Chapter Text

Izuku sat in class, silent as he idly wrote notes on the quirks of his classmates. Their teacher was currently sleeping, looking dead to the world. He heard Iida complain about the unbecoming behaviour of their teacher. Heard the other students speak ill of him. He frowned to himself, uncomfortable with how they seemed to think so little of Aizawa-sensei. Of Eraserhead.

He was a pro hero, he saved the lives of hundreds of people, all while staying out of the spotlight. Did they not know that he worked at night? That last night he had fought and ran around the town, stopping thugs from hurting innocents? It was no wonder he chose to sleep while it was the homeroom period; the teacher hadn’t been able to get any sleep last night.

Izuku continued to write his notes, breaking down the quirks of those in his classroom. He couldn’t make up his mind about his homeroom teacher. The man was terrifying, strict, and threatening, but… it was different from his previous teachers. After all, Aizawa-sensei had threatened everyone, not just him. The bell rang and Aizawa got up, within seconds the sleeping bag was hidden away and the man was walking out and Mic-sensei walked in. Izuku saw their lips move slightly, a quick exchange of words that he couldn’t make out.

Mic-sensei greeted them, a bright smile on his face before starting them on their class work. Learning English. Izuku pulled out a different notebook and took notes on the lesson. But, throughout the lesson he couldn’t help keeping track of where Mic-sensei was. A habit from his lessons with his previous English teacher.

Izuku shuddered, pushing away the memories that threatened to overwhelm him. Trying to focus on the assessment quiz the teacher had given.

And so the rest of the daily classes passed. Izuku went home and worked out, continuing the schedule All Might had set out for him. Carefully planning out what to give each of his teachers.

The next day he arrived at the class a minute before the bell rang, earning a reproachful look from Iida. Aizawa-sensei sat at the desk looking less tired than yesterday, but he still held bags under his eyes. Izuku hesitated for a moment before walking up to the desk, the man gave a tired look at him, “G-good m-morning Sensei,” Izuku mumbled out, nervous as he held out his gift. A thermos, filled with coffee. 

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, but accepted it with a brief nod, “Good morning to you as well, Midoriya.”

Izuku gave a smile and headed over to his seat. He bit his cheek as his eyes caught on Kacchan who was glaring at him angrily, still mad that stupid useless Deku had managed to get in. And that Izuku now had a quirk.

“Teachers pet,” Kacchan hissed as he passed by.

He itched to take out his notebook and start writing, to escape away from those angry red eyes. They promised pain. After taking his seat he looked and saw Aizawa sipping on the coffee, his lip curled up in a small barely noticeable smile. Izuku counted that as a win. He may be a teacher's pet but, it was the only way to get the teachers to at least ignore him, to grade him fairly.

Bribery. Kacchan had told him once. Izuku supposed it was, but without it, he would be failing classes, all because teachers didn’t like that a quirkless kid was decent at getting the correct answers. They saw him as less than human, but because he was so kind, so helpful, they felt guilty for marking him down on purpose. 

So long as it got him fair treatment, Izuku considered it a win. If they didn’t accept his gifts… would they be like his old English teacher and want a different sort of gift? Izuku wasn’t sure he could bring himself to do so if that was the case.

Perhaps UA would be different, but… Izuku didn’t want to risk it, he already barely scraped by with Aizawa-sensei’s logical ruse. The teacher had seemed amused by the end of it though, and hadn’t expelled him. Despite his pathetic showing, one of the other kids, a boy by the name of Mineta hadn’t done much better. That night at home he might have had a minor freakout, because he actually made it through the quirk assessment test. 

Was actually in U.A.

The morning passed with normal classes and Izuku found a small minute or two to give his new teachers little gifts. Mostly food, the teachers never turned away his gifts, but they did seem confused as to why he gave them. Midnight asked him why, and he stammered out that it was to show his appreciation to the teachers for doing their jobs. 

Finally the afternoon started, the ‘fun’ classes. All Might came into the room with a bright smile and a small quip of him coming in like a normal person. Then he told them that they would be doing battle training, and that their costumes were ready.

At least he didn’t need to get All Might a gift, his mentor had told him time and time again that while they were appreciated, he didn’t need to get him anything. That simply being able to train him was enough for the older man.

Izuku quickly changed and headed out, remembering the trouble he had in choosing a design to send for his costume. In the end he went with a simple jumpsuit and a mouth guard. He could add stuff later if he could figure out what he needed.

Uraraka complimented him, and complained about her suit being too tight. Mineta just gave a thumbs up, saying something about the hero course being the best. Despite that statement Izuku got a weird feeling from his fellow classmate. One that vaguely reminded him- no he refused to think about him .

All Might started explaining the battle simulation, and midway through his explanation Aizawa walked in, eye bags under his eyes, but despite his tired look his eyes still seemed alert. All Might looked at him after he finished and Aizawa turned to them. 

“I’m here to get a better impression of what we’re working with,” he muttered, his gaze hovering on him for a second longer before continuing on. Izuku swallowed, wondering why the teacher's gaze had stayed on him longer. At least it seemed like it had been longer than the other students, was it just his imagination? Or has he already messed up and the homeroom teacher was thinking of expelling him?

While Izuku worried over if he had done something wrong, the teams were drawn. His attention was grabbed when he heard his name going against Kacchan. Uraraka coming over to him revealed that he was teamed with the friendly girl. The villain team had 5 minutes to set up, and Izuku took that time to explain all he knew about Kacchan’s quirk.

Shouta gave a tired sigh, only a couple days into this new school year and he could already feel the grey hairs growing. He just knew this whole class was going to drive him insane. Starting with the child who didn’t even have a basic grasp of his quirk. Children developed their quirks at a young age, and worked with counselors to make sure this very thing didn’t happen. But, it seemed that the irresponsible problematic child didn’t listen or work on his quirk at all. Though he supposed there was always the possibility of the quirk counselor being incompentent.

He had been planning on expelling the child and being done with him, but the boy had fought hard in the tests, despite only using his quirk once. Without debilitating his arm either. His score had been the last, just barely though, one of the other kids had also been really low… and that was using his quirk. Mineta Minoru . The kid so far wasn’t proving himself worthy of being in the class. It was almost a shame that the boy had managed to beat out the problem child by one point. Mineta was exactly the kind of kid he would expel. Ah well, he would have an opportunity later if the kid didn’t start shaping up.

Or if he continued his perverted behavior. Shouta idly thought, frowning as he gazed at the students from his sleeping bag. He heard All Might call for the start and split his attention between the match and the students, paying attention to everything, even if his students thought he was just taking a nap.

Which he probably would have chosen to do if he hadn’t gotten the coffee this morning from the problematic child. Which was strange, why would the kid bring him a coffee? And then there was the obvious history between Bakugou and Midoriya. The fight between the two started in the battle simulation and Shouta kept an ear on the students complaining about the lack of sound, and the other on the little transceiver so he could listen in to what the fighting kids were saying.

And the explosive blonde was angry. Hurling insult after insult. Shouta pursed his lips together, if it was him, he would stop the exercise right now, but… this was All Might’s class, and he would let the man run it how he saw fit. For now. If things went too far he would make sure it was stopped. Shouta was 80% sure it would come to that point so he sighed in annoyance as he got out of his sleeping bag, leaning against the wall close to the door, ready to exit and make way up the building in order to subdue the two boys.

Shouta’s frown deepened as he heard mumbles coming from Bakugou’s mic, something along the lines of a pebble and quirklesness and worthless Deku. That was perhaps the most worrying, as Deku was the ‘nickname’ that the explosion quirked boy gave to Midoriya. Shouta frowned, his mind piecing together a picture he really didn’t want to deal with. It also didn’t seem helpful that Midoriya's classmates had picked up that nickname as well.

And then Shouta saw Bakugou holding up his wrist, where he had cannons that stored up the nitroglycerin sweat the boy excreted. And Shouta was moving. Ignoring that All Might was telling Bakugou to stop, he recognized the look on the boy's face. There was no way he was going to stop and Shouta knew that he was going to be too late to stop the explosion, but hopefully he could get Midoriya out of there alive, that the boy hadn’t died from the first explosion.

Seconds later and he made it up the first couple flights of stairs as the explosion went off, making his way further up even as All Might made his own call to let it continue. Which pissed Shouta off, as a teacher it was his duty to stop this, All Might may find Bakugou’s words alright, but wanting to maim another student as badly as they could get away with was not something a hero student should want to do.

Shouta made his way to where the students were ‘fighting’, it was more like a brutal beatdown. Shouta activated his quirk, glaring at Bakugou as he used his capture tape to pull the boy off the badly beaten Midoriya. “I’m calling this battle off, on account of extreme violence against the opposing team, villains lose.”

Bakugou was yelling, something about not being fair. That he hadn’t been that rough on Midoriya. Shouta continued his glare, “You don’t consider broken bones, a concussion and severe burns extreme violence against your classmate?”

He turned off his quirk, keeping the boy bound in his capture weapon. Bakugou remained silent, glaring at him. “We will be discussing this later. After school is over, go to the principal's office.”

Shouta carefully picked up the wounded boy, surprised to find the boy was still awake, though his eyes were glazed over. Midoriya flinched, struggling to get away from him as Shouta picked him up, “You’re safe now, the battle’s over, I’m taking you to Recovery Girl.”

“‘Covery girl?” Midoriya slurred questioningly.

“Yes. You need to stay awake for just a bit longer.”

Midoriya at least stopped struggling, but his eyes were trained eerily on him. Distrust and fear were prominent in that expression. Shouta sighed when the bots came into view with a stretcher and he laid the boy on it.

Shouta frowned, he knew that the bots would get Midoriya to Shuzenji’s office safely. That the boy would be healed. But, the child was giving him way too many red flags, and he wanted answers that Shuzenji might be able to give him. 

So he followed alongside the bots. 

“What happened?” Shuzenji demanded of him as she went to work on healing Midoriya. Shouta explained and she scowled, complaining about All Might’s recklessness and how he wasn’t a good role model for Midoriya.

“May I look over his medical file?" he questioned her after she finished healing.

She looked at him, eyes narrowing as she looked for something before giving permission, after a moment she nodded, “Sure, anything specific you’re looking for?”

“No, just a feeling.”

“Alright, take all the time you need.”

She gestured to her computer, which had Midoriya’s medical file opened. Shouta sat down and started looking over everything. As he read over it his frown deepened, Midoriya had never been submitted to the hospital for broken bones before. Had only ever gotten his required vaccine shots and check ins. 

Yet, the most alarming thing was the date he supposedly gained his quirk. The day of the entrance exam. This was not good, especially if he was considered quirkless before, society didn’t treat those without quirks well. Whether they were active participants, or just bystanders, too afraid to help.

It would explain some of the behavior he had noticed though.

Chapter Text

Shota sat on a chair, waiting for Midoriya to wake up. He was reading over the files Nezu had sent him, and he was really displeased over what he had seen so far. 

It wasn’t often that the teachers of UA actually looked at the notes previous teachers had made on a student, preferring to make their own judgments on how the students act in their classes. But, there were times it was necessary, such as if violent behavior was shown and they needed to know if it was typical of the student.

Shota wanted to know if Bakugo’s behavior towards Midoriya was normal. Yet, according to the file Bakugo was a perfectly behaved upstanding citizen. No records of any misbehavior what-so-ever. That of course raised some red flags. So he requested Midoriya’s file as well.

What he read made him pissed on behalf of his student. There were a ton of remarks on it, calling Midoriya a trouble maker. An unruly student. A liar. An attention seeker. All of these comments were the complete opposite of what he had seen from Midoriya in the past couple of days.

If anything, Midoriya avoided attention. Avoided people and stammered his way out of conversations. Then there was the note from the English teacher, ‘Midoriya has tried on multiple occasions to bribe me with food and such to bump up his horrible grade. Such behavior is unbecoming and I have seen fit to give him detention for it.’

Shota frowned at his phone and blinked when the door was thrown open and Hizashi came in. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you!”

“Quiet, Midoriya is recovering,” Shota replied, gesturing to the child.

Hizashi nodded, his green eyes looking over the child. “I wanted to speak with you about Midoriya actually.”

Shota glanced up from his phone, “So you noticed it too?”

“I noticed something, not sure if it’s what you noticed.”

Shota raised an eyebrow at his husband, “What did you notice?”

“The little listener seemed absolutely terrified in my class, I spoke with Nemuri, she said that he only acted a bit nervous in her class. For me though I noticed that he kept tracking my movements, that he could barely be within a few feet of me without looking like he wanted to bolt.”

Shota stared at his phone for a moment before replying, “I don’t think it’s you necessarily. But that you teach English.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

He turned his phone towards Hizashi, letting his husband read the note the previous English teacher left. “Sho… this… I don’t like this…”

Shota grimaced, “Me neither, I think this needs to be delved into further.”

Hizashi nodded, “Alright, what’s the plan?”

“I’m going to go to Alderan and ask them directly for their thoughts on both Bakugo and Midoriya. Hizashi, if you don’t mind I want you to go ask Midoriya’s parents for their thoughts and such, also ask All Might about Midoriya.”

Hizashi nodded and was about to leave when Shuzenji came out of her office, holding onto a printed picture. “I have the results,” she spoke.

“Let me guess, it’s as we thought?”

She nodded, “I don’t know why that doctor of his told him he was quirkless, he clearly doesn’t have the extra toe joint. Why didn’t the doctor just explain that the child needed to meet some requirement for his quirk to work?”

“Perhaps you should ask the doctor,” Shota responded.

“I tried to call the number, it’s been disconnected. Searching up the doctor’s name reveals that he has been missing for the past 8 years.”

A shifting from the bed let them know that Midoriya was waking up, “Perhaps Midoriya could answer a few questions for us if he’s up to it…”

Hizashi frowned, “I think it would be better if I wasn’t in the room, if you’re going to keep Midoriya around for another hour or so I can go ahead and go talk to his parents now.”

“Alright, fill me in later.”

“Of course,” Hizashi said, giving him a grin before he walked out of the room.

It took another couple minutes, but eventually Midoriya woke up. Instantly he tensed before he calmed down a bit as he looked around. “I.. w-what h-happened?”

“Bakugo went too far in the battle simulation and you were critically wounded.”

Midoriya gave a nod. “Do you feel up to answering some questions related to your medical records for us?” Shuzenji asked.

The boy frowned, a confused look in his eyes. “Y-yes?”

“Alright, according to our record you were diagnosed as quirkless at age four, correct?”

Midoriya nodded, “But.. I was just a l-late bloomer.”

“Yes, but we were wondering why you had quirkless on your page instead of undetermined.”

“I-I wasn’t expected t-to get a quirk, since I h-have the double p-pinky joint.”

Shota and Shuzenji exchanged glances. “Midoriya. Did your doctor tell you that you have the double pinky joint?”

“Y-yes?” Midoriya told them, his voice confused.

Shota sighed as Shuzenji looked pissed, “You don’t have the double pinky joint. You should have never been diagnosed as Quirkless.”

Midoriya’s gaze snapped up to Shuzenji, a questioning look in his eyes, “I-” the boy cut off. 

“Just to be clear, when was the first time your quirk manifested?” Shota questioned.

“Um. T-the d-day of the e-entrance exam,” Midoriya answered hesitantly, hands clenching the blanket tightly. “Am… am I g-going to be e-expelled?”

“No. You are not, you haven’t done anything wrong, but I do have some questions for you regarding what happened in the battle simulation, if you feel up to answering them.” Shota answered, keeping his expression blank at the thought that the child had only just developed his quirk then. No wonder why he destroyed his bones.

“A-alright.”

Hizashi was a loud man, both by nature of his quirk, and in personality. But, he could be quiet, he knew how to stay silent and let others do the talking, to blend in when necessary.

Of course blending in with his hero outfit was impossible, but in his civilian wear people often didn’t recognize him. He glanced at the paper, double checking he was at the right apartment building before he knocked. While waiting for the door to open he activated a small recorder, so he would have the conversation recorded for Shota to hear.

It took a minute but the door opened, revealing a green haired woman that looked remarkably similar to Midoriya, which was to be expected given this was probably his mom. But, her eyes seemed glassy, empty of any emotions, “Who are you?” She asked, in a lifeless tone.

He smiled brightly, “Hizashi Yamada, I am one of the teachers at U.A.”

“Oh. Did Izuku get in trouble already?” She asked in a bland tone, showing no worry or concern. The woman, Inko Midoriya, did step aside to let him in at least.

“Your son is not in any trouble, but there was an incident in the training and he was injured enough to be sent to Recovery Girl for the rest of the class period.”

“I see. Is that all?” 

Hizashi really didn’t like the tone of her voice, the way she moved, the way she talked… it was as if she was a walking corpse. Hell, he was sure he had seen a few corpses that looked more lively than this woman did.

“No, while I am here I wanted to ask a couple questions about your son's past.”

“Ok.”

Hizashi sat down across from the woman, glancing around to see that the home was empty of pictures of personal belongings. He wondered if the entire house was like this, or if they kept their personal belongings in their rooms. “To start with, can you give me the gist of how Midoriya was treated? What he is like?”

“Of course, Izuku is a quiet kid at home, the school always calls and tells me how he causes them trouble. That we’re lucky they don’t expel him for all the fights he gets in,” She answered flatly, no sort of tone to tell how she was feeling. It was if she was reporting facts.

“What are your thoughts on what the school says?” Hizashi prompted.

The woman gave a long slow blink, “What is there to think about? Izuku gets in trouble, that's all there is to it.”                

Hizashi wanted to know what sort of drug the woman was on, or was it medication? Because he didn’t believe that anyone could act like she does naturally. “Ma’am. Do you know why the doctor misdiagnosed Midoriya?”

“My son is quirkless. The doctor didn’t misdiagnose him,” the woman stated.

‘Did Midoriya not tell his mom about his quirk?’ Hizashi wondered to himself. 

“Your son has a quirk,” He informed her.

“No he doesn’t,” the walking corpse of a woman said.

Hizashi frowned and pulled out his phone, pulling up a short clip of Izuku punching the zero pointer. “This is Midoriya using his newly discovered quirk in the entrance exam.”

The woman watched with empty glassy eyes. “That’s not my son.”

Hizashi blinked, “he’s not?”

“My son is quirkless.”

He wanted to groan, he really did. This woman seemed fixated that her son was quirkless… “Mrs. Midoriya, what are your thoughts on Midoriya being in U.A.?” Hizashi probably could have asked the question better, to sound less judgmental of her. But from how the woman reacted so far, he doubted she would notice or care.

“Izuku is still chasing after a dream,” she intoned.

‘Shota I really don’t like this…’ Hizashi thought to himself. The corpse of a woman was either mentaly not there, or on some sort of drug or medication. Either way there was no way for this woman to take proper care of a child. Perhaps the father was the one who took care of them, “Where is Mr. Midoriya?”

“Working overseas.”

His smile was strained as he replied, “I see, when would it be possible for us to get in touch with him?”

“It won’t. My brother doesn’t come home.”

Brother? He was asking for her husband… was Midoriya her maiden name?

“What of Izuku’s father?”

She stared at him blankly, unanswering. Unnerved he simply swallowed and moved on, “Right, thank you for your time, one last question before I go.”

He looked at her, seeing her blank thousand meter stare. “Do you love your son?”

There was no confusion in her eyes over being asked such a question, no recognition that it wasn’t normal to be asked that question. Her mouth opened and she answered, “Yes.” her voice was flat, expressionless. Just like her eyes. He just nodded and turned and walked out, his normally ever present smile now thoroughly gone.

Shota groaned, finally able to arrive home after the long day, first having questioned Midoriya, and then having dealt punishment to Bakugo. It was a shame that the boy had too much potential as a villain if he expelled the brat. But mandatory therapy should hopefully help the boy get better.

He would also be switching the seats of Midoriya to move him away from Bakugo. Shota frowned at the silence of the apartment and went off to find his normally loud husband. By this point Hizashi should be filling the apartment with music.

He went into their shared office room and raised an eyebrow, surprised to see Hizashi glaring at the paper in front of him as if it had insulted everything about his existence. Carefully he went over to his husband and put a hand on his shoulder. Feeling the man relax a bit as he noticed him.

“Did someone mangle english that badly?”

“No,” Hizashi practically growled, “In fact he answered everything almost perfectly.”

Shota’s eyebrows scrunched together, “And you’re unhappy because…?”

“It’s Midoriya’s paper.”

Shota’s eyes narrowed, “Which, according to his previous english teacher, that class was his worst subject. His grades in that class were borderline failing.” Shota was really not liking where this was going.

“Exactly.”

“So what are you thinking?” Please don’t let both of them be thinking the same thing.

“That his previous English teacher purposely misgraded him,” Hizashi spat. Shota repressed a sigh. They were both thinking along the same lines.

Still, that wasn’t the only thing that was upsetting his husband, “Something else upset you,” Shota pointed out.

“I spoke with Midoriya’s Mother.”

He gave a nod, it was what they planned after all, “And?”

“That woman is a walking corpse who denies her son has a quirk even after video evidence.”

That certainly threw him for a loop, “What?”

Hizashi opened the laptop, “I already uploaded the recording to the computer, and listened to it a few more times,” His husband grumbled.

The recording his husband made was already open. Hizashi clicked play and Shota listened to the audio of the conversation.

The voice of the woman sent chills through him, the voice was empty, almost like a person under the effects of a truth quirk, or a control quirk. A voice of someone with no personality or free will. A puppet. He listened as the woman automatically assumed Midoriya had caused trouble. How she didn’t react to the fact he had been hurt. That she didn’t investigate why her son was supposedly a troublemaker at school, but quiet at home. Then came the matter of his supposed quirklessness and the woman showed some bit of personality, even if her voice remained lifeless. She showed denial. Denial that her son had a quirk. Then Hizashi asked about what she thought about Midoriya attending U.A. Her response was to say he was chasing after a dream. Not his dream. Just a dream. As if she didn’t believe he could accomplish it. Then there is the matter of the father, who she didn’t even react to when Hizashi mentioned it, she only spoke of a brother, Hisashi Midoriya who works overseas and can’t be contacted. Hizashi of course asked the woman if she loved Midoriya, and she said yes, but there was no warmth in her tone.

Shota could understand why his husband was so upset. Talking with her must have been very jarring. 

“This isn’t just a simple case of past bullying,” Shota stated.

Hizashi nodded, “No it’s not.”

Shota closed his eyes, “Tomorrow I will go to Alderan and speak with the teachers in person.”

“Alright, but for now how should we act around the little listener?”

“I’m going to make sure the boy knows he can come to me if he has a problem, but for you it might take a bit more time, since his previous english teacher misgraded him. Don’t touch him without permission and don’t bring attention to him in your class.”

“Alright, what will we tell the other teachers?”

“For now? Nothing.”

“Are you sure? They could help us.”

Shota shook his head, “They would be more of a hindrance than a help, if our suspicions are correct than Midoriya’s teachers haven’t been around before, so if all of his teachers start being extra friendly with him then it might make him panic.”

Hizashi nodded. The two fell into a silence as Hizashi continued grading the rest of the papers and Shota opened up a document on the laptop, making a new case file with Midoriya Izuku being the subject.

Chapter Text

Shota walked towards the gate of UA and frowned at seeing all the reporters standing in front. Then he saw them surrounding one of his students, a tuft of green hair barely visible. He stalked forward, making his way through the crowd and saw Midoriya was about to have a panic attack from all of the questions being thrown at him. 

He stepped in front of his student, “Do you have nothing better to do than terrorize the students of U.A?” He questioned them.

“We deserve an interview with All Might!” A woman shouted.

He narrowed his eyes, “If you want an interview with him, then you should go through his agency to schedule it, you have no business blocking the way of the students and interrupting classes. All Might isn’t here today, he’s off. Now please leave,” he stated waving a hand at them, shooing them off.

He turned and gently nudged his student towards the school, hoping the touch wouldn’t send his student into a panic attack. “C’mon Midoriya,” he muttered quietly to his student who finally started moving.

Shota heard the gate close behind them as one of the reporters must have tried to cross the barrier.  “Midoriya? Are you alright?”

The boy gave a jerky nod. Shota sighed, “Midoriya, do you want to take homeroom off?”

The boy looked up at him with wide eyes, “W-what?”

“The media were surrounding you, I can understand if you would want to take some time to recuperate.”

“I-i’ll be f-fine.”

Shota looked down at the kid, noticing the boy was purposely regulating his breath. The kid looked at different things, his hand going to his wrist. And Shota realized the kid was grounding himself, keeping himself from a panic attack. That the boy was aware enough to do that… he must deal with panic attacks a lot. “Alright kid, let’s get to class then.”

Midoriya nodded, glancing at him occasionally as they walked. Biting his lip, as if he wanted to ask something, but wasn't.

“Do you want to ask me something, Midoriya?”

“N-no,” Midoriya stated, looking away, cheeks turning a bit red. Embarrassment. Shota wanted to sigh, why were children so illogical?

“I won’t get mad for whatever question you may ask, if I deem the question too personal I will tell you so. Does that sound good?”

Midoriya nodded, “I-I wanted t-to know if y-you liked t-the coffee?” The boy stammered out, not looking at him.

“It was good,” He responded, debating whether to add more information or not. All coffee was good, but he had a penchant towards preferring coffee with an unhealthy amount of sugar. He didn’t want to make the kid feel like he has to bring him more coffee, but he also didn’t want the kid to feel like he didn’t approve. 

Shota had the feeling that the kid gave teachers gifts more than to ‘show appreciation.’ In fact, the old english teacher of his mentioned them as bribes. Shota closed his eyes for a second, today was going to be a long day.

They were almost at the classroom, he had probably another minute or two to ask a question and get an answer. “Why did you get me coffee yesterday?”

“T-to show m-my appreciation,” The boy responded quickly, habit. A practiced response. 

“Why coffee, why not a card or something simple?”

“Y-you were b-busy, t-taking down all t-those villains,” the boy answered. 

“I know for a fact that none of that information was publicized. So how did you know?” He questioned, keeping his voice even.

“Y-you patrol m-my a-area. I-I’ve s-seen y-your fights s-sometimes, from m-my window,” Midoriya answered, keeping his eyes trained to the floor. 

He gave a nod, he hadn’t ever really thought that some of the people who lived in the apartment complexes might see him around often enough to recognize him as a patrolling hero. Though that would explain why some people would give him nods while in his patrol area. But, that also brought up why the boy went to Alderan, and not Yukigaoka Junior High, which was closer to the area he patrolled.

With that they arrived at the class and he opened the door, letting Midoriya enter first and take his seat. He looked at the class, “As you know, I was going to access your battle tactics yesterday, but because of Bakugo using excessive force I was forced to review the rest of you instead. Most of you did a good job. Mineta, this will be your only warning, start shaping up to be a better hero or you’re expelled. Your potential is falling dangerously close to zero.”

Frankly Shota didn’t like how the boy eyed the girls in the class and was waiting for when the boy either went too far or hit zero potential. “Bakugo, if you keep displaying such violent tendencies you will be forced into the general education track, or expelled.”

“Now. Onto homeroom business. Sorry for the sudden announcement,” He wasn’t sorry, it was amusing to see all of them tense up, staring at him with wide intense eyes. “But today,” the kids leaned forward, and he could hear a couple students muttering different possibilities, “You’ll pick a class president.”

The students gaped, staring at him as Kaminari spoke out, “Such a normal school activity!”

“Do whatever you want, just make it quick,” he muttered in response to Iida asking if voting was acceptable. He zipped up his sleeping bag and collapsed onto the floor. He closed his eyes, but kept an ear open to the students.

All of the kids had raised their hand except Midoriya, though that was to be expected. And then the votes came in, three for Midoriya, and three for Yaoyorozu. “M-me? B-but I-i d-don’t w-want t-to b-be t-the c-class p-presi-ident.” The kid stammered out, even worse than normal, probably from having to talk to the class at large. 

Shota scowled as the kids started to talk to Midoriya, trying to pressure him into accepting the spot. “Midoriya said he doesn’t want to be class president, thus he should not have been voted for. Whoever voted for him recast your votes.”

Iida, Uraraka, and Yaoyorozu each went and cast new votes. One more vote went to Yaoyorozu, and two went for Iida. “Great,” Shota deadpanned. “Yaoyorozu is class president, and Iida is vice.”

Then it was time for normal classes to start, and he left the room to go teach a history class to the 1-B brats. He passed by Hizashi in the hall and the man gave him a nod, “Keep your distance from Midoriya, he nearly had a panic attack from the media, and we still don’t know how badly his previous English teacher treated him.”

“Alright, I will take care Shota,” Hizashi murmured back.

He gave a nod to his husband and walked on. He entered into 1-B and glared at the kids who were talking loudly. At least his kids knew how to keep an indoor volume. He stood in front of the room, waiting for them to quiet down. 22 seconds . 

At least his class went quiet within 5 seconds of him appearing in the room. He began the lecture, teaching the class of history before quirks appeared. Going particularly over the strategies that pre quirked people used, how they fought. He looked over the class, seeing if any of them were getting the lesson he was trying to teach.

None of them seemed to be picking up on it. Shame. The class ended and he went on to the next class of brats to teach. General Education. Same lesson, but this time one kid seemed to perhaps pick up on what he was trying to get across. A purple haired kid, though he hadn’t memorized this class's names yet.

The day continued passing and finally it was lunch hour and he went outside for some fresh air, meeting Hizashi. The alarm went off and the two of them rushed to the front gate where they saw the Media had entered.

They demanded answers and the two of them blocked the way. “Give us All Might!” One reporter shouted, as if they were holding the man hostage.

“He’s out today!” Hizashi responded back with his loud voice making it better for them to hear him.

“Just give us a comment! That’s all we want.”

“If we give you people an inch, you’ll ask for a mile,” Shota responded, though he doubted they actually heard him over the racket they were making.

“This is completely illegal, villainous even. Can we blow them away already?” Hizashi muttered to him from the corner of his lips.

“No matter how satisfying, it would be illogical, let’s wait for the cops,” Shota muttered back.

After another ten minutes the cops arrived and drove the media off, Hizashi giving a call out of “bad media bad!” as if they were unruly dogs.

Shota smirked at that, especially as he saw one particularly annoying reporter scowl angrily. Sure Hizashi might get some bad rep from it, but honestly his husband could handle it and even turn it around on his radio show. 

He returned to the class, it was now time for heroic classes, but first his kids needed to finish picking their council members. Yaoyorozu stated how she thought Iida had handled the emergency better than her, and that she wanted to switch their positions. The class agreed and the rest of the members were picked.

“Now that this waste of time is done, let’s move onto today’s heroic lesson. The different types of heroes and how each have different sorts of regulations. Aboveground heroes, Rescue heroes, support heroes, underground heroes. You have heard these terms before when paired with heroes, but not only does it give you an idea of what type of hero they are, but also what sort of rules they must follow. Each hero is expected to act a certain way, to follow certain rules. That’s why one must pick the type of hero you want to be. Do you want to be an above ground hero and be known to the world, to fight villains who appear in the day, to patrol the streets to offer comfort to people who see you? Do you want to be a hero who mostly works in hospitals or when disasters strike, to help those who are wounded? Do you want to be the one who supports the bigger heroes, to give them the opening to take out the villain? Do you want to keep to the shadows, to fight the villains that don’t show themselves during the day? These are all questions you should ask yourselves, because you need to know this answer sooner than you think. These next two weeks we will be going over different types of hero, so you can determine which fits you best.”

He looked at the class to see he had all of their attention as he pulled out a stack of papers, “To help I have a personality quiz that will give you a general idea of what hero you should be. This is personal and self graded, you can keep the results to yourself or share them. Do not bug others about their results. Just because you get a certain result, doesn’t mean you have to be that type of hero.”

Iida passed out the papers, and some of the kids started working on it right away, flying through the answers. While others seemed to be more thoughtful and taking their time in picking an answer.

Shota pulled out a jelly packet and drinked it before getting into his sleeping bag and getting comfortable, waiting for the day to be over. The quiz would keep them busy for a while, and he was waiting for the other teachers to show up. Hizashi, who would tell about Aboveground heroes. Cementoss who was a support hero. Shuzenji who would tell them about rescue heroes. While they would get a different perspective from Thirteen tomorrow. He of course would tell them more about Underground heroes. At least he was for 1-A, for 1-B they had Vlad King as an Underground hero.

While the type of hero they chose would be what sort of regulations they had to follow, they still had to be proficient in all aspects of heroism, not just the one they would ‘specialize’ in. Finally the other teachers finished with giving their lesson to 1-B and came in.

Hizashi started off, and Shota watched Midoriya, saw how he shrunk in a bit, trying to make himself stand out less. How the kid ducked his head down and jotted notes in his book without looking up, his eyes barely able to be seen, but what he could see was that Midoriya looked to where Hizashi was three-four times a minute, never leaving the man out of sight for too long. Cementoss went next, and while Midoriya’s gaze kept flickering to Hizashi, he wasn’t curled up as much. Then Shuzenji’s lesson and he ducked down a bit more when her gaze lingered on him as she spoke about helping civilians who break their bones. 

Finally it was his turn to speak, and he was a bit surprised to see that Midoriya was barely curled, and seemed to be able to keep his attention on him most of the time, only checking once a minute or so to see if Hizashi was still in the same spot.

Perhaps the kid felt more comfortable with him? That would make Shota’s goal easier, he would need to gain the kids trust if he wanted to help the boy. After he finished up the lecture he dismissed the class, letting them leave a couple minutes early. He had some junior high teachers to interrogate.

Chapter Text

Shota entered the school, seeing how empty it was. A woman with a mutant type quirk that gave her whiskers was walking him to the teachers lounge, where the teachers he wanted to meet with were waiting.

The teachers who taught Bakugo and Midoriya. He had called yesterday, asking them to meet. He gave them no reason, hadn’t needed to as they didn’t ask once learning he was a teacher from U.A.

“This is the room,” The woman said, in a high pitched cutesy voice. He gave her a nod and entered. He looked around at the teachers, who were sitting around.

The principle stood up, coming over to shake his hand, “Ah hello, you must be the one who called us yesterday.”

“Yes,” he stated, nodding once, reluctantly shaking the other hand as was polite. “I will get straight to the point, I am the homeroom teacher of two of the students who came from this school, and wanted to speak, teacher to teacher, about some of the issues I have witnessed. I believe that by getting to know how such issues were dealt with by previous teachers will help me to choose how to take care of this particular matter,” he stated, looking between all of them. 

The teachers grimaced, “Midoriya is quite a problematic child, it’s why we were so surprised when he managed to get into U.A. We thought for sure with all of the marks on his record they wouldn’t let him in.”

“The only records U.A. looks at is the police records, so long as no marks show up there we give each student an equal chance.”

“R-right, well… as I’m sure you have figured out by now Midoriya is a troublesome student, always seeking attention, crying when he doesn’t get it, lying about bullying. Claiming that other students hurt him because of his quirklessness.”

Shota keeps his expression flat the entire time, not giving any indication as to what he was thinking. Another teacher spoke up, “The boy is always distracting his classmates with his mumbling, and stalking the students while writing in that notebook, which he won’t let anyone see.”

“It’s a shame that his attitude is so poor, he would be a good student otherwise with his good grades…” One of the female teachers mutters, pity in her eyes.

One of the younger looking teachers, who hadn’t spoken up yet scoffed, “I can’t believe you let that kid bribe you, his grades are horrible in my class, as he deserves.”

So, that man must be the English teacher, and now Shota could see it wasn’t just the english profession his husband shared with the man. They both had blonde hair, and while Hizashi’s eyes were green, this man had yellow eyes. Still, besides for the blonde hair and somewhat similar builds they looked fairly different.

“Bribery?” Shota asked them.

“It’s not bribery, Nashi. Like we would let a few gifts sway us to grading in his favor. He gets the grades he earns in my class.” The other female teacher responded to the english teacher.

They continued on with various statements of Midoriya’s behavior, all of them so wrong and off the mark it was almost funny. None of it was particularly new information, at least, not what they were saying.

The most telling were their reactions, how they acted when they spoke of him. The two most interesting were the second woman and the english teacher. The woman looked guilty, and ashamed, almost reluctant to speak ill of the kid. Possibly being forced then to agree with the rest of the teachers.

Also someone to talk to alone to get the truth of the situation.

The english teacher on the other hand, his eyes held a glee, the teacher didn’t feel repentant at all, and he had this twisted look that Shota had seen a couple times before. A look he felt sickened by, for he had only seen it on rapists. It didn’t help that the way the english teacher, Nashi, spoke Midoriya’s name like it was a possession.

“I see, and what of Bakugo?”

As expected they went on how he was an amazing student, helpful to others, the perfect hero. They fell silent, and Shota looked at each of them, “Thank you for your time.” He said flatly, getting up and leaving the room.

As he thought, talking to the teachers as a whole was mostly a waste, but it got him two leads, one the woman, and two the english teacher that gave off rapist vibes. Shota really hoped he was wrong on that account.

He found a building across the street and scaled it, waiting on the roof as the teachers soon came out and headed different ways, he followed the woman for a bit, dropping down behind her on a somewhat empty street. “I would like the truth, not that bullshit they had you spewing.”

She jumped, turning around to face him with wide eyes, a startled squeak escaping her mouth. “Y-you knew?”

“I did say that I have both boys in my class.”

“I- I’ll tell you, can we find a better place to talk?” She asked, looking nervous.

“Of course, lead the way to where you would like to speak.”

She led them to a small internet cafe. They sat down and she sighed, “That poor boy, I wanted to help him, but… the principle and other teachers were all okay with the boy suffering, they wanted him to suffer, since they hated that they had a quirkless student ‘tarnishing’ their schools reputation, the boy only gave gifts, because if he didn’t then all the teachers would misgrade him for the worse. Nashi, his english teacher, wouldn’t accept those gifts though, I overheard him saying he wanted the boy to give him some other gift to get his grades up to where they should be. I don’t know what sort of gift he wanted, but Midoriya I guess refused to give it to him, or only gave him a part of it or something, as the boy’s grades always stayed right at that one point away from failing mark. The kids did bully him, one of the worst was Bakugo, that kid would destroy Midoriya’s items, homeworks, textbooks, desks and other school property, and all the teachers blamed Midoriya instead of Bakugo,” the woman said crying. “I couldn’t help him, not without losing my job… and I have a family to take care of… I wish I could have helped the boy more.”

Shota gave a nod, “You should start looking for a new job, because when I get through Alderaan will be shut down on account of quirk discrimnation, among other crimes. Would you be willing to testify?”

The woman gave a small sob as she nodded. “Alright, thank you for your help, but before I go, what can you tell me about that english teacher, Nashi?”

“Nashi Doi, I don’t like him at all! He has this way of looking at some of the kids that just feels wrong. He seems friendly, but he’s always in students' personal space, especially Midoriya when that kid was at the school. I could see how uncomfortable Midoriya was with it, but the poor boy couldn’t do anything without getting in trouble,” the woman shook her head, wiping away more tears, “That man, just gives off these bad vibes, I don’t know how the principle or the other teachers can stand to be around him, even if they don’t have my quirk.”

Shota raised an eyebrow.

She flushed, “Sorry, my quirk is called personality, it lets me kinda feel out people's personalities. I just, Nashi seems so fake to me that I don’t know why the others don’t see it either. But the principle won’t hear a word of it, saying that Nashi was a great teacher. For him I get the feeling of arrogance, conceit and other such traits. For you I get the feeling of caring, and strictness.”

Shota tilted his head in acknowledgement to what her quirk sensed. “I see, thank you for your time. This helps my investigation a lot.”

“Investigation?”

Shota let his lip curl up, a mockery of a smile, “I am a pro hero, if I didn’t recognize the signs of bullying and abuse going on in my student then I wouldn’t be a very good hero.” He stood up and gave the woman a small bow, leaving down his work number, “If you think of anything else that might help please let me know.”

She nodded and took the number. 

Shota left and walked towards his and Hizashi’s house, knowing that his husband would not be pleased by what he found out, and his suspicions regarding the previous english teacher. He walked down the streets seeing the people go about their daily business. After a half hour he made it home.

Music was playing, a gentle song, something unintrusive. Hizashi was in a thoughtful mood it seemed. Shota wondered how his talk with All Might had gone.

Hizashi’s talk with All Might had been a bust, the man hadn’t realized anything was going on with Midoriya, had truly bought into the kids excuse about the gifts being for appreciation, but at least All Might had managed to get the boy to stop, somehow managing it without hurting the kids feelings. 

So now he was waiting for his husband to come home from meeting with the teachers. Still, that gave him quite some time to think about the little listener. The poor kid, Hizashi hoped they could help the kid gain some confidence.

And possibly get him away from that walking corpse of a woman. 

The door opened to his office and Shota collapsed into the other chair, a scowl on his face. Hizashi tapped the controls for the music, pausing it. “No, put on something calming.” Shota mumbled.

Hizashi smirked, but did, lowering the volume a bit so it was more of a background noise. “So, I take it that things are bad?”

“Worse.”

Hizashi froze, “Worse?”

“As we suspected, the teachers at Alderaan high have been letting the bullying happen. The gifts Midoriya gives are so the teachers grade him fairly.”

He gave a nod, that was what they were expecting, that was the bad, so how could it be worse? Shota raised his hands physically rubbing at his head, “I have reason to believe that one of Midoriya’s teachers is a pedophile.”

Hizashi paled, “No, not the little listener.”

“It was the english teacher,” Shota stated bluntly.

And Hizashi lost all color as he dropped down, “No wonder the little listener is so scared of me.”

“Zashi, go to Alderaan’s website and look at the picture for Nashi Doi.”

Reluctantly, he did so, knowing that he won’t like what he finds. Then he stared at a picture of the man, blonde hair, yellow snake-like eyes, and a build similar to his own. “That is the english teacher.”

“Well fuck,” Hizashi cursed. 

Shota gave a nod, “You're going to have to avoid touching Midoriya at all until we can build some trust between you two. If my suspicions are correct then any touch will either send him into a panic attack, or have him disassociating.”

“Alright,” He agreed, feeling helpless. Poor Midoriya, to have possibly suffered through all that, and had no one to talk to. Because, it was obvious he couldn’t talk to that walking corpse of a mother he had.

“I think I’m going to join you on your patrols tonight, I’m not going to get any sleep,” Hizashi muttered, wanting to punch something.

Shota gave a nod, getting up and walking over to him before dramatically collapsing onto his lap. Hizashi snorted and shifted them so they would be more comfortable. His husband curled up on him. “We’ll help the kiddo,” he murmured quietly.

“He’s going to need therapy. And I still need to sign him up for Quirk counseling.”

“After USJ tomorrow you can speak to him about the quirk counselling, Hound Dog does both, so for now we can have quirk counseling sessions that double as therapy,” Hizashi determined.

“That’s actually a decent plan,” Shota teased, smiling at him with that crooked grin of his.

“Hey! I’ll have you know all my plans are great.”

Shota snorted, “Like that one plan of yours to replace Nemuri’s closet with nothing by granny clothes?”

Hizashi shuddered, “Why must you keep reminding me of that!?” He whined.

“Because I love to remind you of how much your plans suck,” Shota responded dryly.

“So mean~” 

Shota leaned up and kissed him, rolling his eyes fondly. The two fell silent as Shota opened the laptop and started typing up the new notes on the investigation document.

Chapter Text

Hizashi stared at his husband who laid on the bed wounded, covered in bandages. The steady beeping was the only thing letting him know that Shota was alive. Recovery Girl could only heal him part of the way, such was the damage he received.

Over in the other beds were Midoriya, and All Might. The only one awake was All Might, who stared at Midoriya with an unreadable expression. 

Out of all 20 students, only Midoriya was critically wounded, the boy who suffered through so much threw himself in front of All Might to buy the man a few more seconds. For just a couple seconds the villain's hand had grazed Midoriya’s chest before Snipe managed to shoot the hand away and the villains fled.

On top of that the kid had broken both his legs and mangled one of his fingers. “You’re good to go All Might,” Shuzenji informed the man after she checked him over. He nodded and with one last glance towards Midoriya the man left.

Shuzenji sighed, “Those two are so reckless.”

Hizashi just hummed in acknowledgement, keeping vigil from next to Shota’s bed. The nurse huffed, “he’s not going to wake up anytime soon, go get yourself some sleep.”

He looked up to her and wordlessly shook his head. “He’s going to need you in top shape when he wakes up.”

“I’m staying here.”

“Then sleep on one of the beds here, just get some sleep or I will call Nemuri on you.”

Reluctantly he nodded and moved away to one of the other beds, laying down and eventually falling asleep to the steady beeping that came from the heart monitors.

The first thing he was aware of was pain, everything hurt, and his chest itched. He raised an arm up trying to scratch at it, “You shouldn’t do that little listener, you’ll aggravate your wounds,” A tired voice stated.

Mic-sensei. His eyes opened, and he heard the beeping pick up pace, “I’m staying right here, I won’t move closer to you without your permission, but you need to calm down, take deep breaths. You’re in the nurse's office after you got injured.”

Izuku stared at where Mic-sensei sat, in a chair next to a mummy looking man with black hair, “‘zawa-sen-?” he cut off with a small cough, his throat feeling dry.

“He’s alive, sleeping and healing. Do you want me to get you some water?”

“Y-yes,” he croaked out. Mic-sensei kept his movements slow as he got up and went over to a water dispenser and grabbed one of those little paper cups.

He filled it with water and started coming closer, “I need to get closer to you to hand over the water, is that alright?”

Izuku paused for a moment, before slowly giving a nod, wincing as his head throbbed in protest. The english teacher came closer and Izuku stared at the green ringed eyes, focusing on them and not the man’s blonde hair or tall lanky build. Mic-sensei came closer and handed him the water before backing away.

He drank the water rapidly, bringing relief to a bit of irritation, though his chest still itched and he could feel his body pulsating in pain. “W-what happened?” He questioned.

“The villains fled, but not before wounding you pretty badly little listener.”

“A-aizawa-sensei will live?” He asked, wanting to double check.

“Yeah, Shota’s a fighter, I bet that he will be back in class Friday, tomorrow classes are canceled.”

He gave a hesitant nod, his eyes looking over towards his homeroom teacher, heart twisting as he remembered how Aizawa had jumped straight into the fray, despite it not being his style, how his teacher had brought down his goggles and told them, “No hero is a one-trick pony.”

Izuku didn’t even have one trick that he could use without breaking his bones. He was useless as a hero. Maybe Kaachan was right and he should just quit.

“Little listener?” Mic-sensei’s voice brought his attention away from his thoughts and he looked up at the teacher, who had his normally styled hair down and wasn’t wearing his hero uniform. 

“Y-yes?” he stuttered. 

“You did a good job, I heard the reports from the students, you were very brave, and came up with several good plans that helped protect your classmates. Though, next time try and think of a plan that doesn’t end up with you breaking bones. Alright?”

Izuku frowned, but nodded to the teacher. Wondering why the english teacher didn’t want him to hurt himself. Why was Mic-sensei staying away while asking for permission to get closer? He wasn’t that way with the rest of the students.

He watched the blonde teacher as the man returned to Aizawa’s side. “You should try and get some more sleep, little listener.” 

Izuku nodded, despite knowing he wouldn’t be able to get any sleep with Mic-sensei in the room, he didn’t feel comfortable in the man’s presence. Which meant that an hour later, when Aizawa’s heart monitor picked up, he was wide awake.

Though Mic-sensei seemed to have fallen asleep, sitting in the chair with his head at an awkward angle. He bit his lip, the man obviously was here for Aizawa-sensei, and he knew the english teacher would want to talk with Aizawa when he woke up. “M-Mic-sensei?” Izuku hesitantly called out.

The teacher's eyes opened, “Yeah?” the man groggily questioned.

“Aizawa-sensei’s heart monitor picked up.”

The man blinked, rubbing his eyes and then giving a wide grin, “Thanks!”

Which he apparently said too loudly as Aizawa groaned, “Shut up ‘zashi.”

“Sorry,” Mic-sensei whispered, “Do you need some water?”

“Yes.”

Mic-sensei got up and filled a paper cup with water before helping Aizawa to drink it, carefully shifting the bandages that were on his face. “Are the students alright?” Aizawa questioned.

Present Mic huffed, “All of them are alive, and only Midoriya was critically wounded, he’s awake in the room with us right now.”

Aizawa gave a grunt in response, “Midoriya?”

“Y-yes sensei?”

“We’re getting you to quirk counselling sessions with Hound Dog.”

“W-what?” Izuku questioned, confused as to where this was coming from.

Mic-sensei rolled his eyes, “He was planning to tell you after the USJ rescue training.”

“It is after the USJ training,” Aizawa deadpanned.

Izuku watched as the english teacher facepalmed, “Really Sho?” he questioned.

“How bad are the injuries?”

Mic-sensei told him of the injuries Aizawa-sensei, and Thirteen had received, how Thirteen was at a special facility due to the nature of their body. Then the english teacher told Aizawa the injuries that Izuku had. The homeroom teacher remained quiet for a moment, “Have you gotten any sleep ‘zashi?”

“Yes,” Mic-sensei answered quickly.

“Right,” Aizawa commented dryly.

“I have! I was sleeping right here,” the english teacher said.

“Go home, get some real sleep. Bring me a coffee in the morning, or a jelly packet,” Aizawa-sense muttered tiredly.

“But-”

“Hizashi,” Aizawa interrupted, reaching out blindly and Mic-sensei raised his hand to Aizawa’s, “I’ll be right here, I’m alive.”

Mic-sensei huffed, “Alright, I’ll go.”

The chair squeaked as Mic-sensei stood up, he started walking out, “‘zashi, I love you,” Aizawa muttered.

“I love you too Sho, get some rest, I’ll be back in the morning,” Mic-sensei said, his face softening as a small smile came before he left.

“I would prefer if you kept our relationship to yourself Midoriya,” Aizawa said flatly.

“I-i won’t tell a-anyone,” he answered. 

Silence fell for a moment, “Sensei?” Izuku hesitantly called out after a few minutes.

“Hm?” Aizawa hummed, showing he was still awake.

“D-does M-Mic-sensei not l-like me?” Izuku asked.

“He does like you, but we’re pro heroes, he can tell that his presence upsets you so he is keeping his distance,” Aizawa answered.

“Oh…” Izuku replied, not knowing what to say to that.

“Do you want to speak about why his presence upsets you?” Aizawa asked, his voice gruff, but tone soft.

Izuku hesitated for a moment, “He r-reminds me of my p-previous english teacher..”

“Would you be comfortable telling me, or someone else about how the english teacher treated you?”

“I-i, h-how?” Izuku stammered, not quite understanding how Aizawa-sensei would know that the teacher hadn’t treated him like a normal student. 

“Pro hero kid, it’s our job to recognize when somethings wrong. You don’t have to talk about it now, but just keep in mind that you can speak to any of us teachers. We care, Midoriya.”

Izuku flinched at that, he never had teachers that cared before...

And maybe Aizawa cared, but he couldn’t be sure about the other teachers, having not interacted with them as much. Then again… it could just be because he had a quirk now that the teachers actually cares. But… Aizawa had been there the other day after the battle simulation, even though he could have continued watching the other students. And then after the media had crowded him the man had offered to let him skip homeroom if he couldn’t face his schoolmates.

Maybe… maybe it would be okay to trust Aizawa-sensei…

“I… I’ll t-think about i-it,” he whispered out.

“That’s all I ask, let’s get some sleep kiddo.”

Izuku didn’t reply, and one apparently wasn’t needed as Aizawa-sensei fell silent, a couple minutes later and the heart monitor slowed down a bit.

It took Izuku longer to fall asleep. But, eventually he managed to sleep again.

The next he woke up it was to Recovery Girls voice, scolding someone, opening his eyes he saw that it was now morning, and the office was light up. He coughed, gaining the attention of the nurse as she came over to him, bringing a cup of water as she started lecturing him instead.

Aizawa was sitting up, and Mic-sensei was sitting in the chair next to the bed, holding a plate of food that he seemed to be slowly feeding the black haired teacher. “This is stupid,” Aizawa grumbled.

“Your arms need time to heal Sho! It’s not stupid. Now open your mouth before I force it open,” Mic-sensei stated, his smile turning mischievous.

Aizawa sighed and opened his mouth. Izuku couldn’t help but giggle at the scene, though he could still feel his teacher glaring at him, even if he couldn’t see the man's eyes at the moment.

Mic-sensei turned and gave a wink towards Izuku, who hesitantly grinned back. Maybe Mic-sensei wasn’t like his previous English teacher. “Shuzenji, I have another bento in the bag for the little listener.”

Recovery Girl looked at him for a moment before nodding and grabbing the bento and handing it over to Izuku after helping him sit up. “Do you need help dearie?” The woman asked, gesturing to his bandaged hand.

“M-my r-right h-hand is s-still g-good.”

She smiled and Izuku started to eat, after finishing he looked at Mic-sensei and Aizawa who were just sitting together, holding hands, he met Mic-sensei’s eyes and worked on his courage to say, “T-thank y-you for t-the b-bento.”

“Of course! It was no trouble, little listener!” The man said, giving a large smile and a thumbs up.

After an hour Recovery Girl said visitors were coming, and Mic-sensei drew the curtains around the bed, hiding the two teachers from sight. Uraraka and Iida came in, asking him if he was okay.

They stayed for a little while before leaving, around lunch time All Might came in, bringing in lunch. “How are you holding up young Midoriya?”

“I’m doing a-alright,” he said, smiling at his mentor in gratitude as he started to eat while they conversed.

“That’s good,” the man looked at the curtains that were still drawn. “I suppose Aizawa is using this to get in some good sleep.”

Izuku shrugged. Mic-sensei hadn’t appeared from the curtains, so the two were still in there together, but he hadn’t heard them in an hour or so. “I have to say, it was very reckless of you to step in like you did. But… thank you, if it wasn’t for you I would probably be in even worse shape… as it is my limit has been shortened once again.”

He looked down, his eyes filling with tears, “Hey, none of that young Midoriya, you did the best you could, we still have to figure out how to regulate your quirk.”

“Aizawa-sensei s-said that I w-would be taking Quirk Counseling w-with Hound Dog.”  

All Might nodded, rubbing his chin, “I see, did he mention when your first session is?”

Izuku shook his head, pushing away the now empty bento. 

“Let me think about it, I might know someone better who can help, I’ll give them a call and see what he has to say.”

“O-okay!” Izuku agreed with a nod.

“You should get some more rest young Midoriya,” All Might said reaching over before pausing, “may I ruffle your hair, my boy?” 

“Yes,” Izuku said quickly, smiling a bit as All Might ruffled his hair. His Mentor had figured out by the sixth month mark that Izuku preferred to be asked for permission to touch him, otherwise he would flinch away.

“I’ll visit you later. Get some rest,” With that, All Might left the room.

Chapter Text

Izuku must have drifted off, as next he woke it was to Recovery Girl shaking him awake, which caused him to back away before he was properly awake. She told him that it was time for dinner and handed him the meal. 

He gave a thanks, before starting to eat it, looking up to see that the curtain around Aizawa’s bed was open again and that a Present Mic was once more helping the other to eat. It was a minute before he realized that there was some music quietly playing. Coming from where Mic-sensei sat.

It wasn’t something he heard before, but it was relaxing. Just a gentle melody. He kinda wished it was a bit louder though so he could hear it better. But, he wasn’t going to ask the english teacher.

Still he found himself not being quite so tense in the presence of the blonde teacher. He finished eating and found himself lying on the bed, bored. Recovery Girl came back out and unwrapped the bandages on his chest, and Izuku caught the first glimpse of the creeping wound he had right above his heart. It was still fairly wounded, the nurse saw his confused look, “The decay had started digging deeper, it managed to eat away at the muscles and part of your rib cage that protected your heart. If the contact had been any longer it may have managed to reach your heart.” She informed him clinically. “I already used a lot of your stamina to heal you, so you will have to let the rest of it heal naturally. Same as Aizawa over there. These types of wounds just require too much stamina to fully heal.”

“W-wouldn’t s-stamina r-recover?”

“Yes, but this type of stamina isn’t just something you can recover with a short nap. It’s more akin to your life force, and my healing eats up part of it to speed up the natural healing process. With time your life force can recover, but a bunch of injuries, or a major injury will take out a huge chunk of your life force. When you get released you can not break anymore of your bones, if you do I won’t be able to heal it. So be careful or you could lose the use of that limb.”

Izuku nodded, repeating the words in his head. ‘Break a bone and lose that limb.’

She carefully disinfected the wound and then wrapped his chest back up, removing the heart monitor as she did so before directing him to get some more sleep. Then she went over to Aizawa-sensei, unwrapping the bandages around his head after telling him to close his eyes. Izuku took in a sharp breath seeing how black and purple the face was, it completely bruised, except one part underneath his eye that looked cut. Recovery Girl carefully wiped some disinfectant on the wounds and put on some clean bandages. Also removing his heart monitor.

Then she walked out of the room, towards her personal room. A beeping came from across the room and Mic-sensei looked down at his phone, grumbling. “Go do your show Hizashi,” Aizawa-sensei said.

Present Mic sighed, “I’ll be back tomorrow morning with breakfast for you and the little listener.”

“Of course, I’ll see you then.”

Mic-sensei started to walk out, turning he smiled at Aizawa, “Love you Sho!”

“I love you too you goof, now get going.”

The english teacher chuckled and walked out.

About ten minutes passed before Aizawa sighed and spoke up, “Can you put on Hizashi’s radio show?”

“O-of course,” Izuku replied, pulling out his phone and opening the radio app for Present Mic’s Put Your Hands Up station.

Some music was playing and after thirty minutes, when the clock hit 7pm, Mic-sensei’s voice came on, “What’s up listeners? How has everybody's days been doing?” Present Mic started, cheerfully talking about different subjects.

The hour passed and music started to play. Izuku left it on, though lowered the volume a bit so it wouldn’t disturb Aizawa-sensei.

Soon he ended up drifting off. 

“Good Morning!” A loud voice woke him up with a start.

“Ugh, not so loud,” Aizawa groaned.

Izuku gave out a groan of agreement. Trying to fall back asleep, but he couldn’t. He heard snickering, “Ah, but I have coffee for you Sho.”

“Gimme,” Aizawa muttered.

Izuku sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He blinked and saw Mic holding the cup and straw in place as Aizawa sipped it. After a minute Mic took the cup away. “Let me give the little listener his breakfast, then you can have the rest of your beverage.”

Izuku watched silently as Mic-sensei pulled out a bento and paused looking at him, “Can I come closer?”

“Y-yes.”

Mic-sensei walked closer and handed over the bento, “If you want something to drink, let me know and I’ll get it for you, okay kiddo?”

He hesitated, he looked at the water machine, the teacher saw the glance, “You want me to get you some water?”

Izuku gave a nod. The english teacher filled up the plastic cup and brought it over. Izuku took it and drinked it down, watching how Present Mic returned to Aizawa and helped him drink some more and eat the food, Aizawa complaining about the lack of being able to use his hands.

Aizawa had broken arms, and Izuku had one broken leg though one had apparently mostly healed, having not been as broken. Though as he looked around he spotted a pair of crutches nearby. He went to check his phone, but saw it was dead. “W-what t-time is i-it?”

“6:57,” Mic-sensei answered, which meant classes would be starting in about another hour and a half. 

Izuku went back to eating the food. He watched as Mic-sensei finished helping Aizawa eat and the man got up, “Now, I expect you to stay here and rest, don’t try going to your classes, understand?”

“Perfectly,” Aizawa responded.

Izuku saw that Mic-sensei narrowed his eyes, “Midoriya, make sure my husband doesn’t do anything stupid, yeah?”

He nodded in response, and the teacher seemed satisfied as he left the room. Izuku and Aizawa looked at each other and Izuku pointed over to the crutches he had spotted. Aizawa snorted and gave a nod.

The door opened and Mic-sensei popped back in, “Almost forgot my phone.”

“More like you wanted an excuse to make sure I wasn’t immediately trying to leave,” Aizawa commented.

“That too,” Mic-sensei said, coming to a stop next to Aizawa as he grabbed his phone, then he leaned down and kissed Aizawa-sensei’s bandaged forehead. “Take care of yourself.”

Izuku glanced away, feeling like he was intruding upon something private.

And then Present Mic walked out again. Aizawa shifted and the two met eyes, both waited silently for a few minutes to see if Mic would come back in. Aizawa slowly sat up. He made it to his feet and leaned against the bed for a minute before taking his first step.

Izuku sat up, watching as Aizawa slowly went to the crutches, the teacher carefully maneuvered them to hang on one of his casts before he hobbled back. Izuku grabbed them and carefully stood up, figuring out how to use them.

“Shall w-we make our e-escape then s-sensei?” Izuku questioned with a grin.

Aizawa gave a snort and a nod. They got to the door and Aizawa paused, “Peek your head out, Hizashi might be waiting outside.”

Izuku nodded, opening the door a crack and looking out, “It’s clear,” he said quietly.

“Good, let’s go.”

The two started to make their way through the hall, having to pause frequently for them to catch their breaths. “What do you think you two are doing?” The displeased voice of Recovery Girl came from behind them.

“Damn,” Aizawa muttered quietly.

They both turned around to see the nurse glaring at them. “Back to the hospital wing you two.”

Izuku dejectedly started to walk back, Aizawa next to him. They sat down on the beds and Recovery Girl remained in the room for another hour before her office phone rang, “You both stay right here, or else!” She stated, leaving the room and the door swung shut behind her.

Both of the patients immediately started moving again. Izuku grabbed the crutches that had been left next to his bed instead of moved further away. Aizawa went to the door, managing to open it. Izuku followed right behind him as the two moved as quickly as they could, this time making progress more quickly as both wanted to be in the class before Recovery Girl’s call was done.

Izuku looked around the corner and saw Mic-sensei in the distance, “Hide!” He hissed and the two ducked into the nearest classroom. Izuku watched the window of the door and after a minute saw Present Mic walk past.

“Good job,” Aizawa told him, nodding his head once.

Izuku grinned. A light warm feeling spreading through his chest.

They waited a minute before the two exited the empty classroom and continued through the hallways, though their progress became slow when the students started coming in. After a bit the students stopped coming in so much and it was time for the classes to start. And Izuku and Aizawa had made it to the door. 

Izuku opened it, holding it open for Aizawa who walked in. “Morning,” Aizawa greeted.

“You’re back already Sensei?!” 

Izuku came in, letting the door close behind him, “Midoriya! You’re here as well?”

“Are you two okay to be here?”

Izuku hobbled his way over to his seat, which was now far away from Bakugo, which was good cause he was sure the blonde would have tripped him. “My welfare isn’t important, because your fight is far from over.”

“M-more villains?” Mineta exclaimed in a frantic tone.

“U.A’s Sports Festival is fast approaching!” Aizawa told them.

“That’s so ordinary!” Kaminari exclaimed. “Come on, we just had that villain attack. You sure about this?!”

“It’s necessary, To demonstrate that U.A’s crisis management protocols are sound… that’s the thinking, apparently. Compared to the past years there’ll be five times the police presence. Anyhow our sports festival is the greatest opportunity you’ll get. ”

Izuku heard Mineta complain about it, wondering why it just couldn't be canceled. “Our sports festival is one of japan's biggest events! The Olympics were once the world's sports festival the whole country would be whipped into a frenzy over them. But as you know, that tradition has shrunk in scale to as shell of its former self after quirks developed. And as far as Japan’s concerned, what's taken the place of the Olympics is the U.A sports festival.”

“The nation’s top heroes will all be watching, right?” Yaoyorozu questioned, “They’ll be there as scouts!”

“They’ll be looking to hire us as sidekicks after we graduate, that’s how upcoming heroes gain their reputation enough to go solo.”

“And a lot of those sidekicks never manage to go solo. They're sidekicks forever. That’ll be you Kaminari, you dunce.” Jirou stated.

“That’s so mean!” Kaminari responded.

“Narutally, you’ll gain valuable experience and popularity if you're picked up by a big name hero. But your time is limited. Show the pros what you're made of here and you'll make futures for yourselves. This happens once a year, so you’ve got three chances. If you're hoping to become a hero, this is an event you can’t miss.”

With that the bell rang for homeroom to be over and the door opened, letting Mic-sensei in. Izuku saw the man narrow his eyes from behind his glasses and Aizawa walked past, pausing slightly as he passed Mic-sensei and he saw the english teachers lips moving, though whatever was being said was too quiet.

The quick interaction passed and Aizawa-sensei left. Mic-sensei took up the podium and looked at all of them, his gaze pausing on him and Izuku saw the man’s eyes closed for a moment and he shook his head before he continued, the whole thing unnoticed by the other students as he spoke, going over an english lesson. 

The class ended and Mic-sensei started to head out, but paused, looking at him, green eyes peeking above his sunglasses. “Midoriya, after lunch, return to the nurses office.”

He nodded in response, sinking down into his seat as the students looked at him. “Midoriya, did you sneak out of the nurses office?” Iida questioned.

“So manly!” Kirishima said, giving him a grin.

“I think he was more hobbling than sneaking out,” one of the other students commented, a guy who shot tape from his elbows if Izuku remembered correctly.

Ectoplasm came in next and the next few periods passed quickly. After Cementoss’s literature class they went off to lunch. Iida and Uraraka walked beside him, despite his slow pace.

They entered the lunch room and they told him to sit and that they would bring lunch to him. A few minutes later they came back with three trays. He ate, listening as Uraraka and Iida discussed her reasons for becoming a hero.

Lunch ended and he started to hobble his way towards the nurses wing, telling Uraraka and Iida that he could manage it on his own. It took him about ten minutes, but he made it and entered the room. Seeing Mic-sensei standing above Aizawa’s bed, the teacher was already on it and seemed to be getting lectured by the English teacher.

“Are you even listening to me Sho?” Mic-sensei asked.

“I am.”

“Then why did you feel the need to leave after I asked you to stay and rest?”

Izuku listened to the conversation as he made his way to the bed, wincing as he hit his injured leg when he pushed himself onto the bed. “I needed to tell my class about the sports festival.”

“You could have done that Monday!”

Mic-sensei huffed, “Why are you so stubborn?”

“Because if I wasn’t stubborn then I would likely be dead,” Aizawa replied, rolling his eyes, the only visible part of his face. 

The english teacher groaned, going quite for a moment as he pinched his nose before removing his glasses and turning towards him, “And what’s your reason for leaving Midoriya?”

He didn’t want to be alone. Aizawa-sensei felt safe. He wanted to make sure his classmates were alright. He didn’t like being in the nurse's office, didn’t like the silence or how empty it felt. 

He said none of this, instead he just shrugged, knowing he wouldn’t be able to say any of that. Mic-sensei looked him in the eyes, and maybe he found an answer because he just sighed and turned back to Aizawa, “I swear, you’re going to give me gray hair from worry.”

“But you love me anyways.”

“I really do. Now, you two should rest up. If you leave the bed for any reason other than the bathroom I won’t let either of you return to class on monday.”

Izuku blinked, “h-huh?”

Mic-sensei grinned at him, “I can’t have you getting into trouble kiddo, so stay here and keep my stubborn husband company.”

“Just get out of here so I can start telling Midoriya embarrassing stories about you,” Aizawa grumbled.

“Sho~” Mic-sensei whined.

“Either I tell embarrassing stories, or we leave and go pull a vanishing act until Monday.”

Izuku blinked, wondering why he was being included, but… then again, embarrassing stories about Mic-sensei sounded fun. “I-i vote f-for s-stories,” he stammered out after gathering up some bravery.

Aizawa nodded, “We would pull a vanishing act, and I would still tell embarrassing stories.”

The english teacher gave a dramatic sniff, “I see how it is, fine I’ll leave…”

He was halfway out the door when he paused, “Make sure to tell the little listener about the hair dye incident in our 2nd year.”

Aizawa snorted, “I will, now scram.”

Present Mic chuckled and walked out.

Chapter Text

Hizashi smiled at the sight of the little listener laughing in pure joy, and Shota was snickering. It had been a few hours since he left, and he hoped that his husband hadn’t just told embarrassing stories of him. Nemuri and Tensei had some highly embarrassing moments as well. 

It took a moment, but finally Midoriya noticed him. The boy quieted down a bit, but didn’t instantly become nervous. Which was a huge improvement. It seemed the boy was starting to realize that Hizashi wasn’t like his previous english teacher.

Hizashi had also noticed that the boy liked to see his eyes, perhaps because it was one of the most noticeable differences between him and that other english teacher. So he had already changed into his civilian ware, hair tied back into a loose bun. 

He looked at his husband who gave a small nod, scooting over to make room on the hospital bed. He beamed, giving finger guns to his husband as he went over and sat down next to him. Using their relationship to help put Midoriya at ease was a brilliant plan from Shota. And it was working, Midoriya no longer flinched at his mere presence, didn’t curl up nearly as much.

“How are you?” He asked.

“Tired,” Shota deadpanned.

“I brought you and the kiddo a snack,” he said smiling. Hizashi saw them look at him and he pulled out a couple of jelly packets from his pocket. “Midoriya, catch,” he warned the boy before tossing it over.

The boy caught it and gave him a hesitant smile, “T-thank you.”

He opened the juice packet and held it up for his husband to sip down. Hizashi glanced over to the kid to see him looking at the packet hesitantly. “Something wrong little listener?”

“N-no!” The boy said quickly, shifting a bit, the boy looked him in the eyes and Hizashi kept the gaze, seeing how the boy was working on saying something, “I j-just… I-I never h-had o-one of t-these before.”

Shota coughed in disbelief from next to him, “You never had a jelly packet?” Shota repeated, a slight note of horror in his voice. Hizashi resisted the urge to grin, knowing his husband practically lived off the jelly packets and coffee.

“N-never.”

“Well, go ahead, what flavor did you give him ‘Zashi?”

“Apple.”

“I’ll have to bring the other flavors so Midoriya can try them all and find his favorite,” Shota said with a nod. Earning a surprised look from Midoriya.

“H-huh?”

Hizashi chuckled, “Shota is obsessed with these packets, he considers it a travesty that you haven’t had them before.”

“I can speak for myself you know.”

“Of course,” Hizashi agreed, earning a glare from Shota.

Midoriya looked at the jelly packet and opened it, carefully lifting it up and taking a sip. He blinked, his eyes widening. “It’s good,” he muttered in surprise.

He may not be able to see it, but Hizashi knew his husband was smirking, “That they are,” Shota agreed, taking another drink of his, finishing it off.

“Anyways, the school day is over now, so we’ll be taking you to your home.”

Midoriya looked up, tilting his head, “B-but I t-take t-the train?”

“Not while you're healing, little listener,” Hizashi stated, his eyes meeting Midoriya’s again as he said, “We don’t want to risk something happening to you on the way home. We’ll also be picking you up in the mornings to make sure you get to school safely.”

The kid fell silent, taking another small sip of the jelly packet. “Ok,” the kid agreed after a moment in a quiet voice.

“If you don’t feel comfortable with us taking you home, I’m sure we can ask All Might or one of the other teachers to take you home,” Shota spoke up.

“Y-you t-two are f-fine.”

Hizashi beamed, giving finger guns at the kid.

“Are you ready to go home now then, or do you want to stay here a little longer?”

The kid finished the last of the jelly packet, “W-we can g-go.”

Hizashi nodded, and the three made their way out of the room, he led the kid to his car and opened the door to the passenger seat and backseat for Shota and Midoriya. “I never want to have my arms broken again,” Shota grumbled.

He chuckled, “I don’t mind, means I get to take care of you.”

The glare his husband gave was burning, “Though I do miss that handsome face of yours,” he added with a wink.

“Hizashi!” Shouta snapped out, and he knew his husband was flustered.

He chuckled as he closed the door for Shota and then walked around to the drivers side. He got in and turned on the radio, playing something upbeat that he hummed along with, seeing how the kid seemed to relax with the music playing.

After a half hour drive he pulled up at Midoriya’s apartment complex. “Alright kiddo, were here,” he eyed the building, not seeing an elevator. “Does your apartment have an elevator?”

“N-no.”

“Stairs it is then,” he said as he got out, seeing that Midoriya had started to get out as well. The boy sent him a confused look, “I’m not letting you walk up the stairs by yourself, what if you trip and fall?”

Midoriya’s eyes widened at that, watering a bit, and Hizashi started to panic before the boy said, “T-thanks.”

Now Hizashi was the one confused, “Your welcome?” he returned hesitantly, not sure what the kid was thanking him for. Midoriya just walked to the stairs, not offering anything to help clarify what he meant. The boy paused at the bottom of the stairs.

“Is something wrong?”

“H-how?” The boy asked, looking at the stairs and then down to his crutches.

“Put both of your crutches under one arm and grab the railing with the other, keep the crutches on the step where you’re standing. Then you step up with your stronger leg,” he looked and saw the kid paying attention to him so he continued, “Push down on your crutches, and then step up with your weaker leg. Once both feet are on the same step, bring your crutches up to that step. Rinse and repeat.”

He watched, standing carefully a step behind the kid and at a bit of an angle as the kid started to walk up the stairs. Luckily the boys apartment was only on the second floor instead of any higher.

Hizashi saw the kid dig through his pocket, pulling out a key-chain with a key and a small All Might figurine. The kid pushed the key in before frowning, “I-it’s unlocked?” the boy mumbled.

Midoriya took the key out and opened the door. Hizashi watched as the boy paled a bit, “A-auntie?”

“Izu-kun! You’re finally here! What took you so long, rascal?” A blonde woman appeared at the doorway, almost startling Hizashi as she looked like a female version of Bakugo. The woman looked at Midoriya, “Oh… I see…” her head turned, “Oi! Brat, why the hell didn’t you tell me Izu-kun was injured!”

“Shut up you old hag!” Bakugo’s voice yelled back. Carefully Hizashi reached into one of his pockets, and activated the recorder, having a feeling that he was about to have a conversation that Shota would want to hear.

The woman moved out of the doorway and Izuku entered, “And who the hell are you?” The woman asked, turning to him with suspicious eyes.

“Yamada Hizashi, I’m one of Midoriya’s and Bakugo’s teachers at U.A.”

Her expression changed and she smiled, “Ah! Sorry, my name is Bakugo Mitsuki, Katsuki’s mother and this rascal’s aunt,” the woman said, reaching over and ruffling Midoriya’s hair, causing him to flinch.

She sighed, “Really Izu-kun?”

“S-s-sorry,” the boy apologized.

Hizashi’s smile fell a bit at that, “Ah, may I come in, I need to speak with Mrs. Midoriya about the incident.”

Mrs. Bakugo frowned, nodding, “Of course, but I have to warn you that Inko-chan is.. Well disabled. Poor woman. Brat! Go bring your aunt into the living room!” She screamed into the apartment.

“Shut up!” the boy yelled back, but there was the sound of footsteps from inside. 

Mrs. Bakugo pointed to one of the seats and then she sat next to Izuku, who shifted, a look of discomfort on his face. The woman sighed, “So why are you here in person instead of just calling like the school did for me?”

“Due to Midoriya’s injuries we figured it would be safer to make sure he was accompanied by the school's personal, we did call Mrs. Midoriya to let her know he was injured and had to stay in the nurse's office overnight for observation.”

At that moment Bakugo walked in, standing next to the walking corpse that was Midoriya’s mother. Her eyes were still empty, and she walked and sat down in one of the chairs. “What are you doing here?” Bakugo questioned in a contempt-filled tone with narrowed eyes.

“Respect your teacher brat!” Mrs. Bakugo snapped.

Hizashi cleared his throat before Bakugo could respond and started to explain what happened at USJ, and how Midoriya got injured to save a teacher’s life. “Good job rascal!” Mrs. Bakugo praised, patting Midoriya’s head, getting another flinch as the boy looked down.

“Tch, if only you were more confident.”

“I-I’m s-so-sorry,” Midoriya apologized.

“Stop apologizing, you’re trying to be a hero, aren’t you?”

Midoriya nodded, still not looking up.

Mrs. Bakugo glared, “Speak up, have you ever seen a hero who can’t speak properly?”

“N-n-no,” Midoriya answered his stuttering worse.

Hizashi’s smile fell at the sight of the boy who looked like he was trying to escape, his eyes were watering, but Midoriya wasn’t letting his tears fall. “Excuse me, but what do you think you are doing?” Hizashi questioned, his voice icy.

The woman looked at him confused, “Trying to get the rascal to stop being a wimp.”

Bakugo snorted, “Deku will always be a crybaby.” Midoriya flinched at that, raising one of his arms to scrub at the tears.

“What you are doing is not helping him at all,” Hizashi started, preparing to go on a rant.

“And what would you know, huh?”

“A) I am a teacher for teens, I know when a ‘tough love’ approach is necessary and when a kid needs a different approach. B) I’m a pro hero, I recognize the signs of trauma which comes from bullying and other such events. C) I’m not the parent of one of Midoriya’s main bullies.”

Midoriya’s eyes went wide in surprise, looking at him in a sort of stunned disbelief.

The woman looked enraged, “Katsuki is not a bully!”

Hizashi just calmly raised an eyebrow, wearing one of Shota’s ‘are you done yet?’ faces.

Mrs. Bakugo turned to Izuku, “Well? Aren’t you going to defend Katsuki?”

“I don’t need that damn nerd standing up for me!”

“Shut up brat!”

Izuku started to say something, but he was stuttering so badly that nothing could be made out, “Speak clearly, rascal,” Mitsuki scolded Izuku, tugging his ear.

The boy's green eyes met his, filled with misery and Hizashi just wanted to hug the poor kid. He watched as the boy opened and closed his mouth, but nothing came out. “Tch, you’ve gone mute again, haven’t you?”

Midoriya nodded looking ashamed.

“Go to your room, while I finish this chat with your teacher then.” Mrs. Bakugo said, practically spitting out the word teacher as she glared at him.

Midoriya stood up, and quickly hobbled out of the room on his crutches. “Why would you ever insinuate that Katsuki bullies Izu-kun, those two are best friends, even if my brat is a bit of an idiot when showing it.”

“Ma’am, were you not informed about the incident that happened at the start of this week?”

Mrs. Bakugo’s anger seemed to fade as confusion replaced it, she frowned, “My husband mentioned something about Katsuki having to take Anger Management lessons, but he didn’t tell me the specifics.”

“I see, there was a battle simulation exercise, and Bakugo and Midoriya fought each other. Bakugo nearly killed Midoriya, despite the teacher of the class telling him to stop,” Hizashi informed the mother, watching as Bakugo seemed to sink down into his chair a bit.

“I think I still have the video on my phone if you would like proof.”

The woman nodded, and Hizashi carefully kept his face blank of the glee he felt, so what if he was maybe a bit biased against Bakugo and wanted to see him get more than the little slap on the wrist the school had decided on. He pulled up the video, and showed it to Mitsuki, who paled and then became enraged, before her expression went cold. “I see, thank you for bringing this to my attention. Izu-kun! There’s a meal in the fridge for you and Inko-chan!” The woman hollered into the house as she stood up, one arm tightly gripping Bakugo’s. She looked at Inko, “I think it’s best if I go now, but I’ll come visit you again in a couple weeks.”

“Ok,” Inko replied, face blank of any emotion.

Mrs. Bakugo’s gaze turned sad. 

Hizashi stood up and gave a nod, “Thank you for your time.” He tried his best to keep his voice even to not show how he felt. The anger that burned at this situation. “I’ll be saying goodbye to Midoriya and then I will take my leave.”

Mrs. Bakugo nodded and Hizashi went further into the house, finding a door that had Izuku’s name hanging on it.

He knocked, a moment later and Izuku opened the door, his cheeks red and puffy and he was wiping away tears. “Hey little listener, I’m going to go now, will you be alright?”

Midoriya nodded.

“May I ruffle your hair?” he asked carefully.

The kid hesitated, then gave a nod. Hizashi smiled and gave the hair a quick ruffle. “You’re a good kid, alright? Don’t feel pressured to speak if you don’t want to, yeah?”

Midoriya gave a small shaky smile and a thumbs up. “I’ll pick you up Monday around 7:45.”

He got a nod in response. 

Hizashi shot the kid some finger guns, and then headed out. Turning off the recorder as he did so. Looking down he saw the Bakugo’s getting into a car and driving away. He went to his own car and saw Shota waiting there, staring at the retreating vehicle with narrowed eyes.

He got into the driver’s seat and sighed, “Poor Midoriya.”

“What happened?” Shota growled. “Why was Bakugo in Midoriya’s house?”

“Apparently Mrs. Bakugo is Midoriya’s aunt,” he said. He started the car and drove towards their house. “I did record it as well. Do you want to wait for the recording or for me to tell you what went down?”

“Tell me.”

So as he drove he relayed the gist of the conversation. Shota growled by the end of it, “She made him go mute?”

“Yeah, she mentioned again, so it sounds like a common occurrence for him around her.”

“And was Mrs. Midoriya still a ‘walking corpse’?” Shota questioned, using the nickname Hizashi had given her.

“Yes.”

Shota groaned, “This just keeps getting better and better,” he muttered sarcastically.

Hizashi shook his head, “Nothing we can do about it unless we can get proof that Mrs. Midoriya is mistreating him, but then he would enter the foster system…”

“That would be even worse.”

“We’ll figure something out Sho.”

“Yes, we will.” 

Chapter Text

Izuku grimaced, trying to cook breakfast while hobbling around on crutches. It took a painstakingly long time, but eventually he managed to cook breakfast. He placed the food down on the table, and put a couple pills next to his mother's spot. The medicine was supposed to be helping her get better, and Izuku supposed it was working. She could answer and ask questions now at least instead of being completely unresponsive.

He made his way to her room, shaking her awake and dragging her to the dining room. Unfortunately he still didn’t feel like talking, his words drying up and getting caught in his throat when he tried to speak.

So he resulted to silently leading her to the table, at least she could eat without further prompting once she saw the food.

After he finished eating he led his mom to the living room and put on the tv, putting on the station she used to watch before the accident. It wasn’t like she was in the right mind to tell him what she wanted to watch, especially right now when he couldn’t ask her. He returned to the dining room and started cleaning up the dishes.

Then he went to his room and opened his notebooks, editing a few of the student pages he had written. Eventually his thoughts drifted to Aizawa-sensei, and Mic-sensei.

The homeroom teacher was different from any other teacher he had before, he treated everyone in the class fairly equally, though he was a bit harsher on those he claimed were close to zero potential. Such a case being Mineta.

Then there was Mic-sensei, who didn’t call on him in class, kept his distance outside of class without making sure it was okay with him, and in class had Iida pass out papers so he wouldn’t intrude on Izuku’s comfort zone.

He had thought that maybe Mic-sensei didn’t like him, but Aizawa had said, ‘ He does like you, but we’re pro heroes, he can tell that his presence upsets you so he is keeping his distance.’

How Aizawa had told him that they cared. And Izuku supposed that he should have expected U.A. to be different, after all he had a quirk now. He wasn’t worthless.

Which… that was another thing that he had almost forgotten about, apparently he had some undetermined quirk. He had no idea what it actually was, and hadn’t had a chance to talk with Recovery Girl about it. Or even inform All Might. 

Recovery Girl did tell him that she had done the scan at Aizawa’s insistence, that the teacher had been trying to figure out why his file originally said quirkless when it should have just been undetermined. Was wondering why they hadn’t paid to hire a testing specialist who could help them find out what the quirk was. What hidden requirements it had.

Still, he didn’t know what his real quirk could have been. Izuku pulled out his phone and fiddled for a moment, then typed up a message.

[Recovery Girl did a scan of my foot. Apparently I don’t actually have the double pinky joint that I was told I had.]

All Might didn’t respond immediately, in fact it was almost an hour later when Izuku did finally get a response to his text.

[Really? That’s good news then, right?]

[I guess… I don’t know what my actual quirk would be though.]

[Once you get a handle on OFA, then we should see about finding out your original quirk. If it hasn’t activated yet, I suppose we don’t have to worry about it activating for now. But you should be careful OFA makes original quirks more powerful, enhancing their natural ability.]

[Alright. See you Monday.]

[See you then young Midoriya!]

Izuku deleted the messages, getting rid of the mentions of One For All. He frowned, he knew it was better to focus on One For All, so he wouldn’t break his bones, but he still wanted to know what his quirk was. Izuku closed his eyes, he needed to focus on One For All, after all if he hurt himself again Recovery Girl said he could permanently lose use of his limbs.

But… how could he use it without breaking his bones? Aizawa said that he would set up a meeting with Hound Dog. But, All Might said he would find someone else, maybe someone who had helped him before?

Izuku sighed, he was bored. He couldn’t wait for the weekend to be over. The day passed in a crawl, his only company his thoughts.

Shota growled as he finally listened to the recording of Hizashi’s conversation with Mrs. Bakugo. And how everything went down. It was frustrating that Midoriya had to deal with such people who didn’t think about how their words and actions could make a situation worse. 

Yet, he was also annoyed at All Might, the man had lied to Hizashi when his husband had asked the man if he knew what was wrong with Midoriya. After all they had overheard the conversation the ‘symbol of peace’ had with their student. 

If it hadn’t been blaringly obvious before that All Might was an idiot, it was driven home when the man had said he would be looking into someone other than Hound Dog. Why would All Might not want a certified pro who was also easily available to help Midoriya?

But the real kicker was when they heard All Might ask for Midoriya’s permission to ruffle his hair, which meant the man at least knew that Midoriya hated being touched, but All Might didn’t tell them that.

They as teachers should have been made aware, even without them asking. But they had asked, and All Might hadn’t told them. Shota huffed as he stopped his pacing and sat down, glaring at the tv. He couldn’t even grade the papers right now with his arms out of commission. Nor could he go patrolling, or follow up the other lead on Doi Nashi.

It was frustrating and he ended up getting back up and starting to pace around again. Hizashi shook his head, “You think you would be happy not having to grade.”

“Normally yes, but not when it’s the only thing keeping me distracted from Midoriya’s situation.”

Hizashi sighed, “We’re doing all we can at the moment, just relax Sho. Get yourself plenty of rest, and then you can heal up faster.”

Shota sighed. Why did the time seem to be dragging on and on?

Izuku wrote a note and handed it to his mom with breakfast, informing her that he was going to Dagobah beach for a little bit. She didn’t give any sign after she read it, but he didn’t expect her to. He probably could leave and she wouldn’t even notice, but it put his mind at ease to inform her. Izuku grabbed his backpack, which had a bento and one of his journals in it.

He exited the house and  carefully made his way down the stairs. Once he was down he slowly made his way to the beach, seeing All Might standing in his true form, “Young Midoriya!” His mentor called.

Izuku shifted his crutch to be underneath his other arm as he raised a hand waving back. All Might closed the distance between the two of them, once the man had got within a few feet Izuku gave a sheepish look and pointed at his throat. “You injured your vocal cords again?”

He nodded and All Might sighed, “You really need to take better care of yourself my boy. Anyways, I asked you here because I got in contact with someone who can help you master One For All.”

Izuku looked up, tilting his head. “He’s waiting for us at a nearby warehouse he rented for the day.”

The two made their way to the warehouse and Izuku entered after All Might. “Finally,” an older male voice grouched, “What took you so long?”

“Sorry Torino-sensei,” All Might apologized. 

“So where is this successor of yours?” 

All Might stepped to the side revealing him.

“Ah, I’m afraid that besides the obvious injuries, young Midoriya also has hurt his vocal cords and can’t speak right now. But, Gran Tornino meet Izuku Midoriya. Midoriya, Gran Torino,” All Might said introducing the two of them

The man was short and wore a white and yellow hero outfit. “You don’t look like much, boy, but Toshinori here did tell me what all you’ve accomplished so far. So, you have trouble regulating One For All?”

Izuku nodded. “Alright, is there any amount of One For All you can safely bring out without breaking your bones?” Izuku shook his head. “This will be a bit slower, but write down what you know about One For All. How you use it, what you feel and think about.” Izuku grabbed the papers and pencil from Gran Torino.

Then he started to write, and write, and write. Izuku had a ton of thoughts and speculations on OFA. Gran Torino blinked as Izuku turned the page.

All Might chuckled, “Young Midoriya loves analysing things so this might be a while.”

A half hour and a few pages later he was finished writing most of his thoughts on One For All, and included how he used it and what he felt. He handed the papers over to Gran Torino who read over them.

“Well, I see the problem kid, you’re thinking One For All is more special than it is, it’s just a quirk kid.”

Izuku blinked, frowning a bit. He reached into his backpack and pulled out his journal, opening it up to a random page, Kamui Woods. He showed it to Gran Torino. The man read over the pages, his eyebrows shooting up, “So that’s just how you see quirks then, huh kid?”

Izuku nodded. “Well, even if you think about it like that, One For All is just a stockpile quirk. It has power from previous wielders that can be distributed to parts of your body. But, as you know channeling too much of the power to one limb shatters your bones. You need to learn how to control that power, to not send out so much.”

He knew that, he just didn’t know how, that whole egg in the microwave metaphor wasn’t really working out. The old man sighed, “When you use One For All, you said you sent it to the parts of the body where you needed it. Have you tried distributing it throughout your body?”

Izuku’s mouth fell open, and now he felt dumb, if it really was that simple he could channel an amount he would normally send to his arm and then distribute that amount to his whole body, lessening the amount in total to less than the hundred percent. Still if he were to do that he would have to be careful.

But… he couldn’t test it now, he would have to wait until he was healed. Izuku didn’t even know if he would be healed in time to take part in the sports festival. “The U.A. sports festival is coming up, I better not see you breaking any bones, and you’re interning with me during internships.”

Izuku’s eyebrows scrunched together, and he tilted his head. He thought back to what Aizawa-sensei had said and realised that the man had hinted at the Internships, speaking how important the sports festival was.

“Ah, your teacher hasn’t told you about internships yet, have they?”

Izuku shook his head.

“A bunch of pros look at kids during the festival, and offer internships if a kid makes a good showing, those who don’t make a good showing have to pick from a list of places that are open to everyone. You won’t have to worry about it since you’re going to be interning with me. Well, we can’t get much training done since you’re healing, so I’ll see you again after the sports festival.”

With that the old man walked out of the warehouse.

“Well, that went better than I expected,” All Might muttered.

Izuku tilted his head.

“I didn’t think my old teacher would be so straightforward. Usually he just likes sparing until I figure out an answer, but I suppose that option wasn’t available with you being injured.”

Well perhaps it wasn’t so bad he was injured then, if it meant he wasn’t being beat up by an old man that had All Might trembling.

He pulled out his bento, eating a lunch with All Might and then his mentor walked him back to his apartment. “Take care young Midoriya,” All Might said, giving a nod as Izuku entered his apartment.

He gave a thumbs up and a smile. Now, Izuku had the rest of Sunday to pass in boredom. He sighed and started thinking about One For All and how he could distribute a portion of it through his body without hopefully breaking every bone in his body. Izuku really wanted to try it again, but he knew he couldn’t. Not until he was healed.

At least the weekend had been somewhat productive.

Chapter Text

Izuku was eating breakfast when the knock at the door came, he looked at the time, it was only 7:30. He went to the door and opened it, seeing Mic-Sensei, “Hey little listener! How are you today?” The english teacher asked, giving a smile, green eyes bright.

He shrugged, giving a so-so gesture. “Still not feeling up to speaking?” 

Izuku nodded. He had hoped that he could speak again by the end of the weekend, but it wasn’t to be. The words still wouldn’t come. “That’s fine, anyways we accidentally arrived a bit early, so I just wanted to let you know, if you’re ready we can head out.”

He held up a finger, “You want me to wait a moment?” Izuku nodded. “Alright, I’ll wait right here then,” Mic-sensei agreed.

He returned to his room and grabbed his bag slinging it on his shoulder. The bag had his school supplies, and the small gifts he had for each of his teachers. Then he grabbed his tie and grimaced as he tried to remember how to tie it. The video he watched had been confusing, he huffed as he ended up with a messy result, oh well.

Exiting out of his room he made his way to the front door and stepped out after giving a small hug to his mom, who made no move to return the gesture. Present Mic was leaning against the railing, on his phone. The man looked up, green eyes peering through the clear glasses as the teacher was in his civilian wear. “Ready?”

Izuku nodded and headed down the stairs, Mic smiled and stayed close by as he made his way down the stairs. He found himself a bit better about being around Mic-Sensei, the man wasn’t like his previous english teacher at all. Izuku opened the backseat door and sat down.

Aizawa met his eyes through the mirror, “Good Morning Midoriya.”

Izuku nodded and Present Mic slid into the driver’s seat. “Midoriya still doesn’t feel like talking.”

“Ah,” Aizawa commented, “Do you know sign language Midoriya?”

He shook his head. 

“Hm, we can see about teaching you sometime if you want,” the homeroom teacher commented. 

After a short drive they arrived at U.A. and Izuku opened his door and got out while Mic-Sensei went and opened the door for Aizawa-sensei. “‘Zashi, did you give Midoriya the new jelly packet?”

“Ah! No I forgot, thanks for the reminder Sho!” Mic-sensei said, digging into a bag and pulling out a jelly packet, “Here little listener, one grape flavored packet courtesy of my dorky husband.”

Izuku took the jelly packet, putting it in his pocket so he could use the crutches to walk. 

“I’m not a dork, you are.”

“No you.”

Aizawa narrowed his eyes, lips pursed, “I will not delve in a childish argument with you.”

Mic-sensei stuck his tongue out. “C’mon babe, you know you love my childish self.”

His homeroom teacher rolled his eyes, “Like a fungus.”

“OI! That’s so mean Sho~” Mic whined.

“Come along Midoriya, we have class to get to,” Aizawa said, walking away from Mic who kept pouting.

Izuku followed after the teacher, but glanced over his shoulder and saw the sappy face Mic-Sensei was pulling, the man caught his gaze and smiled, giving finger guns. Soon they were in class, the first to arrive as the starting bell wouldn’t ring for another 20 or so minutes. 

“Midoriya, do you want me to inform the class of your selective mutism?”

Izuku shook his head, even as he wondered what selective mutism meant. He never heard the term before, and when he could he would have to ask Aizawa-sensei about it. He dug into his bag, and pulled out his gift for the teacher, a thank you card, since the homeroom teacher had mentioned it last time.

Aizawa looked over the card, and the man raised one wrapped arm and gently put it on his head, “Thank you Midoriya,” The teacher said, removing the casted arm. Izuku smiled brightly, glad that the teacher had accepted the gift.

He sat down and pulled out the jelly packet, carefully opening it up and trying it, once more it was really good, the right amount of sweetness to really hit the spot. He caught Aizawa looking at him and the man’s eyes seemed almost expectant. Izuku gave a thumbs up and a large smile and the teacher nodded, seemingly satisfied.

Izuku could see why Aizawa-sensei would constantly eat them if they were that good.

About ten minutes passed and Iida came in, greeting him enthusiastically. Izuku just waved back, not saying anything. A couple minutes passed and the door opened. Mic-Sensei came in, now dressed in his hero clothes and carrying coffee with a straw,  “Hey Eraser! I brought you some coffee.”

“Thanks,” The homeroom teacher muttered.

Izuku blinked, finding it strange how differently they acted when they were just around people who knew they were a couple. Izuku knew that if Iida wasn’t here Mic-Sensei would be holding the cup to make it easier for Aizawa to drink. Which made him wonder why the two hid their relationship. Also who all knew, it was obvious Recovery Girl did as the two were really open with her around, but did all the teachers know?

Mic-Sensei left and Izuku saw Aizawa dip his head down to sip the beverage. Not too long after the teacher finished the beverage the room started filling up with more classmates. Then the starting bell rang and Aizawa took attendance. “No announcement for today, do you have any questions about the sports festival?”

A few questions were asked and answered and then the teacher told them to study. The teacher sat down, closing his eyes. 

“Hey Deku, how was your weekend?” Uraraka, one of the few students who picked up Kacchan’s nickname for him asked. She explained before USJ that she liked it cause she thought it gave a ‘You can do it’ vibe. And it wasn’t like Izuku was going to argue with her. That he wasn’t comfortable being called that name.

Izuku gave a so-so gesture with his hand, shrugging. The girl frowned at him for a moment, confusion clear, “Your weekend was okay?”

He nodded giving a thumbs up.

“Are you alright? Why aren’t you speaking? Did you injure your throat?”

“Pff! That damn nerd’s just gone mute again. The wimp won’t speak today.”

“What do you mean, Bakugo?” Iida asked with his hand chopping motion.

“The nerd goes mute sometimes, he should be fine within another day or two.”

“Is this true Midoriya?” Ashido questioned.

Izuku nodded in response. Soon Homeroom came to an end and English started up. He handed the apple to Mic-Seseni who just nodded in appreciation. After English the day passed by quickly with Izuku taking a moment or two to give the teachers gifts, ignoring the strange looks his classmates gave him and the scoff from Bakugo. For Heroics training All Might had them go through some infiltration training, which Izuku unfortunately couldn’t participate in due to his injuries.

Then the day came to an end and his class left for home and he returned to 1-A he looked in and saw Aizawa-sensei wasn’t there, so frowning he waited ten minutes or so before he went to try and find the homeroom teacher. Or the english teacher, since finding one would probably lead to the other.

He walked through the large school for a few minutes before he heard what sounded like laughter.

“C’mon! Just once, I promise it’ll be fun~!” Midnight’s voice purred.

“Nem, really? You know I’m going to say no,” Mic’s voice returned, slightly exasperated.

“Yes I do know, maybe I just like hearing you say no,” the art history teacher replied, snickering.

“Oh? To many people agreeing to your proposals for fun?”

“Yes!” she said, Izuku seeing her throwing her hands up as he stepped around the corner. 

“Little listener!” Mic said with a smile.

He paused, shifting the crutches to wave.

“What are you doing here late Midoriya? Shouldn’t you be heading home?” Midnight questioned, a concerned note in her voice.

He looked over to Mic who chuckled, “Ah, I’m taking the little listener home to make sure he gets there safely.”

The art history teacher nodded, “I see, I’ll let you go on then.”

“Thanks,” Mic-sensei said, “I’ll see you later Nem!”

“See you!”

Izuku followed Mic as they walked away from Midnight, the english teacher shook his head, “Now, let’s go find Sho!”

“Up here,” Aizawa’s voice floated down, causing Izuku to flinch and look up to see the homeroom teacher’s face poking down from the surprisingly large vent grate.

“Sho… how the hell did you get up there?” Present Mic questioned, a look of stunned disbelief on his face.

“That’s for me to know, and you to forever have as a mystery.”

There was a shifting and then the teacher was falling down through the vent grate and Present Mic caught him, an annoyed expression on his face, “I swear Sho, you have got to stop disappearing into the vents to avoid the other teachers.”

Aizawa snorted, “Pff, they never think to look for me there.”

“Except for Nezu.”

The homeroom teacher just grunted, black eyes gleaming. Mic-sensei huffed, “Let’s get the little listener to his home.”

Hizashi hummed as he drove to pick Midoriya up, Shouta in the passenger seat again. It was Tuesday morning and a bit overcast. He parked and then let the car idle as he went up the stairs knocking on Midoriya’s door.

“I’ll b-be out i-in a m-minute,” Izuku’s voice came through the door and Hizashi grinned, glad that the little listener finally was up for talking again. A moment later the door opened and Midoriya stood there, shifting on his crutches a bit as he closed the door behind him and locked it.

Hizashi kept an eye on the kid as he made his way down the stairs, making sure the kid didn’t trip. He handed over a Mango Jelly packet to the kid, who grinned, looking excited to try the new flavor.

… Actually it kind of reminded him of how Shouta’s eyes lit up whenever he got his favorite flavored jelly packet. He did hope the kid wouldn’t get as obsessed with them as Shouta was.

He got into the vehicle and listened as Midoriya enthused about how good the mango jelly packet was. Hizashi just knew his husband was smirking underneath those bandages. They arrived at the school and he went off to change into his hero outfit while Shouta and Midoriya went to class 1-A. 

Hizashi changed and gelled up his hair into his iconic style now that he was out of the car. Doing it before was just a pain as the roof of the car ended up flattening the top. He stopped by the teachers lounge, making a coffee with a lot of sugar for Shouta. Then he went to the classroom and mentally sighed as he saw Iida was already there. The kid always was arriving early, which was a bit of a shame, since he rather liked spending time with Shouta in the morning before the class arrived.

He gave the coffee, sad that he wouldn’t be able to help his husband with the beverage. It was a simple action, but he loved helping Shouta, it was just a nice domestic thing he could do to show the man that he would always be there.

Shouta didn’t say anything besides a thanks, but his eyes conveyed another message, ‘I love you, I appreciate this.’

Hizashi just smiled, giving a grin and a thumbs up. He went to find his own classroom and sat in the rolly chair and started spinning around, bored as he waited for his students to show up.

Eventually they all did and he checked attendance for his general course class. Class ended and he made his way over to 1-A to teach english. He managed to finish the lesson early, and let the kids have the last twenty minutes to study and chat amongst themselves.

“Call me Tsu, Midoriya,” Asui’s voice called out and Hizashi glanced up from his phone.

“B-but..” The boy stuttered, looking nervous.

The girl with the frog quirk frowned, tilting her head a bit, “We’re friends. You can call me Tsu.”

As soon as she said friends Midoriya went completely pale and was shaking even worse. The kid’s wide green eyes met his then glanced to the door, a silent plea to escape. “Midoriya, could you take this to Eraser for me? He should be in the teachers lounge,” he said, earning a relieved look as the kid hobbled up and took the paper.

“T-thank y-you,” the boy quietly whispered as he took the hastily scrawled note in hand and left. He was just glad that the kid thought to ask him, even if it was silent, the little listener had trusted him enough to even give such a clue as to what he wanted.

“Sensei, why did you ask Midoriya?” Iida questioned.

“What kind of dumbass question is that?” Bakugo questioned with a scoff, “Frog girl obviously gave the damn nerd a panic attack and Mic-sensei was getting Midoriya out of the room.” 

“What?” A couple of the students questioned, surprised that Bakugo knew what was going on.

Bakugo scowled, “Deku doesn’t have friends. And people trying to force friendship on him cause a panic attack.”

“Why does he get a panic attack from people wanting to be his friends?” Kaminari asked.

Hizashi listened carefully as Bakugo pinched his nose, “Look, a couple shit extra’s basically befriended Deku back in middle school, once they learned what he was scared of they basically forced him into such a situation. They found he was scared of small dark closets, and bugs and they thought it would be a good prank to force him to confront his fears, so they shoved him into a room that another kid with an animal control quirk had filled with insects. Then that same kid commanded the bugs to attack Deku. I heard what was happening and ended up pulling the damn nerd out. He had to go to the hospital afterwards and all further attempts at friendship were met with panic attacks.”

“That’s horrible!” Uraraka gasped, the others nodding and saying their own agreement.

Hizashi was inwardly having his own panic. Just hearing of the bugs… Hizashi inwardly shuddered. 

“The school must have expelled those two, right?” Iida questioned.

Bakugo rolled his eyes, “Nah, the school gave them detention for a couple days.”

“What?” Seemed to be the collective answer.

Bakugo frowned, “What? It’s not that big of a deal, sure what they did was bad, but the school isn’t going to expel them over something as simple as a prank gone wrong.”

“Dude, that’s seriously messed up,” Kirishima muttered.

Hizashi frowned, glancing at his phone as Yagi said Midoriya had arrived and that Shouta was helping the kid, and that Hizashi should inform Nemuri that the kid was excused from her class.

He sent a thumbs up, and then typed out what he had learned from Bakugo to share with Shouta later, once his husband had gotten the story from Midoriya. The class came to an end, and he said that Midoriya would be absent for her class and she nodded. Then Hizashi went to his next class.

Chapter Text

Shouta was resting in the teacher’s lounge when a knock came at the door, Yagi, the only other person in the room frowned as he went to open it, buffing up into his iconic All Might look. “Young Midoriya?” The man questioned, a worried note on his voice. He let the kid in and closed the door, shrinking back down.

Shouta looked at the kid and saw that the boy was hyperventilating, on the verge of a panic attack. The kid walked over to him, holding up a note for him to read. Shouta glanced at it, seeing it was just a note from Hizashi that the kid needed to get away for a little bit.

“Sit Midoriya,” Shouta commanded gently, tilting his head to the spot next to him. “Go get some hot chocolate Yagi,” He told the man who nodded and left the room.

Shouta saw that the kid was working on grounding himself, and so he waited for a minute. Then he focused on the kid who was now calmer, “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

The boy hesitated, shifting for a moment, Shouta almost thought the boy would say no, but then he gave a slow nod.

Izuku bit his lip as he entered the class, before after a moment of indecision moving to sit next to Taro-kun and Kayo-kun. Recently the two boys decided that Izuku was their friend. They helped him out in class, and even kept Kacchan away from him! With these two as his friends they protected him.

It was nice.

To feel wanted for once.

“Izu-chan!” Kayo-kun greeted him, smiling with razor sharp teeth. Machi Kayo was a shorter boy, with long brown hair tied into a ponytail. He had narrow brown eyes that seemed to pierce into a person and find their weaknesses. Izuku sometimes thought that his eyes gave that feel because of Kayo-kun’s quirk. 

His quirk was called judgment, it apparently allowed him to judge if a person was good or bad by looking at them. Or that was what it was in the simplest terms, according to Kayo-kun it let him see if a person felt guilty for any specific action they’ve taken in the past twenty-four hours.

Izuku thought it would be really useful in police work, or as a detective. “G-good m-morning, Kayo-kun, Taro-kun,” Izuku greeted, glad he didn’t stutter over their names.

Taro gave a nod back, but was unable to respond as the teacher came in.

Hachisuka Taro was a large boy, easily a couple head tallers than everyone else in the classroom, he was thickly built, with large muscles. His head looked more rock like, the top of his head flat and squared off, but his jaw jutting down into a pointed angle.

Taro had a really cool quirk that let him communicate with insects, though Izuku couldn’t help but to shy away. He didn’t really like bugs after an incident when he was seven and ended up stinged by a giant hornet.

Yeah, he was lucky his mom had gotten him to the clinic in time.

A few days later, Taro-kun and Kayo-kun invited him to hang out for the weekend. So Izuku did, unaware of what his friends were planning.

Everything seemed normal at first, but it was the afternoon of the first day and they were walking through the streets when they found a younger kid, one Izuku didn’t recognize, but one Kayo-kun apparently did.

“Oh look, it’s Yamai!”

The younger child looked up, eyes apparently widening in fear as he turned and started to run away. Izuku had been confused as his friends gave chase to the boy, and so had followed after them, despite feeling that something was off with the situation.

When he caught up to the two faster boys, they had the younger boy cornered, and Kayo-kun was holding him against the wall. “W-what a-are y-you doing?” Izuku asked, voice trembling.

Taro-kun looked over at him and smiled. That smile sent shivers down Izuku’s back, and he couldn’t help but to take a step back, something was very wrong. It almost looked like they were bullying the kid, but.. They wouldn’t do that right? “Izu-chan,” Taro started, wrapping an arm around him. “See Yamai here owes us money, and has been avoiding us, we just want to collect what’s owed.”

The younger looking boy trembled, “I won’t pay you anymore! Not after what it did to my sister!”

“See, even the kid admits to owing us money. We’re your friends right?”

Izuku hesitantly nodded to that.

“Friends help each other, so how about you help us?”

Izuku’s stomach sank, but he didn’t want to betray the trust his friends had in him, that they thought they could count on him to help them. And… well… the kid admitted to owing money, right? Izuku glanced at Taro-kun, and the boy’s smile became even wider. “Help Kayo-kun hold Yamai.”

And Izuku did, he was unable to look away as Taro-kun hit the kid over and over again, unable to let go even as tears formed in his eyes. His stomach sank to the bottom of the earth, and Izuku knew that what was happening was wrong. But he so desperately wanted to be friends with someone.

Desperately wanted to feel like he belonged.

So he held on even as his heart screamed at him.

A couple weeks passed like that, the two boys now inviting him more often, having him help in their bullying. And that’s what it was. Izuku knew that. He knew it was wrong. But they didn’t listen to him when he asked them to stop, so he stayed silent. 

The worst part was that a small part of Izuku liked it.

He wasn’t the one being hurt anymore, not now that he was with Taro-kun and Kayo-kun. If being friends with them meant hurting other people, then maybe that was just the cross he would have to bear.

He wished his mom was still around, he could use her guidance in this matter. Was it really okay to hurt others if it meant not getting hurt himself?

Izuku hated that he was being complacent to the bullying. Hated that he wasn’t strong enough to stand up to his friends. Hated himself for letting others get hurt. He wanted to be a hero didn’t he? So why wasn’t he helping the victims? Why was he helping the bullies?

Then came the day when Taro-kun asked him why Izuku always shied away from his bugs, and he, foolish and naive, admitted to being afraid of bugs and small dark spaces. He hadn’t realized then that the two boys were getting tired of him. Tired of his ‘weak and cowardly ways’ how ‘noble’ he was. How he tried to get them to not hurt others as much.

The following day they had shoved him into that dark closet, and Izuku felt a sting against his neck. Everything started going hazy and he was throwing himself against the walls of the closet, fear and desperation and anger clawing at him. How dare they hurt him like this! 

Izuku remembered screaming and shouting and burning white hot rage, but he didn’t remember exactly what he was saying. After a few minutes his fear had overtaken him and he was begging to be let out as the sounds of scuttling encroached him. He couldn’t see anything, but he heard the movement, then felt it, thousands of little legs crawling over him. A buzzing around him let him know that flying insects were somehow in the closet and he felt the bugs bite him.

Felt stingers pierce into his skin. Everything went wobbly and black, and the next thing Izuku knew was he was waking up at the clinic.

The boy was quite a moment longer after his nod, looking as if he was thinking about what happened, hands rubbing up and down his arms and tears gathering in his eyes before he spoke, “B-back in my f-first year of j-junior h-high school… a c-couple boys w-were really n-nice to me, and c-claimed t-that we were f-friends, they s-spent time with me, h-helped me and were like a-actual f-friends. Eventually t-they a-asked about m-my fears, and I… I t-thought they were m-my f-friends… s-so I told them a-a f-few of them,” Tears came to Midoriya’s eyes, “They… they f-forced me into a-a d-dark closet, I h-heard s-some sort of s-scuttling sound and t-then I was b-being bit o-over and over a-again, I c-couldn’t see t-them but I could f-feel the b-bugs c-crawling all over, a-attacking me. I d-don’t know how I g-got out, just t-that I was in the clinic a-and the s-school actually g-gave those t-two boys d-detention. The s-school s-scolded them for s-sending me t-to the clinicl.”

“Only detention?” Shouta questioned, incredulous. He knew that Alderaan was a bad school, but that went beyond bad. Was the school trying to raise villains?

Midoriya nodded, “Yes, the boys claimed it was just a prank, meant to help me get over my fears, that they didn’t know that some of those insects were poisonous.”

“I guess something triggered a flashback?” Shouta questioned, keeping his tone soft.

“Asui… s-she kept t-telling me to c-call her T-tsu, and t-then when I-I wouldn’t c-call her that, s-she said ‘ We’re friends. You can call me Tsu.’ a-and it j-just reminded me b-basically of how th-they claimed to b-be my f-friends, and I j-just…” Midoriya was crying now, tears streaming down his face.

“It’s alright, you can’t help the things that cause you to panic,” Shouta told the boy, and they sat for a minute in silence. Midoriya furiously wiping away the tears.

The door opened, and Yagi came back in. He was carrying the beverage and brought it over to Midoriya who took it. The man’s blue eyes met his, looking questioningly at him for a moment.

Shouta shook his head slightly, it wasn’t Yagi’s business, not unless Midoriya wanted to share with him. “I asked Present Mic to inform Midnight that Midoriya was excused from her class,” Yagi stated.

He gave a nod, glancing over at the kid who was drinking the hot chocolate. For once Shouta was glad that Nedzu had another teacher subbing his history classes while he was recovering. The only class he currently had to teach was homeroom, and heroics.

Midoriya was silent now, not saying anything, and Shouta let the kid collect his thoughts. After another half an hour the kid said he was ready to return to class and he nodded, “I’ll escort you, my boy!” Yagi stated.

The kid nodded, and the two walked out of the room. Shouta frowned, he really needed to investigate Alderaan as quickly as possible, but with his arms out of commission… he might have to call in some favors from a couple other underground heroes.

Izuku shuffled around his house, slowly getting ready for the school day. Yesterday hadn’t been the best, but he had finally managed to put it out of his mind. Although now his classmates knew of his issue with friends, Kacchan had told them of the incident.

At least Asui had apologized, saying that if he was more comfortable calling her Asui then he didn’t have to call her Tsu.

He finished getting ready and waited by the door, eventually there was a knock and he opened it, smiling a bit at Mic-Sensei. “You ready kiddo?” The man asked.

“Yes,” Izuku replied.

Mic-Sensei handed him a new jelly packet to try, a peach flavored one. After a not so quiet drive as Mic-Sensei sang along with most of the songs on, they arrived at the school. This time Present Mic came with them to the room, chatting with Aizawa happily about some sort of dinner plan.

Aizawa was listening, a fond look in his eyes, a sort of softness that he had around Mic. Izuku really liked that he could see this side of his teachers, it made them seem more human, and way different than his previous teachers.

Iida came into the room, and Mic huffed, calling out a goodbye as he went to go change into his hero costume. 

Later at lunch, Izuku was eating when Iida asked, “Do you think Mic-Sensei dislikes me?”

“W-why do y-you think t-that?” Izuku questioned, startled by the question.

“Well in the morning he always leaves after I arrive, or if he arrives after I do he never stays long, I thought at first that he just may not want to talk with a student there to overhear, but he seemed perfectly fine with you being there, so is it just me?”

“I d-don’t think h-he dislikes y-you. It’s pr-probably just t-that you come i-in around t-the same t-time he has t-to be getting t-to class,” Izuku told the boy, though he knew that the reason was more likely to be along the lines that Iida didn’t know the two were in a relationship.

“Ah! I see, thank you Midoriya, I should have considered that!” Iida said, doing a hand chopping motion.

Lunch finished and then they began their heroics class, another lesson on infiltration, this time going on how the skill was useful to the different types of heroes.

The day came to an end and Izuku stayed behind with Aizawa-sensei as the rest of his classmates piled out. “We forgot to tell you this morning that Hizashi and I will be part of a meeting, do you mind waiting an hour or so for us to finish?”

“I-it’s fine!” Izuku stated.

Aizawa nodded, “We’ll find you, feel free to explore if you want.”

He gave a thumbs up, and decided that since he had the time he should look around. About ten minutes later he heard a soft bang, and curious he went in that direction. He found himself in what looked to be a shooting range, and the Pro Hero Snipe was shooting at targets that were moving fast.

The teacher paused, looking towards him, “Howdy!” The man called out, lifting a hand in salute.

“H-hello,” Izuku nervously replied.

“You need somethin’?” The teacher questioned.

“N-no, I-I w-was just e-exploring,” Izuku answered, “I-i’ll get o-out of y-your way n-now.”

“You ain’t botherin’ me kiddo. Feel free to stick around if you want.”

Izuku hesitated, but in the end his curiosity won out, so he made his way further into the room. The teachers of U.A. really were different, none of them were as mean as the teachers at Alderaan had been.

He watched as Snipe returned to shooting the targets, his quirk was really cool, being able to manipulate each of the shots he took, he must have very good eyesight, as the man did shoot Shigaraki’s arm and didn’t hit Izuku, despite being at the entrance of USJ.

Izuku kept thinking about how useful the quirk was, and possible different uses for it, he blinked as he realized he had been muttering, and thinking about it he had probably been muttering for a few minutes now. Yet the teacher made no comment on it being annoying. In fact Snipe hadn’t even seemed to notice it.

“Do you plan to use any support weaponry, somethin’ to give you an edge?” Snipe questioned after another couple minutes, working on reloading his pistol. 

“I-I never r-really th-thought about i-it,” Izuku responded.

“Midoriya Izuku, Quirk: Superpower, enhances your physical strength, makin’ you a short range fighter. If you were gonna get somethin’, your best bet would be somethin’ that gives you more range.”

Izuku blinked at that, tilting his head. Snipe turned to him and Izuku couldn’t see the teacher's eyes or anything, it was a bit unnerving, not being able to read whatever expressions the man could be making. “I help students decide on support weaponry, plenty of kids think of their own things they need, but some of y’all struggle to find useful items that can help counteract your weaknesses, that’s where I come in. I usually help out with second and third years, but I help any kid who finds me, so what do you say, want to figure out somethin’ to help you out?”

“S-sure,” Izuku agreed and the teacher nodded, going over to a wall and clicking a button, the wall spun around, revealing a bunch of weapons. 

Then the teacher started him with a bow and some arrows. Izuku didn’t like how they felt in his hands. The teacher went with a crossbow next and Izuku still didn’t feel like it was right. He didn’t want something that took up both of his hands, he told this to Snipe who nodded. The man had him try a throwing spear next, but it felt clunky to him. Next the teacher went on to throwing knives, and they weren’t bad. He tried a blow dart, which was cool, but not something that he thought really would fit him.

Next Snipe had him shot a pistol, saying that while he had to start with two hands, eventually he could learn to use it one handed if he liked it. Izuku tested out the gun and was surprised by how much of an actual kick there was to it. The teacher moved on and he tested out a strange weapon called a chakram, which seemed pretty fun, but it was complicated as he could easily hurt his hand when throwing the circular blade. Then he also tried a boomerang.

“That’s some of the more common weaponry, anything suits your fancy?”

“I l-liked b-both t-the gun, a-and the ch-chakram.”

The teacher nodded, “I recommend focusin’ on one weapon for now, which do you think will be the best to learn right now?”

Izuku looked between the two weapons, “The g-gun.”

Snipe  gave a hum, “Alright, what sort of gun do you want to start with?”

“A p-pistol,” Izuku answered after a moment of thought.

Snipe grabbed the pistol and handed it over, going over some basic instructions, “Right, I’ll have Powerloader design one that fits your look, and we’ll start you off with some rubber bullets. Come by after school next Wednesday and I’ll give you the rundown, sound good?”

Izuku nodded, quietly stuttering out a thanks.

The student turned, starting to exit out the door when it opened, and Mic stuck his head in, “There you are little listener! Ah, hello Snipe!” The english teacher said, waving.

“Howdy Mic,” Snipe greeted. “You takin' the kiddo home?”

“Yeah!” Mic said, giving a thumbs up.

“Are you ready to go, Midoriya?” Present Mic asked.

Izuku nodded, and followed the teacher soon getting into Mic-sensei’s car, the hero now back to his civilian outfit, hair loose and hanging down. While in the vehicle he told his teachers of what happened, and that he was excited about learning something that can help him grow stronger as a hero.

Aizawa told him it was good he was learning a new skill to help widen his options. Eventually they arrived at his home and they dropped him off at the apartment, Mic-sensei walking him up the stairs. “M-Mic-sensei…” Izuku started hesitantly.

“Yeah little listener?” The man asked, tilting his head and looking down towards him, green spiraled eyes meeting green eyes.

“T-thank you… f-for not b-being…” Izuku trailed off.

Mic-Sensei smiled, eyes full of understanding and compassion, “I would never hurt you on purpose little listener, you’re one of my students, it’s my job to take care of you all, and it’s one I take pride in, I love seeing you all grow into outstanding heroes.”

Izuku smiled, a small thankful grin and went inside of his home. He called out a hello to his mom, who said hello back, staring at the tv. He went into his room and started doing the assigned homework.

After he finished his work, he went into the kitchen and started cooking some rice and fish with some miso.

He ate and made sure his mother ate then put her in bed after telling her to shower. He took his own shower and headed off to bed.

She grimaced, feeling the clawing at her mind, a desperation that clouded her judgment. She needed to satisfy the craving to fulfil the urge. 

She hated it. Hated this feeling. Hated that she couldn’t control herself. She wanted nothing more than to stop. But if she stopped…

She couldn’t let that happen again. She would save others, even if it meant sacrificing herself.

She just hoped that he would be willing to help her again. Not that he knew he was helping her. He just thought she wanted to have fun. Maybe once she did, long ago before the attack. Before she lost the guy she loved.

Before she realized what a cruel world they lived in.

She had been so naive back then, and they had taken advantage of it. She wouldn’t let that happen to any other kids. Not if she could help it. But in the meantime… it was time to satisfy that curse she now lived with.

Chapter Text

The next morning he did everything he normally did and got ready for Mic-Sensei to pick him up.

Soon the man was knocking on the door and Izuku was carefully walking down the stairs and getting into the car. “Friday, after school Recovery Girl is going to be checking on you and Shouta, make sure everything is healing up right.”

“Alright,” Izuku responded.

Mic handed over a new jelly packet, this one pineapple flavored. It was certainly interesting, but not his favorite out of the ones he had tried. They arrived and split ways, Mic probably going to put on his hero outfit.

They arrived in class and Izuku sat down, Aizawa was sitting for a few minutes before he got up and headed out of the room, and Izuku wondered where the teacher was going. A little after the teacher left, Iida came in.

Five minutes after that Mic came into the room, blinking a bit. “Where did Eraser go?" he questioned, looking over his sunglasses at Izuku.

“I d-don’t know,” Izuku answered.

“He wasn’t here when I came in,” Iida answered at the same time.

Mic huffed, rolling his eyes exaggeratedly, as he turned and walked out of the room. Only a couple minutes later Mic came back, carrying a giant yellow sleeping bag. Present Mic carefully put down Aizawa-sensei. “I swear you’re a pain,” Mic grumbled.

“Let me sleep,” the teacher grumbled.

Mic shook his head, turning and leaving the room. But Izuku saw how his lips twitched up. He looked over to Iida and saw the boy frowning, “Sensei, if you’re tired you should get more sleep…” The boy stated, his tone worried.

At least after USJ his classmates weren’t as criticizing of Aizawa. Aizawa just grunted in reply, not saying anything and soon the classroom was filling up with students and they went on with their day.

After lunch was over the class returned to the room and found writing on the board. ‘ For the past few days you have been learning how to infiltrate places and how to hide from villains, now it’s time to use those skills in reverse. Come find me, you have two hours. Start when the bell rings.’

The class gets excited and starts speculating where the teacher could be hiding. When the bell goes off all of them are up immediately dashing off. Izuku started to get up, then paused, remembering a bit of conversation from Monday, ‘ I swear Sho, you have got to stop disappearing into the vents to avoid the other teachers. ’ Mic-Sensei had said, and Aizawa had responded with a snort, saying that they never thought to look for him up in the vents.

Everyone was out of the room now, and Izuku looked up, peering into the dark vent and he saw the white bandages and dark eyes staring down at him through the vent grates. Izuku snickered and sat back down in his chair. Well it would seem he had two hours to get his homework for the day done.

About an hour passed and he was finishing up the last of the homework, when the door opened and Ojiro came in with Sero. “Oh hey Midoriya, are you not looking or something?”

He looked up, giving a hesitant smile as he responded, “I a-already found h-him.”

“You did! Where is he hiding, I swear our class has managed to search the entire school,” Sero stated.

“N-not t-telling,” Izuku said.

“Did Aizawa tell you that you couldn’t tell us or something?” Ojiro asked.

That did seem like something Aizawa would say actually, so he shrugged, not exactly agreeing with what they said, but not denying it either. “Man, well we better get back to looking, I thought maybe he came back here after everyone left.”

Ojiro and Sero left the room and Izuku looked up to the vent, and the teacher simply nodded at him and closed his eyes again, probably napping. Izuku finished his last piece of homework and with nothing better to do he decided taking a nap was a good idea. He woke up to the sound of the door opening and a disappointed sigh, “Awww man, I can’t believe none of us could find him,” Kaminari’s voice complained as he walked in.

“Midoriya bro, did you get tired or something?” Kirishima questioned.

“Sero told me that Midoriya found Sensei sometime before the first hour mark,” Jirou commented as she followed in behind the boys.

“Really?! Where was he hiding?” Kaminari asked him, even as the rest of the class took their seats.

The door opened and Aizawa walked in, and Izuku blinked, wondering when the teacher had moved from his spot in the vent. “Only one of you managed to find me, good job Midoriya, he is also not permitted to tell you where I was hiding in case I decided to do this exercise again at a later date. I will review the footage tonight and give comments on shortcomings tomorrow. For the last thirty minutes I want you to write a self reflection on what you think you did wrong, once you are done turn it in and feel free to head out early.”

Midoriya pulled out a piece of paper and wrote, ‘ Having an unfair advantage of hearing you say no one thinks to look for you in the vents.’

He didn’t get up immediately, in fact he waited for the rest of his classmates to turn theirs in and leave before he got up and turned it in, Aizawa tilting his head a bit before he glanced down and read over the line, snorting in amusement. “Being a hero isn’t fair, it wasn’t against the rules to take advantage of information you may have gathered.”

“I w-wonder w-why no one l-looks for you t-there,” Izuku mused.

“Not many people think to look up,” Aizawa responded. “We should go find ‘Zashi.”

The two started to walk out and make their way through the hall when Midnight's voice called out from a distance behind them, “Eraser! There you are, I was wanting to talk with you.”

“Yeah, talk to me about trying to convince me to help prank Hizashi. Again. Not today.” Aizawa muttered, eyes rolling. “Follow me quickly Midoriya. And keep quiet.”

The teacher quickly started walking faster and Izuku hobbled after the teacher, managing to keep pace as they rounded the corner and Aizawa whispered something Izuku didn’t catch wind of and the floor opened up underneath them. Izuku bit his lip to keep from crying out in shock, remembering Aizawa telling him to keep quiet.

He winced as the landing jarred him and he made a thud noise. He blinked, trying to adjust to the dark and he felt a hand on his shoulder and he stilled.

“What? Where did they disappear?” Midnight’s voice called out confused from above them. Footsteps echoed above him, walking away.

Izuku’s eyes finally adjusted and he looked around, seeing that he looked to be in a long metal tube, “Welcome to the vents,” Aizawa said.

“They’re big,” Izuku whispered out.

Aizawa snorted, “Indeed, normally I can access them by navigating the app Nezu created on my phone, but with my hands out of commission I’m having to resort to the voice passcodes.”

“So c-cool, it’s like a s-spy school.”

The homeroom teacher started walking through the vent, his footsteps silent. When Izuku followed he winced at how loud his movements seemed to echo through the vents. The homeroom teacher huffed, “We’re going to have to work on you moving silently, though the crutches don’t help… try to place them down slower and gently to not make as much noise, we might move slower, but less chance for Nemuri or someone else to hear us.” The teacher advised.

Izuku moved the crutch more carefully, managing to place it somewhat quietly. Soon he got into a pattern and he wasn’t making as much as a racket though there was still a bit of noise.

Eventually they arrived at a larger area, almost room-like and it had multiple vents leading off in different directions… and there was a small door in the vent with a couple arrow buttons. Aizawa pressed the up button.

“T-there’s a-an elevator in t-the vent?” Izuku questioned, startled as the door opened and the two got in, though it was a bit of a squeeze.

“Yes, also the answer to the mystery ‘Zashi is trying to figure out,” Aizawa said as the elevator moved up.

“I’ll k-keep it a secret,” Izuku promised.

“I figured you would,” The teacher commented, giving a shrug, as if it was no big deal.

They exited the elevator and then there was a ding, and Izuku blinked, surprised his phone had gone off considering he had it on mute. “About time,” Aizawa grumbled, “Pull it out and download what Nezu sent you.”

Izuku pulled his phone out and saw it was an email alert, opening the email he saw it was a link and the email address was presumably Nezu’s email address, he clicked on the link and it led him to a website which automatically started downloading something.

When it finished downloading he found a new app on his phone, simply labeled ‘Maze Access’. He tapped it open and saw a map of the current level of the school they were above. “There are a couple ways in and out, through the vent grates, though entering them is impossible without either using the app to unlock them, or the voice access code. Then there are select spots in the walls and floor where you can access them as well,” Aizawa informed him as they walked through the vents, heading down a slight drop at one point before stopping at one place that looked empty.

“Take a look, see where we’re at how there is a red outline on this section?”

Izuku nodded, “It means that there is an access point in this section, click on it once.”

He followed the instruction and it changed revealing a 3D view, showing the vent they were in, and the hallway they were next to. “Right now it’s empty, but if someone was there it would show dots with little arrows signaling the direction they are facing. It also shows where the access is located if you don’t know.  Now from this view you can double tap on the red outline to unlock and open the door, which will automatically close behind us. The other way to unlock them is on the zoomed out view you can double tap the area to unlock it.”

“This is so c-cool,” Izuku whispered in awe as he double tapped and the two walked out of the section of the vent and wall that opened up, letting them into the hallway.

“Just be careful not to let others figure out how you enter, but otherwise have fun.”

“Y-you mean I c-can enter t-the vents if I w-want to?” Izuku questioned hesitantly as the two started making their way through the hallways.

Aizawa nodded, “Nezu was planning on showing you anyways, so don’t be surprised if you see him.”

“The P-principal was planning on s-showing me?” Izuku repeated.

“Yes, he didn’t tell me why,” Aizawa informed him.

“There you two are! I was looking all over for you,” Mic-sensei’s voice called out.

“I was avoiding Nemuri.”

Mic snickered, “I know, I ran into her and she complained to me that you somehow still managed to disappear, despite the little listener here being with you, I think she’s starting to believe you have some sort of secondary disappearing quirk. Though I got to admit even I am stumped how you disappeared with Midoriya.”

Aizawa’s eyes glinted and the bandages on his face shifted, Mic paused, “You’re doing that wide grin of yours, aren’t you?”

Aizawa-sensei nodded.

“What did you do Sho?” Mic questioned.

The homeroom teacher kept silent, his eyes amused.

“Midoriya… what did he do?” Mic asked, turning to him.

Izuku smiled and kept his mouth shut, Present Mic sniffed dramatically, “I see how it is, betrayed by my husband and my favorite listener. Oh how cruel this world is~”

Aizawa snorted, shaking his head, as he started walking off, Izuku and Mic following after him, “I suppose I’ll tell you that I’m teaching Midoriya my secret vent ways.”

Mic’s hand went to his heart, “You’re sharing your vent secrets? Oooh~”

Aizawa rolled his eyes, “Stop being so dramatic.”

Izuku giggled, watching the two banter back and forth.

They exited the building and made their way to the car, Mic pouting. “But I am dramatic.”

“It’s just the vents, maybe you should figure out how to access them yourself, surely it shouldn’t be too hard for you to figure out…” Aizawa said, a slight shift in his voice as his eyes glinted in amusement.

“Sho~” Mic whined, “You know I’ve been trying~”

“Try harder,” Aizawa deadpanned.

“Hmpf, I see how it is,” Mic said, sniffing and looking away.

Aizawa sighed, “And now he is going to give me the silent treatment.”

The drive was silent except for some music that was playing as Mic drove them to his home. Though the silence didn’t feel stiff or awkward, and neither of the two teachers seemed upset, so he supposed it was still friendly teasing. Eventually they arrived and Mic walked him up the stairs, “See you tomorrow little listener.”

“See y-you, Mic-sensei,” Izuku said, nodding to the man as he unlocked the door and went into his apartment. The door closed shut behind him with a soft thud.

Chapter Text

Izuku was waiting when the knock at the door came and he lept up, saying goodbye to his mom as he exited the apartment, smiling at Mic-sensei who grinned back. “How are you today?” The teacher asked.

“I’m d-doing good!” Izuku answered.

“That’s great,” Mic said, as they walked down the stairs. 

“H-how are y-you?” Izuku asked, feeling comfortable enough around the teacher that he felt he could speak up a bit.

Mic beamed, “I’m doing wonderful, I managed to get Sho to sleep the entire night as well, instead of staying up working. Don’t tell him I said this, but the man is like a nice cuddly cat.”

Izuku chuckled a bit, even as he got into the vehicle. Next to his seat he found a jelly packet, and in the cup holder a beverage. “We stopped by a coffee shop on the way and decided to pick you a hot chocolate,” Aizawa said, moving one banadaged arm to gesture towards the front cup holders which had two cups.

“Th-thank you,” Izuku said, a warm feeling in his chest.

“It’s no problem, little listener,” Mic said with a large beaming grin. Izuku picked up the beverage and tentatively sipped at it, finding it the perfect warmth he started drinking it down, putting the jelly packet into his pocket for later.

They arrived and Mic-sensei carried the three beverages as Izuku needed his hands for the crutches. They went to the class room and Mic placed the beverages down, one on Aizawa’s desk, and another on his own. “I’ll see you later, don’t forget that after school today you have a check up with Recovery Girl.”

“We know, we’ll be there,” Aizawa responded.

Mic chuckled, leaning down and giving his homeroom teacher a quick kiss, “Even if she heals you, you’re not escaping commenting in the booth with me.”

Aizawa groaned, “Don’t remind me.”

“Too late~ besides you shouldn’t have lost the bet.” Mic said, laughing as he stood back up and walked out of the room.

A little while later and Iida came in, blinking as he saw Aizawa and Izuku both drinking from the same containers. “Are you arriving together?” Iida asked.

“Yes, due to our injuries Mic has been picking us up and driving us to our homes,” Aizawa answered, not even looking up from his coffee.

“Oh, that explains why Midoriya has not been on the train this past week.”

Soon more students came into the room and the bell rang, signaling the start of the day. Homeroom passed and soon it was english, and partway through the lesson he remembered he had the jelly packet. He pulled it out, glancing to see it was yet another new flavor, this time it was muscat. He opened and tried it, no one paying him any mind as they were allowed to have snacks in class so long as it wasn’t a distraction.

Which basically meant nothing that would make too much noise. Soon the lesson came to an end and next they had an art history lesson with Midnight, and the day continued on through the normal classes, modern literature lesson with Cementoss, followed by math with Ectoplasm, and finally it was lunch. 

Izuku started towards the cafeteria, but he didn’t feel that hungry, and didn’t want to deal with the noise. So he decided that lunch would be a good opportunity to start exploring the vents, walking away until he found an empty hall. He shifted his crutches underneath one arm as he pulled out his phone and opened the app.

He found where he was and clicked on the hallway he was in, it zoomed in and revealed there were two access points, one on the wall, and one from the roof. He walked to the one in the wall and double checked no one was nearby as he double tapped the button and walked into the vent.

After he did that he put his phone in his pocket, deciding to just walk around. He shifted his crutches again to have one under each arm as it was easier to move that way. Slowly he made his way through the vent, doing his best to keep quiet.

That was how Aizawa found him five minutes later, the man walking through the vents silently. “Hello Midoriya,” the teacher greeted.

“A-Aizawa-sensei,” Izuku responded.

“Did you already finish lunch?”

“I-I wasn't hungry,” Izuku answered.

The teacher nodded, “Follow me.”

So Izuku followed as they went through twists and turns in the vents. Then they arrived in a large vent room, this one different from the one that had an elevator. This one had a fridge, a tv, and three bean bags. A yellow one, a white one, and a green one. “Nezu already brought you a beanbag,” The teacher said nodding towards the green bean bag as he took a seat on the yellow one. “In the fridge are some snack foods.”

“W-wow,” Izuku said in awe as he sat on the bean bag, “But… why is all of this in the vents?”

“Why not?” A chipper voice said from behind him and Izuku flinched, startled.

Izuku shrugged, not having an answer to that. He shifted a bit closer to Aizawa as he looked at the principal, “You’re quite an interesting student, your written scores on most of the test wasn’t anything special, but on the portion that required you to analyze for strengths and weakness of a given quirk you excelled, with the highest score ever received on that portion of the test… And then I read your journals,” Nezu grinned, his pure black eyes gleaming. “I feel your skills would be useful and should be honed. So you will be having lessons with me on occasion. Our first lesson will be next week. Don’t worry about the time or place.”

With that the principal left.

“H-how d-did he r-read my j-journals?” Izuku questioned, “I n-never b-brought them h-here…”

Aizawa sighed, “He probably broke into your home at one point then.”

Izuku’s mouth fell open, “I-isn’t that i-illegal?”

“It’s Nezu,” Aizawa responded, as if that explained everything. “He found my skills useful and taught me how to use the vents. He can be a bit long winded at times, but his lectures generally have some useful information hidden in them.”

Izuku frowned a bit, not sure what to think of the principal.

“Lunch will be ending soon, we better get you to class before the others arrive,” Aizawa said after a few minutes of silence. Aizawa stood up and Izuku did as well, carefully hobbling after him.

They arrived above a vent grate and Aizawa peered down, seeing the empty room. “Mind the drop here in a moment, also the password for all the vents is the same, ‘Daedalus’.” Aizawa said in a quiet voice as they dropped down into class 1-A.

“The password is useful for when you know where a vent access is and need a quick entrance. Or if you’re dropping down through a vent grate, you just need to whisper the password and it will open up. Besides that the password is so uncommon, it also will only open up for those who have access to the vents, which is just us and Nezu at the moment.” The teacher informed him.

Perhaps it was the way the two sat in a comfortable silence, or that the teacher had been so understanding, or even that Aizawa had shared the secret of his relationship with Mic with him yet, or how the teacher had leapt right into danger to save all the students, but Izuku found that he trusted Aizawa.

He trusted that the teacher wouldn’t hurt him. That Aizawa would help him. It was a startling realization, to know just how comfortable he was with the teacher. He had never felt comfortable with a teacher before. Had hated being alone in rooms with them, even before that final year of Alderaan.

The bell showing the end of lunch rang and the students started returning to the classroom. Izuku winced as he heard their chattering, a dull throb in his head spiking painfully and he felt a headache come onto him.

It started as just a dull throb but steadily seemed to get worse becoming an unrelenting ache that seemed to center itself behind his eyes. Which itched and he kept rubbing at them. He saw a worried glance from his classmates throughout the lesson from his constant shifting, “Midoriya, do you need to go to the nurses office?” Yaoyorozu questioned.

“I h-have a-an a-appointment after c-classes a-already, for a-a c-chek in,” Izuku responded wincing as his head pounded. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to go early?”

Izuku nodded, and Yaoyorozu returned to working on the assigned work, a quiz over the different rules the various types of heroes had to obey.

Class ended and Aizawa was soon by his side, helping him to the nurses office as Izuku squeezed his eyes shut, trying to resist the urge to rub at them again. They arrived and Recovery Girl’s voice startled him.

She was asking something about how they were feeling, and Izuku heard Aizawa speak up for him, “Midoriya developed a headache after lunch, it got worse throughout the lesson, it seems to be among migraine levels.”

He soon found himself sitting down and Recovery Girl was checking over him, “I can’t find anything obviously wrong, it’s probably just a normal headache, here dearie, some pain medication to help.”

He took the pills and then drinked the offered water keeping his eyes closed as he felt her hands on him as she carefully undid the bandages. He was tense, though he knew it was only Recovery Girl, but also he trusted that Aizawa wouldn’t let harm come to him. The door opened, and he tensed, “Hey Sho, Midoriya” Mic’s voice called out.

Izuku didn’t untense, but he also didn’t open his eyes, a few minutes later and he felt bandages being wrapped back around his chest, and one of his legs was placed back into the cast, while the other one was bandaged back up. “It looks like it’s healing up nicely, and you might have enough stamina if you eat and sleep well that I will be able to heal you up for the sports festival. So long as you take care of yourself that is.”

Izuku didn’t say anything and just sat there, waiting for the pain medication to kick in. He heard her walk away, and rustling of more bandages and he assumed she was checking over his teacher. Izuku cracked his eyes open, wincing a bit as the light seemed to be brighter. He looked at Aizawa and saw that his face was still black and purple, bruised heavily, though the open wound that used to be there was now scabbed over. Recovery Girl prodded gently, asking him how it felt. She checked his arms next, “You’re healing up decently, though I would recommend resting more, your stamina is still low, at this point I won’t be able to heal you until after the sports festival.”

He hissed as his head felt like it was being put through the blender and closed his eyes. “What’s wrong with the little listener?” Mic asked.

“Seems like a migraine, I gave him some painkillers which should be kicking in another 15 to 20 minutes,” Recovery Girl informed him.

“Alright. Midoriya, do you want to wait here for the painkillers to kick in, or would you prefer if I carried you to the car so you can get home quicker?”

Izuku wanted to go home and curl up on his bed. But… did he want Mic-sensei to carry him? Especially as he was in pain right now? Izuku couldn’t bring himself to trust the english teacher that much, so he mumbled to stay here.

He heard Aizawa and Mic talk quietly and slowly, as the medicine kicked in, he felt the pain fade away and he could open his eyes again, though his vision seemed to be swimming. “I’m g-good n-now,” Izuku said.

He grabbed his crutches and hobbled out of the nurses office with the teachers, sticking close to Aizawa-sensei. He got into the car and let his eyes slide shut again, feeling somewhat nauseous from how everything seemed to be shifting around.

“We're here,” Mic’s voice said, causing him to open his eyes again as he got out of the car and hobbled up the stairs after saying goodbye to Aizawa-sensei. He would have fallen off the stairs if it wasn’t for Mic steadying him out, spiraled green eyes worried.

He didn’t say anything and just continued up, digging in his pocket for a key and entering the room, with a mumbled goodbye to the english teacher. Soon he collapsed onto the bed and curled up, the pain may be gone, but his vision was still shifting and blurring. He closed his eyes.

Chapter Text

He woke up in agony. His head hurt and he wanted to claw his eyes out as they felt like acid in his skull. Izuku made the stupid descion of trying to open his eye and then had to slam them shut again as a pure blinding white greeted him, he couldn’t see anything and his head hurt. Like someone was taking a bat to his head and whacking him repeatedly.

Izuku cried, curling up in pain.

He couldn’t do anything, couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t see. He laid on his bed and couldn’t do anything but hope the pain would go away soon.

“So you need our help Eraser?” Ms. Joke asked, looking surprised that he had actually called on her and Rock Lock.

“Yes, as you can see I got injured, but I need someone to pick up the investigation I was doing.”

“Alright, what is it?”

“Alderaan junior high. I have already determined that they have an extreme case of quirk discrimation that they let go on, and purposely letting the teachers sabotage students. But, I also have reason to believe one of the teachers is a pedophile, I don’t have any proof, and was planning on tailing the man to see if I could learn anything when I got injured.”

“So you want us to tail the man, and dig up this school's dirty secrets,” Rock Lock stated.

“Yes, at least until I am healed up.”

“We owe you, just leave it to us! Maybe afterwards we can go on a date,” Ms. Joke said, grinning at him.

Shota sighed and shook his head. Hizashi had Nemuri pursuing him, and he had Ms. Joke. “No,” he answered flatly and she laughed.

“I’ll get you to agree one day!”

“No you won’t.”

She waved dismissively, leaving the room, leaving him with Rock Lock. “Why don’t you just tell her you have someone else already?”

Shota looked at Rock Lock, raising an eyebrow.

The man shook his head, “I’m married dude, I can see that look in your eyes, you have someone you care about, though I don’t know who.”

He just nodded, “I do have a partner I am happily married to,” he said, giving a confirmation to Rock Lock. 

“I understand if you’re trying to keep them safe by not telling others about it, but make sure they are fine with that, you don’t want them feeling like you’re trying to hide the relationship, me and my wife nearly got a divorce because of that.”

Shota paused, pursing his lips behind the bandages, did Hizashi feel like that? He had brought up that they keep their relationship private, and Hizashi didn’t protest it, saying it was fine, but what if his husband was upset by it? “Thank you,” Shota stated, giving a nod to his fellow underground hero.

The man nodded, leaving the room and Shota stayed behind another couple minutes before leaving, going to the parking lot where Hizashi was waiting in the car for him, his husband spotted him and came out the car, “Sho! How did your meeting go? Did they agree to help?” Hizashi opened the door letting him in and going around to the drivers side.

“Yes…” Shota trailed off.

“Is something wrong Sho?” Hizashi asked, pausing in starting the car.

“No, not really, just Lock Rock brought up something.”

“Oh?”

“He told me that he understood wanting to keep a relationship secret to protect someone, I guess he assumed you were a civilian or something, but… he mentioned that he did the same thing with his wife and they nearly got a divorce because of it. I guess I never really asked you if you wanted us to go public with our relationship.”

Hizashi stared at him with wide eyes, his gaze softened and his husband lifted a hand, cupping his face, “Sho, I don’t need the world to know about our relationship, so long as I have you by my side then I’m happy. If you want to keep it between us and a few others, that’s fine, if you want to tell others, that’s fine as well. I just want you to stay by my side.”

Once again Shota was glad for the bandages as he felt his face warming up, how did Hizashi always know the right things to say to make his heart miss a beat?

His husband turned back to the wheel and started the car up, driving them towards their small home they lived in. “Want me to put on Sherlock while I cook dinner?”

“Sure,” Shota agreed, frankly he hated how his arms were useless, it stopped him from doing anything actually productive. But, Hizashi had found this show from before the quirk era that was pretty interesting.

After an hour his husband came in and sat next to him, holding a large plate and a pair of chopsticks and the man started to feed them, switching between the two of them. It was frustrating that he needed Hizashi to feed him, but the way Hizashi’s eyes sparkled made it worth bearing.

They finished eating and Hizashi helped him change clothes, working the shirt off around his casts carefully before reslinging them. After changing into some comfortable sweatpants the two headed off to bed, Hizashi curling around him, nuzzling his neck a bit. “I love you Shota.”

He smiled, “I love you too Hizashi.”

Izuku woke up once more with his stomach rumbling angrily, he kept his eyes closed, awaiting the pain, but besides for a slight sort of pressure there was no pain. Cautiously he opened his eyes up. 

He could see again, Izuku looked around, blinking a bit as his vision seemed almost sharper than it was previously. Frowning he glanced at his phone, noticing that it was Sunday. He had spent all of Saturday curled up on his bed in pain and blinded.

He had passed out at one point it was so bad. Izuku sat up, rubbing at his eyes and frowned when his hand came away with a ton of crust. Not the normal sleep crust, but more. He looked at his hand and saw that the crust was whitish, looking at a mirror he saw that there was a bunch of that strange white crust around his eyes, and trailing down his face towards his ear that had been on the pillow.

Looking at the pillow he noticed that there was more of the strange white stuff on it. Going to the bathroom he washed his face, removing that strange white crust. He grabbed his pillow and took off the pillowcase, tossing it onto his laundry basket to wash later.

But first, he needed to get some food, he was starving. Plus he didn’t know if his mom had eaten anything.

If it was a good day she probably got herself something to eat, if it was a bad day then she probably didn’t.

He went into the kitchen, fumbling a bit with the crutches, finding his mom sitting staring at the turned off tv blankly, next to her was an empty bowl of leftovers that was starting to smell. He grabbed it and put it into the kitchen sink, then started to make a meal. He served her, apologizing for not cooking food yesterday, she claimed it was fine, saying that he should be more careful not to get hurt. She didn’t really understand that he just had a horrible headache, but that was fine.

His eyes felt a bit dry, but it wasn’t that bad. Still he felt worn out. After he finished he returned to his room, shifting his second pillow to be more in the center. Izuku wasn’t sure why he was so tired, maybe tomorrow he should visit Recovery Girl if he wasn’t feeling better. He collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep, exhaustion claiming him despite not having been up for long.

He woke up to a knocking. He blinked, frowning in confusion. A knock came again, “Midoriya?” Mic’s voice called out.

He stumbled out of his bed, grabbing the crutches and hobbling to the door, opening it just as Mic opened his mouth. “Woah,” the man said, worry shining in his eyes.

“I s-slept i-in b-by accident,” Izuku said.

“I’m more concerned that you look like Sho when he hasn’t gotten any sleep for a week, what happened?”

“I-I don’t k-know, I woke u-up s-saturday with a-an e-even worse h-headache than f-friday, I-I couldn’t e-even get o-out of bed. I p-passed out f-from the pain. I w-woke up br-briefly y-yesterday and m-made some f-food then w-went back to sl-sleep exhausted,” Izuku answered, rubbing at his eye trying to relieve that strange pressure he felt, it wasn’t painful, just unfamiliar.

“Are you feeling okay now? Do you want to take a sick day?”

“I-I’m fine, j-just my p-phone p-probably died, I-I’m s-sorry.”

“It’s no problem, go ahead and get ready, I’ll go tell Shota what happened and wait for you, sound good?”

He bit his lip as he nodded, but he added, “It’ll b-be a f-few minutes, I-if you want t-to w-wait inside, y-you can.”

Mic’s smile almost seemed to brighten the apartment up. “Thanks little listener, I’ll see you in a few!”

Izuku turned, heading back into his room, and wrinkled his nose, because of his tiredness he didn’t do laundry over the weekend like he normally did. He grabbed the container and moved it out into the hallway as a reminder for later. 

He hopped into the shower, quickly rinsing himself off and rushing out, barely taking a couple minutes. Izuku dried up and put on his clothes. He grabbed his backpack and frowned, he didn’t really have time to grab gifts for the teachers… he would just have to suffer a week of low grades.

He exited his room, and saw Mic standing in the hall, looking at the basket with a frown, Izuku followed his gaze towards the white crust, “I-i d-don’t know w-what that s-stuff is, I w-woke up w-with it a-all over m-my eyes a-and o-on my p-pillow.”

“Huh, how odd. Do you mind if I grab a sample to see if we can figure out what it is, it may be nothing, but you were hurting all weekend and that white stuff could be some sort of side-effect.”

“I-it’s fine,” Izuku said, watching as Mic reached into a pocket, pulling out a small kit, it was about the size of a larger smartphone and an inch thick. “Portable miniature kit, just to have something on hand when I’m not in my hero outfit, never know when you’ll come across a crime scene and need to safely collect evidence,” Mic said, smiling as he saw the confused look Izuku was making. He saw how the man grabbed a small petri dish and a brush, swiping the loose stuff into the dish and then closing the lid on it. The man slid the kit back into his pocket. “Alright, I’m ready to go now, are you?”

Izuku nodded.

Mic looked at his tie, which he hadn’t even tied yet, just threw it around his neck, “Do you mind if I fix your tie?” The teacher asked, gesturing to it.

Izuku hesitated, but then nodded, Hizashi smiled and stepped forward carefully taking the tie and fixing it. “Is that too tight?”

“N-no, it’s f-fine.”

Mic nodded and stepped back, a warm look in his eyes that reminded him a bit of how Aizawa looked. Then the two of them were leaving the apartment.

He followed after the teacher, walking down the stairs carefully. He got into the car and smiled at Aizawa, who was looking over him with worry, “‘Zashi told me what you said, do you want to go to Recovery Girl during homeroom?”

“No… I’m f-fine,” Izuku responded, finding it easier to talk to Aizawa.

Present Mic started driving, and part of the way there he stopped at a mcdonalds, going through the drive through, “What would you like little listener, since you missed breakfast.”

“Y-you don’t h-have t-to,” Izuku protested, waving his arms a bit as he flushed, embarrassed.

“But I want to, feel free to have anything you want. Besides, we’re already going to arrive late, might as well have food,” Mic said with a small laugh.

“U-um, the e-egg mc-mcmuffin… and a- a c-chocolate shake, p-please,” Izuku hesitantly requested.

Aizawa huffed, “If they ask why we’re late, you can just claim traffic Midoriya, if you don’t want to tell them the truth."

They finally pulled up and Present Mic ordered two egg mcmuffins, Izuku’s chocolate shake, two coffee’s, plus a breakfast burrito. 

Soon they were pulling up and receiving their food and Mic drove them to the school, eating the food along the way, Aizawa a bit comically as he pinched the egg mcmuffin between his two casts. 

Mic of course teased him about it, earning a glare from the bandages, “Oh, is my mummy of a husband annoyed at me? Your glare isn’t as effective when you’re all wrapped up like that.”

“I’ll have you know my students find it just as terrifying,” Aizawa retorted.

“I don’t know about that, let’s ask Midoriya what he thinks~” 

“A-ashido still s-squeaks the s-same,” Izuku answered.

Aizawa huffed, “She needs to learn to be more discrete if she’s going to talk in class.”

They pulled up into the school and got out, Mic huffing that he was going to be even later as he would have to change into his hero outfit, “Just go in your civilian wear, it’s not like the kids wouldn’t recognize you in a heartbeat if they ever saw you on the street.”

“H-he could p-pretend to b-be a sub that j-just l-loks like a-a t-twin of himself,” Izuku hesitantly suggested as the idea popped into his mind.

Mic laughed, “That’s hilarious, little listener, I think I’ll do that, see if I can go the whole day with people thinking I’m not actually myself.”

Aizawa snorted, “If you’re going to do that, you will need to act differently.”

“That’s easy, I’ll just act like you Sho~” Mic answered.

They split paths and Aizawa and Izuku entered the classroom and the students fell silent. “You arrived late Midoriya,” Iida said to him as he entered first.

“Traffic was bad,” Aizawa grunted out, stepping into the room behind him, and going to the podium.

Several of the students nodded at that, accepting the excuse. Izuku sat down, and it was time for his school day to begin.

Chapter Text

Izuku looked up as the door opened, seeing Mic-sensei skulk into the room, in a good imitation of Aizawa’s slouch. He was dressed in his civilian wear, minus the leather jacket that Izuku frequently saw him with. Although, instead of green spiraled eyes that Izuku was familiar with, they were black. Did he put in colored contacts? Izuku shifted, unused to the black eyes. Instantly, he heard murmurs of confusion break out, even as Aizawa left the room, “Quiet down, I’m Yamada Hizashi, your sub for English.”

Whispers of confusion and it was Ashido who spoke up, “Mic-sensei?” she questioned.

Mic-sensei, or rather ‘Yamada-sensei’, seemed to release a tired sigh, “I know we look similar, it’s a bit annoying to be honest.”

Izuku wanted to laugh, it was hilarious seeing Mic act like Aizawa, and Izuku knew that Mic-sensei’s given name was Hizashi, so it was likely his family name was Yamada, or would he be an Aizawa now as he was married to Aizawa-sensei. Wait, he was making assumptions, could Aizawa-sensei be a Yamada? Izuku would have to ask Aizawa later. 

The lesson went on, even more dull without Mic-sensei hyping them up as he normally did with his wide gesturing and beaming grin. Actually, Izuku looked around and saw that most of his classmates were on the verge of falling asleep.

Still as he listened to some of the whispered conversations, he heard how his classmates seemed to truly believe that ‘Yamada-sensei’ was a different person, they didn’t think that Mic-sensei could act so ‘down to earth’.

Izuku paused, having the feeling of being watched, he shifted a bit, uneasy as he looked around, trying to see if anyone was staring at him. Yet, he couldn’t see anyone, he huffed, glancing up to the ceiling to try and still his nerves, when he spotted a bit of white in the vent. Looking closer to the vent he saw Aizawa-sensei looking down into the class.

Izuku supposed the teacher had wanted to see how the prank went. He turned back to the lesson and caught Mic’s gaze, the teacher’s currently black eyes meeting his own. Mic flickered his eyes up briefly, and then rolled them.

Ah, so the teacher knew that Aizawa was in the vents. Izuku gave a hesitant grin back, amused by the situation.

The entire silent communication went unnoticed by the class as it happened in a second, the teacher continuing to teach. “As such, make sure you are careful in the way you order your words, as saying it the wrong way can give off a completely different meaning,” ‘Yamada-sensei’ finished up the lesson in a bland, dead to the world voice. The bell rang and he shuffled out of the room.

Midnight-sensei came in next, and Izuku glanced up, seeing the empty vent. Aizawa was probably following Mic-sensei through the vents, keeping an eye on how the prank was going. The day continued to pass as normal, though he had his first counseling session with Hound Dog, this being a more introductory so the quirk counselor could determine when it would be best for them to have their actual meetings. Soon lunch was over and he was returning to classes.

“Alright, before we start today’s lesson, I want to ask your thoughts on the sub,” The teacher asked in a tired voice as he came back in after the lunch period was over.

“He was weird, kero,” Asui commented.

“Yeah! He looked like a clone of Mic-sensei, only with a different hairstyle, eyes, and clothes, but he acted nothing like Mic-sensei!” Kaminari agreed.

“Is Mic-sensei alright, why was there a sub?” Iida asked.

Other students made sounds of agreement. “Mic is fine, in fact, you all fail today’s lesson, except for Midoriya who was exempt.”

“Eh!?” The class shouted, instantly outraged, Bakugo demanding to know how he had failed.

Izuku got the feeling Aizawa was giving that wide grin he had seen during the quirk apprehension test. “Come on in,” Aizawa said, gesturing at the door and Mic-sensei walked in, now in his hero gear.

“Yeah! Today’s lesson was to figure out when someone was pretending to be someone else! I even made it obvious for you kids!” Mic-sensei shouted, giving finger guns at everyone.

Izuku blinked, so they had turned the prank into a lesson, made it seem as if it was planned. “Why was Deku exempt?” Uraraka questioned.

Black eyes glanced at him for a second, “Midoriya found out about it beforehand,” Aizawa answered.

He sighed in relief, not wanting his classmates to know it had been his idea. “How did you find out about it, you damn nerd?!” Bakugo demanded, outraged.

“Is it because Mic-sensei picks you up in the morning?” Iida questioned.

“Y-yeah,” Izuku answered, nodding his head to Iida.

“What do you mean Mic-sensei picks you up?” Yayorozu asked.

“A-ah, b-because of m-my injuries… they h-have b-been picking m-me up to m-make sure I g-get to sc-school and h-home safely,” Izuku answered, shifting nervously as he felt the entire class look at him. He shrunk down a bit.

“That makes sense,” Ojiro said.

Bakugo scoffed, “Why the hell are you not healed anyways? Are you pretending to be injured or something again?”

“Bakugo! That is not something you should assume! Midoriya was injured greatly in the USJ attack, of course he needs time to heal!” Iida stated, narrowing his eyes as his hands did that robotic chopping motion.

“Doesn’t Recovery Girl heal up all wounds instantly though?” Bakugo returned, glaring.

“She heals people up at the cost of their stamina, due to the extent of the injuries Midoriya and Aizawa-sensei got, it is possible they didn’t have enough stamina to fully heal,” Hagakure answered.

Bakugo scoffed, but shut his mouth upon seeing the glare from Aizawa.

“Now, for our next lesson, we will be having a race, you may use all resources at your disposal, including your quirk in order to reach the end goal, but each of you will be given a fake injury to work around in order to reach the end. For some the injury may be a broken leg, others a broken arm. This is to give you experience of figuring out ways around handicaps. The start of the race will be here, and the end goal is the roof.”

Aizawa listed each student, and what injury they had, pushing a button and out of the wall slid a container which contained crutches and casts. Iida had a broken leg, Bakugo a broken arm and other students had various fake broken bones. Izuku already being injured didn’t have to have a fake injury.

He took the time while the others were putting on the equipment to go onto his phone and opened the app. After all, Aizawa had pointed out that they could use all resources. He looked for the closest vent access that wasn’t a grate and found one in the hallway. Looking at the map he looked for the vent elevator he knew existed. Navigating the app found a navigation feature, where he could actually put in where he wanted to go and get the shortest route.

Once they were ready Aizawa had them all sit in their chairs, “Now, as this is a simulation, using the main elevator will result in a death, consider it bobby trapped. While it is not actually trapped, there are traps and villains set for you. Several of the staff have taken it upon themselves to play villains, and they have let their students trap the building as we have been preparing. So do be careful of actual traps. Remember, you can use whatever resources or quirks at your disposal to reach the roof in the quickest way possible, now begin.”

Instantly it was a madhouse, students trying to rush to the door in order to get out as quick as possible, Uraraka and a few others with useful quirks headed towards the window, planning to scale the outside of the building. It was a bit funny to watch them trip and stumble over the crutches, and those with broken arms tripping over those who had fallen and struggling to get up.

Izuku, having gotten used to moving with crutches, managed to get out of the room behind a few others and turned, going away from them towards another nearby room, which he had found had a drop. Looking into the room, he found it was some sort of unoccupied office, so he entered and double checked no one was there. Then he double tapped the red section on the map, bracing himself for the dropdown.

The app updated his route and he carefully walked through the vent, going slow and somewhat steadyish. He made it to the room with the elevator and saw Aizawa already waiting there. The teacher must have used a different entrance. “Well, I suppose I did specify the main elevator and not all elevators,” The teacher grumbled as the elevator opened and the two entered into the tight squeeze.

“The o-other elevators are a l-long way o-off, even for l-lida using his e-engines it would b-be longer than c-climbing the s-stairs. Though t-those with w-wounded arms would p-probably f-find it quicker, a-as they can a-avoid the t-traps.”

Aizawa just grunted, giving a nod to Izuku’s assessment.

The elevator finished it’s journey up and the two headed off, Izuku following the app and Aizawa walking ahead of him, disappearing around a corner, going his own path to the roof. Izuku was slow after all on the crutches. He took another few minutes and tapped the app checking no one else was nearby, seeing that the path was clear he double tapped on the red outline, dropping down in front of the roof access door.

He opened the door and made his way up the stairs. When he got up Aizawa was already there, as was Uraraka, Sero, and Tokoyami. “Deku! You made it up quickly!” Uraraka said, beaming at him. “You’re the first to arrive of those who chose to try going through the ground. Mineta, and Shoji tried to scale the wall with us, but weren’t able to make it up. Asui and Yaoyorozu, were still coming up, last I looked.”

Moments later the two showed up, looking more worn out, Yaoyorozu held a grappling hook in her hand. And Asui’s arm shook, the other in a cast.

Another minute passed, and the door flung open, Bakugo charging out, a triumphed look on his face, until he saw everyone else gathered around. He had a bit of paint on him, and his Izuku thought he saw some smoke drifting from the boy’s hair. Red eyes narrowed at Izuku, “Deku you damn nerd! How did you beat me up here?! No one even saw you!”

“S-secret!” Izuku squeaked out, taking a couple nervous steps back, eyeing the blonde warily. He shifted the crutches to one arm, wanting a hand free in case Kaachan decided to attack him, the blonde certainly looked angrily enough for it.

But, it also left him with a hand to rub at his eyes, which still felt odd. Not hurting, but that strange pressure was strange, and never seemed to go away.

Bakugo took a step forward, his free hand reaching forward and small explosions were  let out, “You better answer me,” The boy started to threaten, before the sparks cut off.

“Midoriya doesn’t have to tell you how he completed the race, he used what he had at his disposal, same as you did. Now, will you calm down?” Aizawa questioned, eyes red and hair floating for a couple seconds before stopping.

Izuku, who was standing closer to the teacher, heard him hiss in pain. “Sensei…” He whispered out worried for the man he trusted, Aizawa wasn’t fully healed yet, he needed to rest and not use his quirk.

The teacher looked at him for a moment, black eyes seeming to debate something, “Eye drops, third pouch on left.”

Izuku nodded, opening the pouch and grabbing the eye drops, he heard Aizawa huff as he lowered down, letting Izuku stand above him and dropping the eye drops in. The teacher stood back up and Izuku slipped the eye drops back into the man’s pouch. The other students may see it as just the teacher having Izuku help him relieve his dry eye, but… Izuku was fairly sure it was a sign of trust, would Aizawa let any of the other students help him. He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t think the teacher would.

“Don’t make me do that again Bakugo,” Aizawa growled. 

The boy scoffed and turned away. Ashido was the second to arrive, and Iida was right on her heels, soon followed by more and more students. 

Then the lesson was over and Aizawa had them take off the fake casts and they walked back through the school and Izuku looked at the halls astonished, it looked like a battlefield, burn marks and broken pieces of traps were leveled through the building.

They arrived back in the classroom, and Aizawa went over various information, explaining that sometimes a hero had to look for less obvious routes to get somewhere faster, such as going out of the way to avoid traps, that it would have been faster for those who took the ground to go to the other elevators and up them then through the trapped halls if they had broken arms.

“Is that the route you took Sensei?” Asui questioned.

“No,” Aizawa answered, as the bell rang. “Class is dismissed.”

Everyone left the room and Izuku stayed behind, “I’m going to be a minute, go find ‘Zashi, he should be in room 2-C.”

“Alright,” Izuku answered, walking out of the room and down the hall for a bit. 

He was only a short distance and a couple turns away from the classroom when he turned a corner and froze upon seeing Bakugo their glaring at him, “You owe me answers Deku, I want to know how you beat me, how you have a quirk, how you think that you are better than me, you are nothing more than a pebble! So why is it that you are beating me?! What the hell is going on with you?!” The red eyed kid shouted.

Izuku flinched back as the blonde released explosions. He wanted the explosions to stop. He heard running, but Kaachan was stepping forward and Izuku’s instincts screamed at him to do something.

Instincts had him pushing at the pressure in his eyes, even as he moved backwards, trying to get away. The pops stopped, Bakugo seemed to freeze, his angry expression morphing first into shock and then outrage. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” The boy screamed.

“Bakugo! Stop this instant, or do you want to be suspended?” Mic-sensei said, coming around the corner.

Mic’s attention turned to him and his mouth fell open, “Midoriya… you might want to blink.”

Izuku did, wincing as his eyes seemed even drier than before, and he wondered how long he had been holding them open, “Bakugo, you have detention, go to Midnight,” Mic said and Bakugo growled, but left.

Mic took a couple steps forward hesitantly, “Midoriya, do you know how you were using erasure?”

“I… wh-what?” Izuku stated, wide-eyed.

The voice hero nodded, “I carry some eye drops on me, here,” the teacher pulled them out and stepped closer handing them to Izuku who shifted to get a hand free and used the eye drops. Sighing a bit as he felt relief.

“I think we need to go see Recovery Girl,” Mic stated.

Izuku just nodded, hesitantly falling in step with the English teacher. He couldn’t help but watch the teacher more than he had been, dealing with Bakugo had been stressful, and then apparently he was using erasure? How was he using that quirk though? The only quirk he knew of was One for All, and his own mysterious quirk hadn’t shown up in years.

They took a brief stop at 1-A, which was on the way to the nurses office, “Sho, we need to go to Recovery Girl, the little listener-”

Mic was cut off as Aizawa shot up, “What happened? Did he get hurt? Was it Bakugo?”

Mic let out a chuckle, “He’s not injured, the incident did deal with Bakugo, but the main reason we’re going to Recovery Girl is that Midoriya somehow used erasure.”

“What.” Aizawa flatly stated.

“Yeah, red eyes, hair shifting around as if underwater, the whole deal.”

Aizawa walked over to them, “To Shuzenji it is.”

With that, the three began to once more go to Recovery Girl’s nurses office.

Chapter Text

Shouta stood, watching as Shuzenji looked over Midoriya, the child who according to Hizashi used erasure. “Alright dearie, do you think you can try and activate erasure again?” she asked him.

The boy looked nervous, but nodded, a moment later green eyes were red and Izuku’s hair shifted, as if there was an invisible breeze. The woman gave a nod and had Midoriya release the quirk. 

She went to the desk and pulled out a small device, she went towards Midoriya, who shifted away, eyeing the strange device warily. Shuzenji just smiled, “This is a ophthalmoscope, it will help me to look into your eyes, it will shine a light and I can look through it like a microscope, okay?”

Midoriya nodded, and Shouta stood nearby, watching her work silently. Hizashi on the other hand was pacing around, worried that something might be wrong. The nurse stood back up, “I see, Shouta, would you mind if I looked into your eyes for a moment, you too Hizashi.”

Both of them sat down and she looked into their eyes, she tsked at him after she looked, “You used your quirk, didn’t you? I warned you that if you used it you could damage your eyes, you got lucky this time, but it’s going to take them longer to heal now.”

Shouta grimaced behind the bandages, but he was relieved that he didn’t further injure his eyes. It had been a risk, but one he felt necessary to take.

“Right, but I did notice that Midoriya’s eyes have that secondary pupil and iris, I will have to do an MRI scan, and depending on the results, we might have to go to an optometrist. Follow me,” she started walking off towards a side room. “Now, it’s not everyday I have to make use of the scanner, though I don’t know why Nezu insisted on us having it. Frankly it’s surprising just how useful it is.”

Outside of the room she paused, “Make sure you remove all metal before entering the room.” 

They took a couple minutes removing everything metal.

The three of them entered the room after her, and Shouta saw a large MRI device, the MRI room had another door that led off, Shuzenji finished the preparations for Midoriya, having him change into a hospital gown, once he came back in she directed him to lay down on the table.

Midoriya did, and she pushed the table in so the kid was encased. She led Hizashi and him over to the other room, which had a computer with six monitors which were displaying various info. With a few clicks the scanner started up. It took time for it to scan, about 40 minutes of them just sitting and waiting.

 After it was complete the result started to process and Shuzenji had Midoriya exit and come back into the side room with them. A couple minutes passed before the image popped up, though it wasn’t anything Shouta could understand. Shuzenji pulled up a second brain image, this one a bit different looking than the first. She gave a small hum, eyebrows furrowing.

Then she pulled a third brain up, this one he recognized as his own scan that had been done after he was injured to make sure he didn’t sustain any damage to his brain. They stood around, all of them looking at the scans, even though none of them made sense of the scan. 

“I will have to send it to a neurologist to be sure, but take a look at these sections here,” she said pointing at an area of the brain towards the back, “This section is the occipital lobe, which is the part of the brain that deals with vision, this image is what it normally looks like, now if we look at Shouta’s here, we can see that his has a small section that is a lighter color, when I first came across it, I thought it was a tumor, but my fellow healer told me that it was actually a key part to Shouta’s quirk, allowing him to see when his quirk is active, if this was damaged to badly, or removed then while Shouta could still use his quirk, he would be unable to see with it active. Now, take a look at Midoriya’s scan.”

They all did, eyes going onto the area she had pointed out, Shouta saw that small white area, “As you can see, Midoriya has this secondary optical gland.”

“What does that mean, that he has erasure and this superpower quirk?” Hizashi questioned, a doubtful tone coloring his voice.

She huffed, shaking her head as a brief look of annoyance crossed her face, “Now, normally I would say that this was something he had all along, but… remember that sample you brought this morning?”

“Yeah,” Hizashi responded, a worried look in his eyes.

 “Right, well most of the sample you brought me seems to be vitreous humor mixed with melted sclera, though the diagnosis did discover parts that make up the retina and iris.”

Shouta frowned, “What sample are you talking about?”

“Oh! I forgot to tell you, well I did tell you the little listener was hurt all weekend, but when I returned in I saw he had set his laundry basket out, and spotted a pillowcase on top with this strange white stuff. So Midoriya came out, saw me looking at it and explained that he had discovered it, where did you say you found it again little listener?”

“A-Around m-my e-eyes,” Midoriya answered.

“Right, so he said he found it around his eyes and that he didn’t know what it was, so I figured we could take a scan of it, in case it had something to do with how ill Midoriya was.”

Shuzenji sighed, “Well it makes my suspicions a lot more likely now.”

“And what were your suspicions?” Shouta questioned.

“That Midoriya’s eyes completely remade themselves this weekend, possibly also that secondary optical gland, if his body was in the process of completely remaking parts of his body, it would give him a headache, and issues with his eyes. Did you have any issues with your vision this weekend?”

Midoriya nodded, “F-friday a-after the m-medicine k-kicked in I c-couldn’t r-really see s-straight. Saturday w-when I woke up t-they felt l-like they w-were burning, I t-tried o-opening them at that p-point and I c-couldn’t see a-anything it was all wh-white, my h-head hurt a-a lot, so I j-just c-curled up on m-my bed and e-eventually p-passed out from t-the pain. Next t-time I w-woke up was S-sunday and e-everything was f-fine, I could s-see, no h-headache, but th-that weird w-whitestuff. I ate s-some food and r-returned to b-bed, since I w-was still exhausted. N-next I w-woke up it-it was t-to M-mic-sensei kn-knocking at t-the door.”

“It seems likely then that Midoriya’s eyes remade themselves to be able to use erasure, though I don’t know why, but I assume it might have something to do with-” Shuzenji cut off, shaking her head.

“Well, I assume it has something to do with his quirk, that it might not be as simple as just superpower like you originally thought Midoriya, I would like to have a personal friend of mine come over. She has a quirk that can determine what quirks are, I don’t know when she will be able to come over, so keep on the lookout for a text from me, Hizashi.”

The voice hero nodded.

“Right, while everything appears to be proper, I would recommend you to not use erasure until my friend has arrived to see how exactly your quirk works.”

Midoriya nodded, agreeing to her terms.

“Good, now Midoriya, if you experience any other odd pain I want you to call my number, or if you can’t have a parent hold onto my number so they can get a hold of me.”

“I-i’ll g-give a c-c-copy t-to A-a-auntie,” the boy whispered, his stuttering getting worse mentioning her.

Recovery Girl paused, looking at him, “Not your mom or dad?”

“M-mom i-is ill, and d-dad works o-oversea’s t-to s-support us.”

Shouta mentally raised an eyebrow at that, since they knew nothing about Midoriya’s dad. The only thing they knew was that Midoriya’s Uncle worked overseas as well.

“What is your mom ill with?” Recovery Girl asked.

Midoriya shrugged, “I-I d-don’t know w-what it i-is, she’s m-mostly unresponsive u-unless a-asked a q-question, o-or t-told to d-do something on normal d-days.”

Recovery Girl nodded, “Alright, I guess this aunt of yours will do then.”

Hizashi grimaced at that and Shouta pursed his lips behind the bandages. Recovery Girl noticed Hizashi’s grimace, and raised an eyebrow at him.

“His aunt is Mrs. Bakugo, we ran into her once when dropping Midoriya off.”

The healer nodded, “Alright, Midoriya, I want you to have a text drafted up, so all you have to do is press send, that way if your pain is deliberating levels you won’t have to type everything up. If you send it by accident, just shoot a second text saying that’s what happened.”

Midoriya nodded and took the offered number, putting it into his phone and typing it up. Then he added a message and showed it, ‘Midoriya here, need help. I’m at:’ and then he pointed to a gps button that he could click and it would attach his location to the text.

“Looks good kiddo,” Shouta stated, nodding his head.

Recovery Girl bid them farewell and the group walked out of the nurses office into the empty school building, the last student having left about a half hour ago as it was starting to get late. 

It was silent as they made their way to the car, and Shouta wasn’t sure what to think about all the new information. Midoriya’s quirk, what was it? First the doctor lies and says he has the double pinky toe joint. Second the quirk doesn’t make itself known until the boy was 15, at the day of the entrance exam, so the registry is updated to superpower as the quirk appears to be a super strength type quirk. Now though, the boy has developed erasure seemingly out of the blue. So obviously Midoriya’s original quirk is not just super strength, but possibly a quirk that gave him other people's quirks.

Yet, how was Midoriya’s quirk determining what quirks it would copy? As unlike that 1-B student Midoriya wasn’t copying everyone he touched, or he would have discovered it at a young age.

And there hasn’t been any sort of time limit with that ‘super power’ portion of the quirk, which Shouta assumed was copied from All Might, the two quirks had always been close, but it was still different than All Might’s quirk, as Midoriya didn’t buff up or anything when using it. Perhaps Shouta would have to ask All Might more about his quirk, see if it ever displayed those red veins he had seen on Midoriya during the quirk assessment test.

Nearing the end of the trip Midoriya finally spoke up, asking a hesitant, “A-are you m-mad at m-me? That I c-copied your q-quirk?”

“No, I’m not, why would I be? If you can use erasure then that means I can teach you how to use it, and you wouldn’t have to rely on that other bone breaking part of your quirk. Besides if your quirk is some sort of copy quirk, that will make you a very versatile hero, but you also have to learn about the quirks you copied. It will be tough to learn how to use the quirks as well as the original user, since you wouldn't have had the quirk as long, but if you put in the effort you would become a strong hero who can save a lot of people.”

“I think it’s really cool you have erasure! It’s like your Sho’s son! I know he always wanted a child to take care of.”

Shouta blushed, “‘Zashi!” he snapped out, embarrassed. Glancing out the corner of his eye showed that Midoriya was also blushing in embarrassment from being called Shouta’s son. 

His husband laughed, pulling into the parking lot, the two getting out the vehicle and heading up the apartment. Shouta waited for his husband to come back down. The kid did spend a lot of time with them, but that was only because he was injured, plus the kid was shy and had just started to open up to them. He hoped the kid could trust them, but he did notice that Midoriya’s stutter was less when it was just the two of them.

He glanced out the window, wondering what was taking Hizashi so long and paused, seeing that his husband must have gone inside the apartment. A little while later and he came back out, sighing.

“What happened?”

“I just had another talk with Mrs. Bakugo,” Hizashi started as he started the vehicle and drove away.

Shouta stayed silent, waiting for Hizashi to tell him what happened.

Chapter Text

“She was in the apartment waiting for him, explained that Bakugo had told her that the little listener had developed a new quirk or something, so she wanted to check in, make sure Midoriya was alright. Anyways she starts questioning him question after question, and the little listener looks at me, like asking for me to explain everything. So I do and she starts demanding answers that we don’t have, like how the quirk works. I tell her that we are waiting for a specialist and that we would have more information within a couple weeks. She is a very brash woman, but… I think she truly does care for the little listener, it’s just that her personality is a bit too much for him. Though she didn’t make any sort of mention to his stuttering this time, so maybe she’s trying to not be so brash, I don’t know. Anyways Midoriya did give her Recovery Girl’s number,” Hizashi informed his husband of what happened when he was in the apartment building.

Shouta gave a slight hum.

“So you think his quirk is a type of copy quirk?” Hizashi questioned.

“It’s the most logical answer, how else would he have two quirks? Especially given that one is my quirk.”

“True,” Hizashi answered.

They fell silent for a few minutes before Shouta spoke up, “That little test was quite amusing.”

Hizashi snorted, “You just liked having an excuse to spy on the classes.”

“It was very informative all you did was change your clothes, hairstyle, had colored contacts and acted a bit differently and that was enough for you to convince most students that you were someone else. I will have to go over with my class different techniques to spot people who disguise themselves.”

They arrived home and Hizashi opened the door for his husband, they entered and Shouta plopped down on the couch. “Come be my pillow,” Shouta demanded.

Hizashi rolled his eyes fondly and made his way over, sitting down and Shouta curled up on him.

Hizashi waited inside of the living room trying to ignore how Midoriya’s mother stared blankly at him, not saying anything. She just stared with her empty glassy eyes, franky it was unnerving. 

Midoriya came out of his room, smiling hesitantly. His eyes went to the tie and once more saw it was a crooked mess. Hizashi glanced at the clock, noting that they still had a few minutes, “Do you want me to teach you how to tie a tie real quick?”

He saw the hesitance appear briefly, the boy’s eyes going up to meet his own. Finally the boy gave a nod. Hizashi smiled, glad that the little listener was starting to let him get closer. He walked the boy through the steps and helped him out. The boy made a slightly ruffled tie, but a lot better than his previous attempt.

Hizashi handed over a cherry flavored jelly packet, giving a chuckle, “I forgot to give you one yesterday, so here you go.”

The kids eyes lit up, taking the packet happily. They went out of the apartment and down the stairs. As soon as they got to the car Midoriya paused becoming more nervous, “W-where’s A-aizawa-sensei?”

“He had a meeting to attend earlier,” Hizashi answered, wondering if perhaps Midoriya didn’t trust him enough yet to ride in the car with him. He thought it would be fine, but… could it be that it was Aizawa’s presence that had made the boy comfortable enough for a car ride.

“O-oh.”  

“If it makes you feel better I can call Shouta, his meeting should hopefully be done by now and if not I’m sure he would be glad for the interruption,” Hizashi offered.

“N-no, i-it’s fine,” Midoriya said, opening the backdoor and taking a seat.

Hizashi took his own seat in the driver's spot, “If you’re sure, I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

Midoriya didn’t say anything, just sat and buckled up, pulling out the jelly packet and slowly sipping on it as Hizashi drove to the school.

Shouta sighed in relief as he finally managed to escape Nedzu’s office, the principal may know a lot, but he could talk for hours on the strangest of things. Like breweries, how was Nedzu able to relate breweries to a school of all things, and worse make the connection make an odd sort of sense.

He shook his head, making his way towards his classroom. The meeting had of course ran long and so Aizawa would be making it to the class right as the bell rang. He entered, looking over the students he nodded in satisfaction as all of them instantly fell silent. 

“As you know the sports festival will be starting in a few short days, for the past two weeks you have been learning new skills, and honing how you use your quirks in various situations, during the sports festival you will be using all of these skills in order to fight towards winning. The next 3 afternoons will be spent honing your reflexes.”

He fell silent, letting the kids do whatever they wanted as he closed his eyes and took a brief nap. The class came to an end and he went about his day, still unable to teach History as Nedzu told him he couldn’t teach the normal classes until he was fully healed.

Shouta at least had gotten the principal to agree to him being able to continue teaching heroics and homeroom. 

Lunch ended and he watched as the students trailed in, eventually the late bell ended and he narrowed his eyes, “Where is Midoriya?”

Iida and Uraraka, the two kids who insisted on hanging by Midoriya’s side shrugged. It was Tokoyami who spoke up, “He was following behind us, when I heard a strange sound, I looked back, only to see that Midoriya was no longer following us.”

Shouta frowned, but paused when his phone started to beep. He pulled out a pen and paper, writing down the short beeps and dashes, and noting when there was a brief pause between letters, and a longer pause between words. “-.. --- -. .----. - / .-- --- .-. .-. -.-- / .- -... --- ..- - / -- .. -.. --- .-. .. -.-- .- --..-- / .. / .... .- ...- . / - .- -.- . -. / .... .. -- / ..-. --- .-. / .... .. ... / ..-. .. .-. ... - / .-.. . ... ... --- -. .-.-.-” His eyes twitched, annoyed that Nedzu couldn’t bother to just send a normal text and instead chose to send it in morse code. 

“Sensei?” Asui questioned.

He translated the message, which read: “Don't worry about Midoriya, I have taken him for his first lesson.”

 He sighed and rolled his eyes, “Midoriya is alive.”

“So, he’s fine,” Kaminari said.

“I didn’t say that, I said he was alive. Nedzu has kidnapped him, Midoriya may or may not be back before class is over.”

“Nedzu?” Sato mumbled in a confused tone.

“The principal,” Shouta informed them. He supposed confusion was to be expected as he kept them from the orientation. 

Towards the end of the class when the students were putting their hero outfits back up Midoriya came back in, a dazed expression on his face. “Midoriya! You’re alive, are you okay? What did the principal want with you?” Ashido questioned.

Midoriya blinked, a flash of fear in his eyes as he shifted backwards, Ashido either didn’t notice the discomfort she was causing, or was willfully ignoring it as she pressed forward. “Well?” she prompted.

“C-c-can’t s-say,” he stuttered, looking away from her.

“Why not? Come on, tell us what the principal is like!”

Shouta frowned, “If Nedzu has said that Midoriya is not allowed to share what they discussed then you shouldn’t pressure him into revealing it.”

“But Sensei~ I want to know what happened,” she whined.

He stared at her, his ‘are you done face’ covered by the bandages. “It’s not your business, as a hero one should know when pressing for information is okay, and when one should look for other means to get information.”

The bell rang and the students started leaving the school and Shouta watched as Ashido left, pouting the entire time. “You ready?” Shouta asked Midoriya once everyone was gone.

The kid nodded and they walked out of the room, heading towards the car, where Hizashi was waiting for them, “Hey! So little listener, you remember you have a meeting with Snipe tomorrow after school, right?”

“Y-yes,” Midoriya answered.

“Do you want one of us to come with you, or do you want to attend the lesson by yourself?”

“Aizawa-sensei, i-if he d-doesn’t mind,” Midoriya replied.

“I don’t mind,” Shouta told the kid, glad that Midoriya felt he could speak up and ask for him. 

Hizashi turned the radio on, flipping through the station for a minute, pausing on some horrible talk show. His husband started to mock the radio show host, something he liked to do when a radio host was being particularly dumb.

After a minute or so of Hizashi ranting, Shouta heard giggles, and glanced back to see that Midoriya was laughing at Hizashi’s mocking the program. His husband, noting the giggles, started to be even more dramatic.

Shouta smiled, glad that the kid was happy. His husband was truly amusing when he was mocking people.

Eventually they arrived at the apartment and Hizashi dropped Midoriya off.

Izuku woke up with a gasp, he scrambled out of bed, yelping as he landed badly on his leg. He felt sick, he struggled to his feet, grabbing the crutches and closed his mouth, gagging a bit as tears fell from his eyes.

He made it to the bathroom and threw up. He hated dreaming about what had happened, he just wanted to forget about it and move on, he didn’t see that man anymore, the teacher couldn’t hurt him anymore.

Izuku was safe now.

He didn’t feel safe.

Izuku wanted Aizawa, he felt safe around the teacher, he knew that the man would protect and help him. Even Mic-sensei has been helping him, trying to make sure that he didn’t upset him.

Slowly the nausea faded away and he flushed the toilet and went to the sink, washing his mouth out. He went to his room and saw it was 4:30, he huffed, knowing he wouldn’t be able to return to sleep, so instead he got dressed and after a couple hours made breakfast. He cooked enough that he could bring a plate to Mic and Aizawa. About the time he finished cooking, a knock came on the door and he went and opened it. Letting the teacher into the house.

“Smells like you had a good breakfast little listener,” Mic said, giving a bright grin and a thumbs up.

He nodded, and grabbed the two plates of food, “I-I have e-extra,” he said as he handed a plate over. 

The teacher gave a grin, thanking him, but then paused, “You look tired Midoriya, is everything alright?”

He shrugged, “Nightmare.”

“Ah, want to talk about it?” Izuku shook his head. “Alright.”

The two walked down the stairs after Izuku locked the door. He looked to the side as Mic took a few minutes to feed Aizawa the food before eating his plate rapidly. Then they were off to school.

The day passed by and soon he was off to lunch, well he was before All Might pulled him off to a break room, “How are you doing young Midoriya?”

“G-good,” Izuku answered, giving a slight smile to his mentor.

“And you’re injuries?”

“Healing, R-recovery Girl s-said that she m-might be able t-to heal m-me b-before the sports f-festival.”

“That’s good news, but you shouldn’t push yourself too hard, I don’t want you to reinjure yourself. Your health is more important than this festival, you told me you wanted to be a hero who saved people, that you don’t want fame. I gave you my power because I believe that you can become a hero who uses the power to help others. You aren’t like young Bakugo, or young Uraraka, who want to be a hero to show that they are the strongest, or to get money. You are more like Aizawa-kun, wanting to be an underground hero and help people without having to deal with the attention. It also doesn’t matter what sort of showing you make, as Gran Torino has already said that he wanted you to intern with him.”

“O-oh yeah, I a-almost forgot,” Izuku murmured.

All Might choked, coughing out blood, “Almost forgot? How can you forget, my boy?!”

“I-I’ve had a b-busy week… um… I-” Izuku cut off, not knowing how to put everything.

“Take your time my boy.”

“Well, I-I developed another q-quirk? But… It’s e-erasure.”

All Might’s eyes widened, “Erasure?”

“A-aizawa-sensei thinks i-it’s probably a type of copy q-quirk. R-recovery Girl has a-a friend coming over who w-will be able to find out.”

“I see, well this is good news then, but be careful as we don’t know how One For All will react with your quirk.”

Izuku nodded, “I will.”

“Good, now eat up, lunch won’t last too much longer.”

He smiled and ate the food, enjoying the bento.

Chapter Text

The school day drew to a close, and Aizawa led him to the room Izuku had stumbled upon in his wonderings. Snipe was there, waiting, “Howdy!” The man called out in greeting, “You ready for your first lesson?”

He nodded, even as Aizawa went to a nearby chair, sitting down and closing his eyes. 

“Good, I had Powerloader design a simple glock for you,” The shooting hero said, opening up the case he was holding. “Come on over kid.”

He hesitantly made his way closer and looked at the gun, it was a dark green, almost black color. It was in a red holster that matched his supply belt color. The teacher started to go over the gun, showing him the in’s and out of it, how to take it apart and put it back together for cleaning purposes, how to load the magazine, how to put the magazine in the gun and then that for this pistol there was a back piece that he had to pull back before he could shoot the clip.

Then Snipe showed him how to aim down the sights, and had him shoot holding the gun with both hands to increase his steadiness, the man had him stand in a certain position then told him to pull the trigger gently once. Izuku shot the pistol and felt how the gun jerked up slightly.

He looked at the target to where he had been aiming and saw a little hole a little up and to the left of where he had been aiming. “Not a bad first shot, go ahead and shoot the rest of the clip.”

Izuku did, taking his time with each shot. After he finished the clip the teacher had him remove the clip and then take apart the gun, having him clean it with the supplies and putting the gun back together. “You did good, of course you need to practice, so I would suggest having a session every wednesday, we can take an hour for you to practice your shooting and using the gun. But, it will be included in your hero costume gear now in case you need it.”

Izuku just nodded. He left with Aizawa, “So what did you think?” The teacher asked.

“It w-was interesting, a lot m-more difficult to aim t-then I thought it w-would be.”

“Do you think it will be something you will keep?”

Izuku nodded, “It’s useful.”

Aizawa gave a hum, “Good, hopefully the rest of your class will start to think of items that can cover their weaknesses.”

The two continued through the hallways, on their way to Mic’s car. They talked about heroes and Aizawa made a grumbled complaint about some of the recent above ground heroes who had made their debut recently.

“Pleeeeease! It’ll be fun!” Midnight’s voice sounded from around the corner, clearly whining.

Hizashi chuckled, “No, I’m not going to help you find a man for Sho, and before you ask me I’m not going on a date with you Nem.”

“Nyah!” there was a pause as the two got closer to the corner, “Well how about we go on a double date then? I’m sure I could find a nice girl or guy to set you up with.”

“Nem… no, I’m not interested in finding someone to date.”

“Oh~? Would that mayhaps mean you’re taken?”

The voice hero spotted them and smiled, “Sho! Little listener! How are you? Did you have fun Midoriya?" he asked them, ignoring Midnight. Who had been waggling her eyebrows.

“I-it w-was v-very i-informative,” Izuku replied, glancing nervously at Midnight, who just smiled at him, giving a bright grin.

Then she turned towards Shouta, her grin turned coy, playful, eyes bright with mischief. “Well Shouta, what about you, since Mic won’t go on a date with me, how about you?”

“No,” Aizawa responded flatly.

“You two are no fun~” she said rolling her eyes.

“No, I don’t want you to find me a guy either,” Aizawa added as she opened her mouth again. 

She closed her mouth and snickered, “One of these days…” Her eyes glinted as she looked between the two, and Izuku almost thought she looked knowing. 

“Go bother Tensei,” Aizawa responded, waving a hand dismissively.

“At least he knows how to loosen up and just enjoy some quality time with a woman,” she leered. “Though maybe he should teach his brother to loosen up some.” she added with a wink.

“We have to get going Nem, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

She waved a hand, “I’m going to go bug Vlad, I bet he would be kinky.”

The art teacher walked away, swaying her hips. “W-why don’t y-you tell Midnight-sensei a-about y-your relationship?” Izuku asked hesitantly.

“If we tell her, then she would tell all the other teachers, and soon it would get out to the media which we don’t want,” Aizawa answered. “She wouldn’t purposely tell them, but Nemuri likes to go out drinking and she tends to be a chatterbox when drunk. Well, when she’s not crying. Though… we have thought of telling them regardless, we haven’t decided yet really.”

“Yeah! Plus it’s amusing when she and Tensei sometimes joke about us acting like we're a married couple, since it’s true. Nemuri knows we’ll say no and likes to use it to badger us about our relationships. Since she's under the belief we don’t have any.”

“Ms. Joke on the other hand…” Aizawa huffed.

“Ms. J-joke? The s-smile hero?”

“You heard of her?”

Izuku nodded, “S-she has a few m-minor articles o-on her.”

The group went to the car and got in as they conversed, the conversation switching from Ms. Joke’s unwanted perusal to how oftentimes heroes ended up with other heroes instead of civilians. 

They arrived at Izuku’s apartment and he entered his home. “See ya tomorrow little listener,” Mic said, giving him finger guns as he turned and went back down.

“See you…” Izuku whispered in return, unheard by the voice hero.

It was strange, when he first saw Mic at the entrance exam he nearly had a panic attack as the man looked really similar to his english teacher. He couldn’t help but be nervous around the teacher, wondering if the man was the same as his previous english teacher, but… that couldn’t be further from the truth. Mic acted way different, outgoing and cheerful, though the teacher also liked to mock people for being stupid. He was also caring, and could be quiet when he wanted to. Plus he was married to Aizawa.

Perhaps… perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to trust Mic-sensei a bit more.

A knocking woke him up, he groaned, looking at the time, frowning when he saw it was only 6:45. He got up and went to the door, opening it he saw Mic-sensei, “Sorry for the early wakeup call, but Recovery Girl said that her co-worker was here and that we should show up early to get the test done before school starts.”

“O-ok!” Izuku said, grinning, excited to know what his quirk was. He rushed back into the apartment, leaving the door open so Mic-sensei could let himself in. Izuku rushed to get ready, tugging on his pants around his casts and putting on his school uniform. He slowed down doing the tie, trying to remember the steps Mic-Sensei had taught him. Once he finished he went out, and saw that Mic had heated up a poptart.

“I grabbed this on the way out of my house for you, I hope you like them,” the hero said, handing him the breakfast treat. 

“T-thank you,” Izuku said, as he ate the poptart. Then he was heading out after waking up his mom and telling her where he was going. He also made a bowl of cereal for her to eat.

They drove to school, and Izuku shifted, excited to know exactly what his quirk was.

 Finally, after what seemed like forever, but was only 25 minutes they arrived. He followed the two teachers to the nurses office, “We seem to be visiting this place quite often,” Aizawa dryly commented.

“That’s what happens when you get injured, you two should be more careful,” Mic retorted.

“Half of our visits haven’t been because of our injuries, instead they have been about Midoriya’s strange quirk.”

“Which we will be figuring out now,” Recovery Girl spoke from behind them, causing Izuku to spin around in shock. 

He would have fallen if it hadn’t been for Aizawa placing a hand on his shoulder, steadying him while Izuku repositioned his crutches.

Next to Recovery Girl stood another old woman, she had short silvery blue hair and grey eyes. “Let’s go inside.”

The group of five went inside of the room and Recovery Girl had him sit on the bed. The other old woman stepped forward, “My name is Kenshutsu Kuse, my quirk is called Quirk Detector. It allows me to find out everything about a person's quirk, what it does, how it activates, what sort of changes it makes to a person, stuff like that.”

“C-changes it m-makes to a-a p-person?" he questioned.

“Yes, personality wise. Some quirks make a person more aggressive, laid back, sometimes playful, tired, energetic, ect ect. Now, I will need to take your hand, and this may feel weird or invasive, please bear with it though.”

He reluctantly held his hand out, and she took it and he felt an almost cold slimy sensation creeping up the inside of his veins. It was horrible, like there was ice inside of his body and he shivered. After what felt like forever, the creeping feeling reached his heart and he could feel it spread out, slowly making its way throughout his entire body.

He whimpered, the sensation painfully cold, “Just a few more minutes, then the scan will be done,” Kenshusu said.

About five more minutes passed before the slimy cold started to withdraw, a lot quicker than it had appeared. Grey eyes glowed silver, “Alright, I have your quirk information.”

He stared at her, waiting for the answer.

“Your quirk is a bonding copy quirk. When you trust a person, you end up bonding with them and you copy their quirk. There are a few drawbacks to it, one is that you can’t have two quirks that affect the same area, you have already copied Erasure, a quirk that affects your eyes, anything that would change your eyes would not work, not unless the bond with Eraserhead breaks. But say the quirk uses eyesight but doesn’t change your eyes, then it would work. You also wouldn’t be able to bond with your biological relatives, parents, grandparents, uncles or aunts. Another drawback is one you have probably faced since your quirk developed when you were 6. Your quirk gives you trust issues, making it more difficult for you to trust people. Also you can’t trust a person just because you want their quirk. You have to actually trust a person, to know they will have your back, and that they won’t hurt you.”

“So the reason his quirk never made itself known…” Mic started.

“Was because he never trusted anyone, yes.”

Mic grinned, yet his eyes were sad even as he said, “Aww that means the little listener trusts you Eraser!”

Aizawa didn’t say anything, but looking into his eyes, Izuku could see how the man’s eyes had widened, looking almost as if he was surprised. 

“Is there anything else we need to know about the quirk?”

“Lets see, there does seem to be a limit to the amount of people he can trust and gain their quirk. But that number can change, it has gone up naturally over the years and is currently 6. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem that he can trust people without forming a bond to them. But, you can break a bond which will result in the copied quirk being removed, or if you sever it before fully trusting them enough to develop the quirk then it will never form by doing this it looks like you can trust the person, but you will never be able to copy their quirk again.”

“H-how d-do I k-know if I b-bonded?”

“You should be able to feel it, if you meditate you could possibly feel the bonds and who they connect to. To sever it, I figure you would probably just imagine severing it. Go ahead and try.”

Izuku hesitated and closed his eyes, he started trying to meditate, but gave it up after a few minutes, not feeling comfortable. He opened his eyes again, looking towards Aizawa, unsure how to phrase his request.

“Can you three leave, Midoriya can’t meditate with you guys around,” Aizawa spoke flatly.

“Of course, no problem little listener!” Mic said, giving finger guns as he walked out, followed by Recovery Girl and Kenshutsu.

Once more he closed his eyes, and this time with only Aizawa being in the room he found himself able to relax and he started trying to meditate, looking for these bonds the quirk doctor had told him about.

After a few minutes he felt them, and could almost imagine seeing them as colored balls, glowing different colors and being different sizes. Aizawa’s was warm and black with a red center to it, the largest ball. Almost as big but still a little bit smaller was a yellow ball that almost seemed to vibrate, and Izuku recognized it as Mic’s.

A third ball that seemed to be the same size as Mic's was more glass like, a see through sort of blue, that Midoriya could feel belonged to All Might. Those were the three largest orbs. There were a few smaller ones, belonging to his various classmates. The biggest of them being Uraraka and Iida since the two always spent a lot of time around him. He wasn’t quite sure what to think of the two, but they mostly left him alone besides for walking with him and occasionally asking his opinion.

Out of all of them though, only Aizawa’s had a sort of line he could feel, coming out of it. Mic’s did have a sort of tendril feeling that seemed to be coming away for a moment before retreating back to the orb. And there was no tendril at all from All Might.

After he finished looking/feeling the orbs he opened his eyes, “That was r-really strange,” he said to Aizawa who gave a hum.

“Quirks can be very strange, do you want me to call the others back in?”

Izuku nodded and Aizawa walked over and kicked the door with his foot, the door soon opening and the three others came back in.

“Did you find the bonds?” Kenshutsu questioned.

”Y-yes.”

“Good, I do believe that is all relevant information. I will go write up everything and send Recovery Girl an email, in case I forgot to mention something. Have a good day,” The woman said, turning and walking out of the room.

“It does seem like it would be safe for you to use Erasure dearie, just be careful when using it,” Recovery Girl said.

Izuku nodded, “Well let’s head to the classroom Midoriya, we can discuss your quirk there and what you want to do with it.”

“A-alright,” Izuku agreed.

With that the three went towards 1-A.

Chapter Text

They arrived at the class room and Midoriya stood in front of the desk, shifting side to side a bit, biting his lip. Hizashi wondered what was troubling the little listener, the kid had seemed pretty excited to find out about his quirk.

“Well, it seems you do have a copy quirk, we’ll have to update your quirk registry.”

“Y-your not m-mad?”

“Of course not, it’s your quirk Midoriya, why would I be mad at you for using your quirk?”

Hizashi let his grin turn mischievous, “Plus I know that Sho feels honoured that you trust him.”

His husband huffed, but didn’t try and deny it. Midoriya nodded hesitantly, “S-so you d-don’t want me to s-severe it so I don’t u-use your quirk?”

“No, you can use my quirk, in fact I was going to say that this afternoon while the others are doing reflex training, I can give you a crash course in Erasure, that way if you do participate in the sports festival tomorrow you won’t have to rely on your bone breaking quirk.”

Midoriya glanced at him, “W-what about y-you?”

Hizashi smiled, “Copy away little listener!” he said, giving a thumbs up and a bright smile.

The kid gave a hesitant smile back, Hizashi nodded, and took a more serious tone, “Midoriya, I know that something happened in your past with your previous english teacher, that you had an even harder time being around me because of that. But you still gave me a chance, and I’m glad you did, you are a wonderful student. If you think you can trust me, then I would be honoured.”

He wanted to see Midoriya use his quirk, because if the kid had his quirk, then Hizashi had succeeded in gaining the kid's trust, he would be able to better help Midoriya if the kid trusted him.

Midoriya started to cry, but he was giving a wobbly smile, so Hizashi figured that he didn’t hurt the kids feelings or anything. After a minute or so the kid came to a stop, wiping away the tears.

“Do you plan on telling your classmates about the details of your quirk?”

The little listener slowly shook his head, “Just that it’s a copy quirk that has a prerequisite before I can copy a quirk…”

“You don’t want them to know of the trust requirement?”

“N-no, I don’t… W-what if t-they only want t-to b-be my friend f-for their q-quirk to be copied...”

Hizashi doubted that any of the kids would be like that. It was saddening to know that because of Midoriya’s quirk giving him trust issues, he never was able to activate it before. That the trust issue likely didn’t help Midoriya when it came to making friends. 

He looked at Midoriya, seeing that the kid still seemed distressed, something on his mind, yet the kid didn’t speak up.

After a few minutes he became bored, as he never was good at sitting still for long periods of time. The only exception being when he was with Shouta, which while on that train of thought… Hizashi grinned as he walked to where Shouta was sitting and started petting his husband's hair. Shouta rolled his eyes at him for a moment before closing his eyes and letting him pet his hair. He watched, as Midoriya seemed to be watching, the boy amused by how Shouta had melted into a puddle.

Hizashi wondered if the kid would like his hair played with, something to see about later if the kid ever fully trusted him. They were silent for a few minutes before Hizashi started talking, saying whatever came to his mind, neither Shouta nor Midoriya said much, but he knew they were listening.

Eventually he had to leave as Iida and the other kids would soon start arriving.

Neito scoffed, completely unimpressed with what he was seeing from class A. He listened as the purple haired kid from general studies gave his declaration of war. And then Tetsutetsu said his own piece shouting at 1-A to not make fools of themselves. 

Which gave him the perfect opportunity to rile up class 1-A, “It’s a bit too late for that, look at them after all, they get attacked by villains and only one of them actually fights back,” he said pointing to the injured kid. “What, did the rest of you run away and leave him to fight for himself or something?” he smirked, tilting his head to the side, “Or perhaps he is just a bad hero and got himself hurt from those minor villains.”

He looked at the various students of 1-A, “What with the way that arrogant blonde was acting though, I bet you purposely threw him at the villains as bait,” he added, smirking in satisfaction as he saw how riled up the class got at that, protesting his words.

His eyes drifted to the injured kid, and Neito fought back a wince. The injured 1-A student’s head was hanging down, but that did nothing to hide his trembling frame, or the way his stomach moved, indicating rapid breathing. Nor did it stop Neito from noticing tears hitting the ground.

He may have gone too far. He huffed, he would have to apologize to the injured kid tomorrow, after the sports festival. Neito just wanted to rile them up, not actually act like a bully. Well, at least his goal had been achieved with the rest of the class. 

Neito noticed how class 1-A’s homeroom teacher glared at the crowd, stepping forward. “Shouldn’t you students be doing some last minute preparation instead of wasting time?” The teacher questioned.

The crowd started to disperse, and Neito walked off with them, sending one last glance into the room, seeing how the girl with the round face was trying to comfort the injured boy, yet he kept flinching away from her.

He turned away.

Neito went to the train station, and made his way home. His parents greeted him, asking him how his day had been and he told them, leaving out how his insults seemed to actually hurt the injured boy. 

“Dinner is still a little ways off, why don’t you go take a walk, clear your head,” His mom suggested.

He nodded and headed out, starting to walk through the neighborhood. 30 minutes later and he was passing by his old middle school, Yukigaoka Junior High. He ignored it and kept walking on, sure the school hadn’t been that bad, but it wasn’t the best either.

Neito turned around, and started to make his way back home, he paused partway through his return home when he overheard someone say, “You worthless quirkless bastard, my little brother told me that you somehow made it into U.A. You really are delusional, aren’t you?”

“N-n-not q-q-” A voice stammered out, filled with fear.

Neito shifted on his feet heading towards the alleyway. What kind of hero would he be if he didn’t help out a fellow student of his school?

“Still so useless that you can’t even speak right, Deku?” A different voice said.

He entered the alleyway and saw the injured boy surrounded by three older boys, “Oi, who are you three?” Neito questioned, stepping in between them and the injured 1-A student.

“None of your business,” one of the boys with dog-like ears spat.

“Piss off.”

“No can do, see, I’m also a hero student at U.A.”

“If you know Deku, then why the hell are you defending the quirkless bastard?” The white haired boy who seemed like the leader of the three said.

“Quirkless? If the rumor mill is to be believed, he had a powerful quirk,” Neito responded, frowning confused at the boys.

The green haired 1-A kid stayed behind him, shifting a bit on his crutches. “Powerful quirk? Deku! Hah, if that wimp had a quirk then how come he never used it?”

“L-l-late,” 1-A stammared out.

“Speak clearly Deku, or do we need to beat another lesson into you,” The leader of the bullies snarled.

“Oh do shut up, clearly you are lacking the necessary braincells to put 2+2 together, 1-A kid was clearly implying that his quirk developed late,” Neito replied bitingly. “Oi, 1-A, do you know what their quirks are?”

“B-bone bullets, d-dog s-shifter, te-temporary p-paralysis.” The boy answered quickly, even as the three boys lunged forward to attack.

Neito dodged, slapping both the leader, who with the white hair he was sure the boy had the bone quirk, and the non dog eared boy who likely had the paralysis, spinning he activated the paralysis quirk and kicked the dog eared boy.

A yelp and the boy collapsed on the ground paralyized.

“What the hell?!” The other two questioned, staring at him. 

“That was my quirk!” Paralysis shouted, charging at him enraged.

Neito sidestepped and once more used the paralysis quirk to freeze the boy. The final bully though kept his distance. The boy held his hand out in a gun position and out came a bullet which grazed his arm. Neito hissed in pain and quickly dodged to the side. 

Neito’s eyes widened when he saw the white haired boy turned to the 1-A kid, who he was no longer in front of. The kid’s eyes went red and his hair floated up, in a way that reminded him of the history teacher. Hoping it was the same quirk, he charged towards bullet boy, who tried to use his quirk and failed, Neito punched him hard, once more using the paralysis quirk.

He may have copied the bullet quirk, but that one was too dangerous to use on the civilians, especially since technically he had been using his quirk illegally. “Come on 1-A, let’s get you away from them,” Neito said to the 1-A kid.

The green haired boy nodded shakily in response, following him out of the alleyway. “Are you alright?” Neito asked.

The kid just gave a nod, green eyes watching him warily. Neito huffed, well since he was here… “Look, I was going to apologize when I saw you tomorrow, but might as well do it now, I didn’t mean to upset you, well not like that anyways, I just wanted to rile your class up.” 

“W-why?”

“Why did I want to rile your class up?”

Before Neito could start to answer that the 1-A kid shook his head. “W-why a-a-apolgize?”

Neito frowned, “Because it’s the right thing to do, and while I’m a jerk, I’m not an asshole.”

“O-oh.”

“So how long does that paralysis last?”

“F-five t-to t-ten m-minutes.”

“Right, well I don’t want those idiots to find you again and hurt you, so-” Neito cut off as his phone rang. “One moment,” he said to the 1-A kid who just nodded. He answered his phone. 

“Where are you?”

“Out on my walk still,” Neito answered.

“Oh, you’re usually back by now,” His mom said, “Dinner’s ready, so hurry back.”

“I will, I just got to walk a classmate back to their house first.”

“Oooh? You’re with a friend, well, why don’t you invite them over? If they don’t need to be home that is.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Nonsense, go on and ask, I want to know if I should set out a fourth plate.”

Neito looked at the 1-A kid, “My parents want to know if you want to come over,” he said, giving a bit of an apologetic look, “You can refuse if you want, or if your parents want you back home.”

The green haired boy shrugged, looking nervous, “I need an answer 1-A.”

The boy jerkily nodded his head, “O-o-okay.”

Neito saw the fear in the boy’s eyes and huffed, realizing he had scared the boy. “Alright, I’ll make sure to set a fourth plate!” His mom said, the phone must have picked up Midoriya’s response. Even though Neito was sure the boy didn’t actually want to come.

The phone beeped, signaling his mom had ended the call. “Well, seems like my mom is setting a place for you, but you don’t have to come, I can explain the situation to her.”

“I-I d-don’t w-want t-to b-be r-rude.”

“I think you have the right to be a bit rude,” Neito said with a smirk. “I know I would deserve it.”

The boy seemed to be thinking over something, “I… I n-need t-to b-be m-more social, t-try a-and o-overcome m-my a-anxiety,” 1-A said, and Neito should probably get the kids name at some point.

“Who told you that?”

“H-Hound Dog.”

Neito started to walk back towards his house, 1-A following alongside him. “I’m Monoma Neito, class 1-B student.”

“M-Midoriya I-Izuku, 1-A.”

Well, he had a name now, maybe he could get a quirk, “What’s your quirk?”

“B-Bonding.”

“Mines Copy,” Neito replied to his own question, seeing no harm in sharing that, as even if Midoriya knew, he wouldn’t be able to know whatever quirks he had copied.

“R-really, t-thats c-cool, m-mine i-i-is a t-type of c-copy q-quirk a-as w-well,” Midoriya spoke, an excited tone in his voice.

Neito grinned, excited at the prospect of someone else with a copy quirk, “You have a copy quirk? Was that why you were using Aizawa-sensei’s Erasure quirk?”

Midoriya nodded, “I-I can o-only u-use the q-quirks o-of t-those I-I b-bond with. A-and I c-can o-only bond w-with a l-limted a-amount o-of p-people,” Midoriya shared, grinning brightly.

“Cool, I haven’t met anyone else with a copy quirk, we must be fated rivals or something, the copy heroes from 1-B and 1-A!” Neito declared, smirking.

Midoriya shrinked in a bit as soon as the word rivals left his mouth. Neito huffed, “Rivalries can be friendly, we would push each other to do better and get stronger.”

“R-rivals c-can be f-friends?”

Not exactly what he said, but… close enough, and it was true anyways that rivals could be friends, “Yep. So what do you say?”

“S-Sure,” Midoriya agreed after a minute or so of silence where the boy seemed to get lost in thought.

Well it looked like he had an actual rival in class 1-A and not just the whole class, but Neito would have to help his rival with the whole speaking thing, the stuttering was getting old fast. Though Neito also knew that mentioning that wouldn’t be good as from what he saw the bullies often bullied Midoriya about that.

Before any more conversation could take place, Neito arrived at his home and paused, “Just a heads up, my mom is a hugger.”

Midoriya grimaced a bit at that, most likely at the idea of being touched. With that being said, Neito opened the door and the two walked inside. It was at that moment he realized he forgot to bandage his wound and he whispered a quiet, “Shit.”

Chapter Text

Izuku did his best to not flinch away as Mrs. Monoma hugged him. “Hello, nice to meet you,” she said, giving a bright grin.

“N-nice t-to m-meet y-you t-too,” Izuku responded, giving a hesitant smile.

“I hope you like Katsudon, it’s nice to finally meet one of Neito’s friends!”

Izuku couldn’t help but flinch at that, Mononma sighed, “Mom, this is Midoriya Izuku, class 1-A student, my rival, not a friend.”

The woman just huffed out a laugh, “Rival, friend, same thing.”

Monoma just rolled his eyes, “Anyways dinner’s on the table, let's eat and you can tell me more about yourself,” Mrs. Monoma said. Then her eyes sharpened as she noticed Monoma trying to sneak away and her eyes caught sight of the wound, “Oh Neito, just what sort of trouble did you get yourself into?” The woman huffed, marching Neito away.

Mr. Monoma just smiled and led him into the kitchen, a few minutes of awkward silence later and the other two Monoma’s came back, Monoma’s wound now bandaged. Soon he was seated next to the blonde and Izuku wondered how his luck was so bad that he ended up in these types of situations?

Izuku had just wanted to get some milk from the store, but he hadn’t even been able to make it when he had been cornered by those old bullies of his. Then that mean student from earlier had shown up and actually helped him. Afterwards apologizing for going too far apparently. 

And then the boy's mom had called and Izuku found himself agreeing to go to dinner, if only so he could tell Hound Dog that he tried to be more social. This was what the counselor meant, right? 

Though how being more social was supposed to help him gain control of his quirk, he didn’t know. Well, he did already have that advice from Gran Torino he would have to experiment with after the sports festival. For the festival he should probably just stick to Erasure.

Izuku listened to the conversation around him as the Monoma’s easily discussed how their days had been, and Mr. Monoma told some tales about a coworker who had messed up on the project they were working on, setting them back by a couple weeks.

“So, Midoriya was it? How was your day?” Mr. Monoma questioned.

“I-it w-was a-alright,” Izuku answered. The morning had been good, but the afternoon after school let out… not so much.

He noticed the two adults exchange a look before Mrs. Monoma asked another question, “So why did you want to be a hero?”

“T-to h-help o-others.”

“That’s nice, I find that all too often kids only want to be a hero to be popular.”

“I-i’d r-rather s-stay o-out of t-the s-spotlight…” Izuku hesitantly offered up.

It had always been his plan to be an underground hero, and when he finally told All Might that, the man had been surprised, but supportive, changing the training schedule so his muscles lent themselves more for speed then straight up punching.

“So, Midoriya, how many quirks have you copied?” Monoma questioned.

Izuku wasn’t sure what to think of the boy, he was a bit mean, but… he  had apologized saying he knew he went too far. Which was nice, no one ever really apologized before. And the boy said that they could be rivals, and that rivals could be friends. Yet he never explicitly stated they were friends, just that rivals could be friends and they were rivals.

But, to answer the boy’s question, he couldn’t tell the truth of one, since he also had to account for One for All. He could claim that he had bonded with All Might and not realized that his quirk was a copy quirk until he gained Erasure, which would be reasonable enough hopefully. “T-two.”

Mononma just nodded, “So, how do you form a bond with a person to copy their quirk, it must be tricky if you only copied two, or are you being careful, since you did mention you had a limit.”

“I-it i-is t-tricky f-for m-me,” Izuku answered, not wanting to lie, but also not revealing that he had to trust a person to bond with them.

“Are you boys done with your plates?” Mrs. Monoma asked.

Izuku nodded and she took his plate, “T-thank y-you f-for h-having m-me,” Izuku said, knowing it was polite. 

“It’s no trouble at all dear, any frie-” Monoma glared at his mom and she chuckled, “Excuse me, rival of Neito is welcomed here anytime.” 

Izuku said his goodbyes, and was going to leave, but Mr. Monoma insisted on driving him home. He tried to tell them it wasn’t needed, but they said that they insisted, wanting to make sure he got home safe since it was late.

Which is how he found himself in a car alone with Mr. Monoma.

Izuku was grateful the man didn’t try to make conversation, well at least he didn’t for most of the car ride.

“You know, if you ever want to see a speech therapist, just let me know, I have a friend who could help you.”

“I-it’s n-not a s-speech i-impediment. J-just… s-social a-anxiety,” Izuku informed the man, looking away. He could speak just fine if no one but his mom was around, and he knew he was able to speak more easily around Aizawa-sensei, and he was even stuttering less around Mic-sensei. 

“I see, I’m sorry for assuming.”

They pulled up into the driveway and Izuku got out and quickly made his way up the stairs after saying goodbye. At least moving up the stairs was no longer a problem, as he had gotten used to the movements of his crutches after the two weeks.

Izuku entered the apartment and saw his mom staring at the phone in her hands, “Hello.”

“What took you so long?” she questioned, her tone lifeless, but at least Izuku knew that she had been thinking of him.

“A… rival… invited me over for dinner,” Izuku answered, hesitant in calling Monoma his rival, still at least the boy wasn’t trying to claim they were friends. Just rivals, which, that was a good middle ground, right?

Izuku hoped Hound Dog was happy.

“You’re not in trouble, are you?”

“No I’m not,” Izuku answered. “In fact I will be in the sports festival tomorrow, do you want me to leave the tv on that channel for you?”

“Why?”

“So you can see me face off against my classmates.”

“But you don’t have a quirk.”

Izuku huffed a bit, annoyed. More at the situation then his mom, conflicting information often didn’t sit well with her. “I told you that my quirk came in mom. The doctor lied about me having the double pinky toe joint. I have a bonding quirk.”

She continued to stare blankly.

“You’ll see tomorrow, I’ll make you proud of me.”

No response, it seemed her moment of slight more lucidity was over. Izuku pulled out some leftovers and handed it to his mom. Then he started preparing for bed. After his shower and getting dressed he made his way to his mom and cleaned up the dish and put her to bed. Izuku knew he didn’t need to, that she would eventually go to sleep on her own, but it put his mind at ease that she wouldn’t be up and wandering the house. After all she could hurt herself by accident again.

Then he went to his bed and fell asleep, wondering what all awaited him during the sports festival. The next morning he woke up and ate a slightly larger than normal breakfast, after all he wanted to make sure he had some extra energy, though he did know Recovery Girl’s healing would make him pretty tired.

He just hoped he truly was able to heal enough for the sports festival. After he finished eating and getting ready, he waited for the knock. He opened the door and gave a hesitant smile to Mic-sensei. “Hello little listener! Are you excited?”

“Y-yeah, but… I’m a-a bit n-nervous…”

“It would be more surprising if you weren’t nervous, I’m sure all your other classmates are nervous as well. No matter how you do though, Sho and I will be proud of you,” Mic said, giving a grin and a thumbs up, green spiraled eyes bright. “Anyways, one Bannana flavored jelly packet, though this one is an energy boosting one, I figured you would need it after Recovery Girl heals you.”

“Th-thank you,” Izuku said.

He followed the teacher down the stairs and to the car, glad that this would hopefully be the last time he would need to use the crutches.

“Good morning Midoriya,” Aizawa greeted.

“Good m-morning Aizawa-sensei,” Izuku responded.

The english teacher started driving them, and Izuku remembered a question he had the other day. “Aizawa-sensei?”

“Yes Midoriya?”

“Are y-you a Yamada, or is M-mic an Aizawa?” 

Mic chuckled as Aizawa answered, “Well, in the files we combined our last names, so we would be Aizawa-Yamada.”

“Oh, t-that’s cool.”

“I still think Hizashi Aizawa has a good ring to it,” Mic said, dramatically pouting.

“It is more rational though that we keep our last names, besides our marriage would be pretty obvious if one of us took on the other’s last name.”

Izuku also couldn’t imagine Aizawa-sensei being called Yamada-sensei, that would just be weird. “It’s not like any of my students call me Yamada-sensei.”

“And whose fault is that, you never introduce yourself and they all know you as Present Mic.”

Mic just stuck his tongue out. “Oh! Midoriya, I know you are going to be healed, but would it be fine if we drove you home today?”

“T-that’s f-fine.”

The group pulled into the school's parking lot, and then made their way to the nurses office, Aizawa and Mic now talking about a party Midnight was throwing for Aizawa after he was healed.

Aizawa-sensei was grumbling about it saying that it was unnecessary, while Mic seemed fairly happy. But… Izuku got the feeling that Aizawa was only putting up a front. They arrived and Recovery Girl had him sit down as she unwrapped his bandages and started checking how his wounds were healing up naturally.

Izuku looked down at his chest and saw that the creeping wound over his heart was scabbed over. A bit of prodding later, and Recovery Girl kissed him and Izuku felt drained off all his energy, he wanted nothing more than to sleep the day away.

“Go ahead and get a small nap dearie, I’ll wake you up when you need to get ready.” Recovery Girl stated, handing him a gummy which he ate.

He fell asleep and was woken up after only a mere thirty minute. He and Aizawa walked side by side to the changing rooms. “Good luck Midoriya, and be careful, Recovery Girl said that you were mostly healed, but that the areas were still fairly weak. You probably shouldn’t use that strength quirk you copied.”

“I’ll try not to,” Izuku promised.

Aizawa nodded, pausing for a moment, “Just between me and you, Hizashi and I are cheering for you kiddo.” The teacher told him, one arm in a cast slowly lifting up and being placed on his head for a moment before being removed. Then the teacher left Izuku as they arrived at the changing room.

Izuku entered the room and he started changing into his gym outfit. Sparing a glance at the mirror he saw the scar that now covered his chest. It looked horrible, creeping outwards from his chest. He had truly come close to death during USJ.

Then he made his way to the prep room.

He sat down at one of the empty tables, “What are you doing here Deku? You really think you have a chance after being injured for the past two weeks?” Bakugou questioned.

“Midoriya! You’re healed!” Iida shouted over Bakugou, bringing the classes attention to him.

Most of the kids kept their distance, even as they asked him if he was alright. 

“I-I’m h-healed u-up now, j-just t-tired.”

 Remembering the juice packet he pulled it out and sipped on it hoping that it would help with his tiredness. “Did Aizawa-sensei give you that?” Uraraka asked.

“N-no,” Izuku answered honestly. After all it was Mic who handed it over.

“Oh, I didn’t know you liked them.”

“T-they’re r-really g-good,” he said, giving a smile as he finished the packet and threw it away.

“Midoriya, I’m stronger than you, more capable and trained. Yet, All Might has his eye on you, doesn’t he? I don’t care why, but… I will beat you.”

“Dude, that’s not cool Todoroki, you’re the strongest in the class, you shouldn’t be picking on Midoriya,” Kaminari said, frowning.

“Yeah man, why pick a fight now? Especially with Midoriya, he’s finally healed, give the kid a break.”

Todoroki scoffed, “I really don’t care. I’m not pretending to be anyone’s friend here.”

“Well you could at least have some common decency,” Jirou said.

“Yeah dude, only a villain would purposely target a healing person.”

Todoroki’s eyes narrowed and he stalked off the other side of the room.

“Man, what’s up with the two strongest having the worst personalities?” Kaminari whined.

Izuku stared at Todoroki, everyone was trying so hard, yet here he was without having trained the past two weeks. He was the weakest kid in the class, even further behind Mineta. So why…. Why did the strong feel the need to pick on the weak?

Izuku wasn’t going to win, how could he? He had a quirk that broke his bones when he used it, and a quirk that erased other quirks, but unlike Aizawa-sensei he didn’t have the martial arts training or support gear to help him. His legs were still weak from not being used much in the past two weeks.

But… Aizawa and Mic-sensei were cheering for him. Mic said that the two teachers would be proud of him, no matter what.

Izuku wanted to prove to Mic, and especially Aizawa, that he was worthy of their praise, of their trust. The two teachers had been so nice to him, and he didn’t want to disappoint them.

He didn’t think he could win, but… he would at least make it to the final round. To show Aizawa-sensei that he had potential, that even with the two week setback he could still become a hero.

Determination filled within him, and Izuku followed after his classmates as they got ready to enter the stadium.

Chapter Text

“It’s U.A’s sports festival! The one time each year when our fledgling heroes compete in a ruthless grand battle! Friends turn into enemies as each student competes against each other to earn that top spot! First up, we start with this year's cream of the crop! Yeah! You know who I’m talkin’ about! The miraculous rising stars who brushed off a villain attack with their steely willpower! Bring in the first years of the hero course!” 

They started walking out into the light, being momentarily deafened by the cheers, but Mic’s voice still managed to make itself heard above the roar, “It’s class 1-A!”

Izuku wanted to curl up as he saw how the cameras were focused on them, that the people were all looking at his class, still at least they probably wouldn’t pay too much attention to him.

Mic called out a brief introduction for the other hero class, and then the general studies, support students, and the business course students. All the students gathered up in the center and Midnight cracked her whip, “Now for the athlete’s oath!”

Her eye twitched as the students started talking, “Shut it!” She snapped, cracking her whip again, “Your student representative this year is… Bakugou Katsuki, of class 1-A.”

“It must be because he placed first in the entrance exam,” Sero said.

A girl from one of the other classes scoffed, “The hero course entrance exam, you mean.”

The explosive blonde walked up the mic, “The athlete’s oath…” Bakugou started, hands in his pockets, “Make no mistake about it, I’m gonna take first place.”

Immediately the other students started booing and jeering. Iida huffed, “Why must you show contempt for the dignity of this event?!”

Bakugou smirked, “You’ll all make great stepping stones, I’d say.”

The blonde stepped down and shoved himself past Izuku, “Get ready to be crushed Deku.”

“Wow class 1-A seems to have a real piece of work as their top student,” Monoma’s voice commented, having appeared next to him.

“K-kaachan c-can be d-diffcult…” Izuku answered.

“What are you doing here?” Uraraka asked, narrowing her eyes.

Izuku blinked, wondering where the sudden hostility from her was coming from, looking around he noticed quite a few of his other classmates were glaring at Monoma.

The blonde smirked, “I just came to tell my rival that he better not lose in the first round.”

“S-same t-to y-you M-monoma,” Izuku hesitantly replied.

The kid laughed, “As if I would!” With that the 1-B student walked off, just as a girl with orange hair started to make her way over.

“Now! Without any delay, let’s get the first event started.”

Uraraka sweatdropped and muttered, “Everything at U.A.’s without delay.”

“These are the qualifiers! It’s in this stage that so many are sent home crying every year, and I can’t wait to see their anguished faces when they realize that they couldn’t even make it past the qualifier. The fateful first event for this year is…”

The screen seemed to blur as it spun through options. “This!” Midnight cheered, not looking back at the screen as she continued, “The obstacle course is a race between every member of all eleven classes! And with each class holding about 20 students that’s 220 students competing in a four kilometer lap around the stadium itself! We here at UA pride ourselves on allowing our kids their freedom. Which means….” Midnight chuckled, “So long as you don’t go off the course, anything is fair game.”

“She said anything, but I doubt that includes murder,” a student from another class commented.

The light drifted down to one, and then it went off, “GO!” Midnight cried out, cracking her whip as the students charged forward, but the starting gate was too narrow. Izuku looked forward as far as he could and saw Todoroki was up close to the front. Eyes widening he realized what his classmate was planning, and as he felt the air drop temperature he jumped up, using another student as a bit of a climbing tool as he kept himself off the ground while it froze over.

“Mummy-man! Are you ready for our live coverage and commentary?” Mic’s voice floated from the speakers.

“Not voluntarily…” Aizawa responded, his voice barely picked up. Izuku was pretty sure he remembered something about a bet being mentioned.

“And it seems that class A is pulling into the front with Todoroki freezing most of the competition into place. It gains them a short lead- Oh! That looked painful, seems the first obstacle found them as one of the robots flicked Mineta away!”

“He should have been paying more attention to his surroundings.”

“How very true! Hopefully he remembers this lesson to never let your guard down! But of course, every obstacle course needs obstacles! Starting with the first barrier. ROBO INFERNO! This obstacle includes maybe 9 or 10 0-pointers, and a ton of 1, 2 and 3 pointers. The kids who took the hero course entrance exam may remember these.”

Izuku ran forward, even as he listened to the commentary, he was closer to the front of the pack then the middle, but that didn’t mean he had a clear view of what was happening.

Which meant that hearing Mic’s commentary of “1-A’s Todoroki takes the lead! Busting through and sabotaging the others in one move, this guy’s cold .”

 Izuku looked around, eyes trying to take in everything he might be able to use, after all he couldn’t use OFA in this moment, and Eraser wasn’t useful against robots. “But of course the rest of his class isn’t too far behind him!” Mic cheered.

Izuku grabbed a plate from a destroyed robot and used it as a weapon and shield.

“Class 1-A knows that there is no time to waste hesitating. Unlike the other students who let fear overcome them, they know to push forward. It’s logical after what they faced, they’ve had that fear before. They endured it. Overcome it. Each has grown from that experience, and forgotten how to hesitate.”

Soon most of class 1-A was arriving at the second obstacle.

“While most of the students are still struggling to get past the first obstacle, the leaders of the pack have arrived at the second! If you thought the first barrier was a piece of cake… how about the second?! Fall and you’re out! Done! No longer allowed to participate! Get across anyway you can, but if you don’t have any special tricks, I recommend you crawl! This is… THE FALL!”

Izuku saw that Uraraka and Ashido seemed to have paused, while another girl with pink hair was in the air.

“Why’d those idiot’s stop moving…” Aizawa commented, an annoyed tone in his voice.

“EEP!” Ashido squeaked, and started moving forward, Uraraka moving as well. 

“The leads keep breaking ahead while the rest of the pack is starting to catch up at the second obstacle!”

Izuku listened as he crawled along the ropes, knowing that no matter how much his hands burned he had to keep pushing forward. Mic spoke of the minefield as Izuku finished climbing the ropes and he made it to the minefield.

His brain rushed for a way to catch up with the wide gap that was between him and the front. Quickly he started digging up the mines, “Forgive me Recovery Girl,” Izuku murmured as he jumped up into the air. Moving the piece of metal underneath him as he landed on top of the pile of mines he had made.

“A giant explosion from behind?! What caused such a blast? An accident? Or was it international?! AND LOOK AT THE CAMERA’S! Class 1-A’s Midoriya rides the explosion in hot pursuit of Todoroki and Bakugou! This is the exact type of upset the mass media likes!”

He was going to land right about equal to them, he wouldn’t be able to pass them up again if he couldn’t maintain the lead… but… did he want to take first place?

I don’t want the attention, I just want to save people. Izuku had told All Might.

The hero had understood and pointed out that Izuku was probably looking more for being an underground hero.

He didn’t need to win first place.

“And Midoriya blows off the competition with no time to lose! Your class really is something else Eraserhead! I’m sure the audience would like to know exactly what you’re teaching these kids!?”

Izuku let go of the piece of metal he had been using, causing it to be a slight distraction for Bakugou and Todoroki ans he stumbled his landing, his leg almost giving out from underneath him. Keeping his eyes peeled he ran with Todoroki and Bakugou right next to him, but they quickly pushed past him as they gave up subtleties.

“This isn't my doing. They’ve been spurring each other on all their own.”

Izuku used the ice path Todoroki made to race right behind them.

“Well, who could have predicted such an incredible turn of events so early on? Now I wonder who- The one who made it back to the stadium first is… TODOROKI SHOTO!”

Izuku finished right behind Bakugou and was now in third place.

“Deku!” Uraraka called out, “That was awesome! Third place man, I’m jealous!”

“To lose a race… of all things… with my quirk… It’s clear I still have progress to make,” Iida groaned in a shocked stupor.

Izuku gave a hesitant shrug.

“The top 42 will move on from this qualifying round! But for those who placed lower, don’t worry we’ve got another way for you to show your stuff. But now… the main selection really begins! The press corp’s going to be jumping out of their seats, so give it all you’ve got! But… It’s time for the second event, I, of course, already know what it is… but… aren’t you kiddo’s dying in suspense? Prepare yourselves for… THE CAVALRY BATTLE!”

Midnight proceed to explain how the cavalry battle would work, with it being teams of 2-4 with the goal being to get the most points, as the headbands would have a numerical volume. The surprise? The first place winner would have ten million points.

“You have 15 minutes to form teams.”

Izuku quickly went to one person whose quirk he knew would be perfect, both for offense and defense. “T-tokoyami?" he hesitantly called out to the bird headed boy who seemed to be standing apart from everyone else.

“Yes Midoriya?”

“W-would y-you a-and dark s-shadow be o-on m-my t-team?”

Tokoyami looked at him, before bobbing his head, “We would be pleased.”

“Deku!” Uraraka called out, “Can I be part of your team?”

“S-sure, n-now we j-just need o-one m-more p-person… and I h-have an i-idea.”

Looking around he spotted Monoma and went over, “M-Monoma, w-would y-you join m-my team?”

“We’re rivals though.”

“W-which m-means we s-should b-both make i-it to the f-finals.”

“You got a plan Midoriya?”

“Y-yes, your q-quirk w-would g-guarantee u-us a s-spot in t-the f-finals.”

“Of course it would,” Monoma stated. The blonde haired boy looked at him for a moment, but then nodded. “I’ll join, on one condition.”

After agreeing the team registered, with Monoma as the rider so he could have the most reach. They had a total of 550 points.The rest of the time was planning out strategies, and Monoma informed them he could copy three quirks, but could only use one at a time. 

Tokoyami informed them that dark shadow was weak to light. And Uraraka said that she got sick if she used her quirk on herself.

But the good thing was they had Monoma, so the plan was to make all of them weightless without either becoming nauseous. They would start with Monoma using Dark Shadow though, and use the two shadows to grab as many headbands as they could, even the ten million if one of the shadows could snag it, once they had a decent amount, then they would use Uraraka’s quirk to float in the air avoiding everyone they could.

Izuku would use Eraser on anybody’s quirk who was a threat. Like if they could get close to Todoroki Izuku would cancel his quirk.

“Alright the fifteen minutes are up!”

Everyone got into position.

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

“START!”

Chapter Text

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

“START!”

Immediately things turned frantic as everyone charged at Todoroki, trying to get that ten million points. Izuku could immediately see the two shadows getting to work on snagging a few headbands.

“This is really a fight for the ten million, and everyone knows it!” A guy with grey hair shouted.

“We’re coming for you Todoroki!” Hagakure shouted.

Izuku frowned, sure getting the ten million would guarantee your spot in first place, but it was better to aim for second or third by getting more points.

“And the cavalry battle has begun! It seems that most teams have started a mad dash towards team Todoroki! But the team avoids them with a wall of ice! Looks like team Todoroki is keeping defensive for the moment!”

“It would do the teams well to remember to keep an eye on their headbands, it seems that in the starting commotion someone has already grabbed a hold of a few,” Aizawa muttered.

“Right! Oh would you look at it, team Monoma has quite a few headbands! With what looks like two of the same quirks they look to be a very powerful team!” Mic announced. “It seems that the teams or only now noticing that their headbands are missing, they shouldn’t have had to have it pointed out to them,” Mic said, a slight mocking tone to his voice.

“With everyone scrambling for headbands, it’s not just the ten million out there! Those other high rankers are worth a shot as well!”

“Wah?! Is that legal?!” Kaminari’s voice called out somewhere across the battlefield.

“Sure is!” Midnight’s voice responded.

“It seems that Team Mineta has quite a strategy, with only one horse and the rider being fully hidden in Shoji’s arms!” Mic announced. “They use their members' varying sizes to form less of a horse, and more of a tank! It seems to be a decent strategy for this first part, but we will find out at the end if it was a winning strategy… as of right now, with only three minutes having passed, it’s still anybody’s game!”

Izuku on Monoma’s prompting erased a guy's quirk, stopping the ground from under them becoming mud. 

“Woah! It looks like Bakugou took a flying leap at team Todoroki in order to get a view above the ice wall Todoroki has created! Is leaving your unit really allowed?!” Mic asked.

Midnight’s voice confirmed it, “It is here, on a technicality! As long as your feet don’t touch the ground.”

“Are we good on headbands?” Uraraka asked.

“We have 5 or 6, so yes.”

“Shall we take to the air before the prey turn into the predators?” Tokoyami questioned.

“Lets,” Monoma agreed. His hand hitting Uraraka and Tokoyami.

Izuku who was at the front got touched by Uraraka as she also hit Monoma with her quirk. With a push the team started floating in the air as they were weightless.

“It seems that Team Mononma has started floating away! How will anybody be able to reach them? With seven minutes having passed, let's take a look at the current points! Oooh?”

“Now wait just a moment! Besides team Todoroki, and Team Monoma which is made of a majority of class A, the rest of class A’s not looking so hot! What happened to Bakugou?”

Monoma chuckled, “Too simple really!” 

Bakugou’s head snapped to where they floated, a good 70 or so feet above. “You were so focused on the ten million, you didn’t even notice when we took your headband. Of course… you don’t seem like the type to notice the larger picture. After all when Midnight announced the first event, it didn’t take a genius to realize they wouldn’t be thinning our numbers that much in a preliminary. It wasn’t much of a stretch to imagine they’d be letting a good number of us advance to the next event. Forty or so seemed reasonable. It was the perfect chance to hang back and observe our soon to be rivals and potential teammates' quirks and tendencies. So it’s only fair that we ended up placing more modestly.”

“Your whole class was in on it?” Kirishima questioned.

“Well not everyone, but that wouldn't have been a bad idea… instead of aiming for some fleeting first place, like a horse going for a dangling carrot.” Monoma taunted Bakugou. The blonde smirked, “Ah, but you’re already a celebrity, aren’t you? The victim of that sludge incident! I’ll have to ask you sometime… how does it feel to get attacked by villains on an annual basis?”

“Use that anger on the other teams Bakugou, we can’t get to them up there!” Kirishima said.

The blonde growled but he and his team turned away, determined to get headbands from one of the few remaining teams, which were mostly class B teams.

Monoma’s condition was that they target 1-A kids first. Izuku agreed since he knew their quirks and was better prepared to face off against them then class 1-B.

Others who lost their headbands were focusing on Todoroki, desperate to get the ten million. “Indiscriminate shock!” Kaminari called out.

“Yaoyorozu!” Todoroki called out sharply.

“It seems that in the desperation Kaminari fried his own teammates and most other competitors, but team Todoroki created an insulator sheet in time to protect themselves from the shock!”

“And Todoroki is using this to his advantage to freeze the competitors in place,” Aizawa added.

“Do we want to take the ten million?” Monoma questioned in the air.

“It would give those who watch something interesting.”

“But we risk losing our points, right now we’re in second, and guaranteed to move on.”

“W-we d-don’t n-need a f-flashy w-win.”

“You’re right, in fact, it’s probably smarter long term to conserve our energy,” Uraraka agreed.

So as the time ticked down they stayed floating in the air. Keeping around 70 feet. “With only a minute left, let’s see how the points are. Team Todoroki is first with ten million points! Team Monoma is second with almost 3k points! Which leaves around a thousand points for the other teams to fight for! Team Tetsutetsu- wait! It looks like Team Bakugou now has 520 points having snatched all points off of team Tetsutetsu, putting them in third place. And in fourth place is team Kendo with 310 points. And the last team with any points is… team Shinso with 175 points! With less than a minute left, will these be our top teams for this event? Time is running down! Everybody count down! 10!”

The crowd joined in making a loud booming countdown, “9!”

“8!”

Izuku watched as Bakugou and his team made one last bid at the ten million, currently having enough points to pass in third place. “7!”

“6!”

“5!”

“What the hell is Kendo doing?!” Monoma questioned. His arm pointed towards an orange haired girl who was handing her headband over to a purple haired boy who tied it around his neck.

“4!”

“3!”

“It looked like she handed her headband over.”

“2!”

“Why?!”

“1! TIME’S UP! It’s time for the final scores, and in first place, having been able to remain a hold of the ten million the entire time is team Todoroki! In second place, having gotten the headbands early and then staying in the air out of reach is Team Monoma! In third having had their points fluctuate the entire time is Team Bakugou, and finally in fourth, with a last minute rise in points is Team Shinso!”

“We’ll proceed to the afternoon portion after a one-hour lunch break! See you then!! Hey Eraserhead. Wanna grab some food?”

“I’m taking a nap,” Was Aizawa’s answer.

They began to descend from the sky, by Monoma releasing the quirk on Uraraka and Tokoyami, giving them some weight so they started dropping down. They landed and Uraraka released her quirk. 

“Should we get lunch together?” Uraraka asked.

Monoma ignored her, already walking off.

Izuku shrugged and the three went off to eat lunch. Izuku paused as he spotted some of the other girls coming over to Uraraka with a worried expression on their faces. “Uraraka, Mineta and Kaminari just told us that all the girls have to wear cheerleading uniforms after lunch.”

“What? Really?” Uraraka questioned.

“Yeah. Apparently Aizawa-sensei told them.”

Izuku frowned, “T-that d-doesn’t s-sound right.”

“What do you mean Midoriya?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“W-why w-would Aizawa-sensei tell M-mineta and K-kaminari, and not y-you or I-Iida, it’s i-illogical to n-not tell t-the c-class p-president, and v-vice pr-president.”

Yaoyourozu nodded, “You’re right Midoriya, I think Mineta was trying to trick us.”

Jirou growled, “I’m going to give that purple crap a piece of my mind!” 

With that declaration Jirou stormed off, Ashido right behind her. “Aw, I thought it might have been fun.” Hagakure said with a whine.

“But we would have been embarrassing Aizawa-sensei, and U.A.”

After another twenty or so minutes the lunch break was over and Mic and Aizawa were back in the commenter booth, “Before we get to the final event, I’ve got good news for all those out of the running! This is still a sports festival, so we’ve prepared a recreational activity for all participants. We’ve even shipped in cheerleaders from America to get you pumped up!”

Yaoyorozu sighed in relief, “Thank you so much Midoriya.”

“N-no problem,” he said, giving a hesitant smile.

“Aww c’mon Midoriya, why’d you have to ruin my fun?” Mineta whined.

“I hope everyone enjoys this little recreational competition. Once that’s over, we’re on to the final event. Between the 16 members of the four winning teams. We’ll have a formal tournament! A series of one-on-one battles!”

“The matchups will be decided by drawing lots. Once that’s settled, we’ll move on to the festivities and then the tournament itself!” Midnight said holding a box. “It’s up to each of the 16 finalists whether or not you participate in the fun. I expect some of you would rather take a breather and save your strength. Now, let’s start with the first-place team…”

“Um.. excuse me?” Ojiro interrupted, raising his hand.

“Yes?” Midnight asked, pointing her whip towards him.

“I’d like to drop out.”

A few kids gasped as everyone turned to look at him. “Why?!” Ashido demanded.

“The cavalry battle… I have no memories of anything that happened until the tail end. It’s probably his quirk that did it.”

“Wasn’t Ojiro teamed with the purple haired kid?” Uraraka asked.

“Yes, he was.” Tokoyami answered.

“I know this is a great opportunity. And I know how stupid it must seem to throw it away…. But this final tournament everyone else made it here by their own strength. Yet I’m standing here, and I don’t even know how or why. I just can’t take it.”

“I can’t remember anything either.. I wanna withdraw too!” One of the other kids who was part of Team Shinso said.

“We have a strange turn of events as it seems two of the competitors wish to drop out!” Mic announced.

“What will the coordinator, Midnight, decide?”

“How naive… ” Midnight hummed for a moment. “Turns me on, but no. Whether on your merits or not, you made it to the final sixteen and thus will compete.”

“And it looks like Midnight has denied it. But that just means they have to make up for it, if they feel like they didn’t deserve it, then these fights they can prove that they did deserve it!” 

“And here are the matchups!”

The list appeared revealing the first 8 fights. Hatsume Vs Ojiro, Sero vs Yaoyorozu, Monoma Vs Iida, Midoriya vs Ashido, Todoroki Vs Shinso, Shoda Vs Tokoyami, Uraraka vs Bakugou, and finnaly Aoyama Vs Kirishima.

So, Izuku would be facing Ashido. He would have to figure out a strategy against her during the recreational competition.

The kids soon separated, some choosing to do the festivities, others choosing to rest and prepare for the finals. Izuku was one of the latter as he thought of what he knew of Ashido. Right now he was limited to Erasure, as he didn’t want to risk breaking his bones and losing the limb as Recovery Girl warned him.

All he knew was that some of the matches would definitely be worth watching.

Chapter Text

Izuku, needing to go to the bathroom, started to walk away from the recreational activities. The activities would be going on for another hour or so to give the kids who failed a chance to show off to the watching hero and other visitors. He walked into the hallways and after a few minutes he found the bathroom. 

Quickly he did his business and walked back out. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and Izuku felt a feeling of dread wash over him. Stomach twisting he nervously started walking a bit quicker, unsure why he felt scared.

He was safe now, wasn’t he?

This wasn’t like back at Aldera where that teacher had been.

Then from around a corner in front of him a familiar tall lanky figure appeared. With shoulder length blonde hair, and yellow snake like eyes he appeared. The man who featured in his nightmares. The one who made his last year of middle school hell. 

“Finally. I have been looking all over for you Midoriya,” the english teacher said, stepping forwards step by step.

Izuku stumbled backwards, eyes wide in horror.

“I should have just taken you before you started attending this stupid school, I should have realized that the heroes would figure it out. Now I have them following me,” the man grinned, forked tongue flickering out, “Of course, if they are going to get me, I’m going to make sure they won’t be able to save you.”

He felt like he was going to be sick, he needed to get away. To flee, but his body didn’t seem to be responding to him and he was locked into place. Scream. He had to scream, if he could get some sort of shout out then someone would help him.

But his throat was locked up and no sound would come out.

Nashi-sensei chuckled as he stepped closer, “Look at you, still the same pathetic self, you can’t even fight me, can you? And you want to be a hero? How can a gutless weakling like you be a hero, when you can’t even talk?”

Shakily he managed to move back a few more steps, legs feeling like lead with each step he took. His vision blurred and he could barely see.

“Tch, such a crybaby,” Nashi’s tongue flickered out again, “But really your obvious fear just makes this all the more enjoyable.”

Izuku froze as a hand gripped his chin and he was forced to stare at Nashi’s face. “But you want to know what makes this better? This isn’t to raise your grade, this is just because I want to see you suffer,” Nashi hissed, before cold lips were pressed against him and Izuku cried silently, unable to move or do anything as Nashi forced his tongue into Izuku’s mouth.

Hizashi hummed lightly after turning the mic off, “Hey Sho, can you cover me for a little bit?”

Shouta sighed, “Do I have to?”

“Well, I may have forgotten to use the loo,” Hizashi said laughing a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck, giving it a bit of breath as his speakers had been sitting on his neck for awhile.

“Be quick, I’d rather not be announcing for long,” Shouta grumbled glaring at the mic.

“Thanks Sho,” Hizashi said as he got up and exited out of the room. Making his way through the hall’s he found that the closer bathroom was out of order with a note with a scrawled sorry in Cementoss’s handwriting. With a sigh he made his way through the halls to one of the more public restrooms.

He turned the corner and his eyes widened in horror as he saw a blonde haired figure standing above Midoriya, mouth pressed against the boy’s and one of his hands down Midoriya’s pants. He ran forward, shoving the guy off of Midoriya and he saw red, his training took over as he quickly grabbed the stunned figure and bound his hands up. 

Okay, so he may have thrown the guy against the walls and floor a few times, but he was just making sure the guy was properly stunned. He turned to Midoriya who was standing crying, but making no sound.

“Little listener?" he questioned, and the boy flinched away.

He felt that spark of rage grow, how dare that scum assault Midoriya. Hizashi lifted his shades up, looking at the boy, “You’re safe now, I’m here, I won’t let that trash touch you anymore.”

Midoriya stared at him before the boy suddenly rushed forward, hugging him and burying his face into Hizashi’s clothes. “A-A-Aizawa-s-sensei,” the boy’s muffled voice was barely heard.

“I’ll take you to him,” Hiazashi promised, he pulled out his phone and texted Nedzu.

[Pedophile caught. Bound in halls.]

[Which hall?]

[Hall S-34, close to the bathrooms]

There was a moment in which there was no response. And then his phone buzzed.

[He will be dealt with. Harshly.] 

Hizashi grinned sharply, That trash deserved to have Nedzu sicced on him. Hizashi led the little listener through the halls and soon made it back to the commentators booth. He let the little listener in and Shouta turned, as soon as he saw them he muted the mic’s. 

“Midoriya?”

As soon as the kid heard Shouta’s voice he rushed from Hizashi to Shouta, hugging him and crying but not saying anything. Shouta looked up, eyes wide, even as he wrapped his casted arms around the boy. “What happened?" he asked.

Seeing how the little listener just shook even more, Hizashi spoke up, trying to keep his voice even so as to not scare Midoriya, “He was being assaulted by Nashi Doi.”

Shouta’s hug tightened around the kid a bit, even as his eyes narrowed into mere slits, “I tied him up and messaged Nedzu.”

“He’s taken care of then.”

“Yep, Nedzu won’t let him off the hook.”

It was at this point that Midoriya started to stop crying, Shouta looked down at the kid, eyes softening, “You’re going to be alright now Midoriya.”

Midoriya just sniffled, hands reaching up to rub at his eyes, trying to wipe the tears away. “Go on out Shouta, I’ll take care of announcing,” Hizashi murmured. He still had to go to the bathroom, but he could hold it for a bit longer.

Midoriya was more important.

Shouta nodded and carefully stood up and led Midoriya out of the room.

Shouta led Midoriya to the teachers lounge, the boy seemed withdrawn, not crying, nor protesting. Besides for the occasional sniffle the boy was quiet. He sat the boy down on the couch, and sat on a nearby chair.

“Do you want to talk about it?" he asked gently. He was a hero trained for all sorts of situations… but not dealing with the aftermath of a sexual assault, usually he didn’t interact with them further than handing them off to the doctor.

Which, he should probably bring Midoriya to Recovery Girl.

He and Hizashi had suspected before, but it seemed now they had proof that the assault had happened. Was happening.

Midoriya shook his head.

“Do you want anything?”

Still, Rock Lock and Ms. Joke were supposed to be keeping an eye on him, so how was it that he was able to hurt Midoriya?

“J-jelly p-packet,” Midoriya whispered out, hesitantly. Eyes trained on the ground. Shouta nodded and went to the fridge and pulled out one of his jelly packets he kept stored and handed it over to the kid.

Midoriya sipped a small bit of it.

“Do you want to continue in the sports festival, or would you rather be pulled out?”

The kid took another sip, not responding for several moments. Thinking about it most likely. Shouta waited patiently for the answer.

“I don’t know.”

“That’s fine, you still have time to decide,” Shouta stated.

It was silent for another minute or so before Midoriya’s voice whispered out, “A-am I w-weak?”

“No,” Shouta replied, because Midoriya wasn’t. “You are my student Midoriya, you have potential to become one of the best heroes. Whatever he told you isn’t true.”

Midoriya’s eyes started watering, and Shouta idly wondered how a kid could cry so much. “Midoriya, look at me please.”

He waited as the kid slowly lifted his face up and looked him in the eyes. “You will be a strong hero, you will save people. Whoever told you otherwise is wrong.”

Midoriya’s eyes were wide as the kid stared at him, then seconds later a flood of tears seemed to be coming out as the kid sobbed. Another five minutes passed before the kid stopped crying so much, but now he seemed to be hiccuping a bit. Wordlessly Shouta got up and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, handing it to the kid who drinked it down.

“C-can I hug y-you?” Midoriya whispered hesitantly.

Shouta sat down next to the kid instead of the chair across from him and let the kid curl up into his side. The door opened and Shuzenji walked in, “Nedzu texted me to come here, gave me a general idea of what happened,” she said.

She came over and started asking questions, which Midoriya reluctantly answered, though he kept his face buried into Shouta’s side, except when she needed to look into his mouth.

Still while the questions were blunt it alleviated some of their worries for STD’s. Apparently Nashi had never gone further than forcing Midoriya to give him blowjobs. Midoriya whispered that Nashi had said he was planning to go all the way this time, before killing him.

Shouta was relieved Hizashi had found Midoriya when he did, before it could get any further than kissing and the scumbag touching Midoriya. Shuzenji gave Izuku a clean bill of health for now, but that she would have to do a few further checks to be sure.

She left, giving him a look that conveyed that he better be careful. “Do you want to know how I met Hizashi?” Shouta started.

Midoriya’s head tilted up, green eyes peeking through his hair at him with a quizzical expression.

“As you know, the entrance exam consists of giant robots, and my quirk isn’t useful against them. Well, I did get into general studies, and I knew that my chance for being a hero would be the sports festival. I made it to the finals, and met my opponent for the first time. Hizashi.”

Shouta chuckled, “I didn’t have the best first impression of him, he was loud and outgoing, two things I’m not, well I erased his quirk and beat him as he didn’t have the best hand to hand. Having won the sports festival I was immediately placed into heroics, with the teacher removing a kid that was forced to become a hero by their parents. Anyways, much to my annoyance Hizashi was in the same class and dragged me to sit with him. At lunch he kept dragging me along and I met Nemuri, who was a year older. Despite my initial thoughts on Hizashi I still found him becoming a good friend, and eventually thought of him as more than a friend.”

Midoriya remained quiet. 

A couple more minutes passed and Shouta glanced at the clock, noting there was about ten minutes left before the finals were going to start.

“H-he…” Midoriya started. “N-nashi-sensei would f-force m-me to k-kiss h-him or d-do t-t-things to r-raise m-my grade, h-he wouldn’t a-accept th-the n-normal gifts. H-he w-wanted me t-to h-have s-s-sex w-with him t-to g-get my g-grade h-higher. B-but h-he a-assigned a p-point v-value to e-each ac-action. I… I o-only d-did the l-low p-point actions e-enough to b-barley p-pass.”

“You’re safe now, he can’t hurt you anymore,” Shouta promised, fuming at how a supposed teacher abused Midoriya. Of course, it seemed that almost all of the school had been in it. Why? Why would they hurt a child? Was it seriously just because he was quirkless? Shouta couldn’t comprehend how an entire school could get behind hurting a kid.

Only one teacher there had been sympathetic, but hadn’t acted in fear of losing her job. Midoriya spoke that the normal gifts didn’t work. It seemed that the kid was used to having to give things to the teachers to keep his grades raised.

Shouta let out a slow breath, Midoriya trusted him, but he didn’t know how he could help the kid. Midoriya was already in the quirk counseling with Hound Dog doing light counseling, and it seemed All Might wasn’t doing anything about that. Perhaps they should up it to two meetings a week.

“I-I w-want to p-particpate in t-the f-finals.”

“Are you sure?” Shouta quietly asked.

Midoriya nodded looking up at him, “I... I w-want to prove… p-prove that I w-worthy of b-being a hero,” the kid looked down as a barely audible whisper was heard, “I w-want to m-make you p-proud of m-me.”

“I’m already proud of you kiddo,” Shouta said honestly. Midoriya had stepped into the danger at USJ to save his classmates, to protect All Might even though most would think that the number one hero would be able to protect himself.

Even in the battle trials, despite the fact that Midoriya and Bakugou had some sort of history, the kid let Bakugou attack him so Uraraka would have a better chance at succeeding.

Still, Midoriya had something he wanted to prove, and Shouta wasn’t going to stop the kid if he was determined. So he carefully sat up, “Are you ready to return, now? Or would you rather stay here until your match?”

Midoriya bit his lip, but then said, “I’m ready to return.”

Shouta nodded and helped the kid up, wanting to grab a paper towel and wipe the kids face gently to remove the tear tracks and help the kid look more presentable. With his casts though, he was unable to do such. Instead he just nudged the kid to the paper towels and watched as Midoriya scrubbed at his own face. Then he walked the kid towards the stands, “You can do it kiddo,” Shouta said, carefully giving the kid a pat on the head with his cast and watching as Midoriya entered into the stand where the rest of his classmates except Ojiro, Sero, and Yaoyorozu were sitting.

Once Midoriya was seated Shouta turned and left, heading towards the commentator booth. As soon as he entered Hizashi turned the mic off, “Finally! I really got to go, I didn’t get a chance to earlier, take over for me. Bye!” Before rushing out of the room.

Shouta stared blankly for a moment before facepalming at his husband’s antics.

Chapter Text

“Hey everyone! Are you ready?!” Mic’s voice called out, after about five minutes after Izuku had taken his seat. Just as Cementoss was finishing up making the stage and everyone had cleared off the field. “You’ve been through hell to get here! But now it’s time for the one-on one tournament! This is the first match! First up we have the pink whirlwind with the crazy tech from Support, HATSUME MEI!”

There was a cheer from the support section of the stadium. Izuku could swear he heard someone say something about not blowing up the stadium.

“Versus OJIRO MASHIRAO the tailed fighter from class 1-A! The rules are simple! Win by knocking your opponent out of the ring, immobilizing them or getting them to say ‘I give up’ bring the pain! Anything goes! We’ve got our good old Recovery Girl on standby! And fight dirty if you must! Ethics have no meaning here! Well of course going for the kill is a no-no! You’ll be disqualified! Because a true hero’s fists fly only when in pursuit of villains. Yeaaah!” 

“Ready! START!”

Ojiro charged forward towards Hatsume, who lept into the air, hovering above with a jetpack, “Hello everybody, and please take a look at the effectiveness of my babies!”

“Hey! She hijacked the speakers!” Mic protested. 

“With just my jetpack alone I am now out of reach and can’t be attacked!”

“You did say anything goes,” Aizawa dryly commented.

As if she wasn’t interrupted Hatsume continued on. “Of course once in the air I still need to be able to attack, but I have several babies just for this purpose! If you want to capture someone without hurting them, I have this net launcher!”

Izuku watched, letting the recent events fall away into the back of his mind with the rest of the similar memories. Hands moving as he started to analyze the fight, it was a good way to not let his attention stray and to keep focused on the here and now. 

Hatsume launched it and Ojiro rolled out of the way, towards the center of the platform, “If you need to blind them, or render other senses useless I also have this gun which has a different type of bomb in each chamber, including a smoke bomb, a flash bang, a dung bomb, a pepper spray, and a bomb I affectionately call the numbness!” With a click she shoots the pepper spray and Ojiro curses as he gets out of the center of the arena.

“Of course, there is always my electric chair grenade! Guaranteed to knock out everyone in a 20 foot radius!” she cheerfully announced as she dropped the grenade into the center of the platform and she flew up out of the range.

Moments later electricity arched out of the grenade and hit Ojiro who jerked and spasmed and collapsed on the ground, knocked unconscious.

“Winner Hatsume Mei!” Mic announced, and Izuku got the feeling that despite the cheerful tone, the man was pouting. There was a brief five minute pause to make sure the next kids were ready.

“Next up we have SERO HANTA, the 1-A kid who is always at the ready with a witty one liner! Versus YAOYOROZU MOMO the creation genius of 1-A who has memorized thousands of atomic structures!”

The two combatants walked onto the stage staring at each other. “Start! And it looks like Yaoyorozu makes the first move by pulling out what looks to be a giant pair of scissors.”

Sero spun around and walked out of bounds. For some reason Midnight seemed to find this funny as she bent over, clearly laughing, even if she currently had her mic turned off.

“Would you look at that it seems that Sero has willingly walked out of bounds, giving up before even trying! YAOYOROZU WINS!”

Yaoyorozu walked off and back into the tunnel. Izuku, knowing his round was after this next round, got up to go into the waiting rooms.

“What a strange first two fights!” Mic announced after the five minute grace period had passed, “Hopefully our next contestants are ready because we are moving right along! Up next we have MONOMA NEITO, the copy-cat of class 1-B against IIDA TENYA, the speed demon of class 1-A!”

Unable to see the fight, Izuku could only listen to Mic’s commentary. “Iida starts the fight with a fast dash towards Monoma, and oh! That looked like it hurt as Iida punched into hard steel! And now Iida is forced to dodge from the glue Monoma is using!”

It was silent for a minute or so, and Izuku supposed that there wasn’t any change in the fighting. He made it to the waiting room just as Aizawa’s voice cut in, “Monoma has used another quirk to make the ground unstable, making it hard for Iida to run.”

Looking at the tv he watched the fight, seeing how sometimes the ground was almost shifting, and other times solid. When it was solid it seemed that Monoma was using the glue. Or if Iida managed to get close the glue would stop and he was using the steel. It was obvious that Monoma could only use one quirk at a time, but still he seemed to be able to switch between them quickly.

“Right! Oh! And it looks like Monoma finally tripped Iida up! He takes advantage of it and glue’s Iida to the ground! Can Iida get out?”

Midnight’s voice took over, “Iida is immobilized and unable to do anything.”

“MONOMA NEITO wins!”

A moment later Izuku saw Monoma walk past, the boy looked at him and smirked, “I made it to the next round, you better make it!”

“R-right,” Izuku whispered in response.

Monoma continued to look at him for a moment, then nodded and continued on. As the five minutes came to a close Izuku went to the entrance of the stadium.

“Alright folks, it’s time for our next match! The strategist of class 1-A, MIDORIYA IZUKU!”

Heart pounding he stepped out into the light, momentarily being deafened by the cheers. He took a deep breath. Blocking out the noise of the people, ignoring how they were staring at him. He wanted to prove that he was worthy of being a hero. Aizawa and Mic both said they would be proud of him no matter what… but Izuku wanted to show them that he really was worthy of the faith they seemed to have in him. 

“Versus the graceful ASHIDO MINA!”

Both of them seemed to truly like him, and want to help, that they wouldn’t hurt him… he was going to do his best to win for them.

He looked at Ashido and the two bowed to each other when directed, “Start!”

He charged forward, using Erasure to stop her from using her acid as they entered hand to hand combat. Distantly he could hear that Mic was making commentary, but he was too focused on his match to really hear what the teacher was saying.

Ashido kept dancing out of his way, and Izuku had to blink as his eyes were starting to hurt from straining to keep them open. In that blink she still didn’t use her quirk for some reason, even though she should have known that it would be her best opportunity. 

He activated erasure again and the two continued trading blows, eventually he managed to kick her out of the ring.

“MIDORIYA IZUKU wins!”

They bowed to each other and walked in opposite directions. Izuku entered into the hallway and tensed up as he saw Todoroki standing and glaring at his father, the number two hero, Endeavor, “-my greatest creation!”

Todoroki growled, turning away, “Is that all you got to say to me? I’ll win this with mom’s power alone. I’ll never use your power in battle.”

The two had noticed him but seemed to choose to ignore him while they spoke, “That may be good enough while you’re in school, but out in the real world you need to use everything you have to be able to save people and surpass All Might.”

Endeavor shook his head but walked away, leaving Todoroki fuming. Izuku hesitantly crept past Todoroki who glared at him, but said nothing. Izuku eventually made his way past and returned to his seat, even as he heard Mic start his commentary.

“First up we have the icy genius! The first place winner of the first two events TODOROKI SHOTO of the Hero Course! Versus SHINSO HITOSHI from general studies, though he hasn’t revealed much yet. Start!”

A moment later and Izuku felt a chilly wind split seconds before an iceberg grew in front, blocking his and his other classmates' view of the fight, “Woah! Todoroki has made a giant Iceberg, freezing Shinso in place!”

“Isn’t that overkill?” Sero muttered, getting various noises of agreement from his classmates.

 “Wait, what’s going on? It looks like Todoroki is walking out of bounds?” Mic announced, his voice confused.

“SHINSO HITOSHI wins due to Todoroki walking out of bounds!”

A couple minutes passed and the ice was melted, Izuku peered down and saw that Todoroki’s expression was completely blank, the rage from earlier gone.

“Next up we have the humble SHODA NIRENGEKI versus the dark bird TOKOYAMI FUMIKAGE! Start!”

Izuku watched the fight and Dark Shadow rushed forward towards Shoda, who dodged out of the way. This went on for a little bit, Shoda not being able to get closer to Tokoyami. After a minute Dark Shadow managed to catch onto a bit of Shoda’s gym uniform and tossed the boy out of the ring.

“And with a toss TOKOYAMI wins!”

After another five minutes the next announcement was made, “A celebrity since his middle school days, with an attitude only a mother can tolerate it’s BAKUGOU KATSUKI of the hero course!”

Midoriya distantly heard, “Oi That’s a damn lie, I don’t tolerate my brat’s attitude!” Looking over he saw Mitsuki shaking a fist.

“Versus URARAKA OCHACO, the girl who will knock everything out of the ballpark! Start! It looks like Uraraka is leading with a charge! Oof that looked like it hurt as Bakugou blasts her hard. OH! Uraraka threw her jacket over and sent it floating, all on the fly! Bakugou fell for the decoy and Uraraka appears behind him!” Mic said quickly and with excitement as the events unfolded below.

“But Bakugou’s reaction time is beyond believable as he knocked her away! Uraraka wastes no time, she’s charging again!”

Again another explosion rang, and then again as she once more charged. “She keeps charging relentlessly, but this is…” Mic trailed off.

The crowd was muttering it’s disapproval. Izuku frowned at his classmates who were shouting at Uraraka to stop. “G-guys, l-look u-up.”

“A group in the crowd has started booing Bakugou!” Mic announced. His classmates listened to him and there was a collective, “oooh.”

Then they started cheering for Uraraka. 

“Stop toying with the poor girl! And what the hell is wrong with the kids who are cheering for her!”

“Is the one who said he’s toying with her a pro? How many years of active duty? If that’s what you’re taking away from this, then you can leave. No point in watching. Go home and start looking at job hunting sites. At least my student’s know what to look for. Uraraka has come this far, and he knows her strength. His caution shows that he recognizes her as a worthy opponent. It’s exactly because he wants to win so badly that there’s no room for carelessness or holding back. It’s not rational to hold back against someone who is of the same strength.”

At this point Uraraka clasped her hands together and Mic took this as his cue to continue “As Eraser said! Maybe Bakugou didn’t notice because he’s so close, but the pros who were booing in the stands really should be ashamed of themselves for not noticing,” Mic started, his tone condescending as he spoke of the pro’s in the stands. 

The rocks started raining down. “By charging in low every time, she kept Bakugou’s attacks and attention focused on the ground, she used his own attacks in order to set up her weapons and he never realized! She set up a METEOR SHOWER!”

A deafening boom rang out and Izuku felt a wave of heat burst out as Bakugou released one of the largest blasts Izuku had ever seen.

“What an explosion! Looks like Uraraka’s secret plan just went up in smoke! And the two are once more charging at each other what an int- Uraraka collapses!”

Midnight’s voice takes over, “Uraraka is unable to continue.”

“Bakugou wins!” Mic called out. 

Cementos stepped forward and started to repair the stage, which was fixed within a minute. A few more passed and then Mic spoke up, “It’s time for the final fight of the first round! The flashy student of class 1-A AOYAMA YUGA! Versus the tough as nails KIRISHIMA EIJIRO! Start!”

Aoyama’s laser blasted and Kirishima dodged as he charged forward. “Looks like Kirishima is trying to get in close, but Aoyama is making his journey harder with the lasers. Kirishima takes advantage of the breaks and gets in close. Kirishima takes a strong blast from the laser, but it looks like his quirk protected him from most of the damage! Kirishima punches Aoyama square in the gut.”

Izuku saw Aoyama throw up and the boy kept curled in himself. Midnight’s voice cut into the announcement, “Aoyama has given up.”

“KIRISHIMA wins!” Mic announced, “There will be a short fifteen minute break before the second round begins.”

People started getting up moving to use the restroom, or get snacks during the brief intermission. 

Chapter Text

Izuku was currently sitting in the waiting room, thinking about his upcoming match with Monoma. Currently Hatsume and Yaoyorozu were fighting, with Hatsume having once more taken over the speakers and was advertising her ‘babies’ honestly after the first couple Izuku had started tuning her out.

Though it seemed like Yaoyorozu was putting up a good fight, if Mic’s occasionally cut in was any indication. He seemed to mostly cut in when Yaoyorozu pulled off a particularly clever dodge, or created something that managed to stop something Hatsume used.

After about ten minutes after the round started Hatsume willingly stepped out of bounds. Five minutes later and he was standing at the edge of the threshold.

“Onto our next fight, we have MIDORIYA IZUKU versus MONOMA NEITO!”

The two walked out and bowed to each other, “Start!”

Instantly, before Izuku even had a chance to activate Erasure, Monoma used some sort of quirk that made the air shimmer for a moment. Still having been activating the quirk he stared at Monoma, even as the boy activated another quirk, Erasure not affecting him for some reason. Izuku shifted and saw the way the air shimmered in front of Monoma for a moment as he moved, yet when he became still he couldn’t see it.

“Haha! As I suspected, you need a direct line of sight in order to erase my quirk! Even something simple like an invisible barrier prevents you from erasing my quirk,” Monoma stated a smug look on his face.

Izuku ran to the side, trying to get around the barrier, but Monoma stopped using the scales and made another barrier. Doing this for all sides as Izuku tried to outrun it. But then the boy was surrounded by it, protected in a bubble.

“H-how d-do you p-plan to w-win, i-if y-you c-can’t attack m-me?” Izuku questioned, blinking to let his eyes rest for a moment.

Monoma froze, “Damn, I should have grabbed a long range quirk,” the boy laughed, “Next time I’ll remember that! But I’ll still beat you Midoriya!”

Izuku charged forward, activating erasure again even as he went to punch the barrier, before he reached it Monoma made another barrier. Izuku shattered the first one and went to punch the second only for Monoma to make a third.

He paused after that, knowing that Monoma would just keep making them. Distantly he heard Mic making announcements. 

Izuku knew that as it was going he wouldn’t be able to win. But, Monoma couldn’t win either like this. Right now it would be a waiting game, but that would be boring and a long wait most likely.

If he couldn’t use Erasure, and he couldn’t get close, that left him with OFA. “When you use One For All, you said you sent it to the parts of the body where you needed it. Have you tried distributing it throughout your body?” Izuku remembered what Gran Torino had told him. 

But, if he used it… “When you get released you can not break anymore of your bones, if you do I won’t be able to heal it. So be careful or you could lose the use of that limb.”

If he ended up breaking his bones then he would once again be back in the casts. For who knew how long while his stamina recovered enough for Recovery Girl to heal him. It could be months. 

Was it worth the risk?

“It seems that Midoryia and Monoma are at a standoff! Monoma can’t attack Midoriya without coming out from his cover, and Midoriya can’t break through the barriers fast enough to get Monoma!”

“Why don’t you save us the trouble of waiting around forever and give up?” Monoma questioned.

“N-no,” Izuku answered, shaking his head.

“Looks like we’re waiting then,” Monoma said and the two stared at each other.

Or rather Monoma stared at him and Izuku decided that it was worth the risk, after all he had to prove that he belonged in the hero course. Prove that he had potential. 

He reached for the feeling of One for All and instead of pushing it to one limb he distributed throughout his body, focusing on keeping the amount low. Monoma’s eyes widened. Izuku ran forward, nearly surprising himself with how much faster he was and he punched the invisible barrier even as Monoma desperately tried to put up another one.

The force of the punch broke the invisible barrier easily and all the others Monoma had surrounded himself with. The punch continued forward and hit Monoma straight in the chest who was sent flying back out of bounds.

Izuku deactivated OFA quickly, feeling how it fluctuated and his bones groaned in protest, “MIDORIYA wins!” Mic called out. Izuku walked over to Monoma and helped to boy up.

“Heh… I can’t believe I forgot you said you had two quirks copied! Man, why didn’t you start with that quirk?”

“I-if I-i’m not c-careful i-it will b-break m-my b-bones,” Izuku responded even as they exited.

“Well I suppose that’s a good reason to be careful then, we should talk more about how our copying works sometimes, I’m curious if we have the same limitations!” Monoma said. “But next time, I’m going to beat you for sure!”

They walked back and took their seats with their classmates as Mic announced the next fighters. “Next we have TOKOYAMI FUMIKAGE versus SHINSO HITOSHI!”

The two stepped on stage, “Start!”

“And it looks like Tokoyami is starting out strong with his Dark Shadow relentlessly targeting Shinso who is dodging like crazy!”

This carried on for a bit before everything seemed to freeze for a moment, then, “Woah! It looks like Dark Shadow has gone out of control, he is now targeting Tokoyami and the tables are turned with Tokoyami having to dodge! Shinso rushes in now attacking in tandem with Dark Shadow! Oh and it looks like Tokoyami has stepped out of bounds! SHINSO wins!”

As soon as the five minutes grace period ended Tokoyami came up, “What happened?” Kaminari asked.

“Shinso’s quirk worked on Dark Shadow,” Tokoyami answered. 

“I’m sorry Fumikage,” The shadow said, looking dejected.

“Y-you d-didn’t k-know,” Izuku said hesitantly, patting the shadow as Tokoyami took a seat next to him. The shadow nuzzled into his hand, seeming to like the attention.

“Midoriya speaks true, next time we  clash we will know better than to speak to him.”

“Start!” Mic announced and the two looked to see Bakugou and Kirishima start their fight.

Both of the boys charged at each other, Kirishima using his hardening to protect himself against Bakugou’s explosions. Kirishima released a flurry of blows, “Bakugou struggles to stand up to Kirishima’s brutal attacks! Wait, it seems Bakugou has recovered and is now releasing his own rapid explosions! Ooooh! Did Kirishima feel that last hit?!” Mic called out as Kirishima seemed to clutch his side.

“Now it seems that Bakugou is taking the offensive with rapid powerful hits!” Mic announced, before the smoke even had a chance to clear Midnight's voice cut in.

“Kirishima is knocked out.”

“Bakugou wins!” Mic announced. “We will have a short fifteen minute break before moving onto round three.”

Izuku nodded to his classmates and went to get a snack from a vending machine before his match up, he was going against Yaoyorozu his best bet to winning would be cutting off her quirk before she could make anything.

“Now for the first match of the third round! YAOYOROZU MOMO versus MIDORIYA IZUKU.”

The two stepped forward, “Start!”

Momo pulled out a bottle before Izuku could activate Erasure. She rushed forward, aiming the bottle at him, Izuku didn’t know what was in it, but knew it wouldn’t be good so he tried to dodge out of the way as she pulled the trigger.

A large gaseous cloud exploded out of the bottle. He took a breath holding it even as he backed away as far as he could. Izuku winced as inevitably a bit of it hit him and immediately his skin started to feel like it was burning. Izuku felt his eyes watering as they burned, and he closed them. 

No longer able to hold his breath he took in a breath and his throat burned as some of the gas got into his throat. “I pepper sprayed you Midoriya, you’ll probably want to see Recovery Girl.”

Izuku just nodded as his eyes and mouth continued burning, “I- I g-give,” he coughed out.

“YAOYOROZU wins!”

“Here, let me walk you to her temp office,” Yaoyorozu offered.

He just nodded and the two walked in silence as Izuku kept his eyes closed, every attempt to open them making the burning feeling worse.

When they arrived, Recovery Girl started to rinse his eyes out, and his skin. “Alright everyone, it’s time for the final fight in the third round to determine our finalists! Bakugou KATSUKI verses SHINSO HITOSHI! Start.” Mic announced, his voice coming over the speakers, a tv playing the fight.

“Bakugou starts out with a strong charge! That looked like it hurt, Shinso is blasted out of the arena in a swift blow! Bakugou wins! There will be a 10 minute break, and then we will have a fight to determine the third place winner, and then our finalist!”

Recovery Girl spent another five minutes rinsing off the pepper spray, his skin was still burning, but it wasn’t as bad as it was before. But now he had to get going towards the entrance to make sure he was on time.

Hitoshi was in a state of disbelief, he had made it to the top four, and this next fight was going to determine if he was in third place, or fourth. His classmates were praising him, the crowd was cheering him on.

His opponent was a boy who had what seemed like two quirks, but was in fact a copying quirk. The hero student didn’t seem to hide his use of Eraserheads Erasure, but the only other quirk he showed looked to be some sort of strength enhancement, which obviously was the quirk the boy used to get into U.A. through the stupid entrance exam.

“And now! To determine our third place winner! MIDORIYA IZUKU versus SHINSO HITOSHI!”

The two walked forward, meeting each other on the stage. They bowed, Hitoshi eyed up the boy, wondering what type of person Midoriya was, how could he get the green haired boy to speak?

“Start!”

The boy looked nervous, but the boy always looked like that everytime Hitoshi spotted him. This was also the same kid that had gotten injured in the villain attack. Immediately after the call Midoriya was looking at him with red eyes, preventing his quirk.

That was fine, Hitoshi just needed to get the boys guard to drop. “So you're the kid who got hurt in the USJ fight. Tell me, is it true that you were the only one who actually fought the villains.”

“Y-you’re q-quirk w-won’t w-work,” The boy stuttered in response, even as they attacked each other.

Hitoshi narrowed his eyes, “What just because I’m talking, I must be trying to use my quirk?”

The boy shifted, blinking a moment, but reactivated the quirk right away. The once more traded a series of punches. “W-we’re in a-a f-fight?” Midoriya squeaked out. 

Well that was fair. Still, it didn’t seem like the current tactic was working, perhaps… “Must be nice to have everything handed to you, Midoriya Izuku.”

“W-what?”

Erasure was still being used, but Hitoshi pressed on. “Thanks to the nature of my quirk, I couldn’t enter the golden gates in the normal manner. You wouldn’t get that. You’re naturally blessed,” Hitoshi scoffed, glaring at Midoriya, who had blinked in surprise, staring at him with wide shocked eyes, “You people, born with your awesome ‘ heroic ’ quirks…. Getting to follow all of your dreams. You never faced a single hardship in your life!” 

Midoriya still hadn’t reactivated his quirk as he replied with a shocked, “T-tha-” Hitoshi didn’t need anything more as he took control of Midoriya.

“ Walk out of bounds. ”

He watched in anticipation and hope with each step closer Midoriya got to the edge. Then the boy stepped over. “SHINSO HITOSHI wins taking third place!”

As soon as he was declared the winner, he released his hold on the kid, who didn’t even turn around as he just walked straight towards the exit.

Man, what a sore loser, he could have at least done the traditional bow for showing a good fight. Hitoshi promptly put it out of mind as the cheers of the crowd deafened him. He walked towards his own respective exit, “You deserve to be a hero!”

“Yeah!”

“You were awesome Shinso! You’re the shining star of us general studies guys!”

“You took third place dude! There’s no way they won’t let you into the hero course now! Just don’t forget about us general ed students.”

More and more of his classmates spoke up, cheering for him, encouraging him to be a hero.

It was overwhelming, for so long people had assumed he would be a villain, and here he was proving them wrong. He was going to be a hero.

A ring of a phone caused him to look over his shoulder, to see Midnight answering it, her mic turned off and a confused look on her face.

He could barely make out parts of what she was saying.

“Why --- to know? Well, --  think it matters… Shinso said ------ lines of Midoriya being blessed with his quirk ---- U.A and that he --- hardship. Eraser? Hello?”

Hitoshi frowned, wondering why Eraserhead wanted to know what he said to Midoriya, and why the teacher thought it was important enough to ask Midnight right away. It wasn’t that big of a deal, just something to rile the hero student up, and it obviously worked.

He shrugged and went back to his seat, giving a hesitant smile as his classmates clapped him on the back and congratulated him.

“Now, it’s time for what you all have been waiting for, the grand finale, the creation genius YAOYOROZU MOMO versus the explosive fighter Bakugou KATSUKI!”

The two stepped forward. “Start!”

Hitoshi watched, tuning out Mic’s commentary, as Yaoyorozu pulled out what looked to be a fire extinguisher and she sprayed it at Bakugou, who tried to dodge. She still managed to hit him a bit, and almost immediately the explosions seemed to decrease in size noticeably.

She kept spraying him, keeping him at a distance and eventually he was completely covered in foam and the explosions were barley pops. Even from his seat Hitoshi could make out how the boy was swearing at her, telling her to give him a real fight.

The girl and him entered some hand to hand for a moment before she pinned the arrogant crass blonde to the ground.

“Bakugou is immobilized! YAOYOROZU TAKES FIRST PLACE!” Present Mic screamed into the microphone, causing Hitoshi to wince and rub at his ears. “In just a few minutes we will be doing the awards ceremony!”

Hitoshi went down and met up in the waiting room with Yayorozu who was sitting with her legs crossed and sipping on tea and Bakugou who was glaring at her, pops coming from his hand. Soon Ectoplasm came and directed them onto three spots and once they were in position there was a rumble and the platforms were being raised as Midnight spoke, “Now let’s move on to…. The Awards Ceremony!”

Yaoyorozu stood calmly in number one, Bakugou was standing in the number two spot, glaring but not saying anything. Hitoshi just stood on the number three, looking at the crowd he heard the cheering and clapping and still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he had made it all the way to third place. 

“In third place we have Shinso Hitoshi, in second we have Bakugou Katsuki, and in first we have Yaoyorozu Momo. Now! For the medals. Presenting them this year is… you know who!”

“He’s everyone’s hero!”

“I am here with the medals!”

“All Might!”

“Ah~ I cut you off, sorry.”

Hitoshi starred as All Might came up to him and smiled,  “Congratulations Shinso, you’re a strong kid, and I bet you’ll make a fine hero.”

Then the number one hero pulled him into a hug, and Hitsohi refused to let the tears fall. All Might, the number one…. He said that he thought Hitoshi could become a hero… it was like a dream come true. 

All Might moved on and congratulated each of the other two, quietly speaking words with each of them as he did.

Then they were dismissed and the sports festival came to a close. Hitoshi walked out, going through the halls to gather his stuff, but paused when he heard the faint sound of sniffles. He paused, turning towards the door they were coming from and edged closer, wondering if he should attempt to comfort the person who was behind it, or just move on as it wasn’t any of his business.

As he got closer he heard a voice speak faintly, “Don’t say that kiddo, Shinso doesn’t know what he is talking about, doesn’t know what your life is like. You do belong here, you fought hard.”

“But… i’m o-only g-good f-for..” The voice faded out becoming too quiet to hear.

“Don’t you dare say that, what Nashi told you is a lie, he just wanted to make you feel bad. Midoriya, I know today has been difficult, but it’s going to be okay kid, that guy can’t hurt you anymore. Nedzu has texted me that he’s behind bars. You're safe now. Hizashi and I are here for you.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Of course kiddo, whenever you're ready. I’ll text Hizashi, let him know it’ll be a few minutes.”

Hitoshi took this as his sign to leave, puzzling over what he had overheard. But, it just didn’t make sense. Something about him not knowing something about Midoriya, then something about another guy called Nashi who… hurt? Midorya and was now behind bars apparently.

What did that have to do with him? How did the topic go from something he said, to some guy in prison?

He went home to a silent house and sat on his laptop, preparing to go watch some videos and relax for a bit. He smiled a bit as he saw the top news article being about the winners of the sports festival, and his face looking out on the third place podium.

Hitoshi was about to click off the website, when he noticed another article, “Pedophile caught assaulting a student at U.A’s Sports Festival!”

He clicked on it and read the article, it basically just kept repeating that same information, as it didn’t reveal who the victim was, or who caught the guy, but it did reveal the guy’s name and a picture. 

Nashi Doi.

Hitoshi felt sick. 

If that… if that was the same Nashi that Eraserhead had mentioned, then… then Midoriya had been hurt. Had been sexually assaulted and had still chosen to participate in the sports festival.

He reread the article and noticed it mentioned that the guy was a teacher at Alderaan Junior high. That name feeling familiar he frowned, for some reason the sludge incident came to mind so he researched that article. Blah blah blah. Bingo. Bakugou and an unnamed quirkless kid was involved in the incident, both students attend Alderaan junior high. Hitoshi skimmed through the rest of the article, but then saw one of the photos. It showed heroes around Bakugou and off the clip, half cut out was a green haired kid. The back was facing the shot, but that hair looked exactly like Midoriya’s.

Which meant… Midoriya went to Alderaan, the same place as the pedophile, and given how likely it was that if the guy attacked him once then he attacked him before. 

‘ You never faced a hardship in your life.’ Hitoshi’s own words echoed in his head.

Fuck. He really had put his foot in his mouth. He would have to apologize to Midoriya next time he saw the kid.

Chapter Text

Watching the sports festival was a bit of a tradition for him these years. While it was just a bunch of kids fighting each other in order to be recognized as potential heroes, it was still entertaining. It also gave him a clue as to what potential quirks he might see in the future. This year there were quite a few interesting students in the first year, especially in the class that had been attacked already.

Students of 1-A .

Of course one of the most notable was that Todoroki boy, who didn’t use fire. Was it possible for the son of the flame hero to not have fire? If so, why ice? It wasn’t particularly something that made sense unless the mother had an ice quirk.

Another notable student was Bakugou, who had a powerful explosion quirk, and what seemed to be a temper to match. With an angry scowl the boy looked more like he was failing to pretend to be a hero.

Both were students he would have to keep an eye on. They were powerhouses that could prove to be useful, or they could prove to be trouble.

Looking at the screen again his eyes were drawn to one particular student, and he was reminded of his daughter. The kid looked a bit like her, from the color of his hair, to the way he kept away from the spotlight, never coming in first.

He humed, he hadn’t spoken with his daughter in about 20 years by this point. Perhaps he should pay her a visit. Though he doubted she would want to see him, they hadn’t left on the best of terms after all. He let her leave, it was her life to do as she choses, no matter how much he would have preferred her to keep to the family business as it were.

Perhaps she had forgiven him by this point? He doubted it, but still he decided to check in on her in the near future, 20 years was a fairly long time after all.

Turning his attention back to the sports festival he saw it was the finals. These were the students to keep an eye on, from the Yaoyorozu heiress with her powerful creation quirk, to Shinso, with his brainwashing quirk.

This year’s students seemed to have a lot of potential.

Then he saw the battle of Midoriya vs Monoma, the blonde had a copy quirk and Midoriya had an Erasure quirk, one that looked to be similar to that Underground hero. Possibly his son. At least those were his thoughts until the boy’s body lit up with green lightning and he smashed through the invisible barrier.

A strength enhancement quirk, one completely different than the erasure quirk. One that he very much doubted was the result of a quirk marriage. No he had a feeling it was something else. He gave a hum, it would be interesting to know exactly what sort of quirk the boy had to have two different looking quirks. Perhaps he should take a look at the quirk registry to find out.

Izuku smiled as he cooked breakfast, yesterday when he had returned home he had been much too tired to say anything. He had eaten some leftovers and passed out onto his bed. After another ten minutes he finished and went to get his mother from her room. He found her up and dressed.

“Good morning,” he greeted with a smile.

“Good morning,” she replied, not quite looking at him. 

“Breakfast is ready.”

“Okay,” she said, following him into the dining room.

As they sat down he smiled, “So mom, did you watch the sports festival yesterday?”

She nodded, not saying anything as she mechanically ate.

“What did you think of my quirk?”

“You don’t have a quirk,” she automatically responded.

“Yes I do mom,” he told her softly.

“No you don’t. You’re quirkless,” she said, her normal lifeless voice becoming agitated, surprising Izuku as this was the first real emotion he had seen from her since the accident when he was nine.

“How many times do I have to repeat this?” Izuku questioned aloud, his mom normally had trouble accepting new information, but this was on a different level. “Mom, I have a quirk, I don’t have the double pinky joint. I was never quirkless. The doctor lied to us!”

“No! No no no no. You don’t have a quirk. Never have a quirk. You’re quirkless. Quirkless. Understand?” she spoke, her voice sounding almost panicked, green eyes darting back and forth. “Quirkless Izuku.”

Izuku frowned, alarmed at his mom’s strange behavior. “Promise me! Quirkless!” she said almost frantically.

Not liking to see his mom so upset he bit his lip and agreed in a confused tone, “Alright… I’m quirkless then?” 

“Good…. Good, such a good boy,” she murmured, her eyes losing the focus and intensity they had gained.

Izuku found himself staring at his food in silence, confused over his mom’s reaction. How she refused to believe he had a quirk. This wasn’t normal behavior, but… did that mean she was finally getting better? Or was the fact he had a quirk something too different for her to believe?

His stomach twisted and Izuku pushed away the remainder of his food, unable to eat. Why was she so set on insisting that he was quirkless?

Shouta stared down at Ms. Joke and Rock Lock. “How did you let him out of your sight?” he asked, his voice low, but the two other underground heroes heard him perfectly.

“I was keeping an eye on him, it’s just… I lost sight of him in the crowds for a moment, next thing I know you’re texting me that he has been caught and that we would have a chat…” Ms. Joke answered quickly, giving a nervous chuckle.

Shouta leaned over the desk, black eyes piercing into the smile hero’s dark green eyes. “Do you know what happened in that ‘moment’ you lost sight of him?”

Ms. Joke gulped, “I saw the article…”

“So you saw that he nearly managed to rape on of the kids of U.A. Did you know that he planned to rape and kill my student?”

Ms. Joke shook her head, looking nervous.

Shouta sat down in the chair across from them, steepling his fingers. “Would you like to take a guess as to why he planned such a blatant attack?”

Rock Lock met his gaze, “Why?”

Shouta grinned at them, full of teeth and mocking, “Because he knew he was being tailed. He learned that he was being followed and watched. You two wouldn’t happen to know anything about how he knew you were tailing him. Would you?”

Ms. Joke shook her head instantly, “No! I don’t know how he knew we were following him.”

Rock Lock nodded agreeing with Ms. Joke.

Shouta looked between the two of them, he knew they were good heroes. They weren’t rookies who made mistakes. So somehow Nashi Doi had managed to notice the two of them.  And thanks to Nedzu and the investigation the principal had led, Shouta knew how they messed up. Did that mean he was going to let them off the hook that easily? No.

The fact was one of his students had been hurt. Again. Midoriya had been tormented by this man and Shouta was going to make sure that man faced life in prison. But if it had been up to him Shouta would have voted for capital punishment. 

But, capital punishment had been outlawed a hundred or so years ago. Such a shame. Shouta hummed noncommittally to Ms Joke who had started rambling on about all the precautions they had taken.

He raised an eyebrow, cutting off her rambles, “Are you quite done? Obviously you missed something. You said you used scent blockers, but what about covering your body heat?”

The two underground heroes exchanged looks, before shaking their heads, “No, we didn’t. His quirk registry didn’t mention anything about body heat,” Rock Lock said.

“Of course, because the files always say everything about a quirk,” Shouta responded dryly. He took the file and opened it. “Quirk: Snake Adaptations, gives him bodily features resembling a snake.”

Shouta paused for a moment, “With a little research it was easy to find that snakes can use their tongues to scent the air around them. They also have poor eyesight, though the medical file for Nashi reveals that his eyesight was only a little below 20/20. But the main thing here was that some snake species of pits which let them take in nearby body heat.”

“But he didn’t have those pits.”

“Didn’t he?” Shouta threw back, sliding a picture taken yesterday. “Turns out he did, he was hiding them, and when questioned eventually answered that it lets him sense body heat up to 5 meters.”

“So… my question to you two… why were you ever within 15 feet of him enough for him to figure out he was being tailed?”

He couldn’t blame them for not knowing to cover their body heat, he may have even made the same mistake had he tailed him. What he could rake them over the coals for was being so close that Nashi could pick up their body heat.

Shouta listened as they gave him a full briefing on the happenings. How they had followed him, and how he had met with some other people and they had gotten closer to listen in to the conversations.

That they would be following up on these other people because they believed that they were connected with Shie Hassaikai. That at least one of the people had formerly worked for the Yakuza group until his arrest.

“There was one piece of information that I overheard the day before the sports festival that had me especially worried,” Rock Lock said, looking a bit sick.

“What?”

“He was talking to a couple of guys, he told them that this year's students weren’t as good as last years and that he missed the ‘quirkless runt’ and playing with him, he mentioned that he should have taken the boy when he had the opportunity instead of letting the game continue.” Rock Lock grimaced at this, his face one of revulsion. “One of the other guys said that he knew the feeling, how there was a little girl with pure white hair that his boss wouldn’t let any of them touch.”

Shouta grimaced, and Ms. Joke looked like she wanted to throw up. The fact that people who got off on children was the worst. Out of all the villains, criminals and scum that heroes had to deal with… rapists and pedophiles were some of the worst.

“Anyways, we told the police what we knew, and now I’m officially joining Nighteye on his case for Shie Hassaikai,” Rock Lock said. 

“I will be returning to my students, this lack of sleep really isn’t good for me, I don’t know how you do it Shouta! But, I gave my number to Nighteye in case he needs an extra person when he tracks down these criminals.”

Shouta nodded, at least his fellow heroes had valid reasons for Nashi knowing they were tailing him. No matter how much he hated that it put Midoriya in harm's way, they had been doing their job, and gathering information was part of their job.

“Thank you for your time,” he said nodding as he stood up gathering the files and turning to leave.

“I don’t suppose I could get you to agree to a date?” Ms. Joke called out to him as he walked away.

“Not in a million years,” Shouta tossed back, rolling his eyes as he made his way to the car, Ms. Joke’s laughter echoing behind him.

“I’ll get you one day,” he heard faintly as he exited the main door.

Shouta shook his head, wondering why some people never seemed to take a hint. A blatantly obvious hint.

Chapter Text

Izuku shifted as he looked at the door, expecting a knock. But, he realized that it wasn’t going to happen, after all he was healed now. He frowned, and exited out of the apartment, locking it behind him as he walked towards the train station. Gifts for teachers in his bag.

He got on the train and part way through he flinched when a random person called out to him, congratulating him for the sports festival. Right. He supposed he should have expected this, heart pounding away he gave a shaky smile and a stuttered thanks.

Finally the train arrived at the station and Izuku left, holding the umbrella above him as he walked into the school. Arriving about the same time as Iida. Izuku ignored Iida’s gaze as he placed the container of coffee on the teachers table before going to his seat. The entire class arrived before Aizawa did, and as soon as the bell rang the room was silent and Aizawa walked in. He looked over them and nodded in approval.

The most obvious thing was that his bandages were off. Aizawa-sensei’s face was no longer bruised and swollen, and the cut was healed over, clearly showing a scar.

“Good morning, good to see your bandages off, Aizawa-sensei, kero” Asui spoke.

“The old lady’s treatment was excessive. But never mind that. Today we’ve got hero informatics class. And a special one at that.”

“We’ll see you Monday in class little listener, but if I were you I would start thinking of hero names, ” Mic had said as he walked him to his apartment door, giving a wink. “ Just don’t tell Sho that I warned you .”

Hero names. Izuku has had all weekend to figure something out, and… he did have an idea for a name. It hadn’t been easy. But, hero’s were supposed to help people when they were in trouble. Supposed to be shining beacons. 

Izuku knew that not all heroes were like that from personal experience. Had seen when hero's would turn away, or wouldn’t help someone, whether it was due to a person’s quirk or appearance, or some other matter.

He had seen it done to other people, and experienced it himself when he was being hurt by Bakugou and his friends. A hero, which Izuku had later recognized as Nighteye had hurried right on by, even after their eyes had met and Izuku had silently begged for help. He could never understand how a hero who had worked with All Might would walk away from someone needing help.

But, there were also the heroes that got bad press about them, but actually helped people. Izuku had been walking through one of the back routes when he heard a girl, a few years younger than him, crying about her cat stuck in the tree.

Surprisingly it had been Endeavor who helped her, getting the cat out and handing it over before walking off, his face grumpy the entire time, but… at least he had gone out of his way to help, even when there was no actual villain for him to fight or civilians in danger.

Izuku wanted to be an underground hero in order to help people. He wanted to be a kind person, who helped others, even though he gained nothing for it. He didn’t want to be a hero for the money or fame after all.

Act of Kindness, Aoc, but… that didn’t really sound like an actual name, so tapping his pen against his chin he had brainstormed for a good hour or two before finally settling on Act of Random Kindness, or Ark for short.

Izuku focused back on the present.

“You’ll be coming up with your hero aliases. But first… concerning the pro draft picks I mentioned the other day…” Aizawa started, before telling them more about it. Then he pointed to the board and the numbers. “Remember, this afternoon you will be picking hero names.”

Yauyorozu had 2k, Bakugou 1k, Shinso who wasn’t even in their class apparently still had 500 offers. Izuku himself had around 250, with the numbers steadily declining. “

Bakugou became pissed as he started shouting, enraged that Yaoyorozu had gotten so many offers, when she ‘didn’t even put up a real fight.’ He stormed up to her demanding a rematch without her cheating and he slammed a hand down on her desk, exploding it and a shard cut her arm causing her to cry out in pain.

The explosions cut off and the class found Aizawa glaring, “Principal’s office. Now.” Aizawa marched Bakugou out of the room, Mic coming in a moment later and getting them started on English.

After that the classes passed as normal, with him handing gifts before or after lessons. At lunch time Izuku started to go to the cafeteria, but with a buzz of his phone he changed direction, solving the brief riddle Nedzu sent him. Apparently it was time to have another lesson with the principal. Once lunch ended he was returned to classes. Bakugou was still missing.

Aizawa started to give a brief reiteration to the internships, and the names and then Midnight burst in, interrupting him.

Aizawa took that as his cue to get into his sleeping bag. One by one people went up, from Asui’s Froppy, to Uraraka’s Uravity, there were so many cool hero names. Finally he went up, gulping. He took a deep breath and focused, “Ark, the h-helping hero.”

Izuku gave a smile, inwardly fist pumping that he had only stuttered once.

His classmates smiled back and gave encouragement, saying it was a good name.  Soon everyone has picked a hero name, or gone with their own name for now. “Good, now we’re finalizing the list of heroes you can pick to intern with for those who didn’t get offers. Please think about what kind of hero you want to be, and what type of hero you should intern with to further your studies. Have a good day.”

The bell rang and Izuku walked out heading towards the train station. It was strange, and he definitely didn’t like how everyone was looking at him. He blinked in surprise when Kaminari sat next to him, “Hey Midoriya!”

“H-hello.”

“My gram wanted me to come visit, so I’m taking this train to go see her. I’m glad you’re here! I don’t really like riding trains alone, y’know?” Kaminari laughed a bit and lowered his voice, “Especially now since everyone keeps looking at me. I didn’t even make it to the finals!”

Izuku nodded. 

“Anyways I was a bit curious actually.”

“C-curious?” Izuku asked, biting his lip a bit.

“Yeah! You’re like, good at analysis, right? I mean, you did seem to be writing a lot during the sports festival when you weren’t fighting.”

“I-I’m okay… it’s j-just a h-hobby really…” Izuku nervously deflected. Kids being interested in his notebooks were never a good thing. They tended to mock him for it, or rip it up. Or they called him a stalker.

“Well I was wondering what you thought of my quirk, see I can’t really think of a way to improve my use besides for upping the watts. I’m pretty sure you’ve seen the effects of me using higher wattages though…” Kaminari said, giving a hesitant laugh.

Izuku bit his lip, but there was one thing he thought might help. “W-why don’t y-you u-use it f-for close r-ranged combat m-more? I-instead of o-one big b-blast, c-coat your b-body in e-electricity.”

“Oh! Like I did at USJ with Yaoyorozu and Jiro! I guess I’ve been so focused on trying to direct my electricity once it discharges I forgot that it was super effective at close range. But wouldn’t throwing myself at enemies all the time be super risky?”

“I-if you l-learned martial a-arts m-maybe?” Izuku suggested.

Kaminari nodded, “Thanks! Still I can’t believe I forgot about close ranged combat, I could have been so much better at the sports festival!”

The rest of the train ride passed, Kaminari chatting away while Izuku mainly listened. A few times he was surprised when the electric boy made him laugh from his jokes. Eventually though he reached his stop and gave a shuttered goodbye. That had gone a lot better than he expected. He walked the rest of the way home and the rest of the day passed with nothing of interest happening.

The next morning he took an earlier train in order to hopefully escape the crowds of people, it only helped a little bit as the train was still fairly crowded. Finally he made it to UA and took his seat in the classroom, being the first to arrive. About ten minutes later Aizawa showed up, the man gave him a nod as he sipped his coffee, “How are you holding up Midoriya?”

Izuku shrugged, “I-i don’t l-like the a-attention.”

Aizawa just nodded, “I hated the attention I got after my first sports festival as well, they’ll get over it in a few days. Once the next big headline comes out.”

Izuku just nodded, Aizawa dug around in a pocket and pulled out a jelly packet, “Here, one Kiwi flavored jelly packet for your enjoyment.”

Izuku beamed, “Thanks,” he said as he grabbed it. Aizawa just looked amused. 

A few minutes later Mic walked in, “Little listener!” 

“M-mic -sensei,” Izuku returned, giving a smile to the blonde teacher.

Mic chuckled, “You know you can call me Yamada if you want.”

“Oh… Y-yamada-sensei t-then.”

Mic, or rather Yamada, beamed, shooting finger guns. Ten minutes before the first bell was set to rang Iida came out and Mi- Yamada walked out. 

Izuku looked at Iida and remembered a news article he had read yesterday, apparently on the sports festival Iida’s brother was hurt by the hero killer. “I-Iida?”

“Yes Midoriya?”

“I-is your b-brother o-okay? I j-just saw t-the a-article y-yesterday.”

Iida gave a small smile, “He’s fine, don’t worry about it.”

“A-alright.”

Soon most of the other kids filed into the room and took their seats. Falling silent as soon as the bell rang. Aizawa stood up and got them started, informing them that they would be going over the rules and procedures they would have to obey during the internships. Kirishima asked where Bakugou was, and Aizawa revealed he had been suspended for 3 days, and that his behavior was now under review.

Homeroom ended and Yamada came back in, smiling as he said he would be passing out the quizzes they took last week, and how most of them did okay, but that there were a couple areas he wanted to go over as most of the class had missed it. Yamada handed the papers to Iida who passed them out, as was standard and Izuku looked at his grade. 100 and there was a note written, in English, but it was simple to translate. Good Job Midoriya, keep up the awesome work :) . Yamada had written, Izuku felt his eyes water as he felt a warm feeling flood him. 

The last time a teacher had written a complementing note on his papers had been when he was a toddler, before he was diagnosed as quirkless... Izuku looked up and caught Yamada’s gaze, ‘ thank you’ he mouthed, Yamada just smiled and gave a small nod. 

Izuku’s throat started to feel itchy, a light sensation that he didn’t even notice at first until he noticed it was steadily increasing, becoming more itchy as the lesson continued, and as english ended it became painful.

There was the oddest sensation of something sliding down his throat, even clogging it, so during the next lesson he ended up coughing to try and get rid of the strange sensation. The cough sounded wet and raspy, drawing looks from his classmates and Izuku feeling a wetness in his clothes looked to see blood on his clothes.

Alarmed he raised his hand and waited for Midnight to turn around, ending up coughing a few more times. “Midnight-sensei, Midoriya needs to ask you something,” Yaoyorozu called out. The art history teacher turned around.

“Yes Midoriya?”

“C-can I g-go to R-recovery G-girls?” he asked, coughing again.

Midnight’s eyes widened as she noticed the blood, “Yes of course, Tokoyami, would you escort him?”

The boy nodded and walked alongside him as the pain seemed to spike and Izuku gagged, feeling the urge to throw up as something slid down his digestive system. They were right outside of Recovery Girl’s office when he threw up, vomiting what looked to be blood and flesh onto the floor. His throat still hurt like crazy, as if a ton of blades were being dragged up and down his throat.

The door opened and Recovery Girl looked out, “Oh dear, come in come in, what happened?” she asked, looking at Tokoyami.

“During English Midoriya started coughing a bit, as the class progressed they were getting worse. And after Art started they were making this wet sound and he was coughing up blood.”

“Midoriyia, do you think this is your quirk, or something else?”

Izuku paused, and realized that it probably was his quirk, he knew that he had been getting close to trusting Yamada-sensei before the sports festival. Then the man had protected him, and wrote a little note. It was just a build up of everything the man had done, even when Izuku couldn’t help but be reminded of…

Well, the fact of the matter was Izuku trusted Yamada, so obviously his quirk was kicking in.

He nodded to her, “Poor dearie, we’ll just have to wait for it to finish, then if you don’t mind I would like to do another scan. Adding a full body scan, for the future.”

He just gave a nod in agreement, his throat hurting too much. Recovery Girl brought over a bucket as he sat on the bed, coughing into the towel she provided so he didn’t ruin his school uniform anymore. 

Tokoyami started to return to class after saying goodbye, but Dark Shadow popped out, asking to stay. The shadow didn’t wait for permission and came over and started nuzzling Izuku. Hesitantly Izuku patted the shadow’s hea. He looked up to Tokoyami who was staring bewildered at Dark Shadow.

“Can we stay? Please?” Dark Shadow asked, Izuku looked at the intelligent quirks pleading expression and nodded. The quirk grinned and hesitantly Tokoyami stepped back in, he seemed to be unsure.

Recovery Girl let him stay for a few minutes, until Izuku’s vomiting got worse and she told him he should return to class. Nothing had been said, but Izuku supposed the silent companionship had been nice.

There was a painful rip at the front of his neck near his lower jaw and Izuku felt something clogging his throat and he coughed, spitting out something hard that clattered in the bucket. Recovery Girl grimaced as she saw it, “That was your Hyoid bone.”

Izuku raised a hand to scratch at his neck as the newly empty place seemed to be rebuilding. His ears started to sting at this point and about ten minutes later he felt liquid trailing out of them. He shifted his hair, showing Recovery Girl who just sighed, “Hizashi’s quirk does give his ears protection against the loud noises his quirk produces. Basically when noises over a certain point are being made his ears have a mechanism that makes a barrier in his outer to middle ear, causing a blockage that for most people would be a conductive hearing loss. As soon as he stops using his quirk, the barrier goes away letting him hear everything again.”

Izuku nodded grimacing as his throat and ears continued to itch and sting in pain. It wasn’t all encompassing, but it was annoying and distracting. A couple hours passed before the pain fully disappeared and he stopped throwing up blood. But now Recovery Girl wanted to do a full MRI scan on him though at least his clothes would be cleaned while he was being scanned.

Chapter Text

Shouta frowned as he returned to his students after lunch, “Where is Midoriya?" he questioned after the bell rang.

“He’s in the nurse's office,” Yaoyorozu informed.

“What happened?”

“It was super gross, he was coughing blood,” Mineta said, shuddering.

“Recovery Girl seems to think it has to do with his quirk,” Tokoyami informed. 

Shouta nodded, and proceeded to start the lecture on how to behave during the internships. If it had to do with his quirk, and Midoriya was coughing blood, then the kid probably decided to fully trust Hizashi. His husband would be pleased at least.

He wrapped up the heroics lecture as the bell rang and the kids left and Shouta made his way to Hizashi’s classroom. Poking his head in he waited for the last stragglers of Hizashi’s class to leave.

Hizashi smiled at him, Shouta just gave a bit of a smirk, “Midoriya apparently has decided you're trustworthy.”

Hizashi’s eyes widened, “What? Wait… is that why he started coughing in class? Because his quirk was kicking in? Where is he now?”

“Either still in the nurse's office, or at home resting most likely.”

“Let’s go check! Besides, he’s going to need help with controlling the quirk. Do you remember how much trouble I had?”

“Unfortunately,” Shouta deadpanned.

Hizashi gave an offended gasp, slapping him lightly on the arm, “Don’t be mean Sho~!”

He stared blankly for a half a minute, creating an awkward moment of silence before he replied, “You nearly deafened the entire class before I joined. They literally had to rebuild the room to be soundproof just for your quirk.”

Hizashi pouted.

The two arrived and Shuzenji looked at them, “About time you arrived!” she huffed.

“You were expecting us?”

“I sent you two an email before lunch,” she said, waving her cane at them.

“I didn’t check my emails today.”

“I had a student who needed help and couldn’t look,” Hizashi answered sheepishly.

The old woman grumbled, “I didn’t want to risk Midoriya deafening anyone accidentally, so I kept him here under strict instructions to not talk. Since I do remember what you did on your first day here Hizashi.”

Hizashi just hung his head, a metaphorical dark cloud hanging above him as he sulked. From one of the beds the curtains moved away and Midoriya poked his head out, Shouta saw how the boy beamed and quickly made his way over to them, grinning.

Hizashi seeing the kid brightened up, “Midoriya!” His husband bent down, “Can I hug you?" he asked.

Midoriya nodded and Hizashi swept the kid into a hug and Shouta caught his husband whispering to the kid of how happy he was, and that he promised to never break the trust Midoriya placed in him.

Like the emotional kid Midoriya was, he started crying as he hugged Hizashi back. “Well little listener, looks like I need to help you control your new quirk so you don’t deafen your classmates like I did.”

Midoriya nodded and pointed to him. Hizashi looked at him and gave a confused look.

Shouta of course guessed that the kid was referring to the fact that some of the embarrassing stories involved Hizashi’s quirk. “Or jumping down from a tree behind your bully and shouting with your quirk activated,” Shouta deadpanned.

“Shooooo~” Hizashi whined.

The group made their way to a small soundproof gym, otherwise known as Gym Sigma and Shouta headed into a smaller sideroom, which gave the output of sounds, he turned everything on and the other room lit up with a white light.

The light would go red if the noise was above safety levels, and green if it was good. He watched Hizashi who was explaining it, the light green. Then he saw his husband turn towards the target, and the light turned red.

Midoriya gave a thumbs up and Shouta saw his mouth move and the light stayed red. Shouta snorted as he saw the boy's surprised expression.

Hizashi seemed to be amused by whatever the kid said, and ruffled Midoriya’s hair. A couple minutes later the red light went off for the first time while Midoriya spoke and the kid beamed, saying something else and the red light went back on.

Shouta saw Midoriya flush and look down, and his husband probably said something encouraging as the kid perked back up and continued to practice.

An hour later and the kid at least was getting an occasional green light. More often than not it was red. But, they also had to return the kid home and so they cut off the practice for today. Hizashi decided they would be driving the kid home. The kid grinned, giving a thumbs up, once more being silent as they were out of the room and he didn’t want to risk accidentally shouting. Shouta sat in the back with Midoriya, and started to teach Midoriya some basic hand signs.

He would have to remember to bring in a book on sign language for Midoriya.

Izuku was once again the first to arrive at the classroom, having taken the early train. A few minutes passed before Aizawa and Yamada entered. The voice hero was still in his civilian clothes. “Morning!” Yamada greeted.

Izuku smiled and waved, doing the sign Aizawa-sensei had taught him yesterday, ‘ Hello. ’ That and goodbye were the only two signs Aizawa had taught him in the time they had on the drive home.

“This is for you Midoriya,” Aizawa said, handing over a book. He looked at the cover and saw it was a sign language book for beginners.

Yamada-sensei gave a kiss to Aizawa, and ruffled Izuku’s hair before walking out to change into his hero uniform.

“Midoriya,” Aizawa called. Izuku looked to the teacher. “As I’m sure you know, Hizashi is very affectionate, if at any time you are uncomfortable, let him, or me know. Hizashi will understand, alright? But… you did make my husband ecstatic when you told him he didn’t have to ask for permission every time he wanted to give you a hair ruffle or hug.”

Izuku nodded. He had given permission to Yamada yesterday during the training, well more like shouted it, but still. Izuku looked between the book and carefully spelling out letters, with Aizawa-sensei helping correct his positioning as he painstakingly asked, ‘ Can you inform class that I won’t be able to talk for a while?’ Even though it took longer than writing it out, it would be good to practice.

Especially since it was used a lot by underground heroes when they didn’t want to run the risk of being heard. Aizawa nodded, and fingerspelled back slowly, letting Izuku look at the book to match up what he was making.

‘ Yes, I will. ’

About the time he finished figuring it out, Iida came in. “Good day sensei, Midoriya.”

Aizawa nodded in response. Aizawa made a sign, “Good,” another sign, “Morning.”

Izuku practiced them as Iida watched on in curiosity. He turned to the boy and did the signs, giving a hesitant smile.

Iida gave a smile back, and returned a good morning, “Are you learning sign language Midoriya?”

Izuku nodded, carefully spelling out ‘ Yes.’

“That’s very good, I’ll admit that I’m a bit rusty, but I do know fingerspelling and the basics, I could help if you want?” The speed boy offered.

Izuku gave a thumbs up, nodding his head. “Did you lose your voice again?”

“I will explain to the entire class why Midoriya is unwilling to talk,” Aizawa spoke.

Iida just nodded and by this point a few more students had trailed into the room, so Izuku took his seat, which was next to Iida, and Tokoyami, Koda having taken his spot behind Bakugou. Iida carefully started to fingerspell. ‘ How are you today?’

‘ I’m doing good. ’ Izuku managed to spell back before the bell rang, not having to look at the book for a few of the letters.

The two turned to the front and Aizawa informed them that their offers were ready, and that they had until the end of the week to decide. 

Izuku already knew that he would be interning with Gran Torino to help with OFA, he just hoped that he had time to get Voice a bit under control before then. 

“Right, one last note before I let you do what you want. Midoriya has ended up copying Present Mic’s voice quirk, as such he needs to learn how to control it. He has chosen to stay silent during class so as to not accidentally injure us or our hearing.”

Then homeroom proceeded on for a bit longer until the time ended and the rest of the classes started. During lunch All Might came up to him, reminding him about the offer, and Izuku just nodded. 

“Oh! Right, I almost forgot that Recovery Girl sent an email out about you having copied Present Mic’s voice quirk, and that you were working to control it. Would you like to learn to sign my boy?”

Izuku beamed, ‘ Aizawa is also helping.’ he signed, pausing at one point to dig out the book as he couldn’t remember what the sign was for ‘za’.

“Very good!” All Might said, signing as he spoke. “I think most of the teachers know sign, and would be willing to use it while they speak to help.”

“We do with the second and third years, sign language is actually a requirement for third years to start learning, but we start using it in second for those who want to get a head start. Which is usually students who plan to go underground,” Midnight said, grinning as she entered into the conversation. The entire time she was signing with her hands, most of the meaning lost to Izuku, but he figured it was equal to what she was saying.

‘ I’m learning fingerspelling, and basics.’ Izuku spelled out, looking at the book a bit.

“Ah, because of Mic’s quirk, right?”

Izuku nodded.

“Anyways, Eraser sent me to hand you your internship papers now, and that you would be spending your afternoon class period with Mic for control lessons,” Midnight explained, reaching into a bag and pulling out some papers.

‘ Thank you. ’

Izuku put the papers in his bag, and went to the cafeteria, eating a quick lunch as the lunch period was almost over and then went to Yamada’s classroom. Peeking through the window he saw a sub there, so he started through the halls towards the gym, figuring that the hero would be waiting for him there.

Turns out he was right, so he entered the room and the two continued on working to control his quirk, which was difficult as even when he had the quirk activated he sounded like he was talking at a normal volume to himself, and to Yamada, since the voice quirk gave them protection against loud noises.

It made Izuku wonder if Bakugou had protection against the loud noises his explosions made, if not then had his hearing been damaged?

Izuku asked Yamada what he thought, watching how the light stayed red.

“Hmm that’s certainly a possibility, I know that not all loud quirks include hearing protection, I know that I was quite lucky actually, as I was born with my quirk. My parents not so much, but if I hadn't had my ears be able to protect themselves then I would have been deaf before I reached one. My parents did lose their hearing unfortunately.”

“O-oh,” Izuku said, not really knowing what else to say.

“I met your mother, but I don’t know much about your father, may I know more about him?”

Izuku shrugged, “I n-ever met the g-guy, before M-mom’s a-accident she t-told me h-he worked overseas a-and provided for u-us. I don’t e-even know his n-name.”

Yamada just nodded, giving a hum.

“What s-should I t-talk about?” Izuku asked after a moment of not being able to think of anything to say.

“How about you tell me what you think of your classmates? Are you getting along with them?”

So Izuku proceeded to tell Yamada about his classmates, trying to keep his voice at a normal volume and throughout his entire ramble the light flickered between red to occasionally a brief bit of green as he focused on lowering his voice into a normal volume.

After his afternoon lesson with Yamada, Izuku went to meet with Snipe for his Wednesday lesson. Then he went home, Yamada and Aizawa being kind enough to drive him. Izuku much preferred being in the car with them, then taking the train.

Maybe he should see about getting a driver license, and his own car, though that was a huge payment, and he didn’t know if there was enough money to cover that kind of expenses. He did the homework assigned, and then spent the rest of his evening practicing fingerspelling and the other basic stuff that was in the introductory book.

The next day he once again took the early train, and decided that would probably be his normal routine from then on. When he arrived he saw Aizawa and Yamada already there, and the two teachers continued to help him with his JSL.

Chapter Text

Hitoshi waited outside classroom 1-A, he had been watching for the past few days, but Midoriya never showed up at lunch. Monday he was a no show, but his class didn’t seem too worried, and from the rumors it seemed that the boy somehow hurt his throat Tuesday. Wednesday Hitoshi had been about to approach when All Might came up and took Midoriya away.

He decided that if he wanted to apologize to Midoriya then he would have to approach the kid earlier, possibly before school started. So here he was arriving at U.A. early in hopes of being able to speak with Midoriya.

And it wasn’t like he could speak to him after school, as Hitoshi was too busy being given a crash course in some of the stuff he missed by Midnight. The R-rated hero was pretty cool, and she told him that he shouldn’t let others' opinions bother him. That so long as he knew the truth about himself what did it matter what others think.

She helped him design a hero costume, one that had a couple support device ideas. After they drew it up and sent it to the support department they got to work on figuring out a hero name for him. 

Midnight warned him that whatever name he chose could and would influence how they would market him. And that often he had to portray himself to the brand that was created for him in order to climb the ranks of the popularity polls.

He said that he was going to be an underground hero, and she nodded. So together they came up with Edict: The Order Bringer.

Spotting a lone person walking through the hall he dragged his attention towards the present and saw Midoriya walking down the hall.

Finally. He would get his chance to apologize.

Hitoshi started walking to the boy, “Hey Midoriya, mind if we talk for a minute?”

He saw the boy flinch a bit and walk faster away from him, not turning around. Hitoshi grimaced, okay, maybe he should have expected that Midoriya would try and avoid him. He walked quicker, intent on catching up with the boy who had turned around the corner.

Following only about 10 or so meters behind he turned the corner and stared down the corridor which was empty. Frowning he wondered if the hero student had ducked into one of the rooms to try and avoid him.

So Hitoshi started looking into the rooms, but none of them held Midoriya. Hitoshi was also fairly sure he would have heard a door opening and closing.

Where did Midoriya go?

Frowning he turned around and started to make his way to his class. He would have to try again at lunch. Eventually the other kids showed up and the bell rang for the classes to start. Hitoshi did his work throughout the classes then finally it was time for lunch.

And he was determined that he would apologize to Midoriya… if the boy was actually there.

He took his time going to the lunch room and when he arrived he looked over all the students, looking for the green hair of Midoriya’s. It took a minute, but finally he spotted him in a corner with a few other kids, which he recognized from the sports festival. There was Tokoyami, who had the intelligent shadow quirk, Uraraka and her gravity quirk, as well as Iida with his speed quirk, and finally a blonde who had a copy quirk, Monoma if Hitoshi remembered correctly.

He saw how Midoriya spotted him as he got closer, tensing up. How the tablemates noticed and spotted him, watching him warily. Almost like they were expecting him to attack. “Look, Midoriya, I don’t know much about your life and I shouldn’t have made assumptions, so I’m sorry for what I said at the sports festival,” Hitoshi quickly said.

With that he turned and left, glad that he finally managed to apologize to the kid. He got into the line and got his own lunch. He couldn’t wait to get back to his crash course in heroics with Midnight. After all he would be joining the heroics class after internships.

“As you all know your internship papers are due tomorrow, so make sure you have them filled out and turned in. But today, we will be going over parkour. A valuable skill that heroes need to make use of when in pursuit of a villain, whether it’s to avoid an obstacle in your path, or to protect yourself from a fall. Go get your gym uniforms, or your hero costume and meet at Gym Iota,” Shouta informed the class before turning and heading out, making his way to the designated gym.

He watched the students arrive, nodding in approval when he saw Midoriya was one of the first to arrive, and dressed in his hero costume. Soon others started coming in, some in their hero costumes, others in a gym uniform.

“Good now that you are all here let me explain how this gym works. Gym Iota was built so that different situations could be mimicked, I have the controller and can change the setup with a few other options. It is up to each person to run through the course in a set amount of time. Over the specified time and the villain will have gotten away in this situation. As this is your very first lesson the course will be set in the easiest mode with a longer timer and as you get better it will be shortened and the course made more difficult.”

Shouta grinned as he set the course up. It was always interesting to see the students undertake his course. Shouta was about to start the course when the door opened and one of the third years arrived. “Oh! Are you guys about to do Aizawa’s hell crawl? Is this your first time?” The guy asked grinning. 

Shouta sighed, recognizing Togata Mirio. “What are you doing here?”

“Well I had come to practice since our teacher gave us a free day, but I didn’t know the gym was in use today.”

Shouta nodded.

“What does he mean? Aizawa’s hell crawl?” Ashido’s voice called out.

Togata turned to the class grinning, “You mean you don’t know?”

“Do try and be quick, I have a class I would like to teach,” Shouta grumbled as he saw Togata prepare to go into a story.

“Right, well I’ll tell you guys the full story later if you can find me, but basically ever since Eraserhead became a teacher here and had this gym built no student has ever passed the course on it’s hardest difficulty. That is…. The hardest difficulty on it’s longest timer. For beginners like you I don’t expect any to pass even on it’s easiest setting on the long timer, I know nobody in my class did.”

Shouta saw his students gaining a determined glint.

“Now, get into position. When the timer starts you will enter the course and notice blue lights along the path. This is not the only path to take, you can choose your own way through the course and the goal is just to get to the other side and back. Do we have any volunteers?”

“I’m good with watching, all the running and jumping will provide us guys with quite a view,” Shouta heard Mineta say to Kaminari, while leering at Yaoyorozu who took a couple steps away with a look of disgust.

“Congratulations Mineta, you just volunteered to be first.”

“Aww,” Mineta whined as he walked forward. “Well ladies just watch, I’ll ace this course no problem!”

Shouta looked at the controller and pressed a few buttons, adding a couple notches to the difficulty. He may be setting up Mineta for failure in this course, but really did the boy not know how to keep his thoughts to himself? Shouta could see the girls grimacing with a few of them self consciously crossing their arms over their chests. His students should not be made uncomfortable by a fellow classmate.

He would have to have a word or two with Mineta, to hopefully straighten this appalling behavior. Mineta may be a teenage boy and hormonal, but that didn’t give him a right to speak of his female classmates in such a way.

“Start,” Shouta said, not giving Mineta a countdown. He had been accused of being petty several times, and Shouta wouldn’t deny it.

It took a moment for the boy to realize and race into the course where the tv screen lit up, the camera’s keeping track of the boy and showing his progress. Mineta made some decent progress following the blue trail, but Shouta knew the boy was moving too slow, the counter dinged at the 30 second mark and Shouta saw Mineta pick up his pace, arms banging against a few of the lower placed objects.

At fifteen seconds another beep went off. Then a countdown started at 5 seconds and Mineta failed, having only gotten halfway through the course.

He didn’t even make it to the parts Shouta had set to a higher difficulty. “Who would like to go next?”

Iida raised his hand and so Shouta nodded to the kid who stepped forward, standing at the entrance line. “Start.”

Like a rocket Tensei’s brother took off. Shouta winced miniscule as the boy banged his head on an obstacle. The next minute passed in a similar vein with Iida hitting various objects, even as the boy tried to slow his speed down enough to change directions and keep a fast pace.

The males of the class gave a sympathetic wince as a bar swung out suddenly and hit Iida in the groin. With that last hit Iida stumbled in a daze for his last few seconds before the timer buzzed him out.

Shouta looked at his students, most who were looking nervous now at the course. Midoriya bit his lip before looking and meeting his eyes, taking a determined look as he stepped forward. Shouta grinned, wondering just how Midoriya would do in this course.

“Start.”

Midoriya took off into the course, immediately ditching the blue path and heading higher up, scaling the buildings and then started to jump across the roofs. Shouta noticed that the boy stumbled a few times in his landings, and that he hesitated for a moment in his jumps at times. But otherwise was doing fairly good, Shouta nodded in approval, and watched wondering what Midoriya would do when another one of the traps would activate.

A rumble and one of the buildings ‘collapsed’ right as Izuku was jumping. His students gasped in surprise, worried mutterings quickly breaking out. The camera tracked the boys fall and the class was silent as they watched him fall. They saw as Midoriya grabbed onto the ladder rung that was on the building and slid down it stopping his momentum and a potentially injuring fall.

Then Midoriya continued through the last few meters of the course on the ground and passed with a full ten seconds remaining. Shouta grinned full on as Midoriya was the first student to pass this easy course on the first try.

Shouta watched as his class congratulated the boy, and Izuku hesitantly signed out a thanks with Iida acting as a translator.

“Who’s next?”

Uraraka raised her hand.

“Uraraka you’re up.”

The girl went and lightened herself up to go to the roof, but lost some time with her nausea. She jumped across the roofs, but missed one of the jumps falling down. With a cry of pain and her holding her leg Shouta called it off and the medical bots put her on a stretcher and took her to Recovery Girl.

“If you are going via the roofs do remember that the ground is hard and while they may only be a couple stories high here out in the world they may be up to ten or more stories and a fall like that can be lethal, if you don’t know you can make the jump then do not try,” Shouta said to the class.

Next Ojiro volunteered.

Ojiro took the standard blue path and made his way through with only a few minor hiccups, passing with five seconds remaining. Shouta glanced at Togata lip curling up as he saw the surprised expression the boy was wearing, he read the boys lips as the third year whispered to himself, “Not just one kid, but two? What is he teaching these kids?”

Shoji passed with only a couple seconds remaining and one particular mishap where a knife flew out and grazed one of his arms. Shouta nodded and sent the kid to Recovery Girl.

With no volunteers Shouta pointed randomly and picked Aoyama, who almost passed but just missed the final step by a half second. Ashido went next and melted a bit of his course as she used her acid to slide through.

Shouta sighed, “Do I really need to remind you that while this is a simulation you can’t expect to be able to damage buildings out in the world? You have to learn to work with your surroundings, not against it.”

Kaminari followed by Kirishima went, both of them failing with Kaminari having been hit with a fake electrical cord, causing the boy to discharge accidently and the boy stumbling around a confused expression on his face.

Asui used her ability to stick to walls to pass, Yaoyorozu created some gear to pass, and Tokoyami took the roof paths, unhindered by the simulated earthquake.

Hagakure was simply too slow, as was Sato, neither of their quirks helping much with parkour.

Sero passed using his tape, and Todoroki passed by freezing everything and scating through unhindered. Earning the boy a flat expression as Todoroki had ignored him saying that they were to not damage the buildings.

Finally Koda went last and the boy failed. “Take a moment to reflect on what you did, and the things I pointed out. Then we will be running through it again, and I expect all of you to pass.”

Togata laughed, “All of them, isn't that a little much? Although I gotta admit I’m surprised that so many of them managed to pass first time. I suppose that saying’s true, what was it… like teacher, like student?”

Silence greeted Togata’s words and the boy chuckled, “Ah.. my joke fell flat again.”

Shouta let out a long breath, “Since you’re here, how about you give my students a demonstration of the course on hell difficulty?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow at the now sweating boy.

“Oh um, I really should be going now,” Togata started to back away.

“I think not, after all you interrupted my class, the least you can do is give a practical demonstration.”

Togata deflated, “Alright then.”

The boy took the starting position after Shouta switched the course and looked at his students, “Now, hell difficulty adds in a villain he must follow, in this case I will play that role, and he can’t use his quirk at all. There is no timer, but if he loses track of me he loses, or if he doesn’t cross the finish within ten seconds after I do. This will be Hell difficulty, with an easy target.”

Shouta smirked, “Start.”

And he took off into the course, expertly weaving through the streets, though keeping a somewhat slower pace to give Togata a chance. Using his capture weapon he spun around a pole hitting a button to activate a net trap and continued running, not watching to see if the net hit the third year or not.

Running straight towards a building he kicked off it using the momentum to spin and double back towards Togata who’s eyes widened as Shouta looped his capture weapon around the boy spinning him harshly before continuing on.

Ducking and weaving through the course he hit a few more traps before crossing the line after ducking out of sight.

Fifteen seconds later the boy came out of the course after him, panting out of breath and sweating as he winced and rubbed at his arms. Shouta heard the boy muttering in disbelief, “That was an easy target?”

Shouta turned to his class, “Now let me reset the course back to easy and then you will run through the course again.”

His students nodded in agreement, Ashido whispering, “I'm just glad we don’t have to do that.”

He decided to be gracious and not inform them that he would be having them run through the hell version before their finals.

Chapter Text

Izuku collapsed back onto the bed, silently groaning as his body throbbed with a dull pain. Yesterday’s afternoon class had been exhausting with all the running and jumping as Aizawa had them running through the course again and again. After they all passed the second time, he increased the difficulty. No one had passed then. 

Once the class was over Yamada had come over and dragged him for more voice training. Izuku knew he was slowly improving, but he was regretting it this morning. He was exhausted. It didn’t help that after voice training with Yamada he still had a brief counselling session with Hound Dog, mostly though they were working on meditating, though it was hard in the pro hero’s presence since Izuku didn’t trust him. Logically he knew he should trust the hero, but he couldn’t help but be wary of him. He also knew he had to get up, get ready for class. After today though he would have the weekend to relax.

With a sigh he dragged himself out of bed and to his closet, grabbing a uniform he put it on. Grabbing his bag he slung it on his shoulder and went into the kitchen, making himself a bowl of cereal. Then he went to his mom’s room, shaking her awake. He left her to get dressed, and went back to the kitchen, making breakfast for her.

After setting the dish out he left the apartment, locking the door as he went to the train station. A short journey and he found himself walking through the gates of U.A. Finally the buzz from the sports festival was starting to dye down a bit, which meant that people weren’t trying to talk to him as much on the train.

Izuku walked through the nearly empty halls of U.A. as he went towards the classroom. The only person he saw was Midnight-sensei. She smiled, waving at him, signing a good morning and he gave a small wave back, signing back to her.

With that simple exchange she continued on her way, and Izuku went to the classroom, Aizawa and Yamada already there. “Little listener!” Yamada said, grinning and giving a thumbs up.

‘Good morning,’ Izuku signed once more, smiling at the two teachers.

Soon the three were signing to each other, Izuku using the book to help him figure out what he needed to sign. While the teachers also spoke as they signed, letting him associate words with what they were saying.

Slowly he was picking up signs. “So, you know how names typically don’t turn into sign? Well people often use callsigns for names. Sho and I have our own call names for each other, him being Sleepy Cat,” Yamada said, repeating the sign for Sleepy Cat a few times, “and I’m Loud Cockatoo.” Once more the teacher repeated the sign for Loud Cockatoo a few times.

‘So, an adjective and an animal?’ Izuku signed, after checking the book.

“It’s what we decided to do, but call signs can be anything, so long as you know who you’re referring to. What do you think your call sign should be?”

Izuku flipped through the book, he wanted to follow the theme that Aizawa and Yamada had set for each other, but what animal and adjective should he use? ‘Helpful, for an adjective… but I’m not sure what animal to use.’

“What about Bunny?” Yamada suggested.

“Or a Fox, your plans are really clever after all,” Aizawa also suggested.

‘Helpful Fox it is then,’ Izuku signed after debating between the two animals for a bit.

‘Yeah! Helpful Fox, Loud Cockatoo, and Sleepy Cat are all set to party!’ Yamada signed, Izuku only having to look up the last sign.

Aizawa rolled his eyes, “No parties on a school day.”

“What about after school?” Midnight asked, walking in with a stack of papers in her hand as she grinned.

Aizawa stared flatly at her, “You threw a party just last weekend Nem.”

She snickered, “Just means I can throw another party, in all seriousness though I’m heading out of town this weekend. I was hoping you guys would take care of Sushi.”

Aizawa nodded, “We will, how is he holding up?”

Her smile looked a bit sad, “I don’t think he’ll be around much longer, old age is catching up to him. Anyways! I need to get ready for my classes. Could you hand out these papers during homeroom? I want the kids to have a chance to look at them before my class so I can help them go over the answers they got wrong.”

“Of course,” Aizawa said, taking the papers from her.

“Bye~!” she called out, waving as she exited the room.

Izuku watched as she left, and questioningly signed ‘Sushi?’ to the two teachers.

Aizawa huffed amused, “Her cat. She’s had him for almost 16 years now.”

Izuku nodded, ‘What about you? Do you guys have a pet?’

‘No,’ Aizawa signed.

“With all our jobs we just don’t have time to give a pet the attention it deserves,” Yamada further expanded. “Anyways little listener, did you pick an internship?”

Izuku nodded, ‘Yes, but even before the sports festival I already had one in mind, an older hero G.r.a.n T.o.r.i.n.o he’s going to be able to help me with superpower. All Might said that the hero helped him when he was younger. We met briefly before the sports festival, and he helped me realize that I need to spread it across my body instead of just one limb. That’s how I was able to use it safely during my fight against M.o.n.o.m.a,’ Izuku slowly signed, referring to the book and fingerspelling the names. 

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, “I see, I’m glad that you're getting help with superpower. Be careful though.”

‘I will.’

“Well, I better go get ready as well, I’ll talk with you later Sho, little listener,” Yamada said, giving a nod as he walked out. A moment later the two heard Iida and Yamada greeting each other in the hallway.

Soon Iida entered, and nodded to the two, “Good morning, Sensei, Midoriya!” 

‘Good Morning,’ Izuku signed back.

“Morning,” Aizawa responded.

Soon he and Iida were going over basic signs, the class president helping him study the signs and memorizing them without having to constantly go back and check the book to make sure he was picking the right option.

A few minutes later and more of the students came in. Tokoyami showing up and coming over to them. “Signing is useful for us predators to learn, may I join you in learning the silent communication?”

Izuku gave a thumbs up, and Iida nodded, “Of course!”

They spend the last ten minutes going over the basic greetings with Tokoyami. Dark Shadow, was also hovering around, watching them as they formed the sings with their hands. The intelligent quirk seemed to quickly pick up the sign meetings, though it couldn’t make the signs.

‘Dark Shadow, do you have a gender pronoun you prefer?’ Izuku asked, tilting his head to the quirk after he checked the book.

“They, or them!” Dark Shadow said, giving a loose thumbs up.

A minute before the bell rang, and the door slid open, revealing Bakugou. His three day suspension was up. The blonde glared at them as he went to his seat, plopping himself down as the bell rang.

Everyone was silent. Aizawa stood up, “Internship papers are due. Please hand your papers forward. This next week everything will be finalized so make sure you are prepared for a week long trip. If any issue comes up with your first choice, I will let you know.”

Izuku and the other students started passing papers forward, he handed his to Kirishima after getting the paper from Sato. Kirishima passed it to Kaminari, who handed it to Ojiro.

Ojiro stepped forward, placing the papers on the desk as Shoji, Aoyama, and Hagakure did the same. Aizawa handed them back the papers Midnight dropped off, instructing them to sort the papers and pass them back.

Soon the stack was being handed out as everyone grabbed their own paper and continued to pass the stack around. Aizawa looked at them all and then pulled out his sleeping bag and went to sleep.

Shouta looked through the papers, marking down each person's choice and getting in contact with the internship to make sure it was good. “Internships, huh?” Snipe questioned.

Shouta gave a grunt, “I wonder how many made rash decisions…”

“It’s darn important, y’know. Make ‘em really think on it. Some of my third-years made some choices they regret now.”

“Right.”

Shouta paused as he finalized another choice, looking at Iida’s paper. There was only one choice on it. Manual’s agency, in Hosu. Shouta frowned, Iida was one of his more sensible kids, focused on rules. So he doubted the kid would do anything reckless in Hosu… but still he was sure the kid had better choices available.

Tensei had been injured by Stain, paralyzed. Maybe Iida wanted to go to Hosu because that’s where Tensei had been working when injured? A sense of duty? Looking behind him at Inui he sighed, “What do you think of Iida’s request for Hosu?”

“You think something is wrong with him picking Manual’s agency?”

“If it was one of the other kids, I would think he was going for a chance to go after Stain, but Iida has always been responsible.”

“You’re wondering if it would be better to put him in a different agency on the off shot he might not be as responsible as you thought,” Inui stated.

Shouta nodded.

“What about the effect of denying him this? He could be using it as a closure of sorts, getting a feel for the area that ended his brother's career. Being denied it wouldn’t be good for him, besides Manual won’t let Iida get into any trouble, he’ll take care of Iida.”

Giving a grunt he turned back around and sent the email to Manual’s agency, saying Iida had agreed to join them for internships. Slowly he went through the rest of the papers, pausing briefly at Midoriya’s to look at the name of the retired hero who was supposed to help him with the quirk Midoriya had copied from All Might.

Gran Torino.

He sent the old hero a confirmation email, and then searched up the name. Google searching them came up with no results, which surprised him, so he went to the hero network, a website where all heroes were registered. Searching up on that website had results pop up of a hero in a yellow and white outfit, who was often seen working with a woman with black hair. Both wore capes, they were shown to fight side by side, her floating and him bouncing off things to confuse an enemy. 

He would distract and she would go in for a punch or a kick, showing that she had an extremely strong arm. Looking down at the description of the video, he found that she was just known as the floating hero to the public. Neither of them were particularly popular it seemed. A further search on the hero network revealed that the two were old underground heroes. Though they had been in a few big fights apparently. The woman was deceased, and Gran Torino was of course listed as retired. Though his profile had been updated recently showing he had renewed his hero license.

Shouta frowned, so the man was coming out of retirement just to help Midoriya? He snorted, well it seemed Gran Torino had All Might’s teaching style pegged. Though All Might was improving with the other teachers' help.

Letting out a breath he put the papers to the side. Now he had to wait for the confirmations to be sent and then he would let the kids know Monday which agency they were going to. That would give them until Friday night to get everything they needed in preparation for leaving Saturday morning.

Getting up he shoved his hands in his pockets and left the staff lounge, heading towards gym Sigma. Preparing himself he opened the door, wincing as the loud volume hit his ears for a moment before the two fell silent. Realizing he had entered.

“Sho!” Hizashi said, beaming at him.

Shouta grinned, pulling his hands out his signed as he spoke, “‘Zashi, Midoriya, how is your training going?”

Midoriya gave a smile and a thumbs up, before his hands moved and he was signing, ‘I’m getting better! If I focus really hard it stays green.’

Shouta gave a grunt, “That’s good kiddo, do you want to get some more practice in today, or would you like to go home?”

‘More practice, please.’

Hizashi smiled, ruffling Midoriya’s hair, “The little listener is doing great, I think soon he should be able to hold a conversation without accidently using Voice.”

He nodded and went to the room, entering it he saw the two get back to practicing. Shouta watched as the light was green, but occasionally flashed red as Midoriya lost concentration. It looked like Hizashi was working on getting the kid used to keeping his voice in the green so it became more natural.

It was a good thing that Hizashi was able to help the kid. Hizashi didn’t have anyone to help him and it took him forever to learn the control that Midoriya was able to learn quickly because of Hizashi.

Shouta smiled as he saw the kid double over, laughing, the light changing red. It was a good thing the kid felt like laughing and smiling. Shouta was glad that Nemuri had convinced him to be a teacher, if it meant he could help kids like Midoriya.

Another half hour, and Hizashi signaled to him that they were done. Shouta switched the controls off, turning off the monitoring programs and opened the door, coming out of the room. The three walked towards the car, Hizashi saying he was excited for the special guest his show would be having this weekend.

Midoriya tilted his head questioningly and Hizashi winked, “Don’t give spoilers on my page little listener, but Hawks agreed to do a segment this weekend.”

Midoriya’s eyes widened, ‘Really!?’ he signed, his expression clearly conveying his surprise.

“Yeah! It’s going to be awesome!” Hizashi cheered as he opened the door to the car.

As they drove to Midoriya’s apartment Hizashi listed a bunch of questions he planned on asking Hawks. Shouta watched Midoriya, and saw him signing, ‘Was that one of the reasons you asked me to talk about my analysis of Hawks today?’

Playing interpreter since Hizashi was driving, Shouta relayed Midoriya’s question.

Hizashi nodded, “Yup! You gave me quite a few ideas for things to ask him, little listener, so maybe you might get some answers to your questions.”

Midoriya beamed, moving his hands excitedly. Shouta gave an amused snort, it seemed Midoriya would definitely be tuning in this weekend.

Hizashi pulled into the parking lot, and with a signed goodbye Midoriya left, heading up the stairs and into his apartment.

“Now, time to pick up Sushi,” Hizashi said, grinning as he pulled back out and they headed towards Nemuri’s house.

Chapter Text

Looking into the mirror plain brown eyes met her. Reaching up towards her hair she pulled it into a ponytail, the blonde strands cascading through her fingers as she moved it into a bun. Glancing down at the driver license she nodded to herself, satisfied that she resembled the photo.

Her name was Redi Iroppoi. She would have to remember that, would have to make sure she didn’t slip up. If she did, her life would be over. Even worse than before… failure would likely lead to her insanity. 

Iroppoi sighed as she clipped the last strand into place. Nothing would go wrong, she had planned too much for this. Ever since she had heard that he had gotten out. Brown eyes narrowed, she was going to make him suffer for the 13 years of suffering he had inflicted on her. The things she was forced to do because of him.

Iroppoi would get her revenge, and damn the costs. She knew exactly what was at stake if any heroes or the police caught her. Yet, she also knew how they worked, and she was going to use that knowledge against them. Just this once.

She was going to kill that man. 

And she knew she wouldn’t regret it, even if killing him didn’t release her from this curse. He already had 13 years to release her, and he chose to have a longer sentence in jail then to free her and the other victims. 

He was supposed to have 15 years, but they released him early for his ‘good’ behavior. As if he was actually repentant. If he was he would release her and the others from his quirk. Would make them stop craving things.

Even now she could feel the onset of the clawing, a slight itch. It was still safe to ignore it, but in another week she would once more be forced to relive it. 

Pocketing the walet she turned and left the hotel room she had rented for the night. Now it was time to find her quarry. Iroppoi had tracked him to Kyoto, but she didn’t know his exact location.

Leaving the hotel room she pulled out the phone she was currently using. The last sighting of him was at an old warehouse. Pulling up the directions she started walking in that direction, flats clicking softly on the ground.

Out on the streets she smiled emptily at the people she passed by, wanting to be seen as nothing more than the airhead secretary she was posing as. It was a Saturday, the streets filled with busy people going about their business. As she left the main streets the crowds thinned out and after an hour of walking she came to the warehouse. Sneaking into the building she looked around.

It was filled with crates, boxes with unknown content. Eyes scanning around a glint in the gloomy lighting caught her eyes. Heading towards it she crouched down, gloved hands picking up the needle.

It was empty, but still held drops of liquid on the inside. It was fresh. He must have come here to do one of his drug deals. Carefully she put the needle back down. Heading towards one of the crates she checked the lid, finding it to be on tightly she went to another and another. After checking about five she found a loose one, and shifted the lid to the side, looking inside of the crate.

Inside were just normal goods, nothing illegal. She slid the lid back on. There was nothing useful to where he might be.

Iroppoi huffed. “Too bad you couldn’t make this easy for me,” she whispered out, taking one last look at the warehouse before leaving.

She would have to find one of his victims then. He always made sure they would be able to come find him to get their fix. And so long as they paid he would give them whatever he hooked them on. 

Iroppoi was glad that he was arrested before the first craving had taken hold of her, before he forced her to beg for him. If he hadn’t been arrested she might not have even realized that any guy would suffice, not just him.

Despite that ‘silver lining’ she would always regret how she found out. How the clawing had taken over as she resisted it. Iroppoi thought she could resist it, but it got worse and worse until everything was a blurry haze and she had attacked her mentor. Once her mind had cleared up she had been upset, apologizing profusely.

She was lucky that her mentor understood, to this day he was the only one who knew the full range of what happened. Not even her best friends knew what happened. She couldn’t tell them. Didn’t want to see the pity in their eyes.

Exiting the warehouse she started walking around, sticking to the outskirts of the city as she observed the alleyways. Looking for someone exhibiting the signs she herself was familiar with. After all these years she knew how to hide the signs, but if he was starting up again, there would be fresh victims. 

Victims who didn’t know how to control themselves. Didn’t know how long they could resist before snapping. Brown eyes scanned the people she passed by, observing how each of them walked, talked, acted.

One hour passed.

Two.

Still no luck. Stomach rumbling she sighed, pulling out her phone and finding a nearby cafe where she could get lunch. Ordering a sandwich and taking off her gloves she sat down. Eating carefully, she made sure a vapid look remained on her face, ignoring her silver nails as the sunlight filtering through the window glinted off of them.

Just as she was finishing her lunch, a man came through the door, shifting foot to foot, biting his nails. Grey eyes flickering back and forth, a desperation in them. The man ordered and ate his food, only taking a couple bites before pushing it away.

Iroppoi inwardly smiled, it would seem she found a potential victim. Either he was a victim, or he was a normal drugie, only further observation would help her. Pulling on her gloves she checked that her nails slotted through the holes.

Seamlessly her nails blended into the gloves, unnoticable at a distance as anything other than a part of her gloves. Seeing the guy check his phone she wondered if he would be meeting with her tormentor soon.

She hoped so, if only so she could put an end to him. She sat, pretending to be relaxing, waiting for the man to leave. After a long ten minutes the man got up, throwing away his uneaten food and quickly walking out.

At a much more relaxed pace she also left. Stepping outside, brown eyes saw him as he turned a corner, heading in the direction of the warehouse. Quickly she followed after him. Flats tapping against the ground.

He walked past the warehouse, going behind it. Shifting her posture she turned down the side of the building, footsteps now silent. Halfway down the side of the building she could hear voices coming from around the corner.

“Do you have the money?” The voice that haunted her nightmares asked.

“Y-yes, p-please…”

A cruel laugh, “Money first.”

Even after all these years she recognized the voice of Katsubo Yami. Quirk: Craving. The guy who cursed her to crave sex, forced her to seek out someone to keep her companionship. The guy who had taken her virginity, had raped her.

She could hear the victim fumbling through his pockets, grabbing his money. Iroppi took this time to pull out a vial from her clutch. Carefully she opened it and dipped each of the metal nails into the vial. Tapping her nails of the excess liquid she capped the bottle and put it back in.

“Thank you for your business, as agreed here is your supply.”

Iroppoi stepped around the corner, “I’ve been waiting a long time for this meeting, Katsubo.”

Before her stood the jittery man, he was holding a small case, filled with whatever drug Katsubo had hooked him on. The man looked between the two of them, quickly fleeing away. Obviously sensing the dangerous situation.

Katsubo tilted his head, long, curly, brown hair cascading to the side. Confusion entered his eyes, “Do I know you?”

“Yes.” Not that she expected him to recognize her, she was disguised for a reason after all. “Thirteen years I have suffered because of you, and today it all ends… tell me… will your quirk stop with your death?”

She gave him no time to answer as she lunged at him, hands outstretched, all she needed was one good scratch.

Katsubo’s pale gray eyes widened and he stumbled back, tripping and falling. The guy managed to roll to the side, avoiding her kick and getting back up, looming over her, trying to use his height to intimidate her. “You bitch!” he spat. Katsubo sneered at her, “Thirteen years ago, huh? I know who you are.”

She smiled ferally, “Good.”

She swiped at him again, catching the arm he used to block her, ripping his shirt and flesh easily. He yelped, staring at her with wide eyes as she flicked the gathered blood off of the metal nails.

“You were a hero trainee! Don’t heroes avoid killing people? Shouldn’t you just be trying to arrest me?!” The guy shouted, panic entering his eyes.

“I’m no hero. You saw to that,” she snarled. He was wide open now, clutching at his arm that was probably burning in pain.

Swiping with her right hand she grabbed his arm, spinning him as she twisted the arm behind his back. With her still poisoned left hand she reached around the guy, placing the nails at his throat, digging into his skin, but not piercing it. Yet.

“Even should killing you not free me of your quirk, I will be satisfied knowing you can no longer harm any more people.”

Applying more pressure she dug the nails into his throat, and with a yank she raked the nails through his throat. Dropping him he landed on the ground with a thud, she watched as he clutched at his throat, trying to stop the blood. It wouldn’t matter, the poison would finish him off if he didn’t suffocate.

Looking down at him she noticed a scar, raking across his lip. She didn’t remember the scar being there thirteen years ago, but… she did remember fighting against him, trying desperately to free herself from his grip. Thirteen years ago she had managed to bite his lip when he kissed her, ripping away a piece of his flesh. It hadn’t stopped him, but she was glad to see that even back then she had gotten some form of revenge.

It didn’t make her feel better. Not really. It was a hollow sort of victory, short lived before he ripped her clothes off. Before… Iroppoi closed her brown eyes, shaking her head gently to shove the memories away. Whatever happened now, if they caught her or not, it didn’t matter. The deed would soon be done.

Opening her eyes she watched, staring into his eyes as his labored breathing came to a slow halt. His grip around his neck loosened and she saw the light leaving his eyes. Turning away she walked back down the alleyway. 

Already she could feel the clawing sensation falling away. There was no urge to have sex anymore. No presence driving her to act like a whore. She was free.

Blissfully free.

For the first time in thirteen years she smiled, a true joyful smile. Whatever happened because of her actions today, she would never regret them. Not now, not ever. She was free, and his other victims would also be free of his quirk, able to live their lives normally again.

No longer would she be forced to degrade herself. Now, she could act however she wanted, without that clawing urging her to have sex. Flats tapping against the ground she made her way to the train station. It was time to go back home, though first she was going to find someplace to unwind.

Entering the restroom of the train station she removed the gloves, throwing them in the trash. Then carefully she unclipped the metal nails, washing them before adding them to the trash. Grabbing her clutch she pulled out the poison, dumping it down the sink and after cleaning the bottle added it with the other items in the trash.

Hands moving she popped out the color contacts, and undid the bun, changing it instead to a low ponytail. She would have to remove the dye once she got home, but that would be easy. With deft movements she removed the top layer of her clothes, glad no one had noticed the specks of blood. Underneath she wore another outfit, a joggers outfit. 

Looking into the mirror she smiled and pulled out the phone and a pair of earbuds. No longer did Redi Iroppoi exist, now she was just an everyday jogger. Just a little longer and she would be home and she could return to her normal persona.

A persona she would slowly be able change, to make what she wanted it to be, instead of what she had been forced to be because of Katsubo.

Leaving the restroom she went onto the train, earbuds in ears, though no music played. Today was the beginning of something new, something great.

Chapter Text

Tensei’s brain was foggy when he woke up, he knew he was on drugs, pain meds and the like. Knew he had been injured by the Hero Killer. But Tensei had to go after him. 

Something was odd though, even despite the fog.

There was something missing.

What… what was missing?

It took him a moment, his concentration having slipped and his thoughts wondering away from him, but eventually he figured it out.

The gnawing was gone.

The urge to fight, to face a dangerous adversary.

He was free…

But more than that, everyone else was free as well.

How, how did this happen?

Tensei struggled to stay up, to ask his parents about the guy, but eventually he fell asleep before he could ask, and when he woke back up it slipped past his mind to ask them as his brother was there to see him.

Hizashi bounced in his seat, trying to work out some of his energy before Hawks showed up. It wasn’t often that the number 3 hero stayed in one place long enough for someone to get a proper interview with him. 

Honestly Hizashi hadn’t expected the hero to agree when he sent in the request, but the winged hero had responded promptly, agreeing to come on. Adding in his message that he was a fan of the show. 

Right on time the door opened, and in his hero costume the hero came in, red wings filling up the room. Hawks grinned, “Good to meet you Present Mic!”

“Good to meet you as well, everything’s all set up, just put the headphones on and when the song ends I’ll get us started. If you don’t want to answer a question, just say so and I’ll move on to another question.”

The Hero gave a thumbs up, taking the seat he removed his ear protection muffs and put on the headphones.

Hizashi checked the progress of the song and as it ticked down through the last ten seconds he turned the mics on. 

“Aaaand that was the number 3 song on the popularity chart, Gunjou by Yoasobi! As fitting to play before we introduce this week's special guest! I hope all of you are tuning in to find out who our special guest on this 7 o’ clock Sunday show is. I know I’ve been hyping it up these past three days!”

“Hopefully they get the clue, with all the three’s you're mentioning,” Hawkes spoke up, grinning.

“That’s right! Your ears aren’t deceiving you! This week we have the number three hero, Hawks!” Hizashi said, giving a fist pump no one except Hawks would see.

“Thank you for inviting me, I’m a fan of the show, and I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to come on.”

“And I’m very glad you could make it, now let’s dive right into this interview with some basic questions.”

Hawks nodded, and Hizashi grinned, “Let’s start with something simple, since we’re on  a radio show, I feel it is only fitting to ask some music related questions. That being said, what sort of music do you listen to?”

“I thought this was supposed to be an easy question? I like all sorts of music, though I think I’m a bit more fond of rock then other genres.”

“Do you listen to music on your patrols?”

“You bet I do! These earmuffs do more than protect my ears, I can turn them off and on quickly so they also don’t interfere with my fight, or when I’m talking with fans.”

“What sort of things do you do outside of hero work?”

“Other than my modeling you mean?” Hawks returned, with a grin.

“Yes other than modeling.”

“Well, I like to design clothes in my free time. In fact, I’m about to release some of my own designs which I will be modeling soon, so keep your eyes open.”

“Designing clothes, and modeling them, both very interesting choices, tell me what got you into your clothing hobbies?”

“Well it was Best Jeanist actually! A few years back we were hanging out and he was joking that if I modeled I would instantly be a hit.”

Hizashi grinned, “Well he’s not wrong, aren’t you the most sought after model in Japan?”

Hawks gave a laugh, “Yes, but I think that’s because I’m also a hero, I doubt I would be nearly as popular if I wasn’t.”

“I think your fans would disagree, but how about another question. This one should be simple, what is your favorite color?”

“Gold.”

“Is there a particular reason why gold is your favorite color?”

“Not really, maybe it’s because my eyes are gold.”

“I think one more simple question, and then we’ll start getting into some real questions. What is your favorite movie?”

“Well I can’t say that I can answer this question, I don’t really watch movies. What about you Mic?”

“Me? Hmm I’d say my favorite movie is a pre-quirk one, Dumb and Dumber.”

“I might have to give it a watch then.”

Hizashi gave a thumbs up, “Now everyone knows that you rose quickly in the hero ranks, so do you have any tips for aspiring heroes?”

“Other than training hard? I would say that my advice would be: Be true to yourself! You might be told you should portray yourself a certain way to get more popular, but you should be happy with yourself, don’t lie to the people who depend on you to keep them safe.”

“That is very good advice, following that is there anything you wish you knew when you started out as a hero?”

“Well I wish I knew how much time it took, I have to admit, I don’t have much free time. So it amazes me that you have three jobs.”

Hizashi grinned, “Well I know how to manage my time efficiency, and I have a lot of people supporting me. Though I admit that my hero time is cut down quite a bit. So why did you decide to be a hero?”

“I like helping people,” Hawks said, one shoulder shrugging.

“A very valid reason for becoming a hero, do you see yourself still being a hero in five years?”

“Well, so long as I don’t meet my untimely death I would say yes.”

“Now, many people believe that being a hero is challenging, so much that it’s overwhelming and too much to handle, do you think this is true?”

“Absolutely,” Hawks said, “Being a hero isn’t an easy job you can coast on by. You have to risk your limb and life in order to protect civilians. If someone isn’t ready to make that sacrifice, then can they really be a hero that civilians need?”

“It is true a hero has to be ready to do so, but that doesn’t mean they should be throwing their life away, sometimes a hero has to know when to retreat in order to protect more people in the long run. So, on the topic of tough decisions, what is the hardest fight you’ve had to do?”

“A couple years back, there was the outbreak of the prison facility, I was the first one on the scene and let me tell you, it was exhausting to keep all of those villains rounded up while waiting for other heroes to arrive.”

“I remember that day, I think I was one of the later ones to arrive, and mostly helped clean up, it turned out to be quite a mess. Anyways, that about wraps up the questions I had planned, now let's turn it over to the callers. If you have a question for Hawks, call in now at 555-111-0000.”

Only a few seconds passed before they got a caller, Hizashi picked it up, “Hello, you’re on the air, what is your name listener?”

“Kaguya Lex,” a feminim sounding voice answered. Though he wouldn’t call them a female without confirming it. Hizashi had learned his lesson for assuming a person's gender while on a call, that had led to a few scandals when he started.

“Nice to meet you Kaguya, now what is your question for Hawks?” Hizashi asked.

“I was wondering what his thoughts were on Endeavor and All Might?” Kaguya questioned.

“Well, I have to say both are good heroes! Though I admit to liking Endeavor more than All Might personally.”

“Really?! Wow, not many people prefer Endeavor to All Might…” Kaguya said in surprise.

Hawks laughed, “Well I have spoken to the flame hero, I haven’t gotten the chance to know All Might, so of course I’m a bit biased.”

“Well, thank you for calling in Kaguya, now let's give another listener a chance. Hello, and welcome onto Put Your Hands Up Radio, what would your name be listener?”

“I’m glad to be on! I’m Koharu! My question for Hawks would be what is your favorite word?” A younger voice spoke rapidly.

Hawks chuckled, “Favorite word? That’s an interesting question, probably Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.”

Hizashi blinked, “Could you repeat that please?”

“Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.”

“What does that mean?” Koharu asked.

“It’s the name for a phobia of long words.”

Hizashi snickered, “Wow, the more you know! Thank you for calling in, listener, now it’s almost time for the show to end, but I think we have time for one more caller. Soooo! Hello listener you’re on the air! What’s your name?”

“Kasumi and my question would be, if you could switch lives with someone for a day, who would you choose?”

“Well, nice to meet you Kasumi, and I don’t know who I would, maybe Present Mic here, his life seems pretty interesting, or perhaps All Might, it would be interesting to see what a day was like in the number one hero’s shoes, though I wouldn’t want to do it for more than one day, I prefer my number three spot.”

“Alright and there you have it, thank you all for calling in, but it’s time for the show to wrap up! Thank you Hawks for coming on the show.”

“Sure, it was pretty fun.”

“Right! Now, back to music, this is Present Mic signing off! Byeeee~” Hizashi said, switching the music on and muting the headphones.

Hawks stood up, stretching his wings a bit and removing the headphones. “Well it was fun and all, but I gotta get going now, my patrol starts in like ten minutes. Enough time for me to get some chicken wings.” Hawks said, waving a hand as he walked out the door.

Hizashi shook his head a bit at that, and continued to DJ for a bit, picking songs until his shift replacement came in. Then he was finally able to head home. A short drive later and he walked into his home.

Looking around he found Shouta laying on the couch, the radio still on his station and playing music. His husband had his eyes closed and was stroking Sushi who was curled up on his chest.

“I see how it is, the moment I’m gone you replace me with a cat,” Hizashi teased, walking up to the couch and kissing Shouta’s forehead.

Shouta peeked an eye open, crooked grin forming, “You shouldn’t leave me then if you don’t want to get replaced.”

Hizashi shook his head fondly and went towards the kitchen, “So what did you make me tonight?”

“What makes you think I cooked anything?”

A fake gasp of horror, “You didn’t make me, your loving husband anything? Betrayal! Betrayal I say!”

“... You might find some fish though.”

Hizashi grinned, “I knew you loved me!” Opening the fridge he saw a plate covered in seran wrap right on top for him. “Thank you Sho~”

“Of course.”

As he heated up the food he asked, “So how was Sushi while I was gone?”

“A decent replacement heat source, he hasn’t moved in an hour so I’ve been stuck here.”

“When did Nem say she was picking him up?”

“Around ten.”

“So we have the little bundle of joy for another half an hour.”

Shouta just grunted.

Hizashi chuckled and pulled his food out, heading towards the couch he shoved Shouta’s legs off and sat down, ignoring the glare Shouta gave him. Sushi miracusoly woke up and meowed at him, begging for some food.

A minute later and Hizashi melted, giving the cat a piece of the fish. “No more Sushi, it’s not healthy for you, and I’m sure Shouta already fed you.”

“I did indeed.”

Finishing up dinner he washed his dishes and returned to the couch, moving Sushi onto his lap and petting the old cat. Shouta got up and went to the bathroom, coming out after a moment.

All too soon there was a knock on the door, and Shouta padded over to the door, letting in Nemuri. “How was my darling boy this weekend?” she asked, instantly going over to Sushi and cooing.

“He was a joy, though I’m sure he’ll be happy to return to his mother,” Hizashi said, grinning as he held Sushi out to Nemuri.

“Thank you so much for taking care of him, I had a busy weekend on the move and it was a bit last minute.”

“You know we don’t mind Nemuri,” Shouta said, crossing his arms.

Hizashi blinked, looking at Nemuri, “You must have had a really good weekend, you seem more relaxed then I’ve seen you in forever.”

Nemuri chuckled, “Well a trip to the spa will do that for a girl. Anyways, I should get going, I need my beauty sleep after all,” she said, giving a wink as she turned and left. “Goodnight you two!”

“Night.”

“Goodbye!”

With that Shouta came back over to the couch and leaned against him sighing. Hizashi looked over to him, “What are you thinking about?”

“Just what Rock Lock was saying again. I know you don’t mind. It’s just our friends I was thinking of now. I think,” Shouta paused for a moment before continuing, “I think I want to tell Nemuri of our relationship, I know it’s risky if she gets talkative drunk, but… I don’t know if we should be hiding it from our coworkers, if we can’t trust them, who can we trust? Well, except Vlad, I definitely wouldn’t tell him.”

Hizashi snorted, “Speaking of coworkers though, do you know what I did to offend Ectoplasm?”

Shouta shrugged, “Nope, why did something happen?”

“All last week he was glaring at me, I have no idea what I might have done to offend him.”

“Huh. Well, maybe we should tell Tensei at least, maybe he could help us decide if we should tell the others or not.”

“If we do tell Nem she’s going to be upset we kept it from her for so long.”

Shouta shrugged, “It’s only a little over a year, I’m sure she’ll get over it.”

Hizashi hummed, “Well it won’t hurt to put it off longer, these past few months she’s been going out less and starting to become more serious. Let’s just see how things progress first.”

Shouta nodded, “Alright then. But while the students are at their internships let's talk to Tensei.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

With that the two fell silent, simply enjoying cuddling each other.

Chapter Text

“Good morning, so as we’re about to go on our internships, I was thinking it might be a good idea for us to create a class chat.  We could use it to ask each other for help with homework, or set up study groups. It’s also a way for us to get to know each other better,” Yaoyorozu suggested, standing in front of the class while Aizawa slept in a corner. Izuku was just glad that Aizawa seemed to like the jelly packet Izuku had gotten him.

“That sounds like a good idea!” Iida agreed, hands chopping down.

Other students agreed, and Yaoyorozu had them write their numbers down. Izuku did, passing it up with the others. Yaoyorozu added Iida’s number first, and the two went through, adding all of them to the class chat.

“You know what we should also do?” Kirishima questioned out loud.

“If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, then I agree!” Kaminari said.

“What are you thinking, kero?” Asui questioned.

“Nicknames! We should all randomly draw names and create a nickname for that person!”

“Tch, that sounds dumb,” Bakugou said, crossing his arms.

“I think it sounds fun!” Uraraka said right after.

Iida looked at them, “All in favor of creating nicknames raise your hand.”

Everyone except Bakugou and Todoroki raised their hand.

“Alright, if we’re going to do this, then we need to make sure that there are no inappropriate nicknames, keep it clean and friendly!” Iida said, looking at them all sternly.

With that Yaoyorozu created a hat, and everyone added a paper with their name in it. “We’ll go in order of class seats, so Aoyama, you’re up first.”

“Comme c'est excitant!” The half french boy said, stepping up and reaching into the hat. “Sato, I will create the most magnifique name for you!”

The other boy nodded.

Ashido grinned, stepping forward and drawing a name. “I already got a nickname in mind for you Kirishima~!” she cheered, waving the slip.

The other students went up, one by one drawing names. Soon everyone was changing the names of the others. Izuku looked at the phone, watching the messages appear as people typed in the new nicknames.

Aoyama changed Sato’s name to SweetTooth✨.

Ashido changed Kirishima’s name to RockHard.

Asui changed Kaminari’s name to StormFront.

Iida changed Sero’s name to FixItWithFlexTape.

There was a pause as everyone took in the name Iida made for Sero, no one expecting it. Iida saw them looking at him and looked abashed, “I couldn’t think of anything, and so I asked my brother for help.”

“Your brother? Is he a fellow memer?” Kaminari questioned, looking excited.

Iida nodded, “Anyways, class is almost over, let’s finish changing the names!”

Uraraka changed Yaoyorozu’s name to TheCreator.

Ojiro changed Koda’s name to AnimalKing.

Kaminari changed Iida’s name to GottaGoFast.

Kirishima changed Midoriya’s name to ShyGuy.

Izuku looked at his nickname for a moment before shrugging, it wasn’t that he was shy just… didn’t really like other people because they tended to hurt him. 

Koda changed Jirou’s name to Beats.

Sato changed Todoroki’s name to IcyHot.

Shoji changed Aoyama’s name to AlwaysSparkling.

“It is true, but I do think a couple of sparkles would make it better,” Aoyama said, fluttering his eyes dramatically.

Shoji changed Aoyama’s name to ✨AlwaysSparkling✨.

Aoyama beamed radiantly, “Thank you Shoji~”

Jiro changed Shoji’s name to ParabolicMic.

Sero changed Ojiro’s name to TailMan.

Tokoyami changed Hagakure’s name to Incognito.

Todoroki changed Bakugou’s name to Explosion.

Izuku finally got an idea for what to nickname Tokoyamai, he just hoped the boy was okay with it. Clicking through the app, he typed in the name.

Hagakure changed Uraraka’s name to InfinityBlast.

Bakugou changed Ashido’s name to RacoonEyes.

Hitting enter he saw the notification go through.

Midoriya changed Tokoyami’s name to ShadowKing.

Mineta changed Asui’s name to FrogKink.

“That is not appropriate, Mineta, choose something else,” Iida scolded.

Izuku frowned, looking over to Asui who looked uncomfortable.

Mineta changed Asui’s name to LickMeAllDay.

“Mineta, create something appropriate, or we will create the nickname for Asui,” Yaoyorozu said, a hint of anger in her voice.

Asui’s hands were clenched as she glared at Mineta.

Mineta snickered from his seat. 

Mineta changed Asui’s name to Beastiality. 

Yaoyorozu scowled, “That’s it, I’m giving Tsu-chan a name.”

There was a smacking sound, and Izuku only saw a bit of Asui’s tongue retracting, and heard the thud of Mineta being banged against the window. Izuku shuddered, Mineta’s behavior really creeped him out. 

“Mineta see me during lunch, we need to have a talk about your inappropriate behavior,” Aizawa said, eyes narrowed at the boy who just rolled his eyes.

Yaoyorozu change Asui’s name to Lilypad.

“Thank you Rozu-chan,” Asui said, smiling at the taller girl.

“No problem Tsu-chan.”

Yaoyorozu changed Mineta’s name to Grapes.

“Alright, is everyone happy with their nickname?” Yaoyorozu asked.

Various forms of yes resounded from the classroom, both Iida and Yaoyorozu ignoring Bakugou’s complaint that he should be called ‘KingExplosionMurder.’

Aizawa stood up, and headed out of the room as the bell rang, Yamada coming in. “Hello everyone! Are you ready for today’s English lesson!?”

With that, the classes passed by as normal. Then it was lunch time, Izuku walked along the halls towards the cafeteria until he heard his phone beep. Frowning he looked down at it and saw a message from Nedzu.

[You know where to find me, it’s time for another lesson.]

A mixture of excitement and worry filled him, his lessons with Nedzu were… interesting. But it always unnerved him how much the principal seemed to know, even without Izuku telling him. Speaking with the principal was also different, he wasn’t human after all, which meant Izuku didn’t know if the principal would be like most of the adults in his life.

So far, the only adults who hadn’t hurt him after finding out he was worthless were Aizawa and Yamada. Even his mom had accidentally hurt him before her accident. She didn’t support his dreams of being a hero. She still didn’t even believe he had a quirk, that the doctor had lied.

Clearing his head he looked around for an empty hallway, soon entering the vent systems.

Looking at the app, he navigated through the vents until he came across the meeting room. The place with the beanbags and the fridge. “Ah good afternoon Midoriya!” Nedzu said cheerfully, popping out of the beanbag and heading towards the counter.

‘Good afternoon,’ Izuku returned in sign, taking the tea the principal passed over from the counter.

“Now, before we want to get started, I want to see the analysis I asked you to do.”

Izuku nodded, and reached into his bag, pulling out a new journal, this one titled villain analysis. He handed it over to Nedzu who started to read through it, flickering through the pages. The journal was for villains, but more specifically villains he came across, in this case it was the villains during USJ. Nedzu wanted him to write everything he knew, what he did during his first encounter, and what he could do if he were to encounter them again.

The first lesson he had with Nedzu had been about his notebooks, and the information within. Nedzu and him created a code and then he spent the entire afternoon having to rewrite all of his journals. Which the principal had stolen from his house.

The second lesson was improving his analysis, things that he forgot to do. Or writing out scenarios that might result in the hero being maimed or killed. Nedzu wanted him to think of everything, even situations that were highly improbable. Yet the principal also told him that humans were capable of doing a lot more damage without quirks then a person might think. That Izuku shouldn’t discount breaking bones or fighting dirty.

After the lesson and creating plans on how to take down each of his classmates without using his quirk, the principal gave him this homework assignment.

“Good! I see you are taking your lessons to heart! Like you wrote, quirks that need five finger contact are easy to subvert if you can take a finger off. Of course, they will aim to protect their hands, which makes going for it difficult, so using a sword to take off an arm is something that is viable. So long as you have a sword on you, but your note of even just aiming to dislocate the arm is great! Even should your enemy pop their arm back into place it would take them a moment to do so. That moment would of course give you time to plan out a new action or to take advantage of their distraction to further damage them. Now, my question to you, Midoriya, is why do you not use these types of moves when you fight?”

‘Well, I don’t think of them, and most of my fights are against my classmates and I don’t want to hurt them,’ Izuku signed slowly, having to refer to the book for a few of the words.

“True, that you shouldn’t use permanently disabling moves against your classmates, but we do have Recovery Girl to help heal lesser injuries. As for not thinking of these moves, that is what we will have to help you improve on, you create great strategies, but it takes you time. So what we will be working on now is improving your thinking under pressure. Which is why we will be heading towards gym Zeta!”

The Principal clapped his hands and started to walk through the vents, gesturing Izuku to follow after him. Worried at the chuckles the principal was giving, he followed. Soon the principal dropped them into a hall, just as the bell rang and the students came out from the lunch room.

“Ah, Principal Nedzu, Young Midoriya!” All Might greeted, smiling brightly at them, buffed up in his muscle form.

Izuku waved before signing a greeting, ‘Hello!’

“All Might, a pleasure of course, but I’m afraid that I can’t chat for long, you see I am taking Midoriya to Gym Zeta. You are welcome to join and I’m sure that Midoriya would be grateful for an opportunity to see someone give an example of how the gym works while I control the conditions. Though perhaps it might be better for me to get Aizawa-kun, I haven’t tested him in awhile, and I wouldn’t want him to get rusty.”

All Might gave a weak chuckle, “While I would love to help, I am going over battle training with class 1-B today. So I should get going!”

Nedzu just smiled, “Well, that should mean Kan-Kun is free to help us! When you see him, send him to gym Zeta, will you please?”

“Sure! I’ll go tell him now, good luck young Midoriya!” All Might said, turning and power walking off to the class.

Nedzu continued leading them through the halls and soon they exited out and boarded an ATV. “The gym is a bit of a drive, since it’s not used usually until your third year. Though I might take your class for an afternoon to the gym, I think it would be useful to see how well you first years do on the test, as you guys don’t have as much practical experience as the third years. Speaking of experience though, your class has encountered villains, so perhaps I should use Class 1-B as a control test, as they will only have the internship for practical experience, while your class will have USJ and the internship.”

“Anyways, while we wait for Kan-kun, I shall explain how this gym works. It is a maze, which changes as you progress through it, your goal is to reach the center of the maze. Throughout the maze there are different obstacles. Some are traps, some are enemies, and others are timed questions or riddles. Now, I have various difficulties and so we will be setting you on the easiest difficulty, for the first round so you get a sense of how it works, without the lethal traps.”

‘Lethal?!’ Izuku signed, eyes widening.

“Don’t worry, it’s only particularly lethal on the higher difficulties, at most you’ll get injured enough for me to call it off and have Recovery Girl heal you,” The Principal chirped. “Ah there’s Kan-kun! Good!”

Izuku turned around, seeing class 1-B’s teacher coming closer. Stomach turning nervously as he saw the angry looking expression he saw on the teachers face he stepped back, closer to the principal.

“All Might said you wanted to see me?” Vlad King questioned, ignoring Izuku as he looked at Nedzu.

Nedzu smiled, clapping his hands, “Yes! Since All Might is looking after your class you can help me demonstrate Gym Zeta to Midoriya!”

The blood hero froze, eyes widening, before he slumped, sighing as he got into the back of the ATV. “Let's get this horror show over with then,” The teacher grumbled.

Ten minutes of Nedzu driving at high speeds that made Izuku think he was going to be thrown out of the ATV later, and they arrived at the gym. Behind him from the backseat Izuku heard the blood hero gulp.

Just what sort of gym was this if it made pro heroes like All Might and Vlad King nervous? Nedzu hopped off the ATV.

Well it looked like he was about to find out.

Chapter Text

Before him was a large circular building, a steel set of double doors closing the building to the outside world. Next to the main doors was another door, this one labeled, ‘Control and Observation.’

Above the door was a strange looking symbol, like a seven with a curved line at the bottom that trailed to the right ending with a curved hook that went back to the left. Above the curved line was what seemed to be a chute leading inside the building.

“This way Midoriya! I’ll let Kan-kun here demonstrate the gym for you so you have an idea of what to expect.”

The principal walked towards the labeled door, opening it and letting Izuku into the room. In it was a ton of monitors and a huge panel with buttons. One of the screens showed the front door and the symbol.

Izuku could see Vlad King standing in front of the door. Nedzu pressed a button and then spoke, “Alright! The course is ready, on a medium difficulty of course!”

The blood hero stepped forward, pulling the doors opened and stepping in, immediately Izuku saw him appear on another camera. Before him was two paths, one on the left and one on the right. Izuku saw the hero carefully look at each one, and after a moment chose the left path.

“I do say it’s medium, but I won’t be activating as many traps as I normally would, this is only a demonstration after all,” Nedzu stated, rubbing his hands and hitting a button.

Immediately Vlad jumped away, just as a splash of water landed where he had been standing moments prior. Vlad just continued forward, taking a right turn at the next juncture and a gate slammed shut behind him, preventing him from back tracking. Before him stood a gate the hero visibly grimaced and stepped to it. 

Nedzu smiled and leaned towards the microphone, “I have no wallet but I pay my way. I travel the world but in the corner I stay. What am I? Ten seconds.”

The blood hero paused, thinking for a couple seconds before answering, “A stamp.”

Nedzu pushed a button and the gate opened up.

Further the hero progressed, dodging most of the traps, though his suit got singed with flamethrowers at one point. The hero also answered the riddles correctly, though they had been getting closer and closer.

Then the hero ran into what looked to be a person, immediately Vlad King took an attack stance.

“Now, in this difficulty I allow the use of quirks, but the version you will be doing you won’t be allowed to use quirks.”

Spears of blood launched from the hero, spearing the dummy who had just released a gas. Vlad King covered his mouth, rushing past the gas. Soon he appeared to be on a long straight path, with the center in sight. Vlad rushed forward, jumping over pitfalls that opened up, sliding under a long metal blade that shot out, and just as he got to the end the floor underneath him shot up, throwing him into the air and as he was falling a giant bat swung from the ceiling, sending the blood hero flying into another part of the maze.

Izuku looked through the monitors until he found the teacher again. The man was clutching his stomach and limping painfully.

Nedzu cackled, one hand holding tea and Izuku didn’t know where it came from. The other was raised above a button. With another cackle and a bit of tea spilling out the paw slammed down onto the button and there was an audible rumble. The teacher’s eyes widened and he started running, expression twisting in pain.

Soon Izuku saw a giant boulder rolling down the hallway, chasing after the hero. It was quickly gaining speed. Mainly due to the fact that the floor was now obviously tilted, steeped for the boulder to catch up to the hero.

Just as it was about to crush Vlad King when Nedzu pressed another button and a gate opened up, Vlad diving through it and rolling before leaping up, looking around for something.

The man took one step forward, only to be covered in slime.

The blood hero’s expression looked pissed as he wiped the slime out of his face. Vlad King’s movements were fierce as he stomped forward. Reaching another barrier, only this time a gate appeared behind him, slowly moving forward, clearly intent on crushing him. “Get three riddles right to move on, get three wrong and you get sent back to the beginning. You have 90 seconds.” With that Nedzu proceeded to ask various riddles, soon the blood hero was at 2 v 2, and the gate was almost upon him. Maybe about ten seconds left.

“You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why?”

The gate was almost on him and so the hero answered, unable to take time to think, “They jumped off?!”

Nedzu pressed a loud buzzer, and the floor from underneath Vlad opened up. The monitors switched, showing the hero sliding down a chute, and then Izuku saw him spit out of the hole in the symbol. The teacher was back at the start. Izuku was surprised to find that he had a small smile on his face, and that this was amusing him. Why did he find this amusing?

“Would you like to try again Kan-kun?” Nedzu asked, smiling.

Izuku saw the monitor as the hero raised a middle finger and stalked off, covered in slime and suit burnt. He was kinda hoping the hero would go again. Soon his phone beeped and Izuku looked at it, blinking when he saw it was an image of Vlad King, obviously taken from the monitor.

“Show that to Aizawa-kun next time you see him, it’ll amuse your teacher.”

‘Ok,’ Izuku signed.

“Now for you I will grant extra time since you have to sign your answers, and of course you’re on the easiest level. Now, are you ready to try yourself?”

Izuku gulped, but he didn’t think he would be able to say no, so he nodded, regardless that he felt like running away.

“Good! Now. I did you the favor of bringing your gym uniform over, it’s in the corner!” Nedzu said, geturing. Looking over Izuku saw his gym uniform laid out on a small table. “Now I understand humans are uncomfortable being unclothed in front of strangers, so just come out when you finish changing. Don’t worry, I’ve turned off the camera’s in this room as well.”

With that the principal walked out of the room. Hoping that the principal wasn’t lying about the cameras being off, he quickly changed into his gym uniform. He exited out of the room, and stood in front of the double doors as Nedzu returned to the control room.

A minute later and Nedzu’s voice echoed out from an unseen speaker, “Okay! Just enter whenever you’re ready!”

Izuku looked at the giant metal doors and slowly walked towards them. Pulling one open he stepped into the first room of the maze. The door slammed shut behind him, a click signaling it had been locked.

He was trapped with no way out other than to go through with this maze. Before him were three paths, different from Vlad King’s two.

Izuku hesitantly looked through each of the gates, but saw no difference in any of them. Picking the center path he started in. Turning right at the first turn, and left at the second he came across his first obstacle, one of the barriers with a question mark. It would be one of those timed riddles or questions that Nedzu asked.

Taking a deep breath he stepped forward.

“You always use me every day. You never notice me every day. If you hit me it would do nothing. Without me the whole world would go upside down. What am I?” Nedzu questioned. “20 seconds.”

Thinking over the riddle he came to his conclusion and signed the answer, fingerspelling as he didn’t know the sign. ‘Oxygen.’

“Correct!” Nedzu said, and the gate slid open.

Continuing forward Izuku found the path he was on seemed to be curving slightly. He walked on and on, and after twenty minutes realized something was wrong. Nothing was changing, there were no paths, no obstacles, just the same curving path. Realizing he might be on a circle path he took a shoe off and walked again, after about 5 minutes he came across his shoe again.

He was walking in circles. Putting his shoe on he wondered how he was supposed to get out of it. He put a hand against the left wall, then walked along, looking to see if there was any section of the wall that felt different. Feeling nothing he did the same to the right wall.

There was no difference he could feel.

Just how was he supposed to get out of this loop? Obviously walking the same direction wasn’t doing anything, so he turned around, walking the opposite way. He had no idea how to get out, but standing still wouldn’t do anything either.

Unless that was the answer?

A whirling sound came from behind him and he looked over his shoulder seeing steps appearing, descending down. Hesitantly he went towards the steps, entering down. With an ear piercing screech he was thrust into darkness. Ears ringing he stumbled forward through the dark.

“To escape you have to click the correct answer to all riddles. You have two minutes to answer all ten riddles correctly. If you fail you will be sent back to the start.”

A screen lit up and Izuku went towards it. “Begin.”

‘What has one head, one foot and four legs?’ Izuku read and saw several answers, and quickly he tapped the answer: A bed. It lit up green and another riddle popped up. More and more he answered, the riddles were fairly simple, but he could feel the invisible timer ticking down.

After what felt like forever he answered the last riddle, “Congratulations! You passed with 37 seconds to spare!” 

With no noise the roof above him opened and he felt a bit of vibrations as he was raised up, the piece of ground he was on blending seamlessly into the hallway. A long and straight hallway with each end having turns to the left and right.

Seeing no difference he went towards the right, and looking down both paths he went right again.

Only to yelp as something sharp pierced into his arm, stumbling back he heard clanging against a wall. Hissing as his arm started to throb he looked down, finding an arrow sticking out of his arm.

“Be glad they aren’t poisoned!” Nedzu’s cackling voice called out over the speakers. 

Izuku’s stomach twisted as he realized just how dangerous this maze truly was. It had been one thing seeing Vlad King do it, but it was another experiencing it for himself. He didn’t know what sort of things to look for, to tell when or how the traps would be activated.

Looking he saw that there were no more arrows being shot, and he couldn’t even find where they had been shot from, just that on the floor there were arrows littering the floor after they had hit the wall.

Izuku looked down at his arm, unsure of what to do with the arrow. Grimacing he grabbed the arrow shaft and yanked it out. His arm burned in pain and Izuku bit his tongue, tears pulling in his eyes. After taking a moment to catch his breath and let the burning die down he looked at the tip of the arrow he saw that it wasn’t even that sharp. He dropped it onto the ground.

Arm bleeding freezly, he cupped his hand over the wound, trying to staunch the blood flow a bit. Glancing nervously at the wall, he took a couple steps back before dashing forward, going through the trapped area as fast as he could. The clanging of arrows hitting the wall behind him filled his ears.

Turning around the corner the clanging stopped and so Izuku paused, deep ragged breaths coming out. After catching his breath he decided to continue on. Much more carefully he walked through the hallway, this time hearing a slight rumble and jumping back before the ground dropped from where he had been standing. 

Dashing forward he lept through the air, jumping over the pitfall. Another ten minutes passed, with nothing but him walking and taking turns and the entire building started to shake, throwing him off balance as he continued forward.

A crash sounded from behind him and Izuku took off, uncaring of what made the sound, just that he wanted to get away from whatever trap Nedzu had activated now. He tripped and stumbled as he ran through the shaking hallway, thudding and banging sounding behind him.

A minute later and he turned a corner, the rumbling stopped. In front of him looked to be a giant slightly see through wall, it was blue and looked solid. On the normal hallway wall was a hook and an item.

“You’re almost at the end! All you have to do is make it through the jello tunnel! The oxygen mask to your left will help you to breathe for a little bit, but you do have a limited supply! And of course goggles for you to see.”

Izuku bit his lip hesitantly grabbing the oxygen mask before stepping towards the jello tunnel. Wrapping the mask around his neck, but leaving it off for the moment he pushed his hand against the wall, pushing it through. Pulling his hand back out he shook off the jello.

All he could see through the jello was a faint bit of light, he had no way of judging how long it was, but he didn’t think it would be a few feet.

A grinding sound from behind him caused him to spin around and see the end of the hallway start encroaching towards him. The principal wasn’t going to give him time to dig his way through.

Putting the goggles on, and then fastening the oxygen mask over his face he activated it, dashing forward into the jello, trying to make his way through. It was difficult, he didn’t have any real grip, no way to pull himself forward. He tried different techniques, from trying to walk, to using his arms to try and shift the jello, to trying to shake his entire body in order to move through it. He couldn’t really tell what was the best way, but looking over his shoulder did reveal he was making progress.

He wasn’t sure how long he spent in the jello, there was no helpful clock to mark the time passing. Slowly the light seemed to get brighter, and he could make out objects on the other side.

Izuku was also starting to get light headed, and almost numbly he realized the oxygen was running out. Carefully moderating his breathing he pushed hard, shoving his way through the last bit of the jello. The end was in sight.

Bursting out of the other side he yanked the oxygen mask off, collapsing onto the floor gasping for air. “Good job! Push the button in the center, and you’ll be complete with the tutorial level of the maze.”

Numbly he crawled forward, using the pedestal the button was on to pull himself up and pushing the button. Wait… did Nedzu just say tutorial level?

The floor collapsed from underneath him, and he couldn’t help it. He screamed.

Chapter Text

“As you can tell, property damage is a big thing among heroes. Sometimes there is no other choice, but oftentimes excess property damage will have an overall negative impact for you. Not only can the owner of the property sue you, but if the media decides to portray you in a negative light it can seriously affect your popularity rating. Civilians don’t appreciate heroes who destroy more than they help.

“Limelight heroes aren’t the only one affected by this, in fact they have a bit of a safety net if they are part of an agency, as the agency often will pay for the damage instead of taking it out of the heroes personal paycheck. Underground heroes on the other hand will be forced to cover the costs themselves, and property damage is almost always more than what they are being paid,” Shouta explained to the class, watching to see how they reacted to the information. Who needed further clarifying, who understood. He especially took note of Bakugou, since the lesson was something the kid needed to learn.

It seemed that most of them were listening, but did they truly understand? Shouta wasn’t sure, but hopefully this next point would truly drive it home.

He opened his mouth to continue, when the door slid open. Everyone's attention turned and Shouta internally winced.

Midoriya stood there.

The kid was a mess, he looked dead on his feet, obviously drained from Recovery Girls healing. Yet his clothes and overall appearance told a story all by itself.

First thing noticeable was how torn his gym uniform was. It was ripped in various places, cuts on the top, and what looked to be cuts from teeth on his leg.

Looking closer Shouta noticed blue chunks that were stuck in Midoriya’s soaked hair. Clothes still wet showing he was obviously dunked in water at one point. His clothes looked like they had been eaten away by acid in some spots, and burned in others.

“Midoriya bro… what happened?” Kirishima questioned, breaking the stunned silence.

‘Rat Bear Dog’ The boy signed.

Shouta just nodded, “I see, my sympathies then. What did he subject you to?”

‘Gym Zeta. Tutorial, and then Easy mode.’

“Sensei, what are you and Midoriya talking about?” Uraraka asked.

“You all know that information is confidential, it is part of his training with Nedzu.”

“Why is the training with Nedzu so secret?” Jiro spoke up.

‘Maybe because it’s torture?’ Midoriya signed, huffing out an annoyed breath. The boy started to make his way to his seat.

Shouta’s lip twitched up, and the boy noticed him looking and flushed embarrassed, Shouta responded in sign, ‘Very true, Helpful Fox.’ Though out loud he said, “Because Nedzu has us sign legally binding documents that we cannot discuss the exact details of what we go through. Midoriya can only discuss it with others who underwent the same training by Nedzu. Now, speaking of legal documents let's return to the lesson.”

The class groaned.

“As I was saying, property damage is taken very seriously by the hero commission and the public. Now as a hero after a patrol you are supposed to write a report on what happened. Usually these can be pretty brief if nothing happens. But, if you do fight someone, or help a person then the report should mention that. This report can be your saving grace if property damage is reported.”

“You need to report your actions in as much detail as you can, because some people will damage their own buildings and claim a hero did it. Camera’s are checked of course, but not all fights happen in a visible area. Now, because learning how to write your actions are important, everytime you cause some form of property damage during a training exercise you will be forced to write a report. Due time by the end of the next day. This serves two purposes, one to punish you for damaging the school property, two to teach you to avoid damaging attacks, and three to get you prepared for writing reports in a timely manner.”

Another groan answered him.

“This also includes if you're in a partner activity and your partner does damage. Now, as you guys know you will be going to your internships friday. During this internship you will be tailing heroes as they do their work, they will also likely have you fill in reports of what you did, even if you have a tedious day of just walking around. Frankly I think it’s a bit pointless to write a report when nothing happens, but it does make dealing with legal matters easier than if you don’t write a report and someone accuses you of breaking down their door on that day.”

The bell rang, and the class kept still, knowing already that Shouta disliked them leaving with the bell. He made them pay the next day with extra rough training. He let out a breath, “You’re dismissed.”

Several students immediately got up, leaving the classroom. Others took their time gathering up items and neatly packing them away. Midoriya stood up, walking towards him, ‘Rat Bear Dog wanted me to show you this,’ the boy signed, pulling out his phone, unlocking it and then sliding it over.

Shouta looked down, immediately a crooked grin spread across his face as an image of Vlad King was shown. The class 1-B homeroom teacher was smoldering, sections of his suit burnt, a thick looking green slime covering him and an angry snarl on his face as he had his middle finger raised.

‘Rat Bear Dog was right,’ Shouta signed to Midoriya, ‘This image is very amusing.’

The boy hesitantly nodded back, lips twitching up. The kid probably enjoyed seeing a teacher suffer a bit of injustice, even if the boy didn’t realize that was why he enjoyed it. There wasn’t anything better than being allowed to be petty.

‘Where is Mineta?’ Midoriya questioned, apparently having noticed the missing boy.

“Suspended the rest of the week for his inappropriate behavior, and also has detention with Midnight,” Shouta answered.

“He deserved it,” Uraraka muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. Before further conversation could happen, the door opened. 

Shouta glanced over to see if one of the students had left something behind, only to be surprised to see one of the class 1-B kids. Monoma Neito if he remembered correctly.

“Do you need something?” Shouta asked.

“Not from you,” the boy said, heading towards Midoriya.

Almost instantly Uraraka and Iida were by Midoriya’s side, with Tokoyami slinking in the back. Wait.. that was Dark Shadow, Tokoyami was still sitting down.

‘You need something from me?’ Midoriya signed, eyebrows furrowing as he tilted his head to the side.

Monoma’s eyebrows shot up, but he grinned, ‘Yes, but first what the hell happened to you? Did your classmates do this to you?’

Well it looked like the kid knew sign language already, that’s good. Uraraka looked lost and Iida was obviously trying to figure out what it was.

‘Slower please, I’m still learning.’

Monoma repeated it a bit slower. 

‘No, I have training with the principal,’ Midoriya signed in return. ‘What did you need, M.o.n.o.m.a?’

‘Call Sign: Mimicry. And I wanted to invite you to hang out with me today, well my mom suggested I hang out with my classmates since it’s my birthday. They were all busy though so I figured I’d ask you. It’s okay if you don’t want to.’

‘It’s your birthday?’

Monoma just nodded.

Shouta saw the boy look hesitant, but he wasn’t outright rejecting it, curious he signed, ‘Where do you plan on hanging out?’ After all Shouta knew if it was someplace crowded Midoriya would be more uncomfortable, so it was better to let the boy have the information.

If Monoma was confused as to why he poked into the conversation, he didn’t show it, instead just responding, ‘A cat-cafe.’

Midoriya’s eyes widened, and then the boy gave a smile, bigger than his normal hesitant smile, ‘I think that would be good.’

So, the kid liked cats.

Shouta approved.

Monoma’s expression softened a bit, and a more genuine smile came to his face, ‘Good, are you good to go now?’

Midoriya looked over to him, ‘Go on, I’ll let Loud Cockatoo know you won’t be joining.’

The kid gave a quick signed thanks and then left with Monoma.

“Sensei… what were they speaking about?”

Shouta raised an eyebrow at them, “I don’t see how it’s your business.”

“But we’re curious!” Ashido said.

He ignored them and slipped into his sleeping bag, pulling out his phone. The conversation the kids were having still drifted over to him though.

“From what I gathered the class 1-B kid was asking Midoriya to hang out, what Midoriya does in his free time isn’t our business,” Iida said.

“Didn’t that kid make Deku cry though the day before the sports festival? It was super confusing when Monoma popped up and claimed Deku was his rival. More so that Deku didn’t freak out.”

“Rivals and friends aren’t the same thing, kero,” Asui  spoke up, “Maybe that is why he wasn’t panicking.”

“The balance was restored after school, when the imitation shadow apologized to the unborn one.” Dark Shadow announced.

Everyone turned to Tokoyami, confused.

“Imitation shadow is Monoma, unborn one is well I assume Midoriya,” the boy explained, his quirk nodding. “We were passing by and saw the two coming out of an alleyway and heard Monoma apologize for his harsh words. As things didn’t seem bad we left.”

“Ah, thank you for informing us. It is good to know he apologized, it was confusing as to why Midorya let him join us, but we couldn’t ask since after the sports festival he ended up with Mic-sensei’s quirk.”

“Well, you could have, but you would have had to wait for him to sign the answer,” Yaoyorozu pointed out, causing Iida to make a face of realization.

“Why does Dark Shadow call them those names?” Uraraka asked, curious.

Tokoyami shrugged, “I’m not sure for Midoriya, but Monoma is because he can copy Dark Shadow.”

Dark Shadow seemed to grin as it flitted around a bit, “They are the unborn one, my sibling.”

Shouta blinked, attention focusing on the students instead of informing Hizashi that Midoriya wouldn’t be joining him.

“Your sibling?” Tokoyami asked, looking at his own quirk.

“Does it have to do with Midobro’s quirk?” Kirishima asked.

“I feel my sibling growing in strength, and I await the day they hatch,” the Shadow confirmed.

“Just how does his quirk work? First he gets sensei’s quirk, then he gets Mic-sensei’s quirk… where did he get the super strength quirk from?” Kaminari questioned.

“It has always been similar to All Might’s,” Asui pointed out.

“But he had it from the first day, do you think they knew each other before school started?” Kaminari countered.

“All Might and Midoriya do seem to share a bond,” Iida confirmed.

“So would that mean only adults get it, after all he knew Bakugou for a long time and never got Bakugou’s quirk.”

“Deku did tell us there was a prerequisite, I don’t think we can confirm anything unless he tells us. He also kept it secret for a reason, so it probably isn’t wise to ask him,” Uraraka said.

The kids nodded, slowly the kids left the classroom until it was only Tokoyami and Dark Shadow.

Shouta was also fairly confident that the kid either forgot he was here, or though he was sleeping as the two started conversing.

“You think Midoriya is going to copy you?”

“My sibling will be born.”

“You… want him to copy you?”

“It wouldn’t be me, not like Imitation Shadow, it would be similar to me though. I wouldn’t be alone, the only of my kind.”

“But, do you want that? Maybe we can ask Midoriya to see if he can not copy you?”

“No! I want my sibling to be born, we could have fun together!”

Tokoyami’s voice was hesitant, “Are you sure Midoriya will copy you?”

The shadow paused, “No, but I really want him to.”

“Do you know his quirk prerequisite?”

“Yes, but as the one who floats said, if he didn’t want the predators to know, then I shall not help them to hunt him anymore.”

“Hunt him? You act as if Midoriya is prey we would feast on.”

“A wolf in sheep's clothing, disguised so long he doesn’t know he is a wolf. He has been hurt before, I don’t want to be the one who allows him to be hurt again.”

Tokoyami hummed, “Very well, now let's go home Dark Shadow.”

“Alright!”

Shouta heard footsteps leaving, and the door sliding shut before he stood up, sending the almost forgotten text message.

That was interesting, and curious as to just how Dark Shadow knew so much about Midoriya. Could the intelligent quirk somehow be linked to Midoriya’s quirk already? Shouta knew Midoriya created bonds, but just how did the bonds work?

It was an interesting question, one he would have to think on and maybe do some experiments with the kid to see if they could figure out more. With a hum, he walked out of the room, heading towards his husband's classroom, wanting to share the information he had overheard.

Chapter Text

Izuku, Tokoyami, Uraraka, and Iida walked into the classroom, going to sit at their desk as they waited for the other students to come in from lunch.

After a minute the last of the students arrived, and Aizawa came into the room, posture surprisingly straight. “Vlad King, the teacher of class 1-B has challenged our class in a round of Basic Siege.”

“Siege?” Ashido repeated, with a questioning tone.

Aizawa nods, “It is a training area where one side competes to protect a building and treasure, and the other side tries to break in. Think of it like your battle training, but on a much bigger scale. This is also about strategy, the leader of the team placing students in the right location in order to efficiently utilize everyone's talents. Unfortunately you guys are at a disadvantage as Vlad King has been actively training his class in this for the past week. He thinks that this will give him an edge.”

Aizawa looked at all of them, an unhinged grin stretching wide across his face, “You’re going to prove him wrong.”

“Each class will be having their vice presidents leading them, so everyone must obey Yaoyorozu’s instructions. Class 1-B’s vice is Shoda Nirengeki.”

“Sensei, you mentioned this is Basic Siege, does that mean there is an advance siege?” Iida asked.

“Yes, advance siege is more complicated, and reserved for older students as it’s not often necessary for a hero anymore. Now, unlike battle training the heroes are the one defending, while the villains are the one attacking. So if you are defending your attacks have to be aimed for capture. Go get changed and meet me on the buses.”

Izuku and the rest of the students got up, immediately heading towards the nearby locker rooms. The other males were talking excitedly, all of them ready to prove themselves. Soon they were all piling up on the bus.

Yaoyorozu came and sat next to him, “Midoriya, I know you’re not speaking because you're still learning to control voice, but are you comfortable using it in battle?”

Izuku thought about it for a moment, before nodding, ‘So long as I’m at a range.’ He signed.

Yaoyorozu watched carefully and then nodded, “Alright. You can also use Erasure, right?”

‘Yes, but not as long as sensei.’

“That’s fine, it’s useful after all. Now I would prefer if you don’t use superpower, because if you break a bone then you're out of commission, so I think I’m going to have you as a support fighter, helping out classmates from a distance, and keeping class 1-B away. Sensei informed me that we would have microphones and ear plugs to communicate with, so when the activity starts I'm going to create soundproof headphones to slip over. You won’t have a mic, but you will still be able to hear us. This way our class is protected from voice.”

Izuku gave a hesitant smile and nodded. Yaoyorozu nodded back and then moved over to Kaminari and Kirishima. As Aizawa drove them to the battle location she went through most of the students, talking with each of them.

They arrived and exited the bus, class 1-B waiting for them. The only surprise was that Midnight and Cementoss were there as well. 

“Good, you're finally here,” Vlad said, eyes narrowed at them.

Aizawa returned the look, and Izuku could almost see the beam between their eyes. “Yes, now which class is defending first?”

“Yours, but… how about we make things interesting?” Vlad King suggested.

Aizawa stared, not answering and Vlad continued, “We join our classes as well. Midnight and Cementoss will be the supervisors.”

“Agreed,” their teacher said after a moment.

“Defending team, once you arrive at location, you have ten minutes to prepare before the attackers are allowed to begin,” Midnight informed them.

The group set out, Aizawa leading them to the building within the city they were defending. It was a police station, inside of a cell was a robotic human. Aizawa scoffed, “I already know one of the strategies they will likely use. He’s done this before. This particular situation is the villains are trying to free one of them before he can spill information. Primarily they will go for releasing him, but they might try to kill him as well. Vlad King likes to do it so they get nearly all captured and then stage a break out,” Aizawa informed Yaoyorozu.

“So if they seem a bit easy to capture then we can expect them to do that. Still, Vlad-sensei will be following Shoda’s instructions, right?”

“Yes, just as I will follow yours. Just like the rest of the kids we can make suggestions, and offer what we know, but at the end of the day it’s your call.”

The vice president looked a bit nervous, but continued on. “Okay, we don’t know what direction they are coming from, so we need to create a perimeter. We also need people inside in case they break through.” 

After a minute she nodded to herself. “Shoji, Jirou, you two will be on the roof, you’re going to be our reporters, letting us know enemy movements, what plans you overhear, stuff like that.”

The two nodded.

“Sero, Iida, and Ashido, you three have the highest mobility of the class so you will be waiting, when the enemy appears your the response team to head towards them. Your job is to capture if you can, but if you can't just hold out long enough for Todoroki and Bakugou to arrive. When they arrive, move on to another attack if one has been reported.”

“Todoroki, Bakugou, you guys are the heavy duty fighters, your job is to subdue enemies and then move on.”

The six students also agreed, Bakugou grinning at being one of the heavy duty fighters.

“Kirishima, Kaminari, Tokoyami you three will be with me indoors. We’re the last line of defense from the outside, and the first round against any escape attempt made by those we capture.”

As she spoke she started to pass out the headphones she was making.

“Ojiro, Hagakure, and Tsu you three will be on retrieval duty, going towards the downed enemies and bringing them into the station.”

“Midoriya, and Aizawa-sensei will be on support duty, attacking from range, helping by erasing quirks or delaying them in other means.”

“That leaves Aoyama, Koda, Sato, and Uraraka for patrolling. You four will be going around and keeping an eye for things that Shoji or Jirou may miss. Your scouts, if you come across an enemy your job is to report it and get away until the Mobility team can help you.”

“Jiro, Shoji, if Midoriya uses voice to help, will you two be okay? Unlike the rest of us the sound proof headphones won’t help you.”

“If it’s too much I’ll let you know, but there may be a villain I have to face one day with a sound quirk, it’s better I get experience now then when I’m coming across them for the first time,” Jirou stated.

Shoji nodded, “If it gets too much I will remove the ears from my quirk so I won’t be affected, do not worry about us.”

Yaoyorozu smiled, “Okay, everyone lets get geared up, if you need anything just ask me and I’ll make it.”

Izuku went towards the table, grabbing one of the earpieces, and as Yaoyorozu said earlier he didn’t take a microphone. He put the earpiece in his ear, not needing the soundproof headphone as he was protected from the affects of voice.

The rest of the class also placed on the gear, activating them and quickly getting into position.

As support he and Aizawa didn’t have a set area, so Izuku followed the teacher as he led them to a nearby tall building. Shoji and Jiro having chosen the building on the other side since the police station was a bit short and wouldn’t be a good vantage point. The chatter of the other kids discussing plans filled their ears, Aizawa muted himself and pointed towards the fire escape ladder, “We can get down quickly by sliding down the ladder if we need to get in closer.” The teacher glanced to the other roof and said, “I know Mic has been teaching you to lower your voice, but don’t be afraid to raise it to get a long range attack.”

Izuku nodded then signed, ‘What should I say with the attack though? I mean it kinda feels awkward to just say something normal when I know I’m screaming.’

Aizawa gave a crooked grin, “Well you can always do it like Mic and scream yeah. Or you can just shout stuff like, ‘Stop’, ‘Turn away’, things like that.”

‘Ok, thank you,’ Izuku signed, debating what he would say if he had to use voice.

“AND TIME IS UP! Get ready defenders, the attackers could come at any time,” Midnight announced.

Jiro relayed this information to everyone else who hadn’t been able to hear it due to the headphones. Aizawa upon hearing it turned his microphone back on. Aizawa dug through his tool pouch and pulled out a bottle of eye drops, ‘Here, you might need this after the fight.’

‘Thank you sensei,” Izuku signed back, taking the bottle.

Then the waiting began.

After about five minutes Jirou started reporting movements, directing the mobility team towards where she heard movement. “Aizawa-sensei, what can you tell us about their quirks? Anything we should keep an eye on?” Yaoyorozu questioned as the mobility team engaged whoever Jirou had spotted.

“Keep the jail lit up, making it dark might help Tokoyami, but it would also help Kuroiro, whose quirk allows him to travel through darkness. Make sure no shadows connect the prisoner to a shadow leading outside.”

“Right, I’ll create a light to shine directly at the prisoner then.”

“I got 3 over here!” Uraraka’s voice called out, “Towards the back of the building, 100 meters or so! Um, a guy with green hair and horns coming out of his face, a guy with silver hair and marks around his eyes, and a girl with horns.”

“Kamakiri, quirk blades, he can produce sharp blades from anywhere in his body. Tetsutetsu, quirk Steel, very similar to Kirishima’s hardening. Tsunotori, quirk horn canon, she can launch the horns as projectiles and more will grow back. I know she can control some of them, but I don’t know how many.”

“There's another group coming from the front, looks to be a large group! 5, 10, I see 14! We think they're going for a full on frontal assault, with the back team the ones actually aiming to go in.”

“That’s only 17, where are the other four?!”

“Mobility go intercept the front team instead! Patrols move up front and help with the large group. Retrieval team head towards Uraraka and help her. Support can you see the large group?”

“Yes,” Aizawa answered.

“Good, help keep them away from the front!”

“Fighters, up front, but Todoroki I want you to create a barrier of Ice in front of the prison, that should slow them down if they manage to break through.”

There was no answer, but the air chilled as a giant wall of ice a few feet thick was created in front of the building. 

“Shoji, Jiro, keep on the lookout for the other four, I have a feeling that wherever they are is where the real plan is.”

“Found one, or at least I see a floating eye staring at us.”

“That would be Tokage, her quirk Lizard Tail Splitter allows her to separate her body parts and control them,” Aizawa informed.

Izuku looked over the edge as they watched the large group getting closer and closer as their classmates gathered in front of the wall, getting ready to meet them.

“Midoriya, we need more time, can you use voice to slow them down or distract them?”

Izuku nodded, realized they couldn’t see him and so taking a deep breath he aimed to shout as loud as he could, “YEAH!”

“Fuck!” He heard Jirou’s voice say in his ear, “That was a lot louder than I was expecting.”

“Are you okay?” 

“Yes, I’m fine, but I don’t think I can take too many like that, even without the sound being aimed at me it’s still extremely loud,” Jirou informed all of them.

“It did work though, I saw them get knocked back a few feet.”

Izuku watched as the rest of his classmates showed up, getting into battle ready stances. “Oi nerd, wait until they get closer, then let another rip. That’ll disoriant them and then we can kill ‘em!”

Izuku waited until they got within ten feet, he didn’t want to let them get too close, in case he accidently hit his classmates. “OKAY!” He shouted, watching as they stumbled back and his classmates charged forward.

He and Aizawa both activated Erasure, Aizawa signing for him to look at the left side, while he looked at the right.

They erased various students' quirks, switching between the students.

Todoroki used this to his advantage, creating a field of ice that trapped some, but not all of the students. Izuku listened to the chatter, voices occasionally overlapping with each other as they all communicated on one line.

The untrapped students worked together to free their classmates and then Izuku and Aizawa couldn’t erase quirks without hitting their own people. It was turning into an all out brawl. “Midoriya, go help out back, Aizawa-sensei we need you to fight against Vlad King, he’s tearing down our defense!” Jirou shouted.

“Acknowledged,” Aizawa said, sliding down the ladder partially before using his capture weapon to swing along a powerline, jumping right into the fray.

Izuku headed towards the back, Shoji directed him through alleyways and found Uraraka, Ojiro, and Hagakure fighting against the students Aizawa named: Pony, Kamakiri, and Tetsutetsu. “Erase metal boys quirk!”

Izuku, already feeling the strain from using Erasure a lot did. Uraraka dropped a boulder on him, knocking the kid unconscious. Just like that the battle that had been a standstill started to turn in their favor. Izuku moved his gaze to the girl, Pony.

Ojiro and Hagakure, who could only be seen by her gym outfit, attacked the girl, quickly taking her down.

Izuku blinked, wincing as his eyes were almost painfully dry. “Guys I’m picking up some odd sounds from underground!” Jirou informed.

Once more using Erasure he looked at the kid with the blades, watching as they retreated and Uraka and Ojiro knocked him out. “Where is the odd sound coming from?”

“The east, moving closer towards the building!”

“One of the kids has a quirk that makes the ground soft, another a drill quirk, also the kid with the darkness quirk isn’t in this mess,” Aizawa managed to get out, heard above the sounds of battle that were being picked up by various microphones.

“Guys! Prepare for an underground attack! Uraraka, you and the others come inside!” Yaoyorozu instructed them.

The others rushed ahead, and Izuku followed a moment later after placing in the eye drops, sighing at the relief. 

He caught up to them as they entered the back door. Kirishima nodded at them, “Hagakure, watch the back door, everyone else follow me.”

They followed Kirishima into the building, and found Kaminari in the cell room sparks coming off around him.

Yaoyorozu had a ton of lights in the room, electric cords attached to Kaminari. “We thought they might cut the power, so we have Kaminari keeping the lights charged, he says they don’t drain him much, just a bit over what he naturally generates per a minute. When they come up I want you to drop these flashbangs, we're going to try and flush the darkness user out. Tokoyami, Dark Shadow, do you think you can take him?”

“We share the same weakness, but unlike him I can still fight even without the cover of darkness, we shall be fine.”

“The vibrations are right underneath you.”

“Midoriya, Uraraka, the ground softening person. Kirishima and I will fight the drill person. Kaminari, keep those lights charged, but if you can help Tokoyami or someone else, do so.”

They watched as Kaminari shifted, feet starting to sink into the ground. Yayorozu handed them each a flashbang. Soon they saw the tip of the ground open up. As soon as the drill stopped they dropped the flashbangs, closing their eyes for a moment.

Stunned yelling reached them and they opened their eyes. Recognizing the ground softening guy from Monoma talking about his classmates yesterday, he erased his quirk, going to punch him. Urarka followed him after making some nearby rocks float. The rocks were perfectly circular and Izuku realized Yaoyorozu had to have created them before they came in.

For the next few minutes the sound of battle was the only thing heard, the ground softening boy still a formidable opponent even without using his quirk. What was most surprising was that the boy never tried to use his quirk in those seconds when Izuku had to blink.

Actually no one seemed to, and it was confusing Izuku, were they just not able to react fast enough? Whatever the reason, it was an advantage he was able to use. Finally he and Uraraka managed to knock the guy out.

They turned to see that Kirishima and Yaoyorozu had already defeated the drill kid and were tying him up. Tokoyami and Dark Shadow were fighting, the kid who could hide in darkness nowhere to be seen. “He’s inside Dark Shadow!” Kaminari informed them.

“Right!” Uraraka said, acknowledging the statement.

Izuku winced, but activated Erasure again, his eyes protesting the overuse of the quirk. Out popped the kid who was pitch black in skin color. Dark Shadow also disappeared, but Tokoyami seemed to have expected it as he quickly punched the other kid, knocking him out.

It was silent for a moment as Yaoyorozu tied up the other two kids, throwing all three into the other jail cell, regular handcuffs representing quirk suppressing cuffs in this case.

Izuku once more used the eyedrops, blinking furiously afterwards. “Tokoyami, Kirishima, are you guys up to fighting more?”

The two gave a nod, “Go join the fight, Uraraka and Midoriya will stay here and help me keep guard,” Yaoyorozu said and the two left.

It was ten minutes later when a speaker crackled, informing them that all of Class 1-B had been knocked unconscious. 

Jiro relayed the information and everyone relaxed.

They had won the first battle.

Chapter Text

“Okay guys, I think we should split into two groups, a group that will hunt down the members of 1-A, and another defending group,” Shoda started to say, outlining a plan. The door to the station opened, and Vlad-sensei walked in.

“Alright, we have ten minutes to make this station into a fortress, we aren’t going to let those kids outdo us. They may have won the first round, but they won’t win this second round,” Vlad announced, taking over. 

“Shizozaki, I want you to create a dome of vines around the station a couple meters out. Then Honenuki, around the vine layer there should be a patch of stable ground for you kids to defend from and then I want you to create a moat of soft ground around it, then Komori create a layer of poisonous mushrooms around that layer, and finally Bondo you will create a layer of glue.”

“It’s going to take more than ten minutes to create it, so everyone get to work right away. Kuroiro you should destroy the lights inside of the station. Everyone else, get into defensive positions and keep lookout for class 1-A. Kaibara, you’re going to create small tunnels for us so we can move between the moats as needed.”

“Sir, aren’t we supposed to listen to the vice president for a plan?” Kendo questioned.

“It’s fine, Sensei has more experience, so we should do his plan over mine,” Shoda quietly said, giving a smile as he waved off Kendo’s concern. 

“Besides if you don’t think Aizawa is doing the same thing then you’re wrong.”

(Shouta, who was listening to Yaoyorozu line out her plan, sneezed.)

“What are you waiting for, get to work,” Vlad told them.

Neito nodded and went over to Shiozaki, ignoring the glare she sent him. Shiozaki didn’t like most of them, being religious. “Let me help you,” he said, raising a hand up.

One thing he had recently discovered is that even after five minutes the quirk stayed around, so long as the original quirk user established a connection to it. Which meant for Shiozaki, Bondo, Komori, or Tsuburaba he was able to help them despite his time limit.

The girl grimaced, but nodded, holding a hand out towards him. He placed a hand, copying her quirk and then the two got to work on creating the vine dome. Neito wasn’t sure he would get used to having vine hair, it was just weird, there was no pain with it coming out, but he could still feel it moving out of his head. Neito was of the firm opinion that one should never feel their hair growth happening.

It wasn’t as bad as when he copied Shishida’s quirk though, growing hair all over the body when he activated the quirk hadn’t been pleasant. Thirty minutes passed with no sign of class 1-A, and he and Shiozaki had finally finished creating the dome of vines, encasing the building in darkness where Kuroio thrived.

Seeing that Komori and Honenuki were done with theres he went to check on the progress of Bondo. Finding that the boy was still laying out the glue moat, Neito offered his help.

Holding out his hands he gave a huff at the sensation of the glue coming out of his hands, better than his face though like Bondo.

It took him a bit to figure out the right consistency and drying time, but once he did they finished the glue moat within another ten minutes.

They were finished with their defenses, taking almost an hour to create, and class 1-A still hadn’t showed up.

“What are they planning?” Tokage wondered, an eye and an ear missing. Neito noticed it floating up above, keeping a birds eye view of the place. 

“Can you see them?”

“Not the main group, but I saw a few going around to some of the grocery stores, coming out with bags of food.” Tokage told him.

“Bags of food? Are they trying to wait us out or something?” Neito asked with a scoff.

Tokage shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“Next time you see one, let me know, I can copy your quirk and try to follow them,” Neito suggested.

“Sounds good,” the green haired girl agreed.

Another five minutes passed and she informed him, “I see a group.”

Neito placed a hand on her, copying her quirk, and then used it. Neito shuddered a bit as he felt his eye detach from his body, despite the fact that he could see from it. Honestly, Tokage’s quirks was one of the hardest for him to use.

If only because it reminded him of how he first discovered his quirk. Four years old and in a classroom, next to his friend who was showing off his quirk. A quirk that let him remove his limbs and reattach them anywhere on his body.

Neito had thought it kind of gross, but had still touched the severed hand. Only for a moment later his arm fell off. His frightened scream had scared the whole class. When they realized he had the same quirk as his friend, everyone was confused. Until a couple minutes passed and the copy wore off.

It didn’t take them much longer to realize he could copy peoples quirks. But, he still had nightmares sporadically about his limbs falling off and him not being able to reattach them. 

Moving the eyeball through the air, he went in the direction Tokage directed him. After a minute he found them exciting the building, and so followed them through the streets. Luckily he kept his hand on Tokage, as it took longer than five minutes to follow them back, but when he arrived, he didn’t see much other than the sports festival winner eating a bunch of food, an intense look of concentration on her face.

He frowned, confused as to what he was seeing. Didn’t she have a quirk that let her create stuff? Maybe she had to eat food to use her quirk? So maybe she was making gear for the class and that was what was taking them so long.

Seeing movement, he focused on the arms dude, only for the explody boy who won second place to start flying towards him, explosions clearly visible. Neito tried to move the eye away, but the angry pomeranian was a lot faster and soon the eye was destroyed.

Neito just sighed as he felt the eye regrowing, and then informed Tokage of what he had seen. “You’re probably right, I guess all we can do is wait for them to come at us and expect a trick or two.”

“Do you think anyone bought some cards or something to pass the time while we wait?” Neito questioned, hating that class A was making them wait. They were going to lose anyways, so why drag it out?

 Looking at the rest of his classmates he found that no, none of them brought along a deck of cards. Expected, but disappointing since none of them thought this exercise would take so long.

Sensei had them practice Siege the past week just for this, and none of their rounds had ever lasted longer than half an hour.

This fight had already doubled that time. Another ten minutes of boredom passed, and Vlad Sensei had them reinforce the barriers, having to reapply some of the moats as the quirks had either worn off, or dried up.

Finally, at a little over the two hour mark, and the school day coming to an end in the next thirty, Tokage told them there was movement.

“They… seem to be moving towards us… I… is that? No fucking way,” Tokage said, cursing. Something Neito had never heard her do before.

Shiozaki glared at Tokage. “What is it?” Tsuburaba asked.

Tokage was pale, even as Shishida raised his head up, “I hear something? Like… a vehicle? But not one i’m familiar with.”

“They created a tank,” Tokage finally answered.

“A tank?!” Neito demanded.

The others looked a bit doubtful, after all how was it possible for 1-A to get a tank? A minute passed. Two. All of them could see it now, driving towards them in a distance. Some of the class 1-A were keeping pace alongside it, in… were those sleds? Sleds that looked to be made of ice, the son of Endeavor creating ice for the sleds to keep pace with the tank. 

As it got closer they could see the sled was attached to the tank via some sort of rope, or more likely, tape from that one guy who in the cavalry battle caught the angry pomeranian.

“I don’t think even I can stand against tank artillery, a bullet I can do anyday man, but a tank? I don’t want to risk that for a school activity,” Tetsutesu said, gulping.

“It looks like that green haired boy is being moved to the front of the sled,” Tokage told them, her eyes sharper then there's.

“G-GIVE US THE P-PRISONER AND Y-YOU WON’T B-BE H-HARMED!” Midoriya shouted, though all of them kept balance.

Yesterday he had learned that the boy had copied Present Mic’s quirk, and that he couldn’t control how loud he was so he wasn’t speaking. It would seem that Present Mic’s quirk was always active, but he could lower his voice to normal speaking volumes with a lot of practice and control.

Right, the tank driving at them.

“Sensei, I don’t think our defenses will stop a tank,” Kendo said, looking at them worriedly, “Perhaps we sho-”

“No. This is obviously because of Yaoyorozu, the tank is probably just an outer shell. We will stand our ground.”

Shishida growled, starting to pace back and forth as he activated his quirk, ready for a fight.

When the tank was about 250 meters it came to a stop. The barrel raised up, over their heads instead of straight at them. “T-THIS IS A W-WARNING S-SHOT!”

A loud bang later and a bright flash later and the class looked at the top of the dome, which was quickly burning down as it was lit on fire. Within a minute the vine dome was gone. “T-THIS NEXT S-SHOT WILL B-BE E-EXPLOSIVE INSTEAD O-OF AN I-INCENDINARY ROUND. Y-YOU HAVE T-TEN M-MINUTES T-TO DECIDE. A-ANY H-HOSTILE ACTION W-WILL FORFEIT Y-YOUR R-REMAINING T-TIME.”

Kendo looked at them all, from Vlad-sensei glaring at class 1-A’s direction, to Kuroiro, who had come out of the building at the large racket. “Well, I’m open to ideas.”

Shoda shook his head, “We can’t destroy it fast enough, and they only need one shot to destroy the building.”

“But they would be risking our deaths!”

“I think they are counting on Recovery Girl’s healing, they probably went with as low as a volley as they could to destroy the building, if we don’t give the hostage, they will kill them instead and thus win,” Kaibara said.

“Is that even possible?” Komori questioned.

“I think so,” Shoda said, “But, it’s smarter to surrender, we will get another chance to win later.”

“I doubt they have many rounds, after all it took them about two hours, so maybe making stuff takes time?” Honenuki suggested.

“Do you really want to take that risk? I say we take a vote, all in favor of sticking it out, raise your hands.”

No one raised their hands, unwilling to go against a tank without any of them having a plan. “Monoma, you’re friends with that green haired boy, right?”

“Rivals, not friends.”

Kendo rolled her eyes, “We will go grab the prisoner and deliver it over.”

Neito sighed, but nodded, frankly it was insane that the girl's quirk allowed her to create a functioning tank, if she could create that, she could create anything. Soon they were walking out with the dummy and heading towards the sled, speedy gonzales and Midoriya coming to meet them.

“You win this time! But I’ll beat you next time,” Neito said, smirking cockily at his rival, who gave a thumbs up and a shaky smile.

‘You could gloat some, y’know, I know I would if I had won,’ Neito signed, trying to encourage the boy a bit. He couldn’t have his rival be so self conscious after all.

Midoriya spluttered, shaking his head. “Attackers win!” Midnight's voice announced over the speakers.

A minute later another voice spoke over the speakers, “Yaoyorozu-san, if you would be so kind as to leave the keys in the tank, I will take care of it.” 

Nezu, the principal of U.A. had he been watching this? Neito swallowed, looking nervously at Kendo, who also seemed to be shocked. Actually, his rival almost seemed resigned, and… terrified? Was the green-haired boy scared of the principal for some reason?

The roadrunner looked at Midoriya and the two headed back to the rest of the class.

The exercise was over. They had only done two of three rounds, but only two were needed when class A managed to win both.

It was a somber affair as class B returned to their locker rooms and changed to their school uniforms.

Was that girl even human?

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry sir, your daughter…”

“What is it?”

“She is… physically fine, but mentally, something is wrong, though I could find no papers detailing what illness prevails her.”

“I see. Is she being taken care of?”

“Sir, there’s something else, she has a son. It’s the son who takes care of her.”

“I have a grandson?!”

“Yes sir. Midoriya Izuku, the boy at the sports festival.”

“Interesting. Well, I think it is time I visit my daughter.”

“She might not remember you, sir.”

“Were you able to find out when she was injured?”

“About 6 - 7 years ago, if the neighbors are to be believed.”

“Any details on how she got injured?”

“Nothing solid, some say it was an accident, others say it was a villain attack, some say it was the stress of having a quirkless child.”

“Quirkless? But we saw the boy had a quirk at the sports festival, that erasing quirk, or that strength enhancement one.”

“I took the liberty of looking at his quirk registry, he was registered as quirkless until 14, then his file was changed to Superpower, and a couple weeks ago it was once more updated, now saying it’s a Bonding Quirk. That after meeting a prerequisite he copies a person's quirk, permanently.”

“A Bonding Quirk? How interesting, I find myself excited to meet my grandson. Is that everything?”

“Yes sir.”

“Dismissed then.”

Hitoshi had his hands in his pockets as he walked through the halls of U.A. they seemed surprisingly empty, for all that school had just let out a few minutes ago. His own footsteps echoed as he made his way towards where Midnight-sensei would be waiting for him. Or rather, Kayama-sensei, as she had insisted he could call her these past couple days.

It was a flash of green that caused him to flinch and look next to him, suddenly seeing that Midoriya kid near him. He hadn’t heard the kid walk up to him. Actually, even now he couldn’t hear the kids footsteps, despite the boy wearing big red shoes that looked like they would be noisy to walk in.

The kid didn’t even seem to notice him, head bowed… and were those tears? Ah fuck. Hitoshi was going to ask wasn’t he? “Oi, are you okay?”

Green eyes, wide and filled with panic snapped up to meet his eyes for a moment before the kid looked away, the panic gone, hidden. Hand’s moved, forming signs. ‘I’m fine.’

He frowned, remembering when a week ago the kid had hurt his throat if the rumor mill was to be believed, “Is your throat still injured? Shouldn’t Recovery Girl be able to heal it?”

‘It’s healed, but it was injured when my quirk activated and I copied Voice Quirk.’

Hitoshi blinked, “Okay?”

Midoriya shuffled a bit, ‘I can’t speak at normal volumes very well yet.”

“Oh, so you mean how Mic-sensei sometimes gets really loud, and then looks really apologetic when a student complains?”

Midoriya nodded. The two kept walking through the halls for a few minutes before Hitoshi asked his next question, “So what are you doing here after school?”

‘I have meetings with S.n.i.p.e-sensei to get better at using my support gear, though… I’m not sure if it’s as useful now that I have a long distance quirk…’ Midoriya signed, having to fingerspell the teacher's name.

‘Cowboy,’ Hitoshi signed. “That’s the call sign I use for him when I speak in sign.”

‘You use sign?’ Midoriya asked, looking surprised.

“Yeah.”

It was silent as the kid didn’t ask anything else, though Hitoshi noticed the kid kept glancing at him, checking where he was. Hitoshi also knew he was keeping track of Midoriya as well.

Habit from back in middle school. One he bet the kid had as well. If even half of what he guessed was true. “Seems we’re going to the same place then, Kayama-sensei wanted me to meet her at the weapons testing center.”

‘Cowboys' domain, as he once called it,’ Midoriya signed after a pause, looking a bit hesitant.

Hitoshi let his lip twitch upwards. The two completed the journey, making it to the place. Hitoshi saw Kayama-sensei chatting with Snipe-sensei. Another glance showed the kid was gone and looking around saw him to the left, next to that homeroom teacher of Class 1-A. Eraserhead.

Eraserhead was signing something, and the two were having a conversation before Eraserhead moved to the corner and got into a yellow sleeping bag. What? “Shinso! Good you’re here!” his mentor called waving him over, “And Midoriya! I didn’t know you would be here…”

“Midoriya and I have a meetin’ every Wednesday,” Snipe answered her.

“Nice! Well, Shinso, I brought you here to help you find some support weaponry. While the knockout capsules are useful, they won’t work on everyone, and if you run out you’ll still need something else. Your other support gear might augment your quirk, but now we need something for when your quirk doesn’t work, a way to subdue them.”

“Midoriya, feel free to practice by yourself while I help Shinso out.”

Hitoshi saw the boy nod, and then head over to a box with the number 18 on it. He saw the kid pull out a gun and carefully start to shoot. 

“Shinso Hitoshi, Quirk: Brainwash, enables you to take control of a person after they answer a question. Nothin’ that would help with fightin’. You need two weapons, one for longer range, and one for shorter range.”

“Alright, let’s do long range first,” the pro hero went over to a wall, pressing a button the wall spun, revealing more weapons than Hitoshi had ever seen before, he couldn’t even begin to name all of them.

Weapon after weapon he tried, and eventually he settled on a blowdart. It would be useful for knocking targets out at long range, so long as he was undetected. Should he be spotted it would be hard to see the projectile to know to dodge it. With the weapon being near silent it would work well for his underground work.

Then they began to test short range weapons, swords and knives of various sizes and shapes. Nunchucks, a bo staff, knuckle-dusters, a glove which had blades coming out from between the knuckles like something out of a pre-quirk movie. Axes, sickles, a mace, a whip, soon he was dazed by all the weapons he could choose from. Some he knew he didn’t want like the swords or knuckle-dusters. He liked the bo-staff and the whip, both were more close range, but did give him the option for a medium range.

In the end, after practicing the two weapons a bit, he settled on the bo-staff. The weapon obsessed hero gave him a quick lesson over it, teaching him the beginning stances of it, though also warned him he wasn’t an expert and couldn’t help him with the finer details. So either Hitoshi would have to figure it out himself, or find someone else who used the weapon and take lessons from them.

The blowdart by comparison seemed a bit easier, he just had to learn how to aim it where he wanted the dart to go and the right amount to blow.

As he practiced the sound of the gun came to a stop, and he saw Midoriya go over to Eraserhead and they signed briefly. A glance at Kayama-sensei showed she was biting her lip a bit as she looked at the kid, blue eyes hesitant, then her gaze returned to him and whatever was going through her head disappeared as she smiled and they kept practicing.

A moment later and another glance over he saw the kid hesitantly nod and Eraserhead ruffled the kids hair, causing the boy to smile and blush before the kid headed over towards Snipe.

He kept practicing the new stance, but he was distracted as he watched the boy sign at Snipe, and Snipe’s response. 

“I see, so you’re plannin’ on going underground?”

The kid nodded. Which, half surprised Hitoshi, since he kinda expected the boy with the powerful quirk to go for aboveground. But, then he remembered that the kid was like him, bullied in his past, though for the assumption others had of him being quirkless, instead of having a villain quirk like himself.

“Alright, I’ll talk to the support department about adding a silencer, and those bullets you mentioned.”

The kid gave a hesitant smile, before heading back to the range and practicing his shots.

A rap on his head caused Hitoshi to jerk away, glancing to see Kayama looking at him, giving a worried look. “I’m fine, just got distracted for a moment.”

She nodded, “Alright, we should go to the support department and talk to Powderloader about how exactly you want your support weapons designed.”

Hitoshi just gave the weapons back to Snipe and the two left Snipes Domain in order to get his order put in. It was late, but hopefully there was time for him to get his weapons made before his internship with Rock Lock, Midnight having asked the underground hero to take him in for it.

The two walked through the halls and the hero sighed, Hitoshi looked up at her, noticing she seemed to be thinking of something. Still a bit hesitant around the R-rated hero he waited a moment before asking, “What’s on your mind?”

She looked at him, seemed to be deciding something then answered, “A student’s behavior, I’m wondering what should be done if they don’t show a change in their behavior soon. Most likely being expelled, but that wouldn’t fix their behavior. Likely it would give the kid motivation to turn villain and to act on their urges.”

Hitoshi frowned at the information, “Well… do you know what the root cause of their issue is? Why do they act the way they do?”

Kayama-sensei shook her head, “No I don’t but, maybe I should find out in their detention with me tomorrow. Which reminds me because of the detention I won’t be able to train you myself, but I got Eraserhead to agree to have you run through Gym Iota.”

Hitoshi swallowed, he would be spending an hour or more with his idol after school. Alone. Oh jeez, and that didn’t help with the horror stories he heard of him from the other kids. There were even murmurs of a gym nicknamed ‘Aizawa’s hell crawl’.

“I’m going to die, aren’t I?” Hitoshi questioned with a tired sigh.

Kayama-sensei just cackled, even as she threw the door open to the support lab and sauntered in.

“Midnight,” Powerloader greeted with a nod of his head, “What can I do for you?”

“Hitoshi’s hero costume, we figured a couple more things to help him after visiting Snipe,” she answered, a grin on her face.

She looked, for lack of a better word, flirty… suggestive, in her positioning and tone. It was a shift from what Hitoshi had come to expect, around just him she seemed more… open. Not as flirty, maybe that was because he was a student, but he didn’t notice her acting like that in Snipes Domain, so why here, why now?

Hitoshi knew something was off, especially after this last weekend, she seemed happier recently, like a pressure had been lifted from her. But then, after seeing Midoriya she seemed hesitant, looking like she was debating something in regards to the hero student.

It wasn’t his business.

“So, you want a blowdart and a bo-staff?”

Hitoshi nodded, “Alright, any requests?”

“The darts can paralyze a person, and another set of darts to knock a person out.” 

“I’ll give you a few vials with the liquid, you can dip the darts in before firing them. Sounds doable, anything for your bo-staff?”

He shook his head, but then someone came barreling from deeper in the support lab, “Ooh! Ooooh! Electrify an end of it, like a stun baton, or make it so it can spew out a knockout gas, or smoke, or a paralyzing agent! There's so many cool things you could do with it!” A girl with pink hair exclaimed. Hitoshi blinked, remembering her from the sports festival the crazy inventor who hacked into the speakers to advertise her gear.

A tired sigh came from next to her, and Hitoshi saw the number one winner of the sports festival stand next to the crazy inventor. “I’m sorry for Hatsume’s enthusiasm.”

“I told you to call me Mei, Momo!” The girl scolded, “Only the best for my wonderful friend who can help me create amazing babies!”

Sports winner just sighed, “Sorry Mei, I keep forgetting.”

Hitoshi really shouldn’t let his mouth get the better of him, but still the traitorous body part opened and out spilled, “Aren’t you the one who created the freaking tank?”

Kayama cackled gleefully.

Sports winner, wasn’t her name Yaoyorozu, nodded flushing in what seemed to be embarrassment.

“Didn’t that one kid from class 1-B proclaim you’re a goddess?” Hitoshi muttered, remembering lunch today.

Yaoyorozu stared at him with wide eyes, “What?”

“Did you not hear him at lunch?”

She shook her head.

Hitoshi grunted, “I don’t know his name, some brown haired kid, fairly sure he’s from class 1-B was proclaiming that you’re a god descended to earth, quite a few students seemed to be thinking on what he was saying.”

“But… why? I didn’t do anything that crazy?”

Even the crazy inventor was looking at Yaoyorozu in disbelief, “Momo, you created a tank for a school exercise, doesn’t that seem a bit excessive to you?”

“Not really, since it took close to a couple hours to make… and Aizawa-sensei agreed that a tank would be a good tactic, and sensei is so logical, so it must have been rational.”

Kayama-sensei snickered, “Yaoyorozu… let me tell you a secret about your sensei… he and Vlad have a burning rivalry and he will never be rational in a competition regarding Vlad’s class.”

“What? He didn’t seem… well I guess he did seem a bit more attentive than usual. Less tired looking…” Yaoyorozu said a confused expression on her face.

The pink haired girl waved her arms rolling her eyes, “Think about that stuff later, right now we have babies to discuss! So Purple-chan! What kind of additions do you want?”

Remembering how she called the devices babies from the sports festival, and thinking over the things she suggested and finding that they sounded useful he shrugged, “Have fun with it, I just hope they are ready before the internship.”

The crazy inventor's eyes widened, “Oooh a time crunch challenge with no limits! I won’t disappoint you purple-chan.”

“It’s Shinso, Shinso Hitoshi,” Hitoshi muttered as she ran off, Yaoyorozu trailing after her with a roll of her eyes.

Powerloader snorted, “Be careful with it, I can’t guarantee it won’t explode if it doesn’t have time to be thoroughly tested.”

Hitoshi just nodded, and then Kayama-sensei was dragging him off. Walking with him to the train station. “See you in class tomorrow Shinso,” she said, giving a wave goodbye before heading off.

With that, Hitoshi headed home idly wondering what it would be like to be in one of the two hero classes. He knew he was transferring in, but which class? And in whatever class he was entering was someone being transferred out, or was he just being added?

Soon, he would be finding out. Hitoshi couldn’t wait.

Chapter Text

“You’re gaining some good control, little listener!” Yamada said, giving him a thumbs up.

“Thank you,” Izuku said, carefully watching as the light remained green. It was nice to do this training with Yamada-sensei, even if he wasn’t joining his classmates for their heroics lesson. They were going over theoretical knowledge right now, something Aizawa said Nedzu would go over with him during one of the lessons, and in far greater detail than what Izuku would learn in the class.

Which gave him the lesson off to train with Yamada, since he only had today and tomorrow left before they were heading out to internships. “I think that you should be able to speak up in class again if you want, so long as you’re able to keep calm and focus on your volume.”

“R-really?” Izuku asked, surprised, wincing when he saw the flash of red.

Yamada just chuckled, “Yeah! You’re doing really good now, and a few shouts won’t hurt them that bad, right now it’s getting to the point where the best way for you to gain control is to speak in conversations.”

Izuku just nodded, a thoughtful look on his face as he took the info in. Maybe during the internship, or after, he should try speaking to get used to using a normal volume so he didn’t have to focus so much.

“Anyways, it’s time for your session with Hound Dog,” Yamada said, right as the bell rang. The teacher walked next to him through the halls, keeping him safe from the crowd of kids as they started to leave the school.

Soon the two arrived at Hound Dog’s office. “Alright Midoriya, do you want Sho and I to take you home, or the train?”

Izuku bit his lip, remembered that they liked him, wanted to spend time with him, that they wouldn’t offer this if they weren’t willing to drive him home, and signed, ‘With you.’

Yamada’s grin seemed to split his face as he gave finger guns, “Alright then, you can find us in Sho’s office when you’re done.”

Izuku nodded and steeling himself, he knocked on the door to Hound Dog’s office.

“Come in!” Hound Dog called out.

Opening the door he walked in, sending one last glance at Yamada. The teacher’s look of pride shocked Izuku. He could see how proud the blonde was looking at him through those green eyes and Izuku wondered just what he did to make the man look at him with those eyes.

Why?

Why were Aizawa and Yamada so nice to him?

When no one else was, these two were kind to him, even knowing he was quirkless before U.A. and here he was, not even telling them the truth that ‘superpower’ wasn’t a copy of All Might’s quirk. 

They might know about the bullying and… him. But he hasn’t really told them many of the details. Just the facts. The most basic of the information, what details they did know came from other sources.

Maybe… maybe he should tell them. They should know about the details of his past, or at least, how things went down from his perspective.

“Midoriya?” Hound Dog’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, and Izuku found he had gone to sit on the couch in autopilot move as he thought about talking with Aizawa and Yamada.

Izuku looked up at the guidance counselor, and pro hero, Hound Dog. “Would you like to speak what’s on your mind?”

Izuku shook his head.

“Alright then, how about you tell me how you’ve been this last week?”

‘I’ve been okay,’ Izuku signed, looking anywhere but Hound Dog.

“I heard you had a lesson with Nedzu Monday,” Hound Dog commented, not asking a question, but letting Izuku tell him any details he might want to.

Remembering Monday, Izuku couldn’t help but shudder. The feeling of a robotic piranha was a terrible one, or being chased by that monstrosity robotic direwolf. 

A cackling laugh as Nedzu’s voice came over the speakers, “Release the robot piranhas!” Forever that phrase will haunt Izuku.

Or it will until his next ‘practical’ with Nedzu.

He was a bit glad his class wouldn’t have to deal with Nedzu training them until third year. Or well, that was what he gathered that Nedzu tended to train the third years and leave the first years alone.

He hoped that was true for his year as well, but he knew Nedzu’s interest peaked in their year due to the villain attack.

‘I definitely don’t want to talk about Nedzu’s training,’ Izuku finally signed as Hound Dog seemed to be waiting for a response.

The quirk counsellor just nodded, and Izuku wondered what these questions had to do with quirk counselling, he understood meditation, but the first meeting and this meeting were filled with questions.

Gathering up his courage he signed the question, ‘How is this supposed to help me with my quirk?’

Hound Dog’s eyebrows shot up, “That was last week Midoriya, this week is your scheduled therapy session.”

Izuku blinked, tilting his head as his brain repeated the question, ‘ What? ’ over and over again.

The counselor gave a small growl, “Midoriya, were you not informed about the details of our meetings?”

Izuku swallowed, shoving himself further back into the couch at the growl, Hound Dog sighing and holding hands up, “Sorry, I did not mean to scare you, but I can’t help you if you don’t know why you’re here, or if you don’t want my help.”

‘I’m here for quirk counselling,’ Izuku said, ‘Aizawa-sensei mentioned it while we were in the nurses wing after USJ.’

Hound Dog huffed, “I suppose he forgot to mention he also signed you up for normal counselling sessions to help you.”

Izuku bit his lip, he doubted that Aizawa forgot to mention it, that didn’t seem like his teacher at all. But these sessions were signed up before he trusted Aizawa, maybe the man thought getting him to open up to Hound Dog would be easier than him.

“You're scheduled for quirk counselling and therapy every other week. If you aren’t willing to participate in the therapy, then I won’t be able to help you.”

‘Help me with what?’

Hound Dog almost seemed to be smiling behind his muzzle, “With whatever you need help with Midoriya.”

Izuku knew he had issues with speaking with new people, and that the first week had ended with Hound Dog suggesting he be more social, which ended up with him having dinner with the Monoma’s. ‘Like your advice from the first time to be more social? I don’t think that really worked.’

“Oh? How about you tell me what happened? Take your time.”

Izuku nodded and decided to write it down instead of signing it. He wrote how he tried to force himself to be more social and ended up having an awkward dinner with the Monoma’s. Hound Dog read over it and then sighed, “That wasn’t what I meant when you should be more social, I meant with your friends that you have now.”

There was a reflective flinch at the word friend and Izuku signed, ‘I don’t have friends.’

Hound Dog blinked, “You don’t? Why not?”

Izuku bit his lip, but all of his classmates already knew, so he wrote down how a couple boys had forced him to be friends with them, gained a small amount of trust before hurting him, shoving him into a closet full of bugs.

“And you think that your classmates now would do that?”

‘Maybe not the same thing, but’ Izuku hesitated in his signing, shrugging.

“I understand that your quirk gives you trust issues, do you think that this could be part of the reason you’re unable to trust your classmates?”

‘A bit, maybe. No one has ever really been there for me before, not until now.’

“Of your age group, who do you feel most comfortable around?”

Izuku hesitated for a moment, then signed, ‘U.r.a.r.a.k.a, I.i.d.a, M.o.n.o.m.a, Dark Shadow and T.o.k.o.y.a.m.i.’

“Why do you feel most comfortable around these people?”

‘U.r.a.r.a.k.a and I.i.d.a stick by my side, even when I stutter over my answers, they never seem annoyed or angry at me when I do, or even when I end up mumbling. They don’t force themselves on me either, if they see that I’d rather be alone they leave me to myself. They never tried to insist that I call them friends either.’

‘M.o.n.o.m.a is my rival, not like B.a.k.u.g.o.u, but one who actively encourages me to improve and doesn’t put me down when I fail, at least he doesn’t do it meanly, more like a reflex of his. He noticed he went too far the day before the sports festival and apologized to me, saying he was a jerk, not an asshole. He even invited me to his birthday! I haven’t been invited to anyones birthday since I was 5.’

‘As for Dark Shadow and T.o.k.o.y.a.m.i, they just kinda hang out with me, they don’t really speak much, but their presence is comforting. Like yesterday! I was walking through the hall and these kids from general education were glaring at me and Dark Shadow came out and glared at them, and Tokoyami moved to stand in between me and them! It was really nice, and they didn’t even bring up that they did it, they just acted like it was perfectly natural. He’s even learning sign with me!’

Hound Dog smiled, “I would encourage talking to them some more, you don’t have to be friends with them, but just make a bit more conversation with them. Or if you feel trying to talk with all of them is too much, how about just one of them?”

Izuku rubbed an arm before hesitantly signing, ‘But… what if I end up copying their quirks and they get mad at me? If I get to that point where I trust them like that?’

Hound Dog gave a grunt, tilting his head, “Doesn’t your quirk allow you to break any bonds like that so you don’t copy their quirks, but can still trust them?”

Izuku’s mouth fell open a bit as he realized he could do that, he had forgotten. But, if he did that he would never be able to copy his classmates' quirks.

“I understand that doing so also makes it impossible to ever copy their quirk, so I would think through this carefully. Would you like a copy of the information on your quirk so you can make sure you know everything you can before making a decision?”

Izuku nodded, he had written everything down, but if he forgot anything it would be important to review it. Maybe if he cut the bonds he could actually trust his classmates without worry of them being mad at him for copying his quirk.

“Good, alright I think our time for today is just about over. Think about what I said, alright Midoriya?”

‘I will, thank you.’

“It’s no problem kid, I’m just doing my job.”

Izuku blinked, still unused to how different U.A. was to everything before, but finally he nodded and signed a goodbye before leaving the office.

Slowly he walked through the empty halls, thinking about everything that Hound Dog said. He was about halfway through the halls heading towards Aizawa’s office when he heard racing footsteps. “Wait up Midoriya!”

It was Mineta.

He tensed a bit, the boy made him really uncomfortable with how he spoke and talked to the girls, but he still stopped. He tilted his head at the boy, giving a confused expression to Mineta.

“Oh! You’re wondering why I’m here?”

Izuku nodded.

“Well I’m suspended, but I still needed to have detention with Midnight-sensei, she wasn’t available until today. I thought it would be a really good detention, you know with how sexy she is, but…” Mineta looked nervous. He paused for a moment and then took a breath, “Midoriya… can I ask you a question?” Mineta questioned, looking away.

Izuku waited until Mineta looked at him again before giving a nod, curious as to what Mineta had to ask.

“I got suspended because of my behavior, and Midnight was asking me why I acted like that, and… well I just wanted to know if you thought my behavior was bad. Bakugou said you dealt with bullies and stuff, and harassment with that whole being shoved in a closet thing. Midnight said that what I’m doing is kinda similar, but can also be considered worse. So I guess I just…” Mineta looked uncomfortable. “Please, tell me the truth and don’t try to make me feel better. If I want to be a hero others can depend on, I need to know the realities of my behavior, even if I don’t like it.”

Izuku stared at the small boy, seeing the potential hero he could be for the first time. Mineta was looking at him with determination, he wasn’t cowering away from the truth, he was trying to face it head on. So Izuku pulled out his notebook, since he knew Mineta hadn’t started to learn sign like a lot of his other classmates have in order to understand him.

Tapping his fingers a bit he debated how much to say, ‘Your behavior has creeped me out before and made me uncomfortable, even not directed at me. I have seen the affects of sexual harassment, it’s not pleasant, you talk about the girls as if they are objects to be possessed, that they are only as good as they look, which isn’t true. It makes them feel bad when you talk about their boobs and all that. Admiring girls and flirting with them isn’t bad, so long as you don’t go overboard and make them upset. Don’t ever push a girl if she says no either. You’re friends with Kaminari, right? Maybe talk with him about what’s going too far and what’s alright.’

Mineta read over it and nodded, “I will, and… I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable.”

Izuku gave a hesitant smile, and wrote, ‘Just learn from your mistakes Mineta, and I’m sure you’ll be a good hero one day.’

Mineta’s eyes watered, and he gave a shaky thumbs up, “I will! And after internships I’m going to apologize to the girls, but I want to make sure I understand what I’m apologizing for. I don’t want to do this half assed.”

Izuku gave a thumbs up to his classmate who turned and walked off, clutching onto the paper Izuku had been writing on. He watched the boy for a bit before continuing to Aizawa’s office.

Chapter Text

A banging in the kitchen woke Izuku up at the unreasonable time of 3am in the morning. Blinking he groaned a bit and removed the covers, shivering as the cold air of the night hit him. Feet hitting the ground with a soft thud he crept through the room, footsteps silent.

A technique that he had been taught by Aizawa for moving through the vents silently, it also would be useful in the future as his work as an underground hero. Going to his door he opened it, slowly making his way to the kitchen. Flicking the lightswitch on he glanced at his mom who was reorganizing the kitchen.

He didn’t know why she did this, but sometimes late at night she got restless and would move through the house. It had creeped him out the first few times, but now he was kinda used to it. Though she didn’t do it so often, only on the nights she didn’t sleep very well.

“Mom,” he called, focusing on speaking at a normal volume, getting her attention.

She paused turning to him, eyes empty.

“You need to head to bed.”

A blink, but she put down the pan she had been moving. Izuku walked to her and held out his hand. She took it and he led her to her room. Glad he was gaining control of the voice quirk so he could speak a bit.

Once in her room she laid on her bed and he tucked the sheets around her, once more concentrating he said, “Have a good night.”

With that he turned and left, returning to his own room and going back to bed. It took him a bit to fall asleep, but eventually he did. Later he woke up, ate breakfast and then went to the train station.

As the train went over the tracks he thought about his quirk. He could bond with 6 people and copy their quirks. He couldn’t trust a person on only the basis of wanting their quirk. He couldn’t copy another quirk that would change his eyes. And now with Yamada-sensei’s quirk he couldn’t copy a quirk that affected his throat or ears. 

Which meant he probably wouldn’t be able to copy Jiro’s quirk, or someone like Shinsou or Kouda, who used their voices with their quirks.

Izuku shuddered a bit, thinking of Kouda. He knew that Kouda wasn’t the boy who controlled insects, but they looked similar, and had the same kind of quirk, even if Kouda’s allowed him to talk to all animals, and that boy only let him talk to insects. Izuku wished he could look at Kouda and not be reminded of what happened. Kouda was his classmate after all.

The train came to a halt, an announcement of his stop pulling him from his thoughts as he exited.

Not many paid him attention now at least, as their attention shifted to more recent news. Such as the fact that Stain had killed another Hero in Hosu. People were wondering if Stain would ever be caught, and why he was killing heroes.

Izuku shook his scattered thoughts as he walked off the train and the remaining distance to U.A. After about a five minute walk he entered the gates of U.A.

Heading towards the classroom he almost ran into Midnight-sensei. “Ah, good morning Midoriya!” she said, giving him a smile, signing as she spoke.

‘Good morning,’ he signed back, giving a small smile.

Aizawa and Yamada-sensei both trusted her, they were best friends with her. He wanted to be able to trust her as well, but he hadn’t really been able to get to know her. Though apparently she was mentoring Shinsou.

It was likely that Shinsou would be joining the heroics class soon, since he was getting support weaponry. Izuku wasn’t sure how he felt about Shinsou, the boy had been mean at the sports festival. But, Aizawa was right that Shinsou hadn’t known the true effect of his words. Shinsou had needed Izuku to speak and his plan had worked, even if it had hurt Izuku.

Shinsou had apologized as well, but the apology was kinda abrupt. So Izuku was still reserving judgment about the kid.

“Something on your mind Midoriya?” Midnight asked from beside him, falling into step as he kept walking.

Izuku shrugged.

“That’s okay if you don’t want to tell me.” They were silent for a bit before she picked up the conversation again, “I feel Sho and ‘Zashi have been hogging you all to themselves kiddo,” she said giving a wink and a grin, “After your internship maybe we could get together during your lunch and talk for a bit?”

He hesitated for a moment. Izuku wanted to be able to trust more people, not even for his quirk to work, but to improve himself. How could he be a Hero if he was afraid of talking to people? Afraid of reaching out. As an underground hero he may not have to deal with as many people, but he would still deal with some.

So finding his courage, he nodded, ‘I think I would like that.’

Blue eyes shined, a bright smile greeting him, “Alright! I’ll see you then~”

With that she turned down another hallway, splitting paths from him. Izuku wondered if agreeing really had been such a good idea, but he wanted to trust her, because Aizawa and Yamada did. It was a start to being able to trust people he didn’t know as well.

With a long breath he finally made it to class 1-A and entered.

He found Aizawa-sensei face down on the desk, sleeping with a pencil in his hand and papers underneath him. Smiling at the sleeping teacher, he figured the teacher must have had a busy night with hero work. Deciding to not bother him, Izuku decided to go look for Yamada-sensei instead.

Izuku’s best guess was that he was either in the teacher lounge, or his classroom. Since the classroom was closer Izuku went towards it. After a few minutes he arrived and poked his head in to see the empty room.

Feeling a bit disappointed he wondered if he should even check the teacher's lounge. Students weren’t really supposed to be there without a teacher. And Izuku didn’t want to knock and bother any of the other teachers.

“Hello!” A voice chirped from behind him, causing Izuku to launch himself into the air as he hadn’t heard anyone walking behind him.

Spinning around he blinked at seeing the empty hallway.

“Down here.”

Heart racing he looked down and saw a vaguely familiar face looking at him from the floor. Wasn’t that the third year who had done Aizawa’s hell course the other day as a demonstration for their class?

‘Hello,’ Izuku signed hesitantly.

‘Mute?’ The blonde signed back questioningly.

Glancing around the hallway he wondered if he should try and get away, but… didn’t he just think about trying to be more social? Hound Dog said to start with his classmates he was more familiar with, but maybe it would be easier with an older student he probably wouldn’t see much of. 

‘Kinda.’

‘Ah! Well… um I kinda need help?’

Izuku blinked, tensing a bit at that. ‘With what?’ he questioned warily. ‘Also you don’t have to sign, I can hear just fine.’

The boy, Togata Mirio if Izuku remembered correctly flushed a bit, “Well… because of my permeation I’ve been in the vents before, but once Nedzu caught me and… yeah… let’s just say I avoid the vents as best I can now. Sometimes I can’t help passing through them though… anyways I’m not sure how, and I am almost 100% sure Nedzu has something to do with it, but um... My clothes are kinda in that little meeting room in the vents? And Nedzu is guarding them. I could ask Eraserhead, but… well your homeroom teacher is a bit scary… and since you have access to the vents, well, I guess it just seemed easier to approach you then your teacher...”

‘So you want me to get them for you?’ Izuku questioned, frowning. Trying to ignore for the moment that the boy had seen him in the vents and that Izuku hadn’t noticed him at all.

“Yes, please! I would hate to show up to class naked again, my classmates see my dong enough as it is…” Togata just had his hands covering his face. “I try my best, but with a quirk like mine…”

‘Do you not have a spare uniform around for incidents like this?’

Mirio chuckled, “I do, but besides for the fact that they have disappeared as well… I err… had something important in my uniform…” The blonde was red faced and looking away.

Feeling a pang of sympathy, Izuku nodded in agreement, besides he should start trying to live up to his hero name Ark: the helping hero. ‘I’ll help.’

“Thank you! Should I wait here or…?”

‘I’ll return here with your clothes… or a message from Rat Bear Dog if he won’t let me take them back to you.’

“Alright!”

Izuku headed down the hallway and pulled out his phone, soon entering the vents he made his way to the meeting room where he saw Nedzu sitting on the white bean bag and there was a bag with a student uniform.

Nedzu looked at him and smiled, “I see, so Togata-kun thought sending you would get him his clothes back.”

Izuku just nodded. A shiver went down his spine, and he realized maybe he shouldn’t have agreed to help, considering Nedzu was involved.

Nedzu chuckled, “I won’t let him have them back that easily…” The principal was grinning and his beady eyes gleamed.

Izuku swallowed.

“I know! Go grab Togata-kun and have both of you join me out front by the ATV we used to go to Gym Zeta, he may grab his gym uniform. You should get changed as well.”

With a sigh, already knowing what awaited him, he went back to Yamada’s classroom where Togata was waiting, head sticking out the wall. “Well? How did it go?” The blonde asked, eyes wide.

‘You should change into your gym uniform… and then Rat Dog Bear wants us at Gym Zeta.’

“Gym Zeta? That… sounds familiar, I think I remember a senpai complaining about it last year. Oh! Sensei mentioned our class would be doing it after internships this year!”

Izuku felt a bit sorry for Togata-senpai, considering he already knew what Gym Zeta had in store. Togata seemed really friendly, and kinda reminded Izuku of All Might, it made it easier to relax around him and not be worried about the upperclassman hurting him.

‘It’s horrible, Rat Bear Dog had me do it, on tutorial level and easy.’

“Oh? It can’t be that bad.”

Izuku shook his head, then pulled out his phone opening the picture of Vlad, ‘This is 1-B teacher after doing the gym on an easy medium mode.’

“That… doesn’t look too bad?” Togata said, sounding unsure.

The two arrived at the locker room for third years, Izuku looking away to give the boy privacy to change. Then they headed to the first year's changing room, where Izuku went into his gym uniform. “Well, can you give me a briefing of what to expect? So I’m not heading into the unknown?”

Izuku nodded and as the two walked out of the school he signed everything he knew about the gym.

The two soon found the ATV where Nedzu was waiting for them. Soon they were being driven and after a short drive they arrived at Gym Zeta.

“Good, I have already texted your teachers that you are to be excused from classes. Midoriya-kun, did you inform Togata-kun of what to expect?”

Izuku nodded and the principal clapped, “Good! You two will be allowed to work together however you choose. Only one of you has to make it to the center of the maze to retrieve Togata-kun’s uniform. Now, you will be on medium difficulty since there are two of you, but! Togata-kun is not allowed to use his quirk, considering he would just be able to go through the walls to the center. Midoriya-kun you may use yours as you see fit.”

With that the principal went into the control room. A minute later the speakers crackled on, “You may begin when ready.”

Chapter Text

‘Thank you for walking back with me,’ Izuku signed to Togata-senpai, or Mirio-senpai as the boy insisted Izuku call him. Saying that he preferred his first name.

“It’s no problem,” Mirio-senpai responded, holding Izuku up practically as the two arrived at the door to 1-A. 

Izuku may have gotten in a bear trap and fractured his bone. Since they had to finish the maze it aggravated it. Healing from Recovery Girl may have healed it, but he was still limping a bit, and putting too much weight on it caused it to hurt. Recovery Girl explained that she had been able to mostly heal it, but that he should come after school to get the rest healed.

Anyways the two had managed to get Mirio’s uniform back, though it wasn’t worth it in Izuku’s opinion, but Mirio seemed really pleased upon pulling out a letter that was in a pocket. Izuku both regretted helping and didn’t, he regretted it because he felt awkward and uncomfortable, but he didn’t because he was supposed to be a hero, and there would be situations where he would be uncomfortable in order to save people.

They opened the door and Izuku hunched in a bit as all his classmates looked at him, Yamada-sensei standing at the front teaching English. It was the end of english, which was better than had they finished later and he would have interrupted one of the other teachers. At least Yamada-sensei would understand.

“Take your seat, we were just going over the english comma rules,” Yamada said, giving a smile.

“You’re not going to ask him where he was?” Ashido questioned.

“No. I knew where Midoriya was.”

“I’ll be going now!” Mirio-senpai said, giving a quick bow to Yamada before dashing out of the room.

“You did? Can you tell us where he was then?” Hagakure questioned.

“I do not think you should be asking these questions, the teachers obviously know what was happening, and it’s not our business to know what Midoriya was doing!” Iida said, giving a hand chopping motion as he looked at Ashido and Hagakure.

“Iida is right,” Uraraka agreed.

The two girls let out twin sighs as they dropped the topic.

‘Thanks,’ Izuku quickly signed to Iida, who just nodded to him. 

The class ended a couple minutes later and Cementoss came in, the day continuing as per normal. After another couple classes the lunch bell rang and his classmates left, except for Tokoyami, who rested his heads on his arms, clearly intending to take a nap.

Izuku could understand that, he wanted to sleep too, though he wasn’t comfortable sleeping where someone may come across him, so he was going to hide himself in a vent. Exiting into the hall he found an empty section and after opening the app he went into the vent system. 

After a moment he found himself in the vent above the classroom, and gave a slight snicker at the bright yellow blanket he found and pillow. Considering everything Izuku figured it was safe to assume it was Aizawa’s.

Ignoring the blankets he carefully sat down, preparing to curl up and take a small cat nap.

“Midoriya,” a voice called out, shocking him and causing him to flinch as he looked around, before he blinked, surprised to see Dark Shadow. He saw the shadows tether stretching through the vent grates, still attached to Tokoyami.

‘Hello,’ Izuku signed.

The shadow shifted, “I wanted to tell you that I know of your quirk, I can feel the connection it has made to me.”

Izuku’s eyes widened. His hands started to move, “Don’t apologize, it’s… not bad. Actually I wanted to let you know that you have our permission to bond with us. I haven’t told Fumikage what your quirk requires.”

He stared at the intelligent quirk, unsure what to say.

“I will admit my request is a bit selfish in not wanting you to break the bond, I would like a sibling, but I do not want you to bond with us just to fulfil my request. So I want to make a promise to you. I promise that we will prove you can trust us, that we will be there for you, that we won’t hurt you. Should you need us, we will be there for you.”

Izuku swallowed at that promise, giving a nod to the quirk who just retreated back. Leaving Izuku alone to ponder over what the shadow had said.

Dark Shadow had admitted to wanting Izuku to bond so they would have a ‘sibling,’ but the quirk had also promised that they would gain that trust. Izuku knew he had to decide what to do about the bonds with his classmates, and he hoped that he would have time during the internships to think over everything.

With that thought in his head, he laid down to take a nap, alarm set to go off with a vibration five minutes before lunch was over.

As he drifted off to sleep, a thought popped into his mind, ‘ How did Dark Shadow know I was up here?’

When his alarm woke him up, he didn’t remember the question. Izuku made his way back to the classroom and the afternoon heroics lesson began. This time with Midnight teaching them about managing fame, how the more popular you are, the harder it is to hide a civilian persona from the world. That they had Hero names for more than just something to inspire others, it was to help protect their identity. That yes those with more obvious quirks or looks often weren’t able to hide their civilian identities, but others would be able to. She warned them that they may only be first years, but they needed to keep their future in mind.

She ended with, “If you’re in hero uniforms, you should never call a classmate by a given name, even if you think you’re alone.”

Then the day ended and his classmates were heading home. Tomorrow they would be meeting at the train station at 7am to go to where they were interning, the exceptions being for those who had interns with local heroes.

Izuku though had one final after school lesson with Yamada before he could head home. Plus he had to stop by Recovery Girl to finish healing his leg. He walked through the hallways, only a slight limp in his gait as he went to the nurses office.

Soon he was a lot more tired, but healed up and he left. Figuring the vents would be quicker to get to Yamada’s classroom he entered the vent system and started to walk through the vents.

“Oh! Sorry Ectoplasm!” Yamada’s voice said from underneath him, and Izuku paused. Looking for the nearby grate he peeked through and saw that Ectoplasm was staring at Yamada, who was bent over trying to pick up scattered papers. The cloning hero almost seemed to be giving off a weird feeling, though Izuku couldn’t place it.

“Jeez, you think you would pay more attention to your surroundings, being a pro hero,” the math teacher stated, tone frosty.

Yamada blinked, “What did I do to make you angry at me, Ectoplasm?”

The teacher just scoffed and turned away, leaving down the hallway.

Yamdada huffed, a quiet mutter barely reaching Izuku in the vent, “Besides, you bumped into me on purpose. Asshole.”

Pulling out his phone, he clicked through the app and bracing himself, activated the vent grate and fell down a few feet to the floor. 

Yamada yelped, “Oh my god! Midoriya! You gave me a heart attack!”

Izuku blushed, waving hands and frantically signing sorry over and over again. Afraid he had upset the teacher.

“It’s fine! I just wasn’t expecting you to drop out of the vents, though… I guess with Sho teaching you his ways I should be expecting it a bit more now.” The teacher said, giving a chuckle.

Izuku walked closer to the teacher and bent down helping him pick up the last few papers. “I guess you saw that little interaction then?” Yamada asked after he handed the papers over.

He nodded.

“If you ever figure out why Ectoplasm seems to be mad at me, let me know, yeah?”

Izuku gave a thumbs up, before signing, ‘I don’t know why he would be mad at you,’ Izuku hesitated, before adding on, ‘You’re awesome.’ Izuku wanted the teacher to know how much Izuku appreciated what they had done over the last few weeks, being there for him and helping him to realize that more people than just All Might wouldn’t hurt him.

Yamada smiled, reaching over and ruffled his hair, “I’m glad you think so little listener.”

The two walked and Yamada popped into the teacher's lounge for a minute to place the papers before coming back out, “Now, how about we go get another training session in?”

‘Alright,’ Izuku signed and the two walked towards Gym Sigma.

Soon their training was underway, Aizawa joined them after a little bit, remaining outside the soundbooth so Izuku would get used to speaking normally around someone who didn’t have the protection in their ears like he and Yamada had. What Aizawa did have was erasure, and experience with dealing with voice. Which meant he was able to cut Izuku off if he was speaking too loud.

There were a few mishaps, and Izuku apologized after each one, despite Aizawa waving him off. Still there was a lot of improvement, and he wasn’t concentrating nearly so hard as the beginning of the week.

As the lesson drew to an end, Yamada stopped him from leaving, “You shouldn’t be afraid to speak to your classmates or others. An accident may happen, in fact it’s practically guaranteed, but that’s just part of the learning process. I mean even I still slip up sometimes when I’m too excited. I know you didn’t want to hurt your classmates when you first got the quirk, but now I want you to speak up again. Can you do that for me Midoriya?”

Izuku slowly nodded, “I’ll try.”

Yamada beamed, “That’s all I ask for.”

“Would you like us to drive you home?” Aizawa asked as they walked out of the gym.

Izuku hesitated, he knew he shouldn’t keep imposing on their kindness, that they may get tired of him. But… he wanted the companionship, wanted to feel like he belonged.

So he accepted the offer with a quiet, “Yes please.” 

 The two teachers smiled and drove him home, conversation easily flowing between the two, and they made sure to ask Izuku questions and to hear his thoughts as well. Like they actually cared what his opinion was. He knew he trusted them, but sometimes it was hard to really believe that the two heroes liked him.

He entered his home and silence greeted him. His mom staring at the empty tv screen, nothing showing. Before U.A. he would have started talking about his day, and got some empty response, or nothing at all, and he would have been happy. Because… because even if she was staring at him with a blank expression… it wasn’t anger.

He missed the days when he was younger and she would hug him, or bandage up his wounds. The days when she would tuck him in and kiss his forehead. Izuku turned away from his mom and went to his room to finish up his packing for the internships.

The next day he stood next to Tokoyami, Uraraka, and Iida. They were saying goodbye to each other as the trains came in. “Iida, remember you can talk to us if anything is wrong, okay?” Uraraka said, placing a hand on Iida’s arm.

The taller boy nodded and gave a smile, “Sure!”

Izuku looked at Iida as he retreated boarding his own train. 

(Izuku would regret not speaking up, that he didn’t have the courage to say something to Iida that might have changed what had happened. That he had just stood there in silence.)

Uraraka turned to him, “Bye Deku! I’ll see you after the internships!”

He nodded, trying to give her a smile, but failing. He wished she would stop calling him that, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask her to not say it. To just call him Midoriya. He knew she didn’t mean it as an insult, but it still felt like one.

He watched as she boarded her own train and his gaze scanned for his. Finding the train he had to take he made sure he had his bag and his hero gear. With everything in hand he looked behind him and met Aizawa’s black eyes.

The teacher’s gaze softened a bit, a crooked grin appearing above the capture weapon and the teacher gave one solid nod. Izuku smiled as he turned back around and boarded on the train. His destination?

Yamanashi Prefecture.

Chapter Text

Izuku swallowed as he looked at the decrepit building, was this really where Gran Torino lived? He had met the man once, a few weeks ago when All Might brought him over, and even though Izuku had been mute at the time the older hero had still helped him figure out that he needed to send his power throughout his entire body. 

Hesitantly he knocked on the door, there was no answer. Focusing he carefully called out, “H-hello?”

No response. Unsure if this was the right location, he tested the door and found it unlocked. Deciding to take a look around he pushed the door open. Slowly with a loud creak the door opened, revealing what looked to be a messy broken down room. Broken furniture lay scattered about, pictures hanging crooked on the wall and cobwebs covering the corners.

A cackling laughter had Izuku tense and drop his hero case, getting into a defensive stance. A split second later he was on the ground clutching his stomach.

“Get up boy! Defend yourself!” Gran Torino’s voice echoed from around him, Izuku now hearing thuds as the hero banged around the room, bouncing off walls, ceiling, and the floor.

Stumbling to his feet he retook his defensive stance, trying to find where Gran Torino was, but the man was just a yellow blur. A few seconds later and he was sent flying forward into the center of the room as he was kicked in his back.

“Show me how well you can control One for All!”

Izuku frowned, once more getting up, calling on One for All he grabbed the smallest amount he could and distributed it throughout his body. Immediately the blur that was Gran Torino became more easy to spot, still fast but Izuku could see the man during the travel, instead of just a blur.

Which was interesting, it seemed that One for All helped to improve either the rate he saw things, or the rate of which his brain processed things. Which...shouldn’t be possible? If this was just a stockpile quirk of power. Right?

He had no more time to think and ponder over it though as there was a shift and Izuku threw himself to the left, barely getting out of the way of Gran Torino’s attack.

“Good!” The man said, coming to a stop in front of Izuku, staring up at him with clear brown eyes. “Put on your costume.”

“W-what?”

“It’s clear that All Might is unable to teach you how to wield your quirk, he can’t watch over you properly, so that means I gotta do it. So put on your costume, and let the training begin!”

Izuku nodded and grabbed his case, the older hero leading him to a room in order to get changed and to put his stuff in. Getting undressed his eyes once more caught sight of the scar that adored his chest, and he grimaced, looking away as he was reminded of how close to death he had come.

He changed into his costume, the plain green jumpsuit with a mouthguard. Then his supply belt, which had a holster he slipped his improved gun into, his support weapon now included a holster, and right now it was loaded with knockout bullets. Once he was dressed he exited and found Gran Torino in the kitchen area.

“O-okay, I’m r-ready. B-but-”

“Good!” Gran Torino shouted, immediately launching himself at Izuku. Izuku yelped, wincing as he saw things vibrate and shift around him. But that did get the fast moving hero to stop, “What was that? Your original quirk?”

“K-kinda?” Izuku stated, focusing on controlling his voice.

“Explain.”

“M-my quirk is a b-bonding quirk, I c-copy q-quirks of those I b-bond with.”

The old man looked at him, cane tapping on the floor for a moment before he asked, “What all have you copied? And do you always stutter or is your voice still injured?”

Izuku looked down, cheeks heating up as the hero pointed out his stuttering, “A-always s-stutter… and E-erasure and V-voice.”

“Interesting. Alright, you’re not allowed to use either of those quirks while training with me this week, understand?”

Izuku nodded, “Y-yes sir.”

“Alright, let's get back to training, One for All only,” with that the hero took off again, jumping around the room like a maniac. Izuku once again fired up One for All, noticing in the mirror the lightning that seemed to crackle around his skin.

“Pay attention!” the older hero snapped out, a kick landing against the back of his leg, knocking him onto his knees.

Izuku quickly got up and the fight, well more like beating, was back in business. For the next hour he was forced to dodge and figure out just where Gran Torino would be attacking, he wasn’t given a break from the steady streams of attacks. Wasn’t given time to think and analyze what was going on. All his quick predictions were proven wrong as Gran Torino used those opportunities to pin him down or throw him somewhere in the room.

Even when he did figure out where the teacher was attacking from, his defense was broken by the surprisingly strong hero.

Then the hero came to a stop, staring at him, “That’s enough of this for now. You have grasped the original concept well enough.”

“W-what? O-original concept?”

Gran Torino nodded, picking up his cane and whacking Izuku on the knee, green lightning flickering at the weapon briefly. “Yes, being able to use it like a basic quirk, an extension of your body. You show that you are able to hold it up in a fight, which is good, and you didn’t break any of your bones. Next we are going to work on finding the max output you can use before the power becomes too much.”

Izuku nodded to the older hero.

“What percentage of One for All do you think you were channeling just now?”

Izuku hesitated, “Ummm, m-maybe two or t-three percent?”

“Increase it by one percent slowly until you think it will start being dangerous to your health.”

Izuku nodded and slowly started to increase how much of the quirk he was channeling. 

4% … 5% … 6% … 7% … 8% and he could start to feel the strain, he could probably push it to 9 or 10 percent, but only for a short time. With this in mind he relayed the information to Gran Torino.

“Not bad, but obviously your body still isn’t used to the power, you aren’t like Toshinori who could use One for All almost instantly. But then again he always was more brawn than brain. Don’t mistake me, Toshinori is smart, but he’s one of those people who is born with a body that lends itself to muscles. So what we’re going to do is my patented hell regiment. You thought All Might’s training to prepare your body was bad? Mine is downright insane,” the older hero grinned.

Izuku gulped as the hero held up what looked like metal bracelets. “These high density bracelets were designed by one of U.A.’s support students, and Toshinori was kind enough to provide me some. Each one of these adds about a quarter of your body weight. You will put one on each of your legs today. When I am satisfied with your progress you will also add the other set on your arms.”

A couple minutes later the bands were strapped onto Izuku’s legs and each step took a ton of effort to make. Gran Torino grinned as Izuku struggled over to the kitchen table where he was setting up lunch. “Eat up brat, I can’t have you passing out on me in our next spar.”

Izuku just nodded and began to eat the food. He did his best to ignore how Gran Torino stared at him, and did his best to ignore the thoughts in his mind that wondered what the hero was thinking. That worried about if he did something wrong, that worried that Gran Torino was just using this training as a means to hurt him without getting in trouble.

He needed to be brave, to stop doubting the heroes and students around him so much. They were heroes and hero students, they weren’t like his previous schooling. Didn’t Aizawa and Yamada-sensei prove that?

Finishing his food he gave a thumbs up to the hero who simply nodded and moved back to the center of the room. “Get over here!”

Izuku stood up and trudged, each step was a fight against gravity thanks to the weights. It took him a minute to take the twenty or so steps to reach where Gran Torino waited. “Get into a fighting stance, I’m going to clean up some holes in your fighting stance, and then work on your kicks. You are not to use One For All to help you move.”

So he shifted into a fighting stance and soon was being whacked, with Gran Torino pointing out flaws in his stance, openings that people would take advantage of. He forced Izuku to kick, which with the weights caused him to lose his balance a lot, though he started to get the hang of it, but after a few correct kicks his legs were trembling and ready to give out from the exertion.

After a couple hours of sparring without quirks, the hero gave him a grocery list and told him to run to the store and back. Legs feeling like jelly, he did and got the groceries. Soon he was on his way back and was forced to cook dinner. 

That night he collapsed onto the little mat and was instantly asleep.

His eyes opened to see he was surrounded by what looked like darkness. Looking around he couldn’t see anything, then he looked down at himself and found himself covered in the same darkness. A flash of lightning lit up a shadowy figure in the distance.

Izuku frowned, tilting his head to the side as darkness descended again. He tried to move, but found he was completely immobile, nor could he speak. Lightning flashed again, closer this time, the same shadowy figure showing.

Another minute, and another even closer lightning and the figure appeared to be getting closer and closer. Izuku watched with growing horror as the figure came closer and closer.

One final flash and the figure was a few feet in front of Izuku, on the edge of the darkness that surrounded him. His heart pounded like crazy, and Izuku wondered if he was about to die. Was this figure going to kill him? Why couldn’t he move? Izuku wanted to run and flee but his body refused to listen to him.

All he could do was watch and wait. So he observed the figure he could make out no details, but he could see a strange white glow where the eyes would be, and he could make out hands moving and rubbing together. As the figure rubbed their hands, sparks seemed to generate.

The shadow stopped rubbing his hands and pulled them apart, lightning dancing between his hands, creating a small electric barricade. The farther apart the figure pulled his hands, the weaker the barrier seemed to get, until it dissipated into nothing.

Lightning flashed again, this time across the sky instead of striking down, briefly illuminating the entire place Izuku was in.

He could see other shadowy figures standing and staring at him. As the lightning dissipated Izuku was pretty sure he managed to make out eight figures, if he included the person in front of him. 

The shadow in front of him stepped towards him, shadowy hands reaching out towards him. There was a silent rumble, everything shaking, but still there was no sound. The world started to break apart, cracks forming in the ground, revealing a bright light that seemed to pour out, but still the place remained dark.

The ground directly underneath his feet started to crack and fall apart and Izuku fell through the ground, mouth covered making it impossible to scream. Izuku sat up with a startled gasp, lightning flicking off his body as One for All deactivated.

Did he… did he somehow activate the quirk in his sleep?

What was that dream? 

Who were those figures?

But more importantly who was that one figure who came up to him?

Glancing at the time he saw it was close to two am, and so he laid back down. It took awhile, but eventually he managed to fall back asleep. No more strange dreams plaguing him.

Chapter Text

Shouta put his hands into his pockets as he walked next to Hizashi through the halls of the hospital. Nurses, doctors, patients, and visitors walked through the halls, each going through their business for being at the Hosu hospital.

Black eyes flickered across the room numbers, looking for the one they were told was Tensei’s room. Finally spotting the number they entered.

Before them Tensei laid on the hospital bed, bandages were wrapped around his head, wires attached to him and a breathing mask. The blanket was lowered down to show a huge bandage over his stomach. 

Hizashi took in a sharp breath, causing their friend to open his eyes and tilt his head to the side to look at them. Shouta saw him smile from underneath the oxygen mask. “Hizashi, Shouta, I’m surprised you came to visit little ol’ me.”

Hizashi crossed his arms, “What, think we're not worthy to visit you?” he shot back with a playful grin as he crossed over to stand next to the bed.

Shouta stayed back a few steps.

“More like I’m not worthy of you visiting me,” Tensei responded with a bit of a laugh.

“Cut the crap with the self-deprecating humor,” Shouta said, narrowing his eyes a bit.

Tensei let out a long breath, “Shouta, don’t be shy, get your ass over here.”

He huffed, but stepped forward, standing next to his husband. “How are you really feeling Tensei?” Hizashi asked.

The older Iida closed his eyes, tilting his head away from them before opening his eyes and staring out the window. “That bad?”

“Yeah.”

Shouta and Hizashi shared a glance, agreeing silently to change the conversation to help cheer up their friend. “Well we got some news that might piss you off, and might make you happy.”

Tensei turned back to them, blue eyes glinting in interest. “Oh?”

Hizashi looked at him, silently urging Shouta to be the one to tell Tensei.

Shouta rolled his eyes back, then a slight upturning of his lip was the only warning his husband got before he pulled him in for a brief kiss. “We’re married,” Shouta said to the wide eyed Tensei.

Hizashi was bright red, “Shoooo!” he squeaked out, burying his face in his hands.

Shouta just snickered. “You deserve it.”

“No I doooon’t!” Hizahsi whined.

Tensei started laughing loudly, his laughter turning to coughing after a moment. “Ha! Nem owes me 500!”

“What.”

“Huh?”

Tensei looked at them, an eyebrow raising up, “Have you not told her yet?”

Hizashi gave a nervous laugh, “Ummmm… no? You’re like one of the first people we’ve told.”

“Huh, so how long have you two been married then?”

“A bit over a year,” Shouta answered.

“But... what was the bet?” Hizashi further questioned.

“I bet you two would get married before telling us, she bet that you would tell us while you were dating.” The injured hero informed them, smiling a bit.

“We actually wanted your advice on telling her,” Shouta said, cutting to the heart of this subject of conversation.

“Oh?”

“We want to keep our relationship private, only close friends, Nedzu, and Midoriya. But… we’re worried that if we tell Nemuri she would share it in one of her talkative drunken states.”

Tensei looked at them, frowning for a moment. After a minute he said, “She’s surprisingly good at keeping secrets, even when drunk, if you make her promise to not tell anyone without your permission, she won’t tell anyone, even under the threat of death.”

The two shared a glance at that information, that should have been something they knew about their friend, but they didn’t. “So, how long has this bet been going on?” Hizashi asked.

Tensei stared at them, before letting the subject change to a lighter topic, “A few years, ever since that party 5 years ago.”

Both Shouta and Hizashi turned red at being reminded of that party. It had been a wild night, a celebration of something Shouta couldn’t even remember. He hadn’t wanted to go, but with his three best friends begging him he agreed, if only so they would leave him alone.

Which led to him getting drunk at the party and they ended up playing truth or dare, anyways point was the game led to him and Hizashi kissing and that was when Shouta realized that his feelings for his best friend were something more than just best friends. Of course being the idiot he was, he thought Hizashi would never feel the same way for him, unaware that Hizashi had been pining for him ever since high school.

Yeah, they were both idiots, but hey they were together now, so that counted for something, right?

“C’mon, you got to give me the details, how did you two finally start dating, get married, all of that information!”

Hizashi looked over at him, and Shouta just nodded, his husband beamed and launched into the tale of how the two finally confessed and started dating.

“Ow! What was that for?!” Neito demanded.

“For not paying attention,” Recovery Girl said scoldingly.

“I was paying attention though!” he protested, rubbing his head where she had whacked him with her cane. It was the second day of his internship, but already he had been whacked at least ten times.

“Oh, then you would be able to tell me what I just told you.”

Neito swallowed, he had been paying attention. Mostly. It was just that this was a lot harder to understand than he thought. When he first chose to intern with Recovery Girl it was because she had a complicated quirk that could be useful to understand in an emergency situation.

But it was a lot more complicated than he thought, judging how much life force was needed in order to heal a wound. Plus it was awkward to have to kiss someone to heal them. Her quirk only worked by a kiss as well, which kinda sucked.

Although her story of how she found her quirk was pretty cute. Apparently she was five and her mom had gotten a papercut, as parents often kissed wounds to ‘make them feel better’ she had told her mom she would ‘kiss it better’ and when she did her mom passed out but the wound was healed.

So yeah, it was pretty interesting to intern with Recovery Girl, even if judging the whole lifeforce thing was weird. It wasn’t like automatic or anything and he could definitely use too much.

“You were speaking about the dangers of using too much lifeforce?” Neito answered hesitantly, as that had been the general theme of what she was talking about.

She whacked him with her cane again, “No. I was telling you that we would be heading out to investigate a cold case.”

Neito blinked, “Oh. I didn’t think-”

Recovery Girl interrupted him, “Didn’t think interning with me would have you get any actual hero work?”

He hesitantly nodded.

She harrumphed, “Well if you don’t want to do the work, then I can go by myself.”

“No! I want to do it, I’m just surprised!” Neito said, eyes widening a bit in panic that she would leave him behind, he was deserving of being a hero, and he would work twice as hard as any other student to prove it.

“Let's get going then.”

He followed after her and got into the car with her. “We are investigating a doctor who went missing 8 years ago, I believe that this disappearance could be related to the seven doctors who have gone missing over the last five years. All of them have disappeared without a trace.”

“Without a trace? What good will it be for us to investigate then?” Monoma questioned.

“The police have given us access to their investigation notes, but we will be looking at the records of the missing doctor, one doctor Tsubusa, left behind. They could have missed something that could be a clue. Most likely this is a dead end, but there might be information that could help. I am starting with him as I believe he is the earliest victim of the disappearance. During the free time I have I will be looking into all the other victims as well.”

“So what should I do then?”

“I want you to take a look around, see if you can find anything that seems out of place. Luckily no one has bought the building so nothing should be messed up unless someone broke in for some reason.”

The drive took roughly an hour, but soon they were pulling up and parking. Neito opened the car door and stepped out, stretching as he did so, hero costume shifting in the gentle breeze.

Neito walked behind Recovery Girl as she unlocked the door to the small clinic, apparently the key having been given to her by the police. They entered to immediately be assaulted by a wave of dust.

It took them only a few minutes to locate the office with an old computer in it. “I might be here for a while, go take a look around, see if anything strikes you as odd.”

“Sure,” he said, and started wandering around, investigating the abandoned building. It looked to be a pretty standard clinic. Surprisingly it seemed most of the equipment and stuff was intact. If it wasn’t for the dust and lack of other people he might think that the building was still in use.

Though all the medicine was gone, which was a good thing, in case someone thought stealing it was a good idea. Opening cabinets he didn’t come across anything unusual. Eventually he found a back storage which had a few filing cabinets. Opening them he saw they were full of records.

Deciding to come back after the rest of his search he left the filing cabinets alone. Another hour passed with him finding nothing of further interest so he returned to the cabinets and started to skim through the files.

Most of them seemed to be paper copies of peoples medical records, all of them 8 years or older of course. 

Another filing cabinet had legal documents and bills, stuff about the building or the guy's medical licenses. The third cabinet had only a few records and Monoma was about to leave it alone after skimming them when his eyes caught onto the date of the file. It was 6 years old.

Pulling out the file he looked at it, frowning as it was blacked out, like a spy file with a bunch of redacted data. There was no picture, no name, the only thing he could make out was that the client had been in an accident and was unresponsive to any outside stimuli. That was it except for the date that was 6 years old.

Taking the file with him he went to where Recovery Girl continued to stare at the computer, eyes roaming over the screen as she read over information. Hearing him enter she looked up, eyes catching onto the file in his hand, “You found something?”

He nodded and handed over the file.

She looked over it, an eyebrow raising up. “Interesting, and of course they didn’t find it if this happened after the investigation. I wonder did he come back then to do this medical scan? Or is this someone else using the building? Why leave the file here? And if it is the missing doctor does that mean he was in hiding? Thank you Monoma, I’m sure this will be useful.”

He sat down, pulling out his phone as Recovery Girl continued her investigation of the doctor's computer. After another couple hours the monitor went dark and the youthful heroine stood up, a frown on her face.

“Did you find anything?” Neito asked as they left the building.

“Nothing concrete, just a few odd payments that don’t line up with what each procedure should cost. That file you found is probably the biggest lead right now so I will be seeing if I can get any more information using that information. I will also send a request for the rest of the files to be looked over, in case there's another file like this. Good job.”

Neito just nodded. “Glad I could be of service!”

With that the two got back into the car and began the hour long drive back to U.A.

Chapter Text

Izuku groaned as he woke up to the third day of his internship, everything hurt. Yesterday the older hero had added the wrist weights and Izuku could barely move. At least Gran Torino allowed him to use 1% of one for all to help move, it gave him the strength he needed to move, but it was at a normal pace instead of faster.

They had spent yesterday doing all sorts of insane training, from Gran Torino sparing him, to the older hero throwing pointy objects at him to dodge. How was this training allowed? And now today he would have to do it all again, despite how sore he was. 

Izuku barely had time to even think, and when he did have time he was too sore and tired to think properly. All he could do was follow the instructions given to him and hope that Gran Torino was actually helping him.

“Stop lazing around!” The hero yelled, throwing something at him.

Izuku rolled to the side, eyes widening as he scrambled to get up as the hero started throwing more things at him.

Once he was fully standing up the hero stopped and grinned, “Good, that’s the sort of improvement I like to see!”

“H-huh?” Izuku questioned, looking at his mentor confused.

“Exactly, you didn’t even notice that you activated One for All.”

Izuku’s eyes widened and he looked down to see the quickly becoming familiar green streaks of lightning covering his body. He hadn’t even thought about activating it when he was attacked, he just used it on instinct.

Gran Torino smirked, “This is exactly what I was wanting to achieve, using one for all should be an extension of your body, not something you have to concentrate on. Get dressed in your civilian clothes, we’re heading out. You may also take the weights off.”

Confused, he did as instructed, soon exiting the room wearing a brown t-shirt that said ‘casual shirt’ and a pair of jeans. Without even eating breakfast they were heading out. They walked for a good half hour before the hero led him into an Ihop.

The hero encouraged him to get whatever breakfast he wanted and so Izuku ordered the chocolate chip pancakes with french toast. They ate in silence, the older hero not saying anything.

After they finished and Gran Torino paid they left, and Izuku followed the hero, who was carrying a bag, but Izuku didn’t know what was in it.

It was another hour of walking before the hero led them into what looked like a hot spring. He paid and grinned, “We're going to relax for a little bit today before we head out to begin the next phase of your internship, so here," Gran Torino lifted the bag up, "get changed.” 

The bag was handed over to him and Izuku opened it to find a swim trunk and a towel. Changing, he entered the hot spring. Instantly the warm water began to take effect and he closed his eyes, letting out a little sigh of relief.

The hot water was a relief to his sore muscles that ached from the constant strain they had been under the past couple of days. They spent a few hours relaxing before getting out and Gran Torino led Izuku back to the apartment complex.

“Alright, you showed me some of your analysis of quirks, and you’ve had a couple days to see mine, so I want you to analyse me. If you would prefer to write it out, you can.”

Izuku nodded and started writing out everything he knew and theorized about the hero's quirk and fighting style, incorporating things Nedzu had taught him, weaknesses and stuff. After he finished he handed it over to Gran Torino.

The older hero snorted, “Kid, I can’t read whatever code you’re using.”

Izuku blinked, “S-sorry! N-nedzu-”

“I’m going to cut you off there, I already figured the rat got his paws on you, you’ve probably had a practical lesson or two with him already, yeah? Let me guess, gym Zeta?”

Green eyes widened as he nodded, surprised that the older hero knew that.

“The rat was a teacher while I was a teacher there and I saw how he trained his students. The signs are recognizable, plus Toshinori told me that Nedzu has been training you.”

“O-oh.”

“Read what you wrote kid.”

So Izuku did, spending the next ten minutes going over his notes, his theories, and then having Gran Torino explain things that he got wrong, or right.

They spent the next few hours discussing quirk analysis, the older hero only giving a few clues and telling Izuku to create solutions or answers based on limited information, also within a certain time limit or the older hero would whack him.

As evening started to fall the hero stood up, “Alright, it’s time to head out for your actual internship, aka phase two of my plan to whip you into shape! Which means hunting down villains! Go get into your hero outfit and follow me!”

Izuku rushed into the room, getting changed before coming back out, “Putting yourself solely against me would leave you with a bunch of bad habits and expectations, so we're going to throw you against a bunch of different types of villains so you’re prepared to deal with different situations. Remember this experience is to help you get used to One for All, so only use that quirk. If I think you need to use one of your other quirks then I will give you permission, but one for all should be enough for whatever minor villains we come across.”

Gran Torino hailed down a Taxi and the two got in, “It’s a little far from here where we’re going. The population is going down around here, so the crime rate is low. It’s also another reason why there’re so many hero agencies in big cities because they have a denser population, which means more crime. Which is why we are heading to Shibuya, since minor crimes are a dime a dozen over there.”

“W-were t-taking the b-bullet train t-there, t-then?”

“Yup,” Torino answered.

Which meant they would be passing by Hosu, where Iida was interning, Izuku wondered how the other boys' internship was going. Soon they were getting on the train and it was taking off, their journey would take several hours.

“Hey kid, Toshinori mentioned you wanted to be an underground hero, right?”

Izuku nodded.

“Did he tell you that I was an underground hero?”

Izuku shook his head, “N-no, but t-that would e-explain w-why I didn’t f-find any i-information when I s-searched you u-up.”

“Ha! Yeah, I’m not surprised, I never was one for the whole flashy showbiz like Toshinori. As an underground hero you will often be working at night, which means we should be arriving at Shibuya at the right time to really have some fun.”

Izuku checked his phone, and saw a few messages have been sent on the group chat, his classmates exclaiming how much they were learning on their various internships. Looking out the window he saw they were passing by Hosu.

A distant explosion rang out and the train screeched to a stop, an announcement being made, “Passengers, please remain seated. We’re making an emergency stop…”

The air seemed to still.

A loud crash and there was a hole in the side of the train as the hero struggled to stand up. Immediately civilians were starting to panic.

Smoke cleared and standing in the hole of the train was something Izuku had hoped to never see again.

A nomu.

Absentmindedly his hand went to his chest where the scar he got from Shigaraki lay. “Stay there, kid!” Torino yelled out, bouncing out of his seat and ramming into the Nomu. 

Izuku launched himself to the edge of the train, looking out over the city for his mentor. Already the hero and Nomu were gone from sight, but the city was clearly in a desperate state as explosions rang out around the city, smoke rising up as the sun set in the background.

Izuku bit his lip, Gran Torino had told him to stay here, but he was a hero, wasn’t he? He should be out helping people…

If that thing really was a Nomu, as strong as the one that had attacked USJ then… the whole city was in danger, he needed to warn the local heroes, to get Gran Torino back up. Maybe he should find Iida, the class president who has been here for a few days. He should be able to help Izuku spread the word around.

Though, with the explosions going on they could already be aware of the danger, or maybe a second attack was going on simoutamusly. Whatever it was he needed to team up and figure out where he could help.

With that in mind he took off using five percent of one for all, dashing through the city towards the center of the commotion.

As he arrived he was greeted with chaos, multiple Nomu looking creatures were attacking and Heroes were struggling against them. “Tenya! Oh how could he run off at a time like this?!” A voice called out, one Izuku recognized as Manual, the normal hero, also Iida’s mentor.

Iida… Iida ran off?

That wasn’t like the class president at all. Hosu was being attacked by Nomu, Iida would be helping out, not running off, not unless he was told to which he clearly wasn’t.

Iida’s brother had been in Hosu, and had been injured by the hero killer…

The hero killer!

Eyes widening he turned and left, taking to the roofs and jumping around, looking through alleyways for Iida. If the boy had found the hero killer…. Then he was in danger. Izuku had to help his classmate!

It took longer than he would like, but eventually he found the alleyway with Iida in it, the taller boy was on the ground, bleeding from his arm with the hero killer raising a sword up, about to finish the boy off.

Izuku rushed in, pushing one for all further to the limit as he punched Stain in the face. “I-Iida! I’m h-here for you!” Izuku said, standing defensively in front of his classmate.

“M-midoriya?”

“I-I’m glad I f-found you i-in time,” Izuku said.

“But why?!”

“B-because I r-realized y-you might be i-in trouble, I h-have to help you.”

Izuku glanced around, seeing how Stain seemed to be staring at him, letting him speak for now. Maybe trying to judge how much of a threat he was. Whatever the reason was, Izuku was glad he wasn’t immediately attacking. Focusing, he pulled out his phone behind his back as he quickly asked, “C-can you move?”

“No… I can’t move… he cut me, that’s most likely his quirk.”

Izuku frowned and he noticed another hero leaning against the wall, injured, but he was breathing, at least for now. If it had just been Iida he might be able to grab him and run away, but the other hero was injured as well and Izuku doubted he could carry both.

“This has nothing to do with you!” Iida cried out, “Don’t interfere. Run away!”

Stain tilted his head, “A friend shows up and says ‘I have to help you.’ A good line for sure. But it is my duty to kill these two. And if we’re forced to fight, then naturally… the weaker of us will be culled. So what now?” The hero killer said, grinning, eyes lit up with a sort of fire.

Izuku pressed send and hoped that he clicked all the right buttons to send his gps location to the group chat.

He had only a hunch, but he should have convinced one of the pros to come with him looking for the hero killer and Iida.

“N-now? I d-defend those w-who need my h-help, even if my l-life is f-forfit,” Izuku said, meeting the gaze of the hero killer.

He was a hero to help people, not for the fame, not to be able to use his quirk, but only to help. Should he die saving even one life? Then he did his job.

“No!!! I told you to run! This is none of your business!”

Izuku frowned, “I-it might n-not be my b-business, but a h-hero helps e-even w-when it’s not w-wanted.”

Stain’s grin turned even wider, “You kid, what’s your hero name?”

Izuku swallowed looking at the hero killer, he could feel that the hero killer was judging him, he took a breath and met the villain's gaze and said, with more confidence then he felt, “Ark: The helping hero.”

“Well then, Ark, show me your conviction!”

Izuku dashed forward, ducking underneath the swing of the long blade from Stain. Izuku immediately jumped up as the hero killer whirled around, blade slashing where he had been moments ago. 8% Detroit smash! Izuku thought as he punched down, the hero killer’s head moving up and looking at him. 

He could see the blade moving and he twisted his body, even as his punch hit Stain who flew back a couple feet.

Both took a moment to stand up, and Izuku watched in horror as Stain’s long tongue flickered out across the blade, licking it.

As soon as that lick happened, Izuku collapsed to the ground, unable to move. A scratch? Glancing at his arm he saw a tiny cut, one he could barely even feel and it was somehow enough to paralyze him. Eyes widening he realized it must be the blood.

The hero killer looked at him, “You lack power. But you did track my movements, you exploited my blind spot and planned to bring me down. That’s how you moved. So many fools out there are nothing but talk… but you…. are worth keeping alive… unlike these others.”

Izuku stared desperately as the hero killer walked past him towards Iida. He tried desperately to move, to call up one for all, voice, erasure, anything, but it seemed Stain’s quirk paralyzed quirks as well, he could do nothing to delay the hero killer any longer.

The sword raised up glinting silver in the last of the dying sunlight and then with a blur of movement something wet splattered against his face.

Chapter Text

Izuku watched helplessly as the sword raised up, glinting as it reflected the small amounts of light that came from the setting sun and the streetlamp just outside the alleyway. A blur of movement and the blade came down faster than his eye could see. The slightest whoosh followed the movement as it struck down.

A blast of cold air and a pitter patter of what felt like raindrops landed on his face. Eyes wide in horror he saw a couple speckles of red on the ground.

Blood.

Eyes looking up he stared in shock to see a wall of ice in front of Iida.

To the side of the ice stood Todoroki, expression closed off as his mismatched eyes looked over at him. “Midoriya. Learn to write more specific directions. I was almost too late.”

A loud pain filled cry interrupted the two, and Izuku looked at the wall Iida was behind. He noticed Todoroki's grimace, “I’m sorry Iida, I was too late to prevent you from getting injured.”

‘I’m sorry,’ as if those words were enough to cover for the hurt Iida had gone through. Still Iida had put them in this position in the first place. But those words were just so empty. Meaningless. Why did people say ‘I’m sorry’ for everything?

Stain huffed, “So many interruptions.”

“Sending a message that is pointless isn’t your style,” his classmate said, “I realized you were in trouble. Don’t worry in a couple more minutes the pros will be here.”

With that ice was sent out and Izuku and Native were thrown behind where Todoroki stood. “I won’t let him kill either of you.”

“D-don’t let him d-draw your b-blood, he p-paralyzes by i-ingesting y-your blood.”

“Explains all the blades. So I’ve just got to keep my distance.”

Movement blurred and Todoroki was to the side, a cut on his cheek, but he managed to dodge and put up a wall of ice to give them a moment's respite. “Both of you... just stop it…. I’ve inherited my brother’s name. I have to do this. He’s mine to…”

“Inherited his name? That’s weird...” Todoroki interrupted. “‘Cuz the Ingenium I know of never made faces like that. Guess your family’s also got a dark side to it.”

Also? What did Todoroki mean? He had no time to think of that though as he desperately kept trying to move, and paused briefly when he felt his finger twitch in response. Was the paralysis wearing off?

“U-use y-your fire to s-stop Stain f-from getting c-close!” Izuku called out, voice louder than he had meant, as the wall of ice was cut down.

He watched in horror, unable to move as Todoroki was stabbed in the arm by multiple blades and soon was paralyzed. The boy having chosen to try and block Stain with more ice, instead of using his fire. The hero killer glared at them, “Now it’s time for me to finish what I set out to do tonight.”

With that he moved, walking over to Native who was still slumped against the wall. A shiing, whoosh and a thud was the only noise that followed as Natives head rolled towards them.

Izuku gagged as his wide eyes stared at the head that rolled towards them. 

Dead.

The pro was dead. Izuku knew he would have to one day face death in his career as a hero, but he didn’t expect to see it so soon, so up close and personal. Everything seemed to slow down as the hero killer turned to Iida.

He saw each footstep as if in slow motion.

Izuku forced himself to move, the last trace of the paralysis wearing off. He needed to block the blade, but without getting injured. His body trembled from the exertion of his training the past few days, from pushing his body past its limits, but...

He needed to defend his classmates.

He needed a barrier.

Green lightning crackled along his skin.

Like a bolt of lightning he remembered that strange dream, the way the person had created a barrier of lightning in their hands. With desperation and a faint hope he clapped his hands together, rubbing them for a second as he threw himself in front of the blade, bringing his hands apart.

Green lightning spread out between his hands, creating a small square barrier, the top left of it connected to his left hand and the bottom right corner connected to his right hand.

The blade flashed down, landing against the barrier and stopping as if it hit something solid. Red eyes widened in surprise as the lightning conducted along the blade, zapping him and causing the hero killer to drop the blade.

Izuku closed his hands together, ending the barrier as red eyes narrowed at him, the gaze of a predator.

“Midoriya?! You can move?” Todoroki exclaimed.

“Y-yes, it s-seems his q-quirk wore of quicker f-for me… t-there are a few p-possibilities. N-number of p-people, how m-much blood, b-blood type.”

“I’m A,” Iida bit out between gritted teeth.

“O,” Todoroki answered from the ground.

“I’m O a-as well.”

“Haaah, blood type… that’s right.”

Not that knowing would do much good, considering if they got hit they would be paralyzed and killed.

The hero killer picked a new blade, this one had a rubber handle, something that would stop the electricity from hitting him, but Izuku knew he could at least block the hits. 

A blur of movement and Izuku created a new barrier, once more catching the blade for a moment before the hero pulled it away, Izuku needed to be able to attack the hero killer. As he held the barrier open he could almost feel himself being drained, like a battery losing its charge, he wasn’t getting tired, but he realized that he must have some sort of stockpile of electricity he was using up, so he closed his hands to preserve the electricity.

Jumping wall to wall he went up to distract Stain as he pulled out his gun, shooting bullets down as the hero killer jumped up towards him, sword raised up.

Izuku could see the bullets missing, could see the blade coming closer even as he emptied the magazine.

As the blade came bearing down on him, Izuku noticed there was one knockout bullet in the hero killer's arm, but he knew it would still be a few minutes before the drug took effect.

A large flash of silver and Stain was being launched into the opposite wall of the alleyway, Iida landing down. “This has nothing to do with either of you… so I'm sorry… that’s why I swear I won’t let you two lose any more blood here!” Iida cried out, tears streaming down his face, mixing with the blood that covered the right side of his head.

Now it was noticeable where the blood had come from.

Iida’s right ear was gone.

Stain scoffed, “It’s no use pretending. A person’s true nature is not so easily changed. You’re a fake who prioritized his own selfish desires! A cancer on this society warped by ‘heroes.’ Someone needs to correct the system!” 

“Iida, don’t even think of listening to his so-called reasoning!” Todoroki called out from the ground.

“No. He’s right, I have no right to call myself a hero… Still I won’t let him break me…” Iida declared, blood dripping down the left side of his armor from where he was stabbed by Stain. “Because if I break… then Ingenium really is dead!”

“You’re hopeless.”

Izuku watched as Todoroki shifted a finger, the movement starting to return to his classmate. Stain raced forward towards Iida, who also changed stance, obviously getting ready to kick the hero killer. Izuku launched himself forward towards the fight, noticing out the corner of his eye where Todoroki managed to move his hand and ice launched towards the hero killer.

Iida kicked him from the side, launching the hero towards Izuku who punched him in the back, sending him towards the wave of ice. Allowing Todoroki to completely freeze the hero killer in place.

Izuku winced, biting his lip hard to keep from crying out as he felt his arm crack, having accidentally used too much power on that last punch.

A collective breath was released from the three students as they realized that Stain was temporarily knocked out. “We need to find rope or something, and disarm him, I can’t keep him in ice for long.”

The three looked around and found some rope, tying the villain up and removing all the weapons they could find. As they exited the alleyway Gran Torino popped around the corner. “Huh?! Whaaa why’re you here?!” His mentor cried out, coming over and whacking him on the head.

“G-gran Torino!” Izuku called out in shock.

Almost instantly Iida and Todoroki were standing in front of him looking at Gran Torino through narrowed eyes. “I told you to stay in your seat!” The hero continued to scold, easily using his quirk to get around the two.

“I-I’m sorry!” Izuku said bowing a bit in shame. The words didn’t mean anything, yet they were the appropriate words to say here. Izuku wasn’t sorry, but he knew his mentor expected the apology

“Well I don’t know what happened here, but… glad to see you’re still alive brat.”

“Who are you?” Todoroki questioned a slight note of hostility in his voice that had Izuku shifting away with a nervous swallow. 

“Gran Torino, this brats mentor for this week.”

There was no time for further talk as a bunch of heroes started showing up, all of them talking over each other calling for an ambulance and noticing the hero killer was tied up. Iida bowed, “Both of you… you were wounded because of me. I am so terribly sorry… I was blind. I lost sight of everything!”

“I-i’m sorry a-as well… I s-should h-have realized y-you were u-upset…” Izuku bit his lip, Iida had been by his side this entire school year, supporting him and never demanding Izuku do something he was uncomfortable with, “I… I s-should have noticed, b-because w-we’re friends.”

Maybe he couldn’t trust Iida yet, but… Izuku could say they were friends.

Blue eyes widened, and Iida gave a wobbly grin, “We both... could have done better…”

“Get it together. You're the class president,” Todoroki said.

Iida bowed, “Yes!”

Gran Torino’s head snapped up, “Get down!” he yelled.

“A villain! How could Endeavor let it go…?!”

A second later Izuku found himself being lifted into the air, the thuping of wings beating against the air filling his ears as wind rushed past him. “W-wha..?”

“Midoriya!” various voices called out.

Then he could feel a change in the air around him and heard a voice speaking out, “Both this sham-filled society and the criminals who wield their power in the name of petty mischief are targets of my purge.”

An arm was wrapped around his stomach and they were landing on the ground and Izuku looked up with wide eyes at the Hero Killer. “All… for the sake… of a better society!”

Izuku was dropped onto the ground, but was unable to get up as the hero killer kept a hand on his back, suppressing him from getting up. Unable to see what was going on, he did hear the hero killer speak up, a whisper of a name, “Endeavor…”

“Todoroki, wait!!”

The pressure on his back was released and Izuku struggled to get up to a sitting position, his eyes widened as he saw the hero killer's expression. “You fake…” The hero killer was staring at Endeavor with angry red eyes, something in his expression freezing Izuku.

Ba-dum.

He could feel Stain’s killer intent, and he couldn’t move against it, could only stay still in the hopes that the predator didn’t notice him in this blood frenzy. “If I don’t fix it… if someone isn’t stained with blood… If I don’t reclaim my hero status!”

Ba-dum.

The hero killer took a step forward, “Come! Just try me… YOU FAKES! The only one allowed to kill me is All Might, a TRUE hero!!”

Ba-dum.

Stain took another step forward, and everyone looked at him frozen, Endeavor speaking up next, “He’s out cold.”

The flame hero stepped forward, blue eyes widening a bit, “Thanks for stopping me old man, I didn’t know the hero killer had a child hostage.”

“Yeah yeah, maybe next time check to see why we weren’t taking action,” Gran retorted.

Endeavor scoffed and turned to the other heroes, “Hey! Someone make sure an ambulance is on the way. And get the police over here two, we got to make sure Stain stays secure, if he wakes up he might try to attack or flee.”

The other heroes came out of their daze, everything becoming a blur of action as the adrenaline started to wear off. Boarding into the ambulance he was laid down and a moment later he was unconscious.

Chapter Text

Izuku could feel it, the bond with Iida, it was on that edge point, where he would trust Iida enough to gain his quirk. Izuku didn’t want to copy his only friend's quirk though. For a multiple of reasons. One he didn’t want Iida to react negatively, but also… Engine was a quirk that ran through the Iida family, if Izuku copied the quirk it was like he was stealing a part of that family's legacy.

He looked around the room, it was dark, late at night. He had woken up from a nightmare of Native dying. His thoughts and guilt plaguing him had stopped him from returning to sleep. Closing his eyes he did his best to relax, to feel for the bonds. Then with only a moment of hesitation, he severed the cord that was reaching out from the bubble Izuku associated with Iida.

Immediately he could feel a difference, the last of his wariness of trusting Iida went away.

Izuku froze as a realization came over him, by not severing the bonds he was making it harder on himself to trust his classmates. 

Focusing, he looked at the other bonds belonging to his classmates, like Uraraka’s pink orb. He paused, before severing the bond. Again he could feel the difference, the ever present wariness disappearing. Slowly he went through his classmates, until only a few of them were left, Tokoyami, Todoroki, and Kaminari.

“What are you doing?” A voice called out, causing Izuku to instinctively flinch away as he opened his eyes, only to see Todoroki looking at him from the other hospital bed.

“N-nothing…” Izuku said.

The dual hair colored boy tilted his head, “It clearly wasn’t nothing, you seemed to be concentrating heavily.”

Izuku bit his lip, “I w-was making i-it so I d-didn’t copy y-your q-quirks.”

Todoroki’s frown deepened, “Your quirk is bonding, right? Sensei mentioned that you could copy quirks after meeting a requirement?”

He nodded.

“Why are you making it so you don’t copy our quirks then, wouldn’t doing so just make you more powerful?”

“I-I have a-a l-limit to h-how many I c-can c-copy.”

“So you’re making it so you only get the strongest quirks?”

Izuku shook his head frantically. “N-no! I d-don’t want to s-steal any of y-your quirks.”

Todoroki stared at him, before nodding a bit, “So you don’t want to use others' quirks.”

Izuku nodded, “N-not without t-their p-permission.”

“But you haven’t asked us if it was okay?” the boy questioned, confused.

He fiddled with his hands for a moment, before whispering, “I don’t want someone to only be my friend to have their quirk copied.”

Todoroki’s eyebrows scrunched together, “So… your quirk requires you to be friends with someone to work.”

“No, but… friendship and the requirement kinda go hand and hand, or at least… for me it does.”

“I see. Have you… stopped all of them then?”

“N-not yet, y-you interrupted m-me.”

“I’m sorry then, but I think I understand where you're coming from a bit at least…. You know my father is Endeavor. The second greatest hero of all time. My dad… he’s a powerful bastard who only thinks of becoming a stronger hero. He wants to surpass All Might, he’s always gone all out to make a name for himself as a hero, yet to him All Might has always been a roadblock stopping him from being the number one hero. My Father realized he could never beat All Might as a hero, so he created another plan.”

Izuku tilted his head, wondering where Todoroki was going with this story, “Quirk Marriages. You’ve heard of them, right? They started becoming a problem during the second or third generation after quirks appeared. Strong individuals would choose a partner and force them into marriage for the sole purpose of passing on a strengthened version of their own quirk. Those earlier generations were lacking in ethics. With his wealth and fame, my father made my mother’s family agree to the marriage. All to get his hands on her quirk. Endeavor raised me as a hero who would exceed All Might, just to fulfill his own ambitions.”

Todoroki scowled, looking at his left hand, “I hate it! Being no more than a tool for that human garbage…” Todoroki paused, his hand raising to cover his face, “As I remember it, mom was always crying… ‘I’m sorry I failed you,’ she cried, before throwing scalding water in my face.”

Izuku shuddered as he stared at the boy, sympathy creeping through him, it must have been a nightmare to have his own mom hurt him like that, all because he reminded her of Endeavor. “In short, not using my left side was my revenge on him. Never using my rotten father’s quirk… no… by rising to the top without using it… I’ll have denied him everything.”

Todoroki turned away, “So if you don’t want to use a quirk that doesn’t belong to you, I can understand that… I wish I hadn’t been born with my fathers quirk.”

“E-even if it c-came f-from your f-father, i-it is yours n-now. I-if you h-have the p-power t-to save p-people with it… w-will y-you refuse t-to save them j-just to s-spite your f-father?” Izuku questioned after a moment of silence.

Todoroki’s head snapped to him, eyes narrowed, “I will save people with only my ice!”

Izuku curled up into himself, even as he murmured, “We f-failed to s-save Native… he d-died because we w-weren’t g-good enough.”

Todoroki turned away.

The room fell silent for a long time. Izuku eventually managed to fall back asleep, forgetting to finish severing the bonds of the other classmates.

He woke up to see the white of the hospital above him. Slowly he sat up and saw that Todoroki and Iida were already awake. “Good morning Midoriya!” Iida said, nodding his head, which had bandages covering half of it, both of his arms were also bandaged and in slings.

Izuku looked over and saw Todoroki only had his left arm bandaged. Glancing at himself he noticed one of his arms was in a cast, but that was it.

Todoroki looked at Iida, “I came to save you, but ended up needing your help. Sorry.”

“Not-”

The door opened, “Oh the little wounded warriors are awake!” Gran Torino said, being followed by Manual and a large man with a dog mutation, or was a dog with a quirk of some sort. “I’m still gonna chew you out, but before that you’ve got a visitor.”

With that they were introduced to Hosu’s chief of police, who informed them of the Hero killer's condition before scolding them about using their quirks without permission. Then they were given a choice, to receive credit, but face punishment, or to not receive credit and to give it to the other heroes on scene who had agreed to take the credit to protect the kids.

Izuku spoke up first, “I-i’m p-planning to b-be an underground h-hero, s-so I d-don’t w-want credit… b-but…” Izuku looked over at Iida and Todoroki.

Iida and Todoroki bowed, apologizing for the inconvenience. With that it was agreed that none of them would receive credit for taking down Stain. Still it was nice at least that the chief of police thanked them.

After the chief left, Gran Torino ranted for a good half hour at them about how foolish and stupid their decision had been. After he ran out of steam he offered a brief congratulations for not dying and then left.

Then they were left alone with their thoughts. An hour or two passed and they were eating some of the bland hospital food, but otherwise just resting up, as they weren’t allowed to leave for a couple days.

There was a knock on the door and the students looked at each other before Todoroki and him looked at Iida, silently electing him as the spokesperson, “Come in.” Iida called out.

The door opened, revealing a surprising figure. Enji Todoroki. More commonly known as Endeavor, but the number 2 hero wasn’t in his hero outfit, instead in civilian wear. Khakis and a button up shirt that was untucked. “Shoto,” he greeted, nodding at his son before looking over at them with sharp blue eyes.

“May I have a moment alone with my son?” Todoroki-san questioned.

Todoroki crossed his arms, “Whatever you want to say can be said in front of them.”

Todoroki-san nodded, “Very well, when will you stop throwing a tantrum?”

Todoroki glared, “I’m not!”

“Refusing to use your fire, just because of me is childish, how else could it be described then you throwing a fit? Shoto, you are my son! You have the perfect quirk to save people and to take down villains! How can you throw away half of your potential simply because you don’t like me?”

“I don’t simply, ‘not like you’ I hate you.” Todoroki responded with clenched hands.

Izuku watched, seeing how Todoroki-san’s eyes flashed, an unknown emotion going through them, pain? Sadness? Izuku couldn’t tell, but it seemed like those words hurt the number two hero.

“Please Shoto, forget about me for a moment and think about your career. Do you plan on letting people die by not using the fire that belongs to you?!” 

Todoroki glared, refusing to respond and Todoroki-san sighed, turning to leave. “If you don’t want to be a hero, Shoto, I won’t force you to.”

With that statement the number two hero left.

Iida frowned, “Todoroki… what was that all about? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Todoroki remained silent for a moment, “I hate my father because he abused me and my family. He forced my mom into a quirk marriage and he hurt us for the sake of making us heroes. He called it training, my oldest brother died due to his training, and because my brother and sister refused to be heroes he focused all his attention on training me.”

“Oh… does that mean that you want to be a hero? If you didn’t…?” Iida asked, looking hesitant and unsure.

Todoroki stared down at his hands, “I don’t know.”

Enji leaned against the wall, listening to the conversation between his son and the two other U.A. students.

‘Forced my mom into a quirk marriage.’ 

Is that really what Shoto thought? That he bought Rei from her family just for her quirk? Just that very thought of doing such to his wife made him feel sick. He would never have forced her to marry him.

He loved her too much for that.

Yet… in the end he still caused her misery. It was his fault that she felt like she couldn’t talk to him about the problems she was having. She thought he would be angry at her for not being able to bear another child. Enji would never be angry at her. 

He had come to learn recently that being a hero, and being a father were two very different things. Fuyumi had broken down, yelling and screaming at him for tearing their family apart, calling him an abuser and that she wished she had never been born.

It broke his heart to see her in such a state, to realize that she was like this because of him. Because he didn’t know how to be a good father. 

He had to admit her to the same psych ward her mother was in. Enji couldn’t bring himself to visit her, not after realizing what he had caused.

Instead he had the doctors give flowers, with his apologies about being unable to make it.

Now he was left to himself, trying to figure out if it was possible to make it up to his family, but…

‘I hate you.’

Maybe that wasn’t possible.

Maybe… maybe it would be better to remove himself from them. If his influence over them was such a dark presence then if he removed it, would that allow them to bloom into the people they were meant to be?

Enji turned, and walked down the halls, out of the hospital.

“What should I do Rei? How can I make it up to your children?” he murmured out loud in the halls. One thing he knew, he didn’t deserve to call them his children, not when he was such a source of misery to them.

Chapter Text

Shouta rolled his eyes slightly as Hizashi burst into the hospital room of their three injured students. Shouta came in behind him slouched over, eyes already narrowed into a glare, ready to give the kids a scolding. All they knew was that somehow their students had been at the fight the heroes had with Stain, that they had gotten injured and were not being charged with vigilantism.

The fact that the chief even mentioned that? Yeah it was suspicious and obviously the man clueing them into what actually went down. Unofficially and off the record of course.

Obviously Iida wasn’t as smart as he thought the boy was and had gone after the hero killer. Somehow Midoriya had found Iida and sent a message to the students group chat with his gps location, which if Shouta was to take a guess, Todoroki got and reported to his father before running off to help.

Luckily he was in the group chat and was thus able to have seen the message, though he had only seen it after the fact, considering he was a bit busy helping the other heroes with the three Nomu that had attacked. 

As soon as the students saw him they tensed up. Good.

Shouta raised a singular eyebrow, seeing them all shrink down. “I don’t know what exactly transpired,” Todoroki and Iida seemed to give a relieved sigh, but Midoriya just tensed more, likely being able to read him well enough by this point to know that he wasn’t finished, “But I have a good idea of what you three did. Because legally you three have done nothing wrong I’m not supposed to punish you.”

Once again Iida and Todoroki seemed relieved, while Midoriya just kept listening, body tense. “That doesn't mean you’re getting away scot free. I want you three to write a five page report on the definition of vigilantism, the sentence for being arrested on such a crime, and all the ways you could legally use your quirk in such a situation should you be attacked again without a license or a nearby pro hero to give you permission. Am I understood?”

“Yes sensei!” The three students said.

“That’s on top of the report of your fight and any damage you may have done to the property. While I can not legally be allowed to read them I expect you to write them out still and then destroy them. I am forced to trust your word on this that you’ve written the report.”

Shouta let out a sigh, a bit of pity for Iida as Hizashi got done looking over them for injuries and was now standing in front of Iida. Hizashi crossed his arms, green sprialed eyes narrowed and he saw Iida tense as it was directed at him.

Having Shouta scold them was simple, having Hizashi, who never really scolded students? That was a punishment. Off the record, of course.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Hizashi questioned, raising an eyebrow and his voice wasn’t loud, nor was it quiet, it just was at a flat even tone. Deadpan. Which from Hizashi was unexpected to the kids.

The effect was immediate, Iida shrinked into himself, and the other two were looking at Hizashi with wide eyes. Even Midoriya as the kid had never seen his husband mad, well besides for when Hizashi was thrashing Dashi Noi, but the kid was likely in shock to really see his expression at that point.

“Iida Tenya, you are the class president, you were chosen by your classmates to lead them and to take charge. Your classmates know you to be responsible and obeying the rules, what are they supposed to think when their rule-abiding class president breaks the very rules he tells them to uphold? How are any of them to respect your authority when you don’t obey the very things you tell them to obey?”

Iida seemed to slink even further into himself, though Shouta wasn’t sure how that was possible.

“You’re incredibly smart, so why didn’t you use your brain? If you had actually thought about attacking the hero killer, surly you would have realized that it was a foolish, idiotic, stupid plan to take him on alone with no backup. With no experience. You are a first year student with a little over a month of training, how did you think you would be able to defeat Stain when 18 pro heroes have died to him, and many more permanently disabled?”

“I wasn’t thinking…” Iida whispered out, not able to meet Hizashi’s gaze.

“No. You weren’t.”

Hizashi took a deep breath, pinching his nose. “All three of you were incredibly reckless and made mistakes, but… you’re alive, you can learn and grow from this.”

The three kids nodded solemnly. Hizashi smiled, and the heavy mood lifted, “Now that we got that unpleasantness out of the way… how about a story?”

Three sets of eyes looked to his husband, and Hizashi launched into a tale of a prank he and Nemuri had pulled on Vlad last year.

Fuck.

Katsuki had messed up, and he hated that he had to apologize. But he shouldn’t have blown up her desk. ‘Anger issues’ the damn mutt told him. As if he didn’t already know that shit? So now he was taking the damn therapy or they would kick him out of the hero course. It was all that damn nerds fault. Everything would have been fine if he hadn’t made it into U.A. If the fucking stalker hadn’t developed some overpowered quirk that let him copy other peoples quirks.

If the nerd had such a powerful quirk, why didn’t he tell them? Why did he tell them he was quirkless? Why would auntie tell them Deku was quirkless? Even before she took the kid to that doctor when he was five she seemed to believe Deku would be quirkless.