoroki, keep Midoriya awake and calm, and get him away from the dirt!”

“On it!” Todoroki called, already moving.

Hitoshi remained unmoving, still hunched over on his knees as Stain was forced down to the ground by the Capture Weapon; Aizawa had started putting pressure on Izu-- on Midoriya ’s wound with one hand, the other holding the Hero Killer.

He didn’t know exactly what happened after that, but he found himself in a hospital room with his new classmates, Todoroki and Iida, as Midoriya was rushed into the ER.

“... What do you mea-?” Aizawa’s voice from the other room caught all of their attention. “Is she serious? Now?... No, I don’t care, actually, what the hell made her think….”

“It was still her decision! … Fine. Fine! Tell Yagi to meet me in the hospital. I have to talk to the others.” The door opened and they were all faced with Aizawa’s glare.

“Right. Two of you acted without permission, so you’re lucky I was there. Todoroki, Iida, you’ll be doing extra law classes with Midnight, to make sure you understand why what you did was wrong, and so that you know what measures you could have taken instead,” Aizawa started.

“You’re all going to go to a few meetings with Hound Dog, or whichever therapist you prefer; UA will pay for it. You’ll notify me and I’ll be contacting them in a few weeks’ time for a psych evaluation.”

“Is Midoriya…” Todoroki started.

“A villain?” Iida asked, tone bitter.

“...What?” Todoroki turned to him, eyes narrowed. “He saved your life.”

“He practically confessed to being taught by that maniac!” Iida retorted.

Hitoshi curled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around himself; the plastic chair was uncomfortable, but he wasn’t too concerned about that. He had a far more important question to ask.

“Is Midoriya alive?”

Aizawa sighed, and the glare simmered down as his shoulders sagged. The teacher seemed to be even more tired than normal. He spoke in a much quieter voice, “Midoriya will live. However, his vocal cords took a hit, and he’s going to have to go through some physical therapy before he’ll be able to speak normally. Thankfully, the doctors here had some powerful quirks that they managed to use together in order to save him. He’s stable now, but...”

Hitoshi swallowed. He wasn’t sure how to feel about...well, about any of this. Midoriya knew a villain. Midoriya had been trained by a villain. Did Midoriya befriend him because he had potential to be a villain? Was Midoriya a villain?  

And if he was… what did that make Hitoshi?

“What about his punishment?” Iida asked stiffly, almost expectant. “Will he be expelled?”

“Again, he saved your life,” Todoroki grumbled, clearly putting in minimal effort to hide his glower.

“No, he will not be expelled. When he wakes up and recovers his speech, we’ll investigate that relation. For the moment, Midoriya is going through more than enough punishment.” Aizawa didn’t look too pleased at that. 

“Your families are here. As far as the world is concerned, Stain was brought down by an underground hero with the help of Heroes-in-Training Vex and Adaptability. Your families know the truth, but you are prohibited from telling anyone else about the attempted vigilantism along with any and all of the events that occured tonight.”

With that, the families walked in. Hitoshi was quickly wrapped up in his mother’s arms, his eyes scanning the halls for another head of green, but he soon felt a familiar cold dread creep up on him when he saw no one. Did… Did Midoriya not have anyone coming for him?

He saw a woman with white hair with small streaks of red in it -- Todoroki’s family, he guessed; thankfully, it wasn’t Endeavor -- and the Iidas, who all had a striking resemblance to the youngest son, but he couldn’t find anybody who even looked slightly like Midoriya.

All he saw was Aizawa shaking his head at Yagi, who he’d grown to know as a teacher for the second year of the Business Course and a nice enough teacher when he was in charge of 1-H’s studio time.

Yagi looked upset, but he nodded. Fumiko frowned, and after a few moments of trying to figure it out…

“Toshi, where’s Izuku?” she asked, one hand stroking his head in a relaxing manner. 

His parents had quickly grown fond of Izuku, mostly because he was the boy who kept reducing their son to a flustered disaster, but also because he was nice and polite.

“He’s in surgery,” Hitoshi answered, curling up in his mother’s embrace with both hands clutching onto her like a lifeline.

“What happened to you guys?” Eiko asked quietly, brushing away the mess of lavender on his son’s face.

“A certain someone wanted to go get revenge on a serial killer. Another pair of someones decided to attack said serial killer in order to protect the first person and called me in. Then one of those transfers took a knife to the neck for the other, and now he’s in surgery, while the idiot who went after a serial killer is safe and sound and calling him a villain! ” Todoroki snapped.

Aizawa turned back to the room and sighed.

“Todoroki. This is a hospital. Don’t start fights.”

Shouta was tired . He was so tired of these messes that kept creating themselves around Midoriya like cyclones.

There was Bakugou and his--now beyond a doubt--skewed way of seeing the boy, that had influenced how Shouta saw him, because it was always much easier to throw the whole kid into a box, title it ‘lazy and without potential’, and throw it away.

Now that it’s been thrown right back to him and he’s had the chance to get to know the kid for who he is, it’s obvious that Shouta was painfully mistaken. Midoriya was a hardworking boy, who connected with people far too quickly.

And now, unfortunately, he had to be faced with the consequences of that.

Due to someone recording the whole fight, including what Stain and Midoriya said to one another, it was public knowledge that Midoriya had been Stain’s protege. That meant that people were bringing up how he’d fought in the Sports Festival against Bakugou, the quick, overkill move to beat Mina, and even how he’d slashed at Kirishima. Every single thing he did seemed to make more people point at him and cry, ‘Villain!’.

It was so bad, apparently, his mother had been informed that her best course of action would be to disown him, so no employer would have legal grounds to discriminate against her.

(If she wished, she could remain in contact.)

Thankfully, UA was ready for those things (to most people's surprise), so Midoriya would become a ward of UA, instead of being thrown out. And with Yagi volunteering his home for the boy, everything seemed to be settled.

They just had to deal with how this affected his relations in school.

Mic had already notified him that 1-H were apparently worried sick for their friend, so if worst came to worst, while everyone waited for the whole thing to blow over, he could just have the transfer process paused, and Aizawa would take care of catching him up to the class.

All that was left now was for the boy himself to wake up and begin his recovery.

(If only it would be that easy, but nothing ever was.)

Chapter Text

It didn't take long for Izuku to be cleared to move in with Yagi, once he woke up. He'd need to set up regular physical therapy sessions, of course, but at least he had a home.

The realization that Mom disowned him, after seeking advice, after looking for help, was… incredibly painful.

He was sure if he was moving in with All Might for any other reason, it'd be less painful than this. Unfortunately, he wasn’t graced with another reason.

All Might's apartment was large, spacious and modern; the living room had a huge aquarium, with shifting lights, and there was a flat screen TV that was probably bigger than All Might's muscle form. It, too, had color shifting lights behind it.

The entire thing looked like it was straight out of a home renovation magazine. It felt like it, too. There was no warmth, no sense  of anyone living here. And there was his idol, sitting awkwardly on the dark leather couch that looked like the only piece of furniture that was ever used.

"Young Mido-… Young Izuku," he started. "I want to make sure you know that no matter what happened before, I'm here to help you."

Izuku nodded, quiet, as he looked at the coffee table. It was white, modern-looking and clearly handmade with parts of glass made into beautiful, intricate patterns along the side. It also had a small stack of papers and a pen set on the top.

"I would like you to write down for me what happened with Stain, if you feel up for it," All Might went on. "You can, of course, say you're not up for it. There's no rush, my boy."

Izuku looked at him and sat down on the couch.

What do you want to know?- he wrote.

"What was your relationship with Stain like?" All Might asked.

He was the creepy, homeless man that knew a lot about weapons and had extremist views about most things in the world, but he was the person who could teach me how to use my quirk to the best of my abilities.

"I see. When did you meet Stain?"

The same day I met you. He found my house after we talked--the second time, when you offered me your quirk--and asked me why I didn't take your offer.

All Might stiffened, but nodded for him to continue.

He called me a "true hero", said the next generation needs one, and he said he wanted to teach me.

All Might nodded again and stopped, considering. "Alright. So, why didn't you tell me? If you knew when he was coming to get you?"

I wanted to help him. Try to get him to see reason. I didn't want to raise a hand to hurt before I offered a hand to help.

All Might stopped, then smiled. "My boy… You're truly incredible. You tried your best, even if you didn't succeed. You did everything you could."

Izuku blinked up at him, confused.

"Young Izuku, you should know that despite all that brought us to this situation, you're still a hero student, and being a student, you're bound to make mistakes. Some mistakes will be bigger than others. And more public," All Might began. "The truth of the matter is, every hero student makes mistakes. Every person makes mistakes. Usually, I'm told, UA sweeps those mistakes under the rug. Your mistake was, unfortunately, publicized."

Izuku nodded, eyes wide and shiny with unshed tears.

"Young man, you're just as worthy now  as you were when we met." There was a sincere, proud look in All Might's eyes. Something that couldn't be faked.

"Young Izuku, I want you to think about this, and only give me an answer once you're done with your therapy--both types of them. I still feel that you are worthy of becoming the next holder of One for All. Assuming, of course, your answer has changed. You'll be an amazing hero, with or without One for All, I assure you."

Izuku froze, tears still in his eyes.

Thank you, he wrote with a shaking hand and a wide, tearful smile.

All Might grinned at him and ruffled his hair. "You're welcome. Now, since your upbringing is now my responsibility, it's time we talk about how things are going to be in this house." Izuku nodded, ready to accept the rules All Might would give him.

"Well, let's start with the obvious ones: the kitchen is open for you whenever you want to eat; I won't blame you if you want to go for some greasy, unhealthy comfort food, but try to stay healthy, alright my boy? Just make sure to write down what you want me to buy for you. I can't exactly eat anything, so…" All Might trailed off, a playful sort of awkward and Izuku smiled.

"Now, next up is curfew. So long as you notify me where you are and text me if there's any trouble, you don't actually have a curfew, but I'd appreciate it if you got home by two am at the latest. You'll be getting your own room, of course, and I expect you to keep it tidy, but I won't be going into a teenage boy's room and checking."

"And finally, therapy. You're allowed to go to as many therapists as you need, until you find one that fits you. I don't expect I'll need to remind you to go to physical therapy for your vocal cords. If you eventually decide you want one, you can bring any emotional support animal you'd like, provided you take care of it. Of course, financially, I'll handle whatever expenses you need."

Izuku nodded, surprised. Living with All Might was going to be less restraining than he'd expected.

"If you want to go out to hang out with your classmates or Young Toogata, try to either keep to places without a lot of people, or, if you really want to go somewhere public, tell me and I'll ask for a hero to accompany you, just in case. If you end up hanging out here, just make sure to sleep at some point."

Any other rules I need to know about? Izuku wrote.

"Try to make sure that people from the gender or genders you're attracted to don't stay overnight alone with you," All Might decided. "And, my boy? If you're going to live in my house, you're going to call me Toshinori."

Izuku nodded, accepting.

The next day, Izuku was back in school, studying with class 1-H. He was informed that Aizawa would take over his hero training until his therapy would be completed.

Ashido sat down at his table during lunch, startling 1-H and Endo from their quiet, muted conversation. Hitoshi was sitting far away from them, and his absence was clearly felt.

"Hey, Midoriya, right? I just wanted to say, I think you're really cool! And don't worry about what Iida or Bakugou say. They're just being meanies because they feel threatened by you," Ashido announced. Apparently, the secret didn't stay a secret to 1-A. Well, it didn't to 1-H, either.

Todoroki sat down next to her. "She's right. Iida's an ingrate. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what Bakugou is, seeing as you know him far better than us."

Ashido blinked. "Well you're surprisingly social today!"

Todoroki looked at her. "When anyone in 1-A is worthy of being socialized with, let me know."

"Amen to that," Kelly muttered.

"Hey! I take offense to that! On the basis that I, myself, am from 1-A!" Mina decided. "And once the others grow a pair, get a ladder, and climb over their Ego Mountain, Midoriya will be a part of 1-A, too!"

"You say that like it'll happen," Mei scoffed.

"...Fair enough. Either way, Midoriya, you're cool, and don't pay attention to the jerks in our class that act like that."

And that was the start of the Chaos Crew version Two.

Chapter Text

Midoriya went right back to attending class with his friends in 1-H. Any classes he had with 1-C, he was apparently dismissed from.

The news came out about Midoriya being disowned from 1-A, too. The Monkey and the Robot seemed satisfied. The Hard-of-Hearing Satan was strangely subdued about the whole thing.

And Hitoshi? Hitoshi was still conflicted.

On the one hand, he’d made it. He was in the Heroics department. In class 1-A, no less.

On the other? The seat in front of him was empty. He couldn’t break away from the thought that had they been slightly less fortunate, it would always be empty.

And that empty seat brought with it the memory of scattered freckles, wide emerald eyes and a beautiful smile, but also blood spilled in filthy alleyways, the sound of harsh metal clashing, and that final, desperate cry of his name.

From what the others had written in the Midoriya’s Spies chat, the greenette still wasn’t able to talk. The thought hurt him much worse than he’d thought it would.

He was just a villain. He doesn’t deserve your concern.

He could keep saying it as many times as he wanted, but he’d still see Midoriya’s heartbroken expression when he talked to him in his dreams.

“You’re a villain. Or, you worked with villains. I don’t need to know the difference.” That’s a bold-faced lie, you know. Just tell me you never did anything, Izu-- Midoriya, please! “Either way. We can’t talk anymore. Ever.”

“You’ll just be an excuse for others to call me a villain. I can’t let you step between me and my dream.”

Midoriya’s open, worried expression changed to something horrified , pain clearly swirling in those eyes that had once drawn Hitoshi in. You absolute idiot! He came in to check that you’re okay! He’s barely walking and he took a knife to the neck for you, and that’s what you say?!

Midoriya’s eyes filled with tears, but he looked down and nodded. He left.

And Hitoshi had never felt as cold as he did after that.

It was a ploy, he tried to tell himself. It was all an act, Midoriya was never your friend to begin with. He was using you. Hitoshi could never believe it. Midoriya was too genuine to be just a facade. The emotions he couldn’t help but express were always so real. The hurt in his face was so real, whenever Hitoshi remembered dreamed of casting him away and tried to pretend like he didn’t care. The distress and fear in his voice when he protected Hitoshi-- when he’d been afraid to lose him-- were real.

And now his voice is gone, thanks to you.

He didn’t know what he wanted anymore. He wanted Midoriya to smile at him, and to hold him in his arms. He wanted Midoriya to get out of his life and never look back. He wanted… he wanted someone to take that huge tangled mass of feelings he couldn’t understand and burn them all until all he could feel was focus. A focus on his dream to be a hero.

( A dream that Midoriya had helped him achieve, a traitorous voice whispered. Hitoshi pushed it down, buried it where he couldn’t hear it anymore.)

His mind drifted to the Midoriya puzzle he’d made, all the way back at the beginning.

Midoriya is someone who wanted to be a hero.

Midoriya was thought to be quirkless up till last year.

Midoriya wanted to help He thought Midoriya wanted to help him.

Midoriya was trained by Stain.

Midoriya (says he) was trained by All Might.

Midoriya… never had friends before.

With an absolute certainty, he didn’t feel in the slightest, he added a line.

Midoriya is someone who isn’t worth it.

Hitoshi swallowed down the bile along with his emotions. He’d just need to live with it. That’s the price you pay for trusting the wrong people.

Shouto liked his new friends. Midoriya was just as friendly mute as he was when talking, and all his friends were nice, despite the animosity towards 1-A.

Even Ashido, who kept insisting everyone just call her Mina, was nice. She was, as Mei deemed her, feisty.

Speaking of the inventor, she had surprised them all that day.

“Guys! My dog’s puppies are finally old enough to be introduced to humans! My dad says we need to figure out who to give them to!” she enthused.

Puppies? Midoriya wrote, eyes wide and excited.

“Yes! My dog’s a Saint Bernard, my neighbor’s dog is a Border Collie, he got out and met my dog, and, well. You know what happens.” She shrugged.

Yagi said I can have pets. Can I meet them?

“Oh hell yes! They’re so cute, Mido!” Mei squealed.

“Puppies are always cute! Can we come, too?” Mina asked.

“Ooh, Kelly, can we have our date night with puppies?” Endo asked, excited.

“Ah, sorry, Sachie. I’m allergic.” Kelly frowned. “But I’m sure the puppies are adorable!”

“Oh, well, back to the original plan?” 

Vella and Ayeka just looked at each other then shook their heads.

“Alright, so Mido and Mina are coming? What about you, Todo?” Mei asked.

“I can come. I won’t take a dog, but I can come.” He shrugged, already texting Fuyumi that he’ll be late today. He wouldn’t want to worry her, or to expose any living being to his sperm donor.

“Alright, now, what about the rest of the puppies? I doubt Mido’s going to take eight giant dogs,” Mei pointed out.

“Doesn’t Heart’s Desire have a few adopting events?” Vella asked,

Mei made a face. None of them had been in close contact with Shinsou after he so rudely called the boy who took a knife for him a villain.

“I can help bring the puppies there,” Vella offered.

“I guess,” Mei huffed.

Assuming they’d agree, Midoriya wrote.

The conversation drifted from there, and by the end of the school day, Shouto was walking with Mina, Midoriya and Mei to the Hatsume house.

It felt like he’d only taken a step into the house before he was covered by at least three puppies at any given time. In reality, everyone managed to get to the couch at the very least before being assaulted.

One was currently exploring the temperature difference on his lap, another was trying to attack his hand, and a third one was jumping around happily, trying to lick his face.

Mina was laughing so hard that she vibrated as she struggled to hold onto one puppy on her lap and not have him lick her face.

The runt of the litter was curled up against the mother, a giant, brown and white dog with patches of black on her fur and a long face that seemed to be extraordinarily affected by gravity.

And the last puppy was squirming around and playing with Midoriya, who’d already somehow managed to control him like second nature. At least, until said puppy headbutted the greenette.

Something that might have been a sound if it happened a week ago came out of his mouth, but instead it was a breathy wheeze. 

There was a small cut near his lip that bled lightly. Midoriya chuckled mutely and kept playing with the puppy, completely unaware of how the blood-colored his lips.

Shouto shivered, remembering the sight of the boy covered in his own blood because of Stain’s damning knife and leaned forward, brushing away the blood with a thumb.

Hitoshi watched the video again. Midoriya, Todoroki and Ashido were in Mei’s living room, covered in puppies. Midoriya was getting hit by the puppy and chuckling, then Todoroki touched his lips, brushing away the blood.

It was sent in the Midoriya Spies chat. Not for him, of course, but rather for Vella, Ayeka, Kelly and Endo who’d missed out.

Hitoshi pouted at his phone again as he replayed the video. He… he wanted to be there, too. With Midoriya. Brushing away the blood on his lip. Soothing injuries, like he couldn’t do before. He wanted to… to help .

He shut off the screen and shook his head. No. Midoriya wasn’t worth it.

Hitoshi thought of the small glint of surprise in those beautiful green eyes as Todoroki casually touched the lips he had fantasized about for so long, the smile that spread just before the video was cut.

NOT. WORTH. IT .

He could at least try to believe it.

He didn’t, but it was too painful to think that he was wrong.

Chapter Text

Midoriya Inko was a strong woman. She had seen her husband go off to work the day after he discovered Izuku was Quirkless, pale and terrified, and never return.

But Inko was a strong woman, and she got in contact with Bakugou Mitsuki, the only woman stubborn enough to stay her friend throughout it all; she asked Mitsuki to take care of Izuku regularly, and she returned to being a nurse with twenty-hour-long shifts.

Once, before quirks, shifts for nurses were only eight hours. Now, with plenty of rejuvenating quirks, shifts could be upped to twenty hours for overtime.

And Inko desperately needed that overtime when raising her little boy.

So with the help of the two-person support team of Maseru and Mitsuki, Inko was off to work every other day for twenty hours. It was grueling work, but it paid the bills.

Inko managed to keep her and her son afloat, she managed to get enough money, and enough savings throughout the years to send him to U.A. To try her best to support his dreams.

She had seen her son discover a quirk, grow powerful and chase his dreams.

She hadn't seen the people who taught him. She hadn't known. But it didn’t matter.

She hated her employers for forcing her to choose between her son and being blacklisted from every institution on the damned island. Of course she knew her son wasn't a villain! She knew he would never hurt a soul!

But that was irrelevant. To them, at least. After all, she could ruin the entire hospital by slipping in something extra to a treated hero who’d hurt her villainous son and bring the goddamn public down on their supposedly 'fine establishment'.

Inko refused to give up on her son. Sure, he'd have a more luxurious life being a ward of UA, which she thankfully heard about from a worried co-worker who informed her of the fact, but he'd know throughout it all, his mother would never give up on him.

"Hey Izuku," she spoke to the camera, barely able to take her eyes off of her precious son who was looking at her through the screen.

Hey mom. How are you doing? He typed quickly.

"Well, the hospital decreased my hours, apparently they got a clue that forcing me to pick between having a stable income -- or, any, really -- and my son is a bit stressful, so they decreased my hours," she huffed, moving a strand of hair from her face.

I'm sorry, mom, Izuku typed.

"Shh, you've got nothing to be sorry for. You went and found the person who could teach you best and you're going after your dreams. You're making me proud and you shouldn't apologize," she assured him.

She wasn't allowed to ask how his new house was. (She thought that was ridiculous, but it was what it was.)

Izuku bit his lip, then wrote, You know I'm living with Yagi-sensei, right? Well, he allowed me to get something. He got up from the table to fetch it.

Inko sighed in relief. Yagi was a name she knew from their few conversations. He was a teacher that often helped her son. Someone who really cared.

A small bark drew her attention to the screen again as Izuku walked into the frame with a puppy.

This is Cotton, short for Cinnamon Flavored Cotton Candy, he wrote. She's my newest friend!

Cotton was a brown, fluffy puppy that initially seemed interested in trying to eat Izuku's fingers. She was adorable.

Watch this, he wrote, then got up and did a gesture, to which Cotton responded by sitting down. He changed the gesture to put his palm down on the ground, and Cotton laid on her belly and was rewarded with a treat and a ruffling of her fur.

"She's adorable!" Inko cooed and Cotton barked, as if to say 'You bet I am!' "And so smart, too!"

Izuku nodded, grinning at her.

"How's your therapy going?" Inko asked.

Izuku opened his mouth, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "It's going well," he rasped slowly, voice lower and smaller, but still there.

There were instantly tears in her eyes. Inko was glad that, even though she couldn't have her son with her (yet), he was well taken care of and happy where he was.

In the following weeks, the two fell into a routine of having at least one video call a day, with multiple texts throughout it.

Most of the time, it was about his friends and classmates. Sometimes, it was selfies.

Usually, it was selfies with the pink girl, who Inko quickly learned was Mina, and the youngest Todoroki.

Inko was just so glad to see that her son had friends who supported him. She didn't ask about Hitoshi. If Izuku didn't mention him, it was probably for the same reason he stopped talking about Katsuki.

That reason also ended up being the reason that eight-year-old Izuku was often left on his own at home instead of going to Mitsuki’s, even if Mitsuki did regularly come over to give him food.

Shouta probably shouldn't have been surprised. Midoriya did learn under Stain, and he was sure that maniac would have cut him loose if he hadn't had potential, but…

Midoriya was extremely fast. He kept up on everything Shouta could have taught him on his own and then some.

He was already thinking of adding another student or two to these sessions. Maybe excuse Ashido and Todoroki from their usual classes to fit them into Midoriya's schedule? Assuming they'd agree, of course.

Mina was tired, in every sense of the word. It felt like a 'her against the world' situation every day in class.

Kirishima and Todoroki were quiet, but neither made any comments when Izuku began dropping by with packets of her favorite sweets after she mentioned that they were too costly for her family with the added pricing of UA’s tuition.

Momo, Jirou, Koda, Satou, Shouji and Tokoyami were decidedly neutral about Midoriya. None of them wanted to form an opinion about someone they didn't know well enough.

Uraraka, Aoyama, Hagakure and Tsuyu were wary, watching Midoriya cautiously whenever they saw him, but the few times he did bump into them, they weren't hostile towards him.

Bakugou, Iida, Kaminari, Ojiro and Shinsou seemed to be completely against him, although each in their own way.

Iida and Kaminari claimed he was a villain.

Ojiro just 'didn't understand why a villain was allowed to go to UA'. If Mina was nice, she'd give him the benefit of the doubt and say it's about Mineta not being allowed to grow up, not the so-called Villain Protege Midoriya being transferred. But at this point, all her niceties had been burned through.

Bakugou and Shinsou were… strange.

Mina expected Bakugou to gloat, to say that he always knew it. Instead, Bakugou was quiet, glaring at the air as if the 'betrayal' was something that offended him personally. Or, something that he’d caused.

Shinsou, she’d expected to fight for Midoriya, to yell against the prejudices. Instead, he was silent, almost as if he agreed with it.

Which was why when she and Todoroki were pulled aside by Aizawa, offering them a new study plan to keep them with Midoriya, she didn't hesitate a second.

Mido was a sweet, non-judgmental guy! He constantly tried to help, and honestly? Mina wanted to be closer friends with him!

She wasn't interested in him, not in the way that drove Todoroki to stare at him for hours, not in the way that made Shinsou look like he’d been punched in the gut every time he saw Midoriya smile at anyone, the few times Mido failed to avoid him.

But Mido was a person she knew needed more friends, and some more fun in his life!

So if she said she was surprised that she and Todoroki both decided, immediately, that they were up for the plan… it would be a big, fat lie.

Mina was going to make sure that Mido knew he had their full support.

(And, well, if she happened to get the chance to watch Todoroki falling for Mido, she wasn’t about to pass up on it.)

Chapter Text

Moving to Midoriya’s schedule meant a LOT for Mina.

It meant that she had two constant private tutors in both Midoriya and Todoroki, who helped her improve her grades by leaps and bounds.

Todoroki usually explained the same way, maybe changing a few words that the teacher said in hopes that it would make things click for her.

Midoriya, however, would carefully change his wording completely each time she expressed any confusion, his words slow, careful and low. Honestly, Mina was sure that if she was attracted to Midoriya at all, it’d fluster the hell out of her.

She kind of wished that it was Todoroki who was struggling. Watching Mido tutor her, with that low, slow tone almost felt like a secret being passed between them, and she was sure Todoroki would be burning up the room if that was directed at him.

Either way, Midoriya was perfectly suited to being her teacher, if you asked Mina. He took the time to know her learning style and adjusted his methods to that, making things click just that much better.

It also meant that hero training was far more concentrated. Each class felt much more fun and informative, even if it sometimes felt like both Midoriya and Todoroki were slowing down for her.

It barely mattered, really, since their exercises were focused on teamwork and social and situational awareness.

It seemed to be specific to them, seeing as Todoroki couldn’t recognize teamwork if it bit him on the nose, Midoriya didn’t have ANY social awareness, and Mina herself felt personally attacked when Kelly fought in the festival, because yeah, she would absolutely do step out of bounds by accident  too.

Despite dancing for years, Mina still didn’t have the best situational awareness unless other people were around her constantly.

However, when the ‘eventually’ of Aizawa’s two classes meeting for an exercise arrived, there was a clear gap between her group and the rest of the class; if it wasn't the set signals that the smaller group knew by heart that saved them from communicating out loud when the  rest of the class could overhear, then it was  the knowledge of each other’s limits and respective fighting styles.

The trio moved as one, fluid, immediately moving in to protect one another and cover for weaknesses.

And if Mina scored ninth in the midterms practice tests, well. She’d thanked Midoriya until she could barely breathe.

Izuku was exhausted.

His school hours were getting more and more hectic as time went on, and as training for One for All got more intense.

He’d received the quirk a week ago, and he’d been, as his therapist calls it, in a low. He kept hearing everyone’s words, everyone’s doubts, and he couldn’t fall asleep!

He’ll have another long day tomorrow, and he couldn’t afford to miss out on more sleep than he already did thanks to Cotton needing bathroom breaks.

He sighed. Maybe some meditation will help me?

Izuku quietly set Cotton up for a walk, now that he could take her for walks after her third vaccine, and walked the two of them over to the park they frequented.

It was dark out, already ten, but thankfully, it was a Friday, so the only curfew was All Might’s, even if Izuku didn’t actually want to see if that was his curfew or not.

Cotton happily ran after Izuku. She was getting quite large, but Izuku just hoped she wouldn’t be too much of a handful. He wanted to at least have someone with him while he meditated, even if that someone was a bouncing ball of fur that shed a lot.

They reached a small pond that was overgrown with greenery, left alone without anyone to nurture it. He wondered if he should feel glad he wasn’t like it, that others were there to guide and nurture him.

But then, he’d also need to grow by himself and find his own way. He couldn’t rely on mentors constantly, no matter how many there were.

Izuku sighed and sat on the moist grass, rubbing his eyes. He wasn’t eating well, which was concerning All Might, but really, how could he feel hungry when his stomach was always filled with a ball of anxiety that just seemed to grow with each passing day?

Everyone hated him. They thought he was going to be a villain. Sure, maybe he had his small friend group, All Might, and Mom, but… At this point, even he was starting to wonder if he was going to be the villain of his own story.

Tears slipped from his eyes as he thought about it. He didn’t want to voice that thought, not ever. All Izuku wanted to be--all he’d ever wanted was to save others. He’d never wanted to hurt anyone.

He pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them, trying to think of anything other than villains and heroes. He watched Cotton run around for a few moments, constantly turning back to look at him.

Izuku… Izuku was starting to regret the path he’d taken. Maybe if he’d accepted All Might’s offer the first time, or not heeded the call of caution the first time he picked up that knife, he wouldn’t be thought of as the villain now.

Some movement caught his attention, and he turned to look, but saw nothing. He shook his head and tried to concentrate on meditating as Cotton made her way to him, laying on her side next to him.

He just needed to clear his head, just for a small while.

Hitoshi didn’t expect to find Midoriya on his walk. He was just trying to clear his head, see if he could find any kittens roaming the streets that he could bring back to the cafe. He knew Mei’s dog had puppies, but he also knew they’d all been taken before his parents could even consider an adoption event.

Instead, he saw Midoriya, sitting down in front of a pond, tears falling from his eyes freely, arms wrapped around his knees.

He looked small, more alone and uncertain than Hitoshi had ever seen him. A part of him wanted to go to the greenette, offer a shoulder, offer an ear, offer a hug, anything. Everything he didn’t have the right to offer anymore.

Izuku turned to him, maybe seeing something, but Hitoshi hid. He didn’t deserve to see the other in such a state. He didn’t need more guilt stress, knowing that someone saw.

A small crowd of people passed through the park, and Hitoshi walked after them, keeping his eyes pointed at the ground, not glancing up to see if Izuku had seen him.

He’ll need to talk to the other boy soon. Get the full story from him, maybe.

He felt eyes on his back, but when he chanced a glance at the familiar form, it was the small dog next to him that was looking at Hitoshi.

There was an almost unnatural still in the air. The pressure he felt was slowly being relieved as the area around him fell into complete silence.

He could almost feel a divide. In the real world, there was some noise. People walking, Cotton digging in the dirt, the frogs and toads in the water.

Where he was, it was muffled, quiet.

“You can feel that, huh?” a voice asked, and Izuku fought not to open his eyes when a glowing figure seemed to materialize behind his closed eyelids.

“Sorry, you weren’t meant to find out about us so soon. Well, not from us,” the voice started again.

‘Who are you?’ he mouthed, almost afraid that if he talked, he’d break the connection.

“My name is Shimura Nana. I was Toshinori’s mentor, and the seventh user of One for All.” He could hear the smile in her voice.

‘The seventh?’

“Yes, that’s right. I’m the seventh user. And the first of the past users that will talk to you.

“You see, you’ve got something special in you, kid. It won’t help with how people see you, not right now. But, in the long run, you’ll be glad for it.” 

A hand moved in his hair and he hesitantly opened his eyes. There was a smiling woman, half transparent, looking at him with both pride and sadness etched in her face.

“You’re going to be great, Adaptability. Just you wait,” she assured, and faded away.

Izuku watched for a few seconds, almost waiting for the woman floating above the pond to return, before he shook his head.

“Cotton, did you see that?” he asked lowly. Cotton tilted her head at him.

Nevermind then… Maybe All Might would have answers for me? he thought as he left for the apartment. He hoped he’d meet Shimura Nana again. Something about her presence felt more comforting than anyone else he’d met so far. Almost like she was a part that was missing before.

Chapter Text

The conversation with Toshinori after his meditation session was long and awkward, full of hidden truths that the hero obviously didn’t want to tell him yet, but they had to start somewhere.

Izuku resolved to have more meditation sessions after that one. Usually, they ended with Nana telling him it wasn’t not time yet. Time for what? He didn't know.

Tsukauchi came by to take his statement, now that he could talk, and all he could offer was a sympathetic look at all that was revealed to him.

“I’ll make sure this gets to UA, so they can start proper damage control,” he’d assured as he left.

Every night since the first, he’d go out to the pond with Cotton -- who had started her training as a therapy dog already, and would probably get her license within the month -- and meditate.

On All Might’s end, the hero had called in Gran Torino to teach Izuku and help make sense of the whole situation, which ended with a new person stepping into his meditation sessions.

The figure had spiky hair and a wide grin.

“Hey there, Adaptability,” they whispered and Izuku felt a hand run through his hair.

“You’ve been good, haven’t you?”

‘I hope so. I’ve been trying my best,’ he mouthed to the unknown user.

“Yeah, you sure have.” They sighed. “You’ve been trying your best for a while now.” They shook their head.

“That’s not what I’m here for, though. I’m here to reward you, sort of. As you grow closer to us, as you need us and our quirks, we’ll be right here with you,” they promised, voice getting shaky.

“My name has long been forgotten. I left no legacy aside from One for All, but I will give you my quirk. Affectio-traction. Affectio-traction gives you the ability to see how someone feels towards you; if they’re in colder colors, then they don’t like you. If they’re in warmer colors, they do. Affectio-traction used to let me stop those who liked me enough or to empower them. It feels like, now that our power has grown, you may be able to control it better. To make it stronger.”

Izuku felt the hand leaving his hair, and slowly opened his eyes, willing himself out of  the sanctuary that One for All had provided him with. His eyes caught the hesitant lavender eyes of a familiar boy.

Hitoshi had debated going up to Izuku (when had he become Izuku again?) for a while. He found his feet always carrying him to the park, watching Izuku meditate for however long he could stand before he lost his courage. Again.

That night, he found the courage to stand closer than ever before, watching as Izuku mouthed something at someone. His dog rested her head on her owner’s thigh, warm brown eyes watching him.

Then, Izuku, who had seemed to always be in his own world, opened his eyes. The light from the pool illuminated his face, making him look more tired, warier. Something deep in Hitoshi’s conscience protested the change.

Izuku wasn’t supposed to look tired. He wasn’t supposed to look wary. He was supposed to be smiling, to be happy and beaming and proud and--

He was supposed to be his. He was supposed to be Hitoshi’s.

(And it’s your fault he’s not anymore, his traitorous mind murmured. He pushed the insidious voice away. Shut up, he wanted to say. I know it is.)

Izuku looked away first, Hitoshi still stuck on the thought that yes, Izuku was supposed to be his while the greenette hid his face in his scarf and picked up his dog, running back (away from Hitoshi) towards his house.

Izuku left too fast once he saw the cold lavender surrounding the other boy, not seeing it shift to a warm, dusty violet.

He didn’t want to see that Hitoshi hated him. Not right now. He didn’t stop when he heard Hitoshi stumbling to run after him, nor did he stop when he heard the other stop.

He ran right into the house, where All Might turned to him, concerned. He could see a shade as red as All Might’s own costume around the man, and the words started pouring out.

He told All Might about the newest quirk. About what the past user had said, about Shinsou appearing and being that shade of cold, cold purple.

All Might reacted by pulling Izuku in for a hug. The words of the past user rang in both of their ears.

“You’ve been trying your best for a while, now, Izuku. You’ve been trying to be strong for even longer,” he said. “It’s okay to be hurt. You trusted him.”

Izuku did end up crying.  He cried that night until he fell asleep in All Might’s arms. The last thing that slipped out of his mouth that night was a hoarse, tired, grateful, “Thanks, Dad.”

“Right, so, for the finals…” Hizashi started and Shouta groaned.

“Having trouble there, Aizawa?” Kan asked, competitive as always.

“You’re welcome to try to fit this class into pairs for the finals,” Shouta grumbled.

“What’ve you got so far?” Snipe asked, trying to be helpful. 

“Asui and Tokoyami against Ectoplasm, since those two don’t utilize close-ranged combat effectively enough; Uraraka and Aoyama against Thirteen, due to their similar quirk drawbacks being exploitable; Kouda and Jiro against Present Mic, due to his quirk outclassing them both, seeing as they both pretty much exclusively use their quirk for reconnaissance…”

He sighed.

“Maybe Shoji and Hagakure against you? They also need to learn they can’t just stealth away every opponent. And that’s about it.”

Powerloader nodded. “So you have eight students figured out, nine students whom you can’t figure out where and how to pair them, and three who are more advanced than the others? Why don’t you list out their weaknesses?”

Shouta scratched the back of his neck. “Well… There’s Bakugou, who can’t work well with anyone, essentially. Sero and Ojiro are overly reliant on their mobility. Iida’s not flexible enough to think on his feet and assess a situation. Shinsou’s almost afraid to use his quirk. Sato, who uses his quirk recklessly. Kirishima, Kaminari and Yaoyorozu are all overly reliant on their quirks, Kirishima expecting it to take every hit and last long enough to outlast his enemies, while Kaminari expects every enemy to go down immediately, and Yaoyorozu’s got a powerful quirk but not enough confidence and creativity to work with it.”

“And the advanced listeners?” Hizashi pressed.

“Midoriya thinks he has all his bases covered with support weapons but he’s in the same boat as Todoroki who’s over-reliant on his quirk and Ashido’s not creative enough in the application of her quirk.”

“And you’re afraid of putting the advanced listeners with the rest of the class because…?” Hizashi prompted.

Shouta huffed. “The class is divided into people who hate Midoriya and people who don’t mind him. While we have Midoriya’s fan club to worry about, it’s also a question of their interpersonal dynamics that we need to keep in mind.”

So the teachers worked on making a plan during that meeting, with All Might being excluded from it--as Midoriya’s pseudo-Dad, he would be too partial, after all.

Chapter Text

Hitoshi had felt awful ever since the day he startled Izuku out of his meditation. No, scratch that, he’d felt awful since the Hosu patrol. He just wanted to talk to him, to get the full story, but did he have the right to, now?

“ Well I didn't tell anyone, but a bird flew by

Saw what I'd done he set up a nest outside,

And he sang about what I'd become... ”

He perked up. He always did relate to the bird in the song, but the dread in his stomach and the thoughts of Izuku made the song sting, a guilty tinge souring his usual enjoyment of it.

“ He sang so loud, sang so clear

I was afraid all the neighbours would hear,

So I invited him in, just to reason with him

I promised I wouldn't do it again...”

The bird saw the singer do something awful. And sang about it. Once, Hitoshi felt like the bird, who only ever sang. The boy who only ever existed with his quirk.

“ But he sang louder and louder inside the house,

And no I couldn't get him out

So I trapped him under a cardboard box

Stood on it to make him stop,”

Now? Now he saw himself as the singer. Finally free from something, probably in a regrettable way, only when someone reminded him of it.

“ I picked up the bird and above the din I said

That's the last song you'll ever sing

Held him down, broke his neck,

Taught him a lesson he wouldn't forget!”

And boy did Hitoshi teach Izuku a lesson he wouldn’t forget. Not after that knife to the neck. And Izuku wouldn’t -- couldn’t -- sing again.

Probably ever.

Hitoshi wanted to stop the song. To take it out of his playlist and never hear it again. Just like he wanted to do to Izuku, to take him out of his life and never speak of the whole damn thing again.

( And yet, he still wanted Izuku to come back to him. He still wanted to feel Izuku in his arms, telling him it was alright, that he forgave him even though he didn’t deserve to be forgiven . He wanted Izuku’s warmth, his sunshine presence, his gentle smile that Hitoshi could savor forever. Hitoshi stuffed the yearning thoughts down, buried where he could almost not feel them anymore. Izuku wasn’t coming back. It would be better if they never saw each other again.)

This time, instead of giving in to such bitter thoughts, Hitoshi listened to the song till the end, punishing himself.

Just like he deserved.

After that disastrous patrol in Hosu, Izuku wanted to change his hero costume.

He didn't want to be reminded of it each and every time he did a physical exercise, so after watching Black Panther , he found himself inspired and quickly sent a message to the class chat.

In collaboration with Ayeka, they designed the outfit, meant to go on him like a second skin; with Mei’s help, they got the kinetic energy redistribution to work.

Ayeka didn’t want the outfit to be too plain, so with the help of Kelly, who’d managed to make her Powdered Elements into crystal forms, they added the substances to the costume. The Elements were still highly volatile, and thus, meant to work mostly as grenades.

Vella added small weapons to the costume itself too; if it wasn’t the long, metallic, gold claws, it was the blades that easily popped up along his forearms for slashing, or the hidden knives that appeared on his fingertips.

Endo dropped by every now and again to make sure they didn't make the actual costume into a weapon, saying that if he was going to be a daylight hero, he’d need something to sell as merch, and replica weapons were just adorable, apparently.

As for the head gear, they took cues from what they made for Shinsou, with the elongated ears, but dropped the muzzle-looking filter for a slimmer one. Instead of making him look like the predator, they took advantage of his lean form and ‘intimidation factor’ to make him feel like the predator in each encounter.

After taking the costume through enough trials that Izuku was starting to think were getting a bit… psychotic (So it could easily tank a grenade, that’s great, but he didn’t design the Midovision to take on grenades! His face also couldn’t tank grenades! No, Mei, he was pretty sure it didn't have to be able to hold up to Todoroki's hottest and coldest temperatures!), it was finally approved for Izuku to use in the field. Which was just in time for the practical finals exam.

He was far from the only one, of course. Mina, for example, had her outfit redesigned a bit to make it feel less like a blob of texture; with the colors she chose, the turquoise and purple along with additional blacks and whites, being placed in lines and blocks gave off a more defined feeling to her outfit while keeping the fun, colorful part of it in even in her fingerless gloves. It was all made from the same material of her first outfit.

Todoroki didn’t want to let Ayeka touch his redesign too much, but even his outfit, with the dark blue base and white accents, looked great.

Standing proudly with his friends, after weeks of training Affectio-traction with All Might, from empowering to stopping him in his tracks, he looked at the lineup of teachers. He examined their various shades and hues, from a protective rust surrounding Aizawa, to a fond candy apple from Maijima, a proud scarlet from Kayama, an excited maroon from Yamada and a pleasing hibiscus from Snipe.

Izuku just hoped he’d either be teamed up with someone who feels positive towards him or he’d be fighting against someone who feels strongly towards him.

Hitoshi hated his costume.

It wasn’t that it wasn’t perfectly serviceable, it was even amazing compared to his classmates.

It was that it was made by Izuku for Hicchan. And Hitoshi destroyed that friendship.

He thought about approaching 1-F or 1-G about redesigning his costume because he sure as fuck wasn’t going to 1-H. He was pretty sure Mei would completely decimate him. 

But, ultimately, much like with the bird song, he felt he deserved to punish himself.

He watched as Izuku walked into the room where 1-A was gathered.

It felt almost like he was watching him go up to the training mat again. The boy had confidence, a small, serious smile, and friends flanking him. His costume emphasized the strength and power he held in a gentle but firm grip.

Hitoshi felt as if his heart was being physically squeezed to bits, a sudden ache tearing into it and ripping open the wound that was their old relationship, as he remembered again that he couldn’t just walk up to Izuku and fumble through a compliment again. Like he used to.

‘I miss you. I’m sorry.’ He needed to say it. Just once.

He knew Izuku would forgive him. But should he?

Hitoshi didn’t feel like he deserved Izuku’s forgiveness.

With the weird sense he’s been having lately like before the Stain situation right now feels like it’s the start of something far worse. He needs to apologize, at least once. And as soon as possible.

And that’s all he thinks as Aizawa announces the pairs for the fights.

“Shinsou and Todoroki, you’ll be against Cementoss.”

...Todoroki? The one who’d been staring at Izuku this entire time? The two startle away from staring at the Support Hero in training at just the right time for their eyes to meet.

A sudden realization sparks in Hitoshi’s mind. This was a rival for Izuku’s affections. (A rival that’s doing far better than he is. One that hasn’t hurt Izuku like he did. )

A rival? Come on, Hitoshi, you're not even in the running!

Chapter Text

Izuku was paired with Yaoyorozu. A student decidedly neutral towards him. Against Aizawa. A teacher who could negate his quirk.

Oh, hello there, worst case scenario! I was wondering where you were!

Todoroki was still glaring at Shinsou, whom he was working with against Cementoss. And they really weren't getting along.

Mina was close to tears when she heard she'd be paired with Kirishima against Nedzu and Izuku was a sympathy crier.

For the rest of the class, Izuku marked mentally, it seemed to be much the same situation.

Sero and Iida were against Kayama-sensei, probably to teach them something about mobility not being everything in a fight?

Asui and Tokoyami were against Ectoplasm.

Sato and Ojiro were against Maijima-sensei.

Uraraka and Aoyama were against Thirteen, whom he’d never actually met before, and who seemed just as interested in him as he was in them.

Kouda and Jirou were against Yamada-sensei.

Bakugou and Kaminari were against Da-- All Might. Which was terrifying, and Izuku was really glad it wasn’t him in that position.

And Hagakure and Shoji were against Snipe.

All in all, Izuku's situation may not have been the worst, but it definitely wasn't the best.

"Right. While we're testing you, the rest of the class will watch from the viewing room right here. None of you are allowed to talk strategy before your own test, and for that reason…" Aizawa turned to Izuku.

"Midoriya, Yaoyorozu. You're up first."

Of course we are. Well. Time to fight, I guess.

Momo didn't think she'd face Midoriya so early. He was… Jirou called him a cryptid. He appeared to win fights, cause chaos, and then disappeared with the vague answer that he was in the support studio.

Everything about him was vague and uncertain, besides the fact that he always won .

The two of them stood at the gates, her eyes drifting to him every now and again, curious and expecting, while his eyes were narrowed and focused on the gates.

"Got a plan?" he asked. His voice was raspy, quiet, and he seemed self conscious about it, seeing as he dug his head further into his capture weapon.

He had two on his person, she noticed. One around his neck and another tied above his hips.

"I was thinking… maybe using smoke grenades, and to distract Aizawa-sensei so we can go to the gates," she answered, a bit surprised. He went to her for a plan?

"Hm. Think you can make flash grenades?" he asked.

She replied by making a babushka doll for him. "There's one in there."

He smiled at her, confident and kind. "Yaoyorozu-san, this is the start of a wonderful relationship. Alright, here's what we do..."

If Momo was grinning after the explanation, where Midoriya was sure they'd win by utilizing her abilities more than his, well, no one could blame her.

In a way, she wondered if he was overconfident, but… Well, Midoriya did always win.

Shouta was decently confident Midoriya and Yaoyorozu would pass. Despite the two never actually interacting, he knew they were both professional enough to pull the best sides of each other out for this.

The two were a good match, and they'd surely make it a challenging fight. For him, at least.

Shouta blinked at the trail of babushka dolls. Well, guess I know where I'm going. He followed along the trail through the rooftops.

Following the path, he quickly spotted Yaoyorozu, but there was no sign of Midoriya. That’s unusual.

Even if they didn't get along for whatever reason, it seems strange for Midoriya to abandon her, he thought, keeping an eye out for flashes of green.

The faintest sound caught his attention and he turned to face it, seeing bright green eyes staring right at him from a nearby rooftop, close enough to be inside his Capture Weapon’s reach.

Immediately, Shouta erased Midoriya's quirk, knowing that the second the student got his hands on any of the likely numerous weapons on his person, it would be over.

To his surprise, the attack he was expecting didn't come from Midoriya, who grinned and jumped away, but rather from Yaoyorozu down below, who turned to him while he’d been looking away and hit him with a blowdart.

Oh? That was unexpected. He moved to grab Yaoyorozu with his capture weapon.

If she's the main player here, I have to stop her. Yaoyorozu could be neutralized (or at least significantly slowed down) by just having enough skin covered. Midoriya was a whole different story, as a dark green Capture Weapon intercepted his own.

Shouta turned to Midoriya just in time to see the student lift Yaoyorozu up to the rooftop with the other Capture Weapon.

Well this got interesting fast … "You're that confident?" he questioned, but didn't let either of them answer before he launched himself towards them.

There was the sound of gunshots and Midoriya just wasn't there anymore, before he delivered a punishing kick to Shouta's back.

"Gun shoes. They go well with my gun braces," he murmured to the disoriented teacher, who’d just noticed that Yaoyorozu was wearing earplugs as his own ears were ringing.

Damn , he thought, as Yaoyorozu made escrima sticks to fight with. Leaving the lethal weapons to the weapons master, huh?

The two started rushing him, making use of the numbers being in their favor, as well as Midoriya's fluid maneuverability -- which, as Shouta soon discovered, he had seriously underestimated.

Who the fuck flies around using shotgun braces? The same guy who flies around using shotgun boots, apparently!

"Now!" Midoriya called, making eye contact with Yaoyorozu.

Momo realized that she loved working with Midoriya fairly early on. The idea to have them both play distractions, to play equal parts and stun Aizawa-sensei, was... oddly fun.

It wasn't clever, like her trap ideas, but Midoriya did raise a clear point. There was a reason the saying 'No plan survives encounter with the enemy' was a thing.

So the simplistic plan of rushing Aizawa, forcing him into a close combat fight with her and the actual king of close combat, was extremely effective.

Midoriya's warning about his upgrades was appreciated, and so were her earplugs.

Of course, Midoriya himself wasn't affected by the noise. She figured that's what the kitty ears were for. A filtering and augmenting auditory system.

Aizawa-sensei, however, didn't have that luxury, and the sounds constantly going off near his ears rattled him just enough in the start for the pair to get a few hits in.

Momo saw Midoriya catch her eye and mouth 'Now!' and immediately released a flash grenade babushka.

Aizawa-sensei staggered back, trying to blink away the spots in his eyes as Momo stepped in and handcuffed him.

"Yaoyorozu and Midoriya passed their test!" Mic called out and Aizawa-sensei slumped over.

"Aizawa-sensei? Can you hear me?" Izuku asked, unsure. He knew that after testing the boots and braces, all of his friends needed to go get their hearing checked up with Recovery Girl.

"Mh. I'll live. Good job," Aizawa answered, smirking at him.

Izuku flashed a relieved thumbs-up at Yaoyorozu and she smiled at him.

Guess that was his finals done. Now, time to watch who's next.